It probably wasn't important anyway

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter

New X-Men Vol. 7: Here Comes Tomorrow, Grant Morrison & Marc Silvestri

D

Mooninites threaten Ivy League town

2007-01-31T18:46:00.000-08:00

Mooninites threaten Ivy League town

So "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" shut down Boston today. Nine other cities had the same advertising. No hullaballoo anywhere else. Does this mean that Bostonians are fearful and dumb? Yes. Yes, it does.

D

The Esoteric Rabbit

2007-01-24T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Esoteric Rabbit

I just stumbled upon a great blog this evening that's part film criticism, part art gallery, part cookbook and part kitchen sink. Not only does the blog author have a keen intellect and a lucid writing style, he finds and references some other great minds and writers.

I'm now reading, for example, Jonathan Rosenbaum's (of the Chicago Reader) essay on Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. I hated the film, but Rosenbaum's essay is proving to be not only insightful but a pleasure to read, as well. I should admit here that Rosenbaum and J. Hoberman's (of the Village Voice) book, Midnight Movies isn't just one of my favorite books-about-film of all time, it's one of my favorite books, full stop.

But I digress. The blog is Esoteric Rabbit, and it's a must for those interested in culture but who just can't pick one artform.

Reading:

Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition, Umberto Eco

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter

New X-Men Vol. 4: Riot at Xavier's, Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely

Watching:

The Devil's Backbone

Fire and Ice

Wizards (With this movie and the previous one, I've learned that I absolutely despise Ralph Bakshi.)

"Freakazoid! - Season One"

Yokoo's 3 Animation Films: 1964-1965

Fighting Elegy (Yet another great Suzuki film. Nick, if you haven't seen this one yet, do.)

Yokuko

Aron Ranen's Power & Control: LSD in The Sixties (It's documentary-lite. More sight-seeing than penetrating.)

Watership Down

D

I'm thinking preschool and college funds

2007-01-23T03:30:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking preschool and college funds

I realized today that this blog just passed its three-year anniversary the other day. Crazy.

Happy birthday, blog. Like I do with all my friends' birthdays, I'll get you neither card nor gift. Also like I do with all my friends' birthday, I didn't realize you had one until it was several days past. I suppose I should mend my previous statement to say Happy belated birthday. Maybe I'll call you in a few days.

Watching:

Can't Hardly Wait (A guilty pleasure, yes. But a pleasure nonetheless.)

Out of Sight

LA Confidential

Memento

Wholly Communion

Reading:

Conan, Robert E. Howard (Finished.)

Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition, Umberto Eco

New X-Men Vol. 2: Imperial, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Ethan van Sciver, Igor Kordey

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter

D

Vote for Greg

2007-01-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

Vote for Greg

A buddy of mine is in a user video contest on TBS.com, and he took the lead in votes today. I don't know how long voting is open, but it would be great if you could give him your vote (or several, if you register more than one email account) by following the directions he provides below.

* * *

Hey friends,

As many of you know, Beth Eyler, Michael Choung and myself made a video called "Welcome to the Neighborhood" which is in the finals this week to win the TBS.com "Funny or Not?" contest. WE ARE CURRENTLY IN SECOND PLACE by about 30 votes. We need your vote.

All you have to do to help us out is:

1. go to : http://tbs.sharkle.com/index.html

2. Register your email. You will not recieve ANY spam from these guys. It's legit. If you've already registered, make sure to sign in. You can't vote until you are logged in.

3. Vote for our video "Welcome to the Neighborhood" which is the WEEK TWO winner by clicking on the button directly below the video that says VOTE FOR THIS VIDEO.

That's it. Simple. So simple in fact that you could take another moment and register any other emails you might have lying around and vote again.

OR IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE MY NEW BEST FRIEND, please repost this bulletin and get your friends involved. In order to win this, we don't just need your vote, we also need your friends to vote.

A boy can dream, and I'm already dreaming of what it would be like to win this contest and prove to tbs.com and the rest of the world that a man, a moustache and an old track suit are always "funny."

Much love to you all and thanks for the help,

Gregory David

* * *

D

Restoring balance

2007-01-12T03:55:00.000-08:00

Restoring balance

In relation to the last post:

Wait for the kid in orange.

Monkey vs. Robot (vs. Boneless Kid): the age old battle.

D

Laying it out on the table

2007-01-12T02:57:00.000-08:00

Laying it out on the table

I know people have been talking. I'm no fool. So in everyone's best interests, I'm going to address the question that's been on everyone's minds straight up, right here, right now:

Are monkeys the greatest animals ever created/evolved?

Yes. Yes, they are. Now let's all move on with our lives.

D

What was the first line of "A Day in the Life"? Oh, yeah.

2007-01-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

What was the first line of "A Day in the Life"? Oh, yeah.

Um, has anyone been paying attention to the news for the past few days? There was a mysterious gas smell that lingered over Manhattan on Monday. I've yet to read an article that states what caused the smell. (Hint: it wasn't gasoline, natural gas or the gastrointestinal system. [Don't quote me on that last one.]) Today, thousands of birds fell from the sky over an Australian town.

If I'm reading the signs correctly--and I believe I am--we should have only one logical expectation for Friday's headlines:

"Disguised Dog Steals Scooter, Poses for Camera"

Dare I say, the apocalypse is nigh?

Watching:

"Battlestar Galactica (2003) - Season Two"

Reading:

Missionary Man, Gordon Rennie, Frnk Quitely, Garry Marshall

Showcase Presents: Unknown Soldier, Joe Kubert

Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, Gilbert Hernandez

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, C.G. Jung

D

Little money, lotta time

2007-01-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

Little money, lotta time

So I'm barely coasting by on post-Christmas funds, and I'm not certain when my normal gig will start back up this new year. All is not lost, though, because I've got a line on a (potentially) well-paying gig later this month that should last a few weeks. In the meantime, I'm pretty much homebound because I have to restrict my cash flow until the end-of-the-month gig, but it's not all bad. It basically means I get to catch up on all the books on my HUGE stack of To Reads, watch all the stuff borrowed from friends and Netflix and (heaven forbid) write.

Before I get into what should be a lengthy Reading/Watching list, I'd like to wish the lovely Kate a belated happy birthday. I'm jealous of your Lost Girls, especially after your glowing reviews of it. Poopsy. Happy Birthday, Kate!

Reading:

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore (Finished.)

Secret War, Brian Michael Bendis, Gabrielle Dell'Otto (Finished.)

Tor - Volume 1, Joe Kubert (Finished.)

Kid Eternity, Grant Morrison, Duncan Fegredo (Finished.)

Flex Mentallo, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely (Finished.)

The ACME Novelty Library #16, Chris Ware (Finished.)

ACME Novelty Library #17, Chris Ware (Finished.)

New X-Men Vol. 1: E is for Extinction, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely (Finished.)

New X-Men Vol. 2: Imperial, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Ethan van Sciver, Igor Kordey

Showcase Presents: Unknown Soldier, Joe Kubert

Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, Gilbert Hernandez

"Battlestar Galactica (2003) - Season One"

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter

Watching:

Apocalypto

Pan's Labyrinth

"Battlestar Galactica (2003) - Season Two"

"Family Guy, Vol. 4"

Underworld Beauty

Out of the Past

Play Time

American Dreamz (Liked the theory. Hated the execution.)

D

Now just hold it right there. Seriously. This is going to be awesome. Just--let me measure you again...okay...are you on your marks?

2006-12-18T23:22:00.000-08:00

Now just hold it right there. Seriously. This is going to be awesome. Just--let me measure you again...okay...are you on your marks?

I found this video on my harddrive recently. It's me getting shot in the Western we filmed about a year and a half ago. It's mostly really boring, but it might give you an idea of how dull a film set actually is. I'd skip to the last twenty seconds or so to see the squibs fire. That's the cool bit.

D

Picture post

2006-12-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Picture post

A nice (previously unreleased) picture of Jessie's cousin's wedding.

This one shows how an argument might start in rougher parts of Glendale (like my kitchen).

This shows how one might finish.

And the cookies from left to right starting with the top row: angry cookie with red pants, cookie on entheogens, poked-in-the-eye cookie, annoyed cookie, assaulted cookie, concerned cookie.

Watching:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Sideways

Rebels of a Neon God

Out of the Past

Reading:

Universe X, Vol. 1 (Earth X 2), Jim Krueger, Douglas Braithwaite, Alex Ross

Daredevil, Vol. 4, Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev

D

Oh, the things I've seen...

2006-12-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Oh, the things I've seen...

I watched quite a few movies in the past few days, and I'd just like to list them before I forget them.

Watching:

Zardoz (Do NOT rent this movie.)

