A Guilty Pleasure Post - My Love of Coffee Mugs

     I drink a lot of coffee, well there is probably people who drink more coffee than I do and a lot of people who drink less coffee than I do. It's varies from day to day. So what I should say is I drink a lot of things that require mugs i.e. tea, coffee, hot cocoa. Actually I think that's it. The point is I love coffee mugs. I own about nine mugs and here they are.

     If you know anything about what the reaction was to The Lord of the Rings when it came out, you'd know this was a popular phrase often tagged on walls and written on signs in the 1970s. So of course being a huge Tolkien enthusiast I had to get it.

     These are just regular ol' coffee mugs. Nothing special written on them but don't they look nice? They've got kind of a Green Lantern theme to them.

     House Targaryen of A Song of Ice & Fire and Game of Thrones fame, with their sigil and their motto on the side. They would probably drink some kind of wine out of this.

     Shaped like the famous TARDIS of Doctor Who fame with a nice lid to make up the top of the Doctor's time traveling police box. I have to say, it holds a lot but a square shape to drink out of can be kind of awkward. I use this more for tea than coffee.

     A Portal theme cup using Aperture Science's 70's logo. This is the smallest of all my mugs, being diner sized which they use for multiple refills. For some reason this lends to the taste of it. I can't explain it but coffee tastes the best in this mug.

     Coffee of Doom, the fictional coffee shop from Jeph Jacques' Questionable Content. I mostly bought this one because it looked cool but it feel much sturdier than all my other mugs for some unknown explanation. Maybe that red part inside of it as actual ceramic blood to keep the mug everlasting or it could just be made of thicker stuff considering it's from a more small indie kind of business rather than the large manufacturers of the other ones.

     Now here is a mug I don't own, but will.

     Why am I posting about mugs? Is there some kind of point? Well, I'm graduating soon and with graduating hopefully moving towards getting a writing job, getting a manuscript finished to sent out and submitting my writing to as many literary magazines, online news sites and well basically anywhere. There's something very "adult" about what's going on and it made me think of a discussion my friends and I have had on multiple occasions.

     I can't quite remember the context but I remember in what I believe to be 2011, my friend Dan told me that what made him feel like an adult was going to bed early because of responsibilities. I didn't agree because my parents have for the longest time stayed up very late due to my father's evenings work schedule. His parents, which I believe he told me so, probably went to bed very early to get up for work the next day. 

     Now, come early 2012 my friend Chris and I are doing our weekly writing sessions at Starbucks when the discussions of socks come up. This actually might of been late 2011/early 2012 as this revolves around Christmas gifts. He was telling me he loved getting socks as a present because otherwise he'd have to buy his own. In response I said that I always preferred Christmas presents to be things I wanted but wouldn't buy for myself and not things I need. This led to Chris's definition of what it means to be an adult which is having to buy your own socks.

     Eventually, when I started realizing I was collecting a set of coffee mugs for myself I came up with my own little signs that you're an adult. My friend Keri having just received a coffee mug from her job uploaded a picture of on twitter and I said "Being an adult is owning multiple coffee mugs." I remembered the discussion about socks and going to bed early then added it to the list. It could be a on BuzzFeed if the list was a bit longer.

Signs you are an adult

1. Going to bed early.
2. Buying your own socks
3. Owning multiple coffee mugs.

     One day another friend will add to this list of quirky signs you're an adult and then we'll have a real list on our hands. Obviously there's more to being an adult than these things but it makes me laugh that my friends and I have these quirks that makes us feel like "adults."

Some Resources and Sites for My Writing Friends

   

     
     Writing has completely encompassed my life lately. Writing my thesis, writing essay, writing my novel, writing my NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month for those not in the know.

     So I thought I'd share the colleciton of links I have gathered about writing. Some of these are just fun little articles, some are actual resources. I'm pretty much emptying out my Writing bookmark folder here, so enjoy.

Poets&Writers - Literary Magazines - This is a huge database of literary magazines you can submit to. Both paid and unpaid sources. I suggest submitting as much as possible, as that's what I will be doing.

Writing Help - Tumblr - This is just some random writer on tumblr offering a bit of help with a collection of resources written on the subject of writing.

The Pompous Ass Words Site - A site dedicated to the most pompous ass words you should avoid in your writing. I love words of all shades but I'd say avoid these words in your writing like the plague. I'm look at you diaspora.

