RTS: NPR Talks about the Death of Rock

An interesting article about how perfectionism in music production might be killing what makes rock music good and unique.

Hat tip to matociquala for pointing it out! :)

[RTS] The Noughties: An Overview (pt 4: 2003)

Oddly enough, I can't think of too much that changed or happened personally to me in 2003...for the most part, it was a continuation of 2002 in terms of my own goals and events. By then I'd just finished off The Persistence of Memories and was working on its revision/rewrite, as well as starting to write The Process of Belief. Work was...well, it was work. After a great year or so at YC, things started changing...our boss Mike (who was probably the best boss we had, IMO) left to go back to his first love, running a restaurant. A few people left and weren't replaced by new hires. And of course when Q4 came around, temps were scarce until it was nearly too late. Things were still okay, I still got along with a lot of friends...but I could tell things were slowly changing.

I'd say most of my music choices by this point were fueled by suggestions from CMJ and other magazines, continuing my insane amount of purchases at Newbury Comics, and listening to Yahoo's Launchcast. I did listen to a bit of radio (including WAMH, of course), but for the most part it was either Launchcast or hearing stuff being played at Newbury. I'd say that while there were a lot of great albums out in 2003, it felt more like a transitional year for me...not all the albums stuck or stayed with me, but there were a lot of GREAT singles. Hence the huge list of videos under the cut. ;)

( Out on the road today I saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac )

[eden cycle] Home stretch!

Reached 1193 words today over the course of a four hours (sidetracked by football and Holmes on Homes, of course), but Chapter 36 is DONE. I'm quite happy with this chapter--I feel it's some of the best work I've done in a long time. Sure, that isn't hard to believe, considering my last serious work was done quite some time ago, but still...I really like how this one worked out.

The next scene's going to be a tough one, though...I could have multi-POV in one chapter on this, or I could continue with the change of POV per chapter and draw out the ending LotR-style (sort of), but it's going to need a lot of POV nontheless. What happens next directly affects a goodly amount of characters of all tiers, and I don't want to leave anyone out, at least not in the first draft. Keep in mind, this isn't a post-climactic "this is what happened to everyone" ending--this whole passage is the climax of the novel and the trilogy itself, and this is what it all led up to, and it's not just affecting the main characters. And it's not just internal change, either.

This may take some time, but I'm hoping this will turn out great.

Also--still need to expand on Chapter 34. Major scene with D'kami/Saishourenzyoushu, and at five pages and only 1500-plus words, it seems a bit short. I may move it to post-Chapter 36, as I think it might flow a little better there...but we'll see.

Either way...I'm thinking right now, it's time for me to use the old standby for mapping out what I want to do--some scrap paper at work, frantically jotting down notes of where I want everything to go. May take a day or so, but I'm sure I can come up with something by then! Definitely looking forward to this...it'll be just like old times again... :)

[writing] DEDICATION.

When you forego watching a Looney Tunes marathon on Cartoon Network, and not pay attention to the Patriots/Colts game, in order to finish off a major chapter of the novel you're working on.