Patriotism

Posted on 5 July 2010 | 2 responses

You know one thing I don’t know that I’ve seen addressed too much in literature? The worth of patriotism. I’ve seen stories that actually talk about worrying if your government is corrupt, or that have highly patriotic or apathetic characters, but not one that really had a person or people honestly question if patriotism is a good and just thing. Now, lemme talk some before ya’ll lynch me on this wonderful 5^th of July.

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Tags: I Love Big Brother, July 4th, Nationalism, Patriotism
Categories: Writing

Change, I Hates It

Posted on 21 June 2010 | No responses

I dislike change. I loath it, you might say. This is funny for someone born in the information era, someone who grew up embracing constant change as computers leapfrogged in what they could do. I remember when 32 meg of RAM was amazing, and a Pentium 2 processor was fast. I can’t even keep up with what is going on with technology anymore, though, and I’m actually in the field for my day job. Maybe I’m becoming an old man.

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Tags: Change, Conservative, Geezer-talk, procrastinating, Whining
Categories: Admin Blog

A Smile That Doesn’t Touch The Eyes

Posted on 17 June 2010 | 2 responses

Have you ever tried smiling in such a way that it doesn’t touch your eyes? Ever looked at yourself in the mirror when you do? If you haven’t, go ahead and do it. I’ll wait, honest. Just click past the fold when you get back to let me know, and we can continue.

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Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, anti-intellectualism, G.R.R. Martin, Manipulator, non-verbal communication, Puppet Master, smiles, Weasel
Categories: Writing

The Language of Fans

Posted on 11 June 2010 | 3 responses

I just finished reading the book A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham. It was actually a pretty good book once I got into it, although it took me two tries. First time, I got about halfway through the prologue and was somewhat distracted and not into it enough to pick it up for some time.  Anyway, it was proof that a good simple story of conspiracy to topple a government by means of destroying its unique advantage over others can come in odd ways. In this instance, the government’s advantage was it had a god that destroyed unborn things. Economically, it helped by making cotton processing easier. Warfare (not that it was really need), it could be used to destroy entire fields of crops or kill an entire generation before it is born. Of course, none of this is why I titled the post as I did. No, what I want to talk about is the concept of nonverbal languages in stories.

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Tags: Daniel Abraham, Fans, Language, Poses, Robert Jordan, Talking without talking
Categories: Writing

To What End The Movie?

Posted on 31 May 2010 | 1 response

I just went and watched Prince of Persia. My first impression (and that of my friend who saw it with me) was “It wasn’t bad” and “Well, it was pretty.” The more I think, though, the more I realize we were fairly harsh on the movie. It had many of the makings of a great movie, and as it was brought to us by the same people who made The Pirates of the Caribbean, that makes sense. These are people who actually do understand some bit of what it is to make movies. But Prince of Persia is not Pirates. So, what exactly happened?

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Tags: Computer Graphics, Fantasy, Movie Review, Prince of Persia, Science Fiction, storytelling
Categories: Writing

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