So, Thursday, we meet again!

Greetings kiddies! This week in Dervishville, I've done a lot of work creating content for the new L.A. Horror Community Website, Horror Works. I've been Tweeting away on the official Horror Works Twitter Feed to try to keep the information about local horror events circulating, and I've been trying to fill the sister page on Facebook with original content as well. As far as my skills in making a website are concerned, I've been using Sitebuilder (a really simple tool) to create the pages of the Horror Works site; the only problem is that the program has limitations. For example, if you try to view the pages on a mobile device, it looks terrible. But a good old bicycle ride to the library for some Idiot's books on website building should help me transition to the more effective website-building program, Dreamweaver.

In my last announcement, I believe I told ya that Outtake Reel was being picked up by The Horror Show TV (a VOD company which serves most of the UK). Well, it's still true! Also in Outtake Reel news, Indie Horror TV will be showing Outtake Reel (followed by an interview with me) on September 2.

I guess that's about it for now; so, I'm gonna get back to writing music for my insanely depressing new film project, The Orange Man: Adrift.

Y'all take care now!

Thursday, the coffee tastes good.

Hey there, kiddies!

I'm pleased to announce that there's lots going on in Dervish Land on this fine August morning. Let's start with Outtake Reel, shall we?

Not only is today the birth date of Ava Santana, star of Outtake Reel, but it is the day that The Horror Show TV announced that it has picked up the film for VOD distribution throughout the UK.

Pre-production on the musical film project The Orange Man: Adrift has been fairly intense. Regrettably, much of the content of that project is incredibly depressing material, and after having buried myself in it for several weeks, I am slowing down for the purpose of maintaining my sanity. But it's good stuff, folks!

The residual energy that I've had to dedicate to all things productive and horror has been re-routed to a couple of other things. I will be writing my second article for Fangoria on the legacy of EC Horror Comics. Russ Cochran had been working with Gemstone Publishing to re-print them in beautiful archive books, but stopped right after horror and comic book fans were sufficiently hooked. Now, Dark Horse is picking up where he left off, and I'm on the case!

The final exciting news bulletin is that after attending Scare LA, the first Halloween Convention in Los Angeles, I wrote an article and posted it on my new site, Horror Works. The site is intended to inform horror fans about the various goings-on in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Being as though there is a generous-size horror community here, I thought it was odd that there wasn't a centralized hub; so, I hastily decided that I should start one. Also, I love attending various horror events and writing about them, but sometimes the various horror magazines for which I write pass on my coverage of said events. So, through this new site, "I give them to you, the people" [spoken in a Henry Kissinger / Bane voice].

The site features a News page, with listings of various LA area activities for horror fans; an Articles page, which features -- you guessed it -- my writings about local horror events; and a Reviews page, which is currently the home of a doozer and an "under construction" sign.

Whelp, that should catch you up for now. Fare thee well, and don't forget to have a great day!

Wednesday at the end of July

And with the re-creation of the official Dervish Pictures website, I get to cross another thing off of the old "to do" list. It's not fine-tuned yet, and in fact there are some pages which I haven't tackled yet; however, it's a start!

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on new original music for my musical film project. Things are coming along very well with that. There have been some frustrations, much trial and error, and, ultimately, some significant steps forward in the project's development. The project, incidentally, will be a short, live action / animated film called The Orange Man: Adrift.

Apart from that, I will be attending and reporting on the first ScareLA convention on August 10 and 11th. The event will feature Halloween-themed artists, filmmakers, designers, panels, exhibitors, etc. And, unless one of the many horror magazines to which I am currently contributing is interested in my coverage, it will be among the exclusive articles that will grace the pages of the Dervish Pictures website for the purposes of informing and celebrating the Horror Community, of which I am a proud member.

I guess that's about it for now, so, until next time, y'all be good now, y'hear?

Wednesday...some time in the United States

Aloha dear reader!

Yes, it's been a while [standard pre-amble for many a blog-post]. I must confess, I've been spending a lot of time with my other blog, but that's no reason for this blog to be jealous. It should be happy for me; I've been extending my creative energy into the world in the most productive way I can conceive [Freudian readers, please enjoy this sentence], and that has been my principle way of dealing with the various little (as well as overwhelming) life issues which have swarmed upon me and infiltrated my soul as of late.

However, since this is not an appropriate venue for expressing my issues -- even though it would really be a bargain for both of us -- I'll just stick to business here, and if you're really interested in experiencing the creative impulses of a suffering soldier who is fighting to get a grip on this thing called life, I urge you to follow my other blog. I promise, this one won't be jealous. As far as providing details of my personal struggles, that's off of the table at the moment, suffice it to say they deal with relationships and good old fashioned money.

Now for the sauce! In addition to my article which will be in an upcoming issue of Fangoria magazine, I've contributed an article and some ditties to Rue Morgue magazine. I'll keep you posted on street dates / issue numbers. As for TITO, I heard back from the Fantasia Film Festival...and they thought the acting sucked, but at least it wasn't a formal rejection. [Note to self: stop acting in your films]. But there's still hope for the project; two rejection notices are pending! In any event, that's certainly enough negative reinforcement to make working on The Making of TITO into an uninspiring chore. Still, I've got some decent material to cobble together for it, so it's still a possibility...

