Saturday, December 06, 2014

End-Of-Year 2014 Stuff

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted here, hasn't it?

It's been a really busy year for me, with some stuff that I can't talk about here taking up a good portion of my time and energy.

But as with all things, the year must come to an end.

Next Monday, 12/15, will be the last article of the year.  It is, of course, the annual Brutally Honest Awards article, featuring the best of the best and - more often than naught - the worst of the worst.

And things have been more worst than better.

I actually wanted the year-end article to be much earlier than the 15th... but recent events compelled me to spend at one week talking about them before I wrap things up for the year.  I can't give it the literary thrashing that it is due if it's part of the year-end stuff.

New articles will return sometime late January or early February.  Unlike a certain Internet radio station, a certain favorite MMO, and a certain muse or two, I do plan on coming back.  I have no intention of letting you guys down, even if the same cannot be said for the things that I treasure.

I hope you have been enjoying the "new venture" I've been involved with called "Sodomite Championship Wrestling".  At the very least, you know now why I have a face for radio.  And, yes, we will continue to churn out new episodes, even during the Holiday Season.

I'm still pretty busy with my other venture too... which you can check out over at the Battlerock Comics website.  I have a new comic series that should be coming out in January that I hope people will like.

And there's at least one more idea that I want to consider working on... sort of a really quick version of Brutally Honest rants, but they would be on YouTube.  The inspiration came from, yes, talk radio and one station's quick promos for their overpaid commentator.  Anyway, it's stuff that I am pondering, and if it does come to fruition, you'll see it here in the Random Thoughts blog.

Well, that's all that I have for now.  Hope you guys keep checking back here, and of course check the other stuff that I've been working on.  And if I don't hear from you until next year, I hope you guys have a great holiday season.

Monday, August 11, 2014

What's been going on... 8/11/14

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted here and I'm sure some of you have been wondering what I've been doing.

First of all, you probably know that AHTV sorta kinda fizzled out.  Sucks, but nothing I can do about it.

But the weekly columns are still going on.  I've been doing everything possible to keep the weekly schedule going and keep the articles interesting, informative, and sometimes entertaining.

Plus, as some of you know, I've been pretty busy with Battlerock Comics.  Thanks to some very good friends, I've been able to get new material so I could resume work with the comic series based in the world of the City of Heroes MMO.  (Just to make this clear: the MMO itself is still gone.  I'm just using the most recent software to get new material.)

So that leaves... "The New Thing"!

RJ and company are back, providing social commentary through a whole new route.

Welcome to SCW: Sodomite Championship Wrestling!

SCW provides social commentary through wrestling-style promos.  Think the best (and worst) of the 1980's "Wrasslin" programs with all the drama, all the face-paint, all the crazy behaviors...

And where do I fit into this mix?

Well "The Brutal One" gets to dust off his acting card and serve as the broadcast announcer of this crazy zoo.  I provide the face and the voice of "Whin Badlee" which you will see at the start of each video.

That pique your curiosity?  Good.  Now get over to Facebook and to YouTube and check out the very first episode!

Whew!  How's that for an update, huh?

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Happy Eighteen Years!

It's hard to believe that eighteen years ago yesterday, yours truly put together the website that would be the weekly commentary column known as "Brutally Honest".

As I always seem to mention in these annual trips down memory lane, the world has changed much since that somewhat cold Sunday afternoon in 1996.

I have lost... a lot... since those days. In fact, I've lost a lost of stuff very recently.  Most notably I've lost my father just a few weeks ago.  But even before then, I lost my favorite online radio station and my radio show.  A year before, I lost my favorite MMORPG.  I lost my best buddy in the world in 2010.  I've lost my muse (although she and I are still friends).

And just when it seemed like I got a handle on things, like things are about to get better... there's another bomb dropped on me.  Another loss.  Something else I have get along without.

Maybe that's why there's really not much to-do here about those eighteen years.  All that has changed, all that I've lost, all of the routines that I've had to write off... the only thing constant, the only thing still going on, is the column.

Still, I appreciate the feedback I've been getting and all of you who have read my columns and shared them with others.  Hopefully we'll make it to the 20th anniversary in just two years and things will be a whole lot better by then.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sad but important news...

Hey everyone...

It's been a while since I've posted a blog here, but I needed to let you know what's been going on.

Some of you already know that my father's been in poor health these past few months. The treatments for his latest cancer were complicated by a spill that he took in the hospital last year.

