It's been a while since we did one of these, hasn't it? So let's do this. What questions do you have about my favorite show and yours, Lost, now that the Final Season's upon us? Leave your question in the comment section and in my next post, I'll answer your questions to the best of my limited ability.
Remember: there's no such thing as a stupid question. Well, okay, there is, but I promise not to make fun of you too much if you should happen to ask one.
New word up at Best Mark My Words. The word is "sobriquet." It's French for nickname. Mine's all bouncy and fun, like a nickname should be:
Also, look at those other ones! They're freaking awesome! One of these weeks I will expose myself as the talentless charlatan that I am next to guys like this.
So Target had (has? I dunno. Check yr Target. Maybe they still have some.) a steal of a price on Beatles Rock Band the other day, so after some back and forth, Candace and I broke down and snatched it up. We'd been watching it for a while now and it finally went down to a reasonable price, so it came home with us the other day. It was pretty much the best decision ever. I mean, check these girls out?
A couple of weeks back, the indefatigable Rob Harrigan of Undercard Productions took a break from being awesome to invite me to be a contributor to his new weekly hand-lettering challenge blog, Best Mark My Words. I still can't believe he invited me to participate.
So yeah, every week we're given a word and have to hand-letter said word. The first rule of BMMW is that your word is hand-drawn. Other than that, it's pretty much open. Our first word was "gussy." Here's my entry:
To see the others for last week, go here. As you can see, it's a pretty fun thing and you'd have to be a fool not to add it to your reader. A fool, I say.
Like I said, this is all Rob. Go stop by (and follow) his blog; you won't regret it. And if you're in the market for some seriously great illustration, his wife, Stephanie Buscema, has a website and blog and a rocking Etsy shop.
Anyway, I'm out. I think there's a Curling match on tonight or something. I'm totally ga-ga for that sport right now.
It's true. I start full-time at a big advertising and design agency here in Vegas next Monday. We're really excited around here. It's been a crazy five months and it's good to have this settled so we can start feeling that much more solid here in Vegas. I'm a little nervous cuz, you know, new job, new co-workers, new environment, new clients, etc. It's like going to a new school only with less Trapper Keepers and hopefully nobody will stuff me into a locker.
So anyway, we're very happy and very grateful. Big thanks to all of you who sent kind words, sent e-mails to friends and contacts, said prayers on our behalf and just generally were awesome people. If we ever run into each other in real life, remind me to hug you. Cuz I will. I totally will.
Anyway, so this week's gonna be our last Goonie weekend before things get real again. If anybody wants to hang out, this would be the week to do it. But not too much, cuz I'm gonna try and fit all the Xbox I can into this next week, cuz who knows what the future holds?
Nobody, that's who.
So yeah, I got a job. Wheee!!! It was inevitable, really. I mean, who can resist a face like this:
Hey, Internet. Happy Valentine's Day. If you'll indulge me for a post, I'd like to talk a little bit about my Valentine. That's her in the picture. Isn't she pretty? Yeah, I know, she's totally out of my league, but I'm not complaining. Also, aren't my eyes squinty?
I won't bore you by rehashing the details of how we met and fell in love, but suffice it to say that it's pretty epic. Candace has her version of the story here, and you can read the true story here, if you'd like. The bottom line is: We met. We fell in love. We're living happily ever after.
I'm very grateful for Candace. I'm a weird, moody, nerdy, needy person and there are very few people in this world that I feel really "get" me and Candace is at the top of the list of those type of people. I can't believe that I found such a person, but here we are. Add to that the fact that she's fun, smart, creative, caring, supportive and willing to say hard things to make you better, well, you can see why I took advantage of her lapse in judgment and married her for time and eternity.
Also, she is awesome.
Like I said earlier, I'm a weird guy. I'm a romantic, but not in a "bouquet of roses," type of way. (Besides, we all know that roses smell like poo-poo-poo, right Outkast?) I'm more of a "I made you a mixtape," type. So excuse me if this goes right over your head, but I'd like to briefly share a song with you. It's called "Peephole," and it's the penultimate track off of Guided By Voices' excellent Bee Thousand album. It's a short song, less than a minute-and-a-half, but I think it's one of the most romantic things I've heard. It's one of those songs that, for me at least, captures what it means to really love somebody. Here are the lyrics:
Give me the cost of the albatross And wear it 'round your neck for size. Don't let it get you down, I'm looking inside your house And oh, and it smells so nice. Your house always looks so nice.
Maybe they're twice as high, laughing. Maybe the time is right, you know. Promise me not to leave. I'm looking inside your brain, And […], it's a cluttered mess. I love you, I must confess.
