Surrender, June!

As June draws to a close I look here at this blog and realize that I did not post once this month.  That is inexcusable.  I had intended to post regularly, once a week. I wanted to post fun things.  I was going to post about world building through a character.  I didn't do any of it.

What was wrong; why didn't I?  I don't think I was moving in the right direction.  I am absolutely swamped with things to do.  I have family, work, scouts, etc and as it stands I relax maybe a few hours a week while sleeping about five hours a night.  I literally don't have enough time in the day.

That's still no excuse.  I get a great deal of pleasure from writing.  I am proud, entertained, happy, thrifty, accomplished, tickled and so much more.  I need to find some way to write here and share that in a way that is consumable by others.

I tell myself stories all the time.  That was one of the major reasons I started writing.  I figured I was already doing it, I might as well do it so that others can read and enjoy.  If I could make money doing it all the better.  I will never make money writing if I can't write regularly.  I won't even get to enjoy it unless I do it.

So, as we say goodbye to June, I also say goodbye to Zoso Angrybarn, at least for now.  She is a lovely girl and her country is a very nice and interesting place.  I just couldn't really find her, nor could I find an actual story for her to live in.  It just wasn't coming together.

I am itching to write.  I will be doing some writing very soon and it will be the kind of writing I can share here.

June?  I'm afraid I'm going
to have to let you go.

The good news is, I have been writing.  I finished a story this year and had some help editing it.  It is a rather long short story, but I was aiming at a particular market.  Unfortunately that market is not accepting submissions right now.  Missed that boat.

I may be throwing some questionable stuff on this blog in the near future.  It may not be my best stuff, but I resolve not to start something and not finish it.

Movie Poll Review - New Poll (don't be frightened)

Gene Hackman as Polish MG Sosabowski

Our last poll was a movie one.  What is your favorite Chicago movie.  Blogger dumped our results lately, but if I remember correctly it was one Ferris Bueller, one Blues Brothers and one Other.

My next poll is regarding horror stories.  What is your favorite type of monster?

Stephen King in his non-fiction book, Danse Macabre describes four basic archetypal
"monsters."  He names them The Frankenstein, The Vampire, The Werewolf and The Ghost.  In our poll we'll look at them another way.  This other way perhaps may expand the tropes is (respectively):

• The Thing that Should Not Be
• Frankenstein
• Cruel intelligences
• Demons and devils
• Evil incarnate
• Mindless destroyers
• The Thing that Devours Us
• The Vampire
• Animal predators
• Parasites
• Possessing demons
• Succubi
• Viruses
• Zombies 
• The Thing with Two Faces
• The Werewolf
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dictators
• Serial killers
• Transmorgifiers
• The Thing that Would Not Die
• The Ghost
• Banshees
• Liches
• Slashers
• Spectres
• That which demands revenge
• That which seeks death
• Wraiths

I'm not sure where Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror falls.  I suppose some of it is Mindless Destroyers, but not always.  I just don't know.  If you don't know what your favorite monster fall under, please  put in a comment and we can try to figure it out together.

Thursdays Are Right Out

Writing on Thursday is not working for me either.  I volunteered to help coach the local High School Rugby club as it is just getting started.  That's all my "free" time on Thursday.

Penoan flag

I'm going to make this a quick post, but I wanted to introduce someone you our blogging community.  Her name is Zoso (I hope she forgives me, I think her last name is Volvóodis-Lagenam Iratus-Phteris, but I could be wrong).  She lives in Chicago, but she emigrated from a small country called Penoa to the USA.  I would like her to share some of her native country's culture and history through interviews in the coming weeks.

She will likely say that she actually emigrated to the US from Canada.  In point of fact, her mother was expecting as they were coming from Penoa to America.  She went into labor when they had a layover in Canada.  They only stayed 24 hours before continuing on to the States, however Zoso maintains a duel citizenship, a fierce love of Hockey and all thing Canadian.

When I can get hold of her I will interview her and share her answers here.

Writing About Not Writing

Here it is, late on another Monday and I've not written my blog post yet.  I am writing about not writing, which is writing, but there is certainly some tautology there.  It seems a little like going back in time and killing your own grandfather.

I realized writing and posting both on Mondays is not a good idea.  I moved my writing day back to Thursday.  That didn't happen last Thursday, or Friday, or ...

I have made writing daily work.  It is a proven method for me, and plenty of other authors (or maybe I should just say authors).  Writing one day a week, or some days a week doesn't seem to work for me.

By the way, I have two interesting observations about the picture I used.  I think that's Hebrew on the keyboard.  I don't write or speak Hebrew, and please don't take it as a political statement.  I just found and like the picture.  It seemed appropriate for today's post.

The other observation is I found this picture on a blog called Dreaming On Paper.  I took it without permission (shh).  The date he posted it was 15 April 2013.  I had misread it and thought it said 2014.  It seemed strange that it should be posted tomorrow, but then it is tomorrow in some parts of the world already, and I thought it would be cool if I could post it with a date before the original date.  Unfortunately I eventually saw that it said 2013 and I eventually remembered that this is 2014.

Back to the writing part.  This is not an excuse, but more an observation on what works for me.

I am reminded of a small island in the Caribbean I visited once, well, by visited I saw it while messing around with Google Earth and what with all the pov pictures it's just like being there anyway.

