Don't Worry! I'm Still Here

                                                                

                       

I bet you thought I was abducted by aliens. Wouldn't that be a hoot. I am sorry that I haven’t posted in a while on this blog. I do try to keep up with TV and film reviews on Gilbert Speaks, but there is so much going on in my life. It's all good.

I’ve been a bit lax on finishing the fifth and final book of my Roof Oasis Series. Don’t worry, my characters are hounding me to finish their story, and I will have the book done after I return from my trip to Greece and Italy in October.

It is hard trying to juggle the many sides of me. I am an author and a blogger, but I am also a Psychic/Medium with a respectable following, and most nights of the week I am out doing psychic events. Last year, I was certified in Basic Integrated Energy Therapy Healing (IET) and this year I was certified in both Transformation and Cognitive Behavior Life Coaching. My goal is to introduce life-coaching methods into my readings for my clients. I felt it was more important to help the soul sitting in front of me than to connect with the souls who have returned to GOD. The dead are quite happy and safe…it is the living that need to be protected and comforted.

                                                               

This year I was fortunate to meet another psychic medium who wanted to join forces in order to reach more people. Renice and I started our own business, Angel Connections. You can find us on Facebook, and check out our event page to see where you can find us for a reading. Renice and I will also continue with our private readings for those of you who need more than a 20 minute reading.

As you can see, I have been very busy, and my blogging and writing suffered, but I intend to spend equal time on all my loves from now on. Lilith’s Tribe will pick up five years after Warriors in the Mist. Planet Earth is slowly healing. The demons are back in hell where they belong, and peace has returned to the surviving nations. Things should be great. Right?  There is a new enemy heading towards Earth, and it’s up to Patty and her tiny army to make sure they have enough help to defeat this new adversary.

                                                            

Did I mention that I am taking a cruise to Greece and Italy. I am really excited about this trip. I promise to keep you posted on my many adventures, and I will definitely take you on my cruise to Greece and Italy via photos.

The Locksmith, A Graphic Novel Thriller by Terrance Grace

                                                          

I meet the nicest people on Twitter and everyone of them is talented. Terrance Grace has created a great thriller. Check out the sites I've included. I think you're going to be quite impressed by his work.

NOIR meets SCI-FI in this graphic novel thriller: A cop becomes guardian of a gateway to the beginning and end of the universe.

                                                         Terrance Grace                                      

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621377037/the-locksmith-graphic-novel


The Video:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621377037/the-locksmith-issue-2/

Steampunk Granny's Interview of Snake Blocker, Lipan Apache, Navy Reserve, Martial Arts, Writer, Poet, Actor

                                                              

A month ago, I had the pleasure of being part of Kung Fu Martial Arts Expo 9. I met a lot of talented people, but one person in particular caught my attention because he wasn’t only doing martial arts, he was also an author. Snake Blocker is from the Apache Nation and the book he wrote is about the history of his people.

Granny: Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Snake Blocker: I was born in California. My tribe is the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas that is considered as one of the four regional tribes in the Apache Nation. The Apache Nation is a very large and vast community that stretches from Texas, Old Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico to Nevada, to tips of California and Colorado. Some tribes have been known to travel as far north as Canada.

The other closest regional tribes are the Jicarilla Apache and the Mescalero Apache which are our closest cousins on the Apache side and the Navaho Apache is also our bloodline cousins. The majority of my mother’s relatives come from Corpus Christi, Texas. My mother and father got married in Corpus Christi and my father was in the Marines for a short time and ended up being in Camp Pendleton in the San Diego California area, so I was born in Los Angeles, California and lived there for thirty years.

                                                                     

I was an active child, very competitive and stayed away from drugs, never smoke or drink. I had a very strict upbringing as well with my dad being in the Marines. I grew up very conservative and very involved with our church group. The Apaches generally have a nice family base just like many other cultures. We had constant mentorship from our parents, grandparents and cousins.

I was a scrawny child and one of the smallest in my class until high school when I finally ‘shot up.’ To combat the bullying, I worked out to get stronger and studied to be smarter. It was my motivation. I always wanted to do better and got me involved with martial arts; I loved watching Kung Fu theatre on television.

