Milton Damage

Posted on by Thor

Hurricane Milton caused some major damage in Florida.

Stella Arbelaez, a former Disney Feature Animation effects artist, lives north west of Lake Apopka and I have been helping her constructing a large bamboo sculpture.

There are many tall pine trees in her back yard and Hurricane Milton knocked over a bunch of them. Luckily none of them hit her house, but one is leaning precariously against a shed and several other fell over taking out fencing.

Stella and I both had work accepted at FusionFest over the Thanksgiving weekend. Stella volunteered to paint on location during FusionFest. I thought I had a cold after going to the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival to promote COVID Dystopia. I actually was infected with COVID-19 for the first time when flying back to Orlando on Delta flight 1652. I tested myself the first night back and now know that the test was a false negative. I proceeded to help with Stella’s project thinking I just had a cold. I didn’t feel healthy enough to go to Fusion Fest, so I stayed behind while Stella went to paint in Downtown Orlando.

Later in the day I sketched this tree which had been uprooted by Milton. The ripped open root ball reminded me of how my insides felt. COVID is an airborne vascular disease that affects the heart, arteries and fuses brain cells killing off grey matter. It effects just about every organ in the body. The “cold” had knocked me on my ass. The sun started to set as I worked on the sketch, so I rushed to finish before it got too cold out. The ripped open root ball reminds me of the unseen damage being done to my inner vascular system.

COVID Dystopia: Enough is Enough

Posted on by Thor

Tomorrow I am flying to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival. I will spend a day watching short films and then attend the awards ceremony in the evening. I know that I will be the only one masked on a plane full of mouth breathing zombies. Even a mild case of COVID, fuses and destroys brain neurons. No wonder zombies eat brains in movies, they are trying to get back what they have lost due to COVID.

The height of the 9th wave of COVID infections was in August of this year and Florida is now in the trough with cases just beginning to rise again. New Mexico is the one state that is on fire right now. Though I keep track of the rising and falling cases, I just keep the same simple precautions, I mask indoors. Masking isn’t perfect. I can’t be 100 percent sure the seal on my KN-95 mask is tight. Masking and HEPA filtration has kept me COVID free so far, even when the virus attacked a former roommate and her niece.

Repeat COVID infections destroy the immune system similar to the how HIV attacks the immune system. It is a vascular disease effecting every organ in the body. Once infected, people become vulnerable to every known pathogen. When out in public sketching there is always someone coughing up a lung.

Traveling to promote COVID Dystopia is probably the most dangerous thing I do each month, but it is my way to convince people that was and is dangerous. Politicians always downplay the effects of the virus because claiming victory is the only way to get elected. In Trumps first term over 200,000 Americans died from COVID. Over 700,000 Americans died under Biden’s time in office. It is hard to pick a side when both parties promote mass infection as a way out of an ongoing pandemic.

COVID Dystopia: Security

Posted on by admin

The barefoot woman in this scene remains perfectly still while the horde of zombies shuffle through the security checkpoint without bothering to take off their shoes. The security guard gently feels between the woman’s breasts to check for any hidden virus.

I am traveling quite a bit to Film Festivals across the country promoting COVID Dystopia. Having to remove the mask for security is probably the most dangerous thing I need to do other than crowding into a sardine can with recirculated air. After a long flight it is a relief to step outside and remove the mask for a deep breath of air. I have had a  cough for over a month. I have checked for COVID and it is not that, but even if is only the remnants of a cold, I don’t think it is wise to spread it around.

COVID Dystopia is available to be seen at the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival happening now through November 24, 2024. COVID Dystopia can be seen in the Eventive – Chiller Theater Block 2 – Shorts online. It can be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. After you start watching the films, you have 48 hours to complete watching them. Tickets are $18.

 

COVID Dystopia: Racoon Dog Theory

Posted on by Thor

Genetic material collected at the Wuhan Chinese Market where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified, show raccoon dog DNA commingled with COVID-19. Some scientists believe COVID most likely jumped from animals to people, others believe the virus could have been leaked from one of the several Wuhan coronavirus research facilities. The genetic material collected does not prove that a racoon dog stated the pandemic. Human DNA was also found in the sample. A human may have infected the animal, or the animal may have never harbored the virus. People search for blame. The final answer as to how the pandemic began has yet to be definitively proven.

COVID Dystopia is available to be seen at the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival happening now through November 24, 2024. COVID Dystopia can be seen in the Eventive – Chiller Theater Block 2 – Shorts online. It can be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. After you start watching the films, you have 48 hours to complete watching them. Tickets are $18.

COVID Dystopia is an official Selection of the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival

Posted on by Thor

COVID Dystopia will be screened in the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival between November 14 and November 24, 2024. It will be available to watch in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It is one of the short films in the 40V – Chiller Theater Block 2 – VIRTUAL -Shorts24. A general admission ticket is $18.

I will be flying into Pittsburgh for the final day of the festival to attend the awards ceremony. You never know. It should be a fun black tie and black N-95 mask affair.

Hopefully I will have time to watch a few films that I haven’t seen at other festivals.