Dan Dan The Art Man

Movie Memories Guest Blog Post # 7 by J.R. Murdock brought to you by www.DanDanTheArtMan.com Download the .mp3 I haven’t always been a cynic when it comes to movies. Honest. I know I’ve posted many critical movie reviews and I have a tendency to tear apart movies, but I really like watching them (even the bad ones). Honest. The first movie I saw in a theater was in Tamarack, MN (some 20 miles away from where I lived) when I was…oh…6? My memory as a kid can be foggy. But I do remember sitting on basically concrete steps like it was some ancient theater (yes, others had seats) and the movie was projected on a mostly white brick wall over there (yes, some theaters had screens). Needless to say the theater wasn’t much of a theater, but there was popcorn, and a movie. We saw the Jungle Book. NO! I’m not THAT old! It was a reshowing of the original. Sure I’d seen it on the small screen many times. I’d seen a lot of movies. I loved watching movies. Once I saw something on the big s

Movie Memories guest blog post by Dave Robison brought to you by www.DanDanTheArtMan.com Download the .mp3 “The Man Who Would Be King” or How John Huston Saved My Life By Dave Robison John Huston saved my life. It was 1982 and I was flailing my way through my freshman year of college at the University of Michigan, wondering what the hell I was doing. I was studying theater because I was good at it (like the Latino kids taking Spanish as their foreign language in high school back in Cheyenne), but I didn’t have a plan. I figured I didn’t need one. Someone would see just how charming and talented I was and I wouldn’t have to actually work again. That was my goal... to not do anything I didn’t want to do. To achieve that goal, I’d emotionally sabotage any project or goal that involved more work than my feeble commitment could endure or investing the bare minimum effort that would allow me to move forward. Life beyond next week was uninteresting and irrelevant so I never really loo

Movie Memories guest blog post # 5 by Sally Preston brought to you by www.DanDanTheArtMan.com My earliest memory of a movie is epic, towering, massive. It includes innocence, a sense of peace, tragedy, horror and yes even a high-speed chase! Picture it, June, 1981. I was four, those who know me best won’t have any trouble picturing what I looked like and my general demeanor. For those of you who don’t, think Shirley Temple if she were very precocious. My parents, very involved in their church had volunteered to chaperon a Luther League trip to see Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. My parents, who must have figured I would sleep through most of it anyway, brought me along. And they were right.... mostly. I was thrilled! I got to go to a movie! There was popcorn, Mom, Dad and a theme song that would make anybody want to go out and buy a Fedora! Shortly into the start of the movie, as predicted I fell asleep. Comfy, napping, content

I have already shared about this exciting news on all my social media feeds, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, but I wanted to let you know about it here as well. The amazing couple at Every Photo Tells published a reading of my story Stuffed Monster on their website. I have them to thank for the origin of the story. If you're not familiar with the awesome website, they put up an awesome photo every month and invite writers to use it as a story prompt. You write a short story inspired by their photo and send it in to them. If they accept it they will create a recording of it and put it on their site and in their podcast. How cool is that? Yeah, I know - really cool! So check out my podcast feed, snag the audio in the .mp3 link below, or visit the page with my story on the Every Photo Tell's website. Download the .mp3 eBook Also, as you may know, the story is available in all the eBook formats for FREE over at Smashwords. A HUGE thank you to the fine folks at Every Photo Tells,

Movie Memories guest blog post # 4 by Donald Conrad brought to you by www.DanDanTheArtMan.com The Red Pill Trinity puts her hand on the phone booth’s glass wall as her face is lit but by the headlights of the garbage truck speeding at her. This is the moment that defines the Matrix for me. I remember this moment like it happened yesterday. I sat in a darkened theater with my mouth hanging open. She was not in the wreckage of the phone booth, the strange guys in the suits were stating that she “Got out” WHAT? How do you get out of being run over while standing in a phone booth? I went into The Matrix with no knowledge of what it was. I had to pull myself away from video games long enough to see this movie my brother refused to stop talking about. I looked over at him and by the flicker of the screen light I could see he was looking at me, grinning. He knew the ride I was in for, I on the other hand, had no clue. Little did I know that I was about to witness the movie I would come to compare a

Stalling For Time While Submissions Come In This week I didn't have any guest posts come in because I didn't plan the timing out very well. So instead of leaving you with nothing I share two of my favorite movie memories from my college years. I talk about going to see The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers on opening night in a po-dunk town because I forgot to get tickets in time - and going to see a midnight showing of Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut. As promised in the recording, here is a picture of Frank the bunny from the movie. I accidentally called him "Fred" the bunny in the podcast. (see blog post at: http://www.dandantheartman.com/2012/10/movie-memories-03-dan-absalonson.html ) Look for my latest short story "Stuffed Monster" to hit the podcast feed in audio soon. For now it's available as a free eBook in all the formats you need at Smashwords. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week. Until next time, see you at the movies! Download the .mp

