Monday, December 6, 2010

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Winston Churchill

Aaaaannnd....that's it! This is the last post I will be making on this blog. It's early Monday morning, so technically, our last class is tonight; this blog has served its purpose.

To my fellow classmates, best of luck on your final projects, presentations, and so on. I'll be seeing you!

To anyone who wants more from me, remember that you can go to rogermarket.com to read my regular blog and drafts of my stories and essays, but also to access my hypertext narrative (the final project for this class). I will definitely continue to make updates to the website. I do have a personal Facebook account, and I'll accept you if I know you. For everyone else, because of this class, I now also have a public page that markets me as a writer/artist, so feel free to Like it (updates and changes are forthcoming). I also have a special Facebook page for my hypertext narrative; join that page in order to receive updates about the hypertext story and/or to provide feedback on it. I need all the help I can get to make it better.

Now, I bid adieu to Blogger.com for the time being.

"Pat Downs don’t want anything to do with your junk."

Chris Rodell, MSNBC

Apparently, airport pat-downs have caused a lot of controversy recently. And a lot of bad/amazing puns.

"What is not started today is never finished tomorrow."

Larry Elder

The semester's almost over. I'm putting the finishing touches on my paper for Electronic Publishing, and then I'll just have to print out my final poster designs, and mount them, for Typography. Yay! It's been an interesting semester, heavy on the publishing part of the M.F.A. degree, but I'll be glad to have some time off.

As evidenced by my previous posts, I've got lots of shows, movies, and books to watch/read during that time off, but I'm also going to be working, so that list may not be feasible. I've started a new job, so for the first time since August 2009, I'll be working full time (though it's commission-based). I'm also still working part time for O.T.S. at U.B., although I'll actually be working from home for a couple of weeks, updating the student lab assistant manual, and after that's done, I won't be working much for O.T.S. until February. Then there's the U.B. Post; I still plan on doing layout for the Post, in order to gain work experience in my field.

With all of this work going on, my career goal for 2010 is to make enough money that I'll actually end up having to pay taxes for my 2011 return. You see, I've never worked enough to have to pay; I've always gotten everything back on my tax return because I've never earned more than $7,000 in a year, which is below the limit for paying taxes. Although I'll end up losing part of my income to taxes if/when I meet this goal, at least I'll be making a living wage (and then some)! I just wish I could have found a full time job in my field; that's the next step.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

"Approximately 5.9 million U.S. adults own an eReader."

Paul Biba, TeleRead.com

I read an article the other day about e-readers. Apparently, ownership of electronic reading devices has soared from 2.1 million people (in the March to October period of 2009) to 5.9 million people (in the same period of 2010), an increase of about 180% in a year's time. Previously, male users outnumbered female users 56% to 44%, but now, the numbers have almost evened out, with men at 49% and women now in the lead at 51%, mirroring the world population. These numbers do not include tablet computers (i.e., iPads, netbooks, laptops, etc.), only dedicated e-readers.

And then tonight, I found out that one of my friends got a Kindle in October and likes it a lot.

Argh!

I know it's inevitable: soon enough, I'm going to be part of these statistics. But right now, I'm still resisting.

Monday, November 29, 2010

"So, that notion of hypertext seemed to me immediately obvious because footnotes were already the ideas wriggling, struggling to get free, like a cat trying to get out of your arms."

Ted Nelson

This evening, I decided to take Jenny up on her offer: instead of going to class to work, I worked from home. I write better when I'm not surrounded by other people who are working on their own things (and all different types of projects), talking, making computer noises, etc. Nothing against anyone in particular, I just work better in silence, or at least when I can control the noise around me (e.g., playing classical music).

That said, I didn't actually get started until about 9:00 p.m because I couldn't get motivated, but I did ultimately manage to finish the last two sections of my hypertext narrative. So, the first draft of the entire story is now live at www.rogermarket.com; just go there, and then click on Hypertext to get started. In making this narrative, I've come to realize one fatal flaw in using the frames method on my website: I can't link directly to the narrative, or any page other than the main page, for that matter. Oh well. Moving on...

I realize there are still a lot of problems with the story, but I wanted to get a basic framework. I hope it isn't unbearable. Anyway, I have set up a Facebook page for everyone (not just classmates but everyone) to interact with the story. Tell me what's wrong with it, what's right with it, if there's a broken link or typo, and so on.

I hope to mold this, over time, into a well-written, successful, meaningful hypertext narrative. But to do that, I'll need feedback along the way. When I make changes, I'll update the Facebook page so everyone knows. I'll also be sure to update the datestamp (if that's not a word, I'm making it one; there's such a thing as a timestamp, so why not a datestamp?) on the main page of the narrative every time I make changes. Right now, the latest update is 29 November 2010.

Now, I just have to write the 2- 3-page paper, and I'll be done with my work for this class!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

"There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read."

G.K. Chesteron

Here are some of the

BOOKS I'M THINKING ABOUT READING OVER BREAK

  • The Untelling by Tayari Jones
  • Between Camelots by David Harris Ebenbach
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker
  • Hard Times by Charles Dickens
  • Skeleton Key by Stephen King (already started it, though; short stories)

"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet."

Orson Welles

Here is my growing list of movies that I might watch over Christmas break. I'll start with

HOLIDAY CLASSICS AND MOVIES I'VE ALREADY SEEN

  • A Christmas Story
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon)
  • National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
  • National Lampoon's Vacation
  • Stranger Than Fiction
  • 3 Ninjas
And here are

MOVIES I HAVEN'T SEEN YET
  • Glue
  • Ju Dou
  • Fallen (seen part 1 but not the follow-ups)
  • Some Like It Hot
  • Gladiator
  • Planet of the Apes
  • Christine (only seen parts of it)
Does it annoy anyone else that Netflix takes movies/shows off of streaming for a while? Maybe the company needs a better server.

Books are coming up next!

"By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education.... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments."

Russell Baker

My last class for the semester will be on December 8, 2010, and after that, I'll have about 6.5 weeks off. We all will, in fact. Won't that be nice?

But right now, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do in that 6.5 weeks. Besides work, I have a growing list of TV shows, movies, books, and other things that I would like to focus on. There are several

SHOWS I HAVEN'T STARTED WATCHING YET

  • The Walking Dead
  • The Office (British version)
  • Hot in Cleveland
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender (seen a few random episodes)
  • Twin Peaks
And probably more that I can't even think of right now! But even with just that list, that's going to be a total of 120 episodes (83 of them half-hours, 37 of them hourlongs, for a grand total of 78.5 hours). That might last me a week or two, tops. There are also a couple of

SHOWS/SEASONS I WANT TO RE-WATCH
  • Spartacus: Blood and Sand (season 1)
  • True Blood (season 1)
That's 25 episodes, 25 hours. So, a few more days of viewing.

At top (but still socially reasonable) speed, I could get through all that in less than two weeks, but I'll probably try to make it last a little longer (and I may not even watch all of them; I may opt to watch more movies and read more books, so I can save a show or two for next summer). In any case, my TV and movie viewing list will probably last at least three or four weeks this Christmas break, maybe longer, especially because I'd like to try to do some reading in between shows/episodes/daily life. I also want to get back to playing Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time on my PS3. I had to quit playing when I moved downtown in August, and I never found time to get back to it, with school starting back up.

What are you going to be doing with your holiday break? Any special plans or to do/to watch/to play/to read lists?

Movies, books, and possibly more to come in future posts!

Monday, November 22, 2010

"You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out..."

– half the characters in A Christmas Story, telling Ralphie why he shouldn't ask for a gun

Justin and I have been together almost a year now. I met his mom, dad, and brother this past August. He met my mom and one of my sisters, who came for a visit, on November 11th. Now, on Thanksgiving, it's time to meet the rest of his family (the local ones, anyway). I'm not really nervous about it; they're people, just like my family. But it's going to be different.

In years past, I've known everyone (or at least almost everyone) at the Thanksgiving table, as I've usually been at home in Indiana. Two years ago, I spent Thanksgiving in London with Wabash College professors and classmates (my first-ever Thanksgiving not spent with family) because I was on an Immersion Trip for my senior seminar on Dickens and Hardy. We ate at a really good Italian place; it was a great time. And even last year, when I spent Thanksgiving at a (French) friend's place in Pennsylvania, where we had a raclette dinner (which was amazing, by the way), I knew 50-75% of the people beforehand.

This year, for the first time ever, I'll only know a few of the people I'm dining with on Thanksgiving. It's not a bad thing...just different. I guess it's time to start new traditions. I hate the word "partner," in a gay context, but I suppose that's what's going on here. I'm a partner in this relationship, and that means spending holidays with family – his and mine. It feels kind of nice, actually; I haven't had anything like this for a few years now, not since I was "straight."

I really do love this time of year. Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, and I've already got Christmas on the brain (sorry Kari; I know you don't care for it). I've been listening to the Glee Christmas album, and I'm this close to grabbing my DVD of A Christmas Story and putting it on repeat. If nothing else, it would remind me of Christmas in small-town Indiana, where I'm from, since that's where the movie takes place – but, weirdly, it was shot in Lori's neck of the woods (Cleveland).


In any case, "the holidays" are here, and that means finals are just around the corner. Good luck, everyone!

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Originally, I was going to blog about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today, but I've had two obstacles this weekend preventing me from seeing the movie: Saturday, I walked over to the Maryland Science Center (because there's no way I'm not seeing this thing in IMAX!) and found signs on the door that said sold out for the rest of the day. The website had not been updated to reflect this, so I was annoyed. Sometimes, I hate technology, particularly when I find myself relying on it too much.

Lesson learned.

Today, I was going to go see it at 8 p.m., but before that, I was going to have to wait for the Dish Network people to set up satellite at my condo – not necessarily at my behest, as I could live just fine without cable TV, but my roommates wanted it, so that was that. I'll use it, though, especially while Dexter is airing its final episodes of the season. And I love having a DVR! If we didn't get cable, I was going to buy a TiVo anyway and just use it with my antenna TV. Dish Network with DVR is the next best thing (not the best because I actually have to pay for satellite every month, whereas antenna TV is free). Anyway, back to the point: the installation got started later than expected, and it took much longer than expected – basically because Comcast sucks. We'll pin this one on Comcast, because of the way they wired our place. It's just not satellite-friendly.

But anyway, the dish is installed, the DVR is mostly set, I got to watch Dexter because of 3 months of free Showtime and HBO, and now it's time for bed. Maybe I'll see Harry Potter on Tuesday, when I don't have class. Any takers? I have no problem going alone, though. ;-)

P.S. I so need to read the Harry Potter books again! Maybe next summer.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

“Oh, yes, veddy good price, ah tink. Don’t fuhget da teep.”

– Cabbie, in draft one of my hypertext narrative (which will be live soon at rogermarket.com)

It's been painful forcing myself to work on my hypertext narrative today (I had taken a break for a week or two before starting on the second major version), but I'm excited about what is coming out of it. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I think I've got a story with multiple layers that reveal themselves as the reader makes his or her decisions. One reading might have more revelations than others, more insight into the two main characters – Miriam and Cooper (and if you noticed that name coincidence, yes, it's purposeful). No reading will be definitive, however, so I will certainly invite the reader to go through the story multiple times if he or she wants to know a little more about the characters.

I'd also like to write a screenplay version of the story, which would then be one of the choices the reader has to make (prose or screenplay), but that will most likely come after this class. Because, yes, I do want to continue to work on this story afterwards. As this is only a first draft, I think it will need a lot of work, and as each week, month, and year goes by, I'll probably want to make some changes. Maybe one day, I will call it complete, but that day is far from soon. For now, it's just an Electronic Publishing assignment; one day, though, I hope it will officially be considered one of the stories in my body of work.

P.S. I have started a Facebook page (called Roger William Market's Hypertext Narrative) to act as a supplement to my hypertext narrative – for any pictures/videos I may or may not decide to use, as well as reader feedback, questions, etc. It's already live, so you can Like it now if you want to, and the narrative will be up soon as well.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

"Hereafter...has the same effect as an encounter with a phony physic – it keeps delivering just enough to tantalize, never has a real payoff and eventually makes you realize that you've been conned."

Richard Knight Jr.

Mike wrote about Hereafter on his class blog a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen it at the time, but I agreed that what he described didn't sound very enthralling.

Now, I've seen it, and I can wholeheartedly agree that Hereafter is incredibly disappointing. The most climactic scene happens in the first five minutes of the movie, and then there are about two hours of separate stories that really only connect in the end, and even then, I don't think there is a payoff. I won't describe the plot or go into much detail, because Mike already did that.

I guess I would only add that I think this could have been a fantastic movie, but almost every time the writer and producers had a choice to make, they chose something that I would consider bad (as Mike put it, they played it safe; they didn't take any risks). I would have been more interested in seeing the movie that I thought I was going to see based on just the first five minutes of the movie; that's when things changed drastically, for the worse. I would have been interested in seeing a movie about the twin brothers. Even the psychic angle could have been engaging, in either of these options. But the makers of Hereafter combined two or three usable plots into one tangled mess of a movie, with no life in it. Ironic, eh?

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

William James

My mom and sister came to visit me on Thursday.


It was a good but long weekend. My sister had never been to Baltimore before, so we did the tourist thing all day, showed her Baltimore in all its glory and lack thereof. We took the MARC train to D.C. on Friday and did more touristy stuff, and then had a get together that night at my place. Saturday, we went shopping, and then to a drive-in movie at Bengie's, the largest theater screen in America. During this trip, they met some of my friends in the Baltimore/D.C. area. It was a good trip.

But now it's time to get back to the real world. I have a ton of homework to do, some of it before classes this week, some of it in the next couple of weeks. I have errands I need to run, and I have a bunch of shows I need to get caught up on. I have a lot to do in just a few weeks; it's stressful.

One of those stressful items on my to do list is to finish my hypertext story for this class. I've got one version (with two endings) written down, but I still have yet to write the other version. It's every bit as much work as I thought it would be, and more so. Is anyone else struggling to finish their assignments on time? Do you have any suggestions for how to block out the world and get shit done? After a work-free weekend, the last thing I want to do is homework.

But, unfortunately, it's the first thing I need to do. This should be fun...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"Let's go all the way tonight / No regrets / Just love / We can dance until we die / You and I / Will be young forever"

– "Teenage Dream," here performed by recurring members of the Glee cast (originally by Katy Perry)

So, Glee was awesome this week. (Read this ONLY if you're caught up on Glee, or if you don't watch it in the first place; otherwise, you'll be "spoiled").

I don't want to write a whole lot about this, but I just want to say that I think what they are doing on the show is really important and timely. With so many (gay) kids/teenagers committing suicide recently because they couldn't stand being bullied, now more than ever is the time to say something about it.

But more importantly, it's time to do something. I'd like to see the show reach out in other ways, behind the scenes. I'm sure there are dozens of ways they can help the cause, and with approximately 12 million regular (live) viewers, there's sure to be a significant audience for this.

As for the storyline itself, I must admit that I was a little taken aback. I wasn't expecting what happened to happen – with Kurt, Blaine, and the bully – but I think it opens the door for an interesting new coming out story that will be even more painful and important than Kurt's was/is. Well, maybe not necessarily more important, but it just goes to show that we never really know people, not even when we "know" them well. People hide things really well, sometimes, and that can be self-destructive.

I should, kind of, know. While I wasn't very aware that I was gay until my senior year of college, I think part of me knew way before that, and that part of me lived in fear for most of my life. It affected how I acted, my communication skills, my self-image. It affected who I was. Today, I'm a very different person than I was even just last year, or the year before! I have time and an ever-growing maturity to thank for that, as most people do, but more importantly, I have coming out to thank, as well as several people in my life (and a couple that are no longer in my life, regrettably). You know who you are. You've helped me be me, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Back to Kurt and Blaine real quick: I can't wait to see how this turns out, especially with the bully in the mix. Blaine is already poised to be a series regular, probably starting with season three, so he's definitely going to be sticking around. It'll be nice for Kurt to have someone he can relate to. Someone like Blaine, who can turn Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" into a great a capella glee club number (well, it should have been a cappella; they shouldn't have had background music, darn it!). I love that it was an all-male choir performing the song and that they weren't all gay.

