I'm proud to report that Wriphe.com has picked up a new reader! According to her email (subject line: "I like your blog!"), Hannah has followed me over from Boosterrific.com and has let me know that she has now read every single Wriphe.com post going back to the beginning in 2003. She might be more dedicated to this site than I am.

Obviously, after reading that much drivel, Hannah has questions. Fortunately, most of her questions are about my favorite subject: me.

Let the self aggrandizement begin!

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

Back in the day — this was before Facebook and smartphones existed, mind you — I was in art school in Athens, GA, and wanted an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family who lived across the country. I do not enjoy A) talking on the telephone or B) repeating myself. So I built a place where anyone who cared to know could come to get critical updates about whatever it was I was doing at the time. I can't say as it worked, really, as only a couple of my friends (and my mother) have ever visited regularly. I still have to answer "what have you been up to?" too often for my personal tastes.

How do you decide what to post about?

At the core, the point of everything that I do is to keep myself entertained. I am very selfish that way.

I come from the land of Lewis Grizzard. (Google him.) Grizzard made a strong impression on a lot of people; many thought he was a real bastard, but my favorite restaurant still has a menu item named after his favorite dish: brunswick stew on a pulled pork barbecue sandwich served with onion rings, I never met him personally, but my encounters with his writings during my formative years led me to believe that one of the best possible occupations was "humorist newspaper columnist." So I generally approach content at Wriphe.com as my own soapbox and diary with a goal of making it an enjoyable read in the (poorly imitated) vein of curmudgeonly satirists like Grizzard or Dave Barry or television's Stephen Colbert or Andy Rooney. (Google him too.) Quoth the Poppins: "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down."

When it comes to creating individual posts, I start by saying to myself, "Oh, shit! I haven't posted anything at Wriphe.com in the past two days!" I picked an every-other-day schedule because it's just often enough to keep me motivated and just long enough to let me regenerate ideas. I ask myself, "Is there anything on my mind?" Sometimes there is, and I type that. And sometimes there isn't, and I stall (or punt).

And some days people ask me a bunch of questions and I answer them.

How long does it take you to craft a blog post?

I wish I was half as clever as I like to think I am. On average, probably about thirty minutes. Honestly, it's probably longer and I just don't want to admit that publicly. Sometimes it takes a very long time, especially for the five paragraph "college admission" essays in which I want to be sure I've gotten all of my punchlines just right. Grammar matters, but so does rhythm and timing. (The core of comedy is subversion of expectations. And banana peels.)

Hannah had more questions than that, but that's a good start. I have to have something to post later, after all. These posts aren't going to blog themselves.

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www.boosterrific.com

Does April Fools Day have any value in an AI-driven post-truth society? I sure hope so.

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I posted this panel from of Mary Marvel and Hoppy from New Champions of Shazam #2 (a delightful comic) on Twitter yesterday, and it has far, far more retweets than anything I've ever posted in the 11 years I've been on that site.

words by Josie Campbell + art by Doc Shaner = 100% Marvelous

Granted, most of the things I post on Twitter are related to an entirely different and much less well-known comic book character (no, not Batman but Booster Gold), but whatever. If it influences more people to read the comics I like (which in turn encourages DC to make more of the comics I like), I'll call it a win.

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Finally! These are the final entries in my 2020 new-to-me movie list, all coming from December.

199. (1853.) Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace (2019)
This is a documentary about the kind of movie houses that barely exist anymore, those built to worship the mythology of the big silver screen. It's equal parts nostalgia and an oral history of the decline and fall of western civilization. I loved it.

200. (1854.) Monster Zero (1965)
This is one of the Toho Godzilla films (also released as Invasion of Astro-Monster). Here's the plot: a group of aliens beg Earthings to lend them Godzilla in order to eradicate the threat King Ghidrah presents to their home, Planet X, but it's all really a trick to get Godzilla off Earth so the aliens can take over. I have to assume it made more sense in the original language, because this thing was nutso in all the best possible ways.

201. (1855.) Black Christmas (1974)
A slasher flick which treads heavily on the "The call is coming from inside the house" ghost story. I did not find it particularly satisfying, despite the presence of Margot Kidder and John Saxon.

202. (1856.) Teen Titans GO! To the Movies (2018)
I watched this only to see Booster Gold, and I was pleasantly surprised. Fans of comic books will enjoy.

203. (1857.) Downhill (1927)
This early Alfred Hitchcock silent doesn't have a cameo appearance by the director, which is a shame, because the film is equally devoid of any real substance. (Rich boy gets blamed for knocking up a shop clerk and his life goes quickly, well, you get the idea.) For Hitchcock diehards only.

204. (1858.) Red Sun (1971)
Did you know there was a spaghetti western starring Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, the samurai who inspired The Man With No Name? Well, there is. And it's very good.

