Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Not for big thematic reasons. For small personal ones - family and food, and the start of the Christmas season.

I don't love it for its history - I've always been aware of just how badly the Native Americans were treated just after our traditional Thanksgiving tales ended.

And it's not for its meaning - I'm such a pessimist at heart, I'd often fail to give thanks for the good stuff because I'd be dwelling on the bad.

This year has been a rollercoaster. So much bad, from financial woes, to medical concerns for friends and family, to almost every one of the job opportunities I mentioned in an earlier post dissipating in front of our eyes, to our manager throwing us under a bus after we'd stuck with her for years.

And yet...

This year I find myself feeling thankful. Maybe I'm old. I'm not so syrupy sweet that all the bad doesn't still resonate with me. But I feel like good things are coming. I feel grateful that all the bad of this year wasn't nearly as "the world is coming to an end" as it may have seemed in the moment. And mostly, I'm grateful that I feel good about life even after a year that seemed hell bent on kicking the snot out of me and out of Christina.

So, after all that, here's a list of things I'm thankful for:

1) Christina. She's the most consistent source of joy, humor, contentment, and love that any man could ask for.

2) The novel we're writing is done. Most of the credit for this falls on Christina, but I helped her plot it, and my notes made for the bulk of the last two rewrites. Plus, it's an idea we've both wanted to find an outlet for over the last ten years, so I feel as connected to it as she does. And thanks to Christina's efforts, I think it's really good. I'm hopeful we can find our way into the prose-writing world, and that hope is also something I'm thankful for.

3) My family. Lots of adjustments to be made with them moving from New York to Connecticut, and that hasn't been easy on any of us. But I'm thankful they've put up with all the years of me being a self-absorbed Hollywood type. I'm with Christina's family today (and with them I'm thankful we're all enjoying each other's company without any friction) but tomorrow we go to my parents' house to do a second Thanksgiving and to celebrate my niece's birthday.

4) The Rucka/Van Meter clan. Like an extra branch of the family, they have been there for us in ways no friend should ever be expected to be. We love them.

5) The guys at Oni Press. They keep publishing our stuff and making us feel like part of the Oni family. While I've kind of had my fill of pushing at the door of DC and trying to keep a foot wedged in there, I know that Oni wants to work with us, I know that Oni likes our stuff, and I know that our stories belong there. In the next two years, expect 2 new ongoing series (FRENEMY OF THE STATE, BAD MEDICINE), the revival of a dormant property (more on that when I can talk about it), a new OGN (PLAY BALL, about which I also can't talk about yet), and two new Amy Devlin mysteries. They are the home for some of our favorite ideas, and that's more than enough to be thankful for - and it doesn't even include the fact that they got the deal in place for FRENEMY's option.

6) The endless possibilities for the coming year. This year was, financially, a backbreaker. But so much good stuff is coming up. There are a ton of new books (see #5), each bringing with it the possibility of financial success beyond the limited pay of the comic world, but also each bringing with it the excitement that keeps all struggling writers from packing it all up. Then there are things like the option on FRENEMY, and the ongoing march towards PARADISE SPRINGS (our film script) going into production. And the novel. I'm thankful that when I look to the future, while I may not see massive financial success, I see stories I'm excited to tell, which have the possibility to build off the momentum we hoped we started to accumulate with FRENEMY.

7) AMAZING AGENT LUNA & DESTINY'S HAND. LUNA was always one of my favorites of our books, and we've started to think we have a shot of keeping the series alive. More info on that as we learn how likely it is. But I'm thankful that I don't have to say goodbye to Luna just yet, and if we're lucky, won't have to for a while. Conversely, I'm thankful to Jason DeAngelis and Seven Seas that we were able to get the entire story told on DESTINY'S HAND. I always wanted to write a pirate epic, and with the omnibus now in stores, containing the already released Volumes 1 & 2 and the brand new final volume, we now have a 500+ page pirate manga volume that tells one swashbucklin' tale from beginning to end.

8) Our apartment, and Pam. We had a bad experience a couple years ago, with a crazy landlord who was trying to drive us (and everyone else in the rent-controlled building) out. The hell of having your living situation up in the air and feeling hostile can really take a lot out of you. But we wound up finding our current place. Pam, one of the owners, has always made us feel like the building is as much our home as hers. And it's a spectacularly nice apartment.

9) Teaching. In years past, when the financial aspects of freelance life started to look grim, Christina and I would doubly despair, because we are, to our core, writers. We wouldn't know what else to do with our lives if we had to look for other work or to find a different career. But for the last few years, I've been teaching, and doing it makes me happy. I like to think I do it pretty well, and I've made a bunch of new friends by staying in touch with my students. That alone would be enough to be thankful for (and especially the new friends). But as I said, not knowing what else you can do beyond write can be scary if the writing money is not forthcoming. These days, I don't have that uncertainty. I'm starting to look for more regular teaching work. Even if the writing takes off and makes us rich, I think I still want to teach.

10) A community of friends in Los Angeles. There are times it feels like being so far from family has left us without a true support network. And every time we'd build a network of friends, someone would leave L.A. (which the Eagles assured us would never happen!). But we've still managed to build a network of family and friends that keep us sane and keep us (moderately) social.

11) I reconnected with an old friend this year, and hadn't realized how much I missed her. Shonda, I doubt you read this blog, but I'm thankful that I'm now back in touch with the one person who made grad school worthwhile for me.

Anyway, there are actually more things I could mention, but I'll stop here.

What are you thankful for?

Meet Emma Vieceli...

2009-11-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

So we're doing a short story in a romance comic anthology called Less Than Three. Not sure about the publication date yet. We wrote our story, and the talented Brent Schoonover is illustrating it as we speak.

It's a fun story, and we can't wait to see it. A lot of talented people are working on the book.

One mass e-mail to the creative teams for the various stories in Less Than Three drew a response from an artist named Emma Vieceli.

We followed the link on her sig, and well... good things happened.

So... meet Emma. She'll be an important person in our careers, and I should be able to explain how and why sometime soon.

Remember the name, everyone. She's awesome.

Back To Good

2009-10-28T16:02:00.001-07:00

So the filters we put in place seem to have ended the crazy pile of spam messages we used to get. Sorry if it also has stopped people from posting here.

With the site maybe able to start functioning again, we can get to the news.

Our upcoming Oni book, FRENEMY OF THE STATE, has been optioned by Universal to be made as a film produced by Brian Grazer at Imagine.

Rashida Jones came to Oni with an idea - "what if Paris Hilton was recruited by the CIA?" To be fair, she was describing a Paris Hilton-esque celebrity, not Paris herself.

Oni put us in touch with Rashida and we all talked about her idea, and together we created FRENEMY OF THE STATE. It's launching as a miniseries from Oni in the spring. The mini is the first of what will likely be many miniseries.

This mix of comedy and spy action (and possibly the seriously goofy title) seems to have caught Hollywood's attention. Now, a lot of comics get optioned and very few get made into films, so this is hardly earth-shattering or career-making news. But Rashida and her writing partner Will McCormack are attached to write the screenplay, and Brian Grazer is attached to produce, so the odds of it happening are better than most comic options, and we're hopeful (though we assume nothing, because you never can in Hollywood).

In other news, our run in BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL is getting the trade paperback treatment in January. The three issue King Tut arc will be collected with several other Batman stories featuring art by the legendary Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and goes on sale under the trade paperback title of BATMAN: KING TUT'S TOMB.

We have a new graphic novel coming from Oni, either at the end of the 2010 baseball season or at the start of the 2011 baseball season. It will be called PLAY BALL and until it is on a schedule officially and closer to ready, I can't say any more about it.

And we're in discussions with Oni about revisiting an old series that went dormant that is very dear to our heart. Until Oni comes up with the right plan for it, we can't be sure (and thus I'll say little else), but we want to do it and Oni seems interested, and we have the perfect artist for it. So the signs are positive.

We're moving forward on a third Amy Devlin mystery. The sequel to our murder mystery PAST LIES will be out next year. That book is entitled ALL SAINTS DAY. And we've talked with Oni about a third book in the series. They've agreed they want to do it, and we've come up with a plot. So all systems are go there.

No word from DC on the possible work we've heard about there. It seems like it is no less likely than it was last time I posted, but no more likely either. Better to still be in the running for something, right?

The first draft of our first novel is done. Christina and I plotted it together, but then (unlike with our comic and film work) it went entirely in her hands for the first draft. She's finished that draft and now it's in my hands. It's kind of cool to work in a whole new medium, and this is a story we've wanted to tell for a long time (especially Christina). I'm reading and revising right now, and let me tell you... my wife can write just fine without me! (I think that may be a good thing)

And our feature film, PARADISE SPRINGS, continues in its development stages. We have a producer attached and a director who's circling the project, but we may need another draft of the script to seal all the deals. It's more work, but hey, it's not really work if you're having fun doing it, right?

So our goal is to keep writing and keep it fun. And maybe all these possible bits of good news will start to build off the confirmed good news of FRENEMY and then... it's all Skittles and Beer for us.

For now, we're hopeful. And our website appears to be working again, so we have a place to express that hope.

