I'm almost 37; I don't know if that's old or young or in between. But I felt kinda old on the way to work today when I found myself singing "Crackling Rose" by Neil Diamond pretty loudly. I think I first started thinking about being old when the barber shaved my earlobes when I got a haircut last week.

I still am not used to going to a barber. My mom was a hairdresser and always cut my hair until she retired a few months ago. I was eager to go to the barber, as that was one of two things I wanted to do grooming-wise growing up. The other was get my hair cut by one of the cute girls who would sit outside the dorms with a kitchen chair and charge five bucks or so. Now that I'm married the latter is definitely out. But now I've done the former, straight razor and all. There are even Sports Illustrated magazines there, but no nudie mags or comics like you see in old movies, so I missed that era. But it's still worth going.

Now I feel like I've written a real blog.

Here are some other thoughts:

MOVIES:
HALL OF MIRRORS: I borrowed this one from my pal Jason, and it's a real knockout. Noirish microcinema thriller has gambling addict getting involved in byzantine scheme involving counterfeit money and a two-faced (or three- or four- faced) femme fatale. Great plotting, interesting location shooting, solid talent, with no compromises made, or apologies for, a low budget. One to aspire to.

FROM THE BACK ISSUE BIN:
Here's my thoughts on a bunch of comics left by my pal Dave when he bugged out for San Francisco. He's back now, but hasn't given me any new comics.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: This book has been around so long that you have to qualify the time period; these were from the late 70s-early 80s issues. My pal Dave swears by them, but in my opinion the series seems to be wheezing by this time. You've got Polar Boy and Element Lad leading the group, and that should tell you something right there. Plus, what ever happened to Tellus and Quisling? Dead, I hope. Not exactly the classic line-up. There's a reboot in its future, and it smells like it. Sorry, Dave.

JUSTICE MACHINE: A much better series from roughly the same time period, also left by Dave upon his exodus from America's Heartland. A government hero squad on a parallel Earth called "Georwell" begins to question its orders, so they get branded traitors and booted off to a real dump--our own planet. Great characterization, with a soft-hearted big guy, a drug-addled speedster, a weasel with kharma powers, and several other unique characters. Deftly handled by Tony Isabella early on, and not quite so deftly by Doug Murray later, with art by creator Mike Gustovich throughout. Worth digging out of the back of the back issue bin. Or, hopefully, Dave will leave some with you someday.