Monthly Archives: May 2004
Mail Woes
Posted on May 28, 2004
Another quick note, which will go a long way to explaining my e-mail woes as of late: Apparently AOL has banned the server I’m on because of spam issues (someone is spamming and it’s not me). Since my mail has apparently not been arriving to more than just AOLers, this makes me wonder how many […]
Oh, One Thing.
Posted on May 28, 2004
No, I’m not back. I just forgot to link to this: A short interview I did with Randy Quaid about his upcoming SciFi Network miniseries Five Minutes to Midnight. Okay, now I really am off until the 7th.
Open Thread 1
Posted on May 27, 2004
While I’m not updating, here’s an open thread for y’all to play in, the very first on the Whatever. Remember to play nice and don’t wreck the joint. I still gotta live here, you know. See you on 6/7.
Summer Break 2004
Posted on May 27, 2004
The picture above is an excellent metaphor for my presence online through June 6th: I’ll be around, but you won’t see much of me. I’m taking a 10-day summer break, partly because it’s a holiday weekend and I’ll have family fun to experience, and then I’ll be traveling to Chicago, but also because I think […]
Catblogging 5/26
Posted on May 26, 2004
Ghlaghghee has been with us a year as of tomorrow, and in that time she’s gone from being a tiny ball of fluff to being a rather substantial-sized cat (as you can see from the picture above) and also from being a “he” to a “she.” Actually, she was a she when we got her, […]
You Are Here
Posted on May 26, 2004
Here’s a link to a video for Sam Bisbee’s song You Are Here, off his most recent album, High. It’s a pretty clever video, sort of like what you’d come up with if you wanted to do something in the vein of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” but had only $83.25 to work with. Although I’m sure […]
A Speech Too Late
Posted on May 25, 2004 2 Comments
No, I didn’t watch it. I’ve stopped watching Bush speak live on the notion that since every time he speaks he seems like a bored third grader dutifully if uncomprehendingly reciting his line in the class play. I find it so aggravating I can’t actually concentrate on what he’s saying. So I skip the speechifying […]
Bye-Bye IndieCrit
Posted on May 24, 2004
I’ve decided to stop updating IndieCrit, not because I’m bored with doing it — I like finding music that other people haven’t heard before — but for the simple fact that hardly anyone visits it. In the average week, it lags behind the visitors to the Whatever by about a multiple of 30. Since the […]
Author Appearance
Posted on May 24, 2004
Let me put on my author hat for a second: I’ll be at Book Expo America — that’s a huge annual publishing industry thing in Chicago — on the 5th and 6th of June (I’ll actually be flying in on the 4th, but it’ll be fairly late and then I have to check in and […]
Other Whatevers
Posted on May 22, 2004
Look at this: There are at least two other blogs named Whatever. Here’s one, and here’s the other. Interestingly, I haven’t found another blog or online journal (or whatever) by someone named “Scalzi.” Lots of people writing online named John, of course.
Your insufferably Cute Athena Moment For the Day
Posted on May 21, 2004
Work, work, work for me today, so no long screeds about writing or marriage or politics or whatever. Instead I’ll pass along a cute moment between me and Athena, when we were in the car and I was playing one of my CDs. Athena, who does enjoy her music, piped up and made a new […]
Double Posts
Posted on May 21, 2004
I’m noting quite a few more double posts in comments recently, which probably has something to do with the fact that in the last week or so it seems like the comments pop-up is taking more time to upload the comment — and in some cases may not give an indication the comment has been […]
Someone Who Wouldn’t Benefit From Tips For Stupid Criminals
Posted on May 20, 2004
Oooh, how embarrassing: I wrote up one of my Book of the Dumb entries and accidentally put it up here instead of the Book of the Dumb blog. Well, I guess if you had an RSS feed you might have seen the whole thing, but the rest of you will have to wait. It’s been […]
Todd Pierce Responds
Posted on May 20, 2004 3 Comments
Because I’m a firm believer in not saying anything to anyone’s back that you won’t say to their front, I e-mailed Todd Pierce (the fellow whose very bad cover letter advice I wrote about here and Teresa Nielsen Hayden wrote about here) to let him know he was being whacked upon. Here is his reply […]
Book Cover
Posted on May 19, 2004
So, this is what you’ll be looking at when Old Man’s War comes out later this year: Very classically science-fictiony, no? And I mean that in the good way, not in the bad “breasty heaving centaur-women” sort of way. The artist, incidentally, is Donato Giancola, who everyone tells me I was lucky to get, and […]
Cover Letters
Posted on May 19, 2004 1 Comment
Teresa Nielsen Hayden has unsheathed her mighty Hammer of Editorial Whackination and is applying it liberally to one Todd James Pierce, a writer who has issued what TNH believes (and I for one concur) is some spectacularly bad advice on the topic of cover letters. Among the very bad advice: Lie about your writing credits, […]
Sorry
Posted on May 18, 2004
The Wall Street Journal has an article today about the latest tactic some doctors and hospitals are using to bring down the costs of lawsuits and insurance: Saying “I’m Sorry” and actually meaning it (here’s a link to the story outside of the WSJ.com site). It seems that if people think you’re genuinely sorry for […]
Just Checking
Posted on May 17, 2004 1 Comment
Me: So, gays and lesbians have had the right to marry in Massachusetts for more than twelve hours. How’s our marriage doing? Krissy: (Pause) Does the statement beforehand have anything to do with the question? Me: Well, you know, some people think that gays and lesbians being able to be married threatens marriage. I just […]
A Quick Note to About-To-Be Married Gays and Lesbians
Posted on May 17, 2004 24 Comments
I have married nine people. One of them I am married to; the other eight I have married to each other (two at a time). So I have some experience on the whole wedding and marriage thing. Please allow me the honor of sharing some of it with you. Remember to breathe. It’s all right […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying