#251. QB Midyear Report

#251.

Posted the big QB Midyear Report over at Lower Decks, a ranked listing of my 75 favorite series, stories, and general comics from the first half of 2010, which has been pretty eventful, from the news that the top two books, G. Willow Wilson's Air and The Great Ten have been prematurely cancelled, to waiting since February to finally getting my hands on Andi Ewington's [forty-five]. Anyway, hopefully worth a look for comics fans.

#250. Reading List: The Little Book

#250.

The next book on my Reading List:

The Little Book, by Selden Edwards, one of those truly fascinating books with a fascinating story behind it, too. Edwards is a first-time novelist, and he's been working on this one for decades, a time-travel adventure with true literary ambition.

Gods Behaving Badly, meanwhile, was absolutely awesome.

#249. Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Projects, Inception

#249.

So I ended up subscribing to Pro Wrestling Illustrated, a move I was somewhat reluctant to make, but the PWI 500 is coming up and they've apparently put A.J. Styles on top (a good move). Wal-Mart (at least my local one) stopped carrying the magazine, and I think the subscription price was half off, so it seemed not entirely crazy at the time. I guess I'll find out.

I also got the Ricky Steamboat DVD (at said Wal-Mart), so I look forward to watching that, and got to watch some Raw on Telemundo today, so I guess it was good a time as any to lead off another blog with wrestling.

I've got a comic brewing tentatively called Corridor that is serving as my latest hope at breaking in. Who knows? I'm still trying to sell Finnegan, or The Second Coming (though for what it's worth my mom seemed less enthusiastic about this one than she did about Cloak of Shrouded Men, and so has my older sister, who has been extremely reluctant about reading it, but this one's a lot more cerebral, philosophical than even the first book was). And I'm still writing poetry.

I've taken to the idea that it's better to live in one's own reality than to try and impose yourself on someone else's. It's almost the message of Inception, so I'm not entirely crazy. Or maybe I am.

Time will tell?

#248. Reading List: Gods Behaving Badly

#248.



Up next on the Reading List:

Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips, a comic novel looking at your familiar Greek pantheon in modern times, the first book not to be epic length in ages, but still quite entertaining. I didn't really know what to expect from this one, other than a premise I found charming, but the writing really is quite good.

Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games, was really quite excellent.

#247. Fan Companion, Modern Woe, Prod Oasis, A.C. Hall, Wrestling

#247.

The Fan Companion is certainly charging ahead full steam, in case you were wondering (and not reading!!!), while Modern Woe chugs along to a hundred (67 and counting). Soon I'll be launching another series of poems within that one dedicated to philosophy, following the recent "Coyote, Trickster" set. You can thank Fred Van Lente and his Action Philosophers comic for that.

I picked up an issue during a binge yesterday at Bargain/Escape Velocity Comics in downtown Colorado Springs. By "binge" I mean I got forty comics, but they were twenty-five cents each, so it wasn't too bad, and I got a lot of great stuff while I was at it.

I'm still contemplating ways to break into a professional writing career, which is like a second job, one I've had since 2004, after graduating from UMaine. If I actually chronicled every attempt, it would make me look quite foolish indeed. But I keep myself sane by working on wholly personal projects in the meantime, which I sometimes try and adapt for public use as well. That's how I came upon Pacific Rim and Prod Oasis, E.N.G., prequel comics for a sci-fi creation I've been working on for fifteen years. Also, I think I want to do a comic based on Sparx, a somewhat obscure DC character at this point.

But as I said, I'm always working on ideas.

I'm also in the curious position of submitting stories to a former writing partner of mine, A.C. Hall, from the aborted Dead Letter Quarterly days, which is nearing three years of age (strange enough to say). He and his brother rejected my first story, "Insomniac's Dream," even though to my mind it fit perfectly (if by "perfectly" one assumes the linkage to "my mind," which hardly ever seems in sync with the rest of the, er, world) with the anthology theme they'd concocted.

In wrestling news, I think things are going fairly well, a slow development of things I've written about in the past. John Morrison is still making his case for superstardom, Mr. Anderson is making himself a TNAdiot, and Bryan Danielson (I really wish he'd've worked out in WWE) hopefully gets to join Desmond Wolfe soon.

I went through a recent spurt of watching WWE DVDs covering old promotions, including the AWA and ECW. I'm looking forward to picking up the new Ricky Steambeat set, and am really pumped for the Chris Jericho one being released later this year. I've been waiting for that one for a long time now.

