Nothing of consequence

[ealgylden]

For the past couple of weeks I've been feeling like I'm on the edge of coming down with something, but I never seem to actually end up sick. It's really annoying. I'd rather just get it over with, because the way things are now, I have no energy for accomplishing anything, but I'm not quite sick enough not to feel guilty about just lying around, catching up with my comics. I mean, that's exactly what I'm doing, of course, but I feel guilty about it. One of these days I need to write up my Helen thoughts from last week's JoA, but not until there's a chance I might do her justice. Oh well, it's not really time-sensitive. Happily CBS has picked up the show for the rest of the season (along with Cold Case and Navy NCIS), so hopefully we'll get to see what Barbara Hall and co. are working toward. Oh, and Time Magazine mostly likes it, so that's nice.


User name meme nicked from castalianspring and kathlaw and quizzie from sffan:

Copy this paragraph to your LJ after answering the question. What is the story behind your LJ username? How did you come up with it?

Ealgylden is an OE word meaning (pretty literally) "all covered in gold." It's used in a couple of the surviving OE poems, including, of course, Beowulf. Not that I'm obsessed or anything. *g* It's not an adjective usually applied to people- in Beowulf it's used to describe some helmets and a standard. But I like the sound of it, so why not? And red hair and freckles is a little like gold metalwork, no? Okay, no, but I still like it.



I am Dr. Herbert West, from "Reanimator."
I'm right. You're wrong.

Which Random Cult Movie Character are you?
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Ha! Oh dear. On the one hand, yay Lovecraft! Sort of. On the other hand... oh dear.


Speaking of the undead, quick comic rec before I head back to my cozy nest on the couch. Long, long ago, I did some cheerleading here for a truly wonderful miniseries called Hawaiian Dick. I just reread it and it's even more fun than I'd remembered, so here's another good word for it. It's a tropical noir set in Oahu in 1953, with all the right elements in place: a laconic PI with a mysterious past, a deeply creepy bad guy, pretty girls with snappy personalities, and an assortment of sidekicks, cops and skeezy informants, plus setting-specific goodies like some very cool ghost warriors called the Marchers. And zombies. Can't forget the zombies. The writing (by B. Clay Moore) is clever, creepy, and captures the tone of the genre beautifully without seeming like a pastiche, and the art (by newcomer Steven Griffin) is really attractive and features some of the best coloring I've seen in ages. I have mixed feelings about trade paperbacks that have tons of extras- I don't like feeling that I have to buy a series twice to get everything, but at the same time, the extras often help make the cost worthwhile, collect hard-to-get strips and short works, and are a lot of fun. In the case of Hawaiian Dick, the collected edition really is worth it. We get a short story about Byrd and Mo's first meeting during WWII, all of the online strips, character sketches, pinups, cover galleries including the used covers in various permutations, a bunch of unused designs, and a couple of promo designs, a couple of short essays on the series, and tropical drink recipes, illustrated with a little glimpse at Byrd's lousy love life. Very, very cool. Supposedly we'll be getting a second Hawaiian Dick mini this winter. I can hardly wait.

Comments

[mrkinch.livejournal.com]

1953? really? I'd assumed it was earlier. I moved there in '52, though of course I a bit young for noir.*g* I considered 'Hawaiian Dick' on a nostalgia ticket but passed, though Ernst may have bought it. Might take a look at Comic Relief tomorrow.

Man, all I can see for myself this week is a couple of X-books. Fifth week and all that.

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

It's worth a look, definitely, even if you decide it isn't your thing. I loved it, but I'm a sucker for noir in general, and Clay has a great ear for it. And Steven Griffin was a real find. It's a cut above Image's usual (Age of Bronze excepted, as always).

I was a huge X-book addict until the whole Onslaught thing, at which point the indies (and manga) won me away. It was the last of many straws. And then Marvel rebooted everything and so much of the stuff I knew doesn't apply anymore... but I still have all my old comics. I can't bring myself to get rid of them just yet, no matter how much I need the space.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Ealgylden is an OE word meaning (pretty literally) "all covered in gold." It's used in a couple of the surviving OE poems, including, of course, Beowulf. Not that I'm obsessed or anything. *g* It's not an adjective usually applied to people- in Beowulf it's used to describe some helmets and a standard. But I like the sound of it, so why not? And red hair and freckles is a little like gold metalwork, no? Okay, no, but I still like it.

Cool! I've often wondered what your name meant. Btw, how would you pronounce such a thing? I'm not up on the Old English.

I hope you don't end up getting sick again, so soon after the Martian Death Flu.

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

Hm. The first -e is long, which makes it sound like long A in modern English, and the -al ends up sounding more like -ehl, so it's a bit like a-ehl-gilden with a long A, or almost ale-gilden. Sorta. I'm really bad at typing pronunciations, obviously. ;) Somewhere I have my notes from first year OE class- I should dig those up and see how my prof wrote this stuff out.

I hope you don't end up getting sick again, so soon after the Martian Death Flu.

Thanks. You and me both. Part of the problem is that it hasn't stopped raining in ages, and my house is really old and drafty. The last time we saw the sun for more than five minutes was about two weeks ago. The cats are growing moss. I wish there were some way to ship this weather out to California or something. They could use it more than us at this point.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! That's kinda close to what I'd been guessing. I like it. Very pretty.

Wow, what icky weather. I'd trade you as well, as it might cool things off down here. We keep having weather mood swings. One day it's in the 50s, the next in the 80s. I want real autumn!

[kathlaw.livejournal.com]

But I like the sound of it, so why not?

Ah-ha! Then I was close in how I figured it was pronounced, given it has to be eal gyl-den as in gilt. (Go me!) But is it eel or ee-al-gylden?

I should have guessed it's origin. :-)

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

Hee, go you! That's the great thing about OE- once you know how to pronounce it, an awful lot of words sound like enough like modern English than you can take a good stab at their meaning (more so than with Middle English, IMO, but I think that may just be me). It's more like ee-al-gylden, except that the first -e is long, which makes it sound like (modern) long A. So it's sorta a-ehl-gilden, or almost ale-gilden. I never know how to type pronunciations. Oh well.

I'm so obsessed at this point, I don't even notice how obsessed I am. That's pretty sad. ;)

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

It's good news for JoA, but Cold Case? Eeeh... why can't CBS just import Cold Squad and play it instead?

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

Great icon. Exactly how I feel. I just can't get into Cold Case, and I don't really see the point considering that I already watched this show, only better, for several years. But CC is Bruckheimer and CBS owes him their first born, so the knock-off gets renewed. I'm not really surprised.