2012

2011 kind of sucked. Really, it was a year full of sadness, frustration, disappointment, and bad times. It wasn't ALL bad, of course. There are many happy moments and successes I can think of. But, on the whole, the year tasted like a moldy lame-strami sandwich deep-fried in hot garbage oil and dipped in stupid sauce. Okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic but not by much. I'm glad 2011 is over and can only hope that 2012 brings better things.

Having said all that, I still need to make my Best Of list for the year. Best Of lists are kind of a crazy thing that seem to have become a cultural force in the world. If you look at Entertainment Weekly this week, it's nothing but Best of Books, TV, Movies, etc. Like we all need to be told what to see, read, listen to, etc. Mine isn't some comprehensive list of things you must go out and buy right now! It's just a few things that I really enjoyed this year - whether they actually came out this year or not.

Books


The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall and Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark. TLP is a sprawling novel that tells the tale of Golden Richards, a polygamist with more wives and children and worries than he knows how to handle. After a certain point, I wanted Golden to liven up a little and stop being such a wuss. He's immobilized by uncertainty for 95% of the book and nobody likes a protagonist who doesn't do anything. However, the other characters in the book are so compelling and interesting and funny, Golden can be overlooked. Rusty, the angry, angsty son of wife #2, is far and away the funniest, sweetest, and saddest part of the book. He alone was worth the price of admission.



DoaDD is a Mormon novel (by/for/about mainstream Mormons whereas TLP is by an ethnic Mormon about a splinter offshoot of Mormonism) published by Zarahemla Books. It follows 11 year-old Todd Whitman as he comes of age in Mesa, Arizona in the early 1980s. The book deals with the loss of two different loved ones - one to dementia and one to cancer - so in that sense, it hit close to home. But it's more funny and sweet than sad, and I appreciated that. The worrying about girls and your hair while tormenting your younger siblings was perfect. The dorky friends, the harmless-yet-dangerous ways of having fun as a Deacon - it was all very familiar. The book seems to work a little too hard to evoke the 80s at times by dumping reference after reference at you sometimes, and the climax isn't the big bang you hope for. But it's still fun to read and uplifting in its way. Worth taking a look for sure.

Music
Imelda May's retro-rockabilly vibe made me happy this year as did the 1963 classic A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. I'm not normally into Christmas music but I could listen to Darlene Love, The Ronettes, and the Crystals all season long and then some. Also, I discovered and enjoyed Colin Hay's acoustic solo career this year and loved his version of "Overkill." Also, I have listened to "I Can't Remember" by The Thorns over and over this year. I'm a Matthew Sweet fan from way back and have appreciated his different efforts over the years. Back in 2002, he teamed with Shawn Mullins (that guy who sang "Lullabye" in 1998) and indie musician Pete Droge. They did one album, one tour, and, to my knowledge, had one single - "I Can't Remember." I found it on itunes a few months ago and haven't stopped listening to it since. The three-part harmonies are beautiful and the song is kind of sad. What more can you ask from three minutes and thirty one seconds?



Movies
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is pretty awesome. Brad Bird has directed three of the greatest animated movies ever made - The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouie - and with MI:GP, he stepped into live action. The set pieces were spectacular in the most literal sense, the banter was witty, and there was a prison-break scene set to Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." Again, what more can we ask?
The final Harry Potter was equally exciting and moving. We've been watching these characters for a decade now. How can I not care about what happens to them? David Yates, the director of the final four HP films did some really impressive things visually, thematically, and dramatically. He's a talented guy who came basically out of nowhere to bring cohesion and emotion to what could have been just a giant special effects pageant.

Comics
Nothing has really thrilled me this year. There were a few things I enjoyed - a sci-fi time travel miniseries with teriffic art called The Red Wing, the anthology miniseries Rocketeer Adventures, and, of course, the Atomic Robo trade paperback called Two-Fisted Robot Tales. But overall, it was a quiet year for me comic book-wise. The movies Thor and Captain America were more enjoyable than most actual comics. Maybe 2012 will bring something worth getting excited about.



Personal
Our vacation to Grand Haven, Michigan was a real highlight. Just spending time on the water, enjoying perfect weather, going letterboxing, going for walks, etc. It was utterly idyllic and I loved it.
Visiting my brothers at the beginning of December. It was a quick visit and all-too-short but wonderful. We sat around, made jokes, watched episode after episode of Prison Break, ate chocodiles, and just had a blast. I loved it.
Being with my family. The older I get, the more I enjoy just doing small stuff with Suzy and the girls. They are my favorite people.

I have some goals and hopes for this new year, but I'm going to keep them to myself for now. I've found that talking about my goals somehow saps my power/desire to meet them. Kills some of the magic, you know?

Anyway, I hope the coming year is a good one for you, full of the things you need to be happy and healthy. I will see you back here a little more regularly this year than last, I hope.

Stooge

Normally, I'm a little leery when Hollywood decides to make a movie version of almost anything - a book, tv show, action figures, etc. (A movie version of Dark Shadows! A movie version of every comic book ever made!) And I'm especially suspicious of stunts. Pirates of the Caribbean was a stunt - a movie based on a Disneyland ride? Did you know they're making a movie version of the board game Battleship? Yep, they are.

So naturally, when I hear they've made a movie version of The Three Stooges, I'm not impressed. Nevertheless, I'm posting the trailer here. Why? Because, if nothing else, the last four or five seconds of it are pure wish fulfillment for me and I love it. Enjoy.

Notes to Self

The soup at Subway is gross. Every time. Don't buy it again unless you're in the mood for glue.

When it's March and still snowing, remember how much you looked forward to the first snow in December.

You cannot save every student. If they stop coming to class or don't hand in assignments, there's very little you can do. Allow them the learning experience of failure.

