Time: 4 am PST. Location: My apartment Outside Temp (weather channel): 60 degrees Apt temp (based on discomfort level): 90. Inability to sleep? Guaran-damn-teed. So, guess what? I'm awake. Pdx (Portland, OR) finally cracks 90 degrees, first time all summer. In response, my apartment is surrounded my still unmoving air, which means the apt sits with only fans to help move it around. This wouldn't be so bad, but the 2 that I have are concentrated in the middle of the dinning living room to keep the slumbering 16 year old from burning up and catching fire. (cue Beavis) Writing this week, has been minimal minus scribbling down a few notes. The reading from has been slightly more productive, but not by much. Spent a bit more time just hanging with the nephew before we send him back east on Thursday. Reading Churchill, left him in the year 1934. Hitler's Chancellor or freshly appointed. Probably pick that back up this week. Reading Salvatore's Orc King, mostly after work. Reading now after all the events in the last 2 books in Transitions and the first book in the Neverwinter arc, I realize that this is Salvatore/Drizzt's most depressig book. Not because we start to see the mortality of Drizzt and his Companions, since (and I could be wrong) at least 3 of them have been "dead" once before and Wulfgar came back from the Abyss. More interestlngly it's the fact that Drizzt's small journal entries , for lack of a better description, dwell mostly on the loss of old friends and the struggle to retain hope. Perhaps showing the aging of it's creator, or the simple fact that as time goes on and things change, even our closest friends may not be able to join you on the entire journey. What did work this week was my comic book run on Friday: The Winners: Detective Comics #881 wraps up Snyder's arc starring James Gordon (Jim) and his return to Gotham. The best endcap to the Batman titles pre DCnU. Touches on the past, but lets you nod your head to Dick Grayson's run as Batman. The other two batbooks I read: Batman & Robin 26 and Batman 773 were a bit flat, although the artist , GREG TOCCHINI, on Batman and Robin was stellar. Ultimate Fallout over takes Fear Itself. By the end of fallout six, I was really jazzed to see what the new Ultimate Spiderman and universe will look like post Peter Parker kicking it. Fear Itself feels like it's still simmering , waiting to boil. Seems like an odd perspective since their are 7 "villians" running around with giant hammers of the gods smashing shit, but I keep hearing about the events in the tie in books being more enjoyable. However, 2 more issues might up the ante enough to call it a solid impact miniseries. Transfomers #23, the Chaos story which is overtaking Transformers for the rest of 2011, could become thee Transformers event. For longtime fans, it was a series that was telling more interesting stories in the comics that have been put out by IDW, but this could truly move the characters beyond their earth , Cybertron focus and push them in a new direction. I've rambled too long. Until next time...Snarky for Prez!