love is a dog from hell

so i went to the book store yesterday. which can be really dangerous for me for i just love buying new books! trust me when i tell you i'm always reading. to the point that my side bar on this blog about what book i'm reading just can't keep up. by the time i think about changing it, i'm two books past the one that is on the blog.

so yeah, book store, so i went for i had a 40% off coupon that i wanted to use. i looked around and then went to the poetry section. it had all your normal poets, walt witman, william carolos williams and john milton. but then i saw charles bukowski. who i have heard of before and have read one of his books. but all i could remember of him is the title of the book i read and that i liked his poetry. so i found the book i had read before and bought it. i bought love is a dog from hell. i started reading it and fell in love with his work all over again. he is a great writer! he writes about the ever day things; drinking, sex, relationships, hookers. and they way he writes is just great. so i strongly suggest you go and read his stuff.

here's a poem he wrote.

just good poetry

so i was reading my poets companion book by kim addonizio and dorianne laux when i came to the chapter about 20 minute poetry. it has different exercises that your supposed to do in twenty minutes. well one of the exercises is to write poetry on poetry. and they gave an example that a student had written for one of them that i thought was just amazing, so i thought i would share it with all of you. it is the perfect example of what writers go through.

Bare Branches
By: Lorine Niedecker
"What would they say if they knew
I sit for two months on six lines
of poetry?"

poets & writers: children reading

so one of my favorite magazines to read is poets & writers. it has great tips about writing, and college's with mfa's, and anything really to do with the industry of writing. they list contests that are coming out, and they list the past winners of those contests. which i like for it gives those writers some exposer to a larger audience. well on 4/26 they posted their daily news on their website and they had an article about children reading. so i clicked on it and it was an article about how parents might be part of the problem children don't read as much. not just video games and other media things, which get blamed all the time, and i think a part of the reason, but not all of the reason (were there enough comma's for you?). the article stated that parents must let their children choose what they read and not force reading on the child. it goes on to give 5 tips that will help parents to help children read more. and i have to say that after reading the article i would agree with the statements made in the article.

reading was never forced on me as a kid, well besides stuff from school. and i read all the time as a kid and that still continues today. the only restrictions that were ever inforced on me as a kid reading, were the prices of the books. i could never get one book that was $30. but i could get a couple books that added up to $30. other than that, i never had any reading restrictions. and i think that is a big reason why i have no fear reading anything today. i read everything and anything. and from reading everything, i know the different types of books i like and the ones i don't like.

so all in all, i think that this is a good article for parents to read and i'm glad poets & writers posted the article.

walking dead

so i finished the walking dead comic collection that i had bought. it collected the first 48 comics of the series. it is currently on #71 (or right around there, i'm too lazy to look it up right now). i really like the comic. i had bought it at c2e2 for only $30. which is the cheapest i've ever seen it. on amazon you could get it for $45 which is a cut from the normal retail of about $70. so yeah, i got a crazy good deal.

i really like the comic for it's just in black and white. so to me it forcuses more on the story then the art. which as a struggeling writer, i like to see. don't get me wrong, i love good art. i wouldn't be getting comics if i didn't like art. but, i like when the story drives the comic instead of the art. and this comic has a good story. it's about the zombie apocalypse; it follows a group of people that have servived it and are now trying to live in a world filled with zombies. to me the charactors are well written and actually evolve. i like that the story isn't just about killing zombies; which you tend to find in comics and movies that are about zombies.

i recommend this book to any comic book readers out there. well to any readers out there. it's really good. i enjoyed it and now i am impatient to get the next collection. and just incase your wondering, i don't only read zombie books. honestly world war z and the walking dead are the only ones i have ever read. but the two i have read have been really good ones.

word of the week

kulturkampf - conflict between civil government and religious authorities espically over control of education and church appointments. particularly: the struggle (1871-1883) between the Roman Catholic Church and the German government under Bismarck for control over school and ecclesiastical appointments and civil marriage.

i don't have a sentence for this word, it is way to early in the morning, but i just like the word so much i wanted to share it with everyone.

c2e2 - for reals this time.