Full Metal Yakuza (For fans of Miike's more comedic work.)

Art School Confidential (Entertaining, but forgetable. Not up to par with Zwigoff's other work and doesn't even touch Clowes' comic work.)

Accepted (I felt ripped off even though it was a free rental. About what I expected. But it was a free rental, so...)

The Philadelphia Story (I really wanted to like this one, but I'm not a Hepburn fan and Stewart is more miss than hit with me. Cary Grant's good.)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (I love it every time.)

"Battlestar Galactica (2003) - Season One" (Yep. It's awesome.)

I think that's all of them. Also, I'm developing a small script idea. Here's the pitch: A subtler, creepier version of The Shining, with robots! Except, you know, not exactly. You know how these things go. The pitch says nothing. Anyway, just a dude and his robots.

D

The cold front should sweep in from the kitchen, move through the living room and settle in the hallway

2006-12-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

The cold front should sweep in from the kitchen, move through the living room and settle in the hallway

Despite common misconceptions about the Greater Los Angeles area, it does indeed get chilly around here. No problem for those people in the surrounding apartments that have working central heating. Jessie and I only recently tried to turn ours on due to a trait I inherited from my father: thriftiness. When I walked in from a long day of work last week and saw that the temperature had dipped below sixty in my apartment, however, I managed to overcome my genetics and flipped on the heat.

And nothing.

We've twice had company over since then while we crossed our fingers that our guests wouldn't freeze. Due to some oven work and no small amount of imbibing, everyone turned out okay.

So now Jessie and I have to wear tundra gear until the guy comes to fix the heat. I'm already coming down with a cold. This displeases me.

Watching:

Full Metal Jacket

The Shining

The Mosquito Coast

The Fountain

Casino Royale

Reading:

The Comics Journal, vol. 275

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck (Finished.)

The Walking Dead Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn

Runaways Volume 6: Parental Guidance, Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona

Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, Rudolf Steiner

Thanksgiving!, Happy

2006-11-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving!, Happy

Oh sweet Moses, I'm full.

Ohhhhhh...

D

My Mii has mad tennis skillz

2006-11-22T00:18:00.000-08:00

My Mii has mad tennis skillz

Here's a quick post before bed: I picked up a Wii this weekend. It's possibly the greatest console ever made. On Sunday alone, it made two non-gamers/disbelievers into gaming nuts.

I recommend people get one. Wii's got wireless internet access, so we could be virtual buddies on another platform!

D

The other two prints

2006-11-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

The other two prints

By popular demand:

Mike's Room

Sue Watching Cable

Watching:

The Thing

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Reading:

Deer Park (Buddha, Vol. 5), Osamu Tezuka

The Comics Journal, vol. 275

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck

D

A small admission

2006-11-17T02:33:00.000-08:00

A small admission

Whenever I read about, think about, hear about or otherwise register the term circadian rhythm, I always think of an insect called the cicada rather than what the term "circadian" actually means.

The etymology of "circadian" is in the Wikipedia entry, but to save you time: Latin circa (about) + dies (day) = about/approximately a day. The circadian rhthym is the cycle of processes our body undergoes approximately every 24 hours.

If any of you have lived a somewhat rural summer life where giant cicadas sit motionless on trees for hours on end and just...hum, you'll understand why I associate "rhythm" with "cicada" rather than "circadian".

While this isn't the exact species I used to hear out my window during Illinois summers, cicadas sound something like this. If the little bastards weren't so grotesque, it'd be like a lullaby.

D

Zen and the Art of Basketball Jerseys

2006-11-17T01:48:00.000-08:00

Zen and the Art of Basketball Jerseys

I don't know how many of you have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. In fact, it's been a while since I read it myself. (I read most of it, anyway. It was a class assignment in high school, and I think I didn't finish it at the time as an act of rebellion despite how much I loved it.) A great portion of the book concerns itself with the notion of "quality": how to define it, how to quantify it, where to find it, its level of objectivity, etc.

I don't think there can be any debate--philosophical or otherwise--that could define this man's actions as anything other than "quality". There are some absolutely transcendant quotations in the article. I never thought I'd make such a statement in regard to an article from ESPN.com, and yet...

[UPDATE: You can ignore the editorial box on the article's page. That wasn't there when I originally linked to it.]

D

The start of my art (print) collecting career

2006-11-14T23:43:00.000-08:00

The start of my art (print) collecting career

This past Sunday, Jessie and I went up the hill from us to a little town called Montrose, which is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It reminds me a lot of my hometown except Montrose is a fraction of the size and cleaner. Anyway, we had breakfast at a local cafe and discovered that outside Montrose was having one of its weekly Harvest Market with various fruit and vegetable vendors but also artists, used book sellers, toy collectors and other eclectic purveyors of goods.

I stumbled upon one Jack Spiegleman who had a painting up that caught my eye because it shared a few similarities with the cover of this comic book:

Teenagers from Mars

Picture that cover but in longer shot. Ferrari poster on the wall. A book that had a title involving teenage sexuality by R. Polanski. And instead of a button about comic books, the boy's button in the painting stated, "My brother is a dickhead."

Naturally I started thumbing through the guy's prints. I ended up getting the Teenagers from Mars print, a print that showed a woman smoking and watching pro wrestling on TV (one of the wrestlers is getting his eyes gouched out) and this print:

Girl at Halloween

I now proudly display all three above my dresser, and I couldn't be happier. They're über-cool, and I am excited. They're all so darkly comic, I just couldn't resist them.

Watching:

"The Big O: Series One"

"Batman: The Animated Series - Volume Two"

Reading:

Identity Crisis, Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales (Finished.)

Batman: Hush, Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee (Finished.)

The Comics Journal, vol. 274

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck

D

Wha--! This can't be right. My geek-meter is off the charts!

2006-11-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

Wha--! This can't be right. My geek-meter is off the charts!

...because of this.

Watching:

"The Big O: Part I"

Monster House

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Reading:

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

D

Should be an interesting next few years...or dull and frustrating.

2006-11-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

Should be an interesting next few years...or dull and frustrating.

Well, the Democrats have taken the House and they have a chance of taking the Senate as well. That's pretty exciting, although we got our governor in California re-elected. It's not really as bad as it sounds. He's very moderate for a Republican because...well, it's California.

What's really upsetting is that--as of last night with 22% of the precincts reporting--Proposition 87 was failing to pass. The gist of Prop 87 is that oil companies will be taxed an extra 1.5% to 6% per barrel of oil, the proposition also "Prohibits (oil) producers from passing tax to consumers." (Emphasis mine). The only commercial I saw that went against Prop 87 made outrageous claims about what would happen to the economy and oil prices if the proposition passed. The fine print showed that the commercial was funded by Chevron, and that's why you always read the fine print. Who wants big, bad corporations to pay for your more efficient engines and your cleaner air? Apparently not the idiots in this state. That's incredibly disappointing.

But the Dems have taken the House and have a pretty good chance to take the Senate. And how could I forget? Rumsfeld is stepping down. So that's some icing that goes with a power shift in Congress.

D

Happy Election Day

2006-11-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Election Day

Hope everyone voted today. I have a feeling that this election and the next few upcoming will lead to some surprising changes in this country.

Watching:

The Break-Up

Reading:

JLA Vol 2: American Dreams, Grant Morrison, Howard Porter & John Dell

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

D

A piece of gossip that will shake you to your very foundations!

2006-11-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

A piece of gossip that will shake you to your very foundations!

NPH is gay.

D

Of COURSE it's my favorite organ!

2006-11-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

Of COURSE it's my favorite organ!

I'm not sure how many of you are Weird Al fans and, further, how many of you have heard his new album. It's probably his best since Off the Deep End, and there's one song in particular to which I'm drawn. The song is called "Pancreas" and below is the video for it.

I know what you're thinking: of course the diabetic has a soft spot for a song about the pancreas. In response to you I say, " Stuff it, cats!" We've all loved and lost, and this is just another case of not knowing what I had until it was gone. I'll always have a fond spot in my heart for my heart's southern neighbor. Sure it's now an inert organ-y lump, but I'll always cherish the time we spent together when it still breaking down all those booze carbs in college.

I'm virtually certain I short-circuited my pancreas during those times, and that's a guilt I'll always have to live with.

Watching:

"MPD Psycho II"

Reading:

A bunch of comics that lead up to and include DC's Infinite Crisis. Trying to get an overview of DC's history is like taking a two semester survey of world history in college. You're just trying to get a passing grade because the sheer volume of information is impossible to digest upfront.

JLA Vol 2: American Dreams, Grant Morrison, Howard Porter & John Dell

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

D

A Halloween so good, it's terrifying! Aaaaaaaah!!!

