| What do you miss most about being a kid? |
[04 Jul 2009|02:06pm] |
What do you miss most about being a kid?
I usually don't read Writer's block Q&A but this one I did, partially because I was sure I knew what the answers would sum up to.
Blissful ignorance, carefree existence, and freedom from responsibility.
What a sorry world.
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| Literally |
[03 Jul 2009|09:19pm] |
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The word was good enough for Twain, Fitzgerald, and countless others. Damn shame FFR wasn't around to set them straight about the correct usage while they were still in business.
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| Eurovision 2009 |
[16 May 2009|08:20pm] |
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music |
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Regina - Bistra Voda |
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As an attempt to get in touch with my European background spirit I decided to watch Eurovison final today.
So, on a good side:
- Portugal (Flor-de-Lis) - I just felt happy when she was singing.
- Estonia (Urban simphony) - Eerie, in a good way (and I think she's hot).
- France (Patricia Kaas) - I loved her since... I was a kid. I'm very loyal in love. XD
- Sweden (Malena Ernman) - Her opera voice was totally out of place. She sang like an angel, but didn't belong there.
- Bosnia & Herzegovina (Regina) - they look like they belong to Young Bosnia and it's the night before Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot. My vote goes for them.
Overall, mission accomplished. But... I think I learned more than I wanted.
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| People are beautiful |
[28 Feb 2009|03:37pm] |
I confess, I like to read reviews at Amazon.com (this one was about Ellison's anthology Dangerous Visions):
Say what you will about Harlan Ellison, but you've got to admit he's got great taste.
I was lucky enough to this up for a measly $.75 at a local used bookstore. Believe me, it was money well spent...
People are beautiful.
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| I'm somewhat pissed... |
[23 Feb 2009|11:20pm] |
Perhaps I should stop reading the links that come down via ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) metafandom
...I imagine that for every second-language writer there is a moment of choice, and then, after that, probably many additional moments of choosing.
This article, of course, is not to discount the value of bilingual writers. There's nothing condescending about the remarks about how they've just sold their 'first' souls. Instead of writing for their home communities, they're 'trying to speak' in English, robbing you from the pleasure of enjoying the authentic thing that you would've read if not for them. In translation.
Unfortunately, of all choices that stand in front of a bicultural author, the choice not to serve as one more bridge between cultures is not even present in the menu. Somehow, the concept that not every Chinese in America opens a Chinese buffet has made it into the minds of the general population. Too bad this concept doesn't seem to apply to writers. They are expected to sit in their bicultural ghettos and make regular contributions into multiculturalism.
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| Five subjects |
[22 Feb 2009|07:34pm] |
I was tagged by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) glitterburn (cause I wanted to) to elaborate on the following:
Gundam Wing
In the end of the 1970s, NASA scientists came up with a design of space colonies that could be located at the Lagrange points of the Earth-Moon system. The colonization program (that was presented before Congress btw) was meant to solve energy crisis on Earth, and they had a highly ambitious plan to put up a first colony by 2000. Incidentally, the Soviets had an equally crazy plan to build Communism by 1980. Daring, daring people.
The creators of Gundam Wing took the colony design from NASA and created a world around it. Somehow they managed to keep the spirit of striving for impossible intact. The goal of both, protagonists and antagonists alike, was to reach not only peace on earth, but peace on earth and colonies. And by the combination of their efforts they got what they want. Perhaps in the world that had built the colonies, it was possible, but my world didn't live up to the ambition.
That's why I'm happy to escape there, in the world of Gundam Wing, where people have impossible ambitions and enough of willpower to make them come true. In my post-series sequel, my terrorists have an ambition that flies beyond all reason and my boys have to give up all they care about to stop them.
Of course, the boys are hot, which helps me through the tight places.
Vampires
1) My vampires are the ugly night creatures that live around villages of Wallachia. Not glamorous at all and with little superpower. Just like they were before the popularization by Bram Stoker. Knowing Vlad Tepes (Ţepeş - pronounced Tsepesh) or Vlad the Impaler as a very real and even positively regarded persona from the school history book, combining the two together surely had an impact that I haven't realized until I watched BS's Dracula. That was a guy I had to write essays about to be graded. [Needless to say, after that, ms. Rise managed to hold my attention only briefly, and ms. Twilight (her name somehow slipped from my mind and I don't want to google) had no chances at all.]
2) I also love this:
Doctor Who
I'm yet to watch the Old Who, but I'm much more exited about the new seasons. Steven Moffat's episodes have been the best so far and I can't wait to see him driving. I'm not into the fandom, however. Probably because I want to read a well fleshed out episode style case, preferably historical, but to find that I'd need to search through tons and tons of D/R or D/M, or D/J. So I'm not venturing in.
Count D
Count D is a character I'd want to own. Someone who deals with the occult, has a down to earth occupation that utilizes the skill, and who doesn't sound like a pathetic anthroposoph. Plus, I'm drawn to the inevitable downfalls of the pet owners that are unable to follow the instructions. I find it very fitting. But at the same time I like that Count D keeps offering his services, giving people a chance to take the test, even knowing that the majority of them will fail.
Actually, I think it's time to me to get the manga in paper format.
Octopus
Edo octopus etiquette. I've promised to write a note about it, but somehow never got to it. So I'll try to rectify it now. It's not overly complicated, but useful to know.
If a woman wants sex, she offers a man an octopus. Then, a man has got to eat his octopus, otherwise it would be insulting, and then proceed to the sex part. This sounds a bit unfair, what if he doesn't want her? To give a man way out, a woman should offer an octopus on a plate with chopsticks or on her chopsticks. If his answer is yes, he should eat it from her hands or chopsticks. If the answer is no, he uses his own chopsticks. And no offense for both parties involved.
If a man offers an octopus to a woman (or another man), then she's got to accept it. However, if she doesn't send back another one, that means no.
In our days, people say, things are much simpler.
The rules of the game go approximately like this: you hint you're interested in the comments, I'll give you five things/words that are relevant to both of us, and then you elaborate.
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| A fact is not the truth until you love it |
[17 Feb 2009|01:13am] |
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music |
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See-Saw, Memory |
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A fact is not the truth until you love it. I don't remember how exactly this phrase got stuck in my head, but it pops up to the surface, every time FFR goes into virgin smut frenzy.
Most of the rants share a basic intuitive understanding that the experience comes first. Then the ranters jump to conclusion that without having that experience it's impossible to describe it. But any experience contains not only the bare mechanics of the process, but also emotional component. It's fairly easy to research the mechanics (and then tear each other apart in the neverending battle at FFR over to lube or not to lube). However, most of the smut fails on the emotional side. Having the necessary experience doesn't guarantee that this experience will be internalized. Without internalization, any experience is useless. The opposite case holds true as well. If there's nothing to internalize, the probability of failure is just as high. One needs to have some sort of emotional bank to make withdrawals to compensate for the lack of experience.
But regardless of the starting point, if the author doesn't shoot for emotional honesty, all their careful research will amount to nothing. (Or rather to that PWP #32411 that start washing away from your memory as soon as the characters reach their inevitable and simultaneous orgasms if not earlier.)
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| DW |
[28 Dec 2008|01:30am] |
Doctor Who Christmas Special?
Two things that I find particularly fascinating:
( but spoilery )
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| NaNoWriMo? |
[01 Dec 2008|11:19pm] |
I like today.
"I wrote a pile of crap!"
"Me too!"
"Congratulations!"
Indeed.
Quite unrelated. I thought that Seimei's message on my userpic seemed to be a bit too subtle. Of course, some people look at it and assume I'm about to bite their heads off, but not everyone. I hope that Ouyang Feng will rectify that misunderstanding.
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| Twilight fandom |
[21 Nov 2008|01:52pm] |
Every time I see a Twilight rant at FFR, I feel a strange urge to write Ms. Rice a nice and sincere thank-you letter.
For NO fandom.
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| 1800s Vampire Killing Kit Nabs $14,850 At Stevens Auction |
[16 Nov 2008|02:31pm] |
It's not that I'm planing to write anything about vampires any time soon, but I just can't walk by a serious professional tool set, antique or not.
A complete and authentic vampire killing kit — made around 1800 and complete with stakes, mirrors, a gun with silver bullets, crosses, a Bible, holy water, candles and even garlic, all housed in a American walnut case with a carved cross on top — attained $14,850 in the Jimmy Pippen estate sale by Stevens October 3–4 in the new Natchez Convention Center.
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| NaNoWriMo? - Fuck it |
[28 Oct 2008|07:42pm] |
Chances are, if you're doing NaNoWriMo, you're NOT writing now.
1) If you don't do it now, you probably never will. Novel writing is mostly a "one day" event. As in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. It's just so far outside our normal lives that it constantly slips down to the bottom of our to-do lists. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those self-defeating worries and START.
If you can't start on your own, if you need November, and 100.000 other people to START, it's better that you never start. If it's constantly slips to the bottom of your to do list, it's better to stay that way. If you have no idea what your priorities are and need the structure of NaNoWriMo to set them for you, know in advance, I don't want to read your novel. And I don't want your values to spread.
2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. With entry-level novel writing, shooting for the moon is the surest way to get nowhere.
Why don't you just go ahead and shoot your legs off? Unsure how to get to the moon if that's your destination? Get a map. Shoveling crap won't get you there. I deal with the people who aim low and don't worry about the quality in real life often enough. Too often. They all are convinced that they can fix stuff later, the other time around. Somehow, they never do. I'm yet to see a success story. Yet, they all expect to see a fat paycheck for their efforts.
3) Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you.
Writing 50000 incoherent meaningless words is not art. Someone's lying here. There's nothing wonderful in the absence of meaning.
You're going to live forever? Go ahead.
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| Transformative works, my ass |
[20 Sep 2008|11:51pm] |
I knew it was going to be rich. It was hard to miss the mind breaking beginning of the Transformative works and cultures movement earlier this year, so I naturally clicked to see the contents of their brand new magazine that they released a few days back. I must say that the title of the first article in that volume exceeded my wildest expectations.
Participatory democracy and Hillary Clinton’s marginalized fandom?
Holy cow. I hope I'll never get a writer's block that huge.
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| Days of Being Wild |
[11 Sep 2008|10:14pm] |
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I didn't like "Days of Being Wild" all that much. However one scene stays with me years after I watched the movie...
In that scene Yuddy, played by Leslie Cheung, holds a hand of a girl and uses this pick up line, "16th... April the 16th. At one minute before 3pm on April the 16th, 1960, you're together with me. Because of you, I'll remember that one minute. From now on, we're friends for one minute. This is a fact, you can't deny. It's done."
The camera stays with them for one minute. Leslie, the girl, and the watch. The girl will remember that minute forever. So will I. But unlike the girl from the movie, I can be happy about it.
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| GW |
[03 Sep 2008|11:12pm] |
Three months into GW project. (FFR, it's all your fault!!)
- WC = 20000, 1/3 of which is already marked for deletion/revising.
- That's 40% of the first draft.
- My first draft sucks (like shopvac). That's given. So do the second and the third.
- I do manage to follow the plan in general. However, the actual text never matches the more detailed outline.
- Finally clear about my villains' goals, now I've got to interrogate some of them about their methods.
- Was tempted to have romantic and non-romantic versions, but it seems that romantic version makes more sense.
- Overall, I'm having fun.
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| "The Nights of Maurice" |
[29 Aug 2008|11:25pm] |
4697635. Jun, who received the code from the masked man, went to the zoo where Maurice was being held captive.
He yelled, "Maurice, it looks like I do need you after all! There can be love between humans and elephants. Who cares if people say it's forbidden? Maurice, I'd die for the sake of our love!"
May become a userpic, not sure.
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| GW |
[24 May 2008|09:13pm] |
Somehow I started my rant having one major writing project, and got out of it with two. Some innocent musing about what I'd honestly wanted to see in a Gundam Wing fic and in an hour or so I had a very nice secret separatist/terrorist organization. It began to grow quite fast and now it got to the point when it would be a damn waste to toss it (along with a decent number of not too bad plot points) away.
What I want from this project:
- None of the save the world/viva le total pacifism - sick of it in canon
- No reflection on the past events. Move on. [Failed once, couldn't resist. Now, move on.]
- While the organizational goals must make sense on the ideological level and be appealing to the masses, the reasons for the organization to exist are personal. We are used to perceive these revolutionary types as completely selfless and devoted creatures. There's no way I'll feed this further.
- The main conflict is interpersonal, not ideological. To be more specific, it's revenge driven.
- The conflict within the organization ensures the success of the investigation. In other words, if the organization doesn't rot from the inside, the boys (1+5) won't stand a chance to crack the case.
- Likewise, they wouldn't be able to win without serious cooperation.
- Romantic line: could do without it. People can grow to care a great deal about each other without jumping each other bones, but in case I feel extremely sappy, some subtext might not hurt.
- Regardless of whether or not romantic line makes it in, the relationship must be put to test. [Well, romantic line makes it. Allocated attention 10% max]
Will it work out? Hell if I know. But doable.
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| Quitters |
[20 Mar 2008|10:32pm] |
The British colleague I rather came to like (must be the BBC accent) walked out on us. No frigging two weeks notice, effective immediately. I'm only glad he was not in my team. People from my team don't just walk out, they end up on the other, safe side of the globe, just to be sure.
My laptop has decided to quit as well:
- the fan works only every other time
- the screen tends to fall in whatever direction it feels like
- the amount of space left on the HD is equal to the total amount of space in my first system. Which was about 500M. Ridiculous.
Time for the new stuff.
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| Ultimate Showdown |
[10 Mar 2008|11:55pm] |
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music |
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"This is the ultimate showdown" |
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Almost three months into the madness. 12-hour work days, plus Saturdays and occasional Sundays. When this is over, I'll be unsinkable, unbreakable, and tough like Indiana Jones Mr. Rogers in a blood stained sweater on a bad day.
On a good side I'm not stressed out at all due to my excellent stress elimination skills.
http://www.ultimateshowdown.org/
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