Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
DONE. 69,190 words, 357 pages, 5 hours to spare! #NaNoWriMo 2009 Read it all here: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive Big thanks to everyone who read along! If the spirit moves you, buy me the virtual equivalent of a
celebratory cuppa coffee: http://thepete.com/a/TheCoffee Didn't read along? It's not too late! Hit that link above and let me
know what you think. THANKS! OK, now I'm off to score some celebratory sushi with @siskita! SUGOI NE!
celebratory cuppa coffee: http://thepete.com/a/TheCoffee Didn't read along? It's not too late! Hit that link above and let me
know what you think. THANKS! OK, now I'm off to score some celebratory sushi with @siskita! SUGOI NE!
I'm tired... #NaNoWriMo 2009
...and I'm still not done, dammit!
I've got 19 hours to finish... sleep... now.... -_- zzzzzzzz....Sunday, November 29, 2009
My personal Astromech protects me from distraction(s) as I work on the last few chapters of my #NaNoWriMo novel.
At least, I hope they'll be the last few chapters...!
While I do want a new iPhone for Christmas, I do think @RevBillyTalen has it right.
Reverend Billy Talen whips up his fans into a storm over Buy Nothing day. Photograph: Jefferson Siegel
Tomorrow is Buy Nothing day in the United States. A group of people including myself will preach and sing at the front door of Macy's department store in New York. We do this every year. We'll be there at 5am, when shoppers who have been up all night wait in line rush the glass doors. This is the human comedy at its most sad, and it is an environmental "shopocalypse".
Buy Nothing day is an old idea – that we should drop out of consumerism for 24 hours on Black Friday, the day when we are supposed to shop the most. The radical rechristening of the corporate Christmas took place back in the 90s, long before most of us equated consumerism with destruction of the Earth.
So kudos to the people at Adbusters for venturing forth with this. Nonetheless, Buy Nothing day is not enough, not for the emergency we face now. The American consumer's carbon footprint is exponentially the most sinful of all, 20 times the average. Even if everyone took the fast, throwing a bit of icy water on shoppers for a single day is not nearly enough.
The indigenous holy days that rise from the solstice – Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannakah and all the rest – offer us an unseen opportunity. Solstice is the day when we get a few seconds more light and heat as the earth and sun roll back toward what will become the unleashing of life called spring. So the holidays in late December are the seed of change. It needn't be a consumer event.
This year we should radically redefine what our gifts will be, to simultaneously love our family and our earth. A gift from a big box store – from the demon monoculture – that puts us in a car for hours and is wrapped in plastic packaging, and was shipped a thousand miles with internal combustion engines– this year we won't consider that a gift at all. Such a gift hurts life on earth, and so it hurts us.
The language that sells us consumerism for Christmas is going in one direction and what we are quietly telling ourselves is the opposite. This year, after the banking failure and the debt mountains, the advertising has less power than ever. So find the things you have that may be under-used, over-looked. Shop locally and stay out of Tesco, Starbucks, Marks & Spencer and Primark.
There's no doubt Christmas is an annual environmental disaster. Last year Americans generated 25 million tons of trash between Buy Nothing day and Christmas. But we can still change it – and Buy Nothing day, amen, isn't a bad place to start.
• Reverend Billy is the head of The Church of Life After Shopping
via guardian.co.uk
If you haven't seen it, Netflix, rent, borrow or even (GASP) buy "What Would Jesus Buy?" It's a documentary about Billy Talen and his Church of Stop Shopping. Yes, of course, he knows that we can't really stop shopping completely, but we can certainly cut back and we should cut back.
But like I said, I'm still aiming for that new iPhone... but I will be giving home-made items for Christmas this year. Art, videos, stuff like that.
