Most of my readers live in the desert where I live, so this isn't exactly news, but in the desert, it's hot. Not right now of course - right now we're in that unnaturally state between winter and summer where everything seems to be turning into summer, until the wind picks up and suddenly it's winter again for a week before all that cold air blows past and the heat can settle in again. Other places may call this time of year Spring but in the desert, we know better. There are only two seasons in the desert: hot, and not-as-hot. Everything else in an anomaly.
Well, 35 degrees at night in the winter isn't exactly 'not-as-hot', but it is definitely warm compared to the rest of the world. And our hot is, thankfully, a dry heat. My family went to Ohio a few years back during summer break, and the heat was sweltering. The people there were amazed we lived in 100-120 degree summers, but I'd take my dry heat any day over their humid, muggy 80.
Our summer nights, though, are a mystery. I always read about the Sierra Desert, and how a man could be burned alive during the day and freeze to death at night. Our desert doesn't work that way. My mom says it has something to do with our mountains and air pressure keeping the heat from rising, but we tend to only loose ten degrees at most on a summer night. The heat isn't as intense, but our nights are still warm with a warm breeze, and I never sleep with more than a sheet.
Which makes this anomaly-period somewhat annoying. I'm gearing up, getting ready for the warmer days ahead, and wake up with frozen toes and a slightly runny nose because I forgot to grab a quilt before going to bed. It feels very backwards. Sure, I'd love for it to be cooler longer, but I'd also prefer to expect what's coming so I can dress appropriately. No sense in wearing a scarf to school in the morning just because it's a little chilly, when it'll be back in the 80s by noon.
During the winter, I think our little desert is exotic. I'm no sure exactly what it is, but everywhere else has snow and trees and green grass, and I see our sand dunes and think that we're so amazing and I'm so proud that I happen to live somewhere that so few people really understand. Then it's summer again and I remember why I want to live in Antarctica so bad.
There are positives to living in a desert - I just can't really tell you what they are. Obviously there has to be some reason why people would settle down here as they were exploring the west. Maybe it's a sign of overpopulation, that we have to put people down wherever we have space for them. But either way, I think it's fitting that someone like me, who celebrates anti-conformity and originality, would be born in a place like this.
I'd still like to move to Antarctica.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Most Powerful Cat-God Maru
The internet is well known for taking ordinary animals and making them into celebrities. Almost everyone's seen the Sneezing Baby Panda or the Otters Holding Hands, and the earlier LOLCats are easily recognized on every major site. There are hundreds of YouTube spinoffs featuring Keyboard Cat and Dramatic Chipmunk (Who is, in fact, a prairie dog).
One of the more popular YouTube celebrites is Maru, a male Scottish Fold cat living in Japan. There's nothing extraordinary about Maru - he doesn't ride a skateboard or surf or play the piano. His owner tapes him simply being a cat, playing with cat toys and climbing on furniture and jumping into boxes (his signature move). His adorable-ness overpowers viewers however, and captures the hearts of every cat owner who ever had a cat (much like Simon's Cat).
I'd heard about Maru years ago, but didn't actually subscribe to his YouTube page until last summer. I'm sure not everyone will understand why Maru is so fun to watch but he is. Maru the Cat is adorable, and he acts like any other adorable, friendly cat you know. His owner never shows herself on camera, or even talks (I believe we see her hand occasionally), so the videos really focus on Maru and his normal, day-to-day life.
Maru's YouTube channel has over 109k subscribers, and is the 9th most subscribed-to channel in Japan. There's generally three updates a month, with more on his personal blog (which is mostly in Japanese - all the video descriptions and titles are in Japanese as well, with simple English added for international viewers). After the Japan Earthquakes, Maru's owner received thousands of messages and emails, asking to make sure she and Maru were safe. He's been talked about in famous newspapers around the globe, and Rather Good Stuff referred to Maru as the most powerful Cat-god in their highly scientific, informative video, 'The Internet is Made of Cats'.
Maru's adorable-ness can only be threatened by Nora, the piano-playing cat. Why cats are becoming so prominent on the internet baffles me. I'm a cat person, I own a cat, and I've always owned cats and imagine I always will, but I figured most people were dog people who weren't particularly fond of cats. What would inspire these people, who I imagine make up the majority of internet users, subscribe to cat videos and sent them around to their friends? Am I wrong, and cat people really are the 'silent majority'?
Either way, I hope Maru's owner continues to upload these videos for a long time. A little bit of happiness where everyone can see it goes a long way to making the world a better place.
One of the more popular YouTube celebrites is Maru, a male Scottish Fold cat living in Japan. There's nothing extraordinary about Maru - he doesn't ride a skateboard or surf or play the piano. His owner tapes him simply being a cat, playing with cat toys and climbing on furniture and jumping into boxes (his signature move). His adorable-ness overpowers viewers however, and captures the hearts of every cat owner who ever had a cat (much like Simon's Cat).
I'd heard about Maru years ago, but didn't actually subscribe to his YouTube page until last summer. I'm sure not everyone will understand why Maru is so fun to watch but he is. Maru the Cat is adorable, and he acts like any other adorable, friendly cat you know. His owner never shows herself on camera, or even talks (I believe we see her hand occasionally), so the videos really focus on Maru and his normal, day-to-day life.
Maru's YouTube channel has over 109k subscribers, and is the 9th most subscribed-to channel in Japan. There's generally three updates a month, with more on his personal blog (which is mostly in Japanese - all the video descriptions and titles are in Japanese as well, with simple English added for international viewers). After the Japan Earthquakes, Maru's owner received thousands of messages and emails, asking to make sure she and Maru were safe. He's been talked about in famous newspapers around the globe, and Rather Good Stuff referred to Maru as the most powerful Cat-god in their highly scientific, informative video, 'The Internet is Made of Cats'.
