Monday, February 17, 2014
“Kiss” Begins with What?
“Every kiss begins with
__________.” If you filled in the blank
with “slobber” or “tongue”, well, I’m not sure whether to congratulate you for
having been unsullied by Madison Avenue or wonder just what you were thinking. After all, who kisses with the tongue
first? It’s lips, right? At least, that’s how it is where I come from!
[If you filled in the blank
with “Gene Simmons” we’ll have to deduct points but still give you partial
credit for trying.]
But anyway, if you’ve had a
TV on at all in the last ten years, you know that the advertisers want you to
fill in that blank with “K”, or, possibly, “Kay”, as in Kay’s Jewelers. It’s a catchy little slogan, not the least
because it’s really kind of obvious. I
mean, unless were talking the Cyrillic alphabet, in which case “kiss” begins
with, well, some other letter. Maybe
that one that looks like a shovel or even the one that has a tail.
All that being said, their
last commercial makes me think that the next time I want to start a
jewelry-encrusted kiss, it’s going to start with Zales, or one of the local
jewelers (check your local listings for times and availabilities).
Have you seen it? It starts with a guy in a restaurant. He’s looking around and everyone in the
restaurant is either on a phone or a tablet, including the woman he’s
with. He’s trying to get her attention
by making eye contact, but she’s too into her phone to notice.
Finally, he sends her a text
message that says, “Honey, look up.”
When she does, she sees his back as he exits the restaurant, leaving her
forever.
Just kidding. That’s what a sane man would do. This idiot is in a jewelry commercial. What he does, once he has her brief
attention, is give her a diamond necklace.
What a putz! This woman doesn’t care about him! All she cares about is her phone. Considering he didn’t even take his phone out
until he had exhausted all rational forms of communication, it’s a safe bet she
wasn’t calling or texting him. She was,
in theory, “on a date” with him (it requires both quotation marks and a
caveat), yet she didn’t care enough about him to pay him attention.
He should have left her
right there like a hot rock.* The
momentary notice she gave him after the presentation of the necklace was just
that: momentary. As soon as the
commercial’s over, she’s going to be taking a picture of the necklace with her
phone and emailing it to all her friends, or maybe taking a selfie of him
putting the necklace on her, but she WON ’T do is give him any more attention than he was receiving before. Why?
Because he has established that, no matter how much she ignores him,
he’ll still give her valuable gifts.
What he should have done,
after exiting the restaurant, is go right back to Kay Jewelers and get his money
back. He should then put the money in a
savings account and then maybe buy a gift for a woman who is worthy of his
attention. Or hunting equipment. Just about anything would be a better use of
his money than giving that narcissistic wench a necklace or another moment of
his time.
*We talk about dropping
something “like a hot rock” but, really, why would someone pick up a hot rock,
anyway?
Thursday, February 7, 2013
New Novel "Medicine Park"
My normal blog being down like an elevator, I am left having to file my blog here. Just wanted to let you know that my latest novel, "Medicine Park" is now available for your Kindle (& Kindle Fire, and iPad & Android and etc.) here!
What's it about? T quote from the official descriptive text ... "Brad Reynolds' parents died in a car wreck the same day his divorce was final. Trying to put the pieces of his life back together, Brad moves back home to Medicine Park, OK, and takes over his father’s old business. The bait and hardware shop are doing good, Brad’s making some friends, has started going to church and is even trying to start dating again. The only hitch is that he is an addict. He’s kept his addiction well-hidden, for he’s sure that if it were ever to get out his friends would leave him, his business would crumble, and his whole life would collapse. Trying to quit cold-turkey isn’t working, so Brad tries to find one of these new-found friends in which to confide. Can he find someone before he destroys everything—one way or another?"
And just what is the addiction, you're probably asking. Porn. Like a lot of people these days, Brad doesn't really see it as a problem ... at first, anyway. Sure, it may be a little gross--like picking one's nose--and so what if it destroyed his marriage? Everyone's into it these days, right?
But then he starts meeting people who have some pretty old-fashioned standards. Including a woman named Allie who he's very interested in but her standards are informed by her faith. Her faith is one of the things he likes about her, and he's beginning to want to share it, but to do so he's going to have to change and give up something that has been driving his life for years. Once he begins to try to give it up, he comes face-to-face with just what a horrendous hold it has on him.
What's it about? T quote from the official descriptive text ... "Brad Reynolds' parents died in a car wreck the same day his divorce was final. Trying to put the pieces of his life back together, Brad moves back home to Medicine Park, OK, and takes over his father’s old business. The bait and hardware shop are doing good, Brad’s making some friends, has started going to church and is even trying to start dating again. The only hitch is that he is an addict. He’s kept his addiction well-hidden, for he’s sure that if it were ever to get out his friends would leave him, his business would crumble, and his whole life would collapse. Trying to quit cold-turkey isn’t working, so Brad tries to find one of these new-found friends in which to confide. Can he find someone before he destroys everything—one way or another?"
And just what is the addiction, you're probably asking. Porn. Like a lot of people these days, Brad doesn't really see it as a problem ... at first, anyway. Sure, it may be a little gross--like picking one's nose--and so what if it destroyed his marriage? Everyone's into it these days, right?
