HEATHER'S TREEHOUSE

Well, here is the HTH Big Black Book––the original notes/research for what was to be my second full-length novel that I started so many years ago. After PUZZLEMAN was originally released, and no one but about 10 people cared, I simply quit writing HEATHER's TREEHOUSE at around manuscript page 350. What was the point? And I decided to push on into filmmaking and script writing––my beloved band (THE JUDAS ENGINE) had foundered right out from under me and I was stuck in Hollywood.

Now many years later––and after heartfelt and untiring, insistent requests from a few (Karen Loft and Matthew Sanderson) who have read the unfinished manuscript over the years––I have dug out my notes and research on the City of Edgewood, Texas, where the story unfolds. I now plan to finally finish it by the end of this year. This will be a difficult one. But they all are. lol Enjoy the pics of a piece of my personal history and effort in writing, rising from the ashes. 

Please enjoy and "Follow" on the C.A. Broadstone Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Alan-Broadstone/e/B00MZBU2S2/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

 

INCEPTION (2010)––written & directed by CHRISTOPHER NOLAN––is truly one of my favorite films. It explores the complexities of time and the equally complex depths of loss and the human mind, and is an inarguable mind-bender. It is also extremely dark and profoundly beautiful. All of which is a testament to the true genius of Christopher Nolan.

When I create a story and finally put it on paper, I'm always reaching for those same depths and beauty in the darkness. Whether or not I achieve this is moot, but I am always reaching for it. Which is one reason I don't find writing a load of fun, but a necessary exploration and release. A way to understand the world I know I don't understand and don't feel I fit into. A world that generates extreme frustration and anger in me. But it's at these times I ultimately reach for films like INCEPTION, in effort to remind myself that some things can be truly amazing, heartfelt, and aspiring toward a greater good––art?––the latter of which has become more blurred to me over time.

So I seek solidarity in characters and in story and the imagination more desperately than ever, and too often feel just like the character MAL in the film, standing at the edge of the destroyed skyscraper and ready to fall. I fell in love with a dream when I was just a kid––craving the impossibility of creation––just like COBB (LEONARDO DiCAPRIO) fell in love with MAL (played expertly by MARION COTILLARD) . I have another birthday fast approaching and it seems like my dream is slipping father and farther away with every passing birthday (which are all coming too fast now), even though I feel the fleeting dream inside gripping me more desperately than ever. Again just like COBB is reaching for MAL, who is repeatedly and forever slipping away.

The performances within the brooding and labyrinthine fabric of INCEPTION are flawless to my eye. And the musical score is one of the best, which is what actually inspired this post...

TIME by HANS ZIMMER is a masterpiece of simplicity of melody, which is a foundation that only builds and builds and builds in power until I have goosebumps and teary eyes that can't help but stare into the depth and beauty aforementioned, that is the film as a whole. Even when I'm not watching it, I can see into it, inside of it, when this outstanding music plays. I can see the tragic and beautiful eyes of MAL as her head lays on the rail and the train is coming fast. And without mercy. Coming at me.

Whether or not the film INCEPTION is for you, I believe the music speaks a universal truth and language all can understand. It explains the film in a way words and the visuals simply cannot. :)

Enjoy TIME by HANS ZIMMER here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k

 

Sadly buried somewhere in a box long before I've finished reading, THE BLOODY CENTURY is a very interesting book organized as single cases of murder in the 19th Century. Check it out.

On Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Century-Tales-Murder-America-ebook/dp/B00Q1KHA6U/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&

"A murderous atmosphere pervaded nineteenth century America unlike anything seen before or since. Lurid murder stories dominated newspaper headlines, and as if responding to the need for sensational copy, Americans everywhere began to see murder as a solution to their problems. The Bloody Century retells their stories; some still famous, some long buried, all endlessly fascinating.

