Notes From Earth

     Basically, where ever I am, I can change everything in my mind into a Science Fiction context.  It doesn't matter if I am home, at a cafe, a bar, or on the street, I can find and see things that will transport me a thousand or ten-thousand years into the future.
     San Francisco is my home base of operations.  It is already pretty alien there, for there are aliens all around, along with their technologies.
     The Interstellar Homing Beacon blinks day and night atop The TransAmerica Building, sending out an ever-constant signal for all the freaks of the world to come to this city.
     They do come, and they come in droves.
     They want to be here so bad, just to have a feeling of freedom, that they are willing to live on the streets, and eat from trash cans to live, until they can get set up, if they don't go crazy first.
     It does get kind of cold here, the kind that goes right through you.

     Anyway, I just got home, and I need to make some coffee, be right back.

     The coffee is brewing, and while I was doing that, I was thinking of 'Space Journey Battles' as a blog.
     What is amazing and incredible, is it has already been viewed by people in four or five different countries.
     I am a big youtuber, but I guess because of the laws in various countries, people from all over the world don't always look at my videos.  Somehow, the blogs get through, though.  True, I don't get as many hits with a blog, but I do get new locations.
     I know there is a huge audience for Science Fiction around the world, and I am going to tap into that, but do it my own way, and have tons of fun, because...why the hell not?
     I've been an artist for a long time, and because of my studies and things, I was on The Art World for a long time, and I have mixed feelings about that planet now.  Basically, they didn't want me.  I tried to be one of them, but none of them seemed to be into what I was doing.  It was never good enough for them.  That will change some day, I hope.
     Anyway, my coffee is done, be right back...
     I thought of the title for this blog entry while I was making coffee.  I like it.
     So, basically, I will keep working on this blog, and see what happens.
     As a kid, I grew up watching The Twilight Zone, and we liked anything to do with Science Fiction...well, most of it.  We liked Star Trek, but I had a hard time with shows like 'The Outer Limits' and 'Lost in Space'.  Science Fiction was hit or miss.  We did like the original Flash Gordon serials, but I could never watch Buster Crabbe in Buck Rogers, because he wore the same stupid belt as he did in Flash Gordon.  That made no sense.  How could that same belt..uh...survive 400 years...and...I can't think this one through.
     We also liked the magazine StarLog, which gave us the scoop on all Science Fiction things.  We liked that.
      THEN...Star Wars happened.  That changed everything.  Because of the money that movie brought in, all of science fiction was validated all of a sudden.
     Over the years, science fiction has done really well.
     Don't get me wrong, as a genre, sometimes it can suck really hard.  At its best, it can make social comments on our every day life that you can't really do in other genres.  Also, science fiction seems to attract smart people interested in technology.  They need good stories, too, you know.
     So, that's where I am coming from.
     I come from an art family, too, so all this stuff mushed up together just kind of makes me into a freak, but it matters not.
     In any case, like I said, I will have a good time.  In addition to Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Predator, I also like Babylon 5, and I'm a fan of Dune.
     One thing that Science Fiction does well is it creates an excuse to put hot girls in skin tight alien costumes and space suits, and that is always cool.
     There is The Porn planet, and neither Sci Fi nor the porn industry has dealt with that much, apart from Flesh Gordon, which actually is a pretty good movie...there just happens to be naked chicks here and there, alongside some pretty good clay stop-animation.  That movie was always so forbidden to watch, and now it is innocent as pie.  I wouldn't mind getting the dvd of that.
     Anyway, my older brother Mike is the one in the family who is really into science fiction, not me.  He is way more up on it, so I have some catching up to do.  It won't take me long, though, to surpass him.  He makes this comic called 'We Go Anywhere', but I got some ideas about science fiction that will go farther than that.
     I'm interested in Alternate Realities, War, Babes in Hot Leather, Technology, Alien Invasions, Ships, Legends, Literature, Art...just all kinds of things, and I'm going to make it all happen without copying too much of anything.  I'm going to do it my own way.
     I do like 'Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy', it is all brilliant stuff.
     There is always a tendency in American Science Fiction to have what I call, "Americans in Space".  I want to mock that.
     I'm also a critic of The Media, and political systems.
     I'm also highly aware of the mind-washing that goes on today, and believe you me, it is getting ugly in that regard.  People don't think for themselves, even though they think they do.  They are over-whelmed, they can't help it, and they feel powerless.
     Well, an individual can make a difference, and that is what I plan to do.  I'll just turn myself into a space hero.
     Oh, by the way, I am Dirk Wampaflash on 'Clone Wars Adventures', so if you want to say hi to me there, you actually can do that, and even come over to my house.  I accept all friend adds.
     With SJB, I can actually be here on Earth in the present day, or I can project myself hundreds of years into the future, or even into the past if need be, in an alternate universe.
     You see, beyond The Moon, beyond Mars, and somewhere near Jupiter is The Great and Ancient Universal TransInterGalactic Subway and  SpaceBus System.  It is a form of dimensional travel, and is a Gateway to all places in The Universe.
     Ships traveling at light speed and beyond, well, that doesn't quite work.  I don't think that will ever happen.  I like the Dune explanation of how ships travel great distances, by folding space with the aid of spice and Navigators.  I also like the Dune explanation of how The Universe was populated...they all came from Ancient Terra...which is our Earth.  It is kind of bleak that there is no life anywhere else, but hey, it makes sense.  The fact that we have life on Earth is a one in a ten quadrillion chance for all the conditions of life to exist and sustain itself.  We're lucky we had the help of a dead moon, to influence us gravitationally, otherwise, we might still be in the trees.
     So that is basically where I am coming from in terms of Science Fiction. 
     I also read a lot of sci fi growing up, and I really enjoyed Ray Bradbury.  He seemed to be one of the best.  He could really tell a story.
     I am a big Rod Serling fan, just so you know.

     Did you know there were serious essays written about The Philosophy of Science fiction written in the late 40's?  I'm sure Rod Serling was aware of that work.  I am going to have to dig that stuff up.

     Have you ever tried to read 'The War of The Worlds'?  I find it a little stuffy and condescending toward the reader.  It's from an elitist point of view, is what I picked up from it.  But now we know that sci fi is for everybody.

     I have recently become a big fan of Babylon 5.  That took me a while, since it is a show that I had to watch from season 1 episode 1 to even figure out what the hell was going on.
     I like the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, and now I see that they copied a lot from Babylon 5.
     I still like Star Wars, and I have never really caught up on all the new Star Trek series, so some day I will do that.

     But yeah, my brother Mike and I were into science fiction, and comic books, and he always had sci fi books laying around, so I read his books, not having many of my own.

     I grew up playing Little League baseball, that is all I had.  It was fun, but I never made it onto the high school team, so that was the end of my baseball career.

     I was never much of a musician, either.  I wanted to draw more than I wanted to play a musical instrument.  We didn't have too many musical instruments laying around.  Anything we did have would get trashed by all the kids that were around in my house.  Nothing was safe, not toys, or posters, or comic books.  It would all get destroyed.

     I still have desires to build train tracks going through mountains.  I still want to build race tracks.  I still want to play with Legos and Lincoln Logs.  I need money for all of this, so maybe science fiction will be a way to increase commerce coming in my direction.  It beats being poor the rest of my life.

     I am also into Magic The Gathering.  I find it is pretty useful, metaphorically, for things in my life.

     I like Lord of The Rings, The Kalevala, and all kinds of medieval stuff.  I dream of Dungeons & Dragons, still.

     I am a sword and sorcery guy.  When I had nothing, it was there to save me.  What the hell was I going to get into, religion?
     Just so you know, rock and roll saved my soul.

     I am not religious.  It's not my bag, just so you know.

     I like all kinds of video games, and I treat it seriously as a medium.

     I like movies, too.  I've begun to watch them again, since I moved my PS2 next to my computer.  Now I can watch movies and work on my computer at the same time.

     I am into the idea of writing a lot.  We'll see what happens.

     I guess someday, I will build up an audience.  It has begun.

     I have plans for Space Journey Battles.  If all that ever happens is that it just remains a blog, and I make some videos from time to time, then so be it.