WANNABEES: When The Stones Come To Town

One digs up all sort of things from the past when preparing to move, and some of them are pleasant surprises. When I was at Rutgers, I wrote and drew a daily strip called Wannabees for our school paper, The Daily Targum. From time to time, I will post them on this blog. 
With the Rolling Stones embarking on their 50th Anniversary Tour, what better start than with this one. Enjoy!

Lazaro: American Idol's Biggest Top-10 Debacle Or Imbedded Ringer?

 

I am absolutely baffled by Lazaro Arbos's continued success on American Idol Season 12. There's no dispute that the men's field started out weak compared with the women this season, but among them, I would have put Lazaro at the bottom of the boys, definitely behind Devin Velez. A more aptly named contestant is hard to find, since it must be Jesus himself raising Lazaro's singing career from the grip of death week after week.* That Burnell Taylor was sent home instead of this song-mangling debacle that is the last man standing is a crying shame. One has to ponder whether the fix is in this season to guarantee a female winner.

American Idol has a financial and reputational interest in securing a female champion.  Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are the two most commercially successful alumni of the series. The last female Idol winner was Jordan Sparks, with the past five seasons going to men. The men, even the winners, have not been able to reproduce the superstar success of the women. (Even seventh-place Jennifer Hudson is doing better than most of the male winners.) The powers-that-be must be in a tizzy, wondering how much teen money they are failing to grab with these male champions who can't latch onto the superstardom of Clarkson and Underwood. The combined record and concert sales of past five winners Phillip Phillips, Scotty McCreary, Lee DeWyze, Kris Allen, and David Cook don't even match Carrie Underwood alone.

NBCUniversal’s Cable Ratings Drop: Comcast Not Seeing The Forest For The Trees



Syfy's promising new original series, Defiance, starts in April.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a piece on NBCUniversal’s (NBCU) drooping cable channel ratings, particularly for long-time revenue engines like the Syfy channel (down 4% in viewership in 2012) and E! Entertainment (down 10%). There’s an irony in this since I believe NBCU’s parent, Comcast, is to blame for the drop in its own subsidiary’s ratings due to some ambitious pricing of its properties. What were once free (or almost free) basic cable channels suddenly became part of bundled cable “packages” that you had to shell out close to $20 a month for--and that’s how Syfy lost me as a viewer.


Thirty One Wicked Days of Xmas With Natasha

WickedLilPixie hosted a month-long question and answer series called 31 Days of Christmas  featuring a gaggle of the brightest authors being published today. 
I'm sharing my responses with you. Thanks Natasha for inviting me to take part. (Everyone go visit the other 30 authors at her site when you're done here.)

Tweep Nation: Interview With Dionne & Amber

My interview with Tweep Nation is up. Many thanks to Dionne Lister and Amber Norrgard for a fun hour and driving me to drink. (It's all good!) Hope you budding writers out there hear something useful that you can apply to your art. And special thanks to Dionne for her gushing praise of my novel AWAKENINGS. It's episode 42 and can be accessed through iTunes. Enjoy.

Science Fiction Assoc. of Bergen County Gathering

Me lecturing at SFABC gathering in Bergen County B&N

On Aug. 11 of this year, I was invited as a guest to speak at a gathering of The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County. Meeting fellow local  sci-fi and fantasy fans was a thrill and I enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experiences about general writing and publishing with them. Many thanks to director Phil Departo for the invitation.

I was excited to see people's interest in Awakenings as I explained the book to them, and more excited by how many attendees had already read the book and engaged me with specifics about their favorite characters. At the time, I was hard at work at finishing book 2, "The Lost Prince," and this was one of the rare engagements I made during he summer. (FYI, Book 2 is turned in and with the editor at TOR. We're looking at a summer 2013 release.)

Lecturing at B&N in Bergen County NJ

SFABC meets once a month at the Barnes & Noble on Route 4 in Bergen County. For those interested in joining this group, please contact Phil at: sfabcphil@gmail.com.

Me lecturing at SFABC gathering in Bergen County B&N

Lysa Arryn: The Poster Parent For Attachment Parenting

Sorry, but when I saw the new TIME cover out this week, this was the first thing that came to mind. Yes, for a serious writer I am a bit of a Geek. If you haven't watched HBO's Game of Thrones, or read TIME, the reference may be lost.
(This is definitely a parody, folks.)

Hi Def TV And The Future Of Movies: The Actors Are Gonna' Have To Be Better

I just purchased a 46" Samsung 120Mhz 3D HD television. The picture is amazing. In fact, it's so amazing, when I watch a DVD, it no longer looks like a movie. 

I put on The Dark Knight and Battlestar Galactica to test drive the new screen and was surprised by the crystal clear image that looked more like high-definition videotape -- essentially, a soap opera with incredibly high production values. Fortunately, most of the actors in these two shows were up to the challenge of this new realism. But, let's face it, that's not always going to be the case.

Two New Interviews

I've recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by two very smart ladies dabbling in the worlds of fantasy, paranormal, and horror fiction. The first is "Ten Questions For Awakenings Author Edward Lazellari," by Lauren Zurchin at Lytherus.com. 




The second is the "All Kinds Of Writing" interview by Lorna Suzuki at Imago Books Fantasy Realm.


These are intelligent conversations about writing process, the business, and my book AWAKENINGS.

ENJOY.

Local Boy Does Good With First Novel: Bronx Times Article

Everyone likes to see the hometown kid succeed in the world at large -- and the Bronx is no different. Yeah, there's two million people living there, making the borough larger than most states by population, but really, it's just a big small town. We've all sprawled at Orchard Beach, eaten at City Island, rooted for the Yankees, bought the best Italian food at Arthur Avenue, and are proud to be the home of the country's best botanical garden and city zoo. Though I currently live in NJ, my roots are still in Da Bronx.  Bronx Times, does a bang up job of promoting our home town, and this month, I was fortunate enough to have a piece written on my novel Awakenings, which takes place partly in the Bronx.
I am blessed to share an origin with many of America's most creative people. Stanley Kubrick grew up in  the Bronx, as did Al Pacino, Alan Alda, Mary Higgins Clark, Jennifer Lopez, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and many others. (Scarlett Johansson's mother hailed from the Bronx, which is why Scarlett turned out so talented and beautiful.)
The article, written by Patrick Roccio,  is titled, "Co-op City Native Features Borough In Novel."