JamesSavik

August is a bad time to be sick. It's too hot to be comfortable. Get well soon Bard

This is a valid concern. Perfect characters with perfect lives are boring as hell. Drama exists and is born in and of conflict. The burden is on the writer and showing the reader what Mr. Perfect sees in a dope smoking, long-haired, honkie-tonk hero jazz muscian? Granted- I did pull some faults out of the air but the question is valid. When a "perfect" character falls for an "imperfect" character, this often exposes a hidden imperfection in Mr. Perfect's character- which makes him a great deal more interesting.

well... last week it was 100+ every day. Some of you yankee boyz migh melt.

100 Ways to Kill Your Character Natural Causes Acute Illness/Infectious Diseases: an acute disease is a disease with either or both of a rapid onset and a short course influenza Lower respiratory infections Diarrheal diseases Tuberculosis Malaria Measles Pertussis Tetanus Meningitis Hepatitis syphilis West Nile disease Lyme Disease [*]Chronic Illness; a disease that is long-lasting or recurrent. heart disease Cancer Liver disease Kidney disease AIDS Parkinston's Alzheimer's Suicide shooting exanguination overdose handing poision "suicide by cop" murder/suicide homicide/suicide bomber mass murder via suicide (like 9/11) Accidents- urban: Vehicle Crashes Air Crashes Ship sinks Car Crashes Bus Wreak [*]Structural Failures elevator collapse bridge collapse building collapse [*]Fire fire- office fire- industrial fire- commercial [*]Energy Related hazards eletrical problems- down power line, malfunctions electrical fires Nuclear plant accident/incident- radiation release natural gas leaks Refinery fires Storage related incidents (coal, oil, natural gas) [*]Industrial Accidents industrial/hazardous waste- fumes, fire, poisioning industrial accident- refinery fire, chemical release Refinery fire/coal, oil or natural gas storage Toxic chemical release/ liquid poisioning of groundwater [*]Urban Crime overdose- accidental gang violence (undirected urban violence) drive by shooting (undirected urban violence) Organized Crime Hit (wrong place/wrong time) Accidents- suburbian/rural: hunting accident injury/shock recreational vehicle accident (4-wheeler) Work vehicle accident (tractor, combine) house fire Cave ins/sink holes tainted water raiders, bandits, rebels Animals Snake-bite (primary) Spider-bite (primary) Scorpion sting (primary) Allergic reactions to insect stings mosquito borne illness Predators (Bear, cougar) feral animals (dogs, hogs, etc) [*]Environment exposure environmental illness/severe allegy terrain related injuries (falls) falling trees [*]Hazards abandoned dangerous equipment abandoned toxic materials abandoned dangerous structures abandoned mines Murder robbery/homicide shot stabbed Impaled poisoned beaten to death/head trauma blunt force trauma strangulation Fatal reaction to recreational drug combination overdose- forced overdose- sold drugs too pure intentionally hate crime ritual killing ritual sacrifice Murder as a result of a primary crime like arson or sabatogue. Murder as a result of a terrorist incident Act of War Small Arms Machine gun fire Grenade, fragmentation Bombardment/barrage Artillery bombardment Aerial bombardment Naval Bombardment Morter fire Missile impact precision munition (smart bomb) [*]Weapons of Mass Destruction WMD- nuclear Dirty bomb (conventional bomb used to spread highly radioactive particles over a large area) fission bomb (kiloton yield) Fusion or two-stage bomb (megaton yield) [*]WMD- chemical [*]WMD- biological [*]WMD- kinetic energy weapon Natural Disaster Storm lightning high winds tornado (regional) hurricane or typhoon (regional) [*]flood hurricane related storm surge flash flood dam burst spring snow melt backwater [*]Fire forest fire/Wild fire fire caused by volcanic action fire- seasonal [*]Earthquake Building Collapse Fire trapped injury, bleed to death and/or shock electrocution tainted water [*]Volcano pyrocastic flow lava- falling lava- flowing Rapid snow melt/flashflood secondary fire poison gas [*]tidal Wave washed out to sea building collapse buried in rubble/mud [*]Afterkill- in many large scale disasters, the aftermath is just as deadly if not, more so starvation bad water or food disease secondary events (aftershocks, eruptions) exposure general weakened condition due to hunger, dehydration, exposure paranoia/panic/predatory behavior among survivors

As a Mississippi guy, I vote that we shelve Clan. There has got to be a racy way to reference the goat or at least his horn.

