Trying Something New...Continued

Prologue

Day 27

We have landed on Gamma Prime - Thomas' named it that because it was the biggest planet in the sector.  Official records will refer to the planet as Gamma 4.  

The sky here is purple.  We suspect this has something to do with the molecules in the air but we have been unable to confirm that.  Though the ship's sensors verified the atmosphere was non-toxic and breathable prior to our exiting, it was unable to identify seventy-two of the seventy-eight components that made up the atmosphere - Earth's atmosphere has only four main components.  

Artimus, our navicomputer, has advised us that our orders have allocated ten days to explore and sample this world.  Thomas and I are eager to begin.  

Maybe we've found our next Eden!

N. Velvet


Day 32

This planet is nothing like I've ever seen.  We've been here five days now and as yet we have only explored roughly 1/100th of the continent where the ship landed.  

Thus far we have discovered and cataloged over 400 species of flora and fauna of all variety.  The largest animals we've observed are herbivores that would be best described as a ferret mixed with a beaver but scaly like a snake.  Thomas believes the evolution of this planet is still millions of years too early for any large mammals or sentient creatures, but I'm not so sure.

I saw something last night.  Something that appeared to be walking upright in the woods.  Thomas said it was the plants moving in the breeze, but I know what I saw.

Thomas says that when we leave we will need to take a multi-orbit trajectory out of the system in order to survey what we can on the surface of the planet.  

I don't want to leave.  

To hell with the mission.  The scientific discoveries awaiting us here are immeasurable.  

N. Velvet


Day 34

I have switched on my DigiMem voice and optical recording devices for today's log entry.

We are sleeping inside the ship tonight.  Last night something, an animal or several of them, trampled through our camp destroying numerous samples and pieces of equipment.

I don't think it was an animal.  I think it was whatever I saw walking through the trees.

BANG

Thomas, was that you?

BANG BANG BANG

Oh my god, I think there's something trying to get inside the ship.  I'm going to turn on the exterior lights and check the monitors.  

What...what the hell is that!  Thomas, get up here.

Thomas, do you see this?  That thing...that thing has hair, it's walking upright.  Wait...did it just look at the camera?  Holy shit, it did.  That fucking thing is sentient. 

We have to go out there, we have to try and communicate with it.

Trying Something New

I've been struggling lately for inspiration in my writing.  The ideas in my head don't seem to gel and though I'm still drawn to comics it doesn't seem a likely avenue for me at this point.  Thus, I've decided to return to the writing that has always been my favorite: prose.

My intention is to use this blog, interspersed with the other reviews and tidbits I put up here, to write the story I've been hankering to write for a long time now.  Sometimes it will be plot driven, action laden adventures!  Sometimes it will be a stream of consciousness as I try to work out the next part or arc.  I can't promise that it'll always make sense.  And I can't promise it'll always be good.  There will be times that I just end, in the middle of an event in the story...because I simply don't have the next part, and I might not even pick-up the next time from there, I may jump ahead.

This is the writing process.  Much like a movie it doesn't come together all in order, not always.

Anyway, the one thing I can promise is that what you'll experience, if you stick around for the ride, is my best effort and *hopefully* a good story.  Below is the high concept, though some of the moving parts are bound to change along the way:

Worlds in Space

Thomas Farkaïnd and Nicholas Velvet are two scientists contracted by the OEA (Outbound Earth Alliance) to survey and report on the viability of all the planets found in the Gamma Sector of space, 24 planets in all.  Expecting this to be a nominally dangerous expedition the OEA has decided to send scientists alone into the unknown rather than waste capital like Shock Troopers.  The mission is to record extensive data on weather and the condition of possible living areas of the planets as well as soil and foliage samples to determine whether any of the planets are suitable for colonization.  Also to be included in their report is any information on life forms encountered, though the OEA directive lists this as a secondary protocol due to their being a lack of evidence that any such creatures would ever be encountered.  The story begins with Thomas and Nicholas approaching Gamma Prime, the 4^th world of exploration.  Expecting this world to be the same desolate wasteland they had found with the previous three; the two men quickly find they are in for a surprise that may cost them their very lives.

More to come...

Angry Writer on the Loose!

Fully grasping the idea of how things are supposed to be is an idea that generally escapes and eludes most people. I can honestly say that it eluded me for a very long time. But times have changed. There’s an intelligent black man in the white house, instead of the ignorant whitey we had for so long. Sarah Palin is a villain. Marvel is making good movies. The Batman movie franchise is relevant again. The world is a pretty crazy place, clearly.