Maru's adorable-ness can only be threatened by Nora, the piano-playing cat. Why cats are becoming so prominent on the internet baffles me. I'm a cat person, I own a cat, and I've always owned cats and imagine I always will, but I figured most people were dog people who weren't particularly fond of cats. What would inspire these people, who I imagine make up the majority of internet users, subscribe to cat videos and sent them around to their friends? Am I wrong, and cat people really are the 'silent majority'?
Either way, I hope Maru's owner continues to upload these videos for a long time. A little bit of happiness where everyone can see it goes a long way to making the world a better place.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Robert Carter's The Collectors
When I was in 6th grade, I would spend a lot of time at a friend's house after school before my mom could get off work and pick me up. At some point, this friend showed me a book someone had given her as a gift, which she hadn't read yet and wasn't too sure about. The book was called The Collectors, by Robert Carter, and she asked if I would read it first and give her my opinion on it.
The book is about a group of bugs - roaches, essentially, though they never name themselves such. It's all from their point of view, scavenging for food from a nearby house and leaving on a journey across town to find some sort of device which is supposed to help them. While I didn't think it was the best thing I'd ever read, it was an interesting story and I liked the odd look on the world that it took. My friend wasn't much impressed with the bugs' point of view, and I'm not sure if she ever read it after I gave it back to her.
A few years later, I found myself thinking about some parts of the story that were most memorable. At one point, the band of heroes gets trapped in a greenhouse, and seeing how they reacted to it was different from what I had expected for a group of roaches. I did some research online, though at the time I could only remember the title and not the authors name, and eventually found the book selling for quite a bit at an out-of-print online bookstore. I wanted to read the book again, but I couldn't afford to pay more than ten dollars for the book.
Recently, however, I've been thinking about the book again. I like to collect all the books that I read, which explains why I have a wall full of books but means I'm speningd a lot of money on things I'll only read one time, and since this was was memorable enough for me to still be thinking of it, even now, despite how strange the story was, I'd like to get it. A quick Google search brought me to an Amazon page where the book is listed as new and selling for less than $5. Amazon itself isn't selling it, they're just working as the middleman, which tells me that I'm right about the book being out of print, and that some people don't find it worth selling for a large sum of money like other, more famous out-of-print books.
I'm not yet sure if I'll get it, because I'm not sure if it's worth it to buy an old book that wasn't good enough to stay in print, but it's a small price to pay for a piece of childhood nostalgia.
The book is about a group of bugs - roaches, essentially, though they never name themselves such. It's all from their point of view, scavenging for food from a nearby house and leaving on a journey across town to find some sort of device which is supposed to help them. While I didn't think it was the best thing I'd ever read, it was an interesting story and I liked the odd look on the world that it took. My friend wasn't much impressed with the bugs' point of view, and I'm not sure if she ever read it after I gave it back to her.
A few years later, I found myself thinking about some parts of the story that were most memorable. At one point, the band of heroes gets trapped in a greenhouse, and seeing how they reacted to it was different from what I had expected for a group of roaches. I did some research online, though at the time I could only remember the title and not the authors name, and eventually found the book selling for quite a bit at an out-of-print online bookstore. I wanted to read the book again, but I couldn't afford to pay more than ten dollars for the book.
Recently, however, I've been thinking about the book again. I like to collect all the books that I read, which explains why I have a wall full of books but means I'm speningd a lot of money on things I'll only read one time, and since this was was memorable enough for me to still be thinking of it, even now, despite how strange the story was, I'd like to get it. A quick Google search brought me to an Amazon page where the book is listed as new and selling for less than $5. Amazon itself isn't selling it, they're just working as the middleman, which tells me that I'm right about the book being out of print, and that some people don't find it worth selling for a large sum of money like other, more famous out-of-print books.
I'm not yet sure if I'll get it, because I'm not sure if it's worth it to buy an old book that wasn't good enough to stay in print, but it's a small price to pay for a piece of childhood nostalgia.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Last-Minute Post
Today is my day to post a blog - if you've been following, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the days I don't have classes this semester. Unfortunately, today I find myself completely unprepared. Normally, I would be writing blogs up ahead of time, quickly carving out a rough draft, and then sitting down with it to edit on the day I'm supposed to post. Lately though, I haven't been writing as often, so I only have one paragraph of one future blog which I want to do more research on before I send it out for the world to see.
A small portion of me doesn't really feel like writing, so that may explain the lack of backup, but that's just a small part. Also, most of my blogs require some research, and I haven't felt like doing any lately. More to blame, however, are two other things I've been spending my time on:
A Game of Thrones
This is a novel by George R. R. Martin, which HBO made into a mini-series that's starting next month. I don't really care about what HBO thinks or does, but when The Daily What Geeks announced the show, the comments went wild with people ecstatic to see one of their favorite books brought onto the screen. I'd never even heard of it before, but I'd been looking for something new to read when I finished The Hobbit (again), so I decided I'd pick it up. I only had a vague sense of what the story was about, and I normally don't like to start new TV series until one of the ones I'm already watching is over, but this is a mini-series so it doesn't really count (Since I know it'll have a definite end, instead of going on and on until viewer ratings decline).
I was a bit uncertain when I got to the bookstore and realized A Game of Thrones is 800 pages long, but I'm glad I decided to pick it up anyways - this novel is a true epic. It's a medieval soft-fantasy, meaning that though fantastic creatures and powers may be talked about or mentioned, there's little evidence that they're more than just legend. The culture that Martin created for this world is realistic to our own medieval time, and extremely well thought out. There's so much going on at any given time, it's no surprise he had to take 800 pages to flesh out the entire drama from all sides. I've been losing sleep, staying up at night trying to find out what happens next.
