#303. Sigild V, Comics Reader, Jabroni Companion, Warrior

#303.

Some of the recent activity from around my blogs and somesuch:

Just Imagine Tony Creating...Spider-Man 3 from the Sigild V short story blog. This one's the conclusion of three entries that feature a version of what I would've done with the three Sam Raimi movies, given the same general premises but with an increasingly divergent result. The first is basically an origin story that only brings Peter to becoming Spider-Man at the end. The second retains Dr. Octopus but continues the themes and plots from the first installment as well. This conclusion brings Green Goblin back as the primary foe, includes the famous death of Gwen Stacy, and suggests a possible continuation with Kraven the Hunter.

Stars be my destiny from the Comics Reader blog. This is my ode to James Robinson's Starman, maybe a decade and a half late. The link helps explain why.

Jabroni Companion #22 from the Fan Companion blog. Here I continue my series talking about professional wrestlers (topics this time include AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, and Too Cool). In the past, as readers are apparently continually rediscovering, I've written about Star Trek, as well as movies. Which leads us to:

Warrior is the best movie of the year, my latest article for Examiner. As you can tell, I really liked the movie. Over at my Facebook account, A.C. Hall, from the world-famous Hall Bros. Entertainment, publishers of my upcoming book Yoshimi, chimed in and agreed with my modest assessment. Not too bad!

#302. Reading List: Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic

#302.

Finished Bright Shiny Morning pretty quickly. James Frey is a great writer. Not sure I would actually want to hang out with him, though. Who knows?

Next on the Reading List:

Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic by Terry Jones. I obsessed over this book for years, scouring used book shops and having absolutely no luck, having passed on its original publishing in 1997. Regular bookstores don't carry it, naturally (which always baffled me). Finally found it at Poor Richards in Colorado Springs last year, and now am finally going to read it. (!!!)

#301. Reading List: Bright Shiny Morning

#301.

Just submitted a story to a Glimmer Train contest. One slight problem here is that I submitted the same story to Hall Bros. Hopefully everything'll sort itself out...

Next on the Reading List:

Bright Shiny Morning from James Frey, a writer who was publically hosed by Oprah a few years back. This book was his comeback, and notably did not receive near as much attention as the inciting material, which is a real shame, because true literary fiction deserves to have trumpets heralding its arrival. It appears this really is one of those works.

#300. Reading List: Star Trek

#300.

Good news! I've been blogging here at Scouring Monk for a decade, and have just reached three hundred posts!

In slightly less pathetic news, I've got a new book in the Reading List:

Star Trek novelization by Alan Dean Foster. Back in 2005, I would have been devastated to learn that the next Star Trek movie would be a reboot. I did and still do love the Star Trek franchise with about as much totality as you can get (onscreen version, anyway), as readers who keep digging up the the Fan Companion at said blog can attest. I originally posted a season-by-season, series-by-series, film-by-film review of the franchise last year, but I keep getting hits. I don't mind! Anyway, when I learned that J.J. Abrams, genius behind Alias, Lost, and Fringe, not to mention Super 8 and Cloverfield, would be helming it, my apprehension quickly turned to enthusiasm. I wasn't disappointed. So it's another nice little diversion to read this novelization, too.

This past Wednesday was my last-ever day working for Borders. I purchased The Beaufort Diaries and Charles Simic's Master of Disguises, the last things I'll ever buy from the store. (I bought too much from the liquidation process, but these were only a dollar each!) So long, valiant crew and faithful customers of Borders 500 in Colorado Springs!

#299. Reading List: Heidegger & a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates, The Dark Knight

#299.

The Reading List continues:

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, a stroll through philosophical ideas about life, the universe, and everything. Loved the jokes!

The Dark Knight novelization by Dennis O'Neil. The movie was instantly one of my all-time favorite movies. I don't expect O'Neil's book to quite reach a comparable level, but it's always fun to read these things (not that I do it that often).

The John Adams book, meanwhile, was pretty interesting, a nice little consolidation of American history from around his lifetime and times, if a little dry on analysis. I'd call him an inconvenient pragmatist!

#298. Fan Musings, CM Punk, Finnegan

#298.

I realize I have a whole blog dedicated to fan musings, currently set directly at pro wrestling, but I figure I can still indulge a thought or two here at the main blog...

Picked up the Money in the Bank PPV last weekend, this year's stellar CM Punk renaissance event, but was actually more impressed at how much Randy Orton has been flourishing at reinventing himself on Smackdown. I'm one of those weird people you seldom hear about, I don't have cable, so, as with wrestling in general, I haven't seen Smackdown since it went off free TV (and doesn't it figure? ROH will be available in Maine, where I lived for the first quarter century of my life, but not here in Colorado). That's good news, because he was incredibly stale last year, even as WWE champion during the height of the Nexas angle (which again was just weird).

Also, had a chance to resubmit Finnegan to McSweeney's with the revisions I did earlier this year. Hopefully good things will come of it.