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 (just the) "Carrboro Area" Entries Alex's Pregnancy Prevention PSAs May 18, 2008 I believe the finished two PSAs are currently showing before films in a few NC Triangle-area movie theaters, and will be airing on assorted television stations across the state by the end of the month. If I understand correctly (I get this all third-hand), APPCNC has also licensed/sold the PSAs to other organizations, so you might see them pop up outside of North Carolina as well. "Timing is Everything." This first one is aimed at the younger folk: "Unconditional" This second one is aimed at parents (while I do often cringe at the manipulativeness of heartstring-type ads, I probably only would've had an ethical issue with the job if this was aimed at kids/teens): Yes, that's me. And how's this for apt casting: while technically I could have been Lea's father, I would've been 14 or so when she was born. Third one's also aimed at parents, but it errs on the fun side like "Timing." Here's hoping we get to see it.
 Scott Pilgrim is in my Pants November 14, 2007 Ah, so this is why Harry Potter fans did the whole midnight-waiting-in-line thing. Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, volume 4 was in the store this morning and is now is in my pants:  (Great thing about these jeans is if someone asks me about SC on my walk home, I not only know they're cool, but also that they've been checking out my ass. One of those means they've got taste.) Andrew and Vanessa, owners of Chapel Hill Comics had placed bets on whether it'd be me or one other customer first in the store today to pick said comic up. Strangely I'm bothered neither by this nor for the fact that I was second. Thanks for having, err, faith in me anyway, Andrew. I'll try to read it over lunch. But no spoilers, please. Loki's still on vol 2: 
Trinoc*coN 2007 Con Report September 27, 2007 I must say: being a guest is a lot easier than being an attendee. Sure, I've enjoyed previous conventions. I've learned a lot, gotten full value for my entertainment dollar. But I've usually felt little more than a witness, a consumer at these things--or worse, the guy at the party who doesn't know anybody else, and who can't help wondering... if he doesn't belong here, among people who share his interests and passions, then does he belong anywhere at all? And of course (I say this as if I'd always known it) the interaction is the best thing about a convention, even (especially?) for an introvert like me. And I'm not just talking about schmoozing with peers and peerless. Especially at this stage in my career, I have more in common with the casual attendee than with any professional. But here too, the guest badge acts as my icebreaker, my introduction to anybody and everybody (fan, pro, furry). It doesn't mean I know the guy who's throwing the party or anything, but it means somebody in one of the bedrooms might have vouched for me. And for introverts at parties, we need all the validation we can get. So... great meeting the other writers and attendees (see my panel schedule for most of the namedropping I'm expected to do), along with some of my fellow Codex members (Alethea Kontis, Edmund Schubert, and Gray Reinhardt) who I'd only known online, Gravy Boy writer Marty Blevins (who I'd met on an online comics forum), Luna and Andreas Black who I knew through mutual friends Jason Erik Lundberg and Janet Chui, and of course the active fans putting the con together in the first place.  Gray, Stephanie, Edmund, James, Ada, and Alex. (Alethea's holding the camera, obviously.) On my first panel, the conversation never let up. I talked a bit toward the top, and later watched for the pauses to interject my thoughts. When they didn't come, I shrugged and listened as the conversation went into different directions. It was very liberating. On the second panel, I got enough small laughs from the room that I figured out what I had to offer on a panel of my betters. By the fourth (and last), I realized that the most challenging--and satisfying--part of being on a panel is setting up one of the other panelists with a punchline or otherwise brilliant spike. Thankfully, I only had one or two times when I opened my mouth on a panel and had no idea where my sentence was supposed to end, though I'm sure I made an ass of myself more often than I remember. So yeah. I'd do that again. But I think this means I won't actively pursue attending too many other conventions until I've got the credentials to attend them as panelist. The icebreaker is more valuable to me than how I get there.  Alex Wilson, George R R Martin, Scott Nicholson, and Alexandra Sokoloff. The easy-to-understand reason is Clarion. Though it's semi-tradition that a student might do little to no writing in the year following the workshop, for me the thing I've dreaded is writing/talking _about_ writing. Which also makes the blog difficult, by the way. So being a guest at a con for the first time exactly a year after my Clarion graduation, talking about writing for three days straight... that was kind of all I had in me. Doing a meta-essay on the meta-discussion was unthinkable. But I think the bigger reason is how I haven't been able to wrap my head around how Jamie Bishop's absence from the con was so difficult for me. FWIW, it still doesn't make total sense, so if the remainder of this entry is confusing, it's not you; I mean: I get that I'm sad over the loss of a friend. I get that he was a regular Trinoc-coN attendee and a number of the guests and other attendees knew him primarily or exclusively through the con, enough so that our mutual friend Jason wrote a nice remembrance in the program. And I get that when someone dies it's a different kind of missing than when someone lives on the other side of the world now (Jason and Janet were about the only two people I knew/met the only other time I've been to Trinoc-coN, and they now live in Singapore, an absence felt in a different--but no less real--way). But... there's no sense of place to connect Jamie there. To my knowledge, the convention hasn't been held at this particular hotel before, so the echo of his presence seems artificially removed, like I'm visiting a replica of his apartment (which, by the way, I kind of have. We have friends who've lived at and invited us many times to Jamie's old apartment complex, and the apartment layouts are identical). And more significantly, I was never at Trinoc-coN or with any of these people who also knew him at the same time he was, so his association in my mind with the convention comes almost exclusively from our numerous conversations about it, all the way back in Carrboro. It was Jamie who encouraged me to first contact the con/ask to be a guest, successfully convincing me that (even before any significant writing sales) I might have something to offer on a panel or two. Which--on top of the other confusion--feels like a very selfish way to remember a friend. So I'm still processing that part of it. Eh. This turned out to be quite vague and introspective for a con-report. Ah well. That's what I get for putting it off for two months. I'll try to do better next year, if they'll have me. Thanks again to Alethea for being smart enough to actually pull out her camera (and for letting me post her pix). My camera was quite unhelpful in my pocket all weekend.