Apologies

2009-10-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to apologize - the site is going through a rough time right when we've got things swirling around us that hopefully we can use this site to trumpet about.

If you check this site with regularity (and we know of only a handful who might), you've noticed that the last two months, it has shut down mid-month due to too much web-traffic.

This is not because we're suddenly vastly more popular than we were.

It's because we're now on some spam-bot's list of places to post comments loaded with links to various crap sites.

And those links generate a ton of traffic, getting search engines to follow the links in an attempt to make those sites more popular as search results on those engines (or something like that as I understand this particular seemingly pointless irritant). That ups our web traffic and winds up shutting down our site.

So, as a result, we've now made it impossible to post here anonymously. You'll need to log on, using blogger or using OpenID (someone who understands OpenID better than I do, please help explain) before you can post.

Christina and I apologize for the inconvenience. If someone knows of a better way to fix this problem, we're all ears.

And hopefully, by the time we make it so this site can stay up all month, we'll be able to post about the stuff going on in our career. We're hoping to have big news soon, but until it's official, we ain't talking. The fear of the jinx is a powerful phobia in our home.

San Diego Post-Game Wrapup

2009-07-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from the Comic-Con and our trip to San Diego.

An album of our trip (a truncated one, anyway) has been posted on my Facebook page.

Surprisingly, it was a good trip.

Perhaps it was in the diminished expectations. Last year was a disaster, as I mentioned here about a year ago. And our collaborator on our new book was unable to come to the con, which meant those wonderful posters were never unveiled (they'll be saved for an event closer to the book's release, when the whole writing team can be present). And then, the day before we left, I was told the the hotel we were staying at is owned by a man who gives his money to hateful legislation and that we should have boycotted the place. If we'd known earlier, we would have, but canceling that close to the reservation date meant being charged for the rooms anyway, so canceling would have cost the homophobes nothing and left us without a place to stay.

So with all of that piled up on us when we left for San Diego, we pretty much assumed the weekend was going to be another disaster.

Christina and I talked before leaving and decided we weren't going to pursue meetings with anyone. We weren't going to worry about how the money we were spending would (or likely wouldn't) benefit our career. We were going to sign books, to announce our new series, to go to the zoo, and to see friends, some of whom we don't see any other time but the con.

And I decided that no plan was going to make me worry about if we made it, or if we had to race, or if it was canceled or if it turned out worse than hoped for. We'd just hakuna matata our way through the weekend.

So we left for the con, leaving to drive down some 5 1/2 hours before our Oni Panel, hoping that would be enough to avoid the kind of fiasco that made us miss our meetings at the start of last year's con, but ready to roll with it if we wound up missing it, and everything else.

And the traffic down to the con was minimal, pretty manageable. The trip took 2 1/2 hours, which is what it should take. We played a new road trip playlist, talked and had a nice ride.

We'd gotten to the hotel way earlier than normal, but they had a room ready anyway. Aside from the annoyance of having to pay for internet access in an already overpriced place (which was insult to injury considering we really shouldn't, morally, have been there at all), the check-in was smooth, the room was fine.

And we began our con. Which was near perfect.

At the panel, we announced our new book, Frenemy Of The State. It is being co-created and co-written by Rashida Jones, who is a wonderful collaborator, a smart and funny writer, and who grew up in the world the book comically explores.

Frenemy Of The State is about a Paris Hilton type heiress, American royalty, who is recruited by the CIA. Think about it. This type of girl can go anywhere in the world, and no-one thinks twice. She can do the craziest shit, and everyone just shrugs it off.

The perfect CIA agent, other than the short attention span, the train wreck of a love life and the non-stop demands on her life, social-scene-wise.

It's a comedy-action book, and will come out as an ongoing series of miniseries. The first miniseries will be 5 issues, and will deal with our lead character's recruitment and her mission to stop the illicit sales of nuclear weapons at a rich kid's birthday party in Russia.

The idea got a big laugh at the Oni panel, which was great. But even better, when editor in chief James Lucas Jones announced the book, he started by talking about Rashida, and how she had the core of the idea but needed to be paired with comic pros. He said that Oni paired her with someone that everyone in the room knew, and mentioned me and Christina by name... and the room broke into a decent sized, unprompted round of applause.

I always feel like part of the Oni family, but honestly, the fan-base at the panels don't tend to notice me or Christina. They're there for Scott Pilgrim, or for Greg Rucka (who is my best friend, so it's not like I resent that - he has earned every moment of attention he gets and actually deserves twice as much). Never for us. So this stunned us and was really very cool.

It pays to stack the room with my students, I guess.

The whole weekend, I was running into my students. They came to the panel, they came to our signings, I had dinner with a former student.

One of my students had recently been published and I got a copy of the anthology his comic was in, and when he signed it, he thanked me for teaching him how to write comics (totally untrue, he was pretty good the day I met him) and for never giving up on him (that part was true because he was loaded with talent, but needed nudges in the follow-through department).

The experience really made me feel like a mentor, and was reminded just how rewarding it was to have decided to start teaching.

Our signings were not busy, but we signed a few books, got a few people to check out our stuff who wouldn't have otherwise, and also signed books for people who follow our work pretty regularly and are always good to talk to. We caught up with two different old friends who we'd fallen out of touch with. We spent a lot of time with our best friends in the world, and also spent time with Chris Mitten, our artist on Past Lies and the Tomb, who we only ever see at the con and who is, quite possibly, the nicest man alive. We met his new girlfriend, who is fun and funny and clearly the two are very happy, so that was great too.

Really, the whole thing was pretty perfect.

Did we score big time career opportunities? No. But we went there looking for none, and came away with a couple of (probably very unlikely) possibilities, so we wound up way ahead of expectations, so even on that front, it was a great con.

I think this new Hakuna Matata thing might work for me. If I can muster it again, I guess I'll be at the con again next year!

San Diego

2009-07-18T15:17:00.001-07:00

So, it's that time of year again. Some people mark the years by birthdays, others by holidays like Christmas, and some... by the San Diego Comic Con.

For those of you who follow our blog, you know that we swore up and down that we would not be returning to San Diego this year. But life seldom works that way.

We have an exciting new project with Oni Press that we'll be announcing at their panel. And our artist has raced and worked his fingers to the bone to provide us with a beautiful poster for said project. There'll be 500 copies available as giveaways at the Oni Booth, so make sure you drop by.

And with that, I give you our 2009 San Diego Comic Con schedule:

Thursday July 23rd:

3 p.m.-4p.m.: Oni Press Panel (Room 10)

Be sure to be there for news about our new book as well as news on other exciting Oni Projects.

4 p.m.-5:20 p.m.: Signing at Oni Press (Booth #1833)

Wherein we will be signing (among other things posters for our new book)

Friday July 24th:

11:30 a.m.-12:50 p.m.: Signing at Oni Press (Booth #1833)

2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: Signing at Seven Seas (Booth #2649)

Come check out the Amazing Agent Luna omnibus as well as pick our brains for teasers about the upcoming and (sniff) final volume of Destiny's Hand!

Saturday July 25th:

12:00 p.m.-1 p.m.: Signing at Seven Seas (Booth #2649)

It's a light schedule this year which is exactly how we like it. Maybe we'll go to the zoo!

Anyway, if you're in town for the con, come by and say hi.

Cue The Bottom Falling Out...

2009-05-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

A lot is going on, and so much of it could be good, but almost none of it is settled yet.

And our history in the writing business suggests that at this stage, when things look likely to happen but aren't yet set, the bottom is most likely to fall out.

We have a lot of options swirling around us.

Our feature script, PARADISE SPRINGS, was just read by the director who was attached to it when it was a TV series pitch. He really liked it, and has some notes. We'll be doing a conference call with him, and the producer who's attached, at the start of next month. Financing for this as an independent film seemed likely a year or so ago, so his involvement could be really good news, and his notes seem totally workable so far (without hearing the full extent of them).

That could be a huge deal... if the bottom doesn't fall out.

At DC, our work on Batman Confidential has at least one editor ready to try to work with us. We have a proposal in for a project that would be a lot of fun, but there's no way to know if that's likely or a complete shot in the dark. In addition, we have a short fill-in stint on one of DC's books all but lined up. But the key words in that sentence are 'all but.' It's bottom-falling-out time, and I'm watching every step carefully. Which is one reason I'm not talking too much about this fill in stint. Because if I do start telling people details about it before it hits 100% certain, it's pretty likely to then fall apart.

There's another option at DC, a job that would be a dream job, and could open the doors there way wider. It's a great opportunity, and the signs are favorable. But it's too good a job, and thus, we are almost certain it won't happen. Because of the bottom-falling thing, you know?

And then there's Oni. ALL SAINTS DAY is written, and we're incredibly proud of it. But the artist is a little behind, and we're worried about it making it out by the actual November 1st date (All Saints Day). That, however, is not the bottom falling out. This book will happen, and hopefully soon.

We just got art samples from artists for a new OGN, and that means that book is rapidly approaching being on the schedule. But 'approaching' isn't actually 'on' the schedule. Bottom-falling, right?

