Calling An Audible, Upcoming Events

 

Calling an audible - To change plans at the last minute based on newly revealed information. (An expression I have mostly heard in wrestling).

When I have re-started the blog, the plan was a post on Monday, about whatever, and a post on Thursday or Friday, on my music picks (I think I'm migrating that to Thursday). The purpose of this was largely a mental health things as my brain will be happy I am doing some writing and the music episodes are fun puzzle to solve. Anyway, today's post was going to be about why I love wrestling but my music picks kind of took over. I decided that I needed to have a few of those posts in the bag in case something came up so I had this week's one in the can as it were. However, I realised over the weekend that this week sees The Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) so I wanted to mark it by having an "episode" on songs that had "moon" in the title. This was a pretty simple task. My policy is to pick songs on the theme that I actually like and getting ten was very easy for this topic. It was actually a lot of fun rediscovering songs and artists (a general comment I have on all the playlists). I have the playlist and post for that ready. My other policy is to listen to the playlist to see if the songs work and if they need to be shuffled around. I have done this but I think I'll do that a couple of more times this week. Problem solved: I simply move the other topic to the following week. Nope.

As part of my planning, I decided to have a running list of future episodes with maybe a few song suggestions to get my brain started on them. One topic I had in mind was science fiction and fantasy to commemorate Octocon. Over the weekend (again!!), I looked up the dates of the convention (it's 9th, 10th and 11th) and realised I needed to move back the one I had already planned again and create another new episode. The sci-fi / fantasy one was actually a little more tricky. As I have said, I want to pick songs I enjoy and not just pick ones that fit the theme. I picked a few that did but they kinda made fun of the topic so I dropped them (I may include one in an episode I am planning of songs that make the cut for the episodes I posted). Yeah. Episode Four ended up being tough but I think I have ended up with a fun and appropriately nostalgic episode. Of course, I need to listen to the playlist a few times before posting. I'm hoping the Octocon attendees get a kick out of it. In summery, working on the picks (and a thing for ICN) ate up my writing time and enthusiasm. 

Speaking of Octocon, I will be involved but I am not allowed to talk about it yet. They are all busy making sure that everybody and everything is in place before making announcements. I am pretty bummed that we won't be getting a physical convention. I know it can't be helped but I always enjoy meeting up with my convention buddies and talking about whatever comes to mind. I think I may write something about my involvement afterwards. I need to do a bit of research beforehand... I'll see you guys on Thursday for some moon music!

Personal Picks Episode Two - Super People And People

Someone shouts "Look up in the sky".

A man in a red cape flies overhead.

A young child looks up from his comic book to catch a glimpse.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome to this edition of Personal Picks where we celebrate the extraordinary and the ordinary. The super powered and the everyday people. I am hoping this week's list will lift you up while you walk around.

(You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

First up, Bonnie Tyler is holding out for a hero. He's gotta be strong, And he's gotta be fast. And he's gotta be fresh from a fight.

1. Holding Out For A Hero - Bonnie Tyler

2. Spider-man - The Ramones

3. Common People - William Shatner

4. Superman - R.E.M.

5. Partyman - Prince (from Batman (1989)) 

6. People - Gorillaz

7. Superman (It's Not Easy) - Five For Fighting

8. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - Sufjan Stevens

9. Normal Person - Arcade Fire

10. Superman Theme - John Williams

Well the Bat-signal is in the sky so that's my cue to leave. See you next time. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel. in the meantime, check out some radioactive reads and wonderful watches.

Recommended reading: All-Star Superman, Spidey, The Wren

Recommended viewing: Superman (1978), Spider-man: The Animated Series

Journey Planet 51 And Reflections On Writing

Journey Planet 51 was released in August and features my latest contribution to the magazine. However, I only noticed it was out in the last few days (Facebook never seems to show you the posts you need to see). Anyway, I thought I'd write about it and my writing, or lack thereof, in general. Working with Journey Planet came about through my friendship with James Bacon and the fact that he seems to enjoy my writing on Irish Comic News (I certainly enjoy his). With that in mind, the first subject was a great fit for me: an issue about Judge Dredd. James asked for a review of Michael Carroll's Judge Dredd story The Third Person. (Check out Journey Planet 39 to read that one. I'm pretty happy with it). Cut to a while later and James sent me on the topics for some upcoming issues. I reply with a few ideas, they were given the green light and I went about writing the first one. This ended up being If My Calculations Are Correct, The Fairy Tree Did It for their Magical Places issue (the aforementioned issue 51). It didn't take me more than a day or two and a few drafts to get it done. In completing that and working on some others, it made me realise some things about me as a writer: 1) I need a deadline and 2) I need limitations set down, be it subject or length or whatever. (Note: this causes a lot of downtime for Irish Comic News where I talk about what I want and have few deadlines)

Jump back to a few years to when the Comics Lab were doing regular meetings in the Liquor Rooms. For those unfamiliar with these meetings, they involved talks from creators, some creative games involving everyone in the audience (most if not all of the audience were creative types) and a chance to chat with new people. On one of these evenings, they announced that there would be a Comics Lab Anthology called Specimen. Each story would have some connection to that title and would be three pages long. With those limitations, my brain kicked into gear and I instantly came up with an idea. Over the years at conventions, and even more so at the Comics Lab, I had gotten to know writer / artist Brian Burke so I decided to ask him to draw my story. I dropped him a mail and, since he hadn't come up with an idea yet, we started working on my idea. Working with an artist meant, in my mind, creating harsh deadlines for myself. We went back and forth and pretty soon got it all worked out. It was so strange. Even though he had far more experience, he took all my ideas on board, while at the same time adding to them. We ended up not really even having a script. It was all in e-mails. So my first story was done and published... kinda. Our story appeared but my name did not. So if you have a copy of Specimen, mine is the one with Brian's name on it. The point of this story being that if I'm given constraints like the subject, story length or having to get ideas to the artist, my brain works better. This held water a couple of years later when I did a comic course. The result is I now have another story written that may see light if the right anthology shows up and I find the right artist. I'm pretty confident it is good as I got Hugo Boylan to have a look and he helped me polish it up. If you are looking for an editor, hire Hugo!

Back to the now. So, as I have said, Journey Planet 51 was about Magical Places. When I read the subject, I instantly thought of fairy trees. Growing up in Ireland, you would read the odd story about roads being diverted to accommodate them. Silly stuff? I'm not a superstitious guy but, on this particular thing, I would air on the side of caution. Maybe it's genetic or just deeply routed in the national (and my) psyche. Anyway, the story in the piece is true: I heard that DeLorean was brought down by a fairy tree and the story came from a tour bus driver. Upon reflection, I may have heard before but I can't be sure and I think the tour bus aspect is fun. Being a science fiction fan, I had to write about this story. So I did a bit of research on the DeLorean company and tried to find more online about the tree, and there was more. I'm actually a little proud of that story. It's fun and it fits in with the rest of the magazine. They picked some lovely photos for the issue and there's a nice picture of a faery tree for mine. I better go work on some more and maybe e-mail an artist on a story idea I have.

http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/journey-planet/journey-planet-51-magical-places