The island is called San Vita, and is named after the patron saint of lost keys (remind you of a certain temple?).  Don't bother looking for it.  It is so small you'd never find it and anyway I pulled the Wikipedia article and sent a note to Google that it is fictitious.  I want to keep it all to myself.  It is just so adorable.

The native name for San Vita is Goinoware.  It was the name the inhabitants of nearby islands gave to the Spaniards when they first arrived.  It means, "What island, that one, oh we never go there, don't bother, it's a complete waste of time, and no fun at all."  Surprisingly efficient these native languages are, aren't they?

Back in the 1950s the CIA set it up as a Wicker Chair Monarchy.  It's similar to a Banana Republic, but instead of being fronted by the United Fruit Company this was the Amalgamated Patio Furniture Co.  It was headed by the King of Savings for years.

It's now an autocratic economy (everybody minds their own business) under a Liberal Dictatorship where everyone is at liberty to be a dictator to everyone else equally.

I think I may retire there someday.

Atlantis Rising

I have a "theory" about Atlantis.

Is that the temple of Biro, God of Lost Pens, on the far left?
pic courtesy of bermuda-triangle.org

Atlantis is the lost continent.  It stands to reason that if it is The LOST continent then it should be associated with lost things.

What I mean by, "associated" is that I envision temples to Lost Socks, Lost Keys, and Lost Glasses.  These would be great stone temples the glory of the ancient world where these lost things would just appear, filling the buildings from across time and space.

These must of necessity be transient locations for many of these things, thus the temples would be very active and lively places with keys popping in and then back out to return behind your sofa.  A temple might be blessed with the appearance of grandpa's horn-rim glasses only to lose them again a moment later when they return to perch on his bald pate.

There might be other things there too.  I imagine the people are all fat, but beautiful, young and sane.  They are very wise as well because they have the vast store of our own lost memories to call upon.

This is, of course a continent, a world outside our own; in another perhaps parallel universe, or perhaps on a very slight angle.  Yes, I believe it would not be perfectly parallel because at some time it, if only for a brief moment, if only in Plato's dreams, it crossed paths with our universe.  For a time a man could walk the streets and find his dog.  Maybe the people would approach him with his wallet he was sure he had had in his left back pocket.

They must have been wonderful times, but alas, they are all lost to us now.

Poll and Poll

A Pole pole courtesy of
The Copernicus Center Google+ page

Our last poll did illicit much response.  Only two people responded and said their preferred method of writing is with something computerish.

I actually had this poll idea a while back and now I get to use it.

What is your favorite Chicago movie?

I'm not going to list movies that are about Chicago if they weren't filmed here (I'm looking at you Chicago!) and short shots that are essentially stock footage don't count either (I'm looking at you My Big Fat Greek Wedding).  I'm debating including The Dark Knight.  Gotham looks so much better in these films because of Chicago, and if you know Chicago you know immediately it was filmed here.  On the other hand they call it Gotham, which I always considered to be New York.

I looked for some sites that listed movies in Chicago.  Esquire had a good article, and I'm thinking I should be able to trust Chicago Magazine and The Chicagoist.  I also pulled a list of all the movies ever filmed in Chicago since 1896 from The City of Chicago's own home Website.

For the poll I'm only going to put my top 5 up there to vote on, and an, "Other" category.  If you want to add others you can put a comment on this post.

Here is a list of Chicago movies I like:

• My Best Friend's Wedding - don't actually like the movie, but the City looks fantastic in this and it has the Cuneo Museum up here in my neighboring town of Vernon Hills.
• Candyman
• 16 Candles
• Untouchables - you don't like this movie?  "Well, you're not from Chicago."
• Backdraft - I don't think the firefighters will agree, but I like it
• About Last Night
• Stir of Echoes
• The Fugitive
• The Blues Brothers
• Risky Business - I have lots of comments about this, North Shore, "Looks like University of Illinois!", "Sometimes you just got to say...", the El, "Get off the babysitter", my mom told me Tom Cruise reminded her of me
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• The Break Up - again, don't like the movie, but Vaughn loves the City and it shows

There are some others that I've heard fantastic things about and may have seen part of, but not the whole thing:

• Ordinary People
• Road to Perdition
• Public Enemies
• Color of Money
• Call Northside 777
• Hoop Dreams
• High Fidelity
• Source Code
• My Bodyguard

What do you like?  What are your favorite quotes?  Please share and vote.

Cache - Bank - Cache

You would have thought I would have known better by now.  I've been doing this blog for years and yet I fell for a very beginners trap, of not having enough material banked in case of an emergency.

Imagine these are all blog posts

The last two days have been crazy at work and at Scouts, well, that's really just excuses.  I could not get to the computer to write a post for this blog on Mondays.  Regardless, I have committed to making posts each Monday and I should have.

The way you make sure you can post on a set schedule despite any eventuality is to have a cache of material which I do not have.

I tend to get so excited when I write a post that I don't hang on to it, I post right away.  Also, I've set Mondays as posting day and writing day.  What I should do in this case is to write two posts each Monday.  That way I will have one to post and one to bank.

I will make sure I do that going forward.

What I am going to do next is go through the 30 Days of Worldbuilding exercise I went through before.  This time I promise a story on this site exclusively.  My plan is for a lighthearted, serialized story.  I will do several, "Days" at a time and when I have gotten far enough along, when I write a post for a, "Day" I will also write a part of the story.

