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Archive for January, 2004
11 items.
Oh lord, I’m bored and feel like posting.
That’s never a good mix.
I’ve been fucked up about the day all day, mainly because I have off from work tomorrow, so I keep thinking it’s Friday. Of course, I have to work Saturday and Sunday, so…well, as the Sheriff said in Night of the Living Dead, “Yeah, they’re dead…they’re all messed up.”
Speaking of dead things, I picked up the first trade paperback of the “Route 666″ series, and it was pretty damn good. Premise: Cassie Starkweather is college junior who, it turns out, can see dead people. Even worse, she sees these sprits getting kidnapped by inky black ghosts to a place called “Perdition.” Assisting these inky horrors are men and women who look normal, but are in fact movie-creature types, vampires, werewolves and the like. Naturally she gets institutionalized, but she escapes after being accused of murder, and now lives on the run as a fugitive trying to fight a conspiracy that reaches all the way to hell itself.
I want to write up little bios for all the non-superhero comics I read. In fact, I think I’m reading more straight “speculative fiction” titles than superhero ones, for once in my life. Proof that the medium is shifting in a positive direction, if you ask me.
I’m a human barometer for success…
Watched half of wrestling and the 2nd episode of “Tru Calling” (which was way better than the first episode). Wrestling was okay. It picked up a bit on the Monday night show, but this one still felt kind of weak. They did have a mini-Smackdown Royal Rumble, and that was entertaining to watch, and actually had me guessing about the outcome. That’s a plus. They need to do some shifting around of talent on the shows, though (they run the two like different division, like the AFC and NFC in football…but there’s no draft and barely any trading so people are always wrestling the same people).
I had an interesting/pleasant conversation with these two overly friendly guys in Dark Star tonight. When they left, one of them said “God bless you!” as a farewell, and I just kind of nodded and smiled. It’s always weird when stuff like that happens, and you’re talking to someone and you realize “Oh…you’re one of *those.* Okay.” It make certain things make sense, like when he was talking about the movie “Master and Commander” and how interesting the characters were because it takes place right around “when Darwinism came out” and it’s neat to see “how they deal with all of that stuff.”
Toni is right, sometimes you just need to learn how to make cricket noises.
“Yeah, Darwinism…what’s up with that?”
*cricket noises*
I remember reading an interview in Playboy with one of the playmates, and she said that she “didn’t believe in evolution or anything like that” because it was against God’s plan. But God’s plan says it’s okay for you to wax your ‘nani and walk around with your knickers ’round your ankles? Not that I’m complaining, but still. Cricket noises.
I’m thinking about writing projects that I want to work on, or go back and revise. I always find myself going over old stuff and groaning, but you just have to keep producing, right? There is no wasted writing, as my beloved Toni tells me. It’s funny, I was reading my antiquated, out of date LJ earlier, and came upon an essay I wrote about file-sharing (maybe I’ll post it here at some point). It got a lot of people talking and discussing about stuff, which was really fun (perhaps the best use I’ve ever made of the global format of the internet), and a lot of them also added “That was really well written.”
So it made me realize that maybe, just maybe, I’m not a drooling mongoloid idiot bastard.
*cricket noises*
Chasing shiny objects, I remain…
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Sometimes TV makes me that happy, and it’s okay.
Total fucking dork-dom on the tube tonight.
On ìSmallvilleî, Chole, one of Clark’s teen pals is getting fired from her job at the Daily Planet, having been blacklisted.
“Here,” she says, handing a disk to one of the senior writers, “these are some stories I’m working on.”
Reporter: “Sorry, Chloe, but nothing with your name on it will ever see print. You sure pissed off the wrong people.”
Chloe: “Okay…wait, how about a pseudonym? I can use my cousins name, she’s totally not into journalism.” *writes name, hands disk over*
Reporter looks at disk: “Lois Lane?”
At which point my brain melts and dribbles out my ear.
Not to mention that there have been rumors going about that the boy Lana has been seeing on Smallville, that’s from out of town, has a mysterious past and no family, may be visiting Kansas by way of Gotham City. I shrugged that off as pipe dreams last week, but this week he’s all doing kung-fu and spouting random facts about stuff under the guise of “I read alot.” Yes, he supposedly lost his family in a fire (and met Lana in physical therapy because of injuries he sustained trying to save them), but that could just be a cover for a random good deed gone awry.
And on “Angel,” Andrew showed up! I love Andrew, that dorky little bastard. I always thought it’d be funny so see him trying to fit in there. Not only did we get him, but little tidbits about where the rest of the gang from “Buffy” are and what they are up to.
