Monthly Archives: February 2006

On Writing

Fellow writer, A Whole Can of Plot, blogged today about Why we write.

I haven’t written much out of emotional catharsis. 1986-7 and 2002 are really the only years of my life I have written a sizable amount of cathartic material.

I’ve written a lot out of mental catharsis. I open the newspaper and get a metaphorical migraine I can only relieve through a poem.

And I’ve written for enjoyment. I get enjoyment from the mental catharsis, but I’m referring mostly here to the science fiction and fantasy I write.

Whether I am writing political poetry, science fiction, or non-genre, sometimes I am trying to be funny, and sometimes I am trying to be serious. Sometimes I am trying to make a point, and sometimes it’s just frivolous enjoyment.

X Funny Serious
Make a point good writing not so good
Frivolous good writing not so good

The above is my own analysis from comments I have received from my work. There are two conclusions I can reach.

1) Work harder on my serious material so that I become better at it.
2) Focus on the comedic material. People like it. And people enjoy laughing.

David Irving admits the Holocaust really happened

Infamous Holocaust denier, David Irving, has finally admitted that he had erred, and recently came across ‘new evidence’ that proved to him that the Holocaust really happened.

It’s nice we can finally put the idea of Holocaust ‘Revisionism’ to rest, right? If David Irving now admits it, surely all the other ‘revisionists’ will too.

True, he announced this shortly after being arrested in Austria for being a Holocaust denier. But why pick at nits?

The Austrian judge decided not to listen to his “prison-bed conversion” and has sentenced him to 3 years.

Of course, Irving doesn’t belong in jail for his speech. And wouldn’t be in jail in the US. But in Austria, Germany, and a few other European nations it is a crime to deny the Holocaust.

Google Cache in trouble

It’s only a preliminary hearing, but a federal court judge has stated Google may be held liable for storing thumbnails of images on sites that are violating copyright.The case in question involves a porn site. Other sites are hosting their images illegally, and Google’s image search hosts thumbnails.

Of course…there’s no way Google can certify that every image on every page it catalogues is legally on that page. So if they lose, it looks to me as if Google’s Image Cache is gone.

And so would their text cache…as there’s no way for Google to verify that any page it caches doesn’t contain material that breaches copyright.

Logic 101

Premise 1: Donald Rumsfeld says he just learned this weekend of the transfer of operations of six US ports to the UAE.

Premise 2: The US Treasury Dept says the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States unanimously approved of the transfer.

Premise 3: Donald Rumsfeld is a member of the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.

Conclusion: …

source

A submission accepted

A poem entitled, Honoring Dick Cheney Tanka has just been published by New Verse News.

I wrote it last night. So that was pretty quick gratification, but of course, it is a ‘timely’ poem, and the editor did say they wanted to ‘strike while the shotgun was hot’ . The editor did reject two other poems, but I won’t hold that against him.

A tanka is a Japanese form of 31 syllables. Western versions usually are broken into five lines in a 5-7-5-7-7 format. If you count, you will notice my tanka is 7-5-4-9-6. It’s still 31 syllables.

Victor Hugo Quotes of the Week

  • Supposing the entity of a poet to be represented by the number ten, it is certain that a chemist, on analyzing and “pharmacopolizing” it, as Rabelais say, would find it to be composed of one part self-interest and nine parts vanity
  • If he had had all Peru in his pocket, he would certainly have given it to this dancer; but Gringoire had not Peru in his pocket; and besides, America was not yet discovered.
  • Fashion has done more harm than Revolutions.

All of the above from Notre Dame de Paris (aka Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Cowboys

In 1993 there was a mini-uproar among some Country music fans when Garth Brooks recorded “We Shall Be Free” which contained the line, “When we are free to love anyone we choose.”

I wonder what the reaction today will be to Willie Nelson’s new song,Cowboys are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other). Apparently the song was written 25 years ago.

Sample lyrics:
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other
What did you think them saddles and boots was about?

Heritage Months

It seems likely we will soon gain two Heritage Months. Both the House and the Senate have passed bills encouraging President Bush to make the proclamations.

In addition to the current Black History Month in February, and the Women’s History Month in March, there will be a Caribbean History Month (likely in June) and a Jewish History Month (sometime in Spring).

I am hopeful it will not be in April. April is associated in Jewish minds with the Holocaust. (April 19 was the date of the Warsaw Uprising). This is supposed to be a month celebrating the contribution of Jewish Americans to our society and culture.

What should I download?

Below is a list of SF/Fantasy films available for download at

publicdomaintorrents.com

So far, I have downloaded:
Plan 9 from Outer Space and
Teenagers from Outer Space

I own Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde on DVD so there’s no reason to download it.
I’ll probably download Night of the Living Dead tonight.
Anything else below you think I should see?

Assignment Outer Space
Atom Age Vampire
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Attack of the Monsters
Battle of the Worlds
Blood Tide
Bride of the Gorilla
Colossus and the Amazon Queen
Cosmos War of the Planets
Destroy All Planets
Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules
Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde
Eegah
First Spaceship on Venus
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 01
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 02
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 03
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 04
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 05
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 06
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 07
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 08
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 09
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 10
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 11
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe ep 12
Gamera The Invincible
Hercules Against the Moonmen
Hercules Unchained
Hercules and the Captive Women
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon
Horrors of Spider Island
Killers from Space
Kong Island
Laser Mission
Last Woman on Earth
Lost Jungle
Mesa of Lost Women
Metropolis
Monster from a Prehistoric Planet
Murder by Television
Night of the Living Dead
Phantom from 10000 Leagues
Phantom from Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Planet Outlaws
Prehistoric Women
Queen of the Amazons
Radar Men From the Moon 1
Radar Men From the Moon 10
Radar Men From the Moon 11
Radar Men From the Moon 12
Radar Men From the Moon 2
Radar Men From the Moon 3
Radar Men From the Moon 4
Radar Men From the Moon 5
Radar Men From the Moon 6
Radar Men From the Moon 7
Radar Men From the Moon 8
Radar Men From the Moon 9
Robot Monster
Rocky Jones Space Ranger: Crash of the Moons
Rocky Jones Space Ranger: Menace from Space
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
She Gods of Shark Reef
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Son of Hercules The Land of Darkness
Teenagers from Outer Space
The Amazing Transparent Man
The Ape
The Astral Factor
The Atomic Brain
The Brain Machine
The Brain That Wouldnt Die
The Corpse Vanishes
The Galazy Invader
The Giant Gila Monster
The Incredible Petrified World
The Indestructible Man
The Killer Shrews
The Last Man on Earth
The Little Shop of Horrors
The Lost City 1
The Lost City 10
The Lost City 11
The Lost City 12
The Lost City 2
The Lost City 3
The Lost City 4
The Lost City 5
The Lost City 6
The Lost City 7
The Lost City 8
The Lost City 9
The Lost World
The Mad Monster
The Phantom Planet
The Snow Creature
The Wild Women of Wongo
They Came from Beyond Space
Undersea Kingdom part 1
Undersea Kingdom part 10
Undersea Kingdom part 11
Undersea Kingdom part 12
Undersea Kingdom part 2
Undersea Kingdom part 3
Undersea Kingdom part 4
Undersea Kingdom part 5
Undersea Kingdom part 6
Undersea Kingdom part 7
Undersea Kingdom part 8
Undersea Kingdom part 9
Unknown World
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
Warning from Space
Wasp Woman
White Pongo
Zontar the Thing from Venus