Quill & Claw/Pen & Paw

Really? Is there any more fitting way to end this? I mean, for reals, "Z?" Of course, for me, it's going to be zombies. And I can never explain it, that fascination.  I will admit, as of late, my interest has been wanning. I mean, seriously. I've been such an avid watch of The Walking Dead. But this season? I gimmicks kept coming and coming it was less about creativity and more about broadcasting 101. I remember hearing about how soap operas only got interesting before a commercial.  Made sense, so you'd not walk away. But their storylines were in the 100s and they were always evovling.  TWD? Look, three "almost deads" in six weeks! And then they did it as a season finale. After a much ballyhooed exit from the season that promised an hour and half of the show. I later realized, it was the same fifty minute program, stretched out over commercials. Yeah, broadcasting 101. Not only that, the commercials! The same ones! Over and over! Like we...

Kids!? What's a matter with kids today! Recently, there was a rash of fights breaking out at a local high school. I'm going to keep mum on the location for privacy issues, but, needless to day, the argument from the meeting? "It's the parents fault!"" "It's social media!" I was struck by the familiarity of the situation. It's like I was in the 70s when I heard about how "MUSIC!" was making kids do drugs. Or, even today, where my pastor just posted about the evils of porno. That's an easy fix. With the amount you can get for free on the internet-the numbers don't really add up, but that's just me. It's always a complaint about kids today and, how, when the current adults were kids, they didn't have these issues. We make fun of texting, " Whr R U?" But, really, "Y'all" was a shortened way of saying "you all." And, really, how far is this: From this: ...

Seriously. Think about it. X. What the fuck goes with X? I mean, I could write about porno, but that wouldn't be very good without pictures. Ya know what I mean? But, let's face it, I will always be an entertainment writer and here is something I can actually sink my canines into. Cross (the "X" part, get it?)overs. When I was in high school and fancied myself a possible future filmmaker, I would wonder, out loud, why my precious comic books hadn't been snatched up. They have prewritten, mulitple storylines; vaguely familiar characters; and a crapload of action. Of course, I would counter myself. Special effects would have to be out of this world, origin stories, and youth culture. Surely, the penetration of the superhero genre would be huge, from elementary to fanboys in their fifties, but it would have to be, like Star Wars caliber. Up to that point, Superman was really our only successful superhero movie, and rightfully so. The story was massivel...

The experiment is almost to a close. See, this was a bit a different than NaNoWriMo, wasn't it? I have about, what, three more days of this? And I wanted to see if I could do it. Really, just do it. Sorta like running a marathon and coming in number gazillion and fourteen. But, I was there, ya know? Everyone climbs Mount Everest. Tell me the last guy who climbed it. See? Not important to us immediately. But for that woman or man? The world. Just to stand there, realizing we're basically nothing on this earth and there's no oxygen left, but, for that one individual who put the time in and climbed all the way up? It was everything for them. I looked at this challenge several times. But, here, let me back up. This NaNoWriMo (see earlier posts), I finally finished my darn book. The tic was, of course, it was my seventh, but the first one I really enjoyed writing and plotting out. The first one that I thought I might have a future with. So that means, for seven Novembers ...

My MOUSE DIED AND I CAN'T SEEM TO HANDLE IT...so there should be a big V logo RIGHT HERE!!!!!! Since this, well, a blog about writing and writing more, I'm sad to point out this moment and the next will focus on just that. My passions. Still, I cannot help thinking that such discussion about the craft of my art really does have an appeal beyond my fellow authors. I know crap about music, but, with the passing of very incredible Prince, I've been really getting into his process as an creator of some of the better tunes of the past few decades.  My brother once had a biography on Frank Zappa and I chowed that puppy down. So, the process does define the individual in a manner that I don't think we readily realize. I believe it is because not everyone can create. We feel inadequate, since we've not written that third Great American Novel and we're petrifed that we'll discover that there's no magic bullet, no special "thing" that causes awes...

First ghosts and now the...Unknown? I had another post prepped, yes, just like the letter "S," but the fact was, it gave too much away. I can't have you figuring out everything about my life, really. Those who know me, know me; those who don't-well, they can figure out much by just reading this brief collection of authorship. But the fact is, I need y'all not to know who I am at all. I need to write as faceless as possible. My personality, well, that's a person and, as such, even if I don't like it, has certain expectations. I look at this way. Are you aware your parents have sex? *shudders* We censor ourselves in front of our parents. And we pray that they never have the nerve to be open in front of us. I have no urge to elaborate on my favorite positions in front of MotherUnitPrime. Heck it still takes me some time to come out of the proverbial closet with my being gay with people I don't know. In today's day and age, it's sorta a...

