Casa Cabeza in Review: Top Posts of 2024

Our last two posts will be reversed this year. We usually write something like a Christmas letter in this space this week and then do a Top Posts entry in the days leading up to New Years Eve. I still want to do that, but I need to think a bit about the State of Casa Cabeza before trying to sit down to write about it. We lived through a chaotic end to this year with much, MUCH more chaos seemingly on the horizon. I'm not totally sure how to sum all that up just yet.

With that in mind, we'll do our Top Posts of 2024 this week, and if you're interested, you can look for my State of Casa Cabeza post at some point next week.

Sally's Fit-Chick Pics

Sally has sent me a bunch of fitness photos over the past couple of days. She's only just started her own personal training practice, so a lot of the Internet marketing stuff is still new to her, but these have been a cut above what she's done before.

Pics are below. They come with a reminder that she just started an 8-week detox yoga program taught via a private group on Facebook. You can still sign up if that's something you might be into.

It's Happening!!! SUMMER DETOX SERIES begins July 6, 2020. Do you feel sluggish? Tight? Maybe a little depressed from...
Posted by Sally Head Fitness on Saturday, June 27, 2020

Sally's website is here.

Pics are after the jump.  I really liked this set.

Is Writing Even Worth It Anymore?

Yesterday's Ross Tucker Football Podcast featured Chris Horwedel, founder of The Underdog Sports.  Good interview.  Horwedel talked about getting his start as a teenager writing about sports and hosting a podcast and how he'd been a little lucky -- and obviously very good -- in terms of finding collaborators and getting his business of the ground.

5 Things on a Friday: Did I Mention That It Snowed?

Happy Friday, folks.  We’re 'bout to get our weekend started right!

Thursday turned out to be a cold day in Hell.

5 Things on a Friday: The As For Football College Football Show

Happy Friday, everybody!  Let’s go.

5 Things on a Friday: As For Football

Happy Friday, folks!  Let’s get it on.

Via Pinterest

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For much of his life, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle truly disliked writing stories about Sherlock Holmes.  Amazing but true.  Alas, the public loved Holmes, and when Doyle attempted to end the series by killing off the famous detective, Londoners went crazy.  They simply could not accept that Holmes was dead.  More to the point, they didn't care overmuch what other projects Doyle himself looked forward to writing in the future.  In the end, Doyle bowed to the public's wishes and brought Holmes back from the dead.  That decision pigeonholed his writing forever.

The XFL is Coming Back. Where to Put Its Teams?

The XFL is coming back, and I for one am delighted.  This world has long needed a minor league of professional football, there’s plenty of room for it in the spring and early summer sports seasons, and Vince McMahon and company got very close to getting the brand off the ground the first time they tried this, way back in 2001.  This despite lots and lots of issues, most of which have been well-documented.  This second go-round looks about as well-funded as the first attempt and seems far better-conceived.  With all the cable and Internet sports networks out there nowadays, and with all of them just aching for football content, the XFL appears to fill a void in the national consciousness that is in dire need of filling.

5 Things on a Friday: How to Make a Casa Cabeza App

Happy Friday, everybody!

From MTV's Celebrity Death Match

Saturday News & Notes: Tinkering with the Layout & Archives

I've finally fixed the links on the sides of the blog.  While I was at it, I added a link to the Rival Angels' "Halloween Special" that I wrote for my friend Alan Evans a couple of years ago and added an archives and a "word cloud" to help you navigate the blog's various archived topics.

My very brief stint writing for Rival Angels.
In case you ever wanted to know how I'd do as a
pro-wrestling promoter. 

5 Things on a Friday: Still Talking The Last Jedi

Happy Friday, folks!

"The beatings will continue until morale improves!"
Promotional image for Star Wars at Disney World.

Programming note: a couple of this week’s articles are about Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  These may contain spoilers.  Proceed at your own risk.

Advertising Update

Made a change to the blog's advertisement allowances.  I'd previously allowed anything (read: sports betting and various adult "dating" sites) on the theory that a) my audience is mostly adults, and b) even if they aren't, I'm still basically in favor of the corruption of the innocent.

Especially if it earns me a buck.

5 Things on a Friday: Let’s Talk about Messaging

Something occurred to me this week.  It’s this: The right way to talk about the current moment in politics isn’t to talk about the politics of the current moment at all.  In the modern world, one can find news to fit one’s worldview regardless of what that worldview happens to be.  Someone out there somewhere is reporting news with an editorial slant that agrees with whatever philosophy each and every one of us personally finds comforting.  Since people like to feel good about themselves, almost everyone has chosen to get their news from sources that make them feel some combination of smart and vindicated.

