What follows is something I wrote and delivered at today's installment of The Paper Machete, Christopher Piatt's weekly cavalcade of artists, journalists, and sundry interesting people commenting on the news of the day ( Read more... )

This week's words were helicopter, rapscallion, bibelot, picaresque, and peccatophobic.

I did manage to use all five of these words in this week's story, but the exercise has prompted me to tweak the rules of my game a little bit going forward.

I had an opportunity to talk with one of the Jellyvision employees who had been in on the design of the ( Read more... )

There is an 8-pack of Duracell AA batteries on my desk right now, unopened, most of them destined for the controllers of our Wii. Duracell AA Ultra Advanced, which means they will apparently last 30% longer and which also means they come with that handy "Powercheck" press test that shows you how much juice remains in the battery ( Read more... )

At the request of my friend Susan, who works a late shift at a hotel and who a few months ago crocheted me a wonderful scarf, I am posting this week's story as close to 12:01 am on Friday morning as possible.

This week's words were snapdragon, matchbook, tobogganing, acquiescence, and opulentFirst five words suggested to me will be used in next ( Read more... )

I'm rediscovering the power of speaking things out loud ( Read more... )

Last week I applied for a writing job that asked for, among other materials, a 1-2 page work of creative anything except song or poem that utilized the following words: hump, orange, organ, billion, jam, and bowlI didn't get the job, but I greatly enjoyed the exercise. So, partly to reintroduce myself to the discipline and partly to spark this blog ( Read more... )

It's not that I haven't had anything to say.

For almost a month now I've been walking past the door to this place, peering past the dust on the windows to see that everything was as I'd left it. I don't recall putting the plastic over the furniture. I didn't know a cobweb could get that big. If I listen closely I can still hear the low sonic report ( Read more... )

There was a meeting in an opulent hotel dining room, a year and a half ago, another version of myself ago, a version that wore neckties for forty hours a week and processed insurance policies. The underwriting assistants were enjoying a company-paid meal to commiserate and discuss their successes, their techniques, their relationships with their ( Read more... )

The movie I'll pitch is not this movie. This movie, you've already seen.

In this movie we view what is meant to be an average American high school, populated by average American high school archetypes portrayed by physically perfect college-age actors.

There is a small, bookish lad, socially awkward but sweet. There is the bookish lad's best female ( Read more... )

I'm posting this everywhere because it made me do something I rarely do when I'm sitting at home alone staring at my screen--applaud.

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I know that it's particularly not the point, Mr. Ferguson, but you aren't being paid nearly enough.