A few days ago the 5.0 version of this site went live. I’ve been hard at work redesigning and coding for the past few weeks, learning how to do all the things I wanted to do through simple CSS and html. It can be an incredibly frustrating experience at times- but when finally the pixels click into place, the target image floats properly left, it can feel like a momentous achievement. Big changes include: – everything is now within borders and wrappers – the front page is laid out as a magazine – it’s a calmer and more serious color … Read More
Pepsi Mont Blanc
Pepsi Mont Blanc is the latest in a series of crazy-flavored products in the Japanese soft drink market. Past favorites include- Pepsi Blue Hawaii Pepsi Yoghurt Pepsi Ice Cucumber Pepsi Baobab Pepsi Beefsteak (shiso) Pepsi Beans (azuki) And that’s not even mentioning the Coke products. Mont Blanc is an Italian dessert of whipped cream and chestnuts on a meringue cake or tart. I picked up the drink without really knowing what the dessert was- I guess I never ate many chestnuts growing up in the UK. In Japan though they’re very popular, as ice cream flavors, on cakes, and now … Read More
Haikyo 2011 Calendar
My haikyo 2011 calendars have arrived! I ordered 5 for the whopping cost of about $60 (with a bulk order discount), and a shipping cost of $30 to Japan. I’m really pleased with their quality- they’re on good stiff card, the print is sharp, the design is clean, and they’re plenty big enough to scrawl all your necessary info onto. For those inclined to buy- here’s a link to the lulu page. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And if that’s not enough to convince you- check out my video walk-through of one sample calendar, giving you a great idea … Read More
Broken English #2 Eat my house
As an English teacher I`m constantly hearing strange manipulations of the language.
Most of them don`t make any sense, but on occasion they could, with a little creative interpretation.
Try to guess what the intended version of this sentence was.
Every day I eat my house for lunch.
2011 Haikyo Calendar
I made a haikyo calendar! It’s live and available for purchase on lulu right now, 13 great haikyo images (12 months and the cover) in an 11 x 8.5 size, for only $14.99. It would make a great Christmas present, oh yes. What better gift than a lovely calendar of ruins? What better gift for yourself? BUY BUY BUY! Buy it in droves and encourage me to go ahead and (finally) publish a handsome book of all these ruins locations. Here’s a sample month, followed by a live preview via lulu. You can buy direct from this link here. Read … Read More
story craft #13 Going Hot
Going hot is a term Orson Scott Card uses (in his book Characters and Viewpoint) to describe entering a character’s stream of consciousness. We go into their head and work through their motivations and drives alongside them. It’s something I’m dealing with a lot now in the (third?) redraft of my fantasy book Dawn Rising, learning how to add it in as an intrinsic part of the story. In the first few drafts I hardly did it all, so the book (may have) read like sections of a Dungeon Master’s hand-book, cold and with little sympathetic investment.
Broken English #1 Huge Employees
As an English teacher I`m constantly hearing strange manipulations of the language. Most of them don`t make any sense, but on occasion they could, with a little creative interpretation. Try to guess what the correct version of this sentence should be. The Company fired huge employees.
The Tombs of Atuan
I went into this book not knowing what to expect after A Wizard of Earthsea, which was quite a mixed bag. So much of it was narrative summary, and things only kicked off properly at the very end, as Ged went after the Gebbeth demon. Where would the Tombs of Atuan pick up, after all that was done? Well, it picks up somewhere completely different- with a girl called Tenar, who is a kind of Vestal Virgin to the same dark powers that Ged faced down in the first book. She spends her days roaming Atuan’s undertombs, politicking for power … Read More
Sports World Retrospective
Sports World was a large sports and water park in Shizuoka, Japan. It was opened in 1988, closed in 1996 after the company went bankrupt, lived on as a ‘haikyo’ or ruin for 14 years more years, then was demolished early in 2010. It was my favorite haikyo in Japan, so it’s sad to hear that. It was one of my earliest explores, and also one of the most exciting- as I stayed in the abandoned hotel overnight. Hearing the news put me in the mood to make a retrospective post, in memorial. While sifting through the 3 trips I … Read More
story craft #12 Kill All Wimps
I`m over the first hurdle with Dawn, into the second half of the first book*, and find myself dealing with a spate of wimps. My characters are so shocked by what happened in the first half that they stand around gawping, lost in self-pity, filled with indecision. They don`t know what to do and don`t know how to do it. They become wimps. And wimps need killing.