THE TERATOLOGY DEAD POOL: 2011 REDUX

I have made several New Year's Resolutions, but this is the only one I am sharing, because I have always found that resolutions are really about the person, to be known an striven for privately. I have a bad track record of publicizing all the ways I aim to improve myself in the coming year. It reeks of braggadocio and only sets one up for failure. For evidence, this post, an attempt to revive a failed resolution...

IN January, 2011, I created a list of people's graves that I wanted to visit. But, quite ironically enough, LIFE kind of got in the way. In the last three years, I've only made it only to the grave of Allen Ginsberg. For the first time in at least five years, I am optimistic about the coming year, and with a steady job, a steady apartment, and the will to do it, I am taking another crack at the 2011 Dead Pool.

There were 14 people listed originally. They were, in alphabetical order:

CONVERSATIONS WITH JOE STRACZYNSKI, Part One

 Apologies on the delay, to anyone who cared...

I showed up at New York Comic Con at about 11:15 am on Friday, having not even glanced at the panel schedule. I walked a quick loop of the convention, marveling at the collection of original Superman costumes on display at the far wing of the Javits Center, passing by Rob Liefeld’s table (which strategically blocked any view of his feet), and generally marveling at the scope and scale of it all. “Too much” would be the running theme of the weekend.

Finally looking at the brochure just before noon, my eyes immediately gravitated to “Writing Workshop with Joe Stracynski.” I looked at the time – it was starting in 20 minutes. I quickly hustled into the bowels of the Javits and found the line, right at the point where I was able to get one of the last seats.

Straczynski opened by saying that conventions are a great place to get information from experts, which is why, after an opening statement, he was going straight to the question and answer portion of it.

“No questions are out of bounds…. If this panel sucks, it’s your fault,” he cautioned.  

Stupid Shit Sarah Lawrence Kids Say, Part 4: Allen Ginsberg vs. the One Percent

BACK AFTER A TWO YEAR HAITUS...

They stride into the coffee shop and he’s practically yelling, as if to negate any retort to the argument, “Your father’s a surgeon! He’s got money!” I thought it was a plot out of some James Cain story: the malleable, soft-spoken, innocent girl; the overbearing, one-sighted boyfriend. Does he want to murder the girls’ father and run off with her and the old man’s war chest? 

Hardly.

You’re probably wondering what he looks like, but the best way to sum him up is thusly: he asks for the student discount - 10% off his $2 cup of coffee, then inexplicably pays a 25 cent surcharge because he’s using his debit card. I can hear the excuse now…. “Well, I don’t have any REAL money….” Other than that: well-coiffed hair, with an attempt to look slovenly. Cuffs on his skinny jeans, scruffy beard, turtle shell glasses - his best Allen Ginsberg impression.