This Just In: Rich is OLD!!!!!

HOW old, you ask?

That dried-up fossil turns 40 today, man!

First Chico officially over the fabled hill…

Yes, it’s my pal Rich’s 40th candle-blower today. He’s the first one through the gate in the prostrate-enlarging month to come, when four of the five former roommates of La Casa de los Chico Blancos (the house Rich, Tim, Aaron, A.T. and I all shared back in the mid-90s) hit middle-age hard. All five roommates had birthdays within just over a month of each other, which used to make this month a fun thing. There was a birthday celebration roughly once a week for a month, making for a very festive time for all. And now? The month of DOOM has arrived… Rich is the harbinger. Let the red convertible shopping begin…

I’ll be partying with Rich later tonight – and in less than a month in Vegas for the big Chicos trip – but we’ve been doing for a very long time. I’ve known Rich for…oh, man, I don’t think you want to know… Technically, for almost 30 years. But that’s when we knew OF each other. We really didn’t start properly hanging out until our late high school years (my senior year, his junior). So it was ‘85/’86 when we started our adventures together. Ones that included way too many late nights hanging out at Everett’s (or getting kicked out of Denny’s). And “River Pirating” (arrrr!). And an ear-numbing parade of hair-band concerts in the late 80s. And too many jukebox sing-a-longs at the Cedar Room (R.I.P., Milt). And going to college together (until I dropped out). And spring break adventures in Tahoe. And starting our own band together (oh, the horrifying songs that could have come from the then two-man band known as “21” had our plans borne fruit). And countless nights knocking ‘em back at Jose’s (until it burned down. I swear, it wasn’t us…). And eventually rooming together at La Casa. Where, I should add, I got him a WIFE thanks to a personal ad contest I proposed (how is it I technically won but he ended up married?). Throwing many a memorable party there as well, until life caught up with us and made us start acting like grownups again. But ah, it was glorious while it lasted.

We’ve been through it all together, and we’re both still here (despite Rich occasionally doing things like driving us the wrong way down a one-way street in Old Sac…). It’s been a hell of a ride, getting stupid (and laughing all the way) through our teens, partying and learning through our twenties, getting wiser and more grateful through our thirties. A couple of SDA boys hitting midnight movies and dreaming of rock star fame, still hanging out over two decades later, walking into the second half of our lives together. I like to think this second half will be filled with even more adventure and laughter and surprises and possibilities. And if anyone can manage to pull that off, it would be Mike and Rich – Video Rrrrangers! ™.

Thanks for the good times, brother. For always being there. For way, way too many rides home. For good movies and bad songs (my lyrics, at least). For being El Chico Bueno, Numero Uno. I have NO idea if that makes sense in Spanish. But you get the idea.

Raise your glasses, if you have ‘em, ladies and gentlemen. To Rich, on his 40th birthday!

Come on, dude, sing it with me, one more time…

Don’t close your eeeeeeeeeyes…

Don’t close your…EYE-E-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEYES….

And the countdown begins....

A Very Special Day

In case you didn’t know it, today’s a very special day.

‘Cause it’s my Mom’s birthday.

She’s out of state at the moment, so we’re not going to get to do anything for her birthday. And I can’t buy her anything, because, well, she throws a fit if you try to do THAT, heaven forbid. So I thought the least I could do was say a few words about her here on her very special day.

Of course, every guy says he loves his mom these days, ever since football players somehow made that cool. But I think I’ve got more reasons that most to think mine is awesome. Funny thing is, if you know my mother? You already know exactly what I’m talking about.

My mother is a magnet, and people are uncontrollably drawn to her. She’s a force of nature – if there were such a thing in nature as a hurricane or tornado that actually makes you feel good. She has always accepted people just as they are – which has made for some interesting houseguests during my lifetime, believe me... If you’re a person with no one else in your life, then she’s the one person that you do have, and always will. She loves people with a genuineness that never falters, never judges, never sets conditions. To meet her is to have her become your friend…your sister…your mother…your grandmother…your guidance counselor…your life coach…your cheerleader…your unexpected angel. I can pretty much guarantee you that no one who’s met her once has ever forgotten her. You’ll never see someone look across a crowd and see her and think, “She looks familiar. I wonder if we’ve met before?”. That’s just not the kind of impression she makes.

