Writing
Unemployment, games journalism, and World of Warcraft
I’ve cried two days in a row.
Call it stress, repressed nerves, or too much time to think, but I think at this point I can say that I’m not handling my post-Ohio life and current unemployment all too well. Continue reading
#40DaysofIndie: Day 9 (Duke Ellington)
Jazz is full of pioneers. Perhaps the biggest such pioneer is Duke Ellington. A band leader and composer Duke Ellington is the most produced jazz musician of all time. Continue reading
#40DaysofIndie: Day 7 (Dave Brubeck)
Jazz is full of unknowns. Not unknowns in the sense of not knowing an artist or a song but rather you find yourself saying, “Where have I heard that before?” Continue reading
#40DaysofIndie: Day 4 (Jamie Cullum)
Jazz is a musical style that just wont die. It may go away for a little while but it always comes back around. Its a cycle, whats old is new again, what was played out is cool again.
In the early 2000s there was a resurgence in the jazz scene, it followed the resurgence in the swing music. Jamie Cullum first started making waves in The UK around this same time. In 2002 Cullum released :Pointless Nostalgic”. It was 2003’s “Twentysomething” that brought Jamie notoriety here in the US.
It was the blend of pop and and classic rock with jazz that first drew me to Jamie Cullum who has since become one of my favorite artists.
Days 5’s song that inspires me is the theme from the film Gran Torino.
Daniel Bryan’s retirement and the recent NFL concussion stories intersect in a way that leaves me feeling like a hypocrite
After months of speculation and a stream of glib, defensive sarcasm on part of WWE fans, we all have to finally admit that Daniel Bryan has retired from professional wrestling.
There’s a finality to that reality that wrestling fans simply aren’t used to. Such closure is uncomfortable, a squirming feeling that comes from an inability to tune in next week and see what happens next.
As fans wrestling fans we’re trained from the beginning to expect a payoff to come later. There’s always next week. A new episode of RAW. A new cycle to begin; a never-ending parade of emotion, fisticuffs, and twenty minute promos.
Perhaps that is why so many people were insistent that Bryan’s retirement had to be a story line. After all, everything else has been up for grabs as story material, even the “death” of Vince McMahon.
Alas, the show is over and the American Dragon has left the spotlight for the last time. Continue reading
On ‘The act of Not Writing’
Today I would like to talk about writing. To be more specific, I want to talk about not being able to write. Of course, I don’t mean some kind of debilitating infliction by which my hands can no longer move and I am left attempting to train a series of parrots-each with their own keyboard–to respond to an intricate series of whistles and mouth pops that will instruct them on which letters to type on my behalf
That would be absurd. Instead, let’s discuss the sheer inability to will yourself to write down words. Some call it ‘writer’s block.’ I call it a revolving wheel of apathy, personal failure, and extreme paranoia caused by an overactive superiority complex.
I guess that doesn’t fit on a t-tshirt, so let’s just refer to this phenomenon from this point out as The Cycle.
On YouTube monetization, creator’s rights, and who exactly is a content creator
The saying goes that the pen is mightier than the sword, but what does this mean in the digital age? Who is the sword holder? What if you’re borrowing that sword from someone else? Are they the mighty or is that power purely in the one who swings?
What makes one privy to pen holding?
Motivation: Alternatively titled, “Nothing witty to see here, keep moving along”
Leave it to the Christmas season to leave your self-worth looking for a metaphorical oven to stick it’s metaphorical head in.
This is not to say that the holiday season always leads to doom and gloom, despite public assumption. Truth be told, suicide is not as high in the month of December as those who make up statistics would have you believe.
Now, Thanksgiving? Whew. There is a time of year to be singing “Bring out yer’ dead!”
I digress.
Backlog Adventures 