Another post...FINALLY!

Ok, ok, so it's been a while.

Why??? you might be asking yourselves.

Too many things going on right now, like looking for a job. Yep, I got laid off recently. Needless to say, it's been somewhat of a stressful time, but hey, like my pastor told me recently, "When a door closes, God always opens a window..."

But enough of that nonsense and on to Qiuvo...

I uploaded a Salarrue short story entitled "Buena Noche" (Christmas Eve) to the Qiuvo.com website. It is a wonderful story (a short-short, seriously, you can read it in five minutes) and you should all read it!

Don't read Spanish?

I have you covered. I was given permission to use an English translation by Dr. Janet N. Gold of the University of New Hampshire. Some of you may know that Dr. Gold is the author of "Sagatara Mio," a beautiful book about the amorous relationship between El Salvador's most famous author, Salarrue, and New York socialite Leonora Nichols. Unfortunately, it is currently only published in Spanish and available from MUPI (Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, http://www.museo.com.sv) but I'm hoping that more people will find out about this wonderful book so that it can be published in English.

Anyway, please do yourselves a favor and acquaint yourselves with Salarrue.

Thank you all for visiting Qiuvo!

A Little Background Info

So I decided to start a new series called, The Wander Years, where I'll go back and blog about old school memories that have stuck with me during my life. Sounds real exciting, doesn't it?

But first, I want to jot down a little background info on how I started blogging. After all, this huge audience I've garnered is hanging on my every post....shaaahh... Seriously, I think my profile has been viewed 56 times, and I know I must have viewed it at least 52 of those 56 times (while updating the blog). Perhaps that's why I like this new exercise--Blogging. It's like shouting out into the great beyond. Ranting and raving, or just whispering at an open field with little chance of being heard by anyone. But there's still the possibility (risk?) that someone will hear you!

Before Qiuvo, I had never blogged before. In fact, I wasn't doing much writing when I started this blog--with the exception of business writing at work (reports, manuals, lengthy emails, etc). I've written short stories, poems, a couple of unfinished novels and a bunch of ideas, but I had not been working on any of this for 5, 10 years? My goodness, has it been that long? And then one day, I was looking up my past schools on the web, when I came across a short obituary for my old Jr. High Principal. I searched for more info, and finally found a nice article that was written about him by the local paper. The search also landed me on the website of one of his children, who happened to go to the same Jr. High around the same time. It was a blog, and I dug the concept. Yeah, yeah, I'd heard of blogging before, I wasn't living under a rock. It's just that you get so wrapped up in life sometimes--mostly mundane bullshit, if you really break it down. So there I was, trapped in the mundane, not having written anything meaningful in ages, when I thought, What the hell?

The funny thing is, after I started blogging, I started waking up my dormant desire to write stories. All of a sudden, I pulled out old manuscripts out of a large plastic bin in the closet. I reacquainted myself with some of my works. I thought, Some of this stuff isn't half bad...if only... And I would blog again, and I would go back to my old stuff once more. Until finally, I began working on an unfinished story. A paragraph here, a couple of words there. If lucky, a full page in one day. I realized that I could do this, lack of time and all. Mundane bullshit and all.

I have to be honest, my writing right now is not at the same level as before. My mind has felt like I've been clearing an attic full of cobwebs, or like I'm rehabbing a muscle after a long period of apathy and inactivity. But it's slowly coming back to me. Blogging has helped. The writing can be sloppy and unspectacular, and so what? The important thing is that a process is taking place, and in that process, I'm discovering and re-learning many things about myself, and of course, I'm writing.

Until next time...

It's The New Millenium And Still No Conan III

What gives? Conan The Destroyer--the second and last Conan film--came out in 1984. It has been over 20 freakin' years since the last Conan movie came out. There have been a ton of remakes made recently, why not Conan? Why not one of the most recognizable heroes of all time? Why can't we get this movie made, people?

