Author: grasshopper

Around the World in Currency

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A General Update
 I am working on my “Montgomery” story. The announcement that I was going to make for the moon story will be made for this one instead, so keep your eyes peeled. I just want to say that I love this story! It’s finished and is going to be put into the old editorial grind before I let it see the light of day.

As for The Year is Now, I am still polishing it with a final round of copy-editing. It is a lengthy process, and it’s hard to keep steady in this new, busy world of multitasking and distraction! Even so, I am chipping away at the mines.

Around the World in Currency – A pic spam!
Circa 10 years ago…I can’t believe it’s been 10 years.

Korean Won

Outdated Iraqi currency. Yes. That man in the middle is exactly who you think he is. 

These are trades I made. I used to collect currency like baseball cards.

Japanese Yen

Turkish Lira. I believe it is outdated now

Replicas of the Byzantine Empire! 

The rocks are rubble from an old castle. No matter where you went, there was always a farmer selling replica coins. I always purchased them because I thought they were awesome.

Walter Koenig’s Raver – Review

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I am a huge fan of Walter Koenig’s Buck Alice and the Actor Robot and graphic novel, Things to Come. When I saw Raver in the iBookstore, I had to get it. It’s not available in paperback even though the first three issues of the comic are.

Raver had a different flair to it, but I found myself enjoying it. It is more of a psychological thriller than anything else. If you want a good picture of it before you dive in, read the description. This sounds very lazy of me considering I’m writing a review, but it’s true!

There are some novels/comics/etc with descriptions that fail to meet the mark, but this one? It states everything like it is and leaves no room for questions….In other words, there are no surprises. You know exactly what you are getting yourself into.

The worlds Norman creates in his mind have a good amount of action, monsters, and everything that makes a comic book entertaining. One world is a sordid mess of fairy tale characters trapped in their own lives, and at first, I cast a skeptical eye.When I read comics, I want super powers and action–lots and lots of action!

The scene held my interest as it progressed. It also helped that Koenig weaved some of his views into it, views which are on the opposite end of the spectrum as my least favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand. Hey, what can I say? I’m human to the core!

The first three issues were written in 1993 and were drawn by the same artist. The graphic novel includes a fourth issue drawn by another artist (equally as talented as the first). The style is a little different and makes heavy use of digital mediums. I want to go out on a limb and say that issue #4 was written years later. I couldn’t find any solid evidence for it, but parts of the dialogue lead me to believe that it was written sometime in 2012.

The final issue was good up until parts of the dialogue got a little too political. It doesn’t matter if I agree with the politics or not; if politics are going to be put into a story, I prefer them to be subtle and weaved seamlessly into the storyline. Regardless, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of Raver!

I give Raver 4/5 imaginary super powers!

I recommend it for avid comic book readers and for fans of Walter Koenig. If you enjoy his other works, you will enjoy this one.    

Please come to a complete stop!

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2001: Assignment Turkey!

I was immediately enthralled by their culture, the Mediterranean spices in their food (particularly lamb), and their pop music. However, my first obsession wasn’t the delicious food or the pop music. It was their stop signs. They were prevalent on base and off base.

This, my friends, is a Turkish stop sign–my very own piece of Turkey.

No, I don’t have any wild stories of riding in a dolmuş full of friends while Tarkan blared through the speakers as we embarked on a rebellious quest to get ourselves some stop signs….Although, that would have been pretty awesome (if it wasn’t against the law, of course!). I can see my imaginary caper of stop sign thieves dining on Adana kabobs and naan bread afterwards, relishing in our shenanigans.

No misadventures were to be had in my acquisition of my favorite household decoration. There was an alley of shops right outside the base (conveniently dubbed The Alley). The major thing I remember about Turkey is how friendly the locals were. I was friends with a lot of the shop keepers. To this day, I miss the friends I had made while I was there.

I confided to my friends who owned a carpet shop that I loved the stop signs and wished I had one to take back with me. It turned out that they knew someone who worked for the division responsible for stop signs! I gave them some money to have two stop signs painted, and  my quest was complete. I sent the second one to my father as a Christmas gift.

Gather Around the Watercooler

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Today’s update is a pic spam sort of post with a dash of what’s been going on in my neck of the woods. I’ve been working on March’s issue of The Outlanders, editing The Year is Now, and working on short stories. “The Moon Colony” has a real title now, but I’m putting it aside to let it sit for a while. It may end up being a severe writer’s case of kill your darlings.

In the meantime, I’ve finished an outline and started a new short story. “The Moon Colony” didn’t have an outline, and that was part of the problem! If you want to write a solid story, create an outline first. Always create an outline. Always.

Here is some art I’ve done over the past few weeks:

Based off of a colored pencil drawing I did in 2011
Babylon 5 fanart of Talia Winters and Jason Ironheart 
More Babylon 5 fanart! This one is actually a redo. I was never happy with the original picture. It finally dawned on me one day that it was the eyes. I gave Bester a set of new eyes and tweaked a few minor things. I love this picture now.

5 Sci-Fi Classics

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The Great Snowpocalypse of ’14 (with more snow on the way) has given many of us a snow day or two. Whatever are we to do with this sudden influx of free time? 

 Five great Sci-Fi classics that just may curb your boredom:

This black and white film is plot driven and isn’t flash-bang-flash like a lot of the movies you see today. It isn’t a puppies and roses sort of movie either. The human mind is a fascinating thing; The Day the Earth Stood Still did a great job of contrasting irrational fear of the unknown and curiosity. There are a few dated aspects of it, but they aren’t campy and don’t take away from the story.
Like The Day the Earth Stood Still, this one is driven by characters. Suspense flows through subtle things like the plane mysteriously climbing altitude, the air traffic control office tracking the flight and watching it vanish, and the three scientists on board talking about their work (which ends up being a recipe for doom). The Flight that Disappeared is a thrilling mixture of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Original Series. 
3 .    Godzilla
Pick any of the older, black and white Godzilla movies, and you have yourself a campy classic…not to mention some turn-your-brain-off destruction fun! I remember parking myself in front of the TV every Saturday morning (on the weekends I spent at my dad’s house). My little sister and I skipped the cartoons and went straight for the “black and white” channel. It always aired the good stuff.
4 .    Gamera (1965)
This is another B movie classic that aired on the “black and white” channel. Oh, how I used to love Gamera! I thought he was the awesome of the awesome. When we played monsters on the old dirt hill behind my father’s house, I was always Gamera. If you like humor, you should check out Mystery Science Theater 3000’s mocking episode on it. There will be laughter, I promise! 
5 .    The Birds (1963)
Ornithophobia need not apply! This is an Alfred Hitchcock classic. It delves more into horror than science fiction, but I feel that it is a good classic for any snow day. Bring on the popcorn and the cheesy special effects!