The other day my boss asked me if I had a flash drive she could borrow... of course I did, I always carry several. So I handed her one.
The one I handed her? One I used for Wizard World Chicago 2007 in exchanging files with my reporters... It had two images on it. The two images accompany this post.
Whoops...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
They don't write 'em like they used to
A recent news article detailed a possible authentic copy of the Bixby letter (you can also see the text of the letter at the end of the article). Most people would know the letter from "Saving Private Ryan" (one of my favorite war movies...hmm, I'm digressing). The letter is purported to have been written by Abraham Lincoln's secretary, not Lincoln himself, although there is a great amount of debate on the issue.
Regardless who wrote it, the letter is the epitome of eloquence of the written word. It is very brief, consisting of only 4 sentences, but within those few words one can read empathy, understanding, condolence, praise and gratitude. Personally, the subtle shifts in syntax are the highlight of the letter. When you can use phrases like "...attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming..." and "...may assuage the anguish of your bereavement..." you know that you are at the top of your game as a writer.
Why am I bringing this up? Because of another news article. I worry this paradigm shift toward text messaging and the resulting corruption of the English language will, in the course of a decade or so, render people completely unable to construct such striking and thoughtful prose as the Bixby letter. Most people would rather write (and speak) in the equivalent of monosyllabic baby talk. How many thousands of years of human evolution and we're back to speaking like Ugg the caveman? Of course I could be overreacting. I mean, its not like television brought the collective IQ of the country down...? Oh shit, we're doomed.
Regardless who wrote it, the letter is the epitome of eloquence of the written word. It is very brief, consisting of only 4 sentences, but within those few words one can read empathy, understanding, condolence, praise and gratitude. Personally, the subtle shifts in syntax are the highlight of the letter. When you can use phrases like "...attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming..." and "...may assuage the anguish of your bereavement..." you know that you are at the top of your game as a writer.
Why am I bringing this up? Because of another news article. I worry this paradigm shift toward text messaging and the resulting corruption of the English language will, in the course of a decade or so, render people completely unable to construct such striking and thoughtful prose as the Bixby letter. Most people would rather write (and speak) in the equivalent of monosyllabic baby talk. How many thousands of years of human evolution and we're back to speaking like Ugg the caveman? Of course I could be overreacting. I mean, its not like television brought the collective IQ of the country down...? Oh shit, we're doomed.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A new Bart and Jonesy uh... joint
Our new movie. I was going to wait until the new issue, but this will be way old news by then.
It's called GHOST PIMP. Our own Will Baxter was the cameraman. We submitted this for the Wild West Film Festival here in Lawrence. They gave you a theme (scary movies) and five things (three of which you must include in your movie) and you have 48 hours to create a 5-minute movie.
The five things were: eyes, ice, jack o'lantern, botched magic and the line, 'don't go in there... or do.'
Obviously, we did not submit a scary movie. We did a comedy. Because, after all, that's what we do.
They showed this movie at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, the same place where I've seen some pretty cool concerts. It was a rush seeing myself up on their big screen. Copy Jesus also came to see how we did.
Me, Bart and Copy J will again become filmmakers this summer when the Wild West Film Fest opens up the competition again. We'll come back with a better showing this next time... we'll spend more time on the script to make the editing process easier. We had to cut down this one from seven minutes, so a lot of the jokes ended up on the cutting room floor.
Anyway, thanks for watching... enjoy!
It's called GHOST PIMP. Our own Will Baxter was the cameraman. We submitted this for the Wild West Film Festival here in Lawrence. They gave you a theme (scary movies) and five things (three of which you must include in your movie) and you have 48 hours to create a 5-minute movie.
The five things were: eyes, ice, jack o'lantern, botched magic and the line, 'don't go in there... or do.'
Obviously, we did not submit a scary movie. We did a comedy. Because, after all, that's what we do.
They showed this movie at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, the same place where I've seen some pretty cool concerts. It was a rush seeing myself up on their big screen. Copy Jesus also came to see how we did.
Me, Bart and Copy J will again become filmmakers this summer when the Wild West Film Fest opens up the competition again. We'll come back with a better showing this next time... we'll spend more time on the script to make the editing process easier. We had to cut down this one from seven minutes, so a lot of the jokes ended up on the cutting room floor.
Anyway, thanks for watching... enjoy!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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