Dial-Up News

43 Things

We all have goals. I know I do. But can we stick with them? Not always. They say it's helpful to write them down. This little website will help you keep track of them and, who knows, maybe someone will be striving for that same goal. Good luck!

Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer

Seth MacFarlane

I love watching people do cartoon voices. I don't know why, but I always have. My favorite person to watch is Hank Azaria, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any videos of him doing voices online. But these two are great, and I think Harry Shearer is awesome anyway (doing Simpsons voices or not). So give yourself 15 minutes or so and be blown away by these crazy talents.

Google Mars

...BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

I hope I can get driving directions soon!

I'm calling it right now. The Academy Is... is going to be the next big thing. Fall Out Boy clones are the hot thing right now and The Academy Is... pulls off that signature Fall Out Boy sound better than Fall Out Boy can (don't believe me? Go buy From Under The Cork Tree). So keep an eye on MTV or Teen People or whoever else tells you what to like, and I bet in no time you'll find yourself shopping at Hot Topic for something to wear to the next The Academy Is... concert (featuring Panic! At The Disco, of course).

Official Google Blog: Writely so

Remember how I wrote about Writely a few months ago? Well, now Writely is part of Google, just the like rest of the Internet. Which means it's gonna rock even more. Keep an eye on it.

To the two of you who read this:

I need some help. Since last December, I've been planning on participating in NaNoWriMo 2006. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is an event in November where participants (last year there were 42,000) try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Yep, a full 175-page novel in just 30 days. Apparently it's unbelieveably stressful (go figure) but I also hear that there's a real sense of community as well. They say that writing a novel is one of those "one day" events, as in "one day I'd like to write a novel." Well, with NaNoWriMo, people do. Last year, over six thousand hit the 50,000 word mark by the end of November. So this year, I'm gonna load up on coffee and set aside the classwork as I write the next great American novel. Either that or 175 pages of steaming crap. Probably the latter.

But herein lies my problem. I don't have any ideas. I know kind of what I want to write, but it's going to be tough. I'm going to write a completely fictional memoir (since memoirs are usually what I read). I'm going to James Frey my entire book and probably wander outside of the realm of realism a time or two. So here's what I have so far:

1) completely fictional memoir
2) starts off in St. Louis, ends up in Chicago (ages 7 to about 35ish)
3) at least one alcoholic parent
4) a crazy uncle
5) various junior high/high school problems
6) no less than three dead end jobs
7) superheroes are a plus

Oh, holy crap, I got it! I'll write a fictional memoir about a superhero. Sweet. What powers should I have?

1) flight is always good, but hovering works too
2) teleportation?
3) invisibility could be fun
4) time travel is another option, but it's been used before

Or, maybe I'll write about a struggling author. Who has to turn to some crappy job to make ends meet, like substitute teaching at a school for behaviorally deficient kids (see: No One's Even Bleeding by Lenny Castellaneta). Hmm.

So, you see, I need your help. I need ideas for my novel. Because I'm not that creative, really. So leave your comments or send me an e-mail if you have something that'd be cool and I'll steal it and claim it as my own. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Drew

I think Computer Science 1040 is just about the easiest class I've ever had in my life. Well, I had some pretty easy 2nd grade classes, but CS1040 is the easiest I've taken at Mizzou. I was thinking about that today as I sat in lecture, not taking notes. For some reason, I've always picked up computer languages super fast. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and now Visual Basic. It all just clicks with me and makes perfect sense. My mind works a lot like computer code does and I definitely think like a computer programmer. I've always loved little logic problems (Mrs. Brown lives two doors down from the yellow house, which isn't Mary's) and that's exactly what computer programming is, just on a much larger scale. So I'm totally blowing this class out of the water and it kinda makes me want to take more computer science. I think this may also be the initiative that pushes me to teach myself PHP. We'll see.