Allen November 30th, 2004
Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo and I failed miserably. Never felt so good about a failure before in my life. I’ve got a good head start on a novel — a head start that I wouldn’t have without National Novel Writing Month.
My continuing goal is to write approximately 500 words a day and finish it up. I will continue to post to the NaNoWriMo blog as I complete each chapter.
Allen November 30th, 2004
I mentioned earlier a moving tribute to our armed services.
I now point you to another tribute that is also quite moving. Load the lyrics (separate window) and watch the video (separate window).
If you like the presentation, GCS Distributing has more. I can’t vouch for the other tributes, but I’m sure they are good.
Then, if you like it, go buy the CD from which the song was taken.
Finally, I’d like to give thanks to Marta Keen Thompson for such a moving song.
[Via American Digest]
[Update: Got the video link wrong. Now fixed.]
Allen November 30th, 2004
Sorry for the light blogging of late, but work and home have conspired once again to trump blogging. Will resume more volume when I get a chance. Yes, I realize that I have few regular readers, but didn’t want anyone to think I’ve gone Allah on them or something.
So one quick note and then I’m back off to work on several pressing matters at work.
Listening to NPR on the way to work today when I heard some radio commentation say something along the lines of “in today’s knowledge-based economy”.
It’s always been a knowledge-based economy.
Some bushman out in the savannah hunting antelope knows the best places to hide and the right kind of wood to use for his spear is using knowledge. His mate who knows the better berry bushes to gather at? Using knowledge. Hunter-gatherer society? Perhaps, but it really boils down to knowing how to be the better hunter-gatherer.
Some silversmith in US colonial times casts a platter for a client. Artisan society? Perhaps, but if he’s studied he knows the ways to cast silver so that the platter comes out better with less waste. Knowledge-based economy.
Those that realize it’s always been a knowledge based economy will come out ahead of others who think they are a farmer, or a silversmith, or a ….
Solve problems using knowledge and you’ll probably always have at least some type of job.
But if you think of yourself as a unemployed factory worker who just knows how to assemble transistor radios…
[BTW: Quick update on NaNoWriMo: Can’t get the laptop to talk to the wireless network, so I can’t post what I’ve got so far]
Allen November 23rd, 2004
Turn Up the Speakers
And Pay Tribute to the US Armed Forces.
[Via Brain Shavings]
Allen November 23rd, 2004
The Norks line up in the entryway for the entertainment of the gathered guests:
Everybody
So Jong
Kim Il
Auf Wiedersehen
Goodbye!Kim Jong Il
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
According to Ace and others, it looks like the Kim Jong Il (dictator for life in North Korea) is about to be ex-dictator for life in North Korea.
I think perhaps China has grown weary of supporting a failed state that brings no benefit to them and nothing but problems.
Quoting from the NYTimes article (bugmenot):
But in recent months, there have been signs of fissures in these walls. There are indications that news is leaking out of North Korea by cellphone and that criticisms of the government are being posted in public places. Those developments and the angry response to recent legislation in the United States intended to flood the country with radios that can pick up foreign broadcasts suggest that the leadership realizes its one great achievement - near total information control - is threatened.
…
Analysts also say they have seen more high-level defections of late, possibly a result of more permeable borders and greater dissatisfaction.
In Seoul, an editor at Monthly Chosun, a magazine that closely follows North Korean affairs, said in an interview that when he was in northern China earlier this year, Chinese officials showed him North Korean wanted posters for generals who had managed to reach China with their families. The editor, who asked not to be identified, estimated that in recent years, 130 North Korean generals had defected to China, about 10 percent of the military elite.
Of this group, the most significant, he said, are four who have been integrated into active duty with the Chinese military in the Shenyang district, along the Korean border.
Ellipses mine.
More telling than the posters and cellphones and the yipping and yapping of the masses is the defection of the generals to China. I think perhaps the military in North Korea realize which way the wind is blowing and want to make sure the wind is to their backs.
This will be the hot story for the next few weeks.
Allen November 22nd, 2004
I’ve added a new button to my already messy looking sidebar on the right.
This in turn links to the America Supports You site. Although not prominently displayed at their site, their How You Can Help page has a wonderful set of links to support the soldiers both here and abroad.
[Via Ace of Spades HQ]
Allen November 22nd, 2004
As noted earlier, I saw Andy Williams in his Christmas concert in Branson. One of the classic Christmas songs Andy sang was It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Written by Eddie Pola and George Wyle, the lyrics include:
There’ll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
Parties for hosting? Check.
Marshmallows for toasting? Have both the marshmallow and the stick.
Caroling out in the snow? Sign me up.
Scary ghost stories? ?Que? Scary ghost stories?
I don’t know. Maybe, maybe if you stretched it a bit the Abominable Snowman in Bass and Rankin’s Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer could be a bit creepy. But scary ghost stories? Nope.
