Jon Peck

“Ye Trajick Tale…” premieres weekend of July 18/19

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:10:00 +0000

(I’m Captain Kidd. Come check it out!)

Umbrella Theatre

Proudly Presents Ye Trajick Tale (of ye Dread Pyrate Robert Culliford and ye Giant Spotted Grouper) Two Shows Only!

What?

Pirates of the Caribbean meets the Dilbert Comic Strip

When?

Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 2 p.m.

Where?

The Labyrinth Garden (Outside) at St. Paul's Episcopal Church 15 Roy Street (Corner of 1st Ave N and Roy Street) Directions: http://www.stpaulseattle.org/find.html

How Much?

Suggested Donation of $10 Children 12 and under free. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Millionair Club Charity who help the working homeless www.millionairclub.org

Buy Tickets?

Online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/70884

(or at the door, but we be sellin’ out fast)

Why?

The Umbrella Theatre Company turns the St. Paul’s labyrinth into the Adventure Galley, as a group of argumentative pirates offer a lesson in interpersonal relations. And you thought corporate politics and piracy were new! Loosely drawn from a moment in history when Captain Kidd set out into the Indian Ocean to catch pirates at the behest of four venture capitalists!

Ye Tragick Tale of ye Dread Pyrate Robert Culliford & ye Giant Spotted Grouper, is an action-packed comedy of bad manners and a treasure of a tale you’ll be talking about around ye office water barrel for months to come. The cast features Captain Kidd, leading a crew of rascals, male and female, plus an adorable monkey, a mermaid, and the Last Dodo. The sword fighting and the laughs are nonstop in this original comedy that’s both kid‑friendly and adult-entertaining.

Information Hot Line: 206-282-2952 E-mail: UmbrellaTheatre@gmail.com

Information/Pictures/Pyrate Lore:

http://www.umbrellatheatrecompany.blogspot.com/

Lee Konstantinou reads from Pop Apocalypse

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Seattle-area peeps: don't miss out on a great reading by Lee Konstantinou, author of Pop Apocalypse, 7:30pm this Wednesday 6/10/09 at Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 South Main St in Pioneer Square:

San Francisco writer's debut novel, Pop Apocalypse: A Possible Satire (Harper Perennial) is a sharp-eyed fictional take on a future that may be coming soon to a reality near you. Actually the reality of 2029 portrayed here doesn't feel so alien. "Abusing the future to make hash of the present, Lee Konstantinou has fashioned one hell of a satire, one hell of a world. The writing is stunning, every sentence so packed with knowledge and with that one's laughter can barely catch up with the story. Konstantinou has shown us the future, and it doesn't work. But this novel sure does." - Roger Rosenblatt.

Fire Poi

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:56:00 +0000

I spent this past weekend in Boulder, CO. Aside from being an amazing, bike friendly place, they have a lovely Burn event/group known as Apogaea (June 4-7 / tix at apogaea.com). Here are some clips from their recent fundraiser:

Baggage Claim: sold out Saturday, tix available Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:34:00 +0000

I'm proud to say that Baggage Claim has been getting some great reviews - and has SOLD OUT for two Saturdays in a row. So... if you're planning on attending this final weekend (and I hope you are), might I recommend buying your Sunday tickets ASAP at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/60812 ? I hope to see you there! - JP

Original show "Baggage Claim" this weekend & next (4/18-4/26) !

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Looking for a fun way to spend a rainy (bleh) weekend evening this month? Come check out the latest thing I'm in. This isn't my usual sketch comedy bit; this play is a bit more serious (but still has some wicked fun parts). Plus, it incorporates a little bit of dance and some original music.

"Baggage Claim" is an entirely new work, written and performed by an all-Seattle cast, and staged in the cozy Freehold theater at 2222 2nd Ave (Belltown: 2nd between Bell and Blanchard). If you asked me for a synopsis, I'd say something like "a group of grade-school friends gets back together after a decade, reigniting lost loves and rivalries"...but this hardly covers it. Come check us out and support local theater!.

