So my write-ups on the film work of Dave McKean appear this weekend on my friend's blog, Unseen Films. When the hell he finds time to watch all of this stuff, then do write-ups about the ones he likes (because believe me, there are many more pieces of drek he doesn't waste time writing about, but he's watched those too), is beyond me. He has a full time job, plus goes into Manhattan on average more than once a week to see shows on and off-off-off-Broadway. And he still finds time to maintain relationships with a circle of friends both on and offline.
Anyway, he asked me to do some work for the site on things he knew I would be keen to do. In addition to allowing me to do the McKean films, I'll be having a week in July for quasi-British comedians (Bill Bailey, Dylan Moran, Tim Minchin, maybe more) who are deserving of far more attention, mostly in this culturally depraved nation we know as the United States. Eddie Izzard seems to have successfully crossed over from European success to widespread fame in the US, but there are plenty others who are equally deserving of having their intelligent and insightful, not to mention damn funny, material noticed...hey, when did this soapbox appear under my feet...
I should also thank McKean for posting a link to the write-up of MirrorMask on his Twitter feed (which at this point has nearly 13,000 followers), and for providing me with an image to use in the write-up of his short film DVD collection, Keanoshow. Maybe some of these films will be a little less unseen now.
One more quick thing; I got an e-mail from my Mom this morning in regards to my writing on the McKean films. While not as funny as Justin's Dad, it's still worth repeating;
"I’m sure you are aware that I have no idea what you are talking about but you write so well that it may seem as though I know a little something by the time I peruse all this material."
...Thank you?
Blog Post Soundtrack; Blondie, Rage Against The Machine, The White Stripes, MC5, The Doors, Queens Of The Stone Age
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Just An Exercise
Opened up Word here just to see what I would write. This is purely an exercise in “creative” writing. Not terribly creative so far, huh? Well, I always remembered this exercise from back in probably Junior High School, where you were just supposed to write whatever came into your head, even if it was total nonsense…which this obviously is. Was writing a blog entry on Michael Golden, and while words were coming out, and many things were being added to it, I just wasn’t feeling it. There didn’t seem to be anything inspired in it at all. It was a mere recitation of facts (second time in 2 days I’ve used that phrase, and spelled ‘recitation’ right each time too!), nothing exciting. Even listening to Hendrix and now vintage Sup-Pop era Soundgarden isn’t really inspiring me, although at least it’s good stuff to hear. And again, while this isn’t what one would term “creative“, at least I’m flowing with it, and it is coming out naturally. None of this is forced. None of this is any good, either, but…
Blog Post Soundtrack; Jimi Hendrix, Soundgarden
Blog Post Soundtrack; Jimi Hendrix, Soundgarden
Monday, April 19, 2010
J. M. DeMatteis & Spirituality
So I took a day trip this past weekend to a comic book convention in Anaheim, California. A nice 550 mile round-trip drive, with a few-hour stop in the middle to hang out with some writers and artists whose work I enjoy and admire. It was going to be a fairly small show as far as comic book creators go, with the emphasis being put on has-been celebrites demanding way too much money for a scribble on a bad picture of them in their heyday. The reason I go to these things is to actually meet the creative people, the artists and writers who come up with all of the things that the actors appear in later on. So my reasons for going to this show in Anaheim were artists Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Bernie Wrightson, and writer J. M. DeMatteis.
DeMatteis is a writer of terrific talent, who also happens to be quite the interesting person. A spiritual man, somewhere in his late teens he started down the path that he is currently on in life with his spirituality choice. I'm not exactly what one would classify as a spiritual person. However, having said that, the more I look around at the world that we live in, and I observe all of the emphasis that is placed on all of the wrong things, and the value and importance that the most trivial of things in life are given, particularly in this country and society, the more I feel that there really must be something else. Simply because if this is it, if this is the pinnacle of existence, you may as well just shoot me now.
