ugh.

I have pages and pages and pages of Prince drawings. None of them look remotely like him.

I'll keep at it though, and it'll be up when its up. Promise.

As for next week? In honor of its 25th birthday, it'll be Purple Rain week! Oh man, this is going to be ridiculous. I'll be going through one of my favorite albums, song-by-song, as the week progresses.

Monday: That elusive Friday post, plus Let's Go Crazy & Take Me With U
Tuesday: The Beautiful Ones & Computer Blue
Wednesday: Darling Nikki & When Doves Cry
Thursday: Baby I'm A Star & I Would Die 4 U
Friday: PURPLE RAIN

Will that be too much Prince? Probably. Do I care? Hells no. Let's do it up!

shhhhh....

I'm going to sleep. New post after work tomorrow. What about? Well, I'm going to try and make you a Prince fan with five songs. We'll see how it goes.

"i know i need to be in love."

It's a simple fact: I am a hopeless romantic. I know that, just like Karen Carpenter, I need to be in love, but the problem is, when push comes to shove, I can never seem to do anything about it. Why?

To put it simply, fear. It's crippling, really. You know the saying, nothing ventured, nothing gained? Well, in my mind, it's always been nothing ventured, no chance for embarrassment. I'm often reminded of a line in a Billy Joel song:

"I really wish I was less of a thinking man/
And more a fool who's not afraid of rejection."

A thinking man. Always a thinking man. More often than not, an over-thinking man.

I could blame it on a lot of other things. For starters, I wasn't exactly much of a catch through elementary and most of high school. Also, it seemed that most of the girls I have been interested were already in relationships at the time. Sure, those may, to the observer, seem like valid points. They're not. I ain't copping out of this one. It's all on me.

So where do I go from here?

That's a very good question. I'm on a journey of self-improvement, really, and this, to me, is the biggest hurdle. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of my inadequacies, (real or perceived,) I'm afraid of pretty girls, but most importantly, I'm afraid of the unknown. I don't know HOW someone may react if I talk to them, and that scares the willies out of me. If I don't want to end up as the male equivalent of a cat lady, I'm going to have to make some changes, and g*ddammit, I'm ready to make them.

Let's do this.

(Oh, and if you're wondering who those girls are... good luck. You ain't getting nothin' out of me. Suffice to say, they're all real people, people who were, sadly, never more than friends or acquaintances.)

#0008

wednesday comics.

Mainstream superhero comics, I <3 you. I really, really do. I know it's been a while since we've seen each other, and that you may have done me wrong in the past, but I think I'm ready to give you another shot.

Our first encounter was a memorable one, to say the least. It was the ninth grade. I was in what was, at the time, my local comic shop, innocently perusing the shelves, when something caught my eye. It was THIS:



Astonishing X-Men 5. I had heard great things on the web, and the internet had never lied to me, so I decided to check it out. John Cassaday's art was stunning, and Joss Whedon's writing was equally stellar. (Yes, the Buffy guy.) Dammit, Comics, you had me at hello.

And thus began our three-year long love affair. A very EXPENSIVE love affair. Why did I give you up? As much as I hate to say it, money was a factor. At over $4 an issue, you were getting to be a very expensive habit, especially once I was following over 15 books a month. However, I'd be lying if I said that was all that did it. You did some pretty stupid things yourself, Comics. Some of your "summer blockbuster" crossovers were real disappointments. (I'm looking at you, Civil War.) Also, in all honesty, 95% of you was pretty darn stupid.

But my stars and garters, that 5%. When you were on, comics, you were ON. Runaways. Invincible. Seven Soldiers. Final Crisis. The aforementioned Astonishing X-Men. So much amazing. (Amazing that I'll probably talk about in further detail in the weeks to come.)

Really, Comics, you're a large part of why I'm at OCAD right now. That amazing 5% served as amazing inspiration, and for those three tumultuous years, I was surrounded by amazing illustrations. You may not be my career of choice, but you helped me get to where I am right now, and for that, I'll be eternally grateful.

And so, it is with some apprehension that I have decided to come back to you, Comics. Let's start fresh. You have some amazing stuff coming down the pipeline that I really want to be a part of. Morrison/Quitely on Batman and Robin, Kathryn Immonen on Runaways, and Wednesday Comics, the only book where I can find Paul Pope, Karl Kerschl, Brian Stelfreeze, Ryan Sook, Sean Galloway, Ben Caldwell and Amanda Conner in one place... EVERY WEEK! I don't think I can pass that up.

Oh, I can't quit you, babe. I guess I just had to put you down for a while.

#0007

lisa listen.

Those of you who know me well may know of my weakness for 90's pop music. Well, nowhere is this more apparent than in my love for Lisa Loeb.

Okay, so she's only a moderately successful singer-songwriter from the 90's, one who had about three hits at most. Sure, her career peaked over a decade ago. I don't care, because when I listen to "Stay (I Missed You)," all that seems to go away. Also, I have a HUGE crush on her. I think you'll understand after watching this:



After that, how could I not be head over heels?

"Stay" is, without a doubt, one of my favorite pop songs. Beautiful guitar riff. Heartbreaking yet cryptic lyrics. Structurally unique. So good. Because I loved it so very much, a few years ago I decided to give Tails, her debut album, a listen. It has become one of my top guilty pleasure albums, one that I put on when no one is listening.

Admittedly, there are a few clunkers on Tails. I could do without "Rose-Colored Times," "Waiting for Wednesday," or "Garden of Delights." It's all worth it though, especially when I hear a line like this one, off "Sandalwood."

"She can't tell me that all of the love songs have been written/
Because she's never been in love with you before."

SWOON.

Anyway, before I start falling over myself here, I'll leave you with "Taffy." It's an awesome song, and the video is also great, because it's so amazingly dated. Like a three-minute 90's time capsule, really. Enjoy. I'm going to go listen to Tails again.



#0006

da funk.

I'm nursing a serious case of the blahs right now.

Why? Who knows. Could be the recent reappearance of certain "things" in my life. Could be the disconnect that I'm feeling right now between my brain and my hands. Really, it could be any number of things. Maybe it's my embarrassment upon realizing that I haven't posted anything in over two weeks.

Actually, that's probably it right there.

Well, it's time to fix that. I'm going to try something new, something that will hopefully get me doing this a lot more often. I'm going to plan my subject matter out ahead of time. This week, this is how it's going to go down:

Tuesday - A certain bespectacled guilty pleasure of mine.
Wednesday - Comics et moi.
Thursday - Something personal, for once.
Friday - Something about Prince. (Really, I'm surprised it took me this long to get to this.)

So yeah. Now I have no excuse. I know what I have to do, you know what's coming, let's get this done.