Randomness

[Alelou]

Yep, just back, and oh my goodness you guys have been busy while I was away! I think it may take me weeks to catch up.

We had a nice time. I'll post a picture or two later.

[justTripn]

With regard to the "avoiding tropes" discussion, I'm either sorry or happy to say that I'm not that sophisticated. I don't know what the tropes are and so get no pleasure from seeing them avoided. But maybe everyone else is aware and maybe that explains all the supposedly cutting edge shows where people behave in ways that (to me) are completely random and bizarre. I see some scenarios, and wonder "has that ever happened EVER"? And if it did how would the writer know? (Since all the most shockingly bizarre stuff happens in some underworld with criminals with no morals whatsoever.)

I also hate highly stylized shows like Mad Men. I watched about two shows where nothing much happens, but there sure is a style. Well, I'm missing something, I know . . .

I shouldn't say it out loud to a bunch of writers, but I'm terribly suspicious of fiction in general. I ALWAYS wonder, would anyone REALLY act that way, and how can the writer be sure anyone would act that way? Can we learn anything from a story that someone just pulls out of their butt? That's why I like memoirs. They are usually very strange and surprising, because truth is stranger than fiction, AND I don't have to be questioning and doubting the story the whole time.

[Aquarius]

I shouldn't say it out loud to a bunch of writers, but I'm terribly suspicious of fiction in general. I ALWAYS wonder, would anyone REALLY act that way, and how can the writer be sure anyone would act that way? Can we learn anything from a story that someone just pulls out of their butt? That's why I like memoirs. They are usually very strange and surprising, because truth is stranger than fiction, AND I don't have to be questioning and doubting the story the whole time.

Well...I think you answered your own question there. It's fiction. The point isn't necessarily what people "really" do, or it didn't always used to be the point. There was what you saw on TV, and then there was your mom telling you as a kid to not act that way because it was "just TV," as in make-believe. Yes, some fiction is more realistic than others, but...I dunno, I think questioning what's "real" is kind of strange...given that we're at a site that's 50% devoted to a character that has pointed ears, green blood, and was born on another planet...

Just sayin'.

[honeybee]

Sometimes hyper realistic fiction can be dreadful precisely because it's real!

I'm actually reading a bunch of personal essays for the nonfiction conference I'm headed off to tomorrow - and I can tell you - real life sometimes is not that interesting *yawn* but people sure think their lives are interesting. LOL

It takes a very talented writer to spin interest into the ordinary. (I'm meeting Larry McMurtry on Friday, btw. He can do that.)

[Aquarius]

They put crack in YouTube.

How do I know? It's 3:30 AM and I'm still not tired...

[Alelou]

Quite a few memoir writers have been caught fictionalizing their lives to make them more interesting.

But I've also come across quite a few accounts of things in real life that I think no novelist could ever use, because it would seem too contrived. Personally I think real life is often much stranger than fiction, which has to be plausible. Real life doesn't.

I have enjoyed watching Mad Men because it's about advertising and I think fairly realistic about the actual process in a high-pressure agency, and I also love the amusing/appalling contrasts between the 60's and now. However, I have the DVD for Season 1 upstairs loaned from a friend and just haven't gotten very far into it. But I suspect this is because I don't much like any of the characters and therefore don't really care what happens to them.

I think there is crack in flat computer screens. That light shining back at you keeps you awake. I have to shut down an hour before bed or I'm going to have trouble getting to sleep, usually.

[justTripn]

I shouldn't say it out loud to a bunch of writers, but I'm terribly suspicious of fiction in general. I ALWAYS wonder, would anyone REALLY act that way, and how can the writer be sure anyone would act that way? Can we learn anything from a story that someone just pulls out of their butt? That's why I like memoirs. They are usually very strange and surprising, because truth is stranger than fiction, AND I don't have to be questioning and doubting the story the whole time.

Well...I think you answered your own question there. It's fiction. The point isn't necessarily what people "really" do, or it didn't always used to be the point. There was what you saw on TV, and then there was your mom telling you as a kid to not act that way because it was "just TV," as in make-believe. Yes, some fiction is more realistic than others, but...I dunno, I think questioning what's "real" is kind of strange...given that we're at a site that's 50% devoted to a character that has pointed ears, green blood, and was born on another planet...

