Saturday, December 31, 2016

Out with the Old



For a lot of folks, 2016 can't end quickly enough. And I'm not going to argue otherwise. It's been a dark year. There have been more deaths (both celebrity and personal) than seems possible to deal with. And the US Presidential election accentuated how divided the country has become.

I have lots of thoughts on both of those things, but I don't think that this blog is the place for them, except for maybe one exception. Carrie Fisher's death hit me pretty hard.

She was a huge part of my childhood, but one of the things I love most about having new Star Wars movies isn't that I got to see more Leia Organa. It's that all the interviews gave Carrie Fisher so many opportunities to display her fearless honesty about how she saw the world. Whether she was making jokes to Colbert about having to lose a fourth of her weight for Force Awakens (so the "fourth" wasn't with her) or sharing her experiences and wisdom with Daisy Ridley, the Carrie Fisher I saw over the past year is the one I mourn most. That's the lady we need more of. And that's why her death really punched me in the heart.

But for the most part - for me, personally - 2016 has been a pretty good year. I got to take a trip to Tallahassee where I grew up, so I was able to reconnect with a lot of old friends and introduce them to Diane and David. I also got to spend some good (if too little) time with Nerd Lunch's Carlin Trammel and his family and also the ever-awesome Paxton Holley.

And speaking of the Nerd Lunch fellas, 2016 was the year when the podcasting bug bit deep and I co-launched three new shows: Mystery Movie Night (with my pal Erik Johnson and a bunch of my family members), Hellbent for Letterbox (with Pax!), and Greystoked (with my buddy Noel Thingvall).

I didn't get as much writing done as I'd planned to, but I'm working on a pitch with a very talented artist and work is progressing on the Kill All Monsters omnibus re-scheduled for 2017 from Dark Horse. Hopefully, I'll be better next year at integrating writing and podcasting, because I love both of those things.

I saw a bunch of movies, too, but that's a subject for another post. Or series of posts, because that's how I like to spend my January. Here's hoping that 2017 is a better year for everyone. Happy New Year.

5 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Out with the old bag in with the new floozy from the look of things. Have you no shame?!

I think those of us who Leia as young boys were provided with our first crush. We're going to be recording a Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia tribute on Geek Fallout this week. Theres going to be plenty to say for sure. Chris Lockhart must have been listening to our shows because he's luring me back in with a laundry list of movie based discussions.

I'm right there with you on feeling like I didn't get enough done this year, especially after meeting and collaborating with a number of talented people over the summer. I've been tinkering with new years resolution habits since the start of December so that I can figure out what personal improvements I can actually implement for 2017.

See you in January!

Wings1295 said...

Agreed! On what? A lot! LOL

When I saw people posting pics of Carrie Fisher as young Leia, I get that they are associating the two deeply. But I wanted to see the General Leia, the mature and "this is me" Carrie Fisher. You are right. We need more like her and she will be sorely missed.

I don't like that we are entering an age of our lives (since we seem generally in the same age range) where people we grew up watching, as slightly older or almost peers, are now going to be dying. I fear the myth of "2016" is just going to become the pop culture norm.

All said, here's to a better, less dreadful 2017. Let's hope we are all here to see 2018! Take care & good happiness and health to you and yours, Michael.

Michael May said...

Thanks, man! To you and yours, too.

And you, too, Erik!

Joe, your comment about the Myth of 2016 exactly describes some thoughts I've been having. I would love to think that 2016 was a fluke, but I'm not optimistic.

Anonymous said...

I'll refrain from revealing the ugly truth that I was never a fan of Star Wars - it'll end up like the election all over again.

I'm glad to done with 2016 - better to be moving forward than standing still doing and gaining nothing. We all have a choice in how we view this next year (or four) and I plan to go into with nothing but self-involved optimism. You can cut the tree down but no matter how it ends up it still provided some benefit (you may have to go real deep on this one).

Cheers! to one and all in this new year of new achievements.

Michael May said...

Cheers to you, too, Emma!

I very much appreciate your optimism. And I share it, too. I agree that we can get through this and be better people.

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