tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39433665680134452842024-03-06T19:33:42.974-08:00josh barkeyJOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.comBlogger1310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-4508795293976407882023-11-22T18:02:00.000-08:002023-11-23T02:51:19.755-08:00a Road, a Fox, and a Song<p>One evening a few weeks ago, I was headed to a musician buddy’s house for our last practice before a studio session we'd booked. It was around eight-thirty at night. I had my teenage son with me and we were driving down one of those winding, hilly North Carolina roads in the pitch dark of a mostly overcast night, wending our way through the trees. </p><p>Coming down a hill, I saw a truck approaching. This is unremarkable in a place where jacked-up trucks are like three quarters of the traffic, but <i>just</i> before we were about to pass each other something extraordinary happened: a beautiful red fox ran out into the truck's headlights. </p><p>The fox froze. Panicked. </p><p>I hit my brakes.</p><p>“No-no-NO!” I cried out, as the fox leaped out of the path of the truck and under my car. </p><p>THUMP! THUMP! </p><p>I drove on, destroyed. Looking for a turnaround. Repeating "no, no, no." </p><p>I drove back slowly. Eyes peeled. No fox. I turned around and drove past the spot again. Again, no fox. Was it dead? Was it in the woods, wounded and dying? I didn’t know. I had to go. The guys were waiting. </p><p>I left. </p><p>As I drove the rest of the way to practice, I spoke to my son of the horrors of our modern transportation system: of the millions of animals killed on our roads each year. Of the tens of thousands of humans. Of the way nothing grows where the asphalt lies, and how I think of the roadways as a black web of death, tendriling all over the country. Choking us.</p><p>After practice I drove my son home. </p><p>I was jazzed up by an evening of making music, but also sad thinking about the fox. </p><p>As I drove, I began to make up a song for the fox. A song of lament, and apology. And something about that moment just <i>worked. </i>It all just came together: melody and lyrics, all gathered up into a plaintive cry that was so full of truth and sorrow that somehow, magically... it was <i>good</i>. But it was also, I also somehow knew, a song for only that moment. So I wove into my singing wistful lyrics about how the song itself was just a wisp of fog. About how as soon as I got home, I would forget the lyrics and the melody and they would be gone forever. Their beauty lost to memory. I would forget, as I always do. </p><p>When I got home, I did.</p><p>But in that moment as I sang, I could feel my son grow quiet next to me. I could feel him growing still as the song filled the car. I sung of the moon above, and of how, even though I’d forget the words of the song, there would be moments throughout my life where I would see that same moon and remember the fox. </p><p>At home, I parked the car.</p><p>We walked in the silent darkness across the grass. Through the fence. When we came in the door, I heard my son sniffle. I asked him if he was okay. “</p><p>Just a bit sad,” he choked out. </p><p>“About what,” I asked.*</p><p>“The fox,” he said, in almost a whisper. Eyes downcast.</p><p>He turned back toward me.</p><p>I looked him in the eye and said, “Son, it is always okay to be sad. It is always good to feel what you feel. And I love you.” </p><p>Then he said he loved me, too, and I pulled him into a hug, which he held for longer than any fifteen year old ever holds a hug with his father. </p><p>And even if the world's all just hot garbage and bound to end in bitter ash before the next election cycle's through, and even if nothing gold can stay and tragic fox deaths just keep happening, over and over and over… I do have that moment with my son. </p><p>That happened. </p><p>In that moment, Art, which I struggle SO hard to do excellently (but in that moment did not have to struggle for at all), bridged the unbridgeable gap between two humans. It told a truth that MATTERED, and became a part of his and my story forever. </p><p>I don't think this makes that fox's suffering and possible death somehow <i>worth it</i>, or inherently <i>meaningful.</i></p><p>But I do think that moment, for all its bitter context, was <i>good.</i></p><p>On dark nights when the moon stays mostly hidden, I'll hold onto that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8F38xEn_E_pyXQjM0JnWasTV-UHgcqnPuIuRNH3sGyzFADxwLDfdInE8kfJqqHRVBSAnLsWcWpXmrqfnwsrBROlW9p6N2k-T8JRRbz8h6G92nMk_0ARO5xZv5R4CQcYvcmgwU-BDinX3q7lbuZzMdUkjnNzmgBJrhANhzvyw_3w9M-MNFbluOem_9A/s1500/fox.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="1500" height="637" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8F38xEn_E_pyXQjM0JnWasTV-UHgcqnPuIuRNH3sGyzFADxwLDfdInE8kfJqqHRVBSAnLsWcWpXmrqfnwsrBROlW9p6N2k-T8JRRbz8h6G92nMk_0ARO5xZv5R4CQcYvcmgwU-BDinX3q7lbuZzMdUkjnNzmgBJrhANhzvyw_3w9M-MNFbluOem_9A/w640-h637/fox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>- - -</p><p>* Not my brightest moment, I'll admit.</p>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-43794366753843255782021-12-10T11:28:00.002-08:002023-02-15T17:06:06.941-08:00SONGWRITING<p>I don't think of myself as a musician, but in 2021 I wrote, recorded, and posted a song a week for fifty-two straight weeks. </p><p>At the end of the year I applied for a North Carolina Arts Commission Regional Artist Project grant to take one of my songs into the studio. So here's "Dirt Falls In," recorded at The Wave Lab in Rock Hill with the inestimable Joe Miller (and friends): </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="356" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/03_mbw0Dm3A" width="655" youtube-src-id="03_mbw0Dm3A"></iframe></div><p></p><p>My Year-of-Songs also allowed me to connect with some really cool, talented musicians around the world. Here's the fifty-second and final song from the song-a-week-for-a-year project, with the uber-talented William Ax. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="306" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pJrmpD-XfC8" width="655" youtube-src-id="pJrmpD-XfC8"></iframe></div><p></p><p>William is from Brazil, grew up in Ireland, and now lives in Portugal. </p><p>He and I met in a song-a-week subreddit and collaborated on two songs, including the possibly-even-more-depressing "<i>Almost Beautiful</i>."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="348" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pOwQo4gPgzc" width="665" youtube-src-id="pOwQo4gPgzc"></iframe></div><p></p><p>I'd also written several dozen songs <i>before </i>I did my Song-a-Week project.<br /><br />Some were a bit silly (like <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ivKL5R9FB4&ab_channel=JoshBarkey" target="_blank">THIS RIDICULOUS METH-COOKING REDNECK ONE</a></b>), and some were more serious... including an album that I live-stream-Facebook-recorded at a friend's studio (<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/josh.barkey/videos/10157857758197547" target="_blank">HERE'S THE LINK</a> </b>of the performance), then posted to Bandcamp as, "<b><a href="https://joshbarkey.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank">Under Our Own Piece of Sky</a></b>." </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8rujWPrlOWrdSu-XP8FDjqopnRtnVtcphyphenhyphenVJ_nNHKxGH2NpkFpffKQsF4LJ2t2wU6rctvh_nVDRmDr3wavuC3VqSutoZ6OgbosLp3BDp1FiNPawZkTaqURlDThji0OhZKnlQvkFLdPQ/s1200/a3752862639_10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1200" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8rujWPrlOWrdSu-XP8FDjqopnRtnVtcphyphenhyphenVJ_nNHKxGH2NpkFpffKQsF4LJ2t2wU6rctvh_nVDRmDr3wavuC3VqSutoZ6OgbosLp3BDp1FiNPawZkTaqURlDThji0OhZKnlQvkFLdPQ/w640-h326/a3752862639_10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As of today, there's been no massive rush to propel me to the world of nationally-televised stadium shows. But as long as I'm still having fun with it, I'll keep playing and posting to <b><a href="https://joshbarkey.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">MY BANDCAMP</a></b>. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks so much for listening!</div>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-22979109977750433902021-02-21T04:32:00.001-08:002021-02-21T04:32:36.193-08:00Music at a Distance<p>When the pandemic began I had <i>just </i>started playing open mics with some friends, and I absolutely loved it. That's not to say I was particularly great at it<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><i>—</i>mostly I was a nervous wreck up there on that stage</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><i>—</i>but I loved the immediate feedback and I loved the feeling of the song swelling up underneath me, a wave of emotion threatening at every moment to take me and everybody in the (small) audience off to another, better place. </span></span></p><p>Then came covid, and caution, and eventually a grasping-for-sanity deep-dive into songwriting.</p><p>When I first conceived of my song-a-week-for-a-year project, I decided that: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>A.</b> I would start writing well before I started posting to <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8tuUg4e5GhA9Q-oPO6JWbQ" target="_blank">my Youtube channel</a></b>, to prove to myself that I could manage a song-a-week pace, and... </li><li><b>B.</b> I would email the songs to a bunch of my musician friends <i>as I wrote them.</i> This was for accountability, for their amusement, and just in case any of them wanted to do me the incredible solid of joining me in my musical sandbox. </li></ul><p></p><p>The first person to take me up on the latter was my buddy Chris Gervais. He took my super-basic song, "A Man Without a Name," and fleshed it out with serious musical panache. This week I was thrilled to be able to post the result. </p><p>Chris is a stellar human being and, as you'll see in the video, a multi-talented musician as well. </p><p>Thanks, Chris!</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rdta2LIWYV8" width="560"></iframe>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-21007329787400010832021-01-20T14:31:00.003-08:002021-01-20T14:31:41.187-08:00Ring the Bell<p> A buddy of mine just edited this fantastic piece together and I think it's delicious. </p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2oNG1PyT6O0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-81570467304734404942021-01-01T04:33:00.009-08:002021-01-01T06:54:06.888-08:00How Yoga (kinda) Cured My Depression and (possibly) Saved My Life<p>My last bout with depression was especially brutal. A daily, possibly pandemic-induced fight to keep my head above water. </p><p>Stripped of most social interaction (and weekly pickup soccer!), my mental health had degraded to what felt like a crisis point.</p><p>My wife (Hannah) was concerned.</p><p>She gently reiterated her offer to write a yoga class just for me<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><i>—</i>one </span></span>designed to fit my body's needs.</p><p><b>I was desperate.</b></p><p>I said yes. </p><p>She wrote the class. </p><p>And after a week or so of finding excuses to <i>not </i>take advantage of her genius-level yoga instruction (because that's what depression <i>does</i>), I settled down into the first pose.</p><p>About a third of the way through my tailored, twenty minute class, I felt the depression lift off of me. It was as though I'd been smothering under a weighted blanket, and someone just whisked it right away. Gone.</p><p>At the two thirds mark, I started crying. No idea why. Relief, probably.</p><p>Two days later, I did the class again.</p><p><b>Halfway through, I started laughing.</b></p><p>Giggling, almost. </p><p>For no reason I could pinpoint.</p><p>I've been doing this class for the past three months, and the depression hasn't really come back in force. Coincidence? Not a freakin' chance. I can still feel the depression lumping around at the edges of my consciousness; and every time I skip a day or two, that long gray tidal wave surges back in. </p><p>Until the yoga pushes it back out again.</p><p><b>I want you to know that I don't really believe in any of this.</b></p><p>All the humming and chakras and voodoo hoodoo kinda weirds me out.</p><p>Which is not to say that I'm one of those people who thinks that the positions of yoga are some full body invitation for the fleet forces of hell to swoop in and snatch my everlasting soul. It's just that it's more, like, a thing for middle aged women who are unhappy in their marriages and enjoy shopping for 60s-themed apparel at Anthropologie... right?</p><p><b>I don't believe in it, so I'm pretty sure it's not psychosomatic. </b></p><p>Still, as my buddy Clive Staples used to say, "Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, and everything will lead to everything else."</p><p><i>Apparently </i>our bodies and our minds are connected. And <i>apparently </i>if, in the course of your life, you happen to do damage to your body<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span></i>whether it's to the chakras or mystical energies or nerve pathways or all of the above, I don't know<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span></i>then that damage will play itself out in your mind as well.