Be Excellent

I’m busy getting stuff done in advance for our Long Anniversary Weekend ™. Friday’s Dork Tower is already loaded and ready to go, and Monday’s is on the drawing table. With luck, I’d like to be two weeks ahead on the comics soon(ish).

I’m not sure if this will be a TOTAL no-work weekend, as I’ll be lugging my laptop with me. But it should be at least a 90% no-work weekend. There are some things I’m developing that I’ve been eager to get to for a while. Anyhoo, they’re fun projects, and I’m looking forward to at least a little uninterrupted-by-e-mail-or-phone sketching and writing. It’s weird when your hobby becomes your means of gainful employment. At what point does work stop and downtime begin?

Thinking on this, I popped over to our local Whole Foods (or, as I like to call it, “Whole Paycheck”) to pick up some nosh for the weekend. I found a couple of cheeses that really impressed me: Fleur De Maquis and Delice De Bourgogne. No need to get any wine, as we’ve saved enough of the stuff from our wedding. Wow…obscure cheeses and amazing wine…yup. I am SO not Fox News’ demographic.

The lovely and Talented Judith and I have also packed a lot of books, DVDs and games (Carcasonne, Formula De, Lunch Money, X-Bugs and more), so it should be an enjoyable, relaxing time. I wasn’t able to relax for too many days last year, but our Anniversary at the cabin were a few. I remember just sitting on the bank of the creek with absolutely nothing to do, and thinking “wow…THIS is nice…”

If memory serves correctly, this is about the time in any post where I put up some pics of an upcoming project. Today, it’s SNORTA, from Out of the Box. This game is a blast. It may look like a kid’s game, but playtests have revealed adults find it fairly frickin’ addictive, too. The project’s pretty much wrapped up, and should be off to press soon.

Funnily, the first few groups of adults I played this with all came to the same conclusion: “it would make a GREAT drinking game.” Liability insurance (and a certain misplaced sense of decency) prevents us from listing the game as such, but frankly, as Ken Hite would say, “Whatever gets you through the night, baby…”

Lastly, I know I’ve been obsessing about my latest compilation, but I think it’s finally down. Here’s what made the final cut:

We Can Rebuild Him
Horn Intro – Modest Mouse
All Things (Just Keep Getting Better) – Widelife
Waterloo (Swedish Version) – ABBA
Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks
Tracy Jacks – Blur
Shiny Disco Balls (Main Mix) – Who Da Fund featuring Jessica Eve
Discolite – Teenage Fanclub

Be Desireless
Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
Maps – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Bad Reputaion – Freedy Johnston
Comfortably Numb – Scissor Sisters

Be Excellent
Mine’s Not a High Horse – The Shins
Public Service Announcement – Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse
Float On – Modest Mouse
Standing In The Road – Blackfoot Sue
Gudbuy T’Jane – Slade
A Shot In The Arm – Wilco
Dig Your Grave – Modest Mouse
Do You Know the Way to San Jose – Dionne Warwick
Down In Traffic – Adventures In Stereo

Be Gone
Worn Me Down – Rachael Yamagata
Backfire – Aimee Mann
Nice Weather For Ducks – Lemon Jelly

Speaking of music, has anyone ever heard about a band called Of Montreal? I heard them on WORT the other night, but haven’t been able to find anything out about them. They sounded as cool as poutin, tho…

I will now – as best as I can – be desireless, be excellent and be gone.

John

 

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