It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end. Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service For the first time since 2013, the Harrisburg Senators were in the Eastern League postseason. In 2013, I attended two postseason games in Harrisburg — the clinching game of the first round, … Continue reading Summer’s End in Harrisburg
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.
Apologies to Simon and Garfunkel. This week marks the annual Dallastown Fair. Having nothing to do last night, after eating dinner, I walked into town and went to the fair. It was every bit as unenthralling as I remembered. A midway of carnival rides and games. Food stands by local restaurants and churches. Farm equipment. … Continue reading Are You Going to Dallastown Fair?
Over the weekend at San Diego Comic Con, two new Star Trek trailers debuted. While I’ve worked in the comics industry for over twelve years, I’ve not had the pleasure — or misfortune — of attending San Diego. First up, the trailer for Star Trek: Picard, the CBS All Access series about Jean-Luc Picard, with … Continue reading Two New Star Trek Trailers
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
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