I bought On Fire by the band Galaxie 500 years ago. I don’t know what prompted me to get it; perhaps I read a review of it somewhere.

I bought it sometime around 1990, a period of a lot of musical experimentation for me. And from the moment I first put it in the CD player…I wasn’t impressed. Meh, I thought. Bland.

Several times when I went through the CD collection I pulled this out as a disk that could be culled, but I always put it back. “I haven’t really listened to that enough,” I thought. “I think I remember liking a couple of tracks on it.” For some reason or another, it was always spared in the purge.

And I’d pop it in from time to time, and gradually, far too gradually, it would work its magic. The subtlety of it finally got through my thick head. I didn’t even notice it at the time I listened, I would only really notice later on another CD sellback spree, when On Fire would once again be spared due to a vague notion in my head.

What I didn’t realize about the feeling I had toward the album would become clear later on. It’s the same feeling I get looking at certain paintings or sculptures. Or reading some poems. Or even looking at some mathematical proofs. It’s the feeling that you’re not sure what this is, you don’t understand it, you don’t know if you even like it, but you know, in your heart, that you’re next to a work of genius. It’s not speaking to you, your soul is responding to it on another level.

My stubborn soul eventually opened up and now I fully appreciate this album. I don’t know if I got to the correct place in my life, or had listened to the correct prerequisite music to appreciate it, or what, but I now love this album and can’t imagine not liking it. Everything on it grabs me.

Have you ever had a song that produced undeniable feelings of nostalgia, loss, hope, or similar emotions, even though there was nothing actually in your life that connected to the song? Somehow it evoked feelings, though there was no reason for it to do so? Every single song on this album does that for me. Every time I listen to it, I’m amazed by it.

I haven’t bought any other Galaxie 500 albums, interestingly. I don’t know why. In truth, I’m kind of afraid to.

I don’t expect anyone else to share this feeling about this particular album, but surely there’s one like this that you know of. One that gradually, subtly, revealed its artistry to you.

If there’s something cooler than a giant squid, I don’t know what it is. Maybe a giant squid fighting a robot. Or possibly a giant squid on a minibike. My point is, giant squids are damn cool. And check this out: the Japanese, experts on crazy giant monsters, have finally caught one in action, on film!

  

Hooo! Looka that thing!

Perhaps you’d like to read a more sober account of this event:

CNN: Scientists photograph giant squid
BBC: Live giant squid caught on camera
National Geographic: Holy Squid! Photos Offer First Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant

After grousing the past few weeks about not getting too many comics in, the Wheel of Comics Fortune has turned in my favor. Check out this absurd haul I’m getting this week!

• Vaistron #1 (left over from last week)
• Previews Vol XV #10 (already? Damn, need to get my order in.)
• Showcase Presents Green Lantern Vol 1 TP
• Showcase Presents Superman Vol 1 TP
• Long Hot Summer GN (Scooters!)
• Action Philosophers Self Help For Ugly Losers
• Hikaru No Go Vol 5
• Knights Of The Dinner Table #107 (Might go back on the shelf. This title’s getting the axe from me soon, probably.)
• Fortean Times Oct 05 #201 (Or not. Diamond is wonky with this one.)
• CBLDF SPX 2005 Anthology
• Peng One Shot (A last-minute addition. I hope there’s a shelf copy!)

Look at that! LOOK AT IT DAMMIT! That’s pure, unrefined comics smack, that is!

What a gametastic weekend! Man, where do I start?

First off, I’ve been reading a lot (too much, probably) of BoardGameGeek (BGG) lately, and as a result there’s a whole pile of games I want to try out now. The list as it currently stands is:

Yeah, that’s a lot of games. I sent this list to Mike and Dan and it turns out Mike has some of them and Dan as well, so I was able to play Fearsome Floors and borrow Lost Cities and Fjords. I’ll talk more about Fearsome Floors later (it deserves another playing).

Lost Cities is a two-player game and Becky and I were hooked on it almost immediately. Even in these times of carefully watching my geek dollars we ordered our own copy of this one right away. We’ve been playing a lot of this lately. It’s out of print, so if you’re interested in it and see one, you should grab it!

