Monday, August 25, 2008

Welcome to my Brand Spanking New Blog!

Thanks, Joe Torcivia, for inspiring me to finally do this!

I first started NEWS AND VIEWS as a column in issue #2 of the Disney TV animation APA WTFB in 1992. I stuck with it until the mag's demise in 2003 but continued to keep my hand in with a regular column for Mark Arnold's Harvey fanzine THE HARVEYVILLE FUN TIMES!. When my wonderful wife Nicky inaugurated The BaratCave, our Barat family home page, in 2005, I started posting reviews there. All my reviews from 2005 to August 2008 are archived there in perpetuity. Starting NOW, however, they'll be posted right here!

What can you expect to find here? Reviews of Disney comics, first and foremost. I used to write regular letters of comment to the Disney comics letter columns but ultimately chafed at the space limitations. In this format, I can let myself go (um, did that come out right?). I'll also post reviews of books I've recently read (both related to comics and otherwise) and DVDs I've recently perused (I generally do the latter while walking on the treadmill, so it takes me a good while to slog through a multi-disc set). Any other posts related to sports, politics, work, etc. I will keep to a minimum, but I'll include appropriate links where appropriate. Outright ranting and conspiracy theorizing will be conspicuous by their absence. I am, however, generally at odds with the sociopolitical views of most of my colleagues in academia and fandom, so expect the occasional shot across the bow.

My teaching schedule this semester (which includes mentoring a pair of students doing independent research projects) is rough, but I hope to post on at least a weekly basis. Please be patient, especially during the early shakedown portion of the school year. Comments are welcome at any time.

Thanks for visiting!

3 comments:

Joe Torcivia said...

Welcome, Chris! You’ve gotta love this new age of easy-blogging. After all, if *I* could do it what’s to prevent anyone! Next thing you know, even William Van Horn will have a blog!

Naturally, yours will be a regular stop in my e-journeys. Sometimes, I wonder, how many people actually read these things? There are the Big-Time-Blogs like Mark Evanier’s. There are the Lively-Blogs, like Thad Komorowski’s, and there are Newbie Blogs like ours. “Bloggie-Come-Latelys”, if you will!

Is the blogosphere like cable and satellite TV, where there are far more channels than there could possibly be viewing time? I’d say so. Though, as it is with TV, there are only a very few channels among the many that matter to me – and I’ll stick to those.

Consider your blog one of “those”!

Anonymous said...

Chris:

How sad that the National Review is a favorite web site. Give me a good "Plastic Man" or "Daredevil." "Kill a Commie for Christ" went out with the fifties...

Anonymous said...

so what the heck IS a blog??? it's your sister, Sarah. Good luck?! Is that what one says to a new blogger???? I can bet that you are not watching the Dem Natl. Convention?