Joel G Goodman

I …

joel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:45:40 +0000

…was just accepted into the Master of Arts in Media Studies program at The New School!

I’m pretty freaking excited about it.

I start the program in January and it’s all online–unless we move to New York, but I don’t see a ton of chance in that happening unless I get a new, well-paying job there.

Super excited!!! I am possibly co-teaching a New Media marketing online class next May term.

Busy times.

What A Weekend

joel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:05:05 +0000

Wow.

After releasing Modern Linguist on Friday, Chris Coyier gave me a shout out on Digging Into WordPress. I got a ton of traffic from that, and I owe him some thanks. It seems like those who have taken a look at the theme really enjoy it. I had to make a few modifications after my word counts got entered into the NaNoWriMo site, but it’s working. I did find out that their API is a little slower than I had anticipated. Maybe that a future project to donate to the Office of Letters and Light.

I’m well on my way to the 10,000 words I need by the end of the week. Jessica and I attended the Southern Illinois regional kick-off write-in and I was able to get 3700-something words packed in in the first four hours of noveling. Not too shabby. I’m planning to write another couple of thousand tonight and pull ahead of where I need to be.

I am also considering prepping some of my past WordPress templates for mass release. Some of them need rewrites and I’m thinking that might be a good beginning of 2010 project. Releasing one has got me all into it.

In other news, one major project down, one to finish up. Two of my big day job projects are winding down too, which means I can devote attention to a couple of other major ones that have been waiting in the wings.

We’ve got plane tickets booked for Christmas, plans set for Thanksgiving. It just might be a good end to 2009.

Free Theme: Modern Linguist

joel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:28:21 +0000

Modern Linguist is a WordPress template designed with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) participants in mind. Based partially on Chris Coyier’s beautiful WPTypo theme, Modern Linguist is an all-typographic theme created with easy reading in mind.

The theme has several pretty cool things built in. First off, it’s custom options allow integration with the NaNoWriMo.org word count API, providing dynamic and automatic word count updates pulled directly from the user’s NaNoWriMo profile. The user enters their ID number and that’s it, instant word count updates.

The options page also provides space to enter in a story synopsis and the option to display that text on the front page of the WordPress site.

Next up is typography. Modern Linguist comes with 8 standard, Open Source or Creative Commons typeface options–as well as two that are used by permission–giving the author the choice of using a font-face that best suits their novel’s mood or tone. The fonts include:

Delicious and Fontin Sans, by exljbris Font Foundry
The Fell Types (English and Great Primer), digitally reproduced by Igino Marini and included with his gracious permission.
Droid serif
Lucida
Garamond
OFL Sorts Mill Goudy, by Barry Schwartz

Many of the included typefaces rely on the @font-face CSS3 rule and thus require a modern browser to display correctly. To help everyone out several standard, “web-safe” fonts are defined too.

I am excited to offer this theme licensed under the GPL and completely free. Download it and test it out! Please leave questions or remarks in the comments below.

Also, check out my NaNoWriMo noveling site where I will be using this template for November 2009.

Download Modern Linguist (Non-widgetized) v. 1.3 »

Note: A widgetized version of Modern Linguist will be released soon.

Usage Tips

The theme is, by default, setup to help people register to read your novel. I don’t want to let just anyone read my story, so I use a WordPress plugin called Member Access to make sure only logged in users can read my posts.

I also set up a static page to be the first thing visitors see.

The navigation uses the default WordPress category structure. If you’re using this for NaNoWriMo, then you can just create a category for each year and make your posts in there. I have 2008 (last year’s novel), Announcements, and soon will have 2009 started. Categories are the way to go.

If you’ve got a new WordPress install that you’re putting this on, make sure you trim your blogroll. Otherwise the sliding panel will be big!

Changelog

Oct 30, 2009 – 1.0
Initial Release

Nov 01, 2009 – 1.3

Fix to NaNoWriMo API pull to display correctly when no NaNo ID is entered
Style fixes to several typefaces including the Fell Types
Clarified attribution added to the Fell Types, digitally reproduced by Igino Marini and included with his gracious permission.

WordPress As A Manuscript

joel — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:55:00 +0000

ATTN: Those who have read/are planning to read my novel this year:

Oh some things have changed. Yes, yes they have.

When I thought about how messy the whole noveling on my blog process was last year, I made a rash decision. A decision with so little thought put into it that it is awesome. Instead of noveling my progress here, I have set up a completely new site with a completely new theme with awesome features.

All NaNoWriMo noveling will take place here: nanowrimo.thegoodmanblog.com.

Oh but that’s not all. I have built an entire WordPress template especially for National Novel Writing Month – and more specifically for my fellow WriMos that post to WordPress.

The new theme is called Modern Linguist and is based on Chris Coyier’s WPTypo theme, though with some decidedly drastic alterations. Notably, the theme has these amazing features:

Built-in word counts pulled from the NaNoWriMo API (as soon as it’s activated for 2009, anyway)
Clean, minimal interface. Not widgetized as to keep it focused on your novel(s)
Choose-your-own Font Style with 8 (eight!) different typefaces
Width optimized for online reading
Typography based – no images in the template by default
Optional Synopsis display on the front page
Yearly category navigation (for easy novel separation)
Special displays for registered/logged-in users

It’ll not only be a better experience for readers, but also for the person doing the noveling.

I’m looking at a launch date of 30 October, just in time for NaNoWriMo (which starts on the first of November). If you’re interested in using the template, let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure answer your questions and email the theme to you when it’s done!

For all of you that had an account here on my blog, that’s all been moved over to: http://nanowrimo.thegoodmanblog.com – you can login with your same credentials and should be able to read last year’s novel still. If you have issues, shoot me an email.

If any of you check out the new template, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And for those of you who have no idea what I’ve been talking about, read this post.

NaNoWriMo 2009

joel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:00:41 +0000

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month.

That eleventh month of the year when tens of thousands of normal and not-so-normal men and women sit down for hours upon hours, pouring words out onto the page or screen with hopes that someday, somehow, a publishing deal may come along and give them boatloads of money… *sigh*

Just like last year, I will once again be attempting to race my way to a 50,000 word novel in only thirty days. I made it last year and am hoping to finish this year as well. If you are going to be participating, please head over to the NaNoWriMo website and add me as a writing buddy.

Last year I had some friends interested in reading my story. I decided to post new entries to my blog and shared it with them. I’m going to do the same this year (and hopefully actually finish the story instead of just getting to 50k words).

If you’d like to read along, please register. I reserve the right to refuse membership to anyone, however. So don’t take it personally. I’ll be closing registration on 01 November. So if you want to register, do it now.

For those of you that were readers last year, you don’t need to re-register. You’ve already got an account. Just login (there’s a link in the sidebar).

NaNoWriMo is AWESOME and you should really consider doing it. Head over to NaNoWriMo.org and find out more about it.

Review: Where the Wild Things Are

joel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:05:51 +0000

Have you seen this trailer?

Notice that you really don’t see anything about the movie other than how beautifully shot it is. And that’s thanks to Lance Acord who worked on Marie Antoinette and Lost in Translation (both gorgeous movies). Otherwise you get a sense of the mood (thanks to Arcade Fire’s track on the preview – Karen O and the Kids do a good job maintaining that mood, if less big sounding and theatrical) and shots that evoke a reminder of the book’s illustrations.

What you don’t a sense of is how slowly paced the movie is. Or how muddy the messages are. Or how tedious it is to watch.

Can you tell I wasn’t impressed? In fact, I was less than impressed. I was disappointed with everything but the cinematography. With how boring the story and pacing were, I still had to sit through countless moments of Karen O’s shrill screaming. Sweet Lord. The soundtrack was cool other than her screaming. But that’s also why I’m not a big fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The story deviates pretty quickly from the book. Given the book only has, like, 10 sentences in it. But Max is coddled and runs away from home. And isn’t punished at all in the movie. He is a brat and “out of control” but does he get any discipline from his parent? No. Not once in the whole movie.

And I swear, if I had to be punished through that long, boring film, Max should’ve been punished in some way too.

Interaction with the monsters was interesting for a few minutes and then the dynamic proved to be scattered, confusing and so tense it annoyed me. There were too many little storylines and inside nuances between the monsters that it ended up muddying any message that was supposed to be conveyed by Max’s relationship with any of them. Too much drama, I guess.

With the hipster-targeted marketing, they probably should’ve gone for a limited release first. But with a name like Spike Jonze directing, that probably wasn’t even thought about.

I wasn’t a fan. I almost fell asleep three times. I kept wondering when it was going to be over. I kept wondering when it was going to start, for that matter. If you don’t see it, you won’t be missing much, in my opinion.

Update:
I think Stephanie Zacharek, a film critic for Salon.com, explained my feelings of the movie really well in her review (I didn’t read it until after I posted my thoughts):

If your kids get all wide-eyed at the prospect of listening to grown-ups’ self-absorbed reflections on the fears, anxieties and frustrations of childhood, or if they’ve ever clambered onto your lap and begged for a civics lesson on the dangers of totalitarianism, then by all means run, don’t walk, to Fandango and get your tickets for “Where the Wild Things Are.”

[...]

Jonze’s ideas, visual and otherwise, spill out in a faux-philosophical ramble that isn’t nearly as deep as he thinks it is; at best, it’s a scrambled tone poem. Even the look of the picture becomes tiresome after a while — it starts to seem depressive and shaggy and tired…

Have your own thoughts on the film? Leave a comment!

Google Wave Disappointment

joel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:33:55 +0000

Yes, I know it’s probably too early to be talking about this, seeing at Wave is still in its preview. But I’m a little bit disappointed in it. This is probably just because the web app isn’t feature complete. Still, at this point I can’t see myself using it as broadly as it was represented in the announcement video.

For one, it’s just confusing to keep track of who is writing/changing what when you have multiple people working on the same wave. It’s also tough even to reply to other wavelets that are sitting there. Some of the UI still seems really rough and not at all intuitive. Maybe they’re working on this.

But I think that that is my biggest issue with it. It’s so confusing to work in that I just get turned off to it. At least in IM you know who is talking when. In Google Docs you can save and edit – though the changes by other people don’t display in realtime. I guess the collaborative part of it is the point. It’s a realtime wiki, basically. And I suppose that’s okay. But it certainly doesn’t feel ready for all of the other tasks it was suggested for when Google premiered it.

Oh well.

I’ve still got a few Wave nominations. Anyone want one? First come, first served. (You can also tweet @joelgoodman)

Mixed Feelings

joel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:31:43 +0000

Man. I’m not sure how today is going to go.

I woke up to a Google Wave invite, but also to a cold room. Jessica had left early for work already and I guess was running late because it was 7min to 7:00 when I heard the front door slam.

Coffee was a disaster this morning. Jess usually makes the coffee because I can’t seem to get it right. With her being rushed this morning, she wasn’t able to get coffee started before she bolted out the door. So I thought I’d give it a try.

Yeah. Messed it up. She had put water in the maker already, just hadn’t ground the beans – but I didn’t realise this. I ended up adding a bit of water to the tank before noticing there was some in there already. The coffee came out weak.

We’re snobs about coffee. It has to hit our minimal strength scale otherwise we chuck it. I should’ve just pulled the french press out and made some more, but to be honest, I just now thought of that. Three hours later, sitting at my desk.

I got to work and the outside door was lock. It’s the only door I don’t have a key to. So I stood out in the rain for a few minutes until someone showed up.

Now I am staring at a long list of work orders and trying to get my dotCMS test server up and running so I can test a few things. And it isn’t working. Hopefully the day will improve.