Date: April 26th 2009

Hi!

Carl King here...

You may know me as Sir Millard Mulch or Dr. Zoltan... or one of many other fake internet personas over the past decade. If you don't want any more emails, just click on the unsubscribe link (found somewhere above or below) and you won't hear from me again.

As always, things change. I am a person who embraces growth, so I like to change, too.

I have a few things to brag about:

• I finally deleted all of those obnoxious Dr. Zoltan videos from YouTube. It's no longer my "responsibility" to annoy troubled youth with critical messages. I was receiving far too many threats of violence and illiterate negativity every day, and I realized that it is no longer of any use in my life to stir up trouble. Especially with a demographic / culture that I no longer have any interest in. It's not my battlefield anymore. Come on, I'm almost 34. Why should Tool be on my radar AT ALL? What a waste of energy! I am unsure of what the future of Dr. Zoltan's multi-media character / brand will be. One thing is for sure, I won't be peddling any more toxic, negative trash. I certainly won't miss attracting cynical, critical, bitter people who think I am the most awesome jerk in the universe.

• I'm working in a new music composition partnership with my old friend, Steve Cox, from Orlando, Florida. Steve is an orchestration wizard, and I am doing my best to keep up with him. (He did all the orchestra stuff on the Emily Dickinson album.) It feels great to be put in a position where I can do what I feel I am really good at... which is rock rhythm section. We're combining our skills / talents and licensing our tracks to commercials and TV shows. You can hear some of the things we are doing here: http://www.aktuator.com. (Let me know what you think of my impersonation of Rage Against The Machine.)

• As of right now, I have 30 minutes of music completed for the Dr. Zoltan record known as, "Why I Am So Wise, Why I Am So Clever, And Why I Write Such Good Songs." It includes a really creative and energetic appearance by drummer Marco Minnemann -- he delivered about 20 minutes of drum tracks to me last year. I've also employed Drumkit From Hell quite a bit on the production of this record. Many other ideas haven't made their way into finalized, mixed tracks, but the goal is to eventually release about an hour worth of material. I started writing and recording the album with the help of my friend John La Grou, way back in mid-2007. I am only working on this when I am truly inspired, so it is taking a while -- the sessions are intermittent. I have the intention of turning all of the piano playing over to Lalle Larsson.

• For the past year, I have been offering my creative / technical services to other artists, and I have found that process to be extremely rewarding. I've done a lot of websites and video editing for artists, filmmakers, small businesses, actors, mad scientists, et cetera. I've learned a lot of techniques in the process, and it has allowed me to stay out of a day job! You can see what I am doing with that over at http://www.carlkingcreative.com.

• If you are addicted to depression and misery, get some help right away and don't waste any more time making yourself and everyone else you know sad and confused. You'll only invite disease and sickness into your life -- these things come on their own time, and there is no reason to speed up the process. Everything you do either contributes to health and goodness or moves you closer to suffering and death. Decide which side you are on TODAY (pick the good side if you aren't sure) and get to work on fixing things. An organism that willingly inflicts misery on itself is insane. Stop making bad decisions and take care of your mind and body. Nothing is more important to your survival as an Earthling than your physical and mental health. Got it? OK!

• I've written a new book about creativity and am talking with an interested publisher about making it popular and "real." If things continue as they are going, you'll be able to find it in the major bookstores. If not, I'll publish it myself!

• I've decided that I am most definitely a spiritual person / being, and am going to go ahead and embrace that. I've seen and felt a lot of strange things in this world, and I've found that life improves dramatically when I embrace a more open connection with whatever that magical / divine / infinite part of life is. This will no doubt disappoint some of my atheist / Objectivist friends, but they can be sure I won't be doubting the use of mathematics and science to get things done during the day. For practical purposes, I've been living as an atheist for years, even though I know from my own perspective that there is more going on around here. This has directly led to my involvement with Freemasonry (I have been a Master Mason since 2004, for all you conspiracy theorists out there), as well as my interest in Taoism and the works of Whitley Strieber and other paranormal writers. I am not a fan of dogmatic religions that lead to millions of lower class men shooting each other i n the desert / jungle, but I am "open" to systems which help people to better themselves and learn about their spirituality. In my opinion, if Scientology works for you, then more power to you. (It certainly worked for Billy Sheehan, Chick Corea, and Dave Weckl, which are three of the most accomplished modern musicians alive.) To me, it's like Tarot Cards. You see what you need to see in them. Does it make your contribution to life better? Does it help you and others? The results are the important thing. That being said, I am here to align myself with whatever positive forces are available. I am going to do as much good as I can while I am here. If you have any questions about that, let me know. But I'm not here to argue.

• And last, but definitely NOT least, I have been working on developing an animated adventure series. This is the most exciting project I have going, and it has always been a dream of mine to combine audio, video, and writing into one art form. I recently spent a week straight (in a gigantic old Victorian "Second Empire" house in Connecticut) writing with my old friend, Mump-Dase. Mump is an obsessive collector of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, and it has been inspiring to work with him. So far, we have five episodes of the show written. We'll be moving into storyboarding soon. In the past few days I have been approaching Flash animators and mainstream animation studios so we can make this thing happen. If you know any great Flash animators who want to work on something crazy, let me know.

2008 was the best year of my life, and I am working on making 2009 even better.

I may or may not continue to use this mailing list for anything. We'll see!

If you'd like to keep in contact with me, you can find me at the following places:

carl@carlkingcreative.com
http://www.carlkingcreative.com
http://www.twitter.com/carlking
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=724831995