BANNER FEB2010

From the category archives:

Books

I Bring Books

by Brian on February 3, 2010

in Authors, Books, Twitter

rob gokeeHey so I don’t read anymore because of my paranoia I didn’t tell you about, but I wanted to expose you to two books – one I have actual light involvement with, and the other I am el friends with the author.

First on tap is Rob Gokee’s In the Belly of the Fail Whale: How Twitter Changed My Life in One Year. (Here’s a link to buy at it on Amazon.)

While the title might be a bit long, it also saves me from having to tell you what the book is actually about.

Rob was also cool enough to ask me to write the foreword – you may remember he was the one who actually pushed/shoved me to get on Twitter.

An excerpt from what what I put inside:

“Sigh,” I said to myself out loud, admiring my new haircut.

Anyway, if you’re into Twitter or into Rob or into books or into whatever, maybe go pick this up. I’ve read it – it’s worth taking a look, and also has my name on the cover, as noted above.

Dr NatashaThe other book is by Dr. Natasha Valdez, who was an Associate Producer on WSM? with her life-pal (nay, husband) Charles Solomon, Jr.

I’ve known both for years and have spent time enough to know that her new book A Little Bit Kinky: A Couples’ Guide to Rediscovering the Thrill of Sex (Amazon link) will likely do exactly what it says it’s supposed to.

Now, I don’t do that sex stuff anymore because of my paranoia about catching bronchitis, but when I read this I was like, “Wow, maybe bronchitis will be worth it, cause like this rediscovery does sound pretty thrilling.”

For example, there’s one chapter that I can’t talk about here on my PG/PG-13 blog website, and that’s a chapter that will help me for sure if I ever want to get bronchitis.

In conclusion and furthermore, while I can’t say either of the titles of these books are quite as descriptive and exact as my own Prelude to a Super Airplane – which tells you exactly what it’s about – I can tell you that these are both worth reading, should you have the urge to do reading at something.

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{ 4 comments }

Angry AAA Fun

by Brian on December 15, 2009

in Blackberry, Books, Cars, Google, Retail Stores, Weightlifting

Romance novelTo preface this, you need to know that I locked my keys in my car about a week ago, and the AAA guy that came to get them out was FURIOUS at my ineptness, especially when it turned out the keys weren’t even in the car.

So I was on Blackberry Messenger with the same person I was on with when it happened last time.

Brian: Gah damn it I left my lights on now my battery is dead

Girl: Omg brian
Girl: You have so many car troubles

Brian: I swear I call AAA once a week lol

Girl: LOL

Brian: it’s not the car it’s me – just always in a hurry

Girl: Omg if that same guy some again
Girl: Comes

Brian: Lololol oh god it’s even more cold today

Girl: Lol forever

Brian: I will buy him this romance novel from borders
Brian: IMG00608.jpg ( 77.03KB )

Girl: LOLOL

Brian: I’m just like “sorry man I know it’s cold I got this for you”

Girl: “This should keep you warm at least a little”

Brian: Lol
Brian: Oh man it is cold out

Girl: : (

Brian: My hands have frostbite and no longer work

Girl: R u wearing shorts again
Girl: Oh no lol

Brian: LOL
Brian: Like my car won’t start and also I tripped on the curb and fell down and can’t get up lol

Girl: LOLOL

Brian: Nobody will help me lol

Girl: Lmao
Girl: Omg

Brian: I’m loling for real right in the middle of the store lol

Girl: Lol lol lol

Brian: Oh god the car just started now what lolol
Brian: He will get here and I won’t be lol

Girl: LOL SHUT UP

Brian: I will leave the book on the ground with a sorry note

Girl: Omg I’m dying
Girl: LOL
Girl: Horrible

Brian: Oh man I am glad I can share this with you

Girl: Lol omg me too brian

Brian: going to the gym – time to get big and strong!

What happens to all my BBM pals when the Google Phone takes hold of my life January 5th? Do you think I can still find ways to have mobile instant messaging fun?

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{ 3 comments }

Writer’s Block :(

by Brian on December 7, 2009

in Books, Girls, Target

Lost Season 6(The WSM? YouTube channel was finally approved a few days ago – go see how nice they look over there. Chapter 5 should be out late tonight.

Also, if this picture makes you laugh, we will probably get along great.)

I pride myself on being like famous Snoopy drawer Charles Schultz. He said that “writer’s block is for amateurs”.

Imagine my raw, savage shock when I read back this IM chat transcript that I was involved with. I’m the one labelled “Brian” – that’s like my IM alias or something.

Girl: What r u reading brian. Should I leave u alone lol

Brian: I am writing now

Girl: Ok

Brian: It is a book that I am writing

Girl: Sweet. How far along are you

Brian: I have three words left – just gotta think them up
Brian: Kinda stuck

Stinks, huh?

