Friends

[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

Below are the 25 most recent friends journal entries:

July 7th, 2008
12:45 am montecook [Link]	Race and Gender in D&D Art When I worked at TSR, there was always basically a truism in cover art--the central figure had to be a white male. Most of us actually helping to create the cover art, either by conceiving it or actually creating it, hated that kind of outlook, but the powers that be believed that our audience was entirely white males and they needed someone that they could identify with on the cover. This was absurd for two reasons: 1. You're talking about a game where you pretend to be elves, halflings, or other things that are different from you, is it so hard to believe that the people who engage in this hobby might be able to see beyond themselves? 2. It's not only incorrect to assume that the audience is all white males, but it just makes the issue worse when the artwork only fixates on white males. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy, in other words. So, when D&D was bought by WotC and we started working on 3E, we really felt that this was a time when we could break this mold. We worked with the artists to create iconic characters of different ethnicities (both in appearance and in name) and with equal representation of male and female. At some point in the process, someone said, "hey, you don't have a male human fighter in the mix." We replied, "exactly." The reasons were again, twofold: 1. In order to be true to the system, we wanted the iconic fighter to a dwarf, because dwarves are the race that favors the fighter class. 2. It was a thumb to the nose of the old TSR requirement. Because, sadly, the people who noted that there was no "male human fighter" were basically saying "white human male fighter." It was our intention that while humans would be multi-ethnic, nonhumans were just that. So Tordek wasn't a white dwarf or a black dwarf, he was just a dwarf. So the core fighter wasn't a white guy. At least that was our intention. Then, I went to Clarion (a six week writer's workshop). 3E was design was basically done, and so the game was in the hands of others (editors, marketing people, etc.), so it didn't seem to matter that I would be gone. But when I came back, there was suddenly this... guy. A big, burly human fighter. Regdar intruded his way into 3E, empowered by marketing and sales people. At the last minute, in a matter of just those few short weeks, the old TSR standard reared its ugly head. Not only was Regdar on the scene, he was in the spotlight. This was the character that would be on the cardboard standees and other promotional items, and would usually take center stage in the covers. I was caught entirely off-guard and was far too late to even comment on him. Now, to his credit, the initial Regdar artist, Todd Lockwood, made Regdar's ethnicity kind of vague. (Regdar had shown up in Todd's earlier sketches when he designed the look of 3E armor.) It's only in later artwork that Regdar seems to be pretty clearly the white male fighter we tried to avoid. And to the credit of a number of people--artists, art directors, designers and editors alike--our disdain for Regdar made its way into a lot of art. If you look closely, Regdar is getting thrashed on most of the early pieces he shows up in. (Look for his ignominious fate on the original DM's Screen, for example.) Once Sue and I started Malhavoc Press, we tried very hard to have a diversity in both ethnicity and gender in our art. We already knew that unless you specified non-white, non-male, that's what you would get from most artists. In other words, if I asked for a drawing of a warrior, I'd get a white guy unless I specifically asked for something else. And I'm not trying to be harsh toward any artists--it's just the stereotypes of the genre that we need to loosen. We recently got a lot of Malhavoc artwork framed and hung up. A friend was looking at it and said she could tell that it was from our books because the women were sensibly dressed. That made both of us feel pretty good. We've slipped up now and again, but I'm pretty proud of our books in this regard. I hope that it made even a little difference. I hope it's a maybe even a trend that can continue. (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
