2008-11-28T20:00:46-00:00adminhttp://www.robcallahan.com/index.phpsleestak.rampage@gmail.comtag:robcallahancom,2008:PivotCopyright (c) 2008, Authors of And Then There Was 252008-11-28T20:00:00-00:002008-11-28T13:58:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.127MontiLee and I have been writing this novel, Isle of Shadows, somewhat out of order for the past couple of years and now, it seems, we are down to one last chapter. That being Chapter 25. It's a lovely story and I think you'll all enjoy it, and it gets me wondering about those other novels I've written (and then completely lost) over the years. Prom Queen of the Damned was finished in November of 2003 and went so far as to have a cover made for it before I lost all of my digital copies along with the printed backup I had made. The Ideal Man was finished before I'd written half of the stories in Damaged Goods, but it existed as a hodge-podge of chapters on my Handspring, chapters on my old duct tape desktop, and longhand written down in spiralbound notebooks. At some point between finishing the story and assembling all of its bits in order, I lost it a few pieces at a time. The Proverbial Wages was similarly split between revised chapters on my laptop and original drafts on college-ruled paper, finished up in the latter months of 2003 and misplaced after dividing all of the possessions from a relationship that ended somewhere in 2005 or 2006... I'm most mournful of that one, for the others were a hurried endeavor that I'd done in a month, just to show that I could, and a collage of bad ideas that really failed to connect in any meaningful way, as first novels by young writers tend to be, respectively. The third one, though, was meant to be a sequel to Hellbound Snowballs and would have been a nice follow-up offering to both Raised All Wrong Publications and the many adoring people who have written in to ask, "What happened next?"
Sadly, I do not believe that any of these works will resurface now. That is unless someone out there had more foresight than did I, and archived what bits of them were available online back in the day. If that were the case, I could probably reconstruct them... I'm just saying.Isle of Shadows, somewhat out of order for the past couple of years and now, it seems, we are down to one last chapter. That being Chapter 25. It's a lovely story and I think you'll all enjoy it, and it gets me wondering about those other novels I've written (and then completely lost) over the years. Prom Queen of the Damned was finished in November of 2003 and went so far as to have a cover made for it before I lost all of my digital copies along with the printed backup I had made. The Ideal Man was finished before I'd written half of the stories in Damaged Goods, but it existed as a hodge-podge of chapters on my Handspring, chapters on my old duct tape desktop, and longhand written down in spiralbound notebooks. At some point between finishing the story and assembling all of its bits in order, I lost it a few pieces at a time. The Proverbial Wages was similarly split between revised chapters on my laptop and original drafts on college-ruled paper, finished up in the latter months of 2003 and misplaced after dividing all of the possessions from a relationship that ended somewhere in 2005 or 2006... I'm most mournful of that one, for the others were a hurried endeavor that I'd done in a month, just to show that I could, and a collage of bad ideas that really failed to connect in any meaningful way, as first novels by young writers tend to be, respectively. The third one, though, was meant to be a sequel to Hellbound Snowballs and would have been a nice follow-up offering to both Raised All Wrong Publications and the many adoring people who have written in to ask, "What happened next?"
Sadly, I do not believe that any of these works will resurface now. That is unless someone out there had more foresight than did I, and archived what bits of them were available online back in the day. If that were the case, I could probably reconstruct them... I'm just saying.
]]>adminWhen Batman Was Gay2008-11-25T19:36:00-00:002008-11-25T13:21:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.126I'll set the mood for you: My friend and I are sitting in a bar and discussing comic books. (Because there's really only one anti-play more overt than simply not trying to pick up women in a bar, and that's not trying to pick up women in a bar while discussing comic books. Or Star Wars, really, but we're of a generation that believes Star Wars died on May 19th, 1999 and should now be left to rest in peace, but I digress...) Our conversation meanders along the only logical path it can, that of the great super-powered match-ups of the medium, and from there turns in the only mildly unexpected direction of the homoerotic nature of the archenemy relationship. (Again, to illustrate just how unlikely I am to pick up women in bars, we've now gone from two men talking about comics to two men talking about homosexuality. Women stayed quite clear of us.) I'll set the mood for you: My friend and I are sitting in a bar and discussing comic books. (Because there's really only one anti-play more overt than simply not trying to pick up women in a bar, and that's not trying to pick up women in a bar while discussing comic books. Or Star Wars, really, but we're of a generation that believes Star Wars died on May 19th, 1999 and should now be left to rest in peace, but I digress...) Our conversation meanders along the only logical path it can, that of the great super-powered match-ups of the medium, and from there turns in the only mildly unexpected direction of the homoerotic nature of the archenemy relationship. (Again, to illustrate just how unlikely I am to pick up women in bars, we've now gone from two men talking about comics to two men talking about homosexuality. Women stayed quite clear of us.)The seemingly inherent "gayness" in the hero's relation to his archnemesis is fairly understandable, for extreme, eternal hatred of another is a state of being so overwhelmingly codependent as to mimick some of the most dysfunctional love affairs of the ages. So we see a love/hate dynamic binding together such unforgettable couples as Superman and Luthor, The Doctor and The Master, Reagan and Gorbachev, Batman and The Joker...