Fjords is another two-player game that again, after borrowing a copy, we ordered our own. It’s got a nice elegance to it; the first part you build the board, setting yourself up to claim territory, and in the second part you try and grab the territory. It’s quick and fun.

Those are the two that Becky and I have been busying ourselves with.

Meanwhile, on Friday night, we had dinner with Mark and Kristin at Cafe Lebanon (and yes, there was a belly dancer!) Afterwards we went to their place and I brought the game used to seduce more innocent victims into becoming boardgamers than any other game: The Settlers of Catan.

What is it about Settlers that makes it so appealing? It’s hard to explain the rules without making it sound far more complicated than it is. It uses tiles in a weird way, playing along the edges of them rather than the centers. It’s difficult to see at a glance who’s in the lead since there’s no scoring track. And yet, I’ve never brought it out for newer gamers and been disappointed. People love it. Mark and Kristin were no exception.

However, on this occasion, Catan experienced a disaster, or perhaps a surfeit of blessing, depending upon your point of view. excited over finally getting some bricks, a certain person we won’t identify knocked half a glass of red wine onto the card area. Grain, Ore, and the Development Cards were soaked. Fortunately, the mess cleaned up well enough, with the cards emerging more or less intact. Also, it’s an old and well-played set — the tiles themselves were all warped and were the old versions with the really unclear pictures on them — so it’s no big deal if we have to replace this one eventually.

Saturday, after running some errands (more on this later!) we went over to Dan’s, where first we sat down to experience the newest, hottest videogame sensation, We ♥ Katamari! A sequel to the wonderful PS2 game Katamari Damacy, it boasts a ton of new levels, some interesting new twists, and better two-player co-op and versus play. Dan was nice enough to loan it to us to make sure it played on our machine and we’re pleased to see that it does! Hooray! We DO heart Katamari!

And then, game-related disaster struck again! When grabbing games to bring over, I had picked up Gloom and the box flipped open, spilling cards onto the floor. I picked them up, put them back in the box, and moved on. But when I got to Dan’s and took them out again, I noticed some of the semi-stiff plastic cards had actually cracked and split upon impact with the floor! Consarn it! So a word of advice to Gloom buyers out there: store the game in something sturdier than its box or be very careful with it.

We recovered from this, though, and played some Bohnanza (a really great multi-player card game) and Corruption, a card game I was not familiar with. We’d played the former before and really enjoyed it, and the latter was also interesting, though it would probably improve with more than three players.

Sunday Dan came over here and we played Ticket to Ride, a game with gets very high praise on BGG, and which I like, but I just don’t love as much as it seems I should. There seems to be a ton of downtime in the game, turn after turn of nothing but “draw card, draw card, done. draw card, draw card, done. draw card, draw card, done.” If it had an element of trading to it that would improve it, I think, allowing more player interaction and speeding things up a little. I’m proud to say that I played the one (and, I think, only) completely “screw you” move in the game, trying to block one of Dan’s routes.

Afterwards Becky went to grade, so Dan and I played a couple of two-player games. I showed him Fjords, which he really enjoyed, and he had brought Jambo, which I really enjoyed. He left Jambo for me to show to Becky, and I think, given its similarity to San Juan and Puerto Rico, I think she’ll dig it as well.

I’ve also borrowed, from Dan or Mike (but haven’t played yet), Balloon Cup, Hive, and Battle Line, all of which are two-player games. We’re ready for a long winter.

And sometimes, you don’t.

This:

wasn’t too bad. I mean, a lot of it was very dust-covered, to be sure, and highly predictable, but at the end of the day it was kind of a fun read. Worth a flip-through to see if it’s your thing, or you can check out the preview here.

Remember remember the second of November? Get out and vote! Make your voice heard! If you don’t vote, you can’t complain!

Yeah, well, it looks like none of that might apply anymore. Because here’s the thing: there’s a very good chance the 2004 election was rigged.

“Oh Dave,” you say. “Take off your tinfoil hat! Will you Democrats just let it rest? Bush won, get over it! Why should we listen to you, you whiny liberal Liberal Whiner?”

Meh, don’t listen to me. Listen to these folks:

A Corrupted Election

None Dare Call It Stolen

..and now:

A Diebold Insider Speaks Out

And what is this insider — who we’ll call DIEB-THROAT if it helps get your attention — telling you, America? Only what you already should have known. What even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security already acknowledged in full prior to Election 2004: That your Electoral System, now wholly privatized and run by the “Halliburton of the Voting World” — is, and has been, open and vulnerable to be rigged by one — just one — malicious person. Not “a conspiracy of many.” Just One.

DIEB-THROAT — someone who knows and works with them — tells us, in a BRAD BLOG exclusive that I recommend you actually read, that the Diebold system is “one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known.”

DIEB-THROAT tells us — and the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security agrees — that “one malicious person can change the outcome of any Diebold election.”

DIEB-THROAT is warning you. The U.S. DHS is warning you. I am warning you. The FACTS are warning you. So what will be your excuse next time?

We don’t know for certain if the election was stolen. There’s certainly a big stink coming off of it. I certainly have no doubts that there are enough morons in this country to legitimately give Bush a victory. The fact of the matter is, the 2006 and 2008 elections can be stolen. Easily. And nobody cares. The alleged liberal mass media is completely silent on the issue. The Republicans shrug off any questions as “sour grapes”. The Democrats huddle meekly in their cage, terrified of alienating people who don’t like them anyway. Not a word is said as we say goodbye to true democracy.

And what do you do about it, if it’s true? If the allegations are true, then really, what’s the answer, short of taking up arms? Voting to restore democracy? Telling your Democratic leaders to investigate this or else you’ll stop casting votes for them that aren’t counted anyway? Tell the Republicans in charge to assure you that everything’s fine? How do we demand answers from a government that has lost all interest in listening to us?

Holy cow, there’s so much stuff in the newest Previews! Help! I am WAY over the limit here, folks, and I need help sifting through them! Here’s the stuff that grabbed my eye on first and second flip-through.

• Perhapnauts #1 (Dark Horse)
• Sexy Chix TPB (Dark Horse) - I still think the title and cover are lame, but I’m interested in the contents.
• Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex Vol 1 (DC) - Don’t know much about Jonah Hex, actually. If I’m interested in checking out a solid chunk of Western comics, would this be a good place to go?
• Ocean TPB (DC) - Warren Ellis is one of the few people even trying to do interesting sci-fi comics, so I’m down wid it.
• DMZ #1 (DC) - The first of two Brian Wood joints, and the one I’m most leery of. I felt that Channel Zero was pretty juvenile, so on the one hand this could be more of the same, but on the other, he might have a more mature view on his subject now. I could go either way on this one.
• The Losers: Close Quarters TP (DC) - I liked the first two TPBs well enough, but I have to admit that by the third one I had kind of lost interest, so this one’s iffy.
• Rock’n'Roll One-Shot (Image) - Moon and Ba have everyone a-twitter about their stuff, so this is a good chance to check it out.
• Walking Dead vol 4: Heart’s Desire TP (Image) - I quit buying this in single so I could buy it in trade, but I can’t say I’ve really missed it. Possibly on the chopping block.
• Five Fists of Science (AIT) - Looks fun, great art!
• Pizzeria Kamikaze TP (Alternative) - Here we get into the stuff I really have no clue about. Anyone know about this?
• Rex Libris #2 (Amaze/SLG) - I enjoyed the first one, so I’ll give it another shot.
• Wimbledon Green HC (D&Q) - I really want this but oy, the price!
• Night Fisher GN (Fantagraphics) - Again on the cusp here. Looks nice, sounds like it could be a good read, but I’m just not sure about the subject. We’ll see.
• Knights of the Dinner Table #109 (Kenzer)
• Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man GN (La Mano) - A chance to check out this creator, who I’ve heard a lot about.
• Local #1 (Oni) - I felt Demo kind of fizzled out towards the end, but I’ve only heard raves about Local, so I’m on board.
• Strangetown #1 (Oni)
• Doctor Who Endgame TP (Panini) - A must-have for me but damn, these things are expensive.
• Fortean Times #204 (FT) - I really need to subscribe to this.

This enormous list towers to the heavens, mocking the gods themselves with its lofty heights! Help! I need suggestions! What’s essential? What’s dismissable? And, god help me, what have I overlooked?