Arguing about reality is therefore pointless, and indeed, it’s becoming increasingly pointless to argue at all.  

Spoiler alert: no one is listening.

With this in mind, I’ve realized that the right way to talk about modern politics is to ignore the message and to focus entirely on the success or failure of the messaging.  In the end, it’s the success or failure of the marketing that’s going to determine the future of this country.

A Few Thoughts on Indie Publishing

A friend of mine is looking to start his own blog, mostly covering fantasy sports.  He asked me for some thoughts as he gets his ideas together, and so we've been exchanging emails.  The one below talks a bit about what's it's been like for me over the past decade-plus, and I figured I'd share it in case anyone else out there has some of these same questions.

For what it's worth, I really like my buddy's ideas, and I'm quite looking forward to seeing what he eventually puts together.

Comic Preview: Dr. Strange #1

With the movie coming in the semi-near future, it's no surprise that Marvel is also moving to put out some comics.  Dr. Strange is a character who hasn't always been able to carry his own book with overwhelming success--he sometimes struggles with sales depending on where the market is in relation to his particular backstory and skillset--but then, the same can certainly be said for the Guardians of the Galaxy, and it's not like Blade has ever been able to carry his own book.  And yet, those properties both of had movies that did well.  My sense is that if the Dr. Strange movie is as awesome and entertaining as everything else that Marvel has done, it'll do just fine.

The Secret Warriors and Other Stories...

It's obvious in retrospect.

5 Things on a Friday: Trying to Buy into the New Brand

By the time you read this, I will be enjoying some much-needed time off with one of my very best friends in the entire world.  As I type this, I'm sitting on a train headed into New York City for work, and I can't wait for the weekend.

Happy Friday folks!  Hope you have a good one.

5 Things on a Friday: Age of Ultron & Other Stories

This week's reading is
The Dark Defiles.

I feel like I’ve been a little distracted this week.  I’m reading Richard K. Morgan’s new book, The Dark Defiles, third and final volume of “A Land Fit for Heroes”.  It has sucked up all the time I usually spend writing.  The whole trilogy is an elaborate deconstruction of epic fantasy, and I've enjoyed it thoroughly.  This third volume in particular has been reminiscent of Alan Moore’s Watchmen, save that it’s not nearly as pretentious, thank God.  It's compelling, though, which is why I’ve sort of let the book take over my life this week.

I’ll review the whole series when I get a chance.  In the meantime, there was a lot of movie/comic/TV-type news this week.  Since that news beats the Hell out of news of a more serious variety, let’s talk about it a bit, shall we?

Five Things on a Friday: When Superheroes Attack!

It's been a crazy, crazy week, and not always in a good way.  Let's get to it.

***

1. When Superheroes Attack NYPD Tells Tourists to Call 9-1-1, Not Batman (Slate)

The effort by the NYPD comes after costumed characters have come under scrutiny for bad behavior of all sorts…

A Cry for Love, Found on Twitter

"I am someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, cant-live-without-each-other love."
— Naomi (@MissSmeghead) December 7, 2013

You may find that, but it doesn't come cheaply or easily.  Truth is, our love follows our effort.  People love their kids because of a burst of oxytocin at birth, yes, but also because kids are so much damned work that it's hard to walk away from that kind of commitment, no matter how hard your heart.  

Unfortunately, the reverse is too often true for adult relationships.  We want the connection to be metaphysical and instanteous.  We want it to click and be easy.  It isn't.  Not because attraction is fleeting or because the thrill of the chase fades.  Because the world is complicated, we have to work if we want to eat, and we have to take the kids to soccer practice or singing lessons.  We get exhausted, and then the simplest answer is too often to push one's partner off until tomorrow.

As humans, we live life in moments.  It's possible to work today to achieve our ends tomorrow, but that choice comes with costs.  If you are unable to make your spouse the most important person, place, or thing in your life, then what is that saying about the state of your love?  How is that love "inconvenient, consuming, cant-live-without-each-other love"?  This is why love is work.  Not because people--even our best friends--can be pains in our ass.  Rather, because making love work requires making love a priority.  

We live in a busy world with a lot of distractions.  Fact is, lots of folks just aren't up to the commitment love requires.

***

As an aside, I didn't realize that the quote above was from an episode of "Sex in the City" until after I had this response written.