205. (1859.) It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)
Another very good film, this time a light comedy of errors featuring class warfare butting up against Christian spirit. It could easily have ended happily several times, but to its credit, it never takes the easy way out and still resolves excellently. A Merry Christmas to us all!

Onward to 2021! More to come.

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My hope that 2021 would be better than 2020 didn't last a whole week. Blech.

I uploaded this page from Justice League Unlimited #17 (2005) to my comic book blog, Boosterrific.com, on Monday. I liked it then. I like it more now.

Hold tight, Sam.

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My third book is currently out for galley printing. It will be on the market by the first week in November (target release date is Halloween). It's time to start thinking about marketing.

What's the best method? Keyword targeted Internet advertising is always available (Google Ads, Facebook Ads) for CentralKingdomsChronicles.com, but that costs money. I read a lot about networking (establishing a Twitter presence, participating in like-minded communities), but that's never made much of an impact for Boosterrific.com. I'm sure that I should pursue multiple paths, I'm just not sure which are worthwhile.

Obviously, since I wrote a fantasy genre story, it's fantasy genre readers I need to reach. Perhaps I could advertise at local comic book shops. I also plan to give away the Kindle edition of all three books for free over the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday. (Readers are more important than profits. Can't have one without the other!)

For the record, I knew going in that book marketing is very, very difficult. So many book, so few readers. For every author I read who has been even moderately successful, the trick seems to have been time: Grind out story after story, book after book until someone takes notice. I'll soon have three. I guess I should get to work on four. Maybe before I get to one hundred, I'll finally make my first buck.

(For the record, as I type this, the first two books have generated exactly $54.41 since release, $49.63 in paperback and $4.78 for Kindle. [Oh, plus Ken bought me a Coke. That counts as profit.] The publisher won't cut me a check until I pass the $100 threshold. Perhaps the release of book three will put me over the top.)

If anyone thinks of anything else I might try, please tell me. In the meantime, if you've read and enjoyed my books, please tell your friends!

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I've barely spoken to most of my friends since September and my brother is no longer speaking to me. So I've finally been driven to Facebook.

Before you declare that this news marks the end of the world we were all expecting, be aware that I created an RSS feed for Wriphe.com last January as a test for Boosterrific.com. Since I don't really have any other reason for its existence, I'm working on having that feed automatically exported to Facebook, where I figure it can't hurt to build a stronger presence in support of the work I've been doing through Cellbloc Studios in recent months. (It won't necessarily help, either; this is something of a "let's see what sticks" scenario.)

Rest assured, I'll still be posting here at Wriphe.com in 2013, but those of you who use Facebook might be able to read some of my posts over there, if I ever get this working. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Movies I watched the second week in May. (This was another light week, though I'm still on pace for one movie a day on the month thanks to the heavy start.)

116. Wait Until Dark (1967)
I'd heard about how "scary" people thought this movie was before, but it is more of a Hitchcockian suspense-thriller than anything horrific. Hepburn is surprisingly believable as a blind woman, a presentation I find few actors handle capably. I'd probably watch this film again.

117. The Avengers (2012)
Um, yes. Good. I'd definitely watch this film again. I already posted my thoughts about this movie here.

118. Harry and Tonto (1974)
Should have been called "The Old Man and the Fe-line." I watched this on the recommendation of Grimmy, a contributor at Boosterrific.com. It reminds me very much of the sort of films I watched in art school. That is to say, it shares its unique vision with you, but doesn't care if you like it or not. Frankly, I think it looked like a long, crime-free episode of Kojak. Art Carney was good, but he's no Telly Savalas.

119. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Director Frank Capra's movie-making formula is clearly apparent in this film: unusual event causes down-to-earth fellow to go on a whirlwind tour of exaggerated "everyday" events that illuminate the human condition and drive the lead to despair before his faith in humanity is reaffirmed by the dogged determination of the love interest. Personally, I've decided that long-winded second acts are Capra's weakness. Then again, I don't need to be reminded in each film that people suck.

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After a focused site re-tooling and a couple of long nights, Boosterrific.com is now the number 2 return in Google on the key phrase "Booster Gold" (behind Wikipedia, curse them). I consider this to be something of an accomplishment. Maybe not so great as founding a country or curing smallpox, perhaps, but certainly better than having a million Twitter followers or running a multi-million dollar business into the ground. So, congratulations to me.

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I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate myself for receiving the Monthly Project Fanboy Fansite Award for September 2008 for all of my hard work and dedication to Boosterrific.com before and during September 2008. I deserve it, really I do. Clearly, all my hard work is paying off, and it's about time someone recognized and rewarded my greatness. I'd just like to thank all of the little people without whose acknowledgment of my genius and vision none of this could have happened. Thank you, everyone!

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