Granny: Do you teach classes?

Snake Blocker: I do. I worked as a certified personal trainer and opened my own studio in California in 1993 (Executive World Fitness), then started a martial arts program in 1995 called Blocker Academy of Martial Arts. In June of 2001, I joined Navy Reserve. A lot of my relatives serve in the military. Then September 11^th happened and before you knew it I was in Kuwait. I lived there for nine months and then came back, then went to Iraq for eleven months. When I came back, I moved to Colorado and then in 2009, I was sent to Afghanistan for a couple of tours. As of this June, I will be fourteen years in the Navy Reserves. I’m a Petty Officer First Class E6. It’s my way of giving back to the country.

             Snake Blocker with baby Sierra Ravin Blocker                                                       

Granny: Thank you for serving and for protecting us.

Snake Blocker: You’re welcome. It’s an honor serving. I have my passion with the martial arts, with serving in the navy and, with my family life. The biggest thing that I’ve learned over time is don’t try to change people. Offer them opportunity and they’ll make the decision to change, if they wish.

Granny: Did the military ever ask you to teach martial arts to the people in the reserves?

Snake Blocker: I have. In the four different units that I have been in, at various times, I had been designated as the Command Fitness Coordinator which is the person who is going to be doing your PT and, within the physical training we’ve added the combative aspects to it, particularly the Military Close Quarters Combat (MCQC) program in which you’re fighting multiple attackers and taught in the way of using knives and other like weapons.  I was designated to teach MCQC in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan and was recognized for my instruction.

Granny: Did you use the Apache knife fighting and battle tactics like you demonstrated at the Kung Fu Convention?

Snake Blocker: I do, so when you’re talking about close quarters combat, you try to get the soldier, sailor, airmen or Marines to learn to use other means to protect themselves if they run out of ammunition. I incorporate the battle tactics of my culture that I’ve learned about through oral tradition. I always include the Apache knife fighting and battle tactics into the military close quarter combat program.

                                                                          

What’s interesting is that even in the Naval War College they still study a Native Americans to learn lessons from them and, Geronimo (Goyathlay) is often brought up because of the guerilla warfare battle tactics of the Apaches.

When people watched cowboy and Indian movies they’d visualize twelve Apaches surrounding a wagon, but if you study history, before the Spaniards, Columbus, Germans, French and English came over, there were at the least ten million to two hundred million natives that were in the area we call the United States today. There were massive amounts of people who lived all over the area and as people came over, they began pushing them into smaller areas and, there was mass genocide going on. I’ve never seen an accurate depiction of the genocide of early America. Millions and millions died over a hundred year period, but it’s the victor who writes the history.

If the native people had joined forces there wouldn’t have been enough people to resist us, but there was segregation between the tribes and nations. I bring this history into my training and explain that nobody is safe forever; genocide is not a thing of the past and, just because we have superior fire power, you might not always have access to it. You have to learn to fight with as many resources as you can. What was considered savagery by the invaders was considered regular day to day battle tactics for the Apache. Up until the 1940’s the U. S. Government was still chasing down renegade Apaches.

Granny: You were speaking about your people’s history and that brings us to your book, Apache Warrior Journey 1. I wish I had more time to go through your book at the convention. The stories and the photos were absolutely breathtaking. What prompted you to write this book?

Snake Blocker: I learned a long time ago that unless something is written down, it will be forgotten. If you can preserve a language like Latin and Greek in a cultural sense then it will live forever. Then you have these other people who only had an oral tradition and when they were wiped out, their history was lost. There thousands of native cultures that we’ve lost their history completely. When I looked at the books that were out there on Apaches, the majority were written by Non-Apaches. The ones that were written by Apaches spoke specifically of only one tribe of Apache.

                                                                    

Over twenty years when I traveled, if I found someone who was Apache, I’d sit down to talk to them or got their e-mail and learned their stories. Some only had a few stories or had a picture of their grandfather and they would say, “I remember that my grandfather told me how to make a bow or he told me how to cook and here is the recipe.”