She’s always been, and continues to be, my idol in so many ways. I wouldn’t understand the word “faith” without her. Hers is always there. And it’s not blind. She’s taught me, through example, that faith isn’t not being afraid. It’s fearing and moving forward anyway. Her constant and relentless selflessness is something I can never hope to fully match, but at the very least emulate. Again, I refer you to those who know her already. They will tell you. Tell you of a woman who gives and gives, never asking anything in return, never needing thanks. It’s been said that you can’t please everyone. She still seems convinced that she’s the one person who can pull it off. So many of us owe her so much, from great things to (often more importantly) small, and yet, there’s no payment she’d ever accept from us. Ask them. They will tell you.

But what they won’t be able to tell you is about a mother in a doctor’s office, being told the unthinkable about her young child. One sitting through countless doctor visits thereafter, dealing with each new frustration, each battle against the apathy of the medical institution, each new prediction of doom. One sitting in waiting rooms during surgeries, sleeping in chairs next to hospital beds, dealing with long recoveries at home. One that always stayed positive, always giving that child hope as he grew, always making him feel that he was just like everyone else, despite what “everyone else” had to say on the matter. One who never gave up, and taught her child the same. Neither of them ever has. And neither ever will.

They won’t be able to tell you because that’s my story alone. And it’s the reason for who I am today, and where I am today. There’s no part of me she did not shape. And I’m thankful, every day, for the gift of being able to see the world through her eyes. To me, life is a wondrous, bright and hopeful place, where everyone has good in them (if you look deep enough) and where anything in possible.

How do I know?

‘Cause my Mom told me so.

Happy birthday, Mom. Thank you for all you mean to me, and for all you mean to all of us. Not a one of us can imagine our lives without you in them. Thank you for always being able to turn ordinary into special, adversity into opportunity, tears into smiles. Thank you for making the world brighter just by being in it. Thank you for everything.

I love you.

Michael

The "Kitchen" is Closed

I have to apologize to everyone. It’s my fault. I wish I could tell you how this horrible, sick, twisted game I have with network television began. I can only assume I was drunk at the time, blacked out, and therefore have no recollection of what I did, or said, that started this sadistic cycle. It must have been pretty bad.

Whatever it was, it caused network television to start making shows designed SPECIFICALLY for me to love. Network television – let’s call her “Netty” – knows my tastes, my secrets loves, my fondest desires (that “formerly analog but soon exclusively digital so get your government upgrade vouchers now” little minx that she is), and each new season – sometimes skipping one just to throw me off – she comes up with something irresistible to me. Just as she planned, I fall in love with it. And then she quickly yanks it away (cancels it) and laughs cruelly as I’m left with a broken heart and handful of episodes that I can’t bring myself to delete from my DVR. The apology I owe to everyone is that sometimes they, too, are dragged into this mess, falling for the same show that (I swear) was made only with me in mind, and, too, feeling the pain of the loss of the series, though the punishment was meant for me. For whatever I did. To Netty. Seriously, does Netty HAVE a sister? Did I get drunk and sleep with HER? Did I knock back too many tequilas and bang Telemundo one weekend?

In 2005, when I was just starting to get over my “Firefly” heartache (which I was actually getting over nicely, since the theatrical resurrection, “Serenity”, was just about to come out!), and Fox (the same network that stuck it in and broke it off with “Firefly”) announced a new comedy. Now I don’t normally truck with TV comedies. I find very few of them are actually funny, to me. But news on this new one at Fox rang my bell, big time. It was called “Kitchen Confidential”.

Why did this show immediately call out to me (yea, siren-like)? Let’s look at the cast. First, the main character in the New York restaurant comedy, the head chef, was played by Bradley Cooper. I was a huge fan of ABC’s “Alias”, and Bradley played the character of Will Tippin there, a big fan favorite (the non-spy guy best-pal of Jennifer Garner’s character, the one secretly in love with her? Yeah, EVERY guy who watched that show felt like they were Will Tippin), and did a great job. At this point, I had yet to see him in the role that most people now know him for (the awesomely jackassical fiancé of Rachel McAdams in “The Wedding Crashers”), so when I heard the guy who’d played the prototypical “nice guy” in Alias was now going to be playing a recovering addict, womanizing, obnoxious, eccentric chef? I thought “awesome”, of course! Payback time for Will Tippin! We’ll show that Sydney Bristow tease, bro!

But I was even more blown away by who was backing him up! Zounds! Nicholas Brendon (as in Xander Harris from “Buffy”?! Me = big-ass “Buffy” freak?) as a neurotic pastry chef?! John Francis Daley (holy crap! The main kid from “Freaks and Geeks”, one of my favorite shows EVER, all growned up!) as the rookie Mormon chef from Utah?! JOHN CHO (as in Harold of “Harold and Kumar”, as in guy who first uttered and popularized the phrase “MILF” in American Pie?), for crying out loud, as the bitter seafood chef?! (Note that I meant he was a seafood chef who was bitter, not a chef who made bitter seafood. In case that confused you). And Count Drac himSELF, Frank Langella, as the restaurant owner?!

Plus…Jaime King.

Um…if you’re a guy? And you saw “Sin City”?

Jaime King.

Sigh.

(IMDb her if you need to. I’ll wait).

Okay. Moving on.

So BAM, right? Sure winner of a show! Because it’s blatantly made for ME! It comes on, and oh my GOD I love it! Awesome show! Funny as hell! Brilliant performances! Star-making vehicle for Bradley “surely soon to be a household name after this” Cooper! I was so damned proud of the guy you’d think he was my brother or something. And just getting to see all these actors together that I love – a couple of whom I hadn’t seen at all since their previous cancellations – was such an amazing treat that this quickly became my favorite TV night of the week!

For four weeks.

It’s not a Fox record. But it’s still pretty impressive. I hear one time they canceled a show before Joss Whedon even had the idea for it.

Fox had bought thirteen episodes, canceled it after four. Son of a (wait for it…) bitch. I should have seen it coming. Great cast, great writing, great premise, quality show…OF COURSE it was set up to be drawn and #$%& quartered like William Wallace! Well-played, Fox! AGAIN!

Okay. Okay. Enhance your calm, John Spartan.

Yeah, I’ve been through this before, and sadly, enough times to where this really isn’t the big (try to hear Bon Jovi singing the next four words, just to mix things up) shot through the heart that it once was. One learns to look at the bright side. Does it still suck? Hells, yes. But unlike the olden times (olden times were, like, three or four years ago, by the way. Isn’t it funny how time works differently in the 21^st century?), there’s a consolation.

DVD sets!!!

Since the studios started realizing there was cashy money to be made off selling the corpses of aborted shows, now you can get nearly ANY show on DVD (except (fill in the one you want the most here (NBC’s “Ed”, NBC’s “Ed”, NBC’s “Ed”…), of course). And you don’t even have to buy them if you don’t want to! Those sets are at Blockbuster and on Netflix! So now if you want to try a show you might have missed the first time around, or just drop in and see your old friends on a show that’s no longer in your life, you can do so, any time.

When “Kitchen Confidential” came out on DVD, I grabbed that sucker the first day I could one-click it on Amazon. This was extra-exciting for me because I’d only seen the four eps that aired on Fox, and the set contained the whole thirteen!! For those of you starting to do the math at home, I’ll save you the time – that’s nine episodes, of a show I loved, that I’d never seen! Come on, picture that one show (you know you have one) that got canceled that you really wish you could have seen more of. And then imagine someone walking up and handing you nine never-before-seen episodes of it! Seriously, are you AS excited as me by that idea, or are you just looking at me funny, like I’m jumping up and down over my “Hardcastle & McCormick” collector’s plates finally coming in the mail?

