This is going to be a lousy week. I can feel it in my bones, and with my cheery positive outlook, I am bound to make it so.
We’re doing another Guitar Hero tournament on Thursday, this time at Peach’s, the music bar and grill about a block away. It’s us, the music store next door, and Peach’s hosting, with me “emcee”-ing it so I can pimp Free Comic Book Day, which is this Saturday.
Right there, those two things are causing the aforementioned cheery outlook. Guitar Hero came together right before the last minute, but with three shops organizing, it hasn’t been too much hard work, just those crazy last minute details that always fly up in your face like a leaf-covered rake. Like the prizes, and where I’m going to sit, who (if anyone) is going to be there with me, and yeah, being on a stage at a bar trying to be “funny” or whatever while I’m hosting a making fake music contest. Or how we’re going to randomize the songs. Or if we’re going to get Tony’s 360 hard drive to Peach’s to use the downloaded or unlocked songs. Or how I’m going to get the tournament bracket set if we don’t get enough people.
Hey, lets think about Free Comic Book Day instead. Like where we’re going to put all the stuff we ordered. Or where the Darth Vader and Stormtroopers from the 501st Legion are going to be, or if they’re going to be on time, or if you can make them happy and be a good host. Or if the money we spent on flyers or radio advertising will actually bring people out.
Lots of fun.
I could also talk about how I got the runaround for a month from the people at the movie theater when I wanted to do some flyering and coupon handouts at the Iron Man premiere (this Thursday, natch). After dealing with fuck-ups at the corporate office, Tony and Travis went out to th theater in person to talk to a human, we found out one of the other comic shops in the area locked down a promotion two weeks ago…after I’d been told by someone there to put all my eggs in corporate’s basket. Fool! Never put anything in corporate’s basket!
Of course, that would’ve been the same night as Guitar Hero and that would’ve been a blast (of crap in my face), so that’s okay, I guess…but damn.
But hey, I heard back from the agent that has my full manuscript. It was on Friday, just after I spent the whole day applying vinyl letters to the awning outside the store so we could be big and visual on the outside for our inaugural FCBD. You’d think putting letters on an awning would be cake. Of course not. Instructions were apparently sold separately, and I measured them wrong, meaning I had to come up with a whole new way to use the $150 worth “comics & games” we bought. So we spend the whole damn day working on it, me up and down the worlds ricketiest ladder, finally Tim Gunning it up and then, exhausted physically and mentally, I sit down to check my email, and there’s the one I’ve been waiting six months for. I actually sat there and said “crap…crap…crap” for about five minutes before I opened it.
It was anticlimactic, just a “wow, I’ve had this for a while, do you still interested in me representing it?” I wrote him back, using less strong language than “Sweet glorious fuck-stick yes, please!” I haven’t heard back yet. I am cautiously optimistic. Or soon to be catastrophically heart broken, coupled with the self loathing that comes from not querying as much as I should.
Lee is, I think, done with the pencils for the first ten pages of the comic. I think. Then we begin the rickety, uncharted, process of inking. And then the hellish no man’s land of lettering.
I’ve been writing for crap lately. Finished the 2nd draft of the third issue of the aforementioned comic. I’d been wanting to have drafts of all six issues done by now, but 4 and 5 are still in first draft notebook stage. I’m still trying to pace 6 out in my head, but I find myself unsure. Regardless, it’ll be done by Chicago (end of June) by hook or by crook. I don’t know which one involves more blood and tears (because both sound pretty horrible), but it’ll be that one.
I leave you with this video one of our customers made for an entry into a Free Comic Book Day commercial. If you look closely, you can see me (playing the role I was born to play, that of the confused shopkeep) and my store (you don’t have to look to hard to figure out which one it is…we don’t sell fabric)…and the store logo that I sent him that has the wrong phone number on it.
See? Cheery, positive outlook.
PS: “Harold and Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” like donuts, is awesome.
So I used to really dislike the whole improv comedy thing. It often came off as the pretentious tripe of vaguely talented theater majors so desperate to prove how clever they are by making something almost funny out of serious of nouns culled from the audience like really bad Mad Libs.
