Turn out the lights as you go...

And that's a wrap!

As of today (February 10th, 2008), I'm officially closing the doors in terms of updating this blog. I maintain a comic book website (Comic Related) and within that's site's very active forum, I recently added a blog feature. I've restarted Chuck's Place (which saw it's birth here) within that site. If you enjoyed what you've read here and follow the world of comics and sequential art, I invite you to continue following my daily ramblings there.

Daily? Yes, for the last 11 days I've been posting there at least once every 24 hours. As it's integrated with a site I basically live on updating multiple times a day, it's just easier to stay focused on blogging while there.

Please feel free to visit the new Chuck's Place here.

Punk: Attitude

Interested in checking out a solid little documentary? I highly recommend Don Letts film Punk: Attitude. I've seen it four or five times and ran into it again this evening on IFC.

Anytime I stumble across it, I end up watching it. This film is like comfort food to me. It's like bumping into unexpected friends at a great bar you haven't been to in a couple years and having a band you've never heard ake the stage just as the conversation hits a lull. As I watch, I'm reminded of the scent of beer on a hardwood floor and cigarette smoke in the air. Nice!

I think I could listen to Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, John Cale and Legs McNeil talk all day (pretty much in that order).

Side note... If I were back against the wall and asked to identify one celebrity I feel truly akin to politically, it would be Henry Rollins. Without a moment's hesitation, this man has it right and his spoken word shows are second to none.

This film, in addition to being basically fun and incredibly interesting, shares amazing interview quotes, a perfect line-up of creators (though I note that Steve Albini and Big Black are missing) and proves a solid music history introduction for the uninitiated. So much of today's good music owes aspects of it's sound, drive and creative energy to this period of music history. Besides, how can you not love a film that opens with these words by Henry Rollins...

All you need is one guy or girl to stand up and say fuck this and everyone goes "voice of a generation, thank you, I've been thinking that, I never had the guts to stand up and say it". And all of the sudden fuck this has a back beat. You know, like John Lennon always said, "say what you mean, mean what you say, put a beat to it, go!"

Writer's Strike

Honestly, the future of television programming looks bleak. Okay, I'll say it. Sorry you network execs, but you suck! It's true. I stand by those two words and here's why...

First, I fault you for not giving writers their fair share during the current strike. Next, I fault you for reality television. These two faults are directly related as Cops and America's Most Wanted (the original reality venues) grew out of the previous strike of the 70's. In today's current strike, you are quite literally denying people food on the table and a mortgage payment in the dead of winter for pennies on the dvd or download.

I also take issue with your approach to the writers of reality television. I don't care what you say, reality television is in one form or another scripted. We all know it and those "producers" deserve to be called, credited and paid for the job they are doing. They are writers.

As the strike continues, you're throwing away quality scripted programming for more episodes of Dancing With The Yahoos, Skating With the Simpletons or American Idon'treallycare (my names for these shows) . I get that a 5th grade may know more facts than I do and if that's true I don't really want to have it rubbed in my face on a weekly basis. I honestly couldn't care less what's in briefcase number three and, unless you're talking about my monthly paycheck, you can tuck the power of 10 back in the programming closet because it's meaningless to my life.

Also, on the flip side of the coin, if this strike ends up killing Joss Whedon's new series Dollhouse, I may just burn my television.

Getting off the soap box and settling into a bit more serious topic, people sometimes see this strike as the rich quibbling with the rich. That couldn't be further from the truth. These aren't the multimillionaire media moguls who are being hurt. These are paycheck to paycheck creative writers and their families who already live a life dependent on finding the next great idea. That's not an easy profession to begin with. Now, for a simple monetary point that should be a given in my eye, they don't even have the ability to try and sell that good idea to support their family. It's a new low in my book and I lay blame squarely on the backs of greed found at the network executive level. Give these people what they are due!

