THERE IS A VERY IMPORTANT BRITISH FILM BY THE NAME OF KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. Do you know it? You should. Kind Hearts and Coronets is a British film of some novelty because it stars an extremely young and highly ambitious actor by the name of Alec Guiness.

(Famous later for Star Wars and all that? Yes, that Alec Guiness.)

Alec Guiness is a prime example of talent portrayed and discovered early. You see, in this film, Guiness portrays a man - a peasant - who is determined to rise to greatness through his recent marriage to a noble woman. (Yes, two words, not one.)

This noble woman just so happens to be a princess. Yes, that's right, a princess. She married a peasant. Noblewomen (one word) don't do that. Particularly in Britain, of course, where the culture is based upon upbringing and one's personal background. There's no reason whatever that this woman should have married this young peasant so far beneath her, except, of course for the age-old problem of love. Romance. And, whatever you believe about those two words, this peasant is very pleased with them.

By the way, do you know where the word "romance" originated? You should...it's a famous country for its obsession with eroticism...

France, that's right. Romance is a French word coming from _____ meaning "....."

So, back to Guiness. He is delighted that this noble lady has committed herself to him - ehem, meaning, brought him into the family tree. He has a clear shot at the throne, the actual throne, of England. And so he nonchalantly proceeds to murder his way up the line to the throne.

5

So...I could blog about first lines.
I could blog about practically anything and just give my view on things. (Scalzi does this.)
I could blog a short story (badly) and then give The Edited Version (sarcastic cut-back).
I could blog about fantasy, science-fiction, and dystopian subjects. ("People are scared stiff about the end of the world. There really is an end coming, you know...") ("I love dragons, and I think dragons are awesome. I've always wondered where the idea of dragons came from and how they were weaved into most of the world's legends...") (Commonplace Book: "I watched Kind Hearts and Coronets this week. Here's why it's an important film for us to remember/embibe/engrain within us..." [channel Rutledge]. <-- This one could be really fun...very enlightening, always different, thematic, opportunities to bring in spirituality and the Bible, intriguing to readers/movie-lovers of all genres. Would focus on embibing our culture and history and origins, and on the purpose, strength, and sheer beautiful awesomeness of the arts as a whole. It would also allow for shorter posts if necessary, like a powerful quotation I found, a snippet of a book ("Hey, you NEED to read this!" type posts), snapshots or Youtube videos of films people need to be aware of (as Rutledge says), etc. Then I could also be talking about the power of words, writing, etc., the necessity for editing ("Few words, well chosen"; "Brevity is the soul of wit", etc.), so that would allow me to tie it directly back into my own writing career AND the IWS business occasionally. IF I ever decide I do want to learn another language, I could have a whole other twist to it, and talk about language, etymology, difficulties in English, English origins, French words, British humor-lost-on-Americans, etc. I COULD DO THIS!


I went to see Red Tails last night. The acting was very bad, very bad indeed, and the entire film sucessfully achieved an air of overall anti-climactical disappointment.
This was disappointing.
But, this doesn't mean that there are not elements of the story which we should be paying attention to. Whether or not the filmmakers were polished enough to present a well-made film does not detract from the historical facts that the men of the 302nd Air Born "Red Tails" squadron were truly our heroes.
History honors our heroes. And those who follow in history's footsteps must-needs remember where we have been. "For," as a Chinese proverb states very poignantly, "he who does not know his history is like a man without a shadow."

4

Yes, yes...I'm mad. I've kept forgetting to post here until it was too late and I was on my way home driving. Then it's like "DANG.IT."  But. I thought I'd get some done now.

I'm still sort of at a loss with what I should be writing for my "professional" blog. I don't really have all that much I want to sit down and say about the writing world; I'd much rather be editing someone else's work. Or reading. Or...maybe writing, if my mind's with it. So blogging, to me, just isn't all that fun, or profitable, really. I LOVE the tone of Stephen Parolini (sounds like Christopher; wonder if there's a connection?)...but I just don't have that kind of voice, or have something similar down yet. Which stinks, by the way. I really want a unique sound. Someday, maybe, I'll have this point like "Eureka! That's IT!" and trollop away all happy and guffawing. I've definitely had that with my fiction writing, and I did like my short stories on writers and their problems...but it's not the same as actually blogging - having a regular site where people would want to come back and see what I have to say.

