I've updated the blog's layout into something more snazzy. I was getting very frustrated with a layout where so many gadgets were piled onto the left hand side. It was unappealing to have to scroll all the way down just to see all of the gadgets I'd added. So I've opted for a new layout that allows for gadgets to be placed on both the left and right hand sides. I think it makes a better use of space (so long as I make sure to keep my blog entries of sufficient length to fill things out!)
I'll probably fiddle with the colour scheme here and there, so that text doesn't disappear in the background, but I'm happy with it so far.
As it always happens, the day after I feel really down and uninspired, the next day I feel better and am full of ideas. I've started writing a short film, and hopefully I can complete it. I know how it ends, which will hopefully help. I just have no idea how the middle is supposed to go...so I'll hopefully figure that out as I write it. Right now it is called "The Dark Road".
Here's how it starts:
EXT. DARK ROAD - NIGHT
A country back road that seems to come from nowhere and is heading for nowhere. Deep forest lines either side of the asphalt, and the only sound is the gentle rush of wind through the trees.
It is cloudy, and somewhere behind the clouds is the moon, casting a diffuse, monochrome light upon everything.
The sound of an ENGINE whining with speed. The soft WHIR of tires treading a path upon the road.
Off in the distance, headlights shine, and grow bigger, brighter.
The little car rushes past, leaving a glowing trail of read tail lights behind it.
INT. CAR - NIGHT
EDWIN HORNISH, 36, sits behind the wheel, gripping it with one white-knuckled fist. He chews upon the inside of his cheek. His eyes are bloodshot, one of them swollen with a black eye. But he keeps them fixed on what little he can see of the road ahead. The spedometer reads a constant 160 km/h. Top speed for the car.
A BLUES SONG plays on the car’s radio, barely audible above the roar of the engine.
SINGER (ON RADIO)
Lord, it’s hotter than hell down here.
I said it’s hotter than hell down here.
Careful what you say, son.
Ain’t no place hotter than down there.
Other things happen afterwards, of course.
****
I've recently discovered a cool radio show on the BBC called "The Museum of Curiosity". It is a companion show to the television series "Q.I", which I have mentioned here before. I'm really enjoying the radio show. Its format is quite simple...each week there are three guests on a moderated panel, and they are asked to submit an item to be curated in the "Museum of Curiosity": an imaginary museum home to anything interesting or weird. The guests are usually comedians, scientists, historians, writers...pretty much anyone you can think of.
Objects submitted have ranged from "The Battle of Waterloo" to "The Concept of Zero", to "That new scarf knot that everyone does nowadays where you double up the scarf and then stick the ends through the loop, which I swear it seems like people only started doing it maybe 6 or 7 years ago, even though we've had the scarf for centuries, what's up with that?"
The guests each talk about why they think that their choice is worthy of being included in the Museum of Curiosity. It is a very entertaining, illuminating, and funny show.
One object that was submitted that I was fascinated by was The Pineapple.
Let's talk about the Pineapple.
It turns out that the Pineapple has had quite a complex history. When it was first discovered in Brazil in the 1600s (I think) it became such a status symbol in the UK that a single pineapple could be worth the equivalent of thousands of pounds by today's reckoning. In other words, a pineapple would cost more than a brand new coach! It was so hard to grow in the UK because of the climate that only the richest people could afford to grow them. Often someone would need to be hired to sleep in the pineapple patch to constantly ensure that the seedlings were being properly cared for.
And when the pineapples were grown, they wouldn't even be eaten because they were such a status symbol. People would bring them to parties just to show them off! They could even be rented out for parties...
Not only that, apparently pineapples have a unique enzyme in their juices that digest protein. That means pineapples are flesh eating! Whenever you eat a pineapple, it's also eating you. That tingling feeling you get in your mouth when you eat a pineapple is actually the juices digesting the proteins in your mouth. How crazy is that? The pineapple is the only place in nature where this enzyme is found.
It opens your eyes, learning these kinds of facts. It makes you realize just how detailed history actually is. You could write volumes of books just on the history of the pineapple alone.
I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more of the "The Museum of Curiosity".
****
BOOKS
This weekend I finished reading "Unseen Academicals" by Terry Pratchett, the latest Discworld novel. In this one, Football (soccer) finally comes to Ankh-Morpork. Technically, Football already existed there, but in a manner totally unlike the version we are familiar with. The book is about how their football gets changed and improved to become like the sport we have.
It was an amazing novel, and continues Terry Pratchett's dominance in the world as one of the best writers alive. The discworld books are so incredibly enjoyable, addictive, and hilarious...but each one also communicates incredibly important themes and messages.
For instance, in this book, one of the main themes is about class, and how it can often seem like you are trapped in a particular place in the world; how people refuse to budge from their social standing, because there is a conception that one will be punished for attempting to break unwritten rules. The invisible hammer is just waiting to crash down on us if we step out of line. But the book reveals how the hammer isn't really there.
But perhaps most importantly, the book talks about the concept of "worth". What does it mean to be "Worthy"? What does it mean to be "worthless"?
The book sums things up quite nicely. It doesn't matter where you end up in life. What matters is where you end up compared with where you started. You need to try your best in this world...but the more best you are capable of doing, the more you should do.
Terry Pratchett always amazes me. I cannot believe he has written nearly 40 discworld books, and that pretty much all of them are of impeccable quality.
Now that I am done that book, I'm moving on to something new. Today I went to Chapters and picked up two new things. First off is "Stories"
A collection of short stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. There doesn't seem to be much of a common thread between these stories except that each story needed to be plot-centric. Each story needed to try to capture the magic of just what exactly fiction IS. Each story is about trying to exercise the imagination.
It includes stories by a whole host of authors: Jonathan Carroll, Roddy Doyle, Jodi Picoult, Chuck Palahniuk... but I mostly picked it up because it has stories by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe. Yay!
Secondly, I picked up "Odd and the Frost Giants"
By Neil Gaiman. I was a bit hesitant to get this, because it was quite expensive for a fairly short book (It's only just over 100 pages, with large type). It's a story for young readers...but I'm a Gaiman purist so I figured I'd pick it up. I'd waited for nearly a year before getting it, so I figured why not? It should make a good read...and I can give it to my nephew when he is old enough to appreciate it.
Well, that's it for today! This was a super long post, so I probably won't update again for a while.
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