2006-11-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

A Halloween so good, it's terrifying! Aaaaaaaah!!!

A holiday in pictures:

The pumpkin.

Carving the Iron Pumpkin. We found the thickest-skinned pumpkin in the Greater Los Angeles Area. What the pumpking didn't plan on is the discovery of its one weakness: leverage.

Designing a masterpiece.

The work of art in that transient time between pumpkin patch and roadway graphitti. Really, it's the whole process of growth to smashed on a sidewalk that's the work, not just the time it sits on the ledge outside or on the coffee table with a candle in its gutted insides. To fully appreciate the carved pumpkin, one must observe the work with the proper scale.

* * * *

The costumes.

The inspiration for the following Halloween costumes. The "Jonny Quest" team, minus Dr. Benton Quest who was obviously kidnapped by his arch-nemesis, Dr. Zin. From left to right: Hadji, Race, Dr. Benton Quest (behind the "?"), Bandit (the dog) and Jonny himself.

Race in action!

Hadji and Bandit in action!

The team! In action!

D

How could I forget??

2006-11-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

How could I forget??

Cards win! Cards win!

I can't believe I forgot to mention what everyone surely already had in their minds: the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. I am le happy. Perhaps even l'ecstatic.

* * *

Pictures of last night's Halloween bash are forth-coming.

D

Evidence of my death, et cetera, et cetera

2006-10-31T16:19:00.000-08:00

Evidence of my death, et cetera, et cetera

Okay. So, like, a ba-jillion things have happened between now and my last post.

I visited the Midwest two different times in as many weeks this month.

My sister got married (thus accounting for one of the Midwest trips).

The last issue of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers mini-series finally came out. (So it's not monumental, but try waiting six months before you get to read the last chapter of your next book. You get the gist.)

I jumped to a different department at work allowing me to ditch the walkie and spend my days in relative--if more work-intensive--relaxation.

I contracted the plague while on one of the Midwest trips. (The other Midwest trip. Another wedding.) It's the sickest I've been in years. The night before the wedding, I was up for two hours in the middle of the night with cold sweats. Bogus, man. It was sucky.

It's Halloween today, and I know that make for more than a few happy friends. Speaking of Halloween and friends, my LA group of friends and I will be attending tonight's festivities as the "Jonny Quest" crew. I'll be Race, naturally. Less naturally, Jessie will be Hadji.

Other than the stuff already listed (and more that I'm sure I've forgotten), I've just been a lazy hunk o' crap. I took some time and started catching up on my media intake. Below is just what I was able to remember absorbing in the last month.

Watching:

The Prestige

"MPD Psycho"

"Entourage: Season One"

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

"Arrested Development: Season Three"

The Station Agent

"Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law - Season One"

Little Buddha

The Proposition

Best in Show

Fargo

Ray

Reading:

The Forest of Uruvela (Buddha, Vol. 4), Osamu Tezuka (Finished.)

The Maxx: Volume Three, Sam Keith & Bill Messner-Loebs (Finished.)

The Maxx: Volume Four, Sam Keith (Finished.)

X-Force Volume 1: New Beginning, Peter Milligan & Mike Allred (Finished.)

X-Force Volume 2: Final Chapter, Peter Milligan & Mike Allred (Finished.)

JLA Vol. 1: New World Order, Grant Morrison, Howard Porter & John Dell

The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore

Playing:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS) (Beat it.)

New Super Mario Bros. (DS) (Beat it.)

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) (Beat it.)

Killer 7 (The Cube) (Beat it.)

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (The Cube)

Super Monkey Ball 2 (The Cube)

Contact (DS)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)

So that's what's been happening. Hopefully it won't be the next Age before I update again. We'll see how often the blog bug bites, though.

D

And this year's one-line Emmy goes to...

2006-09-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

And this year's one-line Emmy goes to...

So I got thrown a line in the latest Larry Levinson Productions (LLP) opus. Here's a little taste:

OFFICER PARKER
Sheriff Birch, I think I found something.

In fact, that's the whole taste. That's my entire role in the film. Truly breathtaking, I know.

I recently joined SAG because I do background work in commercials occasionally, and the union/non-union pay ratio is usually something like 3:1. The producers of the most recent LLP movie I'm working on knew I'd just turned union and threw me a line. In saying that one line, I became what the industry calls a contracted day playing actor. What that meant for me is that in that one day I got paid about what I normally make in a week and a half of real work.

My credit card debt thanks you, LLP. And all you Hallmark Channel addicts: watch out for my small screen debut in a little nugget called Claire.

Reading:

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, Daniel Pinchbeck

The Spear of Destiny: The occult power behind the spear which pierced the side of Christ, Trevor Ravenscroft (Finished.)

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, Aldous Huxley

Promethea - Book 5, Alan Moore, J H Williams

Watching:

The Protector

"Arrested Development - Season Two"

"Deadwood - The Complete First Season"

D

Woke under a bad sign

2006-09-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

Woke under a bad sign

I woke up five times this morning under the exact same circumstances. I'd wake on my left side facing the wall and think, man, this side's uncomfortable at which point I'd roll over to my right side. Take two, same thing. Three through five, same. Each time more annoying than the last. Naturally, I woke up (finally, officially) stressed.

On the drive to work, however, I thought I'd found the culprit to my restless night: a full moon. Full moons hadn't affected me before, but this particular full moon had some unusual adornments. First of all, there was something in the atmosphere that tinted the sky red...blood red. Second of all, there appeared to be shadows crossing over the moon. I'm not superstitious, but a shadowy, blood red full moon is more than just an errant black cat or walking under a ladder. That's some Head of the Hills type of shit.

I was appeased only slightly when one of the girls at work pointed out the current partial lunar eclipse. I'll wait for the other shoe to drop (and in all probability, explode) before I let my guard down, thank you very much.

Reading:

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, Daniel Pinchbeck

The Spear of Destiny: The occult power behind the spear which pierced the side of Christ, Trevor Ravenscroft

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, Aldous Huxley

The Messianic Legacy, Michael Baigent

Watching:

"Venture Bros.: Season 1"

"Mr. Show - The Complete First and Second Seasons"

"Arrested Development - Season One"

Hot Shots!

The Naked Gun

Waco - The Rules of Engagement

"Deadwood - The Complete First Season"

Listening to:

Some Hendrix

Lotta Dylan (Desire is currently among my favorite albums.)

Little Simon & Garfunkel

D

Seize them!

2006-08-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Seize them!

I went to the Mates of State/Spoon/Death Cab for Cutie concert this past weekend, and 2/3 of the show rocked me. Unfortunately, the band I was most excited to see performed the poorest. Mates of State were adorably grand. A little heavy on the echo, but otherwise great. Death Cab, predictably, played like the veteran rockers (in the indie scene) that they are. Spoon, by contrast, sounded bored and because of this, I was bored myself.

I love Spoon's albums, but after the concert... It was like the scene in Vanilla Sky when Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz are having sex, but Cruz turns into Cameron Diaz in the midst of the act. I anticipated one entity and was shocked to discover another.

To reconcile the two, I made a distinction between the Spoon on the albums and the Spoon that droned on in front of me. I simply denied the reality before me and decided to treat the recorded music on the albums as its own autonomous reality and--in fact--the real Spoon. In this model, the live Spoon were, in effect, imposters.

I thought up that while the members of Spoon showed me their backs for 45 minutes, except for the keyboardist. He just looked miserable.

Reading:

Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation, Joao Magueijo (Finished.)

The Coming Race, Edward Bulwer Lytton (Finished.)

The TM Technique, Peter Russell

True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise, Terence Mckenna

Devadatta (Buddha, Vol. 3), Osamu Tezuka

Watching:

Broken Saints

"Jonny Quest - The Complete First Season: Disc One"

Working Girl

The Matador

A most recent celebrity scandal

2006-08-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

A most recent celebrity scandal

Some of you may have heard that LDP has gotten into some trouble. The awkward bit is that I work with his live-in girlfriend, and she's a sweetheart. He came for lunch at least once a week. A nice guy by all accounts. As a fan of the guy, this pretty much pits my taste in direct conflict with my morals. Then there's the etiquette at work...

I suppose I'll get the details of what happened at work, probably straight from the woman-in-question. Hmmm...

I hate to keep bringing this incident back to me (namely because it doesn't involve me at all...unless that's what they were fighting about...uh-oh...), but this is the first time I've been even tangentially linked to a celebrity scandal. Weird to find out about someting like this from the news and not from a crewmate.

