Faith or Fear

Kids, your ol' buddy the CS finds himself in a rather difficult situation.

As many of you know I've made a strong point in the past about being very open and supportive   of everyone's right to practice their faith of choice.  Even Scientologists.  L. Ron love you, I may not understand you goofy bastards but I still have to support your right to stay just as clear as your operating thetan asses want to be.  I've stuck by this belief for a very long time and even had to defend it rather vehemently on a few occasions.  Up until recently I don't believe you could have shaken me away from this idea.

The problem I'm dealing with today is in regards to the Islamic faith.  Now there are, as many of you were about to blurt out before I had a chance to complete my sentence, a large population of the folks that practice this religion that love this country, are peaceful people, and are the furthest thing from "terrorists," etc. etc. so on and so forth.  Unfortunately there is a shocking rise  in the number of radical mosques in the world over the last ten years.  The clerics in these mosques are actively teaching a more jihadist and anti-Western rhetoric.  Most recently of note would be the mosque where the two men worshiped that beat that British soldier to death in the middle of the street.  CNN released a report just last week stating that over the last five years or so that particular mosque had become reputed to have moved from more mainstream Islamic teachings to a much more violent bent.  Sadly, this is apparently becoming a world wide phenomenon.

So here's my quandry in as plain a language as I can muster: if the overall tenets of a faith are experiencing a shift worldwide to beliefs that are actively hostile to our American way of life, how long can we continue to provide the same level of protection for that faith on our soil?

Mind you, I'm not advocating revoking the Muslims right to practice their faith.  I find myself disturbed, however, when legislation comes to light that is attempting to prevent the investigation of these more radical mosques in our own country.  I find it to be greatly concerning that no matter what kind of threat they may pose.

Of course I'm also finding myself very highly concerned when our current administration tries to quell the first amendment rights of those who choose to take issue with the Islamic faith as well. Yeah, well, we'll just save that little bit for another post...

Again, I'm not advocating the restriction of anyone's rights to practice their faith.  I'm not being racist, evil, discriminatory, or ignorant in any way.  I am advocating the same transparency for their practices and teachings that all other faiths in this country are subject to, and I would actively encourage the investigation of any activity that poses a threat to our country.

Finally I'd like to make a request to anyone of the Islamic faith that is willing to respond.  Please explain to me why so many in your faith feel it necessary to protect those who truly wish to threaten our country and way of life by preventing legitimate investigation into the matter of terrorist activity.

Sense and Accountability

Hey kids.  As I write this post I'm sitting in a courtroom waiting to deal with a minor criminal matter my employer is pursing against a former customer that chose not to be a reasonable human being.

The parade of humanity rolling through the courtroom is nothing new.  I've had to do this as part of my job for years and unfortunately rent to own cases fall in general duty district court along with every-frickin-thing else the court needs to do that day.  What is still just shocking to me, however, is the staggering percentage of people who refuse to take any form of responsibility or accountability for their actions.

Look let me put this simply.  We all make mistakes, some larger and more complicated than others.  When you screw up, and we all do, do what you need to fix the issue.  Own up to your mistake.  Fix it. Make it right. If life's taught me anything it's that you can't fix something you've fucked up if all you want to do is to blame someone else constantly.  The only true way to fix your mistakes in this life is to claim responsibility, make it right, and move the hell on.

Case in point:  I've watched this judge toss people in jail with a rather stylish aplomb all morning long.  A kid just walked in front of him a few moments ago and said: "Your honor, I please guilty and would like to handle this today.  I made a stupid mistake that won't happen again.  I have money on me to pay all court costs and fines.  It's my fault and I'm sorry."

Wow!

Now you should also know that this was a fairly minor infraction.  I have to give it to the kid though for showing some serious balls and accountability for his actions.  Bravo in my opinion.

Apparently in the judges opinion as well as he dismissed the case without prejudice after thanking the kid for being straight up about his mistakes and taking responsibility.  He didn't even make him pay court costs.

Who knew, huh?

