A writer's interpretation of the modern world.

I won’t pretend that I’ve been an avid comic reader since I was 6. Heck — I barely read 2 comics a month. And to dig myself into a deeper hole – I only started re-reading them about a year ago. As a kid I tried reading The Uncanny X-Men, some Amazing Spider Man and a bit of Dazzler but my parents (ie; my mother) never let it become a bona fide hobby. As an adult nearly two decades later, I can see why. It’s a very expensive hobby.

But I have come across a bit of a gold-mine within the art of comic book reading. A few months ago I stumbled upon The Astonishing X-Men which was — in part — written by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I read the first few issues 1-32 and couldn’t stop, so leapt to the Hope Trilogy: “Messiah Complex”, “Messiah War” and “The Second Coming” (not yet released). As I read through them all, I only played two albums: “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place” & “The Rescue” by Explosions In the Sky.

Call it cheesy, but adding an instrumental soundtrack like that to an already epic, heart-wrenching apocalyptic storyline changes the entire experience. I’m not as big on music as I am on story, but the two combined –astonishingly– force each other to translate so much more clearly. Seeing Kitty Pryde ripped away from Peter (twice), just makes more emotional sense with “First Breath After Coma” or “Day Six” in the background. I can’t listen to any song on those albums — even without a comic in my hands –without feeling a sense of love and doom all at the same time.

Giving context to music with a great story or giving context to a great story with good music makes all the difference in the world. It is also incredibly therapeutic and could save you a trip to your psychologist.

Just my $.02
-Lex

P.S. …
The Astonishing X-Men

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astonishing_X-Men

Explosions In the Sky

http://www.explosionsinthesky.com

I have never been good friends with 6AM. But as fate would have it, we’ve been seeing a lot of each other lately.

I work 10 hours a day at a fierce, fast-paced start-up company. By the time I get home my brain’s bandwidth is pretty much exhausted. Ads, development, testing, meetings, battles — It really takes a lot out of me. Still having scripts at home waiting for me to write when I’m done with work, a full day for me is no walk in the park. That said, more often than not I’ll find myself crashing into bed before even opening Final Draft to type a single slugline. I’ve got a deadline now, so something had to give. (ie; my sleep between 6AM-8AM Mon-Fri)

In theory, it’s perfect. I wake up early with a fresh brain, undisturbed and just out of my dreamscape. In practice, I have sensitive eyes that hurt when I turn on my laptop, a cat that whines the moment I wake up and an undiagnosed allergy to 6AM and the sound of my alarm. But I suppose this is discipline and I have to do it.

Still, two hours isn’t a lot of time. But it’s more than zero and I can at least feel assured that I’m getting two hours in as a daily minimum. I still try to write more if I have the capacity to do so when I return home, hence the lack of my social life in 2010. Pages are getting written, so I’m doing something right — I suppose.

Even so, 6AM is only a temporary ally. I’m much more fond of its counterpart, 9:30. AM? PM? I’ll take what I can get.

-Lex