July 20, 2008 Noon Pages

Ok, lots to talk about, but I am in a rush, so I'll probably only touch on the superficial now and save the big announcements for tomorrow.

So I saw The Dark Night yesterday. Was smart about it and went to an early Saturday showing. No lines, no worries of getting a ticket, and when I was done watching the nearly 3-hour spectacle, I still had the rest of the day to enjoy.

SPOILERS START HERE. SKIP THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET!

This latest installment of the Batman saga is not perfect, but pretty close in scope and tone. I have to say how surprised I was that this movie was less about Batman himself and more about adding to his Rogue's Gallery. We get to one again see Cilian Murphy reprise his role as Scarecrow, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, albeit briefly. I was also happy to see more time spent to developing Jim Gordon, who in this movie becomes commissioner of police. We get to see more of his family, including young Barbara--who's face we never see for some reason.

For all the hype about Heath Ledger's Joker--and don't get me wrong, it is exquisite--I was more impress by Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent and eventually Two Face. The two villains themselves are pretty much nailed. Although I did enjoy the dark psychosis of the Joker, I would have liked to see a little more of the light, madcap craziness that folks like Nicholson and Hammil lent to the role. But Ledger's performance is compelling and a great bit of acting. Two-face is also appropriately dark and sinister. And the make-up and effect of Dent's other half is brilliant. As gross and disturbing as it needs to be.

This movie was long; essential two movies rolled into one. You get a heaping helping of Joker and Two-face. The comparison to Godfather II is quite accurate, as this is a grand telling of superheroics vs. organized crime. In little time, the Joker takes over crime in Gotham by ruthlessly killing every relevant crime lord. There was a neat little spin the Joker used every time he intimidated his victim: how he got his scars. He tells the story enough times to give us the impression that each tale is actually bullshit. The man remains a true enigma, to the Batman, to the police, especially to us.

Rachel Dawson was used pretty well as well, despite the change in casting. She eventually distances herself away from Bruce Wayne and pledges herself to Harvey Dent just in time to be blown up by the Joker. This act is the final piece of the puzzle that--in addition to the horrible accident that transforms Dent--pushes him over the edge to become the villain Two Face. Even though it appears that Dent is killed at the end, I hope they find some way to bring him back. He was a great addition to the mythos.

What Bale did bring to the movie was, of course, great, and come necessary changes were made to the Batman costume. "You want to be able to turn your head," says Lucius Fox. Yes, Lucius, he's needed to do that for quite some time now. Morgan Freeman is once again a splendid addition to this movie, who along with Michael Caine gives Bruce Wayne a moral compass. I think we even see the beginnings of the Oracle system in this flick.

There are few disappointments and plenty of surprises in this flick. I advise that you set yourself down for a serious ride. This Dark Knight definitely delivers.

END SPOILERS

Lots to do today. Doing a big cleaning of the house because mom-in-law is coming to town tomorrow. Plus, it's that time of year again: time to steam-clean the rugs! Joy! Not!

Note to self. From this day forward, I will never move to a place without hardwood floors.

For those of you that can't wait for the big announcement tomorrow, go to my online store for QUANTUM. You'll find a pleasant surprise there.

Standby

Morning pages tonight, possibly tomorrow. Very busy day, but I have big announcement on the hoizon!

July 18, 2008 Morning Pages

Totally missed morning pages yesterday. I suck.

The good news is that, with the exception of one glaring typo, QUANTUM 7 is pretty much done. Got some good responses to the ad hunt and was able to give life to Times Square that was definitely needed. Here's a teaser of the end result:



Thanks go to Tony Fleecs, Kody Chamberlain, Jeff UK and Susan Sores.

So, pretty excited that it's finally Friday. I get paid and can finally pay for the computer I won on eBay last week. Can't wait to get this puppy into the studio, as I have plenty of music to make before the end of the year.

Had a meeting with Angela last night, who has pretty much taken the initiative to be come my agent/publicist/co-manager. She's a really classy lady who is interested enough in me any my career to beat the street and find venues for me to perform in or get airplay. We had a good conversation last night about the direction I want to go in, who I think my target audience is and what our live performance strategy should be. The next year should be very interesting if we can both knock out some of the goals we laid out.

Although I wasn't one of the millions that took in a midnight screening of The Dark Knight last night, I was able to catch a pretty nifty special on the History Channel called "Batman Unmasked." It was a compelling study of the psychology of Bruce Wayne and his rogues gallery and featured such comic luminaries as Denny O' Neil, Paul Levitz, Dan DiDio, Danny Fingeroth and Len Wein. It made me look that much more forward to the movie, which I will more than likely be catching in the next 24-48 hours.

Also remarkable was the Watchmen trailer. This will more than likely be the next must-see comic book movie. And hopefully they'll be faithful enough to the original graphic novel that it won't totally suck. Judging by the footage so far, they're on the right track.

Ok, off to shower so I can get to my temp agency early and pick up my check. Sayanara.

Standby

Morning pages will probably come tonight.

July 16, 2008 Morning Pages

In contrast to last week flying by, this week seems to be moving at a crawl.

Ain't that just a bitch, the way it works. You spend a certain number of days with nothing to really look forward to, and those days seem to go by quicker than the ones when you have something really important you're looking forward to. Then it seems like the clock runs slower.

I remarked last week about this same kind of phenomenon, except gave it more of a broad generalization; how time seemed to go faster the older you got. I find it amazing that our perception of time changes so much. Would that we could be mechanical and every minute or hour would pass with the same frequency as the next. But we as humans have this more fluid perception of time, and sometimes the minutes, hours, months and years speed up and slow down like the tides. It's really very fascinating.

I'm now 99.9% done with QUANTUM 7, but I hit a bit of a bump. The last page of the story has a character emerging in Times Square, and my artist left several billboards and signs on the buildings blank. Presumably for me to fill with ads and such. Problems is I have absolutely no time to design "fake" ads (can't use real products without permission of the owners of those products, so no Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Cup O' Noodles), and I'm trying to put this in the can yesterday.

So I've gone to the net to try to get ads. So far I've filled one spot. I've got about 3 or 4 more left to fill. Cross your fingers.

Have gotten some great eyes on this book for proofreading this time around. My friend Scott and a co-worker Elizabeth have been particularly helpful. James has signed off on it, and I have to admit, what I worried would be a sucky effort has actually turned into a pretty good comic. I just hope my audience is still out there, eager to read it.

Yesterday at work was absolutely nuts. Everyone was throwing projects at me that needed to be turned around right way. My day was filled with little 15 minute assignments that just kept coming one after the other until about 6PM. As harried as I was, I do have to admit I love the rush of that kind of environment, and it's those times when I finally feel I'm really being challenged. That the real tipper to my workaholic tendencies, I really don't enjoy working unless I have an overabundance of it. Otherwise I'm bored.

God, it's only Wednesday. I need Friday to get here so I can finally pay off this new computer. I'm probably dropping the ball on all things San Diego right now. But that show usually goes better for me when I don't have a lot of plans anyway. I'll create some one-sheets this weekend for titles I'd like to pitch to other publishers and hope for the best. With the current climate of publishing right now coupled with the fact that everybody and their grandmother want to write comics right now, I'm just thankful I'm in the field at all. Only doing one day at SDCC this year, and I should really just concentrate hanging out with old colleagues and enjoying myself.

July 15, 2008 Morning Pages

Well, except for getting a couple objective eyes to proof it, QUANTUM 7 is pretty much ready to send to the printers.

It's a damn shame I don't have the money to print it right now.

That's right, bonehead me, two weeks before ComicCon, spent all his money upgrading to this new G5 and now has no money to print this book that's been on hold for over two years.

The end totally justifies the means, and who knows, I may be able to scrounge up the cash to print at least 50 copies or so just to take down to San Diego. I think a lot of it will depend on if I get any samples from the two printers I'm waiting for. Sidekick looks extremely attractive, I just need to verify their product is adequate. At the absolute worse, I can print up a mock-up here at home. Thank god I bought that large format Canon so I can do 11x17.

Anyway, this entry's going to be short. I was up late last night putting the final touches on the issue, and I drank a little too much wine. Need to jump in the shower and become human again.

July 14, 2008 Morning Pages

Monday again. Does it have to be Monday?

I think I had a dream last night that lasted a whole work week, so I woke up believing it was Saturday again. Alas, it was Monday, and now I feel like I'm working two weeks without a break. Hopefully I can shake that feeling by the afternoon.

Really weird dream involving former schoolmates and even the purple one himself, Prince. He was mentoring me and I was severely disappointing him. Fucking figures.

Awoke to dog drama today. There's been something really weird going on lately with the two dogs. Used to be, even when we had Bailey, that I could fill the dog bowls, set them down and the dogs would just proceed to eating. Now there's this whole ritual going on where Lucy won't eat around Bella, and of course Bella has to eat first. And for some reason, bowls are out of fashion now, because both dogs insist on eating their food off the floor. Bella will simply tip her bowl, spilling her food all over the floor, and then eat it. But Lucy won't even hang around the kitchen any more until Bella is completely done with her meal and out of the kitchen. And now I have to sit and supervise Lucy while she eats. So what used to be another 10 minutes of me snoozing has now turned into me, dead in a chair waiting for a dog to eat.

Oh, and also, Bella's epileptic. So in addition to all that going on this morning I had to help her through a seizure. The good news is that it was mild, meaning she didn't lose any of her bodily functions before or during. It just scares the holy bejeezus out of me that someday one seizure is going to be the last. Pretty frightening stuff.

