Category: Friends

Marvel Calendar 1975 or 2005

As is my wont, I love when things coincide, especially when they involve superheroes!

In the past, I’ve noted that Mark Anderson, over at Andertoons, has posted a number of pieces of superhero art from the 70s, especially his calendars which, being cyclical in nature, keep coming round again.

I mention this because my friend, the amazing poet Gregory Crosby, recently posted yet another Marvel calendar – the 1975 edition – which corresponds to this year, 2025! This time it’s from the geek blog ‘TAIN’T THE MEAT… IT’S THE HUMANITY!

So, enjoy! And if you want your own copy, you can order a facsimile from or Amazon or here’s a PDF you can print at home.

Comic Con Baltics – 2023 Edition

Back in January, when I was in London with Lin, we were lucky enough to attend an after-show party of Mother Goose, the Panto with Ian McKellan. It was a ton of fun and on the way home, Lin asked me if I didn’t miss it. I replied that I did, but I really didn’t want to go back to it full-time. It was fine to enjoy it piecemeal, every now and again.

Continue reading “Comic Con Baltics – 2023 Edition” →

Questions about History and Culture – England 2022 #2

Day 2 – June 25

Waking up in Nottingham, we had to figure out our plans. Before we had parted the night before, I had declined John’s offer of attending a birthday party for the child of a friend of his so we were definitely Oxford bound, it was just a matter of how and when to best get there. We would spend the next few days staying with my old friend Amy and her husband Clive. I met Amy somewhere around 28-30 years ago when we both worked for the Groundlings in LA. I was a booth jockey and she was a stage manager. Since then, we’d kept in touch over social media, even managing to see each other once or twice since she’d moved to the UK. Now, she had graciously offered us all a piece of futon covered flooring in her craft room and we gladly took her up on the offer.

Continue reading “Questions about History and Culture – England 2022 #2” →

Comic Con Baltics 2022

My time working on Comic-Con Baltics 2022 started with working on Comic-Con Baltics 2020, when I interviewed RJ Mitte to announce his attendance. Of course, then COVID hit and everything was postponed.

Then postponed again. And again.

Continue reading “Comic Con Baltics 2022” →

If you could thank anyone, who would you thank and why? 

603e6f6e60bfe6a04f06ebab_thankyouMy question this week is “If you could thank anyone, who and why?” Before I delve deep into whatever metaphorical or metaphysical answer I might come up with, I need to start by saying I’d thank my parents because I forgot at my Bar Mitzvah, which was 41 years ago, and they still haven’t let it go.

So thanks mom and dad, on this day that I become a man. Continue reading “If you could thank anyone, who would you thank and why? “ →

Were you well-behaved or badly-behaved as a child?

white and red lighthouse on rocky shore
Photo by Steffi Wacker on Pexels.com

Again, when dealing with “as a child” questions, I have to wonder what age range child encompasses? Are we talking about toddler to middle school or up through high school graduation? Also, we should probably define what kind of behavior qualifies as “well” or “bad” considering there’s a range there which is not insignificant. Either way, I don’t think I was a badly-behaved child. I mean, I wasn’t as bad as some, not that I didn’t get into my fair share of trouble. Continue reading “Were you well-behaved or badly-behaved as a child?” →

Do you have any funny or embarrassing Thanksgiving memories?

IMG_2590Thanksgiving has always been an interesting time for me. Most of my adult life has been spent living in a different city than my immediate (birth) family and since Thanksgiving is a family holiday, it was always one of the days I would try and make it home. This worked out well in my personal life, too, as most of my partners were either in Vegas or not from America where Thanksgiving didn’t matter. As well, since I was raised Jewish and none of my partners were, this meant Christmas wasn’t an issue, either. Continue reading “Do you have any funny or embarrassing Thanksgiving memories?” →

Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever encountered one?

personin ghost costume holding a lantern
Photo by Monstera on Pexels.com

You can tell we’re getting near the end of this particular project, week 42 of 52, since the questions are getting a bit more esoteric. When the question comes through, it’s getting more regular that I need to change it out for a variety of reasons and then, looking through their possible questions, we’re starting to see lots of repeats and variations on a theme.

I’m not sure how many more “what’s your favorite X” I’ve got in me. Continue reading “Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever encountered one?” →

Did you ever get in trouble at school as a child?

I love this question. The fact that they have to clarify “as a child” makes me wonder how many people got in trouble at school as an adult, which, honestly, could be a whole different kind of trouble than I think they were actually thinking of. But okay, let’s give this one a go.

Getting into trouble in school* was a no-brainer for me. I got in trouble all the time. But I also got myself out of trouble. I was the Ferris Bueller of my friend set. My locker held a treasure trove of hall passes, student requests, and whatever other bits of official documentation I could snag from the desks of secretaries or others in official capacities. Thinking back now, though, I’m struggling to remember more than a few specific incidents.

Continue reading “Did you ever get in trouble at school as a child?” →

What qualities do you most value in your friends?

signs-of-a-strong-friendship-1Friendship is such an interesting topic. It seems like there should be a checklist someplace you can go through to decide if someone is a friend or not. I mean when you’re asking yourself what qualities you value in your friends, wouldn’t it make sense to have a list of qualities in general? I did an article once, about online dating services, and in several of them, the participants had to answer extensive questionnaires which were then matched up according to a mystic algorithm and involving the sacrifice of a rubber chicken. Continue reading “What qualities do you most value in your friends?” →

How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?

At the time of this writing, I am 53 years old. This means I’ve celebrated my 21st birthday twice at this point, which in turn means the original celebration, way back in 1988, was a long time ago and my memory is going to be faulty at best, revisionist at worst, and most likely completely wrong. Continue reading “How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?” →

Gail

You always know.

When you get a message from someone using someone else’s account or phone number, you know. “Hello, this is so and so, can you call me back?” You get that pit in your stomach that something is wrong with whoever owns that account. I’ve been that person in the past, the one charged with updating the social media of a friend who was involved in a serious accident and was undergoing brain surgery.

But yesterday, I was on the receiving end of that message. “Jaq,” the message read. “Call Gail.”

I knew. I didn’t know the details until I called, and the phone was answered by someone else, but this wasn’t going to be good news. I just didn’t know how bad it was going to be. Continue reading “Gail” →

Tell me about an adventure you’ve been on

This seems like an odd question to me. “Tell me about an adventure you’ve been on.” Sure, but really, isn’t that the same as a number of the questions I’ve answered already? I suppose it depends on what we consider an “adventure” right? But also, due to my having blogged about trips and travels regularly since the summer of 2013 (and a bit more haphazardly before that) haven’t I already covered most of my adventures?

Do I take the easy way out and just say “well, life is an adventure” and leave it at that? I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the game. So no, I need to think of an adventure I’ve not talked about before or delve deeper into one I have. But this also means I need to explore the idea of what, exactly, an adventure is. Continue reading “Tell me about an adventure you’ve been on” →

What was your first big trip?

aj-1Here it is, my first question from StoryWorth and already off to a rocky start. I read the question and immediately started pondering what was meant by “big trip?” How far back did I go? Was it in reference to an important trip or one of a huge duration? Naturally, it was Rasa who solved the dilemma. Continue reading “What was your first big trip?” →

StoryWorth

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

I just got a fascinating holiday gift from my great friend and (sometimes) writing partner Troy and his wife Katie. It’s from a company called StoryWorth and the basic premise is pretty simple – at regular intervals (anywhere from once a day to once a month) they email you a question. You then answer it in as much or as little detail as you wish and email it back to them.

Continue reading “StoryWorth” →