10 Resources to Help You Write a Great Short Story - Pretty straight forward, a list of resources to help you write a short story. Honestly the whole Write It Sideways site is probably chock full of resources you can use but this is the one in particular I had bookmarked.

'Why I Write Strong Female Characters" by Greg Rucka - Those of you might know Greg Rucka, both a novelist and a popular writer of comic books. He's created some great female characters in both and this is worth a read on why you should too.

The Dark Side Of The Publishing Industry: How To Avoid Scams - There are people out there looking to take advantage of good writers who might not quite know the ins and outs of publishing. This article is a great warning to avoid people trying to scam you out of your hardwork.

Preditors & Editors - This site lists the good and bad side of the industry. Those are who are trying to scam writers are obviously "preditors." Please donate to defend this site if you can.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Pretty simple, it's just as it says it is. I use this a lot because I think the origin of words is a good resource to using words.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America - Even if you don't write science fiction or fantasy this is a great resource for articles about writing and about people trying to fleece writers.

Association of Authors' Representatives - If you do get an offer from an agent, it might be a good idea to check if you can find them here.

Nerdist Podcast - George RR Martin - This is an interview with George RR Martin on the Nerdist Podcast. He's the author of A Song of Ice and Fire series and gives some solid advice on writing.

Nerdist Podcast - Neil Gaiman - Halfway through this podcast Neil Gaiman gives what I find to be some of the best advice on writing. It's so great someone made a youtube video of the advice, but I suggest listening to the whole thing.

Nerdist Writers Panel - I highly recommend anyone who uses iTunes to subscribe to this podcast but you can listen to it here as well. If you want to break into screenplay writing I highly recommend this podcast. Ben Blacker interviews people who are working in the industry right now on some of your favorite shows. Breaking Bad, Adventure Time, The Colbert Report, Once Upon a Time, Veronica Mars, and others. They'll tell you how they broke into the industry and how they continued to write in the industry.

Neil Gaiman's Commencement Speech - This is just an overall inspiring speech done by Neil Gaiman on how to make art, and why make art.

I love Stand-up Comedy

     Besides writing, reading and storytelling in general one of my passions is stand-up comedy. I don't do it but I listen to it, watch it, read about it and listen to podcasts that talk about it. So I know a lot of stand-up comedians to recommend.

     The only thing is I think of myself as a kind of "laughaholic." I remember in 9th Grade a friend Ken accused another friend Don and I of laughing at everything, that we would probably laugh at the word "shoe." When I repeated this story to my friend Don during lunch period he paused briefly before saying "shoe" in which we laughed hysterically, I mean to the point where we couldn't breathe. So with my recommendations you should look into these comedians first. Don't just go and buy a ticket to their shows and then report back to me that you didn't find them funny. 

     It's easiest to just name my favorites first as they come to the forefront of my brain first. Some of them are well known and others may not be.

     Paul F. Tompkins is my absolute favorite for at least two years now, followed by Pete Holmes. Bits of theres to check out include for Paul "Cake vs. Pie", "Elegant Balloons", "Potato Famine" and "Peanut Brittle." For Pete I'd recommend "Fun Dad", "Magic Sound", "Pierce" and "Good Time McDonald"s." These two I don't think a lot of people have heard of but definitely some people.

     Other favorites include some obvious ones like Louis CK, Mike Birbiglia, Mitch Hedberg, Brian Regan and Bill Burr. I'm actually running out of time before class starts so I am going to have to list them off and maybe edit this later.

     In no particular order... Nick Swardson, Nick Kroll, Dave Attell, Eddie Pepitone, DC Pierson, Kyle Kinane, John Mulaney, Kurt Metzger, Hannibal Buress, Amy Schumer, Greg Proops, John Oliver, Kurt Braunohler, Matt Braunger, Chris Thayer, Jimmy Pardo, The Sklar Brothers, Jonah Ray, Kumail Nanjiani, Eugene Mirman, T.J. Miller, Chris Hardwick, Bo Burnham, Rob Delaney, Marc Maron, Joe Mande, Anthony Jeselnik, Dana Gould, Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, Myq Kaplan, Aziz Ansari and Daniel Tosh.

Disclaimer: I am recommending their stand-up comedy only. Whether you like their televisions shows or movies is completely different. I have to run to class now.

