Clancy Tucker's Blog, page 112

13 July 2019 - BELUGA POINT FRESH WATER SPRING IN ALASKA

BELUGA POINT FRESH WATER SPRING IN ALASKA
G'day folks,Clean, cold drinking water flows from a nondescript pipe in a roadside rock face.  For water aficionados or just regular folks, tasting the fresh, cool underground spring water that flows from this rock face offers an experience unlike drinking any tap or bottled water.   While taking in the gorgeous sights along the scenic Seward Anchorage Highway, it can be easy to overlook a two-foot metal pipe covered in stickers that emerges unannounced from the roadside rock face. Known as the Beluga Point Fresh Water Spring, out of this pipe spurts cool, clean water from an underground spring. 




The pipe was reportedly installed years ago by the Alaska Department of Transportation to relieve pressure from the spring that passes beneath the highway. Today, it hearkens back to a time when people gathered water from natural springs, as locals and travelers alike now stop along this portion of the road to fill jugs and water bottles.




Quenching your thirst shouldn’t be your only reason to visit this stretch of road. Often ranked among the top scenic drives in the world, the Seward Anchorage Highway winds along Turnigan Arm, a narrow waterway that features the second highest tides in North America. The mountains of Chugach State Park rise on either side, some upwards of 3,000 feet.
 
Clancy's comment: Wow. Nothing like natural water. It certainly beats that expensive bottled stuff.
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12 July 2019 - A BUNCH OF INSPIRING QUOTES

A BUNCH OF INSPIRING QUOTES
G'day folks,
Welcome to some more inspiring quotes to send on to those who may require them.



























Clancy's comment: Yep, all good. Send them on. 
I'm ...

11 July 2019 - HUMOROUS PICTURES OF WILDLIFE

HUMOROUS PICTURES OF WILDLIFE

G'day folks,
If you love animals, then get ready to laugh your head off! Once again, it's time to announce the winners of the annual Comedy Wildlife Awards, and we seem to have some of the strongest entries yet! The competition was originally started to raise awareness about wildlife conservation.





























Clancy's comment: Wow. Great shots, eh?

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10 July 2019 - ALAN FYFE - GUEST AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN

ALAN FYFE - GUEST AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN -
G'day folks,
Today, I interview a musician from Australia. Sadly, though I've tried hard, finding Musicians to interview is not easy. BIO
Alan fyfe was born in South Perth and studied literature and philosophy at the University of Western Australia.  He writes poetry, prose fiction, and journalism and his work has been featured in a diverse range of publications, including Westerly, The Fremantle Herald Newspaper Group, and The Cottonmouth Journal.  He was an inaugural editor of the UWA creative writing journal, Trove, and a prose editor for the American Web Journal, Unlikely Stories.  In 2009, he won the Karl Popper Philosophy Award. Alan has been writing songs since he was fifteen and recorded the Ukulele-Punk E.P, Messy Brunettes, at tweed studios in the Northern Rivers in 2015.  His first novel, Floaters, was shortlisted for the Fremantle Press T.A.G Hungerford Award and is currently under development as a multi-media project, including a music E.P and stage show. He lives in Maylands, Western Australia, with his son.

Welcome, Alan ...

1.   TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR MUSIC JOURNEY.
My name is Alan.  I’ve mostly lived near water.  I’ve busked a lot.  I took my Luna ukulele up the east coast and busked at the railway underpass in Katoomba.  I made sixty bucks in forty-five minutes.  It was a good day.  A guy stopped and saw the Plato book in my uke bag and gave me a weird nod.  Got a bit too close then dropped four bucks and ran off.  That ukulele’s broken now.  I fixed it up as a resonator with an old silver plate from the Salvation army, but it got broken again.

2.   WERE YOU INTERESTED IN MUSIC AS A KID? WHAT TYPES OF MUSIC?
Well, yes.  Who isn’t? I used to be embarrassed to say I liked Billy Joel when I was a kid.  I’m not embarrassed now.  I god damn loved Billy Joel.  My brother took me to see him at the Perth Entertainment centre.  Would have been twelve.
I liked Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast.  All the early Queen albums, but All That Jazz in particular.  I couldn’t get enough of that Black Sabbath song, War Pigs, and probably convinced myself I could worship the devil for about six months.  My mum was interested in Bob Dylan, AC/DC, and Stravinsky.  My brother played Rodríguez all the time.  It’s a little known fact that Rodriguez was actually very popular in Australia while he was obscure everywhere else but South Africa.  I’ve got his poetry stuck in my head forever… Were you tortured by your own thirst, in those pleasures that you seek, that makes you Tom the curious, that makes you James the weak.
3.   WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A MUSICIAN?
My brother taught me two chords on the guitar when I was fifteen.  They were E minor and G major.  You can play You Can’t Always Get What You Want with those two chords, which, ironically, is exactly what you want.  I immediately bought a blue nylon string guitar from the hock shop for fifteen bucks.  The machine heads were missing, so I caught a bus to Perth then walked five miles to a music shop that had the right parts.  Got the bits home, fixed them in, strung the heavy, messy plank, and tuned it.  Played You Can’t Always Get What You Want then immediately wrote an original song.  The song was called Pig Boy.  It sounds metal, but Pig Boy was really very gentle and nostalgic.  It had five chords and neither of them were the two I knew.  I just made them up by moving shapes up and down the fretboard until something sounded like music. It’s odd that a fifteen-year old would write a nostalgic song.  You know, Bob Dylan wrote Bob Dylan’s Dream when he was twenty-two and it sounds like the fond recollections of a sixty-year old itinerant leather worker.



