2012 looking ahead

Well, the year will be over in a few short hours, from where I'm sitting.

I won't be sorry to see it go--on the whole, 2011 sucked. While some good stuff happened this year, most of it was off-set by the bad stuff that also happened this year.

So, while I intended to sort of sum up this year I've decided instead to talk about what I'm looking forward to in the coming year.

I'm developing an idea for a novel I had a few days ago. Still have a long way to go on it--still creating characters, deciding on the plot, all that--but I can tell you it'll be a science fiction/detective story, set in the not-too-distant future. Sort of a dystopian thing. When I finish it I'll probably self-publish it, as there would be no point in even trying to submit it to a regular book publisher.

I also had an idea for another song cycle that has nothing to do with the novel idea but is also a science fiction story--I'm calling it People of Earth . . . It's about an alien takeover. Or is it? It'll probably be six or eight songs, many of them instrumentals. I may write a little story to sort of explain it. Or I may not bother--I may just let the listener decide what the story is about.

I'm moving to Douglasville near the end of March, so that is about to become the next Big Thing in my life. More than likely most of my literary and musical pursuits will have to wait until I've got that behind me, as I hate having to stop in the middle of something and try to pick it up again later, and there's going to be a period where I'm just not going to be able to concentrate on anything else until this is done.

I've got mixed feelings about this move thing--I've lived in Savannah for years. But, maybe it's time for a change. Most of my friends have already moved on. There really isn't anyone left here in town that I'm all that close to anymore. Plus, the area I'll be moving too looks kind of interesting, just on Google Maps. I haven't actually been up there yet.

As far as the New Year's Eve thing tonight, I'm probably going to be sleeping. I lived in the Historic District of Savannah for years and have many New Years celebrations under my belt--now I'm more interested in relaxing, sleeping, chilling out, than I am going out and getting pissed as my Brit friends would say.

So, what are you looking forward to in the coming year?

Top Ten randomocity for 2011

Everybody seems to feel the need to do top 10 lists at the end of the year. I thought I would join in, except for one thing--I can't figure out what kind of list to do!

Top Ten movies? I probably haven't seen five films all year, and most of those were from previous years. I did see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last Friday and can highly recommend it, but that's pretty much it.

Top Ten novels? Really, other than my performance reviews and income tax returns I don't read all that much fiction these days. I think the only novel I've read all year is this one, which I can also recommend (read my review of it at the link). Yes, the author is my best friend, but it's still a good book. Unfortunately, though, I can't do a Top Ten list with only one item on it.

Top Ten albums? I did buy a lot of music this year, but other than the new Evanescence , the new Draconian, and the soundtrack for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, most of what I got was from earlier years, to fill some gaps in my music library.

Top Ten blogs? There are only a few that I actually follow, and I can share those with you, if you're interested:

• According To Sauce The misadventures and tribulations of a genuine Hooters girl. Check Sauce out. You'll love her. Plus, she's a babe.
• Red Means Go The hysterical adventures of a girl in Miami desperately seeking famousity. Annah's an amazing writer. Plus, she's a babe. Do you see a trend here? Heh.
• Contempulative Affliction My best friend's blog. One of hers, anyways. She doesn't write in it nearly enough to suit me.
• Contemporary Realism Jacqueline Gnott is an amazing painter of still lifes--you have got to see these things to believe them.
• Cakewrecks If you are one of the two or three people who doesn't know about this website you need to acquaint yourself with it. Nearly hurt myself laughing at a few of these.

But, again, that ain't ten.

Oh, well. I'm sure something will come to me. Or maybe not. Right now I'm too tired to care much. I hope you all have had a good holiday and have a safe and happy upcoming new year!

Sippin' coffee on a Sunday afternoon randomocity

I have finally found somebody who is even more stubborn about staying within his comfort zone than me. That's be my dog, Atari.

For the second time in a row we've gone to the vet so he can give a urine sample so they can check to see if his bladder infection has cleared up. Second time in a row he just would not take a piss. I know he needed to--I deliberately didn't walk him after our first walk early in the morning. They finally gave up and gave me a tray and a hypo to take home. The tray was to catch the piss when he let go after we got home, then I was supposed to draw it up into the hypo and cap it and take it back. Which is exactly what happened--two minutes after we got home he was taking an enthusiastic leak on some bushes.

He's the same way at my dad's house. He'll take a couple of leaks but not as much as I know he needs to. It makes me worry for when we move in March. We aren't coming all the way back to Savannah so he can take a piss!

But, aside from the annoyance factor, he seems to be doing fine. Other than the arthritis, which we really can't do anything about except give him meds for the pain. He's finally started sleeping on the heating pad I spent a small fortune on several months ago for him--it's designed specifically for dogs, but it's new so he doesn't trust it. He's finally figured out, though, that when those hips begin aching it feels so good to lie down on that thing.

Okay, enough grumbling about Atari.

On a completely unrelated subject, why is it the word genius is rarely used to describe women? I mean, you'll have, say, a female author who meets all the criteria--wildly creative, excellent at plotting, pitch-perfect at character development, with an uncanny knack for pacing--and you'll describe her as a great artist or something like that. Yet, if we were talking about a male author, the word genius would be the first one we'd use. As far as I know it isn't grammatically incorrect to use that word to describe a woman. Anybody know? Chime in if you do.

