NO ONE KNOWS I'M GONE

Well, clearly, blogging hasn't been my thing as of late. It seems so passe to apologize for it, too, especially since this is a "no promises" blog. If you must know, however, the silence was kicked off by a week of travel for Thanksgiving where internet access wasn't really happening, and then gray Portland weather and a gray economic situation encouraging me to hibernate, to focus, to do what it is I do and write, write, write.

I'm currently alternating my time--often splitting days--between two projects. One is a previously hinted at rejiggering of Love the Way You Love. The grand concept is to do what would have been series 2 as a young adult prose novel. I'm a little over 13,000 words into it and I think it's going to work. Though, starting a new project while the publishing industry is in freefall is likely madness, but it's not like I can stop my own wheels from grinding.

The other project is a little harder to describe. I am tempted to make jokes about how it's for a private collector, call myself the Anais Nin of nerd fiction, and let you work on your own idea from there. In fact, I will give into that temptation. Go ahead and speculate. I'll never tell.

And while a bunch of you run off with dirty thoughts, some charts:

At least as of this update, Kanye West is in my chart on Last FM as a top artist for the week. I don't know why I always feel compelled to try his albums, because I find him to be one of the least interesting and least charismatic performers in popular culture at the moment. On some trusted advice, I decided to give his new disc, 808s & Heartbreak, a chance, as it was alleged to be more personally adventurous and sonically mellow. On initial listens, I could see this point of view, until I spent some time with the lyrics and realized that this is an album of Kanye West feeling sorry for himself and asking us to RSVP to his pity party. I guess some people's idea of "adventurous" is my idea of "shallow." Even worse, he has somehow managed to make it so that he can brag about his high-class problems and rub his success in our faces even as he is asking us to shed a tear on his behalf. Don't believe me? Listen to the song "Welcome to Heartbreak" and note how he makes sure we know that it's when he drives his fancy cars and flies first class when he feels lonely. Awwwww, you poor guy! Even funnier is how he's so busy and famous that he has to leave his sister's wedding early, and gosh, why can't he just do what he wants? Well, geez, Kanye, for a guy who likes to rap about how powerful and amazing you are, sounds to me like you're a total sham. Being powerful means getting to make your own decisions and dictate to others how they will bend their schedules around yours, and if you can't even reorganize your schedule to attend a family event, big guy, then you're not really your own man, are you?

Anway, best album of the year is still Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid. Kanye wishes he had as much musical dexterity and lyrical insight.

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Unrelated, a couple more Token reviews:

- Comics Worth Reading
- Comics IMO

In the "if I am fire, she must be wood" department, Joëlle is working her ass of on You Have Killed Me and it looks awesome. It hasn't been as fast as we would have liked, but I think folks will find the results are worth it.

Current Soundtrack: Leonard Cohen, Cohen Live


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All text (c) 2008 Jamie S. Rich