Syd Mead went from designing cars and industrial products to designing worlds.  And while he was already well known for the former, it will be the latter than many will remember him for. Mead, who passed away on December 30, had lent his distinctive look to films such as ALIENS, TRON, SHORT CIRCUIT, and others.  Starting with STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979), Mead would go on to re-define the look of SF films with BLADE RUNNER (1982), the classic film that has inspired numerous artists and authors over the years.  He even came back for the sequel, BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017), with his designs for a future Las Vegas. For the film BLADE RUNN

I haven't put up a journal entry in quite a while--more like since last year--so it's time for a update. I left 2018 in a state that could only be called, well, being content.  I was just glad to be alive, to have some money in the bank (courtesy of a seasonal job), and to see my niece turn one year older and also realize just how much she's grown, and that my family and friends for the most part were still here. Yet the biggest change I saw was in myself.  I'll explain that one. For many years I pretty much hated myself.  Many didn't see it at all; only a couple of friends and close family members could tell that there was a lot of self-h

Harlan Ellison once said that the universe didn't care about us.  It was, in his words, "too busy creating the Coal Sack". I respectfully disagree.  I'd say that the universe cared about us because Ellison was here for 84 years.  A brief time, yes, but enough for him to make one hell of an impact. Ellison, who died on June 27, was a true force of nature.  "Titan" seems too limiting a word to a man who wrote novels, screenplays, comics, essays and short stories (for which he was known) and won numerous awards.  Stories such as "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream", "Repent, Harlequin!  Said The Tick-Tock Man", and "The Cheese Stands Alone"--a