A murderer of love

The headscratching about parenthood continues. In this case, why do fathers seem so scared of their daughters -- gasp! -- being attracted to boys? More specifically, fathers with young daughters growing up and being attracted to boys. Is there some sort of territoriality going on between fathers and teenage boys? What's the real fear?

As I've stated before, I'm not a parent, but I am an uncle with young nieces. I understand that one day, they won't be babies anymore. I also fully understand there will be a point when they hit puberty. I can understand parents want their kids to be as young and innocent as possible, but kids can't stay in a perpetual shell of youthful purity forever.

I see this scene frequently in commercials and movies (most recently, Dan in Real Life and Bad Boys 2): a teenager (from the ultra-niceguy to poseur bad-boy) waits at the door while a nervous father stands side-by-side with his daughter as they open the door. The scene usually ends with the door getting slammed in the guy's face.

The thing that puzzles me is that, chances are, the father slamming the door was probably that teenager at one point. Is this some form of mental hazing? Character building? Prepping for giving the daughter away at a wedding?

So I ask the fathers with young daughters who read this blog (I know there are at least four): what's your take? What am I missing here?

Spaced

If the timing is right, I should be receiving my copy of Spaced: The Complete Series a few days after I turn in all of the book corrections. That's right, the show is finally coming out in Region 1 next week. Even though I have a region-free player, I was hesitant to fork over all this cash for a show I'd never seen before. With some nice and exclusive additions to the supplemental features just for the Region 1 version, I'm glad I waited. But then again, right when the DVD set was announced for us North Americans, I went ahead and pre-ordered before I watched an entire episode.

Thanks to the world of YouTube, I've watched a few episodes and strongly believe this set is well worth the purchase. The show is filled with incredibly smart, fun, and funny stuff. It proves that Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg didn't just create Shaun of the Dead out of thin air.

I must say, a week ago, life just seemed really slow. I thought the slowness would continue for a month and a half until I received my new proofs. That was not meant to be. Now things have picked up again, but they will slow down again next week. I'm glad I have some sort of task at hand coming up. I won't just be watching the episodes; I'll be listening to the commentaries, watching the documentary about the show, and so on. Once all that is through I'll probably be getting ready to be part publicist, businessman, and recipient of guff and praise for what Post is and isn't. I don't what else to prepare for on the horizon.

Uninvited

With the book's final deadline approaching, having new neighbors/roommates move into our house has put a little strain on things. These new inhabitants are not humans though: we have a mouse living behind the kitchen oven and a small nest of newly-born birds in our chimney. For now, they're out of harm's way, but you never know. Ideas swirl in my head, as well as my upstairs' neighbors', about what we can do.

But these ideas -- more specifically, the ideas I've suggested -- sound rather morbid. I'm talking peanut butter mixed with poison in a mousetrap for the mouse, along with setting a fire in the chimney. Am I really that heartless thinking of these things?

For some reason, mice like to get into Juliet's dog food. Whatever diseases they're carrying, I'd prefer them to not get into the food we feed our dog. I'd also prefer to not hear all its squeaks as I leave for work in the morning. I'd also prefer to not smell its fecal matter burning up whenever we use the oven. So, it would be pure good riddance if this mouse assumed room temperature.

As far as the baby birds, they sound only a few days old. They're too young to be burned alive. Seriously though, their nest should be in a tree, not our chimney. Plus, they shouldn't chirp loudly as I attempt to pay incredibly close attention to Memento, especially during Teddy's lengthy explanation in the final scene. Believe me, I've tried moving their nest with a broom, but alas, no dice.

So, there's the dilemma. Are we evil in hoping to make a stand against unwanted guests/residents? It's not like I can fuss at them and ask them to leave.

14 Days

Well, this was a fast little surprise: new proofs of Post await my corrections. Looks like I have something to do this weekend. Since I can't wait to get everything done, I will start today. Everything is due in fourteen days, so the crunch time has resumed. In the meantime, for related reading, check out this interview conducted by Geoff Rickley of Thursday with Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan.

9 Fingers on You

It's not surprising that Shudder to Think is reuniting for a handful of dates this fall. If you want to get really technical, it's not a full reunion: bassist Stuart Hill will not be there, nor will original drummer Mike Russell. Pony Express Record-era drummer Adam Wade will be on the West Coast dates, while 50,000 B.C.-era drummer Kevin March will handle the others. But anyway, Adam played a few shows with Craig Wedren a few years ago, and the only major hurdle in doing a full reunion was the fact that Nathan Larson lives in Sweden.

I'm just glad that people are looking forward to seeing Shudder reuniting. Their Pony Express Record has to be one of the strangest, damaged, but awesome records to come out in the post-Nevermind craze. Highly recommended listening if you wonder how can a band go from Dischord to making even better records on a major label (see also Jawbox's two albums for Atlantic).

Coverage

We were a band for maybe two years before we were ever in a magazine. And even then, it was like, little, small mentions.

--Jason Gnewikow on the Promise Ring's coverage in the press.

People frequently ask me how I'm going to promote Post once it comes out. Well, I say I've been promoting it for years. This blog was originally started to track the writing progress. Course, lots of other things to talk about came up along the way, making the blog what it is now. But as far as farther-reaching promotional efforts, the operative word is "organically."

There's nothing worse than a crappy piece of work getting a major push in the media. On the other hand, it sucks when there's something great that is impossibly hard to find. In the back of my mind, I thought about how I got into the bands I featured in the book. None of the bands got the mass-exposure treatment. I didn't flip open an issue of AP or Guitar World and find an extensive, multi-page piece on any of the bands. There were small mentions here and there, but intriguing enough to make me want to track down the band's music.

To me, there's something very cool about Aaron's plug in the recent issue of Revolver and his blog beyond the fact that it's a plug. It's the nature of the plug. How Aaron introduced me, and several other people out there, to the Get Up Kids and Braid was through small mentions in AP. There was enough information presented in those mentions that piqued my interest. People can rag on AP for being a Circus-like buyer's guide for the Warped Tour audience, but back in the late nineties, it was the only way for me to hear about pop-punk, post-hardcore, and obscure indie rock. I get the sense it's still serving that purpose for a lot of teenagers and college students.

There are plans to do some coverage on a few sites that have a pretty wide range of coverage. Which ones those are, I won't say at the moment. It's more a matter of, see what happens. I of course will post the links. I'm also kicking around the idea of a book release party here in Dallas. I'm trying to do all promotion on the cheap, hoping that the people who really like the book will simply pass the word along to other people that might want to read the book.

At this point, I want to release the book and not fear cracking it open and finding a major typo. On top of that, I really hope the people I interviewed don't have similar thoughts and feelings like a certain family that was interviewed for a certain book I'm almost finished reading. It would truly suck after spending a number of years researching and editing hoping to leave no stone unturned and get a response like, "The whole thing is completely wrong." But that's to be found out at a later date . . .

Mind the Doors!

Completing the trifecta of my newest Doomed Moviethon reviews: here's my review for Silent Rage and my review for Death Line, aka, Raw Meat.