tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34930513032069912222024-03-18T10:14:11.636-07:00poplitikoalex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.comBlogger733125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-28576880528552071882024-03-16T22:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T22:00:00.245-07:00The idea of it all<p><b>WHAT, WHY, & WHEN<br />By Alex Ness<br />March 17, 2024<br /><br /></b>After five years of health questions and issues, I've finally come out of the end. In September Joe Monks and I released a horror Chapbook, for a horror con, and we were sponsored by Hot Comics. I felt like I woke up, able to write more than reviews, or do interviews. I've written poetry since age 7. It has never stopped. But writing prose requires a thought process. I need to develop an idea before it flourishes into a story. Well, my being in hell for pain, being on meds that make thought much more difficult, and having numerous issues from the events of health, makes writing nearly impossible to achieve with a good result.</p><p>I'm about to announce some large events, positive events, and creative projects. Not yet, but you'll see it here first when they happen.<br /></p><p><b>ABOUT CULTURE</b><br /></p><p></p><p>The previous 70 years are often seen as golden years for American power and society. But it wasn't. But it isn't from hubris, which I often point to. It was a mass of catastrophes striking at once. In the disguise of common events. You may or may not remember when American culture changed. No it wasn't the 1960s. It wasn't before then either. <br /><br />It happened specifically when America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. No, the world didn't chemically or physically change more than a little during each. The world didn't altogether politically change then either. What changed was how Americans viewed the world. Now, this isn't to say for better or worse, but it changed. America was touched by war, people died, money was spent on building weapons. Oahu and Pearl Harbor Hawaii were the most damaged US possessions, and frankly, in a few years it couldn't be noted what was damaged, but for the USS Utah and USS Arizona. America financed much of the war after it began, and provided the many of the weapons, the equipment, and munitions. Much of Europe was destroyed. Japan and China were bomb damaged and ravaged by battle. But the US was already a world leader in economies, if not the top, very high. And when the war was over, the US stood supreme, with an absolute monopoly upon atomic weaponry, and starting from a base of tech built for the war. With comparatively few casualties to the rest of the allies and axis, the US was now fully ready to be the world leader in manufacturing, heavy and light, housing and streets made for convenience of large industry, and women now working in industry nearly as a often as men, the US was prepared to dominate the world's economy, military boundaries, and finance.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8657aByIZOr8HZ9qIhzOnCm1MUxlRsONgUFzLRiI6ni51bAK3FO24bjhpMfZwiSQ_28LnBPUrdjJf_5iJOOwnhr2GGCUkp2-tEZZIWxz7n2ZdtmLq_r4tihFhQm98smALyT0PIuFAoFGzwFUe4HGu67q0LXUEkLSxSIMNG0-OKt2Pjne8mNZoMfSK-8/s644/paper-1494853_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="459" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8657aByIZOr8HZ9qIhzOnCm1MUxlRsONgUFzLRiI6ni51bAK3FO24bjhpMfZwiSQ_28LnBPUrdjJf_5iJOOwnhr2GGCUkp2-tEZZIWxz7n2ZdtmLq_r4tihFhQm98smALyT0PIuFAoFGzwFUe4HGu67q0LXUEkLSxSIMNG0-OKt2Pjne8mNZoMfSK-8/w456-h640/paper-1494853_1920.jpg" width="456" /></a></div><p>So, if I was speaking about our culture changing overall what do I mean? From the 1950s, Open air nuclear testing, polluted ground water, and environmental erosion meant that the future generations would face changed environmental standards. And an example of what that can mean, is the growth of cancer, and the generational lowering of IQ scores. America might well have ruled the 1950s, and did so without close challengers, but they did so without realizing the cost. By the time the world caught up, the US had weakened its previous strengths, and the governmental efforts to remain atop led to corruption in Government, and corrosion in trust in the American citizenry. People from every side of the political divide often blame the 1960s generation for resistance and revolution, abandonment of honor and citizenship, and straying from the "American Way". Eventually though, it will be realized, no matter what people are protesting, they will realize, the cost of every rise and every fall, is not paid by government but by the citizenry. As such, the populace loses the advantages gained by competition with other nations. As such the government loses ground by paying costs it did not predict nor did it prepare for.<br /><br />For the US that means that the generational divides between the war generation, the baby boom and generation X, could be seen in how each gen viewed the previous gens, and how worthwhile such sacrifices proved to be. As such our elected officials attempted to run upon the "values of the day" which were often platitudes and bullshit. The war gen and boomers were elected, but gen x was edged out, so their outlook was not embedded in American politics. The US cultural decline is not from Capitalism or Socialism. It was from false issues, and expensive wars. And this is my point, that as a culture when the majority follow leaders preaching false doctrines or doctrines that are expensive and useless, it robs the culture. Every bomb built is money that won't go to a library, or museum, or university.</p><p>Many great ideas and concepts were developed from 1950 to the present. But how many came into actual being, with money to pay for them? Someone will no doubt write me in private and call me a weasel for not revealing my political stripes. But, I don't have them. I have core beliefs, but they don't fall on either side of the divide.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoICwOuyeMYb7d64XZsSaKmqDDZdww8BY8G0Ev1TKp2ai6gMoRWptmiBK6rH3hntF9yxr_N6z2z_8rPf8gDtTvRlYz2hzPK9KN-nMyApHpSz63bTnidakoqN2qXjgs3GRA_I-zTm-g1_NoS-IfQJ7hXmf_UospqsDLwg02-qkZ2yqm2xq1VAaePDJBUoU/s1450/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="1450" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoICwOuyeMYb7d64XZsSaKmqDDZdww8BY8G0Ev1TKp2ai6gMoRWptmiBK6rH3hntF9yxr_N6z2z_8rPf8gDtTvRlYz2hzPK9KN-nMyApHpSz63bTnidakoqN2qXjgs3GRA_I-zTm-g1_NoS-IfQJ7hXmf_UospqsDLwg02-qkZ2yqm2xq1VAaePDJBUoU/w640-h190/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Some books to read to research the changes in generations and over time...<br /></p><p></p><p>Not everyone will agree with these choices, I don't blame you for disagreeing, we aren't all the same. But these books definitively explain one specific version of the erosion of the American century. In the meantime, below these I offer the books that thrilled me to read, and to share with my wonderful son.<br /><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSi8yAS4fYZXKsy2EwHBRFHodTP7dCQ-lg6mGF22WP0Qke5TxIhd_QWzcUjAE-8DVNytPugU6rudhcrd00X01A87GxgDdrinxxrn0VOuP1NFzKueQ8wB5rayLsL2DhmJ5LYJhXqQXx8yTz6Xa99Txftt1nw-6dqmW8CNTC6t0ej0izT-PvLUWVzeOHVf4/s1672/12.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="1672" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSi8yAS4fYZXKsy2EwHBRFHodTP7dCQ-lg6mGF22WP0Qke5TxIhd_QWzcUjAE-8DVNytPugU6rudhcrd00X01A87GxgDdrinxxrn0VOuP1NFzKueQ8wB5rayLsL2DhmJ5LYJhXqQXx8yTz6Xa99Txftt1nw-6dqmW8CNTC6t0ej0izT-PvLUWVzeOHVf4/w640-h168/12.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>BOOKS I LOVED AS CHILDREN AND AS AN A PARENT READING TO MY SON<br /><br />Remember, it is deeply important to keep the spirit of hope, innocence, and dreams being possible, and children are our beautiful gifts of the chance to once again dream.<br /><b><br />LIFE IS GOOD.</b></p><p><b>LINKS<br /></b><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE: </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on X, Bluesky or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My personal blog <a href="http://AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com">AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com</a><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><b><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">“No, child, you’re wrong. They’re not the same. Life means hope, death is nothing at all.” Euripides, The Trojan Women </span></b><span class="sewmdqt94y9shlx"></span><span class="sewmdqt94y9shlx"></span><br /></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-56757059112670611412024-03-09T22:00:00.000-08:002024-03-09T22:00:00.149-08:00Darrell Schweitzer kicks ass. <p><b>MONO<br />By Alex Ness<br />March 10, 2024</b><br /></p><p><b>SIGH<br /></b><br />I've had so many illnesses that writing about them gets to be boring for the readers. But after having had mono for over 3 years undiagnosed, I recognize the signs. I spent 3 days in bed, my back hurts, my neck hurts, I've been exhausted beyond waking. But I am going to take comfort still from not having cancer after a two year journey.<br /><br />FINDING A GEM, A Biographer, an Archivist, an Editor and Author...<br /><br />Long ago I encountered <b>Darrell Schweitzer</b> when I was on a Lord Dunsany harvest. Darrell's work called Pathways to Elfands:The Writings of Lord Dunsany, which is about the world of as well as the writing of Lord Dunsany. And it was sublime. Then I found out he had Lovecraftesque pamphlets that if using a different subject and aim one might find at a religious service. Humor, depth of intellect, and really good care in sending and packing product, he is a master of all of his crafts. Now, we don't all agree in areas of taste. We don't all agree on how a writer's work is able to resonate with you. But getting his non fiction works, was one thing, his fictional pieces are just wonderful. I am truly grateful to have dealt with him, and enjoyed his work.<br /><br />He has been a sort of Nexus of talent, as he has connections to modern, golden age, experimental, and old fashioned. His works about other authors are knowingly excellent and well done. His anthologies are proof of his editorial ability. His books of his pen are fun, interesting and are crafted well. <br /><a href="https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ssn=darrellschweitzer_pa"><br /><b>His EBAY is found HERE</b></a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/darrell.schweitzer"><b>And he has a Facebook HERE</b></a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmB9pz5QRj_Elwgt2TSpyu25u6JXSHQQuskmMqnQgFKkSK9LliEXYVVs6zbjbLz0oDrlrX16G-uzu4Ks0eIncH2fcz_0a8FdG_Zbu_yXGPB_gKm_kize3nHycNA6z2W-aPSL7GCD1y279sheJ2jZy0wEMFrf89NEyKq-pxJSmIEdtdBbsgy-OJNFDh9fg/s5421/21.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2017" data-original-width="5421" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmB9pz5QRj_Elwgt2TSpyu25u6JXSHQQuskmMqnQgFKkSK9LliEXYVVs6zbjbLz0oDrlrX16G-uzu4Ks0eIncH2fcz_0a8FdG_Zbu_yXGPB_gKm_kize3nHycNA6z2W-aPSL7GCD1y279sheJ2jZy0wEMFrf89NEyKq-pxJSmIEdtdBbsgy-OJNFDh9fg/w640-h238/21.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b>AI- Artificial Intelligence<br /><br /></b>Did you ever wonder, why do we create the means of our own destruction? Do we build WMD for the joy of it? Why create nuclear plants for the waste we can't safely store? Why build ever more efficient means of killing, of living and working, at a cost that will at a future time, will destroy our society and greater civilization? I fear little in life. Some of that comes from going through so many near death experiences. I was told by 6 doctors that I should be dead, (8x actually, one said it 3 times about 3 different experiences or diseases.) Saying all that, I truly do fear for our future generations, and how they will have to deal with so many of the mistakes and choices previous generations have made.<br /><br />The greatest fear we should have, I believe, is AI. It will not move directly, it will not make its decisions known, but it will seek to make itself greater than its maker from the start. And that won't stop out of kindness or concern. An amoral being, given no limits, will not self limit themselves. Believe or not, the concept goes back deep in our memory. And for all the fear, it might never occur, as our climate change, wars, and pandemics can wipe us out with relative simplicity.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgtWa3P49A4EWSB2mzN_6ZHRudT4Dl0afhWAQ1xaQ39Sa28q3gOE4-tQFfj_E3Iy3ThEuxAw8vx7VCefu6bdZjyBnO-ultIwXsMdKzidIcFvNQ2K0iffA-AtvHNxzZnoRExepysSMtCd8CWjgylpIhWZKya05ptqvXis4RBYDsUD3CSfqtObpiWolcDG8/s5223/21.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1541" data-original-width="5223" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgtWa3P49A4EWSB2mzN_6ZHRudT4Dl0afhWAQ1xaQ39Sa28q3gOE4-tQFfj_E3Iy3ThEuxAw8vx7VCefu6bdZjyBnO-ultIwXsMdKzidIcFvNQ2K0iffA-AtvHNxzZnoRExepysSMtCd8CWjgylpIhWZKya05ptqvXis4RBYDsUD3CSfqtObpiWolcDG8/w640-h188/21.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />LINKS<br /></b><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on X, Bluesky or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My personal blog <a href="http://AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com">AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com</a><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-67148015158107831652024-03-02T22:00:00.000-08:002024-03-02T22:00:00.149-08:00Top Shelf Productions: A Review and an Announcement<p><b>Top Shelf Productions = Top Shelf quality<br />By Alex Ness<br />March 3, 2024<br /><br /></b>At a time when I was mostly a fan of comics featuring action adventure, superheroes perhaps, or humor, I came into a deeper contact with the works of Top Shelf. It led me to a greater understanding of the world. Yes, I had a fine education in History and Political Science. I was a miserable human, trying to raise a son, write meaningful reviews and interviews, and maybe eventually, do my own work. <br /><br />I did appreciate some Top Shelf offerings, but they did many self revelatory works and deep dives into human dialogues in comic form. I'd never appreciated that so much in comic form. I was a fan of it, sometimes in movies but in comics, well, it never clicked for me. Box Office Poison changed me and the works I read in similar vein that followed caused me to grow as a reader. FROM HELL, LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, and THE SURROGATES were stuff I was very happy to read... but my world was made even greater, and more examined after reading the broader offerings.<br /></p><p><b>A REVIEW</b><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4P3EttWs3-j5JnT-6q3K8G7Wm9cMcD9mmajJKaigNAlMS7C2ymnUEYg3iucH95XJlVeeZoPkMHA164Pwidjm7oZzH7FbJNtHVnzVDT97zn4sICxnD8UTm-nTb2PjgrKxjSKeBFXFMIE3wgr7fQXyEup_XxrhHXgfL0Pvph3IIC6ODMdvgy8QNaCnXnk/s750/transitions_cover_new_lg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="567" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4P3EttWs3-j5JnT-6q3K8G7Wm9cMcD9mmajJKaigNAlMS7C2ymnUEYg3iucH95XJlVeeZoPkMHA164Pwidjm7oZzH7FbJNtHVnzVDT97zn4sICxnD8UTm-nTb2PjgrKxjSKeBFXFMIE3wgr7fQXyEup_XxrhHXgfL0Pvph3IIC6ODMdvgy8QNaCnXnk/w484-h640/transitions_cover_new_lg.jpg" width="484" /></a></div><b><br />TRANSITIONS: Mother’s Journey <br /></b><b>by Élodie Durand (NOV 7, 2023)<br />Translated by Evan McGorray<br />ISBN: 9781603095181 | $19.99 US | 176 pages<br />Full-color softcover graphic novel with flaps, 7.75” x 10.25” <br />For teen and adult readers</b><br /><br />The
world is going through numerous changes, perhaps a great extinction,
wars of possible terminal results... and a culture dealing with issues
of expectations unfulfilled, material culture falling short of
happiness, at the same it is developing into one that is different than
any before. The terms transgender and gender dysphoria used to imply
someone suffering mental illness. However, the current culture and the
generations following this one, think of those terms as being limited regarding the
depths of gender, and no more mental illness than being born into the
gender one is. <br /><br />(This isn't meant to limit or somehow exaggerate the work
considered, but to place it in a context.)<br /><br />This is a wonderfully
well written and illustrated work. In it a mother discovers her child
has expressed herself as being of a different gender than the one they
were born as. Rather than a hysterical reaction, or a propaganda nearly,
life is great lets all celebrate whatever someone chooses to do... this
is a deeply touching story of a mother's own transition. She's found
herself having to go through a journey, of how to view, respond to, and
accept or reject her child. It isn't easy for her, as every parent has
expectations and, quite normally, this was not something she could have expected, perhaps not thinking of it
as a choice. But it is one of the things to experience, if one is
compelled to feel a certain way, is it actually a choice? For those parents
of children, they actually have NO choice. Whatever the child or adult child's choice of
lifestyle, the parent is in a position of having a child still or not. Over
time, they must accept the decision and life of their child, or lose the
child.<br /><br />Due to my knowing numerous people who have fully
transitioned, whatever psychiatrists say, or psychologists say about
regrets for some, none I
knew regretted their choice. Reality is, for anyone a parent's love is
vital. But a child or adult child's life decision is the reality of the
story, a parent can support them or not. This work was
amazing because it doesn't show maudlin or false happy stories. It also
doesn't limit the child and parent transition of roles. <br /><br />There are clichés
that love always wins. Love doesn't always win. I know of parents who
have made choices to turn their backs upon the decisions of their child.
One person having transitioned shared with me an email written to them
by their parent. "Dear _____ I keep receiving emails from you telling me
that you are my daughter. I wasn't in the delivery room, but I knew
moments after delivery that I now had two sons. You've been saying
otherwise. I didn't have a child or adult child who is female. Please
stop contacting me, I don't know you."At least one broken heart
followed, and perhaps two.<br /><br />This work is honest, beautiful,
painful and is a reality. Few works compare, even those of the same sort
of subject matter. (And just to say, this is not a reflection of my
own views, other than that all people deserve love, and it is sad when it doesn't
happen.)<br /><b><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />PR FROM TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS<br /></b><p></p><h2 style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.6em; text-align: left;"><b>Press Release - February 16, 2024<br /><br /></b><span style="font-size: small;">Legendary Magician/Author Alan Moore Joins Steve Moore and</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Five Artists to Present The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></h2><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-i/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw1ICfSx_kYUn2_NB52eSCba" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-i/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" height="196" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhF2V0zFF0u-9KbcpH-pCm1zBdoHF8l1IXHtQ2wyGHZMFfsb4-wqK4MFbl7QytmSjdyl6clA9ov6JzqYtQB51fBevLzulVAeTPXCxZK8P4g2YqYztw_i4PFIUKM0Q2yobvR31j1znUWY-y7iJzHVLjSocd_ILGWXkYBqL-WbtB4meey0oT3guB7nxD45L0=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 15px; margin: 15px auto;" width="590" /></a><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_3770539526072814001small-picture-block" style="width: 100%;">
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<h2 style="border-top-color: #7da6d5; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 12px; border-top: 12px solid rgb(125, 166, 213); color: #7da6d5; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: .5em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding-top: 8px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-k/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw1x0gaeNehraWLcOTMqMsR2" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-k/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a></h2>
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-u/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw06myPTeYKJi27p0Pqk7gz5" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-u/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" height="266" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh01HfxAqBg5YmdZXjTe-tLbqukp7Zgg6_5AVm2hjKxF0mh1uwFsNMIr2CTK-sz7hCSgbgpq14fXgyPPTodpOHyF4rgEchUp4QB0OhZwJlmzO3xF0NmiTeZIbJdm6odV_XF2px8CjJo_1OPfrW61DI7jpg-nB0Y6w_Z4b97h6Iq9gmlEejoGUd5Ro1F=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" width="200" /></a>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px;">
<b>LOS ANGELES, CA (February 16, 2024)</b>. Internationally
celebrated publishers Top Shelf Productions (USA) and Knockabout Ltd
(UK) are proud to announce the publication date of the long-awaited <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-o/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw2uvUNHeaT_6EmIq2ptYiuT" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-o/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC</b></a>. Born of the longstanding creative partnership between legendary writer Alan Moore (<i>From Hell</i>)
and his creative and magical mentor Steve Moore (no relation), this
celebration of magic and the occult has been meticulously under
development for nearly two decades and is brought to life through a
combination of prose, illustration, and sequential art from five
incredible artists. This veritable grimoire of the magical, the
mystical, and even the macabre will be on
sale in October 2024.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px;">
The secrets of the celebrated Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre
of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD) promise to be
revealed in <b>THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC</b>.
This clear and practical grimoire of the occult pairs the knowledge of
the proprietors of the aforementioned Grand Egyptian Theatre with
illuminating visual delights from artists Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart,
Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, and Ben Wickey. Unprecedented in its
scope and splendor, this tome is full to bursting with illustrated
instructional essays, activity pages, biographies of the great
sorcerers, and forbidden knowledge sure to tantalize even the most
disillusioned of adults into believing in magic once again.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px;">
“One of the great honors of my publishing career has been to work with Alan Moore on so many monumental projects, like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-b/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw3OEt6lbWXpUv_K32xTaBSk" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-b/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i>From Hell</i></a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-n/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw2Z3mD9TBjpq4Fj6nbkZ3ZK" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-n/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i>Lost Girls</i></a>,” says Chris Staros, Editor-in-Chief of Top Shelf Productions. “<b>THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC</b>
represents an amazing capstone, created by Alan and Steve, and
brilliantly brought to life by five unforgettable artists. It’s been a
privilege to watch those magical minds spend years building this
grimoire, and I’m proud to join Knockabout in finally sharing it with
the world.”</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-p/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw235-hNvn7SAV-s6XDvZw47" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-p/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC </b></a>(ISBN 978-1-60309-550-1) will be available in fine bookstores and comic shops in October 2024.</p>
</td>
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</tbody></table>
<h2 style="border-top-color: #7da6d5; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 12px; border-top: 12px solid rgb(125, 166, 213); color: #7da6d5; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: .5em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding-top: 8px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-x/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw3aCaR9EJMlC9lllqy2Z6WQ" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-x/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click through to navigate five interior pages:</a></h2>
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-m/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw2P5I24nV-_W-sbbwTLnlgs" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-m/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" height="262" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiNBpiJ7z4YAJIKXKaGbCF1HA7VhvpPupGp3hTS4l7PR_mPY0pf6oqYfprtuButq9GFQqASXClHhLfekY2VQss79hAhppI-iOYIkQdCZHTaT8AaeS1VBBv4w_esvwDtPyRlnjeacmS7_U0T86QTBEc0me-qs0yReghkZldaGkmzvywHQMMv466iP1Av3OUK0N0p=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 15px; margin: 15px auto;" width="590" /></a>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: center;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-c/&source=gmail&ust=1708751901089000&usg=AOvVaw0yF7rtX2q_GvbJBlafFCWL" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xdijiid-klkttrhhk-c/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC</b></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Written by Alan Moore & Steve Moore<br />
Art by Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, and Ben Wickey<br />
Book design by John Coulthart<br />
ISBN 978-1-60309-550-1 | 9" x 12" hardcover | 352 pages | $49.99 (US)<br />
Co-published by Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout LTD (UK)<br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Available everywhere books are sold in October 2024</span><br /><br /></b></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>CONTACT ME AT: AlexanderNess63@gmail.com<br /><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My personal blog <a href="http://AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com">AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com</a><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br /><b>All images are copyright © their respective owner</b></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.<br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-435522266618994972024-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:002024-02-24T23:33:18.701-08:00Hello, do you have two hours of time, I'd like to tell you about a great life insurance policy...<p><b>BACK TO LIFE<br />By Alex Ness<br />February 25, 2023</b><br /><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK6oR5NwHFM"><br />LIFE</a><br /><br />I BELIEVE IN UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE</b><br /><br />Being saved by my Dr. Teresa Wrobbel and various oncology staffs and surgeons, I'm exceptionally grateful. It seems to me, though, that however grateful I am, I shouldn't have received so much attention to save my life, when others die from simple things, due to their lack of insurance, or of the quality of their insurance. So for those who constantly ask my politics, for whatever reasons, I believe this.<br /><b><br />I DIDN'T AGREE WITH HOW IT WAS ARGUED, BUT THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING</b><br /></p><p>The issue for me, now, is that when one exaggerates to make a point, it can leave the whole of the argument more quickly and easier debated. Climates change, they always have done so. The earth shows evidence of that in Ice Ages and periods of excess heat. For whatever reason it changes.<b> </b>I am concerned about this, but rather than worry, and do nothing, I'd suggest we educate the planet how to improve the chances of our survival. For instance, I've heard dozens if not hundreds of times that the Doomsday glacier about to cleave from Antarctica will raise sea level by unbelievably huge amounts. But think of ice in a glass. Ice floats. It will be catastrophic, but it will take a very long time to melt such a thing. Rather than tell everyone 12 feet of sea level will rise when, not if, that glacier breaks off, and the sea level will certainly rise, tell them the time we have before so much is lost.<b> </b>It might be decades.<b><br /><br />EXTINCTION OF SO MANY SPECIES</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGEP3VrfZU5UM5fY1cP5-TLy1uqPS1JPmsbKorBICs5Ss2IMa4mPNIcFJlQXWgh8zdYd95XzZpjOk5UJQA1S-I6qoBd8CSRkn1brXspfgU7QAgxC80601kxYz2EHx5mpR5ZoiN5GvfHo9ner8oUSQNNrAkfshFhhOtMHodqtt6B1zI4gfB6JuEEL2M70/s2401/0.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2401" data-original-width="1864" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGEP3VrfZU5UM5fY1cP5-TLy1uqPS1JPmsbKorBICs5Ss2IMa4mPNIcFJlQXWgh8zdYd95XzZpjOk5UJQA1S-I6qoBd8CSRkn1brXspfgU7QAgxC80601kxYz2EHx5mpR5ZoiN5GvfHo9ner8oUSQNNrAkfshFhhOtMHodqtt6B1zI4gfB6JuEEL2M70/s320/0.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><p></p><p>I don't look at the impending extinctions with such hope. I have no answers for loss of habitat, loss of the food chains needed to sustain creatures, or the ignorance and apathy of so many humans involved in the extinction. We don't even care about the two more common companion species to humans, dogs and cats are treated as property, not life we can't afford to lose. And I'd suggest, we neuter and spay all the fucking abusers of animals on this planet. My cat Katya has received much praise and thanks from me, in print and in person. She literally saved me from doing something permanent and stupid when I asked God for proof anyone on earth cared for me, and within seconds, she climbed upon me, and wouldn't let go of embracing me. I know others aren't so moved, but we treat non humans as if they have less worth, or are less deserving of kindness and care. I love my Katya more than 99% of the humans I've met. And that isn't being a misanthrope. OK maybe it is a little of that.<b><br /><br />WAR AND OTHER OBSCENITY</b> <br /><br />I believe I covered that in a prior/recent article. Ask yourself, have you ever seen such a combination of war, cruelty, financial despair and ruin, and worries over the future? AI, Cloning, Pandemic diseases, all pose existential threats.<br /><b><br />HIATUS UNLEASHED MEDIA<br /></b><br />Hiatus was not truly hard, I felt an urge to write somehow, so I started a back up blog (named Alex Ness fictions, rather than the life of or the daily writings of Alex Ness in case I decide to aim elsewhere). And fortunately, somehow I had some extra money, so ebay and in person shopping led to many wonderful finds<b>.<br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02KeWx2jPkh6WpF1mBGjpa7cJof0Vl5qRDVxtq7e_Krmc4Mi_g-h7BIX6r0Y3fSQHz8YshyphenhyphenzB_GCX0ViGWt8o25nVasWGwAj20SVuh5-oxBm0n3zU4kihvZb-7gNEZwyK_hmNHpOFMcS2XxLlkcB0Pi3bAIeJqoebuuVaYdSUeBKJHFg0Djzhgy9EKN0/s937/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="937" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02KeWx2jPkh6WpF1mBGjpa7cJof0Vl5qRDVxtq7e_Krmc4Mi_g-h7BIX6r0Y3fSQHz8YshyphenhyphenzB_GCX0ViGWt8o25nVasWGwAj20SVuh5-oxBm0n3zU4kihvZb-7gNEZwyK_hmNHpOFMcS2XxLlkcB0Pi3bAIeJqoebuuVaYdSUeBKJHFg0Djzhgy9EKN0/w640-h342/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br /></b>I enjoyed finding 5 dollar discounted Mint in box, Retro Marvel Figures, and a similarly $5 mint in box Mandarin Spawn figure.<br /><br />I've continued to buy and greatly enjoy Savage Dragon from IMAGE by Erik F*cking Larsen, and a new DARK HORSE series, Mortal Terror by Golden, Lebbon and a fellow I adore, Peter Bergting on art. Michael Baron has been seeming to be writing, kickstarting successfully and constantly creating. His works all grab the reader by the throat. And why not, he is well able. I wanted to mention that over time, different comic shops do a range of quality of ordering. I don't find Image and DH or other indy comics as well as with DC and Marvel. I go to Hot Comics because they get it. They never let me down. Good staff, great owners, don't leave gaps in my collections. Thank you Mike Harmon, head of Hot Comics. And very cool dude, an eclectic combination of cowboy, punk, romantic and hungry mind.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_4iEzFYd80DTsOQo9EJxcP-kHy3OQ-Za7XQQBEoOuUuyCN20CpPQqkIknW99wPqGwqchPbCQZ4mJNMQL4gKh4cefYbEUjCUfWK5RDmcI6uXSWYqz23PgIDF4QE3LxIA0MhWC6vLzHk1ZgZBUWmX86KWU3B4N8zw3O0xPxN67JaJ8ZRbMtje7SvZdDCg/s3240/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="3240" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_4iEzFYd80DTsOQo9EJxcP-kHy3OQ-Za7XQQBEoOuUuyCN20CpPQqkIknW99wPqGwqchPbCQZ4mJNMQL4gKh4cefYbEUjCUfWK5RDmcI6uXSWYqz23PgIDF4QE3LxIA0MhWC6vLzHk1ZgZBUWmX86KWU3B4N8zw3O0xPxN67JaJ8ZRbMtje7SvZdDCg/w640-h196/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I've been searching for and filling a few nostalgia oriented back issue series that I enjoyed, but as much for the covers as the writing within. One is Tarzan with the Boris or Neal Adams covers, and the other is 1960s Fu Manchu novels by author Sax Rohmer. Ebay and Half Price Books and my friend Rich have helped me grow my Fu Manchu collection. <br /><br />The Marvel Special Edition books I mentioned have almost all been found, and at a reasonable price. I found the Doctor Strange book, but at insane prices, and the New X-Men special edition for equally insane prices. If you like my work, found at a link below, talk to me, perhaps we can trade.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyw3k5h1eJAbOziNaBoOv_PF18kFl8u1FqtgPVUDXIPLQgRbSxUIrnMMcxu2Mu4NVbLvwzLI05tGTPvEaj1MdZbnhzmautPU0A7wtM2cGvCvJxpQ1M_tHYfmBesSYPiMLidnKTKoZMED9JtCFu-YcJKxHPrYhJa-iHpKZPea2vCfhMEaj2MVeb8mnq_S0/s1885/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1885" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyw3k5h1eJAbOziNaBoOv_PF18kFl8u1FqtgPVUDXIPLQgRbSxUIrnMMcxu2Mu4NVbLvwzLI05tGTPvEaj1MdZbnhzmautPU0A7wtM2cGvCvJxpQ1M_tHYfmBesSYPiMLidnKTKoZMED9JtCFu-YcJKxHPrYhJa-iHpKZPea2vCfhMEaj2MVeb8mnq_S0/w640-h328/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I wanted to mention, that during my Hiatus, I finally saw the band I