What should I do, and can you please finish my book for me? Just throw some three-word combos out there.

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{ 24 comments }

NEW MOONI was doing a reformat on the Kindle version of Prelude to a Super Airplane over the weekend, and totally forgot there’s an amalgamated Twilight + Harry Potter series of novels that are part of the 19th subplot.

Anyway, Chapter 30 of PTSA was actually an excerpt from one of the books.

I thought this an apt time to post it here – if you’ve never read the Twilight books, sadly this is exactly what they’re written like. Everything after this sentence is lifted directly from my book.

30
(I know this has nothing to do with airplanes, but I wanted to put it here, because I’m hoping if I put like a blurb on the cover, I can sell more copies of the book.

This is an excerpt from “Andreanna Marsupial and the New Moon’s Glow”, the fourth book in the Andreanna Marsupial saga. All material is copyright of the author, Stephenie Piperbraum, or however you say that correctly.)

CHAPTER 143 – THE END OF ACT 1

I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if I should or not. The television was sitting there in front of me, and I’d been looking at it for several hours, debating whether to turn it on or not. My father, Lugustus, had bought the television many years ago – it was old now, but when he bought it, it was new.
[Like here is how to read the rest.]

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{ 6 comments }

Brad Radby’s eBook Theory

by Brian on November 14, 2009

in Apple, Books, Brad Radby, Super Airplane

eRADBYCOVERAt the start of the movie, Brad is finishing the new cover for his book, which he did because he has his exciting ADD and wanted to make people confused.

The inside of the book was still the same, and like that was so the paparazzi would not go crazy?

Brad used inDesign.

So like then Brad looked at the 14,000 different formats he would need to re-create to make the eBook version of his excitement book widely available, and like that made him do his vomiting, and he cursed society again.

But Brad saw that now the Kindle software was available for PCs, and so that was a good thing that he liked to have happen, even though Kindle formatting robs him of all the exciting fonts that he likes so much, and that it was a somewhat archaic device the day it was released.

Brad right then like at that moment made a decision that until the Apple Tablet arrived and fixed society, he was only going to keep it simple and have his book only available in three ways: Paperback, PDF, and Kindle.

He also decided this would include any related books that he appeared in as a character, like Prelude to a Super Airplane.

(Brad also knew that he thought it was funny how the publisher was like, “Hey, do you know that you state this Brian Spaeth person is the author, but the cover misspells his name, and doesn’t even list him as the actual author?”

Brad was just like “LOL!! Hit that publish button BRO.”)

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{ 1 comment }

My Stance On Question Marks 2

by Brian on November 4, 2009

in Books, Grammar

Super Airplane(Here’s my original post on question mark abandonment – was this really all the way back in July.)

@iamboney and @trilby_dare called out my blatant and unapologetic use of a question mark on Twitter the other day.

Her response especially made me laugh, and that’s a thing that I like to do.

Let’s clear this up – I swing both ways now.

Sometimes I use question marks, and other times I don’t.

My reasoning is erratic at best, but it has to do with my next book, where I’m experimenting in question mark methodologies like no author in recent history.

When I’ve got it sorted out, I’ll let you know.

If I buy a doggie and give it to another doggie, and then buy the second doggie and it to the first one, then free them both, who owns who?

There were no receipts in this scenario.

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{ 4 comments }

Dominic PaceSo here is some information:

1) My Mac is down for the count, which means I have a hot date with the Apple Store this afternoon. If they can’t immediately fix it, I’ll be like, “Oh man! C’mon, try again.”

2) This non-Mac-having is severely crippling, and pretty much couldn’t come at a worse time, considering the WSM? site is supposed to open tomorrow, and the first teaser is out next Tuesday.

3) I like to talk about my computer problems in a public forum, so that other people will have sympathy, and then like they will tell all their friends about how strong I am in the face of the ultimate adversity.

3a) I bought a houseboat over the weekend, and now I live on it with my hot new wife, who I just met. She was the one selling the houseboat, and I was like, “Hey, do you come with the houseboat – ” and then she was like, “Yes,” and then I was like, “Man, that seems like a weird deal – do all of the houseboats at this water vehicle store come with hot girls to marry – ” and she was like, “Yes.”

4)If you look in the sidebar there, you’ll notice I’ve written a new (free) book, and also provided a backdoor into the the WSM? site.

5) If this first technology crisis wasn’t bad enough, I was in the local T-Mobile Action Center over the weekend, and found out I’m not actually a free agent until JUNE. (I thought it was November.)

What’s the worst adversity you’ve ever faced, and on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being “toughest”) how tough were you in the face of the adversity from the first part of the sentence.

Also, do you think if they renamed them T-Mobile Action Centers, that more people would switch to T-Mobile, and why or why not.

