20 Questions Tuesday: 404 - Winter Olympics

20 Questions Tuesday: 404?  This post is not found. 

I have been consuming an inordinate amount of the Winter Olympics, which is delightful.  I love me some Olympics.  There are many sports that I would watch on the daily if they were offered by the sports TV networks. I understand why there is not much buy-in from the sports ball watchers and producers do not provide more continuous winter sport coverage, but I think there are some ways that this could be made more available to us here in the States.

Anyhoo… I asked people for questions about the winter Olympics and Lsig, the Baklava Fairy, Scott LeMien, Alesha, Erin, Grapes, Bob, Lars, Matt, Sandy, Susan, and Brian sent me a slough of questions.

Here we go.

1. Which do you prefer, Winter or Summer games?
I think I prefer the summer games because of the larger variety of events. I have been underwhelmed by the paucity of variation so far.  That makes sense though, there are significantly less competitive winter activities.

2. Do you have any insight into what makes someone good at Luge? I can’t figure out by watching. 
The only thing I can see is that to go the fastest requires the luger to lay their head back and not watch where they are going.  It has something to do with leg placement and micro adjustments.

3. Do you root for (non-injurious) falls and crashes, or is that just at my house? 
Of course… I was just talking with the wife how adding the channels to the ski-jumps has cut down on the amount of falls… and that secretly makes me sad. Snow and Ski cross are the best bets now... when I was a kid it was the snow jump.

4. How do you feel about athletes who change their citizenship to compete for a different country? 
More power to them.  I think it is fine, so long as they honestly identify with the country in question. If they don’t consider themselves a real citizen of the adoptive country, it feels a little mercenary.

5. Did you like Team USA’s opening ceremony outfits? 
Meh… They were... a bit, how do we say, suspect? More on this in Question 14. That being said most of the US Team uniforms are super boring.  And what the hell is the crotch spot on the US Speed skaters? 

6. Sibling skating teams— sort of creepy, right?  
They need to not do intimate moves and deep soul searching looks to each other.  If they keep the music fun and the moves like people who are in a dance troupe, it can work. One deep soulful look into each others eyes will kill that immediately.

7. Ice dancing: just why?
Because the pairs skating routines started to just be athletic and not artistic. They became more about what throws could be done and less about how the moves went with the music. Ice dancing is very similar to pairs skating from the 1960’s.

8. What is? How So?
That which does not belong to “What is not.” Like so.

9. Should they add ice skating sumo wrestling?
If that is an actual thing, most definitely yes. If it is not a thing, it should be, and then it should be added to the Olympics.  I would also have accepted the idea of Thin Ice Sumo Wrestling

10. Is there any point to any other country even TRYING to win half-pipe?
In regards to the ski half-pipe being introduced this year, that is how all the adoption of the x-games-like events have gone.  First olympics it is all US medal, next Olympics, there are less US medaling, but still dominant, third Olympics, US is just competing like everyone else.  In 8 years, the US will contend for the medals like any other strong competitor.

In regards to snowboard, this year was an especially strong group, but they did not do so well 4 years ago.

11. Would you be more inclined to watch if Idiot Hockey were an event. (Hockey with Chuck Taylor's as footwear)
In college there was a game called Broom Ball that was basically hockey rules with a ball and brooms and people with street shoes on the ice.  It was dumb and super slow.  I would rather watch curling. 

12. Do the winter games exist to ensure Europe walks away with a few medals?
It is only for the Dutch to get some speed skating wins. The rest is just a ruse to not make it look so obvious.

13. No NHL players in hockey. WTAF?!
NHL did not want to risk injury to their players and is hurting financially and in the middle of the season right now.  So to make sure their best and brightest are still on the ice so that their ticket holders will buy more tickets and see their favorite NHL teams and players even though the Olympics are going on, they did not allow any team to release their players.

14. What do you think of the Dumb and Dumber/Lloyd Christmas winter gloves? (Google it. It’s a thing.)
Who doesn’t like leather fringe? I mean seriously? Leather. Fringe. Is.Teh. Awsomestest!

15. How can you tell the difference between male and female bobsledders?
Super easy, you have to turn them over.

16. What's the deal with that backwards skiing thing and when did it start?
I think that is only a thing on the freestyle slopestyle.  I think it was snowboard jealousy.

17. Curling? I just don't understand.
I am trying to think of the summer games equivalent, but coming up a bit short. So, it is slippery team shuffle board… or Sorry Sliders.

18. Do figure skaters look at ice dancers as peers or is there some condescension that goes on?
It is kind of like Mississippians and Alabamians… they both look down on each other.

19. How will jet-packs change the Olympics?
Umm… they won’t impact them at all.  Since snow-mobiles are not a in a sport, why would jet-packing?

20. How many words can get from the letters O, L, Y, M, P, I, C, S?
The best one is Miscopy, but occurring to wordsolver.net there are 137… I think I probably could have come up with about 10.

To recap:
Snowcross is amazing
I would watch the hell out of speedskating any time any channel wants to broadcast it
My understanding is that this is a sport that is watched in the Netherlands
And there is only the sole announcer for the English feed from the Olympics
So, maybe someone can get the rights to an online feed and pay that dude to announce and then I can watch speedskating
I used the word “slough”
Little Man is happy that Stage 2 of Overwatch League starts tomorrow
I need to be done for the night
I have some more Olympics to watch tonight
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 403 - Art

It is another edition of 20 Questions Tuesday on a Wednesday.  Here we go!

Art is in the eye of the beholder. All of my D&D buddies are now quietly saying to themselves, “But the beholder has many eyes.”  Well, good people, art is many different things.  This week I aim to answer 20 Questions about art.  Let’s do this.

Thanks this week to KSig, Nicole, LSig, Wes, Amy, Susan, Brian, Gavin and some other guy. Answers are a’comin’!

1. Two part question. Are they still making Arts today (as in people named Art)? I don’t remember going to school with anyone named Art and neither do my kids...and in the history of Arts, the name is mediocre at best. Art Schlichter, Briles and Model can all rot in hell. Don’t get me started with Art Linkletter and Rooney. Art Carney chili, overrated (shout out to Mel). Other than the name Adolph, is there a more disappointing group of names than Art.
Part the first: People are named Arthur and nicknamed Art. That being said there are not many. The name is ranked 245 for 2018.  I would imagine it is mainly a middle name these days. 
Part the second: The middle name of Wayne… that just screams “I am going to eventually murder someone.”

2. What is art?
Simple, yet difficult question here.  Art is any creative expression that is intentionally created/performed/done to invoke an emotional response. So… almost everything can be, but the intentionality of the making of it is necessary.  Making a fork could be art, provided the person is intentionally creating the fork as a creative expression.

3. Do you think of yourself as an artist?
Sometimes.

4. What's the difference between "arts" and "crafts"?
Absolutely nothing. 

5. Do kids benefit from art class in school?
Of course they do.  Just like kids benefit from physical exercise during their education, they also benefit from artistic expression. Artistic expression forces kids to think much more generatively and promotes creativity and ingenuity.

6. Do you like art museums?
Yes, but not as much as one would think.

7. Can you explain the diff between art and pornography? Or do you just know it when you see it?
I see what you did there, but I will answer nonetheless. The line where things flip from art to pornography is different for every person, however there are typically lines that can be generally agreed upon as making something one or the other. I think the big difference is the intentionality of the creation process.

8. What are your top 3 works of art?
My top 3 that I have produced? Or my favorite 3 pieces that I enjoy looking at.  We will go with the former instead of the latter because there are too many of the latter to choose from and the former promises to be more fun.
2 of my 3 are my award winning fantasy maps that showed at a digital cartography art show in SoHo NYC about 5 years ago.
The first is “Something Swampish This Way Comes.” This one is more of a custom dungeon map done for a Cartographer’s Guild mapping challenge years ago.  The challenge was to take a set of primitive shapes and make an interesting minifig type map from it. The task I set forward on this map was to create multiple planes, and to have the viewer realize that there is a ground level, and it is above the water-line.

The second is “The Tenorous System.” This map was another map done for a Cartographer’s Guild mapping challenge about the same number of years ago. The challenge for this map was to create a solar system map. I wanted to make a more artistic old world style map that is set in a highly developed set of societies.

Both of these maps were in that digital art show.

My third is a piece I no longer have access to that was a still-life I did in college as a part of my Drawing II class. This piece was selected by my art prof to show in a Kent State student art show back in 1994. It was an ink wash with some raw umber and white conte crayon highlights still life of some random stuff I had on my desk at the time. I only have my flawed memories of this one, but in my mind it kicks all kinds of ass.

9. What do you think of those “artists” out there that just pee on a cross and call it art?
Well, that is very specific, I think you may be grumpy about the National Endowment of the Arts’s funding of controversial artists.  Here’s the thing, we do not know what these artists’ applications were to ask for funding. For example let’s think about the piss and cross example from above. The actual application could have been for funding to create an artistic “work” in order to stoke a media controversy and cause a religious fervor and backlash.  Maybe the grant was not for the artistic artifact but for the performance art that the artifact generated? How do you like them apples?

10. Can anyone make art? Or can anyone craft, but art is different?
Anyone can make art and anyone can craft. Now, not everyone can make good art or craft well, but we can all do it to some level.

11. If everyone can make art, can everyone consider themselves to be artists?
Sure, you can consider yourself an artist regardless of talent.  That does not mean that others will consider you an artist though. I can think myself the King of My Own Home, that does not mean that others think that as well.

12. Which famous Art is your favorite and why?
Caspar David Friedrich because he is a not that well known gothic artist.  If not him, maybe Thomas Eakins, because he took some of the color pallette of the more “realistic” expressionism pieces and really tightened it up while keeping things soft.

13. Can anyone become really good at art?
Nope, talent is necessary in some instances.  Skill and practice will only take you so far.  That being said, everyone can be better at art.  Everyone.

14. Is Roy Lichtenstein stuff actually art?
Oooh, this is a tough one. It is… however it is really art done in a shady way. Copying someone else’s work that was most likely not paid well, and selling it for a significant mark-up without crediting the original piece or compensating the original artist is shady as fuck.

15. People look at lots of modern art like Jackson Pollok’s stuff  and say “What’s so special about that? I could do that?” Could they?
They could not, because they have not. If they could have and found a buyer, the should have.

16. In a world leading country, is public funding of the arts a privilege, a necessity, a right?
Some level of society driven arts patronage is a necessity. Elsewise we become un-creative automatons.

17. Do the arts help civilization or harm it?
The “arts” help civilization by helping to determine where lines of acceptability by poking and prodding the edges and creating some cultural mores and values.  These change over time because art pushes those edges. 

18. Should only the wealthy be allowed to personally decide how to fund arts that they like?
Nope, there is a democratization of art funding happening at the moment through micro-funding platforms like Patreon and Kickstarter. Historically the arts have primarily been patronized by the rich, because the rich were the only ones who had the disposable income to throw at artists.  I think there is an Adam Ruins Everything about rich people arts patronage that gets into some of this.

19. Is art a commodity?
A commodity is a raw product that one can predict the contract value associated with that product in a future’s market, think oranges or pork bellies. I do not see art as a commodity because there is no futures market for “art.”  One might be able to create a futures market for either artists or art supplies, but not art.

20. Is the (potential) lack of funding for the arts a reflection of the lack of value the arts has in society, or are some people just not understanding the value?
It is people not understanding the value of arts in a cultural, educational, or developmental level. There are an insane amount of peer reviewed studies, written by non-artists, that show demonstrably the benefits of art in culture, it really is a non-question as to whether or not arts are necessary for a culture and therefore funding should be.  If you can win in Civilization VI by having a “cultural victory,” it is an important thing.

To recap:
The Winter Olympics coverage on the NBC’s has been weak... super weak
I have only seen the first teaser trailer for Black Panther
I am still beyond excited for seeing the movie on Friday
Not as excited as my wife
Something about Michael B Jordan and Chadwick Boseman

I cannot argue, thems some beautiful mens
I hear the movie is a bit of a game-changer
Superhero movies need a bit of a game-changer
They are getting a bit formulaic
The wife is in St Paul at the moment
Her work has her staying in a conference center that was once a children’s hospital/children’s mental hospital/children’s sanitarium
Creepy. As. Hell.
She is staying in this room 

In this building

Yikes! Creepy. As. Hell. Seriously. Creepy. As. Hell.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 402 - Owls

Over the weekend there was a big old American football game wherein an evil empire was overthrown by some plucky upstarts.  This game’s name is all copyrighted and can only be referred to as The Big Game. So this week’s topic is the Owls a la the Superb Owl.  Let’s answer some questions about Owls.

Thanks this week go to Nicole, Susan McG, PFMdesigner, Chris Ring, Dr JHP, Chris Corrigan, Erin, Khoi, my loving wife, and Sandy. 

Let’s answer some weird questions about owls.

1. There is an owl cafe in Japan. My question: who wants to start an owl cafe in Columbus?
I am not sure I would be party to owl petting cafe, and I know my wife is not game for the  lose encounter with owls idea (See Question 17). Also, that “cafe” does not seem to serve coffee or light snacks, which I believe is necessary for a cafe.

2. When you taught the OWL class (editor’s note: OWL stands for Our Whole Life which is a sexuality curriculum taught to different age groups about how sexuality changes over the course of one’s life within the Unitarian Universalist church), did you teach your own child? Would you? Why did you stop? Will you be/did you enroll your children in the class?
a) no
b) I’m not against it
c) We left that particular church (because they did not really like young kids too much)
d) Probably not

3. If you had to take an O.W.L. (editor’s note: the Ordinary Wizarding Levels exams that British wizarding children take when they are 15 or 16 years old), how do you think your marks would be? How hard would you study?
a) if I were in the wizarding world of Harry Potter and I were not muggle or squib, I feel I would probably pass my O.W.L.s. 
b) probably not as hard as most people… I was kind of lack-luster in my studying efforts when I was 15/16 years old.

4. You’re stuck in an elevator with a famous owl. Which would you choose: Owl, from Winnie the Pooh; The Great Owl from Secret of Nimh; or Bubo from Clash of the Titans?
Owl from Winnie the Pooh seems like an annoying pedant, so he’s straight out.  The Great Owl from the Secret of Nimh is scary as fuck. Bubo from Clash of the Titans would be annoying with all the flapping and beeping and booping. So, none of those 3 options really sounds great.  Bubo…. I choose Bubo.

5. What is the best way to prepare an owl for dinner?
Well, you should first invite them over, make sure they do not have any specific food allergies, and let them know what food you have made. I am not sure why you would need to prepare an owl for dinner when you could just feed them.

6. Hooters or eyeglasses?
Eyeglasses.

7. In the Potterverse, what would your familiar be?
Well, according to Pottermore my patronus would be a crow, but a patronus is nothing like a familiar.  So, For me, specifically, I think my familiar would be a cat.

8. Who is the best comic book Owl character: Night Owl (Watchmen), The Owl (Daredevil) or Talon (Batman)?
I love Night Owl from watchmen, but that series needs to be done. The Owl from Daredevil was weird, but many of the Daredevil’s bad guys are just plain bizarre. Talon from Batman is the most intriguing because not too long ago, DC created a group of bad guys for the Bat Family from whole cloth.

9. Any evidence of ancient prehistoric owls? You know, the kind that could swoop in and snatch a horse. 
The only one that I could find anything about was the Cuban Giant Owl, but those guys would only have been about 3 foot tall. It could grab a kid, but not an adult.

10. What is your favorite species of owl?
Snowy Owl is just plain gorgeous, but some of the ground/burrowing owls are much cooler. 

11. Does this topic mean the kids are getting an owl for St. Valentine's Day? That is so cool! You guys are the best parents! 
Um… no! The kids are not getting an owl.  There will be no owl pets in the house.

12. It's 2018, surely someone has constructed a real mechanical owl like they had in the original Clash of the Titans! What gives? 
People are not industrious enough.  I really think people dropped the ball on this one, mainly because people suck.  Dumb people.

13. What is the best way to punch an owl? Best karate move to get an owl off your head? (you may want to consult Caitlin M Frost before you answer)
Closed fist, with good amounts of torso twisting.  The power comes from the hips.

14. What is your favorite Superb Owl tradition?
We tend to ignore the game and go about our daily business.  Sometimes chips and dip is involved, when that happens it is Heluva Good’s French Onion Dip and Ruffles or tortilla chips and whatever salsa and guacamole is around at the time.

16. Owl will you ever do this?
Barn any unforeseen circumstances, I will just answer the questions.  You are barred from asking any more pun questions.

17. Best owl attack story? 
Funny story… My wife is hiking in British Columbia and an owl mistakes her hair done up in a pony-tail for a squirrel’s tail (at least that’s what we think the owl thought it was. We aren’t owls, we don’t know) and grabbed my wife by the head with its sharp sharp talons and cut her scalp somewhat.  The person she was hiking with hit the owl with a punch she learned whilst training in a martial art. Caitlin is a badass.

18. Should one go to the doctor after an owl attack? or is neosporin on the noggin enough of an intervention?
Well… I was curious if one should have seen if one should have gotten stitches, but that one did not seem to think the actual talon wounds were that deep or that dangerous. I would trust that one person, and neosporin seemed to do the trick.

19. What was it like teaching OWL with your wife? Without her? What was the slide that made you the most uncomfortable in the OWL class? what is the most important lesson from OWL you want to make sure our kiddos know?
a) I enjoyed teaching the class with her
b) I did not enjoy teaching that class without her
c) The old lesbians doing it on the pointy rocks, not for the subject matter as much as for the setting. Had to be uncomfortable.
d) That sexuality has way more to it than merely sexytimes

20. What is the largest animal ever picked up by an owl?
The great horned owl has been known to take pet dogs out of back yards. Great horned owls are biiiig.

To recap:
I was thinking last night how the US really is the Bad Guy… 
And it looks like it has always been so
But the winner gets to write the history
Little Man had his high school transition meeting last week and this week
How did he get so old so fast
It is like only yesterday that I was watching trains with him for hours on end
Winter Olympics start on Friday
I do love me some Olympics
I love the biathlon
Cross country skiing with intermittent shooting?
I will watch that dumb combination any day of the week
I set up the treadmill to have an apple TV in front of it
Now I can airplay Civilization VI and play that whilst walking on the treadmill
It is awesome
The last couple of nights I have walked 4.75 miles each night while beating up on the Germans
Fun fact: You can lose the game with a religious loss by capturing all of Germany’s cities
It makes no sense, but that is how it rolls
You be you Civ VI
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 401 - O Canada

A good portion of the work my wife does is in Canada.  Predominantly in Nova Scotia, but she has been know to be in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec a few times and I think she has hit New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon Territories at least once.  Come on, prairie provinces, step up your game. So today I thought it might be interesting to see if I could, as an American, answer some questions about Canada.

Thanks this week go to Chris Corrigan, Aunt Linda, Stephen Guglich (@StevenGuglich), Joel, Jared, Sandy, the Wife, Brian, the M-I-L, and some other guy.  Onto the questions! 

