August 2003

Creative Exercises

Submitted by Virge on Sun, Aug 3, 2003 - 14:52
in

My creative writing exercise for today was writing a humorous response to a creepy late-night incident. Since it relies very heavily on the material in the original account, I'll just point your browser to it here (requires EK membership).

My creative photography exercise was to try to capture the mood of the Williamstown RSL (Returned Servicemen's League) club where some of my friends were playing 60's hits (Rolling Stones, Beatles, Elvis, T-Rex etc) last night. The club's ex-president came up to have a chat with me later. He saw me taking photos and wanted to make sure I wasn't "up to no good".

I've just finished off reading Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio and started reading PTerry's Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. After the heavy biology lesson I needed some light humour. Darwin's Radio was not a literary masterpiece, but a plausible extrapolation of the mysteries of human genetics developed into a satisfying story. He has kept himself abreast of the very recent moves against gradualism and postulated some fairly radical evolutionary punctuation. His pictures of the politics of science and the mass hysteria of world-wide disease epidemics were disturbing, considering he wrote it all before the SARS outbreak.

Predictions of Future Fantasy

Submitted by Virge on Sat, Aug 2, 2003 - 14:50
in

PTerry news -- the blurb about "Monstrous Regiment" on the cover of the uncorrected book proof ('not for distribution or resale') reads:

"It began as a sudden strange fancy...
"Polly Perks had to become a boy in a hurry. Cutting off her hair and wearing trousers was easy. Learning to fart and belch in public and walk like an ape took more time... " And now she's enlisted in the army, and searching for her lost brother. But there's a war on. There's always a war on. And Polly and her fellow recruits are suddenly in the thick of it, without any training, and the enemy is hunting them. "All they have on their side is the most artful sergeant in the army and a vampire with a lust for coffee. Well ... they have the Secret. And as they take the war to the heart of the enemy, they have to use all the resources of ... the Monstrous Regiment."
(Source: Letter by Colin Smythe to Discworld Monthly)
Sounds fun.

Baddies

Submitted by Virge on Sat, Aug 2, 2003 - 14:49
in

Will we see Sauron in the movies?
Some interesting notes on creating a brilliant uber-baddy.

I take back what I said about Yahoo Geocities back on 28th July. It must have been some temporary glitches they were dealing with over about a week. Logins and uploads are back to flawless.

Changing the topic

Submitted by Virge on Fri, Aug 1, 2003 - 14:49
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This journal is all about me, me, me - and I know you would prefer it if was about you. Ok, let's talk about you for a while. I'm feeling a bit drained so you'll have to help me here. Yes I know you've been trying to help but I just don't seem to follow the thread of your conversation. What do you mean you don't like it when I try to second guess your responses? No, it's exactly what you said - or what you were about to say. That's not true!. I've never tried to put words in your mouth. Well, thank you very much! Who's journal is this anyway?

I think I'll change the topic.

Here's a fun site: Insultmonger
It has quotes like:

If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
- Paul Beatty

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
- H. L. Mencken

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists.
- Jean Rostand

Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.
- Linus Torvalds

There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
- Dave Barry

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
- John Kenneth Galbraith

She plunged into a sea of platitudes, and with the powerful breast stroke of a channel swimmer, made her confident way towards the white cliffs of the obvious.
- W. Somerset Maugham

Self Reference

Submitted by Virge on Fri, Aug 1, 2003 - 14:29
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Virge: "Welcome to my public journal. This is where I post all sorts of rumblings, ramblings and rhymes. Some of the stuff in here will be verging on sanity. Most of it will go nowhere near."
Reader: "Do I really have to be insane to read this?"
Virge: "Not to read it - but to understand it."