Uncovering Writing

I love this palette I found online ages ago.  It’s for Kohler products in the 70s. I remember these so vividly. Funny, at the time, wasn’t so fond of them, but looking back with perspective and some nostalgia, I absolutely adore them!

I just read a quote from Don DeLillo that really touched a nerve. He was responding to criticism from George Will about his novel Libra, a portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald. The ultra-conservative Will asserted that the novel was “an act of literary vandalism and bad citizenship." DeLillo responded:

Being called a “bad citizen” is a compliment to a novelist, at least to my mind. That’s exactly what we ought to do. We ought to be bad citizens. We ought to, in the sense that we’re writing against what power represents, and often what government represents, and what the corporation dictates, and what consumer consciousness has come to mean. In that sense, if we’re bad citizens, we’re doing our job.

Here's to my first novel, and the ones that follow it, making me a "bad citizen."

I’ve been a fan of Twitter for a long time, and I’ve used the main web site, various apps on Mac OSX and several apps on my iPhone.  I keep trying new apps but I always end up back with one of the first apps I ever bought for my iPhone.  I primarily access Twitter from my iPhone.   I guess it’s because the “small format” of twitter is perfectly suited to viewing on a smartphone.  So, since it’s my main (and pretty much only) way I access the service, I need a killer app.

That app?  Stone Design’s Twittelator Pro.

I started with this app and it’s been continually improved.  It’s got a ton of features and at times is overwhelming.  But, when I go to a slicker interface with less immediate functionality, I always miss having everything right there in front of me.

What kinds of things?  I love having the visual “paperclip” that allows me to just tap to open up a link that’s in a tweet.  Clicking on the profile pic will open up either the poster or provide a list of the poster and any @ links in the tweet.  Clicking on the name of the poster gives me a list of actions from emailing the tweet, replying, marking it a favorite, retweeting it, etc.  Also, it’s fast as all heck.

I’ve also used Twitter’s official app (née Tweetie, which I bought), Echofon and my latest purchase, Tapbots Tweetbot.  Tweetie was cool, but it required way too many taps, slides, or motions to navigate and get results.

I had a lot of hopes with Tweetbot.  It’s slick, clean and I actually left all the sound effects on as they are subtle and perfectly linked to actions.  My problem with Tweetbot is that it’s still so young.  There’s not Instapaper mobilizer or other way to make a post easier to read on an iPhone.  There’s a lot of swiping that I need to do to navigate.  But, I keep my fingers crossed.

If I had to rank them, I’d say Twittelator Pro, Tweetbot and then Tweetie.

And now, I think I’ll go fire up Twittelator Pro.

This is impressive. I saw this over on Brick Lane in East London. I was so moved.

First, because the UK is working on providing care to the homeless. And it’s part if the National Health Service, not some NGO stepping in to do what the government should be doing.

Second, I was moved since we don’t have anything official like this in the States. We have so many without healthcare, and the homeless likely have no care and get no proper respect. This place in London wasn’t an emergency room. It was an established, government-run healthcare facility.

We must learn from this and provide care, top-notch care, to all. That is the duty of government.

I stumbled across an interview with John Ajvide Lindqvist, the author of the novel Let the Right One In. When responding to a question of why he turned to writing horror stories, he said:

Yeah you could say that. I tried to write in other genres and also to write more conventional literature, but it caused me to start struggling terribly with the language, and I tried to behave like... well ’How would a REAL author write? Hmmm... probably like this...’ and I made these heavy, long sentences and it was very concious of style and very bad. And it wasn’t until I kind of allowed myself to try and write a horror story, this genre that I actually know and really love... It took me many years, what was I? 32 or something. When I finally tried writing this genre, it was the first time that I was writing and discovered, ’Good lord – this is EASY! I can do this. I know what’s going to happen next. It’s just about writing the story as effectively as possible. Not worry about the language or that it’s supposed to be literature. I’ll just try to throw in a story that’s as exciting as possible, and heartbreaking, and do it to the best of my ability.

Okay, it may sound like common sense but it is so nice to hear an author say this out loud. I've had the same dilemma, struggling to fit a specific genre or write like "a writer" (whatever the fuck that is). I've had Mr. Lindqvist revelation myself. But, I can't stress it enough that it needs to be restated often, maybe before each time you sit down to write because doubt is the greatest killer of creativity.

I’m so glad I ran across this.

I thought my last post was it but I wanted to put these pictures up. The culmination of three cycles of election work. I was involved in VA-05 three times and NY-29/OH-15 twice. I lost VA-05 in '04 and '06 and NY-29 and OH-15 in '06. So glad to have won all three in '08. A great way to go out. I'm done with electoral politics, after helping to elect 15 new Senators and 23 Representatives.

Eric Massa (NY-29)

Tom Perriello (VA-05)

Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)

MSNBC calls it at 11:00 PM Eastern on November 4, 2008. OMG! Crying and so happy! (Aside: If I end my blog tonight, wouldnt' this be the perfect way to close it?)

The final strike!