You pick out bits and pieces from different Apaches. It was good stuff and, I was in Afghanistan getting the finishing touches on the book; twenty years of me collecting notes. Half the book is about oral history from modern Apaches that had never been in print before and it tied in with some of the stuff from the history books. The book is a more complete picture of the Apache Nation as a whole.

Granny: I thought so as I scanned through the book. There was so much in there about the land, the people and especially the women. You could tell that it took you a long time to pull this together.

Snake Blocker: I put some footnotes in there about the military tactics but I realized it was a bigger picture than that. We needed to understand who my people were and are today; who we are as a nation; what is the diversity of our culture.  For example, the Jicarilla Apaches see the snake as a bad omen where the Lipan Apache see the snake as a symbol of strength. Even with my name comes from the fact that a snake sheds its skin and, it never looks back.

That is how we should be in life. This is the realization of the stories that we do. The most important and favorite part of the book is the stories, myths and legends. There is some truth, there is a moral to the story and, always a lesson learned from the different tribes.

Granny: This book is so amazing, and you also write poetry. How many poetry books have you published?

                                                                 

                                                                      

Snake Blocker: Four, which are titled:  The Art of Boundaries, The Art of Expression, The Art of Emotion and The Art of Compromise.

Granny: You also have a Muay Thai Manuel. Are your books self-published or traditional?

Snake Blocker: I went traditional with the first one, The Art of Emotion with a small run publication under Hidden Thoughts Publication in 1997.  The reprints and newer books are done under Blurb.com

Granny: Are you working on any new books?

Snake Blocker: I have enough notes to finish the next Apache book. They can buy my poetry current books as PDF download, table top hard cover limited book or in eBook form.

Granny: I saw that Apache Warrior Journey 1 can also be purchased as an Ebook or PDF download.

Snake Blocker: The books can be purchased on Blurb and I donate portion of the funds to the Apache Bison program in Texas. We started with two bison and the Lipan tribe gets no funding but we have a community tribal museum that is opened to the general public and we have a small lot of land, which is privately owned by tribal members. Our goal is to produce more and more bison, but everything relies on donations. Fifteen dollars buys some food for those bison, which will lead to more bison and, that’s how we’ll build the program. You can find more about my tribes programs at www.lipanapache.org

Granny: Thank you so much Snake Blocker for taking the time to do this interview and I will be promoting your books on my blog and, I would like to touch base with you later on to learn more about the second Apache Warrior book and the bison program.

For my readers, you can learn more about Snake Blocker on the sites below.

Snake Blocker Websites: http://www.blockeracademy.com/   http://www.snakeblocker.com/   http://www.globalknifefighting.com/  http://www.executiveworldfitness.com

Folow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnakeBlocker

Snake Blocker’s books can be purchased here: http://www.blurb.com/b/988166-the-art-of-compromise   Apache Warrior Journey 1 EBook http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3396783/

Snake Blocker’s next seminar event will be with W. Hock Hochheim in Oberlin, Kansas:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1552525404961833/

Andy Burns Talks About His Book, Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks

                                                            

My friend and Editor-In- Chief of the pop culture site, Biff Bam Pop! has written an new book called Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks.

I did an interview on Andy and you can read it here.

Today, Andy did a live podcast to talk about the book. Watch it here




Now, the reason I want you to buy the book is because it is so freaking good. I had never watched Twin Peaks. How I missed this show, I'll never know, but I did. When Andy Burns published his book, I wanted to interview him about Biff Bam Pop on how he got the site started, but especially about his book.

                                                      

He sent me the book to read and after the first chapter, I was hooked and wanted to see the show for myself. I've been watching the episodes of Twin Peaks on Netflix, but I'm so happy that I read the book first. Andy's insightful explanation of the journey of the characters, writers, directors and the actors who made this show such a cult favorite is a must read no matter if you were already a fan or if you're like me, a newcomer..

Buy the book, pour yourself a damn good cup of coffee and then lose yourself in the story.

                                                         

The Book Asylum: Not Your Average Book Store

                                                                   

There is a little shop up in Blackwood, New Jersey that sells old and new books. The Book Asylum is located on 26 N. Blackhorse Pike and I’ve been to this little gem several times in the last two years. My sidekick Dawn Byrnes and I are members of the South Jersey Writers’ Group and responsible for selling the group’s first anthology Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey.

                                                                    

But, I’ve also published my book, Roof Oasis, this year. It’s the first in an apocalyptic series with a twist. As fellow member and friend describes it: Romeo and Juliet meet “The Walking Dead” written by Jules Verne. Yeah it’s good and I’ve had the pleasure of selling my books at The Book Asylum several times in the past few months.

There is something special about this little shop that also hosts a café with damn good coffee, teas and bakery goods. Yummy! And, it always feels like you entered a magical place every time you step through the door. The reason for this good feeling is due to the owners Jeff and Rosemary Moore.

                                                                   

Why did Jeff and Rosemary take the chance, in this shaky economy, to open their own bookstore? We find out from this delightful couple in my interview.

Marie Gilbert: “What encouraged you to open a bookstore? What led to you opening this bookstore?

Jeff Moore: “Do I have to talk, now?”

Rosemary Diepold Moore: “It was your idea?”

Marie Gilbert: laughing “Yes, please. Was it something you always wanted to do?”

Jeff Moore: “I just always liked books, but it was a weird thing. I bought a couple of books for myself on line and I thought, “This doesn’t seem so hard. What could be involved?” So, I started talking about it a little bit.”

Rosemary: “Selling them on line, though.”

Jeff: “Yes, thinking about selling them on line, what was involved, and originally I did think about selling books online. That’s the way a lot of books are sold nowadays, online, but you still have to store them somewhere. So, one day we were walking down the Pike and.”

Rosemary: “You were. You didn’t take me until later. It was like surprise!”

Jeff: “You weren’t with me the first time?” both he and Rosemary laugh. “Well, I don’t like to play all my cards at one time. Yeah, and so this was for rent, it was this side of the shop. And we talked about it, called and asked questions. Did we have books, then, the first truckload?”

Rosemary: “Not yet.”

                                                     

                                      

Marie: “So you saw this store and did you know immediately? Usually a building will call to you.”

Rosemary: “That side called to me.” Rosemary points to the larger section of the shop.

Jeff: “I don’t know. This side was kind of dumpy. It was really messy.”

Rosemary: “Messy blue and white.”

Jeff: “We had the books at home and the price was right. It was pretty reasonable.”

Rosemary: “If you notice, this side is smaller and we didn’t have the back part to it, yet. It had been empty for a while so we started bringing books in without shelves.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “Well, first we met Nick and Bert. They are the landlords and the nicest people on earth. It’s sheer coincidence that we landed up here, but they are the nicest people.”

Marie: “It was meant to be.”

Rosemary: “Bert is usually at the writers’ group. She comes, but not tonight. She’s away right now.”

Marie: “So you had no shelves?”

Jeff: No, we did this all backwards. We had a truckload of books, brought them in and piled them up in here (the smaller side of the shop) and didn’t have any shelves. I saw some shelves on Craig’s list and bought them. They were shoe department shelves from Sears, and it just didn’t work.”

Rosemary: “You had to put them all together. He was here at 10:30 late at night trying to put all these shelves together and, a skunk comes and pays him a visit.

                                                                     

Marie: “Oh no!” We all laugh.

Jeff: “It was the summertime and I left the door open and the skunk walked in, walked around the store, then walked back out again. I didn’t do anything, didn’t move. I just sat there.” We all laugh.

Marie: “Oh my God. He may have brought you luck.”

Jeff: “I guess.”

Rosemary: “Well, it made him come to the realization that hey maybe we should look into that side,” pointing to the larger room.

Jeff: “Actually that side was occupied, but the lease was up. We decided we wanted it but it wasn’t available. Two days later we got the call.”

Marie: “How much time between the time you rented this part and the time you got the call.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “We got this side in September, but we got the other side maybe in October or November because we opened in December.”

Rosemary: “Yeah, because we moved all the stuff over to the other side and didn’t use this side at all. The owner put this side up (coffee shop side) for rent again. We didn’t do this side until a year later in order to make the coffee shop.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “This door was closed and we only did business on the other side. After Jeff moved all the books to the other side and the owner put this side was up for sale, but after this side was empty for a year, then we decided to use this place for the coffee shop>”

Marie: “Perfect! Now, does having a coffee shop here in the bookstore help bring in more people?”

