Was that bad?

I added more advertisements to my websites. I feel a little dirty about it. I don't get that many hits but I feel like I should attempt to get whatever I can from what I have. Some people happen to come to this site, and more to AoC Design, and I try to get something off of their visits. I'm sure that at some point someone will accidentally purchase something through my referrer links and I'll get a commission. I'm sure that I will be shocked when it happens.

And I do complain a lot about not having money on this blog so why not try to make a buck or two off of it. It would of course help if I wrote more entries on it or wrote about things that I could create links to. When I complain about lack of money I don't have any obvious items to link to, that's why a couple of posts have links to nonsense.

I suppose I could just add links to whatever I happen to be reading or listening to, but that won't make sense in most posts.
-X

(Just started along with a dozen other books I'm reading right now.)
(Sadly, I'm a nice guy. Sometimes I wish I wasn't.)

I'm an ADD idiot

So you might have noticed that the pretty layout that I used to have is kind of gone.

You see I use Blogger "In Draft" so that I have a spellcheck on my posts and so I can have pages. The other day that opened up customizable layouts, for those of us who don't want to learn the ins and outs of programming for Blogger. I was really excited and started playing with it because the old layout didn't have big enough sidebars for anything, they were just an odd size.

So after playing for awhile I saved. Then I remembered that I had to add the Analytics code again, and soon I have fix the title image. Too much f-ing trouble. I'm busy with finishing my current writing project, starting Screnzy, hopefully having interviews that require a great deal of traveling, my niece/nephew being born, and I'm sure more shit will pop up.

So long March, you sucked. April, show March how it's done.
-X

(I've been listening to music again...)

Response to Peter Carey's NaNoWriMo Pep Talk

Hi everybody!

(chirp... chirp...)

Oh well. Anyway on November 29th I successfully wrote 50,000 words in (less than) thirty days making me a winner of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). After we wrote our words and validated we are kind of still on a high from it all and we continue to troll the message boards afterward.

We also get info on how to edit our novel and seek to publish it and we get one last pep talk.

Sadly the last pep talk was lacking in pep as one poster pointed out.

Here's the thread it was posted in near the bottom it's the longest one, I'll give the real link when I can. Anyway I ranted about it in the discussion thread (the second longest post) and some people (okay one person) complimented me on it.

Therefore to save it forever.
REPOST!

-Most of this was written from my first read through. You may notice what I got from it in the first pass. I realize that I am somewhat harping on a single thing ("turn off your television"), but of course I don't want to be a writer, I want to be an artist-

Shortly before I heard about NaNoWriMo I read the Idiot's Guide to Novel Writing, mostly just to see if there was something important I didn't know.

The author, Thomas Monteleone, got a Masters in English because he felt that to be a novelist he needed a high level degree in English, yet he discovered that academia didn't think that much of "commercial" writing (he was derided by his professors). He stated that he never made use of his masters and could have better spent the time. He also comments that many authors think that writing should be a painful, boring arduous task.

He disagreed. You should enjoy what you are doing. Otherwise why are you doing it?

Personally I have a degree in Theatre. My plan is to become a theatrical designer. I like art and I have a broad definition of it. A fiction novel is art, as is a television show as is a major motion picture just as much as the Mona Lisa, Stary Night or Shakespeare's Twelve Night or "Ave Maria" or "My Heart Will Go On". They vary in quality, but I understand that they are art. They are reflections of human emotions and in many cases they are felt by others and help them realize that someone else has gone through (or thinks about, or fears) the same thing.

If you want to be a serious writer watch television. Watch shows you don't like, because your characters won't all be writers and they will watch those shows. Watch chick flicks and the movies that bomb in the box office. Realize what those writers did wrong and do the opposite. See live theatre, see classics, hear the door slam that rang across the world, but also see how an animated film can be brought into real life too. Attend concerts, see a live orchestra or a rock band, note how they differ from the recordings. See how people react to their favorite idols in person. Travel, see your country, see your mother country, see something other than your own hometown. Watch the news, understand politics in your country and others. When a world leader does something you don't like, understand why they did it even if you still disagree.

