Boston: Get Out and Love This City

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I was flying from Denver to Dallas when all the shit when down yesterday.
The guy next to me asked, “You have a connection to catch?”
“Yeah, heading to Boston.”
“What’s going on there?”
“It’s home.”
“I got an email from my son, who lives there. All he said was ‘I’m fine.’ Didn’t know what he meant.”
I pulled up Boston.com and read all about it. And kept reading as I took the SkyLink through the airport and caught my plane. To Logan, which you may remember as an airport of … infamy?

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These are hard times. Every time a person, or a group, or a giant squid attacks a city, its citizens near and far bond together. But it’s not a time to shut down.

Stop crying. Get off your couch. That’s what these assholes want, whoever they are. And that’s not what Boston does. You love this city? Find someone you care about, hold their hand and get out and fucking love this city.

What can you do?

Boston, baby!

From Avenging Spider-Man #10 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Terry Dodson.

Kitchen readers have heard of Kelly Sue DeConnick and Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel before. Carol is Boston’s premiere superhero. So on a more serious note, Tumblrer Flatbear has called on the Captain Marvel’s fans, collectively known as the Carol Corps, to donate to the Red Cross. A similar campaign was undertaken by DeConnick and husband Matt Fraction for Hurricane Sandy relief. Part of this is entering a special name in the “Make this Donation in Honor of” box. For Sandy, the code was “I’m Great at Boats.” For Boston, it’s “Carol Corps.” Donate money. Donate blood. Donate what you can.

There were a lot of feelings going through my head as I flew back to Massachusetts yesterday. Confusion. Anger. Disappointment. And I may be what you call “emotionally unavailable,” but I didn’t even think to be scared. I’m from Boston.

Let’s Pretend, Happy End – Garbage at the House of Blues, Boston 3-26-13

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We’re sitting in Tasty Burger, trying to convince Mike that he knows who Garbage is.
“‘Stupid Girl?’”
“I know that song, but I don’t think it’s Garbage. A guy sings it.”
“Yeah. You might be thinking of the Neil Young song. Or Cold.”
“Yes! Cold!”
“Yeah. No. What about ‘Only Happy When It Rains?’”
“I know ‘thunder only happens when it’s raining.’”
“Yeah, I don’t think they’re going to play Fleetwood Mac.”
We decided to leave Mike to his ignorance of 90s alternative rock.

As we entered the House of Blues, one thing became obvious. The House of Blues in Boston is a terrible venue. We admittedly got our tickets a little late, so we were on the mezzanine level. This is the second of three levels and is general admission, standing room only. The mezzanine forms a horseshoe around the room, with the open end at the stage. And If you aren’t at the railing (inside edge of the horseshoe), you probably can’t see the stage. I’m only 5’10”, but I was the tallest member of our troop. I had trouble looking over people’s shoulders, never mind the girls I was with. The House of Blues does have large monitors showing the band, but if you paid $40 to watch a concert on a big screen TV, get out of my way. Eventually, we split up a bit and managed to find some spaces at the back of the room. I wedged between people well enough to see the stage, but there was a horizontal beam supporting the third floor right in front of us. There was a video projected behind the band, but I can assure you I never saw it.

ANYWAY, you didn’t come here to hear me bitch about the House of Blues. What you came to hear is that Garbage was incredible. Like … so good that they reminded me how good live music can be. I go to a lot of shows, but this one stood out. The band opened with “Automatic Systematic Habit,” the first track on their newest album Not Your Kind of People. (First song off the new album has always been the bast way to open a set.) I’ve listened to the new album once or twice without much excitement, but hearing the song live was a wake up call. Or at least a “You didn’t forget about us, did you?”

Garbage at the House of Blues, Boston

Nice support beam, huh? Photo stolen from my friend Hang.

One thing that set this show apart was how active Shirley Manson is on stage. She’s a rock star, something that we’ve sadly lost since the 90’s. (Seriously. Name a musician that has emerged since 2000 that you can honestly call a rockstar. Chris Martin? Jack fucking White?) Her physical performance is part dance, part victory march. And for close to two hours, she never stopped. It made me realize that in a live setting, I much prefer singers who aren’t also playing instruments. She’s surely more interesting to watch than Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls or Tim Kasher were when I saw each of them recently.

