I love Taylor Mali…
Q: Are We Not Men?
November 5, 2008 - No Responses
AAAAAH! Sooo angry at the long time without a post. My old laptop died and I ask you all to keep it in your prayers since I am certain its soul is burning in laptop Hell, the plus side is that I now have a pretty MacBook to keep you guys up to date with!
I try to keep my political leanings out of this blog, but I am completely inspired by the events of last night. Not only the results, but seeing the thousands of Americans coming together and hearing even the conservative pundits take a step back at this historic moment was awe inspiring. All day long my thoughts have been with the 106 year old woman Barack mentioned in his speech and what amazing sights those old eyes have seen.
Wizard World Texas is here and unfortunately I will not have a table this time around. School, finances, time, pick whatever excuse you like best. I will be at the Con on Saturday and more than likely partying it up that night geek style.
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I didn’t get to see my Dallas peeps which was disappointing, but the city of Denton was kind to me once again and it warmly embraced my choice of costume:
I Met a Girl with Grey Eyes
September 25, 2008 - No Responses
So wouldn’t you know school starts and my poor blog is suddenly neglected. New classes, new daunting workload, same incessant need to go out and party until I’m too far behind in all my responsibilities. Wooh! Anyway, as far as I know Outlaw Territory is still saddling into stores next month, and as far as I know “We Meet at 12″ is still in there. Keep an eye out. Other than that, Denton has been far far too good to me these last few weeks, so while I may be less productive than I’d like I must say I’m happy. I do have a few new projects materializing on the horizon so hopefully I’ll have some real news for you soon.
As penance for my long on-line silence here are some not so flattering photos of me in various states of drunk.
Because I Love You ‘08
August 20, 2008 - No Responses
A few music videos I’ve enjoyed from the last several months:
Gnarls Barkley - “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul Now”
The Dodos - “Fools”
The BPA (Fatboy Slim featuring David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal) - “Toe Jam”
Bjork - “Wanderlust”
Shared with you as proof that you’re loved.
Buy Blob On Blog
July 11, 2008 - No Responses
Hey everybody, I’ve put the short story mini-book AMORPHOUS I was offering at CAPE! up for sale here on the website. The story is illustrated by Tania Kaufmann and written by yours truly. The price is a scant $3 and that also takes care of the shipping, and I might even be nice enough to sign the thing for ya. Response to this story has been positive so far with people calling it, “cool,” and “creepy,” and “pretty fucking weird.” I’m excited about it and I think Tania did an absolutely a-may-zing job illustrating and putting the whole thing together. Couldn’t be more excited to be offering this to you guys.
A Sonnet in Praise of a Night at V-T-T
July 10, 2008 - One Response
Listen: The phone goes ring and rings again,
“You’ve reached the machine, you know the routine…”
I move my mouse with a tentative cling,
Adjust my headset, stretch out, and then
Wait-wait for the next machine to begin.
My pitch has been polished to a high sheen
Explaining just what preferred partners mean.
My head’s a swim of beeps, and howls, and din.
I roll my eyes and prepare my next line
As I wait for some celestial sign.
What’s this? I hear someone’s voice on the line!
No other so sweet, no other so fine
At long last a voice that’s worth all my time…
Huh? What do you mean her card got declined?
George Carlin on Death - RIP
June 23, 2008 - No Responses
more about "George Carlin on Death - RIP", posted with vodpod
How to Spend Your Money: Pulitzer Prize Winning Fiction
June 21, 2008 - No Responses
My favorite books, albums, and movies are inevitably the ones that should absolutely not work, yet do. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz should not work at all. Just in order to get through the thing smoothly one would have to have a fluency in Spanish, a working knowledge of 20th Century Dominican history, and a doctorate in geekology (several nerd references had even ME rushing to Wiki). But instead the book shines, because of Diaz’s comfort in keeping his audience uncomfortable.
The story centers around Oscar a 300 pound nerd of nerds who dreams of being the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and finding true love. But rather than presenting a story about a timid, Spanish version of Ignatius Reilly, Diaz branches out and we get not only the account of Oscar’s brief life, but also his mother’s, his sister’s, even the grandparents Oscar himself never met. Diaz weaves the story of the entire Dominican Republic into the private story of this one young man.
As I said, Diaz does not make things easy for his reader. Often his characters slip into Spanish slang (or the equally confusing language of geek) without any provided translation, but even if you don’t know what exactly is said Diaz paints his characters so vividly you’re almost always able to figure it out without even slowing down. Plus, if something is important Diaz does prove willing to lead the uninitiated into the details of these cultures (for instance: taking the time to explain the significance of a certain WATCHMEN quote).
The books received glowing praise from the literary world, and what may be even cooler to the comic nerds among us is that Diaz even did a series of interviews with Newsarama of all places. The guy is clearly a nerd of nerds himself, but more importantly he’s a great new writer and it is definitely in your interest to start worshiping him now. Since you can’t quite spend your hard earned cash on me just yet, I hereby give permission to all the faithful to go check out The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
