Sound Unseen 2008 begins tonight. Check the website for all the awesome to-do's, and watch this groovy trailer for the event:



Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Cool Event, Minneapolis Event

On Monday October 20, 2008, you can have your chance to bowl against some local Minneapolis bands:

10-20-2008
7pm -10pm at Memory Lanes
Sound Unseen Music Film and Art Festival Presents
ROCK AND BOWL - Come bowl with us at Memory Lanes!
2520 26th Ave S, Minneapolis, 55406
Cost: $5 - Includes Bowling

John Kass will be selling records and DJing this year's Rock N' Bowl.

Reserve your spot today! Sign up in teams of four. To do so, please email: info@soundunseen.com.

Participating Bands:

• Bella Koshka


• So It Goes


• Military Special


• The Guystorm


• Weaver at the Loom


• Zebulon Pike


• Gospel Gossip


• The God Damn Doo Wop Band


• Building Better Bombs


• The Soviet Machines

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Cool Event, Minneapolis Event

We're told that everyone has a story inside them.

Somehow, mine escaped.

I looked over at the printer, and there it was. Over four-hundred, tree-killing pages of adjective-laden, occult/action/adventure nonsense, sure to send even the most patient copy editor into conniptions. (Unless they charged by the mistake.)

As you read this, several copies of "The Demonslayer's Handbook - Book One" are circulating a tightly scrutinized list of pre-readers. In the meantime, I've drowned myself in books, websites and RSS feeds on writing/publishing from insiders and outsiders, those who've succeeded and failed, those who swear by the system, and those who swear at it. After what seems like ages of introspection and research, I've come to several conclusions.

First, any writer foolish enough to go through the traditional publishing route for a 'book deal' (esp. for fiction) is... a complete fool. Whatever can be said about the recording industry for music goes equally well for the publishing industry. You'd be money ahead using those printed manuscript pages to heat your home this winter.

Second, anyone foolish enough to try to self-publish their work of fiction is... an utter fool. Publishers will tell you that Print On Demand is the new 'vanity press' and Amazon is destroying the printed world by enticing authors to 'the Dark Side' of self-publishing their own works. Why would anyone buy your crap that's about as low-quality and apocryphal as the average blog post? You're better off taking all the money you would have put into the set-up fee for Print On Demand, and take it to the casino instead.

The upshot here is that anyone foolish enough to try to write a work of fiction now-a-days is...well, a complete and utter fool. Especially niche-y, urban fantasy that sounds like a knock-up of Dan Brown's "Demons and Angels" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

So the vote is in. Conventional Wisdom has Spoken. Don't do it. Don't be a complete and utter fool.

Ha! Good thing I'm a rebel who only listens to conventional wisdom long enough to decide what I can do to piss everyone off. The book's very existence is as unplanned as a broken condom; no reason it can't be leveraged into a Happy Accident.

I've no doubt that I'll be not only a complete and utter fool, but also a complete and utter failure. However, if I may be so bold as to quote the wise King Theoden:

"If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end, as to be worthy of remembrance."

In other words, if I can't be astounding, then perhaps I can be an astounding failure. I could very well end up the publishing industry's poster-boy for Why You Should Never Ever Self Publish!

I'm going to put together a list of goals, and a timeline. I'll track all the time and expenses spent on this Beautiful Disaster, and I'll be sure to post all the cold, hard numbers right here on www.conradzero.com.

Just you watch...

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: The Demonslayers Handbook, Writing

It's sites like ZenHabits.net that make me want to be a better blogger. I've no delusions that conradzero.com is useful by any stretch of the imagination, but ZenHabits is chock-full of useful, practical, real-world information on how to make your life simpler and better.

It's positive and cheerful too, but don't let that get you down.

There's a marvelous post over there right now by Leo, titled Success Isn’t a Competition: Boosting Others Helps You in the Long Run. It's title pretty much sums the post up. There's some good examples of the idea applied to blogging, but the idea lends itself well to other areas of life. I'd argue that competition is healthy to a point, but there's a lot of truth to what Leo says.

Leo's also starting a "Helping Hand" program, and reaching out to offer support to other bloggers in any way he can. That's great, and I wish him the best. He's already helping me by blogging useful advice. I'm helping him in return by telling all three of my blog readers what a great site ZenHabits is. It's the least I can do.

Ya'all really ought to read it. Leo's got a lot of useful wisdom to share.

Don't pass up on zenhabits! It'd be like starting every sentence of your blog post with a contraction.

That'd be lame.

Art's Resistance
-Z'ro

Labels: Blogging, Cool Website, Ubercool