</p><p>According to some Harvard study I found as I tried to understand what had happened to me, yoga can help with all that. The study wasn't clear on why<span style="font-family: times new roman, times, freeserif, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.4px;"><i> </i>(</span></span>apparently the world's scientists aren't falling all over themselves to study a practice they foolishly believe is the province of unhappy, middle aged Anthropologie women<span style="font-family: times new roman, times, freeserif, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.4px;">) </span></span>but the correlation was there.</p><p>"I can't understand why you're not flipping out about this," I said to my wife. "The effect your class has had on my mental health is insane! I was crying for no reason! Then laughing!"</p><p>She shrugged it off and told me that crying in yoga classes was commonplace, and that it wasn't entirely unheard of for someone to come up after a class and thank her for changing their life. </p><p>It might be normal for her, but for me... it was a whole new world.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNpEh5ZVhdNNZMPc9Ns6wI_PO0QrkgmoC0KIcQoum2LBfgiQNDl6wAZDfMmw9npZWG5aRImCCJtv2lRnCrKe_Y7OpG0i0ubYhUH_7jK25qgbkycJZuYH3Wl0A5msUo0TOFNN6vpTanKk/s3497/happy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="3497" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNpEh5ZVhdNNZMPc9Ns6wI_PO0QrkgmoC0KIcQoum2LBfgiQNDl6wAZDfMmw9npZWG5aRImCCJtv2lRnCrKe_Y7OpG0i0ubYhUH_7jK25qgbkycJZuYH3Wl0A5msUo0TOFNN6vpTanKk/w640-h164/happy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Now, okay...</p><p><b>I understand that depression can be deadly serious.</b></p><p>I nearly lost a good friend to depression, so I know that there are times when medication saves lives. But I also know that Western medicine has a <i>serious </i>over-prescription problem, as doctors desperately slap chemical bandaids on problems that they (and we) don't really understand.</p><p>There's no guarantee that you'll have the same experience with yoga as I did. </p><p>After all, you most likely don't have a live-in yoga instructor who knows your body intimately.</p><p>Still, if you've ever thought about getting into yoga for mental health reasons, why not give it a shot? And if you're curious about the kind of yoga Hannah teaches, she's just launched a <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPLbZEpCvqJZHixdiHlJGwQ" target="_blank">new Youtube channel</a></b>, with free weekly beginner yoga classes. It's a gentle, low-risk way to ease into yoga... and quite possibly change your life.</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Be4xPnSZfUI" width="560"></iframe>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com7Atlantic Ocean-14.5994134 -28.6731465-90 -169.2981465 61.103942813961027 111.9518535tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-66057056034670274482020-12-07T10:48:00.008-08:002020-12-09T08:08:59.848-08:00PAINTINGS<p>I haven't made a lot of visual art in the past decade. But every once in a while I'll fiddle around with it, and will occasionally accept <b><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/08/saint-who.html" target="_blank">a commission</a></b>, just to keep a hand in.</p><p>In 2014 I released a book of some of my favorite artwork, and the best way to get an overview of who I am (was?) as a visual artist is to click over to Amazon and click to "Look Inside." Or even, y'know, click to purchase a copy all your own. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501028332/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4" target="_blank">THE VISUAL ART OF JOSH BARKEY</a></b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3bJBQnN8Ob94ITc8vrPDB0wQOpveqQNVRWqBJftHpo29ZXRKMG0d6S-UA6ObgqWmiMTz1nN3q6uM_SBjeMxi8Ct-h31wPJ3JHQpevB1m1UYTQBGOvr-0NjDj5IH1aGyBUvHhA7ZPu9oM/s3200/cover+%2528alternate%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="3200" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3bJBQnN8Ob94ITc8vrPDB0wQOpveqQNVRWqBJftHpo29ZXRKMG0d6S-UA6ObgqWmiMTz1nN3q6uM_SBjeMxi8Ct-h31wPJ3JHQpevB1m1UYTQBGOvr-0NjDj5IH1aGyBUvHhA7ZPu9oM/w640-h160/cover+%2528alternate%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>But since clicking is <i>waaaay </i>harder than scrolling, here's a little tease...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-KoJukBci3T8W1fCWNx5kJ8aws5r1vSu049yB5X1k-U8MwgFZWttVQRaeZ7xq39WDsmf1jfBQzRNTMzPgxn0V4WTdtwtRzWm7kgWSyvPFfRrwf0OWkA4PwH9XBuK_WFtQ8C1cgPs6Wg/s2048/buncha+paintings.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1556" data-original-width="2048" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-KoJukBci3T8W1fCWNx5kJ8aws5r1vSu049yB5X1k-U8MwgFZWttVQRaeZ7xq39WDsmf1jfBQzRNTMzPgxn0V4WTdtwtRzWm7kgWSyvPFfRrwf0OWkA4PwH9XBuK_WFtQ8C1cgPs6Wg/w640-h486/buncha+paintings.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Oh, and if you absolutely LOVE one of my paintings and simply HAVE to own a copy, a few are available <b><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/joshbarkeyart" target="_blank">ON DEVIANT ART</a></b> as prints, or <b><a href="https://society6.com/joshbarkey" target="_blank">ON SOCIETY SIX</a></b> as iphone covers and throw pillows and the like.</p>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-81110214886758158072020-12-06T18:18:00.014-08:002023-12-15T17:55:33.220-08:00Books<div style="text-align: left;"><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marlene-Divine-Josh-Barkey-ebook/dp/B0BQKKT82Q/" target="_blank">MARLENE THE DIVINE</a></b></span></h1></div><div style="text-align: left;">When a woman with mysterious powers knocks out a grieving widower with her purse and drags him on a cross country road trip, it’ll take everything he’s got to complete his bumbling plans for revenge.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_txptyuPjycvXaRLFTNqCWVsiFFmJp8jIwwzCIfAJki2HXykLrqb-MPJ4vAi4NZn-o0f08lhqR2Z6W8MOOkz1NtLF3VxesZkxRmn8WTzMle3gFAsMeUWm4FepjshMxSIJkvGdZZ7O-qEdfkXeFozMZEqy5GhJYm_ZT1Fi3oWcfSaD6MQcM-PgzU/s400/for%20screenplay%20site.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="400" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_txptyuPjycvXaRLFTNqCWVsiFFmJp8jIwwzCIfAJki2HXykLrqb-MPJ4vAi4NZn-o0f08lhqR2Z6W8MOOkz1NtLF3VxesZkxRmn8WTzMle3gFAsMeUWm4FepjshMxSIJkvGdZZ7O-qEdfkXeFozMZEqy5GhJYm_ZT1Fi3oWcfSaD6MQcM-PgzU/w481-h206/for%20screenplay%20site.jpg" width="481" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This novel (my latest) will be back on <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Books-Josh-Barkey/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AJosh+Barkey" target="_blank">My Amazon Account</a></b> soon.