09:35 pm evildmguy [Link]	Busy 4th Busy holiday weekend. We went to a parade with my niece on Friday. Without my niece in it, it's not our thing. Of course, I am spoiled by the band festival in my hometown. In any case, it was fun to watch her in it. We thought we would spend more time with my sister and her family but then we did our own thing. We went to see Hancock. I thought it was good. I didn't know much about it and liked it. I liked how different it was. Then, we just hung out. I worked on CC3 (Campaign Cartographer 3) a bit as I am working on "updating" the maps to make them look pretty. I am still learning but it's going well. Saturday, a friend came in from out of town and he and I went to see Wanted. It was also good. Angelina just got to look cool and be sexy. Seriously. She didn't have many lines. I liked it. Got to see scenes for the next Bond movie, which looks good. I know they are trying to use Fleming's titles but if they aren't following the story, why bother with the title? Then, we played games that night. We were supposed to go to my sister's but didn't. She probably wasn't happy but hopefully it wasn't too big of a deal. After games, we rented Burn Notice, a TV show. Very good show. It's about serious stuff, and I think that is there, but it treats it as light and fluffy and it works. Then, we took a break and lit some fireworks. Very cool. Got asked not to do that. Shouldn't have lit off the second one but it had a nice ending. More Burn Notice then bed time. We spent more time with our friend until he had to leave, including Wii. We went through all of the pinball games, playing most only once. I thought it was fun and wanted to show him. Then we did Wii bowling with my wife and sil. The first game, I didn't do so well but the second game I started out with six strikes in a row! I didn't get another strike, unfortunately, but some spares and ended up with 212. Not my high for Wii but certainly better than I can do in real life! As that friend left, another showed up and we hung out with her for a while, including going to B&N. I picked up the comic Wanted to see what that was like and how the movie changed it. Haven't read it yet. Also picked up a DND novel and some Penny Arcade compilations. In the meantime, though, I have to finish Stray. It rambles a bit here and there but it's still good. Not a page turner but I do like it. Once I finish that, I can read a DND trilogy where the third book came out. It means re-reading the first book but then I think it will be better to read it all in a row. So, lots going on and a busy weekend. I hope people who celebrate Independence day on July 4 had a good one. I hope everyone else has had a good week. edg (Leave a comment)
10:28 pm suricattus [Link]	she's spamming LJ today.... Some bad news (Tom Disch's death, which is a loss to the genre, plus some other things of a personal nature) matched with some good things (dinner with friends over fine wine and laughter). Thus is life, I suppose. It was offered tonight that I am the happiest I've ever been. I suspect this is true. Which is odd, because there is still much in my life that is not what might be considered perfect... but I'm okay with the lack of perfection. I'm happy. I laugh a lot, and sigh very little.* This, no doubt, means that my writing productivity is going to take a hit. Damn. But the novels will still be written, because they too make me happy. Hey, fakefrenchie*! Maybe you'll finally get the wished-for fluffy short story! pauses* Nahhh...... fanged grin except when I consider politics, and the general state of the world. But I persevere, and fight for what I consider Right (which is generally but not always facing Left, yes) that whole "creative types must be miserable to create Art?" Has a grain of truth in it. But only a grain, thank the Universe. We must also be content within our own skins, to a certain extent. You can't create if you don't know who you are, first. Current Mood:* sleepy Tags: personal (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
07:19 pm mrockwell [Link]	Writing Submission, StarLine, 7/6 Busy sorting through my picks for both this year's Rhysling Award and the Mindflights Poetry Contest, for which I am one of three judges. Not writing much poetry myself these days -- my mind is pretty much consumed with the novel, which continues to (knock on wood) flow well. Not writing much in the way of short fiction, either, though I did get an invitation to join a local professional (i.e., SFWA) writer's group, which was nice. Maybe when the book is out the door and I'm not bound and gagged by my NDA, I'll take them up on it. Everything Else Had a busy 4th of July here. The ILs were in town, so there was the obligatory BBQ and fireworks, plus some hiking, church-going, and piano-moving thrown in for fun. Yes, we are now the proud caretakers of the family piano, which delights YB to no end. Unfortunately, it needs to be tuned in the worst way, and after about five minutes of YB's otherwise delightful key-pounding, self-mutilation via a screwdriver through the eardrum seems like both a sane and, indeed, a much more pleasant option. Anyway, hope you all had a great weekend. God bless America! Current Mood: Ah, the earthy tang of Soju! (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