I started to reply to this yesterday but it drifted political so i moved it to my blog- probably my most incomprehensible blog entry ever. This soy story sounds a lot like some of the crap that religious nuts used to try to float when science trumped one of their pet superstitions... err i mean religious beliefs. Example- in the sixties when polls showed that more than half of people believed that evolution was true, Religionists changed the name of their game to creation science. After being trounced and refused publication in any serious scientific journal, they changed it again to Intelligent Design because a focus group told them that it sounded smart. So... in the grandest traditions of looking for a simple answer to a complex question: gay == soy !!! Does it make sense? It doesn't have to. Is it reasonable? It doesn't have to be. Does the premise use any known or even suspected scientific process, corollary, theorem, theory, hypotheses, law, suggestion or even a manufactuers reccomendation? No. I suspect a conspiracy myself. An evil coalition of catfish farmers and corn, rice and beat farmers are trying to smear soys good name in order to gain market share. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than soy causing anything more than gas. Sigh... Christians were so much more fun when they argued among themselves over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Get some jeans, khakis and polo shirts. If they aren't in style, at least they aren't so far out of the mainstream that you are mistaken for an alien (the green kind).

Once upon a time there was a thing called science. Science was a beautiful thing because it offered answers to those with the wits to comprehend without the need for witch-doctors or crystal balls. In fact science offered humanity something very special: an ordered universe without the need for the super-natural. Science had a pristine logic and reasoning process because even when science reached the wrong conclusion, each step in the scientific method depends on empirical evidence and peer review. Even when science made a mistake, it was an honest mistake shared by thousands of researchers slapping themselves in the forehead and saying DOH! The mistake would not stand because in contrast to the unchanging dogma of religion or the mysterious will of an unseen God, SCIENCE NEVER CLAIMED PERFECTION. Science dismisses outmoded or incorrect theories all the time. In fact one of the most important scientific theories of our time is called the Uncertainly Principal. Belief systems that claim perfection hold on to their laws long after they have been shown to be inaccurate or seriously flawed. Theirs is the burden of perfection: static, unchanging and never being able to admit that they are WRONG. Without the burden of perfection, science is free to explore the universe and make mistakes improving itself in a stepwise refinement process. Belief systems that claim perfection (inerrant) must suppress or subvert knowledge of the universe because it exposes the imperfections in their dogma. It is inevitable that science and religion are fundamentally at odds. It is the subversion of knowledge that most concerns me. Some years ago, religions saw that they were falling outside the mainstream of modern thought. Catholics had long associations with universities but other denominations saw that their theories were being brushed aside. A number of Universities were established by and for the purpose of keeping these religions relevant. BYU, Liberty University and literally hundreds of colleges run by Baptist, Methodist and other religions exist simply to give theories like "Creation Science" or "Intelligent Design" a platform and the quacks that spread this stuff a place to work where they don't have to compete with real scientists. Beware of those who are selling perfection. It simply does not exist. It is one of a bunch of illusions which opportunists use to exert control. I'll stick with science because it gives us room explore since we don't claim to know everything and the very human capability to occasionally be wrong.

Taylor was my favorite character... Jude was cool but Quinn was whiney & annoying. Jude got Quinn but he was dumb for passing over Taylor.

Urban Word of the Day Urban Dictionary August 17, 2007: bisexy Bisexy Appealing to both sexes. Your boyfriend isn't gay, but he thinks Brad Pitt is hot. Why? Because Brad Pitt is bisexy.

I regret falling for a string of needy guys that I was good for but they were no good for me.

I say It Depends. What do they want me to change? My characters? My underwear? My usage of the mysterious semi-colon? If they want Bay Watch, then they've simply got the wrong guy.

