Friday, October 16, 2015

MY OTHER BUCKET LIST

Most of you know I have a 200-plus-item bucket list of the things I want to write before I kick the bucket. However, I have another, less focused bucket list, which I have cleverly named “My Other Bucket List.” The items on that list include actual goals, flights of fancy, life-hacks and downright silliness.

I started keeping this list on September 1 of this year and started posting each day’s item on my Facebook page and on Twitter. People seem to enjoy them, so, once a month, I will compile them into one of these bloggy things for your edification and entertainment. I’ll also elaborate on some of the items.

We begin...

September 1: Be interviewed by Rachel Maddow.

September 2: All my books and movies and stuff so organized I could find anything I want in under ten minutes.

September 3: I’d like to meet Katy Perry and make her a proposition and not the one you think, you perverts.

September 4: Work with experienced cosplayers, cosplay at a comics convention, write about it.

September 5: A gorgeous celebrity posts a video asking me to be her prom date. [Naturally, me being a happily married man, this would be a platonic date. Still, recognizing how special such an occasion can be, I would allow a kiss for the photographer, a good night kiss and, if my date were overcome with desire, a quick grab of my ass. But only one.]

September 6: Make a yearly visit to Disneyland in late January and then hang out with my L.A. friends for a week.

September 7: Be shot by Cleveland rock photog legend Janet Macoska and not be self-conscious about it. [You should buy Janet’s amazing book: All Access Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Photography of Janet Macoska. You’ll want her to take your picture, too!]

September 8: Watch everything that’s currently on my DVR and then start watching the hundreds of unwatched DVDs I own.

September 9: Create a medley of songs to the tune of “It’s A Small World” & have it performed by professional singers at a convention.

September 10: Spend an afternoon talking comic books old and new with Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert.

September 11: Find that balance between my strong convictions and my anger that will allow me to convince those who disagree with me.
 
September 12: Get a new cell phone and master it. My current phone is so old it has a rotary dial.

September 13: Move from Medina when Barb retires. The elitism and right-wing stupid gets stronger here every day.

September 14: Convince Barb we need a big friendly dog who can help me solve mysteries.

September 15: Teach myself how to write a screenplays for movies, TV shows and cartoons.

September 16: Walk my lovely daughter down the aisle when she finds the right guy. Happy birthday, Kelly!

September 17: Make enough money to become more productive. Office manager? Paid assistant? Tony clones?

September 18: Be able to afford donating to worthy causes in comics community. Been a while since I could do that.

September 19: My work excites me so much I sometimes can’t sleep. I want to feel that way until the day I die.

September 20: Feel like I’m 50 by the time I hit 65.

September 21: Accept that I will disappoint some people. Strive to disappoint as few people as possible.

September 22: Including things I want to write, I have a 300+-item things to do list. I want to get it down to 250 by year’s end and 150 by end of 2016.

September 23: Be a panelist on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

September 24: Train myself to let the answering machine answer all phone calls and only pick up when it’s someone I actually want to speak with.

September 25: Spend some time each day in quiet contemplation of the world and wonders around me. It just looks like a nap.

September 26: Over the next three months, read the novelizations of 1960s monster movies Gorgo, Konga and Reptilicus. I’ve owned these paperbacks for almost two decades!

September 27: I feel a growing connection to the world of B movies. I want to explore that connection and that world.

September 28: Begin hosting monthly Bizarro Massaro movie nights in honor of my late friend Dave. But where he would show classic movies, I would show films like Zombeavers.

September 29: Accept that sometimes I will disappoint myself and, when it happens, I need to get past it and move on.

September 30: Always embrace the joy in my life. It’s bigger than any of the hardships.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

5 comments:

  1. >> I feel a growing connection to the world of B movies. I want to explore that connection and that world.<<
    I suggest you check out the Vortex's Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/185585911469799/) and its website (http://horrorhost.net/ or http://original.livestream.com/allhorrorhosts).
    They're a bunch of B-movie fans who livestream public domain movies every night, introduced by various hosts in the Ghoulardi/Elvira style who intersperse goofy/funny/informative bits. There is a live chat that takes on a Mystery Science 3000 tone during the movie.
    My brother-in-law does one every 4th Monday and has included Mr. Silver Age as a special guest, talking about horror comics once and the Top 10 Comics Heroes and Villains of Cold (during a series of icy sci-fi movies).
    You might enjoy the wackiness--and might even be able to combine your list numbers for Sept. 27-28!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful list, Tony. I hope you will always feel excited about your work and find a lot of joy in your life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, come on, don't be so elitist....I like to think that Zombeavers IS a classic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ron...In its own way, Zombeavers is a classic. It also has an amazing theme song that gets Tony's toes to tapping.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Zombeavers has become, for me, one of those movies like Night of the Living Dead, that I'll turn on late at night on Netflix and have it play in the background while I'm working on some project. I agree on the theme song; it has kind of a catchy Bobby Darin thing going for it.

    ReplyDelete