Would You Kindly Read This Blog*

Heyoooo!

So how was this fine November been treating you? Time continues its stately march on, doesn't it? I'm sure I'll barely even notice when the new year appears and the whole progression of months begins anew. These last two months of the year always seem to exist within their own reality. As I know I've mentioned many times, these two months are essentially being treated as hardcore song writing action. But, well, I've got a confession: I've got writer's block. Its rather frustrating to stare at a blank sheet of paper for hours, writing something, crossing it out, starting over and over. I won't bore you with all the mundane details of it but as I'm sure you know, its more than just writing words. Its rhymes and cadences and syllables and all sorts of fun stuff like that one top trying to make a coherent vision present itself in a fresh way. I tend to disregard the coherent part of that last sentence but I'm trying to push myself in a different direction that's less esoteric and bit more rooted in real life images and situations. Though naturally not all songs will be that way but seeing as the song I'm poorly attempting to write lyrics for is our faux country rock song, I don't really picture poetic lyrics about sleeping in frozen seas going with that feel very well :P I do have a first verse for it though. It didn't turn out as great as I was hoping but there's still time to tweak. Its that chorus though that's just killing me. Trying to sum up the message of the song in a few simple lines while making it work within the progression of the song's story regardless of whether its the beginning of the song or after the first verse or if its the last lines of the song. Its tough. Somehow I always make it happen but its rough getting there sometimes. And sometimes, its easy. Oh what glorious times those are . . .

Moving along! Some of you may recall me making various mentions of doing a top 100 cds of the decade list. Well I've been giving it a lot of thought and obviously I want to be a very through and objective (ish) list and its gonna be a lot harder than I thought it would be to create this list. I mean, I can't even decide which Hey Mercedes cd I like better between the two full lengths so how am I gonna rank them amongst all the other cds out there in the world? I mean I'm sure given enough time I could certainly get a pretty solid list together but I'll definitely have to have several drafts of the list as I fine tune it to perfection . . . I've toyed with making the list in alphabetical or chronological order but that's just not as fun as having a countdown, ya know? Go big or go home, right? So let's go big. At least I know the top 2 spots. I just gotta get the other 98 in order. Or well, I gotta get the other 98 picked first actually then I can go about arranging them.

We haven't talked about Batman in quite a while you know and I figured since I'm rocking my Batman & Robin shirt, today would be a lovely time to mention the dynamic duo again. I'm pretty pumped about the release of Batman & Robin #6 this coming Wednesday. That silly Grant gave us quite a tease at the end of #5 with the first introduction of the Flamingo, a villain that rides a pink motorcycle and wears all pink. Sound a little silly and not that intimidating? Well he also cuts people's faces off and eats them. A little more intimidating now maybe? Besides though, Grant may create some odd characters and storylines but he's yet to let me down so I have the utmost faith in him. I'm really curious though whether he's leading us down a path that will lead to the future seen in Batman #666 or whether that was a sort of special one off issue, not a glimpse at a possible future. I'm hoping its where he's leading us cause I've gotta say, that issue was all sorts of badass!! Our good (ish) friend Tony Daniel is now writing (just plain) Batman now. You may recall he did the art for Batman RIP last year with Grant and then wrote and illustrated Battle for the Cowl earlier this year. Well, as far as I was concerned, Battle for the Cowl blew so I was a bit upset that he was gonna be taking over the main book (there are several Batman comics out there such as "Batman," "Batman & Robin," "Detective Comics," "Red Robin," etc) but his first issue was actually rather good and I must admit, I might have to change my mind of him as a writer (he's obviously a quite talented artist!). Here's hoping his next issue, which arrives next week, holds up to the standard he set with his first issue. And before we leave comics behind for the week, it bears noting that Blackest Night is freaking incredible. Insanely freaking incredible.

While the rest of the video game world is a buzz about the release of Modern Warfare 2 this coming Tuesday (or Monday at midnight if you've got it pre-ordered [and don't forget, Gamestop is still accepting pre-orders!]), I'm still more than content with my Borderlands action. While it probably isn't for everyone, it was practically made for me! Though, I will admit, those trailers they've been showing for MW2 do look rather enticing . . . I may end up recounting my Call of Duty ban, but that's still a bit of a long shot. I'd rather play Uncharted 2 thank you very much!

What do ya say we wrap this blog up for the week. I think I've bored you enough with my tales of writer's block and comic book nerd action. Tune in next when I probably talk about the same things! ; ) Wait. Was there a movie coming out that was gonna be awesome? Hmm. I dunno. Oh well. See ya'll next week!

Steve!

*If you caught that reference, you're awesome . . . and then would you kindly leave a comment.