Saturday, October 31, 2009

My November 2009 votes.

San Mateo Union High School District Board Members: Linda Lees Dwyer, Peter H. Hanley, Robert H. Griffen.

City of San Mateo City Council Members: Frederick Arn Hansson, Brant Grotte, Bertha Hall Sanchez.

Measure L and M. Yes and Yes.

Click here to go to my web page, it has more discussion.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

I finally made the jump from homepage.mac to iWeb.

It just means that I moved my web pages to my iWeb pages. Although I have a section where I put up my regular HTML pages (which I created myself without iWeb). To create my web pages, I can use either iWeb, or any web editor I want. The best of both worlds.

You still enter my website through www.davestrom.com, but a lot of the links on my older blog postings will not work anymore. If you need to see those links, go to www.davestrom.com and then navigate to find them.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

How I will (YAWN!) vote on Props 1A-1F.

No. On all of them.

What, you want some background? OK, you can go to my web page. I am not even going to bother with putting some of that stuff in this blog posting.

Click here to go to my prop write-up. Budget propositions are hard to get mad about. Gee, not a lot of fun this time. But I can get back to writing my nnnnnnnn-novel! (Say it like Stewie of Family Guy says to Brian the dog, who is writing a novel, a rather rotten one.)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Book book book.

I will head to the Pruneyard's Barnes and Nobel in Campbell this eve at 7:30. I will see if I can do a reading. I have done enough readings by now that it is getting easier.

I keep getting ideas in bed, and writing them down so's I don't forget. Several of those ideas help. Like what a third object of power should be in my book, and how it will fit with a couple characters standing in for Frodo (depressed Swedish assassin) Gollum (a perv of a comic book artist), and Sam (a Hooters girl). Well, I think that is how I want to write that chapter. The idea seems good. You know, maybe this book will go somewhere. I hope to finish it in the next, oh, 6 months or so. In time for the holiday season? Doing a satire is fum; there is so much to poke fun at (or pay an homage to, if I actually like the source material).

Have to start finding ways to get this book noticed. Maybe I have a use for Twitter or Facebook now. I have to look into that. How do you market a book nowadays? Beter start soon, if I want to build some buzz. Already, I seem to be getting a little notice at Red Rock Coffee. One guy working there said he wanted to hear more, and what was going to happen next (I ended on a cliffhanger last time). I had to tell him I am not writing in sequential order, so it will be a while before I resolve that. I suppose I could have said, "HUMPH! GREAT ART CANNOT BE RUSHED!" Well, it does have to be written.

Also have to look for my next tech writing gig. I do not forget about that! I see some stuff out there; it was getting getting dry for a couple of weeks, but I an seeing a little more opportunity again. I am seeing a little more in the area of animation; I have to play with that! I have learned that a good way to get a gig is to play with a company's software and send that with your resume or writing samples.

OK, time to fold laundry.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A little FF and DD, and other super stuff.

I am watching the Fantastic Four movie for background noise as I clean my apartment. I have reviewed this movie on my website.

A few thoughts occur to me. First, Jessica Alba ain't so bad, regardless of cranky fanboys. And I am a little less annoyed by Mr. Fantastic in this flick. Although I still don't see nearly enough of the great Reed Richards intellect.

And the guy who played Doctor Doom is an excellent actor. BUT HE WAS HANDED A ROTTEN PART. Why? I figured out why it really bugs me, especially in these economic times.

In the comics, Doctor Doom is a self-made villain. He started from poverty and worked up to being a world power. In the movie, he starts from riches and goes to everything being taken away.

It's just another example of the viewpoint of the rich being shoved down our throats (oh weep, oh cry, the rich Doctor Doom lost a bunch of cash, oh, cry me a river) and the viewpoint of the poor (the comic book Doctor Doom is a self made man, he knows his roots and protects his countrymen, at least those he has not tossed in the dungeon). The comic book Doom has earned every last scrap of power and money he has, and he knows it. No silver spoon, hundred billion bailouts for him. The movie Doom is just upset about the silver spoon being yanked out, and us working stiffs are supposed to identify with that? UGH! It's a conspiracy, I tell you! A Hollywood executive conspiracy!!!

Oh, and why is the movie Doctor Doom firing a shoulder-launched missile from inside a building, WITHOUT OPENING THE WINDOW FIRST?!?!? Really, that is stupid, what if the impact with the window sets it off prematurely?

Oh, and although I have not seen FF 2, why in the heck wasn't Alicia the one to talk to the Silver Surfer, instead of Sue Storm? Especially this Alicia, who was a great character in the first FF flick. Sue Storm should be fighting alongside the other FF4 members. Did Hollywood think about Sue, "Oh, she's just a GIRL"?!?!?! OK, I hafta see FF2 sometime, I have done enough guessing. Except that turning Galactus into a cloud sucks. We can take a rubber guy, a rock guy, and a fire guy, but we can't handle a 50-foot-tall guy?

As for my book. I did a reading at Red Rock Coffee last night. I might be getting the beginnings of fans. I got a couple of compliments. One guy told me he had heard some of my other performances. And one of the coffee guys told me that he really liked my reading and that maybe I am getting superpowers.

On Sunday, I went to Script Frenzy, where people try to write a 100 page screenplay in one month. I am thinking of joining that, and writing my book as a screenplay. Although I know that it would be a lot easier to sell my story as a book than a screenplay. Heck, it would be hard enough to sell as a graphic novel (considering that I do not draw). Still, it would be an interesting exercise. I might try this.

OK, enough blogging. Time to go back to cleaning.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Another reading at Red Rock Coffee.

Another lesson. The reading went OK, but I have to shorten the scenery description at the start. After all, isn't that one thing I am poking fun at from Duh DaVinci Code? And that would leave more room for the colorful characters there. Like the guy who had his face reconstructed to look like a cat face (well, I never saw that, but Steve Notley of Bob the Angry Flower did).

I do love open mic night. The performers vary widely and wildly. OK, some are better than others. But I love seeing the little guy trying his stuff out. When you are on stage, the best thing to do is to always always always FORGE AHEAD!!!

I am about to see if I can write some simple iPhone and Android apps. This would be good for me. Start small. (Hello, World!)

I have been checking out cinemasports.com lately. The website shows blank, except for cinemasports' phone number, and that the website is having technical difficulties. If cinemasports is going outta business, I am really gonna miss it. The Iron Chef of filmmaking. Making a 3 minute film in one day. Totally from scratch. Hmm, maybe I ought to look up these 48 hour short film makers. I could do that. Ah, the RUSH of filmmaking!!! I... NEED... IT!!! I will check this out. Hmm, I wonder if I can stand 48 hours to adrenalin.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Here I am. The writer.

I am at Red Rock Coffee. Listening to local bands. Writing another chapter of my book. Not quite as far as I would have liked into the chapter, but OK, I have a good shot at having it ready to read at Red Rock's Monday night Open Mic.

I am beginning to wonder if I should post some of the chapters. Or maybe that should go into a separate blog, aimed only for the book.

And my nose is getting, uh, a little runny. I ain't gonna last much longer tonight.

The music here is good. Several little bands. The voice of the little guy! And a few cute girls. They all sound pretty good!

I am at a table with two chairs. I sit in one, the other is empty. I was asked 4 times if sir, is this chair free? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, it is, yes, go ahead, yes yes YES. (It was a little noisy that fourth time.)

Well, time to pack up. I also deleted some rotten marketing posting off my blog. C'mon, you jerks, very few people look at my blog! You wanna get your filthy rotten stinking spam read? Aim higher!