Author: Kevin A. Ranson

Film Critic & Horror Writer. Heeding a macabre calling listening to “Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes” in kindergarten, Kevin A. Ranson wrote in grade school and filled countless notebooks with story ideas while touring the Mediterranean in the US Navy. Author of The Spooky Chronicles, the thriller series The Matriarch Vampires, and critic for MovieCrypt.com as host Grim D. Reaper #grmdrpr. Sith master of Google-Fu, Bing-Jitsu, and buttered toast (you want some toast?)

Happy Frustration Without the Euphoric Epiphany

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Creativity, ExistentialismLeave a comment

I operate mostly in two modes: hyper-focusing on one thing (and nothing else) or focus on everything (which I have learned to endure). Like most geeks with undiagnosed ADHD, I dwell on any problem that intrigues me until a solution is found. The feeling of happy frustration while problem solving suddenly turning to euphoric epiphany upon finding an answer is like winning the multi-state lottery. Repeatedly.

What becomes utterly frustrating is when others cannot see nor fathom your solution (or sometimes that there’s even a problem). It’s like realizing your lotto winnings will be paid out in $1.00 increments daily for a million years. Your solution is rendered pointless because, while you believe it’ll work, you have no chance of implementing it to be sure. Still, having found an answer, everything be okay because you can stop thinking about it.

Continue reading “Happy Frustration Without the Euphoric Epiphany” →

“We Who Are About to Die Salute You!”

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism, RoleplayingLeave a comment

If you’ve ever committed two to three weekend afternoons per month to gathering with friends, a fistful of dice, and a little cooperative storytelling, you also know how rarely it is seen to fruition. Long-term campaigns often fall apart due to other commitments, changing goals, moving away, changing jobs, or just real life generally intruding on the best laid plans.

Still, when you can manage to hold a continuing storyline together for nearly two years (say, for a class of up-and-coming high school-aged superheroes secretly training to better use their powers and ending up one of the world’s premiere super teams before actually graduating), it is a thing of beauty to behold. Later today, all the story lines converge into a single point, an epic final battle with a winner-take-all ending, and it’s likely not all of the characters will (or should) survive.

Through it all, there’s one person that deserves the lion’s share of the credit, the deity to whom the fabric of time and space bends their very will, and without whom there would be no opposition, no secret goals, nothing to struggle against. That person is the Game Master, and it’s been a hell of a ride, Chris. Salute!

A Labor Day Film Festival (for Three)

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism, Hollywood1 Comment

How did you spend your Labor Day? Out and about, getting in a last-minute summer BBQ, or visiting somewhere out of town?

My best friend, my girlfriend, and myself wound up having a semi-impromptu film festival. Suffering with merely a 46-inch screen, we relived such classics as John Carpenter’s The Thing and The Fog, Constantine (which brought up the question: does a male or female actor makes for a more convincing sexless/androgynous angel?), the original Child’s Play and the first Saw film (in prep for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights), Silent Hill , two short films (featuring actor Doug Bradley) called “On Edge” and “Red Lines,” and a bizarre film called La lengua asesina (The Killer Tongue) featuring Doug Bradley again, Robert Englund, and a very young Jonathan Rhys Meyers (before he became King Henry on HBO’s “The Tudors”).

And a good time was had by all…!

Is “Lie to Me” Lying to Me?

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Conspiracies, Existentialism, Hollywood1 Comment

If you watched broadcast television last season, you might have picked up on a show starring Tim Roth called “Lie to Me.” The premise follows a company called The Lightman Group that assists in interrogations to determine if people are being deceptive (figuring out why when they are is another matter). It all sounds very convincing, but how real is it?

Besides being fun to watch, you can’t help not playing along after being introduced to micro-expressions and other “tells” that are reinforced by similarities to celebrity photos (a glance down for shame, a slight grin at mentioning someone’s hardship when you secretly think they deserve it, etc). Cleverly, the show has also introduced reasons why these tells could be wrong at times, such as an inability to express surprise after a Botox treatment.

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New Theme!

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism, InternetLeave a comment

One of the reasons I moved my personal blog to WordPress.com is because, when I want to post something, I don’t want to have to program anything. “Set it and forget it” themes are nice when you can find them, and limited access on WordPress.com discourages me from tinkering too much once I have a theme configured (because once I get sucked into a tweaking session, time becomes a blur until I’m hungry and it’s dark outside).

On occasion, new stuff is always fun to add in, and after a new upgrade in the WordPress software, a new theme appeared, iNove. It looked clean, bold, and organized better like an OCD’s kitchen junk drawer. After over two years, I decided to retire the cemetery banner as a design element and opted instead for a digitally-enhanced image of my favorite accessory, my Alchemy Gothic “Death Ankh” (on the right). It hints at my interests and has started quite a few conversations. Enjoy!

Speaking of Health Care Reform (Updated)

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Conspiracies, Politicking1 Comment

… now that people are talking about it, suddenly that’s un-American?

In a video circulating online and on news channels, the AARP is seen opening a “Town Hall” meeting with predetermined language such as, “We all agree that…” and is being shouted down even at the notion anything has already been agreed upon.

Guess what’s finally happening? People are not only curious about what the legislature and government is doing with their health care, they’re also listening carefully and questioning the language being used. They also have their own ideas, like being allowed to shop over state lines for insurance and forming small business co-ops to buy larger corporate-rate insurance to save money on rates.

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Meet a Former US President!

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Conspiracies, PolitickingLeave a comment

Are you a little dictator with big, big plans? Need to be seen schmoozing with a former yet popular US President?

All you need to do is grab a couple of American journalists (men okay, ladies preferred for effect), sentence them to hard labor on some made-up charge, then put a call into Bill Clinton for the win! It used to be that only former president Jimmy Carter would show up for these things, but now you can meet “the man” himself AND keep a souvenir photo of your special day.

Yes, it’s a great day for evil.

Now, back to your nuclear research and long-range missile programs.

The Almost Dead

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism1 Comment

Have you heard about the “End of Life” consultations being talked about in the new health plan reforms being drawn up? I think I’m a little bitter today about the thought of how the elderly are treated in America at the age of “no longer useful to society.”

Walking around an elderly care home, hearing shouts or screams of protests, everything with a permeating smell of decay. The places I’ve been in don’t seem to be anything more than holding cells for the discarded, staffed by thankless and underpaid orderlies who try not to attach themselves to the almost dead.

Talk about a place for legitimately angry spirits to reside, hmm?

Building a Starship, Part I

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Creativity, Hollywood3 Comments

Some of you out there have heard about a few crazy individuals who are not only bold enough to be seen wearing classic “Star Trek” uniforms at conventions but are actually savvy enough to act out and produce their own stories for the web. Here’s the kicker: they’re pretty good, too.

One of these groups is Farragut Films, makers of Starship Farragut.

Starship Farragut is an independent film series based on the original series of Star Trek. Starship Farragut is based on the crew of the U.S.S. Farragut, a Constitution Class Starship (NCC-1647) commanded by Captain John T. Carter, and takes place during the time of legendary Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701).

Currently, all involved are getting stage sets ready for more episodes, currently being rebuilt and permanently housed in St. Marys, Georgia. Myself and a friend, Brett, went up this past Saturday and helped out where we could. Check out these images and watch this space later as the final designs take shape.