watchmen

here's the deal :

i'm a geek.

not to pigeonhole myself, but it's true. i'm a geek and i'm geekier than many who would profess such a thing. i'm an undercover geek: people think i'm more of a banker-looking guy, a coke-snorting frat boy. you can't tell from looking at me that i'm a C badass.

(you can't tell it from reading my code, either. heh.)

so occasionally, i head on over to slashdot. okay, not occasionally, damn near daily. and i stick my finger in the vibe and see which way the metaphor is blowing in the wind. i see what the "geek community" is up to. you know, the loudmouth posers. once in a while, a loudmouth non-poser pokes his head out of his prarie-dog hole and speaks up. it's not difficult to tell the two types of loudmouth apart.

look out, here comes the point: occasionally, the loudmouths suggest things. occasionally i follow those suggestions. nearly always, i end up happy.

i bought, watched, and loved "Akira" on slashdot's recommendation.

i uh... well, i'm sure there are other examples. i don't know what they are. hilariously enough i'm not a big fan of linux, but then, neither are the non-posers (necessarily).

so when i ran out of reading material for the crapper i turned to slashdot for advice, and ended up with the graphic novel "Watchmen". "Graphic novel" means "really long comic book." Now, because I was a geek long before it was cool, this is not my first graphic novel. Nossir, I read "Maus" when I was 12 or so. That was my first graphic novel, and it was top notch, on the level with any other "serious" novel I've ever read.

Watchmen is, of course, also top notch. In fact, I've done it the honor of promoting it from ShitterBook to ShitterAndBeforeBedBook, a rare distinction indeed.

I suspect it will be one of those books (you know, the "good" kind) where I'm sad when it's over.

But by then, my book on weightlifting will be here ;)