Finally! Get Rewarded For Procrastination

From December 1 until 11:59 p.m. on December 31, Procrastinating Writers will be accepting essays.
Essays must:

• Be 500 words or less.
• Address how you overcame your procrastination this year and got writing done.

Now this isn’t to say that you have to be completely over your procrastination to enter this contest. You don’t have to be. If you’re a procrastinator, these behaviors are probably something you will always have to work on. This essay contest is about how you took steps toward overcoming your procrastination.
Some ideas for things you can talk about include:

• Goals you set and hit.
• Behaviors you’ve overcome that were holding you back.
• Self-set limitations you’ve let go of.
• Accomplishments you’ve achieved this year.
• The writing projects you completed.
• Steps you took toward getting your writing done.
• Challenges you took on.
• Changes you’ve made.
• Roadblocks you’ve pushed through.
• Fears you’ve overcome.

For more details:  http://procrastinatingwritersblog.com/2009/12/how-i-overcame-my-procrastination-this-year-essay-contest-details/

The Greatest Decade Ever Invented

I admit it - I'm a sucker for Wrap Ups, and Lists, and Best Ofs, and this whole end of the decade thing hadn't really hit me until recently.  So it got me thinking what are the Best Ofs for the 2000s?  First of all we need to agree on what to call this decade - The 00's?  The Pre-Teens?  For the sake of clarity I am branding it the "When George W. Bush Ruled the World" decade or the "Did That Really Just Happen?" decade.  

Maybe the fact that we can't agree on a name says something about the decade itself.  What are we going to remember about this period?  How will it compare to the 60s, or the 80s, or (gasp!) the 90s!  Weren't the 90s just here?  Someone please tell me MC Hammer is still alive. 

It's probably better for the sake of historical objectivity to wait until some time has passed to fully analyze the enduring contributions to society, but screw that - I want answers now!  I want my opinion expressed now!!!  The Wait and See attitude is soooo 1990s. 

My Best Of: The Decade Without A Name:

Albums

10. "You Forgot It In People" Broken Social Scene (2000)  Is one of most influential albums/bands of decade
9.  "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" The Flaming Lips (2002)
8.  "Give Up" The Postal Service (2003)  I remember where I was first time I heard this album
7.  "Fever To Tell" Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2003) Wish they would go back to this style
6.  "Elephant" The White Stripes  (2002)
5.  "Funeral" Arcade Fire
4.  "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" Wilco (2003)
3.  "Is This It" The Strokes (2001) Launched many a bands that start with the word "The"
2.  "Kid A" Radiohead (2000)  The perfect transition album into the next millenium
1.  "Lifted or the Story is in the Soil..." Bright Eyes (2002)  Oberst is simply the decades best songwriter

Movies

10.  Rules of Attraction (2002) Dawson making with a dude was huge for "Dawson's Creek" generation
9.   Margot At the Wedding (2007)
8.   No Man's Land (2001) Just a really good movie, smart, absurd, tragic
7.  The Hours (2002)
6.  There Will Be Blood (2008)
5.  Hustle and Flow (2005) One of the best movies about music ever, Terence Howard deserved his Oscar for Best Actor
4.  I Heart Huckabbes (2004)
3.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2.  Donnie Darko (2001)
1.  Royal Tennanbaums (2001) #1 is hard to decide but this movie has it all, great style, characters, dialouge and storytelling

Books

10. "Me Talk Pretty One Day" David Sedaris (2000)   Very unique, creative, and always funny
9.  "The Caprices" Sabrina Murray (2002)   is a blueprint for how to arrange a short story collection
8.  "Netherland" Joseph O'Neil (2008)
7.  "Runaway" Alice Munro (2004)   I've read just some of her stuff, probably need to read more
6.  "Tree of Smoke" Denis Johnson (2007)
5.  "Atonement" Ian McEwan (2002)
4.  "The Road" Cormac McCarthy (2006)  Gets the "filmed in Pittsburgh" bump
3.  "Life Of Pi" Yann Martel (2002)
2.  "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" (2000)
1.  "Pastoralia" George Saunders (2000)

Television Shows

10.  Project Runway (2005)  Alright, hate if you want but the show has launched a million knock offs of the "Runway" format
9.    Bored To Death (2009)  Could be higher but only is one season old
8.    30 Rock (2006)
7.    Deadwood (2004)
6.    The Colbert Report (2005)
5.    Chappelle Show (2003)  Immortalized Rick James forever
4.    The Office (2005)
3.    The Wire (2002)
2.    Mad Men (2007)  Could be one of the best of all time by the time its done
1.    Arrested Development (2003)  Not even close, best show ever!!!

On second thought, maybe these 2000s weren't so bad after all.  I mean, remember when Pumpkin spit on New York during Flavor of Love: Season One??? Ahh, good, good times. 

Snippets and Web Junk

- Looking for something new to read??? Here are some recommendations from Indie BookStores for some upcoming releases

- Bob Hoooooover from the Post Gazette wants to know "Where Have All the Poets Gone?"
   
