July 3, 2009
One Day We'll Find Linky
One literary passage, translated by two different people. Interesting if you read translated lit and wonder about how well the sense of the work survives.
Awful Library Books - librarian snark at books being stripped from the collection.
This one is not safe for work, not because of violence or nudity but because of a bit of Japanese-cultural sexual weirdness. But actually I think this is even less safe for your sanity. It can only be: RoboGeisha
(from Al) On a cruise, no-one can hear you scream
100 characters from science fiction drawn in the Simpsons style.
Writer types: ten fiction editors talk about what they look for in submissions.
And finally... Got that not-so-fresh feeling? Afflicted by a sense of unnameable dread at your insignificance against the eldritch depths of space? Here's the product for you!
July 2, 2009
Michael Bay
When I get frustrated at how Michael Bay* does visual storytelling, waving my hands and shouting "coherent sequence of images" and "not crossing the line" and "ignorance of a film grammar built up through trial and error over a century" while flecks of spittle fly across the room and my eyes get progressively more bloodshot...
...I sometimes wonder if this is how people felt when their kids started listening to rap music**.
And this thought bothers me.
* no i have not seen transformers 2 and probably wouldn't go even if Pearce bought me a ticket like he did for the first one
** or Elvis, or jazz, or whatever
July 1, 2009
Exquisite Corpse
This entry is part of an on-line exquisite corpse - a short story told in 10 installments by 10 different authors. My 250 word installment is below; if you're interested in writing the next part, scroll down to the bottom of this post for details on how this all works...
--- --- ---
4.
easy to see much of anything.
"They're probably in a gully. Lost their feet, face-first into the mud," Dianne said.
"We'll find them."
Dianne felt crowded in by the bush and the mist and Peter's eyes. The cemetery had bothered her. The statues there had seemed too familiar.
"Good exercise anyway," Peter said, mostly in jest. "And hot cocoa later. I'm sorry, you know."
Something rushed past Dianne's cheek, the thrum of its big flat wings in her ear. It was already too dark to see properly, but she knew it was some kind of insect, something big.
"Get away," Peter said, swatting as the bug came back. More amused than anything. "Go on now."
"That thing sounded like a helicopter," Dianne said as the dusky calm reasserted itself.
"I wish. Search would get done a mite quicker if it was."
She felt it crash into her back. She flinched. Her clothes yanked and gathered as insect feet grabbed for purchase. She could feel it scratching through her layers, and the pull of its weight - she started to flail, trying to scare it away but it only seemed to tighten its grip and she suddenly became terrified it would leap up and get tangled in her hair.
Dianne turned sharply and saw Peter's eyes. They were big and afraid.
Then her feet lost their way in the mud. They kicked up into nothing as her centre of gravity shifted, and she felt herself pitch over the side of the path
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This is part 4 of 10. You can find the other installments here (but DON'T DO THIS YET if you want to join in):
1. www.sleep-dep.blogspot.com (26 June 2009)
2. www.multi-dimensional.blogspot.com (27 June 2009)
3. www.deb-onair.blogspot.com (29 June 2009)
4. www.additiverich.com/morgue/ (1 July 2009)
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10.
WANT TO READ IT? Jump back to the previous entries using the links above.
WANT TO JOIN IN? This exquisite corpse operates on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to write the next installment, FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:
1.IMPORTANT - Don't read any of the previous entries! Read only the one you see here.
2.ALSO IMPORTANT - Post a comment here, saying "I claim the next entry", followed by the URL/web address of your blog. If you don't do this, we'll never know where to find you.
3.Copy the text of this blog entry into a new post on your blog, but DELETE THE CHAPTER and write your own as the next installment. Start with the chapter number as I've done here, and start exactly where the last chapter left off (in mid-sentence if necessary).
4.Your entry should be EXACTLY 250 words long, unless you are writing chapter 10, in which case you must bring the story to a conclusion in 250 words or less.
5.At the end of the chapter, where the text reads: "This is part X of 10", change this to the number of your chapter.
6.Add the URL/web address of your blog and today's date onto the list below that, so people reading later entries can jump back to your chapter.
7.Finish your chapter and post it within 24 hours of claiming your place. There - it's freaking easy! You can go back and read the rest of the story now.
8.IF YOU'VE JUST FINISHED ENTRY #10 and finished the story, DELETE THESE INSTRUCTIONS from the bottom of your post - they'll just confuse people. ALSO, let CG know by posting a comment on the first entry (on www.sleep-dep.blogspot.com), or sending him an email on squid.mohawk@gmail.com. CG will assemble a full version and send it round to all of the contributors.
June 30, 2009
News Roundup
Bernie Madoff thrown in the klink. Good. Dude may just be the sacrificial goat for the sins of an industry, but still feels mighty satisfying.
The strange, sad story of Bastareaud, the French rugby player who claimed to have been violently attacked here in Wellington by a gang of angry locals, gets stranger and sadder as he is admitted to a psychiatric unit after attempting suicide; the injuries that he covered up with his story of being assaulted may have come from his own team-mates. Horrible. I hope the guy finds his way right.
Women tennis players who make noise are now "grunters". Am I the only one who wonders what men would be called if this was about them? "Roarers"? "Shouters"? "Growlers"? Okay maybe not that last one.
June 29, 2009
No-one remembers Clarence Worley
Even at a Tarantino-themed costume party, no-one remembers Clarence Worley.
I was even wearing white socks, man. Attention to detail.