I decided to take a look at Oliver Taylor’s screenbundle TextMate bundle for writing screenplays in TextMate. On the left is what you write, and on the right is a preview of what you’ll get as an output. If you download a little add-on, it’ll even export straight to PDF. Celtx has to send your screenplay to a server to convert it to a PDF. Which means you need an internet connection. Which sucks.
My Verdict: screenbundle works pretty well. I had to get a little fiddly with tabs and stuff, but once I spent a minute figuring out how to do things properly, I was able to get some stuff done.
My Other Verdict: I have forgotten almost everything I learnt in screenwriting class.
Which Letters' Names Can Be Spelled Without Themselves?
An example — you spell the name of the letter ‘b’ as “bee.” “Bee” contains the letter ‘b,’ so it cannot be spelled without itself. On the other hand, you could spell the name of the letter ‘c’ as “see,” so it can be spelled without itself.
Here are my results:
- A - x
- B - x
- C - ✓ (see)
- D - x
- E - x
- F - x
- G - ✓ (jee)
- H - x
- I - x
- J - x
- K - x
- L - x
- M - x
- N - x
- O - x
- P - x
- Q - ✓ (kyoo)
- R - x
- S - x
- T - x
- U - ✓ (yoo)
- V - x
- X - ✓ (eks)
- Y - x
- Z - x
Total tally:
Five (5) letters’ names can be spelled without themselves.
Twenty-one (21) letters’ names can not be spelled without themselves.
I’d love to be corrected by someone who has some kind of qualification in this stuff. I think I’m headed in the right direction though — there are more letters whose names can’t be spelled without themselves than letters whose names can be spelled without themselves. (That sentence was a disaster, but I can’t think of a better way of writing it.)
This stuff kinda fascinates me. Language fascinates me. I guess it’s funny that it fascinates me and that I suck at using it.
No, you have too much time on your hands.
http://github.com/scottjacksonx/hn-api →
I took the guts of my hnsh project and made it a simple Python API for Hacker News.
Internet’s making me a bit angry ‘n’ stuff, so I think I’ll disappear for a couple of days. See everyone a little later.
My go-to coffee name. It’s no Truck Spank, but I think it’s pretty good.
The lady didn’t even have the courtesy to spell it right, nor did she give me one of those ouch-it’s-too-hot rings (despite my coffee being really hot).
A YLNT Idea
I’ve had this sitting on my hard drive for a while, but the Sleepy Adams’ mascot stirring from his slumber reminded me of it.
Joel and Jeff of the StackOverflow podcast get the community to transcribe episodes of their show. Apart from allowing those who can’t hear to also consume the show, this means that the show’s content is indexable and searchable.
I was thinking of setting up a similar thing for YLNT. It’d be a wiki, stylised (wikis don’t have to be ugly), with a bolt-on component that would make the transcripts look like screenplays. Wouldn’t that look cool? It would be this taken to the next level.
It wouldn’t be that hard. The difficulty would be in transcribing the backlog — there’s ≈ 35 episodes in the bank, but I think that myself and some intrepid volunteers from the YLNT Nation could pull it off. Plus, if we throw in some YLNT rewards for those in the Fun Bunch who contribute a lot, maybe that would incentivise people to get the job done.
Answers enabled, so you can tell me — is this an opportunitystake, or am I crazy?
Patti Scialfa Syndrome
Just to clear up something I mentioned in my last post, Patti Scialfa Syndrome is when a member of the band is up on stage mostly for show. They’ll usually provide backup vocals or play tambourine. Sometimes, they’re the girlfriend or whatever of one of the “real” band members. Other times, they’re just members of the band who
The most famous case of Patti Scialfa Syndrome is (of course) Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s wife. Patti Scialfa started touring with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in 1984 for the Born in the U.S.A. tour. She played tambourine, acoustic guitar and did backup vocals. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find documented proof of this — because she didn’t do much, she’s not on camera very often. The earliest example I can find is “Out In The Street” from the 1984 tour.
The other person/band combination I can think of that suffered from PSS is Lol Tolhurst during the mid-to-late ’80s and The Cure. His contributions to the band went decreased once Pornography was done. He physically couldn’t play the beat on “Let’s Go To Bed,” so he was relegated to keyboards from then on. He became less and less involved until 1989, when he received an “other instruments” credit on Disintegration. After that, he left the band.
Fleetwood Mac — “Eyes of the World” live in 1982
I love this song to death (especially the rockin’ version from their 2004 live album, which I can’t find on YouTube), but y’know what Fleetwood Mac needs? More chicks playing superfluous tambourines. Ugh. It’s Patti Scialfa Syndrome all over again.
And another thing — Mick Fleetwood has way too much gear. In that video, I see 4 toms, five crash cymbals, a gong and a wind chime. Let’s be clear — Fleetwood Mac isn’t Rush. What the fuck does Mick Fleetwood need a gong for? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Fleetwood Mac song with a gong in it.
Somehow, “Satisfaction” got faster and faster as we went along. As the end approached, Jeremy and Darren started giving everyone that look that musos give each other when they want to end a song — a look which makes you wonder if they’re about to sneeze. The eyebrows raise, the mouth and eyes open wide, the chin rises higher and higher as the song builds to a crescendo.
— Anthony Griffis in Air Guitar — The True Life and Daggy Times of a Lounge-Room Rock Star, perfectly describing the “now it’s time to end the song” facial expression.
Writings: IBM vs. Mac →
I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the ratio studiorum of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory; it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the kingdom of Heaven — the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: The essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.
This is the canonical Mac vs. PC essay that Merlin mentioned briefly in passing on this week’s MBW.
Even now, sixteen years (and a shift from DOS to Windows) later, a lot of the stuff in the essay still stands up.
