tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76621292302478497172023-06-20T06:53:50.059-07:00The Stalin MonologuesGary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-26037575336253045972008-08-21T19:32:00.000-07:002008-08-21T19:33:51.517-07:00Still AliveJust writing to say that yes, I'm still alive and so is this blog. The work that pays the bills has been eating up entirely too much of my life lately, and the blog novel has eaten up the other bits. I hope to add some more episodes of the <em>Monologues</em> in the future, but in the meantime, go over and read the final <a href="http://amoralbridge.blogspot.com/search/label/Chapters">chapter</a> and prologue of my blog novel, <a href="http://amoralbridge.blogspot.com/">Under the Amoral Bridge</a>. I'm quite happy with the ending. The future looks productive, as I've another idea for a Bridge blog novel and some other writing rattling around in the mental cooker, and I hope to get back to the <em>Monologues</em> in the spare time.Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-60779124023513189502008-01-31T08:44:00.000-08:002008-01-31T08:47:50.228-08:00My New Experiment: A Novel Told in Blog FormThe time has come to unveil something I've been working on for a few months. Those who have followed my writing over the years may know that I've written a novel and have been trying to get it published, without much success. As a means to promote myself as a fiction author as opposed to some loudmouth blogging asshole, I've decided to publish a novel on the web, using the blog format. That novel's first chapter and introduction have been posted at my new novel blog, <a href="http://amoralbridge.blogspot.com/">Under the Amoral Bridge</a>.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">My regular blog, <a href="http://gameangst.blogspot.com/"><strong><em>The Game of Angst</em></strong></a>, will still be updated, with as much regularity as it has been in the past. That means there will be more sporadic posts, depending on what I've got my dander up about on a particular day. This most likely will mean that <a href="http://stalinmonologues.blogspot.com/"><strong><em>The Stalin Monologues</em></strong></a> won't be updated with a new episode anytime soon, but since it hasn't been updated in a while anyway, that won't be much of a change. The plan is to update the novel with a new chapter every two weeks, with some supplemental material released in the off weeks.<br /><br />The novel is a cyberpunk science-fiction novel, but it isn't the novel I've been trying to get published. The introduction will explain more fully, but <strong><em>Bridge</em></strong> is a prequel novel in the same setting as the unpublished novel. Both are part of a planned series of sci-fi novels. Keep checking <a href="http://gameangst.blogspot.com/"><strong><em>The Game of Angst</em></strong></a> for new opinion pieces from me, and read my novel.<br /><br />Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy it.</span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-35625493834487549832007-04-06T10:58:00.001-07:002007-05-24T07:16:51.997-07:00The Stalin Monologues, Episode 5: TaterHead the SenatorJosef Stalin was a brutal, oppressive dictator who usurped the socialist revolution in Russia to found a regime based on a cult of personality. His purges were legendary, estimated to have killed more people than Hitler's genocidal treatment of the Jews. He was also a country bumpkin, a Georgian brute with little in his past to indicate any significant leadership qualities. The Stalin Monologues is a series of satirical machinima about the man behind the monster and the comedy behind the tragedy. Episode 5: TaterHead the Senator is a wacky interpretation of what Stalin must have thought of the McCarthy trials.<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pPFWVbrPk6g" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br /><br />McCarthyism was a stain upon the history of the United States, a crime for which McCarthy suffered nothing more than censure from Congress. His witchhunts destroyed people's lives, all in the pursuit of a phantom enemy, an enemy that might have been better off for the paranoia he engendered in the American people. Perhaps had he tried to understand the enemy as a human being rather than condemning an entire political system because of the twisted interpretation of that political system by a meglomaniac, the Cold War would not have lasted nearly as long. Enjoy!</span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-77314832524716404102007-04-06T10:57:00.001-07:002007-05-24T07:17:48.246-07:00Episode 4: Collectivized ClosetsJosef Stalin goes on a tour of the proletariat's closets, teaching an elderly farming couple about the wonders of collectivization, surveillance and counter-revolution. The episode is available after the bump.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0cekWkVJdKQ"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0cekWkVJdKQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-84531402843587005902007-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:002007-05-24T07:18:28.680-07:00Episode 3: What Intelligence?Josef Stalin returns to dispel the myths about his government. Big Joe disputes the lie that he bullied his subordinates into ignoring evidence of Hitler's impending attack, the strength of opposition in Finland, or the progress of World War II. The episode is available after the bump.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JNc7QW4A_hw"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JNc7QW4A_hw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-59929152191861920262007-04-06T10:51:00.000-07:002007-05-24T07:18:56.728-07:00Episode 2: Sausage GrinderBig Joe Stalin sets the record straight about his authoritarian regime. Stalin isn't just some Hitler clone, or some anti-Semitic fascist, he's a Stalinist! He kills indiscriminately, like a real authoritarian would.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C0MlrBtoj-o"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C0MlrBtoj-o" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7662129230247849717.post-63593742977498357312007-04-06T10:41:00.000-07:002007-05-24T07:19:31.433-07:00Episode 1: Meet Big JoeJosef Stalin, the bloodthirsty dictator of the USSR, talks about the trials and tribulations of running a dictatorship in this satirical examination of one of the monsters of our time. Watch the episode after the bump.<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q8rfw-tq7xE"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q8rfw-tq7xE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></span>Gary A. Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13594944455702886493noreply@blogger.com0