The stranger in fiction

I like Stranger Than Fiction so far I think it says something about life in general. First off it makes all lives seem worthy of having a story written about them. At the start Will Ferrell's character is rather unassuming and dull but he quickly becomes more interesting. I think the movie also gives more of a feel of how writing is creating something in this case the world Will Ferrell inhabits. It questions ho controls the plot in the story; the character or the writer. Dustin Hoffman being in this movie and playing the character he is makes me think of I Heart Huckabees. He acts as a guide in both movies. He also sets the movie within a literary framework setting Crick to figure out whether the story he is in is a tragedy or a comedy. On the other side is the writer herself seeking the best way to kill him by observing death. Death of course being a major part of the movie also as we see how he reacts to his eminent death.

Distraction and My dead Kindle

I'm pretty sure I've broken most of the rules in Writing in the Age of Distraction. I tend to leave all manner of programs running and get distracted constantly. I do however tend to leave unfinished sentences or at least placeholders. I know as soon as I return to typing I'll go back to figuring out what to put there instead. I tend to look up facts as soon as I have the chance to. I almost always try to be in the right mood. I could do everything I want to and then suddenly remember something else. I probably should follow his advice otherwise it tends to take me an hour or so to write something that only takes 10 minutes.

My kindle died a few months ago and I've been reluctant to actually send it in and pay for it to get fixed. It isn't that I didn't enjoy it greatly. I found myself reading tons of books I never really had the care to go pick up from the library or a bookstore. I also did much of the same things noted in How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write. I constantly switched between a few different books cycling back and fourth depending on how I felt. I did plenty of impulse buys just on the urge to try something different or look for something I heard about. I sampled books, subscribed to blogs and newspapers all of which had trial versions. There are a few things not mentioned in that article and maybe because it was an older kindle. You can e-mail with it for free. The network is free to use and you can access mobile versions of programs like g-mail. It is kind of annoying waiting for the little ink letters to catch up while typing them out but it was better than nothing at the time. I'm not sure if I'm will to invest money to fix it because I'm afraid it will just fall and break again but it was great while it lasted.

Writing in the now.

I enjoy writing and Ive been on computers for years. I think I remember typing not too long after learning to write. My penmanship is pretty horrible because of it but the only thing I ever write normally is a signature. Today we all communicate online like in the article WE ARE ALL WRITERS NOW. The internet has become a giant social network for everyone creating writers of everyone good or bad. The funny thing I think is that despite youtube and other sites the internet seems to be made to be a machine of words. The internet writing can be pretty bad but to point at one thing and proclaim that all of it is bad is being pretty foolish. Take twitter for example I'm sure if you search eating lunch you'd get a bunch of people just announcing that which for the most part is totally pointless. You have to look through to find the good amongst the bad. I also think that the internet allows people who might not have had a chance to get a published work out there a voice.

second post

I'm a fan of Mcsweeney's. I was introduced to the books not to long ago by my English major friend and his very literate family. Mcsweeney manages to incorporate everything involved in writing and a few things that vaguely do. The Internet Age writing syllabus continues the satire making fun of every major social internet experience. Paper is dangerous in the internet world and every moment of your life can be described in 140 characters or less.

first blog for english

I'm not sure really what to post so I'll leave you with a picture of a monkey.