tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-138217302024-03-07T15:49:14.223-08:00Carhart BlogMusings from mind and heart of storyteller, author, musician, artist, music producer, indie publisher and YouTuber, Paul M. Carhart. Subjects include writing, reading, entertainment, science fiction and fantasy, Christian worship & study, music, design, family and personal news, single parenting (Carhart became a widower in February, 2014), Downtown Long Beach living, travel, hardships, triumphs and pop culture.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-80256775363973277952020-01-24T16:13:00.001-08:002020-01-24T16:13:41.121-08:002020: Where I Stand Now...<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So 2019 was a pretty crazy year that completely derailed many of my creative projects that I was hoping to complete and even hoping to start. In February, Third World Sun’s drummer, Mike Driml, had a heart attack. I spent much time going to the hospital to keep him company as he began his recovery and, after a series of unfortunate events for him, he lost work and his residence. He ended up in his car and then ultimately on my couch. The result ended up with all of the members of Third World Sun going their separate ways. There was more to it than this, but that was how it turned out. I’m now renting the basement that we used to rehearse in to a tenant. The financial increase has been welcome.<br /><br />Nevertheless, not to belabor these personal issues, but my focus was not what I expected it to be in 2019. Let’s go through where things now stand based on my last post.<br /><br /><b>Third World Sun: Eclipse</b><br />The new Third World Sun album became available in mid-2019, just past the original mid-April target release date. Once Mike had his heart attack, Scott and I decided to complete the album. His drums had already been recorded and we didn’t know if he was going to make it or not. Turns out, thankfully, he did recover. The album is only available in download format. If you’re interested, you can download the album at this link: <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2">https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2</a>. We’re all incredibly proud of it. In September, we disbanded Third World Sun. We’d been together since Lori’s passing (5.5 years) and our lives had all grown in different directions. It was no longer very easy to keep it going. It was a mutual decision. So that project has come to a close. I do miss playing with the guys. But it was a huge drain on my time. And so, now in 2020, I should have more time to tackle other projects, many of them I had hoped to address in 2019. <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2" target="_blank">Download Third World Sun: Eclipse: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2</a><br /><br /><b>A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)</b> <br />I still have one more editorial pass to go. I could not get to it last year. But I should be able to get this out this summer. So May or June of 2020. I’ll release cover art as soon as I have it.<br /><br /><b>Website: <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/" target="_blank">paulcarhart.com</a></b><br />I did give the website a bit of an overhaul at the end of 2018. But I’ve started a new homepage refresh concept that I hope to do in the next couple months. So, something else for the middle of 2020. More info to come. <br /><br /><b>The Paul•Barers</b><br />With the shuttering of Third World Sun, I reverted to some material that I had written near the end of my marriage, stuff I wrote just before Lori’s stroke, while she was in the hospital and immediately following her passing. For The Paul•Barers, I did the drum programming myself, play bass, play synthesizers, and sing all the vocal parts. And I’m producing it. Sitting in on guitar is my friend Ryan Carbonara, who I’ve known since high school. He’s probably the best guitarist I know and his playing and contributions to these songs have elevated them far above what I could have made them on my own. Also, my daughter Melody, played ukulele on one of the songs. So far, there are eight songs. The goal is to do about 14 and release the album. Stylistically, these songs have an alternative-80s vibe to them, harkening back to when I first fell in love with music. Duran Duran has always been my favorite band. And I’m striving for a sense of that in this music. Whether I succeed or not is another matter. The hope is that, mid-year or so, I’ll have a band put together around these songs and we can get out and play them live. For now, you can hear the first eight songs on the band’s reverberation page. <a href="https://www.reverbnation.com/thepaulbarers">https://www.reverbnation.com/thepaulbarers</a><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve </b><br />Work continues scanning of the original Classic 1991/1992 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips. I’ve got probably 30-40 storyboards for NEW Peeve comic strips. Just need to make the time to do them. Would like to set up a schedule in my life to start turning them out on a regular basis. Maybe not once a week. But maybe between new ones, I can still get the backlist up (which will be new to most people anyway). I love this property and really have enjoyed writing new material for it. But it requires time to pencil and ink new comic strips. And since no one is paying me at this point, the schedule takes a back seat to the day job, raising my daughter, and other creative projects. Now, if I could get a couple sponsors for the strip online… <br /><br /><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts/Merch</b><br />"Peeve's Back" shirts and "Sir Loin Emotions" shirts are still available. For now, Peeve merch is only available online: <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/peeve" target="_blank">Elvin's Pet Peeve online store</a>. <br /><br /><b>Secret Project</b><br />Still hoping to do this secret project. Lots of ideas have been put down. Tons of notes. Still need to brainstorm with my partner and figure out how to get it off the ground with a bit of distance between us. It can be done, but we just need to figure out the best way to get it going.<br /><br /><b>Secret Podcast</b><br />Also hoping to get a new podcast off the ground with a secret partner. We’ve been talking about it for awhile. But we’ll see… Maybe 2020 is the year.<br /><b><br />Faith Restored (Fairlight #4) </b><br />Started on Faith Restored, the fourth novel in the Fairlight series last year. But then life took over and I never had a chance to get back to it. <br /><br /><b>Other novels</b><br />I've also got some percolating ideas to follow up Planetfall with and am doing some reading an research on that front. Either there will be a new Planetfall trilogy. Or there will be TWO new Planetfall trilogies. Whatever the case, I recommend that you get your copy of Planetfall and read the first trilogy (it’s three books in one volume). I’ve gotten good responses from it. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Planetfall-Paul-M-Carhart/dp/1519210558/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=planetfall+carhart&qid=1579910957&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Planetfall in print</a>. <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/593878" target="_blank">Planetfall in digital formats</a>. <br /><br /><b>The Creative Underground YouTube channel</b><br />I WANT to keep this going, but I just haven't had the time. It needs to be re-launched. And 2019 just didn’t get me there. Hoping 2020 is the year for the return of The Creative Underground as well as my new podcast with my friend.<br /><br /><b>Peeve Comic Books </b><br />I originally drew a handful of Peeve comic book stories back in 1991 and 1992. I'd like to get those published for your reading pleasure and do new stories as well. In fact, I've recently come up with a few new characters that would be best introduced in a longer story. However, I'm focusing on the comic strips first. Once the 1991 and 1992 comic strips have been scanned, I can scan these and colorize them for publication. So, once the comic strips are scanned, this will move into that slot.<br /><br /><b>Melody Midnight children's books</b><br />I've written three and a half of these. They're written in an every-two-lines rhymes meter that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. My plan is to illustrate these myself. I have already done some character designs. So the next step is to break apart the text into pages and start storyboarding the book. It's a big step and not something I've had time to tackle. Once some of these other projects go through the pipeline, this one is very close to my heart so I want to get to it but I don't want to start it until I can dedicate the time to it that it will require. <br /><br />So now that Third World Sun is wrapped up, I’m hoping to have time to get to more of these projects. My creative work (as well as raising my daughter) is really what makes living my life worthwhile. I can’t wait to start rocking it. <br /><br />So, what are YOU working on? </span>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-5400603592951677572019-03-28T12:07:00.001-07:002019-03-28T12:17:30.199-07:002019 Projects Spring Update<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here we are a third of the way into 2019 and I thought I should provide some sort of an update, since I've disappeared. To be honest, I found myself COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED and had to take some time off just to rest. I've got a lot of projects I WANT to do and some of them have had to shift in and out of my periphery based on timing and what is feasible. But it's still ALOT, especially since I work a day job in advertising and am raising my teenage daughter on my own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So I've had to re-organize my time and focus on completing some projects to make room for the other ones. Based on the list from my last post, I'm gonna go through all of my projects. Please feel free to let me know which ones you're most excited about because if I get comments on one over another, that may influence how I organize my time in the future. Thanks. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">PROJECTS COMPLETED OR NEARING COMPLETION:</span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">New Third World Sun material</span></span></b></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">All of the new songs have been mastered. However, do to some health issues with our drummer, Biff Wellington, the band is currently not playing any live shows. Local Music Experience,
www.localmusicexperience.com has been playing the first single, Find Me. The B-side is Little Miss Sunshine. The album will drop digitally in mid-April with a physical CD following later. For more up-to-date info, please visit the Third World Sun blog frequently: http://thirdworldsun.blogspot.com/</span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)</b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"></span></span>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true">My
editors have provided their notes and I've incorporated them. One more
editorial pass from me to go. Also, keep your eyes peeled for cover art coming soon. I expect it to
be available in print and digital
formats in summer, 2019.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><b>The NEW paulcarhart.com</b></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0"><span data-text="true">The website was redesigned this year. From here, you can visit Third World Sun's pages, Peeve, The Creative Underground and get information on all of my books. You can also get more personal info on me including the backstory on my career and places I've traveled to. Enjoy. <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/">www.paulcarhart.com</a></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><b>ACTIVE PROJECTS:</b><span data-text="true"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Something new. Something Nasti</b></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d594q-0-0"><span data-text="true">Tons
of ideas for this secret project. Hoping to brainstorm with my partner in the coming
weeks and jump-starting this opportunity. Can't say more or I'd have to
kill you. Suffice it to say that it will be fun and hopefully somewhat popular and therefore lucrative. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0"><b>New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips and Classic Peeve comic strips</b></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="blup1-0-0"><span data-text="true">The first new Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip (a two-parter) was posted at <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/">www.paulcarhart.com</a> on 7/18/18 (part one) and 7/21/18 (part two). There WILL be more to come (I've already storyboarded at least 10) but not until some of the projects above fall off my plate. Scanning of the original 1991/1992 strips also continue.</span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0"><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts/Merch</b></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Peeve's
Back" shirts and "Sir Loin Emotions" shirts are still available. Got another one in mind (Long Beach
themed because I'd like to get Peeve items into Made by Millworks on
Pine Ave.). For now, Peeve merch is only available online:<span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true"> <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/peeve" target="_blank">Elvin's Pet Peeve online store</a>.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">PROJECTS ON-DECK:<span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">The Next Novel</span></span></span></span></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i> </i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i>I've
decided to write Faith Restored, the fourth novel in the Fairlight
series, next. That said, I've also got some percolating ideas to follow up
Planetfall with and am doing some reading an research on that front. Either there will be a new Planetfall trilogy. Or there
will be TWO new Planetfall trilogies. Whatever the case, I recommend that you <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Planetfall-Paul-M-Carhart/dp/1519210558/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524299569&sr=8-1" target="_blank">get your copy of Planetfall</a> and read up in preparation. Neither will come, however until after Faith
Restored is finished. And even that won't get started with any steam
until A Stranger At The Gallows is published. </i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel</span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">I WANT to keep this going, but I just haven't had the time. Once the Third World Sun album is out and A Stranger At The Gallows drops, I can move some other projects into the Active lane. Hoping to do a new video on the cover art for A Stranger At The Gallows. Part of the challenge is to have things that are visually appealing to do videos on. No one wants to watch me with headphones on mixing the latest TWS song or typing into MS Word the next chapter in the latest novel I'm writing. BORING. So as some of these projects drop away, there will be more interesting things to film. And when that happens, my plan is to capture it and to do videos on it. That's when you'll see an increase in video posts at The Creative Underground channel. In the meantime, catch up on old videos, subscribe, like, and hit the notifications bell. Share with your friends to increase my subscriptions. The more people I KNOW are watching, the more important this channel will become in my workload. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFAdT1_sTLMqv-7ah6_kSwA?" target="_blank">Check it out!</a> Thanks.</span></span></span></i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Music outside of the band</span></span></span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">With Third World Sun currently on hiatus from playing live shows and writing/recording, my thoughts have turned to some music I might do outside of the band. Still toying with it but it's percolating. </span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Peeve Comic Books </b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">I originally drew a handful of Peeve comic book stories back in 1991 and 1992. I'd like to get those published for your reading pleasure and do new stories as well. In fact, I've recently come up with a few new characters that would be best introduced in a longer story. However, I'm focusing on the comic strips first. Once the 1991 and 1992 comic strips have been scanned, I can scan these and colorize them for publication. So, once the comic strips are scanned, this will move into that slot.</span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">Melody Midnight children'<i>s</i> books</span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i>I've written three and a half of these. They're written in an every-two-lines rhymes meter that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. My plan is to illustrate these myself. I have already done some character designs. So the next step is to break apart the text into pages and start storyboarding the book. It's a big step and not something I've had time to tackle. Once some of these other projects go through the pipeline, this one is very close to my heart so I want to get to it but I don't want to start it until I can dedicate the time to it that it will require.</i></span><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The key to completing projects is being able to focus. By re-organizing my time and breaking these projects apart into these categories, I've improved my ability to focus on projects that are closer to completion so I can move them off of my plate and then move on to a smaller number of projects. I'm sure these things will shift around more as I work on them, but it is NOT my goal to abandon any of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, what are YOU working on? </span>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-44207950014786568682018-12-07T11:54:00.000-08:002018-12-07T11:54:01.750-08:002018 Recap<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">At the beginning of this year, I ran through a laundry list of things I was hoping to accomplish this year. Besides more frequent blog posts (which I clearly haven't done), let's take a look at how well I've done this year... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Producing new Third World Sun material</span></span></b></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">The mixes are done. Mastering starts this week and at least one new song will hit Internet radio station, LME (Local Music Experience, www.localmusicexperience.com) before 2018 ends.</span></span><span data-offset-key="21rb4-2-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0"><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Done.<span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true"> <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/peeve" target="_blank">Elvin's Pet Peeve online store</a>.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0"><b>New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="blup1-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="blup1-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="blup1-0-0"><span data-text="true">The first new Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip (a two-parter) was posted at <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/">www.paulcarhart.com</a> on 7/18 (part one) and 7/21 (part two). More to come. Also, have been posting the original 1991 strips throughout the year.</span></span></span></i></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><b>The NEW paulcarhart.com</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0">
<blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0"><span data-text="true">The website was redesigned this year. Enjoy. <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/">www.paulcarhart.com</a></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel</span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">Although it's been many weeks since I've put up a new video since I was making edits to A Stranger At The Gallows, I DID re-launch this in 2018 and will likely post another video this weekend (about that book). The new <a href="http://paulcarhart.com/">paulcarhart.com</a> links to the channel from the top banner. So make sure you go check it out, subscribe and hit the notification bell. Thanks in advance!</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"></span></span><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)</b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"></span></span>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true">My editorial pass is now done. One of my test readers has completed reading it and I've made many fixes to the manuscript based on her feedback. Should go to my editor this weekend. And then it'll get one more pass from me. I expect it to be available in print and digital formats in early 2019.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun</span></span></b><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f20af-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">We did record the two additional songs. The eventual CD will likely be eleven songs long. But we plan to release one or two songs digitally prior to releasing a physical CD in mid-2019.</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f0apd-2-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f20af-0-0"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f0apd-2-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span><b>Family time</b></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0"><span data-text="true">This was Melody's first year of high school and I've been making sure I'm available to be present for Marching Band, Orchestra and homework-helping duties. We also hosted Thanksgiving this year, first time we've hosted a holiday since Lori passed away.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="8egec-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">The Last Jedi</span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"></span></span></b>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8egec-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">I don't hate this film as much as many do. But I think it's not a great Star Wars film and I hope the third film in the trilogy fixes some of the decisions made in this one. I did, however, dig Solo.</span></span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Music outside of the band</span></span></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">I've gathered many songs that I might do outside of the band. Toyed with the idea of doing some of them with a friend of mine but it seems that I don't really have time at this point to do this, stay involved with Melody's school-life AND remain in Third World Sun. So this may have to wait. Or it may have to take a different form.</span></span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Something new. Something Nasti</b></span></span></span></div>
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<blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d594q-0-0"><span data-text="true">Much discussion here. But it's still a secret. And no REAL movement, other than tons of notes of tons of ideas.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">New Year's Eve tradition</span></span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">Yes. We played this. In fact, Third World Sun</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="edejs-2-0"><span data-text="true"> will again be playing, for the FIFTH consecutive year, New Year's Eve (12/31/2018) at
Angel City in Bellflower, CA. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The band is also playing two sets at Rebel Bite in downtown Long Beach on 12/15/18 starting at 7pm. </span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Classic Peeve</b> </span></span></span>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i>I began this and the task continues. So far, the first 10 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips from 1991 have been posted. I plan to scan and post more of them over my holiday break. Available at <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com/">www.paulcarhart.com</a> (click the picture of Peeve in the top, right corner). </i></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span></span><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Peeve Nerdiness </b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement on the Peeve comic book stories. Focusing on the comic strips first.</span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">What to write next?</span></span></span></span></span></b>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i>Still haven't decided. A Stranger At The Gallows will be done in a few weeks and will be published in early 2019. I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight
4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books? Ideas are percolating. What do you guys think?</i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">All in all, I don't think I've done too bad this year. I need to make more frequent blog posts, post the Classic Peeve comic strips more frequently, do NEW Peeve comic strips more frequently and make Creative Underground channel video posts more frequently. Oh. And I need to start writing the next book... Ok. Onward and upward! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What are YOU working on? </span>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-5693222986060302062018-02-26T00:15:00.003-08:002018-02-26T11:55:26.138-08:00On Growing Up Walt DisneyWhen I was growing up, every Sunday night, there was a television show called The Wonderful World of Disney. Maybe you remember it. It was always hosted by Walt Disney (despite the fact that Disney passed away two years before I was born) and Mr. Disney, Walt, was my first and is still my longest lasting hero. When my dad asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I told him I wanted to be Walt Disney. I learned how to draw the Disney characters at a very young age and I used to dazzle my friends and schoolmates with my drawings.<br />
<br />
My dad wanted more for me. He told me there were more starving artists than there were anything else.<br />
<br />
What he didn't get was I didn't want to be JUST an artist. I wanted to BE Walt Disney.<br />
<br />
Fast-forward to the late-eighties. I was working in a factory (Douglas Aircraft), about as far away as I could have ever imagined from being Walt Disney. But it wasn't a secret that I was both a Disney fan and an artist. Many told me I needed to go down to the Disney studio and "go get a job there," as if that was all there was to it. And, at the time, I would have been thrilled to be offered the opportunity. However, I didn't have the schooling and there was no way in. It wasn't like it was in the 20s and the 30s where "decent" artists just showed up at "Disney's" and showed a handful of drawings to a guy and was given a desk. This was Eisner's Disney. Pretty much a different place altogether.<br />
<br />
Another thing many people at the airplane factory told me stuck though. "They sure don't make comic strips like they used to. Have you read the comic strips in the newspaper lately? They're not even funny."<br />
<br />
Challenge accepted.<br />
<br />
At the time, I was reading Disney comics reprinted by Gladstone publishing and Disney was starting to branch out and publish their own new comics, much of it based on the Disney Afternoon batch of characters. I had grown up reading Carl Barks' Donald Duck comic books. And I was a bit of a punster myself. Ren and Stimpy was tweaking the heck out of cartoon expectations and I decided I wanted to fall somewhere in between. I wanted to have a character that was antagonistic and cutting-edge, but maybe the rest of the cast of my characters would be more like Disney characters. And I landed on the idea of a Pet Peeve. And since he's a pet, he's got to be someone's pet. I had always loved Tolkien's books and fantasy in general. My brother was very involved in the local Rennaissance Faires. So I set my fictional world in a fractured fairy tale-like fantasy world that was populated with cartoon versions of knights, elves, dwarves and dragons. And since Peeve had to be someone's pet in order for the pun to work, I made Peeve's straight man a pudgy little elf named Elvin. And that's how "Elvin's Pet Peeve" came to mind.<br />
<br />
The idea was to do a series of comic strips and have them syndicated to the newspapers the same way Peanuts, Ziggy and Garfield was.<br />
<br />
I studied hard. I studied copyright and trademark law. I studied how the Disney artists used to draw their comic strips. And I studied syndication and distribution of comic strips. I even stopped by the Long Beach Press-Telegram offices to see if I could interest them in running my comic strip locally (they weren't interested). In the meantime, hoping for a grass-roots interest, I put my high school print shop knowledge to work and made T-Shirts, caps, and other screen-printed items. I even sponsored a softball team and had a four-page newsletter that co-workers took home to their kids. I was so convinced Peeve was going to be a hit, I bought a personalized license plate for my car that said PEEVE. I wanted to get it before someone else did!<br />
<br />
I was highly motivated. I drew 185 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips as well as three and a half comic book-style stories (there were four, but only three were fully-inked) before I shelved it to focus on going to school for graphic design (I decided to study graphic design, which was something I excelled at in high school) after I was laid off from Douglas.<br />
<br />
From there, I went into a graphic design career, holding Art Director positions at a swimwear company, web design company, screen printing company and then moving into advertising. I revisited Peeve briefly when I was working on potential animated properties with Joe White. But then I moved to Colorado, got married, had a kid, etc. All the things that one does when one grows up.<br />
<br />
And then life hit me like a bus.<br />
<br />
My wife of ten and a half years was gone. My daughter was fast-approaching her teenage years and I was left with little more than a handful of unrealized dreams.<br />
<br />
And a box full of Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips. All sealed in plastic.<br />
<br />
And I realized that this is a wonderful time to be an artist. We have the Internet. We have Do It Yourself filmmaking, publishing, print-on-demand books, T-shirts, digital studio-quality recording, wide-reaching distribution. The only limits are your imagination, inventiveness and wherewithal to get off your tail and do good work.<br />
<br />
So I found myself pondering what to do with it all. And, after much prayer and soul-searching, inspiration struck. I'm gonna do it all! And I'm going to tie it all together with the re-launch of the TV show that I did right after Lori passed away (The Creative Underground... it started out as an online radio show in Colorado Springs, CO, then was part of PADNET, Long Beach's cable-access channel and aired simultaneously on my YouTube channel). With the re-launch of The Creative Underground YouTube channel, now focusing mostly on what I'm doing (although I'm sure I'll highlight other artists from time to time, as has been my want), I've come full circle to that kid who's head took up most of the TV every Sunday night.<br />
<br />
I have my chance to be Walt Disney!<br />
<br />
Everything I'm doing I've cribbed from my hero. His TV show was basically a commercial for whatever the studio was doing. And that's what I'm doing too. It is my hope that you come away inspired to do your own BEST creative work.<br />
<br />
So check out the show. Every week, we're going to go behind the scenes on something I'm working on, be it the "Elvin's Pet Peeve" comic strip (which should be soon available to view every week at the soon-to-be redesigned paulcarhart.com), my writing (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Paul+M.+Carhart&search-alias=books&field-author=Paul+M.+Carhart&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">check out my books at Amazon</a>), or my music (which may or may include my cohorts in <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/thirdworldsun" target="_blank">Third World Sun</a>... I'm using a piece of one of the band's new songs as the Creative Underground's new theme song).<br />
<br />
This week, we're gonna watch me draw the first "Elvin's Pet Peeve" comic strip since 1992. I hope you enjoy it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF7LCeDUPwI" target="_blank">Click here to watch.</a><br />
<br />
<i>Also, please note: Just as I've left all of my blog posts here on this blog from over the years, all five of the previous Long-Beach Creativity-based episodes (1x01-1x05) of The Creative Underground video show are still available on the YouTube channel. If you're so inclined, just scroll on down to find them. Also, I think there are a couple clips of the band as well that I hosted there when the channel was more or less dormant. I left them there for your enjoyment. The new episodes are labeled 2x01 and 2x02, etc.).</i>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-3567096391201707662018-01-11T18:11:00.004-08:002018-01-11T21:05:28.805-08:002018 Update!<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yes. I know. The year has barely begun. And I had a bunch of things (see my previous post) that I was hoping to wrap up in 2017 and begin in 2018 and then... I hit the speed bumps. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">First, when I got off work on Friday, December 22, I went straight home to export my Peeve T-shirt artwork and upload it... only to find out my version of Photoshop was expired. What the heck? And in order to get a new version, I needed to get the latest Mac OS (High Sierra). So I started downloading the new OS, and it was taking forever, eventually timing out! After a couple days of troubleshooting, I realized that it must have been my bandwidth through my wi-fi. As an aside, we own a 1915 two-story (three if you count the basement that we use as a rehearsal studio for the band) Craftsman house that is built like a bunker (lots of thick redwood). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But before I could resolve THAT, I got sick!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In order to resolve the wi-fi issue, I would have to bring my computer from upstairs down to where the high speed internet modem is and plug into it. And since I was not feeling well, I didn't feel like carting that sucker downstairs. So I put my Amazon Prime membership to work and ordered a one hundred foot ethernet cable and paid the extra six dollars for next day delivery. I hooked the cable up to the modem, ran it up the staircase and plugged it in. Turned off the wi-fi and downloaded everything I needed lickity-split.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the meantime, I had to get well enough to play Third World Sun's last show of the year on New Year's Eve at Angel City in Bellflower.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So here's a break-down, an update if you will, as to where I'm at on all these things I was hoping to do over my two-week break. </span><br />
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="f993-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f993-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f993-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Producing new Third World Sun material</span></span></b></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll be taking the tracks </span></span><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="21rb4-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-1-0"><span data-text="true">that Third World Sun</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="21rb4-2-0"><span data-text="true"> recorded (so far a total of 11 new songs) and cleaning them up for
future instrument overdubbing. </span></span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0">I did this. There might be five left to do. But I'll squeeze them in over the next couple weeks between other projects.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0"><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0">
<blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true">I
expect to get two brand new Peeve T-shirt designs produced and
available online.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true">Done. There's a nee "Peeve's Back" shirt (double-sided) and a new Sir Loin Emotions shirt (featuring Sir Loin of Beefe). Both are available at my <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/peeve" target="_blank">Elvin's Pet Peeve online store</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0"><b>New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="blup1-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="blup1-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="blup1-0-0"><span data-text="true">I haven't drawn a new
comic strip in quite a while. I have, however, now storyboarded 13 new
comic strips and I expect to draw the
first BRAND NEW Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip in 25 years.</span></span></span></i></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">I did NOT get around to drawing the first new Peeve comic strip in 25 years. However, I AM up to 15 comic strips storyboarded now. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><b>The NEW paulcarhart.com</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0">
<blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll
also be designing a facelift for my website that will better point
people into the various facets of work I'll be doing in the coming year. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement here. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="2l5kj-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2l5kj-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="2l5kj-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel</span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="afe81-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">The
idea is to put out a weekly 10-15 behind-the-scenes video on whatever
it is I'm doing that week. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement here, although we did shoot video footage of me drawing the "Peeve's Back" T-shirt artwork for an upcoming video. Hoping to re-launch this in mid-January.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><br /></b></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)</b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true">There
are only four stinking chapters left and I outlined the entire story
from the get-go! I have no excuse. With two weeks' break coming up, I
will be facing compete and utter failure if I can't wrap this book up.