Currently, I've been pouring a lot of energy into yet another high-concept project [Note to self: perhaps if you created fewer "high-concept" projects and more "paint-by-the-numbers" ones, you might see an increased critical response and a modicum of money]. Anyway, this one is a sort of musical film project. I've written a series of songs which tell a metaphoric story. So far, I've workshopped and recorded several versions of the first two songs, and I'm pretty enthusiastic about continuing to develop the songs and then eventually produce a live-action / animated film to show the story.

Whelp, I guess that's about it for the news. There are other things in the planning, but since there always are, I'll just share what I've done and what I'm currently doing.

I can say Wednesday (with some difficulty)

For a person to say they're a poet seems anachronistic. I had a "professor" at Columbia College Chicago who tried to convince her class that rap was poetry. Perhaps there's some that is, but I never had any interest to spend time wading through all the "gangsta," "bitch, suck my dick," "pop a cap in yo ass" idiocy to find it. In any event, I keep journals regularly; they are comprised of story ideas, "brilliant" one-liners, snippets of dialog that may fit into one of my stories, doodles and poems. Hmm, I'm going to err on the side of "if I write poems even though I'm not in a poetry class, I'm a poet."

In any event, I believe that this fairly rambling pre-amble is just an advertisement to get you, dear reader, to pop on by my new blog. Don't worry, this one's not going anywhere -- as "the other blog" serves a different purpose from this one. This one is basically about keeping you posted on my film and writing projects, whereas the new one, called Personal Juice, is essentially a virtual version of the journals I was just describing. Anyway, check it out if you are so inclined. It is here.

All right, onto business. Progress on the TITO documentary has been slow (mostly due to having to deal with selling my dying car and buying a new one [a work in progress]). However, I just submitted TITO to the Fantastic Film Festival, which I hope accepts my little film. On Monday morning, Chris Alexander, the Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria magazine accepted my first article for Fango. And although for some reason I'm not feeling the nostalgia value of the acceptance (probably due to being pre-occupied with the car situation [and my mom's concern thereof]), I grew up reading Fangoria magazine and, in fact, had wallpapered my bedroom with the mini-posters of monsters, make-up artists, and grotesqueties that they portrayed.

In fact, when Chris read my article, he gave me the same feedback as Ogre had [reference is to an article I wrote after interviewing a childhood hero: lead singer of the band Skinny Puppy]; they both said that the articles were "fantastic." So, that's definitely good news.

Beyond that, I've been gradually molding several stories, which are in various stages of development, for future film projects -- including the biker film that I originally wrote with my late father. I've also been tinkering with some musical recordings and may spring something fairly interesting on a most-likely uninterested public in the near future.

Until then, I've got plenty of work to do, so I bid you peace and good day!

Once upon a Saturday...

Ah, the things we do when we're desperate...

Because my car is dying, I just cleaned out its trunk. Within the depths of junk going back the eight years I've owned the car, I found relics from my days as a high school teacher, relics from the apartment that I'd shared with a cousin (which was back in 2002, meaning that the relics had been transferred from at least one prior car trunk [possibly two]), props from my various films, scraps of paper with sparks of ideas and jokes, dead batteries, live batteries, tools, video tapes, cups, blankets, various car fluids, a t-shirt, painting supplies, tennis rackets, rope, twine, bungee cords, etc.

In the production offices, I'm continuing work on the TITO documentary, writing articles for various horror magazines, gradually cleaning up the place (in general), and I've also managed to write some fiction that I'm planning on self-publishing through Smashwords. Finally, I'm about to submit TITO to two additional film festivals.

I guess that's about it for "feeding the blog" for now. Gotta try to keep it fresh!

Thursday...far out, man!

Hey there, gangland, it's been a whirligig month or so... The first order of business is that I'm officially stepping down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of Diabolique magazine. My decision is essentially due to financial necessities; although time was a big factor, too.

In any event, it was both an honor and an educational experience working for Diabolique, and I want to thank Publisher / Layout Designer Dima Ballin for the opportunity of being the steward of his enterprise for five beautiful issues.

About a week ago, Screem magazine issue #26 came out. It is the first of several other horror magazines that I will now be writing for. For the Screem issue, I interviewed Stuart Gordon (director of Re-Animator, From Beyond, and many other films...), and we spoke mostly about H.P. Lovecraft. If you're a horror fan, you should check it out; it's a pretty good interview!

Also, I've pretty much got all of my old programs re-installed on my computer (after the crash), and since I'll now have a bit more time on my hands, I can proceed with the documentary for TITO. It's just a little making-of featurette that I'm going to include on the Tuning In, Tuning Out DVD that I'm giving to all of my investors, cast and crew members -- who have been most patient!

In the Harley news, after being told at the Illinois Secretary of State office that I could ride the 2004 Road King, that I'd basically inherited from my dad, from Chicago to Los Angeles and register it here, I called the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On the phone, I was told that I needed my mom to sign the bike over to me since she was the official custodian of all my dad's possessions. So, I mailed her the form, she filled it out, and I went to the DMV office only to be told that both the Illinois SOS office and the DMV phone representative had misinformed me. So, I mailed the title back to Illinois. Next, my mom went back to the SOS office, submitted the paperwork to have the bike put into her name, and next I will be able to return to the DMV office to finally register the bike. Unfortunately, I have to wait about three weeks until the SOS office completes the title transfer process.

All right, that basically catches you up. Beyond that, of course, there are numerous little and big projects that I'm always chipping away at on any given day. Thanks for tuning in! I'm out.