Sent a proof of QUANTUM 7 to James last night to get one last set of eyes on. Hopefully I can settle on a printer this week, but it doesn't look hopeful for San Diego. Which is no huge deal, considering that I don't even have a table there. It would have just been nice to have to show my colleagues I'm actively creating again.

This week is going to be a tough one. Got paid late and not as much as usual this week, and I still have to pay for the G5 I won on eBay. Looks like it'll be soup for lunch for the rest of the week.

That's all I've got right now. We'll set some goals later or tomorrow.

July 13, 2008 Morning Pages

Damn, I totally missed a day again. Bad me.

I guess I can make the excuse that I've actually been working pretty hard at putting QUANTUM 7 in the can. I've also been, god forbid, enjoying my weekend.

My hate for California is steadily fading. While I kicked and screamed and nearly terminated my relationship to avoid moving out here, it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to absolutely loathe it. For one thing, it's 72 degrees this very moment. And it doesn't look like it'll get any hotter than about 78 for the rest of the day. And when it does, I will more than likely be heading to the beach to cool myself in the waters of the Pacific. It's what I did yesterday later in the day to take a break from prepress. I think--after years of self-loathing and hardship and proving to myself I live in the capital of the world--that I may have actually found the most awesome place to live ever. I'm having a really hard time hating Manhattan Beach. Sure, it's pricey. But we don't really pay that much more for our 3 bedroom house that we did for our 2 1/2 (and, really, that half we turned into a closet) br in Astoria.

Don't get me wrong. I miss the hell out of Astoria and the rest of NYC. I miss my friends. I miss being able to get a kick-ass Greek Salad at Zorba's for dirt cheap. I miss Thai Café and John's Pizzeria and Calcutta on 6th Street and the Serious Sauce at San Loco. I miss waking up to the Manhattan skyline and occasional evenings at the Bohemian Beer Garden. I do not, however, miss the smell of bum piss every day, cramming myself in a box with 100 other people just to get to work, the sweltering, humid summers and the frigid, blizzard-y winters. I don't miss the noise or the taxis driving like lunatics. And I'll always be a New Yorker in my heart of hearts.

But being able to jog to the ocean whenever I want; that's pretty mad cool. As is the scenery on said beach. And although I'll probably jinx it my writing this down, I haven't dealt with a single earthquake out here. I am making new friends, and for some reason people seem to be more open to my musical ventures out here.

I should probably explain where my hate for California began. It began about 14 years ago in San Luis Obispo. The then-love-of-my-life had moved out there, and I, on some foolish whim had decided to follow. I packed up my entire life in a U-Haul and uprooted to SLO-town, where I discovered--the DAY I arrived--that my love-of-my-life had just procured a new boyfriend.

I had fooled myself into believing that I hadn't moved out for her--that what I'd really done was for the hope of bettering my musical career and striking out new ground in the central California coast. The only problem was: absolutely nothing was happening on the central California coast! They called it SLO-town for a reason. It's where everyone goes to friggin' retire. There was a marginal music scene there, but no one was playing the kind of music I enjoyed. I hooked up with a Raggae band, The Shival Experience, and that was all well and good. But Shival wasn't busy enough to keep the rent paid. I had moved into a condo with someone I'd believed to be cool but who later turned out to be a Jesus freak. I tried getting freelance production clients, but no one in the area could afford or wanted my services. I hated my roommate, I hated my musical situation, and I HATED the fact that my girl was rubbing her new boyfriend in my face.

I hated California. I was stuck, broke, and ready to go back to Denver. Fortunately the opportunity came up that I got a job in a recording studio there. So I moved back, but not before I sold half of my arsenal of keyboards (including the Juno-106 that my parents had bought me for my 16th birthday) and most of my comic book collection of twenty years. And although I got back to Denver, that wasn't without its misery. I moved in with two even worse roommates than the Jesus freak in SLO, and the REST of my comic book collection (X-men comics from 1975 on) was destroyed in a basement flood. Due to the fact that I fell behind on my car payments, my truck was repossessed. And I was angry, very angry, that I gave up Dawn without a fight.

I spent the rest of my twenties and probably half of my thirties being angry. And even though the miracle of New York City came to my life (and I should probably still thank Ted Goodwin for that), it fueled the anger. Anger that I then brought back to California when Christy brought me here to start our new life as a couple.

Well I've been here for a while now. And the longer I stay here and bask in the beautiful weather and people--the more I wash away my stress in the Pacific Ocean--the less angry I get. Sure, I still regret things. Sure, I'm still struggling to dominate the world in some fashion and make the big bucks so I can secure the future for the family I wish to start. But it's really hard to be mad here. And I think I'm getting too old for it. Circumstances recently have shown me that anger only ruins things anyway. So I have a lot less time for it than I used to.

Sometimes I think I should have moved to LA sooner than I did, but then I wouldn't have the experiences that I gathered in all those other places. For better or for worse, they have molded me into the person I am now. I needed SLO to cure me of my white-boy syndrome, just like I needed Denver to get studio experience and NYC to get all of the great gifts I'd gotten there. Perhaps LA earlier would have ruined me further, and now I'm just that much more prepared for what it has to offer. And I'm still young. I'm feeling younger the longer I stay here.

July 11, 2008 Morning Pages

Never been so glad it's Friday for awhile.

So I totally missed a day of morning pages. Looks like I've got about 20 minutes to write like the wind and try to make up for today and the day I missed.

What the hell to talk about? Oh! Good news on the computer front: I won an eBay auction for a G5 yesterday. Have been shopping for the better part of 3 months at this point and finally had the cash (from my last lettering gig) to pay for most of it. The increased speed and HD capacity should make it a lot easier for me to run the full version of Logic Studio now and get my home studio fully functional for production clients. This is a pretty huge step to me getting back on the right path with my career.

On a side note, but somewhat related, as it will tie back in to the whole home studio/production thing in a bit: I've learned I will be at my temp job for even longer now. So, let's see. That's a temporary assignment I'll have been on for over a year? They really just need to friggin' hire me. But there's apparently a whole rigmarole the company would have to go through to do that, including purchasing my contract from the temp agency and what-not. In the end, I'm pretty much the one getting the short end of the stick. Even though I get the security of knowing I'll be employed probably until the end of the year, I won't get paid sick days or vacation. Also, the temp agency pretty much makes the same rate I do. So technically, I could be making DOUBLE my rate right now if the client simply hired me. Can't they see in the long run it would be cheaper to just buy out my contract rather than continue to pay the agency for the foreseeable future? It's all a bit frustrating.

Which is why I really want to get back to being a sole proprietor. Yes, I'll really have to manage what I withhold for social security and taxes, but I could be pulling down some serious bread AND be working from home. It could put Christy in a place where we could start saving for a house or, god forbid, money for starting a family. Another thing I have been considering is to begin teaching music lessons. I'm more than qualified, and I'm sure there's a need for good voice and sax instructors in the South Bay. I really should look into it. I could probably make some serious bank.

But back to the G5, once I get that in-house and transfer the contents of my old Qucksilver G4 onto it, I can probably recoup a bit of change for the G4. So I may only have shelled out about $500 for the G5. That's a pretty good deal. I won't buy any new computers anymore since I started getting them on eBay. There are plenty of reputable resellers that get great used units in shape that have probably only seen the light of day at a design studio for a couple of years. Once the lease is up, it goes back to the reseller and they throw it up on eBay for about half the price. I've bought about 4 computers this way, gradually upgrading from my old beige G3 to this dual G5. Some day, I'll step up to the Intel processor, but I'm still running some things in Classic and am not ready to give it up yet. Plus, the thing about Apple technology is you NEVER buy first year technology. That's why I'll be waiting to pick up an iPhone for awhile.

In completely unrelated news: Katy Perry completely killed on "So You Think You Can Dance" last night. If my wife is going to subject me to a program like this, it's nice to see someone perform with a shred of talent. Any thoughts I had of her being a flash-in-a-pan we pretty much dispelled last night. Not only is she completely gorgeous, she can put on a decent show and has awesome pipes. Her style is kind of a throwback, and I was reminded of powerhouse 80's vocalists like Terri Nunn and Martha Davis. Hopefully Perry has more than this one-hit to keep her aloft. The girl can truly sing.

Well, that wasn't a bad spot of rambling. Not much to report on the QUANTUM front, as I'm just fine-tuning it at this point and trying to fill the back of the book. Hopefully it'll be in the can by Sunday night. Expect an announcement. Now all I have to do is settle on a printer.

Standby

Snoozed too late for morning pages. Will post something tonight after work.

July 9, 2008 Morning Pages

Wednesday already. The week is flying by. Whole damn years is flying by. And I think it's God's cruel joke that the older you get, the faster time flies. Or at least one's perception of it. It seemed like I had all the time in the world when I was younger, and now it feels like I'm sprinting to the finish just to get things done on time.

QUANTUM 7 is somewhere between 90-95% complete at this point. I'm gradually changing the look of the book, cleaning up certain design elements and also modernizing it somewhat. The lettering on this issue will be a vast improvement simply due to the fact that I've lettered so many other professional projects since issue 6 came out over two years ago and have developed more of a style. And it may actually be my last issue lettering it; I'll have to see how I feel when 8 comes up.