And as the conversation and comparisons wear on, up comes the Batman/Robin question. In mentioning the old controversies surrounding Bruce Wayne's, um, handling of his young ward, I find myself citing The Bilerico Project's archive of the Silver Age scenes that aroused our nation's collective ire in the first place and, still having failed to convince my audience, I find it necessary to provide all of you with a link and some pictures to back my case. "When Batman Was Gay" Full Article
]]>robcallahanPerception Determines Reality, then Reorders it2008-10-15T00:55:00-00:002008-10-14T18:55:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.125I'm fascinated by this sort of hypnosis/subliminal messaging/brain hack tool I've just stumbled upon online. Using images and colors and whatnot, you essentially reprogram your own brain, or as the site says, "When neurologists first began to measure the brain's response to stimuli, it was found that if light and sound stimuli were precisely timed to the electrical activity of the brain, brainwave patterns could actually be altered. In turn, the mental state of a person could reliably be changed. As an example, someone who is wide awake may start to feel relaxed and drowsy when given a stimulus corresponding to a relaxed brainwave pattern."
And while there's an abundance of testimonials and promises that it'll cure what ails ya, I don't see a whole lot of information about what it actually does. Kind of snake oily... Still, I want one.I'm fascinated by this sort of hypnosis/subliminal messaging/brain hack tool I've just stumbled upon online. Using images and colors and whatnot, you essentially reprogram your own brain, or as the site says, "When neurologists first began to measure the brain's response to stimuli, it was found that if light and sound stimuli were precisely timed to the electrical activity of the brain, brainwave patterns could actually be altered. In turn, the mental state of a person could reliably be changed. As an example, someone who is wide awake may start to feel relaxed and drowsy when given a stimulus corresponding to a relaxed brainwave pattern."
And while there's an abundance of testimonials and promises that it'll cure what ails ya, I don't see a whole lot of information about what it actually does. Kind of snake oily... Still, I want one.
]]>robcallahanThe McCain-Palin Mob Reaches for the Torches & Pitchforks2008-10-12T01:24:00-00:002008-10-11T18:07:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.124McCain was booed by his own supporters last night, just south of here, as he asked them to please stop claiming that Obama is a terrorist.
It's times like these that I feel sorry for my GOP-supporting friends who are unfortunate enough to be represented by these tools. Yes. I actually feel pity, which I'm not typically want to do. Senator McCain was once able to boast of followers who held justifiable beliefs, in the epistemological sense, prior to the Palin factor. Now it seems the bulk of his following is made up of, well... these people.
I can not adequately express the extent of my discomfort in knowing that, for lack of a better term, idiots with subadolescent reasoning skills who'd be better off as wards of the state are allowed in on the democratic process. In courting the Christian Conservatives through the enlistment of Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign has inadvertently attracted extremist evangelical rightwing wackos like white on a Klan rally, breaking down the already fragile walls of reason and loosing like so many termites a horde of self-righteous, low-functioning imbeciles upon the world. These aren't politically active individuals. These are people who couldn't name a candidate six months ago, but could tell you who won American Idol every season since the show's inception. They had no interest in voting before, and as such expended no effort or energy toward preparing themselves for the task.
And now that the task is nigh at hand, their proverbial hats are in. Like lemmings with the rest of us on leashes and choke collars, they run. Unless we're also sending wanna-be brain surgeons and rocket scientists straight to work after demonstrating a mere few months' worth of passing interest in their respective fields, we should not be inviting the same sort of thing from those who would seat would-be world leaders. I fear the future as it is with these people breeding, let alone voting, and a world run by the leaders of a scat-stained, torch-wielding, blind and angry mob is no place in which to live. The tyranny of the majority has never loomed so tyrannically in my lifetime.booed by his own supporters last night, just south of here, as he asked them to please stop claiming that Obama is a terrorist.
