The Hero's Blog

 The True Connection Between Alan Wake and Thomas Zane-Remedy Connected Universe Did Thomas Zane create Alan Wake? Did Alan Wake create Thomas Zane? Is Zane Alan's long-lost father? Many gamers and digital content creators have been debating this issue for years since the original game Alan Wake came out in 2010.  Well, you can all stop guessing. The evidence has been in front of us the entire time. In fact, it's all spelled out in the first hour of the game.  Tom Zane didn't create Alan Wake. He's not Alan's long-lost father, and no, he's not some paranatural entity ret-conned into existence by the events of the game CONTROL.  Isn't it obvious? Tom Zane IS Alan Wake!   To be more specific, Tom Zane, aka Thomas Seine, is a self-insertion of an author into the continuing story he's been writing since 2010. In-game, that author is Alan Wake. In real life, however, that author is Remedy Entertainment's Creative Director Sam Lake, himself.  But, for sto...

 My Live Stream: Hard Habit To Break (Chicago Cover) Back in 2016,  I went through a phase of starting to record songs, but never finishing them. About a month ago, I pulled a couple of Logic Pro X projects out of the vault and decided to finish them up on my YouTube live stream. First, I started with a Journey cover song, then I moved over to finishing up a cover of a Chicago cover song: Hard Habit To Break.  This song originally appeared on the album Chicago 17 back in 1984, and was produced by David Foster. It was written by Steve Kipner and John Parker. It was major hit for the band. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was played in heavy rotation on both radio and MTV. It featured dual lead vocals between Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin.  Skipping ahead to 2016, I decided to record a cover of this song because I'd been doing a vocal impression of Peter Cetera, mostly for fun, since I was about 16 years old. I wanted to see how well I could replicate...

 Joseph Hero: Back To The Music After a considerable delay (of over 6 years), I've decided to start making music again.  I've been dusting off my music production skills on a YouTube live stream, producing and recording cover versions of songs by various artists. I had some project files in Logic Pro that I started on years ago that I figured I'd finish up, adding drums, guitars, and vocals where ever I can.  If you're interested, you can catch my live stream on my YouTube channel here:  https://www.youtube.com/@JosephHero1000iz/ So far, I've dusted off a cover of Journey's Feelin' That Way I'd started in 2016. I had only made it as far as sequencing the piano part. Over the past few weeks, I added the drums, a bass line, and the guitar parts, both rhythm and lead. After that I added lead and background vocals. I also did some work on a cover of a Beach Boys Tune, and also a cover of a tune from a band called Ace. If you'd like to see/hear how I did ...

 Garlic Supplements: Do they Work? Garlic Supplements: Do they work? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Garlic has been found to have anti-inflammatory effects, as well as anti-cancer and anti-oxidant effects. If you’re a male over 40, it’s a good idea to start taking garlic supplements for prostate health. Once a man hits 40, his testosterone levels start to gradually drop at an estimated rate of 1% per year, which can indirectly cause his DHT levels to increase. DHT, or dihydrotestosterone, is a by-product of the testosterone metabolic process, is more powerful than testosterone, but also has some inherently harmful effects, unfortunately. When DHT attaches to hair follicles on top of the head, it kills the hair follicle over time, causing the hair to fall out permanently, resulting in male pattern baldness. When DHT collects in the prostate gland, it causes the prostate to enlarge over time, and can cause malignant tissue to proliferate inside the gland, causing prostate cancer. Al...

Should I Index Paginations on Google? My Contribution to the World of Search Engine Optimization Blogging Note: This blog posting deals with the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you're here for my latest music post, go here . If you're here for my latest recipe, click here .       Those pesky paginations: extensions of your home page, archive pages, and other pages that tend to gather a lot of posts and entries over time. I usually refer to paginations as “page 2’s”, because they start with page 2, 3, etc. They usually look like this:“www.website.com/page/2”, and they can get numerous, if you publish a lot of content. I found out the hard way that it’s possible to incur algorithmic penalties on Google, etc., if your “page 2’s” contain a lot of thin or duplicate content. To address this, you either have to go and optimize the content on each individual page (which can range in the thousands), delete a whole bunch of links, posts, etc. If you don’t have a ...

