Club High Castle Pre-Pandemic

 The future belongs to those who change it. 31 December 2017 Reflections On a personal level, this year has been good to me. I got to travel to places I’ve never been before, I got to see my sister on the West Coast, and I’ve managed to improve my art. I know I mention Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle in every single post, but I want to give the creative minds behind it, the actors and actresses, and all of the people who work on the show credit. Without them, I’d have never branched out into unknown and untested artistic waters. I’d have never met some wonderful people whom I now consider friends. I’d have never gotten into making black and white photo aesthetics. So thank you. Thank you a million times over! A few highlights from 2017: What will 2018 bring? I know it will bring more travel (I have an awesome job!), more artistic endeavors, and new experiences (that goes without saying). My goal for 2018 is to finally—once and for all—to crack...

I hope you enjoyed my High Castle fan tale, The Prathra Project Files —It was a rare opportunity for fun! I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with something like that again. A lot of work was involved in creating that, but it was all a labor of love. I cannot wait to see what Season 3 has in store for us. ★ ★ ★ ★ The Man in the High Castle  rekindled my interest in WWII. My paternal grandfather (a good man and a shining example of the Greatest Generation) joined the Navy during WWII and served aboard a ship in the Pacific. On a whim one haunting night in October, I googled his ship. I saved the few black and white photos of it I could find (including a wonderful shot of the crew) and had them printed. On Veteran's Day, I hung a framed dedication to him in the living room. After I stepped back and gazed at his black and white face, I decided I wanted to learn more about his time during WWII. My aunts say he never spoke about the war. What started out as curiosity ...

Don't forget to read the disclaimer at the end! The year was 1962, Kennedy was president, and the Cubin Missile Crisis was just around the corner. Deep within the darkest corner of the CIA’s science and technology division, The Prathra Project was in full swing. Deputy Director Klemm was about to cut the project from the budget and end it entirely when he saw something that rocked him to the very core. Enter File 02365 On the frigid morning of 3 February, 1962, Klemm received an emergency call regarding the Prathra Project. He felt a sense of annoyance as he headed down the stairwell that would take him into the basement level of redacted . He had always kept a wary eye on wild, conspiracy-theory ridden experiments like this one. So long as the higher ups insisted on studying ridiculous notions like telepathy, alternate dimensions, and alien life, Klemm had no choice but to keep the projects running—unless, of course, there was a sudden need to reallocate funds el...

As you can see, things look different around here. I decided to test the waters and update The Command Deck's look to something more modern and trendy. I'm not going to lie, this is going to take a lot of getting used to! The familiar, decades-old trend of putting everything in the middle and a ton of stuff on the sidebars is giving way to a minimalist feel. There is an unconscious part of me who still stuck in the late 90s with its notepad html geo-cities sites, 8-bit animated gifs, and god awful midi players. Here's to something new and unexplored (for me at least)! What do you think? Love it? Want me to go back to the old layout? Let me know!

The Man in the High Castle cast members were at NYCC to discuss Season 3. Oh, and the best part? An exclusive early look! A huge thanks to @nerdophiles for live tweeting the panel! The official sneak peak! Talk about a thriller! Here are my thoughts & theories, some T&T: Smith’s Revealing Facial Expressions Season 2 left us with Smith preventing a nuclear war and getting access to Hitler’s vault of films. In the clip above, he is clearly troubled before the doctor even begins his spiel about the traveler on the table. My initial guess is that Smith watched some of the films, saw a different version of himself or something equally disturbing, and was suddenly called to the lab. The doctor only confirmed what looked like a world-shattering suspicion for him. Look at the way he moves and rubs the back of his head. Smith, who is always in control and always has a plan within a plan, is distressed. Another factor that most certainly has a play in Smith’s tempe...

