Fan Fatigue

I simply don't have enough time or browser tabs to keep up anymore.

It seems like every-other-minute there's new developments with one of the many upcoming comic book movies.

Casting decisions. Character speculation. Set pics. Official trailers. Actor interviews.

I mean, I was barely getting any work done before. Now I'm breaking out in cold sweats at meetings in Mayville, wondering if that first photo of Anne Hathaway in her "Selina Kyle" costume has hit the Internet yet. Or Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Or January Jones as Emma Frost.

Forget Facebook. Thank the baby Jesus for Twitter, Tumblr and texting. But I've said too much. Now the county's lawmakers know why my eyes are on my phone most meetings. I've gotta see if CBR has updated with any new developments.

Take today for instance (Wednesday, March 30), the Internet lit up with all sorts of set shots of Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman. Check out the pics at right.

How can I pretend to care about the county's coming reapportionment when there's so much entertainment news to keep tabs on?

I'm weary, friends. I truly am. But maybe that's just because the month of April's only a day away, which means... (here comes the plug) it's time once again for another installment of "Nerding Out With Nick Dean."

*Cue Cheesy Sales Pitch Music*

Like Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix or Ra's al Ghul from the Lazarus pits, I'm back again with my monthly column about comic books (which prints the first Sunday of each month in both The Post-Journal and The Observer).

Not familiar with what I'm talking about here? That's a shame! I've only been writing it for close to a year and a half, but I don't hold it against you, blog reader. As one county legislator told me over Southern Tier beers at a downtown Jamestown restaurant, it's a pretty niche-directed piece of writing... which I think was her way of saying she's not too interested in nerd news (though there are others in that elected body who are!). But I digress, continuing to talk about the County Legislature will only have me rehashing the contents of my March 6 column when there's new news to update with.

DEADHEAD DRAMA

Been following the Deadhead drama that I brought upon myself back on Feb. 6?

If not, no sweat. It's all archived here and here.

In short though, I wrote critically of a new Grateful Dead box set that's coming out and, in response, some fans and promoters responded with updated info (correcting me) and their own opinions of the box set. So, being the good sport that I am, not to toot my own horn, I followed up on the piece with an update in last month's "Nerding Out."

No new drama to add to the fire today, just a couple of free mp3s.

In celebration of the forthcoming 72-disc collection of the band's 1972 European tour, there's an exclusive series of free downloads from Dead.net. What follows are tracks #2 and #3 of that series:

#2) Black-Throated Wind; 4/16/72 Aarhus, Denmark This then-brand-new Weir/Barlow tune, soon to appear on Bob's Ace album, was played at 20 of the Europe '72 tour's 22 shows. This performance is from the tour's 5th show, at Aarhus University's Stackladen, a 700-capacity university cafeteria in this Danish city. ~Facebook Link ~Dead.net Link

#3) He’s Gone; 4/17/72 Copenhagen, Denmark On April 17, 1972 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Dead played their FIRST-EVER LIVE PERFORMANCE of "He's Gone," although you couldn't tell by the confidence of this version. You'll notice that the "Goin' where the wind don't blow so strange..." bridge is absent here, as it had not yet been incorporated into the song. It was added to the song later in the tour. ~Facebook Link