Tearlach is one Powerful Astropath

Tearlach is one powerful Astropath! Find out just how powerful on KINDLE by clicking on the TITLE.

Kindle sells Journeys of the Astropath Graphic Novel

The future of books is Kindle. What's cool is that Kindle is making things available on any format: phones, iPads, Androids, PC, and so on. So I am proud to offer my NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL Journeys of the Astropaths on Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007M6TUKG

Journeys of the Astropaths

Michael of the Astropaths.

When Those Who Hear came out I was fortunate enough to get a lot of praise about the book. I also was fortunate enough to get to teach the book at my school Satit Kaset International here in Bangkok. The students gave me an amazing and often times humbling amount of critical suggestions. One thing kept being brought up, "I wish this was a comic or graphic novel."

So at some point about 2 years ago I fell in love with the idea of finding an artists that could bring these ASTROPATH characters to life. 3 artists took a shot at the series and my wallet took a big hit in hiring them. All of them were talented and brought something different to this story. In the end, I hired a Canadian artists, Darlene Nguyen to work with me. We have never met in person, but our consistent chatting on Skype and Gmail have made us creative collaborators and friends.

Problem, friend or not, Darlene is a professional artist who can not work for free; therefor, I needed to hire her to do the work. I've spent a small fortune getting this going, but now we finally have the opening chapter up on KINDLE. My game plan is unique. We will sell the book now, even though it is not finished, so that I can keep paying Darlene. BUT, every time we finish a chapter Kindle will send buyers the link for them to re-download the updated version for FREE. In total there will be 4 long chapters all included in the first book.

It's time to see what people think and I'm extremely excited about that idea. Please join our Astropath FB page and come onto KINDLE and buy the book.

It's 2012

I know I know, what happened to the ThaiXpat guy? The flood was his last story and then NOTHING...
Ominous? Creepy? In a film when a character is lost during the title wave of a major flood and the character does not reemerge either suddenly to save the day or floating face down in the murky waves, the FilmaPhiles will all say, "dangler" they completely dropped that character.
It is my love of films which compelled me to at least float by the lens one last time.
No I survived the flood, despite being out of my home for 3 weeks and countless hardships that come from homelessness and so forth. I have long been back in my home and back to work. All is well in the Kingdom of Smiles and I am smiling again.
When I say all is well I mean all is really awesome! 2012 film work is booming with so much action being designed you can smell the testosterone in the air above Bangkok. Spoiler alert, Chocolate 2, Tum Yum Goong 2, and the outside Cinderella story FIGHTING FATE are all in process. Action lovers are going to have a hell of a year.

MY SCHOOL

My school has been completely surrounded by water for weeks. No school this month. We may be cleaning up for months to come. I also can't make it home as my house is only one kilometer from my work and it is also surrounded by water. I'm so tired of hotels and waiting to get back to life. This is by far the hardest test of my Bangkok experience.

PHOTOS of ANCHOR

The Anchor Magic

It was truly an amazing journey to an awe inspiring place. I have lived in Thailand nearly 10 years and have made a point to get out and about to see the temples and ancient sites. But I had not gotten over to Cambodia to see the ancient ruines of Anchor. All I can say is when I was in this place, despite some serious emotional trials of late, I felt as connected to the world and the energies of this world as I have ever felt. I would like to encourage everyone to take the journey to this ancient kingdom and be open to the magic of the place. Believe me, photos and video do nothing to portray this place. I will, however, be putting up a number of photos and videos to show what I saw and what inspired me during my visit.

Exciting Times Coming to Martial Arts Films

I had a long phone conversation last night with Marrese Crump. He is one of the premier martial artists on the planet today and he is soon coming to Thailand to take part in a couple of film projects. He is an amazing talent and everyone here is looking forward to working with him. The projects are still in development but shooting this year. Get ready for this guy he will amaze everyone and to think Panna is training him and Tony Ja. Truly where the best meet the best!

Porsche

As things are coming together for my film FIGHTING FATE, one of the most important pieces of the puzzle has been working along side me to make it happen. Porsche, or as he is known by his buddies here in Thailand, Boad, is our leading man. He was the star of Bangkok Knockout and is anxious to prove he is more than just a stunt man. Acting coach Speedy Arnold will be working to polish his dramatic presence and considering his action ability this should create something very special.

He and I are bound together by one piece of bad fate, both of our father's died of lung cancer after lives of smoking. Maybe this tragic fact has brought us together.

I think movie fans are going to see that Porsche is a talent with a very big future. His father was an action star and his mother was an actress, so he has a pedigree and understanding of the sacrifice and hard work it takes in this business.

