Today I'm celebrating Unification Day with the rest of the internet! Well, at least the two thousand other members of the Facebook event page, and maybe a few more. Let me explain.
About a year and a half ago, my dad and I heard an interesting story on the radio on the way to a hike together. It was about a web show I'd never heard of, by a TV director who I'd never heard of, named Joss Whedon. The web show, Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, was an attempt to counter the Writer's Strike, showing writers that they didn't have to use traditional media to get their work shown, and as the report stated, 'you'd either never heard of it, or you loved it.'
The report also mentioned Joss Whedon's other work, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which, yes, I had heard of, but never seen) and a TV series called Firefly, which only aired for one season before being canceled for having low ratings.
With my interest piqued, I looked up both shows when I got home. At this time Hulu had all the episodes of Firefly up, and Doctor Horrible has always been available online. Within an hour (the time it takes to watch all of Doctor Horrible), I considered myself a Whedon Fan, and in a week (the time it took me to finish Firefly) I considered Whedon a genius.
Firefly, if you've never heard of it, is a Science Fiction/Western (According to Wikipedia, the term Space Western is more appropriate). It almost touches on Steampunk, but it's a uniquely different fictional genre of itself. It takes place hundreds of years in the future, in a new galaxy terraformed by the remaining humans after earth gets used up. The planets closer to the center of the galaxy (the Central Planets) form an Anglo-Sino Alliance, with very advanced technology, while the outer planets, who wish to remain independent, survive of the bare necessities (Thus the Western part of the 'Sci-Fi/Western' genre card).
If it wasn't for Joss Whedon's amazing writing and directing, the show could easily have been forgotten in the myriad of fun but pointless television entertainment. As cheesy as the 'Sci-Fi/Western' identification might sound, however, it's an amazing experience - one that fans were only able to get so much of, since it was so hard to sell to the networks and convince people to watch.
Unfortunately, the show didn't gain a real following until after it got canceled. There are over 60 thousand followers on the show's Facebook page now, and that's just the page that I'm a member of. There are thousands more fans not on Facebook, with more growing each day as the title spreads through word of mouth and continues to be re-aired on the Sci-Fi and Discovery: Science Channels.
Meanwhile, on the Internet, a cult fandom has formed. The show is talked about almost constantly, with references to be found across multiple internet subcultures. Every so often, a 'revive Firefly' movement starts up, and occasionally they're successful, sparking the filming of the sequel film 'Serenity' and the publishing of the Firefly graphic novels.
That's where the idea of today being Unification Day springs from. Recently, when prompted what he'd do if his new show Castle got canceled and Fox decided to pick Firefly back up, Nathan Fillion (The actor who plays the spaceship captain) said he'd be willing to jump back into Firefly in a heartbeat, and expressed a desire to buy the rights from Fox and allow the show to be available for free over the internet. Less than a day later, a website appeared, asking fans to pledge money to donate for that exact cause.
In the second episode of the show, the protagonists are in an bar, picking up a contact for a less-than-legal job, and they end up in a brawl with Alliance supporters who are celebrating Unification Day that day. In the next scene, the ship's first mate says the the captain, "Funny, sir, how you always seem to find yourself in an Alliance-friend bar come U-Day, 'looking for a quiet drink'."
With the most recent outburst of Firefly-renewal fire, someone on the internet decided to dub today Unification Day in an attempt to ironically corral the Browncoats (Firefly fans) into a unified support of the show. There are only two thousand members of the event page, but it's a fun excuse for me to wear all brown today and marathon the show all over again.
Happy U-Day!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
15 Characters Repost Meme
I generally tend to shy away from Repost Memes (those lists and other such things that get posted in Facebook notes and on Blogs telling people to personalize them and repost, tagging friends, et etc.), but I found this doing research for an Econ paper, and it sounded fun so I thought I'd give it a try. The idea was to think of fiction characters - of any kind, from any work of fiction - and write down the first 15 that come to mind. Then one would expound upon the characters, explaining why you like them or whatever. I took a bit more care choosing 15 of either my favorite characters or characters who influenced my writing/reading preferences. Take note - this list was formed and this blog started about halfway through December, so if I were to rewrite it now, it might be a bit different. See how many characters you recognize:
Monday, March 28, 2011
Musical Update
I've never been extremely good with musical instruments, though in saying that I'm of course comparing myself to my youngest brother, who could pick up almost anything and master it in a few practice sessions (He played the flute in middle school, and the quad-tenor drums, the glockenspiel, the oboe, and a few others in high school).