In a recent article published in moviehole.net, an Australian website, Clint Morris reports that New Millenium (the people behind the Rambo flicks) have purchased the rights to the next Conan movie from Warner Brothers. And apparently, New Millenium has to start from scratch, because what had been done towards a 3rd movie by WB is also owned by them (Didn't your mothers tell you that it's nice to share???).

Screen Writers, please submit your Conan III scripts to New Millenium, attention Joe Gatta (producer). Let's get this done. We are talking about one of the greatest characters of all time here.

Link to moviehole.net article:
http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070813_conan_for_the_new_millennium_f.html

Another short article published on ropeofsilicon.com by Brad Brevet:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=6911

-Qiuvo

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Feel Good About...

After years of going the "cheap" route and commuting to work in small, economical cars (screw you, OPEC!), Mr. Qiuvo decided that it was time to look for a bigger car. After all, commuting to work 42 miles each way--which is not a looong distance but may mean anywhere from an hour (if weekday traffic is ok) to two hours (if there's any sort of accident)--means a lot of damn time spent in the car. Add the 2 little rug rats to the mix (daycare facility is in the same city as Mr. Qiuvo's work), and it gets more complex.

Picture Mr. and Mrs. Qiuvo sitting up front, while the 2 little ones sit in their bulky car seats in the back...in a Chevy Aveo! Not the most comfortable situation, but hell, we did it for a while in mostly a Ford Focus or the aforementioned Aveo.

Well, good fortune fell on our laps when a dear friend decided to get rid of his minivan. No charge, which was a great blessing, although it needed some work. We dumped some $5000 in repairs (back brakes, struts, shock absorbers, tune up and other engine work in order to pass the dreaded smog check, fix an exhaust leak and warped pistons, etc) and thought, Ok, we're good to go!

WRONG!

I would get this nasty grinding noise when using the brakes sometimes. I took it back to the place that did my back brakes (Midas) and was told, "Oh, you can expect a grinding noise for a while. Eventually the break pads will settle into the grooves and you won't get that noise anymore." So like an idiot, Mr. Qiuvo thought, Hell, why not?

The grinding noise came on and off, so it was a bit deceiving. Eventually, almost a year went by and the noise seemed to stop for good.

Until today.

On our way to work, the grinding noise came back strong! And it continued, even when my foot wasn't on the break. Not good, folks. Something was majorly broken. I tried to "ride it out" since I was only some 15 miles from a car dealership near my work. Eventually though, I threw in the towel--this was a major safety hazard (especially with the kids in the car). Not to mention the huge headache I incurred from the sharp, stabbing pains emanating from the wallet in my back pocket. I saw an automobile repair shop and pulled in. I hope these guys are honest, I thought, because I'm completely at their mercy.

I got to work a good hour and a half late. I was running behind, way behind. As I frantically prepared for a metrics meeting I received the call from the auto shop.

Me: Hello?

AS: Hi, this is Charlie from XXX Auto Repair, is this Qiuvo?

Me: Yes it is, how are you? (like I'm building rapport with a customer)

AS: Fine. Listen, checked your car.

Me: Holy shit, please don't let it cost so much. Please don't let it cost too much.

AS: Your front brake was sitting on the rotor. You're going to need new brakes, including the brake pads. We can salvage one rotor, but we'll have to put in a new one.

Me: Ok...Please don't let it cost so much, please don't let it...

AS: It'll come to about $307 plus tax

Me: Yes! Not as bad as I thought! Could that really be it? So that was it? There was no other sort of structural damage?

AS: Well, your transmission casing is broken, that's going to need to get replaced.

Me: Shit! Ok...what would it take to get that fixed?

AS: Well, you'd have to put in a new transmission.

Me: And how much does something like that generally cost?

AS: Well, I can get you a rebuilt transmission with a 3 year warranty for $3000.

Me: @#%&%#@&#%@#&%!!!!

AS: Hello? Are you still there?

