Category: Video

“Psych one, psych two. What do you know? All your life is channel 13…”

I saw and read and watched on TV a lot of things as a kid that certainly my parents wouldn’t have wanted me to see.  On the down-low, of course.  Nowadays though, the ‘rents would be considered downright negligent.  Still, I relate to this, from Michael Sarko on Popdose…

I admit I’m nostalgic for the days of TV’s unbidden bizarreness, but I know each generation has its own thing. Indie theaters, cavernous book stores, random pamphlets, underground newspapers– They’re all sources of weird throughout the history of pop culture. One way or another, a kid needs to have that strange fruit to fuel creativity and open-mindedness.

Some of the weirdness to which I was exposed between the ages of 8 and 16: The Exorcist (the film and William Peter Blatty’s novel), The Young Ones, and thanks to unsupervised late-night cable-access TV-watching, my first therapist in The Asylum for Shut-Ins: Video Psychotherapy.

He tells it like it is…

But, he’s really not that stuffy. He’s kinda easy-going, really…

He’s really helped my creativity and open-mindedness. I’ve turned out all right, I think.

Right?

Mabuhay ng Pilipinas, Motherf–kers!

Just three of the reasons I’m proud to be Filipino:

1
Toadies of Filipino martial arts practitioners talk the best smack…

2
We take Good Friday really fucking seriously…

3
We… uhh… apparently also take cosplay really fucking seriously…
(The video’s in Tagalog, but you’ll get the gist.)

Reminds me of what Dad always used to say: “Aba!”

One of These Is Not Like the Others

I was doing research down a line similar to this–I guess you could call it music video anthropology–and I stumbled on some live performances from the Tower of Power of their classic song “So Very Hard To Go,” performed by various line-ups of the band over 35 or so years.

Now, I’m not saying anything about quality.  Just that one of these is not like the others.


I’m just saying.

“14 karat love, you are my jewel of the Nile”

If I didn’t feel guilty enough for not taking the time to spotlight more of my favorite writer-friends, like Regan Leigh, I do now.  Especially since she threw the spotlight on me in her eighth installment of Writer Love!

Her kind words seriously made me blush…

Don is a great friend and very talented, but his dedication is just as impressive. I can’t tell you how many times I see him (via Twitter) writing in his spare minutes, no matter where he might be.

The best part is, she dedicated a song to me.  The other night, for some god unknown reason, I had Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force on the brain.  And Regan made sure they stayed there, with this dope, funky fresh tune from back in the day.

You have my eternal gratitude, Regan. But, it begs the question–were you even alive when this song came out? 😀

“Their features are changing. Their bodies dissolve, and I am alone”

My current short story in progress is headed (Elder Gods willing) to Cthulhurotica – An Anthology of Lovecraftian Lust, which will be published by Dagan Books.  I worked out its soundtrack, just like I do for most of my stories, to help me figure out which emotional pulses I want to hit in different scenes.

Take a listen:

  • The New Pornographers, “Failsafe”
  • Eleni Mandell, “Bigger Burn”
  • Manic Street Preachers, “Your Love Alone Is Not Enough”
  • Arcade Fire, “Ocean of Noise”
  • Air, “The Word ‘Hurricane'”
  • Cassandra Wilson, “A Little Warm Death”
  • The Blue Nile, “Body and Soul”
  • Genesis, “Domino, Pt. 1 – In the Glow of the Night/Pt. 2 – The Last Domino”

The lyrics to “Domino” are about as Lovecraftian as I’ve ever heard Phil Collins sing, which should be proof that anyone who thought Genesis just plain sucked post-Peter Gabriel wasn’t paying enough attention.

Blood on the windows
Millions of ordinary people are there
They gaze at the scenery
They act as if it is perfectly clear
Take a look at the mountains
Take a look at that beautiful river of blood

The liquid surrounds me
I fight to rise from this river of hell
I stare ’round about me
Children are screaming and playing with bombs
Their features are changing
Their bodies dissolve
And I am alone

-Genesis, “Domino, Part 2”

I suppose the lyrics to “Invisible Touch” could work, too. But then I’m sure I’d lose what little respect you might have for me. 🙂

Where Ideas Come From

In a 1970 interview with Rod Serling by sci-fi author James Gunn, Serling recalls…

…99% of the writing that arrives on the desk of a mass media guy is pretty therapeutic writing. These are people who generally preface by saying, “I ain’t such a good writer but I got this real good idea in my dream after eating the rancid mayonaise…”

It’s about 8’59” in…