I'm no longer a citizen of Maui, but I still manage to take the time to program shows on their local cable access called Akaku. While in Maui, I was a producer for Akaku and did a lot of programming through their XTV site. I especially enjoyed queing up Hemowai Braddahs specials. They're awesome!
While going thru videos tonight and programming for XTV (which I will never see since I am here now, 6000 miles away) I can't help but feel the loss. Not just of Maui, the only place I've ever felt truly at home, but a loss of that feeling like I'm accomplishing something, giving back to the community.
I am 6000 miles away. I am nothing here. I once was so very happy.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Post-Modern Prometheus
***NOTE: I originally posted this as part of a discussion over at the Ray Bradbury message boards.
One would think that with heart problems since birth, Hep C since a child, and a full lifetime ahead of me yet to be lived the gods couldn't possibly heft more medical problems onto me.
They can and do.
Brave New Wrold is a decent read. It gets a bit tedious in the middle, but is mostly well written with an interesting idea and obvious social criticism. I also have an odd anecdote to go along with it:
The same year I read Brave New World, I began having serious back problems (in fact the back probs flared up about 2 or 3 months after I read BNW). I've always had back probs, but this was intense. So much so that I was waking up, not so much JUST from the pain, but from my own moaning that I was doing in my sleep!
It was so very bad I went to see my doc right away. He couldn't explain it right off. I wound up getting an MRI on my neck.
Turns out some time perhaps when I moved in 2001 (odd coincidence?!) I must have pulled a disc in my neck out. In a sense, the disc slipped out of place. As a result, the bones on my neck are pinching my spine and along the major nerve that runs down my left arm. It waited for a few years before it really flared up. The pain I was feeling wasn't a result of the pinching itself (which is relatively minor), but the resulting inflamed muscle tissue.
The pain started at the base of my neck and went all the way down my back and my left arm. I even had bouts where I'd lose feeling in my left hand almost completely (a frightening prospect for a writer and painter... tho I'm right handed I am very tactile with my works).
So I got the pleasure of meeting several other docs, going to phys ther for the first time in my life and seeing a neurosurgeon about possible surgery.
The neurosurgeon asked how long it's been since I've had the injury. I said I didnt know becuz it had JUST flared up and perhaps I sustained it while moving a few years before.
He sat me down and explained to me that the pinching was relatively small. He also said he couldn't repair it really, but the best neurosurgeon in the world could/would only fuse the discs together to prevent further slippage and pinching. He said despite all of medical science, there's very little they could do in the area of the spine without running the risk of causing further damage.
On the upside I was in no danger of paralysis and that, being somewhat young (I'm 30 now, i believe 27 then) fusing the discs together at that point in my life would cause the discs above and below to hyper-extend to compensate for the lack of motion I'd have and therefore cause potentially even more pain and damage down the road.
What's all this mean? I have to deal with serious back pain issues every so often in my life (maybe once every couple of years which is NOT BAD imho) plus, while experiencing such pain, I am placed on a drug called SOMA.
The drug that the society used in BNW to stay calm and be happy? (Everybody that's read BNW say it with me): SOMA!
And I have to say, it's a GREAT muscle relaxer LoL
One would think that with heart problems since birth, Hep C since a child, and a full lifetime ahead of me yet to be lived the gods couldn't possibly heft more medical problems onto me.
They can and do.
Brave New Wrold is a decent read. It gets a bit tedious in the middle, but is mostly well written with an interesting idea and obvious social criticism. I also have an odd anecdote to go along with it:
The same year I read Brave New World, I began having serious back problems (in fact the back probs flared up about 2 or 3 months after I read BNW). I've always had back probs, but this was intense. So much so that I was waking up, not so much JUST from the pain, but from my own moaning that I was doing in my sleep!
It was so very bad I went to see my doc right away. He couldn't explain it right off. I wound up getting an MRI on my neck.
Turns out some time perhaps when I moved in 2001 (odd coincidence?!) I must have pulled a disc in my neck out. In a sense, the disc slipped out of place. As a result, the bones on my neck are pinching my spine and along the major nerve that runs down my left arm. It waited for a few years before it really flared up. The pain I was feeling wasn't a result of the pinching itself (which is relatively minor), but the resulting inflamed muscle tissue.
The pain started at the base of my neck and went all the way down my back and my left arm. I even had bouts where I'd lose feeling in my left hand almost completely (a frightening prospect for a writer and painter... tho I'm right handed I am very tactile with my works).
