Anniversary Song

Hey ho, Judgment Bunny! :)

Realized belatedly that PULP just churned out its 50th issue: the one, unfortunately, with the 6cyclemind cover feature. Despite an electronica feature by yours truly and your always-reliable reviews section, it is, quite possibly, one of the most lackluster issues in recent memory, seemingly devoid of enthusiasm and riddled with typos and outright mistakes. (On the bright side, I finally got to use the word "lackluster" -- one of my favorites -- in this blog). It's too bad. After all, being the comics collector that I am, I've always been a sucker for the landmark issue numbers. "Spectacular 50th Issue! Collector's Item!" "Double-sized 100th Issue Extravaganza! Unbelievably Special Guest Stars!" "Mind-blowing 300th Issue! You are 30+ Years Old and Still Reading the Same Titles!"

And on the heels of that belated realization comes galloping the fact that, counting my first freelance forays, I've been writing for PULP for over two years now. Amazing, considering that prior to this job, the longest I had been employed was two months (not counting my stint as columnist/contributing editor at LegManila). It's still fun, this job; I'll always enjoy writing about music and interviewing musicians (um, depending), but if the criteria for staying with something is whether you're still learning or not -- as a wise friend once told me -- well, I have to wonder.

I pitched what I believed were some nice ideas some months ago for the 50th and/or our 5th anniversary issue this December -- including an artist/industry-based survey of the 5 best (not best-selling) albums of the past 5 years, accompanied by little interviews/features for the top 5 ranked (admittedly, a very Q or Rolling Stone-esque thing to do) -- but they got shot down without being considered very carefully, I thought. Even Joey and Peach seemed to like the suggestions, but as we know, only one person, ultimately, calls the shots. Ho well. As I always end up telling myself, it's not my money, and it's not my magazine (if it were, I'm guessing Slipknot wouldn't be on the cover... not that I have anything against Slipknot. I guess I feel about them the same way Joey feels for, say, the Stone Roses).

Am just rambling, now. Better to sleep it off. And to all a good night.