New Post

I spent a couple of hours yesterday adding and tweaking books on my GoodReads account. At first, when that sort of sank in, I thought, two hours?? Essentially databasing my books, and many of them comics/trades that I've read? But then I thought of how I went about it, drawing purchase locations and dates from memory until that was no longer an option, then skimming through my blog archives to find posts where I started with, "I just finished this great book today!" In a weird way, logging times and places, knowing that I bought George Lucas' Blockbusting at McNally Robinson Booksellers on boxing day, somehow that's important to me. Somehow, it's more than being pathological in the organization of 'my stuff' because by doing that, I'm ascribing a narrative to that book's place and time in my life. And when I'm done with it, I'll log the date completed and how many times I've read that particular book.

In a weird (and possibly sad) way, tracking my stuff is very much a part of the story of my life, just as I've found going back and skimming through blog posts here is. I used to poo-poo my efforts here, never quite knowing what I was trying to do with the blog, never quite achieving what I wanted to see with the blog, but looking back on it I've discovered that, since the beginning, I've logged a lot of moments in time, jotted down things that I had completely forgotten about until I started looking back, and left a digital trail of breadcrumbs, as it were, that I can always track back with. At least back to the inception of the blog.

I set out in the beginning to make this blog a personal journal but have spent the subsequent years trying to make it something else. Something popular, a place to express my views on pop culture, an outlet for my interviews, a production diary, you name it I've run the scenario, at least in my head if not in actual execution. What I didn't know until last night is that I succeeded. It is what I set out to make it. It is a journal, a chronology, an imprint of a certain part of the last few years of my life. It was interesting to look back on, and seeing how I've neglected it in the present, I'm hoping to step up the output a bit more and continue the process.

Cheers!

mike

What's Going On?

It's been a busy and somewhat hectic couple of months here at Jozic HQ. For starters, Jen has moved back from Regina (where she was working at the Provincial archives), my job has been downsized something awful, I've started the process of putting a business together with my brother, had some family health issues, and read and listened to a lot of really cool stuff.

Looking back on my TwitterFeed (yes, I really do have to look back to remember) the kids and I celebrated Groucho Marx's birthday on the 2nd of Oct. by watching A Night at the Opera and it was received very well by middle child, Kate. Emma had already seen it and Simon remains uninterested in anything B&W, so to hell with him. Anyway, Kate got a lot of the jokes, which is impressive considering how much of it is wordplay, and I've even caught her quoting lines every now and then. "And if not, I'll be back. And with squeaky shoes!"

The kids and I also finished Season 3 of Doctor Who and started the fourth, and final, Tenant series. We've been having a blast with these episodes and if I could just convince them to explore some Eighth Doctor goodness with me, that would make things just perfect. It's a work in progress, to say the least.

I debated on starting a Human Target podcast. Could be fun, but am I really committed to the idea? Give it some time to simmer a bit, I think.

I kinda went off on Steve Rude in 'his time of need' on Twitter. In fact, you probably can't even call it going off on him, since he probably doesn't know about it. Comics journalist Tom Spurgeon did reply with some commentary, trying to put some perspective on my irk, which prompted my Rude post a week ago, but I just received a print that I ordered from the Rude Dude store and it was in rough shape so I'm pissed off again.

Started up with Netflix, which has been a ton of fun. Lots of docs and foreign films I've been wanting to see. Watched some other stuff, too. Well worth the $8 CAN so far. I urge anyone who hasn't to try it out.

Everything kind of wraps up with Thanksgiving, some DVDs and BD's I've bought and watched, and that brings us up to the current situation.

So, with that, I'll take my leave. There are some things I'd like to post about and they're just itching to get out but for whatever reason, they're not there yet. As soon as they are, I'll be back here in a flash.

Toodles!

mike