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Worth a Thousand Words (Plus the Speed of Light in Parsecs per Month, Times Pi, Divided by Planck’s Constant, to the ith Power…)
Per Tim O’Reilly, on Twitter… To quote the site where he found it: To all of you nerds and geeks who — like me — have been unfairly and inaccurately labeled “dorks,” only to then exhaustively explain the differences among the three to a more-than-skeptical offender, I say: You’re welcome. The simple eloquence of colored [...]
Beating Yourself to Death?
[Image above: Peter Kubik's UFO shaped electronic drums, as featured at the Yanko Design site. The Yanko site says, "This electronic drum produces lighted impressions of your hand in psychedelic colors as it strikes the surface."] When it comes to storytelling, are you a mechanic or a gardener? A little of both? Or something else [...]
Laughing All the Way
From whiskey river: Hiding in a Drop of Water It is early morning, and death has forgotten us for a while. Darkness owns the house, but I am alive. I am ready to praise all the great musicians. Whatever happens to me will also happen to you. Surely you must have realized this from hearing [...]
Apostrophizing the Enemy
[Image at right from the Celestial Heavens/Might and Magic site] In a comment the other day over at the Querulous Squirrel’s treetop lair, I ad-libbed a suggestion for people facing what are commonly called “nervous breakdowns”: name them. Please forgive the self-citation (which feels to me like a breach of Interweb etiquette): Every “nervous breakdown” [...]
LitFic: Online Resources
The other day, Moonrat replied to a question about the acceptability of collections of “linked” short stories: stories united by a common theme, cast of characters, whatever. Along the way, she wondered what the state of short fiction in general might be, in these days when writers seem so focused on books.* (The comments surprised [...]
Paying Attention to Voice
I may never have to master anything more difficult than thinking, and thinking convincingly, like multiple characters. It’s not just a matter of the word choices and rhythms of their dialogue (although it includes that). And it’s not just a matter of the outward manifestations of their natures — gender, style of dress, and so [...]
Trouble Hearing
[Image: Toothpaste for Dinner, June 3, 2007] From whiskey river: People write letters to me from heaven, but I’m not listening. The hermit said: “Because the world is mad, the only way through the world is to learn the arts and double the madness.” Are you listening? (Robert Bly, “Listening”1) …and (italicized portion): We like [...]
Real-Life Dialogue (EDT Edition)
[The scene: a suburban home situated somewhere in the (US) Eastern time zone. It is a mild, sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-March, and He and She are seated at their respective computers on opposite sides of a low wall, enjoying the sunshine when they remember to look out a window.] She: [From her side of [...]
Fill in the Blanks: Win an Oscar
(Hat tip to Denise Doyen, in a comment at the Seven Impossible Things blog.)
Unfinished Business
From whiskey river: A Way to Look at Things We have not yet made shoes that fit like sand Nor clothes that fit like water Nor thoughts that fit like air. There is much to be done – Works of nature are abstract. They do not lean on other things for meanings. The sea-gull is [...]
