Biff Bam Pop! at the SJWG

By Glenn Walker

The internet is a funny thing. The internet is bringing our world closer together, making communication easier. You can get to know people, build friendships and relationships, having never met the people involved. I have known Andy Burns for six years, talk to him nearly every day, consider him one of my best friends - all thanks to the internet - but never met him face to face until just this past week.

Even though Andy lives and works in Toronto, he's well known to the members of the South Jersey Writers Group, not just through me, but seeing as a half-dozen of our members write for his pop culture website Biff Bam Pop!, Andy has achieved something of rock star status among our little group.

As I said, we had never met until last week. When I picked him up at the airport, he got in the car and we shook hands, then kinda laughed and rolled our eyes. This was not a first meeting or an introduction. It wasn't even a blind date. Andy and I have known each other for years. We were soon talking as if we had last talked hours before, which though electronically, we had. He settled into our home for a week as if he was family, more than a friend or colleague.

When he attended the May general meeting of the SJWG as my guest, he felt like family with our little group as well, and what was even cooler, the friendships were bound even closer when we went out to a bar later that night. As the days went by, Marie Gilbert took Andy on a ghost hunt, as well as a tour of historic Philadelphia. With Loretta Sisco and her husband we attended a viewing of the new Poltergeist remake. French fry fanatic me took him to all the cool places to eat like the British Chip Shop for the best fries, got him a real cheesesteak, and all of us got together for a breakfast at Collingswood's Pop Shop.

By the time we parted after that last breakfast, we were all family, despite having never met before last week. So the internet is not such a bad thing, it builds friendships and connections not just here in South Jersey, but also as far away as the mean streets of Toronto.

Andy Burns is a verified expert of the television series "Twin Peaks" as evidenced in his book Wrapped in Plastic. Twin Peaks. His pop culture website Biff Bam Pop! can be found here, you can Follow him on Twitter here, and Like the site on Facebook here.

Among the South Jersey Writers who are also members of Biff Bam Pop! East are senior writer Marie Gilbert, whose work includes reviews of "The Walking Dead," "Penny Dreadful," "American Horror Story," and "Orphan Black" among others; Loretta Sisco, who dazzles us with tales of horrors and serial killers; Robin Renee, our mistress of music; Jim Knipp, our official "Game of Thrones" reviewer; and Sarah Hawkins Miduski, who will be taking on the upcoming "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" TV series. And then there's that Glenn Walker guy, associate editor and contributing writer at Biff Bam Pop!. He reviews "The Flash," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and "Avengers Assemble."

We loved hosting Andy, and we're hoping to get together again in person real soon, perhaps a trip to Canada next. Until then, thank you, internet, and thank you, Andy!