Forty-Two

Okay, apparently "diegetic" isn't a word according to online dictionaries, but we used it a lot in one of my university classes when discussing children's literature as a form of the word diegesis, the definition of which I will cut and paste from Wikipedia because it's easy: In fiction, diegesis is the (fictional) world in which the situations and events narrated occur; and telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting.[1] In diegesis the narrator tells the story. The narrator presents to the audience or the implied readers the actions, and perhaps thoughts, of the characters. We considered negative diegetic learning to be those stories where the children were meant to be taught a lesson or given a warning, an example being a little girl plays with matches and she burns to death, so the children are meant to be scared into not playing with matches. A lot of older children's literature works this way - Little Red Riding Hood or Alice in Wonderland for example. Oh yes, every generation seems to want better for their kids by being better than their parents were to them. That just seems to be the way it goes

Oh man, I so wish I had checked this thread sooner and gotten to reply as people commented. Oh well, here goes the mass of responses: Lol, touche. I will take what everyone says with a grain of salt You never know if those people feel the same way unless you ask. Also, you aren't entirely wrong about the concept of acting happy to make others happy. If you utilize cognitive dissonance, acting a certain way even though you don't feel that way, studies show you can actually cause yourself to feel that way. The basic idea being if you smile and act happy enough you will start to actually feel happy in those situations. But, it kinda sounds like you've settled for your current situation, so just remember, the only person who can decide to change who you are is you, and you have to be determined to make it work. (Sorry if this sounds preachy or after-school-specially, but it's the frankest way I can think to respond.) You're welcome! I have definitely become a more confident person because of exploring this side of myself. I still have a deadly fear of anyone in real life finding out about my online persona and activities, and I think I have more questions about myself than when I started, but I feel better about myself none the less if that makes any sense. I have had confrontations about who I am with family members, and it has really helped to see how other people deal with expressing new and hard issues and ideas to people who just don't understand them. About people losing social courtesies, I again point to John Gabriel's Greater Internet F**kwad theory: I admire that so much about you (and really hope no one ever takes advantage of your generosity or hurts you for your openness). If I ever go to England I would love to look you up... alas, I fear I am much too shy. I feel I would lose something of myself by showing my face, if that makes any sense. *applauds* Thank you for sharing some awesome wisdom

The Show Yourself topic started this seed of thought and it has grown. How real and honest is your online persona, on this site in particular (but also on the web as a whole)? It really surprised me when I first read some posts by people who are so fully involved in the site but then also say that they have a wife or kids at home that know nothing of this life. When I first joined I made sure my real identity could not be discovered through my online identity. My thought was I would be a little fly on the wall and simply read and observe what everyone else was doing, and post a few stories that aren't suited for other places. I wanted to be completely anonymous so that I could say or do whatever I wanted if I chose to say anything at all. Now I am much more active than I thought I would be, have made true friends, and have expressed so much of who I am. I thought high anonymity would equate to a high level of lies, aggression, and fake personality traits, interests, and opinions (see John Gabriel's Greater Internet f**kwad theory). I find my anonymity has done the opposite. I am very true to my personality and opinions because I am anonymous and don't have to worry about people in my real life finding out what I've said or done. If I had any of my personal information available, I would be much less involved and much more conservative. I suppose by taking a simple look at display names and pictures we can see most people have some amount of anonymity. So are you still the person you are when talking to people in real life, or is your online you a whole different person? Are you a built personality, essentially a "character" from the story Gay Authors? Are you the person you wish you could be in real life? Or, are you a hybrid of any of the previous?

I haven't seen it but I'd be willing to give it a try as BBC does do some pretty good stuff. Merlin is one of my favs, not to mention Doctor Who and especially Torchwood.

I'd have so many gigs of pictures....

I think this really shows the difference in prevention tactics for parenting as the generations go by. Nowadays parents are afraid to use scare tactics because society labels children as unable to handle any sort of grim reality. Sure it's probably better to say, "Wear a helmet so you don't get hurt," instead of saying, "Dear God you are going to kill yourself or at least be horribly maimed by the danger lurking around every corner if you aren't safe!" but negative diegetic learning isn't necessarily a bad learning tool. And about the leaf thing - when I moved towns I was so confused as to why every side street had all their leaves raked out onto the road. It's because trucks came around and sucked up all the leaves instead of picking up leaf bags. So maybe piling your leaves on the road was/is a standard practice in some towns.

I would recommend my two favourite authors from around here: Nephylim and C James. My favourite from Nephylim is To Have and to Hold if you're into vampires and angels (and even if you're not, you will be after this!). She has a lot of other cool stuff and a bit of a darker side if you're into it C James does a lot of teenage coming out type of stuff based of traveling and a few surfer themes which are really fun. My fav short story in the surfer stuff is No Shirt? No Problem! and an amazing heavier short story is Three For Jake, just awesome to say the least. There's lots and lots of other good stuff around here, but these are the ones that first pop into my mind, so clearly they made the best impression on me! Of course I can't give up the opportunity to self-promote, so you can check out my stuff too! (The links are in my signature.) Closer to Myself sounds the most like what you are looking for, but be adventurous when searching anyone's selection. You may come across a genre you never knew was good! Good luck and happy reading!