So while he was being treated for the swelling in his face and neck from the cancer treatments, he was slowly losing control of his lower half. He went from being weak to needing a walker to losing all control of his legs and needing a wheelchair. The doctors discovered that he had an impacted disc in his spine, which was responsible for his growing paralysis. They operated on it, then had him in a nursing facility for recovery.

Unfortunately during that time he suffered pneumonia and later a severe case of shingles, which caused tremendous pain through most of his body. Sadly, these were too much for him, and he passed away this past Sunday.

This is still a shock for everyone. This was a strong man, someone who was fighting all the various forms of cancer he was given, and he had every intention of beating this one as well. Nobody expected this to happen, never mind happen so relatively quickly.

We are still trying to get my father's affairs in order, so there will not be a Brutally Honest column for the week of 03/03/14. We will hopefully resume the columns the following week, but please keep checking here if that needs to change.

I want to thank everyone who have already expressed condolences and well-wishes, and for everyone else, I want to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Getting Ready For Another Year Of Commentary

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a better holiday season than I did. The past few weeks have been very trying for me in terms of my father's health and just the usual stupidity that goes on around this time.

Next Monday will be the start of another year of weekly Brutally Honest commentary, which you can find over at the column site.  I already know what the subject will be, so it's just a matter of putting it to words and then getting it ready to be posted.

As for the audio rants... well, that won't be ready yet... if at all.

There are a few reasons for this.

My father's health is one.  I am putting in long hours at work on my feet, and then coming home and helping my father, which has not been easy of late, and it has been eating into the things I would normally be doing.

Work is another key reason.  Again, I'm putting in eight hours a day on my feet.  When I did the radio show, I at least could rely on some spontaneous news reports and callers.  But I barely had time to spend doing the prepared rants.  And that was for a live show that had very little preparation otherwise. 

Doing prerecorded audio rants takes a considerable amount of production time, even for something as short a ten or fifteen minutes long.  And I am very much a perfectionist when it comes to these things.  That's why I get the kind of compliments I receive... for those that do listen.  If I can't provide that kind of quality on a regular basis, then I'm wasting my time and yours.

Plus I still don't know what I want the new production to be... do I want to resume the Brutally Honest audio rants?  Do I want to try to get a live show going somewhere?  Do I want to take the short-lived "Hero Corner" bit on TGWTG.com and bring it to the next level?  Do I want to do audio... or video?  Too many things for me to ponder and work on if I want to move forward with it.

So, right now that's on hold.  I'll let you know what I'm leaning towards.

Plus, don't forget I still have my comic book productions going on over at Battlerock Comics.  That also takes time, which I have very little of nowadays.  The latest issue of "Future's Guardian" goes online on January 15th.  And there's also something very "strange" that was posted there on Christmas Day.  Think you know what it means?

Oh, and remember AHTV?  Well, if you haven't had the chance to watch "You Hired Me", then here's your chance.  Be sure to check out my debut as "David 2.1" and see why I have a face for radio.  If you like it, share it with others, and if you don't, then say so in the comments section there.

Well, that's what I have so far to start 2014... so stay tuned and get ready for continue seventeen years of Brutally Honest commentary!

Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Post-ShockNet Era

The Post-ShockNet Era
(Or: What the heck am I going to do now that I don't have a live radio show to give me a sense of purpose?)

ShockNet Radio has now officially gone the way of City of Heroes...

Long live ShockNet Radio!

I spent many years helping RJ and his wife with both my own show and with RJ's. It has literally been a part of my life, a part of who I am. I have identified myself as "media personality for ShockNet Radio" for a few years now instead of as a writer or a comic book creator or an online columnist. This has been my dream job! And now that dream is shut down.

So the question of the hour is "What now?"

Well, for starters, I still have a whole half-year of archives to post. I have been using Ourmedia as my intermediary for the Internet Archive, and Ourmedia has been seriously screwed up since the spring. Since Ourmedia was essential in getting the iTunes link, I lost my iTunes connection as well. And since the folks at Ourmedia show no interest in getting the matter fixed (it's BEEN over six months!), I guess I'll have to come up with my own intermediary link for the Internet Archive so I can finish posting those archived shows that people have missed. This will also serve as the home for the return of the Brutally Honest Rants in late January 2014. 

The only question I have will be will I be using Blogger or Wordpress? Stay tuned.

