Posted on General

State of the Deadpan

State of the Jack, September 2024.

Jack Mangan has been really low key in 2024. What gives? Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

 I actually have a lot going on. 

Metal Hall of Fame: I’m still very active with The Metal Hall of Fame, writing meaningful articles about Metal’s Past and Present, keeping the website content as updated as I possibly can, and participating in board discussions with great people. Pat Gesualdo (the CEO) is driving something amazing and I’m proud of the work we’re doing. I look forward to the gala event every year.

MetalAsylum.net: Rich Catino and I are rethinking the best way to run his creation in the 2020s. We want to continue to support the great new wave of Heavy Metal bands as well as the classics, we’re just trying to do it in a different way than the past. The PR pros in our networks are fantastic people. I have always loved weeding through the new releases they send out and finding cool stuff to review. Rich and I are still onboard to do our part, we just want to do this in a fresh and still-relevant way.

What about the Livestreams? Man, I miss doing the Livestreams. Some of you do too, I hope. I’ll simply say this: I fully intend to return to Livestreaming, much in the way that we used to. Schedules have been difficult for a long time, but I do plan to get my ugly mug back to talking music in your Facebook and YouTube streams in the near future. Did you see that Kix interview? Or when I talked to Frank Bello? We had a great crew of regular participants in the past, we’ll get whoever’s willing to jump back on and rejoin us when the time is right.

Through it all, I’m still digging (discovering? studying?) new and old music as much as ever, and doing my small part to promote the artists that I care about through the avenues available to me. My earbuds are always full. 

Spherical What? I’ve been sitting on a completed, full-length novel, entitled “Spherical Heart.” Tomi’s story is finally told. I will probably self-publish, rather than go through the traditional New York publishing. I did self-publish “Creature of God,” an old short story of mine unrelated to “Spherical.” I didn’t promote or track it as well as I should have, but I got some nice responses. I’d like to do more indy work in the future. Fiction writing is still strong in my past, present, and future.

Am I Evil? My “Am I Evil?” graphic novel (based on the Diamond Head song, famously covered by Metallica) has been out in the world for over year now. I’m so proud of this book. I have not done much to market and generate sales; for now, it’s just a special release. I’d like to revisit this in the future. My sincerest thanks to all who helped make that happen. We still haven’t fulfilled the t-shirt perk. I know.

Final vague note: I do have a very exciting new venture in the works – – mostly-unrelated to any of the above, but I need to not sacrifice any of the above things to get it to launch.

Other personal stuff.

I started 2024 with an exciting career change, which went into full effect in March. My new dayjob role has been rewarding and challenging, but it’s also taken up a great deal of my time and mental energy. 

Family. Nothing is more important than family. My youngest has the most amazing mind and personality. My older daughter is a fully independent, responsible college student/adult. She is also one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known.

The greatest heartbreak of my life is as painful today as it was 8 years ago, and beyond. 

–

Final thing: I draw pictures for my daughter. I’m nowhere near pro-level, but I’m better than I ever thought I’d be. I usually look up a picture online and do my best to copy it. NO AI.

128 thoughts on “State of the Deadpan”

  2. Appreciate all the updates and fresh page. Deadpan rides again.

    And, while I’m sure we’re not doing anything for 2024 in terms of a meetup, 2025 isn’t too far away.

  7. Thanks. I had intended to put something in the status update about MMMmmmeetup planning, but it was already too long.

    I miss you guys, and it’s been way too long. Let’s really see what we can do about getting together next year.

  14. Today in D & D, after half a battle, we found the main bad guy recovering in a pub. I rolled well enough to sneak up behind her and strap her in the back of the neck, killing her instantly.
    Of course, in celebration, I then went behind the bar and poured myself a whisky while the rest of the group did clean-up.

    • Both this and Captain America 4 look like returns to the “Superhero Espionage” style, which Marvel has done well a few times in the past.

      I guess we’re done with Kang and that multiverse thing then?

  21. Headlines are odd things. How sad for Jared Harris to not only be unimportant enough in this article writer’s mind to be referred to only as Richard Harris’ son, but to not have his father thought of as important enough to be referred to only as “original dumbledore actor”. Kind of a slap in the face on both counts. Side note: why should we care what the relative of someone involved in the original series thinks at all? This is news?

    https://geektyrant.com/news/original-dumbledore-actors-son-questions-hbos-harry-potter-series-why-do-it-the-films-were-fantastic-leave-them-alone

    • We care a lot about what celebrities think! The interesting story here is that the son of the original actor was considered for a major role.
      Did I ever know Jared was Richard’s son? That’s interesting in itself. He’s really good, and has made a good film career for himself.

    • Thanks for the thoughts! We’re in a zone of lesser impact. 10% probability of sustained tropical storm force winds. We’ve cleaned up anything loose in the yard and I’m going to fill one (5 gallon) tank of gas in case we lose power and I need to run the generator. But we aren’t expecting too much more than what we would get in a sever thunderstorm. Best to be prepared anyway.

    • I check out IMDB and boy are the reviews all over the place. I wasn’t planning on watching this in the theater anyway, but I might watch it streaming. I have a greater tolerance for psychedelic themes than most viewers, so maybe I’d like it.