Just a slight preview, there will be a country called Penoa (located between Finland and Sweden) and another called Anoitoia (a floating island actually) the last colony of Atlantis.

I will, this week, post a second post (to help make up for a lack of a post Monday) to review the last poll and introduce a new poll.  What would you like to see on that poll?

Goal Slide Into the Box

I've completed my story, "The Figurine in the Box."  I've sent it copies to some people for review and comment, but I already know I'm going to make at least one major overhaul.  I'm going to edit it down about half of the 15,000 words it is now.

If you don't already have a copy and would like to read it please leave me a comment with an address to send it.

I think it is a good story.  It pretty much did what I intended it to when I started out.  My inspiration was listening to The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft.  I wondered why Lovecraft's gods always had to be so ugly.  Of course they are alien and un-understandable, but why does that always have to equal ugly, hideous and frightening.  Can't something be beautiful, desirable and utterly frightening?

Bradbury explored this same question in "Something Wicked This Way Comes."  Bradbury didn't make it incomprehensible though.  Also, I think it took it in a different direction than where it went for me.

It took much longer than I had anticipated to finish it, and there is still a long way to go in editing it before I can submit it.  I needed to finish it, and it was a good exercise.  Now, it may be an equally useful exercise to edit this smaller story before I try to tackle editing Hidden Temple to the Lost Gods.

This is why I am not completely disheartened by my progress toward this year's writing goal.  My steps are different and smaller, but still headed in the right direction.

MY GOAL:  
Get Hidden Temple to the Lost Gods published by the end of the year.

STEPS:

1. ProNoFiMo in January
2. NaNoEdMo in March
3. Research publishing in April
4. Send it out to publishers starting end of April.

I'm going to have to add some steps:

1. Write "The Figurine in the Box" - DONE
2. Edit "The Figurine in the Box" - MARCH
3. Submit "The Figurine in the Box" for publication - APRIL
4. ProNoFiMo (Prop Novel Finishing Month) - MAY
5. NaNoEdMo - JUNE
6. Research publishing - JULY
7. Send it out to publishers - AUGUST to DECEMBER

And where does that leave you, dear Illini6 reader?  I've promised Mondays as writing day.  Mondays are the day to come here and see a new post.  If I am seriously dedicating myself to these steps what will there be for readers of this blog to read?

I could write more jokes.

I could report on my progress.

I could be completely ambitious and write stories or chapters just to be read here on this blog, from a story that will only appear on the blog.

Something tells me the last option is the preferred one, but only if I can pull it off.  There is the gist, the crux, can I pull it off?  I say I can, but I must offer one caveat, it will be simple and unpolished.

I will promise this, I will never again publish anything on this blog for which there is no ending which can be posted here.  I have posted parts of stories that had no ends.  I've posted parts of stories for which there was an end, but I had no intention of posting the ending here.  That won't ever happen again.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everybody!

I've tried in fits and starts to have a tradition of writing and posting a St. Patrick's Day joke each year.

This is my record so far:
2010  (actually in 2011)
2011
2012:  missed
2013

This is my attempt for 2014:

We've all heard that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, but did you know that the snakes themselves have always wanted to go back.

The snakes felt they got a raw deal and were unfairly discriminated against, victims of species profiling.  After several years of exile they decided to get together and figure out how to return to their beloved homeland.

They rented a conference room at a Ramada in Chicago and held a huge convention.  All day long the met and discussed.  Imagine if you will a huge conference room filled with snakes, green as the emerald isle itself, all hissing in a thick Irish brogue.

By the end of the conference they had worked themselves into quite a lather, every one of them spitting mad at the one man who had done them all wrong.  Every one of those snakes was ready to strike, all except one, Sean O'Shea.

Sean sat quietly curled up on a beautiful box he had brought with him.  Eventually all the other snakes turned to look at him in confusion.

"Why is it, Sean O'Shea that yer not angry at Patrick, the man who drove us out?  Don't you love Ireland?"

"Aye, I love Ireland same as you all.  I love the land, the green, the people, but most of all I love the music.  I've always loved the music, the jigs, the reels, the hornpipes, the ballads, and the laments.

"I've always loved the fiddle, the uileann pipes, the flute, the concertina and the badhrans.  All me life I've wanted to play in an Irish band.

"One fine spring day I was making me way through the glen when I spied a wee little man.  Quick as a wink I coiled round him, cuz I knew right then, he was a leprechaun.

"I got yeh, leprechaun, sez I.  Now yeh got to give me yer crock o' gold.

"'Oh, ya got me sure and fast.' Sez he.  'You must be the quickest and smartest snake in all of Ireland.'

"'I am.' Sez I, 'I'm Sean O'Shea.'

"'Ah, Sean O'Shea, you say?' sez he, 'Not THE Sean O'Shea, the snake who wants to play in an Irish band?'

"'The same,' sez I.

"'Well,' sez he, 'I think I might have somethin' even more to yer likin' than me wee crock o' gold.  How would you like a magic concertina?'

"What use have such as I with no hands, for any concertina?' sez I.

"'Ah, this is a magical concertina.  This concertina plays all by itself.  It needs no hands, just a guiding soul to give it the tune.  If you release me I'll tell you where it is.'

