The world is quite mad right now, isn’t it? People are staying away from each other. Cooped up in our houses. Scared. Anxious. Some of us have lost work, or have been working from home. Too many people are ill and WAY too many have died. It’s all a surreal nightmare that we won’t wake up from for a while.
I am currently working at the house. My office is the library and my desk is the Ikea table we use for game nights. There’s a blanket next to my laptop so the cats have somewhere to plop down and not bother me. And lick their butts, apparently.
I’m trying not to freak out about everything, but it’s not an easy task. Focusing on the positive parts of it helps. For instance, no social anxiety! Pants are optional! Doing chores at lunch! So many movies and shows to watch! Factiming friends! Cat snuggles up the wazoo!
How are you doing? Let me know in the comments. Hang in there. Be safe. Reach out if you need to.
“Yes, it’s one of the basic truths of the universe,…Things don’t disappear. They just change, and change and change again.” – Jim Henson
Good afternoon, evening, morning, or witching hour to you. Things have gotten awfully WILD in 2020, huh? My last post was a recap of spending all day at a pop culture convention, with wall to wall strangers, shaking hands, touching, nudging, and who knows what else. Sounds extremely reckless and dangerous considering where we are now, eh? Yeah. To say humanity is a bit ON EDGE is mild at the least. We’re all dealing with this virus as best we can. We’re all suffering. In minor and major ways. If I could give everyone a giant, soft, comforting, socially distant hug I would. In the meantime, let me give you something to please your earholes and your ha-ha reflex. Go, subscribe to Belle and Dubs In the Morning!
How do I describe this immensely fun, silly, smart, pop culture appreciative scripted dose of episodic goodness? Well, let me ask you some questions:
Do you enjoy laughing at things like butts and weiners?
Are you a fan of Grand Theft Auto? Red Dead Redemption? College radio?
Do you like music? Enough that you’d get references to songs and bands and lyrics and the like?
If you answered yes to any of those, this will be a hell of a ride for ya. My friends Justin and Jennie worked their asses off to create this amazing project. They recruited a bunch of hilarious people to take part too – including me! I suppose I can be hilarious. Right? RIGHT. I had a complete blast being a small part of it. Look how much fun we had!!
I admire people who can stay motivated to do creative things because I am lazy and have trouble doing more than consuming art (unless something gives me a super inspirational kick in the butt). Do yourself a favor and get in on the Belle & Dubs action. The second season has just started – Why are two college radio personalities from San Andreas, CA all of a sudden in a sleepy western spot called Strawberry? Tune in to find out.
I had a really great day last Saturday. Getting away from all of the terrible, anxiety-inducing current events was so incredibly necessary, and I had the best person to do it with – my friend since junior high school, Teri. She’d never attended a pop culture convention before, and it was so fun wandering the floor and gawking at the TONS of people, things, costumes, art, and insanity through her eyes. Eventually, we met up with Teri’s daughter Chelsi, and she assisted us in identifying all of the anime characters strolling past. It was Chelsi’s first time at one of these big-time cons as well; I adored how she plucked up the courage to walk up to so many celebs and tell them what they meant to her. Something I couldn’t bring myself to do! She chatted up Barry Bostwick, Gilbert Gottfried, Jason Mewes (who is a great selfie taker), and Sean Gunn. With a bonus appearance from Michael Rooker, who ended up giving us great hugs. Thank you for your bravery, Chelsi! By the way, go check out her art on Instagram – you might see her at a con selling her gorgeous prints soon! Here are some highlights of the day:
First off, this photo op with Neville Longbottom himself, Matthew Lewis!
Posing on a battle cat with Negan’s bat!
Meeting Sean Gunn and chatting about cats (and loving Elizabeth Warren).
Purchasing some lovely art from awesome creators! Cat postcards from Emi Lenox and Loki print from The Chalk Geek
Taking in the fresh air of RVA and having delicious sweet & sour tofu at K-Town Kitchen & Bar
Face-to-face hellos with two online friends, who are super nice and also had booths at the con! Go buy stuff from them! ArtOfTysthet and A Dog’s Life Comic
Having a geeky escape day rules. Especially with the best people.
You know what? This week has been incredibly depressing. Robin Williams, one of the most gifted and treasured actors on this planet passed away. He gave so much to this world, through comedy and the movies/shows he performed in. Not to mention the fact that he was also a really great human being who did a lot of nice things. In addition to losing a fantastic artist, the news gave us some horrible displays of humanity’s darkness. Racist, abusive police forces in small town America? Check. Clashes in the Middle East? Uh-huh. Some asshole MMA fighter beating the shit out of his girlfriend? Great. Corrupt politicians? Natch. It was too much to take!!!! So here are the things that kept a smile on my face and reminded me how much awesome there is on this ball of life we call Earth……
1. Daniel Radcliffe. The boy who was Harry Potter has grown up to be charming, funny, good looking, humble, and adorable. Listening to his episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast made me grin. The fact that he can name every starting quarterback in the NFL is weirdly impressive to me for some reason. I don’t get sports, but hey. I also watched this video of Dan surprising fans after a screening of his new film, What If – it’s too cute.
Giggity, Daniel, giggity I say.
2. Lee Pace. The tall drink of water that is Lee has been all over the place lately. On movie screens as the psycho Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, on the internet (he recently joined Twitter, yay!), and on AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire. I finished the first season about an hour ago (I sure hope there’s a season two, y’all), and damn. It just got better and better, and the ending really left me wanting more. Sure, it’s a great drama about the 80s’ computer revolution, but Mr. Pace is dreamy as all get out.
3. Andrew W.K. WTF?! Meri, are you talking about the Party Hard guy? YES I AM. He’s the king of positive partying. We should all strive to be like him. His tweets are majestically uplifting, and he wants nothing in this world except super duper harmonius fun. How can that be wrong? Read his weekly advice column – This is a great one! And if you ever see him live (I did back in… 2001 or 2002?), it will turn you into a Tasmanian Devil of celebrating.
PARTY TIP: The evil in this world wants to break our spirit, make us lose hope, and exhaust our belief in joy and love. We won't let them.
4. My friends, man, and cats. I got to eat pizza and chill with some of my pals this week. I brought home some veggie burgers and fries so me and my hard working honey could have a fun dinner and watch Twin Peaks episodes. I got lots of snuggles with Isobel & Selina, but mostly this turd (Ollivander):
What’s kept you from turning to the Dark Side of the Force lately?
Meri's World 