First, the obvious: I haven't posted in quite a while. No excuse will be offered. As I'm sure most writers can attest to, sometimes you just don't have anything of value or note to talk about. Also, the "real world" tends to intrude upon the writer's world too often, and usually at the most inopportune times.
In the "real world," I have been unemployed for over four years now. Since the death of my grandmother this past January (whose care took up the majority of my time the past four years), most of my waking moments have been spent in the dignity-crushing search for employment in a, for lack of a better term, shitty economy. Things, however, have begun to look up... last week, I had a pleasant two interviews with a major American employer. The pre-employment process having been completed, I know only need wait for the completion of a background check, which can take up to two weeks to complete. I, of course, am waiting with bated breath, itching to not only work again, but to feel the glorious feeling that only comes with having money in your pocket that you, yourself, earned.
I have also tried to make time each week to work on my fiction writing. To date, I have several short story ideas in the Fantasy and Horror veins, as well as a Western novel and a semi-autobiographical novel in the works. The hard part is choosing which project to work on at any given time. Also, keeping a certain level of inspiration has proved a problem, as at times I have sunk into periods of deep melancholy which make it harder to roust the desire to write within me. I press on, however, because I truly feel that I have the ability to produce works that others will want to read, but also because the sales of those works will earn me even more money.
That may seem rather crass to most people, but so be it. I love money. I love the opportunities that money helps to provide. I love the thought that, with money, I can provide the things that I (and, had I one, my family) need and desire. Gene Simmons (of KISS fame) said it best: The love of money is not the root of all evil. The lack of money is.
At any rate, that is what has been happening with me lately. Wish me luck with my above activities. If all goes well, my posts here may be very infrequent, indeed. But rest assured that, when I feel I have something worthwhile to say, you will be able to read it here first.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Dick Clark 1929-2012
Those of us who are old enough to remember when Saturday morning TV was THE place to be every week have lost a friend.
Dick Clark (born November 30, 1929) was a fixture of American popular entertainment for over fifty years, particularly through the Saturday morning program American Bandstand. He also was the host of several game shows, the most famous of which was The ($10,000/$20,000/$25,000/$100,000) Pyramid. Through the music programs he hosted/produced, he helped introduce America to many of it's most famous acts, from KISS to Michael Jackson to Madonna. It didn't matter the genre, if Dick Clark liked you, you appeared on Bandstand or his successful annual special Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In the 80s, he produced and co-hosted (alongside the late, great Ed McMahon) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, where TV's best mistakes and blunders were taken out of the vault and aired for all to see. They also played some brilliant practical jokes on some of the most popular celebrities of the day, which were recorded via hidden camera for air on the program. The (in my opinion) talentless hack known as Ashton Kutcher would later rip off the latter idea for his MTV program Punk'd.
In 2004, Clark suffered a debilitating stroke and was forced to miss that year's New Year's Eve special. The following year, he made his return to the telecast after having to teach himself how to speak all over again. He would continue to appear on the annual telecast over the next several years, with primary hosting duties being assumed by (in my opinion) another talentless hack- Ryan Seacrest. Dick Clark died today, April 18, 2012, following a heart attack. He was 82 years old.
I remember well, after my weekly dose of cartoons, watching Bandstand as a lead-in to my weekly dose of professional wrestling and monster movies (Japanese and otherwise). I miss those days greatly. I will miss Dick Clark just as greatly.
Rock on in the great beyond...
Dick Clark (born November 30, 1929) was a fixture of American popular entertainment for over fifty years, particularly through the Saturday morning program American Bandstand. He also was the host of several game shows, the most famous of which was The ($10,000/$20,000/$25,000/$100,000) Pyramid. Through the music programs he hosted/produced, he helped introduce America to many of it's most famous acts, from KISS to Michael Jackson to Madonna. It didn't matter the genre, if Dick Clark liked you, you appeared on Bandstand or his successful annual special Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In the 80s, he produced and co-hosted (alongside the late, great Ed McMahon) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, where TV's best mistakes and blunders were taken out of the vault and aired for all to see. They also played some brilliant practical jokes on some of the most popular celebrities of the day, which were recorded via hidden camera for air on the program. The (in my opinion) talentless hack known as Ashton Kutcher would later rip off the latter idea for his MTV program Punk'd.
