On the Tip of Your Tongue

Mad About Words sponsored a writing workshop with Ellie Watts-Russell the current writer in residence at the Kerouac house. She organized the workshop to explore the power of taste, sound and touch as artistic triggers. The workshop began in the Kerouac house living room where she asked everyone to introduce themselves and point out one quirky fact from their lives. Ellie worked in a men's prison. The man in front of me said the smell of bacon always reminded him of his time in the navy. A woman related that she electrocuted herself in the kitchen once. Every person offered a fascinating taste and I wanted to hear more. An excerpt was read from several authors who explored the senses in their writing. One paragraph was from Jack Kerouac's Darma Bums, where he described his ascent up a rocky mountainside. It was vivid and clear. Ellie had a sweet British accent, and she would acknowledge writing she loved as "Brilliant."

Ellie then asked everyone a series of questions which would help indicate if you were a visual, aural, or tactile author. One question was, after buying an item of IKEA furniture would you,
A. Read the instructions.
B. Ask a friend for advice or
C. Start building and learn as you go.
I was sketching but I am fairly sure I am a visual person. Besides I haven't fully smelled anything since I moved to Florida.

Ellie then invited everyone to the back room of the house. There she had items to stimulate the senses. For smell there was a large Magnolia blossom floating in a clear bowl of water. For touch there was a brown puddle in a paper plate that held it's form when lifted like some primordial ooze. For taste there was some cotton candy which had collapsed in the Florida heat forming compact pancakes of multicolored sweetness. Ellie was mortified and put out some fresh "candy floss" but everyone picked up and tasted the hardened masses. On the wall there were photos. A man pushed a large block of ice. A long line of people struggled up a dune. A young girls face was illuminated by her laptop.

Then everyone sat down to write. Many authors sat outside to enjoy the beautiful day. I finished my sketch as they wrote. I wanted to get home to Terry so I didn't stick around to hear what everyone wrote. I thanked Ellie for letting me sit in and started home. On the drive back I passed a black limo and a hearse. It seemed sad that only two cars followed. Later a gleaming white hearse and limo made a left turn down the Orange Blossom Trail. A large white SUV screeched to a halt in the middle of the intersection and two men in white suits jumped out to direct traffic so that the insanely long line of cars could breeze through. As an artist or author we always hope we can touch many lives with whatever we create. I wondered if my funeral would have one car or a long line in tow. It is a vain glorious thing to ponder but what matters is that I leave something behind, and that I never let my senses grow dull. Howl at the moon and rush off in search of the next sketch.

Foil Muse Receptor Caps

The Silver Fern Writing Workshop held the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month is approaching its second anniversary. To help celebrate this milestone, Janna and Geoff Benge decided to mix it up and have some fun by having the authors create their own thinking caps, which they would then wear to tune in to their creative muse. My wife Terry planned to attend and I decided this was a sketch opportunity which could not be missed. When I arrived Janna started telling me that she had just gotten a text from a friend who was in Roswell and he wanted to know if she knew where to find the aliens. This was rather fortuitous, a sign.

Muse cap supplies were scattered about on the dining room table. There was plenty of tin foil, tin pie pans, buttons, rubber bands, straws, soda cup tops, tape and a glue gun. The first author to arrive, already had his tin foil cap made. It had two large handles and a large satellite disk. He explained that tin foil is usually used to deflect the forces of mind control. The disk however was a conduit for pure creative inspiration. Rachel Kapitan designed an elegant Victorian looking bonnet that resembled a peacock when it spread open, fan like, perched on her head. Karen Price used a pie plate cap with a central antenna with a disk and button to catch her signal. Another author used a simple foil cap with foil flames flowing out behind his head. He claimed the design was based on the classic mullet hair style. One author crafted a very accurate Mickey Mouse aluminum skull cap with two buttons that made it look eerily life like. I made some very simple viking horns for my baseball cap to assist in my sketching.

Soon everybody put on their caps and got down to the serious business of writing. The room grew quiet and the pencils, pens and keyboards clicked and scratched out the messages caught by the twitching antennae capturing inspiration from the ether. Twenty minutes flew by as I sketched furiously trying to capture the quirky moment.

Everyone was then asked to share their musings. As Rachel read her story, I became infatuated with the way the potted Mother in Law tongue plant flamed up beside her. I enjoyed Geoff's story about an author's dependence on his foil cap. He claimed the cap allowed him to go where no mind had gone before. He experienced such a high from the creativity generated by the cap, that he started wearing it to sleep and in the shower. It slowly became clear that this man's addiction to creativity bordered on insanity.

Terry managed to press the wrong button on her computer and she lost everything she wrote. Several authors helped her search the hard drive with no luck. This is another advantage of analog over digital, things don't just disappear. After everyone had read their stories, the serious business began of drinking Funky Llama White Wine and enjoying the conversations about art and literature in the internet age. The stories and laughter lasted late into the night. Rachel gave Terry pointers on how to incorporate more dialogue in her stories. As I was walking to my truck outside, I glanced back through a window and noticed the warmth of the light as the remaining authors talked around the dining room table. One author was on the front lawn using his cell phone, the foil cap still on his head.

Machinima Book by SL Authors is At the Publishers!

Well it's about time I get my friends back after a year of their hard work researching, interviewing many many machinimatographers (or is it machinimists? machinimisters?-not sure) and writing their book about machinima with a heavy focus on Second Life but including interviews and information from various other platforms such as World of Warcraft, The Sims and others.

Word Woman, Sonicity Fitzroy, and Machinima Man, Lowe Runo, (I swear I'm going to make them the super hero outfits to match my secret pet names for them some day), have completed their book which is out to the publisher and Soni has written about the book at their web site: Magnum, The Machinima Review, a monthly blog Soni does here: http://magnummachinima.blogspot.com/ and direct link here: MagnumHere.

I'll quote the blog here a little, but go and check it out for yourself......"many did contribute to the making of Modern Machinima: Aesthetics and Practice in Game and Virtual Film making. The manuscript now awaits the first round of review by the publishers and the process continues through the summer months, with a Fall 2011 release scheduled."

So, yeah.. Yay! They are done! Well... it seems their work is never done and I am very sure they are both on to other major projects even as I write this. Many SL avatars are mentioned in the book and I think it will be a fun read for a lot of people especially since we will recognize many of the key players who provided expert insight for their book. I sat in on one of their round table interviews and was a bit in awe of the experience and knowledge the group had. They did include amateurs as well as many professionals in their open discussion groups for a good variety of skill levels and insight. But the leg work was done by these two hard working individuals who have a end product they should be very proud of in RL and SL. Their individual experience and skills blend exceptionally well for a team that is very productive. Soni herself is a RL educator in the media field, is previously published, has a great deal of long term experience in RL/SL media and machinima and of course Lowe is the machinimaster with the amazing special effects and SL/RL photography and video skills and experience. Search my blog for past information on both of these two if interested.

If you really want to see these two in action check them out this Friday at 2 SLT when they present at the Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education Conference in SL. I've previously blogged about this as well. They are both great speakers with a passion for teaching and assisting others in learning more about machinima. Check it out! O, btw, did I mention they are friends of mine? heheh : )