Naiilo

That Halo 3 vid seems to be a little overdone. But what I replied to say is that one cannot really expect a group of adrenalized teens to be nonabusive and tolerant. Most of the language used is to a) provoke anger, and demoralize or stun players unused to it. Besides, we don't know the whole story behind the names of the Halo 3 vid; had the abused gamer provoked it with previous actions? I cannot say it is a total atrocity without knowing more about the circumstances. Games like Halo 3 come with the risks of all socially interactive activities, and most gamers know what the environment is like going in. Would the game be nearly as enjoyable without the trash-talk? Or would it reek of the same boredom single-player mode has?Tolerance has its virtues, but on-line games whose audience is mainly the male 12-35 range cannot be fully expected to be virtuous venues, especially given the content of games in the FPS genre.That's my take on it, anyway.

"Don't Shoot Me Santa" The Killers It's neat in how they made it kind of like a song from a musical, but it still has the Killers' feel to it. Besides, it speaks to the picked-on dweeb in me. Don't shoot me Santa Claus, No one else around believes me, But the children on the block they tease me, I couldn't let them off that easy

Have you ever read Ray Bradbury's "The Pedestrian"? If not, I suggest it. It really compliments your distopia/utopia post here. By the way, since I haven't been on much, how goes? -Naiilo

Call them, talk to them, they are there to listen: AGORA Crisis Center Helpline (505) 277-3013

Let me know if this passage has any potential to keep going. Honesty is the best policy, please. Deep in the heart of a town now known as Hyoshi there a monument. The sky-raising statue boasts the journeys of a hero and his sons. At its roots, the alabaster arborlith mirrors fables, fairytales they are called today, of the village

Truthfully, I think that one should, as a poet, express their feelings as honestly as possibly within their poetry to convey whichever meaning or emotion they want. Poetry is an expressive form of language used by poets. Not all of us who write poetry can be deemed a poet, just as not all of us that build tree-houses can be deemed carpenters. It is referred to as a craft because it must be polished like a gemstone. I prefer Pope's definition of poetry: "What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed." BUT! - - - If one decides to publish, or--as I have heard--liberate, thier poetry, then that poet must take into account his or her audience, as all writers must do, if s/he wants others to a) understand the emotion / message being conveyed within the piece, not consider the writer to be a hack, and c) give acknowledgement of the writer's artistry. ***On another note: I disagree with Birdsofafeather's painting analogy. To compare schools of artistry is to compare times in history. Realism is just as much art as anything Abstract. When it comes to art, you cannot truely define it, you can only appreciate it. (Read some Ruskin!) From appreciation comes the designation. It might be interesting to examine two paintings, a Realistic woman and an abstract woman, side-by-side. By comparing the pieces you will find that the Realistic painting's message is not in the superficial image, but the skill of artistry behind how, for instance, the woman's curled, red, hair floats in the water in precise synchronization with her soft, white gown, how the flowers in the pond sit just on the surface, and what that image says about the period in which the painting was brought to existence. In the abstract painting you might focus more on the image's shapes; how the woman in this painting has a face made up of hard edges and soft edges, how one eye is larger than the other and how her lips seem less inviting than the beak of a squid. Each painting, like each poem, is different, and is art when its artfulness is agreed upon. ----More: One thing is clear about art: Art is not universally understood. It is subjective and cannot be universally understood. There are widely accepted symbols, images, themes, etc... within art, but you cannot make art universal unless you could streamine and completely globalize one culture without interference or existance of other cultures. /rant See you...

Happy Birthday, or if you prefer another language: Freetranslation.com Have a felicitous and multicultural birthday!

So far many of you have responded as I expected. I really think that DomLuka's response was the most thought provoking. It made me wonder how many of you, when negative criticism or flames (thanks nick), experience the feeling of despair? In "Doctor Faustus" the main character despairs for similar reasons (his are a little more serious and have worse consequences than just feeling like crap), but the good Doctor is brought down by his despair in the end. I would like to now know how, if you do despair, you get "out of the funk". Oh!--By the way: I am asking these questions to find out about a problem I recently had to overcome with despairing when confronted with negative criticism / feedback. I went through some serious doubt about my writing abilities. After I was able to gather back the pieces of my crystal chalice I realized that despite some negative here and there what I write will always reflect me as a writer. When I write poorly I am a bad writer, when I write greatly I am a good writer (or so I think). Let me know...

I'm curious: When you recieve criticism from a reader how do you handle it? Do you see it as another step towards improving your writing skill? Or do you let emotions control you and stop writing for awhile to spite your readers? What is your method?

Jack, I don't see anything wrong with what you did if the author left an e-mail addy in the story text. Just because an author doesn't ask for it, doesn't mean anything regarding criticism. While it might not be the most considerate way of communicating, you are perfectly right by doing it. Maybe it's the New Critic in me, but I think what you did is fine. See you.

I don't post my writing here because I am shy, but I still would like to know: What do you mean by "the heart of each story?" I am confused. From what I quoted from your post above, I only understand that "the heart of each story" to mean 'the story I enjoy working on the most and am most dedicated to because of my love for that story.' Anyway, I don't mean to be picky, but I am confused by the definition I see here and would like to know what you mean. See you.

Well, I'm glad the Hubble Telescope was able to come back to life!

Hmmm. Nick, I don't know you at all, I can honestly say that. What I can tell from the recent readings I have done of your blog is that you are a thoughtful person. Thoughtful people, though they tend to have justified opinions on things due to their thoughtfulness, are just as human as everyone else and are liable to make a mistake here and there, or even to *&^%-up now and then. Anyway, the point of this reply is that I just wanted to say, "Nice to meet you, and I hope we might be able to have a discussion one day." See you...

hmmmm, neato.

There is no way you can teach a High School level Literature course without teaching Dante's "Inferno". The other canticles of the Comedy wont be understood very well unless you are teaching a lot of theosophy and philosphy, so stick with "Inferno." Also, you ought to include: Musashi Gilgamesh The Upanishads The Iliad The Odyssey The Aeneid (Compare to the Ilaid and Odyssey in class) 1 or 2 Canterbury Tales (Compare to Inferno in class) 1 Shakespearian Tragedy(Macbeth is timeless, but Antony and Cleopatra is more entertaining- i think) 1 Shakespearan Comedy (Midsummer's Night) The Tempest (a very different genre than most of Shakespeare's stuff) Something from the Enlightenment that isn't Milton (I'm not a fan of the Enlightenment Era lit, so I cant name anything) Romantic Era Poetry(Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, Blake) Frankenstein either Pride and Prejudice or Northanger Abbey a Dickens novel (To appreciate the rest of them) A Bronte novel Poetry of Dante Gabriel Rosetti (Or other Pre-Raphealite Poetry) The Importance of Being Earnest a Woolf novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Catcher in the Rye Brave New World East of Eden Prometheus Unbound Something from Zola Catch-22 Death of a Salesman The Crucible The Dumbwaiter The Woman's Bible (if you are teaching secular this will work better than A Vindication on the Rights of Women) Blindness (Jose Saramago, World Lit, Nobel Prize, contains interesting perspectives on disease and differences) The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano (Slave Narrative, World Lit, Post-Colonial) These would be my picks, but you may not have the same views on them as I do. The reason I choose these is they are all classic examples, exceptions being The Dumbwaiter and Blindness, of their genre and era and also because they offer great foundations and perspectives on literature. Included in this list are Classics, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romance, Victorian, Modern, and Post Modern examples. Your students should at least appreciate the more ancient pieces and have a bit of fun with the more current pieces. For an fun class you can also read out some of the definitions of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, those will have your student's laughing--or at least amused.

indeed.

Ah-ha... I see no takers. Well, I guess it was worth a shot. If any of you out there wish to discuss lit crit with me, give me a PM. see you -N

Not being able to really predict what is coming next in the story is something I like about serials. Who knows what will happen next? Well really only Domluka, right? -Naiilo

What influence do you think these characters' names have on how they act? Google 'Rory' and click on the answers.com link and you'll get a small definition. Rory means 'dew', which is significant with all of the crying he does. I don't know... what do you guys think? -Naiilo

Well, honestly I haven't been lurking too much... the load my profs smacked down on me has taken it's toll on my freetime this semmie. I write poetry, though I feel like a Vogan (as I explain in another post somewhere here) often when I do. I am also attempting yet another short story. I read a lot, though what I read most of the time is much different than what I find here: as in I doubt many of you are going to imitate Faulkner's style. Ugh, Faulkner, makes me sick just thinking about his writing. One thing I've found is I spend a lot of time analyzing the stories I read, and sometimes analyzing them too much. I even do it to the stories on this website. I think it's interesting to pick stories apart, find the formulas, and though it made me kind of sad at first, use the story's literary clues to figure out the ending. Language is a puzzle to me, and I love picking it apart.

Hmmm, I made that other thread without realizing this was here... Anyway: My handle is Naiilo, but my name is Matt. I have experienced all of the Matt-esque nicknames including Matt, Mat, Matthew, Matteo, Mateo, Mathius, Matty... I think you get the point. I don't care what you call me, just make sure it's true before you say it. I'm an Literature major at the University of New Mexico. Though I love writing my creative writing is pretty bad. I tend to write mostly literary critiques, analyses, and technical docs. Oh! - I do a lot of academic editing too. My goals are to work in publishing, while experiencing as much of the world as I can. I love to travel, and am currently trying to find a way to get to the EU for cheap because I am a poor college student. Even though I am fairly certain I'm gay I am not out, nor am I open about my sexuality. If you were to ask though I don't say I'd deny being gay. I am 6 feet 1 inch tall, and due to what I now realize was unnecessary depression I need to hit the gym to get back down to my normal 190 pounds. I have what they call Auburn colored hair, and am told that my brown, Korean eyes are "clear and deep". I'm not full Korean, I'm a good mix of four races that I really don't want to go into right now. My favorite dish is gnocchi with basil-cream sauce. For softdrinks: I like the occaisional Pepsi, but would rather have a nice glass of tea. My best friend has a student that supposedly knows a lot about astrology. I'm an Aries, and she says that based on my normal attitudes and behaviors, from her observances, I am all Aries; ther isn't any mix of Pisces or Taurus in me. For those of you into Chinese astrology I am a Wood Ox, but can't remember what that means anymore. Like many of you I also took a Myers/Briggs test... turned up positive for ESFJ, if you need to know a more concrete view of me. Someone, I believe it was Green asked if any of us are artists. I try to write poetry, but end up feeling like a Vogan most of the time. If you'd like to read some of it go to: http://awesomedude.com/poets/poetry/naiilo.htm . Gabe posted it for me. I also draw a lot. My favorite medium is conte', but I am slowly becoming a big fan of soft pastels, especially Unison pastels. They are so wonderful to work with compared to the cheap ones I'm used to. I think that's all for now. ArrivaderLa, Naiilo

Indeed, happy birthday Mr. Gregg. I hope your day is filled with celebratory greatness and the magnificence of million stars. -Naiilo

Ciao, chiamo Naiilo! Though I don't remember how I stubled across this site, I have been lurking for some time now. I'm also registered on the AwesomeDude and CRVboy (haven't been to CRV in a long time) forums. Just want to say thanks for the effort you guys put in on this place. If anyone wishes to know more about me I'll be around, but feel free to IM or PM me. Ci vediamo... Naiilo