A: I’VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

…and you can see all of this on Linkedin & Gates

My name is Hal Hefner. I am the creator of Gates, a Transmedia franchise, (if you are unsure of what Transmedia is).  It is currently in comic book form and located right at http://gatesthecomic.com

Now some would consider me a comic book artist or writer…but I consider myself  a storyteller, and I use my creative abilities in writing, illustration, design and marketing  collaboratively to tell my story, a new science fiction franchise which will in full scope be a generational tale about the world’s first family of organic technology.

1) MY LIFE: HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

I grew up in a small town in upstate NY called Mohawk. Just outside of the once bustling city of Utica, I fought racism, stupidity and other small town strangeness in order to rise up and realize who I was and what I wanted to do. My parents didn’t understand art and the folks around me were divided into two distinct camps of either liking me or hating me. There was no middle ground becuase I have always been a smart ass, outspoken dude who constantly questions everything and happily fights authority. So fighting adversity, breaking away from my own participation in hatred, bullying and other stupid stuff was essential to elevating my mind to be ready to grow as an artist, writer, creator, thinker and marketing guy.

2) I GOT SCHOOLED:

In order to arrive here, to create this franchise I started off by getting a great education at a technical schoool in New York called RIT. Now RIT is mostly known for pumping out Engineers, and it had an infamous connection to the CIA and was heavily funded by Baush and Lomb and Kodak.  Here I learned how to refine my painting skills traditionally and digitally, I learned about graphic design and all about creative writing. It was technically savvy and only 2nd in teh nation to MIT in terms of technical innovation.

So I got schooled digitally in Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark. Little did I know how important this would be later on.

I still continue to educate myself through extension classes at colleges and workshops such as Storyworld, for Transmedia storytelling

3) I MOVED TO A MAJOR CITY: LOS ANGELES:

After college and the tragic demise of my relationship with my long time girlfriend,  I decided to move to LA–because I had a DREAM.

After I came up with the first ideas for the Gates franchise I realized I needed to move to chase the dragon, so LA was logical to me due to the Hollywood connection and its appreciation for Science Fiction. So I packed up the car, took a leap of faith in my ability and found a way to get myself to Los Angeles.

Now I was Hal Hefner, artist, designer and creative gun for hire. And I had no clue what the hell I was doing. I had a dream and determination and I kept it hungry, humble and smart.

4) BEEN THERE DONE THAT: FROM ART & DESIGN TO RECRUITING ART & DESIGN

When I got here, I started working as a cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer. Design was the most consistent and lucrative so I followed the paycheck because LA is an expensive place to live—but it’s worth every damn penny. As a designer I worked with some great companies designing everything from marketing collateral, packaging, ads and magazines to websites and banners. But I got burned out. Fourteen hour days and a burning passion to create Gates were not a good marriage. So I found a way to jump into the staffing and recruiting industry to alleviate the pain.

In 2004 I jumped onboard with a company called Creative Circle. If you haven’t heard of them, Creative Circle is a staffing agency that caters to the creative, advertising, marketing and PR industries. In my role at Creative Circle I placed graphic designers, art directors, account executives, project managers, high end developers, marketing directors and oh so much more with all the big companies in the Los Angeles market.

5) RECRUITING AND STAFFING 101:

As a recruiter I have staffed many of the major companies in Los Angeles, from FOX & NBC to Sony and Square Enix. From Walt Disney to TBWA Chiat Day to Skechers, I placed folks within many facets of many industries.  I became a trusted name in staffing because I “got it”. With expert, firsthand knowledge of the positions I was staffing, people knew I understood their requests unlike my competitors. Myself and a small core of great people, turned Creative Circle into the nationwide monster it is today form our 5 person staff of humble beginnings in a black building on the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire.

But when Creative Circle got too big and I wasn’t jiving philosophically with ownership any longer, specifically about how to treat clients, candidates and even internal employees, I moved on. I wasn’t into gauging my clients and I was tired of the internal politics. So I hit the road. Overall though it was a great experience, I worked with some great people and I learned a lot about life, sales, marketing and the psychology of people.

6) GETTING LAID OFF SUCKS:

I then helped launch the creative, advertising and marketing division of a traditional entertainment administrative staffing company named Eleventh Hour. I helped them grow nicely in a year and a half and then when the economy tanked in early 2009, they laid me off. Getting laid off was a horribly humbling experience and it was utterly embarrassing as the owner decided to tell several other people before he laid me off, and I found out I was getting laid off on Facebook from a guy who I had hired to blog for us. So for the first time since I was fifteen, I was jobless, I had two kids, a mortgage and a wife and I was angry as all hell for the way I was treated.

