Bookstore made from an old cathedral

I find this entry on Metafilter. Check it out.

Meeting Tomorrow

Sorry I have posted anything in a while. You know how the holidays are, you sleep so much that you forget to do the little things that matter.

On to the news. Tomorrow we are meeting, of course. We will meet at 6 pm at the Morrison Regional Library.

Hobbit Movie

Check it kids, I think it's official. Can't wait.

Crayon Physics

Wow, I want to take stab at this software sometime. That looks like a lot of fun.

Our Next Meeting

I sent out an email a few days ago about our upcoming meeting on December 27th at 6 pm at the Morrison Regional Library. In that email I mentioned that Melanie would like everyone to bring a piece of writing to include in an anthology she wants to put together. Everyone that has attended one of our meetings in the last year is welcome to submit something.

The book she is going to put together will be one of those Kinko's jobs with the black plastic binding but she believes she can add it to the system. We will also have a stack to pass out at the reference desk.

I hope everyone will bring a piece of writing they'd like to have included. It can be a poem or two or three and short stories or even essays. Whatever the heck you want to submit.

We, of course, reserve the right to edit for dirty words and atrocious spelling.

This made me laugh

I couldn't help but think of Matthew when I read xkcd comic.

Terry Pratchett news

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this doesn't sound good.

SF subgenres

If you are interested, the blog for Penguin Publishing is doing a weeklong post on the many subgenres in science fiction. You can view the blog here.

A Quote

I am currently reading Steve Martin's memoir entitled "Born Standing Up." As you may have guess from the title the book focuses on his ten years as a working stand up comedian. Here's a great quote from the book concerning his decision to attempt to make a living by making people laugh: "I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naivete, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do."

Robert Heinlein

Hey kids, I think most of you know that I grew up reading Heinlein and I still go back to his books on occasion. I try to reread one at least once a year. I came across a nice article about him in the Los Angeles Times.

Also, you can check out John Scalzi's reaction to the story here. His opinion is relevant because the NYTimes review mentioned in the story is a review of Scalzi's book Old Man's War.

Reading lists

I've been keeping a reading list through the library's Readers Club website for about three years now and I've been updating my Goodreads list by memory. I've been wondering if any of you guys keep a reading list. I wish I had started one back in the second grade when I really began reading seriously. So, who keeps a serious reading list?

Website recommendation

I've been meaning to tell you guys about this site I have been using to keep track of what I have read. It's a social website where the focus is books. Cool idea, I think. You can see what your friends are reading and have read and you can read and write book reviews. The site is called Good Reads. You can see my profile here. Join if you wish and add me to your friends list. I have already had some nice communication with some friends concerning books through this website.

Howdy

I haven't posted anything for a few days because I have been moving all weekend. And I do mean all weekend. From Friday until yesterday I spent over 8 hours a day hauling boxes and furniture from three different apartments into one pretty big house. I don't ever want to do that again. One of my new roommates (an old friend of mine) didn't even bother to pack his stuff up until we were at his old place and ready to put his stuff on the truck. I still think he's not aware of just how close he came to getting beat up. Word of advice, if you ever have to move try and box up your belongings before the day you actually are supposed to move.

Ten Best Books of 2007

According to the New York Times Book Review these are the ten best books of the last year. You know, I haven't read any of these. I'm surprised Michael Chabon's new book isn't on this list. I thought for sure I had read a best-of-the-year book when I finished that novel. Last year I hit two, this year none.

Tolkien on Beowulf

Found this nice passage in an essay at Salon.com about how much the new Beowulf movie stinks.

"It is, Tolkien writes, not a primitive poem, but a late one. The pagan world is already past, but the poet still celebrates its vanished power. The fact that a poem written more than a thousand years ago was itself looking back at a lost world gives the poem an uncanny double resonance to the modern reader: "If the funeral of Beowulf moved once like the echo of an ancient dirge, far-off and hopeless, it is to us as a memory brought over the hills, an echo of an echo.""

The letter I mentioned (link fixed)

Here is a link to the letter I mentioned earlier. I get a letter published every few months. It makes me feel important.

The link should work now. The page won't be up for long. It should get archived soon and then my name will live forever in the Charlotte Observer archives. Impressed yet?

The exercise

Jake, the exercise we worked on was taking five people you know and taking a characteristic from each person to create a unique character. That is what we were working on when I received the call about the break in from my roommate.

I did see that Colbert dropped his "campaign." I think he got all the publicity out of it he wanted. I think the whole thing was done just to see where it went and I'll wager he was a little surprised by all the hubbub surrounding his joke.

By the way, if you look at the Thanksgiving Day paper you will see a letter in the Charlotte Obsever Forum by little ole me.

ok, several things, 1) i stopped writing my original story for multiple purposes, 2) did you hear that Stephen Colbert was denied by the Democratic party of South Carolina?, 3) could someone please tell me what's up with the writers' strike? i have only vague ideas about why it's happening..., and 4) hope you guys had a happy thanksgiving!

Galaxy Garden

Have you heard about the guy in Hawaii that made a garden in the shape of galaxy?

Howdy

Sorry about last night, guys. I hated to leave. Writers Night is my favorite day at work. Someone busted the back window, unlatched it and crawled in and stole my Xbox 360, a bunch of DVD's and forty dollars out of my roommate's room. I'm pretty sure it was an ex-neighbor that was evicted last month. He was on the property yesterday and I gave his name to the cops. We think he stole some stuff from us this summer but we never had any real proof.

