The_Round_One

Y_B, and Arpeggio, You two are the sorts of craptastic people, along with immoderate moderators, and some self-righteous youngsters that make this place thoroughly undesirable and not nearly the kind of place it thinks it is. There have been nice people on here...haven't seen them lately though, that's for sure. You two and others I could name certainly aren't among them. Your snotty messages amount to "put up with our shallow, stereotypical, or insulting crap or get out." That's hardly the friendliness this place claims. As for Y_B's name-calling, that's pretty infantile. I certainly don't need Texas rudeness in my life. The "privilege" of being able to give a review to the rare story that I like certainly isn't worth enduring the likes of you, Y_B. No doubt you'll think yourself superior to me regardless because of my "rotundity'; that just speaks to your own shallowness. Farewell to the good people; good riddance to the others.

Don't worry, Hayden. People here can be real fusspots...or tosspots, depending on what they're on about. You've felt some of their wrath already. Though it isn't described well, apparently The Lounge is really only for shallow things and Happy Birthdays. If you do decide to blog, I'll definitely follow.

Kudos to you, Hayden. Keep up the good fight against all the stereotypers, both straight and gay!!

What's "hot" and what's "not hot" are really only concerns if you are well off financially (for the techie things) and skinny/scrawny (for the clothes things). Either way, they're generally pleas for outside validation and thus transient at best.

Happy birthday!!

Happy birthday, Johnathan!

Karl and I had a nice long chat on here just a couple of nights ago; I think one of the last things he might have done on GA is approve my friend request. I'm so glad I had the chance to "meet" him and am terribly sad about his passing.

One of the things you should try to work on is bringing a more apparent structure to link the various chapters as you go further into this tale. How do they link together? How do they get you closer to the end point of the whole story (if you've planned that out, of course)? You've got a suitable tone for the dialogue parts (chatty, using text speak, etc), but I think adding a contrasting tone for the narration (those links I mentioned) would help the story out. For example, I'm getting the impression that Chapter One is "the present" for the story and that Chapter Two starts a flashback to when the narrator and his love met. You might try laying that out more clearly. I hope you keep at this as the ability to tell a story is a great and grand thing!

The attention that two gays winning a game-show brings on this website brings to mind a set of questions of rather more importance. Should we be celebrating (or be expected to celebrate) the win of two people just because of who they have sex with? Boiled down, what's more important? Their sexuality or their individual merits? A corresponding question would be: Should I like Adam Lambert's music just because we share the same sexual orientation?

If the alternative really is to kill off Finn, I'd vote for "Infinity" being a one-off piece as you had intended. Perhaps the idea for Jack's next chapter could be usable (with tweaking) in some other fictional world you've yet to create.

The happiest of birthdays, Andrea!

A beautiful story, Andrew! Some very nice twists on the gay-bashing theme.

Waiting for this topic to be locked down by one of The Regents...

An article in the Atlantic Monthly online version says that an amazing number of people use social media in the TOILET!!!! They cite a survey saying that 1/3 of young Americans do this. Are you one of them? What's so vital that you have to tweet or post while using the loo? The whole article is here: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/12/startling-number-americans-use-social-media-toilet/4059/

There are always the songs from the Colbert Christmas, as well! (I'd put up links but all the good links have been removed from Youtube)

Happy birthday to my favorite weeniepill, purple or not!

My favorite: David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing "Little Drummer Boy"

I've not been able to see any of these programs as I don't have tv, but I think giving jobs to actual writers is a good thing. Since every network and every cable channel has its own "reality" or "no writers needed" programming, having shows with writing staffs is all to the good.

It's a lot easier to say than to do, folks. I spent my junior year in college living with a man I lusted after and possibly loved (not sure anymore on that part) in a one bedroom apartment. It was sheer torture, especially when he got a girlfriend and would describe their relations rather graphically. Perhaps it's easier these days, but certainly it wasn't easy to "tell" someone 25 years ago. I know, to some degree, how that poor fellow felt and feel for him. As for protecting yourself...there's a reason that the old expression runs "love is blind."

The happiest of birthdays to you, Mikie!

This sort of usage post should remind all writers that one of the keys to becoming a better writer is to read GOOD writing. There is a kind of osmotic effect when we read; we adopt the characteristics of usage from what we read. As someone who taught English composition for many years, I can tell you all that the repeated encounters with terrible spelling, poor preposition selection, and other traits has often made me question my own spelling, etc. So, along with being careful about how you write, make sure you leaven your internet (largely unedited) reading with well-written materials as well! If you liked the tip in the post, you might want to take a look at the Grammar Girl podcast. It has lots of tips, both large and small in scope.

This video is the sort of godawfulness that in a prior day, you'd expect to see it on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 being destroyed!

The happiest of birthdays to you, Louis!

The trailer looks rather full of stereotypes, wouldn't you say?

I am so NOT looking forward to "The Hobbit"!!! I wrote my master's thesis on "The Lord of the Rings" and was disgusted by the violence Peter Jackson did to the text. He perverted so many of the characters in LOTR and, judging by the cast lists on IMDB, he's perpetrating the same sort of crime on "The Hobbit." Peter Jackson gets the visual elements, but he clearly cannot read and I'm not going to contribute a dime to his three-part destruction of "The Hobbit"!!