At least the first draft. Once that's done, it's all about the editing. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">No movement here. Complete and utter failure on this front<b>. </b>Also, I need to line up my cover artist. I know who I want to do it, but I hope she's not too busy and is still willing.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun</span></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">We've been recording new songs and there are two left </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f0apd-2-0"><span data-text="true">("Little Miss Sunshine" and "There Is A Name"). </span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f0apd-2-0"><span data-text="true">We DID go back into the studio and put down the drum tracks for the two remaining songs.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="f20af-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f20af-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f20af-0-0"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f20af-0-0"><b>Family time</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0"><span data-text="true">As
usual, I'll be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Melody
and my extended family.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0"><span data-text="true">Did this.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="8egec-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8egec-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">The Last Jedi</span></span></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8egec-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">I look
forward to partaking in fan theory weaving and debate with my
brother-in-law as we did after the release of The Force Awakens.</span></span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="8cg4k-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8cg4k-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8cg4k-0-0">Many theories were bandied about. I didn't see the film again, however. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8cg4k-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Music outside of the band</span></span></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">I've
written a lot of songs that we don't do in the band. I'm toying with
recording a batch of them and releasing them myself. I'll start
preliminary work on that once the Third World Sun drum tracks are
cleaned up.</span></span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement here. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="838f4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Something new. Something Nasti</b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="d594q-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d594q-0-0">
<blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d594q-0-0"><span data-text="true">At
least several hours of one day this break will be dedicated to
brainstorming a business venture with one of my closest friends. More
info to come when I'm at liberty to do so.</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d594q-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll be doing this over THIS three-day weekend. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="f2if9-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f2if9-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f2if9-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">New Year's Eve tradition</span></span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edejs-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">Third World Sun</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="edejs-2-0"><span data-text="true"> will be playing, for the fourth consecutive year, New Year's Eve at
Angel City in Bellflower, CA. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="edejs-2-0"><span data-text="true">Did this. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0"><b>The Musical Journey</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="rpp9-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="rpp9-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rpp9-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll be taking Melody, at her
request, to see Hugh Jackman's latest film, The Greatest Showman, from
the people who brought you Dear Evan Hansen and the music in La La Land. </span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rpp9-0-0"><span data-text="true">Did this. The film was inspirational!</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="d56a5-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d56a5-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d56a5-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The Happiest Place On Earth </b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true">Hopefully,
there'll be a visit to Disneyland in the coming weeks as well. It's
been a couple months since I've been. And I'm going through withdrawal.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true">Did not get to this. Ended up helping a friend in need for a few days instead. Hoping to return to Disneyland near the end of January.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><br /></b></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Classic Peeve</b> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll
also start the arduous task of scanning all of the original 185 Elvin's
Pet Peeve comic strips so they can appear online once the website gets
it's facelift. I'm also hoping these original 1991 and 1992 comic strips
will make their way into book form followed by a third book of the NEW
ones. </span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement here. But will start this month. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Peeve Nerdiness </b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">There
are also two or three Peeve comic book-style stories--I believe one of
them still needs to be inked--that I'd like to scan and figure out how
to get into the hands of the public as well. </span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">No movement here. But hoping to start next month.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">What to write next?</span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight
4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books? </span></span></span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Haven't' even contemplated this yet. But it will be bouncing around my brain as I move forward. It's only a matter of time (and effort). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So that's where things stand. Lots to do and see coming up. Stay tuned and rock on!</span></div>
Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-11677842918189052452017-12-21T13:05:00.001-08:002018-01-11T17:45:13.727-08:00Looking Forward To 2018<div data-contents="true">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0"><span data-text="true">Expounding on a recent Facebook post I made...</span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0">
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4d5he-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, what am I looking forward to as we go into 2018?</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="f993-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f993-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f993-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="b0l64" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Producing new Third World Sun material</span></span></b></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">This weekend, I'll be taking the tracks </span></span><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="21rb4-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="21rb4-1-0"><span data-text="true">that Third World Sun</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="21rb4-2-0"><span data-text="true"> recorded (so far a total of 11 new songs) and cleaning them up for future instrument overdubbing. Will we get around to laying down the additional instrument tracks this year? Probably not. But look for a song released digitally very likely in the first couple months of 2018. Since it seems like many or most people download or stream their music these days, we may do a few digital releases before we put out an entire new CD. I'm old-school though. I like having the CD. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="fd8fq-0-0"><b>Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="6oivg-0-0"><span data-text="true">I expect to get two brand new Peeve T-shirt designs produced and available online this weekend. So stay tuned for an announcement on that. The artwork for both designs is done. So it's just a matter of setting up the Paul Carhart store and putting the shirts together. Shouldn't take too long and it's one more a step in the right direction for feeding the monster.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rlnf-0-0"><b>New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="blup1-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yes. I've done some new Peeve artwork recently but I haven't drawn a new comic strip in quite a while. I have, however, now storyboarded 13 new comic strips and there will be more to come. So, I expect to draw the first BRAND NEW Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip in 25 years this weekend. And I expect the effort to be recorded (see The Creative Underground below).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="42cnl-0-0"><b>The NEW paulcarhart.com</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5tvm9-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll also be designing a facelift for my website that will better point people into the various facets of work I'll be doing in the coming year. I probably won't implement this facelift until early next year, however but at that time I'll be... </span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="afe81-0-0"><span data-text="true">The idea is to put out a weekly 10-15 behind-the-scenes video on whatever it is I'm doing that week. Might be cartooning. Might be writing. Might be music. I hope you'll tune in.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5i28u-0-0"><span data-text="true">There are only four stinking chapters left and I outlined the entire story from the get-go! I have no excuse. With two weeks' break coming up, I will be facing compete and utter failure if I can't wrap this book up. At least the first draft. Once that's done, it's all about the editing. </span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0">Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0"><a href="http://thirdworldsun.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Third World Sun's blog</a> just recently got an update. And that's not the only thing band-related that's new. We've been recording new songs and there are two left </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="da1l5-0-0"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f0apd-2-0"><span data-text="true">("Little Miss Sunshine" and "There Is A Name") </span></span></span>that we didn't get to the last two times we went into the studio. So we're going to do that on the day after Christmas. That will bring the total we've recorded since the last CD (not counting the cover of Air Supply's "Don't Be Afraid") to thirteen. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f20af-0-0"><b>Family time</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="74f8p-0-0"><span data-text="true">As usual, I'll be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Melody and my extended family. This usually takes place at my sister's family's house and I don't think that will differ this year.</span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">The Last Jedi</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8egec-0-0"><span data-text="true">Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a Star Wars fan from the time I was ten years old. So I'm hopeful that we'll see The Last Jedi one more time (I actually liked it) in the theater... maybe in Dolby Cinema with my sister's family on Christmas Eve prior to the feast. THEN, I look forward to partaking in fan theory weaving and debate with my brother-in-law as we did after the release of The Force Awakens.</span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Music outside of the band</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true">I've written a lot of songs that we don't do in the band. I'm toying with recording a batch of them and releasing them myself. I'll start preliminary work on that once the Third World Sun drum tracks are cleaned up.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="838f4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Something new. Something Nasti</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d594q-0-0"><span data-text="true">At least several hours of one day this break will be dedicated to brainstorming a business venture with one of my closest friends. More info to come when I'm at liberty to do so.</span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">New Year's Eve tradition</span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="edejs-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="edejs-1-0"><span data-text="true">Third World Sun</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="edejs-2-0"><span data-text="true"> will be playing, for the fourth consecutive year, New Year's Eve at Angel City in Bellflower, CA. We'll be ringing in the New Year with distortion! Come out and join us. We go on around 10:30-ish. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/312775292462519/" target="_blank">Click for more info.</a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="b28m3-0-0"><b>The Musical Journey</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="rpp9-0-0"><span data-text="true">Also, probably after Christmas, I think I'll be taking Melody, at her request, to see Hugh Jackman's latest film, The Greatest Showman, from the people who brought you Dear Evan Hansen and the music in La La Land. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The Happiest Place On Earth </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true">Hopefully, there'll be a visit to Disneyland in the coming weeks as well. It's been a couple months since I've been. And I'm going through withdrawal.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Classic Peeve</b> </span></span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'll also start the arduous task of scanning all of the original 185 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips so they can appear online once the website gets it's facelift. I'm also hoping these original 1991 and 1992 comic strips will make their way into book form followed by a third book of the NEW ones. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Peeve Nerdiness </b></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">There are also two or three Peeve comic book-style stories--I believe one of them still needs to be inked--that I'd like to scan and figure out how to get into the hands of the public as well. And, who knows, maybe there'll be more of those to come too. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">What to write next?</span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="am3hg-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="6jk8m-0-0"><span data-text="true">Once I complete the first draft for A Stranger At The Gallows, I'll need to decide what to write next. I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight 4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books? If you have an opinion, let's hear it. Convince me!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="dbqt5-0-0"><span data-text="true">Lots to look forward to and reasons to get up in the morning in 2018! Rock on! - PMC</span></span></span></div>
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Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-90231097113669873262017-12-14T17:42:00.003-08:002017-12-14T18:10:57.870-08:00Thoughts on Hamilton There's a million things I haven't done... But just you wait... Melody is REALLY into musicals now. In particular, she really likes Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers: The Musical, Be More Chill and Lin Manuel Miranda's game-changing Hamilton.<br />
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If you've seen Disney's Moana, you've heard some of his work (he's one of the songwriters for the film and his voice is in the song at the end). <br />
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Last night, I took her to see Hamilton at The Pantages in Hollywood.<br />
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This has been coming for some time. Melody has been playing the soundtrack on YouTube around the house for months. Finally, I purchased the soundtrack for her and now it's in the car too. The rest of these musicals aren't playing locally or touring on the west coast at this time. But the Hamilton touring company has been parked in Hollywood since August.<br />
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So I really had no excuse not to take her. Hamilton is literally her favorite thing right now. Far more important than her favorite band (Twenty One Pilots). My only remaining excuse was monetary. Hamilton seats do not come cheap and it's still selling out only two weeks from the end of its four-month Hollywood run.<br />
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Of all of the things I've exposed Melody to since Lori's passing, I feel that musical theater is probably the most Lori-ish thing I could have done. Lori loved the theater. She would play music from Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story on the piano in our living room and get Melody to sing along with her. We all went together to see Les Miserebles. Melody was just little at the time but it still sticks with her. In fact, now that I think of it, I suppose it's not me doing the exposing. Lori did it. And now Melody is sort of doing it to me.<br />
<br />
I mean, I'm not a newbie. I've seen Cats twice. I've seen Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast (also twice), Camelot and that's just off the top of my head. And just this year I took Melody to see Musical Theater West's production of Lin Manuel Miranda's first hit, In The Heights at Carpenter Center and a local production of Hunchback of Notre Dame that used the songs from the Disney film but a story that matched more-closely to Victor Hugo's original novel. This production was expertly directed by my sister-in-law, Megan O'Toole and the costumes were impeccably designed by my brother, James (Melody knows them as Aunt Megan and Uncle Jim). I told Melody earlier this year, if we're gonna start going to musicals, we're gonna at least see the ones that family is involved with first.<br />
<br />
So financial hurdle or not, it wasn't much of an excuse to hold out any longer. I didn't really have a choice. I disguised it as part of her (our) Christmas. But really, I still bought stuff for under the tree so that's a superficial disguise. Nevertheless, I buckled down and purchased two tickets to see Hamilton. And last night, immediately after Melody's Holiday Orchestra concert, we rushed up through Los Angeles rush hour traffic, paid our $20 to park and had the cast of Hamilton put on one HECK of a show.<br />
<br />
Melody knew all of the words. And Miranda's hip-hop-like songs lend themselves to the sing-along in a fashion that is more akin to a rock concert than musical theater. But most of the audience were not singing along. So Melody refrained. But she was bouncing up and down in her seat and cheering. Applause after every song. And tears. Tears throughout the second act up until the end. Until the end. But AT THE END, standing ovation!<br />
<br />
Me too. Tears and standing. Both. Most impressive, Lin. Most impressive indeed.<br />
<br />
