Archive for July 22, 2008
The windows must close…
July 22, 2008…keeps the AC in, dontcha know.
New to the blogosphere: the easy to remember Tor.com and the "what does this name mean?" Suvudu.com. But Zuda still sounds sillier.
Status games, and how to avoid low-status negative behaviors.
James Elroy Flecker and The Golden Journey To Samarkand. For lust of knowing what should not be known.
Interviews with Garry Trudeau and George Carlin — apparently his last one.
In honor of the release of The X-Files movie, self-bondage accidental deaths. Paging Fox Mulder…
The indecency fine against CBS for the Janet Jackson nip slip has been thrown out.
And finally, a blog beg: Anybody know why I can’t send outgoing verizon.net mail on my Optimum cable line? It’s really ticking me off.
I’ll probably never need this, but just in case…
July 21, 200810 things you should never say to a tall woman.
Usually I say, "It’s so refreshing to meet a woman who’s a nice normal height."
Dennis O’Neil on writing what you know
July 15, 2008Over at the day job on ComicMix, Dennis O’Neil dispenses the best writing advice you might get today:
Stan’s first sentence – “Write about things you know” – may be familiar to those of you who’ve taken formal creative writing courses. I heard it, years ago, and I always thought it didn’t apply to what I did for a living. I mean, I have to confess that I’ve never, ever waited on a foggy rooftop for a grotesquely deformed madman to approach me with murderous intent. Not even once. But if I’ve never written that particular scene, I’ve written plenty like it.
Yet, the write-what-you-know shibboleth is applicable, in a limited way and maybe at one remove, to the production of the fantasy melodrama us superheroists traffick in. The trick might be to write your own fantasies. If you dream of godlike powers, maybe Superman is your fellah. If you dream of mastering technology, check out Iron Man. If the Atom is your favorite…well, you might have self-esteem issues.
Go forth and find what you know and what you want to write about. Or put another way: tell the story you want to know.
On the road again and again and again
July 9, 2008Sheesh. Back from Italy, off to Chicago for Wizard World last week. Back from that, over to friends for the 4th. This weekend, off to Shore Leave as a guest and to leave a pint of blood behind. Then two weeks after that, off to San Diego Comic Con. Then two weeks after that, off to Connecticut for a wedding. And doing lots of stuff now so I can get myself up to Westchester tomorrow.
Yipes.
When I get a few minutes, I’ll post all these open window links, in the meantime, talk among yourselves.