Al Bogdan

Anniversary

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:24:17 GMT

This weekend is our 5 year wedding anniversary, reminding me how lucky I am.

"The Iron Hunt" Book Trailer

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:33:34 GMT

Another book trailer, this time for "The Iron Hunt" by Marjorie M. Liu.

When zombies try to take the daughter of a demon hunter they get more than they bargained for. A prologue to the first adventure in the Hunter Kiss series.

Watch on YouTube or VIMEO

Baby Sister had a Baby

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:54:59 GMT

My little sister, Alyssa, just had her first child. We'll be going to visit in August. Can't wait to meet the little guy!

Garrett's Stats:

Birthday	6/23/2008
Weight	6 lbs, 14 ozs
Length	18.5 in

Pictures

Giant Insects Attack Detroit

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:26:09 GMT

Took Coral to the Detroit Festival of the Arts yesterday. She loves the puppet shows and craft stations. Was fun, even with being 90+ and humid.

I'm always highly impressed with the stilt creatures created by Close-Act Visual Theater. This year they did giant insects. You need to see these guys in action, towering over the crowd, walking like hungry aliens searching for little human vittles.

Galleycat Review

Thu, 29 May 2008 18:48:17 GMT

Galleycat had a nice review of the puppet trailer I worked on for Kathe Koja's Under the Poppy.

It's certainly one of the most striking visual aesthetics of any promotional video I've seen for a book in a while...

Now available on YouTube:

"Under The Poppy" Trailer

Thu, 15 May 2008 12:55:44 GMT

I'm finishing up a book trailer for my friend Kathe's new work "Under The Poppy", a dark tale set in a brothel during wartime in the fuzzy past. One of the main characters is a puppeteer who helps with the brothel's stage shows.

Kathe Koja and Diane Cheklich came up with the script. Joe Stacy was then asked to produce the music, keeping it to one minute. All he had to go on was a description of the project, and he did an excellent job. I was then brought in because Kathe knew I had experience with puppetry. Kathe found the actors that appear in the ending section, and Diane directed them. Aaron Mustamaa did the opening and closing motion graphics.

My part in the project ended up being to create the puppets, supply equipment, handle the camera and lighting, create and animate the additional digital sets and props, composite the live and digital elements together, and do the editing.

WARNING: Adult content... with puppets

http://www.chronasoft.com/utp

Seeing Red

Thu, 15 May 2008 11:25:01 GMT

I'm going to a demo of the RED camera tonight. I'd love me some 5K goodness, but for the cost, without backing it's more likely I'll end up with a 3K next year when the Scarlet comes out. My current DV and HDV cameras seem so quaint.

I Don't Know Jack

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:07:24 GMT

Went to the market for groceries today and found myself grinning simply because Jack Kevorkian was shopping there as well. When I entered he was peeking under the corn husks to make sure the corn was fresh. I didn't even think to ask how the painting was going.

For my friend Kathe, here's one of his paintings with a puppet.

Theatret Thalias Tjenere

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:05:53 GMT

My old friend (and band mate) Stephen Vernier is one of the founders of a mask theater troupe called Theatret Thalias Tjenere. I really want to see some shows, but Denmark's such a long drive!

It was oddly appropriate to have Stephen friend me on Facebook this week, as I'm busy doing a puppet project myself. My friends Randy and Fred joined us the other night to help handle the rods for some puppet action. When I say "action" I mean ACTION! You'll see what I mean when it's done. We laughed our heads off.

Blip Blog: Sleep / Laptop / Book Trailer

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:44:47 GMT

SLEEP: A week ago I sat Coral down to discussed the ramifications of a daddy that's sleep deprived. Not only did she start sleeping through the night, but she started asking if I felt better the next day when she woke. While I do still get woken up (by Coral sleep talking, and my wife getting up once or twice a night for various reasons) without the screaming I've been able to generally fall right back to sleep. I'm still not getting a solid eight hours, more like six, but much, much better. Hope it lasts.