"The Bloody Century is a collection of true stories of ordinary Americans, driven by desperation, greed, jealousy or an irrational bloodlust, to take the life of someone around them. The book includes facts, motives, circumstances and outcomes, narrating fifty of the most intriguing murder cases of nineteenth century America. Richly illustrated with scenes and portraits originally published at the time of the murders, and including songs and poems written to commemorate the crimes, The Bloody Century invokes a fitting atmosphere for Victorian homicide.
 
"The days of America’s distant past, the time of gaslights and horse drawn carriages, are often viewed as quaint and sentimental, but a closer look reveals passions, fears, and motives that are timeless and universal, and a population inured to violence, capable of monstrous acts. A visit to The Bloody Century may well give us insight into our own."

 

Interesting stuff! Also check out MURDER MAPS streaming on NETFLIX.

The series focuses on lesser known murders in London that occurred during the 19th and very early 20th centuries––many around the time of the overblown and ever-popular Jack The Ripper killings. Enjoy!

15 Little Known Serial Killers From Histor: 

http://www.therichest.com/shocking/15-little-known-serial-killers-from-history/

 

MURDER MAPS Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kaOh_qFwj8

 

TALKING HEADS: THE VENT HAVEN PORTRAITS
On Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/jpkxnze

"The lush photography book turns Rolston's camera lens on a collection of dummies unearthed at the Vent Haven Museum in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Matthew Rolston, who typically photographs celebrities and music stars like: Jessica Simpson, Zac Efron, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Adam Levine, Oprah, Kelly Osbourne and Michael Jackson, employed a formal portrait approach to capturing the dolls characterizations in more than 100 images over 224 pages."––Design Life Network, October 30, 2013

I spend most of my writing-time trying to learn what I don't know so I can then research it until I know enough to lie about it well. CAB: https://lnkd.in/e3fdbgT

I promise, no one is watching you. Everything is ooooookaaaaaayyyy. 

A CATCH IN TIME––Promo Video Shoot!

Black CAB Productions is gearing up for its first video project in Dallas! I've been hard at work over the last couple weeks finding a location (found!) and getting props together––creating the book covers I need, the brush, the engagement ring. Still need a few other items though. And this shoot will be my first with fire, and also a bit abstract. The fire will require it be a multi-camera shoot in one-take. Always scary, that. 

Also in search of an actress, so if anyone knows a female in their 20s with tan or dark skin and hair, let me know. Stay tuned!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. POE, wherever you are! 

You have been a great inspiration!

And still are!

 

A project I'm still proud of––TOP SECRET: The Unauthorized "Ford" Car Commercial, starring TONY SIMMONS!

Amazing what I was able to do with a "very" unglamorous still photograph of a door down in the L.A. ARTIST DISTRICT. Please also watch the VIDEO to see the door in action, animated in Adobe After Effects. Quite a challenge.

Please enjoy the VIDEO and "Like" or leave a comment on YouTube. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZ7iDaYpSA 

(Be sure to watch in HD.)

Also enjoy some classic Los Angeles locations like VASQUEZ ROCKS, the DOWNTOWN ARTIST DISTRICT, and the 4th STREET BRIDGE (which you see in a million car commercials every night of the week on TV).

THE MEN WHO DON'T FIT IN
(Poem printed below, or 'click' below for video.)

MY THOUGHTS––How true, how true, this is me in everything I've ever done. I never really fit in––many times and too often I despise even the thought of fitting into the box. And thus there is a 99% chance I will lose in the game of life. I'd be a fool not to think I haven't already lost, which is painful to realize. As the poem says,

"So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake."

But in spite of every synapse in my logical brain firing, telling me to change course toward a more main and safe stream, my calling within screams constantly...

"Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"

Maybe that's narcissism talking. Even so, it must be nice to find your place in life. From my little island it looks like most everyone does...and moves forward. But I still only spin my wheels. I'm never quite good enough or fast enough or prolific enough. And I'm perpetually too slipstream for the fiercest storms, yet far too tornadic for the prevailing winds. 

THE MEN WHO DON'T FIT IN
By Robert W. Service

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.

Watch A Video Reading Of...

THE MEN WHO DON'T FIT IN

http://movingpoems.com/2010/09/the-men-who-dont-fit-in-by-robert-service/

 A CATCH IN TIME

by Christopher Alan Broadstone

DISCOVER THE TRUE POWER OF ART...AND THE HAUNTING STORY OF TATIANA.

Kindle Only $1.99!

"10/10! A CATCH IN TIME grew so vividly and beautifully absurd…I could not take my eyes off the book for long…C. A. Broadstone has easily convinced me that his writing style is indeed brilliant." –– Oliver Lippert, The Huffington Post

"A CATCH IN TIME speeds forward into that fever dream state that plays like a hallucination out of Dante’s Inferno..." –– Paul D. Marks, Author of "White Heat"

“A horrific tale with sensational literary motifs of the Nazi horror, A CATCH IN TIME is a novella you must read.” –– Christopher Zisi, Zisi Emporium For B-Movies

Amazon US:
http://tinyurl.com/zxtzavh

Amazon UK:
http://tinyurl.com/z68cvtj

Create Space Store:
https://www.createspace.com/6732805

Please visit C.A. Broadstone's Amazon Author Page:

http://tinyurl.com/hbhb9m4

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th Everyone!!!

Machete-hug someone you love! 

And don't forget poor Jason...

 A CATCH IN TIME

by Christopher Alan Broadstone

DISCOVER THE TRUE POWER OF ART...AND THE HAUNTING STORY OF TATIANA.

Only $9.99 or $1.99! 

"10/10! A CATCH IN TIME grew so vividly and beautifully absurd…I could not take my eyes off the book for long…C. A. Broadstone has easily convinced me that his writing style is indeed brilliant." –– Oliver Lippert, The Huffington Post

"A CATCH IN TIME speeds forward into that fever dream state that plays like a hallucination out of Dante’s Inferno..." –– Paul D. Marks, Author of "White Heat"

“A horrific tale with sensational literary motifs of the Nazi horror, A CATCH IN TIME is a novella you must read.” –– Christopher Zisi, Zisi Emporium For B-Movies

Amazon US: 

http://tinyurl.com/zxtzavh

Amazon UK: 

http://tinyurl.com/z68cvtj

Create Space Store: 

https://www.createspace.com/6732805

Please visit C.A. Broadstone's Amazon Author Page:

 http://tinyurl.com/hbhb9m4

The Arctic front was blowing in last night (hit 22F this morning with a chill factor of 4 degrees), so we went for hot pizza at one of our favorite restaurants yesterday evening, FIRESIDE PIES. We started with a magnificent Chopped Salad to share, and then had their amazing Hot n' Crumbled pizza (House-made Spicy Italian Sausage, Garlic Ricotta & Diced Tomatoes) and the Neapolitan (Mozzarella, Diced Tomatoes, Sea Salt & Basil). So good, I can't describe it in words. Check out FIRESIDE PIES if you're in Dallas.

"GOING DOWN"––the new music video featuring JESIKA VON RABBIT (of GRAM RABBIT fame) and shot, directed & edited by GIUSEPPE ASARO (director of the feature THRILL KILL)!

Super congrats to GIUESEPPE on a great article focusing on his process for making this new video––"Maybe the details are not as sharp, but on purpose. Sometimes you want less definition to make it more cinematic."

WATCH the VIDEO and read the ARTICLE here:
http://tinyurl.com/h8t3a9r

GOING DOWN Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZPxLY8JiJw

Check out more about THRILL KILL: 
http://www.thrillkillfilm.com/

5 THRILL KILL Mini-Trailers: 
http://blackcabediting.com/Video_html/TK_Mini-Trailers.html

I hope every one on FACEBOOK has squeezed a little mirth, if not a jolly-belly bowlful of worth, from my series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.

SANTA CLAUSES, it seems, can be a sordid lot. But they all have their places and their duties to perform, to insure that even if not all will receive a new Mercedes or Bentley, or a Playboy Bunny or a 50-Shades-Of-Gray Fireman knocking on their door, or a boatload of gold, or a dump-truck full of diamonds, each and everyone of us might at least find a little reason to smile. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

01_MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016!