If there's one overall message in Glee, it's that we shouldn't always expect the expected. There's always some notion to deconstruct.

This was one of my favorite episodes, so far.

P.S. The Coach Beist/Mr. Shue kiss was sweet too. Great scene!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

"This November, 12 brides will compete in the only reality show where the winner gets cut."

– tagline for Bridalplasty, the newest reality show from E!

I was at a friend's house the other day and saw the trailer for this new "reality" TV show, Bridalplasty.



The premise is that 12 brides-to-be are in competition for plastic surgery. The winner receives full plastic surgery and the wedding of her dreams.

But what about the man? Is he in on it? Is he one of the prizes (and if so, wow, what a catch; please note sarcasm), or does each woman bring her own man to the show, hoping to win a pretty face for him? Again, what a catch! Oh, and what happens to the other 11 women, the losers?

When I saw this trailer, I thought it was a joke. Unfortunately, it's not.

I think the critics are right: this could very well be "the final TV show ever made before mankind slips quietly into the dust." It's times like these that make me dislike the world, especially America. Why do we need this trash on TV, for all to see, and what kind of message is it sending?

I guess our next step is to prepare for alien invasion because anyone out there receiving this broadcast is sure to think we are a bunch of narcissistic, cannibalistic, unrealistic, misogynistic, sadistic, and masochistic pieces of shit that need a full-scale intervention á la "White Man's Burden" – and stat!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

"Perhaps I'll cut HIS head off, thought Alice to herself."

– voiceover from Alice, adapted from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I found this on Netflix one day and, despite the fact that it had a 2.7 star rating, put it in my instant viewing queue. Besides, it has 4 stars on Amazon and a 7.5/10 on IMDB, and anything in that ballpark is usually pretty good, sometimes even great, so I took the risk. It just depends on how unorthodox the film is, how far it strays from lowest common denominator.


Today, I finally watched the movie. Despite my reservations about the voiceover (as it does get repetitive), I liked it overall. So Netflix's rating, in this case, was mostly wrong.

Alice is a surrealist retelling of the classic postmodern story about a little girl named Alice who finds herself in a strange place called Wonderland, where she has wonderful and sometimes scary adventures with eccentric characters, most of them animalistic. In this version, I don't recall actually hearing the word "Wonderland," but there are references to Mary Ann, if that sways any of you purists out there.

Two of the most interesting and original aspects of this movie are the use of stop-motion video to capture the Wonderland creatures/characters and the way each character is (and many random objects are) reflected in the real world. The rabbit is actually Alice's own stuffed rabbit. The caterpillar is a sock with eyes in this version of Wonderland, and if I looked hard enough, I'm sure I'd notice a sock lying around somewhere in the real-world shots. And the list goes on.

At times, this movie is beautiful. At times, it is quite disgusting, and that quality comes from both the visuals and the sound effects. For instance, when the rabbit starts eating his own stuffing (sawdust), the crunch is so vivid, and the visuals are so startlingly in-your-face, that it makes me kind of uncomfortable, almost sick. While I thought the voice for the English dub was going to be annoying (and yes, the close-ups of Alice's mouth are annoying), instead, I found that the girl who voices the narrator/Alice does a fantastic job of mirroring the sound effects and reflecting the sometimes disturbing visuals of each scene.

The final shot is one of my favorites, as we get one last look at Alice's room in the real world and – well, I won't spoil any more than I already have, but I recommend this film if you love the Alice story and its adaptations, especially if you were disappointed in Burton's latest one, or even if you weren't. At the very least, this Alice is something new to try.

Except, at 22 years old, it's actually almost as old as I am.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"But people that are worried about unborn babies are the same ones that vote against kindergarten programs in Indiana or school lunch funds out of the federal government."

Birch Bayh (yeah, an unfortunate name...)

I started doing some work on my hypertext narrative the other day, and when I went back to it today, I got excited. This is such a fun story to write! I love the way the characters interact; I don't usually write characters like this. Furthermore, I've never really written anything about Indiana, on a conscious level anyway, so it's refreshing to get to "go" back home while I work.

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of my hypertext narrative, sans the choices you'd get online, one of which is whether the main characters are traveling from their hometown of Baltimore to an event in Rockville, Indiana – like in this version – or from their hometown in Indiana to an event in Baltimore.

For now, I'm calling this story

Lost Things

The cab ride from the Indianapolis airport to Rockville had been long and, at $122.50, obscenely expensive. Miriam, Paula, and Cooper stepped out of the taxi alone, sleep-deprived, and darn near penniless. On this trip, they were doing nothing, it seemed, but grieving for lost things. Now, Cooper was paying the fare, and then they would be off to meet the family members they’d only ever heard about in passing.

Miriam was fair skinned, with ultra-short red hair and a temperament to match. On top, she wore a thrifty but chic maternity shirt, which perfectly matched her “previously loved” designer jeans. Both ensured that she was constantly aware of the life growing inside her, and as she thought about it for the thirty-seventh time that day, she subconsciously rested her hand on the small of her back.

“Damn.” Cooper said, as he slammed the door shut and watched the cab drive away. “Our boy grew up in this hood?” Breaking his gaze on the lone yellow car, which was headed back to Indianapolis, he observed the quaint little town square with the same amount of interest that a dog might show a fly in a country basement on a cold winter's day – which is to say hardly any at all. For a moment, Miriam thought she could actually hear his heartbeat slow to a crawl. He pushed his longish black hair out of his eyes before continuing: “What a dump. I guess I see why he went and offed –”

“Dump?” Miriam said, stepping closer, the better to face him off. “You ever left the city, Cooper? Ever? Baldamore’s a fuckin’ sty compared to this.” With her free hand, she pointed at the courthouse and smiled. “Just look how pretty. No graffiti, no grime spots, no nothin’. It’s fuckin’ beautiful here. Paradise, almost.”

“Yeah, but I see where he’s coming from, hon,” Paula interjected. Then she waved her hands vigorously in front of her to indicate something large and meaty. Paula was black, and Miriam had always found that that, when black people waved their hands, she had to listen and – usually – agree. “I mean….Baldamore’s a city at least. There’s nothing here; we’re in a ghost town for cripe’s sake. Beautiful or not, it’s just plain creepy.” As Paula finished, she put her arms back down at her sides and picked at the seams of her bluejeans, like she always did when she was nervous about something. It was a tell and was very helpful for avoiding arguments, which is why Miriam had never mentioned it to her. Besides, it was cute.

“Yeah, maybe.” Miriam spun around, slowly, taking everything in, her top teeth softly, affectionately biting her bottom lip. As if stifling a giddy burst of emotion. From where she stood on the town square, she saw the courthouse in the middle, of course, a small mom-n-pop variety store called G & M, a local bank branch, a couple of antique stores, a church, an old theater, a privately-owned grocery, and several other places she couldn’t figure out. “Creepy, but I like it. It’s different.”

“Whatever,” Cooper said. “Let’s just do this and get the fuck –”

“Don’t say fuck!” Paula shouted.

“– outta here. Why she can say fuck and I can’t?”

“We have an understanding: no drama, no controlling, no alpha-female baloney. It’s all in the contract.” She punched Cooper’s shoulder and winked. “Besides, she does what she wants, and that’s what I love about her. You, on the other hand…you’s just a straight-up thug!”

Cooper glared at her through squinted eyelids. “Let’s just do this, okay?” He looked around, chose a direction, and walked.

Miriam put her arm around Paula. “See, baby? We got this.” She kissed Paula on the cheek, and they too started walking.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

"And crawling on the planet's face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time, and lost in space...and meaning."