1. Where all in Canada have you been?
Halifax and Mahone Bay in Nova Scotia and Toronto and Niagara Falls in Ontario.  I am far less Canadianly traveled than my lovely wife. 

2. Where in Canada would you like to travel next?
I would love to see the Canadian Rockies, Montreal, and Vancouver.  I am willing to hit the prairies if they can give me compelling reasons.  Convince me Saskatchewan.

3.  When people ask you about your experience of Canada, what do you tell them? 
That Canadians I have interacted with are very patriotic in a way that is not horribly overbearing as the patriotism in the US. I think people in the US are under the misconception that if given the chance Canadians would much rather be part of the United States.  That is not the case at all, and nor should it be. Canada is not merely the “United States of America’s hat.”

4. Why does Canada matter to the world? 
Aside from the beauty of the natural landscapes of Canada, and the wonderful people who live in and have come from Canada, Canada is, in many ways, like a working version of the US.  The political system is relatively similar, but there is universal health care.

5. As an outsider what do you think we need to work on? 
Much like many places colonized by Europeans, relationships between the county and its aboriginal populations could use some work.

6. When are you coming for a visit?
Not soon enough.  

7. Champ from Lake Champlain or Sasquatch from British Columbia… which do you want to see more?
Definitely sasquatch.  

8. If your great grandfather was born in Canada does that make you part Canadian?
Nope, citizenship is not the same as ethnicity.

9. Do people in Canada really end each sentence with "eh?" If so, why?
Not in my experience. There is definitely some “aboot” and other stereotypical accent pieces, but I have not really heard any “ehs.”

10. 3 parter- If the country of Canada produced a big budget summer movie, what genre would it be? 
Science fiction, because most sci-fi tv shows are shot in Vancouver currently. The infrastructure is already there.

11. What’s the title?
"Complex"

12. What’s the quick synopsis that would make me want to go?
There is no synopsis that make you want to go, you are a cynical misanthrope who has lost faith in the whole cinematic industry. Regardless of the synopsis, you would mock the movie… (think Grease mixed with Star wars, set in feudal Japan with no singing. It’s a five movie deal starring Matt Damon.)

13. I have traveled to Toronto and Vancouver. What else should I visit in Canada? (Both with and without small kids.)
Lunenburg, NS is gorgeous, but honestly most of Nova Scotia is just gorgeous. I have not been too many places in Canada so I cannot give too many recommendations. 

14. What would it take to get mounties to ride moose instead of horses?
Domesticated moose, which ain’t happening.

15. Where is Ottawa?
It is in Ontario but probably better described as being just a bit to the west of Montreal.

16. For Ohioans, why is Canada preferred over Michigan in the neighbor to the North context? Is this just a Buckeyes thing, why is this construct relevant to alums of other Ohio universities?
It has to do with the shooting war between Ohio and Michigan over who was supposed to own the port town of Toledo (which in the 1800’s was a really awesome town). That is where the beginnings of the Mich/Ohio issues started.  That is why it bleeds out past just OSU v MU.

Oddly enough the US seems to forget that Canada handed us our own teeth for the War of 1812. I think the US equates the War of 1812 with England instead of Canada though, so we don’t think of it as Canada who beat us like a drum.

17. Is Canada angry at the US for anything?
Of course. Aside from the US being overly jingoistic, Canada is angry at the US from a geologic sense as well.  The multiple glacial ages scraped all the good soil off of the Canadian Shield and dropped it onto Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.

18. What is the most Canadian thing ever?
I would guess a moose, beaver, and lumberjack drinking maple syrup whiskey, eh.

19. Are Canadians as a whole as nice as their stereotype?
No group as a whole are their stereotype.

20. Do you know the words to O Canada?
I do not, but I should, and I will.  I am honestly going to endeavour to learn the words to O Canada (I might even take a stab at the French lyrics as well)

To recap:
The wife was stranded in Toronto last night and did not make it all the way to Halifax
I guess Nova Scotia had a Game of Thrones “Winter is coming” level snow event yesterday
The weather radar did not seem that crazy though
The airport only got 20.5 cm of snow and the wind seemed to be around 8.6 kn with gusts around 13 kn
That doesn’t seem too harsh for a Canadian climate
Regardless, the wife spent all day in Toronto International Airport and was forced to get a hotel room
Step it up NS, you can remove snow better than that
Little Man has his high school curriculum night tonight
How is he already going to go into high school
It has been too fast
Plumbing issues this morning in the kitchen
I hate plumbing issues
I am hoping to have this issue resolved today
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 400 - Food Trucks

Today as I was standing in the 39° F weather (that’s 3.89° C for my metric friends and 277.039K for my physicists) waiting for the woman running the truck to hand me my bowl of rice with various toppings, I realized that I like a whole bunch of food trucks.  So, today I am going to answer 20 questions on the phenomenon of food trucks!

Thanks this week go to Erin, John, B, Nicole, Ballpoint, Sandy, John, Susan McG, Bill Grapes, Khoi Pham, Steev, Justin, Matt, Brain S, Amy B, the wife, and (at the last minute) Joel and Some Other Guy.  Let’s get to the questions!

1. What food truck phenomenon stymies you the most?
The naming conventions are things that are often lacking.  The particular phenomenon on naming conventions that really gets me is when the name of the food truck has nothing to do with the food being served.  For example Dr Mom’s Tasty Treats.  What the hell does that truck serve? The other and most egregious naming issue is the misnomer. For example: Cuccina Alfredo.  That truck serves quick pastas and sauces with a selection of proteins to put on it, right? For an upcharge they will throw cheese on top and melt it till the cheese is bubbly, right? Wrong, it sells uninspired cheese burgers. WTF?!?

2. How far would you walk for your favorite food truck?
That really depends on the amount of time I have to indulge for lunch.  If there were no time limitations, I would go a mile or two.

3. Why are food trucks a thing now?
They are relatively cost effective.  It is cheaper to create a food truck without wait staff or rent. That is why food trucks spring up and then eventually become permanent spots. For example, Sweet T’s is a cajun place that has been a food truck for a while and is now opening up a brick and mortar restaurant with a full kitchen and everything. Many times a food truck is a stepping stone.

4. Why do hipsters seem to be drawn to food trucks that serve “Asian fusion”?
Because it is very easy to make a food truck and have it be asian fusion.

5. Wtf is Asian Fusion, and why do I want it served from a truck?
Because almost anything can be asian fusion.  Throw some sriracha on it and viola it is asian fusion. 

6. What is the strangest food truck you've ever seen and how did they make any money with a niche food item?
Hmmm… That is an interesting question. The most niche thing I have seen is Alice's Aebelskabels. (I think she is no longer in Columbus though, so this link might be a dead link soon) They are danish pancake balls.  Some are savory and some are sweet.  They are incredibly niche, but basically it is sweet or savory pancakes that are dippable, but super specific and niche.

7. Have you seen Chef? Did it want to make you become a food truck owner?
I did see it, or at least most of it.  It never really hooked me.  I am pretty sure that nothing could ever make me want to become a food truck owner. Long hours in a cramped space with weird environmental comfort (either too hot or too cold).  Nope, not for me.

8. What sort of food trucks do you wish there were more of, what sort of cuisine? 
I would love to see more food trucks that have specifically gluten free options, but that is because I need to be gluten free. I would love more options.

9. What sort of food would you NEVER order from a food truck? 
Any. Meat. On. A. Stick.

10. Does the Weinermobile count as a food truck? If it is not technically a food truck, how much would you pay to drive the Weinermobile for a few hours?
I do not believe the Weinermobile serves food.  I think it only has Oscar Meyer promotional gear for sale and no hot-dog makings to speak of. I think I would put up a fiver to drive it around a parking lot.

11. Why don't more food trucks look like food, like in the Richard Scarry books?
Umm… because those is weird vehics, yo.  Honestly, one is just an ear of corn with wheels on it.

12. Would you eat at a restaurant run by your favorite food truck?
Yes, yes I would.

13. If they served sloth meat at a food truck do you think it should be slow cooked?
One pot sloth and dumplings? 8 hours on low.  Yep. A food truck that just has 14 slow cookers in it of simmering sloth and little dollups of bread.  mmmm.

14. Can I have my own food truck? I would like it to have curry and roast beef with roast potatoes in it (on alternating days).
You can definitely have your own food truck.  You are golden for roast beef curry with or without potatoes. Heck it could be Orange Juice Bar and Curried Beef with Roast Potatoes. You could push it really further.  Really throw some stuff together on the back a converted U-Haul truck

15. Is there a food type that food trucks could not do?
Traditional Middle English roasting. One cannot roast a duck in a pig in a cow in a truck. (I would call the truck “Spitz” and it would look like the 1968 US Summer Olympic Team’s Opening Ceremony uniforms. The amount of meat you got would be ordered by the a number of gold medals… it is still in the concept phase)

16. Chef (which features food trucks) made me want to try a cubano, which I did. Have you had one, and if so, what are your thoughts?
I think I had one years and years ago.  It is a pressed ham and cheese sammich on a very specific type of bun.  When we were younger and I could eat bread, there was a cuban diner we went to occasionally with the geography grad students. They were not very good a choosing restaurants. This was fairly okay.

17. Which food truck provided you with the *gift* of intestinal struggles?
I have never gotten any bugs from a food truck (that I know of)  So, nothing as of yet.  There is still time though.

18. Being a celiac, which food trucks have options for those with food allergies?
There are a good list of local ones that I have found work out fairly well for me.  Most of them have really strong possibilities of cross-contamination, so if you are truly celiac or strongly allergic to gluten, there is a BIG chance that most food trucks will not be safe.  That being said,  I have found with food trucks the owner operators are really good at interacting with people with questions via social media or email.  I have facebook messaged and tweeted at many a food truck to see what is safe for me to consume. Most have a list that is handy, and a few just say nothing.  Today I had Loco No Moco Rice Bowl with Spam from Aloha Streatery.  They have marked very clearly on their menu what is GF and what is not.

19. Can you explain why food trucks can try such weird flavor combinations? Why do those combinations work?
Crazy flavor combos sometimes are magic. For example, the Loco No Moco Rice Bowl with Spam is a medium grain rice bowl with fried chunks of Spam, dice pineapple, a cilantro lime aioli, some Hawaiian bbq sauce (a small drizzle only) and chopped fresh cilantro.  I do not like pineapples and I am not super keen on Spam, but the first time I tried this, I decided to do what the menu suggested, and then the next time modify the order to my liking. Turns out, they had it right.  The pineapples really worked. It gave a hint of sweet to go witrh all the strong umami flavors going on. The saltinesss and the crispiness of the fried Spam were excellent counter-points to the relative softness of the rice and sauces. But it also could have not have worked.  Food trucks can get away with trying different things because since their location is transient, the menu can be somewhat transient as well.  Restaurants are destinations, whereas food trucks are much more happenstance.  If their menu does not work, they can, most likely, much more easily modify it than a restaurant.

20. If fuzzy wuzzy was a food truck, what food truck would fuzzy wuzzy be?
Well, I would shorten the name of the food truck to Fuji Wasa’i, and the truck would sell asian fusion sushi. My menu would be: 

Fuzi Wasa’i (Shrimp nigiri with choice of 2 sauces) 
Wasa’i Bear (Pork belly maki with choice of sauce)
Fusion Wasa’i (BBQ Pork nigiri with choice of 2 sauces)
Hadano Air (Salmon sashimi choice of sauce)
Fuji Wasa’i (yellowfin tuna uramaki roll with apple and choice of sauce)
Wasa’i Berry (filet mignon maki with a raspberry compote and choice of sauce)
Foo Sea Wasa’i (catch of the day uramaki roll and choice of sauce)

To recap:
That last one was difficult
Mainly because I don’t like sushi
And it is just silly beyond belief
I need to get to sleep
The wife took the red-eye from Cali last night and I picked her up at the airport at 5:20 this morning
I am the tireds
I need to start up the exercising again
The left knee is bothering me again
It sucks
I have a couple interviews going on right now
Hopefully there will be some interviews to post soon
Turns out Aaron Kuder is one of Marvel’s “Young Guns”
He is one of the best
Congrats to him
I am tired and this needs formatting
Holy crap!  This is 20 Questions Tuesday 400, isn't it?
Wow, I do not know how to celebrate stuff
Good night all and
Have a great weekend  
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 399 - 2018

It is still relatively the beginning of the New Year, so the topic for this week’s post is 2018.
Thanks this week go to Bruce, Chris Corrigan, Sandy, Nicole, Susan, and Some Other Guy.
Let’s do this.

1. Any resolutions?
Not really.  I try not to set things up for me to experience failure too much.

2. Upcoming projects or big plans for the new year?
I want to spend some time and get my Mag-Lite book off the ground.  I need to edit the hell out of it and place it in a real geography.  There are problems associated with this since I do not know good geographies for super hero settings. No one wants a superhero book set in Columbus, Ohio. I need to follow up with my New York and my Chicago friends to see where it should actually be set…. It seems like it is leaning towards NYC as a good setting. I know nothing of the NYC.

3. I’m heartbroken for you. How do you plan to celebrate the last year of the Crew in Columbus?
I am going to make sure I make it to some of the games this year. It will be sad to see them go… I am surprised that the league is allowing it to happen… now it seems that a stadium commitment only means 20 years.

4. If 2018 was a single pane illustration, what would it be?
Right now?  Blank with some sketchy lines in the lower left corner.

5. I’m coming to Columbus in 2018 and would like to hang out with you. Are you free on February 9 or 10th?
I would love that.  Let’s firm things up.

6. Will women take over government and start harassing men or lead this damn country?
Well, I don’t think it will happen in 2018, but I think it might start in 2018.

7. Are you looking forward to 2018?
I think so.  Why wouldn’t I be? Do you know something about this year that I don’t? If you do, you have to tell me!!!

8. Anything in specific that you would like to have happen in 2018?
Not that I can think of…. 

I might not be as excited about Black Panther as my wife though… She is inordinately interested in this movie…. almost troublingly so.

9. Does global warming actually exist?
Yes, it does.  Even though I like the term “climate change” more than “global warming” the overall average temperature of the is climbing, so it is getting warmer all over.  Just when that happens, certain areas might be colder day to day. In fact the cold-spell happening in the north east of North America is happening due to overall warmer temperatures weakening the “polar vortex” and jet streams that contain the cold weather at the poles.  This weakening of that wall allows for pseudopods of super cold air to reach down into places and make them extremely cold, while opening up the polar area for warmer temps to intrude.

10. What will your new theme song be for 2018?
That is an excellent question.  I am not sure I can answer it just yet, mainly because I would like to hear some new music to grab onto this year. Otherwise it will be Men at Work’s "Who Can it Be Now" for the 17th year running, and nobody (especially me, sweet mother of god, make it stop) wants that to happen.

11. What are you, specifically you, doing to make 2018 suck less than 2017? 
Well, I have been more politically active than ever before, I think that will continue, but in all honesty, I might start pulling away from social media more. It is a club that has a room for Nazis, and I would not shop at a store that had a section of an aisle set aside for Nazis.  It's a great store, but it has an aisle of Nazi propaganda.  I mean, I don't have to buy it, so it's not an issue, right?... that I go to a store that profits off of selling Nazi propaganda? Right? I am not sure I should frequent an online place that has places set aside for Nazis.

12. Do we have it in us to weather another years of slings and arrows? 
We have to, I mean, what choice do we really have?

13. What celebrities do we think won’t make it until next year? 
The sexully assaulty kind.  I think there is a change in the air, and some people are just not ready for it. Pretty soon, they will no longer be celebrities, and I am OK with that.

14. What will be the biggest change for your family that you see in the next year? 
My oldest will be officially old enough to get his learners permit and start to learn how to drive. That hurts, because that means I am the old now.

15. 2018 is the year of the dog—what do you think that will mean for us all?
I believe I can sum up my feelings by saying that I hope at the end of the year I can say,”Who’s a good year? Who’s a good year? Were you a good year? You know you were a good year, don’tcha? Ooooooh, gonna rub that good year’s belly.  Gonna rub that good year’s belly. Whose belly is getting rubbed? A good year!  That’s whose!  A good year’s getting its belly rubbed.”

16. Where would you like to travel in 2018?
Almost anywhere really. Any of the places that I am not against visiting. We are trying to figure out a place to vacation with the family this year.  Maybe not for the summer, like the last 3 years, but maybe for the holidays.

17. What is something you are not going to do in 2018?
There are many things I am not going to do. Not going to sky-dive or bungee jump.  That’s dumb, yo.

18. What is one creative thing you want to do with 2018?
Seriously, get the Mag-Lite book in good order. It needs a good strong update and geography pass. Good bones, but needs some strong editing and updating. I would like to get it to a point that I would not be completely embarrassed to let Lsig, DrBDawg, and pfmDesigner read it and give input.

19. What is one technology you hope to embrace in 2018?
I would love to get the smart home lights in the basement working again.  Maybe I need to try a different system, switching to the Hue bulbs might be good and allow the basement to be all mood lit... like a submarine running silently... ooooooh

20. What is something you want to learn more about in 2018?
I would like to get a better understanding of the transaction model associated with blockchains. I think I understand the mining aspect and the whole speculative crypto currency model, but I am having an issue with the transaction part of the system.

To recap:
Holidays are very hard to publish through
There is just so much going on and such
I am even 2 days late for this week’s post which is already a week late
It’s just difficult to keep up with posting on a regular schedule since I got Sid Meier’s Civilization VI for Christmas

Currently I am going for a tech win as the Japanese against the Australians who love me and the Spanish who hate me for a reason I have not figured out as of yet
Yes, I too was surprised that the Aussies were a civilization in Civ VI
Firaxis!  You have ruined me!!!!
RUINED ME AND MY MARRIAGE AND MY ABILITY TO PARENT
I love my air fryer though
MMMMMMMMM crispy fries
I need to wash it though so I can make the girl some popcorn shrimp tomorrow
A 9 yr old girl needs her popcorn shrimp, yo!
So, late last week my mom had eye surgery
I did not know about said surgery until my dad sent me a text saying that it went great
Now my mom is wearing an eye-patch and hopefully talking like a pirate
Have a great rest of the week everyone
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 398 - Christmas Shopping

Tis the season for Christmas shopping, so I have asked my intrepid question askers for questions concerning Christmas Shopping… I think I did something like this last year as well.  Yep… 20 Questions Tuesday: 371 - Holiday Shopping from December 16, 2016... and 20 Questions Tuesday: 305 - Holiday Shopping from December 9, 2014.  I am nothing if not repetitive. Turns out I was way more politically correct last year. “Holiday Shopping” to “Christmas Shopping?” I guess the war on Christmas is truly over. I hope we can start screwing over the veterans of the War on Christmas like we do all the other combat veterans in the US.  Thank you for your service, your health care is shit.

Anyhoo… I am nothing if not repetitive. Maybe I should research topics before I ask for questions...