Getting laid off SUCKS but I used it to my advantage.

7) PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

In ten years I had been a designer, artist, creative recruiter, marketer and salesperson. So when I was laid off, I took ALL of those components and finally put Gates together and pitched it to Heavy Metal to utilize to launch their first digital storytelling platform. Since Hevay Metal had no digital presence or any clue about what to do with the online space, I was able to help them by allowing them to utilize my franchise to be presented as their first online comic. So finally Gates was born and really born from the ashes of my demise.

CLOSING:

Hopefully this helps, as it is just a start. I will be expanding and delving further into this so keep checking back for more info as well as please feel free to ask any questions.

Please check out Gates, drop me a line or  follow me on Twitter, or Facebook and connect on deviantART and Linkedin

ON 1.1.11 – HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE DEBUTED THEIR VERY FIRST WEB COMIC: GATES

First of all WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!

It’s very, very excited and I am extremely honored, humbled and just plain excited about being the one to do this.

Gates, has been a gigantic undertaking, that I have been working on for a long, long time.

And sure, it’s been a lot of work, a lot of hard dedicated work but without some luck, determination, belief in myself and belief in my story, I wouldn’t be here today.

BIG THANK YOU TO HEAVY METAL:

Launching Heavy Metal’s first online comic is such an honor. I remember watching the movie with my childhood friend Justin Smith (who is the one who introduced me to it), and saying to him, how awesome it would be to work for them and draw the characters from this universe. I was enamored with Taarna, the soundtrack, Den, Stern! and zombie air force pilots. I wanted to be a part of Heavy Metal ever since I was a kid. Now I really am. And it’s an honor to be forever historically linked with them.

Yes, I’m a  professional artist but I’ll always be a fanboy. I’ll always be that seventeen year old kid, that  cranked up the soundtrack, the psychedelics and dove in.

So Kevin Eastman and Heavy Metal Magazine, it is to you that I owe the biggest thank you. Thank you so much for bestowing this honor upon me and  trusting in me to carry the torch for your franchise.

BIG THANK YOU TO MY FAMILY:

MY WIFE–In all of the craziness that always surrounds me, and those who know me personally know I always bring a little zing to the table, nobody has dealt with this as much as my wife Kim. Without Kim, I’d be nothing. Behind every good man is a good woman. That may sound like a cliche’ but it’s damn true. 100%.

2009 was one of the hardest years of my life. After, following my dream and having some really big success in the staffing industry while also maintaining a freelance illustration career, the beginning of 2009 started off with a kick in the nuts. A company I had given my tall to, ceremoniously and with the “greatest amount of class”, laid me off. For the first time since i was 15, I had lost a job. And to top to off I found out on Facebook. Yep Facebook. Nice huh? With two young daughters, a recession sweeping my country and the city of Los Angeles, not in need of staffing people, I fell back on who I REALLY was–an artist.

My wife, didn’t panic. She allowed me to grow, explore, blossom and finally take the artwork and Gates to the ultimate level. I met my wife when I was working as a graphic designer in 2000, we started dating in 2001 and have never looked back.

So Kim, it is to you I say thank you for putting up with my late nights of work, annoying habits, comic books, DVDs and other geek related junk cluttering your life. You have helped me so much by providing a voice of reason even when I never wanted to hear the reason but deep inside I appreciated it. Without you, Gates the comic, my artwork and Hal Hefner in general might be in a different place. You have been my rock and have also given me two amazing daughters. I love you, I thank you.

MY MOM–Oh Mom, where do I even begin to say thank to you? You brought me into this world and have been nagging me ever since I can remember. But that nagging was all good. We went through some rough times together when I was younger but you always believed in my art even when you had no clue what art was. You also made Gates the comic possible. It was you who bought me Heavy Metal Magazine as a kid and the movie (your money, not you personally). You  also helped me out with the little things and made sure I was okay when times were tough. When my father passed away it was tough on us all mentally, but when I needed you, you were there–always.

