personal

In too Veep

A quiet day, mostly working on a little of this, a little of that, getting ready for my work trip to Maryland next week.

This evening, I watched the Vice Presidential debate, a much more spirited event than the previous presidential one. I’ve made no attempt to hide who I’ll likely be voting for next month. Some of the bloom is off the Obama rose for me, though mostly for policies like drone attacks and not the things that seem to have the Republicans all flustered. But, unlike the Republicans, I feel like Obama’s at least operating from a point of reality and that he acknowledges, as Joe Biden did this evening, that “facts matter.”

If you want more analysis than that, more political thought from me, you can always check out my Twitter feed. Right now, though, I’m going to bed. Ninety minutes of that was kind of exhausting.

Comic sans

We had a brown bag lunch today at work, about the business side of comics, with an executive (and friend of one of our editors) from DC Entertainment. It wasn’t bad, and there was a free lunch and some free comics.

Which means I’m finally getting to read some of Before Watchmen, a project I’ve been really dubious about and hesitant to support with my money. DC’s been taking a lot of flack lately for the way it does or does not treat its creative talent, and I think here it may actually be justified. Watchmen, quite honestly, isn’t a story that called out to prequelized. (And I say that as someone not wholly opposed to adaptations, as someone who actually quite enjoyed the movie version.) And what I read over my free sandwich of J. Michael Straczynski’s Dr. Manhattan doesn’t lead me to re-think my earlier position.

But then again, I’m not lock-step with popular comics opinion. I was pretty much starting to hate The Walking Dead after just twelve issues.

Most of this didn’t come up during the talk, although our speaker clearly was coming at comics from a business perspective. (He doesn’t read them himself, eagerly referred to them as IP, or intellectual property, but seemed like a decent guy.) Most of it was, like I said, about the business — and whether or not comics is a serious business. (Short answer: Yes. Follow-up question: we’re still asking this?)

It was a nice way to break up the workday, if nothing else. And even if Straczynski’s take on Alan Moore looks painfully inessential…well, some of the other issues I picked up might be good. Although I think some of the series may have already been cancelled…

For real fall?

I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed a pair of cold and dreary days as much as I have the past two. This weather is just such a welcome relief from the summer that would not end and that (hopefully last) stab of heat and humidity that attacked us last week. I actually would have been uncomfortable without a jacket today, which was so nice. It might be a fake fall, colder temperatures just because of the cloudy skies and yesterday’s rain. But temperatures are predicted to stay in the 50s and 60s for the rest of the week, so I’m hopeful that autumn has finally and genuinely arrived.

Meanwhile, lots happening at work, as I scramble to schedule more appointments for my trip next week to Maryland. I’ve been tasked with going to two schools instead of just one, which isn’t such a big deal, even if it does mean another day out of the office and another night on my sister’s couch. There are a lot of schools in Maryland. But getting instructors to meet with you…well, that can be tricky. But I’m still trying.

Not a sunny Sunday

Today was cold and wet and nasty…and I couldn’t be happier about that.

I was able to turn the air conditioner off today and act like it’s actually fall. I spent the time, inside because of the rain, doing the crossword puzzle, watching the latest episode of Supernatural, and sending out a hundred or so rejection letter e-mails for Kaleidotrope.

That last isn’t much fun, though. It turns the crushing of some poor writer’s dream — or at least hope — and turns it into soul-crushing tedium. I try not to send out form letters — try to give people some kind of constructive feedback, since I think that benefits us both — and when there are more than a hundred of those, and even when it’s not a lot of individualized feedback, it eat up the hours. And I still have some 200+ submissions to get through.

At least I’m closed to new submissions until January. (I’m making an exception for art, of which I have run out.)

Anyway, no long weekend for me, and the temperatures are predicted to rise back up into the 60s during the week. But I’m hopeful that we’ll get at least a little bit of fall before the first big snow storm.

Movie sign

Last night I watched Dr. No. Tonight, I watched From Russia With Love. (I recently bought — well, bought months ago, but it only recently arrived — the 50th anniversary James Bond Blu-Ray set.) And this morning, I went to see Looper, which I really liked.

Beyond that, and reading some Kaleidotrope submissions — I’ve mentioned that the new issue of the zine is up, right? And that you should visit it? — it was a pleasantly uneventful day.