Friends, I'm sorry for the delayed blog posts. I've been busy with work during the past few weeks. Halloween was relatively quiet for us this year, with only about 20 trick-or-treaters coming to our door. In the past several years, out-of-town friends such as Dexter V.H. or Byron V.O. have visited around the holiday, and I've hosted costumed gaming sessions. Fortunately, the local role-players and co-workers have been able to eat most of Janice's and my leftover candy.

That weekend, Janice and I swung by our usual bookshops and restaurants in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The weekend after that, we drove to Pennsylvania to visit Janice's extended family. On the way, we stopped at Damon F.P.'s home in New York and took my high-school chum to lunch at the Carmel Diner.

After checking into the Howard Johnson in Allentown, we met Janice's parents Marvin & Linda and sister Melinda and her husband Gary, and animal-lover niece Amanda and fellow superhero fan nephew Joshua. The next day, we went to the Zern's flea market and ate Philly cheesesteak sandwiches at Talarico's before spending a pleasant afternoon with "Mammy," Janice's paternal grandmother Thelma M. More family members joined us for dinner.

As many people have noted, the current economic crisis is hurting everyone, and another round of layoffs has us hunkered down at my office. After a cold snap, Janice and I had to rake numerous bags' worth of fallen leaves and bring them to Needham's dump. Although I didn't get to screen Quantum of Solace, I still hope to eventually see the 22nd James Bond movie.

In the coming weeks, we'll be going to Upstate New York for Thanksgiving with members of Janice's immediate family and hosting some of them around her birthday and the Bay Colony Dog Show. Janice is mostly done with Christmas shopping for her folks, but I have yet to get started.

The regular D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative," D&D3.5 "Holy Steel," and City of Heroes games, as well as struggling television shows such as Heroes and Pushing Daisies, have also kept me occupied. This weekend, I'll be attending two genre entertainment conventions: the New England Fan Experience in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Super MegaFest in Framingham, Mass.! I'll also be dining at Ken G.'s pre-Thanksgiving gathering. Have a good weekend!

To come: Convention reports, movie trailer reviews, animation updates, and more!

Friends, four years ago, I congratulated my Republican friends on George W. Bush and company's hard-fought election victory. Today, I'm pleased to celebrate with my fellow Democrats and all Americans the historic win by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. As a former political science major, a journalist, and a news junkie, it was thrilling to watch the final moments of the 2008 campaigns.

I thought that Sen. John McCain's concession speech was remarkably gracious, despite being marred by the booing of some his supporters when his former opponent was mentioned. Obama himself looked tired, no doubt emotionally exhausted after the recent death of his grandmother in Hawaii, but his public address to a crowd in Chicago hit the right notes of triumph, historical awareness, and acknowledgment of the sacrifices needed for the U.S. to turn around.

While I wasn't really aware of racism until my family moved from the Bronx to Westchester County, New York, as a Filipino/Belgian-American, the election of an African-American president still seems unreal. There were many times over the years when I thought that the U.S.'s original sins of slavery and racism would prevent anyone other than a Caucasian man from reaching the White House, and I'm glad to be proven wrong. Had the controversial Gov. Sarah Palin won as vice president, we would still mark social progress.

Obama is only seven years older than me, and his experience as a community organizer (while mocked by some foes) no doubt helped him raise a record amount of money, mobilize thousands of volunteers, and take advantage of new online opportunities. I also worked for Ralph Nader's NYPIRG as a project coordinator, so I'm proud of a fellow alumnus. During the long campaign, I donated money to the Democrats, and let's hope that their newfound power and wealth don't corrupt those swept into office by a public hoping for change amid economic recession and an inconclusive war on terrorism.

After watching the OK premiere of Legend of the Seeker, I watched the results come in, flipping television channels between PBS, BBC America, Fox News, and CNN, with some of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's humor on Comedy Central for good measure. Despite Democratic gains in Congress, the nation remains deeply and closely divided ideologically, as reflected by regional differences and various commentators. President-elect Obama and all of us face great challenges, but I hope that both liberals and conservatives can rationally debate their continuing differences while working toward policies for the common good.

Friends, please remember to exercise your rights and fulfill your civic duty by voting today. As I reported to Steve M.R. and in discussions with co-workers, Janice and I arrived at our polling place (a senior center in Needham, Massachusetts) at 6:45 a.m., and we found a line stretching outside — longer than in past elections. We waited for about half an hour to vote, and people were relatively quiet.

Per state law, no identification was necessary; we just identified ourselves by name and address, which were crossed off a list. There is potential for fraud, but I feel that requiring a national ID card could lead to civil rights abuses.

As usual, we filled in paper ballots, then fed them into an AccuVote optical scan machine. Touch-screen machines without paper-based verification pose some risks, as Computerworld has reported. The line got shorter as we were leaving, and supporters of various candidates arrived with placards.

The issues I care about include the environment, dealing with the current financial crisis, reducing armed conflict, and protecting and expanding civil rights. On our local ballot, I voted against greyhound racing, against abolishing the state income tax, and for decriminalization of marijuana possession. Even if I may disagree with you, every U.S. citizen has a responsibility as this historic and close presidential campaign draws to a close.

While superhero ensemble Heroes and quirky comedy Pushing Daisies get a reprieve from recent ratings troubles, I'll be watching the election returns on television tonight.

The big entertainment news hitting the Web this week is the departure of David Tennant from the BBC's Doctor Who. While this is not unexpected or unprecedented, it's still sad news for fans of the time-travel show, I hope that whoever is cast in the role of the good Gallifreyan is a worthy successor and that the writers can keep up the quality of the long-running program (and its spin-offs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures).

