James's Strange Eons

I read a lot of Warren Ellis's work. He does a piece called The Ministry that I enjoy reading, and in it he talked about "public intellectuals" and what that meant to him, and basicly concluded that they are writers who talk about the world in a public forum. People who anser the questions, "Where am I? What do I think the world looks like?" Which are good questions. Interesting to me, because I've struggled with a single over-arching problem for the entirety of my writing career: That I have nothing profound to say. I'll never write a Transmetropolitan or a V for Vendetta, or even a Preacher. I just don't have anything profound to say about the world I'm living in. Where I am right now is the cusp of, I dunno, adulthood I guess. Maybe middle age, but that's more depressing. I'm just starting to build a life where I'm responsible, thinking about things like buying a house and starting a family. I'm looking at work as

I'm supposed to be giving a talk tomorrow at my school about comic-book characters. I'm a little excited, but in truth I'm concerned about being too much of a geek and not enough of a historian. But hey, hopefully I'll be able to ramble for twenty five minutes or so about comic books and make it work. Here's the pictures I'm going to try and use. Here.

I've created a new masterpiece...or perhaps I just wasted a Sunday farting around with Paint. But, I like it. Check it out.

My wife and I went down to Kendal Square in Cambridge to see Nightwatch: A German movie that I saw a preview for about two years ago, and thought looked neat. Turns out, it was neat. Visally, very cool. Story-wise it kinda felt like an abandoned White Wolf games project: but with a neat blend of dark powers and cop-like drama. Some of the twists and turns are interesting, while others are just kinda implausable. It also really had the feel of an introduction (which it was, it's suppossed to be a trilogy when all is said and done). Characters would have spectacular introduction scenes, and very small parts in the movie. They did some really neat shape-shifting stuff, and some very cool other-worldly dimension walking stuff. On another level, they did some really great things with the sub-titles. During hallucinations, the words would move around, be out of focus, and really became part of the picture rather than an add-on. When the vampires used their powers to "Call&

So, I've known for a long time that I've got this soft spot for strong women. Not just "I'm an independent adult" strong women, but the really strong women who come off as bitches half the time. I love 'em. I tend to have a moderating effect on them, mainly because I think even strength has to be displayed politely. Also, there's a strong difference between loosing your mind in public on someone (drama queen) and not putting up with crap (strong woman). But my "special" list is reserved for those who I've seen, in the privacy of their home, or in some special other forum, loose their shit on someone who totally deserved it. You know the sort of thing: She says something, and you're stuck between covering your mouth and saying, "I can't believe you just said that out loud..." and nodding and saying, "That's totally right." I just added someone to that list tonight. In a long-story-short sort of vein, this

When asked to write a letter of recommendation for Eli Friend-Grey, an initial problem immediately presented itself; where to start? I have known Eli for sixteen years, and that’s a lot of ground to cover in one brief letter. It makes for a series of difficult decisions. Should I cover how when I met Eli in the Boy Scouts he represented an ideal to me? How I’d wished nothing more than to be just like him? Should I cover how when he was running five minute miles in high-school that I envied him his dedication and discipline? Or should I talk about how he constantly tried to better himself though every available method, be it reading or simply through self-analysis? Should I point out that he is, perhaps, one of the most self-aware people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing? I think I should probably concentrate on those things that make Eli such a spectacular individual. First and foremost, he is creative. Aside from being a talented artist, Eli has repeatedly found cre

Went camping this last weekend. It was very...nostalgic, I guess. I had a great time, but looking back I think it was about 45% nostalga. I tried telling people at work about it, and why I had a great time, and it turned out that all my best stories were from previous camping trips. I couldn't come up with a single story from THIS camping trip that would be interesting to someone who wasn't there. I think maybe that's what getting old feels like: suddenly what used to happen is more important than what's happing this time. God, that's depressing. I hope my next trip to Mexico's not like that. I'm too young to be old. Right? In other news, the campsite we always use was pretty run down. We (by we I mean Eli) spruced it up pretty good, but it's time to start looking for the campsite part II if we're going to go camping on any sort of regular basis. We've pretty much used up all the really good fire-wood within walking distance of the camp-s

So I kicked a special ed kid today, right in the disability, which I hate doing. It was like hitting a dislexic kid because he can't read, or worse yet hitting a blind kid because he can't see. I'm exagerating, but it was certainly not a good day for James. A kid, who has been difficult the last several days, hit me today, which is no big deal. But my response was all disproportionate to the crime. He clipped me on the shoulder, and I turned and said, "Did you just hit me?" and he hit me again and I restrained him. Which, I grant you, doesn't sound all that bad. But it was the way I said it. It wasn't incredulous, it was mad. I sounded enraged, completely pissed off....which, in that moment I completely was. And he recoiled. The kid reeled, like I'd slapped him. He fronze as I held him, then when I let him go he ran to the corner and stood there, shaking. Which is not, by the way, normal for this child. He stood there, shaking, then starting saying I w