Trinoc*coN 2007 Schedule, What I Look Like Now August 1, 2007
I am soooo outclassed. (If this gets changed between now and Friday, I'll add an "Updated" to the header. Otherwise, look for last-minute tweaks near the registration desk. Visit the Trinoc-coN website for more info.) If you're in Raleigh, NC this weekend and would like to say hello, here's what I look like this morning, according to the self-timer on my camera:  But I might be wearing a hat this weekend. My hair is at that length where it'll stick straight up if I don't do anything, it'll look like a combover if I push it forward, and it requires a lot of "product" to keep back like this. (Though, looking at this pic, I should forget about figuring out what to do with hair now that I have it; I need to work on my smile.) Edit: Okay, yeah. It turns out I'm wearing the same sleeveless shirt that I wore in my intentionally bald photo from the first time I shaved my head in '04. It's comfy.
Umoja at Eno 2007 July 11, 2007  It's the Eno picture tour 2007! Fourth of July was on a hot Wednesday. Jen, Mary, and I headed out to the 28th annual Festival for the Eno in Durham. It was my third time there, Jen's fourth. Not sure about Mary's Eno stats, but she went with Jen last year while I was at Clarion.  This is not a request.  Boo Hanks at Grove Stage. Kickass blues player. 80 years old. The man recorded his first album last year and is currently considering whether he wants to pursue music as a career, after a lifetime of playing for friends and family. God bless him. I hope he does.  The recycle-monsters.  My first deep-fried Twinkie. Been wanting to try one for years. It was okay. Like a warm donut on a stick. The cream turned really watery and gave it a sickening sweetness. Next time I think I'll just go for a warm donut.  Just to show it wasn't all junk food.  The chimney/remains of (IIRC) an old hunting lodge.  The reading of the Declaration of Independence by Durham councilpeoples and organizers.  Giant puppeteers of giant puppets (Paper Hand) lead the parade. Amazing as always. We've seen them a few times over our five years in the NC triangle, but this might be the first time in daylight.  African American Dance Ensemble, who make me seem all cultured because they told the crowd that "umoja" was the Swahili word for "coming together" or "unity."  Baron Von Rumblebuss and Redd Zeppelin on the River Stage. Fun sound, groovy look, and they're local. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for them.  Jen and Mary. What's a river festival without a river? (Actually I don't think that's the Eno. I think it's a stream that runs into the Eno. But we can pretend.)  Remember: only you can prevent forest fire hydrants.
Carrboro Hill Returns as Empty Shell of the Wiki it Once Was June 20, 2007  Carrboro Hill (community wiki for Chapel Hill, Carrboro, etc.) is finally restored, but I'm de-emphasizing it as an active project. Call this moving it from public beta to pseudopublic beta. Or just ignore it.Growth will continue to be slow as Telltale, Guidevines, and my own writing are higher priorities. But I still think it's a good enough idea to let it live and let others use and edit it (or at least copy the data under the CCL and redo it right). And I won't be staying away completely.
I'll be a Guest at Trinoc*coN 2007 June 18, 2007 So I'll be a guest at Trinoc*coN in Raleigh, NC, August 3-5. I haven't asked to do any readings (next year, maybe), but I should be on a few panels, maybe even with Literary Guest of Honor George R. R. Martin. Which, yes, would be cool. I emailed them shortly before the 2005 convention in Durham, asked if they needed anyone to fill a panel or two. It was too late in the game, and last year I was out of town for the convention. But just a few days before I was planning to contact them again, they emailed me and asked whether I was still interested. It'll be my first convention experience as a guest.
I Bribe You to Subscribe to Free Newsletter May 15, 2007 This Friday, I'll be sending subscribers the next free Alex Wilson Studio News via email. In it I will offer two freebies:
To subscribe without using/creating a Yahoo! account Send an email to alexwilson-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and REPLY to the confirmation email (rather than clicking on the link, which will prompt you to login). To subscribe with a Yahoo! account, go here.
Inconsequential Art at Chapel Hill Comics May 4, 2007  Tomorrow! A limited number of free FCBD edition copies of Inconsequential Art #1 will be available at Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, as part of Free Comic Book Day. First come, first served.