I love the new Galactica! They broke my heart killing Starbuck but she's back- don't ask me how. Can't wait till November. Sadly, it will be the end of the line for the new BSG. Bab 5 is also a favorite of mine. I think I am a Centuri at heart. They love life and like to party. Too bad they've POed half the galaxy. The Treks... get weaker the further from Rodenberry we get. ST:OS, ST:NG, ST:Voy, ST:Ent, ST:DS9. Of course it is always fun to hear the hard core trekkies arguing over the best captain or whether the Original Series or Next Gen suck balls. I wish Star Trek would do a new series and call it Voyages. Instead of focusing on one ship and crew, every 4 or 5 hour (50 minute) episodes is like a mini-series with its own cast and story line. The individual mini-series set up a climax series to cap each season. I like the Outer Limits/Twilight Zone/Night Gallery format. I call it the "playhouse" format because they are, in reality a series of short plays (or short stories). Out Limits is the best of the bunch. They did an excellent job tying their story lines together into an "uber-plot" line which made a lot more sense in context. I suggest this for the Trek franchise because they have gone terribly stale and their fan fiction is better than the bullshit their studio authors are rolling out. Might as well capitalize on it. I am iffy on Dr. Who. It's just so.... British. I need translation. I also need a compendium to keep up and tell who is who: cybermen, daleks and extra-dimensional aliens OH MY. OH and I wish the Daleks would just GO AWAY. To be extinct, they sure show up causing trouble on a regular basis.

"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as government is perceived as working for the benefit of children people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation" -Hitler Damn- great quote Nick. I though it was Hillery at first. Remember from the darkest days of Clinton: it's for the children. What? Waco?

fraidy cat

100 Ways to Kill Your Character Natural Causes Acute Illness/Infectious Diseases: an acute disease is a disease with either or both of a rapid onset and a short course influenza Lower respiratory infections Diarrheal diseases Tuberculosis Malaria Measles Pertussis Tetanus Meningitis Hepatitis syphilis West Nile disease Lyme Disease [*]Chronic Illness; a disease that is long-lasting or recurrent. heart disease Cancer Liver disease Kidney disease AIDS Parkinston's Alzheimer's Accidents- urban: Vehicle Crashes Air Crashes Ship sinks Car Crashes Bus Wreak [*]Structural Failures elevator collapse bridge collapse building collapse [*]Fire fire- office fire- industrial fire- commercial [*]Energy Related hazards eletrical problems- down power line, malfunctions electrical fires Nuclear plant accident/incident- radiation release natural gas leaks Refinery fires Storage related incidents (coal, oil, natural gas) [*]Industrial Accidents industrial/hazardous waste- fumes, fire, poisioning industrial accident- refinery fire, chemical release Refinery fire/coal, oil or natural gas storage Toxic chemical release/ liquid poisioning of groundwater [*]Urban Crime gang violence (undirected urban violence) drive by shooting (undirected urban violence) Organized Crime Hit (wrong place/wrong time) Accidents- suburbian/rural: hunting accident injury/shock recreational vehicle accident (4-wheeler) Work vehicle accident (tractor, combine) house fire Cave ins/sink holes tainted water raiders, bandits, rebels Animals Snake-bite (primary) Spider-bite (primary) Scorpion sting (primary) Allergic reactions to insect stings mosquito borne illness Predators (Bear, cougar) feral animals (dogs, hogs, etc) [*]Environment exposure environmental illness/severe allegy terrain related injuries (falls) falling trees [*]Hazards abandoned dangerous equipment abandoned toxic materials abandoned dangerous structures abandoned mines Murder robbery/homicide shot stabbed poisoned beaten to death/head trauma blunt force trauma strangulation hate crime ritual killing ritual sacrifice Murder as a result of a primary crime like arson or sabatogue. Murder as a result of a terrorist incident Act of War Small Arms Machine gun fire Grenade, fragmentation Bombardment/barrage Artillery bombardment Aerial bombardment Naval Bombardment Morter fire Missile impact precision munition (smart bomb) [*]Weapons of Mass Destruction WMD- nuclear Dirty bomb (conventional bomb used to spread highly radioactive particles over a large area) fission bomb (kiloton yield) Fusion or two-stage bomb (megaton yield) [*]WMD- chemical [*]WMD- biological [*]WMD- kinetic energy weapon Natural Disaster Storm lightning high winds tornado (regional) hurricane or typhoon (regional) [*]flood hurricane related storm surge flash flood dam burst spring snow melt backwater [*]Fire forest fire Wild fire fire- seasonal [*]Earthquake [*]Volcano [*]tidal Wave