.....Oh yeah and just one more thing.  You should be aware that if you're a guy that picks a fight with your obviously Cross-Fit addicted girlfriend and she stomps a mud hole in your ass to the point that you end up in a neck brace and walking with a cane, appearing in court and whining to the judge may not be the smartest or most manly of moves.  In case you were wondering the very second the courtroom door closed behind you every single alpha male with a badge and gun (and those not armed at that particular moment) in that place was snickering and cracking jokes on your simple ass.  Yeah stud I might settle that one out of court if I were you there hoss.  Just sayin'...

Uh... Oops!

Sorry kids, I was attempting to use a new piece of software this week to broadcast the CS to multiple places and needless to say things didn't go as planned.

Instead of going everywhere it went nowhere.

Just, well, ... shit!

Well, just forgive me for flooding a bunch of posts over the next few hours.

Mail Call (Late of Course): A Quickie Note of Clarification

As I've just restarted the blog in full force I only had one email to respond to for the Friday Mail Call last week.  I gave it the weekend then decided to go ahead and answer the question today and keep any new emails for this week's MC.

The question I received was from a new acquaintance in the Morehead City area that wanted to know when my radio show was on and what I was going to be talking about each week, etc.  

Okay, now would probably be a great time for some clarification.

Yes I am on the local talk radio station once a week (Tuesday mornings at 6:30 a.m.) HOWEVER it is for my day job with Electronics Plus and not, I repeat, not affiliated with my work as an author or with this blog.  The weekly show is called Answers in High Definition and covers topics related to HDTV and the like.  There is, however, an opportunity as I approach the launch date for Hurricane Carolina to do some "local author" press through the station and I'm looking forward to working with them on that front.

As for an actual CS flavored radio show on a weekly basis... 

I honestly had never given that idea any thought or merit.  But hey, if Dennis Miller can pull away from mainstream and go podcast based, it might be worth looking into.  Who knows what the future holds as they say.

Remember you can post your questions and comments on the blog directly or via email at thecynicalsarcatic@gmail.com.

Oh XBox... Why?

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you've probably caught on to the fact that I'm a bit more than a casual gamer.  I've been pretty much locked in to the XBox360 for six years or so now, thanks in no small part to my wife and her family and our slightly unorthodox family outings into the world of Call of Duty.

Needless to say I was pretty excited about the announcement of the new XBox One to be released this fall... until I actually watched the press conference.

So let me make sure I understand this.  My console has to connect to the Internet once every 24 hours or my games lock out? The camera is ALWAYS on?  The console logs everything I watch to make suggestions? I can't trade in my games unless A PUBLISHER SAYS IT'S OKAY? I can't lend a buddy my copy of a game without losing my rights to it?  My beloved GameFly account will be useless unless they "decide" to activate rental licenses?

Kids, it's bad enough we've got a potus in office who wants us all to live in an Orwellian nightmare.  You know, this one:

Why in the fucking hell would I want to voluntarily give some company an always on camera in my living room and then give them permission to chart everything I watch in order to provide me better suggestions and marketing opportunities.  Not that I'm some 14 year old kid with a predilection for anime porn and Skimamax but still... really? We deal with enough of that crap already in our digital world.  But you expect me to pay $499 for the privilege? Is there a polite way to tell someone to take your written notice to go fuck yourself, roll it up neatly, and anally fist themselves with it?

Oh wait, actually there is...

Sony did it when it announced the PS4 would be $100 cheaper, remembered the actual hardcore gamers that got them there to start with instead of trying to monopolize the living room, and would be able to share games just as we do now.  I have never seen so many grown men (well gamers anyway) laugh quite as hard as I've seen people guffaw at this video.

And this ladies and gentlemen is how easily Sony pulled my future console purchase away from Microsoft and flipped the biggest bird I've seen in a very, very long time up toward ol' Redmond, Washington:

I believe the words you're looking for are 

GAME - SET - MATCH bitches!

Test Post for Automatic Facebook Delivery

Well let's see how this works out...

Fighting With Your Characters

Hey kids.   As a way to get this ol' ball rolling once again, I thought I'd share a little more about the process of being a writer and some of my recent experiences while working on my upcoming novel Hurricane Carolina.  You'll notice the title of this post is "Fighting With Your Characters."

The subtitle should be "Or How to Finally Realize You're Just Being a Dumbass."

One of the great parts of being a writer of any degree is that your imagination is the only true limit to the people and places you can create.  The flip side of that is also that if you, at least in my opinion, do your job right and create deep and complex characters you run the very high risk of having them become a little too real on you sometimes and suddenly this fictional person or that group of fictional people you've created have their own story to tell that may not exactly be what you had planned from the outset.

And no, before you call the guys in the padded van with the specially fit strappy-jackets, I've not gone around the bend and started talking to the voices in my head.

Yet.

I'm sure a little more exposition may be in order here before someone tries to up my dosage, possibly involuntarily.  As I've been working on HC for the past six months or so I've developed a very long and complicated narrative with some fairly deeply constructed characters.  I finished the first draft of the book in a barely readable form in December to the tune of around 800 pages.  Yeah, 800 pages.  It's okay, I said 'Holy Shit' too.  The problem I had is that for some reason I just didn't like the story in that form.  It didn't seem 'real' enough to me to be believable. I sort of pride myself on writing characters that get a reaction from my readers, even if it is vehement hate as in the case of Mack from Bounce.  I'll take what I can get.  The problem here though is that I just didn't buy the story, particularly the ending.  It felt forced and crappy and left me ready to throw the whole damn thing in a drawer and pull it out six years from now after another book does well. 

Wait, I did that with By Design.  Damn.

And then the crazy happened.  I was driving down the highway on my way back to my house last Sunday afternoon when an epiphany hit me hard enough to make me pull over to the side of the road.  It wasn't that the story sucked (well not totally anyway).  The problem was that I wasn't telling the story that THOSE PARTICULAR CHARACTERS had to tell.  I know it sounds a little clown shoes but what I've been fighting with so hard all this time is trying to create a relationship for two characters that moved toward a predestined ending when what I should have been doing is "listening" to them to start with and letting them tell me their story the whole time.

Robert E. Howard had it right after all I guess.  If he could let Conan tell him all his tales of high adventure who am I to deny a couple of knuckleheads out of my imagination their say so?

So there you have it aspiring fiction writers.  When you're characters speak, listen.

It might just save you 600 pages of really good trunk novel nonsense.

Welcome to the (Hopefully Improved) Cynical Sarcastic!

Welcome to the unofficial "relaunch" of the Cynical Sarcastic! 

I hope everyone enjoys the new design for the blog and some of the (hopefully) more user-friendly tools I've put in there for your use.

One of the reasons I've decided to do a bit of a relaunch is that there are a number of new visitors to blog since I've relocated to Morehead City and I thought that since there are going to be more newbies floating thru a coat of paint wouldn't be the worst idea I've ever had.  I've also decided to (finally) adopt a regular format of three or four posts during the week and Friday Mail Call on a much more regular basis.

So, whether you're a new visitor to the CS or you've been putting up with my ranting and raving for a few years now, welcome!  There are a couple of things I should cover for you all right out of the gate, particularly for you new people.  First and foremost you should understand that I use this blog to air my opinions of just about anything and everything and you can probably count on any given post having a fair-to-reasonable chance of fluctuating back and forth across that NSFW line.  I am not now nor have I ever been shy with my opinion and this blog is absolutely no exception.  Feel free to comment on anything I post either in the comments section or via email at thecynicalsarcastic@gmail.com.  Please be aware that I usually use Fridays as a day to respond to email, usually with no regard to quantity, quality, or need for discretion.  I also use this blog to talk about my experiences as an author, which has been an interesting journey to say the least.

Well, now that we're all set back up and ready to rock n' roll, let's end the post with a quick giveaway offer.  The first ten people to email me or comment on the website (that provide me with a return email address that is) will receive a free e-book copy of both of my novels, Bounce and By Design.  

Welcome again and I hope to hear from you soon!