Feb16
As I sit here alone at Dragonfish, a swank sushi joint across from my hotel, I wonder how i'll act on my next visit. The fact that i'm thinking about it outside of the weird, geeky confines of my "internet time" definitely means that the site has hit a nerve - I certainly never think "this will be great on Facebook" and rarely think to update my twitter profile except when i'm bored (a fact made abundantly clear by my updates, i'm sure), but this one is different. It's got human-style interaction, sort of. It's got that anonymity that brings us back to the old days of the pre-commerce web. It's got erections.
Shitloads of erections.
enough bullshit - if you don't already know what i'm talking about, you should. The site in question is ChatRoulette, and it's amazing.
The thing about ChatRoulette is that it's weird. Really weird. There are quite a few erections on it, but that's not all there is. There's an amazing variety of people on here, probably averaging 25,000 at any given time. Tonight, I've seen military guys, couples, tons of asians, groups of people sitting around, parties, lots of creepy guys (I'm probably one of those, given that I'm old and alone on here), and even a few girls. The thing about it is that you can be anyone you want (like what you told yourself before you went off to college, only in 3-second bursts) - and people really are. Apparently, a lot of them want to be watched as they jack off. How are these folks so on top of things? Like, they're just waiting for new ways to expose themselves, and get the memo before the normal people do, somehow. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because you, too, can masturbate for strangers' amusement, too. You can also practice your one-liners, your funny faces or voices, your crazy lies - whatever you want, because you can't find those people again and they can't find you. Yet. Also, you've gotta do it quick, because the denizens of CR are fucking FAST on the "Next" button.
This post has already taken three sittings and two days to complete, partially because ChatRoulette is so ineffable. The other part is because I've been at work, but that shouldn't be an excuse. Anyway, check it out.
Feb12
Gaaaah!
Thanks, Google, for providing a new and convenient way to keep people from visiting my website. I really appreciate it. I do.
I understand that ad money is why everyone wants their servers to be the only ones I visit, but fuck off - I visit because you do one thing well. You don't do everything well, or even passably. Stop being a shitty piece of Windows software from the last decade that with every release did more and more things and became my default program for everything from opening .zip files to watching porn. No. Gmail is a handy and well-coded email app. It's passable as webmail gets, and a great secondary email option. Thanks. But no, I don't want to chat on your servers. And I certainly don't want to Facebook on your servers - I barely want to Facebook on Facebook's servers. And while we're at it, I don't want to email on Facebook's servers, especially not with the shitty, slow and buggy app that they have running. I don't want to chat on *your* servers, either. Thanks. I've been IMing since before you were born, and the other guys do it better. So stop.
Anyway, I'm not going to become some annoying ad guy being all "Check out my new post!" and then posting a link on facebook, twitter, Gmail picasa, flickr and friendster about it. I'm just going to write and assume that if you want to read it, you'll come read it. Of course, maybe that's why my readership is so low. Fuck advertising.
I'm not in a bad mood - honestly. I'm in fucking Hawaii - it's impossible to be in a bad mood here. Of course, I'm also working, so maybe I *am* in a bad mood. I dunno. At least it's Friday. Not that Friday means anything in the world of rock touring, but still, it's Friday. So enjoy it.
Feb09
So tomorrow morning I leave the hotel at 6am to make an 8:15 flight. Fun times. Okay, not fun times, but at least the destination is fun times, in theory. I'm off to Hawaii for the first time. I'll take a picture or two.
TIME PASSES
Okay. I'm in Honolulu, on Oahu. Or O'Ahu. I'm backstage again, and waiting for the show to start. We've had some rehearsals, but still haven't rehearsed a whole show, and there are songs in today's playlist that we haven't rehearsed. I mean, I haven't been involved in rehearsals, anyway. They've played all these songs a million times at least, so there's that.