The Year Our Brains Turned Against Us April 20, 2007 Thanks for the well-wishes, everybody. Someone asked me how I was doing last night and I didn't cry. That's progress. I was also able to do some writing. Two mutual friends of Jamie, (and the first guys I emailed on Monday, after trying to get in touch with Jamie and Steffi and then learning that a German class was one of the locations hit) have posted remembrances: Michael Jasper and Jason Lundberg. It was Jason who got through to Blacksburg (from Singapore!) and let us know for sure that Jamie died, and equally important: that Steffi was alive. As announced everywhere: a Virginia Tech scholarship has been set up in Jamie's honor. Donation Info. Go rent Run Lola Run. I don't know that it was Jamie's favorite, but it was it was definitely his go-to movie. If we found any narrative film we both enjoyed, inevitably he'd turn the conversation toward a comparison to RLR. And go get some Daredevil comics as long as you're out, specifically Frank Miller's run (available in trade paperback under the Daredevil: Visionaries series. Volume 2, where Miller takes over scripting chores on top of illustration, is where it really takes off) which I know was a favorite of his. One of a few similar emails starting early Tuesday morning because Jamie's blog links to mine: "Please accept my condolences, regarding your friend Jamie Bishop. The television news program, INSIDE EDITION would like to obtain pictures of Jamie, and interviews so that the world will understand who was taken from us yesterday. Please call me at ... as soon as possible. We are under a very early deadline. Our show feeds to satelite at 3pm est. Thank you for your prompt response to this request." Gee, I would have called, but upon receiving this I was too busy throwing up in my mouth. I guess I should be thankful at least that this wasn't how I first heard the news. Now something else to get over with as long as I'm posting (nothing but happiness and light after this, though): By the end of March we started getting cocky about how that "family medical emergency" was all but behind us. Which of course is probably why it's came back with a vengeance. So we're still dealing with that and something else. A few days before that crap came back, my own body got hit with something, too. My left arm and the left half of my face keep going numb on me. The sensation is like when my foot falls asleep. There's a strong tingling and numbness from lip to ear, from elbow to fingertips. It's happened three times where it lasted 12-15 hours, each about a week apart. And there've been "smaller" episodes in between and as recently as this week where I just feel like there's cobwebs on my left eyebrow or my lips are being tickled. The record number of neurologists currently assigned to our collective ailments don't think (in fact, they CONCUR in not thinking that) these things could be related, though personally we haven't stopped looking for possible environmental causes. I've had an EKG (for which they shaved two itchy little patches on my chest), an MRI (and if you want me to sit still as claustrophobia overcomes me, don't shave two itchy little patches in my chest the day before), and an ultrasound in my neck (turns out my neck's a boy neck, though I would have loved my neck no matter what sex it was; I just want it to be healthy). Next week they ultrsound my heart, which sucks because I spent all my ultrasound jokes on my neck just now. No wait, how about: Ultrasound My Heart? Isn't that a Ray Charles song? Eh. So that might be why some of my correspondence sounded depressing before Monday. Was on the fence about sharing, but now I've decided that it's best to combine pity parties rather than spread them out. Because sound-decision-making is the one thing I've got a handle on this week. Really. Please, no armchair diagnoses; I get that enough with my insomnia and inability to whistle. We'll figure it out or we'll live with it. Yeah it's weird and scary but it's the easiest thing I've had to deal with all year. And so far my situation is entirely perceptual (though they didn't outright say I was making it up) and, because all the acronyms came back clean (in fact the exact result in one case was: "we found nothing remarkable," referring to either to my heart or brain...), they don't think I'm in any danger. So yeah. Good thing bad things only come in threes, right?
Christopher James Bishop 1971-2007 April 17, 2007 My friend is dead. Jamie Bishop was a photographer, multimedia artist, and German professor at Virginia Tech. He was among those killed in his classroom on April 16, 2007. He moved to Blacksburg from Carrboro in 2005. We used to meet at his place or at Weaver Street to trade foreign films and comic books. To talk about art and about changing the world with art. He took the photos for my presskit. He was a Telltale contributor. We'd been talking for three years now about collaborating on a comic. His digital art style was in the vein of Dave McKean (see his book covers for Michael Jasper's Gunning for the Buddha and Michael Bishop's Brighten to Incandescence) and we both wanted him to try his hand at sequentials. But he was meticulous. He wasn't going to do something unless he could give it the time to do it right. And the proof is in the work. Here's his online portfolio including some kickass photo galleries. My favorite thing he's ever written was this blog entry from 2005. He said it took him two hours, which explains why he gave up blogging. He liked Carrboro, but I think he loved Blacksburg. Owning a home. Teaching. Last month he was applying for an MFA program in photography and graphic design at Radford, which he'd been talking about at least since January 2006. In december he emailed me some photos of a coffee table he built, "composed of 72 different wooden tiles that I cut and individually painted." He called it one of the most creative things he's ever done. I'll leave them with you.   
Kurt Vonnegut Jr 1922-2007 April 12, 2007 In January I discovered that one of my Vonnegut books was either missing or that I never owned it. I got a lot of my Vonnegut reading from libraries over the years, and I remember in particular paying remarkable fines as a lad for extended looks and listens to his short story collections in hardcover and audio formats. Also in January, I discovered a Barnes and Noble gift card from my in-laws. Niche and esoteric works dominate my to-buy list these days, and here was something Barnes and Noble was actually likely to have in stock. In the "literature" section there was a little sign near the end of the alphabet that said to ask a sales associate for anything Vonnegut. I then checked the science fiction section, but there was nothing there either. I asked at the information desk. They told me they keep it behind the desk up front at checkout. Here I started feeling like I was in one of his stories. Were his comments on society so subversive that even in 2007 we had to handle his novels like hardcore pornography? I asked the cashier for the book like I was asking for a carton of cigarettes. They had it in stock. They had all his books in stock. Of course I had to ask why they were behind the counter. I wanted to know this more than I wanted the book. "We don't know why, but people keep stealing them," she said. "So here and at our South Point store we have to keep them behind the desk." "Just the Vonnegut books?" "No," she said. She raised an eyebrow. "Medical texts, too." So it goes. The author that most shaped who I am as a reader and writer is dead. Shit. I still need him.
