tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15596574707420331342024-03-05T07:51:32.650-08:00The Rubbish BinHaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-57894829210751653392014-10-24T13:31:00.004-07:002014-10-24T13:32:08.260-07:00"With Polish" Is Online!My flash fiction piece "With Polish" is online today as Every Day Fiction's story of the day!<br />
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You can read it <a href="http://www.everydayfiction.com/with-polish-by-h-l-cassel/">here.</a><br />
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"With Polish" is actually the inspiration for a much larger project that I have stuffed away for when I'm done with my current WIP. It's ended up nothing like the short story, but I wouldn't have been able to get there without writing this. So, even if it's mostly a stepping stone, I still think it's important.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-3646430113134012202014-10-20T11:17:00.003-07:002014-10-20T11:17:54.943-07:00First Time PublicationHave I said that I'm going to be a published author soon? Yeah, I maybe neglected to mention that...<br />
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On Friday, October 24th, my story "With Polish" will be featured as the story of the day at EveryDayFiction.com. Which is really exciting. I'm going to be paid and everything for it. Late September they gave me the notice and I freaked out and spent the rest of the day doing last-minute tweaks because they said I could.<br />
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I know that while it's not "officially" a part of Every Day Fiction's Halloween lineup, which starts the 27th, but I like to think that maybe the timing of publication has to do with it being a little spooky? I don't know.<br />
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Anyway, I'll be sure to post a link when it's live!Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-48513563156035339382014-09-02T13:53:00.000-07:002014-09-02T13:53:18.094-07:00Bonsai Diary #2I know it's only the second day of having the tiny tree but something very exciting happened.<br />
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The bonsai's first bloom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXHGeSMmvxtnod9-ayuhp_nLJm0Vo2CAxTtzPDbrdqvRqzygkvyOm2Luv-1g03KDhOfRhh7Z7kkrFqgZ2oXWd42J6Rc_A2Ew6yxVf8HU6kIgoluofxBOwuXOYrYMP0OKljPqbfdcJeepT/s1600/bonsaiflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXHGeSMmvxtnod9-ayuhp_nLJm0Vo2CAxTtzPDbrdqvRqzygkvyOm2Luv-1g03KDhOfRhh7Z7kkrFqgZ2oXWd42J6Rc_A2Ew6yxVf8HU6kIgoluofxBOwuXOYrYMP0OKljPqbfdcJeepT/s1600/bonsaiflower.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></div>
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I've heard that cutting off the flowers the day after they bloom encourages grewias to flower more, but I think I will hold off on any kind of alteration and just enjoy it as is.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-82387020896945335912014-09-01T18:35:00.001-07:002014-09-01T18:35:34.718-07:00Bonsai Diary #1I am now in possession of an itty bitty tree. Well, it's not a tree, exactly. It's a<i> Grewia occidentalis,</i>a lavender star flower grewia which is more of a shrub, but it's been trained thus far to look like a tree.<br />
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I've also acquired a planter, some tropical bonsai soil, and some gravel for the tree. However I do not want to transplant it yet. I am, with all luck, moving this Thursday. Probably this stress on me is also stress on the tree, so I'm waiting for now. I also want to make sure that it doesn't die. I am notoriously bad at keeping plants.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xnq_ZcQTKw8nxg2A51dzb9mfz94FGT4W4rF2XZ36_YuhPCqs8HaSMS3Nff7NtKN820v3n-UAUIm6xB_vUSZgRYhiHvz67yIBh8Fl4HDG-Kd12eeWssv-2aQuNV4gOW17n1VxxiKqvfNa/s1600/photo-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xnq_ZcQTKw8nxg2A51dzb9mfz94FGT4W4rF2XZ36_YuhPCqs8HaSMS3Nff7NtKN820v3n-UAUIm6xB_vUSZgRYhiHvz67yIBh8Fl4HDG-Kd12eeWssv-2aQuNV4gOW17n1VxxiKqvfNa/s1600/photo-2.jpg" height="338" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The aforementioned itty bitty tree</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fact, I've tried to grow a bonsai once before. It was an Australian bottlebrush and the kit I bought required you to grow them from seed. Australian bottlebrush trees don't germinate right away, though. They need to go through a dormancy period of simulated winter. The kit recommended doing this at the coldest part of your refrigerator and for me that happened to be the meat and cheeses drawer. I followed the kit's instructions, and someone in the house knocked it over and scattered the dirt and seeds all over the cheese. They threw everything out out while cleaning out the drawer, and that was the end of that. I killed my bonsai before it even sprouted.<br />
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Fortunately this bonsai is already sprouted and fairly tall and, better still, a tropical plant so I don't have to worry about any dormancy period care.<br />