I haven’t mentioned it here yet, but Chappelle’s Show is fucking hysterical. If you ever get a chance to see it, do so. This weeks is especially good.
That’s all I’ve got. I’m all pissed off about New Hampshire, but yelling about it won’t do any good. All I can say is that if Dean lasts to the Ohio primary, he’s still got my vote. I’ll vote for Kerry, because as any one who knows me will tell you, I’m all about beating Bush. I’d love to beat Bush. I can’t think of a better thing to do with your time than beat Bush. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to beat Bush.
Bush beater, I remain…
“But I was lucky, because I had a spoon in my hand…
January 25th, 2004 | by Thacher ClevelandPosted In: General
…so I shoved it up my ass. You may be wondering why. Because if I’m going to hurt that much, I’m going to do it to myself. Oprah calls that ‘empowerment.’”
-Lewis Black
And then the snows came.
I almost lost an ear walking to work this morning, so it’s nice to see that it’s gotten worse. Fucking winter. And to think at one point I wanted to move to Montana. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Maybe for summers. Ride the range, feed my inner cowboy, that sort of thing.
Things could be worse, I could be moving to Alaska.
*knocks on wood*
I wonder sometimes about comic fans. I think a majority of us have more guilt than Catholics. We flagellate ourselves, get insanely picky and wear the “acceptable” comics down to a little nub, don’t talk about them, be meticulous and picky and all that crap. And, of course, there are the people who confuse format with content. Just because the 90s happened and we had tons of shitty superhero comics flooding dumpsters across the land doesn’t mean that there aren’t great works of art and stories being told. No one goes “Hey, Judith Krantz writes shitty novels, and ‘War and Peace’ is a novel, so ‘War and Peace’ must be just as shitty as Judith Krantz novels.” If anyone did that, we’d put them in a padded room.
But people do that with comics all the time.
It drives me fucking nuts.
But I’m going to talk about that more later.
I love Lewis Black. Funny, angry, funny bastard. I need to find more audio of him.
So the guy who wants to move the Nets to Brooklyn bought the team. You know what buddy? Go fuck yourself. We don’t have a lot in Jersey. We don’t. New York teams play there, and are still called New York teams. One of our teams, a team all of our very one, gets good after years of shittiness, and what do they do? They get taken away. Why not just take the Devils, too? They’re doing good, too, y’know. Move them to Queens. Asshole.
I think I’m going to have to be a Kings fan now. Or maybe the Knicks. I dunno.
It upsets me, I don’t want to talk about it.
I’ve been editing. I swear. I’ve winnowed it down to 108,000 words or so, which is good. Progress getting made. I still need people to read things, so if you’d like to read it, let me know. I reserve the right to politely tell you no, but that’s the risk you take. Those who do wish to read are bound by honesty (which means saying “It sucks,” if you think it sucks) and having to give me feedback. Those are the rules.
It all comes back to food, because my hunger knows no bounds. Pork and beans, people, pork and beans…
Squealing like a pig, I remain…
I hate cold weather. It makes me crazy, it wears me out, it makes me tired all the time, makes me not able to sleep and, well, makes me crazy. Winters are never fun.
So yeah, I’m ready to hibernate. Sleeping for a couple of months sounds grand. I mean, I have a hard enough time getting out of bed most days anyway.
I had been doing really being responsible and moving forward, and I think the permafrost in the Buckeye state has set into my brain. I’m too tired to even think about writing, although I have picked up the pencil again, so maybe I’ll come out of this season with a couple of more neurons attuned to making drawrings (hello my name is Simon…and I like to do drawrrrrrrrrrrrrings).
I shouldn’t be irritated that I’ve been doing more, but I am, because I’m never satisfied. I sat in Dark Star tonight, doing nothing, talking with one of my co-workers about the store and I kept thinking “Why am I here?” Well, I need the money.
But really, how badly do I need it? I hate the times when I’m working non-stop for two weeks. I’m cutting my hours back, but it’s still $45 bucks a week. Do I really need that?
Turns out it’s yes, so I’ll shut up about it.
“Smallville” and “Angel” were good last night. Clark temporarily looses his sight, and gets super-hearing to compensate. And when his vision begins to come back, he gets glasses. Clark Kent wears glasses. I missed a whole scene of dialogue because I was laughing so hard. I don’t know if they are going to keep the glasses, but it makes sense in a down the road kind of way. “Yeah, Clark had perfect vision for the longest time, but then there was this accident and after that he had to wear glasses. Darndest thing…”
On “Angel,” I love how they are playing Angel’s jealousy of Spike up and how the two of them just don’t get along. It’s like having a sibling or friend that you were always rivals with, and then one day when you think that the stars have written a destiny for you and you alone, that rival from the past shows up and hey, maybe that destiny you thought was yours is actually *his.* Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.
