Thanks for all the great comments from last week!

Just to note: Any registered user has posting access, not just commenting access.  So feel free to not just comment, but make your own posts in response to the challenges!

Also, if you have something interesting or inspiring that you want to share, please feel free to do it any time - it doesn't have to be related to the current challenge!

Speaking of the current challenge...

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This week's challenge: Post about something that challenged you.  If you want, it could be a story of triumph over a challenge.  Alternatively, it could be a story of avoidance of a challenge.  It could be something this week, or even something from 10 years ago.  Your choice.

Also, if prose is not your medium of choice, feel free to do it in another medium - art, photography, poetry, whatever you prefer.

 

Looking forward to all the great posts!

~Miriam

Hey you!  Yeah, you, reading this site but not commenting.

Obviously, this site does not make you pause.  So I have a challenge for you:

Post something here that does make you pause.   Pause in thought, confusion, epiphany, humor... whatever it is, just something that makes you pause.

You have 1 week.

(and, to be fair, I'll be doing it, too) 

 

I think I would like to glow red hot

With madness

Something to talk about, you know?

Instead of forging conversation

Upon general concerns

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i don't know whether or not you ever or not come home to locked doors to find your roommate locked in during broad daylight. i don't know whether or not you ever or not come home to find your home the color of dandelions and scrambled eggs when you know for a fact it's blue. this poem is about terror.

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So, I have decided to give myself a challenge, since I need to motivate myself after a fun but exhausting and distracting trip to Chicago.  I've decided to write poetic notes to exes.  Or something.  Basically, broken relationships is the theme.  Here is #1.  Enjoy. 

 

O buh-bum

that first night,

sweet holiday of happiness,

kissing in the grass

seemed so right.

Every moment after

felt the same,

every touch

excited our senses,

every smile oh, buh-bum,

so real.

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An analogous situation, she crawled in and bowed her head,

Then dropped her jaw and let her dirty words fill us with dread.

I searched the eyes of passerbys, not sure of what I'd see,

A glimpse of shame and blinked back fears showed grief, but no charity.

I couldn't deduce what alms she begged (as she recited every night),

Was it milk money, drugs, or humanity's qualm--humility, so absent from sight?

As she swayed by the feet of the black suit and tie, the difference was plain to see;

In her naked request, her honest prostration, she had dignity, rather than he.

Okay, so I finally joined ouropenmic.com after going to the live open mics each week this semester. For those of you who have come, you may know by now I am not particularly eloquent.... but then again, using the word eloquent just kind of makes me sound that way, doesn't it? Anyway, I figured what better way to improve my writing than to actually write, and what place would be better to do that very thing on other than this website. At least people can comment on how much it may suck, or if I actually write something worthwile. So this first blog will hopefully start a line of creative and interesting topics, and I hope I don't just end up making an ass of myself. Well, I guess that is really it. Farewell to all until my next blog.

I have a beef with God.

There, I said it.

 

Not to say that I subscribe to the idea that our universe is the manifestation of a big white guy in the sky,

 

I’m more inclined to say it’s more of a mechanical mechanism than a man, supposedly superior, but clearly in control.

 

The poor deity is likely incredibly lonely,

according to the Catholics he sends artists to purgatory.

However the story goes, we all seem to know

some sinners are saved, and some saints receive the low-blow

 

Moses,

my man,

holding holy courage to stand,

 

up to Gumption Alrighty

‘scuse me,

Mr. God Almighty:

 

“Moses,

My Man,

drag those chosen people through the sand

snack on manna, the nectar, then I expect you to stand

outside the Holy Land, the Battle Grounds, pawn unto a larger plan;

Arguing with Me? Be proud to be a sacrificial lamb.”

 

 

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To my dearest friends,

I am very close to releasing OOM 3.0, and I can't tell you how excited I am to be so close to unveiling it all to you. I want to thank everyone for being so patient with all this, since I know for the past few weeks I kept saying how close we were to it being complete. But, this time I really mean it, lol. And I promise, you are gonna love it. The site is gonna look better, sleeker, and less cluttered. And it'll be more fun to use. I am so pumped, and I hope once you see it you are as well.

For, now, though, I would really appreciate it if everyone here helped me get the site up to speed and ready to be unveiled. Basically, this will require a few small things from you guys:

1. Please, please, write one or two reviews in the next few days. This way, when I unveil the new OOM, the review section will be thriving immediately.  Go here to immediately start reviewing.