09:20 pm irysangel [Link]	Proposal = Finito Done! First 3 chapters and a synopsis are completed. Moonrat, I'm a whole 6 days overdue on our deadline (boo). It feels good to have it completed. I left off at a great spot, and I'm full of love and snuggles for my book again. Some characters are easy to slip into. It needs one more quick skim before it goes off to my agent. Other than that, I confess my brain is fried at the moment. We got cable this weekend (hooray!) and I watched about 6 hours of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Network. Utterly fascinating. We have HBO and Cinemax and a few other premium channels free for the first month, but we haven't even glanced at them yet. There's too much other stuff on TV! Zomg! So much to watch! And we can record shows on the DVR! It feels like a decadent luxury to have cable again after 4 years. At any rate, I digress. A few metrics to toss off before skittering away to hang laundry: Metrics for SFi Word Count: 9600 or so overall. Still anticipating a 90k book. Mean Things: Someone's on trial. rubs hands like evil Nice Things: None? Oh wait, there's a lot of man-candy in the room with my succubus. But she hates them all, so I don't think it counts. Things I need to fix: Just some tweaking here and there. Overall I'm pretty durn pleased. Things to think up before next writing session: Trial stuffs. Currently Reading: Red Hot Fury by Kasey Mackenzie Special Typo of the Day: I typed 'Whorey Water' instead of Holy Water. Not sure how I managed that. My brain must be off. Current Mood: enthralled Tags: proposal, sfi (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
09:54 pm silentorphan [Link]	Before I forget... Happy Birthday, mikasaigo. (Leave a comment)
03:24 am starkilla [Link]	Trailer #4: Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army Originally published at Starkilla. You can comment here or there. Und wieder habe ich einen schönen Trailer gefunden und will in hier direkt mal einbinden. Diesmal geht es um Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army. Ich fand den ersten Teil schon ziemlich gut und ich glaube der zweite Teil wird noch besser. Ich mag einfach den trockenen Humor des Hauptdarstellers! Kennt eigentlich noch wer die Serie Die Schöne und das Biest? Tags: uncategorized (Leave a comment)
02:50 am starkilla [Link]	trnd.com #1: Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite Originally published at Starkilla. You can comment here or there. Ich habe mich vor kurzer Zeit bei trnd.com angemeldet. trnd.com ist eine Seite wo man sich für verschieden Projekte bewerben kann. Ziel dieser Projekte ist es neue Produkte zu testen und über diese Mundpropaganda zu machen. Die Projekte sind dabei ziemlich unterschiedlich und man muss Dienstleistungen, Produkte etc. testen. Kurz nach meiner Anmeldung habe ich mich direkt für das Projekt Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite beworben, bei dem man eine Zahnbürste testen muss. Diese Zahnbürste benutzt die neuste Sonicare HealthyWhite Technologie, welche eine gründliche Reinigung der Zähne gewährleistet und gleichzeitig auch dabei hilft weißere Zähne zu bekommen. Glücklicherweise habe ich direkt die Chance bekommen an diesem Projekt teilzunehmen und so kam dann ein paar Tage ein großes Paket bei mir an. In den folgenden Fotos kann man sehen, was alles in diesem Paket versteckt war: In dem Paket waren folgende Dinge: 1 Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite (das Top-Modell mit allen Putzeinstellungen). 10 zusätzliche Bürstenaufsätze. 40 Produktflyer. 40 Umfragebögen (inkl. frankiertem Rückumschlag). 