tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83933893947498611272024-03-14T00:46:56.857-07:00Click-Track Heartclickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.comBlogger444125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-47990436568062000352010-02-19T06:50:00.000-08:002010-02-19T07:04:26.230-08:00A BreakThere is a quote from the film <span style="font-style: italic;">Altered States</span>, in which William Hurt says, "In fact, if I don't strip myself of all this clatter and clutter and ridiculous ritual, I shall go out of my fucking mind."<br /><br />I can't agree more.<br /><br />I'm taking a web/tech break. I won't be on Facebook or Twitter for some time to come. Same goes for this blog. They are wasting my time, making me feel like I NEED to check on them, to update, to interact, to, to, to... I can't deal with it anymore. I need a break, to walk away, and figure out what's truly important, and I think this is the first step.<br /><br />So, if you need to get in touch with me, drop me an email (chris(dot)smith(dot)mailliw(dot)william(at)gmail(dot)com). Or give me a call. I want to keep in touch with everyone--now more than ever, just not via these social constructs.<br /><br />There are big changes on my horizon as I strip myself of so much ridiculousness that bombards each of us everyday. It will be greatly appreciated if you keep me in your thoughts, prayers, whatever you choose. I will be in your debt.<br /><br />We all need to periodically assess where our lives our at, the pieces we're trying to put together, the ones we're still trying to find. This is what I'm doing, finding the pieces that fit, the ones that will help me to float rather than drown, the ones that paint a recognizable picture--beautiful or not.<br /><br />Until then, I wish you the best of days, the most restful of nights, and a wonderful picture of your own.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-10347317334037369782010-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:002010-02-12T08:11:24.067-08:00NeglectAs many of you have said to me, and others may have noticed, I've been neglecting my blog. It was as if Gibberish was the very heart and soul of this thing, and once it faded, so too, did my will to ramble here.<div><br /></div><div>In all honesty, I enjoyed blogging: recommending some new thing I found, ranting about the latest film, and shamelessly promoting myself. However, I feel like I need to step back, re-evaluate, and come back ready to rock.</div><div><br /></div><div>Namely, I've noticed the trend/norm that most writers and other professionals tend to only blog once or twice a month, with that blog being rather lengthy, well-thought, and an actual article rather than a simple upchuck of words. I hope to do the same here. Or at some other blog. I feel like this has been a great ride, but as I started this in hopes of starting my webcomic of the same name, click-track heart. That never came to fruition, and I'm not sure it ever will. I still love the idea of it; I don't have the time.</div><div><br /></div><div>That being said, I've taken on one too many projects at a time as is. I need to focus, to keep myself from being so scattered, to finish a story/novel to my own personal standards of completion. I can't do that when I'm so spread out.</div><div><br /></div><div>And on top of all that, I need to find a new outlet of "fun." I've turned everything I love into work: my writing, my art, even my video game playing--always <i>needing</i> to complete a game in its entirety before moving on to the next conquerable conquest. The only thing that hasn't become work is my listening to music, which I do plenty of. Plenty of. </div><div><br /></div><div>I still plan on writing here from time to time. Things might just be moving around a bit. Perhaps I'll get/start a new blog elsewhere, one that is a little more "professional." Who knows...</div><div><br /></div><div>For now, updates will be erratic, probably infrequent, and hopefully I can start sorting out the pieces of my life, trimming the edges, sanding down others, and throwing the remainder out with the bathwater.</div>clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-26892948469590958272010-01-20T07:56:00.000-08:002010-01-20T08:10:27.635-08:00Big Man JapanI like weird things. In fact, I'm very much drawn to them. Yet when I come across something truly bizarre, I can't help but wonder where in the world did these people come up with this stuff.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997147/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Big Man Japan</span></a> is one such thing. Some of the oddest things and some of the best character development I've seen in a film in quite awhile.<br /><br />The film starts slow though, very slow. I almost turned it off slow, but there was just enough of a "What in the world is going on?" to keep me going. And I'm glad I did. Director Hitashi Matsumoto has crafted an odd mix of mockumentary, Godzilla-esque monster fights, and character examination.<br /><br />The monster fights will have you shaking your head at their ridiculousness, but it's really the plight of the main character that will keep you going. The hero, Masaru, has such a craptastic life that you can't help but root for him and WANT him to succeed at what he does.<br /><br />Really, I don't even think I can put into words why you should watch this. The best I can come up with is that <span style="font-style: italic;">About Schmidt</span> found itself in a three-way involving <span style="font-style: italic;">Godzilla</span> films and the non-sequitur of Cartoon Network's Adult swim.<br /><br />Really though, if you like mockumentaries or over-sized monster fights or just a fully-realized character, you should give this one a go. It is on Instant Watch through Netflix, so it's not even a hard thing to track down.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-14492412949227648722010-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:002010-01-19T08:45:39.673-08:00Something HappenedI fell off the horse in a big way. It's been almost a week since I posted last--something almost unheard of until this moment. Things have simply been busy and full of more important things than my rambling here.<br /><br />I'm still hoping to post some audible versions of the "Beautiful Writing." Perhaps that will be my goal for tonight.<br /><br />Really, teaching has taken up the majority of my time. And if I haven't been teaching, I've been purchasing soda at Rocket Fizz or hanging out with my newly parent-status friends. Newborns are itty bitty little things. Hard to believe they're people. Hard to believe I was ever that small. Hard to believe things won't just be so ugly soon enough. (Surrounding these events, I have a story that has been brewing. It better simply be short story, because I DON'T have room or time for another novel. Plus, I think it would make a rather boring novel.)<br /><br />Anyway, I hope to get back to my regularly scheduled posting here again. It will help with my writing--and perhaps that's what I will post, new snippets from the new novel. Who knows?<br /><br />Off to prepare for teaching tomorrow, and other work-related things. Bleh.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-12532466783836675732010-01-13T13:49:00.001-08:002010-01-13T13:53:23.991-08:00Good Puzzling PlatformerI'm always on the lookout for good platformers. It's even better when they happen to be puzzle games, too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.continuitygame.com/">Continuity</a> is awesome. So far, it hasn't been very difficult, but it doesn't matter. The execution is wonderful. All you must do is find a key and go through a door. The twist? The game boards play like those oldschool slid pictures, the ones you got as crappy party favors, how you had to slide the pieces around the grid to make the solid picture. You must slide the different "pieces" of the level around in order for your little stick-man to navigate his way to the key, then the door. It's a simple idea, beautiful in execution, and would--and does--make a great time waster.<br /><br />Check it out if you have a few moments. These guys deserve some applause.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-19926142082168402502010-01-11T14:15:00.000-08:002010-01-11T14:21:22.061-08:00Cherry Cola AmazingnessThere is a wonderful, magical place here in Lincoln called<a href="http://www.myrocketfizz.com/"> Rocket Fizz</a>. It has hundreds of different sodas. Hundreds. It is amazing.<br /><br />The reason I bring it up is because of cola I tried the other day: <a href="http://www.sprecherbrewery.com">Sprecher</a> Cherry Cola. This is one of the best sodas I've ever tasted. It tastes like the grenadine filled cherry cokes you get at Mexican or Italian restaurants, only with a bit more authentic cherry flavor. What does that mean exactly? It means it's freaking awesome and you need to track some down, buy it, and drink until your heart stops. Well, maybe not, but try some at the very least.<br /><br />Also worth note: It is caffeine free. Normally, I like my colas caffeinated, but this one is too good--even with this downside.<br /><br />This is good soda people, and I know my sodas.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-89408359450917941962010-01-08T06:58:00.000-08:002010-01-08T07:38:41.375-08:00Context, Discourse, and ThemeI think it might be beneficial if I write this down, gather my thoughts a little. This is what/how I'm reviewing the rambling ideas rambled about last class.<br /><br />Context: Think of this like an inside joke. You and your group of friends have the stupid things you say to one another that garner guffaws and uncontrollable giggles. Let's say one of these "code" phrases is "Macaroni Salad." For whatever reason, be it film quote, past experience, something one of you witnessed, these two words send you and your friends into a fit of laughter. In the context of you and your friends, this is funny.<br /><br />Now, let's put you in a room with a potential boss, interviewing you for a job. You say "Macaroni Salad" to him, and he might simply ask you to leave. The context has changed: instead of your friends, who know how your brain works and have shared similar experiences with you, this interviewer does not know you, does not know how your brain works, and just might be wondering if you always spout out random picnic offerings.<br /><br />Let's change the context again: You are now in a restaurant, staring into the face of your disgruntled waiter. Say "Macaroni Salad" to him, and he will either write down your order with a bored expression, or his face might scrunch as he says, "Um, we don't have that."<br /><br />Context can be thought of as the "setting." Change the setting of a reader--what they like, when they read it, etc.--and the meaning of the essay, story, poem can change.<br /><br />Discourse goes hand-in-hand with Context. Take a look at the "Macaroni Salad" example again. Same word in all three instance, yet it means very different things. To your friends, it conjures up an image of Melinda shooting a noodle out of her nose. To the interviewer, it conjures up an image of you in a mental institution, complete with straight jacket. To the waiter, it's just another order of something they may or may not have. Same word, different meaning.