The offer was extended again this year, and initially I said no.  I have taken on a larger photo project in 2010 – a photo a day for the year.  A day where I just shoot everything I do just seemed like overkill.  Still, I found myself snapping a ton of pictures one day, and decided to give it a go.

So here is my entry for 2010, much different from last year.  To see how others spent their day, head to this Peanut Blossom post.

Then again, if I were where I wanted to be, I would have already read 24 books this year.

One internal debate is if I should count programming books and such towards my goal.  I’m currently making my way through a book on Ruby, and leaning towards not counting it, despite the fact it takes up more of my time.  Still, the goal was to read books that actually interested me, so I will likely avoid adding these to the list.

Since I’m moving soon, I decided it was time to update this list while I still have the books handy.  I still feel like I am forgetting one, but I can always add it later.

Since my last update, my reading list has taken a turn for the worse.  I’ve started multiple books that I have only managed a couple chapters before moving on to something new.  Spook Country by William Gibson (mentioned in a previous post) was one such book.  After starting a few of these books, I realized I had to finish something.  That is the only reason I made it through Twinkie, Deconstructed and the “Award-winning” Then We Came To an End.  The first interesting, but had a hard time holding my attention, while the second was pointless.  After those my selection improved with America, The Book and the short stories combined in Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs… With the start of the baseball season, Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers was also required reading.

So here is the current list for those following along at home, and for my own reference.

1. Here is New York – E.B. White
2. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
4. Then We Came To an End – Joshua Ferris
5. Twinkie, Deconstructed – Steve Ettlinger
6. Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers – Tom Haudricourt
7. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t Scary… – Edited by Ted Thompson
8. America, The Book – John Stewart
9. (Currently Reading) Women – Charles Bukowski

Someone needs to step up and fill the 5-hole. I’ve always been a Jim Edmonds fan (except when he was beating the Brewers), but his best years are behind him.  Someone needs to step up early in the season to give Prince Fielder some protection in the lineup.  If no one does by the All-Star Break, fielder will never see a pitch to hit when the game is close. Corey Hart and Casey McGehee, I’m looking at you.

Both the Brewers and Twins will benefit from the Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy trade. Gomez had an incredible first game with the Brewers, going 4-5, with a solo home run and 2 runs.  Minnesota doesn’t play until later tonight, but I think the change of scenery will benefit former Brewer Hardy as well.

Defense – it’s good, the Brewers should try it. The Brewers had 2 errors and looked and looked slightly pitiful at times while on the field.  That might be acceptable if rookies were starting in key positions, but alas this is a veteran group.  Most were by two players – Greg Zaun and Casey McGehee.  Step it up guys.

At least the middle is secure (in front of the plate). There was much made about changes to the center of the defense in the offseason.  Would Rickie Weeks be healthy?  Could Alcides Escobar handle the majors?  What about Gomez in center field?  Defensively the Brewers looked spectacular up the middle.  Escobar and Weeks might be the best 2B and SS combo since Robin Yount and Jim Gantner.  Gomez has a rocket arm and great speed in center.

Bring back Damian Miller! Behind the plate in game 1 was another story.  New catcher Greg Zaun is another veteran past his prime.  His roll will be limited due to rookie catcher George Kottaras.  Still, Zaun had multiple errors behind the plate today.  The Brewers were looking for someone cheap who could give them about 90 games – why not Miller?  He’s a fan favorite, from Wisconsin, and will only play for the Brewers.  Also he would have gotten at least one hit (a guy can dream).

Gallardo can be rattled. In the second inning, Zaun let a pitch get away from him, allowing a run to score from second.  Gallardo was visually a bit rattled, and threw the next pitch over the plate.  Ian Stewart belted it out of the park to give Colorado a 2-0 lead.  He’s no Carlos Zambrano, but I hope he can get it in check.

Uecker makes baseball awesome. During the game, Brewers announcer Bob Uecker told the story of how Colorado second baseman Clint Barmes fell down the stairs while carrying a deer into his apartment.

“They never did tell us if the deer was alive,” quipped Uecker.

There are still a lot of question on the season to answer – including the big one, pitching – but hey, that’s what those other 161 games are for.

What are your thoughts/concerns about the Brewers in 2010?

With April being an insane month (most weekends booked and the possibility of a move), I initially decided it might be better to wait for next year to attempt this challenge.  However, when it was announced that I could get a copy of the uber-awesome writing program Scrivener for half off if I completed, my unemployed / frugal side decided to give it a try.

Only one problem…I have never written a script before and have no idea what I’m doing.

So here I am on April 1 thinking this is some kind of joke (it’s not), but giving it a go nonetheless. I know I’ll find tons of inspiration while at the Wisconsin Film Festival later this month.  After writing a 200-page novel, this seems like it should be easy.

I came up with a great idea for my script in the shower the other day (all my best ideas come to me while in the bathroom).  A writer from the east coast decides to spend a summer in Madison, WI to try and finish his latest novel.  Hilarity ensues.  I have a lot more ideas than that, but will save them for the actual screenplay.