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The current plan is to keep the plant watered and keep pruning the dead leaves off and transplant after the move. Then, in a few months, once it's recovered, I can break out the wire and start trying to train it. Considering the plant already has a slight slant to it, I'm planning on aiming for a slanted-style bonsai.<br />
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This is assuming the plant survives the week. If it actually does, I'll give it a name.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-2203817371618039672014-05-04T10:11:00.001-07:002014-05-04T10:11:24.442-07:00"The Town We Do Not Speak Of" Tea Sampler SetI'm a big fan of Welcome to Night Vale even though I'm not completely caught up with the episodes yet. And I also really like tea. So the <a href="http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/fandom_sets.html">"The Town We Do Not Speak Of" Tea Sampler Set</a> set at Adagio seemed relevant to my interests.<br />
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As many fans of WTNV know, Commonplace Books has a policy against selling unofficial merchandise -- eg, fan art prints, individual costumes, things like that that are in a legal gray area that larger copyright holders don't bother to prosecute or even look at. WTNV is a very small yet very popular venture and can use all the money they can get. I totally respect that.<br />
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Fortunately, <a href="http://areyoutryingtodeduceme.tumblr.com/faq">Joseph Fink himself has signed off on the creation of "The Town We Do Not Speak Of" tea as long as it uses neither the WTNV logo nor the words "Night Vale" in them</a>, which is the reason for the fancy-pants name of the sampler. So, we can enjoy this tea relatively guilt-free -- though if you want to support WTNV financially you should still either donate or buy their merch on their official site, <a href="http://commonplacebooks.com/">Commonplace Books</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPxJpZJvYR5JwvNPPEXpZF1jpO0Ai9i5ML8WdcFKciBQnXwMLB7fuE34HbuFIzvT74WxDSd9r6gcU_h5F8Ok8jXPXiI91ZSBZyJlZDFBOaivD7CyUFYZ6W_x2D_BlS_-CPAdZpomlFRMj/s1600/photo-21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPxJpZJvYR5JwvNPPEXpZF1jpO0Ai9i5ML8WdcFKciBQnXwMLB7fuE34HbuFIzvT74WxDSd9r6gcU_h5F8Ok8jXPXiI91ZSBZyJlZDFBOaivD7CyUFYZ6W_x2D_BlS_-CPAdZpomlFRMj/s1600/photo-21.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a>Anyway, the actual tea. The sampler set comes with six nice tins with pretty label stickers on the top. Adagio says that each tin contains approximately 5 servings of tea, so the whole set is about 30 cups of tea total. The set has 4 black teas (Perfect Carlos, Sheriff's Secret Police, Steve Carlsburg, and The Weather) and 2 green/white teas (Glow Cloud, Cecil [The Voice]). Because a lot of the black teas have some green in them the brewing temperatures are slightly lower than boiling, but for the most part I do not think it matters much. The teas that have no black in them do need care to not use boiling water with them, though.<br />
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As for the individual teas: <br />
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Cecil [The Voice]: I… am not sure about this tea. There's a bit of citrus in it and it smells spicy. I brewed this one twice before writing anything down because there were so many good reviews on the adagio website, because white/green teas are delicate and I thought I was brewing it wrong. While the smell in the box is interesting I found the taste of the actual tea to be pretty weak and bland. <br /><br />Glow Cloud: Green, slightly fruity, satisfying without any additives. I really like this one, would definitely buy again. Probably my favorite of the samples. There's nothing else to say. All hail. ALL HAIL.<br /><br />The Weather: Coconut is not my favorite thing but for some reason this tea is pleasant. I'm not sure if the sprinkles actually added anything but they were kind of cute. Anyway, while this tea tastes fine it actually looks very pretty, like confetti. <br /><br />Steve Carlsburg: I'm usually not into black fruit teas but because this one is grapefruit I love it. I would not think that grapefruit, apple, and vanilla of all things go together but they really do. It's fine plain but you can't really tell there's any apple in there without any sugar. I'm usually not a fan of hibiscus either but in this tea you can't taste it. It's dominantly grapefruit and leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth, the jerk.<br /><br />Sheriff's Secret Police: Okay, after smelling this one, I really expected to like this one more than I do. It smells amazing and spicy, but brewed it tastes kind of coffee-like, almost. It's more dominantly smoky/bitter than spicy. It's still good with cream and sugar. This tea has mate in it, so it's more heavily caffeinated than normal tea and a good number of those pieces fell through my tea strainer. If you can't deal with large amounts of caffeine or bits in your tea I wouldn't recommend it.<br /><br />Perfect Carlos: "Perfect". A sweet and pleasant dessert tea that's dominantly chocolate with no surprises, really. Good with cream and sugar. I can't really think of anything bad to say about it except that compared to the others it's a bit boring.<br />
