Chris Howard's Writing & Art

You can't come to California...

...and not spend some quality time in Monterey.  With family and a decent camera.

Click on the following for the full view:

 

 

 

 

   

 

.

With Painted Words

Taking submissions now!

With Painted Words (http://www.withpaintedwords.com) "puts the adage, 'a picture paints a thousand words' to the test.  The premise is that, each month, an image will be given as a visual prompt and you will have up to one thousand wordsto tell the story that you are inspired to write ... using your imagination as the canvas and language as your brush."

As if this isn't cool enough...

The first visual prompt is none other than my Angry Sea painting. 

Go check it out.  Write away.  Submissions are open.

My mobile code

Does your mobile device/phone read 2D barcodes? There are half a dozen free iPhone apps for reading Datamatrix or QR codes and then processing them in some way.  For instance, if you're encoding a URL like the one to my blog (http://the0phrastus.typepad.com) the app will decode it and pass it along to the browser (Safari if you're on an iPhone).

Get yours here. (links to Nokia site).

Here's the QR code for the same address:

.

Anagram fun

Via FantasyDreamer, I jumped to this cool thing that generates an anagram from your name.

http://www.deanjackson.dj/nameanagram/index.php?n

So what's mine? 

I put in Christopher Howard, and it gave me: HORROR'S CHEAP WIDTH.

On a lark, I put in Dan Brown, and what did I get?  NOW BRAND

Genius.

Kyle Cassidy's giving away a copy of Seaborn!

I met Kyle at Worldcon on the Realism in SF panel, and afterward, at sort of an impromptu panelist gathering, I handed out a couple copies of Seaborn signed.  Kyle's now running a contest on to give away a copy of Seaborn to the best story (< 350 words) posted in the comments.  In one line: Tell a quick story about Roswell the Cat and mer-people. Check out the details here: http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/537966.html

And then spend time at Kyle's site: kylecassidy.com.  Kyle's the most amazing and creative photographer and author I've run into, with projects all over the map (literally). He's collaborating with Neil Gaiman on Who Killed Amanda Palmer.  More: Where I Write: Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers in Their Creative Spaces.  Echoes of Life - Philadelphia Murders.

. 

P&G Hiring Elite Combat Forces for Marketing Positions?

Like everyone, we have a variety of dental care products in the house, including the one to the right, Crest Whitestrips, which are--as everyone probably knows--teeth whitening strips that fit on your teeth--basically you stick them on, let them sit there for a while, and then peel and toss. Bam. Whiter teeth.

They're neat, they do work well, and they fit, but what struck as a...little different was the Advanced SEAL with SEAL all in caps, and the three very succinct lines: Form fit. No slip. Clean removal.

And this started me thinking that if Navy SEALs did marketing, they'd jump on lines like these.  These are damn good lines: Form fit. No slip. Clean removal.  They apply to the SEALs themselves.  In fact, thinking further--perhaps a little too far, if you were charged with doing some subtle advertizing for Naval Special Warfare, wouldn't it be interesting to see if you could infiltrate the marketing departments of some of the world's top corporations and get them to sell your message? 

There's a book in there somewhere. Maybe a comedy...

.

http://www.whitestrips.com/whitestrips-products/whitestrips-advanced-seal-details.jsp
http://www.seal.navy.mil/seal/

Remember when we were there?

40 years ago we were on the moon.  I remember all of us gathered in the den, watching the TV for what felt like days. 

Reminiscing? Check out the LIFE Magazine archive.

Here's our good old moon--with the Apollo 11 landing site, shot last September with my Nikon D40X: 

.

My first iPhone app in the iTunes App Store!

PhotoStamp, an iPhone app that makes it easy to stamp any image in your Camera Roll with a copyright line, a URL, your name, any custom message.  Great if you're uploading your photos to TwitPic, Flickr, SmugMug, etc.  It's free.  It's in the iTunes App Store. 

Interesting note: I sub'd PhotoStamp on July 1 and exactly fifteen days later it's in the iTunes Store. I don't know how many apps are submitted daily, but it's a lot, and they're handling it well.  Apple, you rock!

Here's the link:

(opens iTunes)

Go get it!

Screenshots:

Isn't this beautiful?

.

If you had to come back as an insect...

...you'd definitely want wings like these.  Shot this beauty in the garden fondling all the flowers.

Try not to laugh...

I dare you.  Almost what I was going for with the character study, Zombie Hunters into Gardening, but far funnier...and real.  Well, you know what I mean.

Goths in Hot Weather A celebration of the Sunshine Goth

Via Miss Destructo's Twitter stream.

http://twitter.com/missdestructo
.