Whoops! Forgot Dicken’s Christmas Carol. But once you’ve seen The Muppet Christmas Carol or Mickey’s Christmas Carol, the whole specter of Jacob Marley and the three Christmas spirits don’t seem as scary as before. No matter how hard you try to play it up, Pegleg Pete just isn’t that frightening as the Spirit of Christmas Future.
Not that the whole Christmas/slasher/death/ghost hasn’t been tried. It just hasn’t proved to be too successful outside Dickens. Exhibits A, B, C, D, E, and F. More to be found, I’m sure.
Maybe successful Christmas Ghost Stories need to be based in literature. Perhaps I have found the title for my 2005 NaNoWriMo novel: The Silence of the Reindeers.
Allen November 22nd, 2004
I hereby submit my NaNoWriMo letter of resignation.
No, I’m not going to stop writing on my NaNoWriMo novel. It’s just that I’ve given up on trying to "win". Given that I’m so far behind that I would have to write about a bajillion words per day to catch up to the goal of 50,000 words, I’ve decide to win by not attempting to win.
So my mini-NaNoWriMo goal is to write approximately 500 words per day until the novel is finished. I will go ahead and post what I have so far on my NaNoWriMo blog and the continue to update with my extremely rough draft version. I should finish out the NaNoWriMo month with about 14,000 words completed on my "first" novel. Which is about 14,000 more words than I started out with at the beginning of the month. And believe me, for someone who has wanted to "be an author", actually writing for a change is a win.
Thank you NaNoWriMo for giving me the ability to write poorly in haste. Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. I typically don’t read historical fiction, but I figured since I didn’t care that much about the genre, I was allowed to mess up in that as well. Sometimes doing something poorly is liberating.
Perhaps now I’ll try to catch up on some of my back-dated postings in my main blog.
Allen November 22nd, 2004
When we attended a family reunion this past summer in Branson, we converted our Silver Dollar City tickets to season passes. This past weekend, we took our final Branson trip of the year to see the Christmas decorations and see a show. While our more sophisticated brethren look down on Branson, I have grown more fond of it as I’ve visited it more. The key to Branson is to embrace your inner-trailer-trash and stay away from highway 76. Enclosed here is a mini-trip report and some thoughts.
We arrived in Branson late Friday night. We stayed at the Best Western Mountain Oak Lodge — a nice enough hotel, but the beds are rather hard. We went to Silver Dollar City and rode the various attractions and visited the various shops. Insert details here of any trip-report to a theme park and you’ll get the general idea. However, I do want to highlight that the park is bedecked in holiday lights and decorations. When the sun started to go down, they turned on the Christmas lights and the forest was ablaze with red, green and white lights. They had a giant tree at the park entrance that looked nice, but we were not able to attend the lighting ceremony.
Why not? Because we had a date with Andy Williams. Andy was never a favorite of mine growing up — he just seemed a little to staid for someone of my cool and hip generation. M0re the loss for us aging and slowly unhipping Boomers.
We were a little late getting to the show. Zoey’s Mediterranean Cuisine is excellent, but slow. A fancy restaurant is probably not the best choice when you have a show to catch. Thankfully our waiter drew a back-roads map to get to Andy’s place so we didn’t miss much.
Once at Andy’s Moon River Theatre, our entire family was blown away by the singing and talent on display. Andy looked a little wane, but his voice was fit and healthy for the show. This man can sing. I closely watched him to see if he was lip-syncing, but impromptu events during the songs put that notion to rest. His body may be one of a 77-year old gentleman, but the voice is one of a 35-year old singer in prime condition. He performed a variety of Christmas songs and was wonderful in each of them. Of course, Andy should be more than passingly familiar with Christmas songs. From his discography page, I note that 11 of his 47 albums listed are Christmas related. While Western civilization is richer because of it, I’m not sure there’s that many song in the Christmas mine without recycling a bit.
In any case, I highly recommend seeing his Christmas show. Especially if you are a Boomer who can remember Andy crooning on the TV while you decorated your house with your parents. There’s something about red and green felt, angel hair and Andy Williams that forms a perfect Christmas trinity in my mind. As long as I can listen to Andy Williams, I’ll still be a pudgy Okie boy praying against all weather predictions for snow and ice on Christmas day.
Allen November 19th, 2004
Stayed home sick yesterday — had the creeping grunge and stayed in bed all day. Should have taken the time to bring the weblog up-to-date, but simply didn’t feel like it.
Leaving for a mini-vacation with the family and attempting to pack today. Don’t feel all that well, but we’ve already purchased tickets, etc.
Perhaps I can blog some when I get home Sunday.
Saw where (apparently) US troops stormed a Sunni mosque. My prayers are with our soldiers and the Iraqi troops. Hope this doesn’t inflame the population even more, but I doubt it. The Islamic press will play this to the hilt — nevermind that a lot of mosques are being used as ammo dumps and staging grounds.