In Lieu of the Wed Reading Meme
Jun. 10th, 2015 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFound the perfect background shot for Doing Time on Planet Earth's Facebook page, finally. Courtesy of the Woodward Gallery, hope they don't mind. Doubtful.
It's the Brooklyn, NYC Skyline at Sunset. Taken from the elevated train on Smith and 9th Streets, Brooklyn. My old hood.
I'm not reading anything new at the moment. Re-reading a series of books that resonated for me -- in part because the author played with myths that I studied, and in part because she plays with identity, and if you've read the book I published, I'm fascinated by identity. The technology/information age in a way has redefined the idea of false identity or construction of false identities. Think about it? Do you go by your real name online? And which identity do you prefer? What is in a name?
I remember getting into a somewhat heated debate with someone on lj once - several years back - circa 2010 or thereabouts, about identity. They stated we are solely defined by those around us or by others. I disagreed. I think we define who we are, and others comment on it.
Also been pondering "reviews" and the nature of reviews. I do use them to choose films, television shows, and books. But I'm wondering if I should? It depends on the reviewer, I guess. I should probably avoid reviewers who choose to name themselves after food.
Fruitcake, cookiedough, tart might not be a good idea. Although, you are reading "shadowkat's" journal at the moment. Yet, at least that has a ring to it. I'd have used my real name, but alas, it was already taken. So too was shadowkat - hence the 67. It's incredibly difficult to find unique names or titles for things. My own name, by birth, is incredibly popular. Seriously, my parents weren't that creative in the name department. Some people are insanely creative. I'm sorry, but naming your kid Mighty is probably not a good idea. Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, A Boy Named Sue.
I'd also advise against taking the opinion of anyone who decided to call themselves a puppy, rabid or sad, seriously. Wolf, now, maybe.
Reviews...did you know a lot of artists don't read their own reviews? And a lot of actors avoid the internet -- they let their managers patrol it instead or publicists.
I don't think Neil Gaiman does. And all comments to his blog are filtered through staff who manage it for him. GRR Martin should probably follow Gaiman's example, make his life less stressful.
GRR Martin states the following on his journal:
Yes, I know that THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER named me "the third most powerful writer in Hollywood" last December. You would be surprised at how little that means. I cannot control what anyone else says or does, or make them stop saying or doing it, be it on the fannish or professional fronts. What I can control is what happens in my books, so I am going to return to that chapter I've been writing on THE WINDS OF WINTER now, thank you very much.
He's right. Writer's have very little power over their work once it is published and out there amongst the masses. And you really have no way of knowing how people will react to it or why. I mean honestly, who could have predicted that a badly written piece of erotic fanfic "50 Shades of Grey" would become an international best-seller? (Oh by the way, apparently the British spell Grey with an "e" and the Americans spell it with an "a". I ran into this a lot when I had my book proofed. 98% of my spelling errors were Britishisms. I blame livejournal, I've picked British slang and British spellings from hanging out with Brits on the internet. My line editor fixed all the one's that were not in the character who was pretending to be British, pov.)
My book is about identity. I have a character in my book who is a former child-actor, and screwed up because of it. He's decided to create a new persona as a coping mechanism, except he's a bit inept at it. The guy is Hispanic, but he decides to adopt the persona of a British punk private eye, from various television shows and rock stars that he's seen. But he's not cool, he's inept, and quirky. Trying to prove himself in a world in which he just keeps fumbling about in. And little does he know that the heroes he worships are false. He changes his name, he changes his appearance, he changes his accent...but he does it poorly. He's pretending to be what he thinks is the cool noir private eye.
Another one of my characters is an identity thief, but only from dead people. Come on! She has principles. And she sees herself as Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner...fun, carefree, a modern day Robin Hood, with her pursuers in the role of Elmer Fudd or Wile E. Coyote.
And then there's the third character...who is just lost. She has no boyfriend. No real friends it seems outside of the people she communicates with daily on various fan discussion boards. Her best friend she met on a fan board. Thief of Shadows...who turns out to be an identity thief. No job. No identity as far as the world is concerned, outside of the one she has online -- and that just isn't enough.
