Thunderbolt

  It's been awhile. Sorry about that. I've been going through some stuff, dealing with the mental fallout of getting laid off back in March and struggling to find a new job. I'd been steadily employed for over 27 years. The last time I was on unemployment was before Sophie was born in 1999. To say it's been easy on my mental health would be a lie. It's rough out there, my friends. The jobs I'm qualified for are few and far between, especially in animation. Making matters worse, the animation industry is in flux, with fewer greenlights, and even fewer original series. Last month I took the test to allow me to substitute teach in California, and now I'm waiting for certain forms to clear.  I've been writing, though. I completed a script with a friend of mine, the first screenplay I've worked on in 9 years, when I had a psychic fracture and wasn't sure I'd ever write again. I'm very proud of this new story. Who knows what will happen with it...

We made it through the holidays and the Southern California fires, and the Epic Playlist is still going. Super Dave and I had planned to take December off, but we both missed the daily ritual of adding something new to this crazy list that we love. Inspired by Nic Harcourt on L.A.'s 88.5, the SoCal Sound, we opted for a "Pick of the Day" approach midway through December and have carried on that way ever since. That has slowed down the progress of reaching our ultimate goal of 168 hours of music (i.e. one complete week's worth of music), however, it's allowed us to slow down and give a little more appreciation to the tracks we've placed on the list. Where are we at now? 1,814 Songs and 124 hours (unless you're looking on my phone and it's 123 hours and 49 minutes. Weird). I got obsessed with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the end of January and now I'm making an effort to include all of the performer inductees. I don't know why; it gives me ...

It started as all playlists do, an occasion that justified music for entertainment. In this case, it was a couples weekend getaway back in February. Super Dave proposed that he and I provide the tunes and we started a Spotify playlist: three songs at a time, no song repeats, no artist repeats. Dave would add his three, then text me that it was my turn. I would then add my three text him back. This cycle repeated until three hundred songs were compiled, and we drove off to Mammoth with our wives. A funny thing happened, though, it turned out we both enjoyed the challenge of trying to surprise or outdo the other so much that we continued building the playlist. We made a new rule of just three songs each a day and still no artist repeats. Soon, we came up with amendments to allow duets (The Emmylou Exception), multiple songs by the same band if said band had multiple lead singers (The Beatles Exception), or if there was a lead singer replacement that changed the artistic direction of ...