Two Word Games
I was going to try to post another short story today but that will have to wait. I spent more time then I intended down at the Vic Market and although it was good to get out, buy veggies from hippies, have a late all-day breakfast and watch the world go by, I managed to waste pretty much all of my Sunday. My flat is a mess, I’ve got dinner to cook and lunch to make for tomorrow, a script to study and two stories to write . . . dammit, why are weekends never long enough?!
And speaking of time-wasting, here are a couple of word games you might find fun. Firstly, the Human Brain Cloud. I only came across this last night and I’m already terribly addicted. It gives you a word or a phrase, you you tell it the first thing that comes into your mind, and it builds word-connections based on player input. Apparently it all grew from a single word: volcano. According to my stats, I’m currently 45% original and 55% in tune with humanity. I think that’s a good thing.
Secondly, Wordle. This lets you put text in, and it analyses it to see which words are most often used (discounting the “the”s “and”s, etc). It puts it into a graphic you can edit the look of until you get something like this:
That’s an example from my synesthesia story, and you can see other Wordles I’ve made over here. They’re great for drawing new connections or seeing things you might not have seen in a work, plus they’re fun to make.
More Photos + Another Story
So much for this as a writing blog; all I seem to do is post photography links! Anyway, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes some amazing photographs of the world, with 1000’s of photos sorted by country on this site. They’re all available to download as wallpapers and many of them have useful geographic, social and environmental information too. I’m hooked.
And in case you ever wanted to see famous news photos re-enacted by Lego, you can get your fix here. Some of them are quite amusing, such as the streaker one . . . others a little more, well, unsettling. That constantly smiling lego-face just seems really inappropriate in context. But they are very well set up, I will certainly give them that.
Lastly, I’ve posted another story: this one came 5th out of 9 in the recent Synesthesia contest. I got a lot of really positive comments and the over score was quite high; I’ve expanded it a little and returned the language to its original state (Worth’s word filters are hilarious but effective – can’t squeeze any swears in there!)
Interesting . . . ahem . . . Title
I got a message from a friend today about a certain book she’d discovered in a 2nd hand book store. Unfortunately I can’t post the picture she sent me of the cover of the copy she found (stoopid phone doesn’t talk to Macs), but I did happen to find a different edition on Amazon.
Yes, you read that right. “Penetrating Wagner’s Ring”.
If you want a giggle, check out some of the reviews this book has attracted, and yes, it is smut humour but c’mon, what can you expect with a book with a title like that? (Although someone does point out that there appears to be Klingons on the front cover. Not sure if that’s got anything to do with the penetration of Wagner’s Ring, but it’s damn creepy).
Just popping by . . .
Just a quick post as I still have a bit of housework to do yet and a tonne more to write on this damn play – it’s Script Tease tomorrow night and I want to be able to take something for a read (Script Tease is a monthly meeting of writers and actors at Dante’s where we read through scripts in development and get feedback – immensely helpful, laid-back, and non-threatening).
But anyway, I came across a couple of interesting things today. Firstly, the Steampunk Workshop . . . drool! These guys mod stuff to make them look all futurist/modernist/steampunkish and it is amazing. Loads of cogs and gears and etching. Makes me wish I had some mechanical and artistic skills and a place big enough to house it all in.
The second thing I came across today is another eastern European photographer, Andrzej Dragan. Hailing from Poland, this guy is not only a photographer, but a lauded physicist and composer. Talk about over-achiever! Anyway, check out his site (warning: contains sound you can’t turn off). His portraits under portfolio:personal are intense and some of the stuff under advertising is worth checking out too. Sadly, I can’t post an example here but trust me, his stuff is really worth seeing.
It begins here
So, my first post . . . or sort of first post, if you ignore the other one back there.
I’ve been meaning to make this post all week but things have gotten on top of me and this blogging thing is tricky (hopefully this procrastination isn’t a hint of things to come). I’ve tried LJs and diaries before but I’ve never been that good at personal journals so I intend this blog to be more about my work than about me; that said, I’ll no doubt post important or interesting things that happen to me along the way. But what’s more important is my writing, my acting, and all the other things I get up to in the hope of creating something worthwhile and to validate my existence as something more than a lowly office clerk.
Writing is my main passion. I tend to take on more projects than I can handle, but right now I’m working on a full-length play, pretending to proof-read and second-draft my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel, and competing in the text section on Worth1000. I’d be lying if I said my aim wasn’t to one day see my name on the spine of a novel or credited on a playbill, but I also understand I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me until I’m that good so much of this blog will be dedicated to that journey. I’ll also be posting some of my short stories so stay tuned for that.
My other main interests are acting and, currently, belly dancing (but don’t get any ideas about that, I’m really not that great 
). I’m planning on going back to acting lessons as every time I audition I feel terribly under-prepared and sadly I fall into the most common demographic, i.e., female aged between 18 – 25, and I suspect there aren’t many roles for short, pudgy red-heads in that group. I’d love to study full time, or even take on a diploma course part-time, but I just can’t afford that sort of thing on my wage, so night classes it is. I’ve got a few other things simmering away in the background too, so no doubt you’ll hear about it here as well.
Otherwise, you’ll be getting reviews of books, movies and shows and any interesting links that cross my path. To start you off, here’s something I came across on the Articulate blog – Alexey Titarenko, a Russian photographer who takes some absolutely haunting photographs. Having just read the Nightwatch trilogy, some of these photos make the Twilight seem like a very real place.
