Listen with Xela

September 4, 2004

Well, this came out of nowhere. It's a mix cobbled together by John Xela for Boomkat, and apparently it's an exclusive because I've heard absolutely nothing about it elsewhere. I went ahead and got it on a lark, and it's pretty darn good.

For music geeks, the mix-tape (which I shall call it, regardless of medium) takes on a certain aura of history and reverence. Chances are, most of us have had a life-defining moment based on something somebody's cooler older brother or sister put on a tape for us…something that we'd never have been exposed to …

In case you hadn't heard, it's Colossus.

September 2, 2004

Just felt like I'd get that out of the way for the last three people on earth who haven't been reading Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-men. Not like I'm spoiling anything, since Marvel chose to run with a variant cover that splashes it right out there for everyone to see.

I grew up on the X-men, specifically Claremont's run in the mid-to-late '80s. The book was unlike anything out there, with a strong, well-developed cast of believable characters who just happened to live in the most unlikely of circumstances. They fit somewhere between the bland superhero comics …