Bad Timing

So maybe I picked the wrong time for my big O Men publicity blitz lol!!! it's San Diego comic con!!!
http://www.newsarama.com/
(PS - re O Men 2.5 - i scanned in my last page last night to work on. Pretty much nearly all done now. Just one more contributor's page to come in, but it shouldn't be a problem!)

Lesbian Action

I've nearly finished Six Feet Under season two and just ordered numero 3 - so in the meantime I'm catching up with The L Word Season Two (lesbo-drama). This is kind of a great show - but sort of flawed. I mean, it can be very very silly at times. Pam Grier is utterly, utterly useless in it and adds nothing to the show. Mia Kirshner - so good as Mandy in 24 - is a stuttery mess in this (everyone's stuttery and neurotic on this show) - and her character, who could have been a really intergral, sympathetic part of the show is just plain irritating. Jennifer Beals is ace - but sometimes is just too much of a silly bitch to like. So let's hope S2 is good - cos I've seen s3 and that ain't...

Six Feet O Men

six feet under has been coming back into my life a bit recently, and that's no bad thing.
i've written about this in the editorial for O Men 2.5, but basically, the issue tells about a dozen or so deaths - and when i approached the issue, i had to think about how to not make it so, well, morbid. but of course, six feet under managed it.
it's funny, because i got my friend Sina to do a 2.5 page and told him that one of the panels should like like a six feet under scene - and he went out and watched an episode - and ended up watching the whole series lol!
and i've had a sick day at home today and i think i must have watched about 6 episodes of season two - working my way thru it.
it's such a wonderful show - quite funny, just crazy characters. mother ruth is just hilarious, and rachel griffiths is just superb - what the hell is she doing as this dowdy new character in brothers and sisters? i'm just seeing again the moments when she goes completely off the rails - dabbling in prostitution and i'm sure there's a threeway scene coming up lol.
Memories of the show - I think it went off the boil a bit in season two, season three was veeery atmospheric and very depressing, season four got a whole lot better and then season five was perfection itself - with an unbelievable final episode :-)
i think i need to get another episode in before bed :-)

O Men sitrep

Just thought I'd pop in and chat about where I am with O-stuff.
O Men 2.5 is going surprisingly well I think, touch wood. I have 6 of the 9 contributors' pages in and they've all done me proud. I have done about 7 of my internal pages, leaving another 7 or so to do - plus all the back-up material too - there's gonna be a special anthology section at the back, featuring bios of 2.5's gang and also bits on the abandoned Stories of O anthology.
The aim is to get this one out for Caption, which I think is just about doable.
Elsewhere, 2.4 is now available, but I seem to have forgotten to do anything with it, so I need to get cracking. Having problems with Book ONe of SEason Two at the printers - not sure what's going on, but hopefully that'll be sorted soon.
So I haven't had time to do anything on my side-project, but am confident that I can get on with that in August. Am also v excited about O Men 2.6 and 2.7...

Oooooh!

Just received the cover to the O Men Anthology issue (2.5). OOooooh!!! Here's a small teaser - I don't want to show the whole thing just yet...

New cartoon

What a thrill to have a new comic strip of mine published in a cool Tori Amos fanzine called Little Blue World! The LBW guys are so nice and they have given me a real big-up - putting 'new Tori Toon inside' on the cover!
Here's a sample from the strip. Very proud!
The mag's web address is www.little-blue-world.com, if you're interested

2.5

Three pages in so far from other artists for O Men 2.5 - and it is looking unbelievable. Plus, a few of the other guys seem almost there with their pages. I can't wait!!! Wish I could post panels but there are too many spoilers...
In the meantime, the jury's out on whether I'll actually be able to finish my part of the issue. We'll see. I'd love to be able to do it. Might take a couple of days off here and there.
I'm also trying a new style on this issue - kind of Steve Yeowell-y.

Wot a Week!!!

What a week!!!!!!!!
jeez!
My feet haven't touched the ground. Home to Brum last weekend, meeting old friend on MOnday, Tori on Tues and WEds (including missing my last train on Tues and getting home at 1), leaving do on Thurs and another one last night (where my friend Oz somehow mistranslated 'just a coke please, i don't want to drink, I want to go home' into a couple of double bacardi and cokes). I haven't been asleep before 1am once, I don't think - and work has been crazy - doing some interviews for a new Editor - and I wish I could talk about them here because it has been quite eventful, but I can't.
And my diet?!!! MacDonalds at the weekend (I accidentally asked for a Whopper Meal first - in MacDonalds!), greasy burger on Tues, KFC on Wednesday, burger on Thurs, chicken and chip on Fri. Wow. This is what happens when you're out and about. Anyone got the number for Weight WAtchers? And I've only just finished cleaning my flat - as it just became a total bomb site.
So wow - never been so busy - but things should calm down from now on and I should actually hopefully be able to do some bloomin' O Men!!!!!!

