Writing

And The Pony You Rode In On

/ Anita Marie / 6 Comments

This is how FAIL blog responded to a letter that Guiness World Records legal department sent them .

It’s just a gem and as a writer it reminds me that sometimes sticking to your guns when you decided to put something out there can be very hard work –

yet it can be oodles of fun too.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is in response to an email FAIL Blog received from an attorney representing Guinness World Records Limited.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for writing us an email regarding the “Record Breaking Fail”. Unfortunately, douchebaggy cyber-bullying emails will only bring upon you more shame on your house. I am also resisting the urge to write this email in ALL CAPS.

I believe it is the duty of FAIL Blog(TM) to call out organizations when they encourage the public to do such things as “Break the record” for the “Most Individuals Killed In A Terrorist Act”. We firmly believe that our publication of your fail is protected under the concepts of fair use, commentary and non-trademark use. Please RTFM and we welcome you to teh interwebs.

Since we at FAIL Blog(TM) don’t have a legal defense department, we have complied with your request to remove the trademarked term and logo from the original image. We have used the “naughty bits filter” on the image to secure your naughty, naughty, trademark assertions. However, we have posted your email so that our audience can see why we had to remove the name of the failer from the image. I hope that this is the outcome you have expected as now NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED HAS FAILED.

The full legal response can be read here: icanhaz.com/legalresponse

Cheers,
FAIL Blog

P.S.: This is what we think of your letter.

Guinness Legal Notice on FAIL Blog
see more Epic Fails

When This You See- Think Of Me

/ Anita Marie / 3 Comments

Nurse Myra sent this clip to me.

She said that when she hears it she thinks of me.

I love to write about the weird, the odd and the macabre

 so

I am feeling very special right now.

Muchas Hugs N.M

amm

Tom Waits
Mule Variations (1999)
What’s He Building?

What’s he building in there?What the hell is he building
In there?
He has subscriptions to those
Magazines… He never
Waves when he goes by
He’s hiding something from
The rest of us… He’s all
To himself… I think I know
Why… He took down the
Tire swing from the Peppertree
He has no children of his
Own you see… He has no dog
And he has no friends and
His lawn is dying… and
What about all those packages
He sends. What’s he building in there?
With that hook light
On the stairs. What’s he building
In there… I’ll tell you one thing
He’s not building a playhouse for
The children what’s he building
In there?

Now what’s that sound from under the door?
He’s pounding nails into a
Hardwood floor… and I
Swear to god I heard someone
Moaning low… and I keep
Seeing the blue light of a
T.V. show…
He has a router
And a table saw… and you
Won’t believe what Mr. Sticha saw
There’s poison underneath the sink
Of course… But there’s also
Enough formaldehyde to choke
A horse… What’s he building
In there. What the hell is he
Building in there? I heard he
Has an ex-wife in some place
Called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a
consulting business in Indonesia…
but what is he building in there?
What the hell is building in there?

He has no friends
But he gets a lot of mail
I’ll bet he spent a little
Time in jail…
I heard he was up on the
Roof last night
Signaling with a flashlight
And what’s that tune he’s
Always whistling…
What’s he building in there?
What’s he building in there?
We have a right to know…

An Invitation

/ Anita Marie / Leave a comment

( message from Heather Blakey, owner of the Soul Food Cafe and Creator of the Soul Food Cafe Advent Calendar )

It is December and the year is coming to a close. Long standing members
will be familiar with the traditional Advent Calendars.

101 Nights At Soul Food
 is a brand new blog, incorporating my
posts on Wandering the Halls of Soul Food.

During the coming 101 nights I am taking people to parts of Soul Food
that have been lying quietly, relatively unnoticed. If you feel so
inclined you can engage by creating a journal, like Lori Gloyd, create
posts and publish these on a blog.

I decided I did not have a Calender in me this year but instead I am
offering a free program. If you are new to the site this really is the
ideal time to dip your toe in the water and get to know how it all works
and to immerse yourself in it.

I would like to think that there will be a number of blogs linked to
this blog so that people will be able to see just how Soul Food works.

