So watch me hawk eye, understand
The force of will, the sleight of hand
Movin’ the river,
No, not a post about the Prefab Sprout (altho’ I might, one of these nights…)
No, fact is I went through All About Shanghai, A Standard Guidebook 1934-35, which was reprinted by Earnshaw Books and is absolutely great. Continue reading
Ok, so this strange thing happened last Sunday afternoon, as I took a break and tried to put some order in the stacks of books that are slowly evicting me from my bedroom.
As I dug in a box filed with hardbacks, out of it came The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World.
Written by Theresa Cheung, and presented by the cover tagline as “the ultimate a-z of spirits, mysteries and the paranormal.”
And no kidding.
And I have no idea of how this thing came to be here. Continue reading
Let’s be serious – my LinkedIn page is in shambles, and my account is very popular with spammers and snake-oil salesmen.
The last time I updated I was still working on my PhD – now my PhD’s in the past.
Paid jobs are scarce, the crisis is rampaging through the country, the wolf is at the door – time to set things straight, and re-do my profile.
Considering the absurd amount of stuff I’m currently doing, this will be something that I’ll do in short steps, taking one hour every evening, as an after dinner sort of thing.
I want to plan the update and do it right.
As luck would have it, I just chanced on this one…
Just what the doctor ordered.
Let’s see if it works – I’ll keep you posted.
I already discussed action sequences and combat and whatnot in a previous post. but we got talking, with my friend Claire, and I described how I use a spreadsheet to plan my scenes.
So why not share it, too?
Now, to me choreographing an action scene in a story is a fine balance of three processes
Here’s a nice – but short! – pulp adventure movie – Voyage of the Iron Hawk.
It’s absolutely great, but alas, as the creators pointed out
This not a trailer for a feature film. It was created as a VFX and stylistic test. The film does not exist (yet), and this is not a complete representation of it. This is simply an action-packed VFX exercise. Enjoy accordingly.
Again on the pleasures of research.
I’m currently reading with much pleasure A Chinese Bestiary – Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas, a University of California book that reprints an ancient Chinese bestiary, edited by Richard E. Strassberg.
This is a compendium of strange creatures that was compiled between the 4th and the 1st centuri BCE, and was later re-edited, expanded and variously repackaged.
The English edition uses the woodblock prints from the 16th century version, and is highly entertaining. Continue reading
An antiques dealer is selling this for 4000 bucks… ah, to be rich and reckless!
Karavansara 