To those who don't know, I was outed the summer before 7th grade by a Mormon scoutmaster [which rather neatly explains my hatred for Mormons]. He told my parents, Southern Baptist, who didn't take it well. Needless to say in small town Mississippi in the Seventies, that was the best gossip of the summer. I was in a fight before the 8 o'clock bell of the first day of seventh grade. The coach that took me to the office was a younger man who was a few years out of college football. He took me to the office and they asked what was wrong and why I was fighting. I kinda fell apart and told them. He took me and several of my friends into his homeroom and protected us from some of the worst abuse and harrassment. He also taught me a lot about football. I had a lot of anger and aggression and the football field was just the right place for it. He had been linebacker for Auburn and that was a position that he knew well and I learned all that I could from him. A lot of people though that because I was gay that I must be a pussy and therefore, a useful punching bag. Football allowed me to discourage this quaint idea by hitting them so hard, I losened their childrens teeth. I was able to gain the respect, sometimes grudgingly, of my teammates. I don't know what 7th grade would have been like without Coach T. I don't know if I would have made it. He taught me to believe in my own strength and that has served me well ever since. [for more about this read Chapter 10 or later of my story Broken at Awesomedude or Deweywriter]

Mr. Perfect Mr. Perfect What would we have in common and why would I be interested in reading about him? We have all met Mr. Perfect in literature. Perfect grades, perfect teeth, perfect family, perfect life. What an perfect ass-hat. We have NOTHING in common. I'm hating this guy already. He's one of those rich, preppy guys that have parties with their rich, preppy friends on their perfect yachts and their perfect mansions. Where's an F-ing U-boat when you need one? He looks like an Uber-crumbie & Fitch model: perfect washboard abs, perfect clothes, perfect car. Now I'm planning on setting this a-hole on fire... He has no weaknesses, is sweet as Jesus, has unearthly charisma and is loved by all. Die, die, die!!! His friends love him and would never betray him, nor would his lovers screw around on him because... he's just so perfect. *Growls incoherently, falls out with stroke.* Mr. Perfect does have enemies. They are always one dimensional slack-jawed yokels who just happen to be EVIL for no apparent reason. They are always stupid, short-sighted and overconfident and leave the scene in the back of a squad car. *From the floor* go villians go! Aw Damnit! Mr. Perfect may face jeopardy but you are always confident that he will prevail because he's just so perfect, has perfect friends and perfect support in his perfect world. From the floor *Gack!* Slides clips into automatic pistols and chambers rounds* Mr. Perfect is hung like a horse and ALWAYS gets the girl/boy friend, gets even f-ing richer and lives happily ever after. *Gunfire breaks out, explosions, fire...* Why do we hate Mr. Perfect? The reasons vary. He is the guy of our dreams that couldn't be bothered to fart in our general direction. He broke our hearts. He shacked up with us once when he was drunk and kept calling us Skip or Chip. Regardless of the reason: he's an asshole. He has to be because perfection just isn't natural. Humans aren't perfect- a fact that at least one major world religion has exploited mercilessly for over 2000 years. Humans have braces, acne, bad breath and average tools. They have real world problems and lovers that screw around on them. They might get along with their parents or they might not because they are alcoholics, religious fanatics, just plain flakey bastards or all of the above. Humans worry about money and making a living. They worry about their position and prestige in socirty, if any. They betray and are betrayed by the people that they hold dearest because that is their nature. Humans worry about their career and success and failure and all the hues of the spectrum that lie in between. For Mr. Perfect, success is a forgone conclusion. For humans, it takes a great deal of effort, work and sacrifice and even then, they can fail in spectacular fashion. Humans aren't invincible. They get hurt and sometimes a trip to the hospital can be their last. They get sick and die. They get depressed. They experience pain so intense that they blot it out with years of alcoholic or drug induced delerium. They get their hearts broken. Sometimes they never get over it. Sometimes they get so fed up they blow their brains out. Humans have friends but they aren't magical. They can not read minds, alter fate or effect space-time. Friends are sometimes fickle, and change their loyalties when it suits them. Humans drink, smoke and do dope despite the fact that it is bad for you. They also eat high chlesterol diets, drive at insane speeds and have sex like drunken bunnies. Why? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T F-ing PERFECT! Humans do and say things exactly the oppisite of their core values, like the faimily values republican arreasted in a rest area for giving $20 blow jobs to truckers. Why? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T F-ing PERFECT! Humans are worthless and weak and stupid and shallow. On average they live in a trailer park in Tennessee and have more fleas than their dog. They are also all that we as authors have as subject matter and we must embrace them as they are because they aren't perfect. Those very flaws give us room to create the drama that is the life blood of good writing. I humbly submit that we need to forget Mr. Perfect and get to know some humans: warts, bad-breath, freckles and all because they are a MUCH more interesting than PERFECT people. Readers will actually relate to their humanity; flawed as it is because at the end of the day- none of us are perfect.

