weekend jibbajabbas

Well. That was an interesting way to spend the weekend. My overdeveloped sense of entitlement lead to some no-frills, up-til-5-am debauching and pokering on Friday night - some unexpected financial windfall is the only way I was able to accept not winning - even though the loss was a humble $5, normally I ball up my fist and have to go punch something inanimate.

Saturday - got woken up inappropriately early (No!) by the friendtor (tentative yay) to get champagne and have fancy breakfast made for me (un-tepid yaying). Drank from approximately 12-6, fell into unfortunate post-day-drinking emotional coma, then proceeded to watch Battlestar Galatica with little to no regard for the outside world. Now, I must broach a rather painful subject - my unabated lust for Galactica-n Jamie Bamber (who is the actor playing Lee 'Apollo' Adama) is no secret. Indeed, it is so unsecretive, I often introduce myself to others as a raging Bamberist first, and follow-up with my...name. Anyway, he be FINE (click it!) to a rather ridiculous degree. Please consider this meager spolier space if you are a Galactica fan who has somehow not seen the end of the second season - one year later he's fat! I've been wounded in the way that only those close to you can do. At first, I thought it was just an unfortunate angle for his chin (how could I not have noticed before?) but then I saw my friend who loaned it to me and her first query was 'What did you think of Fat Lee?'

Horror of horrors.

Onto much more badass things - I actually got to meet Alison Bechdel, ubercool authoress of one of my most potent graphic obsessions, Fun Home. She gave a really fun, warm and engaging reading and Q&A at Austin's illustrious Book People (this is totally my hyperlinkiest entry in my blogging history). It was really exciting to see her in person because I loved the book so much - she did a kind of Power Point presentation so while she was reading, she could cue up the corresponding image for that passage. I had never seen this but suddenly it seems to make so much sense. I guess I've never been to a graphic novel reading before so I didn't even know what to expect.

Apparently, I'm going to write about this a lot, since I thought it was cool - before I lose sight of this, however, I feel compelled to mention that you can totally almost see me on the second of the Austin photos from her blog. Moving forward...

She opened herself up to questions, after having read two chapters and done a really awesome presentation of how she made the book using sketches, composite-imaging, Illustrator, etc. What's interesting to me about this kind of Q&A thing is how people think they have license to ask a memoirist whatever the fuck they want. A startling number of people stop thinking of an author as a human being under these circumstances, and the crowd starting drilling her about some uncomfortable details on her father's suicide. I couldn't stop cringing at that. If I was in the hot seat, I would ask my questioner to draw me a vivid sketch of their genitalia; or to share with the crowd their most honestly mortifying or tragic moment in their life.

I did get in a few questions, but wasn't extremely content with the answers. Due to the extremity of my comic renaissance, I really wanted to find out what inspired her in the comics community, since she is, above all else, a cartoonist (her word, not mine). Because of my line of questioning, when I came up to ask for her signature in my book, she asked if I was a cartoonist.

'I wish,' I replied.

All part of my desire to really try to do something write-y professionally. Write a comic book. Write for magazines. Write a screenplay. Write for TV even (gasp!). Life is such an inescapable cache-22 right now - I have to work my tragic dayjob to survive. Most of my off time is spent drinking or socializing because work is so vaccuous and zombifying - I want to be with the lively, beautiful, strange people I love...getting fucked up, too, obviously. It's so fucking hard to make writing more important than that. Because I am a dilettante? Maybe. Or because I need a patron. Whichevs.

Everything else passed away in a bit of a blur, but I did get to take in a badass French action movie B13 that had some sweet action sequences, interesting allegorical content, and most importantly an outrageously hot French boy with sexy tats.

I also read a really cool article on the making of/reception of
Shortbu in today's Times, which I would encourage anyone interested in the film or the idea of making it to check out.

My evening is drawing to a close - work OVER and I'm gonna go see Art Brut and Spinto Band. Yay!