On a day when it is 108 degrees outside and this being the first day off you have had in quite some time. You may find yourself suffering from a little cabin fever. Add to this condition a few extra children besides your own who can bring the havoc with the best of them and you have a headache brewing. I am not the kind of person who likes things to be sprung on them at the last minute and especially on my day off. I hope I have not upset anyone with my less than thrilled demeanor today but I most likely did. I love my family, immediate and extended. They are great and I realize how blessed I am to have them all in my life. That does not stop me from getting grumpy when I feel that my time away from work/stress is getting overwhelmed with factors that do add stress. We all deal with days like this so I fully understand that I am kind of being a whiny bitch about this and for that I also apologize.

That said, I look forward to having some good  creative time with my kids today. We are stuck inside so I think we will knock out a few projects. One of the things we are going to do is start posting the comics the girls have been creating on a section of my blog on Blogster. The addresses will be listed below. I am also going to put the images and links up on Tumblr so that as many people can see them as possible. Char is about to start using her original art as well as the writing. I am trying to write out a little more of the "Lonely Child" project today. I should have the writing and story boarding done by the end of this week and start shooting a few scenes by the middle of July.
Click on the title below to follow the link:

Sophia's Comics Page

Charlotte's Comics Page

My Tumblr Page

Tumblr Cheat Code

It is kind of cheating but instead of an actual entry, I think I am just going to post a link to my Tumblr account.

CLICK HERE FOR TUMBLR ACCOUNT

And We Named the Ball Cookie....

My kids are creative, smart, and strange. I know a lot of parents think the same thing about their kids and I do try to approach my view of the kids with a little separation so as to not just be blind in my ideas of them. A little bit ago, Charlotte (9 year old) came in with Oliver (4 year old) and explained that they were kicking around Oliver's ball and it got knocked into something nasty and they didn't want to touch it any more. I was finishing up Sophia's (6 year old) book report with her and didn't have time to fix their crisis for them. I told them to take it upstairs and wash it off in the bath tub. They were up there for what seemed an eternity. I honestly thought they had forgot any plans of actually playing with the ball and just went on to playing something else. About ten minutes later from that point, Char and Oliver reappear with the ball in hand. "Here smell the ball." she stated with pride. "We washed it with shampoo and body wash." , she explained. "And we named the ball cookie." With that they were out the door. Oliver, Charlotte, and Cookie were off to have adventures again. Sophia finished her homework and ran to meet their new friend, Cookie. I could understand this behavior better if they were stranded on a tropical island with no one to talk to but they have plenty of friends and playmates. I'm sure they will be asking for Cookie to sleep in their room and I will have to decide which room will host our new guest. Maybe the topic of Oliver owning Cookie will spur a discussion of slavery and the problems with that whole arrangement.


I love my kids and they get their weird factor honestly.

Really Inconsistent Entry....

I am one of those people who likes to write and always swears that they will be more consistent and disciplined about their writing. Guess what? We are horrible about being a consistent scheduled writer. Maybe I don't have things happen in my life regularly enough to make writing worth while. The juice has to be worth the squeeze as they say. Maybe I should rattle off a few meaningful events in bullet point form every two days and go back when I am inclined to do so and flesh out the story points. Here are a few things thus far;

• Stopped eating meat a while back. No, I am not concerned with animals as much as I am concerned about the crap that they are pumping into any meat you will buy and eat. I do like the idea of my living, consumption not needing to rely on the death of other creatures though. 
• Am just now getting over an illness that has been bothering me since November. People were starting to think I was about to die or something because of the chronic coughing. I am glad to be feeling better and hope to parlay this feeling better into my next bullet point.
• Plan to start working towards getting back into shape. I have put back on all the weight I lost two years ago and would rather not feel as old as I do. Not only are we eating vegetarian but for the next little while we will be doing that plus low carb. We are also as a family going to work on increasing our "active" time on a daily basis.
• We are actually going to take a family vacation/trip this summer. We are looking at cabins to have a get away with my brother in law and his wife. Nick Zacharko and his wife Jessica will be with us for the outdoor adventure in a few months. It will be nice to get away with the family like that.

Well as my kids are ramping up the anarchy factor in the house, I need to attend to them. Until my next inconsistent entry, stay redamndiculous.

Down the Gamer's Rabbit Hole....

I just realized how long it has been since last I made a post. Life moves on and I have been playing video games far to much. Last Father's Day I received a new video game system in the form of Xbox 360. I have enjoyed video games since I was a wee sprite playing an Atari 2600 but this opened up a whole new Pandora Xbox. I have amassed a nice collection of video games and love to play online with friends I have met through the network as well as old friends from other states that I don't get much chance to interact with. I know that at times my wife regrets the gift decision but I truly think it is one of the coolest gifts I have ever received. I may start posting my thoughts, reviews on some of the games I play a lot of. Please let me know if you are also addicted to the gaming world. For those who know me, it is old news that my nerd status is secure with a long history of Dungeons and Dragons, Sci Fi, and other endeavors so the addition to feverish video gaming is not a surprise. I have to go and actually do some work now and stop messing around on the internet for a little while. Boom out for now.

The Limited Edition Cheap T-Shirt, Gone in 24hours! | TeeFury

The Limited Edition Cheap T-Shirt, Gone in 24hours! | TeeFury

Homeless Haphazard and the New Gorilla Warfare

And just watch him stagger down the street with intoxicated pride atop his crumbling climb and his junky stride. If you ask him, he will tell you that eyes don't need to focus to see what's going on. Perspective changes his face down in the gutter tragedy to a man with his ears to the tracks, listening for the coming locomotive of discourse. He hears the thumping boots of smart phone revolutionaries with idiots in tow. The clouded mind doesn't think nearly as much as it knows. Fast and ruthless like a nailgun crusifixion comes the soundbite blisters on the inside of bluetooth earpiece. Damaged hearing is the price of hearing the truth they say. Stagger on and crumble down, looking last to the lost so that your soul feels found Just watch him stagger, stagger on down and hope that he mumbles some prophecy, fortelling terrible things that sting of bourbon breathe, five dollar wise man that he is standing on the off ramp waiting for the red light dam to hold back the rush hour river so he may fish a little more. Four seasons of foul flavor has he tasted on the boulevard, thinking today is the worst to endure until tomorrow's daylight finds him again.

Mash up of Recent Things With Follow Up...

A little bit back, I was musing about creating a reality show where celebrities go to prison with everyday people who commit the same crimes as they. One of the reasons I thought this would be great was because it would take them off of the headlines and dedicate a channel or show to encase all of the mayhem.

Prison with the Stars!

Alright, so I'm sure like many of you, I am tired of hearing about the issues, problems, and criminal misfires of Lindsay Lohan. I hear a lot of people shouting that she and other "celebrities" who are so guilty of crimes should just go to jail. I think that this would only cause the tax payers to pay for another body in the correctional cycle and that is a waste. May I offer another solution. We seem to have no shortage of the fame touched individuals who are in trouble with the law, from television/movie stars, reality phenoms, to professional athletes. I say that in California, a state with a huge budget crisis, a broadcast correctional facility be put in place. You stock this special jail with one half celebrities who are heading to incarceration and one half average everyday "real" convicts. Mix the two elements and add cameras 24/7. It would be a broadcast bombshell and don't doubt that advertisers would be all over it. The income could help subsidize the state's correctional system thereby freeing up dollars to go elsewhere in the budget such as education. Many think the celebrities wouldn't go for it but I am willing to bet that they are so addicted to the attention monster that they will sign up for it in a heartbeat. Hell, we can even do a post prison term counseling special with Dr. Drew where he helps them readjust to the outside life. Maybe we could do a dial in vote to see who gets put in isolation for a day or two. Every call generates more money for the system that they thumbed their noses at. Feel free to add your own ideas to this but if any producers see this and take my idea. Please just put my name somewhere in the credits.

After I wrote this I spoke to a friend who works in a local prosecutor's office and he said that legally it would fly with the exception of having a call in vote to see who goes into solitary. Something about not ever bypassing someone's 6th amendment rights.

Today someone posted an article where Charles Manson was caught with a cell phone in his prison cell. I got tickled and came up with the following comments I left on her post. Thanks Ginger for posting that. Oh yeah here is a link to the article. ARTICLE

He was talking to Lil' Wayne.

Phone: buzz buzz buzz ( on silent in prison)

Lil' Wayne: (in a hush whisper) Who dis?

Charlie M.: Hi...hello, uh...jeez sorry I am just nervous. It's been a long time since I have done something like this. I just wanted to say that I am a really just a huge fan of your work. I have to say that I have not been moved by music like yours since.....well since the Beatles. I just wish there was some way I could show you just how much your music means to me.

Lil' Wayne: ...........

Charlie M. : Well, this has been great just great and I want to thank you for taking my call. I hear the guards coming. Cell check day, you know how it is. Hey I hope to hear your new stuff real soon. I will talk to you later........one more time, Huge, just a huge fan.

The reason for the Lil' Wayne reference is that he also is in prison and also just got caught with a cell phone in his cell. FYI

Charles Manson, just an out of control fanboy.

At The Moment of Deciding to Breathe

Calm. Calm, would be the one word that describes the moment when I noticed the perfect calm of the world around me. Vision transfixed on a single point in front but not really looking at nor seeing anything. Perfectly aware of all that was going on around. Not sure how long it was until I noticed that I was not moving at all, perfectly still in the moment. A statue in the eternity of seconds who was at peace with all that had come before and could be at equal peace with no more things to come. Finding it to be just like those seconds at the bottom of a swimming pool after the chaos of the dive have subsided and the water is silent and you are at the center of the calm. I was not breathing and it felt as if the decision was mine if ever to take up the habit again. Inhale and keep the story going or just sit there in the cushioned throne of stasis. Obviously there was a time limit to the decision yet urgency was missing from this equation. Fade away without another stress, bother, or worry. Breathe the next breathe of adventure, joy, and shared life with those you love. Though no rush was issued, and no anxiety felt in the decision, there was never a question of the outcome. How could I not breathe and give up the fight? To many have I seen who stopped breathing long ago, walking husk that only reflect the place that was their stopping point. Chest rises and falls and the chaos of every heartbeat must be used better than the day before. In times before now, often has the boy stood there throwing rocks into the water without purpose other than to hear the plunk of invaded liquid surface. To often have I squandered the resources of myself to lost endeavors and petty blueprints. I see now how limited the pile of rocks I stand upon is. How my aim must be truer as the years skip across the pond. Stop just stirring the water when there are real fish to catch if only you would just pick up the pole and cast.

C+ T = S ( Crap allowed + Tolerance = Stupidity Level) A Relationship Formula for the Modern World (The Extended Dance Remix)

One of the young ladies who works for me came in this morning telling me of how the guy she wants to spend the rest of her life with texted her a few days ago to back out of moving in together. As I started to remark on what a little bitch move that was do say something like that over a text, she put her hand up and told me that all of it was in the past now, as she had forgiven him. Apparently he broke down and cried when she confronted him with his failed approach at communication and as he sobbed, she decided to give it another chance. Now I know this is not in any way shape or form a relationship that I am really concerned with. It is more akin to watching a slow car wreck on an icy patch of road but am I wrong in thinking this guy should have a double pull no return on his man card? This is not some little early twenties late teens kind of guy. He is in his thirties and by all accounts a "Grown Up". In the end it boils down to one fact. You deserve whatever you are stupid enough to allow. Even though most people who just read that last line are thinking, "Yeah, everyone gets that." so many are settling for some silly redamndiculous shit in their relationships right this minute. So, I ask you, do we measure our own level of stupidity by direct relation to the things we allow to happen in our lives and our relationships, be they friendship, work based, or even love?

Now have I been guilty of this in the past? Absolutely, I am confident that most everyone has. I have written about how we are all in our own twisted towers of imprisonment but fail to notice because we are to busy pitying others for locking themselves away in the same manner. This does apply here as well and I am not saying that you don't tolerate imperfections in your relationships. To be honest, I am not trying to offer relationship advice at all. That would be like the leagues worst average batter giving others on the team batting advice. I am just making an observation about how we all seem to find ourselves living la vita Springer at times when if we could take three steps back from the reality of ourselves we would see how poorly we are writing our own script.

In the end I had another conversation with the young lady having relationship issues with the texting bandit. She has a young son in the mix also and this is a point of concern as it should be when you are building a serious lasting relationship. She feels that given time that they will be fine and that the guy in question will come around. I hope it does for her and the child's sake. As she has worked for me for years, I have seen her relationships from her divorce from a man who was not emotionally mature enough to handle a family to all those that followed. As I am removed from the situation, I can see fairly easily that she keeps going back to the same well and getting bucket after bucket of the same kind of guy. When you repeat a behavior again and again only to be upset that the end result is the same, I have a hard time feeling sorry for you. This is the soap opera that restaurants can be sometimes where you get a glimpse inside the lives of those who work for or with you over the years.

Urge to Undo in the Winter Months

I find myself riding a tempo that is just above comatose in terms of activity during the winter months. Possibly this is a long leftover impulse in the human genome much like the compulsion to hibernate that other animals have. This leads to more time in front of a computer, watching movies, reading books, and drinking coffee. This in and of itself is not a horrible thing but the lack of activities to balance out these leisurely endeavors has a high price. The payment is made in pounds and loss of energy. Einstein had it by the nape of the neck with the whole body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion doesn't feel like a lazy lump of crap theory. So if as G.I. Joe pointed out, "Knowing is half the battle" then allow me to give the half of my battle plan. I have already begun the process of getting my eating habits back in check and controlling the level and quality of food I am eating. Today, I start back at the gym and will commit myself to three times a week as I did in the summer. At first I know I will be Grumpy McBastard for a short time but I can't wait to feel my energy level jump again.

The facts are this:

• I am knocking on the door named 40
• I have small children and do want to be there for them.
• I am in control of how old I choose to feel.
• There is no BOOMFIST in being a sack of couch sitting.
• Phil Collins is evil.
• Shower Gnomes are real.
• I know how good I will feel when all is said and done.

So you may not care that I am getting back to my routines and that is fine. I write a lot of stuff that a great deal of people don't care to read. One morning over a nice hot cup of tea, as they bite into their perfectly toasted bagel, it will hit them. "He doesn't care if we like it. He writes because he enjoys writing."

Nuff Said.

Traveler, Dare to be Aware

Nudging yourself out of the latest in a series of micro naps, eyes struggling to adjust to the offering before them. Out the window stretches rolling hills of pure white, light, vaporous, and devoid of shadow. So bright are these snow capped foothills that it takes only a minute to remember the window belongs to the plane and the snowy hills belong to the sky as they are a field of clouds that you will never dance on. To look down on what everyone else must gaze upward and search the heavens with squinting watery eyes of wonder to see. Even then who can truly see how the sculptures of water and wind shift so willful to form that impossible beauty that will be gone in but a minute more? As the noise pulls at the senses with grating persistence until back in the belly of the multi engine dragon you reside once more, grasp at the memory that escape was had if but for a moment as the icy blue and white wisps danced to the song shared only with you.

I wrote this in my note pad that I keep in my back pocket most of the time when I was flying back from Florida this past September. Just thought I would share as I remembered an awesome trip with my brother and his family.

Merry Christmas (yes I know it was a few days ago) and have a Happy New Year where I hope each and everyone of us finds some new adventure.

Game Changers

I believe everyone has an event or two in their lives that is a Game Changer. I can track three for sure in my life. An event that marks a way point in your life that divides the what was, from the what now. I can easily look back and say that the person that existed before one of these points was in effect dead and a new entity walked in his place after. I am sure one would think me extreme for saying "dead" as apposed to changed or altered but in reality, those words don't come close. We experience the little twist and turns of our daily drama and we react to these as best we can. Sometimes we weep and others we laugh. There are those times that are hard and we just try to act brave hoping that bravery will indeed find us. These events are troublesome but if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit they are common events in the course of ones life. What I am speaking of are those catastrophic events that change who you are, how you react to things, and how you look at those around you.

I will try to tell of one such event, one of three, not the least, not the most, for these things do not merit rankings as they are all events of devastation and finality. The human brain does not remember the sensation of pain. We remember that we felt pain and how that pain compared to other agonies we have had, but not the actual signal sent by the nerve endings at the time of injury. The heart and mind are not so kind for if you sit and soak in the silence of a given moment and wait for the whispers, it all comes back. Whispers, I say, because not all truth is loud and obvious but in those quiet times comes to you in whispers. My oh my how the whispers do echo. Now the real trick of this exercise is that I am not going to tell you what the Game Changer was, but I will tell you about it. It was not a fast train wreck that hit and was over in an instant leaving only cries and mangled lives, though it did catch me off guard. It was a painful slow burn that hurt from the first lighting and every time I felt as if the smoke was clearing and I might find my way out of the blaze another wind of revelation would come along and fan the flames a little higher than they were before. I am not a man accustomed to tears as I learned long ago that they were not mine to own. I did water many fields of woe during this time regardless of my emotional water rights. I usually write to empty out what I am feeling, to try to make sense of what I feel. For the next year, I carried a small red journal in my pocket writing down what I had found and how I felt. It was my way of compartmentalizing this thing, to put it in its place, to put it somewhere. I gave the book a title, "Look to December" and though the title began as one of hope for future light and relief, it only took one more revelation to turn that title of optimistic retreat into another battle field scar. When you go through a Game Changer, you start to wonder if it is all you, if you caused all this, then you start telling yourself you don't deserve this. I learned in church you had best be careful telling God what you deserve because He knows for sure, and He might just show you one day. I hated being wherever I was no matter where that there was. In truth I hated whatever I was during those days no matter what name one called it. It was not hard to find a reason for dislike on any topic or in any relationship. I had all but convinced myself that my time among people had just about run its course, that I had no place left here and should set about my own plans to leave. Leave and not to return, like Bilbo perhaps. I still have the little red book that I wrote in for that year of survival tactics and I have it near me most of the time. It is sealed and I don't even look in it. I think that someday I will not even want the temptation to look back at the things I spilled out in such raw sloppy emotion in those pages but can't bring myself to burn it. Every year seems to have a December so I find myself reflecting on the title for the month leading up to it and the whole namesake of the book itself.

In the end, I am still here but make no mistakes, I am not he that was. He did not make it through the smoke and ash that was left in the wake. Some of the post impact changes were pure misery, but some where what I would classify as good changes to the plan that was myself. I am stronger now, in both body and will. I have made many new friends in that time, in fact I have made more friends in the two years since than I had in the ten years preceding my burning. I have found interest in things that I had not found in ages and for all this I am thankful. But I am not sure if I would not trade all these good things in a heart beat to get back that time. I might just trade these to rid myself of the darkness that never left. It hides in there and yes, I know we all have our shadow places whether we want to find them or not. In the times since, I have felt as if my vacuous devouring missing self would cause a collapse in this new beginning. If reading this has given you any concern. let it go because I write this not to alarm or gain any petitioned sympathy. I write because that is how I empty things out, I write because it helps me, and most of all, I am writing this because it is December.

Don't be a racist.

So I was listening to The Black Keys on the computer while doing some work and my daughter asked me what I was listening to. I said, "The Black Keys" and may have rushed my words as I was preoccupied with what I was doing. She repeated back to me, "The Blackeys".

True Story.

Perfect Crime on Sesame Street.

It would be so easy. No one would see you and more to the point, no one would care. He walks around so smug and sure of himself. He thinks no can touch him, no one could see his movements in the street. He believes himself to be a shadow, a slothful ninja of ill consequence. He is the target. He is the perfect crime. What and who am I talking about? The murder of Snuffleupagus. The only witness who could report you is Big Bird and when he went to the police screaming about an imaginary demon elephant friend that someone has snuffed, they will just put him away. Now there are other things to consider. Such as, is the Snuffleupagus meat edible? Is his blood visible even though the rest of him is not? After an invisible "imaginary" corpse sits out on the Sesame street for a while, does it start to smell? What weapon would best handle the job? So many possibilities to end this unseen break in the evolutionary chain. I want you to see Big Bird. I want to bathe in your big yellow tears as you cry for your friend who no one believed in and now no one cares that he is dead. I will sleep well at night knowing that you can't sleep, always haunted by the knowledge that only you could see him, only you could save him and you failed. Do I spend to much time thinking about killing Muppets? That .......is a fair question and I will get back to you on that one.

Urination Dance Sensation

Urinal Dancing.

It is a problem I have been fighting for years. You find yourself standing at the receptive porcelain place to be with relief on your mind. As you stand and deliver you notice there is a catchy tune playing on the sound system. First you are toe tapping, then swaying to the beat, and before long you have slipped into a dancing black out. When you come to you have sprayed down most of the restroom and half of the other patrons that were present as well. You don't know what else to do so you shoot a few pistol winks, slap some high fives, and bang out some chest bumps with the shocked and disoriented bystanders. You run for the exit as you zip your fly and swear that this will be the last time and you won't ever let yourself get out of control again. You know you will most likely break that vow to yourself, and that this scene will play out again most likely sooner than later. If this sounds like something familiar then you also have a problem with urinal dancing. If by some chance no one finds this similar to their situation then it may mean the problem is mine alone or that I am indeed the problem. I find it hard to believe that no one else has been seduced by the alluring magic that is urinal dancing and the thrill of the post pee disco get away. Thanks for being part of my self imposed intervention.

Ewoks Hate Trees!

I was just having a discussion with an employee of mine and decided to jot it down. The topic somehow found its way to conserving trees and nature. I told them that it was us or them and that trees would take over if we let them. Just because we are winning the war on trees does not mean we can let our guard down. If we were to relax as the T-Huggers (distant cousins to T-Baggers) would have us do, we would all wind up living in trees and walking to work on suspension bridges. The ewoks did not like living like that but they could not beat the trees for three very good reasons;

1. Little hands and blunt stone axes do not make easy work of giant trees. They had to allocate time for hunting and gathering and by the end of the day they did not have an extra thirty hours per day to hack at the wooden Goliaths.
2. They would overheat as they were basically teddy bears with rain ponchos on their heads. They had no visible pores and no way to cool themselves effectively. They would smell like a cat caught on hot engine block in a matter of hours of cutting.
3. The little bastards can't blink. That fact alone makes fighting trees a losing battle. Have you ever had a splinter? Have you ever had several splinters in your eye? All at once?

The trees had the little suckers over a barrel and they knew it. So what else could they do but live up in the trees and bat shit crazy while they waited for technology that would help them cut away and burn the trees down. Thanks Empire, you saved the day again.

So I will close with the words of Jack B. Handy, "If trees could scream, would we be so quick to cut them down? We would if they screamed all the time for no good reason."

George A. Romero is Dead

I hate to write that but as far as the visionary independent film maker who made a couple of the most influential films in the zombie/post apocalyptic genre, I just don't see his hand at work in the films produced under the name Romero. I watched his latest one the other night and it was so bad that I actually got pissed off. The movie was bad in several areas and they are as follows:

• Plot
• Consistency / Continuity
• Acting
• Effects
• Writing / Dialog

PLOT:

Well, the plot doesn't seem to have a destination in mind in that the stated motivation of the characters in the beginning does not seem to bind their actions. They want to find a safe place but they do everything but try to find a safe place. You find the Sarge's rag tag band of deserters in the middle of nowhere doing nothing but surfing the internet that would not really be functioning unless they had a satellite up link. They do not make decisions through the whole movie that make any sense whatsoever. Not from a military training point of view nor from a "how would a normal logical person react" point of view.

Consistency/Continuity:

This kind of ties in with the decision making from the last statement. They (the characters) constantly do things that would not be consistent with their own personalities nor what would be a result of their stated plans. Survivors in a post apocalyptic zombie world don't just wander off by themselves in unfamiliar territory nor would the others in the group not be alarmed by this. The zombies in the movie do not follow the rules set forth for zombie behavior in Romero's other films. Some zombies in this film are slow and lumbering, while others who seem dead suddenly jump up and almost roar at the characters. Many of the zombies act docile as they are chained and performing routine tasks like delivering mail or mowing the lawn. It was like the movie Fido had somehow merged a little with the Romero zombieverse. Some points just don't make sense in that they just could not happen. The characters drive into the fishing docks and are informed that the road they just drove in on was mined with dynamite so they can't drive away. The road they just drove on to get there is impassable due to land mines made of dynamite...and if they drive on it they will blow up (and one zombie stumbles on a mine, blowing up to illustrate this point) even though they just drove on the road and nothing happened, they will surely die if they drive on the road that they just drove on. Must have been some of that one way dynamite that I hear about all the time.

Acting:

I am sure that some of the actors may have some talent but if this is the case they did a masterful job of masking it. Some may be attributed to the material. You are the Sarge and your gruff with a heart of scoundrel with a soft spot. You are the lesbian (only female in the military unit so you must be a lesbian right?). You are the swarthy Italian lover boy who chases the lesbian swearing you can change her life with five minutes of your love expertise. You are the kid, rebellious, smart, crafty, with a razor keen sense of what is cool. Your are the bad guy who speaks with an Irish accent and wears cowboy attire. You are the Irish anti-hero who apposes the bad guy but your are not clearly good so curse a lot and try to have a rye approach to any situation no matter how touching, comedic, tragic, or dangerous. Then you have the full assortment of mindless henchmen who populate movies like this. In this last paragraph you have seen the full spectrum or maybe more in regards to the range of acting this movie holds.

Effects:

Did you ever wonder what happened to the effects coordinator from the old 80s The A-Team? Well, wonder no more. The gun play and squibs were cut rate but the gore effects that should be somewhat true to the physics and anatomy of the real world fell very short. A zombie who has been in a state of decay and therefore getting weaker with every action does not have the strength to grab your hair and rip the all the skin off your head as if it were a lose fitting shower cap. Not to mention your hair tends to rip out long before this happens. The zombie effects were not as good as I have seen at local zombie walks put on here in St. Louis.

Writing and Dialog:

Simple, simple, simple is the course of the day in terms of writing the plot and the dialog for this movie. There is no development of character or complex situations. At some points it seems like the writer (Romero) could not come up with a plausible solution to a situation so he just had the characters do something illogical to drive them to the next point in the story. The character's words could have been taken from a very bad old detective comic strip. At no point do the characters try to give the feel of layers within their personalities.

I wish I could tell you their were some redeeming aspects or moments to this film but in truth the best thing about the DVD version was the advertisement for the live action adaption to Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead that will be appearing on AMC in October. I will spare you wondering about that by including the trailer for that below. In the end I was left a little pissed and disappointed over this movie. I had even been warned months ago at our monthly Zombie Squad meeting about how bad it was. My problem is I did not believe the movie could be as bad as they were telling me. I was wrong, so wrong.

Click Here to see the trailer for The Walking Dead.

Today and then again..

I got a lot accomplished today but in the end, I did not get some of the things I most wanted to do done. Did that even make sense? I had wanted to write more on the D.S.D. story and I have a running draft working for the next installment. I did however get my Zombie Squad tattoo done today as you can see to the left there. It was to commemorate my first year with the ZS. One of many I would hope. It is a great group of people who do crazy stuff but also do some great things for our community. The artist who dropped ink on me is Jamie Toon http://www.jamietoon.com/ and by all means click the link and check his stuff out.

I will work to get another installment up for D.S.D. by the end of the weekend but seeing as how I have an evaluation that I need to write up for my assistant by tomorrow (real pay the bill work stuff), I suppose I should shove off for now and take care of that.

On a final note though, I got the new MC Chris album today (I heard it at Cheap TRX while getting my tattoo http://www.cheaptrx.com/tattoo.html ) and it is awesome. I think it is hilarious and my wife rolls her eyes. It's OK, she does that all the time to me and stuff I think humorous for one reason or another.

http://www.mcchris.com/

Stay true or become the lie. It is always your choice whether to follow the designs set before you or not.

Starting something new

Just a quick note on this page to let you know I have started a new ongoing story of post zombie America and a group of survivors tasked with going back into the wild zones from their safe haven, the island. They go out and seek needed supplies to keep the colony afloat and things don't always go as expected with the rotting walkers moving across the landscape as well as rogues, anarchist, and thugs of the breathing sort to contend with. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://dsdinthenewworld.blogspot.com/