· "Real" "Art" (August 2004 )

A short treatise on "real" "art".

· Dive into Python (July 2004 )

Mark Pilgrim publishes "Dive into Python".

· YAY!!! (May 2004 )

My book is on its way... yay!

· My goal this year... (March 2004 )

A book a month... think I can do it?

· My books for sale at Powell's! (March 2004 )

Nifty places my book can be found.

· I'm done! (March 2004 )

all. done. tired. now.

· Ender's Game: movie (February 2004 )

Ender's Game is being made into a movie. Orson Scott Card has written the first script, and a second script is being written by the writers of X-Men 2... I'm looking forward to this....

· A Quick Vote (February 2004 )

Soliciting opinion...

· It's done! (February 2004 )

Finished the last chapter!

· OK, since it's public now... (January 2004 )

Wherein I spill.

· Gary Benchley, Rock Star (September 2003 )

And I realize, basically, we're talking Greek tragedy in the waiting if I don't get the fuck out of Albany. We're talking a story that is the bastard child of Arthur Miller and Henry Miller if I am not permitted to make my own life where I do not have to think about my mother post-coitus with the Jadster. The Letters of Gary Benchley, Rock Star: Coming to New York...

· The life and times... (September 2003 )

the tristram Shandy web This is an annotated, online version of Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, a groundbreaking book for its time. I've never actually finished reading it, but what I have read was extremely appealing. The site's authors have preserved the original layout (which is extremely important to the book), including two completely black pages in Vol I, Chapter XII. If you have a few days to kill, I'd suggest reading through the book - either online or in print (preferably, of course, in print)...

· Internet plagiarism on the rise... (September 2003 )

A Campus Fad That's Being Copied: Internet Plagiarism This NYTimes article says that 38% of American undergraduate students have cut & pasted content from the Web without citing the source. This is up from 10% three years ago. One of the researchers gave the following explanation:"There are a lot of students who are growing up with the Internet who are convinced that anything you find on the Internet is public knowledge and doesn't need to be cited." Even worse, one of the student respondent's comments was:"If professors cannot detect a paper from an Internet source, that is a flaw in the grader or professor" The issue of intellectual property may be up for discussion on the Internet, but in the halls of academia, the rules are pretty well-set. If the idea isn't yours, don't take claim for it. Students plagiarize because they're lazy, or they "don't have time" to properly research. They don't see it as a big deal, even if they get caught red-handed. For the teacher, however, it's an entirely different matter. Let me tell you a little about K's experience as an educator. K has 40 students. As an English 101 instructor, she assigns them 4 essays throughout the year. Last year, she was also doing 12 short writing assignments. That's 640 pieces of writing throughout the year. Essays range from 4-12 pages (depending on the length of assignment). Last year, K experienced Internet plagiarism first-hand with some of her students. Each time, as an educator, it was demoralizing to find that one of her students had plagiarized. She spent a lot of time deciding whether or not to turn the student in, then was forced to recommend sanctions (usually failing the course with the academic equivalent of a felony on their record) on the student once she did. The experiences left her drained and sad - and increased her workload by forcing her to run random pieces of her other 40 students' papers through the search engines. The time increase involved in that is incredible. As a primary instructor, K is paid for roughly 10 hours of work per week, including 3 hours of instructional time. She pours her soul into her kids and puts in many extra hours to ensure they have a good education. The majority of people who have plagiarized in her class never took 5 minutes to walk up to her office and ask for help in the class. Aside from the increase in her own workload, what seemed to perplex her the most about plagiarism was the fact that these kids (or their parents) are paying a princely sum for their education; and they waste every cent of it, because they take nothing away from the class, since they're not actually creating their own ideas about the text. And I suppose she can elaborate from here, if she wishes. :)...