MY KIDS--Adena and Eva. You are the crowning achievement in my life. You are amazing and everything I do, I do it for you. I want you to have a better life than I did and I hope to build an empire for you to inherit. I want you to rock the world and live life to the fullest. I love you two more than anything in this world. You are me.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Aunt Rosemary & Grandma, without you guys always there to pick me up and remind me who I was, I wouldn’t be here today.

Nonnie, Aunt Linda, Adam, Jeff, Karly, Sara, Barbie Jacob: You guys may not always understand me, but you always support me and I appreciate it.

FAMILY THAT HAS PASSED:

My Dad: Oh dad. You were so awesome but such a dickhead at the same time. Despite your lack of understanding of what I wanted to be, finally after all those years, you allowed me to be me. I know it was rough at times but all in all, you did a good job. You did what a dad was supposed to do. You made life tough for me so that when I got out in the real world, I would understand that things could always get worse, so don’t let them. But regardless of your shortcomings, when I needed you, you were there.

It was you dad who introduced me to the Twilight Zone, comic books and all the things that have allowed me to grow today. You helped me buy art supplies when you had no clue what the hell HB pencils were. You supported something that you didn’t understand. You wanted me to be JUST like you at first but once you saw me marching to the beat of my own drum and realized I would not be JUST like you,  you rallied to support me.

Without your passing, I could not be here today. Your death shook me hard but inspired me to just go for it. Your upbringing taught me to set goals, to never give up and when people kicked me down to get right back up and punch them in the mouth. I don’t take shit from people because you made it so. So thanks dad, this is for you and I know you’d be proud.

Grandpop: You are the one that drove me to Utica whenever I wanted. You took me to the Ravenswood and bought me comics. You bought me art supplies, you helped me grow and you called me , “sonny”. Thanks Frankie. You were a hell of a guy and I miss you. I know you’d be proud as well.Without you, Gates would not be possible.

Uncle Carl: You would be proud. It’s you who introduced me to Erik Von Daniken, Chariots of the Gods and all the bizarre happenings of the world. You showed me another side of life that I already saw, but without opened eyes. You  showed me it was okay to believe in things that others didn’t.  You showed me the negative Utopian world we were moving into. Without you, Gates would not be possible.

Pop: Wish you were here! You blazed a trail and began the Hefner movement to the East. You sacrificed a lot but made it all possible. Thank you.

MY FRIENDS:

Justin Smith – You introduced me to Heavy Metal back in the day my childhood friend. You’ve been there since day one. I’m doing this for you! Thanks brother!

Paul Wiernicki -You’re my best pal, you have always been there, always will be. You and I share a brain and we have shared a lot. Thanks for being a great friend when others have let me down.

Jimmy Jay – You are awesome. A great friend, that has helped me in any way he could from the first day we met, You rock man. Thank you

Dan LuVisi – My little brother, you are one of the most amazingly talented people I know. You opened the Heavy Metal door for me and I appreciate your friendship and I know together we will be blazing a trail.

Stephan Lokotsch – There is no doubt, I need to thank the kraut. This is one man who has always listened to my crazy schemes, ideas and plans and has always tried to help me make them happen. You are a great dude and I appreciate you.

Sara Allison & Ralph Greco: You are the brother and sister I never had. You always supported me and helped me. Love you guys.

David Sager and Brian Anderson Churchill: You two are awesome. Your support has been amazing. Love you guys so much.

Cookie-ING, Rodent Perkett, Blow Job Murphy, Heath King, Marsha Nardi-Montgomery, Christina Brewer-Hall, Lizanne Webb, Declan Gerhaty, Ebi Saberi, Shawn Bullock, Erica Sturges, Mindy Worel, Dezzi Marshall, Sabrina–thanks for the support.

Mat Nastos: You were the evil big brother I never wanted but needed. Your guidance and friendship has been integral in the development of Gates and my education on what it takes to make a comic.

Scott Hunter: My man! You have been huge in the success of Gates, thanks for your support.

Manny Banayo: Dude you have been a lifesaver and have done a lot for me. Thank you so much. Words cannot describe how much I appreciate you.

David Hirsch: DUDE! What can I say. Without your input, Gates would be much different. Thank you for being a great, great friend and someone who I could share ideas with, personal moments with and a fellowship with. Gates blossomed from the stuff we did many years ago, and I thank you for that.

Drowemos: Your Yoda-like skills of the web comic industry are much appreciated and you helped a great deal. Thanks for your time and looking forward to working with you in the future!

And there are more, I’m just running out of brainpower. So to those of you not named here, I’m sorry.