It's that last couplet that punches me in the gut. "I'm looking inside your brain and … it's a cluttered mess," followed by "I love you, I must confess." To look inside somebody and have them look inside you and see just how supremely crazy and messed-up and broken you are and to still have them love you despite - and maybe because of - all that debris, for me, that's love. That's real, true, abiding and everlasting love.
So, Candace, thanks for putting up with the mess that is my brain, the ball of crazy that is me. I love you like tons. Thanks for helping me straighten my brain up a little. Even if it's only a small corner of the place, it's progress, right? And besides, we have forever, you and me.
Happy Valentine's day, you modern lovers.
*******
Here's the track in question, if you want to listen to it:
February's mixtape! Did you think I was lying when I said I'd get it done? Well, here it is, because I don't lie, man:
This mix pretty much rocks. Harlem, TMBG, a Jens Lekman cover, the VU, Cake, Vampire Weekend, the Outsiders, Spoon and lots more.
01. "What's broken can always be fixed, and what's fixed can always be broken." 02. "I'm just as see-through as Casper the Ghost." 03. "And those golden faces are under 25." 04. "Hear me baby sayin' I'm comin' home." 05. "I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm. I am an actual worm. I live like a worm." 06. "A doctor said 'Your wounds!' and stitched up his broken ego." 07. "Love ain't far." 08. "Well, a lot of good cars are Japanese, but when we're driving far I need my baby here with me." 09. "Those victory laps and Sgt. Pepper tones." 10. "Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica." 11. "You were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use em all." 12. "This couldn't be more ghetto." 13. "And on the final day of our Eastern journey, we went and talked to a psychic attorney." 14. "Do the Twist & Stomp, the Mashed Potato, too. Any old dance that you wanna do." 15. "Read everything you can read and learn everything you can learn." 16. "I have my brown sound jacket, Queen of Call Collect on my arm." 17. "It is a shame, it is a pity when you can't raise the energy to get from A to B." 18. "No more cops left to mess you around, no more dreams of mystery chords." 19. "Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars? That ain't gonna help me at all. Not one tiny bit." 20. "So who's the people with the peepholes in their smiles?"
***
Download it here. The Master List is here and it's been updated for all recent Brigade member mixes, which, by the way, anybody else want to join?
The full text of Dylan Todd's State of the Dylan Address, as transcribed by the Basement of the House He's Living In:
Good evening, Madame Internet, eavesdropping security organizations, Google web-crawling robots and distinguished blog followers. We are gathered together tonight to discuss the state of the Dylan, as our Constitution - which I just wrote here on this napkin and, I gotta be honest, it pretty good stuff - states we must do from time to time. See, in a week, I will be having another birthday. I'll be turning 33. Treinta y tres, mi amigos.
Which, I mean, think about that. That's almost starting to get old. I mean, I'm old enough that bands I loved in high school (The Pixies! Pavement!) are having reunion tours. I'm old enough that I remember when Dennis Miller was incisive and relevant. I remember when Weezer wasn't a cuss word. I'm old enough to look at the prices of things and tell whatever kid happens to be walking by that when I was a kid, comics cost 75 cents. It's enough to make a fella take stock of what he's accomplished, what he's got going on and what he's working toward.
Okay, sounds fair. Let's do this.
First off, the elephant in the room: I have no job. I have no job during the worst economic environment since the Great Depression. I'm living with (pronounced: "leeching off of") family, in a basement, while I look for work after moving my family, quite suddenly, cross-country. Yaaaay! That said, we're in surprisingly good spirits and I'm supremely confident I'll find something and soon. I mean, not to be all conceited, but I'm good at what I do and I know I'll find a job that will be creatively satisfying and also help me support my family. If not, there's always my first love, the forgotten trade of competitive scrimshawing.
And I have a lot of things to be thankful for/proud of. I've graduated from college with pretty good grades, played in a band, hunted the mighty Yeti, married a great woman who is awesome and, man, I have a beautiful family. Seriously, I'm not sure how I lucked out with the pretty girls I'm surrounded by every day, but I'm glad I did. The other day I caught myself singing, unironically and loudly, the theme song to Growing Pains. Okay, maybe it was a little ironic and maybe it was "incredibly loud," as opposed to just "loudly," but still.
There's a lot to look forward to for Dylan. For example - and you'll find this either pathetic or endearing - Lost is back on TV for its last season and it's just as mind-blowingly rad as it is inscrutable. And there's also the Star Wars roleplaying group we're starting up again which I gotta admit, I'm pretty excited about. And I might start a band. We'll see. We're getting a new computer soon, so that's exciting. Oh! And dudes! I have an Xbox 360! And in May, Candace and I will celebrate 10 years - A DECADE, MAN - of marriage. I'm like the king of the World, A.K.A., this dude.
So that's where Dylan is right now. As you can see, I am pleased to report that the state of the Dylan is strong. Strong like ox. Thank you. And good night.