· Book meme (September 2003 )

I'm sure it's been done before... but here's my top, all-time favourite books:William Gibson. Neuromancer Pete McCormickUnderstanding Ken ShelbyDouglas Coupland. Microserfs Aldous Huxley. Brave New World Hiromi Goto. Chorus of Mushrooms Anne Michaels. Fugitive Pieces Carol Shields. Swann. Michael Ondaatje.Running in the Family In the Skin of a LionPico Iyer. The Lady and the Monk Barbara Kingsolver. The Poisonwood Bible Zora Neale Hurston. Their eyes were watching God Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders Orson Scott Card. The Ender series There's many, many more than that, but I either can't think of the titles, or I need the rest of my books here (they're currently sitting in Abbotsford) What are your favourite books?...

· hoopla! (August 2003 )

Leslie was kind enough to use one of my photos for her new Hoopla500 Go take a look, and read through the old 500s if you haven't already!...

· neuromancer script (August 2003 )

I've always wondered why there's never been a Neuromancer movie made. Apparently it's been on the backburner for a long, long time, with the script having been written back in 1990, by Chuck Russel. And today I found a copy. (posted inside)...

· I have no mouth and I must scream (July 2003 )

I may have just found a full text copy of the story here....

· Looking for books... ()

Hey guys... I'm looking for a couple of books... and rather than give the Big Heavies my money, thought I'd see if any of you had copies you were willing to part with.Harlan Ellison. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. (Collection of short stories, though the title story is the one I'm interested in reading) Neal Stephenson. Cryptonomicon. I'm also drooling over Gibson's Pattern Recognition, since I've heard nothing but good reviews about it, and Douglas Coupland has a new book out as well... but $40 for a single book is just way too much money for me....

· Books in the wild... (July 2003 )

In searching for Edmonton bookstores online, I came across this site, which appears to be a site detailing where to find books "released into the wild". It seems that this is the literary equivalent of geocaching; when you're done with a book, you register it on the site, write the unique bookid inside, then just leave it somewhere (noting on the website where it was left). I'll have to search around and see if I can find some! (There a bunch in Abbotsford too...)...

· A little story about bikes. (July 2003 )

Lance Arthur writes an interesting tale of biking in the city. The problem is that we inhabit this little weird space between pedestrian and full-blown actual gas-guzzling car. Pedestrians can flaunt their freedom, they can go where they like and give snotty looks, I know, I've been there. I've felt the power of holding up traffic, of thinking "you'll get there in plenty of time, you're in such a hurry, lives will not end if you aren't at Starbucks 8 minutes from now." I've contemplating dropping rolls of nickels in busy intersections and then taking the time to pick up every last one while every last car waits on me, feeling their hatred and derision like hot water bathing my whole soul. I've also been behind the wheel, I've been the guy with sweaty palms in a rush to nowhere in particular, revving the engine, timing the amber, jackrabbitting off the line and gunning for the exit lane. I know what it's like to wait for the goddam pedestrian crossing the goddam street and doesn't he goddam know I have goddam places to goddam be right goddam now and how can it goddam take so goddam long to goddam cross the goddam street? Sadly, I know exactly how he feels. Mental note as well to add him into the "to read.." column....

· Adieu, Ms. Shields (July 2003 )

Carol Shields has passed away, due to complications from breast cancer. And with her goes some of the best writing talent in Canada....

· bring back the lawn dart! (July 2003 )

Anders wants to bring back the lawn dart. I agree....

· order of the phoenix (June 2003 )

The new Harry Potter book is coming out tomorrow. I'm going to be most of the way up a mountain. Can someone pick a copy up for me? :)...

