John Scalzi’s article about poor design in the Star Wars universe leads to this amazingly funny article on the same subject.
Reposting a comment
StandardJim Hines has an interesting post on his blog and LiveJournal about writing to follow a popular trend and, through my own dumbosity, managed to turn it into a discussion of art vs. craft.
Check it out–the other comment threads are interesting.
Anyway, here’s the comment I wrote describing the diff between a craft and an art (because it’s easier than coming up with all new material, that’s why):
In twenty words or less, right?
When you make art, you make a thing that has no other function but to be experienced as art.
When you make “craft”, you may create a thing (like a bookshelf) that can be appreciated as art, but which also has other intrinsic constraints on its function.
To clarify: “intrinsic” is an important word, because the novel I’m writing has to have a length of 90K words, give or take. That’s a constraint imposed by my publisher, but it’s not intrinsic to the form.
Both take tremendous skill, but “I’m not an artist” is reflexive anti-elitism, an assurance that the speaker is regular folk, not one of those flighty effete types. It took a long time for me to shake off my working class attitudes about art and self-identity. Now I’m willing to call myself an artist if I’m forced to, but I make low, pop-cultural art about monsters and face-punching.
Self-identity is weird.
Take a look at this if you have the chance (and don’t skip the comments). It’s interesting stuff about, in part, using writing to solve problems created by the writing.
Jim’s followup, and mine, too, are in the thread.
ARGH!
StandardI’m at a very difficult, very painful part of the book, and I have to stop right now or I’m not going to get home in time to relieve my wife of parenting duties. I can’t make her late for work because I wanted to reach the end of a scene.
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
In other news, I’m really amazingly happy with the way Man Bites World is wrapping up (which means my agent and editor will probably be horrified).
I’m writing
StandardI’m at the Starbucks, writing. The guy across the table working on his laptop is humming to the music, and doing it in a way that makes me think it’s not conscious at all.
Argh. Must focus.
Quote of the day, healthcare edition
StandardBut health-care reform is not a negotiation. It’s a campaign. Reformers wants a deal, even as some differ on its precise shape. The opposition wants to kill the deal entirely. And that gives the opponents a lot more power to say “no.” “No” isn’t their fallback position. It’s their position. The supporters — if they’re not sociopaths of some sort — actually do want to extend health-care coverage to 40 million people and regulate the insurance industry and create out-of-pocket caps and make life better for millions and millions of people. That makes it hard to say “no.” Being a decent person turns out to be a terrible weakness. And the pressure is even greater because the history of this stuff is that you don’t get a deal at the end of the day. Failure isn’t an unlikely outcome. It’s the default.
— Ezra Klein. (emphasis in original) Read the rest
New computer!
StandardYes, I have a new computer. Here’s a pic of the old G4 Mac Mini and monitor.
And here’s the 24″ iMac that replaced it.
Jeez, it even gave me a shave!
Quote of the day
Standard“It is advantageous to an author that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck only at one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends.”
–Dr. Samuel Johnson
(Just putting this here for future reference)
“The Doomsday Warrior Gets It On”
StandardWell,
StandardI guess I’m a real boy author now: I have a Harriet Klausner review.
The review contains spoilers, several of them for the book I actually wrote. If you like, though, I can quote the only parts you truly need to read:
“… exciting story line.”
“… an exhilarating High Noon paranormal thriller.”
Still, as much as I joke, I’m grateful that she took the time.
I also have a bunch of reviews on Good Reads now. It’s kind of exciting, but I’m going to have to stop reading them soon.
Attn, filmmakers and lovers of film
StandardHollywood producer Keith Calder, who made BATTLE FOR TERRA, THE WHACKNESS, ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE and more has started a blog.
He’ll be talking about his experiences making films, posting anecdotes, and other cool stuff. If you like that sort of thing, here’s something you’ll like.