Ebony Queen: A Bedtime Story

            Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a small kingdom ruled by a very beautiful queen. This queen ruled her land with joy and grace, which made everyone in the land love her deeply. Each day, the queen would greet her followers with a big smile and wish that they would have a terrific day as they went about their everyday business.

            One day, the Queen awoke as she did everyday and prepared to greet her followers, but discovered that one of her followers had done something unthinkable within the kingdom. This follower, who was one of the Queen’s favorite subjects, had fallen for someone in another village and was moving away without saying goodbye.

            The Queen’s heart was broken and she fell into a deep depression for several days. All the Queen’s friends and family did all they could to break her dreadful sadness without any luck. This saddened all of the Queen’s followers within the kingdom because they couldn’t see her beautiful smile as they went to work and school.

            So one day, when things were looking completely grim, a stranger rode into the small kingdom upon a black stallion. This stranger rode through the center of the kingdom and was astounded to see that no one looked up from their chores or even smiled as he passed.

            He came across three people standing in the market, each looking more depressed than the first.

            “Excuse me,” the stranger called towards the three people as he dismounted. The young woman in the trio stepped forward silently as the stranger approached.

            “Why does everyone in town look so sad?” he asked once she was close to him.

            “It's our Queen, sir,” the woman replied, tears rising in the corners of her eyes. “She has grown sad and no one can break her from it.”

            The stranger listened to the woman’s tale intently; he could feel himself starting to become quite sad like everyone else. He knew he had to do something quickly before he fell victim to the sadness in the kingdom.

            Without delay, the stranger hopped onto his horse and rode swiftly to the Queen’s castle. He entered the throne room to find the Queen silently weeping.

            “I beg your pardon, my Queen,” he said as he approached. The Queen looked up at the stranger tears falling softly from her lovely cheeks.

            “Who might you be, stranger?” she asked.

            “I am a traveling bard, my Queen. I wander these lands of yours bringing joy and cheer to those I meet.”

            “Well you are much too late, for there is no joy within these lands anymore I’m afraid,” she responded.

            The stranger reached into his knapsack and produced a small book, which he then held out to the Queen to examine. She felt the weight of the book upon her fingertips, and then stared at the image upon its leathery cover. On it was a beautiful little blue bird with its wings fully extended in flight.

            “Why do you show me this?” the Queen asked as she handed the book back to the stranger.

            “It is where I write my stories, each one guaranteed to bring joy and happiness to anyone I tell them to.”

            The Queen looked at the stranger not wanting to believe the man’s boastings.

            “Very well, stranger,” the Queen spoke as she wiped away her tears. “You have one chance. If you succeed in returning joy to my heart, I shall bestow upon you the title of my personal storyteller. However, if you should fail, I shall banish you to the farthest reaches of the land never to return.”

            The stranger nodded his head confidently. He opened his book to a tale and immediately began to read aloud what was written in the pages. He read for several long moments, pausing briefly to see if the Queen’s demeanor had changed. Unfortunately, there was nothing new in her look.

            He continued to read the tale, but the next time he looked up into the Queen’s eyes, he was amazed to see that the tears had stopped falling down her lovely cheeks.  He read more and this time when he took a glance from the pages, he saw that the frown, which had been frozen on the Queen’s lips had been replaced by the most amazing smile he had ever seen.

            By the time he finished the story, the Queen was outright bursting with laughter. It was so loud that it echoed off the walls of the castle and floated on the breeze throughout the entire kingdom.

            When the followers heard the Queen’s laughter, slowly the terrible sadness that had plagued them for days was starting to lift. People everywhere began to smile at the joyous sound that came from the castle.

            Once she was able to speak again, the Queen looked at the stranger, overjoyed that she was once again filled with happiness.

            “Congratulations, stranger,” the Queen proclaimed, “you have fulfilled your promise and have returned my kingdom to its former glory. As promised, you will now be my personal storyteller from this day forward.”

            Outside, there came a tremendous uproar of cheers and applauds as the news flowed throughout the streets to everyone.

            Everyday from that first day, the Stranger meets with The Queen and he tells her funny stories and puts a smile on her face that is felt by all of her followers. And they lived happily ever after. 

The End

My Blog: The Sequel to The Remake of the Reboot

There's a topic that has been weighing on my mind for some time now and it kind of hits close to home for me. I have had a serious issue with the whole movie industry in recent years. As an amateur writer (amateur in the sense that I don't get paid yet) I find that the entire movie business has become so lazy in it's approach to what used to be a multi-billion dollar industry. The tripe that they put out each month to make a few bucks is beyond comprehension. For the life of me, I just don't get it. It's seems as though they shun anything new that falls away from their "formula" of making the big bucks. Everything that comes out nowadays is either a remake of a movie from years prior or a sequel to a movie that was successful last year. Movies have become so predictable that its almost sickening. For example, when the Adam Sandler movie "Click" was advertised a few years ago, I predicted the entire film from beginning to end without ever having heard anything about it. I'm not saying this is the case with all movies that come out but the vast majority of films fall into this category. The thing that really bugs me is the rash of movies that are remakes or as they call them "reboots" of movies that were just out a couple years ago. Perfect example, the first "Spiderman" movie was released in theaters back in 2002 with the final film in the series debuting in 2007. Here it is 2011 almost 2012 and they have decided that the entire series needed to be redone. The same can be said for the "Fantastic Four" films that came out even later (2005 for the first one followed by "Rise of the Silver Surfer" in 2007). There have been reports of a reboot in the making starring an entirely different cast due to be released here shortly in the next few months. It appears that original script ideas have become a thing of the past and making films from comic books and novels seems to be the norm. It wouldn't a really big deal if, oh I don't know, if they were actually good. the "Green Lantern" movie was terrible, "Thor" was passable at best but with that you can tell they just wanted to make another "The Avengers" tie-in film. I understand this post has become an outright rant but it just angers me that these movies continue to make money even though they're damn near the same film. I won't even mention the "Scarface" remake they're talkin about doing based on the 1980's movie (which was a remake of a 1930's movie of the same name). Personally, I haven't gone to the show to see a movie since the last "Transformers" movie (my son really wanted to see that one) and will continue to do so until a movie comes along that I feel is worth my time and money. Please don't get me wrong, there are a few movies on my radar I'm holding out hope for: Sherlock Holmes, Mission: Impossible just to name a couple. I'm gonna say one more thing and then I'll end this, How many more "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" sequels do we need before we finally decide enough is enough? Hell I think Dr. Suess had a couple more books they haven't made into movies yet. #HeyKoolAid :D