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There are teas in this set that I would definitely buy again and some that I wouldn't. However the fandom teas on Adagio are kind of pricey and I still find myself drinking mostly the assam in my cupboard rather than reaching for these. The tins are cute though, so I don't regret buying them. I just have to remember I have them and that I should not be "saving them for later" because tea <i>does</i> go bad.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-81685635460587004152014-03-06T10:06:00.001-08:002014-03-06T10:06:46.153-08:00Recipe: Millet Fritters with Spinach and CheeseI like food. I really like cheap food. I also like food that tastes good and is good for you, but most of the times when I'm making stuff the "cheap" wins out. Of the wide assortment of weird exotic grains that they're telling you to eat because they're "good for you" whole grains, one of the least expensive is millet. It's still about 10 cents more per serving than brown rice but compared to quinoa and amaranth it's still damn cheap. Also, at least in my opinion, millet tastes better, especially when fried. Even if it's mostly associated with animal feed, it's worth giving a chance.<br />
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With a lot of health food recipes I've seen, there's a call for other exotic ingredients to go along with the weird grain that may themselves be expensive. Like, what the hell is halloumi? Where am I supposed to get it? This recipe, aside from the millet itself, uses very common ingredients that you probably have on-hand. So, give it a try:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9jFRhN9yYegISssu_mbervuImyMvVo4D7apDR1D4_pllo72zItRPaZuE2MHgpClGS_8732LQe9PdL7Mc-_VLboTenRNELczCdNY_u_bcDht7FLFWtFnuz5W83wWx_SVSmlcw13hkjkV9/s1600/photo(15).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9jFRhN9yYegISssu_mbervuImyMvVo4D7apDR1D4_pllo72zItRPaZuE2MHgpClGS_8732LQe9PdL7Mc-_VLboTenRNELczCdNY_u_bcDht7FLFWtFnuz5W83wWx_SVSmlcw13hkjkV9/s1600/photo(15).JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fritters (left) as part of a bento. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Ingredients:<br />
1 cup dry millet<br />
2 cups water<br />
1 bullion cube (either chicken or vegetable flavor)<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 medium onion<br />
1/2 cup spinach, frozen<br />
minced garlic to taste<br />
pinch of salt<br />
flour<br />
olive oil<br />
mozzarella cheese (optional)<br />
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1. Cook the millet using the two cups of water and the bullion cube. I have a rice cooker so I used that and set it to the "brown rice" setting. If you don't have a rice cooker, use the directions on the back of the packaging or <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-perfect-millet-every-time-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-185974">online directions</a> if you bought in bulk.<br />
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2. Lay out the millet in a sheet to cool off -- about 30 minutes<br />
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3. While that's happening, dice your onion as small as you can. Thaw your spinach and break it up into pieces.<br />
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3. Crack open three eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat until mixed. Add the millet, onion, and spinach, and mix well. Then add the garlic and salt.<br />
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4. Add the flour a tablespoon at a time until you find that the mixture just sticks together well enough to form patties. They don't have to be big patties, about the size of a bottom of a drinking glass.<br />
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5. Heat up some olive oil in a pan with a lid on medium-low heat. Add the patties, making sure they don't touch, and cover, cooking for 5 minutes. Uncover and flip the patties over, cooking for another 5 minutes<br />
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6. Stick a fork in 'er, she's done. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese if desired. These keep a few days in the refrigerator.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-58691540343171259662014-03-03T19:44:00.004-08:002014-03-03T19:44:41.437-08:00Gallery ExperienceOn Wednesday I attended a gallery opening at a gallery my friend works for. Though the gallery is very new, I'd attended some gallery events before. However this was the first where I had actually had artwork in the show.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr80oKFIzlRRA0muwMjH_bzzmN1HZ343-PUougyBC_IGlC8cxVNv0SXmnnb0uDM3urZ6FfT4wY3vO6nNTnpOPckhyphenhyphenHhXsL4g6k7ggmNeM1hck7kmO0m_V8Kwq3cZftbzhK3QqAEBV-RSLy/s1600/RAD!.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr80oKFIzlRRA0muwMjH_bzzmN1HZ343-PUougyBC_IGlC8cxVNv0SXmnnb0uDM3urZ6FfT4wY3vO6nNTnpOPckhyphenhyphenHhXsL4g6k7ggmNeM1hck7kmO0m_V8Kwq3cZftbzhK3QqAEBV-RSLy/s1600/RAD!.png" height="244" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RAD!, currently in the gallery. It's a paper cutting.</td></tr>
