A long, strange trip

I've never been much of a Stephen King reader. When I read "The Shining" in college, I couldn't sleep for a week. As an insomniac, I didn't need any more help staying awake. But his last book "Under The Dome," intrigued me and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to try his latest effort, "11/22/63." The book follows the adventures of a guy from 2011 who goes back in time to try and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK. King starts the book off strong, and for the first few hundred pages of this 800-plus page novel, it's a compelling story. Before stopping the assassination, main character Jake Epping sets out to fix some other injustices. The parts of the book dealing with completely fictional characters flows amazingly well and I had trouble putting the book down. The problem arises when Epping begins to focus on Oswald. The flow grinds to a halt with agonizing minutia, meant to establish Oswald as the sole shooter of Kennedy and gi

Another great issue of the Queens Tribune out today, with a lot of strong work done by the staff. Flip through the digital issue by clicking here . Also, if you have an iPad and you enjoy the Tribune, make sure to download the paper's app. The paper looks absolutely fantastic with the new iPad's retina display. The photos are vibrant, the text is crisp. You can't ask for a better way to read the paper. I even contributed to this week's issue with a story on U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (founder of the Queens Tribune) and his decision to retire from Congress at the end of the term. It's a great companion piece to Domenick's story on the Congressional Sixth District race, which is featured on the cover. And don't forget about the editorial .

One of my favorite things about the middle of the week used to be the new comics released on Wednesday. I would finish work and head over to Comics For Collectors and drop $30-40 every week on new comics. It seems so long ago now. I used to love heading out to get my comics. It wasn't just getting new books; it was a chance to be social with people with similar interests. I could spend hours at my local comic shops. The staff at CFC, Moose over at Main Vein Comics in Western Massachusetts - I considered these folks my friends and I always looked forward to seeing them. When I shopped at these stores, there was always such a friendly atmosphere, I would never consider doing what I've done the last two weeks. I downloaded my comics digitally. Not illegally - I paid for them to read on the new iPad. No storage problems, they look fantastic and I didn't have to wait til after work or the weekend to pick stuff up, since I downloaded them over lunch. I have nothing agai