Stuffed

Yeah, 3 days later and I'm still feeling the Turkey Day. My gut has expanded quite nicely, my bank account is diminished, and my sleep cycle is all sorts of jacked up. Not to mention the crap I came back to after not working for 4 days(!) . . .

. . . But the good should come first. We did the whole Black Friday thing and actually did score some great deals. Waited in line like a madman with my mom and Josh at Target from around 2am to 4am, but luckily a steady supply of coffee and liquor in the coffee kept us warm and alert. We scored my dad a new TV as an early Christmas gift along with a few other items at super cheap cheapness. All things considered, I really did manage to knock out a few people on my list without spending too much, so that was nice. Kudos to the brave folks working at Target that morning who put up with I and the other retail zombies who were out to devour bargains.

It was good to see the family again, and with little event or angst, which is a relief. My brother's girlfriend continues to be a source of amusement because, well, they're 17 and ever so in love. I mean who am I to judge, right? It's actually adorable. But it's also hilarious because thewholeworldisgonnanedrightthisverysecondZOMG if they don't text each other every two minutes.

My mom and Josh and I went and saw Burlesque, which was an okay movie. Everyone was great, the costumes were great, the music was great, but the script was only okay. A lot of the lines were trite and pretty run-of-the-mill, with the exception of everything that Stanley Tucci said. Cher was awesome. Christina did a decent job with what was written for her. Still, Alan Cumming was totally under-utilized and pretty much any hot guy with scruff could've played Cam Gigandet's part. Also, Eric Dane was completely useless and not even the slightest bit menacing or believable as the "millionaire with a cold heart" figure. Kristen Bell was hot as hell, though. I mean come on, the voice of Gossip Girl in leather and feathers telling me to show her what I've got? I'll take two. Lastly, big ups for David Walton, who plays a very sexy and very funny DJ. A super small role that gets one of the best quips in the whole film.

Driving was fine--It was definitely one of those "worry about the other drivers on the road, not the road itself" experiences. You shouldn't go down the Interstate when it's snowing and visibility is like 7 feet at 70mph, bigass truck guy. That's why you ended up spun out. We got back to Seattle Saturday evening and it was like the "snowpocalypse" had never happened. Everyone was speeding and being cocky and not using their signals. Oh, city. You're a funny guy.

Hey, so, is anyone else reading the current arc of that new X-Men title? 'Curse of the Mutants' started off pretty weak (and pretty much undid Dracula's current continuity from the brilliant 'Vampire State' story) and pretty lame, but I really think the arc has hit its stride now. I'm still not crazy about the idea of vampire Jubilee or the idea that Dracula has some douche bag kid with an exxxxtreme name that we're just now hearing about (seriously, why hasn't his daughter Lilith come in and taken this punk out?), but the scene where Cyclops organizes the "tough skin" powers group of X-Men as the first line of defense was pretty darn cool. I loves me some Husk, especially when she's doing something as rad as staking vamps.

This week should be full of work and worky-type fun, but hopefully it'll get capped off by some fun times on Friday evening. I really want to try this not-really-all-that-new bar on the hill called Hunter + Gatherer, and we almost went 2 weekends ago but got too hammered and ended up somewhat accidentally going to The Unicorn instead. Which was pretty much what I expected it to be: With too much kitsch, good service, and a whole lot of hype. We'll see what this weekend brings!

"Love me cancerously,

Like a salt sore soaked in the sea.

Bitter and dumb,

You're my sugar plumb.

You're awful, and I love you . . ."

Seattle drivers fail at Winter . . .

. . . As evidenced by the following:

. . . Yeah, we can't really handle it over here. It's funny how many people drive like assholes when it's normal driving conditions and are very unforgiving when you make a mistake, miss a turn, etc. but a little bit of ice and snow and suddenly we're all nut-bags on the road. There's got to be a point where a logical person says "maybe I should just park my car and hope for the best, and contest any tickets that I get" instead of thinking they can go up the Queen Anne or First or Broadview.

And another thing, WHY isn't anyone helping out the vehicles in these videos? Seriously. Get people out of vehicles, help push the sliders tot he side of the road so they aren't just sitting there, and if you're the dude filming it maybe ask your neighbors who has cat litter so you can toss some out on the roads?