<br /><br />Theme needs a new example. Try thinking of Theme like the categories in a Blockbuster. Each one has been given a "theme" to be included within: Comedy, Sci-Fi/Horror, Romance, Drama, Action/Adventure, Family, etc. According to Blockbuster, these groupings of films all have the same "theme," the same traits that make them belong together: these films will make you laugh, these films are appropriate for all ages, and so on and so forth.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span> By finding the similar traits, one can pick out a common "theme" among them, and have a general idea of what to expect when plucking a film from its shelf.<br /><br />But what happens when a film has multiple "themes" that it can fall under? This is where context comes back in: depending on where a film is placed, you expect different things from it.<br /><br />Take <span style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of the Caribbean</span>: it is, most likely, shelved under Action/Adventure. This makes sense because of its high-seas adventures, sword fights, and exotic location. Someone renting this film and hoping for an adventure, would not be disappointed, because it has been placed under the context of Action/Adventure--even though it has elements of horror, comedy, drama, and romance. What would happen if a Blockbuster employee decided it needed reshelving? If placed in the Horror section, a renter might be annoyed because they didn't find the film scary or gory enough to be a Horror flick. Same goes for Romance. Sure, there is the idea of "romance" between Will and Elizabeth, but had someone rented it from the Romance section, would their ideas of a "Romance" film have been fulfilled? I doubt it. The same goes for comedy. If you were watching this film, having pulled it from the Comedy shelf, you might've expected something along the lines of <span style="font-style: italic;">Robin Hood</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Men in Tights</span>, only with swashbucklers instead of outlaws. (Granted, you might still laugh at some of the lines and moments or even the ridiculousness of the film as a whole, but it might not fill your expectations.)<br /><br />Theme establishes the through-line of a story or essay. It's what pulls all of these elements--different as they might be--together. Good themes should not change, no matter what the context. Readers should be able to recognize a theme, despite its presentation or what prejudices they might bring. (Like Pirates, someone watching it as a Horror film would probably be thinking, "This isn't a horror; it's more of an Action/Adventure.") Theme binds writing together AND it's what gives the universality quality that allows anyone, anywhere to pick up the writing/film/artwork and understand it.<br /><br />And that's the lesson for today, folks. Let me know what you think, and/or I would be much obliged to know how you present this type of thing yourself. I have a feeling that this will need to come up more than once or twice for students to fully grasp this idea.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-84725833869292943492010-01-07T08:52:00.000-08:002010-01-07T08:53:43.829-08:00Isaiah 51: 1-16 (NKJV)<sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18672">1</sup> “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness,<br /> You who seek the LORD: <br /> Look to the rock <i>from which</i> you were hewn, <br /> And to the hole of the pit <i>from which</i> you were dug. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18673">2</sup> Look to Abraham your father, <br /> And to Sarah <i>who</i> bore you; <br /> For I called him alone, <br /> And blessed him and increased him.” <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18674">3</sup> For the LORD will comfort Zion, <br /> He will comfort all her waste places; <br /> He will make her wilderness like Eden, <br /> And her desert like the garden of the LORD; <br /> Joy and gladness will be found in it, <br /> Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18675">4</sup> “ Listen to Me, My people; <br /> And give ear to Me, O My nation: <br /> For law will proceed from Me, <br /> And I will make My justice rest <br /> As a light of the peoples. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18676">5</sup> My righteousness <i>is</i> near, <br /> My salvation has gone forth, <br /> And My arms will judge the peoples; <br /> The coastlands will wait upon Me, <br /> And on My arm they will trust. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18677">6</sup> Lift up your eyes to the heavens, <br /> And look on the earth beneath. <br /> For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, <br /> The earth will grow old like a garment, <br /> And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; <br /> But My salvation will be forever, <br /> And My righteousness will not be abolished. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18678">7</sup> “ Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, <br /> You people in whose heart <i>is</i> My law: <br /> Do not fear the reproach of men, <br /> Nor be afraid of their insults. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18679">8</sup> For the moth will eat them up like a garment, <br /> And the worm will eat them like wool; <br /> But My righteousness will be forever, <br /> And My salvation from generation to generation.” <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18680">9</sup> Awake, awake, put on strength, <br /> O arm of the LORD! <br /> Awake as in the ancient days, <br /> In the generations of old. <br /> <i>Are</i>You not <i>the arm</i> that cut Rahab apart, <br /> <i>And</i> wounded the serpent? <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18681">10</sup> <i>Are</i> You not <i>the One</i> who dried up the sea, <br /> The waters of the great deep; <br /> That made the depths of the sea a road <br /> For the redeemed to cross over? <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18682">11</sup> So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, <br /> And come to Zion with singing, <br /> With everlasting joy on their heads. <br /> They shall obtain joy and gladness; <br /> Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18683">12</sup> “ I, <i>even</i> I, <i>am</i> He who comforts you. <br /> Who <i>are</i> you that you should be afraid <br /> Of a man <i>who</i> will die, <br /> And of the son of a man <i>who</i> will be made like grass? <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18684">13</sup> And you forget the LORD your Maker, <br /> Who stretched out the heavens <br /> And laid the foundations of the earth; <br /> You have feared continually every day <br /> Because of the fury of the oppressor, <br /> When <i>he has</i> prepared to destroy. <br /> And where <i>is</i> the fury of the oppressor? <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18685">14</sup> The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, <br /> That he should not die in the pit, <br /> And that his bread should not fail. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18686">15</sup> But I <i>am</i> the LORD your God, <br /> Who divided the sea whose waves roared— <br /> The LORD of hosts <i>is</i> His name. <br /> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NKJV-18687">16</sup> And I have put My words in your mouth; <br /> I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, <br /> That I may plant the heavens, <br /> Lay the foundations of the earth, <br /> And say to Zion, ‘You <i>are</i> My people.’”clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-62160639366434649452010-01-06T10:59:00.000-08:002010-01-06T11:07:06.354-08:00Wow...I waited until I had an "official" class--not just going over the syllabus--to write about my teaching experience, and now I wish I hadn't.<br /><br />Today was rough. People were actually answering my questions fairly well, but I was not following my outline. Translation: I think I sounded like a rambling idiot.<br /><br />However, this is not without its benefits. Rough as today was, it has taught me a lesson: Follow my guideline. Focus on one, maybe two, key ideas, and go for them. Be more specific about what I want from my students with their homework. And forget their bored, bored faces.<br /><br />This is what it is all about, right? Learning from my mistakes, seeing what works, what doesn't, etc.<br /><br />At the end of it, I am alive, hurting, but alive. And I have Dr. Pepper, 32 ounces of sweet nectar to take my hurt away.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-75852999164356591952010-01-05T07:04:00.000-08:002010-01-06T06:39:54.109-08:00Joyas Voladoras by Brian DoyleAs I'd said long ago, I would change the comics to examples of Beautiful Writing. This is what I will be sharing with my class today, so I will share it with you now.<br /><br />"Joyas Voladoras" by <a href="http://www.smokebox.net/archives/interviews/doyle1202.html">Brian Doyle</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-size:100%;" >Consider the hummingbird for a long moment. A hummingbird's heart beats ten times a second. A hummingbird's heart is the size of a pencil eraser. A hummingbird's heart is a lot of the hummingbird. <i>Joyas voladoras</i>, flying jewels, the first white explorers in the Americas called them, and the white men had never seen such creatures, for hummingbirds came into the world only in the Americas, nowhere else in the universe, more than three hundred species of them whirring and zooming and nectaring in hummer time zones nine times removed from ours, their hearts hammering faster than we could clearly hear if we pressed our elephantine ears to their infinitesimal chests.<br /><br />Each one visits a thousand flowers a day. They can dive at sixty miles an hour. They can fly backwards. They can fly more than five hundred miles without pausing to rest. But when they rest they come close to death: on frigid nights, or when they are starving, they retreat into torpor, their metabolic rate slowing to a fifteenth of their normal sleep rate, their hearts sludging nearly to a halt, barely beating, and if they are not soon warmed, if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be. Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eyes again today, this very day, in the Americas: bearded helmetcrests and booted racket-tails, violet-tailed sylphs and violet-capped woodnymphs, crimson topazes and purple-crowned fairies, red-tailed comets and amethyst woodstars, rainbow-bearded thornbills and glittering-bellied emeralds, velvet-purple coronets and golden-bellied star-frontlets, fiery-tailed awlbills and Andean hillstars, spatuletails and pufflegs, each the most amazing thing you have never seen, each thunderous wild heart the size of an infant's fingernail, each mad heart silent, a brilliant music stilled.<br /><br />Hummingbirds, like all flying birds but more so, have incredible enormous immense ferocious metabolisms. To drive those metabolisms they have race-car hearts that eat oxygen at an eye-popping rate. Their hearts are built of thinner, leaner fibers than ours. Their arteries are stiffer and more taut. They have more mitochondria in their heart muscles -- anything to gulp more oxygen. Their hearts are stripped to the skin for the war against gravity and inertia, the mad search for food, the insane idea of flight. The price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures more than any other living creature. It's expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine. Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old.<br /><br />The biggest heart in the world is inside the blue whale. It weighs more than seven tons. It's as big as a room. It <i>is</i> a room, with four chambers. A child could walk around in it, head high, bending only to step through the valves. The valves are as big as the swinging doors in a saloon. This house of a heart drives a creature a hundred feet long. When this creature is born it is twenty feet long and weighs four tons. It is waaaaay bigger than your car. It drinks a hundred gallons of milk from its mama every day and gains two hundred pounds a day and when it is seven or eight years old it endures an unimaginable puberty and then it essentially disappears from human ken, for next to nothing is known of the mating habits, travel patterns, diet, social life, language, social structure, diseases, spirituality, wars, stories, despairs, and arts of the blue whale. There are perhaps ten thousand blue whales in the world, living in every ocean on earth, and of the largest mammal who ever lived we know nearly nothing. But we know this: the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs, and their penetrating moaning cries, their piercing yearning tongue, can be heard underwater for miles and miles.<br /><br />Mammals and birds have hearts with four chambers. Reptiles and turtles have hearts with three chambers. Fish have hearts with two chambers. Insects and mollusks have hearts with one chamber. Worms have hearts with one chamber, although they may have as many as eleven single-chambered hearts. Unicellular bacteria have no hearts at all; but even they have fluid eternally in motion, washing from one side of the cell to the other, swirling and whirling. No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside.<br /><br />So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end -- not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we must. Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart. When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall. You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman's second glance, a child's apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words <i>I have something to tell you</i>, a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother's papery ancient hand in a thicket of your hair, the memory of your father's voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children.</span>clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-18870117118581236242010-01-04T07:36:00.000-08:002010-01-04T07:41:34.766-08:00Okay then...As of tomorrow, I will officially be Mr. Smith, teacher of English Composition I and II. I'm freaked. Truly, I am.<br /><br />For the most part, I think I'm ready for the first few days. I have things planned out for the rest of the week, and I believe that is a good thing. However, after those first few days, I'm going to be freaking out as to what I do next.<br /><br />Really. I'm going to be in charge of peoples' education, their understanding of the written word, their light at the end of the grammar tunnel. True, I feel as if I know these things for myself, but passing them on... that's another story.<br /><br />I solicit all of you, whether you believe in prayer, good vibes, or some other form of boosting one's support, please send some of these things my way. I will be eternally grateful. I'll let you know how things go on Wednesday.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-12524914197787646422010-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:002010-01-04T07:36:46.613-08:00(Third Missed Post)New Year's day, what more do you want?clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-66575688237582014192009-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-31T00:01:00.868-08:00+Dreams: Fragile Things+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzqFK60E2sI/AAAAAAAAAjo/_oCkry5SZ3M/s1600-h/Dreams+Fragile+Things.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzqFK60E2sI/AAAAAAAAAjo/_oCkry5SZ3M/s400/Dreams+Fragile+Things.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420791524126677698" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishthestuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a></div>...clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-87043221338997036092009-12-30T07:18:00.000-08:002009-12-30T07:28:43.607-08:00HiatusThis will be the official status of <a href="http://www.gibberishthecomic.com">Gibberish</a> after tomorrow.<br /><br />I need a break. I have too many projects, with more coming up, and I can't see myself keeping up with--or needing the stress of worrying about--the comic. For something that started out as an experiment, Gibberish became something I never expected. It continued to surprise me. It allowed me to play around with color, different techniques; it even helped hone my writing--even if the comic didn't reflect that sharpening.<br /><br />I hope to do a comic here or there, perhaps keep it afloat, but the Tuesday/Thursday schedule will no longer be in effect. The archive will remain on the interweb for your enjoyment, but new comics won't be happening on a regular basis.