Straaaaatfordgaaaaanzaaaaaa!

Back from Stratfordganza. It was a big success. I have photos to post and stories to tell. But I have to be at work for 6 AM tomorrow, so stories must wait. Now is time for sleeps.

...No wonder Carey Hart got back together with her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddZPrJ8ROto

It's the smoke, shawty

What I'm listening to: A karaoke pahty!

I think Wyclef is actually in my Number 1 Artist spot. He's the only one of my long-time loves who is still putting out really great music (though I did like Kate Bush's last album quite a lot.) He's just so talented. This song, for eg, is a great tune, makes me couch-dance, and is clever and funny and creative. And posted for free on his site! Here's what he wrote:

"This song is a parody of the the current craze of artists using Autotune. But don’t get it twisted Autotune might get you a hit single for the movement but it can never substitute for raw talent! Heres my parody, I am Mr. Autotune featuring Nick Cannon. Here are the lyrics so everyone can sing-a-long like we’re in a Karaoke Party!!"



Nick Cannon: DO I NEED SINGING LESSONS?

Wyclef: HELL NA
ALL YOU NEED IS SWAGGER WE GON RUN IT THROUGH THE COMPUTER

Nick Cannon: BUT I DONT KNOW MY DO RAE MI FA SO LA TEE DO

Wyclef: ITS OK
AS LONG AS YOU GOT RHYMES WE GON MAKE THE DOUGH

Nick Cannon: THEN WE GON MAKE THE SHOWS
THEN ME AND YOU GON BLOW

Wyclef: BUT IF THEY EVER ASK YOU TO SING LIVE DONT EVER SING ACCAPELLA

Navel Gazing: The Books That Changed My Life - Forget the habits, just learn this 1 thing

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

This book is actually too densely written, hard to get through, too complex to be easily applied to everyday life. But when I was re-reading some bits last year I realized that I'd internalized a lot of it. The main thing I got from it: That you should plant your identity in principles, and not in externals that you can lose. Don't take your identity from being a spouse, or a parent, or an employee, or an activist, or a student, or whatever. You can lose ANY of them at any time, and then you'll lose your identity. I've seen that happen.

But your core beliefs can't be taken from you; and Covey argues that there are principles that are fairly universal, and those you especially can't take away from someone. Ever since then I've carried around this idea that at the core of my person is a set of beliefs that I won't let anyone touch, except myself. They change, they evolve, but only at my bidding.

At this point I wish I could embed Joni Mitchell's "The Sire of Sorrow" but it's disabled on youtube. It's her song from Job's point of view, and Job is the ultimate story about who you are once everything's been stripped from you.

Once I was blessed
I was awaited like the rain
Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame
Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company
But now the janitors of Shadowland flick their brooms at me.

Listening to... hiphop

Outkast - Spottieottiedopaliscious


My characters for my new book began as real people -- Paris Hilton and Jason Newsted (former bass player of Metallica). I chose the latter because he seems like the quintessential Nice Guy and I thought I'd like to write about a QNG.


And at some point he turned into a black guy. So now my character is a combination of Newsted and Pharrell Williams. Which has really helped move my plot forward.


And it means that now I'm listening to hip hop instead of metal. But Williams likes all kinds of genres, especially rock, and his own band (N.E.R.D.) is a mixture of hip hop and rock, so the heavy metal will still find a place in there. He'll be an interesting hero by the time I'm finished with him. Interesting to me, anyway. ;-)

XXX

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner posted a question on her blog about books that her readers would be embarrassed to admit they read/loved. Since Gardner specializes in Christian books, many of her readers are Christian. And it's interesting to see that the main thing that embarrasses them is sex. They're embarrassed to admit they've enjoyed books that contained sex.

But not books that are horrors, or violent, or gory. So as people have pointed out before, and my brother recently brought up: Why are we so much more shocked by sex (in movies, in books) than by violence? Why is much of North American society more hung up on a potentially-life-giving act, than on a life-taking one? This seems to be a North American thing--or maybe countries colonized by Britain. Even ex-French-colony-Quebec is more cool about nudity.

The only area where perhaps this isn't true is in music. There's a lot more tolerance for "Let's Get It On" and "Sexual Healing" than for, say, gangster rap.