I have a lot of problems with marriage in general and think the world would be better off with a lot less of the strings that are attached to marriage. Having said that, I definitely believe in equal rights for all so of course gay marriage should be legal everywhere. But for me personally, it's not "a game changer," it has very little to do with anything I strive for.

Attitude really is everything...

I agree with the general sentiment that almost all bad dog behaviours come from bad owners or a lack of owners. It really is such a shame that dogs that misbehave are just put down. If there were rehabilitation centers a lot of those dogs could go to a home that is suited for their needs. I'm sure that the majority of dog owners are not training their dogs properly. Small dogs get away with being annoying little brats because owners treat them like toys or can't be bothered to govern their behaviour. Most owners try once or twice to change a bad behaviour and then give up and cater their lives around their dog's peculiarities. All dogs are highly trainable, especially when you compare them to other breeds of pets, and anyone who says they can't change their dog's bad behaviour is lazy and ignorant, and anyone who indulges their dog's bad behaviour is a weak willed idiot. I hate that many people treat their dog like a child or a spouse. Anthropomorphizing dogs is the biggest cause of bad behaviours. Dogs are not self aware and do not anticipate their future selves. They do not need a lot of the mollycoddling they're given, and they do not understand the concept of love, so don't think your dog does all that stuff to please you and gain a sense of self worth like a child or spouse would. They respond to their basic needs and instincts and are happy when their needs are met. If people were taught this as well as basic operant conditioning theories for training animals before getting a dog, then everyone would be much better off.

Bevis and Butthead is the worst insult to cartoons that has ever existed. King of the Hill is a close second. I hope for an epic fail and an epic firing of all those involved.

Go comic-con!

Definitely. I find I tend to look for/expect the romance online (and I am addicted to fanfiction, especially slashings of straight characters), but my fav online stories are the ones that have so much more and blow my expectations out of the water. Usually I won't read a paper book that is completely set in reality, it needs to have some sort of odd slant, even if it is just weird humour, but I'm more open to reality based teen/college coming of age stuff online because the gay relationships draw me in much more than the standard straight ones in most popular bookstore fiction.

I have watched all of QAF and found the article to be pretty interesting - thanks for the link! I think you're totally right that the same thing is probably happening here, and in a similar vein I imagine most of the m/m fanfic out there is written and read by straight/bi women.

Lol, I was so gonna say you should watch Dexter. The profile of serial killers is really interesting, in real life and in fiction.

I wish. i don't get out enough

This is the heart of it for me. If the story is short I will finish it just so I can try and give the author some feedback and hopefully avoid more awfully written stuff going up. In published books I find the writing style sometimes bugs me, but unless its bad plus the plot is weak, I will finish it anyway. It feels very sacrilegious to not finish any book, because even if it's bad I need to finish it to be able to justify that I should be taken seriously with my thoughts on why its so bad. I love characters more than plot, so if I think the main character is a dolt, I'm not going very far in the book. DUDE - what book? I love horror, but I have NEVER found a book scary enough!

It'd be interesting to figure out WHY only the bi and straight women and gay men hang out here. What makes a gay site end up falling on the male gay side or lesbian side? Is it simply a product of lesbians assuming that "gay" is tailored more for men and if the site meant lesbian they'd say it? Or is it just that straight women and gay men combined statistically read and write a lot more than straight men and gay women combined?

Couldn't get the links to work, but man, do I wish I was exposed to stuff like this when I was a teen. My parents were so frickin' repressed that I learned about EVERYTHING the hard way as it came up. I was introduced to a little gay culture when I was a kid when a friend of the family got divorced because she came out, but that was it. The closest TV show we have that I've seen is Sex with Sue, but that's mostly talking about how to use sex toys and her telling callers, "I think you should talk to your doctor about that."

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! There's no birthday emoticon so you get a wizard instead because it kinda looks like a birthday hat

The Classical Hollywood Cinema period (which I assume is what most people are thinking of when they talk of the "old classics") is from the early 1930s (the introduction of colour) to the late 1960s (when the production code was replaced with the ratings system). I always have trouble naming a favourite, but I like to ruffle people's feathers by saying that I HATE The Wizard of OZ with a burning passion. I think it's a groundbreaking film that will remain well known because of its use of colour and themes of childhood fantasy clashing with growing up and becoming an adult, and I have been known to make many "man behind the curtain" references because it's such a universal concept in studying fiction, but the characters and songs are as annoying as hell and I'll die happy never having to see or hear a clip from it again. I actually think Brokeback Mountain, although a well made film, fails utterly as a gay film. *Before reading further, spoiler alert* The characters are kept apart by society and their own weaknesses, they never face or overcome their problems and fears, and when Ennis gets that one chance to bond with his daughter and redeem his character by telling her about Jack, he doesn't. It's a horrible and depressing message/exploration of gay themes in film.

Happy Birthday man!