Ladies Who Lunch

Despite today's cold, I met my comics industry friend Allison for a lovely lunch. Allison is a Jersey girl who now lives in Atlanta with her husband Adam, a fairly famous comic book artist. In fact, she's a pretty damn good artist herself, as well as a dog person. I mean, a Best In Show-type dog person, with English sheepdogs that enter agility and show contests like the Westminster one at MSG this week (in which she nd her dog Ginny participated). What a delightful lunch! She's so knowledgeable about so many things, and I can't remember the last time I had such an interesting and wide-ranging conversation. Afterwards we checked out Russ & Daughters, which opened a branch right near my office that I never knew about! Now that I'm making a bit more money I can see a few R&D splurges in my life. And part of me is ready to have an actual social life again. Um, when the weather warms up, of course.

Make New Friends, Give Away the Old

In the spirit of MLK Jr. I'm trying to establish more ties to folks in this neighborhood, and to that end I've now cleared out and given away my recent comics to a lovely woman who definitely wants to keep in touch, invite me to her and her husband's place for lunch, etc. She shares many of the same political sensibilities as me, but dresses a bit more religious, kind of like I used to in yeshiva. If I believed in such things I'd wonder if Mom magicked her to me as a new friend after her passing the way Dad magicked me the job at Rothstein Kass a year after he passed. I do miss having female friends. But that bookshelf is now empty, and the speed at which I had potential takers for the comics tells me I won't have too many problems downsizing our other possessions when we decide to retire and move out. Now to brace for Manhattan tomorrow in the cold!

Foliage Fix

We visited Mom in New Jersey today, a lovely day for a drive through the gorgeous fall foliage! Although the trees are starting to get a bit sparse up in the Jersey mountains. Mom had been having anxiety attacks over filling out her menu choices for the week, which we took care of in short order so the rest of the visit could be stress-free. The long-term care facility's visitor bathroom has a built-in scale that one can step on whilst at the sink, and it turns out I'm like five pounds less than I thought I was. So maybe everyone who's been telling me I look like I've lost weight were right after all. I don't care about that number as much as I care about my glucose and blood pressure numbers, but perhaps they're connected, so I guess I'm happy? (I spent too many years as a fat activist to automatically rejoice at the idea of losing weight, but I've been examined by both gastro and cardio doctors in the past few weeks so I think I'm fairly healthy.) Of course we treated ourselves to sushi on the way back home (hey, only a half hour or so out of our way), which was well worth it as the Westchester County foliage was also terrific. And the temperature got to 62 degrees! We'd definitely both dressed for cooler weather, and had actually found ourselves briefly running the AC in the car as we crawled towards and over the GWB on our way back to New York. After all, I'm not supposed to sweat with this monitor on, and Mom's room was pretty stifling, so I had to cool down somehow! And I'm finally making a dent in the comics I haven't read in around a month, so I can figure out what second issues to order (they're available already) after I've read the #1s. Back to my reading pile!

Peter

I first met Peter David when he'd just become a writer at Marvel. He was the first comic pro I really got to know, and we'd been friends for around 40 years. Alas, a series of illnesses has caused him to shuffle off this mortal coil, and I'd like to think he's with his buddy Harlan Ellison and my buddy Leah Adezio having a snark-off in the hereafter. So many memories have been flooding in. The way he always seemed to travel in a cocoon of noise, so that you could tell when he was coming and going like a Doppler effect. His amazement at my flip phone that reminded him of a Star Trek communicator. The births of his two youngest daughters, Ariel (now a mom of two) and Caroline, and Ariel's bat mitzvah. All the conventions where we had the privilege of sitting next to him and his amazing partner Kathleen, puppeteer extraordinaire. How thrilled I was to give him at least a couple finished pages of every comic he wrote that Robin inked. How far he would go for a really bad pun, and not always in the best taste. His quick wit and smile. His pride in his four daughters. His obvious love for Kath. The way he sneaked my name into a Star Trek novel he wrote. All the lovely folks I met because of him. And his writing, sometimes groan-inducing but always fun and clever. I'll miss the contributions he could have made if only, if only... RIP Peter.

