Monday, December 31, 2012

Old Habits Die Hard


Author's Note: For those of you who may be wondering how a man this old and wretched can possibly take care of his 81-year-old mother, please be advised that I used several photo editing effects, including special real-time lighting, photo shop lighting effects and high contrast effects, just to make myself look a lot older and more hideous-looking than I really am. I did it just for fun, just for the hell of it, and to make people laugh and for no other reason. I hope it didn't make you hurl.

For instance, my hands look like they belong to ol' Nosferatu but I'm actually a lot healthier looking than this flash image suggests. I wanted to look hideous and two steps away from the morgue. I couldn't care less about how I look in a video or a Flash image as long as I look mildly to disturbingly entertaining. Just by being online one undergoes such an instant removal of one's dignity and privacy that human foibles like vanity and pride and human virtues like commonsense and modesty are not far behind when the casualties of cyber war are finally tallied.

So, that's right, I wanted to look awful in this post so it would appear that I'd been partying for two days instead of just using props for a couple of minutes. The visual result made me laugh like hell so I posted it here and on two other blogs. I always say "If you can't laugh at yourself, what the hell good are you?" Hope you got a kick out of this madcap bullshit and not a scary start. Thanks.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Filler


That's right. After my last post my sidebar was too long. So I put in this "filler" post to even out the page. So I did. Post updated 4-17-13 to add explanation for the title. But that was the other day when everybody was looking at the "front page" of my blog. And now that you've clicked on the link for this post only, this page is all out of whack again. Shit. (S i g h). Just click on the photo to exit.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Allegheny Christmas Card


Photo Copyright © 2010 by Michael Casher. Snowfall Effect by LunaPic.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Cam Cad


Author's Note 2-1-14: No, the shot drum roll at the end of this video is not part of the soundtrack music by Arif Banto. I added that for comic effect when I made this embarrassing but fun madcap video. This "Joke Sting" drum roll was provided by SoundBible.com. As Yogi Berra said during the 1972 Pennant Race (no, not Yogi Bear): "It ain't over till it's over."

This little video from earlier this year is not so much a representation of the person I am now as it is an exposé of how I used to be. Totally addicted to making insane home videos for my own amusement and, of course, for therapy. The problem with that was the fact that I shared my affliction with others.

And, yep, I'm still addicted to video making and I'm not the least bit proud of that. In fact, here's a little background on my video addiction. Being addicted to blogging is bad enough, especially when you're the only one reading them. But, being addicted to making and posting asinine, homemade videos with a rinky-dink homemade set up is even worse because EVERYBODY looks at them.

That's the big difference in the 21st Century and, being a writer, I should have known better. People would rather watch than read and I aided and abetted that "de-evoloution", if you will. My only excuse is that I don't drink and I don't do drugs and I don't drive way too fast just for the hell of it. So, I blog and I make videos that would embarrass a clown. But, believe me, I'm not apologizing for my videos.

That's right. This is definitely not an apology of any kind. Just an explanation. And you know why it's not an apology? Because my videos are, number one, pretty clean by modern standards and, number two, I don't hurt anyone making these videos and, number three, no animals were harmed during the making of these homemade Appalachian videos.

If there was a fourth reason why this is not any apology, here it is: You don't have to view any of them if you don't want to. You're as free as birds to watch them or to not watch them. That's the beauty of it all. But, here's the best thing about this whole video deal and these insane, madcap, often satirical and frequently annoying videos of mine: I have a lot of fun doing that shit.

Heaven help us all.

Monday, November 19, 2012

The check is in the mail.

The check is in the mail. That's what I found out the other day when I was scouring my Lulu creator account for royalties due. The check was in the mail. It's about time, I thought. I've been publishing and selling my books through Lulu.com for eight years now, this month, and I finally sold enough books to get my first royalty check. I got it today and this is what I looked like this afternoon, holding the royalty check up to my rinky-dink digital camera that was hooked up to my PC and Windows Movie maker for me to take a video snapshot for later.