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It's a very weird experience. My friend had asked me to send in my art, so I did. I didn't really think that much of it, even though I spent like 30 hours on the pictures and even longer on finding frames. Despite doing all this crap I never really thought of myself as an "artist". I was a writer, maybe, not really. The main reason I could never think of myself as an artist was because I never really prioritized making art. I prioritized school, which after elementary school had nothing to do with art, I prioritized writing, sometimes probably more than I should, but I always thought of art as more of a hobby than anything that could be anything more. I enjoyed looking at all of the art there and was very impressed by a lot of them (particularly <a href="http://www.popebrothersart.com/">Bly and Rowan Pope</a> -- even though only Bly was in the show I've seen both of their works, and they're amazing). It felt weird because I did not have a lot of the 'art school experience' a lot of the younger artists in particular had, and also I have no fondness for paint and could not relate to a lot of the media troubles most everyone else had as painters.<br />
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Now that I've done it once I do want to try again, even though framing in particular is hell. It's the same as writing, I guess. Make more and more and more, and submit, submit, submit. Maybe I will post more art here, sometime. It's not like writing where putting it somewhere makes it unsubmittable, I think.</div>
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Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-11258071839290034972013-06-25T16:01:00.002-07:002015-02-01T23:22:05.081-08:00Ebooks AbroadI have a lot of strong feelings about ebooks and ereaders. However, as I'm finishing up my studies in the Netherlands, I've come to realize how valuable and practical owning an ereader can be.<br />
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There are a lot of people who claim that ereaders are going to kill paper books, and that that's terrible, because there's no beating the feeling of having a book in your hands, and it's also terrible for used bookshops. There are lots of issues with ebook price fixing and the horrors of DRM. A lot of the issues surrounding ebooks are confusing and do not have clear answers because it's all new technology.<br />
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However, there is one thing that ebooks do remarkably well -- they give reading material to people who are not in the physical proximity to purchase it.<br />
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I do not speak Dutch. After over six months in the Netherlands, I can understand some things, and maybe read food labels. My understanding is not up to par to a native speaker or even a second language speaker. I had to keep stopping myself from going into bookstores because I knew that there would not be much for me there. While most bookstores had an English and other foreign language section (I do read French, so that was an option), these sections are typically small and have a very limited selection.<br />
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If I didn't have an ereader, my choice of books here would be between <i>A Game of Thrones</i> or <i>Fifty Shades of Grey.</i> With an ereader and an internet connection, I could browse and purchase from a bookstore or borrow from the library the same selection of books I had at home. This was a pretty amazing revelation, and something that I, and probably many people in opposition to ereaders, take for granted. For an immigrant or second-language learner, ebooks can be an incredible resource. With ebooks, people around you not being interested in the language you want to read do not limit your selection of reading material.<br />
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While some ereaders only support Latin characters, the new editions of Kindle also support Cyrillic, Korean, Japanese, and both traditional and simplified Chinese characters, with the number of ereaders supporting different scripts and the number of different scripts likely only to increase in the future.<br />
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While the current market for ebooks and ereaders has many flaws and virtues, this is a facet of it that every article I've seen on them overlooks. For anyone going abroad for extended periods, I would definitely recommend an ereader.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-78522744056558426572013-01-14T13:53:00.002-08:002013-01-14T13:54:12.151-08:00Rise of the Guardians and the Problem of Evil<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AoDNl-ELkpgXsO9FExohpZX5m2BGrqr-_aUKdufZ0d1hBLl2xb-VokTeGM2d5mikE8oyI1poruGe5tbOIhNoP5AhrJDSh48Ifa6NWDUOj-xikrdBABaImhNF7G-dY6y67qjkHuaNe-1B/s1600/rise-of-the-guardians-poster3-405x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AoDNl-ELkpgXsO9FExohpZX5m2BGrqr-_aUKdufZ0d1hBLl2xb-VokTeGM2d5mikE8oyI1poruGe5tbOIhNoP5AhrJDSh48Ifa6NWDUOj-xikrdBABaImhNF7G-dY6y67qjkHuaNe-1B/s1600/rise-of-the-guardians-poster3-405x600.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: collider.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday I saw the movie <i>Rise of the Guardians</i> after much pestering about the glorious animation. And it was glorious, and I did enjoy it very much despite not exactly sharing all of the traditions in the movie, and I was glad to have the opportunity to see it in theaters. <br />