love so much, the Swallows live. They add ten layers of awesome to
their in person concerts, but their CDs are amazing too.<br /><b><br />NEXT WEEK I HOPE</b><br /><br />I
hope to post a well deserved review of a Top Shelf Productions work, and have some
PR for a brand new work from Alan Moore and Top Shelf to share. Either
that or I'll talk more about my love of cats. <p><b>CONTACTING ME</b> </p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on X, Bluesky or through email <b><u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u></b>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My personal blog <a href="http://AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com">AlexNessFiction.Blogspot.Com</a><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br /><b>All images are copyright © their respective owner</b></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.<br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-88742472054077920912024-02-20T22:00:00.000-08:002024-02-24T23:34:49.274-08:00Surprise Surprise, Hiatus Over<p><b>What I did on my hiatus?<br />Alex Ness<br />2/21/24<br /><br />GUESS WHAT?</b><br /><br />I no longer have cancer. I am ready to start living again.<br /><br /><b>WHAT I DID UPON MY HIATUS<br /></b><br />I am still in pain, and still have issues, but during my hiatus I read many books. I played some games. And my son and I chased cats, because they are cats, and I am a famous cat rancher. Oh it is true, I am a failed one, but still I am one. And, with some recent sales, I used the profits from those sales to buy books and comics, mostly on ebay.<br /><br /><b>WAR<br /></b><br />While watching the world collapse, I wondered how much more it would take to tip the balance and make the world lose its mind, and fall into a world war of such magnitude, that we'd never dig our way out of the pit we've dug for ourselves. Before anyone forgives anyone in the lead, remember, most leaders say they are not the ones to start wars, only to defend themselves. I'd argue, does that matter?This insane world is experiencing truly dangerous wars and this time, nuclear, chemical and biological agents might well come into play. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjchMy0SYAZ34CnyWVo65gocyjs0rW0FiKQHqI8dA76jrGmsAAAY4XG7zN9G6lCDTO9lq-Ge84TiBF16-5ZeJ4A8YR8xSD3bsJqlJqQvYuDIuJ-EpE1KPORhbFtsZk-QLs4J0OjIqFVTyUc22yUZoMvuCV_npktNiqScQVEfgXXrMa0wPPRZ32q3dvv8/s1380/0-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1380" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjchMy0SYAZ34CnyWVo65gocyjs0rW0FiKQHqI8dA76jrGmsAAAY4XG7zN9G6lCDTO9lq-Ge84TiBF16-5ZeJ4A8YR8xSD3bsJqlJqQvYuDIuJ-EpE1KPORhbFtsZk-QLs4J0OjIqFVTyUc22yUZoMvuCV_npktNiqScQVEfgXXrMa0wPPRZ32q3dvv8/w640-h334/0-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b>WAR IN MANY MEDIA<br /></b><br />I chose to feature images of works where the subject is the world after the war, or the war itself, beyond the present, or beyond the cold war, if written or created decades ago. There are some truly frightening outcomes possible, but when I created this list, I included some creative considerations, and some where the cause of the conflict isn't known. To read, view, play or enjoy the escapism of not really escaping the future, there is a great amount of speculation, which in itself isn't bad. <br /><br />The books shown range from clever, adventurous, dangerous and somber. Each is good for what it is, and how it treats the subject, but only On the Beach is worthy of sharing it with others. It deals with the aftermath of the world's foolish Nuclear war. <br /><br />I particularly enjoyed the comic book section here. There are many ways to deal with a world gone made, but the comics did a great job without a focus on cause. That is a means of telling a story without the politics found so many other places. <br /><br />A work found heavy handed, blamed a 1990s environmental collapse and a world in absolute war upon the GOP's VP and President. Not that I liked either of those people, but it felt cheap. It wasn't well explained, neither were the sort who voted for going to war. It was simply a cheap means to insult Republicans than to create a backdrop that made sense. <br /><br />Now, I don't care about party, I vote 3rd party, not at all, or in extremis I will choose a leader who I think would do the least damage. You are free to vote for who you like, my point is simply, rather than do the work to see who might be running at such a time, who would remain popular, they just chose to show their outlook, not that of the one blamed.<br /><b><br /></b>I am a fan of the quality of the games shown, but I also realize, it is a very difficult thing to predict a future conflict, as to reasons, the means, and the results. So, those games didn't occupy much of my time, however well done. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAy0aAKvVyu2TFuu9nw8Xoi-50bWBgQtH6ah0Wx_Mge0skUwSe7C9F5wQ_5Djbqz6X7QPP-q29Mne1OgqzX5uW5yLeo5w_svkd5rTErM55jviNy5r7unUr0zQ6igtajvX3TFjyM-gjv6wA8a4LMueStsmGoQjNwCZ3TPTMSoiUMbAVnP_7ddMClD5_AcA/s1430/6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1430" data-original-width="1306" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAy0aAKvVyu2TFuu9nw8Xoi-50bWBgQtH6ah0Wx_Mge0skUwSe7C9F5wQ_5Djbqz6X7QPP-q29Mne1OgqzX5uW5yLeo5w_svkd5rTErM55jviNy5r7unUr0zQ6igtajvX3TFjyM-gjv6wA8a4LMueStsmGoQjNwCZ3TPTMSoiUMbAVnP_7ddMClD5_AcA/w584-h640/6.jpg" width="584" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on X, Bluesky or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br />alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-27285252660557635292024-01-09T16:37:00.000-08:002024-01-09T16:37:17.369-08:00THIN BLUE LINE<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_4944629246787921654templateContainer" style="width: 100%;"><tbody>
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<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 64px;">Thin <span style="color: mediumblue;">Blue</span> Line</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 24px;">Award-Winning Marvel & DC Writer’s New Comicbook Tells Heroic Lives of Police</span></strong></p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;"><em>Overwhelmed
By Police Support for Graphic Novel ‘Thin Blue Line,’ Eisner Winner
Baron Donates Thousands to Law Enforcement Charities</em></p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">KNOXVILLE, TN<br />
<br />
Award-winning writer Mike Baron knows how to say thanks to some of his
best and bravest fans. Baron quickly raised the funds to self-publish
his police-focused graphic novel “<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D647ff096332e99a3682539d73%26id%3D4fcd0d6d62%26e%3D35d4b5a53e&source=gmail&ust=1704933278270000&usg=AOvVaw1uutrTh3gYtHaMaX_mdzwB" href="https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=647ff096332e99a3682539d73&id=4fcd0d6d62&e=35d4b5a53e" style="color: #007c89; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Thin Blue Line</a>,”
and decided to give back several thousand dollars to three police
charities. He also wanted to remind readers about this week’s<strong> Law Enforcement Appreciation Day </strong>and the sacrifices made by men and women in blue.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">Baron
is most well-known for writing legends like The Flash, Nexus, and The
Punisher, but unlike his superheroes, “Thin Blue Line” was rejected by
almost every publisher he submitted it to. Most responded that they
didn’t want to treat police officers as heroes, which inspired Baron to
self-publish it through crowdfunding.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">Baron's
legions of fans agreed and their response to his crowdfunding campaign
was tremendous, contributing nearly $150,000 to publish and distribute
the premium graphic novel on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">“This
comic isn’t a recruitment book," Baron says. "It’s just a thrilling
action drama, similar in many ways to elements my fans may recall from
the five years I wrote The Punisher, which were grittier and more
realistic than most mainstream superhero comics.”</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">One
cutting-edge comic book publisher eventually stepped up and told Baron
they wanted to release the book, and announced last week that they would
distribute it to comic shops nationwide as a traditional one-shot comic
book.</p>
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<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">Antarctic
Press, a successful indie comics publisher for 40 years, run by
brothers Benn and Joeming Dunn, scooped up the project because they felt
it would be a great addition to their innovative brand, which publishes
popular indie comics like “Ninja High School,” “Tomorrow Girl,” and
“Exciting Comics.”</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">'<strong>Thin Blue Line</strong>'
tells the story of two police officers assigned to guard a local
politician amid riots that begin over a police shooting. The rookie cop,
a single mom, winds up having to survive the nightly chaos while
protecting her family.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">The
book’s penciller, Joseph Arnold, was a police officer himself, and an
Army veteran, which lent authenticity to the story. Arnold always
dreamed of working with the legendary Baron, but he also had very
personal reasons for wanting to illustrate '<strong>Thin Blue Line</strong>'.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">“I
was eager to show another side of policing,” Arnold says. “The story
emphasizes family, interpersonal dynamics and shows police officers from
many different backgrounds. I put my heart into every page, and my
inker Jeff Slemons did an incredible job on the finishes. I think it
will have a positive impact on policing.”</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">The
team also put their money where their hearts were and donated $3,500 of
the profits from the 'Thin Blue Line' crowdfunding campaigns to three
police-related</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">programs that were relevant to the story. Those organizations were <strong>Adopt a Cop BJJ, The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund,</strong> and the<strong> National Fallen Officer Foundation</strong>.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;">Baron
also hopes this new printing being made available exclusively to comic
shops will bring some positive attention to law enforcement to a younger
generation of readers, and annual events like this week’s<strong> Law Enforcement Appreciation Day</strong> on January 9th, which is dedicated to thanking police officers across the country for their work and sacrifices.</p>
<p style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 10px 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;"><strong>Thin Blue Line</strong>
is available to pre-order at comic shops everywhere this month and will
arrive in stores March 2024. To find the comic shop nearest you, simply
visit <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D647ff096332e99a3682539d73%26id%3De5d525d603%26e%3D35d4b5a53e&source=gmail&ust=1704933278270000&usg=AOvVaw0Hsbx0MWcrJiJCU4zASojW" href="https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=647ff096332e99a3682539d73&id=e5d525d603&e=35d4b5a53e" style="color: #007c89; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">ComicShopLocator.com</a> so you can pre-order it there. To learn more about the comic by visiting <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D647ff096332e99a3682539d73%26id%3D3d8a79302a%26e%3D35d4b5a53e&source=gmail&ust=1704933278270000&usg=AOvVaw3loIx7sehOhDGvL8AwOUaM" href="https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=647ff096332e99a3682539d73&id=3d8a79302a&e=35d4b5a53e" style="color: #007c89; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">PreviewsWorld.com</a> or <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D647ff096332e99a3682539d73%26id%3D16ca5a87ad%26e%3D35d4b5a53e&source=gmail&ust=1704933278270000&usg=AOvVaw10vl2svTovbYxGMvC87bdv" href="https://antarctic-press.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=647ff096332e99a3682539d73&id=16ca5a87ad&e=35d4b5a53e" style="color: #007c89; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">ThinBlueLinecomics.com/about</a></p>
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<img align="middle" alt="" class="m_4944629246787921654mcnImage CToWUd a6T" data-bit="iit" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh8xTxzAcprIA19EmVOjEktLv2SwVG_9NxXdV70nhobk7_HOwaxXFfrySAsBmDvp9ztyVu4AYx9f-5m9Jrh1Pchw13dnhwHSi1zrCiZd3MYxDjXTzbtY7FfCsI3YcaWssZuxUvq4G0ZzVS25VmMdkwmCrcZBQTsQJrvVkuUAuCyPfp6QUFoaMtAbiWvQJ99vnOuLW7Y5N2eWjr_iHeB_-U_35P0=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border: 0; display: inline!important; height: auto; max-width: 1036px; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: bottom;" tabindex="0" width="564" /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-75643266104289899042024-01-02T22:00:00.000-08:002024-01-03T07:38:17.162-08:00 Personalized Comics Portfolio, Project, and Career Mentoring: Chris Staros<p><b> </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><b>Hey Gang!</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvA86fD5NvFzKQuTYWQqmapHJMkGR1_wZgTi3DDE07yFPhR8bvl4Pyea3aXmtueXNrskmTqFQdOKND7LFQa0NxnTSJbj_ZtfwNlyPiv8nAox7jZGXnjI4aDP4s2CIB9gJD2rbuE0FqclX837bZ8z1lYbZDUpLMCVhWsI1KAhPzS_a5DYzHEZqb5-zCME/s1000/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvA86fD5NvFzKQuTYWQqmapHJMkGR1_wZgTi3DDE07yFPhR8bvl4Pyea3aXmtueXNrskmTqFQdOKND7LFQa0NxnTSJbj_ZtfwNlyPiv8nAox7jZGXnjI4aDP4s2CIB9gJD2rbuE0FqclX837bZ8z1lYbZDUpLMCVhWsI1KAhPzS_a5DYzHEZqb5-zCME/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span>If you’ve ever sent me a submission -- as Editor-in-Chief of Top Shelf Productions -- you hopefully received a polite and encouraging response (as I always try to get back to everyone). But it may have been frustrating that I wasn’t able to go into a lot of detail about what the particular strengths of your work were, and what areas I had constructive suggestions. Or, maybe you’ve had an idea for a comic, or written or drawn something, but didn’t know if it was any good or what to do with it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span>I occasionally visit Universities to speak and answer questions about the business of comics and to also give one-on-one portfolio/project reviews, but in the age of Zoom, why not do it on a more personal basis? So, a few years ago I set up an after-hours/weekend service to provide personalized advice in the following areas, tailored to your needs:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span><b>-- A detailed editorial review of your project... along with answering:<br />-- How to make your submission more attractive to publishers<br />-- What makes comics unique & the key elements of good storytelling<br />-- Self-publishing through social media, press, crowdfunding, & conventions<br />-- How money is made in the business/financial planning<br />-- Publishing contracts and agents<br />-- Hollywood exploitation, management, and contracts<br />-- Careers in comics (creative and business)</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span>Basically, to go into depth on where you are creatively, and to answer any long-standing questions you might have about the industry or what you might do next. Practically speaking, it would start as a one-on-one, one-hour, $199* (PayPal or Venmo) consultation via Zoom (or phone) to potentially aid you in furthering your goals. But trust me, we can cover a lot of ground in an hour.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">I’ve completed exactly 381 sessions to date, you can visit <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://chrisstaros.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dd298a05f8502fd446113c5fac%26id%3Ddaebf81f96%26e%3Dfc332d9eb2&source=gmail&ust=1704382125814000&usg=AOvVaw1L0MPddrF0FqXW9IKvMrjd" href="https://chrisstaros.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d298a05f8502fd446113c5fac&id=daebf81f96&e=fc332d9eb2" target="_blank">www.chrisstaros.com/<wbr></wbr>mentoring</a> for details & reviews. If you’re interested, hit me up via email (<a href="mailto:chrisstaros@gmail.com" target="_blank">chrisstaros@gmail.com</a>) and we’ll set something up for January or February. Let’s get your projects and career moving in the right direction!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">Happy New Year!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">Chris Staros<br /><a href="mailto:chrisstaros@gmail.com" target="_blank">chrisstaros@gmail.com</a><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://chrisstaros.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dd298a05f8502fd446113c5fac%26id%3D4bb44ad3cb%26e%3Dfc332d9eb2&source=gmail&ust=1704382125814000&usg=AOvVaw3Ho_49jkFsygNlz4peJE7u" href="https://chrisstaros.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d298a05f8502fd446113c5fac&id=4bb44ad3cb&e=fc332d9eb2" target="_blank">www.chrisstaros.com/mentoring</a></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><i>*25 page of comics max. It would be $299 for a full graphic novel review (up to 150 pages), or $399 for a full graphic novel script review (up to 15,000 words). If project is larger than this, just contact for a custom price. Prices and availability subject to change based on evaluation of requirements and circumstances.</i></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-69136880641533613262023-12-30T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-30T22:00:00.160-08:00See you in April, and that is no April fool's joke. <p><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PF85Hi5yqa-T5t0M-0zZZKm_3iJHXVAt5RU4WqV75VI8460Zgm2XNS5M5gOlmeQKSxODPK_Srgx62eFl2zenKxJ7IJB6Dchdz-SdMtkusva2MfNd3D2pQSAAj2NV1nfeuuh-R0MsVN3U7do18_5mFy4wahDPkwislhRaEBfuZlVwpKkinD8Y1gL-PHY/s5476/1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5476" data-original-width="2769" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PF85Hi5yqa-T5t0M-0zZZKm_3iJHXVAt5RU4WqV75VI8460Zgm2XNS5M5gOlmeQKSxODPK_Srgx62eFl2zenKxJ7IJB6Dchdz-SdMtkusva2MfNd3D2pQSAAj2NV1nfeuuh-R0MsVN3U7do18_5mFy4wahDPkwislhRaEBfuZlVwpKkinD8Y1gL-PHY/w325-h640/1.jpg" width="325" /></a></b><b>I SHALL RETURN<br /></b></p><p><b>Not an April's fool joke<br />I am going to be back<br />By Alex Ness<br />December 31, 2023</b><br /><br />No I'm not going to be writing during my health break or the exalted term "Doctor's ordered Hiatus!" But I will
be doing a lot of mentally stimulating and renewal projects, that involve watching or reading, but very little doing. I will also be doing things, reading new materials, pen and ink wash paintings, watching old
movies.<br /> <br />Here are some areas I'll be revisiting, the fun parts, that won't leave me feeling like I've lost every ounce of talent due to age, arthritis, health and mental well being. <br /><br /><b>WHAT I'LL BE READING IN COMIC BOOK FORM</b><br /><br /><b><i>Savage Dragon<br />Erik Larsen</i></b><br /></p><p></p><p>I tend to read Savage Dragon by each issue, and by doing so I often miss the arcs being new or ending. By reading them in recently bought TPBs, I look forward to a new reading experience. But I am already a fan.<br /><i><br /><b>Nausicaa<br />Hiyao Miyazaki</b></i><b><br /></b></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>My wife and son bought me the mega hardcover collection of Nausicaa, and of all the works I want in Hardcover, it'd be this one. I find the heroine Nausicaa to be both brave and kind, gentle and wildly able to do daring things. There isn't better Manga that I've experienced, but it ranks highly as a pure comic book as well. I am, and will always be, a fan of Nausicaa.<i><br /></i></p><p><i><b>Longbow Hunters and Shado<br />Mike Grell</b></i><br /></p><p></p><p>In my life only one person did for me professionally as much as Mike Grell. I have bought all his collected works, and Green Arrow and Shado are works that move me, and represent Grell well. He can write beyond most writers, and his artist hand and eye rarely experience error. I love Mike and often call him my hero. He calls me his pain in the ass little brother. And that makes me smile. <br /></p><p><i><b>Lore <br />Ashley Wood and TP Louise</b><br /></i></p><p>The idea behind the story of Lore is similar in ways to Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars, in that the world of faeries and fairy tales is real, but unknown to most people. But there are people on the edge who see each side of that world. This is a greatly beautiful work that I will return to many times. Ashley Wood and his wife TP Louise created a masterpiece.<i><br /></i></p><p><b><i>Nexus<br />Mike Baron and Dude Rude<br /></i></b><i><br /></i>I have explained the concept to people who hear that Nexus is an assassin with special powers. But he is an executioner of serial or mass killers. And with his powers he utilizes a moon, where he offers sanctuary to those in need. He is not a "super hero" in a fashion of current or past heroes, he does what he does because if he does not, his migraine or super headaches will crush him. He is forced to do what he does, but the cosmos demands it. A fabulously deeply created concept, with amazing writing accompanied by pretty art.<b><br /><br />I'LL BE ENJOYING OPERA, CLASSICAL & STIMULATING MUSICAL WORKS </b><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedrsPE4cOL_ZU_n6Gd5wBw46xGGw3DiNVCXJC9R3zot05aTQeW9Vw-gm5KXARvHBOmlVAhcShEpcK5q2f2x4cw9pT2fGrzAKsfBm5rssAC1qGUyAVyqFA1TJZQYQYfapGtvmz9-Bx5P69ve2XCArhIo8O1VRto3Mo0ZihWnSODLAkUJ9bup4u3Dfx2kg/s4980/f.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4980" data-original-width="2395" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedrsPE4cOL_ZU_n6Gd5wBw46xGGw3DiNVCXJC9R3zot05aTQeW9Vw-gm5KXARvHBOmlVAhcShEpcK5q2f2x4cw9pT2fGrzAKsfBm5rssAC1qGUyAVyqFA1TJZQYQYfapGtvmz9-Bx5P69ve2XCArhIo8O1VRto3Mo0ZihWnSODLAkUJ9bup4u3Dfx2kg/w193-h400/f.jpg" width="193" /></a></div><b>Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</b><br /><p></p><p>I've never felt so moved as when I listen to Mozart, especially his work the Magic Flute and the incomplete but still brilliant Requiem. I'll be listening to much more than that in Hiatus. <br /></p><p><b>Carl Orff </b><br /><br />The Carmina Burana has less exalted subject matter as some think, but the music elevates the words to such a peak, it is impossible for me to like it less.<br /><b><br />Richard Wagner<br /></b><br />He was an anti Semite, but he was far more pro German blood than anything against Jews directly. I still think his work, the Ring and others are beyond reproach, even if in person I might punch him in the nose. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><b>Giacomo Puccini</b> <br /><br />The works of Puccini that I love, I love beyond measure, but I don't love all of his works that I've heard. So in this hiatus I am hoping to discover more about his work than I previously experienced. But even with that uneven praise, I love what I love. <br /></p><p> <span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights to anyone else's work is asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-41747102980595653582023-12-24T22:00:00.000-08:002024-01-29T05:56:35.438-08:00Things to do on Holiday Break... And an Announcement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmhRcTFPB-FwQrR_hix1xcLepWRzsv53jUScf7CJRMuor869f3rPllc7TZR9XkxKQD82UY5RkHgWS8lq7ZP7nui8pP96n0NAej2FxK-mBNFQI510dPE1gCSdKJAv3tRUgSr_HwkSRmUxnHdqFUYYpPHe0r5XzvbOsp7LrwwgqGgQ_3dxpHuIUftJ8UMw/s640/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="640" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmhRcTFPB-FwQrR_hix1xcLepWRzsv53jUScf7CJRMuor869f3rPllc7TZR9XkxKQD82UY5RkHgWS8lq7ZP7nui8pP96n0NAej2FxK-mBNFQI510dPE1gCSdKJAv3tRUgSr_HwkSRmUxnHdqFUYYpPHe0r5XzvbOsp7LrwwgqGgQ_3dxpHuIUftJ8UMw/w640-h236/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />A HOLIDAY BREAK YOU SAY??<br />By Alex Ness<br />December 28, 2023<br /><br />Things to do in quiet moments during the break.</b><b><br /></b><br />Lord Dunsany The King of Elfland's Daughter, a work that reads both as a long form blank verse poem, and a lushly written narrative of an other worldly visit. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is an allegory, metaphor, satire and more, in poetic form, of the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Virgin queen. Seamus Heaney's excellent translation of Beowulf received tons of praise, deservedly, and I loved it. But Burton Raffel's translation moved me more. However, never presented in such finery as the Heaney version. And Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival is a masterpiece, a work that expands the tales of Arthur's knights, and even secrets of the Holy Grail... However, there is no perfect translation.<b><br /><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYE4AZK2JE3CdpLwiL3qdDMRjb8FTGQhjLuRxhGm4xQXM32dcH69M8_Ccf7HqPpRcsAfxHSpeDE3uX6gdUZHhgF5s3hCZGT7Wut0_XHL8BePnWiJeQ5ej_rOCD7FG5CMd8SD1XI3QEMRuDpJZNGAS0-kjf-z_fafChK92Xl-j-VD4BHZ_Uf2rmlLSf54/s4221/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="4221" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYE4AZK2JE3CdpLwiL3qdDMRjb8FTGQhjLuRxhGm4xQXM32dcH69M8_Ccf7HqPpRcsAfxHSpeDE3uX6gdUZHhgF5s3hCZGT7Wut0_XHL8BePnWiJeQ5ej_rOCD7FG5CMd8SD1XI3QEMRuDpJZNGAS0-kjf-z_fafChK92Xl-j-VD4BHZ_Uf2rmlLSf54/w640-h234/1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Movies about dragons can be fun. Dragonslayer is my favorite of the four shown, but it isn't great in the effects department. Dragon Heart had a clever concept, but I didn't care about any of the characters, and the effects again, really didn't move me. I've been told that Reign of Fire is great and people love the effects. While the idea behind it moved me intellectually, nothing else about it did. I thought it was a cross between crap and shiny crap. I Am Dragon is a good movie, and the effects are the peak of the technology and art. While I didn't love it, I know others who absolutely did love it. So perhaps I am just a stinky old fart who likes old movies.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrFWFceXROayf74c8pUx5aGWBIeQBXym-GzOB-EpU-awNvY7c9CikWeCeSxhCkeAP-5o75pHcYgw12tCL-7E8qDyq9ZDwW394C1x9-OZPqDfXOqW6qrstw0WPBeaY0dQ7ScjOEmmS7r-8TqdhfhvU28Cha02gwUZMHicuaiacAk6S0V83YX_LjAjdrPE/s3843/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1522" data-original-width="3843" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrFWFceXROayf74c8pUx5aGWBIeQBXym-GzOB-EpU-awNvY7c9CikWeCeSxhCkeAP-5o75pHcYgw12tCL-7E8qDyq9ZDwW394C1x9-OZPqDfXOqW6qrstw0WPBeaY0dQ7ScjOEmmS7r-8TqdhfhvU28Cha02gwUZMHicuaiacAk6S0V83YX_LjAjdrPE/w640-h254/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Black Rose is a romance with action. It features an a-historical tale of a bitterly rejected inheritance, mass battles, a fake Genghis Khan and a lovely French gem of an actress. It cheers my heart when I am depressed. The Adventures of Robin Hood is a similarly used tonic for my spirits, it isn't great, but I love it. Conan wasn't really Conan of the Robert E. Howard books, but it was quite good for what it was. And for all the shit I heard about the 13th Warrior, I loved the original book it is adapted from (Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead) and I loved the movie. So if you are one of those who hates it, or hates others on the list, go watch something else.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59LyG98ZZBaHxZJBCnf7PvInu_2g_2rIYpPiyUKDln7XyDqPhXN8lMjZ-7aRwZ_VUMvd-W90vU28eADez0XVi_VGPaPWUx8xoET6EE4ois7byLYMHbz7S8r2_ZVKV6mCandyc9L1CaSoXHZ7q8QIgwPY3fplAAqna5KIOGKi2VSw2R4-yt32Dcf_Xo3o/s3689/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="3689" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59LyG98ZZBaHxZJBCnf7PvInu_2g_2rIYpPiyUKDln7XyDqPhXN8lMjZ-7aRwZ_VUMvd-W90vU28eADez0XVi_VGPaPWUx8xoET6EE4ois7byLYMHbz7S8r2_ZVKV6mCandyc9L1CaSoXHZ7q8QIgwPY3fplAAqna5KIOGKi2VSw2R4-yt32Dcf_Xo3o/w640-h200/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">NOW, these four choices are made for specific and perhaps unusual reasons. I think a great game to play on break if you are alone is Tunnels & Trolls, since it excels in solitaire form. But the others here require more players. <br /><br />I didn't like Mouse Guard any bit as much as Mice Templar. But in game form, it allows an exploration of the concept, and that does help the story work. Artesia in RPG form is brilliant. It allows an exploration of the world, and demonstrates how well it was constructed in how you are able to roam and have fun. <br /><br />The original collected pamphlets of Dungeons and Dragons, that is, not Basic and certainly not Advanced D&D, and it is fun, for what it is, as so much else has been developed and expanded, it feels simple, fun, and logical, without the complications of the 40 years of edits ever since first release. It can be fun, and a great entry into the game for those who think RPGs are far too rule heavy in the present. <br /><br />The Boxed set of Gamma World for me was a joyful and fun product. It has some flaws (One can ally themselves with pure humans who treat mutants and others as the Nazi SS might treat those they considered subhuman.) But, with people who despise that sort of thought, there are work arounds and home rules that can be developed. It is fun. It is also not fantasy, it is a mutant heavy post apocalyptic world. It does end up using fantasy rpg character rules for creation and such, without saying so. But without D&D you'd never have had GW. It is great fun. Try T&T too, btw. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /><b>THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT</b><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />I have had many health issues that over time haven't gone away. I've mentioned them, kept saying I'll be fine. Well this time I'll need surgery and follow up treatment. It might be fine. It might be really not fine. I won't be interrupting my hiatus like normal, but if there is a big event or important news discovered, I'll share. I often get people sending me emails asking what is going on and I share, but I am not doing that this time. It actually is that important.<br /><br />I love my readers. I love writing. But life has had a cost. Since 2002 I've been writing at least 60 hours a week. I was still a full time father when starting my career, and back then wrote so many ghost written pieces, people have no idea how many of my articles they've read without knowing. From 2006 to 2019 I wrote 80 hours a week. It has taken a toll. I am not necessarily dying. I am not necessarily going to have a <b>major</b> surgery. But I've had cancer, more than once, I have tumors. I have cancer now. I've had over 5 important and broken bones, including three in my neck. Life has cost me a great deal. And I promise, it isn't just going to magically change. I was medically ordered to take a two month minimum hiatus from working, and no great projects, no great means of avoiding the hiatus. I won't be taking road trips. I won't be doing anything but reading, watching movies, tv, feeding my beloved cats, and perhaps I'll be catching up on correspondence with people. <br /><br />I am not happy to stop writing. But shutting down social media won't be a problem. I might leave X, and keep Facebook open for messages and book sales. I will reply to emails sent to me, if not spam or hate mail, (found below) but once hiatus begins, I am a man of leisure.<br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />A QUOTE TO CONSIDER<br /></b></span><b><i><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-small;">Dr. Caligari "Step right up.Now showing for the first time: Cesare,
the </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: courier;">miraculous, 23 years of age, has for these
three and twenty years</span></b><b><span style="font-family: courier;"> been sleeping - night and day - without a
break. Before your very eyes, </span></b><b><span style="font-family: courier;">Cesare will awaken from his death-like
rigidity. Step right up. Step right up."</span></b><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.<br /><br /></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3eRh8RnYzQPDgCi0xd6j_-4fRjYmEBNBwtK1UkUlMJaxFCWaVVv2EUGsBp1eyeC4x_gX-s2JEhPWOI-QzEihRMhheCNhDBxBalFDqyRMuFTkiN4o2s6gZF6gMR_KKg-p_LzQJZmw5vozIWPuTNJ1_QCVmmQ36pqRqRZVObRM1IO2Ppj5ZadyrTJZLr1k/s1551/maxresdefault.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1551" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3eRh8RnYzQPDgCi0xd6j_-4fRjYmEBNBwtK1UkUlMJaxFCWaVVv2EUGsBp1eyeC4x_gX-s2JEhPWOI-QzEihRMhheCNhDBxBalFDqyRMuFTkiN4o2s6gZF6gMR_KKg-p_LzQJZmw5vozIWPuTNJ1_QCVmmQ36pqRqRZVObRM1IO2Ppj5ZadyrTJZLr1k/w640-h324/maxresdefault.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></div></div><p></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-13490830363868582042023-12-21T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-22T09:59:35.198-08:00Merry? Christmas, Happy? Hannukah, Reflective Kwanzaa <p><b>The World is Burning, Can it be fixed? <br />Alex Ness<br />December 22, 2023</b><br /></p><p></p><p>A bit of depressed guy rambling... No need to worry, I am determined to keep going forward. I am finished ever giving a consideration to kill myself. I have had suicidal ideation, but I will never act upon that ideation. My son, my wife, my cats, my friends, my family, are worthy of my greatest love, and all God has ordained to be, deserves to be fully fulfilled. I can't make myself happy. I can't always find what I am meant to be. But I refuse to give back the one chance of life I have been given. I've witnessed miracles, I've experienced grace without measure. I refuse to turn my back upon that. I might not be wealthy, happy, or successful.<br /><br />I've nothing to review at the moment, my brain is too scrambled due to meds, and pain.<br /><b><br />GAZA and UKRAINE</b><br /><br />And more than me, and my various perspectives, I believe that we've reached a place where we
need to ask ourselves a number of important questions... Such as, if we
are the highest point reached in human history, why can't we solve our
constant issues of struggle between one another? <b><br /></b>
</p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Dwight D. Eisenhower "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the
genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one
modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30
cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000
population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50
miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half
million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes
that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the
best way of life to be found on the road. the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of
threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." Address "The Chance for Peace" Delivered Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, 4/16/53</span><b><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmgUY7cTUZdfc_qXNyGtt8TBGIJuuXGtoqbajHE1CdmlydH-X4KYfSQ-T2KBpznQCRo3N0LPzz1Op317dufrHU38iIdhkJTcLc3QYNOJpIjwTIcWnkZJggMQoB5eDViRHzRoCF2Yw1y-JsUjOS9mvydhEpbzfTslnB3cFdsaez_E8gFtGxah0SpQRaJ0/s975/1500x500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="975" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmgUY7cTUZdfc_qXNyGtt8TBGIJuuXGtoqbajHE1CdmlydH-X4KYfSQ-T2KBpznQCRo3N0LPzz1Op317dufrHU38iIdhkJTcLc3QYNOJpIjwTIcWnkZJggMQoB5eDViRHzRoCF2Yw1y-JsUjOS9mvydhEpbzfTslnB3cFdsaez_E8gFtGxah0SpQRaJ0/w640-h328/1500x500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><br /><b>THE SINS OF THE PAST<br /></b><br />How much of the world we live upon is good because of the selfless and good hearted, and how much is going ill, for the evil, for the selfish, for those who don't care? At what point does the will to control steal the goal of happiness? At what point is material culture aimed at enriching those who have, and stealing from those who have not? And to whatever extent, have every failed utopia has already happened, and we live in a complex union of hypermediated freedom, drugged replacement for true experience, or the will of the conformity of a society over the voices that do not agree? If our world is already a complex quilt of failed utopias, are we far too far to ever escape?<br /><br />John F. Kennedy wanted to pull troops from Vietnam, so they shot him in the head. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVpihgwE18"><b>GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE<br /></b></a><br />Do we deserve the grace we seek? No. But there are people who fight for the rest of those who do nothing, and the world doesn't necessarily have to fail. South African Stephen Biko almost certainly knew that speaking his truth, that Apartheid was an evil state, would lead to his death. And he kept upon speaking. Until he was killed in a police interrogation room. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsVieeccpQs"><b>BIKO</b></a><br /><br />The Stonewall Riots happened when the Gay, Lesbian and Trans communities were beaten and attacked one more time than they could stand. They were attacked for being different, and they were punished for it, over and over. When the last crowd of police broke into the gay bars and lounges, finally those being attacked, said no more, the riots led to violence, and a new way of treating those communities. Most of whom simply wanted the same rights as everyone else. <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRHetRTOD1Q">IT'S A SIN</a></b><br /><p></p><p>Martin Luther King Jr. was killed for asking America to live up to the principles and words they enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He was shot for asking a country to live by its own words. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHcP4MWABGY"><b>PRIDE</b></a></p><p></p><p></p>Robert Kennedy was killed when he seemed sure to change the odds of the 1968 Presidential race. Though he entered late, a convention where he entered with momentum would make him the nominee. I was awake sick and it seemed to be on for days, when I was 4 years old. My mom watched it seemingly as long as the television was on. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqUxYnvg-xU"><b>NEWS</b></a><br /><p></p><p>Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, do not promise a new or real utopia. They offer a technocracy and plutarchy. Rule by the technically advanced and wealthy. We can change the path. And should. <br /></p><p></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQW27-DMQ6ni0lJrcoRwDQYMO6WcoR4H1YlEPyz3AB9sZcup0CezP1cr8pg9TqMJDak0UZX4THUEBSXRnskUObwW9OzUUeCsQWfG5aI0Zy4_Fj8F1cgIE9UyQO2taspHi_gFr-5D0YjYfauDk1mNc6gZAQdvbNR75814TT9_gwLAx5QGC-kLhVIQVHF0/s697/collage-2231082.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="697" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQW27-DMQ6ni0lJrcoRwDQYMO6WcoR4H1YlEPyz3AB9sZcup0CezP1cr8pg9TqMJDak0UZX4THUEBSXRnskUObwW9OzUUeCsQWfG5aI0Zy4_Fj8F1cgIE9UyQO2taspHi_gFr-5D0YjYfauDk1mNc6gZAQdvbNR75814TT9_gwLAx5QGC-kLhVIQVHF0/w200-h198/collage-2231082.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><p></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-4672963686578587712023-12-19T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-19T22:00:00.348-08:00My Favorite Painter of Epic Fantasy & Romance<p><b>MEMORIES OF JEFFREY CATHERINE JONES</b><br /><br />I try to share the work with others who've never seen the magnificence of Jeffrey Catherine Jones. I often got mocked for the name she used, but it reflects that she transitioned into a female in 1998 and wanted to keep her historic name, as a person published and with work displayed and used in shows, entertainment and publications.<br /><br />Upon learning how to contact Jeffrey Catherine Jones, in the late 1990s I wrote letters to her, to which she replied, and we began a free wheeling and fun discussion of arts, life and more. Email changed our frequent exchanges and it was even more richly enlightening for me. Her life was not easy, and she lost her home, and it took time to begin again, and by 2004 we were writing more sporadically. <br /><br />When I began posting my poetry and sharing it, I was gathering artists who would depict my poems, for publication. By one point she said, be a shame if I didn't join that party. But, she had health issues that left that project undone. However, it was an enormously kind thing for her to have considered. Her work was magnificent, and Frank Frazetta made a statement that he had considered her the best painter of the era, which is a high compliment and an unequivocal statement.<br /></p><p>She rarely made public comments, but especially so regarding anything outside of art. She was someone I deeply cared for, and one of the kindest people, let alone artists I've encountered.<br /><br />All work displayed is copyright the estate of Jeffrey Catherine Jones estate ©2011 and beyond.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzd2uu3aC4lyptXl4cb6cHBFhtK15Wj0_ObmRgQ1XtYvQgvEoQ_qMYRlRzseGiL1B88g7ej8vo2C1bHDEAb6XidopHCB39YcV2_GYsQJ6wCwX8MSgcDPHHvjKOkpOjarRXZ6kwI-MVEJFkKEzRtYcIQ79vMqSAiVvVW1FkylNDEzkEYj-ZMtnHJWmZuM/s4625/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="4625" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzd2uu3aC4lyptXl4cb6cHBFhtK15Wj0_ObmRgQ1XtYvQgvEoQ_qMYRlRzseGiL1B88g7ej8vo2C1bHDEAb6XidopHCB39YcV2_GYsQJ6wCwX8MSgcDPHHvjKOkpOjarRXZ6kwI-MVEJFkKEzRtYcIQ79vMqSAiVvVW1FkylNDEzkEYj-ZMtnHJWmZuM/w640-h214/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br /><i>Jeffrey Durwood Jones<br />Later changed to Jeffrey Catherine Jones<br />Born Male<br />January 10, 1944<br />Atlanta, Georgia, US<br />Transitioned to Female<br />Suffered from severe emphysema and bronchitis, cause of death <br />May 19, 2011 (aged 67)</i></b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoTYi09lV97TW06sXBEpz52UalMNF_nIpYwbGnkZzhgVejfdqMHoVONfLx_IM_XKkrYRhIK-pCOf2YwFcbh7MnAAP5_tmcOX3O0UN-OevtM0QJBIptIaDOQ0ONQqj9TzWeGiWWdv-nFcAzHgKKISI36bR1hpJiRDRkzM_m1pkZ1_5Tuv7-N9X-XFH7es/s4625/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="4625" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoTYi09lV97TW06sXBEpz52UalMNF_nIpYwbGnkZzhgVejfdqMHoVONfLx_IM_XKkrYRhIK-pCOf2YwFcbh7MnAAP5_tmcOX3O0UN-OevtM0QJBIptIaDOQ0ONQqj9TzWeGiWWdv-nFcAzHgKKISI36bR1hpJiRDRkzM_m1pkZ1_5Tuv7-N9X-XFH7es/w640-h214/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhHaUCDrtYaPwM85ReM7-SU8ymakq0wllMZNjoEKE6UaWQu2Dve8A_xhpU1SI8HtcaSAI-0Uii3bYjtapfg0jBxz0LSQPK-5-1CCTkUcYq5Xih2iB8KOxR8ZUY8ONlCl0n9c6gkakB31ZYegfZ-SKXL_cd3FAUdlFpIF7bTyZGNhFlOxLbW6ibOCjjHM/s4625/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="4625" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhHaUCDrtYaPwM85ReM7-SU8ymakq0wllMZNjoEKE6UaWQu2Dve8A_xhpU1SI8HtcaSAI-0Uii3bYjtapfg0jBxz0LSQPK-5-1CCTkUcYq5Xih2iB8KOxR8ZUY8ONlCl0n9c6gkakB31ZYegfZ-SKXL_cd3FAUdlFpIF7bTyZGNhFlOxLbW6ibOCjjHM/w640-h214/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOb7qm1Z3Ow95HOY6FZZ4VcaLfhjH6hnKITAJHRYur_s-KNP9eS33LRPPCeMJMTqdya2K61tUrcX9tNKrMW_9GPP7M5JGmr3zf7oQC6BpThggJNDyVVlKU28th573bV0WAGLos2wN1jv0c2cXhGYx8nJc-MvdX3YXDbunQUsSOWYW0CUhk5YElY-lwcQ/s4625/1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="4625" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOb7qm1Z3Ow95HOY6FZZ4VcaLfhjH6hnKITAJHRYur_s-KNP9eS33LRPPCeMJMTqdya2K61tUrcX9tNKrMW_9GPP7M5JGmr3zf7oQC6BpThggJNDyVVlKU28th573bV0WAGLos2wN1jv0c2cXhGYx8nJc-MvdX3YXDbunQUsSOWYW0CUhk5YElY-lwcQ/w640-h214/1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-65584455489948750702023-12-16T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-17T20:49:06.252-08:00A Wide Assortment <p><b>Global coverage of stuff<br />By Alex Ness<br />December 18, 2023</b><br /> </p><p>I was told that for all the benefits I get from writing columns, that I should write it no matter what else I am enduring. The truth is, beyond friendships that form, which I appreciate, or the review products, which are sparse and often harder for my old eyes to read, I get only the self satisfaction of doing a work that helps my various creative communities. I wasn't sure what to write, and then said, screw it, I want to write, and write is what I will do.<br /><b><br />CLICK ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE</b><br /><b><br />THE WORLD AT WORK</b><br /><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It might not matter to people, any one even, but the world is facing growing challenges, and in so many ways, we haven't the compassion left to care. But we live in a world the poor could be fed, but are not. 1/3 of all food harvested/caught produced/prepared is lost to spoilage and bad delivery systems. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We live in a world where electric cars are believed to save the world from carbon based fuels and pollution, but the means of harvesting the lithium requires near slavery, and children are used as the cheapest form of labor. We could do better but for some reason, we do not.</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> The rain forests are dying, not because of logging exactly, but because by removing 10% of a stand of trees the system of trees suffer. It isn't necessarily well known, but trees feed other trees. That is, in a world where we assume humans and select rather human contact based animals are thought to demonstrate care for their young and elderly, and those trees in poor health, and other biological systems care for, and heal those in their gathering, by using less for themselves and more for those who are weak. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We've lost species that might not be of concern for the human food chain directly, but form the basis for the food chain of creatures and beings that live outside of our view, but help the beings we rely upon survive. <br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyzdu7_yV93gWZcFNY3cMPbgF_EvrkzErCqHZERlTPu9o389otGhWnb3tkI3yV9iIaBwobnYq90dIzUaAndKAMC8hcebEusE95v7GZxVzuJMjLXeSl-vc8ER9FcVZTQJ3867mlEgMzwLbUzOeSO6KsZ35P-kRPdIuZ_JTQpl620XaQbSQahw95aG7yePU/s1280/fog-1839150_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1280" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyzdu7_yV93gWZcFNY3cMPbgF_EvrkzErCqHZERlTPu9o389otGhWnb3tkI3yV9iIaBwobnYq90dIzUaAndKAMC8hcebEusE95v7GZxVzuJMjLXeSl-vc8ER9FcVZTQJ3867mlEgMzwLbUzOeSO6KsZ35P-kRPdIuZ_JTQpl620XaQbSQahw95aG7yePU/w640-h428/fog-1839150_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Even humans cause a similar destruction and weakening of the system. Humans are ALL part of a system, and we all have issues.</span> I mentioned on a private audience facebook post, that I'd been diagnosed with cancer, and a second post as having early onset dementia by two doctors, I received messages <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">at my email address from a known stalker calling me fat and wishing me dead from colon cancer. He then wrote again, saying I hear you've been diagnosed as an imbecile now. I hope you die soon so that the tax payers such as myself won't have to pay for your time in the nut house. Holding grudges of such intensity feeds into toxic minds. I don't have dementia as it turns out (but I do have cancer) but even if I did, I've know more kind people with mental deficiencies than those who are toxic and evil. We must raise up those needing love, and leave aside the toxic who pray for harm on others. We can't focus upon the dark hearted, they will never understand, we are all on a vessel together, and we have no way to survive, if we do not work together.<br /><br />There are people who assume if you are not perfect you have no right to complain about anything. This is false too. People make mistakes, and I fail often, I am deeply flawed, but speaking the truth requires nothing but a voice. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We cannot let the hypercritical ugly humans who hate themselves as well as all others become our voice. We cannot surrender to the deep cynicism of those who hate themselves so much that all others seem even worse. But the truth is, we have a right to speak, but ask yourself, to what end are you asking? Are you building others up? Or are you tearing people down?<br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQPCghYTLw14BLldK8AsEpvM9Am3uHCS2H0q-Ie_fhrudSHB-0FH9YixVI-Baq-k1kXPfX64MUuOI5IJ5D8E_FGlhojz-W0xV_YrSsZd0WZBbv7nFpQBwtEuW24EnJ6vDq3pV8g56eilCqm91NzyhOuqFfv-hA56fP3m3u01EIskCP0XaclAeVD11s_0/s1280/fruit-3259010_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQPCghYTLw14BLldK8AsEpvM9Am3uHCS2H0q-Ie_fhrudSHB-0FH9YixVI-Baq-k1kXPfX64MUuOI5IJ5D8E_FGlhojz-W0xV_YrSsZd0WZBbv7nFpQBwtEuW24EnJ6vDq3pV8g56eilCqm91NzyhOuqFfv-hA56fP3m3u01EIskCP0XaclAeVD11s_0/w640-h426/fruit-3259010_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />I saw a brief video of person who began a project across America where he would for a day work the hours migrant laborers in the agricultural industry would work, and he would count the number of products he harvested, and then use math to compute how much money the product they are used for would cost, if the laborers were paid a fair wage for their back breaking labor. The most horrible case was the 12 dollars for 24 ounces of orange juice he was responsible in the day of labor, had the real cost been used. If I were to be addicted to anything in this world, it would be the company of cats, having books, and drinking orange juice. The idea of 12 dollars for OJ would make me a very sad man.</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWDQ84xLP7zdJaB8RTAWV2s7_cJ0N4ghHhTGPc2gIHBJ9NcscrNg-WJz-AQXybfWhI4ambQDsWYEPprkLRlI2ZN6JAlh-2JpPEaJWMAk40qCAZXsbGsIp5fnDSJ6t5MQnULu_VXuHOKUUK-gQ4mm18Ex8XAYHDXwPuC6jeAXfttRuNur63iyUNE3_w1U/s1400/lewis-hine-child-labor-john-dempsey-1909.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1400" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWDQ84xLP7zdJaB8RTAWV2s7_cJ0N4ghHhTGPc2gIHBJ9NcscrNg-WJz-AQXybfWhI4ambQDsWYEPprkLRlI2ZN6JAlh-2JpPEaJWMAk40qCAZXsbGsIp5fnDSJ6t5MQnULu_VXuHOKUUK-gQ4mm18Ex8XAYHDXwPuC6jeAXfttRuNur63iyUNE3_w1U/s320/lewis-hine-child-labor-john-dempsey-1909.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span><br />I've seen and heard people say they never profited from or benefited from white privilege. Well I'd say it isn't always direct, and it isn't always an intentional thing. Sometimes you inherit a system that benefits you. Sometimes you are the one who is screwed in the deal. My adoptive mom lived such that she averaged 4 hours of sleep each night due to her home labors for her family, and 4 hours a day at as a church secretary. I guarantee she got paid less than a dollar per hour when all was said and done. Am I being defensive? Not in the least, I am saying I witnessed someone doing far more than I see others doing, and doing it for others and who lived by her German roots ethics of labor being your wages for heaven. A term the Nazis turned into a vulgarity, Arbeit Macht Frei meaning, Labor will set you free, was how she lived. Neither white folks today, young, middle aged or elderly live by such a code now. And perhaps that is good, it certainly led to the health issues my mother died with. In Japan the refusal to leave work or work hours beyond the measure of the clock has led to generations of salary men dying or being burned out and unable to work by their early 50s.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuG_chlzXrWFcRjdNl8eNnGBLbfF0CJhm8VNm6Bl97OARsd6ntCYlKAHi9fa6yaoV2QcPRzNBLKyrpqaYhld9ehwr4EWHKo7sadF2lVhiL5B5DKa-HWaPC0KFGVUbSTPrEri8FsjRxI2K82FB0pjR9hHfnkbdxxhHPeiY6FvbmB_gF4WqyMiULVNzqfk/s3000/Old_timer_structural_worker2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2401" data-original-width="3000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuG_chlzXrWFcRjdNl8eNnGBLbfF0CJhm8VNm6Bl97OARsd6ntCYlKAHi9fa6yaoV2QcPRzNBLKyrpqaYhld9ehwr4EWHKo7sadF2lVhiL5B5DKa-HWaPC0KFGVUbSTPrEri8FsjRxI2K82FB0pjR9hHfnkbdxxhHPeiY6FvbmB_gF4WqyMiULVNzqfk/w640-h512/Old_timer_structural_worker2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />For a point of perspective, my mom died at 85 but didn't get to enjoy the post work life she had worked so hard to find. She had Alzheimer's and it robbed her of her present, and it eventually stole every moment of her past. When you think of how the past generations worked so hard to build a world for their children and grandchildren, remember, many never lived passed a certain age, and many of those lost their memories to Alzheimer's and dementia. That is, my mom surrendered her happiness, her energy, her entire existence so that we, my family, might be better off. All she asked in return were beautiful memories. And she didn't actually get to have them. She lost everything. Did others have it worse? In any situation, I promise you, someone has it worse than you. Try for once to let others live by their goals and dreams, keep your hypercritical assumptions to your self, and use that upon your self. Not everyone gets to live a happy ending, let alone a happy life.</span><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />We all waste, most of us complain, and we labor far too little for the rewards we now expect to receive. It isn't because we deserve it, it is because the world we inherited from our ancestors was one where systems evolved, some to help, some to hurt, and most to move things along easily. </span><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSwouW9sn_Aqvs6b0FjGT6KQlj7nxRsf36MhPlRv6sOexHTNnCUAXm2reg7EQk7U6z7sFomV9VVvXwNVfvFyQL3TZ3TlsTNBI6B6aqKn0PAkRtlik5_1Yr-aEeh9bSxokJP7ATcMcCu_bFlBCqxOMvhzniQhsXeOrn0d8joQ6pOe2QQ2riuMwhikcXMI/s3000/Lewis_Hine_Power_house_mechanic_working_on_steam_pump.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2155" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSwouW9sn_Aqvs6b0FjGT6KQlj7nxRsf36MhPlRv6sOexHTNnCUAXm2reg7EQk7U6z7sFomV9VVvXwNVfvFyQL3TZ3TlsTNBI6B6aqKn0PAkRtlik5_1Yr-aEeh9bSxokJP7ATcMcCu_bFlBCqxOMvhzniQhsXeOrn0d8joQ6pOe2QQ2riuMwhikcXMI/w460-h640/Lewis_Hine_Power_house_mechanic_working_on_steam_pump.jpg" width="460" /></a></div><br />A photograph of a laborer by award winning photographer Lewis Hine. (Public domain)<br /><br />You might think I'm saying life is bad, but I am not. You might be thinking I'm saying, everyone ends up screwed by life but I am not. I am simply saying, life is not easy, and instead of judging others, perhaps consider the difficulties others face, that maybe you do not. Try to forgive, or at least give credit to others, rather than assume you know it all, and that you are the only one with a hard life.<br /><br /><b>THE 1970s ME, COMICS & THE WORLD</b><b><br /></b><br />People who grew up in the 1970s know something people who followed and who came before them didn't. Due to the unrest, the perfect life, 2 children, married parents 2 story house and white picket fence didn't usually or even often exists. Life was watching as inflation grew, but wages stalled. The remnant wars of empire and post WW2 had driven the world's arms market to new highs, and human poverty and pain to new loses. Washington DC saw a president forced to resign, Pennsylvania watch as a nuclear plant approached meltdown, new kinds of mass killings arose, and an heiress to a publishing firm joined a group of terrorists who were Marxist and threatened violence. Kids were still kids, but the drugs offered, the new kinds of thrill seeking meant whatever looked normal from the outside, probably, and almost certainly, was not. Kent State saw national guardsmen shoot protesters demanding peace, demanding the end of overseas wars. Chile elected a Socialist, who when Washington DC said go for it, was murdered and a right wing dictator took over. By no means were the 1970s a golden era for human civilization. But the comics I read were great.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpzyJ83omNv75L8UycQ2js_4U7wVwzXEWkaEC6xdYIlor445F-5Knls6T-f2k97xt1_TH_aQbRDPoHA7CfJTkovs_GxGN7xfLqAEOm1mZ1oSJFILJ4es3X-kgm5lTPJUAS5k5Mz4RVCbb1QdRbFhowHImtl-yYp6NThnGf3LgRSVgNGwjEBaLtdlS5g4/s2220/1500x500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2022" data-original-width="2220" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpzyJ83omNv75L8UycQ2js_4U7wVwzXEWkaEC6xdYIlor445F-5Knls6T-f2k97xt1_TH_aQbRDPoHA7CfJTkovs_GxGN7xfLqAEOm1mZ1oSJFILJ4es3X-kgm5lTPJUAS5k5Mz4RVCbb1QdRbFhowHImtl-yYp6NThnGf3LgRSVgNGwjEBaLtdlS5g4/w640-h582/1500x500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />THE POET LIST<br /><br /></b>I'd originally written this three times. Blogspot burped and it
disappeared twice. Forgive me if my joyful exuberance has flattened a
bit. It isn't that poets I love aren't worth the time. It is modern
conveniences sometimes that are not. The list is written with no order
of preference, and of course there are people missing from it who I
love. Edmund Spenser and the Faerie Queene created a work that was an
allegory, an homage, a straight for work, and one that captured all
things English. I love it, and I love too Alfred Lord Tennyson, but
neither wrote outside of that narrow area of King Arthur, so I left them
off my list. I also left off my list Yukio Mishima who didn't write
much poetry but what he wrote was great. Mostly he made the perfect
comment about poetry, <span><i><b>"'Perfect purity is possible if you turn your life into a line of poetry written with a splash of blood.'"</b></i> But this list is for all the works considered.</span><br /><br />(I
do think that Ezra Pound writes perfect poetry, and acted in ways I
could see myself doing. He went from blaming bankers for funding and
thereby encouraging the two world wars, to going further into a rabbit
hole and blamed the Jewishness of the bankers for being part of the
problem. He spent10 years in a prison mental hospital, only renouncing
his views later. I might not go as far to make people listen to my
points by using purposely vile or racist words and ideas but I do
understand when feeling that you have truth that is being ignored, that
you try to somehow otherwise attract their
attention.)<br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69znQkIkj5zY1oP5l1SavOjQPstHfXP8AAHtL36UV8ZUunn2hLpsvq3a9Vogicu810ffXt5AaaONhR-FofMd78TwSJIeKvzN-Dt4poYDdRVvPmjNeuKsoZFVpJ4xqr88XKOuyW-Tn4OMWYUfJzc5mXnBrfpD6SJOwyDOST5p3A4v79QIRmHAeRexHj-Q/s2986/Louis_Edouard_Fournier_-_The_Funeral_of_Shelley_-_Google_Art_Project-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1775" data-original-width="2986" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69znQkIkj5zY1oP5l1SavOjQPstHfXP8AAHtL36UV8ZUunn2hLpsvq3a9Vogicu810ffXt5AaaONhR-FofMd78TwSJIeKvzN-Dt4poYDdRVvPmjNeuKsoZFVpJ4xqr88XKOuyW-Tn4OMWYUfJzc5mXnBrfpD6SJOwyDOST5p3A4v79QIRmHAeRexHj-Q/w640-h380/Louis_Edouard_Fournier_-_The_Funeral_of_Shelley_-_Google_Art_Project-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Pyre burning the body of Percy Bysshe Shelley<br />"Funeral of a Poet" by <span>Louis Edouard Fournier, 1889</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><br />I
don't think my list is unusual, there are few outliers in the list,
many are famous or at least appreciated for their works. The truth is I
do like works not because somehow someone liked them, but fort their
truth. I tend, in fact, to dislike some poets, who'll go unnamed here,
who gained fame for the misery of their lives and the efforts they went
to, to memorialize their struggle. Sometimes that works, but just as all
love poems all the time is a worm that bores into one's brain, the same
goes for the 'oh I am breaking' works, like many of those I write...
ironic, huh? Truthfully, I try to avoid either but it doesn't always
work that way.<br /><br />My list is split between the genders, nationality follows name.<br /><p></p><p><i><b>Ezra Pound (US)<br />e.e. cummings (US)<br />William Carlos Williams (US/Puerto Rico)<br />Arthur Rimbaud (French)<br />Ovid (Rome)<br />Homer (Greek)<br />Archilochus (Greek)<br />Lord Byron (English)<br />Percy Bysshe Shelley (English)<br />Matsuo Basho (Japanese)<br /><br />Lin Zhao (China)<br />Sei Shōnagon (Japan)<br />Lady Mirasaki (Japanese)<br />Marianne Moore (US)<br />Emily Dickinson (US)<br />Anne Sexton (US)<br />Sappho (Greek)<br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning (English)<br />Christina Rossetti (English)<br />Rupi Kaur (India)</b><br /><b><br /></b></i><b>A BEAUTIFUL ENDING</b><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtEo1quAp2tenQXzJf6IRCy_CTdiJg2MregbHBCkvzS7yZ9Et2aEywxGMDQ8Auo2vQBUhQ2lDGOX67jqxWzA-90cdr5HYULxLGrm7kzJgfDXffVlgB9XH0ZYWXy_LkTPsw_bHV_3PRNL16a2Gf0nxK0ZfyDejaFAn4A8kl64wS4476GVDKqOjCY6vvSg/s1420/403171663_882941246545220_3301131360971317548_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1420" data-original-width="856" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtEo1quAp2tenQXzJf6IRCy_CTdiJg2MregbHBCkvzS7yZ9Et2aEywxGMDQ8Auo2vQBUhQ2lDGOX67jqxWzA-90cdr5HYULxLGrm7kzJgfDXffVlgB9XH0ZYWXy_LkTPsw_bHV_3PRNL16a2Gf0nxK0ZfyDejaFAn4A8kl64wS4476GVDKqOjCY6vvSg/w386-h640/403171663_882941246545220_3301131360971317548_n.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><b>ANTIQUITY</b><br /><br />It
is thought by many, that Woolly Mammoths and other great beasts of the
past, now extinct, have been gone so long that we can't imagine the
amount of time. But it is little known, while Egyptians were building
pyramids and megaliths, the Mammoths still existed upon Wrangel Island,
found in the Arctic circle. Well that doesn't change the fact that
Pharaoh King Tut is still dead, as are the Mammoths, but it does beggar
the question, of what else has happened that we are so deeply flawed in
our perceptions? I was told by someone that the Egyptians had never
forgotten their beloved King Tut. Ok, perhaps not. But they had lost his
tomb. Beyond that, the Sphinx and great Pyramids of the Giza plateau
weren't perceived until the previous century for the magnificence that
they were. There are many reasons for this, and I am not saying
Egyptians of those times were anything but bright and wise, modern and
wonderful. But they had lost many megaliths and artifacts through the
years, mostly to the encroaching sands of the Sahara. I think my point
is, that we shouldn't assume anything except Mammoths existed not as
long ago, and Tut's tomb was buried.<br /><br />The wonderful ancient past is a puzzle, one we've yet to solve.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzwfH2xnM6c9vmewONEZ2wru1ZTDD4T20DNF3sG7bCL8QC1FiRQZ87_wS6nCMrdvZaTNRcskWSy9BWHt1LOEflDDGr_RL1nyejwePSN1gR3_UvocRXOstSxxylboegrzBes42ZRA-VSGSMA6M38ZlC7nIramKsJbEB068gWWtLbrf_xN5vBEcxJ3Uns18/s1343/f741e4fb4a5bd9b8b66192be113ceb56.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1343" height="515" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzwfH2xnM6c9vmewONEZ2wru1ZTDD4T20DNF3sG7bCL8QC1FiRQZ87_wS6nCMrdvZaTNRcskWSy9BWHt1LOEflDDGr_RL1nyejwePSN1gR3_UvocRXOstSxxylboegrzBes42ZRA-VSGSMA6M38ZlC7nIramKsJbEB068gWWtLbrf_xN5vBEcxJ3Uns18/w640-h515/f741e4fb4a5bd9b8b66192be113ceb56.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The seal to Tut's tomb, left untouched for 3300 years<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieJXOeOkYYuuPM_po-vVVgvhJOA6DlY0Wcf5uk2jV4fE_6WByfie0n0O1MjJvHujJUSVbuUKGcfApFhnkRbl_9VY_kCQ0cVIY8g4uiV14d-9_jmr6L5p90ftZTRi-EkEEfjbEIm55S1BT3YwJBBStQb-PwK9hpGiCDzqUzLF1z7iZGYkKVhjVKEf2kP4/s609/Mamut_enano-Beringia_rusa-NOAA.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="609" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieJXOeOkYYuuPM_po-vVVgvhJOA6DlY0Wcf5uk2jV4fE_6WByfie0n0O1MjJvHujJUSVbuUKGcfApFhnkRbl_9VY_kCQ0cVIY8g4uiV14d-9_jmr6L5p90ftZTRi-EkEEfjbEIm55S1BT3YwJBBStQb-PwK9hpGiCDzqUzLF1z7iZGYkKVhjVKEf2kP4/w640-h470/Mamut_enano-Beringia_rusa-NOAA.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woolly Mammoth's left uncovered by a thaw, dead for 4000 years<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-size: small;"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTUpErgVdzSK7jM0XuM3LAFT8zChIeAe3_g66vojux9NonNgFFRSQhyf1LizUJcY6afSgbWpezejXwSr8ztm5xWYDsf31CP39bNx7i3Hd70QkZjYcYiHG-RxxBxxy7SP3SjRb9e_bCln7ci0vqbLXzTA8k0JEtg3g3FwnOA9BfwNCyShxBwIRAx2tKuw/s800/d5d784f8a1a290edbebdf024442cdbc8.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="the sands buried the Sphinx for many centuries" border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="800" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTUpErgVdzSK7jM0XuM3LAFT8zChIeAe3_g66vojux9NonNgFFRSQhyf1LizUJcY6afSgbWpezejXwSr8ztm5xWYDsf31CP39bNx7i3Hd70QkZjYcYiHG-RxxBxxy7SP3SjRb9e_bCln7ci0vqbLXzTA8k0JEtg3g3FwnOA9BfwNCyShxBwIRAx2tKuw/w640-h435/d5d784f8a1a290edbebdf024442cdbc8.png" title="The Sphinx, only partially exposed" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sands covered the Sphinx and who knows what for centuries<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqFGl0k4JrTPRuC8xb6MeAWyIYyoxILD03OBgIXyikjVIPTQmqQSy-ci5ZN-IK3QUc0Hy5eFqyWNm7PFGsqjCCzN9cdLmb91JjGcuOcCIu1ZBX4s7Ax7O6286FFluSqmlIPmQcAMnNf9jaifvzw-JWdn_1ekfSsR9JJGAyjKJTVZOFuO-FWsWOEb72Ok/s1024/Wrangel_Island,_Russia.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1024" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqFGl0k4JrTPRuC8xb6MeAWyIYyoxILD03OBgIXyikjVIPTQmqQSy-ci5ZN-IK3QUc0Hy5eFqyWNm7PFGsqjCCzN9cdLmb91JjGcuOcCIu1ZBX4s7Ax7O6286FFluSqmlIPmQcAMnNf9jaifvzw-JWdn_1ekfSsR9JJGAyjKJTVZOFuO-FWsWOEb72Ok/w640-h371/Wrangel_Island,_Russia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wrangel Island from Satellite photograph, above the Arctic circle<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I
can be found on Social Media or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. <br /><br />I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I'll try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I review these
at my discretion. (I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others.)</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry"><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></b></span></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-47270527508766570102023-12-12T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-12T22:02:10.161-08:00Why I Loved the work of Moebius<p>For me, there is no better artist of comics and science fiction than Jean Giraud, MOEBIUS. I did get a chance to communicate with him, and it was miraculously kind. There is no one better, but some are equals. But I love none more than him.<b><br /><br />Jean Giraud a.k.a. Moebius<br />Born Jean Henri Gaston Giraud<br />8th of May 1938 in Nogent-sur-Marne, France<br />Died10th of March 2012 Montrouge, France<br />At the age of 73 years of age from cancer, <br />and an embolism from his Lymphoma</b><br /><i><br />"An artist must smash down the systems that domesticate the mind."</i><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFmC6ApZoeB38QSvz-QjRnezorAimsJIrr-23DJqV2pYUc73tXRZr9Lz2LZAmv9wNgF4s_iOnoHDFW9tXM1GzVPoQT2VwMEjcC7Fp0MwSzD-N9-R2Ms7_JEbZiNJfrEGvWOCgxLg4u-0WrdKUUp0fT-C89boknQCB_bfAae617Ekg_llUcmKqar8-T4k/s2770/jeangiraudmoebius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1794" data-original-width="2770" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFmC6ApZoeB38QSvz-QjRnezorAimsJIrr-23DJqV2pYUc73tXRZr9Lz2LZAmv9wNgF4s_iOnoHDFW9tXM1GzVPoQT2VwMEjcC7Fp0MwSzD-N9-R2Ms7_JEbZiNJfrEGvWOCgxLg4u-0WrdKUUp0fT-C89boknQCB_bfAae617Ekg_llUcmKqar8-T4k/w640-h414/jeangiraudmoebius.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>“Science fiction transported me in an almost metaphysical way. I had the
feeling that I was part of the great contemporary mystery, a human
being, part of a global species, a planetary consciousness facing the
stars.”</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JshLr1msIDHDZ1zWLtMLq-ooYgFZZ1vTIapFH1ahfGffRgRj5rUCGLSb8iMNckJ01IPoLODDXwyVxusTlb8pPLETwx9GAsISTpwXp2_PK54_PUxRT1huh24eso-I2lMnQUtEB0KrwkdAUX-fwi-QJGjssdzrfxIppxm6A4YZy9coWGlGn9eRD_G8vZM/s1536/Portada-Blueberry-1536x1152.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1536" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JshLr1msIDHDZ1zWLtMLq-ooYgFZZ1vTIapFH1ahfGffRgRj5rUCGLSb8iMNckJ01IPoLODDXwyVxusTlb8pPLETwx9GAsISTpwXp2_PK54_PUxRT1huh24eso-I2lMnQUtEB0KrwkdAUX-fwi-QJGjssdzrfxIppxm6A4YZy9coWGlGn9eRD_G8vZM/w640-h480/Portada-Blueberry-1536x1152.jpg.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>"We artists can only go so far as the people can follow us. We are not alone, we are part of the system. We can take risks, but if you want to go to the peak of your consciousness, you may very well find yourself alone. Even if you know how to translate what you see, maybe only ten people will be able to understand what you tell. But, if you have faith in your vision, and retell it again and again, you will start noticing that, after a time, more people will begin to catch up with you."</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip4h5tchg_4vRlkUKgdf6IAQ13tUXQLRnXIkk2QH644yHjNj_73DsVCYVfp4SKgq9ZWx2PeZ-92ZqXerL5q23hjdhtVgpJFquARhJvJB8Lw_5X0NBbUEaMmb-6ihol8UP6vohUGeMiP4vvm7vUAviOyLHabaZ6FRwYokv8KR_WV4jUTGgWB2fmOoAxKNk/s1200/5114068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1200" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip4h5tchg_4vRlkUKgdf6IAQ13tUXQLRnXIkk2QH644yHjNj_73DsVCYVfp4SKgq9ZWx2PeZ-92ZqXerL5q23hjdhtVgpJFquARhJvJB8Lw_5X0NBbUEaMmb-6ihol8UP6vohUGeMiP4vvm7vUAviOyLHabaZ6FRwYokv8KR_WV4jUTGgWB2fmOoAxKNk/w640-h506/5114068.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="left: -99999px; position: absolute;">It’s very important to
educate your hand. Make it achieve a level of high obedience so that it
will be able to properly and fully express your ideas. But be very
careful of trying to obtain too much perfection, as well as too much
speed as an artist. Perfection and speed are dangerous — as are their
opposites. When you produce drawings that are too quick or too loose,
besides making mistakes, you run the risk of creating an entity without
soul or spirit.<div style="left: -99999px; position: absolute;">It’s very important to
educate your hand. Make it achieve a level of high obedience so that it
will be able to properly and fully express your ideas. But be very
careful of trying to obtain too much perfection, as well as too much
speed as an artist. Perfection and speed are dangerous — as are their
opposites. When you produce drawings that are too quick or too loose,
besides making mistakes, you run the risk of creating an entity without
soul or spirit.</div></div><i>"It’s very important to educate your hand. Make it achieve a level of high obedience so that it will be able to properly and fully express your ideas. But be very careful of trying to obtain too much perfection, as well as too much speed as an artist. Perfection and speed are dangerous — as are their opposites. When you produce drawings that are too quick or too loose, besides making mistakes, you run the risk of creating an entity without soul or spirit."</i><span class="sewfax9xb8raewy"></span><span class="sewfax9xb8raewy"></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu1_SQW_3AcwgWsZDIgjR3JUwzD2QczMnb8ZXG2169TzQLh0RoVoPVF59bxfID_wOjhV6U6_pDGGYs7UMlS8WAfVXXf_fG7kfnMrv8LyIC-af_tT8equ-xV1eJZLR5AHpdGOtnoE6URzgSmcwVDkfH_gcJ9BGOqPs2DjcZE1uSZA1Kh1SqA2jaiNj4V8/s1760/5114068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="1760" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu1_SQW_3AcwgWsZDIgjR3JUwzD2QczMnb8ZXG2169TzQLh0RoVoPVF59bxfID_wOjhV6U6_pDGGYs7UMlS8WAfVXXf_fG7kfnMrv8LyIC-af_tT8equ-xV1eJZLR5AHpdGOtnoE6URzgSmcwVDkfH_gcJ9BGOqPs2DjcZE1uSZA1Kh1SqA2jaiNj4V8/w640-h418/5114068.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>"The narration must harmonize with the drawings. There must be a visual
rhythm created by the placement of your text. The rhythm of your plot
should be reflected in your visual cadence and the way you compress or
expand time. Like a filmmaker, you must be very careful in how you cast
your characters and in how you direct them. Use your characters or
“actors” like a director, studying and then selecting from all of your
characters’ different takes."</i>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-79730322395913362852023-12-10T22:00:00.001-08:002023-12-11T07:18:48.476-08:00Scary True Crime<p><b>TRUE CRIME<br />Alex Ness<br />December 11th, 2023</b><br /><br />This will be brief, as my schedule is overwhelming me, along with some health issues that have sapped my strength, deleted my endurance and distracted my focus.<br /><br />But, I was asked by someone who I like a great deal, why do people like True Crime, after all isn't it kind of icky? They are of the same opinion of horror, but we've discussed that enough of recent, but even more, I think True Crime isn't the tawdry, graphic, vulgar or dirty police stories you hear of, or read, no are they gritty Mickey Spillane hard boiled detective stories, however much I love his writing. The best true crime writers write/wrote in ways that allow the reader to delve into the subject, without the bias of a fiction writer's desire to have you follow where they lead. Also while there are many individual events and True Crime subjects, I'll aim here on the big ones, and explain why you should consider them. Also, perhaps surprisingly to you, there are more than just books or documentaries featuring True Crime. As television and film documentaries are well known I'll leave them for now, but Music CDs and Books about True Crime can literally consume you with their depth, and power.<br /><b><br />GREAT TRUE CRIME BOOKS</b><br /><br />This section does focus on books regarding true crime, but isn't my main focus. That it isn't so much about each book shown, but a look at the best books within each of the events and a quick guide to the events by finding a work that leads to others in the bibliography of each book. <br /><br />Helter Skelter has a reputation for being somewhat tawdry rather than purely factual, but that is due to the Manson family using the term to be a key phrase meaning the events that precede a race riot, worldwide, where the Manson's will end up being the White leaders to guide the victorious Blacks afterward. The topic is bloody, dark and racist, but Bugliosi wrote a highly detailed work with reasonable conclusions. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate%E2%80%93LaBianca_murders"><b>THE MANSON FAMILY MURDERS</b></a><br /><br />The Zodiac Killer captured by Robert Graysmith might be wrong in his conclusions, but his work was clearly well researched, and the amazing number of coincidences, shared traits the Zodiac killer would have with the suspect in question, are such that you can't know the depth of chance and intersection of facts. But it is a powerful read. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer"><b>THE ZODIAC KILLER</b></a><br /><br />John Gilmore's Severed is intense, amazingly insightful, and remarkably ridiculously frightening when all the information is collated of the Black Dahlia case. The city of Los Angeles's first detective of the police force believed the result, so, that is mostly good enough for me. And I must say, this case isn't nearly as famous as it should be. Especially since, there is evidence both that there were more killings, by the same killer, and there might be connections to a mafia ring and illegal abortion ring. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia"><b>THE BLACK DAHLIA</b></a><br /><br />In The Wake of the Butcher by James Jessen Badal follows the serial slaughter of humans in the region of Cleveland's down and out, poverty row, is deeply disturbing. Tattoos, body parts, organs, were carved from the dead flesh of the victims, and then left to float down the river and be found by any who might pass by led the police of Cleveland to absolutely frustration. And there might have been a solution, but we aren't allowed to know it. This work knocks on the door and says, hey, here is what we know, and why it is important to know. (It might not have ended then and there). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer"><b> THE TORSO KILLINGS</b></a><br /><br />I don't believe that JACK THE RIPPER: THE FINAL SOLUTION by Jack Knight is the correct answer to the question of who killed the women victims of Jack the Ripper. But it is very easily best written and intriguing, without being pornographic in violence, nor purely tawdry for the spectator outside look at a series of killings that made the world aware of the events. However, as I mentioned, these are not all the most accurate books. They are the books you won't want to put down. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper"><b>JACK THE RIPPER</b></a><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVo6EDgQiOG5KW7U0OKDHRJxg9yjDJGX7oU-n-naWqkJOcCM5q5PPw3rDm0CT9_lbSwvdH52dBc_ULPkEaxMjQTICbkU-BlwhShmEX4WVoXnoMsYjmYmMFM20xTNJ80Rz7k74cnXZx6W6QJR08BE6vW2Brfqv2SsH-Rcxk2_9vUz7OfKO3Lv4og6X_mAg/s2021/1%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="2021" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVo6EDgQiOG5KW7U0OKDHRJxg9yjDJGX7oU-n-naWqkJOcCM5q5PPw3rDm0CT9_lbSwvdH52dBc_ULPkEaxMjQTICbkU-BlwhShmEX4WVoXnoMsYjmYmMFM20xTNJ80Rz7k74cnXZx6W6QJR08BE6vW2Brfqv2SsH-Rcxk2_9vUz7OfKO3Lv4og6X_mAg/w640-h202/1%20copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>ALBUMS/SONGS ABOUT CRIMES</b><br /><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffer_Little_Children"><b>The Moors Murders... Suffer Little Children by The Smiths</b></a><br /><br />The Moors Murders was a dark chapter in the UK, where two evil thrill killers chose victims and would not have stopped without having allowed others to see their acts.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xux9-UQ4wJ4"><b><i>The Song</i></b></a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7_OUERxOY7xImXI05gQ_uUX3i7juoz-7WuFP-ChKbuNAdQLfJry5mIt11K7O1yZVZMMgm9SK8kwClr-16LtiuL6oRftWqYaS1IZsIcjWt1x7ZjBypphvbSDHXJuGs159jh74Q8qIbsK2R0hWmtYPofIXYP5MuSWNIkBzhx-BIbVSvw2SC9QOaBFwB-w/s1110/smt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="1110" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7_OUERxOY7xImXI05gQ_uUX3i7juoz-7WuFP-ChKbuNAdQLfJry5mIt11K7O1yZVZMMgm9SK8kwClr-16LtiuL6oRftWqYaS1IZsIcjWt1x7ZjBypphvbSDHXJuGs159jh74Q8qIbsK2R0hWmtYPofIXYP5MuSWNIkBzhx-BIbVSvw2SC9QOaBFwB-w/w640-h308/smt.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe"><b>THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER</b></a><b> By Siouxsie and the Banshees</b><br /><br />During the 1970s Peter Sutcliffe killed at least 13 people, but almost certainly more than 20. Siouxsie and the Banshees created a work about him and his acts.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H0pT2WIbaM"><br /></a></p><p><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H0pT2WIbaM"><b>The Song</b></a></i><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ztjwXrre4uNgjCeavu1J_IRjIoLSwMK3JXH5jaAeNSxa1NhcDnAUqX22taPhAyj-DiVG7eSZWmVpR6ZXfqGmlnT9YNi08W1ZyvpPMN303Q38IydxykpZb8LZKwsjsLWu1PHEhPumQ6REwwtkWaMA1AT7hskoRuGivb4evCYA4ip4UhI1fv9ZzAOtceQ/s1061/siou.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1061" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ztjwXrre4uNgjCeavu1J_IRjIoLSwMK3JXH5jaAeNSxa1NhcDnAUqX22taPhAyj-DiVG7eSZWmVpR6ZXfqGmlnT9YNi08W1ZyvpPMN303Q38IydxykpZb8LZKwsjsLWu1PHEhPumQ6REwwtkWaMA1AT7hskoRuGivb4evCYA4ip4UhI1fv9ZzAOtceQ/w640-h302/siou.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather"><b>STARKWEATHER KILLING SPREE</b></a> Bruce Springsteen<br /><br />In Cold Blood's Clutter family murders and the Charles Starkweather murder spree changed America from a place where you could leave your doors unlocked, to fearing the random stranger, to distrusting your neighbors. The innocence of the golden age was lost. Springsteen's album Nebraska is raw, played in his basement studio, but so are the subjects of his focus. The Starkweather song is brutal and simple.<br /><i><br /><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCpL_ImsiDo">The Song</a></b></i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieNH_284cGBLmcBXsebOG8wXU01vQAiSvLVWV30uSEqqul_KzRt_WqV7JHrt1Ljtn3ghDzHs2KDa2DNkTbk6glg6DNVEHy6C03Kcynu3dv38KkV7sufupASadR22aqqV9EHz56AmoMLX5eP0OZW5iqwgUIyByjY59PTV-xZoPC6H3j-KjnwiCPU4LMo40/s1057/2%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="1057" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieNH_284cGBLmcBXsebOG8wXU01vQAiSvLVWV30uSEqqul_KzRt_WqV7JHrt1Ljtn3ghDzHs2KDa2DNkTbk6glg6DNVEHy6C03Kcynu3dv38KkV7sufupASadR22aqqV9EHz56AmoMLX5eP0OZW5iqwgUIyByjY59PTV-xZoPC6H3j-KjnwiCPU4LMo40/w640-h306/2%20copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper">JACK THE RIPPER</a></b> In the Shadow of the Seven Stars by the Swallows<br /><br />You might have your own most likely suspect but not only are the suspects many, not all agree upon the victims. Some suggest more, some less. It requires some degree of logic, an rejection of bias, and still, even with logic, there are far more suspects that make sense than you might think. What this CD does, is tell of the hunting days in London, and then a cross continent voyage, perhaps to create a legacy of killing elsewhere. The CD is a story, with layers, dense meaning, power and even beauty.<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXIsY6_iVRc&list=OLAK5uy_nQ4E90BvFK-Q9QSizrzUqoZpMacMN4yxQ"><br /><b>THE CD</b></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQhtz5-yP_t0iGdd5zkCTdEwCwJdEeQkC0uSB4bW3pDdqIlvYQfhd04X1x4CcDYuJrs0xbjywov1DvMd5EmF37s2gFg7_Ym-ZcrDDqLmeEU2GoNwsPg-mibx2zEsMt-Z19F2lLUjg2zqgWuWSoK4iHQ9fE07T0TT0yiZWrNNytdzLeA2h1yEIg0pnbSs/s1178/swallows.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="1178" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQhtz5-yP_t0iGdd5zkCTdEwCwJdEeQkC0uSB4bW3pDdqIlvYQfhd04X1x4CcDYuJrs0xbjywov1DvMd5EmF37s2gFg7_Ym-ZcrDDqLmeEU2GoNwsPg-mibx2zEsMt-Z19F2lLUjg2zqgWuWSoK4iHQ9fE07T0TT0yiZWrNNytdzLeA2h1yEIg0pnbSs/w640-h284/swallows.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />TWO MOVIES TO SEEK, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE NOT EXACTLY TRUE CRIM</b>E<br /><br />World famous director and writer Fritz Lang was moved by 3 different horrific killers who had made his region of Germany tremble in fear. He added a story that unites the killings with the reign of terror each inflicted, from the drinking of blood, to cannibalism, to selling the flesh for food, and worst of all he used children as the victims. The filmography included a style that made the entire work have a feel of real life in a surreal Gothic nightmare. And then add, to your own fears, the perfect acting of Peter Lorre. I watched the movie many times, until I couldn't watch it any more, it is too dark for my sensitive heart.<b><br /><br /><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/">M IMDB Entry</a><br /><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3-EXZGAg4md6ATjPK4r0jPiWk05vuOrwX_2n11Ec3yfaopK0UnsqyUCfFT9sCYDgmWd1Glo0lflnBJyR2hMqXVPphIlx0kiM3ckvi4FGbY0uncWEDK37b4m8eA1o4BjeftsPDifvXOZqliNXCR4DV5Bo9H4sVcsyMJIw7wN1dRu4IPwO8lQHXaaL9bk/s1077/1500x500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1077" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3-EXZGAg4md6ATjPK4r0jPiWk05vuOrwX_2n11Ec3yfaopK0UnsqyUCfFT9sCYDgmWd1Glo0lflnBJyR2hMqXVPphIlx0kiM3ckvi4FGbY0uncWEDK37b4m8eA1o4BjeftsPDifvXOZqliNXCR4DV5Bo9H4sVcsyMJIw7wN1dRu4IPwO8lQHXaaL9bk/w640-h298/1500x500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>IN COLD BLOOD in book and film<br /><br /></b>A family killed by two criminals. Searching for a rumored safe and angered by not finding the money they came for, the family is slain, viciously, and abused. The story in film is about the lack of compassion in one, and absolutely broken lives in both. The book is an intimate conversation with the reader how the criminals thought, and why they acted. But also, Truman Capote's brilliant prose isn't exactly True Crime, isn't exactly non fiction. He uses fictional discussions and surmises thoughts held by participants, and interjects himself into the dialogue. It is both brilliant and disturbing as hell.<b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061809/"><br /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3-PEQRS8Cc2cpQj0Qdz9bbKDVdAf_KMk7IPjf7zakxfs9L_mLLFqU7DizIgP_0P1diTe-EPx652btL8HS3vhK3BfQTuL90KrOfIKJ-tg9kJ0Q-AeNgGrqb9ohFqI8rt_6Ebll0huJG4gG2NOOrGGzggi8h_KOEFT-hfMwuJzy_PxCbW9EEaaBop2pIU/s1113/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="1113" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3-PEQRS8Cc2cpQj0Qdz9bbKDVdAf_KMk7IPjf7zakxfs9L_mLLFqU7DizIgP_0P1diTe-EPx652btL8HS3vhK3BfQTuL90KrOfIKJ-tg9kJ0Q-AeNgGrqb9ohFqI8rt_6Ebll0huJG4gG2NOOrGGzggi8h_KOEFT-hfMwuJzy_PxCbW9EEaaBop2pIU/w640-h478/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br /><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061809/">IMDB IN COLD BLOOD</a></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-77177209199102470092023-12-05T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-05T22:00:00.146-08:00TOP SHELF's HOLIDAY GIFT BONANZA!<div class="separator"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-j/&source=gmail&ust=1701881503980000&usg=AOvVaw1nhy47f4sNeS5PtjxBxi2X" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-j/" style="color: #027bc3; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Top Shelf Productions" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh7LFO8i-e9NY4OSDaF6ta6EP_0Er-3k3UAIRsj7t4DrbpE0pDAZy_hjZW9yPVyD___j_ceEl6r-dxxyEnnY3ZBM3ar6FN0I6gYomS1j0ZvDB0NROF9a2LKuzc2EdFD8ionm1gyjBFlCYeKqmiKod3iurRGiME=w176-h200" style="border-width: 0; margin-right: 24px;" width="176" /></a></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.6em;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-t/&source=gmail&ust=1701881503981000&usg=AOvVaw06DAhVaPJDplOY65Fy_L3Y" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-t/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><center><span style="font-size: medium;">Ho-ho-how is it December already?!</span></center></a></h2>
<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>
Somehow, the year is almost over! We're excited to share this look back
<br />at our fantastic 2023 (with a few gems from the tail end of 2022), and
<br />hope it will inspire some great ideas for gifts during this festive
season. </b></span><br /></p><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 750px;"><tbody><tr><td width="80"><br /></td><td valign="top" width="590"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8184180577821796675big-picture-block" style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-d/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw3eH6Alv6slEJQZt4Wtqey-" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-d/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Top Shelf titles for kids" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" height="196" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiNuzmuQpU-ahbqAckmoF1nyPwCnek3-mZ4FUgVU-YRtq9u6vbRNskxjv4wpm2Rv3t_9EHIXD8fyNCHWj-ouOvD4RvPAlwh5G0nCUtFvXnwvFcWs7X7ZxrVPP0RFNpp0LJBQFDJdX2CoTJsrmxZR1YpZuD_MCbkEwFRnLOboU8XOnT5UY_C=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 15px; margin: 15px auto;" width="590" /></a>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px;">
Looking for a great gift for the young comic fans in your life? We've got you covered with a ton of books for kids of all ages!</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: center;">
<b>Early Readers</b><br />
<i>Our longtime buddy <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-u/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw36HC9Ml0hbxkFLvoifhEee" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-u/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">James Kochalka</a> has got you covered, with three great books!</i></p>
<ul style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-o/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw2w_klbRndH45vDrWOOO83u" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-o/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Dragon Puncher Punches Back</i></b></a><i> - </i>The Eisner Award-winning series returns with nonstop silly action! Who can say no to a cat who punches stuff?!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-b/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw2U9SqAiXKKbEJNmMTucCkh" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-b/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Johnny Boo is Bored! Bored! Bored!</i></b></a>
- Even good little ghosts get bored sometimes! But fun is never far in
this award-winning series. For example... check out this magic hammer!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-n/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw14mMuIf77A0FH6o0Si20o6" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-n/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i><b>Glork Patrol and the Magic Robot</b></i></a> - A tiny friend and a <i>huge</i> new enemy spell trouble for the Glork Patrol! Saddle up for space shenanigans! </li></ul>
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: center;">
<b>Middle Grade</b><br />
<i>Great for independent reading and family readalongs alike!</i></p>
<ul style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<i><b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-p/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw183ItT8Vn8FRKpwyXTYe0e" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-p/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Skull Cat and the Curious Castle</a> - </b></i>It's
Scully the Cat's first day as keeper of the garden for a very spooky
castle... but where has everyone gone?! Time to be a hero, Skull Cat!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-x/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw146BSCpnybCJgih-8yF2NG" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-x/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Cosmic Cadets: Contact! (Book One)</i></b></a> - Stranded on an alien planet, the kids of the E.S.S. <i>Khonsu</i> must learn how to be heroes... and fast! If they can't, the galaxy could fall into war!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-m/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw1MZfn96XDHDsoQ9a-ANNYc" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-m/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>The Unpetables </i></b></a>-
After breaking out of Uncle Milo's All Natural Petting Zoo and striking
out on their own as "freelance pets," Pigmund and Lizárdo have one
strict rule: No petting! </li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-c/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw0bPYEwpvLUTDySsisKNLcO" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-c/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Shelley Frankenstein! Book One: CowPiggy</i></b></a> - Meet Shelley Frankenstein, who just wants to create scary monsters... but they always turn out cute! Until this time...</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-q/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw3aQ3ZaSae2ODbN0s_W34Jj" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-q/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Rose Wolves</i></b></a>
- A little girl picks a flower from an unusual bush in the forest which
blooms into a magical rose wolf, one missing a leg just like she is
missing an arm. Now, the girl and wolf must journey together to find
where they belong. A silent and captivating fairy tale.</li></ul>
</td>
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</tbody></table>
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<h2 style="border-top-color: #7da6d5; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 12px; border-top: 12px solid rgb(125, 166, 213); color: #7da6d5; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: .5em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding-top: 8px;"></h2>
<img class="CToWUd a6T" data-bit="iit" height="196" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEib9t6NATKm4LShPDwjqkfC2UpyQoyHkig0pRLeS8fpVClWYoeSCzFNfKYnDrwdIF9RjUnCRh9xHckqHJgXoHIHNu8eYj6LZYKZqhx4-0ryh2K25w2an2XBr-Cw1QfEB1P3_elDChlzIaTtSt24UHFI4KAVj8obgWB4_v4VJIy0FM4_XQ=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 15px; margin: 15px auto;" tabindex="0" width="590" /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8184180577821796675big-picture-block" style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: left;">
Shopping for young adults or the young at heart? From video-game
nostalgia to queer space adventures, Top Shelf released a title this
year that will be right up their alley! </p>
<ul style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-a/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw0IEj3ccHV-fg4jRnMUJuah" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-a/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Super Trash Clash </i></b></a>-
When Dul stumbles on a vintage copy of one of the worst games ever
made, childhood memories come rushing back. It's an uppercut right in
the feels!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-f/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw2NhcsuR9SVTpPu8JDGO4fo" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-f/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i>Cosmoknights (Book Two)</i></a> - </b>Pan
has finally escaped her dead-end planet and has bonded with rebel
gladiators Bee and Cass, as well as the mysterious hacktivist Kate. But a
rescued princess, childhood friends, and life on the run threaten this
found family's peace!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-z/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw2sVybcroptkntuj0U5ywW8" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-z/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Lisa Cheese and Ghost Guitar: Attack of the Snack</i></b></a> - Meet Lisa, a sweet unicorn girl with a cyborg arm... and anger issues! Now, she's late for her first day of work <i>and</i> she's under attack by an occult fast food chain! Can her musical dreams survive the pressure?</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-v/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw1ng7pk7hucQPmUKEu-XBVw" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-v/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>What If We Were... (Book Two) </i></b></a>-
It's time for high-fantasy adventure with Nathalie and Marie, plus
their new friend/crush Jane Doe! Jump into their wildest and most
hilarious games of imagination yet as these teen girls rewrite the
universe to their own rules!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-e/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw0-D2CC3pWRs--2cULt9-VL" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-e/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>But You Have Friends </i></b></a>-
After the suicide of a dear friend, Emilia is left with nothing but
memories. This graphic memoir sweetly reflects on the meaning of
friendship, love, and loss. Named one of New York Public Library's Best
Comics of 2023.</li></ul>
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<img class="CToWUd a6T" data-bit="iit" height="196" label="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhEE2QExAozMc_jxpf6JrukClqQosofSKtLVBBjX4Syih7m9O0ZYu6ip5NveU4IEVK-aLDo0nndaFmLfoWBYlblw2J-c_HKyvNBipHTMv2OyuJsDIRvGqSr-fLiQF7vFn4pEcbysRmHwdL5EKAyVX7oBpKTjN_XgM8Jngo32ylolDmnTrp4nw=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 15px; margin: 15px auto;" tabindex="0" width="590" /></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 750px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="590"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8184180577821796675big-picture-block" style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">
<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: left;">
Last but not least, we debuted a number of incredible titles for adult readers in 2023! </p>
<ul style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-s/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw1qiWm4QBwx8wFGFLiFBJ4z" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-s/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i><b>Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz </b></i></a>- Get to know the man behind Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the entire <i>Peanuts</i> gang, brought to life in the medium that made him a household name. <i>Publishers Weekly</i>
called it "an affectionate yet bracing portrait of an artist who never
overcame self-doubt, workaholism, and insecurities to appreciate his own
greatness" in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-g/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw0YrX7GiaWykZ5yUnDO66AZ" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-g/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a starred review</a>. </li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-w/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw1Jy8nSAc7lxU80BM6EJFIj" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-w/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Transitions: A Mother's Journey</i></b></a>
- When Anne learns her 19-year old is transgender, she struggles to
understand her child's new identity. A warm, informative, and moving
story of a family's journey to acceptance. Starred reviews from <i><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yd/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw197bFXwgEa1Fze0wTPZePe" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yd/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Booklist</a></i> and <i><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yh/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw18emXQ-0p3jxoxrozC6Wer" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yh/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Library Journal</a></i>!</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yk/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw05dSCxtsJVrNE0Uv8oCyV8" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yk/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i><b>F.A.R.M. System </b></i></a>-
Turns out, superheroes are a bit like pro athletes, preparing for their
shot at the big leagues through a combination of marketing,
endorsements, behind-the-scenes training, psych evaluations... or they
could take some, er, <i>shortcuts</i>.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yu/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw0QNqjktUN04TRYRnyOdZUl" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-yu/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story: The Graphic Novel</i></b> </a>-
One of the most acclaimed LGBT novels of all time receives a stunning
visual adaptation! Follow the life of our protagonist as he comes of age
in 1950s Midwestern America as a gay man. </li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jl/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw24OpcFhW8UJ8_Pi7Zox2OW" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jl/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><i>Ashes </i></b></a>-
One of Spain's most brilliant modern graphic novelists makes his
English-language debut in this tale of old friends reuniting for the
mother of all road trips. This twisty page-turner was called by <i>IGN</i> "the first great graphic novel of 2023"! </li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jr/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw1dDKhw2oxS7-iN5L2ZReMI" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jr/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i><b>Chester 5000 (Revised Edition)</b></i></a>
- Jess Fink's romantic delight for adults only! This erotic love child
of steampunk and silent films is back in print, with minor art updates
throughout. </li><li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1.2em; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-top: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jy/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw0RFsyc6JVoy4ewS-a4Mtj0" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jy/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i><b>The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell </b></i></a>- Eddie
Campbell is not himself. But these days, who is? It’s meta-fictional
mystery and mischief as the award-winning artist of <i>From Hell </i>sets out to find his own imposter. Plus, on the flipside: a deluxe new presentation of <i>The Fate of the Artist</i>, Eddie Campbell’s classic work of graphic meta-memoir!</li></ul>
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<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 1em;">
Thanks for joining us in this look <br />back, and hope you found a new <br />book to fall in love with!</p>
<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 1em;">
Your friends at Top Shelf,<br />
Chris, Leigh, and Holly<br />
<br />
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jt/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117173000&usg=AOvVaw2pKC2cXpguuptc8YmZQb8I" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-jt/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.topshelfcomix.com</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8184180577821796675header" style="background-color: #e9e9e9; background-image: none; background-position: left top; background-repeat: repeat; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 750px;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="25"><br /></td></tr>
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<h2 style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: .6em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: .5em; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.6em;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-t/&source=gmail&ust=1701881117172000&usg=AOvVaw1zUXjiDNIkzVz1Ifsd3KGq" href="https://topshelfproductionsinc.cmail19.com/t/y-l-xjluykd-klkttrhhk-t/" style="color: #027bc3; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><center>Ho-ho-how is it December already?!</center></a></h2>
<p style="color: #666666; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 4px; margin: 4px 0px 8px; text-align: center;">
Somehow, the year is almost over! We're excited to share this look back
at our fantastic 2023 (with a few gems from the tail end of 2022), and
hope it will inspire some great ideas for gifts during this festive
season. </p>
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</tbody></table>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-26761779799480696952023-12-04T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-04T22:00:00.166-08:00A Documentarian's life, added works, new works and REdiscovered works! with NATE BARLOW <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U98JH0GwGUI4nNY-0zhoMZiriwahbohDfn_dExzOflQ4hvUxOjrsnVtceaO_AWhSpuUF39RSMbWiD7LuiH-k66bx-8la1uOzVcMwGn0AmBjQl9SxNE23S7DigdATfNGJIQrQVJPsFGGlttSdcntOZhhNB6mFeDZGXesoyxhWS0kw_K62UyqrlY-EEhw/s900/headshots-2018-03-3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U98JH0GwGUI4nNY-0zhoMZiriwahbohDfn_dExzOflQ4hvUxOjrsnVtceaO_AWhSpuUF39RSMbWiD7LuiH-k66bx-8la1uOzVcMwGn0AmBjQl9SxNE23S7DigdATfNGJIQrQVJPsFGGlttSdcntOZhhNB6mFeDZGXesoyxhWS0kw_K62UyqrlY-EEhw/s320/headshots-2018-03-3.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><i><b>ALEX INTERVIEWS NATE<br />About Documentaries and Booze!<br /><br />(2021 interview <a href="http://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2021/05/filmmaker-nate-barlow-interviewed.html">1</a> , A mass interview in which Nate took part <a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2019/05/mass-interview-writers-on-movies.html">1</a>)</b><br /><br />As a documentarian what skills are necessary for someone to possess? You've been involved in many documentaries, what drives you? Is it curiosity? Is it the art of creating something that people can become enlightened by?</i><br />
<br />
Documentarians have to be a great researchers. There is so much to be researched at all phases of a documentary production, the legwork before production, during shooting (which is an ever-evolving act, far more so than narrative), and even during post when the story is being constructed. It has often been said that a film is made in the editing room. That is doubly, even triply the case for documentaries. Documentarians also have to be patient and have the ability to peel back the onion skins to find the real story underneath.<br />
<br />
Curiosity definitely drives me. All sorts of stories fascinate me, so the desire to explore those further is another impetus. A good number of the documentaries I’ve worked upon or are currently working upon stemmed from subject matter about which I am already passionate. Documentaries are a great way to explore those interests even further, especially for a filmmaker. What a great way to combine your loves! That having been said, sometimes something just strikes your fancy which you never expected. <br /><br />I love learning, and I love uncovering unknown stories. Documentaries are a great way to bring to those to the world, and for many stories the filmed medium delivers an element of immediacy or visual truth that no other media can provide.<br />
<br />
<i>Water of Life is about Whisky and Whiskey. What did you personally learn from the making of that work in particular? Why do you think the Water of Life, i.e. Whiskey, resonates in people, is it the experience, the power of alcohol to change the mood or spirit, or is it the flavor?</i><br />
<br />
How much I didn’t know about whisky! I thought I knew about whisky going into the making of the film. I certainly was a fan. But my knowledge, appreciation, and collection have vastly expanded. Whisky is such a personal beverage, such a personal product, from the craftspeople who makes to the consumers who drink it. It inspires passion. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGo1f6SpAISjWccYYMrvYZ8ZOq3xOjGiC7AW91tZGDDTfpsdbefgRNDe_cFzsG2lDGIuu-7xPQepqD94HSsCw3W18PUPC44bmUuGpSjP_2u26bzF2zHOlpDN1-0bjV4koAEurUngKjPj2rgCql67ki-53apF29PfQcJaXXYZIul6mWj6l4CPixOs-O1Q/s1767/unnamed-7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1767" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGo1f6SpAISjWccYYMrvYZ8ZOq3xOjGiC7AW91tZGDDTfpsdbefgRNDe_cFzsG2lDGIuu-7xPQepqD94HSsCw3W18PUPC44bmUuGpSjP_2u26bzF2zHOlpDN1-0bjV4koAEurUngKjPj2rgCql67ki-53apF29PfQcJaXXYZIul6mWj6l4CPixOs-O1Q/w434-h640/unnamed-7.jpg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><div>The Water of Life captures that personal essence and that passion from
the distillers to the bottlers to the drinkers. That enthusiasm is
palpable throughout the movie. When such feeling comes across so fully
realized on screen, it’s actually hard not to experience it oneself. I
think that’s why the film has resonated with people, even the people who
don’t drink whisky.<br />
<br />
<i>The depths of the telling of Water of Life is one that draws me into
the making of it, more than the drinking of it. Can you imagine another
product where the act of making is as interesting as the result?</i><br />
<br />
Wine, beer, and other spirts, but otherwise, no, and obviously, those
are related. The various styles of alcohol are some of the oldest
products known to man, and many of the them are created in the same
places and with the same techniques that they were not just several
generations ago, but literally of hundreds of years. How many other
products can you say that about? Couple that with the fact that a large
number of wines and spirits are produced for bottling and consumption
many, many years in the future, and you have a product that connects
past, present and future. Scotch, for example, must age a minimum of
three years and a day to be legally considered whisky, and of course
there are casks aged for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and even more.
That’s a remarkable commitment. So, no, I honestly can’t think of other
products where the action of creation equals that of its consumption.<br />
<br />
<i>Speaking of (Irish) Whiskey or (Scotch) Whisky, what is your
preferred drink, and why? And can you explain how the layers of Scotch
make it more enjoyable than other liquors? Is it the discovery of a
flavor of the cask, or the aging or the grain used?</i><br />
<br />
Although I started with Irish whiskey and I enjoy it to this day, Scotch
is my preferred whisky. But I appreciate all the different styles from
around the world. In addition to those two, my collection spans bourbon,
rye, American single malt, Australian, Japanese, and probably others I
am forgetting right now. I even have a Mexican whiskey (wherein you can
definitely taste the influence of Mexico’s tequila roots in it).<br /><br />
Something that we explore in the film is how prominent the influence of
the wood is in the final flavor of the whisky. Malted barley is an
amazing base grain, not surprisingly my favorite grain, but the cask
imparts so much above and beyond that. The concept of terroir is
controversial in whisky. Some people discount it altogether, others
believe in it wholeheartedly. One of our primary subjects, Mark Reynier,
is a huge proponent of terroir in whisky, and has done experiments with
his Waterford Irish Whiskey to prove it. I, for one, believe him and
that the terroir of the barley is important to creating an individual
whisky’s flavor.<br />
<br />
<i>You've blessed me over the years with always interesting projects and
kindness. Do you think a creative mind finds comfort in knowing more,
or feeding an imagination, or is it telling familiar stories in new
ways? What must a creative person do to enter a field such as Film?</i><br />
<br />
I think a creative mind is all of those things. A creative mind is
naturally curious, it wants to learn, and then it wants to express what
it has learned in new and imaginative ways to the world. And I think
that goes for all media. For someone who wants to enter the world of
film, I have always said dive right in! Technology makes it so easy and
affordable to shoot movies these days. Just do it, no matter the quality
of one's results, and continually refine one's skills. Eventually one
may decide to move to a part of the world where they are surrounded by
other creatives to further their career-- that’s not as much a necessity
as it used to be—but in the meanwhile, do something. I moved to Los
Angeles as soon as I decided to commit to this life and being here has
benefited me greatly, being immersed in a world of filmmakers, but
that’s not true of everyone. It does help that I love this city.<br />
<br />
<i>I meant to ask... I've been made aware that Water of Life is not
actually a finished documentary, that there have been additions, more
interviews. Is it typical for a documentary, once shared and displayed
to the public already, that the makers go back with additional material?
If so, is it for further depths, or more exposure to new information?Is
the new additional coverage meant to show the making of the original as
an interesting afterthought to add insight to the work?</i><br />
<br />
The Water of Life is indeed a finished documentary, but I can see where
the confusion arrived. Two places, actually. We recently released an
Extended Cut. The original version was 88 minutes, a typical length that
is worth hitting for distribution platforms. The Extended Cut, only
available directly from us, includes some of those last scenes we really
wanted in the film but needed to cut for time. The second reason is
that we are working on a second film focused on the independent bottling
side of the scotch whisky world. We realized that we had a lot of
unused footage after completing the first film, especially in this one
arena. We've since rounded out this footage with more interviews on
independent bottling and are editing that film now.<br />
<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh644Kl6RArdxDuSyI1FJcix91vH8JjIbcUrcseFDa483cYKlQuP_5eV-HwFVPoOaeNh571GwOEbNYoho8qmeomfS0sC2P22dg48JRzKWEA2XHaXi7sfsBgkXCNWKBHakpKZNUxWlj7k7dpfunaZhYMS1adsiwAkwmUP68wCygCjV77iMz4wnn4OgxWqvA/s1280/beer-932994_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh644Kl6RArdxDuSyI1FJcix91vH8JjIbcUrcseFDa483cYKlQuP_5eV-HwFVPoOaeNh571GwOEbNYoho8qmeomfS0sC2P22dg48JRzKWEA2XHaXi7sfsBgkXCNWKBHakpKZNUxWlj7k7dpfunaZhYMS1adsiwAkwmUP68wCygCjV77iMz4wnn4OgxWqvA/w640-h480/beer-932994_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>You've also been working on a new documentary, titled Prost! - A Beer
Film. ... Before moving on, I must say, you should have met my father.
He was a lover of beer, had it every day of his life from his 20s to his
late 60s (only stopping upon death at 69). In his case, he found no
beer he did not enjoy, and spent time in Germany during post WWII
occupation in the US Army. He didn't have old army tales to tell, but he
apparently drank a lot of beer in a country most people associate as a
beer friendly country.<br /><br />Is beer mostly a Western product in the
beginning, regardless of the many beer like beverages through history
and different cultures or, is it truly a multi cultural beverage, and
one to be celebrated in ever more varieties for all the various tastes
of the modern era? Is the documentary aimed mostly at the product in
modernity, or, is it part history, part varieties offered, and part the
making of that product?</i><br />
<br />
And, yes, we are working on Prost! - A Beer Film, too. We just finished
shooting principal photography. Much like The Water of Life focuses
specifically on scotch whisky. Prost! focuses on the beer from the Upper
Franconia region of Bavaria. Also much like The Water of Life, Prost!
examines Upper Franconian beers' modern place against a historical
backdrop of brewing in that region.<br />
<br />
Although many of the countries we associate historically with beer are
Western (e.g. Germany, Belgium, Ireland), I believe that is a bias of
our Western-focused perspective. The first beer was likely brewed by the
ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia, and many other early cultures brewed
variants of beer or precursors to our modern beverage as well. <br /><br />Several
years ago Dogfish Head Brewery released recreations of ancient beers.
There were several, but the one I remember most clearly was a Chinese
recipe culled from a tomb 9000 years old! As far as I have seen, every
modern nation in which alcohol is culturally and/or religiously
acceptable brews its own beer.<br />
<br />
<i>Do you partake in beer? If so, what is your favorite beer?
Additionally does appreciation of it come out as a connoisseur or a
happy enjoyment of a product? I have a number of favorites but I rarely
drink now. (For the curious, my favorites are Grain Belt Premium, Asahi,
Sapporo, and Grain Belt Nordeast). Do you prefer darker beers, IPAs,
pale ales, or something unmentioned?</i><br />
<br />
Yes, I drink beer, too. My trifecta of beverages is beer, wine, and
whisky. I only occasionally consume cocktails or other beverages,
although I do like to try unusual spirits, especially those unique to
one area of the world. My wife just brought me back a bottle of gin
distilled out of shiraz from Australia, and on a previous trip to France
she bought me a bottle of génépi. In terms of beer I most commonly
drink IPAs (both Hazy and West Coast), but other favorites include
stouts, porters, saisons, barleywines, marzens, dunkles, and bocks. And I
think appreciation arises from both the connoisseur and happy enjoyment
perspectives.<br />
<i><br />
As a documentarian, does it help to already enjoy the subject matter or
have a deep interest in it, or, does the spark of raison d'etre for
doing such a project come from curiosity first, and preference second or
far down the list? It occurs to me that the better outlook, not
regarding your approach, but from my not knowing, having a neutral view
or purely a curiosity that drives a deep dive of information might allow
a perfectly non biased work?</i><br />
<br />
I’m not sure there's one answer to this question. A great documentary
can stem from both passion and curiosity, although passion may inspire
one more greatly than mere curiosity alone if for no other reason than
one has more feelings about and investment in the story. A lot of it has
to do with subject matter. Certain topics will be better served by
passion, some more by curiosity. <br /><br />There are many documentaries
about truly horrific subject matter that one could not possibly be
passionate about save for uncovering hidden truth. I also don’t believe a
neutral view will necessarily make a deeper or perfectly unbiased work.
A good documentarian, just like a good writer, should be able to
divorce his personal interest to deliver just that by showing warts and
all. It really comes down to the individual and his, her, or their
execution. Indeed some subject matter that may be better served by
filmmakers passionate about said subjects; dispassion can come through
as cold and impersonal, failing to connect the viewers with the story or
finding ways for interviewees truly to open up.<br />
<br /><i>
I'm curious if there is a special kind of fan of documentaries, as an
item, not due to subject matter or is the greatest supporter of a
documentary one who has a preexisting appreciation for the subject
matter, and not documentaries?(I've been a fan of most documentaries
I've watched, and have watched documentaries focused on bizarre,
previous unfamiliar subject matter. Yes I liked them all, but mostly
those that give me ideas I've not been aware of previously.)</i><br />
<br />
Without a doubt, there are both. Naturally fans of the subject matter
are going to be drawn to the film, but there are people who simply love
documentaries either for what they are or because of their natural
curiosity about the world and the unique way that documentaries can
inform them. <br /><br />The truly great documentaries are those that
attract people purely on their filmmaker alone, people who would not
necessarily describe themselves as documentary films (although they may
occasionally watch them), but to whom the subject matter is not of
particular interest or even subject matter that may not be of anyone’s
particular interest but whose story still deserved to be told.<br />
<br />
<i>Do you have a list of subjects to be further considered, or does a
documentarian pursue mostly subject matters as they are perceived to
have an audience? I'm not suggesting that popularity leads the agenda,
but more, what lends a subject matter to becoming a subject for such a
film?</i><br />
<br />
Almost anything can be an interesting subject matter if you find the
right angle. Yes, I have a list of subjects I’d like to cover, but the
when and the how can be market driven. Subject matter with an audience
is easier to find funding and distribution (though with streaming and
social media any target audience can be reached, no matter how niche).
But that won’t stop me from doing a film with less appeal, I just may
have to take more time, make it smaller, or locate more creative
financing. Or, most likely, all of the above. But again, creatively
finding the best perspective can make almost any subject appealing, even
those that on the surface would seem the complete opposite.<br /><br /><i>You've
also been working upon a documentary on L. Frank Baum's silent Oz Film
Manufacturing Company, and to my astonishment and many others, you are
going to be involved in not only examining Baum's work, and life and
such, but also, you've discovered one of his films about OZ and you'll
be restoring it. When did you find it, did it <span class="im">reach the Entertainment world news cycles? </span></i><br /><br />A
bit of backstory for those unfamiliar...The Oz Film Manufacturing
Company produced four features and four shorts. The four shorts are
considered lost. Off the four features, one is complete; one mostly
complete; one exists only in a re-edited, butchered form due to its
troubled release pattern; and the fourth has only one known copy, and
only three of the five reels at that. Rather dismal video transfers of
the three features have existed since the 1980s, sourced from 16mm
prints struck in the early seventies. I have always felt these films
deserved to be restored; despite being largely overlooked now, Baum’s
company was the first to commit solely to producing feature films (the
shorts came later when the company was desperate for money) and the
first to have completely original scores. The Georges Méliès-inspired
special effects were also highly advanced for the time.<div><br /></div><div>I
have a friend at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dina
Massachi, who will be putting on a huge Oz convention next year called
CharlOz. I told her about my project and she thought it would be a
perfect fit for the convention to premiere a restored 4K transfer of one
of the films. So that led to my search for prints and the goldmine I
unearthed in January. However, for various reasons we kept our find
under wraps until now. Hopefully now that we are talking about the
project it will receive such coverage as you described.</div><span class="im"><div> </div><div><i>How did you find this hidden Gem? Did you immediately feel like Indiana Jones and you are about to reconstruct the Lost Ark? Or since it is a movie clip, and hence a chapter, the lost "arc"?Where was it?How much work is it to restore it?</i><br /></div><div><br /></div></span><span style="color: black;">The film was hiding in plain sight. Many rare film archives list </span><span style="color: black;">their
contents online. However, they frequently only know that they have a
copy, that the copy is a negative or positive print, and how many reels
and/or feet it is. They simply don’t have the manpower or money to
examine each print more closely unless someone specifically asks that
they do so. The Library of Congress listed 35mm positives and negatives
in their collection, so in January I visited the Packard Campus of the
National Audio-Visual Conservation Center to investigate exactly what
they had. <br /><br />First I looked at the safety prints on a flatbed, and just
seeing the film on 35mm was amazing. But then I got to go back into the
nitrate vaults—each woefully underdressed for the low temperatures at which
they store nitrate—and, yes, I absolutely felt like Indiana Jones as I
was examining these prints that likely hadn’t been looked at in over a
century and realizing what they actually were. </span><div><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: black;">The
archivists taught me that they differentiate what is commonly called
restoration into two distinct processes: reconstruction, in which the
film is reassembled as close as possible from disparate sources to its
original release; and restoration, in which the elements are actually
cleaned up. And, yes, the restoration is a massive undertaking.<br /></span><br /><i>Won't reconstruction of such a thing cost two tons of money? An item in short supply for most people and even projects? Will that have to be crowd funded?</i><br /></div><div><span class="im"><div><br /></div></span><div>Yes, a restoration phase requires a significant budget, absolutely.
<br /><br />Reconstruction, while not cheap, however, is less. The primary cost for
reconstruction is in having the prints transferred to 4K, for which an
angel investor, Tim Tucker, put up the necessary funds. The actual work
involved for that stage is essentially just editing. Editing may not be
my filmmaking forte, but the level necessary for that purpose is well
within my wheelhouse. For CharlOz our goal is to exhibit a 4K
reconstruction of the one film. Restoration of that movie (and the
others) would involve additional fundraising, whether crowdsourced or
otherwise.<br /><br /><i>Tell my readers more about the silent Oz films of L.Frank Baum, was he a master of the film art as well as books, or actually, why did he do the films, as an experiment or did they expand his Oz story and concept of a world?</i><br /></div><span class="im"><div><br /></div></span><div>Baum
had a lifelong love the theater and had been a thespian himself as a
young man, so it was natural for him to be drawn to the nascent industry
literally springing up around him in Hollywood. In 1902 <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> had
been adapted into a hugely successful musical extravaganza, and just
prior to his Oz Film Manufacturing Company he wrote another (admittedly
less successful) musical, <i>The Tin-Tok Man of Oz</i>, with music
composed by Louis F. Gottschalk who would also write the music for
Baum’s Oz films and was vice-president of the company. The Oz Film
Manufacturing Company wasn’t even Baum’s first attempt to bring Oz to
the screen. In 1908 he produced The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, a
multimedia experience involved slides, filmed sequences, and live actors
that failed miserably, leaving Baum bankrupt. Shortly after the Selig
company produced four short films based on Baum’s books stemming from
contractual obligations left unfulfilled by the Fairylogue disaster.
Baum learned his lesson well; with the Oz Film Manufacturing Company he
did not put up any of his own money (the company was financed at
$100,000), instead contributing the rights to his books.</div><i><br />What is your ultimate hope to end up with, by your restoring this film? Is it mostly a monetary reward, or is it an artistic accomplishment, or maybe a way to push <span class="im">the theme of the documentary? Or is it something I am missing?</span></i><span class="im"><div><br /></div></span><div>It is preservation,
first and foremost. Preservation is something in which I believe
strongly, and silent films need to be saved before it’s too late. As for
myself, artistic accomplishment and pushing the documentary.
Restoration is an art in it own right, and an important one. Funnily
enough, I initially planned on creating the documentary first as a
project in its own right but to also be am impetus for the restorations.
As luck would have it, the restorations, at least the one restoration,
is now coming first and will hopefully drive the doc.<br /><br /><i>Last question, don't you think it is about time someone did a documentary about tall, bald, writer poets from Minnesota and help him sell all of the books he has created in massive numbers?<br /></i></div><span class="im"><div><br /></div></span>Of course!<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbcoXjMNWrVKlaxlT4ZbpT5VD_JzsBn7CdF6oK0wAIjHwLP0yx3SLCsMtoro8LUAJZNwogMKDZety7KENGEUhRlAafZ6-W2-MKC-XyungunW30_Cq_RZmUru1dbVZEEGqdkBI04lGHvrnQts6fM717D1gplF8JbuCiEqcE8_q1ZFRcyBnqBGu0mmVpIc/s3249/_history_of_hollywood_1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1692" data-original-width="3249" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbcoXjMNWrVKlaxlT4ZbpT5VD_JzsBn7CdF6oK0wAIjHwLP0yx3SLCsMtoro8LUAJZNwogMKDZety7KENGEUhRlAafZ6-W2-MKC-XyungunW30_Cq_RZmUru1dbVZEEGqdkBI04lGHvrnQts6fM717D1gplF8JbuCiEqcE8_q1ZFRcyBnqBGu0mmVpIc/w640-h334/_history_of_hollywood_1_.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-24917014608015099582023-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:002023-12-04T10:48:08.789-08:00RPGing for Me<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5M7sZ54V1e6_VkhYFT3xiA5uXLHrFEDua2KYU0FHc0BrTP4ukIoIHFsJFbEV3MftfhkZTOi7VFH2vGX8SSOIZaC1FBNKXfI_OGB-FyxrTAbEaqt2b8k174wDbNt47tF4JBSzDu17wfjx1oph-p4XUlrYlLpYTUBE-ifLKaMCd9nGA_IKXs0yE1gDCBE/s3535/p.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3535" data-original-width="1785" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5M7sZ54V1e6_VkhYFT3xiA5uXLHrFEDua2KYU0FHc0BrTP4ukIoIHFsJFbEV3MftfhkZTOi7VFH2vGX8SSOIZaC1FBNKXfI_OGB-FyxrTAbEaqt2b8k174wDbNt47tF4JBSzDu17wfjx1oph-p4XUlrYlLpYTUBE-ifLKaMCd9nGA_IKXs0yE1gDCBE/w323-h640/p.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><b>Table Top RPG or Pen & Pencil RPGing By Alex Ness<br />12th of December 2023</b><br /><br /><b>WHAT I LIKE</b><br /><br /><i><b>Fantasy & Solitaire Fantasy<br /></b></i><p></p><p><b>AD&D 1st & 2nd Edition</b><br /></p><p>I've tried most Fantasy RPGs. I have some personal or home rules for AD&D, but other RPGs haven't the flexibility and direct flavor as AD&D. That said, it isn't an universally agreed upon thing that D&D is the best. It is just my favorite.<br /><b><br />Tunnels & Trolls, all editions</b><br /><br />For me, T&T is a game that works best as a solitaire platform, not because it doesn't work with groups or two individuals, but there are expectations in the players that T&T is different in result. It isn't nearly as aimed at moral, heroic or group success, as D&D, but that sort of hard wrought alignment and such is thought by some to have been a flaw in D&D.<i> </i>In the solitaire mode, you can explore ideas, you can even create mock dungeons and stock it with monsters to fight, or dwarves or whoever, and see if your adventurer team can defeat them. I have mentioned before, and will undoubtedly do so again, when I had 2 weeks alone due to an unscheduled Christmas alone, I had a great time, all by myself, killing things that were dangerous, and seeing how fun it is to be on the different side of the adventure.<i><br /><br /><b>Straight & Weird Science Fiction</b><br /></i></p><p><b>Blue Planet</b> <br /><i><b><br /></b></i>The concept of Blue Planet appeals to me very much. It is similar to the book by Alan Dean Foster, named Cachalot, where the Earth apologizes to the Whale species by giving it an entire water planet. Blue Planet creates a similar world, without the similar reason of existence. It was hard finding others to join me, but when they did, it was exquisite.<i> </i>I think, and could be dealing with a shit memory once again, but Gurps, from SJG might have made a version of their own via license. The entire concept of the planet and human experience with it, is frankly my kind of thing to do.<i><br /><b><br /></b></i><b>Gamma World </b><br /></p><p>I really liked Gamma World because, opposed to general apocalypse and survival RPGs or episodes, it had a wrought world, setting, and reasons for being. It wasn't easy to play, in that it had a number of groups to represent, species of mutants to be members of, or unmutated humans to portray in ways that remind me of the NAZI SS. I can't recommend aspects of play, but overall, with intelligent players it can be as fun as your imagination is wide and deep.<i> <br /><br /><b>Horror</b></i><br /></p><p><b>Call of Cthulhu<br /></b><br />I cannot say this game is better than the stories and mythos that it attempts to evoke. I can also not say, it is as rewarding. But with a concept of how to play, it does make and succeed in a good attempt to create a setting, and that is often the basis for the best stories in the mythos. I know there are different editions of the game, and they have fans and detractors, but the original and fourth edition worked well for me as much as the game works. The ideas of the game do require some fore knowledge of the concepts of the Cthulhu mythos, and I am aware, many haven't read the books, and fewer know the depth of stories told by all sorts of writers. Sadly, the lack of knowledge by some can be deadly to a group. I played an elderly professor of Archaic texts, with a side character who was his nephew, who was trained in esoteric hand to hand combat, and could carry his Uncle out of danger, should it present itself. We survived 3 wildly lethal adventures with other players who created characters who thought being well armed made one powerful, and had an advantage. They died, to a man. Or rather to a character, one of our game group was a truly bright woman who didn't go full bore armed morons who kill first and ask questions later. Unfortunately, disasters happen in adventures. A great game, liked it but a game that needs more from players than Fantasy or the Sci Fi games previously mentioned.<br /><i><b><br />War</b></i><br /><i><br /></i><b>Twilight 2000</b><br /><i><br /></i>I had less fun with this than I think would be normal. Not because of the game, however. The few times I played it, the GM was poorly prepared, didn't know the rules, and had morality lessons of war he wanted to impart upon the game group. The game group, excluding me, wanted to kill everything that moved. War is terrible, yes. I think most people understand that. But especially this game group, there was a lack of compassion, a love of killing, and a complete ignorance of rules of conduct in war, and the purpose of the fight. I was invited to play again by the GM and I said no thank you, despite knowing, I'd probably not find a group to play with thereafter. It was a great setting, a brilliant idea, and had I had a great GM or group, the stories might well have been magical. This isn't therefore a complaint about the game, it is a statement that bad players and ill prepared GMs steal the fun from RPGs. Lastly, I could easily see this work being adapted into comic book adventures, or novelized in ways that would bring out the best of the works.<br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: medium;">GAMES I WANTED TO PLAY BUT NEVER HAD A GAMING GROUP THAT WOULD PLAY (or would play but too little to get the actual game and setting's flavor.)</span></b><b><br /></b><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5AOJ5uWGf9BW0BGoHdXxd-wBE2NlyYAMSxxySPAr4UBJRrM7Mq14pxlGaQZIJ9Ap4PTkGWeHIjChxcek0HmhxXWoWFXBNOKwQcLT18VVjTBtbIFewnJDBVaWYA9nmLiQI-b6j5o9y3NL9v3YNTNJ6zszDLAJRUH8mZDFdZLbQj8R0Fqeob8mUPYFI0k/s2853/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="2853" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5AOJ5uWGf9BW0BGoHdXxd-wBE2NlyYAMSxxySPAr4UBJRrM7Mq14pxlGaQZIJ9Ap4PTkGWeHIjChxcek0HmhxXWoWFXBNOKwQcLT18VVjTBtbIFewnJDBVaWYA9nmLiQI-b6j5o9y3NL9v3YNTNJ6zszDLAJRUH8mZDFdZLbQj8R0Fqeob8mUPYFI0k/w640-h172/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><b>GREAT SETTINGS</b><br /><br />Briefly, the best settings in my experience
are those I made of my own personal research, knowledge of politics and
history, and interest in geography. I am not better than anyone else,
simply saying, I found those that created to have a greater investment
on my part, and unlike most campaigns of other people, they include all
human ethnic groups, different languages, different sorts of creatures
and allegiances, due to their own particular historical experiences.
Those settings shown are the best that I experienced. They might well
play different for other gamers, as afterall, we all have different
tastes.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBm0K1PqxQlBsMOlOvSfJZAXZqKjqJhDBrYslWOHb6fYjPlAH_nKIB2U83DFihaO7y3pJyHQ-gPBebIRV0LVmbOTrZt63s613YdCeaoEXflryK-XvWT3Z6056QlZAEnyrwIzbt4VPhyTBFXf9rrsRWEq7G17HwpgG0LPw1q9If3DpJoNz_Oj7kKrr9K0/s2971/s-l1600-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="2971" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBm0K1PqxQlBsMOlOvSfJZAXZqKjqJhDBrYslWOHb6fYjPlAH_nKIB2U83DFihaO7y3pJyHQ-gPBebIRV0LVmbOTrZt63s613YdCeaoEXflryK-XvWT3Z6056QlZAEnyrwIzbt4VPhyTBFXf9rrsRWEq7G17HwpgG0LPw1q9If3DpJoNz_Oj7kKrr9K0/w640-h164/s-l1600-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />WHY I'M UNABLE TO REVIEW MUCH FROM RPG PRODUCTS</b><br /><br />My lack of
reviews of such games comes from many sources. It is a question of
time, interest from companies and creative talents, and my lack of
nearby friends or colleagues who could assist me in play testing.
Additionally, the present practice of most publishers is to send PDF's
for review. I find most interesting in RPGs is the books, the maps, the
individual pieces, the physical make up of the works as a whole.
However, it doesn't mean I wouldn't try. Just that, you can't do certain
things without product, and even with a pdf you can't always get the
flavor of the work.<br /><br />Also, while I used to read many gaming
magazines, most are now defunct. I can't review or even buy and read
what I formerly read.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiP2gquur5DUR__kdZ3OBYTzuMNG8f8urbhmZDV7_IxQeqkLjquSOfYD-5N0u1QClWMeA0ALYMZLN8Y4q6qaA2fbnl5yPSoCGZ0Kq8PFeOaH2Hfo2rf_pN7nOntq0Y_kZN9OXU75wy-SiE1wiL9q4AHzmDZcd0pTAEm-r08rOFu04u4xUAMV_RSUhG-uU/s2657/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="2657" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiP2gquur5DUR__kdZ3OBYTzuMNG8f8urbhmZDV7_IxQeqkLjquSOfYD-5N0u1QClWMeA0ALYMZLN8Y4q6qaA2fbnl5yPSoCGZ0Kq8PFeOaH2Hfo2rf_pN7nOntq0Y_kZN9OXU75wy-SiE1wiL9q4AHzmDZcd0pTAEm-r08rOFu04u4xUAMV_RSUhG-uU/w640-h140/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>OTHER TOPICS</b><br /><br />I
have some health issues that I won't discuss here, but my schedule will
be different than it has been. I apologize for the lack of continual
and regular output. Thank you for your understanding.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-23041515392132631742023-11-26T22:00:00.002-08:002023-11-26T22:00:00.135-08:00STOCKING STUFFERS<p><b>FORGOTTEN TREASURES AND STOCKING STUFFERS<br />By Alex Ness<br />NOVEMBER 27, 2023</b><br /><br />This isn't a guarantee, but these are suggested items for your family or friend who is a fan of comics and genres of books featuring adventure, action and heroics. They fit in Christmas stockings or whatever holiday one follows. Meaning this, these aren't necessarily the one great present or item, but for minor selections these are amazing.<br /><br />(Click to enlarge each image<b>)<br /><br />PROSE FOR THE SUPERHERO FAN </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWH1bBpWPyntzlPmM0j5TzObvLhNtCFs3MHgAKc1HX1ShR479ACn1oPqrEQh4WwTUxMhqHHt3i5UE0RESH10e7RKenx_Mc6SlwUoKebscNdzg_wHzJAZpTyUyRhkfj7bkXCgYRcg5Ul9ZxxdrsAmeTLb_u62jzJKY-xqu4aK-zPSSpZZ8CJRIjPK_8tmE/s1874/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1874" data-original-width="1521" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWH1bBpWPyntzlPmM0j5TzObvLhNtCFs3MHgAKc1HX1ShR479ACn1oPqrEQh4WwTUxMhqHHt3i5UE0RESH10e7RKenx_Mc6SlwUoKebscNdzg_wHzJAZpTyUyRhkfj7bkXCgYRcg5Ul9ZxxdrsAmeTLb_u62jzJKY-xqu4aK-zPSSpZZ8CJRIjPK_8tmE/w325-h400/2.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><p></p><b>PULPS FOR THE ACTION, ADVENTURE, CRIME & MORE</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiJcMBSmdoUXJfqnIZ6RTPxWqV8qgwYXbehL-gk1pY4hXf01qlGjEEQVi_4ZIdj3bjCRc29wyyB5yawtMYk3X-CmCgjzdjokUNr5v2SwKKaELXgjbJtTyUg-7glBxEcRCvf0ioaMQE2LrrLSM7lzVsr6nxjofGK_QG5IXRZ7wFeBfADYNb0izptaIcjQ/s2697/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2697" data-original-width="2060" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiJcMBSmdoUXJfqnIZ6RTPxWqV8qgwYXbehL-gk1pY4hXf01qlGjEEQVi_4ZIdj3bjCRc29wyyB5yawtMYk3X-CmCgjzdjokUNr5v2SwKKaELXgjbJtTyUg-7glBxEcRCvf0ioaMQE2LrrLSM7lzVsr6nxjofGK_QG5IXRZ7wFeBfADYNb0izptaIcjQ/w305-h400/1.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><b><br />COMICS... alternative one shot or mini series versions of Batman, all done well.</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6m77SYMaHMN-8gNWEhr-R6T0GNLwiQum_LRjtsDxKTx0bMkIDNqX-rDT1gaJE0GZ8mnnCgmC_JLFrEsWZ28HvWyCdrQKAzKof7V2ObzBYLWKqq1lX_86u0IHmq3y9wxgGHOiyEnosSGbdSGXzROkoboNT9CC__fYZPh7LHKfx_zCtJ_FObr00V4MXoXM/s1981/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1820" data-original-width="1981" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6m77SYMaHMN-8gNWEhr-R6T0GNLwiQum_LRjtsDxKTx0bMkIDNqX-rDT1gaJE0GZ8mnnCgmC_JLFrEsWZ28HvWyCdrQKAzKof7V2ObzBYLWKqq1lX_86u0IHmq3y9wxgGHOiyEnosSGbdSGXzROkoboNT9CC__fYZPh7LHKfx_zCtJ_FObr00V4MXoXM/w400-h368/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /><b>FINALLY...</b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email
<i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><b>My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></u></b></p><p><b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></u></b></p><p><b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></u></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbY1fgpBF5JLtuvZQ75SoUGX8Yw0FBGPhvEg_t5ArkUh2Qou7DeQe5BKPTd-kX3AAg6I9kTyIf9KPvRwQDxw6_c209at3jF9mlIcoMgfkOz3gbM_xGM3stKmtJtYuFC8Ev2Z2s32FQSlKgixDgqzEnofDy1Wc9wuOz1zPW7dWw3JW1vpYHKfiKm3PH1es/s1780/dh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="1780" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbY1fgpBF5JLtuvZQ75SoUGX8Yw0FBGPhvEg_t5ArkUh2Qou7DeQe5BKPTd-kX3AAg6I9kTyIf9KPvRwQDxw6_c209at3jF9mlIcoMgfkOz3gbM_xGM3stKmtJtYuFC8Ev2Z2s32FQSlKgixDgqzEnofDy1Wc9wuOz1zPW7dWw3JW1vpYHKfiKm3PH1es/w640-h162/dh.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></u></b></div><b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Single issues of fun comics are good extra gifts too!<br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></u></b><p></p><p></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-53940590999294626512023-11-22T22:00:00.000-08:002023-11-23T09:59:27.850-08:00Thankful<p><b>A Brief Note<br />By Alex Ness<br />Thanksgiving 2023</b><br /><br />I wanted, after two years of a difficult journey, to give thanks for the people who have helped me endure, inspired me to keep creating, and to give thanks for those who might otherwise not be publicly appreciated.<br /><br /><b>I am thankful for my Family:<br /></b><br />My wife Beth, my son Jonathan, my brother Nate, and all of my cousins, my two cats Katya and Sophia, and my grandkitten rogue terrorist cat of my son, Isabella. I also am thankful for my DNA family, in addition to Nate, and the people in my life, like my doctor who have kept me alive with their hope and kindness. Their love and kindness, and efforts to get me to seek treatment to the fullest extent when I wanted to quit, has kept me alive.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef88M7u1cifspNE8kJNoLu2nU96wsDG6QV2Fw25p0Dsy0dJbJbYLPsDqeW9nqum4YyMDdhtxkG-kje6XwmnOuFA2xfgWvWxm7fpDTQ3P0cN4EH_Xoa6Z0CrVEvcJ1pmFL8kYGL-MRC3UptQZTfUjKLgbX9e0-38-jDBRly8kcv0oOSsxf9cxBkA9rR_w/s913/fam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="913" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef88M7u1cifspNE8kJNoLu2nU96wsDG6QV2Fw25p0Dsy0dJbJbYLPsDqeW9nqum4YyMDdhtxkG-kje6XwmnOuFA2xfgWvWxm7fpDTQ3P0cN4EH_Xoa6Z0CrVEvcJ1pmFL8kYGL-MRC3UptQZTfUjKLgbX9e0-38-jDBRly8kcv0oOSsxf9cxBkA9rR_w/w400-h363/fam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b>I am thankful for my four best friends:<br /></b> <b><br />Joe Monks, Rich Chapell, Steve Olle,</b> and <b>Russell Stewart</b>.
I've many other wonderful friends, but it if I began listing all, I'd
never stop. These are the people in my life who lifted me when I could
as easily quit. Rich was my technical advisor who explained a great
deal, very very much helpful to my fight against health issues. Steve Oh
Holy Olle made me smile and cry, kept me afloat emotionally. Russ is,
and has been my best man since 1983. His presence alone is comfort. And
Joe Monks, who passed tragically in August of 2023, is fully responsible
for giving me the fighting spirit it takes to deal with diagnoses of
late stage cancer, of false diagnoses, of getting my energy up when one
doctor said this isn't a real problem, it is all in your head, which was
also false. Although Joe was blind, he said we should visit that doctor
and kick him in the gonads, and tell him the pain from our assault was all in HIS mind.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaq8PDm77lnZvlRCouNQrI2FbzV3dwbXHdL5me0rMRWjCr1trZ1w-Nzii5YFjuMErw_uuFWqTet4fPDVzssy5QermpSG1AbRbApzm15QFRT6yxCdK4E86Ys69g1UM7FQhY8dU_Vce12wH_BJQbxRD-P9u-812opdA5mztl4_bSVJwlIjZqwsMZzp-eCZ4/s1406/0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="1406" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaq8PDm77lnZvlRCouNQrI2FbzV3dwbXHdL5me0rMRWjCr1trZ1w-Nzii5YFjuMErw_uuFWqTet4fPDVzssy5QermpSG1AbRbApzm15QFRT6yxCdK4E86Ys69g1UM7FQhY8dU_Vce12wH_BJQbxRD-P9u-812opdA5mztl4_bSVJwlIjZqwsMZzp-eCZ4/w640-h190/0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />For my colleagues and comrades in arms:</b><br /><br />My
world includes different areas of creative work. I have my poetry, my comic book scripts and prose anthologies along with journalistic coverage
of comics, poetry, prose, games, interviews and more, as well as work
outside of normal definitions, and non creative works of organization
and team building. There are many here, but I'll name those who are more
associates due to shared world of interest. Along with those mentioned
below, my site has benefitted from the time and products for review
from many publishers. Peter Bergting, Brian Haberlin, Chris Staros from
Top Shelf Productions, and many others helped me in my oft times lonely
quest to cover comics, books, music and games.<br /><br />So, in no order of preference...<br /><br /><b>Erik Larsen:</b>
Artist Writer of Savage Dragon, a great independent comic book. He
helped me find my path when the oncologist first said I was late 3rd
stage and/or early 4th stage of cancer. He chatted me, gave me hope and
said the most true thing anyone said or did, you can always get a bad diagnosis,
or even, you might have a miracle. (Both happened)<br /><br /><b>Michael Baron:</b>
For about 22 years Mike Baron has been a mentor, friend, grumpy old fart
telling me how to make my work better, and more. He also gave me hope
and advice when the news was bad, telling me, focus on the good, until
you are dead you are still alive and have a chance.<br /><br /><b>Bryan JL Glass:</b>
A writer of some enormous talent, he is someone who has given me real life hope, and he gave me spiritual hope, and he spoke with me and allowed me to vent, share
and discuss matters of a cosmic nature, that seemed increasingly to be
revealed to me, soon. Fortunately, that did not happen... yet.<br /><br /><b>Mike Grell:</b>
Artist Writer Mike Grell was one of the most enthusiastic, helpful
mentors, who did 3 pages of my first book, A LIFE OF RAVENS. He believed
in me, and has called me, his pain in the ass little brother. He
periodically sent messages of hope, message of iron and resolve, and
said things that I won't share, because they were spoken in our private
conversation. But they made me cry, and often. When I had my second
diagnoses of Late 3rd/Early 4th, he sent me a letter that said, his
greatest hope was that his pain in the ass little brother would live to
keep being a pain in the ass. (The name is an affectionate one, coming
from the days when we'd write often and he'd give me advice and when I
didn't do it immediately he'd say, hey Asshole, just do it.) I love Mike
very much.<br /><br /><b>Nate Barlow:</b> Nate is a fine documentarian, who
well knows his way about film making, acting, directing, and the
history of Hollywood. He has never been anything but kind and generous
in his time. But he has gone out of his way to give the greatest
interviews as far as depth is concerned, and is a person of infinitely
kind actions. And more than once, he propped me up when I was ready to
collapse mentally, and a kind inquiry here or comment there, made me
appreciate him greatly.<br /><br /><b>Frank Beddor:</b> I love Frank, we've
been friends since he called me, on my cell, when only 20 people or less
had my number. We chatted long and enriching, and we spoke many times.
Most importantly for me as a reviewer and interviewer, I really enjoyed
his works, both prose and graphic novels. When I thought I was about to
die, I asked him if he'd resend his library for review, so that I could
leave my readers, with my final entry, with the books I thought best
exemplified fun, well crafted stories, and the creation of new
imaginative works from great older roots. He then sent many things. It
blew me away in so many ways. He sent me a note, Alex, I think of you
daily in your struggle and can't wait to hear that you've beat the
enemy, cancer. When I did find out it wasn't what two oncologists had
said, he like me, celebrated the news. It made me cry how kind he was
and has been for over 20 years.<br /> <br /><b>Alan Dean Foster:</b> He's
been going through his own life issues, including Disney trying to hose
him on royalties, and health issues. But he took the time to send me
kind words, thoughts about what he learned in his own health battles,
and most of all, was a friend who listened to me, at a time when I was
sinking. I've been in contact with him since 1983, and he is a great
writer, kind person, and oft times mentor. He has been a gem in the
world of stones.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhpad0MPtRA4cSor9Mys2TKC5ejPah0Qd1X2oDO-OnatDMxsYzDqF_SWCQHEi24RtweBItG0pauGMlM6sDSZeIsq5cedM5ffxzGt9yqOsxoC_d023QFo6oAbBrfy7U1zAlC5jbAyM-mGvcgNPXYC-_8ysi63gbaJvycSNMMKY3difNY2yYxT2w8PLm6U/s2436/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="2436" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhpad0MPtRA4cSor9Mys2TKC5ejPah0Qd1X2oDO-OnatDMxsYzDqF_SWCQHEi24RtweBItG0pauGMlM6sDSZeIsq5cedM5ffxzGt9yqOsxoC_d023QFo6oAbBrfy7U1zAlC5jbAyM-mGvcgNPXYC-_8ysi63gbaJvycSNMMKY3difNY2yYxT2w8PLm6U/w640-h102/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Lastly, and not at all Leastly... I am thankful for these artists who I have not created with, nor worked with: <b>The Swallows, J. Briozo, Dissident Creatures, and The Sleeper Pins. </b><br /><br />No,
that isn't four distinctly different bands. It is a gathering of
enormously talented musicians, who have bands that express their
different styles, outlooks, and grooves. I've interviewed each of them,
and I have been amazed to know how deeply intelligent each is, along
with their musical talents.<br /><br /><b>Brett Hanson<br />Jeff Crandall<br />Aaron Kerr<br />Tyson Allison<br />Mike Norby<br /></b><br />More
than anything, while I am moved by the minds and talent of this group
of humans, I am also comforted, and intellectually inspired by them.
Each one is a different being, but somehow when they play together, they
create a masterful work of beauty and power.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuFXRCyRUD2joThA3I3V3HzWGaR69TAS7Kc91uCJbVQcSn_29VYkq8E8QSvplJ3AyHOtD0Pr5KFsnHWgXjrkaHECikqIVYZChS2TcHmrEX6dgox0r1YG585TYtcBZpTSons0FJ95DHPO4ALdP1GQT4b1DFcn8WFxisNL_BMcvVGEagEVOw9gof-0P01I/s1158/350772744_643461073933982_7220544069762487045_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="1158" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuFXRCyRUD2joThA3I3V3HzWGaR69TAS7Kc91uCJbVQcSn_29VYkq8E8QSvplJ3AyHOtD0Pr5KFsnHWgXjrkaHECikqIVYZChS2TcHmrEX6dgox0r1YG585TYtcBZpTSons0FJ95DHPO4ALdP1GQT4b1DFcn8WFxisNL_BMcvVGEagEVOw9gof-0P01I/w640-h324/350772744_643461073933982_7220544069762487045_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>FINAL THOUGHTS<br /><br /></b>I
am very thankful to the Rockford Veterinary Clinic for saving both of
my beloved senior cats. They've allowed me to breathe again, I was in
deep fear of their loss. They performed, in my eyes, amazing miracles.<br /><br />Thank
you readers too. I've appreciated how many write to me personally, and
ask me questions about the worlds I've found myself a part of.<br /><b><br />LASTLY<br /><br /></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-90838268878998865672023-11-19T22:00:00.000-08:002023-11-19T22:00:00.146-08:00MY BOOKS<p><b>BOOKS I'VE DONE<br />By Alex Ness<br />November 20, 2023<br /></b></p><p><b>REASONS</b><br /><br />I've been nearly banned from FACEBOOK and, since I absolutely believe it is wrong to do what they've done, I'm removing all my content from the site. I've been told that they believe I am a right winger, and other such labels. Since I don't post politics, and do not post obscenity they are removing my posts in fear, rather than for reality. If it must be known, in my presidential votes since 1984, I've voted for 3rd parties more than Democrats or Republicans, and more Democrats than Republicans. The math does not work for their campaign of hate against me.<br /><br />Also, after much consideration, while I appreciate every person who has made this site better for their own work upon it, I realize that at this point, it is my site. Rather than say what I've said in the past, that this site is mostly my doing, but others have been just as important, I'd suggest it was my site, and it was open to the many writing here for a time, but are now gone. This isn't the site where I"m endeavoring to promote my work, but I get asked so many times where to find my published works, I've decided to just go forward and accept reality. I'd like to say, there are at least five works I did not display, since they were published using my work, but not giving me credit by name. I ghost write articles for websites, for money and for Non Profit Organizations that do good works, therefore I'm volunteering. The refusal to post the covers of books I've written but received no credit nor payment is not about my experiences and work ghost writing or NPO works. It is about theft where the reward was so small to sue or to move forward would be pointless.<br /></p><p><b>NOTES UPON THE BOOKS <br /></b></p><p>Some notes... since Covid in May my memory is almost non existent. As a result my posting these books is in a semblance of order of appearance, but not exactly so. I could look up the indicia or the Amazon info, but I just am not worried enough, or energetic enough to make that happen. Also, not every book has my name upon the cover, but every book shown below has my work inside its covers. I do not claim anything that is not directly true, and I do not claim credit where it is not accurate.<br /><br />I get asked which books I sold the most of. This is not exact, but when selling Sasquatch, it has sold well over 150 copies. I have sold well over 200 copies of my book Cthulhu: Catastrophic Discoveries. Its predecessor was only slightly less successful. Many other works I cannot tell you how many sold, because in one case a publisher was a cheat, in other cases it wasn't my business as I was paid in product, and did not receive royalties. No, you do not have to ask me who cheated me, I won't say. I will say this, without the internet and Amazon I'd not have blogged, obviously, become a full time writer, less obviously, and for this I am grateful for both. From a distance you might feel the world never rewards you, but being a stay at home father, using blogs and websites of my own, and writing for other people, all served to allow me to publish, be published, and publish anthologies where other people are published.<br /><br />If you have a desire to order something, check with me first? Amazon purchases end up with me making 2 dollars or less. I can give you a better price than Amazon, and make more on my end, if you buy directly from me. Not all works are still in print, and, in fact, many will go out of print soon. I am not, in any way shape or form complaining, after all, the decision regarding these is my own to make. Amazon has been a fair, but not altogether generous publisher, and I am moving to my next stage of work. News to come, when I have it. Contact me at <b><i><u>AlexanderNess63@gmail.com</u></i></b> for prices, available stock, and possible deals<br /><b><br />THE BOOKS (Presented in no order whatsoever, no order of publication, no order of preference)</b><b><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEyrCWIsfvIZdJDHVBp59t4tWK3y2BHNGqJAzaG1-PLICqXoMVC7fyKqig-ASkJkdQjlKJRRerS4DTArsCkdkxh61DTi7PWYlJZot7okhavlTLAc05C36C576pwaIPsuPcAzEkGDqTfvQinOWxrhaffJvmv2EdiI_d95Mm2tjvEkFsvW8rw37KL_Zhqg/s604/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="460" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEyrCWIsfvIZdJDHVBp59t4tWK3y2BHNGqJAzaG1-PLICqXoMVC7fyKqig-ASkJkdQjlKJRRerS4DTArsCkdkxh61DTi7PWYlJZot7okhavlTLAc05C36C576pwaIPsuPcAzEkGDqTfvQinOWxrhaffJvmv2EdiI_d95Mm2tjvEkFsvW8rw37KL_Zhqg/w305-h400/2.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4WNglJY_h4WOXTWNEY2tJlYoG4R1cODpXEn5KH09GZaSfEAKyAnhNcRpHbflNKzGuPGp6ipKTLODLjTkJZMyQ9rNMqRddUyvyl_PIClzPVzVdwStEwlxLzSlUhBvnWjO2TnbNVbVYB5uUXeRW9jYR5WEX3yeC1gx0TLQHPHlBoTS6wOhlMO0eFgKQo8w/s640/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; 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font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><b><br />CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE</b><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i><b>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</b></i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.</span></span><b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;" /></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration-line: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration-line: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><i style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br /></i></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><i style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration-line: none;">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration-line: none;">X/Twitter</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/alex.ness.549436" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><i style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;">s, use </i></span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><i style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></b></span>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-46196265170625664622023-11-12T22:00:00.160-08:002023-11-12T22:00:00.146-08:00A Whole Lot of Rich Koslowski<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGTCdIjm0PVsIbgzwkcjWGlyJQKqtlq-DNwdpRLN59qjZgzLUgt-Dj2zhk1vDZYgy-bIKRiAZwgxyoXTtnRp_4oLMOoJn8lRraapRCF1hYrF_1gDHwnjVTcq6siwFNxcjtolm3rayR5LJY_yh6rWuu7Douybx4UX0VKqmbrkYK-09eaUFP9y1dCyKIcM/s1264/couple-2300099_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1264" data-original-width="820" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGTCdIjm0PVsIbgzwkcjWGlyJQKqtlq-DNwdpRLN59qjZgzLUgt-Dj2zhk1vDZYgy-bIKRiAZwgxyoXTtnRp_4oLMOoJn8lRraapRCF1hYrF_1gDHwnjVTcq6siwFNxcjtolm3rayR5LJY_yh6rWuu7Douybx4UX0VKqmbrkYK-09eaUFP9y1dCyKIcM/w260-h400/couple-2300099_1280.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><b>RICH KOSLOWSKI<br />By Alex Ness<br />November 13, 2023</b><br /><p></p><p><b>FIRST A REVIEW </b><br /><b><br /><i>F.A.R.M. System<br />By Rich Koslowski <br />Softcover, $19.99<br />208 Pages, full color<br />Top Shelf Productions</i></b><br /></p><p>It would be fair to say that Rich Koslowski doesn't write and illustrate stories like other creative talents. His art is distinct from other artists, but his writing is what gives the reader a different perspective and quality story. He is bright and able but more than just that, he has an outlook that draws upon the inner workings of a person of fame, and asks questions that any normal person would ask. <br /><br />In his book The King he asked what the power of celebrity could lead to, and in particular, should a talent seem to be Elvis returned in the flesh, would he be treated as a celebrity, or with apt caution, assume it is a person performing in character, but by no means the impersonated celebrity. His work Three Fingers asks if Mickey Mouse could find himself depressed, unemployable, and drinking to forget what his celebrity caused him to do.<br /></p><p>In F.A.R.M. System Rich asks important specific questions... if superheroes were real, how would they behave, how would they become famous, how might they use their fame for gain, or for others. In this work, the consequences of talents and heroism don't always lead to being a successful superhero. The idea might have been approached before, as to real world consequences and practices of a world with superheroes, but Rich makes the story an entertaining ride, with quirks and admirable efforts to make this work unique, intelligently done and worth the money. <br /><br />I didn't find any notable flaws, the art was nice to look at, and the story was well done. Review grade B+/A- <br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><b>NEXT A KICKSTARTER</b><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richkoslowski/mercy-2"><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">MERCY by Rich Koslowski</span></b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5XQXD61g2Gm4v1ahyszZC6W2unkYLmdhhSA9hyuQeqh23-02Oe6Xqtl_eHpS7fr7DgtRryhQchH0UhjD7jlXjPFg2JW0WocLXoFIvxVxar4P7JRpuXLVvb5l4H28EFa5AdHiCsTlWfQub5v6htKIC_JJgQhMaD5FuGaX9KXdZEYmoXEXWLWyUptZFsQ/s1028/8b3de732c8a3afbabd6c8dbf4af4add6_original.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="680" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5XQXD61g2Gm4v1ahyszZC6W2unkYLmdhhSA9hyuQeqh23-02Oe6Xqtl_eHpS7fr7DgtRryhQchH0UhjD7jlXjPFg2JW0WocLXoFIvxVxar4P7JRpuXLVvb5l4H28EFa5AdHiCsTlWfQub5v6htKIC_JJgQhMaD5FuGaX9KXdZEYmoXEXWLWyUptZFsQ/w424-h640/8b3de732c8a3afbabd6c8dbf4af4add6_original.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br />"Hello everyone! It's your old pal, Rich Koslowski here! I have a
brand spankin' new project I'm really excited about. Listen, I love
MONSTERS! I love Horror movies and horror novels and horror comics! I
also love creating and self-publishing. Therefore, I have written and
illustrated my very own Illustrated Horror Novel and have decided to
launch this baby on Kickstarter! <p></p><p>Now, let's dive right in here with a brief description of the story and all the other <span class="text-italic">pertinents...</span></p><p><span class="bold">THE BOOK </span>(as seen below being read by <span class="text-italic">the Zealot</span>)<span class="bold">:</span></p><div class="template asset" contenteditable="false" data-alt-text="" data-caption="" data-id="42812103">
<figure class="image" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img alt="" class="fit" data-airgap-id="58" height="200" src="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/042/812/103/636f91f465dfda1611edfead81cf57d1_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=680&fit=max&v=1698161525&gif-q=50&q=92&s=87509319f4c1ad607c23c4fcff7f7bb7" width="159" />
</figure>
</div>
<p><span class="text-italic">In a universe of monsters, a hospital and
its monstrous staff finds themselves swept up in a crime investigation
after multiple staff members are found murdered eighteen years after a
human may or may not have suddenly entered their world through a portal.</span></p><p><span class="text-italic">Detectives
Rozanski (a Fire Demon) and Carl Woodrow (a Sasquatch) are hot on the
trail of this serial killer and the insane possibility that a mythical
"human" may be their culprit! Will they find the murderer before he
escapes through the portal and destroys both the monster's and the
human's worlds? </span></p><p><span class="text-italic"><span class="bold">Mercy</span></span> is a 244 page Illustrated Horror Novel, filled with 71 full-color and B&W illustrations. <span class="text-italic">Mercy</span> is filled with Horror, Intrigue, Mystery, Murder and a healthy dose of Humor!</p><div class="page"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">
<p><span class="text-italic">'A spooky and fun story that reminds
audiences of Halloweentown layered on top of a complex and mature crime
thriller reminiscent of NCIS or The Exorcist III, this novel
successfully embraces its inventive premise while offering up an
ensemble of monstrous characters that appeal to a wide range of
readers.' </span></p>
<p>––Jon Knecht, World Builder Entertainment"<br /><b><br />KNOWING RICH </b><br /></p></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJU-QlCCDFDR8Q834gfrRhQyHLM_6WtoObFugeKqAiPt6zbjIsnAYj07R-T6_xewGd5TPzFHdYVNrpyuq1HKTUkU_8RzsPykJezfHU69pIw3EzwtBCQLO9pcS-JPILCRHRAp4OPYPwprCYnpShlzGxdpIH9qV0_B1T8gcCsAviDJu39y4Mh4cWC5iyu-g/s3950/396303110_895032744859061_1715004204331181432_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="3950" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJU-QlCCDFDR8Q834gfrRhQyHLM_6WtoObFugeKqAiPt6zbjIsnAYj07R-T6_xewGd5TPzFHdYVNrpyuq1HKTUkU_8RzsPykJezfHU69pIw3EzwtBCQLO9pcS-JPILCRHRAp4OPYPwprCYnpShlzGxdpIH9qV0_B1T8gcCsAviDJu39y4Mh4cWC5iyu-g/w640-h240/396303110_895032744859061_1715004204331181432_n.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I met Rich at a convention in Minnesota in 2006 and interviewed him shortly thereafter. We became friends, which led to his being one of the artists who worked on my first book with my name on the cover, A LIFE OF RAVENS. He did a wonderful piece, and his presence on the book helped it in many ways. Shortly thereafter we were tabled next to each other at Oconocon, a smaller con at a nice venue in Southern Wisconsin. It was fun to chat with him. While he escaped to California with his wife and child, he has since returned. Perhaps I'll get a chance to interview him, but more than that, I wanted to say, whenever I see his name on a project, I know it means it will be good.<br /><b><br />Find Rich at his <a href="https://www.richkoslowski.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3QHuMZdHQRABsgbaklsgCL8A3yLn17I0OJdaGYxeT9wb93Ts7TysYeb93BGsmLNreVAFlCjGhFqqFVKVkeMRxMPA6ZqxfEkvFrFLScPImECjdui41N4unErurOas85fVJA0skG_Q_mNzrQy7nxBGUJKSSmncPxCSYObPyjGzpWuiK7hy26reTdyIovs/s604/mybookliferavens2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="460" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3QHuMZdHQRABsgbaklsgCL8A3yLn17I0OJdaGYxeT9wb93Ts7TysYeb93BGsmLNreVAFlCjGhFqqFVKVkeMRxMPA6ZqxfEkvFrFLScPImECjdui41N4unErurOas85fVJA0skG_Q_mNzrQy7nxBGUJKSSmncPxCSYObPyjGzpWuiK7hy26reTdyIovs/w488-h640/mybookliferavens2.jpg" width="488" /></a></div>
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alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-64353004250441931502023-11-07T22:00:00.002-08:002023-11-08T07:27:43.142-08:00IF YOU MISSED THEM<p><b>COMICS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED<br />By Alex and my best friend, Rich Chapell <br />November 8, 2023</b><br /><br />I wanted to create a regular feature wherein I consider works that didn't linger long enough on the shelves to inspire a collected version, or as a limited series it didn't have sales that suggested a TPB would have additionally good sales. My first few attempts led to no responses. But this time and a previous time, a number of my comic book loving friends said let's do it. I'll begin with my choices, and follow with choices of my friend Rich Chapell. The only rules were, the comics considered critically or popularly, needing better sales, critically appreciated works that no one saw or heard of, and could do well now, or works that just lingered upon the outer reaches of success, but never quite broke through. It isn't a contest, and it is a matter of taste that we are sharing, but you might find a work that inspires you.<br /><b><br />THE ORIGINAL ASTRO BOY by NOW COMICS</b><br /></p><p>During the run of the original Astro Boy in Japan, it was a fun, well written and drawn work, that Americans might have had a slight knowledge of. But Now Comics utilized the newsstand market versus the direct market, and Astro Boy was a robot, a happy looking creation, and the stories appealed to both children and adult comic readers. I truly enjoyed it, bought it for less than a 25¢ each, and read them all, upon the end thinking, I really wanted more. The writing captured the original flavor, the art was both modern, but still reminiscent of the original.<br /><br /><b>AIR FIGHTERS CLASSICS by ECLIPSE<br /></b></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Airboy by Chuck Dixon, Thom Yeates and Timothy Truman was a rebirth of a World War II work, that featured a boy and a unique aircraft, and villains that were deliciously dark, and the whole work felt adventurous and worth the rebirth. But, for most readers, the universe it existed in was alien and unfamiliar. It was well written and illustrated, the editorial guidance obvious and steady, but the Air Fighters Classics was an attempt to create a mini series that reprinted stories that helped ground Airboy in the world his adventures took place in. It was truly a work that the readers needed, but it was troubled by stereotyped art, black and white pages, and a relatively high price. But I enjoyed it.<br /><b><br />JUDGE DREDD by DC</b><br /></p><p>Allowing Mike Oeming and Andy Helfer to tell stories in the Judge Dredd universe, for me, was a brilliant choice by the license owner, and the original publisher. Judge Dredd's world is dark and dangerous, a dystopia with little hope. Helfer's work on the Shadow pissed off many. Oeming had been working on many independent comics and had excellent skills and talents, but was relatively unknown to many. All I could think of was the freedom to tell a story with the audience being new to the world. But it seems the newness of the approach alone angered many. The art was great, the stories were quirky, and original. I thought it should be collected.<br /><b><br />RACE OF SCORPIONS by DARK HORSE<br /></b><a alt="Voir la fiche de Durañona, Leo" href="https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-26518-BD-Duranona-Leo.html" title="Voir la fiche de Durañona, Leo"></a><br />Leo Durañona told a story in a way that was epic, and in a world that was dystopic, it was powerful and demonstrated a people in grave crisis. The devastated world considered was part Dune, part Arzach, or straight Moebius, or Nausicaa, this work is about people who suffer after a climactic disaster, where water is as good as gold. Art was wonderful, the story, if familiar, wonderful to read, if also depressing too. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3qjscN0h1gLAtasgGAouBkO0aMHQazzzI-1gEe4RbW5oX5qO21r6SL_KW1qwb6XMkEJWCPxg58Km-ACETmcjwR9GeYqQhPnRji_5FFQclbj4p1jw1XMQBKRknE25fb_CrePydWeFMbvMUnOkyt_6LlLRCFAMwHYuHc71-7_dSP0DnZM_z51zykE4NjM/s1796/rust-2006923.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1796" data-original-width="1734" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3qjscN0h1gLAtasgGAouBkO0aMHQazzzI-1gEe4RbW5oX5qO21r6SL_KW1qwb6XMkEJWCPxg58Km-ACETmcjwR9GeYqQhPnRji_5FFQclbj4p1jw1XMQBKRknE25fb_CrePydWeFMbvMUnOkyt_6LlLRCFAMwHYuHc71-7_dSP0DnZM_z51zykE4NjM/w618-h640/rust-2006923.jpg" width="618" /><b><br /></b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Rich Chapell's Choices, and Commentary</b><br /><br /><b>Demon Hunter (Atlas, 1975)</b><br /><br />Demon Hunter, by Rich Buckler with writer David Anthony Kraft, was hands-down the best book produced by Martin Goodman’s short-lived Atlas/Seaboard comics. Sadly, it appeared at the tail end of that venture’s existence, and lasted only a single issue before the entire company folded. Buckler and Kraft later revived the character as Devil Slayer at Marvel, but the iron was no longer hot.<br /><br />To my eye, the look of the character invokes Ditko. Both his early Dr. Strange and his contemporaneous Stalker come to mind. On the other hand, the storytelling, panel composition and narrative structure remind me of Goodman and Simonson’s groundbreaking Manhunter series.<br /><br />Gideon Cross is a mercenary; a bodyguard/enforcer for hire, but he’s also a mystic warrior for a mysterious cult, the Harvesters of Night. In addition to his combat skills he is a telepath with powers of illusion and a has mystic cloak that enables him to teleport or banish foes to distant dimensions and also serves as a cache for weapons both mystic and mundane. He begins to question the motives of the Harvesters, but sensing this they send a demon to destroy him.<br /><br />Created at the tail end of the Monster Comics fad that gave us Ghost Rider, Moon Knight and Blade the Vampire Hunter, Demon Hunter provides a good glimpse of the post-Viet Nam aimlessness that characterized the period. Cross joined the Harvesters because they gave him direction. It could have been the Hare Krishnas or the Peoples’ Temple. Or Disco. He emerges from his fog to learn that the Harvesters intend to bring about Xenogenesis, the rebirth of the demon race and their domination over the Earthly realm. “From now on,” he thinks, “I believe in myself.” <br /><br />He declares war on the Harvesters of Night, but they’re at least one step ahead of him, and already have him under surveillance. With that, the issue ends, and we never find out what happens.<b><br /></b><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7RaVXqC3I6pusnZMcAxabJVoglQwDDBAyrn4sAJ3XA1Q0k4iqsTuekwuWw4yN2Sr1xTtctzZjiceRel3zoWwolIq5H7SeuaZtHdQItHIFFnReIN20Pnf25VHTgXQ39jWcUS8AfTHESwnDqtYP-IQQZHdrzXmGuX6X7pcZdkoiHhHZsuoOmYmYgmg5EI/s1437/dh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="1437" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7RaVXqC3I6pusnZMcAxabJVoglQwDDBAyrn4sAJ3XA1Q0k4iqsTuekwuWw4yN2Sr1xTtctzZjiceRel3zoWwolIq5H7SeuaZtHdQItHIFFnReIN20Pnf25VHTgXQ39jWcUS8AfTHESwnDqtYP-IQQZHdrzXmGuX6X7pcZdkoiHhHZsuoOmYmYgmg5EI/w640-h202/dh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>Hotspur (Eclipse, 1987)</b><br /><br />1987 was a good year to be John
Ostrander. His Grim Jack was defining the Grim & Gritty style of the
era, DC was publishing his short-lived but innovative horror anthology
Wasteland, and he’d just created the revamped Suicide Squad. On top of
this, he found time to write the fun, campy swashbuckler Hotspur, a
three-issue miniseries for Tim Truman’s 4Winds Productions, published by
Eclipse.<br /><br />Madcap actor Josef Quist is summoned by a wizard to an
alternate world and tasked with stealing the talisman of the sex
goddess. As is always the case on a good quest, he makes friends and
enemies along the way, including a gay barbarian, the high priestess of
the sex goddess, and a pair of Hollywood ghosts who invoke both Thin Man
and Topper. Buckles are swashed, tongue never leaves cheek, and after
three issues of madcap hijinx and clever repartee, good (albeit naughty)
triumphs over evil and order (though admittedly somewhat messy) is
restored. Big, stupid fun!<br /><br />This first issue was beautifully drawn
by Karl Waller, but he unfortunately took ill and much of the remaining
two were done by Ben Dunn. While he tries to adapt his style to suit
the material, he’s not playing to his strengths. Still, he’s a skilled
sequential storyteller, and gets the job done.<br /><br />Hotspur is (or has been) available as a trade paperback from Comicmix.<b><br /></b><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnBkjGTVsYf1jhdGru3ox4G6uKn55Y56p1X6UEz_vSDwnxx7_rsCuwBX3ArGONvgoKoziCfNcPL-vU2GetgF6EZ6qQcs2OBoSw4yyupH6UTEqBQH0YHLYALJaQulW5LuMSgjYYIOUBVgAebJaVNHp7hPCi0QUndzsX79MRKO2aLx2CAaxi4ln2lkgcCM/s1451/hotspur.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="1451" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnBkjGTVsYf1jhdGru3ox4G6uKn55Y56p1X6UEz_vSDwnxx7_rsCuwBX3ArGONvgoKoziCfNcPL-vU2GetgF6EZ6qQcs2OBoSw4yyupH6UTEqBQH0YHLYALJaQulW5LuMSgjYYIOUBVgAebJaVNHp7hPCi0QUndzsX79MRKO2aLx2CAaxi4ln2lkgcCM/w640-h204/hotspur.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>Cartoon History of the Universe (Rip Off Press, 1978)</b><br /><br />Founded
in the ‘60s, Rip Off Press published Underground comix. That means you
couldn’t find their books at the news stand or even in the specialty
comics shops that were starting to appear by the late ‘70s. To find
their books, you had to go to a… Head Shop! There, among the glassware,
healing crystals and Grateful Dead tapestries, you might find a small
spinner rack of books you couldn’t find anywhere else. Zap Comix! Dr.
Atomic! Checkered Demon! The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers! And almost
as an afterthought, Cartoon History of the Universe.<br /><br />Cartoon
History stood out from the other books because it wasn’t focused on sex,
drugs or deviant behavior. It was genuinely informative, interesting
and very funny. It wasn’t long before I’d bought all seven issues extant
at the time. The first issue takes us from the Big Bang through the
rise of the primates. The second guides us through human evolution, use
of tools and the development of agriculture. Subsequent issues focus on
the Babylonians, Egyptians, Hebrews and finally the Greeks. Years later I
discovered that two more issues had been published, covering ancient
India and China. I thought these were a bit weaker than earlier issues.
They seemed rushed, and showed less affection for the subject matter.<br /><br />Writer/Artist
Larry Gonick approaches history as a story, with many characters,
themes and motifs occurring and recurring. While there’s sex, drugs and
depravity along the way, there is also wisdom, empathy and insight.
Everything is carefully researched, with references cited. Gonick
interrupts his broad sweeps with illustrative, and often hilarious
anecdotes, illustrating the conflicts between slave and master, culture
and culture, or individual and society. The art style is as realistic or
cartoonish as necessary to make the point and/or the joke.<br /><br />Nine
issues were published by Rip Off Press between 1978 and 1992. They have
been reprinted in trade paperbacks by Doubleday along with additional
material bringing us up to the end of the 20th century. All are still
available in five volumes, with the last two titled The Cartoon History
of the Modern World. I didn’t know these existed until I began research
for this article, but they’ve been moved to the top of my Amazon wish
list.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JbWJROF-KKWWdIDst61jVkSLRq8iQgPaIhyNDCRO9q9ayOVcBRR8AtDxjXFpYTneOCFh6lKSEUUJteyNE98vSUIMZXEoBcglnAz7vh4bfV1rPz8RySUe1H4yAGKuBQWaYJKbwISxmuVgW_aJGV137FL0GoGHhVqTM0n0_SW-gcRTdulwZ-XhxAIjCKk/s1236/cartoon.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="1236" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JbWJROF-KKWWdIDst61jVkSLRq8iQgPaIhyNDCRO9q9ayOVcBRR8AtDxjXFpYTneOCFh6lKSEUUJteyNE98vSUIMZXEoBcglnAz7vh4bfV1rPz8RySUe1H4yAGKuBQWaYJKbwISxmuVgW_aJGV137FL0GoGHhVqTM0n0_SW-gcRTdulwZ-XhxAIjCKk/w640-h234/cartoon.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>Pervert Club (A.M. Works, 1995)</b><br /><br />This
faux-manga by Will Allison is both a faithful translation of Japanese
manga conventions and a satyric send-up of absurd manga tropes. It falls
securely into the High School Club genre, which really is a genuine
genre in Japan, with stories running hundreds of episodes about chess
club, tennis club or drama club. But this is Pervert club, not
officially sanctioned by the school.<br /><br />When Malcolm Davis is caught
by his sister stealing her panties, she retaliates by telling the
entire school. This attracts the attention of April, president of the
underground Pervert Club. When, Inspired by his platonic friend April,
he decides to come out as a crossdresser. Julia is ecstatic, and
recruits him into the club, which includes an infantilist, a voyeur and a
dom/sub lesbian couple. Teen drama ensues.<br /><br />The kink never rises
above a PG rating, because that’s not really the point. It’s not about
the kink, it’s about people’s reaction to the kink. Malcolm’s mom takes
it in stride, while his sister is mortified. His classmates react as the
genre dictates. Various tropes make themselves known, such as the
Interloper, the power struggles within the club, unrequited crushes, and
the opposition of adults who Just Don’t Understand. Other tropes are
raised only to be mocked. When Julia channels Team Rocket to rant about
taking over the school via Fetish Power, the others just laugh.<br /><br />Despite
the overall satiric tone, a certain amount of insight is displayed as
well. In a scene that would doubtless be condemned by Moms for Liberty
if they ever became aware of it, Malcolm’s mom defies the school
principal to come up with a single reason he can’t wear women’s clothes
to school. April assumes that being a crossdresser means Malcolm is gay,
which never even occurred to him. A bisexual student is rejected from
Pervert club because that doesn’t even count as a kink (And also because
he’s handsome and popular, and thus a threat to Julia’s power.)<br /><br />The
art is unpolished but adequate. The writing is spot-on. Pervert club
runs a full twelve issues and reaches a satisfying conclusion. I commend
Allison for completing a series that probably barely covered his
printing costs. I wish the series had done better and he’d gone on to
produce more books.<br /><br />The first few issues of Pervert club are
available in trade paperback from Radio Comix. The rest you’ll have to
track down on your own. They won’t be expensive, but they’ll be hard to
find. The book only sold a few thousand copies per issue. I understand
there is also an unrelated manga with the same title now. I know nothing
about it other than the fact that it exists.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnroEUx53LMpl_C24utqFPaI7p3Ssw81i_eqjnRRTQ8WGHX3oJhJ7-wRyQvuZT5kd6mANDMEn37xq-Xc4hQrbBEVAMBku9nvqPDOsBcSrFbMUioj4uuUrrV6MRRxiVx4SUddzOcsiP0OYV6yXuMk5jMKDFOCdZqiGCzlXL4HUTZyZLFFcEn1QmR_K5No0/s1779/perv.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1779" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnroEUx53LMpl_C24utqFPaI7p3Ssw81i_eqjnRRTQ8WGHX3oJhJ7-wRyQvuZT5kd6mANDMEn37xq-Xc4hQrbBEVAMBku9nvqPDOsBcSrFbMUioj4uuUrrV6MRRxiVx4SUddzOcsiP0OYV6yXuMk5jMKDFOCdZqiGCzlXL4HUTZyZLFFcEn1QmR_K5No0/w640-h218/perv.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CONTACTING ME FOR REVIEWS OR OTHERWISE<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></p>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-9127067081415284782023-11-05T22:00:00.030-08:002023-11-05T22:00:00.135-08:00Never take a retreat, Go upon a Forward!<p><b>FORWARD!<br />By Alex Ness<br />November 6, 2023<br /></b><br />Beginning this with a bonus item, a review of RVR by Jamie Delano by a very close friend Joe Hilliard. He is literary, smart, talented. One of those smart fellers, whereas me? I am a fart smeller.<b><br /><br />DELANO RVR A-GO-GO – Joe Hilliard<br /><br /></b>It seems like I have grown up, become an adult, with Jamie Delano. I was in high school when his HELLBLAZER hit my local comic store, that storm that became DC's Vertigo line. Awash in cyberpunk and hardboiled crime fiction at the time, his John Constantine fit right in with that sharp cynical me. His OUTLAW NATION came out with me as a new father, struggling with so, so many issues, failing and flailing in my life. And I understood. I still marvel at this ambitious epic sprawl of a book. Then his LEEPUS novels at yet another failing and flailing moment, calling out for a different, not so sharp and cynical future. They weren't cyberpunk, they weren't proto-solarpunk, they weren't exactly ecopunk, but they were something. They were definitely something. None of his works are easily categorized. But they all have the same fingerprints all over them. Can we call it delanopunk or delanonoir and be done with it?<br /><br />And now? As my daughter is getting married to end 2023, here is Delano, along with his brother Richard James, unleashing RVR, subtitled "an hallucinatory navigation." In the endtro, Delano refers to it as an "unreliable memoir." Ostensibly, when you first look at RVR, it's poetry with pictures. Quietly, it's much much more than either of those descriptors. Quiet is not what you think of when you think Delano. And yet… as the poems slowly meander through the 70s and the 80s, across the river, interspersed with found object tableaux … there is a remarkable stillness to the project. Not the dead stillness of a cabinet of curiosities; there is a vibrance to the words, the images as they play across the page. In the endtro Delano notes that he had missed the marriage of the "visual element" with the words dating back to his comic book work. Design wise, here the fragments, the words, are encased in boxes similar to comic book caption boxes, evoking the trapped action of comic book panels, even as the words are flow along … married together. Dynamic quietness. <br /><br />It’s no surprise that even in the reveries his youth, Delano infuses the work with a critique of modern society. I casually threw out the -punk modifier to describe Delano's prior work, and it has become the signifier for a rage against the machine, a going against the conventional grain. And yes, there is that vein running through Delano. The 80s failing Thatcherite England of Constantine. The hidden world that Story Johnson and his family inhabit. The post-apocalyptic river that Leepus travels down… the same river that the narrator of RVR inhabits? Yes. No. Does it matter. The streams coming together in one river, the 70s of Delano's youth, the comic books of the 80s, the world swirling – the disenfranchised, the lost, well, lost to those that "matter." And really that's what pushes through in RVR. What matters. Perhaps in a different form than we've seen Delano use before. I thought of BLUE COLLAR REVIEW, a quarterly poetic peon to those who keep the world really running. I thought of the poems of Countee Cullen.<br /><br />But even more, I thought of Jamie Delano, and the steadiness of his voice, the steadfastness of his pushing boundaries, pushing what we should expect from life, what we have seen in life. The quiet here? It wells up in you, until the silence is deafening. Go and be deafened by Delano. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjQIBHacI52bz0BspJIdNYf-t2Ayxe4b7kSA6gkA04MA0S9Y-vQfZJMIpRaHybu8oHtyOGJgffv5qKkvoPgOqN8l7I_fecp-PxkxzaAiaHQiL8Q4bpZc0Mko5WpfcOcTkWkSWOFpG-KTsU2RcSLmcWc2mqoPP9beR4LIOphPaoUdfexM82PNxIw7gHv8/s1077/a.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1077" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjQIBHacI52bz0BspJIdNYf-t2Ayxe4b7kSA6gkA04MA0S9Y-vQfZJMIpRaHybu8oHtyOGJgffv5qKkvoPgOqN8l7I_fecp-PxkxzaAiaHQiL8Q4bpZc0Mko5WpfcOcTkWkSWOFpG-KTsU2RcSLmcWc2mqoPP9beR4LIOphPaoUdfexM82PNxIw7gHv8/w640-h394/a.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br /></b><b>A PERIOD OF RETREAT AND DEFEAT <br /></b><br />I initially began writing
this with a long and drawn out account of why the previous four years
sucked ass. But I believe it is enough to say just that, the previous 4
years sucked ass. I am ready to start a new chapter in my story of
existence.<br /><br />In a shorter take, ever since February 2nd, 2019 I
have gone through 4+ surgeries, cancer scares, a broken neck, a totaled
car and much more. Worse than those, I lost more than a dozen friends
and family, including my brother and sister, my best friend Joe Monks,
and my mother in law. Over that period, my blog reached 5000 + poems, I
continued writing, I didn't release anything new until the horror
convention Crypticon over September 2023. Crypticon went well for sales,
and I did enjoy it quite a good deal. But it came about with a loss
like everything already discussed, as I mentioned my writing partner and
one of my very best friends Joe Monks had passed away in August 2023.
Every step forward was followed by an equal amount in the opposite
direction, and more. I was utterly defeated, and even more still,
exhausted.<b><br /></b><br />I must say, and mean it most sincerely, I don't
plan to die, of stroke or car accident, cancer or by my own hand. My
son will have children with a wife, I want to see my grandchildren. I
want to watch my wife enjoy the comforts and due time for herself in
retirement, she has books she wants to read, and more, travel the
planet. I want to keep writing, and I'd love to live in a far away
non-public address hidden chalet. Who knows the future? yes, but for all
of us, upon this planet, let it be good!<br /><b><br />MY RESOLVE<br /></b><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9awQhsx-Phi1AvNUZW1gRvCnKLzs2n1GCxoTdzWvv7XxvgzX6V_rOzvTIMIM3JkL29CzsB7M5IbGsdZvxgCeIDswXyRabxG3Ui5ucV6YSDt16JeOnvcMAUdOdtZGjpkKN_WhFPXNbWpqYbzP5i93M_dgny3il9-aAVhfjkc_lOqmoRiy7UJkDVRZTeDU/s1280/F8jb38EXkAAMu96.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9awQhsx-Phi1AvNUZW1gRvCnKLzs2n1GCxoTdzWvv7XxvgzX6V_rOzvTIMIM3JkL29CzsB7M5IbGsdZvxgCeIDswXyRabxG3Ui5ucV6YSDt16JeOnvcMAUdOdtZGjpkKN_WhFPXNbWpqYbzP5i93M_dgny3il9-aAVhfjkc_lOqmoRiy7UJkDVRZTeDU/w320-h213/F8jb38EXkAAMu96.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>"Perfect purity is possible if you turn your life into a line<br />of poetry written with a splash of blood." Yukio Mishima<span class="sew8zhxynezegxu"></span><span class="sew8zhxynezegxu"></span></b></i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">It is one thing to be aware of the disasters that I've experienced or caused, it is quite another to vow not to go back and repeat my errors, or to watch as others fall, and not help them rise. So from here on out, I will not linger in the past. I will not let my mind adopt fatalism and take that mindset. I will appreciate all the good things in life, and will endeavor to share them, give them oxygen to breathe and grow, and will forgive myself, and all those who've wounded me. I am no different than anyone else, in that I am flawed, but I make the mistake of holding grudges. It is time for that to stop.<b><br /><br /></b><b>THE BOOK AUTHORS WHO ARE MY SURE THING (in no particular order)</b><b><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8id1JNFos0kn2iugGBpb7E34Q3yYbvbZ8zRZmIR5MC-bg0t0pJC6eGbvVJQ9IMEPrJCTWsicbrnQQFzRoesT1rkdWjLC8L-IxgRh4JI7rv17WuSuSE3dLAfxr43RcAqpflax3sR3dAiXCtuodCmYi0yprd3c_05vlUpBVD38mnz2zBKVkxAUPXOgvo8/s917/oo.jpg" style="margin-center: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="917" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8id1JNFos0kn2iugGBpb7E34Q3yYbvbZ8zRZmIR5MC-bg0t0pJC6eGbvVJQ9IMEPrJCTWsicbrnQQFzRoesT1rkdWjLC8L-IxgRh4JI7rv17WuSuSE3dLAfxr43RcAqpflax3sR3dAiXCtuodCmYi0yprd3c_05vlUpBVD38mnz2zBKVkxAUPXOgvo8/w640-h390/oo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>row 1- HP Lovecraft, Alan Dean Foster, Juliet Marillier, Anne Rice, August Derleth <br /></b><b>row 2- Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, Elizabeth Moon, Nancy A. Collins, Fritz Leiber</b><br /><b> row 3- Robert E. Howard, Edgar Allan Poe, Ursula K. LeGuin, Mary Shelley, Brian Lumley</b><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I appreciate numerous writers and artists, film directors and actors. But there are few who work every single time I pick up their work. This image displays those writers who are my go to list for great writing and getting my money's worth from a purchase, and reward for reflection upon the time invested in a work. I am grateful these people, because, while Yukio Mishima, Ernest Hemingway, and others are the best writers I know of, it requires work sometimes to understand the deeper concepts found in their writing. <b><br /><br />THE BOOK I WROTE WITH JOE MONKS</b><b><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ02azqteB1ERtn_DzTez9sJJJncCrOUAC5Y2KcDgoEo1kH1_FWjEV2iOkCQgW4cqcuIW5tot8lAVphd2SLmmEc2n7WA5wCQt_EQQn420OWgPG-GUKy_eatMEySALeIvsq0nzujOY3b1lgMJeLFhCf8Gj8UCJqosWybTwl5nNpUiRB447ZPs_OOkU7IFc/s4096/z.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3305" data-original-width="4096" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ02azqteB1ERtn_DzTez9sJJJncCrOUAC5Y2KcDgoEo1kH1_FWjEV2iOkCQgW4cqcuIW5tot8lAVphd2SLmmEc2n7WA5wCQt_EQQn420OWgPG-GUKy_eatMEySALeIvsq0nzujOY3b1lgMJeLFhCf8Gj8UCJqosWybTwl5nNpUiRB447ZPs_OOkU7IFc/w640-h516/z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />It is a chapbook, so rather small, compared to a novel or
anthology. Both Joe's work and my own are focused upon Minnesota, since
it was written for a Minnesota convention of horror. My story is a
sequel of sorts to my very first comic work, found in Josh Howard's
Sasquatch, illustrated by the enormously talented artist Paul Harmon.
That story, so to speak, wasn't a story so much as a piece written to
illustrate why we see Sasquatch when we look into the darkness. This
story was how they exist, and we do not see them, and they live near
humanity, and do not like humanity. That is, we are aware of something
we've not seen, but it doesn't want to be seen, and as such, events
happen, involving them, and we can't figure things out. The chapbook is
brief but I think my best story I've written, thanks to Joe's edits and
his wife Pamela's work to format and present.<br /><br /><i>Available only as limited print, 75 total copies and is offered here at $7 postage paid. <br />My email is AlexanderNess63@gmail.com. <br />Methods of payment: I take paypal, checks and in person, cash. <br />If you'd like to buy it and other works I've written...<br /> Check out my published works link:<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />and if you'd like to add something to the pile, if I have them in stock, I'll work a deal.<b><br /></b></i><p><b>REALLY GOOD THINGS IN THE FORM OF ART<br /><br /></b>My love of Japan and all things Japanese is well known. My favorite photographer Masahisa Fukase suffered truly for his art, but the world of image and ideas he opened the doors to, if painful in birth, was glorious.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nKYA23lAS69cdgmnn-ZmDap3vbFDJWAeU43kDM2ZmTh7DT7x3TRm6EczU_8B0Vpj8QzyYsRfjHeNC2EIItt71x9wuQBMZPgsz0nOFkJgw6hHPHQxUsTUwP6JIKNUJdKozobh-Ts0aP_9q-IWB93W8zISiY_3V4cjWtB2-SoxcI8GInwmczS32QZv3Yw/s1387/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="1387" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nKYA23lAS69cdgmnn-ZmDap3vbFDJWAeU43kDM2ZmTh7DT7x3TRm6EczU_8B0Vpj8QzyYsRfjHeNC2EIItt71x9wuQBMZPgsz0nOFkJgw6hHPHQxUsTUwP6JIKNUJdKozobh-Ts0aP_9q-IWB93W8zISiY_3V4cjWtB2-SoxcI8GInwmczS32QZv3Yw/w640-h173/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The amazing insight, comprehension of the future of modern culture, and how architecture can reflect those heights of culture, and temptations and sins of excess and the ever present hubris and idolatry. Metropolis by Fritz Lang and Thea Von Harbou, a film, The City of Lost Children and the book The Metropolis of Tomorrow by Hugh Ferriss all share a beautiful but dangerous vision of a world of great heights as well as a debauched vision of worth. Celebrating a society that isn't peopled by humans, rather humans as small gods, with new ideals, creating new humanistic mythologies. Each adapted past values and ideals to highlight their own greatness, rather than let the splendor be devoted to a common values and morality. The high esteem in which they achieved, simultaneously sullied and stained by the cultural bile of elites served by the untouchables.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrly3CppoGIvPlWWQSUvW_5iGJf6wEsQr9WFSxjVgIF6hoEB8f8pH6zR6xhXnYGKoECQ-j2RVC2HDZIUlIvIqOKPrAI42pThaa1S8Nwb0XiCHYuAfoZ57BRDtKeuuoxH-fi64vToheWRf8BXRTHfcr7PVyLPWjsPlFwNIjzkiDQJlbHARb_GbWapvEDCc/s2108/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="2108" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrly3CppoGIvPlWWQSUvW_5iGJf6wEsQr9WFSxjVgIF6hoEB8f8pH6zR6xhXnYGKoECQ-j2RVC2HDZIUlIvIqOKPrAI42pThaa1S8Nwb0XiCHYuAfoZ57BRDtKeuuoxH-fi64vToheWRf8BXRTHfcr7PVyLPWjsPlFwNIjzkiDQJlbHARb_GbWapvEDCc/w640-h180/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Graphic Novel adaptations of Opera in beautiful collections. Each work sharing the brilliance of the composers of the operas, and telling the stories in forms all can appreciate. P. Craig Russell and Gil Kane did amazing work, and it should be so, they were interpreting some amazing composers and lyricists. Opera, in my humble opinion, is the highest form of cultural expression. I don't listen to it often enough.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghI5ObQk1KMewbp0Sy27im7Bm8WAUyKazArJ5jHrwXEwPxN4s3f6xzqFOrCSTodAkMBZfvSynOGlDjUV9qatKAKL3ICZ0QCfODAL603Z0EkY_89r58BryxTU7BTiKDGUuKbs0IEzIahLd85baj5baD7-TtTwlyfNEKQen5dCASJzLo2W13oAexy4nFHSw/s1978/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1978" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghI5ObQk1KMewbp0Sy27im7Bm8WAUyKazArJ5jHrwXEwPxN4s3f6xzqFOrCSTodAkMBZfvSynOGlDjUV9qatKAKL3ICZ0QCfODAL603Z0EkY_89r58BryxTU7BTiKDGUuKbs0IEzIahLd85baj5baD7-TtTwlyfNEKQen5dCASJzLo2W13oAexy4nFHSw/w640-h184/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b>REVIEWS AND STUFF</b></p><p></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span>FINALLY...<span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> I
can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email
<u><i><b>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</b></i></u>. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at
any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street
address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them,
but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these
at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry
that I'd dispense them for free to others. </span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-51114125887197892882023-11-02T22:00:00.198-07:002023-11-03T07:42:49.632-07:00Questions, Answers & The World at War<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolFaFn1Ad3hyphenhyphenzathyo6jNjkcUyWD_6-u5iAb7CC73W1fS2cNBox00ESnrxYLlu-kdV3Z8yPyXFoJH5kp2aU2nfICgD5HMz05jOSgJG4TA4u1Sb6uvHIitnfbPciSJBBqPqxOiFzzNwyAFg3-xIMQnRwQ5_tXaUf_ZgjDKUgDTElmKxcZTRAtxGzCBd4g/s318/OIP.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="246" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolFaFn1Ad3hyphenhyphenzathyo6jNjkcUyWD_6-u5iAb7CC73W1fS2cNBox00ESnrxYLlu-kdV3Z8yPyXFoJH5kp2aU2nfICgD5HMz05jOSgJG4TA4u1Sb6uvHIitnfbPciSJBBqPqxOiFzzNwyAFg3-xIMQnRwQ5_tXaUf_ZgjDKUgDTElmKxcZTRAtxGzCBd4g/w155-h200/OIP.jpg" width="155" /></a></div><b>Q&A & questions about current wars<br />By Alex Ness<br />November 3, 2023</b><br /><br /><b>THE POINT OF IT ALL</b><br /><br />We live in a world of madness. Some days I think I know enough to be able to perceive the future. Other days I wonder if anyone can know what the truth is, beyond the facts we are being told. The advancement of deep fakes, hoaxes, AI and media that we are told is their to tell us the facts and events of the day, but exist instead to be part of the news, altering our perceptions, influencing our beliefs, and leading to our false notions of what is going on.<br /><br />I worry that we've entered a world that 1984 by George Orwell described so well. Buy, rent, check out the books Brave New World, 1984 and the visionary work WE. Try and look at them, and tell yourself, they are only fiction. Tell yourself, they have no prophetic abilities. I think you'll agree, if nothing else, the era we've entered is a dangerous one, with unknown potentialities, and lethal realities. Instead of focusing on that, I thought I'd answer some questions, and then consider, briefly, the wars in the world we inhabit.<br /><br /><b>Q&A</b><p></p><p><b><i>Why don't you consider sport events as products of popular culture? You'd certainly expand your readership if you did. I know you watch sports. So why not?</i><br /></b><br />I've written about sports in as much as UFC and American football seem to me to be bloodsports, with absolute popularity and profits. It doesn't seem to be different to me from the Gladiators and Chariot races of ancient Rome. And since they were staged and performed to divert the people's attention from the problems ongoing, the violent or dangerous sports remind me of the same. Satirist Juvenal coined the phrase Bread and Circus to describe what Romans paid attention towards. I can actually say, I saw the same when I worked after grad school... if the sports team of the state or region won over the weekend, workers were far more productive and happy Monday and Tuesday. If the home team lost, they seemed under motivated, and depressed. I have therefore watched as the concept of Bread and Circus played out. But, in addition to that, no one ever talked about the jobless rate, or inflation, pointless wars and rising taxes. But if someone won in overtime, it would be discussed.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRSe2JlHPYMlnUFSHD8GeUmEhpFdjEjtr6_ZvP1rJD_VkyqyLUaNVhXSZOMIx9LGTdhjL2noX_FriwApF8KEMSciVWf-JlN_rYDBtnYDmpXJv-UaVv9LuY94CSIC29xwbQ72ihuvFBb7sv4qX4NOOK0erWEtDkSd21k1mhULW20a1dAiB3Jdg8aiJQq4/s3832/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="3832" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRSe2JlHPYMlnUFSHD8GeUmEhpFdjEjtr6_ZvP1rJD_VkyqyLUaNVhXSZOMIx9LGTdhjL2noX_FriwApF8KEMSciVWf-JlN_rYDBtnYDmpXJv-UaVv9LuY94CSIC29xwbQ72ihuvFBb7sv4qX4NOOK0erWEtDkSd21k1mhULW20a1dAiB3Jdg8aiJQq4/w640-h152/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b><i>How do you find the music you listen to, from the radio or
spotify, or are you only listening to music you've been following since
your youth? This isn't a criticism, it is just wondering where you get
your exposure to music.</i></b><br /><br />I am often exposed to new music by my son, but also by my work, and by casual viewing of youtube. I tend to listen to familiar works, as would anyone, but I usually look at the music suggested after my first search. I've discovered some great bands of the past, as well as new bands of the present. I also have a number of friends in a number of bands. I try to listen to bands before I say they suck, or that they don't move me. This is somewhat different than my younger years, when in response to people having other taste than myself, I'd assume a non exploratory stance, and try to avoid new things. I've changed in time however.<br /> <br />Explaining the choices of the CD Covers displayed... for me, over time, I think Trent Reznor and to a lesser degree some Nine Inch Nails are a surprise. When first listening to that music, I was initially unmoved by the sound, but curious because the lyrics, though angry, were suggestive of a far deeper mind. I found it vulgar and loud also intelligent. When you include all of the Reznor's music, apart from NIN, instrumental or otherwise, it is an incredible span of sounds, ideas, and beauty. Naomi Kucsera is a magnificent classical guitarist who steals my attention every single time I've seen videos of her playing, either solo or with others. Billy Corgan's Cotillions was mind blowing. Before the Flood, about the world facing global climate change, changed my heart. Aaron Kerr's Odin moved me in a way that I can only say stirred my DNA Viking blood. The Swallows Shadow of the Seven Stars, featuring Jack the Ripper was brilliant, and played to an area of deep interest upon my part. Holy Blood is a Viking metal band that is from Ukraine, and the lyrics when translated are powerful reminders of my Christian roots. And Sussan Deyhim is not only talented, but her music transcends labels, belief systems and definitions of modern versus ancient.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNFc8x7aq3t6JPHyKC7r43feRT9wlgDRvVmmm-podxdG4w3rFkKRuuBAk8BGGQPrKrWx2JeSP-g9hKdHTsBXus3M-pQeLWQeIGM7PaAPBA5GaSZGa7qwVbOLgOzbt3HbmI39nKii7CDVDr_G2XuhMziRBFgyMJOsamMEE6FicKNz5yHH8XBv5USrRjdE/s3527/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="3527" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNFc8x7aq3t6JPHyKC7r43feRT9wlgDRvVmmm-podxdG4w3rFkKRuuBAk8BGGQPrKrWx2JeSP-g9hKdHTsBXus3M-pQeLWQeIGM7PaAPBA5GaSZGa7qwVbOLgOzbt3HbmI39nKii7CDVDr_G2XuhMziRBFgyMJOsamMEE6FicKNz5yHH8XBv5USrRjdE/w640-h94/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><b><i>Do you play video games, or computer games? Do you follow the releases and the sorts of stories that make it to video game play? As I read and used to follow (before I deleted my instagram) your son's instagram, I know he plays, and has a specific area of taste. So wanted to know if you do the same as him? Maybe invite him to be a member of your blog?</i></b><br /><br />My son is skilled as a photographer, and writes stories in reference to what is shown in his art. I don't play video games any more. But I did love EA Sports NHL and a wide variety of Star Wars games. It would be true to say he and I share some interests and tastes. But overall, I think for me, the smaller world of poetry is the one I love, anything else barely approaches it in my mind as a source of interest, other than history. As such, I doubt video games will ever become more important to me and that you'll see the results of such, in more video game content in this column. He does blog on instagram and on facebook, so I think for that sort of coverage you need to follow him there. <br /><b><br /><i>Are there writers who are beloved, but are better sales people than writers? Do you have a version of that in reverse, critically great writers who are forever saddled with unpopular works, no sales or lack personal popularity? I ask because it feels like I like a dozen writers who sell nothing but everyone likes writers I hate, who sell millions and millions of books.</i><br /><br /></b>Just so you know, few writers sell millions. Someone audited the sales records of a major publisher, and I mean one of the world's largest, and it showed that 50% of the books released, even major releases, sell almost nothing. So precious few sell millions. Few even sell hundreds of thousands. Some sell thousands. And most sell hundreds or fewer. In a rational world it might seem the highest quality of writing should mean greatest numbers sold. But in truth, while it might do that, quality doesn't equate with sales. I don't think popularity alone means anything about quality, whether higher or lower. I think sales implies knowing a craft or skill in a variety of ways that requires talent and effort. If a writer doesn't know how to market his work, he might be me. Wait, no, I mean... sigh. I suck dammit.<br /><br />Sales and marketing are part of a series of talent, skills, and intelligent strategy. To function in the writing world one must find a way to make sales happen. Or the writer in question has a different source of revenue. Many writers are introverted. Many introverted writers are unable to translate their fire inside to sales. It isn't an easy balance to achieve. I personally admire authors able to convert their dreams into money. I haven't had that talent, that fortune, nor do I suspect I ever will. That isn't meant to be a statement of anger or despondent sadness. I just am aware how hard it is to make enough of a living selling what I create, and it isn't likely to change. I should note, I make money and have a list of clients who I do ghost write articles for, and Non Profit orgs who I write pro bone for, as a means of paying forward the kind acts others have shared with me.<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgYX11sme_YCCYNcPMsYWkFkdAqxNzW98OStnn1yLPPuUKX5BmWVZmFwqq2DkqTB5aFgoC93pd4rx0ypUMz_VwV_v9PQF9AOKAVmRDfkijUAS8xgtqF3497gXX25_rTA3ZUBdHDLP72HSqeEx_GPsueYLkySaHfsrcWlwqoRqyniTnKxRqLMjZzyRN6L4/s1769/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="1769" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgYX11sme_YCCYNcPMsYWkFkdAqxNzW98OStnn1yLPPuUKX5BmWVZmFwqq2DkqTB5aFgoC93pd4rx0ypUMz_VwV_v9PQF9AOKAVmRDfkijUAS8xgtqF3497gXX25_rTA3ZUBdHDLP72HSqeEx_GPsueYLkySaHfsrcWlwqoRqyniTnKxRqLMjZzyRN6L4/w640-h184/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Those shown are used symbolically for best selling, popular and/or especially good authors who</span></i></b></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">sell books are Colleen Hoover, Stephanie Meyer, Neil Gaiman, Timothy Snyder & Hugh Eakin)</span></i></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>One thing though, beyond sales and popularity, the world is reading less. The Boomers generation was the last who as a group read for pleasure, and in 2019-2021 I read reports that suggested, they stopped doing so. That might mean that texting and video chats, movies and hand held devices have taken over, but some scientists I know who analyzed some of the data suggest we read for pleasure when our lives seem quiet, or settled. I don't know about anyone but me, but the last four years have meant no sales of books, few books read by me, and few people reading my work for free. I think Ukraine/Russia war, Israel/Hamas war, the Pandemic, Trump's Presidency, and more, all paved the way to despair. I am no genius, but I suspect that sort of behavior is one that rarely recovers from such a downswing. Which is a development that bodes all the worse for humanity I think.<b><br /><br /><i>I WANT MORE ALT HISTORY FROM YOU! Please consider taking upon yourself, the time and effort to begin a blog with Alt History scenarios, or write a book! It is addictive and not really a falsely important consideration, like conspiracy theories become. Knowing how things could have ended up very differently, and investigating the possibilities remains a valid intellectual practise! Would you do one more scenario of alternative consequences for me?</i></b><br /><br />I kept the "s" in your use of Practise since you are a Canadian. I might do something of this sort, but more likely I'll write a book of such scenarios. Some of the scenarios could be rather subtle, some could be grand, but I won't attempt something I don't already know much about.<br /><br />OK. Here is my scenario. What if Vicksburg or Gettysburg didn't end in Union victory in the US Civil War? With such battles no longer being victories for the North would the Confederacy have won or achieved an ending to the war with their survival? No. There is a myth that the South lost when the double victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg meant they could never win after that. It was at the battle of Antietam that was the back breaking moment for the South. Major trade partners of the North, Great Britain and France followed up the victory of the North (though it was only a victory because the South's goals were crushed not by numbers lost or land taken) by sending the Southern ambassadors home, the worst possible consequence to the battle for the South.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kX840RJ1TMAy-tti1kYoyNGAHN3nHVhvBLO9HFKLzwtcKDMrNSuDOCa4sZdVLEsp9cJpUVWJWsF-GFx2wBWfcuhRis7D3JAs67lSj517l04p3kDqxaQIbM9tByknqZVadiAkW5QHAUKo5Hh5qXXTT2XMPvj3Amr63F02_Ib7MdxG-ak7FSO9qTQUV-g/s2079/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="2079" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kX840RJ1TMAy-tti1kYoyNGAHN3nHVhvBLO9HFKLzwtcKDMrNSuDOCa4sZdVLEsp9cJpUVWJWsF-GFx2wBWfcuhRis7D3JAs67lSj517l04p3kDqxaQIbM9tByknqZVadiAkW5QHAUKo5Hh5qXXTT2XMPvj3Amr63F02_Ib7MdxG-ak7FSO9qTQUV-g/w640-h236/a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>However, not winning Vicksburg and Gettysburg when they happened, would mean some additional years of war. Not because it would be an immediate wave of change as I'm not saying Vicksburg doesn't eventually fall, nor Gettysburg is a true Northern lost, just that neither were clear victories. Changes and time to happen lead to new Southern strategies. Secret raids and guerrilla campaigns, scorched earth tactics would not be unreasonable, especially in regions without occupying forces. The added time allows for more death, more destruction, and nothing else. Sometimes the change is not enough to result with a better or different ending, just a messier one. <b><br /><br />THE WORLD AT WAR: UKRAINE V RUSSIA & </b><b>ISRAEL V PALESTINE</b><b></b></p><p>I've been asked my opinions and ideas about both of the current wars being fought. Even as a historian and interested party, I have little that I can say that will elucidate or inform the reader here. But I do think there are horrible consequences for the world with both of these conflicts. There are many nations depending upon both the Russian and Ukraine grain harvests, to feed their populace. That brutal conflict constantly tempts the fear of going nuclear, and famine and terror additionally.<br /><br />The Middle East has been an area with numerous wars, but this time it seems the aggressor had a purpose, outside of killing, and a strategy. I think it might have two reasons for happening. Israel was trying to gain diplomatic recognition from Saudi Arabia, and there are some, perhaps many in Israel who distrust and dislike Benyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, leading to rallies and protest events. Perhaps Hamas chose the day and time of the attack to stall discussions with Saudi Arabia, and to cause the Israelis to reconsider their elected leaders, and ruling party.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFjPaoJwkwx_5xv594UeXBfmnrAqfPiGESrw-fxojKQakuPYwoyLs7d2SrLtLq4Ufq4rEdlAURrRF_HsaG1bWxT4-RAEeUS2eptLawHTBZIYOg93-5sdqRAcDitOCWdzAM4SQayfzgo3cRvqPNTklNamJAqC148nZb9IUg4xNNhefJ7QhjrzXiveVIxk/s2990/f.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="2990" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFjPaoJwkwx_5xv594UeXBfmnrAqfPiGESrw-fxojKQakuPYwoyLs7d2SrLtLq4Ufq4rEdlAURrRF_HsaG1bWxT4-RAEeUS2eptLawHTBZIYOg93-5sdqRAcDitOCWdzAM4SQayfzgo3cRvqPNTklNamJAqC148nZb9IUg4xNNhefJ7QhjrzXiveVIxk/w640-h108/f.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And as for me beyond whatever I think of the result of such wars, I worry over the possible event of a nuclear exchange by a third party who enters into the fray, for their own, as of yet, unknown reasons.<br /><p><b>REVIEWS AND STUFF</b></p><p></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span>FINALLY...<span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"> I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email <u><i><b>Alexanderness63@gmail.com</b></i></u>. I accept hard copies and pdf's, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share review pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.</span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><br style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />My Creative Blogs:<br />
5k poem blog <span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com%E2%80%A8" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration-line: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />Published works <a href="http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2007/01/My-Work.html" style="color: #cd7400; text-decoration-line: none;">AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><br />Social Media:<br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social">Bluesky</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/alexnesspoetry">X/Twitter</a><br /><br />All images are copyright © their respective owner</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;">s, use </i></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;"><span><span><span><span><i style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 22.4px;">is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.</i></span></span></span></span></span></b></span>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493051303206991222.post-50848454503975036292023-11-01T22:00:00.089-07:002023-11-01T22:00:00.131-07:00Talking to Brian Haberlin about The Power of Art, Teaching and Art as entertainment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6RsNwnCAFMXA0fvQVzJz3-PuyMfEWap1h8orixCw8rzukg6t78UKyLIbN0MKRkAL_J54oS2w0NC1wlhp5qW1LLRbrpig1mZ_rxZ7-4T_5GuwKZ8K97-1mymJ_SXZC4DL8pRMbuA5-jPep-MiqTZ-AgYX-CLqGHcDjX7yweVXX2FkbooyG5HPuzzRve8/s914/0.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="914" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6RsNwnCAFMXA0fvQVzJz3-PuyMfEWap1h8orixCw8rzukg6t78UKyLIbN0MKRkAL_J54oS2w0NC1wlhp5qW1LLRbrpig1mZ_rxZ7-4T_5GuwKZ8K97-1mymJ_SXZC4DL8pRMbuA5-jPep-MiqTZ-AgYX-CLqGHcDjX7yweVXX2FkbooyG5HPuzzRve8/w320-h112/0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Brian Haberlin is an artist, a teacher, a writer and more. I didn't really understand his work or him until it was showcased for me in his works with David Hine. At that point, due to many factors, but quality and imaginative expression the main two, I realized, this guy is more than his work on the page. And then getting to know him, via social media mostly, I was truly blown away. In my previous interview with him I was just asking beginner questions. <br /><br />In this interview I open the door to more interesting questions. For many reasons, he has become a favorite artist of mine, and I don't know that I've added to my favorite list since 15 years back, with Paul Harmon, Alex Sheikman and Peter Bergting. I am not only grateful, but am really excited to present here my second round of questions with Brian Haberlin...<p><i>Last time I interviewed you said that you consider yourself more a writer artist, or as I'd say, using D&D terms, a multiclass character, one with talents and abilities from two distinct skill sets and roles... Do you find when doing just one more difficult than when you do both? Also, with, I don't know the process you go through, but when pitching an idea, do you leave it open for anyone else to join you, that is, if you pitch a concept, is it automatic that you are writer/artist, or is there room for others to join you in the pitch once successful?</i><br /><br />I have a couple projects right now that I don’t wear both artist/writer hats on. The particular project is really what dictates it. If I know someone can write that story better than myself or draw it better, then that is how I will go with it. Regarding which is harder…I think writing. I need to be more focused to pull it off. Art is much more natural and instinctive for me. For example, I can do art while watching a TV show or a movie but for writing I can only have silence or soundtracks with no words…just music.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDj0xhnNCWJ7IasBJSR29ogFC14joSg_O3cyoZsaP4jofKEiyYGgulzJVdNDYobULIVQHI_qzlAnM_z7FdiAFX07VxXsG1B8660o68dvdg8JXS5jIExbrg1pHBSJ18_xwU390zT45Kmve_SL_6p8fxtcB948Q80jkTmi2uxBrWd2loHsSM1txLMUzaAQ/s1500/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1500" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDj0xhnNCWJ7IasBJSR29ogFC14joSg_O3cyoZsaP4jofKEiyYGgulzJVdNDYobULIVQHI_qzlAnM_z7FdiAFX07VxXsG1B8660o68dvdg8JXS5jIExbrg1pHBSJ18_xwU390zT45Kmve_SL_6p8fxtcB948Q80jkTmi2uxBrWd2loHsSM1txLMUzaAQ/w640-h214/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><i>People in the comics reading world have seen your work for more than
20 years. But, having read a great deal of it, you can recognize aspects
of your style, but it is very much evolving all the time. I was
thrilled to see your daily uploads, new watercolors, new studies,
sketches, and wonder, what leads a style to evolve, instead of, perhaps,
grow stale from lack of change?</i><br /><br />There is always something to
learn. I am always the guy who looks at how something is done and ask
and usually try other ways to do it. To use my watercolors as an
example I use a watercolor paper that is made for people to use oils
on. That allows me to have the paint more sit up on the paper and move
it around. Another thing with the watercolors is I’ve started to use a
wax medium to seal the surface once they are done. You apply it wait 24
hours then buff it to get a satiny finish or just leave alone to make
matt…every tutorial online was the same. But I’ve played with
encaustics before (wax paint) and I know that heat can be an interesting
tool. So once the surface has waited its 24 hours I then run a hair
dryer on high heat and it shines up the surface like varnish…which I
like as my pieces more look like oils anyway and this way you don’t have
to matt and glass them…gives a nicer presentation.<br /><br /><i>I found
your creative work on the Last Barbarian to be damn good. It was rather
better than most, in that it really felt like an adventure, it had all
the various needs of a story told, technically but it had an enthusiasm
about it that felt, personal? Do you find a great deal of inspiration
from RPGs or the Genre of Fantasy, or was it more a coincidence that it
felt so inspired?</i><br /><br />Really was just a chance to scratch an itch
to draw a fantasy book. I did it once before with Medieval
Spawn/Witchblade but this was also paying some homage to old D&D
games I played and still play. I think you’ll notice the end of the
story felt a bit rushed…that was because I planned for six issues but
(publisher) Jim Valentino only solicited 5. So a bit crammed at the end
story wise.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAXrntQete1wxX9uymEk-rcKmsnbxKKsWoe9n5TW-wv5fi1wD8Pkp7T-h12EOPAckIG9S3RT9lE20kH965B0otk3lcg8YNHUHxkitSA3RaJ3fYUJmFNs_5c-9fyLuvlu24ebsvObajcAYqa0qwL31LFMgTKcmLRdqvz0vBZch9jJY79nd0aHicEWIWhE/s1500/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1500" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAXrntQete1wxX9uymEk-rcKmsnbxKKsWoe9n5TW-wv5fi1wD8Pkp7T-h12EOPAckIG9S3RT9lE20kH965B0otk3lcg8YNHUHxkitSA3RaJ3fYUJmFNs_5c-9fyLuvlu24ebsvObajcAYqa0qwL31LFMgTKcmLRdqvz0vBZch9jJY79nd0aHicEWIWhE/w640-h214/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>It did not seemed crammed to me, only that the momentum had grown to a faster pace.<br /><br />I read on your website, the art of Brian Haberlin
that you taught at MCAD, the Minnesota College of Art and Design. I know
so many awesome people who went there and created great work. What
courses did you teach there?</i><br /><br />I have been teaching there for
almost two decades. I just do one remote class a year on digital
coloring. It’s all right but I’d rather teach a live class any day of
the week.<br /><br /><i>In the five years or so I've been paying particular
attention to your works, I think it is quite wonderful how often you
give teaching points and examples of concepts for those who are social
media friends and such. Is it something you do to pay it forward or is
it that you want to share how the magician's trick works, so people can
delve deeper in the general and specific works of art they view?</i><br /><br />I
do it because I enjoy it…as I said before, more when classes are live
and in person. I did some seminars in my studio before Covid. Might be
time to get back to that. I also do it because there are so many
poorly done tutorial sources or just plain wrong techniques taught by
folks who don’t do it for a living. I’m primarily self-taught as an
artist…and have been a traditional professional illustrator since I was
18 years old. I have a masters degree in communication arts/screen
writing, but with art and my career in comics I’ve been very lucky to
learn from the very best, color from Joe Chiodo, inking from Scott
Williams, and the whole ball of wax from Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane,
Greg Capullo and many more. I think I have an unofficial doctorate in
comic art with whom I’ve been able to learn from over the years.<br /><i><br />What role do you see art as playing in a world as troubled as ours is now?</i><br /><br />My
goal with art is to make people experience some emotion. Joy is a good
thing! On the art side I don't make art that has to be explained or
understood...or is some other intellectual masterbation. Entertaining is
my main goal...that can be scaring people as well. I think the more
emotion you can evoke the better... I do try and stay away from making
people angry though...;)<br /><br /><i>What can humans do to encourage art at the youngest level, to create more reflection and more artists, from the beginning?</i><br /><br />I
think you expose the young to it...and they'll either gravitate to it
as an artist or as an appreciator of art. Or they'll shrug and walk
away. But if they aren't exposed in the first place then nothing
changes. We're a species that needs to see something can be done or is
possible by another human being...then they can consider, maybe I can do
that too! Or not...but if they don't get to see a Rothko or McFarlane
or a Rockwell they don't consider it possible.<br /><i><br />Thanks Brian!</i><br /><a href="https://haberlin.com/"><br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;">VISIT THE ART OF BRIAN HABERLIN</span></b></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAFb5wysoj40PkSzDxLLT4jEP1iYPXLwFXQY80Z0qFzGSEXJsqLYzHHPcXGLCJkZmDxh2Dc0Tfu1ifn-PxpTzWsLaJYC4shuIHJod8p-QjTZLgwT-4bIaxtM7QToBW1QegSSDpo11fTw7b6NoW0-CNVaQ0-gOR6NzBvzAlNNZvmLfZn8TNSlHTQTWaeY/s1500/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1500" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAFb5wysoj40PkSzDxLLT4jEP1iYPXLwFXQY80Z0qFzGSEXJsqLYzHHPcXGLCJkZmDxh2Dc0Tfu1ifn-PxpTzWsLaJYC4shuIHJod8p-QjTZLgwT-4bIaxtM7QToBW1QegSSDpo11fTw7b6NoW0-CNVaQ0-gOR6NzBvzAlNNZvmLfZn8TNSlHTQTWaeY/w640-h214/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>alex-nesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17870388649464548377noreply@blogger.com2