Mostly Muppet

That whole Ficlet Friday experiment? Yeah, it was fun while it lasted but it seems as though I, along with everyone else, let it whither in the Summer Sun.

Sorry. If I’m blogging about writing - fiction writing - don’t deny me an allusion.

Cut to last night’s iPhone/iTunes update. I get an email from Chris @ NaNoWriMo about some site upgrade or another and it reminds me that while we may be 7 weeks away from the general election, we’re closer still to the start of NaNoWriMo.

And this is the year I finish.
This is the year I write like I’ve been exercising: daily
This is the year it goes into a document, not into the void or a dream or a lazy cubicle chat with a colleague.

Rather than continue making declarative statements that may not come true, I’ll link to a Psychology Today piece on creativity that induced both head-shaking agreement and head-shaking bewilderment. Why are creatives (and I’m being generous to lump myself in here) such dichotomies?

So how should I harness these dual impulses inside me to create … whatever it is I’m creating.

Art?
A novel? (Hopefully)
Prose?
This blog post? (Definitely)

I’m thinking the solution, which came to me via Bump, is going to be Evernote.

Simple.
Multi-purpose (good for grocery lists AND late-night ideas).
Multi-platform (Web & iPhone app)

Here’s the first “creative” thing I’ve captured using Evernote. Let’s hope I give it enough food and water to grow:

The fight isn’t the last stand
It’s the first stanza

Granted it’s only a fragment, a strand, a shard of an inkling of something larger, but I like it. For the moment.

My point is that at least the moment was captured. If I revise or delete or reverse or reconfigure later, the fact remains that I had the raw materials to begin with.

While I may feel sorry - surprisingly not too much - about the Ficlet Fridays petering out, I’m happy that, for the first time, I’m confident and assured by some semblance of process going in to NaNoWriMo.

More as I create more.

Happy Hump Day!

Political opinions: I have them.

Many of you who know me personally probably already appreciate my bent/affiliation/allegiances. Or you’ve read my previous endorsement. ;-)

Today’s lazy-blog treads similar territory.

First, a great little “which candidate is right for me” quiz/test from ABC (they call it Match-o-Matic). It re-confirmed my suspicions but was very informative and fun. I didn’t try to game it or cheat; I answered honestly.

If picking your choice gets you jazzed to follow the numbers religiously, check our perspctv and get some perspective. And buy a vowel.

Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, two pieces of funny.

First, the always-inspiring, insightful and humorous Ironic Sans takes a look at a different kind of hopeful campaign: A New Hope.

Second, some pre-season political sketches from Frank TV (which airs on TBS, one of the networks I work for):

Whitey McCain:

Obama’s Secret Bar:

YMMV on all of this, but if you’re following politics this cycle one of those has to stick.

Oh, and here’s SNL’s Palin/Clinton opening sketch too:

It struck this morning - after being awoken at 3:37 AM by a crying child, and this on a night when we’d stayed up late painting a room Aubergine - that it was 9/9, September Ninth.

Stranger still, through my sleepy haze I recalled this as being the ninth anniversary of the launch of the Sega Dreamcast on 9.9.99, or so the ads said (YouTube user lostnthefuture has a great collection of the spots, like this one).

I can clearly recall renting a Dreamcast from Blockbuster and taking it to my in-laws house. Jenn and I were recently married (you’ll recall my ninth anniversary recap post) and it seemed like a fun way to spend the day - playing video games instead of looking for gainful employment. Besides, those were the days before the children and the home and the kids.

The salad days.

That day, though, was the Sonic day as we played a ton of Sonic Adventure and a good deal of NFL 2k. Randy Moss was a golden god in that game. Makes we want to play actually.

Not long after that day my in-laws purchased a Dreamcast which I believe they still own. It used to sit in their bedroom on an overturned metal bin, implemented as a makeshift heatsink. Good times.

Anyhow, since the Dreamcast was billed as “It’s Thinking” I figured I’d post briefly about my thoughts, just thinking out loud, about the ninth anniversary of 9.9.99.

Seems I’m not the only one:

RetroJunk
Kotaku

For the whole sordid history of the ill-fated but still very cool system, check out parts one and two of the G4 show Icon on the subject.

And remember: It’s Thinking!

If you’re a child of the 70’s and 80’s you likely remember the first Japanese Anime cartoon invasion, highlighted by Speed Racer, which got the feature film treatment earlier this year.

But the Americanized Japanese cartoon that will always hold my heart is Sandy Frank’s Battle of the Planets/G-Force. Click the links to see the differences and show your age/generation.

Here’s the intro, if you need a refresher:

My favorite line?

“Watching, warning against surprise attack by alien galaxies from beyond space.”

I’m not exactly sure where “beyond space” IS, but I’d love to find out. Maybe the ridiculous and obviously added-in 7-Zark-7 could tell us.

Here are several versions of the Japanese title sequence for reference.

For those not in the know, Battle of the Planets/G-Force was actually called Gatchaman in Japan and tackled some fairly adult themes. Chief among them: death/mourning/grief and gender roles/hermaphroditus.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Even forgetting about it’s Japanese roots, Battle of the Planets notably spawned the team of 5 heroes/adventurers with coordinated outfits using giant robots to kill giant robots genre. Notable followers in this trend include, but aren’t limited to:

• Voltron
• The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers
• Mask

Given the fact that the show got the broadcast treatment twice in the States and that it’s always been a badge of geek-cred honor, it’s nice to see an even newer version being made now.

Insert internet rumors and teaser here. ;-)

For those interested in verifiable data on the Americanized series and the newest release, IMDb is your best bet.

Ideally, I’d like to see the recent (2005) dubbed release (if it’s still available) and read the comics before seeing the new version, but maybe I’m being pedantic. Maybe.

Anyhow, Transmute!/Transform!

Blogging today comes at the suggestion/intervention of a co-worker. Happy to oblige the readership.

Her quandary: Is there another form of “has integrity”, one that denotes ownership with a verb of being as opposed to has/have? So an adjectival form of the noun “integrity”.

Honestly? No Idea.

I jokingly suggested “integral” but I’m thinking “integrous” [urban dictionary] [wiktionary] works better. After all, a person can be generous and have generosity in their hearts - why not be able to express both concepts for integrity?

From reading the sources above, it seems as though you can, but folks don’t feel comfortable doing so because they’re too integrous or deferential, actually, to normative English-speaking. At least here in the States; I can’t speak for others.

Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered about being “whelmed” or “gruntled” - these came up in our discussion as well - I’ve got just the blog posts for you.

Thursday!