Friday, October 26, 2007

November is National Novel Writing Month!

I missed this last year, so I'm super psyched to give this a shot so that I can cross "Write a Novel" off my Life List.

The great thing is it has all the motivating factors of a competition without any of the actual judgment or ranking of a contest of literary skill.



Go ahead and join up. It's free! I'm thinking of maybe throwing a little potluck here at Game Headquarters to kick it off!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Free Cory Doctorow Short Story

Forbes.com has published a little Cory Doctorow short story. Do yourselves a favor and read it - it's only 2 pages long.


If you don't know who Cory Doctorow is, he's a futurist science fiction writer. His mystery/sci-fi novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is fantastic, as is his collection of short stories, Overclocked. In short, he's just about the best thing going in sci-fi today, in my opinion.

He gets all my whoofie and a bag of chips.

Thanks to Sean over at the nerdalicious I'd Rather Be___ blog for the heads up on the Forbes link!

Rain + Cold + Early = No Soccer for Shy

So I can do early and rainy, or early and cold, but I just can't do early, rainy AND cold. Thus I skipped my 7 am pickup soccer game. I did roller-blade about a third of the way there before I decided to nix going, so at least I got out of bed and got dressed, rather than throw the alarm clock at the wall and go back to sleep.

I need more soccer! Stop raining/being cold!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

BACK to the Future - New Posts are Old Posts

It should be noted that since this blog is new and an attempt to consolidate my various musings on different subjects over the past 15 years, many of my new posts will appear months, if not years, in the past, as I'm stickler for chronological order.

So check the archives if you're curious.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Logic is underrated

I love it when people try to change the initial premise of their argument in order to avoid being wrong. The most obvious and infuriating example of this nowadays is the Bush administration's uber-spin machine, but it's my one-on-one Internet interactions with cyber trolls that really amuses.

For example, I just had my first flamewar on YouTube (ah, you always remember your first, don't you?). I'd rather not give this fellow any more attention than he already desperately craves, so here is a summary of the exchange:
Guy 1: No one shoots movies in chronological order.

Me: Sure they do. Saving Private Ryan, Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lost in Translation, Dead Poet's Society and A Beautiful Mind all shot in chronological order.

Guy 2: No one shoots movies in chronological order. You're thinking of editing and you're a halfwit moron.

Me: I just listed a bunch of movies that shoot in chronological order and you're rude.

Guy 2: No one shoots movies in chronological order.

Me: Well, now YOU'RE the moron; they do. Google it.

Guy 2: Yeah, but it costs a lot of money.

Me: That's not what we were discussing, and that's not always the case.

Guy 2: If you argue with me, you're a doodoo head.

Me: Who are you, Karl Rove?

Guy 2: You're a doodoo head!

I then go watch this guy's videos, and his most recent video is a blog about being kind to strangers! He actually says in his own video, "Do you wanna be remembered as the faceless asshole who just bitched and whined and left nasty comments on YouTube?"

Yes, I'd like the Irony Cobbler with a side of Hypocrisy please.

After I rate his video 1-star, he then writes this little poetic gem:


Petty-rating the videos of someone who refuses to be dragged into a childish argument with you online is no more than I'd expect from an immature cunt such as yourself. If it helps you deal with your debilitating sense of powerlessness for one more day, then I've performed a useful service to society. But you'll have to find ways of dealing with the other 21,900 disasppointing days of the rest of your life. Maybe half a dozen more MyFace profiles will help create the illusion that the world gives a shit about yet another web-lurking housebound freak.

Ah, nothing bespeaks aged wisdom like the phrase "immature cunt." I tried to respond in order to point out that I low-rated his video because it was hypocritical, but he blocked my account so that he could have the last word.

Again, ironic. But quite entertaining!

Anyway, my point here is that if a nice, basic Logic class were included in the curriculum of high schools, we could avoid a great deal of all this nonsense and confusion, from the media and government spin and rhetoric, all the way down to Internet trolls with fragile egos.

Imagine how much easier life would be if people could readily identify logical fallacies? No more falling for ad hominem attacks. No more irrelevant conclusions, non sequiturs, or generalizations!

Sigh... it'd be nice.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Indie Comic Books

Man, I hate indie/"alternative" comic books. You know what? Being emo isn't a super power. Get a dose of gamma radiation! Build a super suit. Fight some frakkin' crime!

Indie comic book writers are just lazy, wannabe novelists. Get your whiny, melodramatic tripe off my comic store shelves and write your damn novel/screenplay/tv pilot already.

Yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Love and Rockets!

(That said, if you happen to write/illustrate an indie comic book, you're automatically cooler than I am because you're getting your stuff done. Christ, nevermind this rant, I'm just bitter and uncreative.)

Friday, October 19, 2007

More Dumpster Diving Success!

This past week I found an Inversion Table just down the block from my apartment. Some physical therapist or the like had clearly just gone out of business. It was disassembled and missing a pin and a few other parts, but nothing that couldn't be jury-rigged via Home Depot. I've always wanted an Inversion Table - unfortunately there's just no room in my apartment for one. So I sold it on Craigslist for $50! Financial windfall - whoo hoo!

And, of course, there's always the continuing stream of free flowers on my street - a fringe benefit of living in the flower district.


Oh, and if you're wondering if I regret getting rid of the inversion table before I used it for some other purpose... the answer is Yes.