I had to deal with a bad case of freelanceritis last week.
I wound up going into the client on Thursday to do finishing touches on Fat Man before he shipped. Part of that entailed getting a couple of color decks printed out. Usually, when I’ve been going in, I’ve been using the nearby 8100 for prints (grayscale is fine for proofing). No problem the job runs through fast, without a problem.
A couple of weeks back when I was trying to get Little Boy out, I ran up against someone while I was trying to get color prints out. The person in question was printing somewhere between 8 and 11 color decks and loathe be the person trying to get their prints out as well. Anyway, I’m not interested in making waves so, I try to maintain as low a profile as I can when I’m at the clients (this is a good gig).
Forced into having to print color decks I was left no choice but to use the color printer (a fiery hooked up to a xerox color copier). Last time, I had printed the decks collated and was told I should send the job three times (allowing other jobs to spool, a reasonable request) so, this time I did just that.
My client contact came back and said, “it was taking an awfully long time for the job to print.” I usually send the job to the printer there and forget about it, their printer seems to be the nexus for a lot of people (including some who feel the need to see their emails in color). Consequently, you never know how many jobs are backed up in the spool and how big the files that are spooling are - since the copier is on the other side of the floor, I just figure I’ll walk over in an hour and the printouts should be there.
So, at the behest of my client, I walk over and there’s this gaggle of people surrounding the fiery. I’m sorry but, truth be told is was a bit of a hen party. I checked to the queue to see what was happening and the first printout was spooling (it was about a 19mb file not altogether large) but, since there is art on every page it takes a bit of time but, it was moving. I don’t know what had gone before it as I hadn’t been over there to see.
Anyway, again with the accusations. One person just postulated, “Oh! There must be a freelancer in today.” (yeah folks, these problems never happen to staff people. One of the joys of my life as a freelancer is taking the fall for some idiot staff person who doesn’t take the time out to check their page setup or driver before they hurriedly hit the print button).
So, I was looking over the queue, trying to see if the spool had gotten clogged with printed jobs (for some reason the setting on their fiery retains quite a few printed jobs although no one seems to realize they can just rerun a job from the queue), I was also trying to see what was going on with the queue for waiting jobs (there were quite a few which was one of the reasons for alarm) but again, wonder of wonders, most of them were someone’s emails.
Then one of the resident geniuses, found out I wasn’t the “tech guy” but a freelancer and said she didn’t think it was a good idea for a freelancer to be touching the precious fiery. Not a problem, I lifted my hands as if I’d been burned and got out of there fast.
When it was realized someone (a staff person in a rush) had printed out a job that called for a manual feed of paper (another thing which I was almost blamed for), there was some speculation about printing from my laptop causing the delay (of course when I printed out two decks later in the day after everyone had left and they shot right through that didn’t seem to be much of a problem at all).
After seeing the way some of the “staff” geniuses construct files it’s a wonder anything prints out at all. Believe me, seeing how someone puts together a file is akin to going through someone’s underwear draw - no secrets after that. You find out just how sloppy a person can be.
Jul 12, 2003
So, also of note today, Fat Man is out the door. The bluelines came back today, I already had started on some of my own edits and what came back was relatively minor (although there was a mix up at the client about when it had to ship - being out to the printer early Monday instead of early Tuesday). Still not a problem and the thing is done. Little Boy came back from the printer. I looked through and found two things that were missed (my fault, proofer’s fault, client’s fault). Nothing major, as a matter of fact, I think you’d be hard pressed to notice it (but I did since I’ve lived this project). Since the check came in for Little Boy, I feel flush and can give up the ghost (so to speak).
The good thing is it all starts again in a short while. The books look really, really good - I designed them and did all the production work. I have a happy client and it’s a good base for me so, I’m momentarily basking in the glory of this moment.
The good thing is it all starts again in a short while. The books look really, really good - I designed them and did all the production work. I have a happy client and it’s a good base for me so, I’m momentarily basking in the glory of this moment.
So, while I have the TV with good ole Dom Jolly and Trigger Happy TV (where else can you see a man dressed up in a dog costume take on a guy in the street with a megaphone blabbing about neutering dogs or an excessively female flatulent yoga teacher), what better time for a quick roundup of the last few weeks c-books (mind you this is about a solid three weeks worth).
Black Panther #61 - Tight, well-done and wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this book wind up as the basis for a successful syndicated television series. The current story arc brings back a character from the Don McGregor/Billy Graham heyday of the Black Panther and it’s just been one of those books I’m looking forward to every month.
Captain Marvel #11 - Peter David was at that awful comics show a few weeks back and I resisted the urge to go up and ask him what happened. Most of the stuff he’s been writing lately has been a big turnoff. He’s had a couple of books get canceled (SuperGirl and Young Justice), SpyBoy seems to be MIA and honestly Captain Marvel hasn’t been altogether entertaining since it’s relaunch (ala the U-Decide stunt). May be time to drop this bad boy - a book about a hero with no redeeming qualities is usually a hard sell (see Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Punisher, Deadpool and Vigilante) and this book just isn’t making the cut. May be time to drop this in an issue or two.
Peter Parker Spider Man #57 - I think this was the last issue (as the titles been canceled to be replaced by another Spider based title). Ever since Paul Jenkins left, this has been one crappy and inconsistent book. Sam Keith’s artwork was really hard to get around but, the story was actually quite interesting once you got past the art. I can’t say I’m sorry to see this title go.
JSA All Stars #3 - I love the monthly JSA book and I’ve been enjoying this book as well. Nothing spectacular, just a solid book.
Avengers #68 - Geoff Johns breathes life into another title. Solid book, truly entertaining with a refreshing take on familiar characters that works really well. Copiel’s art is well suited for the book (although he’s missed from DC’s Legion).
Batman #616 - This is a big seller and to tell the truth, I don’t really find it anything spectacular. Brian actually looks out for this book now, making a point to get it each month (which is unusual for him since he doesn’t really buy books that often) and it is one of the best selling books in the industry but, Jeff Loeb has lost a lot of his magic with the crappy Marvel series he’s done of late (Daredevil: Yellow and Spiderman: Blue). I think the whole villain of the story has been telegraphed - SPOILER WARNING SKIP THIS - It’s probably Bruce’s doctor friend from childhood - hence the Ras Al Ghul L-pit thingy, you wouldn’t spend so much time developing a background character who was incidental to the story.
Robin #115 - I just like the book month in and month out. They’ve managed to round out the character of Tim Drake and make him entertaining and likable. Good supporting cast, has a tendency to lose it’s way with the convoluted plots from time to time and leaves a bit to be desired in the way it handles subplots but, still much better than a lot of the other stuff that’s out there.
Legion #21 - I’ve grown to like the book. I don’t think of it as one of the best that’s out there but, generally it’s an entertaining read and has a good mix of new and old thrown together.
Batgirl #41 - A book sorely in need of a stronger editorial hand. The art is beautiful but, it’s another of those books that seems to be treading water plot wise. Lacks drama.
Superman: Metropolis #5 - Chuck Austen somehow manages to keep me coming back month after month (which he did much the same way with his run on Birds of Prey). Throws in enough hooks to keep your interest. Title’s focus isn’t so much on the big “S” as the backdrop for his universe. Good use of characters, I wonder if any of Austen’s work will bleed over into the other Super titles - it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
The Incredible Hulk: NightMerica - One of those painted comics (watercolor) that’s supposed to be oh-so high brow. Story is passable, art is decent, I honestly don’t think I’ll manage to last all six issues.
Lucifer #39 - One of those odd books that doesn’t have big circulation numbers but, has enough going on for it that is has a good core following. After reading a few issues I got hooked and haven’t missed an issue since. It’s an interesting book with the first fallen as the lead character. Solid fantasy and a good read for anyone who enjoyed Sandman.
Astro City: Local Heroes #3 - One of the books you wait for. Busiek is slowly recovering from his mercury poisoning and has returned to his greatest work. There are very few books that can stand up to Astro City and it’s probably one of the few books worth buying even if you’re not a comics fan - remember Eight Ball was a comic, so was From Hell and a bunch of other hit movies over the last few years. This would be one of those books that would make another great ongoing series.
WildCats #3.11 -Now were hitting stride, another great book. When people talk about Joe Casey’s work, my eyes usually glaze over and I haven’t really been a fan of most of what he’s done but, he touches them all with this book and to top it off Dustin Nguyen has got to be one of the top storytellers in comics today, his work is just spectacular. Really tight well-done book.
The Flash #199 - Maybe one of my top 5 books. Another of Johns’ titles and the one he came to prominence on. It’s rushing headlong to a 200th issue and a dramatic conclusion to the current storyline but, that shouldn’t stop anyone from jumping on the roller coaster. Scott Kolins art (which I didn’t like at all at first) has just improved leaps and bounds to the point where I can’t imagine who would follow him on the title.
The Incredible Hulk #56 -Bruce Jones takes you on a ride with a villain you thought you knew. Still waiting for the payoff from his tenure on the book (lots of mysterious subplots). Fernandez’ art is very reminiscent of Leonard Kirk. Solid read.
Superman #194 - I’m a big fan of Scott McDaniels so I have to acknowledge my bias. Seagle crafts a good yarn and the book is another solid read.
Sentinel #3 -Has the same feel of the early run of Impulse (which I was a big fan of). I would hope it’s a big seller among young adults because I think that’s the audience it’s geared for but, it has the kind of naive, innocent fun of a 60’s book. Art is in the same vein as Weiringo’s work.
Outsiders #1 -Judd Winick’s first issue of DC’s new team book. Much ballyhooed, it is nothing spectacular. I have been cooling to Winick (an alumnus of MTV’s Real World) since he left Green Lantern. His Green Arrow is truly horrible. Tom Raney is a draw but, I don’t know if he can save this title from Winick’s mediocrity.
Fantastic Four #70 -Unfortunately, Waid and Weiringo wind down their spectacular run on this title. The battle with a rejuvenated and now mystical Doctor Doom is riveting. Reed Richard's, dyslexic? Need I say more?
Batman: Gotham Knights #42 - Brian Bollands covers are what sells this book. It just doesn’t manage to achieve the level of drama it’s reaching for. Something is missing. Soon to be dropped.
Daredevil #48 -Bendis is making me a fan. I implored him on the boards to bring back older characters like the Owl and he did successfully. I’m not as crazy about the hero-as-celebrity trend which is prevalent in Marvel’s books these days but, Bendis knows how to write and Maleev’s art is some of the most beautiful work Marvel is publishing right now.
Amazing Spider Man #54 -Also has to be in the top 5. Solid book with great writing and great art, never disappoints. This title is enjoying a renaissance of sorts since Straczynski came on board. Romita Jr. just gets better and better. Straczynski has a terrific knack for writing dialogue, manages to elicit a few solid laughs with his skill at it.
Action Comics #805 - Joe Kelly and Pascual Ferry turn in a yeoman effort. Good, entertaining read and Ferry’s work harkens to Mignola’s with his use of shadow.
The Authority #3 -Tanking in a big way. The book that had so much buzz around it a year or two ago is running out of steam. It’s moment may have passed (remember Preacher?). This is a book sorely in need of a new creative team before the current team runs the title into the ground. It’s just not making the grade compared to what has gone before it. How very disappointing.
...and in passing some stuff that was laying around:
Tales of Bulletproof Monk - I had to force myself to read this, just wasn’t enough there for me.
Green Lantern: Brightest Day/Blackest Night -Prestige format title harkening back to the days of the golden age of comics (radio/ww2). Fun, good story, good art but, nothing earth shattering. 5 on the 10 scale.
Black Panther #61 - Tight, well-done and wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this book wind up as the basis for a successful syndicated television series. The current story arc brings back a character from the Don McGregor/Billy Graham heyday of the Black Panther and it’s just been one of those books I’m looking forward to every month.
Captain Marvel #11 - Peter David was at that awful comics show a few weeks back and I resisted the urge to go up and ask him what happened. Most of the stuff he’s been writing lately has been a big turnoff. He’s had a couple of books get canceled (SuperGirl and Young Justice), SpyBoy seems to be MIA and honestly Captain Marvel hasn’t been altogether entertaining since it’s relaunch (ala the U-Decide stunt). May be time to drop this bad boy - a book about a hero with no redeeming qualities is usually a hard sell (see Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Punisher, Deadpool and Vigilante) and this book just isn’t making the cut. May be time to drop this in an issue or two.
Peter Parker Spider Man #57 - I think this was the last issue (as the titles been canceled to be replaced by another Spider based title). Ever since Paul Jenkins left, this has been one crappy and inconsistent book. Sam Keith’s artwork was really hard to get around but, the story was actually quite interesting once you got past the art. I can’t say I’m sorry to see this title go.
JSA All Stars #3 - I love the monthly JSA book and I’ve been enjoying this book as well. Nothing spectacular, just a solid book.
Avengers #68 - Geoff Johns breathes life into another title. Solid book, truly entertaining with a refreshing take on familiar characters that works really well. Copiel’s art is well suited for the book (although he’s missed from DC’s Legion).
Batman #616 - This is a big seller and to tell the truth, I don’t really find it anything spectacular. Brian actually looks out for this book now, making a point to get it each month (which is unusual for him since he doesn’t really buy books that often) and it is one of the best selling books in the industry but, Jeff Loeb has lost a lot of his magic with the crappy Marvel series he’s done of late (Daredevil: Yellow and Spiderman: Blue). I think the whole villain of the story has been telegraphed - SPOILER WARNING SKIP THIS - It’s probably Bruce’s doctor friend from childhood - hence the Ras Al Ghul L-pit thingy, you wouldn’t spend so much time developing a background character who was incidental to the story.
Robin #115 - I just like the book month in and month out. They’ve managed to round out the character of Tim Drake and make him entertaining and likable. Good supporting cast, has a tendency to lose it’s way with the convoluted plots from time to time and leaves a bit to be desired in the way it handles subplots but, still much better than a lot of the other stuff that’s out there.
Legion #21 - I’ve grown to like the book. I don’t think of it as one of the best that’s out there but, generally it’s an entertaining read and has a good mix of new and old thrown together.
Batgirl #41 - A book sorely in need of a stronger editorial hand. The art is beautiful but, it’s another of those books that seems to be treading water plot wise. Lacks drama.
Superman: Metropolis #5 - Chuck Austen somehow manages to keep me coming back month after month (which he did much the same way with his run on Birds of Prey). Throws in enough hooks to keep your interest. Title’s focus isn’t so much on the big “S” as the backdrop for his universe. Good use of characters, I wonder if any of Austen’s work will bleed over into the other Super titles - it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
The Incredible Hulk: NightMerica - One of those painted comics (watercolor) that’s supposed to be oh-so high brow. Story is passable, art is decent, I honestly don’t think I’ll manage to last all six issues.
Lucifer #39 - One of those odd books that doesn’t have big circulation numbers but, has enough going on for it that is has a good core following. After reading a few issues I got hooked and haven’t missed an issue since. It’s an interesting book with the first fallen as the lead character. Solid fantasy and a good read for anyone who enjoyed Sandman.
Astro City: Local Heroes #3 - One of the books you wait for. Busiek is slowly recovering from his mercury poisoning and has returned to his greatest work. There are very few books that can stand up to Astro City and it’s probably one of the few books worth buying even if you’re not a comics fan - remember Eight Ball was a comic, so was From Hell and a bunch of other hit movies over the last few years. This would be one of those books that would make another great ongoing series.
WildCats #3.11 -Now were hitting stride, another great book. When people talk about Joe Casey’s work, my eyes usually glaze over and I haven’t really been a fan of most of what he’s done but, he touches them all with this book and to top it off Dustin Nguyen has got to be one of the top storytellers in comics today, his work is just spectacular. Really tight well-done book.
The Flash #199 - Maybe one of my top 5 books. Another of Johns’ titles and the one he came to prominence on. It’s rushing headlong to a 200th issue and a dramatic conclusion to the current storyline but, that shouldn’t stop anyone from jumping on the roller coaster. Scott Kolins art (which I didn’t like at all at first) has just improved leaps and bounds to the point where I can’t imagine who would follow him on the title.
The Incredible Hulk #56 -Bruce Jones takes you on a ride with a villain you thought you knew. Still waiting for the payoff from his tenure on the book (lots of mysterious subplots). Fernandez’ art is very reminiscent of Leonard Kirk. Solid read.
