Hey all -- just a quick update before I hit the sack. Been well? Hope so.

On Saturday night I ventured back to that DC goth club to check out a performance by Martiya Possession, a gothic bellydancing troupe. Not bad -- they were great dancers! -- but I think maybe I was expecting something else. Like given that bellydancing supposedly has all of these connections to fertility rites and whatnot, I think I was expecting to be aroused! I wasn't. But then, maybe I was too drunk for that, seeing as how I actually slumped over and fell asleep right there at the bar just after finishing my turkey burger. (I was kinda hungry, but I think I ordered it more for the novelty of eating a turkey burger in a goth bar on the night of a bellydancing performance.) Really -- I was fucking gone. But that's what I get for drinking with my dad before going! (more...)

Little late, but here it is -- Scary-Crayon Father's Day tribute! This year, Lord M. Bison takes the top honors. He'll kill your dad to save the rain forests!

So over on TAB's blog in the comments section, in response to a comment from TAB regarding the shows he watches -- mostly animated fare, including "Justice League Unlimited" -- I asked why he hadn't included "Teen Titans" among his viewing list. I mean, it's in the same superhero show category and airs right before JLU (or at least it did before they broke in with episodes of "The Batman") -- and I kind of think of the shows as two parts of the same superhero viewing hour, so... yeah. Anyway, he pretty much responded that he didn't like the show because it's got an anime flavor to it -- and TAB doesn't like anime. Another of his readers then commented that he doesn't get into anime either, noting, with respect to the TT show, that he's used to the Titans as rendered by the comic book artists, so he finds their new animated appearance to be offputting. That (as noted below), I can understand. As for the rest, well, here's what I wrote: (more...)

I happened to catch an episode of "Veronica Mars" tonight, and I have to admit that it wasn't too bad. Actually, De recommended the show to me quite a while ago, but I never got around to watching it -- namely because I was never sure when it was on and, because it's a UPN show, I never bothered to check. But tonight, as I happened to be fixing some dinner and had decided to eat it in front of the television -- and because the standup act on Comedy Central (I tend to watch whatever's on CC on these nights, since "Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy" is usually on Cartoon Network at the time and I fucking hate that show) had irritated me so greatly that I didn't want to see what followed, I ended up looking through the TV listings to see what else I could watch. And voila, the legendary "Veronica Mars" was coming on! So I watched. And, like I said, not bad! (more...)

So I finished reading Elizabeth Cook's Achilles today. Again, not bad, though I didn't quite get the part at the end with Keats (or, I kinda got it, but could've done without it and didn't think it added much to the book). And I learned a few things that I didn't know about the Trojan War -- for example, I thought Pyrrhus was a fucking badass and loved him when we translated select books from Virgil's Aeneid back in high school, but I never knew that he was the son of Achilles. And I didn't know much about Chiron at all -- interesting character, or at least Cook made him so. Good stuff.

Anyway, I was inspired to do a little reading (!), so here's the passage below as read by your buddy Wes.

When he had finished killing Hector the Myrmidons had each had a go, killing him again and again. They took it in turns to shove in a spear. Some jabbed; others wiggled, getting the feel of the man, till Hector's body, stripped of the armour he had stolen from Patroclus, was ugly, squelching pulp. Now all those wounds are sealed. Achilles has never seen a body so perfect. It has only one mark: a stain like a kiss at Hector's throat. (p. 42)

What do you think? Should I be reading books on tape? That would be an awesome job! Until next time, minna-san.