I think we are gonna be friends

I just finished Flink by the insurmountable Doug Tennapel, one of the greatest graphic novelists of all time. He’s one of the few authors (or creators in general, really) where I can just pick up his stuff and just know I’m absolutely going to love it. I own 6 of his graphic novels, all of them masterpieces, but my absolute favorite has to be Earthboy Jacobus.  It’s about alternate universes and falling in love with comatos girls. But it’s also very much about what it means to be a father and what it means to grow up. Tennapel has an uncanny ability to wrap up really insightful views of humanity inside a blanket of weirdness and fantasy.

I’ve also recently become an addict to NPR podcasts. I know, I know… Just call me Mr. Johnny-Come-Lately. But, yesterday’s episode of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me had me cracking up so bad I was literally in tears. And last week’s episode of This American Life was truely captivating. And I’ve also become a bit of a Garrison Keiler fanboy. I not only love the News From Lake Wobegone, but I’m also really into The Writer’s Almanac. It’s both really interesting and inspiring. Indeed, I even wrote that poem the other day after having listened to an episode.

On another note, I just found out that the new movie, Wanted, was directed by the guy who did the Nightwatch movies, which are the best thing to come out of Russia since Dostoyevski (okay, maybe that’s going a bit too far). But they are extremely entertaining movies. I had no idea. I, personally, thought the comic book was a bit mediocre (much like the rest of Mark Miller’s work) and Angelina Jolie is so thin in the previews she actually scares me a little (Seriously, it looks like her hair comprises half her body weight). But the movie’s got this awesome director and it’s 73% at Rotten Tomatoes (which is really darned good for an action movie, an action comic book movie.) So now I have to see it. Dang Summer season and your constant array of must see movies.

This is a very good summer for movie watching.