Happy New Year From Evertime Realms!
Happy New Year From Evertime Realms!
Happy New Year, everyone! 2005 was a long one, wasn’t it? And often a hard one. I know I never thought I would end this year gone from the newspaper, sitting on my first comic book publication and with a girlfriend who lives 1,000 miles away. Just goes to show you, you never know what the year will bring. But for the most part, I think 2005 - for me personally - was a good year, and I’m better off now than I was when it began. I hope you can say the same, and I hope we can all say it again 365 days from now when the calendar rolls over again.
Since this is a new year, and since Evertime Realms and its affiliated websites have undergone a lot of changes over this year, I thought I would take this New Year’s Day to give you a quick walkthrough of everything we’ve got to offer here. If you know all this stuff already, just jump down to the next section, it won’t hurt my feelings. But if you’re new, you’ll appreciate this. All of these links can be found down the left-hand side of the homepage, but let’s talk about ‘em for a moment:
The premiere feature here at Evertime Realms is the new Think About It Central. This is the site I’ve established as the home of my weekly Think About It humor column, which I’ve been writing since my days at Nicholls State University back in 1997. Geez, that means next year will be my tenth anniversary. I should do something about that. Anyway, there is a new Think About It every Friday. On Wednesdays, TAIC will present my weekly Everything But Imaginary column - EBI’s home is Comixtreme.com, the comic book site where I work as columns editor and a reviewer, and each Wednesday EBI is my opportunity to wax poetic about the world of comics. And finally, beginning tomorrow there will be new content at Think About It Central every Monday - some weeks it’ll be a review of a book, or a movie, sometimes it will be a Classic Think About It column, sometimes it’ll be something else entirely. Whatever I feel like. You can find TAIC right here: Think About It Central.
Next up is the Evertime Realms LiveJournal. I began the journal in March of 2005 as an outlet to talk about more personal things - silly things, important things, whatever was on my mind, and leave this homepage for more “professional” discussions (whatever that means). The LiveJournal is updated almost every day, and can be found here: Evertime Realms LiveJournal. However, I’ve recently begun to stretch out and try to expand my personal networking zones, so I’ve established two more blogs for those who don’t use LiveJournal. All three blogs have exactly the same content, it’s just out there for more people to read. You can find the LiveJournal content at Blogspot -- Evertime Realms Blogger -- or at MySpace -- Blake’s MySpace.
At the Now Available page, you’ll find links to all of my various works that are available for purchase, including my first novel Other People’s Heroes, my second novel The Beginniner and brand new to that page, the Futurius: Tales From the Plex anthology, which includes a comic book story by myself and artist Matt Weldon.
One of the big features here at the ‘Realms is 14 Days of Asphalt. This is the sequel to my first novel, Other People’s Heroes, and was presented on this website as a serial novel over the course of nearly two years. The book is complete now, but it’s still a rough first draft. Eventually I want to see this published, but until those irons go into the fire, it will remain a free feature.
Over the years I’ve been doing this site, I’ve added a lot of content to it, and you can find it all at the Evertime Realms Archives. Among the content you’ll find on this section are archives of the frontpage updates to the site, character designs for my creations from Other People’s Heroes and 14 Days of Asphalt, archives of my Comixtreme reviews and column, plus several original short stories and scripts, all free, all available to read.
For something a little offbeat, there’s Blake’s Universal Rules of the Universe. This is simply an ever-growing list of things I’ve found to be true. Most of them are my own observations, but I’ll also throw in any quotes I feel belong. Many are kind of silly, some are poignant, but all of them, I believe, do illustrate a truth of the human condition.
And finally, for your review junkies, I’ve got two spots dedicated to you. At the What I’m Reading Department, you’ll get brief reviews of dozens of books and comic books. At the What I’m Watching Department, reviews of movies and TV shows. These aren’t updated on any regular schedule, just whenever I see or read something I feel like talking about, and whenever a new review is added, you’ll see it here on the frontpage that week as well.
And that’s about it, gang. I hope you’ll agree that it’s plenty to keep you busy - it’s certainly enough to keep me busy, but I love doing it. I hope you all have a Happy New Year, and keep coming back to Evertime Realms!
From the “What I’m Reading/Watching Department”: Extended Edition
And now for something of a New Year’s tradition for me. In an effort to show my readers what it is that gets into my head, each year I compile a list of all the movies I see and books I read during the year, and present those lists on the first update of the New Year. So in case you’re wondering what I’ve been thinking about, here you go.