If I complete the Frenzy, I would love to eventually try and shoot the film this summer, although that is a whole other area I do not know much about.  Who knows, maybe I will give that a try as well.

And now, for no real reason, techno chicken.

It’s now time for the fun stuff – filling out your brackets.

Like other years, I have created mine on ESPN.com.  Consider this your official invite to join me and likely beat me in their tournament challenge.  Once you create a bracket, add it to group “Badger Badger Badger” – the password for the group is “GoDuke”

So come, create a bracket or two and laugh mercilessly at me when you beat me. I know I will do the same if I beat you.

It’s easy if you want to join the fun.  If you have a way to stream Netflix, simply add these movies to your cue.  At the selected time, start them up and watch them with the rest of us. I’ll be on Twitter (@The_Dean) adding commentary and seeing what you have to say (use #DUFF to join the conversation). Join for some or all of the films.

Here is the list of films and their start times:
**UPDATE** Pushing the Friday films back a half hour so more people can attend.
Friday:
5:00 5:30pm -  Like Killing Flies
6:30 7:00pm -  Cashback
8:15 8:45ish –  **Choose your own adventure here, I have plans**
10:30 11pm – Buy a Ticket, Take the Ride

Saturday:
Noon – In the Realms of the Unreal
2:00pm – Alice
6:30pm – Primer
8:15pm – Duck Season
10:00pm – Beer Wars
11:40pm – Lo

Update: Times changed to accommodate the US Hockey gold medal game.
Sunday:
Noon - Into the Great Silence King of Corn
3:30pm – King Corn
6:00pm – The Puffy Chair
7:45pm – Big Fan

Those were my thoughts last night when I noticed a film I wanted to see – Beer Wars – was available on Netflix streaming service.  While chatting with a friend who is attending the True/False film festival this weekend, I decided that since I was unemployed I would have my own film festival from the comfort of my couch.  I could get a two-week free membership from Netflix and stream some films I wanted to see. Thus the Dean Underground Film Festival was born.

It wasn’t until today I recognized I didn’t need to be the only participant.

While asking for suggestions, I realized I know a bunch of people who can stream Netflix movies who might enjoy what I’m watching.  While not all of them might want to come hang out, I’m sure some wouldn’t mind watching simultaneously from their couch.  We could discuss the films in real-time online on twitter or another medium (depending how many people plan to participate). This could be fun.

So if you are free this weekend, join me for the 1st annual DUFF (I do promise if there is a 2nd annual I will consider a less self-promoting name).  Listed below are a couple movies I’ve chosen so far.  Let me know any you would like to watch and when works best for you.  I plan to start Thursday night and go through the weekend – watching about 4-5 during the weekend.  I’ll draw up a soft schedule once I see who is interested in what (should be available here Friday morning).  I plan to livetweet the movies (The_Dean) with the hash tag #DUFF.

If you don’t have Netflix, you can acquire a free two-week membership from their site and attend DUFF at no cost on your computer or gaming system.  Details about how to watch movies on your Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 are on the Netflix website.  So join me if you like.

If not, well at least I still get to watch a lot of cool movies.

“In” movies

Big Fan
Beer Wars
Lo
Primer

Possible flicks (most likely in):

Duck Season
Into Great Silence
Rashomon
The Girlfriend Experience
In Realms of Unreal
I Like Killing Flies
King of Corn
The puffy chair
Alice

I am off to a good start so far.  It’s the midway point of January, and I have already completed three books.  My goal is to read 24 – or two per month.  I plan to post every book I read on the list below.

If you would like to read one book at the same time as me and discuss (like an actual book club), let me know.  I’ll try and post the next couple of books I plan to read as well.

1. Here is New York – E.B. White
2. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
4. (Starting Next) Spook Country – William Gibson

Rather than focus on one of these challenges, I figured why not combine a bit of them all?  Therein lies my challenge for the new year.

Each day I will engage in at least one creative act – either in design, writing or photography.  I hope to do the Project365 most days at bare minimum.  Some months will have themes, while others (like January) will be more random.  Now that I have additional time on my hands, the early months should be easy running.

I will occasionally post some aspects of the Year of Creativity (YoC) on this page, although if you want to follow my progress, here are some better resources to do so.

Flickr photostream for my Project365 images

My twitter account

My Facebook fan page

Planning any creative projects for the New Year?  Post them in the comments below.

By late afternoon I was part of the statistic.

Working in new media I assumed my job was safer than most.  With the changing nomenclature of the industry, journalists with a technological background are in high demand.  When the company decided to eliminate the entire multimedia team yesterday, I was a bit stunned.  Still, I worked for one of the few remaining newspapers that treats technology and the web as a  nuisance rather than embracing the potential.

That is why today I begin my life as an unemployed journalist.  

Still, I am not worried about my fate.  I plan to work on some multimedia projects I had little time for in the past.  I also plan to freelance and get my side business started.   Look for lots of changes in the coming weeks.

I decided last week that 2010 would be “The year of The Dean.”  I am even more passionate about that goal now then I was then.  This has the potential to be the start of something big.