(Don’t forget the WSM? Facebook Page – it’s the only place you’ll be able to access the first teaser next Tuesday.)

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{ 24 comments }

Brian Spaeth Who Shot MambaI was thinking about having a good cry the other day, and then because my actoring is a bit rusty, decided to wait, and not do that thing.

Instead, I made this list of actual pieces of commercial media and entertainment that have made me produce tears, be they sadness tears or happiness tears.

BOOKS:
Catcher in the Rye (Like when he catches the rye finally. I think it’s a metaphor -)
Of Mice and Men (When Lenny does his dying.)

MOVIES:
Armageddon (When BW’s friend who has the kid runs up to the kid when they get back to Earf.)
The Grapes of Wrath (The end.)
Wall-E – A couple times.
The Incredibles – When Dash finally lets loose in the jungle.
Team America – I literally was crying with laughing the first time “AMERICA – F–K YEAH!” played.
The Iron Giant – Twice.
Big Fish – the end.
Field of Dream – duh.

TV SHOWS:
Lost (End of last season – I was just overwhelmed in general at the end.)

MUSIC:
N/A

SPORTS:
Cavs (Too many to list – last time was when they finally got to the Finals – Game 6 vs Pistons in 07.)
Browns (First game back in Cleveland in 1999.)
Indians (When they got to the 95 World Series.)

BLOGS:
Both Teams Played Hard (Just now.)

I’m sure there are more – but this is all I can think of right now. I’m sure some music must have made me cry, but I dunno. What commercial fare has made you shed tears the most, and why do you think it did that.

(Go join the WSM? Facebook Page – it’ll be the only place to see the first teaser…on Sept 1.)

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{ 53 comments }

Subway Tweetup TODAY

by Brian on August 17, 2009

in Books, Twitter

Who Shot Mamba Dustin Pearlman(The Who Shot Mamba? Facebook Page: now featuring a genuine director doing his important directing, Dustin Pearlman.)

Hey, so since I was talking to this one girl from Twitter (@AliWilson) about our intense Matthew Perry-based obsessions, and because she has a friend (@jenn85) who I guess designs imaginary blue scarves with the first girl (@AliWilson) and they are maybe even sisters.

Sometimes we talk about Subway and other times lines get crossed because of RTs.

BINGO!

Okay, enough with the confusion over what I was supposed to wear to Subway, I want to get serious about a Tweetup – this is where people from Twitter get together and meet each other, using verbal conversation and handshakes, as opposed to keyboards and small hand-held SuperPhones.

(This is what I have instead of a SmartPhone.)

Subway is the place – there is a nice one is Tulsa, Oklahoma that I was at a few years back. It’s at 3:00PM today – let me know if you can make it. I will probably be late, because I just planned this, and haven’t booked a ticket. Also, my car is out of gas and I still need that haircut.

Do you think the NFL should ban running and why.

(Sorry to stray off the serious stuff here, but if you’re into social media and all this garbage I am secretly into, go check out this book by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

They’re pushing it hard today, and they rarely do such things – I’m sure it’s to prove a point about something that’ll be of interest, and I’m even more sure the book will be worth your time. I ordered mine last week.)

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{ 4 comments }

MCM, Rollbots, The Vector, and You

by Brian on July 22, 2009

in Blogs, Books, Grammar, TV, Twitter

(I want to hand a post off to someone I met via Twitter a few months ago, who to me is like a Canadian force of nature.

He’s got a lot of stuff out there, and if you’re looking to self-publish books, he gets mad amounts of downloads, and tracks the stats (with analysis) over at his blog, which is entertaining, as well.

Guy’s got some new stuff coming out, and I thought you would find it cool. You know I’m a huge baby about my personal space, therefore you also know I’m like doing being serious here. Everything after the vid is the enigmatic “MCM”.)

Hi, I’m MCM and I’m insane. Above, you can see the trailer I made for my TV show, “RollBots” (airing on the CW4Kids in September) about spherical robots in a Hot Wheels world.

I’m also writing a mystery novel called “Fission Chips” where the audience decides what happens next. If you like being a bastard, you’ll like it. I cry myself to sleep every night because of what people suggest in the polls.

My newest book is “The Vector”, about a woman trying to survive a crumbling world dominated by bio-hackers and machete-wielding Chinese agents. You can read it for free on my site, with new chapters every Monday and Wednesday. There’s lots of blood in there.

Thanks to Brian for letting me post here today. I suppose I will now have to delete those incriminating photos of him with the toga, hedge clippers, and four geisha girls from Oregon. A deal’s a deal.

(MCM is also on Twitter. On a scale of one to ten, what you would use your personal RollBot for. Also, I’ve stopped using question marks for at least the next two months. How do you feel about this.)

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{ 48 comments }