Mom Classics Cartoon 9-25-25

 

A recent digitally-drawn cartoon of mine, based on a real mom quotation. 

Mister Crowley

 An experiment artificial intelligence created on 31 March, 2023. At one time, the Dream Deep program resulted in some unsettling and engaging psychedelic permutations of imagery. I abandoned using it eventually, as the move toward AI created ethical concerns -- plus the results were unsatisfactory, having a uniform fantasy-airbrush appearance. I'll make an exception and post this already-made work, which resulted from me inputting photos of Aleister Crowley, and a collage using the dust jacket from Colin Wilson's book The Occult (among other things). I added a tad to it. The piece did end up with a super creepy feel to it. 

17 Years of Adalbert/Xothique

 To celebrate the 17th anniversary of this blog, here's a new cartoon I drew (digitally) recently: An imagined trip, including both Ken Kesey and John Creasey on the bus, Furthur. Their lifespans overlapped in part, although they belonged to different generations. Outside of a slight similarity in their names, and the fact both were writers, they had few similarities in their approaches.

-JBF

Slide Photo: Dutch Harbor, Alaska

 

Slide photo by Bruce W. Falk; WWII-era Naval station, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, circa 1958. 

Cartoon: Mom Classics 2

 

Parental Snapshot, circa 1951

 

A photo of my father (Bruce W. Falk), circa 1951. From a negative.

Slide Photo: Sports Car Racing in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1958

 

Parental (Bruce W., and Hazel M. Falk) slide: "Sports car racing, Fairbanks, 4-58."

New Cartoon

 

A new cartoon I created (drawn digitally), based on my mother's accounts of a restaurant operated by Greek immigrants, where she was employed as a waitress. The time frame was toward the end of World War Two. 

Slide Photo: El Morro Inscription Rock, 1958

 

Parental slide photo (by Bruce W., or Hazel M. Falk). Inscription Rock, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico; circa 1958. 

Normalcy (2025 Collage)

 A recent digital collage of mine: Normalcy (2025; with material from newspapers.com). -JBF

1989 Photo

 

A photo of me, from 1989; when I had recently returned from Eugene, Oregon. -JBF

Kamakura, 5 December, 2024

 

A photo I took; Great Buddha at Kamakura, Japan; 5 December, 2024. The moon and Venus appeared behind stacks of fulgent clouds; crows flew and rasped in mystery, about the evocative statue. 

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, October 2024

 Here are a few photos I took, at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon (Portland), 2024. It's always refreshing to hear about the background of movies, both full-length and short. Among the short films that will linger with me: The Outsider, Terminal Emulator, Tranquilizer, and The Patron. 

Poem: Dialects of the Dead

 

16th Anniversary of Adalbert/ Xothique Blog

 Here we are -- today is the 16th anniversary of this blog, as we slither deeper into the third millennium. To mark today, I'll post a digital collage/ drawing -- Charleville Transmission -- which I concocted the other day. It's dedicated to the memory of blogger, and collage artist, Ray Wallis. #rimbaud  -JF 

Recent Collage

 A recent digital collage/mashup I made (with images from Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket): Apocalypse Jacket. -JF

New Story: Algernon Signals

 

The Wreck of the Deutschland: Familial Echoes

 

I recently discovered (reading in a poetry anthology), that the poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, contained an indirect reference to my ancestor, Adalbert Falk. The mention was not in a favorable sense. In the piece I assembled above, I selected the extract from Hopkins' poem from: Poetry Foundation. -JF, 2-11-2024

Conflagration Echoes

 A recent digital collage work of mine; using two emblematic Vietnam War-era images (and other elements). -JF

In Kyoto Station, September 2023

 

Dreams and visions, Kyoto Station, September 2023 (from photos I took, on a recent voyage) -JF 

Digital Collage: Nikolski Echoes

 Digital Collage: Nikolski Echoes -JF

15th Anniversary of Adalbert

 

This marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, Adalbert. Here's a recent digital collage/painting, of mine. -JF 💥

Alaska Correspondence, 1958

 

Here is a bit of postal/correspondence material (from 1958) from my father's (Bruce W. Falk) time in Alaska, connected with the White Alice project. -JF 

Draft Cards: Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp

Here are WWII-era draft cards for Jerome Horwitz, Louis Feinberg, Moe Horwitz, and Samuel Horwitz (AKA Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Shemp Howard, all members of the Three Stooges, in various lineups -- along with Joe Besser, and Curly Joe De Rita). The draft cards have a straightforward, sober feel, in contrast with the Stooges' comic personae. Source: Ancestry .com

35mm Slide: Stardust Resort and Casino, 1958

A slide photo, taken by one or the other of my parents: the Stardust Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, 1958. 
 