And an artist has been signed for another ongoing, which means it is about to be official. The bottom's real unlikely to fall out on this, and we're very excited about it (and the fact that it may have just passed the bottom-falling threshold). We may be able to safely say this one is happening. And once we can say that, we can check with Oni about what we can say about this book, and when we can say it. But it would be a miniseries, the first miniseries in what would be a series of miniseries. It would be co-written with a very talented woman, and has a great concept and a fun title.

Lastly at Oni, BAD MEDICINE's artist is hard at work on his graphic novel. When he's closer to done with it, we'll get the scripts ready for him, and it'll be off to the races. This has been in the works for years now, so it'll be great to get this officially out of the bottom-can-still-fall-out territory and into the 'published' territory.

Then there's the window that opened on a possible videogame. No idea if that's even got a shot in hell of happening. And our two tie-in manga series... one is happening, we just don't know when we can talk about it. The other is just a pitch, that's being shopped around publishing houses. If it happens, it'd be great. But it hasn't happened yet.

And... Christina's about halfway through the first draft of our novel. We plotted it together, but she's running with the first draft before I take a look and do a pass at it. It's a great idea she's wanted to write for a very long time. I personally think it'd be a great launching book for a young adult series that a lot of people would enjoy, not just young adults. But, hey... I'm biased.

So many wonderful opportunities...

So why am I 100% certain the bottom's about to fall out?

Gonna Be Busy...

2009-04-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

So, I was holding off on writing about my class on this blog, figuring I'd tell anyone who checks out the site about the class just in time to get them to register and to drum up some students if needed.

But here's the thing... I don't need to.

Pretty exciting.

I'm teaching an intro class at UCLA Extension this Spring, from April 7th-June 9th. The class has a max enrollment of 20, and already has 16 students registered.

Even more exciting, only 1 of those students is a repeat student. Over the course of the last few years, I've taught this class a few times, and I get a lot of the same faces. Which is great as I get to stick with these students, help them grow. But it doesn't speak to a broader appeal for the class or for the craft of writing comics.

This is exciting.

I'm also teaching an online class at the same time. It starts on the 8th of April, and runs pretty much through the same weeks.

That has a max enrollment of 15, and has 12 students registered already.

Damn... I'm gonna be busy.

Anyway, I was gonna drum up the interest here, and I still feel like there are a couple of people who've expressed interest in the past that I want to get this information to. But if this drums up too much support, I'm gonna be pretty crazed.

The link for the online class is here.

And the link for the class at UCLA is here.

And I'll be teaching the intro class again this summer, hopefully setting up a fall intermediate class where I can work only with students who have taken my intro class, and take their projects to the next level.

Check it out if you can, and look for the summer class soon if you're in Los Angeles.

When he was a young man, he never thought he'd see...

2009-03-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Batman Confidential #27, featuring the second chapter of our King Tut-Riddler tale, is on sale today.

The legendary Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Kevin Nowlan really hit this one out of the park on the art, and we're pretty happy with how our script came out.

Check it out if you get a chance.

Hopefully, this will open some doors at DC (or open the ones that were barely opened a wee bit wider).

Even if it doesn't, we got a chance to introduce King Tut, write the Riddler, write Batman, and (for me this is key) have our words brought to life by Jose, a true legend in the comics world.

Anyway, if you do check it out, we hope you like it.

It looks good, I promise you that!

Six Degrees

2009-02-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

So, we've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? Wherein you prove that everyone in Hollywood is (at most) six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, presumably due to his extensive and varied body of work (and, correspondingly, his inability to say no to even the worst of scripts)?

When I was in college, and especially when I was in grad school (before the whole Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon thing hit pop culture), I would do something similar.

Only, it wasn't just Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It was Six Degrees of Anyone.

Because, honestly, if you know enough about film and TV, anyone in Hollywood with even a reasonable resume is six degrees away from anyone else. No matter what era.

Let's test it, shall we? I used to joke, once the Kevin Bacon thing became public, that they missed the point by making it about him. I'd joke 'hell it could even be Six Degrees Of Woody Harrelson.'

Thus, I present Six Degrees of Woody Harrelson.

I can link anyone to Woody Harrelson in Six Degrees. By way of examples, I'll try to link him to a) any old modern star, say Christian Bale; b) a younger star like Hillary Duff, and to prove my point c) an old movie star, say Errol Flynn.

Woody Harrelson to Christian Bale in 3 degrees:

Woody Harrelson was in Seven Pounds with Will Smith (1), who was in Enemy Of The State with Gabriel Byrne (2), who was in Little Women with Christian Bale (3).

Woody Harrelson to Hillary Duff in only 2 degrees:

Woody Harrelson was in L.A. Story with Steve Martin (1), who was in Cheaper By The Dozen (and the sequel) with Hillary Duff (2).

Woody Harrelson all the way to Errol Flynn in only 4 degrees:

Woody Harrelson worked in Cheers with Kelsey Grammer (1), who did voicework in Anastasia with John Cusack (2), who was in The Sure Thing with Viveca Lindfors (3), who starredin The Adventures Of Don Juan opposite Errol Flynn (4).

Now, these are not the only routes. Certainly, the closer the two actors are in timeframe, and the larger their resumes, the more routes you'll find. For example, you can take Woody to Steve Martin again, who was in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Michael Caine, who plays Alfred to Christian Bale's Batman.

But you'll note, none of them took an actual six degrees. Woody Harrelson has a decent body of work, but he's no Kevin Bacon in terms of being a workhorse (for that matter, he's no Michael Caine, who would work just as well as Bacon in terms of diversity of costars and volume of work).

My point is, it isn't about Kevin Bacon. It never was. Some guys decided it was funny to wrap it around him, when the nature of Hollywood means it will work for almost anyone.

Not convinced?

How about Ke Huy Quan, who played Short Round in the second Indiana Jones movie? Can we connect him to say... Charlie Chaplin? In six degrees?

The Kid Who Played Short Round to Charlie Chaplin...

Ke Huy Quan wasn't just in that one Indiana Jones movie, he was also in Goonies with Kerri Green (1), who was in Lucas with Winona Ryder (2) who did a couple of films with Johnny Depp (3) who was in Don Juan de Marco with Marlon Brando (4) who was in a film called A Countess From Hong Kong which was written by, directed by, and featured a cameo by... Charlie Chaplin (5).

If that don't convince you, nothing will!

Come on, test the theory.

Give me an actor/actress to build a six degrees around. Give me 3 names to connect them to.

I can do it, I swear.

So can you.

Blame Jeffrey

2009-01-13T18:28:00.001-08:00

So our friend Jeffrey was apparently getting e-mails telling him that he had to do this, and when he did, he encouraged everyone to do the same.

He was asked to list the 10 celebrities he found most attractive or sexiest, male or female or both (depending on preference). He was to list them, and post that list on his blog. And he was to push for others to do the same. A sort of objectifying chain letter!

Not sure why, on a day when we have to pack for a trip, this captured our imagination, but it did. A list of the sexiest/most attractive celebs. It's objectifying and pointless at the same time. And also fun for the whole family!

So, anyway, this post isn't just from me. Both Christina and I will post here. First will be my list, then Christina's thoughts on it. Then her list, then my thoughts on that.

Here goes: who do I find most attractive...?

First off, my honorable mention list - there were a LOT of names I came up with, and cutting it down to 10 was really tricky. Amanda Tapping and Keri Russell were the hardest cuts to make. I also worship at the altars of Jodie Foster, Julianne Moore and Laura Linney. And then there were the celebrities who would have made the cut except they were just a bit too thin for my tastes. I find both Amy Acker and Keira Knightley very compelling, yet a spend a lot of the time I'm watching them wanting someone to give them a friggin' sandwich. Thus, they didn't make the list.

Now, the 10.

#10: Carey Mulligan

Anyone who's heard me talk about TV in the last year or two has heard me mention the Doctor Who episode "Blink." I think it's one of the best hours of TV I've ever seen. And Carey Mulligan is a major reason. She's witty, charming, cute... you name it. Frankly, based on her performance as Sally Sparrow, I could have easily put her at the top of this list. But that's all I've ever seen her in. One hour of TV. Since I have such a small sampling, I had to put her in at #10. But boy do I love Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow!

#9: Kate Beckinsale

On looks alone, Kate could top this list. I find her one of the most beautiful women on the screen. But she's also dangerously thin in some pictures (which almost made me lump her in with Acker and Knightley). Plus, the others on this list have a huge pull for me based on persona and performances. Kate's performance in Serendipity made me fall in love. But her others... well, let's just say the PVC in Underworld was the main appeal of that film. Still, I'd be lying if I left Kate Beckinsale off my list. I just don't get into the performances and persona enough to put her any higher.

#8: Rachel Nichols

Appearance-wise, she was too pasty in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, but she was great in the part. However, in Alias... wow. I was in love with the character. She went from frightened newcomer to capable agent in one season, and did it well. Most people know my deep love of Black Canary. So you'll know how attractive I find her when I say that's she's my ideal casting for a young Dinah. And, on another note, she's the only reason I'm even contemplating seeing the G.I. Joe movie.

