Yesterday morning I had to run an errand in downtown York. The local Democratic Party office offered a virtual inauguration package — a party bag of two bottles of sparkling cider, plastic glasses, buttons, flags, and other stuff — with a donation, and I thought that sounded cool, so I ordered one, which necessitated a … Continue reading An Abandoned Church
Author: Allyn
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
Even on Skaro or Mondas, the drunk tank of local constabulary is no place to be on Christmas Eve, even when the choir is singing “Galway Bay”…
This week, a podcast I’ve listened to since (at least) 2008 drew to an end — Tuesday saw the release of the final episode of BBC Radio Scotland’s Scotland Introducing podcast. Every other week, deejay and writer Vic Galloway would play four tracks from unsigned Scottish bands. Some of the music was to my taste. … Continue reading A Favorite Podcast Ends
With the affiliated minor league baseball season cancelled — and, in Pennsylvania, the unaffiliated season, too — my local baseball teams have been having non-baseball activities, including movie nights on the weekends. Sit in the outfield, socially distance, watch a film on the video board. I’ve not done one of these, though I was mildly … Continue reading The Sandlot
I took a brief walk this afternoon. An urgent project — a “red ball,” to use the parlance of Homicide: Life on the Streets — landed on my (virtual) desk this morning. After three hours on the project, I had a video conference call, and after that another hour of work on the red ball. … Continue reading An Afternoon Walk
Yesterday afternoon, since it was sunny and nice, I decided to go for a drive into Lancaster County and check out a cemetery. My great-great-great-grandparents are buried at the Millersville Mennonite Church, about twenty-five miles away, which is closer than Diamond’s offices, but I’ve never gone to look for myself. The reason? Lancaster isn’t far … Continue reading Exploring Cemeteries in Lancaster County
For the Fourth of July, I drove down to Baltimore to visit the cemeteries and leave flags.
A couple of pictures from the last few days. Nothing terribly exciting, and in these days, “nothing terribly exciting” is just fine by me.
Last night I listened to a baseball game on the “radio.” Radio goes in quotes. It was Internet streaming audio, but for all intents and purposes, it was a radio broadcast, complete with ads for local business. With the COVID pandemic raging unchecked across the United States, most baseball leagues have cancelled their seasons. Major … Continue reading Baseball on the Radio
A few days ago I decided I just had to tackle the piles of graphic novels sitting on my living room table. I have reluctantly concluded I must go out and buy another bookcase; the question then will be, where will it go? One of the graphic novels among the piles was Batman: Gotham by … Continue reading The Calculus of Future Comics Purchases
The last few days, I’ve seen my friends talk about an upcoming film debuting on Netflix this September, Enola Holmes, based on a series of young adult novels by Nancy Springer, starring Millie Bobbi Brown (Stranger Things) as the titular character and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) as her older brother, Sherlock Holmes. Among the … Continue reading Some Enola Holmes Thoughts
Before the world went into its COVID-imposed lockdown, I discovered, quite by chance, while reading about Mary Ann Hall, that a photograph of my great-great-grandfather’s gravesite in Washington, DC’s Congressional Cemetery is on Wikipedia. No one but me would care that, in the background of the photo, is the gravesite of William Gardner, but it’s … Continue reading The Grave of a 19th-Century Astronomer