I think it's because (pinky cramp!) I think I have to write about writing. But I don't, necessarily. I'm also into history and movies and theatre and literature and hockey (bwahaha) and coffee shops and interior decorating and such. But then...that's too much..... How the heck do I tie all that together?

Very odd. I don't what to do with it.

I'm loving watching my buddy Tim get his blog together and seeing how his voice has evened out. He's got a distinct sound. I can recognize similarities in each post as his editor, and I'm sure his readers can by now too.

I DON'T HAVE THAT! At least he has a basis for his blog: science...and he's a scientist. He's got a set base and reserve of stuff to talk about. What do I have? A base in literature and English grammar. Just like every.other.writer.out there. I have nothing unique on that point.

Dunno. I'll have to keep thinking about it. :s

3

UGH, more school books. I hate being broke.

So. I'm still on the search for my blogging voice. I really don't know what it's going to sound like or if it's fully develooped already and I haven't recognized it or if it'll morph and change over time or what. It's rather annoying that I have to wait to find it. But at least I have a good venue for it in the new Blogger interface.

So...K and I had a pretty good time yesterday. Very happy for her that she's finally found somebody; I hope it works out. She's a lot happier recently, haha. Been wondering when my turn's gonna come. Still don't know or even really believe it will. I've gotta stop focusing on the romance and find something useful to do with my time while I still have it. Eventually...perhaps...

Oh yeah, I made a crucial mistake of sorts the other day. So, you know how D's been asking me to read his stuff. I always say, "uh huh, yeah, I'd love to..." but then I never get around to reading it when he sends it out. I'm a prude, apparently; poor guy's trying to get my advice and/or approval and I keep stone-walling him. Not trying to, just wrapped up in everything else.

So his mom and K were talking about his story the other day, and I overheard them. I was actually offended at first because I thought that D hadn't sent this particular story to me, and they were completely geeking out about like it was the best thing since chocolate. I was like, "So he's always saying he trusts me and wants to hear my opinion on his fiction...and he hasn't sent it me?!"

Which is quite absurd all-round because when he does send me stuff, I ignore it forever. Who's the hypocrite?

But, there I was, getting miffed. Turns out it was in my inbox the whole time, from when he originally sent it. To ME. A MONTH AGO.

*pause*

I'm a bad writing friend.

Making it a point to read through the first portion over the weekend. Then maybe I'll actually be worthy of him bestowing his greatness upon my reading night. :)

2

So. I've been wondering: if I eat a Mento while drinking a bottle of Coke...will my stomach explode?

1

So. I'm supposed to be trying to find my blogging voice. It's there, somewhere, I know...I've just never been able to find it. I come off as patronizing, maternal, snooty, prudish, or haphazard with NO idea of what I'm doing. That's stupid.

I think it's that I try too hard. And that I'm still developing as a writer, adult, and professional. I haven't actually "arrived" yet. I'm NOT an expert in my field, just learning the ropes and getting my own impressions of how it works - and should work.

Generally speaking, I have a short attention span. I love reading, but you better keep my attention because I'm not the type to stick around waiting for it to get better (except for movies...maybe).

I think the same applies to my blog and blogging in general. I hardly ever - in fact, I know I don't ever - read an entire blog post. I'm a skimmer. And maybe that's why it's hard to write my own or get anything consistent going. I get bored.

And, thus, I am BORING TO READ.

My fiction's not boring (usually). Most beta readers think I've got a fast-paced, heart-pounding kinda action and narrative going. I can't seem to translate that onto the nonfiction page. If I ever CAN find a topic I want to write on, I'm lordly and ho-hummy and sophisticated-overloading on everybody, like I'm some kind of grammar goddess or am never wrong.

I'm wrong plenty of times. I'm also a student, still, even though everything in me is screaming that I'm NOT anymore. But I am. Still.

And it's annoying.

So. The experiment. Write without thinking about it and see what happens. Discovering my blog/writing voice for a general public is the goal here. No particular topics and duties, just writing, habitually till something clicks. We'll see where this goes.

And if you're unfortunate enough to find this via Blogger's blogroll, I apologize. Just ignore me. Or sympathize, or make fun of. It's all the same to me.

Ciao.