So it’s May 6th and it’s time for my annual birthday review…three months late.  Crazy how this newsletter has evolved since I began it eight years ago as I left college.  What started as a quarterly update turned gradually into yearly intentions, and not it’s a struggle just to keep that afloat.  Entropy is crazy […]

So this is the last year of my twenties.  Does that mean anything?  Should that mean anything?  It doesn’t have to, but I want to attribute meaning to it.  As much as I lament the passing of time – of there never being enough of it up hit your ideal objective – the mile markers […]

So my goals and accomplishments review is coming a little later this year than normal.  In fact, my life updates in general for the Mike Varley Plain Dealer have come to a halt for over a year now.  I kept waiting for certain events to finish before I’d write one and another one would come […]

Hello All, This Saturday will be the public debut of “Our Electric Tethers,” a mixed media canvas piece I’ve been working on since June of last year.  The work will be on display at the Crest Hardware Art Show and Festival June 18th from 1-7pm.  Crest is located at 558 Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn, right […]

Hey all,   Before we get to part three of the year in review email, I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to keep up with my creative pursuits.  Your participation in these emails, silent or vocal, helps me both to take stock of my progress and remind me that I […]

Continuing with Part II of the first Plain Dealer of the year, here are what I consider the accomplishments of my past birth year: . The Accomplishments of 26 . 1.  The Art Exhibitions – For perhaps the first time in my artistic life, opportunities fell into my lap and I took advantage of them.  One […]

Hello All, . Welcome to another edition of the Mike Varley Plain Dealer.  It’s that time of year again: the end of one birth year and the start of another.  With each birthday issue of the MVPD, I like to review the goals of the previous year, take stock of accomplishments and create some objectives for the year to […]

Hey all, A few weeks ago, filmmaker Darin Quan and I collaborated on a short film called Surrender, with Darin shooting and editing and me playing the main character.  It shows the phone wranglings of one man with his health insurance company.  You can find the film here.  To see more of Darin’s work, visit his website […]

For the first time in my ten years working at the nursing home, I went to the wake of a resident. Many residents have passed that I’ve felt closer to than kin, but I.B. was the first one to prompt me to pay respects. She had known me since I was sixteen.  She loved the […]

Hello all, I’m pleased to debut today “To the Basic Cable Faithful,” a video-essay chronicling the events of the John Stewart/Stephen Colbert “Rally to Restore Sanity” that took place Saturday, October 30th on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  The piece is a collaboration between myself and architect/filmmaker Mickey Benson, with important contributions from filmmaker […]