Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I've spent too much time thinking about, and following such things...

...but this, while news, is hardly surprising.

One wonders what, if any, the reprisal might be (or may have already been).

This is going to sound stupid, I know, but...

Can you get duct tape (ie, the cloth-backed ultra adhesive, silver, use-for-anything tape) in Europe? Specifically, can you get it in the Netherlands? And if so, is it called duct tape, or does it go under another name?

So, this story has been slowly escalating over the last week. Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and this...I'm really hoping I won't have to tag a disclaimer on the new novel saying "This was before the war."

And in entertainment news, the new Bond film is having consistent car trouble.

I'm leaving for Calgary at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning, to attend the Calgary Comic Expo. I've heard nothing but good things about this show from everyone I know who's ever attended it, and I'm quite looking forward to it. Hoping to score some Avatar: The Last Airbender swag for the kids, maybe a sketch or two.

Of course, this means I'll be missing the Stumptown Comics Fest for the second year in a row, which means, once more, I'll be out of town while Matthew Southworth is actually here. I'm getting a little worried that he thinks I'm avoiding him.

Last note -- Checkmate chat with meself and mercuryeric at ComicBloc tonight, don't forget!

My brother sent me this link this morning. Disappointing, but, I suppose, not surprising. Thing is, I've been a fan of the Lonely Planet guides for years now, ever since I realized that the chances of me actually getting down to the Ice while researching the first Whiteout were pretty much nil. They had the only guidebook on Antarctica that I ever found.

Ever since then, I've relied on their titles pretty heavily to provide broad secondary research for the many travels of Atticus, Chace, and others.

Another reminder of the need to practice due-diligence, I suppose. Gonna have to read this guy's book, I think....

Edited to add: Accusations refuted, though I'd think that's to be expected.

steverolston already put this up on his blog, but in the interests of vanity, ego, and self-promotion, I'm embedding it here, as well. I'd been told that Blair Butler was a fan of Queen & Country before, but it's damn nice to see her saying as much for all the interwebs to see.



She mentions the first volume of the "Definitive" editions as the last piece of the segment. Kinda makes me want to sit down and start writing series 2. But I can't do that, because I have, like, a half-dozen other projects to clear out or start first, not the least of which is this DAMN NOVEL.

Anyone out there who can link human trafficking in East Africa to the UAE, drop me a line, okay? (And let's face it, it's not very often you hear a request like that get made...at least, not in public.)

The long silence here has been due to unforeseen nightmare circumstances on the homefront.

This week is going to be different. This week will see writing done, and life return to normal, or at least will see life return to whatever passes for normal around these parts, and writing will get done. But with the exception of the OCC Grand Opening (and hey, mercuryeric, you might want to see about updating the website), it's been pretty unrelentingly fuckawful around here. The mere fact that anything was written surprises me, frankly.

It may be going around, actually. I've a number of friends and acquaintances who seem to be in Dark Days right now, and they know who they are. Maybe it's something in the air.

I've begun researching a new project, and in so doing, have been burning my way through David McCullough's books, specifically 1776 - which I finished some two-weeks back and then promptly went out and bought the illustrated edition, which is deliciously chock full of extra goodness - and John Adams. The Adams biography is a stunning work, in my opinion, not the least for the attention McCullough pays to Abigail. In my darker fugues, I have to confess that reading the book puts me in mind of the Tom Lehrer quote about Mozart, or, alternately, the the line from Hannah and her Sisters about how Jesus would react if he came back today, with appropriate substitution of "the Founding Fathers" for Jesus.

It's a nice coincidence that HBO's going to start running this in another week or so. ( The trailer gives me chills. )
Time to go and break-down DD 108 with Ed. Michael's pages for 107 look amazing, of course. Can't wait to see them with Stefano's inks and Hollingsworth's colors.

Edited: Linked the wrong trailer below the cut!