The Fractured Mirror and the Importance of Joementum
When Joe Lieberman was limply running for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004, he adorably/obnoxiously bragged that a sixth place primary showing was, in fact, a “three way tie for third place” that illustrated that he had “Joementum” going for him.
It was a tragicomic turn of phrase because the politician with the Zoidberg cadences did not, in fact, have “Joementum” going for him. Nor did he have momentum. If I remember correctly, he dropped out not long after his stunning three-way tie for third place.
In politics, life and art momentum is important. It certainly is for me. One of the primary reasons that I have been able to publish three amazing books (The Weird Accordion to Al, The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Joy of Trash) in the last three years is because I’ve had Joementum going for me.
It starts with the Kickstarter launch. If you’re lucky and fortunate, and also hard-working and talented, when you introduce a big book idea to the public, the universe responds with excitement and enthusiasm.
It’s an incredibly validating feeling knowing that other people are as psyched about your ideas and projects as you are. It makes you feel like you have an army behind you, that you are not alone in the universe.
It makes you want to do the best possible job in order to justify all of that hope and belief and support. As an online column, The Weird Accordion to Al suffered from a pronounced lack of momentum.
It was an almost perversely unpopular column whose audience never seemed to grow but when I announced that I was turning one hundred and eighty something articles into a big-ass book people got excited about it in a way that was surprising in the best possible way.
It was then that I first began to realize that The Weird Accordion to Al could be a sizable success as a book after struggling mightily as an online column. It was! I still have warm memories of binging episodes of the fifth season of Comedy Bang! Bang! for the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Edition while in Los Angeles promoting the original version of the book.
Momentum was even more important with The Joy of Trash. If I watched an episode of Shasta McNasty every day for 21 days, watching and writing about the notorious sitcom would have seemed like an impossible grind, a masochistic ordeal.
So I decided to watch every goddamn episode in a three day spurt. For three days, Shasta McNasty was my life, my silly, silly life. And then I was done with it and raced on to the next task.
Even The Weird A-Coloring to Al, a book that required much less work than any other, on account of the brilliant Felipe Sobreiro doing the really important, time-intensive stuff, benefited from momentum.
The moment I saw that Felipe had created a new illustration I immediately wrote a caption for it.
Yesterday the Kickstarter campaign for The Fractured Mirror, my ninth book and Declan Haven Book’s fourth release, hit its goal. Woo hoo! That is TREMENDOUSLY exciting.
It means that my ambitious idea has momentum going for it, that even though it does not exist yet, and will not be finished for about a year, my readers are nevertheless excited about it.
I want to keep the momentum for The Fractured Mirror going strong. I’ve already started work on it via an original piece on the underrated 2004 dark comedy The Last Shot.
The Kickstarter isn’t even a week old and I am already working on the book. I hope to keep the momentum going strong by writing two or three entries for The Fractured Mirror every week, some of which will run on Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place and some of which I will instead post on The Fractured Mirror’s Kickstarter account and the Happy Place Patreon page to encourage folks to pledge those fine places.
The Fractured Mirror truly has Joementum going for it. With any luck, it will be even more successful than Joe Lieberman’s 2004 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
Back my ninth book, The Fractured Mirror: Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place’s Definitive Guide to American Movies about the Film Industry over at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weirdaccordiontoal/the-fractured-mirror?ref=project_build
The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s first non-"Weird Al” Yankovic-themed book is out! And it’s only 16.50, shipping, handling and taxes included, 30 bucks for two books, domestic only!
PLUS, for a limited time only, get a FREE copy of The Weird A-Coloring to Al, Felipe Sobreiro and my “Weird Al” Yankovic-themed coloring. book when you buy any other book in the Happy Place store! That’s a 10.50 value for free!
Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here
Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace We just added a bunch of new tiers and merchandise AND a second daily blog just for patrons!
Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 19.50, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.
I make my living exclusively through book sales and Patreon so please support independent media and one man’s dream and kick in a shekel or two!