First up is the reading list. This is every book, script and short story I read over the year. The only thing I don’t include are the comic books I read, because we’d be here until 2007. I do, however, include graphic novels on this list:
Blake’s 2005 Reading List:
1. Peter Pan (1911) by J.M. Barrie
2. “System Freeze” (2004) by Poppy Z. Brite
3. The Matrix Comics Volume 2 (2004) by Spencer Lamm (ed.)*
4. The Book of Changes (2004) by Robert Silverberg+
5. “Kittens” (1966) by Dean Koontz
6. “The Mender of Broken Dreams” (1996) by Nancy A. Collins
7. “All Hands” (2003) by John R. Platt
8. Noble Causes: Family Secrets (2004) by Jay Faerber*
9. Big Fish (1998) by Daniel Wallace
10. “Infinity” (1999) by Susan Wright
11. “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Feldman” (2004) by Paul Dini
12. Bone: Out From Boneville (Color Edition) (2005) by Jeff Smith*
13. Memories of Paradise (2004) by Gary Kato*
14. Firebirds (2004) by Jay Faerber*
15. Runaways: Pride and Joy (2003) by Brian K. Vaughan*
16. Runaways: Teenage Wasteland (2004) by Brian K. Vaughan*
17. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) by Gregory Maguire
18. Runaways: The Good Die Young (2005) by Brian K. Vaughan*
19. “The Case of the Nazi Canary: A Seaton Begg Mystery” (2002) by Michael Moorcock
20. Writers on Comics Scriptwriting (1998) by Mark Salisbury (ed)
21. “Wu-Ling’s Folly” (1982) by Alan Dean Foster
22. The Final Solution (2004) by Michael Chabon
23. Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 3 (2004) by Mike Friedrich & Len Wein*
24. Parliament of Whores (1991) by P.J. O’Rourke
25. The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo (2005) by Dan DeCarlo*
26. Star Wars: Survivor’s Quest (2004) by Timothy Zahn
27. The Butler Did It Again (1996) by Tim Kelly (Stage Play)
28. The Happiest Dead Boy in the World (2004) by Tad Williams+
29. “Sixty Million Trillion Combinations” (1980) by Isaac Asimov
30. The Truth (2000) by Terry Pratchett
31. “The Night of the Storm” (1974) by Dean Koontz
32. The Incredibles Cine-Manga (2005) by Eric Stein*
33. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (1995) by Frank Miller*
34. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 5 (2005)*
35. Sin City: Booze, Broads and Bullets (2005) by Frank Miller*
36. Livin’ La Vida Dorka (2003) by John Kovalic*
37. lost boy lost girl (2003) by Peter Straub
38. PVP: The Dork Ages (2004) by Scott Kurz*
39. “Ain’t You ‘Most Done?” (1996) by Gene Wolfe
40. Mary Jane (2003) by Judith O’Brien
41. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 1 (2001)*
42. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 2 (2002)*
43. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 3 (2003)*
44. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 4 (2004)*
45. It Runs in the Family (1990) by Ray Cooney (Stage Play)
46. The Complete Peanuts: 1955-1956 (2005) by Charles M. Schulz*
47. Bad Dreams (1990) by Kim Newman
48. The Pajama Game (1954) by George Abbot & Richard Bissell (Stage Play)
49. “Faith Will Make You Free” (2003) by Holly Newstein
50. Foxtrotius Maximus (2004) by Bill Amend*
51. Invincible: Family Matters (2003) by Robert Kirkman*
52. Crisis on Infinite Earths (2005) by Marv Wolfman
53. “Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor” (1999) by S.D. Perry & Robert Simpson
54. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (1993) by Frank Miller*
55. “Ring of Fire” (2004) by Mike Baron
56. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard (1997) by Frank Miller*
57. Daffy Duck: You’re Despicable (2005)*
58. Bugs Bunny: What’s Up Doc? (2005)*
59. Star Wars: New Jedi Order-Vector Prime (1999) by R.A. Salvatore
60. Prelude to Infinite Crisis (2005)*
61. The Big Joke Game (1972) by Scott Corbett
62. “The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers” (2002) by Aimee Bender
63. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (2005) by Don Rosa
64. The Dead Boy Detectives (2005) by Jill Thompson*
65. State of Fear (2004) by Michael Crichton
66. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) by J.K. Rowling
67. “Lusus Naturae” (2004) by Margaret Atwood
68. I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths (1992) by Lewis Grizzard
69. “Mebodes’ Fly” (1992) by Harry Turtledove
70. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) by Matthew Stover
71. “Beyond Between” (2002) by Anne McCaffrey
72. Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (2005) by Bruce Campbell
73. “The Woman in the Bar” (1980) by Isaac Asimov
74. Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (1981) by Gary Wolf
75. “Valosag and Elet” (1996) by Steven Brust
76. Gil’s All-Fright Diner (2005) by A. Lee Martinez
77. Sin City: The Big Fat Kill (1996) by Frank Miller*
78. “N0072-JK1” (2003) by Adam Corbin Fusco
79. The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
80. Finding Serenity (2005) by Jane Espensen
81. The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
82. Proposition Player (2003) by Bill Willingham*
83. Fables: Legends in Exile (2002) by Bill Willingham*
84. Fables: Animal Farm (2003) by Bill Willingham*
85. The Walking Dead Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
86. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) by Mark Haddon
87. “Twilight of the Dawn” (1987) by Dean Koontz
88. “The Music Between the Notes” (1999) by Steven Barnes
89. Star Wars: The New Jedi Order-Dark Tide I-Onslaught (2000) by Michael A. Stackpole
90. “Report on a Broken Bridge” (1971) by Dennis O’Neil
91. “Ghost Dance” (2002) by Sherman Alexie
92. It’s Not Easy Being Green (2005) by Jim Henson and Friends
93. Superfolks (1977) by Robert Mayer
94. “What You Do Not Know You Want” (2004) by David Mitchell
95. Mickey Mouse Adventures Vol. 1*
96. Serenity (2005) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