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But the ending of this movie bothered me very much, actually. First, let me give a quick rundown of the plot:<br />
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A guy revives and is declared "Jack Frost" by the Man in the Moon, and for hundreds of years is invisible to all mortals and causes snow days and general mischief. Elsewhere, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman are guardians of childhood wonder and do things like give kids presents and hide Easter eggs and make good dreams to preserve childhood wonder and protect the children of the world. However this is thrown off by a bad guy, the Boogeyman or "Pitch", who exists to ferment fear in the minds of children, and seeks to destroy the Guardians because he wants to be believed in and feared. Jack Frost is chosen by the Man in the Moon to be a Guardian and to help the existing Guardians defeat the Boogeyman; however, Jack Frost also wants to be noticed and have a purpose so he sympathizes with the Boogeyman. After much havoc and drama, he sides with the Guardians, eventually becomes believed in by children, the Boogeyman is banished to his underground lair because even though "[kids] believe in him, [they're] just not afraid of him." All is well, and the story ends.<br />
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It's beautifully animated and a nice story, but by the end I honestly thought there would be some sort of reconciliation with Pitch, about fear being necessary. Because the Guardian's existence is based on belief, the fact that "I believe in you, I'm just not afraid of you" could have been very powerful. Fear needs to exist for bravery to exist. Kids overcoming their fears is a big deal. He might not have been a nice guy and brought candy and presents to kids, but he still could have been <i>important</i>, without need to banish him forever and ever.<br />
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I guess I shouldn't have expected it, there weren't really any hints of there being any good in Pitch, just that Jack Frost and the audience were sympathetic to his (selfish) need to be noticed. Pitch existed in the dark ages and made things terrible for all children, making them all live in fear until the Guardians existed. So there's really no reason he should be allowed to continue to do anything. He's just a terrible creature, inside and out.<br />
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Or... is he?<br />
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Why does Pitch exist? He's compared to Jack Frost throughout the story -- Jack Frost, and the rest of the Guardians, were people before being given this anthropomorphic personification status by the Moon. Pitch Black seems the same as them. Would he not have been human before, as well, and changed into what he was by some outside force?<br />
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Throughout the story, Jack Frost was constantly reassured by the Guardians that he had some purpose in his "second life," his life as Jack Frost. What about Pitch Black? Was he not resurrected for some purpose? If so, what was it, and why can't he be allowed to fulfill it?<br />
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We're making a lot of assumptions here, I suppose, the biggest being that Pitch is the same as the other characters in being made the way he is and then was perhaps corrupted, and that he's not something entirely different. However, the way he keeps insisting that he and Jack are the same makes it at least a somewhat reasonable one. This makes Pitch's existence an age old question -- he's the Problem of Evil.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7INULyTrhWc/UPR9f76OyOI/AAAAAAAAAD8/z2iCpYnmTM8/s1600/CloseUpPitch.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7INULyTrhWc/UPR9f76OyOI/AAAAAAAAAD8/z2iCpYnmTM8/s1600/CloseUpPitch.PNG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: mibba.com</td></tr>
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The Problem of Evil is often used to "disprove" many mainstream religions -- with the existence of such a strong, benevolent force in the world, why should evil exist? The obvious answer to many is that there is no God and that's that, but the Guardian's universe requires a different answer. There is obviously a benevolent force, The Man in the Moon, who, while not in control of everything in the world, is at least somewhat in control of those he chooses to fulfill certain purposes -- he can choose to revive people into anthropomorphic personifications and choose to elevate their status to Guardian. In the beginning of the story, Jack is upset at the moon for not making his purpose obvious, but becomes a believer by the end because he's found his place.<br />
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Assuming this is true (another big assumption, that the Moon even cares about anyone's personal development) then the moon doesn't mind "challenging" his subjects. That could potentially be the purpose of Pitch, to test the Guardians, Jack, and the children of the world, but is this really fair? No, I don't mean to the Guardians, or even for the children, the ones being tested -- but is it fair to Pitch? Pitch does not seem complicit in this agreement -- he would have been used. Is it okay to play with people this way, toy with their hopes, make them almost taste victory and then rub their faces in defeat, even if this person has nearly or no redeeming qualities?<br />
