InterStellarVisions

I was born in Salem NJ on Jan 28th 1964, moved to Penns Grove NJ and lived there till I turned 17 in 1981. While growing up in Penn's Grove, I first began to dabble in painting and drawing.  My mother got me started, then I learned how to do faces by watching a program called "The Gene London Show". Afterwards, what started out as a hobby, became my life-long obsession, as I started learning how to draw landscapes, people, animals, and various pieces involving fantasy, ie; wizards, warriors, monsters and such. Then, after I returned from my summer vacation in Florida, my mother got married. My family and I then moved to Kennett Sq. PA and lived there till 1985. At that time, after a very turbulent marriage my mother and step-father separated then my mom, my brother and I moved to Jacksonville Fl where we have lived ever since.

I completed most of my schooling in Penn's Grove NJ...then I finished it in Kenntt Square PA when I graduated. It was in Kennet Sq. that I first entered the work force, wrote my first poem, and began to develop into a serious writer. Since moving to Fla I have attended college for a few years with art as my major. I have also had several poems published in various media forms, both online and in printed publications to a limited extent. I have one published book of poetry and artwork to my credit, called "Sipping Nectar With The Gods". My future plans include writing a novel, a play, maybe a screenplay of some kind, some children's books, and the creation of a home based business for the design and production of greeting cards, letterheads, business cards, business brochures, and graphic illustrations.

My Interests include but are not limited to: Drawing, painting, reading, writing, dabbling in music...drums is what I'm best on, but my innate sense of  rhythm also carries over into other musical instruments as well, I also enjoy traveling, playing basketball, visiting art galleries and museums, watching plays, listening to music, and going to the movies.

My favorite TV shows are usually any documentaries about, History, Music,War, Animals, Natural Disasters, Biographies of Famous people, A Fashion Show called, "The Runway," and News. And almost any kind of caught on taped shows, where the camera catches people unawares, doing things which they know they could get in trouble for.

My favorite movies include: Dead Poet's Society, Breakfast Club, Breaking Away, Teen Wolf, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Real Genius, Authur 1 and 2, Friday, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, The Great Outdoors, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Ace Ventura 1 and 2, Liar Liar, The Mask, Bruce Almighty, Tarzan- The Lord of Greystoke, Bridges of Madison County, Unforgiven, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Fistful of Dollars, Joe Kidd, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Heartbreak Ridge, and almost any other movie starring Clint Eastwood, Hard To Kill, Above The Law, and any other movie with Steven Segal, Desperado, Boy's Town, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Entire Three Stooges Series of Shorts, Mrs. Robinson, Anything with Charlie Chaplin, All The Bruce Lee Movies, The Crow, Yankee Doodle Dandy, A Walk in The Clouds,  Alexander, Caesar and Ceopatra, Romeo and Juliet, The Lion in Winter, Richard The 1st, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and any other Shakespearen Movies or Plays, The X-Men 1, 2, and 3, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, LOTR Trilogy, Original Star Wars Trilogy, All The Batman Movies, Superman 1, 2, and 3, Excalibur, The Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, Jesus of Nazareth,  The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Three Musketeers, Clash of The Titans, Jason and The Argonauts, Troy, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, To Sir With Love, The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley, The Yearling, Old Yeller, The Searchers, The Color Purple, The Owl and The Pussycat, All The Rocky Movies, Lonesome Dove, Runaway Train, Raging Bull, All The Godfather movies, Scarface, Scent of A Woman, Goodfellas, Wiseguys, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Summer of Sam, Malcolm X, Roots, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Civil War Series by Ken Burns. There are many others I enjoy watching, but these are the ones, which have really grown to mean a lot to me over the years.

My favorite Bands are: The Doors, first and foremost. It was thru listening to their music, and reading the poetry of Jim Morrison, that I was first inspired to begin writing. Old school Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revivial, REM,( In my all-time top 3) Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Tom Petty and  The Heartbreakers, Dio, Journey, U2, Bad Company, The Yardbirds, The Beatles, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, The Moody Blues, Blue Oyster Cult, The Animals, Lynard Skynard, Alabama, Molly Hatchet, Hank Williams Sr. and Hank Williams Jr, Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, The James Gang, America, The Mamas and The Papas, Bread, The Beasties Boys, N.W.A., and The Arabian Prince.

My favorite Singers are: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, John Denver, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Ronnie James Dio, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Enya, Jim Croce, Simon and Garfunkle, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Al Jolson.

My favorite Classical Composers are: Mozart (My Fave) Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bach, Hayden, Richard Wagner, Brams, Strauss, Niccolo Paganini, and a few others whose names are too long to mention here.

My favorite books are: No One Here Gets Out Alive, and any other books about Jim Morrsion and the Doors, Any books about Greek and Norse Mythology, any plays by Shakespeare, Tall Tales and Legends and any other books about American Folklore, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, The Golden Bough, The Complete Ring Cycle by J.R.R. Tolkien, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Innocents Abroad and anything else by Mark Twain. The Three Musketeers, Man In The Iron Mask and anything else written by Alexander Dumas. A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, The White Goddess by Robert Graves, or any other books by him. Incidental Mythology, Occidental Mythology, and Creative Mythology, Hero With A Thousand Faces and anything else written by Joseph Campbell. On The Road, Desolation Angels, Dharma Bums, or anything else written by Jack Kerouac.

My favorite games include: Any fantasy type of role-play games for PC, where I get to play a warrior traveling thru different lands collecting treasures and killing evil monsters, and any space games where I get to operate a space ship with major fire power and destroy everything in sight.

My favorite kinds of music to listen to are: Rock and Roll, Alternative, All Blues, Some Jazz, Some Punk, Some Hip-Hop, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's music I love, all Classical music I love for it helps inspire me to write. I dislike most country....all except for Hank Williams Sr, Hank Williams Jr. and a few crossover bands and artists.

 

My favorite colors are: Light Blue, Aquamarine, Green, and Turquoise.

My favorite Sports teams are: Football- The Minnesota Vikings. Hockey- The Philadelphia Flyers. Basketball- The Philadelphia 76er's. Baseball- The Philadelphia Phillies. Tennis- John McEnroe

My favorite foods are: Mexcian-#1. Italian-#2. Chinese-#3. Greek-#4. 

My style of writing has mostly been influenced by Jim Morrison, Shakespeare, and my tenth grade English Teacher.

In the case of Jim Morrison, it was from reading his poetry, and by listening to the music of the Doors, that I first became aware of the fact that I had lived other lives before this present one. The things he writes and sings about, seem to summon up ancient memories from my long forgotten past. Naturally...his songs and writings, effect each person in different ways. They effected me by allowing me to tune in to the callings of Elder Spirits, the forgotten ones who still roam this earth, unseen for the most part, by the greater portion of mankind. Their voices come to me while I'm writing, and allow me to recall ancient glimpses of other people I have encountered, and other places I have been, during my previous lifetimes. There is, within the mind of each human being, certain memories which have been planted there at the moment of conception. These memories, as I stated,  are leftover experiences from other earth-lives. This is where Deja-Vu comes from. The feeling of having been somewhere, or seen someone else before, which we have no distinct memory of in our present lives.

In Shakespeare's case, his writings are so beautiful, tragic, and heroic all at once, that the power of the words I read, moved me in such a way, that made me realize, I wanted to effect other people in just the same manner with my own writings.

In the case of my eleventh grade english teacher, Mr. Tatum, his influence on my writing style came to me thru the words of advice he once offered me after I turned in an assignment. The assignment he gave us, was to write an original poem on any subject we chose. I chose to write a long epic poem about a man, being drawn across the Alaskan Tundra in a sled, by a pack of Wild Huskies. In the tale I told,  the man falls off the sled somehwere along the way, and eventually ends up dying and being completely covered over in the massive snow drifts, as the Wild Huskies continue pulling the empty sled into the white wilderness. When I turned it in, he said he really loved the content I chose, and the way I described everything, but he said that it was way too long. He then told me to try to say more, by saying less. Those words really helped me develop my writing style later on in life. (Thanks again Mr. Tatum.)

-Side Note: I turned it in a day late and got a B+

Of course there are many other things which have influenced my writing over time, the loveliness of nature, the magic of childhood, the horror of war, the tragedy of love, the lonliness and the brevity of life, the suddeness of death, the sad declining years of old age, the wonderful and alluring escapism of fantasy, certain events which have taken place throughout history, and things which occur during the present, the legends and myths of various cultures from the past, my own life experiences, and most of all...the mystery, the charm, and the beauty of women.  They are an endless source of inspiration for me, and this shows in my writings.

I hope you have liked my site thus far. If you wish, please rate my site, and offer some comments about it. Which part you enjoy most, and what else you might like to see placed on here.

Thanks again everyone.