so c2e2 was amazing! i had a blast. it was a new convention this year for the chicagoland and so jeremy and i decided to go to it instead of wizard world. i'm really glad we decided to go to this one. i liked it much better! there were bigger named people there and it was in a bigger place and less crammed. i'm all for shoving as much as you can into one place, but i also hate having the feeling that there are people all around me and i can't escape.

so i got to meet some artists and some authors. i geeked out hardcore with all of them.

this is jeph jacques that creates questionable content. here he is doing a drawing for jeremy. he was the only one charging for a drawing but i didn't think it was that big of a deal. it was only $5 and he did the drawing on special paper that said chicago 2010. i mean he can't use the paper again except for wizard world, and that's only if he goes.

this is joe quesada, the editor-in-chief of marvel. i was really surprised there was like no line to get his signature. but i'm not complaining, it was really cool to get it. he was an artist before he became editor so he does have some skills. here he is signing a comic that jeremy bought for janell. jeremy had bought it without janell or i even knowing and then he pulled it out and surprised her with it. janell totally geeked out and was like well joe will be signing this then. hehe. it was really cool. and of course he's signing a captain america cover!

this is sam humphries, he's the writer for the fraggle rock comic. honestly i have never read the fraggle rock comic, but i'm a fan of the old show. and my friend lindsay is totally in love with the old show, so i thought she might like to have a signed poster from this guy. so i got it for her. it was still cool to meet the guy. he was really nice. and his shameless plug for his products was a for a free comic on free comic book day. so that was cool. i liked it also because c2e2 didn't just have the artists at the convention they also had the writers of the comics, for alot of the times that is two different people.

so one thing that happened that was a little wierd was that at one point we found peter david who is the writer for the dark tower comics. (ps, sorry this is center aligned, for some silly reason it won't let me change it back to left aligned) so i went to peter david and he had a stack of scripts for one of the comics, and then he had a stack of the comic for that script. well i just wanted to comic for the scripts were $15 and there was nothing cool about them. it was just a word document. i mean its cool cause it's a real script and all, but if your going to charge $15 make the script unique somehow. so i asked peter david if i could just buy the comic and have him sign that. i was willing to pay for something just not the a silly script that i could go type out at home. he said he only gave the comic when someone bought the script. and i just anwered oh, well never mind then. and he just looked at me and then said, ok here. and i was going to pay and he told me to keep my money and he just signed the comic and gave it to me. so i thought that was really nice of him. he could have been a totally dick about it and given me nothing and demanded the $15, but he didn't. he let me get it for free and i still got it signed. so i was really happy. i now have jae lee's signature and peter davids signature for the dark tower comics. i only need two more and i have then all. well three more if you count stephen king.

so all in all it was a good convention. i had tons of fun and i'm already counting the days until next year.

quoteables

it's time for another installment of quotes. hope they inspire.

-"beauty was deceptive. i would rather wear my pain, my ugliness. i was torn & stitched. i was a strip mine, & they would just have to look. i hoped i made them sick. i hoped they saw me in their dreams." - white oleander by janet fitch

-"here's hoping we'll meet now and then. it was great fun but it was just one of those things." - jamie cullum

-"you just wanted to prove there was one safe place; just one safe place where you could love him. you have not found that place yet. you have not made that place yet." - richard siken

-"when i was five years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. when i went to school, they asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up. i wrote down 'happy'. they told me i didn't understand the assignment and i told them they didn't understand life." - ?

-"and everything depends on how near you stand to me." - morrissey

-"some people never go crazy. what truly horrible lives they must lead." - charles bukowski

-"your disguise is slipping, i think your slipping." - dr. horrible's sing along blog

-"how long is too long when your waiting by the phone?" - the get up kids

-"why are you so terrified of living your own life?" - the higher

c2e2 quick post

quickly i just wanted to say that i went to c2e2 this past weekend with janell and jeremy and it was amazing! i will share all my geeky awesomeness later. i just wanted to say i had tons of fun. here's a picture to hold you over until i post more.

there was an auction at the convention of props that were from the first iron man movie. here's just one of the props.

poetry/art swap

so the other day a friend of mine at work asked to see some of my poetry and i baulked at him and told him i would show him if he brought in some of his art work (he went to the art institute in chicago for college). so yesterday he finally had his art and i had my poetry and we swapped. well we didn't keep each others work but we got to see it. he showed me a photo and an abstract painting. i really liked the abstract painting. it was really cool. it was in black and white and reminded me of water rippeling. i showed him this poem and another poem i had written. he said he liked them and hopefully he was telling the truth.