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Let's say, then, that maybe the Man in the Moon wanted the dark ages to be dark for whatever reason, and then created Pitch to fulfill that purpose. The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. Why is the Moon to be trusted so much when he did something so awful for so many years? What kind of future is in store for the Guardians if the Moon decides to change his mind again, and the Guardians go the way of Pitch for something new? Is it not cruel to throw away a loyal servant such as Pitch, as well?<br />
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Or, perhaps we can get back to what I had predicted at the beginning, that Pitch is important, chosen in some way for some purpose as the Guardians were, and was somehow "corrupted." Is there no way possible that Pitch could go back to fulfilling that original purpose? Has the moon, therefore, decided that Pitch is irredeemable, and has decided to banish him? Did the Moon make a mistake in creating Pitch in the first place, and is the Moon therefore fallible? Is Jack therefore making a big mistake in putting so much trust in the Moon at the end of the story?<br />
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None of these are comfortable answers. This is why I generally don't like the idea of a "big good" in most stories, children's stories especially -- the idea of something being able to solve a problem and then not solving the problem for whatever reason is very scary and confusing and often <i>ignored.</i> And, while an adult might be able to figure out the less-than-pleasant possible solutions and come to turns with them, I'm not so sure a child would. I guess it's one thing to see a scary movie, but another thing to confront an existential crisis as a kid. Whenever there is a very powerful force of good and yet still evil, the Problem of Evil leads to interesting questions that I think need to be addressed. But, as I've said before, not all of the traditions in the movie are my own, and this is definitely among them.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-86862397647590543402012-11-07T17:12:00.002-08:002012-11-07T17:12:56.575-08:00Flash Fiction: FlowersThe way I write is usually to churn out as much as possible and hope that whatever I end up with is sort of good. I think I learned this from NaNoWriMo (which I dropped out of this year, actually. Long story), but still, it's kind of useless to write so much and never share any of it. <br />
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I have been sitting on this for a while. In fact, I've been sitting on a lot of things for a while. However, because this one I really have no intent to send anywhere, I figure that, after a month or two of waiting, I should post it here.<br />
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Here goes nothing.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They gave me flowers. I remember that much. I remember being so surprised at the flowers. Not just a daisychain, either, but a full assortment. They were actually very pretty when they put them on me, in all those gorgeous springtime colors, and the woman who fixed it on me had even gone so far as to wipe the blood off my chin. I'd bit my tongue when I had heard my name, I'd bit it hard, hard to keep from screaming or saying anything dumb and now blood ran down my face and my mouth tasted like raw meat. The taste was only making the airy feeling in my head and fading vision worse. It had dripped onto my tunic and down and down until I had a red river falling down my front. The flowers could only mean one of two things, as there were only two things one did with flowers like these: they lay on things that were either buried or burned.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I guess I'm glad I don't remember the rest of it, the axe hacking into me or the beauty and pain in being burned. Instead now I just watch the fires in their little homes, and I watch the big one every year. I watch the cleaving and the blood and the burning as I watch the girls make the pretty wreaths, whispering about boys and parents and songs, and, in the faintest of whispers, who was next, who was next.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I think if I was too angry, I would not keep my flower crown. I would not go back every year to watch the singing and the burning, even though every time I smell the smoky flesh I cringe and sometimes even weep. If I were too angry, I wouldn't be there, all the time, to greet my new family, my fresh fellow ghosts.</span></blockquote>
Any comments are welcome, I guess.Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559657470742033134.post-18176383385306431672012-05-11T22:36:00.004-07:002015-02-01T23:23:54.206-08:00Your Vampires Suck Sucks<style>
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I am going to use this opportunity to complain about a trope
I don’t like. Probably not the best or most creative use of my time, but here we go.</div>
