SansPoint

I’ve fancied myself a web site designer, as well as a writer, but the stress of academia, and a certain laziness has kept me using a pre-fabricated template for this website until just now. Rather than continue to use something that doesn’t fully suit the physical needs, and certainly not the aesthetics of this website, I unveil the newly redesigned SansPoint.

A few pieces of design information: The color scheme for the site was generated using the cover art to Brian Eno’s album Another Green World, with a few small tweaks. The logo uses the Clarendon font, and if you have it installed, you’ll also get a number of headings in Clarendon as well.^[1] Also, and this is some serious web-geekery, the entire site, save for some images, is sized with ems, and it should resize dynamically if you increase or decrease your font size.

There are some caveats. In old posts, the images may not be positioned properly, and this must be fixed by hand. I have not been able to test this in Internet Explorer 7, and IE 6 does not render the comments section correctly. Also, I need to redo the About, Archives, Links, and Contact pages to fit both the new design, and provide new content. Finally there will be some tweaking here and there of small design elements as I get used to using the new design.

If you have any comments, praise, complaints, bug reports, or other issues, please post them in the comments. I am very anxious to hear what you think.

1. I had originally planned to use a plugin to dynamically replace all the headings with images using Clarendon, but it was rather flaky, and difficult to format. ↩

A list of all the books in my collection, as a pretty and impressive lookin’ web page.

The above created with Delicious Library.^[1]

1. Sorry, Mac only. ↩

For your Memorial Day^[1] reading pleasure, I’ve thought of a few books that really influenced my writing style and view on fiction.

1. Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams gift for language is really unparalleled. As a writer, I can only try to approach DNA’s apt visual descriptions and humor. For example, his description of hovering alien spaceships: “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” Clever, accurate, and funny all at once, the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy is littered with this sort of thing, making for an amazingly pleasant read. If you’re unfamiliar with his works, start here.
2. David Foster Wallace - Infinite JestSomeone out there may be groaning now. I don’t care. DFW is another author whose use of language and description blew my mind. He has a knack, as well, for amazing metaphors, but he also uses multiple points-of-view and multiple narrators to great effect. While my work doesn’t strive for the same kind of structural experimentation, Wallace shines a light in the direction I want to go. That, and Infinite Jest is just a plain fun read.
3. Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome to the Monkey HouseThis collection of short stories contains my favorite thing Vonnegut ever wrote: “Harrison Bergeron.” Beyond that, Vonnegut’s fiction blends stark, sharp language, elements of pathos, and a wry sense of humor. His writing is taught, stripped to the essentials, and a good antidote to anyone who feels that they need to load up their writing with endless adjectives, purple prose and other garbage to look “literary.”
4. Thomas Pynchon - Gravity’s RainbowI know. Sticking this and Infinite Jest in here makes me look like some sort of pretentious twat, but I have a reason: Pynchon’s fiction is really just that good. Brilliant language, wild humor, experiments with form, the regular winks at the observant reader combine to form something terribly capitvating and fun to read. If you’ve never read Pynchon before, I would suggest starting with The Crying of Lot 49, which is comparatively a pamphlet and still has all the trademark Pynchon quirks.
5. Strunk and White - The Elements of StyleIf you write, and you have never read this book, then shame on you. The guidelines set down in this little volume will improve anyone’s writing, substantially. In fact, I should give it a re-read, myself. The most useful aspect of Elements of Style is how, once a writer has the rules, they can figure out when is the best time to break them. Hard-line adherence can create dull, cookie-cutter writing, and the book even mentions that one should find one’s own style. This is essential.

1. United States readers only, of course. ↩

In about a week and a half, I will be the proud owner of a Bachelor’s of Arts in English.^[1] It has taken me six years, including a pointless three semester stint studying the wrong major (Computer Science) to get to this point. I’m quite proud.

If there’s anything, this means I will officially be qualified to talk about the sort of things I started this blog to talk about. I can analyize, criticize and interpret with impunity. I’ll have the piece of paper to make the point. Furthermore, it’ll remove the biggest time-suck from my life… Academics have a way of pervading every aspect of one’s life. My limited free time between classes and work exists with further academic responsibilitys dangling over my head like a Sword of Damocles. It is finally going to be taken away, and I can finally focus on my personal projects, which include:

• This blog.
• Fifty-Two Stories
• Finally finishing Against the Day
• The rest of my pleasure reading

I am more than ready. All that stands between myself and glory are two exams and a five-page Philosophy paper. They will be finished, I will celebrate with drinks, and I will be free. Expect big things. Wish me luck.

1. This, of course, is dependant on passing all my classes this semester, but the odds of that not happening seem fairly slim. ↩

A guy oughta know when he’s licked. About a year ago, officially launching on April 2nd, I began Fifty-Two Stories, a personal project to write fifty-two short stories. I’d post one a week for a whole year, and maybe do something afterwards.

It lasted for five months. Not terribly bad, and looking over the debris, there’s a few gems. I’m still proud of “Newborn Imminent”, and “Week Three.” “Week Three,” in fact, with a bit of spit and polish, could probably be publishable. In total, I managed to write 23 stories, which is 21 more than I expected to write.^[1] After all, I was—still am— a college student, working part-time, and there were a couple months of serious social stress that left my creativity utterly zapped for a while. All I could focus on at the time was my survival, and my academics.

Also, I broke the damn site upgrading to a newer version of WordPress, and could scarcely muster up the energy to do anything to fix it. I didn’t even know what was causing the problem until just recently.

So, the whole damn shebang’s been taken down. The site’s still there. The stories still in the database, but the site is displaying a polite apology and promise of a do-over. The current plan is to kick things off on June 1st, with a potential for bumping the start date back to July 1st due to the uncertainty of my physical location, free time, and form of employment.^[2]

I stand before you a man who has admitted defeat. Unlike Jonathan Coulton whose “Thing-a-Week” project inspired this… thing… I failed. The most important thing is to not wallow, but to get back on that wagon. I just want a chance to clean the gravel out of my wounds first.

1. It’s called “realistic expectations.” ↩
2. I am possibly going to spend this summer studying to become a New York City public school teacher. If this falls through, I am possibly going to spend this summer sending rèsumès and cover letters to any company with entry-level positions in the NYC Metropolitan Area. If that also fails, I am possibly going to cause violence. ↩