The Prestige, Comics, Life, etc.

** No, I haven't seen Heroes yet, though not for lack of interest. Probably end up getting the Season One DVD and watching it when I retire, along with the many other movies and TV shows I've missed over the past couple of years. I did see The Prestige, though, and loved it. (Bought the novel, which I just started reading, mistakenly thinking it was by the Christopher Priest from comics.) Christopher Nolan is up there with M. Night Shyamalan and David Fincher as one of my favorite directors, and Christian Bale solidified his standing as my favorite Batman/Bruce Wayne. Hugh Jackman's turn as his own double was quite possibly his best acting yet, showing a range I didn't realize he had. Makes me think the Wolverine spinoff might actually have a shot at being good.

** I finally stopped by Midtown Comics last week and picked up six weeks of comics, which was a wallet-bending amount even with my pared-down pull list. Some pleasant surprises in the mix, including ASP's intriguing The Killer #1, a moody take on a philosophical assassin with some exquisite artwork; the delightfully whacked-out Casanova #5, which continues to successfully walk the tightrope between smart and smarmy; and Captain America #23 and Daredevil #90, which continue Ed Brubaker's run as the best writer currently working at the House of Ideas.

** We're in the middle of rearranging our apartment to maximize our use of increasingly limited space, including an additional bookcase so my wife and I can each have our own. I pulled a number of TPBs out of random corners and now have an almost floor-to-ceiling collection of graphic goodness easily at hand! I'm going to have to cull a few marginal titles to make space for future purchases as I'm about halfway to focusing primarily on TPBs.

** Met with Jon and Howard from PopCultureShock for drinks last week and am looking forward to being able to jump back into a regular writing gig by the beginning of the year. Not sure in what capacity yet, or what it will mean for CBC, but I'm hoping to be able to strike a balance between the two, focusing on the resource and opinion aspects of this site, while tackling longer reviews, features and interviews over there. For those of you still checking in here, stay tuned! :-)