Keeping Records of What the Sandman Pours Into My Mind at Night

Here's a strange use for my PDA: I've been having some rather weird and wild dreams lately. My dreams are in color and they are always taking place in some far off, exotic island. Hold on...even though the locales are breathtaking, the situations I'm involved in aren't. I've been recording my dreams in DayNotez. My dreams ALWAYS seem strange when I'm inputting them...but, given the nature of dreams, they tend to dissipate from memory as the day progresses. It is an even stranger experience re-reading these dreams in my journals and sometimes successfully recollecting the dream and sometimes not. However, the end result is always a strange fascination of "what the heck is going on?" and "why did I dream THAT?" I'm constantly trying to connect the dots to see if there is any correlation to my recent dream and current personal experiences. When I don't have the time to jot down the traces of a dream from memory, I just press the recording button on my Zire 72s and dictate to myself the dream of the day. So, if you want to try something that will leave you dumbfounded and strangely curious about yourself as you vainly psychoanalyze the dream...take notes in the morning soon after you wake up and the remnants of the dream aren't too far off to collect in some coherent fashion.

(Originally posted in PalmAddicts)

Review: John Woo’s Seven Brothers

Virgin Comics launches their series of Directors Cuts (i.e. comic books conceived by top-industry directors) by introducing to the world, John Woo’s Seven Brothers. The concept and idea were from the mind and imagination of one of the world’s foremost movie directors, John Woo. However, it is Ennis and Kang’s storytelling genius that brings his vision to life. As Editor-in-Chief, Gotham Chopra wrote in his editorial, it is Virgin Comics long-term hope that these comics are brought into movie-form. He further notes that even though this is their intent, the comics being produced are not sophisticated storyboards. These stories will stand-alone by their own merit.

Seven Brothers is by far, is Garth Ennis’ best work to date since my personal favorite of his work, Just A Pilgrim. The fantastic first issue serves as groundwork laying for the entire series with a huge carrot dipped in chocolate-syrup and diamonds to keep readers left wanting for more and more by the final page.

Ennis details the world history of the early Chinese explorers and how they sought not to conquer new lands but to discover them and share these newfound truths and treasures back home. However, the arrival of these explorers was, instead met with anything but a heroes welcome as these once awe-inspired adventures drained and depleted much of the country’s resources. As a result, much of the logs and journals kept of these journeys were burned and destroyed…”almost as if it had never taken place. Almost”.

We are brought into the future as the mysterious Rachel Kai gathers men from around the world who seemingly have nothing in common save for the promise of immediate wealth upon their arrival to a sole location. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the book for you, but it is to Garth’s inventive and creative writing skills that he is able to string together words that make for some of the most deliciously descriptive, effusively elegant and, at times, brutally brusque prose and portrayals. My favorite piece of writing occurs when the disgruntled brothers are about to leave and Rachel’s timely and choice words stop them in their tracks and stab them in their hearts. On the following page, the intrepid “seventh” brother says something that just made me guffaw aloud. I read and re-read and re-read the comic book. Ennis’ writing has so convincingly captured my imagination.

If the writing weren’t enough…then, there’s the artwork. (Read the rest HERE!)

Blue Jeans "Black" Friday

"Pwned" indeed!

Productive Talk #08: GTD 2.0? (Final Talk...for now)

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In this episode, Merlin asks David one of the most popular questions about GTD; if he could write the book all over again today, what would he do differently? David addresses how people’s understanding of GTD evolves on repeated exposures, as well hinting at future plans for making GTD easier for people to start and maintain. He makes some great points on learning to pay attention to your “higher altitudes,” and wraps up by underscoring the importance of not having to rethink every task throughout the day. (13:11)

*********

If you bend David Allen’s ear for more than 30 seconds about GTD, you’ll hear some variation of a phrase that I heard a lot over the couple days we hung out in Ojai: “It’s all in the book!“

Say what you will about The David, but he is not a man who suffers from The George Lucas Complex. Much to the consternation of his publishers, his fans, and — one suspects — even some of his colleagues, David feels like he has already written the complete and definitive work on the Getting Things Done system. And he very clearly has no desire to futz with that basic system without a good reason; it’s sound and complete, as is, and there you go. Next subject.