$10 general, $7 student; 8pm Saturday; 2pm & 8pm Sunday; 4/18-4/26.
Head to http://www.heroeseverywhere.com/baggage-claim.html to buy tickets online!

Hope to see you there :-)

Sketch Comedy just $6 - Saturday 2/21/09

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:24:00 +0000

Pork Filled Players, 2/21/09 @ 10pm
Theatre Off Jackson (409 7th Ave S, Seattle WA)

OK, we all know the economy sucks. You're digging through your couch for bus fare. You've considered selling off your first-born for a head of cabbage. You need a break from the daily grind.

What better way to distract yourself than a $6 performance from Seattle's oldest sketch comedy troupe? We're cheap -- and so is our show. And if we aren't reason enough, maybe I can tempt you with our guest performers: Seattle Untimely and Jennifer O'Brien.

So let the bus pass you by, gather up that couch change, and jog your couch-potato butt over to the International District next Saturday night. Tix at the door or in advance at Brown Paper Tickets.

Digital Downloads with no per-transaction fee

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:27:00 +0000

I've been looking for this: http://www.e-junkie.com/

The quick summary: easy to set up, flat (cheap) monthly charge, no bandwidth or per-transaction fees. Cool.

Not that I've tried it yet; but hey, Molly is using it, so it can't be all bad.

P.S. yes, geek-friends, we could set this up using OSCommerce or somesuch ourselves...but why waste the time? It's done.

We can't say it too many times: never pay someone else to hire you!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:30:00 +0000

After seeing yet another get-rich-quick scam ("hiring freelance writers now!!!" -- Google, don't you vet your ad-placement clients at all?), I was tempted to write a quick list of tips for freelances. Fortunately, someone over at selfemployment.suite101.com has already tackled that problem; check out their Tips For Freelance Contractors article.

The key lesson, though, is this: never, under any circumstances, should you pay someone else to allow you to work for them. Whether you're writing, performing, programming, or creating graphic art, the money only flows one way: toward you. Everything else is a pyramid scheme.

Status Update: Jan 2009 & Performance this Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Tuesday marked a beautiful moment in history, and I'm looking forward to 2009, both on a global and a local scale. For now, though, I'll let better qualified individuals comment on our political and economic future; I'm just here to tell you about some more lighthearted events coming up in the next few weeks and months:

First off, I'll be performing with the hilarious Pork Filled Players at 10pm this Saturday, 1/24/09, at Seattle's Theatre off Jackson, 409 7th Ave South (in the International District). You can get tickets for our Inaugural Spam*O*Rama at Brown Paper Tickets or simply buy 'em up at the door.

Also mark your calendars for the weekends of March 14 and 21, when I'll be taking on a more dramatic role with the Heroes Production Co in an original piece about childhood friends reunited -- more details coming soon.

Lastly, two more of my short stories will soon be available in print. "Clowning Around" (a fun little ditty about evil clowns) will be published in issue 5 of the award-winning Polluto Magazine, printed in the UK but available globally on teh interwebs; I'll post a direct link as soon as issue 5 rolls off the presses. More locally, California-based Falling Star Magazine will be including my 600-word flash fiction "The First Time" in an upcoming issue; again, I'll provide more details once it hits the streets!

Thanks, everyone, for your continued support -- but especially for rocking the vote last year, and helping to ensure that 2009 will be a year to celebrate!

All the best,
Jon Peck

Joss Whedon's Top 10 Writing Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:18:00 +0000

On the other side of the pond, Danny Stack (screenwriter, script editor) had an opportunity to republish Joss Whedon's "Top 10 Writing Tips" online; check it out here.

Much of his advice is the usual good common sense, and translates well to noveling: finish the darn thing; every character has their own identity (even if they don't explicitly disclose it); listen (to your first readers, to your editor, to the guy on the bus).

I think the gem here, though, is #5: "Cut What You Love" -- I'm still puzzling over this one. There are certainly cases where I can see this being immensely useful: cutting can motivate unexpected changes in plot direction, and can tone down segments which sparkle for the author but come off as "cutesy" to the reader. Most importantly, well executed cuts can force a writer to subtly work missing information back into other scenes, instead of bludgeoning the audience over the head with their point.

Of course, I can also see this going horribly wrong: if the scene I remove is the keystone to my plot arc, I'll spend the rest of the week trying to mortar the remaining elements back together, and wind up with a ragged, slapdash structure.

The solution, at least for my writing style, is probably to cut early and cut often. If I can streamline my structure before I write anything significant, and reevaluate that structure on a regular basis, then the words I put down become less individually important, more flexible. I'll know which scenes are just there for fun, and which are critical for plot or character development. In the latter case, a well-defined outline will allow me to readily find places to re-insert missing information, and will help me see when I need to be explicit and when I can merely hint at certain elements.

Sounds good in theory. Now on to practice...

HowTo: Rotate Desktop Wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Want your windows desktop background to change every time you login, but don't want to install a memory-hogging, computer-slowing program to do it?

1. Create a folder called wallpaper inside c:\ and put a bunch of bitmap (.bmp) images in it

2. Open up notepad, paste the code below into it, and save the file as C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\randwall.bat

Each time your computer starts up, it will pick a random picture from c:\wallpaper to use as your desktop background.

Notes: If you have more than 99 images, change the line "set R=!random:~-2!" to "set R=!random:~-3!" (for 999 images) or "set R=!random:~-4!" (for 9999 images). To use a directory other than c:\wallpaper, replace all instances of that path in the batch file with the new path.

PS Thanks go to Mechanix2Go at for the randomizer script

Here is the code for randwall.bat :

@echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f %%A in ('dir /b "C:\wallpaper\*.bmp"^|find /v /c "\"') do (set C=%%A)
:loop
(set R=!random:~-2!)
if !R! gtr !C! (goto :loop)
if !R! equ 0 (goto :loop)
for /f "tokens=*" %%A in ('dir /b "C:\wallpaper\*.bmp"') do (
(set /a N+=1)
if !N! equ !R! (
reg add "hkcu\control panel\desktop" /v wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d "" /f
RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
reg add "hkcu\control panel\desktop" /v wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d "C:\wallpaper\%%A" /f
RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
(goto :eof)
)
)

Published: Choose Your Booze

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Happy holidays everyone! This year I'm especially excited, because Every Day Fiction has just published my short story, Choose Your Booze.

So, check it out at http://www.everydayfiction.com/choose-your-booze-by-jon-peck/, then show the great people at EDF some love by typing your email address into the "subscribe" box on the right-hand side of their page. They'll send you great short stories, every day, for free!

Me on TV (well, on the web at least)

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:03:00 +0000

In my other-other life, as some of you know, I'm an actor. Check me out in Episode 3 of "Family", a nifty little webseries about poyamory by Terisa Greenan (3 Dog Pictures). You can view:

just my part of the episode (safe-for-work)
all of episode 3 in censored (sorta-NSFW) or uncensored (definitely NSFW) versions
episode 1 (with sidebar links to episodes 2, 3, and beyond...)

Sneak peek: an excerpt from [Untitled Fantasy Novel]

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:33:00 +0000

"Ha! You can't run forever!" Peale was struggling to keep up, but he didn't let it show in his voice, or let his sword-arm droop as he chased after his prey. "Besides, only girls run away from a fight."

That got her attention. She wheeled on one foot, bringing her weapon to the ready. "Say that to my face, little boy." Ginny stood up as straight as she could, resisting the temptation to go up on her tiptoes. Her eyes barely reached his chin.