The woman that started me thinking about all this was Tanith Lee. Check her out, if you don't know her. She is an English author, mostly fantasy with some science fiction, and she is absolutely amazing. Yes, she is a genius. Read her Flat Earth novels, or Kill The Dead, or Sabella (all of which are available on Amazon, by the way) to introduce yourself to her work. She'll blow you away.

Don't forget to come back by here and thank me. I know you will.

Day off randomocity

I'm taking today off to enjoy a nice, non-holiday three-day weekend.

I did meet my co-workers for our annual holiday luncheon--it'll be the last time I do this with this particular group. Next year this time I'll be in Douglasville with a mostly new group.

I'm taking another non-holiday long weekend in a couple weeks--January 6, to be exact--because that is the release date for The Devil Inside. Not my usual film fare but Talyan has a small part in this one--she plays the central character as a child. So, I'll help to make the opening weekend as big as possible for it. I suggest you do the same--it does look like it'll be intense.

Did my xmas shopping the other day. It's easy for me since I only have a couple of people to buy for. Plus Atari, but he's happy with a Double Whopper with cheese.

I've got this idea for a new song but can't seem to find the words for it. Dammit. This is a weird problem for me--normally once I get the tune the words sort of fall into place. Not this time. What the hell is wrong with me?

Oh, and speaking of films, I am planning to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a week from today. I'm going into it relatively "cold"--I haven't read the books and only have the broadest outline for the story. I do have the soundtrack and really dig it--I fully expect the movie to be equally awesome.

Oh, well. Maybe the words for this tune will come to me. Time to beat my head against that wall some more.

Post Chinese take out randomocity

Just enjoyed some nice chicken in black pepper sauce from Bamboo Garden--mmmmm . . . Atari dug it, too, and there's enough left for lunch tomorrow, as well. I don't know how some people leave Chinese food in their fridges long enough to spoil. Doesn't last more than a couple days in mine.

I did want to bring this book to your attention. Yes, the author is a very good friend. But forgive my bias and buy it, for yourself or for anyone you know who loves vampires. This will give you a taste of what a real, traditional vampire is like.

Creatively not much is going on with me, these days. I've got ideas for stuff but nothing that jumps up and down and waves to get my attention. I'm wondering if this isn't a symptom of some sort of larger problem, maybe.

I dunno. Right now I'm not going to worry about it. I'm sure something will strike me as a worthwhile project. In the mean time I'm going to reread some of my older stuff to see if it still strikes me as good enough to publish. In particular a novel I wrote a while back that, of course, utterly failed to even get looked at by an editor or agent. I liked it at the time--let's see if I still like it after being away from it for a while.

Atari is doing well. He had a cancer scare--he went to the vet for a bladder infection and the vet noticed suspicious cells in his urine sample--but he's been declared cancer-free. As far as anyone can tell. He does have a large stone in his bladder that will make him prone to get bladder infections, but that is something he can live with. He also has an enormous spleen but the doc took samples of it and the lab he sent it do found no cancerous cells in it. So, it's just a symptom of old age.

Sort of makes me wonder just how big *my* spleen is!

Yes, I watch The Walking Dead

It may come as a shock to people who know me, as I'm not particularly fond of zombie movies and stories (I can't remember one that I actually liked, to be honest), but I love AMC's The Walking Dead.

I'm as shocked as anybody, really. I started watching it just out of curiousity--other people who I know don't dig zombies, either, were singing its praises--and got hooked. Now I've seen every available episode.

It's not like a Romero flick, really. The characters are complicated, the storylines deep and well thought out, and there hasn't really been a surprise twist yet that actually wasn't a logical turn for the story to take in retrospect. The writers play all sorts of tricks--they remind us that a story often has more than one side and to others our heroes may not, in fact, be heroes, and people--all of us, each and every one--are all complicated and multi-dimensional, from the biggest moron to the most highly intelligent scientist. People you kind of liked initially you'll wind up despising, and vice versa. I loathed Darrell in the beginning, for example, and now I think he's pretty cool. Not a rocket scientist or anything, but not really a bad guy.

Take what I'm calling Jeff's Walking Dead Challenge. Go to ITunes. Or Netflix. Or whatever. Download episode 1.06--it's called TS-19 and it's the finale to season one. Watch it. You will have tears in your eyes, even though at that point you won't know who these people are and whether you should give a shit about them or not. There's a scene at the end of the second act so well written and well acted that I can't describe it. In me it brought out all sorts of emotions--joy, longing, sadness, shock . . . just look for the playback of the MRI. You'll have to watch it to see what I'm referring to. Those couple of minutes really changed my perspective on a lot of things, actually, that really had nothing to do with the show. I don't remember the name of the guest star in that episode but he's one of those character actors who usually plays some kind of dork, but he was incredible. As is the regular cast.

After watching that you will want to go back and start at the beginning, and watch them all, I know you will. Yes, there are horrific scenes, gross scenes, even one or two stupid scenes. But, it's not an exploitive show--when they do something like that they have a reason to beyond just trying to gross out their audience. And actually it doesn't happen as often as you would think.

And, really, in this format zombies make for pretty scary bad guys. They are liable to pop up any damned where--they just wander around until something attracts them--so even if you are out in the middle of nowhere you can't relax your guard for even a second or you'll get eaten. Or at least bitten.

If the remainder of this season maintains this quality, and next season also stays at this level, I will start calling this the best show on TV. I won't have any choice. Take my challenge and see for yourself.