I’d gotten stuck on an outline. I’d written myself into a corner. I saw the final scenes, clear as day. I knew the final scene inside and out. The problem was… I didn’t know how to get there. I’d reached a point, maybe sixty percent of the way into the story, where I couldn’t “see”Continue reading “On Working It Out”
On the Ultimate Time Waster
I learned to do something amazing and remarkable last weekend. I figured out how to use Audacity to create OOPS music tracks. OOPS? you say. What’s that? you ask. OOPS stands for “Out of Phase Stereo.” It’s a way of flipping one channel of a stereo music track, to create a new, third stereo musicContinue reading “On the Ultimate Time Waster”
On Things I’ve Been Reading
Let’s look at a comics I just picked up today. Ender’s Game: Battle School #1 Marvel Comics Written by Christopher Yost (based on Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game) Illustrated by Pasqual Ferry I can tell you when and where I was when I first read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. It was Thanksgiving weekend,Continue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”
On the Morning Brain Teaser
We have brain teasers e-mailed to us at work now. This morning’s question? A certain number consists of two digits. The number is equal to five times the sum of its digits. If you add 9 to the number, the order of its digits is reversed. What is the number? How do we solve this?Continue reading “On the Morning Brain Teaser”
On Photos of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes
So, I’ve just seen photos of Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes from Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film. Now, obviously, Holmes never held a Starbucks cup in 1895. This is probably the “cleanest” of the photos, without directors, Starbucks coffee cups, or boom mics. Now, I have a lot of faith in Downey as an actor.Continue reading “On Photos of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes”
On Games and Nostalgia
Dear GameStop employees, You can blame me. It’s my fault. No, really, it is. kthxbye! Oh, wait. You’re wanting me to explain that, aren’t you? You bounder, you cheat! Well, okay then. I was at the mall this afternoon. I was looking for the new issue of MOJO at Borders. Mostly I wanted the secondContinue reading “On Games and Nostalgia”
On Writing and Bloggery
Sometimes I have bonkers story ideas. And sometimes those bonkers ideas need to… germinate. In July I had one of those ideas. It was a neat hook, but where does one go with it? I batted it around, I tried a couple of different angles, and earlier this week I figured out how to crackContinue reading “On Writing and Bloggery”
On John McCain and his Mob
Frank Schaeffer, the author of Crazy for God writes in today’s Baltimore Sun that the John McCain/Sarah Palin political rallies “are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.” Jonathan Martin of Yahoo! News writes that among Republicans there is “belief that taking out Obama is the only way to win.” The WallContinue reading “On John McCain and his Mob”
On the BBC’s HMS Surprise
For people, like myself, enchanted with the Age of Fighting Sail, the BBC is broadcasting online a radio dramatization of HMS Surprise, the second book in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin series of novels, on Afternoon Play. It’s 1804, the Napoleonic Wars are in full swing, and Lucky Jack Aubrey is back at sea! It’sContinue reading “On the BBC’s HMS Surprise”
On Planetariums and John McCain’s Short-Sightedness
When I was younger, my father used to take me, my brother, and my sister to the planetarium on a regular basis. I loved it. Lean back in the chair, look up at the presentation, and learn something about the universe we live in. My interest in astronomy was kindled by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. TheContinue reading “On Planetariums and John McCain’s Short-Sightedness”