In 2004, Clark suffered a debilitating stroke and was forced to miss that year's New Year's Eve special. The following year, he made his return to the telecast after having to teach himself how to speak all over again. He would continue to appear on the annual telecast over the next several years, with primary hosting duties being assumed by (in my opinion) another talentless hack- Ryan Seacrest. Dick Clark died today, April 18, 2012, following a heart attack. He was 82 years old.
I remember well, after my weekly dose of cartoons, watching Bandstand as a lead-in to my weekly dose of professional wrestling and monster movies (Japanese and otherwise). I miss those days greatly. I will miss Dick Clark just as greatly.
Rock on in the great beyond...
Monday, April 16, 2012
Random Thoughts: April 16, 2012
Earlier tonight, on Fox News's Special Report, political commentator extraordinaire Charles Krauthammer stated that Democrats stand on principle only if a Republican is in office. Ne'er a truer word...
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I have always respected and admired Bill Cosby for being one of the few entertainers that actually tells it like it is. I am all the more disappointed in him, therefore, for his gravitation to an easy answer to the motivation as to the Trayvon Martin shooting by stating that, essentially, the gun was to blame. He even made the statement that if someone was supposed to be protecting him, he didn't want them to have a gun. I'm sure the policemen in Mr. Cosby's neighborhood will be glad to hear that. I feel that Mr. Cosby may not be in a good position to comment on anything involving firearms due to his natural bias against them as a result of his only son, Ennis, being shot to death some years ago. I would remind Mr. Cosby that, in the hands of lawful owners, crimes are much more likely to be stopped with guns than committed. I would also remind everyone that to ignore Trayvon's history of misbehavior, while using old photographs to depict him, is to be the real racist in all of this. My big fear is that George Zimmerman will never be able to get a fair trial. But then, when a dog-and-pony-show such as this is set up as a result of a lynch-mob mentality, fairness isn't really the point, is it?
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I have always respected and admired Bill Cosby for being one of the few entertainers that actually tells it like it is. I am all the more disappointed in him, therefore, for his gravitation to an easy answer to the motivation as to the Trayvon Martin shooting by stating that, essentially, the gun was to blame. He even made the statement that if someone was supposed to be protecting him, he didn't want them to have a gun. I'm sure the policemen in Mr. Cosby's neighborhood will be glad to hear that. I feel that Mr. Cosby may not be in a good position to comment on anything involving firearms due to his natural bias against them as a result of his only son, Ennis, being shot to death some years ago. I would remind Mr. Cosby that, in the hands of lawful owners, crimes are much more likely to be stopped with guns than committed. I would also remind everyone that to ignore Trayvon's history of misbehavior, while using old photographs to depict him, is to be the real racist in all of this. My big fear is that George Zimmerman will never be able to get a fair trial. But then, when a dog-and-pony-show such as this is set up as a result of a lynch-mob mentality, fairness isn't really the point, is it?
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Random Thoughts: April 10, 2012
I see that Rick Santorum has dropped out of the Republican Presidential primary race. Perhaps if he had done so a few months ago and supported the true conservative in the race (Newt Gingrich), we conservative Republicans wouldn't be faced with the prospect of, once again, having to hold our noses and vote for a wishy-washy moderate. Here's hoping Santorum does the right thing and talks his set of delegates into voting for Speaker Gingrich at the convention...
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Anyone who knows me knows that I love KISS, but not enough to watch "Dancing With The Stars." I will, however, seek out their two performances from the show on the 'net. One can never have enough KISS in their lives...