New Digital Works

Me, at Jim Morrison's grave, 2013.

                 Me, one year-old, watching a turned-off TV. -JF 

A photo, from Jimmy Carter's Visit to Mt. Hood Community College, 3 November, 1978

 The limousine, carrying President Jimmy Carter, at Mt. Hood Community College (Gresham, Oregon); 3 November, 1978 (the photo was either by me, or by mom). -JF

 A micro-length tale I wrote last year. -JF 

Collage: Infinitesimal Balcony

 A new year, a new collage, Infinitesimal Balcony (which I created 1-1-23). I made this entirely with material by Laura Lee Burroughs, the mother of writer William S. Burroughs. The cut-ups have some mysterious oracular flashes.  Happy New Year!

--JF 

Draft Card Roundup; H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, William S. Burroughs

WWI-era draft registration card for H.P. Lovecraft; and WWII-era cards for Clark Ashton Smith, and for William S. Burroughs. I extracted these, from Ancestry.com. 

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon 2022

 On October 8th and 9th, I shewed up (as I have many times, starting with the first one) at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, at the Hollywood Theatre; staying for two full days. I took in Freeze, directed by Charlie Steeds, Short Blocks Three, Re-Animator, and Bride of Re-Animator (both followed by question-and-answer sessions, with Jeffrey Combs -- he made reference, to among other things, how Re-Animator originally took off through word-of-mouth, and then rentals). I also attended a showing of Night of the Comet (first time for me to viddy this hilarious, and atmospherically campy cult film), with Kelli Maroney appearing afterward (she provided great insights into the movie, mentioning for example that the sequences at the department store were filmed after hours, at the real deal). 

I also attended some panel discussions, on Lovecraft's Favorite Films, The Aquatic Origins of Weird and Cosmic Terror; along with one on comics, and one on video games. Sipping beer, then alternately removing a mask, I tossed the panels a couple questions, including one involving Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen; and another with reference to Skull Comix. 

Gwen Callahan, with Kelli Maroney. 

Alice's Restaurant Massacree Doesn't Live Here Anymore

 

The name of Alice has a recurring association with restaurants, in a song, in (unrelated) movies,  and in the TV series of the same name (based on the Martin Scorsese movie). During the original run of the show, I was aware of it, but only viewed it a few times. In 1975 or 76, 1977, for example, the show would not have formed part of my gestalt. Rather than watch  television, I might have been ranging in the deep forests and creeks of the area where I then lived, in the midst of the Boring Lava Buttes. I could have been occupied reading comic books, or books.  I might have been on family trips, to California, Nevada, eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana.  I had also started on some initial creative projects, including collages, and a bit later, writing. The world of waitresses in old school utilitarian uniforms, humor, drama, failed romance and jokes based on the bad quality of Mel’s cooking, would not have drawn me in. The signals from the broadcasts remained unseen, passing the atmosphere, and drifting into the outer spaces.

The show was threaded with light (if often repetitive) humor, guest spots by celebrities such as Martha Raye, Joel Grey, Telly Savalas, and Robert Goulet, and topical references which would have hit the spot in their day. I’ve written elsewhere of how my family often brought up the sudden death of Frank Sutton (who played Sergeant Vince Carter, on Gomer Pyle). Vic Tayback, as his diner-owner character Mel Sharples,  even eerily foreshadowed his own relatively early passage, on one episode. There is a cluster of premature, or tragic deaths with the series (including Tayback, Philip McKeon, and Charles Levin). – JF, 9/2022

The Mystery of Frank Tayback; digital collage by JF, September 2022

Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Above: An instant photo I took, 23 June, 2022, at the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial. And this post marks the 14th anniversary of this here blog; which started in the murk and distance of 2008. 

 

Ray Wallis

 

Blogger and collage artist, Ray Wallis (photo by him; I enhanced the picture).

The Magic and Mystery of a CV

 Here's a piece I wrote (ICV) in 2008, concerning some past employment experiences of mine: