motion through the goings

Alright, so I will not be attending next month's NYC comic con. I just could not raise the busfare to and fro quickly enough, although all else was covered. A shame, as there were several persons I was truly looking forward to meeting in person, though undoubtedly there will be other occasions to do so.
On a good note, I am using some of the cash to order copies of certain books with my name on them, before they find themselves out of circulation. I am eager for those books to sit on my shelf.

The voting for this year's Friends of Lulu Awards is officially over, and it may well be the last. I would love to see the organization continue beyond year's end, with or without me, but the situation looks completely hopeless. As it were, it has been a source of pride to be at all connected to the group these past few months, even if my ultimate roll was rather small.

Reading lists...I have wanted for awhile to at least mention the volume of volumes I've been speeding through, short of doing full book reviews (beit here or at poplitiko). I mentioned Jon Krakauer's Under The Banner Of Heaven not too long ago. Just prior to that I read Krakauer's excellent Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey Of Pat Tillman. Since then I have read Scott McCloud's Making Comics (inspirational, as ever), followed by Dark Horse's Eisner/Miller (two industry vets piping on for more than 350 pages about the history and politics of the medium...each placating the other, I think). I am currently a third of the way into Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay (presumptuously well-written). Afterwords I'd like another crack at Milton's Paradise Lost. It's been a few years. All of these are research, incidentally.

Nothing new worth sharing on the creative front, except I am dangerously close to finishing an obscenely wordy essay on the history (primarily behind the scenes) of one of Steve Ditko's creations. I am tempted to see if Rob Imes would be up for publishing it in his fantastic fanzine, Ditkomania!, although I feel guilty at not having been in the position to renew my own subscription for a spell. What's the etiquette on that kinda thing? And what means etiquette to an Objectivist?