First comic convention
So I haven’t written on here in a long time. Life’s been I would like to say crazy but in reality it’s been pretty boring. Well not that I haven’t been busy or anything just nothing too exciting going on. Same old stuff as usual, school, work, life. Still looking an internship so I can finally be done with school. Finally found a part-time job. Other than that haven’t been up to much and haven’t really worked on anything worth writing about. However, I did attend my first comic book convention a couple weeks ago. So I thought I’d write a quick little something.
I’ve been into comic books since I was in elementary school but had some long gaps in time where I’ve gone without them. I jump off and on to the bandwagon every now and then when something catches my eye, for example of course now The Walking Dead and I went through a Darkness phase for a long time.
This was a small affair. Nothing close to the legendary Comiccon but it definitley got me excited for it. So for those that don’t know comic book conventions are bunch of tables with different comic stores selling all their crap in one place. The up side is you can find almost anything you want and can get some really great deals. The down side is going through all said crap. It’s really not very exciting at all and truthfully can be quite boring. Oh and all the walking around is extremely exhausting. But there were some really cool things to see in general. There was some amazing artwork on display from different artist. Of course this is the year of the zombie so everybody had zombie everything. One table had movie posters, book covers, etc all zombied out, it was actually really nice but they cost $30 bucks way too much for my cheap self. And the cutest thing was a little kid dressed up as Spiderman.
But I had a great time. Come on shopping and looking for deals that is what I live for. So happily I was able to get a fat ass Captain America book. (Yes I like Captain America) I also got a couple of The Darkness one off books for a buck each and a comic about Jack the Ripper. Oh and an extra bonus I got to meet Henry Winkler a.k.a. The Fonz. (yeah I have no idea why he was there either)
I’m pretty sure this is the beginning of an expensive new habit.
Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel By Peter Krass
Jack Daniels is a favorite drink of mine, so when I saw this book it piqued my curiosity. I thought, “Jack Daniels was a real person?” Turns out the author is often asked this same question by friends he explains in the introduction. Well to answer the question yes the man behind this fine whiskey was indeed a Mr. Jack Daniel himself. A young boy from Lynchberg, Tennessee, who worked his way from a farm hand to one of the most successful distillers in America.
If your looking for tales of the wild west or an elicit bootlegger, you will not find it here. Jack youngest of ten siblings, and the runt of the family, was an orphan by the age of fifteen. Taken in by neighbors he worked hard as a farm hand then later learned the art of distilling whiskey from his caretaker and mentor. Jack Daniel is described as being a pillar of the community and a hardworking, honest, giving, southern gentleman.
The writer explains that not much is known about the actual man, there isn’t much in public records about Jack Daniels and even to his ancestors he is somewhat more of a myth than a real man. Therefore much of the book reads like a chapter in American history. Luckily though there are random interesting anecdotes and facts thrown in that keep the story interesting. For example, where the name Old No. 7 came from, similarities between Jack and one of his biggest competitors now Jim Beam, and the battles with the prohibition forces through out his entire career.
I would highly recommend this book to any history buffs. Personally, as much I like history I’ve never been a fan of American history, so there were many times where I became bored and frustrated while reading. However, I am glad I pushed past it and was able to finish it. 
Now I feel like the next time I pour a glass I’ll appreciate it that much more.
Physical and mental writing blocks
I have a life pretty much filled with clutter. This is as much mental as it is physical. I have recently come to the realization that this clutter has become a hurtle to overcome when it comes to my writing. I’m sure some of this will sound familiar to others. Here’s a fun little list of things that stand in my way.
Physical clutter
- Notebooks upon notebooks half full of writing, ideas and half done poems that I would love to be able to go through to get some inspiration.
- Scraps of paper poem lines, short story ideas, scenes, and random dialog.
- Folders full of school papers that should be edited to use for publication.
- Then there are the piles of random other junk. At the moment my bedroom looks like a tornado just passed through.
Mental Clutter
- First thing in the morning my mind get filled with the redundant task of everyday like, check email, shower, myspace, howework, work, etc.
- In the back of my mind I’m always questioning how I’m going to get my bills paid.
- Right after that I begin the worry of needing to find a decent paying job. Keeping in mind that I would like it to be a job that I actually like.
While all that runs through my mind I still have all the other worries that I’m pretty sure every other person in their 20′s has. I do have periods of time where I am able to push everything aside and get some writing done. But it seems to be getting harder and harder lately.
