Friday, November 23, 2007
A Musical Interlude with Phil
I joined the zombies over at WalMart this morning at 4:00am for the feeding frenzy known as Black Friday/post-Thanksgiving shopping. Walked away with a new digital camera. The Kodak Z710.
Decent pictures -- Phil lost one of his top front teeth on Tuesday (and based on the angle of the remaining one, it won't be in there for long), here's how that looks.
The big selling point on the camera, however, was the 30 frames-per-second video with sound. It's not full-fledged camcorder quality, but it's good. Good enough to commit this musical interlude to posterity: Fanfare from the Common Phil. (YouTube has tweaked the sound some. If you have an onboard equalizer, pump up the bass to adjust for the Donald Duck effect...)
Decent pictures -- Phil lost one of his top front teeth on Tuesday (and based on the angle of the remaining one, it won't be in there for long), here's how that looks.
The big selling point on the camera, however, was the 30 frames-per-second video with sound. It's not full-fledged camcorder quality, but it's good. Good enough to commit this musical interlude to posterity: Fanfare from the Common Phil. (YouTube has tweaked the sound some. If you have an onboard equalizer, pump up the bass to adjust for the Donald Duck effect...)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Kickin It Old School
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Try Buying Try Dying
See what I did there? <sigh>
James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.
His book on writing, Plot and Structure is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.
On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.
Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.
His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.
This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news--with live remote from the scene--and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city's collective memory.
But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.
In Try Dying, this fast-paced thriller, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiancee's death--even if hie has to kill for the truth.
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is featuring Try Dying by James Scott Bell.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.His book on writing, Plot and Structure is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.
His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.
This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news--with live remote from the scene--and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city's collective memory.
But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.
In Try Dying, this fast-paced thriller, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiancee's death--even if hie has to kill for the truth.
"Bell is one of the best writers out there...he creates characters readers care about...a story worth telling."
~Library Review~
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Got Issues?
The Wittenburg Door has added the contents of Issue #214 on their website. This is the Christmas Issue I mentioned a while back.
Good stuff throughout; among my faves are William Jolliff's "They'll Know We are Christians by Our Stuff," Fred Allen's "Things Jesus Wouldn't Say," and Jane Lebak's "The Book of Cat-Lovers." (TBoCL is funny even if you, like me, aren't a cat lover.) Among Jamie Crossan's "Vision Statements You're Not Likely to See" is
Check it out.
Good stuff throughout; among my faves are William Jolliff's "They'll Know We are Christians by Our Stuff," Fred Allen's "Things Jesus Wouldn't Say," and Jane Lebak's "The Book of Cat-Lovers." (TBoCL is funny even if you, like me, aren't a cat lover.) Among Jamie Crossan's "Vision Statements You're Not Likely to See" is
"We dream of a time when evey soul shalt love the timbrel. Verily."I've been to that church (though that wasn't actually their "official" vision statement...).
Check it out.
Labels: In Print, Wittenburg Door, Writing
Gee Whiz
I'm into the H's on my A-Z iPod journey. The G's just whizzed by.
Phil was talking about my iPod this morning. He said I had "an ocean of songs on it, and, when I wanted to play a song, I got my fishing rod out and pulled out a song." Good word picture, boy, but you're not getting an iPod.
Phil was talking about my iPod this morning. He said I had "an ocean of songs on it, and, when I wanted to play a song, I got my fishing rod out and pulled out a song." Good word picture, boy, but you're not getting an iPod.
Friday, November 09, 2007
R'lyeh Redux
Although my short story "In R'lyeh, Jesus Walks" has just come out in Coach's Midnight Diner, it will also be appearing in the very near future in the Best of Relief '06-'07 journal.
Collect 'em all?
Yes. Collect 'em all.
One of the awesome things about being pubbed in CMD was having my story appear with those of some folks I knew and knew of (Linda, Mark, Matt, Suzan, etc.). This time around it gets to hang out with stories by buddies Angie Poole, Mike Snyder, Chris Fisher, and a piece by publishing maven David Long. Lots of other cool folks in there, too; the aforementioned are just the ones I've had the privilege of meeting personally.
Once again, be sure to pick up a copy.
Collect 'em all?
Yes. Collect 'em all.
One of the awesome things about being pubbed in CMD was having my story appear with those of some folks I knew and knew of (Linda, Mark, Matt, Suzan, etc.). This time around it gets to hang out with stories by buddies Angie Poole, Mike Snyder, Chris Fisher, and a piece by publishing maven David Long. Lots of other cool folks in there, too; the aforementioned are just the ones I've had the privilege of meeting personally.
Once again, be sure to pick up a copy.
Labels: CMD, In Print, Relief Journal, Writing
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Star Student
Phil was one of four second graders named Star Student this week at his elementary school. This means he was chosen by his teacher to represent his class (there are four second grade classes, each appointed a student). Phil got to appear in the TV announcements (yes, his school delivers their daily announcements via television -- high tech!) and say his name and which classroom he's from.
Way to go, Phil!
Way to go, Phil!
Labels: Second Grade
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Slipped My Mind
Meant to blog on this earlier in the week but didn't. I've got another short in The Door Insider: "Osteen Outdoes Virgin Mary, Pope in Miraculous Appearances".
Among the nifty revampings at Door website is the ability to comment on the newsletter articles. Have fun.
Among the nifty revampings at Door website is the ability to comment on the newsletter articles. Have fun.
Labels: In Print, Wittenburg Door, Writing