LAPTOP: It took weeks of back and forth to get my laptop back up and running. In the end I had to ship it to the service center where they replaced the hard drive, motherboard, processor, and reinstalled the o/s onto the drive. Didn't cost me a penny, just time. I usually don't get a warranty, but glad I did this time. Now I have a nice freshly loaded machine.

BOOK TRAILER: The book trailer project I volunteered to help with is still ongoing. We shot actors last weekend. I finished some puppets this past week. I'll be shooting those this week. The music is done, and is great. It should be fun to watch. I'm guessing it'll be done in two weeks.

What's In A Name?

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:38:23 GMT

So, I've been using my common shortened name to sign my work, but there are two other people using Al Bogdan competing for my Internet presence. One is related to me (Yo, Dad!), and the other, the sports guy, is not. I was wondering if I should choose a different writing name to avoid confusion? Now would be the time. But what? And is it important to have a totally unique name?

I've found that people from the Middle East often have a problem just saying Al. It's not a name, it's a prefix! "So, your last name is Al-Bogdan. What is your first name? What? No! What do you mean? I cannot call you Al."

My last name is also questionable in the U.K., but I may just have to live with it. Lenny Hendry once had some fun with me. "Bogdan? Ha, ha! You know what a BOG is in Brittan, don't you? Ha, ha! It's the Bog-man! You may not want to sit next to him."

So, let's see...

Albert E. Bogdan	Similar to Albert E Cowdrey, but that's only an issue with F&SF magazine. It was once pointed out that it sounds a bit like Alfred E. Neuman. Albert is so two centuries ago, but of course that would probably be good for writing fantasy, and Albert is so geeky (A-la Einstein), which would probably work fine for the average SF reader. Seems so formal. Good or bad? Better than Al?
A.E.Bogdan	Similar to A.E. van Vogt. Genderless. Neutralized. AEB looks big and blocky graphically. (Graphic layout people, does that make it bold or ugly?) It is more modern than using Albert. Is it good, or bad that people would have to call me Mr. Bogdan because no one would know my first name? Maybe I'm at an age that people should call me Mr. Bogdan!
Al Blessed	For fun, this is what happens if I Westernize my name. Of course, a Google search would return nothing but religious pages! For better comical effect, change Al to Alby. Definitely less foreign sounding. No one would wonder how to pronounce it. I've also heard it's best to use Jewish female names, but I think that was when writing romance.
BOGDAN	Yeah, like Prince or Madonna! Of course, only people from Eastern Europe would know what it means, and even they would wonder if it was a first or last name. Would I sell better in Poland?
A. Podling	An Indian woman once misheard my name as Podling. I still find that funny.

So, did you have any second thoughts when deciding what name to put on your work?

Imaginary Bottle Feedings

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:43:30 GMT

So, I've been low energy and a bit shaky lately. Just a short jog and I'm out of breath. I can feel my heart thumping. My memory is poor. My head feels like there's a clamp around it. I can't focus. I'm clumsy. You'd think I was sick or something.

On Sunday Coral announced "I'm going to sleep all night tonight"... and she did. Two days in a row she slept through the night after that announcement! By Tuesday I was starting to feel great again, normal, healthy, alert. Two days was enough for Coral. She woke us up yelling at 11:30 and again at 1:30 last night.

Coral and Larc have the instant sleep gene. Me, I often need one or two hours to drift off, especially after being startled awake by screaming. So, I got about four hours last night. I've had between four and six hours sleep for a few years now, with only the occasional full nights sleep. Last year I flew to California for a week so I could get a week of snoozing. It cured the mysterious hives I was getting.

This whole thing is very interesting in some ways. Coral wakes after about two hours and screams for her mother. Larc runs in and comforts her and then the two of them go back to sleep. This happens once or twice per night. I used to think it was really weird that she would wake up at the exact same time every night. Always around 11:30. Recently I learned that she will fall back asleep more quickly if you cradle her like a baby to breast, and then lie her right down. Ah, so this parallels her feedings as a newborn! She doesn't need to wake up to be fed any longer, but her and her mother still have their comforting ritual each night like clockwork. Keep in mind she's three and a half years old now. It's been going on for many years like this.