A little warning though, this book is not for the faint of heart. There are lots of battles, a good number with wit but a lot with blood too, and more than one awkward intimate scene. I appreciated Martin's bluntness throughout it all; he gives you the facts and spares you the gross details. Still, there were a few paragraphs that we hard to read.
Dragon Age: Origins
A few months ago, Felicia Day, a web series actress/writer/director whose work I follow, announced that she was working with Bioware game studio to create a web series based on one of their best-selling games, Dragon Age. Again, I'd never even heard of Dragon Age (I don't really know why, since it's in my video game niche), but I had to find out more. Felicia Day's work is kind of an example of the American Dream - she started out as an obscure TV actress who started her web show with her own money to give herself real work to do, and is now being paid by a well known game studio to romp around in the forest pretending to be an elf. Though I'd never played the game before, I really wanted to watch her new web series in support of her success.
Which means of course that I have to play the game - I don't watch movies or HBO mini-series before reading the books, do I? Why should a video game be any different? So, I managed to get someone to lend the game to me, and started my own play-through of Dragon Age: Origins.
I'm planning to write a full (and probably long) blog on that later, when I'm done, which could be anywhere from a week to a month or three from now, depending on how much sleep I decide is really necessary. The game's awesome, and if I had more time to devote to it I could probably be playing all day, every day, for a long time. Every decision you make changes elements of the gameplay, and there are six different 'origin stories' depending on which type of character you chose - so, you could play the game all the way through at least six times and have it be different every time.
I'm only doing one play-through, at least for now, to get a sense of the game before Felicia Day's new web series comes out. More on my experiences and thoughts when the game's finished
With two long, in depth stories I'm trying to work my way through, m writing's been a bit forgotten about - but I promise myself that I'll keep it up!
A small portion of me doesn't really feel like writing, so that may explain the lack of backup, but that's just a small part. Also, most of my blogs require some research, and I haven't felt like doing any lately. More to blame, however, are two other things I've been spending my time on:
A Game of Thrones
This is a novel by George R. R. Martin, which HBO made into a mini-series that's starting next month. I don't really care about what HBO thinks or does, but when The Daily What Geeks announced the show, the comments went wild with people ecstatic to see one of their favorite books brought onto the screen. I'd never even heard of it before, but I'd been looking for something new to read when I finished The Hobbit (again), so I decided I'd pick it up. I only had a vague sense of what the story was about, and I normally don't like to start new TV series until one of the ones I'm already watching is over, but this is a mini-series so it doesn't really count (Since I know it'll have a definite end, instead of going on and on until viewer ratings decline).
I was a bit uncertain when I got to the bookstore and realized A Game of Thrones is 800 pages long, but I'm glad I decided to pick it up anyways - this novel is a true epic. It's a medieval soft-fantasy, meaning that though fantastic creatures and powers may be talked about or mentioned, there's little evidence that they're more than just legend. The culture that Martin created for this world is realistic to our own medieval time, and extremely well thought out. There's so much going on at any given time, it's no surprise he had to take 800 pages to flesh out the entire drama from all sides. I've been losing sleep, staying up at night trying to find out what happens next.
A little warning though, this book is not for the faint of heart. There are lots of battles, a good number with wit but a lot with blood too, and more than one awkward intimate scene. I appreciated Martin's bluntness throughout it all; he gives you the facts and spares you the gross details. Still, there were a few paragraphs that we hard to read.
Dragon Age: Origins
A few months ago, Felicia Day, a web series actress/writer/director whose work I follow, announced that she was working with Bioware game studio to create a web series based on one of their best-selling games, Dragon Age. Again, I'd never even heard of Dragon Age (I don't really know why, since it's in my video game niche), but I had to find out more. Felicia Day's work is kind of an example of the American Dream - she started out as an obscure TV actress who started her web show with her own money to give herself real work to do, and is now being paid by a well known game studio to romp around in the forest pretending to be an elf. Though I'd never played the game before, I really wanted to watch her new web series in support of her success.
Which means of course that I have to play the game - I don't watch movies or HBO mini-series before reading the books, do I? Why should a video game be any different? So, I managed to get someone to lend the game to me, and started my own play-through of Dragon Age: Origins.
I'm planning to write a full (and probably long) blog on that later, when I'm done, which could be anywhere from a week to a month or three from now, depending on how much sleep I decide is really necessary. The game's awesome, and if I had more time to devote to it I could probably be playing all day, every day, for a long time. Every decision you make changes elements of the gameplay, and there are six different 'origin stories' depending on which type of character you chose - so, you could play the game all the way through at least six times and have it be different every time.
I'm only doing one play-through, at least for now, to get a sense of the game before Felicia Day's new web series comes out. More on my experiences and thoughts when the game's finished
With two long, in depth stories I'm trying to work my way through, m writing's been a bit forgotten about - but I promise myself that I'll keep it up!
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Sound of Gaming
I've been getting into a Video Game mood lately, so I felt I should blog about it. I wont go into everything on my mind - that'd take way too long - but I will dive a bit into one facet of video gaming - music.
Every now and then, people will ask me what my favorite type of music is. This is an awkward question for me, because I honestly don't listen to music that much. I imagine once I start driving myself everywhere and audio is the only form of entertainment on the road, I will listen to more songs, but for now the only type of music I find myself listening to is instrumental; lyrics confuse me when I'm trying to write, which happens to be one of the few times I listen to music.