4.   WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?
There’s nothing to not enjoy, but right now it’s good for company.  I’m primarily a writer, which is quite a lonely trade.  Making some music with others has been a good relief from being locked in a room with a laptop.  I caught up with my friend the other day, who had acted as empresario on the last thing put down as a recording.  We want for a walk by the river and talked for a couple of hours.  So, that’s something I enjoy a lot.  Talking about music with friends.  Talking about art and how it’s put together.
5.   WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A MUSICIAN?
For me, it’s playing.  Because my first medium is words and I concentrated on poetics as my main form of expression, if my practice on instruments drops off it takes a lot to get me back to playing well.  I have to try to keep up twenty minutes a day practice and learn or write a new song every two weeks. 
Most musicians seem to struggle with the part I find easy though, which is the lyrics.  I suppose they’re trained in instruments pretty intensively, but rarely have any hard training in verse.  I often hear quite successful bands with truly awful lyrics.  I listened to the last JJJ hottest 100.  I was borrowing someone’s car who had the radio tuned to JJJ.  You know, you don’t change someone’s station when you borrow a car.  It’s extremely rude.  Anyway, half of the songs sounded as though the lyrics were written by ten-year old kids who never got as far as Dr Seuss… One in the top ten had a chorus that went – Baby, you’re driving me crazy.  What the hell? The guitar on the song was pretty good, but you can do both.  Jimi Hendrix lyrics are light handed, imagistic, and excellent.  If you don’t know poetry, it can be learned.  If you can’t learn it, get someone who knows it to help with the lyrics.  Don’t write cat hat mat rhymes and repeat the same hokey story about a relationship that’s sexy / romantic / difficult / broken up.  It sounds like I’m being grumpy and elitist.  I am.  The reason is that I hear lyrics on the community station from little known local bands that are like cut gems five times a day – interesting, well edited, good poetry – those cat hat mat bands are taking up mental space that could be occupied by musicians who’ve actually worked hard on having an integrity of expression.  Get the hell off the stage if you’re going to go at it like a tourist and not do the work on every part, or if you think you can learn poetry by just trying to write it.  I can’t remember the name of the Baby, You’re Driving Me Crazy band, but they don’t deserve to exist.  They offer nothing to the world.  End of story.
6.   DO YOU WORK FOR YOURSELF, OTHERS OR BOTH?
I work with others, never under them, so we work for each other.
7.   WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME INVOLVED IN MAKING MUSIC?
I’ve had twenty-three different careers, but I never had a job before I wrote Pig Boy at fifteen, so there was no past life.  If anything, I started seriously trying to write prose fiction when I was thirteen, but the two things mesh up.  So, nothing before this.  All other work has been a sideline and, to be honest, mostly a counter productive distraction.  I worked as a home help for Silver Chain for a while.  Cleaning houses for the aged, some disabled folk.  That was nice.  I liked that job.  Working as a barista was cool too.  You can drink as much coffee as you like. 



8.   WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
Getting a short story published in a Mandurah computer club magazine when I was thirteen.  The circulation was around thirty people.  It was 1986.  People were still impressed they could make their own newspapers on printers hooked up to a Commodore 64.  I’ve done things that seem bigger since.  Things that seem bigger to other people anyway.  That was the biggest thing that ever happened though.  I knew I’d made it.  Just had to keep doing the same thing.
9.   WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
I wrote a novel called Floaters and it got shortlisted for a major prize.  I didn’t win but the publisher was interested.  I’d quoted some song lyrics and they thought it would work out too expensive with copyright, so they asked me to write my own songs.
I wrote in a fictional band called Meat Lunch as an excuse for the original songs to appear in the book.  I’d finished my edits and was waiting for the publisher to come back from Christmas break.  I was bored so I called a musician friend and floated the idea of recording some of the songs.  He came over and read the scene Meat Lunch appear in.  Within half an hour we were in a professional studio with some very talented folk putting down a track.
Currently, I’m working to make Floaters into a multi-media project in this way.  We’re doing an E.P of songs from the book.  Bringing the fictional band to life.  I give the songs to the musicians and they get into the character like actors.  I don’t play or sing.  It’s very cool, seeing what they make it into and we become co-creators.  It becomes their song as much as mine.  The crew were Ben Newton of Blue Child Collective acting as empresario, Chris Parkinson of roving harmonica fame and the Freo Trio, Trevor Bentley who was lately a bass lord from various bands but formed the Freo Trio with Chris, and it was recorded by the nuggety Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios.  I didn’t choose the nug life, the nug life chose me.  I like that Blake has the same name as a black-cockatoo.
Most of the songs are for female voice.  The fictional lead singer is called Irma Denial.  I needed someone to play that part.  When I saw Chris and Trevor’s band play, well, it’s called the Freo ‘Trio’ – the third member is a lady called Catrin Enderlien and she’s agreed to come on board as Irma in the future recordings.  She had a fantastic voice and style of playing, so it’s all looking pretty nifty.
That’s the stage I’m at now.  I’m thinking the E.P will make an interesting cross promotion when the book comes out.  A kind of soundtrack for the book.  Beyond that, it could make a good stage show.  Who knows where the potential ends?
10.               WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TYPE OF MUSIC?
Something with honesty behind it.  Something that looks effortless because the maker worked like a dog to make it look that way.  Something that is only cool because it ignores being cool in order to do something interesting.
11.               WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
People inspire me.  Some say they’re inspired by nature.  I guess that’s fine, being grateful for the way the world feels.  I’m more worried about nature these days.  People get me.  What they can do.  How kind they can be.  How they can surprise you.  I mean people close to me mostly.  It’s hard to have distant heroes.  You can’t really know that much about them.  You can admire their work, but the closer you get the more the cracks start to show.  I’m inspired by the people I know intimately but who still come out shiny.  My love, Jasmina.  My son, Yitzhak.
12.               DO YOU PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS?
Guitar; ukulele; harmonica.  I can play the first bit of Moonlight Sonata on piano.  Also kazoo.  I’m the world’s foremost kazoo player.  The world’s foremost kazoo player is a closely guarded secret held by the Nobel Academy in Sweden.  I can reveal, here, that it’s me.  I’m tired of those damn Swedes holding me back and I’m giving myself permission to shine.  There’s an award given out to the kazoo laureate.  Unlike the peace prize or the literature prize, the Nobel Prize for kazoo is held in a private room and the press aren’t invited.  They told me it was a safety measure because my kazoo playing was so good it could potentially destroy the universe if too many people played a recording of me at once, so I’ll never put down a track with kazoo.  I just wanted people to know.




13.               DO YOU HAVE A COLLECTION OF MUSIC? WHAT?
Like a true middle-age wanker.  I have an old record player and buy vinyl a lot.  I’m gunna say The Mountain Goats, and just leave that there.  There’s a certain section of people who know exactly what I’m talking about and know that I can’t explain it in any better way than listening to The Mountain Goats. 
Fairground Attraction; Wu Tang Clan; Bus Driver; Digital Underground; Velvet Underground (big black boots of shiny shiny leather…); Archer; Buffy St Marie; Regina Spektor; Mickey Avalon; The Drones; Howlin Wolf; The Triffids; Sonny Boy Williamson II; The Pogues; Bruce Springstein; Leonard Cohen (the high priest); The Venga Boys; Courtney Barnett; Stone Temple Pilots; Jane’s Addiction; Pearl Jam; Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. 
I don’t have any Billy Joel these days.  Maybe I should get some.
14.               DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR EMERGING MUSICIANS?
Sure, don’t write any lyrics with bourgeois foodstuffs in there.  Things like cronuts, kale, don’t bring them up.  It’s fine if you like to eat these things, I won’t judge you.  I like a fifteen-dollar wedge of cheese as much as the next man.  They just don’t belong in poetry.
Next, accept that you’ve failed.  By taking up art, you have already failed.  I mean failure in the most literal sense.  There is a tiny, atomic chance that you will even have a moderate level of success.  Even for that midway, satisfactory life of gigging round and making some art people like, or getting some poems published, you’ll fail in crushing and tragic ways along the path.  If you’re still reading this and still interested in going on, you’re no less of a failure but you should definitely go on.  There’s nothing in being good but the work and the struggle with that work.  And if you get good you can never have failed.
Another thing is never miss a chance to pick up a skill or a bit of knowing.  All sorts of people can teach you all sorts of things.  Be humble and listen more than you pontificate.
Seriously, though, don’t write songs about kale.  I did some work for a friend and she gave me produce from her garden.  Spinach, garlic, and kale.  I didn’t eat the kale, I threw it in the bin.  Kale tastes like disappointment.
15.               DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED SCHEDULE?
I like to work from six to twelve hours a day.  Half an hour for lunch when I watch the news.  Sometimes I work up to sixteen hours, but with a good hour for an evening meal.  I can be working on one thing or another.  It could be study and research.  It could be writing.  It could be a song.  I have weekends off.  Good praxis comes with application.
16.               DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PLACE OR TIME TO WORK?
I like to practice guitar or ukulele on the outside couch on a nice afternoon, or even when it’s raining.  It’s a sheltered spot.  I usually think of lyrics in the morning and they either come out complete and I can work on the music during the day, or the lyrics brew through the day and come out at night.  The songs that come out completely in the morning are the best songs usually, when I’m closer to a dream state, but I don’t get much say about when they come out exactly.  Most of the time I write at the kitchen table.
17.               WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN YOUR WORK?
In terms of music, just that sound.  The sound when you hit it the right way.  It never gets old.  In terms of writing, the constant work and editing.  Making things that weren’t in the world the day before.  But the writing has a sound too.  It’s hard to explain.  It has a music, and a tune you sort of know.  You know when it’s sweet and you know when you hit a bad note.
18.               WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
I can see your nipples through that shirt.



