If you are wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been doing the SKYRIM thing. That, and sleeping and watching TV. Vacation is a wonderful thing.
Presently, my wife is wrapping presents and I’m watching TMZ.
Why would I want to waste the moment blogging?
Merry almost Christmas, Loyal Reader…
Another fluffy post. Sorry, Loyal Reader, but the SURVIVOR finale is on and it’s like three hours long (including the reunion). Needless to say, I’m busy…
Maybe something more meaningful tomorrow? I saw YOUNG ADULT and it definitely deserves a review. We can always talk some shop – writing stuff, etc…
But for now, forget all that! It’s time for SURVIVOR!!! Heck yes! I still got two Survivors in the running (my wife and I always choose two contestants in the first few weeks and then we ride our horses to victory! I always lose. Fingers crossed one of my picks actually pulls out a win!).
The next time you want to do something and think that you can’t do it, just stop whining, play this song and get to it!
My mama is visiting and I ain’t got time to write. I leave you with these crazy, cool, freaky, brilliant(?), deranged babies!!!
Fans are folks who get what I do with my writing. They enjoy my narrative abilities. It’s awesome to meet them. It’s even more awesome to send them free books.
Back in August, I ran a Free Book contest. All you had to do was review one of my works and post it anywhere you’d like on the big old Internet. Winner Jamey Webb was nice enough to review several of my works on a variety of sites. I sent over a pair of limited edition hardcovers and some swag. I even have evidence of their arrival…
(The SuperCool Jamey Webb)
Thanks, Jamey!
Enjoy the books, spread the word (if you are reading this – you too), party on.
I’ll run another contest sometime next year.
Until then, let’s wave our books in the air and rock out!
I’ve been off the grid. Well, not really. I’ve been on the Internet all day, all evening, all the time, but I’ve been steering clear of the blog. Oh, dear blog, how I missed thee. The time apart is good for us, you know. I got lots to say, Loyal Reader. But then, I’m not in the mood to will sentences from thin air and then build them up into some wordy, surely insightful, important (oh, so important) paragraphs.
My brain is too lazy.
(Yep.)
I just want to drink Gatorade and surf Facebook.
See you tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have something all-important to say.
Oh, BTW, I’ve fallen for INFINITY BLADE on my iPad. I’ll talk about it sometime. Until then, watch this…
I’m waiting on my XBOX 360 to update. It’s damn slow. So slow, I am able to sneak a post in before falling into Skyrim.
(Oh yeah!)
The past twenty-four hours have been emotionally wonderful. Up and down, Loyal Reader. Mostly good though. I got to spend time with my niece and godson and nephew. They make life magic. My niece is two and a half and my nephews are one and a half. They are crazy adorable. Holding one is special. My godson, Matthew, digs buttons. He presses them and marvels at their effects. The window going up and down had him cracking up. I have this little cajun in my pocket – it’s a key ring that makes cajun sounds when you press one of the six buttons. The kid kept hitting the same two or three sayings, cracking up at the funny cajun voice emanating from the tiny speaker in plastic.
Can you believe my XBOX is still updating! It’s been a few. I had to think my way through some of the stuff above us. And still it’s updating. And updating. And updating. This is a perfect chance to paly Skyrim. A free afternoon. After Skyrimming, I’m gonna maybe watch a movie or some TV. We’ll see. It’s going to be a nice afternoon.
Come on XBOX! I’m waiting not so patiently!
How about some more cajun?
My XBOX is still updating. I went looking for the Skyrim picture then the cajun bit and I’m all ready to publish, but still, my XBOX is still updating!!!
Okay, I’m gonna go stare it down, Loyal Reader.
Literally.
I got me some new blood.
No, I am not a vampire (nor would I choose immortality if given the opportunity), but my platelets were low, so they hooked me up and gave me a fresh supply of the red stuff.
I don’t feel any livelier. Some of the side effects include renewed vigor, but blood infusions have never worked that way for me. I usually don’t feel any difference. In fact, sometimes I get even more tired.
My sweetie pie says I got more color in my face. I didn’t know I was so colorless before. But, then, the other day, my gardener asked if I was anemic, so there you go. I guess I was looking a bit pale. It’s okay. I like this whole, pallid, heroin chic look. If I tousle my hair and make it big, I can furrow my eyebrows and glower like a short, bearded Edward Cullen.
(The blood! The blood!! The blood!!!)
The infusion went smooth, but our visit to the hospital lasted ALL day looong! There are lots of sick folks out there, Loyal Reader. Hospital waiting rooms are overflowing with ’em.
Some interesting vignettes. There was an actual nun. A squat, jolly one with the full-on headpiece and a host of rosaries tied round her robe. It was fun to watch her interact with a 26 month year old named Jackson.
My doctor shook my hand and squeezed the hell out of it. I squeezed back. Neither of us backed down. In the end it was a draw. We finished the handshake with manly resolve and an understanding nod of the chin. My doctor is one cool dude.
The coolest song about vampires ever!
I love it when I get a new idea. I got one this afternoon. That little light bulb went off and poof! There’s a whole idea just begging to be written out. It’s not fully cooked. I haven’t even told my wife (who is going to ask me about it as soon as she’s done reading this!). But a lot of it is ready and waiting. I even got a fancy name that sums the whole thing up. It’s catchy. And it creates a whole, new world with a few striking words. I can’t spell it out just yet, but I am sure it’s a keeper. I wrote a few paragraphs and it’s feeling good.
(Here I go, here I go, here I go again...)
Sometimes I get so burnt out I can’t even get my brains to hold my eyelids up. Other times, I get so charged, I can’t help but to stare wide-eyed at overflowing capability.
A little suspense then. The Idea will manifest soon. Once I work out a few kinks I’ll spill.
Okay, back to dreaming…
This is your id. You know you dream this too…
Last night we had a Pajama Jammy Jam. A small gathering of friends came over for some pajama wearing fun. Everything went smoothly. We had a good time. I got to break in my new amps (which I’ve been blabbing about on this here blog for weeks and weeks). Though I had an awesome time, I didn’t have one of those transcendent music moments. We played a few cool jams, but I spent a lot of time just trying to find my groove. It was kind of disappointing, but, well, what can you do? You jam, once, twice, three times a year tops, and you’re bound to be rusty. Next time around, I hope to burn this mutha down.
(Beware my (eventual) power!)
Until then, I need more practice. I need to practice more. There’s nothing worse than the sound of ill-tuned, ill-timed, sloppy guitar playing (just thinking about it has me cringing).
So then, if you check in here daily, or every few days, or however you do, you may have noticed that I’ve missed a few blogging days. Sorry. I have no excuse, Loyal Reader. Chalk it up to laziness. I guess I can blame my new chemo. I switched from one poison to another (I’ll write about it one of these days) and the transition has been a little rough (not to worry, little being the operative word here).
This new chemo has a host of side effects (don’t they all), one of which being flu-like symptoms. I ache some and feel a bit flush and weak and all I want to do is watch TV and sleep and sleep and watch TV. Alas, it’s nothing I can’t tolerate. I’ll manage (and watch some bad movies on cable while on the mend – speaking of which, I caught HATCHET II the other night – other than the opening titles, set to Ministry’s fabulous Just One Fix, it was uber-terrible).
(Chasing that elusive groove…)
I usually don’t rock the bass, but sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I came up with some solid bass lines on a few free form sessions and brought in that back-end on the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Weezer, Beatles, and U2 covers (to name a few) we attempted (mostly successful – though I must admit, a few songs dissolved into chaotic noise – not that this is a bad thing – sonic discord can be fun).
It’s a shame we are all so busy with real life. Distance makes it impossible (we all live about forty minutes+ from one another), but if we could find a way to practice regularly, we might sound good ALL of the time rather than some of the time. Oh well, we had fun and that’s what it’s all about. It’s not like we’re going to be the next big thing, that opportunity left the building the moment we grew up and started our careers.
That’s life, Loyal Reader. It’s fleeting and fragile.
Which reminds me…
My wife and daughter and I went to see Martin Scorsese’s HUGO. It raised a lump in my throat and got my brain all tripped up on BIG, BIG life themes. It’s more than a sweet, stylish, family movie. It’s a special film, one that deserves a fully dedicated blog post. I promise to write about it some time this week. I’ll get my mind right and try to do it justice in my critique.
Here’s that killer Ministry song (the best part of HATCHET II)…
Did you know that I can use my iPad2 as a complete, fully functional music studio? It’s pretty darn amazing.
This iPad thing is bonkers. The sleek tablet does EVERYTHING. I’ll read about an app, or, even cooler, I’ll think about an app, then go to the app store and search for it and boom-bam-bif! There it is!
All of the internal iPad things – games, a killer reader in iBooks, Garage Band – work as awesome as ever, but the stuff that truly flips me out are the apps that extend beyond the device to power or enable other devices. For instance, I picked up a Line Six Midi Mobilizer 2, a tiny adapter that connects the iPad with any midi-controlled device. I can plug in my midi keyboard (or any midi controller) and use it to play zillions of synth sounds (found in zillions of synthesizer and drum machine apps – many of which are free!). It’s crazy.
(My new studio. Futuro Robot Love. iPad2, I love you.)
I used to have a clunky computer, loaded with music programs, on a clunky stand, tethered to the keyboard. It worked well, but now I have the same functionality with a slick, thin, techno dream machine.
I’m considering an app (which requires an external adapter) that turns the iPad into a smart remote. I could bring the iPad from room to room and control every function on each of our TVs and their corresponding cable boxes. You can program the remote to do all sorts of cool stuff. It’ll remember favorite channels, let you create playlists for easy access to particular shows, and integrate the internet into your TV watching experience.
A cool app I stumbled upon yesterday takes your iTunes library and automatically finds music videos for every song in your collection. I opened The World Has Turned And Left Me Here by WEEZER and ten videos – the original music video, a few live performance clips, and a few You Tube videos – loaded right up. I paused the song and browsed the videos for a while. Very cool.
(Say goodbye to time.)
And then there’s those games. I never thought I’d like them. I have a 360 and a PS3 and get plenty of gaming in. Why would I want to spend more time gaming on my iPad. well, for starters, the games rock. They’re super addictive! Angry Birds rule the roost, but give Jetpack Joyride a try and just see where the time goes.
So, Loyal Reader? What apps fascinate you?
If you don’t have an iPad yet, just give in already. Buy one. Steal one. Do what you have to do, but get yourself one!
So cool…
Michael Louis Calvillo writes lovely, dark fiction. If you like to read you will probably enjoy his stuff. Why not order something and give it a shot?
Michael Louis Calvillo Must Be Destroyed 