R & R ain't overrated

It's true...today is a seriously lazy day. Sure, I went in to the office for a couple hours this morning (something I truly regret and has left me forlorn) I persevere!

I have a couple new articles up on 8daysageek. I posted one on Wednesday night that talks about the death of Fantastic Four character The Human Torch and how comic book companies continue to kill off characters only to bring them back. So should readers really care? It also explores the opposite side of the spectrum where companies use the destruction of a character or characters for a larger purpose. Even if you're not currently interested in comics you should still check out the article...if only to support me! Haha, but seriously, it has some interesting points of view, which if you're reading my blog you clearly enjoy.

The second post went up today and like previous posts is my weekly review of an independent comic. This week it's White Picket Fences. You could say this was a homer move of shameless proportions since I know the creative team but I would say that the book deserves recognition as a quality independent title! The article reviews the mini-series and double-sized one-shot that have been produced thus far. It's a fun review, check it out!

You may be thinking, "that's a lot of work...where's the R & R you speak of" and you'd be right, thus far. But the rest of my day is gonna be all dinner and episodes of NBC's Community! Gotta rest up for the big basketball tournament tomorrow. Yes, I'm playing in it, not just attending some sporting event that I'm going to watch and thus need to rest up for. Sheesh!

If we win, I will let you know...if we lose, you will probably never hear mention of it ever again.

Alright, short one today.

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

Holy Crap it's cold out!

I consider myself a rather "rugged" guy when it comes to the elements. I don't care about rain or even snow for that matter. For the most part I'm totally at peace with the fact that I live in Chicagoland and we have relatively insane weather. For example: this past Monday it snowed, rained, hailed and snowed again all within the span of about two hours. *shakes head* We Illinoisans are a hearty breed for the most part. Though there is never a shortage of complaining from people who live here about the weather.

I write this blog not in complaint but in protest. Protest of wind. Wind is so unnecessary. I mean, what has wind ever done for me? Nothing, that's what. I mean, sure...summer breezes are great and I have fond memories of kite flying. But I have even more bad memories of Frizbee's going awry and perfect basketball shots clanging off the rim due to a random gust of wind. Winter weather would not be nearly as unbearable if wind would simply cease to exist. That is all.

Now, on to more exciting things! After a very productive and entertaining conversation with the guys over at 8daysageek I have been named Associate Editor and Contributing Feature Writer. See my profile HERE. Thus far my main contribution has been a new weekly series called Bin Fodder which reviews and discusses under-appreciated comics like Cyberforce and Blue Monday. (posts linked for your convenience!) There will be much more in the coming future as I get my website-writing legs under me.

Hmm...let's see...Ahh, well next week is my basketball group's annual tournament. I'm really excited about it because two weeks ago I got my sports goggles (yes, I'm a nerd, shuddup!) and thus far with practice at the gym and this past week's game they have improved my shot and my passing.

Alright, well that'll do it for today.

Peace,

TB (JQ)

p.s. 31 days till HAWAII!!!!

Angry Writer on the Loose!

Fully grasping the idea of how things are supposed to be is an idea that generally escapes and eludes most people. I can honestly say that it eluded me for a very long time. But times have changed. There’s an intelligent black man in the white house, instead of the ignorant whitey we had for so long. Sarah Palin is a villain. Marvel is making good movies. The Batman movie franchise is relevant again. The world is a pretty crazy place, clearly.

I’m here to tell you, it’s going to be OK. Global warming may ruin the planet for those unfortunate souls still alive in the year 2100, but that’s their problem, not ours. Be concerned with what you can control, not what you cannot. Now, don’t try and twist my words around and say “this guy is anti-environment”, no, wrong, stop it. Recycling takes NO EFFORT at all, and benefits the world incredibly. But I came across a facebook post today of a “friend” of mine who linked an article some woman had posted online talking about how they had “given up the fight” of being a vegetarian because she realized that her efforts were going unnoticed by the major food corporations. Ok, first of all…DUH! How stupid are you? I will quote from Community, “Believe it or not, I dropped out of High School because I thought it would impress Radiohead.” (Britta Perry) The same nonsensical idea applies to this woman’s article which I have refused to link in this blog because it is SO STUPID that it doesn’t deserve the readership of my faithful followers. The fact of the matter is that the machine of consumerism cares so incredibly little for the opinions and actions of the individual, and if you didn’t already know that, then you need to go to any gas station in America and attempt to barter over the price of your gasoline. Once they’ve stopped laughing at you they’ll probably ban you for life from the store.

