Imagine, for a moment, that Charles Dickens wrote URLs. For the non-technical, a URL is a website address. A “Universal Resource Locator.” I presume you’re reading this from http://www.allyngibson.net/, though there are other places and other ways you might have found your way here. But, again, let us suppose that Charles Dickens wrote URLs. WeContinue reading “On URLs as Written by Charles Dickens”
Monthly Archives: April 2009
On the Death of Earthworms
There were no earthworms on the sidewalks this morning. A few weeks ago, when spring’s showers began, I could have been forgiven for thinking that it was earthworms, not raindrops, that fell from the skies. The sidewalks, the two blocks from the light rail station to the blue skyscraper where I work, were as drownedContinue reading “On the Death of Earthworms”
On General Obliviousness
At work yesterday, two colleagues were talking loudly. I had my headphones on. I was writing marketing copy and studying pictures of Slave Leia outfits (work related, honest!). I heard, or I thought I heard, one of my colleagues say, “This is how The Stand began.” Naturally, I was curious. I dropped my headphones. “TheContinue reading “On General Obliviousness”
On the Weekend’s Writing
Someone visited my website today, using a Google search on the phrase “What if your doctor tells you your brain is mush?” Sadly, I am not a doctor, and I can’t tell you what will happen if your brain is, in fact, mush. I can’t imagine it’s anything good, if you do have a mushyContinue reading “On the Weekend’s Writing”
On My Writing Routine
I have a writing hat. As a writer, I have a routine, much like athletes have routines to put on their game face. For me, it involves putting on a beaten-up baseball cap. It’s a white baseball cap. Says “Richmond Baseball” on it. It has a blue bill. The only significance to it is thatContinue reading “On My Writing Routine”
On Committing Fiction
I’ve committed fiction. Okay, it’s just a start. It’s hardly complete, and there’s a long way — maybe seventy, eighty thousand words — left to go. Around Easter, an idea struck me. I saw the beginning. I saw the ending. It was the part in the middle that was fuzzy. The part in the middleContinue reading “On Committing Fiction”
On Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
I opened my e-mail inbox this morning to find a press release from BOOM! Studios. BOOM! is a comic book company out on the west coast, an up-and-coming publisher that does a bit of horror comics (zombies and Cthulhu), licensed Pixar comics (The Incredibles, Cars, that sort of thing), licensed television comics (Farscape and Eureka),Continue reading “On Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”
On Leisure Society and the Ivor Novello Award
Lately, I’ve had a rash of search hits, of various phrasings, looking for the lyrics to the Leisure Society’s song, “The Last of the Melting Snow.” I bought their album, The Sleeper, about a month ago, and I’ve really been taken by it. It’s my innate Anglophilia, no doubt. 🙂 The upswing in interest mayContinue reading “On Leisure Society and the Ivor Novello Award”
On My Grandmother and Grief
I read Slate pretty much every day. Well, when I type “read,” I mean I scan the headlines, and if something pops up that looks promising, I’ll take a look. I saw a headline today — “What Americans Don’t Understand About Grief.” It’s a series of articles, beginning back in February, in which Meghan O’RourkeContinue reading “On My Grandmother and Grief”
More on the End of Short Trips
On Friday I wrote about the end of Big Finish Productions’ Short Trips line of Doctor Who anthologies. The final volume in the series, Re:Collections, is coming out next month, and it will be a “best of” volume, featuring one story from each of the preceeding twenty-eight volumes. I found on Big Finish’s website thisContinue reading “More on the End of Short Trips”