TEN YEARS OF CHICKEN SCRATCH

It was ten years ago today that I started this blog, Evil Chicken Scratch – or simply, Chicken Scratch.  I came to the name by combining two things, my codename/nickname, Evil Chicken and an allusion to writing or script that only chickens or people who called themselves writers could understand.  I wanted a place where I could gush about books and movies and excellent cups of coffee.  And I built one!  I have always wanted Chicken Scratch to be an oasis – a happy place to visit. 

While it should go without saying that I hope this is still the case, in recent years a bit of slacktivism has crept into the electronic pages of this blog right in between the fan-boy gushing and documented adventures.  Chicken Scratch has become, at times, someplace to voice dissension, to question - a place to bounce ideas off of and think.  Chicken Scratch has evolved over time to appreciate both the discord and the rhyme.

During the past ten years there have been triumphs such as, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2010/04/surrounded-by-stories-surreal-and.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/11/project-thanksgiving.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2011/12/level-up-entertainment-farpoint-toys.html, and this, the No Shave November Crossover Event of 2013: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/11/no-shave-november-facial-hair-challenge_30.html.  This was for cancer research and it was a crossover blog between Cybertrout & Evil Chicken.  Cybertrout is a friend and, for that matter, one of the finest bloggers I know [for a good time, see: https://cybertrout.wordpress.com/; no, really, it’s a good time]. 

And there were tragedies and the remembrances of them: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/08/robin-williams.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/01/normal-0-one-of-brightest-minds-of-his.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-dark-night.html, and http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2007/09/911-six-years-hence.html

And then there’s the Doggerel, Adoxography, & Slacktivism.  As it says right up front at the top of this blog – what you will find here is one part Doggerel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerel, another part Adoxography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoxography , and a sprinkle of slacktivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacktivism for good measure.

After ten years’ time, I can further illustrate what my header means…

Doggerel: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2005/01/library-dues.html,  http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2006/04/whats-in-name.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/09/rest-in-peace-spiderman.html.  Just the right amount of wrong.

Adoxography: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/03/neil-gaiman-is-coming-to-rowan.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-comic-book-project.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/11/on-first-glimpse-of-star-wars-episode.html.  Geek blood runs through my veins. 

Slacktivism: or http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/06/whistleblowing-prophecies-of-dark-knight.html, http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2014/07/tell-fcc-your-feelings-about-net.html, or http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/07/happy-fourth-of-july.html.  These stories moved me enough to say something about them.

Sure, I may have ended up on a few government watch lists due to the “added slacktivism” but, hey, did you really want to hear about the SOPA/PIPA, the NSA monitoring, the FCC’ shenanigans, and Edward Snowden out on the streets?  I think not!  Besides, who isn’t on a watch list these days?

Of course, one’s man discord is another's rhyme.  Also, there is a lot of evidence to support the idea that trivial things are truly not that trivial at all.  As for slacktivism; ideas, words, and pictures are dangerous things.  They should be.  They should both comfort and make you uncomfortable.  The journalist Finley Peter Dunne in the character of Mr. Dooley said, “My business is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  Yes, Dunne said it.  Yes, I paraphrased it.  He was right about this point.  Dunne would have made a wonderful blogger.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention YOU.  Thank you for following along on this long, strange, trip, Gentle Reader.  Let’s see what the next ten years bring.  Let us enjoy the ride, celebrate the adventures that are around us all the time, and share the joy of discovery.  It is a dangerous and wonderful world.  Let us explore it together.  Let us fall in love with stories.  Let us read, let us write, let us dance, and let us be dangerous.

Sincerely,

Evil Chicken

The Privacy Poll

This afternoon I took a Facebook poll on privacy.  I answered how satisfied I was with the privacy settings and if I felt they were easy to find.  Then there was a box for my comments so I commented.

"I enjoy FB.  However, privacy is an illusion.  I self-censor and I’m mindful of what I post, both status updates and with pictures.  FB is a free service but information is the new currency & knowledge is power.  That makes information priceless.  Right now FB is the 900 lbs. gorilla in Social Media and people, being people, like to share information about their favorite things; themselves.  I’m cautious as to what I share and to what extent I share it, I don’t think you can’t make a setting for that - yet.  I know this isn’t a space for questions but what is FB’s stance on CISPA?  - Thank you for your time."

And that was that. 