MY FANS:

You guys/gals are awesome! I’m so, so grateful for you!  Thanks for the love. I can’t wait to deliver more great work for you. Your support and kind words and adoration of my work are awesome and motivate me to put out the best possible work I possibly can. I am humbled and greatly appreciate you. Thank you so much!

THE HATERS:

Ahhh…the haters.

It’s you who I owe the biggest thanks.

It’s you who belittled me every chance you could. It’s you who told me I’d never amount to anything. It’s you who told me I sucked, wasn’t good enough, wasn’t smart enough. It’s you who projected your fears and failures on me.

I grew up in a small town and for every one supporter I had, I had two haters.

But even when I moved to LA, I’ve encountered the haters. Haters that were afraid, jealous or threatened. Haters that tried to ruin my life, haters that used me, haters that belittled me and put me down and most of all, haters that humiliated me and showed me the lowest point of life.

But without all of you people, I would have no motivation. Sure I have been stung, blindsided and clearly upset by things over the years but you have all provided one major word. Inspiration. Your hate fuels me. I eat it. I thrive on it.

So thank you, YOU know who you are.

THANK YOU ALL! Now it’s time to crank out some amazing work and a embark on a very awesome 2011!

I have been working on this idea for twelve years and to see it finally come to fruition has been amazing.  In the time I first conceived this idea for Gates, while living in Rochester, NY, I lost my father to brain and lung cancer. Like many young men, I had struggled to maintain a good relationship with my dad but things were getting better shortly before he passed. Needless to say, his death affected me greatly for many reasons. Cancer is a horrible disease and it is taking people away from this world at an alarming rate.

In May of 2010, we lost a great one to cancer. Ronnie James Dio. The man who took the Italian evil eye and made it a symbol of devil horns and Heavy Metal.

The man whom I shared many things in common with including our height, Italian heritage, fiery temper, balls to the wall attitude and the fact that we both originated from upstate New York. Ronnie’s music has always been an inspiration to me. As I would sit at home late at night drawing creatures, I would listen to Dio over and over again. To Rainbow, Elf, Black Sabbath and more. It was always a good time for Dio in my house.

The Mob Rules was a song I always loved, and it just so happened to be on the soundtrack to the original Heavy Metal movie. It was an awesome song, for an awesome scene, as the evil clan of Loc-Nar mutated warriors stormed the castle and crushed everyone in site. Dio/Sabbath really captured the scene completely and to me it’s the best song and animation pairing in the movie.

When Ronnie passed away, I felt empty. I was actually working on my pitch to Heavy Metal Magazine at the time for Gates the webcomic and I had the idea to unite Ronnie with the comic, somehow in someway. I put the thought out of my head for a minute and continued on to secure the deal and then begin production.  But as it started to take shape and I began to concoct an idea for a soundtrack, I knew this is how I could bring Ronnie’s memory into the fold.

So without further delay, I wanted to spill the beans here (on Hal Hefner dot com) first, because this is personal to me.

In combination with the release of the first song to the Gates soundtrack for Heavy Metal’s first online comic Hal Hefner and Heavy Metal, would like to announce the dedication of that soundtrack to the late, great Ronnie James Dio.  As one of the pioneers of Heavy Metal, Ronnie really brought in the element of Fantasy to the music genre and helped lay down the foundation for tying fantasy art in with music. As a member of Black Sabbath, he participated in the original Heavy Metal Movie Soundtrack and we believe that as Heavy metal embarks on a new trasnmedia journey and marries music and art once again, that Dio must be here too. It was only fitting to claim this soundtrack in his honor.

In addition to this I am in the process of trying to work with Dio’s cancer foundation, run by Wendy Dio, Ronnie’s beloved wife. My intentions are personal as a man who lost a father to cancer and as someone who found a huge musical inspiration in Ronnie. I would like to find a way to work with the foundation and bring awareness to cancer as well as financial help.

As these details unfold I will keep everyone posted. In the meantime, please check out the comic, it will launch at midnight tonight. http://gates.heavymetal.com

Thanks for your time and here are few of my favorite DIO moments to end the post.

Peace, Happy New Year and be well: Hef

/nn\

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My buddies…AND Hard rock band Inside The Black, who will be featured on the upcoming soundtrack for my comic, Heavy Metal magazine’s GATES, will be performing on December 31, 2010, New Year’s Eve, at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go.

