In Silent Passage - Text and Visual Art by Chris DeRobertis (Dero)

Artist	Title(s)
Masterplan	Novum Initium (Digipak Limited Edition)
Stryper	No More Hell to Pay
Celldweller	Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol 03 Chapter 01 Zombie Killer (MP3 EP) Blackstar Act One: Purified Original Score (MP3 EP)
Queensrÿche	Queensrÿche (Deluxe)
James LaBrie	Impermanent Resonance (Digipak Limited Edition)
Abnormal Thought Patterns	Manipulation Under Anesthesia
Joe Satriani	Unstoppable Momentum
Fates Warning	Darkness in a Different Light (Limited Edition)

Honorable Mentions

Anup Sastry, Ghost
The Omega Experiment, The Omega Experiment

Favorite Albums Released Prior to 2013, but Purchased in 2013

Masterplan, Aeronautics (Deluxe Edition) and Back for My Life (EP)
Ark, Burn the Sun

Favorite Album Artwork (from titles in previous entries)

Masterplan, Novum Initium
Stryper, No More Hell to Pay
Fates Warning, Darkness in a Different Light

Favorite Albums Rediscovered in 2013

Overkill, From the Underground and Below
Queensrÿche, The Warning
Synaethesia, Desideratum

About

In the early to mid 1990s I wrote and edited an Internet-distributed music newsletter, called Sonic Verse™ (SV), which also included original creative writings.

Many years have passed since I put the newsletter on hold, but the time was right to resurrect SV and its spirit: to highlight the music, artists, and associated elements that I enjoy (e.g. album cover artwork).

Going forward, SV entries will crop-up at insilentpassage.com from time-to-time, along with a few twists and tendrils related to the concept of "sonic verse."

P.S. The seeds for the resurrection of SV were sown in the post, "In Mental Streams" (April 2009), and in posts containing the label "soundtrack."

// Friday, December 27, 2013

Satyricon Vantas Immorti

Satyricon Vantas Immorti
A Study of Negative Space

-click image for larger version-

Another Today's Tendril...

When a unicorn farts, does it smell like cotton candy?

Unsurprised

"It's the unsnowiest winter ever."

That's what I remember hearing. Or maybe overhearing. I don't actually remember when I heard it, where I heard it, or the context in which it was made, but I do remember hearing it—and thinking, "unsnowiest"? Really?!?

Here's hoping that an unusually cloudy and cool summer will prompt someone to say "it's the unsunniest summer e-ver."

Humans say the darnedest things.

I'm not surprised.

Or is that unsurprised?

8^)

Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Q: How did we describe the shifts in emotional states before the advent of roller coasters?

A: Pendulums. Tides. Spirits and superstitions.

// Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Just for Fun 6: Onel (Christmas 2013)

Just for Fun 6: Onel Image 1 - Christmas 2013 Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved. insilentpassage.com

Just for Fun 6: Onel Image 2 - Christmas 2013 Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved. insilentpassage.com

// Sunday, December 22, 2013

Last Train to the North Pole

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// Saturday, December 21, 2013

Today's Tendril...

Q: What separates the defiant from the compliant?

A: Tolerance. Complacency. Philosophy. Tenacity. Drive. Fear. Vision.

// Sunday, December 15, 2013

Theragon Tangelis

Theragon Tangelis A

Theragon Tangelis B

Theragon Tangelis C

// Sunday, December 08, 2013

Today's Tendril...

Clever is relative.

Clueless is universal.

// Saturday, November 30, 2013

Prelude to Revelation

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// Thursday, November 28, 2013

Today's Tendril...

Gray Thursday. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. The marketeers and commercial elves (goblins?) are working overtime.

The holiday season has become yellow and green, as in the yellow of greed and the green of money.

Faith. Hope. Love. That's what it's all about—lest we forget and become consumed with consumption.

// Friday, November 08, 2013

Today's Tendril...

