The Usual

I still haven't relocated to Murray yet because I had my plans disrupted by a possible job opening at USEC (United States Enrichment Corporation). It's high on the list of places I never pictured myself working at but also high on the list of places I'd want to work at. My cousin has worked there for several years and let me know they're hiring entry level positions and he could get my application pulled. Totally unfair but definitely worth going for. The only problem is the job currently isn't open and there's no time frame for when it will be. So I'm hesitant to move out and pick up some crap jobs and then have to drop everything to enter the hiring process. Tomorrow is my last foreseeable day at my current job, so I'm going to be needing to get some income going fairly soon. Unless the opening is sometime in the next week, I'll probably just move and see what happens.

I bought Rock Band a week ago and have spent a copious amount of time with it, the worst being 18 hours in one day. I've mainly been on the drums, which was what really attracted me to it in the first place and there's been no disappointment. The guitar is almost the same as Guitar Hero, but I can't do much on hard and I can't sing at all, so the drums are a good fit. Playing with a group is awesome, but solo play is pretty lame after you've gotten a band going with friends. Fortunately I've found plenty of willing participants. Everyone was ready for a break after the initial firestorm, so the Lords of Thunder and 88 Miles Per Hour are on sabbatical to explore India or something.

On the reading front, I haven't gotten into anything new. I checked out Brasyl from the library, a book that sounded pretty interesting, covering three different people in separate time periods, all in Brazil. Unfortunately, after the twentieth modern pop culture reference in the first thirty pages it went back to the drop box. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Comics-wise, I still haven't bought anything in months besides Criminal, which has literally become the 'if I could only buy one comic' scenario. It's my wonder drug. I've been re-reading stuff from the shelf I haven't been through in a while, including Hellboy Volume 1, both Whiteout stories, Seaguy and the first War Stories collection. All pretty good stuff that held up. I got more out of Seaguy the second time around and Hellboy was even better than I remembered it being. Makes me want more and to finally get caught up on all the BPRD books. I wish Mike Mignola was still drawing interiors. With the pamphlets I'm slogging through stuff while at work so I don't have to pay for it. Favorites at this point are Captain America, The Order, The Immortal Iron Fist, All-Star Superman, The Punisher, Lone Ranger and Umbrella Academy. Morrison's Batman continues to be deflated by horrible artwork and Daredevil is good but I can't really get excited about it.

I bought Band of Brothers for hardly nothing on Cyber Monday and finished it this week. I had previously seen it sporadically on the History Channel, and I'm not sure if I ever saw all the episodes or if they were even in the right order. It was thankfully easier to keep up with the fairly large cast watching it in chunks. Overall, it's a very good account of WWII from a unit that participated in many famous events across several countries. The Battle of the Bulge in particular is very well represented, as Easy Company held position in the freezing cold of Bastogne, Belgium while under constant shelling by German artillery, unable to do anything but constantly take cover. Most of the experiences are historically accurate, even though if you want to get into the details, there's plenty to nitpick about. The show was based on a book that chronicled events from WWII veterans of E Company. The show focuses on Richard Winters, who started out as a lieutenant in Easy and ended up a major by the end of the war. He's portrayed by all accounts very true to life, a caring and quiet leader who also was tactically very sound. I enjoyed the whole thing.

Forward Thinking

Here are some of the things on pace for 2008 that have piqued my interest. Maybe I'll reverse this later and look back at 2007.

The Wire Season 5: My favorite television show comes to a close with ten installments in January. I fully believe this will be as engaging and insightful as the previous four seasons have been. David Simon has established at this point his ability to put his characters through a very realistic version of hell and I don't see him going soft now. I'm expecting major falls all around, with the usual mix of politics, economics and sociology that you never thought could be this entertaining. And maybe, just maybe, a sprinkle of hope or potential progress somehow surviving. I can't wait to watch this but I'll also be sad to see it go.

Fable 2: This doesn't have a complete release date but it is listed for '08. It's the anticipated sequel to the Xbox RPG made by famed designer Peter Molyneux. The original had plenty of character customization and a largely interactive world, but was seen as a disappointment by some because the possibilities weren't quite as endless as Molyneux had promised throughout development. It's no surprise things have been so quiet thus far with Fable 2, leading to very little gameplay information and no more guarantees. I spent a lot of time with the original and never understood most of the detractors. I really liked the design style of the graphics, the simple combat and tinkering with all the abilities, character images and alignment choices. I'm hoping they take the foundation and build it up to be even better.

Final Crisis: Grant Morrison is easily my favorite writer when it comes to superhero comics. The big event series is usually something I take cover from, but with his guiding hand, this has the potential to be another joyous explosion of mad ideas. Fortunately he's paired with a solid artist in JG Jones, who can hopefully interpret the script well enough to provide a good compliment to the writing. It can and has gone either way: will we get something on the level of Frank Quitely and JH Williams or Howard Porter and Tony Daniel? I haven't read Marvel Boy, the only previous Morrison/Jones collaboration I know of, so I can't say. And I'm praying that this doesn't require any knowledge of the flood of DC material that is leading into it. If so I might as well not even pull it off the shelf.

There Will Be Blood: The first trailer I saw for this had me really confused and weirded out in a bad way. The second trailer, seen last week, got the same reactions but this time in a good way. So I really need to see this to determine the final verdict. The critics have practically already given Daniel Day-Lewis the Oscar for his leading role, and I'll be the first to say in the trailers it came across as a great performance. The limited release could prove to be a problem in my one theater town, so I may be waiting a while.

A Dance With Dragons: The fifth novel in George RR Martin's fantasy series has seen countless delays and still has no release date. More than likely it should be done soon though, so I'm putting it on here. The Song of Ice and Fire series is really excellent because while it contains many tried and true fantasy elements it thankfully is absent of many others. The ridiculous good and evil, black and white morality is the chief hallmark that is nowhere to be found. Each of the chapters is written from a different character's point of view, so many opinions and explanations offer varying takes on events. Martin has also built a rich world with extremely detailed past occurrences that reflect and influence the myriad plot lines that run throughout. Martin was the final nail in the coffin for boring machines like R.A. Salvatore.

Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar: An intriguing mixed martial arts matchup, pitting a former champion on the long climb back from injury in Mir against a former pro-wrestler stepping into a whole new world in Lesnar. While Mir may not be as good as he was after suffering heavy damage in a motorcycle accident, he is quite a challenge for Lesnar, who only has one pro fight to his name. Theoretically most newcomers from outside fighting sports are vulnerable on the ground and with Mir being a BJJ black belt, Lesnar could be in serious trouble if he gets taken down. But Lesnar is a former collegiate national wrestling champion, so he's not going to be helpless in there. He's also built like a walking tank and might not pass a steroid test. I think this is a great pairing of two fighters who have a lot to prove that could result in a good scrap or quick clunker.

So there you go: a television series, a video game, a comic book, a movie, a novel and an MMA fight. These are just all predictions; if everything on here ends up a letdown, don't gloat and tell me how wrong I was. My prophetic voice has always been pretty shaky.