But the guys in the band are no wallflowers. Duke Erikson and Steve Marker couldn’t stand still either. They never took off their guitars, but that didn’t stop them from going over to their keyboards when need be (“don’t worry baaaaybaaay”). Also, Butch Vig is a boss drummer. This guy has produced albums with bands that included Jimmy Chamberlain and Dave Grohl, so that’s no surprise. Finishing the rhythm section was Eric Avery, soon to be touring with Nine Inch Nails. As a touring bass player, I can say he was perfectly adequate. (Sorry, Eric.)

The setlist alternated between tracks from NYKoP and their older albums. A wise move, as no one had a chance to say “I think I’m gonna run to the bathroom.” The performances of those new songs made me excited to go back and listen to the album. Perhaps I just needed it to hit me as a wall of sound with no distractions for it to connect with me. No one but the most hardcore, b-side-philiac (or Bleed Like Me fan) could have been disappointed with the setlist. It was heavy on tracks from Version 2.0, but that’s my second favorite record of all time, so no complaints here. The set included everything you’d expect: hits like “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Push It,” fan favorites like “Cherry Lips” and “Hammering in my Head.” Possibly the biggest surprise of the night was “Cup of Coffee,” a sad number from the underappreciated Beautiful Garbage.

Late in the set, Shirley invited a special guest on stage. It was Steve’s daughter, Ruby. It was her 13th birthday. As the crowd sang to her, I wondered why her name sounded familiar. Then it clicked. On some old version of Garbage’s website, I remember reading that Steve and his wife had had a daughter, named Ruby. That was 13 years ago. If singing along to songs from an album that I bought when I was in eighth grade didn’t make me feel old, that did.

As the band took an encore break, the guy next to me wondered aloud the songs the band would come back out to play. “Stupid Girl.” “Special.” Maybe something else. That something else was “You Look So Fine,” the closer of Version 2.0. I had one dream request and this was it. Sometimes at concerts I do this thing where I close my eyes and just listen. I shut out the light show. I ignore the girl that keeps elbowing me. I just listen. It’s the closest thing I know to religion.

Garbage at the House of Blues, Boston

Bad quality, but even a bad picture of a goddess is better than a picture of your cat. Or your kid.

As the band played the coda to the song, Shirley starting singing some familiar lyrics. “Now here you go again/You say you want your freedom/Well, who am I to keep you down?” It dawned on me. That’s what makes a great show. Everything you had expected and an extra something you never could have.

aPAXalypse now! – My weekend at Penny Arcade Expo East

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As anyone who has read this blog before knows, I’ve been going to comic conventions for years. In September 2008, I saw one of Tim Sale’s convention sketches in the back of Captain America: White #0 and needed to start meeting these artists and collecting their art. (Note: Four and a half years later, we still haven’t seen issue #1. Tim Sale, what gives?) Since then I’ve traveled across the US and even into Canada for comic shows. But they’ve always been that, comic shows. And I’ve always been in front of the table. Until this weekend.

I’m friendly with a bunch of the employees at my local comic shop, the always recommended That’s Entertainment. So when they needed some extra help at their booth at this weekend’s PAX East, they asked me. Gaming isn’t really my thing, so I was a little apprehensive, but I’ve been trying to say “yes” to things more often (job interviews, trips to the bar, girls).

I ended up behind the table for Friday and Sunday of the show. For eight hours a day, the booth was packed. I hardly had time to eat a snack, let alone leave the booth. But even stuck in our 10’ by 10’ box, the thousands of people we saw taught me a few things about conventions, gamers, and nerd-dom.

Gamers Are Super Friendly – At comic cons, even if everyone doesn’t read the same books, they can bond over comics as an artform. Gaming is a pastime, as well as an artform, and a social pastime at that. And so, gamers are very personal. These aren’t sweaty, bug-eyed people slouching around, getting Cheeto dust on everything. And they aren’t the hate-spewing teenagers you hear over your headset during a round of Call of Duty. (I mean, they are, but they hide it well in person.) I’m not surprised by any of this (after all, I frequent comic cons), but I was surprised at how much they want to talk about themselves, about you, about your shop, about the con. I talked to people from New England, old England, Ohio, Texas, Nova Scotia, and all over. In the line at the food court, we talked about the lack of choices and the impending diarrhea after consuming convention center steakbombs and energy drinks.

Also at the foodcourt was the greatest thing ever. A Ron Swanson/Super Mario Bros. Mashup. Unfortunately, they had run out of breakfast meats. Ron is disappointed.

Raon Swanson Super MArio Bros. Mashup

Everyone Is into Something and Someone Is into Everything – We’re all geeky for something. All of us. Whether it’s something mainstream like the NFL or my personal arenas of Star Wars and Marvel Comics. But without proper discourse, you can never tell what those things are going to be. That cute girl with the nosering? She’s really into Godzilla. That jacked black dude? Roots hard for House Stark. That chubby Canadian girl? Resident Evil is still her favorite game. My point being, this was my newest “don’t judge a book …” moment. On the other side, it doesn’t matter how niche something is, someone digs it. I sold an Earthworm Jim action figure this weekend. That game came out in 1994! But it hasn’t been forgotten by that guy. One exception to this rule: I couldn’t convince anyone to buy our copy of Home Improvement for Super Nintendo. (Still the best Tim Allen-based video game.)

Gamers Come To Spend – At an event as large as PAX, you want your booth to have something special. It’s not too hard to find a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 (best game of all time), but what about one complete in the box? At PAX, you can find it, if you’re willing to pay. And the crowds were certainly ready to pay. I sold a copy of the Sega CD game Snatcher for $150 cash. The customer didn’t even flinch. Another guy was interested in Suikoden 2. I told him it was $120 and his wallet came right out. But spending isn’t just about big price tags. We had some less expensive things like toys and Game of Thrones posters. I was told “Shut up and I take my money” plenty of times this weekend.

You Can Find Sweet Deals – At comic conventions, the cheap stuff you’re going to find are long boxes filled with dollar books or $5 trades. And they’re all junk. Old copies of the Beavis and Butthead comic or tie-ins to World War Hulk. A waste of time to even browse through. Like I said above, I sold Snatcher for $150. As I type this, the leading eBay bid for a copy is $250. That $150 isn’t cheap, but for that guy, it was certainly a bargain. And on the last day of a con, no one wants want to haul all that stuff back home. Let’s make a deal!

So my first non-comic show was a great success. Who knows where I’ll end up next? After all, Boston Anime Fest is just a few weeks away.

Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye

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After some brief teasers yesterday, Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin’s new comic The Private Eye is already available. DM-free, pay what you want.

The Private Eye

Don’t ask what it’s about. If you love Y: The Last Man, or Saga, or Batgirl: Year One, or the new Daredevil, or especially Dr. Strange: The Oath, just do it.

Be a good, smart person. Pony up your three bucks at their new site http://www.panelsyndicate.com/.

Thinking About … Spoilers!

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Editor’s note: I did it again. I had a post all written and ready to go. And forgot about it. I had a final draft of this post 21 days ago. I’m awesome. It wasn’t until I heard today’s big news (which I won’t spoil until Wednesday) that I thought about it. Anyway, here you go.

Last month(?) on her Tumblr, Gail Simone posed a question about spoilers.

We live in a world where people want to see the sausage being made.
I understand, I have some of that myself, but now we want transparent casings on EVERYTHING. We want to see the works, we want to see the gears move.
Even with our very favorite media and storytellers, we like the previews, we read the advance reviews, we download the trailers that we KNOW will spoil the ending.
It’s interesting. Do you ever find knowing too much in advance ruins things?
Do you think it detracts from the experience of reading or seeing a story, or does it simply keep enthusiasm high?

What do you think…spoilers or no?

Spoilers are something that get brought up every time you mention the words “Breaking Bad” or “The Walking Dead” in public. But how much do I actually care? The simple answer is “it depends how much I like the book/show/whatever.”

To use the shows above as examples, if someone told me how the next eight episodes of Breaking Bad are gonna go, I’d be wicked pissed. But I gave up Walking Dead after Season 2. Tell me all you want. Who died? What’s the Governor like? Is Maggie still super hot? It won’t bother me.

And over at my comics shelf, part of the reason I go to the shop each week is to not get spoiled. I want to be part of the conversation on the Before Watchmen books and Batman. But before those discussions, I want to discover their twists and turns on my own, as the creators intended.

Spider-Man Spoiler

On the other hand, there are many books I’ve picked up because of the spoilers I heard. I like Spider-Man, but never enough to read his books up regularly. With the right creative team, I’ll pick up an issue here or there, but I don’t have the love I do for characters like Flash or Daredevil. When Amazing Spider-Man was approaching issue #700, Dan Slott warned readers and retailers “This is gonna be big. You are going to want these issues.” It got my attention, but I still wasn’t ready to buy it. Then #698 came out. I heard about the last page reveal. I heard how that reveal could change the way you read the 21 pages before it. Slott was right; I wanted that issue. So I picked it up on my next trip to the store. But only because I already knew what happened.

A month later I did the same thing. Issue #700 came out. (I skipped #699.) Again, it was knowing what happened that made me want to read it. They seriously let him die? I gotta read this. I gotta see what the loophole is. I need to have an opinion, a guess on how they bring Pete back.

And hell, I’ve read enough Batman stories for a lifetime. But every once in a while, I’ll pick up the first issue of a new story arc, flip to the last page hoping to see the villain of the story revealed. Penguin? Eh, no thanks. Mad Hatter? Now I’m listening.

And what about creators spoiling their own story? All-New X-Men #1 was never going to have a sales problem. But writer Brian Michael Bendis spoke loud and clear all over the internet about the hook of the series. In the interest of a good story, he spent the entire first issue getting the original five X-Men to the present. But he knew that last page moment was the hook. It would have come as a big shock to anyone coming in blind, but he knew that a little knowledge was going to get more people more interested. I’m not sure I would have picked it up the day it came out if I hadn’t heard. But I did and I’m eagerly waiting for issue #8.

Here’s another way to look at it: you ever read or watch a prequel? You now the big strokes about how this is all gonna end (this annoying kid will become Darth Vader, Laurie is going to follow her mother’s career and become Silk Spectre.) It can be that spoiler-ish information that makes the story interesting.

So being on those spoilers. Because the real question is not “What happens”? but “How does this happen?”

That’s Not What I Meant – Bryan Hitch on “Age of Ultron”

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Ed. Note: I always do this. I write a draft of a post, and then I get busy at work or forget and then weeks go by before I get a chance to revise and post. So this is later than I’d have liked but the point still stands.

The other day, CBR posted a new interview with Bryan Hitch. It was mainly to talk about the upcoming Age of Ultron story and America’s Got Powers, Hitch’s collaboration with Jonathan Ross. But some choice bits stood out to me. And take all this with the confession that I’m a big Hitch fan, Ultimates 2 being one of my favorite comic stories.

Ultron, as drawn by Bryan Hitch

“… I’d actually no idea how long [Age of Ultron] was and it’s possible nobody else did either as despite asking, I couldn’t get any information about any of it. Essentially, I was ‘just’ the illustrator for the series. On books like Authority, AGP and especially Ultimates, it went far, far beyond that and all are genuine co-creations and collaborations; here I was drawing the pictures as best I could without any real information about what was happening overall. In some cases that wasn’t a problem, but in looking at it overall, I feel I could have done better had I more information rather than some of the groping in the dark I felt I was doing. Worked out okay though, I think.”

Most comics fans should agree that StormWatch/Authority and Ultimates are the high points of Hitch’s career. Obviously, he was very involved and interested in those projects. And now, his editors can’t even tell him basic information like how long the story is? He puts a good spin on it, but he admits that he could have done better work on the book. Strange.

“Despite Marvel coming to me and asking for the Cap series, rather than my pitching it to them, it was constantly being sidelined and eventually dropped to my disappointment.”

Marvel asked Hitch about writing and drawing an Ultimate Captain America series, and then said, “You know what? Nevermind.” I would have loved to see that series. A character that he co-created (co-re-created?). A character that was the focus of one of his defining runs. That Marvel pitched TO HIM! But you know what, Marvel will pass on that. Mental.

Hitch is very practical about this stuff, just stating the facts as he sees them, not pointing fingers or assigning blame. And he doesn’t burn any bridges, closing up by saying “I don’t want any of this to sound anything other than light, frothy and pleasant though. There’s no regret or bitterness, far from it.” I, for one, am still looking forward to Age of Ultron and know there’s more good stuff coming from Hitch, whatever the publisher.

Becky Cloonan’s The Mire

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Last week I was going through my mailbox and found a pink greeting card envelope. Was someone sending me a Thanksgiving card? An early Christmas card? A sticker covered some of the return address, so all I could see was:
Rebec
9115 Ri
Brook
USA

I started wracking my brain. Do I know any Rebeccas in Brookline? Beckys? Beccas? I don’t think so. And definitely not that would have a forked tongued demon on their return labels.

Get up to my apartment, open it up. Oh, Becky Cloonan! In Brooklyn! It was my copy of her new self-published one-shot The Mire.

The Mire by Becky Cloonan

All preorders of the book received a sketch on the title page. This is mine.

