Month: March 2005

Dear John:

I have work to do: kids to feed, a story to print off for submission to a market, a grocery list to compile, a trip to The Store to acquire items on said grocery list, more writing to do, maybe some laundry, and a pile of CDs for review that require me to listen to them.

So, I’d really really really appreciate it if you stop linking things like the Retail Alphabet Game, which just consumed twenty minutes of my time. (I did surprisingly poorly, given that I’ve spent eight of the eleven years since college in restaurants and retail.)

And while you’re not linking things like that, I’d find it especially helpful if you wouldn’t link stuff like this. I can’t write stories in which I delve into issues of emotional despair and heartbreak and pathological angst if I’m clicking a button so I can look at one cute fuzzy kitten after another.

Your appreciation in this matter is expected, or your home shall be visited by an army of childless Confederate-fetishists.

Thank you.

Love,
Me

Share This Post

I noted yesterday that I’ve managed to implement a list of previous posts on each individual post page (i.e., when reading a single post via a link to that post, you’ll see the list in the sidebar, while it does not appear on the main page). I have now successfully republished the entire archive of Byzantium’s Shores such that this list should appear on every post I’ve ever written. I like this feature a lot, and if any Blogger users are wondering how to do it themselves, well, go pound salt! BWAA-HAHAHAHA!!

And, after you’re done pounding salt, see the helpful instruction on the required code here. I coupled this info with Blogger’s conditional tags in order to get the list to only appear on individual post pages. It all took about a half hour of tweaking to get it to look right.

Now, if Blogger would find a way to have real TrackBacks. Not that I haven’t gotten along just fine without real TrackBacks, but all the Cool Kids say that Blogger needs TrackBacks, and never let it be said that I don’t want what the Cool Kids want.

Share This Post

Jayme Lynn Blaschke has been discussing the cover art for his book Voices of Vision, most recently here. Since he mentions that he’s been soliciting opinions on the cover art, I guess I’ll note that I hate it. I mean, I think that’s one ugly cover. I’m sure the book is terrific, but man, that picture on the cover is just ghastly.

Here‘s a close-up of the cover. Jayme’s one hundred percent right: this image conveys neither “Voices” nor “Vision”. It conveys stark horror.

Share This Post

I have finally managed to figure out how to do something I’ve been meaning to implement here: each individual post page on Byzantium’s Shores will, starting with this post, include a brief list of links to previous posts in the sidebar. This list will not be visible on the main page, however. Hopefully such a list will encourage visitors who are coming from other blogs to stick around a bit.

I may get around to a complete republish of the entire blog one of these days, so that (theoretically) each post would have such a list, but complete republishes always take quite a while and aggravate the hell out of me (one of the cruel fates of having a three-year-old, frequently-updated weblog).

Onward and Upward!

Share This Post

I’ve been wondering, as a nearly card-carrying geek, just what I’d have to look forward to after this summer. I mean, the Lord of the Rings movies are done, The Hobbit is currently just a dream, Star Trek is pretty much dead in the water after the stunning dreck that was Nemesis, and Star Wars is soon to end. ‘Tis almost more than I can bear….

….so bring on the superhero who, in all the recent spate of comic books-turned-movies, has been left out in the cold. I’m talking about that wondrous Amazon Princess herself, Wonder Woman!!

And in better news, the new Wonder Woman project is in good hands. No Michael Bay hackery here, thank you very much: According to AICN, the task of writing and directing a Wonder Woman feature has been assigned to Buffy and Angel genius Joss Whedon. That’s just great news. AICN speculates that Warner Bros., the studio backing the project, wants the Wonder Woman film ready for summer 2006. At last! Something to look forward to!

By the way, since it’s been over six months since I last posted these two images, here’s what Wonder Woman had damned well better look like in the movie. Believe me, folks: this is a film in which I shall have a substantial amount of adolescent fantasy invested. Don’t let me down, Mr. Whedon!

And of course:

Wow-za. (Which makes me think: what actresses out there are capable of this?)

Share This Post

Blogger seems to be working a bit better today than it’s been working over the last couple of weeks. The Blogger service has been unimaginably glacial of late, as many have discovered, and like many other Blogger users, my recent sparse posting schedule has partly resulted from problems with the service.

I see that the Blogger folks are on the case, as I’d hope they would be. I still wish they’d be more “quick on the trigger” in updating status.blogger.com — i.e., posting a status message there before a problem is several hours or days old — but they have been diligent in the past in fixing stuff, even if they take a while to do it. I’m enough of a “grizzled veteran” of Blogger to know that this kind of thing happens on occasion. Usually it’s not as bad as the recent spell of poor service has been, but they’re on it.