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This comic tale of love, loss, and humanity's most frustrating deity expands the world of Josh Barkey's Marlene the Divine screenplay, which has been shortlisted for the Academy of Motion Pictures' prestigious Nicholl Fellowship, was a Sundance Institute official selection, and is practically guaranteed to annoy your favorite hyperconservative relative.<br /><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXPULZU/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1" target="_blank">IMMORTALITY (and other short stories)</a></b></h3><div>I took my <i>first</i> serious stab at fiction back in 2010 at the behest of Ray Bradbury, who, <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-r7ABrMYU&ab_channel=UniversityofCaliforniaTelevision%28UCTV%29" target="_blank">during a talk at Point Loma University in 2001</a></b>, insisted that if you produce a short story a week for a year then there's basically no way you'll write fifty two <i>bad </i>ones. I gave it a shot, picked my favorites, and launched my first book into the Bezos-enriching aether.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXPULZU/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="3262" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9EaLEiY6_5EhH3zmmzYbvK7BRX6VEJp4buIXP7hDmmGkdNNDL76PHGj3aN7oZiVc2dQI6EOgQcsYGAiFqNakZfHf5JxIqoL0CJdIrCcZYgPH9iO-Wmbu6JQ_b6dGMuLFjPTCHaWaWTU/w640-h156/immortalsideways.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QX4711I/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2" target="_blank">JAYCE</a></b></h3><div>Next came a YA novel that tells the story of a teenage genius who hijacks an untested time machine into a future where his is the most hated name in history. It's a fun little Luddite romp through a dystopian landscape, all packaged up in this amazing cover, designed for me by the inestimable <b><a href="http://www.kaikazuto.com/about" target="_blank">Kai Kazuto</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QX4711I/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="3576" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Iw-4GIR-5DPoqyZKpl5p3v3htmXozXceJW_9IVveVltTv2fkYpOej56wP3bjnF1kx0FF0izlvhI4YLu-kxErM60i-ztq5Ggkgm5AIF-2hYVpMojWv0sglUTx8PJCgHRDjvE8nYG0aKo/w640-h156/sideways.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0MO3EQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0" target="_blank">POUNDERS</a></b></h3><p>In my sophomore novel, a pair of hyper-competitive brothers venture into the wilderness of northern Canada for what the BBC has called one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Drawing on <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FI-LXC7Ibo&list=PLB9783962A64F99CE&ab_channel=JoshBarkey" target="_blank">the decade of summers</a></b> I spent in the world of industrial reforestation, it's a visceral tale of love, loss, and millions of hand-planted trees. In addition to ebook and paperback, POUNDERS is also <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pounders/dp/B08BX6R9LZ/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">available as an audiobook</a></b>, read by yours truly.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0MO3EQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="3358" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVV5xDO266VmGqbiTs5N72rTzkJS2RtGg75e4zZORyqQSHC78rS2HweCT0EVteiR-CZZ1t_srkccJPZn_pIorumLDXvREC9-1lE3n12Us_a9szidk1dFEN940TOM2uQsrO2lBRtFJ5YrM/w640-h152/sideways.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="celwidget" data-cel-widget="bookDescription_feature_div" data-csa-c-asin="" data-csa-c-content-id="bookDescription" data-csa-c-id="b419q7-nwrjdh-78u2pj-hx6srd" data-csa-c-is-in-initial-active-row="false" data-csa-c-slot-id="bookDescription_feature_div" data-csa-c-type="widget" data-feature-name="bookDescription" id="bookDescription_feature_div" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="a-expander-collapsed-height a-row a-expander-container a-spacing-base a-expander-partial-collapse-container" data-a-expander-collapsed-height="140" data-a-expander-name="book_description_expander" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 12px; max-height: 140px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 723px;"><div aria-expanded="false" class="a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><div aria-expanded="false" class="a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><br /></div></div></div>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-9312746694795113792020-12-04T06:52:00.018-08:002023-11-04T19:15:40.176-07:00SCREENPLAYS<p>I’ve been a Nicholl finalist, a Page finalist and two-time winner, and have placed relatively highly in basically all the other major contests. One of my scripts also got me selected for a Sundance Intensive. Because of the Sundance thing I connected with Daniel Kwan (yes, THAT Daniel), who read an early draft of BEST. APOCALYPSE. EVER. and claimed to like it. So last year when the Daniels won all the Oscars, I thought, hmmm. Maybe there IS something to this thing. </p><p>I rewrote it, and lo and behold... it just made the finalist round in the Page.</p><p>Previously, I’ve had seven shorts and a feature produced. The feature (PINK) is available on streaming, and one of my shorts (ABDUCTED) played Tribeca in 2021.</p><p>I’m currently a few drafts in on a dramedy feature with the director of ABDUCTED, about a weekend when everything blew up for his prominent family of progressive millennials and their prominent Trumper, Civil-War espousing evangelical preacher father (the New York Times did a profile on their family, and Time magazine wrote about their father’s craziness at least once).</p><p>Additionally, a Turkish producer I know commissioned an animated proof-of-concept for my extravagant Outer Space script, LEECH, and is currently using that short to rustle up investors for an animated feature. He seems optimistic.</p><p>I have a first draft on a new high concept Tooth Fairy thing that’s sort of a kissing cousin to the holiday classic, RARE EXPORTS (watch it if you haven’t – seriously), and JUST hit on another high concept thing that wild horses equipped with horse torture devices couldn’t get me to talk about.