I never liked tea as much as I liked coffee. Really, when I look back, I remember my first sips of coffee and couldn't figure out why all my other elementary friends were making all frowny faces over the magic elixir. To me, it tasted like strength. I was so into it, I remember I would drive to Denny's or Village Inn and just sit at the counter, read my variety of paperbacks and magazines, sipping black, dark, coffee. No milk. The waitress had never seen a teenager like me. Which was weird, because in all of my reading of college cultures, coffee was de rigeur. Eventually, the Cherry Creek Mall opened a Gloria Jean's and it was just as wonderful, but there was no place to sit and sip, like a bar. Little did I know that coffeehouse culture was here long before there was a Starbuck's, and it was a matter of time before I connected with it. But my relationship with tea came as a fluke. The fact was, well, I couldn't make coffee in elementary school. Nope....

I had originally intended for this post to be a brief review, something I never really did, for the fantastic movie, Star Wars: the Force Awakens. However, as I am setting to compose this title, I received the tragic news of the passing of the great Prince, an icon in music for all the right reasons. I felt it was necessary to add my song to the chorus of sorrows that rattle over the landscape of social media, I, too, am quiet blue. I took an advertising and mass media class way back when in college, long before there was a Tweet on the horizon, and was always impressed with the idea that companies pour so much money into getting a product out there, when, in the end, you never know how well it works unless you trap people in polling places and interview them. Or you get more business. Artists are a crazy lot. Michael Jackson, for all of his wachidoodle-ness, was an artist. Yes, he made more money than the Gross National Debt, but that was not his intent. He wanted to ...

I got a new car at work. Okay, no, it’s not new-new, just new-to-me-newish. And it’s old. See, like, it doesn’t have ANYTHING. Makes sense. Can’t have us dancing all around the world with county stickers emblazoned across the sides of the POS, eating french fries with wild abandon. And it doesn’t have Bluetooth. It does have a CD player. Remember those? It’s staring at me like an eight-track player. What am I to do? (sidenote: I love the car, however. Nice engine, handles really well, otherwise!) See, back in 2010, I left my ludicrous job and found another. And I turned 40. And I bought myself a massive gift. I wanted a fucking Satellite Radio, Sirius XM. People told me no, it was stupid, but I refused to listen. Even then, I was writing whenever possible and I knew they had an online presence. Commercials have taught me to hate. I watch television through YouTube or Netflix, leaving the room or jotting down the name of every vendor that I’m forced to wa...

Dear all, I do apologize for the tardiness of this post-I seem to have stepped in a big pile of flu. I hate to miss work, so I'm running home, taking a buttload of meds and sleeping until morning. It's a terrible life, hurting the things I love, like the gym and authoring, but a necessary evil. Here's from yesterday! Having worked more with the Deaf than most Deaf people, I know a thing about this focused culture, or so I like to think.   They have a newspaper, and it’s called, “The Silent News.” Never has been newspaper been so incorrectly named since Fox News actually saying “News” in it’s title. The Fox part is accurate-it’s all about the sly deceit. The Deaf are a terrifically noisy lot, both literally and metaphorically. You never want to be the kitchen when the Deaf are washing the plates from the day. The clanging! They don’t know about it. But you will. Invite a friend over who has a partial hearing to watch the Fast and Furious, Part, like, W...

Don’t ever go eat at King Stephan’s Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom. The place is infested. Infested with princesses. You name the princess. She’s there. In all her cute glitter and great hair.  If they weren’t so young, I’d think I was in an incredible drag show. It’s awesome. And it makes me crazy. Not in a bad way, that is. As you’ve probably can surmise, I’m kinda into that Disney thing. There’s that great scene in the Big Bang Theory, where Amy Farafowler gets a tiara from her boyfriend and batshit wacko. It’s glorious. Princesses are the bread and butter of the Disney Universe, moving onto the main screen in their very first picture, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And it only got went up from there. The first princesses were a select lot, beautiful women, who, through varying degrees of passive-ness obtained incredible results. Husbands. Riches. Happiness. Times changed, and Disney rewrote the princesses. They now had more mastery of th...