An Apology

A quick, yet wholly sincere apology to those who tried to visit this blog over the last hour or more, only to be met with a log-in screen. I took the blog down for a bit longer than I'd planned while I was making the magic that you see before you (ugh!). There are, unfortunately, a few elements I'd like to add to this template (image borders primarily), but with my HTML/XML skills, it's going to take me, I suspect, a long, long time before I'm able to figure it out.

Happy X-mas to All Our Readers!

Christmas Tree
(Andy Warhol; 1958)

Announcing . . .Guest Contributor Friday!!(and notice of temporary burnout)

Friends and neighbors:

As a few of you may have noticed, I did not post the latest Seminal Image Friday entry. In all candor, I just didn't have a workable idea for one. I did, however, indirectly receive inspiration for a new feature that, in retrospect, we probably should have introduced long ago.

From time to time we receive unsolicited contributions. They are always welcome, always appreciated; in fact, some of you may recall that, in August of 2007, we mounted our first . . . and, to this hour, only . . . Guest Contributor Week. Well, in that grand tradition, we here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger... will, one week from this Friday, unveil Guest Contributor Friday: a new, monthly feature wherein all content (all images, all text, all things Gunslinger) will be provided by YOU, our lovely and talented visitors.

For those who wish to participate, all you need do is send your prospective entry to our semi-official email address (gunslingerbird@gmail.com), along with whatever text (or not) that you wish to include. Entries are welcome for any existing series, be it over-nourished ('Seminal Images', 'When Legends Gather', etc.) or starved for content (too many to list here). It's all up to you.

Needless to say, if you have any questions, please send them forth and I'll endeavor to get back to you within 48 hours' time.

On a mostly unrelated note, I'll be taking off the next four days of 'Gunslinger' duty (marginal burnout; nothing of any import), but I will return on Friday with the second and last volume of Dimitri Baltermants images ('Life Among the Red Recidivists'). In the meantime, my co-conspirators will step up to the plate and work their wonders in my absence.

Do svidanya fer now!

We Five Are Five

While members of the Académie Goncourt gaze in wide-eyed wonder as Colette blows out the candles, we here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger . . . pause to observe our fifth anniversary in the blogosphere.

Say Hello to . . . Greg Ferrara!!

As the epic, Samuel Bronston-scale fanfare blown by this group of Mormons fades into the wordless sonic horizon, I can honestly say that, in the almost five year existence of this blog, few moments have been or will be as noteworthy as this.

It is my extreme pleasure to officially welcome Greg Ferrara (The Blogger Formerly Known as Jonathan Lapper) to the mean streets of Gunslinger as our newest teammate. Those of you who have been following Greg's adventures in the blogosphere . . . be it at the always-estimable Cinema Styles or the equally remarkable The Invisible Edge . . . will have more than an inkling as to why this is already a milestone in the life of this enterprise. The rest? I advise you to sit back and keep thine eyes peeled. What you see will, I've no doubt, be worth every second of your time.

So, before those Mormons let loose once again, step up on the stand and join us in welcoming Greg to our shores.

A Tidbit of an Announcement

I thought I should leave quick word here at the outset of the weekend that I've decided to take a suggestion offered in a comment last week and, henceforth, make my blogilicious magic Mondays through Fridays . . . at least for the near future.

So if you see no updates from this quarter for two days straight, this time it's not a result of depleted energy; more an effort at conservation (added to which my co-conspirators are absolutely free to do their voodoo at any time).

To those who left comments last week . . . and on yesterday's 'Seminal Image' spectacular (I will endeavor to do one of those a month) . . . my thanks is without bound.

I will be black on Monday . . . baby.

What's Up With the Updates?

Frequent, long term visitors to this blog no doubt have noticed that we here at Gunslinger endeavor to update this blog every day. Granted, there is no mandate to do so; no requirement from without; and I'm certain a vast number of people would prefer that it not be updated at all. But since I have nothing more . . . substantive to offer our visitors in its stead, the inner compulsion to accumulate entries is perhaps greater than it otherwise would be.