On Tuesday, 28 October 2008, co-worker Ken G. and I drove out to Thomas K.Y.'s condominium in Lexington, Massachusetts. We had dinner at Mario's Italian Restaurant, then watched Iron Man alongside the RiffTrax commentary. Ken has blogged before about how the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000 have gone online with their humorous quips about various films, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn't detract from what was arguably the best movie of this past summer.

Even as genre television struggles for ratings against reality shows and storylines damaged by last year's writers' strike, I've checked out a few new shows in addition to the metahuman melodramas of Heroes and Smallville, quirky comedies of Chuck and Pushing Daisies, and newcomer Fringe.

On Sundays on the CW, Valentine takes a similar approach to the once and future Cupid in positing classical deities reborn in modern Los Angeles. Although it's slightly preachy, ABC's Eli Stone on Tuesday nights reminds me of Journeyman in its do-gooder protagonist beset with divine trials and inspiration.

Janice and I have also been watching On the Road Again, as chef Mario Batali and actress Gwyneth Paltrow eat their way across Spain. Although I've been recording a few shows because of my D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the F.B.I.," D&D3.5 "Holy Steel" and City of Heroes games, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles has finally fallen by the wayside.

The computer-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars is better than the theatrical release of its pilot suggested, and I'm enjoying being back in George Lucas' space opera universe. As Stargate: Atlantis winds down, I'm cautiously optimistic about Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary, which uses computer-generated backdrops for its cryptozoology setting. Friday nights are even more crowded with NBC's lackluster (so far) Crusoe.

Although I haven't had time for the Americanized Life on Mars, the time-traveling cop show gotten decent reviews, nor have I watched the Jekyll and Hyde thriller My Own Worst Enemy. Since I'm a big fan of USA's funny Psych, I've passed on the similar sleuth show The Mentalist. However, I have watched a bit of Californication, mainly out of curiosity about former X-Files star David Duchovny's recent troubles.

In the coming weeks, I look forward to the premieres of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Batman and the Brave and Bold, and Wolverine and the X-Men (not to mention the upcoming Avengers cartoon). Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule/Legend of the Seeker and the BBC's Merlin may bring decent fantasy back to television — so many shows, so little time!

While I've blogged a fair amount about food and genre television lately, it has been a while since I discussed comic books. Although I read them occasionally as a child, I became a fan in college in the late 1980s and have been collecting them (to read, not as some investment) ever since.

On most Wednesdays, co-worker Ken G. and I drive out to Bedrock Comics in Framingham, Massachusetts, during our lunch hour. I also pick up my subscription from New England Comics in Norwood, Mass., about once per month, and I try to stop by Newbury Comics and other shops when I get a chance.

Although graphic novels and a wide range of topics represent a maturing of the art form, I still enjoy superhero titles. Most are from the "big two" publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics, plus some from Dark Horse, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW, and Image. Of course, with the popularity of recent movies such as Iron Man and The Dark Knight, the prevalence of metahumans on TV in Heroes and Smallville, and games such as City of Heroes and Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed., I happen to be back in the mainstream.

I find the ideas of teamwork, justice, and adventure to be appealing, and I'm pleased that my nephews David and Joshua are a new generation of fans. I generally rate comic books in terms of the writing, artwork, and characters/universes involved.

Not all of the comics I regularly enjoy focus on the capes-and-tights crowd. Conan and Red Sonja (both of which had recent reboots) are based on Robert E. Howard's gritty sword-and-sorcery stories, and Prince of Heroes and Mouse Guard represent the best high fantasy for young audiences. Westerns such as Zorro (see above) and The Lone Ranger harken back to yesteryear with updated (i.e., more enlightened) sensibilities.

The Spirit has maintained Will Eisner's pulpy style and humor, but it remains to be seen how well Frank Miller will manage with his movie adaptation of that and Buck Rogers. For crime-fighting procedurals with metahumans similar to Heroes, there's Powers, while Umbrella Academy delves into weirder territory.

The only horror I've followed has been tie-ins to television shows: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Angel: After the Fall, and The Dresden Files. For space opera, the latest licensees for the Star Trek and Star Wars shared universes have done a decent job of continuing those franchises in Year Four and Clone Wars, respectively.

Speaking of nostalgia, photorealist artist Alex Ross is behind both DC's Justice Society of America and Marvel's Avengers/Invaders. While they require a knowledge, or at least an appreciation of Silver Age comics, they've been more consistent than either publisher's major crossover: DC's Final Crisis (and Justice League tie-ins) or Marvel's Secret Invasion. The latter story is more compelling because of Brian Michael Bendis' writing on the two Avengers teams.

The adolescent angst of the Teen Titans and various X-Men teams has been a bit predictable lately. My favorite all-ages superhero books, which are mercifully free of the above continuity and deconstructivism, are Marvel Adventures Avengers and Super Friends.

The best solo titles include Ed Brubaker's espionage-flavored Captain America and Paul Dini and company's psychological approach to Batman: Detective Comics, even though both violated longstanding rules of comic book writing in incapacitating their lead characters (Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne) and resurrecting former sidekicks Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd, respectively. Grant Morrison's recently ended All-Star Superman also re-examined and yet exemplified traditional superheroes, and the other Superman (and Spider-Man) titles are particularly strong right now.

From Mike Grell's Longbow Hunters to Kevin Smith and Gail Simone's recent runs, I've been a fan of Oliver Queen's extended family in Green Arrow/Black Canary and Birds of Prey. If only the mythologies of Wonder Woman and Thor could untangled and expanded as successfully. Superheroines haven't been especially popular lately, with both Spider-Girl and Manhunter getting canceled again.