TDSA This Week

Hi there.

Not much to update on TDSA. I had the idea of making a few extra bucks by selling copies of TDSA in the broken-up-to-be-sold-digitally format. As I recall, the five chapters were around 60 pages (at the most), maybe 40 at the least, so if I sell them for 3 bucks or so a piece I'd see something on it. Basically I'm still looking for the cheapest way to get it all out there and both get people to read the bloody thing while seeing a return on it.

Meanwhile I've heard back from a few of the emails I've sent out across the internet to get reviews. At least one fellow has even mentioned the solicitation and upcoming review in an actual posting, which is encouraging. At this point I'm so hungry to get word out there I don't even care if the reviews I do get are negative, so long as they start showing up.

Anyhoo, things are slightly more optimistic than before, but barely if that. But slightly is better than worse, I suppose.

My year... such as it is

In the eight or so months since my last blog post, TDSA was published. That is to say, once I ditched the absolutely dreadful comixpress.com and when with Ka-Blam, TDSA got published. Sure they jacked me on the shipping so my actual profit per copy was probably in the neighborhood of .50 cents a copy, but having my actual, finished book in hand is still a thrill I can hardly believe.

And it's just about all that's keeping me going through this completely demoralizing process of trying to get people to actually read the bloody thing.

I've almost sold out of the first printing. There's maybe ten or so copies left, save the additional ten or so sitting unsold on the shelves of the bookstores willing to carry TDSA. But even with the run sold, or in place to be sold, I only know of two people who've actually read and finished TDSA: my aunt, and my friend, Paul Fairie, who, unlike my other friends and family members, is in the middle of a 300 page thesis, while trying to find the time to write his own novel.

But that happens. Comics aren't my friends or family's thing. In fact a few of my friends have claimed to be practically illiterate to avoid reading. But the thing is, TDSA was two goddamn years of my life. And it's a brisk read by design, not heavy or dense, but light and swiftly paced. And still own mother, father, and brother haven't read more than 50 pages combined.

Of course none of this would bother me if other people were interested. Say, people who actually like to read comics.

I've sent out over 70 review requests. I've heard back from maybe seven people, two of which agreed to review but with the caution their reviews would be a while off; three turning down the request, one because they find writing reviews difficult, one because of their workload, and one because they're burnt out on superheroes and find my artwork amateurish (which it is, I freely admit, but I'll argue to my death that the story, dialogue, and characters hold up); the others... seemed interested, but that was months ago, so who knows.

I have a tracker on my website, letting me know when the page linked to my review copy is accessed. Of the 70+ requests, it's been tapped maybe... 25 times? And even then the two reviews I actually really wanted all along were summarily ignored. Maybe I came off too needy. I am a first time writer, hungry and champing at the bit, after all. But I send a good four requests over a three month period to two of my favorite bloggers asking for their attention. I don't mind saying they're Valerie Gallaher, of Occasional Superheroine and currently Comics Paladin fame, and Tim O'Neill, of When Will the Hurting Stop fame. They're fine bloggers both (I heartily recommend checking out their sites), and I eagerly enjoy their writing, finding their insight and honesty refreshing and thought-provoking.

And I've been ignored by both of them.

As much of a kick in the balls this year has been -- the attempted suicide of a close family member, an abusive step-father whose alcoholism has only fueled his descent into dementia, facing the crushing realities of the recession head-on -- it's the inability to get my friends and family to check my book out and having it be completely bypassed by two writers whose work I have such tremendous respect for that gets me the most.

In spite of all that, I've found a few reasons to get out of bed in the morning. "Avengers" was pretty terrific. I've finally gotten around to watching the complete run of the original "The Inbetweeners", which was hilarious. Subway has a new egg salad sub that's pretty good. And I have my book. I haven't completely given up on finding an audience, and I've learned some things along the way that'll be helpful the next time around. Speaking of which, even if I can count the number of people that've read TDSA on one hand and I'm well aware how much work the first one was, I'd like very much to do a TDSA sequel.

But this whole process has taken it's toll. I think I can honestly say that for the handful of simple pleasures offered and actually having something published with my name on it (even if I was the one bankrolling the whole thing), this was quite possibly the worst year of my life.

About eight or nine years ago I was chatting with a co-worker at the Silver City movie theatre in nearby Ancaster. I don't remember what we were discussing, although I'd wager it was probably movie-related, as most conversations go when you work at a theatre. But I remember the conversation specifically because I asked the co-worker if he was happy. And with a steady job and cute girlfriend, he said he was. Then he asked me the same. I thought about it. And told him I wasn't. I never forgot that. In the years following I waited for the day when I'd be able to answer that question with a yes. And maybe someday I'll be able to.

Big Annoucements!

