Rebooting The Chartsman With A Realm Makers Bloghop!

The past year I have been working on a lot of things to “reboot” Beyond the Charts, and I’m not fully there yet, as well as having to endure some personal issues which have really taken up a lot of my time. As such, this blog has been on hiatus for almost a year now, so it needs to get started again. And since I’m retooling things, let me announce that this will no longer be known as “The Blog of The Lost Journeyman”. For quite some time now I have been signing my e-mails with “Chartsman” underneath my name and I think that fits with this much better, so starting with this post this will be “The Blog of The Chartsman”, and I can’t think of a better way to start out but to take part in a “blog hop”.

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“Iscariot” by Tosca Lee; a review by David James of Beyond the Charts

After a hiatus of posting on here, I can’t think of a better thing to do than post a book review, and I can’t think of a better book to review right now than Tosca Lee’s Iscariot, especially since this weekend is quite relevant to it.

Iscariot.

Judas.

His name brings up so many automatic thoughts to mind.

Betrayer. 30 pieces of silver. Kiss on the cheek. And other thoughts.

In her book, “Iscariot”, New York Times Bestselling Author Tosca Lee is able to give us another word to associate with him.

Love.

She was able to show how much Judas really loved Jesus and looked to Him to be the awaited Messiah promised in the Scriptures. She was able to show how much Jesus really loved Judas and cared for him even though He knew this was the man to betray Him later.

She starts with Judas as a child to show how he would become the man he became, then delves in to the actions of that man which then leads him first to John the Baptist, but ultimately to Jesus of Nazerath. Then she delves into the growth of his relationship with Jesus and leads up to what everyone knows will happen. Even so, when you get there, chances are your heart will be as wrenched as mine was.

She used a ton of research into the historical time period and the ins and outs of the Pharisees to show all of this. Based on history, the likelihood of Judas growing up and doing what he did the way Tosca Lee shows him growing up and doing it is very plausible.

Even more plausible is how she causes the reader to realize that if one were put in the same position, one would have done the same.

This book gets my highest recommendation. I think everyone should get this, read this, and let their viewpoints of the most reviled man in history be changed forever.

Follow this link to see my one on one sit down interview with Tosca Lee at her book signing in Atlanta and some extra footage too.

Related websites:

Beyond the Charts
Tosca Lee
Buy Iscariot at Amazon

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man – Sometimes a reboot isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Okay, so I just took my son to see The Amazing Spider-Man. We went to the IMAX and saw it in 3D. I was fortunate to have a couple of free IMAX tickets and decided to use them for this. Got a couple more free tickets I’ll be using in a couple more weeks for the guy with the pointy ears. 😉

I had gotten used to the Tobey Maguire version that Sam Raimi had come up with. As with a lot of fans when I heard there was to be a reboot instead of a fourth film I was left scratching my head wondering what they were thinking. Then when I heard they were going to have the same villain as what had apparently been planned for the fourth film in The Lizard I really couldn’t figure out why they just hadn’t left what I considered well enough alone. When I saw early still shots from the set and the costume with the weird attachments, I just figured it would be a terrible movie.

The trailers made me think otherwise. Otherwise enough to take my son as he got excited over seeing Spider-Man in the theater as opposed to the TV with daddy’s DVDs of the previous films and the cartoons.

Now I won’t do any spoilers here, but I will touch on some elements, so depending on your level of sensitivity before seeing something, just be warned.

This was a surprisingly well done version of Peter Parker. Going back to his high school roots – and staying there throughout the film – was an excellent move on the people creating this. I had always felt that with Tobey’s first outing they could have kept him in school a bit longer, but forgave them for the sake of the movie. I don’t know how long they intend to keep the Andrew Garfield version in high school, but the fact he was still in there at the end of the film was a good sign.

Another surprise was the way both Martin Sheen and Sally Field were able to pull off Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I had thought I’d be distracted by their star status, and for a bit there I was, but they proved their acting ability and made a believer out of me. The final scene with Peter and Uncle Ben was very heart wrenching, and that’s from someone that has seen a few different ways this story has been told.

I liked seeing the evolution of the costume. It was very believable and quite funny at times.

The family of Gwen Stacy was a really nice touch as we had dealt with Mary Jane already in the previous movies. Denis Leary did a great job playing the cop dad of Gwen that was out to get Spider-Man.

The Lizard was one bad ass character to have to deal with. This was a tough character and done in a way that I think was better than whatever Raimi and crew could have given us, and considering how well they had done the previous films, that’s saying a lot. I did think he could have used a bit more snout, but otherwise it was a top notch rendering and Rhys Ifans did an outstanding job playing Dr. Conners and showing his battle with The Lizard persona.

Humorous bits between Peter Parker and Flash Thompson were nice, and I liked that they got Flash to be blond this time although I thought he could have used more hair on his head.

