So, my good friend, ROBOT CHICKEN co-creator/writer/whaddayacallit/dude of the hour, Douglas “Mr. WIZARD” Goldstein, gives fanboys even more cuddles with his latest project:

Videomazing!

Have I mentioned that Doug is one of my most favorite people in the universe? Troof! There’s a part of me that still wishes I’d brought him home to meet my parents. They would love him. Ah, but I can’t be that sad, since I’m sure we’ll be friends for a long time and he’s out in California with his wicked cool soon-to-be-wife writing ROBOT CHICKEN and remaining awsome. Awsome, I tell you!

1. Last week, Leland and I had the extreme pleasure of meeing Tony Lee for the first time. This was rather exciting, as it feels like I’ve wanted to meet Tony for ages. If that wasn’t enough, Tony had run into MIRACLEMAN/SANDMAN/FABLES artist Mark Buckingham in an airport after a particularly hellish flight and asked him to come out, which meant lots of wacky artist discourse for Leland, which is always a hoot to watch. Both guys are charming/lovely/talented and I can’t wait ’til we run into each other again (which would have been Thursday after Tony’s Midtown Comics signing, had I been able to leave work before 9 — bah). “Refreshing,” is how Leland put it.

Mark Buckingham really liked RED. He really did. I’m wiggin’! I’m wigglin’!

Anyways. Kleid has a picture of all of us. Lordy, I need a haircut.

2. We did a little building this weekend. Correction: Leland built, I knitted. Here’s Leland in his new nook:

Here’s the Besotted Scarf so far:

Yes, I know we’re in the middle of a heatwave. Gotta get started on these things good and early. Also, that’s a cotton/acrylic blend up there, and a discontinued one at that. Booyah.

3. I’ll have some fun news for you in a few days — oh, what the heck. Check Streetfables for the tiniest of sneak peeks.

God, but YouTube is glorious. I’m trying to go easy so I don’t get kicked off whosever wireless access I happen to be nipping at the moment, but it’s tough. I mean, how can I not be riveted (and, for that matter, overjoyed) at the vintage Throwing Muses video selection? I mean, if you ever find yourself wanting to get in my head a little, these are good places to look. And just in case you were wondering, the girl’s still got it!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, of course. I have yet to type in the search term “Elvis Costello”, for example. Or “XTC”. So far I think this has got to be my favorite.

You know, I read two different interviews with two different fantasy writers today in two different magazines (okay, two different issues of the same magazine) and they both mention THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. Peter S. Beagle credits WIND IN THE WILLOWS with giving him the desire to write. Isn’t that just the business? I think I’ll pick up a copy at Powell’s when we’re there in a week or so.

I wonder if there’s any Peter Beagle on YouTube…

The Tarot Card Killer?!

*shakes head*

Tone Milazzo had the camera rolling for Chopra and Morrison. And now, it’s on the internet. And now I’m bringing it to you.

You’re welcome.

So, I know I’ve been a bit communications-challenged of late; this is for a bunch of reasons. One, we’re building out a new datacenter on the day job front. This always involves all kinds of esoteric operations shenanigans that drain me. That said, it’s all going very well — hands down the best one I’ve done so far (and for my current gig, this will be my third — shriek).

Two, writing. I tend to blog less when I story more. I don’t feel like I’m storying more right now, per se, but stories are taking longer. Which drives me fricking nuts, sure, but what else can I do but get over it?

Third, Hermes. See, he’s a tricky guy. To tell you true, I don’t think about him very much. However, three or four times a year, though, he makes a special appearance, and during at least one of these, he makes my life miserable.

We’re in one of those times right now. I need to lay low, least something I say on the Internet come back to me later in a brown unmarked envelope. You know, when I can get on the Internet to begin with. (Did I mention that Time Warner turned off our service for no reason whatsoever? Never mind.)

There was some other stuff but I kind of forgot ‘em as I’ve been sitting here. See? Now the guy is stealing thoughts right out of my head. Dork.

Anyway, that’s that. Here’s a list for your trouble:

1. From the department of “I could be here all day”, I give you the This Might Be A Wiki, the ridiculously, mind-bogglingly comprehensive wiki on They Might Be Giants.

2. I’ve got a new Francesca Lia Block book sitting right here. A proof, even, haggled from a dude selling books in front of Connecticut Muffin in Windsor Terrace.