Then I watched the season 2 finale of “The Whitest Kids You Know,” and it made me so much more appreciative, as it was filed live on stage in NY. If you haven’t seen the show you’re really missing out, as its probably the best sketch comedy series on TV right now, and since its on IFC it’s uncensored which makes it that much more awesome.
Examples:
Of course, the season finale was just on, so if they do reruns on IFC you’ll have to catch it then. The thing about the finale, with the live-ness and the not having costumes and sets and all that jazz made me appreciate the art of getting up there and just being funny in a weird unique way. There aren’t any YouTube clips of the finale up yet, but keep your eyes out for them because it’s great. Watching it really made me wish I had the opportunity to get on stage and do stuff like that (y’know, if I had a stage, or was comfortable on one, or if I was funnier), and really made me respect the people that can do that a lot more.
Of course, writing this and thinking about it more…I guess they aren’t improv at all. It’s regular sketch comedy. No retarded audience Mad Libs.
Fuck those improv people.
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Speaking of “Fuck those people,” I just got done watching The Cook, and what a giant piece of crap. As much as I love crappy direct to video horror movies, this had no real redeeming value whatsoever. Even toplessness, implied lesbianism, lesbians in bondage and near constant drug use could save it, and that’s a lot of good things. We’re getting a lot of these low-budget horror movies at the store and we’re doing good business with them, but flashy covers and hilariously awful concepts aren’t enough to sell them. People ask us all the time if they are “good,” and as we all know there are levels of good. There’s good, and then something so bad its good, or something that’s just kind o mindless popcorn good, even things so horrifyingly wrong they’re good, etc. This, sadly, is none of those. It’s just bad, and that means I’ve got to find something else to sell.
Eventful times, of course. I’ll forgo the usual “oh gee it’s been so long,” except for this whole mentioning it thing.
The store has been doing well, quite well in fact. We’ve been busy but not overwhelmed, but we’ve been all worked up over Free Comic Book Day, which is coming painfully soon. We’ve got all kinds of fun stuff lined up, including a visit from the 501st Legion Storm trooper folks, who craft their own highly detailed and accurate Star Wars Imperial costumes and make appearances for charity donations. Maybe we’ll find ourselves with some good press this year and keep making a name for ourselves. We did our first off-site sale at a local comic convention, which went really well even though we’d been wait-listed for a table and got one with about 12 hours notice.
Writing is going relatively well, although I did find a way to finagle myself an Xbox 360, so now I’m all enthralled with new video games and it’s really putting my mettle in the fire. My MySpace quote used to be “There’s no such thing as writer’s block, just video games.” So true, Brian Vaughn. So true.
We’ll see how well things turn out. The first draft of five of the six issues have been written, and we’ve got about 8 pages of pencils so far. Then inked, lettered, printed and then its off to Chicago.
Project Runway fan favorite poll was bullshit. I kinda can’t stand Christian, but he is growing on me. Chris should’ve won hands down, as I feel like he’s the most likable of the whole group. Kenzie and I had a discussion about who’d be more fun to hang out with, Chris or Christian, and she warmed me over to her Christian side. I guess I just hate the arrogant, Paris Hilton vibe that little twerp sends off.
I guess I was just raised to be more humble. I try not to toot my own horn (because I’m not that flexible), so when I see other people do it it kind of rubs me the wrong way. I mean, even if Stephen King or Joss Wheedon started running around going “I’m just the best there is” I’d be put off. When people like Christian or Mark Millar do it, it just pisses me off. Yes, they are talented, but not *that* talented. It just puts me off, and all I see is the ego, not the work.
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I decided I wanted to delete some music, since I have too much, and I find myself skipping over so much. It was harder than I thought, but I cut a lot of score/movie music that while interesting, does not jibe with casual listening. Most of my really embarrassing music is gone, but I did find a couple of singles that I liked a lot for about 6 months and then never wanted to hear again. “Camel Toe,” anyone?
