| Clearly the correct term is "Oprah-copia". |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|06:41 pm] |
I haven't shouted into the inter-net in a while! Let's rectify that.
Speaking as a bona-fide cyclist, I will freely admit that a whole lot of cyclists are know-nothing idiots who don't have two brain cells to smash together. Is that a surprise? Maybe, maybe not. A lot of them get a free pass cause now cycling is "green", and stereotypically, when people are into that green stuff, they're smart. I always think of university students, Whole Foods employees, and the hipsters who appreciate shitty art-house movies*. Here's something that is definitely not a surprise: some people in cars are idiots too**.
SO LOOK. Four-way intersection. Two-way stop. Me, on a bike. You, in a car. This is our frustrating exchange:
You have stopped (even though there is no stop sign pointing at you). You are waving at me to continue on my way.
I decline. I shake my head, gesture MORE FIRMLY for YOU to PLEASE CONTINUE ON YOUR WAY.
You resist, and keep gesturing.
I point at the stop sign, trying to suggest that I am obeying the traffic laws.
YOU CONTINUE WAVING.
I quietly say to myself, "eff this Mr. Bean bee-ess", and I start to ride around the back of your car, cause we could have been done here like fifteen minutes ago.
You roll down the window and shout angrily, "I'm giving you the right of way!"
HERE'S THE THING. Right of way is not yours to give, Angry White Man. If I had taken your kind offer, and something crazy and unforeseen happened, like you being a complete fucking nutjob and gunning your car into my fleshy limbs, you can also always claim that technically, you had the right of way. Because you did. And I'm just the idiot cyclist. Like the two idiot cyclists in front of me that accepted your charity and escaped unharmed. Don't think I don't know how to recognize a trap. Thank you, but no thank-you.
You think you are being generous and kind! You will probably complain to your blonde housewife about the idiot cyclist who refused your Oprah-esque cornucopia of charity. I understand! But if you offered me two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, I would politely refuse them, too. I KNOW YOU WERE BEING NICE. I appreciate that. But when I turn down your generosity, and return with my even more awesome generosity that also has legitimate legal backing, HEY - TAKE IT.
If you had just done what you were supposed to, I could have saved twenty minutes out of my life. Breaking it down: I wouldn't have spent one minute waiting for you to shift your Mother Teresa-Wagon out of the intersection, and I wouldn't have spent nineteen more minutes shouting into the inter-net. GILMORE GIRLS IS ON. GIVE ME MY LIFE BACK, GENEROUS ASSHOLE!
* I know, I know, none of these things is an indicator for Smart. JUST ROLL WITH ME HERE.
**At this point we can start using blanket statements: most people, in general, are idiots. The evidence is overwhelming.
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| Clement Freud |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|12:18 pm] |
I had meant to post about this in a more timely fashion, but was reminded of it while talking to Dik today. I had also thought maybe of doing a drawing, as that would be a nice thing to do and also his would not be a very difficult face to caricature.
At any rate, Mr. SIR Clement Freud died not long ago, and we're all worse off for it. You probably don't know why. Well, if you're so inclined, here's links:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3847887.stm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Minute
A youtube search is also helpful. I thought there was a site with Just a Minute archives on it, but I'm having trouble finding it.
I only really know Sir Clement from the radio, so it seems odd to me that I should miss him as much as I do.
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| Liveblogging the radio. Thrilling. |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|08:19 am] |
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Here's a sad realization: I don't think I'll be able to update my Illyham story until June at the earliest. Day Job says, please fix this animation from 9 to 5. Also now I accepted a secret and unusual bit of work that will fill my evenings and weekends until the end of May. I'm still procrastinating on more Delilah by doing more research. On the radio they're playing Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting", which the Utah Saints sampled for "Something Good" back in the nineties. Fun! Now they're playing a limp acoustic version of "Sweet Dreams". Barf. Cello and whiny male vocals. Now the DJ is going on and on about how much she loves that track. CBC, if you hadn't set up that blind date between Jill Barber and my ears, I'd be so angry right now. Posted via LiveJournal.app. |
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| Let's Recap! |
[Mar. 17th, 2009|12:42 pm] |
Hey, thanks to everyone who commented about comic action sequences. Whether I'm jaded, lazy, or superficial, I was finding it hard to get really thrilled by those things. So I was wondering if it were like that for other people. Of course, admittedly, I read very few comic books.
JANE AUSTEN FOLLOW-UP:
At one point yesterday, I had a conversation with my brain:
ME: I am not looking forward to trying to read the next three hundred pages of "Emma".
BRAIN: That language is so messed up! She throws around pronouns like a retarded kid throws rice at a group wedding.