Hi there.

Like I said in the last post (which I'm shocked was left nearly a year ago), most of my activity these days is done over on twitter. Still, I figured I'd come back with an update on the progress of TDSA: The Teenaged Defending Squad of America, my graphic novel. Specifically that it's finished and at the printers as we speak, and the official website is up and running.
I've also got a facebook page (which I really need to update with more details -- I suck at promotion, sadly), and I've been posting sneak peeks since the start of the year on twitter. So if you follow my blog (for some utterly inexplicable reason), that's what I've been up to.

 

I'm Not Dead...

Hi there. Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but just wanted to assure anyone out there interested that I'm not dead. I've just been around twitter lately. Check me out over there, and I'll try to remember that I have a blog of varying degrees of esteem.

Right then. Take care and have a good day.

The Office Recut

Hi there. Haven't been doing a whole lot lately. Thinks've been fine, I suppose. Not great though. Trying to keep busy but've fallen behind on a few things. But enough about me. Here's a funny Office trailer-ish recut clip.

My Mood as Music

Hi there. Sorry again for not having much to say lately. I'm hoping to have some interesting stuff to write about down the line, but since I'm busy on stuff that's not quite ready to post about and since my moods been down lately, I haven't got a whole lot to say. In lieu of that, here's a song that describes how I've been feeling lately. Hope you like it.

 

The F**k?

Seriously. The f**k?

Apologies for the implied strong language, but this is too bizarre to actually be real.

Trailer Thoughts

Hi there.

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there've been a few movie trailers that really made me want to see the movie's advertised. Which seems obvious, since, really, isn't that the job of a trailer, to create interest. There were three trailers off the top of my head that were really great and made me really excited to see the movies, only to... ah, I was underwhelmed when I finally did get around to seeing them. Not to say they were all bad, but only one of the movies turned out to be that good. One was downright awful. I'll let you, dear reader, figure out which movie was the good one. Actually, if the trailer weren't so darn great the movie would probably seem better for me. By comparison however, it's not as great as the two and a half minute preview.

Enjoy.





Note: Sorry there's only two trailers. Guess it narrows down the process of figuring out which was the good movie, and which was dreck. I was going to include the Daredevil trailer here since I remembered it as being quite good, but... meh, aside from a decent final thirty second montage it isn't that great.

Note #2: Odd they're both Nicholas Cage movies. Even more pecular is that I was considering adding Matchstick Men, but I actually enjoyed that film more than the trailer (which was pretty decent).

 

Doesn't This Just Look Like the Worst Thing Ever?

Doesn't this poster for The Killers just look awful? I don't even know what to say. The previews for this film didn't do much for me, but cripes... look at this poster? Katherine Heigl's holding a gun wrong. Hilarious. And look at Ashton Kutcher's reaction. Uh oh. He's exasperated. I honestly believe anyone who finds this amusing should be beaten with a pillow case full of rocks, I truly do. And yes, that's a bit of an extreme reaction, I admit. But really, this is just asinine.

In all fairness though I'm probably less angered by the overall lousiness of this poster than the fact that a bunch of folks thought this was clever promotion and paid to unleash this on the world. Cripes. This is so lousy it makes the poster for Old Dogs with it's creepy wax John Travolta look good.



I know -- looks pretty life-like right. You almost believe it's really John Travolta and not a creepy wax double.

...Sorry I'm being a snickerpuss today. Didn't sleep well. At least I'm picking on good targets.

 

My New Yorker Caption Entry...

Hi there.

Sorry I haven't been around lately. A lot going on and not enough time to take care of it all. In the meantime, here's my entry for this week's New Yorker caption contest:


"Naturally, I blame you for this"

Hilarious right? I'll admit, it was hard coming up with something that wasn't blatently obvious or probably a rip-off of a gag they made on "Hee-Haw". Even then... meh, I'm not unimpressed with myself here, but I wouldn't brag about this one.

Ha. "Hee-Haw". That's a dated reference even for me.

 

Fun With Youtube IX

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Been a little busy lately is all. To make up for the absence here's some random junk off Youtube. Enjoy.... ?

 

Wyoming is Terrific!

According to Google Analytics I've yet to receive a single visitor from the great state of Wyoming, so to improve my stats in that area I just thought I'd share a word or two about Wyoming, home of the majestic mountain range and Yellowstone National Park. The birthplace of such notables as Matthew Fox, Larry Wilcox, and former Vice President Dick Cheney. And how about the Triceratops, Wyoming's state dinosaur, or it's state flower, the Plains Cottonwood?

You ask me the only thing that's square about Wyoming is it's shape on a map. So here's to Wyoming, "The Equality State"!

 

Updates? (again)

Hi there. Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Haven't a whole lot to say is all, I suppose. Things've been fine lately. Not the greatest, but I've been writing, or at least trying to, and I've started, for some reason or another, adapting my TDSA (The Teenaged Defending Squad of America) screenplay into a comic book, making use of my fairly unimpressive drawing skills. I'm hoping to get through the first act and go from there, and I'm already ten pages in, with another ten laid out and ready to go. I'll post pages at some point I'm sure. By the way, I assure you that TDSA is better than it sounds. I mean, it's as corny as you're thinking (probably), but it's not terrible. I promise.

Anyway, to make up for the absence, here's the trailer for the hilarious "thriller" Birdemic. Oh my god, this thing is hilarious. Ha. Ah... but seriously, it looks pretty awful.

Have a good day.

 

My Reaction to the 2010 Oscars

Glad I won some cash betting on the winners with a friend. Surprised by how bland the bits with the presenters were. Still fail to grasp the appeal of Kristen Stewart. Thought it was hilarious that they played "I am Woman" when Kathryn Bigelow won her best director Oscar.

I mean, come on. That was just asinine. Ha.

 

Sorry Folks...

Sorry I haven't been posting around much around here lately. Things just haven't been that great lately for me. My mood's been down so it's been hard to get things done and even with the anxiety support group I went to for a few weeks there I still find it hard to get around to things that've been sitting in my "to do" pile without feeling my panic levels rising or feeling massive amounts of guilt for having put them off for so long.

So yeah, it's not that I don't simply avoid blogging, but sometimes I feel like I've betrayed my "updated weekly" bit and it's just easier to not update rather than deal with that. Which is pretty rotten all around. Unless you don't care for my writing, in which case thanks for slogging through this whole thing.

Sorry to unload this here. I'll try to have the next one be a little more upbeat and irreverent. Maybe something about... ah... what's that weiner's name? The Situation?

Anyway, have a good day.

"Experimental Film"

It's a Lion!

 

Retro Spider-Man Video Game Commercial

Does the Green Goblin actually boast about having a "gang of Nazis", or have I just misheard that entirely?

Am I a Bad Person...

Does not wanting to watch the "Hope for Haiti" telethons make me a bad person? I tried watching the "Canada for Haiti" telethon, but it was so dull I couldn't stand it. The band that came on was pretty lousy, although I admit that they were probably just not my thing and others may have enjoyed them. But the banter from the hosts was simply exhausting. I have no idea what Ben Mulroney was talking about at one point, but he'd have been better served piping down and letting Rachel McAdams speak up. And the less said about Brent Butt's pre-taped "comedy bit" the better. I figured by pledging I did my part though, and now I'm watching the Simpsons and Justice League with relatively little guilt. Barely more than I usually have hanging over me.

But still, does not watching it make me a bad person? Probably. I'm not though.

So... 2009, huh?

Kind of a 'blah' year. Uneventful really. Not that I'm averse to things being uneventful -- better that than horribly, gut-wrenchingly, painful. But still, not really much of a year. Kind of like 1999, which was equally uneventful (if not more pleasant in some ways).

Thing that strikes me about 2009 is how fast it flew by. Seems like the other day it was October. And before that, spring. I didn't accomplish as much as I'd have liked to this year. Wrote a little, read a little. Saw some things I wanted to, did some things I'd been meaning to get around to. It wasn't a great year for me personally. I hit some pretty low ebbs. Felt awfully lonely at times. That might've contributed to the way the year felt, especially how fast things went by from the summer-on. Things got pretty crummy around June, and from there I got the swine flu, then my mood took a hit again, then I got the H1N1, and now my mood's not so great...

I did come to a few conclusions this past year. For one, I think I'm officially over Journey. Pop culture's killed "Don't Stop Believing", which is kind of weird since it's not really that great a song? I was already pretty sick of it, and then Glee comes along.

Also I figured out why Alicia Silverstone's body of work never quite clicked with me. Turns out she's just not a very good actress. Not sure how this occurred to me. I might've been thinking about Miss Match. Remember that show? I was a cute enough premise, but it didn't really do it for me. Turns out it was probably the person playing the title character that futzed the whole thing up. But I digress.

So, I suppose here's a tip of my hat to 2009. Here's hoping 2010 is a little brighter though. Or barring that, 2011.

Updates?

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but things've been a little busy. I've been getting some good stuff accomplished though (even if there's still a list of things I've yet to get to) so it's good. All the same, I've been feeling kind of unfulfilled. I usually get this way around the holidays, so it's probably just all that.

Hoping I have something eventful happen worth sharing, or at least that time stops speeding by and I remember when a week's passed so I can update on time. Man alive, 2009 went by fast. If I didn't know for sure I was around for it, I'd swear there wasn't a summer this year.