Art guru Cameron Gray has recently added a newsletter to his site, Parable Visions. The first issue is out and features an interview with me. If you want to give it a read, click here.
Cameron is a truly amazing artist and you should really check out his work. He's going to do the cover for the next Citizen X album, which I'm very excited about.
Anyway, go check out his site!
But I just have to share this. While reading Alternet a little while ago, I came across a comment that suggested I go and do a google search on the word "failure."
Ordinarily I don't do what strange internet posters tell me to, but I was curious. As was suggested in the post I saw, the first entry is beautiful. Just beautiful. Go do it. You'll laugh; I did.
****WARNING SPOILERS****
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth in the series by J.K. Rowling, was no disappointment. Rowling’s prose has, again, grown with her protagonist, becoming more complex and darker with each new volume. In a series that has been renowned as one of the greatest in the realm of children’s literature, Rowling is having no trouble keeping her adult audience riveted as well.
The story is far darker than any we’ve seen so far, while also giving us far more insight into some of the characters we’ve known since The Sorcerer’s Stone. Be wary, from here on out there will be some definite spoilers.
**** I'm serious. There are some major spoilers here, turn back now if you haven't read the book and don't want it ruined for you. ****
The biggest shock, other than the death of the greatest Headmaster ever to grace Hogwart’s, was the developments in Snape’s character. While I can’t pretend that I hadn’t suspected Professor Snape was a traitor, I never once suspected that he would be the one to kill Dumbledore. In fact, despite many conversations, I wasn’t sure that Dumbledore would even be the one to die.
Another great disappointment was seeing Harry finally hook up with Ginny, only to break up with her almost immediately after. Though, I suspect she won’t let that stand. Ginny is a very strong character, and I can’t see her staying at home while Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave to track down the pieces of Voldemort’s soul that are scattered across the world. I would be very surprised if she doesn’t accompany them, regardless of what Molly Weasley has to say about it.
All in all, despite the sickness in my stomach from all of the tragedy that came in this story, this was a brilliant work of fiction. The only real complaint I have is that I now have to wait an undetermined amount of time before the next—and last—installment of the Harry Potter series.
Here's a short one for today:
Got to the con about an hour before the dealer room opened today. This was after six straight hours of driving. I have never been more thankful to be up and moving around. Today at the Con it was very low-key, and I ended up leaving early to meet my brother and get something to eat. Most of the guests and dealers were still working their way in as I was making my exit, but I expect tomorrow will be pretty busy.
Anyway, that's all for tonight. I know I didn't really say much at all, but - hopefully - I'll be able to blog a bit tomorrow night. If not, I'll get you all caught up in the beginning of next week.
Just a quick one:
I just found out that I have been confirmed to appear at the Trinoc*coN in Durham, NC this weekend.
I will also be appearing at Revoluticon in Asheville, NC on October 8 and 9.
Hope to see you there!
My God, the new Fantomas album, Suspended Animation, rocks! I've been letting it play on repeat since about noon today, and every time it plays it's just a little bit better than the last. The subtle nuances that you don't pick up on your first time through start peaking out at you, and other parts really start getting under your skin.
For those of you that aren't familiar with Fantomas, it's another of Mike Patton's projects. This one features Trevor Dunn (a.k.a the Man) who also played bass with Mr. Bungle. Dave Lombardo, as most should know as the drummer from Slayer, and Buzz from the Melvins fill out the rest of the line-up. This band is known as being very chaotic and very, VERY heavy. They specialize in short, sweet, face-melting songs that leave you feeling like you've just been hit by a truck. But don't fool yourself into believing it's just a heavy record. There are plenty of tasty, ambient morsels to sate your appetite.
I highly recommend this album to anyone that is a fan of Patton, Dunn, Lombardo, heavy music, experimental music, or all of the above. There's too much happening for me to be able to go into any kind of depth, but trust me: this album rocks!