On Location with the Red Wolves

Me, influencing the youth of today, teaching video production at Indiana University East. This is a field set-up at the Graf Recreation Center for the "Red Wolves Roundup" TV show.

An Overfed, Long-Haired, Leaping Gnome

This week I celebrated my 21st wedding anniversary, happily married for half of my sweet short life. If you want to check out how I kicked it old school 1987 style, peep here.

Trying to finish some script coverage this weekend on a project for a guy I worked with before. I have become notoriously bad this year about giving coverage and viewing screeners that people send me but I am vowing to mend my errant ways in 2009. Meanwhile, how can you not enjoy a script that has these two scene headings back to back:

EXT. SPACE

EXT. HELL

B-movies are fun.

My wife gave me a Books A Million gift certificate and I bought Naomi Novik's THRONE OF JADE, Steve Fisher's NO HOUSE LIMIT, that Hard Case Crime Double of two Robert Bloch novels, and the first Jim Butcher Dresden Files book (as recommended by my pal The Caveman). Winter reading ahead.

Astoundingly, my pal Dr. Squid is vowing to post every day in October to celebrate Halloween. Check him out here.

Kind of thinking about this again, although much of my career has been conducted in this fashion.

Speaking of scary stuff, we emptied out our bedroom to have new carpet put down this week and I found a file tucked under my bed of some items I thought long-lost, including the 2000 issue of HOLLYWOOD REPORTER that listed my first screenplay sale, PLAYER IN THE GAME, and the 2003 issue of that same august magazine that listed AMONG US; some old SUPER 8 FILMMAKER magazines; some old D&D characters; and some hand-written original drafts of Polonia Brothers movies I worked on, some that saw the light of day and some that didn't, including PETER ROTTENTAIL, GIZZARD GUTS, and FRONTIER EXECUTIONER.

I also found the journal I kept of books I had read as part of my vow to read 1,000 books between 1987 and 2012; astoundingly, I kept this list until June 1998 and had read 380 books by then, from Raymond Chandler's FAREWELL MY LOVELY to Karl Edward Wagner's CONAN: THE ROAD OF KINGS. For my young readers, nerds did exist before the internet, we just didn't know about each other as much then.

I got the idea from pre-scandal columnist Bob Greene and, even though I don't think I will make it at this point, there are plenty of interesting things to peruse there. If you want to see how I'm doing in the internet age, I vowed to read 50 books in 2008 and am blogging about it here.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Two Pumpkinheads

We squeezed in one more weekend of camping before the crazy run to the end of 08; lots of day job stuff for me and my wife and daughter's second half of the semester. A last battery recharge before the push to clang shut the lid on another year. Pretty and relaxing but, as they say, the frost was on the pumpkin and we used double sleeping bags at night. Too cold for 24 Hour Comics Day, but there's always a next year.

Close the Window, Calm the Light

When I wasn't paying attention 24 Hour Comics Day got moved to the fall, and through poking around on the interwebs home on a half-day from work when I should be doing something contructive I learned that it starts Saturday. I have survived this Nerd Extreme Sports challenge twice, once on my 35th birthday and once at Readers Copies Comics in Anderson, Indiana, with my brother, my pal Tom, and some other more talented people. I am going to see if I can get it rockin' this weekend, but if I don't, you can see THE LIBERATOR, my poorly-rendered take on the public-domain Nedor heroes starting here, and my first sketchy 24 Hour Comic, BAD EGGS, starting here.

In other geekly news, several of the old gang are trying to get together and try out this newfangled D&D 4E in the next few weeks. Though my brother wants to reboot a few of his old characters I think I shall retire the dwarven bard Farrah Brokefoot and start a new character; I'm contemplating a sardonic human rogue called Broken-Necked Jack, which came to me in a dream. Naturally, updates will be provided here.

Though I've only a third through it, I highly recommend HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON by Naomi Novik to my blog pals. Until later, catch me at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Fall Straycationing

I kind of wondered if the dog thought we had fallen on hard times. Bonnie checking out her little tent, and our big ones, at Versailles State Park this weekend.

Camping Chow

Checking out the very nice night shot function on my new camera. Seeing how nice this camera is, my wife finally forgave me dropping our last one on the concrete at the company picnic this summer. I never thought I would put my dog in one of these little shirt things, and yet here she is enjoying dinner. I also never thought I would wipe her butt or brush her teeth, but there you go.

Three Eyes on the Grub

Meanwhile, here I am checking out an incredible meal of rare New York strips, butternut squash, fried apples, mulled wine, and some other stuff that makes my mouth water to think about. Yes that is a headlight on my head. We ate like kings all weekend, the best part of camping.

Around The Fire

Wife, dog, campfire. Songs have been written about such nights.

Morning Has Broken

Waking up first in the tent after a restful night at Versailles State Park. Feeling a good tired tonight while typing this.

One Tin Soldier Rides Away

Naturally, I was felled with illness after writing that last hopeful post.

But not all was bad. I didn't get to Mid Ohio Con, but I was able to get a several-page treatment fired off to a producer in a timely fashion. I did enjoy a pancake breakfast and some good chili at a local cook-off. I saw a musical, "Violet," performed at Ball State University that I had never seen or heard of and found pretty pleasant. My Colts escaped certain death at the hands of the lowly Texans.

Last year the Polonia Brothers Fan Club president Tim Shrum made an AMONG US birthday cake to celebrate the b-auteur's shared birthday. This year Tim took on SPLATTER BEACH, a newer movie the Polonia Brothers made with some girls in bikinis and without their favorite scribe. That's okay, it probably saved my marriage. I'm sure the cake still tastes sweet, Tim!

My SEX MACHINE pal Christopher Sharpe is smarter than me.

Hungry for some new zines from these folks.

Enjoying this read.

Much respect to my friend Joe Sherlock for posting this picture.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Jenny Was Sweet

I was just thinking, if I end up doing this new project I am talking to a producer about, it will be my third mockbuster, after THE DA VINCI CURSE and NEW JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Take that, William Goldman! Though I'm wondering, if you do a knock-off of a movie that doesn't do that well (re: Brendan Frasier's JOURNEY ETC.) is that mock office poison?

Today was a good day, as I took a half-day and going out the door found a $1 a bag book sale and picked up several dozen collections of Greek lit and plays for my wife, as well as an old David Lindsey thriller for myself. I caught the Ramones documentary END OF THE CENTURY while doing chores around the house and thought back to my high school days, and my own punk band The Johnnies, whose version of "Blitzkrieg Bop" was unjustly kept out of the line-up of the Muncie Northside High School Variety Show of 1984.

I finished the last chapter of a very good read, Martin Limon's THE WANDERING GHOST, and I'm wondering if I can finish Joe Hill's HEART SHAPED BOX before it gets too dark and I become too scared to keep reading.

Tomorrow is a pancake breakfast and chili cook-off in my small midwestern town and the weather should be good. I am smiling and tucking in my napkin yet tonight.

It is fall, and the world is still ripe with promise.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.