I also realized this morning after looking at the number of posts that have been hanging around in Blogger for far too long waiting for me to post them, that what keeps me from blogging isn’t the time or the writing. I do plenty of that. It’s the finishing—the adding links and such—that holds me up. Too many times, I’ll have something finished in Blogger, except for the links, and think “I’ll get back to that part in a little bit.” And never do. Sometimes it sucks to be me.
Anyway, here are a few links and other stuff that have me thinking the kind of thoughts that I want to write about right now.
First up, Lefty’s post today reminded me that I have never said anything publicly about being included in his monthly “Circle of Friends” CD mailings. This is especially rude of me because the November and December CD’s were two of the best CD’s of any kind I listened to all year. The December one has become my official holiday CD, in fact. I shall play it every year when we do our baking and wrapping and stuff. It’s a lot of work to put something like this together—assembling the music, ripping, downloading, burning, labeling, mailing—not to mention the expense of it all, so I’m grateful to Lefty for including me. Thanks, man!
By the way, he says the slots for the Mixed Bag 5 exchange are going fast. Go on. Sign up. You know you want to. It’s a lot of fun! And there are prizes this year!
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Over at Progressive Ruin, Mike’s been heralding the end of civilization for 2 years now, but after this latest installment, I’m convinced that that end is right around the corner.
I mean honestly, what else could this:
This:
And this:
All together in the same Previews catalog mean, except for the Apocalypse? Honestly, I don’t think things can sink any further. (Images nicked from Mike, of course.) If you need me, I’ll be in a cave in the mountains, somewhere! Somebody better check on Mike, too. After this installment, I'm afraid his brain may have melted down.
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Last week, I wrote a long piece about the infamous Rick Olney, but have been hesitating on posting it. After all, I’m a nobody with a blog (not a comics professional) and he didn’t screw me over with false promises of payment. I wrote the piece because I thought it was kind of interesting to have something from my past tied into things that were making comics news, but in light of the fact the several people have had their livelihood negatively impacted by his actions, I just didn’t feel right about trying to hop on the wagon with my little tale.
However, this comment at the Beat made me re-think that a bit. I think Olney’s problems were pretty obvious when he was just running comic fan clubs. My interaction with him certainly proved that! Like I said, he didn’t bilk me financially and it was all amateur fan-to-fan interaction, but his behavior certainly was disturbing in the end. I’ll post my story tomorrow. In the meantime, you can click around on some of the links above, if you need to come up to speed on the whole saga.
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I really like this post over at Written Worlds for the Roe v Wade anniversary for the succinct distillation of the pro-choice argument.
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Fan entitlement. It’s not just for super-hero fans any more.
I really liked Beanworld, too. And, hell, I’d love to see it revived or at least reprinted. But saying this is a bit much, I think:
I don’t think Marder owes us any more Beanworld any more than Sallinger owes us Bride of the Return of Catcher in the Rye. But, from my perspective, he DOES owe us Beanworld fans the courtesy of a formal reiteration of his promise to work on Beanworld for the rest of his life, OR a formal “Fuck Off. I don’t DO that anymore.”
For the record, I don't think Larry Marder owes me shit. Oh, and I love the way the author tries to disguise the whole sense of entitlement with all the talk about Marder not owing anyone any more Beanworld.
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A part of me is thinking it can’t be time to start talking about Free Comic Book Day already. Another part of me is disappointed to see that once again it’s on Derby Day, which will make it hard for local shops to build the kind of buzz that shops in other cities do.* And a part of me is saying, “Lynda Barry and Gottfredson Mickey Mouse? Cool!”
*It’s hard to explain the way this town goes nuts around Kentucky Derby-time to folks who don't live here. Trying out free comics is the last thing on anyone’s mind.
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Oh yeah, that comic weblog update thingamajig is back, kind of. It's just in a different place run by a different person.
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Finally, a couple of Courier-Journal links (only available for a week after publication). First a review of the Clark-Ely-Hiatt-Lovett extravaganza. I think he over-sells it a bit by calling it the “the better part of three hours.” It was after 7 (like 7:15) when the show started, and they did their finale at 9. They did come back for an encore, but by 9:30 we were outside the auditorium on our way to the parking lot. I guess two-ish hours can be considered the “better part” of three hours, but, please. It was a great show as it was, there’s no need to pump it up like that. Also, apparently there was someone watching TV during the concert. Geez! Concert behavior is getting to be as bad as movie behavior!
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Speaking of concerts, just found out that one of my most favorite folksingers, Kate Campbell, is doing a benefit for Habitat for Humanity on Saturday! Todd Snider on Friday and Kate Campbell on Saturday! Bring on the music, 2007!
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I’ll shut up now.
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