Before we sat down, Melody and I each purchased a shirt. Melody wanted to get the one with Hamilton and Lafayette high-fiving that had the line from the play, "Immigrants, we get the job done" on it. I talked her out of it. It's a great line and relevant in the context of the story. But here's the sad state of where I live in Downtown Long Beach, California as some of the only white people we know: Someone would have given her crap for that shirt in our neighborhood. Never mind that Hamilton, who was an immigrant from the Carribbean, was as white as Melody is. And never mind that Lori's ancestry on her mother's side came over from Ireland as immigrants... making Melody directly descended from Irish settlers (Colonel Thomas Carhart came over in the late 1600s from Cornwall, England so I guess he was an immigrant too). For Melody to go around with that shirt on, I'm afraid she would have been likely been accused of "cultural appropriation" (which I think is a laugh when you consider that every historically white person in Hamilton is portrayed by a person of color). Nevertheless, I cautioned her against the shirt because I didn't want someone giving her a hard time when I'm not around to protect her.<br />
<br />
It's too bad that Melody can't be as openly proud of her own ancestry as others are. But that's the state of the world we live in. And I'm not going to put her in harm's way so she can wear a certain shirt. <br />
<br />
So I caved to the (perhaps non-existent, or mis-perceived) pressure. We both got the standard black shirt with the star-shaped Hamilton logo.<br />
<br />
The show itself was fabulous. For those of you who are not familiar with Hamilton. It's a hip-hop style musical that tells the story of one of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. It uses a diverse cast to tell a story of the founding of our country then with a cast of what America looks like now. I'm okay with that. I don't judge talent by skin color. And this cast has got loads of talent. The entire cast sings, dances and acts their way through the story impeccably. It soars and it tugs at the heartstrings. The songs have a beat and, despite its hip-hop pedigree, a melody as well. Miranda did an excellent job of crafting music that has a hip-hop base but is still accessible to the average listener through engaging melodies and snappy lyrics. And, even though I had heard the soundtrack for months (there is little spoken dialogue in the entire play... almost everything is done in song, almost like an urban opera), there were still little humorous surprises for me (just about everything King George does, for example). And I appreciate that.<br />
<br />
After the show, Melody used her allowance to buy a set of six Hamilton buttons and then we were motoring back home, pulling into the driveway around 12:30 am. Work and school for both of us the following day. But the whole thing was worth it. Even the money--and it was nothing to sneeze at--it was worth it.<br />
<br />
One thing of note that I find encouraging: When we look at the political landscape we're in right now, it's nice to know that, even in the founding of this great country, there was just as much disagreement and political in-fighting as we see right now. That gives me hope that we can iron out our differences without (God forbid) sparking another civil war. Which is the direction it sometimes seems we're going (I got the same takeaway from Spielberg's film, Lincoln, when I saw it). <br />
<br />
For me, an artist re-finding himself after the loss of a loved-one, the story of Hamilton was important to me. As Hamilton says when he's first introduced, "There's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait. Just you wait..."<br />
<br />
That resonates with me. And I don't have forever to do what I want to do.<br />
<br />
"Why do you write like you're running out of time?"<br />
<br />
I've got a lot more to write. To say. <br />
<br />
So as we enter into the holiday season, no matter what holidays you choose to celebrate, my challenge to you is to think on that. Find something you haven't done. Something that maybe you've always wanted to do. Or something you feel like you need to say and haven't had a chance to get it out. And find a way to do that. Or at least try it.<br />
<br />
That's what I'm going to do. So stay tuned. I've been gearing up for a couple months now to launch a few things in 2018. Puzzle pieces are coming together. New music. Cartoons. Books. 2018 is gonna be a year of changes and shifts. New paradigms and new directions.<br />
<br />
And I'm not throwing away my shot. Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-33326078294214842142017-12-05T12:53:00.003-08:002017-12-05T12:53:49.734-08:00Learning To Walk AgainSo I'm officially RE-STARTING this blog. However, I'm going to leave everything that's come before so it will still serve as a journey, however harrowing, back through time for those who wish to peruse it. But I've been taking a step here and a step there to move forward from the passing of my wife for many months now and I'm ready to start unveiling the flower that is threatening to blossom shortly.<br />
<br />
If you haven't heard the Foo Fighters song, "Walk," I highly recommend giving it a good listen (Official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PkcfQtibmU). It's definitely been my theme song for the past three and a half years. A lot is happening though and this blog will be your front-row seat to watching what I've been up to finally come to fruition.<br />
<br />
As I take one step at a time, I'm re-learning what it is to be me... to be the me I want to be and the me I was becoming over a decade ago before I chose to take a different road. Being married changed me. It certainly wasn't all for the worse. Don't get me wrong. My family was and continues to be of paramount importance to me. But the dynamic has shifted, once again. And just as it shifted in one direction when I made the decision to start a family, taking my time away, at least temporarily, from writing and certainly art projects, the time has come for the dynamic to shift again. This time, I am actively seeking to shift it and attempting to manage where it shifts to.<br />
<br />
What does this all mean? Well, for one thing, I'll be resurrecting my early 90s cartoon characters from my Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips. That will take a few different shapes. There's new music on the horizon, certainly with my band, Third World Sun. But perhaps even outside of the band. My latest novel should be out before Spring of 2018 is over. And I've got a series of children's books to jump-start that I expect to illustrate as well as write. And there's more! But I don't wanna spill all the beans at once.<br />
<br />
One final note: The Creative Underground will also be starting back up. If you're not aware of that, it was a local cable-access TV show that I did to highlight creatives and creativity in Southern California (before that, it was an Internet radio show in Colorado Springs, CO). The show will get a a bit of a retool (again) and I'm hoping for weekly installments starting in January of 2018. It may or may not make it back on TV in Long Beach via PadNet. I haven't decided yet. Either way, I hope to grow it into a vibrant YouTube destination. So stay turned. Subscribe to my blog here and to The Creative Underground YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+carhart%27s+the+creative+underground). And I'll keep plugging away at what I'm working on in the meantime.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring your dreams closer to your reality.<br />
<br />
Hopefully, I'll see you in January.<br />
<br />
Peace and love and rock on!Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-61784271849797772562014-04-24T12:25:00.002-07:002014-04-24T12:25:19.869-07:00Enter: Third World SunI put up a post on the Launch Pad blog today about the state of the band and what is rising from its ashes. Rather than re-post the whole thing here, I'll just link to it.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_161577963"><br /></a>
<a href="http://launchpadtheblog.blogspot.com/">http://launchpadtheblog.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
More info shortly.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-69366875439649685602014-04-08T13:37:00.000-07:002014-04-08T13:37:41.356-07:00The Spring Break BluesSo here we are. The last day of school for Melody's first school break since Lori passed away.<br />
<br />
And, even though I get pretty decent days off, I'm faced with a good month or so of Melody being out of school with me still at work. Tthere are some exceptions. I'm taking some time off around her birthday and right before she goes back. But it's nowhere near a month. It's more like three or four days spread around here and there.<br />
<br />
And so I'm faced with what the heck I'm going to do with her during that time.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, we've got family. <br />
<br />
Of course, that doesn't always translate into the "free babysitter" that it might seem. My mom recently (yesterday) had surgery to remove a lump of cancer from her breast. So she's in recovery mode now. And that leaves my sister who, thankfully, works from home. But she's used to having my mom watch her three-year-old so she can ACTUALLY do work from home. Nevertheless, it seems that Melody will be spending at least the remainder of this first week at her Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Joe's house. She'll have a blast with the cousins... far more fun than she would have with me as I go to work every day and put her... someplace.<br />
<br />
But then that leaves me alone every night. And that's when things in the house get somewhat haunting.<br />
<br />
I'm in the midst of changing some things around.<br />
<br />
The room that was formerly Lori's mom's room (when she passed away, Lori's brother informed me that his mom wasn't my problem and took her to a residential-care facility) is now being transformed into an office for me. It's a lot of work to put bookshelves, books, desk, other furniture, computer, high-speed access, etc. into there. And, although I'm making progress, it's slow going. Perhaps I'll make progress in there on the nights when Melody is staying with her cousins.<br />
<br />
I'm also planning on changing around the bedroom. As it is, it's pretty much the way it was the day Lori went to the hospital. The exception is that Lori's brown "venting" chair is now in my office. But otherwise, everything remains intact. Late at night when I'm in that big bed by myself, it does indeed haunt me. I believe changing the furniture around will help with those feelings.<br />
<br />
I've also started replacing some of the artwork in the house. Not the photos. I'm keeping those all up for now. I want don't want Melody to feel as if I'm moving on too quickly. And, indeed, I don't want to move on too quickly. But I also need to do certain things so as to not torture myself as well. <br />
<br />
As for Lori's things... her clothes, jackets, hats, boots/shoes, etc., I haven't really thought about that. I don't need both of our matching dressers. But since they match, I don't really want to get rid of one of them either. My brother, Jim, suggested putting hers in the closet, an idea that I like. Perhaps some strategic folding and stacking, and I may even be able to get a good amount of Lori's stuff inside, at least for the short term. I'm keeping her jewelry for Melody.<br />
<br />
That brings me to what I'm doing for therapy. Not much. I'm going to work. I'm attempting to resume my writing but ramping back into A Stranger At The Gallows has been slow going. The thing that I have found that has best helped me cope so far is music.<br />
<br />
In the aftermath of Lori's passing, the remaining members of Launch Pad (myself, Scott Johnson and Randy Scott) got together and jammed. We wanted to see if we were going to stay together and keep it going without Lori. At the time, the consensus seemed to be that we would pick up where we had left off and try to move forward without Lori. We didn't think she would have wanted us to stop and we all wanted to carry on, partly in her memory and partly because we still wanted to play together. However, as Randy said at the time, "No matter what we do, it won't be the same without Lori."<br />
<br />
And he was right.<br />
<br />
As time has passed, it has become somewhat evident that Launch Pad probably will not continue forward. Lori was the heart of that band. Launch Pad was born of both of us. Had she and I divorced or either of us had left the band, I don't think it would have been Launch Pad anymore. And even though Lori didn't really choose to leave, she did. She left the entire planet! And it's just not Launch Pad anymore.<br />
<br />
So last week, Scott stopped by the house. We were talking about maybe writing something but nothing really popped. We went down into The Underground, just he and I. And we messed around a little. Still nothing really struck us. So I broke out a book of songs I had been working on over the past few years... stuff I thought I might record or do outside of Launch Pad if ever an opportunity presented itself. These songs are pretty much complete. Chord progressions, lyrics, melody, etc. I started playing the first one, "Collapse," and Scott took a liking to it. The chords were right on the page so it was nothing for him to start playing along. Then we moved to another. Before we knew it, we had gone through five songs. Scott had some suggestions for a couple of them and I jotted his name down alongside mine.<br />
<br />
At that moment, I decided that the lifespan of Launch Pad was tied to the length of Lori's life.<br />
<br />
Something new was going to happen. Scott came over again this past Saturday. I think the idea was that we might go back through some of those songs and flesh them out a bit. Instead, Scott started playing an infectious riff. I added a bass run under it and we jammed on it for awhile. When we came up for air, Scott was like, "Do you wanna do something with that?" I said, "Let's write some words right now. What should it be about?" We agreed that something we had both encountered in various bands is the feeling of being held hostage by the lack of commitment on the part of other band members. And thus, "Hostage" was born. The whole song was pounded out in a half hour... maybe an hour. Scott was stoked. I was happy. We were now up to roughly six all-new songs!<br />
<br />
We still had no drummer. It was just Scott and me. Randy didn't seem interested. We made a few calls... Linda (our previous drummer), Robert (our almost drummer one time)... it just wasn't panning out. Scott and I made a trip to the music store and I used the trip to upgrade our PA. And then, Mike called Scott. Mike was Launch Pad's drummer for roughly a year before Scott joined and perhaps two more after Scott joined (I don't remember... maybe it wasn't quite that long). Our chemistry was undeniable. In fact, Mike played drums on all of the songs on the first Launch Pad CD. Indeed, I considered just dropping all the way out of Launch Pad when Mike left because I didn't really want to do it without him. As a bass player, I guess I get pretty attached to my drummers. So Mike called Scott, who told him what we were doing. Mike couldn't make it over on Saturday but Scott followed up with him on Monday and now we're going to get together this Saturday with an eye toward perhaps pulling this thing together. The idea is that we'll do (at least) these six new songs and port over some of the Launch Pad songs that I primarily sang (Has Beens, Do You Got The Stones?, Live Life, Bring It On, etc.) and the one Scott wrote/performed (Shades of Gray) to start with. That's plenty of material. And I'm sure we'll write more.<br />
<br />
So my somewhat melancholy beginning of this post now morphs into something hopeful. <br />
<br />
And I will leave it on that note.<br />
<br />
Until next time...Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-74740151153354147542014-04-02T15:04:00.005-07:002014-04-02T15:04:50.841-07:00Photo Loop Of LoriThe following is a link to the photo loop that I put together for Lori's funeral reception.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_585179765"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eHJkib02g&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eHJkib02g&feature=youtu.be</a>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-32744705093295253722014-04-02T14:03:00.002-07:002014-04-02T14:03:28.944-07:00Here We Go AgainOkay. So I just suffered a devastating loss roughly a month and a half ago. And, in assessing my goals and my plans and shifting my focus, I've decided to resume this blog, as well as my nonfiction blog, <a href="http://zoomingthrulife.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Zooming Thru Life.</a> So this blog will be where my love of words and need to rant will often collide and runneth over onto the page. Posts will be frequent if not regular. Today, I started with posting my wife's eulogy from her March 1 funeral. I'm still reeling and so is our daughter. And I'm sure some of that will be fodder for future posts.<br />
<br />
I continue to write and publish. Planetfall should be out this summer. That is a huge milestone for me. A Stranger On Bay Street came out late last year and the second book in the series, A Stranger At The Gallows (technically a chronological prequel) should release near the end of the year (unless it doesn't). More on that stuff as I continue to blog.<br />
<br />
And the music... without Lori, I'm not sure where <a href="http://launchpadtheblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Launch Pad</a> stands. But I will continue to write and perform and more news on that will be forthcoming from this blog as well.<br />
<br />
So please spread the word: The Carhart Blog is back (as if anyone cares). Tell your friends, subscribe, keep coming back, contribute to the discussion, etc. Hope to see you around.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>- Paul M. Carhart</i>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-59031596310559330482014-04-02T13:31:00.000-07:002014-04-02T13:31:37.221-07:00In Loving Memory of Lori Esther Hedgpeth Carhart<span class="fsl"><i><b>February 25, 1970 – February 18, 2014</b></i><br /> <br />
I possess, according to my late wife, a trait she termed as Carhart
Confidence. I don’t suppose it was a compliment. Lori was shy and
reserved. She did not like to draw attention to herself. I, on the other
hand, don’t have a problem standing out. Indeed, one of our favorite
lines was Jim Carrey’s zinger from the end of the film Bruce Almighty:
“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.” And so today I
invoke said confidence to stand before you and say a few things about my
wife, Lori. I trust that she will be rolling her eyes somewhere in the
great beyond. <br /> <br /> In the late spring of 2002, thanks to the
conspiratorial ways of Lori’s dad and my sister, Lori and I began
talking long distance between California and Colorado where I was living
at the time. She had the sweetest voice and was almost shy. But she was
also very smart and had her own ideas about things. That summer I flew
back to California to visit my family and boy did my arms hurt. <br /> <br />
I took a day to meet Lori and go out to lunch with her. Lunch turned
into a movie and dinner. I remember thinking that night that, if she
made an effort to drive me to the airport the next day, surely she was
interested. I was relieved to discover that she not only picked me up,
but she also took me to a little park where we could stroll hand-in-hand
and chat before she dropped me at the airport. Before I got on my
plane, I endeavored to kiss her into her soul. I didn’t want her to
forget me in my absence. I told her, “You’re making me not want to
leave.” And it was true.<br /> <br /> A few weeks later, Lori visited me in
Colorado. By Thanksgiving, we were engaged. Lori was a first grade
teacher when we met and she intended to finish out the school year
before we were to be married. Over spring break 2003, Lori and her
parents brought all of her belongings out to the small home I had rented
for us in Colorado. On August 2, 2003 we tied the knot. Barely a month
later, Melody was growing inside of her mommy.<br /> <br /> At the time,
Lori’s dad had said something to the effect that he thought maybe we
should have waited a bit to have a baby. But Lori had always wanted to
have children and we were already in our thirties. In many ways, we were
making up for lost time. That was probably for the best. For how were
we to know we would only have ten years together?<br /> <br /> Indeed, we
were schooled early into our marriage about the brevity of our time here
on earth. My dad passed away roughly two years after we got married.
