The last four weeks have been heady days for the dark bastard, but those high (low) times are now at an end. To buck up is a decision. I apologize for holding The Secret Base hostage to my frailty.

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;"

The Explorers' Club
№ CCXCVIII - Neil Alden Armstrong (1930-2012), the first man to walk on the Moon.







Requiescat in pace.

The Queue
I am so very delighted to be back on Burroughs's Barsoom, a planet of constant danger, boundless heroism, &, to borrow the phrase from Warehouse 13, endless wonder! My very up-&-down experience with the year-plus-long "New Krypton" storyline is temporarily halted whilst I wait on a book to be returned to the library. I have a hold on Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, Vol. 1. The maxiseries Superman: World of New Krypton has thus far been the best part of the "New Krypton" saga, which I have a feeling is going to end on a sour note. I'm trying not to prejudge, but bitten experience has taught me to ignore my intuition at my peril.

Recently
Jim Clark, Jim Clark at the Wheel: The World Motor Racing Champion's Own Story
various writers & artists, Superman: The Coming of Atlas; Superman: New Krypton, Vols. 1-4; Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird, Vols. 1-2; Superman: Codename: Patriot; Supergirl: Friends & Fugitives; Superman: Mon-El, Vol. 1; Superman: Last Son; Superman: Escape from Bizarro World; & Superman: Reign of Doomsday
Steve Matchett, The Chariot Makers: Assembling the Perfect Formula 1 Car

Currently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars

Presently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars
various writers & artists, Superman For All Seasons; Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, Vols. 1-2; & Superman: War of the Supermen
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, The Arabian Nights ("Ali Bab & the Forty Thieves")
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Fastball, "Better Than It Was" from All the Pain Money Can Buy (T.L.A.M.)

Montag, 27 August
Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, & Gillian Welch, "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" from O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (T.L.A.M.)

Sonntag, 26 August
N.A.S.A., "Apollo 11 Excerpt 19" from The Apollo Missions (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: In memoriam Neil Armstrong. "Excerpt 19" contains Armstrong's immortal words, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for Mankind." We have lost one of Mankind's greatest heroes, a latter-day Argonaut. The world is a less spectacular place than it was on Friday last.