After having experience with NaNoWriMo and realizing that I needed some music playing while I wrote, I went on a hunt to find good instrumental music. Ultimately, I settled on the music from video games. Movie and television scores are also a great help, but video game soundtracks have become the most common sounds I listen to, not just while writing.
What most people love about the music they listen to is the shared emotion with the singer. I'm just a bit critical of this, as one singer's emotion can't be shared with everyone, and even the singer wont be feeling that emotion forever. Also, any music commercially purposed (instrumental or lyrical) is designed to bring about emotions, which seems to me to automatically negate the sincerity behind the piece. I still like lyrical music, but video game music is different from all other forms of music. Yes, the composer of the music is attempting to draw a specific emotion out of you, but as a gamer, the listener creates part of the emotion within themselves, without someone else forcing it in.
People who aren't gamers or haven't played a certain game wont be able to ingest the same emotion as people who have played the game. The emotion is a response to the memory of the game itself, and most songs play multiple times in any given game. In movie scores, a certain song generally only plays during one point in the movie, so the emotion is associated with that particular scene, but with video game music, the emotion comes from all our triumphs or failures or moments during the game where we felt a certain way. If you haven't played the game, you haven't felt those emotions in context.
Video game music is also, I believe, more personal. For example, think of any lyrical music that presents loss or hopelessness as the emotion. It's not a very fun emotion, so I don't know why people specifically listen to it, but I know it's out there. For a movie example, there's the score from Cast Away, or the track "...To Die For" from Lion King. The songs are sad, and understandably people tear up, but I suspect that the emotion gamers feel listening to the music from Shadow of the Colossus is more real, not because the scene is more dramatic, but because, instead of the tragic moment happening to a lonely post worker or African lion, the tragedy happens to us, personally, playing the role of the in-game character.
The most common emotion in video game music, however, is power and awe. Most overworld music is hopeful, instilling in the gamer an adventurous feeling that they can defeat whatever evils they come across, or just plain happy and fun. There's a lot of peaceful music, placed to make the gamers feel accomplished and satisfied. Of course there's the battle music, which either plays when you enter a turn-based battle or when there's an enemy nearby, but all music in video games is meant to get the gamer into the mood of the game, no matter what it is.
Of course, only people who have played the game get the correct mood-set out of the piece; even if a score is meant to make you feel shocked or angry, it does a better job in context. That would explain why video game music isn't as popular as it should be. When you think about it, composing video game music is an amazing feat. Most scores need to be able to loop over many times, and a lot of more modern pieces need to be ready to end at any time so the system can shift to a battle track, or back to an overworld track. If the music itself wasn't stunning enough, the skill and effort used to compose music that can conform to game mechanics should blow you away.
Now that most games are fully orchestrated (or, at least narrative games are), the music is gaining popularity. Already, multiple organizations are arranging music for symphonies to play to audiences, and I'm already saving my money for when one shows up in L.A.
Every now and then, people will ask me what my favorite type of music is. This is an awkward question for me, because I honestly don't listen to music that much. I imagine once I start driving myself everywhere and audio is the only form of entertainment on the road, I will listen to more songs, but for now the only type of music I find myself listening to is instrumental; lyrics confuse me when I'm trying to write, which happens to be one of the few times I listen to music.
After having experience with NaNoWriMo and realizing that I needed some music playing while I wrote, I went on a hunt to find good instrumental music. Ultimately, I settled on the music from video games. Movie and television scores are also a great help, but video game soundtracks have become the most common sounds I listen to, not just while writing.
What most people love about the music they listen to is the shared emotion with the singer. I'm just a bit critical of this, as one singer's emotion can't be shared with everyone, and even the singer wont be feeling that emotion forever. Also, any music commercially purposed (instrumental or lyrical) is designed to bring about emotions, which seems to me to automatically negate the sincerity behind the piece. I still like lyrical music, but video game music is different from all other forms of music. Yes, the composer of the music is attempting to draw a specific emotion out of you, but as a gamer, the listener creates part of the emotion within themselves, without someone else forcing it in.
People who aren't gamers or haven't played a certain game wont be able to ingest the same emotion as people who have played the game. The emotion is a response to the memory of the game itself, and most songs play multiple times in any given game. In movie scores, a certain song generally only plays during one point in the movie, so the emotion is associated with that particular scene, but with video game music, the emotion comes from all our triumphs or failures or moments during the game where we felt a certain way. If you haven't played the game, you haven't felt those emotions in context.
Video game music is also, I believe, more personal. For example, think of any lyrical music that presents loss or hopelessness as the emotion. It's not a very fun emotion, so I don't know why people specifically listen to it, but I know it's out there. For a movie example, there's the score from Cast Away, or the track "...To Die For" from Lion King. The songs are sad, and understandably people tear up, but I suspect that the emotion gamers feel listening to the music from Shadow of the Colossus is more real, not because the scene is more dramatic, but because, instead of the tragic moment happening to a lonely post worker or African lion, the tragedy happens to us, personally, playing the role of the in-game character.
The most common emotion in video game music, however, is power and awe. Most overworld music is hopeful, instilling in the gamer an adventurous feeling that they can defeat whatever evils they come across, or just plain happy and fun. There's a lot of peaceful music, placed to make the gamers feel accomplished and satisfied. Of course there's the battle music, which either plays when you enter a turn-based battle or when there's an enemy nearby, but all music in video games is meant to get the gamer into the mood of the game, no matter what it is.
