Top 10 Weird Note Document Filenames

In honour of spending the entire afternoon getting stuck on scene blocking, which required the creation of yet another note document to sort out--and to continue the ongoing series here on I Do Not Actually Own A Motorcycle of cynical and sarcastic posts about writer's block--my Top 10 Weird Note Document Filenames!

What To Do When....

I was going to do a big, long NaNoWriMo post but instead I got stuck on a chapter and came out with this. I thought I'd share:

 89I9tgf5rg tffffvt gfbvryfm ik n bvghn

That was the result of banging my head against my keyboard several times and represents the total sum creative output of about the last three days.

(I also wish to, apropos of nothing, commend Google for making the "Complain to Google" button so obvious and yet so natural within the post editor, as if I could simply complain to Google simply for something to do, or I could send this post to them as a metaphorical statement on the Blogger platform.)

This was mostly an exercise in getting my hands moving. Look! You can do it too!

You'd Think We Might Learn

But we generally don't.

It's Not Perfect, and That's OK

I just finished re-reading The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy this evening and, as with any book, the second read made me think about a lot of things. I always catch more of the little tricks, naturally. More importantly, my standards for authors are higher now, by virtue of my exposure to publishing and the "what it takes" of writing, than they were six or seven years ago when I first read it.

The important thing is how much it still worked. I still fundamentally enjoyed the book, I still nearly cried at the end and I still loved the writing and the slow build and release of tension, the battle construction, and so many other parts of the story and the style of its telling.

To Chapter 137 on the Occasion of Our Parting,

If I hadn't been sane, I would have written to you a long time ago.

As it was, our correspondence got off to a slow start. I mean, I knew you were out there some time back around January when the road to what I like to think of as the End began. You'll tell me it's silly, I know. It is. There is no end.

A Virtuous Morning

I write at night.

Over the years reading often inane posts about writing practice on the lovely Internet, I've noticed fewer people extol the virtues of writing at night. I know lots of people do it simply from talking to other writers face to face (something we ought to do more of), but the column inches are devoted to the idyllic, quiet, writerly morning.

"The Dead Walk!" + Top 10!

I do not anoint a worst-ever movie lightly. It always seems hyperbolic. I have a new champion, at least until I see something worse.

I had been avoiding watching Resident Evil since it's massive swing in popularity when I was in grade four. But one thing leads to another grad school assignment and I've ended up seeing it.

They do say you need to know what not to do.

Warning: May Cause Drowsiness and Irritability

I've followed Toronto FC since 2007 when Danny Dichio banged in the team's first goal. It was the first game of pro soccer I'd ever watched voluntarily on TV. I was hooked.

The losing, like the goal, has been curiously addictive. Nothing made sense about the team now and it sure doesn't today, after another hopeless draw, at the end of a hopeless season, sans most of the management and playing staff that started said season. (Remember Hogan Ephraim? Hallucinogenic, I tell you.)

Toronto FC has developed into a very strong sedative, and it really is unique amongst drugs because it used to be a stimulant--I'd sit on the edge of my seat waiting for Collin Samuel (who?) to score a goal, and fall back off the high when he missed from six yards out.

Farewell To Nova Scotia

When I was in my early years of high school I was, sadly, already a nostalgic sop. I thought to myself, probably on some sort of emotional high, that I would be very sad to ever leave beautiful Nova Scotia.

How times change.

Why I Don't Shop at Wal-Mart: A Story About God-Game Economic Narrative

I've always wanted to do a post on god-game narrative because it's such a fascinatingly depressing kind of realism. Sure, god-games are all about creating your own imaginary civilization or country. They do present a fun way to experiment with, in some cases, quasi-realistic economies.

I'm not an economics major--I'm an English and journalism grad. If I knew more about economics maybe I would believe economists like Kevin O'Leary when they say "greed is good." But probably not, because greed is not good. It doesn't take an economist to follow the consumerist line of thinking through to where it should lead. God-games have simply accelerated and simplified the process.

It has been said that greed drives everything in society (I wouldn't argue that) and in so doing, all the wealth the greedy people make trickles down to the average working person. Consumerism keeps North America going.

But I don't shop at Wal-Mart.

Realism and Red Baron

The first videogame I ever really played was Red Baron. I had the Windows95 version and it was one of the only real games we had at the time.

Being quite young, I didn't fully understand the concepts, much less the design, but it was fun to fly around and the aerial battles were, for a game of its time, pretty thrilling. I always loved flying tri-planes.

My father taught me just enough about the menu to get me into a game, and I picked up a little bit more on my own over time. The campaigns were great, but there was one part of the game I could never get the hang of.

Oh, the dreaded "Realism" menu.

Mimicry and the Derivative: Read More, And Ignore

It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I really hope that's true, because this week I've wasted at least two hours holding my head in my hands agonizing about originality.

I Just Fixed My First Ever Door

I've never been one to indulge in a lot of manly handiwork.

But I am proud that I have just fixed a door.

It was one of those folding-style ones that probably dates from sometime between 1943 and 1968. It didn't take a lot of effort, but I do feel abundantly practical--almost even useful, if not quite. In amongst a long month of not much, that is definitely something to think about.

I promise this isn't simply filler content. Really. See the post on Chai tea.

