Earlier today, Lyssa and I arranged to reserve a couple of tables just behind the dance floor at The State Theatre in Fairfax to have dinner and catch a double-header concert which we and the usual suspects been anxiously awaiting since October. Amanda Palmer returned to NOVA, performing with and backed by the Nervous Cabaret out of Brooklyn, New York. Lyssa and I arrived first, following a madcap search for parking which Lyssa could comfortably walk from and a few last-minute arrangements earlier today. A generous soul at the front of the line let Lyssa (who is still on crutches …

Last night after work I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep before Lyssa, Mika, Hasufin, Joe, Kash, and I threw our circadian rhythms for a permanant loop by driving to Tyson's Corner to catch the 12:01am premiere of Watchmen at the theatre.

If you're not familiar with the story, it is the masterpiece of writer Alan Moore and artist David Gibbons, a cold war tale set in an alternate world in which costumed vigilantes once ran around the night wearing domino masks and funny armored outfits, criminals still wore bandit masks and carried tommy guns, Richard Nixon was …