Vicarious Ghost Rider

I was at Chapters the other day, and I've been curious to look at any of the books that Neil Peart has written, so I looked him up in an authour search and found out about a book he wrote called Ghost Rider. The catalogue listed it as being in the Biography section which just happened to be right beside the terminal I was using.

I ended up reading the first three chapters of his book, which cover his motorcycle journey across Canada to Alaska. By the end of that third chapter I felt like I'd been on that cross-Canada trip with him. There was a time in my life when I thought of doing a cross-Canada cycling ride, so reading those chapters at Chapters gave me a sort of vicarious experience of it. It also reignited my desire to write.

LifeBalance and TLI's

A challenge I have in using LifeBalance most effectively is deciding how to set up the TLI's (Top Level Items). My intution is that the number of TLI's I use should be between 8 and 12. I figure if I have much more than that then I am starting to balance too many things and starting to spread myself too thin (then again, J already things I am doing that, so maybe this is a sign for me).

An example: Should I have one TLI called Real Estate, with two subordinate items called Property 1 and Property 2? Or should I have two TLI's called Property 1 and Property 2? Another example: Should I have one TLI called Creativity with subordinate items called Music and Creative Writing (and maybe one called Blogging?) Or should each of those subordinate items be its own TLI?

If I use the design that has Real Estate as a TLI with each property as a subordinate item, then here is what happens: as soon as I check off an item under the Property 1 branch, LifeBalance adds the credit to the Real Estate slice of pie. Then when it re-prioritizes my tasks to balance my TLI's, items under the Property 2 branch get pushed down the list. In essence, LifeBalance is saying You already got your Real Estate slice of pie.

Fine, that's what it's supposed to do. The problem comes up if I have things I need to take care of for both properties. As soon as I take care of something for one property, LifeBalance automatically reduces the priority of the second property, and that's not good.

If I make each property be its own TLI instead, then I end up with two TLI's instead of one. If I follow the same approach for Creativity then I will end up with even more TLI's, and then the list becomes difficult to manage. I can only see so many items on the screen and I would have to scroll around too much to find the appropriate TLI when I want to add a new item.

Maybe this situation is telling me that I've got too much stuff going on in my life and that I should pare down my life. Yeah right - as if I would do that.

Dirk - working out the plot

There is a particular story that takes place in the Dirk Halfspeed universe that I've wanted to write for a long time. I originally tinkered around with this story idea, thinking to write it as the next episode in the original serial. I have written several scenes for it but never quite finished it.

The last episode of the original serial had the trio of Dirk, Joe, and Seran deal with their sudden jaunt into Negative Time by deciding to hibernate their way back to their present time. My writing partner wrote this particular episode as a way of returning the characters back to the familiar setting. Although my partner wrote the story well, over time I have found myself disappointed with this ending to the serial. I felt disappointed because we had an opportunity to take the serial into a whole new direction, and instead we undid every possible change of direction; we hit the reset button.

I started to imagine what would have happened if the characters had actually tampered with the past. What if one of the characters somehow remembered an alternate sequence of events - perhaps a sequence of events that never happened, because Time prevents paradox from occurring. Yet one character, Joe, has vivid memories of an alternate existence, one in which he had fathered a child with one of his women. Then he discovers that in the normal universe, this woman has died while giving birth. Now he wants to go back in time again and prevent her and his child from dying. Only he can't, because nature works to prevent paradox. Now, tell me if that doesn't raise the emotional stakes some!

I like this story idea; I like the possibilities of what it allows me to do with the characters. I've abandoned the idea of writing it as a continuation episode for the original serial, but I am still interested in using it for a reimagined series.

At the beginning of the new story, Dirk is floating in space with no knowledge of who he is, no memory of how he got there. Somehow, I have got to get him from here to meeting Joe and Seran. The Beginning is the part of the story that tells of how the trio meet each other, and why they end up going back in time. The Middle is about their experiences while in the past, and about their return to the present. The End is about Joe's frustrated attempts to go back in time again and save his son. The Climax is when Dirk realizes the truth - that time "takes care of itself" and prevents paradox from occurring. Thus Dirk decides to stop supporting Joe's efforts in order to prevent Joe from self-destructing. Dirk may even have to sabotage Joe's final, desperate attempt - and damages his relationship in the process.