ME: Sigh
BRAIN: Hey you know they make movies of this shit, right?
ME: WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE
So I downloaded Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Sense and Sensibility (1995). Hey, that Sense and Sensibility is a good movie! Emma Thompson is a pretty good writer! And it's paced really well and the acting's really good, and it's REALLY funny and the photography is gorgeous! Why haven't I seen this before? OH YEAH, IT'S A JANE AUSTEN MOVIE.
CONFIDENTIAL TO TWIRLYNOODLE:
What's that BBC radio comedy that has Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, and I think Stephen Fry in it? I heard it once, it was 100% hilarious with an additional 100% of absurd thrown on top. Early eighties, I think.
EDIT: No, I didn't make this up!
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| Hey, here's a question: |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|03:08 pm] |
Are action sequences in comic books exciting?
(...and just assume I mean, "when they're done well")
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| Check out the busted arm on the dude on the left |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|12:00 pm] |
(Stoled from here: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/rgnclfil.html#ingres)
I stopped by the liburry last week looking to get some research done. It was super-successful, but in a surprising way. Following the rabbit down the research-hole, I ended up discovering that the time period I wanted to put Delilah in is the same time period that Jane Austen happened to be living in and writing about.
Funny thing: a lot of people like Jane Austen's books. Which means there's a solid market for books with all sorts of historical backgrounder. Heading into the library, I was facing the prospect of having to troll through long, thick, irritating histories just to find out really fundamental stuff (i.e., that it's referred to as the "Regency period"). Instead, I was able to check out a couple books that summarize the time period in varying levels of detail. Most importantly, they provide the keywords and context necessary to do better, more thorough research. Shockingly, a lot of this information is also on the internet. Except if it weren't for these "All About Jane Austen's World" books, I wouldn't have known where to look.
Is this helping me get any writing done? No! Not yet, at least. But I feel less lost than I did a week ago.
EDIT: Get this: there were 12 pence in a shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound. As if that weren't complicated enough, there were also "guineas", which were worth some amount of shillings - in the spring and summer, they were worth 21 shillings, but the rest of the year they were worth only 19, except for March, when they were worth 18. You'd need a damn astrolabe just to buy a Snickers bar.
EDIT 2: I hate those stupid dresses that come up under the boobs. Not a good look.
( ALSO Check out this HILARIOUS comic! ) |
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| Ooh, Serendipitous! |
[Mar. 10th, 2009|10:45 am] |
As some of you might know, I've been wanting to get started writing a long-form Delilah Dirk story (see: "Graphic Novel"). It's been tricky. I've been struggling a lot with Delilah's character. I built it up a certain way in the two stories that are out there now, and I'm happy with them, but when I try to think of the real specifics and nitty-gritty, I find myself challenged.
To get through this, I've been thinking about the characters I've liked and that I have consciously or unconsciously been modeling Delilah after. Indiana Jones is one of the major inspirations (*shocker*, I know). There are also aspects of James Bond that I want to get in there.
That's why it's been so much fun to read this transcript of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan essentially creating Indiana Jones. They talk about characters they would like to influence Indy, and surprise! - Bond is among them. Their discussion of Indy's morality and motivations is also really interesting, and I enjoyed the way they seem to bulldoze through the idea that he's got the right intentions behind his actions, and that they'll worry about the details later. Because as they say - it's the actions that happen on-screen that the audience is moved by, not the things that happen off-screen, or in the backstory.
Now I just wish I had a George Lucas/Steven Spielberg/Lawrence Kasdan to bounce ideas off of.
Leaked transcript of Raiders of the Lost Ark story-meeting:
BoingBoing.net
Mystery Man on Film's Summary
The whole 126-page transcript
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| Bolt |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|05:29 pm] |
Man, Bolt is really good. I guess I'm a bit behind-the-times. Whatever. The animation is lovely, even though you still get a bit of that limb-y-ness on the humans and other skinny characters that seems to be impossible to avoid in CG. They absolutely maximize the subtlety that you can get out of CG, which (FYI) always does it for me. I love little touches of acting business (related: Bill Nighy in Underworld 3 is hilarious and adorable for this. Don't pay full price, though.) The story is touching and loverly. I guess it's predictable? It obviously turns out the way you'd expect it to, but then if you watch enough movies eventually everything gets predictable. Nevermind, because the characters are colourful and the business is super-enjoyable. And it's really funny - good, sharp gags and lots of nice, genuine humour. Yay Disney Feature Animation! Also, let's have Mark Walton be Disney's John Ratzenberger. Posted via LiveJournal.app. |
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