Watching:

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Destroyer

Maybe Logic: The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson

Brick

Willow

The Muppets Take Manhattan

Reading:

Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation, Joao Magueijo

The Coming Race, Edward Bulwer Lytton

Terminal City, Dean Motter, Michael Lark

The Fate of the Artist, Eddie Campbell

D

Doc & Kid Work blog

2006-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Doc & Kid Work blog

I just started a work blog for one of the scripts I'm working on. If anyone wants to check it out in its nascent state, here's the link. The working title of the script is The Doc & Kid Versus the Fifth Dimension Serial Killers or something to that effect. I'm working out the kinks.

The research I'm doing right now involves historical work from the fringe of science. I'm also looking into psychedelic culture and general oddities, so if anyone has a bizarre story of website they can recommend, submit it to the work site. It should eventually grow to become a suitable shrine to the weird a la WarrenEllis.com but more focused.

* * *

Judging from the laughter I keep hearing from the couch, Me Write Book: It Bigfoot Memoir--sequel to the year's feel-good missing link autobiography, In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot--is proving to be a worthy addendum to its predecessor.

Reading:

Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation, Joao Magueijo

The Coming Race, Edward Bulwer Lytton

Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man, Frank Miller

Conan, Robert E. Howard

Watching:

Withnail & I

Down by Law

The Trial

Munich

A Scanner Darkly

Stargate 2012

D

Writing from the Ether

2006-07-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Writing from the Ether

I completed a two-day writing seminar this weekend. It took ideas put forth by Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung and others about using archtypes to effectively create a timeless narrative. The seminar was a nice review, but it wasn't really anything that Campbell didn't cover in more depth in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Regardless of what the class covered, it was interesting to see what other kind of writers are out there. From the small cross-section I saw, I can safely say that my confidence as a writer grew substantially.

Reading:

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, Marjane Satrapi

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot, Graham Roumieu

Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation, Joao Magueijo

The Coming Race, Edward Bulwer Lytton

Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man, Frank Miller

Conan, Robert E. Howard

Watching:

The Hills Have Eyes (Unrated)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Lady in the Water (Do NOT go see this film.)

D

Loose Change

2006-07-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

Loose Change

A friend pointed out a documentary--divided into three parts, but presented in full--called Loose Change about the attacks on 9/11/01. It presents a compelling and disturbing scenario wherein the US government not only knew of the attacks in advance, it planned and executed the attacks itself. Whether true or not, the film presents its evidence in an engrossing and thought-provoking manner.

For your viewing pleasure, part 1 of Loose Change:

If you're interested in viewing more, here are links to part 2 and part 3 of Loose Change.

Because conspiracy plays an integral part in one of the scripts I'm working on, I've got a special place in my heart for this little nugget. Another fascinating little number is the story of Frank Olsen, a story that I've placed in the "Starred" section of my online script research. Enjoy, conspiracy nuts.

Watching:

"The Prisoner: Checkmate"

The Cult of the Suicide Bomber

Oktober

Reading:

Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1926: "There is a Heppy Land Furfur A-waay", George Herriman

Buddha, Volume 1: Kapilavastu, Osmau Tezuka

The Four Encounters (Buddha, Vol. 2), Osamu Tezuka

Teenagers from Mars, Rick Spears, Rob G.

New X-Men Vol. 1: E is for Extinction, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America", Erik Larson

D

"Be seeing you..."

2006-07-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

"Be seeing you..."

My man, Jake, came through on my birthday with The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition). As the TV channel moderator for ifilm, he gets entire seasons of shows on TV to pull clips from as he will. He has an especially tight relationship with the folks at A&E and was able to get the entire "Prisoner" set, knowing that I am a huge fan of the series. It's now my job to choose two minute (maximum) segments from each disc to promote the megaset on his channel.

So now, unfortunately, I have to come home from work and watch an episode or two of one of my favorite TV shows to scope out clips for him. My 24th year begins well.

Reading:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson

Jack Kirby's New Gods, Jack Kirby

Earth X, Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, John Paul Leon

Watching:

"The Prisoner: Arrival"

D

Between magic numbers

2006-07-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Between magic numbers

When I'm more awake--perhaps this weekend--I'll regale you of tales about my birthday festivities from yesterday. I turned (quarter century)-1=x. It was all very low key. A good thing for my only day off this past weekend.

This was the only bad thing about my birthday. I got really into the World Cup this year. (What was I to do? Our DP is Irish. His camera operator is English. Our entire transporation team is Mexican...except for the English guy. It's infectious.) After France started doing really well being led by their team captain, Zinédine Zidane, who also announced his retirement after this year's World Cup, I began to champion the French football club even before the championship. Imagine my excitement when Zidane and his club made it to the final match. How great would it have been for him to go out on top? Known to be amongst the world's greatest penalty kickers--like France's only goal in this year's Cup--and knowing that his team was coming up on a penalty kick situation for a win, Zidane lost his shit and headbutted a dude in the chest. It was a solid headbutt, certainly, but no matter what a dude is saying to you on the field, you take care of that kind of thing using the game and with a tire-iron after. Win the game first, man. What a disappointing way to end a great career.

Despite all that, however, Zidane still won the award for best player in the Cup.

At least my boys pulled one out in extra innings against the Astros yesterday.

Watching:

The Testament of Orpheus

Superman Returns

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Reading:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson

Jack Kirby's New Gods, Jack Kirby

Earth X, Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, John Paul Leon (A great all-encompassing, engrossing and contemplative dystopian future of the Marvel universe.)

D

Sundays, bloody Sundays

2006-06-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Sundays, bloody Sundays

What's worse than having St. Louis-style summer humidity in Southern California? Having your car battery die twice in one day and having to jump it twice in when the temperature and the humidity percentage are both one hundred.

The battery is replaced. The weather is the same. I did not sign up for this. LA be a treacherous mistress.

Reading:

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson

Watching:

Everything Is Illuminated

Syriana

The Blood of the Poet

Orpheus

D

When reality imitates fiction, it shows in my bank account

2006-06-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

When reality imitates fiction, it shows in my bank account

So the feedback loop that my life maintains with the fiction I enjoy is as strong as ever. Immediately after I watched The Passenger the other day--a film about coincidence and identity theft, among other things--I checked my online bank statement and discovered that, coincidentally, someone had stolen my identity. Well, they hadn't fully stolen my identity. What an Usaru Fadii had done, however, was counterfeit checks using my account number. Luckily my bank scans in the physical checks themselves so I could see first-hand my routing and account number faithfully duplicated on this false check. The person even had the same bank branch address on hers, slightly modified, but there it was: "Melrose & Fairfax Branch".

Needless to say, I was on the phone but quick and, a mere day later, the cost of the check ($86.20 made out to PetCo) was credited back to my account, the old checking account was closed and a new one opened. No harm, no foul. Unfortunately, I'm reliant on what little cash I have in my wallet and my credit card until my new debit card arrives sometime next week (hopefully).

On a lighter note, here are some books I'm trying to get my local library to buy for me...and posterity, I suppose:

A Disease of Language by Alan Moore with artist Eddie Campbell, the team that brought you From Hell

Jew Gangster : A Father's Admonition by one of my favorite comic creators, Joe Kubert

Little Nemo in Slumberland - So Many Splendid Sundays which collects all of the Sunday strips by landmark comic strip illustrator and animator Windsor McCay in a tome so large it has to be seen to be believed

Challengers of the Unknown Archives as created by Jack "pre-King" Kirby

Watching:

Logan's Run

Nacho Libre

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

Reading:

Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1926: "There is a Heppy Land Furfur A-waay", George Herriman, Bill Blackbeard (Editor)

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman, George Perez

D

The Glendale Public Library

2006-06-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Glendale Public Library

Would it be wrong of me to make a suggestion--partly as comic snob, partly as a heads-up--that could potentially change up the shelving at the Glendale Public Library ? Their graphic novels section...well, they don't have one per se. The graphic novels they do have take up two full sections in the TEEN area of the library. I understand the reasoning behind their thinking; the comics on the shelves (a lot of manga) primarily draw teenagers. On the other hand, they've got a copy of From Hell and other comics of dubious content on those shelves, which is a little beyond the sensibilities of most adults I know, much less an adolescent.

If teenagers wanted to seek it out, they'd still be able to find it if the book was located elsewhere in the library. I don't understand under what system of classification (beyond its being a story told using words and pictures) that From Hell would ever otherwise be categorized as TEEN.

Beyond the issue of content, Eddie Campbell--coincidentally the artist of From Hell--brings up a good point in his interview in The Comics Journal a few months ago when talking about the distribution of different media across a retail floor. One wouldn't expect to find the DVD of From Hell next to the comic. Similarly one wouldn't even expect to find the DVD of it next to its VHS equivalent. The problem we encounter with this analogy, however, is that DVD, comics and VHS tapes are all different formats. DVD and VHS--though their formats are different--both fall under the umbrella of the "home video" medium. Conversely, books and comics are the same format (ink on pulp paper enclosed by high gauge cardboard or paper) but two different mediums.