#7: Natalie Portman

Not much to say here. It's Natalie Portman. Sure, she's much better when she has a real director and not, oh, say, George Lucas. But honestly, that guy managed to get Liam Neeson to suck, so I don't blame Natalie for the prequels. Beyond that little blemish, she's as talented as she is beautiful. And that's saying a lot.

#6: Alyson Hannigan

Even when she was a complete dork who'd 'seen the softer side of Sears' in early Buffy, I was completely in love with Willow. The dorky girl next door who's ultimately as hot as her spotlight grabbing friends, she's kind of my ideal come to life, in some ways. Alyson Hannigan isn't Willow, but I have yet to see her in anything where I didn't come away completely charmed by her.

#5: Freema Agyeman

In Doctor Who, the Doctor spent series three getting over Rose, while not quite getting the fact that Martha Jones was falling for him. And the whole season, I wanted to scream at the screen. Martha Jones, as played by Freema Agyeman, was the perfect companion for him. Cool, smart, sexy... if I was going to travel through space and time in a TARDIS, this is who I'd take with me.

Bad Doctor... no biscuit!

#4: Jean Arthur

I love old movies, and I love old movie stars. But I love none so much as I love Jean Arthur. With her unique voice, her penchant for playing women who were smarter and deeper than their leading men... I fell in love with her when I went to college and discovered Frank Capra. I later discovered that she'd taught at that very college a decade or so earlier. If only I'd been 10 years older, I could have learned from her. Or at least met her.

#3: Diane Lane

The most beautiful movie star in Hollywood today, if you ask me. Grown up, beautiful, silly when the part calls for it, sexy when that's called for. Perfect.

#2: Tina Fey

I'm a geek at heart, and Tina is the goddess of geeks. The fact that she made the country realize Sarah Palin was an empty shell just makes her that much cooler. One of two women I think are perfect to be Lois Lane (more on that in a sec), and given my love of Lois, that's saying a LOT.

And the big one, #1:

Lauren Graham

I know Gilmore Girls is supposed to be a chick show, but it was, without a doubt, my favorite TV show. Ever. In the history of TV. And a lot of that had to do with Lauren Graham. How she didn't win an Emmy once (when she deserved one every season) is beyond me.

Lauren Graham has the patter of a screwball comedy star, and the ability to look like both the girl next door and the most beautiful woman you'll ever meet.

I mentioned on Tina Fey that she'd make a great Lois Lane. But even better (sorry Tina) would be Lauren Graham. Again, given my love of Lois, this says a lot.

There you have it. The ten celebrities I find sexiest. A lot of it is persona. And talent. And a lot is your basic, crass, attractiveness. So sue me.

Anyway, I'll turn this post over to Christina now.

***********

Hi, all.. moving on to the female point of view. Not sure I have much to say on Nunzio's top 10. My husband has good taste. And while I was about to say I would have put Diane Lane at #1, it's hard to argue with Tina and Lauren.

So instead I'll move on to my Top 10 Hottest/Sexiest/Most Attractive Men.

It was hard to narrow down to ten. So I, too, have an Honorable Mentions list. They include Dennis Quaid, Antonio Banderas, John Cusack, David Boreanaz and Matt Czuchry. Those who have been aware of my crushes over the years will probably be surprised that some of those names did not make the top 10. But times change, people change (them and me) and well, the Top 10 is a small and elite category.

Here's my list.

#10: Taye Diggs

I'm not sure what else to say except damn is he good looking! If I were more familiar with his body (no jokes please) of work, he probably would have been higher on the list. But as it is, 10 is not bad.

#9: James Marsters

I love me my Spike. And sorry James, but you'll always be Spike to me. I'm not sure he fits in as classically good looking, but I do find him attractive and the man just oozes personality.

#8: Cliff Simon

I was not surprised to discover that Mr. Simon was once Mr. South Africa. But I discovered him on Stargate. It's the only show I've ever seen him on, but 1) I've seen A LOT of Stargate and 2) his villain Ba'al is one of the hottest, baddest baddies there is. This man can capture me any day!

#7: Joe Flanigan

This is another discovery from Stargate, only this time from its spin-off Atlantis. I think they just like to cast good looking guys over at Sci-Fi. Joe, however, falls again into the category of liking him for his persona. While he's easy on the eyes, his cocky grin gets me every time.

#6: Michael Shanks

You may be detecting a trend here as I give you Daniel Jackson, also from Stargate. I spent ten seasons salivating over him. He plays a bit of an intellectual dork, but I find him hot all the same.

#5: Balthazar Getty

If you read Jeffrey's post (remember, he started this whole damn thing), he comments on needing to respect someone to include them on the list. I've heard stories recently about Balthazar's poor choices in is personal life. This makes me sad, but that's his business and I don't have all the facts and I can't judge him on that. And, besides... I still find him damn hot.

#4: David Sutcliffe

David is another actor I know from only one show. But he was in Gilmore Girls and for seven seasons, I arranged my TV viewing calendar around that show. Funny thing is, while I find him extremely hot, his character was not the one I was rooting for to wind up with Lorelai. Maybe I just wanted to keep him for myself.

#3: Justin Hartley

Complete and total eye-candy! And he makes a damn fine Green Arrow. I don't usually go for blondes, but he's a keeper for this list.

#2: Goran Visnjic

This is more my usual type. Tall, dark, broody. The man smolders.

And, last but not least, at #1...

Christian Bale!

Again, dark and broody all the way. Could there be a better Bruce Wayne?

And there you have it. Or Top Ten. I'm sure we'll regret having done this. But it was a fun way to pass a few hours.

*********

And back to the male perspective for a few quick sentences.

I was one of the ones surprised to find David Boreanaz, John Cusack and Dennis Quaid off the list. I wasn't surprised to see Antonio gone - the older that man gets, the more he looks like he needs to bathe. And my wife doesn't do the grungy unwashed thing.

My only other comment is that, based on sheer physical hotness alone, I'd have moved up Cliff Simon and Taye Diggs. I'm straight, but I'd gladly do either of them in a New York minute.

Anyway, that's it for us.

Wonderfully crass, huh?

So... who are your top ten?

Button Holes

2009-01-05T00:16:00.001-08:00

So, when we were in Boston for the holidays, we brought our screeners with us (we're fortunate that, even though we're only eligible to vote for the Writer's Guild awards and not the Academy Awards, the studios assume even writers would rather watch a movie than read one). And we sat down with Christina's parents to watch THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON.

Now, we have a certain attachment to this story. We adapted the original F. Scott Fitzgerald story into a graphic novel for Quirk Books. Our adaptation was 100% faithful, and our job there wasn't to add to the story or to change it. It was simply to build the blueprint of a comic from it, and then step back at let Kevin Cornell's gorgeous artwork do the rest.

We immersed ourself in the story, despite it only being 17 pages long when published. We grew very fond of it, but we could also see the problems, especially the problems that would come with trying to make a movie from it. The women in the story needed serious fleshing out, the physical impossibility of a mother giving birth to a full grown elderly man and surviving (not to mention not having the size of the baby show was before birth) would need to be explained... lots would have to change for the more literal-minded Hollywood.

But a movie could be made from this story, one with a huge scope and a lot of humor and something intriguing to say about a couple of things - one, how the bookends of life, infancy and old age, are complete mirrors of one another, and two, how our emotional state isn't based on our age or even our experience, but instead upon the physical age of our bodies, and how that age shapes our hormones, our instincts and our desires.

We read an article about the film in Entertainment Weekly, which described David Fincher bringing "his own take" to the story, by insisting it should not be an epic love story. And we knew there was trouble ahead. Because no one should have to FIGHT to make that point. Anyone who read the short story knows it's not a love story at all, much less an epic one. Benjamin marries when he's young and his body old. And as he gets older, his body gets younger, and he gets wilder. This happens while his wife gets older... and he loses interest in her. It's a credit to Fitzgerald that we still care about the schmuck after that, but we do. Still, a romance, this is not.

The idea that Hollywood wanted to make it one was alarming. The notion that Fincher was against it was reassuring.

So we approached the film unsure of what to expect.

The DVD was on 2 discs, and I stopped watching about 90% of the way through disc one.

I could review it with a handful of words: Pointless, pretentious, boring, and a betrayal of Fitzgerald.

But because I am (as anyone who knows me can attest) more verbose, I will go a little more in depth, not on the first few, as they are subjective (I found it pointless, pretentious and boring. Your mileage may vary).

I'll focus on the last: this movie was a complete and utter betrayal of the story.

I'm not dumb. I know, as most people do, that a prose work like a novel will have to become something different when adapted into a film. It has to. Different medium, different storytelling needs. This is all the more necessary with a short story, which will require fleshing out the story to make it a full film narrative.

The key is to keep the spirit of the original piece.

And this is the biggest way in which the film fails, utterly and completely. Some people are suggesting Eric Roth could (or worse, should) get an Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay. Those people should either be shot, or should have someone explain the concept of 'adapting' to them. Perhaps both.

This isn't an adaptation. It's a completely new story, build around the concept of aging backwards, and beyond that retaining only (no joke) Benjamin's name and the title.

