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April 11, 2007 /

I’m a twit now. I have an extremely small justification for this, as follows.

Part of the Anacrusis FAQ says “I’ll get to long-form when I’m ready for it,” and I’m ready for it, so I’m writing long-form–specifically, the South book. I hate it when people announce on their blogs that they are Writing A Novel, with slight exception for that one thing in November. But the fact is that my only successful projects are done a) with at least the appearance of rigorous scheduling and b) in the public eye, so I’m going to start microposting my daily page count. With luck this will keep me from going back and polishing the first chapter over and over. Seriously, guys, the first chapter is really good.

The twi–ugh, microblog is now a sidebar on the main NFD page, and it’s got its own feed, of course.

April 8, 2007 /

“The sky over the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

In 1984, that meant the gray fuzz of static; in 2007, it mostly means the lurid royal blue that modern TVs automatically substitute when they don’t get a signal. Most cultivars of apple at the grocery are now red and green, rather than bright red. Peppered moths are now peppered again, instead of black (and were once black instead of peppered).

Are there other colors-by-reference that have changed in living memory?

April 3, 2007 /

I finally watched Primer, with the expected result.

Calvin is confused!

I guess I’m going to read the plot breakdown before I watch it again (yes, of course it’s on Internet; no, I’m not going to link to it). Mom claims that catch-what-you-can plots are the only kind I like, which is not quite true: I also like plots where good people do their best to destroy each other for perfectly good reasons. And romantic comedies.

Everybody compared Primer to Memento, but I think Primer is superior–both by its refusal to spell things out and by the fact that it doesn’t rely on a weird structure to screw with you. Rethinking a lot of things about structure, lately.

March 30, 2007 /

Why should I update when I have Stephen to sing my praises in microfiction and Paint?

“There was once a small cat named Brendan Adkins. He lived a happy life in a happy house with his happy cat cousins and happy dog friends. Everything was great, all the time, every day. Little Brendan Adkins had kitty litter and yarn and a small rubber mouse to play with. He had everything!

Things continued on in this extremely pleasant fashion until one day, when their owner (a small Italian man whom Brendan had always suspected of being involved in the mafia, but felt guilty and prejudiced because of it) got trashed on horse and fed all the dogs antifreeze.”

Brendan's penis is nowhere near as small as you'd think it is. He has a 'small-penis personality.'

300

March 27, 2007 /

Dumber than Gladiator; much dumber than Braveheart. Still less dumb than Sin City.

Also, really loud.

March 22, 2007 /

Holly launched her food blog! Yay! You have to understand that these aren’t fake foods covered in shellac and developing fluid: these are real things that I get to help eat. That alone, so far, has been worth the trip.

Of course, now it’s my night to cook and I am experiencing more stage fright than ever did on an actual stage. It’s not as if I’m trying to live up to the house standard. I just want to avoid the part of The Birdcage where they all take one sip in unison and then quietly, carefully, put their spoons back down.