5 trnd-Rabattgutscheine à 10 €/ 15 CHF 3 Projektfahrpläne. Was mir direkt besonders auffiel war die Tatsache, dass bei der Zahnbürste ein Reiseetui dabei war. Ich finde es immer ätzend, wenn man nach einem Flug etc. sich alles aus dem Koffer wieder zusammensuchen muss Ich habe die Zahnbürste jetzt ca. 2 Wochen in Benutzung und ich muss echt sagen, dass ich total begeistert von ihr bin. Ich hatte vorher schon mal eine elektrische Zahnbürste, aber ich fand immer dass die Zähne davon nicht wirklich sauber werden und gleichzeitig mein Zahnfleisch weh tat. Also bin ich bei der letzten elektrischen Zahnbürste nach kurzer Zeit wieder auf meine normale Zahnbürste umgestiegen. Die ganzen Probleme gibt es bei der neuen elektrischen Zahnbürste, der Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite nicht. Selbst in der Einstellung Clean and White, welche die intensivste Einstellung ist, gibt es absolut keine Beschwerden am Zahnfleisch. Ein Signal an der Zahnbürste hilft dabei, dass man seine Zähne die richtige Zeit zu putzen. Am Anfang ist der Ultraschallmodus etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig. Es kitzelt beim ersten Putzen doch ziemlich, aber das Gefühl geht nach dem zweiten oder dritten Putzen weg. Das Sauberkeitsgefühl ist nach dem Putzen auch unbeschreiblich und ich bin persönlich der Meinung, dass ich noch nie in meinem Leben so wenig Zahnbelag gehabt hab! Ziel des ganzen Projekts ist es natürlich anderen Leuten die Zahnbürste näher zu bringen und da dem ganzen Paket 10 Aufsätze beilagen muss im Moment jeder Besuch bei mir probeputzen. Die Resonanz war bisher durchweg positiv. Auf meiner Geburtstagsparty nächste Woche werden noch mehr Leute in den Genuß der Zahnbürste kommen Die Produktflyer sind auch schon fast komplett verteilt und es sind nur noch ein paar Umfragebögen übrig. Ich kann jedem nur empfehlen bei trnd.com mitzumachen, da mein erstes Projekt dort echt sehr viel Spaß macht! Tags: netstuff (Leave a comment)
July 6th, 2008
03:05 pm grubb_street [Link]	Housekeeping http://grubbstreet.blogspot.com/2008/07/housekeeping.html It's a bit chill and overcast in the real world, so I've been doing some clean-up on the virtual Grubb Street today. In the process I've taken everything over from Blogger's old busted-down "templates" to their new-fangled "layouts". And in doing so I am striving to make the new version look pretty much like the old version. And I think I'm close. One thing that really bothers me is it feels (Leave a comment)
06:35 pm suricattus [Link]	FAQ that! All right, I've been promising to get a FAQ for the Cosa Nostradamus up and running... but I need to know what you guys have questions about! (I have a few already in the hopper, but I'd like at least ten to make the list worthwhile.) So. Here's where you ante up. Ask away. (and no, you don't need an LJ account to post!) (after a certain point this post will be pre-dated so it always appears right under the Inevitably Incomplete Bibliography) Current Mood: qu'est-ce que? Tags: ask a question enough times, pupi, retrievers (5 comments \| Leave a comment)
01:41 pm grubb_street [Link]	Secret Tape http://grubbstreet.blogspot.com/2008/07/secret-tape.html So I've got a secret illegal tape that's fallen into my hands, from a couple months back, after Super Tuesday. After careful consideration and vetting, I've decided to share it with everyone, since it couldn't possibly do any damage at this late date. Male Voice: Hello? Female Voice: Barr? It's Hill. Male Voice: Hilary? You know what time it is? Female Voice: Three AM. I knew you'd be up. Look, (Leave a comment)
02:46 pm stannex [Link]	Drawing For Fun ... And A Little Profit So, I was wrong yesterday when I said that I'd be able to do EVERYTHING I'd originally planned before my unexpected car troubles. In point of fact, I only got about 75% done ... but that 75% was all of the penciling, lettering, and inking of new Bolt & Quiver and 10x10 Toon comics for issue #6 of Kobold Quarterly. The remaining 25% (the scanning, coloring, and final prep work) I did earlier today. I have to say, and some of you may actually be getting tired of hearing me say this, I LOVE drawing! As much as I enjoy writing and doing game design ... making comics is what I LOVE to do. I have an easier time getting up in the morning, getting right to work, and staying productive for long hours at a stretch. In fact, I often forget to take breaks for things like ... oh ... MEALS. Doing comics engrosses me UTTERLY. I STILL haven't figured out a way to make it PAY well enough to be even a significant part of my income ... but that's still the dream. (And it's a testament to how wonderful a life I've got that my "make money in the meanwhile" job is writing and game design.) While working on the most recent cartoons, I came across something I'd meant to share about a month ago. It is an UNUSED Bolt & Quiver strip that originally was going to be in Kobold Quarterly #5. However, there were some issues with it. First, and foremost, the JOKE relies on the reader having an understanding of the relationship between the main characters ... a relationship that I haven't made apparent in the comic since some time in 2003. While it might be mildly amusing without that knowledge, it's really not FUNNY and could