"Now, I'm no fool.  I made that leprechaun tell me where to find this magical instrument before I released me coils.  As soon as I did he disappeared.

"I followed his instructions and true enough there in the valley I found just what he had sent me after.  The case itself was amazing, airtight, water tight, indestructible, with brass hinges and clasps.  The interior was lined with the finest velvet and silks.

"Nestled in that case me befell on the most beautiful sight I could ever imagine.  The magical concertina was inlaid with gold and silver.  The buttons were gem stones and pearls.

"As beautiful as it was, and try as I might I could not get that instrument to play one single note, not a single chord.  After trying  everything I could think of, in frustration I sought out that leprechaun.

"I found him, back in that glen I had caught him before.  None the wiser, I caught him again, wrapped me coils round him and squeezed.

"'Ah Sean, how are you enjoying yer concertina?' sez he.

"'I'm not.  It won't play.'

"'Won't play?  Ach, where's me head?  If it weren't attached I'd lose it sure.  Of course it won't play.  You need to know the magic word.'

"'Magic word?  What is the magic word?  Tell me quick.'

"Now, I suspected that leprechaun meant to cheat me.  I taut he had kept that bit about the magic word from me on purpose all along, but I taut I was smarter and with me coils wrapped round his wee body I threatened to squeeze out the breath of life if he didn't tell me.

"He told me that there was only one man in the whole of the world who knew the magic word to make the concertina play, but he alas was no longer in Ireland.  The man with the magic word had immigrated to America, and if I wanted the magic word I would have to follow him there.

"Well, me friends I packed up all me belongin's and set off to find him.  I floated across the wide Atlantic Ocean on the watertight case.  I've been looking fer the man with the magic word ever since.  So, my friends you ask me why I'm not angry at Saint Patrick, the answer is simple.  St. Patrick didn't drive me out of Ireland.  I left on me own accordion."

Pens, Polls and Goals

Energel and Piccadilly 

In my last poll I asked how you like your literature served, hot or cold, er no.  I asked, "How do you consume written material?":

1. Dead Trees (paper)
2. Magically (electronic devices)
3. Other

Three responded with dead trees and one responded, "Other."  I have no idea what other they meant, perhaps smoke signals, carved in stone perhaps by a bird ala the Flintstones), or maybe fiery letters writ by the Hand of God.

Our next poll is along a similar vein:

What writing instrument do you prefer?

I ask this because I've recently become interested and in the possession of fountain pens.  It all began on a warm summer evening.  I had been selected to mentor in Tanzania through a charitable foundation at work called Abbott Fund.  I thought it would be prudent to bring an analog, non-electronic (there are analog electronic systems, don't forget) system to record thoughts and such.

I had tried to keep a journal when I was deployed to Afghanistan with disastrous results.  It was 2003 when we were alerted and back then flash drives did not come cheap.  I killed several, including the "huge" 500 MB one I was keeping my journal on.

I started researching notebooks and pens.  I ended up taking a Pentel Energel as my primary pen and a Piccadilly 5.5" x 8.5" notebook (see image above).  The Pentel was a great pen and I ran it out of ink.  I ended up with my backup, a Pilot G2.  I did not like that one as much.

As I was looking into pens I realized I wanted a quality pen.  I also wanted one that was nice to write with.  I started seeing that fountain pens are making something of a come back, and thought I wanted to try them when I got back.

Image courtesy of JetPens.com

I like the idea of fountain pens, like watches they are collectible little machines that, when high quality can last several lifetimes.  Unlike watches they can be a bit cheaper.  It's also more common for people to have more than one pen, while watches are less so.

Image courtesy of eBay

I have three fountain pens now. The first is a Pilot Varsity.  It's a disposable and possibly my favorite.  The second one I got I haven't used yet, because I didn't realize it didn't come with ink.  It's a Bauer.

Image courtesy of JetPens.com

The one I got for Christmas from Mrs. Prop is the most expensive and potentially the nicest.  It is a Lamy AL-Star.  I've been  having trouble with that one.  I'm either not writing with it correctly, I haven't loaded the ink properly, or it's broken somehow.

I'd like to review my writing goals.  This is my third consecutive Monday-ish posting.  Hooray for that.  I have not done any editing of Hidden Temple to the Lost Gods however.

I may have a valid reason though.  I have been working diligently on a "short" story called "Figurine in the Box."  It's a Lovecraftian cosmic horror story.  I started it last month and have shown some of it to some coworkers.  I feel obliged to finish it so I have not shown an unfinished piece that will never be completed.

Inspiration for my figurine

I put quotes around "short" because it has been expanding and threatening to become a novella.  This is mostly a function of the fact that I'm enjoying writing it.  It is close to 15,000 words right now and will probably end up just over 16,000.  This is before any pruning and editing though.

There is some value in this story though.  It is in the same genre as Hidden Temple so I'm in the right mood.  I've been writing it in a similar way as I wrote Hidden Temple.  I think I may have hit on a comfortable way to work the long form.  Finally,and second only to the fact that I must finish a story I shared with some one is, I think I have a market for it that will pay fairly well (as far as these things go).

I'm going to try to submit "Figurine in the Box" to Lovecraft eZine.  I will keep my dear readers abreast of how it goes.  Wish me luck.

