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Michael....
Correction to # 13: "For what it's worth, I think this writer is capable of it--she started out well with the other blog I wrote," should read: started out well with another other blog SHE wrote," Hmmm. Freudian slip betraying self-critique? Yep. Apply it to meself, too. :)— June 26, 2010 11:37 a.m.
Michael....
Ah ha, looks like CF is afoot, and we are in essential agreement, with the exception of: "That post attempts to meet the requirements posted in the Brizz thread, Write like it's the last thing you will ever write." Brizz is the last chap from whom I'd take advice on writing. Case in point, all of the "last thing I'll ever write" blogs he's ever written. Fulla schlock, with a gem here and there.— June 26, 2010 11:34 a.m.
Michael....
Nan, you were born to rule the world, I swear. Just let Grant run the dept of State. AG could run the dept of Animal Welfare...well, I will let you fill your cabinet as you wish, your Excellency! Just don't forget to shower artists and writers with gold--and put me personally on a sizeable pension to write whatever I want! ;) Not sure if anyone wants my take, and I tend to keep my sword mostly sheathed on such matters around here, but since Grant seized the oracle of truth, here I am to support. Grant's conclusions about this blog are dead on, if you have studied writing to any degree, of any genre. This piece is the equivalent of a Hallmark card, written vaguely, like someone writing with one hand and searching for a lost piece of mail with the other. Schlocky sentiment cuts through the laziness here and there like a vein of sudden, bad self-consciousness. Example: "That will always be there for me. That is what makes it so easy for me to go on with my day......to keep the smile, he so badly wanted." If you want to write to the heart of what people really desire, ask yourself: Is it a smile they are after? Or could there be something a little funkier, a little less bland, a little more tied to a specific persona? For example: If one wanted to write something about MJ, it could take the form of an inner monologue about missing his dead chimp, who let him live out his Sunset Blvd fantasy. From what I've heard, it makes much more sense that what MJ wanted so badly, was to be a beautiful girl or woman. Snow White, Diana Ross, Liz Taylor, --in that order, most likely. More interesting stuff, relating to dolls, makeup, children, Disney... Of course, that is just one approach, and ideas abound. The thing is to keep the audience interested. For what it's worth, I think this writer is capable of it--she started out well with the other blog I wrote, which seemed to be an honest accounting of one's relationship with a partner. However, what I have read since tends to cast it all in an insincere light, as Grant pointed out. I'll end with something upon which we can all surely agree: --If it were only as easy to write as it were to produce ideas...;)— June 26, 2010 11:28 a.m.
The Man in the Mirror: A Reflection on a Legend
Tight piece, karamiah! :)— June 25, 2010 12:54 a.m.
One Ugly Thirst
Agreed, refried! And as beermonkey, who may be taking a break from his career in championing public beach drinking, in order to try on a life of Dada, might reply: Pththhhttthhhwwett! [wipes foam from upper lip]— June 25, 2010 12:45 a.m.
One Ugly Thirst
Hey, beermonkey! Are you chokin' on your brew, laddie?— June 24, 2010 9:39 p.m.
Guilty Pleasure
Update: That machine for making t-shirts is not "$33" after all. Fine print: $33 to "try it out" for a month...Real cost? Likely prohibitive. Sorry, Dr. Peanut ;(— June 24, 2010 9:37 p.m.
Elusive Salvation
re: #20: "but apparently SD thinks you can critique death..." Huh? NQAD, I am not responsible for whether you love or hate me this week, or whether refried's N[as]DAQ has gone down while mine has up; I am also not responsible for whether or not you understood a word of what I wrote. And as it seems pretty well clear that what really interests you, aside from Wordsworth impressions,is masturbation and hero-worship, I'm not going to bother to put it in other words for ya.— June 23, 2010 3:28 p.m.
The Princess Bride
Consideration of whether or not a film was made true to a book is not always valid in terms of criticism--it most often isn't. Everyone knows (or should) that the novel or story is a different generic animal altogether, and that treatments often leave the text of origin behind, mining from it only the central figures of narrative that dumb (or cunning) Hollywood studio execs and their pap-gobbling audiences are willing to think about/be entertained with. "This attitude of indulgent superiority is evidently supposed to coat the thing with a layer of "adultness." And for a second coat into the bargain, there is a present-day framing device whereby a horribly made-up and costumed grand-dad (Peter Falk) "reads" the story we are seeing to a precocious sitcom kid in his sickbed: a soft-sell pitch for literature (the television of yore) that had been done before, and better, in The Neverending Story." And I'm surprised at Duncan, taking all of this so seriously! It is all tongue-in-cheek, and harmlessly so, and it doesn't care whether or not it is watched by a child or an adult. I could analyze this film for the way it dips into the same store of metaphor as did "Neverending Story," but-- why bother? Is this a valid comparison/contrast, Duncan? Nope, thought not. ;)— June 23, 2010 3:07 p.m.
...monday madness...
MT wrote: I think if I ever ended up leaving my life behind, it would be for someone younger, thinner, and bendier. Let’s be honest: if you’re going to dump the family station wagon, you don’t start driving a used Volvo. You jump on the fastest two-seater out there, and drive that thing until some part breaks down!" Oh, Mr. M, listen up, since you chose to break the fourth wall: This sounds like the occasional wild Saturday night, not a life decision. Unless you do after all want to call it a bad midlife crisis decision, yes. The whole trade-in-for-a-new-model analogy or metaphor is a crappy, overused one, yes? Besides: Can't attract a Ferrari with the critical thinking skills and emotional quotient of a Chevette. And: Cars aren't bendy in any but the most horrifying of circumstances. And: Used Volvos are dependable and safe--we've got one :) And I think you are underestimating your audience. You do a pretty good job at creating sexual tension, but I know I'm not reading this for a flaming consummation, a la Moonlighting. Nope, if you've dragged us into this little voyeuristic venture, or me--I should speak for me alone--it is for the chance to watch a human being negotiate his own life's truths and dishonesties. We may have ruined what I like best in them by following your meditations, since now you are conscious of us, and we are necessarily a readership. Or maybe we've altered them just a little--if you continue to think of us as just a few more voices bouncing around your skull ;)— June 23, 2010 1:34 a.m.