Found via a new challenge (and a difficult one) at constrained.org, the Endless Limitations introduction makes some excellent points on restrictions and creativity. It makes a better argument for artificial constraints than I’ve ever been able to do, actually, and the way the site’s author (and the book referenced as an inspiration) applies it to education is equally interesting. It’s a whole new look, for example, on why I never get things accomplished without the extreme focus of a deadline, and yet why I don’t learn well when I cram.
Category: Discoveries
Actually this whole post might be in “Huh” territory.
In case anybody was wondering, there are All Your Base jokes in Spider-Man 2 (the game, not the movie). Which in a way is cool, but mostly isn’t. I mean… I think it already went through its hyper-retro post-kitsch “briefly hip again” phase. Now it’s firmly in “Huh?” territory.
- Gave away what, 60 copies of HONOR? Something like that. Two of them I traded for other ashcans (Yeperynye and The Last Sane Cowgirl), which I totally count as sales. And every copy given away was to somebody whose work I (or Will or Stephen) really respect, which is a worthwhile transaction, in my opinion.
- Left my hat at Preview Night. Never got it back.
- Got to meet a lot of cool people from the online.
- Cool people I met from the online all had a curious need to run off to important, distant engagements within seconds of meeting me. Either I smell bad or I’m Creepy Interweb Fan, or (probably) both.
- Had a really good time with Monica, Will, Stephen and Maria. And Stephen’s lady Erin, at whose residence we crashed, is maybe the coolest person on the whole planet.
- Ran out of plane-ticket money and was unable to visit Leonard and Sumana. That was a pretty stupid mistake, and I feel really bad about it. Hopefully, a post-student-loan trip is in the works.
- Tycho and Gabe were the coolest, most professional people at the whole freaking Con.
- Speaking of Tycho and Gabe, I had one of the world’s most random encounters: passing by their booth, I recognized Paul Mattingly, a great guy who was in Richmond Children’s Theatre with me a billion years ago and who now works as a Klingon and Second City understudy (!) in Vegas. I literally hadn’t seen him in over a decade. He even has a site, The Famous Paul, though I understand that’s mostly a placeholder for the moment.
- Getting to California by train was interesting, right enough, and I’m glad we tried it. but the people who work for Amtrak seem unhappy and unhelpful and it’s very bumpy. I think I’ll pretty much be flying from here on out.
- I thought about taking a whole bunch of stuff to get signed, but eventually decided against it. I had a better idea. Thanks to the unlined pocket Moleskine my family got me for my birthday, I now possess what can only be referred to as
The Greatest SKETCHBOOK
Ever In The History Of Time
which basically means I win.
I managed to take a whole roll of film, which is good, considering I frequently manage to wish I had a camera while holding one. Probably more updates after I get that developed, but considering I still haven’t posted the pics from my San Francisco trip in February, one shouldn’t hold one’s breath.
Go, car. Go.
I wrote an ultrashort as per Leonard’s idea, and the next day I saw this story linked on Dave Barry’s blog.
The cars are waking up. I’d just walk everywhere, if I were you.
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The Family Tree Spreads
With evidence of Sigurdur Petursson’s long-lost brother.
I have indirectly rediscovered A Softer World, which I originally found and enjoyed in the pages of the one comped issue of NFG that I got from Zack’s roommate when I was in California. It was raining at the time. Fortunately, I had a hat.
But! The comic! Is really good. I’m probably going to read the entire archive today, although I don’t know how much quantity exists, since the magazine comics I read (presumably written and drawn in January) did not list a website, and the new ones do. Hopefully they’re all up there. ASW seems designed to appeal directly to me–it’s a three-panel comic built with tightly-zoomed candid photography, lower-case text in odd arrangements, and the kind of dark gray whimsy that I’d love to consistently capture in Anacrusis. I am very glad to be aware of its interweb existence.
Update 1252 hrs: They are all on the site, except the ones they sold to NFG–those were selected from a span of March to July 2003. These strips are painfully good; worse, they started out that way. If I wasn’t enjoying them so much I’d be gnawing my thumb with jealousy.
My uncle John provides justification for the backwards locomotion I witnessed yesterday. It’s an interesting site, but I haven’t yet found where they talk about the dangers of, you know, not being able to see where you’re going.
Now the stupid thing will be in my head all day
For the longest time, I was convinced that that Stevie Nicks song was about a “one-winged dove,” which always seemed perversely funny to me.
“Funnier than a one-legged rabbit, Val,” said Peter.
“Of which there are no doubt several in these woods.”
“Hopping in neat little circles.”
And here’s Sigurdur Petursson’s sister.
This would qualify for one of them except it’s not a story
There exists Constrained.org, which, I am convinced, was created as a specific favor to me. I’m obsessed with gimmick-based stories, especially limited word counts or writing times, and this (surprisingly small) site has some interesting challenges. I’ll try to meet some soon.