Weekly Update - 9/11/24 (Patreon)

So I got so wrapped up in working on 2:31 yesterday that I sat down at 8 pm with the intention of eating my sandwich and finishing up the chapter, that when I looked up, it was 2:30 am. The chapter was done, but I definitely wanted to let the writer's room peer review it, because that catches a lot of typos and lets me know where things need to be clarified or dialed down on.

And I promise you, I'll try and write a very spicy sex scene for 2:33 to make up for the Big Thinker Section that will be 2:32 later this month. (No lies, the only note in my outline right now says 'define life' so that's the kind of head shrinker ideas you'll find in the next one.)

It should come to no surprise to many of you that I was, in addition to a writer, also a bit of a theater kid in high school, and to some extent, in college. I even wrote a play in college based around the Schrodinger's cat theory and time travel, something I've never been able to tell was good or not. But in one of my theater classes in high school, one of my teachers presented me with an interesting idea - it's good to envy someone else's skills, it's good to have someone whose work you love but also hate because of how easy they can make things look.

One of my writing nemeses is a comic book writer named Jonathan Hickman. When Hickman is on, he's on fire, and when he's off, it feels like the story has no more room up its own ass for which to shove the remainder of its head. I picked up the first trade paperback of the new Ultimate Spider-Man yesterday, and when I was taking a break, I sat down and read it cover to cover, and fuck, do I hate how good he can be, and how easy he can make it look. It was a nice little mental kick in the ass to remind me that sometimes simple elegance can be underappreciated. I've long been a proponent that 'loser Spider-Man' that Marvel seems to want to relegate to the status quo is far less interesting than the older, wiser Spider-Man with a wife and kids to look out for. That's the Spider-Man Hickman's delivering on...

As a reminder, I will be out of country for about half of October, finally taking a full-fledged vacation with some friends down to New Zealand, so that month in particular will be a little scattered. Will do my best to keep content flowing and people appraised, but understand it'll be weird. (Like things aren't already weird - did everyone see the insanity of the debate on Tuesday? 'DEY ARE EATING DA DOGS!' Christ, Grandpa, take your meds and go back to sleep.)

Some people have asked me to start putting music recommendations out for people, so let me tell you about the first of two concerts I'm seeing this weekend, and next week I'll tell you the other. Back in high school, I remember my first exposure to Soul Coughing didn't go well - the friend who recommended them to me at the time picked the worst possible song to play for me first ('Supra Genius,' still one of my least favorite in the band's catalog), and I couldn't get into it, but then when I heard 'Screenwriter's Blues' a few months later, I came to really enjoy them. She was pissed about that for a long time. I never got to see them live because they broke up in 1999, before I lived out on the West Coast, although I've seen their frontman, Mike Doughty, loads of times, but their breakup was so acrimoniously detailed in one of Mike's books, that a reunion seemed all but impossible. I had them at the #2 slot of my Top Five Bands Most Likely Never To Reunite. (Talking Heads still holding strong at #1!) Well, on Saturday and Sunday, they're playing the best venue in the world, SF's Fillmore, and I'll be there for the Sunday show. If you haven't heard Soul Coughing before, start here and go deep. Soul Coughing — Circles [Remastered Music Video] (youtube.com) They're apparently the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, so you best believe I'll be watching that. They're even calling it the "We Said It Would Never Happen" tour. I'm hoping they'll sneak in "Unmarked Helicopters" onto the Sunday setlist, just for me. ;)

The public release schedule looks like this:  9/14 - QT2:21, Pack 10; 9/21 - QTPT 19; 9/28 - Neon Stonehenge 6, QTAA 10 (conclusion); 10/5 - Pack 11, QTUM 2; 10/13 - QT2:22, CARP 9. 

I'm going to throw up the next "You Decide!" poll sometime tonight and it'll let those who can vote cast their opinions on what story is guaranteed a new chapter this month.

Anyway, that's all that's fit to print for today. Enjoy autumn, and remember that politics season will hopefully pass soon enough, and we can go back to not having to be blasted 24/7 with all of this insane shit.