Why do so many kids' toys require three batteries? Don't the toy manufacturers know that batteries come in packs of FOUR (Or two, or eight)... Even rechargeables come in even numbers, so to use three leaves an odd one out that either can't be used or needs to go into the rare gadget - the one-battery device (clock?).
Rant over for now.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Vent
A blog is where you are meant to share your opinions with the world, right? And take whatever feedback comes back at ya? [Breathe... right, non-confrontational me is... ready]
Well, if there is one thing that I have an opinion on, it is music. I love music. I love examples of all music. Sure, some new types of music might take a bit of getting used to, but I am always open to giving it a go, and sure enough I usually like it. But, right now I want to talk about some that I don't like - because it was on the radio while I was in the shower (I hate that, they always do that to me when I can't reach to change the station). I'm talking Stone Sour (I don't even know if that is meant to be one word or two, I don't want to know, they bore me). You read that right, they bore me. I know that the lead singer is the Slipknot dude - don't know his name, I don't care for Slipknot, either. Don't get me wrong, I have heard one or two of their songs that I can appreciate, but I don't choose to listen to them. When I was a teenager I loved Korn and Rage Against The Machine and stuff, but now that I am older I find that I don't like my music to make me angry - not in a stressed out kind of way, anyway. I'll listen to an angry song, but I prefer different kind of anger, now.
Right, back to Stone Sour. They have this song that goes "I'm looking at you through the glass..." Urgh! Now I am going to have it stuck in my head ALL day! Why did I do this? Yeah, I hate that song. It's... catchy. And it's whiny! I don't want my lover-boy to whine about how much he loves me. Not an effective sappy song in my opinion. The other song I know of theirs goes "Together! Forever! We'll be together!" (I believe)... I don't know about you, but if a guy declared his love for me by shouting at me like that, I would be thinking "psycho...". Stalker, much?
I hear my baby crying, got to go...
Well, if there is one thing that I have an opinion on, it is music. I love music. I love examples of all music. Sure, some new types of music might take a bit of getting used to, but I am always open to giving it a go, and sure enough I usually like it. But, right now I want to talk about some that I don't like - because it was on the radio while I was in the shower (I hate that, they always do that to me when I can't reach to change the station). I'm talking Stone Sour (I don't even know if that is meant to be one word or two, I don't want to know, they bore me). You read that right, they bore me. I know that the lead singer is the Slipknot dude - don't know his name, I don't care for Slipknot, either. Don't get me wrong, I have heard one or two of their songs that I can appreciate, but I don't choose to listen to them. When I was a teenager I loved Korn and Rage Against The Machine and stuff, but now that I am older I find that I don't like my music to make me angry - not in a stressed out kind of way, anyway. I'll listen to an angry song, but I prefer different kind of anger, now.
Right, back to Stone Sour. They have this song that goes "I'm looking at you through the glass..." Urgh! Now I am going to have it stuck in my head ALL day! Why did I do this? Yeah, I hate that song. It's... catchy. And it's whiny! I don't want my lover-boy to whine about how much he loves me. Not an effective sappy song in my opinion. The other song I know of theirs goes "Together! Forever! We'll be together!" (I believe)... I don't know about you, but if a guy declared his love for me by shouting at me like that, I would be thinking "psycho...". Stalker, much?
I hear my baby crying, got to go...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Review: Raymond E Fiest: "Rides A Dread Legion"
Ok, first a confession. I am a novice author. I am an intermediate-expert reader. I am not a professional reviewer.
I comment on this piece of work as a reader.
I was looking for a new book to read. I like to have something to help me wind down at the end of the day, and I also wanted to do a bit of research for my own writing work. So, I wanted a good book.
Now, many years ago, I purchased a copy of the book Magician. I enjoyed it, and so my friend lent me Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon. I also enjoyed these. A while later, I came upon Jimmy The Hand (written with Steve Stirling) and bought that also. I found it a simpler read, younger, but still enjoyable. So, as you can see, I have a good relationship with REF's work.
A few months ago I re-read Jimmy and only a few weeks ago I re-read Magician. Quite enjoyed them.
So, when I happened to walk through a bookstore and spot this latest offering I thought it was just what I was after.
First impression: typos galore! I am just amazed at the number of typos - as small as an extra letter here and there to as big as an entire wrong word! Where were the editors?
Next impression: I just didn't get a feel for any of the characters. Not even Pug, who I grew quite fond of in Magician (although, I was tested when his name changed to Milamber... ew). I found that Pug's wife, Miranda, rubbed me the wrong way... a very abrupt character. Perhaps she had her reasons... but I'm not sure I could sympathize enough. I am curious to go back and read some of the earlier books now, just to see if she was ever a nice person, but I will be borrowing them from the library.
The last two chapters are good. Finally things seemed to happen.
(originally written at the end of 2009, time to share)
I comment on this piece of work as a reader.
I was looking for a new book to read. I like to have something to help me wind down at the end of the day, and I also wanted to do a bit of research for my own writing work. So, I wanted a good book.
Now, many years ago, I purchased a copy of the book Magician. I enjoyed it, and so my friend lent me Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon. I also enjoyed these. A while later, I came upon Jimmy The Hand (written with Steve Stirling) and bought that also. I found it a simpler read, younger, but still enjoyable. So, as you can see, I have a good relationship with REF's work.
A few months ago I re-read Jimmy and only a few weeks ago I re-read Magician. Quite enjoyed them.
So, when I happened to walk through a bookstore and spot this latest offering I thought it was just what I was after.
First impression: typos galore! I am just amazed at the number of typos - as small as an extra letter here and there to as big as an entire wrong word! Where were the editors?
