Once Upon A Time… Cont’d.

Thanks to everyone who replied to continue my crazy story. Today’s winner is my good friend Tracie. The story continues…

“Yeah. I don’t really know how else to say this, so… I just better show you,” he says reaching for the back of his head.  Running his fingers through his hair, he finds the metal zipper tab and unzips his body in one smooth motion. The outer shell falls away like a slick banana peel and what’s left standing is a steel, robotic skeleton. Inside the torso where a normal human heart should lie, is a shrivelled, hairless, three-foot man with bulging black eyes. He’s dressed in only a pair of paisley boxers and white runner’s socks.

“I’ve been wanting to reveal the real me for the longest time. Amy, I’m not really the 6′2″, auburned hair, strawny fella you fell for. I’m really this hideous creature that only wants to be loved. Can you find it in your heart to still be with me? Well, say something.”

Amy opens her mouth and emits a blood curdling scream that frightens the piqeons out of the trees and sends them flying overhead. She continues to scream as the little hairless man tries to embrace her with his cold, robotic hands.

“Amy, Amy! Wake up! You’re having a bad dream!”

“Wha… Aaaah!”

“Amy! Calm down! It’s me, John,”  John says. Amy looks at him suspiciously trying to see the little man behind his brown eyes. After she’s convinced he’s him she says, “I just had the most horrible dream. You were a little hairless man in a robotic suit. You hadn’t told me because you thought I wouldn’t love you.”

“Amy, that’s absolutely ridiculous. You know me and I can assure you that I’m not a… wait, a hairless man in a robotic suit?”

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds totally absurd,” Amy admits looking around at people in the subway car, who are now all staring at her. She slowly remembers where she is and why the two are them are here.

“You sure you’re wanna go through with this?” John asks tentatively.

“Yeah, I do. Just follow my lead.”

That’s it for this week. Before I go, honorable mention does go to my good friend Chrissy. Here’s more information about third nipples. Did you know that Mark Wahlberg has a third nipple?

Slow Go On The Logos

PC Rant #1: Belfi’s In-Design Class/Project

I actually like taking this class mainly because I’m  learning cool stuff like the Adobe Design Suite and simple things like Apple shortcut keys and file and email organization that will make my life easier.

The final deliverables for the class are a capital campaign brochure and a re-designed, or in some cases, a designed logo for a non-profit organization. I’ve chosen to go with a non-profit that I used for an ads concepting class last quarter. It’s call Someone Cares of Atlanta, an HIV/AIDS outreach/support/education organization that serves the African American and Latino MSM population of Atlanta.

Status:

So far, so good. For a writer with a miniscule drop of design experience, I am proud to say that I’m holding my own.  The first round of logo roughs has been submitted and the response has been favorable. There’s even a ”hero” emerging. Somewhere Sylvia is smiling.

Problem:

I’ve been tasked to come up with 10 new ideas for a logo and unfortunately I was stretching to meet the first  50. I’m afraid I’ve run out of ideas or symbols that I can draw from to explain what this organization is and does. Here’s what I’ve used thus far:

ribbon, abstract people connected, the initials of the organization, a hand, abstract people helping each other, supporting each other, faces, realistic man/men, and open doors.

Solicitation: 

Can anyone suggest any other stylistic elements or ideas I can manipulate to explain outreach, education, support, and/or HIV/AIDS? 

Border City

It’s no place to raise children,

cause there’s nothing for them to do,

but die young by donning blue and red,

robbing, raping, killing just to be apart of something,

to feel alive,

nothing to do but grow old and fat,

hop the border to drown their troubles 

for there are no jobs to go to,

because NAFTA took them all away.

A stagnant pool of crime and despair

glittering only in the reflection from a rearview mirror.

It is no place to raise children.

Yet, I still call it home.

–

Thanks goes to Adrian for inspiring this little verse. Learn more about Border City.

Once Upon A Time…

He sat staring at his watch, hoping that the message had gotten through. He was supposed to meet her at 3 sharp and it was now going on 3:30. Every passing minute was more than he could bare. The guilt was slowly eating through his insides like flame through old newsprint and he had to get this off his chest.

Just when he thought he could wait no longer, she appeared around a corner; his saving grace dressed in a wispy summer dress that had erupted in fuschia and black hibiscus. The faded, high-top Converses she usually wore were turned down revealing black and white barber pole socks. For some reason, she was wearing a yellow scarf, which didn’t seem to make sense to him as it was damn near ninety degrees out, but she’d have a perfectly good explanation for that he thought. He noticed that her cheeks were just as pink as her dress the closer she got to him. Finally reaching him, she grabbed her side, threw up a finger warning him not to speak before she could catch her breath, and doubled over gasping for air. After what seem like an eternity, she straightened and said, “You wanted to see me?”

Okay, so for those of you who haven’t read the “About” section, today is interactive, creative story day. This is how this works: I start spinning a tale about something (see paragraphs above) and you, after reading the little bit I’ve written, decide where the story should go. Every Monday, I will read the comments, pick the direction that’s most interesting and continue until I stop again and ask you to do the same thing… again. Fun, huh? Yeah, I thought so. Don’t let me down, folks! Give me something good!

Five Daily Blogs

copywriterunderground.com – I’m reading this one because, I have dreams of being a very successful copywriter one day and this guy gives some excellent advice on everything from keeping ideas fresh to how to get you name out there.  On top of all that he writes in a very engaging way that keeps you reading to end of each post.

www.onesentence.org/ – Can you write a story in one sentence? I don’t think I can, but a few of the submissions on this site are pretty damn good!

 www.keithboykin.com/ – I am in LOVE with Keith Boykin and if he didn’t have a partner, I would whole-heartedly sign up for the job. He’s intelligent, he’s a brilliant writer, he’s observant, he’s black, he’s gay, he’s out, and he is concerned with the plight of African-American, SGL people everywhere.

gofugyourself.typepad.com - This site is just hilarious! The writing is biting, sarcastic, ascerbic and witty. I also love it because it makes fun of celebrities and some of them really do deserve it.

thestonescolossaldream.blogspot.com – Okay, so I’m sure everyone has this on there top 5, but what can I say. Tania kicks ass! I never tire of reading about her family and how she interacts and views them. There’s love there with a whole lot of humor mixed in.