So far, the year's been going pretty damn well. I've written four pages of a new script (part of one of my resolutions to write every day and it's gonna stick!) and seen three movies as part of two different scavenger hunts at Letterboxd.

All I really need now is a better paying job that doesn't require me to get up at three-fucking-thirty in the morning and I'm on easy street.

Can you tell if I'm happy or mad?

Not to drop a big ol' jinx deuce, but today, I turned a corner in my life of 'I'm never gonna get out of debt, much less ever have money to even pay off the stuff I'm dealing with in front of me'.

Going on Facebook, I find a post about how freelance writers are needed to provide a few articles a month...for pay! I get in contact with the person who posted the ad and they sent me an e-mail elaborating on the position.

Now, by itself, that's some pretty good news.

Cut to a few hours later. I interviewed with a company about a job and expressed a desire to work a certain schedule, one that would allow me to work two jobs with (more or less) the same income.

Training begins the week after next. I'm a little excited and nervous, as most people in similar situations ought to be, but - assuming I play my cards right - this may be the last 'worried' post I make here for a while.

No one will be seated when the robot goes topless.

A year ago today, the site Topless Robot (its name having been changed to The Robot's Voice in the year prior) printed its last article. It was a bittersweet thing, as I'd visited and posted at that site several times.

One of the features of the long-ago site was its weekly contests, where one could enter to win a Topless Robot t-shirt or some kind of prize.

Oftentimes, I thought that I would never win a shirt; other people's entries were better than mine.

Then came one day - April 9, 2011 (thank you, Internet Wayback Machine!). The weekend contest was 'Future Casualties of American Imperialism'. Basically, the people had to take a foreign property and re-package it for American audiences...as dumbed down as you could imagine.

My entry went a little something like this (taken from memory because the Wayback Machine can't do everything):

"He made you laugh in Little Nicky. He made you cry in Click. And now, Adam Sandler (and where has he been in this contest?) takes on his greatest role to date: Adam Sandler is...Blackadder. Eddie Blackadder, with the help of his sidekick and whipping boy Baldrick (Rob Schneider), must endure many trials (and groin hits) to win the heart of the bratty-yet-beloved Queen Liz (Emily Blunt, too good for this cowpie, but then, most of the actresses in his movies are). He is undermined at every turn by the pious, double-dealing Lorry Melchett (played by Ashton Kutcher, because at this point, why not?). Another of Eddie's pals is Percy Percy (Nick Swardson), who has to put up with a lot of jokes about his name. Can Eddie concoct a cunning plan to get the girl? It's a Sandler movie. What do you think? The auteur behind Just Go with It and Grown Ups delivers his finest work yet, this fall. Now, excuse me whilst I cry in the shower."

So, how did I do? Witness:

It would be the only shirt I would win, despite several more attempts. I remember trying to wear it at New York Comic Con in 2011. I wore it off the plane Friday morning and poured sweat into it while searching for my hotel. I was forced to change into another shirt by the time I found my hotel.

Subsequent attempts to wear it at Cons (C2E2 in 2013, Fan Expo Canada in 2014) have gone unnoticed. I long for the day when I get to wear it to a future convention and someone comes up to me and says, 'Man, I remember that website!' or 'What is a Topless Robot?' 

It's likely the only use I can get out of the shirt before I grow out of it. I doubt it's worth a lot of money.

"We're bad guys. It's what we do."

Suicide Squad. Long story short, the fascinating cast of characters helped to paper over its many, many, many flaws.

A long time ago (and now, in a way), I fancied myself a pretty decent editor. If I had high-end editing software and the exact know-how, I'd get to work on a fanedit. Wouldn't magically turn it into a masterpiece, but it would make the film more digestible.

Maybe, reshuffle some scenes, delete the superfluous introductions and (even more superfluous) soundtrack choices and (first and foremost) replace the anonymous score by Steven Price. It's, so far, the best underscore of any movie in the DCEU...and I still couldn't hum a note at gunpoint.

What would I replace the score with? Found music by Elliot Goldenthal. Sure, the obvious reason being that his music has a way of putting a silver lining on a DC Comics mess, but the main reason is because of this cue:

Extended from the opening cue on the official score album, listening to this just flipped a switch in me. How cool would it be to create a movie out of whole cloth and put an awesome soundtrack under it, to boot?

Yeah. This is definitely on my to-do list for 2017...or, maybe, 2018.

"And I'm still kicking! I must be on Broadway."

Now, this could just be hearsay or conjecture (widely recognized as kinds of evidence), but is it possible that someone of mild importance has been reading this blog?

How else to explain the fact that Timecop is being talked up for a reboot? (As you may or may not recall, I threw up the idea for another take on this material, once upon a time.)

I really do think this is a good idea. I've mentioned here, a number of times, that I have an affection for time travel stories. (A protagonist given the chance to change his fate? How can I not be drawn to such an idea?) I also mentioned that the 1994 Van Damme film was one of his better movies, so who knows if the new movie will adhere to that plotline? It's probably better that it didn't though. A time-travel story that limits itself seems like a waste.

I couldn't begin to conceive of what kind of story this new version would or should do. Still, I wish the filmmakers luck and hope that a strong balance of action and humor can be struck.

Hmmmm...revamp of a fascinating but flawed feature about time travel...that reminds me: it's still not too late for another version of Looper. It's really not.

Whenever things go bad, I should just look at this picture and chase the badness away. Matter of fact, that's a good idea for all of us.

Good news, everyone!

(...or, at least, the two or three other people who may or may not read this blog. None of you comment on anything remotely resembling a regular basis, so how should I know for sure?)

My new monitor arrived and it works like a charm. Hopefully, this will put an end to my parents' incessant (and unwarranted; it's not like they own the flipping thing) nagging that I put my laptop "in the shop".

"I ate a mint, before. You're fine."

As I mentioned last year, I had a blast while watching the incredible guilty pleasure Sorority Row. Despite its ungodly redesign/absorption by Moviefone, Cinematical had a nice write-up about it under the heading 'Defending Bad Movies'.

Also, I was hoping to find it on cable, but it was a Summit release and Showtime owns that license now. It was essentially a crapshoot between Showtime and Epix (which I don't have). Imagine my surprise when I checked the TV listings (as is my wont) and, lo and behold, I find it on Showtime Beyond! I'm watching it right now! What a nice surprise.