So this is springtime, and what have I done? April consisted of a lot of running around, mostly: Seattle, where I gave a talk and appeared on a panel at the Experience Music Project's Pop Conference (respectively on the future of the technology of listening to music and on indie music in the '00s); White River Junction, where I got to meet with students at the Center for Cartoon Studies; New York, where I appeared on a panel at the MoCCA festival; and Seattle again for a DJ gig, and remembering that I don't get to DJ nearly often enough. Mostly, I've been in Portland, where... I hung out with my family and sang a bit of karaoke.

Otherwise, the last couple of months have involved a lot of writing, of course: always writing. The 25th anniversary issue of SPIN had a piece I wrote about the relationship between '80s music zine culture and contemporary music blog culture (it's not online, as far as I can tell). Over at Salon, I wrote about the new gay character in Archie comics; at Time, I interviewed David Byrne about Here Lies Love; at eMusic, I wrote about the lost soul hits of the '60s and '70s; at Hilobrow, I wrote a brief appreciation of Agnetha Faltskög. For 48HR Magazine, or whatever the youngsters are calling it these days, I wrote about James Brown's uncomfortable intersections with the Hustle. I also wrote a ton of stuff at Techland, including an interview with Grant Morrison about his current Batman-related work. And I scratched my head about the very enjoyable "Exit Through the Gift Shop" at the NAJP's ARTicles blog.

April's Emanata columns at Techland included a guide to where to start with Love & Rockets, an appreciation of Brendan McCarthy's recent Marvel comics, a look at flash-forwards, a piece about sense-of-place in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Market Day, and an expression of irritation at the end of Blackest Night. May's were an essay on the relationship between the future of digital comics and the past of digital music, an assessment of Brian Michael Bendis's wrap-up of the last few years' Avengers titles, a guide for prospective Final Crisis readers, and--I was particularly happy about this one--eight questions for comics creators.

Next month, of course, I'm hoping to get some actual work done. I'm giving a lecture at the Portland Art Museum on the 13th; I've also got a massive assignment on an undisclosed subject that's due right around then, so I may be going into a hibernation-like state. I have no idea whether this means another extended absence from this blog or a frantic burst of activity. I'm hoping the latter.