I went to see a musical last night (Wicked - a prequel kind of thing to the Wizard of Oz). Because I am a cheap bastard, I bought us crap seats in the very last row. We could see everything fine, but I think we may have been just a little too far away from the show that it was a little hard to get properly sucked in.

Anyway, I was sitting next to a high school girl, and her high school friends, and before the show they were gushing about how much they love Wicked, and how they had already listened to the soundtrack a million times, and were so excited to see the two main stars because they are so awesome. So, from this, I gathered that Wicked must be the new hot show for high school theater nerds to be into.

I remember back in my day - when I was a big theater nerd - Les Miserables and Miss Saigon were the shows to see. I already knew all the words before I went to see it, I knew the names of some of the actors in Miss Saigon, and I saw both shows on numerous occasions.

A few years later a friend of mine was dating a girl who was unsuitably young for him - and her and all her high school posse were all into Rent. I am pretty sure I took a snooty dismissive attitude towards Rent, mainly predicated on the corny commercial for it that used to run on TV (gang of thespians walking towards the camera singing "No day like toooo-dAAAAAy!" then cut to someone else seriously emoting "How we goona paaay the REEEENNNTT???!" - I dunno if it actually went like that, but that's how I remember it). Anyway - Rent must have been the hot show for a while there too.

Shows like the ones that were big when I was an impressionable high-schooler are very out of fashion these days. Nobody wants overdone melodrama anymore.

I liked Wicked quite a lot. But I was shocked when the high schooler next to me started bawling when the witch died - because while a downer, it wasn't that bad. I felt glum, but I didn't feel like crying. One thing is for sure, this girl wouldn't have been able to handle the shows from my day - that's for sure. Like when that little kid gets all shot up and sings "Short people" in Les Mis, that shit is sad. Or when Eponine sings "All by myself" and then dies too - this girl would have fallen to pieces.

I guess my point is that teenage musical theater lovers seem to have gotten soft, and I don't like it.

New, short and sweet, interview with me and Chris Radtke can be read by scrolling to the bottom of this page.

Also, a roundtable discussion that I participated in on comics commentary site Ninth Art. It's very insular, so may be of little interest to the non comics literate.

I feel pretty good about most things said (except I definitely didn't say that I didn't like the comic book Hate, because I love that comic), though I must admit though to a certain nervousness about having all these comments available for public consumption. I hate the idea that I would have to back up any stupid thought that came into my head when drinking in a bar with a bunch of rowdy cartoonists just because someone taped it, transcribed it, and posted it on a website. Luckily I don't say too much, so I don't have too much to worry about.