97. “The Return of Mad Santa” (1981) by Al Sarrantonio
98. The Colorado Kid (2005) by Stephen King
99. The Penultimate Peril (2005) by Lemony Snicket
100. Kingdom Hearts Vol. 1 (2005) by Shiro Amano*
101. Second Verse (2005) by T.J. Petit
102. The Messenger (2004) by Raymond E. Feist+
103. Showcase Presents Superman Vol. 1 (2005)*
104. “The Driver” (1984) by Isaac Asimov
105. The Hairy Horror Trick (1969) by Scott Corbett
106. Strangers in Paradise: It’s a Good Life (1996) by Terry Moore*
107. Serenity: The Official Visual Companion & Screenplay (2005) by Joss Whedon
108. “Stopp’t-Clock Yard” (1996) by Susanna Clarke
109. The Sandman Book of Dreams (1996) by Neil Gaiman & Ed Kramer (ed.s)
110. “Time For Me” (2003) by Barry Hoffman
111. The Complete Peanuts: 1957-1958 (2005) by Charles M. Schulz*
112. Casanova Was a Book Lover (2000) by John Maxwell Hamilton
113. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (2005) by Lou Harry
114. “’Twas the Night Before Solstice” (1995) by James Finn Garner
115. “Frosty the Persun of Snow” (1995) by James Finn Garner
116. “The Nutcracker” (1995) by James Finn Garner
117. “Rudolph the Nasally Empowered Reindeer” (1995) by James Finn Garner
118. “A Christmas Carol” (1995) by James Finn Garner
119. Politically Correct Holiday Stories (1995) by James Finn Garner
120. Nodwick Chronicles II: Of Gods and Henchmen (2002) by Aaron Williams*
121. The Stupidest Angel (2004) by Christopher Moore
122. How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas (2005) by Jeff Guinn
123. A Christmas Story (2003) by Jean Shepherd
124. “The Death of All the Romance” (2005) by Chad Nevett
125. “Crows Follow” (2005) by Cassie Summer
126. “The Man Who Does Not Exist” (2005) by Paolo Francisco D. Villanueva
127. “The Black Lion” (2005) by Paolo Francisco D. Villanueva
128. “Formica” (2005) by Cassie Summer
129. Futurius: Tales From the Plex (2005) by Daniel Lundie (ed.)*
130. Donald Duck Adventures Vol. 9 (2004)*
131. The Autobiography of Santa Claus (1994) by Jeff Guinn
132. The Real Ghostbusters: A Hard Day’s Fright (2005)*
133. Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle (2005) by Ron Goulart
*-Graphic Novels or Comic Strip Collections
“”-Short Stories
+-Novellas
And that’s just the reading list. Here’s all of the movies I’ve seen - this includes, I should mention, movies that I rewatched this year - I didn’t see all of these for the first time in 2005.
Blake's 2005 Movie List
1. Hit the Ice (1943) B
2. In Society (1944) B-
3. Here Come the Co-Eds (1945) B
4. The Naughty Nineties (1945) B+
5. Muppet Treasure Island (1996) B+
6. Muppets From Space (1999) A-
7. Little Giant (1946) A-
8. The Time of Their Lives (1946) B+
9. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) B+
10. Elektra (2005) C
11. In Good Company (2004) A
12. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) B+
13. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) A-
14. Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) B*
15. The Heckling Hare (1941) B-*
16. Baby Buggy Bunny (1954) B-*
17. The Iron Giant (1999) A+
18. Be Cool (2005) C-
19. Sideways (2004) A-
20. Airplane! (1980) A
21. Space Jam (1996) B-
22. Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) B-
23. Vegas Vacation (1997) D
24. Jack-Jack Attack (2005) A*
25. Sin City (2005) A+
26. Duck Soup (1933) A+
27. Horse Feathers (1932) B
28. Back to the Future Part II (1989) B
29. Ghostbusters (1984) B+
30. Sahara (2005) B-
31. Beep Beep (1952) B*
32. Going! Going! Gosh! (1952) B*
33. Zipping Along (1953) C*
34. Stop! Look! And Hasten! (1954) C*
35. Ready, Set, Zoom! (1955) B*
36. Guided Muscle (1955) B*
37. Gee Whizzzz! (1956) B*
38. There They Go-Go-Go! (1956) A-*
39. Scrambled Aches (1957) C+*
40. Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958) B*
41. Mouse Wreckers (1949) B*
42. The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996) B+
43. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) A-
44. Fairly Oddparents: Abra-Catastrophe (2003) B-
45. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) B-
46. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) B+
47. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) B-
48. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) A-
49. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) A
50. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) A+
51. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1982) A-
52. All Abir-r-rd (1950) C*
53. Room and Bird (1951) C+*
54. Tweet Tweet Tweety (1951) B-*
55. Gift Wrapped (1952) B-*
56. Ain’t She Tweet (1952) B+*
57. A Bird in a Guilty Cage (1952) C*
58. Snow Business (1953) B+*
59. Kitty Kornered (1946) C+*
60. Baby Bottleneck (1946) B+*
61. Old Glory (1939) B*
62. Duck Soup to Nuts (1944) B*
63. Porky in Wackyland (1938) B-*
64. Daffy Duck For President (2004) C*
65. Madagascar (2005) B
66. Secret Window (2004) C+
67. Team America: World Police (2004) B+
68. Batman (1989) B+
69. Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked (2003) B
70. Hitch (2005) B+
71. It (1990) B-
72. Batman Begins (2005) A
73. Toy Story 2 (1999) A+
74. Rat Race (2001) B-
75. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910) B*
76. Daredevil (2003) B
77. Fantastic Four (2005) B+
78. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) B+
79. Cellular (2004) A-
80. Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) B-
81. Short Circuit (1986) B+
82. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) C+
83. Sky High (2005) B+
84. Bad News Bears (2005) D-
85. Big Trouble (2002) B
86. Ghostbusters 2 (1989) B+
87. Wedding Crashers (2005) B-
88. The Skeleton Key (2005) C+
89. Here’s How it Was: The Making of Firefly (2003) A*
90. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) C+
91. The Muppet Wizard of Oz (2005) B-
92. Garfield’s Babes and Bullets (1989) B*