3. Speaking of which, I’ve been drinking at least one iced coffee per day. What the heck is this? I have never been a coffee person, despite the number of times that my mother encouraged me to “take it black” so that I wouldn’t fall asleep behind the wheel while driving late at night. But in the middle of this New York City heatwave we’re having, I’ve been chugging the stuff. When I’m not pacing myself, that is.

4. I asked this over on the sooper-half-secret LJ, but I’ll ask here, too: anyone use Vox? They sent out a bunch of invites, including one to me. I have no idea what to do with it, if anything. All the same, feel free to add me to your neighborhood if you hang out over there and I’ll add you back.

5. The Deepak/Grant thing went over well, apparently. Here’s one of the most surreal con shots you’ll ever see (that’s from Heidi’s blog). For more con fun, check out Kelly Sue’s Flickr pool.

Another bit of gloriousness brought to my attention by the folks at Fall of Autumn:

ZineWiki

Is this cool or what? I need to know instigators and co-conspirators. I need names, people! So we can send them a box of chocolates. Meanwhile, I’ll need to add myself, PLATFORM and Streetfables.

(10:44:14) WorkPalNick: Here’s a joke to lighten the mood
(10:44:20) WorkPalNick: A salty old sea captain walks into a bar, and has the steering wheel of a ship attached to his middle. The bartender points it out, and the captain replies “Arrr, drives me nuts.”
(10:44:40) SpookyLikeDat: have you seen the new Pirates?
(10:46:43) SpookyLikeDat: there’s a giant squid in it
(10:46:48) SpookyLikeDat: that’s a plus
(10:46:51) WorkPalNick: It drives me nuts
(10:46:52) WorkPalNick: Get it?
(10:46:55) WorkPalNick: GET IT?
(10:47:01) SpookyLikeDat: YES, I GET IT!

Yeah, I know it’s been an entire week since my last post. Believe me, I have no idea where said week went.

Wow! I just might have to send this lass a piece of fan mail.

Everyone has their hobbies, and one of post-workday-wind-downs is leafing through craft, paper fetish and creativity websites, then printing out the awsome tutorials I find. I have a whole system at home for saving all of this stuff, as I do it so often. Because there’s never enough time in my day, I’d not yet dug into the sprawling, dazzling, delightful art object that is DIY planner.com. I’m not sure how it happened, but on this sleepy (yeah, whatever) Friday-late-afternoon-into-evening, I got sucked into the vortex.

Jaymi Elford is there. She is artistic. She is prolific. She has a lot to keep you busy. And, for the love of all things holy (note: for some of us, that’s pretty much everything), she has her own Tarot wiki.

Hey, Jaymi! I think you’re neat!

Harris Comics dude Bon Alimangno notes on his blog that Grant Morrison and Deepak Chopra will host a panel on Thursday at San Diego:

3:00-4:30 Deepak Chopra and Grant Morrison: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Super-heroes— Virgin Comics presents literary icons Deepak Chopra (How to Know God and co-founder of Virgin Comics) and Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman) in a far-ranging discussion about Dark Knights, Devis, and the development of tomorrow’s mythologies in this special Comic-Con exclusive event. Hosted by supermodel/spokesperson Saira Mohan. Room 20

Okay. The fact that I didn’t know that Deepak Chopra was one of the founders of Virgin Comics just goes to show that yes, I do have an upper bound of things I can take in and do in a day. I know that some of you think I don’t sleep or something. Well, I kinda don’t, but that’s neither here nor there. I did know about Virigin Comics, though, so my nose isn’t entirely to the grindstone. But I digress.

I’m with Bon — I don’t even know where to begin with that one. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the notion of Grant and Deepak Chopra sitting in a room full of comics nerds (I say that with affection, I hope you all know) talking about superheros, despite many layers of discussion that could conceivably take place regarding superheros and mythologies. Perhaps I need to shift my paradigm.

I do wish we were going to San Diego. We’re due for a trip to the surreal comics carnival, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of superheros, we went to see the Superman movie and loved it. I think I loved it more than Leland did, but he thought it was pretty solid. And it was. Sure, there were a few plot holes and it required a little more suspension of disbelief than I ordinarily like to indulge in, but some of that writing was just so right-on-dead-perfect I didn’t even care. The scene where Lois and Lex come face-to-face for the first time again was the most charming, creative handling of such a moment that I’ve seen in a long time. And KINGDOM COME nods! And Marlon Brando! And Kevin Spacey is a dude.

And, speaking of “same planet, different worlds,” Rosario Dawson and the rest of the creative team of OCCULT CRIMES TASK FORCE will be at Rocketship on Friday night. The comics nerds of Brooklyn may never recover.