The capitalist society is built on the idea of choice. You are free to have yours but maintaining a choice or even a belief because you think it’s going to affect society or events outside your sphere of influence (yes, typically this term is used in reference to nations and not people, but the rules still apply) then you truly need therapy for your MASSIVE FUCKING EGO. You cannot change the world. I don’t say that to be a defeatist, I say it to be a realist. The biggest things in the world that needed to have a world-changer have happened. You’re not MLK. You’re not Jackie Robinson. You’re not (whoever the first major professional popular athlete to admit being gay…or maybe you are). Stop thinking you’re important, because you’re just not.

Soap box conquered and squashed. On to more fun things!

So as some of you hopefully noticed I started posting articles on a new website as well last week, (www.8daysageek.com) and I will be posting another new article on this Friday as well. Last week I featured the much maligned 90s comic Cyberforce; truly unappreciated in its day. This week I will be featuring another rather unknown comic, Blue Monday. It’s an Oni Press book; creator owned, written and drawn by one amazing person (to be profiled in the feature). It’s a really great book and I hope you all check it out.

Hmm…what else…I had a really cool moment last Friday while working with Matt. We brainstormed an idea for about 2 minutes and within 20 minutes I had written the entire 1-page pitch. It was awesome. It helps that the idea itself is pretty amazing (more details to come once it’s in development).

Alright, that’s all for now. I should have another new post up on Friday!

Peace,

TB (JQ)

Manifest Freaking Destiny!

Hello my friends, welcome back.

As some of you know already I have recently began expanding the use of my writing talents to different fields away from just the blog-o-sphere. It started with my first published comic and has now moved on to writing for a website called 8 Days A Geek.

The site is a one-stop shopping experience for all things geek with articles on upcoming movies, comics, dvd releases and there's even a podcast series (download for free from iTunes). My first feature article for the site will launch my weekly series on comics called Bin Fodder. It will center around comics that either a) weren't necessarily popular but that I have a soft-spot for and enjoy very much or b) were amazing and everyone should know about it! This first week's installment comes from option A; as it reviews Cyberforce, the Top Cow/Image early 90's series. Check it out HERE! I'll be doing more things for the site as I get more settled, but Bin Fodder should be a weekly staple, so get used to it!

GREEN HORNET is out!!! I am very excited and will hopefully be seeing it sometime in the next week, so there will be a review with my name on it somewhere here in Internets land, I'll keep you posted.

Hmmm...what else. Oh, I heard they changed the Horoscope signs and apparently added one? Facebook and Twitter have been all abuzz with it today. What this tells me about the people in this world is that, to quote Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) "you [people] participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality." Well said dear sir. Well said.

Alright, I think I'm going to make today's post a relatively short one and allow you to go off any explore the wonderful pieces of information I've listed above!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

You've Been Derezzed

I know what you're thinking...holy crap, another blog after only a couple days. I promise this isn't someone else hijacking my blog and updating it more regularly, it's me...and I'll prove it, just you wait.

So I've been pretty obsessed for the last couple days with the Tron soundtrack. I've always been a fan of Daft Punk since their early days with the album Discovery. They have managed to consistently keep me coming back for more with hypnotic electronica sounds. I'm pretty sure they are the only group to survive through my many phases of musical likes and dislikes. Sure, like most people my age I have a healthy collection of trance and electronic music buried in the nether regions of my iTunes playlists but I rarely pull them out. There was a recent writing project I was working on that I really wanted background music for but found lyric laden music to be distracting so I made an entire playlist comprised of nothing but trance and electronica. Yes...nerdtastic I know. If anyone is curious I could share it with you, hah...like that'll happen.

Abruptly switching topics; I finished watching the first disc of the Japanese Animated show Last Exile last night and I must say, I'm intrigued. The story itself is compelling and visually it's outstanding. There's parts of the story that I don't fully understand, mainly because I believe the writers have created a storyline where some things just have to be accepted for what they are without explanation. For instance, the culture of the people. The armies battling in certain scenes (not pivotal to the story, from what I can tell) carry an idea of classic sea-faring battles with massive ships pulling alongside one another to fire their cannons and they refer to one of these massive air-ships going down as "sinking". Randomly thrown into the mix is a group called the "Guild" who are only briefly shown but seem to be some kind of overseer or, for lack of a better term, sheriffs of the battling nations. However, in their one scene they seem to be uncaring about the "inappropriate" battle techniques one side is using...if you're confused reading this, try watching the show. I took a lot of what I was seeing on faith; either in the idea that it would be explained later or in the idea that I just had to accept that certain things were how they were in this universe and would not ever be explained because the creators simply did not feel it warranted explanation. Long-story-short, the show is good. Thus far I'd recommend it, but don't turn on the subtitles. They don't match up with the English dubbing very well at all. I'm not sure if they're a more accurate representation of the original Japanese or just bad subtitling but it got confusing and annoying pretty quick. Another Japanese show I got the first disc is Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Thus far from the first couple episodes I've watched I really have no idea what's going on...but I'm going to stick it out.