19.               DESCRIBE THE FUNNIEST MOMENT YOU EXPERIENCED IN YOUR WORK?
I stopped where this little kid was busking outside the art gallery.  He had a harmonica, couldn’t play at all, just blowing the thing.  But it was so cute.  Mum was watching, real proud, wrapped up in a shawl on a winter night.  I was very charmed and took my harp out to jam with him.  I showed it to his mum and got the nod.  Then I started to play a little Good Morning Blues in time with his all over the place blow and draw.  He looked up at me, absolutely furious, and said in this rich kid private school voice – excuse me, you’re ruining my performance.  Haha.  Egotistical little bastard. 
20.               WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED?
Trying to busk in Adelaide after a night of heavy drinking and smoking.  Out in the Rundle Street Mall.  I sparked up Masters of War, which is one of my best ukulele numbers.  Some dude walked past and just said – Really? It was crushing, but he was right.  I sounded awful and could hardly talk, let alone sing.
21.               WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU AS A CREATIVE MUSICIAN?
Yes, entirely.  All this stuff, it’s autobiography.  Novels, poems, songs.  None of it has to have literally happened.  But you can’t write to make people feel something if you haven’t felt something.  All of it’s based on a true story of feeling someway about something.
22.               HOW MANY SEPARATE PIECES OF MUSIC HAVE YOU PRODUCED?
Ummm, I dunno.  Lots properly recorded.  Probably a hundred home recorded.  Used to send them to friends in the middle of the night when they couldn’t sleep.  Someone got on the phone to me who I didn’t know who’d got one of my songs from a friend.  He was super excited, like he was talking to Freddie Mercury.  It was his favourite song and he played it every day at work.  He did qualify that half the people at work hated it.  That’s what I want to do with music.  I want it to be polarizing and cause arguments.  You need to be upsetting someone or you’re not really trying. 
23.               HAVE YOU WON ANY PRIZES OR AWARDS?
Yes, there was the T.A.G Hungerford book award shortlisting I mentioned above.  I won the Karl Popper Award for my philosophy writing in 2009. 
24.               WHAT DID THEY MEAN TO YOU?
Stepping stones.  Few more miles to go yet.  It’s good validation for people to like your work.
25.               OTHER THAN MAKING MUSIC, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
Food; music festivals; my nearest; fire twirling; drinking the water that runs over the rocks at the bottom of a waterfall.
26.               DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.
It’s hard to pick one.  My life isn’t perfect, but I have so many perfect days at this point of my life.  I’ve been waiting a long time for days like this.  I believed they would come and had my faith justified.  There’s that silly question – what would you do if you knew the end of the world was tomorrow?  Everyone has some wild answer.  For myself, I’d be able to pick maybe eight days from the last month that I’d have for my last day alive.  I reckon that’s a pretty good strike rate.  I could be making a bit of art, playing some music, having a pun battle with my son, eating dinner with my love, speaking to a friend, grappling with some particular bit of philosophy, and reading a good poem.  A lot of my days involve all of these things now.  Those are perfect days.



