April 21, 2005
American Idols: Wherein Josh Jabcuga (along with the rest of the MPS.Com staff), interupts regularly scheduled programing to pay a little tribute to the U.S. troops, near and far.
I've been writing for this website for about two-and-a-half years now. It's been a hell of a ride, a lot of hard work, and a shitload of fun, but it's afforded me a ton of opportunities that might not have presented themselves otherwise. My weekly column here has given me the chance to view things through a unique lens on a broad canvas. Hopefully, I've improved my writing game in the process, too. Practice makes perfect, as they say. Occasionally I'll hit a single, maybe a double, often I strike out, and sometimes...sometimes a guy just gets lucky, you know?
The greatest aspect of writing for this website, bar none, is the extraodinary people you get to interact with, whether they're a Jack Ketchum (one of Stephen King's favorite authors and an authentic literary outlaw) or a Hank III (son of Hank Williams, Jr., and an authentic music outlaw) or a Jerry Unangst. Jerry Unangst? He's a reader of the site who's currently stationed over in Iraq. Jerry dropped me a line a few months back in response to one of my articles. He and I have traded e-mails about once or twice a week ever since. Jerry, that is, Tech Sergeant Jerry Unangst, is just one of the many men and women who serve on a daily basis to protect the freedoms that our country represents and provides. Jerry enjoys the website, but for now, he doesn't have the luxury of reading it from his own home. He's reading it all the way over in some very unfriendly land, and I have some photos to share with you to give you a sense of just how good you and I have it over here, thanks to Jerry and the rest of our troops. While you may not know Tech Sergeant Jerry Unangst, let me just state for the record that besides being an exemplary solidier and a hell of a nice guy, Jerry's also a huge fan of prog-rockers RUSH, the SIN CITY graphic novels, and as of late he has been digging the books of Jack Ketchum.
Here at the website, we stick to what we do best: covering pop culture. We're proud of that. We think we do a pretty good job, too. We're not a "real" news outlet like a CNN or a MSNBC or a Fox News Network (not that we ever claimed to be, and some would debate as to whether or not those self proclaimed media channels even cover real news themselves), but that doesn't mean we aren't aware of the world outside of the local multiplex or comicbook shop.
With that being said, regardless of your position on the war in Iraq or your views on the current administration, or whether or not you even pay attention to those kinds of matters, you have to remember that somewhere, at this very moment, there's some guy whom you've never met by the name of Jerry Unangst, and countless other men and women just like him, maybe a brother, a sister, a niece, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor, who are literally putting their lives on the line every day to make sure you will always be familiar with the feeling of genuine freedom.
So to Tech Sergeant Jerry Unangst (picture one), Staff Sergeant Doug Kirby (picture two), Senior Airman Brett Wertman (picture three), Staff Sergeant Jared Seamons (picture four), and all of our troops, here and abroad, Godspeed and God bless America.
Praise for the writing of Josh Jabcuga, who pens Squib Central with ink made from his own blood, published every Thursday, exclusively at www.moviepoopshoot.com:
"You’re a bad influence on them, I’ll tell you right now." -Max Cavalera, lead singer of Soulfly, former lead singer of Brazilian death metal icons Sepultura.
I read your article and you my dear are a true
ASSHOLE!!! Wonder how you landed your job, desperation???"-Angie (last name unknown; article mentioned...unknown).
“Josh Jabcuga can take the 26 measly letters of our crude alphabet and capture the bi-polar soul of all that is classically yet disturbingly American. Then, when his typewriter is left to cool, he can turn right around…completely ready to trounce any drunk punk that’s got me backed into a corner.” –The Colonel J.D. Wilkes of The Legendary Shack*Shakers.
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