And, I have to say, in a lot of ways, I’ve come to really admire this.

For one thing, it was immediately clear to me that, although David heads up a smart and growing company that enjoys a ravenous fanbase, his interest in the strictly pecuniary aspects of his work sometimes seems hilariously modest. While he long ago could have flipped DavidCo into a Shake-and-Bake franchise of ghost-written paperbacks (an idea I apparently once thought was a pretty great idea myself), David and his staff usually have more interesting things in mind. And while I can’t say that I think every idea is a guaranteed winner from my own perspective, I really respect the fact that DavidCo seems unwilling to sacrifice the quality of their product and their message for a fast buck. Not something you see every day.

I’ll admit that there’s still a part of me that thinks both David, the fans, and the system itself could benefit greatly from more examples of and options for sane GTD implementation and maintenance (and how to narrow the options to what’s best for my particular hang-up). Funny thing, though: in talking to David, it became clear to me that, on some level, that dearth of “official” material on implementation options was an undeniable factor in the early success of 43 Folders. So, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t complain too much.

In many ways, though, David’s right; it is all in the book, even if you aren’t yet at a place to understand how it potentially fits together in your world. So, in this episode, I really like how he highlights the way repeated readings and exposures to GTD inevitably lead to “getting” some part of the system that used to seem corny, pointless, or hand-wavey (God knows that’s been true for me). So, I guess I do see part of the challenge from David’s point of view; how do you get somebody quickly ramped-up into a system that may not reveal its best stuff to you for two or more years? Definitely tricky business.

But for those of you out there already doing GTD and feeling like you sometimes miss the “there,” I think this particular ep provides some very sound insight into how these pieces down on “the runway” are inextricably and necessarily tied to “the higher altitudes.”
Last planned episode….but wait…

Although this eighth episode of Productive Talk is our last in this series (yep, we’re already talking about doing it again), I do encourage you to stop back by next week.

In addition to offering my own thoughts on the series and what I learned from it (hint: a lot), I’ll also be sharing the (very very highly requested) single file download of all 8 episodes. Yes, it will have iTunes chapters. No, it won’t have bonus footage or director’s commentary. But it will make it a bit easier to take Productive Talk with you and listen to the whole series at a sitting. Subscribe via iTunes to receive the last last episode as soon as it goes live.

(From www.43Folders.com)

Free Time

This is a great site of some great, simple games to play when killing time.

Blue Jeans Friday

Here are a couple of my favorite comic book creators on my favorite comic book radio talk show: Alan Moore and Darwyn Cooke. Enjoy!


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Heroes, the Best Show on Television

Heroes Video Promo
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Superverse's Zoom Suit #1-4 Review

Whoever said that we didn’t need another hero was nuts.

Superverse Comics is the latest and greatest entry ready to duke it out with industry heavy-hitters…and they’ve come out swinging haymakers with their launch title: Zoom Suit.

Zoom Suit is a zany romp of a seemingly misplaced mantle of super-heroism placed upon an unpopular, unsuspecting and downtrodden teen whose life takes a wild upward swing for the better when he takes an alien suit and transforms into a super heroic dynamo. The series’ antagonists try to wrest the alien suit from Myles’ possession: One for megalomaniacal purposes and the other for reverse engineering their way into greater world dominance. (Don’t you hate it when people are like that?).

John Taddeo has written a story that starts out at a breakneck pace which never relents but keeps burning rubber until the series’ final page. I love the homage to Superman in the beginning when the suit arrives from the skies in the form of a mysterious, fallen alien ship. The “Ma and Pa Kent” characters have one of the most humorous interactions in comics. The first few pages alone are worth the price of admission. Taddeo has instilled into the comic a spirit of fun that just pulls you in from the get-go. Taddeo has a knack for writing humor that can be wry and dry or laugh out loud funny.