Me: Uh...yeah, let's do the brakes. Go ahead and work on the breaks. Damn it to hell!

So all these thoughts came through my mind: Is he scamming me? He only mentioned the transmission after I probed him for any other problems. Wouldn't he have told me about the transmission without me having to ask first? Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe it'll last a while. Maybe I'll be driving on the freeway and end up with the transmission on the ground.

AAAARRRGGHHH! Another $3k on top of what we've already spent on repairs would mean that we got a "free" car for about $8-9k. I ultimately decided to hope for the best with the transmission situation. There will be a lot of under-the-breath prayers uttered during certain times on the road, I'm sure. If it comes down to it, a new car would probably be the way to go. Isn't it funny how life just tends to grab you by the balls sometimes? And to add insult to injury, once it has you by the balls, it also tends to ask you to "Cough."

@$#%#&*@&#@!!!

--Qiuvo

Just Read...

Sailor At The Seas of Fate, by Michael Moorcock

Book 2 in the Elric series.

Brief Summary: Elric has "temporarily" abdicated his throne in order to journey through the "Young Kingdoms" and find out more about himself and the world outside of Melnibone. He boards a vessel in order to escape pursuers and finds himself out at sea, adventuring through a different plane(s).This book takes a departure from the first--it's more esoteric (i.e. "out there"), with passages that may be dream sequences because of their really fantastical happenings. Elric's surroundings are very dream-like. Not my cup of tea (I preferred the first book) but still some good writing by Moorcock, especially the last half of the book.

Random Quote...

"When I think I only have a short time to live, I'm horrified. Not because I want to go on living at all costs, but because I feel I've frittered away my time and should have lived very differently."

- Ernst Tugendhat, German Philosopher (when asked about his new philosophy dealing with the fear of death.)


I was reading an interview with professor Tugendhat and this short snippet caught my attention. I think this feeling might be quite common if we really take the time to reflect on where we are and what we've done to get there. Scary, in some cases.

Random Quote...

"There's nothing as soft and dangerous as the curves of a woman."

- R. A. Fiallos



Perhaps I should add: addicting, wonderful, and powerful. God knew what he was doing Folks.

;-)

What Ever Happened To Short Books?

I was visiting a relative in Concord, California, when I saw a guy on the sidewalk holding a huge "BOOK SALE" sign. I noted the place where the sale was being held (Bay Books on Willow Pass Rd.--had never been there) and made it a point to return when I was done with my visit.

I walked in with my two little kids, so I couldn't stay long (kids are sooo patient, after all.) I gravitated towards the Fantasy and Science fiction section to look for one of my favorite authors of all time, Fritz Leiber. Unfortunately, Fritz has been out of print for a while and you can't really find him at Borders or Barnes and Noble anymore. As I looked through the shelves, I asked myself why I had never thought to look in a used book store before, as opposed to Amazon.com, or eBay.

Voila! They had some Leiber paperbacks. I picked up a couple at $2.50 a pop and looked for some Michael Moorcock (another author that has been out of print). I ended up spending about $35 on used books that day.

I haven't been disappointed. I've been reading both Leiber and Moorcock simultaneously, and it has been a real joy. I hadn't read any "old style" fantasy since the 80s, so it has been a real treat reacquainting myself with a couple of masters.

The first thing that caught my attention when I bought these old books was their length. The longest was only around 250 pages. Most were in the 180-200 page range. If you go to a book store nowadays and pick up a book by any contemporary author, 300 pages is on the "short" end of the spectrum! Writers today are notorious for churning out long works, and it's not uncommon for someone like Stephen King to regularly come out with a 700-800 page tomes.

What's the deal?

