This is the 100th post on my official website.
Frankly I’m amazed I stuck with it this long. When it was decided I needed to boost my “web presence”, I created this place to do just that. The theory being people interested in hiring me would Google my name, and this website would appear in the search results. They’d then see how brilliant and insightful I was, they’d hire me on the spot and pay me lots of money. Ergo, I was to use it to promote myself and my work, as all professional writers are supposed to do.
It didn’t quite turn out that way. Instead I ended up using it to just write about things that interested me, kind of like my Twitter profile became a platform to crack stupid jokes and test material for projects I am writing. Ironically I am very successful at this, having gained more followers on Twitter than I had “friends” on Facebook (which is not the reason I deleted by FB page — though there is a diff. reason for that). Here I usually blog music, some pop culture, and some promo work, namely my comic book series Mixtape. Some said I was “doing it wrong”, and that this website should exist primarily as self-promo.
But the way I rationalized it, there’s so much self-promo going on in the land of the internet, why not break with that and just write about things that interest me? I’m never going to get tens of thousands of visitors to this thing, or hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers either, and I’m okay with that, because I’m one of those types prefer quality of interaction over quantity. Instead of promoting my work, why not write amusing and interesting work, and let people judge it and me based on that work?
So 100 posts in, that means time to reflect, right? So in that spirit, I’m re-posting the most popular, most visited, and all around best posts as decided by clicks on those posts, in descending order. Yes, because I’m too busy/lazy right now to write new content. But some of you new arrivals may not have dug back that far, so it’s new to you anyway.
Here we go:
10 – HAVING AN AVERAGE WEEKEND
Nostalgia time, as I reflect on a teenaged ritual that sadly only exists in memory. For me, anyway – I like to think teens today still embark on searches for that special something without doing it from their computer.
9 – GRATITUDE
A.K.A. “The Blog Post I Wish I Didn’t Have To Write” because it was written the day after the passing of Beastie Boy Adam “MCA” Yauch. And yes, it’s a huge loss to music, like losing a Beatle must be to my parents’ generation.
This is actually my personal favorite of anything I’ve written here. Typically it’s lodged at number 8, but I felt like I channeled something of the sense of longing one gets, growing up in the suburbs, the excitement of downtown and the big city like a siren’s call. Also, a companion piece of sorts to “Having An Average Weekend.”
7 – MIXTAPE 2013
This one dropped just before Christmas 2012, and details the future of my comic book series Mixtape. The future is bright.
6 – NO EXCUSES
Written early in April 2012 (less than a month before the passing of Adam Yauch), this was written about another year’s passing since the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain … and how the passing of another Grunge era icon is too often forgotten.
5 – THE REAL THING
This was posted to mark the release of Mixtape #1 in April 2012. Mixtape #2 dropped in December. I promise the wait between future issues won’t be that long again. Hopefully.
The title is pretty self explanatory. Note to self: next time I see a really lousy Sci-Fi film, write about it immediately and the hits will follow.
The most recent update to this blog was surprisingly one of the most popular. Maybe because we’ve all had crazy vivid dreams. Maybe because we never forget the most memorable ones. But really, it’s probably because there are pictures of booze, and zombies, and cute/funny cats — all thing people are known to enjoy reading about.
2 – T.R.U.E.
My first webcomic. Hopefully not the last either, as people really seemed to like it. It was created for a Spanish comics fanzine, their final issue. This is the English language version, and is totally based on a true story involving Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, and some CHUDs.
And the most popular post on my website ever …
1. THE OTHER WHITE MEAT (PART 3)
Though you really need to read parts one and two first to get the whole story (the links of which are embedded at the top of part three). This detailed the 15 year journey of my screenplay “Hell For Breakfast” to the big screen (in New Zealand, anyway) under the name “Fresh Meat.” A cautionary tale of sorts, but I was surprised to see how popular it was. I guess other people’s pain is funny.
So that’s the top ten of the first 100. It doesn’t even include such personal faves such as how Writer’s Block isn’t necessarily a bad thing; or the one about my love and fear of Horror Movies; of how I became a comic book fan. It doesn’t include the one I penned nearly a year ago, about how I hate celebrating my birthday, but ultimately consider myself fortunate to be able to celebrate one at all. It doesn’t even touch on my fixation on Degrassi Jr. High and Degrassi High, and the unexpected influence that seminal Canadian teen soap had on Mixtape.
So, if you have some time to kill and want to know more about me, my writing, and how I’ve manage to carve a living out of it, the above are as good a place as any to start.
Now, I think I’ve procrastinated enough, don’t you … ?