I refuse to watch a slew of new reality programming or games shows. Thankfully, my wife Katie never got the chance to watch X-Files when it first ran and TNT was good enough to start rerunning the series from the start at the top of the year. My television is squarely tuned to retro TV each evening. When not doing website updates or watching quality series from years past, I'm opting to read my way through the strike grabbing books, comics and graphic novels I've always wanted to check out (both old and new). I'm voting with my pocket book and I sincerely hope ratings for the networks (and the sale of ads to their sponsors) are impacted in the days and weeks ahead.

Support creativity! Support the writer's strike!

Why do a blog?

This has kind of become a blog on a quest for a reason to exist.

I’ve talked a bit about music. I’ve talked a bit about politics. I’ve covered some news I found interesting. I’ve even told you a few personal stories and quoted a few people I enjoy. What I haven’t found is the actual course I want to chart with this space on the internet and I believe every space should have a reason to exist.

For the life of me, I’m not sure what that reason should be as I’m not particularly famous and I’m not always particularly interesting (though I can be when called upon). If I were to chart my life here it would read very much the same each day. Work at the University of Kentucky and update a website focused on comic books.

My wife blogs about her life a little and covers her daily work with horses which is a great topic for her. She’s building a following on the internet in her own right. Over on my main website dedicated to comics, it's getting quite a good following. Writing for the sake of simply writing just doesn’t seem enough to justify a blog in today's cluttered internet.

Taking stock and looking for a topic or a point, I guess I have lived a lot of life in my time so far…

I’ve had lunch with Frank Miller and I’ve drank at a bar with Ice-T. I’ve shaken both the hand of David Hasselhoff as he filmed Knight Rider and Nelson Mandela as he exited a hotel in Washington, DC. I’ve walked the trails of Mount Rainier outside Seattle touching snow at the base of its peaks (pictured above, it might just be my favorite spot on this planet).

I’ve slept in the hotel where a would be assassin tried to kill then President Ronald Regan more times than I can count. I've walked the halls of the Watergate Hotel. I've sat in on congress as reproductive rights legislation was argued and I saw the Pentagon just days after the plane took down its walls.

I listened to amazing music in New Orleans just before Katrina hit and in Memphis well after the days of Elvis were done. I’ve swam in every ocean that borders our fine country and watched a different times legends such as BB King, Lou Reed and Dr. John play before packed halls.

I’ve been on the set as movies were filmed. I’ve joked around with Dee Dee Ramone and Ace Fraley in the World Trade Center before it fell and hung out with the Pixies backstage during their first round as a band. I organized concerts for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Violent Femmes. I’ve checked ID’s at a night club door while still only eighteen. I’ve introduced battles of the bands and organized many smaller shows for clubs. I’ve even taken in a drag show laughing at the humor of Miss Raven in Atlanta with some friends who are no longer with us today.

I was there on the front lawn of the White House when Bill Clinton took his first oath of office as President and stood in Florida as EPCOT Center was in its first few weeks of existence. I’ve watched with pride as my mother charted political campaigns in Ohio and watched candidates I support loose more times than they’ve won.

I’ve joked at funerals, ridiculed weddings, celebrated losses and cried at births.

I was sitting in front of a television watching as MTv went on the air, the bands took the stage for Live Aid, the Challenger explored and the World Trade Center fell.

I’ve owned and run seven comic book stores and given away X-Men #1 twice. I’ve read more comics than most and fewer than some. I’ve been a gamer geek and told a lot of stories about superheroes over the years. I’ve debated the physics of a broadsword on more than one occasion and made some great friendships.

I’ve managed a radio station and even hosted my own radio show (the Hammer Party) for a time. I’ve played music on the radio by bands no one has ever heard of both in the night and during the day. At one point, I had an on-air shift that followed Ashley Judd and I will forever lament the last show of the Resurrected Bloated Floaters.

I’ve walked the streets of more than a few cities at 3AM and rode the subways of New York long past the point of safety and long after the bars had closed. I’ve traveled to almost every state in the US (excluding Hawaii) and I’ve swayed to the sound of the Butthole Surfers as the strobe lights raged at a New York club called The World while a riot engulfed the streets of Alphabet City.

