Winter blues in full swing; the thaw of my days down south is a distant memory. I had all these notes and thoughts for this blog, but I lack the energy to put them into words.
This freeze is irksome, but has an anesthetic effect as well - the mad thoughts that had been bubbling through my brain a few weeks ago have gone flat and flaccid. Unfortunately, that means I haven't written in nearly a week.
I will almost certainly snap out of it - this is familiar terrain, even if it's still unpleasant. I'm re-reading some favorite books. Comfort food for the mind.
I'll probably pop back up here soon enough as my usual chipper, semi-manic self . . . for now, though, I'm laying low.
"Do you think I'm in control, oh my God, do you think it's all for fun?" - Ida Maria
12.22.2008
12.03.2008
in the mooooood
So I recently discovered the totally awesome site allmusic.com and it has the option to categorize songs by "mood."
I vote they should add "steatopygic" to the selection. Songs could include "Fat-Bottom Girls" by Queen, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot, "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" by Mika, any number of rap/hip-hop numbers . . .
I vote they should add "steatopygic" to the selection. Songs could include "Fat-Bottom Girls" by Queen, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot, "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" by Mika, any number of rap/hip-hop numbers . . .
punctuation
In this age of blogs, microblogs, status updates, profiles, etc., etc., it seems like everyone is living the writing life to some extent. I wonder if this is what Bulgakov imagined when he wrote "Manuscripts don't burn," long before the internet had begun immortalizing everything.
Anyway, so it occurs to me that, instead of relying on facial tics, body language, etc., to profile individuals, one can easily go by writing samples. Even a small sample can reveal quite a bit.
Refuse to capitalize? You don't have the guts to take yourself seriously enough. Or maybe you have submissive tendencies. (Like to get tied up, do you?) Get some self-esteem. Or else, just turn on auto-capitalize in MS Word.
Overuse exclamation points? You either have an insatiable lust for life, or, more likely, you're a crashing bore who tries to inject excitement into things like "I just bought toilet paper! YAY!" (Very few occasions in writing - or life - merit an exclamation point.) You probably have a secret crush on Zac Efron, too.
Love the ellipsis? You probably have a touch of the ADD. Or else, you just want to sound interesting and mysterious. You don't. You just sound flighty and silly. A rambling run-on sentence with a few ellipses stuck inside it is still a rambling run-on sentence. Stop cultivating your mystique and start cultivating mental organization.
And my favorite, my own personal indulgence - parentheticals. I overuse them CONSTANTLY. I guess I like the idea of having two parallel narratives. Kind of like two parallel lives. (Notice how the stuff inside the parentheses is always just a little more honest than the stuff outside them?)
And so on, and so forth. Feel free to create your own bitchy psychological profiles.
(spend too much time thinking about this sort of thing? . . . then you're probably a former English major! . . .)
Anyway, so it occurs to me that, instead of relying on facial tics, body language, etc., to profile individuals, one can easily go by writing samples. Even a small sample can reveal quite a bit.
Refuse to capitalize? You don't have the guts to take yourself seriously enough. Or maybe you have submissive tendencies. (Like to get tied up, do you?) Get some self-esteem. Or else, just turn on auto-capitalize in MS Word.
Overuse exclamation points? You either have an insatiable lust for life, or, more likely, you're a crashing bore who tries to inject excitement into things like "I just bought toilet paper! YAY!" (Very few occasions in writing - or life - merit an exclamation point.) You probably have a secret crush on Zac Efron, too.
Love the ellipsis? You probably have a touch of the ADD. Or else, you just want to sound interesting and mysterious. You don't. You just sound flighty and silly. A rambling run-on sentence with a few ellipses stuck inside it is still a rambling run-on sentence. Stop cultivating your mystique and start cultivating mental organization.
And my favorite, my own personal indulgence - parentheticals. I overuse them CONSTANTLY. I guess I like the idea of having two parallel narratives. Kind of like two parallel lives. (Notice how the stuff inside the parentheses is always just a little more honest than the stuff outside them?)
And so on, and so forth. Feel free to create your own bitchy psychological profiles.
(spend too much time thinking about this sort of thing? . . . then you're probably a former English major! . . .)
bend over, I'll drive
How is it that I managed to live 27 years without ever having heard of the psychobilly genre?
I'm not even sure you can call that living, frankly.
(Seriously, how cool is it that there's a musical genre with the word "psycho" in the name???)
I'm not even sure you can call that living, frankly.
(Seriously, how cool is it that there's a musical genre with the word "psycho" in the name???)
12.02.2008
old
For some reason, looked into the directory where I used to keep my poetry before deciding on a blog format. A couple years ago, I'd transferred most of my stuff over to the blog, but I must have missed a few.
Took a couple over, fiddled with the format (for some reason, pasting them in messed up the font), and then, gave up. There are a few more pieces there that I like, but placing them in my blog will deprive me of moments like this in the future - moments of going back to that old page, to my old self, I guess.
I can still remember the summer of 2003; more so when I look at those .txt files. Why reformat a snippet of personal history?
Let the old ghosts rest a while longer. There are new ones aplenty.
Took a couple over, fiddled with the format (for some reason, pasting them in messed up the font), and then, gave up. There are a few more pieces there that I like, but placing them in my blog will deprive me of moments like this in the future - moments of going back to that old page, to my old self, I guess.
I can still remember the summer of 2003; more so when I look at those .txt files. Why reformat a snippet of personal history?
Let the old ghosts rest a while longer. There are new ones aplenty.
12.01.2008
finished
Finally finished a piece that has been rattling around in the back of my mind for about 2 years.
To clarify, Bigby is a character from the excellent comic, Fables. He's based on the Big Bad Wolf of various fairytales. The character is compelling enough on his own merits, but I've also had a (cursory but consistent) fascination with wolves for a few years now, so he inspired me. It's been a long gestation period; not sure if I'm fully happy with the song (am I ever?), but it's nice to have it out.
The "melody" comes from Sarah Harmer's "Came On Lion" and Nick Cave's "Kindness of Strangers," although it probably isn't too evident.
To clarify, Bigby is a character from the excellent comic, Fables. He's based on the Big Bad Wolf of various fairytales. The character is compelling enough on his own merits, but I've also had a (cursory but consistent) fascination with wolves for a few years now, so he inspired me. It's been a long gestation period; not sure if I'm fully happy with the song (am I ever?), but it's nice to have it out.
The "melody" comes from Sarah Harmer's "Came On Lion" and Nick Cave's "Kindness of Strangers," although it probably isn't too evident.
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