 Strut Your Stuff (A Love Letter to Van Halen) Verse 1: I'd risk it all For your call But I'd have to get in line Six feet tall You have it all Oh my stars you look so...(fine) Bridge: All of the boys want to see ya All of the girls want to be ya Oh my oh my, can't refuse ya When you walk by, I just lose my mind Chorus: You're turning heads up and down the street every time when you Strut Your Stuff.  Everybody has their eyes on you when you strut your stuff. Verse 2: You don't play Legs for days I could get lost in your eyes I love your walk The way you talk You got your pick of any guy Bridge: All of the boys want to see ya All of the girls want to be ya Oh my oh my, can't refuse ya When you walk by, I just lose my mind Chorus: You're turning heads up and down the streets every time when you Strut Your Stuff.  Everybody has their eyes on you when you strut your stuff. Traffic stopping as you walk down the street 'cause you strut your stuff. You're ...

 B-Major (We're Not In Love Anymore) (My attempt at a "Chicago" song) I miss you oh, so badly I feel alone, so sadly 'cause we're not in love anymore We're not in love anymore I miss your touch, so sweetly I hide it so discreetly that we're not in love anymore We're not in love anymore I long to long for you I long to long for you We've been together for too long, it seems We don't fulfill each other's goals or dreams because we're not in love anymore We're not in love anymore I really miss the way we hold each other closely But now we never, ever touch each other, mostly  'cause we're not in love anymore We're not in love anymore I long to long for you I long to long for you The Backstory      I wrote this song in the spring of 2007. Lyrically, it's pretty much what you think it's about: a breakup......and yeah, we broke up......🙄      Musically, I wanted to write a song in the style of 1970's Chicago, comp...

 The Hardest Part of Wanting You The hardest part of wanting you Is having to pretend I don’t Wanting you with me  Needing to be beside you Yearning to be inside your soul The hardest part of burning for you is never having a chance Wishing you with me Falling inside my feelings Feeling the burning in my soul  Why am I so tortured with my thoughts of you? Am I supposed to come out with my feelings about you? Oh, why can’t I accept that we aren’t to be? And how can I go on each day without you by me? The Backstory      This song started as a project for a graduate class I was taking in 2017. I was supposed to generate a piece of original artwork and write about how it relates to the course content. The class I was taking was meant for visual art majors, but I was a music production major, so I had to make sure it was okay with my instructor to write and produce a song for the assignment. She enthusiastically approved my request, so I went to w...

  Der Kommissar: Which Version is Definitive? My Connection to the Song Back in 1983, I was attending 6th grade in a Catholic school, which I absolutely hated, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. There was this song that girls used to sing that I hadn’t heard on the radio yet, but because of these loudmouth girls I was in class with, all I heard in my head for 3 months was “Don’t turn around, uh oh! Your pants are fallin’ down, uh oh!”. It drove me nuts. At the end of the school year, my mom came and got me and my sister, and we all moved to Louisiana, where I got to attend an actual normal public school again. Louisiana is where I got to experience MTV, Music Television for the first time. That’s where I got to see a proper presentation of After The Fire’s “Der Kommissar”, in which I finally got to hear the lyrics sung right” “Don’t turn around, uh oh! Der Kommissar’s in town, uh oh!”. Little did I know that within a month, I would find out that those weren’t actually th...

 Big Steak Omelette Casserole Recipe (Featuring Lipton Onion Soup Potatoes)     This is the classic Lipton Onion Soup Potatoes recipe married to my favorite item to order from IHOP: The Big Steak Omelette! I got the idea to do this last week, when I needed to stretch a dollar and feed myself for a couple of nights. I had a ribeye steak that I wanted to do something different with, and that’s when I came up with the idea of essentially turning it into a breakfast taco. Ingredients:  1 Envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix 6-8 medium gold potatoes, cut into medium-bite-sized chunks 1/3 cup olive oil 1 ribeye steak 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheddar blend) 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 4 large eggs 1 tablespoon heavy cream Kosher salt and pepper to taste Mild, Medium, or Hot Salsa Flour Tortillas      This is the classic Lipton Onion Soup Potatoes recipe married to my favorite item to order from IHOP: The Big Steak Omelette! I got the idea to d...