Next impression: I just didn't get a feel for any of the characters. Not even Pug, who I grew quite fond of in Magician (although, I was tested when his name changed to Milamber... ew). I found that Pug's wife, Miranda, rubbed me the wrong way... a very abrupt character. Perhaps she had her reasons... but I'm not sure I could sympathize enough. I am curious to go back and read some of the earlier books now, just to see if she was ever a nice person, but I will be borrowing them from the library.
The last two chapters are good. Finally things seemed to happen.
(originally written at the end of 2009, time to share)
The Evil Villain
So, as someone going through the motions of starting a story, enjoying the characters that I am writing about, and even enjoying some of the situations I have put them in, I got to thinking about how much I like my overall plan for my story. And I came to the conclusion that I am not as happy with it as I would like to be. So, I am reviewing my plan.
Part of my revisiting of things is to look at my villain and his crew.
This is a hard job for me. I tend to spend my life trying to be the good guy, and trying to see others as the good guy. To see someone as intentionally evil is just such a hard concept for me to grasp.
But, the villain doesn't always have to be evil. He could just be mistaken. Or misunderstood.
In many ways, this way of thinking about the villain can make them a more interesting person to write, and read, about. Try to look at the "villain" as a "normal" person, with good intentions that happen to have negative results on your protagonist.
Time to get pondering, anyway...
(Actually, this is an old post I started ages ago, so I have already done some pondering. thought I might share my thoughts, anyway.)
Part of my revisiting of things is to look at my villain and his crew.
This is a hard job for me. I tend to spend my life trying to be the good guy, and trying to see others as the good guy. To see someone as intentionally evil is just such a hard concept for me to grasp.
But, the villain doesn't always have to be evil. He could just be mistaken. Or misunderstood.
In many ways, this way of thinking about the villain can make them a more interesting person to write, and read, about. Try to look at the "villain" as a "normal" person, with good intentions that happen to have negative results on your protagonist.
Time to get pondering, anyway...
(Actually, this is an old post I started ages ago, so I have already done some pondering. thought I might share my thoughts, anyway.)
Writing Soundtrack: Powderfinger - D.A.F.
I can't say exactly why this song fits into my WIP's "Soundtrack". It's just the sound. it affects me somehow, and that's the kind of writing I want to achieve. Something that gets the heart pounding with excitement through action or romantic/sexual-tension. So any music that makes me feel something is a goer here.
In all honestly, though, the whole "Double Allergic" album is good (o:
Writing Soundtrack: The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I want to achieve a certain dark, sensuality to my writing. Also, one of my main characters is moody. And what song is more moody that this?
Writing Soundtrack: Deftones - Knife Party
Hi,
I am going to break out from my previous pattern of doing writing exercises just to write about something very dear to my heart: music. I love music. I am happy when there is music playing. I am calm when there is music playing. My greatest moments of inspiration come from listening to music. I came up with my longest lasting title for my Work In Progress from a song - I turned on the bathroom radio as I went to have a shower and a song was playing which just made me think "They could be singing about my characters!". However, my story seems to be going in a slightly different direction now, so the title may no longer fit as well as I thought. Still, it gave me a good underlying theme for my story to develop along.
Quite often I, also, just pick up a line in a song and it makes me think "Oh! I could use that!".
Another writing exercise I do is write out lyrics to songs. I have never been a fan of poetry, as such, but I love music, I love clever lyrics and I like trying to work out what random lyrics mean. Writing out lyrics helps to be able to sing along to my favourites, too!
Anyway, down to business. In my Work In Progress (WIP, I believe it the standard short-hand) a knife is a major item within the story. And so, the Deftones song "Knife Party" is my unofficial theme song to the whole story.
There is no official video for the song that I know about, so this one will do.
What do I like about it? Well, it has the kind of tone that I would like to achieve in my story: dark and sensual. And, of course, there is the knife element. I love the woman singing/wailing in the instrumental. I find that it gives me little chills in my spine, just the kind of feelings I would like to be able to give my readers through my writing some day.
I plan to do more entries like this - I have a whole playlist that continues to grow, which helps me to get into writing mode.
I am going to break out from my previous pattern of doing writing exercises just to write about something very dear to my heart: music. I love music. I am happy when there is music playing. I am calm when there is music playing. My greatest moments of inspiration come from listening to music. I came up with my longest lasting title for my Work In Progress from a song - I turned on the bathroom radio as I went to have a shower and a song was playing which just made me think "They could be singing about my characters!". However, my story seems to be going in a slightly different direction now, so the title may no longer fit as well as I thought. Still, it gave me a good underlying theme for my story to develop along.
Quite often I, also, just pick up a line in a song and it makes me think "Oh! I could use that!".
Another writing exercise I do is write out lyrics to songs. I have never been a fan of poetry, as such, but I love music, I love clever lyrics and I like trying to work out what random lyrics mean. Writing out lyrics helps to be able to sing along to my favourites, too!
Anyway, down to business. In my Work In Progress (WIP, I believe it the standard short-hand) a knife is a major item within the story. And so, the Deftones song "Knife Party" is my unofficial theme song to the whole story.
There is no official video for the song that I know about, so this one will do.
What do I like about it? Well, it has the kind of tone that I would like to achieve in my story: dark and sensual. And, of course, there is the knife element. I love the woman singing/wailing in the instrumental. I find that it gives me little chills in my spine, just the kind of feelings I would like to be able to give my readers through my writing some day.
I plan to do more entries like this - I have a whole playlist that continues to grow, which helps me to get into writing mode.
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