No Touch Monkey!

The Secret History of Star Wars is a new full-length e-book exploring the writing and creation of the Star Wars saga. Culled from over 400 sources and filled with quotes from people such as George Lucas, Gary Kurtz and Mark Hamill, The Secret History of Star Wars traces all the way back to 1973 to examine how the first 14-page treatment that began the series came to be and was slowly built, draft by draft, year by year and movie by movie. Covering a period of over four decades, you will discover how George Lucas got his ideas for the original film, how Darth Vader was made into Luke Skywalker's father in 1978 and forever altered the arc of the story, what happened to the infamous third trilogy in the series and how the prequel stories came to be. The book also reveals the style and method of Lucas himself and how his personal life affected and shaped the story, for better and worse. This is a book which challenges many legends surrounding the series and places the films in a new light. For the more casual fan this will be a mesmerizing read and for those who think they know everything about the series, prepare to be surprised!

500+ pages of intense scholarship. I was drawn in when I saw it and jumped around. It is very interesting, and if you are a fan of Star Wars or one who always wonders what it could have been, it's well worth looking into.

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Story Telling, The Geeks are my People

After hearing so much about it, we finally watched Into The Wild last night.

Wow.

I'm resonating with vibrations of joy, sorrow, memory and regret.

Chris McCandless was my contemporary and he lived a life I only dreamed of at the time back in 1990. While I was floundering around with the early stages of Alcoholism, Career Confusion and the lost of my first serious relationship, Chris had given up everything and hitting the road.

Here, have the fitting mood music of local band Blue Dixie (1992) 05-GetOnTheRoad_64kb.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

I knew people like Chris in College and I badly wanted to be them, but I lived in fear of the unknown, imagined obligation, debt and that Alcoholism thing I was talking about. Even though I smoked a lot of weed, I was still wound too tight.

The closest I ever came was listening to my Blue Dixie- About Time (archive org) cd wanting to just keep on driving, and driving...I was sad, lonely, hated my town, broke and without prospects...but I turned around.

Now 18 years later I'm sitting on my couch feeling the ache of the echoing call for adventure. Tomorrow I get to go to my office and work for 8 hours.

Life is a mixed bag, and we are the sum of total of our choices. One shouldn't live with regret, but still. Of the two paths in the wood, I took the one more traveled. Chris is a reminder, like remembering to let Death be a passenger on your left shoulder. If you want to live, then live, because one day you die. The End.

Here is the original article that later became the book Into the Wild, now go out and watch the movie and remember.

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Multiple Media, Story Telling, The Cap'n

If you come to NTM, chances are you like to read, and will most likely get some sort of gift certificate for books in the next few days. If you do, I suggest you that purchase, as quickly as you can




Rumo: And His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers.

I can't remember when I've fallen in love so quickly with a book before. I happened across it in the Fiction/Lit section at Borders (as opposed to SF/Fantasy where I normally go and shrug off 99% of the fare.)

Here is how the reviewers decribe it: "An over stuffed confection...Cross Lord of the Rings with Yellow Submarine, throw in dashes of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Shrek and The Princess Bride, season with more serious fare such as The Tin Drum and The Odyssey." and "Equal Parts Rowling, Adams and Shel Siverstein...a work of monumental silliness."

I mean, can you really go wrong with that sort of description? How about tossing in some Dr. Seuss?

But what is it about? It's about Rumo and his adventures. Think Dog Conan meets Wicked (the book not the play).

It's world building at it's finest. I can't talk it up enough and I'm only on page 137 of 687 (it's a $16 trade paperback so it's well worth it's price).

Labels: books, Gosh_Wow, Worth your time

In the journal's 28 September 2007 issue, Science, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, is pleased to present the winners and honorable mentions in the fifth annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. The articles linked on this page describe the accomplishments of the creative and gifted scientists, artists, and others who put the winning entries together, as well as an online slide presentation that showcases the competition's winners and honorable mentions. In addition, in a segment of the Science Podcast, one of the competition's judges talks about what goes into a winning scientific image. All material is freely available for all site visitors.

via Slashdot

Check out the animation for Nicotine in the bloodstream. Its very cool. Also of interest: Physics Education Technology at CU Boulder

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Visual Thinking

I had seen this a few years ago but had forgotten about it until I saw a low res repro posted at a used bookstore yesterday. Since I am still thinking about story telling using the International Icons (that odd event story I'm still waiting to tell), and the artistic use and design will really influence how I design and illustrate my own story.

Fantastic work by Needmore Designs

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Story Telling, Visual Thinking

Some of the greatest people in history have educated themselves to a large degree using a process known as autodidacticism. This is something that's more easily undertaken these days with the great wealth of online tools available to anyone.

Whether you've gone to college or not, you can learn just about anything these days on your own. Want to learn about the classics? Carpentry and home maintenance? Philosophy or cooking? Chess or computer programming? It's all online, and with a little bit of excitement, you can motivate yourself to learn a subject in a growing number of ways.

Why self-education? Well, besides the obvious reasons of wanting to improve yourself, prepare yourself for success, and just learn as much as you can, self-education offers a few extra benefits: you can learn at your own pace, and in your own way. You can follow your passions, and learn about things that excite you. There's no price for failure, but there's every reward for success.

How do you go about becoming an autodidact? The answer is simple: any way you want. I would suggest you set aside just a little time each day to learn a specific subject, but that really depends on your learning style. Some people learn all in one great rush: they'll stay up late hours for a few days in a row, consuming everything they possibly can about a subject. Others are overwhelmed by an approach like that, and would rather learn a little each day.
More

via - Dumb Little Man

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Worth your time

I am driving Southwest on Highway 44 at 8:15 pm. At Grand Ave., the Compton Hill Water Tower is to my left and the afternoon rain has slicked the highway; cars and trucks are throwing up puffs of mist.

The clouds have opened up and the sun is fat and red on the horizon. The rays burst across the highway from the right and all the cars are enveloped in pink-orange halos, throwing up pink smoke from cartoon cars.

I've never seen this before. Was I always in the wrong place at the wrong time or is my vision heightened by long hours at the office and a desire to nail down the world around me, and lock it into my brain? How much of my 40 years have I skated by looking at my inner eye, not using my outer one? Really, this is what I'm thinking.

The the cars pass back into the shadow, and I think about how I can't wait to tell Alessandra, when I get home. She's out of town, but we have Skype! We will look at each other on the the computer half a country away. "These are the days of Miracle and Wonder, this is the long distance call," indeed.

Half a mile ahead I see cars and trucks break the wall of light and turn into fast moving cotton candy. I love cotton candy, and I smile.

Hindsight tells me this is more rare than a Green Flash. If you live on a west coast, you can probably catch one daily. But this one...all the forces have to be in alignment. Time, Space, Weather and Season. Bullseye!

I pull off the highway at my exit and I look at the sky with its boiling clouds. Every color is represented in darkened hues. Why does the combination of Pink and Green or Orange and Purple look like crap everywhere else but the sky?

I wish, not for the first time, that I had the camera with me, so I can show you what I saw.

But, until I wise up and carry it with me, I have to use the words to paint the picture and bring you to me instead. Tonight: Youuuuuu....Arrrre....Therrrrrrreeeeee!

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Things and Stuff, Visual Thinking