Extended Family Salute - April 2007 Edition April 2, 2007 I got an email from Andrew at Chapel Hill Comics. The new Image Comic Texas Strangers is available now, with cover and interior art by Mario Boon (illustrator of my story "Persistent City" in both The Florida Review and the upcoming Hope: New Orleans anthology). Congrats to Mario on his big U.S. debut! (Speaking of Hope, the powers that be at Ronin are now aiming for a "Summer 2007" release for the book, according to the new fun page. I'll be sure to drop a note when it solicits.) I have a microscopic part in director Jim McQuaid's near-future newscast/film After the Peak. It premieres this Thursday, April 5 (7PM), in the Carrboro Century Center. I won't be able to attend, but I had a fun morning back in the Fall working with Jim and actress Jackie Marriott in a scene shot at Weaver Street Market. In other acting news, one of my scenes from "Balloon Animals" (by director Justin Meckes) got some airtime on the Independent Film Channel's Media Lab Uploaded show. Congrats to Justin. Futurequake, the indie British comic which will produce my script "Groundbound" has just been nominated for an Eagle Award. Good luck! And in the completely-no-relation department, local popscicle vendor LocoPops recently opened their Chapel Hill store. Don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that I pass by it on my walk to the above-mentioned Chapel Hill Comics...
Carrboro Hill on MySpace December 8, 2006 Community Wiki Carrboro Hill has topped 100 entries and it now has its own MySpace page. From now through the end of the year, I'd like a big push to get as many local bands, musicians, and venues as possible into the directory. Thanks!
The First Noel (Webcomic) December 6, 2006 
Kinda-New standalone webcomic story for the holidays: The First Noel by myself and Jack Lucido. Details here.And as long as I'm plugging webcomics here: check out the fun stuff that local boys Ted and Kit are up to.
Oscar Winner Speaks Out November 23, 2006 See the front page of The Carrboro Film Festival website (first few paragaphs) for what Oscar winner--and Carrboro Film Fest winner--Barbara Trent thought of my All's Fair in Love and Police Actions. My own take: "All's Fair" works much better on a smaller screen than a big one.
Carrboro Film Fest Schedule November 18, 2006 
The Carrboro Film Festival is tomorrow, featuring short films with some tie to Orange County, NC. I'll be there at least for Series Two (3:45PM), which includes a screening of "All's Fair in Love and Police Actions." I'll probably stick around for Series Three (5:20PM) which includes a screening of "Balloon Animals," but I've got people in town. See appearances for a bit more details.
Another Milestone Called Thirty October 31, 2006 After turning thirty and sending out Writing Submission #300 within the past few months, here's one more thirty for the books. Just gave my 30th pint of blood to the Red Cross. A few of the staffers dressed up in Halloween costume, but, alas, I did not have my blood drawn by a vampire today.
Acceptance 64 - Carrboro Film Festival October 30, 2006 Got the call last night. My animated short: "All's Fair in Love and Police Actions" will make its big screen debut at the Carrboro Film Festival on Sunday, November 19, 2006. The festival will be held in the Carrboro Century Center.
Submission 296 October 19, 2006 Insomnia has been acting up again lately, so late last night I got up, taught myself how to use iDVD, and sent my Southparkish animated short "All's Fair in Love and Police Actions" to the first annual Carrboro Film Festival before retiring in the wee hours. FYI I had previously decided that AFILAPA wouldn't work on screen larger than a computer monitor and that I would not submit anything to this local, promising festival. This lapse in judgment is also why I don't post to online fora and mailing lists at night anymore. Ah well. If the judges don't like it, then at least I can feel like I'm supporting the local festival with a donation/sub fee.
Pocket-Sized Prayer Trees on eBay August 28, 2006 
My friend, the artist Janet Chui has some beautiful, pocket-sixed prayer tree paintings (along with some other stuff) on eBay this week. Janet and her husband Jason are leaving North Carolina for Singapore next year, and they could probably use the cash and freedom-from-having-to-move-this-stuff-across-Pacific.And if you lose an auction (as I did yesterday), you can always ask Janet whether a print is available for purchase.
Meanwhile, Back in Chapel Hill July 5, 2006 A few days before I left for Clarion, a Chapel Hill News reporter interviewed me as I donated blood in Carrboro. I think the article was published the Sunday that both Jen and I were out of town, but the full text is now online. I remember cracking a lot of jokes, but I guess he didn't think they were newsworthy. The attention-whore in me is still amazed that my name is the first thing in the article. I would have gone with something about the Red Cross.
Carrboro Hill - Community Wiki Launch June 18, 2006
I'm probably not going to get a chance to work on this anymore until I get back from Clarion, so let's quietly introduce it into the wild in the meantime and see what happens: Carrboro Hill - Community Wiki for Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the greater North Carolina area.As with Guidevines, I expect this to grow very gradually at first. Your contribution is welcome either way. (And, yes, after this I believe my wiki-starting days are done.)
Otherwise Pandemonium Screening at Duke April 28, 2006 Extremely short notice, but I recently got word that a cut of a Otherwise Pandemonium, based on a Nick Hornby short story, will be screened on Duke's campus in Durham around 5:30 today. I may not know where exactly until I actually get there, but I'm posting this more to brag than to encourage anyone else to come. (more after the jump.) 
Continue reading "Otherwise Pandemonium Screening at Duke" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, News, Peers & Peerless, Pretty Pictures Balloon Animals - Online Screening February 25, 2006 Our short comedy Balloon Animals can now be seen at IFC Media Lab!  We shot this film almost a year ago in Carrboro. Watch it! Rate it! Congrats to director Justin Meckes and all other creatives involved.
Marathon Training Week 8 of 26: Ten Miles! February 5, 2006 Here's the first major milestone of the training. Ten miles of interval running. My body hurts, particularly my back and the bottoms of my feet. This was the first run where my bodyaching threatened to stop me before my lung capacity did. But we did it. And we brought a friend. And then we had some bagels because it turns out our jaws had a little life in them yet. So ten miles today on the American Tobacco Trail, a very cool rails-to-trails project in Durham, which once was a train track used to ship tobacco and now put to better use, a good microcosm to represent how Durham was once considered the "tobacco capital" and now it's the "City of Medicine" (which you gotta admit is kind of overdoing it when it comes to apologizing for the sins of the past; wonder what the next tagline will be when they find out that medicine is bad for you...). Hopefully not too sore and beat to watch the Superbowl. I usually root for the underdog, but I've got a friend in Pittsburgh who is a major fan of the Steelers. She's had a couple shitstorms over the past year, so here's hoping she can put some chalk in the win column this afternoon.
Marathon Training Week 4 of 26 January 9, 2006 The week started off all right. On monday I got a pair of dedicated running shoes,. Had my feet measured with the socks off for once and found a pair of Asics I liked. I purchased them from Fleet Feet in Carrboro, and they were very helpful. And after purchasing them from FF, I looked online to see if I could find a second pair of the same model shoes cheaper (following the advice of friends), but it turns out Fleet Feet is very competitively priced. So if I end up purchasing a second pair, I'll definitly be going through them. Gotta pick up some high performance socks this week anyway; I know from hiking that 100% cotton causes blisters on longer walks and runs. The weekday runs went great. We raised the running interval and lowered the walking interval more than I thought we'd be able to, and I had more energy and breath left at the end of them than ever. Then came the Sunday run, which pretty much killed me. It started with a mistake.
Continue reading "Marathon Training Week 4 of 26" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Marathon The Sag December 29, 2005  So Carrboro writer and actor Jeremy Pinkham wrote a short film about a guy driving sag for his wife's first century (100 mile) bike ride. I had the honor of helping him rewrite it/polish it up, and then playing the main part. We shot it at the end of November under the direction of Steve Milligan. Word on the street is that I'm the editor.  As an actor, I worked with Jeremy on Balloon Animals, which Jeremy performed in and helped write, and which Steve Milligan shot.  As a writer, I worked with Steve on the script for Intermission, for which Steve ended up casting Jeremy in a small part.  We filmmakers are a nepotistic bunch, ain't we?  Stills courtesy of Steve. More (and larger) stills at Steve's site.
RMV Appeals Procedure in Orange County, NC November 25, 2005 An end-of-the-year tax savings tip for vehicle owners in Orange County, NC...
Continue reading "RMV Appeals Procedure in Orange County, NC" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal Thor and Loki: Two New Additions to the Family November 24, 2005 We knew they'd be indoor cats so we wanted to adopt two. If they couldn't play outdoors we figured at least they should have each other to play with and bond with.
They don't meow as much, and instead do a lot of purring, which I guess is a good sign. I recorded Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" for Telltale last month. It would be rather funny if that was one of the last recordings I could ever do without the sounds of cats meowing faintly in the background. Thanks to The Orange County Animal Shelter for bringing them into our lives. And special thanks to Zondra, a staff member (or volunteer?) who had taken Thor and Loki (as Lottie and Leslie) to live with her when they were sick before we met them, and who came in on her day off to answer our questions, recommend some books, and to see the babies off to their new home on Monday night when we picked them up. Anyway, today we celebrated our first Thanksgiving as parents. We're learning as we go. See the complete batch of photos if this entry didn't sicken you enough with its cuteness.
RDU Airport No Longer Encourages Suicide! November 7, 2005 For the last few years, Raleigh-Durham's parking decks have encouraged the use of their ExitExpress payment-at-kiosk option by having fewer people in tollbooths available to take your money and by hanging up huge 20-foot banners saying "ExitExpress - Take the Easy Way Out." I hope they spent a lot of money trying to trademark that phrase.  Well, coming back from a trip early monday morning I noticed they finally wised up to the old euphanism for suicide. Some new banners have revealed their new slogan: 
Of course the looped audio announcement still thanks you for using ExitExpress "and take the easy way out," and a few of the signs still have the old catchphrase. But now we just need them to stop calling it a "terminal" and describing planes as "departed." Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
Girl in the Clubhouse October 7, 2005 Now here is a fun, well-written new comics column at CBR by writer Johanna Stokes: GITCH. So you've gone and got yourself a girlfriend. Congratulations. And she's the real deal. She's seen the toys (even if she hasn't touched them cause you told her you don't like that) and she's seen the video games (and has come to accept that playing "Halo" on the X-box is the closest you're going to get to any real exercise.) She's darn near perfect. There's just one thing. Your new love doesn't get along with your first love-- Comics.
