It’s odd that people
have entire lives. We know that they do, but it’s an obtuse knowledge; we’re
always surprised to recognize someone at the grocery store. An invisible
network of intersecting lines that meet in unexpected ways – it’s strange to
realize the universe is not yours. Or rather, that everyone has their own
universe.
Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder that impairs a person's ability to recognize faces.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Anthropology is Boring
So I doodle things, just for you lovely people <3
I can only wonder how long my latest fandom kick is going to last. He lost his arms because I was running out of room D:
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Once-Ler Love
One of the first things I do when I like a book or movie or character or what have you, is check out the fandom. I like to make the rounds on dA and FFN and see what's going on in their circles. What usually ends up happening is after a day or two of this, something kicks. I don't know what, but I tend to get stuck on something new a day or two after I've finished it. In this example, The Lorax.
It wasn't a spectacular movie or anything, but I really did love the Once-Ler. After poking around the fandom a bit, I found I'm not alone. Not by a longshot - he's easily the most popular character. A good chunk of it has to do with that green suit, which, while pretty fantastic, isn't enough for me.
I can't put my finger on what I like so much about this guy. It's not like the traits that define him are that unique (idealistic and too nice for his own good on one side, easily led and harsh on the other). Maybe I just need to hit the movies more often if I'm that starved for a good character. He's just so darn adorable before his family comes back into the movie XD
And I can tell you fanfic has not helped matters. There's not much altogether, but there's some quality writing and it's easy to find. I love smaller fandoms sometimes <3
It wasn't a spectacular movie or anything, but I really did love the Once-Ler. After poking around the fandom a bit, I found I'm not alone. Not by a longshot - he's easily the most popular character. A good chunk of it has to do with that green suit, which, while pretty fantastic, isn't enough for me.
I can't put my finger on what I like so much about this guy. It's not like the traits that define him are that unique (idealistic and too nice for his own good on one side, easily led and harsh on the other). Maybe I just need to hit the movies more often if I'm that starved for a good character. He's just so darn adorable before his family comes back into the movie XD
And I can tell you fanfic has not helped matters. There's not much altogether, but there's some quality writing and it's easy to find. I love smaller fandoms sometimes <3
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Lorax
There are a ton of movies I want to see this year; Brave, Men in Black 3, The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises - it's shaping up to be a good year for the entertainment industry. I kicked off my theater experience with the latest Dr. Seuss book become moving picture, The Lorax.
I can see why critics are so split with it; personally, I enjoyed it, would go again, will probably pick up the DVD. The animation is colorful and very Seuss-ish and the songs were surprisingly catchy (for a non-Disney animated film especially). The movie is split into two stories, one following the story we already know from the book in which our main lead is the Once-ler. The other expands the framing device from the book and follows Ted, who has come to hear the Once-ler's story to discover what happened to the trees.
I'll conceed that the universe the framing device is built around is interesting and I do like some of the satirical touches on modern society. I'll even admit that the film does a good job of not being too preachy about saving the environment. But, I do wish the focus was more on the Once-ler's tale. They did a good job of keeping the two stories seperate, yet tied together, but protaganist Ted just wasn't that interesting for me. Granted, the Lorax isn't that intriguing a character either, but even though the title belongs to him the best parts of the story belong to the Once-ler.
I'm not out to do a film critique here so I'll keep it simple - the Once-ler is the only one with a substantial character arc and genuine moral/internal conflict. Ted does all the running around the big evil business to bring back the trees, but that's all it is; it's physical conflict and black and white morality. This is why I wish the movie had delved deeper into the Once-ler's side of things. His moral choices are considerably greyer and the family relationships really muck it all up, but perhaps I'm expecting too much of a children's film based on a Dr. Seuss book.
TL;DR - Good animation, cute in the right places, plays it serious when needed as well, Ted is boring, Once-ler is awesome.
I can see why critics are so split with it; personally, I enjoyed it, would go again, will probably pick up the DVD. The animation is colorful and very Seuss-ish and the songs were surprisingly catchy (for a non-Disney animated film especially). The movie is split into two stories, one following the story we already know from the book in which our main lead is the Once-ler. The other expands the framing device from the book and follows Ted, who has come to hear the Once-ler's story to discover what happened to the trees.
I'll conceed that the universe the framing device is built around is interesting and I do like some of the satirical touches on modern society. I'll even admit that the film does a good job of not being too preachy about saving the environment. But, I do wish the focus was more on the Once-ler's tale. They did a good job of keeping the two stories seperate, yet tied together, but protaganist Ted just wasn't that interesting for me. Granted, the Lorax isn't that intriguing a character either, but even though the title belongs to him the best parts of the story belong to the Once-ler.
