Back from posting hiatus
Mar. 31st, 2007 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirLowell House on the Feast of St. Benjamin
Spring Break is nearly over. I have a complete draft that is going through its third round of revision. Today is going to be devoted to making figures and editing what I've written, but I've decided to relax my self-imposed restrictions tentatively for now.
A summary of my life this past week:
1. Last Friday, I met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tsutanai in Boston, where she was attending a conference. She's even more witty and awesome in real life! Also, now I really want to find a translation of the Lotus Sutra. ^_^
2. So far, I've spent two nights in lab, which meant staggering back to my dorm at early hours of the morning to collapse into bed, sleep for three or four hours and then wake up to go back to lab again. Dining halls are closed for spring break, which means that despite my resolution to the contrary, I've often failed to eat regularly. There was a certain point earlier in the week where my food intake for the day was (as I described toangelyrique over email) "two clementines, one tootsie roll, three shrimp shumai, a half-cup of rice and some kimchi" because I hadn't left the lab all day and dug around in the refrigerator in the lab seminar room for leftover food. After that experience though, I got my act together and have been making sure to eat proper meals ever since.
In keeping with this general theme though, my room feels like a mess (there are a pile of clean socks still sitting on my bed since I did laundry on Tuesday), and I feel like a mess, thanks to not having gone to sleep at the same time any day this week. I'm starting to feel as if I've lost all circadian rhythm, or at least that my biological clock has gone haywire.
3. Speaking of which, thanks toangelyrique for putting up with my late-night, early-morning emails. Some choice excerpts illustrating my state of mind:
I also ended up looking through my high school website, where they had a Wiki up for the Science Club. I didn't recognize a single name on the board of officers except for the administrative vice-president, who had been in seventh grade when I was a senior. I feel so old.
4. Yesterday, I took a break and had lunch withtryogeru and Nan at Tamarind Bay. (I love that restaurant.) Afterwards, Tryogeru and I went to see 300 (at long last) and were vastly entertained. I think I laughed for ten straight minutes coming out of the movie. No, but seriously, I don't understand what straight guys get out of this film. Clearly, they would not be in a position to truly appreciate all the airbrushed muscular male flesh. Also, it's possibly one of the most homoerotic movies I've ever seen. Xerxes = drag queen. (Could not stop laughing during that whole scene with him touching Leonidas' shoulders and saying, "All you have to do is kneel.") Xerxes apparently has ninjas in his armies, which seem to be made of red jello, as Tryogeru put it. Awesome! (Historical accuracy? What's that?) We couldn't stop making comparisons to Lord of the Rings either: Faramir, oliphaunts, orcs, the Legolas-and-Gimli moment between the grinning berserker and the captain's son.
I must say though, the movie really is good, by which I mean, it glories in its own excesses without pretending to be more. I don't quite understand all the criticisms being leveled at the political rhetoric...uh, people, it's based on a comic book. What else do you expect? It's supposed to be a gorgeous spectacle, and it does that with flair. I also loved the action scenes; normally I think this sort of mass hacking away at one another is kind of boring, but they really made the choreography work. It's not a realistic fight, but it looks so awesome. Actually, my main gripe about the movie was that there was much less action than I expected. Not enough adrenaline rush! The pace was too slow as well; there were a lot of static scenes framed like comic book panels which I would have cut short.
Tryogeru: That movie had a tenuous grasp of--
Me: Reality?
Tryogeru: I was about to say Greek history, but yes.
I've heard many people comment that they came out of the movie feeling like they received a testosterone overdose. I came out of the movie feeling like a immature schoolgirl, giggling with Tryogeru over David Wenham's thighs. But hey, it was worth every cent we paid for the tickets.
Second issue of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
imaginarybeasts is out! Some of the stories in this issue are pitch-perfect. *_* I especially love Flight of the Bumblebee (I would love to write dialogue like that!) and Elevator Music (which reads like a vivid dream). Also, The Bridge and the Abyss (set in Venice, need I say more?), The Name of the Rose (sends a soft chill down your back), and Love Like Ink (for people who fall in love with books). Oh, why am I even bothering to rec individual stories?--just go read the whole issue. ^_^
I sent in "Pygmalion" before I had finished wrestling it into shape (I was already a week past deadline), and I think it shows because (1) nothing is really resolved in the ending, only brushed to the side and postponed, and (2) it's clearly meant to be a much longer story than it is. I started off trying to do a Regency retelling of a Korean folktale, Princess Pyeonggang and Idiot Ondal (there's a...more or less readable account here).magicnoire might be familiar with the story as well, since I think it's referenced in Shin Angyo Onshi (which is one of those series I should really get around to reading.)