Discount tickets for the New Year’s Eve party are available at http://insidetheblack.com/tickets.html.

Inside The Black, who will have a brand new song on the upcoming soundtrack for Heavy Metal magazine’s first digital comic, GATES, will perform that song live as part of their New Year’s Eve set. Also performing that night will be Vains of Jenna.

The world-famous Whisky A Go Go stage has seen performances by Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Cream, Van Halen and more. It is located at 8901 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. It is an all ages venue, featuring a full bar.

In true Heavy Metal fashion, this will be a balls to the wall rock show not to be missed. Inside The Black will also hand out free, limited edition copies of their recently recorded EP. Don’t miss it! It’s gonna ROCK!!!!

/nn\

Purchase your discount tickets at http://insidetheblack.com/tickets.html.

SOLOMAN is the  villain in the comic I am creating with Heavy Metal Magazine–GATES.

It launches in just a few days on 1.1.11. Gates is Heavy metal’s first web comic and I am extremely excited about it.

Here is a sneak peek at a backstory image I created for SOLOMAN…a creature that is a marriage of technology and organics, that is purely evil–or is it?

ZENYATTA! My girl! She may have lost but her legacy will never be forgotten! Recently I have been doing work for Team Zenyatta.. I have designed some of their identity including several different logos for shirts, hats and more that were sold this past weekend.

The image you see here is a sneak peak at some concept art for a comic/comic strip featuring Zenyatta in a magical forest. The concept is based around Zenyatta possessing magical powers, and coming from a magical land. On Saturday 11/6/10, Zenyatta lost for the time in her amazing career. She retires at 19-1.

Zenyatta is the most amazing creature I have ever seen. I met her in July to take some reference photos. She was so impressive and her were full of life and intelligence. Zenyatta was so soft and velvet like to the touch. And the muscles–oh her muscles were incredible. She was beautiful.

So needless to say Zenyatta’s loss was very sad but regardless, at 19-1 and losing your only race by a nose is not such a bad career.

We will miss you Zenyatta.

When I was 18 years old…I saw Crop Circles.

These Crop Circles were in the State of New York – Vickerman Hill, Columbia Center / Herkimer / Mohawk Valley, Herkimer County ( reported on June 21, 1993)

I was there. I saw this and it was crazy. I stood in the middle of this crop circle and got the chills.

There were Four circles were  linked by pathways that appeared on a steep hill. The circle diameters were: 20’5”, 45’, 43’5”, and 88’.

All the circles were slightly elliptical in the North-South direction. Three of the circles were swirled clockwise, with one circle counter-clockwise. Two of the pathways were found to extend about halfway to the centers of two of the circles, while the rest of the pathway ends terminated at the meeting point with the circles. Areas of ‘randomly-downed’ crop also in the field. Expulsion cavities and lateral node splitting was found. BOL’s reported.

I was driving by one night with two buddies. I actually stumbled upon a pink light in the field. I was scared for sure but more curious than frightened. We investigated to find that it was actually people doing research! One was a Japaneese man and NYU scientisist studying psychic brainwaves. This girl who was with this man and another white gentleman claimed that she was abducted and brought there originally by a UFO. She was hooked up to this machine, which was wrapped around her head, like a headband, while sitting in the middle of the circle.

These formations showed up in Mary Pyc’s oatfield and have never left my mind since 1993.

The Syracuse Herald-Journal on 8-2-1993 reports that a passing truck driver claims he witnessed several objects hovering in the air above the field just before the formation was discovered, andthat thunderstorms were reported in the area around the time of discovery. W.C. Levengood analyzed samples taken from the formation and found significant node bending as compared to the controls, ‘expulsion cavities’, growth suppression in germination studies, and reduced electrical conductivity (Alpha Change) in the bract tissue surrounding the seeds. NY State Police turned up no evidence to suggest a hoax.

Good times.

Aaron Russo (February 14, 1943 – August 24, 2007)

Aaron was a friend of mine who my wife and I met through our dear friends David and Brian. His personality was larger than life. He was a New Yorker through and through, in his mannerisms and even his smile. My wife was pregnant with our first child when we met him and he rubbed her belly and used hos psychic powers to predict we would have a boy…but he was wrong.

Wikipedia calls him, “an American entertainment businessman, filmmaker, libertarian political activist, and a 9/11 truth activist.” Which in essence he was surely all of those things. Aaron made his mark in Hollywood producing the Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy (when he was still funny) movie, Trading Places. He also produced the movie Wise Guys, and Bette Midler’s The Rose.

