Insomnia's a bitch

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Sean Phillips. Harkens back to my not entirely successful Year 10 Art major work. It presently occurs that I may have taken inspiration from "D&D" action figure Warduke.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Big Bright Burning Sun" by Loose Content (Australia). Timeless, driving indie rock with a perfectly imperfect lead vocal. Would love to hear it smashed out live in a buzzing pub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1voE2amcobY

LEAST WORST BLOCKBUSTER OF THE WEEK

Caught up with this, "Jurassic World Rebirth" and the 2025 "Superman" over the past seven days. Would rate each of them 6/10. Tied scores aside, "Tron: Ares" is the only one I'd consider rewatching.

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Playing: "Race For The Galaxy" [Steam]. RS2 and I are still enjoying the tabletop version, gradually adding the expansions and adopting the advanced rules. We're both now into the videogame as well.

Burnt fog

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Francesco Mobili. There's enough going on in the pic to arouse my curiosity. I'm a sucker for yarns where former friends reunite to solve the murder of an old chum  - even more so when the victim was a superhero.

SONG OF THE WEEK

The cover of "Wish You Were Here" by Korean girl group Fifty Fifty. The array of beautiful voices (the gal in the grey coat *slays*). The embellishments. Imagine if it kicked off a trend of K-poppers covering prog rockers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJYWz7gvKzM

Commended >>> "Lightning Fast" by Sushiboys (Japan). Also "Jol Leszek Ujra" by Nagy Bogi feat. Desh (Hungary). Great song, but how many female singers have we seen draped on horseback like this? Fact: My mate CM, a special-effects makeup wiz, once had to - non-toxically - paint a horse to resemble a zebra for a similar pop clip. 

SALMON BOX OF THE WEEK

DOCUFILM OF THE WEEK

And probably the year.

LEGO KIT OF THE WEEK

Also viewing: "Celts - The Untold Story", fortune-telling survival extravaganza "Battle Of Fates", T20 cricket World Cup, NRL pre-season trials. The All Stars games are on today, hooray!

Peri in peril

When I was a BMX kid, I was friends for a while with this wild dude - perpetually scruffy, rough with his bike, and didn't care about anything except big airs and powerslides. After he visited our place once to grab a cold drink, my mother told me privately he had the "dirtiest feet she'd ever seen". Anyway, to his credit, this guy just wasn't bothered by the small stuff. He had an unusual blue BMX that actually said "GMX" on the front. One time, another local kid tried to tease him, going, "That stands for GIRLS' Motocross!" As his pal, I immediately insisted it didn't, offering some alternate explanation. The wild dude, looking completely unphased, went, "No, it does," and rode off. Some people are just born cool.

Grass misrepresentation

While mowing the yard, I had a funny flashback to when I was in lad mags. A fellow subeditor was castigated for clumsily cutting/rejigging a reader-submitted sex story. I can still hear the ed's exasperated, "You've turned him into a premature ejaculator!"

Another exciting thing in my life, besides lawn care and daydreaming, is that I've grown a moustache. When I was 30, a beauty columnist advised me to shave off my then-mo' because, "It makes you look 40." Now I'm 50, I'm hoping that's still the case.

(Yes, of course I shaved it. She was a tall, attractive blonde with the bearing of an empress.)

It was Seul-ki all over again

"Sentenced To Be A Hero" reminds me of "Fullmetal Alchemist", "Suicide Squad", "Game Of Thrones" and other dark fantasies. Heinous criminals are magically forced into a servitude where they must fight for the religious-military state. If they refuse or mess up, their heads are blown off. They then get resurrected to continue fighting. But the more times this happens, the more chance their minds will become muddled and their memories lost. Protagonist Xilo is one such hero, with a hella-bad attitude, a shameful past the viewer instinctively knows wasn't his fault, and combat skills for days. As a result of a dubious deed by an offsider, he's reluctantly teamed with a cute li'l "goddess", Teoritta - essentially a living magic-generating weapon - and thrust into the forefront of the worldwide battle against demon lords and their "faerie" minions. A battle which might not be so black'n'white as it first appears, appropriately enough for a show stocked with noble crims, corrupt officials, thrill killers, kleptomaniacs, and all kinds of deception and manipulation. The weakest aspect for me is the generic enemies - faceless, voiceless, mutated animals and insects sporting brightly coloured bulbous growths. However, I gotta admit their demonic masters are way cooler in design, and that even the grunts are becoming slightly interesting as of Episode 5...which features a shocking plot development. The supporting cast of characters is well above average, with a personal favourite being a resurrection-scarred hero named Norgalle who thinks he's a king and is constantly making rousing speeches or issuing royal commands. Is "Sentenced" trying to say something about PTSD in soldiers? Or the effects of long-term incarceration? I'll have to ponder those questions further while I continue watching.

Nix the nexus

Vehicles I remember our family owning and a random recollection associated with each one - 

* Holden Kingswood - 'Twas light green, like a pale frog.

* Honda Scamp - Seemed to be always in the garage. Mechanical problems or maybe a "project car"? I was too young to know.

* Mini - Sister AC slammed the door on my thumb and ripped off the fingernail. At school, I would lift up the Band-Aid to gross out my classmates!

* Secondhand milk truck (signage removed) - Dunno the marque. Dodge? I discovered two magnets in the glovebox that I played with for months.

* Daihatsu twin-cab truck (custom canopy) - Had a beast of a sound system, with speakers in each door.

* Daihatsu Charade - We didn't own this very long, before Dad upgraded to...

* Daihatsu Charade (special-edition sportier model) - We put an incredible number of miles on this little pocket rocket.

* BMW 3 series - Mum's first car. Some dickhead crashed into the rear at an intersection. No-one was injured, luckily.

* Ford Laser - Her next car, and the vehicle in which I learnt to drive.

* Secondhand Porsche 928S - Dad's dream ride, bought as a gift to himself when he thought cancer might soon claim him (glad to say he survived many more years).

* Ford Falcon - Still going strong today!

Quantum jiggle physics

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By EM Gist. The sinister Egyptian-mummy vibe. (Different pose for a superhero!) The use of light and shadow. The glowing blue eyes.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Do You Know The Five Virtues?" by Leenalchi (Korea).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QuYb4ImSuw

Commended >>> "Wasting Time" by Kraftklub (Germany), "Glade Lords Of Athel Loren" by Power Paladin (Iceland).

BEST PHOTO OF A NOODLE BOWL I TOOK THIS WEEK

My fave kimchi ramyeon, sliced ham (take it from me and Ponyo), bean sprouts, unsalted peanuts, extra fried onion and garlic.