brooklyn superhero supply company

Yes, it really does exist. And is affiliated to 826 NYC, a 'nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.'

Inspirational it is, almost at gunpoint; you have to have a superhero name and read a superhero vow before buy anything from the store, especially the gallon can of Omnipotence. Had a strong bout of missing the younger brother in the store. The whacky humour of the place woule be exactly up his alley.

Okay, so sometimes we don't speak the same language (particularly if Mughal-e-Azam is involved), but most of the time we are on the same page, as they say in these parts. Together we have renamed whole bastions in abandoned forts, wondered at sheep the size of 'junior llamas', been gloatingly nationalistic at cricket matches.

He has been among the first and most unflinching critics of my film-making, photography, writing and (invariably disastrous) love life. He has introduced me to the multiverses, to graphic novels, to Calvin and Hobbes; to good music, to robots called MUNDU, and home-made mag lev trains. It is humbling to watch the dexterity of his hands and mind at work. I have introduced him to Tolkien, to Douglas Adams, medieval ruins, photography, and other stuff.

If it hasn't been clear from the above, the dude is currently sixteen, and has, of course, been younger than that for much of my knowing him. I don't know many sixteen year olds; he might, in fact, be the only sixteen year old I know; but I get the feeling I might not enjoy their company as much as I do his.

Would they, for example, get my excitement about having heard the 'the best love song ever', (with the 'best title ever' -International Small Arm Traffic Blues by The Mountain Goats) when I read the lyrics out to them over the phone. He did. He does. He's the dude. He gets -

Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you baby can't explain it
You got the best of my love