27.               WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
Much more of the same.  More books, more songs, more chats with friends about art.  More time with the people I love.  More perfect days.
28.               IF YOU CREATED MUSIC FOR THE LEADERS OF THEWORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
Nothing.  They don’t get one damn song until they fix things.  They should be locked in a room together with no music, no light, and no human touch until they agree to take serious measures about the planet burning up and people in the third world being exploited like slaves.  If they get to all that, I dunno, whatever they like best.  Probably a pirate song compilation.  Pirates are very popular.  I like sea shanties.  There’s a sea shanty done by Captain Beefheart, Orange Claw Hammer, that’s like half spoken word and gorgeously weird.  If I did sea shanties for world leaders, Orange Claw Hammer would be on there.  But I’d be happy to do maybe a two-hour album of sea shanties if they meet my demands.  I feel as though they’d get big-headed if they solved all those problems, a bit messianic, which is crap because they should be working on those problems as a matter of urgency all the time.  Their job is guiding us safely through this rubbish.  No one should feel messianic for just doing their job.  Sea shanties are nicely working class and it’s hard to mistake them for messiah music, so that’s what I’d do.  Shea shanties are also about ships and everyone likes to think about travel.  Anyway, they’re not doing their jobs, so no sea shanties right now.  


MUSIC SAMPLE


Clancy's comment: Go, Alan! Thanks for joining us. Being a muso in this country is similar to being an author. Maybe we should all 'band' together and shake a few trees.
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9 July 2019 - MINNESOTA'S LARGEST CANDY STORE

MINNESOTA'S LARGEST CANDY STORE
G'day folks,
Lick your lips. This bright yellow building is packed with sweet treats from all around the world, from chocolate-covered crickets to whoopie pies. 
Across the highway from Jim’s Apple Farm in southern Minnesota’s Scott County is a sprawling bright yellow retail store. The golden dome at one end can be seen from miles up the road like a sunrise on the horizon. 



This seasonal, family-owned business has been operating here nearly 40 years. From mid-May to November, visitors can find local, regional, and imported sweets and treats of all kinds: candied fruits, chocolate bars, fresh baked goods, frozen items, gummies, jelly beans, sodas of every flavor (including Moxie, Cheerwine, and Faygo’s Rock N’ Rye), and even a few toys.

 

 While you shop, you can also admire the ceilings painted in a wild, whimsical dreamscape of food and pop culture impressions. Don’t forget to read the oversized billboard on the way out of the gravel parking lot: It’s usually posted with some quippy pun or sarcastic reflection on the times.




 Clancy's comment: A haven for all of you with a sweet tooth.
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8 July 2019 - Ruins of The Enrique Molina Theatre in Chile

 Ruins of The Enrique Molina Theatre in Chile
G'day folks,The ruins of a grand theater destroyed during the most powerful seismic catastrophe ever recorded.    Ruined by the foreshocks of the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, this once-grand neoclassical theater serves as a permanent reminder of the seismic threats constantly haunting Chile. After just 25 years as a performance venue, the Enrique Molina Theatre was destroyed by a series of four devastating earthquakes in May 1960, which unleashed a quarter of the 20th century’s total global seismic energy on Southern Chile in just 33 hours.




The three Concepción quakes—which measured up to a magnitude 8.3—were shortly followed by the record-breaking magnitude 9.6 Valdivia earthquake. The catastrophic rumblings reduced a third of Concepción’s buildings to no more than ruins and rubble. The Enrique Molina Theatre ruins are a sobering relic of this natural disaster.
 
The once-grand neoclassical theater was meant to be an architectural and cultural treasure, until nature made other plans for its fate. It was named after the co-founder of The University of Concepción, Enrique Molina Garmendia. It was originally intended as a college theater for another of Molina Garmendia’s educational enterprises, the Concepción Men’s College (Liceo de Hombres de Concepción).



A movement to salvage the grand theater gained support during the beginning of the 21st century. An architect was chosen, and local government funding for the restoration was secured in 2009, a year which saw the ruins declared a National Historical Monument. Sadly, in 2010, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake shook Concepción again, causing further damage to the already precarious edifice. 

Municipal funds for the theater’s reconstruction were redirected elsewhere after the 2010 earthquake, leaving a once-beautiful theatre in a state of poetic decay at the heart of Chile’s quake-prone second city.    


Clancy's comment: What a shame, eh? She looks like a grand old lady, even now.
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7 July 2019 - PICTURES THAT ROCK & ROLL

PICTURES THAT ROCK & ROLL
G'day folks,
Welcome to some stunning pictures that shake, rattle and roll.




