I hope you guys completed the exercise last night. If you did, please post them here. I'd love to read them.

Meeting tomorrow

Don't forget, youngsters, we are meeting tomorrow at the Morrison Library at 6 pm. See you there.

The Creation Museum

Science fiction author John Scalzi has a photo essay on his Flickr page about his trip to the Creation Museum. It's excellent and funny.

Next Meeting

To answer Mitchell's question, the next meeting will be on the third Thursday of November, November 15th. Hey, that's a week from today. Time flies.

Human Clock

I've been on a roll today. I have a great idea for our next meeting. We can use the white dry-erase board and create a couple of entries for the Human Clock. I did a couple of times about three or four years ago and I'd love to do a couple more.

For those that like to draw...

Have you seen those blogs where super nerds use their DVD players and their PC's to stitch together backgrounds from old animated movies? Pretty cool stuff.

The Woman who broke Isaac Asimov's heart

I just found out today that Michael Swanwick is blogging. He has an interesting story about a woman he met.

Just out of curiosity - since the library will be closed on the fourth Thursday this month (that day being Thanksgiving, in case you were unaware), I was wondering when the meeting would be instead, or if there will even be a meeting. I ask purely in the interests of ascertaining whether or not I'll be able to attend.

Moon video goodness

Interested in seeing the first video of the moon shot with a high definition camera? You can view it here.

Alien abduction lamp

I want this.

Another Connie Willis interview

I haven't read it yet but I am sure it's worth reading. Going to go read it now...

From the interview...

Connie Willis' favorite SF short fiction:

"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
"Homecoming" by Ray Bradbury
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
"The Menace from Earth" by Robert A. Heinlein
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson
"Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
"Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler
"Surface Tension" by James Blish
"Vintage Season" by C.L Moore
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett
"A Saucer of Loneliness" by Theodore Sturgeon
"Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon Dickson
"We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick

Ed says:
Menace from earth by Heinlein is a good one. Nightfall is a classic and Bloodchild is another great one that I have read. I remember reading A Sound of Thunder and really feeling that the story felt contemporary and real to me.

I see she mentions Zenna Henderson. I am not familiar with that author. Have any of you read or heard of Zenna Henderson?

All-Time Champs

Would you like to see a list of authors who have one the most total Hugos and Nebula awards for best science fiction novel?

Connie Willis Interview

I found a Connie Willie interview here.

An idea

Several months ago I broached the idea of starting a literary website. We would be the editors and take submissions from the general public. Your response was underwhelming. Now I have another idea for you to consider. I would like each member of our group to come up with a couple pieces of writing which we could post to a webpage that would be reserved just for our writing. What do you think of that?

Not writing or reading related

I don't know about you guys but I love nighttime photography, especially of cities. May I direct to this online gallery?

Collabs- not a month late this time!

I once saw and elk tangled up in a barbed wire fence. I had been walking for most of the day and I was so tired I was at first convinced it was a dream. But the blood was too real.
Whenever I smell frost I think of that elk, and the small caverns carved of the hot red drips, corrosive on the snowy ground. I wanted to help the creature but it was thrashing about madly in its desperate attempt to escape. I sighed and took one last glance and walked away. I could smell the snow as I crunched along. Soon I came to a forked path. One was lined with evergreens, only some snow on the ground. The other was worn dead trees and snow falling. It was a beautiful sight, the light of the setting sun peeking through the branches. I picked that path and started walking again.
What was I thinking about?

(Open for submissions of a nice, concise ending. Seriously, get off your butts and give me something good, people.)


Choose Your Own Adventure (ha, Ed, mine is cooler than yours 'cos it has a name!)

Stephen Colbert...was running for president. [scratched out stuff, only "Terrorists could be anyone" legible] Maybe that's the appeal- everyone becomes a potential threat. Every cell phone whipped out could be a detonator, every package a bomb. It makes public transportation nerve-wracking. But it is not enough to shake the magnificent being that is Stephen Colbert.
He would make a perfect president because he has both of his eyes. (Damn you.)
But Jon Stewart was bitter about his colleague's enormous popularity and charisma. He began to plot the young man's (what?! he's 43!) downfall. His downfall...into Jon Stewart's arms.
Because Jon Stewart could crush a small car in his arms. (Awesome.) He figured correctly that if he could get Colbert in a hug he could crush the life out of him in about ten seconds. Colbert knew that. Colbert didn't care.
Fin. <3

The last one was obviously a war between the non-shippers and the fan-girls. We won. And I wasn't the one who drew the heart after the overly-pretentious "fin." (though I did write THAT.) Also, for anyone who wanted to know, I always grab the collabs so I can have the liberty of adding all those comments in parentheses. :D

Whole bunches of you

Yay! Parallel universes may actually exist. Cool, maybe there is a world out there where I am playing first base for the Chicago Cubs, we are in the world series and during the off season I play bass for U2.

A post for Mitchell

I'm sure she has heard and I should have posted this as soon as I heard but a character from Harry Potter has been outed by Rowling. Dumbledore is gay. I guess the only question is, does anyone really care?

The poem I wrote

Here's the longer version of the poem that I read tonight.

Everyone is older
my dad's youngest brother
always seemed so young
the adult that could
talk to the kids
is almost as old as Bob Dylan
he plays horse shoes half heartedly

My dad, the eldest
his nose ravaged
by his recklessness,
his balance more and more
off kilter
as the years between him
and his motorcycle accident
increase, struggles with horse shoes

The middle brother
his competitiveness stoked by
the horse shoe contest
his red hair fading
like paint on an old car
doesn't lose a game all day

My sister takes pictures
convinces the usually camera shy
to pose and smile
in the red afternoon sun
she's like a attractive queen
who just learned her rival
has had acid thrown in her face.

Aunt Bert's steak
is the rawest steak I've ever seen
eaten with utensils
I tell her, "You could just have left
that sitting out overnight and it
would be done to your liking."
"Yup," She says, "just leave it out
in the sun for a few minutes and
I'll eat it."

It's a good party, the kind people
don't want to leave
with long goodbyes
vows to do this again
"Not wait ten years this time,"
the middle brother says.
"We might not all be here ten years from now."
His wife punches him in the arm.

Everyone is older, even the trees

Le Guin on serious literature

Now this is funny stuff.

Bill Watterson reviews new Charles Schulz Biography

You can read the review here.

Meeting

Don't forget that we are meeting this Thursday because the room will not be available next week. This Thursday, 6 o'clock.

Lego Hawking

Interested in seeing a Lego version of Stephen Hawking?

I am America

As Grace mentioned, her is the cover of the Stephen Colbert book. That is a funny face. I don't know how many of you watch the Colbert Report on Comedy Central but, if you haven't, you are missing some of the best comedy of the last twenty years. I don't know if I've seen any better writing and performing since the Kids in the Hall were in their prime. I read an interview with Colbert and he said when he and Jon Stewart created the character he plays on the show Stewart told him he should play it as a person who is a know it all but an idiot. I think he pulls it off.

The possibility of talks

Hey, even the chance that discussions concerning a Peter Jackson directed version of the Hobbit is enough to get me excited.

The Family Reunion
(just something I jotted down today. It'll be much much much longer later. It'll be an epic poem not unlike the Iliad)

Everyone is older
my dad's younger brother
always seemed so young
the adult that could
talk to the kids
is almost as old as Bob Dylan
he plays horse shoes half heartedly

My dad, the eldest
his nose ravaged
by his recklessness,
his balance more and more
off kilter
as the years between him
and his motorcycle accident
increase, struggles with horse shoes

The middle brother
his competitiveness stoked by
the horse shoe contest
his red hair fading
like paint on an old car
doesn't lose a game all day

Frankenmonkey

How can you not like this?

Copies of documents for sale

Interested in owning some copies of original Robert Heinlein documents? Well I am, and anyone else that is can buy them at the Heinlein Archives.

Need a blues name?

Hey guys, I'd like to thank everyone for coming last night. I think we had another really good meeting. That's like three in a row. We even had a new person come and join us. Her name is Claire and she was named Spike by the group because we already have a Clare. Since we always try to be fair Clare was also given a nickname. From now on she is to be called "Teddy."

Speaking of nicknames you can click here for a generator that will give you a blues name. Good luck. My blues name was "Legless" Junior Beech.

These voices will not stop,

my head is spinning,

my blood is racing,

there's a pounding in my ears,

no depressant can relieve,

they tell me things like,

end your life now,

and,

slice your wrist one more time,

it's too hard to resist,

but impossible to listen,

because oneday,

they'll tell me not to wake-up,

and that will be the end,

of the voices in my head.

What the?

I was messing around with blog settings and now my name is coming up as "Nameless and Anonymous." I don't know why. I mean, I do know why but when I changed the name back to "Ed" it didn't here. Hopefully it will catch up soon.

The art of losing isn't hard to master

Hey kids, how about a poem by Elizabeth Bishop?

Next Meeting and a Link

Hey guys, our next meeting is this Thursday at 6 pm at the Morrison Regional Library. I will have a graphic novel version of my vacation ready to share. It will be done in the style of Peanuts creator, Charles Shulz. That should be fun.

Also, if you are curious as to what is selling in SF/Fantasy in independent book stores that have Book Sense you can view them here.

ok here is part two! Yay! also after this i'm getting a beta-reader!

"... . Louisa liked Buso Renkin, but still thpught that Fruits basket was better, as did Lauren. So as they were arguing in the shade of the tree by the gym, looking somewhat suspicious, Mr. Colsen (the security gaurd) just noticed the hippy, the goth, the guy, and Grace. The grou[p was in the shadows so Coulsen couldn't accuratly make out what they're doing so he assumed they were selling something. Immeditly he shouted 'What are you kids selling!'. This made Luisa scream, Luaren and Jake jump, and made Grace blink. When they turned to face Coulsen, he saw that they were not selling anything and appolagized and walked away. after he was gone Luisa looked back at the others and said 'Geez what was that about?'. Jake, being part of the Caine Crew News, here's alot of gossip and rumors so he knew what was the reason behind that. 'Recently 4 students were busted with being in the possetion of drugs. I beleive 3 of them went to Jubi. because they sold some. the were _____, _______, ________, and ______.' Jake explained. 'Yet another sign of society's degeneration...' Grace said gloomily. 'yeah' agreed Lauren. Jake and Louisa noticed that Lauren was acting closely to Grace recently, like she was now, standing right next to Grace."

that's it. sorry it's so lond i got carried away :). i hope you liked it. by the way the drug story is a true one, both the cou,sen and student one.

My vacation

Hey look, me on a horse.

More wonderful news.

Robert Jordan died.

