A Strange Corporeal Disconnect

It's Saturday morning, the first day off I've had in three weeks. That means I'll probably spend the day wandering around trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I had planned to sleep late, but my head had other ideas...the next "channel" of DOWN RANGE TV, COWBOY TV, is getting ready to go up, with work moving forward on BLACK RIFLE TV. Marshal and I are in the process of breaking DR into specific channels because it just makes sense.

At the same time we're moving forward on our relationship with our new partner — expect an formal announcement week, but don't be surprized if its GunsAmerica.com, who are great guys to work with and on whose site I have spent far too much money over the years!

Also expect an announcement within the month that DOWN RANGE is moving to a vastly expanded super-high-quality video platform...the cutting edge keeps moving, and our plan is to stay just a little ahead!

In upcoming DR videos, I plan to complete the next six segments of CCW Demystified this summer, as well as a bunch of combat shotgun and black rifle stuff. I've also started wheels turning to — legally! — build a replica of the Ithaca Auto & Burglar sawed-off shotgun, so I can take you through the whole NFA process step by step and show what's involved. Black rifle wise, I'll be looking at drop-in trigger units, a comparison of red-dot optics, a shake-out tour of the SIG 556, one of the Stag Arms rifles and the TNH FS2000 bullpup.

More and more instructors and trainers are querying us about getting on DR. Our policy is that the site is open to all trainers, because I want it to be a resource for people who are shopping for trainers. Expect to see a huge selection of short-form videos coming from another one of our partners, Paladin Press, within the next few weeks.

BTW, I've finally almost finished the audio sound studio in my office for the podcasts, which are going great guns. I'm getting professional quality sound after only four interface boxes, a stack of microphones, etc. etc. Audio is the only think I've seen weirder than the Internet...NOTHING works the way it supposed to work! Next project is to finish hanging lights in the gun room in the basement to make it easy to film in.

On the SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS front, I'm going to start working on the editing of "SG and COWBOYS "Classics" this month in California. I'm going to pull out the best shows and recut them, add some new information and new ins and outs. We should be back in full-scale production on both shows for 2008 in late summer, in time for the Steel Challenge. I've been working on the list of 2008 shows, and I guarantee you they will blow you away...I look at the list and I think, "Wow! I'd like to see that stuff!" You'll be AMAZED at the plans we have for the Steel Challenge this year!

Of course, I need a clone. I once had a clone...her name was Jennifer Haigh, and she's now a Famous Novelist. I read an interview she did years ago, where she was asked (if I remember correctly) if writing novels was the hardest job she'd ever done. No, she said; she once worked for a writer where she was expected to read his mind. She did, too.

Anyhow, I had a strange out-of-body experience yesterday. I finally got to the movies to see 300, which was indeed magnificent...and haunting after the events of last week. After two hours sunk in Sparta, I walked across the street to the mall to catch up with my Sweetie, who has declared a general moratorium on beheadings. So I'm standing in the middle of the mall waiting, and I suddenly felt profoundly and utterly out of place, lost. It was as jarring a sense of dislocation as I've ever felt, much more so than in any of the many foreign countries I've visited. The 9-mil felt like a lead weight on my belt, and I envisioned a big flashing neon sign over my head with an arrow pointing downward, flashing, "ALIEN!" off and on. It took me a minute or so to reboot, but the strangeness hung with me for the rest of the evening. I suppose I could quote Heinlein or Vonnegut here, but I guess I'll pass. Old age, movie mayhem and afternoon sushi can be a deadly combination!

Maybe I should work my way up to one day a week off...

BTW BTW, it's warn enough to bicycle!!! Now, where are my pedals?