So I got the pleasure of meeting several other docs, going to phys ther for the first time in my life and seeing a neurosurgeon about possible surgery.
The neurosurgeon asked how long it's been since I've had the injury. I said I didnt know becuz it had JUST flared up and perhaps I sustained it while moving a few years before.
He sat me down and explained to me that the pinching was relatively small. He also said he couldn't repair it really, but the best neurosurgeon in the world could/would only fuse the discs together to prevent further slippage and pinching. He said despite all of medical science, there's very little they could do in the area of the spine without running the risk of causing further damage.
On the upside I was in no danger of paralysis and that, being somewhat young (I'm 30 now, i believe 27 then) fusing the discs together at that point in my life would cause the discs above and below to hyper-extend to compensate for the lack of motion I'd have and therefore cause potentially even more pain and damage down the road.
What's all this mean? I have to deal with serious back pain issues every so often in my life (maybe once every couple of years which is NOT BAD imho) plus, while experiencing such pain, I am placed on a drug called SOMA.
The drug that the society used in BNW to stay calm and be happy? (Everybody that's read BNW say it with me): SOMA!
And I have to say, it's a GREAT muscle relaxer LoL
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Earthsea review
1 out of 5 stars
Having read the books quite a few years ago and with all the excitement building over Lord of the Rings, I wasn't surprised that someone finally attempted a film version of Earthsea. But trepidation crept into my heart when I heard it would be a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. Let's face it, Sci-Fi Channel is the playground for contemporary pulp writers: vastly filled with drek with few (VERY few) decent to good writers in between (Battlestar Galactica has to be one of the best dramas in a decade).
But I held out hope since the person transcribing the stories was Gavin Scott. He is known (somewhat) for his writing efforts for the Young Indiana Jones television series, which I mostly enjoyed. But then again he did pen the script for Small Soldiers (a fun but mindless movie) and the teleplay for The Mists of Avalon (an arguably bad adaptation).
Then came the night of the mini-series. Despite my lowered expectations, I was highly disappointed. Even the littlest things they got wrong (the fact that Ged's sorceror's name and real name were inverted left me believing that Gavin Scott only glanced at the books and NEVER actuallyr ead them... how can you get such a small thing WRONG?). In adapting, I hear time and again, it is not so much just staying true to the material, it's getting all even the smallest of details right. Bradbury did it with Moby Dick and Speilberg makes attempts to that end (with varying resutls) in his adaptations of classic SF novels (War of the Worlds and Minority Report, to name two).
But this movie/mini-series was completely off the mark.
But, I thought, what if I judge the mini-series by it's own merits? So I sat through the second airing... painfully. I still found it to be a bad film with forced storylines, improper pacing, dialogue and delivery thereof (meaning the acting) very loose to bad.
All in all, I felt this was not very good in many ways.
If you enjoyed it, go enjoy it. I'll never waste my time again. There's better fantasy movies out there. Try Dragonslayer!
Having read the books quite a few years ago and with all the excitement building over Lord of the Rings, I wasn't surprised that someone finally attempted a film version of Earthsea. But trepidation crept into my heart when I heard it would be a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. Let's face it, Sci-Fi Channel is the playground for contemporary pulp writers: vastly filled with drek with few (VERY few) decent to good writers in between (Battlestar Galactica has to be one of the best dramas in a decade).
But I held out hope since the person transcribing the stories was Gavin Scott. He is known (somewhat) for his writing efforts for the Young Indiana Jones television series, which I mostly enjoyed. But then again he did pen the script for Small Soldiers (a fun but mindless movie) and the teleplay for The Mists of Avalon (an arguably bad adaptation).
Then came the night of the mini-series. Despite my lowered expectations, I was highly disappointed. Even the littlest things they got wrong (the fact that Ged's sorceror's name and real name were inverted left me believing that Gavin Scott only glanced at the books and NEVER actuallyr ead them... how can you get such a small thing WRONG?). In adapting, I hear time and again, it is not so much just staying true to the material, it's getting all even the smallest of details right. Bradbury did it with Moby Dick and Speilberg makes attempts to that end (with varying resutls) in his adaptations of classic SF novels (War of the Worlds and Minority Report, to name two).
But this movie/mini-series was completely off the mark.
But, I thought, what if I judge the mini-series by it's own merits? So I sat through the second airing... painfully. I still found it to be a bad film with forced storylines, improper pacing, dialogue and delivery thereof (meaning the acting) very loose to bad.
