So all in all, I have mixed feelings about my new job. Sometimes I like it more than other times. On the weekend, during my really long, really early-morning shifts, I kinda hate it. And I’m having trouble NOT holding against it the fact that it leaves me less-than-motivated to work on comics, webisodes, and chapters for ydk. But I just can’t deny the one really good thing about it: and that’s the financial opportunities it holds. It’s just better (and more) money than I was getting. Which makes it worth it. For now.

Which is why we all may have to bear through me being just a little less reliable with some of the updates for awhile. Not forever, mind you. But for a little while. I’m going to do my best, but sometimes work just kicks your butt, you know? And when that happens, sometimes you need to play a little Final Fantasy to make your butt feel better, you know? … Aaaaanywho… One other positive point about my new job is that it provides lots and lots of reading time. Over the past week, I read through a whole book that I really liked, but I just know that if I were still working at the LRC, it’s probably one of those books that I would keep putting down so I can fool around on the internet instead. At my new job, the internet isn’t an option, so I’ve mostly been left with reading.

 However, video games and movies are going to opening up to me as an option at my new job too, as soon I’m going to get a PSP. I’ve actually done a little video gaming already, as One-Note Rob dug up his Gameboy Advance for me, and so I’ve had that since Monday. Which was good for Monday, ‘cuz that was a 12-hour shift that day, and those suck. But the Gameboy made a nice alternative. I do have high hopes for video game playing at my job, and even think it may help with my site-motivation issues. See, as much as I love reading, reading is the more imagination-involved activity. There’s more for your brain to do in reading. You get to picture everything for yourself. Make it all in your own head. But with a video game, it’s all already made for you, which makes it a little less involving, but a little more immersive… if that makes any sense… I swear it made perfect sense when I was thinking about it the other night, but I couldn’t exactly blog while I was making rounds at work, so…. you get the crap-version rather than the complicated explanation I had then…

Anyway, the reason why I think this may be helpful with my motivation problems is because sometimes I just want to be entertained, lose myself in somebody else’s world, not having to do so much of the imagination myself. As much as I love to create in my own head, sometimes you just need to lose yourself, you know? So my hope is that getting the chance to lose myself in a video game at work will help to satisfy that need more so that I don’t feel compelled to use so much of my time at home to fulfill that need…. But that’s partially why I’m being so unreliable right now with the updates… the other reason is just that I’m at work so damn much… Seriously: WHOSE idea was a forty-hour workweek, ‘cuz it was a bad one!

Now, before I leave you to ponder that, I have one more thing to tell you before I go…

This may or may not make sense to you, but this is my Tobias Funke statement of the week… As with the need to occasionally clean your head, sometimes, if the little ToCo stick refuses to respond when you stick it where it’s supposed to go, it always help to blow it a little first. I don’t know why, but it helps.

That is all…

In preparation for YDK’s first episode to have “real” music in it (no offense ONR), I would like to direct everyone’s attention to the awesome band 2012. Their song Symphony of my Life will be featured in Episode 9 of The Life and Deaths of Cooter Brown.

On 2012 (taken from their PureVolume page):

Hi my name is Lewis Hurrell, and i’m the only member of 2012, i do all the writing, playing, recording and producing. I work the best when i’m by myself , it gives me the opportunity to really sink into my music. I love everything about what I do and I am extremely thankful to be able to share my love with the world.

You can hear samples of 2012’s music here (on PureVolume) and here (on MySpace). If you like what you hear, their music is avaliable for purchase through CDBaby, or purchased for download through iTunes.

Please check out this very awesome band and enjoy! Last but not least, very big thanks to Mr. Steve Whitaker and Mr. Lewis Hurrell who made this agreement happen! You don’t know how much it means to us!

-MK

Change. A lot of people are afraid of change. Not me, though. I’m not afraid of change at all…. it just makes me really, really nervous.

I spent the latter portion of last week with butterflies flapping around my stomach. This is because last Friday, I was set to go up to apply for a new job. Which I did. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I didn’t get there as early as I had planned, and I turned in my application late in the day with instructions to call back. I might have thought that this would have ruined my weekend, making me nervous the whole time as I waited to call again on Monday to see what was what and if I had a shot at the job, but the way I saw it, I got up there, I filled out the lengthy application and answered the questions in the personality test about whether I think stealing is wrong (in case you’re wondering, I fell on the side of it being a bad thing), and so the hard part was at least momentarily over and I instantly relaxed. So I was relieved to be able to follow that up with a night of Doctor Who and meeting Nessie from the forums because (according to Rob) he was oh-so-excited to meet me. He, of course, found out that in real life, I’m boring as hell.

Anyway, I was relaxed, even in the face of having plans to shoot LDCB the next day, which is also something that can get my nerves up (it can be a stress, especially if I’m going to be in front of as well as behind the camera). So the next day, I got up and made some calls and we headed on over to Ridgecrest to begin shooting a scene for Episode 9. Don’t want to talk about it TOO much, so I don’t give anything away, but I think it turned out well. It was a blast to shoot, and we got a lot of really funny stuff. But as it turned out, the funniest part of the day had nothing to do with the filming itself.

