Posting ain't easy
So where have I been? Why don't I post anymore? Goddammit, favorites need to update regularly to stay in the rotation!
The thing is, I have recently gotten a new third job. There's the video store (Hollywood on 20th and W Burnside, come visit!), the office job (yeah, office assisstant, yeah), and now, my own online column. Yes, that's right. I'm going to be a columnist again.
The story goes like this: Awhile back, on the old, Powered By Pop Culture blog, I wrote a little post about graphic novels and their importance and history in the literary and comic book market. After awhile, it became really hard to make posts for this blog and my plans to continue writing for it faded into the ether. Then, one day, Breanna (friend from California), decided it'd be fun to Google my name and discovered that said post had been picked up as a newsitem on the Ait/PlanetLar (an independant comic book company that I'm a huge fan of) website under their "cool postings" links. I was amazed. On the same day, I stumbled on to a comic book website called SequArt.com. They're site seemed to deal with discussing comics as seriously as possible whether it was reviews, news, or critiques of current trends... and they were accepting submissions for columnists. I applied, got accepted, and I should be seeing my first article up there soon.
The column is called "Square Bound" and will deal with the emerging graphic novel "revolution" that seems to be enveloping comicdom. I'll post here as soon as I get a "print date" for the piece. From there, I'm going to do my best to keep a bi-weekly schedule.
Whose house? Run's house. I said, whose house? RUN'S HOUSE!
Tappin' the nostalgia vein
Let's take a trip back in time to 1990. There I was, fresh off of the Batman movie bandwagon. Fresh-faced and dough-eyed little 9 year old with not a care in world except that suddenly, I thought that comic book superheroes were the coolest thing EVER.
A stroke of genius passes the minds of NBC executives and a pilot for a television series based on another DC Comics character is greenlit. The Flash is "racing towards primetime," to quote the advertisers.
Now, I'm not into the whole, "re-live your youth by buying retreads of old stuff" a la, Transformers reissued toys, the release of old cartoons like Rainbow Brite or Jem and the holograms as t-shirts and screen-printed hoodies, or brand-spankin' new Care Bear plushes... but one thing I will get behind is the retro releases on DVD. Let's face it: THIS is cool. So far on the old nostalgia wheel, I've gotten Magnum P.I. and The Rockford Files on DVD. The kicker, though, came a few months ago when WB DVD announced the release of one of their classic, but unappreciated and prematurely cancelled TV shows... The Flash. Suffice it to say, I've been counting the days.
So, here in all of it's glory, is the complete series of one of my all time favorite shows. Does the writing hold up? About as good as any TV show after the fact. Are the effects still cutting edge? Ha! Not by today's standards. Is there a definite, "not the right era" factor from watching a show from 16 years ago now? Just in the neckties and haircuts. All in all, though, the Flash wasn't great television because we know that's an oxymoron. The Flash was something special to me and continued to be throughout my growing up, whether it was the TV show, the comic, the cartoon, a t-shirt, or an action figure. The rub is that it STARTED with this little series that almost could.
So hard to say, "goodbye"
It's been awhile since I've been good about posting here. I've hit the high notes of X-mas or New Year's (can't miss THOSE posts, y'know), but the usual barrage of sometimes useless, sometimes poignant, sometimes (rarely) thought-provoking posts have drifted off. Mostly, that's 'cause I'm just damn lazy or too busy. Also, I've just been devoid of anything that I thought warranted being up here. Until last Saturday.
I hate saying, "goodbye" to the point of avoidance. Let's just get that straight. No one on this planet who has any type of compassion should be able to say that they can deal with a close friend or loved one leaving their immediate proximity. If they say they can, run away from them. They have no soul.
Will is by far one of my closest friends and our friend, Nick, is one of my most important. At one point, I had to say goodbye to both of them in some respect. We went to different colleges for awhile. Will moved to Wisconsin. People can just generally move apart, socially. I have the utmost respect for the two of them and their feelings (despite what I may sound like in a social setting), so when someone that THEY care about leaves and I have to watch them deal with it, I empathize with them because it's upsetting them. On Saturday, they both said, "goodbye" to someone that they loved very dearly. Her name's Pauline.
Now, I know the girl. She's a mutual acquaintance, so it's not like I have no idea who she was or how much she meant to them. The thing is, when I heard she was returning home to Hong Kong (she's a Chinese citizen), it made me a little sad. She's a fun girl, a partier, smart, funny and she brings joy to some very close people to me. The thing is, she and I never got a chance to actually become anything other than our friend's friend. Just the way things work out.
As we stood there in the airport, a small group of friends of Pauline and Will, hugging, photographing, making jokes to add levity (that'd be me), I watched these people around me get very choked up. Now, I didn't get choked up. I don't know Pauline as well as Will and Nick, but I knew where they were coming from and there was this moment where we were all setting around a table in the food court and people began to get really choked up and avoiding talking or eye-contact. All I wanted to do was make a joke or splash water on my head or something to lighten the mood. I just had a feeling that that wouldn't have helped. I mentioned I needed to get quick drink and then started wondering the little mini-mall area of the terminal. As I meandered in and out of the shops I saw, I started to pick-up little items that I thought Pauline should have for her trip. Included in this mini care package was a copy of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman, a pack of playing cards with pictures of Oregon on them, a bag of Almond Roca and a Portland t-shirt.
I have no idea what prompted me to do this, but when we were going around the circle giving Pauline that last goodbye hug, I felt like that was my way of saying, "I wish I'd gotten to know you better."
Happy New Year
So here I am, drunk on New Year's Eve and left to recap the last twelve months while watching the ball drop and hanging with a few friends. Let's get to it, shall we?
*Broke up with Alicia. Didn't talk for 7 months. Saw her on the street on one of the best days of the year and decided, "y'know what? Let's call her."
*Moved out of Kevin's and into a studio downtown. Living behind a bar never really comes to your attention until you go in and everybody knows your name and, conveniently no longer cards you. I now live next to four bars, a coffee shop, a video store, two fast food restaurants, and an upscale bar and grill, among other things.
*Worked for Wells Fargo, quit Wells Fargo and got a job back at ye ol' Hollywood Video. Lord, how do I miss working there. We have 80k movies and I'm so happy to be there. Great staff, great customers (with the random idiots thrown in), and just plain good times.
*Went back to school and I'll be graduating in June and starting either a post-bac program or masters program in the fall (fingers crossed).
*What a year of movies. The ones that actually got advertising? Sucked. The ones that I had to actually research in order to enjoy? Rocked.
*Serenity. Firefly the movie. Nuff said.
*The wedding for Bentley and Dani. Rawk.
*Made amends with as many old "problems" as possible.
*New friends: Meg and Erin, Zac, Ali and Nick, K3hl and Amanda, Julie, Stacy, and Tana, Fallon, Annapurna and Emir, Alissa, Sierra, Dennis and Abel, and, of course, NYC Kelly. Plus, the return of Burton, Colie, Laura, D and, the most important return of all, Will "the Wolf" Myren. What a year for meeting new people.
There's a much longer list of things to be thankful for this year but I'm just going to say this: To all of those who aided and abetted to making this year one to remember. It truly was one of the greats and I feel (dare I even say it) blessed that I got to participate in 2005 with this many highlights.
Aud Lang muthafuckin' Syne.