Comments on CBC's Omar Khadr Stories Should Be Pre-Moderated

The CBC has almost always allowed open comments on their online news site, cbc.ca.

In most cases, this makes sense. Open comments sometimes bring out depressing elements of society content to hide behind anonymity, but as Canada's leading journalistic institution CBC has a mandate to allow open and free discussion on its comments page.

The site occasionally closes comments, usually in stories about court cases, particularly when young offenders are involved. This decision makes a lot of ethical sense, but it also covers a media institution's liabilities.

It's curious, then, that in the case of Omar Khadr, the CBC has, for the most part, continued to allow open commenting. This is a mistake. The comment circus takes away from CBC's reasonably solid journalism on the story, obscuring the facts and research with vitriol and hate.

Spinning the Middle

I'm writing this post at the end of the middle.

Mostly, I'm waiting for 360-odd pages to print out, which involves a tedious amount of aligning, cartridging, configuring, and patience.

But it will pay off--I'll be able to edit my work over the weekend.

For the past nine months, I've been in the middle. I started in late January at the end of the beginning and here I am at the beginning of the end. The in-between has been a long, weary, trying adventure of getting from one abstract point in a project to another.

(To continue this extended metaphor: I get one measly page into the printing job and the printer chokes on my paper and makes a big gristly mess in the spool. Reset, retry.)

Revisions and Late '80s Pop Ballads

I spent an entire academic year this past school term in an advanced fiction-writing course. It gave me all sorts of ideas for blog posts, some of which I will likely even get around to posting at some point.

But for now, I'm going to leave those be. I don't want to derail what could otherwise be a useful evening by railing about the use or lack thereof of advanced writing workshops, nor the quality of "criticism" found within them.

I simply want to meditate briefly on the value of, say, Michael Bolton, as an antidote to trying to incorporate revisions that are increasingly inane.

Chai Tea

Apropos of nothing, I now quite like Chai tea.

I feel I need to blog about this. I'm on my second ever cup now and it's really quite good.

I had been sceptical of it. While I love the mysticism of it, I am at heart a British pragmatist. About three months ago I tried Earl Grey for the first time and the effect was really quite instantaneous. I converted quickly from Orange Pekoe. Chai took a little longer. I was tentative. It smelled good, but I messed the first cup last night up pretty badly and the aftertaste wasn't so good. The second cup tonight, though, seems to be an improvement.

Jury's still out on herbal. I'll have to try them eventually, just because. I don't drink coffee (see What Is This? for my usual line about that). There's something that fits my lifestyle about old-fashioned tea.

I keep a box of treasured Yorkshire tea in my cupboard, which I dip into on special occasions, difficult days, or particularly important writing nights. I still think that's my favourite, but a cup of Earl Grey--and now maybe Chai--does very well for a normal night.

Anyone else got any tea stories to tell? Are they better than this one? Good.

Firsts....

Tonight I did something I have never done before: I helped organize a bar party.

I'm glad. It went very well, and I think those who came by the Grawood, Dalhousie's campus bar, for the final Gazette bash of the year enjoyed it, and this was the point.

Those who know me know I'm not the sort of guy who spends a great deal of time in bars. I write about them instead. I am the last person who would usually organize a party like this.

It's just one of the things that I realize have been firsts since I started at The Dalhousie Gazette four years ago. Tonight was my last real night as editor-in-chief of that paper. Our last paper comes out on stands tomorrow. It's been a lot of fun, and it hit me as I left the bar tonight how many firsts there have been in this job, and how grateful I am that they have been there.

I wouldn't usually do some of these things. I wouldn't usually experiment, but it always pays off when I do. It's experience, it's inspiration, and it's fun. So thanks to all who came out, and to Ben McDade and Paul Balite, who helped plan it with me.

I can honestly say I learned a lot tonight, and that's how a stint as editor-in-chief of the Gazette ought to end.

Top 10! Things Not to Do If One Wants to Post on a Blog

There are certain things that just have to bite the schedule sometimes. Like concert band rehearsal three weeks ago (I really was busy), like flossing one's teeth, like sleeping.

And maintaining the old personal blog started amongst much (much?) fanfare. I could offer a long and drawn out list of rational and reasonable excuses for not posting—no. I could humbly and graciously apologize (I humbly and graciously apologize for not posting—but, no). Or I could do what I meant to do five years ago at the very beginning of the Great Canadian Undergraduate Adventure (see also: sleep, lack thereof, papers, philosophy, journalism and Life). I could publish a Top 10 list publicly.

(Like anyone reads them on this blog beyond my mother and the Gazette's sports editor—hi, Ian!)

Some context: I enjoy creating top 10 lists. They're not particularly original in formatting, but I'd like to think the content offers some sort of unique view on the world. Or it might make you laugh—a bit. Traditionally I did them on Thursdays, and emailed them to my mother. Since neither of these are true now and tradition is something I rarely follow at the best of times, here's Top 10! Now proudly on Wednesdays, or whenever I remember/get time to do it.

This week: The Top 10 Things to Avoid if You Want to Regularly Update a Blog!

The End of the World

Is coming!

It's been overcast and rainy for about a week now, so I fully expect the Apocalypse by next Saturday.

It's really too bad I didn't get around to posting more before now, isn't it?