Little changes, like changing the name of Benjamin's father, suggest Roth may not have even read the story. The bigger changes, like making it so that Benjamin's emotions reflect his age, not his body's age, pretty much confirm that Roth couldn't have. Worse, they take the heart of what Fitzgerald was doing with his story, and turn it upside down.

Fitzgerald wrote a whimsical tale musing on how, even if our bodies aged backwards, certain things remain the same. A person whose body looks and feels 70 will behave like a 70 year old, even if he's a newborn. And a person whose body looks and feels like a teenager will mope and have out of control emotions, even if he's been alive for 50+ years and experienced a lifetime of wisdom.

In the movie, however, Benjamin is just a person with an odd physical disability. For the first 10 years of his life, his moods were those of a child growing from 0-10 years old, even if his body looked like an old man's. This way of emotionally aging continued throughout the film, or at least as far as I could tolerate watching it.

I suspect this was done to make the epic love story they tried to build not seem creepy (guess Fincher lost that one). You see, when Benjamin has a 70 year old body, he's really 13, so it's okay that he gets a crush on a 13 year old girl.

There are changes everywhere. Some, like the father's name, seem kinda pointless, but don't really betray the spirit of the short story. Others, like giving Benjamin a happy home of senior citizens to grow up in, continue to miss the entire point of the story.

Like I said, everyone knows a story has to change to become a film.

But get the spirit of the piece right.

Then there's the pointless, pretentious and boring part. That makes it all the more painful because at least if it were a complete betrayal of Fitzgerald and a decent film, I might have watched the whole thing.

Anyway, if you saw this movie, you have my condolences. If you haven't, don't bother. Check out the original story, or if you want something more visual, check out what Kevin Cornell's done with it.

I'm not just pimping our stuff here - I think you should all check out the prose story first and foremost (though I'd love it if you checked out the graphic novel).

I'm just trying to undo the damage this story has taken at the hands of people who really should have known better. Because if they didn't respect the Fitzgerald story, why'd they want to make a movie of it?

Besides, if they don't have any respect at all for F. Scott Fitzgerald, they don't deserve any of my respect or time.

The Beginning is the End is the Beginning...

2008-12-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

For Luna, anyway.

We got our comps of Amazing Agent Luna V. 5 today. We're very happy with how it (the volume, and the series as a whole) came out.

This is the last volume of AAL. Which is very sad.

Or at least, it's the last volume for the time being. Jason DeAngelis, publisher at Seven Seas is pretty upfront about calling Luna one of the company's flagship titles, and he has a strong desire to bring it back someday. And we'd love to do more with Luna and the gang. And we think Shiei would be onboard - though we haven't talked to her about it in a while.

So, there may be a future for Luna. However, Original English Language manga is not a supreme moneymaker, and the drop-off from one volume to the next (moreso on other titles, but also to some extent with Luna) makes it hard to keep a series running for too long.

So, it's all very up in the air.

And that's how we wrote the finale.

It ends, but it shakes up the status quo, and ultimately has an epilogue setting up a new beginning.

I know some fans will want (and we've heard from at least one saying as much) more closure.

But closure would mean Luna was over, and I'm not ready for that just yet. If you read Luna, Volume 5 will have closure at the end of Chapter 26. While some elements transform in that chapter, if the series ended there, it would end relatively cleanly. The epilogue, Chapter 27, that's a whole other thing. That's more Beginning than End, and that's by design.

So, if you're looking for a big finish, when you hit Chapter 26's end, consider the series over. Then, if you so desire, take a peek at 27 and see what the book MAY look like IF it returns.

Fair enough?

For now, I will be content to know that Christina and I have created a book that captures our love of ninja, teen drama, and Buffy all in one place, without veering too far into just aping what we'd seen before. It is a book we are both incredibly proud of, maybe more than anything else we've done.

If you checked it out, we hope you enjoyed Luna's first year at Nobel High, and that you send Seven Seas a little mail once in a while asking for more Luna.

If you like our other work, please pick up Luna. She's at Amazon, and we're so proud of our little girl that we absolutely know you'll love her. If nothing else, Shiei is a fantastically talented artist whose work needs to be seen by as many people as possible.

Thanks for a great school year, Luna. Have a good summer, and we hope to see you soon.

A Change Still Needs To Come

2008-11-05T12:19:00.001-08:00

So, it's the morning after... and I remain so very proud to be an American.

Yet, so deeply ashamed to be a Californian.

Today, the Constitution of this state has been amended. Amended to strip rights away from one group of people. Amended to say that one type of marriage is legitimate, and thus, the other types are not.

Shameful.

Last night was a microcosm of this country. It showed how far we'd come, and how far we have to go.

How did this happen?

How did California vote for Barack Obama 61% to 37%, yet vote for Proposition 8, 52% to 48%?

For that matter, how did Florida vote for Obama 51% to 48% yet vote to ban gay marriage with 62% of the vote?

The answer is pretty clear, when you look at those numbers. Failure of leadership. Failure by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

Barack Obama has said that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. He supports civil unions, but not gay marriage.

Yet, when Yes on 8 ads showed his picture with the quote "marriage is between a man and a woman," he argued with that, called it misleading, because he was against Proposition 8.

But why was he against it? His public statements match the language that the proposition added to the California constitution. Almost word for word.

The same for Joe Biden. He, too, says that marriage is between a man and a woman and that he's against redefining it.

And he too was used on Yes on 8 ads.

Don't they get it? Don't they see? You can't walk this issue down the middle, guys. There is no middle. Either you think marriage should be available for all citizens, or you don't. There is no third option. Now, you can (and they do) argue for a separate but equal status, such as civil unions. But don't pretend to be against Proposition 8 if that's what you're after. Prop 8 didn't outlaw civil unions.

And, really, how is it moral leadership to say you're in favor of 'separate but equal'? Is that what the civil rights movement taught us?

The bottom line is, the Democrats have failed to lead on this issue. They want to be pro-gay rights, yet they don't want to alienate those who are against it. That's not leading, that's following, and it's following two groups going in two different directions. Which leads to meandering aimlessly in an ill-defined middle ground the way McCain wandered the stage in the second debate.

I want real leadership from the Democrats.

When Jews were being driven from country to country, it would not have been leadership to say, "I don't think they belong here, but I'm against people chasing them out."

Or during the battle for desegregation of our schools, it would not have been leadership to say "I don't want black kids in my kid's school, but I think a law preventing them from going is wrong."

Do those two stances sound half-assed and pathetic? They should. Do they sound remarkably like the Democratic stance on gay marriage? As the woman who will (thankfully) not be our V.P. would say... you betcha.

The saddest part was that this was the year for real leadership. The economic crisis meant that fear-mongering and wedge issues wouldn't work.

South Dakota and Colorado defeated measures that would have limited or removed a woman's right to choose. Why? Because the Democrats won big (even though they lost in South Dakota, they did better than usual there), and the party has taken a clear stand on this issue.

Imagine what could have happened if the Democrats had said "let's make all Americans equal" on the subject of gay marriage. Imagine if the Republicans tried to make an issue of it, and Obama simply said, "they're trying to distract you with issues that don't affect your day to day lives because they have nothing to say on the economy."

He could have made people see the wedge issue of gay rights for what it is. A smokescreen.

Really, what straight person's life is in any way affected by whether two gay men or two lesbians have the right to marry? How does it affect anyone but those two, and their families and friends?

It doesn't, it never has, and it never will.

And the fact that the party that gave us an African American president refuses to say that tells me that as proud as I am of my party and my country today... we have a ton of work to do.

Yes We Can!

2008-11-04T23:07:00.001-08:00

Our first family...

I have never been prouder to be an American in my entire life.

Finest Hour?

2008-11-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

On the day before the (arguably) most important election of my lifetime, I find myself pacing and restless and a little unsure of what to do with myself. I just got back from Trader Joe's to do some shopping for a little election night get together we're having with West Coast family members tomorrow night. We've invited them over to either share in the joy or surround ourselves with loved ones as we commiserate. But truth be told, I'm not really even able to contemplate that latter possibility.

On my way back from Trader Joe's, I was listening to my ipod when Duran Duran's "Finest Hour" came on. It's a gorgeous (California) fall day and I rolled down the windows and opened the sun roof and cranked the volume. And so, because I am not nearly so eloquent as Barack Obama and his speech writers, I will leave you all with simply the words to this song.

How does it feel out on the ice?

You speak to the crowd but nobody hears

It's not a dream and you are no Christ

So don't be alone, come in from the fear

Gonna take it back, take back the life that you want to lead

Been under quiet attack, but now it's time for you and me

If we're gonna take it back, you've got to fight for what you believe

Gonna make this stand the finest hour that we see

When did our choice become erased?

Where is the violence in this crowd?

Now that the voice has been replaced

With a silence that screams out loud

Gonna take it back, take back the life that you want to lead

Been under quiet attack, but now it's time for you and me

If we're gonna take it back, you've got to fight for what you believe

Gonna make this stand the finest hour that we see

Hey, it's less cheesy than posting the lyrics to "One Day More" from Les Miserables.

Odds and Ends, Alaska and the like...

2008-09-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

This is less a blog post than a handful of miniposts. We've been out of town on a cruise in Alaska with Greg & Jen and consider this the official catch up...

