internet

Three things I’m thinking about

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First, we were due to get 2-6 inches of snow last night, but something crazy apparently happened and the snow fell and stuck everywhere but right here in Seattle. I know there are some of you out there who are sick of snow, but I have a little boy here who wants to slide down a hill on a flattened cardboard box. We need some kid weather.

In fact, it’s snowing right now but nothing is sticking. I should probably bring him home a treat.

Second, I’m working on this thing, and it’s taking way longer than it should. Even when I devote hours and hours to it, I only plod through a couple thousand words. Tim Pratt, on the other hand, just kicked out an 8,000 word day (yes we are supposed to compare ourselves to other people, so hmph on you). It’s frustrating and annoying.

Third, with regard to the second point, I’m seriously considering a week-long internet fast. It wouldn’t be enough to finish this project, but it would help. Has anyone done it? What did you think?

Randomness for

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1) Now this is a brilliant film trailer: Baby trashes bar. Video.

2) Wildly successful self-published author Amanda Hocking on What It Takes.

3) An appreciation for a show I’ve been watching: The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

4) Samurai fights his own shadow. Video. This is really beautiful and well done.

5) The 50 worst band photos ever. I haven’t looked at all of these yet, but yikes.

6) Facebook ads in a superhero universe. The last one is priceless. I’m tempted to do this for urban fantasy universes.

7) I love this: What happened to the bullies at the end of THE NEVERENDING STORY? Video. Via Matt Staggs at Suvudu.

Second to last antipope post

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My second to last post went up on Charles Stross’s site earlier today. In it, I offer five tricks that are useful in real life, including the Jill Cooper fitted sheet folding video I’ve posted here before. I also talk a bit about my own pain management. Check it out.

How about that.

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My wife has an imdb page of her own. (No, I won’t link to it.)

She’s so much cooler than I am.

Once again, an antipope.org post

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I annoy the locals by embedding a Malcolm Gladwell TED Talk, and talk about the proliferation of subgenres.

New at antipope.org

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My latest post has gone live at Charles Stross’s blog: “I dream of one day slapping handcuffs on a belligerent junkie.” about genre-reading and imagining yourself living in the book’s setting.

Breitbart soils himself by proxy once again

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Several folks have righteously mocked the post at serial liar Andrew Breitbart’s website “Big Hollywood”. It was written by one Leo Grin and here’s the link, with a “rel=nofollow” tag added: The Bankrupt Nihilism of Our Fallen Fantasists.

Omnivoracious responds sensibly and links to several other comments, (also: Nick Mamatas) so there isn’t much for me to add. Still, I want to do a little examination of the original post:

Here’s a list of the authors Grin mentions in his post:

J.R.R. Tolkien
Robert E. Howard
Robert Jordan
Joe Abercrombie
Matthew Woodring Stover
Steven Erikson
Michael Swanwick
Robert Bloch

Hmm. I wonder if something is missing from that list. Hmm. Something about the fantasy that’s been written in the last century. Hmmmmm.

Nope! Not seeing anything!

In all seriousness, someone should aim Grin at Holly (“I riff on the idiocy of the global warming theory” “… I dare you to find a white male on Sesame Street now that anyone could point to as a role model for a son.“) Lisle’s work. Of course, he’d probably have to put on a dress before he read it.

New post at Antipope

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My new post is up at Antipope: It’s about the (just passed) 80th anniversary of the premiere of Legosi’s Dracula. Did you know that Universal made a second Spanish language version of that movie at the same time as the Legosi version? English-speaking actors did their scenes during the day and Spanish-speaking actors used the same sets at night.

I compare them and discuss revision. Check it out, if you want.

Quiet? I haven’t been quiet

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Charles Stross asked me to guest blog on his site while he is traveling across the Atlantic to attend Boskone and accomplish various other things. (True fact: the first time I heard about it, as in: “How was your weekend? I heard Boskone was great!” I assumed it was some kind of pastry).

Anyway, my first post is live over there. It’s an expanded discussion of low and high thrillers. Check it out.

Randomness for 2/12

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1) What it costs for a best-selling ebook.

2) Screwed-up versions of the Star Spangled Banner down the years.

3) The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator. Just click “Generate New Bestseller.”

4) The Rocky Horror Batman Show. Heh.

5) You know what party cat likes? Parties.

6) Vimeo Video School.

7) Kickstarter, doing what Kickstarter should do.