I realize I represent an oxymoron of sorts to people. A conundrum. An enigma wrapped in a riddle soaked in questionable sauce. I am a geek and rabid sports fan.
I grew up with sports-loving parents. Oh, they loved me too, but it wasn’t the same. I was born a mere three years after the Seattle Mariners formed, and the Seahawks preceded them by just a year more. My infancy mirrored those two glorious franchises.
Of course, my toddler brain failed to wrap around the significance of these new regional teams. I ignorantly ignored their meaningful presence even while my parents would shutter themselves in house, willing their teams to victory (or not, as in the case of the Mariners).
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A month ago, Roxanne got her new Web site, which incorporated her latest Tweet in her footer. It’s a nifty idea I’ve seen on several other sites, and I knew Roxanne would like it. However, it was not near as easy to implement as it should have been.
Due to some unknown server configuration, Wordpress had trouble grabbing the Twitter RSS feed with any consistency. No matter which plugin I used, error messages occurred 90% of the time. I spent at least 10 hours researching the subject and participating in a small discussion on the matter.
I’ve finally devised a workaround by using Twitter’s Atom feed instead of RSS. For the last four days it has worked without a hitch. All the function does is grab the most recent tweet and prints it along with how long ago it was tweeted.
Follow the link below for the code, and feel free to see it working on Roxanne’s page.
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First of all, go look at Roxanne Cooke’s new Web site. If you came back here afterward, I’d be surprised. It’s that pretty.
I took her old design out back, loaded two shells into the shotgun, shed a tear, and *KABLAMO* it was Ol’ Yeller time. Despite the death that heralded its incarnation, the new design rose like a phoenix and carries a strong bouquet of that new-site smell.
As of the time I’m writing this, Roxanne hasn’t yet finished putting up all of her content. She still has several hundred photos to upload and many blog posts to write. Still, you can marvel at the fantastic design.
So, get on over there, sign up for user accounts, and constantly harangue her for more blog posts and photo uploads!
I’ve read in a couple places that there are three new fantasy authors that form what I call the New Guard. Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss, and Joe Abercrombie have all made impressive fantasy debut series [apparently, like deer the word series is both the singular and plural form]. They all three write with familiar styles, characters, and plots, but they equally avoid the clichés. Their writings could also be considered fairly literary, as opposed to much of the fantasy I’ve been exposed to.
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I’ve long held a bias against movies filmed before 1990. Now that’s just a rough guideline. There were some films in the ’70s & ’80s that were ahead of their time and some in the ’90s past their time. Overall, the premise holds true.
When I watch a movie, I tend to get immersed in it, much as I read a novel. I tend to forget that I’m observing a artificial medium and I experience the story. That’s largely the reason I need characters I can connect with, otherwise my immersion isn’t enjoyable.
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