Music right now is just some Aquabats, mc chris, the Evil Dead Musical, the Hives, some moderately embarrassing singles that fit the previous bill (”hey hey, you you, I don’t like…” ahem) and the Hairspray soundtrack. Wait, that’s embarrassing too. Crap. Must acquire new, more manly music. Will pop multiple collars to compensate.
*flashes back to picture found on 4chan of a guy with 4 popped collars. Gets insanely angry*
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Gifted #3 is beginning to pick up steam, and am about halfway through. I’m feeling more positive about the work, but there’s the part of me that’s worried about how hard it is to get out there, and how I feel like it’s good enough to get published, but I fear not getting the chance. Everything in my head lately is comics, and the novels have suffered for it. It sucks, but I feel like I have to go with whats drawing me (oh zing! as Travis would say) right now, and that’s the energy of working on the comic creators group at the store and working with Lee. I do, however, need to send out more queries for Shadows of the Past and stop thinking about if I’m good enough for prose fiction.
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Reading Charlie Huston’s latest, “Shotgun Rule,” which is not as good as the “Caught Stealing” trilogy. On deck next is JA Konrath’s “Whisky Sour.” I read his blog on writing for beginning published writers, and have been intrigued by the descriptions of his novels.
I need to get on GoodReads and start posting reviews and such. I get Jennifers and heathers and Hilary (from Antioch…those “in the know” understand the distinction), and I need to start inviting other people I know. Like my wife, for one. ;)
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Suddenly miss hanging out with Jen a lot. Haven’t seen her since the wedding, and she’s always so much fun to be with. I’d call her now, but it’s late. Must remember to call or text tomorrow am.
I had too much caffeine, it’s 2am and now I’m boned. Great.
I’m almost kinda-sorta writers blocked on Gifted #3. It’s coming, just not very fast. It’s the kind of “slow down, talk it out” issue, so it’s a lot of dialog and a high panel count, so there’s a lot more thinking it out. It’s almost like writing is hard.
Nahh, that’s crazy.
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Jason talking about 4chan got me exploring it. Not that I’m looking for dirty things, they just have all kinds of cool and funny pictures, like lolcats and motivational posters. I just went through a whole giant thread of poster pics, and they really are my kryptonite. I wish I could have wallpaper that was just rotating posters, but that’s not gonna happen. Right now it’s the Cloverfield monster, but I can’t find it online anymore. I guess I got lucky.
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Evil Dead: The Musical = epic win.
I spend to much time on the internets. Earlier today I said “I lol’ed.” out loud.
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EDIT: I just lost it *hard* to this picture. Kenzie is in bed and there’s a cat in my lap and I’m *crying* in silent laughter that’s still hurting my sides. I don’t know why, maybe because it’s hilarious.
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EDIT2 FOR GREAT JUSTICE: Here’s my Cloverfield wallpaper.
So a couple of weeks ago, the week of the Superbowl, my satellite dish blew over up on the roof, and after some back and forth (which is irritating because even though I live on the top floor of the building, this side doesn’t have roof access and you can’t get to the other side from inside. You have to go downstairs, outside around the building, up three stories, up a ladder and through the trapdoor) I got it reset up and I was able to watch the ‘Bowl.
What a game it was! Holy shit, what fun. It makes me wish I did have a little shindig, but it was just a nice (probably moreso) just watching the game with Kenzie, who actually got into it and had a good time. Or so she says. Probably the best ‘Bowl I’ve ever seen, and that’s not just because of the crazy delicious historic spoilerdom, or the fact that no one, myself included, thought the Giants winning was a possibility.
Anyway, today the dish blew over again (after two years, now it suddenly starts getting all fragile?) but I can’t get it to work. Who knows what the fuck is up, but I called the tech support people and they’re sending someone on Tuesday. Ass, but not as ass as it could be, I guess.
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I like having all my music on the playlist, but I get so picky that I end up spending huge amounts of time just skipping songs. The other night I was tired, ready to go to bed, but I wanted to listen to one more “good” song.
I spent 40 minutes skipping through the list. “No. No. No. I hear that at work all the time. No. Why do I even have this? No. Yes, but not right now.”