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This trope is <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourVampiresSuck">Your Vampires Suck</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourVampiresSuck">Your Vampires Suck</a> doesn’t only apply to vampires, but it
mostly applies to them because they’re the supernatural creature that gets this
treatment the most. Really, all the setup the trope needs is a supernatural
creature and pop-culture based around that creature, and vampires are likely an
easy target because they’ve managed to inundate Urban Fantasy for the past
several years.</div>
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<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourVampiresSuck">Your Vampires Suck</a> means that somewhere within the story the
old legends on some supernatural creature are debunked, usually by calling any
part of the folklore “silly superstition”. Most of the time this is meant to be
clever or humorous and prove that the vampire, or supernatural creature, is
more powerful than expected. They can go over running water, walk in the
daylight, eat garlic, whatever with ease, and may flaunt it in the face of the
puny humans carrying their ancient tome of magic lore. But the problem is this is often not
clever or funny. It may have been funny or clever the first couple times, but
it probably wasn’t. Vampire folklore has evolved from digging up blue, bloated
corpses that looked like they had eaten their shrouds to hideous shapeshifting
monsters with hairy palms that eat babies to sexy nightclub owners that like to
nibble on patron’s necks. “Vampire” is a vague term, despite the fact that some
purists always argue for Bram Stoker’s <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Dracula"><i>Dracula</i></a> (which sways from extremely
well-researched to barely researched, so no one is quite sure what he was
smoking when he wrote it). Also, I would argue, that taking time out to talk
about how your vampires are different from every other vampire detracts from
the story. </div>
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Let me explain. There’s a series by the BBC called <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Sherlock?from=Main.Sherlock"><i>Sherlock</i></a> in which Sherlock Holmes and
John Watson go around solving crimes in modern day London. It’s a great series
and I highly recommend it, but here’s the thing – there’s never any mention of
the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. If they did, they would slow the
story down. It would be horrible at every turn to have to be reminded that this
happened in a fictional book before, that this is so much like the story!</div>
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Now, I know Sherlock Holmes isn’t vampires. But, if it isn’t
okay to mention how something is always the same as the stories, why is it okay
to mention how it’s always different? It’s distracting to have to rely on other
sources to prove how original your version of vampires is because, honestly,
not that many people have actually <i>read </i>Dracula.
Unlike Sherlock Holmes, you have no idea what people know about vampire lore,
and no reason to assume that all someone knows about vampires is from “movie
vampires”. They may have only read Anne Rice, or Stephanie Meyer, or Bram
Stoker, or devour vampire literature and have had this Vampires You Suck
lecture a thousand times, or they may be getting their doctorate on European
Folklore and have studied vampires from the very beginnings of the legends into
the modern day. Folklore is many and varied. The same beings often don’t have
the same powers from story to story, and yet make no assumptions on the
listener’s knowledge. As the narrative of folklore shifts, there’s no attempt
to reconcile the older stuff; There’s no reason to. It’s folklore. There’s so
much lore floating around, especially on the internet these days, that there’s
no excuse to assume. The assumption may make sense from a certain perspective,
but sometimes removing something that makes sense actually makes the story
better, as in the <i>Sherlock</i> example.
There’s no way that nobody in London would comment on a Sherlock Holmes and a
John Watson running around solving crimes in modern London, but nobody does,
and this ends up as nothing more than a musing in the back of the audience’s
head rather than something that grates them in story every time it’s mentioned.</div>
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Your Vampires Suck sucks because it makes too many
assumptions of the reader thinks about vampires (or any supernatural creature) and
can pull someone too seasoned or unseasoned out of the story. Even if the trash
talk is actually clever, the cost just isn’t worth it.</div>
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This has been a part of the <a href="http://youngaspiringwriter.blogspot.ca/2012/04/tv-tropes-blog-hop.html">TVTropes Blog Hop</a>. Please go read all of the other entries. This one is very uncreative and the other ones are much better.</div>
<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=140558" type="text/javascript"></script>Haphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271465670869427911noreply@blogger.com2