I got the set right away, but shelved it. Why? I’m a patient guy. Ask your mother, she’ll tell you…I like some foreplay (obviously that joke was directed at someone ELSE who I knew would be reading this, not you. I’d never make that joke about YOUR mother…). I knew that I would only have one chance to watch those episodes “new”, and then there would never be any more. This is why it took me almost two years to finish “Freaks and Geeks”. So, I’ve been waiting for some time now, but I finally felt the time was right to dive in and work my way through the “Kitchen”. Would it be as good as I remembered?

Better, thank you.

So I’m now done with all thirteen. Damn, what a waste of potential. I tried not the think about that, to just enjoy the episodes I had, but I couldn’t help thinking how criminal it was that something this entertaining didn’t get the shot it deserved. Interestingly, it didn’t start off as a TV series at all. It was meant for the big screen. “Kitchen Confidential” is based on the book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”, the New York Times best-seller written by Chef Anthony Bourdain. It was a tell-all on restaurant life, but also autobiographical on Anthony – right down to his drug use and wild lifestyle. Hollywood liked the potential of this and snatched up the option, and it was originally a Brad Pitt vehicle, set to be directed by David Fincher. But it eventually ended up in the hands of Darren Star (“Melrose Place”, “Sex and the City”) and as a TV pitch, greenlit by Fox. If that’s the right word. I think Fox only ever yellowlights things.

The premise was strong. You’ve got an incredible chef (in the lead character Jack Bourdain, based, of course, on Anthony) who got out of control with the drink, the drugs, the ladies, the wild life, and blew his career. After a year of recovery, he finds himself working at a cheesy Italian-themed restaurant and, naturally, hating it (but it’s the only gig he can get). However, when his girlfriend gets his resume over to the owner of the impressive Nolita restaurant, Jack gets his second chance, and knows he can’t blow it. So he pulls together a team to make it happen, guys whom he worked with back in his glory days – his “fish guy” Teddy (Cho), his pastry/desert guy Seth (Brendon), and his former partner-in-crime and wingman, the combined chef/thief/confidence man/ticking-time-bomb-of-excess known as Steven (played by the occasionally over-the-top but usually-to-good-results British actor Owain Yeoman. Who went on later to play a Terminator on the “Sarah Connor Chronicles”, FYI…). He ends up kind of stuck with the restaurant’s rookie chef, Jim (Daly), who’s exactly what you think a young Mormon guy would be like in New York – culturally retarded, hilariously gullible, painfully virginal and apt to utter curses like “jiminy!” when he gets really frustrated. And while he’s got control of picking the chefs, he inherits the wait staff, a fantastically jaded and opportunistic group. This is mostly shown in Cameron (played by Sam Pancake. No, I’m not making that name up!), the blunt and bitchy gay waiter, and Donna, his sometime foil, sometime partner who’s mastered cleavage presentation to an art form (tips aren’t going to give themselves away, you know). On the totally non-duplicitous end of things for the front staff, though, is the Tanya (the aforementioned (mmmm…) Jaime King), who takes the dumb blonde standard to new and glorious heights. And leading things out there is Mimi (Bonnie Somerville), who, it turns out, is the daughter of the owner, Pino (Langella), and has major can-never-please-Daddy issues, and naturally wants Jack to fail (since Daddy seems to like him so much).

Cooper does an AMAZING job carrying the show, a huge comedic presence with loads of confidence. He sets the perfect center for the others to orbit. We find ourselves rooting for him, this imperfect, often morally questionable man-child, as he struggles to evolve as a person and escape the ways of his old life. And that ain’t easy to do in the high-pressure world of high-end kitchen living. We learn a lot of the ins and outs of the restaurant world, much of it taken from the real Bourdain’s book. You can feel the excitement, the fierce competition, the recklessness of true geniuses at work. Jack’s cockiness, mixed with his always-present self-doubt despite it, makes for a lot of fun watching – as that kind of personality leads to lots of overcompensation and biting off more than you can chew.

