Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

krisis

Krisis has been creating Crushing Krisis since 2000, writing songs since 1996, and reading comics since 1991. He is a Customer Success and Digital Brand Strategy executive, serial organizer, parent, and feminist, among other things. Based in Philly through 2017, he now resides in Wellington, NZ.

Philly feeling very Il after Geek Awards

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Still aglow from our outing at last night’s Philly Geek Awards, presented by Geekadelphia – as modeled for the cover story of today’s Philadelphia Daily News by my #blamedrewscancer compatriot and Philly digerati MikeyIl!

Oh hai! @PhillyArtGirl & @MikeyIl as cover models for the Philly Geek Awards. Photo from MikeyIl's Tumblr.

E and I mingled with some of our Twitter BFFs, and spent the ceremony adjacent to the charming crew from KeyPulp and the gorgeous award-winning duo from Talkadelphia.

Also: geeks are fucking hot. Seriously. I don’t think I have ever been to a wedding or other black tie affair boasting as many stunningly attractive and well-dressed people as last night’s event. We need more dress-up geek events in this town, pronto. (We’re already conspiring with KeyPulp on a geek dress-up dinner-party blog crossover.)

Possibly more thoughts later. Also, an interview with The Il himself in the coming weeks.

all points of the compass

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Yesterday I took one of those personality type assessments that you frequently take at work, and for once I thought it told me something useful.

The assessment suggested our personalities are divided between four predominant focuses – clearing obstacles in the present, having a vision of the future state, caring about people and their skills, and collecting and analyzing data.

Some people were clearly one thing. I was sitting next to a warrior, who only cared about crossing things off his list, and across from a nurturer, who only cared about the people around her.

Unsurprisingly, I do not have a singular focus.

However, I was the only person in a room of two dozen who was primarily focused on the next steps. I’m a planner. I want to know how present actions will be reflected in the future.

I wasn’t only that. Right behind it was my path-clearing tendency – I consider what we can do now to get to those next steps, as well as my analysis-OCD –  gathering information and data to get to those next steps.

You’ll notice a missing element: people. It turns out, in this particular rubric I’m supposedly not too concerned with others.

If there was any doubt in my mind about the validity of that assessment, you don’t have to look much farther than Arcati Crisis rehearsal. I’m always pushing to learn more songs so we can play longer sets, record video to add to our web content, add more harmony to make our songs more complex, or any number of other things that will transform us. I am fixated on the future state.

I want to get those things done, and I have my data to support why we’re doing them (in the form of song binders, spreadsheets, rehearsal videos, etc).

What I don’t do is ask, “Are you having fun?” It just doesn’t come into the equation for me. I’m having fun if the song sounded good. When the songs don’t sound good I’m not having fun. If that happened all the time I wouldn’t show up. I assume that about everyone else.  And – whether they share my dogmatic future-focus or not – it’s true.

This week, the songs sounded great. I think we were all pretty happy.

It’s not that I don’t care about others. It’s that I assume that being on a team indicates interest, and the best thing I can do to keep you interested is to always be moving towards the next step in our evolution – which means doing great work in the present.

For being a band-leader, I think my personality fits me to a tee.

the tyranny of the click

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I have never been good at playing to a click track.

[For non-musicians, a click track is a simple rhythm track that plays in your ear while you record to help you keep time. It can be as simple as a beats-per-minute setting that plays a little “beep” for every passing beat.]

For a long time that was a function of other, more major issues in my guitar playing. I was dropping beats left and right and my strums were like the thrashes of a dying man. Not lining up with clicks was the least of my problems.

I still cannot quite play to a click track, even with half a lifetime to refine my playing. Now my problem is syncopation – I so very rarely strum on all the downbeats the click usually slides away from me as I play.

Why is the click so important?

First, it satisfies the musical leanings of my internal OCD Godzilla, who needs things to be both perfect and perfectly aligned. He does not truck with deviations in speed or rhythm, and has put the nix on many fine solo recordings of mine because they ever-so-slightly sped up.

Second, for flexibility. Overdubbing, stealing riffs for other verses, patching biffed guitar solos, and dance remixes. They’re all easier when a song is recorded to a consistent click track.

Though I still can’t play to basic clicks, after a year of drumming with Zina I have no problems playing to a basic rhythm that sketches in a bit more than just the main beats in a measure. A simple rhythm on my Casio keyboard can now keep my songs in time.

That’s fine for me solo, but what about the entire band?

We’ll find out on Saturday: we have a drum engineering session scheduled with Zina. She’ll record her parts to two Filmstar songs with a metronome playing in-ear, and then we’ll all dub our parts on top of her.

In effect, we’re recording like a real band would record, which makes our house a real recording studio, and me a real recording engineer. Plus, the tracks will be a consistent speed.

OCD Godzilla is incredibly pleased.

Things To Do In Philly, 8/17 Edition

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Philly features a number of interesting things to do over the next week, and none of them are seeing my band, so let’s jump right in, shall we?

Thursday, August 18
What: Philly Ad Club Summer Social: Karaoke Cooldown
Details: 6-9p, $30 non-members for 2 drinks & snacks, Field House 1150 Filbert Street
Why? Philly Ad Club is a cool collection of local advertisers and marketers, and despite the high price tag this is a fun way to network with them. I hear there will be a cutthroat karaoke contest.

Friday, August 19
What: Philly Geek Awards, presented by Geekadelphia
Details:  SOLD OUT!, 6:30p doors, 8-9:30p show, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philly, 19103
Why? Do I seriously have to explain? Witness every blogger, twitterer, podcaster, and all-around geek that matters in the Philly online scene converse to celebrate some of the most awesome projects released in the past year. Many friends & crushes of CK will be attending, presenting, or vying for awards, including Eric Smith, Britt Miller, Annie Heckenberger, Message with a Bottle, Social Interruption, and the folks from KeyPulp.
[Read more…] about Things To Do In Philly, 8/17 Edition

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition

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Here’s a recap of the X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions out this month so far, penned by the (only?) blogger who owns almost every X-issue that’s ever been republished! Plus, a quick look at Marvel’s other collected releases.

Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll share my opinion on what’s worth buying, and recap the rest of the field. If you have any questions, just let me know – I’m happy to help. This is a supplement to my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Ever.

If you’re new to X-Men in comics form, you should read my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

xXx

Collection of the Week:
X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda Oversized Hardcover
Collects Uncanny X-Men #235-238 & #270-272, New Mutant (1983) #95-97, and X-Factor (1986) #60-62.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover debut of the 1990 “X-Tinction Agenda” crossover is as close as any single storyline collection gets to being an X-Men greatest hits collection. I already have my copy, and it is a thing of beauty.

Paired with the included classic four-issue introductory arc, X-Tinction Agenda features nearly every possible member of the X-Cast through 1990 with few exceptions (notably Xavier, Polaris, Madrox, Magik, Magma, and Mirage/Moonstar). Also, the creative team is untoppable – script by 80s essential X-writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, art by all-time greats Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee – oh, and some guy named Rob Liefeld.

As for the story, it brings together the various X-Teams after over a half-a-decade apart while introducing the island of Genosha, where mutants are abundant – as a persecuted slave-race! This collection lays the groundwork for future X-stories, including Grant Morrison’s New X-Men and the recent blockbuster Second Coming.

xXx

What other books came out in the first half of August, including a side-story book that outclasses it’s main-story brethren? [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition