I came across this article listing Kurt Vonnegut's advice on writing with style while surfing this morning. It seems like good advice and something I think I had forgotten in my own recent attempts at writing; I got so wrapped up in character and conflict that I forgot to write like myself.
1. Find a subject you care about
2. Do not ramble, though
3. Keep it simple
4. Have guts to cut
5. Sound like yourself
6. Say what you mean
7. Pity the readers
What's your favorite soundtrack?
This is a tough call. I mean, "Pump Up the Volume" is a fantastic collection, but on the other hand, so is "The Harder They Come." And how about "The Wedding Singer" or "So I Married an Axe Murderer"? There are so many great soundtracks it really is hard to choose, so I'm going by the only criteria that matters: Which one is on my iPod right now? This one:
Yeah. Laugh if you want, but I'll bet I wasn't the only one singing along.
God help me, but this song, this movie connects with me on an emotional level. Something about the alienation and resolution to keep on keepin' on even in the face of overwhelming defeat. Or maybe I'm just being maudlin again. Either way, this is a great song:
Currently, my favorite YouTube song:
Most of the time, the Second Life application button sits on my desktop completely untouched. Then, occasionally, I jump in, see what's changed, maybe chat with a few people and then get back out.
And I do almost the same thing with Google Earth.
I think the reason is that I consider both of these programs entertainment, and I primarily try to keep my machine to work related software. I try to push most of my entertainment to the t.v., where I have a DVD player and my Nintendo Wii.
Which got me to thinking - why can't I install SL and GE on my Nintendo as Wii Ware or Wii Channels? This seems like the sort of natural match that geeks and nerds seem to love. I'm sure there is a hack out there, or some version of Wii Linux that would let me install both, but I don't want that. I want legitimate options on my Wii for both pieces of software. Someone get on that. Please?
My wife and I were wandering through our local supermarket the other day, just doing the shopping when we came across a new game: The Ice Cream UFO catcher.
So, UFO Catcher is the catch-all name for claw games in Japanese arcades and game centers. All the ones I had seen prior to this contained all the usual toys and candies and random pieces of junk. But now we have ice cream in there.
And it's a good selection of ice cream too. There were a few of the cheaper brands, true, but there were also several flavors of Hagen Daas single serving cups and even a few Dove ice cream sandwhiches.
All for only ¥100 per try.
Naturally, we tried. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that we would be spending far more in trying than we would spend just by buying the ice cream from the very supermarket we were in. Still, the idea is intriguing and I can imagine all the kids on the weekend having a really good time trying to get their little hands on as much ice cream as their (no doubt incredible) skills allow.
It's taken me a little while to get this post together, but last Saturday I went down to Tokyo Big Site for the 2008 Tokyo Toy Show. I had been hoping to see a lot of the new(er) designer plastic being displayed, but was disappointed in that there was very little to be seen.
Although I did enjoy the Hot Toys booth, and seeing the new Revoltech prototypes was pretty cool.
Generally though, had I had a five year old with me, I think it would have been a blast for him / her, and a serious strain for any adults charged with their care and entertainment.
Having said that, I will go back, someday, when I have a five year old of my own. In the meantime, I have a small set of photos up on Flickr.
Last Saturday I had a bit of free time to kill in downtown Tokyo, so I went to one of my favorite places: The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
Through the end of June they are running the 2008 award winners for photojournalism as well as a double exhibition of Daido Moriyama. Moriyama's exhibitions are a retrospective as well as a recent collection called "Hawaii".
The photojournalism winners was an amazing collection of modern photography, as one would expect, but they were also incredibly graphic. Scenes of war-torn countryside, shanty towns, extreme poverty, death, and shocking rites of passage filled the gallery to the point of saturation. While I recognize the importance of the display, it was hard to walk through for any extended amount of time.
The Moriyama exhibits were much tamer, if not any less interesting. The retrospective suffered from over-exposure to Moriyama's style through no fault of his own. Moriyama was a pioneer in using what were then "bad" techniques to produce photographic art - things like blur, high grain, stark contrast, off angles, etc. - that have since become so mainstream as to produce a feeling of "oh, this again" in the viewer. Again, his work is important in a historical, big picture, context, but the exhibition itself did little for me.
On the other hand, Moriyama's "Hawaii" collection was fantastic. Although he used many of the same techniques that made him famous, when seen together, the individual works combined into a moment much greater than the sum of its parts. Of course, there were several photos that are moving in and of themselves, works that capture a single frame of time, a single piece of reflected and refracted light, but it was truly the collection that made an impact.
If you're in the Tokyo area, around Ebisu, the exhibitions are definitely worth checking out and the TMMoP is worth supporting in any case because of their consitant excellence.
This summer's first batch of houseplants is doing well. I'm particularly pleased with the bamboo, which may be hard to see in this photo, as it was quite poorly when I bought it but is now showing two green limbs climbing off of the main trunk.
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Links from my Family
Mama Cass - Dream a Little ...
The most important chord I added in is the E7 just before...
One person has taken the top 10 books at a given universi...
Flickr: Photos from The Lib...
The U.S. LoC has put a few thousand photos up on Flickr, ...
Galacticast is a fun video podcast that spoofs the sci-fi...