93. Garfield’s Feline Fantasies (1990) B+*
94. Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988) B+*
95. Valiant (2005) B-
96. The Brothers Grimm (2005) B
97. Red Eye (2005) B-
98. Serenity (2005) A+
99. Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005) B-
100. Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktakular (2003) B+*
101. Wayne’s World 2 (1993) C-
102. Scary Godmother 2: The Revenge of Jimmy (2005) B+*
103. Tales From the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood (1996) C
104. Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight (1995) B-
105. The Jerk (1979) B
106. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) D-
107. Mexican Hayride (1948) C+
108. The Fog (2005) D
109. Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again (2004) B-
110. Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) B-
111. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) B
112. Constantine (2005) B
113. Saw (2004) A-
114. George Lucas in Love (1999) B+*
115. Are You Ready For Marriage? (1050) F*
116. Mr. B Natural (1957) F*
117. X Marks the Spot (1944) F*
118. Hired! Part One (1940) F*
119. Design For Dreaming (1956) F*
120. Johnny At the Fair (1947) F*
121. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) A-
122. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985) B*
123. Claymation Comedy of Horrors (1991) C*
124. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) B+*
125. You’re not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972) B-*
126. The Madagascar Penguins in A Christmas Caper (2005) B*
127. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) A-
128. Doom (2005) D
129. Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) B+
130. Tales From the Crypt: From Comic Book to Television (2004) A
131. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) A-
132. Shopgirl (2005) B+
133. A Christmas Carol (1938) B+
134. Elf (2003) B-
135. Silence of the Lambs (1991) A
136. Clerks (1994) A-
137. Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks (2004) A-
138. Mickey’s Good Deed (1932) A*
139. The Clock Watcher (1945) A-*
140. Rescue Dog (1947) B-*
141. Corn Chips (1951) B-*
142. Lend a Paw (1941) C+*
143. Toy Tinkers (1949) C*
144. Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) B-
145. Three Days (2001) B
146. A Christmas Story (1983) A
147. Another Christmas Story (2003) B+*
148. The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) B-
149. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) A+*
150. It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992) B*
151. I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003) B-*
152. Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales (2002) B-*
153. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) A-
154. A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) A-
155. It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) B+
156. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) F
157. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) A
158. Empire Records (1995) B+
159. Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas (1999) B
160. Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Showed in at the House of Mouse (2001) B-
161. A Christmas Carol (1999) B+
162. Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989) B*
163. A Garfield Christmas (1987) B*
164. A Claymation Christmas (1987) B*
165. The Small One (1978) A*
166. Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952) A-*
167. Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) A-*
168. Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977) B+*
169. King Kong (2005) A
170. Olive the Other Reindeer (1999) B*
171. Yogi’s First Christmas (1980) B*
172. Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys (2005) B+
173. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) B+*
174. The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002) B-*
175. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (2000) C+*
176. The Night B4 Christmas (2003) F*
177. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) A*
178. Ornaments (2000) B+*
179. Back Ally Oproar (1948) B*
180. Book Revue (1946) A*
181. Have You Got any Castles? (1938) B+*
182. Hollywood Steps Out (1941) C+*
183. I Love to Singa (1936) A-*
184. Katnip Kollege (1938) C+*
185. The Hep Cat (1942) C-*
186. The Three Little Bops (1957) A*
187. One Froggy Evening (1955) A+*
188. You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940) B-*
189. So Much For So Little (1949) C+*
190. Bellboy Donald (1942) B+*
191. The Village Smithy (1942) B+*
192. Donald’s Snow Fight (1942) A-*
193. Donald’s Garden (1942) B+*
194. Donald’s Gold Mine (1942) B+*
195. Donald’s Tire Trouble Oproar (1943) B*
196. The Flying Jalopy Oproar (1943) B-*
197. Donald Gets Drafted (1942) B+*
198. Trombone Trouble (1944) B*
199. The Plastics Inventor (1944) A-*
200. Donald’s Day Off (1944) C*
201. Donald Duck and the Gorilla (1944) B+*
202. Contrary Condor (1944) B*
203. The Eyes Have It (1945) B-*
204. Duck Pimples (1945) C+*
205. No Sail (1945) B+*
206. Cured Duck (1945) B+*
207. Old Sequoia (1945) B+*
208. Donald’s Double Trouble (1946) B+*
209. Wet Paint (1946) B+*
210. Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest For Pappy (2004) D+*
*=Denotes a short film
Blake’s Universal Rules of the Universe!
Rule #161: No matter where you live, the weather is always better somewhere else.
New This Week:
Today’s new additions to the Evertime Realms archives, friends, are my “Everything But Imaginary” column How To Save Comics in 2006, my “Think About It” column Welcome to 2006 (2005 Plus One), and the following reviews at Comixtreme.com: JLA Classified #15 (Very Good), Silent Dragon #6 (Fair), Solo #8 (Good), Vigilante 34 (Good), PVP #21, The Thing #2 (Great), She-Hulk Vol. 2 #3 (A.K.A. #100) (Very Good)! Enjoy.
