Amber Sparks
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This Will REALLY Piss Off the Creationists
August 24, 2010 — 2 Comments
This is pretty major. Apparently, our solar system may be 2 million years older than we thought it was. In long span of our solar system’s life–currently estimated at 4.5 billion–that’s not such a big hairy deal, I guess.
Isn’t it Neat that Things Still Keep Getting Discovered?
August 17, 2010
Like this Koopa turtle?
Or this Civil War prison?
Or this temple near Le Mans?
I think that’s neat. I remember at about six or seven when I told my babysitter that (just like everyone my age) I was going to be an archeologist. She told me everything important had already been found, so what was the point?
Ha, Tiffany. Ha ha ha. And so there.
Dear Writer Friends: I Need Your Words!
August 5, 2010 — 19 Comments
I’m going to be Necessary Fiction’s September Writer-in-Residence, and I’m working on a project that’s going to be completely and totally awesome, as the guy says in that annoying Intel commercial that makes no sense because if that guy is such a dumb fuckwad why is he working at Intel? What kind of an ad is that for your product? Made by dumb fuckwads?–but anyway. In order for this amazing project to work, I need your creative brain drippings. More details soon, I promise, but here’s the pitch:
Who would like to agree write a brief piece (it can be a paragraph, a sentence, ten pages, a novel, a poem, song lyrics, whatever you want) based on a visual prompt sometime in the next month and a half? The visual prompt will be very cool. You will be allowed complete freedom in the writing.
If you’re game or even maybe-kind-of interested, shoot me an email or write something in the comments or jot something on my Facebook wall or whatever. I’ll let you know a little more about the project then. I don’t want to give too much away to the general public right now.
Also, if you have friends that would be interested too, send them my way or let me know. The more the merrier. Truly.
Thanks!
Wired Readers School BP on the Proper Use of Photoshop
July 29, 2010
I love that half these readers sent in Godzilla-flavored mashups. Also love the MST3K reference.
First-ever reading accomplished. Internet friends’ reality confirmed.
July 19, 2010
First of all, thank you so much to Greg Gerke and John Dermot Woods for inviting me to participate in the Soda Series #2 reading last night. I had so much fun, didn’t fall over or faint or anything, and got to listen to Matt Bell, John Madera, and Jeff Parker read some great material and share a really interesting conversation with them as well. (I even got to share my karaoke song with the crowd, which probably made them sad but maybe if they feel sorry for me they will buy a book if I ever publish one.)
Plus, I got to meet a whole bunch of my favorite online people, who I now can picture in my head as real, walking, talking, and very cool human beings. As John Madera said, “Sometimes it’s nice to feel like I’m not just a bag of bones sitting in front of my computer.” Amen. It was also a nice excuse to get to NYC for the weekend, celebrate our anniversary with my husband by gorging on ceviche, paella and sangria, hit up St. Mark’s, hang with old friends, and make new ones. A great weekend all around.
What Seven Year Itch?
July 19, 2010
My husband and I have been married for seven years today. Damn. That’s a long time–over 25 percent of my whole life!–but it doesn’t seem like a long time. That’s because Chris is like the most fun best friend ever, and who the hell wouldn’t want to spend everything second they possible can hanging out with their most fun best friend?
It’s really the coolest thing about being an adult: you know when you were having SOOOO much fun with your best friend playing video games and eating Oreos and talking and talking at three in the morning and your friend’s mom called and said he/she had to come home and you were both like, oh, man, our fun has to end, what a bummer? Well, being married to Chris is like that except that there aren’t any moms to tell you to come home, and you can eat cookies and play video games and talk all night long if you want to. Being married is an awesome lifelong sleepover.
Happy anniversary, Chris. Now I’m hungry for Oreos.
Soda Series Reading in Brooklyn on July 18th
July 7, 2010
What are you doing on July 18th at 7 pm? If you’re in NYC, you COULD be attending a really cool event in Brooklyn: Soda Series Installment #2.
The Soda Series is a bimonthly reading/conversation of writers at the Soda Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, hosted by Greg Gerke and John Dermot Woods. This particular installment will be a conversation with Matt Bell, John Madera, Jeff Parker and me. I feel awfully humbled to be included alongside these ultra-talented and ultra-prolific writers, and I’m hoping to learn a lot from them during this event.
Hope to see some of you there, too, if you’re in the area. And thanks so much to Greg Gerke for inviting me to participate in such a cool reading series.
Video Game Heaven
June 18, 2010
Holy crap. This place looks like how I imagined heaven when I was a kid. I’m still drooling now.
Ashes to Ashes to…
June 14, 2010
This is an amazing art project. The artist, Wieki Somers, creates these pieces out of human remains–out of our ashes. The philosophy behind the project:
her project ‘consumer or conserve’ evaluates this notion of a second-life. she considers, how human ashes can be reused by means of rapid prototyping or 3D printing, so that we may afford someone a ‘second life’ as a rocking chair, vacuum cleaner, perhaps even a toaster? would we become more attached to these objects if this was the case? would our willingness to pay more for a product increase if it is made from human tissue or ashes?