I've never read his stuff...but man, I really feel for thos who do. It's a sucky situation.

So it's been a while, but since this is a writers' blog I figure this should be mentioned.

Madeline L'Engle died.

Damn it.

Writing Links

Check out this alphabetic list of online writing resources.

Greetings from Michigan

I arrived in Traverse City, MI last night. I won't be posting as much fascinating literature links for the next two weeks. In case you don't believe me here is a picture of the 77/485 interchange in south Mecklenburg County. I took this right after the plane took off. At least, I think that is the interchange. It's hard to tell from way up in the sky what exactly you are looking at. I am at my mother's home and they have a new computer and I am really fighting with the new keyboard. New keyboards are like a new pair of shoes except you don't get blisters from new keyboards.

A book

Check it out, youngsters. Orson Scott Card has written a book specifically for teenagers. It doesn't exactly receive a glowing review here and I would be wary of recommending anything new by him after his last book but...it's out there.

ok this is a preview of the story i'm working on.

it involes a romantic relationship between grace and lauren tolbert.

" it was any ordinary day at A.G., durring F(resh)A(ir)T(ime). Grace, Luisa, Jake (me) and Lauren were hanging out. They were haveing a very heated debate about which manga was better, fruits basket or Buso Renkin. Grace, who read it but was not really into it, and Jake, who did not read it or any other Sholo for that matter, thought that Buso Renkin was better..."

sorry i have to leave it there but i will keep posting more if you want!

hey it's Jake the noob! just letting you guys know i joined the blog! umm yeah that's it....

Okay, so...I made Clare give me the collabs from the meeting before last, but I forgot about them in turn...So only about a month late, here they are!

Collab #1:
"Touchdown, turnaround, I never see you around," sang Gregg to his watercolor of Howard. Ed sat next to him wondering if he should fear for his life. Gregg asked Ed, "Do ya love meh?" Ed's mouth formed a vehement "No!!" but he suddenly took on a thoughtful look . . . Ed started quivering, barely able to resist his manly goodness. Gregg looked at Ed with a lustful look in his eyes. Ed looked at Gregg in the eyes and said, "You're missing an eye. That's gross." (Okay, who the hell was it with the whole eye missing thing?) "But I still love you, Old Gregg! Even if you ARE a scaly manfish who's in love with a man from Leeds, I'll never leave you."

Collab #2:
cream pastries, pancakes and butterflies
rain-sticks and incense-induced headaches
razor blades and hand grenades
Bush and Iraq
your dog and his underwear
Blockbuster cards and the PLU numder for cherries (4046)
killing certain blue-shirted boys with self-described purple eyes (run for your liiiiife, Matthew!! Sorry. That bit wasn't in there, but I felt compelled to add it.)
Wondins if I clocked out... *shifty eyes* (sorry, that's seriously what it looks like! I don't know what it is!)
I'm so happy, I do whatI like and how I like it...living in the sun lite loving in the moon lite having a wonderful time
smashing chocolate muffins into Z's face...
stuffing twinkies into the microwave, making them explode onto the spiders.

Collab #3:
One day, Ed lost his tie.
His tie was his friend.
He'd lost friends before. He got over it quickly. He lost his friends because he liked Nascar and golf.
"Maybe," he thought, "I should attempt to have NORMAL interests, that are shared by non-brain dead people."
"Naw that wouldn't be any fun," said the voice in his head. Ed wandered around the streets of Morrison until he reached Southpark. "Perhaps I should make a ladies day by getting my face done," he pondered. But then a photography store caught his eye and he dashed inside 'cause he's a freak, but he suddenly thought,
"Wait! Aren't I supposed to be being normal?"
In the corner, he spotted it. A new tie. At a photography store. Half-priced. Just as he was about to go inside the store a woman with a five-o-clock shadow, lots of muscles, and a deep voice said, "Hey, wanna be friends?"

Collab #4:
Vimes and Vetinari...holding each other in a tender embrace while staring each other in the eye.
"You're missing an eye," said Vimes. "But I still love you just as much." Vetinari smiled. "Can I eat the other one?" Vimes begged with a childish pout. (Okay, people, I think the eye culprits are Jake and Matthew. Keep an eye out for them. Puuuuun!!)Vetinari gave him a weird look, but tried to compensate for his confusion by kissing Vimes.
"That's my eye. I think you missed."
"Sorry my eyes are made of glass."

And that's that. :D

One Year and Counting

I don't know if anyone noticed but in August this blog turned one years old. Happy birthday to it.

Last Meeting

Our meeting Thursday went well, I thought. This week we had a small group but we did more exercises this time than we ever did in the past. Maybe I'm getting better at picking exercises or maybe a smaller group of you rambunctious teens is easier to corral.

Meeting Tomorrow

Don't forget, youngsters, meeting tomorrow. 6 pm. Be there or be more square.

Stephen King on Harry Potter

You can read his essay here.

Any thoughts?

??????????

Wasn't someone going to post some group writing we did?

Is Middle Earth Europe?

Somebody has combined a map of Middle Earth and a map of Europe to show that Middle Earth was based on Europe.

Watching the tube

So, did anyone watch the science fiction show on ABC last night? I was wrong about the time. It started at 10 not 8. I thought the show was OK. I was extremely disappointed by the number of commercial breaks. I swear the show was probably more of a half hour than an hour and they juiced up the time with commercials. It got to be tough to sit through after a while. I guess that's about what you can expect from network television.