Watch the two year-old. She's a crafty ninja and can be very quiet when digging through the litter box or finger painting with the cat's water dish.

Facebook is a monumental time suck. Some people use it for useful, productive things. You aren't one of those people. Just log off and forget about it.

Brothers

So it was a quick trip but fun as heck and well worth the travel. Highlights include:

Big Jud's - of course.

Real Steel - Giant! Robot! Boxing! Plus a touching story about fathers and sons.

Melanie's Brothers' Reunion Spread - homemade soup, jerky, Chocodiles, diet Pepsi, a bowl of cookie dough, (that's right, a bowl of cookie dough just for us to eat), etc.

Prison Break - thanks a lot, Dave. Now I have to go find it on DVD because I have to know what happens next.

My charming nieces and nephews - each one sweet and fun and funny. I only got kicked in the nose once which is pretty good considering how much uncle-torment I dished out over the course of two days. Kyle tagged me pretty good on accident. Blake pulverized my sternum - not on accident. Not at all.

My lovely sisters-in-law - such good women.

My brothers - the best of men.

I loved it.

Soup and Cookies

I have a Pavlovian response to cold, rainy days. As soon as a day clouds up and gets chilly, I immediately want to A. make homemade beef stew with big chunks of potato and carrot, B. make soft, gooey chocolate chip cookies, stuffing them into my face while they're still almost too hot to bear, or C. both of the above. It's my mom. For whatever reason, that was her response to cold days and there was many an afternoon when I came home from school or work to find a big ol' vat of rich hot soup waiting for me. I could pretty much eat Mom's "homemade soup" (that's what we call it - no other specifications needed -- we know which homemade soup) all day every day and be happy. Same with the cookies. I don't think there's anything more perfect than a warm chocolate chip cookie. (The only thing close to this perfection is the cookie dough. I know you're not supposed to eat it - raw eggs and all that -- but I eat it. Oh, I eat it.)



Anyway, the pre-winter weather we're getting is making me jones for these things. The problem with the cookies, at least, is that we have big tubs of Halloween candy to get rid of and it doesn't make any sense to make more sugary things in a house already loaded with them. So I have to wait until our massive stores of Kit Kats and Tootsie Rolls lessen.

But it's this kind of stuff -- the memories of soup and cookies -- that makes me wish I could talk to my folks. I miss being able to call them on my way home from work and just check in. Mom would be at the house and Dad would probably be out and about doing something. I'd talk to Mom first and she'd ask about Suzy and the girls. She'd tell me what was going on in her ward in Rigby, what service project she was working on, who needed help that week, etc. She'd remind me about Dan's birthday and tell me what funny things the Idaho grandkids had done that week. And she'd ask me how I'm doing, how school is, how my PhD is coming.

I'd tell her about how verbal Parker is right now, how she's repeating everything she hears (for better or worse) and how she can count to thirteen all on her own. I'd tell her that school is rolling along as ever, that I have really good creative writing students this semester. I'd mention that I feel absolutely paralyzed with my PhD, that even when I have time to work on it, I don't and that I feel like a bug pinned to a board where that's concerned. She would tell me to not look at the whole overwhelming thing but, rather, to just figure out the one small thing I need to do next and then do that thing. Just do what you can do today and don't worry about tomorrow until tomorrow, she would say. She'd tell me Dad was out inspecting a farm or visiting pawn shops or in Idaho Falls looking at a new _____ because the old _____ gave out and he found a newer, cheaper one on Craigslist.

So I'd call Dad and we'd talk while he drove around doing whatever it was he was doing. He'd ask about Parker, about Maryn and Avery. I'd tell him Maryn has to miss "Friday Fun Hour" tomorrow because she has too many marks for talking during class. I'd tell him we're really struggling with Avery right now because she's having a tough time telling the truth about things. He'd feel bad for them and tell me to go easy on them. He'd wonder if Maryn's teacher is being too hard on her. He'd tell me Avery is a good, sweet kid and that things will work out. He'd ask what funny thing Parker has done lately and I'd tell him how the other day she carried around a toy knife from her cooking set and kept calling it a fork in a really loud voice but that when a two year old yells the word "fork," it sounds like something else entirely. He'd laugh at that, I know. After a while, he'd say, "Well, I don't have anything else. Anything else you wanna talk about?" and then we'd get off the phone.

Obviously, there was a comforting sort of predictability in talking to my parents. It's something my brothers and I still joke about - Dad's abrupt sign-offs, Mom's advice to take things one small task at a time. But just having them there was such a blessing. Being able to talk with them grounded me and made me feel as though everything was eventually going to be alright.

I miss them. I miss having them in my life. I'm glad neither of them are suffering or uncomfortable any more and that they're together. But not having them here sucks for the rest of us.

Hmm. That was a sad sort of detour from what began as a nice discussion about soup. Let's think about happy things, shall we?

This Friday is the beginning of a three-day weekend for Veteran's Day. Yay.

My plans for the cover of the new issue of River Currents, IVCC's literary journal, are coming together nicely. Should be something different.

Our fireplace is poised and ready to flame-on at the first sign of snow.

Thanksgiving approacheth. Say hello to the Thanksgiving sandwich - turkey, dressing, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy all on a roll. Heaven.


I've discovered The Goon, a crazy mashup of EC horror comics, film noir, and Abbott and Costello routines. Not for the faint of heart but really funny and the first thing in comics to make me really happy in a long time.

The McRib is back! (Just kidding. Don't eat it. It will turn you into a zombie. I'm pretty sure they're made of pressed brains.)

By the way, I generally consider it bad luck to make blog promises but I really would like to post here more often. Three times a month is pretty lame and lackluster. I will try to do a better job of making this blog worth checking in on every once in a while.