“In medias res” is Latin for “In the middle of things.” If the movie you’re watching starts with a guy falling toward the ground without a parachute, apparently to his doom, and he’s wearing a tutu and has explosives strapped to him, the moviemakers have put you in medias res without a paddle.

I suddenly find that my 1500th blog post is here. Often on even-hundreds posts I will have some theme: #100 was about my daughter Kate, #600 was about Gratitude, etc. This time round I had my enigmatic “n.e.s.” series going, and though I have high hopes for some worthwhile things occurring in many of the 480 segments, the series is really more preparatory than valedictory. I hope by its end to have the chops to launch some sequential art–either a graphic novel or a continuing comic book–with no hint of “Amateur Night” to it. And I will mine the segments for themes, dialogue, and layouts.

Meanwhile, we are in medias res with segment #21 of 480…