Fish and Cherries Productions

As an old TV show once said, “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and you get the facts of life.” Well, this week is certainly chock full of that. Let’s take a look at the ups and the downs that resonated the most with me.

First, the bad news on everyone’s mind: the death of David Bowie. What can I say that hasn’t already been said before? The man was a one-of-a-kind artist, the likes of whom we may never see again. I’ll admit that for most of my life, the Bowie I knew and loved was the Goblin King from Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, but I eventually found my way to Ziggy Stardust and Major Tom. Whether he was young or old, his music was brilliant and pushed the boundaries every time. The fact that his last album was saying goodbye to the world is both heartbreaking and amazing. Simon Pegg (but not the Simon Pegg) said it best: “If you’re sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.” Rest assured, I always will.

For the good… we did it. The crowdfunding for both Psychonauts 2 and Don Bluth’s Dragon’s Lair movie were wildly successful, exceeding their intended goal and causing geeks everywhere to rejoice. And why shouldn’t they? Tim Schaeffer and Don Bluth are both artistic visionaries that got the short end of the stick and deserve a second chance? Were they perfect? No. Did they stumble from time to time? Certainly. But when someone puts out something truly great and unique, it seems like complete bunk that further projects should fail just because the investors don’t want to take a risk or because the first installment didn’t bring in the biggest of bucks. So yes, I consider this a win. Time will tell if I’m wrong, but for the moment, let the revelry continue.

And that’s what’s on my mind for today.

No Classic Snippet today. I’ve fallen behind on some paid work and that takes precedence. Sorry.

So a lot of you were probably quite surprised that last week, I just… disappeared with no warning. I’d like to say that it was just because of the holidays and spending time with family, but that’s not really true.

The truth is that I had a mental breakdown. It was a combination of stress and guilt over recent actions, so I had to be rushed down to Southern California to be with family and recover. I’d rather not talk about the recent actions, but I will say that it wasn’t Hitler-bad and I’m doing my bit to fix things. As for my mental health, I’m nearly back at 100%, hence why I’m back to work again.

This may be a bit distressing for some of you to read, but know that these things happen. Asperger’s Syndrome has a lot of these challenges and even with all my training and methods of functioning, I have no doubt that there will be episodes like this in the future. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still dragging the past events with me and thinking about what they mean for the future. But time passes and all things heal. Some just may take longer than others.

Moving on from that, let’s talk Fish and Cherries business. That’s two months in a row that I’ve missed a Ronin Reads and unfortunately, I don’t have a hard date of when I’m getting it out. Lord knows that the subject isn’t as topical as it was last month, but I still might be able to get some mileage out of it. That said, there’s another upcoming work that you guys might like. 2015 is behind us and if you’ve been a fan since last year, you may remember me coming out with a list of my best movies of 2014. Well, I’m happy to say that I’ll be doing the same with 2015… plus some extra.

See, I’ve had to become a lot less picky with what movies I see to show that I’m more professional and more likely to get picked up, so unlike last year, I’ve seen enough bad movies this year to warrant a list of worst movies. I’ll be coming out with the worst first, since I like to end things on a positive note, but just be prepared for some truly deserved bile spewing and venting towards the past year’s garbage. It’ll be a bit since I want to catch that last few 2015 films before they leave theaters.

Here’s hoping that everyone is having a Happy New Year.

Let’s take a moment to talk about Santa Claus. Kris Kringle. Para Noel. Jolly Old Saint Nick.

Most of us grew up with stories of the man and promises of him delivering our heart’s desires on Christmas day. As we got older, we naturally had less fanciful Christmas ideas and only kept the tradition alive for our kids. Now I’m going to ask something a little odd of you. I’d like you to keep the tradition alive in a different way. I’d like you to become someone’s Santa Claus.

Now I don’t mean getting them expensive gifts or anything as literal as that. I mean I’d like you to help make someone’s day. It could be a small thing like taking them to the park and enjoying the moment or a large thing like feeding a family that doesn’t make a lot of money. Because quite frankly, we live in some bleak times. Refugees are being turned away from places, bigoted madmen are the frontrunners for the Republican Presidential Nominees, Islamophobia is on the rise, people of the LGBT are being kicked out of their homes, it’s a mess all around. There’s a lot of fear in the nation right now. But if you take up the mantle of Santa Claus for one day or a few and find some way to give hope to some people around you… then this holiday might be a little happier.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas is two days away and I couldn’t be more excited. Of course, with that comes a hitch. I’m going out of town for the holidays to a place with no Internet, making posts all but impossible. Well, except for one Christmas post that I’m leaving in capable hands. But yeah, I’m holding off on this week’s Classic Snippet and Scribbles, but as always, I’ll be back next week. Until then, enjoy your holidays. I know I will.

Fear not Devoted Fans, your weekly Classic Snippet will appear later this eve. The delay will be worth your wait as I am nearing time to view and review… you got it – Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

All right, let’s talk turkey. There are some HUGE things in the geek world happening right now.

Did you ever see An American Tale? How about The Land Before Time? All Dogs Go To Heaven? Anastasia? The Secret of NIMH? Titan A.E.? Congratulations, your life has been touched by animation legend Don Bluth. Now it’s time to pay back the favor. Right now, Bluth has taken to Indiegogo to crowdfund his latest project: a big screen adaptation of his video game from the 80s, Dragon’s Lair! And it’s all hand-drawn animation! If you like his work and want to support him in his endeavor, follow this link and help bring one of the most godlike animators back into the public eye.

What’s that? Not enough of a dream come true? How about the crowdfunding campaign to help make Psychonauts 2?! Oh yeah, I bet you never thought you’d get a sequel, but it’s happening. If you haven’t heard of Psychonauts, it’s a game made by Tim Schaffer and his company Double Fine Productions that was unique, innovative, and fun. If you can find it on Steam, X-Box LIVE, or the Playstation Network, I highly recommend it. And once you’re done playing it, follow this link and help make the sequel it deserved a reality.

Well, that’s enough joy for me today, because I need to tackle a movie for tomorrow. A bad movie. One that’s practically drowning in bad press, making it a shame not to take on for my year end list. And who better to bring me this awful experience… than Adam Sandler?

Sorry to do this, but I’m going to have to postpone the Scribbles for today. This week has been very work-intensive for a big move forward and as such, I haven’t had the time or the energy to work on my weekly microfictions. This weekend, though, is a different story.

Guess turkey coma and travel knocked me out harder than I thought. Regardless, I’m back and ready for action. Numerous Classic Snippets will come out tomorrow, a lot more Reel Snippets will hit the shelves on Monday, and come next week, I intend to finish off my Expanded Universe retrospective.

As for the Ronin Reads… well, I’m sorry to say that for the first Thursday since I committed to this, I am unprepared. So until further notice, I’ll lump my planned November release into this December’s reading. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll release both of the reviews I was planning to do for Women’s History Month, seeing how relevant they are to the subject.

That’s all for Wednesday’s update. I’ll see you all tomorrow. And maybe finally get around to seeing Spectre…

Sorry folks, no new Snippet today as it’s been the day of travel to get home after Thanksgiving (if you’ve ever done that you get it). Regularly scheduled postings and updates resume this week so stay tuned…