(BTW, since Blogger is now reaching at least five years in operation, I wonder if it might be time for them to revisit their “Nothing is ever deleted from our servers” policy. I wonder how many old and abandoned blogs are cluttering things up over there. Maybe they should adopt a policy whereby if you abandon your blog for a year, it’s deleted, or maybe stored in reduced form in some kind of archive where its content is only accessible under certain conditions?)

Share This Post

Not to be confused with the “Five Questions” thing:

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?

I’d like to have a first house before I get a second one. The first one would be somewhere in Buffalo’s Southtowns.

2. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING?

Overalls, henley shirts, long-sleeve t-shirts. I also like nicer sweatshirts. Comfort is the main concern of mine, with respect to clothing.

3. THE LAST CDs YOU BOUGHT?

The Aviator score album (Howard Shore’s music), a live album by Dougie MacLean, “Bedlam Boys” by Buffalo Celtic band Kilbrannan.

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?

Too damn early. Do I need to put a number on it? (OK, 6:15 on workdays, 7:00 on weekends.)

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?

Defining “appliance” as “stuff I plug in”, it’s a toss-up between the coffee maker (now ten years old and still going strong), the waffle-maker (a gift from my mother-in-law; old waffle-makers are so much better than new ones), and the crockpot. A crockpot itself isn’t cool, but the food it makes sure is.

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I think I can still lay claim to playing the trumpet. If I had to pick a new instrument, I’d pick the Uillean Pipes.

7. FAVORITE COLOR?

Purple.

8. WHICH VEHICLE DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR, MOTORCYCLE, OR SUV?

None of these. I want a nice hybrid car for my next vehicle. (Of course, by the time I can afford a new car, we’ll finally have those flying cars they promised that we’d have by the year 2000.)

9. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE AFTERLIFE?

No. But I don’t disbelieve it, either. I’ll find out when I die.

10. FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOK?

Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series. Or Curious George. I also really enjoy reading the Eloise books to the daughter.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?

Fall.

12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?

I have no tattoos. I also have no piercings. But I do have long, luxurious hair.

13. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERPOWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Flight. Or spider powers. Or razor-sharp adamantium claws.

14. CAN YOU JUGGLE?

Balls? No. Tasks? Yes.

15. ONE PERSON/PEOPLE FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?

Either of my grandmothers.

16. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED?

Boxes of stuff.

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DAY?

Sundays. I like Saturday nights, too.

18. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?

Hamburger. But I like sushi.

19. FROM THE PEOPLE WHO NORMALLY READ YOUR BLOG, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

No idea in the slightest.

20. ON WHICH BLOG DID YOU FIND THIS MEME?

Musical Perceptions.

21. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?

Roses and African violets.

23. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?

Pizza. Or a good Buffalo fish fry. Or Chinese take-out. Or authentic dim-sum at a restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown. Or a big-ass burger with fries. Or a good salad with lots of veggies that I like and four kinds of cheeses. Or a big pot of chili. Or pastitsio. Or lasagna. Or a Sahlen’s hot dog grilled and topped with onions and yellow mustard. Or a thick Italian sausage on a bun, grilled and topped with grilled onions and green peppers and brown mustard. Or….dammit, I’m hungry now.

24. DESCRIBE YOUR PJS.

I don’t sleep in pj’s. I shall divulge nothing more of my sleeping habits than that.

25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BREAKFAST?

Waffles and sausage. Or a bowl of cereal — I like Raisin Bran and Frosted Shredded Wheat. Golden Grahams are a guilty pleasure, but they’re freakishly expensive. I also try to eat a piece of fresh fruit with every breakfast — an apple or a banana, usually.

26. DO YOU LIKE YOUR JOB?

Immensely. That I’d find so much satisfaction in being the clean-up guy at a grocery store strikes me as one of life’s unpredictable amusements.

27. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

I answered this the other day — writing.

28. WHAT AGE DO YOU PLAN TO RETIRE?

From writing? Never.

29. WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?

My college concert band — she played the oboe.

30. SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO THAT YOU HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE.

Publish a piece of fiction in a way that gets paid. I’d also like to travel. And though I’ve done it before, I’d like to vote for a winning Presidential candidate.

Share This Post

Lileks manages to babble about Star Wars, John Williams, and even toss in a mention of Berlioz. Three great loves of mine — and he’s full of crap about each one, almost. Oy.

Share This Post

I see a blog called “Volokh Conspiracy” mentioned here and there, but I’ve never read it, until Matthew Yglesias linked this nauseating post. If this is what passes for “reason” in Right Blogistan, leave me out of it.

Share This Post

I think that Lynn Sislo has been monopolizing the “Musical Quote” thing long enough! So, here are some words of wisdom from George Bernard Shaw:

Call no conductor sensitive in the highest degree to musical impressions until you have heard him in Berlioz and Mozart.

As a lover of Berlioz and Mozart, I find that quote sheer brilliance.

Share This Post