I'm not out to do a film critique here so I'll keep it simple - the Once-ler is the only one with a substantial character arc and genuine moral/internal conflict. Ted does all the running around the big evil business to bring back the trees, but that's all it is; it's physical conflict and black and white morality. This is why I wish the movie had delved deeper into the Once-ler's side of things. His moral choices are considerably greyer and the family relationships really muck it all up, but perhaps I'm expecting too much of a children's film based on a Dr. Seuss book.
TL;DR - Good animation, cute in the right places, plays it serious when needed as well, Ted is boring, Once-ler is awesome.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Title This Later
I get so lethargic on long breaks. I don't know why - I always promise myself I'm going to get a bunch of stuff done and then I never do. I'm down to a single weekend of free time D:
It's not a big deal to work on my essay rewrite for Adolescent Literature, just kind of annoying. I also meant to do a bunch of reading, but so much for that. At least I actually watched my Netflix DVD's for once. I haven't seen Case Closed/ Detective Conan in four or five years now.
And now I'm going to Wal-Mart (yes, at midnight) because Trey forgot we were supposed to go today.
It's not a big deal to work on my essay rewrite for Adolescent Literature, just kind of annoying. I also meant to do a bunch of reading, but so much for that. At least I actually watched my Netflix DVD's for once. I haven't seen Case Closed/ Detective Conan in four or five years now.
And now I'm going to Wal-Mart (yes, at midnight) because Trey forgot we were supposed to go today.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Overdue
The library keeps sending me e-mails concerning the books I need to turn in. I hate to pay fines, but I really should take them back sooner than later. Unfortunately, it's been extremely rainy of late and that makes me too lazy to go out for long. And I need the books to finish some essays that I'm ALSO too lazy to work on at the moment.
So much for me getting anything done during my break Perhaps NaPoWriMo will be more productive XD
In other news, Bill has recently recieved confirmation that he will be going to San Francisco for two months this summer as part of an internship. I'm waiting on his blog to update so I can tell him how adorable his undoubtedly giddy reaction will be <3
So much for me getting anything done during my break Perhaps NaPoWriMo will be more productive XD
In other news, Bill has recently recieved confirmation that he will be going to San Francisco for two months this summer as part of an internship. I'm waiting on his blog to update so I can tell him how adorable his undoubtedly giddy reaction will be <3
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Leaked
Oh.
MY.
Whoever leaked episode one of The Legend of Korra is the finest person to ever grace the Internet. Go watch before someone takes it down.
LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE TIMES INFINITY I CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW <3
MY.
Whoever leaked episode one of The Legend of Korra is the finest person to ever grace the Internet. Go watch before someone takes it down.
LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE TIMES INFINITY I CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW <3
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Spring Break
I will now sleep for 72 hours with no fear of retribution.
At some point I will work on flash fic and fold some origami stars and play some games and buckle down on my critique list and knock some things off my reading list and maybe I'll even post something substantial on here in the coming days. I might even do some laundry or clean my room again.
I also need to go to the library. Hrm. And do some group work. Double hrm.
At least I got the oil in my car changed. May as well start off productive before spiraling into a twister of lazy slovenliness.
Oh, and happy Fake Irish day to all you heavy drinkers.
At some point I will work on flash fic and fold some origami stars and play some games and buckle down on my critique list and knock some things off my reading list and maybe I'll even post something substantial on here in the coming days. I might even do some laundry or clean my room again.
I also need to go to the library. Hrm. And do some group work. Double hrm.
At least I got the oil in my car changed. May as well start off productive before spiraling into a twister of lazy slovenliness.
Oh, and happy Fake Irish day to all you heavy drinkers.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
On Brevity
Someone once asked me how I go about writing flash fiction. I thought some of the 55 word examples from today's writing session would make good anecdotes:
You can see that this one is pretty messy - I had to do a lot of rearranging and chopping to get what I wanted. At some point I realized I had exactly the right amount of words I needed, but it was all in the wrong order. You'd think it's just a simple matter or reorganizing the sentences and you'd be wrong - doing so also changes the tenses of certain words and changing the tenses can effect the wordcount. The first section was right, but the rest had to be kneaded out slowly.
The final product:
Logic dictated that he had to die eventually. By bullet or bullet train, he didn't care. An end was an end.
He'd heard of this condition before - Quantum Immortality. One multiverse incarnate that would live forever. Him. It was just his luck that he would be saddled with eternity.
He sighed and reloaded the gun.