Zoom Suit takes the best elements of iconic themes and creates fun, zestful stories that grabs both your funny bone and your throat and doesn’t let go! Taddeo and Patton’s vision of the newly, christened Superverse with characters that literally zoom through its pages offers adventures (or misadventures) that promise to entertain readers for years to come. Reading Zoom Suit is some of the most fun I’ve had reading a comic that recalls my childhood memories of peeling open and taking in an early Lee/Ditko classic and enjoying every minute of it. Easily, the Comic Series of the Year!

So, go out and grab the entire set of Zoom Suit, issues 1-4. Then, take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seat back and folding trays are in trays are in their full upright position…’coz your ride is going to be wild and bumpy!!


(Originally published in TheComicsReview.com)

Arcana's Kade #1 Review

Kade is a child of the black sun. He is ageless and impervious to death and pain. His mission is to destroy the “fallen ones” or fallen angels who have the ability to possess other humans entrenched deep in grievous sin.


I’m a fan of storylines that entail fallen angels. One of the unique twists is that these fallen angels can actually possess human beings. Then again, fallen angels are tantamount to demons from hell, aren’t they? Most of the issue was set up for the rest of the storyline. Readers are brought up to speed fairly quickly through appropriately placed flashbacks. However, there were times the writing seemed a bit disjointed. One example involved Kade’s battle with a fallen-possessed priest. A woman joins the fray; however, she is never properly introduced and her name is never mentioned…yet, she carries on as if she’s known Kade for quite some time. My guess is that even though it’s numbered as #1, there were previous issues involving these characters. Either way, a first issue and its characters should be accessible for new readers.


The artwork by Sejic and Verma is fantastic. The splash page introducing Kade is impressive. The small panel showing the demon-possessed priest was one of the most frightening images you’ll see in a comic book. (I viewed that panel in a hotel on a cold, snowy night in Detroit, so perhaps the environment contributed to the overall spookiness. Nevertheless, it is one of comicdom’s creepiest portrayals of supernatural possession).

(Originally published in TheComicsReview.com)

Arcana's Koni Waves #1 Review

Koni Waves is a former nightclub pole dancer turned detective. The artwork by Sistilli and Weeks is clean and open. The artwork reminds me of the old Modesty Blaise comic strips of old with a Hawaii Five-0 twist. Sometimes, I feel that Jack Lord and Don Ho are going to pop up out of the woodwork in any of the pages.

The writing could be a lot better. The dialogue and panel-to-panel movement seemed stilted at times. The “cheesecake factor” isn’t really necessary and does nothing to move the story along. I was hoping that the creators would work against type and strive for a “Ms. Tree” in a tropical setting. I was wrong. This has the trappings of “Beach Blanket Babylon” trying unsuccessfully to be a “fun” murder mystery.

(Originally published in TheComicsReview.com)

Productive Talk #07: Implementing GTD

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In this episode, David and Merlin look at best practices for implementing Getting Things Done. David shares some great advice on firewalling review time and warns us how to avoid the perils of “cruise control.” (9:37)

More at: http://www.davidco.com/ and http://www.43folders.com/

Full Spider-Man 3 Trailer Debuts...'Nuff Said

For a version that isn't fully rendered but actually shows Spidey's nemesis, Venom click here. Be patient and wait for the final second.

Productive Talk #06: Interruptions

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In this episode David and I talked about interruptions. How you can minimize the bad interruptions and make the best of the good ones. (10:17)

More at: http://www.davidco.com/ http://www.43folders.com/

More info: www.43folders.com

Belated Blue-Jeans' Friday: The Bay's Best Bashers

Ronnie Lott, San Francisco 49ers



Jack Tatum, Oakland Raiders

The Best Storyteller in the World: Neil Gaiman

To Buy or Not To Buy...

Given the high-end pricing of the Xbox360 and the forthcoming PS3, purchasing a console would have to be "either/or" and not both, for most people. Decisions, decsions...