Ahh the beauty of Netflix.

I'm going to leave you on this note: I leave for Hawaii in exactly 50 days; Hell. Yeah.

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

A New Year; let us raise our glasses

Hello my friends,

I apologize, most sincerely for my absence. I often open my blog fully intending to write out a new entry but I find most times that I am simply at a loss for a proper way to express myself or filled with a doubt in the value of the words and sentiment I would be conveying by making a new entry. But I sit before you today with a new year ahead of me and a new idea of how to make this blog into a place where I can maintain my own sanity as well as a place where I can try and keep up with a regular schedule of writing to go along with my own creative projects.

So, on that note, let me begin. Much has transpired since my last entry. First and foremost; Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all my readers. I hope you all had a safe, happy and inspiring holiday season. And now we all dwell in the post-holiday doldrums that seem to always occur. I will say that this was one of the most low-key holiday seasons for me in recent memory, which was not unappealing. Occasionally, when I look at the pictures plastered all over Facebook, I will think back to my younger days when I was among those who drank to a level of belligerency and remember somewhat fondly nights spent in the basement of Matt Anderson's house with so many friends and acquaintances. So many people I don't remember and probably only met that one time because it was just one of those places. Parties were known to just occur and 20 people would be in that basement, playing pool, listening to some punk-rock and drinking the night away. New Years was regularly a big shindig. But, as is commonplace, people grow up and distances both physical and emotional start to set in. I can't even remember the last time the "old gang" were all together. The closest would probably have been a big party/festival last summer, but there were still several big pieces missing.

Dammit...see, I talked about my nostalgia trying to escape for the past couple posts and here it comes...sorry, I promise the blog gets better further down so feel free to skip ahead if you want.

It's not so much that I'm sentimental for the past...not anymore. I used to be that way. I was clearly a product of my musical taste. "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" to borrow a line from Nick Hornby. The fact is I enjoyed my youth. I think most people would say that they look upon their late teens and early/mid-twenties fondly. But I'm 30 now and my future is ahead of me, not behind me. I've accomplished more in the past year than I ever thought I would. I got my first professional writing work published and I re-found a great girl. I'm still trying to learn how to navigate some of the waters I am finding myself in (such as the fact that I had to just fire the artist I found to work on a co-op project Matt and I have been building for the last year or so) and where I need to start pitching new stories. But I'll find my way.

Ok, sentimental nostalgic stuff is OVER! Promise.

Time for some reviews. I'll start with movies I've seen recently and then work my way into previews for upcoming flicks you really should watch if you haven't already. So I finally saw Harry Potter a few weeks back. As I had suspected it diverged from book necessarily and made me wish I had continued my original trend of not reading the book prior to seeing the movie in the HP series. I will say though that the second part is going to be so action-packed and AMAZING, I really can't wait. The movie itself was very good. Though I would criticize the director for making the characters too "teenagery" and by that I mean, annoying mood-swings and outbursts and awkwardness. I get that they ARE teenagers and these things happen, I just think it's annoying and it could have been lessened. Next: Black Swan. I think if you like artsy movies you'll probably love it. I think it was an insane piece of crap. I'm sure it has it's merits and there's obviously some great acting involved from Natalie Portman, but there's a lot of things that make no sense in the story making it hard to enjoy the seriously hot sex scene between the aforementioned actress and Mila Kunis...that alone would warrant a Netflix instant-watch. Next: Tron - Legacy. Visually amazing and not to shock too many die-hard Star Wars fans into coronary's it actually reminded me of Episode I in the sense that it took them 28 years to finally get another Tron project to the theatres and they couldn't do better than this...really? I think, like Lucas, the director/writer fell in love with all the new technology and felt that the visual would outshine the rather lacking script. One saving grace is the kickass soundtrack by Daft Punk, truly amazing and they even make a cameo...I think.

On to the previews: this upcoming summer is shaping up to be one of the best in a very long time from Green Hornet to Green Lantern and Thor to Transformers as the big blockbuster potential hits. But I've also noticed some really cool under-the-radar type movies like: Battle: Lost Angeles and Sucker Punch both of which are due out in March 2011, most likely in an attempt to preempt the summer of giant films. And speaking of 2011 films I would be remiss if I didn't look back at 2010 and reflect on some of the best movies that came out.

I would be hard pressed to find a movie I found more intriguing or inventive than Inception. But rounding out my top five of 2010 would be: She's out of my League, Hot Tub Time Machine, Get Him to the Greek, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim...ok yeah I know that makes it a top 6 list...like there's some rule about 5's and 10's.

I'd love comments on your top movies of 2010 and what movies you're looking forward to in 2011!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)