Clancy's comment: As always, cats feature.
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6 July 2019 - CHRIS WATTS - MURDERER FROM COLORADO

CHRIS WATTS - MURDERER FROM COLORADO -
G'day folks,
Welcome to some facts about a gruesome muderer from Colorado. Chris Watts is a Colorado man who committed familicide by murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters in August 2018.
Who Is Chris Watts? Born on May 16, 1985, Chris Watts is a Colorado man who murdered his pregnant wife, Shan'ann Watts, and their two young daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, on August 13, 2018. That November, Watts pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on multiple counts and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

Watts Family Murder Returning from a business trip in the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, Shan'ann Watts got into an argument with her husband, Chris Watts, in their Frederick, Colorado home when he confessed he was having an affair and wanted a divorce. According to Chris' confession to authorities, Shan'ann — who was 15 weeks pregnant with their son — proceeded to threaten Chris, saying he'd never see their daughters again, which prompted him to strangle her to death. 

Four-year-old Bella reportedly walked onto the scene after Shan'ann was killed and asked her father, "What are you doing with Mommy?"

According to Chris' lawyer, Chris had told Bella that her mother was feeling ill and they had to take her to the hospital. He then loaded Shan'ann's body and his two daughters in the car and drove them to his work site, Anadarko Petroleum.

Once there, he smothered Celeste to death with her favorite blanket and pushed her body into an oil tank. When he returned for Bella, who watched him kill her younger sister, she pleaded with her father: "Please Daddy, don’t do to me what you just did to CeCe.”

Chris proceeded to murder Bella and push her body into another oil tank. He buried Shan'ann in a grave on the property site.




On August 21, Chris was charged with first-degree murder on five counts (one additional count was added to each child under the age of 12), along with one count of illegal termination of a pregnancy and three counts of criminally disposing of deceased bodies.

After pleading guilty to the murders on November 6, 2018, Chris was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on November 19. Shan'ann's family did not pursue the death penalty.

Chris is currently serving five life sentences (three consecutively, two concurrently) and was transferred in December 2018 to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.

During an interview in February 2019, Chris told investigators he was remorseful for the murders and had found God.


 Clancy's comment: Mm ... One can only imagine what went through young Bella's mind.

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5 July 2019 - THE DEVIL'S BLAST MINE IN CHILE

THE DEVIL'S BLAST MINE IN CHILE
G'day folks,
The hellish conditions of this abandoned mine that snakes beneath the Pacific Ocean gave it its diabolic name.  A labyrinthine underground passageway snakes for roughly half a mile beneath the Pacific Ocean. With its lack of artificial ventilation and tremor-prone nature, this former mine is no place for the faint-hearted. 
Accessed merely yards from the pounding Pacific surf, a chilly wind accompanies the daring descent into the Devil’s Blast (El Chiflón del Diablo), an abandoned coal mine near Concepción. After it opened in 1857, the mine was soon given its diabolic forename by the intrepid miners who worked this underworld in truly hellish conditions, braving toxic gases, low oxygen levels, and frequent earth tremors.




The second part of the Devil’s Blast’s name recalls the unique way it was naturally ventilated via the action of strong coastal breezes. These fierce gusts still whistle and howl through the pit’s narrow, forbidding entrances and tunnels. It was one of the only operational mines in the world that didn’t rely on some form of an artificial ventilation system to protect the miners from suffocating.




The Devil’s Blast employed 3,000 people by the time it was closed in 1997. The site was re-opened as a visitor attraction in an attempt to entice tourists to Lota, which, with the demise of the Chilean coal-mining industry, had lost its main employer. Today, tours of this labyrinthine netherworld are conducted by former miners and last between 30 minutes and two hours.




In 2009, the Devil’s Blast was designated a “National Monument” by the Chilean government. In February 2010, a massive earthquake measuring 8.8 on the richter scale caused damage to some above-ground parts of the attraction, but the mine tours recommenced the following year.  



Clancy's comment: I think I'd rather surf on the beach than crawl through those tunnels.I'm ...


 

4 July 2019 - MICAH STODDARD - GUEST AUTHOR

MICAH STODDARD - GUEST AUTHOR -
G'day folks,
Today, I interview a very talented person who just happens to be an author.
Welcome, Micah ...


1.      TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.My name is M. J. Stoddard, I am happily married to my wife, son and two cats, we live in central Pennsylvania, USA. At my current job, I am a warehouse associate for a truck part supply company, I also am the co-founder and sensei of a rising martial arts school; which was founded nearly two years ago. I am the author of the sci-fi/fantasy novel ‘The Twilight Legacies: The Sixth Eye Special Edition’; which was released last September and is the first in a six book series.
When I was rewriting and editing the Special Edition, I realised how daunting it was and how much I should have expanded upon in certain chapters, capturing the reader and pulling them into the TL universe. When I poured through the notes, even other Works-In-Progress that had any connection with the TL universe and incorporated the elements accordingly and it transformed the novel into something else entirely. The prologue of TL: The Sixth Eye was changed entirely and became more fluid in the process from the original edition.