Whew - I've got a lot of work ahead of me here.

ET phone Vonage

In an attempt to head off the umpteen arguments I have with J about sharing a phone line, sharing a computer, sharing an internet connection, I went out and picked up a Vonage phone adapter from Best Buy. According to my understanding of this technology, it should be a simple matter of bringing it home, plug it into my router, plug my phone into the adapter, go online to activate my account with Vonage, and voila! N'est pas?

Well, no. I had hoped to get everything all hooked up this evening before a call I thought I was supposed to have at eight. Online activation, one would expect, means I can activate my account instantly and be able to use the Vonage line for my eight o'clock call.

Except that I used the wrong activation option on the Vonage main page. Since I had already bought a phone adapter through a retailer (instead of ordering one through Vonage and waiting for it to be shipped), there was a different link I should have chosen off the main page. C'est la vie.

So now I'll have to wait around 24 hours until the free device that comes with the package I activated becomes provisioned. After that happens I can reassign the phone adapter I bought at Best Buy to work with my account.

Fortunately, the call I thought I was supposed to be on tonight at eight, was cancelled. No Vonage, no call at eight, no conflict with J.

Short story - My Other Car is a Ford

From WritersDigest.com: While driving to pick up lunch, you accidentally bump into the car in front of you—a light fender bender—that pops open the other car’s trunk. When you get out to assess the damage, you notice that the driver of the other car is none other than your favorite actor. More important, you notice a dead body in the trunk. Who is the actor and what elaborate excuse does he give you to explain the dead body in his trunk? (500 words or fewer).

---

It was a rainy day - no, really; and like every time we have bad weather, the traffic was horrendous. There's no avoiding it - I was going to be late for work again. My stomach growled. I had skipped breakfast so I could get to the office early, but the traffic was going to wreck that plan. Skipped breakfast, and didn't make my lunch. This is looking like the beginning of a bad day.

Since I was going to be late anyway, I decided to get off the highway, pick up some grub to appease my stomach.

The line up at the drive-through was moving slowly also. My mind must have wandered off because next thing I know, I heard a loud crash and the whole car jolted. I first thought the guy behind me had rear-ended me, but then realized it was I who had rear-ended the guy in front of me. Oh, crap.

I got out of my car to check out the damage and the driver of the car I hit got out as well. A few curses come to mind, a few curses to throw at him, but I hold my tongue. I have learned, many times over, the wisdom of not hurling the first words that come to me in a situation like this. The consequences have never made up for the momentary satisfaction that it brings.

It was bad. The bumpers were - well, to say bumped is an understatement. They should be called smashers, or collapsers, or something like that. The lid of my victim's trunk had popped open with the impact, and a bad smell came from within. Like the smell of rotting meat. A couple thousand dollars worth of damage. Oh crap, oh crap.

"Okay, look, the damage is not too bad, there's no need to get the police or the insurance companies involved," said the other driver.

His voice sounded familiar. Hey wait a minute - this is Harrison Ford! Like, no way, man!

His eyes darted to the lid of his trunk quickly then darted back to me. He looked, excuse the pun, frantic. "Yeah," he said. He sounded like he was trying to think of something to say. "Look, son…" He pushed down on the lid of his trunk. "I need to get this meat to the banquet hall before it thaws out." He took out his wallet, fumbled with it, and handed me, get this – a one thousand dollar bill. "This should cover the damage to your car, right? Just take this, I'll pretend none of this has happened."

I was flabbergasted as I reached out and took the bill. The situation seemed so unreal. Then it hit me, what was going on here. I handed the bill back to him.

"Would you autograph this for me, Mr. Ford?"

Come, let me show you my tricks

I've decided that my recording project for 2007 will be a remake of a song I wrote called Magician's Plea. I originally recorded this song on my Cleverly Crafted CD; it was my first rock epic.

The words for Magician's Plea were inspired during a trip I took once with my parents to Disney World. This was back around 1987 or 1988 when I was still in school. I had a brutal exam schedule that term, five exams in the first four days of the exam period. They were all in the first four consecutive days of the exam schedule. It meant that I didn't have a lot of time over which to spread out my studying; I had to manage myself and pace my timing carefully. Fortunately, since all my exams had been crowded into that first week, it meant that after I wrote exam number five I had the entire rest of the summer off.

I used a couple of weeks of that summer to go to Florida with my parents, and one day we drove to Orlando, to see Disney World. I just wanted to be like a kid there and be wowed by everything. My dad was being cynical and pointing out how this part was done with mirrors and that part was a trick, and I was thinking like, yes, I know this is all illusion, but don't spoil it, let me enjoy the illusion. In thinking so, I got the idea that there was a song idea in this.

I decided to write the words from the magician's point of view and to write it in the first person. I was influenced by the song by Gowan, Criminal Mind. There's something about those lines being performed in the first person that make it so much more dramatic for me than if they'd been written in the third person.

I also used another writing device in constructing the lyrics to Magician's Plea, which is to describe a thing without using any words that are commonly used to describe that thing. So my aim in writing the words was to depict a scene that you know absolutely is about a magician, but I was careful not to use the word magic, or abracadabra, or hocus pocus, or even wand.

I picked Magician's Plea as my recording project because it clearly fits into the progressive rock genre. Last year I second guessed myself about what genre to submit Painted Smiles and Heart Like a River. The learning there for me was that I should know my genre better.

Big Brother application

I put in an application with Big Brothers last month. It's something I had been thinking about for a while near the end of 2006. During the Christmas break I spent some time reflecting and writing out goals for the coming year. I attempted to structure my goals according to a model I have found called Wheel of Life.

The Wheel of Life has eight spokes. They are called Career, Physical Environment, Fun and Recreation, Personal Growth, Romance, Friends and Family, Health, Money. Under Friends and Family I wrote "Big Brother". And so it went from being an idea to being a written goal.

When the New Year rolled around, 2007, I decided that the start of a new year is a good time to make changes in one's life. January 2007, I decided, was the time to start taking action. I found a local Big Brother's web site, downloaded an application form, hesitated and struggled with some self-doubts, got over them and finally completed my application and sent it in, near the end of February.

I know that the process can take several months as the organization goes through their screening and matching process, so I am still waiting to hear back from them.

Meanwhile, I've been thinking about adoption...

LifeBalance

I've discovered a new organizer for my PDA. It's called LifeBalance. I've downloaded a trial version of the application and started enjoying it in the first couple of days of using it.

One feature it has that I like is the ability to tag each task with a Place. A Place is like a Context in the GTD system. It allows me to filter and see only tasks for a given place. For example, Home or Work. This means that when I am at work, I can see a list of tasks that I can do only at Work and not be distracted by all the tasks I need to do at home but can't when I'm at work. Filtering by Place takes away a lot of frustration.

LifeBalance also has an outline editor which allows me to set up my projects and tasks in a hierarchical fashion. The top items in the hierarchy are called, appropriately enough, top level items or TLI's.

The really cool feature about LifeBalance is that it will automatically prioritize my tasks in a way to make sure I am balancing all my TLI's. Every time I check off a task, I get credit which is displayed in a pie chart. I get a slice of pie! If I check off a lot of tasks under, say the Music TLI, then the Music slice of pie gets fat. LifeBalance will determine which slice of pie is too thin and move the corresponding tasks higher in priority. So tasks will percolate up to the top of my list where they will get my attention, rather than getting stale at the bottom of the list.

Two weeks into my trial run, the LifeBalance crashed horribly and erased everything I'd put into it. I was really out of sorts when this happened because I'd carefully built up a hierarchy that worked well for me and I'd really come to depend onthe automatic prioritization (not to mention that I like getting my slices of pie). Since then I have built up a new hierarchy and continue using the application. I will definitely buy a licence when my trial is up, but I want to be sure that I can restore my data in case it crashes again.

Deep fried coon chops

I was on my way to my client site this morning when I got a call from my team leader - Don't come to the client site, the power is out. Instead the team met at our branch office so we could do our testing remotely.