The Brutally Honest - LIVE Facebook page will (hopefully) stay and has been re-purposed into "Brutally Honest Rants", so those of you that "like" it on Facebook will still have it around for updates.  The SNR logo has been replaced with Get Brutal Productions, but everything else should still be there.

This Monday's Brutally Honest Column will be the annual "Brutally Honest Awards" feature, wrapping up the year looking at the best of the best and the worst of the worst and everything else that I might be able to remember about the year. Then that will be it for the holidays.  But, don't worry, new articles WILL be coming back in the second half of January. (Hey, I've been doing this for seventeen years now.  It's the one thing that I completely control, so why should I stop now?)

That brings us to my OTHER ventures...

First, Battlerock Comics.

"Future's Guardian" #9 will be going online on Sunday, December 1st.  BUT no rest for the weary as I'll be working on FG10 for January 15th.

And in between that I'll be working on ANOTHER venture that will have some eyebrows raised and some pants wetted.  Keep checking the website and you might catch a little "Seasons Greeting" whipped up just for the occasion.

Then there's the NEW venture with RJ and company...

AHTV!

Yes, that American Heathen® Television! We've taken the radio show that kicked off ShockNet Radio back in 2005 and turned it on it's side... took some really nasty pics of it... and will be putting it on Blip.TV starting December 25th! But it's not going to be like the radio show you may (or most likely not) remember. No, we're going for your mind AND your funny bone!

And, yes, I'll be in it... or rather a "version" of me will be in it. Call it David2.1... always in perpetual beta-test mode. You'll see what I mean come December 25th.

So... pretty busy "down time" for me, but that's what I got so far. 

ShockNet Radio is gone, but the spirit lives on.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Brutally Honest - LIVE! - 11/25/13 - FINAL SHOW NOTES

This is it, folks.

THE LAST SHOW!

I didn't want it to end. I still don't want it to end. But end it must.

So this is it, and if we're going to go, we're going to go BIG!

The theme for this final show will be PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE. Where we've been, what we are doing now, and what's to come.

We'll have the phone lines. We'll have guests. We'll have surprises. We'll have everything... well, everything EXCEPT punch and pie. (Sorry, I have to do EVERYTHING around here, and sacrifices did have to be made.)

And if you thought I'd be crazy to promise all of that with only one hour to do it all in, well then you'd be right.

SO we're bumping this last hurrah up to TWO HOURS!

Be sure to tune in one more time THIS MONDAY (11/25), right here on ShockNet Radio at 8pm Eastern (7pm Central and 5pm Pacific) over at www.shocknetradio.com and also at Apple's iTunes Radio Player under the "Classic Rock" category.

And don't forget that I'll be in the "BH LIVE" chatroom at www.shocknetradio.com during the show to discuss the subject LIVE, and I'll be taking your calls toll-free in the U.S. and Canada at 866-400-6684

Help me make this last show one for the archives!

When the truth is not enough, it's time for... BRUTALLY HONEST - LIVE!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Brutally Honest - LIVE! - 11/18/13 - Show Notes

We're almost there folks... this is the PENULTIMATE show!

And what a subject to talk about for this next-to-last broadcast...

THE DEATH OF HOPE!

This week marks a certain anniversary that many people wished never happened. (And if you happen to think that the event in question was my birth, then... well even I wouldn't be that egotistical.) And while a lot of people want to focus only on that one event in history, I think it opened the door to a much larger problem. One that has been affecting us for about fifty years now.

I'll explain more on the air, and then I'll want your thoughts on it.

Be sure to tune in THIS MONDAY (11/18), right here on ShockNet Radio at 8pm Eastern (7pm Central and 5pm Pacific) over at www.shocknetradio.com and also at Apple's iTunes Radio Player under the "Classic Rock" category.

And don't forget that I'll be in the "BH LIVE" chatroom at www.shocknetradio.com during the show to discuss the subject LIVE, and I'll be taking your calls toll-free in the U.S. and Canada at 866-400-6684

Oh, and by the way, if you like what you hear, if you enjoy the conversations and rants, then tell your friends about the show and have them tune in as well!

When the truth is not enough, it's time for... BRUTALLY HONEST - LIVE!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Brutally Honest - LIVE! - 11/11/13 - Show Notes

Our time here on the air is almost coming to a close, so I figured I'd share something special with you for this week's program.

You know how President Obama's new healthcare website has been undergoing problems? Well apparently someone has decided to work up an alternative program, and a certain commentator was asked to help "beta-test" it. And how better to "beta-test" this new program than to do it on the air?