The cameo of Stan Lee was the best of his cameos I had seen yet! He never said a word and I was laughing the entire time. Excelsior, Stan the Man!

After having seen The Avengers, I was wondering just how well films such as The Amazing Spider-Man and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises would fare. Completely different types of films. The Avengers was a kick butt team action film. The Amazing Spider-Man was a drama with action. Looking back at Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I’d say The Dark Knight Rises will be as well. The Avengers still holds the spot for best comicbook movie I’d seen in a long, long time, but The Amazing Spider-Man cannot be compared to it.

I have to look back at what we had before with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire. Great films for when they came out, and I got all three on DVD and will be watching them again soon. But this film The Amazing Spider-Man is a film for today, and to keep the Raimi look and feel at this point would not have worked as well as I believe this one did. There were a lot of great shots of Spider-Man in the air, especially near the end, and his use of the webbing in this film was extremely slick.

Overall, I believe this was a great idea for a reboot and I think we’ll be seeing a few more with this cast and crew in the coming years.

And before I go, remember, this is a Marvel Comics movie. When the credits start to roll, be a wise person and keep your butt in the seat until they are finished. When you get up at the beginning of the credits, you will always miss out on something at the end of a Marvel Comics movie. Just know that.

Announcement for Beyond the Charts

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog. Here’s a video I did earlier this week for the teleconference happening in just a few short hours.

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the readers of my blog! I do hope that you all enjoy getting together with friends and family and enjoy whatever food you decide to eat (turkey for us!) as we remember the heritage of this nation.

Some of you may have wondered after my last entry if I not only forgot to plug into my cell phone about doing another post on here, but that maybe I lost my whole calendar!

Never to fear, I’ve just been tied up with a lot of things I’ve been working on and have been demanding my attention in one way or another.

I have a new business endeavor I haven’t officially started yet, but prepping for it took up some time during the month of October. This month of November has been dedicated toward another business endeavor with a particular goal in mind for the end of the month. Throughout it all, I’ve had several stressful situations of varying degrees occur which took up any time I would have put toward this blog and a couple of other pleasant things in my life such as just sitting back each night with a good novel to read before I go to bed.

So, enough of that, I’m sure you are wondering what all is going on with Beyond the Charts.

Well, as you should be aware, I’m taking pre-orders for “GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000”

This is a Limited – Signed and Numbered – Hardback Edition sold only through Beyond the Charts which will be released at full price in March 2012.

The first pre-order price (which all prices include shipping and handling) was at $25 ($35 international) at the beginning of September. It went up in October and now in November it is at $35 ($45 international). If that sounds a little high, just remember that it IS a hardback edition, and if you’ve taken a look at hardbacks, even the latest Stephen King novel is almost $35 in hardback. And that’s WITHOUT shipping and handling. Mine includes shipping. And it’s a Limited Edition. Signed by myself as the author. So the rarity does demand a respective price.

Even so, I am making a special price just for Black Friday after Thanksgiving.

For 24 hours I will have the pre-order price be at the lowest it has ever been from the website at $22 ($32 international) and that STILL includes shipping and handling.

I’m also offering select prizes to certain people that order including not having to pay for the book! That’s right, some people will be able to get the book for FREE!!!

All the info you need for this Black Friday Sale can be found at Beyond the Charts, so be sure to go there to look it all over, and be sure to come back after you’ve eaten some turkey so you can pre-order yourself the book which will help you make some sales of your product this next year!

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Have a great weekend, and I hope to see your name in my inbox as someone I’ll be sending a signed copy of my book to in March! 🙂

Decompression and two weeks into the month…

If there is one thing I am learning on my recent stint of road trips that each last me an entire weekend, it’s that the time after I’m back is usually chaotic as I decompress from whatever event I’ve come from and try to catch up on lost sleep as I struggle through the first week back. As a result, my time online is usually just to get myself reoriented for it since when I’m gone I rarely have time to get online and don’t have a portable laptop at this time to just log on anywhere.

Chicago at the end of July, Kentucky in the middle of August, Atlanta at the first of September. I was planning for another trip to Boston this weekend, but at this point unless a miracle of money comes in I think I’m going to have to cancel my spot at it. Indeed, considering my driving time on trips, I may just have to do that cancellation today. Maybe I could use the “rest” from traveling so often all of a sudden anyway. Bo Bice is supposed to be in our small town this weekend performing at our annual event. Maybe I’ll go check him out. Never seen him live before.

For some of you that don’t know, I live in a small town in the mountains of Northeast Georgia. It’s pretty nice up here. I’ve lived here on and off throughout my lifetime, so out of all the places I’ve lived I sort of consider this area “home”. For better or for worse. 😉

Coming home from these trips lately has been quite an experience. Depending on the event, I’ve had my head going in different directions when I get back and I find myself doing all sorts of stuff regarding whatever I was doing that weekend during the first few days I’m back.