The price of admission these days is tied to data – your data.  I love Social Media; further, I am an apologist & proponent for it.  At this point in our history and, I hope, far into the future a user driven, free & open internet is in the world’s best interest.  That said, if you are going to participate in Social Media be it Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinerest, or even blogging you should be aware of the price.  For many, including me, it is still worth the price of admission but that cost may be increasing if members of Congress had their way; CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) passed in the House but failed in the Senate.  It is only a matter of time before someone else who has no idea or concept of what they are talking about proposes legislation to take away your online freedoms & compromise your personal information.  I hope whatever may come next meets a similar fate as CISPA & SOPA before it. 

“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.” ― Charles Portis, True Grit

Etiquette and Protocol in the Realm of Social Media

“Words mean things.” A wise person once said.  As the world shrinks (please see blog directly below this) it is important to realize this fact.  Words mean things.  When a verb rubs against a noun something happens.  This is why Bambi’s friend Thumper was told by his mother, “If you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all.”  Thumper’s mom subscribed to the concepts of etiquette and protocol.  Besides being programmed in over 6 million forms of communication, C-3PO was hard-wired for it, etiquette and protocol. 

Yet again we are tasked with taking something from the stories that we hold dear; stories which are told and retold time and time again.  Some of the seeds are planted in good soil and some are not.  This lesson is not an easy one.  Words, once spilled, are very hard to put back into the bottle, so to speak.  It does not matter if it is spoken, written in long hand or posted on Facebook or Twitter.  If you don’t believe me the next time you are on South Street in Philadelphia and have a hankering for a cheese-steak casually mention how much better a football team the Dallas Cowboys are when compared to the Eagles while you are placing your order.  You will quickly discover that words mean things.  You will also see that while you have the right to freedom of speech here that you will also be held accountable for what you say.  There is a certain responsibility that inherently comes from opening ones mouth – it’s basic cause and effect.  

We are blessed to live in a country where freedom of speech is a right.  There are places where people disappear for their words.  Places not all that far from here.  Last week there were a couple of Twitter users found suspended from a bridge, disemboweled in Mexico because a certain group of people did not like what they were saying.  This is only a recent example.  Tyranny, governmental or otherwise, will always try to silence a populous because revolutions begin with words such as; “justice”, “liberty”, and “freedom”.  Those in power, or those who wish to be, want to keep that power by maintaining a silent population.  It is easier to control a group of people who have no voice.  This is the importance of a free press and the importance of the freedom of speech.  I may not agree with you but you have the right to say what you feel.  This is one of the major reasons why people still want to come here; the freedoms that we so easily take for granted. 

But I digress.  Concerning social media.  I can’t speak for the whole of the internet but I can tell you how I operate or at least what I aspire to, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  It’s simple, it’s elegant, and it works most of the time.  Now, with the anonymous nature of social media and the internet slipping into extinction, more than ever it is important to realize that we need to take ownership of the words we say or type or post.  Social media is a tool for communication.  That’s it.  It is not your diary nor should it be.  Don’t post something that you don’t want the world to see or know.  Just what part of “world wide web” do you not understand?  When you send something; pictures, texts, emails… that data is routed on servers across the globe.  It’s more akin to sending a postcard that can be read by whoever wants to pick it up than it is a wax-sealed document.  Those pictures that you sent?  Yeah, THOSE pictures, they are out there… somewhere.  The main point that I’m underlining here is words mean things but that should immediately be followed with don’t be stupid.  Remember what you put out there is out there; the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Just like being at the supermarket or on an elevator, or in a library etiquette and protocol go a long way. 

The internet is akin to a living organism.  Here is a “map of the internet”:

It looks like neural pathways, doesn’t it; information electrically traveling via the axons of neurons firing within their own myelin-coated superhighways?  Yes, it resembles a working brain.  Or, perhaps it resembles a universe full of galaxies and solar systems?  You are right with whichever poetic description suits your appetite.  Either way, the graphic representation of internet appears to be… alive.  That’s a mite creepy when thought of in that context but accurate.  What we choose to put “out there” whether it is the electronic or the physical world, defines and identifies us for who we are – not so much the people we package ourselves to be.  Form follows function.

“Don’t be evil” – Google’s motto

“Don’t feed the trolls” – Evil Chicken

The Facebook Intervention

I love the internet. Seriously. I love it. I blog, I Facebook, I Twitter; I love it. I find it a wonderful little outlet of thought and idea. Since I’d be writing anyway why should I not do so electronically?