Issue 8 is planned to be a big issue. Literally bigger in size and scope, this is the one where the big twist is revealed and things start taking the turn towards the big battle royale at the end. And I've been planning for a 48-pager for this one. So even if I get it scripted by the end of the month, the art probably won't realistically be done until the end of the year. Such is the way of self-publishing, you can only go as fast as your day job will allow. But completing issue 8 will bring us to the end of the second act, and it really will be a sprint to the finish from there.

I've always planned on holding off on pitching QUANTUM as an IP for TV and movies until the series is actually finished. That way, no one can screw with my initial vision on the project. The stuff I pitched a couple weeks ago I am less attached to and more open to notes from the studio, but QUANTUM has always been my baby. And there's no way I'm settling for a half-assed interpretation of it if it ever goes to another media. With the current climate of Hollywood developing graphic novels left and right, hopefully I'll get my shot. I just hope the market doesn't get over-saturated and people start getting sick of all these comic book movies. Even this year it's gotten a little excessive for my taste.

Have been shopping for a printer for this issue. Looks like most people are using Ka-Blam these days and that ComixPress has left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. I've never had any problems with them except for some early communication issues. Also popping up on my radar are ComicBookPrinting.com and Sidekick. If Sidekick's quality is as good as their prices, I may actually go with them. We'll have to see what their samples look like.

Anyway, that the shape of things today.

July 8, 2008 Morning Pages

Slept the sleep of the just last night and woke up feeling actually quite refreshed. It feels good to have a manageable amount on my plate now. I should have done this years ago.

I've always been a believer in the motto "if you throw enough shit on the wall, eventually something will stick." This extols the virtue of diversifying in your career, to wear as many hats as you can and to always be taking your shot at success when you can. It's not a bad motto, and because of it I've worn many hats in my career: musician, songwriter, audio engineer, producer, editor, writer, creator, graphic designer, letterer. I'm sure I'm even forgetting some.

The problem with this particular motto is that it also gets you into trouble because you start taking on so much that your plate of projects gets overfilled. And that can lead to a whole hot mess. I can attest to this personally, as I've recently had to come to grips with the fact that I'd been doing simply too much for one man to have any kind of success, much less focus. As much as I can multitask and juggle several different things at one time, it has taken away from any direct assault of what I actually really wish to do with my life. Just for the need to keep throwing shit at the wall, I've hit walls I've never thought I'd have the opportunity to hit. But I've distracted myself from really concentrating on the walls I NEED to hit.

There's just shit everywhere. And that gets messy.

Don't get me wrong; it's given me a great portfolio and resume of completed work. And I've also earned a reputation as a doer, someone who definitely gets things done and comes up with tangible results. But it's also taken a lot of my time away from things that are important to me. And it almost destroyed my marriage in the process.

There's nothing wrong with diversification. There's nothing wrong with ambition and doing everything you can to succeed. But that kind of drive has to be couple with focus and a set of definite goals. And as much as I've always been one to set those goals, I don't know if I've been very specific in what I wanted the end result to be.

Until recently. My wife has had the patience and the eloquence to finally beat into my head that what's really important is to focus on what will make me right and happy. I put QUANTUM on the back-burner so I could move ahead in the comic book industry, but I did it by leaving behind the project that would truly solidify who I am and what I have to say as a creator. I put my music on the back-burner to try to get out in the industry as a side-man, which again pulled the focus from my personal music and goals to succeed as a single musical force. In the effort to simply try to make shit stick, I stopped focusing on my best shit.

And now that my sanity and workload has become manageable, the revelation is so clear that it's almost painful I lost all that time. I can't regret it because I have all that other shit on the wall. But now, seeing how QUANTUM is finally coming back together, having the band together now and getting ready to track the new record, I really feel my focus has returned. And sure, I'm going to have the occasional freelance thing come up, whether it's this pitch at Disney or the occasional writing or musical assignment. But I've been sitting on all the great things inside of me, and that's suicide by tiny little increments. Creators create. And now that I'm doing that again, I can look forward to each new day hopefully a little more refreshed than the next.

July 7, 2008 Morning Pages

Man, I wish I could have just one more day of holiday.

That's the price I pay for staying up so late to get shit done. But I did do exactly that. Not only is QUANTUM 7 in WAY better shape then it's been in two years, but I also got my press kit updated. If all plays out correctly, I could actually have ish 7 in the can before the end of the week. That would free my plate up to do some last minute San Diego ComicCon prep. I'd like to get some one-sheets knocked out just in case I wanted to approach any publishers. Plus I need to get the treatment done for Disney on the two ideas I pitched a couple weeks ago.

Am very close to being able to purchase my G5. Once that's done I can start producing the next record and also independent clients here at the home studio. After 7 years of making due with the graphic design gig, it will sure be nice to start supporting myself again on my music fully.

Something else I should be considering is teaching voice and saxophone. It seems like there are so many music schools in the South Bay, someone must need a wind instructor. I could more than likely be doubling my income by just doing that. One of the guests at Doug's party the other day planted that little bug in my head. I should definitely look into it.

Had a couple friends proofread the interiors for issue 7 last night. Thank god for Twitter. As fast as the 'net is getting, a good tweet speeds it up even more. Gotta remember to give Scott and Lisa props in the book before it goes to print.

Making this one quick, gotta get ready for work and still hit the gas station before I do the commute.

July 6, 2008 Noon Pages

Last day of the holiday. I plan on doing nathan today.

Well, not entirely true, but I definitely plan on relaxing. We had a great day yesterday at Doug and Jenn's pool party. They live right off the marina in Marina Del Rey, and even though the place was about as secure as Ft. Knox it was a lot of fun once we actually got in. We had brought a big bottle of Bella Serra and a couple of pounds of marinated chicken breast. Rather than get the meat at the killer meat market in downtown Manhattan Beach (that I've forgotten the name of), I tried this mexican meat market a little closer to my house. It was cheaper and looked really good. The guy behind the counter told me the marinade was a mix of beer, pineapple juice, seasonings and cilantro. They also had marinated beef and pork ribs which I'll definitely be checking out in the future. The chicken was a hit, and I was able to lend Doug a hand at the grill. I love grilling. It's about as addictive as crack but a lot more healthy.

Doug and Jenn had a good group of people over, friends from some Kaballah group they attend. A fair batch of creative and spiritual folks. Got to hear tales of past-life experiences, pagan symbols, dragons and mermaids. Probably my second totally-California experience; hanging out in the hot-tub musing over the metaphysical.

It's nice to hang out with other couples. We met another really nice married couple: Mariah and Kevin. It's nice to take Christy out to these kind of things because she doesn't have a lot of friends here. The more I hang out with Doug the more I like him. He's really quality people, and I hope to have a long lasting friendship with him. The party piqued at the fantastic pie/tart that Jenn had for her birthday. Surprisingly light with sort of a white cake filling to it and the topped with fruits (strawberries, kiwi, tangerines, apples, melons). Christy isn't a fan of pie, but this one she liked. I'll have to check out Gelson's, where they got it.

After a full day of pool party, we headed back to Redondo. My musical colleague, Jeremiah, has had my microphone, cable and stand since last Friday, and I arranged to pick it up at the Hermosa Saloon where they were playing last night. Jeremiah's trio sounds absolutely fantastic. They were rocking “Little Wing” when I arrived. Son, the bass player, had the most phenomenal tone; one that you don't so much hear as FEEL. It hits you right in the middle of your chest and lingers there like a shot of fine scotch. And he's so technically proficient, I probably could have stuck around just to listen to him play all night. But, I was there to simply pick up my gear and get back to the wife for some more relaxation.

Spent the rest of the night watching the tube and finishing my first pass at lettering QUANTUM 7. I'm now through all 28 pages, and I have to admit the book looks a lot better than I'd anticipated. I've been scared all this time that I blew it on the writing of this particular issue; that I failed at the devices I used like the flashback and the amount of time that passes from page 1 to the end. But upon further inspection I realized that once it was on the page a few captions were all that were needed to smooth out the transitions. I was worried that the grayscaling Champ did to the book was a little dark, but once I put the captions and balloons over it things brightened right up. As worried as I've been that this book would suck, it won't Crisis averted. Thank Christ.

I marked a draft up last night and will get to making edits hopefully today, possibly tomorrow. One other goal I had before the vacation was over was to update my press kit, so I might actually get on that today as well. Things are movin'.

July 5, 2008 Morning Pages

Day 2 of holiday vacation. Pretty relaxing so far.

Running errands and hanging with the wife yesterday, I ran into a fantastic deal at Best Buy. I'd gotten a gift card from Christy's grandpa for my birthday. Pretty generous, about $100. I'd gotten this CD box set I'd had my eye on a couple weeks ago called "What It Is," which is a collection of old school soul and rare grooves. But I still had about $40 on the card until yesterday. Then I found that they had discounted full seasons of HBO series DVDs. I ended up getting both seasons of Carnivale for the remaining balance on my card, saving about $70 in the process. I'm psyched, because I really loved that series, and now I have it for all time. How cool is that?

Did the 4th of July thing last night in Redondo Beach. What a completely packed mess that was. Let the house around 7:15 from North Redondo and made the mistake of taking the scenic route through downtown Manhattan and Hermosa Beach. All the kids and scantily-clad beach babes were out, as well as everyone else driving like fucking grandmas. Then, when we actually did get down to Redondo, it took us about 30 minutes just to find a parking spot (blocks away in residential). We finally arrived to the pier at about 8:30. You believe that, over an hour for a 5-mile commute. We knew the fireworks were going to begin around 9:30, so we decided to wait until after the show for dinner. The pier was gangbusters, worse than Times Square kind of gangbusters. But we found a couple empty seats at Old Tony's bar. Christy had mai tais while I drank Hefeweisen. She got two free glasses out of the deal; I guess when you get a mai tai, you get to keep the glass. The bartender was super friendly, and though I didn't see the resemblance, Christy thought he looked like my dad. Old Tony's has a great, rustic vibe, and I noticed some of their dinner specials looked really good. So I've made a mental note to try to go there for dinner soon.

Anyway, around 9:30 we made our way down the pier to get a good view of the fireworks. It was colder off the water than we anticipated, which was fine because that gave me a chance to snuggle with my honey. Fireworks began, and we started to enjoy the show. But then we both noticed the sensation of something splattering on the back or our legs. We turned around to discover a parent nearly getting their vomiting child to the garbage can on time. But not quite. The child had missed the can and had managed to get vomit on the ground right behind us. Oh, lovely side note, it was green, literally green. And then, the smell. Christy and I promptly relocated ourselves upwind of the stench and tried to enjoy the rest of the show.

About 20 minutes later, the show was over and we hit El Torito for some much-needed dinner. Even though the show was not of NYC proportions (and I found out later it was actually raining last night in New York), it was a good night.

Came home to knock out a couple more pages of QUANTUM 7's lettering and watch a little tube. Today promises to be a fun day at Doug's. I'm gonna pick up some marinated chicken for the grill. More later.

July 4, 2008 Noon Pages

That's right. I have the day off, and I slept in. I'm stickin' it to the man.

Hoping to really just enjoy the weekend, although I was on a good clip lettering QUANTUM pages last night. Story is shaping up better than I initially thought. I've had a big problem with this issue from the get-go. It's a different kind of issue, lots of flashback and told from the villain's POV. I think I've subconsciously hated this issue, and maybe that's why it's taken me so long to finish it. But now that I'm seeing it unfold, it's not that bad. Not my best, but not horrible.

There's a Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi today. I'm bouncing between that and VH-1 Soul. God, I love that station.

So no real plans this weekend. Hitting Doug's house tomorrow for his fiancé Jen's birthday. Should be fun. Doug apparently lives just off the water in Marina Del Rey. That'll take the heat off the day.

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. And it always times out that I'm usually breaking from something that's holding me back, claiming my own independence. I'll never forget my first 4th of July in NYC. I broke out on my own, threw myself off the proverbial cliff and set out to be an independent producer and musician. It was absolutely scary but also liberating. Sometimes I wish I could stay that young.

Ok, it's official. I'm too distracted by SciFi and VH-1 Soul to continue. Gonna wrap this one up early and get on with my holiday weekend.

July 3, 2008 Morning Pages

Feel horribly guilty for missing a day of morning pages, but I had to clean the garbage out of my blog. Certain topics are now dead to me. Now I know what it's like to be Jewish.

Now it's time to move on. I was reading a report a couple days ago about comic writer Warren Ellis' panel at Wizard World Chicago. Now, Warren has had a history of being a force to be reckoned with on the comics scene. He's brash, bullish and opinionated by reputation. And he's completely comfortable with the fact that he's a big deal in the business and that probably have of the folks out there love him and half hate him. From what I read and hear about the guy, he really couldn't care less what you think of him. And in this panel--which also later turned into a drink-up--a couple unruly fans began to get into a fight. Ellis didn't miss a beat, promptly took control of the situation and barked that the two either settle down or get the fuck out (I'm paraphrasing). And without batting an eyelash, the two fanboys tucked their tails between their legs and went back to their drinks.

Warren Ellis would rather be feared than respected, and that's pretty powerful stuff.

I'm realizing the longer I'm in this entertainment biz that I am also building a reputation. Mostly built on respect and talent, but also sometimes on my tendency to say what I mean and cut right through the bullshit. I've gotten into my fair shares of rows over this, and sadly most of it stems from the impersonal nature of emails, message boards and blogs. See, over 70% of communication is non-verbal, or rather the actual words or message of said communication. Even as I type this, you might be missing crucial things about how the message is being delivered. Am I typing relaxed and calm or am I tense and frantic? How would the tone of my voice be were I speaking this instead of typing? What's my body language right now? How is this whole thing being presented: am I dressed to the nines presenting this formally or hunched over my laptop in the living room completely naked? See, that last one set a completely different tone, didn't it, and whether I'm clothed or naked when I construct these pages I'll leave completely up to your imagination.

But I think you get my point here. Yes, I can be blunt, bitter and just a snarky as anyone else online. I mean, the net is perfect for this. Everyone on the planet now has a forum where they can be a completely different person--maybe even get out the true feelings they've been hiding inside for years--on the internet. Why else do you think we have screen names and aliases? I bet you at least half of everyone online is putting up some kind of persona or façade that is completely contrary to what they're actually like in person. Hell, Brad Paisley wrote a brilliant song about it.

The point I'm trying to make here is that with the internet also comes falseness, duality, rumors, gossip and all that other great stuff that--as great a form of communication as it is--completely goes AGAINST communicating. And I'm just as guilty of having the occasional email or message board post misinterpreted as the next guy. Hell, I live in the public eye, so I'm probably more inclined to have this happen.

Back to my reputation. Yes, it's mostly build on my talents and achievements to date. And yes, it's mostly built on respect. But there's also a wild-streak aspect--a "loose cannon" part--of my reputation that has also circulated, especially recently, on the nets. Can I say I'm passionate about things? Certainly. Can I say I'm angry sometimes about others? Oh, Hell yeah. But would it be accurate to say I've lost touch with reality, flipped my lid or lost my sanity in the matter?

Possibly, but only I will tell you exactly. Because, after all, I am spinning this marvelous tale. And until you actually sit in a room with me and find out what makes me tick and what I'm about, you have no idea or right to speak about me, gossip about me, or sully the reputation and respect that I have strived to attain over the past 20-odd years in this, the entertainment business.

Because I'm beginning to learn that sometimes it's beneficial to feared AND respected. And I'm betting, after all is said and done, that those that question me and my motives and gossip behind my back will be neither.

July 2 Morning Pages

Have to simply log a placeholder here, because my morning was spent editing most of my blog. I'll try to get something posted tonight.

July 1, 2008 Morning Pages

Got up early enough to properly sit down and get a good morning page rolling. I hope.

Finally saw Wanted last night. For those of you that don't know, this movie is an example of something all of us comic book writers want to happen. You write something, retain the rights to it, have it picked up by Hollywood and wham, bam, in a few years you've got yourself a weekend blockbuster.

SPOILERS WITHIN

I'd never read the Millar/Jones graphic novel, but I found the movie nonetheless entertaining. Violent and bloody as hell, yes, but still entertaining. I do have to concede that, yes, visually you really haven't seen a lot of things that this movie has to offer. And on that and the solid storytelling, I was very impressed by Wanted. I think the only thing that really bugged me--and I can't believe I'm saying this--was the sheer amount of violence and gunplay in the entire movie. Yes, of course it was necessary to the plot. I mean, you're dealing with assassins and all of that. But at the end of the day, I really feel you might be desensitizing folks to the whole handgun thing. Meh, maybe I'm just being a prude. But this movie really did make it cool to carry, hell, fire a gun. I wonder how many people may actually attempt to curve a bullet now? Plus I'm not sure how necessary it was to show not only the exit wounds of all these head shots, but then REVERSE them to show how amazing the shot was to begin with. Again, I get it, and even as I write this I'm wondering how much I'm beginning to swing away from my usual liberal believes at this point. But at the end of the flick you have one very true result. Everyone's fucking dead! I like the twist at the end, that it doesn't look like anyone from the first movie except for the protagonist would come back for a sequel (if there is one, and, come on, this is Hollywood). And I like the way McAvoy's character is taken from his mediocre life into one of action and intrigue. Like I said, the visuals were stunning and the storytelling was spot on. This movie just played as one big ad for the NRA to me overall. I was surprised Christy enjoyed it as much as she did--because I took her to Sin City and she hated it and this was 10 times as violent and bloody. God, I must be getting old.

END SPOILERS

It's funny. We saw a preview for "Death Race" before the movie. What a piece of shit that looks like. Looks like "Days of Thunder" and "Mad Max" butt-fucked "The Longest Yard." Convict must escape prison by racing in post-apocalyptic car-with-machine-guns-and-armor for his freedom. Who will watch that shit? And how much money did it cost to get Jason Statham and Joan Allen on board as deceptively credible cast members? Fucking Hollywood.

Man, I am on a tear today. Thank God it's a short week. Only 3 work days left, and it looks like they might be light. My main supervisor has left town for the duration of the week. That's like 3 of my superiors that are out on vacation. My wife's on vacation, too. Hell, why the fuck ain't I on vacation. Oh, that's right, freelance. We don't get vacations.

Getting more of QUANTUM 7 completed this week. If I stay on it, I could be theoretically done by the end of the holiday. But I do want to enjoy this weekend, too, so it might creep into next week. After that I have to letter a short story I did for the next big CAG anthology and then I can really focus on the important shit. I officially have 6 months to try to crank out some kind of record. More than likely it'll just be demos until I can turn out the fully produced version in the spring of next year. But at least I have a stable of musicians now, and my technical issues are being resolved in my studio. Just need to get that new tower so I can fully run the new version of Logic, which promises to be badass. Then I can also start rallying production clients, begin my production studio here and eventually phase out the graphic design. That would be tits.

