So ends the Manakalita Manifesto (version 4.0). I'm back for one more run around the blog, and then moving onto purpler pastures.
I stopped posting last spring to take off some of the unnecessary anxiety I was feeling for not posting to begin with. And by and large it's worked, I moved on to a few others things that were impending, most prominent among them getting married to my wife Catherine last May:
Picture © 2010 Dana Strickland
Whoo-hoo!
I think this is my favorite picture, though:
Picture © Dana Strickland
Sadly, I only got one of those cupcakes (a most excellent lemon one made by our friend Lauren) as we were bouncing around after the ceremony from guest to guest the rest of the night. A bunch were left over, but we forgot to pack any for our honeymoon. Sigh.
When we returned, I was supposed to get to the business of finishing up the final three scripts for the Critical Millennium series I started for my former creative/business partner Drew Gaska and our (well, his now) company BLAM! Ventures. Yes, these are the three scripts I was supposed to have finished at the end of 2009. Obviously life happened in full force, and continues to, as I only finished one of them. Treatments for the other two are pending, where Drew will finish the scripting duties and a magnificent series will be produced for 2012. Really.
Anyway, the first series, Critical Millennium: Dark Frontier, was released last summer to rave reviews. If you haven't read it yet, go buy it. Issues one through three are out in stores and online, and the fourth one is on the horizon (with the hardcover collection out in time for your next gift goiving holiday, to be sure). Here's the first cover for Dark Frontier, with art by the very talented Dan Dussault:
Critical Millennium and all associated titles ™ and © 2010
Andrew E. C. Gaska and BLAM! Ventures, LLC
In addition to taking time away from the blog, I've also backed off from writing for the most part (the above script aside). I moved onto expanding my horizons, dabbling in welding and researching a bunch of other fields I want to try my hand at.
The welding spark (yes, yes--pun) was our honeymoon, where we went up to Massachusetts to an art and craft program called Snow Farm and took a sculptural welding class together. I've wanted to work with metal for a long time, and this was a nice little taste of what could be. So the decision was made to educate myself so more and see what else it could be. I have more to learn in the future beyond my brief forays last year, but I look forward to the possibilities. Meantime, here's a couple of things we put together:
Pictures © 2010 Christian and Catherine Berntsen
The owl got auctioned off, but we kept the American Radiator sculpture and a couple of others, all of which happily reside in our garden.
Along with Day Job and assorted reading, catching up on four seasons of Lost, a couple of Doctor Who and the like, that's been most of my past year. What holds for the future, you ask? That's the question.
I'm just about done with my fiction writing sabbatical of sorts, and I intend to get back to blogging. Just not here.
The Manakalita Manifesto no longer reflects where I'm at. Truth be told I never really had a clear direction for what this blog was about. Some vague thoughts, a few stabs at coherence, but it never really jelled for me. As I'm wont to do, I'm starting fresh. But this time I'm not doing it alone.
I originally planned to invite you to Cool Beans and Such. It was to be a blog about my life (because all blogs are pretty much self serving that way) and the things that fascinate me. I will still do that, but in recent weeks something exciting has come together with a couple of friends and the promise of that collaboration is too good to pass up.
So, along with my fiends Paul Wargelin and Bryan Landsberg, we are launching Scribblers Hall, a blog of art and fiction and the collision of the two (and more).
We'll be premiering the blog on April 15th--normally tax day--but the IRS was kind enough to move that to the following Monday because they obviously sensed we needed that day to go live [EDIT 04/18/11: Yeah, didn't happen, some time in May I imagine. Sorry, kids] . I haven't been excited about writing and creating this way in a very long time, and it is a welcome feeling.
So, along with my fiends Paul Wargelin and Bryan Landsberg, we are launching Scribblers Hall, a blog of art and fiction and the collision of the two (and more).
We'll be premiering the blog on April 15th--normally tax day--but the IRS was kind enough to move that to the following Monday because they obviously sensed we needed that day to go live [EDIT 04/18/11: Yeah, didn't happen, some time in May I imagine. Sorry, kids] . I haven't been excited about writing and creating this way in a very long time, and it is a welcome feeling.
The Manifesto will remain online for as long as I see value in that, but I'm moving on from here. The internet is ripe for the picking, and the world past my computer screen is just begging to be explored.
Life is waiting.
