What the hell am I doing

This posting will be a hodgepodge of what I’ve been working on the past week. Thirteen more days until Christmas.

Last read: Hundred Dollar Baby, by Robert B. Parker. The latest Spencer novel. Robert B. Parker is my favorite guilty pleasure, and I’ve an absolute need to read his latest as soon as it comes out. They’re remarkably fast reads—I finish it in a day—and often cover thematically similar subjects. But they’re themes that resonate with me. Autonomy of action, desire to act based on instinct and reason, with little questioning after the fact. Self-examination and self-trust leading to self-knowledge. And a handful of kick-ass action, confidently and impeccably handled, and a sense of humor, without which all the rest is just bulls#&+.

Last Heard: We are all Going to Hell, The Bastard Fairies. I found this band completely by accident, and have fallen instantly in love. Their entire album, Momentomori, is available for free download at www.thebastardfairies.com. Something about this group and the haunting themes of their lead singer, Yellow Thunder Woman, resonate with me. I probably don’t want to examine why too closely. Note that this stuff is pretty raw and not for the squeamish. Still, highly recommended My favorites are the aforementioned "Hell", and "Moribund," "Ode to a Prostitute" and "Apple Pie." “This shit will change your life…”

Last Seen: Happy Feet. Having kids means three out of four movies I see at the theater are kids movies, and I’m lucky if my annual total is 4. Thank god for DVDs. Anyway, I got out to see this one, and left liking it. A week later, still feel good about it. I felt this as actually two movies, the first part which I liked and the second part which tried to quickly pick up a socially relevant theme and tie it up in a neat little bow. That was disappointing, and what most people latch onto. The amazing part of this movie for me was the translation of Savion Glover’s tap styles into a digital character. He is amazing, and the ability of the CG to capture that is pretty remarkable. Those segments alone are worth the price of admission. Maybe not New York admission, but certainly Massachusetts matinee admission.

Last drawn: Finished the illustrations for the first three pages of the children’s book I’m working on, and managed to scan the first two to post to the website, using this link

or the link in the sidebar. The next step for me is to paint, which is the fun and challenging part.

Last written: Just finished a Christmas pageant script for the kids at my church. Available free on my website using this link

or the link in the sidebar. Feel free to distribute, if you like.

Still thirteen days.