Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Cos even small ideas are publishable too

[This article is a stub. You can help TINAMITE by sending in new articles of your own.]

Wise men say to open with a joke. Especially in posts like this one. Studies have shown that most of the times, this makes people to actually read till the second paragraph at least. I thought of using the spherical chicken joke*, but deemed that too clichéd, thus, a bar joke follows -

“Infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. And so on. The bartender says "You're all idiots", and pours two beers.”

Subject of the article:
‘Put Something In’ TINAMITE, where ‘Put Something In’ is partly defined by:

Put Something In
Draw a crazy picture
Write a nutty poem.
Sing a mumble-gumble song
Whistle through your comb
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.


- Shel Silverstien

On a more serious note:
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.[1]

It is certain that in this esteemed organization that several people amongst us have unique talents that transcend just exemplary skills in everyday work. So, put your creative hats on, grab a piece of paper, a pencil and get started. Consider this article a personal invitation to submit your creative outpourings.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How to write?
No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think! [2]

What to write about?
Travelogues: The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page [3]. So, Travel. Fill pages. Submit the pages filled. Thus, more people can travel. Fill pages…

Music: Supposed to be language of the soul. The poetry of the air. Love in search of a word. The shorthand of emotion. What feelings sound like. So, if you stumble upon some music that comes close to the above description, spread the joy. Let others know. Choose TINAMITE.

Gaming: The Quakers, the Counter Strikers, DOTA warriors, PS2/ PS3/ Xbox/ Nintendo /Dreamcast/Game boy users, the MMORPGers - the rouges, the priests, the night crawlers, even people who stick to Minesweeper - As a Draenai Elf Vendor might say - "Your gold is welcome here!" (as long as it takes the form of an article) - feel free to discuss latest games, latest consoles, 25 men raids, God Like and Triple kills... even less than 100 seconds in expert level Minesweeper.

Short Stories: The short story is like an old friend who calls whenever he is in town. We are happy to hear from it; we casually fan the embers of past intimacies, and buy it lunch[4]. Send in your stories. We would be really happy to hear from you. We might buy you lunch too.

Poetry:
The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then[5]
Any poem with more than 17 syllables, thus, is most welcome.

Art: A picture is worth a thousand words. A sketching or a painting is worth even more. Enough said.

Hobbies: When your hobbies get in the way of your work - that's OK; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves... well…[6] Put them in the magazine.

General stuff: Individuals can expect miracles to happen to them, at the rate of about one per month [7]. Document any such revelation informally in TINAMITE for the greater good.

If you are reading this, it means that you have almost reached the end of this article:
• Firstly, thanks a lot from taking the time out and perusing the article. Arigato Gozaimasu.
• To define is to limit[8]. The ideas presented here constitute just the tip of the iceberg. As the tagline of the magazine says: Let your thoughts explode.
• Always remember -
o “Nothing is original” [9]
o “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to” [10]
o “90 percent of everything is crud.” [11]

We sincerely hope that you take up an action item to contribute for the future issues of the magazine.

* A farmer notices that his chickens were sick, and calls in a friend, who happens to be a physicist to help diagnose the problem. The physicist calls him back a few days later and says: “I think I have solved your problem, but it works only for spherical chickens in a vacuum”.

Credits:

[1] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
[2] Forrester, Finding Forrester [2000].
[3] St. Augustine.
[4] R Z Sheppard.
[5] Roger McGough.
[6] Steve Martin.

[7] Littlewood's law
[8] Wiltshire's Law of Explanation
[9] Jim Jarmusch
[10] Jean Luc Godard
[11] Sturgeon's revelation

10 comments:

Sanika said...

That was a great article! Hvn't read TInamite yet, will go and do that immediately :)

Unknown said...

Thanks!
:D

VK said...

Awesome Awesome Awesome
[@Arigato Gozaimasu in the article: :O :D :P]

Unknown said...

@vk,
Firstly, thanks a lot from taking the time out and perusing the article. Arigato Gozaimasu.
Secondly, thanks, man!
:)

mathangi_raghu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mathangi_raghu said...

Ahem!
I see the 'tiger hug' has replaced the 'creepy man'. There is GOD in this world.
:p

Unknown said...

@the author who deleted the comment..
what was :Press?
:D

Unknown said...

@mathangi..
what was :Press?
And damn.. I thought no one would notice
:P
Btw.. that pic was an internal link.. there were no pictures in the post when i checked from my house..
So, had to get new pics.
thus the 'hug'
:D

mathangi_raghu said...

:P somehow translated to :Press (blogger bug).I modestly attributed it to my Friday 5 pm sleepiness though :)

Unknown said...

Rule 52: If something goes wrong, Ebaums did it.
:)