Intermission

The third installment for the story was workshopped by my fellow students last Monday, and there are some improvements to be made on it. Since I want you all to see the best version of this story, I will hold off posting it until it is finished. Even then, I think I am going to have to deliver it in two steps because it’s a bit long for a blog. You can ask for the full version all at once, if you wish. In lieu of story, I will use this platform to tell all twelve of you what I think you should read, watch and listen to.

We drift through life, or blitz or meander, or maybe take it at a brisk pace? I’m not here to judge. But as we go we pick up odd scraps of experiences and pleasures, and sometimes we wish to share these with others. The thing is, we each have our sharply defined tastes, and the things we love may not appeal to other people, so the mature thing to do is wait quietly, learn about your friend and their styles, and share your interests when appropriate. Being mature is boring, however, and takes a lot of time and sensitivity and I’m impatient, so I’m going to blast you with some obscure loves that I have in a variety of mediums. What does this have to do with my journey to be a writer, you ask? Shut up, I’m being immature.

Music: Chasing Furies

There is one single self-titled album from this flash in the pan band. I plugged it in as a seed for a Pandora station, and their matrix had no idea what to do with that. It decided that I wanted to hear female vocalists, which is the barest fraction of what “Chasing Furies” is. It turns out I just want more “Chasing Furies” music, and I can’t have any. There is a female vocalist, however, and she is incredible. I pondered for a while whether Sara Meeker’s voice is more like satin, velvet or silk, or maybe even something like chiffon or velour when I realized that music/textile metaphors are not only overused, but impossibly non-specific. I’ll dispense with the heavy handed comparisons and simply say that her voice is clear, smooth, perhaps classically trained and she has a mind blowing range. Good voice is expected when you are listening to music (unless it’s the sixties), but she stands out. She then applies that voice to moody rock, with flowing keys and jarring riffs in a musical tumble that looks ugly when it’s words on paper, but sounds refreshingly different and beautiful when it’s chords in ears. Her brother provides guitars in all songs and main vocals in two tracks, and her sister also does something. Keys, probably, and the drum track I guess. They could have called themselves “The Meekers,” but that doesn’t sound even 7/8^ths as cool as “Chasing Furies.”

TV Show: Boomtown

I would tell you to watch “Chuck” or “The Wire” or the first season of “Heroes,” but you know about those already. I would even say “Firefly,” but in my circle of friends the likelihood that you have already been bitten by that bug is inordinately high. Instead I want to share something with you that you have never heard of, and my money says you have never heard of “Boomtown.” I have only seen the first season and there were two, but it had a huge impact on me as a writer. Where most shows have a small handful of recurring characters, usually with only one or two “main” characters, “Boomtown” constantly switches the point of view character between a somewhat stable cast, and sometimes victims and perpetrators in this L.A. crime drama. Sometimes we even repeat scenes, but they are retold from a different person’s perspective and we see subtle differences. Maybe the concept was too complicated for TV and 2002/2003, or maybe the acting wasn’t all that great. I don’t remember, but what I do know is that it changed the way I see people and interactions. I recommend it for all writers who want to sharpen their ideas on perspective.

Movie: MirrorMask

There is another movie that I love even more than MirrorMask, but I don’t know what its name is and I can’t find it, which makes me sad. Instead I’ll offer this bizarre gem. If you aren’t into ambiguity and symbolism you should probably skip it, because at surface value this movie doesn’t make much sense. The setting is gorgeous, though, and it has the creepiest rendition of The Carpenter’s “(They Long To Be) Close To You” that I have ever heard (and trust me, I’ve heard, like, so many versions of that song). If you are into ambiguity and symbolism, this film has philosophical fodder to last you for days.

Book: Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Lewis has two major followings: Narnia fans and theology nuts. More in depth Lewis scholars will have read his space trilogy, “The Screwtape Letters,” and perhaps “The Great Divorce.” Most people have never dug into the true depth of bibliography and found this incredible book. I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to throw out spoilers, but I will say that it is a retelling of the Greek myth “Cupid and Psyche.” Again, the most interesting thing I find in the work is Lewis’ study in perspective, and the different versions of reality that appear to different people. The characters are compelling, the questions poignant, and the answers, to my mind, brilliantly insightful. It is a wonderful story if all you want is entertainment, and if you are looking for that deeper purpose, it has material to contemplate long after the last line is finished. I love this story hard.

Webcomic: Dinosaur Comics

The webcomic is a medium that many people are unfamiliar with. They usually only have niche appeal, otherwise they would be regular newspaper comics or comic book comics. So it is with Dinosaur Comics, so you might not like it but it costs you nothing to check it out. The premise is simple; writer Ryan North is lazy, so he uses the same panels every day and only changes the captions. He doesn’t even change the order of the panels, it’s the same template every weekday since February 2003, and every day the main character, T-Rex, says something whacky and usually hilarious. T-Rex is into time travel, Batman, and being awesome. He fails a lot at that last one, but he usually isn’t aware enough to realize this. He discusses his ideas, loves and trials with his friends Dromeciomimus (sp?), Utahraptor, and occasionally an off-panel God or Satan. It is important to note that Dino Comics has been handed over to other writers in times of North’s sickness, vacations and such, but T-Rex’s character has never changed, even in the hands of writers completely unfamiliar with Dino Comics. His facial expressions are that powerful.

It is also important to note the webcomics I chose not to share: Dr.McNinja (sheer awesome), Axecop (even more awesome than McNinja), and Romantically Apocalyptic, which is stunningly beautiful even if it does have a most confusing plotline.

Thanks for reading. I hope you check some of these things out! I the meantime, I’m pluggin away at the edit on the story.