DSI Opens Friday in Carr Mill Mall October 4, 2005 Seen on the sidewalk, across from Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, NC:  Welcome home, guys. I blogged about Dirty South Improv last month. DSI in Carr Mill Mall (entrance on the outside ofthe building, between Elmo's Diner and the CVS) opens October 7. Multiple performances each weekend night to accommodate your militant schedule! Classes on weeknights to help make you funny! Give them some love! (DSI Website)
Dirty South Improv September 12, 2005 So earlier this year I came across Ross's blog, Ross being Ross White of Dirty South Improv here in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC area, and a few months ago he mentioned how Carrboro's Carr Mill Mall, not a five minute walk from me, just might be the new destination of DSI. So I thought I should get in touch with these guys. What I actually did was the next best thing: I read his blog every once in a while.
Continue reading "Dirty South Improv" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Peers & Peerless Looking Glass Falls, NC (Photography) September 8, 2005  Been a while since I posted any photography. This past weekend Funsized (AKA my wife Jen) and I were in the Brevard and Cedar Mountain area of western North Carolina for the wedding of our friends Susan and Austin. Our friend Allison joined us for a meal or two in Asheville and a Sunday daytrip looking at some of the waterfalls in the area. Photos taken with the Fuji A201 (a low-end digital point-and-shoot). More after the jump. 
Continue reading "Looking Glass Falls, NC (Photography)" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Pretty Pictures, Vanity Smurf Sending Life September 1, 2005 Just a reminder that there's a blood shortage most summers, and with Hurricane Katrina's devastation, you can be sure your blood is needed. So even if you're strapped for cash, you can still send something tangible and life-saving to our friends in the Gulf. Visit http://www.givelife.org/ or call 1-800-GIVELIFE to find a donation center or blood drive near you. There's also specific blood drive searches for different regions, which might have more specific offerings: www.redcrossblood.org/bloodsrch.htm is for North Carolina (Chapel Hill/Carrboro is served out of Durham). And for those who do have a few bucks to give, screenwriter John Rogers is matching donations to the Red Cross. If you've disliked anything he's written, you can bankrupt the bastard* and double the effectiveness of your contribution at the same time: http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/08/red-cross.html *Not that anyone cares, but I happen to like the guy and his work -Backpedalling Alex.
Eddie from Ohio: EFO at ENO July 4, 2005 
I've been listening to the band Eddie from Ohio since my days in Ohio. They're not from Ohio. They're from Virginia. I'm from Ohio. Hi.
If I remember right, they met in college in Virginia and there were two Eddies in their circle of friends. One of them from Virginia, the other from Ohio. They called them "Eddie" and "Eddie from Ohio." The former became their drummer and the latter supplied the name of the band. I first heard them on WKSU's wonderful weekend folk program hosted by Jim Blum almost ten years ago (I first heard Martin Sexton on the same program). They were a folk version of Moxy Fruvous. They're playful. Energetic. Lyrically smart. Harmoniously brilliant. And they're known for their incredible live shows. I've long regretted never seeing Fruvous live. This weekend I avoided making the same mistake with Eddie.
Continue reading "Eddie from Ohio: EFO at ENO" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Peers & Peerless Balloon Animals May 27, 2005  Last weekend we shot a short film by Justin Meckes. I played a real estate agent who rubbed a clown the wrong way. Twice. Justin and I have been talking about different incarnations of this project for over a year, and I'm happy for both of us that it finally happened. Three-day shoot which will probably result in a five-to-ten-minute short.  Holy-crap-does-he-know-what-he's-doing DP Steve Milligan (who lives practically next door to me in Carrboro) posted these and more stills from the shoot last night. Between these and the dailies I saw Saturday, I'm pretty proud of what we managed to accomplish in such a short time.  This is my favorite of Steve's captions.
Carrboro Poetry Festival 2005 May 20, 2005 The 2005 Carrboro Poetry Festival gets some love from the The Independent Weekly this week. Tomorrow and Sunday, come hear approximately 40 amazing and distinct, local and not-so-local poets in what's certainly the largest exclusively-poetry gathering I've ever attended. I'm a big fan of spoken word poetry which includes, but is not limited to, performance poetry. One of the personal projects that got me excited about starting up Telltale, in fact, was the prospect of recording Whitman's entire Leaves of Grass collection (I'll hopefully finish up Song of Myself--the longest, most famous book--in June). Unfortunately, a Justin Meckes short film was rescheduled to shoot this weekend, and I'm acting in it, so I unfortunately won't be able to attend this year. But if it's half as fun as last year's (the first such festival, if I remember right), then I guess you'll have half as much fun as I did. Hope they post MP3s again at the site like they did last year; I didn't go to all the sessions, but I got to hear a lot of what I missed. I also got a note from Flicker that Attack of the 50' Reels is also going on this Saturday in Carrboro, where you have nine hours to make a Super 8 film. So I guess artsy types in Carrboro have a lot of options this weekend. Go to it.
Community Art Project: Dream April 23, 2005 
From April 7 through May 27, you can see my illustrated poem," "Tree Sprites Never Learn" hanging in the Chapel Hill Town Hall as part of the 2005 Chapel Hill/Carrboro Community Art Project: Dream. The poem was originally published in the first issue of Spellbound, a wonderful fantasy magazine for children. The image is a Photoshopped photo I took on the Appalachian Trail outside Hot Springs, NC (near Asheville) in 2003.