Thanks this week go to Mike, Chris Ring, Lsig, Bruce Finch, Jared, Jayne, Erin, Nicole, and my Mother-in-Law (guess which questions were hers). (no links to peeps because I am the lazy today)

Onto the questions!

1. When is it considered too early to think about christmas shopping? I know people who get half of it done in August. I don't like those people.
Well, those people are monsters… inhuman monsters. Early Christmas present buying is a terrible trait and should be shut down.

2. What proportion of christmas presents that you receive were actually picked out by you? Does that ruin the surprise? Does it matter?
About 80%... which is not a bad thing.

3. How much of your christmas shopping is done online and delivered to your house?
About 80%

4. Black Friday: Yes (no) or Hell No?
Hell No.

5. What was the last thing you re-gifted? Why? 
I have not re-gifted anything in a very long time.  I don’t think I remember what it was or to whom it went.

6. I loathe Christmas shopping, any tips to make it more bearable?
Online for the win

7. Do you venture out for Black Friday shopping?
Nope, Black Friday is a day meant for monsters... and I am not a moster

8. Do your kids submit detailed lists? (Does your spouse?).
We do this listing via Pinterest boards. It can get relatively granular on there. We all have pinterest boards.... mine is super anemic right now.  I hope to have it populated by Friday.

9. Is Christmas "too commercial"?
Nope, just commercial enough. Christmas hits that sweet spot for commericality (I kid... this is horrible)

10. What is your fondest memory of a Christmas gift someone bought for you?
Fondest is an interesting feeling to search for.  

11. Do you get items wrapped at the store or do you take them home to wrap?
We wrap all the gifts at the house.  Very rarely will we get anything wrapped for us.

12. How early & how late in the season do you do your shopping?
Pretty much the month of December.

13. Anyone that is really difficult to shop for?
Me… I am terrible to shop for. I never know what I want and can't articulate it when I do find something I want.

14. Is cash or gift cards ok or should all gifts be more personal?
Cash and gift cards are always acceptable.  We try not to get things that people have to throw away

15. Can you shop online and never visit a real store?
About 80%

16. Why do my children want the most obscure things ever?
Children are evil, vile creatures that only concern themselves with their dumb wants and needs.  They do not consider cost or difficulty in what they ask for.  My daughter wants a horse… we live in an area that is not horse friendly and some horses cost more than some cars, yet everyday she asks for one.

17. Do you prefer the shop from a wish list or look around for things that remind you of the giftee? 
About 80% wish list

18. What gift(s) are appropriate for friends and family who celebrate Hanukkah?
Any gift that would be okay for Christmas would be be fine for Hanukkah… except for a Christmas ham. One should not necessarily expect to give gifts on all seven days though.

19. Are you getting me something wonderful? A new car? All expense paid trip to Maine? 
You will get what we have given you for the past year or so… the ability to live in our backyard.

20. Are those are the important Christmas shopping questions?
Well… until 19, they were pretty solid.

To recap:
I have done no shopping as of yet
I just heard someone say “I’d rather be Santa Claus than Superman”
I heartily agree
The wife is in Nova Scotia for 10 days
That is a looong time
(Editor’s note: I am publishing this on Wednesday because I could not get it finished yesterday) 
I think getting glasses has made my eyes realize how hard they were working
Theys some tired eyes
My dad had shoulder surgery yesterday (again)
He says they might need to replace the shoulder with a ceramic one
He already has ceramic knees
And a pacemaker
They say he’s more machine than man anymore
More machine than man with none of the superhuman powers
Pretty sure with all the replacement surgeries and whatnot that my dad is somewhere around at least a $1,000,000 man
Maybe pushing $2 mil already
That’s it from here
Except that the Punisher Marvel Netflix series is the most solid and best Marvel series they have made
Have a great week everyone
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 397 - Nothing

Every once in awhile I have to take some time and focus on nothing.  Not in a Zen way of clearing one’s mind and contemplating the nothingness of it all, but more of a study on the everyday concept of “Nothing.” You see… “nothing” is truly and interesting concept.

So without further ado or any other preamble… 20 Questions about “Nothing”

1. So, what culture was the first to truly define the mathematical concept of “Nothing?”

The ancient Mesopotamians were the first on record to create a place holding character to signify the concept of absence.

2. What is a good definition of “Nothing?”

Nothing is the absence of something where that something and the container for that something are both well-defined. For example, if the universe in question is a shoebox and something is described as a solid object, the concept of “nothing” is that shoebox being empty.

3. So... is “Nothing” actually “something?”

In the mathematical sense, yes.  That being said, in philosophy it isn’t. Mathematics only works in a highly defined system, and one must define what “nothing” is in the system, where as philosophically nothing simply just isn’t.

4. Do you think that nothing lives more in philosophy or mathematics?

Well… I kind of consider math to be a very specific form of philosophy, so I believe that philosophy definitely contains nothing.

5. What is the weirdest thing you have ever heard about “nothing?”

Well… in one of my mathematics classes in undergrad (I think it was Calc III), my professor said, “The interesting thing about nothing, is that you can say anything you want about it and it will still be true. For example, all the elephants in this room are wearing pink tutus.” He was indeed telling the truth, because all of the elephants in the room were wearing pink tutu’s because there were not any elephants in the room.

6. What is the hardest thing about “nothing” to really wrap your mind around?

Well, coming up with a thorough definition is the biggest thing.  Most definitions revolve around the concept of the opposite of something, but in the real world the idea of nothing is dependent on the discreteness of everything.  There has to be a hard edge to everything to truly allow for completely nothing. The moment an object lacks a hard edge, the concept of nothing breaks apart.  The problem is that on a molecular and atomic and subatomic level, there really is not a definable hard edge… For example, think about the screen you are looking at and the air that is directly adjacent to the outside of that screen. The screen and air intermingles at the edges, there is a muddy zone where everything at a submolecular level intermingles and one cannot define whether that subatomic space is screen or air… in many ways that transition zone is both screen and air. Even the void of space is still something. There is not an area in the physical area that is actually and completely nothing, which means it is an incomplete nothing… but an “incomplete nothing” implies at least a little something, which means that there is no longer nothing.

7. Should you press when your significant other is upset about something, but when prodded about what’s wrong only returns the dreaded and terse “nothing.”

You should press a little, and then withdraw, but let the significant other know that you are withdrawing to allow them some space to process and that you will be glad to talk about this “nothing” when they are ready.

8. When people do you a favor and then give a dismissive “It was nothing” when thanked, how should you respond?

Well, the easiest way is to say, “It might have been nothing to you, but it was something for me, so thank you again.” Then do not bring it up again.

9. What is your definition of nothing?

Well, one definition is the insipid minutia about people I no longer know from my childhood that my mom tries to tell me about when we speak on the phone.  Mom, I have no idea who Pete Lawless is or was or how he was connected to me.  That was over 20 years ago and I think he was a friend of a friend, but I honestly cannot recall.

10. “Nothing ventured. Nothing Gained.” Can you believe that shit?

Yup.. that shit.

11. In the movie, The Neverending Story, the ultimate “bad guy” in the movie is not really a character, but the lack of imagination that allows the fantasy world to be destroyed.  This destruction is referred to as the “Nothing.” My question is this: Why in God’s name would anyone think it was a good plot point for Artax to slowly die in a swamp while Atreyu helplessly watched? for goodness sake, this is a goddamn kids movie…

Wow… sounds like the movie scarred you a bit.  Fun fact, the actor who played Atreyu was grievously injured in preproduction and has been living in pain and through multiple surgeries for his role in that movie for over 20 years now.    ♬♪ ♫ The Never Ending Story   ♬♪ ♫

12. How many languages do you know the word “nothing” in?

4, with a bunch of English synonyms as well.

13. “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’, but you gotta have somethin’ if you want to be me with me” this lyric describes what mathematical principle?

This refers to the “Identity principle” for addition.  This states that if you add or subtract 0 from any number you will retain the value of the first number. The null principle for addition is that if you subtract a number from itself, the result will always be 0.

14. Why do people use “nothing but trouble” to describe someone who is bad and not “everything but trouble” for someone good?

Well, double negatives are a very literary thing, so that is why “nothing but trouble” is so popular.  Everything but trouble includes many particularly bad things except for trouble.  There can be bad things that are not troubling.

15. So, “Nothing compares to you” is a dumb lyric, right?

I think so.  I can compare anything.  I could compare strontium 238 with a black squirrel.  One can compare any 2 things or even 2 concepts.  Nothing is equivalent to you… Nothing compares favorably to you… You are the benchmark by which nothing is equal or better… those are more appropriate lyrics that are significantly less lyrical.

16. So, which “Nothing compares to you is better,” Sinead’s or Prince’s?

I am much more familiar with Sinead’s but I think I like the less melancholy version of Prince’s version than the more pleading version of Sinead’s.

17. Shouldn’t “Ain’t no thing like a chicken wing” be “there is nothing like a chicken wing?”

Things clear up grammatically in that “correction” because of the elimination of the double negative, but artistically it is very boring.

18. How is whispering “sweet nothings” even a thing? Should it be “sweet somethings” or why are they sweet? Ugh…

I think the intention is that the speaker is saying loving or sweet things that amount to nothing. If the sweet nothing become substantive, maybe then they become sweet somethings.

19. Can you ever really focus on nothing during meditation?

Not really.  This is one of those times when I think the idea is not to contemplate the void that is “nothing” as much as to not focus on anything so much so that you are essentially focusing on nothing. In this instance I think it is less to focus on nothing as it is to not focus on anything.  The placement of the negation is important.

20. Are black holes the physical equivalent of nothing?

Good question, but no. The singularity that a black hole is feeding is significantly more than nothing. It is most definitely a whole bunch of something that has been packed down into a size that is essentially nothing yet still “something.”

To recap:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sorry about the tardiness of this post

It has been a while since I posted

And for that I apologize

Happy birthday to oft questioner Dr B Dawg

Have great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 396 - Ten Ton Studios

Last week was the last week where users could post on my beloved forum, Ten Ton Studios.  Ten Ton Studios was an artistic comic book collaborative started about over 12 years ago by a handful of aspiring writers, pencillers, inkers, colorists, and maybe even some letterers.  They banded together to give themselves a name and share costs of going to conventions, and give themselves a name to help break into the comic’s industry.  They opened up a online forum on February 23, 2005 (kids, ask your parents what a “forum” is) and other artistic folks gravitated to the site because the forums started up a Weekly Sketch Challenge.  That Sketch Challenge lasted for 12+ years and has had hundreds of participants over the years.

Ten Ton was one of the major reasons that I started drawing again.  I have met a handful a people from the forum and had the chance to hang out with some of the big names/original members of the site.  I have done 20 Questions with a boatload of them, and I am sad but understanding that the site is going dark this month.  I reached out to my Ten Tonners and asked them to send me questions for this week’s 20 Questions Tuesday.

There are too many artists that deserve images in this blog that came from Ten Ton, so I apologize for not posting all the amazing art that came from that site.

So without further ado… 20 Questions about Ten Ton Studios.

1. So who were the original members of Ten Ton? 
Doug Hills, John Polecek, Scott St Pierre, Khoi Pham, Reilly Brown, Chris Chua, Mike Malbrough, Jason Masters, Jason Baroody, Phil Hilliker, Kurt Christenson, Chris Burnham, Jong Kim, and Lelan Estes… That might be more than who started the collective, but it is the people I think started it out. If these aren't the originals, these are the first 2 sets of peeps.

2. Why was it called Ten Ton Studios?
Because that group was going to drop like a Ten Ton bomb! Yo!

3. So… did it work?
I would say that it did. A number of the top talent from the site are now recognizable names in the comics book industry. A number of the “officers” of the site have not only worked in the industry for a long time, but also are associated with top flite books and super well-known titles. 

Bat-Girl collaboration between Ten Ton Officers Khoi Pham and Jeremy Colwell

4. Who would you say is the biggest breakout star of the people who “made it?”
Hmmm… that is hard to say.  I would say one of the hottest names right now is Aaron Kuder.  He is currently drawing the All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, but has been on all sorts of marquee books like Action Comics drawing the Superman. That being said there are lots of other success stories from the studio. 

Cover to "All New Guardians of the Galaxy" #1

5. Did the original members all continue to pursue careers in comic books?
No, not all of them.  Some became disenchanted with the comics industry and moved on to other non-creative careers, and some pivoted to other creative endeavors.

6. So, how many officers did the site finally have? And how many of them are still actively doing work in comic book publishing?
21 and at least 14 are still active within the comic book industry.

7. What's the number one thing that you learned from taking part in so many sketch challenges over the years?
To not be so precious about my work.  One cannot spend forever on a single piece.

Reilly Brown's Cable and Deadpool

8. After years of prolonged exposure to Ten Ton, have you noticed any chronic symptoms on your mental health?
Not that I know of, but I do find myself making inappropriate jokes about people in my head (sometimes not in my head) that would have been typical comments I would have made on Ten Ton.

Jason Master's Batman

9. Which challenges were the easiest and/or most difficult for you to draw? 
Easiest: the super well known dude characters that one does not need to get character reference for.
Most difficult: women and obscure characters I had never heard of

10. What did Ten Ton bring you that you couldn't find anywhere else?
Acerbic wit coupled with hard hitting comments and crits by insanely talented people.

11. Who was the first Ten Tonner you met in person?
Officer: Chris Burnham
Member at large: Brett Wood

12. How and why were you disappointed in those meetings?
Chris Burnham was not nearly as attractive as other people said he was. I was expecting beefcake, and all I got was kind of beefy.

Infinite loop from Chris Burnham's Batman Inc run

Brett Wood and I do not have tons in common even though we live in the same city.

13. How did you first hear about Ten Ton?
I was lurking about at The Drawing Board, a more generic drawing board that existed in the early 00’s and I followed, I think it was Jason Baroody from one of his posts there.

My colors over Jason Baroody's Dr Doom... I should have done a color hold on the architectural details

14. If you could nominate one more sketch challenge, what would it be? 
I would love to see a Fantastic Four redesign by the peeps at TT.

15. Who is the Ten Tonner you always thought would (and still might) "break in"?
There are two that I have not seen “make it big” yet that surprise me that they haven’t.  Jason Baroody… it is beyond my understanding why he is not either doing books or at least doing cover art for multiple books and multiple publishers. The second is Steve Willhite.  That man needs to be drawing a Conan book yesterday.

16. Least favorite sketch challenge?
I would have to go with El Cazador challenge that Roho suggested. I just could not understand the character.  I didn’t get a good feel as to whether he was a Punisher like hard-ass, no bullshit ass-kicker or an over-the-top caricature of excessive violence like Lobo.  My Argentinian is no bueno, so I could not really do the research to find out. 

17. If you had to break down Ten Ton into its constituent tonnage… where would most the weight lie?
I would say that 4 tons of the site would be amazing art, 1 ton would be smack talk about people’s inability to draw well, 3 tons would be conversations about comic book/pop culture media, .5 tons would be people announcing their convention schedule, and 1.5 tons would be about Baroody’s mom.

18. How many Ten Tonners have you met in the real worlds? What was your favorite name in the forum before people started using their real names?
I think it is just less than 10, like eight or so. My favorite handle was “Dancing Door Guy.” Whatever happened to that guy? (see question 4)

19. Where are you going to post drawings and shit now? Are there any online comic book themed sketch challenges out there?
I still have my Deviant Art account that I post to, but probably just Facebook… maybe the Gram, but most likely just DA and FB. As to the second part of that question, I have only been able to find time based challenges like the 30 sketches in 30 days thing, Inktober, or more general sketch challenges.  Nothing that seems to approach the regularity of the Ten Ton Sketch Challenge.

20. What is the best thing to come out of Ten Ton?
The art. At its core, Ten Ton was a comic book art forum. The members there congregated online primarily because of their collective love of comic books. I am sad to see it go, but its time has passed.

To recap:
I think I won four challenges
I entered challenges for about 8 years, almost every one of them
I only took four
My art has grown leaps and bounds because of that site
There are at least 5 points of similarities between those drawings
Doboy1… I could go on for days about that fucker
On another note people keep saying that guns don’t kill people
Empirical evidence points elsewhere
Ten Ton introduced me to some fine people
One of my favorite things was watching one of the biggies at TT smacking down people who needed smacking
There are a few of those that stick out
The one I remember most is when Burnham destroyed this colorist who was being just plain mean to someone asking for help
It was glorious
Man, I need to be drawing more
I have about 10 or so unfinished drawings that need some finishing
RIP Ten Ton
Have a great week everyone
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 395 - Potpourri

I am all topic-ed out for a bit, so the topic for this post is “Potpourri” a la the Jeopardy category.  So here are some random questions posed by people who like me and only wish me a the greatest success possible. Everyone who did not offer up questions… you are on notice… and I have no idea who you are.

So thanks this week go to Lsig, DRJHP, the Baklava Fairy, Brian Sturtz, the Wife, and some other guy.

Here come the questions:

1. How are the new spectacles?
They are fine. I’m definitely not used to them.  So far I have not gotten much sympathy from the people who have worn glasses since they were little kids.  Making it to 43 without glasses is pretty good, so my complaints are unnecessary.

2. Some people find a career that is their passion, and others work to fund the other parts of their lives that feed their soul. Which are you? Has that changed over the years?
For most of my work life I would say job funded the rest of life. My most recent job has a little of Column A and Column B.

3. Any new podcast finds to recommend?
Conversations from the Abyss and IRL: Online Life is Real Life.

4. Have you bought your Last Jedi tickets yet?
Nope. That is a soon to purchase thing.

5. Do you still Math ever? Like, for fun? I occasionally Shakespeare just to remind myself of my heady undergraduate days.
Not really… occasionally I might throw some Maths into everyday conversation. I also try to stay abreast of what Little Man is learning in his 8th grade math class.

6. Can you give a quick ranking of the movies you will likely see or wish you could see for the remainder of the year?
There are only 3 left for the year that I am remotely interested or more in
Thor Ragnarok
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Justice League
And I would rank them in order of excitement as 2, 1, 3

7. What's the best meal you've had in the past 6 months?
It is a toss up between this Venezuelan restaurant in Brookline, MA and Texas de Brazil.

8. What one thing have you lost that you wish you could find again (youth doesn't count, I'm still searching)?
I am going with my will to push myself through things that are uncomfortable.  I have such a difficult time forcing myself to be uncomfortable, like say… on a treadmill.

9. If you could create and name a new color what would it be and describe please.
Flumph and it would be a light blue gray with a hint of yellow.

10. Trick or treat?
Treat.

11. Should regulation of potpourri be at the federal level or should states have the authority to decide for themselves?
On this issue, I will go with state’s rights.  We’re talking about pot, right?