2.      WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER? I was in my freshman year of HS, I read so much back then. I would read three-or-four-hundred page novels in weeks and was a bit of a nerd when it came to research, especially in the field of astronomy and aeronautical design. I had a big comic book collection, Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern and I was also a bit of a Trekky. I had to write a Christmas themed short story for English class and being the procrastinator I waited till the very last moment. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to write about, so I asked my mom(English Major that she was), she helped me brainstorm. So then, I sat down behind my old Epson computer and started typing. The words seemed to flow easily from my finger tips and out came ‘Christmas Time’. This story was set in the near future, about an Air Force pilot piloting an experimental time-traveling craft into the distant past, where he witnessed the birth of Jesus. The pilot had to stave off some time-traveling rivals before returning to his craft and going home. Looking back, the theme was more or less a “Doctor Who” meets “Stargate: SG-1”. Nevertheless, the following year I just started to write down ideas for stories and by my junior year, I began my first official WIP; which over many years of rewrites, title changes and character depth. This WIP became THE TWILIGHT LEGACIES: THE SIXTH EYE SPECIAL EDITION.                         

3.       WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP? I write any ideas; whether it be for a chapter scene, sketches, alien languages, star systems or starship designs for my works-in-progress in notebooks and I have several now. I am shoot-from-hip writer, I do little planning if any, adjusting the scenes in the chapters so dynamics flow more easily.
          


4.      WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER? I love creating new stories, I have started four other books in various genre; ranging from adventure to paranormal sci-fi—equivalent to the X-Files or Fringe.

5.      WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?          I would say the hardest thing about being a writer is having to work a full- time job and when I am constantly brewing ideas for my books the job can, at times be less than stimulating.



6.      WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?           My greatest writing achievement is the Special Edition of the The Twilight   Legacies: The Sixth Eye because of the two-and-a-half years I invested not    only editing the manuscript, but also expounding on the underlying theme  of the particular genre.
7.      WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?          I am working on a few stories. Primarily, Book Two in The Twilight           Legacies Saga, entitled Crimson Vortex. I also am working on Gemini      Continuum: Empire of the Gods and Shadowbane Chronicles; former title         Legends of the Kah’Rai.
8.      WHAT INSPIRES YOU? I would say I am inspired by many ideas, events—mostly from my own experiences.
9.      WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?          I write sci-fi/fantasy, adventure and paranormal.
10.  DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?          For the aspiring writers:           -Read lots of books           -Get lots of notebooks.           -Start brainstorming ideas. Especially if you are still trying to figure out what to write about.           -Sketch out characters, worlds, dialect/languages, etc. That goes for any genre of fiction.           -Research what you do not know. Take time to study, or ask someone who does know.           -When you’ve completed your manuscript(s) have someone else read them.  It always helps to get a second pair of eyes to peruse over your work and not     necessarily for grammar and punctuation. You want your story to flow from one chapter to the other. If you have an awkward break in a scene during the transition from the conclusion of the last chapter, find a “bridge” to connect. Remember, it’s all about continuity.



11.  DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?          On occasion, I suffer from Writer’s Block, indicative of stress. Spending time with family, away from the laptop or I find working out helps with the   creativity and since I lift weighs and study Karate, I reset my focus and let things go.

12.  DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?          My writing schedule is basically whenever I am able to, most of the time at night before I go to bed and in the morning before I go off to work. On   occasion, I am able to devote an entire day to hashing out a couple of chapters or finishing starship schematics for a series.
13.  DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE? My favourite place to write is on the couch, I have my notebooks beside me and I am ready to go. Most of the time I am at my desk, tucked away in the dining room.

14.  WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?          I love seeing the worlds, universes and most especially, the characters I’m   creating come to life, that is my greatest joy.
15.  WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?          All time favourite author is Frank Herbert because I loved the inter-          relational dynamics intertwined with the mystery and action of his stories.
16.  WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER? -“Brilliant” This was a review I received on Amazon for my novel, sometimes the best reviews are the ones with the least amount of words.

17.  WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?          The logo design embedded in the starship schematics was hard to read.



18.  WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU? Absolutely. I find having to articulate events that happened in my own life therapeutic and it helps me in understanding who I am as a person.

19.  OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?          I am an avid martial artist and an instructor/co-founder of a local martial arts school Bastress Stoddard Hogosha Samurai Karate Jutsu. I’ve studied various styles, including Isshinryu, Taekwondo and Hupkwando.
20.  DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION? The professional editing done when I had sent the original edition of The Twilight Legacies: The Sixth Eye to the said publisher. Their service was below par and was a disappointment overall. Fortunately, having family that were English majors taught me how to self-edit and become more self-reliant.