But then he starts meeting people who have some pretty old-fashioned standards. Including a woman named Allie who he's very interested in but her standards are informed by her faith. Her faith is one of the things he likes about her, and he's beginning to want to share it, but to do so he's going to have to change and give up something that has been driving his life for years. Once he begins to try to give it up, he comes face-to-face with just what a horrendous hold it has on him.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Blog Tour
I'm on a blog tour! What is that you may ask? I have no idea.
Just kidding.
A blog tour is a chance for me--as an author--to write some guest blogs and do some interviews for bloggers all around the web who love books. It was all put together by a woman named "Inspired Kathy" (that may or may not be her real name) and you can read about it--and catch up with the installments you may have missed--go to I'm A Reader Not a Writer!
Make sure you thank the people who are publicizing my books by hosting me on this tour. Leave comments and, most importantly of all, buy my books! (The best place to go for links to buying my books for Kindle, Nook or Smashwords is Garison Fitch.)
Just kidding.
A blog tour is a chance for me--as an author--to write some guest blogs and do some interviews for bloggers all around the web who love books. It was all put together by a woman named "Inspired Kathy" (that may or may not be her real name) and you can read about it--and catch up with the installments you may have missed--go to I'm A Reader Not a Writer!
Make sure you thank the people who are publicizing my books by hosting me on this tour. Leave comments and, most importantly of all, buy my books! (The best place to go for links to buying my books for Kindle, Nook or Smashwords is Garison Fitch.)
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Election 2012
I am not looking forward to voting this year. Usually, I enjoy voting. I wish there were actual curtains and a lever to pull like in the old movies, but even though there aren't, I generally like voting. Not this year.
And it's not the "down races" I am down on. I've got my preferences on everyone from Senate down to County Commissioner and I will proudly cast those votes.
What I can't get enthused about is my vote for President of the United States. I don't like either of our top 2 options. I guess I could vote for one of the lesser known candidates from some obscure party, but I can't decide whether the possibility of casting a protest vote overrules the idea that I'd just be throwing my vote away. (And then we get into the discussion of whether any vote matters and, well ... for the sake of this blog, let's pretend/assume all votes matter.) So I'm left to choose between Obama and Romney.
Yuck.
Both men seem to be good husbands and fathers, so I'll give them that. After that ...
I know we're not electing a Pastor-in-Chief, but we've got Romney coming from a cult and Obama coming from who knows where? No, I don't think he's a Muslim. I don't know the man, but my impression is that Obama's only god is Obama. In a paragraph or two I'm going to describe Obama as a hardened leftist, because that's how he has always governed, but I'm convinced he'd sell out his leftist buddies in a heartbeat if he thought it would help him in some way.
Obama is ardently pro-abortion, voting to refuse protection for babies even after birth, so I hate that aspect of his policies. Romney gives great speeches about being pro-life and has generally voted that way, but he picked some judges while governor of Massachusetts who were very liberal on this aspect, so I'm not enthused about him on this score, either.
Obama is a hardened leftist whose financial policies I can't stand and have proven themselves to be abject failures every time they've been tried (by him and every other Keynesian idiot of the last 3/4 century). I like Mitt's stated financial policies, but I don't know that I trust him to carry any of them out. He looks too much like he'll be of the "McCain School of Let's Give Away the Farm in the Guise of Being Amicable With the Other Side". I hope he's not, but I'm not holding my breath.
Foreign policy? Obama has shown himself to be pretty clueless in this area, seeming to think that the force of his personality will solve centuries of rancor. I don't know that Romney has any foreign policy experience and other than George Schultz, I'm not sure who he's listening to. So this one's a toss-up between "proven ineptitude" and "ambiguity".
Someone once said you're better off with the devil you know than the devil you don't know, but the devil I've gotten to know for the last 3 1/2 years is pretty awful so I can't bring myself to vote for him to continue his path of destruction. On the other hand, I'm sure not enthused about Romney, either. He's saying all the right things now--and if I thought that was the way he'd govern I'd be all over his bandwagon--but ...
I guess I'll walk into the voting booth in November (I don't like early voting just because I like do it on voting day--don't know why), hold my nose, and cast a vote for Romney. Maybe he'll pick a VP that I can enthuse about (Obama's out on that score, too), but I think my main hope for not leaving the building with a horrible taste in my mouth are those down ballot races.
That's kind of like hoping the complimentary mint is enough to overcome a mediocre-to-bad meal, huh?
And it's not the "down races" I am down on. I've got my preferences on everyone from Senate down to County Commissioner and I will proudly cast those votes.
What I can't get enthused about is my vote for President of the United States. I don't like either of our top 2 options. I guess I could vote for one of the lesser known candidates from some obscure party, but I can't decide whether the possibility of casting a protest vote overrules the idea that I'd just be throwing my vote away. (And then we get into the discussion of whether any vote matters and, well ... for the sake of this blog, let's pretend/assume all votes matter.) So I'm left to choose between Obama and Romney.
Yuck.
Both men seem to be good husbands and fathers, so I'll give them that. After that ...