I won't tell you how much the check was for but I will tell you that I had to wait eight years to sell a mere 21 trade paperbacks in order to get my first royalty payment. Most of these 21 books were purchased by Amazon.com customers and I'll be forever grateful for their patronage. Right now, Amazon.com is responsible for 99.9% of my books sales. I've been an Amazon author since 2009 and I've only sold a dozen or so paperback books there but I've also sold a couple hundred Kindle Editions. Of course I had to give a way a few thousand FREE Kindle ebooks in order to sell the couple hundred Kindle Editions and garner enough interest for a few paperback sales. Still, I'm selling books. Thank you, Amazon.com customers. And, thank you Lulu.com customers, for your purchases.

Yep, that's the reality of never having your name mentioned on TV. If someone on national TV said I was an author my sales would skyrocket overnight. But who cares anymore? I write because I like to write and that's what I do. So, when I got my first royalty check today from my publisher, Lulu.com, I didn't exactly do cartwheels across the lawn and I have no plans to go on a three-day drunk or anything like that and I have no plans to call anyone. Instead, I blogged about it this evening and then I'm going to check the online TV listings for tomorrow and then I'll call it a day.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Hey, Somebody's Asleep At The Wheel!

Whatever happened to quality control and the FDA in this country?

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

Hating Mitt Romney

Hating Mitt Romney: Favorite Pastime of American Losers

Friday, August 10, 2012

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Retro Comic Spotlight


Hey, look at me. I'm putting up websites. One after another. I can't seem to stop. In fact, I just might give up blogging altogether and just put up websites. Put them up just like a farm wife "puts up pickles" for later. Might as well. Can't dance.

Retro Comic Spotlight is my latest creation and this website has nothing to do with me or my books or my blogs or any science fiction or comedy creations of mine. Retro Comic Spotlight is my fourth website at Webnode (bless them for putting up with me) and it pays homage to the kings and queens of stand-up comedy, guys and gals who told jokes and funny stories on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jack Paar Show, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. Back in the 20th Century.

Yeah, I was a big fan of 20th Century stand-up comics, back when a man who told jokes was called a "comedian" and a woman who told jokes was called a "comedienne". Nowadays, they think men and women are somehow interchangeable. Hmmph. Not on your life. Yep, they call them all "comics" in the 21st Century. Comics. Not to be confused with the Sunday "funnies".

When they started calling them all "comics" I thought the "funny papers" had come to TV or maybe "comic books" had finally gotten on the tube. Back when I was a youngster, a boy who told jokes on TV might have been called a "junior comedian" and a girl who told jokes on TV more than likely would have been called a "comediette" and hardly anybody would have cared.

Today we'd be knee-deep in "hissy fit" doo-doo and opportunistic, discriminatory lawsuits if we pulled "insensitive" politically-incorrect stunts like that and I guess that's why everything that moves on TV and tells jokes today is called a "comic". I guess that's better than watching a bunch of "comedy persons" on TV. Hell, yes. But I don't know. I kind of miss the old days. Like John Housman said about World War I — as opposed to The Cold War — in the spy movie "Three Days of the Condor": "I miss that kind of clarity."

I just hope they never come out with a joke machine. If they ever do, they'll probably call it a stand-up "comic", even if it looks like a Hoover upright vacuum cleaner. But, hey, I put up another new website this week. And, y'know, I think there's still a little bit of room on that shelf.

Author's Note 4-28-14: In late spring 2012 (I don't keep records of exactly when I do everything) I added the Fred Fortune page to Retro Comic Spotlight, which is still about 20th Century comics and not really about me. I DID this because of all the insane viewing problems with these videos on the Fred Fortune blog. That's also why I added the three Fred Fortune "stand-up comedy" videos to my YouTube Channel and embedded them on blogs like Think-A-Holic Lounge. You know why. As soon as you've got a nice, FREE thing going online, along comes Google the Destroyer to f**k that up for everyone. Thus, Fred Fortune, the "stand up" comic, is now a permanent fixture at Retro Comic Spotlight.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Michael Casher Tube



At the end of February I spent way too much time building a new website just to organize my 32 promotional videos for you. I also put up this new website because On March 7th YouTube will be automatically replacing my customized SciFiForThinkers Channel with another generic-looking page that I'll have to "spruce up" as much as I can. I guess most web users want constant change, even if it means giving up something really cool for something that's not so hot. Just as long as it's the latest thing. Wow, what crap. Hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

You bet, I'm tired of people just "up and changing" what I work so hard to create. I'm reminded of my old "Science Fiction for Thinkers at Lulu" page that's now a generic-looking "Author Spotlight" at Lulu.com. Oh well, they own those websites, not me. But I do own the copyrights to all 70 of my videos, including the 32 professional videos I uploaded to YouTube this past year.