Of course, only people who have played the game get the correct mood-set out of the piece; even if a score is meant to make you feel shocked or angry, it does a better job in context. That would explain why video game music isn't as popular as it should be. When you think about it, composing video game music is an amazing feat. Most scores need to be able to loop over many times, and a lot of more modern pieces need to be ready to end at any time so the system can shift to a battle track, or back to an overworld track. If the music itself wasn't stunning enough, the skill and effort used to compose music that can conform to game mechanics should blow you away.
Now that most games are fully orchestrated (or, at least narrative games are), the music is gaining popularity. Already, multiple organizations are arranging music for symphonies to play to audiences, and I'm already saving my money for when one shows up in L.A.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Are Wii There Yet?
Just before last Christmas, Mom bought a Wii for our house. She may not be aware of this, but I had been leaving her subliminal messages encouraging her to by a Wii a month or so before she finally did so. I spent several weeks of the summer leaving positive comments about Netflix on my Facebook to convince Mom to sign up with them, so I figured I could do something similar (though my efforts were more covert this time) so I wouldn't have to borrow my brother's Wii when the next Zelda game comes out (I've been saving up for it for quite a while now).
When she finally bought one, I was just a bit surprised - I hadn't expected her to go for it before Christmas, and I hadn't expected Dad to agree so easily. Turns out, he hadn't - she bought it on the fly while she was at Target, and we were going to hide it in the guest room so he wouldn't see it.
After a few weeks, when Dad was out one night, Mom told me to pull it out and set it up. She got one of the new sleek black ones (I really liked the original white, but I don't see anything wrong with black either), and I set it up right next to our black TV where my brother's had been when he still lived with us, and where my other brother's PS3 had been when he lived with us. We figured out the Netflix channel for the Wii and got all the packaging put away before Dad came home. And then, for about a month or so, we said nothing about it. We didn't draw attention to the Wii, or mention it, and we made sure the controller was always tucked away where Dad didn't see it.
We weren't trying to be mean to him or anything - if we had just told him, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded much, since it ended up not being very expensive. But by not talking about it, hiding the Wii became a sort of game; how long could we go before Dad noticed the Wii? He never said anything about it, and when he wanted to watch an old movie on Netflix he would turn on his old laptop (which we have hooked up to use the TV as a 2nd monitor), so we were pretty sure he hadn't noticed yet, or at least wasn't sure what to make of it.
Which means that, for the most part, we didn't use the Wii for the first few months after getting it. Well, I did, when I was home alone, but we couldn't use it to watch Netflix when Dad was home or he'd figure us out.
Finally, a few weeks back, Mom decided we needed to get Verizon FiOS (I think, with all her kids moving out, she's decided she wants to finally conform to social/technological norms. One day, she might get an HD TV, or maybe even a flat screen!). I don't care much for cable TV - anything I really want to watch can be found on Hulu - but cable has a few channels she can access whenever she wants, so on a Saturday, a Verizon cable guy came in and set out whole system up, which included figuring out wiring for everything plugged into the TV. Like our single rarely-used game system.
So Dad found out - I guess. He never really did say anything, but afterward he started using the Wii. Nonchalantly, Mom asked him when he had started using it, and he vaguely replied "when you got it," because of course he expected us to know what that meant. Mom didn't push the subject.
So I fully expect Dad some day to find this blog and discover that we utterly deceived him - but I hope he can find it a good laugh. We weren't trying to deceive you, we were trying to get more amusement out of the Wii than we could otherwise. We own no games for it (Expect for Wii Fit, which we just bought a month ago), so what else are we going to do with the thing? I'm happy we managed to get some entertainment from it; I always hated getting the toys I always wanted for Christmas only to discover a week later that I didn't care for them anymore. Now, this Wii will never get old (Until, of course, the newer thing comes out).
(In retrospect, I wonder if Mom and Dad were playing me, seeing how long I'd go along with the gig. Not to be rude, however, but I wouldn't give them that much credit.)
When she finally bought one, I was just a bit surprised - I hadn't expected her to go for it before Christmas, and I hadn't expected Dad to agree so easily. Turns out, he hadn't - she bought it on the fly while she was at Target, and we were going to hide it in the guest room so he wouldn't see it.
After a few weeks, when Dad was out one night, Mom told me to pull it out and set it up. She got one of the new sleek black ones (I really liked the original white, but I don't see anything wrong with black either), and I set it up right next to our black TV where my brother's had been when he still lived with us, and where my other brother's PS3 had been when he lived with us. We figured out the Netflix channel for the Wii and got all the packaging put away before Dad came home. And then, for about a month or so, we said nothing about it. We didn't draw attention to the Wii, or mention it, and we made sure the controller was always tucked away where Dad didn't see it.
We weren't trying to be mean to him or anything - if we had just told him, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded much, since it ended up not being very expensive. But by not talking about it, hiding the Wii became a sort of game; how long could we go before Dad noticed the Wii? He never said anything about it, and when he wanted to watch an old movie on Netflix he would turn on his old laptop (which we have hooked up to use the TV as a 2nd monitor), so we were pretty sure he hadn't noticed yet, or at least wasn't sure what to make of it.
Which means that, for the most part, we didn't use the Wii for the first few months after getting it. Well, I did, when I was home alone, but we couldn't use it to watch Netflix when Dad was home or he'd figure us out.
Finally, a few weeks back, Mom decided we needed to get Verizon FiOS (I think, with all her kids moving out, she's decided she wants to finally conform to social/technological norms. One day, she might get an HD TV, or maybe even a flat screen!). I don't care much for cable TV - anything I really want to watch can be found on Hulu - but cable has a few channels she can access whenever she wants, so on a Saturday, a Verizon cable guy came in and set out whole system up, which included figuring out wiring for everything plugged into the TV. Like our single rarely-used game system.