Superman #194 - I’m a big fan of Scott McDaniels so I have to acknowledge my bias. Seagle crafts a good yarn and the book is another solid read.
Sentinel #3 -Has the same feel of the early run of Impulse (which I was a big fan of). I would hope it’s a big seller among young adults because I think that’s the audience it’s geared for but, it has the kind of naive, innocent fun of a 60’s book. Art is in the same vein as Weiringo’s work.
Outsiders #1 -Judd Winick’s first issue of DC’s new team book. Much ballyhooed, it is nothing spectacular. I have been cooling to Winick (an alumnus of MTV’s Real World) since he left Green Lantern. His Green Arrow is truly horrible. Tom Raney is a draw but, I don’t know if he can save this title from Winick’s mediocrity.
Fantastic Four #70 -Unfortunately, Waid and Weiringo wind down their spectacular run on this title. The battle with a rejuvenated and now mystical Doctor Doom is riveting. Reed Richard's, dyslexic? Need I say more?
Batman: Gotham Knights #42 - Brian Bollands covers are what sells this book. It just doesn’t manage to achieve the level of drama it’s reaching for. Something is missing. Soon to be dropped.
Daredevil #48 -Bendis is making me a fan. I implored him on the boards to bring back older characters like the Owl and he did successfully. I’m not as crazy about the hero-as-celebrity trend which is prevalent in Marvel’s books these days but, Bendis knows how to write and Maleev’s art is some of the most beautiful work Marvel is publishing right now.
Amazing Spider Man #54 -Also has to be in the top 5. Solid book with great writing and great art, never disappoints. This title is enjoying a renaissance of sorts since Straczynski came on board. Romita Jr. just gets better and better. Straczynski has a terrific knack for writing dialogue, manages to elicit a few solid laughs with his skill at it.
Action Comics #805 - Joe Kelly and Pascual Ferry turn in a yeoman effort. Good, entertaining read and Ferry’s work harkens to Mignola’s with his use of shadow.
The Authority #3 -Tanking in a big way. The book that had so much buzz around it a year or two ago is running out of steam. It’s moment may have passed (remember Preacher?). This is a book sorely in need of a new creative team before the current team runs the title into the ground. It’s just not making the grade compared to what has gone before it. How very disappointing.
...and in passing some stuff that was laying around:
Tales of Bulletproof Monk - I had to force myself to read this, just wasn’t enough there for me.
Green Lantern: Brightest Day/Blackest Night -Prestige format title harkening back to the days of the golden age of comics (radio/ww2). Fun, good story, good art but, nothing earth shattering. 5 on the 10 scale.
Jul 11, 2003
HULK SMASH!
So, the secret about what the Hulk’s purple pants have been hiding is out (and so is the Hulk I guess). This children’s toy is causing quite the stir across the big pond.
This story gives new meaning to the phrase “Beat Your Meat.”
Yes, much as I hate to admit it, I will be compelled to watch this, this weekend. This reminds me of another show I’ve enjoyed watching, TNN’s Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
Unfortunately, I think Takeshi’s Castle would be much funnier if they just translated the show from the Japanese instead of trying to be clever and writing a ton of bad dialog. The dialog doesn’t sell the show as much as the video of people doing truly painful stunts.
Knowing Bill Jemas from his days at the Garden, I can hardly be surprised by the tastelessness of this latest stunt. The surprising thing is Marvel developed a conscious before publishing this dreck.
I made $1,150 in 4 hours today working from my home as a “freelance desktop designer” -- even though I can’t program a computer or draw a straight line!
...and lastly, I have to post this link forwarded to me by Les (from my days at Equity and MSG). Just proving how radically the world of graphics is changing. This harkens back to a conversation I had with Harry Stahl about a class he was proposing to teach at a local school that would teach secretaries the finer points of Quark. Nothing against secretaries mind you, I’m waiting for them to teach the janitor how to perform surgery at the local hospital or the baggage claim guy how to fly the plane - we all are interchangeable after all, aren’t we?
Fat Man has left the building, I repeat Fat Man has left the building.
So, once again I am facing the uncertainty of a period of no work after the conclusion of a project. On the one hand, I am glad for some time off and for having receivables out in the world (it’s always good to know there are checks coming in). Plus, it being summer, there’s the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather.
I still have bluelines to deal with and truth be told I caought something which is pretty major (in my opinion) which I’ll fix before the job goes to press - I had been using a TrueType font without realizing it. Even though it’s a medium weight (of which there is no corresponding type 1 version in the family), I’ll still have to figure something out (probably scale the bold weight back).
I didn’t realize it until late in the game and if I had I would have fixed it long ago but, isn’t that always the way of these things?
I try to keep in touch with people and I hear mixed things about the state of how busy the workaday world is - some people observing this is a quiet period others having enough to keep them busy - even when we were going through the “boom” of the late 90’s, I never got the sense there was this abundance of work. I still had to hustle.
So, once again I am facing the uncertainty of a period of no work after the conclusion of a project. On the one hand, I am glad for some time off and for having receivables out in the world (it’s always good to know there are checks coming in). Plus, it being summer, there’s the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather.
I still have bluelines to deal with and truth be told I caought something which is pretty major (in my opinion) which I’ll fix before the job goes to press - I had been using a TrueType font without realizing it. Even though it’s a medium weight (of which there is no corresponding type 1 version in the family), I’ll still have to figure something out (probably scale the bold weight back).
I didn’t realize it until late in the game and if I had I would have fixed it long ago but, isn’t that always the way of these things?
I try to keep in touch with people and I hear mixed things about the state of how busy the workaday world is - some people observing this is a quiet period others having enough to keep them busy - even when we were going through the “boom” of the late 90’s, I never got the sense there was this abundance of work. I still had to hustle.
Everytime I start to think there’s hope for the Mets this year, they go on a nice five or six game losing streak just to dash my hopes. I still like the team better than the one that broke spring training. The interesting thing to me is that the Mets instituted tiered pricing depending on their opponent - meanwhile the Yankees are having $5 ticket nights - something is wrong with this picture.
Jul 9, 2003
Last night I was giddy with celebration as I got Fat Man out the door. Six weeks of little or no sleep coming to an end and the official start of summer.
Of course it was too good to be true as I got the frantic phone call from the client this morning. It appears they forgot to include a title in the catalog meaning the bulk of the thing had to be repaginated (never mind the art revisions and content). No use grumbling - just getting it done although I could’ve used another 20 hours of sleep.
Yesterday it occurred to me when you do a good job it’s usually not noticed because doing a good job means there aren’t any problems - when you f**k up though, watch out, everyone notices that (because everything is flying).
I’ve got to find a way to accentuate my successes and minimize my failures, not an easy thing to do in our society.
Of course it was too good to be true as I got the frantic phone call from the client this morning. It appears they forgot to include a title in the catalog meaning the bulk of the thing had to be repaginated (never mind the art revisions and content). No use grumbling - just getting it done although I could’ve used another 20 hours of sleep.
Yesterday it occurred to me when you do a good job it’s usually not noticed because doing a good job means there aren’t any problems - when you f**k up though, watch out, everyone notices that (because everything is flying).
I’ve got to find a way to accentuate my successes and minimize my failures, not an easy thing to do in our society.
4am and closing...
Winding down now watching the Kids in the Hall.
Last week I finally got a chance to see the cards I did for Irene (which I hadn’t mentioned before now since Irene has been known to read the blog from time to time). This was a big event as it meant I finished something!
Like a starting pitcher I can’t pitch a complete game often so, when I manage to actually finish a personal project it is a momentous event.
The cards look good! Maybe all the research I did into printers was worthwhile (I wound up going with some guys I found in California in the back pages of either Photoshop User or MacWorld). I was really afraid the cards would be cheap looking and that they’d be on thin stock - well they came back with a good gloss to them and the stock while it could’ve been just a shade thicker was good enough for me to be happy.
Of course, the moment after I sent the job out I was thinking about things I would have liked to do with the back of the card (this happens a lot). I think I picked this up from some of the designers I’ve worked with over the years.
Irene seemed happy though and I was glad I came through and finished them for her. At the very least I think I did a good job on them and I think it says something - another thing I probably picked up from the designers I worked with - there is no such thing as a small client (God, I’ve given over to speaking in platitudes).
I wanted to mention this months National Geographic while I had it in mind. There is a great article on Korea which got me thinking about Sung. It talks about the fact that there is a country in Asia where people are still officially at war. Interesting fact was that South Korea has a larger population than the north but, the north has more people under arms (conscription?) than the south.
The geography of Korea is just as important as the conflict, especially when you find the capital of the country lies only 35 miles from the demilitarized zone (Gosh! Only a short tank ride away!).
Sung had mentioned how his dad still had family in the North and how he hadn’t seen them since the Communists came to power. I don’t think people can really understand a thing like that and how it hurts on such a personal level. We just get these headlines vilifying the North and talking about them lobbing nukes into California.
Winding down now watching the Kids in the Hall.
Last week I finally got a chance to see the cards I did for Irene (which I hadn’t mentioned before now since Irene has been known to read the blog from time to time). This was a big event as it meant I finished something!
Like a starting pitcher I can’t pitch a complete game often so, when I manage to actually finish a personal project it is a momentous event.
The cards look good! Maybe all the research I did into printers was worthwhile (I wound up going with some guys I found in California in the back pages of either Photoshop User or MacWorld). I was really afraid the cards would be cheap looking and that they’d be on thin stock - well they came back with a good gloss to them and the stock while it could’ve been just a shade thicker was good enough for me to be happy.
Of course, the moment after I sent the job out I was thinking about things I would have liked to do with the back of the card (this happens a lot). I think I picked this up from some of the designers I’ve worked with over the years.
Irene seemed happy though and I was glad I came through and finished them for her. At the very least I think I did a good job on them and I think it says something - another thing I probably picked up from the designers I worked with - there is no such thing as a small client (God, I’ve given over to speaking in platitudes).
I wanted to mention this months National Geographic while I had it in mind. There is a great article on Korea which got me thinking about Sung. It talks about the fact that there is a country in Asia where people are still officially at war. Interesting fact was that South Korea has a larger population than the north but, the north has more people under arms (conscription?) than the south.
The geography of Korea is just as important as the conflict, especially when you find the capital of the country lies only 35 miles from the demilitarized zone (Gosh! Only a short tank ride away!).
Sung had mentioned how his dad still had family in the North and how he hadn’t seen them since the Communists came to power. I don’t think people can really understand a thing like that and how it hurts on such a personal level. We just get these headlines vilifying the North and talking about them lobbing nukes into California.
Weeeeooooohhhhhh!
A little after 3am on a Tuesday night and I have just finished burning Fat Man to CD! I can’t believe it’s almost over (don’t forget the bluelines). The last week seems like a haze (hence the absence in posts).
The car broke down just in time for the holiday weekend (it’s two for two having been in the shop over Memorial Day). I wish I had been able to get out more but, there was plenty to do. After delivering the first round of drafts early in the week, I got another round in and finished a bunch of loose pages needing design by Wednesday so the proofreader Dan the Man could do his work.
That was just in time to get all the art, which I spent all night Thursday resizing, retouching and dropping into the file. Lots of stuff missing which meant putting together a slew of dummy covers on the fly.
On the fourth, I managed to go to bed at 6am - yeah I can do it but, only when I work from home. At the end of the day is a 10ft walk to the bed as opposed to the hour plus ride and drive (let’s not even talk about having access to your own refrigerator instead of the crap you wind up gobbling down while you’re stuck at the office).
We did the bar-b-q thing. Vito did a big spread with plenty of people. The funny thing to note was the Met game being on the big screen TV early in the afternoon and no one being in the living room watching then, when the Yankee game was on later three wasn’t a place to sit in the living room - talk about going deep behind enemy lines!
My eldest cousin’s son Brandon was there. I find myself more and more interested in what he has to say as the years pass. He’s a very different person than I am but, at the same time I see some of the things in him that I dealt with in our family.
He freelances, which is really hard to describe (your work situation) to someone who doesn’t really do it - or doesn’t work in an industry that uses "freelancers." He works for MTV so, there’s always some good stories he has to tell. He’s in his late twenties now and didn’t wind up in college right after high school but, he’s managed to stick with MTV for almost 5 years slowly making his way up the ladder. He did a stint on TRL and has worked on a bunch of other shows. And he winds up doing a lot of editing work himself on the shows he works on (yes, Final Cut Pro is everywhere - gotta get off my ass and learn some new skills). So, he’s a lot of fun to talk to.
Jill, my youngest cousin is building up her career as a writer. I just found out she’s been writing a column for her local paper - not even going in to the novel she’s been working on so, they’re a talented batch.
Anyway, we wound up going in the other car which has no air conditioning - I was half in the bag most of the day since I got to sleep so late and I could only think about all the rest of the stuff I had to get done on Fat Man before Monday. The rest of the weekend wound up just blurring by - not much of a holiday. I did get one good day of sleep in (Saturday) which was great because I think I had gotten about 15 hours of sleep over the previous five days combined.
And since I’m up so late and have gotten about 7 hours sleep since the aforementioned Saturday, I present you with this link which you should file under WWJD (what would Jesus do). Blasphemy!
A little after 3am on a Tuesday night and I have just finished burning Fat Man to CD! I can’t believe it’s almost over (don’t forget the bluelines). The last week seems like a haze (hence the absence in posts).
The car broke down just in time for the holiday weekend (it’s two for two having been in the shop over Memorial Day). I wish I had been able to get out more but, there was plenty to do. After delivering the first round of drafts early in the week, I got another round in and finished a bunch of loose pages needing design by Wednesday so the proofreader Dan the Man could do his work.
That was just in time to get all the art, which I spent all night Thursday resizing, retouching and dropping into the file. Lots of stuff missing which meant putting together a slew of dummy covers on the fly.
On the fourth, I managed to go to bed at 6am - yeah I can do it but, only when I work from home. At the end of the day is a 10ft walk to the bed as opposed to the hour plus ride and drive (let’s not even talk about having access to your own refrigerator instead of the crap you wind up gobbling down while you’re stuck at the office).
We did the bar-b-q thing. Vito did a big spread with plenty of people. The funny thing to note was the Met game being on the big screen TV early in the afternoon and no one being in the living room watching then, when the Yankee game was on later three wasn’t a place to sit in the living room - talk about going deep behind enemy lines!
My eldest cousin’s son Brandon was there. I find myself more and more interested in what he has to say as the years pass. He’s a very different person than I am but, at the same time I see some of the things in him that I dealt with in our family.
He freelances, which is really hard to describe (your work situation) to someone who doesn’t really do it - or doesn’t work in an industry that uses "freelancers." He works for MTV so, there’s always some good stories he has to tell. He’s in his late twenties now and didn’t wind up in college right after high school but, he’s managed to stick with MTV for almost 5 years slowly making his way up the ladder. He did a stint on TRL and has worked on a bunch of other shows. And he winds up doing a lot of editing work himself on the shows he works on (yes, Final Cut Pro is everywhere - gotta get off my ass and learn some new skills). So, he’s a lot of fun to talk to.
Jill, my youngest cousin is building up her career as a writer. I just found out she’s been writing a column for her local paper - not even going in to the novel she’s been working on so, they’re a talented batch.
Anyway, we wound up going in the other car which has no air conditioning - I was half in the bag most of the day since I got to sleep so late and I could only think about all the rest of the stuff I had to get done on Fat Man before Monday. The rest of the weekend wound up just blurring by - not much of a holiday. I did get one good day of sleep in (Saturday) which was great because I think I had gotten about 15 hours of sleep over the previous five days combined.
And since I’m up so late and have gotten about 7 hours sleep since the aforementioned Saturday, I present you with this link which you should file under WWJD (what would Jesus do). Blasphemy!
Jul 8, 2003
Well, here it is Tuesday, if you asked me I would probably not be able to tell you what day it was without checking first. Once again, I return to the world of the office worker. It reminds me of how I felt at school dances when I was in high school, I just didn’t know what to do. As things go this isn’t so bad so, it’s stupid to complain.
I am right on the precipice of getting Fat Man out the door. That’s a big reason for not making too many entries of late (bad habit).
I am right on the precipice of getting Fat Man out the door. That’s a big reason for not making too many entries of late (bad habit).
