On comics and other pop culture topics, including archived Comic Book Commentary posts from 2005-2007.

Thrillerfest 2008

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez and Kathleen AntrimThrillerfest kicked off yesterday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here in New York and I had the pleasure of attending the full day — I’ll be back tonight and most of Saturday — meeting some great people, picking up some interesting books, and taking in some insightful information on the publishing game from the perspective of successful authors in the thriller genre. Prior to attending, I considered myself a fan of thrillers but quickly realized the genre I tend to enjoy most is classified more as mystery than thriller — marketing semantics that, according to several authors, means more money for the thriller genre — the difference being the former’s focus on figuring out what happened while the latter emphasizes something that’s going to happen and the clock is ticking.

Lawrence Block’s Scudder series, my hands-down genre favorite, definitely falls under crime mystery, while Charlie Huston’s Thompson and Greg Rucka’s Kodiak series are thrillers, though neither author is in attendance at the show nor represented in the Barnes & Noble bookstore on-site, presumably because neither is a member of the sponsoring organization, International Thriller Writers. Inspired by the energy of the conference, I picked up four novels by authors I’ve never read before, including Kathleen Antrim (pictured, right), Steve Berry, Andrew Gross and David Liss, all but the latter I saw or met yesterday. I’ve started reading Antrim’s Capital Offense, which she describes as “What if the First Lady was plotting to kill the President?” and so far, it’s a brisk read that hits all the right notes expected from the genre.

The first session of the day, Learn How to Pitch Your Book (conducted by Antrim & Bob Mayer), was particularly fascinating for its breakdown of the process of developing a 25-word summary of your book that serves not just as your pitch to agents and editors — the only two influential people who will have actually read your entire book before it hits the bookshelves — but when done well, will represent it all the way through the sales process, internally and externally.

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Goodbye Potter’s Field

Home ownership is a key theme in one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, and as I called our current landlord this morning to officially let them know we won’t be renewing our lease, I couldn’t help but recall the scene where Mr. Martini is moving his family into their new home courtesy of a loan from the old Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Association:

“No more we live like pigs in this Potter’s Field!”

While our apartment is far from a slum, we’ve definitely outgrown it, both physically and psychologically, and more than any other step we’ve taken in the home buying process so far, making that phone call felt like the most concrete affirmation yet that we’re really doing it. There was also a bit of the bittersweet there with the realization that, after a combined 17 years, I will likely never live in the Bronx again.

Of course, It’s A Wonderful Life has an answer for that, too:

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I’m Not Dead

…but I certainly feel like I’ve been buried alive lately!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdnljEV7MP4]

Speaking, tangentially, of being careful what you wish for*, I’d totally understand if Obama was really close to just saying “screw y’all” and handing the nomination to Clinton. Hunter S. Thompson’s sentiment — paraprashing someone else, I believe — “In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government they deserve, and they deserve what they get.” has never felt truer than the past month or so. Thanks to the new job, I’ve successfully taken a break from the Democratic primary and avoided last night’s debate, but Andrew Sullivan’s on-the-fly take and IllDoctrine’s parody (above) confirmed that it was even worse than I expected it to be. Say what you want about Clinton’s “right” to continue her campaign, when your only hope is to carpet bomb your opponent and hope he doesn’t survive the assault, I’d say that’s akin to one’s First Amendment rights stopping at yelling “Fire!” in a movie theater.

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Bill Maher does journalists’ job for them

One of the more frustrating things about mainstream media coverage of this year’s Presidential primaries has been their short attention span and preference for the low-calorie sensational stories over the meatier issues of the day. ie: Samantha Power calling Hillary Clinton a “monster” (a comment which, taken in context, is hard to argue to with) is somehow more newsworthy than actually vetting Clinton’s numerous exaggerated claims of experience (kudos to the Chicago Tribune for finally exposing that batch of lies).

It’s no wonder the Daily Show is considered a better source of news than the actual networks dedicated to covering news 24/7.

On that note, this back-and-forth between Bill Maher (who I’m no big fan of) and Terry McAuliffe is both refreshing and noteworthy, if much too short:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWumj6qpmI]

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Monday Mash-up, 2/4/08

1) While a couple of good things happened in January (most notably an unexpected promotion at work to Online Ad Sales Director for all of our properties!), overall it was as bad a start to 2008 as I could have imagined. Nothing major, but a lot of bumps in the road that tested my constitution and nearly shook my resolve. I’m very glad that it’s February.

New Fossil Bag2) I’m not a big shopper but I’m a complete sucker for a handful of things, including bags and electronic gadgets. While picking up a new wallet from Macy’s on Saturday (one of those slim, front pocket types that I’m still getting used to, frantically patting my back pocket every couple of hours) I saw this great Fossil messenger bag that kept screaming my name, no matter how many times I said it was too expensive. I make fun of Salomé all the time about the many, many, many bags she owns (rivaled only, perhaps, by her shoes) but I can appreciate a good bag and this is a nice step up from the cheaper, smaller bag I’ve had for the past year or so. It fits all of my gadgets comfortably plus has plenty of room for all of the books and papers I’m invariably carrying around, whether I need them or not. We also came close to buying an HD TV as Best Buy had a great deal on a 32″ Westinghouse but I still couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger. Soon, though. Probably when we get the Wii.

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Theme Song

Every superhero needs a theme song, and now Obama has one... [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHA_ZTvOgUM&NR=1] Yes We Can! (Via DipDive.com, with a hat tip to Andrew Sullivan. NOTE: YouTube link updated. Original link was taken down for some reason.) * Yes, that's Kate "Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd" Walsh in there! :-)

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MoveOn Endorses Obama

I honestly didn't think either of them would make the 66% threshold but Obama nailed it: In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nation-wide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%. This is a pretty significant endorsement with Super Tuesday looming as it represents actual elbow grease as opposed to ephemeral influence. As OpenLeft's Matt…

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