And Lori’s dad left us a mere six months later. Had we waited, neither
of them would have got to hold Melody. And, although she doesn’t really
remember them, Melody would not have go to meet them either.<br /> <br />
Lori was almost mule-headed when she set her sights on something. To
her, having a family was synonymous with owning a house. And what
started as viewing model homes as no-money fun quickly became a campaign
and Lori was leading the charge. I remember waking up one Sunday
morning to find the bed empty. I stumbled into the front of our rental
house and there she was at the dining room table, pencil in-hand. “I
figured out how we can get that one that we liked yesterday,” she said
as she showed me the paper. “We should go back over there today.” And
so, even before Melody was born, we had purchased our first home in
Colorado Springs, only a few short minutes from my job.<br /> <br /> Lori’s
pregnancy with Melody was difficult, to say the least. She was plagued
with high blood pressure that the doctors had a very hard time getting
under control. Ultimately, the doctors told Lori to have the baby early.
Basically, they gave up. On April 19, two months before her due date,
Melody started her habit of getting up early that continues to this day.
Even that was difficult, resulting in Melody in the NICU in one
hospital and Lori in the ICU in another hospital and me darting between
the two locations, trying to keep two females happy, which we all know
is pretty much an impossible task. The entire experience made such a
negative impact on Lori that she wished to never darken the door of a
hospital or doctor’s office again.<br /> <br /> From the start, Melody was
the center of Lori’s world and this would be true for the rest of Lori’s
life. Over the course of a series of moves, first from Colorado to
California and then all around the Long Beach area, ultimately landing
us downtown, Lori made Melody the primary focus of our family.
Especially after we lost our second daughter mid-pregnancy, focusing on
Melody was the only way Lori could move on. There were other
miscarriages following, each breaking Lori’s heart all the more. And
each time, she redoubled her focus on the systematic and ever-increasing
spoiling of Melody. Indeed, even when shopping on a shoestring, she
would inevitability find the cutest stuffed animal in the store. And she
would say to me, “Daddy, we only have one little girl,” which can be
translated as, “we should buy this for Melody even though we just bought
one almost identical to it for her yesterday.” And this was how an
entire top bunk was transformed into a plush zoo.<br /> <br /> Lori also
cherished the arts and her worship of God. And she dedicated herself to
proving that the former could be used to serve the latter. And so when
we stepped down from leading worship at various churches, we started
Launch Pad: A band and ministry that was about God without being about
church and churchiness. Musically, we were influenced by everything that
had ever influenced any one in the band and yet we sounded like none of
our influences because we weren’t trying to sound like anyone but
ourselves. We structured ourselves almost like a jam band so Lori could
have the sonic canvas required for her voice to soar in absolute
freedom. It was true that our band wasn’t for everyone, both onstage and
beyond the stage. We cycled through drummers as if we were actually
Spinal Tap. And not everyone “got it.” But that didn’t stop Lori. As
usual, once she set her mind to something, she intended to see it
through.<br /> <br /> And so was born the monthly Blackfriars Theatre
gatherings in our home where we would play the typical Launch Pad set.
People could worship, dance, rock out or whatever their heart desired.
And afterwards, we would do an open mic session (or three) with guitars
and vocals. Usually backed up by Launch Pad’s rhythm section, people
would mess around with their favorite songs or even original material.
It was a great way to connect and to show artistic support. I believe
this was the direction we were meant to go in.<br /> <br /> However, the
realization of this vision was cut tragically short. On the morning of
February 6, 2014, just five days after what would become Lori’s final
house concert, Melody’s mommy informed me that she thought she had
pinched a nerve in her foot during the previous morning’s run. In
reality, only 19 days before her 44th birthday, she had suffered a
devastating stroke, the ultimate effects of which we would not know for
many days. Twelve days later, my sweet Lori was no longer with us on
this earth. Just as I had not wanted to leave her at the airport, I’m
convinced that she would not have wanted to leave Melody and me behind. <br /> <br /> But the choice wasn’t hers.<br /> <br />
In the end, I believe Lori knew something was wrong with her. She had
lost sensation and mobility in her right leg and it was creeping into
her right arm. She begged me not to send her to the hospital, but to
pray for her instead. As I finished praying, the two of us on our couch
in the house that we had worked so hard to restore, her head lay upon my
shoulder and my head rested against hers. I said to her the simplest of
words, “I love you, Lori.” There was no hesitation in her reply, “I
love you too.”<br /> <br /> That was the last coherent conversation we had.<br /> <br />
Lori always wanted to have a lot of children. But we were only ever
able to have Melody. But in the life beyond, Lori is now the mommy of
our other daughter, Lyric, as well as three other miscarried children.
Now she can finally be the mommy she always wanted to be.<br /> <br />
Naturally, there was much more to our life together than what I’ve
outlined here. If you make it to the reception, you can view many
pictures, each one worth a thousand un-uttered words. And I haven’t even
got into the dog! There were so many things Lori still wanted to do.
She longed to go to Ireland and Scotland. She looked forward to
celebrating the 100th birthday of our Craftsman home that we’ve been
restoring for the past six years. I’m sure she would not have passed up
another chance to roll her eyes at me for some perceived infraction of
etiquette. I know she wanted to continue to sing and play and worship
with the band. Most of all, I know she wanted to see Melody grow up, go
to college, get married and have children of her own. <br /> <br /> And
perhaps she can still witness these things from where she is. I don’t
know. If so, I’m sure she’ll roll her eyes at me more than a few times
in the years to come. But seriously, she’s left me with some pretty big
shoes to fill. And I wear a thirteen, folks. She was the best possible
mommy to Melody and she will be utterly missed by both of us and by
everyone who ever met her. All I can do is promise to take the baton and
finish the race the best I know how. <br /> <br /> If I could say one final
thing to Lori, it would be this: “You have been the best mommy. I did
my best to love you and to protect you. Now I have to be the best daddy
and love and protect Melody. Your daughter loves you and we will never
forget you. And we will do our best to not disappoint you.”<br /> <br /> And
to Lori’s and my colleagues, friends and family who have gathered here
today, I thank you for your time and support. I only wish to leave you
with this final parting thought:<br /> <br /> Life is a short, wonderful,
devastating adventure. Live it well. Protect it. Feel everything. Listen
deeply. Forgive often, even if not asked. And love with all your heart.
There just isn't time to do anything less.<br /> <br /> - Paul M. Carhart, Lori's husband</span>Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-46181381587022039512010-11-05T13:14:00.001-07:002010-11-05T16:54:35.141-07:00End of 2010 UpdateSo it's been nearly a year since I last posted my "ode to Lori" missive on this blog. We've been pretty busy this year. So much so that I haven't had much of an opportunity to update this blog. So here I go...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">WRITING</span><br /><br />This was the year of finally setting things straight. For many years, I've been looking forward to the re-release of my Fairlight novels. I had a contract with Blademaster Press to bring them back out (as well as some other books) but, unfortunately, that fell through. Nevertheless, thorugh other means, this year has so-far seen the re-release of Chance for the Future and Hope for Tomorrow and I'm hopeful that Faith in the Past will be available before the holidays. Also this year, the wide-release of One of the Girls with a slightly re-worked cover (cover art is still provided by the inestimable Kris Cartwright) and the first-ever release of my first non-fiction work, Zooming Thru Life. All of these books are available in trade paperback from both the publisher and/or Amazon.com as well as in a variety of digital eBook formats. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.paulcarhart.com">paulcarhart.com.</a><br /><br />I'm currently making the final edits on A Stranger On Bay Street (the first installment in the Worlds Collide series), which I hope will be released in 2011. And I'm also editing Plunge Into Eden, the first novel in the Planetfall trilogy, which I also hope will be released by the end of 2011. <br /><br />After that, I hope to write the second and third Planetfall books and then we'll see where we'll go from there.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">LAUNCH PAD</span><br /><br />Our band had some ups and downs this year but I'm particularly excited about it right now because we have rehearsal in a few hours and a gig at the Long Beach East Village Farmers Market tomorrow morning (11:30 am). Earlier, I posted details of what we've been through as a band on the <a href="http://launchpadtheblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/launch-pad-update-late-2010.html">Launch Pad blog.</a> We've also been getting some play on ThePrimeSpot show at <a href="http://www.kbeach.org">KBEACH.org</a> in support of our upcoming gig. And we hope to play more frequent gigs and continue recording as we go into 2011.<br /><br />You can find out more about Launch Pad at our <a href="http://www.myspace.com/launchpadpower">MySpace</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Launch-Pad/147384937232">Facebook</a> pages.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">MELODY</span><br /><br />Melody is now six years old and in the first grade. She's in the accelerated class and is holding her own quite well. She's also taking violin and is rapidly improving. Lori continues to be her teacher at home, guiding her through academics, behavior and music while still helping to care for her mom. One thing I sorta miss is reading to Melody. Nowadays, she reads to ME!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">WORK</span><br /><br />Work has been steady this year and more secure than in 2009 (or at least it has felt that way). The company I work for seems to be making positive strides in stability and growth/expansion. So I'm hopeful that I can remain downtown, in close (walking distance) proximity to our home and Melody's school. It's nice to have Lori pick me up for lunch every once in awhile and I like being able to make it to Melody's school activities (and parent-teacher conferences... which is coming up! Yikes!).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SCI-FI</span><br /><br />So I'm still walking to work. In April, it'll have been three years since I started that. I read the whole way both directions. Lori even got me a small reading lamp for when I'm coming home in the dark (when it gets dark earlier). Lately, I've been catching up on my Star Wars novels. Currently I'm reading the Republic Commando series that Karen Traviss penned. They're quite different than the standard Luke-saves-the-day variety of novels and I'm enjoying that difference. <br /><br />I know I've outlined my thoughts on certain TV shows (mostly Sci-Fi themed) in the past. I'll try to quickly encapsulate where I'm at with TV right now. Maybe I'll follow up with a more detailed post later. <br /><br />There are only three new shows I've started this year. They are The Event (NBC) on Mondays, No Ordinary Family (ABC) on Tuesdays and Undercovers (NBC) on Wednesdays. Surprisingly (based on my track record), two of the three have apparently warranted a full season order. Undercovers, apparently, has been whacked (despite J.J. Abrams' attachment). Oh, and both Lori and I liked Covert Affairs (USA) from this past summer. We both also like the BBC import Sherlock (a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes) currently airing on PBS (there are three 90 minute episodes produced to-date... the third will air as part of Masterpiece Mystery this Sunday on most PBS stations and this Thursday on the Los Angeles-based KCET).<br /><br />As for ongoing (not new) shows, I'm still watching Chuck (NBC) and Castle (ABC) on Mondays. Lori really digs Castle (and I suspect she has a bit of a crush on Mr. Fillion). I was following Caprica (SyFy) on Tuesdays until they pulled the plug on it (promising to air the final five episodes in 2011). Thursdays belong to Fringe. And on Fridays, I'm still holding on to my CW Smallville (supposedly the final season) and Supernatural block. Smallville, in particular, is getting quite good as they spiral toward Clark Kent inevitably becoming Superman. Also on Fridays, I follow Sanctuary (SyFy) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network) which has grown on me more with each season. <br /><br />Other shows I watch: Psych and Burn Notice (both USA) are supposedly coming back this month with new episodes and Eureka and Warehouse 13 (both SyFy) are both supposed to have Holiday-themed episodes before returning in 2011.<br /><br />So I guess that's it for now.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-75581017375233058792010-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:002010-10-26T17:39:18.482-07:00Still TickingIt's been a long time since either Lori or I have posted anything here but I thought I might get back to it. Stay tuned for a rundown of what's up and what's coming.<br /><br />In the meantime, I posted to our <a href="http://www.launchpadtheblog.blogspot.com/">band's blog</a> earlier today. That'll tell you at least what's been happening from a music and ministry perspective.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-4830810802929369512010-03-02T10:39:00.000-08:002010-03-02T10:42:37.517-08:00Teaching Photoshop AgainJust a quick note to say that I'm teaching a brief course on retouching and color-shifting in Photoshop today at The Designory in Long Beach. <br /><br />It's a talented group of designers that I'll be talking to, so I'm sure it'll be fun.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-27078219865352904392009-12-02T12:26:00.000-08:002009-12-02T16:03:19.343-08:00What I'm Thankful For:Lori, My Brilliant WifeI know this is a little late, but we've been through a lot over the past few years and, late or not, I wanted to finally say what I've always meant to say. Besides, Thanksgiving gets the short end of the stick every year anyway. Nowadays, we seem to, as a culture, go immediately from trick-or-treating to stuffing stockings. Thanksgiving is important. It should not be forgotten.