I’ve worked in sports promotion and I’ve been part of a merry group of travelers who supported the sport of powerboat and unlimited hydroplane racing giving me that feeling of running off and joining the circus. I’ve seen a boat go well over 200 mph on the water throwing a ton of water in the air and ridden in one that took me through a 90 degree turn just after hitting 100 mph. I’ve eaten pancakes with the fine people of Saskatoon, I’ve rolled with the punches in Bay City even stumbling upon an unexpected street concert by Cheap Trick.

I’ve seen powerboats hung from billboards in Florida by accident, shared a meal with the legendary Seebold family, heard tales of testing Mercury engines on Lake X, watched as boats almost flew into crowds during exhibition runs and heard tell of one boat that was actually lost in a rainstorm while driving cross country. I’ve taken photographs of these fine crafts which have been seen on the web, in magazines and even on t-shirts and been heralded with awards for my work.

One foggy morning I watched as a friend died during a testing session in San Diego (fare the well George Stratton) and seen more than a few people injured pursing a sport they loved. I’ve attended functions with August Bush IV, COE of Budweiser, more than once and I’ve worked to support the series both while drunk and while so tired I could barely stand.

I’ve been lucky enough to have a father who laid out the map of the United States at the end of a school year and asked time and again in all sincerity… “Where do you want to go?” I’ve also been lucky enough to have a mother who made sure I had the support needed to get me there.

I’ve watched the sun set on the streets of Anchorage, Alaska at 11 PM at night and spotted a moose walking through those same downtown area well past midnight. I’ve raised horses and been a bit of a farmer (though my wife does more work than me). I’ve traveled cross-country by car more than once. I’ve flown cross-country more times than I can count even taking to the air the day the skies reopened after 9-11.

I’ve beat the house in Vegas and lost my shirt once or twice. I play blackjack with a legend coaching me and met a dealer who had worked the same table since before I was born. I fell in love with that city, not for it's lights and excitement but for the ghost of its past and the mystique of what it once was.

I know the love an amazing woman who has proven herself to be the greatest thing I’ve every known. I am happy in ways no man should be and driven to do more with each 24 hours than anyone expects. Those same hours always seem to fade away quicker than they should. I never feel like I’ve done enough but then I see how a man like Leonard Cohen can take a year to write a single song that just might change the world and I’m reminded I might be doing more than I should.

Why do a blog?

I don’t have that answer yet, but I know I want to write and I know the answer will come. I’ll find a purpose for writing one day soon. Until that time, I’ll just write. Read if you wish… I’ll try and keep it interesting.

Quoting Cohen

I said to Hank Williams...
How lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the tower of song

- Leonard Cohen, Tower of Song, 1988

Looking back on New Hampshire

What a funny dynamic… For Iowa I called the unexpected Clinton upset perfectly. In New Hampshire I relied on the polls more than my gut and didn’t see the Clinton resurgence coming. Not even a little…

You have to hand it to Clinton for turning a campaign that had the ill taste of a Washington insider around in just four days. I know some would say it all changed in one tearful moment heard ‘round the world. They might not be that far off. Personally, I think the truth goes a little deeper than that moment as there was already a concentrated effort by the Clinton campaign to change the tone of the message prior to the unveiling of her personal side.

For the record, I believe that the tear moment was a very honest moment from a very tired candidate. I respect that any candidate in today’s political grindhouse can let down their guard, even for just a moment. It resonated with me as it did for so many others. Enough to sway a vote? No. Enough to get me to listen? Yes.

I think the day the word “experience” started to become a dirty word (aren’t these strange times?) and “change” become the phrase littered into ever sentence of every speech, Clinton wisely shifted her tone expanding beyond the standard Democrat base toward a younger vote. She began enlisting the aid of her daughter in bridging that occasionally slight generation gap and it had an under current that eventually swelled to a brief call to arms for interpersonal politics. It worked with the voters.

Me? I didn’t see it coming for her. Not even a little…

Her connection to young women voters in New Hampshire was pretty staggering. It’s amazing how differently she’s now viewed as a candidate this week. I would love to compare her coverage this week to tape of the discussions prior to the primary.

