Hello, Friends, Associated, Well-Wishers, and anyone else who finds this blog post.
STATUS:
I’m alive and well. I’ve had a spate of medical issues to take care, with all the accompanying doctor appointments one would expect, but I’m fine. After that, work complications (it’s our busy season) have eaten up my time. I’m not complaining (online, that is), and I’m happy to have a good job. I’ll just leave it at that.
PROJECTS:
I’m working on hard on my next novel, also set in the world of Spire City and Johnny Saturn. At one point I thought it was done, but since then I’ve picked out areas where it needs expanded upon, and the novelette it was is well on the way to expanding into a novel. This one is not science fiction, but romantic adventure story. I only write science fiction when I have serious thought experiments and theories to share.
I am also hard at work on a personal portfolio. I’m going to publish this as a collected color portfolio, but the pen-and-ink art at its base is going to be illustrations for my new novel.
Recently, I had an epiphany. If I want to create great art, then I have to do great work. I can’t rush through the art and slam it out–that’s what I’ve made a career of doing. Instead, I need to do thumbnails, gather resource imagery, do value studies, make multiple color studies, and use all the resources and time at my disposal to make these pictures great. Will I succeed? Ultimately that is up to others to decide. I’ll show these to the world as they reach the pen and ink stage.
I’ve also been painting an acrylic picture of some dinosaurs. It’s coming along well, and completion is in sight. I’ve always loved dinosaurs, so it’s fun to bring them to life in my art.
MEDIA:
I feed my creativity with a lot of media. I don’t have time these days to read novels, and that makes me very sad. I have been able to make time to see movies, streaming television shows, concerts, and albums.
MOVIES:
Unacknowledged-An Expose of the World’s Greatest Secret: More of Steven Greer’s work into exposing the world’s governments’ attempts to hide the UFO and alien issue.This movie has unsettled some people I know, and shaken their world views at least a little. There is nothing new in here for me, because I followed this subject closely for years. Interesting at best, old hat at worst.
Rogue One-A Star Wars Story: I watched the first half before I lost interest. I was always more of a Star Trek fan, and even that has its limits.
Get Me Roger Stone: Enlightening. It’s easy to admire a cad for being a good good cad, sort of a wink-wink acknowledgement. In other words, I don’t agree with the politics, but I find the man himself fascinating as the subject of this documentary.
Below Her Throat: A charming (and sexy!) lesbian love story. I dug it in a sort of “A Room In Rome” way. It just seemed very sweet, really.
The Truth Is In The Stars: William Shatner makes a long journey to discover how Star Trek and its vision of different people getting along affected the scientific minds of today. I found this heartwarming.
TELEVISION SHOWS:
Embarrassing Bodies: British medical show that uses real-life people with their illnesses and then attempts to diagnose and cure them. There is lots of nudity (not the pretty kind), detailed surgery, and inflamed things on this show. It is strangely fascinating, however, and quite educational.
American Horror Story: I finished season 1, and this show is a real corker. Well acted and written, multi-layered with twists and clever diversions, I found it was absorbing to the max. The sets, the caliber of actors, the lighting, it’s all exquisite–and disturbing. Don’t watch this show if you are faint of heart or easily offended. I’ve watched the first couple of episodes of season 2, and I’m not sure I’ll go further because it’s disturbing. Can I stay away from it? We’ll find out, I guess.
Restoration Home: This is an outstanding British show about restoring old homes that are in danger of collapsing. People with big dreams commit themselves body and soul to saving old buildings to make a family home. It is a fascinating show, and much more gripping than what you would expect from the description. These old houses are always money pits, but these would-be restorers will not be denied.
Castlevania: A pretty good anime series set in the world of Dracula. Enjoyable, although still early enough in the series where the characters seem a bit two diminsional.
Defenders: I enjoyed this team-up show for what it was worth. The acting was good, but the plot holes were big enough to be a distraction. Once again Iron Fist came away as the least likable character. Seeing the characters and their casts all interract is fun too. Still, there are those nagging plot holes. A lot of those could have been fixed with just an extra line of dialogue here or there.
Marvel’s Agents of Shield: I used to love this show, and despite three very strong seasons I was in no hurry to pick this up for season four. I had become enamored in that time of the Warner Brother’s television shows, such as Arrow and Flash, and that just didn’t leave time in my viewing schedule for Shield. As it turns out, season 4 of MAOS turned out to be as monumental and great as season 3, which had heretofore been sort of a high point in the series. It was all androids, virtual reality, and science-like occult, and it was really good. (Yes, hardcore science and magic exist hand-in-hand this season, and it works surprisingly well.)
CONCERTS:
U2: Honestly, I believed my days of huge concerts was over. Too expensive, too loud, to late, too much hassle. On 9-10-17 Benita and I bucked that expectation by seeing U2 play the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve both been U2 fans for decades, and this was just too much to pass up. The band delivered exactly what we expected with great music, showmanship, and a little preaching. The video show that playing in sync with the band was the biggest video screen I’ve ever seen, wonderfully produces, and actually lent a visual element to the music that made perfect sense. The sound was good, our seats were good, the venue was very nice, the end result almost perfect.
Beck: I’m not overly familiar with Beck’s music–I’ve heard his big hits on the radio, but that’s it. I remember Kanye West stealing the mic from him at the Grammy’s, too. Anyway, I didn’t know the material, and I liked it. Beck seemed happy to be there, happy to be opening for U2, and he delivered well crafted music. In effect, opening bands can often be irritating, but Beck was not. I was impressed enough to decide to give his music some further listening. I will also not that a lot of concert goers were wearing Beck shirts, not U2 shirts. Wild.
Samantha Fish Band: I discovered Samantha Fish on Youtube relatively recently, and I became a big fan of her music almost immidiately. She plays some burning hot guitar, and sings with real heart, and I was won over. Most guys my age are unwilling to really consider a woman to be a super guitarist, and that is their loss. It’s about the music, not her gender. Now, the fact that I raised the gender issue means that I might be dealing with some sort of bias, but if you know me you already understand that I adore women, their power, and their vital role. (I’ll stop there, because I’m sure no one wants to hear me go on a rant about this.)
Governor Davis and the Blues Ambassadors: I’ve seen Davis play numerous times over the years, and he makes me smile every time he takes the stage. I have fond memories of even seeing him in an acoustic set during lunch at the City Market in Indianapolis. He and another musician sat and traded songs, accompanying each other. I was luck to be down there.
ALBUMS:
Neil Young-A Letter Home: At the same time Neil Young was trying to market his super high-definition digital music player, he and Jack White put out an archaic series of covers songs on an ancient recording device. This album sounds like an old album, with tinny sound, lots of overnoise, and no overdubs–they made all the songs in one take, apparently. It’s not easy to listen to, and only a true Young afficianado will really get it, I think. There are still a few good tracks on here, though, so don’t rule it out without listening.
Caveat: After decades of being crazy about Young and his music, I pulled back. I first became slightly obsessed with his work around 1983, but I have not purchased any of his more recent albums. Why this is more about me than about the iconic singer/songwriter. I still love his older music, and still listen to it a lot, but I’ll leave it that.