Exe - Pages 10-12

EXE: Pages 7-9

I got some feedback that a page a day 'makes it difficult to pick up the flow of the story'. That may be true. So today i'm posting 3 pages in a row that introduce us to our other protagonist, Officer Ewan Chase. Enjoy.

EXE - Page 6

We're getting to the close of the expository section. Up next. PATHOS

Exe - Page 5

EXE - Page 4

The EXE daily experiment continues. Here's the story synopsis in case you missed it:

Your internet has become a weapon of mass destruction. A deranged scientist has created a singular image that can drive men to madness. A simple email message can turn law abiding citizens into homicidal maniacs. Follow the digital descent of his latest victim, a morally conflicted Police Officer who tries to learn why he is becoming detached from reality. An action packed Science Fiction thriller. A darkly comic descent into madness and marketing.

Where have you gone, Don Draper?

Television ads confuse me, mainly because we've moved into this weird era where ad agencies feature really unlikable people to sell their wares. Take this Vonage commercial i saw the other day. It features this nice Italian girl who is supposed to be serving coffee to a line of eager, caffine deprived souls. Instead, she's on her phone talking to her mom while the hapless idiots sit there waiting for the crazy bitch to serve them an overpriced beverage. Here's the link, in case you're curious.

The Crazy Italian Waitress trying to sell you Vonage

I'm puzzled as to the appeal. Are there that many Italian expatriates who need unlimited long distance? Why is she talking to her mom when she's supposed to be working. Even the other characters in this fictional setup seem pissed off. Why would you create a commercial where even the other characters hate you?

And why is she spinning at the end? I don't know what's going on. I can't follow your narrative.

Remember when your pitch-men and pitch-women were designed to be likable. When did we start featuring the unlikable and socially awkward to sell products. Here's another one i see all the time that baffles me.

The Netflix Weirdo

No one will ever accuse Netflix of knowing how to run a company. Their commercials are strange and the characters in them are often the last person on Earth you would want to watch a movie with, which is probably why they're watching them on Netflix and not going out into the world. The series of ads has 'regular people' interacting with characters from a movie. There's one with some greasy, morbidly obese guy talking to some bank robbers who seem less puzzled by his ability to cross through the fourth wall and more annoyed by his fat smelliness. I realize it's a commercial, and therefore the sense of smell is not a factor. But he looks like a smelly bastard.

There's one with an old guy talking to some cartoon animals.

An Old Man and a Bunny Talk About Netflix

Why is the old guy so pissed off at the beginning? Why is a man so close to death wasting his time watching a movie about a cartoon tiger and a bunny? Why does he say "You're not going to make me cry, are you?" None of this makes any sense.

I understand the concept, but why wouldn't you cast someone likable?

You're selling a product. Cast someone likable. Use a premise that doesn't involve angry, awkward protagonists.

EXE - Page 3

Page 3 from the first volume of the Graphic Novel. Feedback is always welcome.

Exe: Executable File - Page 2

Page 2 of the first volume of EXE: Executable File.

EXE - One Page at a Time

In order to help get the word out about the existence of EXE: Executable File, i'm going to post a page every couple of days. All 85 pages of the first volume. Bookmark the page and check back. You can read the entire story from the comfort of the blog. And here's page one....

Steve Jobs was a visionary

Steve Jobs was a visionary.

Visionaries are people with big ideas. They are rarely the ones doing the heavy lifting. The pyramids were conceived by visionaries, but they were built by slaves.

Your iPhone and iPad was conceived by a visionary and is built and assembled by underpaid laborers far enough away where safety standards are low and the suicide rates are high. Your convenience (and mine) is a devil's bargain. For you to live in this technological nirvana, others have to toil in sub-human conditions.

I can't claim any high ground here. I'm as guilty as everyone else. Just remember, those who peddle great ideas still outsource their creation to third world countries.

Because what Eastern Europe needed was more Zombie Films

It;s funny to think that something you helped create, something that started in your brain, manages to slowly make it's way around the world. It's been a few years since Dead Heist hit DVD in the US of A where it was met with the typical direct to video "meh". Every few months it seems to pop up on the radar somewhere else. So far Dead Heist has made it's way to Mexico, Germany, Japan (renamed Bank of the Dead), Australia, and now Romania where it retails for 9,90 Ron.

9.9 Romanian lei = 3.0508 US dollars

Seeing something you wrote show up in foreign countries helps fuel this long standing desire of every writer to be scorned in your own backyard, yet accepted in foreign countries where people are smarter and more cultured. Where a film about a bunch of crack dealers trying to rob a bank and end up fighting the undead can be met with the appropriate level of appreciation.

Te iubesc România....

My Drive Review...

My DRIVE Review for encore magazine

Finishing up Novel Numero Dos

I'm coming to the close of Novel Number Two, Edward Merchant. It's been a long labor (about 4 years) going back and forth between this and a number of other projects. The whole thing was inspired by my desire to write a western. But i didn't have a conventional western in me. So what happened was i ended up with a dark piece about a bounty hunter who has a particular disdain for society.

Edward became a kind of outlet for me. And truth be told, it's a nihilist tale that goes to some pretty dark places.

I'm always a little bummed when i finish a project, mainly because i so rarely revisit my work once it's finished. For me, the fun is tied into the creative process. I'm not sure if i'll have enough time to get the whole thing done by 2012. If i have it my way, i'll have a new book, a new movie, and new play, and the second volume of EXE: Executable File, if i can get enough people interested in the first volume.

I share a Birthday with Google.`

It's my birthday. A day i generally loathe. Probably because i'm uncomfortable talking about things that bear no special meaning. Everyone has a birthday. And i did absolutely nothing that 6 billion other people did. My Mom did all the work. Shouldn't i be celebrating the massive amount of pain and suffering she endured.

It wasn't like i crawled out the birth canal on my own. She did the pushing. And yet you're supposed to celebrate the day you basically did nothing other than not get stuck on the way out.

Happy Birthday = Congratulations on not fucking up nature's most basic premise.

19 Copies in the Mail and Still Waiting for A Word

Every Friday i take an hour or two and reach out to websites & pop culture blogs. You send out an email and try to get someone to take five minutes to talk about whatever the hell you're working on. They give you an address, you mail out a copy, and then you wait. And you wait. And then you wait some more. At some point you start to wonder if your creative labor has become a coaster or low grade toilet paper for a cost efficient web site.

At last count i had mailed out 19 copies of EXE to Websites and have not gotten a response. This is not shocking, only because i've been riding this train for so long. You're lucky to get 1 response back from 20 copies you send out.

Patience is something i've come to appreciate, though i'd be lying if i told you there wasn't a fair amount of frustration over the time and effort you spend on a project only to be met with ambivalence. The only way to get past it is to push forward and keep the campaign moving. This time i gave myself a year to build a little love towards EXE. I'm nearing the end of month 3.

there's no magical way to get people to give a shit. you just have to cast the net so wide that you find someone who likes what you're doing and is willing to devote a little time to explain why it's worth a mention. At some point, i'll find that person.

When you Search for Yourself Online

"What you're best known for."

It's an interesting phrase. It's a question you get asked a lot when you do an interview. I never have an answer for that question. My first usual answer is "I'm best known for the guy who called the Dhali Lama a 'pussy'" or "I'm best known for driving by large crowds of people and yelling "HEY MIKE!" just to see who looks over.

In reality, i don't know what i'm best known for. So i did an internet search on my name. The first thing i realized is that the internet believes my name is 'Angus Houvouras', because it's constantly asking me if i'm sure i spelled my name correctly. Once corrected, the internet tells me i'm best known for the movie Dead Heist as about 90% of the entries came from that. Though the first picture that came up was the one you see listed above. Me and Ja Rule on the set of an awful awful movie.

Look at that douchebag. And i don't mean Ja Rule. That awful haircut and the porn star moustache. Man, i'd love to go back in time and slap the shit out of 2006 me. I don't know how most people view their past. It always seems like people look back with fond memories of their past. Me, i usually end up wishing for a better haircut.

To Blog... or not to.....

So the whole blog thing feels very 2006. At this point, the advent of social networking has given rise to all sorts of ways to get people to notice whatever shit it is you're pushing. Facebook has provided few results. Don't even get me started on Twitter. So when i had to decide how i was going to try and promote my particular bran of whimsy, i went with a blog, if only because facebook doesn't let you put a giant BUY button anywhere on the page.

Here i can basically point out interesting things, talk about updates and reviews of EXE: Executable File, as well as other projects im currently working on. Right now, everything's about EXE. I've sent about 20 copies out to websites and blogs and wait for someone to give us a kind word or give us the finger.

Join us on this journey into the maddening world of self promotion and if you haven't already click the button and buy a copy of the Graphic Novel that asks a lot of questions, provides a few answers, and kicks your looking balls with awesomeness.

Feedback: Funny and Informative

As the first round of copies go out to friends, websites, and bloggers around the web, i start getting back responses. Our good friend Gwynyfar from Old Books on Front Street came back with a one liner that seems to sum up the vast majority of my work. She said (And i'm paraphrasing):

"The idea was similar to something i'd been thinking about for awhile, except for the whole serial killer thing."

It reminded me of something filmmaker Erica Dunton once said to me. Again, i'm paraphrasing.

"I tend to write stories about two people who meet and fall in love. You tend to write stories about two people who meet and try to kill each other."

Back from Comic Con

Comic Con was an excellent success. Had a great time, gave out some copies of EXE and met some cool people. Now that we're back, time to roll out the website and get the word out about what is arguably the most awesome 84 pages released in paperback form this year....

The Website Goes Live

So i'm doing some beta testing on the website. Currently you can order copies of exe: executable file volume 1 and download the digital versions. I'm still working on the Kindle and Nook versions.....