· two good reads... (May 2003 )

As I take a moment away from making up a writing plan, I'll tell you guys about a couple of good reads I've come across in the last couple of days. The Matrix Reloaded Explained: An interesting read, explaining how there's actually quite a bit of philosophy in the Matrix Reloaded if you take a moment to look. I can't say I agree with everything in there; nevertheless, much of it is very convincing. "...she's a flight risk". The online journal of a twentysomething international fugitive, running from her extremely rich family. The story given in the "about the author" section is that she had planned a disappearance for quite some time, but made the decision shortly after an arranged marriage was set up, and the words "she's a flight risk" were uttered. If the writings contained within are true, it's an intriguing tale of how someone changed her identity, laundered money internationally, and repeatedly dodged capture by her pursuers. If it's a work of fiction... then it's a damned good work of fiction. I personally lean towards this interpretation. The 'author' has done a great job of leading us on, and ending posts in such a way that issues and events are left unresolved - which is, of course, the best way to retain your readership. In other news, Kirsten - blog pirate extraordinaire - has herself fled away from home. She's visiting her family in Abbotsford, and is due back on Wednesday....

· I can finally tell you... (February 2003 )

Since details were released this morning, I can finally tell you what the big project back in December was... I'm published! I contributed a chapter to Practical Intranet Development, being released by Glasshaus Publishing next month. Glasshaus approached me last December, and asked if I was interested in contributing to the book - and damned if I didn't say yes. A flurry of writing activity later (literally a week turnaround), and my chapter was in, signed and stamped. I received my own copies last week, and have had a chance to read through the rest of the authors' work. Not that I'm biased (or that I get royalties for that matter), but I'd strongly recommend purchasing the book if you're currently working, or planning to work with an Intranet in the near future. To mark the occassion, I made a kinky little graphic......

· you never see them coming... (February 2003 )

Another piece of collaborative fiction...... have fun! I'd only heard whispered rumours of their existence, over whiskeys in a shady bar. They kill through sheer fright, leaving no witnesses in their path. And now, six feet in front of me, stood 4 of them....

· fuck fuck fuck (February 2003 )

Shift.com As you may have heard, Shift's publishers made the decision yesterday to suspend the publication of Shift indefinitely. Our last issue will hit newsstands the first week of March. Putting together the magazine and website has been a labour of love for all of us here, and so it's with great regret that we make this announcement....

· nasty (January 2003 )

you will never know the truth. The latest issue of nasty is out, with lots of juicy writing goodness. Check it out!...

· raise a glass... (January 2003 )

It's Tolkien's eleventy-first birthday.... raise a glass at 9pm....

· nifty ()

Pepys' Diary This site is a presentation of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London, England (read more about him). A new entry written by Pepys will be published each day, with the first appearing on 1st January 2003. This site is run by Phil Gyford (who is far from an expert) and questions and comments are more than welcome at phil@gyford.com....

· something to read... (December 2002 )

My good friend Alan is starting to write a series of articles on what he learned in the Self Employment Program HDRC runs. Here's part 1 - Marketting and Positioning...

· wow. (November 2002 )

Heiress Makes $100 Million Bequest to Poetry Magazine...

· need a copywriter? (October 2002 )

Need a copywriter? Check out ScreamingMan Media - from the same twisted mind the brings you the Midget....

· cameo (October 2002 )

I got myself a little cameo in Professional Whistling......

· the midget strikes again (October 2002 )

ScreamingMidget: Hunting Season...

· Super Happy Collaborative Fiction #2 (September 2002 )

It's time once again for collaborative fiction!...

· Oblivio (September 2002 )

Oblivio A site to check out when I have an hour or so...

· Christopher Walken in a speedo! Gack! (September 2002 )

Among other things, Anders discusses the Lycra effect in his latest article......

· 4U (September 2002 )

Digital Web Magazine - Wide Open: 99.9% of Proper Grammar Is Obsolete l8r...