<br /><br />So I'm going to take just a moment to give thanks for Lori. As a writer, the best way I know how to do this is with words.<br /><br />I used the term "brilliant" in the headline and that was not by accident. The word "brilliant" has many different meanings. And they all apply to Lori. Shall we explore them?<br /><blockquote><br /><i><b>1</b> (of light) very bright and radiant.<br />(of a color) brightly and intensely vivid.</i><br /></blockquote><br />Lori is definately bright. She's whip-smart and not much gets past her. She was a first-grade teacher for seven years and a substitute teacher before (and after) that. Now she's Melody's teacher at home and boy does she have her work cut out for her. Melody herself is a brilliant little handful!<br /><br />Lori is also radiant. Her smile is like a sunrise and her eyes gleam, especially when she's locked onto something that she wants. Her strong and vivid personality, often hidden to others because she's somewhat shy, is a primary reason we have acheived, as a family, as much as we have in the six short years since we've been married. I think vivid could also be used to describe the scope of Lori's emotions. She feels things strongly... passionately. When she's happy, she's joyful. When she's sorrowful, she's in, to quote Anne Shirley, "the depths of despair." She possesses an artistic temperment which leads me to the next definition for "brilliant."<br /><blockquote><br /><i><b>2</b> (of light) outstanding; impressive.</i><br /></blockquote><br />Lori impressed me the first time we met. She's smart, savvy and classy. Just being seen next to her bumps me up the social ladder by at least two rungs (she'd probably say three). She's smarter than the average girl, which might intimidate some guys. She's also taller than the average girl, especially in heels or boots. I never wanted to date someone who could kick my butt. And while I don't think Lori really could, I don't think I'd ever want to give her a run for her money. She's like Wonder Woman and she's got the sexy legs to prove it.<br /><br />As a song writer, Lori continues to impress me. While I'm sort of the de facto wordsmith of the family, providing my fair share of lyrics to our songs, Lori's lyrics are real and touch preciesely where they need to. Sometimes she (wisely) asks for my help with the lyrics. Another place she impresses. Guys never ask for help. But Lori truly collaborates with me. Of course, her knowledge of music far surpasses mine. Anything I write in the realm of musical notes will be rudimentary. While I can put down broad-stroke musical phrases, Lori's chords are what shade the music. Every time I think I know where she's going to go, she surprises me and pulls something else out of her magic bag of tricks.<br /><blockquote><br /><i>Brit., informal. very good, excellent or marvelous</i><br /></blockquote><br />But it's her vocal performances that are truly marvelous. Lori, a fan of everything from rap to classic rock to brit pop to black gospel can belt it out like the best of them. She has a great range and a strong and solid delivery. Her passion shines through when she's really giving it her all. And, when she's had a good night's sleep, I'd put her pipes up there with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey or Christina Aguleria. I'm not joking when I say she's our band's lead singer. For anyone else in the group, myself included, to claim that title would be ridiculous.<br /><br />Perhaps most impressive and marvelous of all is that Lori agreed to be my wife. She consented to go on this journey called life with me. We didn't always know where it would take us or what we'd go through. But we're doing it together. She's the sounding board for all my novels and short stories. Nonfiction too. She's the believer in my dreams and the dreamer of many herself. And, even though I don't always agree, I've learned to always listen to her. She has unparallelled insight. She sees the glass as half-full when I'm often tempted to turn the thing over and dump out the paltry contents. <br /><br />She puts brightness and sparkle into each of my days.<br /><br />If that doesn't describe brilliance, then I don't know what does.<br /><br />Thank you, God, for my brilliant wife.<br /><br />And thank you, Lori, for sticking with me.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-81393380413644418142009-12-02T10:36:00.000-08:002009-12-02T14:58:14.032-08:00TV Mid-Season Round-UPNaturally, there's more going on in our lives than what I watch on TV. We've finally wrapped up our financial situation with our house and we're for the most part very please with the results and we're currently all decorated for Christmas. Melody is doing very well in school. She just needs to be a little less chatty. My writing and publishing venture is beginning to bloom. And the band/worship work Lori and I have been working on since stepping down from The Connection is finally coming to fruition.<br /><br />But this post is about my favorite TV shows and where we're at with them. Most of them have come to some sort of mid-season finale. And some won't start at all until January. So I'm gonna start with Mondays and go from there.<br /><br /><b>Monday</b><br /><br />Heroes<br /><br />I'm sorta tired of justifying my continued devotion to this show. I will agree that it hasn't ever been as good as it was the first season. But it hasn't been as bad as a lot of fanboys have made it out to be. It's still pretty cool and the Thanksgiving episode was perhaps the best of the season. The last episode, in which a key character finally bites the dust, was also good I thought and I'm interested to see where they're going to take it from here. So count me in for the season. Whether it goes out with a bang or gets another chance to re-capture season one's glory has yet to be determined. I say, if they can't step the game up to season one levels, perhaps it's better to go out altogether. Heroes returns January 4 with a two-hour episode. The following week, it will move to its new time at 9 pm (following new episodes of Chuck).<br /><br />Castle<br /><br />As a writer, it's easy to like Castle. It's about a writer (Richard Castle, played by Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame) in the vein of Stephen King and he teams up with a pretty detective to solve crimes and get inspiration for his crime novels. Naturally, snarky quips and romantic-tinted banter abound. It's fun and it's a show that Lori will watch with me and actually enjoy. There's a new episode next week so I don't know if it will slow down through the holidays or not. Mondays at 10 pm on ABC.<br /><br />Still To Come: Chuck<br /><br />Chuck is the guy who could have been so much more except he got kicked out of Stanford and wound up heading up the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More (read: Geek Squad at Best Buy). It would have been a bleak existance had an ex-college buddy who was secretly a spy not sent Chuck the Intersec, a high-tech computer that holds all the country's secrets. With a mere click of a mouse, Chuck opened the e-mail containing the Interesec (that's some serious file compression to send something like that via an e-mail attachment) and the next thing Chuck knows is that he's downloaded the whole thing into his head. To protect him while he's harboring this supercomputer, Chuck's been assigned the kick-butt Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah, a female spy who poses as his girlfriend. Sparks fly between Chuck and Sarah but they can't be together while he's got the Intersec in his brain. At the end of last season, Chuck finally got said computer out of his head only to end up downloading the new version of it into his head. Now, in addition to knowing all of the country's secrets, Chuck also has new physical abilities, Matrix-style. Clips for the new season look promising. They're upping the ante by bringing Chuck more into the spy world, it appears. While Chuck has always been fun, it'll be nice to turn the formula on its ear a little. Chuck's third season starts on Sunday, January 10 with two episodes and then moves to it's usual Monday timeslot on January 11 at 8 pm.<br /><br /><b>Tuesday</b><br /><br />V<br /><br />Yes, it's the re-imagining of that cheesetackular mini-series from the 80s that I loved so much as a youth. So far, it's fairly good. I'll admit to not having watched the latest episode yet. They only showed four episodes before the holidays. Supposedly, it's going to come back early next year, although ABC has yet to set a return date.<br /><br />Still To Come: Lost<br /><br />Do I really have to explain Lost? I'm not even sure if I could. This is the final season, so everything is supposed to wrap up. Last year, Juliet exploded an atomic bomb in the 70s, supposedly blowing up our heroes and potentially re-setting the timeline. A lot of returning characters who are supposed to be dead are set to make appearances this year so if you've followed the adventures of survivors of Oceanic 815 and The Island this far, there's really no reason not to complete your journey. Lost is set to return on ABC on February 2.<br /><br /><b>Wednesday</b><br /><br />Still To Come: Psych<br /><br />I can't say how much I love this comedic fake-psychic murder-mystery series. It's peppered with quips, snark and 80s pop culture references. The characters are well-drawn and hilarious. As long as they can keep it funny and fun, I'll keep watching. Psych starts back up on it's new night (Wednesdays) on January 27 on USA.<br /><br />Still To Come: Human Target<br /><br />Haven't seen this yet. It's based on a comic book that I haven't read but the premise seems like fun. A guy saves people by becoming them. I'm gonna give it a shot, despite the fact that it's on FOX (see Dollhouse below). The first episode of Human Target will air at 8 pm on Sunday, January 17 on FOX before it moves to its usual timeslot, Wednesdays at 8 pm starting January 20.<br /><br /><b>Thursday</b><br /><br />FlashForward<br /><br />Billed as the New Lost by ABC prior to its debut, FlashForward had a lot of things going for it including Ralph Fiennes (Shakespeare In Love). But even that couldn't keep my wife's attention. And apparently the masses agree. It's been sinking in the ratings for weeks now. I'm still watching it. There are momemnts of promise. But part of the problem I think is that the biggest event that will ever happen on this show happened in the pilot (everyone on the planet blacked out for 3 minutes, 17 seconds and caught a glimpse of their future). It's hard to have twisty surprises when the biggest thing that could happen already happened and we're basically just watching everyone's reaction to it. Sure, the same arguement could be made of Lost, but what our friends found on The Island was so unexpected and bizarre that the writers were able to continually provide surprises. So far, the biggest surprise was that the future isn't necessarily written in stone. Or maybe it is. Or something.<br /><br />Fringe<br /><br />From J.J Abrams, architect of the once-great (and always good) Alias and re-imaginer of the always watchable Star Trek, comes a worthy heir to X-Files. This year is more of the same from last year. Except now we know we're dealing with an alternate universe, which, outside of Sliders, is a rare subject matter for TV, even genre TV. The writing is always solid and watching John Noble's Vincent Price-esque performances are always worth the 60 minutes to watch.<br /><br />Supernatural<br /><br />From the outset, I liked this show because it didn't shy away from the fact that there are supernatural elements to our world. The two brothers drove their souped up Impala cross-country every week to fight ghosts and goblins and save the innocent while searching for their dad. Then they moved on to some other obscure stuff. They found their dad and then he was killed off. Around that time, they started dispatching demons. Then angels started showing up. And now the angels have ushered in the apocolyspe, Lucifer is on the loose and one angel, Castiel, is hoping to bring God onboard. While the show definately plays fast and loose with Biblical mythology, it hasn't been disappointing in the storytelling department. I highly recommend it, but only for those probalby over about 16 years of age. The Apcolypse picks back up when Supernatural returns on January 14 to the CW.<br /><br /><b>Friday</b><br /><br />Monk<br /><br />Adrian Monk has had a good run. But now we're down to the finale. Supposedly he'll solve his wife's murder. Finally. Check it out this Friday. 9 pm. USA. Note: The first part of the finale encores at 8 pm.<br /><br />Dollhouse<br /><br />Against all odds, this show (from Joss Whedon of Buffy, Angel and Firefly fame) about people who have their minds wiped and imprinted with whatever rich clients want received a second season. Unfortunately, ratings were still dismal and FOX has cancelled it. Fortunately, they're going to air the remaining episodes. This Friday, they're airing two back-to-back. Then the schedule goes sorta haywire but they're promising to air them all.<br /><br />Smallville<br /><br />No. Clark Kent isn't Superman yet. But he's something they call The Blur (I guess cause he's so fast no one can see him... last year he was The Red-Blue Blur because he always wears red and blue clothes. Get it? Like Superman?). But now clones of Kryptonians have been released on earth, including Zod (the cloning was done when he was a major though) and Clark's going to have to take him down before the season ends. Oh yeah. And Clark's finally over Lana (now that she's off the show) and is finally romancing Lois Lane. Smallville's actually been pretty good in this, its ninth year. Can you believe it? Nine years! And they're shooting for a tenth! Whatever the case, The Blur will return with new episodes of Smallville starting January 22.<br /><br />Sanctuary<br /><br />I'm still taping this show every week and I still have not seen one episode of it. Maybe over the holiday hiatuses, I'll be able to check it out.<br /><br />Still To Come: Caprica<br /><br />This Battlestar Galactica (the reboot) prequel series stars Eric Stolz and Esai Morales. Sounds like a good mix to me.<br /><br /><b>Saturday</b><br /><br />Star Wars: The Clone Wars<br /><br />These half-hour shockingly good glimpses into the Prequel-Era Star Wars universe actually debut on The Cartoon Network on Friday nights but I have too much to watch on Fridays. So I tape the encores on Saturday morning at roughly 8:30 am (sometimes it switches to 9 am for some reason). I told Lori once that if I was twelve I would really love this show. As it is, I really like it alot.<br /><br /><b>Sunday</b><br /><br />The Legend Of The Seeker<br /><br />Fantasy on TV done right. I don't know how close it hews to the original Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind, but if this kind of stuff would have come out when I was a teenager, I would have never missed a minute. Hey, I don't miss any minutes now either. Hmmm... The show is syndicated so it's time and day will probably vary from region to region. In my area, it's on at 4 pm on Sundays on the CW.