 The Dream (The Thousand Eyes) The Start: it all began with a smile and a hello. The Eyes: they couldn't tear themselves away from the sight. The Words: they had a flow of their own with a rhythm. The Smile: it made a bright and sunny day in the night. The Nerves: it's time to make a move. It's now or never. The "In": oh, is the answer yes or no? The Touch: it was a shock to the system indeed The Kiss: so soft and sweet, it lasted a while The Night: it was electric, and the passion was wild The Day: they couldn't get each other out of their minds The Like: it's always good to be friends before lovers The Love: you couldn't take the love away..... (solo) The Truth: oh was it really much too good to be true The Tears: the tears of joy from a love like no other The Head: it's trying to tell you that something was wrong The Mind: it's trying to turn the fantasy into the real  The Heart: it's beating quickly as it senses the end The End: it only...

Tom Savini and Tony Todd, Discussion about Robert Rodriguez 10-21-18 Tom Savini , acclaimed director, actor, and makeup artist, talks about his experiences working with Robert Rodriguez at a local comic book convention event.  Tom Savini directed the 1990 re-make of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead . He appeared as the character Sex Machine in From Dusk Till Dawn , written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez . He also appeared in 2007’s Planet Terror , written by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino , and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Planet Terror was part of a suite of movies known collectively as Grindhouse . In this particular movie, Mr. Savini played Deputy Tolo.  Working frequently with Robert Rodriguez, Mr. Savini also appeared in Rodriguez’s  Machete (2010) as Osiris Amanpour, a hit man who was hired to kill the main character, played by Danny Trejo. Not coincidentally, the full movie of Machete was based on a mo...

Former Journey Singer Steve Perry's Return to Music In October of 2018, completely by surprise, former Journey frontman and vocalist Steve Perry released his first album of original material since 1994! Nobody saw it coming, not even me! I was totally  convinced we were never going to hear Steve Perry sing, again.  I've been a fan of Journey since I was little kid. My mom had Journey's "Departure" album on cassette tape, back in the early '80's, and she used to listen to "Walks Like a Lady" over and over again. She wore the tape out so much, that it pretty much became unplayable, squeaking and screeching like a dying rodent, whenever we played it.  I think I still have my mom's "Departure" cassette, somewhere.  This video is about the release of Steve Perry's 2018 release "Traces", a collection of 10 very personal songs dealing with the death of his love,  Dr. Kellie Nash, who passed away of breast cancer in December o...

Hero’s Chicken Milanese Sandwich on Garlic Bread (Recipe) Chicken Ingredients:  6 thin-sliced chicken breasts 1 cup breadcrumbs, Italian-style 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 2 Eggs 1 cup milk Fresh-ground pepper to taste Vegetable or olive oil for pan-frying Sauce Ingredients: 1 can (15 oz.) crushed tomatoes 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp honey 4-5 whole garlic cloves, peeled 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp water 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper Garlic Bread Ingredients: 2 loaves French or Italian bread 6-8 garlic cloves, crushed 4 tbsp butter, melted 4 tbsp olive oil 6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese Chopped parsley, dried or fresh The Sandwich Toppings: Grated mozzarella cheese Grated parmesan cheese Directions: Part I:  The Sauce: In a saucepan or skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat. Add the whole garlic cloves, and cook for 1-2 minutes, o...

Hero’s Italian Sausage and Peppers Sandwich (Recipe) Hero's Italian Sausage and Peppers Sandwich 2 lbs. ground sweet Italian sausage 1 lb. ground beef Salt and pepper to taste 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped 1 large yellow or red onion, chopped 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 can (15 oz.) crushed tomatoes 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp honey 4-5 whole garlic cloves, peeled 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp water 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 8 sub rolls Sliced provolone cheese Grated mozzarella cheese Grated parmesan cheese Sauce:  In a saucepan or skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat. Add the whole garlic cloves, and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until soft. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper, stir, and heat for 1 minute. Add the sugar and...