No, that’s not a typo but a salutation to our new kitty, Page! We adopted her this past weekend from the Animal Welfare Society of Howard County. She’s just over one year old, with a birthday of March 24th. She’s an adorable, playful and beautifully marked tabby, just what we wanted. We were originally looking for a male, to keep the matched set with our older kitty Xicco, but Page called out to Diane and I. We’re so glad to have her home, and are going through the separation period between her and Xicco while Page fully recovers from an upper respiratory infection (treated before we adopted her but better to be safe with any potential for infecting Xicco) and to allow the two cats to acclimate to each other. It was nice to be able to save an older cat instead of just getting a kitten. We got our first (and wonderful) kitty Buddy when he was 8 weeks old. We got Xicco at 6 months and now page at 13 months.

I posted a story yesterday about Apple’s price cut on the iPhone. While I was upset that the price dropped $200, I understand how the technology market works and the “cost” of being an early adopter. I’ve jumped in head first in the past and I’ve waited for version 2.0 of products as well. I was able to move on from this and turned a small sneer to everyone complaining left and right about how Apple screwed them over.

Well, turns out the clamor had an impact on Steve Jobs and Apple. He issued this open letter today. He laid out Apple’s rationale but then said that he knows he has to take care of Apple’s early adopters. He’s offering a $100 store credit to those of us who bought before the price was dropped. Details will be forthcoming next week.

Kudos to you Steve. While I was willing to accept the tax I paid to have an iPhone in the 2nd week, I really have to commend you and Apple for stepping up to the plate on this one. This is another reason why I’ve been with Apple since 1986 and why I’ll be with them forever!

Today, Apple held a press conference focusing on the music side of their business. They announced new iPods, new services on these iPods and a price cut to the 8 GB iPhone. (Additionally, there was a price cut to clear the shelves of the 4 GB iPhone, which will be discontinued after supplies are exhausted).

I got an iPhone a week after they came out. As of today, the price is now $200 cheaper. I’ve had my phone for 59 days. The premium I paid to have it those days comes out to be about $3.38/day. It’s a bit steep but I can’t really complain. My iPhone is the coolest thing on the planet and I don’t regret getting it! Now, if I’d bought it on opening day, I’d only have had a premium of $2.98. So, kudos to those of you who bought on the first day!

I had a letter to the editor that I submitted earlier in the week. It was accepted, but they moved it to the Free For All Saturday section. However, on the Post’s website, I’m listed under the Letters to the Editor (and even showed up on the main opinion page). You can read what I wrote, if you’re interested.

My honey, Diane, surprised me with a birthday party that brought together so many of my close friends. Thank you so much to everyone who came from near and far; and so many thanks to Diane for making it so special. I was totally surprised and blown away (speechless, if you can believe it!).

Thank you all!

I have to note that the best part of this trip started before we ever landed in Jamaica.  While flying in, Diane filled out our customs and immigration forms.  I was dead asleep, exhausted after happy hour on Friday and packing/shopping on Saturday: 4 of the shirts I wore in Jamaica I bought on Saturday, around 6:30 PM!

The best part was that in filling out my occupation on the immigration forms, Diane wrote “Writer”.  That was one of the best moments of my life.  I really was taken aback and also all warm and fuzzy.  I love my honey!

Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone during his keynote at Macworld.

When heading into Dirksen Senate office building yesterday, going to meet newly minted Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), some friends and I ran across a huge event just past the elevators on the first floor (as you enter from the southwest doorway into the building). Peeking in, we saw it was Senator Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) swearing-in reception … so we ducked in. Huge room, though most Senate parties are in big rooms, several bars, amazing food (yo, S, the crabcakes really were there as I promised they’d be on swearing-in day). We saw Hillary, well, we saw a huge crowd surrounding someone shorter and cameras being pointed inward. Then, to the right, we saw President Bill Clinton. He had a huge gathering around him too, but since he’s pretty tall, you could see him from far away. Below is a picture that I snapped, just about 2 meters away. It was too swamped so we couldn’t get up too close, but it was still awesome.

I was so proud of helping Betty Sutton get elected. She’s a great candidate from the northeastern part of Ohio, covering the suburbs of Cleveland and Akron. I met her back on 7 Feb 06 at an EMILY’s List event. Very cool lady who’d been elected to a county and then a city Council seat. After that, she ran and won a seat in the Ohio state legislature and served two terms. Term limits ended her state house job but she went into a private law practice and focused on labor issues. Betty Sutton is a great Rep. and I’m glad I was able to help her out along the way.

I read a story about the possibility that the Pittsburgh Penguins may leave Pittsburgh. I sent it around at work to two hockey fans on the staff who quipped about the strange fact that I’d be sending around sports stuff (which I usually shy away from unless its World Cup).

But, I wrote back that I remember Flyers games when I was little. It was so cool growing up in Philadelphia, where we had all professional sports in the area: football (Eagles), basketball (Sixers), hockey (Flyers) and baseball (Phillies). Of all the games, I loved the Flyers the best. I remember Bobby Clarke (no teeth but a helluva captain), enforcer Dave Schultz (record of 472 penalty minutes in one season) and Bill Barber (a great scorer and all-around player). And I really remember back to back Stanley Cup wins in 1974 and 1975 against the Bruins and the Sabres, respectively. Those were the great days of the Flyers. Not quite the same team anymore, sadly. But, memories, eh! And, just learned that the Flyers came into existence in 1967 as an NHL expansion team.

This is the coolest site! The Works Progress Administration, one of the best New Deal alphabet organizations, produced a variety of posters. These posters were produced by American artists employed by WPA. I’m a huge fan of old advertising art and these are really cool. Go check out highlights of the collection! And for more information about the collection, you can look here.