Princess Evaluation

Yesterday one of my daughters pointed out a video about the Disney Princesses.  As I was watching the video some ideas struck me.  I wrote them down and then had a conversation with my oldest.  I'd like to share my evaluation for two reasons, I find the discussion interesting, and because I think it is something to think about while developing characters in my own writing.

Thanks http://disneyprincess.wikia.com/

Snow White - slipped a roofie, okay I'll give you that.  Rescued by a man, I'll give you that

Cinderella - small feet, saved by a man.  I'll give you that too.

Belle - Stockholm Syndrome - yeah that always bothered me too.  In fact if you really think about it, it was bestiality as well.  Pretty sick that one.

Jasmine - tricked by a cheat?  Was his intention to cheat her?  No.  In fact he fell in love with her and that's what made him do the crazy, stupid, misguided stuff he did.  He was trying to give her what he thought she wanted.  In the end they both grew together, seeing each other's values and the shah, her father started to  become more liberal because of her, not because of him.  Didn't he change the law because it was her better judgement over his own that was right?

Ariel - gave up a special talent.  Yes she did and it was after she had seen Eric.  What you are glossing over is that she wanted to go on land long before she ever saw him.  She felt that was who she was.  There was something more than under the sea and living at home.  She wanted to branch out to the land.  Eric was only the final straw that made her seek desperate measures, but he alone would not have made her do it.  Did Eric drive the ship and kill the evil witch?  Sure, that's what guys like doing, what they feel comfortable doing, big grand physical gestures.  In the end didn't she save Eric from drowning?  Wasn't she the final hero?  Wasn't her father who finally saw her as a grown woman able to make her own choices the reason she could end up with the man SHE chose?

Also, let's get this straight.  There is a difference between "need" and "want."

They missed some.

Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) - slipped a roofie too (though I should point out that it was some crazy, jealous bitch who did the slipping in both these cases, not a man).  She would have been right for the video, but I guess it would have been redundant.

Mulan - I can see why they left her off.  Not only did she compete and beat men, she was even better when she revealed she was a woman.  This does not fit the stereotype at all.  Did she end up with a man?  Was there misogyny in that movie?  She was not actually a princess either.  Maybe that's why she can be so strong and independent.  Maybe Disney is really suggesting we do away with the monarchy?

Pocahontas - Didn't she save John Smith from the axe?  And in the end she married some other dude, a part not even in the movie.

Tiana - I'm not really sure what he message was here anyway.  She rescues him, but he rescues her from her workaholism, maybe.  What is that all about?  I don't know.  There was some bestiality in here too (why a sexy frog that looks like she has a bosom when frogs aren't even mammals - gah).  What I do know is that Naveen is a mess before she straightens him out; they fall in love, are married and happy as frogs; and in the end she gets what she always really wanted.  Was that a prince?  Was that even a man?  No it was a restaurant, and that's what she got.  Did he help her get it: yes.  Did she get a man to boot: yes.  Honestly, it was a good friend (an alligator) who helped finance her restaurant.  The restaurant was what she needed.  Did she need a man; no.  Did she want a man, sure, she'd take one if offered.  By the way, in the end he doesn't seem to be so much a prince as her partner in the business.

Rapunzel - In the Disney version he saves her, she saves him.  I think it's a wash, and a good one too.

Merida - Okay, I know there is some controversy about how they sexed her up, but aside from that does she even end up with a man?  I'm not really asking, just pointing out.

Giselle - You remember her, from Enchanted.  She ended up giving up all princessness to marry a single Dad in New York.  I do believe she rescued him as well.

Another interesting thing to look at would be the villains.  

SW = Evil Queen

C = Evil Step Mother

SB = Maleficent

LM = Evil "Queen"

B&B = Gaston

A = Jafar

P = John Rolfe

M = The Mongols (or the hunny buns)

P&F = Shadowman

T = Mother Gothel

B = NA

F = ?

The ones in red are Girl on Girl action, while the ones in Blue are women fighting men.  I want to note that I don't think this is trying to say all women are evil, but that they are powerful and dangerous.

Let's look to see who is the strong role model in each:

SW = Huntsman?

C = Fairy Godmother

SB = Flora, Fauna & Merryweather

LM = Sebatian?

B&B = NA

A = Genie?

P = Grandmother Willow

M = Mooshu?

P&F = Mom, Mama Odee

T = NA

B = NA?

F = ?

And what years were they?

1930s - 1

SW = 1937

1940s - 0

no Princesses for the 40s:  Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi were all 40s

1950s - 2

C = 1950

SB = 1959

1960s, 1970s - 0

nothin' (Disney low point)

1980s - 1

LM = 1989

1990s - 4

B&B = 1991

A = 1992

P = 1995

M = 1998

Double Aughts - 1

P&F = 2009

Tens - 3 so far

T = 2010

B = 2012

F = 2014

My daughter suggested that the older, more stereotyped ones should be revamped.  I don't see why they need to revamp anything.  Those movies are historical.  If they want to go forward with new and enlightened princesses and princes that's cool.  I think rather than revamp they should retire.  Have you ever heard of the movie, "Song of the South?"  It was a Disney live and animated movie, but it was racist so they don't show it anymore.  It's out of circulation.  They'll never take Snow White out of circulation because it was the first ever, but they can take Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc out if they're willing to lose the revenue in the name of progressive thinking.