They raised their blades in a quick salute, and engaged each other, bark flying as the sticks collided. Each move was a carefully planned simulation; Ginny brought her twig up to cover her head, and Peale brought his down across it. She grunted with effort and pushed his weapon up-and-out, leaving his belly undefended: she could now run him through with the tip of her rapier. Here she paused, waiting for him to dodge to the side. Once his body was clear, she thrust forward, stumbling as the force carried her past his position.

Peale caught her as she passed, pressing his chest to her back and gathering one his free arm around both of hers so that her elbows were pinned. He brought his stick up against her throat. "Surrender now. I'll have your body or your life, woman!"

This was Ginny's cue to drop her weapon. "Oh powerful knight, do not abuse me, and I will be yours!" She turned in his arms, clasped her hands together, and put on her best submissive-peasant face.

"Very well, I shall take thee as my wife, and you shall be the happiest woman ever to have lived" boasted Peale. Tightening his hold, he brought his lips toward hers. At the last instant, she turned her head aside, and his kiss landed upon her burning cheek. She giggled and, suddenly stronger than her captor, broke free of his grasp.

"See you tomorrow, Pea!" Ginny called over her shoulder, sprinting toward her house.

"I told you never to call me that" he yelled back. Peale stared after her for a while, then finally slunk off towards his own home, late to dinner for the third time in a week.

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "The Breeze Against His Skin"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:15:00 +0000

"What do you know about organic chemistry?"

Thirteen-year-old Mark Stanislavsky looked up at his mentor, Doug, with confusion. The answer was obvious: nothing, he had never heard of it. But Doug would expect some sort of rational guess. "Well...chemistry is about how different chemicals combine and change and heat up and become gasses or solids. So I guess organic chemistry would be...chemicals that aren't synthetic? Like, not plastic or manmade stuff?"

"Almost" conceded Doug, adjusting the green headband he always work on his shaved-bald dome. "Most of the time it means chemistry that has to do with life: animals, plants, food, medicine."

"Medicine?" That interested him. His mother was constantly sick. Late nights at the factories on the edge of town had caused her to develop a persistent, ragged cough. Her hacking always woke Mark up when she slipped in the door to their small apartment each weekday at midnight, prompting him to slip out of bed to give her a gentle, groggy goodnight hug before slipping back down into slumber.

"Right. When people develop medicines, they use organic chemistry to figure out how each drug will interact with the human body. And we can use the same kind of science to figure out what a particular chemical is composed of, by seeing how it interacts with a person. Mark, I need you to do something important for me."

His abrupt change in tone brought the youngster to full attention. Doug was only a few years older then him, but always spoke in a gentle, slightly condescending voice. Mark didn't mind: to him, Doug was the only real male influence in his life, and a guiding beacon of sanity in a world otherwise full of violence and stupidity. But now, all the condescension and wisdom had fled: Doug spoke to him as an equal who truly needed his help.

"The people I hang out with, you've seen them before..." Mark had. Every afternoon, as they studied in the library together, a friend or two of Doug's would come by to whisper something in his ear. They all wore the same green headband and razor-close haircut, and would smile and wave at Mark, but they never spoke to him directly. "My friends and I help deliver a kind of medicine to people we care about. But sometimes the medicine gets tainted – polluted – because it isn't made properly."

Mark nodded, wide-eyed with interest.

"We need someone to help us make sure it is pure, so the people who we give it to don't get sicker. You can help us, if you want to."

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "Solitary"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0000

"Oh dear, can I get you an Advil or something?" she asked, rummaging around in her purse. But Eliot couldn't concentrate on her words. The pain was fading – but in its place, his mind was filled with random fragments of thought, almost as if another voice were echoing in his head.