There's a mystery. And a bit of adventure. And a puzzle that must be solved. But at the end of the day...it's really about who we are inside, and how we relate to each other.
But I've no control on whether you will read it, and if you do -- grok it. So far, three people did. One really really didn't get it at all. Almost as if they read a different book. Which happens a lot. We bring ourselves to what we read, and how we respond to what we read is as much a comment on what we are going through or feeling as what we've read. I think that's why James Joyce said - that he didn't want to explain his book to anyone, although he did or tried to, he just hoped someone would get it, and through it, him. His wife, Nora, never did. She didn't like his writing, and Ulysses made little sense to her. Which was tragic in some respects. But he had no control.
I think Joss Whedon must feel the same way about his works of art...from Buffy to Dollhouse...wondering why people loved some shows and not others, and never quite sure why. It's so subjective, and so hard to determine. And so very frustrating.
But if we could control it - then there would be no free will. And what would be the fun in that? Also...I'm not sure I'd want someone controlling what I liked or didn't like as if I were some puppet, and they pulled my strings.
It's the Brooklyn, NYC Skyline at Sunset. Taken from the elevated train on Smith and 9th Streets, Brooklyn. My old hood.
I'm not reading anything new at the moment. Re-reading a series of books that resonated for me -- in part because the author played with myths that I studied, and in part because she plays with identity, and if you've read the book I published, I'm fascinated by identity. The technology/information age in a way has redefined the idea of false identity or construction of false identities. Think about it? Do you go by your real name online? And which identity do you prefer? What is in a name?
I remember getting into a somewhat heated debate with someone on lj once - several years back - circa 2010 or thereabouts, about identity. They stated we are solely defined by those around us or by others. I disagreed. I think we define who we are, and others comment on it.
Also been pondering "reviews" and the nature of reviews. I do use them to choose films, television shows, and books. But I'm wondering if I should? It depends on the reviewer, I guess. I should probably avoid reviewers who choose to name themselves after food.
Fruitcake, cookiedough, tart might not be a good idea. Although, you are reading "shadowkat's" journal at the moment. Yet, at least that has a ring to it. I'd have used my real name, but alas, it was already taken. So too was shadowkat - hence the 67. It's incredibly difficult to find unique names or titles for things. My own name, by birth, is incredibly popular. Seriously, my parents weren't that creative in the name department. Some people are insanely creative. I'm sorry, but naming your kid Mighty is probably not a good idea. Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, A Boy Named Sue.
I'd also advise against taking the opinion of anyone who decided to call themselves a puppy, rabid or sad, seriously. Wolf, now, maybe.
Reviews...did you know a lot of artists don't read their own reviews? And a lot of actors avoid the internet -- they let their managers patrol it instead or publicists.
I don't think Neil Gaiman does. And all comments to his blog are filtered through staff who manage it for him. GRR Martin should probably follow Gaiman's example, make his life less stressful.
GRR Martin states the following on his journal:
Yes, I know that THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER named me "the third most powerful writer in Hollywood" last December. You would be surprised at how little that means. I cannot control what anyone else says or does, or make them stop saying or doing it, be it on the fannish or professional fronts. What I can control is what happens in my books, so I am going to return to that chapter I've been writing on THE WINDS OF WINTER now, thank you very much.
He's right. Writer's have very little power over their work once it is published and out there amongst the masses. And you really have no way of knowing how people will react to it or why. I mean honestly, who could have predicted that a badly written piece of erotic fanfic "50 Shades of Grey" would become an international best-seller? (Oh by the way, apparently the British spell Grey with an "e" and the Americans spell it with an "a". I ran into this a lot when I had my book proofed. 98% of my spelling errors were Britishisms. I blame livejournal, I've picked British slang and British spellings from hanging out with Brits on the internet. My line editor fixed all the one's that were not in the character who was pretending to be British, pov.)
My book is about identity. I have a character in my book who is a former child-actor, and screwed up because of it. He's decided to create a new persona as a coping mechanism, except he's a bit inept at it. The guy is Hispanic, but he decides to adopt the persona of a British punk private eye, from various television shows and rock stars that he's seen. But he's not cool, he's inept, and quirky. Trying to prove himself in a world in which he just keeps fumbling about in. And little does he know that the heroes he worships are false. He changes his name, he changes his appearance, he changes his accent...but he does it poorly. He's pretending to be what he thinks is the cool noir private eye.