My daughter also pointed out the very weak characterization in the earlier films.  I thought it was a good point about the characterization.  What was the name of the prince in Snow White; Cinderella; Sleeping Beauty?  Wasn't it Charming in all of them?  If not, then I don't know.

My bottom line is not that Disney is without faults; but that you can't just lump everything as misogyny or an attempt to subjugate women.  Women may WANT to get rescued.  Women may WANT a man.  Neither of these precludes women doing some rescuing of their own, choosing their man, being strong or being themselves.

In fact, I want a woman who is strong, herself and capable of rescuing me when I need it.  I also want a woman who would choose me, can be tender and can let me rescue her once in a while.  Luckily I got one and it makes me one of the happiest people I know, man or woman.

On Flowers of Mundelein I'm running a poll on which princess you like best.  Go there and vote on that and come back here.

Official Writing Day!

I do declare, ahem, I mean I make the following declaration:  Mondays will now officially be Writing Day.

I had been trying to write daily and that is great, but sometimes I don't get a chance and I fall behind, and I get discouraged.  It's not so much that I don't have ideas or stories to write; I'm working on three things right now including a novel.  It's just that I know the way I work and once I get stated I'm going to work until I finish or something external stops me.  I know once I sit down to write I'm going to be locked in.

Alternately, I can't just sit and write for fifteen minutes at a pop, or thirty or forty five.  For the most part anything I write is going to take me the better part of an hour at least.  I get in the zone, and to do that takes time, but as I said above, once I'm there the time just flies by.

Terry Pratchett, Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury all extol the virtues of writing everyday.  I can't argue with that, but I think at this moment in time the best thing for me will be to make one specific day a week my big writing day.

This concept has worked very well for me with the library.  Wednesday is Library Day at our house.  I get books and return books on Wednesday.  It's been that way for years and it keeps everything in check.

I think this could work for me with writing.  I think I would be more comfortable knowing that I'm going to spend three hours of so on one day.

I'll take Wednesday as an Auxiliary Writing Day.  I can't take every Wednesday because I do Scouting stuff on some Wednesdays in the month.

This is day one of this experiment.  Let's see how it works.

On another note, I've fallen behind in my writing goal for this year already.  My goal is to get Hidden Temple to the Lost Gods (my 2013 NaNo) published.

My first step was to finish fleshing out the book itself.  I planned to go back and complete all those areas where I left a note to add details and such.  I was planning on doing this in January and February.

This would have prepared me to be ready to participate in NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month).  This program is to edit your completed novel for 50 hours in March.  Now, filling in those parts is going to have to be part of my 50 hours.

How is this 50 hours going to work with Writing Day?  I'm still going to keep Writing Day going, and do actual writing production on that day.  I will also make sure I post on Mondays.  There are 5 Mondays in March (dang) so that leaves me 26 days.  If I edit 2 hours a day then I can make it.

I think I'm also going to count the new material I create for the novel in my Writing Day, which will ease things up a bit.

I'll keep you informed.  You will see something no later than next Monday, if not sooner.

Happy Manly Valentine's Day

I love the smell of
romance in the morning

You smell that?  You smell that?  That smell...

It's V-Day my friends.

What you do not smell is Valentine's Day; it's tasteless, odorless, and one of the deadliest holidays known to man.

I've spent the last few years
building up an immunity to V-Day

I noticed yesterday that St. Valentine's Day is supposed to be romantic, about the love between two people, but it's become the flowers and chocolate and maybe diamonds holiday.  I think it is being used as a get out of trouble (or as Mrs. Prop calls it, the dog house) day.

But I ask you, doesn't it take two to tango (which in my opinion is NOT a romantic or sexy dance)?

The way to a man's heart is
pizza

I think my wife is the greatest and I think she does want to make it romantic for me too.  She suggested getting a pizza, a Chicago Style Pizza (that's right, all caps).  This to me is a very romantic food (see illustration from Lou Malnati's).

She suggested we get some wine, and while we did drink a bottle of wine at dinners when we were dating, I'm thinking I'm going to surprise her with Long Island Ice Tea.  That was the the drink she use to build up the courage to ask me out (that's right, she asked me ('cuz I'm to thick headed - oh never mind)).

She said we could just spend a romantic evening snuggling with a movie.

Okay, alarm bells, we have to tread very carefully here.  There are many dangers.

First of all, NO Notebook, absolutely, just no.  Hey girl, NO Ryan frickin' Gosling.  Okay, James Garner is cool; I can dig they die in each others' arms and he moves heaven and earth to be with her; through war, angry parents, rebuilding a house, climbing a ferris wheel (invented in Chicago, I must add); yeah, all manly.  I like the movie, I do, but I don't need to see it every single weekend.

I've talked about what movies are okay for men to cry at, but what about romantic movies that are cool for guys, for men?

I've got some candidates.  I know you will be surprised by some and disagree with a few, but some may just be viable options when your lady wants to snuggle.  In no particular order (not really, I've saved my personal choice for tonight until last, but otherwise there is no order, mostly):

• The Sound of Music
• Okay, this is a musical, but remember it must be romantic for both.  In this movie an older man takes in a young nun and in the end he marries her (plus one on the manly scale for getting a young beauty with the bonus points for her being a frickin' nun).  
• My grandparents had a music box with "Edelweiss" on it.  I would play it when I had to stay overnight there when I was a kid
• Who wouldn't want to be a father with the power to just whistle and your kids (including your DAUGHTERS) come running and get in line.  
• Extra, extra bonus points for telling the Nazis where to shove it.
• Mrs. Prop hates the song, but how DO you solve a problem like Maria?
• Moonstruck

  

  "Where are you taking me?"
  "To the bed!"