This one meanwhile, was a much smoother process and came pretty naturally. The squiggles around the middle where where I had placed parentheses in case I decided to add in an extra word in that spot (which I did end up doing, so good call).
There is no scientific name for the delay between lightning and thunder. The light flashes across the empty fields of gold followed by the crash of sound racing to keep up, to catch its always faster partner. The thunder never quite reaches its elusive lover.
I guess what I'm trying to say is come back.
The thing about this art form is that you just have to pick up the knack for it - I have and now I can't stop XD If you're looking to try it out for yourself, I'd advise to just do it; don't start with a word count, just try to write the shortest story you can while still retaining things like detail and character. Try to condense a story into three to five sentences.
That's how I began and after about 25 or so, I started getting into the swing of it and another 25 had me getting pretty good. After you've done that for a while, then you can go for the super stringent word limits without much fear.
The final product:
Logic dictated that he had to die eventually. By bullet or bullet train, he didn't care. An end was an end.
He'd heard of this condition before - Quantum Immortality. One multiverse incarnate that would live forever. Him. It was just his luck that he would be saddled with eternity.
He sighed and reloaded the gun.
There is no scientific name for the delay between lightning and thunder. The light flashes across the empty fields of gold followed by the crash of sound racing to keep up, to catch its always faster partner. The thunder never quite reaches its elusive lover.
I guess what I'm trying to say is come back.
The thing about this art form is that you just have to pick up the knack for it - I have and now I can't stop XD If you're looking to try it out for yourself, I'd advise to just do it; don't start with a word count, just try to write the shortest story you can while still retaining things like detail and character. Try to condense a story into three to five sentences.
That's how I began and after about 25 or so, I started getting into the swing of it and another 25 had me getting pretty good. After you've done that for a while, then you can go for the super stringent word limits without much fear.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Why College Poetry is Hardcore
Poetry has never been my thing, though I've been learning since last semester's creative writing crash course. I'm sure all these lessons in Poetry on meter and form and all the structural rules will be useful one day if I decide to really get into the stuff, but right now I'm honestly rather bored with the class.
But not completely. Today's lesson was on rhyme - end rhyme, slant rhyme, eye rhyme, mosaic rhyme, all kinds of different rhyme. You would not believe how many different types there actually are. A dozen, minimum, I didn't keep a count. But none of that is what I'm going to remember Form and Theory of Poetry for later on. I'm probably always going to think of the video she played for us:
I already liked this song; "Lose Yourself" is one of the only rap songs I would say I like, but I have about a million times more respect for how well written it is now. We continued class afterward by scanning the lyrics where the video stopped and the sheer amount of slant rhyme and assonance in a handful of lines is ridiculous.
But not completely. Today's lesson was on rhyme - end rhyme, slant rhyme, eye rhyme, mosaic rhyme, all kinds of different rhyme. You would not believe how many different types there actually are. A dozen, minimum, I didn't keep a count. But none of that is what I'm going to remember Form and Theory of Poetry for later on. I'm probably always going to think of the video she played for us:
It gets interesting around the three minute mark, but watch the whole thing because it does build on what came before.
I already liked this song; "Lose Yourself" is one of the only rap songs I would say I like, but I have about a million times more respect for how well written it is now. We continued class afterward by scanning the lyrics where the video stopped and the sheer amount of slant rhyme and assonance in a handful of lines is ridiculous.
For comparison if you've never heard this song.
I've tried my hand at this sort of thing before, and while you do sort of pick up a knack for it as you go it's no picnic. I can't imagine getting every other word to rhyme with something else like this.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Random Letter Mashing
I am behind on everything TT_TT
I'll catch up here later - right now, essays, projects, and cookie baking take precedence.
God I'm tired.
I'll catch up here later - right now, essays, projects, and cookie baking take precedence.
God I'm tired.
Friday, March 9, 2012
"Egads, It's So Sad"
I think I might actually be looking forward to my dentist appointment :/ One of my teeth has started aching again. Previous methods of pain relief are not nearly as effective this go around.
My dry spell continues; after trying for the past few days to sit down and write, I am now able to recognize it actually is a block and not just other things getting in the way. Though other things getting in the way is a huge part of it. I feel lethargic pretty much all the time lately, possibly because life is rather terrible at the moment. This is why you get a video instead of a real entry:
I'm a nerd with no life. I accept this fact. But how can you not be amused by Shakespeare doing the lawnmower?