Continue reading "Community Art Project: Dream" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Prose and Poetry, Vanity Smurf Interroview April 11, 2005 At Weaver Street a certain local blogger and I were balking last week about some of the more uninformative memes out there ("How many songs with 'biscotti' in the title do you have on your iPod?"). So to ward off bad karma (I have to work extra hard because I don't believe in karma), I jumped on the first interesting one that I read. First, the rules: 1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." Hopefully with a word or two (or website URL) so I know who I'm addressing and address you accordingly. 2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. 3. You will update your website with the answers to the questions and leave the answers as comments here (or at least provide a pointer to your site). 4. You will include this explanation/ruleset and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. 5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (If by chance a bunch of people want to be interviewed, I reserve the right to only ask questions of the first two or three.) Now my answers to local author/publisher Jason Erik Lundberg's questions: 1) What made you decide to start up Telltale Weekly? I had some recording equipment for my music projects years ago and had to sell it all for space-and-money considerations and I think in the back of my head I've always been looking for a reason to buy the equipment back.
Continue reading "Interroview" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf Twice in the Rain, Two Rejections, 200th Sub, New Play, etc. March 17, 2005 
Lotsa stuff to cover. When I'm not writing entries, that means I'm busy or stuck under a heavy object. But this entry's got it all--theatre, film, writing, and more! Let's start with the writing:Rejections #113 from Raven Electrick (sub #197) and #114 from Writers of the Future (Sub #187), came in, both for fiction works. The Writers of the Future entry was my second quarterfinalist story, which, according to Terry Bramlett when I asked her last year, puts it in the top 2% of subs [later heard it as top 15%]. Not what I was aiming for, but I shouldn't complain. I think this was my fifth or sixth entry to WotF. I've tended to enter once every four or five quarters since I started subbing in '98, even during my multiyear submission hiatus after my dad died. I'm going to try to enter every quarter this year, since I'm targeting it as my next writing-career milestone.
Continue reading "Twice in the Rain, Two Rejections, 200th Sub, New Play, etc." Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Prose and Poetry, Vanity Smurf, Writers of the Future The Second Foundation of Chapel Hill Comics March 5, 2005  About once a week, I walk a half hour down Franklin Street from my home in Carrboro (near Weaver Street) to the above-pictured Chapel Hill Comics in (wait for it) downtown Chapel Hill. For over 25 years it's been on Rosemary, in the back of the Bank of America building next to where Rum Runners used to be. I don't read monthlies and I buy most of my comics mail order and/or used. But the walk gets this writer some exercise, and I can occasionally be militant about supporting local businesses, especially ones I'd like to stick around. 
But my walk will be halved starting on March 16, when they relocate down Franklin Street, next to the Mediterranean Deli. I volunteered for a few hours last week, helping to paint the new walls yellow, getting to know the current owners of the shop, Andrew and Vanessa Neal, and even participating in a discussion about what color to paint the door and whether it was a good idea to remove the old doorknob before they had a replacement. Militant though I may be, there aren't many other local for-profits for which I'd volunteer. But for some reason I wanted to be a part of this.
Continue reading "The Second Foundation of Chapel Hill Comics" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Comic Stripping, Journal, Peers & Peerless, Vanity Smurf More Fork Photos December 14, 2003 (Selected republication of old entries from the pre-Movable Type journal...) 
Last month I got to see a roughcut of Fork in the Road, the short film I worked on this summer. Chris O'Brien, the director, took his time getting into town. I came straight from a "Hedda Gabler" show and we waited at the Carolina Coffee Shop (a bar in Chapel Hill) until about one o'clock. Jay, Bergan, Jerry, and some of their friends were there and there was this drink circulating that "everybody had to try" but nobody knew what it was called. It looked like a thin milkshake and apparently tasted something between a pina colada and margarita.Chris arrived with the roughcut that he had been rushing to finish up that day. Some friends were with him. I knew a few of them from the Fork set. Aaron--on whom Jonathan Soronen's character in the film is roughly based--was covered in Jello. He'd been wrestling.
Continue reading "More Fork Photos" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Pretty Pictures Here There Be Nutjobs (The Dog Bite Story) July 15, 2003 (Selected republication of old entries from the pre-Movable Type journal...) I'd forgotten that there were total psychopaths out there. Psychopaths with attacking dogs and eviction notices ready to fly. Thanks for the reminder. You readers asked to hear about this, so now I'm going to tell you. A bunch of us went out to Asheville (which is exactly THIS beautiful) again last month. We were going to spend the night with a friend on Friday night, white-water raft on Saturday, camp Saturday night and bike some trails on Sunday. It's great to have active friends, though keeping up can sometimes be a problem. Most of my camping equipment was being used in the "Fork in the Road" shoot, even while I wasn't there, so that along with recovering from extensive dental work left me woefully unprepared for the trip, and I'm crazy about always wanting to be prepared. But I figured it would be humbling at least to tone down the control-freak aspect of my nature for one weekend.
Our friend who lived out there was renting a room for the summer from a young woman she didn't know very well. The woman was independently wealthy, had three large dogs, and was a bit of a nutjob.