I took Clarinet lessons in 5th and 6th grade, when my local middle school had a program that allowed 5th graders to take Beginner Band lessons first period, before the Elementary school started. I was pretty good at it, but in 7th grade I moved to a school closer to where I lived, and their band program was famously the worst in our district, so stopped practicing clarinet. I still have my clarinet, and with a bit of practice I'm sure I could play it, but what I really gained taking that band class was an understanding of music theory. I can read the music staff (though it takes me a moment to translate), and I understand sharps, flats, time signatures, and scales pretty well.
I don't quite remember where it came from, but we've also had a piano in my house since I was in elementary school (I think it was a gift from someone who was moving and couldn't take it with them). Before taking my band classes, I had no idea how to play it, except for a basic C major, since anyone can find C on the piano. After taking the class, it still took me a while to find which keys corresponded to which notes, but with a better understanding of the music I could figure things out.
Recently - in the past year or so - I've been picking up piano practice again. Not conventionally, as I dislike playing the piano, or any instrument, where others can hear me, but when I have the house to myself I'll tinker out whatever I have. If we're practicing a song in church, I'll play my part so I can get it down better, and lately I've been printing out video game sheet music. I have to admit, I'm sounding pretty good.
At least with things I've practiced. It still might take me an hour to get a flow for something I've never played before, and that's not even considering the bottom hand. It takes a lot of concentration, or skill, or practice, or whatever, to get the bottom hand on the piano working. We never learned bass clef in band class (Well, some of the other instruments did, but us clarinets never learned it). Combine that with the fact that, once I've figured out what I'm playing, I have to play two different chords at different times on different locations on the keyboard.
I've got the bottom hand accompaniment figured out for a few of the video game songs I'm practicing, but I'm not exaggerating when I say all of the notes are next to each other, in order, repetitively. If it gets much more complicated than that, I start to lose it.
I am proud of what I've taught myself, however - it sounds like a real song! - so I don't mind playing it when my parents are home anymore, and even at church, on the new electric keyboard we have in the Young Women's room. Unfortunately, this gives people the impression that I actually know what I'm doing, so when my mom suggested they make me play the music for the opening song, the Young Women's leaders happily agreed.
So now they're making me learn a song out of the hymnbook to play in two weeks. Because I've got enough time on my hands to figure out another set of bottom-hand notes.
I'm happy that I have the musical training that I do - I can sing Alto now while a few others who purport to be more musically inclined can not, and I can lead the music as well. I'm a bit annoyed on this fact - leading music is really easy, yet I seem to be one of only a few who can in my youth group, and possibly the only one who can do more complicated time signatures like 2/2 or 6/4. I volunteered to attempt to teach everyone else, though I'm not sure how willing or how easily they'll learn. But actually playing music, while fun and endorphin-releasing, is really only a pastime for me.
(Because you truly care, these are the songs I've learned:
Pokemon Route Theme: Piano (Simplified, no chords)
Majora's Mask Clock Town: Piano
Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme: Piano (Simplified, still working on bottom hand)
Monkey Island Scumm Bar: Piano (Simplified, bass clef only on ending)
I'm also attempting the Wind Waker Ocean Theme (Piano, tho' my sheet music is different), but I'm having trouble with the bottom hand, and the chords during the second part. Especially hard since this song is supposed to be a call-and-repeat, and you can't call-and-repeat with one instrument.