So Dad found out - I guess. He never really did say anything, but afterward he started using the Wii. Nonchalantly, Mom asked him when he had started using it, and he vaguely replied "when you got it," because of course he expected us to know what that meant. Mom didn't push the subject.
So I fully expect Dad some day to find this blog and discover that we utterly deceived him - but I hope he can find it a good laugh. We weren't trying to deceive you, we were trying to get more amusement out of the Wii than we could otherwise. We own no games for it (Expect for Wii Fit, which we just bought a month ago), so what else are we going to do with the thing? I'm happy we managed to get some entertainment from it; I always hated getting the toys I always wanted for Christmas only to discover a week later that I didn't care for them anymore. Now, this Wii will never get old (Until, of course, the newer thing comes out).
(In retrospect, I wonder if Mom and Dad were playing me, seeing how long I'd go along with the gig. Not to be rude, however, but I wouldn't give them that much credit.)
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Hallway to Heaven
Every other Christmas, my extended family gets together with one of the four sisters on my Mom's side (This is including my mom). On our off years, we're together with just our immediate family, and Christmas is nice and easy, but every other year we travel somewhere else on the West Coast (No one seems to have moved very far), struggle with hotels and fitting into the host's house, while we try to help with the cooking before we can finally open presents and leave.
This Christmas, however, we're hosting the extended family, for the first time in almost a decade (at the very least, the first time I can remember). Even now, months ahead of the fact, Mom has been stressing out, preparing the place. She's getting the walls painted and the guest room cleared out, redecorating where she can to make everything seem bigger so we can fit everyone in.
I'm trying hard not to make this into a Christmas blog, so I'll move on to where I wanted to go. About a month back, Mom moved the computer to a new desk in our hallway, where it's out of the way and needs all of the lights on to see properly. As she proudly inspected her change, Mom realized suddenly that there are exactly nine doors in out hallway (if you don't count the double-door for the master bedroom). Our hallway, mind you, connects every room in out house that isn't the front room or kitchen.
This Christmas, however, we're hosting the extended family, for the first time in almost a decade (at the very least, the first time I can remember). Even now, months ahead of the fact, Mom has been stressing out, preparing the place. She's getting the walls painted and the guest room cleared out, redecorating where she can to make everything seem bigger so we can fit everyone in.
I'm trying hard not to make this into a Christmas blog, so I'll move on to where I wanted to go. About a month back, Mom moved the computer to a new desk in our hallway, where it's out of the way and needs all of the lights on to see properly. As she proudly inspected her change, Mom realized suddenly that there are exactly nine doors in out hallway (if you don't count the double-door for the master bedroom). Our hallway, mind you, connects every room in out house that isn't the front room or kitchen.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Vague Title that becomes Witty in Context
Catching opening sentence with an theme-related undertone. Humorous comment to make the post theme clearer and transition into the main article.
I don't know if there's a name for it, but I've seen it more than once, and the name I have dubbed it is 'Formula Satire'. I'm sure others have noticed it around as well; those comedy skits or what have you, where everything everyone says is a short explanation of what kind of thing they would be saying. I know my definition isn't very clear, so I tried to use my blog post title and first paragraph as an example. There is a great Cracked.com video titled "Trailer for Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever", as well as a few Failbook entries (I only linked to one, because after 15 minutes of search I could only find this one, though I know I've seen more) and a British News Report/Comedy sketch by Charlie Brooker. If you've never seen Formula Satire before, or are still a bit confused, I recommend checking these links out before reading on.
There are tons of other examples of Formula Satire out there, but it's almost impossible to find them. There's no widely used name for this type of comedy, like there are for puns or the various memes. 'Formula Satire' is just a name I invented so I would know what I was talking about when I told myself about how funny these were. If I were to use Formula Satire in a widely viewed medium, like a television episode or a movie, people would laugh and tell their friends how great I was, and then be unable to explain what exactly I did to be so funny.
"She, like, said everything she was supposed to say! It was hilarious! No, she was just saying... how she would be saying.... like, she was explaining what someone would say after someone said something... my goodness, it was too funny! You just have to see it for yourself!"
Someone might think to demonstrate what I had done ("Like, 'Threatening comment!' 'Angry, defensive reply with a halfhearted attempt at poking fun.' 'Enraged response obviously affected by your halfhearted attempt to poke fun and suggesting we make this disagreement more physical!' 'Timid third party interjection hoping to dissuade the fight' and so forth), but for the most part people aren't going to know how to accurately describe this type of humor. I can't even think of any good description.
I love Formula Satire when I see it, so I find the fact that there's no clear name for it disheartening (If, reading this, you know of a name used, please comment). I know it's only funny in bits and pieces - if everyone broke out into Formula Satire one day, it would get a bit old - but for those rare times when I'm trying to find something that fits the bill, it's frustrating that I can't. I end up watching those videos I linked to multiple times, and I wish I had something new.
As someone who's really into fiction, I've found myself able to predict all plot changes based on subtle or even unconscious shifts and hints left in the formula of the story. Humor poking fun at the formula is quite hilarious in my eyes, and always welcome. I encourage all of my readers to treasure Formula Satire when they find it, and if possible to comment with links to other sources I might like. These aren't just a few rogue jokes being made by comedians, it's an entire subgenre of humor that has thus far gone nameless and with little notice, as far as I can tell.
