"My whole creative endeavor..."

in
"But part of me thinks, They liked my last book. Hurray. Now we move on. That moving on will undoubtedly involve massive disappointment on the part of others. It never happens this way twice. In a way, I find that sort of freeing. My whole creative endeavor is the repudiation of my last work with the new one... Stop getting better? There's no excuse for that."

This has long been a favorite passage of mine from one of my favorite authors – and it’s particularly resonant this morning as I scratch my brain and bang my head against the desk on the new thing.

fri/20220819

in

60ºF, sun; a little fog: my back my back my fucking back, day five – but not quite as bad today so it's all about the little victories... like that I'm still in love with my Lamy Studio LX (the latest addition to my obsession with all-black fountain pens)... or that SHE-HULK is absolutely fantastic: Maslany is perfect and the feel of the show just works right out of the gate – and I agree: the world needs a Yelena / Jen buddy comedy ... freedom/release the from in-lawn, conflicted and triggered but yay – at least I don't have to pretend anymore... a couple more movie reviews / catalogings – Sam Fuller's HOUSE OF BAMBOO and Martin Campbell's THE PROTEGE – coming later today (trying to get in the habit of writing up a little thing about most everything I watch) or throughout the weekend; finished Koji Fukada's GIRL MISSING (also Criterion) yesterday – will add to the cataloging, along with Ellroy's WHITE JAZZ – though both require more percolation... the Onion unleashes a classic… the day awaits.

thu/20220818

in

59ºF, fog: day four of my back my back my fucking back (though cold is helping FAR more than heat this time out)... basement drying after ankle deep floodwater adventures at 2100 last night following a downpour interruption of POWERWASH SIMULATOR – yay for knowing where the blockage points of all the floor drains are and double yay for that dryer vent cleaner rod which is brilliant for all sorts of unclogging... I'm now a "professional" member (thank you, ComicStoryworld) of PEN America (so I've got that going for me, which is nice")... On DerbsBall has been updated to include video of a game in progress... in love with my new pen, a Lamy Studio LX; I think this is my Neo, I do, I do... the day awaits.

wed/20220817

in

62ºF, sun: welcome for it is day three of this particular cycle of my back my back my fucking back... note to self in WIP(s): "What does this want? Listen and stay out of its way"... an index card above the monitor: PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION... school year begins in full for K, this being day one with 75 new progeny of the teeming micropolitan masses, The Morkie being suitably morose – there will be protest floor urination (from The Morkie, not the progeny, though at this point in the anthropocene who knows), I'm certain of it... clearly what the world needs now are snakes with robotic legs - evolution happened for a reason, cue Jeff Goldblum (yawning and stepping forth from that killer transition in THE LOST WORLD)... PS on WESTWORLD review: Hale's human chair was the best thing all season and potentially in the whole series; dismayed that I've been unable to find a screencap for that one... ten years since Ecce Homo’s restoration - though if you've played HITMAN 3, you know it's actually in an underground rave club outside of Berlin... the DUCKTALES theme song is stuck in my head and now it's stuck in yours: this is my gift to you... the day awaits.

WESTWORLD, Season Four (2022)

in

(watched :: 20220629->0814): While cast members have discussed Season Five being WESTWORLD's last and Joy and Nolan have, apparently, yet to hear about a season five renewal (and given the current Warner-Discovery antics, who knows), I'd be fine with season four being the end – no "How's Annie? / "What year is this?" here: we're left with poignant goodbyes alongside tantilizingly open questions and, while one more trip to Sweetwater (this Leone / ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST fanatic will never tire of that particular homage – is WESTWORLD's Sweetwater the town that Brett McBain's dream would have become?) might provide some answers (a very big might – in Joy and Nolan I trust, sometimes), I'm unsure whether those answers are worth knowing given how deftly and beautifully team WESTWORLD traversed that razor's edge between open-ended finality and the promise of one last mystery.

tue/20220816

in

60ºF, cloudy: AC unit (success?)fully installed in K's room, duct tape improvisations seem to be holding... neckdeep in what is always a dodgy period of adjustment/reconciliation at the start of something new, an acclimation to the initial chaos of my process or what passes for it: my natural inclination being towards order and control (much to my chagrin) and thus an effort to if not embrace then at least accept said chaos (see sat/20220813 re: trusting / having faith in process which reminds me I do have more to say about that and the start of a piece on it somewhere) ensues... McFarlane SUPER POWERS remain MINE MINE MINE ALL MINE and the five year old me is ecstatic (note that they remain carded not because I want to cash out on them at some point but rather because I don't want to have to dust them (why waste a perfectly good protecting case?)... back to work then I’ll give a weighted vest a go on the day’s run… the day awaits..