I took Clarinet lessons in 5th and 6th grade, when my local middle school had a program that allowed 5th graders to take Beginner Band lessons first period, before the Elementary school started. I was pretty good at it, but in 7th grade I moved to a school closer to where I lived, and their band program was famously the worst in our district, so stopped practicing clarinet. I still have my clarinet, and with a bit of practice I'm sure I could play it, but what I really gained taking that band class was an understanding of music theory. I can read the music staff (though it takes me a moment to translate), and I understand sharps, flats, time signatures, and scales pretty well.
I don't quite remember where it came from, but we've also had a piano in my house since I was in elementary school (I think it was a gift from someone who was moving and couldn't take it with them). Before taking my band classes, I had no idea how to play it, except for a basic C major, since anyone can find C on the piano. After taking the class, it still took me a while to find which keys corresponded to which notes, but with a better understanding of the music I could figure things out.
Recently - in the past year or so - I've been picking up piano practice again. Not conventionally, as I dislike playing the piano, or any instrument, where others can hear me, but when I have the house to myself I'll tinker out whatever I have. If we're practicing a song in church, I'll play my part so I can get it down better, and lately I've been printing out video game sheet music. I have to admit, I'm sounding pretty good.
At least with things I've practiced. It still might take me an hour to get a flow for something I've never played before, and that's not even considering the bottom hand. It takes a lot of concentration, or skill, or practice, or whatever, to get the bottom hand on the piano working. We never learned bass clef in band class (Well, some of the other instruments did, but us clarinets never learned it). Combine that with the fact that, once I've figured out what I'm playing, I have to play two different chords at different times on different locations on the keyboard.
I've got the bottom hand accompaniment figured out for a few of the video game songs I'm practicing, but I'm not exaggerating when I say all of the notes are next to each other, in order, repetitively. If it gets much more complicated than that, I start to lose it.
I am proud of what I've taught myself, however - it sounds like a real song! - so I don't mind playing it when my parents are home anymore, and even at church, on the new electric keyboard we have in the Young Women's room. Unfortunately, this gives people the impression that I actually know what I'm doing, so when my mom suggested they make me play the music for the opening song, the Young Women's leaders happily agreed.
So now they're making me learn a song out of the hymnbook to play in two weeks. Because I've got enough time on my hands to figure out another set of bottom-hand notes.
I'm happy that I have the musical training that I do - I can sing Alto now while a few others who purport to be more musically inclined can not, and I can lead the music as well. I'm a bit annoyed on this fact - leading music is really easy, yet I seem to be one of only a few who can in my youth group, and possibly the only one who can do more complicated time signatures like 2/2 or 6/4. I volunteered to attempt to teach everyone else, though I'm not sure how willing or how easily they'll learn. But actually playing music, while fun and endorphin-releasing, is really only a pastime for me.
(Because you truly care, these are the songs I've learned:
Pokemon Route Theme: Piano (Simplified, no chords)
Majora's Mask Clock Town: Piano
Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme: Piano (Simplified, still working on bottom hand)
Monkey Island Scumm Bar: Piano (Simplified, bass clef only on ending)
I'm also attempting the Wind Waker Ocean Theme (Piano, tho' my sheet music is different), but I'm having trouble with the bottom hand, and the chords during the second part. Especially hard since this song is supposed to be a call-and-repeat, and you can't call-and-repeat with one instrument.
Friday, March 25, 2011
The Great Divide
There are two types of people in this world: those who take showers in the morning, and those who take showers at night (And I guess those who take showers twice a day, but they fit into both categories).
Part of me is thinking that this is a subject no one wants to speak about. Whenever it's brought up in forums and on health websites, the shower-at-nighters bash everyone else for sleeping in bed with their own filth from the day, and the shower-in-the-mornings deride all the people who fail to wash off the sweat achieved while sleeping and starting off the day less than perfect. Both sides say, "Don't you feel so gross?"
Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to find a health expert with advice, saying which is better or worse for you. The only health advice about showers I can find is that people should take them, but not too much, and cold ones are good for you.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter when you take a shower. Some people feel gross waking up, some people feel gross before going to bed. It all has to do with what you were brought up with. It's the same with kids who aren't allowed to eat fast food, trying it out for the first time as a teenager. What tastes normal to most people is a bit repulsive if you haven't been accustomed to it.