Anyhoo, soonish I'll be updating the blog with my latest Reading List book. Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games has been amazing.

#246. Modern Woe, Fan Companion

#246.

This is just to say I finally wrote and posted the promised "Advanced Genius" poem at the Modern Woe blog. Also, I'm now several entries into Fan Companion.

As always, still working on many things besides...

#245. Fan Companion

#245.

I'm about to launch what I hope will be an expansive look back at Star Trek, called the Fan Companion, which succeeds my experiences with Section 31/Lower Decks, where I'll be simultaneously be posting the same material. I've been a part of the Lower Decks community for the past ten years, but I'm ready to branch off, move on as it were, to a more independent venture, but right within the confines, for now, of the same things I've been doing. As I said, I hope to expand, but the work has to start somewhere.

I'll have more to say as it becomes relevant...

#244. Modern Woe, Pacific Rim, Lost, Fringe, Heroes

#244.

The Modern Woe blog continues, for those interested in existential poetry. After the smashing success of "Living the New Fade," I'm going to be working on another long-form poem, "Advanced Genius," which continues on one hand a sequence that's dominated the last few weeks of the blog, "Book Terrors...!" while also building on the coincidental discovery I made the other week of another kindred soul in Jason Hartley, who wrote The Advanced Genius Theory, based on conversations he'd had with a friend for years, which, well, advanced to the point where he had to write a book about it. Basically, Hartley argues that "genius artists" like Bob Dylan and Orson Welles, who begin their careers with a tremendous amount of fanfare, hype, and acclaim, are over time perceived to have lost whatever mojo made it possible in the first place, when what's really going on is that they've surpassed their audience's ability to keep up with them, pioneers who continue to trailblaze long after the necessity to distinguish themselves. Anyway, I read the book in a day, which itself was pretty remarkable, and it's continued to be an inspiration, as well as the David Lipsky book Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which has given me extensive insight into the late author David Foster Wallace, whom I seem to disagree with on any number of philosophic levels. But then, he was a successful writer, and I'm not.

Meanwhile, I think I've discovered yet another angle to launch one of my oldest projects with. It can't be spoiled by saying the working title is Pacific Rim, and happens to star a guy named Satoshi Kojima, a name that also happens to be shared with a professional wrestler.

I believe my association with the Section 31/Lower Decks.com community is really nearing its end, which is a pity, because I really like writing, and that's been the most consistent place to write at that I've had for the past decade. You can catch my recent columns (HYGOTS) and reviews of Lost and it's finale, "The End," in addition to my thoughts on the second season of Fringe and what turned out to be the final hours of Heroes.

I'm thinking of ways to parlay my interest in movies a little more extensively, in terms of the public. That may be the project that succeeds the S31/LD experience.

#243. Reading List: Sacred Games

#243

The Reading List continues with:

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, which follows some of my previous excursions into Indian literature (such as The Satanic Verses and In Hanuman's Hands), and is the final of four epic-length books in a row. It was one of the books that caught my eye when I first started working in a bookstore, which I've found as a good way to catch some of the most interesting yet seldom talked about books being published today, at least as far as literary fiction goes. I still haven't gotten that much further along in my theoretical return to sci-fi/fantasy material, though I've discovered a title or two.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, meanwhile, has become one of my favorite books, so that's how the last one turned out.

#242. WrestleMania XXVI Thoughts

#242

It's worth noting that "Living the New Fade" was written and posted over at the Modern Woe poetry blog.

Finally got my copy of the WrestleMania XXVI DVD from Amazon the other day. John Morrison and Big Show made some good work in a relatively short opening match. Probably the most dramatically-filmed match of the night, surprisingly. The Money in the Bank was interesting in that Evan Bourne was a surprise highlight. I haven't gotten to see a lot of him, whether he's been on ECW or Raw, because during his WWE tenure, I haven't had cable. The Undertaker/HBK match was slightly disappointing, because it followed the finisher escalation pattern a little too closely, but was still pretty cool. Jericho might have had his best WrestleMania match. The Hart-McMahon fight was like watching Angle-Guerrero from Summer Slam 2004 all over again, insofar as the relentlessness of it. Gail Kim was the hottest Diva, with Kelly Kelly not far behind. Alicia Fox apparently thinks she's Monty Brown. Vickie Guerrero, who has never and will never be a wrestler, manages to do just the right amount of blundering. Can't forget to mention Michelle McCool, who is my favorite Diva. Randy Orton probably also had his best WrestleMania, but he's been surprisingly good. It's funny to hear the crowd cheer his villainous behavior these days, just like his old friend Edge. CM Punk delivered a WrestleMania-caliber sermon. Rey Mysterio made an ironic Na'vi. It's still weird to think of Batista as anything but a crowd-favorite, because before his early-2006 injury, he was vastly more popular than Cena. Nice honor guard intro, though. Not much to say about Triple H and Sheamus.

