My photo
-Bearded Creative Pioneer of the World of Tomorrow-

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Need to uber BRRRRRRAIN STORM

Good news! The iPad letter got printed in the local newspaper, and I received a number of compliments from a lot of our friends here in "The Boo." I know it doesn't technically count as published, but it is a good stepping stone. Seeing my writing physically printed is really surreal and affirming. I really enjoyed writing it and I actually did some research for this one. Like I said though, at least I'm in there.

Having this second letter printed has really got me thinking. I have been trying to come up with ideas for my own column. The hardest part is that the paper already has a "humorist" with a semi-similar writing style to my own and he definitely doesn't suck. But there are some things that set me apart from him. He is in his mid 30's has kids and is established in the community. I am a recent college graduate in rough economic/job times, I am new to the community and see things in a different light, plus I have my music background to consider. That said, I came up with a music idea, not necessarily a column, but it could be something they would print: a weekly section that would basically be "music for your moods." For instance, if you need to relax this week, listen to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, made popular by the movie Platoon. etc etc. Just a little paragraph with a little background on either the piece or the composer/artist and then have a few moods in there, 2 or 3. Of course I'd use popular music as well. If you think this is worth pursuing let me know-it may be rubbish, but in this idea I have instant credibility because of my degree and it wouldn't matter that I'm not a published writer as much. It's my best thought so far.

A few more days till the MATC Gala and I'm getting really nervous. Like I've said previously, I don't want to get my hopes up, but this could really turn things around for me.

All for now.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

A little something i'll try to send into the local paper

This is a response that I wrote to watching the newest shit on the iPad. I'll probably just send it in as a letter to the editor, but we'll see.

iPad? Not a Typo

I am literally blown away right now. Having just watched the informational video on Apple’s new brainchild, the iPad, I truly am impressed. Apple has done it again. The iPad is basically the combination of two of Apple’s most successful products, the iPhone and the Macbook. It is one giant screen, like an iPhone, but it is as large as a Macbook. However, the iPad is half an inch thick, just 1.5 pounds and has a screen a little less than 10 inches in length. Complete with a new set of applications specifically designed for the iPad, it has everything that was available on the other products as well.

They market this device as the ultimate Internet browsing experience, using the huge touch screen to manipulate the web page with your fingers. Aside from news and job-hunting, I haven’t spent much time “surfing” the web since I was fifteen, but I have to admit, it looks pretty appealing and easy on this thing.

It also seems to be a response or perhaps an extended impetus for eBooks. Until today, I thought the only real eBook reader was Amazon’s Kindle, but it appears all sorts of them are out there, including one by Sony. EBooks have always seemed silly to me. I love holding a book, flipping through the rough pages of an old one, and the feeling the crispness of a new one. Books will never be out of style for me, but again, Apple has made the prospect of downloading books a little more tempting. In fact, they have even created a store, exactly like iTunes but for books called…you guessed it, iBooks. I would have never bought just an eBook reader, but if it’s a part of something bigger, who knows? These two things just scratch the surface of what sets the iPad apart from other devices.

Of course, being purely touch screen there is no physical keyboard and that is huge no-no for me. But Apple has answer for that woe as well, having a dock and wireless keyboard at the ready. This thing makes my year old Macbook look like a computer from the fifties that took up an entire room, only to produce a simple math problem with the wrong answer. It is sleek, thin, and affordable, starting at $499 dollars.

Even as a twenty two year old, technology is getting a bit much for me these days. I can only imagine how the older generations are dealing with these advances. It seems every day there is a new program to learn and a new device to do it on, and the iPad is no exception. It takes everything to a new level and it really does look amazing. If all this technology is so readily available, I just have one question: Where’s my jetpack?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

2010, need more updates

Alright alright alright, so I haven't been doing so hot on the blog update front. Most of my writing and crap has come out in my daily writing through those two, previously mentioned books. But here we go anyways.

I've read two books this month and both of them were complete worthwhile. The Steve Almond book was pretty good. It wasn't as fantastic as I was hoping, but very real. His chapters were extremely long, which was both fantastic and terrible. If there was a topic I wanted to really hear about it was great to hear more. But about 35% of the time there would be a topic I did not give a shit about and wanted to be over within a few pages. It was definitely motivation to keep reading and finish it though. His style was a lot more frank and less Larry, HA. But seriously, it was very real and down to earth, but not in the same way as Klosterman. He is a bit more, I hate to say it, edgy. It is definitely different and I am considering buying another book to see if I like it as much as I want to. We'll see.

The other book I just finished today was the new Chuck Klosterman book Eating the Dinosaur. It was fantastic, a collection of essays about weird and interesting things. I found his writing to be even more thought-provoking. Great topics and I never wanted to put it down. A very quick read. If I wasn't about to read the Kurt Vonnegut book my brother got me, I would reread all of Klosterman's books (which I recently found out is pronounced "Close-terman.")

Another book I bought and received through the postal service (not UPS) is the Beginning Writer's Answer Book. So far it has posed great questions and responded well. It's pretty big and was relatively cheap. Good purchase, and it makes me look smart.

I'm really anxious for next Thursday at the MATC gala. It will be a huge thing if I actually win this. My life could change big time. I don't want get my hopes up, but I've never been a semi-finalist for something like this. I guess I'm expecting big things. Oh well, at the very least I get to say "I was a semi-finalist in an essay contest."


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Updates aplenty

Alright alright alright. Been a little while since I've written on here as a source of my daily writing. But I since I got those two books for daily reading/writing I have been writing a lot more. Even if I've missed a day, I've made up for it and have written for every exercise given to me. They are challenging to say the least. So far, many of the topics and methods prescribed are not my usual tactics and I really do think that it is pushing me. Unfortunately nothing of real caliber has come of it yet, but I'm definitely establishing my voice in every piece I've written. I think that's part of it and is really cool to see come through. The lessons in there are reminiscent to my creative writing class and reminds me why I started to fall in love with writing again. The thing that I've come to terms with about writing is that if I'm going to really be successful with this, is that I really need to be dedicated. The main thing that I never did with music or composition (that I probably should have) is do it every day. And that is exactly what I'm striving for right now, and have kept it up longer than ever before. This is really important to me.

I also need to finish up that video for the MATC scholarship dealy. It has been kind of a pain in the ass, but I think that it will come together in the end. With all the dialogue I have written, it came out a lot longer than it needs to be, 2 minutes. So I'm going to do some editing and restructuring. I'm confident that I'll win something on this one, if it isn't the full scholarship.

UPS still blows and unless I quit or get fired, I don't believe I will mention it anymore in this blog as it is not an important part of my life, and I hate it so much that it angers me to talk about it. End of demo.

OH! Kristen and I went to see Sherlock Holmes last weekend. It was f-ing awesome. RDJ's British accent was great and had a fantastic take on the character. I was afraid they were going to try and make him some sort of action hero and too brawny, but the way they demonstrated his methods and thought process was really amazing. It was vintage Guy Ritchie with the camera angles and effects. Jude Law definitely kept everything together and added continuity to the movie. He was a perfect Watson, despite his lack of portliness. A fantastic moustache too. The villain was also amazing. I've never seen him before, but he would make a great Dracula. It was very entertaining and I love every second of it. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves good movies.