Public domain is destroying my childhood (Look at what they've done to Popeye!)

In the past couple of years some beloved characters have begun entering public domain.  And that's led to them being abused by people with less than noble intent.  The worst example probably being the recent film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, in which Pooh becomes a feral bear hellbent on revenge for Christopher Robin abandoning him.  It's a horrible thing to do to such a revered children's character and of course it found an audience, probably of people who never cared to even watch the Disney movie much less read the original book.

But what "they" have done to Popeye has got to be worse than that.

Here is the trailer for Popeye the Slayer Man:

This is actually one of two movies coming up featuring a murderous Popeye.  The other is Shiver Me Timbers and it looks more horrible than this one.

I'm sure the people who do this think they're being "cute" but they're really not.  It's almost pitiful: They could be using their talents and their tools to make something much more original and endearing to a larger audience.  And instead they are giving us this... crap.

This isn't something being done in tribute to a beloved franchise.  It's not like this is a "fan film".  A true fan film is done out of care and devotion and appreciation.  Star Wars has had tons of fan-produced movies, some of them even full-length features.  Nobody who has made a serious fan film ever expected to actually make money for their effort.  It's something you do because you have a neat idea that you want to express your love of that particular setting and its characters with.  And because making movies can be a fun experience for everyone involved.  There is a kind of child-like innocence that happens when making a sincere fan film.  We certainly had that vibe when my friends and I made Forcery years ago.

Popeye the Slayer Man is not any of that at all.  It's a cheap cash grab making a mockery of the source material.  There is nothing whatsoever "funny" or "horror"-filled about its premise.  Just like the other movies being derived from characters now lapsing into public domain.

I certainly won't be seeing this.  Any more than I saw the Pooh "film".  And I sincerely hope that nobody involved in this dreck ever gets taken seriously by the entertainment industry.

Betty Boop enters public domain next year.  God only knows what some sick minds out there plan to do to her.

Restaurant Review: Stax's Drake House in Landrum, South Carolina

Because of a number of factors I wasn't able to have Thanksgiving yesterday with dear friends as is the usual custom.  But they resolved that we were going to come together today and celebrate all the things that we have to be thankful for.  So a little before noon they arrived at my front door and we headed off to the nearby town of Landrum, South Carolina for a meal at Stax's Drake House.

Folks, I'm not lying.  I hadn't had real food in over three months.  My selections at the grocery store have been pathetic.  I had been so focused on finishing the manuscript of my book that proper eating simply hasn't registered at all.  So all this time I've more or less been making do with French bread pizzas purchased at the nearby Aldi.  My dog Tammy, with the food in those little foil cans that I've been getting her, has been eating more delectable fare than me.

With the manuscript "in the can," it was high time that I eat properly.

So we got to Drake House today and I was immediately charmed by the place.  The restaurant is in a large-ish domicile built in the early 1900s for railroad workers.  My friends and I went inside and were taken to our table.  The drink selection was easy: coffee, tea (sweet and unsweet), and water.  I chose the sweet tea.  That alone was a pleasure.  Too many restaurants can't brew sweet tea properly.  Drake House does it absolutely right.

The Drake House has a buffet.  Coming right after Thanksgiving the selection was much in keeping with the holiday.  I helped myself to the turkey and I don't know how they cooked it without it being deep-fried, but that was the most tender and moist turkey that I have ever put into my mouth!  It was a sheer delight.  I also got a few pieces of the chicken, which is hailed by many as among the best in the world.  This also surprised me by how good it was.  The ham was almost barbecued, it was much juicier than most that I've had.  The green beans were a fine bit of country goodness and the mashed potatoes were spot-on perfect in texture and taste.

There is quite a selection of desserts to choose from after the main course is completed.  I went for the pound cake.  Tasted just as good as Granny used to make.

I was thoroughly satisfied with the meal.  Indeed, I felt completely stuffed!  I think my stomach has actually shrunk over the past few months.  It needed something proper in it.  Drake House really was the best place to come to for serious food after a full season of self-denial.

My friends had been to Stax's Drake House before.  It had been a "hidden treasure" that their own family had discovered awhile back.  And now I know about it.  I'm looking forward to taking others to dine there in due time.  And after you're done, maybe you can take a stroll through downtown Landrum.  We spotted quite a few nice little places, including a bookstore that I am eager to visit sometime.

Stax's Drake House Restaurant is located at 511 N. Howard Avenue in Landrum, South Carolina.  For more information including dinner hours you can visit the website at staxdrakehouse.com.  I definitely recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

Teaser video for the final season of Stranger Things

Why didn't somebody tell me about this??  It was released three weeks ago!!

Oh alright, I guess I've just been so busy with things that I didn't notice.  The past three months or so have been so whacked on my end.  I'm sure an awful lot slipped under my radar.

But I'm glad to be seeing it now.  Stranger Things has more or less become the only pop cultural franchise that I'm interested in anymore.  Star Wars is now such a mess that I finally gave up being a fan.  And Doctor Who has gone completely off the rails in the worst way.

Well, there is one final season left of Stranger Things.  Feels like an enormous epoch of my life is winding down.  This show is going to leave a vacuum and I don't know what is going to fill it.

So here is the teaser for season five, with the titles of the episodes to look forward to.  Speculate away!

This week's book status

I need to start referring to it more as my "manuscript."  It's not a full-blown book until it's got a few hundred pages nicely bound together with a beautiful cover, and maybe a dust jacket if it's a hardcover.  Perhaps there will be a photo on the inside back cover.  Maybe a pic of Tammy and me.