• Nick Cage at his absolutely angsty best, he lost his friggin hand for Crissake
• Cher looks like Mrs. Prop in this movie
• La bella luna!  It's a full moon tonight (really, 14 Feb 2014 is a full moon) - "That moon.  That's Cosmo's moon." - "The moon brings the woman to the man."
• John Mahoney was born in England, earned his US citizenship in the US Army and is a Chicago guy
• Love those eggs fried in the bread

• Say Anything
• Mrs. Prop likes John Cusack (a Chicago guy)
• Kickboxing
• Insane romantic gesture, stick a boombox in the air with Peter Gabriel (Mrs. Prop says that song is about my eyes)
• 80's teen movie (I could put 16 Candles, Can't Buy Me Love (I very often do the African Anteater Dance at weddings) and Pretty in Pink and make it a marathon)
• John Mahoney again
• The Incredibles
• I wanted to throw an animated movie in here and this is my favorite Pixar movie
• Are we not, all, Mr. Incredible?
• His waist measurement ends up the same as mine
• It came out on my birthday while I was in Afghanistan
• Elastigirl, nudge nudge (I'm not saying the cartoon gives any visual indication of that, but I have a very vivid imagination)
• Giant robots!
• Samuel L. Jackson ("Where is my super suit?" love it!)
• Casablanca
• If ugly old Boggie can get the girl we all have a chance
• Sticking it to the Nazis again ("I hate Illinois Nazis" (I know, wrong movie, how about, "Nazis?  I hate these guys." (okay, okay, but Harrison Ford is a Chicago guy))
• I love Ingrid Bergman (especially those eyebrows and that accent)

Now, as promised, the best for last:

Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta 

BOO!  Boo!

No wait, that's not right, it just can't be...

• Princess Bride

  

  Since the invention
  of the kiss...

• ("See I told you."  "Yes, you're very smart, shut up.")
• Where do I start?  Oh yeah, the theme song to Princess Bride was the first song at our wedding
• How will I say I love you?  "As you wish?"  No, by not saying all the words along with the movie
• This is a kissing movie, but it has fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles
• The kid is wearing a Bears jersey (Walter friggin Sweetness Payton!!!)
• I had the following ingraved in Mrs. Prop's wedding ring, "Even death cannot stop true love"
• Romance by pirates is good
• Coming back from the dead is even more impressive than climbing a Ferris wheel, Ryan Gosling

I hope you never fall victim to one of the classic blunders, the first is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this: never get involved in a romance when a chick-flick is on the line, aha ha ha ha ha ha ha

OUFFF

Have a happy St. Valentine's Day
As you wish

Altered Goals

I thought I would be posting a lot this month with an in-depth discussion about my goals for 2014.  As I've struggled to get almost anything done this moth I've realized that I need to make my goals very, very limited.

Things that are important to me include a lot of things, but I just can't do everything.  In fact, I can't really do very much since I am pretty slow in developing skills / learning and reading.  I also do not have very much time to myself.

I'm interested in (in no particular order):

• Archaeology
• Anthropology
• Sports (watching)
• Hockey
• Rugby
• Football
• Sports (participating)
• Swimming
• In-line skating
• Rugby
• Hockey (wish I could)
• Joining some sort of team
• Sailing
• Short fiction writing
• Horror
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Sci-Fi
• Comedy
• Audio Drama
• Novel writing (same genres as my short fiction)
• Bike commuting
• Podcasting
• Old Time Radio
• Pets
• Getting another Bearded Dragon
• Getting a dog
• Pond fish
• Gardening
• Camping
• Boy Scouts, specifically Commissioning
• Girl Scouting
• Deism
• Forestry
• Staying healthy and doing things that will help me prolong my life
• Romance
• Family
• Music
• Ukulele
• Bass (wish I could play)
• Sax
• Wish I could join a band
• History
• Military in general
• WWII era
• Chicago
• Greece
• Astronomy and star gazing
• Greek and Greece
• Family vacation
• Reading

So you can see that there are a lot of things.  A lot of these things have additional expansions below them.  A lot either need a huge investment of time, money or both.  Some of these things are very personal, some are charitable and some are involved with others in a mutual nature.

Even when I start to narrow down the list or prioritize it so that I can develop goals I end up adding more and more.

Previously I listed five areas for goals:

1. Greek
2. Archaeology
3. Writing
4. New Job
5. Commissioning

I left off a health oriented goal, but two weeks ago I weighed myself and clearly I need to exercise on a regular basis.  You can see that the goals keep getting scope creep. If I want to change these six to areas of importance rather than goals it might help, but I'm not completely convinced.

I think I need to tighten this very much, man up and focus.

My will make just two goals:

1. Learn Greek
2. Get published

However I will measure everything I do against 7 priority levels:

1. Staying healthy
2. Learning Greek
3. Staying employed
4. Family support (things my family needs me to do)
5. Commissioning
6. Getting published
7. Archaeology

I'm going to talk about my priorities more on Flowers of Mundelein.  I'll track my Greek goal on Flowers and my publishing goals here.

