I am Horus

It's been a long long time since I've posted and nyah nyah nyah, blubbah blubbah blubbah, snorty snort.
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Updates on Mom? Suffer!

This post will have little or nothing to do with my mother, I promise. Mom, if you're reading this, sorry, there's really nothing I can do.

Okay, I lied: over the weekend I designed and uploaded a spankin' new, spankin' fun website dedicated to everyone's favorite mother. Go look at it for, like, an hour: BeckySpellman.com.

Okay, also, but this really is it: the big criminal trial is on November 15th, so I'll be in Ohio that week. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't sweat it.
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Creative Renaissance

I don't know what's come over me lately, I really don't. I'm a creating machine. After what feels like almost a year of moping around, I'm writing, drawing, painting, plotting and designing for the pure hell of it in a burst of creative mania that I haven't experienced since college. After a long period of "I'll get around to it", I find myself Getting Around To It.

All that's to say... er... very soon (this time I mean it) there are going to be some very cool little nuggets coming to this website that demonstrate the fruits of my wandering.

And it's official, I'm saying it here and now and God strike me dead if I'm lyin': In the year 2005, I will have widely distributed, published comics work.

More I will not say, but the wheels are already in motion. Boo-yah.
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Impulse! Impulse!

I take terrific joy in our not-so-recently-discovered pasttime of buying material on DVD purely on impulse, despite having never have seen it previously. I've considered starting an Impulse DVD review section here on JB.com. It's, you know, a bit of a public service I like to offer.

*koff koff* Uh.

Angels in America - Carey and I finished this one last night. It's a six-hour original miniseries from HBO and director-friggin'-extraordinaire Mike Nichols. Remarkably intelligent and poetic, this thing swept the Emmys and I can see why. Difficult to sum up, but it's a drama that takes place in the mid-80's American homosexual community, comparing AIDS to the great Biblical plagues. Cannot lie: it has some uncomfortably explicit moments, but the performances are flawless. See it. Or don't.

THX 1138 - George Lucas' first movie, re-cut, re-mastered and enhanced with all sorts of 21st century digital effects. I have to tell you, I really enjoyed it. I was expecting a sort of awkward 1st attempt at what would later become Star Wars, but this was something completely different. A fevered, art house, sci-fi character drama with almost no dialogue, set in some sterile, Orwellian nightmare future. A few bumpy edges in the performances, but this is one intriguing piece of film. Very cool.

The Triplets of Belleville - Gorgeous animation in a quirky style. It's French, but you might not notice because it's dialogue-free. Everything about this thing is a pleasure to behold. Worth at least a rent.

Citizen Kane - Neither Carey nor I had ever seen the film that's widely thought of as The Greatest Film of All Time, so we decided to impulse it. I'll have to say, I found it enjoyable and it's fairly apparent that the filmmaking technique employed by first-time director Orson Welles was certainly ahead of its time. Nothing earth-shaking, just a well crafted movie that's aged fairly well. Personally, I enjoyed the documentary (all about the controversy surrounding the film in its day) included on the DVD at least as much as the movie itself.

Human Nature - Not by any means a flawless film... for one, it doesn't quite seem to know how to end... but, by and large worth a watch. At the very least, it's much better than the awful cover suggests. A strange, multicolored romp about the secularization of a man raised in the wilderness, not to mention the journey of a woman born with copious amounts of body hair... er... well, it's a comedy from freak-weirdo-genius Michel Gondry, so what do you expect? If you liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you'll... well... you might like this too, I guess, just not quite as much.
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Politics? Eh, let's not.

Okay, it's been nearly a week, but I have to say it: while I'm committed to hanging in there with Dubya, a blind man could see that John Kerry absolutely destroyed him in the Round #1 debate.

It's frustrating. Bush had plenty of opportunities to dive into the details of the war in Iraq and why it's necessary and what must be done, moving forward, but he squandered nearly all of them, stuttering through the same broken record argument that's getting harder and harder to buy about Kerry's plan to resolve the situation: "See, uh, Senator Kerry used to act like the war was a bad idea, and now he's acting like, you know, it's a GOOD idea, so... uh, that's... you know, no way to lead an army. After all, what would a soldier think if he knew that his president used to think the war was a, a, a bad, you know, idea?"

Which is sort of a mischaracterization of Kerry's position anyhow. Our president has made some decisions that I agree with wholeheartedly, but he has the charisma of a cucumber.

But the VP debate last night? Well, now we're talking. Not quite the slam-dunk victory of the Presidential debate, but I thought it was pretty clear that Cheney fairly well mopped the floor with Edwards.

No doubt about it, this one will be close.
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The Genteel Arts

I've been hanging out with a guy I work with named Jason Williams lately and he's been opening my mind to the world of historical recreation, specifically pre-17th century Europe. The guy sits on the board of directors for the SCA and daggone if he doesn't know his stuff. Armor, jewelry, weaponry, forging, battling, cultural customs, rules of the royal court... he's astonishing. He's been telling me all about it for weeks. It's like a whole little cultural oasis inside our own culture, complete with their own set of rules and disciplines.

Here's Jason (or "Duke John", I guess they call him) polishing a crown.

And here are a set of crowns he designed and forged/constructed himself, each worth around $15,000.

Recently I helped him come up with a design for a decorative chain for one of his buddies.

"What's this for again?" I asked.

"It's for a friend of mine. He's going to be knighted next week by the SCA."

"Whoa. That's a pretty big deal, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes."

"So how does someone become a knight?"

"Typically, through acts of courage and honor, a candidate is chosen. Usually, it was for terrific valor in battle, but if it's recognized that the individual has brought glory to the crown or the kingdom, a man could also be knighted."

"And what'd your friend do?"

"Oh, he's a hell of a nice guy."

"And what do you get if you're a knight?"

"You get the recognition of the kingdom. Lots of things. You're assigned squires to instruct and train in battle. They also assist you."

"So, if you're a knight, you teach your squires how to swing a sword or joust?"

"You teach battle skills, court protocol... you also instruct them in the... eh... genteel arts."

"The genteel arts, whoa! You mean, like, 'here's how to satisfy a woman?'"

"..."

"No?"

"No. More like, 'here's how to be chivalrous and gracious.'"

"Ah. Nothing sexual."

"No."
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Nostalgia will have to wait another five years

My 10-year high school reunion happened over the weekend and I didn't manage to make the trip.

It's a shame, too. Some dearly missed friends were present, not to mention their babies, and I'm more than a little upset that circumstances have edged me out of catching up with the class of '94. I wonder who's happy, who's lonely, who's fat and who's bald. I'm more than a little curious about who followed through with the stuff they dreamed about doing ten years ago.

And I'll tell ya, while I haven't accomplished quite as much as I'd hoped in the past 10 years, I'm pretty contented in the knowledge that I'm doing what I dreamed. I sat at the back of every damned class I took, drawing instead of taking notes. Looking back, it may have even been a bit creepy how obsessed I was with getting Good at Art.

And even though "Good at Art" is something I may still be reaching for, I'm Good Enough for a Career and that makes me a very happy lad indeed.

Hih. 10 years.

Brainard, Rockwood, Schweitzers, everybody else... miss you guys. Sorry I couldn't make it.
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What's Crackin'?

Oh, all kinds of things, not all of it interesting. We're in the throes of redecorating. Carey re-painted and jazzed up the kitchen in August, but we're still dealing with flooring issues. It's a drama.

Also, unfortunately, Pat's health issues are back. I'm not sure how far to get into it here on the blog, but Dad and the rest of us are certainly concerned. I'll try to keep updated, but please spit some prayers her way.

And speaking of health issues, Carey's mom is also going through the ringer. I wish I understood all the details, but she's had an off-kilter recovery from a recent stomach-related surgery. We're pullin' and prayin' for Shannon, thanks for doing likewise.

Carey's back in school, taking more interior design courses. Sadly, she doesn't feel much closer to making a career decision than when she started the schooling, but at least she's getting the facts. She continues to outshine her classmates, by the way.

It's been well over a year since our church exploded and we're still looking for a new one. A couple of promising places have flown across the radar, but we're kinda operating on reflex at this point.

All in all, I don't know. A lot has happened in the past couple of months, but I've been fairly consumed with the Mom stuff. Trying to resume regular blogger programming, but it ain't easy.

posted by Jeremy Bear 8:27 AM

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