It's the problem of the similar format that make it difficult to justify having a graphic novel section as opposed to just lumping it in with TEEN. On the other hand, some of the content of these comics are certainly unsuitable for a teen audience, not to mention that comics are an entirely different medium than literature. I think the whole thing is all the more frustrating because I would expect librarians to be the last group of people to judge books by covers.

[I apologize for the scattered path this post takes. I wrote it while cleaning and reading and eating.]

Watching:

The Passenger

Reading:

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

The Fixer : A Story from Sarajevo

D

Protracted exile

2006-06-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Protracted exile

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. I lost my Internet for a week and a half. In that time I logged in a lot of Double Dash on The Cube and have since gotten ashamed by friends in front of my girlfriend several times.

Seeing as how I just wrapped up yet another McBride--this one written by our regular script supervisor (and my friend) Rachel Stuhler and former McBride prop master, Jamie Latta--I am, of course, sick. That being said, I'll write something more substantial after I sleep some more.

Watching:

The Omen (1976)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Not as good as I remembered.)

Forbidden Planet (A genuinely brilliant sci-fi film.)

Night Watch

Fists in the Pocket

"The Gospel of Judas" (An utterly banal and facile documentary on arguably the most important discovery of ancient text in the last several decades. Disappointing.)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Just as good the second go-round.)

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Manipulative, to be sure. On the other hand, it backs up its blatant sentimentality with damning facts about the store giant's awful policies [like informing its workers on how to apply for medicaid and welfare instead of providing decent wages and insurance coverage themselves].)

Reading:

Gotham Central Vol. 2: Half a Life, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark

Sandman: Seasons of Mist, Neil Gaiman & various artists (Finished.)

Five Fists Of Science, Matt Fraction, Steven Sanders (Finished.)(Murky art and an unsatisfying climax mar this otherwise entertaining book.)

Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi (Finished.)(A nice little pick-up from the local library. I'm displeased that they have all their graphic novels shelved in the "teen fiction" section regardless of its content and with no regard to whether the book's content is even fictional. [Persepolis is a non-fictional autobiography of a the author growing up in Iran in the 1970's and 80's.])

D

He IS Batman

2006-06-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

He IS Batman

Here's an extended clip from the foreign film, District B13, which I saw with Jessie and our friend Jake today. The action is pretty much this badass through the entire film. The plot even holds up fairly well up to the last twenty minutes or so, and then it somehow launches a football into its own groin. I will forgive it, however, and I think the clip above is reason enough.

And go figure: a French action movie that has Luc Besson involved? A rarity, I'm sure. (He co-wrote the script.)

I'd recommend it only to people who like things that are awesome.

Watching:

District B13

The Quiet American (It's quiet. A little too quiet.)

Ronin

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

D

The long and winding road

2006-05-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

The long and winding road

Slowly but surely I'm hammering out outlines for two scripts I'm working on. One is a comics-inspired freelance infiltration duo fiction with a splash of the meta- and the New Physics, and the other is a throwback to classic detective narratives with a twist of the apocalyptic and (once again) the New Physics.

I'm discovering that I can't just write a screenplay and outline. I have to describe the entire backstory of every character before I can figure out what each character might do in the "present" (that is, during the events of the narrative itself). At the moment, I know where my characters went to school (or not), what they studied, what jobs they have and have had, and how they've gotten to the start of the script, but it's difficult to figure out--beat by beat--exactly what I want to happen within the explicit confines of the script. Slowly but surely, however, I'm working it out.

Also, I just switched from Cingular to Verizon and got a new phone along with it. I am ever so excited about it.

I also picked up "Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection" at Target today for a very reasonable cost. I'm excited to take a gander at it.

Reading:

Gotham Central Vol. 2: Half a Life, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Love and Death, Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette

Watching:

X-Men: The Last Stand

The Blues Brothers

Gemini

Capote

D

Saving for a sunny day

2006-05-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

Saving for a sunny day

I've been budgeting my money somewhat carefully lately, and I discovered that I have a fairly sizable surplus that I must dispose of immediately. It's not blood money or anything--not all of it--it's just extra. I view such excess as others view excess of fat. Most people have their self-defined ideal weight. I have my ideal financial level, which is hovering right around the poverty level.

[Dad: before you read this and send me an email detailing the importance of financial responsibility, know that I am very much speaking in hyperbole. I'm very well-off for a pauper.]

In the spirit of shedding the excess, I've gotten 1) some movies (The 400 Blows, a replacement for a movie that's been lost to me and Le Million, the outstanding René Clair musical) 2) tickets to the upcoming Death Cab for Cutie/Spoon/Mates of State show at the Greek in August and 3) four t-shirts from Oddica: Snailbot and Evil Knievelvich for me and Ping Pong PWNT and Bluebird Migraine for Jessie (even though she's creeped out by Bluebird Migraine).

I feel much better now. Not too rich, not quite starving. (Again, just joking, Dad.)

Watching:

"Cracker: To Say I Love You"

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Reading:

Sleeper Vol. 3: A Crooked Line, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Finished.)

Sleeper Vol. 4: The Long Way Home, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Finished.)

Gotham Central Vol. 2: Half a Life, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

D

And now Mother's Day

2006-05-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

And now Mother's Day

I hope everyone lets their respective mamas know how special they are today because it doesn't count tomorrow. They literally can't hear it on any day except Mother's Day. Any time else, and it's like you're dead to them.

Just finished a loooong work week. I'm filling in for the regular cast driver because she has another gig until this Tuesday. That means I have to drive well out of my way to pick up and drop off the main cast member. On Friday, that translated into a two and a half hour drive to work and an hour and a half home. Bah!

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

Gotham Central Vol. 1: In the Line of Duty, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark

Sleeper Vol. 2: All False Moves, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips

Watching:

Grandma's Boy

Doom (I died a little inside.)

"Cracker: The Mad Woman in the Attic"

D

Happy Free Comic Book Day

2006-05-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Free Comic Book Day

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Free Comic Book Day. It's the greatest holiday that Hallmark didn't invent and Christians didn't usurp from pagans. Given those criteria, it may the only such holiday. They had some pretty good indie books this year and--amongst the mainstream books--an intriguing Runaways/X-Men book with awful, awful art.

While I was in the shop, I also picked up the second volume of Doomed, the magazine of short stories and comics put out by IDW in which the protagonists of each respective narrative never survive their story arcs. Think of it as the spiritual successor to EC's Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt. I also picked up the first volume of Gotham Central because I dig Brubaker's work. (You can also admire his brilliance in Sleeper and the current run of Captain America.)

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

D

The Hero's journey

2006-05-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

The Hero's journey

I started reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell last night, and it's absolutely fascinating. On the surface it's just a book about the (general) Hero's journey across all mythologies, but Campbell brings in Jung and Freud (although he focuses on the former) in emphasizing his point that the symbolism used in mythological tales is the same symbolic short-hand used in dreams. While I don't agree with him in general, his passion for the subjects of mythology and the collective unconscious are infectious. While his arguments didn't fully convince me that mythology culls from the same pot of dream, I am convinced that his claims are true in limited cases. I whole-heartedly recommend the book to anyone interested in dreams or mythology.

In related news, I've become convinced that the Internet is the physical (or at least visual) translation of Carl Jung's notion of the collective unconscious. Perhaps later I'll go into detail.

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

Runaways Vol. 5: Escape to New York, Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa (Finished.)

Marbles in my Underpants, Renee French (Finished.)

D

Please insert girder

2006-05-03T00:28:00.000-07:00

*Please insert girder*

Not that I doubted the predictive power of "Futurama", but I felt pretty confident that robots that drink liquor would've been one of the less accurate visions of our future. Clearly I've been proven wrong.

And to Kate and Eric: I maintain my stance that robots don't want to ultimately take over the world as you both claim. They will only ingratiate themselves into our culture to look for amiable drinking partners and--at the end of day--isn't that what we're all doing?

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

Runaways Vol. 5: Escape to New York, Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa

Marbles in my Underpants, Renee French

Watching:

My Neighbor Totoro

D

As below, so above

2006-05-02T04:31:00.000-07:00

As below, so above

Here's an interesting little article for my Illinois people about Illinois state legislature that, if passed, could bring about impeachment procedings for the President of the United States.

D

Blackout

2006-05-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Blackout

Man, I've been off radar for at least a week now, and I guess it's time I start with the face time again. I spent all of last week playing video games. I made it through Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2) and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC) while dabbling with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2), Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC) and Starfox Adventures (GC).

