The 2013 (or 2014, depending on who you ask; there were apparently some issues with the 2013 list causing YOLOCALYPSE) University of Chicago Scavenger hunt is either in full swing or panic mode (again, depending on who you ask). And this is something that everyone should know about. Here’s a summary for those of you who didn’t choose which college to go to based on criteria like “... »
Headshots from the Heart is a fundraising event benefiting the remarkable charity, Child’s Play. It is happening next weekend and you can of course donate or participate in their geektastic auctions.I’m going to swoon a little now over how happy the existence of these charities makes me. Child’s Play itself is two parts brilliant and three parts heartwarming, baked at incredibly ... »
Despite issues with logging in to the comments, last week’s drabble lab was great. Hopefully, sign-in issues will be resolved this time around; if you couldn’t get your drabble in for last time I’m sorry! I was really impressed this week with the breadth of interpretations of the theme. There were a lot of different interpretations, and they were all quite interesting! Read on fo... »
This round of Drabble Lab made me grin, because there were so many repeating themes. You know you write for a wonderfully skeptical audience when the prompt of ‘truth’ yields stories mostly about the fallibility of human reason and the possible reality of totally implausible situations. In short, in most of these stories, there was no truth. And that was awesome. Once again, I recommend everyone c... »
Recently, Douglass Rushkoff talked about something called “Present Shock” in Wired. In particular one quote stood out for me, about how storytelling is changing: “Think Game of Thrones. In the old days, this sort of show might be considered bad writing. It doesn’t really seem to be moving toward a crisis or climax, it has no true protagonist, and it’s structured less like a TV sh... »
Drabble lab last week went phenomenally! There were so many great entries that I had a desperately hard time choosing a winner. You should definitely check out the whole thread, with all 14 drabbles (that’s only 1400 words; it won’t take you too long!). But in the meantime, here are runners up, a winner, and a new theme! For those of you who don’t know what is going on: Drabble l... »
Maki Naro has been with The Lab since the very beginning. He’s written great articles. He has a wonderful webcomic. And perhaps most importantly, he is the caretaker of a magnificent beard. But do you know what else he has? You guessed it! A starring role on Penny Arcade’s reality competition, Stripseach! Penny Arcade is a long-running webcomic that focuses on gaming and gaming culture... »
Maybe you’ve been watching the photo lab with a certain amount of envy, because your camera is covered with a thick layer of dust that inspires nothing short of shame and dread when you think about picking it up. Maybe you’re like me, and write with a certain compulsiveness that is just short of unhealthy. Maybe you want another opportunity to participate, or want to give writing a try... »
