David Hopkins's Blog, page 11

05.08.09 - THOUGHT PROCESS WHILE LOOKING FOR A BIRTHDAY PRESENT

We're celebrating my daughter's birthday on Saturday. She'll be five. Last night, April and I went shopping for clothes and toys. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't find anything. I went back today during my conference period and had the same problem. I know she likes High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and Jonas Brothers. I don't think she's outgrown Dora or Disney Princesses yet, so those might still be options. From my adult perspective, all the toys seemed boring. She might play with

05.07.09 - BOOK MEME

I'm borrowing this questionaire from Stephanie Mangold.

1. What author do you own the most books by?
Douglas Coupland

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
MISS WYOMING (U.S. hardcover, U.S. paperback, and U.K. hardcover)

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Professor Grady Tripp from WONDER BOYS by Michael Chabon

4. What book have you read more than any other?
I don't normally re-read books, even the ones I like. Since I teach high school English, I read A SEPARATE PEACE onc

05.07.09 - MY CATCH-22

I'm a relatively nice guy. I don't scheme or plot against people. For
the most part, I don't wish anyone ill. I am concerned about what
people think of me. (It's not anything superficial. At least, I don't
think it is. A good reputation is the reflection of a life well
lived.) My students would say I'm fair and level headed. However, I am
an absolute bastard when people ask for advice about being a writer.
I've blogged about this complex before. It's true. I have little
patience in this area. I turn in

05.05.09 - STAR TREK AND MY THIRD DATE WITH TREY

<a href="http://www.treygarrison.com/" target="_blank">Trey
Garrison</a> called me on Saturday. He had a pass for an advance
screening of the new <a
href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/"
target="_blank">STAR TREK</a> movie. I got to be his "and guest." This
would be our third date. Trey and I first met when he read my essay in
MAN FROM KRYPTON. He liked it, and invited me to write for D Magazine.
We had lunch at La Duni to discuss, and it just happened to be
Valentine's Day. We had an

05.01.09 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME

I'm 32 today, and it feels good. My life in boring summation: Financially, things are still difficult, but it's getting better. I can see the end of the tunnel to my mountain of debt (intentional mixed metaphor). If things go well, I can be completely free of credit card debt and my car payments by the end of the year. I'm setting an ambitious goal to write full time by 2014, even if only for a few years. I'm certainly further along in my writing than when I first started. The short stories for

04.27.09 - THE NASA DISCOUNT AND NEW EMILY EDISON

Thanks to everyone who stopped by "Art 'N Go" on Saturday for the Oak Cliff Art Walk. Apparently, ASTRONAUT DAD sold very well. I got the message loud and clear: You like my comics, but you'd prefer buying them when I'm not the one behind the table. That's cool. A big thank you to Photopol for organizing such a great event. (And thank you Rozie for the tomato plants.)


photo by Ange Fitzgerald
In other news, this week, April and I are driving to Houston for Comicpalooza. Still on the guest list, so

04.23.09 - I LOVE YOU. WHY CAN'T YOU BE MORE LIKE OAK CLIFF?

I live in Arlington, and it's almost time for City Council elections -- a good time to email my representative in Place 5, Lana Wolff. I feel uninformed and disconnected from these officials. And it's a shame, because they have a huge impact on us.

I thought I'd share the email I sent to Mrs. Wolff a few hours ago.

Dear Mrs. Wolff,

I realize you may be very busy with the upcoming election. I am one of your constituents. I have lived on Ravenwood Drive for the past five years. I'm an English teacher

04.19.09 - OAK CLIFF ART CRAWL

This Saturday, April 25th from 4 PM to 9 PM, will be the first ever OAK CLIFF ART CRAWL. It will take place in various venues throughout Oak Cliff -- Art and Go, Bishop Arts Studio Co-Op, Charley Mitcherson's Studio, Decorazon, Ice House Cultural Center, Soda Gallery (!), Texas Theater, The Cube Creative, Mighty Fine Arts, and 9th Street Townhomes.

I will be one of the happy contributors.

It isn't official, but I'm fairly certain I will be set up at the 9th Street Townhomes (213 Starr St.). This

04.15.09 - I FEEL LIKE SUCH A TRAITOR.

I've come to a grim realization. Some of you arrived at this point well before I did, and some of you will never admit it.

After reading Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Buddha and Astroboy by Osamu Tezuka, Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma, Bleach by Tite Kubo, Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi, Solanin by Inio Asano, and Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, I can see that the American comic book industry, as it currently exists, is screwed.

One thing is for certain, there is no

04.14.09 - NUKING CYLONS FOR FUN AND PROFIT

I wrote this a week ago, and forgot to post:

When the series finale to Battlestar Galactica aired two weeks ago, I was worried when everyone started twittering and blogging their resentment at how it ended. I don't watch the show when it first airs; I watch it on DVD, and I didn't want anything spoiled. So I rushed through the Season Four, Part 1 on DVD -- and then downloaded the remaining episodes from iTunes. Thus, at around 1 AM, I finished Battlestar. In true hypocritical form, now that I've