All the Billion Other Moments » Friends

1-Pass Day 26, Part 2 (49397/98490)

Jason Penney — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:02:17 +0000

Type in

49397/98490

Got a bit more done, pushing me officially over the 50% point. Whoo hoo!

Gotta get to sleep now. Brom will be here at 7 to give me a ride into work tomorrow since one of the cars is in the shop.

‘Dursin the Firestarter’ Hits the Net

Jason Penney — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:59:02 +0000

The first time I saw YouTube I knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time. Dursin the Firestarter is online (well, so far just the first scene).

“What is Dursin the Firestarter?”, you ask. Back when I was in high school Dursin and John used to make a lot of movies. The greatest of these was Dursin the Firestarter, a feature length remake of the original trilogy of earlier shorts (Matt Dursin the Incredible Firestarter, Dursin the Firestarter Part 2, and Dursin the Firestarter Part 3). It may not be a great film, but it is amusing. I have a small roll in there somewhere (in fact you can see me in the movie poster), and I provided some of the sound effects in the latter half of the film. Check it out. Be warned that the film would definitely get an R rating for language, so it may not be work safe.

OK Go: Here It Goes Again

Jason Penney — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 19:33:30 +0000

Saw this over on Del’s site. I haven’t watched a music video in quite some time, but it’s nice to see there are still some folks having a good time.

Ok Go

I’m Back

Jason Penney — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 12:40:13 +0000

I’ve spent almost all of my time since my last post getting ready for, traveling to and from, or participating in Jon and Nicole’s Wedding. Jon’s been one of my best friends for twenty years. I was honored to be asked to participate. The ceremony was amazing (if a bit hot), and the reception was a lot of fun. It was great to see some people I haven’t seen in some time (including Jon’s family), and meet some really fun new people. I even managed to give my toast without choking too badly. I wish Jon and Nicole the very best, and hope they’re having a great time on their honeymoon.

The drive there took forever, but coming back things at least kept moving. Denise and I listened to the amazing unabridged reading of Ender’s Game (I’d heard it before, but it’s great to be able to enjoy a good book with your wife). The full-cast unabridged readings of the Enderverse books are some of the greatest audiobook productions I’ve ever experienced. I can’t recommend them highly enough (available for download from audible.com as well).

I need to thank my Dad for spoiling… er… taking care of the kids while we were gone. I also need to thank Edna and my grandparents for helping him survive the experience.

Now it’s time to clean the desk off (it got a bit cluttered during the search for the GPS serial cable), and get back to work on the book.

Dursin, Happy 30th

Jason Penney — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 15:01:22 +0000

My good friend Dursin turns 30 today. I’ve know him almost 24 years now, and there’s never been a dull moment. Happy 30th!Dursin, Happy 30th is a post from All the Billion Other Moments – Jason Penney's thoughts on writing, life, and other stuff. Copyright 2009, Jason Penney.

Where Did It Go?

Jason Penney — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 15:20:38 +0000

I used to write poetry. I wrote it all the time. I have a two foot stack of notebooks filled with it (and I’m pretty sure I don’t have all of it still). When I was in high school, study hall was for writing poetry. It’s what got me through the rest of the day. Any little thing that was on my mind, it ended up expressed in verse. It got me through a lot of tough times.

Now, I’m not sure any of it was any good. I didn’t exactly go handing it out on street corners. Brom has read more of it than anyone, followed by Dursin, and then Denise. Everyone after that has read pretty much the same amount, because they read “Rantings”, a small collection I self published in High School.

But I don’t write it anymore, and I don’t know why.

Maybe it was an escape from the monotony of my classes. I’m not a classroom type of guy. I used to think I met Denise, became a generally happy guy, and stopped writing poetry because I didn’t need to anymore. I don’t really buy that. At best I’m a cynical optimist, and that’s probably a stretch.

There are a few clues. I can only write poetry longhand. I can only write longhand in pencil. The other day I actually was inspired to write a poem, went out of my office to grab a pencil and my notebook, and lost the lines and inspiration when Denise started talking to me about something. It’s not her fault, though. I’m sure Vanessa would have done something cute, or the phone would have rang, or whatever. I just don’t seem to do it.

So what’s the big deal. I used to write poems, now I’m writing novels. Well, I was proud of a lot of the poetry. More proud than I am of some of my current prose. Maybe I was more easily pleased back then. Poetry used to be easy in a way that my current writing is not. I would sit down and write a poem with no real idea of where it was going or what I was trying to say until it was done. It made any other writing I wanted to or had to do easier. It jump-started my muse. I really want that again. I want to write a poem or two, then get to the “real stuff” in a better state of mind.

Maybe it’s time to go through the old poetry and type it into the computer. The pencil is fading, and I don’t want to loose it. Maybe I’ll learn something in the process, but part of me is afraid of what I’ll find there. Some of it is going to be cringe-worthy. That’s all right. It’s the stuff that’s going dig up long dead memories I’m worried about.

But I really don’t want to loose it, because I may never write poetry again…

Back(b)log: Wizard World Boston 2005 Thoughts

Jason Penney — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 21:04:03 +0000

I spent all day Friday September 30 and most of Saturday October 1 at Wizard World Boston. I spent a good deal of time (almost all of Friday) at the The Secret Monkey/Turbo Comics table, helping my good friends Dursin, John, and Ray try to sell their books with mixed success (a lot of people took the freebies, but not so many parted with the $2.95 for a copy of the book). You can read Dursin’s take on the show here.

All good intentions of helping my pals aside, I also hadn’t been to a comic con in quite some time. I was fairly excited to spend some time, seeing what was what. The comic world is one in which I’d like to spend some more time. Not amongst the speculative dealers and the bootleggers, but amongst the creators. There’s a vibe in artist alley that you don’t get many places. Sure some of it is desperation, and I did mostly buy books from indie creators because of this, but it’s still a vibe I feel I could thrive off of.

Michael Dooney, Jim Lawson, Peter Laird, Steve Lavigne, Dan Berger, Steve Lavigne, and Eric Talbot

The most exciting thing for me was the fact that the current Ninja Turtles crew from Mirage Studios were going to be there. If you only know of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from TV, or the Archie Comics I probably can’t explain what the big deal is. Before any of that, TMNT was an indie comic sensation. A few years ago Peter Laird brought the original book back with the characters aged appropriately for the time that had passed and a wonderful new story direction. Every issue is a joy to behold, and it’s a true labor of love, because Peter made no secret of the fact that it isn’t making money.

If I could do anything at all, I would write comics (well if I could do anything I would be able to draw them as well). It’s truly my life dream, and one I still hope to fulfill at some point. There are stories in me that were designed for that medium. They live inside me daily, and seeing the guys from Mirage, many of whom inspired me into creative pursuits in the first place reminded me of that.

I picked up a number of books at the show, and I hope to review them as I read them.