There is a power transformer in the parking lot at the client site. The transformer is inside a fence. Somehow a raccoon had got in and blew out the transformer. The building was expected to be without power for the entire day until the transformer was replaced.

Poor Rocky. I expect the client will have a barbecue this week featuring coon burgers.

Painted Smiles reviews - Part 3

The best ranking that Painted Smiles attained on GarageBand.com was 242 of 394 in the Indie Rock genre, which is closer to the bottom of the list than to the top. I can't help but wonder how it would have done if I had submitted it to the Progressive Rock genre instead of Indie Rock. I'm tempted to re-submit, as a learning exercise, but I want to understand what is GarageBand.com's policy about submitting the same song twice to two different genres.

From Tacoma, Washington -

Very nice lead mix. Thick Santana guitar. The vocals and backing are sung well, but the mood does not match the beautiful guitar riffs very well. Santana with a Green Jello twist. Very original. Good work.

From Richmond, Virginia -

not too sure how to take this song. it has me thinking tenacious d.
is it serious or not?...I wish I knew.

From Pensacola, Florida -

I'm not sure about that guitar in the first part. But the melody is really nice. And the vocals are cool and really dig the lyrics. Sounds a bit like the 80's or 70's but it's all nice on ice!

From Nashville, Tennessee -

At least it's different. Creativity goes a long way. Not my particular taste, though. I can respect what you're doing, but I wouldn't buy the album. And the guitar solos are a little over the top. Trying too hard to sound dramatic.

From Mount Pleasant, Michigan -

So until the vocals came in this one really gave me a Eagles vibe. I'm not sure how i feel about the talk sing vocals here. They're pretty comanding of attention, but the cliche lyrics make them seem out of place. This one really leaves me wishing i could listen to hotel california instead.

From Bedroom, United Kingdom -

Intro sounded very 80's rock-style. When the voice came in too, it was very much an 80's rock ballad kinda sound. Which is not necessarily a bad thing...

Hmm. Not really that keen on this. Sorry. Sounds dated and the lyrics are trite, not much of a melody. Doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Bland, average sounding rock ballad stuff.

Some nice sounding Queen-esque guitaring.

Funny last line too which leads me to think it's slightly tongue-in-cheek. Still a bit boring though.

From Bournemouth, United Kingdom -

I found the guitar sound and style a bit dated and mixed too up front.

The vocalist has an interesting deep quality to his voice an the lyrics are quite interesting

The line 'Iwon't believe it' is repeated too many times in the middle of the song

Painted Smiles reviews - Part 2

The version of Painted Smiles that I recorded last year is the first song I have submitted to GarageBand.com on which I had someone else do the vocals. So I don't take the feedback about vocals personally here. I do notice though that there are at least two reviews that say the vocals are loud in the mix - I have had the same comments for Heart Like a River, so that is something I will want to pay attention to on my next recording project.

Cheese... what is that about? I had a few comments about cheese on Heart Like a River as well. Is that a musical term? There is an article on Wikipedia titled Cheese (cheesy music), which is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy. One of its editors notes that the phrase "Cheese" is pretty well used in the UK. Sure enough, the reviewer who gave me that comment is from UK.

There is one particular review here, I just can't resist doing a little bit of psychoanalysis. He (or she) gives his location as Unspecified, and says my opinion here is not so important. Come on, you're writing reviews of other people's music, your review is your opinion, and I at least hope it's your honest opinion. But know this - I put my music out on GarageBand.com in order to get it reviewed, so your opinion is no more and no less important than anyone else's.

That's enough ado. Here are the reviews.

From Maryland -

Interesting mood and lyrics. Kind of a bland message. Vocals are way too up in the front. Should be mixed better with the music. Overall, a decent production. Sounds vampirish.

From Canada -

I like the musical ideas going on. the riff at the begining sets the tone. The lyrics might be a bit hoaky.

i like the solemn tone from the male lead singer. I think production did a good job here. i think it would be nice to hear some more work on the melody. I am reminded somewhat of pink floyd in a way.