I actually watched an episode of “Tru Calling” tonight, which was interesting. I watched the first half of the pilot, got bored and never looked back, but wrestling was delayed by about twenty minutes (for no apparent reason, just a black screen. I know it may be hard to run a TV station, but seriously, put the right tape in) so I thought I’d give it a shot. The premise: Tru (I hope it’s short for something) is a twenty something woman (Eliza Dushku, so there’s a reason to watch it right there) who, after landing a graveyard shift job in the morgue, finds herself being spoken to by dead people, and then reliving the last 24 hours of her life to try and save theirs. It’s like “Groundhog Day,” but with a mission. Apparently they have been playing with the formula a bit lately, so there may be more to it than that (apparently Tru’s mother may have had the same powers, another mid-level actor is slated to join the cast or make appearances perhaps as her “opposite number,” trying to make sure people die, etc.). I may give it more of a shot, who knows.
I’m thinking about talking comics at some point. I’ve had an itch on the brain to get some things off my chest, but I think that’ll wait.
I’m in-between books right now because my new Dennis Lehane one, “Shutter Island,” hasn’t shown up yet. I’m thinking about re-reading something, but I don’t know what. The last few lunch hours I’ve either read comics, edited something or done drawrings (I love saying that), so I haven’t missed it that much. But it makes going to sleep easier, so I should figure something out.
I’m hungry, and should eat. Although, funny story: I don’t cook much, but I love me some chicken, so I baked up some chicken drumsticks with Montreal Steak seasoning, BBQ sauce and A1, and I ended up devouring all six of them during a commercial break on “Angel.” I’ll leave you with that visual.
Finger lickin’ good, I remain…
What a roller coaster of emotions the first week of classes is at work. Sitting around waiting for customers is like being stuck in a Beckett play.
That’s a fancy way of saying business is for shit.
Today as I was coming back from my lunch hour, I approached this couple that were standing around on the sidewalk, practically doubled over from the cold and looking confused. As I passed them, they asked me where the body piercing place was. I gave them directions as my mind screamed in terror. The both of them had bloodshot eyes, cigarettes dangling from the corners of thier mouths, and faces like worn, beaten leather. This womanís face was so worn it was like a still life of a turbulent, sickly brown ocean. There were countless peaks and valleys, folds upon folds, canyons upon crevasses. I don’t want to imagine what these people were going to get pierced, or even how it could be done. Maybe if they used a rail-gun, or some kind of orbital laser.
Speaking of body things, my friend Joe came over, and we had pizza and watched “Goldeneye,” and as we caught up on things, he told me that he was going to be starting up a tattoo parlor in town and doing tattoo work again. I dug out the drawing of the tattoo I’ve wanted to get for, oh, the past 4 years or so, and he said he’d be able to do it easy, for $45. So that may be something on my plate soon, once I get my mind back in a “getting a tattoo” place and making sure that it’s what I really want to do.
There are actually two that I want to do, but let’s start small.
Despite work being crazy (in the sense that it doesn’t make sense, and it’s confusing as to where everyone is), I’ve managed to be productive, in the sense that I’ve done some work on a comic script and a little bit of editing. I’ve been exercising and even making meals instead of just foraging for food in the wilderness. Along those lines, I got this horoscope today from www.freewillastrology.com:
“I predict that 2004′s mysterious gifts will free you from your old self. At least one of your inhibitions will disappear. Attacks of self-consciousness will diminish in frequency and intensity. You’ll realize how fun it is to rebel against your antiquated image. The only new taboo you might take on is a taboo against imitating the overused shticks that have worked for you in the past. Because of these explosive improvements in your relationship with brash spontaneity, you may be ready to acquire your porn name. Here are two suggestions about how to generate the new moniker. 1. Combine the name of your first pet with the name of the street where you lost your virginity. 2. Go to www.mypornname.com and follow the directions.”
Inhibitions? Me? Some would say I don’t have enough (but then again those people don’t know me all that well). Who knows, 2004 could be my year *taps my copy of the Writers Market Guide.*
Oh, and Free Will Astrology man got the porn formula wrong; it’s Pet’s name and Street You Grew Up On (which gives you today’s title).
Inhibitionless (?), I remain…
So I was ringing someone up at work today and she said to me “Hey, you have a Live Journal, right?”
