Hey there
…I’ve gone into business for myself with another blog. I invite you to join me at Dictionopolis in Digitopolis. Hope to see you there!
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Category: The Sound of the Crowd
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Until further notice…
Until further notice…
This blog is struck. Lately it just seems harder and harder to keep the things that are mine, mine. Ink 19 editor and publisher Ian Koss wants to integrate my blog with the rest of the Ink 19 site, and this means that outside design and outside linking will be imposed on it. I don’t want him to. But as he’s the one paying the bills and I’m only the one providing 100% of the content, he’s got the big club.
To those of you who’ve enjoyed the blog, thanks. If you don’t already know I’ve got your email address, feel free to write me a note at ben@ink19.com if you’d like to know if or when I go into business for myself with another blog.
I dunno if I will or not…this has left me with a real bad taste in my mouth.
And unfortunately, the news won’t change much while I’m gone:
No one will want to represent me as a screenwriter.
People who were important voices in my childhood will die.
President Bush’s ratings will continue to sag.
But the “MSM” will continue to present him as a popular, well-loved President.
Republicans will remain hypocrites.
Iraq will remain a quagmire.
I’ll still have songs that reflect how desperately unhappy I am running through my head, 24/7. I just won’t post the lyrics anymore.
Homophobia and gay-bashing, virtual or literal, will still be on the rise. Doonesbury will still be scathing satire and Madonna fans will still be pathetic and slow.
Here’s just a few other places to get your news in the future:
Goodbye.
Holy shit, I’ve pissed off the Madonna fans
In June of last year, I made an entry to this blog criticizing Madonna for what I saw as her desperate attempt to remain controversial, relevant and influential past her sell-by date.
Well, it seems that a local Madonna fan–Ben Creekmore, Star Security Officer, Pacific Place Plaza and Theatre, Seattle, Washington–just is not having that. He’s posted a reply to my entry which is notable as much for its literacy as its timeliness.
Maybe it is time to go.
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Reality check
Reality check
Q. Isn’t blogging basically for angry, semi-employed losers who are too un-talented or too lazy to get real jobs in journalism?
A. What?
Q. I mean, if the market really valued what you have to say, wouldn’t someone pay you for it?
A. Are you kidding? Advertisers are banging down our doors!
Q. To reach whom? The fellow crackpots who have time to respond to your posts?
So…how you like the new look?
Leave a comment and let us know.
Recommended Reading about which, etc
1. Ha ha, ha ha, ha. Click here to see a funny, funny bumper sticker spotted on an SUV parked among a crowd of cars out for a gay-pride rally. Ha ha, ha ha, ha.
2. Rumsfeld: “We’re not going to win.”
3. E-mail “interview” with Wil Wheaton that is actually kind of inspiring, if a bit long.
It goes back to the advice my friend gave me: As a creative person, whether you’re an author, musician, actor or filmmaker, you will end up working harder than anyone else to promote your work, despite the promises they make to you before the contracts are signed. So why give up creative control and an enormous share of the profits when you’re going to do most of the work anyway? Why bust your ass to make someone else rich? There isn’t a stigma attached to self-publishing (or performing in a small theater, or distributing your performance on DVD via the Internet) like there used to be, because more and more people are coming to understand that the audience is an enormous collection of little niches, and every single one of them can be served by small presses or indie distributors. So if you don’t want to participate in the soul-crushing aspects of the entertainment industry, you don’t have to. Self-publishing (or self-producing or distributing, or whatever) is risky, but it’s the best way to participate in the arts without being corrupted by the process of being involved.
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Song Styles
Song Styles
And here in the bar
The piano man’s found
Another nail for my heart
That stupid old bug
That kills only love
I want to be good
Is that not enough?
–Squeeze, “Another Nail for my Heart”
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It ain’t playing, folks
It ain’t playing, folks
The Bush spin on Iraq, I mean. America doesn’t believe it any more. See how we struggle towards the light.
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Bonus edition
Bonus edition
And now, it’s time once again to play…
Who Said It?
“The administration should clarify its intent…People lack confidence in the credibility of our government.’ Even our allies are beginning to suspect what we say, he charged. ‘It’s a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy,’
Now, who said it?
Ted Kennedy?
Sean “Vote or die” Combs?
A liberal blogger?
Or was it….(click below for the answer)
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Oh, good
Oh, good
Political Wire notes:
“With key elements of his domestic agenda stalled and his job-approval ratings sagging,” President Bush is following a strategy that was favored by many of his second-term predecessors: “He is devoting more time and energy to international affairs, most visibly by hosting a stream of foreign leaders.”
President Bush. International affairs. Foreign leaders. Exactly where his strengths lie. I don’t see any problem witb this, do you? We’re not running into a wall full speed or anything…