Gaming

TAKE A TRIP into the past with me, back to the late 80s, when "revisionist superheroes" were on everyone's lips and Rick Veitch hadn't yet been censored by DC. Jamie Delano and Hellblazer were indicative of the "British Invasion"; he was writing books that were smarter, funnier and just plain better than pretty much any other mainstream comic of the time. It's now years later. Comics are adjuncts to movies and cartoons, and yet Hellblazer still doesn't suck.

I just downloaded 191-plus issues of Hellblazer and am slowly working my way through them. I don't have the interconnected issues of Swamp Thing, among others, but it's still pretty cool. I had read some of the Bad Blood mini-series, and having read the rest, find it delightful.

This brings me to another issue. If you download a Torrent, please seed it. Two hundred percent is the customary amount. My upload, at best, is 500k, and I know most cables and DSLs are about the same—just imagine how long it takes to upload a 500- or 1500mb file. If you care about encouraging other people to continue providing cool things to download, then the least you can do is not hit and run on a Torrent; stick around and seed it for other people.

I noticed a massive amount of Good Eats posts on Suprnova. While most people might not see the need to download cooking shows, I find Alton Brown amusing and informative. (Some people I know find him irritating. To each his own.) I've got about two or three seasons' worth on VCD, and every so often I'll pull one out to get some inspiration for what to cook. Digital Distraction, whose torrents are sometimes posted on Suprnova, also has some Food Network stuff, mostly Iron Chef. Don't know if they're subs or dubs though.

I've been following Tim Minear's work for a while, although at first I didn't know it. I was a Lois and Clark watcher. I'll admit it. I also watched The X-Files (which he wrote for). It wasn't until I started watching Angel that I knew who he was. A few months ago, I got the pilot for Wonderfalls, for which Minear serves as executive producer; it was originally released on some Buffy/Angel news and torrents site at least a year before its debut.

I won't lie to you and say Wonderfalls will give you a brand-new religion. It's a Twin Peaks/Northern Exposure grandchild, I guess, but in these days of mindless and embarrassing entertainment, it will lull you into a peaceful stupor. Caroline Dhavernas is easy on the eyes, which doesn't hurt. I just have to find out when the Wildfeeds are posted online.