A Sunday Review

I confess that I spent most of this week watching the Olympics on the CBC. As you may know, my husband is a HUGE Olympics fan, and he's infected me with Olympic fever. I'm even reading Wallechinsky's big Olympic book cover to cover (all 1182 pages). Even with Olympic coverage on the CBC being considerably better than the multi-channel NBC coverage, it still wasn't constant, so I was able to watch a few TiVo'ed shows. TV this week:

• Ghost Hunters International: "Tortured Souls" - Ok, "footsteps" is not paranormal. There are too many noises that old buildings make that can be interpreted as footsteps by the human ear. So footsteps alone doesn't impress me as a haunting. On the other hand, the "quartz battery" theory is almost plausible. I still love to see the cool places they go to, and the history they dig up. I want my next house to be like that first castle, built into the side of a cliff with plenty of storage in back in the caves.
• Iron Chef America: "Flay vs Garces" - Ah, a brain freeze leftover. Well, you know I was just waiting to see if Flay loses. And since I try not to give spoilers, I won't give it away.
• History Detectives: "Black Tom Shell; USS Olympia Glass; Front Street Blockhouse" - I knew about Black Tom, but didn't realize the extent of it. The USS Olympia find was interesting, especially the final bit about the catalog. I wish Frankenhaus had a nice history like that blockhouse, maybe somebody would buy it then.
• Big Daddy's House: "Life's a Beach" - I love his description of free-range chicken: chicken that can go to the gym whenever they want to. Also: breakdancing hard-boiled eggs. Nice tip.
• Dinner: Impossible: "Escape to Alcatraz" - Ehm. Ok. Nothing special. I liked Robert better.
• Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: "Totally Unexpected" - I'd definitely go to that second place and try out the bison hash and pad thai. I'm not sure about the other two places, though meatball sliders sure sound good.
• Food Detectives: "Swallowing Gum" - What shouldn't be put in a microwave... grapes? Carrots? I've never seen Cool Hand Luke, so the 50 eggs thing was new to me. I already knew the answer to the gum question. And I don't eat ice, so the crystal clear ice cubes were useless to me.
• Ace of Cakes: "Pinball Wizard" - The pinball cake was nice, but the Diana cake was fantastic.
• Ghost Hunters International: "Dracula's Castle" - The first castle was a bit boring, and they mostly disproved stuff. I'm not sure what to make of the photography, but strange lights do not a haunting make. As for Dracula's Castle... that was actually pretty funny.

This was a very strong week for comic books. I'm glad I was able to get the comics in person, despite the annoying circumstances of being in town to get them. Comics this week:

• Conan the Cimmerian #2 - It's Conan, what else can I say? If you like Conan, you'll probably enjoy this.
• Spirit #20 - I think I should enjoy a story set in an aquarium more than this. It was ok, but nothing special.
• Justice League of America #24 - Zatanna shows some strength here. Not what I expected to happen, but very interesting way around the problem. Now, what's up with Vixen and Animal Man?
• Super Friends #6 - Ah, teamwork. And an Aquaman profile in this issue, too! I like how happy the Super Friends are. This book just makes me happy.
• PS238 #33 - Have I mentioned that I love this book? I really want to see how Tyler's story turns out, but I'm finally interested in Cecil's abilities as well.
• Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1 - Oh man! I've been mildly disappointed in the regular book, but THIS is what I expected when the comic was announced. This is Doctor Who comic book done right! More like this please!

Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews