Posts
NEW PLACE!
Moved into the new apartment with my girl of six years this weekend, the co-writer of what will be my first published comic - I'm exHAUSted, and won't have internet at home until next week sometime. So very sporadic replies and communication and posting from me for a bit. I still love everybody, though. Love my fucking living room, full dining room, full kitchen, full bath, one bedroom, four closet, gated community, everything-within-walking-distance-including-Quentin-Taratino's-favorite-Midnight-Movie-theater-The-New-Beverly place even MORE.
So, so, sooooo...happy. :) --Dave B.
My Top 10 80's Songs (of all time, by which I mean right now)
Inspired by a fellow comic-con goer, who recently posted his Top 10 80's tunes, I decided (being such a fanatic of that decade, because I was too young to really live it and get disgusted by it) to make my own. His was very Brit-based, little punk and alternative, mine's a but more mainstream, if that can really be a distinction.
Here 'tis:
10) WE CLOSE OUR EYES (Oingo Boingo) - This is the one that I discovered only recently. In fact, OB themselves I only recently came aware of due to THE FORBIDDEN ZONE oddball musical movie they made when they were KNIGHTS OF THE OINGO BOINGO (pre-new-wave rock-pop stuff) and now I do oh-so-love them. This one was the song that made me seek out EVERYTHING they did (I now own it all, live albums, too). Haunting, happy, melodic, dissonant, very very metallic drum 80's. Gorgeous and begins my best-of list, no question.
9) THE HEAT IS ON (Kenny Loggins) - Just lost out to "Footloose", but I only wanted one song per artist, and "Heat" with its unforgettable saxophone core, wailing whoa-OH-oh-oh!, and catchy verse, it does definitely trump the toe-tapping/I-wanna-jump-around quality of Kevin Bacon's old-school aria. There's a lot of movie themes here like this one (which is from Beverly Hills Cop), but oddly I'd never seen BHC, or most of the movies the songs were made for, until long after I fell in love with the songs themselves.
8) GHOSTBUSTERS THEME (Ray Parker, Jr.) - Well, except this one: I saw the movie first, and this is one of the best theme songs in movie history. The artist hardly ever made a "hit" again, but this one will forever be as remembered as the movie and characters themselves. Who you gonna call? That's right. You gonna call them.
7) NOTHING COMPARES 2 U (Sinnead O'Connor) - Not only a heart wrenching song, but also arguably the only heart-wrenching music video ever made. Just Sinnead in front of the camera in close-up for one single take, as the song drives her to tears. Incoyable! You can't even think of this song without singing/humming it for hours after the fact.
6.5) LEAD ME ON (Amy Grant) - Yeeeaaahhh, this one is 6.5, as I'm one song too many on this list, and this one is a tough call. It's very special to me. I had no idea Amy Grant was Christian/Gospel, but stole a tape of hers out of my sister's bedroom one day an listened to it while reading Uncanny X-Men comics and it was the perfect soundtrack to the reading experience. It made the X-Men issue I was reading my favorite of all time (#285 - the final chapter of "The Muir Island Saga") and this song, "Lead Me On" was the one I replayed the most, loving it to pieces. It could have been worse. My only other option were Tiffany tapes. "Circle in the Sand" anyone?
6) WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN (Bangles) - Just lost out to "Manic Monday", but this one is *that* much more phenomenal in its simplicity and yet completely unexpected perfectly overkill production. Like a Broadway finale with synth.
5) FAITH (George Michael) - "Father Figure" and "I Want Your Sex" were close runners up, but Faith has got the staying power in the head, and really makes one want to dance, sing, and I think everyone can picture themselves being George Michael in looks and style when they sing it. Incredible blend of styles into a song that never even strikes as being a fusion unless you really listen to its parts.
4) DUCHESS (Genesis) - Barley made the list, as it was released in 1980, but this ballad by Phil Collins and Co. was the first that really paved the way for Genesis' pop career and Phil's own solo one. It's so wonderfully sung, composed, and the lyrics are killer. Also a great blend of old-Genesis and pop-Genesis, a perfect middle ground. Made me adore them forever and ever, even into the easy listening days and new-singer-who's-isn't-Phil album.
3) MAN IN THE MIRROR (Michael Jackson) - MJ is a god. And this is his very best far as I'm concerned. There are songs of his that work better than Man in the Mirror, in one way or another, but none had such a solid coming together of rock, pop, diva, gospel, funk, you name it. And what a great message! If only MJ himself hadn't taken it so...uhm...literal. And, you know, followed the message and not just the words. ("Take a look at yourself, and make that change")
2) WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO (Wham!) - The first song I ever decided to love just for myself. The awakening of my musical awareness. Oh, yes, it's so syrupy gummy sticky wonderful. "Last Christmas" and "Careless Whisper" are almost as good, but in ultimately different ways - a little more sentimental and gooey. This one is total cheese, and done soooo sincerely. Love. It.
1) ***GLORY OF LOVE (Peter Cetera)***- The ultimate, the one, the top and very bestest of them all. Yes, it's that wretched theme from KARATE KID II. Insanely 80's. Insanely sappy. Insanely wonderful. Cetera seemingly sings the whole thing from inside a tin drum, and the lyrics are bar none for their ridiculousness and yet true-blue touching pie in the sky romance. This was Bryan Adam's "Everything I Do, I Do it For You" long before Bryan Adams was known.
Okay, that's that! Richard Marx should have been on this list (Endless Summer Nights!) but, alas, only so much room, and I haven't listened to him in too long a time. Beyond that, what's YOUR top ten 80's? --Dave B.
Why White Man's Guilt is a Good Thing, But Not Really
So I went out to a local coffee shop to get work done, and instead was conscripted into walking a Korean lady to the metro in order to "protect her from the black man".
She hardly spoke a lick of English, but she could say "black man", and "following me" and "scared to leave" and "metro" and somehow, by intermittently speaking in hushed, harsh whispers and pointing with vaudevillian "inconspicuous" swoops of the arm at a tall and lanky black man sleeping in a chair somewhere behind us, it was revealed to me that she was of the emphatic belief that he was following her. I know secret service men that couldn't pull off so deft a tailing as sleeping and snoring and successfully keeping up with a short penguin-gaited highly-paranoiac Asian gal. But he'd apparently been at the same Metro stop as she, three days in a row, always there, just like she, always taking the same Metro (*gasp!*) Honestly, I don't even think that was true (I suspect they were different black men, but all tall and characteristically dressed and so deemed the same individual), but even if it was true, the dear little ajumma* didn't speak proper enough English (or, honestly, intelligence in any language) to allow me to point out that, based on her criteria for spotting a stalker, she was following them.
Still, just in case I was living in a casually stereotypical Hollywood Blockbuster, I didn't want to ignore the possibility of someone truly stalking a poor petite Korean ummu**, so I walked her to the Metro, "keeping my eye out" for the black man (which translated to any black men) who might sneaky-sneaky be following us. Surprise, surprise, the one in question remained vigilant in his napping, and all the rest were wrapped up in their own insanities.
Now, I know Koreatown blacks aren't the most sterling examples of ethnic potential the world over - they tend to be homeless, or extremely low-income, or plumb clinically off-kilter in the head, but this was my first dawning realization that my inherent white man's guilt, a thing which tends to rub off on most Americans no matter their ethnicity should they not be so cloistered in an area that allows them to cling to non-American traditionalist world views, was something that, for all its shamefaced existence, kept me from so throwback a behavior to another color of guy. Is guilt necessary for progress? Probably not: someone else once pointed out that it's merely that we have a history with blacks, more so than the Koreans, and the fact that our history is one of slave trade and viciously fought-for civil rights isn't as important as that we had a relationship with another people at all.
Exposure and interaction are the key elements. Here's hoping we can expose ourselves and interact in ways that aren't abusive, violent, demeaning, and/or demoralizing to another people. Likely we'd come to the same ends if we actually behaved ourselves: we'd still end up with a melting pot jamboree of differences, people coming together and staying together anyway. Wouldn't it be nice to have it without the regrets? --Dave B.
*auntie (older woman - not so polite)
**mum (casual, polite enough)
Not much to report, but found my missing Stinz!
Nothing much for today, something more definitely tomorrow. But today I got my last issue I was missing of STINZ - A STRANGER TO OUR KIND (Volume III, #5). I read lots of incredible things about this issue from other online reviews, many claiming it was their favorite and the best of the character's run. So of course it was the ONE issue I couldn't bloody locate.
But I nabbed a copy from www.WestFieldComics.com, and it arrived via post this afternoon, so WOOT! I've already read to the end of the line, or anyway to the new beginning of sorts in AFTERDEAD 1.1 and 1.2, but still, I'm looking forward to digging into this much anticipated chapter. Prolly write about it tomorrow.
In other news, me and the gal-pal of 6 years and counting found a great new apartment in Los Angeles an will be moving in together in a few short weeks! No more ghetto Koreatown! No more one-hour walks and bus rides just to steal a kiss! (awww! But it was so romantic [and yeah, it was, we'll have to get creative to replace the "And I will walk 500 miles" shtick to pronounce our undying affection for the other! Mmmm...creative...lookin' forward to it *sluuuurpp!*])
Late and tired and already written other things all evening long. Time for rest. Reading, maybe watch a move-ay. G'noit! --Dave B.
Gillian's Heart - It's Mr. Right!!! Sketch
In preparation of the second "Gillian's Heart" short story - this one to be published in the HERO Initiative and Ronin Studios' HOPE ANTHOLOGY coming in 2009 - our wonderful artist Rick Worley worked up a rough sketch of the character who'll star in this second short, the man who acts as Gillian's nemesis:
The Libertarian Anti-Hero MR. RIGHT!!!
Don'cha love it? In Rick's own words:
"Well, hm. Maybe a bit of explanation. First, I'll start with a disclaimer and say that I know the picture isn't perfect, but it's meant to give the idea. He looks kind of thicker than I'd like, but it's hard to put the muscular Superhero physique underneath a coat like that. I think that when I draw him again I'll be able to find a better balance. The coat is based on different references I found of German World War II soldiers. The goggles are meant to look something like aviator goggles from a similar time frame. This might make a little more sense if I showed you a picture of my idea for Mr. Right's older costume..." [Note from Dave: Mr. Right is planned to have a more spandex-y costume from his true-blue superhero days, before he parted ways with the other heroes who he found compromised by government interests, whereafter he himself became what you see here in the sketch - a militant guerrilla maverick!] "...but I haven't finished one yet, and I want to send you stuff as I do it. More or less.
"My idea for his older costume, in part, is to make it a more traditional superhero costume, but with similar goggles, except that the goggles will be more explicitly based on American WWII combat pilots. His newer costume, by contrast, should have goggles that are rounder and slightly creepy. I'm thinking of having the older costume without the coat, but with a similar collar, possibly a little like one of those older incarnations of Nightwing. The idea, of course, is to have more of an All-American look in the beginning, and then progress to something that draws, I hope subtly, on imagery associated with fascist armies. The earlier costume could have some sort of wing insignia on the chest that would be in reference to both the fact that in his dreams he can fly and, of course, an American bald eagle. The newer costume, though you can't see it in the drawing I'm sending, should have a more subtle, industrial wing insignia on the belt that's similar to what he used to have on his chest, only with sharper angles and a shape that just slightly might recall Nazi symbols.
"I like the idea of the belt on the new outfit having several large, almost cumbersome, pouches, because you talk about all of the gadgets he has come to use. This would be in contrast with an older costume where he has very few gadgets or pouches and relies much more on his hands. I think it would symbolize, too, him becoming weighed down by what he's taking on himself. I kind of like the newer costume being bulkier for these reasons. I think the goggles might turn out to work well for some of your ideas in the script, because I noticed at least one occasion where you mentioned something might be reflected in his eyes, and that would be easier to do with the goggles, and might look good, as well, if I do it right. Anyway, I think that's probably a good start at explaining my thinking on this costume and what I'd like to do with the other version."
So there ya have it, folks - an artist with BRAINS, eh? Yay! Forgive me when I say: our Mr. Right short is going to be one memorable damn story :) --Dave B.
Crazy Crippled Church Bitch
Had a craptacular morning this morning: was woken up by noisey neighbors at 6:45 in the mother-lovin' a.m. (after going to sleep at 2am - I start work at 11). They were playing the radio at an insane volume - they live above me AND I was wearing earplugs, as I'm well aware of the thinness of my apartment's walls ('s cheap and them's the breaks). Nevertheless, loud radio in the early a.m. that hurdles through plaster and foam cylinders alike demands action. I had to call the cops and the building manager to get them to stop.
The dude who lives above me (note he lives there alone, or supposedly does) was gone, and instead it was his crazy lady friend. She told me to "get the fuck away from her door" when I asked her to turn her radio down. I love it: she tried to sound outraged because I was asking her to turn down her "church music" - "What, my church music?!?" she asked - and she was further outraged that I was doing what I was doing because she was "a cripple" and...and...she "used a wheelchair" (yes, she said this standing on both feet) and she tried to bulldog me by taking offense at absolutely everything I said, up to and including - I kid you not - "yes." I said "yes", she said "WHAT DID YOU SAY?", I said "I said yes." she said "YES?!?!!" I said "Yes." She said "get the fuck away from my door!" (probably because, shockingly, in a rare moment of self-awareness, she became savvy to the fact that she couldn't push the "yes" offense any further).
After that absolute absurdity, I told her I was "calling the cops, just so you know!" and then I did just that, and had to stay up because she never did turn down the music. Sadly, the cops didn't show up until 9:30, but that actually turned out to be a blessing and here's why. At first I thought the police would come quick, and so as not to miss them (and because I was sick to death of listening to crazy crippled church bitch music) I grabbed a book and stood outside from 7-8am. While I was out, the tall black dude came home. I said nothing to him, but let him go inside. Eventually I got tired of standing outdoors and went back in. Still the same music and ruckus. So I called to check on the police status, and was told they'd still be a bit. So I showered and lamely searched online for available apartments elsewhere.
Then it was 9:20ish, and I decided to leave for work. My building;s manager, Avi, was already there so I ducked in and told him all about it (good thing I raised my karma up with him over the weekend by helping another tenant hook up her internet). I told him I'd called the cops and that they were still coming. I asked him point blank if the crazy "crippled" lady was even on the lease and allowed to be there. He thought about it for a second and then said "no, she's not." I left it at that and he said he'd take care of it. Then, since I was leaving early for work, I went to the local Coffee Bean to relax and drink a really huge-ass coffee. At around 9:35 Avi calls and says the police are there, he's showing them in and they're ALL taking care of the problem and so not to worry.
And that...made me very happy. Crap assy morning, but I love sticking it to crazy crippled church bitches that make my morning so crap assy. I think though I may need to write a follow-up note to my next-door guy, because I left him a note Sunday saying I was still getting woken up and now I suspect it might have been the above jerk-offs. Damn. I need to move. --Dave B.
My New Job
So here's who I begin working for, starting tomorrow at normal-person hours (*shudder*):
It's a company that helps others - be they single individuals or small businesses, large businesses, or whatever - get noticed on the web. We help them build a proper website, with SEO Optimization, affiliate marketing, pay per click, density analysis, keyword ranking, etc., etc.
That's a long-winded way of saying I'm about to learn and become an expert in skills that'll come in AWFUL handy when I start to pimp my own work. This should be fun! (If scary early in the morning! Well, no, okay, it's no bakery, but for a writer - blah! I say BLAH to your mornings!)