So, if you want to see my YouTube videos on a website that has more of "me" in it than the new SciFiForThinkers Channel at YouTube, visit Michael Casher Tube. And, yep, I'm 99.9% sure that this latest "upgrade" of my internet presence, without my permission, has pretty much cured me of my addiction to Windows Movie Maker. I've got better things to do than to keep beating a dead horse that was going nowhere in the first place.

So, basically, I took the SciFiForThinkers Channel on the road again. Only this time I'm running the show. Why shouldn't I? This is my stuff.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Spacecasts


This week I had a notion to spotlight four of my Junk TV videos by adding them to the SciFiForThinkers Channel at YouTube. Then I had a hankering to put up a new page at Science Fiction for Thinkers.com to showcase them there as embedded videos. The results made me all excited so I got the bright idea of doing a special screenshot of that page and then linking it in a blog post to my website.

All right, then. I've done that already. Now I'll call it a day. So I will.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

On The Rebound


Yep, I went missing for a while and I'm sort of back but not with the same set of priorities I had before I went missing. In fact, as far as going missing is concerned, I went missing ten years ago last month when I started penning my first novel. And I'm still missing. Why am I still missing? Because, when you finally realize that you'd better do something you've always wanted to do and that you'd better do it now, before it's too late, you go missing from a world that no longer needs you or wants you because, my God, you've changed. Even though you haven't.

So, I'm still missing, all right, and I've been on the lam from the powers-that-be all my life, so that's nothing new. Not to me. And, as far as those Illuminati power brokers and the celestial pricks who toy with this planet like it was theirs and not ours, and all the rest of the bottom-feeding cowards are concerned, I think they stopped looking for me when they realized that, because of my unpopularity with readers who rely almost exclusively on the New York Times Bestseller List to tell them what to read, I'm no threat to The New World Order at all.

Hey, that's just fine with me. I've got better things to do than help keep a ship afloat that's been slowly sinking all my life, especially when the passengers couldn't care less about it. And, since I'm not the captain of this ship, I have no intentions of going down with it. You got it, this sinking ship is Earth. You got it, Jack. I've got other irons in the fire.

In fact, I just gave away $11,479.30 worth of eBooks through Amazon's Kindle Store in December and January — in a span of only five days of free promotion — and that grossed me a whopping fifty bucks in royalties later in January, from a few measly "Paid" book sales. Umm, hmm. That's right. I had to give away $11.5K in Kindle Editions to make $50, before taxes, after the FREE eBook giveaway. That's right, they were FREE for five days. Umm, hmm, you got the concept. I had to eat a potential loss of of almost eight thousand dollars in "missing royalties", before taxes, in order to make a few lousy bucks from a handful of readers who finally decided to risk spending money on the real McCoys.

Yessir, that's the reality of being an indie author. No wonder The New World Order no longer considers me to be a threat to them or to anyone else on this planet. The biggest threats on Earth come with the biggest price tags attached to them. That's a given — an "always was" and "always will be" kind of thing — that equates the poor with the powerless on this greedy, backward world. Which also means that only the rich will ever be powerful on this iniquitous planet.

Well, I might be an old indie dawg and a poor self-promoter but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. So, those 2,970 free Kindle ebooks I gave away this winter might seem to be a necessary evil to other book promoters but, to me, they showed me something about people that I hoped wasn't there. But it's there and I have to face the awful truth.

Yep,one thing I learned, for sure, is that people will spend a fortune on smut and decadence and violence and vanities but, when it comes to clean entertainment and new revelations about life, they only want it if it's free.