If You're Tired

There are a  lot of bad things in the world, some incredibly large. If you're fighting to destroy those bad things, you're doing noble work and we all owe you for your efforts. The odds can seem impossible to overcome. You're fighting against the status quo. You're fighting against large numbers of entrenched people or a handful of powerful people. If you can keep fighting the good fight, you are truly a remarkable person and I wish there were more like you.

But if you're tired, if you've given up, if you've come to the rational conclusion that you can't destroy the negative thing, try the opposite. Build a positive thing. We need more good things as desperately as we need less bad things and clean water can flush out the dirty. You may find your energy again. You may find your life transformed. You may be amazed at the response you get from others who had also been tired.

You may leave the world a better place.

A Remarkably Ugly Car

I went to the Elliott Museum (Stuart, FL) with some friends today to see an exhibit of full-sized working models of some of Leonardo da Vinci's designs. It's only there until September 2nd. Here's a photo of a little of that:

The Elliott also has a collection of ninety antique cars. My friend, Zack, was interested in an electric car from 1975 called the Citicar. Here's a vid I took of it:

141, 142, 143

Jesus, it's been a month since my last post! Sorry, folks. I've got three more additions to The One-Thousand to tell you about.

I started a writing band with Grant Stone and Dan Rabarts called Cerberus. We collaborate and hopefully bring out some things in each other that we wouldn't otherwise discover. Our first effort is called Dada. It's 141 of The One-Thousand and will eventually appear in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I'll let you know when it's out. You may question whether a collaborative effort should count toward The One-Thousand. My rules at the beginning of this endeavor were pretty loose: To get in, it has to be a story that I submitted to an editor. That's pretty much it. This covers everything from Twitter fiction to my novel.

142 is Simon Says, a story for an anthology which Dan invited me to (he also invited Grant and many other people) called Baby Teeth, inspired by a post on Reddit about creepy things that kids say. There's a fundraising effort in place to publish the e-book, a print run, and an audiobook. Check that out here. All proceeds from the sale of these books go to Duffy Books in Homes, a literacy organization which gets books to kids, both creepy and non.

143 must remain incognito at the moment, as it's still making the rounds. I'll let you know more when I can.

This Is Your Dog On Grass

This is the ex' pug, Pepper, enjoying her lawn.

Holy Shit, Folks. Ernie Kovacs.

Why the hell has it taken me this long to sit down and watch Ernie Kovacs? Okay, I had no access to him for most of my life, that's true. And then I forgot about him. About a week or so ago I was listening to an old episode of WTF and Merrill Markoe was singing his praises. Tonight I checked youtube as I ate supper and I was blown away. Yes, this is some low-budget shit, no doubt. Yes, a lot of these jokes are stale. But others are hilarious and even when the show's not trying to be funny, it's wildly inventive. I've never seen so much weird stuff packed into a half hour of network television. It was so nice of Ernie Kovacs to make something for me over fifty years before I was going to watch it. If you dig Beware the Hairy Mango, you might dig this. Here's a sample for your perusal, but there's much more on youtube.

Buggy Whips

I don't talk to my siblings much. If you told me I had an hour of conversation with either of my brothers in the last year, I'd be surprised, And, unlike my sisters, they live in my county. They're great guys, but we're just from different planets.

I got a voicemail from my oldest brother a couple of weeks ago, telling me that vampires and zombies are hot right now, and I should think about writing something about them. I left him a message thanking him, but explaining that wasn't my thing. He left another message today while I was at work and I called him on my lunch break. He wanted to make sure everything was going okay and then told me I should really think about the vampire/zombie thing. I told him that if I was in this to make money, I would have gotten into banking. He said that I could be making the best buggy whips in the world, but nobody's buying buggy whips.

Since I'm not going to change his mind and I'll never make him understand, I took the best course I know: I agreed with him and thanked him. After all, he wants the best for me and he is right. Nobody's buying buggy whips.

However, in case you're an artist who does it first for the love and you're now thinking to yourself, "Say, he is right. Why the hell am I making buggy whips?" Here's why.

What if making buggy whips made you happier than anything else that you could do? What if you won the lottery, never had to work another day in your life, and decided to make buggy whips anyway? What if one of the other great things in your life was to show off the buggy whips you made to people who really appreciate buggy whips and hear them say, "Man, that's a fine-ass buggy whip?"

I'm not saying I don't want money. I want lots of money, but I'm not going to chuck my art and produce product that doesn't mean anything to me in order to get it. That's what my day job is for. If you like making ignition keys, then by all means, make the shit out of some ignition keys. I'm cool over here. Seriously. I'm loving what I'm doing.

