Blog Template Update for June

This is the latest monthly update to the left column of the blog, updating my favorite comics and TV for the previous month. The listings are alphabetical, not by rank of how much I liked them in comparison. My criteria for what makes the list is when I read them, not necessarily when they were published. This is basically also my own records of what I read/liked for the inevitable "End of Year" lists I feel like making.

As with May, it was a good month for comics. There was a fair amount of stuff that would have easily made a top 10 in a different month, including Elephantmen Pilot, two issues of Jack of Fables, Marvel Adventures Iron Man #2, Spirit #7, Strange Embrace #1, Walking Dead #38 and White Picket Fences #2. I didn't read quite as many graphic novels, but pretty much everything I read was really good.

May was a really good month for TV... June was a pretty suck month. I'm more on the "naysayer" vibe on The Sopranos finale (though it wasn't unexpected that it would lack any kind of closure), Big Love is kind of boring me in its second season and Entourage, while still enjoyable, may have peaked with season two's Aquaman/Mandy Moore story. Although the season four opening episode was pretty good. Rescue Me and The 4400 are both shows I like, but don't love. Haven't watched Flight of the Conchords at HBO yet (although several critics I respect dug it, so I might have to give it a shot on HBO In-Demand), but I have been digging the hell out of John From Cincinnati. In fact, it's easily my favorite show of the moment. I still miss Deadwood and think it's unfortunate Milch and HBO couldn't give that show a season or two more to wrap on its own, but John From Cincinnati has an interesting cast, a weird vibe I like and that Milch-esque dialogue, along with HBO's stellar production values. Makes me want to check out some of Kem Nunn's novels, actually.

With TV being so lame, I've turned to DVD a bit more. I'm finally watching all of Freaks and Geeks, based on my love of Knocked Up, 40-Year-Old Virgin and Undeclared, and while I'm still not as gaga over it as many of its fans, it is a really enjoyable show. I also got the complete Kitchen Confidential, and I think Fox was too quick on the trigger on that one. Good cast, funny writing, unusual setting... it wasn't a great sitcom, but it was a solidly good one. That still only fills up 7 slots on the Top 10 TV this month, and there just aren't any more. The only other things I've watched have been stuff I've put on in the background in my office while I'm working, like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (three times so far, I love this movie), Serenity and Beverly Hills Cop I & II.

Didn't have a ton of new feeds this month, but I've gotten to the point where I've started unsubscribing from some of my feeds because I don't have time to read them all, so there probably won't be a lot added. But I was delighted to jump onto the LOLcats bandwagon by adding the "I Can Has Cheezburger?" feed, which provides a guaranteed unicorn chaser in lolcat form everyday (OK, that's about as much leet-speak as a 36-year-old man is allowed in a month, and I apologize). Also added a blogger who linked to me on Comic Pants and/or Inside Joke Theatre and then I found their stuff and liked it, Noetic Concordance and added the new RSS feed for comic artist Mike Wieringo. Also, I can't believe it took me so long to add The Savage Critic to my RSS feeds. It's one of my favorite reads each day, and I agree with about 90% of the reviews there.