In terms of my failure to call the Democrat race, at least I’m in good company, pendent-wise. Everyone seemed to blow that one, but it really didn’t help that the last serious poll numbers came in about an hour before Clinton’s now hallowed “choked up” moment. I would speculate on how different the numbers could have been but I guess we got those poll results in real time the next day as the actual primary took place.

This time it was the Republican story that I hit correctly predicting McCain, Romney and Huckabee, 1.. 2.. 3.. This isn’t as impressive as my Democrat picks for Iowa but I’ll take ‘em where I can get ‘em.

Now as we look ahead, I lament the fact that my home state, Kentucky, doesn’t have a voice in this primary process. As we don’t get to vote until May 20^th, I’m betting most of the fun will be over by that point and we’ll have set our respective candidates. Do I have a firm candidate who I’m certain I would vote for if the primary were held here tomorrow? Nope, not even a little…

Count me as undecided. Also, count me as enjoying the election fun!

New Hampshire Primary Predictions

Here are my predictions for tomorrow's New Hampshire Primary.

On the Democrat side...
1) O'Bama
2) Clinton
3) Edwards

On the Republican side...
1) McCain
2) Romney
3) Huckabee

On the Democrat side, this feels like much more of a lock than Iowa.

I'm a bit more shaky on the Republican side as I feel Giuliani might find some unexpected support even though he basically ignored the state. I don't think Huckabee has the religious base to pull in the numbers in New Hampshire which also may feed into some Giuliani come-from-behind fun.

Switching to the front two, I know the final poll numbers had Romney pulling back into the race with McCain but I think McCain will hold off for the victory. He has such solid momentum at this stage in the game plus Romney seems unable to overcome the well earned impression that he changes his stance on an issue to meet the whim of the moment.

Iowa Caucus Results

I didn't do half bad (or actually I guess you could say I did half bad). Half full, half empty... It's all in how you look at it.

In terms of yesterday's predictions, I flat out nailed the Democrat results calling that trifecta perfectly. That said, I kind of blew it on the Republican side. I guess that shows which contest I'm actually watching like a hawk.

I was pleased to see both Edwards and O'Bama finish so strong. I really don't have a personal choice yet out of the big three in terms of who I would like to see as the front runner for the party, but I do know I don't want Edwards out of the race. O'Bama and Edwards speeches last night were solid and persuasive. My wife was especially taken with Edwards approach to the issues (which isn't new, but was laid out well last night). Clinton's speech struck me as just a bit weaker. Her "it's a good night for Democrats" pitch and the recurring allusions to "I'm above the fold" are wearing a little thin for this voter.

Particularly interesting on the Democrat side was the support of women voters that swung to O'Bama rather than Clinton. Also the age demographics and the fact that O'Bama scored well with younger rather than older voters is worth noting.

On the Republican side, I clearly underestimated the impact religion would play in Iowa. I don't see Huckabee repeating the success in New Hampshire as it's a very different audience, but you know I didn't see him overtaking Romney's get out the vote efforts last night. Fred Thompson was a bit of surprise. I've been writing him off as generally too apathetic around the edges to be a legitimate candidate, but I'll have to reassess a little. I think the desire for change in Washington played more of a role in McCain's fourth place finish than Thompson's campaign efforts to date.

Iowa Caucus Predictions

Here are my predictions for today's Iowa Caucuses.

On the Democrat side...
1) O'Bama
2) Edwards
3) Clinton

On the Republican side...
1) Romney
2) Huckabee
3) McCain

We'll see what the day brings. I base my guesses on the "second choice" impact of Democratic caucusing in Iowa and strong organizational efforts. I think the "second choice" pickup will work heavily in O'Bama's favor and I believe the strong organizational ground campaigns of Romney and Edwards will lead to their showing well. I could be completely wrong on the Clinton upset, but I think Iowa's heavy independent lean will be hard for her to overcome in this first contest. New Hampshire should play very differently, but I'm interested to see what the day brings.

Happy Holidays

Illustration by Frank Daenen