</p><p>I also have a dark-Southern-gothic-crime-thriller-pilot, and I think it (and all my recent stuff, actually) is at least as good as the script that got me some buzz a few years back (MARLENE THE DIVINE), when I was briefly repped at Bellevue. </p><p>The Bellevue thing didn't work out, though, and I spent a few years writing novels and rustling up paid commissions on my own. With my new work, I’m eager to get out there and make some new industry friends. </p><p>Who wants to chat?</p><p>- - -</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/writer-51d5e7a69-23277" target="_blank">A LINK TO MY COVERFLY PROFILE</a>, where you can find out more about some of my favorite (thus far) unproduced screenplays. </span></p><p></p>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-72253346674337635532020-12-03T07:55:00.017-08:002023-01-07T08:47:50.178-08:00PRODUCED FILMS<p>The first screenplay I ever wrote was filmed shortly thereafter and I thought, <i>Dang - that was easy! </i>Sure, <b><a href="https://vimeo.com/60031022" target="_blank">FORK</a></b> had its issues. But the formula was simple: Josh writes a screenplay, then somebody turns that screenplay into a movie. Although reality has repeatedly checked my naïveté since then, here are some of the other projects I've written (or in one case, co-written) that have<i> </i>been produced:</p><p><span></span></p><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/12/films.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-37342310308625593992020-09-18T04:29:00.004-07:002020-12-11T04:55:53.918-08:00My first EP is now on Bandcamp!<p>About a year and a half ago I was in <b><a href="https://soundslikejoe.com/studio/" target="_blank">my buddy Joe's recording studio</a></b>, laying down tracks for a Bob Dylan parody song I'd written about a dead raccoon. I made some comment about it being a silly song and me not being a "real musician" like Joe (who scored <b><a href="http://www.pinkthefilm.com/" target="_blank">my first feature film</a></b>, and has been nominated for an <i>Emmy</i> for his work, for cripes sake), and Joe basically said, "Let me stop you right there. You're writing songs, you're a musician, period. End of story."</p><p>I went home.</p><p>I thought about it.</p><p>Like every other art form I've ever attempted, I thought of music as a magical power possessed only by those who'd taken possession of some magical artifact they found in some mysterious cave. <br /><br />But Joe, who is most definitely a real musician, was telling me my idea was bunkum.</p><p>I wrote a fully original song. I played it for Joe. He liked it. I kept writing. </p><p>Last Sunday I went back into Joe's studio, <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/josh.barkey/videos/10157857758197547" target="_blank">turned on Facebook Live</a></b>, and recorded my very first EP, "under our own piece of sky." And now, five days later, <b><a href="https://joshbarkey.bandcamp.com/album/under-our-own-piece-of-sky" target="_blank">it's on bandcamp</a></b> - with an original cover designed and executed by the illimitable <b><a href="https://www.lifeisart.ca/albumcoverart" target="_blank">James Alfred Friesen</a></b>, who had suggested the album title (which was then chosen by audience poll in a FB livestream the week before).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymN91MHC2NCiVvjeNFYoTFgUaJaWrrMWNN-JEsG6JvaMnu3tMh8R1uYxabLGgylgJxahBLLmYElyCdxJEKFDudnWW_WFR98V9ELYd5hi9O866ZDHUOvtF6HWg3oQnqBKkMytaxNmZPY0/s2048/Final-stencil-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymN91MHC2NCiVvjeNFYoTFgUaJaWrrMWNN-JEsG6JvaMnu3tMh8R1uYxabLGgylgJxahBLLmYElyCdxJEKFDudnWW_WFR98V9ELYd5hi9O866ZDHUOvtF6HWg3oQnqBKkMytaxNmZPY0/w640-h640/Final-stencil-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>I'm beyond flabbergasted at the support that Joe, James, and so many friends have given me with this project. My hope/dream/fantasy is that enough people will dig the vibe that I'll one day be able to gather the resources (and my various genius-level musician friends) for a full, studio album.<br /><br />Thanks for checking out "<b><a href="https://joshbarkey.bandcamp.com/album/under-our-own-piece-of-sky" target="_blank">under our own piece of sky</a></b>," and if you dig it... please share the love! </p>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-17671845085829549462020-08-11T07:29:00.007-07:002020-12-01T06:47:35.363-08:00My latest commissioned painting...<p>I traded a painting for a baby.</p><p>The less illegal version of that sentence is that I partially paid our midwife's services with a work-for-trade portrait of her husband, who I incorporated into Ghirlandaio's 1480 fresco of Saint Jerome in His Study. Part of that incorporation involved adding elements that would be meaningful to the recipient... like his favorite guitar, sheet music for a Johnny Cash song<span face="" style="color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span>that sort of thing.</p><p>While I've got some anxiety about jumping back into something <i>quite </i>this elaborate, for the right project and the right price... who knows?</p><p>Reach out if you're interested!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-lHWQ-1tJaJ2xr4Gp4RfMfIrgMH0VsjNJOECFVzfdP-txjIEGrEqv59QIkNrI1lli8zKbwi-Ap9uDc6FHr5uONGhF2UZ4Yd0kt89ldUH6GJSsfrTr22-vXNtCKd7ruSR1hlo5W8GoS0/s1881/smallversion.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1881" data-original-width="1200" height="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-lHWQ-1tJaJ2xr4Gp4RfMfIrgMH0VsjNJOECFVzfdP-txjIEGrEqv59QIkNrI1lli8zKbwi-Ap9uDc6FHr5uONGhF2UZ4Yd0kt89ldUH6GJSsfrTr22-vXNtCKd7ruSR1hlo5W8GoS0/w638-h1000/smallversion.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p> </p>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-86830231749765400922020-07-31T18:49:00.007-07:002020-12-02T10:21:35.403-08:00why DARK is the best television you'll ever see shut up I know BREAKING BAD just got voted best and sure it's great but DARK is better so just watch it alreadyThis first bit is the SPOILER-ALERT-filler so that those of you who haven't yet watched the show don't accidentally see something that'll diminish your experience and make me guilty of a crime against humanity. <div><br></div><div>So to get us below the fold, I'll start off by admonishing you to watch DARK in the original German, with subtitles. I know the dubbed English version (which for some insane reason is the default on Netflix USA) <i>seems</i> like it would be easier to watch, but in this case easier is definitely <i>not</i> better. No offense to the actors who worked on the overdub, but just... no. </div><div><br></div><div><b>Now go. </b></div><div><br></div><div>Go watch all three seasons of the best television you'll (probably) ever see and then come back here so I can tell you the definitive answer to the question you'll definitely be asking yourself every moment of the way and also when you're through: </div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>What. The. Hell?<span></span></b></div><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/07/why-dark-is-best-television-youll-ever.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-38914129832086267502020-07-03T11:52:00.016-07:002020-12-01T04:32:08.516-08:00POUNDERS is Now an Audiobook!Did you know that the world record for most trees planted in a day by one person is over fifteen <i>thousand</i>???!!!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLckniy94jkhCe06mkWvlxhQ54ZP5aH6MZCUEkC1kL5_4hmKoOoo-Npe0VNTpIyoiMgqrnHqIhXal2G9SD4EplUCCysRpHoCz2IwM1xLKqPOP3QuTKk7Rm9f1eTRdSILO15zKfiQfZII/s1822/just+cover+header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1025" data-original-width="1822" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLckniy94jkhCe06mkWvlxhQ54ZP5aH6MZCUEkC1kL5_4hmKoOoo-Npe0VNTpIyoiMgqrnHqIhXal2G9SD4EplUCCysRpHoCz2IwM1xLKqPOP3QuTKk7Rm9f1eTRdSILO15zKfiQfZII/w640-h360/just+cover+header.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div>I spent ten years hand-planting over half a million trees in Northern British Columbia and Alberta in every kind of weather and on every kind of terrain, all so I could write a novel about a pair of brothers who venture into the wilderness of northern Canada for what the BBC has called one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Now you can sit back in the climate-controlled, bug-free environment of your choice and listen as I mellifluously read that novel to you in my mellifluous, treeplanter-y voice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pounders/dp/B08BX6R9LZ/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">A LINK TO IT ON AMAZON</a>.</b></div><div>And also<b> <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/B08BX6WM49/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-203875&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_203875_rh_us" target="_blank">A LINK TO IT ON AUDIBLE</a>.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>And here's my honey-roasted voice, reading the first wee chapter:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyafqekyymAn9v0nxxY9L8IGSwJo-geMr_BnMZ81Yl9yk73lYP1cMr_LGi_4vyOl7xFc3SMeV14T0fYbSvBfw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>- - -</div><div><br /></div><div><b>post script:</b> they say it'll be on itunes here in the next few days. But as I don't itune, so I'll have to take their word for it. If they were lying, let me know.</div></div>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-19123447521719684442020-06-03T05:10:00.002-07:002020-12-01T06:46:38.362-08:002020, so far<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fDZya5wvPFk" width="320" youtube-src-id="fDZya5wvPFk"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><pre style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></pre>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-79030176207639217362020-04-07T18:55:00.003-07:002020-12-11T04:54:58.743-08:00this is YOUR faultAfter I posted <a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/04/what-happens-next.html">my </a><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/04/what-happens-next.html">(thus far) </a><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/04/what-happens-next.html">one hundred percent accurate prophecy</a> of what the next few years will hold for the people of this planet (with some variance for personal taste), someone asked me on The Facebooks what we're supposed to do about our impending doom.<br>
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<b>Like any good modern-day prophet, I evaded the question. </b><br>
<br>
But as I can't in good conscience leave the dozens of readers of this blog hanging (hi, mom!), I will now tell you how our current predicament is<i> your</i> fault, and what you would need to do if you wanted to correct it.<br>
<a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/04/this-is-your-fault.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-75054270392470912532020-04-02T20:27:00.005-07:002020-12-11T04:54:33.535-08:00In Case You're Wondering What Happens Next...<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8XLQM_m1ZXQ9uZ5aHftnxjNfQbzjoclofxw6jZRlsofnt7IRLTw1HvL1LAMsOLwhZypmNdQWdp6TZ8EXFqnuvcknEj-tQ0QfArUrpAGf7CAHO5G31Y7JBRlD6I9U32WGwK6WYyCFIvY/s1600/RAINBOW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1600" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8XLQM_m1ZXQ9uZ5aHftnxjNfQbzjoclofxw6jZRlsofnt7IRLTw1HvL1LAMsOLwhZypmNdQWdp6TZ8EXFqnuvcknEj-tQ0QfArUrpAGf7CAHO5G31Y7JBRlD6I9U32WGwK6WYyCFIvY/s640/RAINBOW.jpg" width="640"></a></div>Unless you've been vacationing on North Sentinel Island for the past few months (you haven't), then you've probably heard that a lot of celebrities are losing their minds and posting stuff on social media that they might later regret.<br>
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<b>Also, there's a virus called COVID-19.</b><br>
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It's possible this has made you feel a bit more anxious than usual. I mean, if <i>celebrities </i>can't be counted on to remain cool-headed in a crisis, then who?!?<br>
<br>
Well, my anxious American friends, you can set all that aside because I am here to tell you exactly what comes next. What's more, I'm going to give you both a best and worst case scenario to choose from<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span>so you can just do what you always do and choose what you want to believe, facts be danged.<br>
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Are you ready? Let's go...<br>