                                                               

Rosemary: “I think so. There are a lot of people who just come in for coffee or they’ll come in to use their lap top or to sit here and just write. We have a screenwriter who comes in. He’ll just sit here for hours, doing work.”

Jeff: “They (bookstore & coffee shop) piggyback well together.”

Marie: “How many years has the store been opened?”

Rosemary: “It’s been four years in December.”

Marie: “Are you happy with your decision to open the shop?”

Jeff: “Yes. I was a little worried about the money. It was quite expensive, but.”

Rosemary: “But, not that much more because of the extra size and the owner let us fix up this room, which was a mess, the way we wanted.”

Marie: “Besides the bookstore and coffee shop and allowing people to come in and do book signings...”

Just then Author/Storyteller/ and fellow member of the South Jersey Writers’ Group Laura Kaighn walks in to say hello. Here is Laura’s site: http://www.ladyhawkestorytelling.com/ Part two of my story of The Book Asylum will feature Laura and the writing group that she oversees there.

                                                          

Marie: “Hi Laura, surprise! I’ll be interviewing you next. So Jeff, besides selling books and coffee, you began to live music here. When is it and does it help to bring in more people?”

Jeff and Rosemary: “We have music every Friday night except for the holidays. January 16^th is our next night for music. For the most parts, the live music has brought in more people, but I think in time, as more people become aware, it will develop because of people coming in to hear a band they’re following.”

Marie: “Well, I’ve been spreading the news and every time we do a book signing here I mention your bookstore on my blog. I have people, like my neighbors, that hadn’t realized there was a book store up the Pike. One of my neighbors, sometimes works from home and is now thinking of taking the ride up here to do his work.”

Rosemary: “There are a lot of people that live within a mile of us or close by that come here. We had two different couples that came in today and it was the first time for both. One of them said, “I’ve rode by here fifty million times, grew up here and never knew this place was here, now I will be back.” He began asking questions about what we do and I told him about the writers’ group, the general writing, the music and that we wanted to do a Poetry night coming up soon and, we want to do an open-mic soon. He said, “You just totally described my dream, a coffee shop and a bookstore. I know where I’m going to be coming.”

Marie: Besides promoting you on my blog, I have a friend who has an online newspaper, NJ Penn. I’ll let him know about you, too. Now, do you post a schedule of events on your Facebook page?”

                              Casting Shadows Trio                                                               

Rosemary: “I do put it on Facebook.”

Jeff: “We’re not scheduled out right now, but do know about some of the people that are coming to perform, like the jazz group, Casting Shadows.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “Casting Shadows, a trio will be playing on the first Friday of every month starting in March. And, we have a piano duo who wants to come back maybe every other month. They stay near the front window and we have all different kinds of music from rock to country to Celtic Irish Band. If anyone wants to know, just call us up (phone # listed on Facebook page) and ask who will be featured for each Friday night.”

                        Clan Suibhne Celtic Irish Band                                                       

Marie: “You can also send me the schedule and I’ll share it on my Facebook page and Twitter.”

Jeff: laughing “We don’t know how to twitter.”

Marie: laughing “Will, I do and I’ll spread the news. Rosemary, I have a question for you. When Jeff said that he wanted to open a bookstore, what was your first reaction?”

Rosemary: “Well, because it’s not the main source of money at first I thought he was doing it for a retirement plan because when he first got all the books, he realized that he still needed a place to store the books. It wasn’t helping us having all the books at home. So, that’s when he, on his own, started looking around and then he took me and said, “Look!” and I said, “Yes....?” There were sheets on the windows and it was for rent. He said, “So what do you think?” I’ said, “About what?” He said, “A bookstore!”

Marie: “Were you nervous?” We are all laughing.

Rosemary: “I was surprised, but it sounded like a neat idea and at first it was a part time idea because we both worked. When it got to the point that it was safe enough for me to leave my job, we opened up full time and it was definitely worth it doing that.”

Jeff: “It’s been two years that we were able to have day hours.”

                                                              

Marie: “Rosemary, people do identify with you being here all the time.”

                           My favorite picture of Jeff & Rosemary

                                                            

Rosemary: “Yes, he’s never here because he is always working.”

Jeff: “I’ve moved on.”

Rosemary: She and Jeff are laughing “That’s what he thinks.”

Marie: “Jeff, tell me more about your book restoration, because that is very interesting. It’s so important.”

Rosemary: “That’s a side job, and again, it is a side job, but we would go to Virginia and he would take classes. He has been doing this on the side, but eventually he’ll do more.”

Jeff: “I want that to be my retirement job.”

Marie: “Did you have to buy special equipment to do book restoration?”

Jeff: “I’ve been buying tools and stuff for the last two years, maybe longer. We have a lot of old books and they have value, but not enough to send them out to be fixed.”

Rosemary: “That’s what made you start when we wondered what to do with the books, was it worth fixing up and getting the money back. But he said, “If I learn to fix it up myself...”

Jeff: “It was my time and I liked doing it. It was a no-brainer.”

Rosemary: “He just did one and it was the History of the Bible. It was from 1868. A customer found it in the trash it had no front cover.  The restoration was to take it down to just the actual pages and restore it using the techniques I learned at CatTail Run Bookbinding classes over the past several years.  We were both very pleased with how it turned out and our customer donated it to his church.

Marie: “Well, it’s important to let people know that you can do this, especially if this will be your retirement job. There are a lot of people who have old books.”

Jeff: “Yeah and people will just show up and not know that we do.”

Rosemary: “I have people calling up asking if we know someone who does book restoration and I say, “Yeah.”

Marie: “I’ll get the word out for you.”

Jeff: “It’s enjoyable to do, so yeah.”

Marie: “So this bookstore was a good life choice decision for you both.”

Rosemary: “Yes, but this side, the coffee shop, made it work. I worked in a Deli and in Customer Service. I like working with food. This doesn’t have all that yet, but maybe someday. That’s the plan, but the coffee shop and bookstore work well together.” Jeff agrees.

Marie: “Well, I do know that, after going to your chain coffee shops, I feel that I get better service here and Rosemary will even offer a free tray of cookies or slices of cake whenever I’m doing a book signing here. Rosemary, you make people who come into this place feel so comfortable.

I know from experience that it is nerve racking to do book signings, because I have to be “ON” all the time and sometimes I’m not feeling my best, but when I come here, you make us feel so comfortable. That’s why Dawn and I love coming here and it doesn’t matter if we didn’t sell any books that day, we are having fun hanging out with you and Jeff.

Rosemary: We are in the process of starting book clubs and also story time with children,” pointing to Laura. “Laura is a good storyteller. I just want to have different things going on.

Jeff: “People have been asking about Poetry, too.”

Marie: “One of our members, Jord Fox, does poetry and he might want to do something here, like a Poetry Night.

Jeff: “Let the poets in your writers’ group know about this and we can get something off the ground with this. Plus, I do have big plans in the works for our bookstore, but you’ll have to come back and interview us in three to six months to find out what it is.”

Marie Gilbert: “I can’t wait to find out the big secret in a few months, but for all my readers out there, drive or take the 400 Patco Bus to The Book Asylum on 26 N Blackhorse Pike for one hell of a great cup of joe, plenty of books to buy and, great service. Here is their Facebook Site https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Book-Asylum/127684793971983

I’ll be doing part two of The Book Asylum’s Writing Group in a few days.

Steampunk Granny's Review of 2014:The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

                                                        

This past year was one hell of a wild ride and that was even with the world’s safety belt pulled taunt across its chest. While we made epic strides with medical and science innovations, the circus performances of Global Politics, especially that of the United States Congress, left many of us wishing that we could pack up and move far away...like to another planet.

                                                             

Luckily, there were a bevy of new movies, books, games and music to divert our attention from the wacky stuff that was happening around the globe. Grab hold of your wrecking ball and follow me.