Just sayin'.

Yeah, I know. It's just a confession. I'm suspect there is something a little off about me because my preferred reading is . . . well, for instance, right now I'm reading a book about plate tectonics on Europa. I got 1/3 of the way into Live, Pray, Love or whatever its called. Any kind of biography about the U.S. founding fathers is a sure hit with me. Other than that . . .

There is most definitely something addictive about YouTube. As you may know, I am trying to relearn the Thai I used to know 25 years ago. So I've been watching Thai karaoke songs on YouTube (the Thai words are spelled out phonetically in the English Alphabet). Now I found them with English translations and I feel like I've found the Rosetta stone. Except it's more fun. Sing along and learn Thai. Now if I fall madly in love and then break up, I will be able to express my feelings about it really well in Thai. (All the songs with translations are dippy love songs.)

[Aquarius]

My YouTubing was mostly musical in nature last night. I started out with rock...then tried more mellow stuff for the sake of chilling out and trying to wind down...that evolved into 1960s one-hit-wonders and psychedelia...and concluded with I Dream of Jeannie clips!

I learned some of the damndest things in the process, too...like...the drummer/lead singer of Strawberry Alarm Clock was yummy-cute back in the day...and until last night, I never would've guessed that the lead singer of Spiral Starecase was a white dude...

And...Strawberry Alarm Clock is still touring? And making a new album???

Wow.

[Aikiweezie]

Transformers 3 is currently filming in downtown Chicago. I atended an open casting call to be an extra last month and didn't get called for a part, BUT I did take my son to watch the filming and then had a lovely dinner with my husband al fresco right in sight of the whole set. It was a very, very cool day yesterday!!!!
Right before they blew things up you'd hear "Fire in the Hole!"




That's a reflection of the set in the window behind me.
Mike & Steven on LaSalle Street where part of Batman Dark Knight was shot.

[Aquarius]

Very cool!!

Hugh Jackman's "Real Steel" was filming downtown Detroit last month. I cut someone's hair who was in the movie, so in theory my cut is going to be on film!

The were also filming the next Harold and Kumar in Troy not too long ago.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Hugh Jackman's "Real Steel" was filming downtown Detroit last month. I cut someone's hair who was in the movie, so in theory my cut is going to be on film!

So instead of a Director's Cut of the movie we'll see an Aquarius' Cut...

Yeah, that was a rather lame attempt at a joke!

[Aquarius]

I liked it!

[Aquarius]

So tonight I made a Big Scary Decision.

As some of you know, I have been in the process of moving back to my home town these last few weeks. I was originally going to move at the end of August, after the Vegas con, but things didn't work out that way.

The plan was, my best friend and her sister are stuck in a lease at their apartment until January 1, so I would live back home through fall semester, and then the three of us would combine our incomes and look for a house to rent. The area they were interested in would put me about halfway between school and where I currently work, so it seemed ideal at the time.

My bff called the other day and said that her job may be moving her to Indiana. No idea of when, no idea if it's even 100%.

I'm tired of not feeling like I have any security. And the idea of that commute...

So I decided that I'm going to look for a job in the new area, and either quit both the jobs I'm working now, or quit the second job, and phase the first one down to one day a week or one day every other week to just serve my existing clients. This way, I'd only have the hour commute the two days I go to school, and either no commute the rest of the days, or just once a week to the Detroit area job.

The person who hired me at the second job will be pissed...but I need to think of myself.

It will also look bad to be resigning right after I get back from vacation. I can't help that. Life just did not turn out the way I planned it. It was one thing when I thought I'd be coming back to the area in less than a year...but now, aside from the job, I have nothing tying me to the area. And I think I can attain some level of financial stability faster if I'm not blowing that kind of money in the gas tank all the time.

So I'm scared...but in a lot of ways I'm also less freaked out about things than I was earlier. I even know of one salon in the area that's hiring right now; I saw their ad on Craig's List. I'm going to get up first thing in the morning and call them.

Thank you to honeybee for talking me through it.

[panyasan]

Good for you, Aquarius! Commuting is tiredsome. I hope you find a job and your place in your home town soon.

[Alelou]

That sounds way more stable than relying on two other single people to be stable. Good luck!