Wall-E collects lawn gnomes. This makes me happy.

Charming film.

Volcanic Clouds triggering lightning.

"As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano's crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze."
-Daily Mail

ariadne_3 has memefied me.

Nearest book: Tumbling After by Paul Witcover.
Page 123, Line 5 sentence:

Her eyes don't leave him, nor does the smirk fade from her lips as she lowers her body until only her head and shoulders remain above the rocking plane of water.

This is why chasing tornadoes is a risky proposition even with gps, r/t Doppler, NWS scans, and trained chasers/spotters. I'll stick to the Great Plains.

vid here: http://www.severestudios.com/June-11-2008-Kory-Hartman-and-Kenny-Allen-tornado-video?page=1

post event discussion: http://www.severestudios.com/Kenny-Allen-A-Storm-Chase-Gone-Wrong?page=1

Via Boing Boing:

You can Pre Order Bits of the Dead.

Woot my first shill! ;>

And whoa, a story by Piers Anthony.

From Coscom Entertainment:

They live.
They die.
They return.
Zombies.

38 authors.
38 gut-wrenching tales.

Flash fiction at its finest, all illustrated by underground favorite Sean Simmans and edited by Keith Gouveia.

Bits of the Dead is a hard-hitting, pulse-pounding collection of zombie tales that'll have you ripping through the pages faster than a ghoul through a warm body. "

I've always loved Ganson's work. I've a DVD collection of his sculptures. Wonderful stuff. Wishbone is one of the greatest kinetic sculptures of all time.

John August at his website says the working screenwriter should "dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies. Take existing films (and one-hour dramas) and break them down to cards. Think of yourself as an ordinary mechanic given the task of reverse-engineering a spaceship. Figure out what the pieces do, and why they were put together in that way."

This certainly applies to writing fiction. It's why learning to write a good critique on someone else's story may be even more worthwhile than receiving one on yours.





via John Gruber's http://daringfireball.net/

Sold "The Basement" to Bits of the Dead, an anthology of flash fiction featuring zombie stories.

Yay, my first pro sale (pro rates). It's a shorty but a start.

In the spirit of Odyssian Chick-n-philia:

Is that Steve? ;)

http://dailycoyoteinfo.blogspot.com/

Story of a woman who was riding a vespa cross country from San Francisco to NYC. Got to NYC and decided to head back to a town she'd passed through in Wyoming. Got a one room cabin and adopted an orphan coyote. Actually, thats backstory. The blog's about her raising the coyote from a pup. Mostly told in pics.

Great stuff.

http://www.severestudios.com/livechase has links to live streaming storm chase teams. Sometimes you have to hit the refresh button to get live vid and GPS google map location. Very cool if you are into storm chasing, like yours truly.

I'm currently back in Tx once again for couple of weeks. Trying to set up funding for a year of life on the road in a Dodge Sprinter RV that I will convert from diesel to veggie oil capable. So if you smell french fries and see a lil' RV on the road with boomdiada.com on the side, honk yer horn and flash me the Odyssey Gang sign.


Looking at getting this as my home for a year or two:



http://www.sportsmobile.com/2_eb-12sr.html

I should have an idea if this is possible by Jun 1, otherwise it's off to the NW.

Even if you don't care for minimalism, this is an interesting lesson in editing/rewriting.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/12/24/071224on_onlineonly_carver

(I forgot how I got to this piece, so forgive my lack of credit.)

This is a tiny reason why.





Oh, and he's a helluva writer.