April | 2009 | Jon Armstrong's Blog 2009 April | The sequel to Grey, Yarn, will be published December 2010!

Archive for April, 2009

“50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice – ChronicleReview.com”

Monday, April 13th, 2009

I’ve never been a huge fan of “The Elements of Style,” which turned 50. If you’re like me and had told to read and study the thing to learn how to write well, only to flip through its narrow pages and wonder what people were raving about.

Geoffery K. Pullum has this to say:

“April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.

I won’t be celebrating.

“The Elements of Style” does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its enormous influence has not improved American students’ grasp of English grammar; it has significantly degraded it.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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A Cool-looking SteamPunk iPhone Game

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

I was thinking about a steam-punk sort of look for a game recently. Not a puzzler, though.

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The Flying Suit

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
In my upcoming novel, Yarn, which tells the story of the tailor from Grey, I have a short scene with a flying suit. The one I imagined was more fashionable … a high-twist charcoal twill … however, these are pretty damn exciting.