He was a big music enthusiast, and once owned the nightclub Kinetic Playground in which he hosted various famous rock bands and musicians such as The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Rotary Connection and Jefferson Airplane among others. He was the first person to book Led Zeppelin in the United States club Kinetic Playground. Russo also was manager for The Manhattan Transfer and Bette Midler from 1972 to 1979.

He was even awarded an Emmy for a Bette Midler TV special, and the soundtrack to The Rose, which he produced, was certified gold and in 1989, Russo co-directed, Rude Awakening. All in all Russo’s films received six Academy Award nominations and two of Russo’s films were nominated for Golden Globe award

But it was later in Aaron’s life that I met him. He had left the commercial entertainment world and had begun to create documentaries–Because he was pissed off at the current state of our political, social and economic affairs in the United States. His first documentary was called Mad as Hell, which calls into question the current state of governmental affairs.

However, his best and most successful movie was called America: Freedom to Fascism, which investigates the breadth of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Federal Reserve System. My wife and I and our friends David and Brian were lucky enough to get a VIP screening in Beverly Hills with Aaron, his family, Ron Paul and other people associated with revealing the injustice of justice. This film was filled with evidence, interviews and stats that are very solid and will turn your stomach at the evil that our forefathers have bestowed upon us.

Shortly after he released this film, and after a six year battle with bladder cancer, Russo died on August 24, 2007. 3 years ago today.

I along with my friend David attended his funeral and a wonderful party for him at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to this man–with music, love and cheer. Some say his cancer was the result of his hatred for the government and those in power who had wanted him gone for a long time–finally got their wish and maybe played a hand in it. But we will never know.

Here’s why they hated him…

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So Aaron, it is in your memory that I raise a shot of whiskey. I say, “fuck the power, I think for myself, I will always question authority, I will trust no one and I will never be led to slaughter like blind sheep!” Aaron Russo, thank you for what you did, for opening my eyes and enlightening me to the way the world really is. It’s not pretty but it is what it is and as a father of two daughters, I must do what I can to protect and provide for them.

Below you will find some video clips of some of Aaron’s greatest hits. Goodbye old friend. Peace

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I grew up in a small town in upstate NY, called Mohawk. Named after the Mohawk Indians of the Iroquois nation, who once roamed the lands before they were murdered, pillaged, forced onto reservations and wiped out of existence. Mohawk belongs to the town of German Flatts, a larger  land of dairy farms, conservative thinking and Jesus-ism. With a high volume of Catholics and born again Christians, the overall mindset is one of safety, community and like I said– conservatism. When I was a kid, in the 80′s and 90′s, High School Football took precedence over art, music and other creative and intellectual importance in the lands where the Iroquois died.

From as far back as I could remember into my childhood, I loathed the way of thinking in my home town and instead of silently protesting, to make my life easier–I acted like a disgruntled punk. I hated all the busy bodies who needed to know what everyone was always doing so they could air your dirty laundry in sewing circles–and I made it be known. I hated the teachers who were not intelligent enough to have any business being teachers, and I let them know it. I hated the people who thought they were better than me, smarter than me, better athletes than me and were more righteous than me–that judged me.  So I let them know that I felt they were idiots, hillbillies and right wing racist assholes who pre-judged me for who I was. I also didn’t appreciate those who tried to jam Jesus up my ass as a solution to my troubles, every chance they got. BUT I was able to maintain my composure for the most part. From the age of 5, I knew my destiny was greater and it was not going to be in Mohawk, New York.

But besides the negatives, Mohawk NY was a beautiful place to grow up scenically. Forests and clean air and lots of tries and places to “get a little distance” from society were very helpful in helping my brain form. And I developed some amazing friendships that will last my entire life. All in all I had a decent education and created a very loving group of friends who I am in contact with still to this day. I appreciate these people more now than I ever did and their friendship, support and love will be apart of me forever.

It was here that I also became aware of the shaman or medicine man in American Indian culture, which led me on a path of obsession to gaining as much knowledge about ancient cultures as possible. In the end, all of my troubles I ran into living in upstate NY were of my own doing. And troubles were plentiful at times. But I wouldn’t change a thing–Because  as a teenager on the cusp of manhood it was here where I decided to expand my mind rather than fold it in–It was in Mohawk that I first head the words of Timothy Leary, “Think for yourself and question authority.”

