Talk About Suffering

So when hit with rule number 9 (thou shalt have it read aloud by another), I did feel like I had been run-through. I was reminded of my last creative writing class with Professor Pritchett. We had to put our work on blackboard for others to read and come to class to workshop. On several occasions stories were not posted in time and had to be read aloud in turns. One of these times it was my work. I sat, cringing, as my fellow students and my professor read my eighteen-page work of fiction. It was absolutely horrible, especially as I was not permitted to speak in my defense when problems were found. But, unsurprisingly, I did learn something about my dialogue (and that people today are perplexed by commas and semi-colons). I had to learn to not only write but speak more plainly. Now, I am certainly not going to say that I have learned my lesson; I think one can see why. But I am aware of my tendency toward formality of speech, and I am trying, in baby steps, to correct it.

Coen Brothers Forever

I'm so bad at planning general, particularly when it comes to writing. My dialogue is primarily extemporaneous. I may have some idea before hand where I want things to go, but more often than not I come up with something from left field. But I like dialogue. It's my favorite thing to write. And I all too often fall into that group of people who would rather tell than show. And speaking of dialogue, I think the masters of it at the moment are Ethan and Joel Coen. Their dialogue has a lyrical quality to it. Maybe that's the key. Apply the rules of songwriting to screenwriting, it's certainly worth looking into.

I want to be Stephen Fry when I grow up

I am a massive lexophile (thanks spell check for thinking I meant pedophile). I love words and massive Victorian phrases. Seriously, I'm the kid in 4th grade who started reading the dictionary for fun (which is about the time I started wearing glasses, what a surprise). So being told that the magic number is approximately 8 words in a sentence, and then that they should be one to two syllables . . . Well, I wasn't thrilled to say the least. But I get it, to convey a message quickly and efficiently you've got to make it as simplistic as possible without being insulting. I may want to use words like floccinaucinihilipilification, but only me and the rest of the lexophile community would find it amusing. In the end it's like masturbation, it only makes you feel good.

I'm not even gonna try to come up with the 11th

So I finally got the test results I've been waiting for and I'm anemic, apparently. I'll be okay, I have a good doctor and she's already got me on some supplements and a high iron diet, but it got me thinking. Anyone else notice how we love a good medicine-based story? Like House or ER or MASH? I was tempted to find a way to make it a whole other type, but then I looked a little closer. Medical dramas fit into every single one of the types.

1.) Romance = Doctor/Nurse. Doctor/Patient. Nurse/Patient. Patient/Family Member. Patient has good health, patient loses good health, patient gets good health back.

2.) Success/Failure = Patient lives/dies.

Blah, blah, blah, you get the picture. I think the key is to stop looking for originality and start trying to perfect the 10 story types.

Interpersonal Relationship and Communication

I was wondering to myself how cliches and archetypes come about in popular culture when in class we started playing 'battle of the sexes'. For someone who has generally negative thoughts on the idea of gender roles and stereotypes I was shocked by how quickly we assigned characteristics to genders that seemed to mirror that of TV sitcoms. That's where most of this comes from, I think, popular culture. We stop seeing people as individuals and fall into stereotypes when it comes to groups mainly because it is all too easy to generalize when it comes to groups. I know I rarely conform to the typical female stereotype, so why would I assume that somebody else with a vagina does too? We all want to be treated like unique individuals, but the first chance we have we tend to assign qualities to people based on the groups they fall into. Hardly seems fair, hm?

Agatha Christie? We go back years, me and Ag. She's a … she's just a … she's dead, isn't she?

I'm a big fan of Eddie Izzard, see the quote above for proof. I was watching one of his shows the other day and it had me thinking about class on Monday when we talked about stories being a grab for power. They say that those that are the most depressed often go into comedy, I can't speak to whether or not Eddie fits this type, but it is common enough. I wonder if a part of comedy, or stand-up at least, is one way of having power over that particular mental illness. Like, 'I have the power right now and I can even conquer this problem I have as long as I have the power'.

We just lost the game

We've been discussing the Snuggie off and on in class lately. Now I've been lucky enough to avoid a lot of contact with a lot with these things, though my older sister bought the dog version for her hideous little chihuahua. But sadly I have an addiction to the Stumbleupon button so after repeated stumbling I was bound to come across this: The Thuggie.

I'm willing to bet this bizarre item of clothing will become popular among the hipster crowd because it's so 'ironic'. I only wish that I was as crazy with my sewing, I tend to fall into a practical mindset far too often, and if this teaches us anything it's that impracticality sells.