If you're only taking one shower per 24-hour cycle, then you'll be just as dirty at the end of that 24-hour cycle no matter what time the cycle starts. If you really start feeling gross, than you can take two showers a day, or three, or one an hour, and soon enough your skin will dry out and your hair will split and, if you're really lucky, your face may break out (any more than two showers a day is past pushing it).
I, personally, take showers at night. My hair is short and curly, which others may find cute, but in actuality is really annoying. If I let it air dry naturally (I have a aversion to blow driers), then it ends up poffy (EDIT: I meant to write poofy, or maybe puffy, and ended up making a portmanteau, which I decide to keep in) and I look like a lopsided mushroom. When it dries, I need to make sure it's being held flat, so taking showers at night makes so much more sense. It dries while I sleep, and I can rely on either a hat or my own pillow to keep it manageable. Also, I'm a big fan of sleeping (My alarm is set to 15 minutes before I have to leave to house), so the idea of waking up earlier just to be clean doesn't appeal to me. At all. I can see the benefits of morning showers as well, but unlike people who've been trained for that lifestyle, I don't feel a pressing OCD need to be completely purified in the morning.
Maybe the question of 'when is the best time to take a shower?' isn't such a common quest, but in case you've been wondering, here's my answer: whenever you have time. If right before work is the only time during the day when you can do a proper cleaning ('washing off' in the shower may be nice, but I don't consider it a real shower) then by all means. And stop worrying so much about being perfectly clean. If your body isn't exposed to some contaminants, your immune system wont ever learn how to fight them off properly.
Part of me is thinking that this is a subject no one wants to speak about. Whenever it's brought up in forums and on health websites, the shower-at-nighters bash everyone else for sleeping in bed with their own filth from the day, and the shower-in-the-mornings deride all the people who fail to wash off the sweat achieved while sleeping and starting off the day less than perfect. Both sides say, "Don't you feel so gross?"
Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to find a health expert with advice, saying which is better or worse for you. The only health advice about showers I can find is that people should take them, but not too much, and cold ones are good for you.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter when you take a shower. Some people feel gross waking up, some people feel gross before going to bed. It all has to do with what you were brought up with. It's the same with kids who aren't allowed to eat fast food, trying it out for the first time as a teenager. What tastes normal to most people is a bit repulsive if you haven't been accustomed to it.
If you're only taking one shower per 24-hour cycle, then you'll be just as dirty at the end of that 24-hour cycle no matter what time the cycle starts. If you really start feeling gross, than you can take two showers a day, or three, or one an hour, and soon enough your skin will dry out and your hair will split and, if you're really lucky, your face may break out (any more than two showers a day is past pushing it).
I, personally, take showers at night. My hair is short and curly, which others may find cute, but in actuality is really annoying. If I let it air dry naturally (I have a aversion to blow driers), then it ends up poffy (EDIT: I meant to write poofy, or maybe puffy, and ended up making a portmanteau, which I decide to keep in) and I look like a lopsided mushroom. When it dries, I need to make sure it's being held flat, so taking showers at night makes so much more sense. It dries while I sleep, and I can rely on either a hat or my own pillow to keep it manageable. Also, I'm a big fan of sleeping (My alarm is set to 15 minutes before I have to leave to house), so the idea of waking up earlier just to be clean doesn't appeal to me. At all. I can see the benefits of morning showers as well, but unlike people who've been trained for that lifestyle, I don't feel a pressing OCD need to be completely purified in the morning.
Maybe the question of 'when is the best time to take a shower?' isn't such a common quest, but in case you've been wondering, here's my answer: whenever you have time. If right before work is the only time during the day when you can do a proper cleaning ('washing off' in the shower may be nice, but I don't consider it a real shower) then by all means. And stop worrying so much about being perfectly clean. If your body isn't exposed to some contaminants, your immune system wont ever learn how to fight them off properly.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Everything Else is an Anomaly
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.
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.
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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