I’m looking for 1 or 2 beta readers for Sisters . I can pay you in art! Here’s the scoop! What is a Beta Reader? A beta reader is someone who reads a novel before it is published and provides feedback to the author (Did they enjoy it? Was it a good book? Were there any plot holes or inconsistencies?). They do not do any editing or any technical work! They read it as though they were someone who bought the book. What I am Looking for One or two mature, trustworthy people to beta read the novel who will provide feedback within a decent turnaround time (1 – 2 months). If you’d like to get a feel for Sisters, I have the first few chapters on Wattpad . I’ll be honest: the chapters get darker and darker, and I don’t know if I should continue posting them publicly without someone reading through the entire novel first (for now I’m putting the rest of the chapters on private). Sisters Stats 131 Word pages  Not every page is a full page of text 64,400 words I'...

Who got to enjoy the Great American Eclipse of 2017 yesterday? I didn’t live in an area of totality, but we got a good 80 percent coverage, and it was awesome. It looked like a crescent moon when it was at its max. I felt the air get slightly cooler and dimmer, which was neat. It was an Instagram filter sort of dim. I can only imagine what my relatives in states with totality saw! Here are some pics I snapped. You can see prism eclipse reflections in some of them. Look between the trees, and look in the pink area (yes, I was wearing eclipse glasses as you can see in a rare photo of yours truly!). *** Doll yourself up with one of my peg dolls! I am now offering customized peg dolls! Visit www.mlcrabb.com/pegdolls.html for more details.

I feel spoiled by these amazing films and shows coming out in recent years. We’ve got Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man in the High Castle, and now Dunkirk . Honestly, I feel like it is MY time (as far as movies and shows go). I feel as though these works were written just for me! Well, I know they weren’t, but it feels that way! I was lucky enough to see Dunkirk in an IMAX theatre, and let me tell you this: I was blown away. If there is an IMAX theatre near you, I recommend seeing it there. It’s worth the extra cost. The massive screen and sound system throw you into the film; if there is a match made in heaven, it is Dunkirk and IMAX. We all know how the Battle of Dunkirk ends, but there are little nuances in the film that warrant a Spoilers Alert. Scroll past the image to read my review! The movie follows three different sets of characters/places, The Mole, The Sea, and The Air . They take place at different times, but by the end of the movie, everything weaves itself t...

The year was 2004, the place, Iraq. We worked 12 hour shifts (sometimes more) 6 days a week, so midday chow was the thing to look forward to. It was the event. We’d pile into our squadron’s white pick-up trucks or bread trucks—yes, you read that correctly. Bread trucks. I don’t know if a bread truck vendor donated a bunch of them or what, but we had them, and they had been painted white to match the pick-up trucks. Hey, it was a truck that could haul stuff! Anyway, we’d pile into them. On this particular day, it was a pick-up truck. We climbed in the bed of it; flack vests, helmets, and all, and prepared for the excitement of lunch. As it went down the dusty roads, a spring-like breeze drifted over us. We couldn’t believe how nice and cool it was. We kept asking ourselves, how hot was it? It couldn't be more than 80! * Read footnote for more info! We had a thermostat in one of our buildings that recorded inside and outside temps (see above pic). Temperatures wo...

Sisters I finished the first wave of revisions! I will get through this, gosh darn it. Now it’s time to go back and look at the story as a whole. There were some things I missed in the beginning—The early chapters had everyone sporting their universe’s version of the iPhone 6. The year is 2002, and that is a big nope! They should be struggling with flip phones. I mean, back in the day, if you wanted to text an s, you had to hit that button four times! I’m hoping that my zeal for editing the early chapters over and over again when I started the project will make this a lot easier. And no, I couldn’t hold onto that editing obsession as the story progressed. It was a great idea, but I grew too impatient and just wanted to write. As I’ve stated before, when it comes to editing, I have the attention span of a gnat…even that is being too generous because there is my eternal battle with insomnia. If I didn’t get any sleep the night before, you can forget it. I have way too many insta...

Another post-apocalyptic fic! Will Shar's trusty car and rifle get her family to the safety of Aunt Jess's farm? What will they find when they get there? Be wary of the drones.  Be wary of Greed.  Be wary of daylight.  OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR A post-apocalyptic ficlet by MLC The relentless rumble had finally died down for the evening as the sun disappeared into the West. It was the end of my watch and the start of our nightly journey. I lifted my AK-47 above my head so that I could stretch the sleepy muscles in my arms. Even at this hour, the Georgia humidity made me feel as though I was swimming in my own sweat. Drawing a deep breath, I slung it over my shoulder and picked up my box of ammo. As I crept back into the alley, I could see the silhouette of our tiny car nestled between two brick monoliths of another era. Rick was right. This place was safe because it died in the 80s. I walked up to the back and tapped the window ...

Yester Year The Eternal Summer A ficlet by mlc I drew a deep breath, my steps haggard and limp, as I walked through the jagged ruins of Yester Year. Sweat dripped down my back, making my shirt feel like a second layer of skin. I sat down on one of the charred blocks and looked at the parcel in my trembling hands. The sun was starting to dip into the West, a sure fire sign that I needed to hurry up. Wheezing, I leaned over and closed my eyes. Just a quick break, I told myself. Then it was another sprint, but I’d be home, and Nana would get her medication. My eyes fluttered open when a sudden gust of wind brushed my back. It chilled the sweat for a brief moment, and I watched it rip a dead plant from its roost. The light brown thing tumbled around the ruins without a care in the world. My eyes followed it until it hit the side of a block twice the size as the one I was sitting on. That one had imprints on it. That one was proof that Nana’s crazy stories had actually happ...

I am happy to say that I’ve completed Sisters! *Sheds a tear* This story has been near and dear to my heart ever since I started writing it. And now comes the hard part… Revision. Let’s just say that I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to editing pages and pages of writing.  I’m pacing myself and doing it in increments, but the draw back to doing it in increments is time. If I let more than a week go by without cracking it open for an edit, I forget what’s going on (life has a funny way of shoving itself past your hobbies). Here’s to chugging through the first round of revisions! And because I can’t do a blog post without mentioning the Man in the High Castle…clever transition of topic because yeah! I’ve migrated everything downstairs to my Project Grasshopper shelf. ♥ I’ve hung the alternate reality NYC painting I did (finally!) above it and started a sister painting for the Pacific States! There are a few things I want to tweak and add to the shelf...

Travel season at work is officially over for the year! I like traveling and seeing new things, mind you, but it’s nice to be back on my normal schedule. The ultimate ode to retro futurism For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Instagram, you can see that I’ve already picked my devotion to Amazon’s the Man in the High Castle right back up! I can’t help it. The show is damn good. It is unique in every way, and I hope they continue writing excellent characters in Season 3! Progress on Project Grasshopper: my fan project. I cannot wait until it’s time to migrate everything to the actual shelf! This will be an on-going project, one of those things that will never end. It’s also time to jump into Sisters again. Because the project requires so much research, I had to put it down for a lot of our travel season. ...Then there's the fact that I sort of wrote my characters into a bind! I will figure out how to get Ann, Werner, and Kathy out of the trouble I got them int...

I’ve been tweeting about it and posting photos, but since you can only convey so much through 140 characters, here’s a look at my The Man in the High Castle fan project! I got the idea from the awesome resistance radio packages the official marketing team (I’m guessing it was that department) sent out to people on Twitter (oh, and trust me, you would all know if I got one. The world would not be able to contain my screeches of delight!). I figured that the odds are stacked against one tiny person, so I decided to create my own little High Castle haven. Project Grasshopper! I ordered (and assembled) a retro shelf and am going to decorate it with themes from the show. This is going to be one of those on-going, I-will-add-to-it-piece-by-piece (aka, when my paychecks allow and as I find the perfect relics) projects. The first pieces I ordered: The beautiful shelf I ordered just for this project: This is where I initially planned to put it, but I’m not so sure now be...

I finished writing the first half of Sisters! Parts Zero (Innocence) and One (Survival) are done. Now comes the most difficult part of their lives yet. Part Two's theme is destiny. Allegiances are made and loyalties are tested. I am looking forward to powering through this section. If Innocence and Survival gave me FEELS, I can only imagine how Destiny is going to be!  A window into their world This is what their nightstands would look like in real life (click to view full size) Here is a closer look at my Kathy and Ann peg dolls