Hello, old friends. It's been awhile. I blame you for our long absence.

(Not really.)

It turns out I'm bad at blogging and vlogging and these other techno-whatzitz the kids are about these days. I think it's because these things, when done right, by the brilliant people who do them well, are habits, and I have never put in my thirty days (or whatever) that it takes to form a habit. I think I'm going to try. So here it is: Day 1.

What have I been up to? Today, I've mostly been trying to destroy my eyesight by reading webcomics on my phone, but the tradeoff is totally worth it: they're fucking hilarious webcomics. (Namely, Let's Be Friends Again, by Curt Franklin, Chris Haley, and Eugene Ahn. Trust me, if you're into comics, videogames, anything else, or are a human being you should be reading this. Here's a link.)

I spent yesterday afternoon downloading my BOOM Comics Humble Bundle onto that same phone, so...pretty much my phone is just hundreds of issues of Sons of Anarchy, RoboCop, and Hellraiser right now. I'm okay with it. (Humble Bundle is a very good way to get lots of cool books, comics, videogames and/or other stuff for incredibly cheaply while giving all the proceeds to various cool charities. It's all digital copies, but if you've got a computer or tablet (or don't give a shit about your eyes, like Mr. Phone over here), it's awesome.)

Bird is lifting weights a lot. A lot. She looks like a goddamn fucking Amazon warrior queen, and ogling her buns n' guns is taking up what little ravaged eyesight I have left. Consequently, I'm cooking lots of healthy stuff to fuel us, because Oreos and Ben and Jerry's apparently contain very little protein. It'll come as no surprise to anyone that I love podcasts, and that's primarily what I've been filling the rutabaga-mashing, chicken-grilling hours in the kitchen with. My current favorite is Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men (you can also subscribe via iTunes), an in-depth examination of the entire history of X-Men continuity which you should check out if you're into 1) X-Men, 2) Gender Politics and Social Commentary as they relate to awesome superhero teams dating back to the Silver Age, or 3) good podcasts.

Speaking of podcasts, yes, Bird and I are going to continue Chat-Man and Robin. Breathe easy Adam, Alan, Alice, and Erin (way to fuck up the A-Listers, Erin): a new episode is on the way. Just as soon as we find time to sit down and record it.... Bird and I seem to be at the heart of a sinister conspiracy that dictates she and I must always work opposite shifts with no overlapping free time, so our interactions are pretty much limited to, "How was work? Good? Okay, good night," or, "The dog is shitting on the floor again. Please take her out."

(The great Poo-Pacolypse of 2016, we call it. It was 24 hours of jittery sleeplessness punctuated by the most stomach-churning smells you can imagine. Love this dog of ours.)

The next CMR is going to be really fun, I think, and possibly really emotional at the same time: we're going to dive in and do the famed "36 Questions to Make Folks Fall in Love" thing, and see what happens. Social experiments on our marriage as cheap entertainment for a handful of our friends? Check.

On the creative side of things, I'm currently drafting (read: re-writing) a feature-length screenplay which the few people I've shown it to assure me is, yes, basically the spiritual remake of Marlon. It's been a rough couple of days bending and twisting it to try and break some of the more egregious resonances down. Bird, ultimately, and as always, was my rock in the churning seas of drafting hell. "Is that bad? What if it's just part of a series exploring this situation? Something you need to work out of your system?"

(If it's not clear: I love this woman. Something about her, rocks, and my socks.)

So I'm working on that. Tonally, I think the new screenplay explores different themes and is tonally pretty dissimilar from Marlon, so I think I'll be okay. (Which won't stop me from rewriting in utter despair, but we all have our process.) The plan is to submit it to screenwriting contests and production companies, and possibly an agent or two.

I just finished plotting a long superhero comic book series, and started writing issue #1 today. The plan there is for Bird to do 7 (or so) pages of art, write a pitch, and start shopping it around while the two of us work on another comic to pitch. (All told, I have fourteen comics to plot, issue#1, art and pitch before my quiver is empty. Something's gotta hit, right?)

(Right?)

Working in the comics industry has been a big dream for Bird and I for a long time, so a sizable chunk of my brain these days is dedicated to putting together pitches for series, miniseries, and graphic novels. It only took me six years to realize that if I don't actively pursue my dream career in comics, it probably wasn't going to kick in my door and force me to be happy and fulfilled.

Since I'm almost done with this new screenplay, and am getting ready to send that out into the world, I've also started revising the first screenplay I ever wrote. I've just been calling it Dresden. It's the 378-page monster that Marlon sort of after-birthed out behind. Sitting down to revise the first twenty pages yesterday, I was surprised by how much I liked it. I've been thinking about it with embarrassment and horror these past three years--my first screenplay, how good could it be?--but it's turning out to be funny and horrifying and action-packed and lots of fun to revisit. It's completely different from Marlon: government conspiracies and crime noir and knife fights and car chases and a pretty horrifying torture scene in a fetish club....

Like I said, lots of fun.

Marlon. Here's what's going on: Dan is mixing the soundtrack right now. Should be done soon. When it's done, it goes to New Jersey for Mastering. While it's being Mastered, Dan does the audio for the actual footage. He says May 1st. While he does that, Bird and I do maybe one more look at the color grade, do the album art and DVD cover art (along with Alan, hopefully, and maybe some other artsy friends of mine), and then we shuffle all the progressing pieces together until this thing is done.

Postproduction works differently than the other steps have. It's really, truly, a slow, arduous waiting game, with lots of setbacks, lots of technical stuff, and not much drastic measurable progress (read: things for me to show everyone who has waited so patiently). On the upside, once a section of post is done holy shit you have a finished product in that section.

So that's life right now. That's what I'm up to. On the whole, things are good, and I'm happier than I've been in months. I'm glad you all stopped by. It's been nice talking to you all again.

Let's do it again soon.

(Day 1? Done.)

--Max