The chemistry on the show really, really worked for me. You could just feel the backstory between Jack and Steven whenever they were in a scene together, almost see all the hedonistic adventures and terrible choices they made together. Steven’s a great vehicle in the show, heavily there just to remind Jack what he used to be (and tempt him to turn back that way again…). On a different side of that, Teddy and Seth have a sort of old-married-couple thing going on, guys who have been friends long enough that they know everything about each other (and therefore are ten times as likely to snap at each other at the drop of a hat). The bickering and competition between them is hilarious (you’ve never seen two people put more thought into a “dessert vs. fish” argument). I loved the Jack and Mimi tension, which was just always building (and always funny).

“KC” (as we’ll call it, to both save keystrokes and sound like industry insiders) had a pace that I loved, too. The whole show moved at the speed of life in the kitchen, the same frenetic hustle. It never slowed down. The moments, the jokes, the scene changes, the plot twists, just BOOM BOOM BOOM…one after the other. Never dull, to be sure. It was also NOT a family show, very sexed up and pushing some network limits from time to time. Which, I think, might have been its ultimate problem. It’s a show that didn’t want to be on the same network as “Malcolm in the Middle”. It at least should have been on FX, probably should have been for HBO. It felt like it wanted to go further, but was held back. It seemed to have a good time pushing the envelope, but was probably hamstrung, more than anything. But, if you want some sexy in your comedy but still don’t want to go “full Samantha”, you won’t be disappointed by “KC”.

I had some personal favorite moments, some of which involved guest stars. What a treat to see John Larroquette suddenly show up on TV again, here as Jack’s former mentor whose heart is about to give out, who wants to eat himself to death on Jack’s cooking. As an Alias fan, it was hilarious to see Michael Vartan reunited with Bradley Cooper for an episode (even using the line “it’s like we’ve worked together before or something”), playing the quintessential evil Frenchman chef-rival. Oh, and if you’re a Firefly fan, you had best NOT be the one who has to admit you didn’t see Morena Baccarin’s wonderfully sexy (and loud…and drunk…) appearance. And man, did I ever fall for the 5-episodes-only female chef Becky Sharp (played by the daaaaammmmnnn Erinn Hayes). Guys, you know that chick you’re for some reason even more attracted to because she can drink you under the table and beat the crap out of you if you say the wrong thing? Yeah. That’s her. Got to give it up for Becky’s memorable application of the “shocker”. There’s a whole episode involving a bet with her and Steven to see which one of them can get the other one to ask to have sex. It’s…pretty painful. She’s good at what she does. And a good part of that, show-wise, is to be the female Jack, another person from his past tempting him back to the old wild ways.

Here’s a thing I just never figured out, though. John Cho and the show. He was in the pilot. Then gone for three episodes. Then back, and there for the whole rest of the show. He’s in ten of the thirteen episodes…yet he’s never in the opening credits. He’s always listed as a guest star. What the hell happened THERE? Is this some weird Hollywood contract voodoo thing I don’t know about? If I ever meet him, I’ll have to ask him. Not cool keeping my boy Harold out of the credits, man! He’s gonna be Sulu next summer, you know. THEN you’ll be sorry!

It was a bittersweet ride, but a great one, running through this whole series. The show’s a nice metaphor for cooking, actually. Sometimes you can have all the right ingredients, cook them up just perfectly…and then everyone ends up ordering the veal instead. No explanation. Just happens. And then the restaurant decides it had better just keep cranking out nothing but new (though derivative) veal dishes and never try anything new and daring again. Yes, veal is the metaphor for reality shows in this story. Thank you for paying attention. But, as I said…thirteen episodes of great comedy with some of my favorite people (and now some new favorites), and I’ve got them all on DVD to enjoy whenever I want. Thanks, Darren Starr (never in my life did I ever imagine I’d be whipping that sentence out) for something wholly unexpected and amazing to add to my list of shows I loved that no one else will remember. And thank you, Netty, for once again making me your bitch. All because I made made Telemundo say, “Si! Si!”.