Are there new editing standards, or have writers become more verbose? And let me tell you, a long book doesn't necessarily mean a good book. I think it takes skill to write a complete novel in 200 pages. That's not to say that I don't like long books, but in my honest opinion, a lot of new fiction books suffer from a lack of editing. I'll use Stephen King as an example, since he is a real heavyweight in contemporary fiction and has been for years. A book that comes to mind is Insomnia, which if I remember correctly was well over 800 pages (hardback edition). I loved the beginning--the pacing was great, and King hooked me right away. The middle, however, left a lot to be desired. I remember feeling that I was reading just to get it out of the way (since I had already read a couple of hundred pages) rather than for the enjoyment of it. King did redeem himself at the end of the book; the pacing picked up and the conclusion was a bit of a heart-wrencher, but it was still not as good as the beginning. I thought the integrity of the story could have been kept with some 300 less pages and I probably would have enjoyed the book a lot more.

Ok, I could see an editor being intimidated by the legend that is Stephen King. After all, most of his books are best-sellers and many get made into movies. I would not want to be the person telling King, hey Steve, I think cutting 200 pages of fluff from this draft would really make this book better. Any publishing house would love to have that guy--I wouldn't want to risk losing him! But it's not just King folks, fantasy books are usually well over 350 pages long. Are these guys getting paid by the number of words in the story? Or is it just an evolution of the genre where it is more acceptable to really fill out a story in order to justify a $6.99 price tag? If any of you have insight into the book publishing world, let me know.

- Qiuvo

Paul Potts - Brittain Has Talent

On June 14th, Yahoo posted a link to a video clip of Paul Potts, the winner of "Britain Has Talent." Out of curiosity (and because I like classical music in general), I checked out the clip, and wow. Here was this unassuming 36 year old who looked very much out of his element, until he sang the first note to Nessun Dorma. His short performance made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. He sang from the heart, and I felt it. The judges did as well. I loved Simon Cowell's look of unbelief as he listened to the song. I forwarded the Youtube link to family members, and their reaction was pretty much on par with mine. Music's ability to touch the soul is one of life's wonders.

The response to Paul Potts' performance was overwhelming; he touched a lot of folks with his singing. Last time I checked, one of his clips on Youtube had over 5 million views with mostly positive reactions! But as usual, the detractors climbed out from under their rocks. Snobby opera afficionados, Morons, and ne'er do-wellers all chimed in with negative comments. I am not placing them all in the same category, believe me. But most of the "hating" towards the Paul Potts phenomenon was clearly silly.

He sings nice, but he's no Pavarotti.

Who is? Pavarotti is a legend, and only a handful of individuals have that quality of voice. Does that take away from Mr. Pott's performance?

He has had classical training, he attended a couple of master classes with Pavarotti.

And the point is? Master classes are a good way to get insight from a professional, but they do not make you a better singer. There's no short formula, there's no magic wand--you still have to have the voice and the self-discipline to evolve your talent and craft.

Paul Potts will never be a professional singer, Carusso is much better!

Sad but true, there are morons who have nothing better to do than to fill comment sections with this type of drivel. And we wonder why a lot of kids hate going into classical music. Aspiring classical musicians will feel this sort of unwarranted criticism througout their careers. Even established artists get slammed by talentless critics. Kissin sucks, Horowitz was much better, etc. Insane.

Well, aside from the recording contract and money that Mr. Potts won, there was something else that happened: people started listening to opera! Even people who aren't into the genre. All of a sudden, we saw not only Pott's Youtube clips gain an increase in views, but also clips by great tenors like Domingo, Pavarotti, and other heavyweights. This humble man accomplished in a span of several weeks what thousands of artists haven't accomplished in a lifetime. Brilliantly done, Mr. Potts!

Life is Short Folks...

A co-worker called this morning, informing me that she would be late to work. She was distraught as 3 of her nieces died in a car crash early this morning. She started breaking down in between sentences--this was tragic.

Her sister-in-law was driving from Arizona, along with her 4 daughters and 1 niece. They were making the trip to California to attend a wedding near Modesto this coming weekend. It was early in the morning when at 65 mph, the right side of their Chevy Tahoe rammed into the back of a stationary big rig parked along the shoulder of the highway. The right side of the Tahoe litterally ripped appart from the car, ejecting 2 daughters and pinning the other girl amidst a tangle of metal. I hope they all passed away instantly.