I’m here to tell you, it’s going to be OK. Global warming may ruin the planet for those unfortunate souls still alive in the year 2100, but that’s their problem, not ours. Be concerned with what you can control, not what you cannot. Now, don’t try and twist my words around and say “this guy is anti-environment”, no, wrong, stop it. Recycling takes NO EFFORT at all, and benefits the world incredibly. But I came across a facebook post today of a “friend” of mine who linked an article some woman had posted online talking about how they had “given up the fight” of being a vegetarian because she realized that her efforts were going unnoticed by the major food corporations. Ok, first of all…DUH! How stupid are you? I will quote from Community, “Believe it or not, I dropped out of High School because I thought it would impress Radiohead.” (Britta Perry) The same nonsensical idea applies to this woman’s article which I have refused to link in this blog because it is SO STUPID that it doesn’t deserve the readership of my faithful followers. The fact of the matter is that the machine of consumerism cares so incredibly little for the opinions and actions of the individual, and if you didn’t already know that, then you need to go to any gas station in America and attempt to barter over the price of your gasoline. Once they’ve stopped laughing at you they’ll probably ban you for life from the store.

The capitalist society is built on the idea of choice. You are free to have yours but maintaining a choice or even a belief because you think it’s going to affect society or events outside your sphere of influence (yes, typically this term is used in reference to nations and not people, but the rules still apply) then you truly need therapy for your MASSIVE FUCKING EGO. You cannot change the world. I don’t say that to be a defeatist, I say it to be a realist. The biggest things in the world that needed to have a world-changer have happened. You’re not MLK. You’re not Jackie Robinson. You’re not (whoever the first major professional popular athlete to admit being gay…or maybe you are). Stop thinking you’re important, because you’re just not.

Soap box conquered and squashed. On to more fun things!

So as some of you hopefully noticed I started posting articles on a new website as well last week, (www.8daysageek.com) and I will be posting another new article on this Friday as well. Last week I featured the much maligned 90s comic Cyberforce; truly unappreciated in its day. This week I will be featuring another rather unknown comic, Blue Monday. It’s an Oni Press book; creator owned, written and drawn by one amazing person (to be profiled in the feature). It’s a really great book and I hope you all check it out.

Hmm…what else…I had a really cool moment last Friday while working with Matt. We brainstormed an idea for about 2 minutes and within 20 minutes I had written the entire 1-page pitch. It was awesome. It helps that the idea itself is pretty amazing (more details to come once it’s in development).

Alright, that’s all for now. I should have another new post up on Friday!

Peace,

TB (JQ)

Manifest Freaking Destiny!

Hello my friends, welcome back.

As some of you know already I have recently began expanding the use of my writing talents to different fields away from just the blog-o-sphere. It started with my first published comic and has now moved on to writing for a website called 8 Days A Geek.

The site is a one-stop shopping experience for all things geek with articles on upcoming movies, comics, dvd releases and there's even a podcast series (download for free from iTunes). My first feature article for the site will launch my weekly series on comics called Bin Fodder. It will center around comics that either a) weren't necessarily popular but that I have a soft-spot for and enjoy very much or b) were amazing and everyone should know about it! This first week's installment comes from option A; as it reviews Cyberforce, the Top Cow/Image early 90's series. Check it out HERE! I'll be doing more things for the site as I get more settled, but Bin Fodder should be a weekly staple, so get used to it!

GREEN HORNET is out!!! I am very excited and will hopefully be seeing it sometime in the next week, so there will be a review with my name on it somewhere here in Internets land, I'll keep you posted.

Hmmm...what else. Oh, I heard they changed the Horoscope signs and apparently added one? Facebook and Twitter have been all abuzz with it today. What this tells me about the people in this world is that, to quote Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) "you [people] participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality." Well said dear sir. Well said.

Alright, I think I'm going to make today's post a relatively short one and allow you to go off any explore the wonderful pieces of information I've listed above!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

A New Year; let us raise our glasses

Hello my friends,

I apologize, most sincerely for my absence. I often open my blog fully intending to write out a new entry but I find most times that I am simply at a loss for a proper way to express myself or filled with a doubt in the value of the words and sentiment I would be conveying by making a new entry. But I sit before you today with a new year ahead of me and a new idea of how to make this blog into a place where I can maintain my own sanity as well as a place where I can try and keep up with a regular schedule of writing to go along with my own creative projects.

So, on that note, let me begin. Much has transpired since my last entry. First and foremost; Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all my readers. I hope you all had a safe, happy and inspiring holiday season. And now we all dwell in the post-holiday doldrums that seem to always occur. I will say that this was one of the most low-key holiday seasons for me in recent memory, which was not unappealing. Occasionally, when I look at the pictures plastered all over Facebook, I will think back to my younger days when I was among those who drank to a level of belligerency and remember somewhat fondly nights spent in the basement of Matt Anderson's house with so many friends and acquaintances. So many people I don't remember and probably only met that one time because it was just one of those places. Parties were known to just occur and 20 people would be in that basement, playing pool, listening to some punk-rock and drinking the night away. New Years was regularly a big shindig. But, as is commonplace, people grow up and distances both physical and emotional start to set in. I can't even remember the last time the "old gang" were all together. The closest would probably have been a big party/festival last summer, but there were still several big pieces missing.

Dammit...see, I talked about my nostalgia trying to escape for the past couple posts and here it comes...sorry, I promise the blog gets better further down so feel free to skip ahead if you want.

It's not so much that I'm sentimental for the past...not anymore. I used to be that way. I was clearly a product of my musical taste. "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" to borrow a line from Nick Hornby. The fact is I enjoyed my youth. I think most people would say that they look upon their late teens and early/mid-twenties fondly. But I'm 30 now and my future is ahead of me, not behind me. I've accomplished more in the past year than I ever thought I would. I got my first professional writing work published and I re-found a great girl. I'm still trying to learn how to navigate some of the waters I am finding myself in (such as the fact that I had to just fire the artist I found to work on a co-op project Matt and I have been building for the last year or so) and where I need to start pitching new stories. But I'll find my way.

Ok, sentimental nostalgic stuff is OVER! Promise.

Time for some reviews. I'll start with movies I've seen recently and then work my way into previews for upcoming flicks you really should watch if you haven't already. So I finally saw Harry Potter a few weeks back. As I had suspected it diverged from book necessarily and made me wish I had continued my original trend of not reading the book prior to seeing the movie in the HP series. I will say though that the second part is going to be so action-packed and AMAZING, I really can't wait. The movie itself was very good. Though I would criticize the director for making the characters too "teenagery" and by that I mean, annoying mood-swings and outbursts and awkwardness. I get that they ARE teenagers and these things happen, I just think it's annoying and it could have been lessened. Next: Black Swan. I think if you like artsy movies you'll probably love it. I think it was an insane piece of crap. I'm sure it has it's merits and there's obviously some great acting involved from Natalie Portman, but there's a lot of things that make no sense in the story making it hard to enjoy the seriously hot sex scene between the aforementioned actress and Mila Kunis...that alone would warrant a Netflix instant-watch. Next: Tron - Legacy. Visually amazing and not to shock too many die-hard Star Wars fans into coronary's it actually reminded me of Episode I in the sense that it took them 28 years to finally get another Tron project to the theatres and they couldn't do better than this...really? I think, like Lucas, the director/writer fell in love with all the new technology and felt that the visual would outshine the rather lacking script. One saving grace is the kickass soundtrack by Daft Punk, truly amazing and they even make a cameo...I think.

On to the previews: this upcoming summer is shaping up to be one of the best in a very long time from Green Hornet to Green Lantern and Thor to Transformers as the big blockbuster potential hits. But I've also noticed some really cool under-the-radar type movies like: Battle: Lost Angeles and Sucker Punch both of which are due out in March 2011, most likely in an attempt to preempt the summer of giant films. And speaking of 2011 films I would be remiss if I didn't look back at 2010 and reflect on some of the best movies that came out.

I would be hard pressed to find a movie I found more intriguing or inventive than Inception. But rounding out my top five of 2010 would be: She's out of my League, Hot Tub Time Machine, Get Him to the Greek, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim...ok yeah I know that makes it a top 6 list...like there's some rule about 5's and 10's.

I'd love comments on your top movies of 2010 and what movies you're looking forward to in 2011!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

Friday's are for music and dancing!

Good Morning my faithful readers! Also a happy morning to you whom are new to the game. I hope you enjoy your first experience. I had intended to start off with a bang today but…it was more like a whimper. I had to go into work, on my day off, for two hours and deal with some stuff. Now I know what you’re thinking…boohoo two hours, shuddup! But it takes me away from the precious time I try and spend dedicated to my writing every week. Fridays are like…mecca. Yes, I realize how blasphemous that is and no I don’t really care.

But I feel like I can make a strong comeback and it all starts here. So since no one commented on my previous blog about Baseball I feel confident that all of you are in 100% agreement and that baseball should have a shorter schedule and thus should implement my scheme in order to do so. But also to that end, I will probably not post anything specific about sports again for a little while, instead I feel compelled to talk about music and writing again…much more in line with the interests of my readership I believe.

