Perhaps the first appearance of a “holodeck” or “danger room” in a work of science fiction, Ray Bradbury wrote “The Veldt” in 1950, it originally appeared as “The World the Children Made” in the September 23, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. He included it in his book: “the illustrated man.” I got to see it once as a stage play at the University Of Alaska Fairbanks Theater Dept. I’ve always loved this story, and with the help of some talented friends, I put it together based on the episode of “x Minus 1” #holodeck #dangerroom #thenursery #scifiradio #raybradbury #greatestsciencefictionwriter
Featured in the cast:
Jonathan Miller as George
Ariel Hicks as Lydia
Nicholas Price as Dr. David McLean
Narrated by Andrew J Laniohan.
Eli May Salerno as Peter
Cora Paris Hanson as Wendy
Sound effects and music by Isaac Paris
Some sounds came from YouTube, or I made them. Others from freesound.org or the Apple GarageBand library. Song at the end “Pauline” by Isaac Paris.
SPOILER ALERT
There were a few different versions, some of which imply the parents really do DIE. I referenced the original, mostly stuck to the x minus one episode, but I did edit a few lines, and allowed my actors to improvise a little.
If you’d like to read it, its FREE online here Do you think the story is stronger if the parents actually are eaten by holographic lions?
I took a walk recently on a hike in Southern Oregon’s Redwood forest. The trees are so tall and beautiful and everywhere is covered with moss. Its breathtaking and beautiful, and being the day after Thanksgiving, we had the trail almost completely to ourselves.
While walking, I took many photos of the trees and logs, burls and growths. I saw some mushrooms and some lichen. I thought of how the blank page or canvas in front of an artist can be so daunting, and thought I’d demonstrate how an artist could take photos (by themselves, or by others) and look in them for faces or figures.
Image description, trees, roots, moss and ferns from the Oregon Redwoods Forest
I’m sure if you look at these photos you’ll see shapes and values, but can you use your imagination and nudge those into faces or figures? Take a moment and really look at these before you scroll down and see my drawings. Your interpretations can be completely different than mine.
Image description, a spooky wizard with a cloak whose face is concealed in shadow with his arms raised and a glowing black orb above his head. A cackling witch holding a wand with long springy green hair.
here is a Goofy Muppet version of Totoro.
this burl resembled a cute spider’s face to me, he is even stepping forward toward us.
If you see faces in clouds or the natural grain of wood, you aren’t alone: but you can focus on it: meditate on it, to help fight “writer’s block.” It’s kind of like playing “Exquisite Corpse” with yourself, or is it with the wood spirits? I believe Leonardo da Vinci wrote about this phenomenon and it was part of the inspiration of the German Surrealist Max Ernst. Do you know of any other artists who have written about this phenomenon?
I am a big fan of fantasy art such as the illustrations for Magic: The Gathering. I suspect that sometimes those painters are inspired by nature to give them ideas for composition. Any game that you immerse yourself in and spend time with hundreds of pieces of art is going to leave an impression on you. I’m so grateful for the game and the company who makes it for employing hundreds of artists and bringing thousands of new wonderful beautiful works into our world.
I recently learned that the surrealists sought inspiration in this way. here is an example of a Max Ernst piece, and a grain silo that was his inspiration.
Sometimes I even see an art “wrong” and don’t interpret the piece correctly. This can be a complete shock when you “see” it right or someone points out what it’s supposed to be. Does this ever happen to you? Here are two examples of Magic The Gathering art that I interpreted the wrong way, I saw the first one as facing the right and not the left. The second, i thought the characters arm was her face and she was pen headed with a lacy streamer coming out of the top of her head going to the right.
I love silly Halloween novelty songs and horror soundtrack music. Checkout this weeks episode of the retro cocktail hour.
I wrote a song on my album about horror movies and horror tropes. Check it out here,
It was real fun to put together, I scrapped a set of lyrics that I had put together about being an undead person trying to find a date, and based it on a Richard Sala interview and a horror film protagonist who has fallen for a honey trap, I joke that it’s from Shaggy’s perspective. After I saw “ house of the devil.” I put in some theremin and creaking door and pounding sound effects too. Ryan Schmidt provided the drums and played some of the synths in the rhythm too. I hope you enjoy it!