Do these things and your stories will be greater for it.

Then Get Excited and Make Things

-X

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, everyday, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
- Christopher Morley (American writer and editor 1890-1957)

Celebrities May Not Die in Peace: Michael Jackson

Image via Wikipedia

A couple days have passed and the number one story still is that Michael Jackson is dead. Discount the fact that most people have suspected this for the last several years.

The other day I mentioned that people kept saying that he was so great and had changed music forever. After a day of watching coverage of his autopsy, I first would like to say that not producing any music for eight years (and a decade before that) should revoke the title "King of [insert musical genre]". Next, I can't think of many musicians that emulate his style. Boy bands, and their derivative solo acts, did to a degree, but they are not particularly popular currently and I feel that they tend to take the beat and tone, but they usually lack the style that Jackson had. It doesn't help that Jackson did ensemble dance pieces, which I can't think of any artist doing today. You get bits and pieces of it in some songs, like the Disturbia video, but most videos today are used for making the artist look "cool" not to help paint the visual image of the song, which is what Jackson did.

So how did he have such a great effect on music if no one follows his example?

-X

Requiem In Pacem: Michael Jackson

Image via Wikipedia

So I've read some of the post-Michael Jackson... crap for lack of a better term.

I look at it as a good thing. Mr. Jackson was clearly insane. My points of reference include a handsome man constant having his face cut up, having no friends that weren't either being paid or hadn't hit puberty, and being accused of having sexual intercourse with several of those prepubescent friends.

Note I am not assuming guilt of that last point, my powers of doubt know no limits, if I think about it enough. My point in this is that perhaps this is for the best.

Clearly a lot of people care about him, as noted by 30% of tweets being about his death, and there is nothing worst then a person you care about being sick and being unable to do anything about it. Under normal circumstances the family would be able to get them help, but Mr. Jackson, like most celebrities, had enough money and power to prevent that until he spent most of it defending himself from the court cases.

After the cases his popularity dropped dramatically, because public opinion and the verdict don’t necessarily match, he started running out of money (or he sold his house for fun), and there had been reports about his health failing.

One person on Fark.com was debating when how long it would be until people forgot the bad part and only remember his music. The problem I have with that is I don’t think I’ll ever think of Michael Jackson and think “music”. Currently, it goes “child molester”, “unnecessary plastic surgery”, “Thriller”. Also while I keep seeing things saying how he did all of these great things for music, no one will say specifically what he did, which songs, what videos, etc. It just seems like people want to say good things about him and don’t know how to articulate it.

That said, Rest in Peace

-X

Musical Freedom

I'm very happy at the moment because my obsession over certain songs is temporarily neutralized. I am able to listen to most of the music on my ipod without switching to some random stuck in my head song.

I made a playlist for the songs I added in the last three months. Only two CDs on it. Need to buy more music, see if I can fill up the first 10 of my 80 gb. Still need a job though, only one month left before.

Oh, and fun to the max. My laptop's usb drives are half dead. currently finicky with most devices and can't give enough constant connection to my external harddrive! weeee! Totally replacing it with a smartphone after I move.

Not sleeping tonight in hopes to reset my completely screwed sleep schedule. YAY!!!

-X

"All I Ever Wanted"

Kelly Clarkson via last.fm

I brought a Kelly Clarkson CD yesterday. I just listened to Ray's (from My Chemical Romance) audio blog saying that they were working on the new record and it would be out soon, and all I could think was it better otherwise I might need to buy another, and it will be all their fault. And I'll buy that one while wearing an MCR shirt too!

Have to congratulate Gerard though. He's a father now, apparently it was a raccoon.

I mean really!

-X

Updates

Looking at some of my previous posts felt like I should update.

I have not lost any weight. Exams and projects make me eat more and I brought a baker's dozen of bagels which I ate all by myself. I plan to starve myself for the next couple of day to even it out.

Oh and I bought a new "CD" (if it came from the interweb does it count as a CD?). IFD rocks. Got that shirt too, get lots of comments on it, cause you know it's a shirt that says "I Fight Dragons".

Needs more bitpop/chiptune/8-bit/Nintendocore.

-X