The main thing is to participate. Everyone who has come to Soul Food has
grown while they are here. It really isn’t a snobby, cliquey site and
people have genuinely developed as they have worked with themes and with
one another.

Everyone is welcome to engage on this blog. The thing to remember though
is that it does take time and persistent effort to establish yourself
here.

So to engage, create a WordPress blog and begin posting. When you feel
ready you can share some of your responses and experiences on 101
Nights. I am hoping that long term members will help take us down memory
lane by reposting some of their favourite posts.

warm wishes
Heather Blakey
Soul Food Café

contact Heather:

heatherblakey at fastmail dot fm

The Charles Dickens Experiment

/ Anita Marie / Leave a comment

If I had to choose my all time favorite Ghost Story

It would be Charles Dicken’s

A Christmas Carol.

It has it all, ghosts, gloom, despair, human monsters ( my favorite kind of monster ) and at the end when Scrooge is in the Graveyard and has guessed exactly who is in that uncared for grave and says:

“Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”

Pure Ghost Story Gold.

So here’s the deal.

Normally from November till Christmas I do the light hearted stuff.

But this year I do believe that today I will return to my Owl Creek Bridge Blog and begin

The Dicken’s Experiment.

I want to see if I can keep it odd and macabre during the Christmas Season.

I’ll bet you I can.

So check out my daily posts HERE and see how I do.

Happy Holidays!

You know, until I get my hands all over it.

a.m.m.

Festival Of Trees

/ Anita Marie / Leave a comment

Very Cool Invitation To You From My Friend

Jade:

Prehistoric Gardens, Copyright © 2009 Jade Leone Blackwater

Attention writers, bloggers, and artists of all media: if you’re looking for a prompt or a bit of inspiration this month, consider looking for what’s hidden (or lurking) among the trees.

This September Arboreality will host The Festival of the Trees issue 39 on the theme of Secrets, and you’re all invited to join me, Jade Blackwater, and bring your friends too!

The Festival of the Trees is a monthly blog carnival featuring trees and forests.  For the September Festival, our theme is Secrets:

“Forests, farms, gardens, urban trees, and ancient-rock-clinging-wind-whipped Bristlecone pine stands can be an escape, a place to hide, a space to rest, a home for buried treasure. This month, I invite you to reveal a small glimpse of a secret among the trees. Consider the quiet spots you go to sit, the trees which have stood in silent observation of the events of your life, the aromatic memory of the garden from a place you have visited. With word, image, sound, or otherwise inspired creation, give us a peek at what you see, or what you can imagine.”

Grab your free-wheeling creative license (and maybe a big, heavy club) and reveal what’s hidden in the dark, mutable forest.

Then post your creations online at your blog, photo album, or other web-based resource, and send me the link:

trees[at]brainripples[dot]com

 

Deadline for submissions is August 28, 2009.

 

Questions, comments, suggestions? Drop Jade an

email at

trees[at]brainripples[dot]com

 

(Don’t forget to drop breadcrumbs along the trail as you go!

…..wouldn’t want to get lost out there.)

Prehistoric Gardens, Copyright © 2009 Jade Leone Blackwater

 

 

[Photos taken October 2008 at the Prehistoric Gardens]

 

Send A Writer To Wine Country

/ Anita Marie / 2 Comments

 max

Don’t panic.

This is not a charity thing.

This is a job thing and my friend Max

really, really wants it;

If she makes it- and you can play a part here

she can become

A writer in residence at a winery and I’m not making this up.

So this is how it works.

Her application is a Mini-Movie and to be considered for the position she has to win votes.

This is how you can help.

First you watch her Mini Movie

Once you are there you vote for her Mini-Movie.

Now this is the tricky part.

Go to your e-mail and confirm you voted – if you don’t do that your vote won’t count.

Remember Florida?

Well, we don’t want issues like that to pop up here so after you vote scoot over to your e-mail box and confirm your vote.

Now.

You may be wondering why I’m campaigning for Max.

All joking aside, she has teaches writing Screenwriting Classes and from what I’ve learned she’s fair and tough  and cares about the Craft and I respect her for that.

That is the truth.

Oh

and

by the way

Did I mention she’ll post a picture of herself in a bikini on her blog  if she wins?

Hey.

It’s a talking point.

In fact it’s the only talking point.

And when you’re in campaign mode you have to stick to those suckers- it’s a rule.

Now

VOTE VOTE VOTE

FOR MAX!

!And tell your friends!

 

 

Do You Know The Muffin Man?

/ Anita Marie / 1 Comment

 

Muffin man, illustrated in Punch

Muffin man, illustrated in Punch

Do you know the Muffin Man?
The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man.
Do you know the Muffin Man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Once a teacher asked me, after reading something I wrote,

” where on Earth do you get your ideas from?”

and I said

” From the Muffin Man “

Sure.

It was a creepy answer

but it was also a pretty stupid thing to say to a 14 year old.

Still.

When I start a writing project I think of  it as a visit to

The Muffin Man.

And you?

Reflecting On January 20, 2009

/ Anita Marie / 5 Comments

These are my  thoughts as a writer and as a Political Activist on the upcoming Inauguration

of

President Elect Barack Obama.

I know that I kid around a lot on this blog and my short stories are  all about ghosts and zombies, cannibals and Werewolves but hey, sometimes you have to sit down and just reflect-

no matter how crazy things are around or inside of you.

This is what I’ve come up with- it took a lot of thought and I put more into it then most of  other attempts at ‘serious writing’.

Okay.

This is me turning into a Political Blowviating Blogger

for this one time and one time only

and

it will never happen again because doing this type of writing was too hard:::

We’re getting a real  President! We’re getting a real   President! We’re getting a real  President!

ha- ha- ha- ha- ha!

ps enjoy the LOL pics.

a.m.Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures

Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures

Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures

Your Call Is Holding On Line…

/ animar / 2 Comments
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC
Photo Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC

For the past couple of days I’ve been receiving a lot of hits from a site called

Alpha Inventions.

I followed the traffic back to the referral  because I’d never heard of Alpha Inventions and generally when I notice a surge from one specific link I do get curious and always go back and check it out.

What I found out is that A.I. is an experiment in connecting webmasters ( bloggers ) together’faster’. As opposed to being a ‘chatty’ site like Facebook or Myspace Alpha Inventions deals strictly with information .

Here’s brief description about how it works from the Alpha Inventions Blog:

If you update or publish your blog at the same time my visitors are browsing blogs in my site then my visitors will get a chance to see your blog in real-time. BAM! (the entire blog is in their face instantly) It’s not even annoying to watch.  Is it alpha addicts??

I also provide a link to your blog in case they want it to open your blog in a new window, or bookmark your blog . The links provides your title, and description to help my visitors get a better understanding on what your blog is about, and get more interested. Alphainventions.com is useful for wordpress.com , typepad.com, spaces.live.com, and blogger.com I love it, and want to grow it like a tree. Yahh!

To get more traffic from alphainventions.com just keep your blog updated . It’s so simple.

More..

I would say that if I had to describe A.I. in simple terms it’s a bit like wandering through a bookstore or cruising through the footnotes in books ( which is something I like to do with pen and notebook in hand) for some new ideas to feed the old Grey Matter.

So  give Alpha Inventions a visit if you’re interested in the new ways that people are finding to stay connected through the Internet and information sharing.  And if  you are just a writer like me you’ll be intrigued by the desire that people have in a Cyber Universe to find a life line as it were to stay connected to each other.

It’s so real world.

a.m.

AdvenTURE Calendars at Soul Food

/ Anita Marie / 1 Comment

 

There is a tradition at the Soul Food Cafe. Each December, for the past five years, Heather Blakey has launched an Advent Calendar on the first day of December. Advent calendars have long helped build excitement and anticipation on the countdown to Christmas, typically revealing a pretty picture or piece of chocolate behind the cardboard door for each December day along the way. Heather Blakey adopted a new approach to this tradition. Each day during December a new link lights up on the Soul Food Advent Calendar.

The Cafe now has a collection of these beautiful features, kept for posterity and full of prompts and inspiration for eager writers and artists. This lens features all of them.

So check it out HERE and enjoy!

christmas-bells