12. Why don’t we fall off the ends of the earth since it’s obviously flat? (Also as part of this blog I’d like a cartographic explanation. Preferably in sepia tone. And using Olde English for all the lettering. Please and thank you.)
The earth is a 4th dimensional “brane” that is twisted on itself like a mobius strip, thus while the shadow of that form is a flat plane it is in fact a multi-dimensional object that only seems like a flat plane because of our own limited perceptive capabilities. If one can map a map of a hyper dimensional object, it would not be in sepia or in Olde English.

13. Did you just get a new washer and dryer?
Our old ones were something like 15 years old, so they were a bit long in the tooth.  We did get a new washer and dryer and I am excited to see them in action.

14. Now that you have dogs, have you become a dog person or are you still a cat person despite your dog affiliation?
I still like cats better than I like dogs.  I love my 2 dumb dogs, but I still like cats more in general.

15. If you are a cat person, why did you even get puppies?
My daughter is crazy allergic to cats and really wanted to have pets.  We ended up getting Vizslas because they are very loving dogs.

16. What is the hardest question to answer?
This is a bit meta, isn’t it? The answer is more difficult than this question shows.

17. What was the hardest question that you have ever been asked?
The previous one was a bit of a doozy. Meta answers are the best answers.

18. What was the last good game you played?
Exploding Kittens with the Imploding Kittens expansion… that is the game the family plays when we go to restaurants and are waiting on our orders to be ready.
I also am playing a D&D game online using the Fantasy Grounds platform on Sunday evenings.  Both of those gaming experiences have been pretty darn good. 

19. Did you watch the most recent Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer?
Nope, I am trying not to watch it because I am already in.  The trailer won’t make me want to see the movie any more than I already do.  The teaser trailer and the first trailer were enough to get my appetite going.

20. What is one thing you enjoy about your kids’ favorite extracurricular activities and what is one thing you cannot stand?
Little Man: Swimming - Enjoy: how active he is. Cannot stand: swim meets are an amazing time sink
Little Woman: Horseback riding - Enjoy: how much she loves and enjoys being around ponies and horses. Cannot Stand: I do not like horse or the culture that people build around horses.

To recap:
I am thirsty
I have found that I really like kombucha
I am a little upset about this
I am not a kombucha kind of guy
But is so tasties!!!
I am currently 1 or 2 episodes away from being done with “The Vietnam War” by Ken Burns and Lynn Novik
It has been super compelling
Lynn Novick is not Naomi Novik
Both are crazy talented Noviks though
I need to buy some tickets for both Thor and Last Jedi
I also need to coordinate with my wife as to which of these movies she would like to join me for the watchings
Now that I have the glasses, I need to start consistently drawing again
I also need to get back on the treadmill

ugh... the US is not going to the World Cup Finals... that is pretty much unacceptable for a US Soccer fan
Have a great week everyone
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 394 - Vision

This weekend I went to the Cincinnati Comic Expo to hang out with my friend William “Will/Bill” Grapes.  Honestly, I refer to him as Grapes in my head, so his first name is not nearly as important to me as his surname. Anyway I was hanging out at his table and decided to finish up some drawing that I had done to get back up on the horse for drawing… but my eyes… they did not work so well.  Lots of blurriness, lots of double stuff. Hard to focus on the detail work that is necessary for my drawing style.  Very frustrating not being able to tell which line is the correct one.

Anyway… so this week’s topic is “Vision.”  So without further ado I will answer questions from pfmDesigner, Chris Ring, Chris Corrigan, JHP, Lsig, and Aunt Linda.  Onto the questions.

1. Who was the greater visionary: Arthur C. Clarke or Jules Verne? Defend your answer.
Arthur C. Clark (even though he allegedly had a penchant for young Sri Lankans). His works were (even though they were weird as shit and just as wrong as Verne’s) more grounded. Come at me bro!

2.  Have you ever had an honest-to-god hallucination?
Not that I can remember.  My daughter has.  She saw AT-AT’s in a fevered hallucination when she was about 4 and had a crazy high fever.

AT-AT's tromped through my kid's visions

3.  If you could see into either the past or the future, which would you pick?
I think I would go with the past, because then it still makes the future seem influenceable.

4.  What is your favorite eye color?
Dark brown

5.  What is a little-known fact about eyeballs that you just made up?
Not just the moon is made of cheese.

6. If you had the power of The Vision what would you do?
I would phase in and out of things all the time… when I was not flying, because I would be flying all the times that I was not phasing into and out of something.

The Vision: Victor Shade from Marvel Comics

7. If you could get a drawing of The Vision by one artist who would it be?
Renoir or maybe Degas.

8. Do you wear bifocals? Sorry I should know this -- do you wear glasses now (other than sunglasses)? If so when did you start wearing them?
I do not have glasses as of 11:30 am Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017. 

9. Did you find yourself looking “under” your glasses to see the details? (asking for a friend)
No glasses here, but might I suggest seeing if you need another prescription.
 
10. What vision superpower would you love to have?
I would love to be able to see beyond the horizon.

11. Which actual vision superpower do you think you’d accidentally acquire as a result of a wayward Krav Maga move by your wife?
I think a wayward hammer fist from the wife would only give me the special ability to see the inside of my eyelids.

12. Have you ever gone on a vision quest?
Nope... that seems a bit cultural appropriation-ish if I did that... at least that's what my spirit animal tells me.

13. Have you ever had a vision appear to you?
Nope

14. Are you actually going to have an eye exam to sort this out? Have you seen an eye doctor? Regular check-ups are important.
Going today.

15. Will you be purchasing the OWL?
Nope. Sweet God No... Just some glasses. 

Optical. Wallet. Light. and magnifying glass

16. Did you see my sister at the Expo? She was there.
I cannot say that I did not see her, but I can assure you that if I did see her, I did not recognize her.

17. Do you have a personal Vision Statement?
Nope, but I probably should.

18. Would X-ray vision be a good super power?
It depends on if you could control the intensity.

19. If you had to lose one of your senses - which do you think you would not want to lose?
I would be fine losing my sense of decency or direction, but I really want to keep the major ones.

20. Have you noticed when they do the "make overs" on tv that the people who wear glasses ALWAYS do not have glasses on in the reveal? Does this mean the world thinks "Boys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses?"
Make-up people do not like glasses because they obstruct their work.  If the make over does not include a make-up person, I think glasses might still remain.

To recap:
I just had my vision test
Turns out my close up vision is complete crap these days
Reading glasses are in order
Too bad my left eye is really different than my right or I could get away with some cheap ass readers
Optometrist said that the prescription should change almost every year for a while
Seeing and being 40+ is not the best combination
So many bright lights
I am tired of using pattern recognition to read instead of seeing the letters clearly
My old comic book art community, Ten Ton Studios, will be closing its digital doors in early November
Ten Ton Studios will always have a place in my heart
I met a bunch of friends there, many people I interact with on a daily basis via social media
I count a bunch of people from that board as friends
Some I would say are close friends
I had the occasion to do 20 Questions Tuesdays with more than a handful of these people
They are all wonderful people
I think the FaceBook group might potentially end up taking the forum’s place
Or maybe someone can get a slack channel going
When I get my Mag-Lite book ready for publish, I am going to hit many of them up for interior pin-up art
My head is starting to hurt, so I need to wrap this post up
Anyone want to do a 20 Questions interview?
Hit me up
I will take all takers
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 393 - Chris Mancini

This week I get the opportunity to ask one of the hosts of one of my favorite podcasts 20 Questions.  Chris Mancini is a comedian/podcaster/director/author who I have followed for years now.  He is the co-host of the Comedy Film Nerds podcast wherein he and the other host, comedian Graham Elwood and a guest talk about movies in the theaters, trailers of upcoming movies, and movies that are on-demand and coming out on DVD.  Chris is one of the creators of the podcasting documentary Ear Buds, he is writing a graphic novel I backed on Kickstarter, and really is a nuanced critic of movies.  So, I know he is very knowledgeable of movies, is constantly creating, and is a dad, but that is about all I know of him.  So, let's get to know him better through these 20 Questions.

In a previous job, I was a cartographer.  I love maps and mapmaking and the idea of stories being told with the concepts place.  Specifically I love people's personal geographic stories.  For example, I was born outside of Oklahoma City, OK, moved to the Birmingham area in Alabama and stayed there until I went off to school in Kent, Ohio.  I graduated from Kent State and followed my soon to be wife down to Columbus, Ohio for grad school and have lived in the greater Columbus area for over 20 years now.  Question 1:  What is your geographic story?  

I was born in Havertown, PA and then moved to West Chester PA in 4th grade. I then moved to Philadelphia to go to college for Film and start my stand-up career. I graduated from Temple University with a degree in communications. I then moved to LA in my mid-twenties and have been banging my head against the entertainment industry ever since.

Pretty much a Pennsylvania to LA track.  That is pretty direct and compact.  I know that you are a stand up, so I am sure you have been to most (if not all) the states in the US.  Question 2: Any states left of the 50 that you have not been to?

Yes, I’ve never been to Alaska or Maine. The northern extremes. And really want to get to both at some point.

This summer may family took a trip to Alaska, and my mother-in-law's favorite place ever is Maine.  Both are wonderful places.

Now to my Question 3 which is a directly stolen idea from a classic Paul F Tompkins bit. Question 3: Cake or pie? Which specific kind and why?

I’ve always loved peach pie with vanilla ice cream. It has fruit in it so I can pretend I’m eating something healthy.

Peach Pie on a pretty white plate

Peach pie is a super Georgia thing.  Rarely have I encountered someone who loves peach pie who has not spent some time in the Peach State.

Question 4: Where and how did you come into contact with a peach pie a la mode?

When traveling down south, of course.

I did walk right into that one.  

Question 5: Is there a movie genre you cannot help yourself from watching even if you know the particular movie you are about to watch is going to be terrible?

Unfortunately, Action. The state of action movies could be a LOT better than it is. We have Fast and Furious, but they are tongue-in-cheek. We need more Mad Max, less Transformers.

Mad Max: Fury Road was really something impressive. 

Mad Max movie one sheet.

Question 6: Do you think the paucity of quality action movies is due to lack of people able to write action well, lack of directors being able to direct action well, or that the studios don't understand action movies?

I think it’s a combination of all those things. When there is a little success on an action movie, the studios milk it to death, like the Bourne franchise. And even those early ones the action was mostly hidden with quick cuts and closeups. It was infuriating when you have an action movie and you can’t see the action.

That is one reason why I think John Wick (for better analysis of John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 watch the Movies with Mikey reviews by Mikey Neumann) was such a nice breath of fresh air.  The action is mainly in frame and not sped up, and super practical. I agree that, I think that the studios rely way too much established properties (re: Bourne).  I guess, the insane levels of risk aversion is a pretty significant deterrent for the studios.  

So, you have written a book, are writing a graphic novel, made short films, made a documentary, do stand-up, podcast about movies and produce/edit a movie themed website... Question 7: Any kind of content creation that you haven't done that you want to try your hand at? and of these things listed, which is the one you find most comfortable?

Writing has and always will be my first love. I’d like to just be doing more of that. And of all the writing, I love writing scripts the most. I’m finding writing the graphic novel very rewarding because it’s a screenplay come to life as I’m converting it. I’d just like to do more comic, film, and television writing. Although I am launching a new scripted anthology podcast soon called “Conversations From the Abyss” that I’m VERY excited about. I’m hoping to get it launched in the next month or so. Listeners of Welcome to Night Vale and The Thrilling Adventure Hour will recognize some familiar voices.

"Conversations From the Abyss" sounds like it could be really fun. (Editor’s Note: It is a great bite-size podcast. It has the perfect amount of creepiness, everyone should listen to it. I have enjoyed each episode more) 

Conversations from the Abyss

I did a NaNoWriMo a few years back about a c-list superhero and some of the shenanigans he got himself into.  This November I want to refine that story and clean it up. There are so many things that need edited and fleshed out.  I have been mulling over how it is put together for some time and feel that I am far enough away from the writing exercise to give it some strong editing. I might try and self-pub this and sell at Cons of something. All this to say that writing certainly has some real allure.

Question 8: What is the hardest aspect of writing that you encounter?

Lately it’s been finding the time to sit down and do it. I have too many plates spinning in the air and need to let a few go so I have more time to write.

Interestingly, for the people I have interviewed who are writers, but are not solely employed as writers, this is the answer I always get back.  Time seems to be the limiting factor between creative expression, work/life balance, family etc... 

If we only had more time there would be significantly more creative endeavors going on out there.  

Question 9: What about writing do you find to be the most rewarding? 

The most rewarding thing about writing is when it gets out into the world and is actually read or seen, depending on if it was a book or a script. One of the most satisfying things I’ve done recently is take an old screenplay (Long Ago and Far Away) that got some traction in Hollywood but ultimately never got made and turn it into a graphic novel which is being worked on right now. I can’t wait for people to read it.

Oh, I am quite aware of "Long Ago and Far Away."  That is one of the 36 Kickstarters that I have backed and been funded.  I am 36 for 36 on Kickstarters.  I'm less a Kickstarter backer and more of a Kickstarter fairy.  I back a project... it gets funded. Boom.  In all truthfulness, I love the concept for the story of "Long Ago and Far Away," and I cannot wait to read it.  

Question 10: Fill in the blanks: I find that I am mostly _____. Others find that I am mostly _____. 

1)Stretched too thin.

2)Busy. I know they go hand in hand, but I’d like to get to a place where I’m busy but not struggling to keep up with everything.

"Pleasantly busy" is a laudable goal.  It is also a very fine line to hit. I am sorry that you feel stretched too thin, because that is a hard space to be in.

Question 11: What is one small thing that you would like to add or change in your life that would help with the "stretched too thin" feeling? 

Getting an assistant. 

Attainable goal.  Seriously attainable if you are willing to work with a remote assistant.

Deceptively simple question... Question 12: Overall, are you happy?

Yes. But I’d be happier if I had an assistant.

Again, attainable goal.  More happiness may be just around the corner. Your assistant could put it in your calendar.

Here we are at the "unlucky 13," so... Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals in your life?

When I write and get into the zone, I always put music on. It helps me concentrate.

I think, more than any other profession I have interviewed, writing is the most ritualistic, but really cerebrally ritualistic. The rituals seem to be associated with setting the stage and getting a proper environment. For example, one of the other comic book writers I interviewed cannot start writing until he's done a crossword puzzle.

Music while writing makes sense on a very deep level. Question 14: Does the music choice when writing influence the writing, or does the writing influence the music choice?

I often listen to Coldplay when writing comedy and Death Cab for Cutie when writing horror. They just seem to be good soundtracks for what I'm writing.

That is very interesting. I would not think that Chris Martin would lead one to comedic insights. Death Cab for Cutie makes sense on some level, but the Coldplay reveal is interesting to say the least.

Coldplay's "Yellow" off of A Head Full of Dreams... it's Hilarious

It seems that comedy tends to rely on an set-up with an unexpected reveal, whereas horror seems to be about the suspenseful build-up and reveal. This is my understanding, but my understanding could be completely flawed. Question 15: What do you like about writing comedy and what do you like about writing horror? 

They are two sides of the same coin. Both evoke an emotional response, via setup and payoff, albiet opposites: Joy or Fear. Comedy, Horror, and Parenting are all more closely related than people think.

I have often felt that comedy and horror are a razor thin line away from each other... at least in movies... It is very easy to have a horror transition into comedy.  Bad horror movies sometimes end up being hilarious.  Bad comedies can simply be horrendous, but necessarily scary.

Question 16: Is there a question or a topic you were expecting me to ask that I have not?

No. I’ve learned to “manage my expectations”.

That seems a little bitey with the quotes and all.  Ouch.
The good news is that we are on the home stretch, and even though we are not done, I want to thank you for lasting this long.  Some people do not.

Question 17: If you were to make a straight up action movie, what action movie trope would you want to try and flip?

Ha. More about “managing my expectations” for the entertainment industry in general rather than this interview. If I were making an action movie, I would flip the “ex navy seal” trope and make it an ordinary guy, and make an action version of “Falling Down”.

I would watch that.

Now, I am nervous because it is time for me to flip the roles.  Question 18: Are there any questions that you would like to ask me?

What’s your favorite animated movie and why?

This is a difficult one... so I will give you a few, and maybe in my reasoning I will land on one.

Fire and Ice by Bakshi... my absolute favorite as a kid.  It is gorgeous, but due to the rotoscoping and, let's say, the not quite timeless material, I don't think it holds up that well.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm... quite possibly one of the best Batman stories I have ever seen in a theater. It is almost forgotten, but it was a great capstone to the 90's animated series. 

Inside Out... is a great and nuanced story that is told in a very delightful and inventive way.  That movie is Pixar hitting on all cylinders.  

I know I am omitting a bunch of other really amazing animated movies, but those are the three I fall back on.

Question 19:  What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not come in with?

That it's actually fun to be interviewed piecemeal.

I have found that this process is very interesting due to the amount of time the "interview" spans.  People are sometimes in radically different places in their lives from beginning to end. For one interview I was doing, the person went from being a young married guy to being an expectant father... His tone of his answers at the end of the 20 questions were very different than when he began.  It is an interesting process.

Here we go with the final question.  Question 20: What's next? Be as vague or as specific, as concrete or philosophical, and as near term or long term as you would like.

I’m not sure what’s next but here’s what I want it to be, no matter what it is: New, Fun, and successful.

Thanks so much! This was a fun one.  Everyone should follow Chris.  He has his Comedy Film Nerds and Conversations from the Abyss podcasts.  He has his book, "Pacify Me: A Handbook for the Freaked Out New Dad," that you can buy. He is in the process of fulfilling a graphic novel on Kickstarter (which I imagine will be available for purchase somewhere eventually), called Long Ago and Far Away.  He has his documentary, “Ear Buds: The Podcasting Documentary” for sale and rent on all digital platforms now as well (it is a surprisingly poignant documentary that everyone who consumes anything on the internet anywhere should watch.)  

Seriously, everyone should give consume some of the amazing content that Chris is making and  give him a follow on Twitter and  FaceBook.

To recap:
I should have formatted this post much earlier today
I’m hungry
Like REALLY HUNGRY
Not like for human flesh or anything, but hungry enough
I might not have had a significant lunch
If “significant lunch” is defined as “more than a bag of chips”
That could be an issue
I am planning on heading to Cincinnati Comic Expo this weekend
I will be hanging out with Bill Grapes
It will be awesome
I might be able to pick up some commissions whilst there
Commissions could be nice
As long as it is not another Plastic-Man v Godzilla
That was hard to do just because of the scale difference
I am in the middle of another 20 Questions interview, but I think this one will take a full year to get done (it might  already be a year+)
Just checked, we are on month 13 of the interview
He spends extensive amounts of time away from computers
Anyone else want to do a 20 Questions?
Hit me up
Have a great week

20 Questions Tuesday: 392 - Garon Cockrell

Today I get the pleasure of asking Garon Cockrell 20 Questions.  Garon is the oft-maligned and under appreciated (for comedic effect) intern for the Never Not Funny podcast (one of my favorite podcasts ever), a position he took way back in 2012.  Garon is also the founder, editor and a writer for his pop culture website aptly titled Pop Culture Beast.  He is a published horror author and an award winning screenplay writer. Other than the exploits and tales told while being the intern at Never Not Funny, I really do not know that much about Garon, so let's change that and get to the questions.

