Dandyfunk

Crazy Arms

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4&5. Blah blah tag people no.
6. Have Fun!

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY?' YOU SAY?

"Help me Up", Eric Clapton
I must have fallen.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

"Slow Down" the beatles
yeah, like I'm hyperactive or something

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

"in my time of dying" led zepplin

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

"Jump, Jive an Wail" Brian Setzer Orchestra

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

"You're the nearest thing to heaven" Johhny cash

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

"Do you want to know a secret?" The Beatles
I'd tell you, but then I'd have to tag you with a silly meme.

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

"Mother" Pink Floyd

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" Motzart
I always did keep them up late waiting for me to come home.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

"Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite" The beatles
I think about Mr H a lot too

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

"Any time at all" The Beatles
All you gotta do is call . . .

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

"Le Nozze di Figaro"  Motzart
If my life story was an opera, why couldn't it be a space opera?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

"Milkcow's Calf Blues"  Robert Johnson

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

"Please Don't Touch", the Stray Cats
Probably a closed casket!

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

"Imperial Battle Music", Homeworld soundtrack
Rockin' with the empire, yeah man, dig that

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

"Brain Damage", Pink Floyd
Spot on

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

"Dual Soliloquy," Roy Buchanan

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

"Lady Luck", Brian Setzer Ochestra

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

"Nothin' shakin'", the Beatles

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

"Crazy Arms", Chuck Berry

The Day the Music Died

Rave on, Buddy, Ritchie and the Bopper.

What have I missed?

I haven't played video games for awhile, but on a recent trip to the mall I took a stroll through one of the game stores and saw this:

Have gave developers run out of things to simulate? And is the genre big enough to support two sequels? I guess after playing Civ3 a few hundred times you have to look for something new.

Ouch! Triple Rejection Day

Checking my email this morning, I got three rejections for stories I've submitted.
Response times were 186, 97 and 5 days. Funny how they all arrived within 8 hours of each other.
One had some interesting editorial comments, which I will have to ponder before sending that story out again. The others were form rejects.

Another Snow Day

Snow started late last night and turned to rain late this afternoon.
We got about 4" of snow sandwich -- slush on the bottom, ice on top, and compacted stuff in the middle.  Too slushy for the snow blower, I had to shovel it all.

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus came to town

Santa Claus paid a visit to the good girls and boys of Boonton today, courtesy of the Boonton Fire Department's Santa Run.

 

Here they are at the annual Fireman's Parade.

Snow Day

Took the day off, and the snow started falling around 10 am.

There were a couple of accidents down the streets, so it was a good day to stay home.

Looking for something cool to read?

J. Kathleen Cheney, another winner from Writers of the Future, has a story up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Read it here.

Writers of the Future workshop, Day 4

This was the last day of the workshop and the start of the whirlwind.
We had a critique session of the 24 hour stories, and then Tim and KD gave us some "final advice."

Now we could relax, for a bit.
Kevin J Anderson and Rebbecca Moesta  gave a presentation on "What I wished some pro had told me." Basically, it was "How to be a professional" and a few "dirty secrets."
Next up was Charles Brown of Locus magazine, who talked about the art of writing and the business of writing. Some bad news -- I'm too old to be a writer! I'll just have to act young.
Sean Williams gave a talk on the 10 and a half commandments of writing. The entire talk is contained in episode 62 from the pod-cast Adventures in SciFi Publishing, available here.
Eric Kotani started his talk off with an 11th commandment (if you break a commandment, don't get caught). We then had a talk from Steve Savile and Eric James Stone.
Now came the unveiling of the illustrations. Each of the winners of the Illustrators of the Future contest received a story to illustrate for the book. This would be used to determine the Gold award winner, so each and every one of them did an outstanding job. All the writers loitered outside the hospitality suite until everything was ready (they had to move some of the artwork inside because it had started raining) and then we went in and had to find the illustration for our story. I found mine quickly, because I had already met Robert. I was very impressed with his illustration, and the large enlargement looks fantastic.

Robert Castillo, Joel, and me.

When I wrote the story, I had a very definite image of what the narrator looked like. But when Robert did his illustration, he drew it from Gina's point of view, so we see what she sees. Something I had not thought about at all, and I love his interpretation. The industrious technician is sitting at his workstation, coffee cup nearby, while fighters prep for launch in the background. Amazingly, the original illustration is way smaller than this enlargement, yet it is filled with details.

Next up was a talk from John Goodwin, the publisher of Galaxy Press. He gave tips for book signings, interviews and publicity in general. Great practical advice, which I haven't had a chance to use just yet.

Then it was back to the workshop, where Robert J Sawyer gave us a quiz on point of view. To close out the day, we had Larry Niven, followed by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

For dinner we had a banquet at the hotel with all the judges. I was faced with the very difficult choice of sitting next to Larry Niven, Fred Pohl or Jerry Pournelle. I wound up sitting next to Jerry, and we talked about old PC hardware, Inferno (which has just come out in a new addition), and his column from BYTE magazine. After dinner I ran back to my room and got my copies of Inferno and Ringworld and had them autographed.

That night, Charles Brown had had a party in his suite. A lot of fun, good company and great conversations.