· call for proposals (September 2002 )

It's nasty promotion time again... How do we talk about that which can't be spoken, the thing which resists naming? Issue thirteen of nasty tackles the representation of fear in literature, cinema and pop culture. Although the antagonist plays a crucial role in many conflicts, the representation of conceptual evil necessarily takes some kind of form. In Early Modern England, the devil might appear as a black man with cloven feet or a tail - his minstrels, in the form of familiars. In modern horror novels, the monster may likewise be an animal, an automobile, or more often than not, human. The Exorcist - a film where the monster is a little girl - has recently been voted the scariest movie of all time. Although her possession moves her from innocence to evil, a stereotypical trope, why does this movie remain so terrifying? How do we discuss fear in a jaded post modern world? Why do the things which frightened us 600 years ago continue to scare us now? How has 9/11 changed what we are scared of on a daily basis? What scares us? What frightened those in the texts we study? nasty welcomes submissions addressing the concept of fear from across the humanities. Submissions should be in MS Word format, and emailed to Kirsten C. Uszkalo. Submission deadline is October 15th, 2002. For more information, contact nasty at submissions@nasty.cx, or visit the website...

· a good read... (September 2002 )

Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense 'nuff said....

· good reading... (August 2002 )

It took me awhile to get there, but I'm reading through The Cluetrain Manifesto today... so far, it's a good read, and I'd highly recommend it. The entire book can be read on the website linked above. Do what I did, and print it out....

· Super Happy Collaborative Fiction (August 2002 )

Sitting in with two of my coworkers today gave me the idea (ok, I blatantly stole it from them) to do a collaborative story on the site... The rules are pretty basic. Every person gets to add a single sentence to the story. Participating is easy - simply leave your sentence as a comment to this story... and there's nothing to say you can't leave multiple comments, or go all Finnegans Wake on our asses either. I'm going to date this a few days ahead, so everyone gets a chance to play. ;)...

· update... (August 2002 )

I've updated my writings section with all the material I've had published on CramSession. If you haven't gone to read the articles before, go view them now!...

· welcome back, Bård (July 2002 )

My favourite New York illustrator has returned to the online world with a site featuring his writing: edlundart poems Go take a visit, and say "welcome back" to Bård Edlund....

· the screaming midget's latest installment... (July 2002 )

ScreamingMidget: At The Movies: Things I've Learned At The Movies...

· Speak of the devil... (July 2002 )

Speaking of Cramsession, my latest article has hit the presses: A Guide to Content Management Systems...

· as quickly as it came... ()

...it went. I just got word that the bigwigs at CramSession have decided to discontinue the WebGuru Voodoo column this week, and I won't even get the chance to take over the reigns :( I knew before taking the gig that its days were numbered... but neither I nor the person who gave me the contract knew they were that few! On the bright side, they'll probably up my standard article contract to 3 or 4 a month, instead of the 2 I'm currently writing....

· aaaah.. (June 2002 )

ScreamingMidget - great site, created by a co-worker. Go take a read! (especially this piece)....

· time management (June 2002 )

I was going to write an article on time management, but someone else did it better....

· new article... (June 2002 )

Hot off the presses (ok, keyboard of my contact at Cramsession) is Linux for Webheads: Getting Started. It's the piece that was supposed to be published before the Apache for Webheads article was. Got take a read, and let me know what you think....

· fare thee well ()

Canada has just lost a great writer. Author Timothy Findley died in his sleep last night in his home in France. (Hat tip to Jayme for the sad news)...

· it's out... (June 2002 )

The latest issue of nasty has hit the stands... It features some great writing, and a brand spankin' new design. Go there now!...

· Manual (May 2002 )

"Manual"An anthology of new work from seventeen writers with websites. It is available as a downloadable PDF, which requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. You probably already have it. Feel free to forward, print, share, discuss, deconstruct, and/or cherish. I know the writing of most of these people through the webdesign circle... and it's definitely worth checking out....

· Now that's a compliment... (May 2002 )

The first part of Linux for WebHeads is currently being read by the editors at CramSession... K dropped by their office today to talk to the lead content developer there and apparently my article converted one of their Windows guys. Now that's a compliment....

· A good read... (April 2002 )

Alex Massie's afterDinner: for Readers has been relaunched! If you've got a good hour or so, sit down and pour through this site....