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Some Day of the Dead Art

Here are a couple of paintings I did for fun. I’ll aim for complexity as I update the series, but I had to start somewhere, right?

Librarians are my heroes!

I was very moved and impressed by this:

I’m going to see if there is a way to contribute to this project, and I’ll let everyone know.

Bad Retro

I grew up watching Mexican Wrestler movies. Perhaps that is why I find Ed Wood so fascinating. There is something about retro that enchants me, and I’m not talking about bad retro here, because there is plenty of that, no, I am talking about horrible retro. For some reason, it  seems to me like the people who made all of those terrible movies were actually having fun with the process, regardless of the results they afforded them.

It really takes a lot of courage to put on a mask and to go out in to a ring when you can’t wear a shirt, and all you have for protection is a little silver cape, especially when facing vampire wrestlers. It’s almost as humiliating as presenting a movie where you have to use the same obviously fake settings over and over again, in order to create stories that may seem incomprehensible to the rest of the world, but  the original Star Trek has a following.

Maybe I love these movies because they transported me as a child despite their lack of polish. Maybe the fact that I could recreate them in my own backyard did the trick. I don’t know, but I suspect that I enjoy them because they demand that I surrender myself completely to them. They also give me permission to not take them seriously, because their only aim is to amuse me. I love the fact that we can be absolutely engrossed by a simple story, no matter how basic it is. I love the “beginners mind” displayed by these films.

I do enjoy art and literature, don’t take me wrong, but tin foil aliens will always have a place in my heart.

Ethan of Athos

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Well, Bujold did it again! Another great novel by one of my favorite writers. While it cold be argued that Bujold writes military science fiction, doing so misess the point of her sublime storytelling ablities. Bujold’s fictional universe is consistent and alive, as well as populated by real people you can care about. I honestly think that her stories will, someday, become a part of the literary cannon. The lady can write circles around most other authors. I’m not a big fan The Sharing Knife (yet) but theVorkosigan and the Challion series are sublime. I’m glad I was able to find some more of her works as I recover from being sick.

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Note: I wrote this review on June 17th, 2009. I had been sick for only a few days and my health situation had not yet deteriorated to the point it eventually did. While typing this short review was physically difficult, I was only getting a taste of what would come next.  I wasn’t able to write more than a few sentences at a time for many weeks without feeling very sick with vertigo and nausea. I am grateful for those meager sentences, however. Needless to say, my experience gave me a new appreciation and a sense of gratefulness for writing, and of course, for my returning health.

Musings On Being Bilingual

Speaking more than one language is undeniably helpful, but I think it has a few curious side effects. I don’t know if there is any science to back them up, but some times, when I’ve thought about something for a few hours, or after a long day, I find it difficult to continue to be creative in the language I have been used up until then. If I switch to the other language, my brain feels almost refreshed and I am able to tackle some more creative thinking. I wonder why this is so. Maybe I’m using different parts of my brain. It’s like having a backup brain. This may also apply to different skills, like drawing instead of writing. What do you think? Any neurologists out there?

Back again!

I’m back to my blog after a long absence due to some personal circumstances. For those of you who enjoy my keen wit and insightful observations about the world, I apologize for never providing you with either, but I will try harder this time around.

My love of comic books has returned with a vengeance, so I will be starting a second blog about sequential art and visual storytelling, but worry not, since I will continue to update this blog with the rest of my overflowing creative energies. Thank you for hanging in there.

The other blog is thezenofcomics.wordpress.com

Fourth Hugo Review

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an amazing temple of a book. It makes you think and opens up the world in new ways. As much as I enjoyed the text, it was clear that Stephenson’s strength isn’t plotting, but the book is so rich, that plot matters very little. If you are looking for a way to explore a whole new world of ideas and paradigm shifting thoughts, check this one out. Can’t recommend it enough. I hope it wins the Hugo.

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Saturn’s Children, Third Hugo review

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was not for me. I didn’t have a problem with the concepts this book deals with, in fact it is a perfectly logical view of the Singularity, but I couldn’t get too much in to it, and ambivalence towards literature is a sure sign that I better move on. It seemed like the author used too many shortcuts and references to other science fiction to create anything truly original. I can’t say I wouldn’t have liked this book ten or even fifteen years ago, but while I enjoy cheesy movies, I like my books to make me think. Mr. Stross manages to throw in a few interesting ideas about ownership and life that really made me think, but they were too obvious to surprise. The setting did not feel real enough. Reading this book was like walking through a science fiction convention filled with cosplayers whose costumes allude to bad and obscure manga based on the one or two bad Heinlein novels out there. I could not finish the book, so, while it is possible that it gets better beyond the first half of it, I could not immerse myself in a world that verged on the interesting, but missed the mark by millimeters. Having started to read some of the other Hugo Nominees made it impossible for this book to hold my attention. It didn’t measure up, in my opinion, to the rest of the material. Again, some people may enjoy Mr. Stross’s style more than me, and I encourage anyone interested to at least read other reviews, it is not a “bad” book, just very clearly, not the book I like to be reading right now.

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Some Hugo Thoughts

As you know, I’m reading all the Hugo Award nominated novels this year. I tend to read many books at the same time, which is usually not a big deal. I had been listening to the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, while reading Saturn’s Children, by Charles Stross. However, when I finished the Graveyard Book, and attempted to listen to Anathem, by Neal Stephenson, it became clear that my little “multiple read” stratagem was going to fall apart. Anathem will require that I drop all other reading in order to give it my full attention. I know that I could listen to it and get some enjoyment from it, but that’d be like going to Rome between flights for a couple hours. I was able to pull off reading multiple books before, because I usually read fiction and non fiction together, or maybe light and easy fiction. The Graveyard Book, for instance, has clearly delineated short story like chapters, so I knew where to stop for the day, but, while Anathem is filled with short sections, you need to take your time walking through them. So far, I’ve only read the first chapter, but I can’t wait to go back to the book. It is huge and all encompassing, and I want to get as much out of it as I can. I know I’m going to go back and read it again, after I finish it, but for now, I’ll finish the other stuff. I’ll go back to it when there is nothing but the book itself.

So far, my two favorite Hugo books are The Graveyard Book, and Anathem. I’m still going to wait until I’m done with all of them to give my verdict, but I have the feeling that one of those two is going to win this year–I still haven’t even cracked open “Little Brother,” so that one is still on the docket.

That said, all the books are good, and the authors amazing. There are just some stories that speak to me personally more than others. If the Hugo was given to the whole Old Man’s War series, for example, I’d have to go crazy. Zoe’s Tale by itself is good, but the whole series is great, and a contender, at least in my mind, with all the others. I wonder if I’m just comparing bandannas and pineapples. I’ll keep you posted.