Sunday, January 17, 2010

Snippets of this Week

Just a blog of little bits & pieces of this week. Nothing startling or earth shattering. I would be remiss if I didn't refer to the Leno vs O'Brien business. Townie Bastard (a Newfoundland blogger who now lives in Nunavut) had a link to a site where one can 'Conan Yourself''. The results of that are on the right. I'm sure that you are wondering, "Who is Alan, really? Last week he's trying to be Bob Ross, this week Conan." This is true, I may have a bit of an identity crisis going on.

I was always a Johnny Carson fan and Jay Leno grew on me after a while. I have watched Conan in small doses but found a lot of his shtick a bit juvenile. That being said, I think mock commercials and his skits on his resemblance to Finland's first female president Tarja Halonen were hilarious.

My writing productivity this week was non-existent. I attribute this to an on-going job for work that I still haven't finished, a couple of bouts of snow shovelling and general laziness. I was shovelling this morning and thought that a body part or two were about to drop off as it was -13 Celsius with a wind chill of -25. Winter is finally here, though there are many other locations in North America who have it worse, so I'll shut up now...

We got out to the Revue 2009 on Wednesday night. This is the 25th annual production where local actors/musicians/comedians perform non-stop skits for about 3 hours, mocking municipal, provincial and federal politicians. A great evening's entertainment. We also took the boy to see 'Daybreakers' last night. A few minutes into that, I was wondering if we had made a big mistake. He is a bit prone to nightmares and I thought the subject matter and gore would bring them on. He seems to have slept well last night (knock on the proverbial wood). I thought that the storyline was original and showed a lot of promise, but it seemed to slip into a gore-fest and relied on cheap scares throughout the movie. It was a bit short at 98 minutes and the story could have been expanded a bit more.

I'd like to refer you to a couple of insightful blogs from this week: Katey Taylor had a great blog this week regarding writers and genre, expanding on what Aaron Polson had started earlier in the week. She provides a link to WD Prescott's piece about "what horror is." Mercedes Yardley at 'A Broken Laptop' had an insightful blog about writers juggling the demands between work, family and, or course, writing. The funniest thing I read this week was an interview of the talented Laura Eno over at Miscellaneious Yammering by Karen Schindler. Hilarious stuff. Check those out if you get a chance.

I've got a few errands to run, so I'll stop rambling now. Perhaps this week I will write.

12 comments:

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks for the shout out Alan! We had a blast doing the interview. Laura is a dream to work with.

Karen :0)

Laura Eno said...

Oh...my...god. That hair is just not you, Alan. Do you know what a fright I took when that picture came up in my reader? :)

Thanks for the shout out for the interview with Karen. I had a blast doing it. I hope I'll be invited back, once she repairs the damage to the studio, of course.

You'll write when you have something that you want to put down onto paper. It can't be otherwise.

EC said...

Love the photo shops you do. Thanks for some of these links - going to check out Katey Taylor's blog and Broken Laptop.

Danielle Birch said...

Ahhh, getting back into the swing of things. My word count has been appallingly small this past week as well.

Fox Lee said...

I'm impressed with myself - I knew it was Conan's hair before even reading the entry! : )

Anonymous said...

A bit restless tonight, so I was reading blogs. Apparently what I needed was a shot of you in Conan hair. I can sleep now.

Thanks for the mention! I've been acutely aware of how many people are feeling the pressure of trying to do it all lately. I think we should all flee outside and make snow angels until the hysteria passes.

-Mercedes

Laurita said...

I hear you on shoveling in the cold. What are we thinking? We should just stay inside with a pot of coffee until spring thaw.

Thanks for the blog link. I'm always excited to find out about new places to read.

Your photo is hilarious!

Katey said...

HAHAHA you Conan'd yourself. that is AWESOME.

Thanks for the mention, but also for the discussion of Daybreakers. I was considering going to see it, but maybe I'll just wait for Netflix. I hate spending on a movie and being vaguely let down when I come out.

Kat said...

Oh Alan, fire your hairdresser!

Lmao! Kidding. Try the other Conan next time. I bet you'd look awesome with Arnie's locks, lol.

:)

Paula RC said...

I too went to see Daybreakers and felt the same... I was left wanting to know more. I love your hair, just as good as mine. lol

Now will you sit down and get on with some writing. I shall drop by again to see if you have taken the hint. X

Alan W. Davidson said...

Karen, Thanks!

Laura, Yep. Pretty scary. Haven't had hair like that in years...thanks for the encouraging words. You trashed her studio? That's it! You're not allowed to come for a visit!

Erin, Thanks. Though, sticking red hair on my grey head is a lame substitute for writing.

Danielle, Let's cheer each other on!

Nat, Conan's hair doesn't stand up to the photo of Saotome Hikaru you had posted recently...

Mercedes, I'm glad me in Conan hair brought on sleep rather than nightmares. I like you snow angel idea. I would try it out back but I fear I may lie in dog poo. I didn't know that it snowed in Vegas.

Laurita, Glad that you liked the photo. The snow was an odd amount. Deep in places, but not enough to justify dragging out the snow blower from the shed.

Katey, yeah, Netflix might be the way to go. I'm all for saving a few bucks (Scottish, and all...)

Kat, I save the Arnie hair and costume for late on Thursday nights...;)

Jarmara, Now I really want to see a picture of your hair! Thanks for the subtle hint about writing. I need a kick in the backside now and again. You're a good person.

Carrie Harris said...

Whee! More ways to procrastinate! I'll be giving myself goofy hair and visiting those links momentarily!