Just so you know, I've migrated to Tumblr.

http://shadoestar.tumblr.com/

See you there!

It started out as a day like any other. I was living in Boston and had gone back to school. I woke up around 7AM. Went though my usual, sleep-eyed routing of showering, getting dressed and grabbing a bagel that passed off as breakfast. On the way to class, I stopped by Newbury Comics and picked up Dream Theater's Live Scenes From New York and Slayer's God Hates Us All, both of which had just been released that day. I went straight to class afterwards. So far, nothing too out of the ordinary.

At the end of class, we were informed that the school was closing. A terrorist attack had occurred in New York. the World Trade Center had been hit by planed and the towers collapsed. It was freaked enough just to hear about it. Then I went to the school bookstore to buy my books. The TV in the store had been turned to the news and I got to see the footage myself. It was unreal.

I went back to my apartment and spent hours watching the news. Every network except Cartoon Network was either tuned to the news or gone dark that day. I eventually decided to go out for a walk, figuring it would be good to get away from the news for while and clear my head. Boston almost felt like a ghost town. Everything was closed and there was barely anybody walking the streets.

Those two CDs I just bought sat on top of my stereo for at least a week before I could bring myself to listen to them. They were both connected to the events that day in their own way. The title of that Slayer album seems pretty accurate all of a sudden. The version oh that live Dream Theater album I bought was the one with the original cover, consisting of several New York landmarks, including the Twin Towers, within a ball of fire. I still have that version with the original cover to this day. And no, I'm never gonna sell it, no matter how much money you offer me.

I got a call from my mom, checking in one me. She was working as a moderator for the elections that day. I was wondering if anybody was showing up to vote. She said that people were turning up, figuring that they weren't gonna let the terrorists keep them from voting
.
I woke up the following day expecting to find that the whole thing was just a bad dream. I turned on the TV and sadly discovered it wasn't.

On this day, let's try to forget all the jingoistic, Islamophobic, conspiracy-theory spouting crap that followed. Let's honor the people who lost their lives 10 years ago today and remember that all-too-brief period where everyone seemed to be civil to each other.

Okay, some updates! I survived Hurricane Irene two weeks ago without losing power. Or being subjected to a radio station playing "Rock You Like A Hurricane."

Been playing Dead Island the past week. I think I just killed Jason Voorhees in the jungle.

And a big comics haul this week:

Flashpoint #5
Justice League #1
Batgirl #1
Batman #1
Batman Inc. #8
Batwing #1
Hawk & Dove #1
Hack/Slash #7
Hack/Slash & Eva: Monster's Ball #3
Doctor Who Annual 2011
Grimm Fairy Tales, Vo. 10 TPB
Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths & Legends, Vol 1. TPB
Wonderland: House of Liddle TPB

Dear radio stations,

Please refrain from playing "Rock You Like A Hurricane" this weekend.

Thank you.

Went comic shopping today. I'm now the owner of:

Birds of Prey #14
Batman: Bruce Wayne-The Road Home
X-Men: Psyloche

Also, my copy of the 5CD & 3LP version of Megadeth's Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? arrived in the mail today. The CD's consist of a 2011 remaster of the original album, the 2004 remix and remaster, the Randy Burns mixes from the Combat Records version, a live show from 1987 and hi-res wav. audio files of the original album and concert. the 3LP's consist of the original album and the live show. I'll probably never listen to them, though, since I haven't owned a turntable since 1990. There's also a booklet with liner notes (Including an essay from Lars Ulrich) and photos. The only way this release could be any more complete would be if Dave Mustaine hand-delivered it to me. With a pizza.

I've only listened to the original album so far. It's nice to have the original mixes with improved sound. I've listened to bits of the 1987 concert. It's of bootleg quality. Not great, but I've heard worse. I guess that's to be expected, considering it was most likely a bootleg recording that was probably never intended to be released. I'm sure they cleaned it up to the best of their ability, but there's only so much you can do with a 24 year old cassette.

I also bought the new Yes album, Fly From Here, from iTunes. It's their first album in ten years and their first with new singer Benoit David. I'm only on my first listen, so I'm still forming my opinion. It's definitely an improvement over their previous album, Magnification, which I thought was pretty weak. Geoff Downes, who played keyboards on the Drama album plays on it. It's also produced by Trevor Horn, who sang on Drama. I guess that's why musically, it sounds like it came from some parallel universe where the Drama lineup recorded a second album.

I also got a new cell phone at long last. My old one was about six years old and falling apart, So a replacement was long overdue. It's an HTC Evo 4G which has considerably more bells and whistle than my old bare-bones phone. I've been having fun fooling around with it and figuring out how it works. Would you believe it has a flashlight? It wouldn't surprise me if it came with an electric shaver as well.