going to Kansas City

I encountered several semi-random strangers today who said they wanted the Royals to lose this game so they could come back and win it in Kansas City instead and yes, discussing baseball with semi-random strangers is my life now. Any given person you encounter in the metro area is likely to have something to say about it.

I personally was in favor of winning as quickly as possible regardless of location but bringing the series back home is all right too. This is why we played for home field advantage at the end of the season, after all. The home crowd at Kauffman has a crazy way of loving and the Royals are going to want to get them some.

Wednesday reading — dreams and nightmares

What I've been reading

I read Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman's new book, which is very different from the other books of his that I have read, all of which feature pretty straightforward storytelling. This book, written in collaboration with his son for reasons which become evident, is attempting something more complicated and ambitious, and while I didn't always wholly enjoy it I definitely admired it?

I read George Washington is Cash Money: A No-Bullshit Guide to the United Myths of America, which is, obviously, Better Myths: America Edition. Like the regular mythology version, it is a lot of fun, although it does Johnny Appleseed without including the absolutely vital fact that the whole point of planting all those apple seeds everywhere was booze. You wouldn't want to eat apples from trees grown from seeds, because every time you plant an apple seed you are rolling the dice, only the dice have zillions of sides and most of them are shitty apples. This story, which for some reason we spent all kinds of time on in elementary school, is all about planning ahead so you can get drunk in the future, which is something that really should have gotten the Better Myths treatment.

I read The Sculptor, a longish graphic novel by Scott McCloud about a sculptor who makes a classic Faustian bargain: magical ability to sculpt anything in exchanged for a drastically reduced lifespan in which to use it. It's really great, full of these great little details that I really loved, except ( spoilers )

And this is still a book that I would say I really liked a lot. And yet.

I read The Sandman: Overture. Actually, I started trying to read it as it came out, but the publication dates kept slipping until I decided that I would be better off if I waited and read it all in one go. It definitely fulfilled my expectations in terms of feeling like it belonged with the rest of the story and also having the most amazing, jawdroppingly gorgeous art imaginable.