Disneyland and "My" Future Themepark

I just spent a week with the family at Disneyland, and we had a great time.  The first day was a little rough and we spent a lot of time spinning our wheels trying to get to this ride, then over to that ride, and oops lets stop in to this store, because the kids want to buy something, and oh my its 3:00 in the afternoon and we haven't had lunch, let's find something to eat.

So as you can see we were unprepared and had done little planning as to what we wanted to do when we got there on that first day.   But we did get on some rides, we did get the kids fed, and we spent more money at the stores than we should have.

The next few days wen't much better, my wife and I gave a little thought to what we wanted to do, and what area of the park we would stay in (trying to get from Disneyland to California Adventures and back again is a recipe for disaster).

The rides were fun, and we did many of them.  The littlest one liked Dumbo the best, the oldest liked Space Mountain, at only six I have a budding roller coaster fan, and the faster the better.  Many of the rides had short lines (surprisingly) while some had the queue that wound around this way and that, before every catching site of the terminal for loading on ride.  The longest wait was the new Radiator Springs Cars Racers.  It was a fun ride, but I don't know if it was worth the time we spent in line.  In our first attempt we were in line for over an hour before someone came over the loudspeaker and said they were having mechanically problems and for people to keep their places in line, the ride would be opening again soon.  Well, after another half an hour, we jumped out of line.  We came back a few days later, and wouldn't you know it all the fast pass tickets were gone for the day, so we were once again sitting in line.  This time it didn't break down and after about an hour we got on the ride.




After this experience I started to think.  I wish I could sit in a car or a seat and travel around the park, going to the rides I wanted without every leaving my seat.

Imagine this: You and your family or fiends take a seat in a chair, and that chair travels on its own track in the park, which goes by (or can go by) every ride in the park.  Once your chair gets to the ride it locks into the compartment or the main carrier for the ride.  For instance if it were the cars ride, the chair you were riding in would lock into a car, or if it were splash mountain, it would lock into a boat.  I think this is an easy enough problem for a mechanical engineer to figure out.

But all that wouldn't stop the long lines, unless, and here is the key.  The chairs were all programmed with your destination.  So when you jump in your chair you push in the list of rides you want to go on.  The computer determines the fastest route possible and sends you on your way.

Anyway that is my thoughts.  I know it still has some bugs, but wouldn't it be nice to sit in a chair and be easily shuffled from one ride to the next with little or no wait.

I think so.

Doomsday Preppers - Are they planning enough?

I was just watching the show Doomsday Preppers.  You can say what you like about them, that they are nuts that they crazy, that they are the real threat, and on and on.  But what struck me about the show, and I've only watched a few of the shows, are two things:  One many of the preppers are living a lifestyle that will not change much after a doomsday event.  And the other is that many are preparing for about a two year survival mode.

My opinion is that living the lifestyle is a smart thing.  For instance if your planning on growing your own fruits and vegtables and hunting for your meat, and that is what you are doing presently to provide 90% of your food.  Well it stands to reason that in a doomsday event you will not have to make many changes and your all set.

Planning on a two year survival mode is more problematic.  For most of the preppers they are planning for 6 month to two year doomsday event.  Where in many cases society breaks down or the infrastructure (power grid, food supply, etc) break down.  Many of the preppers are still planning on everything coming back within two years or so.  My question is this:  Who is going to put it all back together.  If the power grid goes down for the whole U.S. hey say the whole world.  Most people are going to be concerned with feeding themselves and their families, not putting the power grid back together.  So my question is does the system come back, or should preppers start looking at preparing for a whole scale change that will encompass the rest of their lives?

Please leave a comment would love to hear what others think.

The Fiscal Cliff

The Fiscal Cliff has been in the news lately, you would think that America would be obsessed over it. But the power ball lotto reaching 550 million dollars tore the attention of the citizens from what will surely affect them, and focused it on a fantasy play to escape it.

Without getting to politically biased here, I want to say that both sides Republicans and Democrats are COWARDS. From the news articles I’ve read, it sounds as if both sides are working on coming to a resolution as slowly as possible. I’m sure that some individuals in Washington see the devastating implications that could occur, and are working as furiously as possible to come to an agreement and avoid falling off the cliff. However this will amount to little when the leaders - President, House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader and their representative flunkies - are playing lip service to the media and the American People. Each side has their own agenda, and their own philosophy on how best to govern the economic Leviathan of America. However, in situations like this it would seem that agendas and philosophies could be put aside and what’s best for America could easily rise to the surface and be agreed on.


COWARDS! They are all cowards and pitiful little parasites trying to eek out every last bit of political currency, or hold on to what shred of their ideology the can grasp as they fall off the cliff. Instead of throwing away their particular agendas, and fixing he problem they are hoping the situation will fix itself.


We all want a hero that will fight for what’s right come hell or high water. And it is this sort of character that drives people to search for them in the movies, in books and in sports. The hero always does what is right, he or she always fights with every ounce of their strength. These are the sort of individuals that need to step up to the plate now, and not fight for their party but for the country, because it is the country they swore an oath to, not a particular party.  

Music for writing

Just found some great music to write by.

The soulful sounds of Barbara Lewis.  She started writing and performing her own material before she was out of high school.  Had some megahits and then faded away from the music industry.  Her influence on rhythm and blues is unquestionable and listening to these old songs - most were recorded between 1962 and 1966 - you can't help but fall for the music.

I encourage everyone to check it out, it's not just music for writing, you can go cruising on a hot summer day, or throw it on during a rainy day in the house.  

