Who was your first crush? What happened?

I haven’t posted in a while - maybe it’s from laziness or maybe because it’s summer and summers are to be spent outdoors drinking from public water fountains and sitting on freshly trimmed lawns; more likely though, it’s probably because I just haven’t been inspired…

This animated film called “My First Crush”, by Julia Pott, a recent graduate from Kingston University, inspired me.

Everyone can relate to having a first crush, following them to class and wanting to sit beside them or writing them letters you were too scared to send, and today, however many loves later, wondering about them, knowing that you probably still, do, love them; nothing changes, the heart still races when you think about them.

Who was your first crush? What happened?

Write a novel in 3 days and get published, maybe…

Ever thought about writing a novel but never had the years, it seems to take, to dedicate towards crafting your masterpiece? We have a solution!

The 3-Day Novel Contest could be your opportunity to write a classic that will place you amongst the greatest scribes of all time. It could happen.

Actually, the objective of this 72-hour writing marathon is to spark creativity and pursue something fun and different, not to mention that first prize is the publication of your novel. What do you have to lose? It’s a small commitment for your chance at literary fame and fortune!    

Registration is now open for the 30th annual 3-Day Novel Contest. For more information or to register, visit www.3daynovel.com.

 

Shane Koyczan – Beethoven

It’s been awhile since we’ve featured any poetry so here is a poem called Beethoven, written and performed by the one and only Shane Koyczan – a Canadian poet, wordsmith, musician, humourist, observer, story teller, and all around amazing artist.

Koyczan also belongs to a couple of performance ensembles called: Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long , we like Atlantis, and Tons Of Fun University (T.O.F.U.), try Static – the styles are quite different but the passion conveyed throughout all his works is inspiring.

For more of Koyczan’s poems, look for his book, Visiting Hours, which is a collection of some of his poetry.

(When did we become an aggregator of random youtube videos? You must admit, this Shane fellow is pretty darn awesome.)

Not really news – “Handwriting Without Tears”

This news clip isn’t the most timely but its relevance, to us, remains. It’s encouraging to see that handwriting is still taught in schools and children are learning and enjoying this form of communication.

The company behind this initiative is called “Handwriting Without Tears”; we don’t know why it’s called that but if you do, let us know! It’s unfortunate, however, that the clip only refers to “Handwriting Without Tears” as a teaching “method” without mentioning that it’s also a money-making business; oh well, at least the kids may eventually get higher SAT scores, according to the clip.

“And when I got to the script, I really enjoy it because it seems more elegant like… unique.” – Ashley Ragoonanan

 Well put Ashley; we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

*View the clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK-kB2IMx2A

A break from all things writing

We’re taking a small break from writing about writing.

Instead, we’d like to share with you the lyrics from our favorite song at the moment. You Get Me from Faroe Island music superstar Teitur, off his second album Stay Under the Stars, is getting some crazy play on the iPod.

There’s a lyric below that has inspired a work-in-progress, ever popular, idioscript animation. Think you know which it is? Time will reveal all.

For now, enjoy the careful arrangement of some arbitrary words, woven together, to form a wonderful song. 

You Get Me by Teitur Lassen

If I say no, if I resist
If I don’t give in to this
Would it be a lesson or a loss?

Suddenly I know what it’s about
Thoughts come in, and words come out
Suddenly I’m not killing time
It’s all over now

You get me
You get me

Like a beautiful song
You heard a million times
Like the rainbow’s end
You can never find

You get me
You get me

If I say yes, if I let go
And face the consequence I’ll know
Will it lead to living with regret?

Suddenly the walls are coming down
I won’t be the same when I come around
Suddenly I am understood
It’s all over now

You get me
You get me

Like a crimson sunset
Where the sky meets sea
Like no one alive
But lives in my dreams

You get me
You get me
You get me
You get me

Like a beautiful song
You heard a million times
Like the rainbow’s end
You can never find

It’s hard to ignore
And undeniable, too
This feeling inside
When I look at you

You get me
You get me

Can you do this with email?

The video below titled “writing a letter” by pistchiodance is a swell illustration, we think, of how much more personal a considered, handwritten letter is compared to any message sent via email.

Sure, the painting of the heart could’ve been more graceful and the kiss was hardly gentle but try relaying a similar sentiment and manipulating your electronic mail into a folded crane.

For us, the verdict is in, old school letter writing 1, email letters 0.

Where should we place your vote?

Is letter writing dead?

When was the last time you wrote a letter – an actual letter,  not an email or a typed correspondence for professional purposes? 

Can you recall when you sat down and spent the time to craft a personal, handwritten note to someone just because you were curious of where they were, what they were doing or how they’re keeping?

If you’re anything like us, it takes a rare alignment of the moon and stars for such an extraordinary commitment to result.

Letter writing is a commitment. It’s a commitment in time, resources and thought. In an age when an email sent may be read by the recipient seconds later, why invest the time picking out stationery, carefully wording and neatly handwriting a message, not to mention placing the folded note in an envelope, licking the bitter glue to seal it and securing a stamp on the letter before delivering it to a mailbox? We’re exhausted just thinking about it.

All this effort and the message will probably not be read for another couple of weeks, depending on how long it takes to reach its destination. Is the process worth it or is the tradition of letter writing dead?

What would prompt you to commit to writing a letter?

Post a comment or email gabriel@idioscript.com. We’d like to hear your thoughts!

Ever lost anything? Wonder who found it?

There’s this cool magazine/ pop culture initiative called FOUND. It’s been around for a while but we thought to highlight it because a lot of what’s been collected includes handwritten pieces ranging from love letters, birthday cards, and poetry just to list a few things.  The note and story below, that sparked it all for FOUND magazine, was found on their website: www.foundmagazine.com.

“And how’d this all start?
One snowy winter night in Chicago a few years back, Davy went out to his car and found a note on his windshield — a note meant for someone else, a guy named Mario:

We loved this note — its amazing mixture of anger and hopefulness — and so we shared it with as many folks as we could. Each friend we showed the Mario and Amber note to seemed to have a few finds to show us in return; clearly we weren’t alone in our fascination with FOUND stuff! As a way for everyone to join forces and share their finds with everyone else, we decided to start a magazine called FOUND, a showcase for all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people’ve picked up.

We spent a year spreading word about the project and collecting great finds, then with scissors and tape we slapped together the first issue of FOUND in June of 2001. Each year since, with help from our friends and finders all around the world, we’ve put out a new issue of the magazine. We hope you’ll enjoy checking out the website and the magazine, and that you’ll join in and send in your own finds! We collect it all — love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, poetry on napkins, doodles — anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life.”

The 1000 Journals Project

The 1000 Journals Project is something we think is neat. We felt that if you didn’t already know about it, well, maybe it’s time you knew. 

Initially inspired by bathroom wall graffitti, Brian Singer a.k.a Someguy, a graphic designer from San Francisco,  started his 1000 Journals project in August 2000. The project is an experiment in creativity and sharing between friends and strangers throughout the world. www.1000journals.com

Individuals lucky enough to get their hands on one of the journals, which seem to have found themselves in nooks and crannies, from here to there and everywhere in between, add something from their experience – a story, drawing, or photograph to the journal, with the contribution limited only by the creativity of its creator. Upon completion, the journal moves on, like a roaming traveller, staying in place only long enough to collect his thoughts and sample the local brew.  

The root of such a project may be traced back to the 1920s when “surrealist writers and artists devised a game in which each participant wrote or drew on a sheet of paper, folded the paper to hide his contribution, then passed it along to the next person, who did the same. The result was a collective work that art critic Nicolas Calas characterized as the ‘unconscious reality in the personality of the group.’ The process became known as the Exquisite Corpse (Cadavre Exquis), a name taken from the first sentence that was written using the process: ‘The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.’”*

The project has gained some more attention of late because of The 1000 Journals Project Book which highlights 250 of the best entries so far. Six years in the making, it was published in February 2007 by Chronicle Books. 

There is also a documentary in the works, where filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage tells the story of the journals. www.1000journalsfilm.com

To date, only one of the 1000 journals have found their way back to Singer (Someguy). Journal number 526 was returned, filled, in September 2003. Will the other 999 journals find their way home?    

*This post includes an excerpt from the article, “Around the World in 1000 Journals”, published in Poets & Writers magazine ( www.pw.org), written by Dalia Sofer, a freelance writer who lives in New York City.

idioscript.com – shameless publicity revealed

We announced last week that we had snuck ourselves into the local media. Well, apparently, the ad runs for two weeks!

This is what we did: There is a local entertainment weekly that has a “City Singles” section. Within this part of the classifieds, there is an “i saw you” subsection. ”i saw you” presents an avenue for people to contact someone they came across in passing - to awaken destiny and make a connection that chance had missed. 

It’s free to place an ad in ”i saw you”, though for various reasons, it may not be printed.  As evidenced by the image below, we got published. Twice.

So here are the results: 
Effective? No, we received zero responses. Traffic to idioscript.com did not noticeably increase.
Desperate? Maybe.
Fun? Definitely!

We’re hiding most of our ad due to embarassment and shame. If you’d like to see the rest of it, email the address in the image with: “Show me the ad!” in the subject line and we’ll talk.