The Criminologist in Rocky Horror

The end of Rocky Horror is perhaps one of the most interesting, provocative mind fraks I've ever seen. Indeed, even after seeing it done three different ways (if you count Glee's), I'm still not entirely sure what it means.

Frank says something about taking the aliens, and Riff-Raff interjects that only he and Magenta will be going back home – to the planet Transsexual, in the distant galaxy Transylvania. But then there's the line about transporting all of Earth to Transylvania, so the ending, with Brad and Janet crawling around in fishnets, is kind of confusing. Are they still on Earth? Did they escape the mansion in time for it to disappear and transport to Transylvania, or did Riff-Raff, in fact, move all of Earth to a distant galaxy? I guess the question is did he change his mind? Or perhaps he simply meant that he was going to kill the other aliens first (or at least Frank) before transporting Earth to Transylvania.

In any case, I love an ending that can make me think, and even more so, I love an "unhappy" ending. That's not to say that everything should end tragically because, while I think happy endings are good for some shows/stories, others require something with a little more meat. More risk.

I have ideas for three different television dramas that each tie together, and each one would ideally end in a similar fashion to Rocky Horror: in a sort of what-the-hell-just-happened kind of way. Back when LOST ended, I was kind of in that mode but not necessarily in a good way. It was such a shocking ending because it seemed like the ending should have been more substantial that it was. With a little time to think about it, I decided that I really did like it; it just wasn't what I had expected. And I know that ending was incredibly divisive among fans, some of my friends included.

As such, I don't ever want to end a story quite like that, but it makes me wonder: where do I draw the line? What exactly is it that makes one "frakked-up" story ending amazing and another one bullshit?

Does anyone out there have any opinions? What makes a good story ending? What makes a bad story ending?

"It's astounding / Time is fleeting / Madness takes its toll..."

– From The Rocky Horror Show's "Time Warp" (here, performed by the cast of Glee)

Until last Monday, I was a Rocky Horror virgin. I'd always wanted to watch it and just hadn't ever gotten around to it. But with Glee doing a Rocky Horror episode last week, I decided it was time to take the plunge: I streamed The Rocky Horror Picture Show via Netflix on Monday night, watched Glee on Tuesday night, and then went to a live production of the show on Friday night, in Brooklyn, MD.


I loved all three shows.

The differences from version to version are interesting, but I think that what's always the same, always front-and-center, are the music and the "for outcasts" nature of the production.

I loved the movie version because, aside from the quirky, fun, weirdly entertaining storyline, we have Tim Cury's amazing performance as transvestite and leader of the aliens Frank-N-Furter. And while Susan Surandon (as Janet) isn't particularly phenomenal, she doesn't exactly suck either. Well...she might have sucked in that scene with Frank, but that was kind of vague. ;-) Anyway, I won't talk about the whole cast, but I will just say that, generally, it is a good one. Moving on...

I liked the Glee episode because, as usual, they managed to tie the themes of the music into the themes and storylines of the TV show itself. Emma's rendition of "Toucha Touch Me" is one of my favorite covers from the episode; I think she kind of stole the show, actually. Who knew actress Jayma Mays could do that? As far as I can remember, she hasn't sung on the show until this episode. And, of course, having Britney and Santana step in as Columbia and Magenta was just perfect!

Finally, while the movie and Glee versions are great to watch and even sing along to if one feels so inclined (and knows the words), the live show is a whole different beast. It's completely interactive. You get a prop bag and have to do things like pop a balloon, cover your head with a newspaper, wave a glow stick in the air, throw a sponge on the stage, and so on. You'll hear people in the audience shouting out lines and talking to the cast, and the cast will shoot witty responses right back. And you'll get to do the Time Warp, which, while I'm not a fan of dancing, is kind of fun to learn if you're a newbie.

Going into this week, I've still got the songs stuck in my head. I imagine they'll fade with time, but come next Halloween season, I'll be ready again.

"I believe that the so-called writing block is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance...It doesn't make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you've done it."

William Stafford

It's not that I have writer's block, per se; I just don't have time to write anything more than what's required of me for class. At least not in November, when NaNoWriMo starts up.


For one thing, I haven't had time to come up with a novel idea. I've had a few sparks but nothing that I could write 50,000 words on. If I'm going to participate in NaNoWriMo, I want to get some significant work done on a novel. So, I'm going to have to pass on it this year; maybe next summer I'll come up with a project to do next November.

As of now, I'm taking two classes, doing work study in O.T.S. at U.B., doing layout for the school paper (for which I get paid a very small stipend), and now (hopefully) working part-time at another place. I need the money, so I'm hoping that, when I get the call sometime this week, it's good news. The woman I interviewed with seemed very optimistic that she'll hire me. She was impressed with my r̩sum̩ and fascinated by the story of how I came to be in a creative writing program. If things go well, I might actually have some spending money this holiday season Рand subsequently, for that matter.

Having two part-time jobs, and one volunteer/stipend job that I'm using solely for publishing experience for my résumé, is far from ideal. I'd much rather have a full-time job but, as Samantha wrote recently, can't seem to find anything in (or close to) Baltimore.

I'll stick with this for a while, but sooner or later, I'll have to go back to the drawing board and find myself a career job.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

"If it weren't for received ideas, the publishing industry wouldn't have any ideas at all."

Donald E. Westlake

Remember when I wrote about Smashwords, the e-book publishing company? Well, I read today that Smashwords has surpassed a billion published words – nine weeks ahead of schedule. In about October of last year (2009), the company had published 150 million words. It then set a crazy goal to reach one billion by the end of 2010.

On October 21, 2010, the company reached that goal.

And it succeeded because of people like this. Because more and more frustrated authors or would-be authors are turning to modern technology. Because people are realizing that, with more people than ever on the planet, there is more competition and just aren't enough book deals to go around.

That said, I think they hit the nail on the head: not just anyone can and should publish electronically. One absolutely must be a good writer, because most of the time, the star editing treatment is no where to be found in these electronic publishing companies. That's one of their downfalls.

Even so, it's encouraging to see people getting (e-)published.

"I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween."

– Unknown author/coiner, but I found it on Quote Garden

The fall equinox was exactly 31 days ago, and yet it's supposed to be 76 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. Is this normal for Maryland? I don't remember what last year was like, but even so, that was only one year out of – well, since the beginning of temperature records in Maryland – and could have been a fluke. Is this year a fluke? I guess I'm not complaining. It's not exactly hot outside these days, and I've got visitors coming soon, so I'm hoping some of the warmth will actually stick around so we can go exploring in Baltimore and D.C. without freezing or sweating to death!

Meanwhile, Halloween is coming up next weekend, and I still don't know if I should dress up when we go to Fells on Saturday night – or what I want to be. It sucks being relatively poor, but I guess it encourages creativity; maybe I should just make something and/or use things I already have. And who says I have to be something? Couldn't I just embody Halloween itself?

"If you must leave your woman alone, be sure to tie her down..."

– from "Chandler's Shop" by The O'Danny Girls

Looking through my footage from Renn Fest yesterday, I've decided that, since the joust was the most exciting part, I'm going to be using it quite a bit in my mini movie. I'd like to feature small clips from some of the other Renn Fest shows, as well as a few that take place outside Renn Fest.

For instance, today, I shot some footage at the harbor. I got a few people walking by (at different angles), some ships coming in, and even a few seconds of the pirate ship that floats around the harbor. I'm thinking this video is going to be some kind of journey through time, since I've got Rennaissance events, pirate ships, modern ships, etc., and since many people (myself included) at Renn Fest were dressed in "normal," modern clothing, there is a bridge between time periods. An anachronism, of course, but still, there is a bridge. I'm not sure what to do with that just yet.

In any case, before today, I was a little worried that I wasn't going to have anything to work with on Monday, but now, with the additional footage I shot, I think I'll be okay. I still don't know if it will be useful for my final project or not, though, because I still need to come up with my story for the hypertext narrative.

More to come on all of this in the next few weeks! Stay tuned.

Friday, October 22, 2010

"I hope they make a video game of me. At least I wouldn't have any cellulite then."