Jul 4, 2003
Here we are on the eve of the Fourth of July.
It’s a big holiday for our nation. It doesn’t feel any different to me. It just feels like a Friday.
I’m not a big one for holidays for the most part. Outside of getting together with the family (which of course we will do since it’s time for the annual bar-b-que at Vito’s and Val’s - and “you can’t say no, to a man named Vito”) which is nice, my life just doesn’t have the kind of structure to it where the holidays become that big escape from the drudgery of work (thank God).
I’m in the home stretch on Fat Man, I can’t believe it!
The last few days have blurred together as the ship date gets closer and closer. Managed to finalize the design, do a first setting, do a round of changes, repaginate twice, flow new copy, design the spreads and get everything back to the client to circulate and go out to the proofreader. Today I got all the art I received in. All that’s left is a final round of changes, one page where I haven’t gotten copy, dropping in any missing art, and then just putting together the last nine pages - then it’s done! Yayyyy!
I don’t have a sense of what market is like right now, because I have my blinders on while I’m trying to get this job out the door. I did notice however, the lead story on the evening news tonight was unemployment was at its highest in a decade and that there were 100,000 jobs lost last month. That’s a lot of people out of work (to put it mildly).
It brings to mind a discussion I have been having with more and more frequency not only about the state of the economy within our country but, also about this “ism” we structure our lives around and it’s relevance as a working model for a society.
If that statement seems vague, let me get a little more specific.
Capitalism as we know it, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It’s very easy for us to live in the moment, seeing the way we live today as something that is enduring and unchanging. If you think about it though, as recently as 150 years ago, people lived a radically different lifestyle than the ones we live today. They traveled less, spent most of their lives in one area and in one job. There wasn’t the manufacturing base there is today and people’s labor was very, very different from what our labor today is.
The dollar is the world's reserve currency, which gives us the ability to finance trade deficits that no other country could afford. When an alternative reserve currency appears, the United States will undergo wrenching economic, social and political adjustments.
We may, in our lifetimes, see significant economic, social and political change in our country we could have never imagined as a consequence of our leaders not having the foresight to move our country in the direction it needs to be taken. Technology has removed jobs from the marketplace, it has also resulted in manufacturing jobs being lost overseas as American workers compete on a global (as opposed to national) scale. This downward pressure on wages is creating adversarial workplaces as the American family feels the pressure to stay afloat in the face of rising food, shelter and medical care costs.
Interesting things to take the time to think about on Independence Day.
It’s a big holiday for our nation. It doesn’t feel any different to me. It just feels like a Friday.
I’m not a big one for holidays for the most part. Outside of getting together with the family (which of course we will do since it’s time for the annual bar-b-que at Vito’s and Val’s - and “you can’t say no, to a man named Vito”) which is nice, my life just doesn’t have the kind of structure to it where the holidays become that big escape from the drudgery of work (thank God).
I’m in the home stretch on Fat Man, I can’t believe it!
The last few days have blurred together as the ship date gets closer and closer. Managed to finalize the design, do a first setting, do a round of changes, repaginate twice, flow new copy, design the spreads and get everything back to the client to circulate and go out to the proofreader. Today I got all the art I received in. All that’s left is a final round of changes, one page where I haven’t gotten copy, dropping in any missing art, and then just putting together the last nine pages - then it’s done! Yayyyy!
I don’t have a sense of what market is like right now, because I have my blinders on while I’m trying to get this job out the door. I did notice however, the lead story on the evening news tonight was unemployment was at its highest in a decade and that there were 100,000 jobs lost last month. That’s a lot of people out of work (to put it mildly).
It brings to mind a discussion I have been having with more and more frequency not only about the state of the economy within our country but, also about this “ism” we structure our lives around and it’s relevance as a working model for a society.
If that statement seems vague, let me get a little more specific.
Capitalism as we know it, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It’s very easy for us to live in the moment, seeing the way we live today as something that is enduring and unchanging. If you think about it though, as recently as 150 years ago, people lived a radically different lifestyle than the ones we live today. They traveled less, spent most of their lives in one area and in one job. There wasn’t the manufacturing base there is today and people’s labor was very, very different from what our labor today is.
The dollar is the world's reserve currency, which gives us the ability to finance trade deficits that no other country could afford. When an alternative reserve currency appears, the United States will undergo wrenching economic, social and political adjustments.
We may, in our lifetimes, see significant economic, social and political change in our country we could have never imagined as a consequence of our leaders not having the foresight to move our country in the direction it needs to be taken. Technology has removed jobs from the marketplace, it has also resulted in manufacturing jobs being lost overseas as American workers compete on a global (as opposed to national) scale. This downward pressure on wages is creating adversarial workplaces as the American family feels the pressure to stay afloat in the face of rising food, shelter and medical care costs.
Interesting things to take the time to think about on Independence Day.
The TV was on while I was writing an entry, I was flipping channels and passed MTV.
Any day now, Madonna is going to get too old to parade around in the nude (or her underwear) without looking totally ridiculous. It won’t be shocking, it won’t be entertaining, it’ll just be flesh going south for the winter like it does on a lot of people past the age of forty. If Madonna can’t run around in her underwear anymore, will she still have a career?
Any day now, Madonna is going to get too old to parade around in the nude (or her underwear) without looking totally ridiculous. It won’t be shocking, it won’t be entertaining, it’ll just be flesh going south for the winter like it does on a lot of people past the age of forty. If Madonna can’t run around in her underwear anymore, will she still have a career?
Jul 2, 2003
A brief respite in a busy day...
Saturday I wound up going with Brian to a comic convention in Manhattan. It was a chance to revisit the Garden (which I’ve gone to sparingly since I worked there years ago). There’s always a mixture of feelings you have revisiting a place you once worked. Depending on the terms you left under, the feelings can be good or bad. My departure from the Garden was under weird circumstances to say the least - I freelanced there for just over a year, it was my “second tour of duty” there and there was as much good as there was bad.
I got a chance to work closely with Mike again, which was a plus. Also I got a chance to learn quite a bit. I worked at the Garden as a designer (as well as doing the production work I normally do), because of the structure (or lack thereof) - I wound up doing much, much more than I would have if I had worked in a traditionally structured agency or design studio. At the time, the art department at the Garden was constituted of 5 designers (with an occasional freelance person coming in for a special project) now I understand they have over 15 people in the art department which should give you an idea of the kind of work load we dealt with.
The bad thing was you always had a pile of projects on your desk and they all were due yesterday.
The good thing was you always had a pile of projects on your desk and they were due yesterday.
When you worked on a project, you had to make decisions much, much faster than you would in a normal situation. You had to come up with solutions quickly and if you failed you didn’t have the time to spare to dwell on your failure, then again, it made your successes all the more sweeter.
I had a couple of successes while I was at the Garden. They’re still using one logo I designed for one of the TV shows on the MSG Network (this after six years - even though I’m not really happy with it). When I went to get my ticket at the box office, I saw another logo I remember working on (I can’t remember if it’s mine or not, a lot of the projects blur together).
I probably would do things differently now if presented with the same situation but only from a design sense, I don’t know if I would have reacted any differently to the situation there as I think in many ways I’m still the same person. I wasn’t happy with how I left but, I didn’t have to leave and the sense I got was the place was better off for my absence so, I took some solace in that (not being the problem).
So, I had my eyes open in the building, looking around to see what was up and what they had done around the place. The Garden lacked any kind of cohesive “brand” for themselves and many of their divisions so, I was curious to see if any of the thinking I had been a big proponent of while there had taken hold - still looks like they’re struggling.
The convention was in the Expo Center. MSG’s Expo Center is the area surrounding the bowl of the main arena (what people think of when they envision the garden). The arena is a bowl sitting in a cylinder and the MSG folks looking to make money any way they can will rent it out (it’s notably the place where they keep the animals when the circus is in town and is known for having a odor reminding one of a stable).
As conventions go, the thing was pretty tiny. I got a little creeped out being there. I had gone to this other thing, held by MOCCA down at the Puck building last year and was jazzed by the energy of the place. There were as many women as men, lots of young people (twenty somethings), people with their own books - not superhero stuff, using comics as a medium of expression. The Puck building is a nice space too, even though they had the windows covered with gauzy curtains a good amount of light still made it into the space and it had a nice ambiance.
The Garden didn’t have anything like that. “(steel) Pipe and crepe dividers, narrow aisles, cheap folding tables and chairs and a grey concrete floor in a windowless cinder block space - comics as prison sheik. Lots of guys (circle jerk) looking as if they all needed pointers in the how to dress yourself department. The whole place kind of reinforced the clichéd vision of the comics fan (ala the comic guy from the Simpsons).
It wasn’t pretty.
I got a chance to have a brief conversation with one of the artists who was a childhood idol if you will (Jim Starlin). He’s in his fifties and was just a gas to chat with - the comics business isn’t any different than a lot of other businesses are these days. He grumbled about some of the stuff he had to deal with getting his projects done (which I will not go into detail about erring on the side of discretion) and was anxious about something he had been
working on for awhile.
There were lots of artists there as a matter of fact, lots of people you could meet but it was in such a crappy, dismal space - the opposite of the beautiful, sunny day Saturday was, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time there.
I felt bad for the artists too. You had bunches of them behind these folding tables offering to do convention sketches and sell pages of artwork - a good chance for them to make some money of the books. It just seemed wrong, here these guys are responsible for things like Spider Man which makes hundreds of millions of dollars and they’re trying to scrape together a few extra bucks at a convention - the phrase “quiet desperation” came to mind.
After we left, I made up my mind that I like reading the books but, I don’t like going to things like that (the convention). It spoils my enjoyment of comics.
Good seeing Brian though, he’s slowly dipping his foot back in the pool. He did a sketch of the Hulk and I expect any day now he’ll surprise me and tell me he’s penciling a book just for the heck of it.
Saturday I wound up going with Brian to a comic convention in Manhattan. It was a chance to revisit the Garden (which I’ve gone to sparingly since I worked there years ago). There’s always a mixture of feelings you have revisiting a place you once worked. Depending on the terms you left under, the feelings can be good or bad. My departure from the Garden was under weird circumstances to say the least - I freelanced there for just over a year, it was my “second tour of duty” there and there was as much good as there was bad.
I got a chance to work closely with Mike again, which was a plus. Also I got a chance to learn quite a bit. I worked at the Garden as a designer (as well as doing the production work I normally do), because of the structure (or lack thereof) - I wound up doing much, much more than I would have if I had worked in a traditionally structured agency or design studio. At the time, the art department at the Garden was constituted of 5 designers (with an occasional freelance person coming in for a special project) now I understand they have over 15 people in the art department which should give you an idea of the kind of work load we dealt with.
The bad thing was you always had a pile of projects on your desk and they all were due yesterday.
The good thing was you always had a pile of projects on your desk and they were due yesterday.
When you worked on a project, you had to make decisions much, much faster than you would in a normal situation. You had to come up with solutions quickly and if you failed you didn’t have the time to spare to dwell on your failure, then again, it made your successes all the more sweeter.
I had a couple of successes while I was at the Garden. They’re still using one logo I designed for one of the TV shows on the MSG Network (this after six years - even though I’m not really happy with it). When I went to get my ticket at the box office, I saw another logo I remember working on (I can’t remember if it’s mine or not, a lot of the projects blur together).
I probably would do things differently now if presented with the same situation but only from a design sense, I don’t know if I would have reacted any differently to the situation there as I think in many ways I’m still the same person. I wasn’t happy with how I left but, I didn’t have to leave and the sense I got was the place was better off for my absence so, I took some solace in that (not being the problem).
So, I had my eyes open in the building, looking around to see what was up and what they had done around the place. The Garden lacked any kind of cohesive “brand” for themselves and many of their divisions so, I was curious to see if any of the thinking I had been a big proponent of while there had taken hold - still looks like they’re struggling.
The convention was in the Expo Center. MSG’s Expo Center is the area surrounding the bowl of the main arena (what people think of when they envision the garden). The arena is a bowl sitting in a cylinder and the MSG folks looking to make money any way they can will rent it out (it’s notably the place where they keep the animals when the circus is in town and is known for having a odor reminding one of a stable).
As conventions go, the thing was pretty tiny. I got a little creeped out being there. I had gone to this other thing, held by MOCCA down at the Puck building last year and was jazzed by the energy of the place. There were as many women as men, lots of young people (twenty somethings), people with their own books - not superhero stuff, using comics as a medium of expression. The Puck building is a nice space too, even though they had the windows covered with gauzy curtains a good amount of light still made it into the space and it had a nice ambiance.
The Garden didn’t have anything like that. “(steel) Pipe and crepe dividers, narrow aisles, cheap folding tables and chairs and a grey concrete floor in a windowless cinder block space - comics as prison sheik. Lots of guys (circle jerk) looking as if they all needed pointers in the how to dress yourself department. The whole place kind of reinforced the clichéd vision of the comics fan (ala the comic guy from the Simpsons).
It wasn’t pretty.
I got a chance to have a brief conversation with one of the artists who was a childhood idol if you will (Jim Starlin). He’s in his fifties and was just a gas to chat with - the comics business isn’t any different than a lot of other businesses are these days. He grumbled about some of the stuff he had to deal with getting his projects done (which I will not go into detail about erring on the side of discretion) and was anxious about something he had been
working on for awhile.
There were lots of artists there as a matter of fact, lots of people you could meet but it was in such a crappy, dismal space - the opposite of the beautiful, sunny day Saturday was, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time there.
I felt bad for the artists too. You had bunches of them behind these folding tables offering to do convention sketches and sell pages of artwork - a good chance for them to make some money of the books. It just seemed wrong, here these guys are responsible for things like Spider Man which makes hundreds of millions of dollars and they’re trying to scrape together a few extra bucks at a convention - the phrase “quiet desperation” came to mind.
After we left, I made up my mind that I like reading the books but, I don’t like going to things like that (the convention). It spoils my enjoyment of comics.
Good seeing Brian though, he’s slowly dipping his foot back in the pool. He did a sketch of the Hulk and I expect any day now he’ll surprise me and tell me he’s penciling a book just for the heck of it.
Jul 1, 2003
Jun 27, 2003
So, today I was back in the city again for the finishing touches on the bluelines for Little Boy. Minor tweaks really. It was the third time in a week I had been in the city - the most I had been in the city in at least two months.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the city. I like going in sometimes and bopping around, other times it’s just draining.
The thing I think is really cool though is that I can get to where I’m going only having to walk about two blocks on the street. That doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize I’m going into Grand Central and winding up at 56th and Broadway. On a hot day with lots of tourists or lunch crowds on the street that can be a real godsend. No dodging other pedestrians, cars or bike messengers.
I go out the new north entrance of Grand Central which is in the Bear Sterns building on Madison and 47th (there’s a really beautiful mosaic mural over the escalators of downtown Manhattan that’s worth checking out). I pop out and walk the short block over to fifth and then a block up 5th to 48th and then I’m back inside. Into the bowels of Rockefeller Center and through the maze of corridors that take me over to the Equitable Tower and 52nd between 6th and 7th. Then there’s a series of cut-throughs that you can take all the way up to 57th St. I just turn off on 55th or 56th and walk a short distance over to Broadway. It’s really amazing! God for rainy days, hot days and snowy days.
a thinking how with all the construction they had done along 42nd St it’s really too bad they didn’t do something similar so it would be a nicer walk over to Port Authority. At my last gig where I looked over the last vestiges of Times Square’s seedy past, I was on 8th Avenue and 44th Street. I had a way I could get to the office from Grand Central and come out on the street literally feet from the door to our building. There were some bitterly cold days over the winter when knowing how to do that came in really handy.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the city. I like going in sometimes and bopping around, other times it’s just draining.
The thing I think is really cool though is that I can get to where I’m going only having to walk about two blocks on the street. That doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize I’m going into Grand Central and winding up at 56th and Broadway. On a hot day with lots of tourists or lunch crowds on the street that can be a real godsend. No dodging other pedestrians, cars or bike messengers.
