I rebuilt the mailserver on bellerophon today. It sent out a bunch of ‘failed delivery’ messages based on comments made since I got the sever back up on its feet.
Do not be alarmed.
one of those days, or something.
As you may have noted, I am getting my steam up on ye olde alternative comix reviews.
But, alas, I got the call which indicates the end of funding for the reviews. Which is a drag. It’s not like the reviews pay well – they don’t – but they cover the cost of publication and almost the time investment for reading and writing them, and I’ve established sufficient credibility to make it relatively easy to get review copies from the burgeoning field of independent comics publishers.
So I have to figure out what’s next on that front. I imagine I’ll keep writing the reviews.
I also spent a pleasant half-hour on the phone with a reporter for one of the Seattle newspapers this afternoon. She was doing a story on online resumés and had come across my resumé site, and was curious about how effecive the site has been for me.
“Well,” I told her, “it was great, back in the day. But lately? Nothin’.”
I look forward to her story. Apparently, that little boost will be needed when I start looking for a job again. Not that I have any expectations of actually finding a job. I sent out ten or more resumés a week for more than a year, resulting in a grand total of three call-backs, two email enquiries, and two freelance jobs.
The dot-com bubble was so vast here that it’s actually still not done receding. Which means I’m bound for a couple more years of joblessness. Or a transition into midlife professional slackerdom.
Exhibit A? Writing comic book reviews at age 36 for no compensation.
Yes, leaving Seattle has come up, and Viv would like nothing better than to live within driving distance of her family; and what do I care? I mean, it’s not like I ever leave the freakin’ house.
Of course, I should really be applying to any grad school within arm’s reach, and I’d like to… but I have NO IDEA what I want to get a degree in, which makes entry fees, exams, and essays a mite tricky.
And my cat’s sick.
10k resolved
The screen shot was sent in by Pinax, of Goliard Dream. Interestingly, it’s clear that according to my logging software, Pinax was NOT the actual 10,000th visitor.
That honor goes to an anonymous person who arrived via Google while, yes, it’s true, looking for info on “The Fruit Detective,” a story that appeared in the New Yorker a ways back that I enjoyed reading enough to blog, and which is easily the most visited page on the site.
They stayed for a total of four seconds before figuring out that this was not their beautiful house.
Fortunately, my vague wording actually requested a screenshot, which Pinax was so kind as to send in, in order to qualify for the prizes!
Incedentally, this may solve the great multiple qualifiers mystery that’s long bedeviled one of my less-technical friends.
Pinax already telegraphed an interest in comics, but let’s get a clarification in the comments, shall we?
To review, three prizes were offered, one of whch was to be selected by the winner:
- Duplicates of comics in my files
- Computer junk
- Dot-com gimcracks
Weigh in!
The Golem's Mighty Swing
Originally posted November 11, 2002. Excerpted from Cinescape online. Click pic for full review.
Published last year and now in a second printing, James Sturm’s THE GOLEM’S MIGHTY SWING garnered critical attention outside the comics arena and in the light of Sturm’s upcoming gig scripting the FANTASTIC FOUR for Marvel in a series titled UNSTABLE MOLECULES, this book deserves a review.
THE GOLEM’S MIGHTY SWING is set in the 1920s and tells the story of an itinerant baseball team (think “Bingo Long And The Traveling All-Stars”) whose primary ethnicity is Jewish; the team takes their name from this and are known as the Stars of David. They are approached by a huckster to add a gimmick to their play: the only African-American member of the team might don a costume to emulate the appearance of the Golem in the silent movie of the same name, a current hit. He does, it’s an audience draw, and the team makes out – until they roll into Putnam. Things get ugly, but telling more would offer spoilers, so I shan’t.