fragmentary

It's fundamental, writers are told repeatedly, not to try following market trends but to write what's what we're passionate about. Don't write something you don't love just because it's selling better. People will know when you're faking it. Follow your heart...

Bullshit. I've read quotes from comic artists (And I believe this applies to writers and actors as well, though perhaps to a lesser extent) talking about how people will always say things like "Oh I could tell you were really into this comic" on projects they did purely for the money, and just as often have people saying "Man you really phoned it in on this one" when they'd been working really hard on something they cared about. The end product doesn't always represent what went into making it. If you write a story you don't care about, but follow all the rules, the latest trends and make it technically superb, even if you personally don't have your heart set on it, most readers won't know. It will sell, it will make money, and no one but you will know what you were truly feeling when you wrote it.

"People will know when you're faking it."

This is just another example of the romanticization of art. People look at great works of art -- be they books, paintings, movies, whatever -- and they say "Oh what talent you have" and talk about how this piece of art is an "expression of the artist's inner heart and soul" and rail against those who have "sold out" by creating works of art for money instead of because it's their "true calling". This is all bullshit.

There's little meaningful difference between writing a good story and building a wall. Each works best when you follow certain rules and certain structures, put them together in particular ways, and either way, you don't magically write an awesome story or build a solid wall just from your "inner talent" the first time out -- you write a shitty story and build a wall that falls down, then you look at what you did, you learn from it, and practice, practice, practice... Until eventually you've developed the SKILL to tell a moving story or build a solid wall successfully.

Once you've developed that skill, you can use it for any reason. It doesn't matter if you're writing a story you LOVE any more than it matters if you're building a wall you LOVE -- If you have the skills to do it right, and put NOT your heart and soul into it, but merely your time and effort, 99% of the people who read your story or lean on your wall will neither know nor care how you personally felt about the work you did. They'll just know that you created a good solid work.

Despite the claims in the cover blurb, The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow is not that movie. In fact, it has absolutely no resemblance nor relation to the first film in any way, aside from one character sharing the same name and both taking place on farms. Even the J-Horror jerky ghosts are nowhere to be seen.

Instead, it's a B movie about a farmer struggling against the failure of both his farm and his marriage, while a creepy scarecrow picks off his acquaintances one by one. Unfortunately the acting, though not terrible, never approaches the levels necessary to make either the drama or the horror threads really sing.

I rented it from a Redbox machine at Hy-Vee for $1, and it's actually not bad for a dollar rental to fill an uneventful evening. But I would never spend more than that on it.

Coding in the cloud is a neat idea, but I'm not too impressed by the implementation so far. Anyone know of similar projects that are, well, better?

The parking lot is so big they were offering shoppers parked at the back of the lot a golf cart ride up to the door. There are multiple bicycle racks throughout the parking lot. Despite the size, it was absolutely packed. The opening day traffic made walking to the front doors safely something of a challenge, which might explain the golf carts.

The main entrance consists of multiple glass doors, and my first impression upon entering was of an airport lobby. It's a huge warehouse with very high ceilings and bright fluorescent lighting; everything is in creams, beiges, and other light, neutral colors, further adding to the feeling of open, airy space. Large, easy to read signs with solid, physical lettering hang over each major department, while smaller signs mark each aisle. On the left of the front doors is a cafeteria with plenty of seating and free Wi-Fi that serves Italian and Chinese food; further in is the Deli counter, which takes up the majority of a wall. The back corner is the Bakery, then the meat department follows the back wall. To the right of the entry is a Caribou Coffee kiosk, then the service desk, on-staff Dieticians, and finally the Pharmacy. A large doorway on the far right wall, next to the Pharmacy, leads into the Wine & Spirits department. In between all that, the interior of the store is taken up by aisle upon aisle of groceries, including health food, bulk grains, magazines and housewares.

We hit the Caribou Coffee first. They have a couple small tables and a barrel of plastic cup holders that attach to your cart. The prices are comparable to other area coffee shops, but the staff was slow and obviously inexperienced, and the drinks were so-so. They tried to blend my iced chai latte; I'm not sure whether that's a peculiarity of how Caribou Coffee makes iced drinks, or if the employee (I can't call her an actual barista) who made my drink was just confused. The chai itself had a pleasant cinnamon flavor, but lacked the more complex spicing of good chai. My wife ordered plain coffee, which was bitter and lacking in flavor. The experience was acceptable for a quick caffeine fix while shopping, but I don't think they'll be taking any customers away from the far superior Steep & Brew Express across the street.

Next we split a tray of duck in black pepper sauce from the cafeteria. I thought it was a touch light on the meat, which isn't uncommon for Chinese food, but it was pretty tasty. Though again I don't think it will be taking any business away from local restaurants, it's certainly more than adequate to nosh on during a long day of shopping.

As we explored the rest of the store, I tried to keep two main criteria in mind: selection and price. Hy-Vee definitely gets high marks on selection. Though they don't carry my preferred brand of a couple items, it's a huge store, and overall they have everything you could realistically expect to find, generally in numerous different brands and flavors. The only store in the area that might beat their overall selection is Woodman's; but when it comes to ethnic and organic foods, I'd give Hy-Vee the edge.

The issue of price is more complex. Hy-Vee is comparable to Woodman's, but some items cost significantly more or less, so which store will be cheaper for you may depend on your diet. For example, milk is ungodly expensive, with the regular brands ranging from $2.49 to nearly $4 per gallon. At $1.89, Hy-Vee's store brand milk is the only one with a realistic price. I have to assume that either they jacked up the price of the other brands so shoppers would purchase their store brand, or these prices were set by clueless out of state managers who forgot they're opening a branch in the Dairy State. Their produce, on the other hand, is very affordable and also of much better quality than anything Woodman's has carried in years. It seemed like nearly half the items in the store were marked at reduced prices, though, and there's no telling how common sales will be after the opening day promotions end. Of course, if your main concern is overall savings, there's still no beating Aldi's, which is right next door. Though Hy-Vee does have a few store brand items priced lower (such as 0.97 for butter or 0.39 for 2 liters of soda), on most items Aldi's is still the cheapest game in town.

Being opening day, the shelves were extremely well stocked, the place was very clean, and every employee was working. The managers all wore white dress shirts, the regular employees wore blue. They were everywhere, and they greeted you every time they passed. Every. Single. Time. Friendly service is one thing, but there's a point at which it just becomes distracting. This should be less of an issue once they settle in. It's worth noting that every single manager I saw, out of 25 or so, was thirty-something and white, and all but one was male. I got the impression that the blue-collars were hired locally, but many of the managers were brought in from out of state. Whether they're staying or if they're just here to oversee the opening remains to be seen.

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Corporations do not exist. They're imaginary constructs used for convenience when doing paperwork. But for some reason, corporations have become so ingrained into Western society that most people don't realize they're imaginary — the government even extends civil rights to corporations, rights like freedom of speech that normally only apply to real people. While the rights of real people are increasingly in question, our government is busy giving more rights to things that don't even exist.

Think about this: When a kid doesn't have any real friends, he invents an imaginary friend. He pretends his friend exists because doing so makes him feel better. The parents then choose to play along, because it's convenient for them to do so. When they're busy they'll send the kid off to play with his imaginary friend, they may ask how the imaginary friend has been much as they would ask about a real friend, and may even go so far as to set a place at the table for the imaginary friend. They do all this not because they're under the delusion that there's an actual, real invisible person sitting in that chair, but because the imaginary friend is a social construct — an idea that everyone in the social group agrees to follow because it benefits the social group in some way — in this case, because it contributes to family harmony.

But that only goes so far. Sure, they'll set a place at the table for the imaginary friend. They might, if they're feeling generous, even let the kid take an extra cookie "for his friend". But when it comes time to have a family meeting and vote on their next vacation spot, they're not going to let the imaginary friend have a vote. And if the kid does something wrong, he's going straight to his room, no matter how much he protests that he didn't do it, his imaginary friend did!

A corporation is fundamentally the same thing, just on a much larger scale: A group of people put down an idea on a piece of paper, and the government agrees to play along because it is legally convenient to do so. The idea of a corporation is a common social construct (and, since the government's in on the game, also a legal construct), and they can be useful as long as everyone involved remembers that's all they are.

But a corporation is not a person. This isn't my opinion; this is a demonstrable fact. You can't sit down with a corporation for a cup of coffee — you can sit down with its share holders, its CEO, its board members — but not the corporation itself. If you go to a cafe, set a place at your table for a corporation, insist your waitress take the corporation's order, and, when she inevitably can't hear it, tell her the corporation just wants coffee, black, then hang out for an hour or two having an animated conversation with the corporation, which no one else can see sitting in the empty chair across from you, can you imagine how silly you would look? Close your eyes, and imagine the looks people would give you — first looks of utter bafflement, then they begin avoiding eye contact and slowly backing out of the cafe as they realize there's something seriously wrong with your grip on reality.

That look? That's the look I want to give government representatives every time they try to talk about "corporate personhood" or "corporate rights". When the government has lost its grip on reality to the point that it's letting the imaginary friend vote on where we go on vacation, it's time to avoid eye contact and slowly back out of the country.