Filed under: Connections, movies, Science Fiction, Space, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: 2001: A Space Odyssey, blogging, Communion of Dreams, jim downey, literature, mathematics, Menger Sponge, movies, Science Fiction, space, technology, video, writing, www youtube
I’m no mathematician, and I won’t claim that the imagery used of the ‘artifact’ in Communion of Dreams was intended to reference this, but if you think about it (and have read the entire book), this kind of explanation would work with higher orders of dimensional reality:
Mathematical Impressions: The Surprising Menger Sponge Slice
Jim Downey
*Of course. Which also fits with CoD, since it was an explicit homage to the first movie/book.
Filed under: Art, NPR, Science, Science Fiction, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: anamorphosis, art, blogging, Brusspup, jim downey, NPR, perspective, Robert Krulwich, science, Science Fiction, video, writing, www youtube
This is not unlike the tricks that a good story-teller uses, though manifest in a brilliant visual form:
From NPR’s Robert Krulwich, who has this to say:
These illusions were created by an artist who calls himself Brusspup.What he does is an exercise in anamorphosis, a conjuring trick that takes advantage of how our brains make sense of the world. If you know how, you can create an image which makes no sense until the viewer happens onto a particular — and it’s a very particular — spot. Once the viewer finds the right angle — the only place where he or she can see what the artist intended — suddenly, boom!- the drawing leaps into three dimensions.
Getting a reader to that precise point of view in a novel is the hard part. Willing suspension of disbelief is a kindness all readers give any author.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Connections, Humor, movies, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: Apple, art, blogging, extrovert, introvert, jim downey, movies, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, video, writing, www youtube
I’ve mentioned before that I am intensely introverted — but that I have “good extrovert batteries”. Meaning that while I in many ways dread large gatherings and over-stimulating environments, I can usually function pretty well in them for reasonable periods of time.
Anyway, saw this item this morning, thought I would share it:
Hope to have news about the site updates later today!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Failure, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Music, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, failure, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, Mark Knopfler, movies, music, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, The Princess Bride, video, writing, www youtube
We’re all adults here. Let’s be frank: unless something fairly remarkable and unlikely to the point of ridiculous happens, the Kickstarter isn’t going to succeed.
And that’s OK.
Seriously, it was a good effort, and I’ve learned a fair amount from the experience. I still think that Kickstarter is a worthwhile model, and I intend to continue to support other projects on it in the future. Who knows, at some point I may attempt to do another project myself.
But for now, it is time to draw some conclusions about the current project and move on.
First and foremost, as I’ve said all along I greatly appreciate all those who tangibly showed their support for my writing with backing the Kickstarter. Really, folks, that means a hell of a lot to me.
Next: because of the way Kickstarter is structured, I had some minor problems setting up my project the way I would have wanted. I accepted these limitations and have no regrets, but I think that it made for a weaker presentation that I initially planned. I may get more into the nuts & bolts of this in the future. I may not.
But if come 9:00 PM this evening the Kickstarter hasn’t been funded, then I am no longer bound by those limitations. And in the coming days you’ll see some big changes on the Communion of Dreams and St. Cybi’s Well websites. I’m not going to get into all the changes now, but you’ll see options to order an advance copy of the new novel at an attractive discount. And ways you can reserve one of a very limited edition run of both Communion of Dreams and St. Cybi’s Well and have those books bound the way you want — even reserving your edition number on a first come, first served basis. With payment plan options. Some of the higher-end premium ‘rewards’ will still be available, as well.
So, it’s been a fun experiment, and I again say thanks to all who came along for the ride. But there’s more than one way reach my goal, and I think this other path will offer some interesting advantages. I hope at least some of you will agree.
Cheers!
Jim Downey
*Of course. And since YouTube didn’t have a clip of the scene that quote comes from, have some appropriate music instead.
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Failure, Feedback, John Lennon, Kindle, Marketing, Music, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Joe Cocker, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, music, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, The Beatles, video, writing, www youtube
What would you do if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
You’d certainly be entitled to do so, though my wife assures me that my singing isn’t nearly as bad as I usually make it out to be.
The truth is, singing is something I have always wanted to avoid, because it generally implies a public performance aspect. And, frankly, I find that frightening enough that I usually try and limit it to things I feel more confident about.
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
This is key: pleasing an audience.
That doesn’t mean always giving them what they want. Rather, I think, it means satisfying them that you have given them fair value. For their time. Perhaps for their money.
Long ago I learned that no matter what, you can never please everyone. But if you set your goal that you give them fair value — an honest effort, based in real training and preparation, generally people will be satisfied. I *haven’t* spent time learning to sing, or play an instrument, so I don’t offer those things to an audience with any expectation that they will pay any attention to me. I *have* spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into trying to learn to write, so I am comfortable in offering my words in a public transaction of fair value.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm,I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends.
We’re in the closing hours of the Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well. It’ll end tomorrow evening.
And I don’t know whether it will achieve the funding goal. Right now, it doesn’t look promising.