<a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/04/what-happens-next.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-71595664820018307182020-03-06T06:34:00.004-08:002020-12-11T04:56:10.374-08:00ABDUCTED goes to Tribeca Film Festival!Around six years ago <b><a href="http://www.benjoyner.com/">Ben Joyner</a></b> came to me with an idea for a short film. I wrote it. Rewrote it a million more times. Shot some fundraising stuff with some actors. Watched it fall apart. Applied for an IndieGrants production grant. <b><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2017/09/my-short-film-abducted-gets-sc.html">Got the grant</a></b>! Re-Cast! Shot it! Post-productioned the heck out of it! And now, Coronavirus-Permitting, ABDUCTED will be playing at Tribeca 2020!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyAKy7jwH4WvIUm_gehyphenhyphenavLWth3Usg36gSgs8bTve315OF8aao1JfsEoVvF-Y889ELQRkw3VgZgBfrYkrRjVDSEuNs0ppFi6iY3NGJ609EKNwF0qgbNcZsPGr8xiLmlZpuKVQ6AKqgM-Q/s1600/.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyAKy7jwH4WvIUm_gehyphenhyphenavLWth3Usg36gSgs8bTve315OF8aao1JfsEoVvF-Y889ELQRkw3VgZgBfrYkrRjVDSEuNs0ppFi6iY3NGJ609EKNwF0qgbNcZsPGr8xiLmlZpuKVQ6AKqgM-Q/s640/.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
No movie every happens without a <i>ton</i> of work from a <i>ton </i>of people, and even a short little film like ours takes way more effort than anyone who hasn't done it can imagine.<br />
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Way too many people helped out to mention, but aside from the well deserved topline credit owed to Ben, <b><a href="https://tuckermacdonald.com/">Tucker MacDonald</a></b> deserves huge props for his Cinematography; <b><a href="http://www.bradjayne.com/about">Brad Jayne</a></b> at IndieGrants has been fantastic all the way through, <b><a href="https://vimeo.com/user3483199">Jacob Kirby</a></b> did an amazing job on the edit; and of course our cast brought it completely to life. They are: <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3957052/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm">Jenna Kanell</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1842786/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm">Jesse C. Boyd</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2976886/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4">Jay DeVon Johnson</a></b>, and <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0465572/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t3">Rebecca Koon</a></b>.<span id="goog_107748160"></span><br />
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I'm super-proud of the result of everybody's hard work and excited to be attending the first two screenings (April 17th & April 22nd) in New York City. If you're around town and we're not all dead of a pandemic by then, please drop by and say howdy!JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-35081583445902932242020-02-16T10:16:00.001-08:002020-12-11T04:55:15.987-08:00Scraps and TechniquesAfter a painstaking six months spent (slowly) completing the most complex painting commission I've ever attempted, this past week I delivered it to its new owner. As the painting is a portrait of the client's husband, not sure I'll ever be able to share it on here... however, this is the small canvas I kept on hand to use up leftover paint and try out some techniques. Enjoy...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8A4cxdANXdtqY4k3zqOrMkkCsaOsnGN_M69PETzn8XpgnEN-uEkwwWf0yZyfNd3cAvNMi2iNLBTFTWgCR36Wi8dxUIZOs0RpoT-pAS2GIbJmI4Obq6nWeSO5wXRUpCD25UB5aI-EOyQ/s1600/IMG_6856.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="1600" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8A4cxdANXdtqY4k3zqOrMkkCsaOsnGN_M69PETzn8XpgnEN-uEkwwWf0yZyfNd3cAvNMi2iNLBTFTWgCR36Wi8dxUIZOs0RpoT-pAS2GIbJmI4Obq6nWeSO5wXRUpCD25UB5aI-EOyQ/s640/IMG_6856.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-12734229343070318112020-02-14T18:20:00.002-08:002020-12-01T06:39:07.217-08:00More RomanticalnessValentines Day again! Which means it's time for my annual tradition of posting <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;">the most romantic</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;">poem</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;"> ever, which I composed for my incredibly amazing and thankfully un-romantic wife from the first lines of thirty of the (apparently) most romantic poems ever written in the English language.</span><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, times, freeserif, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px;"><br></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, times, freeserif, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuNLTjpZyt2RrwLlup6XAsKMCeyCeKxcT57x2zbsngTdX5OVPLWqtqd742T_fvR9ix0odwx7nQFEi64QT_UwulIPOFusIECaw8JajxZG2yBzBaDi5n7tb_zGgfeXxakZn0_2oU5fKKqY/s1187/color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="1187" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuNLTjpZyt2RrwLlup6XAsKMCeyCeKxcT57x2zbsngTdX5OVPLWqtqd742T_fvR9ix0odwx7nQFEi64QT_UwulIPOFusIECaw8JajxZG2yBzBaDi5n7tb_zGgfeXxakZn0_2oU5fKKqY/w640-h122/color.jpg" width="640"></a></div><br><span style="font-size: 15.4px;"><br></span></span></div>
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Enjoy.</div>
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</div></div><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/02/more-romanticalness.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-56882454929351328342020-01-04T12:59:00.002-08:002020-01-08T11:48:38.413-08:00Fear & Love & MeWhen he was in his early twenties, Diego Velazquez<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—<i>who is now in all the Art History books</i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—painted a masterpiece called "The Waterseller of Seville." And in <i>my </i>early(ish) twenties I painted a (modified) copy of it that wasn't half bad.</span><br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistTRtAFUxQOugqHF1bjQSJbolf_jgkSqZ462_p5cY-AskiXAoZNX4HT0AHQgIsbDt8uJs3TD4rRex-XR5ay-8T7bTprrg19gMRlCGqpMb-SezLQIwKGButjv2wLMZHTrZRJmLeLK7lHw/s1600/36.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1215" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistTRtAFUxQOugqHF1bjQSJbolf_jgkSqZ462_p5cY-AskiXAoZNX4HT0AHQgIsbDt8uJs3TD4rRex-XR5ay-8T7bTprrg19gMRlCGqpMb-SezLQIwKGButjv2wLMZHTrZRJmLeLK7lHw/s400/36.JPG" width="303"></a></div>
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How the heck did I even do that?</div>
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<br></div>
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<b>Was it magic?</b><br>
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I mean, sure, there are a ton of painters out there who are way better than me, but I was just some kid from the jungle with basically zero early formal art training, who minored in Art at a college that didn't even have an Art major. </div>
