eclectika

Prologue I’ve always tried to keep things simple. You could say that my gift to the world was to simplify the many things we’ve made so complicated. When a family member or a friend had trouble with one of their gizmos, gadgets and whatnots, I’m usually the one that fields the call. Most of the time I can decipher where their problem is and explain the solution clearly and generally quickly—it really all depends on how well they listen. Imagine how difficult it must be for me now to relay the events of the past few months to you, as they have been anything but simple. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that I am somehow responsible for the giant purple ‘hole’ in the sky that now looms over Denver or the strange glowing orbs now present all around the Flatirons. Though I will explain these phenomenons, I can assure you that neither was directly caused by me. The strange reports of the creature now referred to as “The Gravel Man” are, I assure you, greatly overstated and not at all ind...

Remember... Captain Kangaroo , Sesame Street , Mr. Rogers , and The Electric Company ? Or how about waking up as early as you could to view the adventures of Mighty Mouse ? What about warming up your eyes to early Sunday morning cartoons? 'Toons such as The Groovy Ghoulies , Drak Pack , or The Robonic Stooges ? A Sunday morning may have also included clips from the Skate Birds , The Magic Door , HR Puff 'n Stuff or maybe even Dirty Dragon's Gigglesnort Hotel --that odd little show which took place in a unbelievably tall hotel steered by an old captain living in the penthouse and powered by a dragon who kept the broiler working in the basement. Nothing ring a bell yet? How about the good 'ol afternoon agenda? We start the line up watching Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny . Then things got real with  G-FORCE ! And as I recall it, the totally uncool alternative was the Mickey Mouse Club or the Banana Splits (I personally always loathed the perpetually happy Bra...

The Key to Happiness | by Nabih Saliba | In every soul there is a door Behind which lies that something more From friends to lovers, husbands and wives, We search for meaning in each of our lives This world moves faster every day With work to do and bills to pay It’s hard to keep our heads held high To smell the roses, touch the sky In all the noise we lose our self We place our dreams up on a shelf Our childlike wonder often goes To where, nobody really knows And so for those with everything, I bring no cash or diamond ring Instead I’ve come with something more The key to that forgotten door Be chained no more for you are free To be more than you sought or see For in you there will always be A world of possibility

Like so many of the streaming services today, Amazon has become a production house to provide engaging content for its subscribers. One of the things that Amazon does differently than the others is test the waters with limited runs of a show or just create a pilot to gauge interest and see where things go from there. Oasis is currently just a single pilot episode designed to generate interest for the show and, if a full-scale production run looks as promising as this pilot, I'm in. Not only does the pilot introduce us to a rogue's gallery of interesting characters but it somehow manages to make us care about them in very short order. As I mentioned earlier, Amazon releases shows like to this to test if there's an audience willing to watch. When you're done, you can write a review on their site or (in some cases) even fill out a short survey about what you saw to more formally gather data. Out of 12,000 viewers/reviewers on Amazon, 85% of them rate it five sta...

Clouds surround me as I navigate the currents in the sky. My gondola turns into a headwind and I strain against the oar vainly trying to steady the only thing between me and the distant ground below. I steer left, then right, looking for a pocket of clean air. The clouds surge toward my little craft and I brace for the worst until a ray of sunlight to starboard. Pulling hard on the oar, the gondola swings quickly in the wind and enters the gap in the clouds. Carry speed from the storm behind, my craft slips easily out into open sky. Down below me, green rolling hills shoulder small towns and the arteries that connect them. I imagine settling down in one of them and begin to scour the countryside for a piece of land to call my own. Off in the distance, there seems to be a golden shimmer just before the horizon. Using my spyglass, the shimmer seems to be composed of many smaller objects moving together. As they get closer to a small town, bells begin to ring. The melody that greets me ...

Long overdue, I've decided to add another post to my paltry collection on musings. In the years since I last published anything here, may things have happened in my life. While there have been my share of missteps, I've had quite a few personal victories too. I think the break from writing has been a good one but now I believe that it's time to start things up again with this blog. Life has a way of moving quickly whether or not you're watching it go by. It doesn't seem as if a great amount of time has passed but simply looking at the last time I posted anything here tells a different tale entirely. My children have grown significantly and I'm inches away from losing my "cool" status with them–I suppose that cherishing any status with the label "cool" automatically invalidates my worthiness. I've changed careers, lost loved ones and even adopted a small dog. With so much going on, there should be plenty to share in the coming posts. ...