I told my co-worker to take the day off--she sounded in no condition to come in to work--but she felt that she didn't have enough PTO available, and she would have to take a day off for the funeral. So she made it in to work. Life's a bitch, isn't it?

She e-mailed me the article, which happens to be on-line, and I was overcome with emotion. I gave her my condolences and choked up a bit. What can you say to someone after such a tragedy happens? Can you imagine the parents?

You just lost 3 out of 4 kids, sorry about that.

She told me that her Dad had been unable to tell her Brother. The father of the girls didn't know until he made it out here to California. His wife had to give him the knews. Something like this is enough to crumple anyone to the ground. It is a stab in the heart, a wrenching of the proverbial serrated sword in the gut.

Life is short, Folks. We can be here one second, and gone the next.

Gone in the blink of an eye.

Tell your loved ones that you love them. Settle your scores. Forgive those who have offended you. Three little girls lost their lives in an instant and a beautiful family from Arizona was broken forever. This can happen to anyone at any time. To paraphrase the Good Book: No one knows the day or the hour...

Conan III

Recently went to Walmart and found a DVD containing both Conan The Barbarian and Conan The Destroyer, all for the great price of $9.95!

Can't beat those type of deals. I prefer the first movie, but Destroyer is not bad either. Yes, there's a couple of cheezy 80's elements, but come on, they didn't have CGI back then. Still, classic productions in my opinion.

I have heard that John Milius (director of Conan The Barbarian) is planning on filming a 3rd Conan. All I can say is: About Freakin' Time!

I hope they don't skimp on production costs. A legendary character like Conan deserves a great movie. I also bought the 2 Conan compilations: Conan The Cimmerian and The Bloody Crown of Conan which contain a plethora of Conan short stories by the former master and inovator of the Fantasy genre, Robert E. Howard. Furthermore, for those of you who are interested in Howard, you might want to check out The Whole Wide World, a 1996 movie starring Renee Zellwegger (of Jerry McGuire fame) and Vincent D'onofrio (Law & Order...forget which one). Howard was somewhat of an eccentric character, but boy could he write.

Peter Gibbons Syndrome...

I cannot believe that we're already in April. I feel like I've gotten so wrapped up in putting my head down and forging ahead with my life that I've missed something (ok, maybe lots of things)... I feel young (generally), at times THINK young (ok, immature is more accurate), but when I look in the mirror, I see this tired face, wrinkles when I smile, not to mention my pudgy appearance (been working on those 50 pounds on and off for a while) and I get smacked back to reality with the fact that I'm "old." Wow, 1988 doesn't seem like that long ago, but hell, it's been almost 20 years since I graduated from highschool. Holy crap. And it seems like a week ago when I was thinking, "Maybe I should make a list of New Year's resolutions." but we're now in freakin' April! What the hell??? It's so easy to get buried in work and menial bullshit and feel like you're missing out on what's really important. I don't know, I'm thinking "Trip." I haven't taken a real vacation in maybe 3 years. What to do? It's gotta be out of Northern California. Out of the country, preferably. The Mayan pyramids in Yucatan or Guatemala sound appealing. Shoot, even Iceland sounds alluring, especially after recently seeing the movie "Beowulf and Gretel" which was filmed there (such beautiful scenery!). Of course, coordinating a trip with my wife and kids is a hassle, not to mention expensive, but damn it, I have to do something. I fear that in the end, I'll settle for a weekend in Monterrey, or a trip to Southern California, but that's better than nothing.

Half An Hour To Go...

Time is crawling.

Could I be going through emails?

Could I be generating reports?

Could I be formulating business plans?

Yes, yes, yes...but damn it, I just want to go home right now. I have to be out of here in time to pick up my 2 little ones from Daycare.