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I'm starting to get the feeling that the mainstream media's coverage/analysis of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman is their attempt to gin up a race war in order to aid in the reelection of their Messiah, one Dear Leader. What other explanation can there be for trying this case in the court of public opinion instead of a court of law? Why else would NBC (who is firmly in Dear Leader's back pocket) doctor a 911 tape in order to present Mr. Zimmerman in the worst possible light? Why else ignore Martin's record of bad behavior, and only show a five-year-old picture of Martin, in order to present him in the best possible light? Why else would the two biggest race pimps in America (Sharpton and Jackson) rear their ugly heads? Why is the New Black Panther Party's placing of a bounty on George Zimmerman being soundly ignored by the mainstream media? Why else would Dear Leader, in response to a planted question (the ONLY one he answered) at a press conference, say that "if [he] had a son, he would look just like Trayvon?" Why would the supposed President of the United States even comment on something that was not a federal law enforcement issue at all? Something is rotten, and not just in Denmark...
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The more TV spots for the upcoming "Avengers" movie that I see, the more I get the feeling that this may be the first truly entertaining project that Joss Whedon (the most over-rated person in Hollywood) has been involved with since the original "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" movie with Kristy Swanson...
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Anyone who knows me knows that I love KISS, but not enough to watch "Dancing With The Stars." I will, however, seek out their two performances from the show on the 'net. One can never have enough KISS in their lives...
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I'm starting to get the feeling that the mainstream media's coverage/analysis of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman is their attempt to gin up a race war in order to aid in the reelection of their Messiah, one Dear Leader. What other explanation can there be for trying this case in the court of public opinion instead of a court of law? Why else would NBC (who is firmly in Dear Leader's back pocket) doctor a 911 tape in order to present Mr. Zimmerman in the worst possible light? Why else ignore Martin's record of bad behavior, and only show a five-year-old picture of Martin, in order to present him in the best possible light? Why else would the two biggest race pimps in America (Sharpton and Jackson) rear their ugly heads? Why is the New Black Panther Party's placing of a bounty on George Zimmerman being soundly ignored by the mainstream media? Why else would Dear Leader, in response to a planted question (the ONLY one he answered) at a press conference, say that "if [he] had a son, he would look just like Trayvon?" Why would the supposed President of the United States even comment on something that was not a federal law enforcement issue at all? Something is rotten, and not just in Denmark...
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The more TV spots for the upcoming "Avengers" movie that I see, the more I get the feeling that this may be the first truly entertaining project that Joss Whedon (the most over-rated person in Hollywood) has been involved with since the original "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" movie with Kristy Swanson...
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Happy Passover/Easter
While I am not a religious person, I respect the practices and holidays of the true religions of the world. In that spirit, I would like to wish any and all Jewish readers of Cerebral Dissidence a Happy Passover, as well as wishing a Happy Easter to the Christian readers. Inconsistencies (and there are many) aside, the messages of the Jewish and Christian scriptures are universal, providing a template for civilized society that is unparalleled. It's a shame that Organized Religion's role as a Mafia-esque entity, combined with the "my-God-can-whip-your-God" mentality, is driving people away from something that should be so simple and helpful to us as human beings.
So again, Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and how about we all try just being a little bit nicer to each other year 'round? Believe me, I know it's hard to do... people basically suck, after all. But it couldn't hurt, could it?
So again, Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and how about we all try just being a little bit nicer to each other year 'round? Believe me, I know it's hard to do... people basically suck, after all. But it couldn't hurt, could it?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Question With Boldness?
A few days ago, I postulated a personal theory on a Facebook Tea Party page. The theory was a simple one: that since a big reason Rick Santorum did so well in certain states was due to support from Evangelical Christians, and because Santorum is very open about his Catholic faith, that Evangelicals aren't backing him because he is the most conservative, or because he displays strong leadership. My theory is that they are backing Santorum simply because they feel that he is the most Christian candidate in the race. I added that being a Christian, be it strong, phoney, or otherwise, did not necessarily make one a leader.