2. If you feel so inclined, post something on the forum.

3. Once the site is up, please try to utilize the new features even more. And give me as much feedback as possible so that I can keep improving it for everyone.

Thanks again, guys, and happy blogging!

Welcome to the very first edition of Crazy Rockwell Reviews.

Today, I will be recapping the most recent episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

 

Dude, did you watch ATHF last night? Man, it was soooo fucking funny.

So, Frylock is updating his Myspace page and he gets three new friend requests, so he decides to invite them over for a little party.

Also, Shake makes a joke about Futurama moving to Comedy Central. And he makes a dick joke too.

So, they come over and they're like, fruits: it's a banana, a tangerine, and something. Whatever. But they're also hardcore, born-again Christians... except for that they start lapsing back into their old habits: alcoholism, crack smoking, and hobo humping.

It was pretty funny. You should totally watch it. 

 

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In case you can't see it (and I can't, as I'm writing this post), my 'boring' homework is a Boring White Square.  Highlight the post, you'll see that there's actually an image there, not just white space.  (Well, it's an image of white space.)

Although it occurs to me now that something even more boring than a blank white square (well, square-ish.  I didn't actually specify the dimensions, I just cropped it to look approximately squareish), is to not post at all.

But instead, you get a blank white rectangle that's close to a square. ;)

Something that has really been hitting home for me recently is that if we (as in, the human race) are not moving forward, then we are moving backward. We need to constantly be pushing ourselves. So, from now on, I will be assigning homework every now and then. Just to get our sparks flying.

This is a message to all the bloggers: WAKE UP! We have all been taking it easy, since most of us have had spring break and whatnot, and have just been busy in general. Well, now it is time to wake up and write/create some quality shiznit. So, this is what I am doing. I am going to give you all a homework assignment. Fight Club style. We need to up the ante.

So, here is: I want everyone to find out what one of their biggest insecurities is, and then turn it into something creative. Either a story, a song, a poem, a photograph. Whatever. Find out what it is, and surround it with something creative. You don't have to tell us explicitly what it is if you don't want to, but it should be at the core of whatever you are creating.

Good luck! I am going to begin working asap.

P.S. - I would like to see the results no later than a week from today (March 25^th)

 

As Marvin Gaye said, what is going on? I've been a bit distracted from OOM for the last week or so, and what do I see? I see people “debating” instead of discussing. I see people closing themselves off from each other instead of opening their hearts and minds.

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okay, so i tweaked my how-to-comment guide . I changed it into a general guide, and i think we should have more in-depth guides written by the bloggers on the art forms they favor. for example, emily already started us off with a superb example for photography.  i am in the process of writing one for poetry. any other poets who would like to collaborate with me on this are more than welcome -- just let me know!   all you prose writers can nominate one person to write a guide on prose, or you can collaborate as well. emilio, maybe you can write one for film?  these are simply ideas and they are definitely flexible. we can separate prose into fiction, nonfiction, short story, vignette, whatever, and have separate guides for all of them. we can lump prose and poetry together. we can divide art into separate categories like painting, sketches, etc. you can veto my idea altogether. i just want your input!

She looks at me hard. "I knew it."
"What?"
"You are going through one of those what-does-it-all-mean things." She says "what-does-it-all-mean" in an American accent and furrows her brow.
I cannot tell a lie. "I am, actually, yes. Yes indeed. Very much so."

-Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

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I seem to be going through one of those "what-does-it-all-mean" things, too. Because of this, and perhaps in honor of Valentine's Day, I've decided to write an 8 or 9 part series entitled "Girls I've Known" in which I examine notable previous encounters with the opposite sex and try to discern meaning from them.

An exercise in vanity? Maybe. An exercise in writing? Certainly; I've never tried to write anything like this, and I don't know if it will be successful, but I would love love love your feedback, your ideas, your thoughts and musings...anything you'd like to give.

 And if you're interested (or perhaps looking for a topic to write about), I challenge you to write a piece about a previous relationship, a previous unrequited love, a previous romantic anything...it's rather enjoyable to write, take my word for it.

So...read. Enjoy. Think. Comment. Write. Share. Repeat.

 Thank you, my invisible-yet-lovely internet friends. Have a lovely week.

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