My previous job of just over 15 years was as a cartographer.  I have always loved how place can often tell a story that might not be captured in other formats.  So I have always been interested in people's personal geographic stories.  For example, I was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma then moved to Montgomery, Alabama only to move up to Birmingham a few years later.  I basically grew up in the Birmingham area and got the Hell out of there when I went off to school in Kent, Ohio.  From Kent I followed my college sweetheart down to Columbus, Ohio and have lived in the Columbus area for since moving down here in 1997.

Question 1: What is your geographic story?

I wish I could say I’ve lived in a million different places, amongst a multitude of cultures. Unfortunately, I can’t say that. I grew up in Michigan, various parts of (suburbs) Detroit but mostly Livonia/Walled Lake. My family has roots in Canada and in the south so I have visited both of these places amongst some other states in the country but as far as living, it was Michigan until I got to the soonest possible moment I could flee and from there it was to California. First to Panorama City, which I would not recommend, and then to Sherman Oaks, where I’ve been for a  few years now. I’d love for my geographic story to take me to the UK one day or even to places like Portland or Seattle. Maybe when I’m rich with writer money.

That is a pretty simple story.  Michigan to LA.  There are worse stories.  I know a few stories of people who have not moved out of their childhood town ever.  They are some of the reasons I left that town, but that is a story for a different time. So... Question 2: Do you get the opportunity to travel much? If so, where have you been?

I don't travel near as much as I'd like. When I was younger we went to places like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in Tennessee. We went to Ohio a lot for Cedar Point, sometimes Sea World and this theme park called Geauga Lake, which apparently is abandoned now. I traveled from Michigan to the West with my dad as a kid. We went through Yellowstone, Montana, Wyoming, etc. I ended up flying home alone from Denver while my dad continued on.  We also went to this awesome hotel a lot called Wheels Inn somewhere in Canada. Chatham I think? I remember it having a water slide indoors which was basically the coolest thing ever at the time. I've been to Niagra Falls and New York City where I spent the 1999-2000 NYE inside MTV studios. I visited New Mexico where my mom and brother lived briefly. 

As an adult though my travels have been far less than in the past. Aside from the road trip moving to California which was basically just a long drive with no pit-stops, I've visited Vegas, Tijuana, San Diego, San Louis Obispo, all just short trips away. I'd really love to see more of not only America but the world too. I wanna visit the Pacific NW, I wanna visit Japan, Ireland, the UK. One of those road trips visiting all the tourist traps in the country sounds amazing to be honest. A dream trip would be traveling the country visiting haunted locales. 

A haunted tour might be an interesting thing to see.  

Now it is time for my patented Question 3.  I think we might circle back to some of these concepts... but Question 3 is almost always Question 3.  So, as stolen blatantly from the seminal Paul F. Tompkins bit, Question 3: Cake or pie? Which kind specifically and why?

I'm not a sweets guy to be honest. I do love a good cherry or apple pie but I also love a good yellow cake with strawberries and bananas in the middle from this little hole in the wall in Van Nuys. How do I choose which is a favorite?! Plus cheesecake! This is monstrous. 
I guess a nice cinnamonny apple pie would be a favorite. 

I love me some apple pie.  My mom made and decorated cakes as a side business when I was a kid, so I had more than enough cake as a kid. Cheesecake is amazing, and oft forgotten about. You are now quite possibly my favorite person ever, mainly because of the cheesecake!

I am currently subscribed to over 40 podcasts.  Question 4: Since you are an integral piece of a super successful podcasts, do you listen to any podcasts?

I don’t listen to near as many shows as I used to, although now that I have a job where I can listen to shows again I have started to dive into to more of them.

Right now I listen to Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl’s podcast Psycho Babble, I was featured on a couple episodes of The No Sleep Podcast which is horror based so I listen to that as often as I can. I also just started listening to some old time radio shows on Old Time Radio. What else…I check out My Favorite Murder, Spontaneanation, Jackie and Laurie. I listened to Serial, S-Town, Missing Richard Simmons (Bleh). Plus I can listen to Rachel Maddow and Real Time with Bill Maher episodes via podcast too which is pretty cool. I think podcasting is a remarkably exciting environment right now. So many voices, so much great content, You’ll likely never run out of something to listen to that you can enjoy or hell even learn from. Did you know that Bernie Sanders has a podcast? It’s crazy, everyone and anyone can have a show and there are folks out there that will listen. 

I changed jobs from a state job that was not intellectually stimulating to a much more difficult and extremely more interesting job about a year and a half ago.  At that time I was listening to about 60 podcasts a week and consistently miserable. Aside from friends and family, podcasts were about the only thing that kept me relatively sane.

So you are the owner and editor of "Pop Culture Beast." Question 5: Is there a particular part of pop culture that you cannot help yourself around? What corner of pop culture do you simply have to consume regardless of how good or bad each particular piece make actually be?

I mean it’s probably scary movies. I don’t see everything, I wish that I could, but I have such a love for that genre that I love watching it and collecting stuff around it. I love the 80s horror franchises and I will buy pretty much anything that has to do with them so I have toys and posters and books and multiple copies of these movies all over my house. There are movies that I absolutely adore that someone might watch and think I was bonkers. Film in general is a big part of my life. It was really formative for me growing up and represented some important times. It’s why I created the blog and it’s why I write scripts now. I love the business and I want to honor it and be a part of it.

I thought it might be the horror genre in general. I love that you seem to focus on the 80's franchises because they are so iconic. They got so big that you one can easily imagine a saturday morning cartoon with Freddy, Jason, and Mike Meyers on it with the occasional Pinhead interstitial short. I cannot think of an equivalent for the iconic quality for the 2000's or 2010's. The ring did a little of that iconic-ness, but nowhere near as culturally impacting.

Question 6: Why do you think that level of cultural penetration is missing for more current horror franchises and stand-alones?

I mean that's tough. I think innocence has a lot to do with it. Look at the places those films made unsafe. "Halloween" made your typical suburbs a nightmare. "Nightmare on Elm Street" made sleep unsafe. "Friday the 13th" made camping unsafe. What's left? As a society these things don't scare us anymore because they've more or less become reality. Not in a literal way obviously, but if you think about it, what is safe anymore? I think these new breed horror franchises are going to be extremely difficult to launch. I don't think we'll ever have another Freddy or Jason. Jigsaw was the last one of that type. They've tried, look at "Brainscan" from the late 90s. That was supposed to launch a new horror icon. "Jeepers Creepers" also. Horror now is sort of in this interesting Alt-horror phase with stuff like "It Comes At Night" and "It Follows". Both great films but vastly different from the horror I grew up with but I love them just as much. It's a new breed and it's exciting. I can't wait to see what comes next, hopefully with my being a part of it!

I think it also has to do with the proliferation of indy horror making it to some level of distribution.  The barrier to entry for horror movies seems to have lifted which has created more indy one-shots instead of studio franchises. I can think of a handful of micro budget horror movies that were really critically acclaimed that I am not sure could have been made prior to this recent explosion of indy creators. But that really is just my completely uninformed guess.  

For me, it is super hero movies.  I might not go see it in the theater, but I will eventually watch every one of them... even the most terrible of them. It is a curse to be sure... I watched "Steel" with Shaq... ugh (dedication to a genre or compulsion... you be the judge)

Question 7: What is the most unexpectedly hardest aspect for you concerning screenwriting? Clearly getting someone to buy, produce, shoot, edit, and distribute a script is the most difficult, but what is the aspect of the day-to-day screenwriting process that you find surprisingly difficult?

To keep going. That's the truth of the matter. This is such a difficult career to get into and there is virtually no positive reinforcement from anyone so you have to have that inner drive to go on in yourself and I'll be honest, sometimes I feel like it's fading. All I've ever wanted to do was tell stories and bring people emotional reactions to what they are seeing. What happens when no one wants to give you that chance? It's difficult to be sure. So you keep going, you hang in, you write your stories you dream about them because that's all you can do. I think everyone thinks that writing is the easiest thing in the world to do, that you just sit down and start typing, it isn't like that. Often times it's an agonizing internal war just to put "Once upon a time..." on the page. Sometimes you feel like you are on the verge of something happening and sometimes it feels like you are standing at  the edge of an abyss with nowhere to go but straight down into the dark where the monsters are waiting. I didn't choose to be a writer because it was an easy path, hell it wasn't even a choice. It's pretty much the only thing I am good at so that's my path. I'll follow it for as long as I am able to. 

This is way more informed and personal than I was expecting. I was kind of expecting "Dialog, because writing people talking is the hard," and am really happy to see such a wonderful and thoughtful response. It has to be one of the most unrelenting of processes to write and submit and get no to not good feedback on that finished product. 

So let's change topics to something lighter.  Question 8: What part of pop-culture do you try to avoid even though it is so incredibly popular?

Kardashians. or I guess Sports if you consider that pop culture, which i guess it is. I just don't really enjoy it much. As for the Kardashians, that might seem like an easy answer, but they're truly vapid and if they aren't really like that, then they are doing a huge disservice to themselves by portraying themselves that way. I even gave Caitlyn Jenner the benefit of the doubt. I enjoyed her show because I thought she was learning something and might come to see her way to being a true value to the community. unfortunately, it doesn't look like she's learned anything. 

I can definitely understand stepping away from the Kards... because they are the worst. I think the problem that Caitlyn Jenner has is that her history is so wrapped up in being privileged that she has not had the struggle that many of the LGBTQ have had to endure.  It really is amazing how much gods of fame and money can be a soothing balm.I think sports has more of an affinity to pop-culture, but can understand their exclusion as well.  That being said, I am not a sports guy as well. I mean... I watch soccer, but that doesn't even really count as a sport in the US.

Question 9: Have you ever written or thought about writing a different genre than horror?

I have! I always come back to horror because that's the genre that really had the most impact on me growing up. When I first started writing as a kid i started with a big "friday the 13th" type franchise called "Death Chime" about a killer named Arnie. Right after that I wrote a story called Runaway which was about, if memory serves, an autistic kid who ran away from home. I don't even know how I knew that word or what that was at the time and I am sure it's all completely wrong. I was like 12 and it was 1992 so that wasn't a disease that was really in the national news at the time, at least in any way I would have seen. I've dabbled in crime and wrote a short comedy that Kelly Marie Tran was one of the stars of. Just casually name-dropping someone starring in "The Last Jedi", no big. One of the best things I've written is a western, well, a post-apocalyptic western called The Devil's Hand. Even in Demonic and Other Tales there are a couple stories that aren't exactly horror. One being Prelude which is a sort of dystopian tale and the other being Looking Glass which is a girl dealing with her self-hatred.  So yeah, I've touched on other things but horror will always be home to me.

We've all had brushes with greatness.  I get that you "know" Kelly Marie Tran, but I have had a prolonged EMAIL CONVERSATION with an amazing stand-up and podcaster named Jimmy Pardo. So.. you know I can namedrop as well. I know people.  I met him in Dayton once and Cincinnati a different time.  We're tight like that. (editor's note: remember, Garon is the "intern" for Jimmy Padro's podcast, "Never Not Funny".) 

Question 10: Fill in the blanks: I find that I am mostly _____. Others find that I am mostly _____. 

This is the hardest question yet. I’ve had to turn to Facebook for help.

Out of the responses I got, this one struck me the most: 

I find that I am mostly lost,. Others find that I am mostly on the right path.

It’s an interesting thing to see someone say. I do feel lost some times and it is really touching to know that someone, maybe even someones, think I am on the right path. Still, after a rough couple of years it’s a real new life. I’m sort of rediscovering who I am and it’s an interesting process. Wow I feel like this went way deeper than you might have been after. 

You would be surprised how deep some of these questions end up going, especially with how relatively (deceptively) "simple" some of them are.  This one is always interesting because so many people's self perception does not match how others perceive them. Yours is a perfect example.

Question 11: What is one small thing that you would like to add into your life? (Nothing earth-shattering, I'm not asking for sweeping lifestyle changes here)

An automatic cat litter box. I love my cats but i've been cleaning litter boxes for 16 years. I'm a little sick of it. 

I completely understand that one. I hated cleaning out the cat litter when we had cats. It seems so tiresome because you are never really done.  The second after cleaning out the boxes (we had three cats once upon a time) there was a line of cats waiting to poop in the fresh litter.  Sometimes they stared at my while doing it.

I know that we touched on this a little with Question 10, but this question is just too good not to ask (even though I think we touched upon it a little already). It is a deceptively simple question, that pedants might parse very peculiarly So, Question 12: Are you happy?

I'm getting there. I have some work to do to get there but I think I am on the way. There are aspects of my life I am happy with but to say that Yeah I am happy would be disingenuous. I'm not. I don't fully have the career I want, I have a lot of debt, I have challenges directly in my path that I am hoping to avoid. But, there are times, when I am sitting in my apartment, playing a game or just listening to a record where I feel happy knowing that this is mine and I am doing okay. It's those brief moments that I know I am going the right way and that sooner rather than later I'll be able to answer that question with a yes. 

I think that it is always important to remember that Happiness is a process and not necessarily a destination.  You seem like you are happier in the NNF interactions I have heard lately, and it seems like you are talking the steps necessary to get into a better frame of mind. I am happy for you.

Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals?

I had to really think about that one. I don't think I do. My dad always warned me to put my right shoe on first and never to walk across a handicapped sign. A friend of mine wont "split" poles. In terms of my writing, I almost always start with a title does that count as a ritual? Maybe I should develop some maybe that would help push me into a more creative frame of mind. There are times i settle in to write, grab some chips and soda and then end up looking a youtube cover songs for hours so that might be a ritual. Probably not a good one. 

I would define a ritual as a specific methodology to put yourself into a correct level of readiness. For example, a recent comic book writer that I interviewed had to complete a crossword puzzle prior to doing any writing.  For me as a kid, I would get dressed for soccer in a very specific sequence to get myself in the correct headspace for playing the game. The examples you give about the right show first and the handicapped sign avoidance seem more like superstitions.

I find that people who do not have a meditative practice or are no longer religious do not have many rituals in their lives.  Religion and self reflection tend to come with ritual.  

Question 14: Do you have any (what you would consider) guilty pleasure pop culture vices?

I've come around to the position that there are no such things as guilty pleasures. I feel like that might be unfair to whatever it is you like. If you enjoy it, dammit enjoy it. Who cares what other people think? I love Taylor Swift, I love Hanson, I love pop music, I don't need to let some idiot judge me for it. There was a time when I was afraid of the stuff I liked because of what it might reveal about myself. Like, "I can't let people know I like the Indigo Girls or Bette Midler they'll know I'm gay." Guess what, who cares? They made amazing music. I hate that we still sort of have this stigma about things that we love. It's mass snobbery. Let people enjoy what they enjoy. You enjoy what you enjoy. I'll bump mmmbop and be happy doing it!

I love that philosophy.  I really do.  I think there is too much ironic liking of things that is actual just straight up liking things with some shame for liking something that the person "should not" like.

Question 15: Why do you think that there is still stigmas associated with liking things that people "shouldn't?" and do you think in the age of the Internet that this stigma will start to lessen?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I don't know that it's changed much. Look at Justin Bieber. Perfect example. Every single he puts out is a huge hit. Despacito is a huge hit BECAUSE OF JUSTIN. Yet it's a joke or embarrassing, to be a fan of his. It's not just teeny bopper girls buying his records. It's not just them watching these videos and making Despacito nearly the most watched video in YT history. They're a powerful demographic but they aren't doing that on their own. I think with each new generation, maybe this phenom will start to go away, especially with the increase in LGBTQIA identification. I hope we are coming a more open and friendly society and that soon everyone can be free to enjoy the music they enjoy without some douche nozzle making a joke out of it. I think we need to get through this powder keg Trump era first, assuming we do.  Look, I like Justin Bieber, I like Lady GaGa, I like Hanson, but guess what, I also like Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, and what's another band people find "respectable?" I probably like them too. Difference being, I think all of these artists are respectable. Other people for whatever weird reason, don't and that's sad. 

It is sad that people don't feel like they can like what they like. You have helped me rethink some of my loves that I might be a bit bashful about.

Question 16: Is there a line of questioning or a specific question you have been expecting from me?
Not really. I wasn't sure what to expect. I like how we've touched on all sorts of different things and even allowing for some personal experiences and feelings. You're digging deep! 

Oh, digging deep is definitely an issue.  Sometimes I find myself in the hole I am trying to dig out of.  This a relatively fun method of getting to know the people I ask 20 Questions.  I don't know about you, but I know significantly more about you than I did before.  You know I exist, so that's significantly more than before this conversation.

Question 17: What is the next exciting thing for you coming up from a pop culture perspective?
I am beyond stoked for IT. I read through the book again in advance of seeing it and I’m already all in for it. I have the poster hanging on my wall and my excitement level grows everyday it gets closer. Of course, I’m also super excited for the next Star Wars movie. As I’m answering this I am watching an XBOX event announcing games and details about the XBox One X so I am getting really stoked for that, especially for this crazy little game called Cuphead which is done in this old style cartoon animation. It looks super fun. 

Editors Note: Here is Garon’s Tweet Review of IT
 

.@ITMovieOfficial is undoubtedly one of the best straight up horror @StephenKing adaptations. Second only, I think, to The Shining.

— Garon Cockrell (@MyNameIsGaron) September 8, 2017

I have found that one should not get excited for Stephen King adaptations... they seem to rarely live up to the hype and there are way more misses than there are hits.  Now, Cuphead looks absolutely gorgeous... that 1930's animation style is killer.

Okay, it is now the time of the 20 Questions where I turn the tables.  This is always unnerving, because the predator has become the prey.  Question 18: Do you have any questions for me?

What's the weirdest and what's the most profound thing you learned from doing these interviews?

Those is are super interesting questions.  The first part I don't believe I have ever been asked, but the second part I have been asked before in a slightly different manner...

What is the weirdest?... hmmm Not sure about the weirdest, but the most fun was that one person called his sister "poopypants." His sister happens to be Adrianne Palicki, which puts the "poopypants" comment into a much better context. 

As far as the most profound... The most profound thing that I have taken away from the number of interviews I have done, is that people do not take much time to stop and think about themselves very much (even people who have a very strong self-reflection practice such as meditation), and that when in a long form asynchronous conversation, it makes people slow down and react to themselves somewhat.

Okay, penultimate question!

Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring with you?
That I should take time to stop and think about myself. 

That answer is only partially meant as a joke. It's something I don't do. I simply exist. I go to work. I come home. I never sit down and consider. I don't consider what I am doing, what I am after, what I mean to myself or to anyone else. I just get through the day which isn't really any way to live. There are things I want to do, plans I want to make, I just need to get to work doing them and I think my sort of walls of avoiding any kind of serious self consideration or reflection are hurdles I have to clear so I can find a path to being the best me. 