Get ready for Porsche playing an Interpol agent who returns to Bangkok to avenge the death of his mentor. Lucky for him, his mentor's daughter is being played by Nui Kessarin.

Somluck Kamsing

It was a great honor to meet Thailand's first Olympic boxing champion Somluck Kamsing. I was scheduled to meet with Panna to discuss my film's action sequences, but when I arrived at his house I was told he's playing snooker with a friend. I had not expected it to be Somluck. Somluck is fighting a kick boxing match against John Claude Van Dam this year and I'm sure he's going to give him hell.

We also talked about him taking part in my film. If he can work it in while training for John then he's in. I think this is truly the best part of the film world, getting to meet people like Somluck, even if he takes a few baht off me on the snooker table.

2011 and FILMS in the works

Just as 2010 finished with the release of Bangkok Knockout, 2011 has begun with the development of 2 film projects. 1 film I have written for Panna Rittikrai who is ready to direct his next film this year and it will be a brilliant exploration of Thailand and of Thai ACTION, but I have to withhold the title of this piece as it is a property of Sahamongcolfilm International at this point.

But FIGHTING FATE is the working title of our independent film and this is a film I am very excited to be both writing and co-producing. I'll be working with Nonthakorn Thaweesuk who will direct the piece. He has been in the film industry for 8 years working as an editor, director of photography, and a director. His experience and vision will offer a great deal to FIGHTING FATE.

We will have many of the action stars of BANGKOK KNOCKOUT involved in this piece, but as it is a romantic action story we have gone out and found the best FEMALE ACTION STAR we could find. Nui Kessarin will be joining us in this project as our leading lady. Please check out her martial arts and dance talents. I couldn't be more excited about this film. If you have any interest in investing we are going to be looking for both corporate sponsorship and individual investment so contact me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhsJoxGS_Qs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGNOUgkkho

Holidays Were Special

What a difference a year makes. 2010 was an amazing year. I think I had more fun and relaxed more about life than I have in years. I also think some very nice things have happened. Thailand did not go to war with itself, and that is very good news. The shuttle to the airport finished creating a fast and inexpensive way to get out to the international airport. A Coffee World opened up on Kaset Campus right across from the track where I jog and along side the fruit market where I buy fruit. New backboards and rims were put in at Satit Kaset offering us an amazing place to play basketball, okay, the rims are 10 inches too high, but glass backboards look so cool. I must say though my neck is killing me from looking up to these 10'10 rims.

My favorite class is in IP 12, so we're having fun putting in our final year together. IP 12 has been a blast to teach and as they head off to USA, Japan, and Chula, they will be missed. This class is going to make some major waves out there in the world.

And on my personal career notes I added a wonderful experience getting to work with legendary action director Panna Rittikrai in saving his Kot So Kot Su or Bangkok Knockout. The project was so challenging because he had already shot many of the action scenes before realizing the story was not working. "Sim, just write a story that can slip my action scenes in, other wise we may have to kill this idea." These words and then a CD with 7 action scenes were handed to me. I must have watched that footage 30 times, trying to figure out why they would be fighting, motivation, etc. What I came up with was not perfect, but it offered us a chance to save the film and that AMAZING ACTION that he is so good at. Action fans will love the film for those scenes, while critics will pan the story, but little do they know how hard we worked to save this project and to give a team of young stunt men a chance to be actors.

I will always be proud of our work and the friendships I developed during Bangkok Knockout. I must say too, driving around during the Christmas break I got a little tingle every time I saw our movie up in lights. We played for 3 weeks here in Thailand, but will be going to the US some time in 2011 so maybe we'll find a nice niche over there with action fans. I hope so.

Next film project is already under way and it will be AMAZING because we are all starting the project together! Just wait!

Chiang Dao Christmas 2010

What can I say, life in the north of Thailand is different. Chiang Dao is a very special place where we have spent Christmas for the past 5 years. We love it there because it is cool, almost cold, giving us a break from Bangkok heat. It's also home to some very large Christian communities so the Christmas celebration every year is truly Christmas like, and when you are living over seas I don't care who you are the holidays will make you feel a twinge of homesickness. But Chiang Dao is really a blast and yet its the kind of blast where you had better find your own fun because there isn't that much to do. Considering the chaos of the past three months I could not have been more ready for a trip up north. The photos bellow are just some glimpses of the trip. The first photo is a typical meal, notice no one has an individual plate, but instead eats what ever they can scoop up with a ball of sticky rice. The second photo is a coffee shop called Haneebahoi where I did the majority of my writing during the trip. The other photos are of a night when we went up in the high mountains to see a very beautiful little village. On the way home we had a little trouble getting around this very territorial herd of cattle. Let's face it, life in the north is just different.