So that's what we're going to do!

That won't be all I have for us, of course, but it should get your attention.

Be sure to tune in THIS MONDAY (11/11), right here on ShockNet Radio at 8pm Eastern (7pm Central and 5pm Pacific) over at www.shocknetradio.com and also at Apple's iTunes Radio Player under the "Classic Rock" category.

And don't forget that I'll be in the "BH LIVE" chatroom at www.shocknetradio.com during the show to discuss the subject LIVE, and I'll be taking your calls toll-free in the U.S. and Canada at 866-400-6684

Oh, and by the way, if you like what you hear, if you enjoy the conversations and rants, then tell your friends about the show and have them tune in as well!

When the truth is not enough, it's time for... BRUTALLY HONEST - LIVE!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

End Of Year... and other endings...

We've come to the part of the year that I really don't put too much thought about... the END of the year.

And this year, the "END" comes in so many different ways.

If you haven't been listening to ShockNet Radio, then you probably don't know that the station will be shutting down at the end of this month.

This is not a temporary shutdown.  This is not the annual "Holiday Hiatus".  ShockNet Radio will come to an end at 11pm Eastern Time on Friday, November 29th. The station goes dark, the equipment gets broken down and sold and Studio B joins Studio A in obscurity.

Obviously this means there will be no more "Brutally Honest - LIVE" after this month.  The show needs a live radio station to make it happen, and there will be no more ShockNet Radio after this month, so BHL will come to an end.

Don't worry, I will have a grand finale on November 25th.  It'll be a special 2-hour final broadcast, and I have NO IDEA what I'll be doing for the last hour.

And I REALLY HOPE that you guys will tune for the shows on the 11th and 18th too!!!  I don't want you guys to think that I'M giving up on you before then, so please don't give up on me!  I'm not like some of the other hosts that I will not mention that have given up on their shows long before the plug is pulled on them.  I LIKE DOING THIS!  I WISH I COULD KEEP DOING THIS!  I feel just as let down as some of you that the decision was made to shut down SNR, but it wasn't my call and I have to accept the decision of those that made the call and were responsible for keeping my labor of love going for as long as it has.

That brings us to the question of "What next?"

Some people have asked that I return "Brutally Honest" to an hour or half-hour podcast like it used to be before going live.  I have a few issues with that. 

The first issue is that I don't have the time to dedicate to that kind of work like I used to.  I have work and a few projects on my plate, including the new AHTV series.  That's time, effort, and energy that I don't have to put into doing an hour or even half-hour podcast.

The second issue is a matter of spirit.  Losing BHL and ShockNet is taking a lot out of me.  This is a kick in the nuts on the same level as NC Soft suddenly killing my favorite MMO last year.  While I understand the decision of RJ and his wife to end the station (and their reason was a thousand times more credible than NC Soft's was), it still hurts, and I do not have it within me to try to pretend that I can "keep the magic going" by doing a self-published podcast.

That's not to say I'm hanging up the microphone and shutting down the soundboard!  I will most likely return to doing a weekly audio rant in 2014.  But it will be just one rant.  I'll have the details of that later on at this blog site.  Maybe some day when I can get someone else's attention and I have access to live radio I can bring "Brutally Honest - LIVE" back.  I just don't see that day coming anytime soon.

Next up... the weekly column.

I'm still doing the column, as I have been doing for the past seventeen years.  The last column for the year will be out on December 2nd, and it will be the annual "Brutally Honest Awards", and then that will be it for 2013.  However, unlike the radio show, the column WILL be back in January of 2014.  Believe me, I don't want to miss out on some prime commentating when it comes to the mid-term elections!

Now... let's talk comics and the future of Battlerock Comics.

"Future's Guardian" is still going on.  We are about mid-way through the "Psilence of Conscience" storyline and things are just starting to get interesting there.  The production schedule has been moved to a 45-day cycle instead of a monthly release because of some of the other projects on my plate right now.  We will be taking a break after the storyline ends, but that's only because there are some other comic projects that we need to concentrate on.  The series WILL resume afterward!  It is not being cancelled!

For more about that, please continue to visit the Battlerock Comics website.

So, that's pretty much it for now.  We have three more shows of "Brutally Honest - LIVE" to do, four more articles for the column for the year, the comic series is still going on, and, oh, AHTV makes its debut in December so you'll be able to find out why I have a face for radio!

Holiday?  WHAT Holiday?  :)