quote:Originally posted by tesknota: Can I please have that snow? I will give you an 88 degree Monday complete with overbearing sunshine, clouds sold separately.
Deal! We've had just shy of 24 inches here this month, which is twice the average amount for March. My kids are on spring break, and I'd love for them (and me) to have some spring.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2008
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I seem to have lost last week's rejection from F&SF.
I have to skip this week because the story isn't ready but I was thinking about a story I got ready last week--couldn't remember if I sent it out so thought I could send it tomorrow in the place of the one I'm working on. However all signs say I sent it after all. Can't find the rejection however. So did I not put it where I usually do or did I not get it? I kinda of remember getting it--another self rant. Too many rejections from F&SF, I'm having problems keeping them separate in my mind.
Of course if I didn't receive it that doesn't mean anything except my memory.
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That's why it's important to keep notes on where and when you send something out. I've got years of 'em (though a big hunk of submissions in the 1990s and early 2000s went south along with the computer disk it was on.)
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I do keep track that's how I know I sent it even though I couldn't remember.
But I realized I may not have received it yet, it depends on who looks it over. Scott P takes a few days longer than Stephen does. Or that what's her name did. Couldn't find a rejection from her to remember her name.
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So got the responses I thought I had already.
Actually, I have gotten it already. Just like last week's except for the title of the story. Scott didn't think much of the story he left the space for a comment blank.
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I am dwelling upon a quandry. In regard to the immortal line about "ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night", I am puzzled. I can see why ghoulies, ghosties, and things that go bump in the night could be a cause for concern. But why long-legged beasties? Is it possible that the author was terrorized by a rampant stork in their youth?
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quote:Originally posted by rcmann: I am dwelling upon a quandry. In regard to the immortal line about "ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night", I am puzzled. I can see why ghoulies, ghosties, and things that go bump in the night could be a cause for concern. But why long-legged beasties? Is it possible that the author was terrorized by a rampant stork in their youth?
I always thought it was a certain type of beastie but I don't know maybe it only fit with the rhythm. Or there used to be long legged beasties that went with ghoulies and we don't know what they were anymore.
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"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us." Old Cornish prayer.
I think it's the internal rhythm of the line that kept it in the subconscious of English-speakers; other than that I can shed no light on the matter.
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Or, you could just chalk it up to "poetic license" and the need to have it "scan" nicely, as Robert Nowall suggests.
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Well, I did buy another Blu-Ray player...it wasn't much money, really, compared to some of the electronics junk I've bought in the past. I figured I'd pull my old one out and connect it up with the same cables.
But I found out that (a) this model wouldn't connect with the coaxial cables and RCA connectors I've been using, and (b), the high-speed HDMI connector needed wasn't actually included in the package. (Now I know why it was sold so cheap---why most of the other models were so cheap, too.)
It works, I've tried out a couple of Blu-Ray discs in it...and soon as I can block out a few hours I'll have a go at The Hobbit, which is where this started.
But, like I said, it's a cheap model, and not without its problems. The picture (but not the audio) drops out on the picture-in-picture my TV has. And it doesn't seem to have some of the features my older (broken) model had.
I'll go on looking for a high-end model, maybe even online. I've bought a lot of stuff online that I can't get over-the-counter lately, but that's a subject for another rant another day...
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I've a week off and I'm skiing, reading, writing, and just enjoying myself.
Tonight I have the place to myself and I turned off the lights, turned up the volume and watched James Cameron's 2009 hit film Avatar, the 3 hour extended Director's cut. I hadn't seen it since its theatrical release, where I had the opportunity to view it in IMAX 3D (the only 3D movie that I've felt was worth the higher ticket price). Even though I'd seen the film before, and I was watching the film only on a 32inch HDTV flatscreen tonight, I was still mesmerized, thoroughly entertained.
The story is not original. It is the archetypal hero epic that I believe resonates within our genetic memory and with the human need for the triumph of a just cause, of what is good and right and selfless over what is evil and wrong and selfish, of what spiritually sustains us and makes life worth living. I never get tired of such tales.
What makes this oft-told tale worth watching is the wondrous world-building: the eye-entrancing (soul entrancing) landscapes, fully-realized alien biosphere, Navi culture and language and custom and faith. Color, perspective, sound, music, life. All the senses we seek to engage as storytellers. Great stuff.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob
[ April 02, 2013, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: History ]
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Dr Bob, did it never occur to you to wonder why the Navi only have four limbs while all the other animal lifeforms seem to have six limbs. A mistake that Jim or his advisers should have noticed. Look around at life on this planet.
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I think I did subconsciously, Phil, but did not let it interfere with my being swept away by the film.
However, on reflection, it suggests the possibility that the Navi are not native to Pandora, but settled there and bioadapted. Perhaps they were once like us (their human antagonists) but learned better, thus indicating there is hope for our own species (as foreshadowed in Jake, Grace, Norman, and the others who "go native" in the film).
