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.
:)