Author: Chas.

Meanwhile Meanwhile …

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Criterion is going to bankrupt me in October with the release of their The Complete Kubrick box set. Do I have most of these films on Blu-ray or 4K already? Yes. Will I shell out $300 for this at the next B&N 50% Off or Criterion Flash Sale? HELL YES! I haven’t been peddling my ass on OnlyFans for nothing.

Criterion THE COMPLETE KUBRICK
Criterion THE COMPLETE KUBRICK

THIRTY-DISC 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES

  • 4K restorations of Kubrick’s thirteen features, including Fear and Desire, and three shorts, with their original soundtracks alongside the 5.1 mixes, restored and remastered
  • Over twenty-five hours of interviews, documentaries, and behind-the-scenes materials
  • Kubrick’s international version of The Shining
  • New 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick’s behind-the-scenes documentary Making “The Shining”
  • Newly recorded commentary tracks featuring filmmaker Lee Unkrich (editor of the book Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”) and author Michael Benson (Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece)
  • Rare films from Graphic Films and computer-animation pioneer John Whitney that inspired the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Unseen Lolita screen tests with actors James Mason and Sue Lyon and rare Full Metal Jacket behind-the-scenes footage
  • Newly recorded conversation with novelist Jonathan Lethem and film historian Kevin Wynter on Kubrick and authorship
  • Essay by author and critic Nathaniel Rich
  • Deluxe packaging illustrated with rare photographs, artwork, and documents annotated by Kubrick himself, all housed in a singular box inspired by the director’s legendary archive
  • And much more . . .

*DROOLS!*

Meanwhile Meanwhile …

Meanwhile …

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Synapse has announced a new 4K UHD edition of one of my favoritest slasher films, Prom Night. There will be a limited edition slipcover version released first. The price tag? $50! And what do you get for that hefty $50 price tag? The new 4K scan of the film and the slipcover. That’s it. No booklet. No swag. No new special features. They are just porting the ones from the previous Blu-ray release. Just the slipcover. Movie collecting has been quickly spiraling into a more and more expensive hobby as these boutique labels have figured out that they can charge higher prices and collectors will pay them. And guess which sucker will probably shell out $50 for this release. Dammit.

Prom Night 4K UHD Limited Edition
Prom Night 4K UHD Limited Edition

Meanwhile …

Sad Sackin’

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A friend messaged the other day. He wants to catch up, and I know what it’s about. He went to this year’s F Tour Fan Fest. It’s the multi-day event where content creators get together and make content (duh!) for their JFF and OF sites. I went to this event last year, and I bombed out. Bombed out big time. Even though I had the black “creator” tag on, nobody gave me the time of day. All the creators already seemed to be in a fairly tight-knit clique. And the one guy I set up time with bailed on me at the last minute. Meanwhile, my friend filmed a few times, and it sounds like he had more success this year. I don’t know that I want to hear about it, but I will tonight when I see him.

It just stirs up a lot of feelings … feelings of not belonging or having a place in things. I have tried being a part of things, and it just feels like I don’t belong or I am a poser. Like, as fun as last weekend was at HeroesCon, I didn’t feel like I REALLY belonged since I am not an avid comic fan or creator in that industry, just like I was a “tourist” at the F Tour Fan Fest last year. An observer but not a participant. Not part of the gang. It even feels like this within my local social circles. I am always standing around, drink in hand, while others are chatting and having fun.

I do wonder if these feelings partially stem from leaving the theater. People will say, “You were the one who left.” And that’s true. But I didn’t feel like I had a choice. It felt like my presence there wasn’t wanted or valued anymore. The people I thought would have my back ended up not giving a shit. So, maybe I feel disconnected because I don’t want to become part of something only to be booted out or shat on again. I dunno.

Anyhoo. I know this is a whiny, self-pitying, all over the place post. Today. I don’t care.

Sad Sackin’

Post-Con

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HeroesCon 2026

Here we are midweek, and I am still recovering from this past weekend of nerdiness at HeroesCon 2026. I have attended the last two years, and this year was even crazier because of the heat and the crowd size. I got the privilege to hang with a group of artists and writers (Jeff Messer, Mike Grell, Bo Hampton, Alex Saviuk, Ron Randall, Steve Bryant, Mark Stegbauer) that have formed a kinda informal convention crew. Lots of fun! Especially when you get long-time friends Bo and Alex going. Then you turn around, and you’re having food and drink with the crew and Tim Bradstreet. I am glad I didn’t know how famous he was because I would have made an idiot out of myself at dinner. I also got to see a couple of old high school friends that come to the convention every year. And lots of other comic artists and writers. It’s an exhausting three days, but so much fun.

I did buy some collected volumes of a few comics. But the most favorite thing I bought was this 20″ x 14″ Mouse Guard print. I fell in love with David Peterson’s incredible artwork at last year’s convention. Now I gotta find a frame.
Mouse Guard Trio Print

Anyhoo! Here are just a few random photos from the weekend …

And, if you are totally bored, you can spend 10 minutes walking the convention perimeter with me. I can guarantee, if you weren’t bored before, you will be bored after. Ha ha.

Post-Con

An Anniversary

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Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Cast & Crew

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the last show I directed.