  33. Another husbandless evening.
    I complain now but I know, in nine months, I’ll start grumping about how I never get time to myself anymore

  35. I’m watching the first episode of a new series on Netflix (Nobody Wants This).

    It’s a romcom but it’s another show showing pushing that doing a podcast is the way to riches. I mean like being a big selling author a few do that but for the majority..not so much.

  36. Oh and I’m still pissed that the government changed the rules of the works pension scheme back in 2012 so that means I’m still working rather than being retired.

    Yeah, never going to stop being mad about that.

  37. I’ve started listening to the original “War of Worlds” on Audible as narrated by David Tennant. I’m enjoying it so far. It made me curious if there had been any period-accurate movie adaptions. There have been, but they are universally considered bad. Seems like a missed opportunity.

  41. And…. since there’s new-to-me Saga out there, I’ve started reading from the beginning. Man, this is simultaneously the most juvenile, brilliant, unputdownable, heart-rending, gripping, compelling storytelling in all of comics.
    There are things in issue one that payoff 60+ issues later.

  44. JW: Bring Him to Me

    In a change from a film shot in the UK pretending to be the US this is a film shot in Australia pretending to be the USA.

    • Sadly, what is going on in NC still won’t wake the deniers up to the fact that Global weather change effects even those who live a long way from any ocean.

      Sadder still is that the weather simply doesn’t care if they believe or not.

      • There’s apparently a lot of “screw ’em, they’re just dumb hicks” sentiment out there. I’ve not seen it myself, but it’s still appalling.

  47. I have reached the conclusion that if you actually tried to live in the moment, live as though there might not be a tomorrow, it really pisses people off.
    What they really mean when they say “live in the moment “is they want you to live in THEIR moment.

  49. Well, the world just got a bit scarier.
    Faith can be a beautiful thing, but man, religions so often go into extremes and cause so much harm.

    (RE: Iran launching a huge missile attack)

    • Even in the days before hyper political hysteria, this would have been seen as pathetic (if, say, someone in 1989 had bought a Madonna souvenir and smashed it). It feels even more pathetic nowadays, though.

  57. Most excellent news!
    LVCRFT
    Dropped a new album on Oct 1st

    Haven’t listened yet but I’ve been listening to their previous stuff and think it is great fun.

    LA based studio/backing musicians that decided to get together occasionally to do “modern” Halloween/Spooky vibe music.
    A wide variety of “sounds like” because they all right stuff from the genre they usually perform.
    If you try it, keep in mind their 4th album was meant to be soundtrack material and as such, isn’t like the rest. I haven’t listened to that one though so I can’t report.

    • Ah ha.
      I am not very quick.
      I was three songs into the new album when I suddenly realized what the name meant.
      “Under the Covers”

      So not like their previous 5 albums but still some nice takes on old songs.

  61. No, I didn’t watch last night’s debate either. People widely felt that Vance performed well, but that his lies and “You promised not to fact-check me” quote are curdling under postgame analysis.

    Anyway, this quote made me laugh: “JD Vance had the energy of the guy they bring out to talk financing when you’re buying a car who only looks at your husband.”

    • Didn’t see it either but I heard it showed just how dangerous the P2025 people are when that message is coming from a used car salesman, slick, non-addled brained package.
      The person who should be most afraid of Vance is trump himself. Should the courts put them in the White House after the election challenges, Trump will just be in the P2025 folks way.

  63. Fun, memorable concert tonight! Rhett and I were right at the front of the stage for Accept and KK’s Priest. We were close enough that we were dodging Flying Vs.

    • Overall we enjoyed S2 as well. I can appreciate some of the complaints, but not enough that it ruined anything for me. Hopefully they push forward with the other seasons.

      It was certainly better than S2 of House of the Dragon, there I said it!

      • I’ve only seen the first 2 episodes of Rings of Power S2 so far and I haven’t come close to watching S2 of House of Dragons yet. I jump from streaming service to streaming service and binge what I can. I just restarted AMC+ for a bit to see S2 of Walking Dead Daryl Dixon and it comes with Shudder. Shudder means I get to watch more Last Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs. I have to squeeze as many of those in as I can. Then I can go back the other ones as my Amazon Prime and Hulu subscriptions are more permanent. I also still want to watch Agatha All Along. Then it will be onto all the new seasons of other shows as they come out (like Squid Games, The Boys, etc). Too many shows, not enough time.

  77. My feet are aching after a long day at the SD Zoo. The pandas are back! But the highlight was probably the fennec fox.

    I thought of Ryah in the tarantula room. A few of them were truly terrifying.

  78. When I do beta readings for friends (I only do them for friends) I usually end up giving pages and pages of notes. I often feel guilty about it but people come back so I guess they like it. The last beta read I did for a friend I didn’t think the book was very good so I skirted around that and just gave technical notes, which still came to over a dozen pages. (maybe people enjoy reading a romance that feels like it was written by a 13-year-old boy? But then again, I’m not a big romance person so that might’ve clouded my judgement )
    So this time they asked me to beta read another story and I said no. I feel a little guilty about it.

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