Initially, the outline was pretty straightforward: I was going to just transfer the plot into a Regency setting and write it out. Of course, once I started actually writing, I realized that in order to write a love story, in my definition of the term, I needed a narrower lens to focus on the relationship between the two characters, both of whom grew increasingly complicated once taken out of their fairy tale archetypal roles. (I chose a folktale because folktales tend to be psychologically opaque before I realized that was more of an obstacle than an advantage.) So instead of retelling the full folktale itself, I set the story "after" the folktale so I had the space to deal with the complications in their relationship, although that left me with the huge problem of explaining how the relationship came to be in the first place. I resorted, of course, to exposition-through-dialogue because I suck at actual narrative exposition. I also ended up self-projecting far too many issues into the story (gender role expectations, needing to be needed, etc.) that sort of wormed their way into the story before I knew what was happening. I thought the Pygmalion metaphor would provide a good way of tying everything together, but it didn't quite work out the way I planned. Oh well. -_- But it seems that at least the general thread of the story makes sense, which relieves me to no end.
I still don't understand why his name is Oswald though. I tried a whole string of other English male names that began with O, but they all refused to stick. Patricia used to be Penelope, but that name had too many connotations that I wasn't willing to deal with. >_>
Okay, I really need to eat lunch and start working on those figures.
Yours &c.
Spring Break is nearly over. I have a complete draft that is going through its third round of revision. Today is going to be devoted to making figures and editing what I've written, but I've decided to relax my self-imposed restrictions tentatively for now.
A summary of my life this past week:
1. Last Friday, I met
tsutanai in Boston, where she was attending a conference. She's even more witty and awesome in real life! Also, now I really want to find a translation of the Lotus Sutra. ^_^2. So far, I've spent two nights in lab, which meant staggering back to my dorm at early hours of the morning to collapse into bed, sleep for three or four hours and then wake up to go back to lab again. Dining halls are closed for spring break, which means that despite my resolution to the contrary, I've often failed to eat regularly. There was a certain point earlier in the week where my food intake for the day was (as I described to
angelyrique over email) "two clementines, one tootsie roll, three shrimp shumai, a half-cup of rice and some kimchi" because I hadn't left the lab all day and dug around in the refrigerator in the lab seminar room for leftover food. After that experience though, I got my act together and have been making sure to eat proper meals ever since.In keeping with this general theme though, my room feels like a mess (there are a pile of clean socks still sitting on my bed since I did laundry on Tuesday), and I feel like a mess, thanks to not having gone to sleep at the same time any day this week. I'm starting to feel as if I've lost all circadian rhythm, or at least that my biological clock has gone haywire.
3. Speaking of which, thanks to
angelyrique for putting up with my late-night, early-morning emails. Some choice excerpts illustrating my state of mind:haiku:
one in the morning
sudden incessant beeping
shatters the silence
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
did you ever look at a photograph of a hand and get really unnerved because it looked so much like your own? is this what they mean when they say that we're all human? we all have hands with those little creases at the finger joints, the bluish veins on the pad beneath our thumbs, the life line curving down our palms.I might add that there was also a point where I was replying to every single email that arrived in my inbox, regardless of whether I had anything interesting to say. Anyone who had the misfortune to email me that day...I'm sorry.
freeeeeeaaaaky.
I also ended up looking through my high school website, where they had a Wiki up for the Science Club. I didn't recognize a single name on the board of officers except for the administrative vice-president, who had been in seventh grade when I was a senior. I feel so old.
4. Yesterday, I took a break and had lunch with
tryogeru and Nan at Tamarind Bay. (I love that restaurant.) Afterwards, Tryogeru and I went to see 300 (at long last) and were vastly entertained. I think I laughed for ten straight minutes coming out of the movie. No, but seriously, I don't understand what straight guys get out of this film. Clearly, they would not be in a position to truly appreciate all the airbrushed muscular male flesh. Also, it's possibly one of the most homoerotic movies I've ever seen. Xerxes = drag queen. (Could not stop laughing during that whole scene with him touching Leonidas' shoulders and saying, "All you have to do is kneel.") Xerxes apparently has ninjas in his armies, which seem to be made of red jello, as Tryogeru put it. Awesome! (Historical accuracy? What's that?) We couldn't stop making comparisons to Lord of the Rings either: Faramir, oliphaunts, orcs, the Legolas-and-Gimli moment between the grinning berserker and the captain's son.I must say though, the movie really is good, by which I mean, it glories in its own excesses without pretending to be more. I don't quite understand all the criticisms being leveled at the political rhetoric...uh, people, it's based on a comic book. What else do you expect? It's supposed to be a gorgeous spectacle, and it does that with flair. I also loved the action scenes; normally I think this sort of mass hacking away at one another is kind of boring, but they really made the choreography work. It's not a realistic fight, but it looks so awesome. Actually, my main gripe about the movie was that there was much less action than I expected. Not enough adrenaline rush! The pace was too slow as well; there were a lot of static scenes framed like comic book panels which I would have cut short.
Tryogeru: That movie had a tenuous grasp of--
Me: Reality?
Tryogeru: I was about to say Greek history, but yes.
I've heard many people comment that they came out of the movie feeling like they received a testosterone overdose. I came out of the movie feeling like a immature schoolgirl, giggling with Tryogeru over David Wenham's thighs. But hey, it was worth every cent we paid for the tickets.
Second issue of
imaginarybeasts is out! Some of the stories in this issue are pitch-perfect. *_* I especially love Flight of the Bumblebee (I would love to write dialogue like that!) and Elevator Music (which reads like a vivid dream). Also, The Bridge and the Abyss (set in Venice, need I say more?), The Name of the Rose (sends a soft chill down your back), and Love Like Ink (for people who fall in love with books). Oh, why am I even bothering to rec individual stories?--just go read the whole issue. ^_^I sent in "Pygmalion" before I had finished wrestling it into shape (I was already a week past deadline), and I think it shows because (1) nothing is really resolved in the ending, only brushed to the side and postponed, and (2) it's clearly meant to be a much longer story than it is. I started off trying to do a Regency retelling of a Korean folktale, Princess Pyeonggang and Idiot Ondal (there's a...more or less readable account here).
magicnoire might be familiar with the story as well, since I think it's referenced in Shin Angyo Onshi (which is one of those series I should really get around to reading.)Initially, the outline was pretty straightforward: I was going to just transfer the plot into a Regency setting and write it out. Of course, once I started actually writing, I realized that in order to write a love story, in my definition of the term, I needed a narrower lens to focus on the relationship between the two characters, both of whom grew increasingly complicated once taken out of their fairy tale archetypal roles. (I chose a folktale because folktales tend to be psychologically opaque before I realized that was more of an obstacle than an advantage.) So instead of retelling the full folktale itself, I set the story "after" the folktale so I had the space to deal with the complications in their relationship, although that left me with the huge problem of explaining how the relationship came to be in the first place. I resorted, of course, to exposition-through-dialogue because I suck at actual narrative exposition. I also ended up self-projecting far too many issues into the story (gender role expectations, needing to be needed, etc.) that sort of wormed their way into the story before I knew what was happening. I thought the Pygmalion metaphor would provide a good way of tying everything together, but it didn't quite work out the way I planned. Oh well. -_- But it seems that at least the general thread of the story makes sense, which relieves me to no end.
I still don't understand why his name is Oswald though. I tried a whole string of other English male names that began with O, but they all refused to stick. Patricia used to be Penelope, but that name had too many connotations that I wasn't willing to deal with. >_>
Okay, I really need to eat lunch and start working on those figures.
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 05:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-03 01:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 08:07 pm (UTC)I also ended up self-projecting far too many issues into the story (gender role expectations, needing to be needed, etc.) that sort of wormed their way into the story before I knew what was happening.
I thought these actually strengthened the story -- and weakened it as well, I mean, you're right about its needing to be a longer story, I think. It would probably be a better story of its length if it didn't have those things in it, but the fact that those issues were in the story made it worth reading, if that makes sense.
Oswald worked for me as a name. :)
Sorry if this sounds pompous; I'm a little fuzzy from cold meds right now and it's difficult to put words together so they make sense. Um. Hi!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-03 01:49 am (UTC)(And I should say hello too! I've been meaning to friend you for a while and only just got around to it. ^_^)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 09:20 pm (UTC)Oh man, I can't wait to get that movie on DVD and listen to the commentary. They should say things like: "This shot was...hm...basically to show off some more abs. Yup. We had difficulty with that one because the glistening oil and bronzer they put on kept on creating lens flares."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-03 01:51 am (UTC)When you do get the DVD, we need to have a proper girls' night watching of it with pausing at appropriate moments for ogling. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-06 04:48 pm (UTC)You know what I always love about action movies... The minor characters, they always die in one swipe. But the protagonist seems to have the uncanny ability to hang on after being stabbed several times by arrows and spears. Oh and being embedded by shrapnel.
Well, my favorite parts were the scenery scenes... with no people. Definitely liked the lighting and the comic-book feel graphics.