Happy New Year, everyone! 2005 was a long one, wasn’t it? And often a hard one. I know I never thought I would end this year gone from the newspaper, sitting on my first comic book publication and with a girlfriend who lives 1,000 miles away. Just goes to show you, you never know what the year will bring. But for the most part, I think 2005 - for me personally - was a good year, and I’m better off now than I was when it began. I hope you can say the same, and I hope we can all say it again 365 days from now when the calendar rolls over again.
Since this is a new year, and since Evertime Realms and its affiliated websites have undergone a lot of changes over this year, I thought I would take this New Year’s Day to give you a quick walkthrough of everything we’ve got to offer here. If you know all this stuff already, just jump down to the next section, it won’t hurt my feelings. But if you’re new, you’ll appreciate this. All of these links can be found down the left-hand side of the homepage, but let’s talk about ‘em for a moment:
The premiere feature here at Evertime Realms is the new Think About It Central. This is the site I’ve established as the home of my weekly Think About It humor column, which I’ve been writing since my days at Nicholls State University back in 1997. Geez, that means next year will be my tenth anniversary. I should do something about that. Anyway, there is a new Think About It every Friday. On Wednesdays, TAIC will present my weekly Everything But Imaginary column - EBI’s home is Comixtreme.com, the comic book site where I work as columns editor and a reviewer, and each Wednesday EBI is my opportunity to wax poetic about the world of comics. And finally, beginning tomorrow there will be new content at Think About It Central every Monday - some weeks it’ll be a review of a book, or a movie, sometimes it will be a Classic Think About It column, sometimes it’ll be something else entirely. Whatever I feel like. You can find TAIC right here: Think About It Central.
Next up is the Evertime Realms LiveJournal. I began the journal in March of 2005 as an outlet to talk about more personal things - silly things, important things, whatever was on my mind, and leave this homepage for more “professional” discussions (whatever that means). The LiveJournal is updated almost every day, and can be found here: Evertime Realms LiveJournal. However, I’ve recently begun to stretch out and try to expand my personal networking zones, so I’ve established two more blogs for those who don’t use LiveJournal. All three blogs have exactly the same content, it’s just out there for more people to read. You can find the LiveJournal content at Blogspot -- Evertime Realms Blogger -- or at MySpace -- Blake’s MySpace.
At the Now Available page, you’ll find links to all of my various works that are available for purchase, including my first novel Other People’s Heroes, my second novel The Beginniner and brand new to that page, the Futurius: Tales From the Plex anthology, which includes a comic book story by myself and artist Matt Weldon.
One of the big features here at the ‘Realms is 14 Days of Asphalt. This is the sequel to my first novel, Other People’s Heroes, and was presented on this website as a serial novel over the course of nearly two years. The book is complete now, but it’s still a rough first draft. Eventually I want to see this published, but until those irons go into the fire, it will remain a free feature.
Over the years I’ve been doing this site, I’ve added a lot of content to it, and you can find it all at the Evertime Realms Archives. Among the content you’ll find on this section are archives of the frontpage updates to the site, character designs for my creations from Other People’s Heroes and 14 Days of Asphalt, archives of my Comixtreme reviews and column, plus several original short stories and scripts, all free, all available to read.
For something a little offbeat, there’s Blake’s Universal Rules of the Universe. This is simply an ever-growing list of things I’ve found to be true. Most of them are my own observations, but I’ll also throw in any quotes I feel belong. Many are kind of silly, some are poignant, but all of them, I believe, do illustrate a truth of the human condition.
And finally, for your review junkies, I’ve got two spots dedicated to you. At the What I’m Reading Department, you’ll get brief reviews of dozens of books and comic books. At the What I’m Watching Department, reviews of movies and TV shows. These aren’t updated on any regular schedule, just whenever I see or read something I feel like talking about, and whenever a new review is added, you’ll see it here on the frontpage that week as well.
And that’s about it, gang. I hope you’ll agree that it’s plenty to keep you busy - it’s certainly enough to keep me busy, but I love doing it. I hope you all have a Happy New Year, and keep coming back to Evertime Realms!
From the “What I’m Reading/Watching Department”: Extended Edition
And now for something of a New Year’s tradition for me. In an effort to show my readers what it is that gets into my head, each year I compile a list of all the movies I see and books I read during the year, and present those lists on the first update of the New Year. So in case you’re wondering what I’ve been thinking about, here you go.