I don't know if there's a name for it, but I've seen it more than once, and the name I have dubbed it is 'Formula Satire'. I'm sure others have noticed it around as well; those comedy skits or what have you, where everything everyone says is a short explanation of what kind of thing they would be saying. I know my definition isn't very clear, so I tried to use my blog post title and first paragraph as an example. There is a great Cracked.com video titled "Trailer for Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever", as well as a few Failbook entries (I only linked to one, because after 15 minutes of search I could only find this one, though I know I've seen more) and a British News Report/Comedy sketch by Charlie Brooker. If you've never seen Formula Satire before, or are still a bit confused, I recommend checking these links out before reading on.
There are tons of other examples of Formula Satire out there, but it's almost impossible to find them. There's no widely used name for this type of comedy, like there are for puns or the various memes. 'Formula Satire' is just a name I invented so I would know what I was talking about when I told myself about how funny these were. If I were to use Formula Satire in a widely viewed medium, like a television episode or a movie, people would laugh and tell their friends how great I was, and then be unable to explain what exactly I did to be so funny.
"She, like, said everything she was supposed to say! It was hilarious! No, she was just saying... how she would be saying.... like, she was explaining what someone would say after someone said something... my goodness, it was too funny! You just have to see it for yourself!"
Someone might think to demonstrate what I had done ("Like, 'Threatening comment!' 'Angry, defensive reply with a halfhearted attempt at poking fun.' 'Enraged response obviously affected by your halfhearted attempt to poke fun and suggesting we make this disagreement more physical!' 'Timid third party interjection hoping to dissuade the fight' and so forth), but for the most part people aren't going to know how to accurately describe this type of humor. I can't even think of any good description.
I love Formula Satire when I see it, so I find the fact that there's no clear name for it disheartening (If, reading this, you know of a name used, please comment). I know it's only funny in bits and pieces - if everyone broke out into Formula Satire one day, it would get a bit old - but for those rare times when I'm trying to find something that fits the bill, it's frustrating that I can't. I end up watching those videos I linked to multiple times, and I wish I had something new.
As someone who's really into fiction, I've found myself able to predict all plot changes based on subtle or even unconscious shifts and hints left in the formula of the story. Humor poking fun at the formula is quite hilarious in my eyes, and always welcome. I encourage all of my readers to treasure Formula Satire when they find it, and if possible to comment with links to other sources I might like. These aren't just a few rogue jokes being made by comedians, it's an entire subgenre of humor that has thus far gone nameless and with little notice, as far as I can tell.
Friday, March 4, 2011
The Shop Somewhere Down the Street.
Christmas has been over for some time, and is far from coming again, so this blog is a bit late, but since it's really just a wintery theme, not strictly Christmas, it's not too late.
Every year around Christmas time, since as long as I can remember, my father would sit down to a certain old, black and white movie starring Jimmy Stewart. Sometimes we'd sit in and watch it with him, though I don't remember much about the story until I was ten or so, and we'd be swept by the romantic story about how Jimmy Stewart's character finds himself and discovers what's truly important in life. I'm not talking about "It's a Wonderful Life," by the way, I'm talking about "The Shop Around the Corner."
A few years ago, I was shocked to realize that not everyone had ever even heard of this movie. When it was Christmas time, people sat around and watched "Charlie Brown Christmas" (Which I admit to having only seen once in it's entirety) or "It's a Wonderful Life" (Which I have seen, but only a few times). When "You've Got Mail" came out, people went to it and saw it without even realizing that it was based on Ernst Lubitsch's classic romance. I, who had been familiarized with the story when I was young, couldn't fathom that an old movie like this, so beloved in my own household, would be so forgotten by others who claimed to love "It's a Wonderful Life" or other classics, too.
In case you've never seen or heard of "The Shop Around the Corner," it's basically a romance about two store clerks who grow to greatly dislike each other, despite the fact that, unbeknownst to either of them, they're forming a budding romance through anonymous letters. The audience, in a first time viewing, doesn't find out what's going on until Jimmy Stewart's character goes to meet his pen pal in person, and then cannot bring himself to confront the woman he finds to be frivolous and annoying in real life, but intelligent and romantic in her letters.
Nora Ephron directed a remake starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (Both of "Sleepless in Seattle" fame), which tweaked the setting and situation a bit, but kept the core storyline. Both movies are pretty good, and really romantic without losing their intelligent script and relatable characters, but I'd have to say I prefer "Shop Around the Corner." Maybe it's because I've seen it so many times, or maybe it's because, as long as you saw the original first, remakes tend to pale in comparison (If you hadn't seen the original first, then the remake can seem better). Either way, I'm still a bit put off when I make a "Shop Around the Corner" reference that no one understands (like when I suggested a friend use a jewelry box that plays music to store candy).
Netflix doesn't have "The Shop Around the Corner" available for instant streaming, but they do have DVDs if anyone has queue space open, and while your local movie-buying-supplier may not have it in store, you'll almost certainly be able to order the movie online. It's a great Christmas movie, but sinceisn't specifically about Christmas, it can be watched any time of the year. If you like "It's a Wonderful Life," you'll almost definitely love "The Shop Around the Corner."
(I don't mean to sound like a pitch salesman - I really just love this movie, and wished more people would familiarize themselves with it, too. I'm always open for lesser-known-about cool movies, too, y'know.)
Every year around Christmas time, since as long as I can remember, my father would sit down to a certain old, black and white movie starring Jimmy Stewart. Sometimes we'd sit in and watch it with him, though I don't remember much about the story until I was ten or so, and we'd be swept by the romantic story about how Jimmy Stewart's character finds himself and discovers what's truly important in life. I'm not talking about "It's a Wonderful Life," by the way, I'm talking about "The Shop Around the Corner."
