Reports of my demise have been…slightly…exaggerated.

So it has been a month since the renewal of the gregorian calendar we affectionately know as “the new year” and there has been little to no activity on the ol’ NR. I am, in theory, less busy now than when I was still in school. I’m only teaching one class this semester and I don’t have any of my own to attend.

For those that haven’t had an infant in the house…how should I put this…it’s annoying.

Look, I love my son, but at six weeks old he’s still not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, and somehow he came down with a virus which he’s had for a few weeks now (immune systems being new and all the colds linger in the youngins) which means that half the time, he won’t sleep…check that, even stop screaming, unless he’s being held. At six weeks old he can’t be manipulative so the screaming is for realz, yo!

What this means is that when I’m at home, the last thing on my mind is website related stuffs.

Don’t think I’m not thinking of you. I’m working on a short-style story for your reading pleasure, as well as considering what direction to take The Dawn Lights the Way.

At some point there will be a comic…maybe. I mean, gilgrim and I haven’t been in the same place at the same time since the Kennedy administration so who the hell knows.

But I will share with you some things I’ve learned since going underground.

1. Phineas and Ferb is the best animated show on television. Seriously, has anyone else seen this show? It’s fucking awesome! It’s about two step brothers (Phineas and Ferb) who do…impossible things…each day during their summer break. They have a platypus who is also a secret agent that continually thwarts the machinations of Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Look, that description did not do the show justice.

OK, just watch this episode where Phineas and Ferb build the “Greatest Roller Coaster Ever!”

See! That shit’s genius! Plus, its on one of the Disney channels, so I can watch with my daughter. Man, I am so envious of the two guys that created that show.

This is like the best Neil Gaiman month ever. First, The Graveyard Book wins the the Newberry, and in just two days time Coraline comes out. As far as stop motion animation films goes, Nightmare Before Christmas is the ultimate achievement. Coraline, however, might just supplant Jack Skellington (Henry Selick did direct both, after all).

I may be stretching myself too thin. I’ve got about 1/3 of novel #2 done (thank you, MFA thesis!) but I find that I’m beginning to consider/do research for novel #3. Or, is it a story more befitting a graphic interpretation? I’m tending to lean toward the latter, but since I’m having trouble producing three fucking panels a week, I’m not sure how the hell I could do an entire run of a few hundred pages. Also, there is a film script that I have been meaning to work on for a few years. It’s an idea that was told to me by a friend in the City. It is a script I promised to write (though I gave myself no deadline, ha ha). I’m at a point now where I could write said script, send it over to homeslice and we could hammer out a final draft.

Then the other day, as I’m asking my wife what I should focus my writing efforts on she says “You should write my movie.”

“Movie,” I say. “What movie?”

And then she tells me.

Now, I normally don’t go in for the romantic-style-comedy (although, if you don’t like Love Actually you are either a robot, a zombie, or dead inside…I’m just sayin’). But the idea is good, and certainly something (given the right treatment) a studio would be likely to consider. Then the more I think about it, the more I realize that, god dammit, that IS the thing I need to be focusing on. So now we’re starting to write this script.

In the weird alternate universe where said script gets purchased and the film gets made, I will gladly cash my “sellout” check and buy a new car.

Gogol Bordello — Supertheory of Supereverything