Each minipost will have its own title, as if I posted a blog entry on that day...

So, Buttons... (September 10th)

Someone sent me an e-mail saying our comics adaptation of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button looked good in stores.

I was unaware it was out.

Has anyone else seen it?

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana? (September 11)

Flying on September 11th... probably not the wisest idea. But aside from a slight uptick in security and an annoying handful of announcements of the threat being at orange, it was fine. We flew from Los Angeles to Portland, caught up with Greg and Jen, then we all flew to Anchorage.

But really... we still have color coding? Is it just me, or is it vaguely terrifying that our government's way of keeping us safe is the same system they use at the Shoe Pavillion to mark tiers of discounts?

Are You Kidding? That's the Best You Can Come Up With? (September 12)

I wish we'd made this up. But, no... we saw a lot of these in the Anchorage stores.

Epic Fail Symbolism (September 13)

So we're waiting for the bus that would take us to the cruise ship, and we wandered around Anchorage. Wound up at a Starbucks, as all three of my companions are complete coffee addicts.

And we see all these people who have McCain Palin signs. There's been a rally, see, because the eminently qualified Governor Palin has returned home.

And this pair of women (white, of course - we discovered Anchorage was more diverse than we thought, but the rally crowd certainly wasn't), walk by, holding signs from the rally.

Now, next to this Starbucks is a collection of statues - human torsos (no arms) with animal heads. Animals that I guess represent Alaska - a Moose, a Bear, that sort of thing.

So the two women stop at the statues, and one poses for a picture (which the other takes) holding her sign up in front of the Moose statue. And she holds it - I shit you not - in front of the Moose's crotch.

As if to say to the world... 'hey, my candidate is better than moosecock.'

We all found this really amusing, and as the two women left, we talked about how great it would be if we had asked the ladies if we too could get a photo.

We could have posted that photo to the web (on this blog perhaps), with the above title (Epic Fail Symbolism).

It would have been awesome.

But we didn't even get our cameras out, so no photos - not even of the moose statue by itself.

So to us I say... Epic Fail Photography.

Edit (September 23rd): Greg took a picture of the Mooseman statue! So at least you can see what the statue looked like and imagine a woman holding a McCain Palin sign in front of its crotch. So... no Epic Fail on Photography for Greg. But we still get an Epic Fail Seizing The Moment.

Ice Is Nice! How Does It Feel To Be Frozen? (September 15th)

Our cruise ship took us into Glacier Bay. We saw actual glaciers. And we even saw glaciers calving (which is when the ice breaks off and spectacularly lands in the water).

There is nothing like it anywhere else.

And really, that's all I have to say.

Have Garter, Will Travel (September 16th)

We went to shore today. But not on the organized excursions. Those cost a fortune and we'd have to (shudder) deal with the other passengers.

The four of us walked around Skagway.

It's a tiny town, a gold rush place that was a Western town long after the continental west was already getting civilized.

They've done up the town to look like it did back then, restoring it (and in some cases putting facades up on buildings to reproduce the old look). You'd expect that to look like Tombstone in Arizona (tacky tacky) or like Frontierland in Disneyland (tacky fun).

But it works. I liked this town.

It helped that it was massively pro-Obama. We counted about a dozen Obama signs, and no McCain signs or ridiculous Palin t-shirts anywhere to be found.

The highlight was the Red Onion Saloon and Brothel.

We got a t-shirt each, a souvenir garter, and a souvenir intimacy kit free with purchase. The kit had 2 condoms and 2 dental dams - a steal, I tell ya!

Spawning (September 18th)

In Ketchikan (yeah, the city from the whole Bridge To Nowhere fiasco), we saw a Salmon Ladder.

But the salmon (and there were THOUSANDS of them, maybe even hundreds of thousands) weren't using the ladder.

They instead tried to jump up the rapids.

It was both pathetic and spectacular at the same time.

The futility of it all, with the occasional fleeting moment of triumph.

And there I was, one of a handful of humans, using digital cameras with ludicrously slow auto-focus and "shutter speeds," trying to snap a photo of a fish flying through the air for a fraction of a second.

Got tons of pictures of rapidly flowing water, I did. And most of those were massively blurry.

Then came this...

It may look blurry and lame to you, but I was ecstatic... because off to the right, you can see that fish, flying up and over the rapids.

I had done it.

Tons of futile pictures, for a fleeting moment of triumph.

Whaddaya know? Maybe our president is right. Maybe "the human and the fish can co-exist peacefully." Because I now know how much I have in common with a salmon.

The Dall House (September 19th)

On the last day of our cruise, as the sun started to set, we stood on the little patio/deck for Greg and Jen's suite and looked out at the sea.

There was something following us. Several somethings actually.

About a dozen or so small aquatic mammals, too small for dolphins. They looked like babies or youths.

They had black and white markings, so we wondered if they were baby orcas.

Turns out they were porpoises. Dall's Porpoises, actually.

They would get out in front of the ship, then zip from front to back, popping in and out of the water. We'd look back, and we'd be leaving them behind, and then they'd disappear for a minute, pop up in front of the ship and start again.

Unbelievable.

Tired (September 20th)

We went on vacation, so I should be well rested, right?

Uh, no.

As I mentioned in my last post, we're gamers. That meant we gamed. Quite a bit (though not as much as my players would like, I assure you).

That meant staying up until 2am most nights.

The thing I didn't mention in my post about gaming is that if you run a game, you're basically writing a plot, then plotting contingencies for all the ways that you can imagine in which your players will react to each situation. And because you'll never anticipate them all, you wind up improvising as you go, then after running for the night, spend the next day replotting, or creating new characters.

On our cruise, I ran for maybe 30-35 hours. That's game-time, not counting all my plotting and replotting time.

So, basically this last week I wrote, directed and played all the parts save the 3 leads in 30-35 hours of entertainment. To put that in perspective, this week I produced either 15-17 feature films, or just over a season and a half of a television drama. Your pick.

I'm friggin tired.

Vacation is vacation for Greg and Jen and Christie.

But for me... it's work.

Gloriously fun and rewarding work, with pretty much none of the negatives of writing professionally, but work nonetheless.

As I said... tired.

Born in Arizona, Moved to Babylonia (September 20th)

Got more pages in the mail today (well, probably got them a ways back, but we just got back into town).

Pages from our Batman Confidential arc featuring the comic debut of King Tut.

The story is now officially on the schedule. It will appear in Batman Confidential Issues 26, 27 and 28, starting in (I think - the release date I'm not sure about, but the issue numbers are from Mike Carlin himself) February.

Very exciting, and I can't wait to start talking up this story.

The Cathedral Shuts Its Doors (September 21st)

The Yankees played their last game at Yankee Stadium today.

I watched on ESPN, which showed only a fraction of the ceremonies there.

I've been to dozens of games there. I loved that place. It gave me so many great memories.

Thanks for all of those, old friend.

-------------------------------------------

And that's that.

Consider this blog officially up to date.

Got skills, I'm a champion at D & D...

2008-08-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not really a champion at D & D - although Weird Al is.

But I AM a gamer. And proud of it.

Not a gamer in the video-game sense - though I'm that too. I mean a gamer as in a player of pen & paper RPGs.

The reason I'm not a champion at D & D is that I haven't played actual D & D in about 25 years. But I play a lot of other role-playing games. Or more accurately, I run RPGs while Christina and our friends Gregory and Jennifer (and others, varying from game to game) play.

I've run (in the last five years) a superhero RPG, a Star Wars RPG, a Stargate RPG, and these days I play a swashbuckling RPG.

So what's an RPG? It's simple. You know how kids (and most likely, you, at some point) would play cops and robbers or cowboys and indians or Star Wars or whatnot? You'd be a character, chase after the other kid, say you shot him and he'd say "did not"?

That's the earliest form of gaming. You take on a character (or character type) and play out their adventures. The rules are there to define that character, to help avoid the whole "did not" "did too" element. Though in gaming, you rarely fight each other. More often, each person creates a character who is part of a team.

But that's the basics of gaming. It doesn't define what it is for me (or Christina, or anyone we play with). We're not just telling adventure stories (though there are adventures). We're creating characters, and telling the stories of their lives.

For us, as we've gotten older, gaming is a way to invent new, fully developed and well rounded characters and build an entire series of stories around them.

In other words, it's great practice for writers - which we all are.

The players create characters that ultimately wind up in our writings.

"Once In A Blue Moon" came from an idea we had for a fantasy RPG.

"The Tomb" is based on Christina's character from our Stargate RPG as well as a key character she teamed up with in that game.

Powers for many of the kids in our "New X-Men" run came from characters we created in our superhero game.

We're at work on a novel based on one of Christina's favorite gaming characters.

When we commit to playing a game, we invest all the same energy we invest in writing. But because it is for us and our friends, there's none of the hangups and frustrations inherent in writing for a living. There's no editor who might change the character concept. There's no pitch process before we even get to write.

A lot of writers write for themselves. They write stories and then if those stories find a market, great. If not, they've gotten better at writing. They've enjoyed writing.