<br /><br />My plan is to recharge, get a few more of these other projects buttoned up, and perhaps I can devote some more time to an actual comic, full pages, a real story, recurring characters. Perhaps not. Regardless, I hope to jump back into the comic scene soon enough, but I realize that it is rather unrealistic given everything I have going on next year.<br /><br />Thank you, to my faithful few readers. I appreciate the comments and support, and I hope to still put together a collection of the last year and a half of comics.<br /><br />The blog will continue to update on MWF, and TR will be replaced by my aforementioned idea of "Beautiful Writing." I'm not sure if/when it will be audible readings, but I will at least post the text.<br /><br />Thanks again for the support, and I look forward to seeing you all with whatever I happen to do next.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-47269548861112246562009-12-29T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-29T07:26:20.634-08:00+Cake Job+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzofVN302YI/AAAAAAAAAjg/bLpvg9fO5aA/s1600-h/Cake+Job.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzofVN302YI/AAAAAAAAAjg/bLpvg9fO5aA/s400/Cake+Job.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420679550855338370" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishthestuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a></div>...clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-11237476829942838822009-12-28T07:14:00.000-08:002009-12-28T07:18:30.032-08:00SummationSnow, and more snow. Nothing but snow. Nebraska is officially crazy.<br /><br />Along with snow. Christmas: this involved new clothes, an awesome dinner with amazing friends, more snow, games, sleeping in late, shoveling snow, pushing cars, building Legos, and collapsing.<br /><br />Since then, it's been much the same with a bit of World of Warcraft thrown in to boot.<br /><br />However, now, I must do things like prepare to teach my upcoming classes, actual work, and possibly finishing that first draft of my novel.<br /><br />For now, bye.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-89944867975031369672009-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-28T07:13:36.591-08:00Another Missed Post(It was Christmas. Can you blame me?)clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-59099750125488693542009-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:002009-12-24T10:20:37.677-08:00+Merry Christmas+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzOwrbvBHfI/AAAAAAAAAjY/864diJLckJE/s1600-h/Merry+Christmas.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzOwrbvBHfI/AAAAAAAAAjY/864diJLckJE/s400/Merry+Christmas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418869036882664946" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishtehstuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a><br /></div>Do it.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-90426366130967666042009-12-23T12:59:00.000-08:002009-12-23T13:00:04.071-08:00Christmas PrepThere is too much to do.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-34043993113014775522009-12-22T11:48:00.001-08:002009-12-22T11:50:19.668-08:00+I Will Obey+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzEiut4wxYI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/XpzN03698fk/s1600-h/Do+What+You%27re+Programmed+For.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SzEiut4wxYI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/XpzN03698fk/s400/Do+What+You%27re+Programmed+For.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418150012690417026" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishthestuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a></div>Buying stuff is pretty awesome.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-86752222160990717522009-12-21T09:06:00.000-08:002009-12-21T09:14:21.160-08:00Rediscovering My PSPI'd forgotten about this gem of a system. I've been to busy with my other consoles--or just other things in general. However, Loco Roco, a fine and silly game, brought me back into the fold, and now I'm thinking about video games much more than I have in years.<br /><br />Currently, I'm playing a small, overlooked title called <a href="http://www.us.playstation.com/PSP/Games/Crush">CRUSH</a>. It is pretty much the coolest puzzle game you've never heard of. If you have a PSP and you like puzzle games and you overlooked/missed/forgot about this one, do yourself a favor and track a copy down. It has such a simple premise, but is one of the best designed and intriguing games I've ever played.<br /><br />Basically you are an insomniac trying to discover why he can't sleep. To find the reason, he's enlisted a scientist and his machine to help out. You play through these puzzles, collecting your marbles, avoiding inner bugs and such, and solve puzzles by rotating the camera and "crush"ing your 3-D world into 2-D, letting you have access to places previously unreachable. Sound confusing? It's probably just my writing.<br /><br />The game itself is nothing short of fantastic, and I'm already itching to get home and play a few more levels.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-65602366831531813932009-12-18T07:31:00.000-08:002009-12-18T07:36:21.069-08:00Fantastic Mr. FoxIt was the final showing in Lincoln, and I'm sad that I didn't see it sooner. I would've liked to see it on the big screen once again. It is one of the best/most distinct looking films I've seen in recent times. Wonderful stuff, funny, heart-wrenching, and loads of fun.