A few years ago, I was shocked to realize that not everyone had ever even heard of this movie. When it was Christmas time, people sat around and watched "Charlie Brown Christmas" (Which I admit to having only seen once in it's entirety) or "It's a Wonderful Life" (Which I have seen, but only a few times). When "You've Got Mail" came out, people went to it and saw it without even realizing that it was based on Ernst Lubitsch's classic romance. I, who had been familiarized with the story when I was young, couldn't fathom that an old movie like this, so beloved in my own household, would be so forgotten by others who claimed to love "It's a Wonderful Life" or other classics, too.
In case you've never seen or heard of "The Shop Around the Corner," it's basically a romance about two store clerks who grow to greatly dislike each other, despite the fact that, unbeknownst to either of them, they're forming a budding romance through anonymous letters. The audience, in a first time viewing, doesn't find out what's going on until Jimmy Stewart's character goes to meet his pen pal in person, and then cannot bring himself to confront the woman he finds to be frivolous and annoying in real life, but intelligent and romantic in her letters.
Nora Ephron directed a remake starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (Both of "Sleepless in Seattle" fame), which tweaked the setting and situation a bit, but kept the core storyline. Both movies are pretty good, and really romantic without losing their intelligent script and relatable characters, but I'd have to say I prefer "Shop Around the Corner." Maybe it's because I've seen it so many times, or maybe it's because, as long as you saw the original first, remakes tend to pale in comparison (If you hadn't seen the original first, then the remake can seem better). Either way, I'm still a bit put off when I make a "Shop Around the Corner" reference that no one understands (like when I suggested a friend use a jewelry box that plays music to store candy).
Netflix doesn't have "The Shop Around the Corner" available for instant streaming, but they do have DVDs if anyone has queue space open, and while your local movie-buying-supplier may not have it in store, you'll almost certainly be able to order the movie online. It's a great Christmas movie, but sinceisn't specifically about Christmas, it can be watched any time of the year. If you like "It's a Wonderful Life," you'll almost definitely love "The Shop Around the Corner."
(I don't mean to sound like a pitch salesman - I really just love this movie, and wished more people would familiarize themselves with it, too. I'm always open for lesser-known-about cool movies, too, y'know.)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Elusive School Newspaper
I wont go on about my desire to be a writer and my need to write for local papers, or the fact that I tested out of High School and am now attending the local community college, or my experience writing for my High School Newspaper the year before I left. All this you either knew because you know me personally, found out reading past blogs, or just now learned and don't need to know more to understand where I'm coming from.
In my quest to find magazines and papers to freelance for, I learned that local publications are generally the easiest to get into. I have some beef with our local daily newspaper (They printed a story of mine from the high school paper but edited in poor grammar and changed my perfect intro into an incomplete clause, and then they defamed my entire high school unnecessarily by blowing up a scandal and ignoring the fact that only a few students from, who were from all the local schools, were involved), so I decided I really didn't want them touching anything else of mine. I can't really write for the high school paper anymore, so I'm stuck with small magazines and weekly papers - most of which are geared towards the high class population in a nearby retirement town.
Because I wrote for the high school paper, though, the college paper seemed like an obvious choice. Of course we're not a 'real' college, but we still have a paper - somewhere.
I can't really find that paper, though. I see copies online and in newspaper boxes around campus, but their online link doesn't list student names (Other than on the byline), or the name of faculty advisers or publishers or anything else which might help someone in my position know who to go to with story queries. It's as if the paper is written by a secret society of students who find likely candidates in their English classes and spent so much time with initiation that they forget to promote their actual paper, or even write more often than every three months.
With the little amount of press it's getting, I don't think writing for the school paper would really help me at all, but would it kill the editors to put some contact information where people can find it? Maybe if they were a bit more serious about their work, they'd have more people reading their paper. But who am I kidding - I still need to get something published.
(EDIT: I actually got offered a job by an online pay-per-click type news website, which would have given me pennies and some experience, but wouldn't let me publish under a pseudonym. Unfortunately, I'm trying to build a platform here, and working my butt off for pennies and being unable to use the experience to further my career isn't my cup of tea. Yet.)
(I don't even drink tea.)
In my quest to find magazines and papers to freelance for, I learned that local publications are generally the easiest to get into. I have some beef with our local daily newspaper (They printed a story of mine from the high school paper but edited in poor grammar and changed my perfect intro into an incomplete clause, and then they defamed my entire high school unnecessarily by blowing up a scandal and ignoring the fact that only a few students from, who were from all the local schools, were involved), so I decided I really didn't want them touching anything else of mine. I can't really write for the high school paper anymore, so I'm stuck with small magazines and weekly papers - most of which are geared towards the high class population in a nearby retirement town.
Because I wrote for the high school paper, though, the college paper seemed like an obvious choice. Of course we're not a 'real' college, but we still have a paper - somewhere.
I can't really find that paper, though. I see copies online and in newspaper boxes around campus, but their online link doesn't list student names (Other than on the byline), or the name of faculty advisers or publishers or anything else which might help someone in my position know who to go to with story queries. It's as if the paper is written by a secret society of students who find likely candidates in their English classes and spent so much time with initiation that they forget to promote their actual paper, or even write more often than every three months.
With the little amount of press it's getting, I don't think writing for the school paper would really help me at all, but would it kill the editors to put some contact information where people can find it? Maybe if they were a bit more serious about their work, they'd have more people reading their paper. But who am I kidding - I still need to get something published.
(EDIT: I actually got offered a job by an online pay-per-click type news website, which would have given me pennies and some experience, but wouldn't let me publish under a pseudonym. Unfortunately, I'm trying to build a platform here, and working my butt off for pennies and being unable to use the experience to further my career isn't my cup of tea. Yet.)
(I don't even drink tea.)
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