what gets me is that i was really embarressed to show him my poetry. i don't know why for i send my poetry out to get published all the time, why would i be embarressed to show a friend? well i think i know the answer. i think i was embarressed for i know him and see him everyday. where i don't know the poetry editors for the magazines. i don't ever have to face those people every day. and if i do face them, its because i'm getting published. and then i'm very ok with facing them. so thats why i baulked when he asked to see my work at first. and thats why i made a deal with him to show me his art. at least then i'm not the only one risking something i've made. so yeah, i just couldn't believe how embarressed i got over it. but in the end i still did it and i got to see him awesome art out of it.

graham crackers

well some things have happened and i don't work at graham crackers any more. so i won't be writing any comic reviews for the website any more. i know i'll still be writing about comics on this blog, but it just didn't work out for me and graham. oh well, nothing i can do about it. so on ward i go. my love for comics is still there and i will definatly be still reading them. i could never stop reading comics!

awesome lyrics!

so i was doing my daily reading of my blogs and geek girl diva posted about this geeky song and so i had to go and read the lyrics. i'll admit i didn't listen to the song but the lyrics are amazing! it's so geeky and awesome i just had to share with everyone about it. it's written by adam fromm and here are the lyrics:

88 Lines About 44 Fangirls

Dana thought she lived on Dune
She called her crystal meth "melange"
Fran was stuck in Middle Earth
Built hobbit holes in her garage

Wanda craved a Highlander
For her, there could be only one
Jane the Trekkie beamed me up
And kept her cleavage set to stun

---

Anna only loved the Doctor
Four and Nine and Five and Ten
Elizabeth was user-friendly
Plaything of the Midwest fen

Mary-Catherine wrapped me up
Like Katamari Damacy
Marcy needed better stats
Charisma: 20, Wisdom: 3

---

Colleen was from a comic book
Her spandex bursting at the seams
Belinda dressed up all in brass
Fulfilled my Princess Leia dreams

Connie turned me on to Sandman
Death had never looked so fine
Gretchen was a vampire slay'r
Showed me her stake, I showed her mine

---

Jessie hitchhiked down from space
I told her, "Thanks for all the fish"
Hannah cosplayed Princess Bride
All I could say was, "As you wish"

Cheryl donned a schoolgirl skirt
And begged me for my tentacle
Kim was like Excalibur
Forever swinging, never dull

---

Ellen told me she was Batgirl
Turned out she was only bats
Tanya was a wonder woman
Lassoed me in nothing flat

Lana let me in her Stargate
Sent me 'cross the galaxy
Victoria was an X-Files freak
The truth was out there; so was she

---

Elaine watched too much Battlestar
She had a thing for one-eyed men
Peggy slipped her fishnets on
We did the Time Warp once again

Cindy had the cell phone number
THX-1138
Gwen looked like Hermione
She always made me levitate

---

Andrea could LARP 'til dawn
She played her part with verve and glee
Pat had Firefly on the brain
In her, I found serenity

Sammi had a Warcraft habit
Left when I ran out of cash
Prue already had a boyfriend
Put my name behind the slash

---

Allie loved her Magic cards
Red mana was her favorite drug
Vera was a cyberpunk
The doctor helped her get debugged

Quinn read manga night and day
She had me turning Japanese
Joanna played a slave of Gor
She had the cuffs, I had the keys

---

Chris stood like a monolith
I met her in 2001
Tricia lived for Matrix flicks
We very nearly jumped the gun

Laura's dates were like Sin City
Always ended with a bang
Lucy dug Anita Blake
She wouldn't fuck without the fangs

---

Val collected Darkover
She got an MZB tattoo
Kate was horny for Lestat
We skipped right past the interview

Susie liked Vallejo art
She dressed in chain mail lingerie
Morgan was a furry girl
I hollered, "Fetch!" and ran away

---

Gail read Spider Robinson
Thought every bar was Callahan's
Marjorie wrote filk by day
At night, made me her biggest fan

Paula searched for Narnia
We did it on the closet floor
But Nellie's saner than the rest
That's why she's Fangirl 44

© Adam Fromm 2007