"Post No. 657"

Had today off and was extremely busy. My wife and aunt went to set up at a craft show some 40 miles away, so I filled my day with just, a lotta stuff.

It was doing anything to keep myself going after a fitful night trying to sleep. I have this problem with leg cramps and have tried every remedy I can think of, and last night was one of the worst. I finally got up out of bed and tried sleeping on the couch just to keep from waking my wife from my legs jerking constantly, and the last time I looked at a clock it was around 3AM.

Then her alarm went off at 5:30AM, waking me as well, and I was up for the day.

Trying to get awake the first thing I did as I ate a bit of breakfast and drank my coffee, was to watch a DVD I'd acquired of "Batman and Robin", the last of the four Batman movies made before the Christian Bale ones. This one, of course, starred George Clooney as "the caped crusader", Chris O'Donnell as "Robin", Alicia Silverstone as "Batgirl", Uma Thurman as "Poison Ivy" and Arnold Schwarzennegger as "Mr. Freeze".You would think with such an all-star cast as this that the movie would really be good, but I'd seen it before; at the theatre actually I believe, and always thought it a bit too campish, but so much better than the over-acted "Batman Forever" with Val Kilmer, Jim Carey and Tommy Lee Jones.

The problem with the older Batman flicks was that they started out very well. In fact, when I first viewed the 1989 version, I thought it to be the best adaptation of a comic book character to the screen. Although I still enjoy that flick, I don't feel that way in the over-all picture of more sophisticated super-flicks produced since that time, but it was probably the best up until then.

The flick wasn't too bad. Not quite as campy as I remembered, but still, pretty bad. I can see why there wasn't another made for several years of the character until someone came along and tried to produce a more darker, intelligent version of Bats.

After the flick ended, I went down to the local flea markets and looked for some deals. Found a few, such as 4 different DVDs for $10 which included the Val Kilmer/Michael Douglas film, "The Ghost in the Darkness" (a fair remake of the old "Bwana Devil" flick), the 2003 version of "The Hulk", the original version of "The Punisher", and the third "X-men" movie. The seller also had a copy of "Blade: Trinity" of which I passed on as I've never been much of a fan of that Marvel hero and always considered him as just a secondary plot of Tomb of Dracula, but it seems he must had had some fan following as there was three films made of him.

At the second flea market I ran into my old friend, Mala Shaw, doing one of two set ups a year at that market. Mala had several comics but the only one I saw that was in my price range and really interested me as a copy of the 1967 Charlton Judomaster #97. Really, the secondary feature in that title interested me more, which is "Sarge Steel".

Another set up had a stack of nine comics that the seller wanted .50 each for so I took them all. The best of the lot was a Marvel Spotlight #7, the third bronze age app. of "The Ghost Rider" w/Mike Ploog artwork. Others included Whitman versions of Superman 330 & 333, a Whitman UFO & Outer Space 16, a Captain Carrot 1, a D.C. Special 23 (with Russ Heath and Lee Elias reprints), a Luke Cage Hero for Hire 4 (with Graham art), and two issues of DC's Mystery In Space title (when they revivied it for a short time in the 1980's), #'s 114 & 116. The MIS had some nice artwork. Both had Ditko, Von Eeden, and Craig. The 114 had a Joe Kubert cover, and the 116 has, (I think), a Jim Starlin one.

Back to the house I started trying to catch up on housework. Cleaning the litter box, washing dishes, laundry, emptying garbage, etc., etc. Even vacuuming the carpet in 5 different room, plus making the bed, etc., etc. (Such druggery.)

I had a couple of "fix-it" jobs such as repairing the dryer exhast hose and replacing an outside bulb, then I went and got perscriptions for mom, went to the grocery and got something for my lunches at work. Came home to be there when a friend came by to borrow a price guide. Later I went out to the brush pile and brought another big load of limbs down to the sidewalk for the city to pick up and mulch. The day was been extremely full for me. Perhaps I'll sleep better tonight.