This blog's on hold - Go read Mental Floss

Ok, I'm just going to have to admit it... I can't keep up.

Due to the amount of time I spend writing Mental Floss for the Houston Chronicle I'm going to temporarily suspend my personal blog for a while. You can catch up on anything and everything in the life of Kevin by visiting Mental Floss.

It's all pretty much my personal life and views anyway, so nothing is being neglected. If you haven't done so, check it out today and be sure to leave me a comment!

And if it ever wanes, I'll be right back here to pick up the torch on this blog that no one reads and never, ever comments on (dang it).

Mental Floss - open for business

I had almost given up, but some crazy hair up the backsides of my readers managed to pull me back in.

As of last week I wrote the final, end of the show, no going back, sorry about all the mental retardation references, dead last entry for Newlywed. This was one of the blogs I was writing for the Houston Chronicle about my first year of marriage. Actually, it had turned into my first year-and-a-half of marriage and frankly it was getting old.

I can talk about my marriage. I have no problem talking about my marriage. I just can't talk about my marriage EXCLUSIVELY. For one thing, there are only so many newsworthy events happening at Casa del Tumlinson. For another, if I go on for too long I end up going to the "marriage fights" trump card because I've run out of other juicy material. No bueno.

I, by the way, speak not word of Spanish so for all I know I've just directed my readers to have at their pets with lustful abandon. Don't do that.

Anyway, I finished up with that blog last week and had prepared myself to walk away forever. It was good, I felt. It was right. Just. Whatever. Because frankly I do a lot of stuff for free and who needs that? I'm a writer, dang it... I should get PAID for writing!

But a funny thing happened. I got a slew of comments. More comments than I had ever gotten on any single entry for that blog! And more than I've gotten on every single entry of THIS blog combined. Sheesh. Write something, will ya?

So there I was facing a conundrum. I had just walked away from Newlywed because it wasn't professional enough to give me clips for my portfolio (I reasoned) and wasn't paying anything. In my mind, it was a purely professional move. I was trading in a bunch of free work for the extra time I could use to write something someone might actually BUY. Who needs a bunch of blogs, anyway? More than one and you're just showing off (I have four).

I figured I'd keep Making Movies and that would be my "clips" blog, something to use for getting free movie related stuff, interviewing celebrities (my Tim Russ interview rocked) and a chance to spew opinions about movies and directors and producers I love/hate. Also I would be able to use the clips in my portfolio.

But all of these comments? That changed everything. And on top of that I also got e-mails. And phone calls. And people coming up to me in person.

I'm not saying I was mobbed or anything but I suddenly had a readership coming out of the woodwork and crying foul that I'd walked away! Now it's true, the Chronicle blogs are mostly freebies. But other than money what is it that "pays" a writer? Readers!

I know writers who have worked their whole lives to get a readership. And I had one. Have one. Oh sure, no one reads THIS blog (it would seem). But over at the Chron, with their millions of dollars in crappy Beatnik style marketing campaigns, I had READERS! How could I turn my back on them?

So I didn't. Instead I changed the name of the blog and broadened the topic. Now it's called "Mental Floss," and the topic is "Life with J. Kevin Tumlinson."

If, for some reason, you find that my personal blog here is a little on the flimsy side then you might want to visit Mental Floss, because it's likely that's where I am. I'll keep this little guy for announcements about me and my work, that sort of thing. And I'll try to write something profound from time to time. But honestly, most of the juicy stuff will end up in Mental Floss. Because at heart I really am kind of a lazy SOB.

The end of Newlywed

It's the end of an era.

This week I wrote the final "Newlywed" blog entry fo the Houston Chronicle.  Surprisingly there has been an outpouring of support from pepole who were, apparently, reading the darn thing and liking it very much.  So now I'm left with this freakish, hollow feeling that maybe I had an error in judgement.  What I had ended with the best of intentions  - less free work, more time to dedicate to paid writing gigs and a general feeling that I had told all that I could tell about my marriage to Kara at this time - now I'm suddenly wondering if I've alienated myself from reading public that was rooting for me.

I did keep the Making Movies blog, because I felt this one had the best chance of giving me useable clips for my portfolio.  It's more "business like," more "professional."  Newlywed was more... well, I suppose it was more "me."  Personal and meaningful as an expression of myself.

Oops.

Well, that may very well decide the issue.  I may have to figure out some other road to take.  I think I made the right decision in ending "Newlywed," but maybe I should consider starting a new blog in its place, something to fill the void.

Darn it.  I was hoping to SIMPLIFY my life more not make it more complicated.  What the heck??