I go out the new north entrance of Grand Central which is in the Bear Sterns building on Madison and 47th (there’s a really beautiful mosaic mural over the escalators of downtown Manhattan that’s worth checking out). I pop out and walk the short block over to fifth and then a block up 5th to 48th and then I’m back inside. Into the bowels of Rockefeller Center and through the maze of corridors that take me over to the Equitable Tower and 52nd between 6th and 7th. Then there’s a series of cut-throughs that you can take all the way up to 57th St. I just turn off on 55th or 56th and walk a short distance over to Broadway. It’s really amazing! God for rainy days, hot days and snowy days.
a thinking how with all the construction they had done along 42nd St it’s really too bad they didn’t do something similar so it would be a nicer walk over to Port Authority. At my last gig where I looked over the last vestiges of Times Square’s seedy past, I was on 8th Avenue and 44th Street. I had a way I could get to the office from Grand Central and come out on the street literally feet from the door to our building. There were some bitterly cold days over the winter when knowing how to do that came in really handy.
So, I had to rely an event that happened the other day:
Let me preface it by saying I have a propensity for colorful language - which is a nice way of saying I curse a blue streak. Mind you, it’s nothing I’m particularly proud of and I’m aware of it but, I haven’t been able to correct it. Too many years of living in and around New York and putting up with the daily indignities that go along with the frenetic pace of life here. Usually, I would show the discipline necessary to correct such a bad habit but, this is one of those things that hasn’t made it to the top of the list, yet. This of course will probably change when (and if) I ever have children otherwise I will be further embarrassed and my children considered foul-mouthed brats for taking up a parent’s bad habits.
Anyway, people from all over the country come to New York like it’s some big, gleaming beacon of success to live and work here (you know, like that stupid Frank Sinatra song they play after the Yankee games - New York, New York).
So, when does one officially become a New Yorker? What is the moment when a person casts off the shackles of their upbringing and embraces the true New York attitude?
Being a native, I would never know the answer were it not for the woman whom I’ve shared my life with over the past six plus years.
Living with someone, means after a time you take on something of the other person’s habits, it’s just a consequence of being together. So, the glorious creature who has deemed me worthy of her company hails from the Midwest. I’ve been back to the mother ship a few times and the sensibilities are striking. Get off the east coast and people just aren’t as ready to elbow you out of the way (maybe they aren’t in as much of a rush).
Well, the other day we were in the car driving somewhere. Another driver (either behind me or on the other side of the road) honked his horn for no apparent reason or for some imagined slight (maybe I wasn’t driving to suit his tastes).
“Aw, F**k you.”
It wasn’t me who uttered it. In that moment, I knew that my companion really was a New Yorker, there’s no question in my mind. It didn’t shock me or anything of the sort (although I have admonished her for picking up a bad habit of mine - in stark contrast to her projected demeanor) but, there was no question that before we were together those long 6 years ago - it wouldn’t have been the automatic response to a slight it has become.
And of course, you didn’t hear from me (so, don’t mention it for your own sake) as I’m sure she wouldn’t be pleased me talking out of class but, it was a funny moment.
It reminded me of Robin William’s first comedy album where at one point he did the following:
“New York Echo:”
“Heeellllllooooooooo!”
“SHUT THE F**K UP!
Let me preface it by saying I have a propensity for colorful language - which is a nice way of saying I curse a blue streak. Mind you, it’s nothing I’m particularly proud of and I’m aware of it but, I haven’t been able to correct it. Too many years of living in and around New York and putting up with the daily indignities that go along with the frenetic pace of life here. Usually, I would show the discipline necessary to correct such a bad habit but, this is one of those things that hasn’t made it to the top of the list, yet. This of course will probably change when (and if) I ever have children otherwise I will be further embarrassed and my children considered foul-mouthed brats for taking up a parent’s bad habits.
Anyway, people from all over the country come to New York like it’s some big, gleaming beacon of success to live and work here (you know, like that stupid Frank Sinatra song they play after the Yankee games - New York, New York).
So, when does one officially become a New Yorker? What is the moment when a person casts off the shackles of their upbringing and embraces the true New York attitude?
Being a native, I would never know the answer were it not for the woman whom I’ve shared my life with over the past six plus years.
Living with someone, means after a time you take on something of the other person’s habits, it’s just a consequence of being together. So, the glorious creature who has deemed me worthy of her company hails from the Midwest. I’ve been back to the mother ship a few times and the sensibilities are striking. Get off the east coast and people just aren’t as ready to elbow you out of the way (maybe they aren’t in as much of a rush).
Well, the other day we were in the car driving somewhere. Another driver (either behind me or on the other side of the road) honked his horn for no apparent reason or for some imagined slight (maybe I wasn’t driving to suit his tastes).
“Aw, F**k you.”
It wasn’t me who uttered it. In that moment, I knew that my companion really was a New Yorker, there’s no question in my mind. It didn’t shock me or anything of the sort (although I have admonished her for picking up a bad habit of mine - in stark contrast to her projected demeanor) but, there was no question that before we were together those long 6 years ago - it wouldn’t have been the automatic response to a slight it has become.
And of course, you didn’t hear from me (so, don’t mention it for your own sake) as I’m sure she wouldn’t be pleased me talking out of class but, it was a funny moment.
It reminded me of Robin William’s first comedy album where at one point he did the following:
“New York Echo:”
“Heeellllllooooooooo!”
“SHUT THE F**K UP!
This was a big week for news. I have the TV on and they just ran a teaser on the death of Strom Thurmond. Just a quick roundup:
This could be you during your next trip at the airport!
Dumbass speak with forked tongue.
Big conversation topic at job interviews. This will look really cool when he’s 80. I see a trailer in this boy’s future or a potential guest appearance on a future episode of COPs.
Guess that ruins any re-election bid.
Makes you wonder if Congress shouldn’t have a mandatory retirement age. I’m thinking about approaching later life but, there’s obviously a time when one should retire - before senility.
Why are these people smiling?
Is it a coincidence that this happened the same day Strom passed - guess he was serious about the phrase, “over my dead body.” This reminds me of something Lorenz said to me about Republicans (again, which I happen to be one of). Lorenz observed that although Republicans purport to want less government, they are always quick to legislate their ways into people’s personal lives (which was something I had to agree with). Our government should go about changing the world - the one outside of people’s bedrooms - besides, I really don’t need the government looking over my shoulder when I take care of business.
A photo-less story, how the 40-hour work week is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Any gains the American Labor Movement may have made in the first half of the last century are rapidly being overcome in the days of a “Global Economy.”
America, start f**kin!
So, have we become a country that just keeps it in their pants? Think this has something to do with how expensive it is just to get by these days?
The first amendment protects us all (and it’s a good thing), unfortunately, it doesn’t protect us from our own stupidity.
Soon to be a plaintiff in a suit against Chevrolet
We live in a society where whatever happens, it’s someone else’s fault.
and thankfully...
Nine Little Indians?
More good news/bad news from the Men (and women) in Black.
On the good side...
or as Justice O’Conner wrote: Effective participation by members of all racial and ethnic groups in the civil life of our nation is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible, is to be realized. The law school has determined, based on its experience and expertise, that a critical mass of underrepresented minorities is necessary to further its compelling interest in securing the educational benefits of a diverse student body."
...and on the bad side
as Justice O’Connor also wrote, "as properly interpreted, (the Court) should encourage the transition to a society where race no longer matters: a society where integration and color-blindness are not just qualities to be proud of, but are simple facts of life."
States and local governments must redraw district boundaries every 10 years to reflect population changes. Many of Georgia's black leaders supported the state's redistricting plan.
The Bush administration had challenged Georgia's three districts in court, arguing they amounted to the unconstitutional "retrogression" of black voters. Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said the department was reviewing the ruling to determine how it affects department procedures.
Laughlin McDonald, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who submitted a brief siding with the department, said O'Connor's vision of a "colorblind" society stemming from the ruling is unrealistic.
"All that's marvelous and wonderful, but believe me that is not the reality," McDonald said. "It allows whoever is in the majority to eliminate the black vote."
In a dissent, Justice David H. Souter and the other more liberal members of the court said that the court's new standard would put more politics into redistricting, and "there will simply be greater opportunity to reduce minority voting strength in the guise of obtaining party advantage."
So for every positive, there’s a negative — I guess taking the good with the bad is a consequence of a free society?
This could be you during your next trip at the airport!
Dumbass speak with forked tongue.
Big conversation topic at job interviews. This will look really cool when he’s 80. I see a trailer in this boy’s future or a potential guest appearance on a future episode of COPs.
Guess that ruins any re-election bid.
Makes you wonder if Congress shouldn’t have a mandatory retirement age. I’m thinking about approaching later life but, there’s obviously a time when one should retire - before senility.
Why are these people smiling?
Is it a coincidence that this happened the same day Strom passed - guess he was serious about the phrase, “over my dead body.” This reminds me of something Lorenz said to me about Republicans (again, which I happen to be one of). Lorenz observed that although Republicans purport to want less government, they are always quick to legislate their ways into people’s personal lives (which was something I had to agree with). Our government should go about changing the world - the one outside of people’s bedrooms - besides, I really don’t need the government looking over my shoulder when I take care of business.
A photo-less story, how the 40-hour work week is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Any gains the American Labor Movement may have made in the first half of the last century are rapidly being overcome in the days of a “Global Economy.”
America, start f**kin!
So, have we become a country that just keeps it in their pants? Think this has something to do with how expensive it is just to get by these days?
Soon to be a plaintiff in a suit against Chevrolet
We live in a society where whatever happens, it’s someone else’s fault.
Nine Little Indians?
More good news/bad news from the Men (and women) in Black.
On the good side...
or as Justice O’Conner wrote: Effective participation by members of all racial and ethnic groups in the civil life of our nation is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible, is to be realized. The law school has determined, based on its experience and expertise, that a critical mass of underrepresented minorities is necessary to further its compelling interest in securing the educational benefits of a diverse student body."
...and on the bad side
as Justice O’Connor also wrote, "as properly interpreted, (the Court) should encourage the transition to a society where race no longer matters: a society where integration and color-blindness are not just qualities to be proud of, but are simple facts of life."
States and local governments must redraw district boundaries every 10 years to reflect population changes. Many of Georgia's black leaders supported the state's redistricting plan.
The Bush administration had challenged Georgia's three districts in court, arguing they amounted to the unconstitutional "retrogression" of black voters. Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said the department was reviewing the ruling to determine how it affects department procedures.
Laughlin McDonald, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who submitted a brief siding with the department, said O'Connor's vision of a "colorblind" society stemming from the ruling is unrealistic.
"All that's marvelous and wonderful, but believe me that is not the reality," McDonald said. "It allows whoever is in the majority to eliminate the black vote."
In a dissent, Justice David H. Souter and the other more liberal members of the court said that the court's new standard would put more politics into redistricting, and "there will simply be greater opportunity to reduce minority voting strength in the guise of obtaining party advantage."
So for every positive, there’s a negative — I guess taking the good with the bad is a consequence of a free society?
Jun 26, 2003
I had picked up comics late Wednesday and wanted to do a quick roundup before attacking this week’s pile (two weeks worth) which was rich with good stuff!
Anyway, from last weeks’ pile (or two weeks ago rather):
Gotham Central #8 Again, one of the best books currently out there, a combination of Hill Street Blues or Third Watch and the Batman movies - no long underwear as much as some solid writing and art.
Dial H for Hero #5 The much ballyhooed book that is soon to be dropped from my buy list - just not making the grade, makes me wish DC had given Suicide Squad more of a chance.
Nightwing #82 Month in and month out a solidly entertaining and fun read. What amazes me is how DC has managed to round out the Dick Grayson character
The Filth #11 Grant Morrison’s 13 issue series winds down, more weirdness featuring Stalinist talking chimpanzees, fetishism and more. Hard to understand in serialized form as is most of Morrison’s work but, worth picking up.
JSA #49 God! I love this book. Back in the 80’s a friend of a friend worked as a penciler on a related title and it just never had the buzz that it has now. I never would have thought a writer could come along and make these characters interesting and fun to read but, then again Johns is responsible for the great Flash run.
Adventures of Superman A title that’s so uneven. A lot of ink is spent on boards throwing stones at Eddie Bargenza the current editor of the group and this book has me thinking some of it may be warranted.
Marvel The End #5 and #6 Jim Starlin tells the final Thanos story (I hope) but it was okay - maybe a 6 out of 10.
Green Arrow #26 Slipping greatly. Almost dropped, any life that was breathed into the character by Kevin Smith (who though I think is overrated, still did a great job with this book) is rapidly dissipating. One or tow more issues and that will probably be it for me. I have to check IVC 2’s website to see what the circulation on it is and if it’s been going down (as clear an indication I am not alone in my dissatisfaction).
Hunter Age of Magic #26 Soon to be canceled and probably with good reason even though this is the original Harry Potter
Kingpin #1 A simply great book. I really love Klaus Janson’s work and it’s great to see him inking again. Bruce Jones brings some of his Hulk magic with Sean Phillips pencils which are always a fave.
StormWatch #11 and #12 Just one of those titles I was thumbing through and decided to pick up. 12 was great, 11 not so much. I’ll keep an eye peeled for 13 and see which way it goes.
Batgirl Year One #7 One of the year’s best books. Beautifully drawn with a wonderful story to match. This will probably make it as a trade and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in hardcover. Worth taking up residence on your shelf.
New X-Men #142 Cyclops and Wolverine try to outdrink one and other. Morrison’s step into the Marvel universe is a resounding success and his take on this title is refreshingly entertaining. Chris Bachelo proves he can still draw a mainstream comic although he still hasn’t matched the work he did on Shade. Time to step back and stop overworking those panels, buddy.
Batman, Legends of the Dark Knight #168 Predictable, hackneyed, not very good.
Incredible Hulk #55 A cover price of only 25¢, worth going out and buying a bunch of copies to distribute to friends (if you can still find any copies). Solid book with the jump off on a new story arc. Looks very intriguing, picking up on some plot threads from Kreuger’s Marvels.
This week, WildCats, Flash and the Planetary one shot came out so, it’s a pretty good week. WildCats is one of those books I could see turning up as a series somewhere on TV and doing well. I haven’t checked lately to see what the buzz is on the Planetary TV show (it really would make a great movie with the right casting - Dennis Hopper, Selma Hayek and Ewan McGregor maybe - all people I’ve mentioned before although now that I think of it Brad Pitt would be a great “Drummer”).
Also, I keep tryng to find someplace where I can at least link to cover art for this but, as of yet I haven’t had any luck.
Anyway, from last weeks’ pile (or two weeks ago rather):
Gotham Central #8 Again, one of the best books currently out there, a combination of Hill Street Blues or Third Watch and the Batman movies - no long underwear as much as some solid writing and art.
Dial H for Hero #5 The much ballyhooed book that is soon to be dropped from my buy list - just not making the grade, makes me wish DC had given Suicide Squad more of a chance.
Nightwing #82 Month in and month out a solidly entertaining and fun read. What amazes me is how DC has managed to round out the Dick Grayson character
The Filth #11 Grant Morrison’s 13 issue series winds down, more weirdness featuring Stalinist talking chimpanzees, fetishism and more. Hard to understand in serialized form as is most of Morrison’s work but, worth picking up.
JSA #49 God! I love this book. Back in the 80’s a friend of a friend worked as a penciler on a related title and it just never had the buzz that it has now. I never would have thought a writer could come along and make these characters interesting and fun to read but, then again Johns is responsible for the great Flash run.
Adventures of Superman A title that’s so uneven. A lot of ink is spent on boards throwing stones at Eddie Bargenza the current editor of the group and this book has me thinking some of it may be warranted.
Marvel The End #5 and #6 Jim Starlin tells the final Thanos story (I hope) but it was okay - maybe a 6 out of 10.
Green Arrow #26 Slipping greatly. Almost dropped, any life that was breathed into the character by Kevin Smith (who though I think is overrated, still did a great job with this book) is rapidly dissipating. One or tow more issues and that will probably be it for me. I have to check IVC 2’s website to see what the circulation on it is and if it’s been going down (as clear an indication I am not alone in my dissatisfaction).
Hunter Age of Magic #26 Soon to be canceled and probably with good reason even though this is the original Harry Potter
Kingpin #1 A simply great book. I really love Klaus Janson’s work and it’s great to see him inking again. Bruce Jones brings some of his Hulk magic with Sean Phillips pencils which are always a fave.
StormWatch #11 and #12 Just one of those titles I was thumbing through and decided to pick up. 12 was great, 11 not so much. I’ll keep an eye peeled for 13 and see which way it goes.
Batgirl Year One #7 One of the year’s best books. Beautifully drawn with a wonderful story to match. This will probably make it as a trade and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in hardcover. Worth taking up residence on your shelf.
New X-Men #142 Cyclops and Wolverine try to outdrink one and other. Morrison’s step into the Marvel universe is a resounding success and his take on this title is refreshingly entertaining. Chris Bachelo proves he can still draw a mainstream comic although he still hasn’t matched the work he did on Shade. Time to step back and stop overworking those panels, buddy.
Batman, Legends of the Dark Knight #168 Predictable, hackneyed, not very good.
Incredible Hulk #55 A cover price of only 25¢, worth going out and buying a bunch of copies to distribute to friends (if you can still find any copies). Solid book with the jump off on a new story arc. Looks very intriguing, picking up on some plot threads from Kreuger’s Marvels.
This week, WildCats, Flash and the Planetary one shot came out so, it’s a pretty good week. WildCats is one of those books I could see turning up as a series somewhere on TV and doing well. I haven’t checked lately to see what the buzz is on the Planetary TV show (it really would make a great movie with the right casting - Dennis Hopper, Selma Hayek and Ewan McGregor maybe - all people I’ve mentioned before although now that I think of it Brad Pitt would be a great “Drummer”).
Also, I keep tryng to find someplace where I can at least link to cover art for this but, as of yet I haven’t had any luck.
I hadn’t posted for a few days. Little Boy has left the building, I repeat, Little Boy has left the building. While we thought he would be departing Monday, we fit in the hurried last round which included dropping in all the last minute art that was missing (including yours truly mocking up faux covers for four titles), doing one completely new title and a host of little touches.
What that translated to was I had about 9 hours of sleep total between Sunday morning and Wednesday night. None of these things gets done as quickly as people would believe. The faux covers came out pretty well when you consider they were designed and completed in around 5 hours. The client actually thought I had gotten the real artwork (which means I must have been on the money with them). I was going to go the down and dirty route and then realized it would wind up making a statement about me that I probably didn’t want to make so I put in the extra effort.
Went into the office again on Wednesday. Brushed up against one moron proving the axiom I have about office life (ah well). Fortunately, it was no one I was directly involved with, just someone having a bad day and feeling the need to act out on the people around them (Fuuuuuunnnnn… not).
I got an email from Sara Litt in response to my email to her. She was expecting when I last saw her and I was curious to know if she had delivered yet (she hadn’t) but, she was bemonaning the heat and it occured to me it probably sucks to be hot and pregnant as opposed to just plain hot. Hope to see her soon.
Today, I actually slept! I woke up in the late morning had some breakfast and realized going back to sleep might not be such a bad thing. The only thing holding me back was all the things I wanted to get done today, having not been able to do them while getting Little Boy out. Also, I have Fat Man to turn around too and he wasn’t getting any smaller. Nose to the grindstone and all that.
Saw Mikey B too when I was in the city! Yo, yo, yo Mikey B! It’s always great to see Mike. The only odd thing about seeing him is talking about his daughter (a college junior) and his son (a high school sophmore) and trying very hard to forget the fact they were small children when we first met. It’s hard to imagine they’re both young adults (or on the cusp in Jason’s case) - we’re really not that old, are we?!? It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed for us as friends but, there you go, boom, it’s fifteen years and I wonder where some of that time went.
Last night I got the frantic, “Help, my computer doesn’t work!” phonecall from Brian. I had thrown together some code for a webpage for him a short time ago - nothing terrific - just something really basic, slapped together (I am saying this in case my blog sensei reads this as I know she is a coding goddess - speaking of which I have to get the link from her to the site she put together with Hans which I am sure looks great). Anyway, the filename he uploaded somehow was corrupted (I think he downloaded it first) and I haven’t been able to get by and help him change the name. But, at least he has a page which is more than I can say for myself.
What that translated to was I had about 9 hours of sleep total between Sunday morning and Wednesday night. None of these things gets done as quickly as people would believe. The faux covers came out pretty well when you consider they were designed and completed in around 5 hours. The client actually thought I had gotten the real artwork (which means I must have been on the money with them). I was going to go the down and dirty route and then realized it would wind up making a statement about me that I probably didn’t want to make so I put in the extra effort.
Went into the office again on Wednesday. Brushed up against one moron proving the axiom I have about office life (ah well). Fortunately, it was no one I was directly involved with, just someone having a bad day and feeling the need to act out on the people around them (Fuuuuuunnnnn… not).
I got an email from Sara Litt in response to my email to her. She was expecting when I last saw her and I was curious to know if she had delivered yet (she hadn’t) but, she was bemonaning the heat and it occured to me it probably sucks to be hot and pregnant as opposed to just plain hot. Hope to see her soon.
Today, I actually slept! I woke up in the late morning had some breakfast and realized going back to sleep might not be such a bad thing. The only thing holding me back was all the things I wanted to get done today, having not been able to do them while getting Little Boy out. Also, I have Fat Man to turn around too and he wasn’t getting any smaller. Nose to the grindstone and all that.
Saw Mikey B too when I was in the city! Yo, yo, yo Mikey B! It’s always great to see Mike. The only odd thing about seeing him is talking about his daughter (a college junior) and his son (a high school sophmore) and trying very hard to forget the fact they were small children when we first met. It’s hard to imagine they’re both young adults (or on the cusp in Jason’s case) - we’re really not that old, are we?!? It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed for us as friends but, there you go, boom, it’s fifteen years and I wonder where some of that time went.
Last night I got the frantic, “Help, my computer doesn’t work!” phonecall from Brian. I had thrown together some code for a webpage for him a short time ago - nothing terrific - just something really basic, slapped together (I am saying this in case my blog sensei reads this as I know she is a coding goddess - speaking of which I have to get the link from her to the site she put together with Hans which I am sure looks great). Anyway, the filename he uploaded somehow was corrupted (I think he downloaded it first) and I haven’t been able to get by and help him change the name. But, at least he has a page which is more than I can say for myself.
I never really got into the whole MP3 thing although plenty of the people I worked with did. I just read this the other day - it struck me as trying to put the genie back in the bottle. Plus, it made me think how Apple’s strategy is a lot more realistic and could become quite the success.
Jun 23, 2003
I haven’t been ranting about the Mets lately. Since Steve-O was fired, I find the target of much of my ranting is now gone and I eagerly await the new regime and the changes they will institute.
Also, I have to say I am much more likely to go to the ballpark and watch the team as it is presently than I was before - there’s just something appealing about watching players who’ve come up from the minor leagues and are eager to play than there is in watching a bunch of malcontent veterans.
I keep hearing on talk radio about potential trades the Mets could make. One I heard was Armando Benitez for Jeff Weaver. This is a trade only a Yankee fan could make. Jeff Weaver who still has several years to go on a contract that’s overpaying him versus Benitez who still is a capable if inconsistent closer in his walk year - way to bog yourself down with bad contracts - no thank you.
I’m watching and liking Jay Seo (my new hero), Jose Reyes, Ty Wigginton, Jason Phillips (who for some reason reminds me of one of my favorite, most missed Mets John Olerud) and Vance Wilson. Joe McEwing (Super Joe), Timo Perez, Shinjo and Floyd are also fun to watch. It’s also a shame I heard today Jeromy Burnitz is determined to go the free agent route.
So back on March 27th I wrote this and almost three months later, it’s interesting to look at the predictions:
10 reasons why the Mets will suck this year:
1. Tom Glavine is not the pitcher he used to be. At 38, the Mets didn’t sign a pitcher for the head of their rotation as much as an aging superstar on his way down the slippery slope to retirement, instead of an anchor they got an albatross to hang around their neck for the next four years.
Well, while Glavine isn’t the pitcher he was in his heyday with the Braves, he is certainly a capable #2 or #3 starter (which is really all you should expect from a 38 year old control pitcher. I do like his work ethic and professionalism. He shows a great deal of good baseball knowledge (at the plate as well as on the mound). So, here I would say I was wrong as Glavine can’t be blamed for the Metsies woes.
2. Steve Phillips will still manage to make a couple of bad trades before the season is out.
They fired him before he had the chance, this is called addition by subtraction (too bad that George wised up and gave a contract extension to Gene Michael).
3. Al Leiter and Pedro Astacio are both a year older.
No question about that, right on the money. Astacio is gone for the season (and probably as a Met) and Leiter is looking like he should be traded while you can still get something of value.
4. Roberto Alomar is a lungee away from being villified in New York. As the year progresses and Alomar’s average remains mired in the mid 200s Mets fans will be the ones doing the spitting.
Another direct hit. Alomar hasn’t generated much interest from other teams as trade bait and of course, why should he? It’s been openly acknowledged he’s unhappy and could even have been stricken with the infamous Ricky Henderson malady by “jaking it.”
5. Edgardo Alfonzo is a Giant
A miss. Fonzie is in the midst of his worst season ever. Still if I were GM for a day, I’d be looking to send Roberto Alomar out to the Giants for Fonzie and try to get Brian Sabean to pay part of the big contract the Giants signed him to for the next four years. It gives the Giants a chance to get out from under the contract and I think Fonzie really misses the Big Apple (when have you ever heard of a baseball player taking out taxi ads thanking the city after he’s left?). Plus I think Fonzie is a good clubhouse guy and I can’t think of anyone who would be better paired as a teacher to Jose Reyes.
6. Bobby Valentine wasn’t the problem after all
Score direct hit, give credit to Bobby though, if ever a man had a chance to gloat it would be Bobby V but, he‘s kept his mouth shut. Also, listening to the ESPN broadcast it would seem there are a bunch of Mets that still seek out Bobby for advice - I think that speaks volumes about him as a manager. Nevermind he’s been mentioned as a possible successor to Joe Torre - what do you say about that Yankee fans?
7. Art Howe will be Jeff Torborg 2 (remember when Jeff Torborg showed up to manage the Mets he had come off successful seasons in Chicago). Laid back never plays well in New York.
Another direct hit, no matter how many times I hear Art Howe on the radio, I still have yet to walk away thinking the man is intelligent. He sounds like a nice guy but, I am mystified by some of his decisions.
8. Benitez still means choke in Spanish
Anyone see last night’s game? Just watching Armando on the mound with that stupid look on his face as he walks in a run - OUCH!
9. As good as a guy as Jeromy Burnitz is, some guys just never play well in New York. Burnitz is a small market guy and would be better off being traded closer to home - San Diego.
Wrong, wrong, wrong - Burnitz is having a terrific year and if he keeps going like this he will dispel any notion he can’t play in a large market.
10. Without Ricky Henderson to coach him, Roger Cedeno sill never be a tremendous basestealer.
I like Roger, I really do and it’s painful to watch him be booed so mercilessly at Shea. He’s started hitting a bit better but still finds himself overmatched in the outfield. This one is turning out to be dead on even though I’d rather I was wrong.
10 reasons why the Mets will make the playoffs:
1. Cliff Floyd will provide the long ball threat to complement Piazza that the top of the order that’s been missing.
Dead on - Well, Mikey is out for the moment but, there’s nothing bad to say about Cliff Floyd. He’s been the long ball threat the Mets needed and his outfield defense is superb.
2. Tom Glavine is the real deal and will give the Mets the one/two punch they’ve been missing since Mike Hampton left Al Leiter to sign with Colorado.
Mixed - If you take Leiter’s name out of the equation and substitute Seo you’re on to something.
3. Steve Trachsel will show why the Mets were smart to resign him.
Bingo! - Trachsel is coming on again. This is a guy who was supposed to be a number four starter, if he truly was their number four starter, there would be nothing to complain about.
4. Wigginton is going to prove he’s a major leaguer.
Dead on - Gotta love TY! Could inherit Todd Pratt’s nickname of TANK!
5. One word: Shinjo, Shinjo, Shinjo.
Mixed - Great in the field but, where’s the bat! Could be lots better at the plate.
6. David Cone - 15 game winner?!?!
Wrong - The comeback that wasn’t.
7. The equation: Slim Fast + Mo Vaughn = 50+ homers.
Wrong - Mo‘s gone and to tell the truth, hopefully for good. Ever since Mo went down the team has been playing better - file under malcontented veteran.
8. Bell, Hernandez, Clark and McEwing mean there’s a really deep bench.
Mixed - Haven’t seen much from Hernandez and Bell due to injuries but, Clark has provided clutch power and McEwing has spelled good defense at second, short, third and in the outfield with those little surprising power displays - love Super Joe!
9. Would you tell Don Baylor no if he gets on you to hustle?
I don’t know still, would you?
10. Jose Reyes will live up to the hype.
Dead on - This kind is great to watch, doesn’t even make me miss ReyRey in the field and the smile on his face is an improvement over ReyRey’s sullen demeanor.
So, plan on saying goodbye to:
Al Leiter, Roberto Alomar, Jeromy Burnitz, David Weathers, Graeme Lloyd and Armando Benitez.
Also, I have to say I am much more likely to go to the ballpark and watch the team as it is presently than I was before - there’s just something appealing about watching players who’ve come up from the minor leagues and are eager to play than there is in watching a bunch of malcontent veterans.
I keep hearing on talk radio about potential trades the Mets could make. One I heard was Armando Benitez for Jeff Weaver. This is a trade only a Yankee fan could make. Jeff Weaver who still has several years to go on a contract that’s overpaying him versus Benitez who still is a capable if inconsistent closer in his walk year - way to bog yourself down with bad contracts - no thank you.
I’m watching and liking Jay Seo (my new hero), Jose Reyes, Ty Wigginton, Jason Phillips (who for some reason reminds me of one of my favorite, most missed Mets John Olerud) and Vance Wilson. Joe McEwing (Super Joe), Timo Perez, Shinjo and Floyd are also fun to watch. It’s also a shame I heard today Jeromy Burnitz is determined to go the free agent route.
So back on March 27th I wrote this and almost three months later, it’s interesting to look at the predictions:
10 reasons why the Mets will suck this year:
1. Tom Glavine is not the pitcher he used to be. At 38, the Mets didn’t sign a pitcher for the head of their rotation as much as an aging superstar on his way down the slippery slope to retirement, instead of an anchor they got an albatross to hang around their neck for the next four years.
Well, while Glavine isn’t the pitcher he was in his heyday with the Braves, he is certainly a capable #2 or #3 starter (which is really all you should expect from a 38 year old control pitcher. I do like his work ethic and professionalism. He shows a great deal of good baseball knowledge (at the plate as well as on the mound). So, here I would say I was wrong as Glavine can’t be blamed for the Metsies woes.
2. Steve Phillips will still manage to make a couple of bad trades before the season is out.
They fired him before he had the chance, this is called addition by subtraction (too bad that George wised up and gave a contract extension to Gene Michael).
3. Al Leiter and Pedro Astacio are both a year older.
No question about that, right on the money. Astacio is gone for the season (and probably as a Met) and Leiter is looking like he should be traded while you can still get something of value.
4. Roberto Alomar is a lungee away from being villified in New York. As the year progresses and Alomar’s average remains mired in the mid 200s Mets fans will be the ones doing the spitting.
Another direct hit. Alomar hasn’t generated much interest from other teams as trade bait and of course, why should he? It’s been openly acknowledged he’s unhappy and could even have been stricken with the infamous Ricky Henderson malady by “jaking it.”
5. Edgardo Alfonzo is a Giant
A miss. Fonzie is in the midst of his worst season ever. Still if I were GM for a day, I’d be looking to send Roberto Alomar out to the Giants for Fonzie and try to get Brian Sabean to pay part of the big contract the Giants signed him to for the next four years. It gives the Giants a chance to get out from under the contract and I think Fonzie really misses the Big Apple (when have you ever heard of a baseball player taking out taxi ads thanking the city after he’s left?). Plus I think Fonzie is a good clubhouse guy and I can’t think of anyone who would be better paired as a teacher to Jose Reyes.
6. Bobby Valentine wasn’t the problem after all
Score direct hit, give credit to Bobby though, if ever a man had a chance to gloat it would be Bobby V but, he‘s kept his mouth shut. Also, listening to the ESPN broadcast it would seem there are a bunch of Mets that still seek out Bobby for advice - I think that speaks volumes about him as a manager. Nevermind he’s been mentioned as a possible successor to Joe Torre - what do you say about that Yankee fans?
