| And Finally |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|05:12 am] |
|
2009, it turns out, was not quite done with me. Fell over with a repeat bout of Mongolian Terror Trout Flu a couple of days after Xmas, and am only now back on my feet today. This is what happens when your child constantly brings back disgusting diseases from other children and your immune system never has time to recover. I ought to laminate the little horror and hose her down with boiling water and bleach before she re-enters the house every day.
I read today that auld acquaintance Patrick Stewart is to be knighted this new year for services to drama. This pleases me immensely. Patrick told me many times that Spider Jerusalem is his role model. I trust he won’t be headbutting any members of the royal family or vigorously wiping his arse on the Queen’s skirts during the ceremony.
Messages have piled up while I’ve lain in my pit semi-conscious and re-watching the (original, only) THE PRISONER box set, so, annoyingly, I have a bit of work to do this morning. A question on a film option, a couple of interview requests. I am, technically, Not At Work for a while longer, but not everyone gets the message.
New Year coming. This’ll be the first one in 25+ years where I’ll be asleep shortly after midnight. Roll on 2010. Raise a glass for me, because I’ll be raising one to you, and to a better year for all of us.
See you on the other side.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.) |
|
|
| Goodbye 2009 |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
Hello nsfw. I took 2009 off to work on my career and get my family / life stuff together. 2010 will be me getting me together. Art wise mostly. I would also like to buy some rugs for my hallway and living room. Here is the first of many doodles I will be doodling trying to get my shit together to draw some comics. No LJ cuts sorry.
 |
|
|
| 2009 in tunes |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|11:41 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | music | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  restless | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Fear" by Benjy Ferree | ] |
According to my itunes, I added 554 songs from 2009 to my library--it was probably a bit more but I delete songs I don't like. It seems like I only have about a dozen complete (or mostly complete) albums, the rest either being the best bits of albums or singles. It look like even a dinosaur like me is finally entering the modern age, since I only actually bought two or three actual CDs this year. Some of the albums I liked:
 Regina Spektor's Far
 Jonathan Coulton Best. Concert. Ever.
 Flight of the Conchords I Told You I Was Freaky
 Lily Allen It's Not Me It's You
 Lady Sovereign Jigsaw
 Garfunkel and Oates Music Songs
In the coming days I'll hopefully talk about some albums where I only liked some of the songs, singles and, of course, mash-ups--which probably made up about a quarter of the total count.
|
|
|
| Hmmm. More orange. |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|10:59 pm] |
Shortpacked!: The last strip of the year is about creepy stalking.
Phew! Another long day of moving. But this time we got all the big stuff out of Graham's old place in a truck. A good 12 hours of labor. Anyway, that's why there's basically nothing here, instead of me getting all up in some photos and reviews of Revenge of the Fallen Dirge.
But thankfully, the Transformers Fan Club bestowed upon me a gift of news that I can link to, in lieu of creating my own content. Shattered Glass Cyclonus (mirrorverse) is the second You Buy It exclusive next year. (Versus Dion, who comes free with the membership.) It's a great mold! Just not sure if I'm excited about the character just now. |
|
|
| Off Today |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|04:45 pm] |
So I worked three really long days in a row and a regular day yesterday.
In between I read Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk.
Today I took a nap.
That is all. |
|
|
| top tens |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
books I read this year that weren't necessarily published this year:
ANATHEM, Neal Stephenson -- this is a really long book and at first it's very slow, dense, full of made-up lingo and alien concepts, and then it becomes a rollicking adventure story and tackles all these fascinating ideas in such a way that they seem new. It's about a lot of stuff I'd been reading about in non-fiction over the last 4-5 years, but he presents it from an alien perspective, with different names for things, and somehow that makes all our real-world science and philosophy easier to understand.
MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS, Kelly Link -- it took me way too long to actually read anything by her, but oh my GOD, the story itself, "Magic For Beginners", is like the best, seriously the best short story in the history of the universe. I don't think I even read the entire collection, but when I got to the end of that story (it's like 60 pages long) I went back to the beginning and read it again. Seriously, you owe it to yourself to track down the book and read that story. It's everything good and right, magic and teenagers and love and rooftops and libraries and being obsessed with a TV show and stuff, all told in a brilliant way that I could never begin to explain. It's the best.
LIGHT, M John Harrison -- this on first read was like my favourite book EVER, but I need to read it again to doublecheck. It's one of those really mind-bendy far-flung-future books, crossed with a current-day (actually 1999/2000) story about a physicist/serial-killer, but not as stupid as I just made it sound. Really mind-expanding, heart-rending, etc. Deeply human.
DOOMSDAY BOOK, Connie Willis -- my dad gave it to me. Science fiction about a college student traveling back in time (for school!) to the middle ages and accidentally winding up in the middle of the Bubonic Plague. A bit rocky at first and then it becomes gripping and somewhat moving.
DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, Erik Larson -- Hope told me to read this, it was great. The story of the Chicago World's Fair in the late 1800s, interwoven with the story of a really fascinating serial killer. Non-fiction. Erik Larson is not related to Hope Larson or Erik Larsen, btw.
SPIN, Robert Charles Wilson -- I bought this for my dad and then I had to read it to make sure he'd like it. I think he'll like it! It's friggin' awesome! These kids are out in the backyard one night and the STARS DISAPPEAR! then over the next 30-odd years they grow up in this strange new cosmic world order. If you like speculative fictiony stuff or the big sprawling Stephen King-type sagas, this is a great book. I believe he already wrote a followup to this book (it came out around 2005 and won the Hugo) but forget that shit, this one book is good. I hate how all the sci-fi/fantasy books are all "FIRST BOOK IN THE ____ TRILOGY" or "SEQUEL TO THE AWARD-WINNING ______". I just want to pick up a book entirely based on its cover art and enjoy it or not, I don't want to become a member of your secret club.
WHEN YOU REACH ME, Rebecca Stead -- Hope got this for me for christmas. It's a YA book set in New York in the late 70s and it's about time travel and it's really quite nice. Like a classy Donnie Darko-type story for a slightly younger set. It gets into the philosophy and science stuff in a nice way, not dumbing things down. It's strongly reminiscent of the kinds of books I was always getting from the library as a child (maybe partly because it's set in the 70s). I can't talk about it too much because Hope hasn't read it yet.
I didn't read a lot of comics, feels like. I haven't even cracked open a volume of PLUTO (I was reading scanlations a few years ago, so, I mean, I've read a bunch of it, just not in these editions). So I won't do a list of comics. (i really liked DETROIT METAL CITY though)
I am considering a list of some of the (extremely sad & dorky) music i've been listening to this year. If anyone knows how to embed a little mp3 player in a livejournal post, please pass that information on in my comments. |
|
|
| 12-30-2009: Infamy or No Infamy? Cake or Death? |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|09:31 am] |
Well, I've done a last edit to my rant on the site, and the strip went live at the usual time this morning. After a little over seven years, Fragile Gravity is a wrap. Hard to believe, and it feels a bit odd. Nostalgia does want to take a poke at me from time to time - I'm sure the seasonal issues don't help either.
But I'm very optimistic about the new project. The change in format is daunting to say the least, especially from the art standpoint. Perhaps the seasonal issues would have suggested that I don't launch in January, but what the heck.
Take an over-the-top sports manga (heck, these best one are about cooking or Go or whatever) and apply that to ladies' flat-track roller derby. Is this chocolate and peanut butter? Hell yes! 01-11-10 at sledgebunny.com. While FG fans may be sad to see the world of Glidepath recede into the distance, I think (I hope) they'll find something to like about Sledgebunny.
Once more into the breach... |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rosscott's Friends Page
accomplished