Tori #2

Second Tori night last night - and still brilliant. Did some of my utter favourite songs - Liquid Diamonds, Tombigbee, Doughnut Song - and did better versions of Precious Things and God than she’d done the previous night. I have to say I preferred the first night though - there was something intense, disturbing, on-edge - almost frightening about the whole thing. Maybe it was just because this tour is all new to me - but I do think last night’s songs were just kinda less energetic - especially Devils and Gods and Glory of the 80s - where she kind of just moved less. More straight-forward. You can’t really compare anything to the electifying moment on Tuesday where she forgot her lines and then just stood up and launched into a fuck-stormingly frantic version of Bliss. Plus Isabel last night - as cool as she was - just couldn’t match up to the shocking sexiness of Santa in that veeery short dress the night before. And I wanted Isabel to do Dark Side of the Sun. Also, less improvs last night and no fuck-ups, which really added to the Tuesday concert. It was great to see Beauty of Speed though - and the little grin on Tori’s face as the beautiful colour show took place behind her during that song. It was kind of a ‘hey, it all came together and it’s so pretty’ look - and it was.
Still dying to see Tori do Garlands, Roosterspur Bridge and Etienne live - will I ever see this!!!
Anyway, more details here: http://undented.com/tour/266/london2

Tori and O Men

So Tori was AMAZING last night - one of the best concerts I've ever seen her do. Very rocky and very very innovative. She really turned her songs inside-out - it was beautiful. Highlights were Siren, Spring Haze, Putting the Damage On and, well, just the whole thing. And I've never seen so many people headbanging at a Tori concert lol.
It really boosted my creativity too - all night I was thinking of O men stuff - things to do. I am in two minds whether to aim for August with O Men 2.5 as, basically, I am a bit frazzled at the moment, but seeing Tori last night really invigorated me and I am gonna give it a go. A slow go, lol.
And also I went to see Tori with a very old school friend called James - who I haven't seen for 16 years. It freaked me out that he was so thin and his voice was so deep and he'd changed so much, but it was so cool to see him.
Anyway, clips and photos here of concert: http://undented.com/tour/269/london

Guess who's...

...seeing Tori again tonight!
(Martin explodes again)

The Shame

i have joined Facebook...

The King

I was gonna write this on my chum Andrew's blog comments section, but it ended up spiralling out of control and i didn't want to use too much room. So off the top of my head, here is my mini personal guide to the best and worst of Stephen King...

Absolutely Essential:
Salem's Lot
Misery
The Stand - of course
Bachman Books - evil, amazing

Really, really, really good:
Carrie
Dead Zone
Insomnia (but this one ties in a lot with the Dark Tower)
Four Past Midnight - veeery clever.
Skeleton Crew/Night Shift - wicked short stories

A good ol' read - good for the beach:
Cujo
Everything's Eventual - stunning short stories
Green Mile
Pet Sematary

My absolute personal faves but maybe not for everyone:
Desperation/Regulators - kind of alternate reality novels but not, using the same characters, but not.
Gerald's Game - this one just grabbed me, and the last half terrified me.
Needful Things - crazy
Tommyknockers - this one almost made the top section - but not quite

Disappointing!!
Dark Tower

Really quite bad:
Black House/Talisman - i have tried around 6 times to read these, but have failed every single time.
Christine - zzz
From a Buick 8
Girl who Loved Tom Gordon - snoooze
Lisey's Story - coma-inducing

Porn star

According to the imdb, I have appeared in a 'handful' of hardcore gay sex movies:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1542394/
I don't remember this at all. Maybe I am in denial or maybe it was during my 'lost years'...

The King

I am a total geek in some ways, and I'm sure everyone's got a bit of geekiness inside of them. One of my biggest geek-sadnesses is for Stephen King book covers. I am fascinated by the different types available all over the world. I love buying the US versions so i can be 'different' on the train in the morning (altho the US Cell cover was gross) and life cannot be more exciting now that they are re-releasing them all with swanky new covers!!! plus there are some that i actually don't own! mmmmmm

Guess who's...

...seeing Tori amos in concert tonight...
(And tomorrow night)
(martin explodes)

Silly problems

So while I am waiting for my Virgin Media debacle to be un-debacled, Sky isn't doing too well. My Broadband box has already stopped working, so they're gonna send me a new one. And my Sky TV isn't the best - i keep losing the picture, mainly when it rains - so I dunno if it's an 'atmospheric' thing or the fact that they put my Sky dish under a hedge or what...
These things are sent to try us I guess. Gah!