The cast photo above was taken after the final performance of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and even though I am all smiles, I knew then that I wouldn’t be directing again at HART. I had already taken a year and a half off from directing because of the utterly miserable experience I had directing Urinetown: The Musical in the fall of 2014. But I agreed to direct again when approached about Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike because the show had a small cast, easy set and costumes, and (most importantly) was very well written and caught my interest. I thought, “This should be an easy, fun, and enjoyable experience.”

I didn’t post about this show at all back then. For various reasons, at the time I had turned this blog into a mirror of my Instagram feed. So, posts from that time were nothing but photos.

We actually had a really great time mounting this show. The cast was on point. I had an awesome crew to make it run. But, if I had been posting, you would have heard about how the director of the next show (and Executive Director of the theater) started teching the lights for the next show after our opening weekend and screwed the lighting up for the rest of our run. You would have heard about how he added lights behind my set the following week that would have definitely caused a fire during my show, but for the fact that theater curtains are mandated by law to be flame-retardant. His attitude when confronted about this was a big “so what” shrug. When it became super clear that the guy in charge couldn’t give two shits about shows he wasn’t in charge of was when I knew I should probably bow out. We finished the run of the show, and I have not directed since then. I was approached a few more times, but turned those down. And within a few years, I wasn’t being approached at all.

It just sucks that one person made it miserable to do shows. And I know I am not the only one who felt this way. Other directors were more willing to put up with the bullshit than I was. No director should accept their show being compromised because the person in charge of producing it didn’t give you a proper budget, reneged on the set he promised you would have, didn’t provide proper tech support, or failed to promote the show properly. I had these things happen to varying degrees on at least five of the shows I directed.

Do I miss it? For sure. It was always great to be handed a script, read it, and be able to visualize how I would stage it. That moment was always magical. That’s when I would know if a show was right for me to direct or not. I miss that. I miss working with cast and crew to put on the best show we could. But I don’t miss the aforementioned bullshit.

A friend keeps saying that one day I will have the opportunity to say all this to the person who needs to hear it. That’s not ever going to happen. It’s been nearly four years since he and I have spoken, and I actively try to avoid being places that I know he will be. And, ultimately, what good would it do? His indifference and, at times, open hostility really killed my love of acting in and directing shows … and I don’t think it’s ever going to come back.

An Anniversary

Overthinking It

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So, yeah. I thought I had finished that cross-stitch of that Honcho magazine cover. Well. I started overthinking it.

Here’s the “finished” piece.

But then I got to looking at an image of the actual magazine. The cover doesn’t bleed off the edges. It has a border the same color as the HONCHO lettering.

This started to eat away at my soul a little, so I removed the back stitching and added a border around the image.
FINALLY Completed!

I like it a lot better now! All that is left to do is find a frame and hang it for my friends and adoring fans to admire.

Now, the big question is… what should I stitch next?

Overthinking It

Memorialed

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What a busy holiday weekend. Four social events, record shopping, a movie, and crafting. Why can’t they all be holiday weekends?

Social
I was spotted at the local gay social. I DO get out of the house!

On Sunday, I took Sherry and Tom to a record store they had never been to. I was pretty excited to find an original Sire pressing of the first album by The Smiths. It was pricey, but I wanted it. Well, I should have looked at it more closely. It’s pretty beat up, and the pre-cleaning playback was not great. Skips. Run-out groove issues on Side 1. Run-in groove issues on Side 2. Pretty bummed about the state of this record for the price that was charged. Gonna have to be more cautious and less excited next time!


At the Sunday afternoon social event, we got to see a rather large black snake climb a tree. It was pretty cool! Nature is awesome … and scary. Ha ha. Thankfully, the snake didn’t drop off a limb onto anyone.


Yesterday, I finished that Honcho cover cross-stitch I have been working on. I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Now I need to find a frame.


I made sure to find some time to laze around in the hammock yesterday. The Summer of the Hammock continues!

Anyhoo … It’s been a slog of a work day, and I want waffles! (Thanks, Michael.)

Memorialed

Mid-Week Thoughts and Things

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Shew. My energy level this week has been in the shitter. Sinus infection aftermath? Side effect of the meds? Simply being an old bastard? Who knows. I have been feeling exhausted every damn day.

The super secret coss stitch project was handed off to Shortlegs (aka Sherry) this past weekend, and she seemed to really like it. She and the Former Roomie (aka Tom) have an octopus theme going on in their guest bathroom. Plus, Sherry always wants to slap people who annoy her. So, this seemed like a no-brainer to make.

The next project is underway. This one has been a little more involved. More colors and more kinda random stitching, which means having to pay closer attention to the pattern. That’s one of the problems with using a program to convert an image into a pattern. Anyhoo. It’s gonna be fun to have this framed and hanging on the wall.
Next Project

Summer weather is in full force here, and I spent a good part of the weekend lazing around in my hammock on both Saturday and Sunday. I am declaring this to be “The Summer of the Hammock!”
Lazy

The Peace Rose in the front yard was looking all pretty and stuff yesterday.
Peace Rose

I bought a Ninja Slushi machine last year, and it’s been a great addition to the house. Well, I was in Walmart last night, and they are now selling the Ninja Slushi XL, a bigger, better, more awesome version for the same price as the one I bought last year. Sadness! And, if you go on their website, they have an even bigger version for $20 more. Dammit!!! Now I want the Max version for the ultimate slushi experience. I guess I am a size queen after all.
Upgraded!

Mid-Week Thoughts and Things