Television Tip

This actually sounds promising. Starting this Saturday, ABC is going to air adaptions of original science fiction short stories. It's called Masters of Science Fiction. Any series that is going to attempt the filming of short stories by John Kessel, Robert Heinlein and Harlan Ellison is definately going to be worth a shot. If you are sitting on your rear near a television this Saturday at 8 pm, give the show a look.

What the hey?

Wasn't somebody going to post the writings we did as a group at our last meeting? I am almost positive that someone said they were going to post them particular writings. Who could it have been? And, what's the deal?

Where are they?

I thought someone was going to transcribe our creations from the other night?

Meeting Tomorrow

Boy, do I love the librrary's proxy server. I love how about ten percent of the time it can't connect with email accounts and blogger and loses your data. It's an invaluable service.

I had just written a message asking a couple of regular members of the writing group to bring a writing exercise for us to try. I want to impress our new people by showing them how smart you guys are. So, not only bring something to read and share, bring an exercise if you dare.

A little weirdness for you

There is an artist in New York that makes haikus out of names on gravestones and the plasters them on walls in New York City. They are called daikus. Or diekus. Still sounds the same.

I also found a site that has limericks made from famous poems.

Do I find the coolest stuff to share or what? OK, I still it all from Metafilter but I still have to look.

I also found that the space shuttle is not a safe form of transportation.

Meeting This Thursday

Howdy, guys and gals. I just wanted to remind everyone that we are meeting this Thursday at 6 pm. I have had two inquiries in the last couple of weeks concerning our group and we have the potential to have three new participants. As always, please don't scare the new people if possible.

Harry Potter thing

Naturally there are going to be lots and lots of references in the media to Harry Potter because of the book. Leave it to Unshelved to put a nice twist on the whole event.

Harry Potter

So, is everyone hunkered down today and reading the new Harry Potter book? Any early reactions?

Favorite weapons from SF?

This blog posting was inspired by another blog posting to post their favorite ten weapons of science fiction. I've been thinking about this for a few minutes and I realized that the SF I have read hasn't had a lot of weaponry in it. Here's a few I can think of.

1) Corwdainer Smith has a story in which humans are telepathically linked to cats and the cats are in small ships (or some kind of contraption) and they patrol outside of a larger space ship, protecting it. Now that's a cool weapon.

2) I always liked that Heinlein considered the well trained individual the most dangerous weapon the in the universe.

3) They used sling shots on the generational starship in the story "Universe," also known as "Orphans of the Sky."

4) The remote controlled combat robots in "Forever Peace" by Joe Haldeman.

5) Those big machine guns Bruce Willis used in "The Fifth Element."

6) A heat ray weapon David Drake described in one of his short stories. The way they used it like a machine gun against an indigenous people still sticks in my head to this day.

7) OK, light sabers. They look awesome and sound even better.

8) The space warfare describe in Heinlein's novel "Citizen of the Galaxy."

9) The nanotechnology equipped service rifle used by the soldiers in Scalzi's "Old Man's War."

10) Every single sword that had a name in the Lord of the Rings.

How about ya'll?

Harry-est Cities

Have you been wondering what cities have the densest Harry Potter populations? Wonder no more, kiddies.

Science Fiction Library

It's at UC Riverside and you can read about here. (Link stolen from David Brin's Blog).

Hubble image tours

These are very cool. I also stole this link from David Brin's blog.

What to read after the last Potter book

The website SF Signal is working on a list for three different age groups so that when people have finished reading the last Harry Potter book they can move on to something else.

Authors and the internets

If you is an author you gots to use the internets.

Does this look like me?



Make your own Simpson's avatar here.

It's the end of the world

Since Mitchell was reading a book by Pratchett and Gaiman about the end of the world I thought it would be appropriate to link to a review of a collection of short stories that are inspired by or about an apocalypse.

Meeting tonight

Just to let you know. The library is open today and we are having our meeting, even if Clare will be ultra late.

So apparently everybody hates me and isn't reading and commenting on my post so I'm not coming to the meeting tomorrow.

Actually that's not why. And I might be able to come for the last bit of the meeting, but considering Charlotte's public transportation system, probably not. I got a job at the library. A summer teen internship that is *gasp* paid. It's at the Mint Hill branch. I'm working until six tomorrow. And I'm taking the bus back from there...so I might make it back for...the last five minutes of the meeting. But don't be too suprised if I don't. Sorry!

(I'm working for the library!)

(I have a little pin that says "Staff" and everything.)

(Isn't that awesome?)

I thought this essay was really amazing. Well, I say essay, it was originally meant as a speech to be given to high schoolers. I wish I had read it about a year ago. I agree emphatically with most everything he says and he actually brought up some points I hadn't thought about before. It's actually good, so of course he never actually got to give it...


linky

It starts off pretty typical sounding, but give it a try. It gets interesting.

Edit: This one is pretty amazing too

Meeting

Library closed. We cannot meet at the fountain. What do you think of meeting next Thursday?

Meeting thing

The bossman still hasn't got back to me on whether or not we can meet outside. I probably won't know until tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow's Meeting

According to the branch manager, William, there is a chance the building may be closed tomorrow. I will know around 9 am tomorrow and will let you know when I know.

As far as meeting at the fountain, I have emailed William to see if that will be OK. There may be some policy that may prevent us from doing that. I will keep you posted on that suggestion. If the bossman says it's OK then I am fine with doing that.