So now I'm trying to talk to people again--slowly but surely--and read the comics that I've had staring at me the past few months. It's going well. Moreso the comics-reading than the people-talking, but...

Watching:

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Reading:

Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, Alan Moore, Gene Ha (Finished.)

Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Daniel Clowes (Finished. Brilliant.)

Black Hole, Charles Burns

Listening to:

KCRW

Playing:

Resident Evil 4 (GC)

Marvel Nemesis (GC)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)

Brain Age (DS)

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)

D

Foe Twunny

2006-04-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Foe Twunny

Oh, yeah, and happy Pot Smoking Day, everybody. I don't know if I have any regular pot smokers who read this, but if so: don't puff too much you forget to pass. That's simply not in the spirit of the holiday.

[NOTE: I'd also like to point out I changed my profile photo (located in the upper-right corner of this page) to something a little more rugged.]

D

My mind exploded

2006-04-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

My mind exploded

I just messed around with Thunderbird's RSS feed capabilities today and discovered this fascinating nugget. It's like a geek pop culture freak out, man.

Watching:

Good Night, and Good Luck

Reading:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael J. Behe

Another lazy Monday

2006-04-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Another lazy Monday

I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter/Passover/Spring Holiday yesterday. I certainly enjoyed my early dinner and drinks at a friend's place. We had a good discussion about children's books and movies while sitting on her massive second-story porch. A rather pleasant. Good tidings to all and--seeing as how I have this week off--I've got three weeks' worth of laundry to do. Wish me luck.

Watching:

Kiki's Delivery Service

Where the Buffalo Roam

Camera Buff

Thumbsucker

The Promise

Junebug

Broken Flowers

Reading:

Fury, Salman Rushdie

Top Ten: The Forty-Niners

Playing:

The Curse of Monkey Island

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

X-Men Legends (GC)

D

The Piasa Bird. What, you don't know?

2006-04-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Piasa Bird. What, you don't know?

Warren Ellis has an auto-linker of the weird on his site and--as I was perusing it a few minutes ago--saw an entry for The Piasa Bird, a griffin-like creature that allegedly lived in my hometown and hunted the American Indians that once lived there. Every town's haunted with a history of flesh-devouring beasts, right?

Reading:

Fury, Salman Rushdie

Watching:

Freaks

Strange Days

D

Because Harvard graduates can do anything

2006-04-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Because Harvard graduates can do anything

So that's what happened to her after The Professional.

D

The place I call Funkytown

2006-04-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

The place I call Funkytown

And here's the (pretty much) final setup of the new place. We'll start with the typical and move to the atypical.

Here's the bedroom. It's got a bed. It's got some bookshelves. It's got the dressers. It's got two massive closets.

Here's the kitchen as viewed from the dining room. Besides containing any food, it's all put together.

Here's the living room as seen from the front door. That's my desk back there on the left.

Here's the living room as seen from the hallway. That's Captain Ron in HD on the television. What can I say? If Kurt Russell ran from president, I'd vote for him with no regard for his politics or platform.

This is perhaps my favorite feature of the new place. The bookshelves of DVDs and comics located in the dining room. It's like a nerd Mecca I can visit any time. That's her desk area, by the way.

So that's the new place. Not too shabby, no?

Watching:

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Steamboy

History of Violence

Listening to:

Haunted

Reading:

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Finished. Finally.)

Gunsmith Cats: Bean Bandits

Fury

D

In transit pictures

2006-04-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

In transit pictures

Just what it says. Here's the place while it was still getting set up.

First things first: we had to get the TV and DVD player up and running.

This photo and the follow were taken one right after the other. Here's what the ladies were doing at this moment...

...and here're the guys. You'll notice a suspicious absence of pictures of the guys carrying all of the heavy furniture up and down stairs and into and out of trucks and apartments. You might guess who took these pictures.

The little lady building one of our myriad new bookshelves.

I believe this is what was left for Jessie and me after all the help left. I fell ill for several days shortly after this photograph was taken.

Next up is the finished place. Try not to die from anticipation.

D

Da movink

2006-04-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Da movink

I'm all moved in to the new place, save for a few stray boxes. I'm back on ze Intarvub, and I'll send pictures of the in process and finished place soon. In the meantime, I'm going to watch "Lost" in HD. That's right, I'm HD capable and connected. I'm...oh, so happy!

Stay tuned for the goods.

D

I'm my nightmare's worst nightmare

2006-03-26T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'm my nightmare's worst nightmare

I don't think I have nightmares anymore. I have dreams where I get scared, and then I beat the hell out of things. Last night, for example...

So Jessie and I are working for some law enforcement agency. Consultation stuff, we'll say. At some point, we get made by some bad guys. A cop takes us under the radar and has us doing bad things in the name of capturing the guys who are chasing us. Demeaning things. You know the stuff, but it's all in the name of capturing the bad guys.

Anyway, at some point the cop sends us to a safehouse which, in this case, is a mix between my parent's house and my grandma's old apartment. Jessie sits on the couch, and I get paranoid. Too many lights are on in the house. The blinds reveal too much of us inside. I start making my way around the house, flicking off switches and angling blinds--not too much so as to completely close them and make it obvious that someone doesn't want others to see in but enough to prevent people walking down the street from getting the detailed layout inside. When I come to the front of the house, I see an unfamiliar car parked across the street. I turn to tell Jessie about it, and when I turn back, I see the cop's beat up VW van idling in the middle of the street. Up to this point, I'm terrified of whomever--or whatever--is chasing us. Looking out the window, I snap.

With my fists balled, I break the glass and yell at the two vehicles. I scream and shriek. I turn around and tell Jessie to run and hide. She runs through the kitchen and as I round the turn into the kitchen myself, I see our assailant standing before me, cutting me off from Jessie. He's enormous, almost seven feet tall with broad, linebacker shoulders. A Mexican wrestling mask covers his face making him look clown-ish, and he's holding a rifle. The rifle has a cherry red handle and a long, transparent barrel. It's filled with gumballs. The attacker says something about showing me "the spirit of Christmas", and points the rifle at me. Big mistake.

I grab some silver platter that conveniently sits on the counter and swing in hard into the side of his neck. He's stunned long enough for me to take his rifle and--with the handle of the rifle still facing him--I beat him on the head. And I keep beating him. And the gun starts flying apart. And I keep beating him. And he's on the ground unconscious. And I keep beating. Finally I tell Jessie to take off his mask. It's the cop who had pretended to protect us. A normal cop rushes in behind us and takes the bad cop into custody. He mentions something about the guy being a rogue cop, missing for a year before I woke up.

You see what I'm saying. That started off very much as a nightmare, and eventually I beat a Mexican linebacker/rogue cop so hard his gun breaks. That's one of a number of similar dreams I've had recently. Clearly bizarre phobias ain't no thang in my subconscious.

D

The greatest rap ever written in a few hours at work ever (I'm the poetest)

2006-03-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

The greatest rap ever written in a few hours at work ever (I'm the poetest)

This is what you get when you ask me to write a rap at work:

(Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Ugh.)

The metaphysical, metaphorical
categorical, hypothetical
describes me
you MC
now let me shift into another beat

Whippin' it good to the do-re-mi
back to the beginning with the so-la-ti I'm
all about the cycles in this dream called life
from feast into famine or joy into strife
If chaos follows order, then what follows next?
What dreams may come after is the thing that has me vexed
It's the thoughts that I think as I drink the summer breeze
keep me swift, keep me strong, keep me up off my knees
Will the flowers bloom again? Will the sun rise tomorrow?
Will we ever graduate from hunger, hate and sorrow?
We can think about these problems, but the answers lie in dreams
We need to ford the rivers of unconsciousness streams
If we're strong, we'll keep on floating 'til the sea meets the sky
'Cause beyond the horizon is where our common ground lies

So ill...

Watching:

Castle in the Sky

The Aristocrats

The Leopard

Superman: The Movie

Listening to:

Haunted

Reading:

Planetes, Book 1

D

DANGER: FATAL DOSES OF ILLNESS!...of the hip-hop variety

2006-03-21T20:02:00.002-08:00

DANGER: FATAL DOSES OF ILLNESS!...the hip-hop variety

We had a rap-off after work today. It was three white guys--myself included--taking the day to write rhymes so they can spit 'em out at the end of the day. We viewed it as a contest at first, but we decided that you can't judge art. (Well maybe you can...fascist...) After dinner I'll post a full transcript of my lyrics. Phat beats not included.

Also, here are the apartment pictures as promised! (Ill beatbox drum roll, please...)

Here's the building itself. Charming without being effete, no? I feel homey (yet rugged) just looking at it.