Sleep Deprived

Yeah, that'll teach me to stay up for way more of the Grammy Awards than I should have, then work the day after (albeit from home today). Nonetheless, no real regrets, it was a very good program, and I wound up with only one PTO hour today so most of the day was filled. The less said about the state of the country the better, I just miss when my Facebook feed wasn't so justifiably alarmist because that's usually where I go to forget about things. Now it's just online games and reading, and there's only so many online games I can play and so much I can read without it hurting my hands to hold up the book. Back to comics, I guess.

Half Staff

I don't want to think about where our country is going for the next four years. So many of my friends and acquaintances are bound to suffer. Where I'm bound, I have no idea. I stayed far, far away from any news today, catching up on Outlander (only three episodes behind now!) and other TV, reading comics, and generally enjoying the day off. The snow turned crispy and icy and we can't really go anywhere due to the cold anyway. I wish I could retreat into myself until 2029 but I can't, so my empathy forces me to reconsider making art, as our minds and our joy are about the only things They can't take from us. Now I just need to find out what my art is. Tomorrow's it's cooking, and in this cold I can only think one day at a time.

Silly Site o' the Day

My recently-read comics are out of the house! Robin took them down this morning before the weather got too oppressive, and I drove them down to my south Riverdale neighbor (whose son adores them) at the height of the heat around 4 PM. Couldn't be helped, that's when she was home. And it's so worth it, particularly when I discovered that, after they look through them, they pass the comics and graphic novels on to women and children at local homeless shelters. Everyone pays it forward, and comics get passed around like they should be! Does my heart tons of good. Of course, I needed to seriously hydrate after getting home, and sitting in the living room (even with the blinds down and curtains drawn) for far too long watching the Paralympics opening ceremony (a resounding "meh") probably didn't do me much good either. I also ate something of a light lunch, unlike Donald Duck:

Via just about everywhere, but I finally got the link via Mark Evanier.

Silly Site o' the Day

What a glorious day, and a very fun evening! I invited an old friend from Queens to make a 2-hour schlep up to the northwestern-most part of NYC and join me at the burger place run by the woman in charge of the DineOut Riverdale initiative. On the way I stopped by the local bakery which has finally come out with sugar-free cookies (delish) and the BBQ place from which we ordered on Monday so I could finally say hi to the proprietor and put a face to the name. And then... well, as disappointed as I was that there was no outdoor seating and I'd have to be in somewhat unsafe environs without a mask, as soon as I walked in at least 2-3 people said "Elayne?" and greeted me like they were old friends as well, even though I only know them from our neighborhood Facebook group! It was surreal and wonderful and well worth the hour-long walk to and from the place. My Queens friend was kind enough to walk me back up the hill, and Robin took it from the halfway point back home with me. Where we met our basement neighbor who offered a free sample of his wares as well. Great day for freebies! And I didn't even miss NY Comic Con, where my friends are probably in conditions much less safe than me dreaming of getting selfie action figures:

Via BoingBoing.

Silly Site o' the Day

White Rabbits, happy Lunar New Year, and it's finally February. On the one hand, the temperature was up above freezing today, we didn't need the space heaters after mid-morning, and I didn't even have to layer. On the other hand, a good Facebook and comics industry friend of mine suddenly passed away from a stroke and I'm still in shock. He was a long-time editor so I like to think he'd appreciate the weirdest children's books available on Amazon. But damn, I'm going to miss him...

Silly Site o' the Day

This afternoon I took my first four-hour Paid Time Off (PTO), and it was terrific. I manged my first two miles on the bike, then we watched the last episode of Loki, after which I took a nice long afternoon nap, which helped a lot when I woke up to make pasta and meatballs for dinner. And then yes, another two miles on the bike. I could get used to this relaxation! Oh, speaking of Loki and Marvel stuff, here are Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi as two characters watching and commenting on Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi as two other characters. And I thought time travel stories gave me a headache!

Silly Site o' the Day

Just when things seemed to be going swimmingly, my body betrayed me once again. This time it's my right knee, which is occasionally arthritic, but this pain is on a whole new level. I can't stand or walk without considerable pain. Nonetheless I managed to schlep in some supplies for our marathon office decorating spree, although I wasn't able to participate in the decorating itself. I hobbled back to the bus at the regular time, and really look forward to seeing the results when I hobble back in tomorrow morning. The shower's helped ease the muscles a bit, but this pain is still utterly mystifying. The DC TV superhero crossover of a series I read during my first marriage (I still remember Steve explaining to me who all these characters were) has taken my mind off some of the pain. Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds, a superhero in his own right whether you're talking DC (and really, nobody mentions Green Lantern for good reason) and Marvel (even I like Deadpool despite the crudity), has done it again. He's taken this ad, the subject of much controversy...



