Producing Various and Sundry

Business, Heal Thyself

I know a lot of self-employed and small business folk who are hurting during this pandemic. And for my own business, we’ve needed to rethink how and what we’re doing. One of those entrepreneurial, self-employed friends, Russell Nohelty, wrote a post about how he retools his business… as he has done many times. It’s a non-trivial amount of time –especially if you haven’t done it before– and figuring out how to best attribute the costs…

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Various and Sundry

Commence Docking Procedures!

In a little under two hours, if all goes well, there will be a rocket launch to the ISS via Space X (you can catch NASA’s live feed here). If you want to wile away a couple hours, you can get good at docking the Dragon capsule with the ISS in a simulator using similar controls to what the astronauts are about to use. Be warned though, it takes patience and precision. But as gastronaut…

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Various and Sundry Writing

How to Pronounce Names in Dune from the Great Maker’s Mouth

I’m still debating whether or not to rewatch or reread the various version of Dune leading up to this Fall’s new film adaptation. One definite thing I want them to get right? How to pronounce all those names. Of course, it might help if we all knew how to pronounce the names. So that’s where one superfan comes in. He’s compiled Herbert saying a bunch of the names, none of which are presumably a killing…

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Acting Producing Writing

Theater in the Time of Coronavirus

All sorts of physical businesses are suffering during this global pandemic and I know many people, dependent on in-person gigs for their livelihood who now have no income stream (to say nothing of creative freelancers, as one Nation article notes). So this video posted last week by Joseph Haj, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater resonated: I was lucky enough to grow up going to the theater and live performances frequently, something I’ve tried to…

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Various and Sundry

Chris Hadfield finds your lack of Hard Sci-Fi Disturbing

I’ve really enjoyed Chris Hadfield letting us know about the realities of space exploration, from his space-based cover of Bowie to his book to his counsel on dealing with the pandemic. So, I was happy to check out what his thoughts were on some of my favorite “hard sci-fi” films were and– oh, it’s like comparing notes with my dad, the physicist and history buff…

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Writing

Get Some Writing Inspiration

Last weekend… I did a bunch of chores. But I also did said chores while watching multiple panels and some breakout sessions for the Online Writer’s Conference I talked about last week. If you missed it, good news! You can check out the panels from both days on the same website. Combined, it’s over 13 hours worth of insights and techniques from working novelists, screenwriters, and others. So check it out! Perhaps while you’re taking…

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