I think this would be a great story for a prequel.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob
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An understatement if there ever was one. Somewhere 'round here are earlier comments on why I didn't go to see this or get a DVD or whatever and watch it at home...I won't bore you with a rehashing of it all. But read Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe" and look for similarities.
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An understatement if there ever was one. Somewhere 'round here are earlier comments on why I didn't go to see this or get a DVD or whatever and watch it at home...I won't bore you with a rehashing of it all. But read Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe" and look for similarities.
Then I think you've missed out, Robert. At my age, and after decades of reading and studying literature, I agree with John Steinbeck who wrote in East of Eden:
"We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the neverending contest in ourselves of good and evil."
Such retold tales resonate powerfully with us and, I believe when done well, in retelling the one story in an original way, they can be powerfully moving and successful. And, by any standard of measurement, I must admit JC's Avatar was successful. I like to learn from such success.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob
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I'll also add that I've got 90,000 words written of a story that is similar to Avatar, even to the bellicose military fool taking over. That's why I've put it on the back0burner of re-thinking.
posted
I'll remember that the next time I get a comment back saying my story is unoriginal.
I have other reasons to avoid Avatar---life's too short, for one. Another is the matter of the story doesn't resonate with me like it did with Cameron's previous movie (Titanic). Also there's the report that Cameron makes US soldiers thoroughgoing bad guys---something that never will please me.
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quote:Originally posted by Robert Nowall: Also there's the report that Cameron makes US soldiers thoroughgoing bad guys---something that never will please me.
The hero is a disabled marine. The villains are selfish single-mindedness, xenophobia, arrogance, and the lack of appreciation of the environment and beauty.
The movie is a cinematic triumph that leaps so far ahead of anything that has gone before that it is worth watching for this alone. Truly a visual spectacle.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob (former Major, US Army)
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quote:Originally posted by Robert Nowall: I'll remember that the next time I get a comment back saying my story is unoriginal.
I have other reasons to avoid Avatar---life's too short, for one. Another is the matter of the story doesn't resonate with me like it did with Cameron's previous movie (Titanic). Also there's the report that Cameron makes US soldiers thoroughgoing bad guys---something that never will please me.
Yeah, I've heard the same thing. The bad guy uses the military to invade the peaceful planet.
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Of course, that would never happen, would it? Umm, err, yeah, right. The 'Company' hires ex-soldiers, known colloquially as mercenaries. However, governments have been known to use their 'hired muscle' for economic gain. The British Empire springs first to mind, followed closely by most other European powers. Then we come to the cold war. So, let's not be fooled. Men and women with guns are a means to an end, they are not there to provide humanitarian aid; although they can, and certainly do.
posted
Computer problems kept me away till now. Something called "svchost.exe" kept using more and more memory usage, making things go slower and slower---only happened when the damned computer was connected to the high-speed line (I don't leave it plugged in.) No idea why it did what it did, or for that matter, what it actually is and does and is supposed to do.
I worked through several things and finally found something that, apparently, corrected it, this morning, after about two hours---which leaves me too rushed today to add more comment on the ongoing Avatar posts. Tomorrow for sure.
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svchost.exe is a MS Windows system file, integral to the OS. Note the curse of death, 'MS Windows'. it might be a virus. or it might simply be MS Windows acting like MS Windows.
The only possible escape is to use a real operating system like GNU Linux, or one of its offspring such as Apple's OS, or ChromeOS. I use Linux because I prefer to keep things simple, but to each their own.
Otherwise, such plagues will continue ad infinitum. My heartfelt sympathy.
Posts: 884 | Registered: Feb 2012
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I agree that the story of Avatar was trite but also agree that one can't beat the beautiful CGI work that was done on it. The colorful world of the Navi and the flying bird/reptile scenes . . .wow. I still watch it every so often for the beauty of the film and try to ignore the cook-book story arc. KT
Posts: 96 | Registered: Dec 2012
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I have seen scenes from Avatar and I would agree with Kelly.
The scenery is almost worth watching the movie.
Oh, the story is trite not just because of the use of the military but because the bad guy is the head of a company who will kill and destroy for profit. Yes, it has happened but it's also overused.
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Not absent again from computer problems, but just real busy...tomorrow's my day off and I'm sure I'll post my thoughts then. (Barring catastrophe.)
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And...I've got time right now. I don't know why my life gets so busy during the course of it---a lot of the time I don't seem to be actually doing anything---but it does keep me away from writing and the Internet for hours of it.
Anyway...
*****
Beyond the "US Marines as villains" motif, Avatar also does the "noble savage" routine---I've never bought into the notion that those who live in primitive cultures or societies are somehow morally and ethically superior to those who come from a more sophisticated milieu.
I have a fondness for The Searchers---not my favorite John Wayne movie, but up there among the favorites---where the Indians are brutally savage, as are the cowboys-cavalry-settlers. In a way, despite the presence of Wayne the archetypical American hero on screen, there aren't any heroes or villains among the inhabitants of the movie. Just human beings.
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I have to agree about the myth of the noble savage. That one always did gripe me. Technological sophistication is irrelevant to ethical sophistication, in my opinion.