And for the love of whatever you deem holy, people, stop whipping those poor buggies.

I Need You To Do This For Me

It feels like the forces of darkness are forever encroaching.

I need you to do this for me.

I know you just got home from work and you've had a horrible day, but I need you to tell someone how much they mean to you. Or get up and exercise a little. Or write a letter to your Senator about an issue that's been bothering you. Or plant something. Or educate yourself on something that's important to you. Or take care of that little chore you've been putting off for days or weeks.

Make something. Play with the kids, even if they're adults. Start that project. Call that person. Make a list of ten things that would improve your job. Share this post. Find a quiet place and for five minutes, imagine what your life would be like if you faced that fear. Figure out one way to make that dish you love just a tiny bit healthier.

What if you improved your life by one one-hundredth of a percent every day? What if everyone else did too?

The only way we're going to conquer the forces of darkness is if each one of us makes just a little bit of light. Maybe history isn't only made by individuals. Maybe our fate isn't solely in the hands of governments and corporations. Maybe if each of us becomes something more than we were yesterday, we'll start to move things.

I already know you're too tired today and you promise you'll do it tomorrow. You told me that yesterday.

44!

Forty-four years old today. My birthdays are similar to funerals in that they remind me that time is short. The deadline for the goal this blog was meant to document is drawing nearer and I've got stuff to do. So do you! Go do your stuff. Once this life is done, there will be no make-ups!

I've still got 860 stories to write! That's INSANE!

The Metrozone

As I stated on Twitter, when I was a kid, I wanted to be James Bond. Decades later, I want to be Samuil Petrovitch. And I think it goes without saying that I'm still a kid. I talked about the first Petrovitch book here: http://theonethousand.blogspot.com/2011/10/equations-of-life.html So you might want to read that.

I won't go into detail about the second and third books here, but I will say that I think they're even better than the first. The action, the stakes, the hero, the writing, they all make me excited to read. How often are you excited while reading? It almost never happens to me.

I read the second a few months ago and just finished the third. I like to take a little breather between books in a series, although it's possible I'll jump into the fourth book soon. You can find info on all of them here at the author's website: http://www.simonmorden.com/books/

Start reading already!

100 Artists

I think this is a fantastic idea if you're feeling stuck or frustrated as an artist. I've often thought about taking on other personas in order to go places artistically that I wouldn't otherwise go. It's similar to how people's behavior can change when they put on a mask, or even a radically different outfit. Become someone else, why don't you? See where it takes you.

Do It On Nights And Weekends

This Onion article made me laugh as it kicked me in the balls. Go read and enjoy and come back:

Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life

This is my life in this article, folks. It might even be your life. It's certainly the life of millions.That life made for my financial cesspit and broke up my family, among other, lesser miseries. And if you're like me, you couldn't have stopped before it all went wrong and you can't stop now. Such is the creative life. It's like a gambling addiction.

The alternative, the way to give your passion more than minutes a day, is to quit your job and live in your car, if you're lucky enough to have a car. Otherwise, it's the street for you. I'm too much of a coward to do that, so I deserve what I've got.

But I make things. You might make things too. Millions like us do. I makes stories and a podcast and I made a novel and other little things. I think even the lowliest maker of things is a better human being than Alexander the Great or Napoleon, or any of the thousands of other military marvels or world leaders, because they all destroyed lives, they destroyed people.

We make things.

We make things for ten goddamned minutes a night sometimes, but we make things. We do it because we don't have any other choice and we'll squeeze it in where we can, rather than abandon it.

And most of all, because it's all we've fucking got.

Rush Of Fame!

If you're a Rush fan, you've been griping for the last fourteen years of their eligibility, "Why the hell hasn't Rush been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?" Well, gripe no more! They're in, as of a couple of days ago. Here are some videos of the goings-on. The audio's not great, the video's a bit better, but hey, I'll take it in lieu of stills and reports any day. Thanks to clg2112 for posting these.

Foo Fighters as Rush, circa 1976, doing 2112's Overture:

Rush's induction speech from Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters:

The guys' acceptance speeches:

I just wanna hug these guys. Congrats!

Climb Onto The Sofa

The new episode of StarShipSofa is just sitting there waiting for you! Go listen!

StarShipSofa No 285 Brad Torgersen

Coming up …

Fact:Hugo Reviews A Deepness in the Sky by Andy Thomaswick 01:50

Main Fiction: “The Exchange Officers” by Brad Torgersen

Promo: Amy H. Sturgis The Dystopian Tradition

Narrator: Jim Phillips

I'm There