Movie Memories guest blog post # 2 by Jeff Hite When I was too little to remember where I lived, or who I was with I got to go to the movies for the first time. This experience changed my life forever for some obvious and not so obvious reasons. I always think that it is strange that my movie going experience is more about what happened during the movie than what happen in the movie. That first movie was the Muppet Movie, but I don’t remember many of the details of Kermit and Fozzie and their cross country adventure. What I do remember was that it was something special. And that I was little enough that whoever took me had to put their purse on the seat next to me so the seat would not fold me up in it. That experience shaped much about what I think of the movie experience. Things have changed over the years but I still think of going to the movies as a very special treat that I only get to do every so often. A few years after I got to see my first movie, my parents piled my brother

Ninjas on the Big Screen Well, it’s that time again. Time to reach out and ask others to share their memories with us. I really enjoyed all the posts from the previous two guest blog posts series, video games memories and tv memories. It is really cool how different the guest blog posts are. Reading and listening to the posts was kind of like hanging out with friends and reminiscing about some of my favorite things. So what are we going to share about this time around? Well movies of course! Here are a few of my favorite movie memories. As you’ll see I’m not going to be reviewing the movies, but talking about what it was like to watch them, and how I remember it. Why watching it is a fond memory I have. So here we go. The first time my two brothers and I saw The Three Ninjas, it was just about all over for us. The characters matched us so well. I’m pretty sure the movie wouldn't hold up if I went back today to watch it, but when I was in elementary school my brothers and I

This is my reading of chapter 1 of a work in progress novel I had the privilege to work shop with the guys at The Roundtable Podcast www.roundtablepodcast.com, and guest author Dan Wells www.fearfulsymmetry.net. Sound effects used from www.freesound.org, music used by Kevin MacLeod at www.incompetech.com.

There's a new writing podcast in town called The Roundtable Podcast http://www.roundtablepodcast.com/, and it has become one of my favorites. Know what the best part is? I had the privilege of being on the show http://www.roundtablepodcast.com/2012/08/workshop-episode-23-guest-host-dan-wells/ as a guest writer! The two hosts Dave Robison https://twitter.com/writerspodcast and Brion Humphrey https://twitter.com/brionhumphrey invite a guest writer on the show, and they along with an author guest host listen to the guest writer's story, and then work shop it. They asked me who I would want as the guest host author for the episode I would be on, and I told them to try and get Dan wells. Dan Wells http://www.fearfulsymmetry.net/, author of the John Cleaver trilogy http://thedanwells.com/titles/ianask.html published by Tor, Partials http://thedanwells.com/titles/partials.html a apocalyptic YA published by Harper Collins, The Hollow City http://thedanwells.com/titles/the-hollow-city.ht

I share some flash fiction, updates on how my debut novel is now in the hands of beta readers and that I get to appear on The Roundtable Podcast to talk about a story idea with the awesome hosts Dave Robison and Brion Humphrey and one of my favorite authors Dan Wells!  http://roundtablepodcast.com Also I've started a couple new podcasts, see links below. http://penfightsgamepad.blogspot.com/ http://sparkituppodcast.blogspot.com/

Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. In this first episode they talk about they met, their interests, and their art. Donald blogs about finishing his enormous back log of video games and creates graphic novels. Dan writes and podcasts short stories and has his first full length novel coming out soon. Links to things mentioned in the show: Donald's website & twitter handle: http://did-not-finish.com/ http://twitter.com/ConManEd Dan's website & twitter handle: http://www.dandantheartman.com/ http://twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan/ Alien (Movie) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film) Russian Unicorn Bad Lip Reading Video: http://youtu.be/YjaZNYSt7o0 Clang Kickstarter with Neal Stephenson: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang Round Table Podcast http://www.roundtablepodcast.com/ Writ

I don't watch much TV. From Lost successfully masquerading as a smart show to the cancellation of Firefly, there are too many examples of how the medium has been circling the drain for me to bother engaging with it anymore. At this point, its main purpose is product placement for advertisers.Well, LOST didn't have much product placement, but Sawyer should have done some L'Oreal ads. That man had sexy hair. The physical TV set is still important to me, but it takes six whistled notes to get me back to a time when I cared about the programming: the opening notes of Chris Carter's The X-Files. (After Mulder left, it became Magic Crap X-Files, but I like to focus on when it was really good.)Only a handful of TV shows moved me in any direction other than “towards the remote,” but The X-Files is forever infused into who I am. And one episode made me doubt whether I wanted to stay in my skin. "Home" No matter how hard I try, I will never forget this episode. I sat with a blanket tucked under my nose while my eyes b