A Story about Three Other Stories

     Sitting outside in my parent's backyard, I've just finished reading for the second time The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss when I realize it was the first book of a trilogy of books I had completely about twenty days ago with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

     Along with Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, these three books were all bought at the Smith Haven Mall's Barnes & Noble. Since about 2007 my friend Keri and I have had a tradition where I pick her up from her house, we go to Barnes & Noble hunting down books to purchase, and then grab a bite to eat. All along the way, except for the moments when we're hunting down books, we catch up on what's going on in our lives.

     I can't say we're close friends but I also can't say we're not. We both have our own group of friends, jobs, and schools that keep our lives busy. I've been mulling it over as I drafted this blog entry on a legal pad, and I would compare our friendship to getting to hang out with that cousin at the big family barbeque, that cousin you have the most in common with but don't get to see that often. You're relieved to finally be able to talk to someone on a similar wavelength as you. Plus, with the amount of books she reads and the amount of years she's been writing I have always a new book she can recommend to me. Which is exactly what she did in this story.

     The stories goes, in I believe the summer of 2008 when we went on one of trips to Barnes & Noble I was looking for something new in the genre of Fantasy. This was after I had absorbed The Lord of the Rings into my being, was heavily read in Science Fiction, was too smug with my Literature Major classes to read Harry Potter (I have since read 1-6 and highly enjoyed them) and had yet the foreknowledge to try George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

     So simply, I asked her "I'm looking for some fantasy books, more modern authors, something new." We were standing in the fantasy section, and without much thought she pointed out the three books I mentioned earlier, relatively near each other. "Patrick Rothfuss has been getting a lot of buzz, same with that book The Lies of Locke Lamora. Elantris is a good start for Brandon Sanderson."

     With that, I bought all three of those books that day but I had a bad habit of buying more books than I could read. A habit that has only started slowly waning this year. Those three books sat o the shelves as I pushed them aside for other books I had bought before them.

     It wasn't until 2011 that I finally said fuck it and picked up my copy of The Name of the Wind. I can't count on my hands the amount of books that have engrossed me into their world that quickly. The Lord of the Rings is my absolute favorite books but even I struggled with the Tom Bombadil chapters the first time through. This book I couldn't put down and finished it in a couple days.

     It just so happened at the time that a guy named Nick Fletcher at my job happened to be a big fan of the book. I don't know if I'm recalling it correctly but I remember asking him if he had read it and he immediately told me it was one of his favorite books, and that the second book had just come out. After the lengthy conversation we had about the first book, which I do think made us better friends, I took out my phone, opened the Amazon app and order The Wise Man's Fear as fast as I could.

     I didn't read it as soon as it came though. I have this strange habit when reading. Like when you let wine breathe for a bit I need to give a novel, especially one part of a series, time to breathe. I have enormous difficulty reading a book series back to back. I like coming back to it later, when I've read some other books in between. When I do come back to the series it's like a flood of memories comes rushing back like meeting up with an old friend, catching up while you go to Barnes & Noble.

     So in Summer of 2012 after I finished The Wise Man's Fear I picked up another one of those three books I had bought, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. Again, another good book, not a favorite like The Name of the Wind was at that point but I still loved it. I'd later be disappointed by Sanderson's second Mistborn novel, The Well of Ascension, after highly enjoying Mistborn: The Final Empire. I think partially the reason I didn't enjoy it was because I forced myself to read the second one right after finishing the first one in a reading competition with my friend, the big The Name of the Wind fan.

     I wouldn't complete this trilogy of books until July 9th of this year when I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch which almost engrossed me as much as Rothfuss's The Kingkiller Chronicle.

     Lesson learn. Trust the Keri. Read the books she recommends to you right away as some of them might become one of your favorite books. 

My Go-To Book Recomendations

     I haven't posted in awhile, mostly because I was thinking of this exact post. It started off with me writing a legal pad books I would recommend to people, or have recommended, until it was so long I had to break it down into genre. Then breaking it down into genre I gave a detailed paragraph of why I recommended it. 
     All in all, what started off as a fun blog post became more work, and not the fun kind of work writing a novel might be. So here is, straight off the top of the dome as no kids are saying ever, my go-to book recommendations that first come to mind in order of which I say most often. 
     To readers, these may seem obvious but most of the people who ask me for recommendations are non-reader and/or looking to become readers. I tried to limit to one book per author.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Embassytown by China Mieville
Dune by Frank Herbert
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

     Since I used to be a huge comic book nerd, I have a choice select comic books/ graphic novels that I recommend as well in same order of how often I recommend them.

