My inbox this morning delivered the news that Blackberry is selling itself as (as The New Yorker puts it) scrap to the highest bidder. With a share price that has fallen to $10 and the company making a nett loss one can understand such a move.
I’ve never owned a Blackberry (though I had a Nokia E63 which is similar in design). In fact, the first time I really heard of Blackberry was when I read Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol – one of the characters was permanently attached to one (much like President Obama). Shortly thereafter Blackberry became one of the most popular phones in South Africa (Coincidence? I wonder.) with many of my friends, relatives and colleagues making the switch. Continue reading “On the demise of the Blackberry”→
Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song. You can pick your own genre or use the one suggested to me. Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.
If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page. You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.
This week’s song is Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles and the genre is Romance. Thanks to Bumblepuppies for the suggestion.
(I might mention here that when it comes to reading I don’t touch Romance with a ten-foot pole, so feel free to point out the shortcomings of my piece and mock me relentlessly 😉 Also, you’ll notice I didn’t reference the title directly – usually I try to, but it didn’t work this time and I don’t force it.)
The temptation is very big to write something about the new Doctor (especially since I see none of my fellow Whovians on my blogroll has done so yet), but that’ll have to wait for tomorrow as it’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.
This week there’s a twist: After my previous piece, Bumblepuppies remarked that he (or she – it’s never really come up) is going to give me a title with no potential fantasy or sci-fi connections (if you’ve been reading my fictional pieces you would know that’s what I tend to write – not so much by conscious choice, though; it’s simply what comes out). I immediately accepted the challenge. The terms are as follow: I have to write fantasy or SF on anything Bumblepuppies throws at me. If I succeed, I win Bumblepuppies’s eternal respect (until the next one). If I fail, Bumblepuppies gets to laugh at me (which is okay as there’s an entire ocean between us, so I won’t hear it).
But I’m expanding the side-challenge also to you, my other readers: From today, if you suggest a title, you will have the option of also giving me the genre in which the piece must be written. I’m going to limit it to the standard genres (and no cross-over) because there’s only so much one can do in 300 words, but that may very well change in future.
As always, you’re welcome to take part. Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song. Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.
If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page. You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.
This week’s song is Dirty Laundry by Don Henly and the genre is Fantasy/Science Fiction. Thank you to Bumblepuppies for the challenge.
In a previous post I mentioned (and got absolutely no reaction, by the way) that I’m trained in puppetry and also make my own puppets. I don’t get a lot of opportunity to practise these skills, though. When I was still working as a youth pastor I did puppetry quite often and also trained kids in doing puppetry, but no more. We also went through a phase where we got several orders for puppets, but those have dried up (probably due to the fact that we don’t really advertise).
Until this week. A student who was doing her practical at the wife’s school needed a puppet for a class requirement. They have to make it themselves. For marks. And not just any old puppet. It must be a human mouth puppet, you know, like Elmo.
Elmo from Sesame Street Designed by Caroly Wilcox Click image for more information
This shows once again just how little some university lecturers actually know of the real world. See, these puppets can be tricky to make, the materials are expensive (the foam used for the insides cannot be bought in single-puppet quantities), and good patterns are not freely available – you have to buy them. But they have to be hand-made because that’s cheaper than buying them (then have them make glove puppets, for crying out loud!)
As one would expect, most students cheat. They pay someone who has the patterns, materials and expertise to make the puppets for them. I don’t really have qualms about helping them in their cheating – I enjoy making puppets and it’s good money. I’m much more concerned that these students will enter the teaching profession with a puppet but without any training in puppetry and without any appreciation for the puppet they purchased, cause every time I sell a puppet it’s like putting a child up for adoption. That’s how I feel about them.
Maybe you’ll understand a bit better once you’ve seen a bit of what goes into making a puppet.
Advisory Warning: At this point I have to warn you that the rest of this post will contain graphic images of naked, skinless and skinned puppets. Sensitive readers might do well to go look at these funny pictures of crying babies.
This week I once again posted on The Book Notes Project. You can also read the post here.
∞
Last time I wrote about how each one of us is a story, that you are the author of your story and that you have to make the choices that will determine whether or not your story will be a good one.
But that made me think of something else: we all have an innate need to tell our stories. And more importantly, we all have a need to have our stories listened to.
That’s probably one of my biggest frustrations in life: I can’t find anyone to listen to my story. See, I’m a natural listener. If I sit next to someone on a bus or stand behind someone in a queue, they just start talking to me. Nothing too personal…at first. But I can’t help listening – I’m naturally good at it and I’ve been trained as a counsellor which merely honed my existing skills – and before long they’re spilling their guts to me.Continue reading “The Greatest Service”→
if all else fails...use a hammer 