A podcast short story where a husband sees an armed robber enter the store where his pregnant wife went to pick up something. Find out what he does about it. Thanks to Jeff Hite for the bumper! Music "Summon The Rawk" by Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/ Jeff Hite: http://jeffhite.wordpress.com/ Promo at the end of the Podcast was for Flying Island Press at: http://www.flyingislandpress.com/ My Info: Website: http://www.dandantheartman.com/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan Sound Effects Used from http://www.freesound.org/: Central Locking.wav http://www.freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/sounds/35108/ power_door_click_02.wav http://www.freesound.org/people/joedeshon/sounds/117043/ Gun-Pistol(one shot).wav http://www.freesound.org/people/Shades/sounds/37236/ Smag's Glass.wav http://www.freesound.org/people/Matthewsmaglik/sounds/89979/ AE0090 Volvo 740 GLE handbrake turn 01.flac http://www.freesound.org/people/audible-edge/sounds/76804/ Earth Wind Fire Water pack

TV Memories # 14 by Sally Preston It's all about the theme song! Well... mostly! Maybe this is part of what sparked my interest in becoming a musician... ok, it could have also had something to do with my parents building pipe organs or my mom being a concert organist. But for me, the thing that could make or break a show was the theme song! We rarely had access to cable as kids so it was mostly public stations. My favorite shows were well connected to whether or not the theme song was good. What little kid didn't get a bolt of excitement when they heard the opening riff to "Sesame Street!", Also, almost any child of the 80's can surely recognize this melody "Believe it or not I'm walking on air! I never thought I could feel so free!" admit it, you heard the melody and now it's stuck in your head! Also, while I never really watched Dallas, one of my favorite childhood memories was that when the theme song came on, I with my head full of curly ringlets would dance to it with my mom. Then when the dance was do

TV Memories # 13by Laith Preston When Dan approached me to do another guest post for him, this time on the topic of my TV memories, my first thought was that this would be an easy one to pull together. However, just like the previous post, more and more memories arose as I thought about it. Some of my earliest TV Memories revolve around, surprise, surprise, a children’s show - Mr Roger’s Neighborhood. I can recall the wonder as the trolley dinged along its track, taking us to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. I grew up in Kansas City in the 80s and 90s, so most of my memories were of watching TV on cable, rather than over the air broadcasts. However, there was one show I was somewhat addicted to that bucked this trend, The Secret City Adventures, a PBS kids art program. I can recall many times spending a number of minutes fiddling with the rabbit ears on an old television with dials on the front, trying to pull in the PBS station from Topeka, KS, 70 miles to the west. My deep interest in technology (and radio

This week I share how I wasn't able to get the next guest blog post out due to just getting back from vacation. Download the .mp3 Brought to you by: http://www.dandantheartman.com/

TV Memories # 12 by Dan Absalonson This week is by me again and it's audio only. Sorry there is no blog post to go along with it if you prefer reading, but the audio will be a nice change this week as it's not scripted. Just me talking off the cuff about one of my favorite TV memories. I talk about a summer long ago when I sat as a little boy around a small TV with my parents and neighbors watching the Olympics. I also bring you up to speed on how my novel is coming along. The second draft is almost done! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Download the .mp3 Brought to you by: http://www.dandantheartman.com/

My novel is a little like this Easter bunny. It's almost done, but there are still a few really good bites left to take care of. I spent a lot of time revising the outline before going back through it. Now I have cut several chapters, moved others around, deleted scenes, written new ones, and planned out a new ending. Even though I'm almost through with revising the first draft, only a few chapters left, and the climax of the novel will remain the same, I will have a couple more chapters to write once that is all done. It's been this way for a couple weeks now. I have many excuses, but more of it should be done. Our kids have been sick, all three of them. We've been to doctors appointments and the ER more times than I have fingers just in the last couple months. That said, I have had stretches of time here in there. The problem is, I'm just too dang tired to write when I get those chances. So lately I have had a new plan. For the first time in years, I'm trying to actively get at least eight hours of sleep. B

TV Memories # 11 I Saw Men Walking on the Moonby Richard Green aka Mainframe On May 25, 1961 President Kennedy said these words, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” On July 20, 1969, a five year old me joined millions of others in watching those words being made reality. Not only did Apollo 11 send men to the Moon, it took television with it. On our black and white TV, my family watched from lift off until the astronauts were safe. Walter Cronkite and the rest of the CBS reporters provided a near constant running commentary. These men who spent their early adulthood during the second World War knew that they were chronicling the better side of history. For that matter, even this small boy knew that this was an incredible moment. I had no context for how relatively soon in human history it was that men built a machine that flew under its own power. I had no idea how many people it