Saturday Night #LongKiss2016

WHAT: livetweeting movie THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT
WHEN: 8:00PM Pacific Time (UTC/GMT-8) on December 24th (Xmas Eve)
HASHTAG: #LongKiss2016

You may recall this film from Day 15 of #42Movies, my birthday blog series last year. A few of our live-tweet participants have never seen it before, and I'm looking forward to seeing their reactions, and how well this flick holds up after the last two decades of tumultuous American history.

Want to follow our featured commentators? Subscribe to this Twitter list comprising:

• Cylia Amendolara
• Mindy Bardon
• Angela Burkhead
• Curtis C. Chen (IT ME)
• Simone Cooper
• Jennifer Dumont
• David D. Levine
• Mary-Lynn McGregor
• Maria Fisher
• Taylor Fisher
• Andy Steigleder

Of course, anyone is welcome to join the fun by tweeting along with the #LongKiss2016 hashtag.

IMPORTANT: you're responsible for synchronizing your own viewing! If you don't own the movie, you'll need to secure a physical copy; it doesn't appear to be available to rent online. Check your local public library, video store, or an online retailer (many offer the DVD for less than $10, including tax and shipping).

Watch for an official "movie sign" tweet from @curtiscchen at 8:00 PM Pacific Time on Saturday!

Tonight is #DieHardEve

ETA (1:00 PM): MOAR commentators, and embedded Twitter search results :)

Tonight, starting at 9:30 PM Pacific Time, you're invited to our first ever...

Christmas Eve DIE HARD livetweet extravaganza!

Search for #DieHardEve on Twitter to see commentary from various Portlandians, including:

• Mindy Bardon
• Robin Catesby
• Curtis Chen
• DC Drunk Audience
• Mary-Lynn
• JD
• Maria Fisher
• Taylor Fisher
• Aubrey
• Justin

...and you, dear viewer, are also invited to contribute! Feel free to jump in using the hashtag #DieHardEve if you get inspired at any point.

#diehardeve Tweets


IMPORTANT: you're responsible for synchronizing your own viewing! If you don't own the movie, here's where you can rent it online—looks like the going price is $3 (make sure to verify rental terms and whether it's HD, if you care about that):

http://gowatchit.com/movies/die-hard-46265

Watch for an official movie sign tweet at 9:30 PM Pacific Time tonight, but don't worry too much about precision. I'm not saying there will be large amounts of alcohol involved, but I'm not saying there won't be, either. (ObPSA: DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.)

Meanwhile, please enjoy this artifact from the 1980s:


https://youtu.be/QIOX44m8ktc

I Kinda Wish I Had Seen This Sooner

TL;DR: Don't buy Western Digital or Seagate hard drives.

"Hard Drive Reliability Update – Sep 2014" from the Backblaze blog

Setting up new external HDD, hope this one lasts more than 2 years, should probably just shell out for RAID/NAS next, wheeeeeeee

— Curtis 雪國列車 Chen (@sparCKL) September 5, 2014

I Will Miss Being Here

It's the middle of Week Six now, the final week of Clarion West 2014, and I've turned in my final story for critique tomorrow morning. It's all downhill from here: just seven more stories to read and give feedback on, then we party and clean up the house before scattering to the winds.

I'll miss being here, but I'll also be glad to go home. I'm planning to take a week off to catch up on sleep and filmed media (the last two episodes of Orphan Black season two! Movies, including but not limited to How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes!) and generally recharge my brain. Then it's straight back into rewrites on the Kangaroo novel.

Because I have an agent now! Sam Morgan of JABberwocky Literary Agency is representing my novel WAYPOINT KANGAROO, and I couldn't be happier.

Without going into too much detail, Sam made me an offer on July 7th, I did my due diligence for a couple of weeks (while at Clarion LIKE A BOSS), we signed the paperwork on July 23rd, and then Sam beat me to the punch on Twitter.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Welcome to the @awfulagent team, the one and only @curtiscchen!

— Sam Morgan (@samroebuck) July 23, 2014

That's fine; I was busy writing a new, 6,000-word Jake and Andy mystery which didn't totally suck. I'll super-spam my friends and social media followers next week! STAY TUNED.

SnoutCast #180: How the Goodwins Met Your Mother

We set out to do a show on subverting expectations--narrative and otherwise--but our conversation with TV writer Chris Harris took a slightly different direction and ended up (wait for it) subverting our expectations. WHAT.

(Colophon: this is what it sounds like when you record a telephone call using Google Voice.)

[ Download mp3 - 26 MB ]

00:59 - "Canadian"
02:21 - putting the "games" in The Goodwin Games
05:21 - Easter Eggs
07:28 - DeeAnn on Magic and Showmanship
11:11 - "no more actual games"
12:42 - a Game Control fantasy
16:50 - based on true events?
19:07 - the 9th and final season of HIMYM
21:51 - "I didn't leave the room once!"
23:10 - one last Easter Egg from @BenGoodwinRIP
28:07 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Tom Cruise Crazy" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

  

SnoutCast #177: inaugural #terngame debrief

This week, we talk to Jan Chong and Larry Hosken, who recently ran the first-ever #terngame puzzle hunt for Twitter interns and employees!

Also today: Happy 3rd anniversary to Puzzled Pint in Portland, Oregon!

[ Download mp3 - 25 MB ]

00:59 - "airborne"
02:11 - how did #terngame come about?
05:36 - explaining a puzzle hunt to laypersons
06:51 - the Octothorpean connection
08:32 - "at Twitter, we like bird names and bad puns"
09:51 - let's talk puzzles
13:13 - walking around non-sketchy San Francisco
14:16 - feedback would be good
17:53 - cf. other events you've run?
20:17 - "call off the photo of Dick!"
23:33 - other cool stuff
26:23 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Skullcrusher Mountain" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]