I dunno, man. In Wedgwood, people were helping people when I was out on the roads--I don't know why it's not more evident in the metro areas. It's just another reason I don't want to live right in the middle of the city and prefer the peripherals. I mean, I'm sure there are some do-gooders out there who were assisting their fellow incompetent man. Yet while I do find these videos AWESOME and hilarious at times, I don't think I could ever sit there and film such events without wanting to go help somehow.

Call me Clark Kent, I guess.

I had my studded tires put on today, so I had no probs on the Interstate or up here in my 'hood. I will forever advocate their use. This is the last season that mine will have any effect, but I had them for a solid 4 years; brand new when purchased. That's a four year investment and a solid effort in the not dying department.

So yeah. Drive safe out there, folks!

"This thing was built in a day,

knowing that Romans took longer than that.

We bought a bass player;

a cold, old soul

and he's a first class welcome mat."

Do you dare believe your eyes?!

Yeah, so I went ahead and changed a few things on the blog. The main one was the template. I'm going to play around a bit until I find something that suits the tone of what I have to say. Right now I like the blue bits, but we'll see.

Some secondary things include the ability to share my words on Facebook and Twitter, an Adult Content warning (which yes, narrows my readership but also warns the children that there will be times when I gush over David Beckham and post pictures or links to pictures that back up said gushing, like this little number), and some tweaked functions like what I feel is an easier archiving system.

So if you fear change, best to turn back now and quit following my corner of the universe.

But if you're unafraid or mostly cautious until you see how it pans out of change, read on!

Internet Crushes, pt.1

A slight follow up on yesterday's post re: adorable people on the Internets. I'd like to take the opportunity to list some random people I've been crushing on either because they're a) adorable or b) awesome bloggers/writers/etc. or c)a combination of options "a" and "b."

Please note that I've never once met any of these people, but still find their internet-personas fantastic enough to gush about each and every thing that they do to all of my cohorts and pals.

Spreading the love to the following 5 People of Interest!

1. Caleb Goellner: A writer for various comic/word nerd/pop culture sites out there including Comic Book Resources and ComicsAlliance, Mr. Goellner is an Internet crush of mine because he's not only witty and hilarious, but because he's freaking adorable. Also, he loves pugs. Which means I loves he and his postings.

2. Monica Guzman: You know how sometimes you read those blogs out there, and the person's "voice" and sensibilities are so similar to yours that it's awesome yet completely eerie? Monica Guzman is my "holy crap it's like she's ME!!!!!11" person. She writes for The Big Blog, an aspect of the Seattle PI (which went totally online and totally tossed its print edition right when I moved out there, thus crushing my dreams . . . No hard feelings though, dudes!). She was recently featured in the Seattle Weekly, and also in my heart.

3. Kate Beaton: Writer/artist/genius behind the web-comic/blog "Hark, a vagrant," milady Beaton never ceases to amaze me with her charming drawerings and insight into pop culture and literature. When she combines the two, if I could quote my college roomie Derrick for a second when describing beer, "it's like heaven on a pink and fluffy cloud." Damn right, D-Rock. Damn right.

4. This freaking cutie on Threadless.com and his puppy!: He's hot, and that dog looks like a Pokemon. Melt!

5. Dan Savage: The one, the only, the amazing sexpert himself has written for dozens of publications both print and web-based, contributes to various radio and television programs, and is the star of many an "OMG I super-duper-for-realsies wanna meet that celebrity!" day-dreams of mine. I met him once for all of a minute about 2 years ago when he was doing one of his infamous sex talks at U of Idaho, and got him to sign his books "The Kid" and "The Commitment" for Josh. He was pretty chill, and I thought about offering to buy him a cocktail, but decided this would probably come off as nutty. Then again, so does this blog post . . . Ah well, six to one; half a dozen of the other; he's hot and damn it he can write.


"Eyes lit:
I want short breaths.
I've got dark eye lids.
I need the sun in to repent."

Brrrrrrrrrrr

It's HELLA cold in Seattle. You know I mean it because I used the word "hella" in a sentence without a hint of snark.