I know we're not electing a Pastor-in-Chief, but we've got Romney coming from a cult and Obama coming from who knows where? No, I don't think he's a Muslim. I don't know the man, but my impression is that Obama's only god is Obama. In a paragraph or two I'm going to describe Obama as a hardened leftist, because that's how he has always governed, but I'm convinced he'd sell out his leftist buddies in a heartbeat if he thought it would help him in some way.
Obama is ardently pro-abortion, voting to refuse protection for babies even after birth, so I hate that aspect of his policies. Romney gives great speeches about being pro-life and has generally voted that way, but he picked some judges while governor of Massachusetts who were very liberal on this aspect, so I'm not enthused about him on this score, either.
Obama is a hardened leftist whose financial policies I can't stand and have proven themselves to be abject failures every time they've been tried (by him and every other Keynesian idiot of the last 3/4 century). I like Mitt's stated financial policies, but I don't know that I trust him to carry any of them out. He looks too much like he'll be of the "McCain School of Let's Give Away the Farm in the Guise of Being Amicable With the Other Side". I hope he's not, but I'm not holding my breath.
Foreign policy? Obama has shown himself to be pretty clueless in this area, seeming to think that the force of his personality will solve centuries of rancor. I don't know that Romney has any foreign policy experience and other than George Schultz, I'm not sure who he's listening to. So this one's a toss-up between "proven ineptitude" and "ambiguity".
Someone once said you're better off with the devil you know than the devil you don't know, but the devil I've gotten to know for the last 3 1/2 years is pretty awful so I can't bring myself to vote for him to continue his path of destruction. On the other hand, I'm sure not enthused about Romney, either. He's saying all the right things now--and if I thought that was the way he'd govern I'd be all over his bandwagon--but ...
I guess I'll walk into the voting booth in November (I don't like early voting just because I like do it on voting day--don't know why), hold my nose, and cast a vote for Romney. Maybe he'll pick a VP that I can enthuse about (Obama's out on that score, too), but I think my main hope for not leaving the building with a horrible taste in my mouth are those down ballot races.
That's kind of like hoping the complimentary mint is enough to overcome a mediocre-to-bad meal, huh?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Kindle Romance Novels: A Star Falls on Oklahoma by Samuel Ben White
I don't just blog and write westerns, I also write novels! Check out this great review for one of my recent novels:
Kindle Romance Novels: A Star Falls on Oklahoma by Samuel Ben White: Look here! A Kindle Romance Novel for $2.99 / £1.90! In the US Kindle Store In the UK Kindle Store Rising star Sonya Kiel suddenl...
You know, it kind of is a western. It takes place in western Oklahoma, and part of the conflict is the difference in thought processes between a London girl and a man of the American west.
Kindle Romance Novels: A Star Falls on Oklahoma by Samuel Ben White: Look here! A Kindle Romance Novel for $2.99 / £1.90! In the US Kindle Store In the UK Kindle Store Rising star Sonya Kiel suddenl...
You know, it kind of is a western. It takes place in western Oklahoma, and part of the conflict is the difference in thought processes between a London girl and a man of the American west.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Reviewing “Hydroland” by Justin Martin & Mel Todd
a review of
the preview by Sam White
A powerless member of the new media, I was given the
gracious opportunity to preview an upcoming comic book by the above-mentioned
Martin & Todd called “Hydroland”.
Briefly, Hydroland is the story of a people who live in the water. They’ve lived in peace until, suddenly they
are invaded.
Now, the preview I got to see gives some hints at what the
invasion is (thematically) but not how it is carried out practically—in the
comic book, anyway. I won’t give that
away, except to say that it’s going to take some skill to carry out. These guys have it, I think (they tell a good
preview, anyway), but it’s tough. How
many times in school were you shown a painting or read a poem and the teacher
told you about all the deep, sensual or violent undertones and you sat there
thinking, “I thought it was about a basketball that’s gone flat.” And try as you might, you can never see
anything other than the flat basketball.
Martin and Todd are creating (the full book’s not out, yet)
an ambitious story of sin and redemption, couched in a story of an underwater
society and depicted in an artistic style that is reminiscent of the best of R.
Crumb’s work but (IMHO) more cheerful, even when the story itself takes a grim
turn. The bits of artwork we get to see
in this preview (download the preview for free here: http://comics.drivethrustuff. com/product_info.php?products_ id=99418)
are intriguing and make me anxious to see the finished product (many of the
pics in this download are production art, but I love looking at that kind of
thing and seeing how an artist goes from pre-production to post-).
Monday, March 5, 2012
"Long Road to a Second Chance"
After much thought, I have finally come up with a new (and hopefully better) title for the novel that used to be named “Psalm 88″: “Long Road to a Second Chance”.
Why the change? I liked the original title, and it does have a lot to do with the book itself, but it kept confusing readers who saw the title and thought I had written a commentary on the 88th Psalm.
As I rethought the story of the book in an effort to find a new title, I kept coming back to the thought that it’s the story of two people who run away from their problems by running together. Playing with different ways to express that, I finally came up with “Long Road to a Second Chance”.
You can order “Long Road to a Second Chance” here !
Read it, you’ll like it!
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