Scarlett Johansson

I'm going to Ren Fest in Annapolis tomorrow, so I'm probably going to be shooting some video there. I thought that would be a fun venue for a video/photo shoot. Beyond that, though, I'm still not entirely sure what I want to do. I'll probably record some other footage near my apartment, but right now, I need a way to combine the two.

Perhaps Renn Fest can serve as a flashback and the other footage can be the present. It's difficult to know what to record for Monday's class when we're not being graded on it and I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing for my final project. Because why not use this "free" time to make a video I can use? It seems this video project is meant to prepare us for the final, just like the other projects before it have done. I still need to start writing my content for the final project before I really know what kind of video I want to make, because, like I said, whatever video I work on during Monday's class will probably end up in my final project, in some form – probably with a few other videos.

I'll post an update soon, probably after Renn Fest.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

"Electronic distribution is more of a fall-back strategy for putting out a book that isn't deemed profitable enough to print. You hardly make any money publishing an electronic book."

Rudy Rucker


I went to the grand opening of Baltimore Print Studios today. I'm still not entirely sure what this business is going to be offering to Baltimore (or anyone, for that matter), but it's a neat little shop, and the opening was pretty cool. We got to walk around and look at all the printing equipment, and there were a few stations where we could print our own signs (there were two different signs to print, none of which are pictured here). The above sign was posted on top of a chest full of printing materials, which, as you can see, we were allowed and encouraged to fondle. In any case, the signs that we were able to print and take home looked like this one (i.e., same typeface and colors). I might frame mine and put them on my wall.

Yeah. They're that cool.

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

Albert Einstein

I signed up with the website last year, and this year, I had every intention of participating in NaNoWriMo for real. But I don't know if I'll have the time and stamina to do it, and it's not just because of the standard "I don't know if I can write 50,000 words in 30 days" issue.

You see, I tend to get caught up in my TV shows and my computer, and before I know it, the day is over; I have no time left. I can get my homework done and get through work, but at the end of the day, I just want to relax with my computer and TV. As a TV and computer/Internet enthusiast and hopeful TV writer, it's thrilling when I can manage to watch/do it all; but as a writer of traditional stories, who should really be reading and writing literature more than I do, I hate it. I hate my obsession with and reliance on technology. In that sense, I guess it's kind of ironic that NaNoWriMo is online.

I'm still trying to come up with a story idea that I like, a roadmap for a novel. I have an idea or two that may work, but I need to set aside some time to think about them more. I've already finished reading one of my class textbooks ahead of schedule, so I'd like to finish the other one in the next few days; that means I'll have a few extra hours in the next week or two to think about NaNo. There's one story concept in particular that I love, but I don't know if it's sustainable in a 50,000-word novel. It might be better as a short. I guess I'll just have to try it and see.

Is anyone else going to try NaNo this year? Do you already have your idea ready? It's difficult because you are supposed to write something entirely new, something you haven't worked on previously (though you can have a plan and maybe a few lines that you want to use). The point is that you have to plan it specifically for NaNo. So, what are your hangups? What do you find most challenging about NaNo? I know Jessica has done it before. Any insights, Jessica?

“Dear Lord: … I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. [pause] Thy will be done.”

Homer Simpson on The Simpsons


My mom sent me some Halloween cookies in the mail last week. This is how they arrived.

Thank you, USPS. Now they're in all shapes and sizes!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

"When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste."

Laiko Bahrs

Well, I guess I didn't follow Bahrs' directions for baking, which are to...er...follow directions.

I was flipping through my copy of my grandma's cookbook the other day and decided to try to make Chocolate Bittersweets. I think this recipe was actually my great grandmother's, passed down to my grandmother at some point (and that's not to say it was an original recipe of hers either, as many of the recipes in the book came from other family members, and a couple were even taken from the sides of boxes). I'll preface this by saying these things are far from bitter, so the name doesn't really reflect what they are. I'm also not sure what category they belong in. Cookie? Minicake? Something else entirely? Here they are.


In any case, I noticed that I had all of the ingredients to make the cookie/cake part and most of the ingredients for the icing, but I didn't have the coconut or cream cheese for the filling. I'm not even sure how that works, by the way: how do you put filling and icing in/on a cookie or cake? Well, the problem was solved when I decided to go ahead and make them with just the icing. But I had to improvise on the icing because I didn't have chocolate chips to make it. So I used...


And it worked wonderfully.

Does anyone else like to cook or bake? I'm certainly no expert, but I do enjoy it, especially when it's a recipe from my grandma's book. What problems do you run into? Do you like to improvise? Because I feel like I do it all the time, sometimes because I don't like what's included in the recipe (like the nuts in Chocolate Bittersweets) so I leave that particular item out, other times because I feel like I'd like the recipe better with something else added. In this case, I took a risk using Nutella instead of chocolate chips, because while Nutella is fantastic, it is very different from actual chocolate in terms of taste, and in this case, it is also a completely different consistency (a spread) than chocolate chips (which are hard). Luckily, the chocolate had to be melted anyway, so it worked out. In short: Nutella can be used to make a really great icing, if you're a Nutella fan. You just have to be okay with a hazelnut taste in your chocolate.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."

Robert Wilensky

Okay, it isn't exactly Shakespeare, but I think I've got about everything on my writer's website that I wanted to have by the due date on Monday. Of course, I will add more in the future, but this is it for now. Here is a link to the temporary location (my free U.B. webspace); I'm going to work on transferring it to my rogermarket.com domain – and, thus, self-hosting my Wordpress blog – at some point, but that's not a priority right now. We'll see it on class on Monday, briefly, but I wanted to post the link anyway, especially for those reading this who won't be in class or aren't students at U.B.

While searching for the quote for this title, I found a few more that I loved. Here they are:

"Information on the Internet is subject to the same rules and regulations as a conversation at a bar."
– George Lundberg

"My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into private world of real creeps without having to smell them."
– Penn Jillet

"Hooked on Internet? Help is just a click away."
– Author Unknown

"The Internet is the most powerful magnifier of slack ever invented."
– Author Unknown

"You can't take something off the Internet – it's like taking pee out of a pool."
– Author Unknown

Thursday, October 7, 2010

"As for your fears that I will lose myself in these unknowne large waters, or be swallowed up in some stormie gust: abandon those childish fears, for worse then is past cannot happen, and there is as much danger to returne, as to proceed forward."

Captain John Smith (yes, that John Smith)

The Waterfront Promenade was voted Best Place to Run in Baltimore. I had to double-check to make sure I was thinking of the right place, but I was (and maybe the whole of the harbor is considered Waterfront Promenade, but I'm unclear on that). This is the famous Inner Harbor area, where I do, in fact, see a lot of runners. And just last week, I was one of them. I had planned on going to U.B.'s kickboxing class on Saturday but didn't make it, so I decided to go for a brisk walk/run around the harbor instead.

I had no idea how big the harbor is. The Waterfront Promenade is, apparently, 7 miles long. I don't know what that includes (is that from the start of the Promenade, at Pratt and Light Streets, all the way around Tide Point Marina and Canton, and back to Pratt and Light?), but anyway, it's bigger than I had expected. Actually, I didn't know what to expect.


But when I went for my walk/run, I went up past The Rusty Scupper and into a really nice subdivision area. I don't know if it's apartments or condos or what, but they look really nice. I wound up passing the Domino Sugar factory, ending at Tide Point Marina, right by the Baltimore headquarters of world-famous Under Armour. From this marina, there's an excellent view of the harbor that I can't even convey with one picture (because it's so big), but I'll post one as a teaser.


I wish you could see the whole thing.

"I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty."

John Waters

Okay, when bulk trash pick-up is voted Baltimore's 3rd Best City Service – well, I think we need some new services.


Because how boring and gross is that? We might as well call Baltimore itself the world's biggest trash can because I think that's what "bulk trash" says to me: big trash, butt load of trash, Crap City. The world's dump. It's no wonder you see couches, tires, etc., on the streets of Baltimore every month.

