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Ah, my work glared at me and I glared back. But I did get a few things accomplished. Trying not to worry too much and the story I've been plotting is working again. Don't know if I'll ever write it all down or not. Did write a snippet over the weekend.

The internet has had a weird effect on my writing. It has to a degree helped me find my voice, which is of the good. It's also allowed me to experiment with different types of writing, including web/media essays - which are bloody headache inducing - no wonder the damn things are more media heavy than content heavy, people are spending all their time doing the tech stuff. But you do learn a great deal from doing them. On the other end of the spectrum - it has almost killed my ability to write fiction. I go through stages. The only way I can write fiction is if I leave the net for a bit and never post it on the net - because I get self-conscious. Fiction for me is more precious than non-fiction, more personal, and more close to my heart. I hurt more when no one responds to it - and they rarely do. Or people are critical of it. Which is ironic, considering how critical I am - this fact is not lost on me. Part of the problem is I'm a critical thinker - it's what I do for a living, as a co-worker pointed out - our job is to literally analyze and criticize everything to the minute detail. So, yes, I apply that level of criticism to what I do, and when someone echoes it - it's like getting it twice. So, I've learned not to post it. Like I said, weird.

Lots of Buffy reviews on my flist - and they are split right down the middle, which makes them incredibly entertaining. You scroll down...you get reviewer #1: "I hate this, it's misogynistic crap" right below reviewer 2: "I love and adore this, it's the best thing ever!". And back and forth. It's almost every other one, (although, admittedly, the vast majority of my flist doesn't post on or to my knowledge reads the comics.) And they aren't ambivalent about it either - we're talking passion here, folks! Remind me not to put these people in a room together regarding the comics. There will be blood. I was about to ask if other things are quite this divisive, but that's a stupid question. Who am I kidding, we live in divisive times. At least this is just comic books, put a Glen Beck fan and John Stewart fan in a room together...and see what happens. (The Glenn Beck fan will probably win because he'll bring the gun. ) OR how about a Jets fan vs. a Steeler's fan (guess who I'm rooting for? The Jets! Go Jets! Although half-heartedly, I admittedly care as much about football as I care about Angel getting his own series in the Dark Horse comics, which isn't that much in case you can't figure out my analogy. Not a spectator sport fan, much to my own chagrin). Comic book fans are relatively civil in comparison.

I haven't bought the thing yet. Or read it for that matter. Lots of people are reading it for free via download. Hee. Loss of money for Dark Horse. Cool. Although, wildly unfair for anyone who has forked over 116 bucks and counting for the things. As an aside? I think the net may kill comic books or reinvision them in much the same way it has reinvisioned journals, magazines and periodicals.
And there's some really good web-comics out there. The reviews aren't exactly inspiring purchase, but I've admittedly only read the negative ones to date, and the negative ones are REALLY negative. People seem to either love this thing, or really despise it, with just a few ambivalent folks.

Off to fix dinner and putter about. Maybe see the Good Wife...which I was looking forward to.
It got a lacklustre review by selenak, who thought it was bland this week, which she admitted was rare for the Good Wife - but hey, it's tv - they are allowed to have bland episodes. Impossible not to, the damn medium is fast and hard.

Last Night's The Good Wife...and making up one's mind for oneself

If I wanted proof that it is possible for two people to radically see the same show differently, outside of course my flist's reviews on the Buffy comic - I'd say The Good Wife delivered. I just saw it, and this episode was about as far from bland as one could get. It would be like calling peppermint ice cream or a spicey curry, bland. It was ripe with subtext, and political maneuvering. There was so many deals and counter-deals going on beneath the surface, and manipulations. I can't understand how anyone in their right mind could call this bland? Mind-boggling.

But see? That's taste. I remember years ago inviting a friend to Thanksgiving Dinner and fixing her a favorite dish - sweet potatoes and apples, with a touch of molassess and apple cider. She wouldn't touch it. Hated it. Wanted stuffing with gloppy gravy, which frankly made me ill (because hello gluten intolerant but I didn't know that at the time.). Or lumpy mashed potatoes. In sum? Our tastes differed. And about five years ago, I wrote a post on a fanboard about why I hated the Buffy episode Storyteller, which was clearly everyone else's favorite - the essay wasn't about the fact that I disliked the episode, it was about the more interesting bit - why we had such radically different perspectives on the same episode. It's sort of like that voice meme going around - how differently people pronounce certain words. My brother insists that the correct pronouciation of the word Aunt is Awwnt. While I can't imagine calling my Aunts - anything but "ant". In fact I passed it by them, and they burst out laughing, no, no, we are definitely "ants". Just as I'd smack my bro upside the head for having my niece calling me "Awwnt" - how snooty and upper-crust, it makes me think of Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey in her full dressage, sipping tea. OR some people call their parents - rents, and other's folks.

I think it comes down to so many variables. In tonight's episode of the Good Wife, there's a jury expert (which my Evidence/Litigation Prof in law school used to make fun of - stating they are a waste of money and time) - and this guy states that people are as predictable as dogs. Easy to read.
Easy to manipulate. Yet, the episode proves this is not the case. People aren't predictable, as many a social psychologist will eventually attest to their immense frustration. You don't know what you or anyone else is going to do in any given situation until it arises. You can guess of course, go by certain statistical evidence, etc - but you don't know. I remember realizing that as I sat in a Marketing class - and listened to the various techniques that marketers use to figure out how buyers will react to ads or a product. There's no clear science, it's mainly guess work, reading people, and hunches. Some people have a knack for predicting trends, some don't.

But...there are always exceptions, always someone who bucks the trend.

When you rec a tv show, book, movie, song to me - you have no idea if I'll love it or hate it. ( Read more... )