My dry spell continues; after trying for the past few days to sit down and write, I am now able to recognize it actually is a block and not just other things getting in the way. Though other things getting in the way is a huge part of it. I feel lethargic pretty much all the time lately, possibly because life is rather terrible at the moment. This is why you get a video instead of a real entry:
I'm a nerd with no life. I accept this fact. But how can you not be amused by Shakespeare doing the lawnmower?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
I Should Be In Bed
1776 pageviews on this thing. I will now recite the Constitution:
Not really. The only thing I actually know from memory is the preamble.
EDIT: Okay, after I posted this it looked way too short and weird, so have some more detail about my day. I had Fiction at 6:00, but I left the house around noon so I could go get some real work done. I can't do much of anything around the baby.
Besides, I needed to have a chat with Dr. Minnink about my essay re-write, and I hang around the English department often enough to know I'm most likely to catch him around mid-afternoon. I'll be toying with that this weekend. But tomorrow, I go to the zoo!
I'm not actually happy about this because the zoo smells, but it's better than Anthropology.
Not really. The only thing I actually know from memory is the preamble.
EDIT: Okay, after I posted this it looked way too short and weird, so have some more detail about my day. I had Fiction at 6:00, but I left the house around noon so I could go get some real work done. I can't do much of anything around the baby.
Besides, I needed to have a chat with Dr. Minnink about my essay re-write, and I hang around the English department often enough to know I'm most likely to catch him around mid-afternoon. I'll be toying with that this weekend. But tomorrow, I go to the zoo!
I'm not actually happy about this because the zoo smells, but it's better than Anthropology.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Balancing
I have graduated from "obviously intelligent" to "smart as a whip" in Adolescent Literature. I'm not sure why I'm so amused by this. I'll be revising my latest paper for the class - it's an "A" for now, but I'm confident I could bring it up, maybe even to a perfect 20 with a bit of effort.
In the dead hours between classes, I decided I really need to get back to writing microfiction - I've barely done any at all lately. I'm considering taking on 55 word stories as a mini-project; do 55 of 'em :B I think I'll post to dA for some prompts/ topics I can make use of. I've been on a pretty long dry spell as far as writing goes lately, which has left me with some extra time for community work but I miss the good old creative stuff.
In the dead hours between classes, I decided I really need to get back to writing microfiction - I've barely done any at all lately. I'm considering taking on 55 word stories as a mini-project; do 55 of 'em :B I think I'll post to dA for some prompts/ topics I can make use of. I've been on a pretty long dry spell as far as writing goes lately, which has left me with some extra time for community work but I miss the good old creative stuff.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Free Stuff is the Best Stuff
But yeah; they called me a few days ago telling me I got to pick from their cart of free books. This was pretty much the only thing I recognized and it's been a while since I read Jane Eyre anyway. It was easily the nicest book on the cart too - just look at the classy cover <3
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Apparently, This is Still Going On
Everyone remembers this post right? I would think so - it has more views than anything else on this blog by a landslide XD
Well, the group in question has stumbled across it and it turns out Chen hasn't been in the group for months. That edit at the top is more relevant than ever I suppose as BottomlessPitStudios is apparently still getting quite a lot of hate for one person's actions.
Several currrent members have left some comments in my post if you'd like to read them; they are much more professional and polite than any of the screencaps. I reiterate - do not blame the group. I'm not big-headed enough to think my recapping of events is the sole cause of continued flamers, but perhaps just big-headed enough to apologize if my post has been a perpatrator, even if in a small way.
A group is not a person - direct the rage where it is due if you must, but that account hasn't been touched in almost seven months. If Chen has a new account, I don't know what it is, nor do I want to know. If you simply must allow the anger to course through your system, rant away below - I might even join in XD
Of course, you could always channel a negative emotion into a positive one; BottomlessPitStudios has a pretty impressive gallery to waltz through.
Well, the group in question has stumbled across it and it turns out Chen hasn't been in the group for months. That edit at the top is more relevant than ever I suppose as BottomlessPitStudios is apparently still getting quite a lot of hate for one person's actions.
Several currrent members have left some comments in my post if you'd like to read them; they are much more professional and polite than any of the screencaps. I reiterate - do not blame the group. I'm not big-headed enough to think my recapping of events is the sole cause of continued flamers, but perhaps just big-headed enough to apologize if my post has been a perpatrator, even if in a small way.
A group is not a person - direct the rage where it is due if you must, but that account hasn't been touched in almost seven months. If Chen has a new account, I don't know what it is, nor do I want to know. If you simply must allow the anger to course through your system, rant away below - I might even join in XD
Of course, you could always channel a negative emotion into a positive one; BottomlessPitStudios has a pretty impressive gallery to waltz through.
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