What's also interesting is discovering Coral knows exactly what she's doing and has total control over it. Larc was sure she was having night terrors or bad dreams and had no control over it. We now know that's not the case. Seems she can sleep through the night if she wants to. She just doesn't want to.

There are many reasons men have left on hunting trips over the ages. This, I suspect, is one of them. "I'm going to hunt for you my family! Game is slim these days. I might be gone for weeks." He, he, he.... Ahhhh, the quiet. It is so nice.

I don't hunt, and I figure "I'm going to go now and take some fine pictures of the woods for you my family! I will return with a plethora of photos of foliage and cute little animals, like bunnies and birdies," just doesn't work in the same way.

Children, Our Puppets

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:49:25 GMT

I'm working on a project using shadow puppets. Since I was doing design tests anyway, I decided I'd create a little puppet of my daughter, Coral. She makes a darn cute puppet if I do say so myself. (She's even cuter in person.)

Geek Quiz

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:53:54 GMT

84%

My wife wanted me to take this one so she could laugh.

Winter Gear for Tech-Heads

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:33:10 GMT

Walked 61 miles in the cold winter weather last month, typically 4 or 5 miles each time. It's funny how the dog happily walks naked, paws to ice, and we humans pile it on. Even something as mundane as walking suddenly becomes toy-time. Everything is labeled "high-tech" these days. For some reason that actually does make it more fun. I mentioned the USB pedometer, the LED headlamp, and the walking shoes (designed with multiple walking technologies.) With all the sub-freezing weather we've had lately, I've added a few more upgrades. Long johns... made with special high-tech fabrics, of course! Gloves that have more "special features" than my phone. A balaclava with Wind-Stopper technology for those really frigid nights.

Winter is almost over, but not soon enough, as the handle of my snow shovel snapped the other day. Just got back from buying a new one. It's the end of the season and I only found one place that still had some in stock. Canadian. Solid. Heavy duty. Take that, you snow! Old fashioned heavy-duty construction! Sadly, I couldn't find one made of nano-tubes with Absosnow technologies... and lasers!

Sunshine will be back soon, and now my walking buddy is trying to talk me into bluetooth enabled sunglasses. I'm not kidding...

Our Real-Life SF World

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:20:29 GMT

Just read a hilarious article in Wired called "Take Up Thy Tools". In it the author describes a past where everyone read Popular Mechanics and fixed everything themselves. He next describes the current world where because of our "broken educational system" no one knows how to do anything anymore. He explains that education has destroyed America's ability to compete, and if only people would build and fix things themselves like everyone did in the 40's and 50's our glory would be restored.

This is a really weak SF plot. Poorly conceived. I don't believe any of the world building.

What motivated this article? The author explained that he was rusty at soldering and had to practice what he learned back in school, and he was finger-pointing at the educational system saying it was their fault he hadn't done it in a long time. Why? Because they encouraged him to go to college! Teachers! How could you! If only this poor boy had been left to solder more he would have saved America.

The article asks "Ever wonder why Detroit isn't producing 100-mpg cars?" and goes on to blame it on CAD software, that modern engineers don't get their fingers dirty. Sorry. I live in Detroit. I've worked with car designers. The reason Detroit hasn't been making the cars of the future is because the guys that work in the industry DO get their hands dirty. They love their cars! Big, powerful, loud, fast combustion engine cars. I recall doing market research using golf carts to ask people if they would drive an electric car. This was during the same period that GM was secretly testing really nice electric cars in California, which they destroyed and buried as soon as California removed their zero-emission law. Living in an idealized past, as this Wired article does, the car designers stayed in love with the muscle cars of their youth instead of looking to the future.

So, anyway, if the described world of this article was real I'd have to tell my father and father-in-law that they magically now know how to fix their cars and appliances. I'd also have to explain to the high-school kid next door that he couldn't possibly be in his school robotics club because schools don't promote such things. Also, I'd have to stop fixing my own appliances and computers, or doing wood-working and art projects, because I wasn't specifically told by my teachers to do such. As I said, the world of the article is a bit out there.