What's true about DeMatteis is what's true about all good writers; he incorporates himself into his writing. Write what you know. He wrote a Spider-Man story that was published in 1987 about Kraven The Hunter finally beating Spidey, and then assuming his identity for 2 weeks. It's a powerful, disturbing story, and is a study of a couple of men who find themselves pushed and/or pushing themselves into places neither has been before in both a physical and psychological sense. How can one know this? DeMatteis has said in interviews that he was going thru a divorce at the time, and found himself reaching points he'd never been to before. It just translated onto the page into the forms of these characters, but still, you write what you know. It is a classic Spider-Man story...a classic STORY, period. It didn't hurt that it was beautifully illustrated by Mike Zeck, fresh off his character defining work on The Punisher series that was completely responsible for that character becoming as popular as it became, and inked wonderfully by Bob McLeod.
So, while not a spirtual person per se, I enjoy reading things on religious theories, because while I don't like religion (it's all about business and money and corruption and...oh, don't get me started...), the original ideas behind the religions do have some valid points. Basically they all boil down to the same thing (just be cool to everybody...), but it's nice to see some different perspectives on the points. So I hadn't been standing at DeMatteis' table at the show for 2 minutes before I asked him about his spirituality, and we must have talked for half and hour or so about that, life in general, and, oh yeah, comics.
I'm a follower of his blog, which is also here on blogspot so it was nice to be able to actually meet the man after commenting on his blog numerous times. And enjoying much of his work for something like 25 years now. Now, anytime I pull one of his books off my shelves to read or peruse, I'll spot the signature up front, and remember the intellectual conversation going on in the back of a convention center filled with cultural depravity...
Blog Post Soundtrack; Ike & Tina Turner, Louis Jordan, The Ramones, Pink Floyd, Bjork, Oysterhead, Corrosion Of Conformity, The Police, Queens Of The Stone Age, Howlin' Wolf, Queen
DeMatteis is a writer of terrific talent, who also happens to be quite the interesting person. A spiritual man, somewhere in his late teens he started down the path that he is currently on in life with his spirituality choice. I'm not exactly what one would classify as a spiritual person. However, having said that, the more I look around at the world that we live in, and I observe all of the emphasis that is placed on all of the wrong things, and the value and importance that the most trivial of things in life are given, particularly in this country and society, the more I feel that there really must be something else. Simply because if this is it, if this is the pinnacle of existence, you may as well just shoot me now.
What's true about DeMatteis is what's true about all good writers; he incorporates himself into his writing. Write what you know. He wrote a Spider-Man story that was published in 1987 about Kraven The Hunter finally beating Spidey, and then assuming his identity for 2 weeks. It's a powerful, disturbing story, and is a study of a couple of men who find themselves pushed and/or pushing themselves into places neither has been before in both a physical and psychological sense. How can one know this? DeMatteis has said in interviews that he was going thru a divorce at the time, and found himself reaching points he'd never been to before. It just translated onto the page into the forms of these characters, but still, you write what you know. It is a classic Spider-Man story...a classic STORY, period. It didn't hurt that it was beautifully illustrated by Mike Zeck, fresh off his character defining work on The Punisher series that was completely responsible for that character becoming as popular as it became, and inked wonderfully by Bob McLeod.
So, while not a spirtual person per se, I enjoy reading things on religious theories, because while I don't like religion (it's all about business and money and corruption and...oh, don't get me started...), the original ideas behind the religions do have some valid points. Basically they all boil down to the same thing (just be cool to everybody...), but it's nice to see some different perspectives on the points. So I hadn't been standing at DeMatteis' table at the show for 2 minutes before I asked him about his spirituality, and we must have talked for half and hour or so about that, life in general, and, oh yeah, comics.
I'm a follower of his blog, which is also here on blogspot so it was nice to be able to actually meet the man after commenting on his blog numerous times. And enjoying much of his work for something like 25 years now. Now, anytime I pull one of his books off my shelves to read or peruse, I'll spot the signature up front, and remember the intellectual conversation going on in the back of a convention center filled with cultural depravity...
