JamesSavik

The road to Valhalla goes through hell.

I think that there is a fine line between believable and cliche. Humans are complex and they have many levels. The problem that I've seen is that these complexities become too easy for some writers. How many times have we seen: The cynical/angry cop with problems at home. The military officer that is haunted by a failed mission. The evil industrialist that is evil for no particular reason. The just married lovable rookie cop that's about to die. The guy in the red shirt that's doomed. Characters like these are immediately recognizable from Law & Order, Last Resort, every movie made in the eighties and Star Trek. How much trouble is it really to show another side and move past the cliche. For instance: In the Last Boy Scout Bruce Willis plays a hard-bitten smart-ass private detective. He does indeed have problems at home but when asked why he doesn't get a divorce, he says because grass is green, the sky is blue and I still love my wife. Consider how much more you tell the reader about a character when you show that side of him. Why is the military officer haunted? Did he screw up? Is he afraid that he'll screw up again? Is he blaming himself for the inevitable consequences of a no win situation? Why is the industrialist evil? Is he in competition with the memory of a domineering father that told him he was a little faggot that would never amount to anything? Is he doing everything he can to "beat" his father? Is he desperately trying to keep a dying industry alive on life support? The rookie cop in Judge Dredd that rushed the door and got killed... was he just plain dumb or suicidal? The red shirt that gets killed protecting a core character... does he even have a personality? Yes... you want your characters to ring true but remember: not everything you write requires a detailed character study. Sometimes the reader doesn't need to know. With protagonists and secondary characters, it's good idea to give them depth and consistency... or inconsistency as long as it makes sense in character.

Easy Sausage Manicotti Ingredients: 1 pound bulk pork sausage 2 cups (16 ounces) 4% cottage cheese 1 package (8 ounces) manicotti shells 1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella chees Directions: In a large bowl, combine sausage and cottage cheese. Stuff into manicotti shells. Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with marinara sauce. Cover and bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of a shell reads 160°. Uncover; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 7 servings. Real Manicotti from scratch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf0RWgRE5IA

for honorable kung-fu Panda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PgRznuRseA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uBrx5aJ20

When I was in 5th grade I inherited a lot of stuff from my older brother went away to college. I've got first editions of the Beatles, Doors, Who, Jimi Hendrix and lot's of other stuff. My brother got disillusioned with rock after Jim Morrison's death. He kept the jazz. I got a treasure. Took me a while to appreciate what I had. I started noticing that I had a lot of the best stuff that was on the radio. My first group was Rush. I wore out copies of 2112. Then the Cars...Led Zeppelin... Pink Floyd... ELP... Yes.. the Eagles... Supertramp... By the time CDs started showing up, I had quite an investment in vinyl. It took me a while to make the switch. Part of that switch was keeping the vinyl. I bought a Techniques direct drive turntable and a couple of replacement needles when they started getting scarce. I have ~260 vinyl albums and over 600 CDs now. CDs have a good sound but it's only as good as your electronics. A few things you'll want to watch: 1. Clean the CD lens regularly. You'll save yourself from annoying skips and lengthen the life of your gear. 2. Handle your CDs with care. Scratches will kill them. Wipe them down with a cotton cloth and store them in a sleeve or case. 3. ProTip: rip your CDs to MP3s on your PC, store the original. 4. Speakers are the weakest link. The material ages and wears out. If your rig sounds bad, look at the speakers first.

Now I know that I'm getting old. All I see are five cute kids. All I can think of that I might want to do is bake them cookies.

Actually I only call bullshit when I smell it. I don't call it nearly as often as some of our peers. Fact is I misread a line in the article. I thought it was claiming all of the deaths came from bung-hole boozing when it was all alcohol related accidents. I can be wrong and admit it. Too often, especially during campaign season, we see false claims and inflated statistics that are meant to intentionally mislead people. Like how there is no inflation, so many people have gotten jobs or how well the economy is doing. Those are intentional lies and I will expose them when I see them.

You want annoying? Old people who discover email and know your email address. Now- THAT'S ANNOYING! I am the computer consultant to the old folks at my Mom's church. I advise them on what to get, set it up for them and show them where to go to get free training. I make a little money by fixing things they botch up and keeping them running. Once they discover how to use email, I get recipes, cute grand baby pictures, forwarded jokes and all sorts of geezerspam I don't want. And I've got to look at all of it because in the mounds of crap are occasional requests for services. Upside: I'll soon be publishing a collection of ten-thousand casserole recipes. Downside: I hate ALL of them.

No. You are not annoying. You want annoying? Old people who discover email and know your email address. Now- THAT'S ANNOYING! I am the computer consultant to the old folks at my Mom's church. I advise them on what to get, set it up for them and show them where to go to get free training. I make a little money by fixing things they botch up and keeping them running. