General Blog

April 21, 2011

Italy – Day Five – Root Canals

In the glorious opening scene of the 1955 movie Summertime, Katharine Hepburn detrains in the Venice station, walking betwixt its pillars and out into the plaza with the Ponte D. Scalzi bridge arcing over the Grande Canal. How wonderful to do my own personal parody of that shot, to step from my first class car on the high-speed train, to pass through the timeless station, to exit through the portal and enter the land of old world magic. There it was, just as Katharine beheld it, spread out for me to see. Venice! Even after the majesty of Rome, Venice […]
April 21, 2011

Italy – Day Six – Beads and Lace

Our water-bus chugged through the early morning mist, rounding the point and easing down the north face of Venice on its way towards the lagoon islands. I was standing in the central open area, minding my business when suddenly something warm settled over my foot. I looked down to see a good-sized dog leaning against my leg. I didn’t move, content just to watch him (and snap a picture). At the final Venice stop, his master stepped from the boat and the dog obediently followed him onto the dock without a glance back. I watched his departure with a melancholy […]
April 23, 2011

Italy – Day Seven – High Art

I dreamed of Charlotte airport, of the TSA checks, their purple cloaks, of the power imposed by the Imperial presidencies and of simple brute force. I could hear the screams, smell the smoke… Actually, I was standing in the Gallerie dell’ Accademia, a beautiful collections of paintings running from the middle ages until the Renaissance. Quite interesting see how the crucifixion, the rebirth, all those moments were captured and presented over the long centuries. The picture shown here, attributed to US customs in Charlotte (soon enough I’d face that horror) was actually the Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by […]
April 23, 2011

Italy – Day Eight – Arrivederci

The train would leave at 2:30pm for Rome. It was our last day in Venice. No solid plans; we wanted to see our beautiful town one last time. Boarded a water bus for San Marco Plaza (if you are going for a final stroll, what better place?). Worked our way down the Grande Canal, smiling at the newbie tourists shooting everything and anything with their cameras – what a difference a few days made. Stepped onto the ancient paving, walking slowly through the plaza one last time (careful not to pass between the pillars). Listened the the cries of the […]
May 5, 2011

Copyright

I’d always been told that the “poor man’s copyright” worked. That you could carefully wrap up, stamp up, and mail a hardcopy of your work to yourself. Then, in the midst of a courtroom struggle you could present this bomb right on the stand. “Let the record reflect…” RIIPPPP “that the package dated last year contains a copy of the word in question, posted by the author, sent to the author!” Nice fantasy, anyway. A couple of weeks ago, the newspaper (remember those, kiddies? Better google it) had a piece about copyright and how the poor man copyright didn’t mean […]
May 8, 2011

Art, art, art….

Been working on finding illustrators for Early Retyrement. Ugh, what an effort. I’ve signed up with Elance to look through their stacks. And yes, while it’s great that they have bazillions of illustrators, they don’t have much of a search tool. I need a graphic illustrator with a fine touch and a cartoony air. But even with searching specifically for “Illustrator” and “Cartoon”, I’m getting product designers, kiddybook illustrator, restored-plane noseart specialists. That’s 2400 results, with no way to even know what they have unless I click on a name, click on the portfolio, then click on likely art to […]
May 15, 2011

Eden

Before 2004, our side yard was shaded by twin oaks and lush with ferns. In the evenings, it was nice to sit on the deck and watch Prince (our huge black-and-white Persian) blast upwards like Shamu in pursuit of geckos. With 2004 came Hurricane Charlie, a killer storm that missed us by 2 miles. The oaks were toppled. The ferns that were not crushed directly by the trees or their subsequent removal burned off in the sun. Weeds began to take over the lot. We tried everything. We whacked and cut. I planted rows of corn but the bugs ate […]
May 21, 2011

Rapture

From the silly radio dramma of Captain Kemmen of Star Core. A bomb is about to detonate, one that cannot be stopped and will destroy the entire universe. Three… Two… One… (long pause) Carla: “Well, isn’t that amazing… Heaven is just like that room we were just in.” Happy Rapture Day, you silly holy-rollers.
May 22, 2011

Birthing agonies

I’m really getting tired of this POD (print on demand) world. The first time around, when I did the agent-publisher deal, it was so easy. I signed a contract, the publishers changed the cover without telling me, they gave me a single day to review the final cut, and then the publisher died as it hit the shelf, the company went into chapter seven and I didn’t get a dime. Nice and straightforward. This POD stuff is supposed to be easy. I signed onto CreateSpace and then got a book about it. Found out well into the book that CS […]
May 29, 2011

Posting for art

Well, I’ve taken the first big step in getting Early ReTyrement ready for publication – I’ve contacted an Indian firm named “Animation Saints” to do my cover. It’s not the price so much as their animation style that caught me. It’s just what I was looking for (well, what I was really looking for was a well-known comic/historical artist to do it, be he declined after the pitch). So we’ll see. This is the first cash outlay to get this thing to market – big step. I’ll post our progress. I’m really hoping I’ll get these guys. (oh, and I’m […]