Our apartment's front door. Surely you've seen one before but rarely as majestic!

Do not be alarmed. We're just seeing the same front door from the interior of the apartment. You can see a bit of the living room/dining room in this one.

Here's our dining room all up in your grill.

Our massive kitchen with chic 70's blue counters.

A hallway.

The only bathroom in the Greater Los Angeles area with a fan in the bathroom.

And the moment you've all been waiting for... A moment so momentous we couldn't contain it in a single photographic image... The bedroom!

The Westside.

East Coast.

And there's the new digs. We start moving in little stuff this weekend, and officially move in the big dogs the following weekend. Huzzah!

D

The Irish Luck loophole

2006-03-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

The Irish Luck loophole

I figured out why I won the $5 Day raffle. I never actually put in any money. Our stand-in--the guy that literally "stands in" for John Larroquette while our guys light the shot--donated $20 to be split four ways by our base camp co-ordinator. She put the names of four of the production assistants on the four five dollar bills, my name being one of the four. So it wasn't my luck that won that raffle: it was our stand-in's. His name? Bill Flannery. How's that for the luck of the Irish?

By the way, where I was formerly found here, smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles, I can now be found here, a lazy, green area of the city where honest laborers toil in the sun, drink lemonade when they're thirsty and dream of a better world for their kin. Really, it doesn't even look like it's part of the Greater Los Angeles area. It's in the mountains. It looks more like parts of New Mexico than Southern California. Click on the "Satellite" button in the upper right corner of the second link to check out the terrain. Oh, how I look forward to moving in. Pictures, as always, will be forth-coming.

Reading:

Planetes, Book 1

Sebastian O

D

Luck of the .00001% Irish

2006-03-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

Luck of the .00001% Irish

I'm not sure I've ever had a day go so completely beyond expectations as it did this past Friday. We had a late call (11 AM) and a wrap out of that current location, so I anticipated leaving work at around 2 AM that night. That wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been raining all day and--though very low on my list of priorities--St. Patrick's Day.

Here's what actually happened:

One of the electricians got injured, so I took over from him during the day and got a $25 increase in pay for doing so.

It rained, but not too much.

We wrapped early.

I won the $5 Day raffle, which entails writing one's name on a five dollar bill, putting it in a box and hoping your bill is drawn. If it is, you win the pot. The pot in this case was $175. For those of you keeping tally at home, I drove off Friday with an extra $200 than I was anticipating.

Production bought a couple of 12-packs for every department, so after work some of us stayed and enjoyed a few beers after a hard day's work.

I told this story to my parents, and my mom said it must be the fraction of Irish blood in me reacting with Friday being St. Patrick's Day. This being the cast, I'm assuming our director of photography, Brian Shanley, received the question to life, the universe and everything after work.

Watching:

V for Vendetta

The Baxter

Ultimate Avengers

Blind Chance

Reading:

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Planetes, Book 1

Marvel Boy (Finished.)

D

I just want to make a lot of money working less hours and a cheap place to stay that's bigger than my current apartment.

2006-03-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

I just want to make a lot of money working less hours and a cheap place to stay that's bigger than my current apartment.

I'm back at work, and I'm learning to be an electrician...or a camera assistant. As soon I as I started the transition to one (the former), I started thinking about transitioning to the other (the latter, obviously). Either way, I hope to be a full-fledged whatever (besides production assistant) by next show. I'm all about upping that pay grade.

In addition, I'll know by tomorrow or Tuesday if Jessie and I will get the apartment we want in scenic Glendale, a town which lies east of Pasadena, home of the Rose Bowl. If we don't get it--and it's a distinct possibility that we may not--we'll have to look for another place while both working full-time jobs. I needn't tell you how much we're hoping for some good news in this case.

That's pretty much what's going on at the moment. I'm getting my transition on. And reading comics. And watching movies. So it's like half transition and half same ol' thing.

Watching:

The Constant Gardener

Layer Cake

Reading:

Catching up on my Brian K. Vaughan by catching up with the latest Y - The Last Man and Ex Machina.

Sleeper Vol. 1: Out in the Cold (Finished.)

Sleeper Vol. 1: Out in the Cold

Jack Kirby's New Gods

D

That festive time of year

2006-03-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

That festive time of year

Happy Oscar Day, everybody! I bring you good tidings and cheer from Los Angeles. It's the one time of year that everybody takes off to sit down and trash talk all of the nominees they've worked with.

"I worked a gig with Heath Ledger mmmm a couple of years ago on some low budget feature. He hid all the time. He was a hider. Or he was at crafty. If he wasn't at craft service when they called for him on set, you were in trouble. Nice when he was around, though...kind of quiet, but..."

I hope everyone has a joyous and fun-filled day with their family and friends. Watch the turkey intake, or you'll never make it to the end of the interminable event.

(Also, Jessie and I just celebrated our one year anniversary for which she got me the seminal Absolute Watchmen which has remastered color and line art along with a 48-page supplemental complete with character proposals, sketches and samples of script pages. She also provided me the tools with which I might get my Konga on. Oh, what a cacophonous mistake!)

Watching:

"Coupling: Season 4"

"Eddie Izzard: Glorious"

X-Men 2

Gladiator

L'Argent

Constantine

Walk the Line

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Reading:

Point Blank (Finished.)

Runaways Vol. 4: True Believers (Finished.)

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings

D

He makes my brain work...DREW SMASH!

2006-02-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

He makes my brain work...DREW SMASH!

If any comic lover's haven't checked out any of Chris Ware's work, you should. He's one of the 15 Masters of American Comics subjectively chosen by MOCA and deservedly so. His use of the panel to break up page space into sometimes postage stamp-sized (sometimes smaller) chunks is as frustrating as it is fascinating. Go for the obsessive fractioning of space, stay for the pretty colors and impeccable design. He sells his work cheap, too.

ChrisWare-alize!

Quimby Mouse

The Acme Novelty Library (I don't actually own this one, so I can't personally vouch for it.)

One Day It'll All Make Sense, Common

The ACME Novelty Library #16 (This one's also known as Rusty Brown, and I absolutely love the way it's designed. It's a great package, especially for just over ten bucks.)

Watching:

Shoot the Piano Player

Dolemite

Listening to:

Be, Common

Anansi Boys CD

Reading:

The Authority Vol. 3: Earth Inferno and Other Stories (Finished.)

The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power (Finished.)

Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy (Finished.)

Runaways Vol. 2: Teenage Wasteland (Finished. [For some reason Amazon doesn't have a link to the digest-sized volume that I read, so I provided a link to the volume one of the hardcover that contains digests 1 & 2.])

Runaways Vol. 3: The Good Die Young

Captain America v5 (issue one - current)

Fell (issue one - current), by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith (...which has no centralized website that I could find.)

D

Countdown to Multiple Infinite Identity Crises!

2006-02-19T14:46:00.000-08:00

Countdown to Multiple Infinite Identity Crises!

Due to some screwy, madcap mix-up with Blogspot, this post got lost in the shuffle. In manually restoring this post, however, the newest post involving me and a comics exhibit at a museum got bumped down beneath this one. So, to read the NEWEST post, scroll down to the post beneath this one. I hope that confuses everybody.

(NOTE: I'm not going to check for any grammatical or spelling errors because I'm hungry. Please excuse any mistakes because my attention was divided between writing this post, ignoring my grumblimg stomach and watching the "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries [which is badass].)

I recommend to anyone that loves the comics medium to read the precursors to DC 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths, the three volume series (and more coming) of Crisis on Multiple Earths.

The story goes like this: Garner Fox, writer of both DC's Golden Age of superheroes--which were discontinued as Western, war, crime, romance and other genre comics gained in popularity as interest in the superhero genre faded--and DC's Silver Age superheroes waxed nostalgic and wanted to combine both sets of heroes into one universe. Gardner Fox ran into a problem, however, when trying to combine the Golden and Silver Age universes; he'd already established the Golden Age superheroes as fictional within the Silver Age universe.

Will Fox be able to combine his two groups of heroes in time?? Stay tuned to find out...!

Meanwhile...
(Why did superheroes rise again in popularity, you ask? The short answer is The Bomb. After Little Boy and Fat Man hit, it became evident that no mere human could fight against forces of that magnitude. Remarkably, the Silver Age heroes still defeated such powerful forces by punching them. It's low-tech, but apparently it got the job done at the time.)

Back at the ranch...
We left our hero, Gardner Fox, on the brink of combining two different ages of the very universe!