Hashtag (#) — the new bulletin board.

Who knew?

Tendrils Brick Separator Copyright 2012 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved. insilentpassage.com

Tendrils Brick Separator Copyright 2012 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved. insilentpassage.com

Yea: #connectingpeopleplacesthingsonehashtagatatime

Nay: #enoughwiththehashtagsalready

// Thursday, November 07, 2013

Today's Tendril...

"Marginal success," "partial success," or "a little success" is just a failure with a really good PR team.

// Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Characters Within (Interis Dieagolis) 2

"Details are fickle things," said the perfectionist.

"Only to the obsessive and the compulsive," replied the free spirit.

"You're both wrong," said the pendulum.

"Would all of you please pipe down? I'm working here," said the hand that writes.

Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

This text composition is a work of fiction. Names, places, institutions, events, incidents, characters, persons, locations, and/or organizations either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Full Creative Writing Disclaimer.

// Sunday, November 03, 2013

Three Tendrils for Today

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Tweaked 2013.11.04

// Monday, October 28, 2013

A Letter to Elanor

Loveliest Elanor,

The moments we shared at the Autumn Festival were the happiest of my life.

We talked. We ate. We laughed. We danced. You smiled. I melted. Time vanished.

It broke my heart to leave you before we enjoyed the last dance of the evening, but I could not be within sight of you when the Harvest Moon reached the highest point in the sky.

And it is not the sight of you that caused me to disappear, for I could stare into your beauty for a thousand lifetimes.

I left because I am not the man you believe me to be and I could not bear to have you see me as I really am.

If all goes as I have planned, then I will return to you on All Hallows' Eve and we will be together again and always.

If not, then know that I did everything that I could to escape Abbot's Cornfield, but that its magic was stronger than what I—a lowly scarecrow given human form for a day—could break.

And if I never return to you in flesh and blood, then I pray that this letter, and my spirit, find their way to you...as the crow flies.

Eternally yours,

Solan

About

// Saturday, October 26, 2013

Hallo'd Lore

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About

// Wednesday, October 16, 2013

As the Crow Flies

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// Saturday, October 12, 2013

I Take My Leave

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// Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Today's Tendril...

If your life is in constant need of a safety net, then you should reconsider your choice of activities and mental proclivities.

// Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Through the Dark

// Sunday, October 06, 2013

Voiceless

Without words I am voiceless,
And my eyes can only take the conversation so far.

And if only the hand on your cheek were the hand on your heart,
Then my touch would speak in a tongue only lovers understand.

These words, this paper, are all that remains of a conversation that I thought would never know an end.

All is now still.

My words have no refrain.

I am voiceless—and still.

And still I carry on...without you.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Three Tendrils on Epiphany

Epiphany is usually a light in the dark.

Every once in a while, it's a dark cloud with a silver lining.

Epiphany is one part "I" and one part "any," as in: The I of any moment can bring about life changes—for better or for worse.

Brevity does not always bring clarity.

Sometimes the epiphany comes at the end of a long and complex journey through the jungle of verbosity, where vines of reason twist and entwine, and a machete clears the clutter of incremental logic.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Characters Within (Interis Dieagolis) 1

"I'm swimming in tears," said Regret.

"And well you should," said Conscience.

"I wasn't thinking, OK," snapped Regret.

"Sadly, you never do," quipped Conscience, a bit exasperated.

"Why is that? Why don't I take a breath or a pause and figure out how to be free from the grip of the here-and-now," said a demoralized Regret, with a clear indication that the question was rhetorical.

Nevertheless, Conscience replied, "You get that from the Impulse side of the family. That's why God included me as part of the human equation."

Conscience added, "If it helps, you may think of me as a ghost—the Ghost of Actions Past and Consequences Future."

"That doesn't help at all," sobbed Regret.

"Oh, it will. Trust me, it will. You just don't see it yet," said Conscience with a comforting smile.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.