be rather confusing. Second, from an editorial standpoint, between B&Q and 10x10, I'd done about four or five 4E related jokes in a row ... and all the research done on the subscribers said that they really weren't all that interested in 4E. And, on top of that, the GSI still was MIA at that point ... and it was unclear what relationship the magazine was going to have with this new edition. So, despite the fact that this comic was already done, I voluntarily withdrew it and did a different one (that you can see if you go subscribe to Kobold Quarterly and get the latest issue. Still, this comic amuses ME. And since this blog is ALL about me, I thought I'd share it. So here, for the first time anywhere, I present to you ... Bolt & Quiver #42: (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
02:51 pm bobmungovan [Link]	Who's your daddy! As opposed to "whose you're daddy!" ----------------- Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test... English Genius You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/. Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy Tags: meme, quiz (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
05:20 pm greysil [Link]	Oops! I just temporarily broke my computer... I was wanting to open a command prompt in the window I was in. Opening a command prompt is easy, but if you're wanting to do something in a specific folder, you've either got to type out the full path a couple of times or navigate there thru the command prompt. Neither task is difficult, but when you want to do something, you don't want to have to go thru extra steps to get there... So I googled "right-click command prompt". On the first page, I found a clear set of instructions. I followed them. The instructions added the option to open a command prompt, with it right in the directory I was already in. Awesome! But for some reason, clicking on a folder now made opening the command prompt the default option. Not awesome! I tried to figure out how to change it back, and couldn't. I managed to change the default option to another program, but that still wasn't what I wanted. So I had to do that which I really prefer not doing: I had to muck about in the registry. Luckily, it was a simple fix from there, but still... Registry, bad. I once hosed a machine so badly it wouldn't boot by screwing up the registry. I have a very healthy respect for the registry, and I don't like messing with it too much. At some point in time, I'm going to be doing that process again. Maybe on a rebuild of this system, maybe on another. I know it will happen. So I copied the instructions, and added notes so I don't hose it again. ^^; (Leave a comment)
03:40 pm irysangel [Link]	Idea-Sharing (Writing Nattering) Here's something that came up on a message board that I frequent. Someone wrote up an idea. They went publicly and said "Help me out. I have an idea here." I posted feedback, and someone didn't like my feedback. The original poster hasn't replied yet, and I'm wondering if he went away in a depressive moment and decided his idea was crap. Here's the thing kids (not that anyone's a kid, but I just like saying that, hee). I struggled with this concept for a while until this realization struck me. You ready for it? Here we go: ( All the secrets of the universe behind here! ) Current Mood: contemplative Tags: writing foo, writing wank (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
04:33 pm ellen_datlow [Link]	Horror Editors' roundtable Dark Scribe online has just posted a "roundtable" (we never interacted) of me, Nick Mamatas, and Mort Castle about short horror fiction. No particularly new revelations but still interesting (I kept thinking..why didn't I say that!) Revealing the Secret Minds of Editors (5 comments \| Leave a comment)
03:49 pm ellen_datlow [Link]	Thomas M. Disch RIP I've just found out that Tom Disch committed suicide in his apartment on July 4th. He was found by a friend who lives a few blocks away. I'm shocked, saddened, but not very surprised. Tom had been depressed for several years and was especially hit by the death of his longtime partner Charles Naylor. He also was very worried about being evicted from the rent controlled apartment he lived in for decades. I last visited with him about a month ago, when I ran into him shopping at the Greenmarket across the street from where he lived (he rarely went out because he had trouble walking). He invited me up for cheese and bread which we bought together at the market and I visited for an hour or two. He seemed more optimistic about his work than he'd been for at least a year as he had three books/novellas coming out over the next year. Tom wrote wonderful stories (I only read one or two of his novels but kept meaning to read more) and if you haven't ever read the collections Getting into Death or Fundamental Disch you need to find and read them. Tom, as much as you were a bitter, sometimes mean curmudgeon--I'll miss you. (84 comments \| Leave a comment)
