34: Strangers in a Strange Land II

"Psh," he said, "This dude is seriously over-using the 'black and white' button on Picasa."

"So's your mom!" I said.

New prompt:

35: Strangers in a Strange Land

Dear Abby,
I have a problem. I'm too tired to write my problem out right now; I can't do it justice.

So... what should I do?

Jeff's was funny; I just couldn't round it off well.

Okay, new prompt:

"Psh," he said.

36: Cheap Shot

Everyone stared at the monstrous new billboard being erected. When it was finished, everyone stared as it slowly fell backwards and crushed the buildings behind it.

Somewhere, someone was laughing.

I hate this picture. Artistically, it's gross. But it's cool to look at.

New prompt:

Dear Abby,
I have a problem.

37: 37

"What's wrong with the second amendment?" I asked. "It lets me do this," the man replied, as he pulled out two automatic weapons.

My debate instructor always made a very good point.

New prompt:

Everyone stared at the monstrous new billboard being erected.

38: The Maple Leaf Rag

My sister entered my room, heavily armed. With her perfect aim, she shot both of my weapons out of my hand almost instantly.

"What is this," the audience asks, "a Disney Channel Original Movie?"

Bu-dum Chhhh.

If man has accomplished nothing else, he invented film. I love movies.

Okay: Today's prompt.

"What's wrong with the second amendment?" I asked.

39: Blue Skies

As the subway stopped, everyone on the train lurched forwards. Slamming into an escaped elephant tends to have that effect.

Six people took out their laptops and blogged the event.

Alright: new prompt.

My sister entered my room, heavily armed.

40: Earth Day

I was at the local baby-juggling Olympics when disaster struck. Ned, the baby watcher, accidentally opened the door to the where the babies were kept, and the babies then began to attack!

In the end, the police had to club them all.

What magazine do I read? Why, The Week, of course! This week is a special online "green" issue. I read it because it's a quick, easy way to stay informed. If you like this free issue, consider a subscription. It's well worth it.

Today's prompt:

As the subway stopped, everyone on the train lurched forwards.

Also: this is my 300th post.

41: Sleepless in Seattle

The elevator doors made that ominous banging noise usually reserved for the entrance to a haunted house as the entire office went pitch black. "She's trapped in there with him," whispered Catherine, and, suddenly, a shot rang out in the stillness of the dark room.

There was a bit of a delay in the sound of the body hitting the floor. I'd have to talk to the guy about that.

Okay, before the next prompt:

1. There is no comma after "because".
   
2. Via (preposition): By a route that touches or passes through; by way of (i.e. to fly to Japan via the North Pole). See? You weren't even close (also if you had said that, you would have used the word "via" instead of "i.e.")

I was at the local baby-juggling Olympics when disaster struck.

42: Crystals II

The knife sticking out of my leg was a testament to just how competitive Jack o' Lantern carving could be. It was my turn for revenge, though, and I wouldn't be nearly as forgiving.

In my head, I played the Jaws theme song.

Today's entries were a little better. One reminder, though. Entries are to be ONE SENTENCE!

Apparently, Ali didn't get the message.

Okay, the prompt:

The elevator doors made that ominous banging noise usually reserved for the entrance to a haunted house as the entire office went pitch black.

43: Watering Hole

Jamie noticed the flames before anything, and so it took his brain a second or two to also register the gasoline dripping from the back of his car. "They must have tampered with the gas tank too," he thought, as he sped toward the mountain of fire in front of him, his foot tied to the gas pedal.

He closed his eyes.

Alright that's that. A couple of other things.

First, with the exception of the one I chose, your entries sucked (no offense, of course)! None of you were even mildly creative ("he got out of the car and quickly walked away"?), except maybe Ali. Ali had the right idea, but she didn't give the reader any closure. By combining the idea that he was trapped and the idea that death was inevitable, I was able to finish the prompt.

It doesn't have to end happily, it just has to end! But it HAS to be creative and entertaining. If some of you guys were kidding with your lame endings (I mean the ones that weren't obviously kidding. Kelly, I know you're kidding), I'm sorry.

Also, entries have to be one sentence.

Today's prompt (I made it open-ended so you can tell me what's going on):

The knife sticking out of my leg was a testament to just how competitive Jack o' Lantern carving could be.

44: The Red Gel

This was fun to take.