7. Art Howe will be Jeff Torborg 2 (remember when Jeff Torborg showed up to manage the Mets he had come off successful seasons in Chicago). Laid back never plays well in New York.
Another direct hit, no matter how many times I hear Art Howe on the radio, I still have yet to walk away thinking the man is intelligent. He sounds like a nice guy but, I am mystified by some of his decisions.
8. Benitez still means choke in Spanish
Anyone see last night’s game? Just watching Armando on the mound with that stupid look on his face as he walks in a run - OUCH!
9. As good as a guy as Jeromy Burnitz is, some guys just never play well in New York. Burnitz is a small market guy and would be better off being traded closer to home - San Diego.
Wrong, wrong, wrong - Burnitz is having a terrific year and if he keeps going like this he will dispel any notion he can’t play in a large market.
10. Without Ricky Henderson to coach him, Roger Cedeno sill never be a tremendous basestealer.
I like Roger, I really do and it’s painful to watch him be booed so mercilessly at Shea. He’s started hitting a bit better but still finds himself overmatched in the outfield. This one is turning out to be dead on even though I’d rather I was wrong.
10 reasons why the Mets will make the playoffs:
1. Cliff Floyd will provide the long ball threat to complement Piazza that the top of the order that’s been missing.
Dead on - Well, Mikey is out for the moment but, there’s nothing bad to say about Cliff Floyd. He’s been the long ball threat the Mets needed and his outfield defense is superb.
2. Tom Glavine is the real deal and will give the Mets the one/two punch they’ve been missing since Mike Hampton left Al Leiter to sign with Colorado.
Mixed - If you take Leiter’s name out of the equation and substitute Seo you’re on to something.
3. Steve Trachsel will show why the Mets were smart to resign him.
Bingo! - Trachsel is coming on again. This is a guy who was supposed to be a number four starter, if he truly was their number four starter, there would be nothing to complain about.
4. Wigginton is going to prove he’s a major leaguer.
Dead on - Gotta love TY! Could inherit Todd Pratt’s nickname of TANK!
5. One word: Shinjo, Shinjo, Shinjo.
Mixed - Great in the field but, where’s the bat! Could be lots better at the plate.
6. David Cone - 15 game winner?!?!
Wrong - The comeback that wasn’t.
7. The equation: Slim Fast + Mo Vaughn = 50+ homers.
Wrong - Mo‘s gone and to tell the truth, hopefully for good. Ever since Mo went down the team has been playing better - file under malcontented veteran.
8. Bell, Hernandez, Clark and McEwing mean there’s a really deep bench.
Mixed - Haven’t seen much from Hernandez and Bell due to injuries but, Clark has provided clutch power and McEwing has spelled good defense at second, short, third and in the outfield with those little surprising power displays - love Super Joe!
9. Would you tell Don Baylor no if he gets on you to hustle?
I don’t know still, would you?
10. Jose Reyes will live up to the hype.
Dead on - This kind is great to watch, doesn’t even make me miss ReyRey in the field and the smile on his face is an improvement over ReyRey’s sullen demeanor.
So, plan on saying goodbye to:
Al Leiter, Roberto Alomar, Jeromy Burnitz, David Weathers, Graeme Lloyd and Armando Benitez.
Monday, monday. The beginning of another week.
Today, I played office worker once again. As these things go it was a fairly easy day. Just put in the prerequisite face time at the client applying the finishing touches on Little Boy. Little Boy will officially be a thing of the past as of tomorrow for which I am thankful but, the Fat Man is still lumbering around demanding attention.
So, I drove in early this afternoon, another beautiful day for a drive. Coming down the West Side Highway you could just catch the saltiness in the breeze coming off of New York Bay, it made me think about going out to the beach this year although I am the epitome of white, having taken on a luminous pallor from being indoors so long and so much.
Anyway, I was blessed and found a parking space rapidly (under five minutes for which I will sacrifice a Matchbox car to the parking gods) and made my way down to the office via the subway. How tough it was to go in and be ensconced in my own office (not) whiling away the hours.
So, what it bought to mind was this long-time client I had awhile back. The people in charge paid a lot of lip service to the whole touchy-feely aspect of the work environment. To that end, they bought into creating a workspace where there were no walls and everyone worked in a large open area with absolutely no privacy whatsoever. The irony of course was these selfsame people implementing this policy also were equally sure they would have an office of their own to collect their thoughts and have a bit of solitude. Funny how they never really seemed to deem it necessary for themselves to be a part of the “big team” in the large wall-free room.
A by-product of this “team” space was the virtual impossibility to have anything resembling a private conversation with a coworker or on the phone (don’t even dream of picking your nose - which of course none of us does). If at any time while I was there you found yourself involved in some kind of “team” discourse with a coworker, it was generally frowned upon and you were chided for the behavior (with the admonition to “keep it down and be respectful of your neighbor”). I of course, had the good fortune to be situated outside a conference room, which for some reason (I still have yet to fathom) had a door that remained open during meetings. I would sit trying to focus on my work, while fighting to block out the din of each of the meetings occurring just a few feet behind me.
They say that there’s no “I’ in team but there certainly is a “u” in f**k, get it?
So, going into a place as a hired gun and having an office of my own is a treat and no matter what anyone tries to foist on me about that whole “team” atmosphere junk, I’m not buying - as we would say in the old neighborhood, it’s a load of crap.
Which leads me into another topic...
I have realized I am succumbing to GOMBA. At first glance, you’d think it has something to do with being Italian but, in reality it’s nothing of the sort. A GOMBA is just a Grumpy Old Man Becoming Agitated. It happens to men after the age of forty, it’s not a permanent condition and the symptoms are usually temporary. If you witness a someone on your life who has been stricken by GOMBA, try to help - I find ice cream can alleviate much of the symptoms or any kind of comfort food will do the trick.
Today, I played office worker once again. As these things go it was a fairly easy day. Just put in the prerequisite face time at the client applying the finishing touches on Little Boy. Little Boy will officially be a thing of the past as of tomorrow for which I am thankful but, the Fat Man is still lumbering around demanding attention.
So, I drove in early this afternoon, another beautiful day for a drive. Coming down the West Side Highway you could just catch the saltiness in the breeze coming off of New York Bay, it made me think about going out to the beach this year although I am the epitome of white, having taken on a luminous pallor from being indoors so long and so much.
Anyway, I was blessed and found a parking space rapidly (under five minutes for which I will sacrifice a Matchbox car to the parking gods) and made my way down to the office via the subway. How tough it was to go in and be ensconced in my own office (not) whiling away the hours.
So, what it bought to mind was this long-time client I had awhile back. The people in charge paid a lot of lip service to the whole touchy-feely aspect of the work environment. To that end, they bought into creating a workspace where there were no walls and everyone worked in a large open area with absolutely no privacy whatsoever. The irony of course was these selfsame people implementing this policy also were equally sure they would have an office of their own to collect their thoughts and have a bit of solitude. Funny how they never really seemed to deem it necessary for themselves to be a part of the “big team” in the large wall-free room.
A by-product of this “team” space was the virtual impossibility to have anything resembling a private conversation with a coworker or on the phone (don’t even dream of picking your nose - which of course none of us does). If at any time while I was there you found yourself involved in some kind of “team” discourse with a coworker, it was generally frowned upon and you were chided for the behavior (with the admonition to “keep it down and be respectful of your neighbor”). I of course, had the good fortune to be situated outside a conference room, which for some reason (I still have yet to fathom) had a door that remained open during meetings. I would sit trying to focus on my work, while fighting to block out the din of each of the meetings occurring just a few feet behind me.
They say that there’s no “I’ in team but there certainly is a “u” in f**k, get it?
So, going into a place as a hired gun and having an office of my own is a treat and no matter what anyone tries to foist on me about that whole “team” atmosphere junk, I’m not buying - as we would say in the old neighborhood, it’s a load of crap.
Which leads me into another topic...
I have realized I am succumbing to GOMBA. At first glance, you’d think it has something to do with being Italian but, in reality it’s nothing of the sort. A GOMBA is just a Grumpy Old Man Becoming Agitated. It happens to men after the age of forty, it’s not a permanent condition and the symptoms are usually temporary. If you witness a someone on your life who has been stricken by GOMBA, try to help - I find ice cream can alleviate much of the symptoms or any kind of comfort food will do the trick.
I know they’re out there, I see them when I’m on the road - doing everything in their power to focus on anything but the task at hand - that being driving the vehicle they’re in but this story takes distracted driving to new highs.
Jun 20, 2003
So, my schedule has taken on this surreal kind of nature. I’m up late at night, sleep a few hours, up early in the morning, drag through the day, nap in the afternoon at some point and then up again.
A lot of it has to do with getting the catalogs out. I’ve come to refer to the two books as Fat Man and Little Boy. Little Boy is out at the proofreader, and we’re in the home stretch, just those last minute tweaks and dropping in some art and Little Boy will be history until bluelines.
Fat Man looms large, like this behemoth I have to confront and dread. I went back and reworked the basic page construction but, as these things go, I’m still not really happy with it. Getting Little Boy out of my hair was the excuse I could use but, there’s no escaping the fact Fat Man is going to be a big part of my life over the next ten days or so. Once I’m immersed in a project, it goes fast but, getting going is the hard part.
Also, I find it interesting I organize myself pretty thoroughly on these jobs - AJ and Neil would be proud, I keep a mean job folder (even when I’m working on a project at home) - how scary.
Once these guys are out my hair, I’ll be able to go back to my puttering for awhile. July looks like it will be a very busy month anyway - got a couple of ballgames and some good social calendar type stuff.
A lot of it has to do with getting the catalogs out. I’ve come to refer to the two books as Fat Man and Little Boy. Little Boy is out at the proofreader, and we’re in the home stretch, just those last minute tweaks and dropping in some art and Little Boy will be history until bluelines.
Fat Man looms large, like this behemoth I have to confront and dread. I went back and reworked the basic page construction but, as these things go, I’m still not really happy with it. Getting Little Boy out of my hair was the excuse I could use but, there’s no escaping the fact Fat Man is going to be a big part of my life over the next ten days or so. Once I’m immersed in a project, it goes fast but, getting going is the hard part.
Also, I find it interesting I organize myself pretty thoroughly on these jobs - AJ and Neil would be proud, I keep a mean job folder (even when I’m working on a project at home) - how scary.
Once these guys are out my hair, I’ll be able to go back to my puttering for awhile. July looks like it will be a very busy month anyway - got a couple of ballgames and some good social calendar type stuff.
Big shout out to Neil!
Neil is someone I used to work with awhile back and our paths have crossed through the years. We had fallen out of touch and it turns out Neil has been super busy (as if that were a surprise).
The big hush hush secret Neil had mentioned is finally out, Neil has an installation up at MOMA in Queens, his “19 Rainstorms” is up and I highly recommend checking it out.
MOMA QNS
33rd Street at Queens Blvd • Long Island City, Queens
Hours: 10am-5pm except Friday 10am-7:45pm.
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday.
Admission is $12
(though the video work is in the lobby, so you can see it for free)
212.708.9400 • www.moma.org
Neil is über cool - kust another of the many talented people I’ve been lucky enough to know.
Neil is someone I used to work with awhile back and our paths have crossed through the years. We had fallen out of touch and it turns out Neil has been super busy (as if that were a surprise).
The big hush hush secret Neil had mentioned is finally out, Neil has an installation up at MOMA in Queens, his “19 Rainstorms” is up and I highly recommend checking it out.
33rd Street at Queens Blvd • Long Island City, Queens
Hours: 10am-5pm except Friday 10am-7:45pm.
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday.
Admission is $12
(though the video work is in the lobby, so you can see it for free)
212.708.9400 • www.moma.org
Neil is über cool - kust another of the many talented people I’ve been lucky enough to know.
So, I’m finally getting around to cleaning off all the crap that’s accumulated on the hard drive - there’s just an incredible amount of duplicate files and the like. I haven’t had the time or the inclination to do it but, now that I have the laptop set up the right way, it’s part of my drive to be more organized.
One of the things I came across was a cache file I saved. It was something I vaguely remember saving from not too long ago. A browser cache file when I launched it in my browser it threw up a window with a directory of files on my drive - now I’m getting nervous. The file was a nifty little javascript that made it possible to browse through the drive pretty thoroughly. I’m actually glad to have a dial up connection at this moment.
So, I saved the javascript and the file and started diggin around on the drive. I’m pretty sure it came off the older machine I mainly use for surfing but, I guess it’s time to do some disk maintenance. Back in the day I was fairly vigilant about that kind of stuff but lately I’ve become more like a windows user.
I’ll also have to go digging for invisible files too now. Stuff like this is one of the reasons I worry about upgrading to X since I’m not as familiar with the UNIX heirarchy and trashing files can be a disasterous thing.
One of the things I came across was a cache file I saved. It was something I vaguely remember saving from not too long ago. A browser cache file when I launched it in my browser it threw up a window with a directory of files on my drive - now I’m getting nervous. The file was a nifty little javascript that made it possible to browse through the drive pretty thoroughly. I’m actually glad to have a dial up connection at this moment.
So, I saved the javascript and the file and started diggin around on the drive. I’m pretty sure it came off the older machine I mainly use for surfing but, I guess it’s time to do some disk maintenance. Back in the day I was fairly vigilant about that kind of stuff but lately I’ve become more like a windows user.
I’ll also have to go digging for invisible files too now. Stuff like this is one of the reasons I worry about upgrading to X since I’m not as familiar with the UNIX heirarchy and trashing files can be a disasterous thing.
Jun 17, 2003
For some unknown reason, I flashed back on a lost weekend I spent in Topeka, Kansas. I got in on a Friday night and drove from Kansas City out to Topeka to meet a friend who had driven up from Tulsa. We stayed with an ex-girlfriend (of his) and the night I arrived was a haze of barbeque and beer that left me with the mother of all headaches the next afternoon as I woke in the uncomfortable heat of a summer Kansas day. Topeka is the kind of place that makes you thankful Pizza Huts were invented. I was out to see the Royals play at Kaufmann stadium (I know we witnessed some record being set during that game but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was). All I know is the woman we stayed with and her young daughter had a grand time. I also remember that Friday night being in a local bar where our host seemed to be on a first name basis with everyone. This song was on the jukebox and when it played everyone in the bar joined in, it was quite the night.
Everytime I see a commercial for these guys on TV, I think that it should be a place where they study men’s sexual dysfunction.
I heard from a friend of mine who is a superhero the other day.
See, by day he is a mild mannered midwesterner transplanted here in New York but, at night he becomes the suberversive Joe Citizen!
Actually, Joe Citizen whose secret identity I dare not reveal here is one of the few people I know who not only stands behind his convictions but actively goes out and tries to change the world through his activism. While I may not always agree with Joe Citizen, I respect the fact he is a man of conviction and I’m glad his voice hasn’t been silenced. Now if only someone could convince him to run for office, I think it’s one thing he would really be good at and could make a significant difference in lots of people’s lives.
Here’s to you Joe, keep fighting the good fight. Oh, and congratulations to you and Mrs. Citizen on your impending blessed event.
See, by day he is a mild mannered midwesterner transplanted here in New York but, at night he becomes the suberversive Joe Citizen!
Actually, Joe Citizen whose secret identity I dare not reveal here is one of the few people I know who not only stands behind his convictions but actively goes out and tries to change the world through his activism. While I may not always agree with Joe Citizen, I respect the fact he is a man of conviction and I’m glad his voice hasn’t been silenced. Now if only someone could convince him to run for office, I think it’s one thing he would really be good at and could make a significant difference in lots of people’s lives.
Here’s to you Joe, keep fighting the good fight. Oh, and congratulations to you and Mrs. Citizen on your impending blessed event.
Everytime I turn on the TV nowadays it seems I come across this one commercial. When the songs of your youth turn up in TV commercials you know somehow that your day has passed. I have entered the world of fogeyism but, I don’t care because this still kicks ass.
Jun 15, 2003
So, yesterday was a field day. I got a burst of energy after waking from the fugue state and managed to get quite a bit done. I had a errand to run and some shopping to do (pre father’s day). In the midst of the drive to pick up something (what I cannot say), I was driving along the highway when one of those sudden torrential summer downpours occurred. I’ve driven through just about every weather imaginable (consequence of being a cab driver at one time) so, I don’t really freak out. Also, I don’t seem to be consumed by the desire to tailgate as so many people are these days - I always like having an avenue of escape when I drive, you never know what’s going to happen.