Continue reading "Here There Be Nutjobs (The Dog Bite Story)" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Pretty Pictures, Vanity Smurf Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 5 of 5) June 7, 2003 (Selected republication of old entries from the pre-Movable Type journal...) About a week later, I received a call from Brian Elkins, producer of "Fork in the Road." He said they really liked my audition and wanted me to play a big part in the film. They unfortunately were shooting three weekends and I had major conflicts with two of them. I asked them if I could take a smaller part or if they could reschedule one of the weekend shoots--if they could, I'd reschedule my other commitment so we'd all be compromising only a little bit. They said they'd get back to me and a few weeks went by without my hearing from them. I figured it was another fiasco like the one I just went through with the romantic comedy, only this time I didn't have any contact info to bug them about it. Meanwhile I talked to some actor friends (among them Maria Swinehart who thought I should be auditioning all along), and their overwhelming response was: if you get a chance to do something like this graduate program, you do it. Certainly if I was an actor, this would be a great opportunity. It's something I'm considering in the back of my head. We probably wouldn't be able to afford it for us both to be in school at the same time, and after Jen gets her Masters next year we might need to move again right away. But it's nice to have options. I've got plenty of time to think about it. Brian finally called again. He had sent me a script over email and someone had typed the address wrong--so they were wondering why they hadn't heard from me. They now wanted me to play a much smaller part, but neither of us would have to reschedule anything. In my mind, the smaller part was better. I didn't know if I'd like working on film as compared to stage. I love watching film, so it made sense, but I knew there were technical acting skills required for film--remembering what your hand position was for the last shot, etc. It's a whole new world.
During the rehearsal last week, one of the other actors, who is an undergraduate at the same university associated with Playmakers, said the graduate school program was mostly male which blows my big fish theory out of the water, so to speak. I'm not ready to head to New York or Los Angeles, but it's reassuring none-the-less.
Continue reading "Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 5 of 5)" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 4 of 5) June 6, 2003 (Selected republication of old entries from the pre-Movable Type journal...) There was an audition for a short independent film almost right next to where the Playmakers audition would be. It was to be held an hour or two beforehand, so I went to that first, reading from the script. It seemed to go well. It loosened me up and the people behind the camera seemed all right. The piece was called "Fork in the Road" and it looked like a horror movie where a couple of potheads get bumped off one by one. Hard to tell from reading the sides, but that was my first impression.
Then I went outside and paced and continued to work on memorization. I figured I can wing a lot of the technique as long as I make some pretty good decisions beforehand and knew the piece as best I could. Not a professional thing to do, I know, but I was down to the wire there.
Continue reading "Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 4 of 5)" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 3 of 5) June 5, 2003 (Selected republication of old entries from the pre-Movable Type journal...) First, the headshot. The audition announcement asked that a headshot and resume be mailed by the end of the week for an appointment. I did not yet have a headshot, as I thought I had another month before I'd need one. I called around, and Sears Portraits was the only photo place that could give me something the same day. The photographer said he could give me a mediocre computer print that day, and he could put the pictures on disk so I could print out an 8x10 myself if I wanted. And he would give me a copyright release (so I could reproduce the image as often as I needed). The guy I talked to said he had a lot of experience in actor headshots. I figured it would at least be cheap (it was) and the Sears headshot would serve me well for half a year anyway until I had the time and inkling to get a real headshot done by someone who knew what s/he was doing. That might mean a drive to New York City, or it might mean a few weeks of research visiting local photographers. I just didn't know. This was a new business for me. I set up an appointment with Sears and started regretting it almost as soon as I entered the studio. "Tilt your head to the side and put your finger on your chin. There, that's a real dramatic pose." "I don't want a dramatic pose; I want an actor headshot." "But don't you think that looks dramatic?" It was clear the photographer knew even less about headshots than I did, and that said a great deal. I was wearing a dark tee shirt and he kept switching my background to black--even after I said I didn't want a black background. "But it really pulls focus to your face," he kept saying. So a few of the shots didn't look too bad--though not even close to what a headshot should look like. The best shot of the bunch unfortunately had a black background, but I figured what I looked like mattered more than the background. So I asked for an 8x10 printout of that shot, and planned to order an 8x10 good print from the lab. That's when the real trouble started. I hope I can remember all this right, because I'm sure it'll be funny to people other than me. He said he couldn't print out an 8x10, but he could print out a 5x7. I asked him why he told me on the phone he could print out an 8x10. He said he could print it out on 8x10 paper, but it would be a 5x7 and I could blow it up to 8x10. After thinking about it--a little incredulous, a little helpless--I said sure, go ahead. I thought maybe I could scan it, blow it up just a little (going from 300dpi to 200dpi or something) to make it closer to an 8x10 with a sizeable white border. Then I discovered that he couldn't print out just the image. He began cycling through balloon cutouts and picture frame/flower cutouts which have my headshot inserted into them, and, best of all, each one of these "scenes" covered up part of the image when printed. He said a few of them don't obstruct the image that much and that I could crop around it and then blow it up. I said I was already going to blow up a 5x7 to an 8x10 and he wanted me to make the original even smaller and blow it up even more? The photographer was completely unable to make a printout without using one of these "fun" scenes. And then (yes, I'm not done), I started looking at the computer screen. These weren't even 5x7s. They were more like 3x5s. I felt so defeated. I said just give me the images on disk and I'll print them myself. He said all right. I asked him how big the image files were, because he was going to give me all of the files, even the proofs. He said he wasn't sure, but they all fit on a floppy disk.
I almost went ballistic.
Continue reading "Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 3 of 5)" Filed Under: Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf Acting Again (My First Film Role pt 2 of 5) June 4, 2003 |