Welcome to my first in a series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.

Enjoy the horror of the holiday season!

02_This Santy Claus seems to have just a bit of a bad attitude.

Enjoy the second in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
 May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season! 

03_This Santy Claus looks as if he's pretty good at checking

up on kiddies being naughty or nice, with a well-practiced look out of the corner of his eye. Enjoy #3 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

04_Enjoy Santa #4 (having an early Christmas treat!)

in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season! 

05_Seems Santa has got a little something extra in his sack!

Enjoy Santa #5 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

06_Have a bloody cool yule! And enjoy Santa #6 in my

sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

07_Looook into my eyessssss!

And enjoy Santa #7 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

08_Seems Santy Claus had a very rough night out on the town!

Enjoy Santa #8 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

09_Seems there's a lot more to Santy Claus than usually meets the eye!

Enjoy Santa #9 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

10_Doh! I see my MOST EVIL (and controversial) Santy Claus

has finally escaped his box to unleash Holiday cheer on one and all! Enjoy Santa Hitler––the leader of the 1000 Year Saint Nick-Reich––at #10 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series
of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.  May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

11_Wow! It seems that Santa-Hitler #10 escaping his box

has reaped great rewards upon the world of Nazi stolen art hunters! Enjoy "The Santa Scream" (in original frame made by the painting's creator) a lesser known work of
Degenerate-Artist Edvard Munch!

This glorious work was gifted back to art lovers by the leader of the 1000 Year Saint Nick-Reich––coming in at #11 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season! 

12_MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE Everyone!

This Santa looks a little buggy––and I mean that in the insect-way, not in the buggy sleigh-ride sort of way.  Enjoy Santa-Tick infesting us with CHRISTMAS CHEER! at #12 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season! 

13_MERRY CHRISTMAS OVER Everyone!
This Santy Claus looks a little lackadaisical and carefree––like maybe he nailed the Holiday right, or possibly had a few too many marijuana-laced cookies and milk during his package drop-offs in Cannabis-Is-Legal California. I think he ended up stumbling around at a

Grateful Dead concert for a while too. Hmmmmm...oh the reefer madness!

Enjoy Santa #13 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome,

un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

14_Most Santa Claus like to sneak in late at night,

leave a heaping helping of Christmas cheer behind, enjoy a cookie or sandwich with milk, and then disappear quietly into the night. But this Santy Claus seems to be flaunting a more aggressive agenda and doesn't mind popping a few chains to let you know
he's come to visit for one helluva good time.

Enjoy Home-Invasion Santy Claus breaking in at #14

in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

15_This Santy Claus seems to have a taste for forked-tongue truths,

like candy canes wetted with an infernal mouth, become sugary tridents of a hellish bent

––that might be spat back as a precision weapon, possibly poison-tipped,

with a very, very long-winter's night the final intent!

Enjoy DaySleeper Santy Claus breaking in at #15 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.

May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

16_Wow! It looks like this Santy Claus is serious as a heart attack

and is offering a snowball of uncertainty. The offer and its implied questions, nonetheless, remain. Do we take that snowball and run with it? Or do we just let it melt in Santy's hand? You decide.

Enjoy New-Year 2017 Santy Claus offering choices, but no conclusions, at #16

in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December. May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?"

and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!

17_What can I say?

There's always plenty of room for one more Santy Claus––and this one seems

to have seen the future and prepared for the apocalyptic worst.  But take heart! The good news is, he's gonna protect that bag of Christmas cheer at all costs just to make sure

there's still a little to spread around on Xmas 2017.

Enjoy THE OMEGA SANTY CLAUSE 2017, fighting all the

energy-sucking psychic-vampires that try to quash our good spirits everyday––blasting his way through the throng at #17 in my sometimes whimsical, ornery, gruesome, un-PC and outright offensive series of "Evil Santa" profile pics for December.
May all of these Santas bring a little "Huh?" and "Wh-wha-what?" to your holiday season!