Finished my tenth SED yesterday! It was a pretty mediocre one, to be honest. I think of the ten stories I’ve written so far, I have three I’ll definitely expand and do something with and about three or four I might polish up and keep as flash pieces, and about three that are complete drivel.

Yesterday I also spent forty minutes on the phone with Charter trying to figure out why my internet wasn’t working. The ready light on my modem hasn’t come on since Sunday. You’d think not having internet access I’d get a lot done. No. I spend a good chunk of my time trying to get that damn modem to work. After having me restart my computer and unplug the modem a few dozen times (something I’d done several times before I even called), the Charter support technician decided someone would have to come out and see what the problem is. Fun! Two more days without internet access. And the really fun part is, since I live in an 80-year-old apartment building, the cables they have to access are tucked away in the attic somewhere, and that always bewilders the cable guy. My landlord always has to help them figure it out. So yay! :-\

Today at work I ran across the most awesomely bad phrase:

As a note, it should be noted . . .

Wow. It’s stuff like this us copyeditors live for.

“The Sophomore’s Compleat Guide to Political Espionage” is live at Sheroe’s Rag. Huzzah!

There was no Friday Linstravaganza because I was a little busy flying to California for vacation. I spend Friday through Sunday in Anaheim where my good friend Brandy and I spent two days at Disneyland. Now we’re in Carlsbad where we finally have free wi-fi access, not a $3-for-10-minutes-at-crappy-desktop setup like we had in Anaheim. She has a photo workshop, and I’ll just be lounging around trying to crank out a 500-word story each day for my writers’ group’s Story Every Day (SED) contest.

I’ve been getting a big ol’ bunch of rejection letters lately. I guess that happens. It seems to come in phases. I’ll get a good number of acceptances, then a big, fat spell of rejections. It’s not fun, but it’s part of the job.

It’s fun to click things!

I tried watching the 1981 cult flick Mommie Dearest last night, but I just couldn’t make it through. It’s uncomfortable to watch. After the scene where Joan Crawford smacks Christina around with a can of Comet, I was out. Who thought watching a movie could be such a chore!

Cyndi Lauper’s new album, Bring Ya to the Brink came out this week. Awesome! I can’t wait to give it a listen!

I’ve been listening to lots of great stories via podcast on PodCastle, Pseudopod, and Escape Pod. It’s a great way to ingest good fiction while you’re at work, or if you subscribe via iTunes, you can stick ‘em on your iPod and listen to wherever. Right now I’m in the middle of “The Sloan Men” and am quite enjoying it.

The Boyfriend talks about some current architects he actually likes at Fort Worthology. Yay for architecture!

James Lileks looks at funny comic books.

Brandy points out good places to find pinup-cute clothes.

Wanna see the worst movie ever made? Here it is. I used to think the worst movie of all time was Monster-A-Go-Go, but this is far, far worse. It’s the kind of movie that makes me pine for the quality of an Ed Wood film. Test Tube Babies is an exploitation film that was released under the guise of an educational film so they could slip in some pointless nudity without having to worry about the pesky Hayes Act stifling their *cough* “creativity.”

Brief plot synopsis: Newlyweds George and Cathy are unhappy—George works long hours, Cathy feels bored and unfulfilled because many of their friends are having children and she and George have none. They go to parties with their swingin’, childless friends, but they don’t really have much fun. So Cathy decides the one and only thing that can save their marriage is having a baby. Think about this for a moment. Their marriage is on the rocks, so the only solution is to introduce a member of the household who will (a) be a huge financial burden, (b) deprive them of sleep, (c) consume 190% of Cathy’s free time, and (d) poop and cry continuously. No one in the movie argues otherwise. If your marriage is in peril, the only obvious solution is to procreate.

So, Cathy wants a baby, but there’s a problem: ol’ George is shooting blanks. He’s sterile; all dried up; his little men have packed up and split. But it’s okay! Artificial insemination will save the day!

That’s the plot. But the movie’s mess of a plot isn’t what makes it bad (it’s one factor, but not the factor). What sends TTB over the top (or, more appropriately, down the crapper) are the painfully bad acting, the pointless cat fights, and an unpleasant impromptu burlesque performance. I bet you’re adding this movie to your Netflix queue right now!

Read the rest of this entry »

Every Friday I’m going to post links to various things that I deem to be awesome. Here we go . . .

My BFF Brandy recently launched her photography site, Bella Pop. Her photos are always so fun and eye-catching! Be sure to check out her photo blog while you’re there!

Alex’s flash mystery, Aftershocks appeared in Every Day Fiction yesterday. Go read it, for it is great!

Jens recently re-launched his website. The header has a picture of a T-Rex. What could be better?

The Boyfriend recently released the first-ever Fort Worthology podcast. He talks about building livable neighborhoods and why Fort Worth needs an urban grocery store. (Seriously. Why don’t we have one yet?)

Erin recently launch her blog Living the Fictional Dream. She has written some fantastic posts about the writing process, rejection, and other neato stuff. There are also links to published stories. Go there!

If you’ve ever wanted to see a good Ernest Borgnine movie, you owe it to yourself to see Marty. You won’t be disappointed.

One of my favorite buildings in downtown Fort Worth is for sale. Anyone wanna buy it for me?

I only recently discovered The Fix. How have I gone so long without knowing about this?

That’s all for now, people!! I must go work on my robot-zombie story now . . .

What’s up with this time change crap? I like the fact that it won’t get dark so early, but geez, the first day or two always fly by way too fast, not to mention, I lose a valuable hour of sleep. If I were president, there would be no more time changes. When I was a kid, I didn’t mind it so much, but now that I’m old and feeble (i.e., 26) and have a day job, that lost hour of sleep is pretty devastating.

I completed a flash piece I started yesterday based a backstory from my “Sixteen” story I finished yesterday. Still have some revising to do, and I need to cut about 200 words to get it under 1,000. I plan on writing one more story based on “Sixteen.” I’m not sure if it will be flash or something longer yet. I just have a vague idea for it, no actual plot ideas.

Oh, and you should download and watch this. It’s only 99¢, and if you’re a Paul Reubens fan as well as a MST3k fan, you’ll cry yourself to tears.

Stolen from Erin’s LJ (but with my answers! ;-))

1. How old were you in 1980?
Not born yet :-\

2. How old were you in 1989?
7

3. Were you a Toys R’ Us Kid?
Yes! I went there to buy Atari games and other awesome ’80s toys!

4. Did you watch Transformers?
No. I was into Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and Care Bears!

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen?
No, but I got it on VHS for Christmas one year. I never really got into it, though. ET was one ugly mother . . .

6. Did you own a Lite Bright?
Oh, yes.

7. Who is your favorite Golden Girl?
Uh . . . the slutty one?

8. When someone says “Who you gonna call?”
Ghostbusters!

9. What was your favorite toy(s) in the eighties?
Colorforms, pencil and paper, Barbies, She-Ra toys, My Little Ponies, awesome Little Tyke desk.

10. Did you have a Pogo Ball?
No, those are evil.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m still working on “Sixteen”! My goals was to be done last weekend, but here I am. Oh, well. At least I haven’t given up on it. I think I should be done less than 1,000 words from now, and my writer’s group is having a write-in this afternoon, so it looks like I might actually finish today. And, this story has spawned a separate flash piece based on one of the backstories in it, so that’s good, right? Yeah. So I’m excited!

Rio, my kitty with the bladder problem is doing a lot better. Now that he’s not in pain, he’s a lot more playful and active than he had been. And I just thought he was a lazy cat!

Oh, and I found out my favorite deceased B movie goddess, Mary Beth Hughes has a MySpace profile. The disturbing part? That it wasn’t made by me, and until today, her location was Hollywood, TX. However, as of just now, it’s changed to Hollywood, CA.

MySpace is weird. I try to stay away from it.