If you’ve read this blog before you probably know that I’m married to this girl:

You probably also know that she has been working on several projects involving America’s undead sweethearts zombies and vampires.  One of these projects has been the Valemont series which has been airing on MTV and MTV.com with an alternate reality game (ARG) at ValemontU.  Yesterday, she posted an important update about the series on her blog that I am re-posting below because I think you should know about it.  The original post can be found here.

Second Semester?

Many of you have been reading here for years. Some of you have been reading me for much, much longer. As long as I’ve been writing on the Internet (erm, 12 years now…) I’ve been writing about my writing career.

Or lack thereof.

You’ve seen the ups, the downs, the way-downs, the rock bottom, the pick-axe to break through rock bottom, and the gradual ascent as I’ve clawed my way back up. The past six months have been a whirlwind of vampires and zombies and vampires.

And it may not be over.

People have been asking about a second season of Valemont. Today, I heard from my boss, mentor, and all-around transmedia smartypants Brent that we may have a shot at a season two.

From his post on Valemont Commons:

We are currently in serious talks with MTV about growing Valemont into a real TV show.   Towards that end, MTV is airing a 1hr. “Extended Edition” of the earlier 1/2 hour special they already aired a few weeks back.   This will be a new cut, ending at around Ep 20 story-wise, withmessaging to drive new viewers to MTV.com where they can watch the last 15 Episodes (plus two alternate endings) of the show.   Obviously, you have probably already seen all the episodes.   But where you can help is this:  ask all your family and friends who might enjoy the show to please watch this special edition; if you want to rewatch that would be great too.

Strong TV ratings on the special would be nice, but the key here is the clickthru rate from on-air to online.   How many viewers get hooked by the end of the 1 hr. edition and migrate to MTV.com to watch the remaining 15 Eps will go a long way in determining the fate of Valemont.  So if you want to help guarantee a Season 2, let’s overwhelm MTV with positive numbers this Sat night!

So I’m asking for your help.

Please watch the Valemont special (one hour! Cut together! With extras!) on MTV this Saturday, November 28 at 6pm EST then go to MTV.com to watch the final 15 episodes. Tell your friends! Tell your co-workers! Tell your family!

If you’re forgetful (like I am) you can RSVP to the “event” here on Facebook.

Many thanks.

xo!

In an attempt to ward off my recent run of bad feelings, Nina and I went to see The Paul F. Tompkins Show at the Largo on Saturday night. I’m sure that most everyone reading this blog is familiar with Paul F. Tompkins but in case you’re not familiar with the best comedian in the business, you can catch up here.

Did the show make me feel better?  Yes it did and it will make you feel better too. However,  you don’t have wait until you are depressed and angry over the death of a close relative to see this comedy and musical extravaganza*, you can go even if you’re already feeling great. The next performance is Saturday December 19th; details on how you can see it (and other upcoming performances) can be found here.

As an added bonus on Saturday night, Mr. Tompkins was kind enough to spend a few minutes talking with us after the show. Paul F. Tompkins is truly one of the good guys so go see him soon.

Want to see Paul but can’t make it to Los Angeles? All that you and 299 friends have to do is ask nicely and he’ll come to your town. More on that here.

* In the unlikely event that Mr. Tompkins or his management is reading this, you have my permission to use: “you don’t have wait until you are depressed and angry over the death of a close relative to see this comedy and musical extravaganza” to promote future shows.

I’ve officially entered the angry stage of my grieving. Yesterday I was angry with my dad for not quitting smoking and since then it’s expanded to being angry about a bunch of other things that are mostly my own fault. I’m angry with myself for not calling more, for not going home more often and for not speaking up when I felt something was wrong. I realize there’s little I can do beyond accepting that the past is the past and not beat myself up over it. I’ve considered adopting a new dad from a rescue shelter but since I made the dad shelter up it’s probably not going to happen.

To be honest, I’m mostly angry about petty things that I’ll soon get over: things like a baseball game we never got to, the secret stash of snacks and chocolate milk I wasn’t allowed to touch, and a lot of things that are really no one’s fault. I’m just going to be angry about it until I figure out a way to not be.

