Meet Dave. Dave is an usher at Camden Yards. Dave was not the usher for my section when I attended Saturday night’s Orioles/Indians game — that was John, of whom I have no pictures — but I saw Dave several times during the game, as he left his water bottle near the handicapped seating in … Continue reading One Night at Camden Yards
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.
I keep a Rubik’s Cube on my desk at the office. It’s something I can fiddle with when I’m thinking. Sometimes I’ll even take it into meetings. A couple of turns here, a couple of turns there, and if I mess it up, there’s an online solution — You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube — … Continue reading Learning to Solve the Cube
I was in Harrisburg for a Senators baseball game. It was “Swords and Dragons Night” — Game of Thrones Night with the serial numbers filed inexpertly off — and they were playing the Bowie Baysox and Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman was making a rehab start. The game ended around sunset and, with the sky … Continue reading Harrisburg at Twilight
About six weeks ago, a voice in the back of my head started talking to me. I want to redo the website. Why? I want to redo the website. Seriously. Why? Are you not happy with the website? I want something new. Why? I want something new. Then I’d find myself looking at WordPress themes … Continue reading The Way My Brain Works
I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about Russia and the 2020 election, thoughts that are leading me to some chilling places. You may skip over this — “Oh, Allyn’s moaning about Russia again, and it’s all ‘Fake News’ anyway” — but that’s because you’ve never asked yourself the question: “What does Russia want?” … Continue reading Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election
I went to the Harrisburg Senators doubleheader yesterday — the Senators dropped both games, and there were fireworks after due to Memorial Day — and when I got home about eleven o’clock I had an… interesting email. I’ll share it with you now. Return-path: <k5@zavazingo.icu> Envelope-to: allyn@allyngibson.com Delivery-date: Mon, 27 May 2019 02:10:01 +0100 Received: … Continue reading An Email Extortion Attempt
Last week I received an email from The Who. Roger Daltrey is releasing an album next month, a symphonic version of The Who’s seminal album, Tommy, to mark the original album’s fiftieth anniversary. Confession time. I wouldn’t characterize myself as a huge fan of The Who. Yes, I have their entire studio discography, not to … Continue reading A New Symphonic Tommy
I missed this completely last week — Carlos Zambrano is staging a baseball comeback, signing a deal with the Chicago Dogs, an independent league team in the Chicago area, and hoping that he can remake himself into a useful reliever and get picked up by an MLB team. Zambrano was that fiercely talented, short tempered, … Continue reading Carlos Zambrano’s Return to Baseball
We will start with a ending, and end with a beginning, as Gandalf says in Rankin-Bass’ underrated yet weird animated adaptation of Return of the King. I went to a York Revolution baseball game last night and came home with a Ross Detwiler game-used jersey. The Revolution were having a Negro League Night. From the … Continue reading Negro League Night in York
Mike Pence and I have something in common. We both attended the now-defunct Christian rock festival Ichthus (“the Christian Woodstock” or some nonsense like that) in Kentucky and had significant experiences in our religious development there. For Pence, Ichthus was formative in becoming an evangelical Protestant. Pence was raised Catholic, his siblings remain Catholic to … Continue reading Losing My Religion
The Harrisburg Senators began their 2019 campaign on Thursday with an 8-4 victory over the Bowie Baysox. Friday night’s game was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday doubleheader. I had a ticket for Saturday’s night, one I bought the day individual tickets went on sale early in March. Now I was getting two games for … Continue reading A Day of Baseball in Harrisburg
Yesterday I learned a cousin designed Mr. Boh, the one-eyed, mustachioed mascot of National Bohemian Beer, better known in the Baltimore area as Natty Boh. His name was Donald Fenhagen. He was the PR director for the National Brewing Company and, in addition to Mr. Boh, he was part of the team that came up … Continue reading A Notable Relation and the Land of Pleasant Living