I'll point out, for y'all to do with as you will, that the redbud is apparently also called the Judas Tree.

Here's the best I've got so far, although my telephoto lens arrived this evening and there's a redbud up the hill on Spicewood Springs that I've got my eye on, OH YES...

Hopefully this will give you some sense I've why these trees are so eye-catching as you drive through the mostly green streets of Austin:

  9:48:57 PM  (comments [])   

I seem to be on combined Warren Ellis and Alan Moore kicks. Transmetropolitan was deeply satisfying (thanks to Dylan for lending me the last few issues, since it hasn't quite all come out in trade paperback form yet). I then went on to devour The Authority, and just a few weeks ago, the run of Stormwatch by Ellis that leads into The Authority. What I like about the latter two series is that they deal with "how does superhero power interact with political and military power?" What I don't like so much is that the world they take place in frays around the edges when you look to closely: where the hell do all these politically-run superteams come from? And why don't they get exercised more often?

Still.

My absolute drop-dead favorite Ellis (although it's a close race with Transmet) is Planetary, which wanders all along the archeology of superhero dreams through the century. Unfortunately, issue #19 seems to be missing in action; I've got my fingers crossed.

On the Alan Moore front, I just didn't like From Hell that much (although I have a deep fondness for the movie). But I just read volume 2 of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and enjoyed it even more than volume 1. (The movie wasted such potential.) I also read book 4 of Promethea, which has some voice issues (is it cynical and modern? is it kaballistic and eschatogical?) but remains trippytastic. Where else do you take an illustrated journey through the Tree of Life and the Tarot while fighting crime!?  9:40:17 PM  (comments [])