rodcorp: How we work: Neil Gaiman, author: "'One reason I like writing by hand is it slows me down a little, but it also forces me to keep going: I'm never going to spend half a day noodling with a sentence to try and get it just right, if I'm using a pen. I'll do all that when I start typing.

"

posted by craniac @

rodcorp: How we work: James Ellroy, author

On what to write: "Don’t follow that bullshit of 'Write what you know.' Write what you like to read. Write what you want to read but no one else is writing."

posted by craniac @

Your portfolio is due Friday, December 10th at noon. Please place it in the box outside my office (LA 109h).

It should be in a folder or *narrow* three ring binder. You should include your best three drafts of our assignment, and a letter of introduction. The letter of introduction should not exceed two pages (unless you absolutely *have* to write more) and address the following:

1. What is your favorite paper, and why?

2. How did you initially write your papers?

3. How did you revise them, and why?

4. Anything else I should know about your writing in this class.


Thanks!

posted by craniac @

KAYA

Speaking of images, KAYA is a completely computer-generated person. It's quite creepy--check it out. Now, instead of airbrushing real people, which we have discussed before, "they" can generate completely artificial people that seem completely real. Almost. What do you think of that?

posted by craniac @

The Age of the Essay: "No Defense

The other big difference between a real essay and the things they make you write in school is that a real essay doesn't take a position and then defend it. That principle, like the idea that we ought to be writing about literature, turns out to be another intellectual hangover of long forgotten origins."

posted by craniac @

Download :: Portable Firefox 1.0 (USB Drive-Friendly) :: Mozilla Stuff :: JohnHaller.com

Nice if you want to use firefox in a lab setting.

posted by craniac @

The Age of the Essay: "One of the keys to coolness is to avoid situations where inexperience may make you look foolish. If you want to find surprises you should do the opposite. Study lots of different things, because some of the most interesting surprises are unexpected connections between different fields. For example, jam, bacon, pickles, and cheese, which are among the most pleasing of foods, were all originally intended as methods of preservation. And so were books and paintings."

posted by craniac @

The Age of the Essay: "September 2004

Remember the essays you had to write in high school? Topic sentence, introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs, conclusion. The conclusion being, say, that Ahab in Moby Dick was a Christ-like figure.

Oy. So I'm going to try to give the other side of the story: what an essay really is, and how you write one. Or at least, how I write one.
"

posted by craniac @