So, as I was saying, this rain started coming down in sheets. The flow of traffic slowed to a crawl and there were some thirty or forty cars along the side of the highway with their flashers on. This caused the traffic to slow even further as curious drivers felt compelled to observe and try to discern what the problem of the motorists residing on the shoulder was. It was my Red Forman moment of the day (Dumbasses). The only thing that seemed to have happened was people got really freaked out about driving in such heavy rain and pulled over until it let up a little. Not a bad idea really considering you got the sense there were a lot of weekend city drivers who had come north to escape the city on the first nice, sunny weekend day we’ve had in awhile.
The roads were really packed.
When I got home my sleep schedule is still screwed up after the last couple of days and I found myself up all night and watching About Schmidt and The 25th Hour.
Both movies are worth seeing if for different reasons. About Schmidt has a stellar cast and it’s an interesting follow up to the awesome Election by the same director. Schmidt has a Cohen Brothers feel to it (maybe because it reminded me of Fargo) but, there’s a lot of good stuff in it. It’s just well written and I was thinking it wouldn’t go over big with people under 30. There’s just not a lot of action in it.
The 25th Hour is just stunning. It’s a visual treat - a really beautifully shot film. I was curious watching it what film stock was used because the color was so very vibrant. It’s not just well shot, it’s well acted too with a terrific cast. Brian Cox (who I’ve mentioned before) is in it, along with Ed Norton, Barry Pepper, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin and Rosario Dawson.
Hoffman is a lot better in this than he was in Love Liza. Immediately after watching it, I flipped back to start listening to the Director’s track. All the in fashion tricks are used in this film - lots of staccato cuts, flash out transitions, solarized shots but nothing to the extent that it takes away from the story. Everything is devoted to moving the viewer through the piece. There’s even a couple of Spike Lee’s signature dolly shots (where he puts an actor on a dolly and moves them through the scene - notably used at the end of Malcolm X).
I met Spike Lee in person once. He’s actually very much a New Yorker and in this film it shows as his camera makes love to the city in a way that hasn’t been seen since Woody Allen’s two great New York films of the seventies (Annie Hall and Manhattan).
We met (Mr. Lee and I) while I was working at the Garden (Madison Square). I worked as a designer there in the mid 90’s and at the time, the art department was located in the ground floor of the arena in a space we shared with the Garden’s official photographer George Kalinsky. At the time, Lee was researching material for He Got Game and was meeting with Kalinsky (really Betsy his assistant) to get shots he would later use for a montage of great basketball moments he used in the film.
Betsy forewarned us of his visit with the urging we (the four of us in the office) should not in any way engage Mr. Lee in conversation of any kind. The room the four of us were in was a main room off of which were four other offices (Kalinsky’s, a conference room with a color copier, a supply room and my then boss’ office). Betsy would bring Spike into Kalinsky’s office and go over preselected photos which she would then go into the conference room to color copy.
Lee stood uncomfortably in the small area between the two doors looking out on the main room where the four of us labored away in silence. I was on the other side of the room by a window and behind a half wall. When I would get up to sort the papers on my desk or to get a printout I would be confronted by the visage of a diminutive Lee staring out at the room with his large round eyes and a look on his face that seem to convey his bewilderment that no one approached him.
I couldn’t resist when I stood up and saw his gaze wander in my direction.
“You know, that hat you’re wearing is an abomination.”
The room froze, my co-workers stiffened. Lee was wearing a Yankees cap with as Michael Kaye would later describe “the interlocking N Y of the Yankees logo.” Unfortunately, instead of wearing a cap in the traditional Yankee color of royal blue, Lee’s cap was a glaringingly bright red.
“Those are Cardinal colors, you call yourself I Yankee fan?!”
...and that was it, the ice was broken and we had a brief conversation about the Yankees performance in the playoffs the previous year, which was the first year of their World Series run. Just two New Yorkers talking about baseball and what they thought of one of their teams. A very pedestrian, normal exchange - he was a nice guy and seemed pretty knowledgeable about baseball.
Needless to say, after he left the room was abuzz over the fact I had dared speak to him - but, as they say, what the f**k! He seemed like a pretty normal guy to me.
So, as I was saying, this rain started coming down in sheets. The flow of traffic slowed to a crawl and there were some thirty or forty cars along the side of the highway with their flashers on. This caused the traffic to slow even further as curious drivers felt compelled to observe and try to discern what the problem of the motorists residing on the shoulder was. It was my Red Forman moment of the day (Dumbasses). The only thing that seemed to have happened was people got really freaked out about driving in such heavy rain and pulled over until it let up a little. Not a bad idea really considering you got the sense there were a lot of weekend city drivers who had come north to escape the city on the first nice, sunny weekend day we’ve had in awhile.
The roads were really packed.
When I got home my sleep schedule is still screwed up after the last couple of days and I found myself up all night and watching About Schmidt and The 25th Hour.
Both movies are worth seeing if for different reasons. About Schmidt has a stellar cast and it’s an interesting follow up to the awesome Election by the same director. Schmidt has a Cohen Brothers feel to it (maybe because it reminded me of Fargo) but, there’s a lot of good stuff in it. It’s just well written and I was thinking it wouldn’t go over big with people under 30. There’s just not a lot of action in it.
The 25th Hour is just stunning. It’s a visual treat - a really beautifully shot film. I was curious watching it what film stock was used because the color was so very vibrant. It’s not just well shot, it’s well acted too with a terrific cast. Brian Cox (who I’ve mentioned before) is in it, along with Ed Norton, Barry Pepper, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin and Rosario Dawson.
Hoffman is a lot better in this than he was in Love Liza. Immediately after watching it, I flipped back to start listening to the Director’s track. All the in fashion tricks are used in this film - lots of staccato cuts, flash out transitions, solarized shots but nothing to the extent that it takes away from the story. Everything is devoted to moving the viewer through the piece. There’s even a couple of Spike Lee’s signature dolly shots (where he puts an actor on a dolly and moves them through the scene - notably used at the end of Malcolm X).
I met Spike Lee in person once. He’s actually very much a New Yorker and in this film it shows as his camera makes love to the city in a way that hasn’t been seen since Woody Allen’s two great New York films of the seventies (Annie Hall and Manhattan).
We met (Mr. Lee and I) while I was working at the Garden (Madison Square). I worked as a designer there in the mid 90’s and at the time, the art department was located in the ground floor of the arena in a space we shared with the Garden’s official photographer George Kalinsky. At the time, Lee was researching material for He Got Game and was meeting with Kalinsky (really Betsy his assistant) to get shots he would later use for a montage of great basketball moments he used in the film.
Betsy forewarned us of his visit with the urging we (the four of us in the office) should not in any way engage Mr. Lee in conversation of any kind. The room the four of us were in was a main room off of which were four other offices (Kalinsky’s, a conference room with a color copier, a supply room and my then boss’ office). Betsy would bring Spike into Kalinsky’s office and go over preselected photos which she would then go into the conference room to color copy.
Lee stood uncomfortably in the small area between the two doors looking out on the main room where the four of us labored away in silence. I was on the other side of the room by a window and behind a half wall. When I would get up to sort the papers on my desk or to get a printout I would be confronted by the visage of a diminutive Lee staring out at the room with his large round eyes and a look on his face that seem to convey his bewilderment that no one approached him.
I couldn’t resist when I stood up and saw his gaze wander in my direction.
“You know, that hat you’re wearing is an abomination.”
The room froze, my co-workers stiffened. Lee was wearing a Yankees cap with as Michael Kaye would later describe “the interlocking N Y of the Yankees logo.” Unfortunately, instead of wearing a cap in the traditional Yankee color of royal blue, Lee’s cap was a glaringingly bright red.
“Those are Cardinal colors, you call yourself I Yankee fan?!”
...and that was it, the ice was broken and we had a brief conversation about the Yankees performance in the playoffs the previous year, which was the first year of their World Series run. Just two New Yorkers talking about baseball and what they thought of one of their teams. A very pedestrian, normal exchange - he was a nice guy and seemed pretty knowledgeable about baseball.
Needless to say, after he left the room was abuzz over the fact I had dared speak to him - but, as they say, what the f**k! He seemed like a pretty normal guy to me.
Jun 13, 2003
I had mentioned renting the Pianist this week. I never finished watching it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very, very good. Also, it’s a depressing, awful, hard to watch film because it does such a good job of displaying how horrible what happened in Poland prior to and during World War 2.
I was thinking back to my childhood, when I was a kid all the war movies were about World War 2. Vietnam was going on but, World War 2 was this “good war.” Everything was displayed in very black and white terms - we were the good guys (we being the U.S.).
Korea wasn’t big in the movies (a couple of Twilight Zones, an Outer Limits and the Manchurian Candidate) whereas WWII (they even had this way of referring to it double u, double u, two) had Patton, The Dirty Dozen, Kelly’s Heroes, The Battle of the Bulge movies that would run in primetime on network TV on a Sunday night (big event before the days of cable). There was also Combat (which I was never a big fan of) which I think took place during WW2.
In the seventies after Vietnam wound down, the country had a very different outlook on war. The tone changed quite a bit and managed to stay like that until Reagan sent troops into Grenada.
In the seventies, there was MASH (the TV show - Altman’s film was late in the sixties), The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Apocalypse Now. World War 2 seemed to fade from the consciousness of the country until Saving Private Ryan was produced. That was another hard movie to watch.
It’s funny, our country took little baby steps as we got back into the whole “war” thing. Greneda, Panama a bunch of other things. This Halbersham book is great as it talks about what went on in the nineties.
Now we’re the big boy on the block. Mess with us (see U.S., us!) and we’ll knock you around. It makes me think about this Kissinger book I had read about the behavior of nations as members of a group. Kissinger proposed, when a member nation becomes more powerful than the other members of the group, weaker members form alliances to offset that strength.
I think that’s happening now in some ways. In my mind though, there’s a difference between being strong, using that strength wisely and being a bully. It’s a very fine line and I don’t know if our country is doing such a good job walking that line.
I also wonder sometimes how real things like World War 2 are to people under 30. If it’s ancient history to them (and therefore something like a story of a type) or if those atrocities have a life. The generation which fought World War 2 is almost gone, theirs is a big legacy.
I was thinking back to my childhood, when I was a kid all the war movies were about World War 2. Vietnam was going on but, World War 2 was this “good war.” Everything was displayed in very black and white terms - we were the good guys (we being the U.S.).
Korea wasn’t big in the movies (a couple of Twilight Zones, an Outer Limits and the Manchurian Candidate) whereas WWII (they even had this way of referring to it double u, double u, two) had Patton, The Dirty Dozen, Kelly’s Heroes, The Battle of the Bulge movies that would run in primetime on network TV on a Sunday night (big event before the days of cable). There was also Combat (which I was never a big fan of) which I think took place during WW2.
In the seventies after Vietnam wound down, the country had a very different outlook on war. The tone changed quite a bit and managed to stay like that until Reagan sent troops into Grenada.
In the seventies, there was MASH (the TV show - Altman’s film was late in the sixties), The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Apocalypse Now. World War 2 seemed to fade from the consciousness of the country until Saving Private Ryan was produced. That was another hard movie to watch.
It’s funny, our country took little baby steps as we got back into the whole “war” thing. Greneda, Panama a bunch of other things. This Halbersham book is great as it talks about what went on in the nineties.
Now we’re the big boy on the block. Mess with us (see U.S., us!) and we’ll knock you around. It makes me think about this Kissinger book I had read about the behavior of nations as members of a group. Kissinger proposed, when a member nation becomes more powerful than the other members of the group, weaker members form alliances to offset that strength.
I think that’s happening now in some ways. In my mind though, there’s a difference between being strong, using that strength wisely and being a bully. It’s a very fine line and I don’t know if our country is doing such a good job walking that line.
I also wonder sometimes how real things like World War 2 are to people under 30. If it’s ancient history to them (and therefore something like a story of a type) or if those atrocities have a life. The generation which fought World War 2 is almost gone, theirs is a big legacy.
Sensei Savage is back! My blog sensei, Margaret took a respite to recharge her batteries and I missed her musings! Welcome back Savage-San!
The good news this week happened yesterday. Steve Phillips finally got his ass fired! Speaking as a Mets fan, YYYYYYYYYaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy! So much for blaming Bobby Valentine for the Mets woes.
The other day, after the doubleheader sweep, Sara was commenting on how Bobby Valentine would’ve gotten himself thrown out of the game to stir up the players. Art Howe doesn’t do stuff like that and maybe that’s why he’s not the guy to manage the Mets.
I’m actually liking the Mets a lot these days. That would seem funny to some people since they’re in last place but, I’m liking this team a lot more than the one that came out of spring training.
Spring training:
Mo Vaughn 1B
Roberto Alomar 2B
Rey Sanchez SS
Ty Wigginton 3B
Cliff Floyd LF
Roger Cedeno CF
Jeromy Burnitz RF
Mike Piazza C
now we have:
Jason Phillips 1b
Joe McEwing 2B
Jose Reyes SS
Ty Wiggington 3B
Cliff Floyd LF
Tyoshi Shinjo CF
Jeromy Burnitz RF
Vance Wilson C
Don’t get me wrong, I like Mike Piazza but I’ve thought Vance Wilson should’ve been catching for awhile now with Piazza moving to first base. Would it be so crazy to get the Mets to swap Alomar with the Giants for Alfonzo? Alomar as a free agent would enable the Giants to get out of Alfonzo’s contract and could probably be motivated to be responsible for some of Alfonzo’s salary (2 million per) plus, you could also maybe get back a low minor leaguer.
I still like the starting rotation. The only thing I would see the Mets doing (now that Astacio isn’t coming back) is making a big push for Andy Petite (another free agent in the off-season). I have this feeling the Yankees undervalue Petite and I wouldn’t be surprised for the Yankees to make a big push to grab Kevin Millwood who will also be a free agent this year (remember, you heard it here first). Mets starting rotation would be Glavine, Leiter, Petite, Trachsel and Seo. Middle relief is an issue but, it’s easier to get a middle reliever than a starter.
Also, Sanchez, Alomar and Vaughn will be gone (Leiter, Benitez are also free agents). Bench players would be Phillips, McEwing, Perez, Cedeno. That’s the start of a good scrappy team. Shea Stadium isn’t made for sluggers it’s made for guys who hit for average and pitchers that let ’em hit the ball (because the stadium isn’t a home run park).
The other day, after the doubleheader sweep, Sara was commenting on how Bobby Valentine would’ve gotten himself thrown out of the game to stir up the players. Art Howe doesn’t do stuff like that and maybe that’s why he’s not the guy to manage the Mets.
I’m actually liking the Mets a lot these days. That would seem funny to some people since they’re in last place but, I’m liking this team a lot more than the one that came out of spring training.
Spring training:
Mo Vaughn 1B
Roberto Alomar 2B
Rey Sanchez SS
Ty Wigginton 3B
Cliff Floyd LF
Roger Cedeno CF
Jeromy Burnitz RF
Mike Piazza C
now we have:
Jason Phillips 1b
Joe McEwing 2B
Jose Reyes SS
Ty Wiggington 3B
Cliff Floyd LF
Tyoshi Shinjo CF
Jeromy Burnitz RF
Vance Wilson C
Don’t get me wrong, I like Mike Piazza but I’ve thought Vance Wilson should’ve been catching for awhile now with Piazza moving to first base. Would it be so crazy to get the Mets to swap Alomar with the Giants for Alfonzo? Alomar as a free agent would enable the Giants to get out of Alfonzo’s contract and could probably be motivated to be responsible for some of Alfonzo’s salary (2 million per) plus, you could also maybe get back a low minor leaguer.
I still like the starting rotation. The only thing I would see the Mets doing (now that Astacio isn’t coming back) is making a big push for Andy Petite (another free agent in the off-season). I have this feeling the Yankees undervalue Petite and I wouldn’t be surprised for the Yankees to make a big push to grab Kevin Millwood who will also be a free agent this year (remember, you heard it here first). Mets starting rotation would be Glavine, Leiter, Petite, Trachsel and Seo. Middle relief is an issue but, it’s easier to get a middle reliever than a starter.