But that doesn’t mean it would be a failure. Hardly. For each and every person who has stepped forward and made a pledge to back the Kickstarter, that is an affirmation that my efforts at writing have been judged successful. That means more to me than I can ever convey.
Thank you.
Jim Downey
*Yes, The Beatles. Though Joe Cocker also did a great cover of it. And thanks to my friend ML who suggested this song a couple days ago in a comment. And remember, tomorrow Communion of Dreams will be free for download all day – spread the word.
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Failure, Heinlein, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Music, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Religion, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: Alan Parsons Project, Amazon, blogging, Buckaroo Bonzai, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, gambling, Heinlein, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, movies, music, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, video, writing, www youtube
* * * * * * *
I liked “The Day After Tomorrow.”
No, not the movie. Gah.
Rather, I’m talking about the initial name for the Heinlein novel we now know as Sixth Column. I always figured that the trick of inventing a religion (one of the major plot devices of the book) gave L. Ron Hubbard inspiration. It’s not one of Heinlein’s best works — hardly — and you have to understand the blatant racism in the context of when it was written. But it’s decent pulp science fiction.
* * * * * * *
RAWHIDE:
Look, uh... we've got the overthruster,
but somebody shanghaied the Professor
right from the press conference.
BUCKAROO BANZAI:
Ohhh... the deuce you say.
Gotta love Buckaroo. Text from here.
* * * * * * *
And they think it will make their lives easier
For God knows up till now it’s been hard
But the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
No the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
Two days remaining. It ends the day after tomorrow. $7,781 to go. Bluff, or fold?
Jim Downey
PS: Oh, yeah, the Kindle Edition of Communion of Dreams will be free all day on the final day of the Kickstarter. Let everyone know. Thanks.
Filed under: Amazon, Augmented Reality, Connections, Failure, Feedback, Government, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Music, Nuclear weapons, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Survival, tech, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: Al Stewart, Amazon, art, atomic bomb, augmented reality, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, matrix, movies, music, predictions, promotion, science, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, technology, Trinity, video, writing, www youtube
Did you know that the first atomic bomb test was called Trinity?
* * * * * * * *
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained” they said
So you played for the winner takes all
And tossed the dice high up and craned your head
To see how the numbers would fall
Al Stewart, Midas Shadow
* * * * * * *
When we first see her …
… it’s clear that we’ve disappeared down the rabbit hole.
* * * * * * *
The old/young man smiled. “You have a glimpse of it.”
“Of?”
“The truth. Or what your mind can grasp of it.” The figure was standing beside the glowing burl. He reached down and seemed to scoop up a handful of the tholin, then lifting it, allowed it to flow from one hand to the other, a gloopy, glowing blue mass.
“You have a glimpse of it. Now, what will you do?”
Instinctively, Jon reached out and put his hand under the flowing tholin, felt its warmth pour into his palm, and settle there, waiting. “You said before that there wasn’t much time. What is going to happen?”
“I cannot see the future. But I can see more deeply into the present than others. Things are . . . changing.”
Chapter 15 of Communion of Dreams.
* * * * * * *
Did you know that the first atomic bomb test was called Trinity?
On Monday morning July 16, 1945, the world was changed forever when the first atomic bomb was tested in an isolated area of the New Mexico desert. Conducted in the final month of World War II by the top-secret Manhattan Engineer District, this test was code named Trinity. The Trinity test took place on the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, about 230 miles south of the Manhattan Project’s headquarters at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Today this 3,200 square mile range, partly located in the desolate Jornada del Muerto Valley, is named the White Sands Missile Range and is actively used for non-nuclear weapons testing.
And did you know that there was more than a little debate among the scientists working on the Manhattan Project about what would happen with the test? Yeah, seriously — they weren’t sure:
The observers set up betting pools on the results of the test.[28][29] Predictions ranged from zero (a complete dud) to 45 kilotons of TNT, to destruction of the state of New Mexico, to ignition of the atmosphere and incineration of the entire planet. This last result had been calculated to be almost impossible,[17][18] although for a while it caused some of the scientists some anxiety. Physicist I. I. Rabi won the pool with a prediction of 18 kilotons.[30]
It worked:
Three days remaining on the Kickstarter. Will it work?
I’m still craning my head to see how the numbers will fall.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Babylon 5, Connections, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Publishing, Science Fiction, Space, Survival, YouTube | Tags: Amazon, Babylon 5, blogging, Bruce Willis, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, Milla Jovovich, movies, promotion, Roman, Science Fiction, space, St. Cybi's Well, The Fifth Element, V for Vendetta, video, writing, www youtube
“V”, it is said, is for “victory.”
It’s also for Vendetta.
No, it’s not for that dreadful miniseries. Or the TV series. Gah. Why did you have to remind me of that???
It’s also for “5“. As in Babylon. As in the number of days remaining in my Kickstarter.
And as in elements. I think this Fifth Element bit says it best:
Yes, some things *are* worth saving.
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 