Other things to focus on in the next couple weeks: updating the PC press kit, website and getting new business cards that reflect both sides of my career (music on one side, comics on the other). That would be the duality of my Gemini-ness fully realized right there.

Well, time to hit the shower and face the rest of the day. More later.

June 30, 2008 Morning Pages

Have to make this quick, as I've been dallying all morning and haven't been able to get my thoughts down.

Had a good, mostly relaxing weekend. Hanging with Christy yesterday was really good. She's got the rest of the week off, which makes me insanely jealous. But it's a short week, and the holiday already promises to be a lot of fun. My friend Doug's fiancé is having a birthday on Saturday, which should be a good time. Doug's great people, and we haven't been able to hang out as much at work because, well, it's an oppressive environment as most environments are. I truly believe sometimes they want their employees miserable. We're not really allowed to talk, forbidden to play music from our computers without headphones, and can't really go to lunch together. I truly think they want their employees fearful of losing their jobs. It's times like this I thank God I'm a temp.

A temp, however, that has been at this particular assignment for almost a year now. This is what happens to me: I get on a supposedly two-week assignment, and then the client never gets rid of me. Had I known that was going to happen this time I would have asked for more money going in, because I'm making an absolute crap rate. Also, my temp agency is more than likely making as much as I am per hour. So I'm essential billing for twice as much as I make right now. That sucks serious balls. I should probably look for something else, but I do like what I'm doing right now and I like the people I work with. It gives me time to work on my personal projects, which hopefully I'll be able to make enough money from soon that I can leave the temp gig anyway. I just have to be patient and focused, and hopefully all will work out.

Have to wrap this up. I'll try to write another entry tonight. Not going to be too hard on myself because I got two entries in (one public) yesterday.

Hopefully going to see Wanted tonight. That should be fun.

June 29, 2008 Evening Pages

Today was a great day. Slept in until about noon. Had champagne brunch with the wife (who's celebrating her vacation) at Pancho's. Meant to catch Wanted today, but we couldn't get anything before 4:30. So we opted for the beach.

This was probably the second time in the two years that I've lived here that I've enjoyed Manhattan Beach. And I actually got to get into the ocean, another thing I love to do that I never take advantage of. There's something about immersing yourself in the ocean and letting mother nature toss you around a bit. It really made me think a lot about how I deal with life. I've been spending a lot of time charging at the water, fighting the waves and struggling for my balance when they topple me. Sometimes the trick is to see the wave coming and let it pass over you. What began as a fight for dominance over the ocean eventually turned into a relaxing swim. Floating in the ocean off-shore watching my wife resting on the beach. Feeling the warmth of the water wash over me. It centered me, to a certain extent. I've been thinking a lot about what's gone on over the past few days. And I have to believe that the reasons I've done what I've done are right and good. There really is no way of taking back anything, going back to the way things were or mending fences that don't want to be mended.

I made decisions for myself. I can't hold on to the old notion of being responsible to a group that no longer wants my help. It's time to work towards my hopes and dreams and maintain the momentum of positivity that I've had going. I need to ride a new wave.

June 28, 2008 Afternoon Pages

Am late to my “morning pages” today because I've actually been taking care of personal business today and also, god forbid, enjoying life a little.

But I have to pause a moment to acknowledge the passing of a bright star in comics. I woke up to the sad news the Michael Turner died today from his long battle with cancer. Michael was actually younger than me, and it's sad to see someone so talented go at such an early age. I can't say I knew him well at all; only really through colleagues. And fan response varies depending on whom you speak to. But that doesn't change the fact that Turner was a major force in modern comics, and his work has graced the covers of many notable big comic events (most notable, Identity Crisis). He was an artist, a creator and a publisher. His company, Aspen, is one of the larger comic studios here in the Los Angeles area. Mike had been fighting cancer for about 8 years, having seemingly beat it at one time. It sucks to lose anyone in the biz, and I know that a lot of my colleagues felt this on personally. Rest in peace, Mike. You will be missed.

I'm getting to the age where I realize that I'm soon to have fewer days ahead of me than behind. And when things like this death, that of someone in seemingly good shape and even younger than me, makes me think I should probably get a check-up. I hate and rarely frequent doctors. But if I'm interested in sticking around for as long as possible, I'd better think about getting some things checked out. Even though I've cleaned up a lot recently, there was a time that I treated my body like a nightclub rather than a castle. Probably better to be safe than sorry.

Anyway, away from those more morbid topics. I ran into my friend Scott at the beach today. Scott's good people, and we run into one another enough that I should probably take that as a hint that we should probably hang out more. I was very close to distancing myself from my friends this week. I should probably open myself up some more and strengthen bonds with my newfound friends here in LA. No man is an island, no matter how hard he tries to be.

This isn't going to be a very long entry, because I didn't have a great day and don't really want to talk about it.

As far as the good things that happened: I got my “What It Is” box set today. 4 CDs of rare grooves and old school soul. Pretty much bumped that all day.

Christy sent me pictures of the puppies from her camera phone. That put a smile on my face.

Pretty much kicked ass and took names at work today. There's something to be said for pride in one's work. It's nice to be good at something and appreciated at one's job. Doesn't happen all the time, but it does feel good.

Standby

Got up late today, so I'll be filing my morning pages tonight.Stay Tuned.

June 25, 2008 Morning Pages

So I might was well talk about my very impressive day yesterday. I alluded to getting the Hollywood treatment yesterday, and sure enough I ventured out to Burbank to have my first ever pitch meeting with some movie producers.

And, before you ask, no I did not pitch QUANTUM. These guys were not looking for QUANTUM and made it clear they wanted different types of stories. It was kind of a cool challenge, because if this particular opportunity hadn't come up I probably wouldn't have ever come up with these ideas in the first place.

Note to self: I have more stories in me than I thought.

Anyway, back to the pitch meeting. The good news and something that definitely set my mind at ease was that I actually knew the guys I was pitching to. They are colleagues from my travels in comics, so part of the nervousness was alleviated by that fact. But I was still nervous. I've never done this kind of thing, and there are no hard-and-fast rules for pitching an idea to a publisher, producer, etc. The most notable thing about the experience itself was where I was actually going for the meeting. Ok, I'll just say it, it was on the Disney lot. This is the second time I've been on a studio lot, and I have to say Disney's is impressive. My friends have an office in the reputed animation building, which was a very cool place to be in having just recently seen “The Pixar Story.”

So after catching up on things (as we hadn't seen each other for some time), it was off to Studio City for lunch and the eventual pitches. I was introduced to the Artisan Cheese Gallery, a place I will definitely returning to, next time with the wife, and we proceeded to share several of their fantastic sandwiches. Then it was time for my pitches. I had brought one-sheets with the actual ideas typed out, but I decided not to use them. Fortunately I had a good enough idea of my concepts that I could basically summarize them and then also clarify certain point or address questions the client had.

And, by the end of the thing, they were actually interested in at least one of my ideas. We hammered out some more of the specifics of how they'd like to see that particular idea, and now it's in my court to knock out a treatment. If all goes well, my idea will hopefully be approved to be published as a graphic novel, and then, since it's Disney, it will be on track to become a feature film or series at some point.

And just like that, I'm in the movie business. I guess I'd hoped it would come to this point eventually. I assumed it would be with QUANTUM, but I'm glad I'm sitting on that one, actually. I'm not so attached to these other ideas that I'm not flexible taking notes or criticism. I will basically edit and cater these ideas for the folks I pitched to and build the IP. The good news is that if this doesn't go through for whatever reason, I'll still have two new concepts that I can shop around to other publishers or studios. And, with San Diego ComicCon quickly approaching, I'll definitely be in the mindset of putting illustrated one-sheets together for the ideas just in case Disney loses interest.

Oh, as an aside, I totally walked by Duane “The Rock” Johnson yesterday. Wanted to get a photo with him, but he seemed to be occupied with two smoking hot ladies, one on each arm. It would have been rude to interrupt him. Hoping I see him on my return trip.

Also, I owe a great load of thanks to my friend Denis, who set my mind at ease and talked me through what I could expect in the pitch process. Plus, a few Bendis boarders helped out, too.

June 24th Morning Pages.

Making this a quick one today. Getting the Hollywood treatment this afternoon. I'll post more tonight when I know more.

Oh, hey, I have a forum. You know?

RIP George Carlin

June 23, 2008 Morning Pages

Slept really well last night, despite hearing the news that George Carlin died.

I don't plan to go into a long tirade or tribute on the guy. And I won't pretend that he was the be-all end all comedy and comedic geniuses. What I will say is that his work did have an affect on me; that his words and his style--no matter how raunchy or controversial--impacted my life to at least some small degree. Whether or not you liked Carlin's content, you can't dispute the fact that he is a comedic legend and a genius in so many ways. Not only as a performer and an innovator, but also as a writer and a thinker. See, the great thing about George Carlin's comedy wasn't that it made you laugh so much as think. And despite the barbs, profanity and anger he slung, Carlin did have one purveying message: be good to each other--for no other reason than it's the right thing to do.

I have very many favorite bits from him, but I think the one that really stuck with me was Carlin's examination of the Ten Commandments. It tore down all the walls of Judeo-Christian guilt and just cut to the chase of what it takes to be a good person. I'm paraphrasing, but it was like "don't do all this stuff because some old man the the sky has given you a set of supposed rules; do it because it's right." There were a lot of things I loved and hated about his comedy. But the man was wise. And he used comedy as a means of getting his message out and making you think in a way you probably hadn't considered before. That takes talent and genius, and for that reason I am very sad to see him go. But I have to say he had a fantastic go and earned every accolade and accomplishment he got. I admire him and strive to go out the same way. You know at the end of "Inside the Actors Studio," when James Lipton asks the same questions of all his guests, and I think the last question is something like "if there is a heaven, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive?" My internal answer was always, "nice job. Come on in."

Well, George, nice job. Go on in, brother.

In other news, let's do some goal setting this week while I'm thinking about it:

QUANTUM #7 lettering, new business cards, revise the press kit, and if I'm feeling really ambitious: the PC website. That should keep me busy for a good week.

Completely blew my pitch writing deadline yesterday. Gonna have to whip them up tonight. I have a good idea of what the concepts are. I just need to get them down on paper.

My elbow is still killing me. Don't know what's happened, but I'm probably going to have to get some professional help. I have no idea why it's in so much pain, but it's been a few weeks and I better get it taken care of before my arm falls off. That would be bad.

June 22, 2008 Midday Pages

Slept in today. How awesome did that feel, despite the heat.

Yes, it has officially gotten hot here in the South Bay. It was even hot yesterday in Venice. Let me talk about that for a minute. I had probably one of the best times in a long time at Dysart's birthday bash/summer solstice party. Get in around 2:30 (would have been 2PM, but parking was a BITCH) to catch Jacaranda, a band which features my buddies Luis Reyes and Anthony Deniega. They're a lot of fun, not only doing upbeat originals but also some really fun, eclectic covers.

The whole thing was very California--which is to say, as someone who is recently moved here, that the whole block-party thing by the beach was very new to me. Especially when the band covered "Rio," I felt like I was in an eighties movie, that Anthony Michael Hall would just pop out of nowhere. But this party had it all, booze, bud, babes. It truly was a fantastic time. I only wish I'd gotten a chance to sit in with one of the bands. I'd brought my horn for just an occasion. Had to split early, otherwise I would have probably gotten my chance, but I have to say the entire experience was great. Mike and Carol from the Comic Bug also came out, and it was good to hang out with those guys and Luis and get to know more LA comic creators. Josh Dysart is a helluva guy, seriously blessed and really knows how to throw a party. I hope to hang out with him more often. He truly is quality people.

Have to say one of the surprises that completely saved my day was soaking my feet in the ocean in the middle of the hot, solstice day. If I hadn't done that, I would have been completely miserable. Also, I didn't drink too much, and I pretty much stayed hydrated with water between beers. Maintained a nice, light buzz; perfect for shaking off just before I had to drive home. Left the party feeling really good, like I was making new friends and enjoying life. Probably the first day since I've moved here that I really appreciated the California lifestyle. Maybe I just need to get down to Venice more. As prohibitive as parking is, I do enjoy the hustle and bustle down there. It reminds me of the East Village very much, only with a beach.

I'm going to repeat the foot soaking thing today down in Manhattan Beach. Gonna grab some brunch while I can and then hit the beach. It's something I don't do enough of, and now that I've gotten my plate to a reasonable level of business I can enjoy very brief pleasures like this. It truly feels good to be focusing on what's really important right now. After brunch and beach, I'll sit down and hammer out the pitches I'm drawing up for Christian and Kingdom Comics. Don't know if anything will come out of it, but it'll be good to see CB and Ahmet again, and it never hurts to be prepared.

June 21, 2008 Morning Pages

Well, it's officially my 21st day of morning pages. Looks like I've begun a constructive habit.

Wow, where to begin. It's been an interesting 24 hours. Got out of work to receive a phone call from my friend and musical comrade Jeremiah Roiko. I was planning on seeing him and band at the Grog last night for Michelle's birthday, but it turns out that Jeremiah was flying back from his work training in Oklahoma, was stuck at the airport in Phoenix and was running late. So I pick up the phone (actually, turned on my headset, as I was driving home from work) to this conversation:

Me: "Hello?"

Jeremiah: "Yeah, so I'm gonna need to you fill in for me tonight at the Grog."

Me (after a very brief pause): um...ok?

Jeremiah: I'm in Phoenix waiting for my flight, and they haven't been able to get the past 2 planes to start."

Me: Wow.

Jeremiah: So I'm going to be late getting there, if I make it at all. Right now I may not even be able to get a flight until midnight.

Me: Well, ok, sure. Is it just me tonight, or will your band be there?

Jeremiah: Oh, no. Son and Joe will be there. I just need you to fill in for me.

Good thing I didn't have any plans tonight other than actually cruising to sit in with those guys. So nice, I actually had a last minute gig. Got home, quickly packed my gear and made my way to the Grog. Things actually went swimmingly, consider I'd never played with Joe, the drummer, before. Nice guy. Tempos got a little quick, but that was mostly an adrenaline thing. We got through our first set to learn that Jeremiah actually did finally get a plane and that he wan en route. By the time the second set rolled around, Jeremiah arrived. My job was done, and everyone really seemed to enjoy the work we had done. We took a brief break to let Jeremiah set up, and I sat in for the rest of that set. I really miss playing with Jeremiah. He really is a phenomenal blues guitarist, and it's too bad that financial circumstances demand he only books a trio at this point. But the good news is that I've got an in with the Grog now, and I'll be booking my band there soon.

God, I love saying those words: "my band."

Also made the acquaintance of Candice from Hitt Music last night. Impressed her enough that she wants to get me into their roster of acts. Hitt Music is one of these agencies that shop you and your music to television, film, and labels. I'll need more info, will have to check them out. I'm not a big fan of services that request a fee for you to participate, but Candace seemed on the level. And, if it's legit, it could probably do some good things for my career. Will also have to see how that affects my working with Angela, as I want to keep her in the loop as well.

Have to cut this short, as I have to get to the bank and get to my day. Party at Dysart's house today. Hopefully it won't be too hot down there. It's pretty warm today, even in Redondo.

Weekend hasn't even started, and it promises to be hoppin'.

First off, tonight, is a celebration for my friend Michelle's birthday. Michelle is a very cool lady I met during my time with the Jeremiah Roiko Band. One of her hobbies is pole dancing (it's a sport, really), and it sounds like she'll have her pole dancing classmates out tonight in full force. The even goes down at The Grog on PCH, and Jeremiah will be providing the music. You can pretty much count on a certain funky white boy being there with his horn.

Tomorrow, a comic creating colleague of mine will be celebrating his birthday, and I have a feeling that will also be a helluva bash. I'm going to have to make sure to pace myself this weekend. I've cut down on my drinking, and I don't want to go too overboard. But hopefully I'll see some of my other comic creating brethren there and be able to hang out and enjoy the day and sunny Venice Beach. I never get down there, and it's the closest thing to the East Village I've seen since I left NYC.

Sunday will be for recovering and throwing together pitches for my lunch with Christian and Ahmet next week. I've been letting things slowly cook in the back of my head, and hopefully I can come up with some decent ideas that fall into their whole action/adventure mindset.

At some point I hope to hook up with Dave Ryan, who's recently relocated from the east coast. Dave is doing a big crossover book called "War of the Independents." I don't think I've ever met Dave in person, but we've crossed paths professionally several times. It'd be good to put a face with the emails and catch up on things.

Was finally able to get some work on QUANTUM last night. Man, it feels good to be back on working on my own book for a change. Made some pretty important decisions last night as well. It's been so long since I've worked on the book that my lettering style has actually changed. I wasn't planning on converting over to the new style until issue 8, but now that I look at it I realize that I need to switch over ASAP. I fixed the first three pages last night and have decided to post them to show you what's up and prove to y'all that I really am still working on the book.







This is one of those fun scenes where I get to inject a little of my real life into my story. The inspiration of this is when I used to temp for New York Life. I had two gigs there, actually. One was working as a production artists for their magazine (yes, they have a magazine), which I enjoyed. The other was working in the corporate office where they process all of their applications and determine who they insure and for how much. That job sucked. Balls. It was a horrible pit of mediocrity and despair where I had to spend 8 hours of my time every day. But I needed the money at the time, so you do what you have to. Worst part of the job what this little troll of a woman named Barbara who thought she could order around people that she didn't have the jurisdiction to. Barbara...Barbara...hell, can't remember her last name, and that 's probably a good thing. But the fight over the copier actually did happen as well as Barbara's line "I don't have to take that from some temp." I was so pissed off at the situation that I pretty much quit on the spot. Over the course of writing this book, I've had other little real-life segments from my life I wanted to throw in. It's cathartic for me to be able to throw Barbara to the blackness in these pages. And it's healthier than throwing her out the window of a high-rise office building, which I was tempted to do many times. That's the great thing about writing. It lets you get out your demons and revenge that you'd never execute in real life.

I even kill my high school music teacher in this next issue, but that's a story for another time.

June 19, 2008 Morning Pages

So, what the hell you wanna talk about today?

Good news on the plumbing front: Jenkins Property's guy came out yesterday to snake the tree roots out of the clean-out. So my bathroom has returned to a state of normality. So glad I live in a place right now that has a fairly decent property management company overseeing it. I can usually get maintenance over here within 24 hours to take care of most problems. Plus, they mow and take care of my lawn and landscape every two weeks. We get a pretty good deal on renting this house, and I have to admit it's probably the nicest home I've lived in since I've lived on my own. Sometimes I miss the hardwood floors of our 2 bedroom in Queens, but I definitely don't miss the weather or my former landlord.