The follow-up her 2011 book Wolves, The Mire tells the story of a squire’s delivery of a letter to a castle on the other side of a haunted swamp. Of course, nothing is ever that simple. I’d say more, but in a story this short, it would give away all the fun. But I will say that after reading the 24 pages, I was flipping right back to the beginning to read it again.

While I can’t say much about the writing, let’s remember that Cloonan is primarily an artist. Specifically, she’s one of comic’s greatest chameleons. In Batman, look at the moxie in Harper Row’s smirk. Harper Row by Becky CloonanOr the adorable eyes on Abby Arcane in the recent Swamp Thing annual. Abby Arcane by Becky CloonanOr any issue of Demo. She constantly adjusts her style to the fit the story. Here, it was her liberal use of blacks that stood out to me. Yes, there’s plenty of darkness in The Mire, but she still draws every brick of the castle and every worm violating an undead rider’s mouth. Sweet.

An Interior Panel from the Mire

Image Stolen from Cloonan’s Own Site.

A note to any comics readers, from me: You can order your own copy of The Mire online or download a digital copy on your favorite stores including Graphicly and iBooks or for your Nook or Kindle.

And a note to any comics creators, from Cloonan herself on book’s final page: “Self-publish or perish.”

That’s Not What I Meant: Geoff Johns on Secret Six

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No matter which comics news site(s) you read, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of coverage on the recent New York Comic Con. My Google Reader was packed with stories from the show, many of them duplicate information. Sometimes, I like to read how Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, and Comics Alliance cover the same information. In CBR’s coverage of the Justice League of America panel, one quote jumped out at me.

“A ‘Secret Six’ fan wanted to know if there was a possibility of those characters appearing the New 52 soon, Johns stating that because Gail Simone defined them so well he wanted to leave them alone for a while and focus on characters that were less well known, but ‘Never say never,’ Johns added.”

So Simone did such a good job with them that you want to leave them alone? That’s mental! She defined the characters so well, that you put them away? The superhero industry is built on well-defined characters. Look at the DC line. Take away the Justice League characters. What’s left? A bunch of under-performing books filled with bland characters. Without distinct personalities, they will just fade away. He was around for barely five years, but who can’t instantly hear Ragdoll’s voice? It was the same way with the other Secret Six members – Scandal, Deadshot, King Shark, Catman, Jeanette, Bane, the whole gang.

Secre Six #36

You ever hear the joke about the Justice League? How if you put them in a dark room, you wouldn’t be able to tell who said something? I’ve read each of them for years, but I’ll be honest; I can’t tell you how Aquaman and Hal Jordan’s voices are different. Or Barry Allen. Or Ted Kord. Or Ray Palmer.

Just to finish off my DC hate, let’s look at the X-Men. Make fun of Claremont and his “accents” all you want, but his characters had voices: Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Cannonball, Banshee, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Beast, Magneto, Wolfsbane, Emma Frost, and on and on and on. Well-defined. Unique. Lasting.

Sorry. I’ve been rereading Secret Six recently. It was such a good book. I hate that it doesn’t come out anymore.

New York Comic Con 2012

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New York Comic Con was … decent this year. Good guest list. Placing Artist Alley in its own aircraft hangar was nice. But there were so many people. And so many people stopping in the middle of aisles to take pictures. And so many swords bashing me in the face. Thanks Deadpool.

The only thing I can show you that no one else on the internet can is my new art!

Let’s go!

In the seven years since the current volume of X-Factor started, there have been a lot of artists on this book. Like dozens. So I’ve seen a lot of interpretations of the characters. Some artists draw Rahne Sinclair really well in human form. Some draw her really well in wolf form. But Emanuela Lupacchino does both. I was talking to Peter David and his only reply was “You don’t have to tell me.” Lupacchino lives in Italy, so seeing her at an American con is rare. So when I saw she was going to be at the show, she was the #1 (and possibly only) commission I needed.

Wolfsbane by Emanuella Lupacchino

My first convention was the 2008 Baltimore Comic Con. One of the commissions I wanted was Mike McKone, who had a great Teen Titans run. The character? Raven. Unfortunately, he was behind on his pages, so he wasn’t drawing at the con. But now, four years later, I caught him early in the show.

Raven by Mike McKone

No disrespect to Mark Brooks, but I was actually in line at the Marvel booth to see Kieron Gillen. While in line, Brooks was doing sketches. I like his work, so I said my standard “your favorite villain.” Almost always, the artist has to think about it. I’ve gotten Two-Face, Captain Cold, Dr. Doom. But never Sabertooth. Until now.

Sabretooth by Mark BrooksLee Bermejo is just awesome. At the DC Booth, he was doing sketches for fans. His favorite villain? A common one, the Joker. Sick, dude.

Joker by Lee Bermejo

And to finish of this post, I’ve got an older piece of art. Back in April, I saw Katie Cook at the Boston Comic Con. This was my only piece from the show and I guess I never got around to scanning it. For those of you who don’t know, Katie draws a webcomic called Gronk.
“Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the New England Patriots have a player called Rob Gronkoski. We call him Gronk. So I was wondering if you could draw Gronk in Gronk’s jersey.”
Gronk by Katie Cook

It Takes Action
: Passivity, Shazam®, and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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Logan Lerman and Emma Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower

At a wedding last month, I debated with the stunning brunette next to me about the song that was playing. To convince her it was Rod Stewart, I took action and pulled out my phone. Four seconds later, Shazam® told us that I was right. “That’s All.” Unfortunately for Charlie, the protagonist of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, life in 1991 Pittsburg didn’t offer such luxuries.

Based on Chbosky’s own 1999 novel, Perks is the story of Charlie, his island of misfit friends, and his first year of high school. Many of the expected clichés, including first loves and drugs (both prescribed and recreational) are on display here, but Perks‘ strength comes from its surprising display of subtlety. This is a world where trying weed or LSD doesn’t turn you into an addict. Where it’s 1991, but you don’t constantly hear Marky Mark or C+C Music Factory.

In the film’s most memorable scene, Charlie (Logan Lerman) watches as Emma Watson’s Sam stands in the bed of her pickup truck, arms wide, flying toward the Steel City skyline. A mystery song plays on the blaring radio and he falls in love. I could have told him it was Bowie’s “Heroes,” but to be fair, at his age, Jakob Dylan was the reason I knew that.

We Can Be Heroes, Just for One Day

Chbosky took the adaptation as an opportunity to smooth out some of the more maudlin parts of the story. In the book, Charlie is too naïve. His explanations of “special brownies” and masturbation come off as perplexingly sincere. By simply excising these passages, Charlie becomes more well-rounded. Another point of subtlety, on the part of both Chbosky and actor Ezra Miller, is Sam’s gay step-brother Patrick. He’s not closeted, nor is he waving a rainbow flag for 103 minutes. He’s just a guy that likes football and The Smiths. And dudes.

Fans of the novel will have little to complain about. The broadstrokes are all here, along with enough details to keep you grinning. Morrissey fans rejoice, you’ll hear about “Asleep” at least three times. It’s also funny as hell. Like a truth-or-dare confession that is delivered with such a lack of emotion that everyone but the audience thinks it’s a joke. Or when Patrick takes Charlie on a tour of the local cruising spot, lovingly referred to as “The Fruit Loop.”

Through his freshman year, Charlie deals with depression over the recent death of a friend and the years-ago death of his favorite aunt. By reserving himself to the sidelines, Charlie gains a certain perspective on adolescent life. As a wallflower, he sees things, keeps quiet about them, and understands. But of course, he doesn’t act. He takes drugs because he didn’t understand what kind of brownies they were. His music taste comes from Ponytail Derek, his sister’s boyfriend. His books come from his English teacher, an underused Paul Rudd. He waits for the girl to kiss him.

Understandably, Charlie’s feelings for Sam are under-requited. She’s fond him of, sure, but she’s not the kind to wait around. Kissing the girl is like trying to identify a mystery song. In our youth, we sang whatever lyrics we could remember to friends and record store clerks, perhaps brought a guitar to recreate a stray melody. Today, we can find out what we’re listening to instantly. We used to wear an uneasy smile and avoid eye contact with a date, as Charlie does in the film. Now, we look in her eyes and lean in until our mouths meet.

When you’re older, all this stuff is easier, but it’s not just the passing of time that does that. All of our modern conveniences are the result of great minds and tireless labor. It’s not age that builds up our experience and our confidence. It’s taking a chance, whether you get the girl or you get shot down. Over the course of ten months, Charlie finds a place to fit in, confronts his depression, discovers Bowie and finally kisses the girl.

Sometimes you need to realize that the only thing pushing your back against the wall is your own weight. It doesn’t just take time to identify a song or kiss the girl. It takes work. It takes effort. It takes action.