<br /><br />So there you have it. Plenty to catch up on. Plenty to enjoy for the future. And I didn't even touch on Eureka or Burn Notice.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-21154318660234968112009-10-05T17:36:00.000-07:002009-10-07T15:10:11.134-07:00The Whats-On-TV UpdateSo I'm watching quite a bit on TV these days. Between returning favorites and brand new stuff, there's quite a bit to see, esepcially in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy arena.<br /><br />So here we go:<br /><br /><b>Mondays</b><br /><br />HEROES, NBC @8pm<br /><br />Yes, I'm among the die-hards who are still watching this show. Season one was so good and the writer's strike interrupted season two prematurely so I was willing to forgive. After that, it just seems like they've never really regained their momentum... or footing... or something. There are moments of greatness so I'm still watching and hoping for this show to return to fulfilling its potential.<br /><br />CASTLE, ABC @10pm<br /><br />Anything with Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly) in it is worth the watch. What surprised me most was that Lori took a liking to this show about a suspense/thriller author (think Stephen King... Rick Castle?) who teams up with the police for research (and to solve copycat murders from his books in the pilot). The writing is fresh, the banter snappy and the mysteries aren't too easy to solve either. They had me at Nathan Fillion and the fact that he's a writer.<br /><br /><i>The fact that I'm not watching anything on Tuesdays and Wednesdays these days is made up for by the sheer number of shows I'm trying to keep up with on Thursdays and Fridays. It's a good thing that a lot of what I watch on Friday is on cable with multiple air times or I'd miss some of it.</i><br /><br /><b>Thursdays</b><br /><br />FLASH FORWARD, ABC @8pm<br /><br />This show is being touted as the "new Lost." So far, I'm seeing the correlation although I'm not sure I agree with it. I'm intrigued for now but there's not a lot happening every episode. And what is happening seems somewhat predictable. Lori seems to like this one too (there aren't a lot of my shows that I can say that about) so I'll keep checking it out. <br /><br />FRINGE, FOX @9pm<br /><br />This show, new last year, continues to surprise. It's sort of the worthy heir to The X-Files but instead of aliens, it seems to be dealing with an alternate universe that often manifests in our world as something the characters are calling The Pattern (the conceit is that the team investigates "fringe science" but it all seems to be increasingly tied to this alternate universe. Oh yeah, and there's this bald pale guy called The Observer who is supposedly in every episode. Except I'm usually too wrapped up in what's going on to locate him. The mad scientist, Walter Bishop is genuinely funny, if not morbidly so, and very unique. John Noble should get an Emmy for portraying him. Oh yeah, and did I mention Leonard Nimoy plays the enigmatic William Bell? Plenty of freaky surprises to go around.<br /><br />SUPERNATURAL, CW @9pm<br /><br />Here's a show that has been getting darker and yet better with every season. The show started out about these two brothers (Dean and Sam Winchester) who were traveling across the country looking for their dad who had disappeared. Of course, their dad hunts supernatural beings (think ghosts, zombies, vampires, etc.) and vanquishes them. The sons are also schooled in such ways and follow in dear old dad's footsteps in hopes of finding him. Over the years, they found their dad, their dad got killed, and then each of the brothers have been killed only to have been brought back for some reason. Last season, a bunch of demons were released and angels came into the mythology as the brothers and everyone they know were trying to stop The Apocolypse. At the end of last season, Lucifer was released. And now the brothers, with the help of an angel named Castiel, are trying to stop Armageddon. The show plays hard-and-fast with Biblical canon, apparently having their own definitions for demons (other than fallen angels) and even what angels are. But it's all pretty cool, nevertheless. One thing I do like about it is that it doesn't try to pretend that there's not a supernatural aspect to our lives, even if they take dramatic liberties in presenting it.<br /><br /><b>Fridays</b><br /><br />MONK, USA @9pm<br /><br />I've followed Monk since the first episode. Probably since MASH, there hasn't been a show that has succeeded at being funny yet sad at the same time. This is being touted as the last season and I believe there are only a few more episodes left. Still to come: Monk's original nurse, Sharona, drops in for an episode and the two-part finale that I hope will finally wrap up Monk's wife's murder and get him re-instated to the SF Police force (or at least will find him happy with where he ends up). I have high hopes that the writers will pay this series off well. It's been successful both financially for USA and critically (Tony Shaloub has won multiple Emmys... I've lost count of just how many... for his portrayal of Adrian Monk).<br /><br />PSYCH, USA @10pm<br /><br />I have to admit, when USA premiered Psych, I didn't get it all that much. I liked the lead character, despite how flaky he is. But I didn't much get the sidekick. Since then, and with the help of multiple flashbacks to the 80s in each episode's opening, I have come to understand and even revel in the relationship between Shawn and Gus that dates back to their childhood. The writing on Psych is top-notch and hilarious. The one-liners often force me to rewind to hear it again and the pop-culture references, often back to the 80s, are to die for. Which is a good thing because there's usually a murder to be solved. Shawn, raised by his policeman father to be ultra-perceptive, pretends to be a psychic because it's the only way the police will believe him. With success behind him, he and his best friend open up Psych, the psychic detective agency and, as they say in Hollywood pitch meetings, "hilarity ensues." Except this time, it really does.<br /><br />SMALLVILLE, CW @8pm<br /><br />It's 9 years old this season. And finally, depsite the fact that the great Michael Rosenbaum has departed the show and thus taken the character of Lex Luthor with him, we're finally getting into some Superman stuff. Except they're calling him The Blur (which comes from The Red-Blue Blur, a term that was being used to describe the super-speeding Clark Kent as he would swoop in to save the day). AT least that's what they're calling him for now. Clark still can't fly. But Lana is gone and the romance between Clark and Lois Lane is blossoming. It's only a couple steps away from the Superman that we know. Clark is even wearing the S on his shirt. It's just silver on a black shirt and instead of a cape, he's got a trench coat. I say, just take us there already! I've diligently watched this show from the beginning. When it's time to wrap it up, give me Superman and bring back Lex for the finale. Do that, and all 9 (or 10 if it comes to that) years of watching will have been worth it.<br /><br />DOLLHOUSE, FOX @9pm<br /><br />I was never much of a Buffy or Angel fan. But Firefly was my kind of show. So last year I gave Joss Whedon's new show about mind-wiped disposable people a shot. I found it mildly engaging and discovered that Whedon was using the show to subtly comment on our culture. It started out a little wobbly and got better with each episode. By the time the finale came around, I was fully on board but somewhat sad because I didn't think it had any chance for renewal. But never underestimate the power of fans in this 'verse. Lo and behold, Dollhouse was renewed and now it's back with some slight tweaks (now the lead character who is routinely wiped of her memory is maintaining some aspect of the various personalities that she's imprinted with). It's still engaging and the between-the-lines commentary is still there. Ratings aren't, however, so if you want to check out Dollhouse, you might want to hurry.<br /><br />STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, CN @ 8pm<br /><br />To those of you who like to pretend that the Star Wars prequels never happened, I have to say I disagree with you. And it's not because I have an irrational love of Jar Jar Binks (although he doesn't bug me as much as he does some SW fans). It's mostly because, if the prequels didn't exist, than either would this excellent computer animated series, set between Episode 2 and Episode 3. There are times I'm watching The Clone Wars and I think to myself, "this is what the movies should have been like." We get full-fledged Jedi action, plenty of battle droids, lots of 'splosions, even a lot of Expanded Universe references and, since the show is in the half-hour format, characterizations that get straight to the point. There's nothing not to love. If you like Star Wars and you've given up since the prequels, give Clone Wars a chance. You'll be glad you did.<br /><br />SANCTUARY, SYFY @ 10 pm<br /><br />I have to be honest here. This show seems like it would be right up my alley. And I recorded the entire first season. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to watch any of it. So I don't know if I can/should recommend it. But everything I've read about it supports my suspicions that it's my kind of show. It starts back up this Friday with a 13 episode second season. So I expect I'll tape those too and eventually I'll get to them all. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_(TV_series)<br /><br /><b>Saturdays</b><br /><br />LEGEND OF THE SEEKER, Syndicated (in Long Beach, CW @ 5pm)<br /><br />A lot of sword & sorcery translates to the small screen (and to the big screen for that matter) as pure cheese. But Sam Raimi does a pretty good job with this one, adapted from Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" novels. I don't know how good the adaptation is since I haven't read the books. But the show is consistently pretty good. The new season supposedly starts the weekend of October 31 but, as with all first-run syndicated shows, you may have to hunt for it.<br /><br />And that's it for now. Chuck and Lost are supposed to come back mid-season and there's the new V, Caprica (Battlestar Galactica prequel spin-off) and Day One (the latter having been recently downgraded into a mini-series) that I'm looking forward to as well. Not to mention the oft-delayed Battlestar Galactia: The Plan movie. But I'll have to weigh in on those once they start and/or return. <br /><br />For now, enjoy good stories wherever you can find them.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-24437370471552680862009-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:002009-08-15T18:40:54.368-07:00Let's Play Catch UpSince we lost Lyric back on New Year's Eve, a lot of things have sorta shifted around. Lori and I have had many discussions about priorities and where our various creative and other endeavors will fall over the next year or so. <br /><br />There's quite a bit to ingest, so I'm gonna lay it all out here in hopes that I can both share it with you, the (hopefully) interested reader as well as wrap my own head around it all.<br /><br /><b>Show Me The Money!</b><br />So it seems as if, after many false starts and time lags, that we finally have an agreement with our lender that everyone is happy with. Lori and I are very pleased with the results in the monthly payment department and I was just waiting on a few more details regarding the loan terms before we put pen to paper and lock this sucker down. That was before my phone just rang. Now we're ready to go! Both Lori and I see the results of this process as an answer to prayer. Especially, since we had previously been offered an agreement that wasn't as beneficial to us. So it's time to thank God this weekend and that's how I'm going into the weekend. With a thankful heart and a good attitude!<br /><br />This new agreement will give us some breathing room and maybe even some travel money down the line. So stay tuned for where Lori and I have been discussing going.<br /><br /><b>Pooling Around</b><br />It's been extremely hot out this summer and Lori has tried multiple times to have a pool in the back for Melody to play in. The neighbors have a really large pool set up and Melody sometimes goes there to play. But Melody has never had swimming lessons so we don't like to let her go over without one of us being right there. The first inflatable pool Lori bought was quite large and rectangular. It lasted about a day before the neighborhood cats, I guess thinking they had found the mother lode of thirst quenchers, destroyed it with their claws (climbing up to get a drink?). Lori tried to replace it but all additional pools of like design had disappeared off the shelves. So she got this other inflatable one that sprays water out of a giraffe head. The downside though is it's really a small pool, despite the multiple 10-year olds playing in it on the box. I'd call that false advertising, but maybe that's just me. So we've been really good about emptying it and removing it to the garage whenever Melody gets out so the neighborhood cats won't get their claws on (or in) it. But lately, it's been so hot that even Lori and her mom were thinking it would be nice to get in the pool. So the two of them together conspired to get this other, much larger pool. In fact, its probably as large as our neighbor's pool, although not as deep or as high up. So now we have this pool. The top ring inflates and as its filled with water, the top rises, making the pool deeper. Kind of ingenious if you ask me. It also has a water pump that's supposed to clean the water but I have yet to hook that up (it looks like it might be missing some pieces, but maybe I can make it work). So that's the girls' summer fun for you. Maybe I'll get in it this weekend after I mow a lawn or two. Whatever the case, it's too big to take down every day so I've sprayed dog and cat repellent all around it and on the rim. Twice. So far it's fared well over two nights. I guess we'll see.<br /><br /><b>Rock Around The House</b><br />In the meantime, I've been on sort of a household improvement and repair kick. A few weeks ago, I repainted most of the front porch. It's all the same colors as before but just giving it a refreshing. I've also gone around and retouched the house wherever there were any chips in the olive paint. So the place is looking a little spiffier. The driveway gate is getting a little wobbly so I'm going to try to secure that this weekend. Plus probably try to set up the pool's water pump and a few other minor projects around the house. The key is to make the list and prioritize the projects and not try to do them all at once. Otherwise, I won't enjoy my weekend at all. The idea is to push some of them to another weekend. The list is merely there so I don't forget anything.