Hey, and for you uninitiated KCers out there who might want to jump in and try it for yourself? Technology is now SO rockin’ that you don’t have to spend a dime on a DVD, or wait for a Netflix mailing. Thanks to the Fox/NBC site “Hulu”, you can try “Kitchen Confidential” (I just used the whole name there for any people reading who might not be as cool as you and me) RIGHT NOW. All you gotta do is go here:

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL on HULU

…and you can watch each and every last episode (or at least just the pilot to try it out) right on your computer, if you please. And I do hope you do. The Kitchen may be closed, but for you? I’m sure they’ll turn the burners back on. Just for a quick bite.

Save the Date: End of the World Tomorrow

By the time you read this, the world may already have ended.

(There's something not quite right about that sentence...).

In case you haven't been following the tale of the Large Hadron Collider (I said HADRON...pervert...), or LHC, the world's largest particle accelerator at 17-miles long, gets turned on tomorrow. Well, technically, tonight, I believe, due to the time difference. I think it's 12:15am Pacific, if I'm doing my jetlaggy figuring right.

The controversial giant-ass underground atom-smasher is set to go, and everyone there at the LHC, near Geneva, Switzerland, is quivering with excitement.

Not everyone's as excited.

Because some people think the world's about to end.

There was a lawsuit to stop this thing. Why? Because there they believe it might wipe at all life as we know it. There's a chance it will create black holes right here on Earth. Very tiny, microscopic ones that will last, scientists tell us, a fraction of a nanosecond, so would be no danger at all. But as I've heard quoted, there's about a 50 million to one chance that a big black hole catastrophe event would occur, the Earth would get sucked into it, and all life would cease...puppies, theme parks, emo bands and all.

So why take the risk (that most every scientist will tell you isn't even a risk)? LOADS of reasons, the most exciting of which is the quest for a unifying Theory of Everything (Einstein couldn't pull it off...maybe our generation can), pulling the seemingly uncombinable (is that really a word?) theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity finally together. They're hoping to verify the existence of the Higgs boson, or the "God Particle", which is predicted by the standard model of particle physics but has yet to be actually observed. What they're really trying to attempt with this thing is to recreate the circumstances of the Big Bang, and to get a look at conditions when the universe was new.

I say again...they're trying to recreate the "Big Bang".

In Switzerland.

And they wonder why people are nervous. Um...because it's called the "BIG BANG"? What does that tell you?

They're also hoping to solve the mystery of "dark matter", hoping eventually to be able to observe supersymmetric particles in the lab and perhaps pierce the "cloak" of dark matter.

Does "piercing the cloak" of "dark matter" sound like a good idea? Or does is sound like something H.P. Lovecraft tried to warn us against?

Again, most scientists will tell you that it's foolishness to worry, and that the chances of something going wrong are ridiculously remote. Of course, as we all know, scientists have been hoarding knowledge for years, and are part of a conspiracy to destroy our friends - the reptilian "Visitors" - and to stop the new age of peace and enlightenment that only the Visitors can bring us (I don't mean to brag, but I have ALL the Visitor action figures AND the shuttlecraft, and signed up for the youth movement where I WILL inform on your family if you don't sleep with me...). But, that's neither here nor there. Hard numbers, again, say 50 million to one. Really, is there any chance of an outcome with THOSE kinds of odds happening?

Okay...a guy named "Billy Bob" got Angelina Jolie. You tell me.

There's debate on both sides (though it's pretty much too late for the debate change anything), and everyone's got their views, but I just have to ask this question:

Does anyone else besides me think that the idea that we've advanced so far as a society that we've created something that has a theoretical chance of destroying the world just by turning it on...

...is just hugely freaking cool?

Rock on, physicists. Can't unlock the secrets of the universe without the theoretical chance of breaking a few...okay, actually ALL the eggs. All our Y2K-ish fears aside, it's going to be a very exciting year for science.

(Or Cthulu...).

Favorite (Actual) News Headlines of the Day

Officer Shot Dead In Hair Salon Gun Fight (are they EVER going to wise up and put metal detectors in those places?)

Police: Man Attacked Farmworkers With Sausage (I'm not touching that one. The headline, or the sausage...)

