Project PARRAFIN
Project PARAFFIN begins upon the morrow, ready or not. The dark bastard is confident, regarding failure as inevitable. For this I thank him, as spite will serve as an additional motivation. My thanks infuriate him to no end, but he's no one to blame but himself, for he understands as well as I do that by tempting Mankind Old Scratch serves the Lord's purpose, & should have known enough not to be similarly ensnared. I've been waiting for tomorrow my whole life. It's finally here. I'm terrified. I'm excited. I might throw up. I do this for myself. I do this to spite myself. I do this for her.

Grow or die.

The Queue
On the flights to & from Ireland, I supplemented Hellboy: The Companion with a pair of issues of The Economist. Sweet fancy Moses, I love The Economist!

Recently
Tiziano Sclavi, et al., The Dylan Dog Case Files
Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin In the Land of the Soviets & Cigars of the Pharaoh
Stephen Weiner, Jason Hall, & Victoria Blake, illustrated by Mike Mignola, et al., Hellboy: The Companion

Currently
Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin: The Calculus Affair, The Red Sea Sharks, & Tintin in Tibet
Henry Mazzeo, ed., & Edward Gorey, illustrator, Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural

Presently
Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714, & Tintin and the Picaros
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines
David Ignatius, Body of Lies
Len Deighton, City of Gold

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Bill Conti, "Gonna Fly Now" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Gonna Fly Now" is, of course, the theme song from Rocky.

Montag, 30 Januar
Fountains of Wayne, "Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim" from Traffic and Weather (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Michael and Heather may never get home again."

Sonntag, 29 Januar
Flogging Molly, "Selfish Man" from Swagger (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The soundtrack to Irish pubs, at least in Dublin's city center, is American pop music, the same as you'd heard on any oldies or Top 40 station. At last, we thought we'd found an Irish pub playing Irish music, but I had to play the party pooper by pointing out that Flogging Molly is an American band.

"Propelled through all this madness
By your beauty and my sadness,
I'll never change or rearrange
'Til I've finished what I've started."

Samstag, 28 Januar
Katiä, "The Minstrel Boy" from Can't Stop the Love Sled (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never be sung in slavery."

Freitag, 27 Januar
Boots Randolph, "Yakety Sax" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Yakety Sax" is the perfect music to play over the scene of a mob of irate Irishmen chasing a trio of Americans who have just devoured—literally eaten—the Book of Kells.

Donnerstag, 26 Januar
Mick Maloney, "There Were Roses" from Green Linnet Records: The Twentieth Anniversary Collection (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: An Irish debater took exception to my, as an American, discussion of recent Irish history. Nevermind the fact that at least half of the debate motions specifically mentioned the United States. So, they can speak about our history & our politics, but we cannot speak about their history & their politics? This must the European broadmindedness I've heard so much about.

"So my song for you this evening, it's not to make you sad,
Nor for adding to the sorrows of our troubled northern land…"

Mittwoch, 25 Januar
Tim Lyons, "Humours of Whiskey" from Green Linnet Records: The Twentieth Anniversary Collection (T.L.A.M.)

Dienstag, 24 Januar
Mu330, "Ireland" from Crab Rangoon (T.L.A.M.)