This charming man, Jason McGuire

"Do you go everywhere 10 times?"

"You're the most drinkin'est gal I know!"

Back in the 80s when my brother & I were teenagers we went through a John Waters phase. We rented & watched all the John Waters movies we could get our hands on back then (although there are still some that I haven't seen.) A particular favourite of ours was "Polyester". Although we only watched it once, there were so many quotes & moments that made their way into our daily little vernacular and running jokes. I just re-watched "Polyester" for a 2nd time, and was reminded of so many golden moments. (And only now was I able to, er... "enjoy" Odorama, since the copy we rented back then didn't have the Odorama card.)



Oh "purr, purr Francine" (Divine, doing the best Elizabeth Taylor-esque performance of her career) and the one & only Edith Massey as Cuddles (the definite show stealer!) And I'd forgotten how skinny & ineffectual that "tough" Bo-Bo was! Here are a few of my favourite quotes from this classic. These are words to live by!

***

"Children would only get in the way of our erotic lifestyle!" (Sandra Sullivan)



"Oh Heintz, she's straight from the gutter!"
"A sporting girl, I would imagine."
"A fille de joie."
"It saddens me that you have to see anything this common, madame."
"Purr Francince! Purr purr Francine!"
(Cuddles Kovinsky & Heintz the chaffeur)



"Don't you know it's bad luck to let retards in your home?" (La Rue)


"At first I thought he was walking his dog. Then I realized it was his date!" (Cuddles Kovinsky)

Plans for the new year

When I make a tally of the events of 2010, overall it was a shitty year. Mostly because of things (health related) that were happening to people I care about, not necessarily anything that happened to me personally. Nevertheless, when I look back on 2010, I feel that it was mostly a productive and satisfying year. I finally got around to "doing" instead of just "thinking about" a lot of creative projects that I wanted to tackle for a long time (eg, video making, the zine, drawing & creative writing, even writing/playing a little bit of music again, etc.) Also, I find I've been devoting a lot more of my time to things that I genuinely enjoy, and saying to hell with what I "should" do or am "supposed to" do. I'm enjoying the virtue of selfishness. All of this (the equation of creativity plus selfishness) I find has put me in a pretty good mental place. I hope to continue the same trend for 2011.

January is a "clean slate" time of year, when the obligations of the holidays are finally over, things settle back into a routine again, and I find I have a lot more ambition and energy. Instead of making "resolutions", I often make "to do lists" for myself, and surprisingly, I usually accomplish most of the list (unlike vague "resolutions" that I never have the willpower to achieve!)

So, what are some of the things on my "to do" list for 2011?

• Devote more time to writing & drawing
• Take at least 1 really good vacation this year (ie, travel)
• Publish at least 1 more issue of W2R zine and try to finish the comic by the end of the year
• Make at least 1 new YouTube video this year (I've been thinking about a few)

And a few other things I won't mention here. The only vague "resolutions" I hope to achieve this year...

• Try to curb the "time wasters" in my life
• Say "yes" when I really mean "no" less often, and vice versa

Update on W2R #3 and "HROS" Comic project

Just a quick update on a couple of projects:

"Wide to Receive" paper zine issue #3 will probably be in your hands by late February. I've got a few pieces for it already, but there's still plenty of space if you want to submit something (articles, reviews, photography, drawings, rants, etc.) Send me your stuff! This issue is going to be a good one, if I do say so myself...!

"Hollow Round of Skull" issue #1 (the anthology comic book) is coming along nicely. I don't expect this to be ready until probably late 2011. As it stands, I think there are about 6 stories that I've collected for it so far -- and a number of other people have promised to send stories as well so I'm expecting more! I won't give too much away, but the stories have all been very different but flow together nicely in their quirkiness (which is exactly what I was hoping for.) At this rate, the comic will either be very thick, or possibly come in 2 or 3 issues (which is fantastic either way!) I'm VERY excited about this! I would like to appeal to all of you to consider doing some artwork for it. A lot of people tell me they "don't draw", but think outside the box -- photography, digital manipulations, collages of pasted magazine clippings, etc would be great as well. This is the time to get creative & experimental, people! No one is expecting you to be the next Moebius. Just have fun with it!

Cope

"Several of my incestors are buried here"

Here's a video I threw together highlighting just a few of the flubs that came up within 1 hour of watching "Dark Shadows" last night. For those of you who've heard me talk before how messed-up this show can be, here's some proof. Again, I emphasize these aren't the "worst" bloopers from the show: just a taste of what 1 random hour gives you.

Sometime soon I'll post of video showing why I genuinely like "Dark Shadows", but for now this is a pretty good example of what I find so funny about it. :) I hope you get a LOL out of it too.

It's Only the End of the World

2 new songs from Black Box Recorder - YAY!

The last 2 songs they ever plan to do - BOO!

We downloaded them off iTunes - YAY!

And.... they're not very good -- BOO!

Why are all my favourite bands reforming this year just to suck & disappoint me? What's next? A reunion of The Smiths, only featuring Rihanna? Gawd!

It's like Sarah Nixey is giving those "2 fingers up" to me. :(

"Joe" who?

Has anyone seen or heard of this movie before? My fascination with Dennis Patrick of "Dark Shadows" lead me to find this. It looks really bizarre and seems to be a bit of a "cult" classic in some circles. Seems like it's Archie Bunker meets "The Odd Couple" gone "Natural Born Killers". It's described as an extremely violent buddy movie/social commentary dark comedy about the generation gap. Apparently it's also notable as the first appearance by a young Susan Sarandon. All I can say is ...Weird! O_o