10:25 pm bright_lilim [Link]	Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels: Star Trek: Taking Wing These are the voyages of Captain William Riker and his crew aboard the U.S.S. Titan. The crew consists of many, many species and even has a few non-humanoid members. Long-time TNG fans are also treated with TNG minor character Alyssa Ogawa as the chief nurse and the Romulan Tomalak as one of the opponents. However, I was a bit distressed when I found out that apparently there are a quite a few TNG books which are set in the time before Nemesis. 1 Some of this book's characters seem to be from these TNG books and so, unfortunately were unfamiliar to me, such as the First Officer Commander Christine Vale and Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru. ( Read more... ) Tags: review (Leave a comment)
11:59 am revena [Link]	Another Review at Reading by Moonslight The cast at Reading by Moonslight have another review up. Webmistress Niki actually liked this one! Current Mood: silly (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
10:47 am pandemonium_bks [goldeneye1] [Link]	Possible lost item back in February Hi everyone, I was in one of your Board Game Night events back in February, and I think I lost a black leather-type portfolio folder in the events area. That folder, I believe at last check, contained mail addressed to me as and also at least one personal document of mine. This folder should also has gold-colored lettering commemorating a convention which took place back in 2000, and has quite a bit of pockets in it. The possible nights that I may have lost this folder could be February 13, 20 (most likely) or 27, if I indeed last had it there. If you have seen this folder or possibly have it which fits the description, please let me know. Thanks! (Leave a comment)
09:58 am suricattus [Link]	in which I am ambushed by fannish A question was raised, during my rather surreal weekend: "Has anyone ever written Mrs. What meeting Dr. Who?" As this question came from someone I had no idea was a fannish sort, I almost fell off my chair. A quick check via various Crackberries returned no hits on the all-powerful Internet. And we were sad. Because Mrs. Who, What and Which taking the Dr. to task would be awesome, would it not? Has anyone ever seen such a thing? Is anyone willing to undertake such a thing? Current Mood: amused Tags: ask a question enough times (18 comments \| Leave a comment)
09:35 am puppetmaker40 [Link]	RTBTCKI "I have seen Journey's End" Edition And I am asking for no spoilers in the comment section please. Let's wait until SciFi shows it in about a month I think (4 episodes left to air on SciFi). My non-spoiler gut feeling having watched it twice now is that I liked it. It was not perfect but considering all the stuff that was crammed into those last 3 episodes, it was not a bad conclusion to the season. I will remind people that RTD is not out the door yet. He is still the show running until 2010. Again lets avoid spoilers or harsh language. I know that these last couple of episodes have caused quite a bit of consternation within fandom and I know that my experience is not yours. Caroline is much better. She showed me this morning that she could bend her little finger without too much trouble. The red areas are reducing slowly and I am working on keeping her from scratching at them. Bad reaction to bug bites which means I have to make use that when she goes out that she is protected. It is just Caroline and me today as Peter is driving Ariel to bowling camp. This is Ariel's first sleep away camp. I think she is going to have a blast. Shoreleave is next weekend and, even thought I am not doing a costume, I have a lot to do. I have a table at the Art Show. I am not sure what is going to be on that table but something will appear. Might be the last appearance of redone 10 before he starts his journey across the pond to his new owner. I also need to figure out what I am doing for DragonCon. I am leaning towards a set of Torchwood hand puppets for the hand puppet set this year. I do have a few things to do during Shoreleave. I am looking forward to them all and everyone I am going to see there. It will be nice to go. Caroline is looking forward to it too. I am grateful that Caroline can bend her finger without crying. (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
