For my kids, this week is Back to School week. They've been feeling it for a while. Bedtimes have gotten earlier. Routines more rigorous. And finally, they'll have something filling several hours of their weekdays. It's been a perfect time to examine and tighten up my own routines as well. I've been waking up earlier, taking advantage of the quiet time to get more videos done. I've always been more early bird than night owl, but I forgot how much I used to get done between 5:30 and 8:00am....
18 days ago • 1 min read
Late last week, I teamed up with DJ Ben Ha Meen of the For All Nerds show for a new, monthly comic review series. Each month, we'll pick 3 to 5 of our favorite issues and go back and forth. Since each of us hadn't read the other's picks, Episode 1 was equal parts education, reaction and clowning. I can't wait for you to see the shenanigans. In the meantime, let's talk about some other books I enjoyed in July. Recent Comic Reviews Some of my July favorites. SPEED RACER #1 | David Pepose (w),...
25 days ago • 2 min read
A few months ago, my wife and I hosted an Easter dinner for our extended families. She told everyone I was making Jerk Chicken; and since her family is Jamaican, my oven recipe just wasn't gonna cut it this time. So I bought a grill. The chicken was great, and I've been cooking outdoors at least once a week ever since. Something about cooking over open flames and using smoke to tenderize an otherwise undesirable cut of meat is really appealing. Plus, when it's not blazing hot outside, it's...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
This weekend was pretty busy. My grandmother turned 88 last week, and I was recruited to throw a bunch of ribs on the smoker for Saturday's party. Since smoking meat is usually an hours long process, I took the time to bring a whole stack of Fantastic Four trades down to my kitchen table. My Fantastic Four crash course The trades span several key eras, and I was supposed to be reading a small sample of each. Instead, I was captured by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo's run and never came up for...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Ever have a task you know for sure needs to be done, but you just can't bring yourself to do it? Yep. Me too. Good old procrastination. Back in the day, I read a book on the subject called Eat That Frog. A musing on prioritization, the book's hypothesis is simple. If the first thing you do each day is eat a frog, the rest of the day should be considerably easier. Obviously, the lesson wasn't taken to heart. This week's frog? Finally editing and publishing audio for the last 7(!) podcast...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
I had a whole intro typed about procrastination. I'll get to that later. This week, I gave myself a challenge. Post one video each weekday leading up to HeroesCon. Just so I wouldn't chicken out, I posted the schedule on social media SNL style. Now if I went back on my word, I'd be lying to at least a dozen people. 3 Down, 2 to Go. It's part of what I'm calling the Summer Sprint. After nearly a year of having to put the channel on the backburner while I dealt with more pressing matters on the...
2 months ago • 2 min read
It's a milestone week here in Dope Land. I woke up to two bits of exciting news on Tuesday. First, our audience grew to 18,000 subscribers on YouTube! I've set a goal in my head to reach 20k by November. But the truth is, the number only matters to me as much as I'm bringing joy to the person on the other end of it. That any singular person chooses to spend time listening to what I have to say about an artist's words and pictures will always be mind blowing to me. That makes the next...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Yesterday, I posted a video updating the general public about what I've been up to lately. If you read this briefing regularly, you already know. I'm busy being a family man, yada yada yada. But I also hinted a bit at some things to come on the channel. I've been searching for ways to include more book reviews in my heavily compressed schedule, and I think I've found just the trick in YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Look, Ma! I'm in 16x9 format! While I've been hesitant to join the...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Long time no newsletter, huh? It's been one of those months. Field trips. Recitals. Graduations. I haven't had a weekend without a calendar event since Easter Sunday. The last time we talked, I told you I was going back to my day job the following Monday. It makes sense that I haven't had the time to type out an update since. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's called SUMMER VACATION! Nothing says "I had a day off" like St. Louis ribs cooked for 5 hours. Yes, it's a random...
3 months ago • 3 min read