- The Creative' Penn's November E-zine on Writing, Publishing, Book Sales and Marketing
           
- A collection of recommended books from notable newspapers and magazines

- End of the year means List Time!  Here's the New Yorker's list of Best Books of 2009

- Here are the Literary Events going on in Pittsburgh for Dec 8-13  (not much goin on'... tis the season I guess)

Tuesday Reading in Squirrel Hill

Here's something for anyone looking for a Lit Night Out in Pittsburgh:

Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2009



Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm


Location: Te Cafe


Street: 2000 Murray Avenue


City/Town: Pittsburgh, PA




Visiting writer from Chicago,
Ben Tanzer (Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine)

joins Pittsburgh readers

Savannah Schroll Guz (American Soma)
Craig Bernier (Detroit Noir)

for an evening of short fiction, flash fiction, and a novel excerpt

at the lovely Te Cafe
in Squirrel Hill

FREE

Craig Bernier

A native of southeastern Michigan, Craig Bernier defines himself through work. To date he has dug graves for an animal hospital, made and delivered many pizzas, spent a decade as a sailor, washed many dishes, tended bar, waited tables, worked the door, worked the fryer, worked the grill. He has been a bat removal specialist and has hammered (and shot) many, many nails as assistant to a general contractor. He currently teaches composition and creative writing at Duquesne University. His fiction has been published in Western Humanities Review, The Roanoke Review, local journals, and an anthology of Detroit writers from Akashic Books called Detroit Noir. His nonfiction has appeared in Pittsburgh’s own Creative Nonfiction. Home is currently Wilkinsburg.


Savannah Schroll Guz

Savannah Schroll Guz is an art critic for City Paper and author of the short story collections, The Famous & The Anonymous (2004) and American Soma (2009). In 2005, she edited the theme-based fiction anthology, Consumed: Women on Excess. She is co-founder of The New Yinzer Presents reading series and fiction editor at The New Yinzer. She divides her time between Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

Ben Tanzer

Ben Tanzer writes. He also blogs at This Blog Will Change Your Life (http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/). He is currently watching Sports Center, but upon on his deathbed, he will receive total consciousness. So he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.

Ben Tanzer is the author of the novel Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine (Orange Alert Press) and will be visiting Pittsburgh from Chicago.

I Was Right!! Of Course!

* So unbeknownst to me, but beknownst to Stephen Colbert, the topic of the Kindle, and E-Readers was the subject of his interview with sweet Native American author Sherman Alexie. Sherman Alexie wrote "Smoke Signals" which ironically I read my Freshman year of English Writing class at Penn State - New Ken while I was in the Information Science and Technology program... should've known then IST wasn't going to work for me.

* Anyways, my last blog/rant I gave my two thumbs down to the "Kindle Revolution" that is ... uhhh not exactly sweeping the country, but is perhaps threatening the current publishing climate. Here's what Sherman Alexie had to say about it on The Colbert Report:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sherman Alexie
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

I agree with alot of what Alexie says, but at the same time, like he points out, writers need to evolve as the Art form evolves. If the world wants novels in the form of 140 characters, then... hell, its up to the Artist to be as innovative as he can in whatever environment he's up against.

And just because I thought this was hilarious I needed to post it. Colbert can be a comedic genius, and his pantomine of an atomic explosion is classic:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a Lobby - Ploughshares Fund
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

Kindle - Gods Gift to Mankind or Diabolic Spawn of Satan? Etc

- Friday, December 11The New Yinzer presents poets John Grochalski and Ally Malinenko
"for an evening of poesy slinging." Also on tap for the evening are the local favorites Ed Steck, Renee Alberts, Margaret Bashaar, Joel W. Coggins, and Jessica Fenlon.


Where: ModernFormations 4919 Penn Ave.

When: 8pm

Cover: $5 or a contribution to our potluck dinner

More info at http://tnypresents.blogspot.com/

-  I don't know, you may disagree, but for some reason a Kindle just seems morally wrong.  You can't write notes on it, or underline something that sticks out, there's no way of interacting with the text, and that is primarily the joy of reading for me.  A play or a movie is what I consider the text "performing" for the audience, and a novel or short story is more of a conversation with the reader.  You can't talk to a stupid machine.

-  Well, there were some exceptions:



-  How much would you be willing to pay for inspiration / useless piece of junk?

*  Although the man did write a pretty sweet book about trying to survive in a freezing, desolute Post-Apocalyptic world / Western Pennsylvania

7 Sweet New Indie Music Videos

Having a little extra time on my lunch break and wanted to share some new music I've been fave-ing on.

I don't advocate the message behind this song - but I do advocate dancing to it:



- If anything it shows how cool and fun it'd be to create an idea for a music video

- This one is... different... lol I heard the song on Sirius radio and kinda dug it, looked up the video and needless to say... it wasn't what I expected:



-  The chorus is pretty funky tho

-  I'll be seeing Metric at Mr. Smalls tonight so thought I should give them a shout out:



-  Metric comes from the ashes of Broken Social Scene (who I would kill to see live) but will have to settle for just some of its remnents.  I think tickets are still available.

- Love Is All is the band name and this song kind of reminds me of The Black Kids (actual name of band and not me being racist, but I understand):



-  And this one was my song for the summer, Sleepyhead by Passion Pit.  If there's one song here I put my reputation on it's this one:



- Monsters of Folk are : Conor Oberst, (Bright Eyes) Mike Mogis, (Producer-Guy) M. Ward (M. Ward) and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket).  This song is great, this is the "best" video I could find for it:



-  Last and maybe least (not in my humble opinion) another band I'll be seeing at Mr Smalls pretty shortly, The Arctic Monkeys, this is hands down their best song on their new album (and yes I call them "albums"):