Ed:
As we all know, the library is having some rather severe problems with paint fumes. These problems may or may not (but hopefully will not) cause this month's meeting to be delayed or cancelled.

A few of us were thinking (more wondering, really) that perhaps if the library ends up being closed on Thursday you could come anyway, and we could have our meeting by the fountain out back. We've done that before, and aside from the rocks, it wasn't bad.

Just a thought, let us know what you think.

Changes

You may not be aware of this but the librarian profession is in a constant state of change. This excerpt of a good story on technology in libraries sums it up well: "“The librarian as information priest is as dead as Elvis,” Needham said. The whole “gestalt” of the academic library has been set up like a church, he said, with various parts of a reading room acting like “the stations of the cross,” all leading up to the “altar of the reference desk,” where “you make supplication and if you are found worthy, you will be helped.”"

I find this to very much be the case at the Morrison library. People don't come to the desk right off anymore. They tend to come to us when they get stuck. It is necessary to not only direct people to online resources and web sites but you have to know how to walk them through these resources and sites.

Adventure Reading

Just in case you are getting bored during your summer break I am providing you with a link to the 100 best adventure books as assembled by National Geographic.

Gamers and their Avatars

A photo essay. It cracked me up. I love Metafilter.

Weird

The strangest thing just happened. This homeless guy that comes into the library every day just bit Melanie on the hand. I had to walk him outta here physically with a little help from a guy from circulation. He kept trying to bite us as we were walking him out. He would talk, just try and bit. It was weird. After we got him outside he started chasing patrons in the parking lot and one ran up near the intersection of Colony and Morrison. The homeless guy ran in front of a car and got nailed and he exploded all over the road it was really gross. Melanie's hand is starting to turn read and the 911 number is busy. We are going to try and take her to the emergency room.

Holy Cow

You're not going to believe it. I just got back from lunch and Melanie has been walking around biting people while I was gone. She bit Charlie and the new librarian, Catie and a bunch of patrons on the second floor. We have tied her to a chair with an extension cord and she keeps drooling all over herself and slurring things like "Eat you! Blurrgle! Eat you!" It's kind freaking me out.

Gets weirder

So, we got Melanie tied to a chair and shes' really starting to freak out. Biting out at every person that gets near her. We still can't get through to 911 and those that Melanie bit earlier are starting to get sick and a couple of the old men are getting in a fist fight. The two men turned out to be acting like Melanie and they were fighting over a dead body. While the two crazed old men were fighting one of them ripped the head off the other. The severed head is still chomping away at thin air. Still can't through to 911 and if everyone that Melanie bit is going to start acting crazy, I am getting out of here. I'm heading home right now.

Holy cow

I just got home and I just had the strangest drive of my life. The roads were deserted. All the library employees downstairs agreed with me that we should all go home because there were other people milling around outside trying to bite people and business inside had really trailed off. I didnt' bother to set the alarm. I left a message on Williams voice mail. Let him go by there and clear out the freaks and try to lock that place up.

The only people I saw on the road were behaving like Melanie ad the fighting old men. At stop signs they would rush the car. I stopped stopping at stop signs. Wendell, my roommate, has been off all day and he has been scanning the news and he had the door barricaded when I got home. He made me talk in a complete sentance before he'd let me in.

More information here.

Whales are really old

This is amazing. Too bad the whale had to die for this information to become known. The article from Washington Post has a picture of the whale killing device.

Zombies?

What no response on the zombie blog thing idea? No one wants to write about an imaginary zombie takeover?

A link or two

On June 13th we are going to pretend the world is coming to a zombie end and we'll blog here like we would if we were actually trying to warn each other. Read about the project here.

Harry Potter stamps?

Just in case I haven't convinced those that have listened. Another positive review for Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.

A science fiction writer asks if Harry Potter is really fantasy.

Meeting tomorrow

Hey guys, just want to let you know that we are meeting tomorrow at 6 pm. See you there.

Meeting

I sent out an email but I wanted to cover all the bases. We will not be meeting tomorrow because the library is closed. We will be meeting next Thursday at the usual time, 6:00.

For anyone that hasn't heard Lloyd Alexander died last Thursday at age 83.

There's not much I can really think of to say. The world is a poorer place.

Damn it.

A crossword puzzle

If you have absolutely nothing else to do check out the crossword puzzle I will link to below. I created it for our adult summer reading program and it was really hard to do. I had no idea creating a crossword puzzle would be so hard. I almost cried a couple of times. There a few rules of crossword puzzles and I broke two of them. The whole puzzle has to be connected. This one consists of two distinct halves. Also all letters must be in two words. There are two letters in this puzzle that only appear in one word. As difficult as this was I can live with my two little cheats. Enjoy, if you will.

Crossword Puzzle!

New Tolkien book

I'm sure you are all familiar with that new Tolkien book. Has anyone read it? I have it sitting on my desk here at the library. I see that it is selling real well.

Love them internets

I haven't read this yet but it was linked to by David Brin and it's a speech given by Vernor Vinge. That's about as confident as I can be about a blind link. The speech is about the future of man. I am going to print it out and read it. Enjoy.

Oh yeah. He talks about the singularity in the speech. It's a concept pretty new to me and here's a definition from the website that has the text of Vinge's speech: Singularity

Defined by Vernor Vinge as the postulated point or short period in our future when our self-guided evolutionary development accelerates enormously (powered by nanotechnology, neuroscience, AI, and perhaps uploading) so that nothing beyond that time can reliably be conceived. The Singularity is a common matter of discussion in transhumanist circles. There is no concise definition, but usually the Singularity is meant as a future time when societal, scientific and economic change is so fast we cannot even imagine what will happen from our present perspective, and when humanity will become posthumanity. Another definition is the singular time when technological development will be at its fastest.