THINK FOR YOURSELF AND QUESTION AUTHORITY

Those words are pretty powerful. Maybe even scary to some. But when I heard them, I felt a sense of relief. Somebody else in the world understood me, appreciated me and shared my sense of disdain for a world that I instinctively rebelled against from day one.  I just knew something was off. Something was off about the Catholic Church I went to especially and religion in general. The church was filled with gossiping hypocrites who did drugs, committed adultery, molested children, hated black people, hated gay people AND just plain hated things they did not understand. And they judged everyone. They judged you on your clothes, your hair, your friends and your family! I knew this was fucked up and if there was a loving, all knowing, all seeing God–that he would surely not appreciate these assholes.

Then I found out about Timothy Leary, which lead to Aldous Huxley, which led to Kafka, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Nietzsche, Walden, Whitman, Orwell, Dick, Camus, Asimov, Rod Serling and more. I read, I read and I read. I found Joseph Campbell and I dove in. I wanted to know more about my existence, the universe, past cultures, the bible, ancient texts/glyphs, the planet earth, the moon and more. I found the Egyptian book of the Dead and I found out that the Egyptian God Horus was an almost identical twin of the Christian super hero Jesus Christ. I found ancient Sumer and discovered Puma Punku, the Aztecs, Mayans and the American Indians. Myths and religions and religions and myths. I couldn’t get enough. I questioned authority and I couldn’t stop. I was addicted and still am–to knowledge.

As a writer of science fiction and an artist of science fiction I needed to eat this info. I could not settle for what had been told to me like others around me. I needed more. I was not a sheep like Pink Floyd sang about in their album Animals, nor did I want to settle for the safety of a small town, a white picket fence, a stupid wife and several different kinds of addictions. I wanted more.

Do you know who you are, what you are and why you exist?  I don’t.

Do you ever ask yourself these questions? Have you ever thought that what you’ve been told about your God, your existence and your history– is not the full truth? That there si more out there, waiting for you to find it?

A great philosopher, thinker and researcher by the name of Jordan Maxwell once said, “Always trust a person looking for the truth, don’t ever trust the one who’s found it.”

Timothy Leary was one of the people you could trust. He was a Harvard professor who fought the system, thought for himself and had the balls to tell the world about it. Yes he advocated the use of LSD but so what. His message was much greater than that. He encouraged people to expand their minds beyond the hum drum garbage of everyday life. He wanted you to think beyond the propaganda you’re gagged with every day, online, on TV and on the radio–and on the streets. Leary wanted you to just THINK!

Here is a great message by the late great Timothy Leary.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So my point is this: If your life was to end tomorrow, do you feel like you’re satisfied with what you’ve done– the intellectual knowledge you’ve attained and the spiritual answers you’ve received over the course of your life? Have you settled for knowledge and not sought the answers yourself? Do you understand the answers you’ve settled for, where they came from and the roots of those teachings? If you’ve said NO to any of these, then read more Timothy Leary and others like him. THINK FOR YOURSELF, QUESTION AUTHORITY.

Thank you Mr. Leary. I appreciate what you did for me and the influence you’ve had on my life and my work. R.I.P. As I continue to write my own modern mythical tale for mankind to heed it’s warnings, the words of wisdom spoken by Timothy Leary, are a theme resonating throughout the book.

- Hef

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Some more quotes by Timothy Leary:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

My advice to people today is as follows: if you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.
I’ve left specific instructions that I do not want to be brought back during a Republican administration.

Civilization is unbearable, but it is less unbearable at the top.

If you don’t like what you’re doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.

In the information age, you don’t teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he’d have a talk show.

Learning how to operate a soul figures to take time.
Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.
Science is all metaphor.

The universe is an intelligence test.
We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. But they’ve got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go.

Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.

You can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.

You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind.

My Boy Dan LuVisi has done it! After a crazy bidding war with several major studios, LMS has landed at Paramount. I have been along for the ride for this since day 1 and I even get a mention and thank you in the book–which I greatly appreciate. But I’ve seen this deal explode in the last month and it has been amazing.

I’m very proud of Dan and a big congrats to all parties involved including Kevin Eastman of Heavy Metal and Executive Producer Stephan Lokotsch. These are great guys that have worked very hard and it’s a nice reminder that good things really do happen to good people.

I’m next bitches!