Sunday, November 30, 2008

Winner winner chicken dinner

Check it:


Boo. And also: yah.

I did it. I can't believe it, but I did it. I'm done. 50,000+ words in thirty damn days. (Final, official word count, according to the kind NaNoWriMo bots: 51,247)

That's like: whoa. (Sorry, but it really is kind of a "I know kung fu" moment)

So: that's all. I wanted to revel in the glory of winning this damn thing for the first time. I think I'm going to sleep soon - maybe that will stop the incessant bleeding from the eyes.

Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement re: the thing I just got done writing. (Even though I am not quite done with it yet)

Boy, this has been a parenthetical post, hasn't it?

(FYI: Title comes from cbeard, who got it from some other insane dude. Manky bastards, both.)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Friday Random Ten: "It's All I Do" edition

Maybe I should post something other than FRTs?

Nah. This is how I roll.

Teh liste!

1. "Birds" - Kate Nash
2. "The New Year" - Death Cab for Cutie
3. "Shoebox" - Barenaked Ladies
4. "Stable Song" - Death Cab for Cutie
5. "Dead Wrong" - The Fray
6. "Dickhead" - Kate Nash
7. "Progeny" - Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
8. "Invincible" - Muse
9. "Prison Food" - Ben Folds
10. "Getchoo" - Weezer

Bonus (no whammies no whammies no whammies):

11. "Bled White" - Elliott Smith



Oh, Elliott. Emo with a brain, way before emo was emo. Gone too soon.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Friday Random Ten: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" edition

But this here ain't no foolish consistency, Mr. Emerson. I'm not at all certain that it's a wise consistency, but hey: three weeks in a row is, for me, "consistent-with-a-capital-C-and-a-silent-Q" (because having a silent Q makes a word that much more important, you see).

Anyway, put away your hobgoblins, kids. The list (non-Genius-ified, natch):

1. "No Answers" - Aeon Spoke
2. "Two at a Time" - Guster
3. "Elysium" - Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator soundtrack)
4. "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands" - Band of Horses
5. "Honor Him" - Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator soundtrack)
6. "Smoke" - Ben Folds Five
7. "Thousands Left Behind" - Richard Gibbs (Battlestar Galactica (2003) soundtrack)
8. "As if I Hadn't Slept" - Idlewild
9. "Call and Answer" - Barenaked Ladies
10. "Marry Song" - Band of Horses

And the bonus, FTW (please, please FTW):

11. "Dozen Wicked Words" - Longpigs

Huh. I'm pretty sure that an English band hailed as better than Oasis (and certainly more fucked up than the brothers Gallagher, if that's even possible) doesn't count as full of Win, but ... eh, what the hell. Have some 90s English radio-friendly modern rock.


"She Said" - Long Pigs: (couldn't find a video for "Dozen Wicked Words", the bastards)



Postscript: I have a couple of movie/TV soundtrack albums in my library because I like to listen to them while I write. Movie scores - especially for sci-fi/fantasy films, or anything epic (like Gladiator) - actually make for great writing music. So I've found, anyway. YMMV.

Anyway, that's why they keep showing up. And, no, I don't know why I felt the need to justify their presence. Maybe I'm a little sensitive, all right? Just back off, man. Back. Off.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The stupid. It burns.

I'm a regular reader of Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback over on SI.com, have been for a while now. Don't know why, really: his writing and opinions tend toward the facile, there's a tendency on King's part to name-drop till the cows come home (a habit that plagues most sports columnists and commentators), and I don't think I've ever come away from reading one of his columns with significantly more NFL insight than I did going in. For whatever reason, I always read it (both the big column, which appears on Monday mornings, and the so-called "MMQB Tuesday Edition", which is smaller and more of a mailbag, in which King responds to selected reader correspondence and clarifies points made in the big column), and always kinda enjoy it.