It's times like these that I feel sorry for my GOP-supporting friends who are unfortunate enough to be represented by these tools. Yes. I actually feel pity, which I'm not typically want to do. Senator McCain was once able to boast of followers who held justifiable beliefs, in the epistemological sense, prior to the Palin factor. Now it seems the bulk of his following is made up of, well... these people.
I can not adequately express the extent of my discomfort in knowing that, for lack of a better term, idiots with subadolescent reasoning skills who'd be better off as wards of the state are allowed in on the democratic process. In courting the Christian Conservatives through the enlistment of Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign has inadvertently attracted extremist evangelical rightwing wackos like white on a Klan rally, breaking down the already fragile walls of reason and loosing like so many termites a horde of self-righteous, low-functioning imbeciles upon the world. These aren't politically active individuals. These are people who couldn't name a candidate six months ago, but could tell you who won American Idol every season since the show's inception. They had no interest in voting before, and as such expended no effort or energy toward preparing themselves for the task.
And now that the task is nigh at hand, their proverbial hats are in. Like lemmings with the rest of us on leashes and choke collars, they run. Unless we're also sending wanna-be brain surgeons and rocket scientists straight to work after demonstrating a mere few months' worth of passing interest in their respective fields, we should not be inviting the same sort of thing from those who would seat would-be world leaders. I fear the future as it is with these people breeding, let alone voting, and a world run by the leaders of a scat-stained, torch-wielding, blind and angry mob is no place in which to live. The tyranny of the majority has never loomed so tyrannically in my lifetime.
]]>robcallahanTake On Me: Literal Video Version2008-10-09T13:46:00-00:002008-10-09T07:43:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.123
]]>robcallahanA whimsical fund raiser for a serious cause2008-10-02T00:39:00-00:002008-10-01T17:41:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.122In the month of October, breast cancer is recognized by survivors, family and friends of survivors and/or victims of the disease. In no manner is such recognition more controversial or noted than the infamous Boobiethon. Every year, hot young amateurs with webcams (Oh yeah, I've just tripled my unique visit count.) from around the world show the goods to anyone willing to donate $50 to the cause, and aren't you just? Also of note, my writing partner MontiLee Stormer has provided them with content again and, as "MontiLee Stormer Nude" (Now that's quadrupled it.) is among the occasional recurring search strings that bring people to my blog, I imagine many of you will be rather willing to donate to this particular charitable cause.
LINK: 7th Annual Blogger Boobie-ThonBoobiethon. Every year, hot young amateurs with webcams (Oh yeah, I've just tripled my unique visit count.) from around the world show the goods to anyone willing to donate $50 to the cause, and aren't you just? Also of note, my writing partner MontiLee Stormer has provided them with content again and, as "MontiLee Stormer Nude" (Now that's quadrupled it.) is among the occasional recurring search strings that bring people to my blog, I imagine many of you will be rather willing to donate to this particular charitable cause.
LINK: 7th Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon
]]>robcallahanBodyskates -2008-10-01T22:28:00-00:002008-10-01T16:26:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.121Youtube video of Jean Yves Blondeau covering himself with tiny wheels and racing down a mountain at 90kph. He passes a motorcycle at one point. If we had such terrain nearby, I'd want to try this myself.
]]>robcallahanThe Future is Then2008-10-01T22:43:00-00:002008-10-01T16:13:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.120If you thought Gene Roddenbery's vision of the future, with its great big dials, flashing bulbs and reel-to-reel tape-powered computers was dated, have a look at these French post cards published circa 1910, which took as their subject the many advanced technologies to which we would presumably have access in the far future year 2000 AD. You'll see somewhat accurate predictions of tanks and construction equipment alongside more laughable images of students wired into a central teaching machine and the flying horseless carriage. Ah, the elusive flying horseless carriage... a century later we still have yet to escape the lure of its futurist wiles.French post cards published circa 1910, which took as their subject the many advanced technologies to which we would presumably have access in the far future year 2000 AD. You'll see somewhat accurate predictions of tanks and construction equipment alongside more laughable images of students wired into a central teaching machine and the flying horseless carriage. Ah, the elusive flying horseless carriage... a century later we still have yet to escape the lure of its futurist wiles.
]]>robcallahanDrinking is healthy for lazy smokers -2008-09-27T19:10:00-00:002008-09-27T13:10:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.119Drinking can be good for your heart. But you have to be a lazy smoker with an aversion to fruit and vegetables to reap the full benefits. Britain's leading researcher on the link between health and behavior found that smokers with the worst diets and poorest exercise habits could consume as many as 14 standard drinks a week - the threshold of what is considered harmful under proposed Australian guidelines - and still lower their risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other form of cardiovascular disease. But fit non-smokers who ate well increased their chances of falling prey to heart disease by drinking moderately compared with not at all...But fit non-smokers who ate well increased their chances of falling prey to heart disease by drinking moderately compared with not at all...