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My teacher, who was <a href="https://www.dorisauxier.com/">an accomplished visual artist in her own right</a> and had a Master's degree in the education of gifted students, took me aside one day and said, "Josh, I'm only going to tell you this once, but you're better at this than the other students so I'm going grade you harder and push you harder than I do them. Because I think if you wanted to, you could probably make a living as a visual artist."</div>
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<b>So what do you think I did?</b><br>
</div><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/01/fear-love-me.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-35444578071119400912020-01-01T02:22:00.002-08:002020-01-05T19:27:57.556-08:00One Decade, Seven Hundred and Seventy movies<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; font-weight: normal;">My wife and I had a new baby in February of this year, which made it impossible for me to complete my usual task of watching all the movies; or at least enough that I can feel good about </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; font-weight: 400;">unequivocally</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; font-weight: normal;"> recommending ten of them. </span></span></span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWvNKqlJtu50Zvz5v3pMueDuwx-Zg5BV2FT8jdNtUd8x08PxT9V9TLcr3EU96YsJWd5o4dDr36NvCw7LeN5qTvOzrvnUVAR9Abmr49heJ9CaUMJ7TbVds7nKtnLx3fB874EjzG7hRirI/s1600/the+orb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1115" data-original-width="1600" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWvNKqlJtu50Zvz5v3pMueDuwx-Zg5BV2FT8jdNtUd8x08PxT9V9TLcr3EU96YsJWd5o4dDr36NvCw7LeN5qTvOzrvnUVAR9Abmr49heJ9CaUMJ7TbVds7nKtnLx3fB874EjzG7hRirI/s640/the+orb.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold, a Child!</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.4px; text-align: justify;">I did watch a few I really liked this year, though. Here they are, in alphabetical order...</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></h3><a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2020/01/a-decade-of-movies.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-84334767201322768762019-12-04T03:20:00.001-08:002019-12-04T03:20:20.381-08:00"We Have Lived by the Assumption"Maybe I'm a Wendell Berry Fangirl.<div>
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Or maybe the world is just becoming increasingly stuck in a moment that <i>needs</i> what Wendell Berry has to offer.<br /><br />Or maybe it's just because a former student wrote me this past week to say he'd been reading through a collection of Wendell Berry essays, and he wanted to thank me for connecting him with the man. </div>
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Whatever the case, here's another bit of Wendell Berry:</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us. We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our personal pride and greed the standard of our behavior toward the world - to the incalculable disadvantage of the world and every living thing in it. And now, perhaps very close to too late, our great error has become clear. It is not only our own creativity - our own capacity for life - that is stifled by our arrogant assumption; the creation itself is stifled. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it." </blockquote>
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<br /></div>
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From his essay, <i>A Native Hill</i></div>
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JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-26059634241459026262019-11-19T07:07:00.001-08:002020-02-01T12:43:25.318-08:00an endless green monumentOne Sunday<br>
I sat at<br>
Wendell Berry's<br>
at Tanya Berry's<br>
at the Berrys' kitchen table.<br>
<br>
We drank their water<br>
from their cups:<br>
<br>
The Berrys,<br>
me,<br>
and my fiancée<br>
<br>
(not <i>mine</i> yet, not exactly--<br>
not like those cups were theirs--<br>
but <i>almost</i>.<br>
Soon).<br>
<a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2019/11/an-endless-green-monument.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-87835979531808480452019-10-20T18:03:00.001-07:002019-11-14T05:56:12.000-08:00I'm Having Wendell Berry's DreamI keep coming back to Wendell Berry's poems, and I don't think it's just because I have a book full of them in my bathroom.<br>
<br>
After all, there's an extensive library in the ol' Barkey Throne Room, and unlike Berry's poetry, a lot of the books have pretty pictures<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span>which make for easy reading as I'm completing my digestive process.<br>
<br>
And yet...<br>
<br>
I find myself endlessly re-reading Berry's poem <i>The Dream</i>, and I think it's because in it he brilliantly calls out both the Big Problem, as well as the reason any solution<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.4px;"> is bound to sputter</span></span>.<br>
<br>
Check it out...<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.joshbarkey.com/2019/10/im-having-wendell-berrys-dream.html#more"></a>JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3943366568013445284.post-30561403391834230882019-09-15T07:15:00.001-07:002019-10-20T13:20:16.776-07:00a poem for a Sunday...<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When an early bird<br />deftly plucks a spider<br />from her dew starred morning web,<br />she leaves behind a work of art<br />no less beautiful<br />and no more ephemeral<br />than an abandoned cathedral in the mist.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A man (or woman) could work an entire lifetime<br />and never make something so harmonious,<br />so mysterious,<br />so captivating in its power.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Think on this, you small Creators <span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span><br />you who are no Frank Lloyd Wright, no Gaudí.<br />Think, when the opportunity of your life<br />leads you to both wonder and despair.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sit in the dew starred silence and know<br />that although your striving will be all a vanity...</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">nonetheless...</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">because you were here,<br />that same web's cold intent,<br />now seen,<br />has become a thing held in eternity <span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">—</span><br />a thing as precious<br />as your own,<br />flitting,<br />dew starred<br />life.</span></div>
JOSH BARKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02056229250824359708noreply@blogger.com