Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Stern Comics and Winter Beer

This is the last week Howard Stern will be on terrestrial radio, and mornings simply will not be the same. You can’t really escape Stern anywhere in the media right now, he’s on the late night talk shows, 60 Minutes and tonight he will be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It is even harder to ignore him here in the NJ/NY area. I’ve been listening for the past 10 or 15 years, and through most of those years, he and his crew have made me laugh. When Opie and Anthony came on the NY radio scene in 1998, I became an instant fan of their show and enjoyed it more than Stern, they were more entertaining and you felt more a part of the show. Still, during my morning commute, Stern would be on the radio. Granted, for the past year or so, he’s been a little more self-absorbed than usual, but funny at times. I really loved the show he had on local NJ channel 9, out of Secaucus, NJ.* I really enjoyed his book and movie, Private Parts, and I remember an old friend had the Butt-Bongo fiesta video. So with this Friday as his last day on 92.3 KROCK, I will be a little sad. However, when I get a new car, hopefully next year, I’ll be getting XM so I can listen to O&A and Ron and Fez.

In other news, last weekend we had the first big snow of the season. As big as the storm was, I didn’t get the sense that the local media was going as apocalyptic as they usually do for these storms. Still, with a driveway that is about 125’ x 10’, I spent a lot of Friday shoveling so I got more of a taste of the snow than I ever did living in the old townhouse.

Some comics-related linkage...

Forbes recently ran a piece on the Fictional Fifteen Richest people. As a follow-up, they recently did a very clever article on the rivalry between Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne.

As is usual in the middle of the month, DC Comics tells us what they are publishing in three months/March. In addition/as a result of the Infinite Crisis, they are pushing storylines ahead one year. Most notable on this list is the writer of both Batman and Detective Comics: James Robinson. His Starman is considered one of the best 90’s superhero books, I absolutely loved what he did with the JSA in The Golden Age mini-series and he helped to revive that group’s ongoing series, as well as Hawkman’s ongoing series. His film-making career, well that’s a different story. All that said, I’m really looking forward to what he does with Batman. I may also pick up the new Blue Beetle series, as well as Busiek’s first issue of Aquaman.

Lastly, with the Christmas season in full swing, I was very happy to have my first bottle of Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig beer over the weekend. This beer is one of my favorite things about the Christmas season. I also love Harpoon’s Winter Warmer; however, Harpoon’s is easier to get. The only way to get the Old Fezziwig is through the Winter Classics Mix Pack. Mmm… Beer.

*I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit I attended a taping of the old Richard Bey show there, just about anyone in the NY/NJ area will remember that trash-a-thon of a show.

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