It is very easy for people to get into a very comfortable place that allows for running on autopilot.  That is something that I try to use these 20 Questions to keep me from doing. Of the 20 Questions I ask, 9 or 10 of them are consistent from person to person, but the other half of the questions must be driven by the previous answers. So, after asking about cake or pie, I have to be engaged and try to think of something novel to ask. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I do not hit my intended target.  I think it would be beneficial for most people to put something in their life that absolutely requires being present, it is something I attempt to do often, but it is also something I consistently neglect to do.

I know you never thought you would get here, but... Question 20: What's next? Be as vague or as specific, as concrete or philosophical, and as near term or long term as you would like.

I don't know is the grand, existential answer. I'm still trying to kick off a career and doing what I can to make that happen. If anyone out there needs a screenwriter, here I am! Smaller scale though, I have another book coming out soon called The Darkest Hours which is a collection of 4 short novellas and I am working on some more stories for another collection, of course I'm still a part of NNF and people can always see my nonsense on Twitter. there is some talk about my doing another podcast or a YouTube show. We'll see if that pans out. I've been really lucky that people have liked the work I've done so far and even featured it on a podcast like The NoSleep Podcast. It's really exciting. I can just keep going until something big happens, and I am sure it will. The last year has been trying and personally I'm growing and changing more now than I think I ever have. I'm excited to see what's coming down the road. 

This was fun! Thanks for asking me to do it.

This was fun for me as well.  Thank you so much for doing this.  

Garon is goddamned delight and everyone should get him into your lives in some format. Might I suggest listening to him on Never Not Funny, following him on Twitter and Facebook, see what he is doing with the Pop Culture Beast (PopCultureBeast on FB too), or you can read his honest to goodness book.

To recap:
Irma… wow, Irma
What Irma did in the Caribbean
Wow… brutal
I already have an interview ready for next week
I am on it
Such a good blogger
The lovely wife competed in her first Triathlon Sprint on Sunday

She is pretty sure that it was her last
Super unhappy with open water swimming
But she did great for her first Tri
The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy holds up pretty well
There are issues with it to be sure
But it holds pretty good for a special effects movie from 15 years ago
The wife still loves Viggo coming through Helms Deep’s doors

She likes it an inordinate amount
I need to look at some new Kickstarters
Any suggestions for Kickstarters?
I also need to draw a bunch more
That would happen if I were not so tired when I got home
I need to exercise more as well
Can any of you make any of this happen?
I am entertaining all concepts at the moment
Anyway…
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 391 - 20 Years of Marriage

Tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary to my lovely and amazing wife, Tuesday.  She is amazing and since this anniversary is divisible by 5, it is special. Anyway… I am devoting these 20 Questions to be all about “20 Years of Marriage.”

Thanks this week go to: Nicole, Erin, Bruce, Nadolny, Matt, Lsig, some other guy, and the Wife.

Without further ado… here come the questions!

1. What is your advice for maintaining a healthy relationship?
Communication… and that weird gluten free strawberry cake thing from Fresh Thyme.

2. What was your favorite anniversary celebration? 
For our 5th anniversary we went to London for a week and did the touristy stuff as well as seeing the Lion King at the Lycium in the West End. I also saw the ugliest baby ever there... it was in a pram, and it was hideous enough that I woke my violently ill wife to tell her what I saw.

3. Do you follow the "anniversary gift progression"? ... 5th Wood, 10th Tin, 15th Crystal, 20th China, 25th Silver, 30th Pearl, etc.
We are very atypical that way.  For example, for our 20th we have decided to go with shoes. We honor tradition by eschewing it. Fluevogs for 20, bitches!

4. Ever forgotten your anniversary? Has she?
Funny story, for the longest time my wife couldn’t remember the day of our anniversary.  I finally told her a mnemonic for it about 8 years ago and she finally started remembering it consistently.  That being said, I do not think that either of us have ever actually missed an anniversary. 

5. Mawwiage…

Wuv, twoo wuv...

6. What is your favorite meal she makes for you?
She is a baker more than a cook, so I would go with her Lemon Tart or Lemon Curd doughnuts.

Lemon Tart

7. What is the thing that you cook that she could do without?
Orange Rice… truth be told we both don’t like Orange Rice anymore, and she makes it as well. The kids still eat the hell out of it.

8. Would you have bet on yourself to make it 20 years, if there had been a wager?
I am not sure I would have made that bet at that time. I knew we had a solid 10 in us though.  

9. What advice would you give your newlywed self if you could pull him aside?
Grow up and pull your weight.

10. How have your fights/disagreements changed over the decades?
We now know that many of the fights we are/were getting into are/were about deep internal patterns that are manifesting as conflict between us. Early on we would have just thought the other one was doing it on purpose.

11. Can you point to any specific thing(s) that you like or dislike solely from your spouse's influence? (I now try to catch all David Simon television series because of my husband's passion for The Wire).
I have an appreciation for Prince that I never would have without knowing her.

12. Assuming you are largely on the same page regarding the big stuff (money, child rearing, tv shows, etc.), was that always the case? Who had to bend more to get you to alignment?
I think we have been mostly aligned on the things you mentioned.  If there were differences they were minor, like the difference between vanilla ice cream and vanilla bean ice cream. I would say that it was a give and take as to who bent more for alignment (because I think that it they were not significant bends).

13. Which year has been the hardest so far? (Year 3 was the worst).
That’s an interesting one… I actually have asked the wife for her input on this as well.  It turns out we both agreed with was year 12.  On the same page!  Yeah, SUCKERS!  Unified Front, FTW! WE BOTH AGREE THAT THE 12TH YEAR WAS THE WORST!!! WOOOOO!

14. Like us, you married quite young. In what ways have you grown up, and in what ways has she?
I think in all ways we have grown up. We were so young and dumb. So Young… so dumb. One of us more dumb… some might have said dumber.

15. What is the biggest surprise 20 years in?
That there are still surprises.  I would have thought that by now we would know everything about each other, but we don’t.  There are constant revelations about each other, even this far into the relationship.

16. What do you know at 20 that you did not know at 10?
Wow… I have to think back to 10 and remember something… I would say the biggest thing about 20 v 10 is that at 20, we are able to name some of the arguments, because we have been arguing them so much they are like old friends. I have named one of them Shecky... Shecky knows what he did.

17. How did 20 go by so fast?
We had kids and everything sped the fuck up. It is September already… It seems like yesterday it was 2010.

18. What was the best part of your wedding day?
This sounds corny as corny-poo, but seeing my bride walk down the aisle. After that I would say the reception was pretty killer. My wife danced until she could not feel her feet and I chatted with just about everyone. The food was killer.  All in all it was an amazing day.

19. What is the most insufferably cute thing you two did during your 20 years of marriage? 
Prior to having kids we would read to each other before going to bed. It continued a bit after Little Man was born.  This reading aloud to each other started with the complete “Lord of the Rings” and then went to Tamera Pierce’s Tortall series.  We did the Bartimaeus Trilogy (I see there is a 4th book of Barty now), The Castings Trilogy, The Bitterbynde Trilogy (don’t read this one… terribly unsatisfying end [it was really good right to the very end]), and a few standalone novels as well. Disgustingly cute. I am not really even very sure why I am writing this down. I now expect a good bit of mockter from the people in my life who mock… there are so many people in my life who mock.

20. So who do you think won in this relationship? We live in ‘Merica and here there are winners and losers. Who won, snowflake? And none of that “we both won” crap.
The winner of this contest of marriage really depends on who is asking and to whom they are asking. People who know me more than my wife feel that I am punching above my class.  People who know my wife think she is amazingly lucky to have a guy like me… That being said, we all know that I won and she lost.

To recap:
I won
Boy did I win
By a landslide
My friend who had the tumor removed from his noggin is back home and resting
That is a good thing
This weekend, I went to the Mapparium
It was pretty amazing

Mapparium Selfie

If you are in Boston, have 15 minutes and $6 to spare, you should totally go
Ugh, reading to each other aloud?
I feel sick thinking about it
That a bit cloyingly sweet, isn’t it?
Ugh
I’m glad we aren’t doing that crap anymore
I think we did the Harry Potter books as well... Good Lord... I am disappointed in myself right now  
I’m really not proud about it
Okay, maybe a little proud
To celebrate our 20th anniversary we are going to Little Man’s curriculum night
How romantic
Have a great week

20 Questions Tuesday: 390 - Sammi Grant

This week I have the absolute pleasure of asking Sammi Grant 20 questions.  Sammi is an accent coach that I became aware of due to a Buzzfeed video wherein she rapidly and distinctly demonstrates 12 different accents in English.

Language, especially spoken language and how it is spoken, has always been an interest of mine. That is one of the reasons that I listen to the History of English podcast and seek out dialect coaches.  Sammi is quite facile with sliding between dialects and accents. She is able to describe the differences in how she produces the accents even in a few minute video.  Other than her accent abilities and the information I was able to find on her website, I know next to nothing about Sammi.  She seems delightful in her video, so without further ado, let's get into 20 Questions with Sammi Grant.

In a previous professional life I was a map-maker.  I absolutely love hearing people's stories of place and what their specific geographic footprint is.  For example, I was born just outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  My family moved to Montgomery, Alabama when I was 3 and then up to the Birmingham, Alabama area soon after.  I basically grew up in a suburban community called Center Point to the northeast of Birmingham.  I went to college at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio where I met the woman I was soon to marry.  I followed her to gradschool at Ohio State University, and she and I have made our lives in the Columbus, Ohio area since grad school. Question 1: What is your geographic story?

There really is not much of a story here. I was born and raised in a northwest suburb of Chicago called Buffalo Grove. I moved about 2 ½ hours south of there to attend college at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. After college, I moved to Chicago proper and have lived there ever since. My geographic adventures are still to come. Iam hoping to go to grad school next year, and my dream school is in London. After that, I don’t know where I will end up. Perhaps I will stay in London or move to New York.

Question 2: Have you traveled a bunch? How did you become interested in accents if you haven't lived in many places?

I have traveled some but not much. As a child, my family took road trips all over the country, but I don’t remember most of them. When I was twelve, we went to England, Ireland, and France. However, I don’t remember being particularly fascinated by accents on that trip. My most significant amount of travel has been to Disneyworld, which I have been to at least fifteen times.

I was first struck by accents when a couple of British relatives camet o visit my extended family in the Chicagoland area when I was young. I remember writing down British phrases, like “jumper” means “sweater,” told to me by my great cousin Helen. We were at a restaurant, and I wrote these phrases on the back of a paper placemat.

I became interested in accent work as a potential career while I was in college. I went to school for Acting, and in my junior year I had to take a class on the International Phonetic Alphabet and dialects. I was really taken with the work and ended up continuing with independent studies and later was the TA for that original class I took. I am legally blind, which seemed to enhance my abilities with voice work as opposed to some of my other acting classes where it was sometimes an obstacle.

I have always loved accents as well.  I noticed from a very young age that here are many different southern accents as a kid.  The sounds of southern aristocracy vs dirt farmer accent in Alabama, vs a straight up Texas drawl. I am sure I will circle back around for some questions on accents in just a little bit, but it is time for my usual question 3 for these interviews.

So let's go with Question 3: Cake or pie? Which kind specifically and why?

I generally prefer pie over cake. I am not a big fan of frosting, so cake has never really struck my fancy. My favorite pie is French Silk. I love the combination of the crunchy, creamy, and chocolate flakes. This is the first kind of pie I ever had, and it has been my favorite ever since.

French Silk Pie

I love French silk pie as well; it was the first "sophisticated" pie I ever tried.  That being said though, lemon meringue is my favorite pie ever. I love how you go through slightly different textures in you bite, but it is all informed by the tartness of the lemon. I like it better than key-lime because key lime is way more homogeneous.  My mom decorated cakes as a side job when I was a kid, so I think I might have over-caked myself... pushing me towards pie.

So, let's get back to accents.  You accent work fascinates me because of how easily you shift from one to another in the video from Buzzfeed.  I would imagine that you started out with a typical Chicago/Northwestern Illinois area accent, having grown up there, so... Question 3: Do you typically talk with a that accent, you grew up with or is there an accent that you have gravitated towards since studying accents?

I did grow up with a Midwestern accent with those nasal, flat vowels like I demonstrate in my BuzzFeed video. As I went through voice training in college and developed my work as a dialect coach I made efforts to shift my accent more towards General American. This is what you hear from most newscasters and TV/film actors. IT is a standard, non-regional American sound. I think of this as my professional voice. When I am with friends and family, I don’t care if my natural accent comes out as many of those close to me also have Midwestern accents.

I grew up watching the news all the time.  In fact, I find myself doing those weird Tom Brokaw slurred vowel shifts and diphthongs from time to time. Since my parents are both from Northeast Ohio and I spent so much time watching newscasts I do not have a southern/Alabama accent. However, if I have had too much to drink I find a bit of Alabama peeking out from behind my de-accented midwest.  I don't drink much anymore, so that doesn't happen very often now.

Question 4: Is there an accent that you enjoy dropping into and find yourself unconsciously speaking with?

Oh there are many. I slip in and out of accents all of the time. I most often drop into London, Brooklyn, and transatlantic. When I am coaching an accent for a show, I tend to speak in the accent a lot even when I am not working. IT helps me keep the accent fresh.

That transatlantic accent seems like it would be a fun one to drop into for almost any occasion. The bright staccato delivery is so wonderful.  The way it became the accent of choice for 1930's and 40's movies.

I promise I will not ask all 20 questions about accents, but I find them so insanely interesting. Question 5:  What was the most difficult accent for you to learn and why?

The most difficult accent for me to personally learn and master was a general Spanish. IT shares many similar phonetic sounds with Eastern European accents. My whole heritage is Eastern European, so my Spanish would often lean towards Russian in the beginning. I am happy with my Spanish accent now, and I have coached many different specific Spanish accents. However, I cannot as easily slip into that sound as some of my other accents.

That makes perfect sense.  I have played roleplaying games in the past wherein it was necessary for the character to have an accent.  I often found myself sliding between a Scottish burr and a Russian accent, mainly because the Scots Burr took less concentration.

So you stated previously that your dream school is in London and that New York is a possibility for you as well.  Question 6: Aside from locations associated with pursuing your advanced degrees and education, is there a place that you would like to live or travel? 

I would really like to go to South Africa. I did a one woman show in college called The Syringa Tree that mostly took place in South Africa. I feel a strong draw to the country and culture and would really love to experience it in person.

That sounds super interesting.  I have a friend in Joburg who draws comic books for a living.  He really loves it there, but seems to have issues with the power grid there browning out fairly often. It sounds like it could be a very nice place to visit and experience.  I hope you can make it there soon then.

Question 7: Do you have a day job or is being an accent coach your primary job?

I do not have a “day job”. I am a full-time freelance dialect/vocal coach. I also do a little bit of voiceover work, but my main focus is the coaching.

This is absolutely great.  I was not sure of the Chicago area would support an accent coach.  I would have guessed that New York City or LA would support an accent coach but was unsure of Chicago.  I think, sometimes, I forget just how big Chicago is.  

Question 8: Do you enjoy linguistics as well as accents, or do you place yourself firmly into only accents?

I have never really had the opportunity for in-depth study of purely linguistics. I found accent coaching through the avenue of theatre as I went to school for acting. I would love to be able to study linguistics, but I just have not found the time yet. Perhaps in the future.

Concerning linguistics... during my senior year of high school my family hosted an exchange student from Germany. He clearly had a knack for language. He spoke (at the time) fluent French, English, and (of course) German. I think he could passably speak some Spanish and Italian at the time as well. We went our separate ways and I lost touch with him for many years. When I did get in contact with him again he was teaching linguistics at the University of Texas and had specialized in the Jamaican patois.  So a northern German teaching Jamaican patois in the Texas south.  That is an accent I would love to hear. (Hey, Lars!)

Question 9: Please fill in the blanks. Others find that I am mostly _______. I find that I am mostly ______. 

Others find that I am mostly ambitious and witty.

I find that I am mostly stressed out goofy

Stressed and goofy is a good combination.  There are worse ways to perceive oneself... way better than enigmatic and spooky.

There is a little bit of a disconnect between how you feel others perceive you and how you feel you perceive you. Question 10: Why do you think people consider you to be ambitious and what can you do to help yourself feel less stressed out?

Others find me ambitious, because I am. I have always had big dreams for my life. While they have not always stayed the same, I always have a plan for my future. I would use that word to describe myself as well; stressed out is just a stronger feature from my point of view.

I am stressed out, because I have a lot going on. My job is not traditional, so I often work long hours and sometimes have work every single day of the week. Being stressed out is not necessarily a bad thing. I would rather be busy than not have work.

One of the problems associated with working for yourself is that you can always be working.  It is difficult to set aside and protect the time you have to not work.  I have found that only ambitious people tend to work for themselves, because that level of ambition is necessary to motivate one to work for themselves.  I work in a nice corporate gig that allows me to go home at night and not fret about it.  My wife, she works for herself and is significantly more ambitious than I am... and stressed because work/life balance is difficult.

So, I picture you sitting and intently listening to high quality audio of various dialects and pouring over the diction to determine how to Instruct others in how to properly enunciate an "r" sound for a South Carolinian aristocratic accent. You nod, make a note, take your headphones off, and close your laptop.  Now I am certain that this mental recreation is clearly flawed and wholly inaccurate, but that is not why I am setting up this theatre of the mind.  I want people to think about you working and then deciding it is time to take a break.  Question 11: What do you do in your downtime? Do you have any downtime? What do you do when you are not working?

I definitely have down time. I am a big fan of napping during down time. I also enjoy watching TV and reading, though I tend to rewatch the same shows and reread the same books. I also enjoy going out with my friends to shows or bars on the weekends. I love going out dancing, even though I am not a very good dancer!

Napping I a great past-time.  More people need to look into it as a hobby.  Most people do not consider it a past-time as much as they consider it being lazy.  Those people are wrong.

Question 12:  Multi-part question... What is your favorite TV show? What is your favorite book? Do you have a guilty pleasure TV show or book genre?

My favorite TV show is Gilmore Girls. My favorite book is the Harry Potter series. My guilty pleasure book genre is YA fiction.

There are boatloads of great YA titles out there.  One of my favorite YA authors is Tamora Pierce. I love her Tortall series.

So here we are at 13.  So, Question 13: do you have any superstitions or rituals in your day-to-day life?

The Tortall series is my second favorite book series after Harry Potter. I love those books and re-read them often.

I don’t really have any personal day-to-day superstitions or related rituals. It is a big superstition in the theatre world that it is unlucky to say Macbeth in a theatre, and I do respect that tradition.

The theatre has some odd traditions... from the "Scottish King" to "Break a Leg."