Another one of my characters is an identity thief, but only from dead people. Come on! She has principles. And she sees herself as Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner...fun, carefree, a modern day Robin Hood, with her pursuers in the role of Elmer Fudd or Wile E. Coyote.
And then there's the third character...who is just lost. She has no boyfriend. No real friends it seems outside of the people she communicates with daily on various fan discussion boards. Her best friend she met on a fan board. Thief of Shadows...who turns out to be an identity thief. No job. No identity as far as the world is concerned, outside of the one she has online -- and that just isn't enough.
There's a mystery. And a bit of adventure. And a puzzle that must be solved. But at the end of the day...it's really about who we are inside, and how we relate to each other.
But I've no control on whether you will read it, and if you do -- grok it. So far, three people did. One really really didn't get it at all. Almost as if they read a different book. Which happens a lot. We bring ourselves to what we read, and how we respond to what we read is as much a comment on what we are going through or feeling as what we've read. I think that's why James Joyce said - that he didn't want to explain his book to anyone, although he did or tried to, he just hoped someone would get it, and through it, him. His wife, Nora, never did. She didn't like his writing, and Ulysses made little sense to her. Which was tragic in some respects. But he had no control.
I think Joss Whedon must feel the same way about his works of art...from Buffy to Dollhouse...wondering why people loved some shows and not others, and never quite sure why. It's so subjective, and so hard to determine. And so very frustrating.
But if we could control it - then there would be no free will. And what would be the fun in that? Also...I'm not sure I'd want someone controlling what I liked or didn't like as if I were some puppet, and they pulled my strings.
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no subject
Date: 2015-06-11 01:39 pm (UTC)Given how invasive search engines are these days, I think it's a poor idea to use one's real name on-line much. It's all too easy to get a wide variety of information on individuals just by Googling. That in turn makes identity thieves all too convincing. Having had someone try unsuccessfully to do that to me before the internet existed, I'm not at all eager to spread more information about myself on the net without the extra layer of protection that Cactus Watcher gives me. When we were all over at voy/ATPo there were a lot of links to things I'd said and things said about me as Cactus Watcher to be found. Enough time has passed that most of that has faded away into the ether, but I still prefer relative anonymity.
I don't give most businesses my e-mail address even if I trade with them quite a bit. Who needs all the spam? They send me coupons snail mail and I'm fine with that.
I used to think I was the only person in the world with my real name. I may actually be, considering first, middle and last name together. But there are more people than I would have dreamed using the same name I normally use and there is one person who uses my other name who is very close to my age. We seem to all be related through a single family from Germany that moved to the same place in the States in the 1850's, but some of them I don't know the exact relationship. It's far from being John Smith or Mary Johnson. but it does make me feel a bit less unique than I did as a kid.
Naming conventions can be very distressing. When I was born, Christians and Jews mostly got Biblical names or one of a few other common names. By the time the last of my first cousins were born, that was changing dramatically. It was a good thing for girls especially because there weren't a lot of names which people thought of - witness the fact I have three female first cousins near my age with the same first name and two of those with the same middle name. My youngest female cousins all have unique names, at least within the family. After that, a high number of white babies were being named after soap opera characters, a trend which continues till today. African-American women started a habit of asking the nurses at the hospital to name their babies for them, which led to many of the unique names you hear these days being made up on the spot. As long as the names sound alright, it's okay. But some nurses I've talked to thought the habit was ridiculous, and made up what they personally thought were silly names to get people to stop asking!
no subject
Date: 2015-06-12 12:30 am (UTC)You can do it, but you need to be careful about it. Not put all your private information online. Don't post every picture. Don't answer those personal memes and quizzes.
And don't be too negative. Don't engage in flame wars or kerfuffles.
In some ways, I'm lucky, I have a popular name. There is at least two other people with my name who have self-published a book. But, I'm careful with certain information.
And I don't do too much with paypal or online shopping. I'm not on Ebay.
The internet has in some respects invaded our privacy. I miss the days of letters. Where you paid bills by mail. And there were no such things as cell phones let alone smart phones.