There must be an easier way. Handpicking music isn’t one of them.
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I finished the second issue of “Gifted,” the series Lee is drawing. It’s going along at a good clip now, probably will be better now that the TV is off. Even with it on, I think I’m doing okay. For my own edification, I’m going to let you in on my little comic writing process.
No, no one asked.
1: Get an idea. This is easy, I have to many of them and maybe half of them are good. I often jot them down in my notebook (I’m about to start a new one, as the current one is held together with glue and electrical tape). Almost everything nowadays is genre, not superhero. Every once and a while I get the urge to torture myself and have ideas for established company owned characters (like Spider-man or Batman), but they are beyond pointless. It’d be like writing fanfic in a bathroom stall in lipstick; pointless and gross.
2: Once the idea is gotten I try to hammer out the core story. What’s it about? What’s going to happen? What am I trying to say? Is this a balls-out fuck-all adventure, or is there something deeper? Is it an excuse for a dinosaur to eat a Subaru? How long is it going to be, and is that realistic? Most of my dumb ideas run long, like a really bad epic poem. I love serialized fiction, be it TV or comics or novels, so that really shows in what I make. However, you have to start somewhere, so I’ve got to find a way to intro everything and make it interesting, even if one of the things I’m dying to write (Subaru-dinosaur chase) can’t happen until later. I do a lot of free-writing at this point, often asking myself little questions or just have little phrases or things that I want to make it in (Dinosaur v Subaru = 1000% awesome. Two Subarus?)
3: Once format and length are established (usually six, 22-page issues) I have to block out what happens in each issue. Every issue should end on something that makes the reader want to see more, just like every page should be its own little story that makes you want to keep reading. It’s like the act breaks in TV. Once I have a general idea, I handwrite it in little sentences for each page, to make sure that the beats I want to hit will fit in the 22 pages I have (a lot of folks have maligned the “format dictates story length” school of thought, and I kind of agree with them, but at this point in my nonexistent career I’m not in a position to try to change the industry conventions. That comes on day two). It also makes sure I don’t go running off in too many directions as I write, so I don’t go “Oh hey, I have to wrap this up in three pages.” This used to happen to me a lot, so I added this step. It’s like…
1: Harris comes home, tired from work. He sits down and relaxes.
2: He hears something outside and takes a look.
3: It’s a dinosaur. Hungry and cranky.
4: Harris runs outside and gets in the car. The dinosaur notices him.
4: Once that’s all done, I handwrite the actual script in a loose format. Lots of abbreviations and the like, since I’m just trying to get what’s in my head on paper quickly, keeping it extemporaneous and fresh and not worrying about format and breaks and the like. As I’m laying out the page by page breakdown, I’m getting an idea on how to specifically break down each page specifically(panel count, dialog, etc). Basic description, but usually all dialog, because that’s way easier for me. I used to be very specific about what was in each panel and every angle of every shot, but that’s not really my job. Sure, I have to make sure that there’s a way that *I’d* lay the page out, that there’s enough room for all the dialog, and that if there needs to be something big, then everything else is sufficiently small. It’s also at this stage where we see if my page-by-page breakdown works. I may realize that I need more room for this stuff, or less room for this stuff, and things get adjusted accordingly.
5: Once that’s done, it’s time to type it up. This serves as a second draft stage, where I can re-read, see what descriptions I need to adjust (What color is the Subaru? What was the Dinosaur eating before he saw it?) and what dialog works and doesn’t work. Most of the creative heavy lifting is done, I just have to make sure that what’s on the page is everything that I want to make sure the artist conveys. He shouldn’t have to come back to me for clarification, but I’m not going to turn him away if he does.
6: It gets drawn. I pace, and hope the Dinosaur looks cool.
Was this helpful? No, of course not, you don’t care, but writing it out makes me feel better. I like having a process.
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I’m still getting like, 12 visits a day from Arizona. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the increase in comment spam I’m getting (about 5 or 6 a day), or if someone is just going through and reading my life’s journey. My boring ass life’s journey.