* give me the money and nobody gets hurt - no, too cliché, they won't take it seriously – I have a gun, and I'll use it if I have to – tens and twenties only – is that going to be too heavy? too large? – nothing bigger than a hundred *

He looked up. The woman was still looking at him, concerned, rummaging through her purse for painkillers. Behind her, the next customer in line, a tall guy with bushy black eyebrows and a full beard, was staring intently at the two of them. Eliot watched as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, nestling in his eyebrow. The eyebrow began to peel away from the man's forehead...it was a fake, and the glue was coming undone.

The man's hand snaked around his back, producing a pistol. "Everybody down, on the ground, now!" he yelled, pointing the weapon at the guard by the door, who immediately placed his hands up in plain sight. All around them, people were diving to the floor, shrieking in fright. Eliot was too stunned to react. The woman froze as well, with her back to the lawbreaker.

"I said, on the ground! Both of you!" The pistol was trained squarely on her back now; though she couldn't see it, the woman clearly had an understanding of the danger she was in. She panicked, dropping her purse.

The next few seconds would be forever burned in Eliot's mind: the sudden motion startling the gunman, the sound of the purse hitting the carpeted floor with a dull thud, the explosion as a bullet escaped from the pistol to tear through her neck, spattering Eliot with blood and drawing screams from everyone but himself and the shooter.

The killer stared open-mouthed as her body fell, and Eliot felt the voice in his head again.

* oh crap they're gonna lock me up forever they're gonna electrocute me why did I ever *

The voice was abruptly silenced as a second bullet, this one from the guard who had apparently recovered his composure, entered the would-be robber's skull.

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "Gross Domestic Product"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:10:00 +0000

"What?" shouted Jimmy from across the room. He wasn't shouting for my sake, of course: he was shouting because the headphones sealed around his ears had permanently damaged his eardrums, and Jimmy logically assumed that if he couldn't hear himself, nobody else could either.

"The stock market. News. Massive crash." I shouted back, matching his decibel level, for his sake instead of my own. "Have you looked at the NASDAQ today?"

"Yeah, somebody messaged me something." He clicked an icon and a paragraph of text slid up the side of his monitor. "Huh. Okay. So what? I don't mess with that kinda junk."

"Are you mad? This goes way beyond investors. Have you even begun to think about the implications this will have on the national economy?"

My roommate turned back to his screen with an apathetic shrug. "No big deal."

Linda sat in shocked silence as we argued, occasionally poking at the graph with my trackpad, sliding the mouse over info boxes to see trade volume and projections for her favorite stocks. Most of the text popups were an angry shade of red.

"Jimmy, your pizza-delivery job is shot. Sure, it will take a few weeks. But right now, every mother and father of every god-damned kid in this university is looking at their portfolios and thinking 'little bobby can do without spending money for a few months; we have to pay the mortgage somehow!' All those frat boys are gonna have to start tightening their belts, laying off the midnight pizza and beer, settling their asses into chairs at the dining hall to take advantage of the pre-paid meal plan dollars, because there ain't no more checks coming from the 'rents."

He remained glued to his computer. I stretched my leg out and delivered a sharp kick to the back of his broken-wheeled, dumpster-salvage, faded blue office chair. Incidentally, the wheels hadn't been broken when we hauled it out of the trash behind loading dock C. That was Jimmy's doing. Too much free pizza at work.

"And what's worse, these recessions take like a decade to go away. We're going to graduate in the crappiest economy ever. There's gonna be no jobs for us. Nothing! Get your head out of the ether and communicate in the real world, will you?" I screamed.

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "What Goes Around"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:03:00 +0000

"Am I...yeah, I am. I don't even have to ask." Bob felt like he was speaking aloud, although he had no mouth to move, no ears to hear with, no body at all.

YEP, YOU ARE. TOUGH BREAK.

"Yaaah!" In his own mind's eye, Bob jumped.

WHAT, YOU'RE SURPRISED TO FIND ME HERE TOO? The booming voice came from everywhere, and nowhere.

"Well – I wasn't sure. I'd hoped so. But it can be tough for us mortals to believe, what with all the wars going on, and science constantly disproving the Bible."

