Shockobabble

I've already trimmed some paper in preparation of creating two pieces for the 1st International Art Mail Exhibition of Puerto Rico 2010. The theme is "Stop Child Abuse Now," now the technique is open to the artist, but each piece can be no larger than 5" x 6", which doesn't leave a lot of real estate for much.

The deadline is Jan 31, 2010, so there's plenty of time. However, I'd be lying if I said I'm over-flowing with ideas. I got one, but like I said, there is just not much room for anything. There's a blog set up to post entries as they come in, and while I've seen a couple, I don't want to look at too many entries. I'd like my ideas to be fresh.

I'll post what I finally come up with after I've sent them in.

A while back Boing Boing ran a contest for 100 word works of fiction. The theme was "Found in Space." To enter all you had to do was leave a comment with your entry. Today they announced the finalists, but unfortunately I wasn't one of them. They received 8,00 entries. So I wanted to share my entry. Besides my poetry, and the fake news stuff I did over at "The Fake News Nightly", I'd have to say this was my first true attempt at fiction writing. Anyway, here was my entry:

"Is that You? Where am I? There was a moment, just before the truck smashed into me. When I thought the panic would overwhelm me, everything became still. Silence. Peace. Tranquility. There was no pain. I felt calm. "How could that be?" I am, but I have no body. "How can that be?" I try to remember, and there's nothing left to remember. I am. Nothing more. "What is happening? Am I lost?" I sense the infinite, I am the infinite. "Wait, what's that?" I'm descending! Quicker now, everything is dimming. In total darkness now. I am born a new.

It was fun to participate as well as a welcome challenge to exercise my fiction writing muscles. Something I aim to exercise more often int he future. I read through the finalists and voted for the entry by Thought Grime, who is currently losing to the entry by femaletrouble3.

It really is a shame that we can't live multiple lives, stop time, or live forever. The web, it seems, is continuing to produce great example of innovation and entertainment. And, if anything, it seems to be be accelerating at how fast cool new sites pop up. Here are ten that are all worthy of great attention, unfortunately, I just can't afford to spend any of my attention on them:

1. The Forum Channel - One-of-a-kind video content, which features unlikely combinations of celebrities and experts talking live and unscripted about topics that range from the serious to the ridiculous. The site offers hundreds of clips as well as full Forum conversations, and you can also search by dozens of panelists. 
2. überpix is huge archive site for entertaining pictures. Our pictures (or “pix”) vary from plain old funny pictures, to our collection of demotivational/motivational posters and FAIL pix. 
3. The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas - The Times Magazine looks back on the past year of ideas. They present, from A to Z, the most clever, important, silly and just plain weird innovations we carried back from all corners of the thinking world. 
4. National Archives and Record Administration - YouTube collection of videos from the vault of the National Archives. Enjoy!
5. Make Magazine - MAKE Magazine brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. 
6. h+ online magazine covers technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways. We will be following developments in areas like NBIC (nano-bio-info-cog), longevity, performance enhancement and self-modification, Virtual Reality, "The Singularity," and other areas that both promise and threaten to radically alter our lives and our view of the world and ourselves.
7. The Oatmeal - Everything on this site was written, drawn, and coded by Matthew Inman. The Oatmeal's real name is Matthew and he lives in Seattle, Washington. He subsists on a steady diet of crickets and whiskey. He enjoys long walks on the beach, gravity, and breathing heavily through his mouth. His dislikes include scurvy, typhoons, and tapeworm medication. 
8. Lifehacker - Most Popular Top 10s of 2009: Here are the 20 list(icle) posts that proved the most popular in 2009.
9. MakeUseOf, a booming daily blog that features cool websites, computer tips, and downloads that make you more productive. The aim of MakeUseOf is to guide you through the web and tell you about hot websites that you have never heard of, free alternatives to popular software programs, and all kinds of “how to” tips for Windows, Mac and Linux computer users.
10. Singularity University - Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges 

I remember clearly 15 years ago when I finally gained free and unlimited access to the Internet. It was amazing. After struggling through my initial online experiences of logging into bulletin boards, it was thrilling, it was liberating. With a quick click I was now able to access more information than humanely possible to consume. Now flash-forward, and the Internet has become an infinite source of enjoyment and distraction. 

I love design. I love art. I love photography. I love software. And I love reading. In short, I love just about everything that the Internet makes available to me. However, there is a seductive quality to the Internet which always tempts me. I  can hardly be on the Internet for 5 minutes with out finding 5, maybe 10, articles, libraries, or galleries. All of which seem worthy and deserving of my attention.

Just recently however, I reminded myself of my goals and reemphasized my rule to limit the amount of time I spend on leisure activities. The first step involved un-scheduling all of my favorite shows from the DVR. The second step involved un-subscribing from all non-essential feeds and email newsletters. I've left only the most useful and entertaining, what can I say? I can't totally disconnect. The last step is the hardest. It requires my constant vigilance against pointless surfing on the Internet. While "pointless" may be harsh, I have to monitor how I spend my time. 

I once read that one of the reasons why people get addicted to checking their email accounts so frequently is because they are hoping to score a fix, i.e., an important message. Now important can mean many different things, from a message from a close friend to a key business communication. Like gambling we get addicted to checking our email accounts in hopes of hitting it big, in other words, receiving that important message. 

For me, the Internet is also like that. So while it's easy to dismiss taking the time to find a set of web pages that seem unrelated to my goals, I'm addicted to the thrill of finding a golden nugget. Metaphysically, sometimes you find something that fits into what you need, but you didn't know you were missing it until you find it. Some call this "The Law of Attraction." Some call it coincidence.