Haiku T-shirt


Just a suggestion.

What I did for my spring vacation

I bet you guys are wondering how my vacation in Michigan is going. Well, for one thing, I jumped off a moving swing for the first time in about twenty years. I didn't even hurt myself and out jumped an eight-year-old. Pretty good form, eh?

The Amazing Petitions of Wonderfullness

Mr. Mack's Portrait in Classrooms:

Who a better role model? Whose a more handsome face? Indeed, who but Mr. Majchrowicz is admired so by students and faculty alike? Our school, though quite excellent, is in need of an incentive to study hard, and this is the man for the job. Of course, we cannot waste Mr. Mack's precious time by taking him from his classes, so the student council has come up with a solution. They have decided the best course of action is to produce a well-done portrait of him for every classroom to hang above its board. These visions of magnificence would be accompanied by one of his many inspirational quotes. How much more incentive do you need to do what is right? Sign here if you agree and want to help carry out this plan.

(For the love of god, don't actually do it! The man already has too much support. I need to crush him. Now, you're more than welcome to print out the below and post it on every available space. :D)

School-wide Propaganda Plot:

Is it not true that history repeats itself? I'm sure everyone remembers the "Sanders" fiasco of school year 06/07. Sanders was a military psycho who subjected all us students to hideous uniforms and grueling hard labor. Now a new threat has risen, in the seemingly innocent seventh grade LA teacher, Mr. Majchrowicz. Oh, yes, he seems quite charming,but he has now uncovered his sinister scheme to my third block class. We all saw him for what he is and were very distressed. He aims to replicate an old method of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong. What method, you ask? One of tyranny. Of communism. Mr. "Mack's" sordid plan is this: to put an image of his own face in a place prominence in every classroom, accompanied by a corruptive quote to plant in the students' minds. Our naive and unblemished children do not deserve this. This man's more than questionable role models say clearly his intentions-- to take over AG middle with awful, communism-esque ideology! Nip it in the bud, the saying goes. We must rally together to stop this infant tyrant. Please sign here:

'Cause communism's evil! An update: we have a new word in the dictionary nowadays.

Mackism (n)- the complete and utter rule of Mr. Mack over room 206. Not to mention the "Mr. Mack is the best" posters. The man is MAD. He's snapped. (Or he has too much time on his hands.)

Anyway, I'll post my Spring Break and morbid death poems later. All who mock them will suffer a very morbid death themselves. Blah.

Meeting this week

Hey guys, I sent an email out a few days ago that informed you that we are meeting this Thursday instead of our usual fourth Thursday of the month. That is this Thursday, the 19th of April. That is just about exactly 48 hours from the time I am currently typing this message. There will be a special door prize given to the first 15 teen writers that come through the door. I haven't decided if the twelve year old get a prize yet or not.

So it goes...

I'm sure everyone has seen that Kurt Vonnegut died today. I figured I should be mentioned him because this wouldn't be much of a writers group blog if we didn't acknowledge the passing of one of the great writers and thinkers of the last fifty years.

One of the best experiences of my life was sitting in the audience at Spirit Square for about an hour listening to Kurt Vonnegut speak. This happened back in the early 90's before some of you were even born. I remember telling my friends afterwards that I felt I had sat in the presence of a truly wise person for the first time in my life. A remark that probably would have given him fits of laughter since to him man was anything but a wise animal.

Peeps! Peeps! Peeps!

OK, this has nothing to do with writing but how can I resist linking to a contest for dioramas with peeps? How could I not link to that? How?

China Mieville

Hey guys, if you remember I mentioned I was reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. I finished a few days ago and I really enjoyed it. He plays around with the whole idea of the young person having adventures in a fantasy world. If you are interested there is a nice interview with him on Youtube where he talks about this book

Sneaky little devil

I came across an entry on Metafilter a few weeks back that I wanted to share. A photographer named Bill Sullivan goes around New York City and takes surreptitious photographs of people as they go through daily life. The images show people honestly and show vulnerability. I'll call them poetic. I'd like to try that some day. In fact I already kind of do it when I can. My particular strategy is to do it from a moving car because, even though non-commercial street photography is legal, you can get beat up over it.

The Family Nietzsche

Ever wonder what would happen if you paired ranmdom Nietzsche quotes and random Family Circus cartoons? Me neither but someone has.

Here's the only thing I've written lately: my haikus! (Actually, I take that back. If you want to read the comics I've written lately, just click on this lovely link. )

In the Heart of the Sea

Whale rammed the Essex.
No food is left, it's time for
Cannibalism.

Harry Potter

Scar on my forehead.
Voldemort is quite evil.
I gotta kill him.

Ed
Who is this Ed guy?
All that really matters is,
He has a ponytail.

There ya go. I think my favorite is the Harry Potter one...

The world is your oyster

Hey guys, I sent an email out yesterday about how this blog is now being linked to from the library's webpage. If you are looking for an audience now is the time to post. I'd like to see a few haikus from the last meeting up on here. Sure, mine are awesome but let's see some of yours.

The Haikus from our exercise

OK, here's my three haikus based on the Lord of the Rings. One for each part of the trilogy.