First up is the reading list. This is every book, script and short story I read over the year. The only thing I don’t include are the comic books I read, because we’d be here until 2007. I do, however, include graphic novels on this list:
Blake’s 2005 Reading List:
1. Peter Pan (1911) by J.M. Barrie
2. “System Freeze” (2004) by Poppy Z. Brite
3. The Matrix Comics Volume 2 (2004) by Spencer Lamm (ed.)*
4. The Book of Changes (2004) by Robert Silverberg+
5. “Kittens” (1966) by Dean Koontz
6. “The Mender of Broken Dreams” (1996) by Nancy A. Collins
7. “All Hands” (2003) by John R. Platt
8. Noble Causes: Family Secrets (2004) by Jay Faerber*
9. Big Fish (1998) by Daniel Wallace
10. “Infinity” (1999) by Susan Wright
11. “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Feldman” (2004) by Paul Dini
12. Bone: Out From Boneville (Color Edition) (2005) by Jeff Smith*
13. Memories of Paradise (2004) by Gary Kato*
14. Firebirds (2004) by Jay Faerber*
15. Runaways: Pride and Joy (2003) by Brian K. Vaughan*
16. Runaways: Teenage Wasteland (2004) by Brian K. Vaughan*
17. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) by Gregory Maguire
18. Runaways: The Good Die Young (2005) by Brian K. Vaughan*
19. “The Case of the Nazi Canary: A Seaton Begg Mystery” (2002) by Michael Moorcock
20. Writers on Comics Scriptwriting (1998) by Mark Salisbury (ed)
21. “Wu-Ling’s Folly” (1982) by Alan Dean Foster
22. The Final Solution (2004) by Michael Chabon
23. Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 3 (2004) by Mike Friedrich & Len Wein*
24. Parliament of Whores (1991) by P.J. O’Rourke
25. The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo (2005) by Dan DeCarlo*
26. Star Wars: Survivor’s Quest (2004) by Timothy Zahn
27. The Butler Did It Again (1996) by Tim Kelly (Stage Play)
28. The Happiest Dead Boy in the World (2004) by Tad Williams+
29. “Sixty Million Trillion Combinations” (1980) by Isaac Asimov
30. The Truth (2000) by Terry Pratchett
31. “The Night of the Storm” (1974) by Dean Koontz
32. The Incredibles Cine-Manga (2005) by Eric Stein*
33. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (1995) by Frank Miller*
34. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 5 (2005)*
35. Sin City: Booze, Broads and Bullets (2005) by Frank Miller*
36. Livin’ La Vida Dorka (2003) by John Kovalic*
37. lost boy lost girl (2003) by Peter Straub
38. PVP: The Dork Ages (2004) by Scott Kurz*
39. “Ain’t You ‘Most Done?” (1996) by Gene Wolfe
40. Mary Jane (2003) by Judith O’Brien
41. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 1 (2001)*
42. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 2 (2002)*
43. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 3 (2003)*
44. Twisted Toyfare Theatre Volume 4 (2004)*
45. It Runs in the Family (1990) by Ray Cooney (Stage Play)
46. The Complete Peanuts: 1955-1956 (2005) by Charles M. Schulz*
47. Bad Dreams (1990) by Kim Newman
48. The Pajama Game (1954) by George Abbot & Richard Bissell (Stage Play)
49. “Faith Will Make You Free” (2003) by Holly Newstein
50. Foxtrotius Maximus (2004) by Bill Amend*
51. Invincible: Family Matters (2003) by Robert Kirkman*
52. Crisis on Infinite Earths (2005) by Marv Wolfman
53. “Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor” (1999) by S.D. Perry & Robert Simpson
54. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (1993) by Frank Miller*
55. “Ring of Fire” (2004) by Mike Baron
56. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard (1997) by Frank Miller*
57. Daffy Duck: You’re Despicable (2005)*
58. Bugs Bunny: What’s Up Doc? (2005)*
59. Star Wars: New Jedi Order-Vector Prime (1999) by R.A. Salvatore
60. Prelude to Infinite Crisis (2005)*
61. The Big Joke Game (1972) by Scott Corbett
62. “The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers” (2002) by Aimee Bender
63. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (2005) by Don Rosa
64. The Dead Boy Detectives (2005) by Jill Thompson*
65. State of Fear (2004) by Michael Crichton
66. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) by J.K. Rowling
67. “Lusus Naturae” (2004) by Margaret Atwood
68. I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths (1992) by Lewis Grizzard
69. “Mebodes’ Fly” (1992) by Harry Turtledove
70. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) by Matthew Stover
71. “Beyond Between” (2002) by Anne McCaffrey
72. Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (2005) by Bruce Campbell
73. “The Woman in the Bar” (1980) by Isaac Asimov
74. Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (1981) by Gary Wolf
75. “Valosag and Elet” (1996) by Steven Brust
76. Gil’s All-Fright Diner (2005) by A. Lee Martinez
77. Sin City: The Big Fat Kill (1996) by Frank Miller*
78. “N0072-JK1” (2003) by Adam Corbin Fusco
79. The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
80. Finding Serenity (2005) by Jane Espensen
81. The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
82. Proposition Player (2003) by Bill Willingham*
83. Fables: Legends in Exile (2002) by Bill Willingham*
84. Fables: Animal Farm (2003) by Bill Willingham*
85. The Walking Dead Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars (2005) by Robert Kirkman*
86. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) by Mark Haddon
87. “Twilight of the Dawn” (1987) by Dean Koontz
88. “The Music Between the Notes” (1999) by Steven Barnes
89. Star Wars: The New Jedi Order-Dark Tide I-Onslaught (2000) by Michael A. Stackpole
90. “Report on a Broken Bridge” (1971) by Dennis O’Neil
91. “Ghost Dance” (2002) by Sherman Alexie
92. It’s Not Easy Being Green (2005) by Jim Henson and Friends
93. Superfolks (1977) by Robert Mayer
94. “What You Do Not Know You Want” (2004) by David Mitchell
95. Mickey Mouse Adventures Vol. 1*
96. Serenity (2005) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