Fox's ingenious work-around to the problem was to propose that there were two Earths, and they occupied the same points in space but vibrated at different frequencies. The Silver Age heroes occupied Earth-1 while the Golden Agers occupied Earth-2. Not only did the Earths exist in the same space at different frequencies, both Earths resided in two distinct universes that occupied the same space at different vibrational frequencies. By altering the vibrational pattern of one's own being, one could travel to this other Earth by matching one's own vibrational pattern to that of the alternate Earth. Follow? Good.

Fox further supposed (eventually) that one could have an infinite amount of Earths/universes "stacked" within the same points in space that all vibrated at their own respective frequencies and had their own respective versions of DC superheroes. (To my limited knowledge of the DC multiverse, there was only one Earth without DC heroes. Ours, Earth-Prime.)

Of course, in Crisis on Infinite Earths the DC multiverse collapsed down to a universe, but that's another story (one I, sadly, have yet to read).

And despite that little tangent, anyone who loves comics should read Fox's Crisis on Multiple Earths. It's cheesy, sure, but the scripting is also ingenious and the artist, Mike Sekowsky, with his almost woodblock style composes every frame perfectly and allows the narrative flow with great economy and grace. Go read it.

Watching:

"Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries"

11:14

"Paranoia Agent - Enter Lil Slugger"

"Paranoia Agent - True Believers"

Reading:

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore (Finished.)

Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing (Finished.)

Crisis On Multiple Earths, Vol. 1

The Comics Journal, no. 271

D

"Here at MOCA, we encourage our visitors to enjoy and appreciate the art on our walls BUT ONLY UNDER OUR STRICT SUPERVISI-- DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

2006-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

"Here at MOCA, we encourage our visitors to enjoy and appreciate the art on our walls BUT ONLY UNDER OUR STRICT SUPERVISI-- DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

So I went to the Masters of American Comics exhibit at MOCA yesterday and--while I love the idea of comics art as high art in principle--I didn't like the MOCA execution of the idea. There was something slightly nauseating seeing comic art on stark white walls behind glass. It felt like visiting comics in prison. I should've been interacting with them via a closed-circuit phone system.

I also got in trouble...three times. Once I answered my phone to let a friend of mine who was meeting me at the exhibit know I had, indeed, arrived. Okay. That's my bad. I should've known better than to answer the phone in the exhibit itself. Ten minutes after that a different museum security person came up to me and asked me to check my bag back at the main desk. So, okay, fine. I went back to the desk and checked my bag. Fine. Whatever. Probably should've told me something as I entered, but fine. Twenty minutes later a third security person warned me to stop pointing at the exhibit. Pointing. Don't do that. Don't point at the art. We left shortly thereafter.

When one takes a piece of work out of its original context to place it in a museum setting, one must be cognizant of how this change of context will change the art itself. I can tell you that, while Will Eisner's The Spirit and anything by Jack Kirby held up under the context, most of the work suffered from the change from tangible sequential narrative to a sterile single page on a wall.

If you love your comics, people, hold them, don't frame them.

Reading:

Archie's Double Digest Magazine, no. 167 (Finished.)

Crisis On Multiple Earths, Vol. 1 (Finished.)

Point Blank (Finished.)

The Authority Vol. 1: Relentless (Finished.)

The Authority Vol. 2: Under New Management (Finished.)

Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority (Finished.)

The Authority Vol. 3: Earth Inferno and Other Stories

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy

D

This is the end.

2006-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

This is the end.

Tomorrow's the last day of the shoot. I have vague memories of sleep.

Also, the greatest movie you've never heard of is released next month. How did I not know this was coming out?

Watching:

The Devil's Rejects

"Samurai Champloo - Volume 7"

Reading:

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

D

Rockstar revolution

2006-02-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

Rockstar revolution

Last Saturday Jessie and I went to a karaoke/bowling bar to kick out one or two jams with some friends. We hadn't been karaoke-ing since my birthday in July and had forgotten how much fun it was, so we made plans with everyone there to go back the next Saturday.

I invited a few people from work to go with us, and one of these people took it upon herself to make up some fliers to distribute to the whole crew. In just one day, my small gathering had turned into THE social event of the film shoot. The producers weren't going to have a wrap party, so this event had become a hostile substitute. An act of defiance. We created our own wrap party and didn't need production approval or money. With only a few well-placed invites, I inadvertently became the leader of a revolution.

Needless to say, when the entire crew and much of the cast showed up to karaoke last night and a work friend of mine started doing some improptu MCing, the pressure was on with my first solo.

A proper karaoke selection should be relative to a situation. One should play to one's strengths. For example, I can't carry a tune, but I can play an audience like no one's business. A song should be unexpected but be familiar enough so that even those that don't know the song should be able to sing along by the end. The selection should give some insight into the singer's tastes but only through hints rather than outright declaration. It should simultaneously intrigue and excite a crowd. My selection was Denis Leary's "Asshole", and I was goddamned brilliant. Really.

The whole night was a smash. I finally got to meet a friend's girlfriend who, up to that point, I thought was fictional. Everyone danced. Vino did flow. Et cetera, et cetera.

And today The Steelers won the Super Bowl. All in all it was a good weekend.

Only one week left in the shoot, and I can't wait to have a little time off to catch up on my movies, my book and--most importantly-- my sleep.

Watching:

Open Water (Terrrrible.)

Forrest Gump (Meh.)

"Samurai Champloo - Volume 6"

Reading:

Conan Volume 2: The God In The Bowl And Other Stories (Finished.)

The Walking Dead Vol. 4: The Heart's Desire (Finished.)

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

D

The greatest thing that has ever happened ever

2006-02-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

The greatest thing that has ever happened ever

The greatest thing that could ever happen to any person has happened to me: I have the opportunity to be a zombie in a zombie movie. I must be the happiest person who ever lived, then died, then came back to feast on the brains of the living. The dead hate the living.

Brad, this one's for you.

Watching:

"Samurai Champloo - Volume 5"

The Sentinel

Reading:

The Originals (Finished.)

Conan Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter And Other Stories (Finished.)

Promethea (Book 4) (Finished.)

The Walking Dead Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars (Finished.)

The Walking Dead Vol. 4: The Heart's Desire (If you're not reading Walking Dead and you like zombie movies, you should pick up the first book at least. Both the writing and art are clicking, and each volume is $15 or less. It's some really great stuff.)

D

What better way to wind down from the most stressful day of a shoot than to list everything I need to do

2006-01-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

What better way to wind down from the most stressful day of a shoot than to list everything I need to do

There are things I hate, and one of those things forgetting to do or putting off doing of other things. For example, I bought a Françios Truffaut movie--Truffaut being one of my favorite directors, by the by--called Shoot the Piano Player on Criterion DVD which, as Brian points out, is like the crack to us film kids. I have yet to watch the bastard, like, ever.

And so, in honor of this and other things, is a list of stuff for me to take care of this weekend:

Watch the bastard

Call my friend Nicole and get a cup of coffee with her. (Granted, she also has a fat stack of my movies on her--namely 8 1/2--and it's about time I got those back.)

I'm backed up on my comics reading big time. Regular readers may have noted my recent comics shopping sprees and how little of my purchases have been in my Reading section. Gotta read at least three graphic novels this week or weekend.

I, uh, still haven't unpacked from the holidays. I mean, not fully unpacked. I've got the ol' toothbrush and toiletries out, but that's about it. Probably about time I put stuff in closets and whatnot.

Yep. 'Bout time all that stuff happened.

I believe I just set a record for longest blog title since I started a few years ago. Congratulations, me!

D

Of hairs and their cuttings

2006-01-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Of hairs and their cuttings

So I got my hair did the other day. The key hair woman, Shay, on the next movie cut my hair in faux hawk fashion. I'm not wearing it that way, but that's the way she intended it to be worn. I look pretty mean now.

The following day, I cut Jessie's hair. It looks pretty great. Now we're the sexiest people alive.

Pictures of both cuts are forthcoming. [UPDATE! They're right below.]

Here's Jessie looking saucy and generally making hearts race all over the nation.

"Good eeeevening." Here's me with a nice new haircut and my favorite t-shirt.

Me with the hat hair. Still looking pretty okay, remarkably.

Here's how sexy we look as a couple. Don't look directly at the picture. We've been known to damage a retina or two. We're only safe to look at through a pinhole in a shoebox using some tin foil as a reflextive surface. Ask your parents for help!

Me with the faux. Or le faux, I suppose. (I'm not even sure if that's grammatically correct.) Mind you, this is right on top of the ol' hat hair, so it normally looks better. I think the last time I had some kind of product in my hair was probably high school. God help me, I've got last season's haircut and goop in my hair. Look no further for the omen of the apocalypse, dear readers.

Today's comic and book purchases:

Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Love and Death

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

The Walking Dead Vol. 4: The Heart's Desire