Dylan Charles's Blog, page 6

We Can Rebuild Him

Let’s see if I remember how to do this…

Over the last year or so I’ve been slowly drifting further and further away from where I want to be and it’s only recently that I’ve made some very deliberate strides back to where I want to be.

I started small.

I’ve been going through this blog and restructuring it. I’m not done with the great revamping, but it’s getting there. It’s just about setting the house in order. Putting entries in their proper places, sweeping other entries under the rug where pe...

Deadlines and Other Things

Unfortunately, I was too busy blacksmithing to write today. That’s right, I heated up metal and hit it with a hammer and now I am like the great god Thor. Except I don’t think he ever made anything with his hammer. Maybe more like Hephaestus.

Whatever.

No blog entry tonight, but stay tuned for more tomorrow.

-D-

The American Hero

Superman is an interesting character.

I know; that’s not a popular idea. Superman, for me and a lot of people, is The Superhero. He has every power that he could possibly have: flight, super strength, freeze breath, laser eyes, great hair. He holds all life sacred. He does not use his powers to alter humanity’s way of life, no matter how much he may or may not disagree with it. He stands for Truth and Justice and he…does…not…bend from those morals.

This does not make for a compelling character....

Aversion Training

I absolute can’t stand what I’m writing for NaNoWriMo. I know this is almost a complete reversal after my last post, but I honestly can’t stand it. Writing has become a painful exercise in word extraction. I sit there and I can’t force myself to type because the idea of spending any more time or thought on this piece of overly contrived, pointlessly poisonous, needlessly verbose, viciously vile and extravagant exercise in excessive excrement is like the making you read the sentence you just r...

NaNoWriMo Update

I’m doing terribly this year. Let’s not dress up this situation in fantasy and lies: I’m behind. I’m so far behind. And I hate what I’m writing. And I’m angry about it most of the time. I want to punch the world. The WHOLE world, not even just the bad parts. I drink too much. I’m eating increasingly worse and worse food. I am the perfect portrait of the self-loathing writer.

But that’s fine. While I was working on the abomination (my affectionate and loving new nickname for my second novel), I...

NANOWRIMO 2013

I have started this year’s NANOWRIMO the way I normally do: three days late and with no idea with what I’m really going to be doing for this month. I spent most of today catching up and throwing out five thousand fairly questionable words. For whatever reason, I save my worst words and story ideas for NANOWRIMO, which i why, once again, I won’t be telling you a single damn thing about what I’m working on.

I will use this space, however, to wish the rest of the participants good luck. And that’...

Happy Halloween

It’s Halloween, the beginning of the best part of the year. There used to be a time, in my younger, more morbid days, that I considered Halloween to be my favorite holiday. I’d watch horror movies while coated in liquid latex wounds, quietly humming the theme to Friday the 13th.

But now, I see Halloween in a more subdued role; it’s the gateway to the season. It’s a season that starts October 1st and ends January 1st. It’s a season that celebrates family, giving, gratitude and staying warm as w...

Halloween Monday Movie Marathon and Beer: Hillside Cannibals and Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

I am disappointed to end this day on a low note, but that’s how it is. I am not a huge fan of Dogfish Head, but I decided I’d give them one more shot, in the spirit of the season. The problem isn’t so much with the brewery as it is with brown ales. I don’t like brown ales. I don’t like brown ales when they’re wearing the mask of pumpkin seasoning either. If you like Dogfish Head ales, you’ll probably like this. Me? Not so much.

And, on top of that, I didn’t really enjoyHillside Cannibals eithe...

Monday Halloween Movie Marathon and Beer: Alice in Murderland and Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Like before, let’s start off with my review of the beer, Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin. I smell cinnamon. I taste cinnamon. This is a cinnamon beer. There’s not much in the way of pumpkins here. I’m not sure what cinnamon has to do with pumpkins aside from pumpin pie, but, at least in the eyes of brewers, pumpkin flavor has become irrevocably linked with cinnamon. This is not as watery as some other beers that rely so heavily on cinnamon and is a pretty solid beer through and through. It’s just di...

Halloween Monday Movie Marathon and Beer: Cryptic Plasm and Imperial Pumking

First, let’s talk about the Imperial Pumking, before we jump into the movie. Pumking is one of my favorite pumpkin ales, a fact I forgot before I opened the bottle. I has a strong pumpkin flavors and does not rely so heavily on cinnamon flavoring as other pumpkin ales do. In fact, I would be hard pressed to identify any cinnamon flavoring at all in this beer. There are far less spices utilized and it relies far more on single, strong flavor notes.

There is a very nutty flavor and aroma, with a...