All in all, I felt this was not very good in many ways.
If you enjoyed it, go enjoy it. I'll never waste my time again. There's better fantasy movies out there. Try Dragonslayer!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vols. 1&2
I just finished reading both volumes and posted two reviews over at Borders.com (should be up within 24 hours barring acceptance/clearance). I thought I'd share the reviews here:
VOLUME ONE
5/5 stars
"Huge Fan of the Founding Fathers of Sci-Fi & Action/Adventure" February 8, 2007
Reviewer: LordShen (Cimmeria)
And Moore does absolute justice to those early days. The writing is strong, the illustrations new with a flair of the Victorian (well suited for Victorian-aged writers and their created characters), the dialogue doesn't mince and the action is fast-paced.
Anyone who enjoys literature like Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, the early Sci-Fi writers like Wells and Verne and Gothic tales of visceral violence like Dracula or even R. E. Howard's Conan would do themselves a favor to read this! it is a definitive homage, imho, to all those who came before as well as a tip-of-the-hat to the early days of pulp and comics.
This is some of the best in the comics industry to date.
VOLUME TWO
4/5 stars
I was semi-disappointed by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 ONLY (and please note that I said ONLY) in that it didn't fully live up to the tight writing and fast-paced action of LoXG Volume 1.
At times I felt that I was, rather than reading a continued fictional history of classic characters, re-reading War of the Worlds itself. Not much truly happens within the first half of Volume 2 with the exception of the alien forces landing and the appearance at the beginning of John Carter. The dialogue wasn't as tight as in the first, either.
But those are only two complaints and they're all in relation to the first volume. If I review Volume 2 as a stand-alone (the validity of which could be argued either way), I'd have to say it stands very strong.
This collection of 6 comics is still far superior to most comics and graphic novels put out there these days. I was a bit thrown off by the interaction between Quartermain and Mina, it seemed all from out of left field imho.
But all in all the pace eventually picks up, the characters are strong and more deeply explored and some logical ends come about. I certainly cannot say I wasn't entertained.
Not as good as the first, but a decent follow-up and better than most of what's going on out there in comics.
VOLUME ONE
5/5 stars
"Huge Fan of the Founding Fathers of Sci-Fi & Action/Adventure" February 8, 2007
Reviewer: LordShen (Cimmeria)
And Moore does absolute justice to those early days. The writing is strong, the illustrations new with a flair of the Victorian (well suited for Victorian-aged writers and their created characters), the dialogue doesn't mince and the action is fast-paced.
Anyone who enjoys literature like Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, the early Sci-Fi writers like Wells and Verne and Gothic tales of visceral violence like Dracula or even R. E. Howard's Conan would do themselves a favor to read this! it is a definitive homage, imho, to all those who came before as well as a tip-of-the-hat to the early days of pulp and comics.
This is some of the best in the comics industry to date.
VOLUME TWO
4/5 stars
I was semi-disappointed by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 ONLY (and please note that I said ONLY) in that it didn't fully live up to the tight writing and fast-paced action of LoXG Volume 1.
At times I felt that I was, rather than reading a continued fictional history of classic characters, re-reading War of the Worlds itself. Not much truly happens within the first half of Volume 2 with the exception of the alien forces landing and the appearance at the beginning of John Carter. The dialogue wasn't as tight as in the first, either.
But those are only two complaints and they're all in relation to the first volume. If I review Volume 2 as a stand-alone (the validity of which could be argued either way), I'd have to say it stands very strong.
This collection of 6 comics is still far superior to most comics and graphic novels put out there these days. I was a bit thrown off by the interaction between Quartermain and Mina, it seemed all from out of left field imho.
But all in all the pace eventually picks up, the characters are strong and more deeply explored and some logical ends come about. I certainly cannot say I wasn't entertained.
Not as good as the first, but a decent follow-up and better than most of what's going on out there in comics.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Saturday, February 3, 2007
9...
In just 9 days I will begin posting 1 story a day for 5 days straight right here on my blog. Each story will have some Sci-Fi element to it and they will be ABSOLUTELY FREE for you to access!
Check it out in 9 days!
Check it out in 9 days!
Friday, February 2, 2007
10...
10 more days and I will begin posting one story a day fot five days straight, free for the world to read right here on my blog...
Thursday, February 1, 2007
In a mere 11 days...
In just eleven days I will begin posting one short story a day every day for five days here on my blog. Be sure to check it out!
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