I rarely get preachy on this blog but please bear with me just this once: Tomorrow is The Great American Smokeout a day when Americans who smoke are encouraged to commit to quitting (Canadians can apparently smoke away). As many of you know, I smoked for years before quitting in early 2008 but that is not why I’m talking about it today.  I mention it because my father smoked from the time he was a teenager until the day he died of a heart attack at 54 years old.  Fifty freaking four years old and dead.  I’m sure that had he quit smoking a few years ago he’d still be alive.

Look, you do what you want to do. If you want to smoke I’ll still love you.  I can’t stop you from smoking but consider that when I smoked, I looked like this:

Today, less than 2 years after quitting I look like this:

Isn’t that much better?  I have my own wagon wheel now.  Would you like a wagon wheel? If you quit smoking I will give you a wagon wheel. Do you need another reason?  How about the fact that it’s 2009?

For the record, here is the official Be the Boy method of quitting smoking, feel free to try it:

1- Allow your appendix to become enlarged (Important: do not let it burst).

2- Get hospitalized for emergency surgery, have surgery go wrong.

3- Spend a week in hospital post surgery with morphine drip.

4- While in hospital, don’t smoke.

5- After not smoking for a week, don’t start again. Repeat as needed.

If you’re interested, the full story of my appendix emergency can be found here.

The See and Hear Part

From time to time I find a blog I like so much that all I can think while reading it is that I wish I wrote it:  Dad’s Records: A Journey Through Time and Sound is one of those blogs.  As you can probably guess, Dad’s Records is about someone going through their father’s record collection.  I was directed to it shortly before my father passed away and I really liked it but I like it even more now.

Please take a look, you’ll be glad you did: Dad’s Records: A Journey Through Time and Sound

The Help Part

Looking for something good to do?  Well here’s a great cause that needs some help.  You may know that WFMU is my favorite radio station, you may also know that I think it is the best radio statio in the country.  Wht you may not know is that they are completely supported by listeners and they are holding an emergency 24 hour fundraiser in order to keep running.  Their spring 2009 pledge drive fell a little short of what they need to operate for the year and if they don’t make up the diference they may not be able to stay on the air.  Take a look here to learn more and if you can spare a few bucks, donate.  I donated in the spring and I’ve done it again today because my life is better with WFMU on the air.  WFMU has always come through for me and now it’s my turn. The WFMU pledge page is here if you’d like to be a hero.

It’s been a month since my father passed away and I’m still feeling much the same as I did when I first heard the news.  The last 30 days have been a blur of shock, grief, anger and disbelief but through it all there have been unforgettable acts of kindness from friends and family.

There have also been small moments  that remind me to be grateful for the time I had with my father.  One of those small moments was when a long time family friend and all around top-notch guy sent me the picture below.

From left to right is my father and a neighbor that I don’t remember.  It’s 1966 or 1967 which makes my dad at least 11 but no older than 12.

In the last few weeks I’ve seen about 200 photos of my father but this one is my favorite because of the look on his face.   When I knew him, my father always seemed endlessly confident, like he knew all of the answers in advance and was just watching things play out while he waited for his moment.  I always assumed that he developed this trait as an adult but this picture tells me that he may have had it all along.

It hurts every time I remember he’s gone because I know that I’m never going to turn to him in a moment of trouble, see that look on his face and feel like everything is going to be okay.

Update: Over the past week I’ve shared this picture with some friends who have all pointed out how much I look like my dad does in the photo above.  To that I say two things: Thanks for telling me I look like a 12 year old boy and you are correct.  Please see the photo of me below.

Take away my glasses and trade the flask for a football and I look just like my dad did when he was a kid, right down to the smarty pants smirk on my face.

Every Saturday night, because we’re geeks, my wife and I spend about an hour discussing important issues on line and we invite you to join us and participate in the discussion. It generally starts out as a simple recap of recent events but almost always devolves into one of us revealing something dark and terrible and but hopefully funny at the same time. To learn more about what we do and why we do it, read here.

The show starts at 8:00 pm Pacific time on Saturday and you can watch it at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethemarriage. It’s fun, we promise. Come check it out.