Man in wheelchair robs Texas 7-Eleven of condoms (I swear, I thought I paid for them)

Police hunt high-speed skateboard outlaw (Man, I didn't know Christian Slater's career had gotten that bad...)

W.Va. man accused of drunk driving on a tractor (he'd just been in a fight with his wife. Or his sister. Or was it his wife AND sister?)

Ohio preacher, 71, avoids jail in road rage case (but sentenced to 45 hours of turning the other cheek)

Giant spider invades UK City (serious Kevin Smith fans will laugh at that and think of Superman...)

Putin saves TV crew from Siberian tiger (but sadly blows his secret identity in the process. Holy borsht! Vladimir Putin is really Former Soviet Man?!)

Vote for MY candidate. Today!!!

Getting antsy with all these political conventions and speeches and wanting to just get right out there and VOTE already? In the interest of your emotional well-being, let me offer an opportunity for you to vote for something. Right now.

My buddy Troy Hickman is a fairly well-known comic writer (that would be Eisner Award-nominated, beeyatch!), having made a big splash with his series "Common Grounds", a huge breath of fresh air that lit up the super-hero genre and got a load of critical praise (from Stan Lee, even!). His knack for creating real characters that readers really bond with and care about is uncanny, as his unconventional and amazing take on storytelling.

Currently, Troy is trying something new, and is part of something called "Pilot Season" at Top Cow Comics. This is Top Cow's second year doing this. They put out six self-contained one-shot comic stories, ones that could become a regular series. These issues act like a TV series pilot. You know the process, right? Everyone makes their pilot episodes, shops them to the networks, and then the lucky ones get picked by the networks and made into ongoing TV series (and if they get picked by Fox, they get canceled after about three weeks...). Same concept here, except the company isn't the one doing the choosing. The readers are.

Fans get to buy each of these comics off the stands over the summer and try them out. Then they go to Top Cow's site, or the Pilot Season MySpace page, and vote for their favorite. And they can vote once per day, too, so the faithful can keep coming back and pushing for their horse all summer long. At the end of things, the top two books voted for will get picked up by Top Cow and get their own series next year.


Troy's book is called "Twilight Guardian" (as you might have guessed from the photo above. I made that shirt and wore it for one of my days at Comic-Con this summer (yes, I'll eventually be blogging on that...)), and it's really fantastic (his book. Not the shirt. The shirt could have used some flair, but time was short...). It's a non-super super-hero book. It's the tale of an unusual young woman - with a particular kind of O.C.D. - who puts on a mask and patrols her neighborhood (a nine-block area that she considers her jurisdiction) each night. There's no action, no fighting, no powers of any kind. This is a straight-up character story, and a gloriously unique one, which promises to take us into the lives of all the neighbors she's keeping an eye on, and what secrets are going on behind closed doors in that suburb.

That is, if enough people VOTE for it!

I have been, daily (on my PC AND my laptop...), as have other Friends of Troy Hickman (F.O.T.H.) (We don't really call ourselves that. I just made that up. But it's a fun word to say, isn't it? Look out! Here comes F.O.T.H.!). And it's been paying off! Thanks to us and other smart people out there, Twilight Guardian hit the #1 position for two weeks in a row! But this week, it dropped to #2, which is, of course, making us all nervous (I would assume Troy most of all), fearing that the #3 book could get a last-minute surge and pass him up, knocking TG out of the running!

IT...SHALL NOT...PASS!!

(That's never not fun to say. I just used a broom since I don't have a staff).

So I decided I'd try to enlist some other voting help (that's you bloggery types), since we're down to the FINAL DAYS of voting! As in, voting ends MONDAY! So if you want to help me help out a good friend, a great guy, and a hell of a writer who put in YEARS of dues to get this far (never letting go of his dream), then please, drop by the Pilot Season MySpace page:

Pilot Season

...and vote for Twilight Guardian! And if you can remember to do so, why not drop back in each day through Monday, and see if we can put this thing over the top?

Thanks for the help, gang. WE-CAN-WIN! WE-CAN-WIN! WE-CAN-WIN!