Just below the #1 Charm City Circulator (which is great, don't get me wrong, but it has its drawbacks), we have single-stream recycling. Okay, in an increasingly greener world, that's pretty cool. But #3 needs to be something special to counteract all that boring...ness. How about a Metro subway with more than one line? Granted, the Red Line is all but official, but it won't be here and ready to use until at least 2016, and even then, it's only one new line. What do we do in the meantime? Apparently, we throw out our appliances and furniture.

I'm just glad rat eradication didn't make it into the top 3.

P.S. Why is it that, when I do a Google Image Search for "bulk trash Baltimore," John Waters appears on the first page?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

"Al Qaeda gives you their word."

– Bekay Harrach, quoted in a CNN.com article

Let me ask you something: when "Al Qaeda gives you their word," which (ironically) happens to be grammatically incorrect, do you believe it?

No sir/mam, you do not fucking believe it! Because it's Al Qaeda. Look at everything it stands for and everything it's done. No matter what happens, no matter what we and Europe do, how can we have any confidence that Al Qaeda wouldn't renege on the deal? "Trust Al Qaeda" is my new favorite oxymoron, right up there with "Microsoft Works."

That is all.

"In this case, kill Marlon. He gets on my tits."

– Liam Hammond, a poster on the Aaron's Story blog

According to Urban Dictionary, the phrase "gets on my tits," which I'd never heard until today, is (1) a "verb used to signify a singular subject that bothers you" or (2) a "verb to describe someone who pisses you off." It can also be used in the plural ("get on my tits"). The (singular) example sentence is the following: "Senseless violence really gets on my tits."

Aside from the fact that user "ejito" of Urban Dictionary is technically wrong – it's a verb phrase, not a verb, and may even have other names as well – I find his/her definition rather intoxicating. It uses the word "tits" in a way that not only evokes the proper mood, tone, and branding of a website called Urban Dictionary but also reminds me that there is a big world out there, with tons and tons of languages, idioms, and slang words/phrases.

Before today, I never would have thought to say or write something like, "He really gets on my tits" – or, to push the definition to its limits, "Geez, would you get off my tits already?" Maybe that's because I don't have any literal tits to get on (unlike Michael Moore, apparently), but it's also because I didn't grow up with that particular phrase. One reason I love traveling is that I get to see how people talk in different parts of the U.S. and the world. I suppose, in this case, the Internet rendered traveling unnecessary. I was able to sit in the comfort of my own home, on my bed, and read all about how to get on someone's tits, and then write about it, properly.

Today, I'm a happy writer.

"With the advent of ebook self-publishing and the democratization of distribution ... the power of publishing is shifting away from publishers and into the hands of authors and readers where it belongs."

– Mark Coker interview


Yesterday, I found this interview with Mark Coker, Founder and CEO of the electronic publishing company Smashwords. In it, he describes the changing nature of the publishing industry, highlighting his role and understandably praising his own brand of electronic self-publishing. This is marketing 101 after all: you do an interview to raise awareness for your product/service, so why not "talk it up"?

Anyway, I love technology. Outside of books and real-life people, my computer and TV are my best friends. However, I'm apprehensive about this shift toward electronic reading. I already do a lot of my news reading online because of all the blogs and Twitter accounts that I follow. So will I want to sit on my futon this winter, next to a roaring fireplace, and cuddle up with a good...LCD-type screen? An iPad, for instance?

Hell no!

But while I love the tactile sensation of having a book in my hands, turning its pages, flipping quickly to a favorite passage, etc., I cannot deny the convenience that electronic publishing affords the reader (we'll leave the writer out of the equation for now). The simple fact of the matter is that I'm running out of space for books. When I moved to Baltimore in August 2009, I brought with me a small, 3-shelf bookcase and well over 300 books; I quickly bought two 5-shelf bookcases to accomodate the books, as well as my collection of DVDs. Then in late August 2010, I moved from Bolton Hill to Downtown, where my room is actually a little smaller anyway, so it wasn't too distressing that one of my large shelves collapsed before I even tried to move it. I'm down to a 3-shelfer and a 5-shelfer. As such, many of my books are now stored and, yes, inventoried in boxes in the downstairs closet. I hate that; my books want to be out of the closet, with me, but alas, they aren't.

With an e-reader, I still wouldn't be able to display my books – they'd still be in the invisible "closet" of my e-reader's storage mechanism – but at least I would have room for them. I guess that's the tradeoff. I can have more books with an e-reader, I can have them almost instantly, and I can have them cheaper in most instances. But they aren't books. They're texts, yes, but they aren't books, per se.

So why, as a writer, would/should I consider using a service like Smashwords? For one thing, Smashwords itself is free. They only take a 15% bite out of the writer's royalties, when he/she makes money, which is a far cry from the 50-75% that most traditional publishers take. From an economical standpoint, the advantage is clear: if you (self-)publish electronically with Smashwords, you stand to make a lot more money for your work. There's also the fact that you don't have to wade through a sea of rejection letters from publishers, because you, my friend, are self-publishing. For "free." That's unheard of, isn't it? We're talking about guaranteed publication, here, with 85% royalties and coverage on most of the e-book stores out there (even Apple's iBookstore and Barnes & Noble's e-book store are included; I don't think Amazon is one of them, though – not yet, anyway).

That sounds like a sweet deal, and I'll probably seriously consider it for book-length works because at least I can get my name and my writing out there. But at the end of this M.F.A. program, when I publish my book of short stories, I still want to see my awesome book cover design on a tangible, traditional book in a brick-and-mortar store. And I want the prestige that comes with having my book hand-picked for publication.

Is that so much to ask?

"I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a long time."

Eli in Let the Right One In

Having seen the original Swedish movie Let the Right One In (2008) – and knowing that I eventually want to read the 2004 book on which it was based – I was appalled when I realized that there is already an American remake coming out. Today, in fact. It's called Let Me In.

Having had a little time to calm down a bit, I'm still not sure what I think of this. The original movie was great, and I have little faith that an American remake will do the story justice. Then again, I haven't read the book, so the only basis for comparison that I'll have is the Swedish movie. I'm starting to wonder if that's fair or not.

As a reader/writer, I guess maybe it isn't fair; maybe I should judge Let Me In on how well it translates the book's story to video. But as a movie buff/writer, I think it's completely fair. The American movie scene is saturated with remakes and adaptations, so much so that, whenever a new one comes out, I'm immediately cynical about it.

Why is this? Is it fair? What do others think?

For your viewing pleasure, I'm going to include the trailers for each of the movies now. The first one is the original LÃ¥t den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In); the second one is the American Let Me In.



Monday, September 27, 2010

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."

Jim Davis


Justin brought me Cheez-Its on Saturday, since we ate all mine a week or two ago! These things are awesome – but dangerous because I could eat a whole box by myself.

Does anyone else have any weird obsessions with certain foods? I think, for me, it's Cheez-Its and hot/spicy stuff. I put hot sauce and/or paprika on almost everything – and garlic. I also love peanut butter. Here's a recipe for you: next time you make oatmeal, put a little honey, peanut butter, and sugar and cinnamon in it. Yum!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Groucho Marx

The Baltimore Book Festival was this weekend. Who went?


If you were there Saturday, chances are good that you saw this guy; chances are even better that you saw his hair. But seriously, Andy Poxon is 16 years old, looks 12, and can shred a guitar like nobody's business. He's an accomplished blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist with a full-fledged 13-song album, and he's not even out of high school yet! You can listen to the songs on his website, download them, or even buy the CD. And I definitely recommend it.

In other news, I walked away from the festival with 4 books for $9. I probably shouldn't have bought anything because I don't really have room for any more books, but I couldn't resist. I got a book of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings (by Nancy Frazier), because of a conversation I had with an acquaintance of mine about the best way to practice painting – copy other people's work. Over and over. So that's what I'm going to try to do because I like to paint, but I am so out of practice! I also got John Hedgecoe's Complete Photography Course, which is a little antiquated because it's all 35 mm (but I think that's actually kind of cool!), The Art of Gift Wrapping by Jane Cornell (an awesome and beautiful $1 find), and another book that I intend to use as a gift, so I won't mention the name, in case that person is reading this.

And that's about it. Sorry these updates are coming so late in the week; I've been rather busy with other school work and with looking for a second job. One more post coming tonight or tomorrow!

"She's not going to have premarital sex until she's married."

– Bright Abbott on Everwood

If you don't know me very well, you may not know this, but I watch TV like it's my job; I watch entirely too much TV.

Which means that this past week has been amazing and yet stressful for me. On top of homework, class, and work, I now have to add a large pile of TV shows to my to do list. Thankfully, True Blood is over for the season, and Mad Men will be over next month. That's two shows down for the season, at least 13-18 to go (depending on how you count them).

I wouldn't have it any other way. :-)

Sundays, I'm watching Brothers and Sisters (ABC) and Dexter (Showtime) – and, for a few more weeks, Mad Men (AMC), which I am relieved to say did a complete 180º, going from a terrible season 3 to an awesome season 4.

Mondays, I have nothing for now, but I plan to watch Lonestar (FOX) at some point, even though I'm 98% sure it's going to be cancelled. I saw the pilot, and I really liked it. Anyway, in the spring, my Monday show will be The United States of Tara (Showtime).

Tuesdays, I'm watching Glee (FOX), Life Unexpected (The CW), and Parenthood (NBC). Unfortunately, the critically acclaimed Life Unexpected will probably be cancelled after its initial 13-episode second season order, due to low ratings. Parenthood didn't exactly rock the ratings house either. In November, V (ABC) premiers, and if it stays in the same timeslot, it will air on Tuesdays; honestly, I don't expect it to be renewed for a third season. I've seen the pilot to No Ordinary Family (ABC) and will likely be watching that as well, and I want to watch Raising Hope (FOX) at some point, but it's going to have to wait.

Wednesdays, I have no commitments, but I am mildly interested in Undercovers (NBC). I might watch it when the season is over. Also, in the spring, Glee and Raising Hope will be switching to Wednesdays to make room for American Idol.

Thursdays, I'm watching The Vampire Diaries (The CW), 30 Rock (NBC), and The Office (NBC). I was actually impressed with The Office's premier, as I did not like last season and fully expected this one to be terrible as well. They've got me for at least a few more episodes. Also on the potentially watch list is Nikita (The CW). I've seen the pilot, and for a CW remake, it was actually pretty good. And surprisingly strong in the ratings.

Fridays, I'm watching the final season of Smallville (The CW) – which started off amazing, by the way – as well as the shouldn't-even-exist sixth season of Supernatural (The CW). It's not that I didn't want Supernatural to be renewed; it's just that I wanted the producers/network to stick to the original five-year plan that the show's creator had. This surprise renewal resulted in a bit of a cop-out for the season five ending, which should have been amazing but instead was a little too miraculous for my taste. That said, the premier left something to be desired, but I'll continue watching out of loyalty and to see if it gets back to the high-quality episodes I know the show can produce. Anyway, in the spring, I'll be watching the spinoff/second season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Starz). I'm so sad for Andy Whitfield and wish him the best in his cancer treatment. I hope he'll be better in time for season three, but obviously, it's not about the show. Best wishes, Andy. Get some rest. Take your time. <3

Sunday, September 19, 2010

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

Douglas Adams

Finally, the design of my website!

Although I may be going back to the dark ages of computing by using frames on my website (because, let's face it, not many websites seem to use frames these days), I think it's the best possible design choice for me. Maybe I'll change my mind, but as of right now—considering everything I want on my site, how I want it to act, and so on—frames is the way to go, and I'll explain why.

First of all, I've already started playing with Dreamweaver, and from my experience so far, it is not nearly as easy to use as the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite. There are bugs and inconsistencies that don't exist in the other applications, but I won't go into that right now. One good thing about Dreamweaver is that it offers several nice templates to use when starting to build your website (if you can figure out how to use them). I went through a few before I decided to try the three-frame approach.

For those of you who don't already know, frames is basically a way of embedding more than one web page into a single window. In my case, I would have three frames (i.e., web pages) that would make up any given page of my website. The frame at the top will just be the header; there won't be a scrollbar, nor will there be any division lines between the header frame and the frame for the main text. It will be fluid. The viewer will only see a difference when he or she scrolls through the text of the main frame (which, obviously, will have a scroll bar, assuming the content is long enough to need one), because the header will always be visible. That's a boon, actually, because it means the viewer will always be able to click the header to return to the main page, without having to scroll back to the top. This is the equivalent of using freeze panes in Microsoft Excel, if that helps you any.

The bottom frame will contain the menu, the navigation for the site. This will be a simple row of mostly text-based "icons," created in PhotoShop, that will take the viewer from page to page. The potential hyptertext story, for example, would be one menu choice. The story would appear as its own page, in the main frame of the site. Again, the only scrollbar would be for this middle/main frame, where the content is. So, when the content gets long enough to need a scrollbar, one will appear; otherwise, the interface will be very simple.

This is probably really confusing for people who have never built a website before and/or who don't know what frames looks like. So, I'll end this post with a screenshot from a design I've been working on. Click on it to make it bigger.

"Navigation is power of a limited sort - it enables us to manage the immensity of the media torrent."

Todd Gitlin

Next up, if you haven't already guessed: the navigation of my website.

As Vinny mentions on his navigation post, simplicity is key. I've thought a lot about different navigation methods, and I keep coming back to two time-tested ideas: (1) a horizontal header with a horizontal navigation bar underneath it, right along the top of the page or (2) a horizontal header at the top and a vertical navigation bar on the left. Some web designers choose to put the navigation bar on the right (or they utilize a left and right design). I'm not considering that at this point because I prefer the left side. Perhaps that decision is subconsciously linked to politics; more likely, it's because I was raised in a country that reads from left to right.

However, as I was brainstorming, I decided to go out on a limb: I want to try putting my navigation bar on the bottom of the site. It's a risky move, in a way, but it's also a very familiar paradigm for the average computer user, who has to use a "start" menu or a dock of icons (both of which are at the bottom of the screen, by default) to launch his or her applications. I want my website to be easy to use, and I think that having the navigation bar on the bottom is just as easy as having it on the top—but it's just different enough to be mildly refreshing and interesting, while still providing that sense of familiarity we've been discussing. If I do end up deciding on this design, I'll want my navigation bar to look similar to a computer dock, so I'll be creating buttons that remind the user of icons. In fact, I've already made a few in PhotoShop. In any case, these buttons will allow the user to move comfortably from page to page.

The biggest departure from this will/would be the hypertext story that I may or may not create (I just need time), because the links to navigate the story would be in the story itself, not on a menu. Seemingly random words would take the reader to a new experience, a new definition, a new page. The choices the reader makes would affect the story's message, perhaps its actual outcome. Of course, this is all assuming I can come up with the right story concept.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

"Once you know what the story is and get it right—as right as you can, anyway—it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it."

On Writing by Stephen King

This week, we're writing about our author/artist websites, which we will be designing and potentially publishing over the course of the next month. First up: the content of my site.

I've had a blog for almost a year now, one that I've actually managed to update on a fairly regular basis. I've tried to start blogs before but have never stuck with them. That said, since I've already got a blog started, I would like to try to incorporate it in some way. But that topic is better suited for my forthcoming posts on navigation and design, so I'll go into more detail in the next two posts.

On this blog, I do have an "about me" page, a résumé page, a favorites page (favorite books, movies, and TV shows), and even a page to post completed/published stories, books, videos, and other projects (which I've done nothing with, as of yet). I'm trying to think of the best way to integrate all this information into the new website or if I even want to; I'm not sure just yet. My best bet may be to keep it on the blog and use the website for something else.

In any case, I've already started playing with Dreamweaver—and even tried out a couple of designs—but right now, my favorite design uses the controversial frames method, with a header on the top, a menu on the bottom, and the content in the middle (again, more to come on design and navigation in a future post). If that's confusing, I'll try to explain: these are all in the same browser window but are in separate "frames" (kind of like picture-in-picture for the Internet).

