Home Again, Home Again

Yeah, I've probably used that title before, but we're back in town after a long weekend in Kentucky horse country, where the stables are sometimes fancier than the houses to which they're attached. We were visiting relatives who have nothing whatsoever to do with horses. There's been a general realization that the United States is becoming more and more homogenized, but you can still often tell various parts of the country from other parts by the geography and the architecture. Certainly that stable (and racecourse) architecture doesn't really appear much outside of northeastern Kentucky. Although we only went two states away from Chicago, it did feel like we were somewhere else. Of course, there's no denying that pretty much everywhere has the same fast food restaurants and the same chain stores, but despite how it sometimes feels, there's more to a geographic area than its consumer outlets.

While I was at my mother's house, I came across some older papers and materials that I thought had long since been cleared out. My Orange Juice seven-inch of "What Presence?" was there, when I thought it was already in my singles collection. There were also a few stray comics that had gotten separated from the others some years ago. Tragically, I found one of my favorite Neal Adams covers, Batman #227 (which was itself an homage to Detective Comics #31), separated from the rest of the comic book. Oh, well. Live fast, die young. Now maybe I can frame it without putting a whole comic out of reach.

So what happened while I was gone? I haven't had a chance yet to check the news pages or other blogs to see if there have been any significant happenings in the last few days.