Meanwhile…

Ugh. 20 days! I have been immensely busy with work (and other things) of late. Corporate America is currently in a “Let’s keep producing more while not replacing all these people we laid off a few months ago” phase. It’s awesome.

A couple of recommendations for you today, from a couple of my wildly talented pals:

First up is this noir-flavored short from friend Aaron. I always want to work more with Aaron, but never get around to it. My loss!

Second is another short, from friend Alex. He actually shot this some time back for a web series that never took off (evidently the writer caved under the pressure). But it is pretty.

Third is the new CD, Five Deadly Venoms, from my comrades in the Mr. Bungle-inspired Shaolin Death Squad. These are people with whom I toiled in the unforgiving planogram mines and then drunkenly philosophized with until the wee hours of the next day. They know more about me than I am comfortable with. You should listen and soak in their wisdom.

I have seen Kick-Ass. It is awesome. I have more to say about it, but currently lack the energy to do so. Perhaps later.

I had fun with this one. In fact, with some work I think it might be worth submitting somewhere. So here’s the opening couple of paragraphs. Unfortunately, the really good parts of the story are closer to the end, but oh well. I will say that later in the story I feature the following sentence: “Beyond the transparent hull above the crowd, Virtuoso Of The Serious Combat (Ike was assured something was lost in the translation; he would argue that many things were lost in the translation when it came to Virtuoso Of The Serious Combat) rocked their fucking socks off.”

I have a number of friends in bands – you can’t attend the University of North Texas without sleeping with and/or befriending at least three or four music majors or local band members. I could say I know someone who won a Grammy, but really who doesn’t? At any rate, it seemed a shame that I don’t really have any music-inspired stories. This is an early attempt.

I have three more flash pieces to write in two days to win the monthly prompt contest.

(My own musical endeavors ended sometime in middle school when I moved to a new school and dropped band. I wasn’t that good at it anyway.)

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