| The Whaler |
[Oct. 22nd, 2008|03:35 am] |
Go through six albums, just to find one song? When i should be doing homework? Or sleeping? Or anything? Fuck yes.
It's a good song. |
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| By popular (heh) demand |
[Sep. 20th, 2008|10:50 pm] |
Traditionally i make a sort of avant garde post every time I annihilate a bedroom the day prior to moving.
But i don't really have anything to say. Not sure I will much anymore, either.
So, for those of you still read this thing, some happy music.
Later! (pack pack pack pack...)
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|09:14 am] |
This is fantastic. I just got to work, and it turns out they're turning off the power to the whole building in ten minutes. For at least an hour. Maybe more. |
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| This bouquet |
[May. 27th, 2008|12:55 am] |
got a garden of songs where i grow all my thoughts
wish i could harvest one or two for some small
talk i'm always starving for words when you're
around nothing on my tongue so much in my ground
half the time i got my gaze trained on your motel
door fourth door from the end rest of the time my
gaze lays like a stain on the carpeted floor if it
weren't for my brain i'd go over and make friends
too bad about my brain 'cause i'd like to make
friends.
see the little song bird unable to make a sound
even though she follows her words from town to
town we both have gardens of songs and maybe its
okay that i am speechless because i picked you
this bouquet. |
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| The matter of Susan |
[May. 25th, 2008|09:59 pm] |
Why was Susan Pevensie denied heaven and generally told to fuck off at the end of the Narnia books?
Simple: jealousy. She had a higher kill count in Prince Caspian than her brothers, Aslan, and the ninja mice combined. :D |
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| More lit. |
[May. 17th, 2008|06:21 pm] |
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Another thing worth mentioning: In the event that the soundtrack starts physically manifesting in a work of television or film, everyone is screwed. The end. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 11th, 2008|01:15 pm] |
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Something else that infuriates me: well-spoken, intelligent, personable country singers. |
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| An amusing exercise |
[May. 8th, 2008|01:53 am] |
Saw this on a friend's blog.
Take some time to think about the single event, condition, object, creature, person, or circumstance you are most afraid of. Then, post that thing on your blog along with this description. Share with others, and people reading this, please try it yourself.
Okay.
I'm gonna go with blindness.
You? |
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| Things I like about fiction |
[May. 4th, 2008|12:11 pm] |
I just got caught up on George R.R. Martin. I've come to a couple of conclusions about what makes for appealing modern fiction, in (nearly) any media, including literature, tv, and film, though probably not videogames.
1. Limited 3rd person narrative: You see things the characters don't, but you aren't necessarily told what they are. This is especially interesting when you have a lot of viewpoints over the course of a narrative, because any mysteries present can maybe cause convincing theories, but never facts.
2. Show, don't tell: It's fine to riff on a theme once it's established, but you have to assume that the audience is smart enough to catch things that aren't explicitly stated. If it's a written work, then you have to allow enough language to get the scene across, true, but even then there's room for subtlety and implication. You don't have to go and have characters spouting enormous amounts of background material at each other if it isn't realistic for them to be doing so (I'm looking at you, Terry Goodkind!)
3. Moral ambiguity: Do you know anybody who always makes the right decision? If you did, would you kill them out of sheer irritation? Yeah, i thought so. I think there might be a case for removing the idea of protagonist and antagonist altogether. Instead, write characters who act the way those people would, interact with others, and act accordingly. Whether you love or hate a character, you should always be able to understand why they behaved the way they did, and think that maybe you'd do the same thing in their place.
4. Peril: If you spend a good long time establishing a character, develop them, get the audience to like or at least sympathize with them, and then brutally kill/maim/damage them irrevocably (in a natural, plausible way that serves the story, of course), it goes a long way towards getting the audience rooting for everyone else present, because no one is safe (re: Wash, Ned Stark, that woman from Psycho)
5. Fuck with Jung: The general consensus seems to be that there are only a half-dozen or so stories. Ever. While that may be the case, there are tropes about heroic quests, coming of age, romance, tragic demises, etc. These can and should be fucked with. Have a character be predictable for a while, and then do something that makes no sense to the collective unconscious, but plenty of sense to the actual situation. Or better yet, let them go ahead and follow the plot, but in a horrible and otherwise interesting way.
Anyway. Hopefully that should keep the english major genes happy for a while.
Gotta go draw stuff now. |
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| New blog |
[May. 1st, 2008|05:09 pm] |
I've started a new journal at http://direfish.blogspot.com/ . It's exclusively for art-related thingies. If that interests you, please go have a look. I'm trying to update every day. We'll see how that goes.
I'll still be posting here for other stuff. When I feel like it. Maybe. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 12th, 2008|08:54 pm] |
It's been a while, i realize. As per typical, a number of fairly horrible things have happened in the last week or so. But! We're not going to talk about those! Because you don't want to hear that sort of thing over and over!
So, I'm going to talk about books!
My friend Kathryn had a 'performance art' piece in fairbanks' west gallery this week, where she basically sat 8 hours a day and read all the books on national classical literature lists that she hadn't read. I stopped in from time to time to work on Ivanhoe, which I missed in middle school. It amazing, really, what you can get away with and still get into a state university.
Also, I've been having very good luck picking up books for fun recently. The last few I've chosen based basically on flap summary and cover illustrations, all of which I've liked, and later internet-lookings have revealed that most of the authors in question are actually good friends. Weird.
So, hurray novels! More fun than the alternative since 600 CE! |
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| The end! |
[Mar. 31st, 2008|12:16 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | Perversely gleeful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | And All That Could Have Been - NIN | ] |
And that, as they say, gentlemen, is that. |
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| Soundtrack for, oh please god, the last time |
[Mar. 11th, 2008|03:13 am] |
Just as you take my hand
Just as you write my number down
Just as the drinks arrive
Just as they play your favourite song
As your bad mood disappears
No longer wound up like a spring
Before you've had too much
Come back in focus again
Before you run away from me
Before you're lost between the notes
The beat goes round and round
The beat goes round and round
I never really got there
I just pretended that I had
What's the point of instruments
Words are a sawed off shotgun
Jigsaw falling into place
There is nothing to explain
Regard each other as you pass
She looks back, you look back
Not just once
Not just twice |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 14th, 2008|09:02 pm] |
You know what I love about Valentine's Day?
Not having anything to do. |
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| Unique |
[Feb. 7th, 2008|03:21 am] |
There is truly something to be said for being in a state of abouttosneeze for fully 2 hours.
I imagine this is what having a psychotic episode must feel like, except not in your nose. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 8th, 2007|07:49 am] |
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Writing from a Days Inn in Kent, Washington. Kendo tournament starts in an hour. Ought to be interesting. Even more interesting will be road conditions on the way back. |
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