i be shoppin’
So, I saw one of my friends post this Photoshop challenge, so I thought I'd take it, and it ended up REALLY cool. So, I thought I'd post the rules and challenge any other photoshoppers out there to take it upon themselves to try as well. And if you do, post your link to the picture here and share your glory!
Here are the CD Cover Art Challenge rules:
1 – BAND NAME Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random article” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – ALBUM TITLE Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 – COVER ART Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 – Link your post with your Cover Art here in the comments section, or tweet me (http://twitter.com/vulcansmuse) with the result to let me know how yours turned out. Then, you tag anyone else!
(Optional) Post it to FB with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in.
140 or less
I can't believe that it's come down to this… I used to be so diligent about updating my blog. And now, along comes Twitter. Not that I'm a brand new gal to it or anything. Well, partially newbie, I've been on it since October I think. ANYWHO.
It's amazing to me that first with text messaging, you had to make messages in 160 characters or less, which was usually simple because it was a short reply, and if you couldn't say it in that, you just pick up the phone. But, with Twitter… 140 characters to properly emphasize exactly what is going on challenges your brain and your vocabulary, which is nice. Sometimes. Until you get the most amazing event that comes along that you want to tell, and it wouldn't even fit in 15 updates.
See, for southerners, like myself, (which I've been accused of lately of losing some of it by fellow Tweeple, but I won't let it bother me) we're storytellers. We like to draw the story out and make it interesting it… don't read lying or exaggerating (though my grandfather probably does). But, it's detailed. And the humor usually lies in the great detail. The expression gets lost in Twitter… as does in blogging. It's the lost art of personal expression that I often miss in the world of "social media" that is often less social than we deem it to be.
I'm taking on new means to try to expand the social media outlets that I do have, but I am also trying to make my real social connections more intentional. However, at the same time, I never want to lose sight of the importance of being a great storyteller or the influence of a great lengthy, strong structured sentence that doesn't have lingo of the interwebs.
The crazy extravagant anecdotes are those that people remember years from now… not the updates or statuses that were 140 characters or less.
whoops-a-daisy
Dang. It's February. That happened really, really fast. I have absolutely no idea where January went. I mean, I have some idea because of everything that was going on, but man, if it didn't fly by and disappear.
Today is Groundhog Day. And, lucky for me, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Apparently, there's snow coming into the D.C. metro area for the next few days. Secretly, I'm hoping for tons of it and a snowday. Don't hate me. I'm a displaced southerner who had little snow as a child. I'm just making up for what I didn't have. Sure, I should more farther north where they have more snow, but then it's colder, and my southern skin can't take the frigid temps. Besides, I still like having a summer too.
I've been really bad about updating. It's my intention to be much better about it, especially because I've been really lax about reading and "historicizing" lately (Yeah, if "W" and Harding can make up words, why can't mainstream America?). But, that is soon to change.
Things have been busy over here, getting ready for a ton of stuff. If you missed it, the Inauguration of President Barack Obama happened. Being in the nation's capital, it made perfect sense to be a part of the ceremony, so I did… from my couch. Unfortunately, I fell pretty ill (hello bronchitis and a double ear infection) that weekend and spend the entire week at home and living on water, meds, and sleep. But, all is much better now. Unfortunately, that was a week of January, and then it seemed like the rest of the month just slipped out the door unnoticed.
There are lots of things on the verge of happening here, though. I am amidst edits of an article for publication in the Vulcan Historical Review. My paper, "Buildup and Base Development: The Impact of Urban Warfare on the City of Saigon," was accepted for the 2009 VHR. I'm pretty excited… it'll be my second published piece, but my first MAJOR published piece (the first was a film review). Hopefully this will help in my quest for the Ph.D. Who knows… we shall see.
Other than that, lots of reading, and hopefully some interesting thoughts will show back up here, and some funny stories. I've been terrible about using Twitter as my little outlet instead of the blog. But, 140 characters isn't always enough to tell the story.
Until next time… And yes, I probably owe you 10 minutes of your life back for this post. Why don't you tell me how I should waste 10 minutes of my time for payback?