Shortly thereafter, the floodgates opened. I was unloaded upon by people claiming that I hated Christians (and, by extension, Jews), that I was an atheist, that I was EVIL, that I was Wiccan, that I was a Democrat plant working for Dear Leader's campaign, and sundry other ridiculous notions. NOT ONE of these so-called "Christian" individuals actually argued the merits of what I had posted. They simply attacked me personally. Even when I gave them an out by asking them why they felt the need to reply to a post which they felt didn't apply to them with such vitriol, even pointing out their own hypocrisy in doing so, the attacks continued.
A day or so later, I added a new post to the same page, calling out these self-described "Godly" people on their lack of good Christian values (coming from a Christian family, I know a thing or two about them). Needless to say, they didn't like that at all. And through all of this, not one attempt to prove what I posted to be incorrect... just knee-jerk emotionalism, personal attacks, and attempting to deflect from the issue by somehow making me the issue. I can, therefore, only conclude that I must have struck a nerve with those people. After all, why would anyone get so defensive about an observation that they claim didn't apply to them, unless it really did on some level?
I suppose that it's perfectly OK to question the motives of anyone you wish, as long as that person isn't an Evangelical Christian.
How deliciously hypocritical.
Shortly thereafter, the floodgates opened. I was unloaded upon by people claiming that I hated Christians (and, by extension, Jews), that I was an atheist, that I was EVIL, that I was Wiccan, that I was a Democrat plant working for Dear Leader's campaign, and sundry other ridiculous notions. NOT ONE of these so-called "Christian" individuals actually argued the merits of what I had posted. They simply attacked me personally. Even when I gave them an out by asking them why they felt the need to reply to a post which they felt didn't apply to them with such vitriol, even pointing out their own hypocrisy in doing so, the attacks continued.
A day or so later, I added a new post to the same page, calling out these self-described "Godly" people on their lack of good Christian values (coming from a Christian family, I know a thing or two about them). Needless to say, they didn't like that at all. And through all of this, not one attempt to prove what I posted to be incorrect... just knee-jerk emotionalism, personal attacks, and attempting to deflect from the issue by somehow making me the issue. I can, therefore, only conclude that I must have struck a nerve with those people. After all, why would anyone get so defensive about an observation that they claim didn't apply to them, unless it really did on some level?
I suppose that it's perfectly OK to question the motives of anyone you wish, as long as that person isn't an Evangelical Christian.
How deliciously hypocritical.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
It Ain't Over
With the garnering of endorsements from former President George H.W. Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, and Representative Paul Ryan, it seems the Republican establishment is attempting to revive the already-disproven theory that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the inevitable Republican nominee for President. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, however, has vowed to remain in the race no matter what, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's campaign is restructuring for a "floor-fight" strategy at the Convention.
The point being that this is a long way from being over. With only about half of the delegates awarded so far, neither Gingrich nor Santorum are anywhere close to reaching the "magic number" of 1144 needed to clinch the nomination (Republican party gadfly Ron Paul remains dead last, as usual). Then again, neither is Romney. Plus, Romney's unfavorable rating has increased. Which says to me that the electorate's search for the "not-Romney" candidate is alive and well.
So I say, let's take it to the convention. After all, the last time we "coalesced around the inevitable nominee," we ended up with John McCain, who is as moderate as they come... and we all know how that turned out, don't we?
The point being that this is a long way from being over. With only about half of the delegates awarded so far, neither Gingrich nor Santorum are anywhere close to reaching the "magic number" of 1144 needed to clinch the nomination (Republican party gadfly Ron Paul remains dead last, as usual). Then again, neither is Romney. Plus, Romney's unfavorable rating has increased. Which says to me that the electorate's search for the "not-Romney" candidate is alive and well.
So I say, let's take it to the convention. After all, the last time we "coalesced around the inevitable nominee," we ended up with John McCain, who is as moderate as they come... and we all know how that turned out, don't we?
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