I also play poker; badly, mind you, but I play. I sit in on one of the longest standing poker games in Southern New Jersey. It is a group of interesting souls who make up the seven who sit around that table, including yours truly. We meet and play on the first Friday of each month. So, it was no surprise that on 8/7/09, that is where I was. We grilled and it was great. We played cards and that was a lot of fun too. And then came the intervention. After one hand of Texas Hold ‘Em one of my comrades told a story of his wife giggling about some piece of silliness that I wrote on Facebook. Apparently I had used the words, “good night”.

“Why… WHY, on God’s green earth would you say “good night” to anyone on Facebook? I just don’t get it.” Said the man to my left. The man to my left happens to be quite computer savvy and in some circles he is near the top of his game.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense.” Said the man to my right. He is a brilliant man as well.

“I don’t have the time for any of that stuff.” Said the man opposite of me.

“Hey, I just got on to share photos with my family.” Said the man next to him trying to distance himself from yours truly in any way possible for the moment. He could see the tide turn.

“Yeah, you Twitter to, don’t you?” another asked who happens to be on Facebook as well.

“Yes, I do.” I said with a smile.

“You know what I think it is?” the man to my left asked. “It is just a group of people starved for attention. Look at me! Look at me!”

“Like a narcissist.” I said.

“Yes.” He said. So why do you do it? Why do you think that I CARE what you have to say?”

“Well, I think you can make a case for narcissism in some cases when it comes to Facebook.” I said. “But you would be painting with broad brushstrokes.” I understand that whether you care about what is written on Facebook or do not is subjective and up to the reader to decide. “If you don’t like what you read stop reading it. That’s why they make so many flavors of ice cream.”

“Then why?” Asked the man to my right.

“Social networking. It’s a tool.” I said. “Facebook is a wonderful way to be personably impersonal.

“That does not answer the question.”

“Look, I don’t have to tell any of you sitting here at this table how much I despise the phone.” There was a general nodding of heads around the table. They know (and now you do too, Gentle Reader) that I hate talking on the telephone. The contraption just demands entirely too much of my attention at any one time. I like information in digestible, well reasoned, bits – say in an email, on Facebook or on Twitter. It is simple; to the point, and just how I like it. “Facebook is a social tool. How the reader reads it or does NOT read it is purely up to them.” The simple fact of the matter is that’s the way it is with anything. I could tell you that there is a wonderful world to be found in the pages of a book but unless you pick it up and read one for yourself it is pretty much moot. People either will accept a message or reject it. The gentlemen on either side of me remain in a reject it frame of mind.

Oh well. These friends of mine and I just don’t socialize on Facebook. And the world keeps on moving. We socialize while playing cards and that is a good thing.

As for narcissism, “I” am one of my favorite subjects but I am more than well aware that the world does not revolve around me, my blog, my Facebook account or my Twitter feed. These gentlemen were casting aspersions that it did. Ah the power of the written word – even if it is electronic in nature. And, dare I say, even if those casting stones did not have their own Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Que sara sara.

As much as I hate the telephone I wonder how many people said to Alexander Graham Bell, “Why would you ever want to use THAT thing?” Only Bell knows and he’s not saying. I guarantee he heard it though. Fast forward to a hot summer night in 2009 with a group of friends sitting around a poker table some willing to use a different form of communication and some not. No matter what technological advance may come to us now or in the future there are going to be those who resist. Some will get it some will not.

Oh well. Que sara sara.

As for yours truly, Gentle Reader, I know enough about addiction to see that I have not yet hit rock bottom. It is only from the bottom that I can truly make progress and admit that I have a problem. Until then, I’ll see you on Facebook, on Twitter, and right here on the electronic pages of Chicken Scratch – LONG MAY SHE WAVE!

This Mystery Man’s Kung-Fu is Good

Gentle Reader, submitted for your approval: http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/. If you have an interest in film and in writing for them then you owe it to yourself to visit this blog, soak in what you read there and check out his Writer’s Resources section. There is a wealth of information to be found here.

I read about his blog while checking out Ain’t It Cool News a few weeks back. Harry had posted something about a long conversation between three filmmakers (Kasdan, Lucas & Spielberg) and how “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was birthed. It is a great read, which can be found here: http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/03/raiders-story-conference.html.

I post the Mystery Man’s blog because I think that you just might find something that you read there helpful for YOUR Script Frenzy (http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/). There are some nice little resources out on the net and this blog is a gold mine for anyone who wants to learn the craft of writing for the movies.

April is just 4 days away. 30 Days, 100 Pages, Are YOU in? I am and I wouldn’t mind some company.