Already over half the week. This one went rushing by. It's been necessarily restful since the IE Jazzfest. Which reminds me, I need to reach out to the band today and just touch base. Have some things on the horizon, including some more gigging opportunities. I just want to pick the right ones. For the first time in a long time I chilled out for a night after work. I went to downtown Manhattan Beach and just enjoyed the evening; grabbed a volcano bowl at Wahoos and walked around for a bit. No one is more surprised to say that I actually really enjoy where Christy uprooted us to. As much as I miss NYC, I am beginning to love the South Bay a lot. Evenings by the ocean are pretty hard to beat. I must get out to do more of that.

Have been trying to get onto Kompoz.com this week to listen to Jim Clark's music and hopefully contribute some tracks. Kompoz is a site that allows people to collaborate electronically on music. It's not as cool as the LogicRocket stuff, but it does give musicians a place to compose and collaborate. If anyone knows of a platform that's similar to LogicRocket--where you could actually post your sequences and audio files directly online for people to edit, append, and record to--please let me know. Kompoz just seems a little clunky to me. It also doesn't help that Jim doesn't use a click track for his stuff. That makes it difficult (not impossible) to sequence to. I suppose it's good for Jim's music, which is ukulele-based, as it forces musicians to track live, organic elements on top of his basic tracks. But it makes it harder for me, because I want to add sequenced production elements. I'm hoping to spend some time this weekend tackling that particular challenge.

But one thing I can't let it get in the way of is QUANTUM #7 and also my meeting next week with Kingdom Comics. The powers-that-be over there have graciously invited me for a meeting, where I imagine I'll be able to pitch a few things. Have been mulling a few ideas over in my head for the past couple weeks, and over the weekend I'll commit some stuff to paper. The challenge here is to still give them something in this "National Treasure" vein that they want without it being too derivative or lame. As much as I enjoy movies like that and the Indian Jones stuff, it's not really my bag. I suppose that's a good thing, though, because then I can come up with an interesting spin.

Shoot, that also reminds me that I need to set up meetings with BMI and ASCAP before July. I'm in my window to end my BMI affiliation, but I want to be as informed as possible before I do. For the most part, BMI hasn't done squat for me. I hated (using the word HATE here) my New York rep, so if I don't get any sense of urgency from the LA guys I'm definitely switching to ASCAP.

Here's hoping the next two days at my day gig go by quickly. It's been a bit of a snoozefest of late.

June 18, 2008 Morning Pages

God damn it. The plumbing's backing up again.

We have this phenomenon, about every 4 months or so, when tree roots begin to clog up the mainline (or "clean-out") of the house. When that happens, water begins to drain slowly and really fun things start happening in the bathroom; like flushing the toilet and having it all back up into the tub. I don't know what the deal is out here, as we had the same kind of problem in out Manhattan Beach apartment as well. That was a nightmare, because it would overflow all over the bathroom floor, and the whole room would look like something out of the shit-demon scene in Dogma. Worse yet, we had an absentee landlord, and yours truly was responsible for finding a plumber to fix the problem and even PAY for it. I did get reimbursed eventually, but it was a serious pain in the ass and nothing a tenant should be expected to deal with.

Fortunately we have a property management company at this place. They're pretty good for the most part, but I did ask them to come out 2 weeks ago as a preventative measure. Doesn't look like it happened, because lo and behold, the tub's filling up with crap again. This better be resolved today or there'll be hell to pay.

Posted more video of the IE JazzFest set on YouTube last night. This is footage from my little digicam and the sound isn't as clean as the stuff Tony uploaded. But Christy manned my cam and got some shots of everyone. Even moved it around so you could see folks dancing and stuff.

Which reminds me: I have to say how much more I enjoy playing in a group as opposed to the one-man-band hell I've been subjected to for the past couple years. It was also nice playing a venue OTHER than a sports bar. I truly believe God had sent me to musical hell for the past couple years, and that hell is called Texas Loosey's. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the staff of Texas Loosey's. They have always taken care of me, and I appreciate that they've given me a venue to perform. However, the actual circumstances of playing a place like Texas Loosey's is akin to the 9th ring of Dante's Hell. First off, NOBODY is there to listen to you play. They just want to eat their barbecue or chicken wings, drink a few beers and ogle the scantily-clad cowgirls that work as the waitstaff. Truth to tell, that's the best part of working for Texas Loosey's, the girl-watching. It's like Hooters, only with ass-less chaps. But I digress. Secondly, no one claps for the entertainment. I've spent set after set singing my heart out, only to be greeted at the end of a song with silence. It's seriously demoralizing for a musician. There were nights, at about 11PM or midnight, when I truly felt the creator was pointing down at me from on high and, like Nelson from the Simpsons, was going "Hanh-Ha!" But those solo gigs definitely kept my chops up and gave me an appreciation more for the kind of gig I played on Saturday.

It's just a world of difference when folks are actively LISTENING to you and responding to what you're doing. And, hell, if and when they get up and dance--that's just icing on the cake. It just makes me realize the kinds of gigging situations I would rather get into. No more solo dive-bar gigs for me. I'm going to be targeting the outdoor festivals and the venues that actually want to support soulful original music.

I mean, I'll probably have to play a few bar cover gigs locally, just to build the following and the mailing list. But I realize that I've got too good of an act, now, to bury it in dive bars. It's time to raise the bar and take this thing where it needs to go.

From the PC cam, manned by the lovely Mrs. Clark:

Was woken up by two very determined dogs this morning, and now the morning fog in my head is starting to lift.

Did I mention I sleep with three women in my bed? Ok, so two of them are canine. Ok, so one of them is only about 3.5 years old in dog years. Let me have my fantasy, ok? Bella actually does have her own bed, but a few weeks ago she had an accident in it due to her seizures, so we've let her sleep in the bed with us ever since. She does go back to it from time to time if the bed gets too crowded, but I can pretty much count on the fact that, in the morning, she'll be under the covers at our feet. Lucy is so small that she can sleep with us in the bed, and she actually likes snuggling with either Christy of myself. So, again, she may start the night in her own little bed, but by the morning she's in bed with us.

I shudder to think of what'll happen if we ever add a kid into the mix.

Not a lot to talk about this morning. Now that the big gig has passed, I can focus on booking more for the band. That and focusing on QUANTUM this week. It feels great to finally have the time to concentrate again on my own stuff. I know my focus now, and I know who my true friends are. I hate to say it, but at this stage of my life you're either with me or you're against me. It's time I stopped suffering fools gladly and it's time I kicked fair-weathered friends to the curb.

It's funny, a colleague of mine was commenting at how self-important comic book creators are. Didn't seem to be that way when I got into this business, but the more I see the profile of the comic book creator (and, more importantly, its place in Hollywood) raise, the more I'm noticing that some folks truly believe their shit don't stink. It's kind of sad, because if you told the average person on the street you made comics, they'd more than likely laugh at you. I don't understand why those same people expect the movie studios to bow prostrate like you're the second coming or something.

Which might as well be a segue into me talking about The Incredible Hulk, which I finally saw last night. That was more how the first movie should have been, but couldn't be. Miles above the first Hulk movie in casting, writing, scope and execution. Norton makes a way better Banner than Bana ever did. Bana was too hunky for the role. Folks don't realize that Banner needs to be the puny, scrawny Jeckyl to the Hulk's massive Hyde. CGI was miles better in this version, and it was GREAT to hear the Hulk speak. When he mutters "leave me alone" in the first battle scene, I nearly leapt out of my seat. The only problem with a Hulk movie is that the CGI is so important to the film that sometimes it goes over the top, even into video games proportions. I mean, I get it, two huge, hulking monsters duking it out to the bitter end. But it's a lot to follow and it's sometimes exhausting to watch. But overall, I have to say it was a step in the right direction. Since Marvel has the reigns to its own projects now, the quality and respect to the original concept and fanbase has really shown.

Before I close I also have to rave, briefly, about the 2 season premieres I caught on Showtime. "Weeds" was pleasantly solid, and I was stoked to see Albert Brooks join the cast. I'm not a huge fan of his, but this was inspired casting. Also, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" looks to be very good. I enjoyed Billie Piper in Dr. Who, but I think this is going to be a breakout role for her. And it's now got me following the actual blog that the series is based on.

I'm not a big blog follower, but now there are two I'm following: Belle Du Jour's and Terry Moore's. Go check 'em out when you get a chance.

Wanted to post the video PC guitarist Anthony Deniega took of Saturday's show. Here are the clips in show order:

June 16, 2008 Morning Pages

Still sort of recovering from the weekend. As much as I didn't think the heat got to me on Saturday, I think I actually got a little heat exhaustion. Yesterday's Father's Day was pretty decent, though, as I also scored presents for my belated birthday. Christy's mom even got me a GPS navigator, which'll definitely come in handy in the future. The thing is also an MP3 player which is also pretty mad cool.

Pretty happy with Saturday's gig, all things considered. There were only a few hiccups that I wish we could have foreseen. First of all, the entire production was running late, and before we hit the stage they were asking us to cut our set short. And it's funny, too, because the band that was following us tried to cop a deal with me: "hey, we're going to be cutting our set short, so if you do the same we can get this back on time."