The content that appears in the middle frame, so far, consists of a page on which I can list my published works, an about me page, and even my entire blog (with the header and menu intact, in their respective frames, which doesn't look great with the blog design but could be worse). I'm struggling to come up with more content for the middle frame of the home page, though, the one the reader sees first. As I said in a comment on Mike's blog, I would also like to include a hypertext narrative of some kind (and maybe some other stories that I've written), but that will take a lot of time and effort to (1) write and (2) implement correctly; I suppose it's something that will evolve over time, even if I have to work on it beyond the deadline for class.

Monday, September 13, 2010

"Can you hear me now? Good."

– Verizon ad campaign

At work today, I ran across an old phone stall (not a booth but a stall) that's no longer in use, because Verizon and U.B. decided that our campus pay phones were too underutilized and that we couldn't justify keeping them.



The phone and phone book (but not its cover) were both gone from the stall, and this sight inspired me to write a rough draft of a short short, which came to 183 words. But anyway, this thing, this stall, was just so

MT

That old pay phone stall is unoccupied, these days, just a black rectangular outline that used to say “Verizon” somewhere. The plastic case that previously held a phone book now hangs empty MT. Passersby think maybe it’s all a result of Baltimore theft, but I know the truth. Of economic woes and phone line underuse but mostly technological advancements. The pay phone is extinct and out-styled; the cellular mobile phone cell phone smartphone reigns supreme.

Just last year, though, I saw this dreaded-out guy, tangling long, messy locks around bony, brown fingers and speaking casually and playfully on the phone that's not there anymore, as if unaware that oral aural conversation was going out of style.

Even then, we were headed toward this, the golden age of Twitter and texting txtng, where people actually know what SMS and MMS mean. And can’t live without them, either one.

The emptiness is upon us the MTness is upon us. Conversations of 160 characters 140 characters. And we’re so stupid; we just keep spilling nonsense.

“Bring us more, make it shorter!”

“Bring us shorter!”

“Shorter”

"Shrtr"

Sunday, September 12, 2010

"I see her as a series of marvellous shapes formed at random in the kaleidoscope of desire."



This kid is nuts, not just because he went from an iPhone on AT&T to a highly unattractive Samsung candy bar on the Cricket network, but also because he gives his phone number out for the world to call/text him. It got so bad that he had to go to an unlimited plan, hence the switch to Cricket.

I suppose, in a way, it's awesome that we live in a world where this kind of thing is possible. Where we can display our phone numbers for all to see and have a cell phone plan that allows for this without breaking the bank. In the grand scheme of things, $45 a month is a small price to pay for unlimited conversation. In a world where we can communicate via Internet with anyone—from any soil-covered and Internet-equipped corner of Earth—we can also speak directly to them on what is now becoming an old but trusty piece of technology: the phone. Specifically, the cellular/mobile phone.

On the other hand, it takes a lot of guts to put oneself out there like that because...this is a scary world we live in, and ironically, part of the scariness is the technology itself and what it might mean in the future. Minority Report (which was first the title story in a book of science fiction stories by Phillip K. Dick) is not that far off. Of course, the other scary part is that some people are just plain crazy. Just read anything by Angela Carter, and you may think she was crazy—but really, she was just brilliant—and that was decades ago! Just imagine who's out there now! On the streets of Baltimore, or Los Angeles, or London. Waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey. And mug, rob, threaten. Hurt.

Me, I keep my "purse" close and my cell phone even closer. And it doesn't hurt to have a bit of pepper spray. Where's the techno pepper spray, Cricket? You're certainly no Google Voice.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

– Unknown author/coiner, but I found it at Board of Wisdom

I've been making websites since I was about 12 or 13, when I taught myself HTML (HyperText Markup Language) from a book. Yes, I was a geek—am a geek. That said, I've worked with HTML (and the newer CSS) off and on for over a decade.



In 7th grade, I redesigned my school corporation's website, and the director of my jr./sr. high school's computer club (called Buddy Step-Up, which is since defunct) liked it enough to ask if we could take over the corporation's web design. We got it approved, and my design went live. It went through a couple of different iterations after that; it's now unrecognizable, and frankly, I'm not a huge fan of the latest design, which uses Javascript and is rather slow (sorry Ben, if you're the designer; it's nothing personal!).

In any case, I'm not yet up-to-date on the newest version of HTML (which is 5.0), not that it's officially "released" yet, but it is available for people to use while the bigwigs work out the bugs. So, I guess I would like to learn some of the new tags added in version 5.0. I know about the video tag, and it's very easy to use. What I don't know, however, is how to make something like this nifty little page that lets the user drag the text boxes to the trash can. While this looks very simple and, at first glance, not very useful, I think there could be some interesting applications for it. One thing I could do is make a website with short stories on it, and then use this code in order to provide the reader with a way to track what he/she has already read. The reader would drag a story to a trash can, or something else, and it would disappear. He or she could then go through the rest of the stories (or other website elements), out of order, until there is nothing left to read. Then it's time to log off.

Granted, this trash can webpage is actually done with HTML and Javascript, which I don't know at all, but I do know that it wouldn't be possible without the update to HTML. Maybe it's time to learn Javascript, at least the basics.

I've done programming before but never with Java or Javascript. On the other hand, I did use Alice for a class in undergrad; it's like a front-end to Java, and it's very cool. The user can program in Java without realizing it. It's just like making an animated story. Seriously, it's just drag-and-drop, moving characters and other elements around to create an animated Java program. It's designed for high schoolers and college students, so it's very use to use, once you know the basics of the program. Check it out if you're interested in programming; ignore this paragraph if you're not.

Monday, September 6, 2010

"The sky is falling, and Gauls everywhere go mad from options."

– "Asterix and the Battle of Algiers" by Pranav Behari

In my search for an online literary journal, I stumbled upon an excellent one called fail better. Right off the bat, I noticed the lack of capitals in the title, which annoys me, as a grammar (and consistency) enthusiast, but the contents of the journal almost make up for the missteps of the title. Almost. I'll probably never be completely comfortable with breaking the rules of language, but I suppose there are reasons out there for doing it, and I have done my fair share of rule breaking, as much as it pains me each time. But if you figure out why there are no capitals in the title of this journal, let me know, because I haven't figured that one out just yet.


Moving on, there is a wonderful interview with Aimee Bender in the latest issue, and if you've had Steve Matanle for class at U.B., you'll probably recognize some of his values in it, namely the idea of writing spontaneously—of "improvising," as Steve puts it, of not obsessing about the story for weeks on end. Just write it! Indeed, just last semester, I had Steve for Fiction (not to mention Experimental Forms), and we read a story by Bender called "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt." It was one of the most memorable stories from the class, I think, and so when I saw that there was an interview with the author, I was eager to read it.

And now I want to buy Bender's latest book, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, about a girl who has the uncanny ability to feel the emotions of the people who prepare her food (her mother's lemon cake always brings sadness). While the title of the novel is just plain awesomesauce, the story's description is captivating in a way that most mainstream fiction cannot touch, promising a novel reading experience that only Bender could provide (you see what I did there, with "novel"?). While some call her a fabulist, Publishers Weekly calls her a "spelunker of the human soul." Thus, I contend that Aimee Bender is either a fabulous fabulist or an expert spelunker because, from what I remember of "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt," and from reading about her latest novel, I'm instantly intrigued by her ability to capture the essence of being human in such a nontraditional story form. Magical realism is a tough sell, but Bender is a successful marketer.

Now I just have to decide if it's worth the space on my bookshelf to buy a new book, which is especially difficult because this one seems so promising, or if I should buy it on Kindle or some other e-book reader if/when I get one someday. But that's a whole other issue, for a different day.

Finally, one of the stories in the latest issue of fail better is called "Asterix and the Battle of Algiers," and, as a former student of French, this title grabbed me right away. I have yet to read the whole story, but I plan to do so; with an opening line as great as the one I used for the title of this blog post, how could I not finish it?