The people that are going to change the world, who are going to invent new things, will do so out of personal drive and desire. They won't listen to those with conservative opinions, that warn against trying something new and possibly financially risky. The people that don't have enough of a drive to tinker, learn, explore, and spend their free time creating, won't. No need for finger-pointing, it's just a fact.

Now, I understand that the author was really just trying to sell people on MAKE magazine and was using an article in disguise to do so. It just seems that including an imaginary-evil conspiracy theory weakens the argument. Why learn to do things yourself? Because making things is cool. Why change the world for the better? Because you feel it's worth the time and money. No evil-teacher-empire necessary. Really.

Bedtime Stories

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:24:07 GMT

Instead of picture books at bedtime I've been reading Coral from some old YA. These were books from our childhood. The first one I pulled out was "The Furious Flycycle" by Jan Wahl, a quintessential old SF story about being a mad scientist. Then I did "Mr. Widdle and the Sea Breeze" by Jo Ann Stover, which is early '60s magic realism. After that I started raiding Larc's OZ books. Great stuff, but everything I'm reading is a bit dated.

What I don't have in the house is good little-kid-lit from this millenium. We have lots of picture books for her, sure, but I'd like to encourage listening to language and story. So, any suggestions for relatively new books appropriate for a three year old's ears? She does prefer a picture every few pages, something found in all of the old books named above, but I don't want them to be the main focus.

Any suggestions?

BLIP BLOG: Cold / Gout / Beard / Trunk Crazy

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:53:12 GMT

You know it's cold when you have to scrape the frost off the window INSIDE the car!

Woke up yesterday with gout. Just got back from having a needle inserted into my foot. Luckily it's fast, a minute or so of wiggling the needle under skin, not nearly as tiring as dental work. Tomorrow the foot should be back to normal. I go to the dentist on Thursday.

Our daughter, Coral, suggested I grow a beard. Why not? Comically, I found growing the beard an oddly rebellious activity. How adolescent! I actually had a beard when I worked as a corporate employee. I went clean-shaven during my post corporate employee consulting years. It was the new me in a way. I've been thinking lately of cutting back that corporate consulting work and targeting other means of income. Doing taxes and reviewing our lifestyle tells me this is a good time to try such a move. Coral only wanted to see her dad with a beard. Ha! Maybe I'll let my hair grow too long as well. Damn hippie, get a real job! Such fun. "Sorry, can't take that project on for your company right now. Why? Well, I have this beard, you see?" Financially this may be the best move for me to make, so not to worry. The beard hasn't possessed me.

So, I'm thinking of trunking every short story I've ever written and starting fresh. Even the ones that have not made the rounds. Not that I think all those stories are particularly bad, I actually like some of them quite a bit, but I think I'm interested in a fresh start. I need my very best work to be what I'll be writing next, not what I did in the past. The older the story the more distant it is from the person I am today. It seems a bit early for spring cleaning, but since I'm planning to increase my writing time quite a bit in two weeks, it feels like Spring, so maybe I'll clean early, heartily, and focus on the new. (Luckily trunking just means moving a file to a folder, so I can always resurrect a story if a market opens up that calls its name. Like the beard, it's symbolic thinking.)

Anime Search

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:34:10 GMT

Coral likes anime. We discovered this at a convention. She loved watching even though she couldn't understand a word they said (Japanese with English subtitles). So, we decided to Netflix some Hayao Miyazaki movies. Figured it would be better watching when staying at her grandparents than the Cartoon network's slug fests.

I decided "Kiki's Delivery Service" is the perfect kid movie. No fighting. No bad behavior. Yet it's still fun to watch. She likes it more than her Disney movies. So do we. After watching "The Jungle Book" the other week Coral came at us fists clenched wanting to box. Really don't want her doing that at school.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for more gentle anime? Total kids stuff without the guns and fighting. She can enjoy giant robots and weapon toting heroes when she's a bit older. For now we like the calm.