Blog Post Soundtrack; Ike & Tina Turner, Louis Jordan, The Ramones, Pink Floyd, Bjork, Oysterhead, Corrosion Of Conformity, The Police, Queens Of The Stone Age, Howlin' Wolf, Queen
Friday, April 9, 2010
Stuff Is Coming
While there haven't been any new entries here for a while, I keep jotting down ideas for blog entries that I just need to find the time to get around to. I've got a list going on my iPhone titled Future Blog Posts, and there's well over a dozen things on there already. I just want the time to tell each story properly. I'd rather not do something at all than do a half-assed job of it. I have the patience required to find that much needed lull in my schedule when I can sit down and fully devote the time to writing these stories correctly. Each one deserves attention, and I wouldn't want to miss any details. Part of my anal retentive nature. It seems to have worked for me so far.
Blog Post Soundtrack; David Bowie, Steve Martin, The Who, Clutch
Blog Post Soundtrack; David Bowie, Steve Martin, The Who, Clutch
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Vacations On Panoramio
I'm currently in the middle of posting some pictures from my recent vacation on Panoramio, the photo sharing website that I've used for the last 3 years now. First, a few words (there will be more later) on the vacation. My mom flew out here to Vegas on Sunday the 7th of March, and we started driving for the Pacific Northwest on Monday the 8th. Making our way thru the Redwood Forests of Northern California and Oregon, we also stopped in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and then she flew back home from Seattle on Tuesday the 16th of March. I then continued driving, doing the last 1400 miles in 30 hours, including a 10 hour stop in a nice hotel in Redding, CA that I wish I'd had more time to enjoy. Regardless, I wound up driving 3300 miles over the 10 days I was gone, seeing tons of wonderful things, and having a great time. As I said, there will be more detail about this in later posts.
As for Panoramio, I absolutely love the site. The fact that you can map your photos onto Google Earth is probably what attracted me to the site in the first place. For someone like me who enjoys organizing things, that has a tremendous appeal to me. Over the ensuing 3+ years since I first started posting pictures to it, I've now put up over 600 photos on that site. They've been taken on various vacations over the years. But the fact that you are able to map the photo to the exact location that you took the picture from is the most intersting point for me. You can then go on Google Earth, see your photo placed where you took it, and look at other photos in and around the same area, getting other people's perspectives on the same subject, or looking at things nearby.
Having taken over 600 photos just on this recent vacation, there will be quite a few placed on Google Earth and Panoramio over the coming weeks.
Blog Post Soundtrack; Heart, Blade Runner, Black Sabbath, Queens Of The Stone Age, Budgie, and some of the first period of The New York Rangers hosting The St. Louis Blues (Let's Go Rangers!)
As for Panoramio, I absolutely love the site. The fact that you can map your photos onto Google Earth is probably what attracted me to the site in the first place. For someone like me who enjoys organizing things, that has a tremendous appeal to me. Over the ensuing 3+ years since I first started posting pictures to it, I've now put up over 600 photos on that site. They've been taken on various vacations over the years. But the fact that you are able to map the photo to the exact location that you took the picture from is the most intersting point for me. You can then go on Google Earth, see your photo placed where you took it, and look at other photos in and around the same area, getting other people's perspectives on the same subject, or looking at things nearby.
Having taken over 600 photos just on this recent vacation, there will be quite a few placed on Google Earth and Panoramio over the coming weeks.
Blog Post Soundtrack; Heart, Blade Runner, Black Sabbath, Queens Of The Stone Age, Budgie, and some of the first period of The New York Rangers hosting The St. Louis Blues (Let's Go Rangers!)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Walter, Walter Everywhere
I've talked about this before, but there is a large Filipino contingent in my office. One gentleman in particular has a rather thick accent. A really funny guy, everyone in the office likes him, but it can take a few seconds sometimes to understand exactly what he is saying. For instance...
One morning, while casing mail in the office, a rare lull came over our aisle. This is apparently not such a rare occurence when I'm not there; not really sure what to make of that (insert knowing grin here). Regardless, in the midst of all this quiet, suddenly this man starts screaming quite loudly, "Water! Water!" We all stop dead in our tracks. There doesn't appear to be any panic in his behavior, other than the repeatedly loud screaming of "Water!"