03:18 pm bright_lilim [Link]	Happy birthday to trixtah! (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
03:21 am blue_succubus [Link]	Stella!!! A third post in the same day! This is what happens when I work...I end up taking breaks and writing about random things. As part of my Fourth of July extravaganza, I went and saw WALL-E, Pixar's latest digitally animated tour de force. And as a side note? After watching the previews at that movie, it appears that all films this year are going to be digitally animated. And 3-D. I'm not sure how 3-D came back in vogue, but apparently, it's the new talkie. Anyway, I probably wouldn't have seen WALL-E if left to my own devices. I like Pixar's stuff and animated stuff in general, but I hadn't heard anything about this one, other than the fact that it was about a robot. But, investigation unearthed really good reviews, so off I went with the gang--and I'm glad I did. The reviews were totally justified. If I'd had any idea that this cute animated flick secretly housed a dark vision of humanity's downfall and rebirth, as well as stark metaphors about environmentalism and dystopia...well, I would have been there on opening day. On an only slightly less profound note, I was especially enchanted by the minimal dialogue that the robot protagonists had. They usually spoke in one word sentences, and often, that one word would be either their own name or another character's name. Yet, in saying that one name, they were able to convey a whole world of context and meaning. And at first, I thought it was brilliance on the part of the movie makers for thinking of that. But, while the execution might have been brilliant, the concept isn't that revolutionary. And finally, we get to the point of this post. Conveying complex messages and meanings merely by speaking someone's name is something we do all the time. Half of my conversations with my cats consists of me simply saying their names a certain way, whether it's a staccato chastisement for being on the counter (Katie!!) or a sing-song declaration of affection upon finding an adorable fuzzy ball sleeping on my couch (Kaaaatieeee...). Each pronunciation and inflection has its own range of meaning, and my cats understand each one perfectly well. Likewise, everyone knows the terror of your parents saying your full name in that voice. That meant you were in trouble, even if they never said another word. Even grown up, when I hear my full name, I wonder what I did wrong. And on the opposite side of the spectrum, saying someone's name can communicate a world of love and sentiment--a technique I've discovered I put into my books a lot without even realizing it. In the Vampire Academy world, Rose has noted with amazement that Dimitri can simply say her name and, based on his tone, let her know that he either cares about her or that she needs to get her act together. In the succubus universe, Seth, short on (spoken) words, also frequently expresses his love for Georgina by saying only her name. My favorite part of this name-communication phenomenon is when you're able to mix multiple messages and feelings. For example: whenever I relate wacky mishap to a certain friend of mine, she can shake her head and say my name in a manner that tells me she is both sympathetic to whatever went wrong and also highly amused at the crazy circumstances I continually find myself in. Similarly, I often speak the boyfriend's name in a way that lets him know that he has both exasperated me and endeared himself to me--and that while I don't understand why those two always happen together, it amuses me and makes me like him more. And finally, while this last example doesn't involve our actual names, Caitlin Kittredge and I have refined the word "Dude" into several distinct meanings, ranging from "That is so wrong and totally unjust" to "Seriously? OMG. That's the best thing I've ever heard!" See the power a name holds? Enough to write a whole post about it. And my one-word title here is much more awesome than something lame like "What's in a name?" (at least it is if you're a Tennessee Williams fan). What about you guys? Am I alone in using the name as a means of communication? Current Location: The couch Current Mood: contemplative Tags: richelle the philosopher (13 comments \| Leave a comment)
02:30 am kijjohnson [Link]	Still alive, still busy. Cafe Beautiful last night. Bouldering at Rock City today -- so much fun. Details tomorrow, I hope. (Leave a comment)

[<< Previous 25 entries]

My Website

Advertisement

English Genius

Advertisement