That is still awhile ahead of us.

Since completing the manuscript nine days ago I've been doing some revisioning.  Right now I'm looking at part three, which is about my years at Elon.  It's now striking me that the depiction of that is a foreshadowing of the greater drama to come.  The bad things but also the great good.

(I'm coming to realize what the book's moment of climax is.  It's three words.  And I'm looking forward to the person it pertains to discovering it.)

I'm going over it all, seeing what things can be improved upon, where the prose can use some tightening.  I'm not sure at what point this escalates away from being "first draft" but it's definitely got forward momentum behind it.

Meanwhile, I'm writing other stuff too.  The last several weeks of finishing the manuscript thrust me "into the zone" and I want to make the most of that however long it lasts.  Which I hope will be for awhile.

Maybe I'll commit to posting more to this blog.  I feel like a neglectful parent to it sometimes, and that's not right.

More next week!

Ten years ago this morning

It was about this time, ten years ago today, that I held your hand.  That rough calloused hand that could never be still enough to heal.  You were always doing for others, especially in your shop whenever you decided someone deserved to own one of your handmade knives.

We held your hands as you slipped away from the body that had become a prison.  I knew it was the right thing to have done, to sign the paper that would let you go when it was time.  But it made it no easier.

I would have given anything to have you back, healthy in body and mind.

I've needed you.  I hope I've been able to make you proud.

I miss you, Dad.

Book Status: MANUSCRIPT FINISHED!

 It's time to celebrate!!

A little less than an hour ago I finished the draft of the manuscript of my memoir.  So very thrilled!  I had wanted to have this done by Thanksgiving and I beat it be a week and a half.

The draft is a little less than 133,000 words.  Well within budget for a memoir or most other books.

It is packed.  Pretty much every moderate to major event of my life, from birth to where I am today: An artificial intelligence trainer, op-ed writer, and crisis line counselor.

The next to last chapter, I'm particularly fond of that one.  It's a "where are they now?" of most of the characters who appear.  And there are PLENTY.  I'm turning a lot of people who have been in my life into literary characters.

What happens now?  I take a break for a week or so.  And then I'll return to the manuscript with refreshed eyes, no doubt making edits and revisions (I made one earlier today, of the beginning of the chapter about my wedding, that is much nicer than it had been).

I'm also going to let a few friends, sworn to secrecy, read parts of it.  I've already shared some chapters with them.  They have each responded that these chapters are everything from "powerful" to "raw and visceral".

And then, well... we'll see.

But in the meantime, it's really happened!  At long last I have written a book.  I've got a really positive feeling about this.

Book status for week of November 11th

Five chapters written this past week.  And three of those were written on Thursday.  Also, a chapter that I wrote over ten years ago now has a home in the manuscript.

The draft has now reached the 100,000 words mark.  As things stand now it's looking like it will all fit within 150,000 words, which is the goal.

At the rate this is going the entire first draft will be done by Thanksgiving.

It's been a lot of effort, but it really is quite something to see this all come together.  I'm soon going to have "written a full length book" notched on my belt. Maybe if this gets published that will give me street cred enough to sell my children's book too :-) 

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."

 Happy fortieth anniversary to Wes Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Donald Trump: Greatest comeback in American history

 

Well, I'll be darned.

After months of believing that the election would go otherwise, Donald Trump has won indeed.

I've rarely been so glad to have been so wrong.  Harris would have been an unprecedented disaster for America.  There would have been no end to inflation.  In fact, her policies would have made it much worse.  She didn't see that.  She basically ran on one issue only - abortion, which is ridiculous to believe Trump is going to pass a law banning it nationwide - and that wasn't enough to persuade enough Americans that she was going to be a competent leader.

Congratulations, Mr. Trump.  You and Melania are headed to the White House, again!  Just try to pick a better staff this time, 'kay?

My final election prediction

 

People will vote their appetites. They will vote for whoever scratches their itching ears. They will vote for the person who promises to protect their debaucheries.

 

I've lived long enough, have studied plenty of history, to know that our society is getting worse, not better. Because people will almost always choose what is convenient over what is right.

 

The candidate who I believe will win tomorrow, will cause more harm to be wrought upon the United States than any individual in her almost two and a half centuries of existence.

 

But that doesn't matter. Only that this candidate "wins". And that's what's most important, right?

 

I am almost tempted to say "damn the fools who would choose such evil." But as a Christian I am cautioned against calling anyone "fool".

 

Maybe, someday, if we survive what's coming, some people will remember that I and others warned about this. We saw it coming. We did our best to alert our neighbors. But it was all in vain.

 

"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it," indeed.

 

 

Six new chapters to report this week

Since last time I did a status report on how my book is coming along there have been six chapters added to the manuscript.

It is also nearly 100,000 words in size.

I've been trying to write something since yesterday but I'm having difficulty.  Maybe I've been pushing myself too hard?  Perhaps I need to take a break.  Spend some time in nature, play with my dog, read a good book.

Well, what I composed in the past week is good stuff.  Some comedic material also.  There is an entire chapter devoted to the delusions I had about my hair: one of the rationales I had for going off the meds.  Which ended in disaster.  It's funny and also not funny, if you know what I mean.

As things look right now, I may have the draft of the entire book finished by Thanksgiving.

And then I'll go back over it and edit and revise and add and delete stuff.  After that, well... we will see what we shall see.