My ninja attack kat warriors guard my tomatoes. Problem is the weather has been unkind and the tomatoes are kinda sad. Hope you feel better soon. James

Nick- A lot of people have asked me why I'm not posted at GA. I usually kinda blow off the question but the real reason is that I don't think my work is good enough to be here. Not sure if that means anything to you.

This is Old Faithful at Yellowstone erupting in front of a June skyscape featuring the Milky Way to the left. The bright object at the top of the plume is Jupiter. You can find really cool astronomy pictures like this at Astronomy Pic of the Day. This one comes from Astropics.com

Kurtie, kurtie: the festival of southern decadence would warp your fragile little mid-western mind. We probably couldn't drag you away.

No, no, no! It must be in New Orleans! They are having killer deals to get the tourist trade and conventions going again and it is New Orleans. The good parts didn't even get wet. [French Quarter] If the Paris of North America isn't enough for you, the cuisine will certainly win you over. The Mariott in the French Quarter is the bomb!

Gay online fiction comes in several forms and all of them have some drawbacks. I will discuss two: The first one, I will call the coming out/coming of age story: it typically goes like this: scared closet kid/good family/cool friends, finds boy friend, come outs- everything is hunkie-dorie. This strikes me as at best wishful thinking or at worse pro-gay propaganda. I don't personally know anyone who came out without some resistance or blow-back and writing stories that make kids think that is typical is setting them up for a huge disappointment. In those situations where people tell you that it was painless, I will kindly suggest that their memory is selective. The second big theme seems to be first love/sex: we have already covered a number of weaknesses in this story form. Inexperienced middle schoolers having sex is not exactly astonishing but the way it is often written is remarkably and embarrassingly bad. They may be curious about a number of practices but very rarely will they go past the mutual wank and/or oral. The idea of anal sex to this age group is something terrifying that happens in prison. Another area that I am critical of: Protagonists in a great deal of gay fiction are perfect. They are All-American, all-As, well adjusted, popular, wouldn't dare drink or smoke pot and have perfect teeth. Gay fiction gives the rich preppies plenty of attention because they are cute and unthreatening, it gives little or no attention to their oppisite. Gay kids are often identified as rebels or delienquents- especially masculine affect gay adolescents. They get in fights, and are prone toward the dark side: drinking/drugs, are involved in petty crime, do poorly or drop out of school. Their behavior often overcompensates for expected gender norms. Gay kids in this group are labeled as criminal, delenquents and thugs. They are often dealt with harshly by law enforcement. Many times their home life is a mess with missing, neglectful or abusive parents. They are the hustler that kicks the John in the balls and steals his wallet. These people are not easy to read or write about. Sometimes they don't even make very sympathetic characters. Their stories aren't very pretty and are sometimes quite short and tragic. This is who I was. These are the people I knew. I write their stories because I am the last. Every word is a hot branding-iron on my soul because I would really rather forget. I don't think that I have ever met any of orthodox gay fiction's "perfect preppies". They would annoy the hell out of me if I did.