...and hired Monica Ruiz, the same actress, to do a sequel of sorts for his gin company:



Bloody brilliant. Can we do a take 2 on that Green Lantern thing with maybe Reynolds writing it this time?

Silly Site o' the Day

Woo-hoo, it's Robin's birthday again and the culmination of our celebratory week! I'd say more about what a wonderful companion my best friend is, but I'm pretty wiped from the work week and this cold I think we're both nursing. While we're digesting our BBQ ribs I thought you and Robin would like this:



Via Laughing Squid. Bonus video from the same sick minds:



Because, you know, Robin.

Silly Site o' the Day

There's something to be said for going to a morning matinee movie. I don't think there were more than a dozen folks in the theatre when we went to see Captain Marvel this morning; most of the folks in the movie complex were there to see Avengers:Endgame-we-promise-until-the-next-one. Which is on my radar for a vacation day in May, maybe. I just need to go at a time where I won't run into neckbeard nests.

Silly Site o' the Day

Today was the day Robin and I resolved to watch all the movies I hadn't yet seen in the Marvel cinematic pantheon of the past 10 or so years so that we can finally see the Avengers movie. So I ironed about one or two tops this morning during Captain America: Civil War, then made my stir-fry tofu with leftover brown rice and fairly fresh veggies, then watched baseball, then realized I hadn't done any more ironing as my eyes were still too tired so I napped for a few hours, then woke up around 7 and we watched Spider-Man: Homecoming (great movie for kids and young adults!) and Thor: Ragnarock (unexpectedly funny throughout and Cate Blanchett chewed more scenery than all the other Aussies and Brits combined, and my goodness there were a lot of them) while I actually finished my ironing goal of all my short-sleeved shirts. Even rewatched a bit of the Doctor Strange movie, enough to remember the basic plot. So now it's off to shower and bed and hope I can function tomorrow. This week we plan on watching Black Panther, so I'm putting this up as a reminder:



Via The Mary Sue. Black Jeopardy Forever!

Silly Site o' the Day

Finally got my work in-box down to a handful of emails; I can smell the weekend from here! Everyone and anyone seems to all be planning on seeing some comic book tentpole movie thing, but I'll sit home and watch the Marvel Bunch on TV:



Via The Mary Sue, which can also be sung to the Brady Bunch theme.

Silly Site o' the Day

I had a lovely lunch with Val today, wherein we discussed a wide range of topics including the fact that there's just Too Much Out There to consume, entertainment-wise. Case in point, everyone's seen Black Panther but me, it seems. I haven't even seen Thor Ragnarock yet. So I assume this is funny, but I just don't know:



Via The Mary Sue. And really, who'm I kidding? Of course it's funny, it's Jeff Goldblum.

Silly Site o' the Day

So with the sudden death of an old Usenet "frenemy" (although I'm not so sure about the "fr") I've been thinking about that old comics gang recently. And this Twitter thread by Gail Simone storified on The Mary Sue really brought me back to her days of message board cleverness. I miss those days. Sometimes.

Sillly Site o' the Day

So apparently some convention out in San Diego officially begins today. I haven't been to Comic-Con since 2000, and I do miss it, although I miss what it was in my memory, in the days before ladies' room queues. All in all, I'm much happier with the state of the industry today, I'm too old to stand in queues of any sort any more, I'll always have my wonderful memories, and, most importantly, I'm "married to it" with a comic-book artist husband, so I'm not all that disappointed to no longer be a Comic-Con attendee. Besides, it's not like the ubiquitous entertainment press isn't going to tell us exactly what's going on. Sing it, even:



Via Robin and probably about a dozen other blogs by now.

Silly Site o' the Day

Can't wait till this wind dies down and it gets a bit less cold. Also can't wait for my left foot to stop hurting, which will probably take a major calf cramp in the middle of the night. Barely made it home as is. I'd dearly like not to have to use a walking stick tomorrow. Meantime, all these comic book-related specials were on tonight, and I almost stayed awake through all of it. If only they had Bat-Labels (via Laughing Squid), maybe they would have kept my interest more.

Sily Site o' the Day

Via Brian Westley on Facebook, it's Stupid Comics! I have to read a few smart ones today...