One hopes it will see the light of day in the coming year.

The same day I talked to Todd I was reading some poems by Walt Whitman (yeah, I read poetry, wanna make something of it?) and I came across these lines:

And Whitman knew a thing or two about losing the day, you know?

I'm attempting a few things in the new year. I suppose I'll have more opportunities to succeed or fail. 

I know which I'm hoping for.

So I figured, Why not share the joy? Below you'll find another Warren Zevon video. This one is made by a fan and is a slide show of photos of Zevon from throughout his career. The song is Don't Let Us Get Sick, a song I can't seem to get out of my head lately. I find myself singing it to Oscar when I'm trying to get him to sleep. I am already saving for his future therapy bill.

Enjoy.

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity. (NB: until I get bored.)
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

Here are Karen's questions to me:

1. What was the best movie you saw this year?

Hands down,  the best movie I've seen so far this year was The Hurt Locker, Katherine Bigelow's film about a bomb disposal unit in Iraq. Beautifully acted, gorgeously shot and a powerful script. As near perfect a movie as I've seen in quite some time.

2. Who do you count as family that you're not actually related to?

A childhood friend with whom I grew up, Aaron Billingsley. No matter how long we go without contacting one another, we always fall back into a very easy relationship. In a lot of ways, my relationship with him is easier than my relationship with my actual family.

3. Who do you most admire?

That's a good question. I don't know if I have an answer. I'm afraid I'm too cynical to admire anyone, but if I can think of someone, I'll edit this post and add it. 

4. What's your wildest ambition?

That I might be able to support my family with my writing.

5. How have you been awesome lately?

I feel like I'm finally taking my life and my career seriously. 

I wear my influences on my sleeve. 

For now, I stumbled upon the site Quotes on Comics, which is exactly what you might imagine. Here's one of my favorites, and one that resonates for some reason:

"Breaking into comics is like breaking into a high-tech military compound. The first thing they do after discovering you got in is go seal up your entrance so no one can ever break in that way again."

Devin Grayson

There have been no updates for the simple fact that not much is happening. On the comics front, a lot of things have all simultaneously reached a point where they are out of my hands. They are either in the hands of others waiting to be read and commented on, or they are (in one case) in costing with a publisher. News on any and all of these will become public as the situation warrants. 

Having so many things in progress, I feel reluctant to start up any more comics projects. So how have I been spending my writing time. Working on a little something I'm calling Operation: YA. A projected YA novel of indeterminate length, I already have three chapters written and seem to be making okay progress. When I'm not writing blog posts or playing Lux Delux, that is.

I wanted to make one observation about YA novels in general. As I'm writing this thing, I have felt that maybe I'm going too far into the realm of the grown-up novel. Whether it be violence, language, what have you, there will be some things in there that will make me blush. When I feel like this, however, I have only to crack open a new, already published YA novel and have my fears dispelled. YA novels are a lot different than when I was a teen.

Profanity, violence, drug and alcohol use, sex. All of these seem to be fair game. And I don't want you to think that I'm complaining. I find it liberating. I think that it more accurately depicts the world in which teenagers find themselves. For better or worse, the world is not a brightly shining, antiseptic place and literature that shows that, and that shows it in a realistic manner, can only help its target audience navigate the world around them. 

To give you an idea of what I've been reading lately: I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusack, Feed by M. T. Anderson, Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, the Magic or Madness trilogy by Justine Larbelestier, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Each of these books are fairly unflinching in their portrayals of the lives of young people. And they're all excellent reads, too.

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking about lately. And working on. So you can stop wondering.

"All the single ladies... all the single ladies... all the single ladies... all the single ladies..."

See. I was doing it again!

You can see more of their videos on youtube and learn more about the band on their myspace page

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Read the full account here.

For now, maybe you'd like to go to amazon.com and peruse my fine selection of books?

*You being wowed is not guaranteed.