I don't know what to post today...

I'll come back with something better tomorrow or Friday. I don't think it will disappoint.

I've been keeping up with my "pledge" to write 250 words a day this week. Today, I haven't planted my seat to the chair, but after I finish posting this I will. So... um...um...

I guess, keep reading.

R.O.R!

Plan for the Week

I'm constantly talking about organization, but I never know where to begin, how to get started. So I'm going to try to get started here.

No link, I mean right here in this post.

This week we're moving into the month of September. Seems to me like a good time to impliment change.

Right now, I want to be a writer and I do not have a writing shed-ule.

Not good. Not good at all.

So... My first amendment to my life will be to try--no, no, no-- to actually write 250 words a day.

Simple maybe, but you have to take these things one day at a time. And that's what I plan to do.

R.O.R.

Great Blog Post by Joe Hill

Keeping Journals...

I'm not going to reiterate the question Mr. Hill already asked; I just thought his post was good and wanted to point some people in that direction.

Nathan Bransford did a post on journaling, so you can see his answer to Joe Hill's question above and visa versa, if it interests you.

 My answer? I don't keep official diaries like Joe Hill--I'm not organized enough for that. But, I am addicted to buying notebooks. I keep notes in them. All random, sporadic.

Church and school started my habit of buying notebooks. Now I keep thoughts and all manner of things in spiral note books and those black speckled ones (I forgetee name of those.). There's notebooks in all different shapes and sizes and colors on my bookshelf.

I love to read, but I also like to write. I think I can optimize both pastimes with a little organization.

R.O.R.

My Worst Fear... Da Da Dum!

Plagiarism!!! Da! Da! DUM!

Yeah it's weird; I'm not afraid of being plagiarized, but I'm afraid of plagiarizing someone else. Like someone's going to come to me one day and say, "Hey guy! All that stuff you wrote down, yeah well, that's mine." Then, I just scream. Edvard Munch style.

The above linked article didn't help much in that fear, but it did help me to learn how easy it is to plagiarize and how little we might be taught to keep from doing so. This is something we should probably be taught thoroghly in grade school and that should be emphasized on through our learning experience.

I like this response from the article linked above, by Marissa from Ames, IA:

" I wonder if the problem may be that professors assume a level of research abilities in more advanced students, or students in upper-level and graduate-level classes. If the thinking is that they should have received research instruction at a lower level, then perhaps they skip it, and shortchange the students."

And I wonder if I just plagiarized the heck out of Marissa...? Hopefully I didn't, but either way I totally agree with her.

*Cohen, Patricia."Thinking Cap: The Seemingly Persistent Rise of Plagiarism."Art Beat. NYTimes.com. Web. Aug. 23, 2011. <http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/thinking-cap-the-seemingly-persistent-rise-of-plagiarism/?ref=review>

I've been wanting to do another post on this reality TV phenomenon for awhile now. So here it is...

I was frightened by the Today.com article about reality TV stars getting Hollywood stars. NO, no, no, no, no way. No. Way.

It's an anomaly about us humans I just can't seem to grasp. I mean, I may sound a little obsessive about it, but it's such a strange fad, if it can still be called that.

It's a strange move from talk shows and game shows, where the only people who gain some fame from the show are the hosts. And generally, that fame is confined to a snug positoin in popular culture.

I've never heard of any obsession that went towards the show The Love Connection outside of the, what, thirty minutes the show was on. So, what's the deal with these Bachelor/Bachelorette people? Are they really that interesting or did something happen to us?

And don't get me started on these "house rules"  and Real [desparate] Housewives shows...

There are too many kinds of "wives" on TV, fights break out left and right, and how are we not all plagued by vertigo with the unending spinoffs?

It's like after we went through withdrawal from the Jerry Springer craze, we found that we couldn't live without the cheap thrill that provided, so we fell off the wagon...hard.

Don't get me wrong, I indulged in these guilty pleasures, as well, way more than I ever should've. I've kept up with the Kardashians and still can't figure out where we're going. I've tasted the flavor of love and, oh God, is it horrible.

But I still can't figure out why-- oh, why did I do that to myself? I'm laughing at these people's antics, but who really gets the last laugh?

When the story about Snookie versus Toni Morrison at Rutgers College came out, I was afraid we'd hit rock bottom. Of course, "a student-run committee" booked Snookie, so that was a small consolation toward relief.

But, I got my real glimpse of a silver lining when I read whether reality TV stars are star enough to get on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Thank goodness the answer was no. Hopefully it stays that way because I can't take a world where accolades are based on non-meritous, or even worse demeritous, acts.

* McGlone, Peggy, and Kelly Heyboer. “Snooki of 'jersey Shore' Gets $2k More Than Author Toni Morrison to Appear at Rutgers.” nj.com. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/snooki_of_jersey_shore_gets_2k.html (accessed August 25, 2011).

*Finn, Natalie . "Will reality TV stars ever get on Walk of Fame?TODAY.com. Web. 25 Aug. 2011. <http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44264957/ns/today-entertainment/t/will-reality-tv-stars-ever-get-hollywood-walk-fame/>.

I've Finally Read Alice in Wonderland.

The other day I read Alice in Wonderland for the first time and if I do say so myself it is all it's cracked up to be. I see why it shows on any "top" list for children's books.

I don't know what to say about it; it's a children's book...

It's funny at times and  nonsensical throughout the whole story.

I watched the movie when I was younger and even the TV show, but never read the book--probably says something about the day I live in, or just me personally. But I'm reading now, if this blog is any indication, and as they say better late than never. So...

If your a parent get the book to read to your kids if you haven't. Just because its a head trip doesn't mean it isn't any fun.

Have you seen the Google logo today?

