Calculating Normals

We’re already barreling through 2026 and I haven’t mentioned anything about the fund raising campaign for Rizald. Did you know about the Backerkit campaign? Probably not because it’s getting postponed. For good reasons but I’ll tell you more about that here. Continue reading Rizald Update January 2026

The second half of my Mini Hitchcock Reviews. Part I was a blast and I flew those. This second half had films I was either intimidated to watch (Psycho) or knew nothing about (Family Plot). There were some highs and lows in this leg of my journey but I’m glad I pushed through. There were some real gems in this batch. I finished them on New Year’s Eve just barely completing my study of Sir Alfred…

In times of trouble, of strife, of sadness, I can always depend on my brain sheltering itself in the warm insulation of a new hobby that I will get really excited for before ultimately abandoning it for the next new shiny new hobby. My current focus has been on the 1984 war game of ‘Mecha combat, BattleTech. The game was one of my favorites as a kid. We had the original box set with little paper…

I have always loved the autumn season. When there’s dew on the ground in the morning and a chill in the air, I know it’s time to get spooky. There is something primal about fear that is comforting. Ghosts and ghouls are just a part of being human. I love to celebrate that vestigial superstition with a yearly binge of all things Halloween. To that end, here’s some of my favorite seasonal viewings…

I wanted to work up some merchandise for tabling at events. It’s hard to sell books you haven’t published but in this day-and-age I don’t think you can get published without a following that you can’t build without a product? It’s sort of a dog chasing his own tail, Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a Penrose-mountain, or Catch-22ing. So, I started making zines as one of my projects. They are quick…

I swear I’m very normal and have only hobbies that don’t get me weird looks. Okay, I swear my not normal hobbies are at least not weird. Well… I’m not into my hobbies for creepy reason. Okay, okay, okay–I swear that the weird creepy hobbies I have are at least not demonic. I enjoy making movies and puppets have just been an easy way to do that. Also they are fun. Also… I seemingly can’t stop…

May was a whirlwind. It started with the yearly Tavern Tall Tales retreat, my experimental puppetry class, a puppet slam event, and launching the teaser page for the Absolutely True Legends of Rizald; Prolific Liar & Wizard’s crowdfunding site. It was enough excitement that I gave myself a gout flare up (but I think the stress and foot swelling was worth it). TTT editors enjoying the beach at…

Hello! In February, I was feeling a little puny from not getting what I thought of as progress done for the year. I finally got my butt in gear though. Now I’ve got lots of updates galore. Continue reading April Updates 2025

I swear I don’t mean to make this a movie blog. My mission remains to make this space a way of finding my center. Returning my brain to good health when I spend too much time in the Pain Mines (social media). That said, I watch Speakerhead from the Coal Mine the Boo when I was feeling under the weather and it’s fantastic. How have folks not told me about this incredible movie…

I mentioned that I started watching a lot of mysteries. Columbo and Pokerface are two series that made me fall in love with storytelling all over again. Every time I read up on murder mysteries, there was always one director people would mention, Alfred Hitchcock. Besides watching the Birds once as a child and catching parts of Psycho, I had never really delved too deeply into Alfred’s movies. I…

When I was a kid, I remember my father being excited for a horror movie he said gave him nightmares. He spoke about the film reverently like it was sacred. He also said it was deeply funny because instead of mutants, robots, zombies, kaiju, vampires, or slashers–this film’s evil entity was birds. Just BIRDS. I remembered this viewing fondly and thought I should check out the great late director…

My brother hiked the Appalachian Trail last year. As a fellow Eagle Scout, I was jealous as hell. I’ve long dreamed of taking a long cross country backpacking trip around America. Experience what early settlers and my D&D characters do daily. In addition, I’ve missed spending time in nature. So, I said to my brother, “If you ever want to go hiking, let me know.” He agreed and told me about a…

I’ve enjoyed digging into films that are a little older than the 2000’s recently. It was something my kaiju class peaked my interest in. Watching the Godzillas from the fifties to today made me realize just how much I miss practical effects. Jumping into mysteries made me really appreciate a tight script and good acting again as well. Years of B-movies and superhero ‘fast-food’ film had eroded my…

Last year, a student asked me how to get started working in game development. I wrote out an email to help them find a starting place. I realized I wrote a lot on the topic and thought it would make a nice blog. What follows is an edited version of that email reworked to be a blog post. I hope this helps anyone else getting started with games. I’ve fallen out of game dev for the moment while I…