97. “The Return of Mad Santa” (1981) by Al Sarrantonio
98. The Colorado Kid (2005) by Stephen King
99. The Penultimate Peril (2005) by Lemony Snicket
100. Kingdom Hearts Vol. 1 (2005) by Shiro Amano*
101. Second Verse (2005) by T.J. Petit
102. The Messenger (2004) by Raymond E. Feist+
103. Showcase Presents Superman Vol. 1 (2005)*
104. “The Driver” (1984) by Isaac Asimov
105. The Hairy Horror Trick (1969) by Scott Corbett
106. Strangers in Paradise: It’s a Good Life (1996) by Terry Moore*
107. Serenity: The Official Visual Companion & Screenplay (2005) by Joss Whedon
108. “Stopp’t-Clock Yard” (1996) by Susanna Clarke
109. The Sandman Book of Dreams (1996) by Neil Gaiman & Ed Kramer (ed.s)
110. “Time For Me” (2003) by Barry Hoffman
111. The Complete Peanuts: 1957-1958 (2005) by Charles M. Schulz*
112. Casanova Was a Book Lover (2000) by John Maxwell Hamilton
113. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (2005) by Lou Harry
114. “’Twas the Night Before Solstice” (1995) by James Finn Garner
115. “Frosty the Persun of Snow” (1995) by James Finn Garner
116. “The Nutcracker” (1995) by James Finn Garner
117. “Rudolph the Nasally Empowered Reindeer” (1995) by James Finn Garner
118. “A Christmas Carol” (1995) by James Finn Garner
119. Politically Correct Holiday Stories (1995) by James Finn Garner
120. Nodwick Chronicles II: Of Gods and Henchmen (2002) by Aaron Williams*
121. The Stupidest Angel (2004) by Christopher Moore
122. How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas (2005) by Jeff Guinn
123. A Christmas Story (2003) by Jean Shepherd
124. “The Death of All the Romance” (2005) by Chad Nevett
125. “Crows Follow” (2005) by Cassie Summer
126. “The Man Who Does Not Exist” (2005) by Paolo Francisco D. Villanueva
127. “The Black Lion” (2005) by Paolo Francisco D. Villanueva
128. “Formica” (2005) by Cassie Summer
129. Futurius: Tales From the Plex (2005) by Daniel Lundie (ed.)*
130. Donald Duck Adventures Vol. 9 (2004)*
131. The Autobiography of Santa Claus (1994) by Jeff Guinn
132. The Real Ghostbusters: A Hard Day’s Fright (2005)*
133. Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle (2005) by Ron Goulart
*-Graphic Novels or Comic Strip Collections
“”-Short Stories
+-Novellas
And that’s just the reading list. Here’s all of the movies I’ve seen - this includes, I should mention, movies that I rewatched this year - I didn’t see all of these for the first time in 2005.
Blake's 2005 Movie List
1. Hit the Ice (1943) B
2. In Society (1944) B-
3. Here Come the Co-Eds (1945) B
4. The Naughty Nineties (1945) B+
5. Muppet Treasure Island (1996) B+
6. Muppets From Space (1999) A-
7. Little Giant (1946) A-
8. The Time of Their Lives (1946) B+
9. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) B+
10. Elektra (2005) C
11. In Good Company (2004) A
12. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) B+
13. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) A-
14. Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) B*
15. The Heckling Hare (1941) B-*
16. Baby Buggy Bunny (1954) B-*
17. The Iron Giant (1999) A+
18. Be Cool (2005) C-
19. Sideways (2004) A-
20. Airplane! (1980) A
21. Space Jam (1996) B-
22. Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) B-
23. Vegas Vacation (1997) D
24. Jack-Jack Attack (2005) A*
25. Sin City (2005) A+
26. Duck Soup (1933) A+
27. Horse Feathers (1932) B
28. Back to the Future Part II (1989) B
29. Ghostbusters (1984) B+
30. Sahara (2005) B-
31. Beep Beep (1952) B*
32. Going! Going! Gosh! (1952) B*
33. Zipping Along (1953) C*
34. Stop! Look! And Hasten! (1954) C*
35. Ready, Set, Zoom! (1955) B*
36. Guided Muscle (1955) B*
37. Gee Whizzzz! (1956) B*
38. There They Go-Go-Go! (1956) A-*
39. Scrambled Aches (1957) C+*
40. Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958) B*
41. Mouse Wreckers (1949) B*
42. The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996) B+
43. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) A-
44. Fairly Oddparents: Abra-Catastrophe (2003) B-
45. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) B-
46. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) B+
47. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) B-
48. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) A-
49. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) A
50. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) A+
51. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1982) A-
52. All Abir-r-rd (1950) C*
53. Room and Bird (1951) C+*
54. Tweet Tweet Tweety (1951) B-*
55. Gift Wrapped (1952) B-*
56. Ain’t She Tweet (1952) B+*
57. A Bird in a Guilty Cage (1952) C*
58. Snow Business (1953) B+*
59. Kitty Kornered (1946) C+*
60. Baby Bottleneck (1946) B+*
61. Old Glory (1939) B*
62. Duck Soup to Nuts (1944) B*
63. Porky in Wackyland (1938) B-*
64. Daffy Duck For President (2004) C*
65. Madagascar (2005) B
66. Secret Window (2004) C+
67. Team America: World Police (2004) B+
68. Batman (1989) B+
69. Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked (2003) B
70. Hitch (2005) B+
71. It (1990) B-
72. Batman Begins (2005) A
73. Toy Story 2 (1999) A+
74. Rat Race (2001) B-
75. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910) B*
76. Daredevil (2003) B
77. Fantastic Four (2005) B+
78. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) B+
79. Cellular (2004) A-
80. Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) B-
81. Short Circuit (1986) B+
82. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) C+
83. Sky High (2005) B+
84. Bad News Bears (2005) D-
85. Big Trouble (2002) B
86. Ghostbusters 2 (1989) B+
87. Wedding Crashers (2005) B-
88. The Skeleton Key (2005) C+
89. Here’s How it Was: The Making of Firefly (2003) A*
90. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) C+
91. The Muppet Wizard of Oz (2005) B-
92. Garfield’s Babes and Bullets (1989) B*