The Hall of Fame this year was, thanks to Ultimate Warrior, dominated by old people, which was pretty evident during the ceremony. But it's great to celebrate some of the history that's made today's wrestling possible, as Gorgeous George's segments certainly made clear.

#241. Modern Woe Continues

#241.

As goes the current poetry cycle, Modern Woe, I'm about to submit another lengthy piece that steps outside the bounds of the normal process (which is to basically write more or less on the spot, at the New Post prompt, which is something I mess around with every now and again, but rather actually deviate from; the last time was with "The Index" during the We'll See cycle). I've got to spend some real time on "Living the New Fade," because it's the latest in a series of poems I've been writing since 2003, and it's what I would consider my statement about modern times, the world we live in, which in one sense is exactly what I try to do with all my poems, but with the "New Fade" ones, I'm trying to define what exactly defines our times, and I've had it that we live in an age of increasingly fluctuating rules. I've been reading Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, David Lipsky's book about a road trip he took with the late David Foster Wallace, an author who at least in these interviews comes off as something who put a lot of thought into his worldview. I've been hesitant to read Infinite Jest, Wallace's best-known work, because in his writing, and even his ideas about writing, I don't know that I necessarily agree with him, but as a fellow thinker, I think we're more or less kindred spirits, which doesn't happen all that often for me.

Anyway, just wanted to write some about that.

#240. 2010 Draft

#240

Must...comment...on 2010 WWE draft...

The moves this time weren't all that huge, but they were pretty significant.

RAW
Chris Jericho - Biggest move, probably, but he's been on both brands rather prominently since his return.

Edge - Since this comes so soon after returning, doesn't really count as the big move it might have been. But it's nice for him to be back here, I guess, first time since he's really established himself post-Cena.

John Morrison - Could be a big move, if they want to use him to a significant degree, but we'll see.

R-Truth - Even though he's basically in the same position as Morrison, he stands to gain more, because there aren't as many expectations here.

Great Kali - Why not?

Hart Dynasty - I guess they made it official.

Ezekiel Jackson - Injuries kept him from Smackdown. So this makes even.

Goldust - Makes even.

SMACKDOWN
Big Show - Same as Jericho.

Christian - Could be huge. He's this brand's Morrison draft pick.

Chris Masters - Could benefit much in the same way Dolph Ziggler has - in the long-term.

Kofi Kingston - Good timing, anyway. Could help him reach the next level. Okay, so that makes two Smackdown draft picks who resemble Raw's Morrison move.

MVP - Good move here. Positions him to feud with Jack Swagger. Hopefully that's the plan.

Kelly Kelly - Yay. :)

Chavo Guerrero - Right back home.

Cody Rhodes - No real benefit, which is not a knock on Rhodes. Might be another Ziggler.

Hornswaggle - No real change.

Rosa Mendes - Blank slate here.

Anyway, it's funny that the TNA-diots (a term of affection) still believe in their product as strongly as they do, even with the apparent loss in the new Monday Night War. What TNA lacks is a strong buzz star, which isn't to say they don't have wrestlers capable of providing that, but that they aren't champion. Nothing against AJ Styles or RVD, but they're more the kind of guys you'd want to appease existing wrestling fans than making new ones. Hey, guys, you've got Mr. Anderson, remember...? This would be a great time, now that he's firmly re-established, to give him what he was always denied in WWE. Maybe I'm just biased...

Still launching plans to take over the world via words. Revamped the Terror of Knowing collection, reworking a number of poems into single larger ones. Some comic book projects also look promising, at least as far as I consider them. But that's always the case. I'll continue updating with more specifics as they become relevant...

#239. Reading List: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

#239



Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke,
is the latest book in my Reading List. The fourth of four epic-length books in a row, it concerns the fate of magic in a modern world, perhaps a commentary on the phenomenon of Harry Potter and how it became such a huge success, because everything we know now seems so far removed from our everyday lives (or is a cultish sub-set of individuals who are very much part of the same kind of trend that gives us "vampires" who feel compelled to drink blood...y'know, just because; the Goths). Looks like it's going to be very British and very awesome. I chose for the picture in this post to go with the edition I'll be reading, which I picked up as a bargain book at Borders shortly after I transferred to the Colorado Springs location I've been at since late 2007. Subsequent selections in the list aren't going to be so well-known, so appreciate your awareness while it lasts...