I know this obsessiveness is overkill, but I know myself. If I don't focus on my goals, I'll lose myself within the Internet chasing down fool's gold. Another strategy I've started to use is Twitter. Sometimes I know something is important, probably worthy of reading, but off topic. So instead of ignoring the new information, I'll just quickly share the link and a few words and then I'm on my way. I do this for two reasons. First, I want to share something I've found that will probably be useful. Second, I essentially archive the link, just in case I need the information, I know exactly where it is.

I've just figured out another tool to help me out. Sometimes, I'll get lost within a topic and end up with a useful collection of web pages that really lay the foundation for understanding something new. In the past, I would use the "Bookmark all Tabs" feature in Firefox and hope to remember to revisit the topic soon. What I've found though, is that I rarely go back and pick-up the thread. So instead of loosing all of my research, I'm going to start sharing my research in brief blog posts. Just as with Twitter, my hope is that I can quickly document what I've found, share it, and have the links ready just in case I need to go back and use them. The key here is that the process has to be fast. The first will be coming soon, as I got lost last night researching art journaling.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: Annadriel

Staring off into the infinite
My soul draws me there to join you
We flow together within a river of consciousness
We are the collective infinite 

As I continue my journey inward, 
I discover ancient myths
They guide me through the darkness
in my search for meaning, 
nay I'm seeking the divinity
that lies hidden within me

Today I stumbled 
Even though I've been this way before
I was hoping that it had changed
I was stretching to cross over
a familiar obstacle
but as I leapt over
I imagined for a moment 
that a new step had appeared
however as my feet were ready to
land on the new foothold
it disappeared into delusion
and I ripped my leg open 
as I once again fell to the ground

As the pain erupted within me
it was overwhelmed by embarrassment
How could I let this happen again?
I'm trapped within the duality 
of the man I choose to be
and the man that I can not be
And yet, a shadow within me still remains
which neither prayer nor drug
nor advice can pacify

As the sun sets, 
I'm lost once more
within contemplation
I'll have to venture
again into the darkness
to confront my fears
My torment is my own
it haunts me when
I'm weak
and conspires with
my doubt to keep
me from reaching you

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: Tyson Cecka

As I was in Borders trying to choose which was going to be my next investment in comicbook making resources, it hit me that I've really always assumed that my comicbook making was going to be done on the computer.

So I invested in The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics. I had been looking at a few other choices, but they were all pen and ink based. So over the wekkend, I got to thinking. I better dust off the old tablet interface and give her a try.

Man, was that a frustrating experience. It might be that I've got a old Aiptek Wacom wannbe that was built to run on Windows XP, I'm on Vista now, and it could have also been the program I was using, but I'm unimpressed with my results. Take a look:
I know, pathetic. My next attempt will be using the tablet and Inkscape. That should allow me to have more control and hopefully, the ability to smooth out my squiggles. I've got to go back and redo the tutorials using the tablet so I can get more hours behind the tablet. It really all comes back to that one principle. They difference between those that produce and those that don't is the diligence, commitment, stubbornness, and perserverance to put in the time.

While I'm still trying to put the final touches on another wire sculpture, I'm studying hard to prepare myself for the big one: writing my first book, uh, comic book that is. As I've always found in the past, when you're engaged in some sort of organized program, it's a lot easier to produce. Whether it was school or work, the structure, process, and deadlines, always made me better at whatever I wanted to do. Of course, when you're out on your own, outside of all organization, creating becomes, at least for me, more challenging.

As I've been reading consistently about art and writing, one thing comes through loud and clear. And, in a way, it proves my theory. The demands of a structured environment accomplish what is THE difference between publishing a book and only wishing you did. That structure (dedication, sacrifice, commitment) puts your butt in front of a keyboard and demands that you produce. A lesson I frequently share is that whatever you want to do or be, you have to spend all of your time do or being that thing. Painters paint, singers sing, chefs, cook; authors write

So in order to prepare myself and create the structure I know I'll need to keep my butt in front of a monitor, I'm pulling together some structure from a couple of books to create a writing process. The first resource I'm using is from Elizabeth George's "Write Away", she calls it a character prompt sheet. This bullet point list of attributes help create a in-depth character analysis, which George considers one of the fundamental pre-writing activities. I've also read this ideal from other authors; building a rich character helps you ultimately know what a character will do when you put them into a what-if scenario.

Here's a few triggers that I need to answer so I can bring Dopeman to life:

• What is Dopeman's real name?


• How old is Dopeman?


• How tall is Dopeman?


• What is Dopeman's weight/build?


• Where was Dopeman's born?


• What color are Dopeman's hair and eyes?


• Does Dopeman have any physical peculiarities?


• What is Dopeman's educational background?


• What is Dopeman's sexuality?


• Who is Dopeman's best friend?


• Who are Dopeman's enemies?


• Who are Dopeman's family (mother, father, siblings,etc.)?


• What is Dopeman's core need?


• Does Dopeman have a pathological maneuver?


• What is Dopeman's ambition in life?


• Does Dopeman make any gestures when he's talking?


• How is Dopeman's gait?


• What is Dopeman's strongest character trait?


• What is Dopeman's weakest character trait?


• What does Dopeman laugh or jeer at?


• What is Dopeman's philosophy?


• What is Dopeman's political leaning?


• Does Dopeman have any hobbies?


• What do others notice first about Dopeman?


• What does Dopeman do when he's alone?


• Will the reader like or dislike Dopeman?


• What event significantly molded Dopeman's character?


• What event illustrates Dopeman's personality?


• What super powers does Dopeman have?

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: Jakob Montrasio