Ok, so I'll investigate this.  I'll explore options.  I hate to let down what little readership I have.  So maybe I'll reassess this and make a decision on what to do from there.

Suggestions are always welcome.

OSC - Can't fight the classics.

I usually re-read "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" about once a year.  Have ever since high school.  But since getting married I haven't really picked up either.  Granted, that's only been a year and a half at this point, but it's a bit like not talking with a favorite relative for two years or so.

For the past few weeks, while driving, I've been listening to XM Radio's "Sonic Theater," which has a block of Orson Scott Card's Universe around 11:30a.m. every day.  This was damn good news to me, and I made sure to tune in whenever I could.  And since I've discovered it the story has been "Speaker for the Dead."

This has awakened that annual yearning of mine and so I've been forced to drop everything else I was reading and pick up "Speaker" once again.  Lovin' it.

The bummer about "Sonic Theater" is that it's not one of the channels available on XM.com.  In fact, NOTHING I listen to is available on XM.com.  Does that suck?  Yes...yes it does.

I have a portable XM head unit and I could start bringing it in.  Kind of a hassle to remember it every time, but at least I'd have the stations I like at the ready.  

Yes... I am that geeky.

If you haven't done so, read "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead."  That will, of course, force you to read everything else that OSC has ever written, but you'll live.  And you'll thank me after.

Blogger widget from Google...

If you haven't seen it already, you should check out Google's Blogger Widget.  Find it here:

http://www.google.com/macwidgets/index.html

This is for the Mac (obviously) and I haven't tried looking for a PC version.  I'm sure Yahoo Widgets has SOMETHING.

If you blog often and use Blogger.com this is a MUST HAVE.

Also a nifty Google tool... 1-800-GOOG-411.  Why pay for 411 information when Google gives it to you for free?  I programmed this into my cel phone immediately!

New furniture & Blender 3D

Kara and I got new furniture. This was a decidedly "grown up" thing to do for both of us. Neither of us has ever owned furniture that didn't first belong to someone else. No butts have indented our sofa before our own. Sweet.

I have a chair now, which has me stoked. It's this huge, comfortable mass of cow flesh and stuffing with an ottoman in just the right spot. Never before have I luxuriated in such splendor. Seriously. It rocks. I can sprawl in complete comfort while thumbing through DVD menus and downing Chinese food.

I think it's kind of funny how Kara and I keep doing these little things, here and there, that have no other real purpose but to solidify the concept of "married" in our brains. It was a long time coming for me, and I was pretty sure I'd have "adjustment issues." And for her, this "second go-around" was fraught with potential danger and heart break. But after a year-and-a-half we seem to be doing pretty damn well. No money, but who ever has any money? And no kids... it will probably stay that way for a long time. A LONG time.

A recent decision to add to my skill set has led me to Blender - an open source 3D program that seems to be pretty versatile. I'm currently digging through the tutorials online, learning everything I can about it.

I have 3DS Max, Combustion, Lightwav and Poser... heck I think I even have a copy of Maya floating around. These are all "spoils of war" for the reviews I've done over the past year or two. So why, if I have all of these pro suites, would I go with Blender?

I've found a few comparison charts online (like this one) that break down the pros and cons of each suite for me. Blender seemed to match up pretty well against the top-of-the-line suites. Couple that with the fact that it's open source (not to mention free) and I felt like it was a good match for me. I'm a big supporter of open-source software (I use Firefox, OpenOffice, Ubuntu, etc.) so why not use an open source 3D suite?

But I admit, I'll want to learn the other packages anyway. First, because I already own them. Might as well know how to use them. Second, because I figure the more titles I can put on my resume the better. My goal is to make myself a premier, indispensable, unendingly versatile VFX and CGI artist. I'm already a pro with Photoshop, and I want to be just as proficient in 3D.

And I'm doing well... I'm now past the "modeling" portion of the tutorials and I feel pretty confident that I can model anything I want. Now it's a matter of learning to animate. Texture and materials are coming up, too. I figure in another month or so I'll be a complete expert in Blender, and will have a solid foundation to build upon while I learn the other suites.

Wish me luck!

New business venture

Summer is upon us and I've finished up with the yearbook class I was advising for Cypress Christian School. Time now to reflect and make some decisions about my business.

Kara and I are launching a new arm of our business in the next 30 days. "Technology Design," providing technology consultation, installation and design for clients, will become a new staple for Hat Digital Media and Tumlinson Enterprises. With my expertise and contacts in the various technology industries and Kara's expertise and contacts in the interior design world it was a natural fit to create this new venture.

This is an exciting new avenue for the two of us, a chance to combine our talents and skills for the first time in something we both enjoy. I'm looking forward to it!