Finished Books

I have finished 3 books: Sacred Book of the Werewolf, Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told , and Sunset in Sunshine City. I got all three from the Greenwood library. Small, but whatever.

I had Sacred Book of the Werewolf on audio CD and listened to it on the way home. The story was interesting, but the book was a little more existential than I like. But in this case, you couldn't really have one without the other. It was written by Viktor Pelevin. At first I didn't mind the readers voice, but I almost couldn't finish it because her voice was so grating by the end.

Last night, I just finished Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told last night. It is a collection of the "most important stories" told for Batman. (I didn't realize this was volume 1 until I went to that link.) It is super corny, but typical of the era. (I am watching TV and Tim Burton's Batman Returns just came on!) I actually liked it a lot, though some of the corniness was a bit too much for me. It definitely reaffirmed my love of Batman. I always feel silly when I tell people he is my favorite, but I think I might be in an actual minority. Sure people like Batman, but almost every time I tell someone I like Batman best, they tell me they like Spiderman best. But as a pointed out to Abe, Batman is better because he CHOSE to be a super hero. Spiderman is just some dumb kid who accidentally got bit by a radioactive spider. And then he was cool enough to get a girlfriend, which is when I realized that was why all the dorky guys I talked to laughed and said they like Spiderman better. I bet most people's favorite superhero is the one they most closely identify with, consciously or not.

Anyways, I also read Will Eisner's Sunset in Sunshine City, a collection of graphic stories. He is very good at layout. Most of the stories didn't really grab me, but I did certainly enjoy them all. For some reason, I can't find a link to this book and it is one of his more famous ones. Hmph. Maybe I have the title wrong?

I have also started reading Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art. This book is very interesting. Will was a great writer, I think. He sounds so smart and eloquent, which I didn't expect in a graphic novelists writing. But I didn't expect it because he spent so much time creating amazing stories through illustration. Just because you can tell a good story does not mean you can write. The book also has a lot of great illustrations. Comics to help make the point. Having little marks to point out what they are talking about and why he chose the things he did really impresses me. I am quite enjoying the book.

Soon, I should also finish Golden Compass. I am really enjoying it. I just get so busy. Maybe this weekend since my brother backed out and is not coming down to watch Harry Potter. I guess I will just go watch that by myself or with Abe.

Also, Abe sent me a link to this site: notalwaysright.com. OMG. I seriously laughed myself sick at this one and this one. I think anyone who has any remembrance of working in customer service will enjoy that blog.

In craft news, I am slowly working on the latest Rockin' Sock Club kit, but I am not enjoying it. This is my least favorite of the kits, both the color and pattern. Though at least I figured out how to do the cable without rearranging the order of the stitches. I am also spinning up some great Corridale from Spunky Eclectic and the color is...and no I am not kidding...Monkey Farts! It was the color of the month so it was on sale. I love it. The fiber and color is great. I will post pics someday.

And for the drawing class, we went over shadowing and hands last Saturday. Hands are frick frackin' hard. And his only advice was to just keep trying. Draw a lot of hands. If I didn't have as much drawing experience as I do, I would have found that very frustrating. But I did learn how to draw better people already because I got to watch him draw a person on paper. And paid attention. Just watching that was worth the whole class. I think that one piece of learning will make the people I draw so much better.

Edited: So it is called the Will Eisner Reader, not Sunset in Sunshine City, which is just a story in the book. I guess that would explain why I couldn't find it.