From Eugene, Oregon -

Cool guitars, the synths are a bit 80's, but in a good way. The vocals are a bit loud in the mix.

From Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom -

i really enjoyed the intro but when the vocals came in a couldn't believe the cheese....it is good for this type of song

From Brooklyn, New York -

I don't really know what you were going for with this song. I don't know what direction the rest of your songs could go in. It's recorded well, but the lyrics don't seem to mesh well with the music.

From Unspecified -

No... I don´t like it... sorry. But my opinion here is not so important. I don´t like this kind of mood. Guitar solos irritates me, you know... Well, the recording is very nice, which gives you points. That´s it.

From Australia -

intro sounds like Iron Maiden.. nicely produced song.. very different vocal in verse, contrasts with the music in an odd way. This song sounds really original... which is great. Perhaps needs a few listens for me to really to get into it but it is well written overall and its original sounding which i admire lots.

Painted Smiles reviews - Part 1

Here are the reviews of Painted Smiles; I had submitted it to the Indie Rock genre. One of the reviewers wrote about the lyrics they very loosely rhyme... it allows for the message to be uninhibited by the bounds of rhyme. I don't think I had any rhyming scheme at all in Painted Smiles.

Most songs I write, I don't worry too much about rhyming since I'd rather focus on the story that the song is about. I think that if I focused too much on using words because they rhymed then it would change the meaning and tone of the words too much.

A notable exception in my repertoire is a song I wrote called Tales From The Vinyl Museum, in which I deliberately wrote in a very structured rhyming scheme. In that particular case, I felt that the rhyming was an important element of the song, that it just had to be there.


From New Jersey -

Super-creative song of bitterness. All the elements are there: Good guitar, good song structure, good vocalist (although I think he could belt it out a little more at key emotional points), good lyrics that are graphic in hostilitiy, and good arrangement. Well-done.

From San Antonio, Texas -

The intro guitar made me think I was in for an 80's metal love ballad (not that that's a bad thing), but the body sounded kinda goth, mainly just due to the singers tone and pace. This is definitely original, I can't think of a band to compare you to. Good production and very tight musically. Only negative thing I can think of is the vox seem a bit loud and could be mixed in more, but that's just my personal taste.

From Southport, Indiana -

The intro guitar took me back to the hair band era. I like the dual vocals; it lends a nice effect, and the lead voice is good. The laughter in the accents (as well as the last line) sounds a bit contrived. The "Full of it" lead-in was a nice punch. The first instrumental section seemed a little empty, but I'll have to listen again.

From Appleton, Wisconsin -

guitar with an 80's sound and comedic lyrics crashtest dummies from 1980 a bit of a mellow rock vibe

From Alameda, California -

The beginning is very cool. The vocals are powerful. It sounds really original. I like it. And the lyrics are really good too.

From New York -

I don't think that this song would be very interesting for the mass. But i have to say that it's very nice arangement. Guitar solos, drum parts are very nice. Vocal reminds me about goth-industrial stuff. But it doesn't damage the track. Nice song.

From Dunmore, Pennsylvania -

I like it. If your aiming this song at someone speicial, nice job. Spooky song with a very slight Rocky Horror type theme. This song makes me feel your pain. I too have been there. Nice job.

From Portland, Oregon -

the feel of the song reminds me of earlier metallica mixed with later pink floyd. the lyrics are very literal. they very loosely rhyme. i like this quality in a song, it allows for the message to be uninhibited by the bounds of rhyme. great guitar work and really good dynamic control.

Heart Like A River reviews - Part 3

Here is the last set of reviews for Heart Like a River. It achieved a top ranking of 226 out of 634 in the Acoustic genre. That puts it just shy of reaching the top third. In contrast, The Great Escape last year had a top ranking of 19 out of 87 in the Progressive Rock genre. This tells me that the Acoustic genre is a bigger market than Progressive Rock, and also much more competitive.

From South Farmingdal, New York -

This just may be one of the most melancholy songs I've ever heard. The lyrics are mildly interesting, but the metaphor of and the repetition "my heart is a river" gets old by the end of the song. The melody is pretty and the singer really expresses sadness, but here is a case where the song is "oversung." It sounds like the singer is trying too hard to convey sadness, which ultimately takes away from its effectiveness.

From Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada -

Well I must say that the music is very well done. I'm sorry but I don't think I can say that same for the singer. Get a new singer and this song would be very interesting.

From East Highland, California -

i like the guitar a lot and the melody and the voilin, and the vocals a pretty clean

From Athens, West Virginia -

I liked the almost folky feel of this song...the intro sparked my attention...the song proceeded it gave me a simon and garfunkel feel with just one vocal...I think the song could use a pick me up...and then we'll see what happens.

From Boca Raton, Florida -

nice strings. the vocals sound good but id say trying to find a different mic to better fit your voice. sounds a little creepy with this mic.

From Bedroom, United Kingdom -

Liked the opening guitar - sounded promising and quite moving. Nice violins/cellos too.
Wow - that's a wierd voice. Is that just the mix? Not sure what to make of the voice. Sounds a little like an electronic voice...maybe it's just a question of lowering the vocal track a touch or taking off some of the treble...not sure.
Lovely melody and instrumentals though. Just sort out the recording of the voice, if you please!

From Llandudno, Con, United Kingdom -

This is recorded well. The pan is lovely and the strings are fantastic

The vocals deliver the lines purely but the lines are a little cheesy at times and I find them not to my taste

Heart Like A River reviews - Part 2

Here are some more reviews of Heart Like a River from GarageBand.com. There is a flattering comparison to Enya and Loreena McKennitt and a not so flattering comparison to Sesame Street.

From Tewkesbury, United Kingdom -

lovely intro. reminds me of the solo work of KNOPFLER.

The vocals began.............
very nasal.

Oooooooooooooh noooooooooo

No way can Dissipate into white foam be seriously matched with a 4/4 beat..you sing the phrasing like they are all triplets...or .syncopated

The strings are nice ....for a keyboard....and the arpeggiating doubling up of the appropriate moment of the solo is a good idea.

tehe classical references in the pregression are nice...

This has to be religious as it is so blatently OTT in it's lyrical..cheese

best bit ... ending resolution chord.....settles like dust after a storm

From Ashbourne, United Kingdom -

It's a nice, open production.
Simple arrangement, with some lovely, subtle strings.
The vocals are odd - they made me think of Sesame Street, for some reason - it's not a classic singing voice, not very good intonation, but it does have personality.
The song lacks a focused melody, feeling it meanders around, and even now, 30 seconds after listening, I couldn't hum the tune.
The lyrics are quite poetic, not conforming to easily defined rhyming structures.
The production/recording is very good, well mixed, nice, warm tone.
My favourite part is the string arrangement - very impressive.
Good luck.

From Oswego, Illinois -

very clear folk style here. I thought the lead vocals could use some production, kind of a harsh sound and really brought out in mix. The lyrics were poetic but didn't really hold interest for me. I guess it sounds cliche and would help to have a more personal, emotional theme. The arrangement and strings add interest and done well. I think it sould use some back up vocals also.

From Canada -

This song makes me think I'm going to be hearing a christmas carol or something similar. I don't mean that as a put-down. It's a feel-good thing.

The strings are ridiculously beautiful.

The vocal is very unusual. Sung well, and a very meek tone. And again - not a put down.

This should be in 'alternative acoustic' if such a genre existed.

From Klein, Texas -

the vocal is way to overpowering also the overall vocal track is like how they say one tone making it somewhat boring and hard to follow good voice and backing tracks but it almost seems to flow me to sleep add alittle edge and I think you will have it

From Somerset, California -

Enya, Anuna, and Loreena McKennitt style - celtic. Wonderful guitar playing. The orchestra added a tremendous amount. I'm curious - did you have this recorded at a professional studio, or do you have a software program that allows you to add provided music tracks? Either way, it sounds great.

From San Juan, Puerto Rico -

this track has a very well done mastering. The guitars are great.The lyrics are a bit depressing. But a lot of props for the tune!