Although, since you can't sense snark on the Internets you'll have to trust me when I say that the use of the word "hella" is part of a snark-free zone.

Side-Bar: "Hella" is recognized by my Mac as a real world, but "snark" is not. When did this happen, of computer of mine?

But yeah, it's hella cold and I love how this city freaks out about it. The snow makes Seattle piss its pants and forget itself, which is hilar and terrifying all at once. I'm going to have to be a cautious driver again, and you all know how I hate being the bigger person.

I'm working on an "It's Hella Cold" mix. So far all I've got is a track by New Young Pony Club (that super-duper-awesome-one-you-guys that was played on Gossip Girl like a month ago), "Secrets" by OneRepublic, and "Crystalized" by The XX. A hunt for new tunes is definitely in order! Short order, you might say.

Today we went with Brian and Gabby to the Sunday Market in Fremont and saw lots of cool things. Things like a turn-of-the-century type writer that I fucking had a massive want-boner for, and this guy was selling it for $20. A disturbingly good deal, and here I had no cash.

But alas, I'm sort of waiting for some of my moneys to get dispersed back to me. I, like several hundred other Seattleites, recently had my identity stolen. Apparently anyone living in or boozing it up in or eating foods in the Capitol Hill area was a target. I personally had around $200 stolen from me, but luckily my bank kicks ass and flagged the phony charges. I'm waiting on $90 of that bunch to still be returned--right now it's just a provincial credit, but I'd rather not tempt fate, you know? I'll wait until it's real dollars in there and not imaginary pseudo-dollars.

Anyway, it was really cool to see everyone out and about despite the cold supporting local vendors and crafters. I will be back with moneys for you, kick-ass type writer! After we browsed, we had pho. It was really nice for this cold I'm starting to get (yes, it's time for my annual "cold of perpetuity" whereupon I'll have a cough and the sniffles for about 2 months). Alli says that during this time I'm a lot like a Dickensian orphan struggling with the black lung, guv'nor.

Speaking of Alli, last week Ellen and Alli and I had a "ninja photo shoot" in the arboretum. Details/photos will hit this blog as soon as Ellen is done editing them. It's for a calendar for their friends in Korea. I played a bank robber. Juuuuuuudge.

Un-Related: This is the most adorable thing I've scene on the Internet all month. A cute scruffy and tatted boy holding a corgi puppy like his own personal piratey parrot? WHERE DO I SIGN. Note that it's not even a question as to where.

Today I watched the first 20 minisodes of that new Avengers cartoon on Comics Alliance. It's actually not half bad, for having very "kid friendly" animation. It views a lot like the first run of the Justice League cartoon that Timm and Dini did in the late 90s/2000s. Lots of epic moments and cool cameos, new-to-universe accessibility in stories, and nods to fans. If you can get past some of the cheesy dialog clearly aimed at the childrens, it's totally worth it. And kudos/balls for including The Mandrill. Here's hoping that it gets a few good seasons and segues into a more badass version of itself, much like the JL cartoon did when it turned into "Justice League Unlimited." Would I love to see a similarly plotted series featuring a rotating cast of Avengers characters? Oh you bet your ass I would. Especially if it would mean animated Kate Bishop or animated O'Grady Ant-Man.

This week we'll be hitting the road and heading back to Idaho to be with my family for Thanksgiving. I'll be skipping entires for a day or two while we enjoy family time, but I might need to therapy-rant on here while we visit, so be on the look out for that . . .

. . . Also, be on the look-out for THIS!

That's right kids, my piece for Mutineer on the fine folks at Coffee Strong was published in the annual Holiday issue (Nov/Dec for the layman among you)!

Because I love you, loyal readers, I'll link you to the Internet-only version found right here.

However, you'd be doing me and my pals at Mutineer a huge favor by getting out there and buying yourself a copy. How else will you see the AMAZING photography work done by Josh Mackey and Mike Bowen? You could Google it, I guess, but you would probably fail in an epic sort of way. So go grab yourself an ish, yeah?

If I don't see you before then, Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

"I like the bad boys,

In the big towns.

I like the bad bands

And their big sounds."