A Firey Retreat From The Stars

It struck me, while doing research for this io9 post, that my youth was filled with really, really bad American sitcoms. Not just the traditional Saved By The Bell - although I watched that and the New Class and College Years spin-offs, all of which ran on Sunday mornings at 9am on Channel 4 and [...]

The Stories I Never Tell, Part 23

I am, again, crushed by deadlines, and in lieu of new content, thought I could share something that has languished in my “Maybe one day, if it’s good” files for more than two years, now. These are - despite appearances otherwise - quick notes to myself that I wrote after thinking about children’s fiction and [...]

I Lost My Faith In The Summer Time

The news that Noel Gallagher has, apparently, quit Oasis makes me feel both sad and curiously nostalgic. Oasis have never been my favorite band, but they’re a band that I have a curious love for that’s as born of the fact that they were so omnipresent during a specific part of my life as it [...]

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Hello?

If I am ever captured, for some currently unknown reason, by some currently unknown parties, and it is decided, for yet more currently unknown reasons, that I have to be interrogated and put through some unspeakably cruel psychological torture, then one thing about that whole scenario is known to me: Exactly what form the torture [...]

The Forest, The Trees

Call me an only-partially reformed shitstirrer if you must, but with the news of Ted Kennedy’s death, I found myself looking at right wing political blogs to see how they reported the story. Michelle Malkin was respectful:
The U.S. Senator from Massachusetts succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 77 tonight. Put aside your ideological [...]

I Had A Dream, Last Night, And You Were In It

It was the first time I was in Portland, years ago, and it was New Year. I can’t really remember what New Year it was; 2006? Who knows. All I remember is the dream, but even as I write that, I know it’s not true. What I really remember was waking up after the dream [...]

Marriage Counseling, Marvel-Style

Introducing the best argument for Marvel Comics having ceased to do romance comics by 1987: The unedited subplot pages from Amazing Spider-Man #275:

Oh, comics. When will I ever tire of your ability to handle complex issues in a complex manner?

Eyes Bigger Than My Stomach

I am not, if truth be told, a big eater. It’s somewhat of a running joke, my limited palette and the foods that I have some entirely random and inexplainable dislike for (For example: Rice. As many have asked me in exasperation, who doesn’t like rice? The answer, it seems, is me and me alone, [...]

Where Am I? Why Do I Feel This Way?

And this one is for Sterling Gates.
When I was fourteen or so, Jesus Jones seemed like the coolest band in the world. Admitting this now, to be honest, feels more than slightly embarrassing, because looking up their old songs and videos on YouTube reveals that the opposite is actually much more the case:

Oh, this sincerity! [...]

Lost En Route to San Diego

(While I spend this weekend writing the new Onomatoepeia, here’s last month’s.)
As I type this, I am ignoring the warning being delivered - in an entirely bored and unconvincing manner - by an air stewardess, telling us that the fasten seatbelt signs are no longer illuminated despite the fact that her announcement was interrupted by [...]