Suggestions?

Going for Walkies

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:09:58 GMT

A friend of mine convinced me to join him walking the dog. Not a euphemism, we really do walk his dog. We walk at least 4 miles at a time. I've done this six times over the past month, braving the cold on some days. What surprised me was my blood pressure went from around 140/90 down to 128/75 this quickly. Guess I really needed this kind of exercise!

In the past I would throw on the TV and work-out. Back when I did Ashtanga yoga (power yoga) daily I was in great shape. That was before Coral. Exercise looks like too much fun to our daughter, and fun means joining in, and joining in means climbing all over daddy: over the mountain, under the bridge, ride the bronco. The only room with enough space is our living-room, so there's no way to protect myself outside of locking her up. I tried using her for weights, but she wiggles around, falls off a lot, and insists on telling me what I have to do... which never includes working out. I just gave in and stopped working out.

My friend and I walk at night. Of course, I couldn't just grab the coat and go. No way. Had to buy new walking shoes first (my feet thank me greatly), a headlamp (I'm a cyborg!), and a pedometer with a USB port (geek) to upload the data into the computer. Did I need all that? Of course! Now I'm vested.

The only problem is it takes about 1.5 hours out of the day at least three times a week (that's my goal). For me that's a lot of time that could be spent doing things like writing. Yet, I really need to do this. That's obvious.

Luckily, in two weeks I should have 18 more hour a week because Coral's increasing her preschool hours. With luck and persistence I'll be able to be both productive and mildly healthy at the same time. That's two big changes for this year, and I didn't even need to call them new year resolutions.

Another Lost Soul

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:08:38 GMT

My best first-reader has discovered World-Of-Warcraft. Only checks his e-mail once a week now. I can tell that he's totally distracted. Barely communicates anymore. Too distracted to read. WOW is dangerous, I tell you! Hope the carpal tunnel doesn't disable him. Any WOW intervention groups out in Maine? He's lost, man! Lost I tell you!

Rats! Good first-readers are so hard to find...

On Writing Stories Important, If Only To Yourself

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:54:40 GMT

I love it when I'm writing away and suddenly realize the story is really about something much bigger than I realized. It's not just about the characters, the ideas, the world building, but about how all of those fit together -- the "secret theme" of the story that was hidden in the choices made. It's an amazing experience to have a story reveal itself half-way though, because then the story then blossoms into something so tight, whole, and important (to myself, if not anyone else) that I become so glad I was able to write it. No editor may realize or care, but I'll know what it means to me beyond the fun ideas, the action, the plot, and it reminds me how thrilling writing can be.

Who Done-It?

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:57:38 GMT

When we came home from the convention the other week I found my recently created Bishop puppet on the steps with his head in his lap! Chopped off at the neck! When we had left, he had been sitting proud, watching over us as we passed, but now he has been done-in.

Many of my extended family would, of course, blame a spirit. It's that Eastern European mysticism. My first creative impulse was to think of who has the most against the clergy. Ah, yes. The tea reader, my grandmother on my mother's side. Obviously it was she who pushing the Bishop and knocked off his head. (This is all just fun and games. Don't worry, I'm not still feverish.)

Motive? When my grandfather died leaving my grandmother with three children to support on her own, the church told her she would be responsible for maintaining the same level of tithe in the till that my engineer/inventor grandfather had offered. They didn't care about the boy in college. They didn't care about the young woman who had skipped two grades and was in college as well at 16 (my mother). They didn't care about the new crying baby. Hands were out. Hell and damnation was threatened. And that was the year my grandmother left the church. On her deathbed some 50 years later my aunt called in a priest to say last rites. My grandmother lay there and glared the entire time.

Looking at the dead Bishop, I was thinking about how the story that just sold to WOTF is so much about my grandmother. The character's name, Etelka, is Hungarian. Like my grandmother, her mother had died (my great-grandmother died in the great flu-epidemic.) Her father did not feel up to raising all the children on his own and put them up for adoption. The woman that adopted my grandmother threw great parties in a grand house. Okay, the house was in New Jersey, not on a distant terra-formed planet in the far future, but I assure you the situation was similar. The adopted mother did not want what was best for her. As my mother tells it, when my grandmother's first love came for her the step... I mean "adopted"... mother told him my grandmother didn't really care for him, and she told my grandmother he never showed. Ah, the drama. As the story goes, the woman wanted my grandmother to remain to serve food at parties and clean the house. If you read the story later this year in the anthology you might remember some of this and think of her. I'd be pleased.

Oh, and if you do actually believe in spirits, then feel good knowing the Bishop was pushed by a strong woman who went on to raise her family strong. If you don't, I've got you covered with my grandfather on my father's side, (and the fact I should have taken the woodworking tools out, not Sculpy) but that's another story.

ConFusion 2008

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:27:08 GMT

We had a blast at ConFusion 2008 this year. One of the things I love about this convention is the balance between just-for-fun fannish activities and the writer/reader intellectual (and often hilarious) discussions. Everyone enjoys it: pros, gamers, costumers, pirates, etc. It's a good energy.

Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier were the writer guests of honor this year. Good people. Caught them on numerous panels. You didn't have to be a YA reader to want to hang out and listen to these two.

John Scalzi was the Toastmaster. John's a lot of fun and did a masterful job at keeping things entertaining. (He left the blog, cat, and bacon at home, but brought plenty of wit and smarts.)

Of course, during the constant Pirate attacks, John did spend a lot of time quivering in the corner and crying.

Luckily we know Ann Harris (ABOVE, and yes, she's just happy to see you), and renniekins, so I wasn't flogged too badly, though a few other people did rather enjoy the experience and came back for more. Unluckily, one of my buddies enjoyed the rum one sip too many. {he he... it's not funny... he he...} Hope you're feeling better, Drew!

Hung out with my Clarion 2004 buddy, Dr Phil Kaldon (dr_phil_physics), quite a bit. Did I mention we'll both be in the next "Writer's Of The Future" anthology together? I did? Oh, I am so forgetful... hope I don't accidentally mention it again.

Had a great time talking with writer Carl Schroeder and his wife and daughter at breakfast Saturday. I hope you've experienced some of Carl's amazing worlds. We both have three in the family and paired off for conversation and a really fun start to the morning.

Coral and Larc spent much of their time in the kids activities, then crashed when Coral became overstimulated, but I had a great time hanging out with many people and stayed up way too late Saturday night hitting parties with my buds Drew, Pippa, Eric, Giles, and Rick Lieder. There were a ton of parties!

Saw Tobias Buckell and his lovely writerswife. This guy was busy! Saw him on panels more than off. Talked briefly (meaning not enough) with other busy writers like jimhines, paulmelko Mike Resnick, Kathe Koja, among others. A number of editors were in attendance as well, which I really like to see.

Oh, and a special moment seeing one of my writing mentors from my very first writing group. It was good to see Ted Reynolds again. Hang in there my friend. See you again.

Talked to too many people to mention everyone, (HI again tshaile, kgkofmel, jeffreyab) and realized I sort-of missed actually chatting with a few people (Like drzarron), but a shout-out to all of you who were there!!!

All in all, a great time.

Networked Nirvana

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:59:02 GMT

Updated the household net. We have networked access not only to the Internet and laser printer, but now also to the graphics printer, label/postage printer and scale, scanner, card reader, and some central storage. All of this is wirelessly shared with the laptops without having to turn on the old slow-booting, power-hungry desktop computer that most of these devices were once wired to. Plus, yet so far, no constant rebooting, unlike with the old print server and wireless router. Nice. Efficient and easy. Reduced complexity. More focus on projects, less on technology. I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. For a change I don't feel like a bleeding-edge, early-adopter always waiting for the next firmware update. Everything's just working (after downloading the latest drivers.) Just getting things done suddenly seems a lot easier and less kludgey.