We work so many jobs, most of which pay so little. We have to juggle so much paid work, that we don't get a chance to do spec work. And using our free time to write something with no way of translating it into paying the bills can be daunting.

So, instead, we use gaming as a way to stay creative, even in our free time.

So, for those of you who write and are frustrated by writing yet another piece 'on spec'... I recommend it. You'll be creating in a different way, generating ideas. And you'll be having fun.

For those of you who enjoy writing 'on spec,' for the sheer love of writing... I'd still recommend it. Because gaming forces you to view all stories as being inherently about a character. As a player, you focus on one character, usually in a big, vast world with large genre elements and huge casts. But you get tunnel vision when you play a character. You view the whole story through that character.

It's a great exercise for a writer who may get caught up in world building or complex plotting.

Now, I think well thought out worlds and intricate plots are good things. But viewing it all from a character's perspective helps you use those things to further a character arc. Because without a character arc, you rarely have a good story, no matter how compelling the world or well crafted the plot.

Anyway... my free advice for the day. Check out an RPG. Create a character. It'll help you as a writer, and help you think like a writer if you're not one.

Over And Done With...

2008-07-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

The title of this post can refer to a handful of things, actually.

The first is the San Diego Comic Con. We left mid-day today and despite mild traffic, the trip back was a breeze compared to the trip down.

The second is my desire to spend any more time convincing Marvel and DC to give us more work. I'd rather focus on publishers that want to work with us.

The third is my desire to go to another Comic-Con. We see friends and colleagues there who we wouldn't see otherwise, so I can't say that we won't ever go again. But I can say that at the moment, I really hate going to the con.

The Comic-Con was a disaster, and one of the most dispiriting experiences I've had in a long while.

I've been teaching a few classes, and have collected a bunch of devoted and talented students, and I try to push them to follow their passion for writing comics or manga. But sometimes I worry that I'm not doing right by them.

Because there's something I have failed to tell them, something they need to hear.

This is hard stuff.

You put yourself out there, every day. And every time people reject you, it sucks. But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is the antipathy. There are so many people in a position to hire you, refer you, help you - and in so doing, if you're good at writing, help themselves - who just don't. Or can't. Or won't.

When people hate your stuff, you've made an impression. When you just don't seem to register, it eats away at you. It doesn't instantly (and thus, in some ways mercifully) crush you like rejection. It just saps your energy. It makes you doubt your ability to pursue your dream while never quite crashing down hard enough to actually kill that dream.

It takes mountains of stamina to push past all of that, and now I worry that I haven't prepared my students for that grim reality.

So, how do you cope with such soul suckage?

You focus on the positive.

In our case, we focus on the two absolutely charming and wonderful teenaged fans of Amazing Agent Luna who came to the con, dressed as Luna and Oliver. Twin sisters whose Mom made their costumes for them, they absolutely made the convention for us. If not for them, it would have been a total loss.

So, to Ashley and Michelle... thank you. You two have no idea how important it is for people in our position to know that people like what you do. You saved the weekend for us, and it'll be on the strength of that moment that I'll be able to look at the rest of the weekend and try to salvage any other good moments from it.

So, without going through the reasons why it sucked (because dwelling is a sucker's game, and one I am sucker enough to play way too often), here are the positives from the con...

1) Ashley and Michelle.

2) We got to announce BAD MEDICINE, and everyone at Oni seems as excited for it as we are.

3) I got to see a half-dozen of my students, who took time out of their busy con schedules to say hi, or stop in at the Oni panel.

4) We were able to help two friends get into the con for free and both seemed to enjoy the experience.

5) Our best friends in the world were there, and we spent a decent amount of time with them.

6) We got a chance to see friends who we only see at the con, and friends who left Los Angeles and who we miss hanging out with.

7) We met with one editor at one of the big companies who does seem to genuinely want to help.

There. Listing only the good stuff makes the weekend seem like less of a nightmare.

But I'm still done with Comic-Con.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

- Nunzio (accidentally posting from Christina's blogger account)

Comic-Crap

2008-07-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

So, our first day at Comic-Con is winding to a close.

It sucked.

We had a meeting scheduled with a couple of editors at DC. Nothing earth-shaking, but we have an idea we think they'll like and we were also going to talk about where we can focus our pitching and our efforts to best be able to get more work and do more for DC. It was a noon meeting.

So to make sure that we were able to have breakfast, then do the (usually) 2 hour drive to San Diego and get here with plenty of time, we woke up this morning at 6, were out the door at 7, and had filled the gas tank, gotten breakfast and made it onto the freeway ten minutes before 8.

We cruised along for an hour, having about 50 miles to go at 10 minutes to 9. Absolutely perfect, so perfect we hoped we'd get there early enough to pick up our badges before the meeting and still have some time to spare.

Yeah, right.

Because that was when all traffic came to a halt. We'd seen a couple of warnings earlier - traffic accident at Los Pulgas. That was all it said. So we figured it might delay us for a 1/2 hour and we'd still have plenty of time to spare. But when we finally got to the traffic we realized just how massive an understatement the warning was.

Calling it a "traffic accident" was a bit like calling the Civil War a "domestic dispute."

It took us 4 1/2 hours to cover the next 10 miles. No joke.

There were no exits between when the slowdown started and the site of the accident. So we couldn't even exit, get on the freeway going back North, and find an alternate route.

We just had to sit and wait.

And not be able to use the bathroom. Or get a drink of water.

Our new (well, new for us, we bought it used) car has an external temperature sensor that displays on the dashboard. When moving along briskly, the temp was always between 70 and 78 degrees. When crawling along at 1-3 miles per hour, it was between 105-115. I'm sure a lot of that was heat being absorbed by and given off by the freeway. But it was also about that time that the sun (previously hidden behind some clouds) started to blaze. I now have one arm (my window arm) that is red like the St. Louis baseball uniform caps.

So we had to reschedule that meeting. Luckily, we'll still get to meet the editors, but they're only available at a time we were going to sign at Seven Seas on Sunday morning. Then, we were stuck in traffic so long after that, we had to cancel our 1:30 signing at Oni.

So our busy day, the day that was going to kick off a nice and busy con, started with a 6 hour drive, and two canceled appointments.

Then, when we finally get to the accident that basically shut down the Interstate - an accident we'd been cursing about, because it apparently happened at 5am and hadn't been cleared at 2pm - we see just how horrific it must have been. A truck jack-knifed and absolutely crushed a minivan. Both had clearly burst into flames, and the truck looked to have exploded. The foliage on the side of the 5 had been scorched away. There was no way anyone in the accident could have survived, at least not from what we saw (we haven't had the courage to look it up and see if anyone did). We felt so petty that we'd been so cranky.

But guilt doesn't make the bad mood from crankiness go away. It just makes it a different kind of bad mood.

Then we get to the hotel, and due to a screwup of my own making, wind up paying $25 more per night than we'd originally planned. Not a big deal, but just a nice little screw-you from the vacation gods.

We went to the Seven Seas booth to give a very cool gift to Jason DeAngelis. It was a gift we put together last night while packing, and we were pretty psyched to get it to him. When first we stopped by he was in a meeting. The next two times we stopped by, he wasn't there. And the fourth time... another meeting.

Now, just like the $25 a day, us not getting him his gift is hardly a major crisis, but it was just another disappointment in a day full of them.

The other thing about today is that it was CROWDED. The con usually is. But Thursday tends to be the light day. Today it felt like a Saturday in there. Neither Christie nor I are particularly good with large crowds. When we're enjoying the con, the large groups of people getting in our way, shoving us, and living in their own little bubbles vaguely annoy us and the annoyance builds until the end of the day when we are mercifully able to go back to the hotel. But when we've had a bad day already, it's like we need to leave the minute we set foot in there. "Oh, nice costume. Now die, please."

And then, we finally do our only signing of the day - what would have been our second Oni signing. A couple of friends stopped by, which was cool, but until 3 minutes before we left, no one came to get anything signed. When you spend an hour and a half at a signing and get one person who wants you to sign, it's depressing. When she doesn't even buy your book but just has you sign her autograph book (and I'm still not sure she knew who we were), it's all the moreso.

Sigh.

To top it all off, something I ate did not sit right, so we missed out on a big Oni dinner tonight. Lots of writers and artists who we're friends with, who we only get to see once a year, all treated to dinner by Oni and Oni's film producer partner. I'm not great with 25 people dinners, but it was something I would have wanted to do nonetheless, because if you get in the right seat, you can focus on a couple of people, have a good time, and get a little time in with everyone else. But when your stomach hurts, that's a sure ticket to sitting in the corner, talking to no one and ruining the night for your wife. So we (wisely, I think, but still unfortunately) opted out.

So now we're in our hotel room, hiding from the world.

I want a do-over.

I hope to get one tomorrow.

Tomatoes... we're back and we're pissed off!

2008-07-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow (Thursday that is, as I haven't gone to bed yet so it may be construed as the day after tomorrow by some perspectives), we head down to the con. Christina's already posted our schedule - see a couple of posts below. We look forward to seeing any of you who can make it.

But before we head down there and do the flurry of signings, handful of meetings and one panel, we have one more milestone ahead.