<br /><br />An early preview comment said it best: "It's Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl. How can this go wrong?"<br /><br />True enough. It will be a fierce competition for Best Animated Feature this year, as I would be torn between this one and <span style="font-style: italic;">Up</span>. Then again, Pixar has won enough Oscars already, and Wes is a guy that is very deserving and might otherwise never be acknowledged for his genius.<br /><br />Anyway, if this film is still in your area, see it. Don't hesitate any longer.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-38569019695458041432009-12-17T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-17T00:01:01.547-08:00+-it.+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SycHe3_hImI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Iyk_lDAKyn0/s1600-h/Well,+Sh.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SycHe3_hImI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Iyk_lDAKyn0/s400/Well,+Sh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415305303944143458" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishthestuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a><br /><br /></div>I am glad I am not a snowman. I like the sun.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-2605789657724572632009-12-16T06:46:00.000-08:002009-12-16T07:29:53.031-08:00The Process: RememberingYou've neglected your story/novel/writing in general long enough. Then what?<br /><br />I plant myself into a chair of some sort, open up the last bit of writing I've done, and start reading over snippets here and there. Well, it's not really reading, but scraping, seeing which bits come off with my eyes, the ones that stick to my fingers, help me remember what it was that I was doing with this whole project in the first place. I might make a few fixes here and there--nothing I would call revision--but enough to get me back into the groove of things, remind me what it was/is that my character wants in that moment, what's pissing them off, what's breaking their heart. Once that's done, I can often slip back into a rhythm, start chipping away at that negligence block and add to my story once again.<br /><br />Usually, I don't work with an outline and I'm forced to simply follow my characters around and wait for something to happen. This makes for lots of cutting/rewriting later, but it's time well spent, as I get to see how they get from here to there, what they linger over, what catches their eye. Also, having something to cut is better than an empty page. Empty pages give you nothing. NOTHING. Hopefully though, something happens in this character stalking process, something unexpected or worth hanging around to witness. Once this occurs, I'm fired up and ready to roll. Other times, when nothing shows up, I've just written a bunch of boring nothing.<br /><br />When this boring nothing occurs--and I'm sure it will--I take a break, play some video games, drink some Dr. Pepper or Chai, talk to my wife for a few minutes, hassle my cats, something to let my mind focus on other things. There are times I forget to go back to my writing and fall right back into negligence, but going back is always, always the best. The times I remember to go back, I sit, start scraping again, a little harder this time, and I see what comes off in my hands. Inevitably there will be a piece of a paragraph, a few words, a sentence that sparks an ides and helps me to see what this moment/scene needs--even if that means taking a cue from Monty Python and going to something completely different.<br /><br />(A piece of advice that I've learned: WHEN IN DOUBT ABOUT WHERE YOUR STORY IS GOING, LOOK TO WHAT HAS COME BEFORE IT. THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS IN THE PAST.)<br /><br />After that, it is simply a matter of keeping myself in my chair and letting my fingers do the work. For me, a set word count is a great way of not only keeping track of how much I write on a daily basis, but it gives a goal, a tangible number that I can attain. I shoot for 1,000 words a day. Sometimes, I overshoot--if you're really in the groove, why stop? Other times, I come up short--WAY short. Regardless, it gives me the grounding I need to "feel" like I've written and been productive for the day. A chunk of time would work too. Say, a half an hour every day that you DEVOTE--no email, internet, news reading, wall staring, nothing--to writing. This might even be better, as you won't feel let down by not meeting your word count. You burned the keyboard for your set time and wrote what you could.<br /><br />The importance of this step in my writing process is simply for my brain and heart and fingers to remember what it is that they've been missing: their purpose, their joy, their horrendous witch of a lover that is writing. Once they have, it's much harder to fall back into neglecting such an exquisite beast.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8393389394749861127.post-88062109751819555642009-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:002009-12-15T00:01:03.592-08:00+Cheap Christmas+<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SycG7Ogp3SI/AAAAAAAAAi8/J4_Wizu38q0/s1600-h/Cheap+Christmas.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_K8uwjLxzt4E/SycG7Ogp3SI/AAAAAAAAAi8/J4_Wizu38q0/s400/Cheap+Christmas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415304691513416994" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gibberishthestuff.com/home/archive">Archive</a></div>It is not the American way.clickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05592794449606763809noreply@blogger.com0