#238. Against the Day

#238

Switched up the template of the blog and updated the links again, this time spotlighting all four poetry cycles, my book, and two websites where I can be regularly found. Didn't I recently have myspace, facebook, and twitter info there, too? Well, I guess that doesn't matter as much. I started this process because Blogger promised me easy access to Amazon, but couldn't find that. Still can't. Don't know why...

Finished up Thomas Pynchon's fantastic Against the Day, which ended up being an inspired choice to follow-up Roberto Bolano's equally ambitious 2666. Against the Day concerns the fortunes of the Traverse clan during the years mostly falling between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and WWI, cleverly juxtaposing the frantic maneuvering of that age with our own, ambitions both stifled and explored in the face of massive change and upheaval, a world turned upside-down and hardly knowing what to do with itself. Oldest of the clan Frank becomes embroiled in the need to act as a surrogate patriarch after Webb Traverse is accused of being the day's most infamous anarchist and is summarily executed at the behest of tycoon Scarsdale Vibe. Reef is the one who takes up the charge of the father. Kit seeks to expand the family's fortunes. And Lake is the daughter left behind and with cruel irony, shack up with the man who pulled the trigger. Throughout the course of its 1,100 pages, the book makes you wonder what would happen if this family were around today. In many ways, our world is nothing like that one. In others, it's a wicked parallel. The anarchists of yesterday make a mockery of the terrorists we know today, rebelling against a growing stagnation rather than crudely reacting against it (perhaps, hence the title, "Against the Day"). Great men like Nikola Tesla are ignored in favor of capitalist progress, which does nothing to crush the innovative spirit that eventually sees emerging technology of yore surpass our wildest dreams in the darkest of corners...Anyway, this is a great book that truly needs to be discovered, from a master who should not be taken for granted, but there he is all the same, masked and anonymous...Pynchon is to novels as Grant Morrison is to comics, a pure imaginative spitfire who's difficult to appreciate but who is doing the most relevant and active work in literature today.

#237. Modern Woe

#237

I finally started the fourth web idylls, Modern Woe. Concurrently, I'll be working on a separate collection on my personal computer, The Alernative is a Chronicle. I also think I'll be fishing an earlier collection, The Jingle Jangle, around, in a new attempt to be a published poet of his own books. That'd be pretty awesome. But as "Modern Woe" (and ED) says, it's not just about recognition. Maybe I'm just crazy...

#236. WrestleMania 26, DVDs

#236

WrestleMania 26 was last night, and there were a few surprises. Wasn't expecting Jack Swagger (was anyone?) to win Money in the Bank. Didn't expect the unified tag team match to be a glorified squash match (guess either John Morrison can forget his push or expect it postponed indefinitely), but at least it was on the card (I guess), plus a bonus divas match that has little consequence (like last year's). Jericho winning, Punk losing, both surprises. Good for Jericho, too bad for Punk. Hart Dynasty finally participating in the Hart/McMahon feud was nice. Orton over Dibiase & Rhodes and Triple H over Sheamus were somewhat surprising. Undertaker/HBK as the main event was a pretty awesome idea. This will probably be pretty interesting to watch when I get the DVD in May...

I did end up getting the Amazon shipment of Genesis and Elimination Chamber on Friday, which helped build my enthusiasm for last night (when I watched WrestleMania...21). I'm anticipating the DVD releases of Against All Odds and Destination X so I can continue to follow the remarkable early run of Mr. Anderson in TNA as well as track the development of the Hogan Era...

#235. WrestleMania XXVI, Three Stooges Syndrome, Jennifer Moxley

#235

This is going to be one of the larger WrestleMania cards in recent history:

Edge vs. Jericho
Cena vs. Batista
Hitman vs. McMahon
Triple H vs. Sheamus
HBK vs. Undertaker
Money in the Bank
CM Punk vs. Re Mysterio
ShowMiz vs. Morrison/Truth
Orton vs. Dibiase vs. Rhodes

as well as some possible divas match. Makes me worried that the tag team match will once again be relegated to "DVD bonus match," which is the last thing I'd like to see happen to John Morrison. Maybe the theoretical divas match will get the "honor." At any rate, with about a week to go now, I do think this is probably the best pound-for-pound WrestleMania card I've seen, no fat, even with just about everyone and their mother participating. So, congrats to that much.

***

I'll be getting Genesis and Elimination Chamber probably later this week, early next, so I'll get to have some feedback from the actual cards soon. Excited about that. Also seemed like a good time to finally pick up the Monday Night War DVD.

***

As far as my writing "career" goes, I think I've been in Three Stooges Syndrome, not really being able to put the full effort behind any one project because I've always had so many: trying to get poetry published, trying to get fiction published, trying to break into comics. Is it really any wonder that I haven't gotten any of these goals accomplished yet? Anyway, still plugging along...

***

Jennifer Moxley, an old English professor of mine from UMaine, either doesn't check her e-mail very often, or *sniff* has already forgotten about me...

***

That's all for now!

#234. WrestleMania XXVI Takes Shape

#234

I'm liking how WrestleMania XXVI is shaping.

Edge vs. Chris Jericho
This one puts Jericho back in the main event, for the first time since 2002, when he became glorified fodder for Triple H's big return. It works for both wrestlers nicely.

John Cena vs. Batista
Again, it works for both wrestlers. Cena has never really had a match tailor-made for him at WrestleMania, not like Batista, whose match against Triple H in 2005 is a fine way to reflect on just how far both of these guys have gone in five years. This is a dream match, moreso than Cena-Orton.

Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahan
Better than the ones McMahon has had with Hogan or HBK at WrestleMania, this one can potentially work really well for both, no matter what either is currently capable of doing in the ring. That it's happening at all is still ridiculously remarkable.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
Love the fact that Punk is having his first solo match at WrestleMania. He's certainly earned it. Who better than Rey to compete against, right?

MizShow vs. John Morrison & R-Truth
This one won't technically be announced until tonight, but if this one actually gets on the actual WrestleMania card, I couldn't be happier for Morrison. Unless he somehow got a singles match. Maybe he slips into Money in the Bank, too, wins that, and gets a long-awaited heavyweight title shot?

***

Anyway, in non-wrestling thoughts, I think I'm finally pursuing a graduate degree. I've sent a feeler out to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS), so we'll see where that goes. It just be a huge answer for my personal life.

#233. Survivor, Bret Hart, Against All Odds, Lower Decks

#233

~Technology-addled 29 year old is befuddled by the digital converter box that makes it impossible to tape things like I used to. But my sister is taping "Heroes vs. Villains" from the new season of Survivor for me, so I can't complain too much. I hope my schedule starts working for me on Thursdays again, but I guess I can't complain that I get to watch Smackdown on Fridays in the meantime. Good time, too, since it still looks like John Morrison is finally primed to join the main event.

~Bret Hart, I've wanted to say for weeks now, looks today like his father Stu. I don't actually get to watch Raw, so it took me a number of appearances to finally latch on to that. So when does the Hart Dynasty get involved in this angle, anyway?

~Against All Odds on Sunday was another excellent TNA night for Mr. Anderson, even if he ended up losing the tournament to "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke), who I previously raved about in my reaction to the live event I attended back in July of 2008. TNA is only getting better and better. Great time to make the transition to Mondays.

~Concerning my writing over at Lower Decks (which I rarely talk about here), my most recent HYGOTS column was the start of three weeks of DC essays, covering Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern. At the Observation Lounge (message board), I'm posting today the conclusion to a Star Trek/Captain Picard "biographical" short story, The Man Who Loved Earl Grey Tea (Hot), which follows on the heels of How To Advance Your Career Through Marriage (covering Wesley Crusher) and Tarkin, Republic and Empire (my first Star Wars fiction). I think Lower Decks is pretty much dead at this point, but it's still fun to hang out there, and those guys are the only people who really want me, whether they like it or not. It keeps me writing, anyway. The Mouldwarp link on the right features a list of other Star Trek stories I've written since 1999.

#232. Finnegan, Genesis, Survivor Series

#232

Just a couple of quick notes:

~Finnegan is awaiting agents and/or publishers, so that goose is still in the air.

~Hoping like mad that John Morrison is getting the push he so richly deserves. (You morons who honestly believe The Miz is at a better career position at this point can suck it.)

~Genesis (2010) is being released on DVD on March 23. Owned. I also got another TNA Cross the Line three-pack featuring some PPVs from 2008. Good time to be a wrestling fan. For me, anyway.

~WWE: Please continue releasing the Survivor Series anthologies. Still don't know why they weren't released all at once, or if the final two actually have been scheduled. But, dudes?

~Contemplating a fourth poetry blog.