I had the pleasure of hosting a show this last summer. Owzla asked me if I would host and I gladly played the role of MC, and brought my theremin and invited people to play. Owzla always puts on such a great show! This is an example of what you can do with passion , volunteers and not a lot of money! We estimate that 85 people were in attendance at this show. Grey matter jugglers we’re fantastic 🙂 I’m available to host shows usually, just ask!
Art City Eugene hosts an event called BEAM, this is the 3rd year
This year I submitted an original Animation. This was made with putty, some was the classic “silly putty” and some was “crazy Aaron’s thinking putty” It was just put on bodies I cut out of magazines and took long timelapse movies of them as they melted.
This last year I’ve made several pet portraits using markers, paint, and ink. all of these are based off photographs. I will be offering this service to a winning bidder for an auction to raise funds for Green Hill.
OSLP in Eugene Oregon, ( more at instagram.com/oslpartsandculture or https://www.artsandcultureeugene.org ) organize programs adults with disabilities and the general public, they have a gallery and work space at
309 W. 4th Ave, Suite 100 Eugene, OR 97401
They currently have an art show up of art from recycled materials. Each artist had a challenge to make a piece using some trash temporarily rescued from the landfill by Mecca. https://materials-exchange.org I am always so excited when new work reminds me of the aesthetic and spirit of Dadaism. Here are some photos of me and my partner visiting the gallery. We dressed up because my partner was recently crowned “Slug Queen” in Eugene and the art show asked them to judge a favorite piece. They chose the spaceship made out of recycled plastic. (the first piece here.) I highly recommend you check it out in person and see how detailed and creative these works are in person! Support local artists! #recycledmaterials #dada #dadaism #mixedmedia #collage
this piece is an imaginary game, the title is “make up the rules” How very Dadaist.
This piece is one of my favorites, I voted for it as best of show. It combines paint, real elements from flowers and laminated color photographs of flowers leaping off the campus, really showing the strengths of mixed media in an exciting way.
This gorgeous piece was so intricate, textured and layered, these barnacle like shapes are made from cut up plastic easter eggs covered by yarn and thread. artist is Fiona McAulife
This piece was one of my favorites, the discolored sheet music behind stained glass was very much like the collage of the dada aesthetic from the 1920s.
this piece had a functioning clock inside!
This mirror had vulva sculptures all around the border, like a miniature Judy Chicago dinner party!
this piece reminded me of the phenomenon of homemade toys made from trash. It would be fun to run hot wheels cars down this sweet ramp, or play “warhammer 40,000” or “Necromunda” with this epic piece on the table.
This well worn piano had tributes to Keith Haring painted on! the artist is @mija.marie
Oh I happened to dress up too, this is my fun Pink Flamingo suit of course! (Shinesty brand)
Praying to Saint AOC, this is the future that liberals want!
I’ve listened to hundreds of old radio shows, and this is one of my favorites. I recreated it with garageband.
Featured in the cast were Jon Deline, Nick Price, Michael Hanson, Jesika Barnes and Andrew Laniohan.
Sounds came from freesound.org/ or Youtube or I made them myself. If you enjoyed this, try our my production of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or The War of the Worlds” I have more coming, so stay tuned if you enjoyed this!
For many years I have participated in Leigh Anne Jasheway’s Laff Off, one year I even came in 4th place. The above video is my jokes I cut to bring the 13 minutes down to 5 minutes. Below is the link to see everybody’s comedy. The show was live April 3 and it should be up for awhile. My film is a tad “experimental,” with puppets, costumes and bunnies!
you can click HERE to donate to Greenhill humane Society and watch the comedy show with many other great comics including Max Brockman, Terry Geil, Emilee Jackson, Mike Schwab, Magdalena Dice and More!
Here is another “newish” set: thanks a lot to Max Brockman and Bert Walpack who invited me to do this outdoor: “safer” socially distanced comedy show.
I have been doing some sound effects for plays for over 10 years now. At halloween in 2019 I did “war of the worlds at Umpqua Community college theatre dept. For 2020 we revived it on ZOOM. That got me thinking I could direct and produce a few more for fun and something to do during this period of quarantine.
So, here is a zoom revival of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: episode 1. If you’re a super fan you will notice some subtle ways we changed it. I’m so grateful to my cast: Helen Being, Clark Kent, Matt Bliss, Francis Pastorelle, Tamathy Howard, and Dana and Nick Price!
The cast for War of the Worlds was Jesika Barnes, Andrew Lanniohan, Joe Buford, Keith Fort, Chris Lyons, and Nakaela Hunt