<br /><br /><b>The Sound Of Music</b><br />For awhile now, Lori and I have felt called to have a worship gathering/Bible study for the neighborhood in our basement. When we stepped down from leading worship at The Connection, one of the projects we felt led to was writing our own music. Between Lori and I, we've written a lot of stuff over the past year. And I gotta say, it's all pretty good. I'm really proud of it. Both Lori and I sing the songs. Lori plays keys and I play bass and I think we have a pretty unique sound. Recently, we added to that sound with Ed Che playing guitar and Lou Diaz on drums. The result is Launch Pad: the band. I must say, it is so satisfying to hear the music come together with the full band. But this band isn't just about turning it up to eleven and rockin out. We see the band as the front-end of a missionary movement. Yes, we've written some songs that those who go to church would call "worship" songs. But we've also written other songs that eschew Christianese and just tell it the way it is. We want to be real. We don't want to be churchy. We've got a lot to say and we're saying most of it through music. So, we're going to be rehearsing a lot over the next couple months and then we'll be playing out around town. I hope you can check us out. More info as it comes.<br /><br /><b>The Write Stuff</b><br />In addition to all of the musical mayhem going on, I've been steadily writing as well. Unfortunately, probably mostly due to the economic downturn, my publisher was starting to let some key production dates on Chance for the Future slide. So we had a chat and he released me from my contracts at my request. So, the downside is I'm back without a publishing deal. The upside is, I'm not locked into a deal that isn't going anywhere. As for my backlist, I'm currently working out a publishing schedule for bringing these all back out on my own. They'll require new covers and I'll have to do my own book layout, but it's a minor inconvenience. <br /><br />That said, "Zooming Thru Life" is pretty much ready to go. It needs a cover but I'll use the logo from the articles/blog. "One of the Girls" will probably get a new edition very soon as well (so it'll have a wider availability, especially online) but I'll probably keep the Kris Cartwright artwork in one way or another. "Chance For The Future" was delivered to the publisher with the new short story, so that's a clean edit that I just need a new cover for. Hope For Tomorrow has had the manuscript marked-up and only needs the edits to be implemented (and a new cover). Faith In The Past will be the next one to get the manuscript polish and also needs a new cover. I just finished the first round of edits on the newly again re-titled "A Stranger On Bay Street" (it'll probably get another couple passes before it's published, but the title shouldn't change again). I must say I'm quite pleased with how that story came out. As with "One of the Girls," I look forward to writing sequels in this world. And progress continues on "Plunge Into Eden," the first book in my sci-fi alternate-universe trilogy. I finished Chapter 23 the other night our of an expected 28 (and an epilogue). So that one nears completion. I'm so very glad to be working on this stuff again on a regular basis. <br /><br /><b>Meet Melody's New Friend</b><br />Another thing that has kept me busy, especially on the weekend, is the dog-escape-proofing of our yard. Because we now have a puppy. Her name is Harmony. She's supposedly half-Golden Retriever (and maybe half shepherd? Dunno). She's short haired and very playful. She's going to be a very big dog when she grows up though so she's an outside dog. I'm actually hoping she'll scare the cats away from our pool. She has a big bed on the back porch that might be nicer than mine and all sorts of chew toys because she's teething and if I don't provide said toys, she will chew the paint off my house and chew through the back porch wood supports like beaver. I've already had to spray stuff I don't want her to chew with this "bitter chew" stuff they had at PetSmart. We'll see if it works. She seems to be pretty smart though. She's already very good at bringing the slobbery tennis ball back when I throw it. But she lived next door for a couple weeks so she still tries to get back over there now and again. So I put up chicken wire along the picket fence (she could squeeze through!) and I've extended the height of our fence in a couple places (and painted the extensions to match the fence for camouflage's sake. Melody really loves "her doggy." The first thing she wants to do every morning is "play with Harmony," even though that dog could bowl her over without thinking about it twice.<br /><br /><b>Graduation and Pre-K</b><br />Which brings me to Melody. She graduated from preschool late last month and started a Pre-K class immediately thereafter. She really enjoys school but I wonder if this new class is taxing her in different ways. Whatever the case, it's probably good for her. The preschool class she was in was lax in a lot of ways. This new class seems to be more structured. I guess she has it for one more week. Overlapping that, starting next week is Melody's swimming class. So, yes, with all this pool talk, we're actually getting Melody some lessons. I'm sure she'll love it. After that, she'll start up at Stevenson (named after author Robert Louis Stevenson... I couldn't be more pleased... ha!) in a year-round schedule, which both Lori and I actually like.<br /><br /><b>Reminiscences</b><br />Today would have been my dad's 70th birthday had he not passed away a few years ago. Working around the house so much these days, I can't help but recall helping him work around his house when I was a kid. It seemed like he always knew exactly what to do to fix anything. I don't have anywhere near that kind of knowledge. But then I realize that it probably seems to Melody that I know exactly what to do too. Is it all such a sham? I don't know. But I do know that if my dad was still alive, I'd be hitting him up for advice on how to fix this or that around the house. And he would probably be coming over to explain it to me just so he could play with his little granddaughter. He was very close with Melody's cousin, Violet. But he only held Melody a handful of times as he started getting sick right around the time she was born. I know if he were around, he would be proud of everything she can do these days. I know I am. She's getting so big. She's not a baby anymore. She's a little girl. And she's my little girl. I guess that will never really change. <br /><br />I'm sure there's other stuff going on, but that's gonna have to be it for this update. <br /><br />Well, it's Friday and Lori's picking me up after work so I can start the weekend off right with my girls (sans Harmony). We're going to celebrate everything God's doing in our lives and just enjoy being together. What else can I ask for? I'm Looking forward to it!Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-11202541369490555102009-07-24T07:00:00.000-07:002009-07-24T14:27:35.772-07:00What I'm Reading - RevisedWell, I had a dentist appointment a couple weeks ago and I must have been so addled by it (nothing wrong, by the way, it was merely a teeth cleaning and the dentist said everything looked great) that I have misplaced my Last Days of Krypton book. I can't find it. I was roughly halfway through it and now, unless I pick up another copy somewhere, I guess I'll never finish it. Bummer.<br /><br />Worse though: For years I've had this hard cover that slips on to mass-market size paperback books. I don't think you can even get them anymore. Anyway, it was on the aforementioned missing book. So now I have no paperback protection! I've looked online for a new cover but I'm not enamored with any of the newer designs.<br /><br />I checked with the dentist and they haven't found it there. I don't know where I put it. Maybe I'll run across it someday. In the meantime, I'm reading Hopscotch by the same author (Kevin J. Anderson). I figured if I wasn't going to finish his Superman history, I might as well finish something else by him. As for Hopscotch, it's an interesting read so far. I can tell he's setting up a lot of things. How it will all connect and converge will be something to discover.<br /><br />Anyway, I still hope to find the other book and cover in the next couple weeks... It would be nice if I could find them around the time I wrap up this book. But we'll see.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-15955003290371846332009-06-10T09:35:00.000-07:002009-06-11T17:34:31.020-07:00What I'm ReadingWell, it took awhile, but I completed the Dark Nest trilogy of Star Wars novels (my guilty pleasure) and they were actually pretty good.<br /><br />Now I'm knee-deep in The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson.<br /><br />I met Mr. Anderson at a Pikes Peak Writer's Conference when I lived in Colorado (we were both on faculty) and actually had the good fortune of having lunch with him and his wife (Rebecca Moesta) in the main hall. In general, I like his work. I first encountered his writing through my guilty pleasure (Star Wars novels) but have since read some of his other work. In particular, I enjoyed his Captain Nemo novel, which he signed for me at the aforementioned conference. His writing style is very direct. Not simple, really, but it gets right to the point and does not draw attention to itself, instead allowing the story to quickly unfold. He also writes a lot of short chapters, which I prefer over a few very long chapters. <br /><br />So far, this particular book is intriguing. It chronicles the last days of the planet that Superman is from. My understanding is that Mr. Anderson took many different threads from comics, films, etc. and has weaved them together into one coherent whole. It's fun to visit this world that Superman fans really have mostly only heard about.<br /><br />I'm also looking forward to Mr. Anderson's new Superman/Batman novel.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-10706209921215678812009-05-28T17:31:00.001-07:002009-05-28T17:32:32.652-07:00New Class: Interactive ProductionTeaching a new class next week on Interactive Production at The Designory. It's meant as an orientation for the mostly print-experienced Production folks here to transition over to doing production work in interactive space. Hopefully, shortly thereafter, these folks can get their hands dirty with some real Interactive Production work.Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-68275324797871290122009-02-27T08:30:00.000-08:002009-02-27T10:30:16.583-08:00Writing Update: February 2009 - WIPsFor those of you out there who are not familiar with the term, WIP stands for Works In Progress. I happen to have a few projects that are in various stages of completion and I'm going to try to make sense of them here (if for no other reason than to get a handle on them myself).<br /><br />First, what's been delivered to the publisher: Chance for the Future new edit and the new Chance short story, Power to the People.<br /><br /><b>Hope for Tomorrow (new edit)</b><br />The last chapter will get my red pen today at lunch. Next, I need to go into the document and actually make the edits. Another week or two and HFT will be ready to be delivered to my publisher along with the short story, Riot Act.<br /><br /><b>Zooming Thru Life (tech polish)</b><br />Now that I've stepped into the Web 2.0 world of iPhones and mobile connectivity, there are a few places where ZTL can be tweaked to make it a tad more tech-savvy. I'll start this polish with the red pen next week during my lunch hours and will make the fixes to the document by the end of March.<br /><br /><b>A Stranger On Lake Street (new title)</b><br />This is the latest novel I've written, the first in (hopefully) a new series called Worlds Collide. Over the course of several weeks, I read it aloud to Lori before we hit the hay. I think she thought it was a little gory near the end, but heck, it's a war between angels and demons! What do you expect? Anyway, I noticed a few places I could touch up this story when I was reading it to Lori, so I'll tackle a new edit for it once I finish with ZTL. Once the new edit is ready, I'll see if my publisher is interested.<br /><br /><b>Faith In The Past (new edit)</b><br />After I give the new novel another pass, I'll break out the red pen and give the third Fairlight novel another polish before handing it off to my publisher (along with the short story, Saint Nik).<br /><br /><b>Plunge Into Eden</b><br />Planning a trilogy from the outset means, for me anyway, committing to a world and characters for two or three years. The Fairlight novels evolved into a series. Plunge Into Eden is the first in what I've planned as a trilogy (The Earthship Endeavor Chronicles). I've got the basic arc of the trilogy planned and the first novel fully plotted. Anyway, this is the novel I'm writing now. I completed chapter 3 last night and it is progressing nicely. I also need to perfect a logline for at least the first book (if not the entire trilogy) and pitch this series to my publisher as well.<br /><br /><b>One of the Girls</b><br />This book is contracted for a new release through Blademaster but it's a pretty clean manuscript. I might give it one more polish before it runs though. We'll see. I guess it sorta depends on if my publisher asks for it. If so, I may need to re-prioritize. Obviously, books with contracts take priority.<br /><br />So that's where it all stands. I hope to do another Zooming book as well when time permits (it's mostly about gathering notes) and there's always the Zooming Thru Life blog (<a href="http://www.zoomingthrulife.blogspot.com/"></a>). I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted there, but I intend to get back to a regular schedule again. Losing our daughter (in the miscarriage) sorta slowed me down but we're recovering and we're moving forward. <br /><br />In the future, I'd also like to write sequels to One of the Girls, A Stranger On Lake Street as well as additional Fairlight novels. But more on that another time.<br /><br />Thanks for reading!Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821730.post-61981655067034152682009-01-26T13:41:00.001-08:002009-01-26T13:44:16.109-08:00Photoshop Class #3 at The DesignorySo my third Photoshop class here at The Designory is as a moderator for a Photoshop Tips and Tricks lab that will take place this Thursday at noon (apparently lunch will be served as well). <br /><br />The idea is to host a lab where long-time Photoshop "creatives" can come together and share some of their tips and tricks. I'll have some of mine and some subjects to bring up if others don't bring what they need. Apparently lunch will be served so I'm hoping for a good turn out. The announcement is going out today so I'll probably know by the end of the day what the response was. <br /><br />It's kinda exciting to participate in this way with other "creatives."Paul M. Carharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16202083119289520121noreply@blogger.com0