Today (Wednesday, that is) is the official launch of our new weekly manga series, The Ninja Diaries.

It will run weekly in Metromix, and then be collected online. The first 4 pages will debut in today's issue, and all pages will be collected online at Metromix.com... they're up now.

We're very proud of this... for many reasons.

As an opportunity, it is amazing. Metromix prints 100,000 issues weekly, and there's a really good chance that collected pages from this may find their way into the Los Angeles Times(!). In fact, if you go to the times website today, you'll see that we made the front page of their site - 2/3 of the way down, right in the center. That kicks all kinds of ass.

As a collaboration, it's been fun. Jason DeAngelis at Seven Seas has been more involved in developing this than he was in Amazing Agent Luna and Destiny's Hand. But we're doing the writing, and it's felt very much like ours... just with a nice touch of Jason, too. The collaborative nature of it has been outstanding.

And as a story, we're very excited by it. We look forward to writing each page, and when you can do that, you're at the great part of writing for a living.

We've got meetings at the con, which hopefully may lead to work down the line. We'll be promoting 2 new books at Oni, and hyping the final volumes of Luna and Destiny's Hand.

But for us, the story of the con will be Ninja Diaries.

Check it out. We hope you enjoy it. Free copies of this week's Metromix will be available at the Seven Seas booth. Come by and we'll talk ad nauseum about this one, and sign your copy too.

If you can't make it, check it out on Metromix.com.

We hope you enjoy it... because ninja don't do disappointment.

(Long story... stick with us, you'll get the joke)

Too Cool For Words...

2008-07-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

So I was perusing the internet (as that's what one does on the internet) and I found this:

the most amazing thing ever

But in all fairness to my husband, I shall post this on his behalf.

almost as cool

Preparing For The Madness

2008-07-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Once a year (whether we need it or not), we make the trek to San Diego for Comic Con.

And even though attendance promises to be over 100,000, we should be (relatively) easy to find at either the Oni Press Booth (#1834-1837) or the Seven Seas booth (#2649). So, to that end, I give you our 2008 Comic Con schedule.

THURSDAY

1:30 p.m.-2:50 p.m. Oni Press
4:30 p.m.-5:50 p.m. Oni Press

FRIDAY

12:00 p.m.-1:20 p.m. Oni Press
2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Seven Seas
4:30 p.m.-5:50 p.m. Oni Press

SATURDAY

10:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m. Oni Press
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Seven Seas
1:30 p.m.-2:50 p.m. Oni Press
5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. the Oni Press panel (room TBA)

SUNDAY

11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Seven Seas
12:00 p.m.-1:20 p.m. Oni Press

We will be eagerly promoting our new Metromix Ninja saga "The Ninja Diaries" which will have just debuted on July 23rd! We urge everyone to check it out (it's free!)

We'll also be happily talking up the final volume of Amazing Agent Luna due out the end of this year, the final volume of Destiny's Hand due out early 2009 and two new exciting projects from Oni Press (All Saints Day and Bad Medicine) also due 2009.

We may even talk up a project due out in the fall of this year, but we have to check with the publisher first to see if it's okay. (How's that for mystery?)

So come find us, say hi, and make the madness all worth while.

EDIT: Our schedule has now been updated to include our Seven Seas signings!

Ninja Warriors!

2008-07-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Remember the manga we said we were gonna write for Metromix?

Well, it's called Ninja Diaries. It's part romantic comedy, part ninja adventure. We won't spoil too much, but it's about a kunoichi (female ninja) sent to Los Angeles to find a lost legendary ninja in the most unlikely place.

We have fun both showing our love for Los Angeles, and skewering it a tiny bit. Plus, as chronicled in an earlier post, we both love ninja (especially Christina).

It's a weekly manga (one page a week, except for the first week) that debuts in the July 23rd issue of Metromix (in which we'll be the cover story and will get 3, maybe 4, pages to get the story rolling).

And to celebrate, Metromix is having a launch party at Secret Headquarters, a comic shop people have been hyping to us for years. We've been told this place is awesome, so we're pretty excited to check it out.

The launch party is on Thursday, July 17th at 8pm. You have to rsvp to rsvpla@metromix.com.

But if you're interested in Ninja Diaries, or in a fun weekly manga by us, or in ninja in general (especially those who are sent to Los Angeles on fun fish-out-of-water missions!) then check out Ninja Diaries in Metromix (the back 'issues' will be posted on metromix.com starting in a few weeks and also occasionally collected - ulp - in the Los Angeles Times). And check out the launch party at Secret Headquarters.

Hope to see you there!

Or not see you, if you happen to be a ninja.

Crimes, Misdemeanors and Baseball

2008-07-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

We're wrapping up our vacation on the Oregon Coast with the Rucka/Van Meter clan. One thing that's happened over the last year is that Dashiell Rucka has become a baseball fan. She's 5 years old and watches League Of Their Own over and over again (skipping the "boring" parts so she can just watch the baseball action) and lists her favorite teams as the Chicago Cubs and the Rockford Peaches (see the afore-mentioned film to understand that second choice).

Now, anyone who knows me knows that baseball is in my blood. I love the game, even though (in this day and age) I really shouldn't. I love the New York Yankees, even though (in this day and age) that's almost impossible.

I can't quite let my love of the great game go. But these are terrible times for baseball. The excesses of the recent (read: steroid) era are coming crashing down on the sport. Whether it's home run records, or multi-Cy-Young wins, everything is tainted. And the arrogant denials of the Roger Clemenses and Barry Bondses of the baseball world compound the problem. They cheated, they lied, and when caught, they actually get angry at the fans and the media for finally waking up and realizing that cheating the National Pastime might (gasp) have been wrong.

It's like a bully who took your lunch money and pretended to be your friend getting angry at you when you finally say "enough." Sure, you could (and should) have realized how wrong it was before. But the actual wrongdoing was theirs, not yours. But Barry and Roger don't get that. They think they get to act indignant.

Which brings me to today's news.

Mike Mussina did not make the All-Star Team.

This may not seem like a crime or a misdemeanor to some. But it's a high crime, treason even, for me.

Mike Mussina is 39 years old. He's been an All-Star before. He's won 261 games in his career, and has a career ERA (earned run average for you non-fans, which measures about how many runs he'd give up in an average 9 inning game) of 3.70.

And he did all of this during the steroid era without a whiff of scandal.

He's a smart pitcher, one who has always brought thought and strategy to the mound with him. Hell, he even fields his position well (he's a 5 time Gold Glove winner).

And last year, his ERA ballooned to over 5. And the Yankee faithful turned on him. He was too old. His fastball had no gas left (partially true as he lost about 5 mph on his fastball, which was never a blazing one to begin with). Generally a healthy pitcher who'd give you a whole season's worth of work, he'd finally started to succumb to injuries, and the Yankee fans decided the old man should be run out of town.

This season started and he had a pretty bad spring, and started off pretty poorly for his first few starts. And again, the "faithful" wanted the Yankees to cut him loose.

Then an amazing thing happened.

Mike Mussina showed us what a man of 39, with no steroid or HGH enhancements to boost his fastball past the 39-year-old range, can do when he pitches smart. He locates his pitches. He changes pitch speeds. He fools hitters into bad swings, and while he'll sometimes dance in and out of trouble, he has for the most part been dominant.

He has 11 wins this year going into the All-Star break and an ERA lower than his (already impressive) lifetime average.

He is as successful as he's ever been, at an increased age, with decreased velocity.

(At this point, I must also note with some sadness, that many Yankee fans don't even appreciate this - they think the time is right to trade him, while his value is high. They talk about his 'inevitable' comedown, when they should just be impressed)

For a sport reeling from the revelations about the actions some players have taken to defy age and normal physical limits, he is a GREAT story. For a team that has Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte each playing out a personal mea-culpa-post-performance-enhancing-drugs rehab tour of shame (as well as the perennially stellar but asinine Alex Rodriguez), he is a GREAT figure.

For an All-Star Game that is being played for the last time at Yankee Stadium (which should never have been designated for the scrap heap simply to build a similar, less historic stadium with more luxury boxes), he is a perfect pick to add to the many young studs in the American League's pitching staff.

But he's left off the list.

What does it say for this sport that the man who shows us the virtues of embracing your age, playing smart, and playing clean is left off the last All-Star Game in the Stadium he's made his home for the last 8 years?

It says baseball is all about young studs and power arms.

And when those power arms get old?

Well, I guess there will be new performance enhancing drugs to help those aging stars maintain their velocity and stats. Because clearly, if they shift to the Mussina method - pitch smart, act your age - baseball will ignore them.

As I said, a crime.

I have no illusions that Mike Mussina will read this blog. But in the fantasy world where he does: Mike, I tip my cap to you. You're an All-Star in my book, and I hope the Yankees re-sign you so that you can get to career win 300 in pinstripes and retire a Yankee (and wear a Yankee cap into the Hall of Fame, where you already belong).

You are an inspiration baseball needs right now. And, typically, the sport has failed to grasp that.

(Author's confession. I also like Mike Mussina because when he pitches from the stretch, he bends way down low and when he comes up, he looks a bit like a vampire. Very cool)