]]>robcallahanA long time ago in a college town far, far away...2008-09-26T05:07:00-00:002008-09-25T23:03:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.118Long before I wrote, and just before I gained some notoriety for my work on social causes, I wore dual hats in production and news features for an underfunded hybrid of a public/college radio station known as KVSC. In those days I often got quite excited when I caught something I'd produced being broadcast. "Hey," I'd often remark, "they're playing my work!" Well, after a while the novelty wore itself down. This was due in part to my simply having heard my work so frequently before and in another part to my work having so saturated the catalogue of pre-recorded promos, pushes, sweepers, sounders and IDs by the time I departed that I'd have had to stand around pointing it out every ten to fifteen minutes if I wanted to call attention to every instance in which my work got played. In 2001 or 2002, some time shortly after I moved on, the station's aging array of SCSI drives broke down and the resultant data loss wiped a good portion of their production work permanently from the canon of KVSC audio. As I'm told, what little they were able to recover was (and statistically, so should it have been) almost entirely my work. So for a good long time then on, while they slowly rebuilt their arsenal of audio, my work did not merely saturate the station's archives. It composed the archives.
And to this day, during the occasions on which I find myself either driving near Saint Cloud or listening to the webcast, I frequently hear my own younger, not-yet-mellowed voice speaking to me from beyond the grave, or more accurately stated from beyond ten years passed. It's a bit unsettling on the one hand. On the other hand, it's nice to know a bit of my legacy lives on out there. And still, on the other hand... well, there is no other hand.
]]>robcallahanI don't. No, no, no. -2008-09-18T03:37:00-00:002008-09-17T21:36:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.117Here's a link to Jill Riley parodying Amy Winehouse. Because, you know, I like to point out friends' hidden talents.Jill Riley parodying Amy Winehouse. Because, you know, I like to point out friends' hidden talents.
]]>robcallahanFandom is a bit like a self-esteem black hole.2008-09-18T00:33:00-00:002008-09-17T14:40:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.116As long as the fan boards are ablaze with arguments on the verge of invoking Godwin's Law over who should play Doctor Who when Tennant leaves the series, I'm throwing my official endorsement behind Julian Rhind-Tutt.
Because the Doctor always wanted to be ginger.As long as the fan boards are ablaze with arguments on the verge of invoking Godwin's Law over who should play Doctor Who when Tennant leaves the series, I'm throwing my official endorsement behind Julian Rhind-Tutt.
Because the Doctor always wanted to be ginger.
]]>robcallahanDon't Crush Our Heart!2008-09-11T22:40:00-00:002008-09-11T16:40:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.115This from Stephanie: "The Electric Arc Radio crew has left the raucous old ’hood we've been writing and singing about and created the brand-new, radio-style musical—Don’t Crush Our Heart!. It’s about an indie band, urban planning, the long arm of the law, and, of course, L-O-V-E. And because we love you, we want you to be there. Performed live from the book at the fabulous Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, this new show asks the question: Can a city councilman really prevent an indie pop band from moving to Brooklyn? The answer is rock-opera, Perry-Mason history, and it's called Don't Crush Our Heart!"
September 20, The Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN, US
September 20, The Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN, US
]]>robcallahanAn Informal Poll -2008-09-09T02:07:00-00:002008-09-08T20:07:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.114My neice has suggested that I write some YA fiction, as she'd rather like to be allowed to read my work, and I wonder what you all think. Would I be likely to lose my edge if I PG-13ized my writing and, if so, is that even a necessarily bad thing?robcallahanFascist America, in 10 easy steps -2008-09-07T20:28:00-00:002008-09-07T14:28:00-00:00tag:robcallahancom,2008:.112From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.
]]>robcallahan
I'm fascinated by this sort of hypnosis/subliminal messaging/brain hack tool I've just stumbled upon online. Using images and colors and whatnot, you essentially reprogram your own brain, or as the site says, "When neurologists first began to measure the brain's response to stimuli, it was found that if light and sound stimuli were precisely timed to the electrical activity of the brain, brainwave patterns could actually be altered. In turn, the mental state of a person could reliably be changed. As an example, someone who is wide awake may start to feel relaxed and drowsy when given a stimulus corresponding to a relaxed brainwave pattern."
As long as the fan boards are ablaze with arguments on the verge of invoking Godwin's Law over who should play Doctor Who when Tennant leaves the series, I'm throwing my official endorsement behind Julian Rhind-Tutt.