Colin Clocks In For the 'Ghan

Via Facebook: Colin's finally out of Kuwait, back in the 'Ghan, heading out of Kandahar, enroute to the job site. Come back safe in July.

Anubis Markets

Thanks to khalptah for putting this together. The morning of the "Mission: Freakazoid!" recording we got a rare call from the studio saying the original name for the supermarket chain was taken and we needed a new one. I suggested Anubis because I figured even the Egyptians wouldn't name a supermarket after the god of mummification and the afterlife. So far, that theory stands.

h/t: khalptah

New Sherlock

Well, perhaps Limbo. But plenty of fun stuff in Sherlock Holmes. Downey Jr. and Law sometimes come off like gay roommates, and the film suffers occasionally from quick-cut syndrome, but there's plenty of good lines and robust CGI action afoot.
(Photo: covershut.com)

Humorous Bear Video

Try this at home, it's Okay.

h/t: m36ad3th

More From Boxes

As I continue to sort, I uncovered a stack of magazines from my publishing days. That was a depressing, transitional time as I had graduated college, collected fiction rejection notices, started and stopped a novel, and tried acting again. I got involved in a play that was months in rehearsal with actors dropping in and out of roles—they were smarter than I—and an eventual opening that failed in every way except getting reviewers to attend. Boy, did they attend. They attended with a vengeance. My fellow thespians and I were blistered. (Except the male lead, who staggered in at curtain drunk on his ass. He was praised for his "passion and energy.")

A few months later, I applied for an internship at a magazine and got it. Thus began the year 1989, which turned out to be life-changing. I met my future wife at the magazine and started improv classes with Acme Comedy Players. (Called Sweeney's workshop back then, after our founder and director.) From there, eventually, came a Warner Bros. animation script that Sweeney and I wrote together. (His wife is Sherri Stoner.) And from that came a shot at writing a script for Animaniacs.

Now I'm sending out fiction and collecting rejection emails.

I hope I don't meet another wife or start improv classes again.

Whatever happens, I'm not doing another play.
(Photo: boyomovers.com)

Who Ya Gonna Read?

Troy Benjamin shares a few thoughts on Ghostbusters III. (Didn't even know they had one in the works. And I wonder why I no longer get jobs.)
(Photo: forumserver...)

Your Stimulus Funds at Work

h/t: SaskView via Hot Air

Ahhnold Madness

Takineko keeps tabs on Schwarzenegger Month as the Guvanator's past returns in many forms for our viewing amusement.
(Photo: moonbattery.com)

Link to Tips for Unemployed Show Folk

Unemployed or underemployed (Me!!) in show biz? Voice Actors in the News shows you how to sort the wheat from a sea of chaff on Craig's List.

Books for Joe

Via Facebook: Colin Wells reads One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, still "kuwaiting" for a flight into Afghanistan. He reports he's safe, but bored.

Stopped by the gym today. Quite crowded with everyone and their new year's resolutions. By February, it'll ease up.

Update on my Ten-in-Six:
One sold (Night Chills).
One on-deck with a 1 in 3 chance of being picked for publication.
Five in various editorial slush piles. (Actually more than that. The last story I submitted went to three publications all of which allowed simultaneous submissions.)
Three more stories to finish.
(Photo: history1900s.about.com)

Writing in the 80s

Some facts about my writing career just resurfaced as I emptied out old boxes:

My first published fiction piece was in an artsy mag called Chimera. - 1983

I wrote a pretty funny short story that I only sent out once back in 1986. Last night, I sent it out again.

For a time, I wrote poetry. - 1981

Comedian Tom Dreesen, who used to open for Frank Sinatra, rejected three jokes I sent him. - 1981

From 1985 to 1988, I sent out a lot of short stories, all rejected. The whole process was labor-intensive, from typing to return envelopes to postcards signifying arrival, to finding out months later that magazines had closed or moved without a forwarding address or weren't interested in what I had to sell. Then I decided whether to rewrite the stories or press on. (That last aspect hasn't changed.)

I have a lot of old boxes. - 2010.