republican rule

Tuesday 04 November 2008 at 11:02 pm

wall street

Wednesday 08 October 2008 at 2:05 pm

rick wright

Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 09:17 am Founding member of Sigma Six, later known as The Pink Floyd, keyboardist Rick Wright passed away yesterday after a short battle with cancer.

Rick was instrumental in the success of some of the most critically acclaimed albums in the latter half of the 20th century. He wrote The Great Gig In The Sky, one of the most recognizable songs on the hit album Dark Side of the Moon. He wrote the majority of the music for Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd's tribute to founding singer Syd Barret.

As tensions rose between band members during the recording sessions for The Wall, Rick left the band to pursue a career as a solo artist. Due to this decision, when the band went on tour to promote The Wall, Rick was hired on as a session player for the concerts, and because he wasn't an actual member of the band he ended up being the only player associated with the tour to actually make a profit.

Brilliant musician, businessman, and the most private member of one of the worlds biggest bands, Rick will be missed by fans of great music everywhere.

george carlin - 1937 - 2008

Monday 23 June 2008 at 09:47 am I was deeply saddened to hear that George Carlin passed away yesterday from heart failure. One of my favorite quotes of his was "If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?".

I actually had the privilege of meeting Mr. Carlin in the early 90's. He was waiting for a car at the Bel Air hotel. I was standing next to him, and he looked up at me and said, "You're a tall motherfucker, ain't ya?". I actually had the presence of mind to reply, "And you're an observant motherfucker, aren't you?". George chuckled, said, "Fair enough." and then got into his car.

His later observations on religion were some of the most intelligent and insightful that I've heard. He will be sorely missed.

grim statistics

Monday 24 March 2008 at 1:55 pm CNN is reporting that the American death toll in Iraq has reached 4,000. That is ten times the casualties that America suffered during the first eight years of our involvement in Vietnam, and almost double the total deaths in Vietnam from our initial involvement through 1965.

Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths range from a conservative 80,000 to a liberal 90,000.

in memory of gary gygax

Friday 07 March 2008 at 08:19 am Believe it or not the Lutheran school that I spent the latter years of my elementary school years attending was actually quite a bit more liberal than the Presbyterian school that I had attended up until halfway through the fourth grade. But that’s not saying much.

There were two corners of the soccer field that couldn’t be seen from playground beat of the recess supervisor. One of them was called “The Corner” where the school bullies lured their prey, and where playground justice was doled out. The other corner was home to Alex, Jeff, and Brian, three kids in my grade who would grab their backpacks and make a run for the field the moment the lunch bell rang. Once there they would open their bags and remove the large, thin, books and the polyhedral dice that were the foundation upon which their fantasy world was built. Hiding there, in the shadow of the church, epic battles were fought, dragons were slain, and priceless treasures were lost and won by these three friends as they rolled their fates and recorded their triumphs on pencil and paper, one eye on the game, the other stealing furtive glances in the direction of the playground. get the whole story...

john alvin

Saturday 09 February 2008 at 4:26 pm I just heard that John Alvin passed away suddenly last Wednesday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, I can assure you that you are most familiar with his work. His "one sheet" movie posters have defined the art of movie marketing for the last 35 years. If you visualize the images that come to mind from the marketing campaigns for movies such as Bladerunner, E.T., The Color Purple, The Princess Bride, Blazing Saddles, American Graffiti, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Hook, etc... you are seeing John's work.

I had the great privilege of getting to know John personally in my mid teens. He was an amazing man, very interested in other people, with a love and passion for movies that went beyond being just a "fan" of the medium. He was also an inspiration to me, and I feel that I owe him a great debt of gratitude, I don't think I ever would have followed so many of my dreams if it weren't for his example. I certainly would never have been published had I not listened to him talking about his love for his work, his work ethic inspired me to keep going even when things got hard...

Words cannot express the sorrow that I feel at his passing, he was a great artist, and an incredible human being. There will never be anyone like him again, and we've all lost something with his passing.

His wife, Andrea, and his daughter, Farah, survive him. My heartfelt condolences to both of them. Please stop by the Remembering John Alvin page at johnalvinart.com and read about the impact this man had on so many people.

never too late...

Friday 12 October 2007 at 9:51 pm "It's never too late to be what you might have been." - Eliot

return of the sickle

Tuesday 09 October 2007 at 11:49 pm Welcome back to the Fickle Sickle. We had a problem with our server a few months back and lost a hard drive. A classic example of the cobbler's spawn running barefoot in the streets, as I never had the time nor inclination to back up the site.

As I am a big believer in fresh beginnings and starting over, I will look at this as an opportunity instead of a setback. It's good to have this space back again, and it's good to be writing again.