Jones, the author

Writer B. C. G. Jones is a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in something else. Maybe a waffle. But as such multiply wrapped persons go, he seems like an okay guy.

I suppose I'm acting as his unofficial publicist as of now. In that capacity I should point out that Jones has a page on QuarterReads now. Currently featured is the short story "I Contain Multitudes", about creatures we have inside our minds and a technology that allows you to bring those creatures out. You might say it's a bit of a crapshoot.

Amazon cruise

Has Wonder Woman ever quite been an iconic character on the level of Superman and Batman? Not really. There are a few reasons for that. Superhero comics were always a boy thing, even if now a lot of the boys who read them don't look so boyish. So a female hero is swimming upstream.

But there's also the fact that DC, in their finite wisdom, has aggressively rebranded the character every few years, at least in recent decades. So there's little to grab onto. Superman is a benevolent alien and Batman is a noble vigilante, but their identities extend beyond themselves as individuals. Superman as Clark Kent has the Daily Planet crew. Batman has Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. Wondy's supporting cast, by contrast, always seems to be subject to fire-at-will.

This, aside from Joshua Middleton's nicely etched artwork, is what I like about Convergence: Wonder Woman #1, Sure, the plot is a tie-in to one of those convoluted crossovers both of the majors do on a regular basis. But it's nice to see the old Wonder Woman with her old support system. Steve Trevor is back to being a glorious and absurd flyboy hero, now snuggling with Diana. Etta Candy, drawn to look a little like Beatrice Colen, who played her in the seventies TV show, is again her regular gal best friend, even after sorta joining a cult. (Etta's basically Wondy's Jimmy Olsen.)

Odd side-fact about Wonder Woman. Samuel Delany briefly wrote her comic. It was in the early seventies, the white jumpsuit era. From what I recall he only completed one issue before they changed editorial directions and he was let go. Still, some interesting times.

Linking not a compliment in this particular case

Okay so what annoys me about this article? Let me count the ways.

First off, if social scientists want to be taken seriously, they need to acknowledge that their gig is different from physical science. Some humility about final conclusions is needed in both, but much more so in social science. And coming to broad conclusions about decline in the ancient and modern worlds based on no more than a less-complete-than-you'd-like-to-think genome record is remarkably inane.

Second, the scientist appears to be kind of a quack, definitely one with an ax to grind, but he's taken seriously and treated as an authority here.

And last but not least, this article in short order attracted some world class jaw dropping racists. It may seem unfair to blame the Telegraph or Penman for this, but the comments are strangely in tune with the article itself.

Little feet

The lady downstairs from me has a cat. From the looks of things I'm pretty sure it's a male cat. The walls and ceilings/floors here are relatively solid, but sometimes late at night I think I can hear him pad about, if I'm in the right place. I like that, the fact that cats keep their own schedule, finding that four AM and twelve PM are equally good for sleeping, or hunting.

Expansive Friday Random Ten

What's is been, three days? I've gone through longer hiatuses, I guess. In this case I think I had some ideas for posts, but none of them made it out of my head. The action is brutal up there.

To make matters worse I may start a new blog on this service soon. Probably not that high a volume one, but who knows?

1. Sonic Youth - Hallowe'en
2. Dave Van Ronk - Samson and Delilah
3. Yo La Tengo - Watch Out For Me Ronnie
4. Sarah Vaughan - Baby Won't You Please Come Home
5. The Kinks - Afternoon Tea
6. The Who - Rael 1
7. Rasputina - Hunter's Kiss
8. Metric - Lost Kitten
9. Pink Martini - Ich Dich Liebe
10. Morphine - Buena

Just heard this

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. A British sibling band. I just heard about them yesterday when I read a review of a show they'd done in Boston. Figured I'd take a listen to some of their songs. Like this one. And it also shows that the oldest special effect in the book - shutting the camera off - still has some juice in it.

Down with the sickness

There's a difference in degree at least between eating something that disagrees with you and eating something that shouts down your every attempt to reason with it, seizes your wallet, and throws you down a flight of stairs. My Saturday morning was the result of the latter. I have a pretty firm idea of what the culprit was, so it's not something I plan to ingest again any time soon.