Happy Birthday To Me!

So… it’s my birthday! Whoo! Today, I turn the ripe old age of 37. That means I’m over halfway to retirement age. Seems crazy, that.

Honestly, I’m surprised at how good I’m feeling. After all the things that made the end of last year so hard, I wasn’t expecting to be feeling this good any time soon. I’m sure the rough times haven’t passed entirely, of course, but I’m at least willing to enjoy the good moments as they roll in.

Anyway, somehow, my birthday seems to have ended up with a theme this year. In fact, in a very Seasame Street turn of events, my birthday is bought to you today by the letter M. By that, I mean all the presents I’ve received can be categorized by a word beginning with ‘M’. Let’s have a look.

M is for Manga

I got the hardcover collected edition of Abara by Tsutomu Nihei. Now, I’ve not read his more famous works, Blame!, Biomega, or Knights of Sidonia. I do, however, remember reading his Wolverine: Snikt! series back when it was released. I enjoy the cyberpunk style of his work, and the concept of this one – creatures who can shape bone-like armour and weapons around themselves – sounds really cool. That it’s a complete collection in one book makes it even better.

M is for Magic

When it comes to magic, I’m on a big Constantine kick. I didn’t mind the Keanu Reeves film, but I will say that part of that is likely due to not being familiar with the source material. Even enjoying that though, I thought that the TV series was superior. Now, I have the complete collection of the series on the way. Until then though, I have these two to be getting on with. City of Demons is the Constantine focussed part of the recent DC animated universe. It looks both dark and fun. Then, there’s John Constantine: Hellblazer Volume 1. This is a collected edition of the first couple of issues of the recent Hellblazer revival. Now, said comic series was cut short due to the pandemic, but who knows, maybe it’ll return when we’re through it. For now, though, I figured the new release was a good jumping on point.

M is for Monsters

I’m a big fan of monster movies. When it comes to monsters, Godzilla is pretty much a classic. So, after enjoying Kong: Skull Island, I’m glad to finally have the chance to see both Godzilla and King of the Monsters. Honestly, from the clips I’ve seen, I’m expecting to enjoy both. Finally, we have Bite, a 2015 body horror film. I hear it has some similarities with The Fly, which is one of my favourites, so I’m hopeful that the effects at least will be great fun.

 

And that’s it for now. Seems like a pretty good haul to me though! So, here’s to it being a pretty damn good day, and may many more come after.