Anyway, I've switched the contest. Now I give a sentence to tell the story, you tell me the resolution, and I give you the denouement. Each day we write a new story.

i.e. I say: "The parent having walked away, I jumped into the car and grabbed the keys so carelessly left on the seat." You say: "The kid reacted extraordinarily quickly: he grabbed the keys out of my hand and swallowed them." I write: "I swore."

The full text:

"The parent having walked away, I jumped into the car and grabbed the keys so carelessly left on the seat. The kid reacted extraordinarily quickly: he grabbed the keys out of my hand and swallowed them.

I swore."

You get the idea. Anyway, if you want to do the thing that I was doing before, do Tim's thing.

Your prompt for today:

Jamie noticed the flames before anything, and so it took his brain a second or two to also register the gasoline dripping from the back of his car.

45: Baltimore By Night

I like the picture, but I feel as if someone is going to stick it in a calendar.

It's kind of tourist-y.

Anyway, the saga continues:

(Note: I withhold the right to edit any sentence for stylistic purposes.)

Lisa wouldn't stop humming.

She had been humming for some time now, and, at this point, Jake was seriously contemplating driving his head through a cinderblock wall.

Now, Jake wasn't the kind of person to drive his own head through a wall, but he had had enough of this incessant humming.

46: Crystals

Okay, so that's done.

You guys failed miserably at the whole "thought process" thing, mainly because I could not convey to you the idea.

So I'm skipping to a classic: I write a sentence, you write a sentence, etc.

Alright, here we go.

Lisa wouldn't stop humming.

47: The Bowling Shoe

This picture: Mediocre.

Alright, so my experiment failed miserably. Apparently the only the only one who submitted a real idea was "7", but even he seemed a little confused.

We're going to try this one more time. The scene is in this format:

Scene #: Character

Thought process.

Scene # is the line number (this will be 1 for you). The Character is who is speaking.

The "thought process" is what the character was thinking as he said is line. For example:

If the thought process was "Please remove yourself from the door, as the building is on fire and I would dearly like to exit", the line could be "Get the @#%$ out of my way! Don't you see I'm on fire, you &%##?!?"

Understand? If not, we'll try something else tomorrow.

Okay. I'm giving you the character and his thought.

Introduction: Louis

Please consider my point of view.

48: Act One

I like this picture. It's really disorienting.

Okay, here's the deal. There are 48 school days left, and I want to celebrate! From now on after every school day I will post a picture and continue to count the days.

Furthermore, I want to write a story. This, however, is no ordinary story. It is no ordinary story because I don't have to write it. You do.

This is how it works. I prompt you with a very short introduction today, and you write a response. I pick my favorite, post another response tomorrow, then we continue like that.

The format is a little curious, but it's something I want to try. Each "scene" is a thought process that leads to speech, not actual speech. This means that the most educated character can have simplistic thought process or the most moronic character have a very complicated, wordy process. The line itself is up for interpretation.

Here's a sample.

Scene 8: The Grinch

Ah... oh dear. Cindy, please step away from the fireplace so that I may deposit this grenade into it.

Scene 9: Cindy

Santa Clause, I can't help but notice how your green fur grows in long, rope-like mats. It leads me to believe you are a fraud.

Scene 10: Professor

Gosh.

Get it? Good.

Alright. Here we go.

Introduction: The Benefactor

The decision is entirely up to you.

Jeff The Spoon

Shot, edited, produced in less than 24 hours. Two people were involved in the making of this movie.

If it doesn't work, refresh the page.

"F 8.0"

Ridiculously high aperture for this shot. I still can't believe how much is in focus.

Anyway, here's the deal:

My new movie, "Kommunication", will deal with a misconception adults have about how teens communicate. See, adults confuse efficient conversation with poor conversation.

Adults think kids communicate poorly with one another, as well as with them. Adults feel kids spend too little time talking to them, preferring instead to grunt out incomprehensible mumbles.

Kids realize nothing is gained from talking to adults, and if something is to be gained, then kids spend time talking to the adult (i.e. a teacher).

When talking to a person their own age, kids know that plenty can be gained. They also know, unconsciously, that the other kid feels the same way.

Kids talk very efficiently. While if an adult asked to borrow a pencil, the other adult might tell a witty anecdote about how they once got stuck in a pen convention with only a single pencil, a kid would simply give the other kid the pencil.

I'm tired and this sounds stupid. I'm going to make it into a movie and you'll get it then.

Bye.

"Chain Link"

I think I have problems with commitment.