Category: culture

How All Literary Rejection Letters Should Start

~ Chris Cocca ~ Leave a comment

This lets you know right away that the rest of the email is not about your Pushcart nomination.

After the salutation, the very first word of the first sentence should be “unfortunately.” This saves writers from having to scan the rest of the text for the word. It also means that if the writer’s e-mail service shows body text previews, the writer doesn’t even have to open the email to know they’ve been slush-piled. I still recommend reading the actual rejections just in case there are specific comments or requests for more work.

This message has been brought to you by the editors of a review somewhere in the formerly industrial Midwest. Remembering which story I sent them four months ago is pretty tough, and it looks like they forgot the title, too.

Since many of you visit this blog looking for bits and pieces about the MFA process and the nuts and bolts of trying to get pieces published, I thought I’d share the secret hierarchy of rejection letters.

1: The standard form letter like the one seen here.  Not very gratifying, but don’t take it personally.  You’re busy, they’re busy, and that’s just how it goes.

2: The form letter with your name and the title of your piece.  Pretty standard practice.  I think I get more rejections with this level of personalization than without.

3: The personalized rejection letter with a personal note telling you how much they liked your story, even though it’s not for them, and encouraging you to send them more. In the super-competitive and completely subjective literary world, this can feel almost as good as an acceptance.  When you’re at this point with a specific piece or a specific market, you know that the editors really looked hard at your piece, thought about it, and saw enough promise (or whatever they look for) to personally encourage you as a writer.  No one owes you that, so when you get it, it’s a good thing.  Follow up with a thank you.

The most important thing to remember?  We’re talking about subjective responses to art.  You will “fail” often, especially in the beginning.  The thing is persistence and, very often, revision.

Hipster Jesus and the Clone Army of Zach Galifianakis

~ Chris Cocca ~ 3 Comments

Remember when I posted that picture of Zach Galifianakis shaving his head that I thought looked a lot like me?  Since then, I’ve been accosted at weddings, baseball games, Time Square, and, yes, even Rita’s Water Ice about the resemblance.  Mostly it’s the beard, but there are also those fine, chiseled Mediterranean features to consider…if I do say so myself, Zach and I have the eyes and noses of  those old Greek and Roman statues (customs didn’t catch us).   Once you get below the beard, our physiques diverge a bit from those vaulted forms of classical antiquity. But I digress.

One of the funniest lines from the original Hangover was the sublime, “Come over here handsome.  Not you, Fat Jesus!”  I haven’t been called Fat Jesus yet, but I have been positively identified in this drawing:

That’s Fat Jesus: 0.  Easter Jesus: 1

With my work in sustainability, my MFA, my interest in cycling and my high hopes for downtown Allentown (not to mention my beard), I know I run the Hipster Jesus risk at pretty high levels.  I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m probably due.  If and when you’re inclined to think of your Daily Cocca as the Hipster Jesus, remember this, friends:

It’s true. You’re cool because he first was cool. I’m pretty sure that’s in one of the Pauline epistles.  Found this great image via Chad Crawford. Speaking of Christians, hipsters, and Zach Galifianakia on Twitter, I just saw this from @missional:

 

 

Hey, Eric Sylvester:  It looks like The Daily Cocca has a new favorite hockey team. Sorry, The Daily Cocca’s wife: it’s still not the Rangers.

Should DC Have Revisited “Titans Tomorrow” for the Superman Reboot/Redesign?

~ Chris Cocca ~ Leave a comment

I think so.

I’m still not a huge fan of the red belt pictured here, but it’s a huge improvement over what they’re actually giving him:

Must. Collect. All. Thundercat. Emblems.

I could have sworn that one of the panels I saw during the Titans Tomorrow storyline showed a belt that stopped on both sides before reaching the abs. Even if I’m misremembering that, I like it better than either of these options.  For an even better old revamp than the Titans Tomorrow design, check out what artist Sean Izaakse did in 2006:

Super, regal, updated, and iconic.

Here, the collar, cape, and shield work together to really say something about Superman’s power  Change the waist banding to a red semi-belt and that’s your rebooted Man of Steel, friends.

DC’s Superboy, Red Robin, and Kid Flash Reboot For New Teen Titans Book (And I Think of the 90s)

~ Chris Cocca ~ 7 Comments

This post is from 2011.  As of 2018, it still gets new views. The Teen Titans, not to mention the entire DC Universe, have gone through many iterations since then.  Why are fans able to accept that continuity is fluid when it comes to comic books, but not when it comes to properties like Star Wars or the Wizarding World?

To be honest, I don’t really accept a living Jason Todd, or a universe in which Tim Drake was never Robin.  But I also know that the pendulum will likely swing back, and that I get to pick what I consider canon.  That’s one of the great things about fiction.

Okay, so I think of the 90s anyway. That said, here’s the picture for the rebooted Teen Titans:

I was chatting with someone today who said this whole reboot reminds him of the 90s, and, specifically, what Marvel tried to do with Heroes Reborn.  The Superboy and Kid Flash designs specifically make me think of 90s aesthetics.  That patch on Bart’s left shoulder?  Reminds me of Jim Lee’s first shot at redesigning Superman, circa 1996:

Kid Flash should be minimalist and throwback.  When Bart Allen gave up the Impulse identity and became Kid Flash, it was in honor of Wally West and his costume reflected the importance of legacy in the Flash mythos:

This is the right look, but the boots are too busy.  The thing going on at the top of this post is just a mess.

As for Superboy. If you were 13 in 1993, you know that the modern incarnation of the Boy of Steel debuted during the Reign of the Supermen arc following Superman’s death. He was punk, and he looked every bit the 90s awesome he was meant to be:

Haters hate, but I think this costume was perfectly awesome for the time.  And yes, after seeing this, I did go home and try to draw Starter jackets for Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and the Flash.  That said, I think everyone agrees that Superboy’s most recent look is 100% DCAT (Don’t Change A Thing, with thanks to Paul Lukas):

This has become Connor Kent’s iconic Superboy look.  In the solicit picture for the reboot, he’s back to being a scenester.  What’s with the gothy tape job on his back?  The bar-c0de tattoo?  What could possibly tattoo him, anyway? For that matter, how did he pierce his ear in the 90s?  I know, I know: same way he shaves (his own heat vision in a mirror).

Red Robin (Tim Drake, formerly the third Robin before becoming Red Robin in the current DCU) is said to be leading the new new new Teen Titans.  I liked the Kingdom Come-inspired Red Robin costume of the last two years, and I liked the red and black look Tim sported during his final stint as the Boy Wonder.  Now he has feathers.  I want to say I hate it, but I sort of don’t.   Tim’s original costume was, perhaps, the perfect union of 90s re-design and timing.  It was current, believable, and, most importantly, not ridiculous.  The cape was black, the legs were covered.  The R was finally stylized.  He got a bo-staff and real boots. He got his own book and became a sidekick who was always more than that.  Tim was the best of the all the Robins because Tim’s  skill set, intellect, and emotional complexity made Robin a real hero in his own right and a compelling character to boot.  Tim Drake did for Robin what Nightwing did for Dick Grayson.  It makes sense that Tim would keep part of the Robin identity even as he moves on, but I’m not sure about those feathers.  Why not the current Red Robin costume with a domino mask instead of a cowl?  The rest of what’s going on above is way too busy.   I know that the hooded Robin look is being done by Damien Wayne, and Tim’s Robinmobile is called the Redbird.  I get that Tim ought to retain some of that mythos and the feathers signal the Tim (as opposed to Damien) side of things, but still.  Unless he starts to fly (please, no), he really shouldn’t have them.

If the 200os saw DC return to the Silver Age in terms of story and allusion, it feels like September 2011-forward are looking like the 90s redux.  Short from letting Supes fly his freak flag every now and then, I’m not sure that’s the way they should be going.  Then again, I was one of those kids that started reading comics because of the Batman movie and then in earnest with the Reign of the Supermen and the Knightfall series.  One of DC’s immediate goals is to give new readers and brand new point of entry, and the reboot and renumbering certainly provides that chance on a massive scale.  Still, feathers?  You know what? I’ll admit it.  He does look kind of cool.

The Dream of the 90s is Alive at TopStar

~ Chris Cocca ~ 6 Comments

Problem: you enter a convenience store thirsty, thinking you have money in your pocket.  It turns out you have but one lone His Excellency.  What to do you?

You go ahead and spend .99 on 23.5 ounces of 90s design aesthetic and acceptable levels of high fructose corn syrup. And you can totally recycle the can.

The Power is Yours!

Yes, friends, this still exists.  AriZona Tea, you are the unmoved mover of all the latter-day sweetened beverages, aren’t you?  You immutable, glorious, drinkable urn of my youth.  What can explain you?  2 what do U compare? If only I’d been wearing my awesome Arizona Jeans products from 1995-97.  Alas, except for a choice pair of brown cords, all of those pants disintegrated after two or three times through the laundry.  My mom said the holes at the pockets were the result of strain from wearing my blue jeans too low.  As if.  Why don’t you just call them slacks and be done with it, Mom?  Oh, YES I AM going to see Fastball, Marcy Playground, Wyclef Jean, Green Day, Everclear, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Eve 6 in Camden. Oh I’m not? Really?

Really.

Don’t get the wrong idea: the concert debacle had nothing to do with my jeans.  Sorry, friends.  The AriZona is doing its thing.