In my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of my fellow carriers, (judging by the confused and perplexed looks on their faces) ran the following choices; 1) he ate something really hot and badly needs a drink of water, 2) he spilled some water and needs it cleaned up, 3) he spilled some coffee (which he's done before) and needs water to clean it up, 4) he has somehow injured or burned himself and needs water to soothe or cool the injury, or 5) he's finally reached the breaking point of working too damn long for the Post Office and repeatedly shouting "Water!" is the outward manifestation of it. There may have been other scenarios envisioned by my co-workers, but I didn't have enough time to come up with more than those.
As those options ran thru my mind, we all froze in our tracks wide-eyed and ignorant of what was actually going on, fearful that the slightest movement may detonate something somewhere (logic tends to be abandoned in situations like these). I happened to notice that he was staring past me as he was having his onset of Tourette's syndrome, so I slowly turned to follow his gaze, and instantly let out a "you've got to be kidding" sigh of relief, followed immediately by laughter, as I figured out what the hell all the shouting was about.
Turns out the Filipino gentleman had been preparing a route that was going to be split and carried by a number of different people. One of the people who was going to be carrying a piece of that route was at the other end of the aisle, and this man was desperatley trying to get the attention of WALTER.
I do seem to recall asking at one point, "Does he come with subtitles?"
One morning, while casing mail in the office, a rare lull came over our aisle. This is apparently not such a rare occurence when I'm not there; not really sure what to make of that (insert knowing grin here). Regardless, in the midst of all this quiet, suddenly this man starts screaming quite loudly, "Water! Water!" We all stop dead in our tracks. There doesn't appear to be any panic in his behavior, other than the repeatedly loud screaming of "Water!"
In my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of my fellow carriers, (judging by the confused and perplexed looks on their faces) ran the following choices; 1) he ate something really hot and badly needs a drink of water, 2) he spilled some water and needs it cleaned up, 3) he spilled some coffee (which he's done before) and needs water to clean it up, 4) he has somehow injured or burned himself and needs water to soothe or cool the injury, or 5) he's finally reached the breaking point of working too damn long for the Post Office and repeatedly shouting "Water!" is the outward manifestation of it. There may have been other scenarios envisioned by my co-workers, but I didn't have enough time to come up with more than those.
As those options ran thru my mind, we all froze in our tracks wide-eyed and ignorant of what was actually going on, fearful that the slightest movement may detonate something somewhere (logic tends to be abandoned in situations like these). I happened to notice that he was staring past me as he was having his onset of Tourette's syndrome, so I slowly turned to follow his gaze, and instantly let out a "you've got to be kidding" sigh of relief, followed immediately by laughter, as I figured out what the hell all the shouting was about.
Turns out the Filipino gentleman had been preparing a route that was going to be split and carried by a number of different people. One of the people who was going to be carrying a piece of that route was at the other end of the aisle, and this man was desperatley trying to get the attention of WALTER.
I do seem to recall asking at one point, "Does he come with subtitles?"
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
How I Got Another Mom
Growing up in New York, I spent many an evening at a friend's house hanging out with his family and joining them for meals. It got to the point that I started to refer to my schoolmate's mother as "Mom", and it just kinda stuck. She wasn't the only adopted mom of mine in NY, but she was my favorite. (And yes, my real Mom is just fine; I just sort of collected adopted moms along the way thru life)
Eventually I moved out here to the Las Vegas area (just about 10 years ago as of this writing). I had been working in my new office for probably only a few weeks at the time, slowly getting to sort-of know some of the over 100 employees in the building. My previous office in NY had only about 15 routes in it, so there were maybe 2 dozen people there on any given day. Everybody knew everything about everybody, whether you wanted to or not. I was kinda glad to be going to a big office, with a large population of employees, where I hoped I’d just be an anonymous cog, blending in unnoticed…yeah, that didn’t last too long…
Some of my personality was showing on this particular day, as I came back to the office with my mini boom box blasting music. Never being sure of what route I was going to be on that day, I carried this thing around instead of a Walkman for my tapes (pre-iPod & iPhone days, kiddies), as I could leave it playing while driving and hopping in and out of the truck to deliver mail at boxes. Meant a lot of rechargeable batteries, but it was worth it. It’s almost impossible for me to not be hearing music or comedy on a constant basis. It quiets both the brain and the tinnitus.
As I unloaded my truck and made my way into the office with my stuff, my music maker was perched atop my empty trays. As the music emanated quite loudly, a female employee approached me. “Is that Louie, Louie?” she asked, half to be sure it was that song, because it was being covered by Motorhead, and half because…well, here’s why…
This woman, who I barely knew, and frankly, I can’t remember now if I even knew her name at this point, stopped right in front of me and, hands-on-hips, had asked me, “Is that Louie, Louie?” My response…”Yup.” She then asked, hands remaining on her hips, “How old are you?“ “28.“ Her response? To have her hands shoot up her sides from her hips to just under her armpits and shriek, “I HAVE CHILDREN OLDER THAN YOU!” I responded the only way I could think of…
“MOM!”
Big goofy grin on my face, arms outstretched, I’d found my adopted Mom in my new home. It stuck, as 10 years later, she’s still Mom. It stuck so much that our most senior citizen, the now 76 year old carrier (that I used to tell people on his route that he was dead) calls her Mom, even though he’s got her beat by something approaching 20 years. Although if you ask her, she’s only 38...
Blog Post Soundtrack; M.O.D., Tool, Brant Bjork (selections from his Saved By Magic album), Misfits (several tracks live in Boston in 1983, including a great Black Flag cover), Minutemen, Pearl Jam, White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Simon & Garfunkel, Soundgarden, Yawning Man, Parannoyd, and, of course, Motorhead covering Louie, Louie…
Eventually I moved out here to the Las Vegas area (just about 10 years ago as of this writing). I had been working in my new office for probably only a few weeks at the time, slowly getting to sort-of know some of the over 100 employees in the building. My previous office in NY had only about 15 routes in it, so there were maybe 2 dozen people there on any given day. Everybody knew everything about everybody, whether you wanted to or not. I was kinda glad to be going to a big office, with a large population of employees, where I hoped I’d just be an anonymous cog, blending in unnoticed…yeah, that didn’t last too long…
Some of my personality was showing on this particular day, as I came back to the office with my mini boom box blasting music. Never being sure of what route I was going to be on that day, I carried this thing around instead of a Walkman for my tapes (pre-iPod & iPhone days, kiddies), as I could leave it playing while driving and hopping in and out of the truck to deliver mail at boxes. Meant a lot of rechargeable batteries, but it was worth it. It’s almost impossible for me to not be hearing music or comedy on a constant basis. It quiets both the brain and the tinnitus.
As I unloaded my truck and made my way into the office with my stuff, my music maker was perched atop my empty trays. As the music emanated quite loudly, a female employee approached me. “Is that Louie, Louie?” she asked, half to be sure it was that song, because it was being covered by Motorhead, and half because…well, here’s why…
This woman, who I barely knew, and frankly, I can’t remember now if I even knew her name at this point, stopped right in front of me and, hands-on-hips, had asked me, “Is that Louie, Louie?” My response…”Yup.” She then asked, hands remaining on her hips, “How old are you?“ “28.“ Her response? To have her hands shoot up her sides from her hips to just under her armpits and shriek, “I HAVE CHILDREN OLDER THAN YOU!” I responded the only way I could think of…
“MOM!”
Big goofy grin on my face, arms outstretched, I’d found my adopted Mom in my new home. It stuck, as 10 years later, she’s still Mom. It stuck so much that our most senior citizen, the now 76 year old carrier (that I used to tell people on his route that he was dead) calls her Mom, even though he’s got her beat by something approaching 20 years. Although if you ask her, she’s only 38...
Blog Post Soundtrack; M.O.D., Tool, Brant Bjork (selections from his Saved By Magic album), Misfits (several tracks live in Boston in 1983, including a great Black Flag cover), Minutemen, Pearl Jam, White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Simon & Garfunkel, Soundgarden, Yawning Man, Parannoyd, and, of course, Motorhead covering Louie, Louie…
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