93. Garfield’s Feline Fantasies (1990) B+*
94. Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988) B+*
95. Valiant (2005) B-
96. The Brothers Grimm (2005) B
97. Red Eye (2005) B-
98. Serenity (2005) A+
99. Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005) B-
100. Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktakular (2003) B+*
101. Wayne’s World 2 (1993) C-
102. Scary Godmother 2: The Revenge of Jimmy (2005) B+*
103. Tales From the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood (1996) C
104. Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight (1995) B-
105. The Jerk (1979) B
106. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) D-
107. Mexican Hayride (1948) C+
108. The Fog (2005) D
109. Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again (2004) B-
110. Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) B-
111. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) B
112. Constantine (2005) B
113. Saw (2004) A-
114. George Lucas in Love (1999) B+*
115. Are You Ready For Marriage? (1050) F*
116. Mr. B Natural (1957) F*
117. X Marks the Spot (1944) F*
118. Hired! Part One (1940) F*
119. Design For Dreaming (1956) F*
120. Johnny At the Fair (1947) F*
121. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) A-
122. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985) B*
123. Claymation Comedy of Horrors (1991) C*
124. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) B+*
125. You’re not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972) B-*
126. The Madagascar Penguins in A Christmas Caper (2005) B*
127. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) A-
128. Doom (2005) D
129. Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) B+
130. Tales From the Crypt: From Comic Book to Television (2004) A
131. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) A-
132. Shopgirl (2005) B+
133. A Christmas Carol (1938) B+
134. Elf (2003) B-
135. Silence of the Lambs (1991) A
136. Clerks (1994) A-
137. Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks (2004) A-
138. Mickey’s Good Deed (1932) A*
139. The Clock Watcher (1945) A-*
140. Rescue Dog (1947) B-*
141. Corn Chips (1951) B-*
142. Lend a Paw (1941) C+*
143. Toy Tinkers (1949) C*
144. Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) B-
145. Three Days (2001) B
146. A Christmas Story (1983) A
147. Another Christmas Story (2003) B+*
148. The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) B-
149. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) A+*
150. It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992) B*
151. I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003) B-*
152. Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales (2002) B-*
153. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) A-
154. A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) A-
155. It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) B+
156. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) F
157. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) A
158. Empire Records (1995) B+
159. Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas (1999) B
160. Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Showed in at the House of Mouse (2001) B-
161. A Christmas Carol (1999) B+
162. Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989) B*
163. A Garfield Christmas (1987) B*
164. A Claymation Christmas (1987) B*
165. The Small One (1978) A*
166. Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952) A-*
167. Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) A-*
168. Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977) B+*
169. King Kong (2005) A
170. Olive the Other Reindeer (1999) B*
171. Yogi’s First Christmas (1980) B*
172. Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys (2005) B+
173. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) B+*
174. The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002) B-*
175. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (2000) C+*
176. The Night B4 Christmas (2003) F*
177. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) A*
178. Ornaments (2000) B+*
179. Back Ally Oproar (1948) B*
180. Book Revue (1946) A*
181. Have You Got any Castles? (1938) B+*
182. Hollywood Steps Out (1941) C+*
183. I Love to Singa (1936) A-*
184. Katnip Kollege (1938) C+*
185. The Hep Cat (1942) C-*
186. The Three Little Bops (1957) A*
187. One Froggy Evening (1955) A+*
188. You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940) B-*
189. So Much For So Little (1949) C+*
190. Bellboy Donald (1942) B+*
191. The Village Smithy (1942) B+*
192. Donald’s Snow Fight (1942) A-*
193. Donald’s Garden (1942) B+*
194. Donald’s Gold Mine (1942) B+*
195. Donald’s Tire Trouble Oproar (1943) B*
196. The Flying Jalopy Oproar (1943) B-*
197. Donald Gets Drafted (1942) B+*
198. Trombone Trouble (1944) B*
199. The Plastics Inventor (1944) A-*
200. Donald’s Day Off (1944) C*
201. Donald Duck and the Gorilla (1944) B+*
202. Contrary Condor (1944) B*
203. The Eyes Have It (1945) B-*
204. Duck Pimples (1945) C+*
205. No Sail (1945) B+*
206. Cured Duck (1945) B+*
207. Old Sequoia (1945) B+*
208. Donald’s Double Trouble (1946) B+*
209. Wet Paint (1946) B+*
210. Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest For Pappy (2004) D+*
*=Denotes a short film
Blake’s Universal Rules of the Universe!
Rule #161: No matter where you live, the weather is always better somewhere else.
New This Week:
Today’s new additions to the Evertime Realms archives, friends, are my “Everything But Imaginary” column How To Save Comics in 2006, my “Think About It” column Welcome to 2006 (2005 Plus One), and the following reviews at Comixtreme.com: JLA Classified #15 (Very Good), Silent Dragon #6 (Fair), Solo #8 (Good), Vigilante 34 (Good), PVP #21, The Thing #2 (Great), She-Hulk Vol. 2 #3 (A.K.A. #100) (Very Good)! Enjoy.