Whoops! Turns out it was the Bill Murray movie that was the (not so cheesy) ripoff of the show the cartoon was based on!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ghostbusters
The title page for the animated Ghostbusters series produced by FilmationFormat Animated series, mystery, adventure Created by Marc Richards (characters)
Robby London, Barry O'Brien (adapted for animation)Starring Pat Fraley
Peter Cullen
Lou Scheimer
Susan BluCountry of origin United States
No. of episodes 65 Production Executive producer(s) Lou Scheimer Running time 30 minutes Production company(s) Filmation
Tribune BroadcastingDistributor Group W Productions Broadcast Original channel Syndicated Original run September 8, 1986 – December 5, 1986 Chronology Related shows The Ghost Busters Ghostbusters (later called Filmation's Ghostbusters) was an animated television series created by Filmation and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting and launched following the success of Ivan Reitman and Columbia Pictures' 1984 film Ghostbusters. It ran from 1986-1988 in daytime syndication and produced 65 episodes. The cartoon was based on a live-action television show from 1975-1976 titled The Ghost Busters. It is not to be confused with the animated show The Real Ghostbusters, which was based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Columbia Pictures had to obtain the rights to the name from Filmation for its film, and after Ghostbusters was a hit, Filmation went into production with its animated series based on the characters from its series. The series is technically called simply "Ghostbusters", but home video releases use the name "Filmation's Ghostbusters" to avoid confusion.
Turns out the cheesy cartoon was based on a live action series from 1975 that Filmation owned the rights to. Dan Akroyd and pals had to pay them for the rights to use the phrase "Ghostbusters" in their title. Then, once the movie was huge, Filmation went into production on a cartoon sequel to the original 1975 live action show. Yes, there actually is some sort of continuity between the two series. Wow, this is all way more than I ever wanted/needed to know about that show. I think I only ever watched it because one of the characters was hot.
Here's that link again if you want to know even more about this silly little show:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(1986_TV_series)
OH and it's "Let's go, Ghostbuuuusters" not "Go go, Ghostbuuuusters..."
I'm so stupid. WHAT was I thinking???
Approaching 55k on my #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel!! SWEET. Now, bed time? Or more writing?
I have until Monday at midnight, and after writing over 4600 words
since I last went to bed, I'm feeling a little more confident I can
wrap this thing up in time. However, I have the tendency to introduce
crazy-ass crap from nowhere at the last second (my lead character's
blindness, for instance) so who knows how many pages something like
that will take to write?
writing it more fun and a little easier to know you're out there. If you haven't been, please consider starting!! My stuff is scifi,
but, often, I hear that despite that, it's quite approachable and
real-world-based. "Manhattan Story" is particularly real-worldy, in
my opinion. Please check it out--thanks! read online: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive
get PDFs of each chapter: http://wiki.thepete.com/w/manhattanstory
Saturday, November 28, 2009
CRACKED 50K! "Manhattan Story" has reached past 50,000 words!! But the story isn't over yet!!
I am ready to celebrate, believe me, but until I type the words "THE
END" following at least a chapter of wind-down which, in itself,
follows a HUGELY DRAMATIC climax, it's not done. Which kind of sucks
from my perspective. This is because every year I've attempted
National Novel Writing Month, I've either finished markedly early or
failed spectacularly. In 2006, I finished a week early. In 2007 I
finished two days early. Last year, I got about a week in and gave
up. What I'm getting at here is that I still may not make it!! The
goal is to have a finished first draft by midnight November 30.
That's Monday night. While I know it's possible I'll finish in
time...
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive or
http://wiki.thepete.com/w/manhattanstory
Friday, November 27, 2009
Just cracked 48k on "Manhattan Story"!!! Just 2k more to hit the minimum! I'll see that by morning!!
But will I type "THE END" by midnight, Monday?
If you haven't been following along, it's never to late:http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive I'd love to hear how my first draft reads to other folks! Of course,
I'm just happy that people are following along. If you are, please
let me know. It makes the work more fun. Thanks!
What's with this line at the P.Off?? It's late morning for crying out loud...
Everyone's taking early lunches maybe?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
43k+ on the #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel... I'll definitely make it to 50k before Monday, but will I finish the story?
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive what you think so far!
When I first started writing, I was worried I wouldn't have enoughstory for 50,000 words. Now it seems like I've got too much story for
that many words. :\ Well, we'll see how it goes. I think I might be
able to sneak it in around 52k. But can I do both that AND beat the
November 30 deadline?? Wish me luck!! Now it's time for SLEEP.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Chapter 18 of "Manhattan Story" started! Ooh, this is getting dark! #NaNoWriMo 2009
start w/chapter 1: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive
Our Turkey Day feast (the "Before" photo)
This is such a "before" photo, we hadn't even paid for it yet!
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