Return of the King

Okay so the whole idea of having a blog is to actually write in it. That aspect has kind of eluded me for a while I guess.but I've had a lot of things on my mind recently and felt that now would be a good time to return to my second love. Those that know me know my son is #1 but I'm getting off point.
I was listening to some music this morning like I do sometimes before work and I listened to a group I knew absolutely nothing about named The Heavy. Great group if you haven't heard them before give them a listen. But it got me to thinking about how there are so many great musicians and artist out there that won't get the recognition they so rightly deserve because they don't fit the "cookie-cutter" style that is so prevalent within the industry now. It's a shame that if you don't have your finger on the pulse of the Underground artist, you'll find yourself missing out on a lot of fantastic music.
It's for this very reason that I have not listened to the radio in nearly 2 years. It's because they replay the same garbage every hour to make you believe it's a hit. These record company execs are the main reason real artists are passed by the wayside and labeled "Underground" or "Unsigned". For a time, we had true musicians falling prey to the fads of the industry just as an attempt to maintain a foothold amongst current day artist (read: Autotune). I completely understand you have to keep up with what the people like but at the same time as a musician or artist you have to do more than just follow the pack.
Please believe I know it all boils down to one thing: M-O-N-E-Y. The execs want more money so they want the artist to sell to a broader audience meaning they'll need to follow trends that have made cash in the past to achieve these goals. Far be it for me to knock someone and how they feed their family but damn, the music (and the listeners) shouldn't have to suffer. Not every song that gets airplay needs to have Lil Wayne, T-Pain or Ludacris on the track in order for it to reach the masses. If you want you can call this the rantings of an old school cat, but know this, I'm an old school cat that knows good music growing up with moms playing The Temptations or The Four Tops on the weekends.
I'll end this little outburst on one final note. We as consumers have the final say as to what we are subjected to on a daily basis whether it be music, movies or television. If we believe that something is bad and not worth our hard earned money then don't buy it. Let's let these record company tycoons know that that isn't what we want anymore or support the things we want to hear more of. And on that note, the King has left the building. #2fangahs.

Recently for some reason or other, my mind has started to dwell on a lot of frightening almost dark thoughts. Now with me having such an over-active imagination, some of these ideas are enough to scare the living Hell out of me. I've come to the realization that I wrote in order to rid my mind of such horrifying thoughts but for the past several months, I just haven't had the time. I used to believe that I was just going insane, you know no big whoop, I mean I've been crazy my whole life (that's a joke, I've only been crazy half the time). But I know the only way to set my mind at ease is to slowly ease my way back into my writing little by little in hopes that I can regain some aspect of sanity (again, I am not crazy). So in order to slip back into my craft, I'm going to attempt to write a weekly blog inhopes that I will transfer into my stories. I know no one actually reads these things but it helps to know that if someone ever wanted to find out about me, other than asking me personally, this would be the next best thing. Well that's all for this week unless I get bored at work again and need to vent some more bullshit then til next time.

Love is...

I'm sure we've all seen the little comic strip in the daily paper that has the little couple, which always starts out "Love is..." then it gives a brief sample of what love is supposed to be. Well, with Valentine's day approaching in the next few weeks, I figured I'd put my own little spin on that and tell you what love really is.

Love is a beast. I don't mean this in the slang term either, I mean love is a untamed wild animal on an incredibly short leash. Now I know a few people will be like "Man, dude is bitter as hell," but that's not the truth. At heart, i am a die hard romantic. I believe in giving a woman I care about flowers for no other reason other than to just do it. I'll admit, I've been burned by love in the past, but I still believe that the right woman is out there for me. But back to what I was saying, love is a dangerous, ferocious carnivore out to devour all in its path. I mean this seriously. Perfect example, say you find someone and you fall madly head over heels in love with this person. You've just picked up the leash to this horrid monster. Now, your love for this person continues to flourish and Love, being the animal that it is, protects its owner from harm because in the beginning, Love is perfect.

After a while, things start to change between the two of you, You find that you no longer like spending the same amount of time with that person, you don't go out as much. Well, thats just Love turning to stalk its former master. Lets say something happens in the relationship, say you come across someone who has what your partner used to have that they don't show anymore, a little conversation, a smile that effects you somehow. Love is attacking. In the end after all is said and done, someone winds up crushed and broken. And devoured by love. Love is pain.

It isn't bad though, because as long as you keep faith, Love will be a loyal creature again. In the end, Love is a beautiful, marvelous, yet highly volatile beast that needs a great deal of care and work to keep happy. Like I've said, I've been bitten several times but will still offer my hand to Love over and over again. Happy Valentine's Day.