SURE, BOB. WHATEVER EASES YOUR CONSCIENCE.

"I'm not just making excuses!"

YES YOU ARE. DON'T FORGET WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO.

"Sorry."

GOOD. NOW, ARE YOU READY?

"Ready? Ready for what?"

IT'S TIME TO DECIDE, BOB.

He gulped, or tried to. "Oh dear. That little bit at the end...I'm not really like that...right? I mean, the rest of my life, I've been a much better person. I was a good provider for my family. I loved my parents, my wife, my children!"

THAT'S TRUE. BUT YOU LOST A LOT OF POINTS WITH THAT LAST MANEUVER. HE'S DEAD, YOU KNOW. IN FACT, WE JUST FINISHED CHATTING.

"Oh, Hell! Erp. I mean – crap, I don't know what I mean."

I DO.

Oh no. This was going to be bad.

WHAT YOU'RE WONDERING NOW IS: "IS IT ENOUGH TO TIP ME OVER THE BALANCE? TO SEND ME TO BURN IN ETERNAL TORMENT?"

That was precisely what he was wondering. "Well? Is it?"

I'M AFRAID IT DOESN'T QUITE WORK LIKE THAT. IT'S MORE OF A DHARMIC THING, REALLY.

"Reincarnation? But that's not in the good book!"

AT WHAT POINT DID I SAY THE BIBLE WAS ACCURATE?

"Well, in the Bible...oh. Crap. I'm gonna come back as a worm, aren't I?"

WORMS ARE SO CLICHÉ. I THINK WE'LL TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS TIME...

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "Human Suffrage"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:57:00 +0000

Regardless of who wins, the 2016 elections will finally bring an end to the so-called "third and fourth Bush terms in office." McCain will be out, and a popularity rating below 15%, it seems unlikely that the Republicans will be able to gain a foothold in this year's election. Henry probably doesn't even need to head to the polls today, but generations before him would turn in their graves if he did not.

He takes an early lunch break and strolls down to City Hall, only a few blocks from his firm's office. The RFID chip in his wrist clears him for fastlane entry; he proceeds to the executive lane where two armed guards perform a quick strip search, and is on his way to the voting booths in less than ten minutes.

Henry presses his wrist against the booth's entry terminal. "Henry Langston Hughes, African/Caucasian, 62. History of blood pressure, diabetes. Registered Democrat. Sixth district." The machine pauses, considering the information it has just listed. It consults with the central server in Green, Ohio. "Your vote is not needed. Thank you for your time."

Henry blanches. "What!?"

"Your demographic has been accurately sampled to the required degree of statistical accuracy. No more data is required. Your vote is not needed. Thank you for your time."

Sneak peek: an excerpt from "Clowning Around"

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:24:00 +0000

Pogo kept his ears open while he strolled, listening for the sound of any feet but his own echoing from the sidewalk behind him.

"One missed throw" he muttered. "One simple mistake and they stick me with guard duty for the week. Lucky I don't plan a car bomb on them myself, they are." Blast, he was in a foul mood. He kept moving. A little exercise would clear his mind.

His ears perked up as the characteristic slap of a rubber shoe sounded on the walk, less than a block behind. Pogo didn't break his stride. Keep it cool, he reflected, reaching into his shirt pocket for a banana. Don't change pace; if you bolt, he'll pounce.

The banana was just what he needed. He finished downing the sweet fruit, barely overripe, as a van rounded the corner at full speed. Glancing askance at the mirror of a parked car, he double-checked his aim and casually tossed the banana peel over his left shoulder. Perfect.

His pursuer didn't have time to react. The peel landed just as his shoe came down, sending his foot skidding out from under him. He lurched sideways into the street an instant before the van reached the same location; there was a screeching of tires followed by a dull thump, and a mop of curly orange hair flew up onto the hood.