So I did a 20 Questions with a very lovely tech podcaster (Patrick Beja) a while ago, wherein he asked me a very simple yet profound question. After that point I tried to make sure I asked it in all of my 20 Questions interviews.  Then Mikey Neumann (another 20 Questions Tuesday interviewee) pointed out the fallacy of the structure of the question.  So I have modified Patrick Beja's simple question to include Mikey's nuance.  A bunch of preamble to this question. Question 14: Overall, do you feel that you are happy? 

This is a difficult question for me to answer as I do not feel there is a simple response. At my core, I tend towards anger rather than joy. A lot of this has to do with being blind. While I do not let my blindness hold me back from the things I want to do, there is still an underlying anger that I am blind in general. I think you will find this with a lot with people who have disabilities or chronic diseases. This is why my humor tends towards sarcasm and my neutral face always looks slightly angry or judgmental. All that being said, I try hard to put out positive rather than negative energy into the world. I truly believe that if you put out positivity into the universe, the universe will send you positivity back. So I strive to bring joy to others and myself. Happiness doesn’t come naturally for me, but I work to bring it into my life.

So to give you a simple answer- It depends on the day.

This is a very heartfelt and unexpectedly affecting answer.  I can only imagine how there would be an underlying layer of anger at the universe for having to deal with a disability or chronic illness.  It makes sense that the anger exists, it is just not something I had thought of.  That really sucks, and it sucks that you have to deal with it.  That being said, I am glad that there are at least some days that you are happy often enough to say "So to give you a simple answer - It depends on the day."

So... Not to put you on the spot and speak for an entire group, but...  Question 15: How can I, as a sighted person, be a better ally for people with visual impairments?

The biggest way you can be an ally to the blind community is to assume  a blind person is capable of everything until they tell you they are not. We might do things in slightly different ways than sighted people, but we have methods to deal with most situations. For example, I am able to walk around and cross busy streets by myself. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been preparing to cross a street when someone comes up and grabs me by the arm, without even asking, because they assume I can’t cross the street by myself. I am standing at the street corner alone. Obviously, I planned to cross the street alone. This leads me to my other point- always ask before you try to help a blind person. Never touch them without talking and getting permission first. How would you feel if a random stranger just came up and grabbed you without a word? Now, imagine not being able to see the person.

Another great way to be an ally is to advocate for blind people in the workplace. The unemployment rate in the blind community is at 70%. As I said before, blind people can do most anything a sighted person can do, just maybe in a different way. Years ago, when I was trying to get a day job, I had so many potential employers express surprise when I said I could use a computer. It is this kind of prejudice of helplessness that keeps so many blind people from even being considered for jobs.

It never surprises me the arrogance and presumption of well-meaning ignorant people. It alarms me and disturbs me, but does not surprise.  Again, thank you for a very well crafted and honest answer.

Question 16: Is there a question you were expecting from me that I have not asked?

NO, not that I can think of.

Good, I did not want to disappoint by not asking something you were expecting.  

Question 17: What is one thing that you would like me to know about you that we haven't chatted about yet? 

I honestly feel we have covered all of the bases from my work to my interests/hobbies to my blindness. An interesting fact I can share is that I went skydiving two summers ago.

I bet that was quite the experience.  I have always been mildly interested in skydiving.  I cannot say that it has ever been a strong interest, or I think I would have made it happen by now, but I have been pleasantly curious about skydiving since I was a kid.  You are right though, this 20 Questions has gone all over the place.  

It is time for the tables to be turned... Question 18: Are there any questions that you have for me?

How long have you been doing this "20 questions" blog?

Well, the initial version of the blog started in 2004 during the heyday of blogging.  A few years of simple daddy blogging led to massive writer's block and I asked some friends to send in some questions to answer.  I decided on 20 Questions because of the name of the word game people play, and I chose Tuesday because it is my wife's name and therefore my favorite day of the week. So in addition to my usual posts I would do a 20 Questions Tuesday post every Tuesday. Eventually the other posts dropped off and the only posts I was doing were these 20 Questions posts.  The first official 20 Questions Tuesday was on April 18th, 2005.  So I have been doing this relatively consistently for 12 years.  I did not start interviewing people until a few years after that.  I started by interviewing other bloggers and then that radiated out to comedians and comic book artists.  Since then I have been circling more outward and asking people I find interesting, such as yourself.  

So here we are at the penultimate question.  Question 19:  What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

I am not necessarily taking anything brand new away with me. However, this process has reaffirmed my dislike of writing. This is nothing against you and this specific exchange. I just so much more prefer to converse through talking rather than writing. My entire job is about communicating orally and teaching others how to expand and explore the range of their voice. I find writing boring and less expressive. As I am sure you have noticed, it takes me a while to respond to each of your questions. This is partly because I am very busy. The other part is that I just don’t want to sit down and write. However, writing is a part of life, and something I need to always continue developing, especially since I plan to get a masters degree. That masters thesis is not going to write itself.

I am very grateful that you have stuck with this process then. I completely understand why this is a medium that might not work super well for you, and am impressed by your determination to follow this long and drawn out process to its completion. Please accept my sincere apology for anything in this process that was uncomfortable.  That was not my intention, but it still sounds like it was your reality.

I have been toying with the idea of creating a accompanying podcast to this blog, but I have not fleshed out this concept much and really feel like I would need help to make it happen.  

Well... here we are at the last question.  Question 20:  What's next? Be as vague or as specific, as concrete or philosophical, and as near term or long term as you would like.

Here is the short term answer. I am starting rehearsals for three shows here in Chicago: Billy Elliot the Musical, The Invisible Hand, and 1980 or Why I’m Voting for John Anderson. I am starting to make a dent in my waiting list of people who have reached out in response to the BuzzFeed video for dialect coaching or accent modification. This October, I will most likely be applying to grad school. I am also working on developing my stand-up comedy.

Here is my long term response: I would like to get my masters and start teaching at the college level in addition to my dialect coaching for Theatre and TV and possibly film one day. I would eventually like to get married and maybe have children.

I think all of those things you have outlined seem imminently doable, and I wish you luck with each and every one of them.

I want to take this time to thank you for bearing with me through this process.  If I ever get the opportunity to meet with you in person, I promise not to ask for tips on getting my Scottish burr more correct. 

Sammi is amazing and everyone should learn more about her.  Go to her website, SammiGrant.com and see what she can offer,  I really enjoyed chatting with her and an very happy she stuck with this process even though it was not the most comfortable process for her to interact.  I really need to get my podcast up and running.

To recap:
Houston is really messed up right now
I have a friend who is getting a brain tumor removed from his noggin today (editors note: Surgery went as well as hoped)
Many of us are pulling for him
I know that I would not be where I am today without his help
Little Man has a cross country meet today at 6
Q has a practice she has to be across town for at 5:30

Wonder Parents Powers!  Separate!
Form of someone watching cross country
Shape of someone who remotely cares about horses
Looks like we will need to split up to cover these events
Next week my wife and I will have been married for 20 years
I like hanging out with her, but the family often requires us to watch the dumb kids separately
We switch who does what
But still, could we get some events that we could both go to?
Is that too much to ask?
Other than The UX Podcast, does anyone know of a good User Experience podcast?
I have 2 more interviews ready to publish
Next week is going to be 20 Question about 20 Years of Marriage
So those 2 interviews are going to have to wait
Have a great week everyone
 

20 Questions Tuesday: 389 - Eclipse

Yesterday was the pretty interesting astronomical event wherein the moon came between me and my sun… my pretty, pretty sun. It made me sad, super sad to see the light of our star dimmed by a dumb rock that revolves around us, tugging at our water greedily. I used my mind to push it back out of the way.

Ummm… I mean, yesterday in the US there was a solar eclipse, and now I have decided to cast my eyes away from the penumbra cast by this event and type this out while wearing polarized glasses.

Thanks this week go to Bruce, Scott, Brian, and some other guy. Now… onto the questions.

1. When drawing an eclipse do you typically make it longer on the north-south or east-west axis? Oh, wait… I thought you said ellipse.
My ellipses are typically longer from left to right than from up to down.

2. Any superheroes other than Moon Knight that get their powers altered by an eclipse?
I looked at a couple of superhero wikis and did not see anything super specific about altered capabilities due to lunar or solar eclipses… that being said, I did not look very hard…. But there are some villains...

Moon Knight

3. What is the strangest superstition you know of about an eclipse?
Most of the legends and lore surrounding eclipses revolve around myths and legends about how the moon god/goddess interrupts the sun god/goddess. There is some weird shit about pregnancy and birth during a solar eclipse, but there does not seem to be many modern superstitions and myths about eclispes. The Internet has also done a great job making ancient people seem like idiots because of their “solar eclipse beliefs,” but I imagine that many of those ancient practices were more of a ritual and less of a belief. I mean the eclipse is just a cover to spray us with chemicals while everyone is looking at the sun… WAKE UP SHEEPLE! (where my conspiracy theorists at?)

4. Did you get to see (1st hand) much of this eclipse?
I watched the build up on a parking garage attached to one of the buildings that I work in. I did see the release of some birds from a helicopter.  I am pretty sure those birds were a cover for a vaccine being released on the population.

5. How did you view this eclipse? ... internet, box-viewer, "official" viewing glasses, welder's goggles/helmet, etc?
I borrowed some glasses from a co-worker as well as borrowing a cereal box pinhole viewer from a different co-worker.  On the parking structure that I watched from, there was a man who was an amateur astronomer and he set up a solar telescope… that was really cool.

6. What have you learned about Eclipse Comics since I asked the question?
The most interesting thing that came out of my quick read was the trading cards that Eclipse out out in the 80’s.  Iran Contra, the Savings and Loans Crisis, AIDS epidemic, and Serial Killers.  That is some weird shit to create collections around.

7. How do you handle the dad paranoia about your kids staring too long at the sun during this event? Did you read any scary articles to really prime the irrational fear?
Funny you should mention this.  My 9 year old daughter was afraid to even be outside because she did not want to go blind. I think the scare tactics to keep people from staring at the sun should have been tempered just a little. Staring into an eclipsed sun is pretty much just as dangerous as staring into a typical daytime sun.  The danger is just the same, but it is much easier to do when it is eclipsed. The hype that went into this made it seem that if you accidentally looked near the sun, your eyes would melt and you would be blind.

8. Isn't Eclipse a cool enough name that we should have someone better than Eclipso to reference?
One would think.  I think it would be a better character if the character if the person was also a calypso dancer.

Eclipso.... looking menacing

9. Why exactly, if you have a total eclipse of the heart, is there NOTHING you can do? It seems like you should be able to do something. Like, it's only 2 minutes.
Okay, a total eclipse of the heart lasts 5 minutes and 32 seconds. You are talking about the total eclipse of the sun with your 2 minutes stuff. That only lasts 2 minutes.  Bonnie Tyler, she has staying power.  Honestly, there really is only one thing you can do… so go ahead and do it!  Turn around, Bright Eyes.

10. Did you know anyone who owned a Mitsubishi Eclipse?
Yep, Jacob Richardson… from my high school… he might actually have been a Pleiadean.

11.  Badge engineering is where one design is sold to multiple providers/manufacturers who produce essentially the same product with different branding.  What are all the equivalencies for the Mitsubishi Eclipse from the 1990’s?
The Plymouth Laser, the Eagle Talon, and the Mitsubishi Eclipse were all the. exact. Same. car.

Mitsubishi Eclipse.... look at that hood bubble for the turbo charger!

12. Favorite flavor of Eclipse gum?
Winter Frost like a normal person… Not spearmint like and idiot lizard person, or that Polar Ice crap that the grey aliens enjoy… one day we will have Disclosure

13. Can I use high-end, polarized sunglasses to look at the eclipse?
Ummm… no… did you damage your eyes yesterday?  Wow… this question is a terrible question to ask the day after the eclipse.

14. Why is a total eclipse so rare?
Well, it reeeeeeeaally isn’t that rare.  It is super rare to only clip through a single solitary country (until we get to the One World Order, amiright?)... here is the deal, a total eclipse is always happening somewhere.  The sun is shining and the moon is casting a shadow from that sunshine, the rarity is only because we do not intersect with that shadow very frequently.

15. Solar eclipses were often considered an omen of terrible things to come.  What is the terrible thing to come?
I am going to say a larger resurgence of outright, blatant, open racism… “isn’t that already happening?” you ask… well, yes, but it is going to get worse.. There will be shooting, Americans are too fond of guns for there not to be shooting. That and the planet Nirubu is going to slam into Earth on September 23rd.  

16. How far would you travel to see a total solar eclipse?
Less than 100 miles. It was a neat process to see the partial eclipse that I did, but I do not think the travel headaches would be worth the 2 minutes of coronal viewing. Basically I would want to stay out of remote areas, skunk ape areas, where animals act very weirdly during the solar eclipses.

17. How often do complete solar eclipses happen in Australia?
Well… the mathematics of a solar eclipse are really nasty.  Here is the dealio, a complete solar eclipse will happen somewhere in the world between every 1 to 2 years, but the area of effect is only 1 to 2% of the earth’s surface.  Australia covers 1.5% of the earth’s surface, so getting those respective 1.5%’s to intersect is relatively difficult.  It involves the intersection of non-euclidean geometry with typical planar geometry. Haha it’s not like you can get a solar eclipse to happen on a flat earth right?!? The truth is out there people. They won’t LET us to the edge. THEY always stop those expeditions.

18. Do you think you will be eclipsed by your children’s accomplishments?
Goodness, I hope so. That is the whole point of having children, that and for them to eventually cut the grass, and talk to the restless spirits of the unsettled departed.

19. What is one thing you have learned about eclipses since you started writing this 20 Questions post?
That there will eventually be an antumbra as the moon gets further away from the earth.

20. How large is the shadow of the moon when it is cast on the earth?
Well, that depends on where you are on the earth when the shadow is cast on the earth.  The further north or south you are from the Equator, the larger the shadow cast. In general it is about 100 miles across, so multiply that by pi and Bob’s your uncle. I, of course, did not get to see the shadow the way I should have because of MKUltra causing cloudcover at the most important point of our eclipse viewing in Central Ohio.

My view of the eclipse

To recap:
The eclipse was awesome, yet we did not attack the Fire Nation
If I am still in Central Ohio in 2024, I will be able to experience a total solar eclipse
I got on the stupid treadmill this morning
I hated it
I watched "Supergirl" on Netflix
Not sure that is going to work as a running distraction
Too CBS/CW relationship angsty
So much of the issues on the show could be solved with simple conversations
Maybe I will rewatch the Marvel Netflix shows
Or find some crappy action movies
But I should do that prior to getting on the treadmill in the morning
I am the second heaviest I have ever been
So, that needs to change
But the treadmill, ugh…
Adulting sucks
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 388 - Racism

Do I go with nuclear threats or with rampant unchecked racism? Let’s go with the topic we can do something about as a society.  Racism it is.

Over the weekend there was an “Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi)” (Neo-Nazi)" **editor’s note: whenever I see “Alt Right, I will add a bunch of “Nazi”s after it for clarity’s sake**march at UVA because someone was going to remove a statue of Robert E Lee from a public space because Lee is a symbol of the Confederacy and a reminder to people of color of a time in the US when they would have most likely been property. It started with torches and ended in death and injury. So let’s get into the idea of racism in the US. (sorry my non-US peeps, I will be VERY US-centric for today’s post), and it’s not a very fun one.

Thanks this week go to Sandy, Nicole, Aleshia, and some other guy for the questions.  No reason to wait, let’s get into it…

1. What, if anything, is the difference between Neo-Nazis, white nationalist, and Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi)?
Nothing really.  At this point there is a semantic argument.  What is the difference between vanilla, vanilla bean, and french vanilla ice cream? They are all basically the same, but one has visible vanilla bean seeds, and another has butter, but they really are pretty much the same damn things.

2. If it’s not too personal, may I ask how you discuss this topic with your children?
Well… This super racism in the streets stuff is not something that we have typically talked with them about, but we did bring up the BLM movement and other issues up with Little Man since they are directly precipitated by the rampant killing of black men and boys by police. He has started asking questions as well when things hit the news-cycle, so we explain it to him like he’s an adult since he is 14 now.  With our daughter who is 9, we leave some details out but talk pretty straight with her as well.

Keep in mind that I am the big, dumb, white-guy part of this interracial coupleship that is my marriage. My wife, who works in and around these topics of racial disparity as one of the many topics of her work... she talks to the kids about race and how it affects who they are and how they are treated all the time.  

Racism is definitely a topic that we talk about because it is a topic that effects our household directly. More often we end up talking about "race" than we do about "racism" but those 2 things really go hand in hand. You cannot talk about family in an interracial family without talking about race. 

3. How do you do to increase diversity in an organization?
Very simple, you have to make it a core principle of the company and live by it.  There is no way to prescribe it, but it needs to be taken into account when hiring. When I was in a hiring role, I kept in mind that I hear a bunch from white dudes all day, everyday, so that was something I was not looking for.

4. How is this happening in my country?
Sometimes the how is not as important a question as just acknowledging the fact that it is happening.  It is currently happening, right now, even as I type this. Now we need to do something about it.

5. How can I let people know that not all white people are like this?
Don’t.  This is not about you.  Don’t make it about you.  If you are white and you are good non-Nazi racist person who does everything right and doesn’t have an ounce of hate in your body, that is great, good on you, but shut the fuck up about how you are not like the Nazis.  This is not about you and don’t try and make this about you. Shut up and listen and then ask how you can help. Don’t suggest, ask. Same goes for #NotAllMen

6. Heritage not hate! We should not destroy historical markers because we disagree with the history.
Okay… where do I start.  These statues of Confederate generals do not commemorate the plight of the Southern way of life.  They were not erected to remind people of the noble sacrifice that non-slave holding southerners made in defense of their idyllic antebellum way of life.  Most were erected in the 1960’s and later in direct response to the racial tensions of the 1960’s as a way to remind black people in the south that a war was fought to ensure they remain the property of others. Hell the Virginia Confederate Battle Flag (the one everyone thinks of) was not a widely accepted symbol of Southern Pride until the 60’s.  It was trotted back out as a reminder to black people specifically to know their place.  I would add references to this stuff, but you can Google it your damn self.

7. How do we move forward from this?
Excellent question. BLM is a great resource. It is grassroots and the message there is that POC matter.  Google where you live + BLM.  Follow the lead of POC, white people need to assist where asked and offer to help everywhere. POC get to drive this train though, white peeps just need to keep adding fuel. Give to the NAACP or to the SPLC.  I know that the ACLU seems to be persona non grata right now, but they are typically a good ally for rights, so they are a good place to donate as well.

8. Aren’t the alt-left just as bad as the Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi)?
Nope, and that is what we call a false equivalency.

9. Why does the media come down so hard on the Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) when they are so much more forgiving to the alt-left?
This is an interesting question.  Number 1 it assumes that there is a group actually calling itself the alt-left.  There is not. But let me try and grasp what it is you are asking about. I assume you are referring to the alt-left as BLM and Antifa… You remember the police presence and crack-down of the BLM demonstrations, right? Police in riot gear with automatic weapons and tanks to stop unarmed black people from protesting? Remember that? Or let’s go with Standing Rock.  Unarmed peaceful Native American protest that was met with multiple riot squads and the national guard. Now… let’s look at the Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) protest where a guerilla force showed up open carrying semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles and the participants were carrying clubs, weapons, and shields.  Where was the police crack down on that.  The second things went sour there should have been police to break it up.  How did a Nazi get into his car and get close enough to a group of anti-protesters to kill one person and injure many others? No, the police went at the Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) with kitten gloves.

“Antifa” means “Anti-Fascist” and is in a direct opposition of the fascist Nazi lovers out there. Where the Facist Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) wants POC to not be, Antifa doesn’t want them to have that ability.

10. Aren’t these Alt Right (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) (Nazi) just a small but vocal minority?
The most virulent one are, but the sympathetic people are not. They are our neighbors, our co-workers, our classmates, some of our Facebook friends, our IRL friends, and even our family.  Keep in mind that Germany in the 1940’s, it was the neighbors, co-workers, friends, classmates, and families that sent their neighbors, co-workers, friends, classmates and families to the gas-chambers and ovens.  Not everyone actually dropped the gas pellets, but some people drove the trains.

11. OKAY SERIOUSLY I JUST READ ABOUT TRUMP’S PRESS CONFERENCE.  FUCK THIS SHIT HE IS AN AVOWED RACIST AND IS INCITING THE NAZI ELEMENTS IN THIS COUNTRY. I SERIOUSLY THINK HE IS TRYING TO UNRAVEL THE COUNTRY. HE IS MADE OF RACIST DOG-WHISTLES AND UNEARNED CONFIDENCE. I’M DONE WITH THIS POST. SCREW THIS SHIT. I AM BEYOND ANGRY

12. What

13. The

14. Fuck?

15. I

16. Mean,

17. Who

18. Sides

19. With

20. Nazis?

To recap:
Only 10 question because I am so pissed
Rents were in town this weekend
Dad came walking in with a red ballcap with writing on it
The writing was not the MAGA slogan
Buuut it was slogan adjacent
Might have to have a chat with him about it this weekend
Because they are coming back this weekend
GOODAMN IT! MY PRESIDENT IS A OFFICIALLY A RACIST JACKASS
Before he was at least a “tended toward racist” and definitely a jackass
I am so incredibly angry
But I have work tomorrow
I will most likely have an interview for next week’s post
We are on question 20
Dumb work tomorrow
Getting in the way of my wanting to sit and stew at the repugnance of the executive branch of my government
Be nice to each other out there
Try and have a nice week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 387 - Parenting

I know it's a Wednesday, I just didn't get this done yesterday.  I apologize.  

My parents are coming in from out of town this weekend to stay for a couple of days.  So they will stay here this weekend and then go visit my mom’s family for a week and stay with us again next weekend as well. It seems to be how they visit. Honestly it kind of works in a weird “we’re not super close” kind of way.  We really aren’t that close.  They forgot to call on their only granddaughter’s birthday and on their second son’s birthday as well.  Which is a little hurtful, but it does really speak volumes as to what my expectations should be concerning their level of interaction.

So, since my parents are coming, and I am constantly parenting at the moment, the topic this week is “Parenting.”  Thanks this week go to Bruce, Sandy, Kallie, Suzanne, my lovely wife, and some other guy for donating questions.

Let’s get to it.

1. Have you noticed yourself "turning into your parent(s)"?
I have been actively fighting some tendencies that I am seeing.  I am trying not to be as controlling as my dad was concerning little things that really do not matter. I need to watch that pattern to make sure I do not repeat. I also need to make sure that I am not zoning out like my ‘rents did when they were reading the paper/doing word puzzles.

2. What is/are the best parenting advice/behavior you've taken from your parents?
My parents truly and earnestly loved me and parented me with all the skills they had at their disposal. In some areas they came up short, and they easily covered the spread in others. I am trying to do just that as well. I love these kiddos truly and earnestly and I am trying to parent them with all the skills at my disposal. In some areas I will come up short as well, but I think I am definitely covering the spread in other areas.

3. If you and your wife were parents on a TV show who would you each want to play you?
I would want to play me and I would want her to be played by Beyonce.

4. Is it even possible to get your kids to stop fighting? I'm starting to think no.
We have instilled in our kids a healthy disdain for each other.  They do not fight as much as they will lift their chin slightly and sneer. Train them for healthy disdain and Bob's your uncle.

5. When hosting aging parents from out of town, do your kids have to be sequestered too?
Hells to the no.  I think it is important that the g-parents get some in-person time with the kids, but kids need to be doing what kids need to do.  If there is a sleep-over that is going on and your kid wants to go to it, make sure the kid spends some QT with the old folk, but let them have fun. Too much of adulting is wrapped up in non-fun, kids should be able to have fun in our stead.

6. What were your parenting issues at ages 3, 7, and 13?
I was not a parent at ages 3, 7, and 13… I do not know what you are asking…
When Little Man was 3, the biggest issue was getting him to let us do non-train things… and his asthma
When Q was 3, the biggest issue was her asthma flaring up and thinking about daycares for her
When Little Man was 7, the biggest issue was me finding a job and not being a horribly depressed out-of-work dad.
When Q was 7, the biggest issue was getting her to eat vegetables and fruits… still a big one.
When Little Man was 13 (last year) it was constant worry about having a kid in middle school because middle school is a terrible place.
Q has not hit 13 yet.

7. What do you allow you allow your children to do that you always wanted to do as a kid but were not allowed?
I think we allow waaaay more time passively consuming content that is on a screen.  I did not have cable growing up, these kids have youtube and twitch at their fingertips.

8. What don’t you allow your kids to do that you were allowed to do as a kid?
To go places on their own.  I remember walking 2 miles to meet up with a friend to watch a matinee movie when I was 10.

9. What is the hardest part of part of parenting through the slime craze?
The slime being everywhere.

10. What’s for dinner?
Orange rice... when in doubt orange rice.

11. Where do you think you fall in the continuum of Free-Range to Helicopter parenting?
That is an interesting one to answer in a verbal format.  I would say that I am relatively in the center of the continuum.  I don’t really hover too much, but I also do not throw meat out the back door and let nature take care of the kiddos.  I think where I am on that continuum really depends on the activity and the kids’ ages.

12. Where do you fall on the continuum of “Elephant Mom” and “Tiger Mom” continuum?
Really?!?! Elephant is the opposite of a Tiger?  That’s a thing? Wow… people actually are willing to call someone an Elephant Mom? Do they get hit when that happens? I have so many questions. To answer the question I lean further away from the Tiger side than toward it.

13. Have you had “the talk” with you kids yet?
Which talk do you speak of?  The sex talk or the talk parents of POC kids have to give their boys about police interactions? The sex talk is an ongoing horribly uncomfortable conversation with Little Man, and that other talk is coming soon for him. We are starting to have the sexuality talk with Q.

14. How good of a parent do you think you are?
I feel I am pretty good. I am not the best there is, but I feel like I give it a good go. 

15. How good a parent do you think your partner is?
She is amazing.  She is way always willing to be silly with the kids and always has the time to give them some loving.  I am constantly impressed with her parenting.

16. When should your kids get cell phones?
Little Man is 14 and just got a smartphone. His feature phone has been passed down to Q at the age of 9.  She will not get a smartphone for a few more years (but probably before she is 14)

17. Did you co-sleep when the kids were younger?
When they were younger? Q still jumps in bed with us around 3 AM every night. Co-sleeping is a great way, as working parents, that you can get physical contact time with the kids when they are young. It does not take the place of conscious interactions with the kids, but it does help. There are times that I would have loved just having a bed to only my wife and I when the kids were co-sleeping all the time, but I do think it was a good process to bond with the kiddos in a less conscious manner.

18. Vaccinations?
Not even a question.  Of course.

19. Did you baby-proof the house much when your kids were wee little babbies?
Not too much.  We felt that we needed to teach the kids that some things are bad and need to be avoided for safety reasons but are necessary in life for living.  You can’t nerf the world enough to make it absolutely safe.

20. Do you judge other parents?
I try not to, but of course I do. My silent judgements are harsher than my audible ones.

Te recap:
The parents are coming!
The parents are coming!
This is not a drill
Sure sure there might be other more pressing matters going on in the world
But, the parents are coming!
I am alarmed by the state of my country
There hasn’t been a solid nuke scare since the 80’s
I really feel this nuclear scare life is old hat
I mean seriously, WTF
Enough about our impending doom
My parents are coming into town and that is enough doom for the week
I love Netflix’s Voltron series
It is just some lovingly made
It harkens back to the version from my childhood without being slavish to the concepts from the first show

Wooo Voltron!
Have a great weekend everyone
I hope we don’t die in a pile of “Fire and Fury”

20 Questions Tuesday: 386 - Family Vacations

This year was the 3rd year in a row that the family went on a guided multi-sport camping trip.  And for a few years more than that the family has gone on some other family vacations either to Maine or to the Outer Banksor North Carolina.  So far all of these trips have been amazing in their own way and we, as a family, have been pretty darn happy about the experiences.  That is why today the topic is all about Family Vacations.

Thanks this week go to Janna Bushaw, Jared Vorkavich, Sue Ryan, Bruce Finch, Erin Findsen, Kallie Kenyon, Linda Silverio, DrJHP, the Wife and some other guy for the questions.  I love seeing some new names in this section.

Onto the questions!

1. Is it easier or harder to parent on vacation?
I think it is somewhat easier because the normal distractions are not there, or if they are they are only there in a diminished capacity.

2. One room or adjoining rooms when on vacation?
Since there are only 4 of us, single room with 2 beds if we are staying in a place that goes by room.  Lately, our trips have been either to a house we rent in the Outer Banks or in tents, so adjoining rooms are not really a thing.

3. What is your most memorable family vacation from when you were a kid? And as an adult?
As a kid was a whirlwind trip to Colorado.  My brother went to tour the Air Force Academy and we also got to see a big swath of Colorado.  It was pretty amazing as a kid and started out my love for the mountains.  As an adult, the trip to the Redwoods with Backroads was simply majestic.

4. What's the most family friendly vacation?
I think I would have to say the Disney properties off-hand.  They really are very accommodating to any different needs you might have whilst there, but it comes with a steep price tag.

5. Family vacation: educational vs. fun?
The fun stuff can be educational, and the educational can be fun.  I would say that a good family vacation has to have aspects of both.  This is really not an either or question.

6. Worst family vacation ever (as an adult &/or as a kid)?
Hmmm…. As a kid we did not do many family vacations.  We visited grandparents a boatload, but those are not really vacations. No one wants to go to Stow, Ohio for spring break.

7. When driving on a family vacation, drive all night or during the daytime?
When the kids were reeeeeeally young we would Benadryl them up and head out on the road around bedtime and drive as far as we could, but now that they are older driving during the day works great. It is amazing how just a couple of years extends the concept of delayed gratification just enough to put up with a long drive.

8. What did you learn from family vacations as a kid (good or bad) that you either embrace or avoid when taking your kids on vacation?
Visiting family is not a vacation.  It may be a component of a vacation, but it is not a vacation on its own.

9. What has changed about your family vacations now that your kids are older?
One is traveling during the day, but also doing more active vacations. We would not go on a sea-kayaking event with sweet little tiny non-swimming babies.

10. When you only visit family and friends with no sightseeing is it really a vacation?
It is not a vacation.  There is no way to dress up visiting family as a vacation. It can be a small part of a vacation, but it, in and of itself, is not a vacation.

11. Preferred mode of transport: plane, train, boat, or automobile?
Plane and auto.  Not big on boats and have never done a long train trip.

12. Who gets to choose where to go and/or how is that choice made?
Parents choose with some input from the kids. But since the parents pay, the parents choose.

13. Theme park or not?
Maybe, depends on the cost and duration and park. That is al about the cost benefit ratio.

14. Weirdest thing you've ever done on vacation that you would never have done back in civilian life?
Half mile long zip line… that is not going to be part of my daily life… unless I could use it to get from one building to another at work.

15. Where would you never take your family on vacation?
Of the many vacation places?  Hm…. I am not that interested in Asia, so I think we would not take much effort to go to Asia.

16: Is it really a family vacation if your kids are under 5?
Nope, you are simply going on a vacation with a bunch of baggage that takes a bunch of effort.

17. In Home Alone Kevin’s parent’s left him, but took the other kids.  Is that still a “family vacation?”
I think so.  Kevin was clearly the most expendable of the MacCallisters, and therefore unnecessary for a family vacation. "Home Alone?" you ask... Kids, ask your parents.

18. Is it possible to have a family “staycation” or is that only for a single member of the family when everyone else has left?
Oh, a staycation is never a vacation.  Never. Ever.

19. For family vacations does it make more sense to have a strong itinerary and schedule of activities or to be all seat of the pants and laissez-faire?
I would say that prior to the vacation this needs to be determined.  For the multi-sport vacations that we have done through different companies, having an itinerary is absolutely necessary.  That being said, for the family vacations to the Outer Banks… that is supposed to be free and easy with no deadlines.

20.  Where is your next family vacation going to be?
Most likely the Outer Banks… but I am not sure what the one after that will be. We typically have an annual plan for the Outer Banks in June.  The last 3 years we have “made” a second multi-sport vacation happen in the late summer, but I am not sure we can make that happen 4 years in a row. If so… most likely Yellowstone or the Canadian Rockies.

To recap:
I am quite tired
I do not sleep well when my wife is out of town
She is in the Canada right now whilst I am here
Not sleeping
Tomorrow is going to come in really fast for me
I have about an hours worth of work to get done before tomorrow as well
And I have 2 dogs who are exhausted but not willing to stop
I am on question 16, question 17, question 10 and question 13 on the 4 interviews I have going currently
Backroads is the company that we used for the three canyons trip and for the Redwoods
Get Up & GO! Is who we used for the Alaska trip
I would recommend both outfits
Speaking of outfits… I need to do some laundry
Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 385 - Alaska

Okay, a little bit of housekeeping to start us off here.  Today is Little Man’s birthday.  He is 14 now and I have no idea where the years have gone.  It seems like yesterday he was a whacked out on Orapred sleep deprived weirdo, but is seems that was over 10 years ago.  So, happiest of birthdays to Little Man.  He is growing up so fast.  So incredibly fast.

Now onto today’s post.  Last week the fam went on our third “adventure vacation.”  2 years ago it was a biking/multi-sport camping trip to the Redwoods in California, 1 year ago it was to Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Zion in Utah and Arizona for the same kind of camping trip, and this year it was a week-long adventure vacation in Alaska where we camped and hiked and kayaked.  This year was the biggest of the 3 because everything in Alaska seems bigger.  I would not put it as the best (I think Redwoods will be a tough one to beat), but it was super fun.  

Anyway…. This vacation has lent itself for today’s topic… Alaska.  So this week thanks go to Bruce, Lsig, Brett, Chris, Nicole, and my wife since they sent me some great questions.  Without further ado, let’s answer some 20 Questions!

1. Have you had Baked Alaska?
Nope, I tend to stay away from flaming food.

2. Where did you go? What did you do while there?
We went to the Kenai Peninsula, Matanuska River valley, and Denali National Park.  We did crazy amounts of stuff.  We did hiking, sea-kayaking, and a glacial sightseeing cruise in Kenai.  We did a glacial hike on the Matanuska Glacier and some insane zip-lining in the Matanuska Valley.  Finally, we got to pet dog sled dogs, some calm river-rafting, a wildlife bus-tour of the backcountry of Denali that culminated in a 2 to 3 mile hike along virgin Alaskan tundra. All this while camping for most of the time with a too-short 2 day stint at a lodge. 

3. Ever try blubber?
Are you calling me fat? I think you are calling me fat. Why would you call me fat? I am now hurting.... in my big fat insides.

4. How cold was it?
No too bad.  It ranged from a low of 44°F (6.667°C for my non-US friends) to a high of 78°F (25.5°C for my non-US friends). It was pretty great actually.

5. What was your favorite thing about the Alaska trip?
Hmmmm… that is a tough one.  The geologist geek in me absolutely loved the glacial hike on the Matanuska Glacier.

6. Would you go back?
I would definitely go back, but I have more things that I want to do elsewhere prior to going back to Alaska though.

7. Was it baked?
It was not baked.

8. What was the coolest thing you saw?
3 Humpback whales feeding.  Easily the whales.

9. What surprised you?
How much of a frontier it really was.  There were parts of the state that were absolutely primitive and I did not expect that at all.  They did not have Frosted Strawberry Poptarts?  WTF?!?

That and I had never seen the color of glacial streams before.  Glacial streams have a bunch of very fine particulate matter suspended in the water called glacial flour.  It colors the stream water different tints depending on what kind of rock the glacier is specifically grinding up.  For example, the streams and even the waters of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska were all this vibrant green blue because the glaciers feeding into that bay are grinding up slate.

10. Any Alaskan delicacies you discovered?
Nothing specifically Alaskan.  I had some great salmon, but that is not a fish that is solely associated with Alaska.

11.  How about Baked Alaska?
Nope...still did not have any Baked Alaska. Is that required or something?

12. Did you do everything you wanted?
I think so.  At least everything that was offered for this particular trip.

13. If it was a movie, how many stars would you give “Alaskan Vacation”?
4 out of 5.

14. What was the most Alaska thing that happened while you were there?
A bear wearing flannel attacked a moose with a salmon, why do you ask?

15. What would you do again?
I would love to do the zip-line again.  It was a ½ mile (800m for my non-US friends) long and about 250ft (around 75m for my non-US friends) tall and you get up to around 50 to 60 mph (or 80 to 95kph for my non-US friends).  It was really fun… not so fun to watch your kids do it though.

16. So, is Baked Alaska good or not?
Did not have it, I do not know.

17. What was the most surprising fact about Alaska?
I guess it has to do with scale.  I did not understand the scale of the place.  Everything there is just bigger, craggier, fjordier, wider, etc… 

18. What was your favorite wildlife?
I loved seeing a grizzly bear mama with her cub from the backcountry bus. Whales were the coolest, but a mama bear and her cub was a favorite.

19. What are you grateful for from the trip?
These trips in general tend to help the kiddos not be on the screen as much… not only while on the trip but there is a time after the trips that they just do more outside as well.

20. So baked Alaska?
I know, right?

To recap:
Such an amazing trip
So amazing
Really amazing
But I’m back
And now I have boatloads of work to get done this week
One thing still needs to get done tonight
Another needs to be done by Thursday
And even another needs to be done by Friday
On top of all the normal amounts of work I have
I drew some on the trip though
That’s good
I need to finish up some of them there drawings
My back hurts
My hip hurts
I think it has to do primarily with the sleeping on the ground stuff
Pretty sure that is what it has to do with
Because I’m old
I tried to not watch the full Thor: Ragnarok trailer
I tried really hard, but it is so good
Now, I have to get some work done
Stop keeping me from my work
Have a great week everyone