21.  DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.          My perfect day starts off with a large mug of coffee, some breakfast and    working out. Then spending time with my family, that is until I delve into my writing for at least couple hours. Taking breaks in between writing-spells.

22.  WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?          My plans for the future is to be self-employed as an author and entrepreneur.
23.   WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON BOOK TRAILERS? DO THEY SELL BOOKS? I’m not opposed to book trailers, I think depending on the genre and the artwork have the potential to sell more books. I, personally would like see a book trailer done for my book, however, resources are finite.

24.  DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS? The protagonist Blain Ross in THE TWILIGHT LEGACIES: THE SIXTH      EYE was based off of myself. I used my experience as a martial artist,     marksman, self-taught knife expert, strategist, engineer, his connection to the supernatural and the distant past. I also incorporated my love of flight into Blain Ross since he is a skilled pilot.
25.  DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?          Yes, the publishing industry frustrates me and the fact that it’s highly   competitive when there are artists like myself who have an original sci-   fi/fantasy masterpiece complete with illustrations. A universe that has so   many facets, it would be the equivalent of Frank Herbert’s DUNE. It can be  discouraging at times.
26.  DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?          No, I never thought of quitting because I would never give up on a dream— No matter how crazy it seems.
27.  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MANUSCRIPT TO WRITE? WHY? That’s a difficult question, since I am working on multiple manuscripts, but the manuscript that really stands out that I am thrilled when my fingers start flying over the keyboard is CRIMSON VORTEX. This would be the second instalment of THE TWILIGHT LEGACIES SAGA. The manuscript that comes in second would either be GEMINI CONTINUUM: EMPIRE OF THE GODS or SHADOWBANE CHRONCLES: PROPHECY.

28.   HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER. Success as a writer is not based on the royalties received in any given period, but rather the readers/fans that truly appreciate your work and spread the word, make recommendations, etc.



29.  WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL? That a universe created is more than the sum of events that characters spring from, but it is usually the works that have been cultivated over time that really are set apart from the mainstream genre. After having read my novels, they should feel amazed—minds blown at the depth and learn something about themselves.                                       “The calling of an author is more than just to entertain, but also to share ones experiences with the world.”-M. J. Stoddard.
30.  WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES? EVER WRITTEN A SCREENPLAY?          Absolutely, I would love to have my books made into movies and I’ve dabble in writing screenplays. I was in the process of writing a screenplay        adaptation for The Twilight Legacies: The Sixth Eye, when I realised the potential with each chapter and adding more to the plot and the sub-plots; which in turn became the Special Edition a couple years down the road.

31.  HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO DESIGNING A BOOK COVER?          I put in lot of thought into the book cover design, I utilise several programs like Bryce 7, Blender,  Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Frontstruct.com.

32.  WHAT’S YOUR ULTIMATE DREAM? My ultimate dream is to not have to work a mediocre 9-5 job that is less then stimulating and become of full-time author, finishing up the multiple series that I have in store for my readers, as well as the stand-alone stories that I have waiting to be completed.

33.    WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?                   When I was first “self-published” I was unprepared for the marketing aspect and how involved I needed to be to get my book, brand, etc out there. I tapped into social media quickly enough, but it still took time. Looking back, I’m glad I took the time and learn, experience goes a long way.
34.   ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?                   Yes, my books are self-published. After having a horrible experience with a vanity publisher; for instance, I discovered when I did a general search on Google, that my book was pirated. I contacted the website immediately and demanded they remove my title from their selection. The website admin failed to respond, so I decided then that I needed to cancel the contract with said vanity publisher and go completely independent. I haven’t looked back      since that day.

35.  DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS. Headstrong pain-in-the-butt.
36.  WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?                   That’s a good question… I’d say going to work, during an early morning writing spree, when the ideas and the prose easily flow. It’s frustrating when you have to be at work in fifteen minutes, when your trying to finish a  chapter, or working on a new chapter heading or starship design.




37.  WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? GOOD ONE?                   Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and yes, I quite enjoyed the book.

38.   WHAT WOULD BE THE VERY LAST SENTENCE YOU’D WRITE? That depends on which story I’m writing.
39.   WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN YOU ARE NOW? CARE TO SHARE? I would love to be able to teach Creative Writing at a high school, being able to inspire the teenagers in a class room and to be able to help them cultivate their ideas as they learn the art of word-smithing and the journey of understanding more about themselves and the human condition in the process.

40.   ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?          I just want to thank you Clancy for the interview, for the opportunity of   being a guest author on your blog and for your many subscribers. 


AMAZON



Clancy's comment: You're welcome, Micah. All the best for your writing pursuits.
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