The Fellowship of the Ring

An uncle's gold ring
a menagerie meets
I'll go on alone.

The Two Towers

"We'll fight the wizard."
"We'll enter the Dark Lord's land."
"Hey look! Walking trees!"

The Return of the King

That's one huge army...
Let's challenge a bigger one
Four fingers, no ring.

W.H. Auden on poetry

This quote from this article really caught my eye: "The girl whose boyfriend starts writing her love poems should be on her guard. Perhaps he really does love her, but one thing is certain: while he was writing his poems he was not thinking of her but of his own feelings about her and that is suspicious. Let her remember St Augustine’s confession of his feelings after the death of someone he loved very much: “I would rather have been deprived of my friend than of my grief.”"

Hey kids, this is your monthly reminder that our dodecannual writers group meeting will take place this Thursday at 6 pm. That's March 22nd at 6 pm at the Morrison Regional Library. Be sure to bring something to read whether it's yours or something you like.

Pass the paper

OK, this is the third time I have tried to write this post. Blogger!!!!

If you enjoyed the game of passing a paper around at writers night I found a website via John Scalzi that is trying to be the internets version of paper passing. You can check it out here. It's called Ficlets.

Cool book cover of the day

Never heard of the author but I likes the cover.

Free! Audio! Books!

Yes, they are free. Yes, they are in public domain and yes, they are read by volunteers. Still, free audio books.

Real?

I don't know if this is real or not but if it is, it's hysterical.

A survey by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg planning Dept

Got some opinions on how Charlotte is being developed? Tell the yokels in charge at the survey link to here.

Where is it?

Didn't someone have to versions of a poem and they were going to post both versions so we could see them?

Poking around on the blog of the Scalzi guy Ed linked to, (yes I have no life) I found this pretty interesting post entitled "10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing." I thought some people would find it interesting/useful.

Here ya go!

Accessible SF

I've read in quick succession recently two novels by an up and coming SF writer named John Scalzi. I've been reading this blog and he brought up an entry he made a while back concerning entry level SF. Specifically, SF for people that don't read science fiction. If any of you are not overwhelmed by schoolwork take a gander at his essay.

Personally I have always found good science fiction to be entry level science fiction. Every new science fiction (or fantasy) novel has to introduce readers to a new universe and a good writer should be able to do that for a long time SF reader and someone that has never picked up a SF book before. I think Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," Roth's "The Plot Against America" and Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" all straddle that line nicely.

SF Writers who blog

I do not remember if I have posted this before but a SF website out there has a list of SF writers who have blogs.

A writer

I've read some of China Mieville's short stories and they are excellent and just weird enough that he might appeal to some of you. He is coming out with a fantasy novel for younger readers and he discusses it here. If anyone picks up the novel, reads it and loves it I hope you give me due credit.

I really like his reason for writing a book for youngsters: "I've always wanted to write a children's book. No book that I read as an adult, no matter how much I love it, has an impact on me the way books did when I was a child, and I think there's something very inspiring about that absolute fervour and abandon with which children read. It's also because the kind of fairy-tale logic I can use in a YA book I could never get away with in an adult book, so there's a real narrative freedom."

Writing Contest

Just in case one of you has a near future science fiction story concerning successful space travel in our solar system stored either in your brain or on paper or on your hard drive there is contest posted here.

Oblivious Regurgitation

Ever mentally compose a tune, only to realize later on that you're just repeating something that you've already heard? Happens to me every once in a while.

I just realized that one piece of writing I came up with at a meeting, thinking that it was original, was almost an exact quote from somewhere else.

Damn you, xkcd, damn you!

---

(Whee, blogger is letting me post again!)

Internet Goodness

Click on the open spaces of this test and when you are finished the website will display where you clicked and where everyone else clicked.

Way advanced purchase

I bet all you Harry Potter maniacs will be very interested in seeing what the current biggest selling book on Amazon.

If you want to get on the library's hold list you better do it now. It's already pushing 200.

What kind of reader are you?

I am a dedicated reader.

Q and A with the Chicago Manual of Style

This may be the nerdiest thing I have ever posted here and I've posted some pretty nerdy stuff.

Found this link via Robert Sawyer's website.

High dollar SF books

Check this out. The used and rare book website Abebooks has published a list of the highest priced science fiction books sold in 2006 through their site. Big Bucks.

Next Meeting

OK gang, next Thursday the 25th of January will the be the next meeting of the Writers Club. This week, please be sure to bring something to read. Bring something that you wrote or something someone else wrote. You can read anything from Zelazny to the Book of Amos or something your grandmother wrote back in finishing school. I want to emphasize my desire for everyone to bring something to read. We haven't had a lot of original writing recently so I would very much like to see you, at the very least, bring in a piece of writing that you love and would like to share with the room.

Catch a Glimpse

Hey look! A picture of Harper Lee! I don't like it when stories like this call her "reclusive." I do not believe Harper Lee is reclusive. I think she is more like Sandy Koufax and just wants to be left alone by reporters. Why does that have to mean reclusive in our world? Imagine, someone not chasing celebrity. What an oddball.

Has everyone here read "To Kill a Mockingbird?" I didn't read it until I was in my early 30's and it's definitely a book that I will read again. Everyone should read it once. It will stay with you forever.

Something every collector needs

A fragment of Edgar Allan Poe's casket

A Giant Buddha

Is it possible for a giant Buddha to calm raging waters?