Which taught me another important lesson in showbiz: NEVER fall for this line of bullshit, ever. I did end up cutting one song out of my set, shortened a few solo sections, and basically did what I could to not run too long. Then the next act proceeded to play as long as they fucking wanted to. I wasn't happy, because my bandmates and I trekked out to this festival, in BFE Moreno Valley, to play this gig for free for a good cause. I didn't schlep out from the South Bay and go to all this trouble of throwing this band together to only play 30 minutes. The lesson for me next time is to not let bad organization on someone else's part alter what I'm doing. Feeling the pressure of the clock definitely affected my soloing. Plus, we were so rushed we didn't get a decent line check, and as a result the bassist was not heard through the main system. I found that out after the fact. Bass is crucial to my music and knowing that only the folks close to the stage could hear it did not make me a happy camper.

But other than that the show went off pretty well. My voice was a little dry from the heat, but since I cut "Twenty Days" out of the set I didn't spend it. Tempos were pretty solid after we got settled in. The crowd really seemed to enjoy the show. The sales table I negotiated for never came to be, so I went grass-roots and walked through the crowd selling CDs and comics. I'm glad I ordered a new batch of CDs, because people were very receptive and interested in buying it.

I did have some of my friends from LA come out. And it was good to hang out with my friend Doug and his fiancé Jen afterwards. It's really nice to get to know another couple and also see Christy make new friends since she has so few out here.

Anyway, the whole experience was a definite success. Now I just want to do it bigger and better. I think Jazz Festivals are a good fit for my music, and I'll be actively looking to do more of those. That, street festivals and soul-music friendly venues in LA are my target right now. Got to build the buzz for the next record. It's going to be a great second half of 2008.

Have to make this quick as I'm heading out the door for Father's Day/my belated birthday fun with the in-laws. I'm still pretty pooped from yesterday and will elaborate on that later tonight when I get back.

One thing I can say is that it was a complete, unadulterated success. The band performed as well as I could have expected given we only had 4 rehearsals, and a lot of people were impressed and newly turned on to the funky white boy.Also, my friend and work colleague Doug came out with his fiancé and her brother to support which meant a lot; as well as south bay's Mike Holmes and wife Kathy. I know it was a serious trek out there, and it was a honor to have even those folks come out to hear my LA debut.

Ok, gonna wrap this up, but I'll pick it up tonight. Feeling good and will continue my full report later.

Well, this is it.

The culmination of the last month's worth of preparation for myself and the past two weeks for my band. Today we make our debut at the I.E. Jazz and R&B Festival. Have to say I'm feeling pretty prepared for this, and I anticipate we'll be one of the highlights of the show. I can definitely speak for myself when I say: I intend to kill it. And I'm going to instruct the lads to do the same thing.

Due to the location of the event, I sadly won't have as many of my friends coming out to support. And I was really bummed to find out not even my in-laws can make it out. They're really the only kind of family I have out here, so I'm not happy about that. Have to put all that out of my head though. For one brief, ugly moment I started projecting that negativity, and it was not a fun place to be. I'm not letting anything or anyone ruin this moment for me. It's a big deal to me, and I only plan to shine.

I can't believe it's been about 4 years since I've performed my own music live with a band. This gig is the beginning of the next phase of my music career. I've come back, free from burnout and doubt. I know exactly what I want to do in this business again, who I believe my audience is, and what the game-plan should be for the foreseeable future. It also seems like I've got some good people on my team. So there's really no where to go but up at this point.Am happy to report that for those folks that can't be at the actual event, the show will be broadcast live online. Simply go to http://www.museark.org/musearktv.html and tune in around 2PM Pacific time for my set. I'll be the funky white boy with the saxophone.

For those that attend the festival I will be manning a sales table afterwards, selling CDs and comics. Hopefully I can make enough cash to at least cover my gas out to Moreno Valley, because with that and the money I'm paying the fellas with it promises to be an expensive day. But worth it in the long run, I hope.

Mental checklist to make sure I don't forget to pack the car properly. Synth, sax, amp, stands, cables, CDs (both free previews and full-length for sale), comics, media stands, camera, laptop (just in case), boombox (also just in case), business cards, set-list, cash. Pretty sure that's about it. The fellas have directions to the venue and Angela's phone number so they can get loaded in properly. Guess all we need to do at this point is show up.

Here's to a great day.

Ok, have to make this one super quick, and I've agreed to go into work early today. I've got about five minutes to get my thoughts down and then it's shower time.

Final rehearsal the the IE JazzFest gig went spectacularly. Only hangup was that "Anything" is not going to be included in the set. As seemingly simple as the song is, there are too many cues to be missed and tightness that needs to be in place to just throw it in the set for the sake of "here's something you haven't heard yet." Most likely none of these folks have heard me anyway, so differentiating between old album and new seems a moot point.

I am so very proud of the work done by my rhythm section of the past two weeks. I've thrown a lot of curve balls and demanded much perfection out of them in a very little time. Considering the band's only been together for only two weeks, we will be laying some serious soul on the folks in the Inland Empire tomorrow.

So today, I want to think about it as little as possible. I may end up practicing the piano solo stuff at the end of "Thinkin Bout You" just to tighten things up (boy, have I got a great surprise on that song). And I'll also probably whip up another 10 preview CDs to either sell or give away at the show, as the T-shirts probably aren't going to happen this go-around.

And so I go into this day feeling leaner, funkier, more confident and accomplished than I did even two weeks ago. I really feel I've turned my life around in some pretty big ways, and I think tomorrow will be the beginning of something wonderful.

For those of you paying attention, an ultra sneak peek of issue #Sex is available at the Dreamchilde Forum.

ADULT CONTENT. You were warned.

QUANTUM #6 release update - SUMMER 2005

Hey Gang,

I realized I promised in issue #5 that QUANTUM #6 would hit in May. Well here it is, June already, and still no book.

Most of you know of the problems I had getting issue #5 to print. That and the huge surge of June comic cons have set the issue back a little.

In re-assessing my publication frequency, I have basically made it a resolution to announce subsequent issues of QUANTUM on a seasonal basis. Since issue #5 hit in Spring, it's my guarantee that you'll see QUANTUM #6 in Summer of 2005.

So that's it. Sorry again for the delay, but I'm tellin' ya, once you see this issue, you'll never look at Sci-Fi comics the same way ever again. Get an advance peek at QUANTUM #6's cover at the QUANTUM website!


Best to all,

Philip

QUANTUM #5 Reviewed at CBEM!

David Le Blanc give us his two cents over at the Comic Book Electronic
Magazine. Check it out!

READ IT!

Peace out,
PC

QUANTUM FEATURED AT IGN COMICS

Hilary Goldstein at IGN has been kind enough to shed some light on QUANTUM over at IGN comics. Go take a look!

http://comics.ign.com/articles/623/623045p1.html

Peace and chicken grease,
Philip

QUANTUM #5 REVIEWED AT BUZZSCOPE!

Our friend J.D. Lombardi gives issue #5 a fair and impartial hearing over at Buzzscope. Check it out!

READ IT HERE!

QUANTUM #5 finally available at Dreamchilde Online Store

Well, after staff shakeups and printing fiascos, QUANTUM #5 is finally available for order at the Dreamchilde Press webstore. Pick it up here:

http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID3913428P4266888-QUANTUM-Rock-of-Ages-5.aspx

Peace out, yo.
PC

QUANTUM Review at King Tractor Films

Check it out, yo.

Shawn Granger at King Tractor Films was kind enough to drop us a review. Here's a link:

http://www.setbb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=118&mforum=kingtractor#118

Thanks a lot Shawn!
PC

CHECK OUT THE NEW QUANTUMCOMIC.NET

An all new interface makes surfing all things QUANTUM even easier. Check it out!

http://quantumcomic.net

QUANTUM YAHOO GROUP EXCLUSIVE! FREE COMIC BOOK ONLINE!

Welcome to the next phase of marketing for the book. It's something I've tossed around for a while. Since I've recently decided to print QUANTUM in TPB format only, I've decided to offer the true fans of the book an exclusive offer.

I've uploaded a PDF of QUANTUM #5 in the "Files" section of this group. This is my way of giving back to you all for your recent support throughout the ordeal that was putting this one issue out.

QUANTUM Yahoo Group

Enjoy, and encourage anyone you think might like this book to join this group!

Take care,
Philip

I'M DONE WITH PAMPHLETS!

Kinda.

Well, after deliberating long and hard about it; after having all of my colleagues advise me that trades are the way to go; after the recent printing fiasco; I've decided to stop printing "QUANTUM: Rock of Ages" as a pamplet comic book.

This is really a heart-breaking decision for me, as it makes me break a promise I made to myself. But the long and short of it is: trades are more profitable. They're easier to be solicited by Diamond because of the price point, and they sell better at shows.

For those of you who just HAVE TO have a comic book in your hands, I will be printing on demand at ComixPress. I may order a small quantity for shows and my local shops, but I'm not killing myself trying to put out pamphlets anymore. I think recent events are just God's way of telling me to stick to publishing trades.

The good news is that these ComixPress versions will be EXTREMELY rare and collectable, if there's anyone out there still collecting comics. James and I will continue to do the wrap-around covers you've all grown to know and love.

Anyway, that's the long and short of it. I really wanted to put out a 12-issue series, but it's just not practical.

Ok gang,
Well they're not the Firstwave copies, but issue #5 is officially available at ComixPress.
I did order one copy, and I have to say the quality is flawless. You can get yours here:

ORDER QUANTUM #5





Best,
PC