Also, Sanchez, Alomar and Vaughn will be gone (Leiter, Benitez are also free agents). Bench players would be Phillips, McEwing, Perez, Cedeno. That’s the start of a good scrappy team. Shea Stadium isn’t made for sluggers it’s made for guys who hit for average and pitchers that let ’em hit the ball (because the stadium isn’t a home run park).
I just woke up. Here it is quarter after 9 on a Friday night and I’m just waking up.
To a lot of people, this would be somewhat jarring but, for me it’s par for the course. I don’t ever really manage to keep what people would think of as regular hours. The last two day, I was working on getting the “small” book out (small as in 52 pages). After delivering the first pass, the holes (missing copy) got filled in and there were a couple of pe’s and a bunch of last minute aa’s before the thing circulated internally.
Each day (Wednesday and Thursday) was a flurry of emails. Then towards the end of the day (5 or 6) I’d usually have most of the changes that needed to be done and I’d wind up being up to 4 or 5 cycling through them. It always looks easy outwardly but, there’s no escaping putting in the time to get the job done right.
Working from home makes things infinitely easier to do stuff like this.
Each day though I wound up being up by 9 or 10 which meant for the last two days I’ve had about 8 hours total sleep coming into Friday afternoon. I had to do the airport run today and the drive back was this meandering adventure where I tried to do a bunch of things since I was up anyway. I stopped off at my favorite Ravioli factory in Queens, Durso’s. I didn’t know they had a website until I just looked, I think Durso himself waited on me this morning.
So, I stocked up on sauce (they have really, really good Bolognese sauce) and a bunch of other stuff. There’s some places up here but, I got into the habit of going to Durso’s and shopping there after Mets games and I haven’t been going down to Queens much lately so, it was quite the treat - really good Bruschetta too.
So, the ride back became a lesson on what roads in the area to avoid because of construction (for the record, 95 in the Bronx, downtown White Plains and 287/87 in Westchester) and took longer than I would have wanted. It was such a grey, closed in day - the latest in an abundance of such days it seems.
I got my comics Jones taken care off and went to get the mail. I was never able to get the laundry done because both laundromats were crowded (a consequence of the kind of day it was no doubt). By the time I got home, it was around 2. I hadn’t had any breakfast or lunch. By the time I wound up eating and everything it was already 4 and the post meal nap loomed ahead of me. I didn’t realize I was running on fumes until that moment and now it’s Friday night and I’m trying to get motivated to start the big boy which I have to have finished up sometime by the middle of next week.
To a lot of people, this would be somewhat jarring but, for me it’s par for the course. I don’t ever really manage to keep what people would think of as regular hours. The last two day, I was working on getting the “small” book out (small as in 52 pages). After delivering the first pass, the holes (missing copy) got filled in and there were a couple of pe’s and a bunch of last minute aa’s before the thing circulated internally.
Each day (Wednesday and Thursday) was a flurry of emails. Then towards the end of the day (5 or 6) I’d usually have most of the changes that needed to be done and I’d wind up being up to 4 or 5 cycling through them. It always looks easy outwardly but, there’s no escaping putting in the time to get the job done right.
Working from home makes things infinitely easier to do stuff like this.
Each day though I wound up being up by 9 or 10 which meant for the last two days I’ve had about 8 hours total sleep coming into Friday afternoon. I had to do the airport run today and the drive back was this meandering adventure where I tried to do a bunch of things since I was up anyway. I stopped off at my favorite Ravioli factory in Queens, Durso’s. I didn’t know they had a website until I just looked, I think Durso himself waited on me this morning.
So, I stocked up on sauce (they have really, really good Bolognese sauce) and a bunch of other stuff. There’s some places up here but, I got into the habit of going to Durso’s and shopping there after Mets games and I haven’t been going down to Queens much lately so, it was quite the treat - really good Bruschetta too.
So, the ride back became a lesson on what roads in the area to avoid because of construction (for the record, 95 in the Bronx, downtown White Plains and 287/87 in Westchester) and took longer than I would have wanted. It was such a grey, closed in day - the latest in an abundance of such days it seems.
I got my comics Jones taken care off and went to get the mail. I was never able to get the laundry done because both laundromats were crowded (a consequence of the kind of day it was no doubt). By the time I got home, it was around 2. I hadn’t had any breakfast or lunch. By the time I wound up eating and everything it was already 4 and the post meal nap loomed ahead of me. I didn’t realize I was running on fumes until that moment and now it’s Friday night and I’m trying to get motivated to start the big boy which I have to have finished up sometime by the middle of next week.
Jun 11, 2003
Will it stop raining now... please?!
Why do I get the sense we’ll have a really hot, sweltering July and August?
I find myself in the midst of project land, that surreal place where I have my blinders on as I work to get a project out the door. I’m always worried about meeting deadlines and doing a good job. I managed to get one of the projects set up and since Tuesday it has repaginated three times! I’m glad I set it up the right way or I’d be pulling my hair out about now. Once I get the setup part done, I’m usually pretty pleased with myself - if I didn’t have the other catalog backed up against this one, I would be a lot more relaxed now.
Instead, I find myself trying to clear the decks and steeling myself for the 64 pager I should have in my hands in the next day or two.
I was thinking about how much work has changed through the years. 7 or 8 years back, if somebody had come to me with something this size to turn around in a less than a week, I’d really be freaking out. Now, although it’s stressful, it’s doable, just a question of setting things up the right way.
Yesterday, I delivered a first draft to the client and followed up, putting some face time in at their office later in the day. I’ve been so busy, I realized on the drive there I hadn’t been out of the house really since Friday! Boy though, yesterday was a beauty!
I drove into the city, I had the windows rolled down and I didn’t turn on the radio (as I would normally do) just enjoying the drive and the weather. Really nice day out.
I’ve got to say though, I also realized it must have been about a month since I’ve been in the city as well. I don’t miss it. Back in my twenties, I lived in the city for a couple of years. One summer I took a trip with a then girlfriend up to the country and was amazed how relaxed I felt when I got back from it. I noticed the difference just walking around to go to dinner the evening we got back. The funny thing was before we left, I hadn’t realized how tense I was and how wound up I had gotten from the daily assault of city life on my senses. Yesterday was like that too. When I got back into the city, I was much more relaxed. I didn’t have that crazy “rush” feel that most people in the city wind up succumbing to. I like feeling relaxed that way.
Why do I get the sense we’ll have a really hot, sweltering July and August?
I find myself in the midst of project land, that surreal place where I have my blinders on as I work to get a project out the door. I’m always worried about meeting deadlines and doing a good job. I managed to get one of the projects set up and since Tuesday it has repaginated three times! I’m glad I set it up the right way or I’d be pulling my hair out about now. Once I get the setup part done, I’m usually pretty pleased with myself - if I didn’t have the other catalog backed up against this one, I would be a lot more relaxed now.
Instead, I find myself trying to clear the decks and steeling myself for the 64 pager I should have in my hands in the next day or two.
I was thinking about how much work has changed through the years. 7 or 8 years back, if somebody had come to me with something this size to turn around in a less than a week, I’d really be freaking out. Now, although it’s stressful, it’s doable, just a question of setting things up the right way.
Yesterday, I delivered a first draft to the client and followed up, putting some face time in at their office later in the day. I’ve been so busy, I realized on the drive there I hadn’t been out of the house really since Friday! Boy though, yesterday was a beauty!
I drove into the city, I had the windows rolled down and I didn’t turn on the radio (as I would normally do) just enjoying the drive and the weather. Really nice day out.
I’ve got to say though, I also realized it must have been about a month since I’ve been in the city as well. I don’t miss it. Back in my twenties, I lived in the city for a couple of years. One summer I took a trip with a then girlfriend up to the country and was amazed how relaxed I felt when I got back from it. I noticed the difference just walking around to go to dinner the evening we got back. The funny thing was before we left, I hadn’t realized how tense I was and how wound up I had gotten from the daily assault of city life on my senses. Yesterday was like that too. When I got back into the city, I was much more relaxed. I didn’t have that crazy “rush” feel that most people in the city wind up succumbing to. I like feeling relaxed that way.
Jun 9, 2003
Also this weekend, I saw Die Another Day the last installment of the Bond series. It had a really promising beginning but left me a bit lukewarm at the end - I think it was the first Bond movie I’d ever seen which used “bullet time” the stop and go visual effect made popular by the Matrix - while it’s an interesting visual style, I don’t know if it’s something which should be used in a Bond film.
None of those old Connery films had anything like it and they’re still the standard by which I judge Bond films.
The villains were okay, the locales were good too but, maybe Bond has seen it’s day. The world’s a much smaller place nowadays and these movies somehow don’t have the exotic feel of those aforementioned Connery films.
Halle Berry was talked up a lot when the movie came out. She’s very easy on the eyes but, I don’t know if her character would “have legs” and be able to support her own series. Michael Madsen is a good addition to the supporting cast and John Cleese fits right in (and actually knows just how to play it in these films).
Madonna was in the film too - looking very long in the tooth. I was never a big Madonna fan - watching her on screen is a reminder of how badly she acts (or doesn’t depending on how you want to look at it).
I found the plot a little too predictable though, they telegraphed things early in the second reel and it was pretty much downhill from there. Too many blue screen shots as well - maybe that plays big with the Gen Z’ers out there.
Also rented the Pianist but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.
None of those old Connery films had anything like it and they’re still the standard by which I judge Bond films.
The villains were okay, the locales were good too but, maybe Bond has seen it’s day. The world’s a much smaller place nowadays and these movies somehow don’t have the exotic feel of those aforementioned Connery films.
Halle Berry was talked up a lot when the movie came out. She’s very easy on the eyes but, I don’t know if her character would “have legs” and be able to support her own series. Michael Madsen is a good addition to the supporting cast and John Cleese fits right in (and actually knows just how to play it in these films).
Madonna was in the film too - looking very long in the tooth. I was never a big Madonna fan - watching her on screen is a reminder of how badly she acts (or doesn’t depending on how you want to look at it).
I found the plot a little too predictable though, they telegraphed things early in the second reel and it was pretty much downhill from there. Too many blue screen shots as well - maybe that plays big with the Gen Z’ers out there.
Also rented the Pianist but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.
What a busy weekend! Whew!
Friday was just non-stop and the rest of the weekend was devoted to making the catalog an easy thing to deal with. As of late this evening I’m starting to feel better about catalog one (which should be tight and right by the middle of the week). It’ll be just in time for catalog two and the headlong rush to releasing both of them in two weeks!
I wanted to do the weekly comic book roundup, it was something I was meaning to do when I can remember to do it.
This week’s buys: Vertigo Pop! Bangkok (really, really hard to get into), The Authority (volume 2 is noticeably lacking something that was present in volume 1 - not the exciting, trend setter it was by any means), Batman, Detective Comics (good story, even for the non comics fan), Arkham Asylum (proving to be an interesting read - a keeper), Hawkman (the stories plod along but, the art really carries the book and is beautiful to look at), 100 Bullets (I’m still not quite up to speed on the backstory - and it hurts the book), Doom Patrol (soon to be canceled but, going out with a bang), Wildcats (one of the best books out there each month - I think it’s the great book no one knows about), Black Panther (just gets better and better with each issue), Superman, Action Comics (terrific storyline going on - waiting for each new issue), I also have a bunch of books I’m finding it really hard to go through, that’s usually an indication there not for me. In that pile I find: Wolverine Netsuke, Soldier X, Vertigo Pop! London, and Dial H for Hero. There’s a bunch of book sitting upstairs too, more on them another time.
Friday was just non-stop and the rest of the weekend was devoted to making the catalog an easy thing to deal with. As of late this evening I’m starting to feel better about catalog one (which should be tight and right by the middle of the week). It’ll be just in time for catalog two and the headlong rush to releasing both of them in two weeks!
I wanted to do the weekly comic book roundup, it was something I was meaning to do when I can remember to do it.
This week’s buys: Vertigo Pop! Bangkok (really, really hard to get into), The Authority (volume 2 is noticeably lacking something that was present in volume 1 - not the exciting, trend setter it was by any means), Batman, Detective Comics (good story, even for the non comics fan), Arkham Asylum (proving to be an interesting read - a keeper), Hawkman (the stories plod along but, the art really carries the book and is beautiful to look at), 100 Bullets (I’m still not quite up to speed on the backstory - and it hurts the book), Doom Patrol (soon to be canceled but, going out with a bang), Wildcats (one of the best books out there each month - I think it’s the great book no one knows about), Black Panther (just gets better and better with each issue), Superman, Action Comics (terrific storyline going on - waiting for each new issue), I also have a bunch of books I’m finding it really hard to go through, that’s usually an indication there not for me. In that pile I find: Wolverine Netsuke, Soldier X, Vertigo Pop! London, and Dial H for Hero. There’s a bunch of book sitting upstairs too, more on them another time.
Jun 7, 2003
The lawn has been mowed. I repeat, the lawn has been mowed. Much to the satisfaction of everyone in the house and in our neighborhood. An hour or two with the weed whacker took care of the deed (although it is akin to getting your haircut one hair at a time in terms of tedium). It’s done though and that’s the main thing.
I managed to almost make it through my list today. I’ve got a busy couple of days ahead as I labor through the first pass of catalog number one only to switch off immediately to catalog number two. The next two weeks are going to be hellish but, worth the pain.
I managed to almost make it through my list today. I’ve got a busy couple of days ahead as I labor through the first pass of catalog number one only to switch off immediately to catalog number two. The next two weeks are going to be hellish but, worth the pain.
Jun 5, 2003
I had written this long thing and then accidently punched my browser to a page I wanted to link to losing everything I had written... arrrrrgggggggghhhhhh! Third time trying to write about the same topic, this happens some time - it’s fated.
So in lieu of that:
Women in The News
Hey, everyone! Be sure to catch my new show from the Bedford Women’s Correctional Facility. Martha Stewart Living in Prison.
My husband cheated on me and all I got was this lousy Senate seat!
(By the way, what’s up with the sweater wrapped around your shoulders while you’re wearing a suit? What is that supposed to be, like a cape?)
Living History? Isn’t that what you call the stain on Monica’s dress?
Meanwhile, back in Jolly Ole England, the Queen asks, “Who farted?”
So in lieu of that:
Hey, everyone! Be sure to catch my new show from the Bedford Women’s Correctional Facility. Martha Stewart Living in Prison.
My husband cheated on me and all I got was this lousy Senate seat!
(By the way, what’s up with the sweater wrapped around your shoulders while you’re wearing a suit? What is that supposed to be, like a cape?)
Living History? Isn’t that what you call the stain on Monica’s dress?
Meanwhile, back in Jolly Ole England, the Queen asks, “Who farted?”
Jun 4, 2003
Today I finished up a poster I was working on for the last few weeks. I got a chance to take the photo for it and did the layout. It came out okay - does anyone walk away from anything feeling 100% about it?
The good thing is I finally got my laptop station setup the way I wanted to. This is big news in my world. It means I have at least a partial setup to work in. The main station I’ve used is a clone with a G3 upgrade card in it. I just got in the habit of using it, it’s the station I use to surf with and is the station with the dialup on it. I’ve used the laptop more and more though and having things setup for it the way I wanted will go a long way to finishing projects that have fallen to the back burner.
When things were busy during the first part of the year, I had gone out and gotten an Electron Blue monitor for the laptop setup. It sat unused for the last two months or so. I also had my two external firewire drives, the scanner and the bookendz dock (so I wouldn’t have to keep plugging and unplugging things), all geared towards backing everything up, sorting though all the mishmash of files, getting things moving forward. Finally having a place to work will make things much, much easier.
The good thing is I finally got my laptop station setup the way I wanted to. This is big news in my world. It means I have at least a partial setup to work in. The main station I’ve used is a clone with a G3 upgrade card in it. I just got in the habit of using it, it’s the station I use to surf with and is the station with the dialup on it. I’ve used the laptop more and more though and having things setup for it the way I wanted will go a long way to finishing projects that have fallen to the back burner.
When things were busy during the first part of the year, I had gone out and gotten an Electron Blue monitor for the laptop setup. It sat unused for the last two months or so. I also had my two external firewire drives, the scanner and the bookendz dock (so I wouldn’t have to keep plugging and unplugging things), all geared towards backing everything up, sorting though all the mishmash of files, getting things moving forward. Finally having a place to work will make things much, much easier.
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