The three-day weekend is already over but I enjoyed it immensely as I got to spend much of the days with my three girls -- my wife and our two little daughters. Unfortunately though, both kids had bouts with fever during the said period. Issa, we think, had fever because of a mild measle attack while Ikai fell prey to another viral attack.
But both have already recovered and Ikai has already gone back to school earlier today, her semestral break officially being over.
She has hotcakes waiting for her when she gets home later today. Her prize (or bribe) for going to school today as she stated earlier that she didn't want to go to school yet.
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Work has unusually piled up this time around. And I say unusual because around this time of the year, when things are going holiday-ish already and lots of people are gearing up for the Christmas season, work usually slows down. Unfortunately for me, work has gone up and none of them are even related remotely yet to the upcoming holidays.
That's the reason I haven't been able to blog recently as I'm still somewhere in the middle of a toxic rush that began three weeks ago (interspersed with business travels and other stuff) and there's still no end in sight. That's why I'm always beat when I get home that I don't have the drive to fire up the rig after spending 8 or more hours just staring at my PC at the Desk.
And for several weekends now, I've seldom been online except for the usual scans of important emails or messages on FB. If not for my smartphone and SmartNet, I would've been silent. Thanks to the free social network service on SmartNet though, I am able to tweet or 4square at least.
Today though, I get to have some breathing room as I was able to finish the to-do-for-today earlier than usual. So, before I plunge to the next item on the list, I decided to chronicle another tidbit in the Coffee House.
I do need to update my to-do list as several other tasks have been done while several other tasks have been added as well (woe is me). So, if I'll be rather quiet again in the next several days (or, gasp, weeks), please do understand that there are priorities. And this particular priority requiring my full attention is the one that pays the rent.
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Finally got to speed up my reading of Brent Weeks' Shadows Edge, Book 2 of The Night Angel Trilogy.
This book had the unfortunate luck of being the next-book-to-be-read after the brilliantly-written A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I had a rather longish hang-over with AGoT that I couldn't concentrate on reading Shadow's Edge. Not that Weeks' book was bad. It's actually a book that's in my book-prowl list ever since I finished Book 1 -- The Way of the Shadows. I just feel that Martin's AGoT was on another plane of excellence that it can't be helped that I kept on looking for the same writing style, the same edge, the same excitement that I got from reading AGoT in the opening pages of Shadow's Edge.
But as I slowly progressed through the past couple of weeks with the book (and in the process, trying to re-orient myself with what had happened in Book 1), the AGoT hang-over ran its course and now I'm pacing quite well with Shadow's Edge. I expect to finish this book at the latest this weekend and then it's book prowl again for Book 3 -- Beyond the Shadows. I do hope Fully Booked will be carrying the 3rd book when I prowl this weekend.
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Still waiting for news on the availability of A Clash of Kings, the 2nd book in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. All the bookstores I went to here in Makati (NBS, Powerbooks, and Fully Booked) had nil copy. Fully Booked - Glorietta had copies though, of the hard-bound version that sold for double the price of the mass market version. Even the two NBS branches in Cagayan de Oro didn't have copies as well.
I'm wait-listed now for ACoK with NBS-Glorietta 5 but just to be sure this doesn't happen again (that I get cliffhanged because of the unavailability of the next sequel of a series), I already bought the next two books of the series -- A Storm of Swords and A Feast of Crows. Both books are still wrapped up in their plastics.
When the mass market edition of A Dance with Dragons becomes available, I'll surely snatch it up immediately.
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Another book I recently bought that is still in plastic is the second installment of James A. Owen's YA series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica -- The Search for the Red Dragon.
It's been a couple of years since I've read the first installment, Here, There Be Dragons, so I might need to re-read that one before plunging myself into this next book. I'm not that much into YA yet but Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, Garth Nix's Shade's Children, Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Owen's Here, There Be Dragons has convinced me there are gold nuggets in the genre. And who knows, I might writing YA one of these days.
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Taking a break from books yesterday, I decided to read some of the issues from the DC's New 52. And some initial thoughts after reading issues 1 and 2 of several of the series:
Action Comics by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales was quite enjoyable. We're seeing Supes in denim and sporting a Harry Potter look to make the difference between Clark Kent and his alter ego more evident. While I'm not much of a fan of Morales' artwork, he does a good job with the action dictated by Morrison's writing and this is one great read to look forward to monthly. Can't wait for #3.
Justice League by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, two of DC's top honchos was a bit of a disappointment. While the artwork is great, the story leaves much to be desired. The story is slowwwly-progressing to the point that all the talk between the heroes just becomes boring. Hoping they'll speed it up a notch. We haven't even seen Wonder Woman yet in issues 1 and 2. While I've got no problem with comics with lots of dialogues, in the case of JL, talking too much was out of character for Bats, Supes, and GL.
Animal Man by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman, and Dan Green was a surprising hook. The quirky, Aeon Flux-like artwork, fits nicely as AM is classified as one of the "The Dark" comics in the new 52. For readers like me who have never read AM before, this is a good stepping stone to get into the character and follow his adventures. Weird and tending towards the horror, this is one comic I'll likely follow closely.
Blackhawks by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley. After reading 1 and 2, I have to admit I miss the Blackhawks series done in 1989-1990 by the team of Martin Pasko and Rick Burchett. This series, while already reimagined from its original roots was more in tune with what we now of the Blackhawks. While the fresh, more tech-savvy new BHs may appeal to many new readers, sadly, it doesn't appeal to me. The 89-90 BH series defined what is BH for me and the new 52's BH isn't that definition.
Detective Comics written and drawn by Tony Daniel looks promising. While Bats is sporting a new and improved costume, it's still Batman at his basest -- the detective at heart. Scripting is finely done with just the right pacing and the intro of the Dollmaker just nails it right down pat! Will be looking to reading this flagship comic regularly.
Justice League International by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti doesn't have much depth but if you're looking for a fun, light read featuring second-string heroes (except for Batman, of course) then this could be the comics for you. While the other members of this JLI reincarnation do not seem a fit, I guess that's the entire idea -- trying to jell a conundrum of international (yet second-rate) heroes into a cohesive team that can deal with the stuff while maintaining positive public perception. I'm looking forward to how appointed leader, the attention-craving Booster Gold can handle the role of leader of this rag-tag team that includes Rocket Red and August General in Iron who continually feud, a Guy Gardner who would be always a thorn in BG's side, as well as the clout that Bats brings.
Legion of Super-Heroes by Paul Levitz and Francis Portela is in need of a massive adrenaline rush if it plans to keep its readers. No probs with the artwork by Portela but I do hope the story picks up a notch because LSH is one of my favorite teams and it would be a big disappointment if long-time LSH writer Levitz doesn't gain much traction with the comics-team he's so familiar with. Despite the slow start, we're being treated to classic LSH here and this another series that I'll likely keep my eye on.
Teen Titans by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth was a surprise for me. Lobdell's writing is just right. We're talking about teenaged super-heroes here and yes, we're hearing the voices of teens with Lobdell being able to resonate those voices. And then there's the right mix of drama (these are teens, after all, with angst) and action and you've got a great formula for a teen soap opera with muscles.
So, far, that's it for now. Still have to catch up on the rest of the new 52.
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Time to get back to work. Til later, folks! Ta ta.