It can really take a while sometimes to integrate new information into one’s daily routine or one’s life and have everything else that’s needed bounce back too.

It got so bad this past week that I missed an appointment I had set up about a month ago to see someone. I just forgot about it. Didn’t like that. I began to use the calendar on my new cell phone after that. Got an appointment later today I need to attend to. Got it in my phone, so I know it must be true. 😉

So now it comes to today and I’m sitting here realizing that it’s the 14th of the month and I posted last on the 1st promising you guys the excerpts would resume last week after Dragon*Con and here I am two weeks into the month without another post.

So here I am posting. Hope I ain’t boring you to tears talking about my life.

I suppose if I’m to get “caught up” on my excerpt posts I’ll have to do one every other day for about a week and a half or so. Hope you guys don’t mind that sort of frequency. I know for about a week or so there I was posting at least one every day, at times there was more than one. I think on one day I posted three in a 24 hour period.

That surprised even me.

And after talking with the various people at Dragon*Con it occurred to me that the subtitle of my book was really doing some people a disservice. My book is titled “GRO$$ OUT!!” and the subtitle is “Effective Marketing For Getting Your First $144,000”. Well, some people need help with marketing and maybe in time they’ve made that much money already or they were doing that regularly at one time but the economy or other factors caused them to slide down lower in numbers, or maybe they are doing even better than that and want to get even better.

Whatever the case, the point is that not everyone is out for their “First” $144,000.

So, I thought about it and changed the subtitle which should work regardless of how much you’ve already made.

“GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000”

I’ve already updated past blog entries to reflect this as well as the website which if you click on that shiny new title there it will take you where you need to go if you’re wanting to know more about the book.

So, no excerpts have been posted on this new book for a couple of weeks now.

Wow.

I’m definitely behind and need to start posting again real soon here. I’m sure there’s a few people out there at least that might want to see what else I’m offering before they make up their minds. Maybe I’ll start tonight with a new excerpt. Or maybe tomorrow morning. Guess I better plug it into my new cell phone so I don’t forget.

September 1st Announcements

This is David James from Beyond the Charts with a few announcements,

Today, September 1st, 2011, I am pleased to inform you that the Beyond the Charts website has been updated quite well. The “front” page has new information describing just what Beyond the Charts is about, not too new to those of you that have been following this blog if you’ve clicked on the above tag for “Beyond the Charts” as it is quite similar to what is found there, but quite new for the website. There are links up top for the main site, The Wasteland message board forum, this blog here, the Beyond the Charts Facebook page, and one other item I will speak of momentarily. The changes were made quite recently and a post did appear on Facebook yesterday, but otherwise this is the official announcement of that.

I am also pleased to let you know that if you haven’t checked out The Wasteland message board forum lately that you should do so. Its look has been changed too and there are many great spots to post messages and respond to other posts. Feel free to introduce yourself in the appropriate area once you sign up.

For those of you that have been looking at my blog for some time now, and particularly the last couple of months, you know that I’ve been posting excerpts for a marketing book I’ll be releasing. Some of you may remember that I said I’d post the first pre-orders for it today.

This has now occurred.

I am pleased to announce that the book “GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000” is now officially available for pre-ordering. Just click on the title there to find out all the details you need to know to order it. The excerpts from it that have been posting on here will resume next week and will run about two or three a week from here on out.

Exciting times for sure! This weekend I am going to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. I am quite excited and look forward to seeing a bunch of people I’ve met and hung out with the last couple of years going and I know I’ll meet many new faces as well. If you happen to be going and see me, be sure to stop and let me know you’ve been reading my blog. I’d love to meet you!

I’ll be back from the Con late Monday night, so blogging should resume sometime on late Tuesday evening.

Take care, and I’ll catch up with you again next week! 😀

Be encouraged,

David James

Excerpt: Chapter 1: Have A Product > Songs > Song Writing

As I continue in the series of excerpts from the marketing book I will be releasing soon, I continue with the excerpts from the first chapter where I cover the concept of the product and the various expressions of the product. Today I’ll present an excerpt on “Songs”.

Excerpt: Chapter 1: Have A Product > Story > Novels

As I continue in the series of excerpts from the marketing book I will be releasing soon, I continue with the excerpts from the first chapter where I cover the concept of the product and the various expressions of the product. Today I’ll present an excerpt on “Story”.

Excerpt: Chapter 1: Have A Product > “Basic” Art > Paperwork: Drawings & Paintings

As I continue in the series of excerpts from the marketing book I will be releasing soon, I continue with the excerpts from the first chapter where I cover the concept of the product and the various expressions of the product. Today I’ll present an excerpt on “‘Basic’ Art”.