It took me a little of guard, but I said that I did, but I don’t use it any more, just for commenting and to read friends who have friend’s only journals. She remembered seeing me comment in some other students LJ.
It’s funny when you read someone’s Blog or Journal that you don’t really know, but you actually see them around. I mean, there are plenty of people that I’ve never met who’s stuff I read (that they don’t even know I read), but when you kind of know them…it’s almost weird.
Not weird enough to make me stop, but hey.
I also joked with this girl that even though I don’t use my LJ anymore, I do have a weblog. “Have to have that shameless self-promotion somehow, right?” I joked. That got me thinking the rest of the day why I still have a blog, and what I hope to get out of it.
Don’t know, I realized. I worry sometimes about what I write, if anyone bothers reading, and if they do it because they find something interesting, or just because they know me. I wondered if I should try to write about more “important” and “real” things, instead of football, comic books and television, with the odd rant about who I hate this week (although “the hilton sisters are whores” is fast becoming my most popular search string).
But then I remember that trying to be someone I’m not is kind of pointless. This is who I am, this is what I do.
On with the news…
All Harmony episode of “Angel” this week, and that made be happy, because Harmony is adorable and she’s funny. I hope she gets used more as the season progresses. I wasn’t really too fond of “Smallville,” but hopefully they will get their act together soon. “Line of Fire” was great, as usual, and “24″ is still chugging along (Sherry! Sherry! You know 24 is getting a full head of steam when Sherry shows up. Now, it’s a party…). I don’t talk about the other shows I watch (Simpsons, Justice League [although I think it's in reruns right now], Adult Swim, SNL) but I don’t think they lend themselves to discussion that well. Good shows, watch ‘em.
I made another CD, thought I’d share it, I call it “KickAss”, and it goes something like this…
1. MC Chris – Harry Potter
2. The Offspring – Meaning of Life
3. Limp Bizkit – Eat You Alive
4. U2 – Elevation (Tomb Raider Mix)
5. Rolling Stones – Paint it Black
6. The Clash – Train in Vain
7. The Donnas – Skintight
8. Dan the Automator – Cartoon Capers
9. Einsturzende Neubauten – Feurio (Cafferty-Einheit Mix)
10. The Cramps – Sheena’s in a Goth Gang
11. George Thorogood – Gear Jammer
12. Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
13. Bubba Sparxxx – Back in the Mudd
14. Beastie Boys – No Sleep till Brooklyn
15. Stevie Ray Vaughn – Pride and Joy
16. Wild Cherry – Play that Funky Music (White Boy) [NOTE: Who did this song? I know it's not James Brown like the MP3 file says, but I thought it was KC & the Sunshine band. Is it really Wild Cherry?]
17. Joan Jett – Don’t give a Damn About my Reputation
18. Jimi Hendrix – Foxy Lady
19. James Brown – Sex Machine
20. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog – I Keed
I realized a couple of days ago my music collection was sorely lacking in the classics, like Stones, James Brown, Beastie Boys, Hendrix, Stevie Ray. So I’m rectifying that.
On a final, serious note, I read an article the other day about Howard Dean’s wife, and how she’s shuns the campaign trail so she can practice medicine. She hasn’t campaigned with him, doesn’t plan too. She, and their children, are Jewish (not that that has anything to do with not campaigning, it just goes on the list of things I didn’t know). They don’t even own a TV. Interesting, although it made me think that if he gets the nomination the other side will start trying to use that as a weapon (y’know, because she’s not a Barbie Doll, WASPie homemaker). That, and I can imagine SNL having a good time with it as well. Interesting.
Work is work. Not as bad as some other past book rushes, but I get paid either way. I’m going to cut down on my hours at Dark Star so I can have more time for me and to write. Writing and editing has been going well. I’m kicking out what will be a 12-page comic script that I could be persuaded to post up here sometime. I’m doing a little bit of editing too, but I think I’m saving that for the weekends (yeah, that’s the ticket…the weekends).
A hodgepodge of information, I remain…
So for those of you that don’t know, St. Louis missed that field goal, Carolina got it back, got sacked, and the Delhomme threw a great pass for a touchdown. And even better, when I got home from work it was only halftime in the Packers/Eagles game, which is cool.
Cool because I’m damn irritable. I’m irritable in that “I’m pissed off that I’m not where I want to be in my life” way, which means I have to get off my stupid, lazy ass and do soem fucking work so I’m not still working in assorted retail mad-houses when I’m 30.
So I’m shutting up now.
With work to do, I remain…