So on the music front I have to tell you that a) the new Jimmy Eat World is pretty damn fabtastic, seriously. If you have EVER liked ANY Jimmy Eat World songs/albums there’s something for you here. They have really grown up and gotten to a point where they can utilize all of their talents and make a complete album. That’s not at all to imply that their earlier works weren’t really good, but this one brings everything together. I highly recommend checking it out. On another note b) Bad Religion put out a new album which was…a typical BR album. So if you enjoy their work and just want more of it, take a listen, but if you were hoping for something new and exciting to get jazzed about, I’d say stay away and instead dive back into their classics or just pull up All Ages and enjoy all their best early works. I’ve been getting back into some music I haven’t spent much time listening to in the last year as of late, specifically Face to Face and The Format…truly diverse musical styles to be sure but both equally awesome. Combined they manage to bookend my current obsession of The Lillingtons and Stephen Egerton quite well. If you don’t know any of these bands, feel free to comment and I’d be happy to make album/song recommendations for you.

Now, on to writing. I finished the first draft of the new script I’m working on by the deadline I had set for myself. I had and my lady friend review it to make notes and see if there were any weaknesses or gaping holes in the plot. Luckily for me there were neither. They both had several good notes about pacing and some of the plot points I touched on. But overall for a first draft it was a pretty solid script. I mostly attribute that to knowing the characters involved pretty well and the fact that I seem to have hit my stride as a writer and I can pull together a story from idea inception to written outline and script with a strength and conviction I hadn’t had previously. This could have come from the confidence of having my first published work come out or it could come from the fact that I have been honing my craft for the better part of two years (the time I have been really seriously trying to write comics) and all my innate skills are coming together…yes I realize how that sounds, no I don’t care. Hah.

On a more personal note my birthday is coming up…gifts are unnecessary, your readership is present enough…and the plan is to spend my birthday Friday December 3^rd the following day in downtown Chicago with my girl. She’s booked a suite at some schmancy hotel and we’re going to be hitting up museums and having a wonderful dinner together. I’m super excited and honestly can’t wait. There is another trip we are planning but until that’s finalized I’ll just leave it at…it’ll be a long plane ride.

Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You just came on my iTunes…man I love this song. His voice is amazing. Often times it is the singer’s voice more than the music or the lyrics that can turn me on to a band and with Band of Horses it’s a really great combination of all three, much like At the Drive In/Mars Volta (basically the same band).

Well, that’ll about do it for me. I hope you all have a great day!

Catching up...

Hey everyone...sorry it's been like a week since my last post. It's part settling into the new job, part trying to be really productive and part trying to be restful in my downtime since it's such a different environment than I've been in for a long while. However, I will hopefully be more in-tune with my blogging in the near future, so for you faithful readers (of my spurtiness) I thank you, and for those of you who long for more of a constant stream of my blatherings, I am working to achieve that for you.

So for now here's what I can tell you...there's four pages of my script up on the Ape Entertainment web publishing page. If you click HERE it'll link you to the first page and you can click Next at the bottom of the page you can continue on through what's posted thus far. Rate it below the "About the Creators" portion of the page if you like it! I really appreciate feedback too, so any comments you have lay'em on me.

Ok, on to new business. I wrote my first pitch for an established comic this past week. I really like the concept I came up with and I think it could be really good for the property. Now, of course you're curious what property it is and all that jazz, but I'm not really able to share that here just yet. We'll see how it goes and then of course if it gets approved I'll have more to share! But I'd like to explore the concept. A lot of independent comic creators strive to reach the pinnacle of working for DC or Marvel. (note that DC gets a hyperlink where Marvel does not...don't really like Marvel these days, so they can suck it) I think indie people aspire to have works published with Image or Dark Horse or Oni Press because of the Independent Comics companies out there, those are three of the biggest. But they're different in the sense that they're more attainable. Each of them will, from time to time if not on a regular basis, accept submissions from outside creative teams to publish creator owned projects. Now, of course, they're only going to take the best of the best and those who fall short will feel slighted (since most creative people feel that their work is superior to all others and the opinions of those that disagree with them are flawed in some way) and that's entirely the wrong way to go about things.

I can't even tell you how many times I've sat in a room with Matt or Eric or any number of other creative people and discussed ideas for stories where we didn't all see it from the same perspective and we would sometimes even get to the point of arguing over how our take on it was better. Having an open discourse is key, that's number one. Number two is just as important and that's this: learn from those who have achieved more than you. Their advice may not be perfect and in the end it may not even help you, but if you refuse to even allow for the possibility that someone that's attained something you hope to could give you help by offering their perspective then you've already failed. Ask Questions. If someone doesn't like your idea, find out what they don't like and ask for their thoughts on how it could be better. Their specific suggestion may not work for you, but it's likely that having someone else provide input will get your creative juices flowing and you can build off it.

Man...I tend to get on a soapbox kinda often in these blogs don't I? Not really sorry about that, since blogs are supposed to be about expression of personal thoughts and ideas and this is the one I am having right now. But back to where I got kinda sidetracked: taking an established property and trying to make it your own, for at least an issue. It's important to have a good grasp on the characters, it helps if you're not trying to write Batman or Superman who have about a BAJILLION issues to their name with almost as many takes on their personality traits and skills and etc and etc. But when it's characters that are less defined it allows you to pick up on one or two key character traits and either work with them or work against them. In my concept I take the fact that the three friends are incredibly close and I explore what could drive them apart, if even slightly, and how that could happen and what the one that was on his own would do. The concept itself has a lot of potential and after bringing it to the creator of the property he and I had a great conversation about it. He had some ideas for tweaks to the story but overall he really liked it! So now...I move on to first draft scripting. Woohoo!

Hmmm...what else...uhmm...well, I got some new characters sketches for the project I'm working on with Shawn Atkins and the direction is good. We've got some work to do but overall I'm loving his stuff. More to come on that.

For now...hope you enjoyed today's post; hope you read my UFO story and hope you continue to be one of my readers. Share the love if you like it!!! I'm proud to say I've had readers from Russia now, I'm officially Global! Scary thought.

Peace,

Tim

Sharing some old-school stuff

I know you've all been enjoying the first couple pages of Journeys on the Ape Entertainment site and I thought I'd share a short comic I did with one of my friends, Kristen Cella. She's an incredibly talented artist who has her own web comic called Antagonist which I highly recommend you all check out. I'm hoping to continue a project with her, which sadly ended up getting shelved, some time in the future. I look forward to it!

For now, enjoy what we have been able to create thus far! "The Party"

Fridays are fun because...

for most people they spell the end of the work week. As someone who spends less than the normal amount of time doing actual work and more time doing the thing I love Fridays are a day for recovery (from sport, not booze) and for reflection on my accomplishments of the week with a look-ahead to this weekend and what I hope to accomplish this upcoming week.

This week feels good, like I did a lot. Moved forward on two projects, wrote another large chunk of my story for Asimov's and should *crosses fingers and jumps around twice* hopefully get some sketches from the artist on another project. (the crossing of fingers and jumping is to denote excitement, not a lack of faith that the event will occur) All of which culminated with my weekly basketball game last night during which I played fairly well. My outside shot was off, just couldn't knock it down (though I didn't really take that many, maybe three or four in Seven games) but I did make some nifty lay-ups, one that was just ridiculous and another that was what a SportsCenter anchor would call "Taken it to the hole!". Really pretty tired today from playing in every game last night, though. No rest for the almost-dynasty. Very proud of my team, they played strong.

So, look ahead. Well, tonight there's a going away party for an old friend who's moving to Colorado with her boyfriend and I'm so excited for her. I'm not a huge fan of going to parties by myself, but no one seems to be around to join me so I shall make the trek alone. Tomorrow, barring a ridiculous storm or the continuous onslaught of excessive wind that's plagued the Chicago area lately, I have a tennis match scheduled with my buddy Joe. We tend to play excellent matches filled with moral-crushing passing shots and ankle-breaking drop shots. I'll post the results...even if I lose, promise!

I'm hoping that over the next few days (meaning by Sunday) I'll have worked up the pitch for a new idea I'm working on to pitch to a company called Campfire. They do stand-alone graphic novel stories along with transcribing classic books (e.g. moby dick) into graphic novels. The nice part about this company is that they have a host of artists of staff, so I don't have to bring a complete project to them, just an great idea that they'd want to work on.

Ok, so as promised I'm including one sketch page from my upcoming ApeCmx UFO Anthology story. Without further adieu, here it is!


I can't say enough about Mike's style. I really love how he captures the scene I was setting up which, as you can see in the last two panels at the bottom, is the destruction of London (that's Big Ben toppling to the ground!) and for my British friend out there...nothing personal, I actually wrote that part before I even knew you! haha

Alright, my faithful readers, I shall bid you a fond farewell. I may update again over the weekend, but if not I hope it's a great weekend for everyone!