I wish I could say that I'm taking advantage of Honolulu's various cultural attractions, but I'm totally not. I went to bed early last night, and will probably go to bed right after the show is over tonight. I don't know why I'm still tired after 10 hours of sleep last night, but I am. It's weak. And besides, what would I do if I went out? I don't know anyone here and I'm not picking up chicks, so.... Yeah. Of course, I've written zero screenplay pages thus far on this trip, so maybe I'll try that. It's impossible to do backstage, but maybe tonight before I sleep I can get an hour in.
Okay, time for the opening act to go on. Time for me to put in the earplugs and get in the zone.
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Feb08
I'm sittting backstage in Seattle, waiting on the band to take the stage. I'm in a high-traffic area, sadly, so it's far from a relaxing atmosphere, but at least I'll be rocking out soon.
If you browse logged in (and you totally should), you'll see the photobucket rotator on the right just above this post, and that's what'll be updating the most overall - I can upload straight from my phone there, and it'll be online immediately. If you mouse over it, you'll get controls, but the photos rotate by themselves.
I'll also upload more pictures later, but I don't know when, as I don't have internet available in my room. That's good because I won't have distractions when i try to write (if I try to write), but it's bad because how can I surf for porn if I have no connection to the web? Surfing for porn is the best part of the internet, afterall.
Overall, the room is much les awesome than the place in Vegas, despite being more nicely-appointed. No kitchen, no washer/dryer, no internet, no balcony... how am I going to clean my clothes and eat? I'll really need to use the per diem wisely if I'm going to make money on this tour. I also have to buy a bunch of prompter shit, probably, although I do feel well-prepared for this trip in general.
Anyway, keep an eye on that mini rotator - photos of Hawaii are going to be on there soon.
Feb04
 Remember Venture?
I do, and this morning I came across this, the unfinished cover page for the fourth issue. One thing about the comic is that you can never fault me for being on the cutting edge of comics - this was cheesy and slow, and less well-considered than I thought it was at the time. Granted, it was 11 or 12 years ago and I hadn't done that much writing, but I also haven't taken classes or read many writing books since then, so it's not like I'm better now.
That's a lesson to take forward as I work on the sci-fi script over the next few weeks - I suck way more than I think I do in the moment. Remembering that will help me go back and edit, change, cut and morph the first draft. Do most writers have a more objective take on their work? Maybe, but objectivity is rare. Maybe some of the better re-writers just assume that they suck regardless, making it easier to go back and re-write their way out of suckiness.
It's also interesting (to me) to go back and look at the superhero-style worlds I've created over the years. The one through-line that I can find is that they're all worlds where people with super powers are known about and accepted, at least to some extent. Like, my main characters have normal lives as super heroes (penthouse apartments, whatever), and then have a fall from grace. Rodric, for example, had a fall from grace where he lost his powers and pulled out of the spotlight entirely - affecting a perfect disappearance. My script character beat the last super-villain, which dropped him out of the limelight.
Anyway, enjoy Krol's work here - it's pretty rad. Larger version of the cover image and a copy of a sketch that I also have in the V4 folder follow the break.
Read more...
Feb02
 But I'm leaving again on Sunday, probably.
Vegas was pretty good, if entirely too long, and not quite productive enough for me. I worked too little and drank too much. Fortunately, I'll have the opportunity to remedy that problem starting next week when I go to Seattle to work with Bon Jovi. The details are still settling, so there will be more news as it comes, but it's pretty exciting even though the timing is not the greatest
What else?
I'm trying to use Outlook Lists for the first time, which is cool, I guess. I'm hoping it'll give a boost to things that I need to do if I can glance at a running list whenever I'm at a loss. The trick is going to be to keep the list from getting full of multi-step things (like "get rich" or whatever) and stay focused on single-action things like errands and individual work action-items.
This is the lamest post in the history of posts - I know, because I'm making (and reading) it. I'll spice it up by telling you that Vegas showgirls aren't at all the glamorous creatures they seem to be from afar - they're just regular chicks in their 20s who tend to move their limbs and bend in unexpected ways. I'll also tell you that UNLV doesn't have a huge campus, but it does have a nice Coffee Bean.
Okay, I'm off to bang out a proposal and get some computer work done. Fuckin' fun times.
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