Here's the thing: King uses his column as a bit of a personal soapbox, often injecting non-NFL related topics into the big column, be they family matters (like the ongoing saga of his daughter's high school softball team from a few years back) or the news of the day. Earlier in the season, King made the mistake of writing about the election, and started taking all kinds of heat from his readership for it. What he was writing wasn't in any way controversial or inflammatory, but you could pretty much tell King favored Obama for the presidency. I'm assuming that the two are more than a little related.

Well, King swore off politics in the column for the rest of the election cycle, and he was true to his word. I didn't miss it - like I said, he's not a scintillating commentator, on anything really - but I wouldn't have minded if he'd ignored his readers' protests and kept talking about the election. I mean, Jesus: it's not like it was historical or anything.

So, flash-forward to yesterday, when he devotes the second page of his online column to talking about Obama's historic victory on 04 November, and the reaction from various players throughout the NFL to the election results. Seems pretty kosher, no? Here's this transformational, generational event in American life - the first time a black man has been elected President of the United States - and King talks about the reaction of various NFL players to said event. This is not controversial, at all. Hey, it's actually kind of like news!

But this, apparently, was all the evidence that some of King's readers needed to prove, once and for all, King's libtard tendencies. This email, in particular - reprinted in King's Tuesday column - made me facepalm:

"This is the last time I ever read your column, Peter. I got so sick of reading Michael Silver's liberal opinions that I stopped reading him. You have finally pushed me too far. Electing a black man president is a good thing. Electing Barack Obama president, a closet socialist with questionable ties to terrorists, felons, and racists, well, it's just a sad day for our country. I am permanently through with your column and watching any TV show you are on. Goodbye, Comrade."

For people like this asshat, the term "douche" is simply a waste. "Senator, I served with douche: I knew douche; douche was a friend of mine; Senator, you're no douche." Etc.

I don't feel sorry for King - at least, not for having too-stupid-for-douche-tag readers. I do pity him, having to wade through intellectual atrocities like the email quoted above - read enough of that shit, and your eyes are gonna bleed, no question about it.

Almost makes me happy that my readership is, like, nil.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Friday Random Ten: a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

I'm not cool, but I play one on TV.

And with that: musique, s'il vous plait!

1. "Black Swan" - Thom Yorke
2. "Joga" - Bjork
3. "Polaris" - Jimmy Eat World
4. "Swallowed in the Sea" - Coldplay
5. "Talking Bird" - Death Cab for Cutie
6. "Supermassive Black Hole" - Muse
7. "Winding Road" - Bonnie Sommerville (Garden State soundtrack)
8. "Such Great Heights" - Iron & Wine
9. "The Old Apartment" - Barenaked Ladies
10. "Your Eyes Open" - Keane

Bonus!:

11. "Skeleton Song" - Kate Nash

W00t! Kate Nash! Cheeky! More exclamation points, please!


Tuesday, November 04, 2008

VOTE



Do it.

Do it now.

Do it.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Monday, November 03, 2008

Cake or Death?


The lede from the top story on CNN.com, as of 16:19 EST:

Less than 24 hours before the presidential election, Kevin Sheen has yet to decide who will get his vote.

"I'm actually still wrestling with moral issues," says the 29-year-old registered Democrat, who voted for George W. Bush in 2004.

Sheen is one of the 5 percent of American voters who are either undecided or could change their mind before Election Day.

I hate these people. How can you really be undecided at this point, after close to two years of damn near constant campaigning? Of five straight months of Obama v. McCain smackdown coverage all ofer the goddamn place? Of 2+ months of wall-to-wall news coverage since the end of the conventions? 

Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick, what more do you people want? Is it that you're simply incapable of committing? What terminal idiocy prevents you from making a decision? Is it like this when you go to Subway? Cold or toasted, man! Cold. Or. Toasted.

*sigh* Hopefully, only one more day of this shit, then we can rest up until the campaign for the 2010 mid-terms begins. In December.

Oh, yeah: Go vote tomorrow. Or you'll be an asshat. And you don't want to be an asshat, do you?