Blog March 2017

From my dear friend Robin Renee's blog, please join the blog march if you feel the same, and contact her at the email at the bottom of the post.

This is what's happening here and all over the web for the month of May. We are coming together to claim and reclaim the value of our ideas, truths, and inspirations. We are a diverse group including activists, artists, musicians, scientists, authors, spiritualists, atheists, health advocates, and general engaged citizens. Here are just a few of the Blog March participants: Rorie Kelly, Kevin Patterson, Diana Adams, Tom Limoncelli, and Pamela Means. I hope you'll check in, read along, comment, and share. As of this writing, there are still a few spots to fill along the way, so if you'd like to join in, get in touch ASAP!

Here is the original outreach:

Join the Blog March – Raising Voices for Freedom of Expression, Knowledge, and Information

There is so much to be angry and afraid about in the current political climate. Many people I know have been locked in a kind of emotional and political paralysis – Friends have been asking each other, “What can I do when there are so many points to fight and so much ground to defend? Where can I even start?” Pick a cause, start where you are with what you know, and give it whatever energy you’ve got has been the prevailing wisdom. The idea for Blog March came in a flash and I feel compelled to see it through.

Aside from the phone calling, letter writing, marching in the street and (of course) voting, I want to be part of the movement of insistence upon our full and honest voices – declaring the importance of art, science, creativity, clarity, and all of our lives, however alternative or marginalized. I want to be part of the movement of demanding truth and full information from and about our government. I stand up to insist upon the necessity for research and scientific knowledge and the unobscured dissemination of that information.

With those ideals in mind, will you participate in Blog March with me? All you need to do is to sign up for one day during the month of May to write a blog post. Write something honest. Write something that feels risky. Write something that needs to be said as a way of pushing back against a political trend that seeks to disregard, distort, and devalue so many. At the end of your blog post, you’ll share the link to the next day’s stop on the way, along with any info on how to support your favorite organizations or activists who work for freedom of expression, knowledge, and information.

Here are just a few ideas:

Write a rant.

Write a love poem.

Share some visual art or photography.

Write about the impact of protest and resistance - personal, cultural, political.

Address freedom of expression through the lens of race, class, economics, ability, sexual orientation, gender, or relationship design.

Discuss how you arrived at the political issue you are most compelled to address.

Talk about an important development in a scientific field that shouldn’t be missed.

Give us a roundup of writers, musicians, and/or artists you think should be seen and heard.

Write through the lens of your regular blog theme – pop culture, science and technology, spirituality, LGBTQ, personal essay, music, history, humor, etc.

Make us weep.

Make us laugh.

Write what you most need to express right now.

I know that 31 blog posts alone won’t change the world, but speaking up and speaking out is movement in the right direction.

Get in touch at BlogMarch2017@gmail.com. I am looking forward to your ideas!

Robin Renée

Paul Williams Still Alive

Paul Williams Still Alive ~ I saw this great little documentary on Showtime one night when I couldn't get to sleep, and I'm glad I did. I remember Paul Williams. He was everywhere in the 1970s on TV and movies. I knew he was a singer, and more importantly, a songwriter. A serious songwriter. If you listened to the radio in the early seventies, you heard dozens of Paul Williams songs. In a way, he was the seventies.

What immediately pulled me in about this documentary was that the narrator seems to think that as well. As a matter of fact, his perspective and sense of time and space were mine. That commonality made this doc somehow more personal.

By the time the documentarian is actually accepted by Paul Williams, I was hooked and in for the whole ride. Really I would have watched anything at this point, but man, what a treat that it was really good. Writer/director Stephen Kessler is that good, I would have watched a doc about squid if that's what it became.

The actual doc subject however is Paul Williams. The thing is, this isn't just a bio of an amazing songwriter, singer, and pop culture icon - it's also a tale of his fall and redemption. At the time if this doc, Williams was not only on tour, but also twenty years sober and a licensed drug rehab counselor. And it's also the story of the friendship between the filmmaker and his subject.

Whether you watch it as a Paul Williams fan, as a time capsule of the 1970s, or just as a darned good documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive is definitely worth watching. Check it out.

The Biff Bam Popcast

Most of you know I am one of the co-hosts of the weekly All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast, and that I bother you folks with an announcement of each new episode every Wednesday. Now the video takeover of the internet continues...

Now I'm also appearing on the Biff Bam Popcast on a semi-weekly basis now too. This show goes out live Thursday evenings at 9:00 PM EST and can be found here.

This one is not just comics, we take on the entire world of pop culture, including movies, music, television, and comics too. And don't forget to check out the Biff Bam Pop! website itself!