Crisis in Cairo - Arab Spring….Nuclear Winter

During much of 2010 and into 2011, the news media was a buzz with the Arab Spring. They reported how all the countries were finally revolting - against who - they never really said, but that was not important, what was important was that they were ushering in a new and better world for the Muslim people. For the most part American Media was a champion cheerleader of the wave of change that was sweeping the Middle East. However, a few people questioned what was happening, but for the most part those voices were silenced or the person demonized. As with most any type of change, particularly on this scale, conflict will erupt. The Arab Spring was no different. Protests turned violent, fighting erupted and people die.

Flash forward to present day Egypt and the current president Mohamed Morsi, announces that he is no longer subject to judicial review, and in addition he has granted himself near dictatorial powers. This man was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and supports their views and policies. Cairo is in a crisis people have filled the streets protesting what they view as an unconstitutional grab for power. And for the most part the American Media has done little to report on the situation nor to call Morsi out his grab for power, he is still considered the darling of the Arab Spring. Instead the media applauds Egypt for its role in stopping the Israel/Syria conflict that was about to grow out of control, and says little about the crisis that is near to tear apart Egypt.

At the heart of this is conflict. Conflict between two differing points of view, two underlying philosophies, a point of argument that turns people away from rational thought and into screaming zealots. I’m not an expert on the conflict in the middle east, I suppose its based on those who want a strict interpretation of Muslim law and those who want to live a less strict life. The conflict I’m more familiar with are those in the Mixed Martial Arts Octagon, or the boxing ring. Two competitors fighting in a test of skill or strength. These are the characters in my stories that are generally fighting to prove who is the best, and even when an individual in one of my stories is fighting for something bigger than themselves and their skills and strengths. The contest still comes down to skills and strength, sometime luck can play into it but luck is a fickle thing.

So what does the skills and strength of two individuals fighting it out in a ring or octagon have to do with the Crisis in Cairo? Not a whole lot, it just easier to break things down to their base level and at the base is a conflict between two individuals. They can either talk it out and come to an agreement, each on pleading their case. Or, they can take a different rout and fight each other, where their physical strength and fighting skill would deliver the victor. When the difference in ideals or philosophy must be resolved with violence, the ideal is lost and all remains is who is the stronger and better skilled. Or in the case of a large group of people with a nation behind them - Nuclear Winter.

The Expendables 2

If you liked the first Expendables you will really like Expendables 2. It takes off pretty much where the first one left off with Barry Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leading his band of miscreant mercenaries on another mission in a far off place. The movie is packed with action heroes from the past, and a few from the present. It cannot be overlooked that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis have much for face time and speaking parts in this one. The two actually play off one another very well, in kind of the “Odd Couple” sort of way. The one liners are classic, and are reminiscent of old movies the stars appeared in, during - shall I say - their younger years.

The biggest surprise of the whole movies is Jean-Claude Van Damme. In his early films I struggled with watching his acting, but usually put it aside because the fight scenes were worth it. But in this movie the perennial good guy, takes a turn for the better in becoming a bad guy worth his sinister snarl. Van Damme hit it out of the park, like a high school sized park, but a park nevertheless and did a great job as the bad guy in the movie. I’ve heard that an Expendables 3 is in the works, and he might reprise his roll, which will be a little hard to do, but I hope they do bring him back, because Van Damme as a bad guy makes the movie.

As I’ve said before I liked this movie, seeing the old stars and hearing the one liners, but Sly has to do something about his piece. In some scenes it looked like his hair was about ready to slide off, and in others it looked a little too dark for his age.



My recommendation is to buy it. It’s fun, and its one of those movies you can watch when you want to see a lot of action. Ohh I almost forgot, this movie has a lot of blood, not just a little but a lot. Like if they needed a teaspoon they used a gallon. Some slasher movie somewhere has no blood in it, because Expendables 2 took it all. So be warned a lot of blood. But other than that Buy it.

The Watch

The Watch



This film formerly known as Neighborhood Watch, is pretty much a run of the mill Ben Stiller comedy romp. He teamed up with Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade to form a neighborhood watch after a worker at the Costco Stiller manages is brutally murdered and skinned. What they don’t realize is that the murderer is an alien.


Nothing in the comedy is a rolling over gut buster, but it does have its moments, that give a laugh. I would say rent it, but wait until its been out for a few more weeks, so you don’t pay top price, but its worth a viewing. If nothing for the aliens and the over the top slow motion battle scene towards the end.


Its fun, its light hearted, and don’t take it too serious. After all when you mix SciFi and comedy it cannot be serious.

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't posted in over a week, and I'm very sorry for that.

Here is what I've been up to. 

Since my book "Golden Gate Gloves" will be coming out in the early part of October 2012.  I have been working the social networks.  I've come to the conclusion that if you want to write, that's great, but if you want to be a writer that sells enough to take your wife out to a nice dinner, you need to have a robust online social network.

So what does it take to have a robust online social network you ask?  Well about ten hours a day and another three hours at night.  Over the course of a week or two you might have the beginnings of a good social network, not robust yet but good.

But the realization I've come to while venturing down the social media highway, is that the number of facebook friends is one thing but an actually connection, an email between you and another person is very much more.  When I develop a contact, it's not someone I hope will just buy my book, but someone that I can develop a business relationship with.  Someone who I can help out just as they can help out me.  

So for the past few weeks instead of just beefing up my social media, I've been developing business partners.  Once the book comes out I hope to start developing fans.

So when am I ever going to write again?  I don't know buy my sleeping hours between 10:00pm and 4:00am are free.

Golden Gate Gloves - Cover

Here is the cover of my book "Golden Gate Gloves"  coming out early October.  The cover was created by the amazing Keith Birdsong.

I will keep you posted as to when and where you can pick it up .

The day after 9-11 and what did we get?

Well today is the day after the eleventh anniversary of 9-11 and the world is still in turmoil. Today or maybe it occurred yesterday because of the time change, the U.S. Embassy in Libya was over run by rioting Islamic fundamentalists who killed a few U.S. citizens and a U.S. Ambassador.

Although these sort of things don’t occur very often, and attacking a U.S. embassy is the same as an attack on U.S. soil, the response has been very mellow. Along the lines of we are sorry for the loss of life, and sorry the rioters were rioting in the first place, but now is not a time for rash decisions bur for reflection. I for one am not happy with the response, but I hate to say I can’t get overly excited about retribution revenge or the old battle cry of “nuke ‘em till they glow”. The whole affair has an unreal feeling to it.

Today I worked on some writing I had to do, worked on increasing my followers on twitter, linkedin, and facebook. I read a few news articles and all but one got me angry. I was angry about the photos posted of the Ambassador, and angry that the captions ready “Ambassador being rescued”, where he looked like his dead body was being dragged around town.

The song “We need a Hero,” keeps playing through my brain. Someone out of the 1950’s with an iron jaw, a sharp wit, and strong morals. I write about a character like that. His name is Conall O’Quinn and he is the main character in a book that will be coming out next month. “Golden Gate Gloves.” Keep watching the blog and I’ll let you know when and where to get it.

911 Memories

          Since today is 911 I decided to write about my memories of 911. As with most of us, the events of that day had a profound impact on our lives, whether it was a fundamental change that will last a lifetime or not, the result is the same, the world we knew on September 10^th was and will be forever different from the world after September 11th.  But for me I felt the change beginning on September 10^th something made me feel creepy and it was confirmed on September 11^th.

At the time I was working full time for the California Army National Guard, and on September 10^th I would be flying from California to South Carolina, in order to work with recruits at Fort Jackson. Up until 911, the Army and particularly the National Guard was having a difficult time of keeping recruits motivated during the time between arriving at basic and actually beginning basic training. For some recruits this time period could be a matter of days or several months. And believe me few things are worse when you’re eighteen than being on an active duty post waiting to start training, and doing “busy work”. You aren’t a solider yet, you don’t know when to salute or not, or even how to talk to other people in the military, and if you do open your mouth its usually the wrong thing to do. As you can imagine this is a time when young soldiers go “I’ve been her two months, this isn’t what I signed up for, I want out.” And at that time, soldiers could get out fairly easy. So the numbers in the National Guard were falling, they couldn’t keep recruits in long enough to get them through basic training, and something needed to be done. So they reached out to the different States and their National Guard soldiers, and asked them to send Non-commissioned Officers (NCO) to Fort Jackson for the express purpose of keeping the recruits motivated until they would actually start basic training.

September 10th I sat in the Sacramento airport waiting on another soldier, I’ll call her Sergeant Cammo, who would be traveling with me to Fort Jackson for the same reason. When she arrived she was in the old green camouflage uniforms we wore before the desert cammies and the new digital uniforms. Wearing these uniforms, at that time, was unacceptable for traveling you could travel in dress uniforms but wearing cammies to travel in was frowned upon. So me being the senior NCO, I frowned at her. She had a reason, her life had just turned upside down, when someone had broken into her apartment stolen a lot of stuff, and the only thing she had clean was in her car, which was her cammies. I didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much we could do because the flight was boarding.

We arrived at Chicago and were waiting for our connecting flight, when I noticed an older gentleman dressed in a business suit reading a paper and staring at my traveling mate Sergeant Cammo. I’m not very adept at reading individuals and for the most part people don’t stare, its just impolite, but this guy had the creepy kinda stare going, not like he was a pervert, but like a killer. He looked at Sereant Cammo with a deep hatred or disgust. At one point Sergeant Cammo got up to get something at shop and this guy, got up and followed her. I watched and waited. Sergeant Cammo came back, and we waited to board, Creepy dude sat a little away from us watching her the whole time. I’m not one to jump up at tell a guy to stop looking at a girl, but this guy creeped me out. I stood up to approach him just when they called for us to board the plane, I used the opportunity to hustle us both on board and watched creepy dude walk away from the boarding area back into the terminal. Why was he so interested in Sergeant Cammo?  The only reason I could think of is that she was in uniform. At the time I suspected he might have been former military and was upset to see a young soldier flying in her cammies, and wanted to read her the riot act about doing so. Years later I still think the reason he was watching her was because she was in uniform, but I don’t think it was because he was former military and wanted to chew her out, I think it was because she stood out like a sore thumb.

After arriving at Fort Jackson and getting settled in, I still had another soldier, call him Sergeant Black Hat coming from California. He would be arriving later, and I would need to use a van to pick him from the airport around eight in the evening.

I arrived a little before eight and sat in the terminal to await the flight. The flight never showed, and shortly after it was supposed to, I was called over the intercom to pick up a courtesy phone. Sergeant Black Hat called me to let me know that his flight had been re-routed in Chicago and he was in

Massachusetts, his next flight would put him in around midnight.

I went back to base caught a cat nap and headed back to the airport. Flight shows up, but no Sergeant Black Hat. Once again a call for me to pick up the courtesy phone comes out over the intercom. Sergeant Black hat is on the other line. He’s complaining that all the flights are messed up, they couldn’t get him on, but his luggage is, can you pick it up at the carousel, I’m renting a car and driving down. All pretty strange but at this point, I’m just tired, so I get his luggage and take it to the base. Sometime in the early morning Sergeant Black Hat arrives after driving through the night and early morning to get there.

The morning of September 11th myself and four others, Sergeant Black Hat, Sergeant Cammo and another Sergeant were running around base in-processing, since we would be there for a month. Somewhere between the pay department and medical we heard news that a plane hit one of the towers. My first thought was some stupid student pilot, flew his little Cesna into the building. A short time later we heard the second plane hit the other tower, and we made it to an office where they had the television on. Then we new it wasn’t just some student, it was planned.

Immediately the base closed down, and guards were put on the incoming checkpoints. For years this base had been an open base, because it was mainly a training post, many families would come to see their friends and loved ones graduate basic and advanced training, the guard shacks were normally empty and the gates permanently open. That all changed. The gates were closed and the guard shacks were manned. Something that hadn’t occurred in over twenty years became the norm, the base became a closed base. As a side note I always thought it was funny that just a week before 911 the base had conducted a test during the morning rush. The test they conducted was this. They closed all the entrances to the base put guards in the shacks and checked everyone’s I.D. They had done this just to check how much disruption it would cause, in the event they needed to close the base. Only a week before 911, curious?

As I stated early on the world changed that day and for me it started on September 10^th. A few years later I was deployed to Iraq with the 2668 Transportation Unit, a California Army National Guard unit from Sacramento. My unit made it through the entire deployment without loosing a single soldier, which in the end is the single most important aspect of any deployment, not what you do while your there but who you come home with.

Conspiracy Theory or just Crazy

I don't know whether to put this under the conspiracy theory umbrella (which is a big umbrella) or just post it as a crazy fiction piece ripe for a Flash Fiction spin on my blog.  But where ever it ends up the case of the semi-unknown actress Nazanin Boniadi and Tom Cruise's Scientology approved dating, is something I couldn't even have come up with.

Check it out if you haven't already.

Nazanin Boniadi

Bourne Legacy -Movie- Just a comment

Over the weekend I watched the movie "Bourne Legacy" and I liked it.  Which seems to be surprising given the mixed bag of reviews the movie has been receiving, but all in all I like the movie, and my wife did as well.

I thought Jeremy Renner did a great job in the lead role as Aaron Cross, a member of the black ops program ran by Treadstone, who discovers that the other "numbers" in the project are being eliminated, and he will be eliminated as well unless he can solve they mystery of - why are they being eliminated, and how does he get more "Meds"?  In short the movie gives much more detail on Treadstone and its relation with the CIA and the Department of Defense, neatly tucked into an adventure story with  Aaron Cross trying to keep himself and that of Dr. Marta Shearing played by Rachel Weisz alive.

The action was great and the acting was top notch.  The plot was easy enough to follow, and gave a lot of detail.  I think the motorcycle chase at the end of the movie went on longer than it needed to but I liked it none the less.

My comment.  Why was president Bush and VP Chenney's pictures in the Turso's office.  From what I can tell the events in this movie are taking place currently so Obama and Biden should be pictured in the Turso's office.  It's a small thing, but it has me asking the question.  Why did they do this? Is it political, and if so, to what end?

The Dark Knight Rises - Review

I'm struggling with writing my review of the movie "The Dark Knight Rises".  I liked the movie for the most part.  But it is nearly impossible to write a review about this movie without dipping into the heavy water of politics.

Perhaps next week I'll get it out, but at the time I'm vexed, very very vexed.

Flash Fiction #3 - From the Mirrorman Journal May 18

The main character I created for my Zombie stories is "The Mirrorman" a vigilante type character that is trying to save humanity for the ever increasing Zombie problem.  Here is a short piece taken from his own journal.  

Enjoy,
Robert


I fought with a thug last night. But he was different than all the rest. He was hunting me.

The night was busy. I jumped from one location to another breaking up crimes. Pimps beating their girls, punks robbing anyone they happened to come across. The gang wars - I didn’t get involved with, I figured it would be better if they got rid of on another. Then I came across the well dressed lady in a bad part of town. She looked like an executive from a fortune five hundred company, and she was being assaulted. The punk had slammed his meat fists into her face before I was able to get down to the street. And when I did, he turned to me and smiled a missing tooth grin, before he said “It’s about time you showed up.” I knew right then I had been set up, so I expected the blow that was coming my way, letting it hit me in the jaw I went with the punch and rolled out of the way far enough the punk couldn’t get another punch off without having to take a few steps in my direction. The lady was staggering to her feet with the help of the wall, her once pretty face was starting to puff up from the beating, but she was still an unknown piece of the puzzle, and questioned her reasons for being here in the first place.

The punk was just about on me, he was big, very big, and slow. I fainted left, then dove right and swept his feet out from under him. He fell on his back with a loud thud. I straddled him, and grabbed his collar with my left hand and started beating his face like it was a whack-a-mole at an arcade. Something caught my ear, and I stopped beating the punk. He was laughing. I shook him, till his eyes opened and I gazed into his soul. He laughed even harder, “that won’t work with me, I don’t have a soul to reflect.” The punk knew my secret. I let him drop to the ground and walked toward the lady. She looked up at me with a crooked smile, and said, “My boss will be pleased, we learned more about you tonight.”

I walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, “Who do you work for?” I said as I shook her furiously. She only laughed, when the sound of gun fire forced me to drop to the ground a second shot came on the heels of the first, followed by the dull plop of the bullet hitting flesh, I looked up to see the tiny hole in her forehead and blood spattered graffiti on the wall behind her. She rested against the wall for a second before her lifeless body slid to the ground.

The punk was starting to get up when another shot echoed in the night and he fell to the ground dead.

I dashed into a shadow and looked for any movement that might give away the shooter. Nothing broke the still of the night. I ran across the parking lot toward the place I thought the shots would have come from. Sirens wailed in the distance and I knew I only had a moment before the place would be crawling with cops. I clicked to the thermal vision on my goggles and scanned the area. In a planter box along the street I saw two faint heat signatures glowing, upon close inspection I could see it was where two casing had fallen onto the dirt and momentarily heated the ground. But only two casings - I heard three shots. One caused me to drop and then one each for the lady and punk. I focused and thought. The first shot had come from the left of where the last two shots came from. I ran in that direction and found an small area built like a park with trees, grass and bushes. I scanned the area but no heat signatures registered. Suddenly a blue glow caught my eye, something below ambient temperature. I went over to it, and there in the grass was the heat impression of a casing, except this impression was cold. I looked at the scale on the side of the display. Minus one hundred degrees, dry ice has a surface temperature of minus one hundred and nine. What was this?

Suddenly my nightly haunts, protecting the innocent from the criminals of this city had become something more. I knew now I was now a target, but a target of who?

I had rattled the criminal element enough that they finally sent someone to find out more about me. I was interested, the nights were becoming much more exciting.

I am the Mirrorman, I look where others fear to gaze.

Coast to Coast AM - Hit by negative article

I have been a fan and listener of Coast to Coast AM for several years now.  I have to admit that I came in during the George Noory regime and I'm partial to his way directing the course which C2C has gone and is going.  For me very little has changed the majority of the program is UFO's, aliens, ghosts, supernatural, conspiracies, myths, angels, demons, and many other outside the box topics (I still want more UFO's and aliens, but then I'm biased towards that).

Coast to Coast AM

So when a co-worker told me about an article that said C2C was following a recipe for failure I had to check it out.  If you would like to read the article in full you can check it out here.  Although I don't encourage it since the article is biased, for what reason I don't know Coast to Coast AM: Recipe for Failure.

The author of the article R.W. Sanders contends that C2C is venturing into the realm of politics far to heavily, at least for his tastes, and says that George Noory should steer clear of the topic.  He even goes so far as to encourage others to begin a letter writing campaign to Mr. Noory, encouraging him to stop the talk on politics.  I must disagree with Mr. Sanders on his premise that C2C is venturing too much into the realm of politics.  At times the topics of C2C drift into the realm of politics, but Mr. Noory and the other hosts are very adept at taking control of the situation and either stopping the discussion or turning it back to the topic at hand.  But to tell the hosts of C2C to stop talk on politics is unreasonable, it is going to come up, it is incredibly hot - politically - in our country at the present time, and you can hardly start off with good morning with out someone turning it into a political debate.

With that said, my own personal opinion is that R.W. Sanders heard something on C2C that he disagreed with, whether it came from a host, guest or caller I have no idea, but he has taken it upon himself to encourage George Noory to veer away from something he perceives as a big mistake.

Mr. Noory if you ever happen to read this, just keep doing what you're doing.  The format is great and I don't see any reason to change things.  And from reading the piece by R.W. Sanders it sounds like he stopped listening a long time ago.

Rest in Peace Neil Armstrong

The weekend of August 25-26, 2012 was one for the history books, a very personal and sad one, but ended with a seeing a good to great movie.

What was it that happened this past weekend that will be remembered in the history books.  Neil Armstrong,  the first man to set foot on the moon, passed away on August 25, 2012.

As a young boy in kindergarten and first grade I watched with anticipation and wonder as the United States put people on the moon.  At the time, I wanted to be an astronaut and nothing would stop me, it was a simple thing for a five year old to figure out.  Two people went to the moon, then two more and two more, and so on and so on and so on, and then on to mars, the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, and beyond.  Hundreds of people would be needed to go, of course they would need a large supply of astronauts ready to brave the dangers of space, and I was just such a person.  I knew it deep in my soul. 

And as I said, noting was going to stop me.  I just didn't realize that in a few short years, the Apollo program would end - no more missions to the moon , instead we started sending this big thing that looked more like a plane than a rocket ship up into space.  What kind of excitement did that generate - None.  So as I grew up the space exploration didn't it just languished in low Earth orbit.  And with time I let those dreams of being an astronaut go.

It is a sad day that we loose our pioneer to space, our true American hero.  On hearing of his passing I was immediately taken back to the playground, where me and my two friends, Jack and Billy, pretended we were astronauts going into space, we were Neil Armstrong.  Billy moved away and I lost touch with him, Jack graduated from the same high school as I and earned a slot at the Air Force Academy, but he didn't finish flight school, I've often wondered if he still kept those dreams of being an astronaut.  My self, I've held many different jobs, I did complete college after a fashion, but the closest I've come to space is writing science fiction stories.

Neil Armstrong left his mark on billions of people around the world.  Some more profound than others, but a mark, and inspiration nevertheless.  

The Best Damn Website Ever!

My friends and authors associated with an incredible series of books called Fightcard, have launched their own website Fightcard Books

This is a great site to visit for three reasons; You can find all the Fightcard titles in one place, get information on the contributing authors, and it is a dynamically simple site.  The graphics hit with an economy of power, like a boxer setting up for a knockout punch, and the set up is simple and easy to navigate, with the knockout coming after you purchase one of the stories.

The Fightcard books, is a series was created by Paul Bishop and  Mel Odom under the unifying ‘open’ pseudonym Jack Tunney, which is used by each of the contributing authors.  And  there are a lot of contributing authors, twelve so far.

Each Fight Card story is set in the1950s, and occurs throughout the world.  Boxing is at the heart of the story and usually ends with a big fight.  The stakes are always high for the characters, and it's the characters of these stories that make them fun, enjoyable and exciting to read.  The unifying theme is that the main character has a connection to St. Vincent's Asylum For Boys in Chicago (an orphanage) and Father Tim, the fighting priest, who teaches the 'sweet science' as a way to become a man. 

The boxing pulp noir of the 1930's has been resurrected in the Fightcard series.  Check out the site buy a title and you'll be hooked.

Future posts I will talk more about the individual titles and what is going on in the Fightcard series.  But as a teaser, come October I'll have my own episode in the Fightcard series for sale.

  

Conspiracy Theory #2

In all actuality this should be conspiracy theory #2 - 2,000 since it involves a whole lot of conspiracy's most of which revolve around assassinations; like the Kennedy assassinations, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe and others. 

The book is "Dead Wrong", written by Richard Belzer and David Wayne.   

I just picked up the book and have only made a cursory look through.  But it appears to be very interesting, and as I read the book I will make updates from time to time.



What I would like to mention right off the bat, is that the relationship between the Kennedy's and Marilyn Monroe leads to some very interesting or fantastic possibilities.  Monroe had ties to the Mob, President Kennedy had ties to the Mob, but his brother the Attorney General was all about bringing and end to the Mob.  This and more is waiting in the book, but what I can't get out of my mind so far, is this.  It stands to reason that if you play with fire your bound to get burned, sorry for the cliche.  But it's true, if your messing with the wrong people, even if you're the president of the United States of America, bad things can happen to you.  

Yes I know what you're thinking, the JFK assassination conspiracy.  And you are right, but I'm become more convinced each day that Oswald was a patsy.

Flash Fiction #3 - Zombie World meet The Mirrorman

Here is another Flash Fiction piece set in the Zombie world I created. This is a brief introduction to the main character of the series. The Mirrorman, a self appointed vigilante, determined to stop the rising tide of zombies. But when the government handed over a large portion of Los Angeles to the Zombies as their own Homeland, his job became more difficult.

Fighting zombies and a Government bent on appeasing them. The Mirrorman may be humanities last hope.

NathanHawthorne slunk alongside the old factory wall. Trace amounts of the full moon made its way through the broken andweather worn windows, liming him in a strange glow.

Hiscontact should be along any moment. Hewas at the same place where they had met numerous times before, but he waslate. Looking at his watch he wasstartled by how late, over an hour.

Aracket of falling debris stole his concentration and sent him back in thedirection he had just come.

“Marty,”hissed Nathan in a quiet voice, “is that you?”

Noanswer.

“Marty,”Nathan called a little louder.

Noanswer.

“Marty,”the hauntingly low growl, wasn’t Nathan. It could belong only to one thing here in the zone. A zombie.

Nathan’sface lost its color, and he stood in horror, taking automatic steps in retreatfrom the voice.

Whenthe body burst through the door, and came to a stand still directly in front ofNathan, the face was unmistakable - Marty.

“Marty,”said Nathan, “they finally got to you.”

“Itis beautiful,” slurred Marty a dark red mucus hanging from a disjointed jaw.“We are all brothers and sisters.”

Nathanturned to run, the narrow alley between the buildings assaulted him as hecareened between them, frantic to escape.

Thefactory roof was illumined in the full moon glow, a landscape like melted wax,strangely smooth. Squatting on the roofedge was a man in a leather jacket, aviator hat, and strange goggles. The Mirrorman peered down into the canyon offactory walls as a lone human bolted between the buildings. A zombie hastily shambled along behind him,intent on its meal.

“Foolsentering the zone,” hissed the the Mirrorman, “for only one reason.”

Hestood crouched for a moment, his mind caught in a turmoil of indecision.

Thestrange watcher let out a heavy breath before vaulting off the roof, andsliding down a metal pipe like a tilted firefighter. Landing just behind thezombie, he leveled his steam pistol and let loose a slug that took off the headof the zombie.

Theescaping human stopped and turned to see the remains of Marty flopping on theconcrete like a fish out of water.

“Mirrorman,”said Nathan in quiet voice, fear shrouded eyes.

“Thezone isn’t a place for humans,” said the Mirrorman, as he approachedNathan. “What business do you have here?”

Nathanstammered and stuttered, trying to piece together a story he could tell theenigmatic vigilante.

“Theonly reason humans come to the zone are to hunt zombies or trade in Sol, youdon’t look to be a zombie hunter,” explained the Mirrorman.

Nathanstood speechless, standing mute in the presence on the man strong physically and with a will that dominated his crumbling countenance.

“Gohome and don’t come back to the zone.”

Nathanran the short distance to the escape path out of the zone, and with theMirrorman out he had little worries that zombies would be near.

TheMirrorman watched Nathan escape the zone easily. He couldn’t let his brother know he was theMirrorman, but he needed to make it clear he was involved in something thatcould kill him.

Conspiracy Theory #1

I said that when I started this blog I was going to focus on several things, and one of them was to be Conspiracies.

Well I'm six posts deep and have yet to wade into those murky waters, till now.

First off a bit of the ground rules, the conspiracy theories I talk about are mainly an avenue to stories, to fiction, to make believe.  If the conspiracy is true or not, it doesn't really matter to me, what I'm looking for is the story that could come out of it, or already has.   911 was an inside job is a really good conspiracy theory and it lends itself to more stories than I could come up with alone.  But it is also a hotly debated topic.  I'm not much interested in debate, unless you want to debate whether it would make a good story or not.

So what I've been thinking of lately is this.

We all know that every once in a while the stock market goes crazy with robo-trades and things happening before people can regain control of the situation.  The result the markets take a tumble before safeguards take effect.  This has been a fairly fertile ground for conspiracy theorist to wade in on, and it usually comes down to the Chinese testing are safeguards in prelude to an economic attack.  Interesting but by itself, its somewhat booring. Or is it.

Looking for thoughts on the topic.

Enjoy

Flash Fiction #2 - Iron Packed Glove

Here is another example of my writing.  As promised I'm putting out Flash Fiction, and this one is in the boxing arena, It is about a character of mine named Conall O'Quinn the fighting Grandfather of Mickey O'Quinn.  If you haven't checked out "The O'Quinn Fights" please do so.  Mickey O'Quinn is the main character of those stories, and he is an Mixed Martial Arts fighting Staff Sergeant in the Army.  Well Mickey has a background and the fighting started with his Grandfather Conall.  This is just a short piece, that takes place in the mid 1950's the music was good, the cars were classic, and the fights were fixed.

The punk hit me with a knuckle duster hidden in his glove, just as the bell sounded.

Somehow, I don’t know how, I managed to stumble to my corner of the ring.  I still can’t remember if the bell was going off in the ring, or my head, but either way it was the end of the round.

“Come on shake it off,” said Maddy though a hazy, muggy veil.

“Get your head in the fight,” shouted Maddy as he slapped my face and waved salts under my nose.

I was trying to explain to him the guy had hit me with a loaded glove, I was explaining everything perfectly, and then I realized my mouth wasn’t working.

A sudden whiff of the salts cleared my head like a wildfire going through a forest, it hurt and didn’t leave much in its wake.

I held Maddy’s hand as he come around for another slap.

“He got iron in his gloves,” I slurred through a swelling mouth.

“Why that son of a bitch,” chomped Maddy around the edges of the swabs he held in his mouth.  “I should’ve known it’d take more than a lucky punch to knock you for a loop like that, especially since he didn’t lay that left on your during the whole round.”

“Do you know the ref?” I asked hoping we could plead our case and getting him to check the slime balls gloves.

“Nahh, he’s one of Lima’s boys,” said Maddy. 

Anthony J. Lima, the only crime boss in San Francisco.  He’s never crossed me good-wise or bad, since my fight against Barry, and always treated me with respect, even with the friendly invitation to fight for him.  I always thought I kept my distance from him, and respectfully declined his invitations.  But you don’t know what to expect when your dealing with the likes of a crime boss.

“Is Lima in the crowd?” I asked.

Maddy scanned the crowd quickly,or time between rounds quickly flying away.

“Yea their he is,” said Maddy while jutting his jaw in the direction. “Three rows back.”

I turned my head in his direction an caught his eye just as he was looking in my direction.  He shot me an affable smile and gave me a confident thumbs up.  I wondered if he knew this fix was in or if he hand anything to do with it?

“What about this punk, “Shimmer” Glavenston?” I asked Maddy.  “Is he one of Limas’?”

“I don’t think so the guys out of Mobile,” said Maddy as he went to work on blotting some bloody cuts, and cooling me off.

The bell rang.

I stalked into the ring.

Shimmer, wore a rusty red colored mouthpiece for a smile. 

Arrogant in his stance, quick on his feet, his left hung low from the weight he carried.

I stepped in, using my face to block his right jabs, watching the left.

He started from down low with his left, he needed more strength than usual to get the glove going.

I kept my head in his sights.

His right dropped down quick to lend leverage to his heavily weighted left.

The iron packed glove was inches from my head, when I ducked and let his left slip over my head, and slammed his gut with a hard right before his left finished its arc.

Shimmer’s air came out in a gush.

I hit ‘im hard with a left handed uppercut that pushed his jaw up to his nose, and followed with a quick right cross to his already damaged jaw.

Shimmer’s body hit with a loud plop on the canvas.

The ref counted him out.

I started shouting he had iron in his gloves.

The ref looked toward Lima.

I saw the affable smile and an very slight nod before the ref started cutting the strings from Shimmer’s left glove.

I hope you enjoyed the story, drop me a note and let me know what you think.

Robert E. Howard - Sailor Steve Costigan Review

Here is a review I posted on another blog awhile ago, about one of my favorite authors Robert E. Howard, and his rascal of a sea dog boxer named Steve Costigan. The Sailor Steve Costigan yarns written by Howard over eighty years ago are fun easy reads. In a lot of cases be prepared for the attitudes of the time, in other words they are not politically correct. But don't let that discourage you from reading these stories, they are a part of our history, and by reading them we only better ourselves.

Written in first person and having the feel of someone telling a tall tale, this story gives an immediate insight into the mind of Sailor Steve Costigan. I enjoyed the story and the main reason for that is how Howard writes. He writes very simply and very formulaic, with great visuals and style. This story is a good example to follow for fight stories, which is; Set up, fight, and unraveling.

The biggest part of this story is the writing, and takes up several pages, but it doesn't get boring. Howard has a knack at telling the story of the fight using Costigan's voice, making believable, exciting, and truly feeling for the character. In addition Howard tells about the fight from someone who has been in the boxing ring, and actually taken the punches. A little bit of research into Robert E. Howard shows that he actually did train and boxed in and around the area of Cross Plains Texas.

It is interesting to note that at the time Howard was writing these stories, boxers were the superstar athletes of the day. And fight stories were very popular; in fact many of Howard's fight stories appeared in Fight magazine. However, the boxing world has not aged as well as these stories, boxers do not hold the status they did in Howard's day, and it is hard to find a current story based on boxing or on the more popular Ultimate Fighting competitions. What we do have are these stories that were written almost eighty years ago that are still fun and enjoyable to read. Take a chance and pick up one of the stories a kindle reader and you will probably start reading all of them.



Here come the spoilers so if you don't want to know what happens stop reading any further.

The story begins with Sailor Steve Costigan getting kicked off the Sea Girl by the Captain because he chooses not to put his dog off the boat. He ends up at a French bar and gets into a fight with, unknown to him, the heavyweight champion of the French Navy. The fight is long and goes on for several pages, Costigan is all but beat up and ready to fall down, but because he is so like the bull dog, and doesn’t know when he is defeated he keeps going back in again and again. Due to his amazing recuperative powers, and his hard headiness he defeats the Frenchman. At the end of the bout the Captain of the Sea Girl, as well as many of the crew see come up to Costigan delighted that he defeated the Frenchman. The Captian welcome him and Mike, his bull dog, back as part of the crew.

Zombie Pecking Order - Flash Fiction #1

I promised you all some Flash Fiction, and here it is. This is a short little piece about the zombie world I created. Presently I have a screenplay finished, and I'm working on some short stories. One day I hope to see thise in a graphic novel. That's a hint to you artists out there.


Los Angeles, huddled dark in the summer heat.

City lights long since gone - no electricity, no lights, no one human left to care.

The big loud engine rumbled to life in the muggy silence, with a lightning crack of thunder forcing its way into the quiet. Bright lights cut the darkness like a star let loose to burn a path through the thick black.

Along streets piled high with trash and ravaged by marauding zombies, the Dodge power wagon prowled.


 “The zombie crusher is on the move my lord,” slurred the shadowed voice.

“Don’t call it that,” came the quick response.

A pasty gray face moved out of the shadow, to be illumed by the stars, dark eyes with unusually black pupils starred in the distance as the vehicle motored along the road like a preying monster of death. Large, and lumbering it stalked like a hunting beast, slowly.

The two zombies that watched the rolling mass, sat shrouded behind a wall of dead and dying plants. The zombie lord his face intact all but an ear that was loss in the early zombie occupation. Mr. Ear, was his name, a name he took since he lost his, ears had become his favorite dish. The other was a shambling zombie that was quickly losing his grip on what little of humanity and thought was left to him. Soon he would be a beast, consumed with an unquenchable hunger, the nothing could sate or deter. At one point the poor victim of a zombies bite had hoped for the change into a lord, but that was not to be, still the former politician followed the zombie lord with absolute devotion - at least for a little longer.

 “I’m sorry my lord,” said the zombie, haltingly - looking from side to side searching for the proper words, “please forgive me.”

Mr. Ear looked at him, with a sinister twitch. His eyes unwittingly moved to look at the untouched ears of the zombie beside him. His lips pursed as the bought of jealousy caused his mouth to water - or maybe he was just hungry.

“Think nothing of it Barny,” said the lord a smile forming on his mouth, “perhaps we will make you a lord yet.”

The twitching zombie, Barry’s face broke into a huge smile. A tooth dropped from his mouth, his gums unable to keep it locked within it’s mouth. “Thank you my Lord. Thank you.”

“Just run down their and kill the mirrorman,” said Mr. Ear casually.

Barny looked from from Mr. Ear to the zombie crusher and back again. Facing the zombie crusher was certain death, but if he could kill the mirrorman, he would be a zombie lord, near immortal. The ravaging affects of being a zombie stopped. And the hunger - the hunger for flesh would be sated. Catered flesh by ones such as he, the mere zombies.

Barny shambled down the embankment toward the zombie crusher, and behemoth of metal and power. He had played sports in a long ago life, he had been a fast runner. The distance - a scant 100 meters shouldn’t take him too long. But his legs didn’t work as well as they used to. His arms didn’t pump as they once did. The frantic gasps of air, sounded like the horrible gurgling of someone drowning. The zombie crusher stopped. He was almost to the door, not only would he kill the mirrorman, but he would feast on his flesh. He would be a lord.

The mirrorman stuck his steam pistol out the window of the zombie crusher and casually shot the lumbering zombie that slowly approached him. The body twitched headlessly on the bloody asphalt. If they every decided to attack en masse he would be in trouble, but so far he was safe.

Noir - Boxing - At its best - Felony Fists (Fight Card)

It has taken me much too long to review this story, but I finally have some time and the technology hook up to write this much much too late review of Felony Fists (Fight Card).

First off, if you haven't already. Buy this story.



Got it? Good!

Now for the skinny on the story, straight out of the Amazon description.

Los Angeles 1954

Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.

The description of the story gives you a small taste of what's in store when you pick up the book for a trip into Americas' past both fictionally and historically. But what it leaves out is the hard hitting realism of the fight scenes and the tight fisted drama that moves this story from page to page.

I completely enjoyed this story. The writing was top notch, and the story was imaginative. The characters, particularly Patrick "Felony" Flynn, hit you with a combination right off the page.

Raise his arms as the champion of this bout, the author Paul Bishop writing as Jack Tunney sets a standard for the series that will be hard to better. I'm looking forward to reading more in the Fight Card series.

Mars Curiosity Rover

Call me a Geek, I had great expectations for this blog, set out my plan, focused all my energies towards writing profound blogs on timely topics.

And what is my first blog about? The Mars curiosity rover. I love science, and I've enjoyed watching all the photos coming down from the lander. I sat watching the TV, and listening to the radio for thet reports of whether the lander had made it or not.

So how did I celebrate? I brought a vinyl wall graphic.

A Fresh Start at Blogging

With the start of a new blog, many of the old blogs I started and failed to continue will be going away - but then does anything every really go away on the web?

What is in store for this blog?  

I'm glad I asked that question.  Here is the short answer.

I will be blogging about what every comes to mind, but I will put an emphasis on three things.

The first is my writing, what I'm writing, what I intend to be writing, and what is sparking my creativity at any given time; whether it's a book I'm reading or something I glanced at on the way home from work. 

The second thing I will be writing about are conspiracy theories.  I love conspiracy theories and why I love them, is that they are a breeding ground of great stories.  I also like to put conspiracy theories together based on world events, which ends up in the "what if?" category.  So look forward to hearing about conspiracy theories that are out in the ether as we speak, and a few no one has thought of yet.

The third emphasis of this blog will be book, story and film reviews.

As with anything on the blog be prepared for things to change, but this is the blog I will keep up and continue for some time to come.