Ethical sophistication is, again in my opinion, a function of its efficiency at promoting group survival. In other words, a behavior pattern is ethical if it promotes group survival, it is shameful if it threatens group survival. The behavior patterns may, or may not, be consciously recognized by the group members who practice them. It has nothing to do with how much technical knowledge a culture possesses.
For example, the mass slaughter of the american bison by white settlers in the 19th century was subjectively ethical behavior at the time, because it promoted the survival of euro-american culture. Not only did it provide euro-america with a plentiful supply of cheap meat and hides, it also deprived their enemies of the same things and expedited the ongoing campaign of conquest.
When the conquest was effectively completed, and the survival of the bison was recognized to be threatened, such behavior became unethical because it no longer expedited group survival. Instead, it threatened the potential usefulness of the american bison for future generations of euro-americans. Therefore, the ethical system was adjusted to reflect the change in circumstance.
The "savages" who had previously hunted the bison did not harvest them according to some pre-calculated plan designed to maintain the herds. They hunted them as effectively as their technology allowed, and it was this that prevented them from over hunting the herds. Not some ethical superiority. When the plains amerindians gained horses, heir hunting methods, and consequently their kill ratios, increased. When they gained firearms, the kill ratios went up even more. They didn't kill as many as the euro-americans, because there weren't nearly as many amerindians as there were white men and there were no amerindian locomotives to provide shooting platforms.
Recall the cave in Europe containing the site of a paleolithic mammoth butchering and processing facility. There were literally hundreds of mammoth skeletons all neatly sorted and stacked along the cliff and in the cave. The cave people simply drove the herds off the cliff, butchered the carcasses, and went on with their lives. hardly a selective method of harvesting.
Amerindians also engaged in fire drives and cliff drives when hunting, btw. At least until they got guns.
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Can we tell religious jokes now? Well, Jesus said [MATERIAL SELF-CENSORED UNTIL SOME CLARIFICATION IS GIVEN, BUT THE PUNCHLINE IS:] "Sometimes you piss me off, Mom."
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Meant to bring up Sunday's hiccup yesterday, but a busy day, culminating in current events, kept me offline till now.
I got the page saying the domain name had expired, "and would you like to buy it?" Which gave me the wicked idea of buying it and presenting it to The Authorities Here as a gift. But it was back up before long.
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I was mildly concerned that some squatter might have scooped it up in retribution for OSC's political leanings. More distantly fetched things have happened.
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I love that. I often have dreams that end up predicting the future. Nothing big, just interesting enough to wonder if I'm psychic, or if it's just a coincidence.
Posts: 1201 | Registered: Jan 2008
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Only once did anything I dreamed seem like a psychic vision. Way back when I was a kid---yeah, I was a kid once---I dreamed of being in a new school and meeting this other kid. A while later, I was attending a new school and meeting someone that was a pretty close match for the kid in my dreams.
After all these years, I might've distorted some of the details, but it still seemed pretty close.
(Better than the dreams I have now---I really hate it when I dream of my job. What good are dreams if you don't escape your real life? Though it's better than the "filthy toilet" dream.)
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Going on one in about a week---a "staycation," most likely. Home, with maybe a couple of days somewhere else. Where the living is easy and the toilets get cleaned every so often.
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Forgot to mention last week when I noticed, but, with American Tax Day come and gone, the Dancing Miss Liberties have packed up their togas and left the sides of the road, too...
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quote:Originally posted by Robert Nowall: Going on one in about a week---a "staycation," most likely. Home, with maybe a couple of days somewhere else. Where the living is easy and the toilets get cleaned every so often.
We--as in me and my wife-invented them. 28 years or more with paid vacations and never gone anywhere.
Someone else named it though.
Posts: 5289 | Registered: Jun 2010
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Massive computer failure, and efforts to correct it, have pretty much shut me down all day. I managed just now to get online. Involved reloading everything and starting over---I saved my documents and such beforehand, but I'm sure some stuff disappeared in the process. Still working on it...though I'll have to stop 'cause I'm going away for a couple of days starting tomorrow.
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Well, I've got things working---kinda. Been away from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon, so I couldn't do anything till then.
But every correction seems to create its own problems.
My AOL programs are really messed up, for one...the one I was using disappeared and I had to delete it...an older one is problematic and a newly-downloaded one has a strange (and nearly unworkable) way of displaying Favorite Places...and just now (on the older one) my Favorite Places scrambled up. Internet Explorer required an update, which required updating other things---and I'm not sure whether I should just dump it and switch to something else. (I got and was using Google Chrome part of this morning for something else.) I haven't addressed my iTunes account yet---not that I've ordered anything lately, not since my last backup of that, but whether anything I had is still there.
It's still dreadful tough going, I mean, for a guy whose knowledge about computer fixes would fit in a thimble...and writing, which I'd hope to advance mightily in the course of this vacation, has been impossible while I untangle this. (I don't want to write something only to lose it in the shuffle of, say, changing computers or reloading software---and I don't want to do another backup until I'm sure what I'll be doing.)
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