Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

I haven't done a book review in forever - not because I'm not reading, but because I used to use my journal as a place to keep track of everything I read, and now I have Goodreads for that (feel free to friend me there, btw!).

The book I'm reading now, however, sort of begs to be talked about, because it's all about making friends. MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend, by Rachel Bertsche, is a chronicle of the author's efforts to make friends after leaving her BFFs behind in New York and moving to Chicago with her husband. (There's also a website, and if nothing else, I recommend reading the initial articles that kicked off the whole project.) In order to expand her circle of friends, Rachel decides to go on one new "friend-date" a week for a year. Out of those 52 potential new friends, she's hoping to find a BFF whom she can count on to be there in a pinch (whether it's a ride to the airport or a last-minute pedicure), someone who shares her interests and calls just to say hi, and above all, someone who understands the importance of girl talk.

So let's talk.

( Read more... )

1. Spending a year on "Ringer" - So, SMG's latest TV outing was... not the best. OTT, completely nonsensical, soapy, guilty pleasure, perhaps. But if you're curious what was going on in the writers' room, here's one account. Unfortunately, it does not explain what on earth they were thinking with some of those "plot twists."

2. The "Raiders" Story Conference - A 125-page transcript of the original brainstorming session for Raiders of the Lost Ark with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan is available for download. If you're an Indy fan (I, coincidentally, just rewatched Last Crusade this weekend) or if you want to see how the masters develop a story idea into a movie, check it out. And if reading a 125-page transcript seems daunting to you, you can just check out the linked post, which gives the highlights.

3. "Friends" Oral History - If you missed the print article in last month's Vanity Fair, it's now available online. (Er, I have also been watching a lot of Friends reruns on Nick at Nite.)

Haha, so it seems I haven't done a Musical Sunday post in a looooong time. Instead, here's a super-awesome Community vid. (What? It's got music...) Troy/Abed bromance + David Bowie? Win.

Judging by the pattern of the last few months, my parents are clearly a terrible influence on my blogging. I've been doing pretty well at posting almost every day, except when I go home or they come to visit me, and then I drop off the face of the earth for several days. I actually brought my laptop home with me this time, and had every intention of both posting about my Thanksgiving adventures and keeping up with my reading list. Buuuuut I ended up getting wrapped up in stuff and didn't manage to do it at all.

So, once again, I am playing catch-up. I missed a few epic posts, like penny_lane_42's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Race Swap, which totally makes me want to do some kind of casting swap, but I am without ideas! I also spent much of last night reading through nearly SIXTEEN HUNDRED COMMENTS on gabrielleabelle's Unpopular Opinions Sanctuary Post.

Oh, and speaking of gabrielleabelle, she's getting published in this collection of Whedonverse essays, which is currently scheduled for release on my birthday. I AM JUST SAYING. :)

In case you missed it, Lesley at Fatshionista posted an interview with Savannah Dooley, creator of the awesome little (heh) show, Huge. The whole thing is worth a read (and I will seriously cry if Huge doesn't get a second season), but I wanted to pull out two quotes that illustrate something I'd noticed recently in my TV watching:

Lesley: Speaking for myself, I actually reached a point while watching Huge — and I should note that I don’t watch a lot of other television, which may be related — but it started to seem to me like the people on other shows all looked so… small.

Lesley: Your point of being hyper-aware of your body at that age is really critical, though. So often in teenager-centric shows, everyone acts like they’re in their thirties and there’s no uncertainty about their physical bodies. But at that age, that awareness is real and omnipresent.

So, here's the thing. I've started watching The Vampire Diaries (review post forthcoming, once I finish season 1), and I'm not picking on them specifically, because I've seen enough of these "high school" shows to know that they're all pretty much the same when it comes to casting thirty-year-olds as teenagers (all of whom look like models, natch), and writing situations and dialogue that teenagers would never do or say. But because it's the first new show I've watched since Huge, I have found it terribly distracting how unbelievably TINY all the actresses are (and how well-muscled the guys are, for that matter - I don't mind looking at them, lol, but how many teenage boys do you know with six-pack abs?). And how OLD everyone looks, OMG. Is there a single person in that cast under 21? And of course the characters all talk and act way older than their ages (well, except for the vampires, obvs), and it's just SO distracting to me, after watching Huge and thinking how real and honest its portrayal of that awkward teenage phase was. It's weird how, on TV, Huge is the exception, when in fact it's the only show that really comes close to real life. In so many ways, it shows how warped our perceptions have become.

Granted, maturity isn't always a bad thing. I love Buffy and Veronica Mars for their quippy, snarky dialogue, which is often far too clever for any teenager to come up with on their own. But I also recognize that I didn't watch either of those shows as a teenager - I watched them as an adult, at a point when I can identify with characters who act like they're thirty. :) And I enjoy The Vampire Diaries as an adult - I just hope to God actual teenagers aren't watching it and taking their cues from those characters. Watch Huge, kids. You'll feel better about yourselves.

First, WHEEEEE!!! Google has enabled multiple account sign-in! This has always been a pain in the ass for me, because I keep my RL email and my fandom email separate. I know, I could just use email forwarding, but my fandom email is also my "junk" email, the one I use to sign up for things that I don't want cluttering my inbox, so forwarding it all to one inbox would kinda defeat the purpose. Also, it wouldn't resolve the g-chat issue, in that I use my RL email to chat with RL friends, and fandom email to chat with fandom friends, and again, I like those separate, but it means having to switch back and forth to talk to different people.

But hallelujah, Google has answered my prayers and now all is possible. It is a good day.

Also, I saw this interview with Greg Berlanti, the creator of a new show called No Ordinary Family. This interests me because (1) superhero family (it seems kind of like a live-action version of The Incredibles, which I love) and (2) Julie Benz! I am curious enough to check it out in the fall. Anyone heard anything else about it?

Just a few blog posts I spotted this week that I thought were interesting and/or helpful.

Finding Tips on Self-Editing at The Blood-Red Pencil: This is a round-up of many posts from the blog with lots of good editing advice, some of which you've probably heard before (adjective/adverb use, dialogue tags, habit words). I particularly liked the one on identifying a dragging narrative. (via start_writing)

Finding Your Voice: Also from Blood-Red Pencil, I thought this was appropriate since angearia was talking about voice not too long ago. There always seems to be confusion about what "voice" actually means whenever the subject gets brought up, and this is one of the best definitions I've seen. (via jongibbs)

Presentation and readability for LJ and beyond: This is a handy reference guide for basic html and CSS coding for those of you who can never remember how to do that stuff. (via fanficrants, of all places)

Also, just a reminder that John Rogers is talking about Leverage episodes as they air again this season (he's one of the creators/writers of the show).

I could use some. But that is not the point of this post.

Not too long ago, cleolinda posted a clever and useful expansion of the glass of water metaphor, (you know what I mean, how the essence of all plot conflicts is that a character has to want something, even if it's just a glass of water) and in the process creates some hilarious summaries of popular movies.

Anyway, today she posted a follow-up more generally about writing process and how to use the glass of water to improve your story. Both posts are very good reading.

This is an excellent article on Writer's Voice, which serves as a timely follow up to Emmie's recent post on the subject.

What do we mean when we talk about "voice"?


The article also talks about the essential elements that make a voice effective and how to cultivate your own.