Of course you have, it's Google, everyone on the internet has seen the logo today.

Well, the logo, as it sometimes does and is supposed to do, peaked my interest. One: because the drawing is pretty beastly and two: because I had heard of this Jorge Luis Borges before from one of the too many internet searches I've done before and the "The Book of Sand" is in Imaginative Writing by Janet Burroway ( a book on my 100 books list).

Anyway at this time I can't say too much about Borges, because the logo was kind of my official introduction to his work.

What I do know is after reading "The Library of Babel" I can't wait to read more of him. I see he's an author you really have to dig your heels in to grasp. The story pretty much went right over my head (though I'm not operating at full capacity now; it's late), but I enjoy a challenge. Right now, trying to fully understand these stories is like trying to gain a full understanding of the vastness of the universe--an infinite library, an infinite book-- egads!! What does it all mean?




Borges, Jorge Luis. "The Book of Sand." Collected Fictions--Imaginative Writing. Maria Kodama Translation and notes--Penguin Putnam Inc.1998.

(Sorry about the citing--it's m.u.l (messed up language) format or something, kinda dead on my feet here. I'll fix it A.S.A.I.C)

Anyway,  Happy Birthday Jorge

R.O.R!

Okay, here's that review I promised.

I'm trying out this schedule feature (I feel old like my pops), so I hope it works.

 I'm not particular good at reviewing things, but that's what pratice is for. "If at first you don't suceed try, try again" and like the pops from above says, "Nothin' beats a try." So, let's try this...

I haven't reviewed much outside side of talking about movies and what not with family and friends. I did a treatment on Mira Grant's novel, Feed, on another site (link). I think I did okay for my first book review, but I felt it was missing a fullness that other reviews in the NYTimes, magazines, other newspapers and websites seem to have. I'll try to produce that in this review, if I'm not actually being too hard on myself (cause I tend to do that) and if there really is something extra to produce.

I wasn't sure what I should review--there's a lot to choose from. Stephen King is my favorite author and I think I'd have fun reviewing something I've read from him. Kathryn Stockett's book is a hot commodity right now and I really enjoyed reading that book... I don't know.

I guess I'll go with Bentley Little's, Dispatch.

Okay, digging in now:

This book is a very interesting read.

It's my introduction to Little's work and I think I'd recommend it to other people, even though it's possible he has better work. I'll let you know.

The story follows a kid, Jason Hanford, into adulthood. Dysfunctional doesn't even discribe is family-- abusive and acholic dad, abusive mother, and brother who isn't much better than either parent.

One day in class, his teacher starts a pen pal project, in which Jason is the only boy that participates. It's through this project that Jason first gets a taste of the power in his letter writing.

Throughout the years and into adulthood readers get a glimpse at pinnacle moments into Jason's discovery how being a Letter Writer affects his life, rarely without a negative effect.

It leads him down a twisting path and the ultimate discovery of something dark, old, and dangerous.

The ending is a little closer to the "not" side of Ripley's show, but if the saying, "it's the journey, not the distination," is true, then Little's pulls this book off without a hitch.

Reasons to "Use What You Know" When Writing Fiction

[Director's Cut 12/22/12: I started writing this last year. The first item and the title are original, everything else I just added. I didn't know much about writing, don't claim to know much about writing now, but this is my two cents anyway.]


1. Emotion and validity added to the treatment of the material
2. Source material
3. Cause writing what someone else knows is just too damn hard.

Blogging...

I would enjoy it, but at least for myself, it's just as hard as conversing with others.

I'm an introvert to the nth degree, so I thought that boucing ideas off a sounding board without immediate feedback would lack the pressure of normal conversation... Nope, not at all.

I feel just as clumsy typing up a random soliloquy on a subject as I do speaking to another person. Funny, innit?

But there's still enjoyment mixed in with the anxiety...

The challenge so far-

I'm still reading Richard Laymon's, In the Dark, and I added James Patterson and Neil McMahon's, Toys to that.

I've finished reading, Dispatch by Bentley Little and The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber, both awesome books.

So I'm steadily creeping my way to that 100-book goal.

R.O.R.

P.S? I still haven't reviewed any of the books--blaugh-- I'm a little afraid of how my treatment of the material will turn out... not because I haven't read (a-he, a-he), but because I don't have confidence in my ability to present the material.

But I'm going to get that to you though. Promise.

I really want to have a sure direction for this blog, but the path is foggy. I hope that clears soon...

Anyway, once again...R.O.R!

Back to the Reading Challenge . . .

And blogging.

          

I'm not promising regularity. I really wish I could, but I don't want to put my word out there just so I can stomp all over it. Because if a man can't stand on his word, he's got nothing left to stand on. . .

 I guess that shows how much faith I have in my reliability. . .


Well, I guess we'll start with the reading challenge update, then we can probably move on to a review or something.

I've read nine more books since I last updated the page list. I haven't been too busy, besides trying to decipher the age old "meaning of life", but there has been some crucial changes in my life that cause only slight bumps in my reading schedule. (Like school starts in the next couple of weeks and I won't be going. Whoops! Looooong, sad story.) 

But on a lighter note, I have cultivated a new passion over the past couple of years, writing, and I'm enjoying learning more and more about it. I think I briefly mentioned it somewhere on this blog or it could have been somewhere else.

So, I've been trying to hone my writing skills for the past year. That too is part of the reason why the reading is slow going.

Moving on . . .

My twentieth book will probably be Richard Laymon's, In the Dark; I'm currently reading it. If you haven't notice I'm on a Richard Laymon kick. I discovered him a few months ago, I forget how, and I really enjoy? (not sure if that's okay to say when you're a fan of horror) reading his stories.

I guess that's about it.

R. O. R!!!! (This is going to catch on, no?)