Now, I’m hesitant about exactly what to tell you about this story because it’s not really my story to tell. So I’m not going to give you the specifics of how it came about. But it’s funny. See, before we started shooting, Bill told us this story about something really sad and embarrassing (and hilarious) that happened to him recently. Skimming over the details, suffice it to say that some people said some things that made Bill feel as if he looks like an old man (30, at least; but even 40 or above). So I couldn’t resist turning it into a great new running gag to make fun of Bill over and over again… ‘cuz that’s what friends are for.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I think it’s ridiculous. The idea that Bill looks like he could be forty or so? The idea that he could have two grown-up daughters (part of the details that I won’t share unless Bill gives me permission)? It’s silly. It’s just a bunch of silly hogwash from some of the many, many undoubtedly stupid people that populate the earth. But that’s part of what makes it funny. I mean, if it were something that could be taken seriously, then I might be worried that it would hurt Bill’s feelings or something, which would require me to institute a 10% decrease in how much I harp on it (but not to give it up entirely, ‘cuz: seriously! Jokes like this don’t fall into your lap everyday!). But it’s silly. And I will beat this horse until it’s an old leathered slab of flesh and nothing more… and then I’ll beat it some more! Which is why you may see in the outtakes of these episodes me trying to make Bill feel old.

Of course, I also think this may be ka’s way of getting back at Bill for calling Shawn Michaels old. Or even better: I like to think that maybe Shawn Michaels found out who Bill was, and somehow set up this elaborate prank in which people made Bill feel really old. Maybe LDCB got famous all of a sudden without us realizing it and this it was some sort of punk… Maybe Ashton Kutcher popped out while Bill was running away crying, so Bill didn’t actually see the punchline…

Anyway…. yeah… so enough of that… We shot. Turned out well. MK’s making some nice headway on music, and she found at least one band that would be absolutely IDEAL for Episode 9, so let’s all cross our fingers that something comes of it. And now, it’s Monday again, and the nerves have returned to me about the job opportunity. I called back this morning, and then they called back, and OF COURSE, things would suddenly pop up all around me as I answer the phone when they call back so that I have to struggle to listen to the person on the other end of the line and deal with this other stuff at the same time… but I’m going in for an interview tomorrow morning… which makes me much more nervous. I don’t exactly have a long line of impressive first impressions… Fifth impressions are my best.

… which brings us back to change… I want this new job. It would be really nice for me. I could make more money, work more hours, upgrade my equipment, get my own living space… It could be a great opportunity… and I’m starting to feel like I have more eggs in this basket than I realized I put in there… I’m starting to realize that if it DOESN’T work out, it’s still time for a big change one way or another… I’ve gotten comfortable in my current life, with my current job. It’s not really going anywhere, but it would be easy not to change. Change is hard. It’s always easier just to stay where you are… you just never get anywhere that way…

So… cross your fingers for me too, please. Life is hard. And life is scary. And it makes my stomach do flips… but I hear its worth it…

So, I saw Spiderman 3 at the midnight premiere last Thursday night/Friday morning, and ever since, I’ve been contemplating how much I liked it. You see, I liked it pretty well, but it was decidedly flawed in my opinion, and I’ve had a hard time deciding how hard I want to be on its flaws. Well, I’ve finally decided, and that decision is: I don’t want to be hard on it at all. I’m going to go light.

What finally made up my mind was, interestingly, the blog of another webcomic person, this person who does Count Your Sheep. Some things that they said about it finally helped me get my opinion in focus. Not so much because it changed my opinion in any way of Spiderman 3, but it did help me realign my position on Spiderman 2.

Now, I love Spiderman 2. It’s hard to say what it was about it exactly, but I thought it was great. As good as the first one was, it improved on everything that needed improvement from the first one and then some, and just everything about it really worked for me. BUT… as I was watching the new Spiderman 2.1 extended cut a few weeks ago, something did strike me about it, something that had never really struck me about it before. And I couldn’t really put what that was into words; it was just… something. I still loved the movie, but there was just something about it: a line or scene here or there that I didn’t entirely believe. And I’m not talking about stuff that was added back in for the extended cut either. I’m talking about stuff that had always been there. Things that all of a sudden, for whatever reason, just didn’t strike the right tone for me. Like I said: hard to describe.

What really did it for me with the blog from the CYS person is what they were saying about superhero movies in general. It’s not exactly high art in any case, and its best format is really in the comics anyway; the movies just aren’t really the superior artform for superheroes, necessarily, to paraphrase. And I was reminded of why I liked Spiderman 2 so much in the first place. It’s not because it’s the greatest movie ever. It’s not. It’s not even because it’s the greatest superhero movie ever, although in my humble opinion, it’s up there. But it’s because it was just fun. It was entertaining. And it continues to be. It appeals most of all to the child inside me. And I think Spiderman 3 did the same, really. Sure, there were things about it that I might have preferred a different way. But I get why things were done the way they were, and I’m okay with that. I think the finished product is a pretty fun movie. Emo-Peter and all.

So consider this my big Spiderman 3 review. I thought I was going to nitpick. I thought I was going to have spoilers about the plot. But no, I’ve decided to go another way. I liked the movie, and I look forward to another one, so long as the studio can get someone good to do it if Raimi goes off to do other things. And besides: Best Bruce Campbell cameo in a Spiderman movie yet! I think I could watch an entire two hours of the antics between Peter Parker and Quentin Beck… which is probably why what I most want to see for Spiderman 4 is Spiderman taking on Mysterio, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell. If they do that, then I think it may just be the best thing ever… it might also be a good time to turn Dr. Connors into the Lizard… but… we’ll see what happens with the next one…

 In YDK news… there is no YDK news. I think this week’s schedule is pretty self-explanatory and needs no further explanation. It may just happen that Episode 9 might find its way onto the site next week, though… If not, then the week after almost for sure (have to say almost, because when we’re dealing with other people’s schedules, nothings for absolute sure). In the meantime: go and enjoy some time with your old friend, Spidey, and his friends…

PS. I won’t clarify this but I think those who have seen the movie will understand: I do so LOVE a good ol’-fashioned Spiderman team-up!