It would be great to hear if anybody else has these same issues. It would also be great to get some advice on how to deal with it.
The Book of Dahlia By Elisa Albert
In The Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert introduces us to Dahlia Finger, a 29 year old slacker from a broken, over-privileged family. Living in a Venice cottage purchased by her father she spends her days smoking pot and watching the same old movies over and over. Her biggest concern at the moment is awaiting the results from the GRE; she took them in the hopes of going back to school even though she had no clue what to do with her life. Then it happened, the moment that would change her life forever, a near fatal seizure. A symptom of a terminal brain tumor in Dahlia’s head.
With the help of “The Book”, a self-help book for cancer patients, she recollects various moments of her life that may hold the answer to why her. We follow Dahlia as she tries to comes to terms with her life, disease and her overwhelming sense of doom from a death sentence. Meanwhile, everybody around her tries to keep a positive attitude for her.
The book was extremely hard to put down but at the same time at some points was hard to read. As I read I couldn’t help but feel for Dahlia and relate to many of the struggles she has as a child, teenager and later as a slacker graduate with no direction. I can easily see why this novel was one of Entertainment Weekly’s top ten fiction picks last year. The sarcastic wit and sadistic humor make it an easy read while the powerful subject matter makes you truly rethink your own mortality.
Death and Mourning in Ethnic Literature
I am halfway through my last semester at BMCC and am taking this great literature class. We are reading four different novels by ethic writers. In addition, we have to read several articles dealing with the process of mourning, loss, and trauma. I think it is very interesting to apply some psychological theory to the way that these writers interpret how people deal with loss. The books that we are reading are Bone, by Fa Myenne Ng, Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Carlos Hijuelos, Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, and Praise Song for the Widow, by Paule Marshall.
In the class, we are not only focusing on the indiviual loss the characters go through, but also about the larger issue of loss for ethnic people in America. Besides the literal physical death of family members these books deal with the larger issue of loss of identity and culture. These authors use a death to represent these larger issues of loss. This applies a lot to the immigrant stories but as well to all nationalties that are not thought of as mainstream, majority, white America. For example, the novel Ceremony is about Native Americans, who suffer the loss of their land to outsiders, who in turn made them feel like outsiders in their home.
The class is very compelling, but very difficult. The themes and some of the material that we are dealing with takes a lot of effort to grasp. For the class we have to write three papers. I just finished the second paper for the class. For the first time in years I really struggled with getting the paper done. I just had so many things that I could have covered and had a hard time organizing them into a coherent paper. It took a lot of work to cut things out and still have it be understandable, clear and to a point. In the end, I’m not even sure that I was able to accomplish that. I’m just glad that I will be able to revise the paper and hand it in for a new grade. I just hope that I will be able to get the last paper done well. I have a little over a month left and I am really starting to feel the pressure.
Teeth by Hugh Gallagher
I have had this novel in my collection for sometime but, only recently decided to read it. It was an excellent book. It follows the life of a young writer who became quite well-known and famous in a circle of young adults in the alterantive sub-culture. The interesting thing is he is almost more famous for his teeth than he is for his writing. Actually a good amount of his writing does have to do with his teeth, so its almost interchangeable. He is well-known for his teeth because he has a mouth full of broken teeth he got after a interesting incedent in his senior year of high school.
The book is about him searching for where to go in life. After moving to New York and working for his favorite magazine, it folds, everybody else begins to move on to new endeavors in life, while he still does not know where to go. Somehow his mouth full of teeth always come back to be the center of attention. The writing was excellent and reading about the alternative scene brought back memories. The writer used a lot of disguised cultural references from the 90′s to bring you back to that time. My favorite are the band Rage Against the Chilli Pepper, the obvious stand in for MTV The Channel, the teen magazine Bop Cheeze , and the music festival Chockapolacka. Gallager was able to completely capture the music, mood, and characters of that time.
However, with all the cultural references, crazy plot lines, bizarre characters and the main characters plight into the real world, the part of this book that hit a soft spot with me was Neils teeth problems. Having recently lost my front tooth in a extremely stupid concert incedent I feel for him and the hardship he has to go through with concern over his teeth. Not having much money instead of simply going through everything at once and fixing his teeth as his dentist recommends he waits for them to fall apart one at a time. He then must suffer through dentist visit after visit of root canals and extractions. Though my ordeal is not as serious, I was able to easily empathise with him and his struggles.
