All the cool kids are downloading these, you know

The fine folks in Dark Horse's internet department (I consider myself lucky that I was once among their number) have designed and posted a bunch of really nifty desktops for Gear School.

So, you know, if you want to show your undying allegiance to me get your Gear School geek on, you should definitely go here and get to downloadin'.

I currently have the image above adorning my very own computer screen.

Uncharacteristic Optimism

I occasionally get feelings out of no where. The sensation I most often feel is one of being thwarted. For no reason whatsoever, I feel as if someone is actively working against me. I couldn't tell you who, or in what capacity, but there it is.

Today I am feeling an odd coupling of optimism and as if I have pulled one over on someone. Like I'm totally getting away with something. Couldn't tell you what, but it feels good, really. And there are a few reason why these feelings are sort of odd. There's my last post; there's work, which for me personally is at a low ebb right now; there's the fact that my laptop died and that the data on its hard drive is most likely unrecoverable. All my writing and photos for the last year are now so many memories.

Though there are some reasons for the optimism, I guess: After nearly a month of waiting, a contract for "100 Girls book thing" has finally arrive. Once it's signed by everyone involved, I'll explicate. And the other 100 Girls thing is getting interesting. And Melissa's home once again. So, you know, things are looking up.

It's just uncharacteristic that I actually recognize that fact.

Damn

Scott Fuentes was a buddy of mine back in the old Dark Horse days, this was back in '92-'96. He was a designer there when I worked in the service bureau. he was a small guy who had this manic, somewhat menacing, energy about him. Like a pixie (bearing in mind that pixies and elves and fairies are all scary little folk in the original folk tales), but he was always quick to laugh if things were funny. We used to have conversations about movies and books and other things, too.

I remember him always being around in those days, the way all of us at Dark Horse were around all of the time; at parties; going out drinking; at work, of course. It seemed like I saw all of my coworkers seven days a week back then; an impression I'm sure is untrue, but there it is.

And, yeah, I'm speaking about Scott in the past tense. Last week Scott was in a single-car accident and he died. Apparently, he wasn't wearing his seat belt. Which is so sad and stupid it makes me furious. Furious the way you get with people who've died because they're no longer in your life and they're never coming back. I "found" Scott on myspace a while ago and kept telling myself that I'd contact him when things were less crazy. There's another brilliant plan that'll never come to fruition.

I have a friend, Bryan, and last Saturday night I got an email from him asking if I knew a Scott Fuentes who worked at DH. Bryan works in a funeral home and this kind of general question from him makes one suspicious. I even asked if his question was funeral-related. I remember that as I typed it, I felt uneasy. "Don't put a name to your troubles." When he got back to me, though, that was exactly what it was.

More than a few people very close to me have died in the last few years, and I'm not going to over-dramatize my relationship with Scott and say we were close. We weren't. We hadn't spoken in years, but it brought into sharp relief my tendency to leave things unsaid. Every one of those people who've exited my life should have heard me tell them things; things I was just too weak or afraid or selfish to say. I wish I could vow to be better about this. I wish I could say that from today on I will say all those things to my friends and family that I should, but I think I know better than to make those kinds of proclamations.

But I will try.

Here's to Scott Fuentes. I wish we'd had at least one more conversation.

Signing this Saturday

Repurposed from the Gear School blog:

Not Gear School related, but certainly me-centric, so I'm posting it. For those of you reading this in the Salem-or Portland, Oregon area, I'm doing a signing this weekend. Here's the info in a handy list:

* Tony's Kingdom of Comics
* 5420 River Rd
* Keizer, OR
* (503) 463-1142
* Saturday, August 25, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

I'll be signing copies my Star Wars book as well as 100 Girls. I'll also have a preview of Gear School with me. Randy Emberlin, he of Spider-Man, will also be signing and there'll be a barbeque and raffles and, oh, so many fun things to do!

Hope to see some of you there.

A note regarding the poster: I have no idea why the poster's designer saw fit to use a photo of me eating ice cream. Since, you know, there are so many of me frolicking with super-models to choose from. Just saying.

Cruisin'

A confluence of events reminded me of this song about a week ago and I immediately had to go to youtube and see if I could find it. God bless you, youtube. I've been watching this video nonstop and just bought the single from iTunes. You can count on seeing it on my end-of-year mix.

Ever since I was a kid, Mike Nesmith's career has interested me. I was a fan of The Monkees TV show, and his post-Monkees life has been interesting, too -- an innovator of music videos, he inspired the creation of MTV; he produced two of my favorite cult movies: Repo Man and Tape Heads; and he's made several successful solo recordings.

Here's to you, Mr. Nesmith.

Diary of Indignities

Patrick Hughes got his start at the brilliant, yes brilliant, Bad News Hughes. This book is a collection of the best of those blog entries with a few extras thrown in. Hughes documents the absurd, painful and humiliating episodes that seem to hound his life. The back cover describes the book as, "Whimsical stories of soul-melting shame," and that about covers it. It can be amazingly funny (I can't remember laughing out loud so much as I read a book), but be warned; it can also be extremely profane and crude. This book s seriously not for the faint of heart. But for all his bluster and bravado, Hughes always manages to give these stories a lot of heart and some of them can be heart-breakingly bitter-sweet. Don't let that wimpy last line lull you into a false sense of security, though, because the moment you start thinking he's a softy, Hughes will bring you back to reality with a story about something like frying a turd. And God bless him for it.

How things (barely) work

Found this on journalista today: Required reading for anyone who'd like to know how comics publishing works. Steven Grant's Master of the Obvious column has been running for years on CBR.com and it is never less than interesting. Mr. Grant has been writing comics for dog's years and so he knows of what he speaks (besides that, he's the author of one of my single favorite comics, the Kennedy-assassination themed Badlands). Read this entry and marvel (pun intended!) at how the comics industry manages to stay afloat.