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War by Geoff Johns
Planetary by Warren Ellis
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis
Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns
Kingdom Come by Grant Morrison
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Killing Joke by Alan Moore
The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker
Planet Hulk by Greg Pak
100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello

The Problem with Storytelling in Ongoing Comic Books

     This thought has been lumbering around in my head since the announcement of the "Before Watchmen" limited series by DC Comics and was reminded of it again at the end of Geoff Johns's run on Green Lantern with issue #20.

     There's a problem with ongoing superhero comics from a storytelling perspective, they never really end. It's different with novels and limited series, those have a beginning and an end, then the story is over. Not with ongoing comics, and I find this problematic. The problem is great stories from great writer's usually sell really well and thus the companies that publish them, usually owning all rights to the characters, want to make more. I am not dismissing the quality of Before Watchmen but The Watchmen didn't need anymore than what it already was. It has a beginning and an end and everything in between is really fantastic.

     Spoiler alert for issue #20 of Green Lantern. At the end of that Geoff John's caps off with a glimpse into the future of all the Earthborn Green Lantern but the problem is there is still going to be an issue #21 and that writer is going to want to put his own spin on the mythos, changing what has been established and essentially either relegate that story to meaninglessness or tarnish it with half concocted plots. I am not insult Robert Venditti who is taking over Green Lantern but making an implication of all future writers of an ongoing series that takeover for another writer.

     Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis is another series that ran for a good 60 issues but it had a proper ending that Warren Ellis wanted to tell and then it ended. The same goes for Neil Gaiman's run on The Sandman for 75 issues. I'm sure with his new Sandman series he has written he has a set limit of issues he needs to tell his story because he knows stories need an end.

     The problem is with writers on runs of company icons like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spider-Man and etc. that no matter how good of a run you have on that series, someone else is eventually going to take over and undo basically everything you've done.

     Great characters can be ruining in comic books with oversaturation when they gain popularity. Wolverine had some of best comics in the past but now is in every Marvel book from the Avengers, to the X-Men to his own solo series. For the longest time Green Lantern had only one ongoing, then two, then three, now there are five ongoing comics related to the Green Lantern universe. All because a good writer wrote a good story and that sold a good amount of comics.

     It's never enough with superhero comics to say that's the end and be done with it. It's part of the reason death in comic books has become so meaningless. Killing off a character sells comics, bringing them back from the dead sells comics and new characters are hardly given the chance because we won't let the old character's stories be over with. Sometimes it's okay to say "The end" and move on and as along as comic books keep ongoing the stories of the past will become less and less meaningful.

What We Are Given, What Is Left Behind.

     This has been on my mind for about three or so weeks, about what people give to us. Not physical objects like gifts or presents on our birthday but the taste in things we like.

     I think of it whenever one of these things stir my memory. Like when I am searching the music on my iTunes library I'm reminded of who these bands came from, which person from my past or present told me "Hey, you should listen to this. I think you would like it." There are even some bands that I didn't like when I was knew the person, but who I like now or they double up where one person got me to casually listen to a band but another person got me really into it. 

     For awhile I just thought of this in terms of music but the same can be said for television, movies, and books. One of my favorite movies Hot Fuzz I saw the premiere with someone I dated who I haven't heard from in years and it just so happens that it's one of my closest friend's favorite movie as well. Game of Thrones will forever be linked to this group of friends I have now even though the future of that group watching it together may not be certain.

     With books this concept bears much more weight, being an avid reader. There are books and authors forever linked to people who I've either had long discussions about, read with at the same time, or either recommended or had recommended to me. One friend is linked just to the process of buying the books. I would pick her up from her house, drive to the nearest Barnes & Noble, buy a ridiculous amount of books, then go grab something for dinner. That experience will be linked to certain books every time I look at them.

     There are people in my past who I no longer speak to or think fondly of but will be reminded of them in a positive way by the impressions they had on my taste. I guess this is why I sometimes see on a musician's or author's webpage comment section you'll see comments like "Your creative-thing-you-made got me through a hard time in my life" even when that said creative-thing-they-made is not linked to whatever problem they had whatsoever. It's just a thought.