Killing the Christmas Tree Softly

Prepared for boxing,
maybe that's what Boxing Day means (?)

We are taking the Christmas tree down, and I have to take down my last poll which was about your favorite Christmas carol or song.

The results of that poll were two for other (one was mine) and one for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  Thank you to those who participated.

This month, thinking about trees I'd like to ask, do you like to read on dead trees (paper) or electronically?  I'll just make it a simple three part-er.

I understand that some people prefer paper for books or long works, while they prefer electronic methods (ereaders, computer, tablet etc.) for shorter works.  Some people may like electrons for everything and some people may like paper for short stuff and electrons for longer stuff so they don't have to lug it around.  Some people may have different combinations.

Whatever your combinations, this is the place to discuss them.

How Do You Get Chicago?

Chicago skyline April 18, 2009, from Northerly Island looking west (thank you Wikipedia)

What city should I live in?

At the Museum of Science and Industry

I got Portland, but I've no idea how anyone would get Chicago based on the choices they give.  There were almost none of the choices I would have picked, so I had to go with the one that was least wrong.

I'll review the questions, the choices they give, my answers (in bold) and the right (Chicago) answers:

1.      How do you take your coffee?

a.       Local & Organic

b.      By the pot

c.       I don't drink coffee

d.      Cappuccio, extra foam

e.       Pour over [I don't have any idea what this is]

f.       Iced

g.      Espresso, double shot

h.      Skinny vanilla latte (I don't know what normal coffee with zero calorie sweetener would be so I picked this)

i.        Black, like my soul

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER:  Hot, it's winter dang it!

2.      What's your jam?

a.       "Hips Don't Lie" - Shakira

b.      "Sweet Child 'O Mine" - Guns and Roses

c.       "Timber" Pitbull

d.      "Skinny Love" Bon Iver

e.       "Bangarang" Skrillex

f.       "Partition" Beyonce

g.      "Lights" Ellie Goulding

h.      "Royals" Lorde

i.        "Suit & Tie" Justin Timberlake

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER: "LSD" (the song by  Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah or the street)

3.      What could you eat forever?

a.       Beans and rice

b.      Chocolate

c.       Steak and potatoes (this is Chicago acceptable)

d.      Tacos, burritos, enchiladas

e.       Pizza (Chicago acceptable)

f.       Chicken

g.      Curry

h.      Bread

i.        Sushi

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER:  possible acceptable answers include: Italian beef sammich, polish sawseege, Chicago Style Pizza (no, this is different than just pizza)

4.      Pick a #hashtag (I'd like to think that the real appropriate Chicago answer is, "None" but I know some of you think this, "Pound sign" is a hashtag thingie so I'll give it to you):

a.       #YAASSS

b.      #WINNING

c.       #FOODPORN (I've actually done this with Chicago Style pizza so I picked it)

d.      #BALLIN

e.       #SORRYIMNOTSORRY

f.       #YOLO but used ironically

g.      #YOLO

h.      #NO FILTER

i.        #BLESSED

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER: some acceptable: #DABEARS, #DABULLS, #DAHAWKS

5.      Pick a Beyoncé:

a.       Super Bowl

b.      Secret Album

c.       "Crazy in Love" (she samples Chicago's own The Chi-Lites' 1970 song "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)." and I knew that)

d.      "Who Run the World (Girls)"

e.       Illuminati

f.       "Single Ladies"

g.      Destiny's Child

h.      #22DAYSVEGAN

i.        Glastonbury

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER:  since it's limited to Beyoncé I'd say either my choice or "Cadillac Records" because it's about Chicago's Chess Records and she plays Etta James (even though that's a terrible movie filmed in New Jersey!)

6.      What's on top of your bucket list?

a.       Go on safari

b.      Go to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix

c.       Road Trip America

d.      Backpacking Europe

e.       Summer in the Hamptons

f.       Relaxing in Bali (or I want a vacation in the islands: Northerly, Goose and Blue)

g.      Wine tasting in Tuscany

h.      Skydiving

i.        Coachella

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER: Watch the Cubs win the World Series because if I can't die until then, I'll live forever

7.      Pick your poison

a.       Gin & Tonic

b.      Shots

c.       Red wine

d.      Beer

e.       Whiskey

f.       Mojito (closest I could get to my choice, margaritas)

g.      Wine

h.      Local craft beer (I suppose if you chose Goose Island it would be Chicago acceptable)

i.        Vodka soda

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER:  Orange and Blue Kool-Aid, my friend

8.      What do you look for in a mate?

a.       Dancing ability

b.      Spontaneity

c.       Sense of humor (Second City?)

d.      No style = no way

e.       Smooth

f.       Smart

g.      Witty

h.      Sexy

i.        Money

j.        CHICAGO ANSWER:  Gotta love Chicago, and being able to shovel snow is a plus

9.      How do you exercise?

a.       Yoga

b.      Shopping

c.       Sex

d.      Partying

e.       Don't need to

f.       Extreme sports

g.      Hiking (after taking Da Metra to Da Loop to see the Christmas tree and the windows at MARSHALL FIELDS (muck Facy's))

h.      Living life

i.        What's exercise?
j.    CHICAGO ANSWER:  Celebrating Da Hawks Stanley Cup win, or screaming at da TV when Da Bears are losing to dose packers (I refuse to capitalize their name)