Just Fun

Writing for MindTweaks is an exercise in staying focused, on track, on  topic and targeted.  I know, I know…  MindTweaks  may not *seem* particularly focused, but in the great creative chaos that is my life, this blog stands out as a beacon of consistency and order. (scary, isn’t it?)

Still every once in a while, I need to indulge in a bit of writer-ly spring-break madness, let my hair down and spew out free-form insanity. 

It may not be spring, but I need a bit of madness this week - and lucky you! I’m willing to share.  So without further ado, I present my notes for the Next Big Hit!

It’s a novel.
It’s a movie.
It’s a hit album.
It’s an uber-moralizing-epic-eco-horror tale.
It’s…

Volcano Virus!!!!

[click to continue...]

It’s been a slow week here in Tweaksville, thanks to my webhost’s server upgrade and Wordpress security issues (both of which caused my brain short out. Much smoke was involved).

After all of that seriousness ( most of which I shielded you from, dear reader, see how I take care of you?) I thought some silliness was in order. [click to continue...]

Without (much) further ado…
*Trumpet Flourish*

Tweak Me Now

(Pop up blockers off, please…
and you need to have the Flash player installed.)

And a big thanks to my friends at GhostDog(alpha)
for hosting this on their Dogpark!

The BackStory: [click to continue...]

Don’t try to deny it, I know you’ve had them - everyone does - those embarrassing instants of mind-numbing stupidity. You’re faced with a task, question or action that you’ve done a thousand times, and yet, you flub it. Even worse, you may even recognize the problem *as you make it*, you may know that you’re about to screw up colossally, and yet, you’re unable to stop it. Brain fart. <cue obnoxious sound file>

Turns out, it’s more than just a cutesy way of explaining away our embarrassment over mental glitches. Brain farts are real. No, the brain doesn’t actually belch noxious fumes, but still — they are real, measurable events in the brain, and even more interesting, they’re predictable. Here’s the deal:

Researchers were looking in the brain for cues that a mistake was being made - hoping to spot some sort of activity blip that signaled an error, perhaps an instantaneous loss of concentration.

[click to continue...]

The Brain is wider than the Sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside.

The brain is deeper than the sea,
For, hold them, blue to blue,
The one the other will absorb,
As sponges, buckets do.

The brain is just the weight of God,
For, lift them, pound for pound,
And they will differ, if they do,
As syllable from sound.

-Emily Dickinson
Complete Poems. 1924.