The new site layout is almost here! (Seriously, it’s long overdue–the Arc of Time theme that accompanied the release of the book is already almost a year old!) Please try to ignore any strange behavior, broken links, and sudden changes of appearance if you happen to drop by this weekend. The end result will be worth it!
Referring to the pencils seen in this post, of course. Sorry, I know this is kind of a lame excuse for an update, but I’m on fire right now and I don’t want to stop! I’ll make it up to you with a cute anecdote about my parents’ backyard pool later.
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life came today, and I’m already halfway through it! I’m spending way too much money on Amazon.com this month….
I just ordered Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life; it’ll be here in a couple of days. Friends have certainly mentioned this series to me before, but now that I’ve seen the movie trailer and gotten a vague idea of what it’s about, I’m really mad at myself that I didn’t research it sooner. This story seems made for me.
First, a note–two nights ago, I had a major writing breakthrough with something related to School Kids SG. This makes me happy, and it gives me hope that despite the positively glacial pace of writing and self-publishing, you’ll see something start to move on here soon. Until then, my random-yet-regular posts will keep you company!
So! Earlier this week, I ordered myself one of these:
First of all: yes, I realize that if you neither live in nor care about New York City, this post will probably be meaningless to you. If so, let me suggest that you go read Octopus Pie today instead, an excellent webcomic that has just been partially collected into its first commercially-published volume. This fictional version of New York is well worth a visit no matter how you feel about the real one (I’m sure I’ve plugged the comic before).
I’m writing today in response to an article by my friend Henry over at The Busy Signal. The MTA’s budget crisis, and the burdens it has imposed on the commuters and residents of NYC, has been on my mind a lot lately, so this seemed like an excellent opportunity to keep a dialogue going.
The other day, I woke up with some very specific and very ancient memories rattling around in my head. I did what I always do in such occasions–I wrote them down. Being that I was pretty happy with the results, and also being that I have no place else to put these stories, I thought I’d post them here for viewing and comment.
Is anyone interested in seeing more non-SKSG writing on here? (Between books, of course.) Because that might be something I can accommodate.
Here are some thoughts about things I’ve done and/or experienced recently:
Toy Story 3 - Very well done, in my opinion. Solidly dark and unafraid to go there, this plays like a movie that was made for kids who grew up on the original Toy Story movies more than kids who are young right now (I guess it reminds me a bit of TMNT in that regard). This isn’t to say that the movie doesn’t have its cute or feel-good moments, but it’s mostly an exploration of the inevitabilities of time, change and need, from the perspective of the toys. The emotional moments will strike just the right spot in anyone who had an emotional attachment to their childhood playtime, and the movie will stay with you for days. Terrifying in spots, involving, surprising, and ultimately bittersweet. Highly recommended.
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth - This is a remake of an old Game Boy game that pushes the material into something like Super Nintendo territory; it’s been out on Wiiware for some time, I think. I was kind of disappointed at first that it played more like the original Castlevanias than, say, Dawn of Sorrow, but there seems to be a fair amount of branching available (I’ve barely tried any of the locked doors yet–it’s hard to get a key all the way to the right place), and most importantly, it’s fun. The game is as hard as you’d expect, but the learning curve doesn’t feel overly frustrating, especially since there are only five real levels and a ton of settings you can adjust (everything from the enemy difficulty to the number of lives you start with). My biggest gripe is that with all these options, they left out the one that would’ve been most welcome–the ability to change the button combination you use to throw your subweapon. See how many hearts you waste before you start growling. Other than that, it’s a great little game, and even Dracula is challenging without being unreasonable (his voice actor has one pretty good moment, but otherwise, Dracula is played in this game by a startled cat).
NCIS - I feel very old watching this show, but sometimes there’s nothing else on! Though I’ve accrued some fondness for it (or perhaps built up a tolerance), I still stand by my original assertion that you might as well call it Law and Order: Douchebag Unit. Also, the formula seems pretty consistent…see one episode, and you’ve more or less seen them all. There’s also an NCIS Los Angeles that looks cynically designed to be younger and hipper, complete with main characters outrunning explosions in slo-mo. Like I said, if I’m too tired to do anything more involving….
MTA Subway Cuts - As friends have pointed out to me, the recent train deletions and reshufflings here in New York City have produced some amusing signs (with 14th Street’s “F M L” topping the list that I’m aware of). Nothing has affected me so far, but I feel very bad for people in the far outer boroughs who lost their primary bus routes. The MTA seriously needs to get its act together, starting with some hard questions about how they can afford to be doing expansion projects (the 7 train extension, the T line) that won’t be done for decades when they can’t even keep up the service they’ve got now. As a resident of Queens, it may be worth noting that I have yet to see an M…though I guess I pretty much never saw the G, either, and now I never will again!