Music

I’m a big fan of Black Keys, Of Monsters and Men, Lorde and anything by Parov Stelar plus my friends at Biff Bam Pop www.biffbampop.com offered a few of their favorites and I will share them.
Thank you Glenn Walker: http://biffbampop.com/2014/12/15/biff-bam-pops-holiday-gift-guide-2014-nothing-has-changed-by-david-bowie/

And, thank you J.P. Fallavollita: http://biffbampop.com/2014/12/31/top-5-albums-of-2014-as-chosen-by-jp-fallavollita/#more-31591

This year, I’ve been listening to the “My Head is an Animal CD by Of Monsters and Men with my favorite song being “Little Talks”
 
This is my favorite Parov Stelar tune. I play this when I’m feeling down and feel lots better after I try to do the dance steps.

I love all the songs by Black Keys, but this is one of my favorites

Lorde has such a great voice and I think this was the song that hooked me. Royals...enjoy

Television

2014 was a good year for Television and not only did the fan favorites like Dr. Who, Grimm, “The Walking Dead”, American Horror Story: Freak Show, Sleepy Hollow, Agents of Shield and Gotham live up to KICK ASS expectations, but we were offered top-notch series like True Detective and Gracepoint, the American remake of BBC’s Broadchurch.  

                                                          

Shows that didn’t make my list of favorites: Under the Dome, The Following, The Goldbergs and Stalker.

Movies

There were some great thought provoking movies out this year and I have so many favorites such as, Maleficent, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Deliver Us from Evil, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Drop, The Draft, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Her, Gravity, Mockingjay part 1 and, one of the best written horror stories this year, The Babadook http://thebabadook.com/home/

                                                             

                                                        

I will say that I have not seen The Interview which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen. Maybe it was because its plot has Franco and Rogen’s characters trying to kill real life North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

                                                           

I’m all for free speech and I abhor censorship of said free speech, but I don’t think it wise to upset a world leader who is very anxious and capable of launching nuclear weapons and hacking into Sony’s stuff. Maybe the studio could have used a fictitious name or country. I will say that friends who saw the movie liked it.

Books

I reviewed a lot of books this year and wrote reviews for those books. I give a 4 star rating for: Jack Flacco’s second book in a series Ranger Martin and the Alien Invasion. It is a fast, fun action story that you can’t put down http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Martin-Alien-Invasion-Flacco-ebook/dp/B00ONG04IA

                                                         

I reviewed the Reading Glasses Anthology: Stories through an Unpredictable Lens http://tinyurl.com/qbbgonb  You can find out more about Hypothetical Press here: http://www.hypotheticalpress.com/

                                                            

And right now, I am honored and excited to be reviewing Wrapped in Plastic Twin Peaks http://tinyurl.com/lmez3m2 by Andy Burns, our fearless leader and Editor-In-Chief of Biff Bam Pop. I can’t wait to do the review and the interview.

                                                                 

Here is the synopsis: In 1990, avant garde filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet) and acclaimed television writer Mark Frost (Hill Street Blues) teamed up to create a television show that would redefine what the medium could achieve in a one-hour drama.

                                                          

With Twin Peaks, the duo entranced audiences with the seemingly idyllic town, its quirky characters, and a central mystery — who killed Laura Palmer? In a town like Twin Peaks, nothing is as it seems, and in Wrapped in Plastic, pop culture writer Andy Burns uncovers and explores the groundbreaking stylistic and storytelling methods that have made the series one of the most influential and enduring shows of the past 25 years

My Book

I have my book out, Roof Oasis book one of an apocalyptic tale with a twist.

                                                         

   

Think Romeo & Juliet meet The Walking Dead written by Jules Verne http://tinyurl.com/nmdl27e   I'm working on book two Saving Solanda which will be out in the summer of 2015

Conclusion

As far as world news, the lower that rat shit terrorist group called ISIS, the greed of Wall Street, the destruction of the Middle Class, Obama Care, GMO’s and the disgusting and dangerous practice of FRACKING along with the latest outbreak of the contagious Ebola Virus were the big topics around the water coolers and kitchen tables. I send my sympathies to the families who were infected in West Africa and here.

                                                        

I could write about the buffoonery that went on in Congress, but I’m already taking too many pills for acid indigestion as it is. Enough said. Let’s hope that 2015 will find our world leaders using more common sense and our private citizens using fewer guns.

                                                     Happy 2015