You've got updates...

For nearly a month, tumbleweeds have blown through these hallowed pages. Okay, maybe they're not so hallowed, but they do appear to be pages nonetheless. Who's to say if the blog posts will come forth in high propensity again, but we shall see. It is my hopes they do, but for the mean time, let's see what's happening in my life, and more importantly, in pop culture.

My beloved car Challenger 2 was sent to the car graveyard roughly a month ago. She was just short of being with me for four years. A lady and her car ran a red light and choose my car as a perfect target. I have been searching for nearly month (one reason for the lack of blogs) and have found a nice little car for myself. Due to a lack of originality in naming cars, she shall be christened Challenger 3. It's much like the third Fast and the Furious movie. Both the movie and name are pointless, because Paul Walker is not involved.

As for my writing, I have submitted a monologue to a theatre in Iowa for a monologue festival and have also sent a screenplay to the Nevada Film Festival. I was supposed to hear in September about the monologue, and I'm guessing it's a no since we have only seven days left in this month. The screenplay I will hear about, with an accept or decline, in late December/early January. I've also finished up the first act of a new full length play and am currently working on a re-write of my first full length, Poison. And, after a journey of nearly 16 years (that's right, since the 8th grade folks), I'm approaching the finish of my fantasy novel. I hope to have a draft typed up by the end of the week, and from there, greatness. Finally, I've also continued the work on the novel I did for National Novel Writing Month last year. The first chapters are available on my blog site, under Palm Trees and Paradise. Please, feel free to take a gander and give me your thoughts.

I would talk about more personal things, you know, jobs, women, friends, etc., but who wants to be bored with those certain aspects of life. I did attend a memorial service for my aunt this summer, which also served as a lovely family reunion with many relatives I hadn't seen in years. It was a good time and there's nothing quite like drinking margaritas with family until late in the evening.

Normally, I write something witty about pop culture and do something in the style of Joel McHale. I'm saving that for a later blog...Okay, just a few nuggets of interest:

-- Hey, Entertainment Weekly, thanks for not putting Twilight or Vampires on the cover of your issue this week. Not everyone in America is obsessed with Vampires like you. 48 weeks in a row is a little much.

-- I'm not even gonna say anything about Kanye West.

-- Except hey buddy, maybe it's time to take a little break and do some proper grieving.

-- I never thought I'd miss Ryan Seacrest. When's Idol on again?

-- Just kidding. I don't miss him. I'm glad Paula Abdul is gone, though. Now she can finally go back to dancing with her cartoon cat.

-- In an act of shameless self-promotion, in a half-assed kind of way, go to youtube.com and check out my cartoon cat dance. Just search "Van Dykes + dancing cat" or maybe it's " Jason + dancing cat". I can't really remember. That's why the promotion is half-assed.

I also lost to Adam at fantasy football this week. Next thing you know, I'll be losing to Josh.

Jason H.: the tall one on the left, hidden by obscurity.