This, in case you were wondering, is my roundabout way of apologizing for the absence of new content; particularly in the last two days. I wish I could tell you that my hands had been smashed to oatmeal, thus hampering me physically. In truth, I can only say that events in the last few days have conspired to incinerate both my will and my energy. It is the only excuse I have, but it has the added benefit of being true. Call it burnout; call it what you will. I just ain't got it in me at the moment; though I'm sure before long I'll snap back into the delusional mindset that, despite everything, keeps me running this thing like five-handed clockwork.

That is all

Housekeeping Matter #24:Personal Thanks and Apologies from Your Tomáš

Look upon the following as my rising to a point of personal privilege:

Over the last, I would say, five to six weeks, this reporter has received numerous emails . . . as well as messages (through Facebook, MySpace, all kindsa internet fora) . . . touching on a variety of matters, most of them related to this blog. Not a torrent, mind you, just a sizable amount; with almost all requiring a response of one kind or another. At any rate, due to my overgrown work schedule and too many other bits-of-business/responsibilities, I have had neither the time nor, frankly, the energy to answer more than one or two of these in all those weeks. It is, yes, inexcusable; I don't say it isn't. For anyone who has written to me and is even a trifle miffed at waiting as long as you have with utter silence as my response heretofore, I can say 1) There are doubtless others who've been waiting longer (which I agree should not mitigate your mififfitude one milimeter); and 2) I'm extremely sorry for not addressing you directly, and for resorting to this shortcut.

Most of the outstanding requests I will try to get to as quickly as I can (not the most able standard of swiftness on even the best of days, I confess . . . and I don't wanna hear any 'Hire a Secretary' jokes from the Peanut Gallery), but I would be remiss were I not to thank those who sent in contributions to this here blog. I've received them all, and I can give every assurance there isn't a-one of them I won't be using. You have, then, our truest thanks.

I would also be remiss, this time on an epic scale, if I failed to mention our blog having received, on two occasions, the much-vaunted (and even coveted) Dardos Award . . . Yes, that Dardos Award; an enigmatic satellite of honor and self-replication, hurtling through cyberspace like a cross between a Pulitzer Prize and a Mormon chain letter. It had been my intention all along (and we're talking about more than a month's time here) to fulfill the Dardos mandate and select five blogs to stand as emblems representing our standard of blogospheric eggzellence . . . but I just couldn't get it together to get it done. In the coming weeks, however, it is my hope to introduce a new element to this oft-chaotic tapestry that will fulfill this function, and do so in a more enduring fashion.

In the meantime in between time, it is with gladdened heart and humbled bearing that I . . . hell, make that we; all four of us . . . extend our gratitude to Colin Geddes of the beautifully-named and quite wonderful Popcorn and Sticky Floors, and to one of the last true noblemen of an age that has seen and heard little of nobility, Glenn Erickson of DVD Savant (personal side note: Glenn, the Confidential cover was my screw-up entirely; no more than one of the hazards of not organizing images properly) for selecting this modest enterprise as one-fifth of their vision for what the blogosphere does, and does bloody well.

A special shout-out and thanks (in closing) to John Hodgman . . . he knows what for.

That is all.

A Happy New Year to All Our Readers

As we begin to wrap up the first decade of the twenty-first century, we here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger . . . would like to take a moment and wish all those who visit us every bit of the best for the new year. 2008 could not have ended on a worse note for me personally, but it was an astonishing year for this blog; and that is as much your doing as it is ours. So please accept our good tidings, friends, neighbors and fellow bloggers; you've earned them several times over.

Just a word . . .

Beginning now, and for the immediate to near future, I have to take some time off from this blog due to the passing of a family member earlier today. Can't say at this time when I'll regain even the inclination to update this blog, but I will return eventually; sooner rather later I hope.

Any rate, I wish you all the best there is to wish for the holidays.

Thanks,

Tom

Something of Possible Interest

In order to insure that it doesn't remain buried, I thought I would give the cinephile sector of our visitors a heads-up on this post, located at another, woefully undernourished blog.

A Momentary Indulgence, sil vous plait

In light of today's news (reported below) about the Metropolis discovery, I thought the occasion auspicious enough to start something I've been thinking of starting for awhile, and that is this:

Illusion Travels By Streetcar

If'n you're in the area, stop by and say Hello.

(Major) Housekeeping Matter #23:Welcome, Kimberly Lindbergs!

I've been wanting to write this for weeks, since the idea first came to me, and now I can. I have to confess I'm immensely pleased . . . as pleased as at any point during the almost three-year life of this blog . . . to welcome Kimberly Lindbergs as our fourth official contributor here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger . . . . Kimberly, as many of you know, is author of the exceptional blog Cinebeats: Confessions of a Cinephile; more crucially for this endeavour, she has a remarkable eye for images (something fully attested to by her contributions to our week-long Guest Contributor fiesta last month). But perhaps most important of all, she gets what we're doing here. I'm confident I'm speaking for my co-conspirators in saying that this is something we can't value highly enough 'round these parts.

So please join us . . . and the 16th President of the United States here pictured . . . in raising a toast to our newest member!

A somewhat unrelated side-note in closing: I'd like to thank all of you who wished me your best, both publicly and privately, during my recent stretch of infirmity. Most of all I want to thank Senor Cooke and Senor Gibson for holding up the standard, as it were, the last ten days. In a few weeks I'll have to take another (hopefully shorter) leave of absence, but I have every expectation that Stephen, Richard and (now) Kimberly will fill in every bit as admirably.

Damn, but this is a good turn of events!

Notice of Impending Absence

For those of you who may be wondering about the relative dearth of new posts from this third of the Charlie Parker triumvirate, I can only plead an unexpectedly prolonged spate of ill health and give notice that I probably won't be posting anything for at least the next few days. Rest assured, however, that my confederates, Mr. Cooke and Mr. Gibson, will no doubt supercede whatever I might have done had I not been seeing to my physical well-being (or lack thereof).

Thanks

An entirely personal note to Kimberly and/or Bart: I'm sorry I haven't gotten to our outstanding bidness; truly. When I'm back on form I'll move forward on both fronts.

Announcing . . . Guest Contributor Week!!

Come gather 'round, childrens, wherever you roam . . .

If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, beginning Monday, August 6, we here at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger . . . will be following the time-honored tradition of the proverbial rat race by leaving behind the hectic toil of our daily lives and going on a week's vacation. God knows we knock ourselves silly the other 51 weeks of the year, dragging them what visits us to, fro, across, up, down and around every area of time, tide and culture our perfervid brains can conjure, so while we're resting our wearied bones, we'll turn to you to do the job.

All of which is just a protracted way of announcing . . . Guest Contributor Week!!

(insert fanfare here)

Yes that's right, fans. Guest Contributor Week. Seven whole days wherein all content . . . all images, all text and all things Charlie Parker . . . will be provided by you, our visitors. Some of you may have noticed from time to time we're wont to post material sent in over the transom, as it were, by friends, fans and full-throttle aesthetes who get what we're doing. It's our hope that, between now and August, we can gather enough such contributions to make a full week of it.

So if you've never sent us an entry, or if you've sent them in the past, or if you only just thought of it upon seeing this notice, here's your opportunity to participate in a true communal blogospheric event . . . with full credit an' everything! Contributors can send in entries for any series they wish, as many entries as they wish (consult the sidebar), provide whatever text they like; the whole shot. All I'll do is post them (what, you really thought I was going on vacation? Moi??). Everyone is welcome (truly) to toss their goods into the pot. I can't promise I'll post everything we receive, but unless we get images we've already run, the chances are better than likely they will blossom in these pages.

All you need do is send your contributions (images, text, etc.) to our new and cleverly-named email address:

gunslingerbird@gmail.com

And if you have any questions, shoot them my way (tomsutpen@gmail.com) and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

The ball, now, is in your court!