Comics: Improving

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:37:00 +0000

50 Extroverts, One Stage, 60 Seconds Each

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:25:00 +0000

Oh, that every night could be 60 Seconds Max.

The plan: get a whole bunch of Seattle actors, dancers, and comedians. Let each have the stage for, at most, 60 seconds.

Also, give them lots of free beer.

Here is a little bit of my little stint...the leader that got cut of is the flight attendant announcing "The captain has now turned off the rational investing sign. You may move freely about the financial market..."

Full original text (I cut it heavily to reach 60 seconds):

FLIGHT 101
BY JON PECK

(CON MAN in the middle seat of a plane, reading the Wall St Journal or financial section of local paper, big stock graph on front)

ANNOUNCER
(*ding*)
The captain has now turned off the rational investing sign. You may move freely about the financial market.

CON MAN
(puts down the paper; excited, twitchy)
Flyin' the friendly skies, eh? Gotta love it up here, looking down on it all. Gosh, everybody looks so small!!
(leans over his seatmate to peer out window)
(turns face to seatmate, too close, really seeing him for the first time. Grabs tie.)
Hey buddy, you look like the type who'd be interested in making a dime or two! Got a little nest egg you'd like to grow? Wanna double it? Triple it? I'm the guy who can take you there!
(backs off a bit to smooth out seatmate's tie)
(hurriedly, manic)
It's not my first time, you know. Nope. I've been doing this for years – I always fly steerage, too. I do. I love it back here. There are always such interesting people to talk to. And such good listeners, too. You wanna hear my pitch? Of course you do!
(stands; dreamy faraway look)
You see, the whole trick is not to sell the widgets...nobody makes any real money there. We're after widget derivatives. Secondary widgets. Tertiary widgets.
(glances back to seatmate)
I'm talking seven figures in the first year, buddy! It's gonna be you and me, flyin' first class all the way! And we'll get Don LaFontaine, or maybe Matt Wright to do the ad:
(focus toward audience; booming voice)
In a world where everything is virtual, your customers demand something LESS than reality. MegaDerivativeCo is here to satisfy that illusion, with the cutting edge tools your business needs...
(rumbling noise / metal flexing. CON MAN rocks unsteadily as the plain hits turbulence)

ANNOUNCER
(*ding*)
The captain has informed us that the market is now crashing. Do not be alarmed. Return to your seats and attach your oxygen mask directly to your wallet. If you have a venture capitalist with you, attach your own mask first before attending to him.

CON MAN
(still standing)
Oh, nevermind that, it's just a minor market adjustment, we'll be back on track in no time...

(sounds of grinding metal; CON MAN is thrown face-first to the ground as plane crashes, cash exploding from his pockets onto audience)

(BLACKOUT)

Election results? We got em!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:06:00 +0000

And starting us off...Dixville Notch, NH with Obama=16, McCain=6

PS NaNoWriMo: 4500 words

Build the Debate you Always Wanted

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:26:00 +0000

Google Labs has come out with a great new feature called "In Quotes"

http://labs.google.com/inquotes/

Pick two people (say, Obama and MCain) and a topic (eg, Iraq or the economy); then read what each has to say on the issue. Build your own head-to-head debate! For extra fun, pick the same candidate, but two different years: see if/how his tune has changed...

P.S. Today's little bit of joy: spellchecking this post and getting to click "ignore all" on McCain

P.P.S. NaNoWriMo count: 3500 words

NaNoWriMo begins!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Peck) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:00:00 +0000

NaNoWriMo starts in ~~five~~ 0 minutes. My objective: 25 stories, appx 2000 words apiece, written over the next 30 days. I'll try to draw what I can from the topics posted thus far at TakeOneDaily -- and I invite any other authors who dare to join me!

So, please pardon my delinquency if very little gets posted over the month of November. TakeOneDaily will resume in full force following the storm which is National Novel Writing Month.

All the best,
Jon Peck