Heart Like A River reviews - Part 1

The review cycle for Heart Like a River has completed. Here are some of the reviews. There is lots of praise for the production quality and the instrumentation. There are two positive comments for the lyrics (well written and went with the song, the lyrics are great) and two negative comments (a little cheesy, Not feeling the lyrics) so it looks like a you either love it or you hate it deal.

Vocals received a fair bit of constructive criticism, but no one is comparing it to having their nipples rubbed by a cheese grater, so perhaps that is a sign of improvement.


From Houston, Texas -

Whoever recorded/engineered this did a great job. The vox sounds a bit pitch processed at the beginning, tho towards the end of the song it sounds a bit cleaner. The finish is perfect, the strings are nice and delicate which fit the mood of the song perfect. I like the melody quite a bit.

From Fitchburg, Wisconsin -

The intro to this song is great, I think the production is great, I found the lyrics a little cheesy.Overall good song.

From Slovenia -

I would play this song if I had a guests who I would wanted them to became sleepy and go home already. This band should work more on vocals. I wouldn't mind if it was a female singer. Guitar and violin are great tho.

From Maiden Rock, Wisconsin -

i love the intro, very instrumental. when the vocals come in im a little shocked to hear such a low voice, i was also hoping to hear the song go somewhere, but it kinda drug on. i would try to break up the melodrama, with a better instrument solo starting at 2:00min, you obviously have the talent. i did think the lyrics were well written and went with the song.

From Warwick, Rhode Island -

I love the classical guitar, no one writes songs in that still anymore. Also the lyrics are great, i think the vocals need a little work, but other than that the song sounds very good and whole because of the violin and guitar.

From Fayetteville, Arkansas -

the intrumentation is lovely. could it be sung in a higher key or something. the vocalist's style of voice doesn't quite match the feel of this pretty song. maybe try adjusting the pronunciation of the words if you will be sticking with the same vocalist. more ooo sounds than Ay sounds. less in the nasal area.

From Steilacoom, Washington -

Intro very well put together. Voice has too much bass. Not feeling the lyrics. The voice seems to overpower the song. Voilin is a nice addition.

Dirk Halfspeed Reimagined - Part 4

Joe may be the only one of the trio that has the same name in the reimagined series. Joe King. What is he doing on Nexus station? What has drawn him here? At this stage of his life, Joe is a member of the team that is developing the Sirius prototype - an advanced personality program. He is on Nexus Station as part of his team for some kind of project celebration. He is also here to see a speaker, Professor Leo Rinaldo, who is on the station to give a speech about something that interests Joe. Joe will meet with Rinaldo privately after the presentation and will learn something about Rinaldo's theories about time

Joe has been on the station once before, about two years ago. He was dating a woman then, named Eleisha, and they had a terrific date on the station. Being on the station again reminds Joe of this past fling. Joe reminisces and has several flashbacks about the time he had spent with Eleisha.

Dirk Halfspeed Reimagined - Part 3

The reimagined version of Seran, her last name is similar to Dippity, but it's a name that would actually be found in a contemporary phone book.

Seran is young, she is married, and she has been frustrated and unhappy in her marriage. She has come to Nexus station because she has left her husband Noel and has come to start a new life for herself.

She checks into her room (Nexus Station has a hotel). She is distraught, she is upset. Now that she has left her husband she doesn't know what to do with herself. She flips through the channels on the TV in her room (which is actually called a "television", or "TV" in this universe). She finds nothing that interests her. She flips through a romantic drama, a comedy, a sports broadcast, and a porn movie. Disgusted and upset, she flips off the TV, and cries for a while.

After she has had a chance to get her tears out of her system, she decides to pull herself together and get out of her room. Go for a walk. Go explore the station. She passes a few clothing shops and browses.

At one of the shops she stops to admire a dress that has a black and white checker pattern. Perhaps she tries it on, perhaps she even buys it. The pattern on the dress is a visual symbol that will be repeated throughout the story - the theme of chess. Dirk "Knightly", Joe "King" - these are a few examples of the chess symbolism popping up.

She pops into a book store for a while. Then she decides she wants company, wants to be in a social setting. There are two bars that she knows of because she has already passed them by. One is a real meat market kind of place - men and women provocatively clad, and strange looking aliens too. The other bar is conservative, it is populated by businessmen, and a few women; they are conservatively dressed. She pops into that one to have a drink.

Dirk Halfspeed Reimagined - Part 2

Let's say Dirk's real name is Dirk Knightley (or some variation of this spelling). Let's say Dirk does not find out what is his last name, only his first name, and let's say his real name is not revealed to the readers either, at least not for the first few episodes. So the opening scene he's floating in space unconscious, a la The Bourne Identity. He comes to, he discovers his first name is Dirk and he discovers he knows nothing else about himself.

He discovers he has lots of oxygen remaining, maybe four hours, so he is not in immediate danger of suffocating - but he's in space, who knows how far he is from anything. He tests his thrusters and plays around with them. He can "swim" in space, but what direction would he go in?

Perhaps he is able to determine by reading the stars that he is "near" the Nexus station. "Near" means six to eight hours away at thruster speed. More than the amount of time for which his oxygen will last. His thruster only has enough power for maybe two hours. Maybe only half an hour.

He flips himself around to face various directions but there is nothing to see in any direction. But wait, one of the stars is getting brighter. Or is it? It seems to be getting bigger. Dirk realizes there is a ship heading right for him. It is heading right towards him, like a speeding locomotive train.

He dives straight "down", relative to the axis of the ship's travel. He hears a huge rumble, then remembers sound doesn't travel in space. The sound is his own heartbeat, his own breathing, his own blood pumping through his veins; his sense of hearing has been heightened by fear. He looks up and sees the ship passing overhead, maybe four to twelve feet above him. A close call. The ship is moving quickly but he recognizes that the ship is decelerating. He concludes that the ship must be enroute to Nexus Station and is decelerating in preparation for docking. What is several hours away for him is merely minutes away for this ship.

Perhaps Dirk attaches himself to the ship (How? It is moving very fast. Wouldn't his arms be ripped off if he tried to "grab" it?) Perhaps he is close enough to be pulled along by its wake (some kind of magnetic wake that his suit responds to). In any case, he gets an unexpected boost of speed that allows him to "swim" to Nexus station before his oxygen runs out.

Dirk Halfspeed Reimagined - Part 1

In the eighties, I used to cowrite an adventure serial called The Tales of Dirk Halfspeed. We wrote it in a slapstick, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy style. I and my writing partner wrote about thirty eight or so episodes.

That's a couple of decades ago and I still periodically have thoughts of writing the next episode, or rebooting the whole serial and start something fresh that is based on those characters. It would be an opportunity to clean up all the inconsistencies we'd written ourselves into, as well as an opportunity for the story itself to mature into something more character oriented and dramatic.

So I've had some ideas and I've jotted down some notes, some thoughts on what a reimagined series could look like.

Dirk comes to consciousness, finding himself floating in space. He is in a space suit with no memory of who he is or how he got into this predicament. He finds a label on his suit and learns that his name is Dirk Halfspeed. Perhaps in a plot twist we learn that this was not really his name but that there is some other significance to this name he finds, but he mistakenly believes it is his name. He adopts it as his identity. This perhaps causes him trouble later, as the name is really a code word or perhaps refers to an organization or something, and is associated with a group of people that are up to no good.

How does Dirk survive? How does he find Sirius? How does he hook up with Seran and Joe, and who are these people in the reimagined series? How does the Negative Time link to this?

Somehow he gets to a space station. This station is like a nexus, because Seran and Joe are both independantly drawn there, and that is where the trio meet each other for the first time (unless I decide that Joe really is Dirk's brother, an idea I tried to work into the original series).

More thoughts and explorations to follow.

Tremendous difficulty

I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle. It occurs to me as I write these words that should a wormhole suddenly open up in my vicinity then those words could be carried through to a neighbouring galaxy, be misinterpreted as a grievous insult, and instigate a galactic war. However, I'll take my chances, and should they send in their fleet I remain confident that Chandler will defeat them by simply swallowing them.

That being said, this year seems to be starting up too quickly for me. All the stuff I'm involved with is picking up again and I feel like I just don't have the energy to keep up with it all. Maybe I need some recovery time from the holidays.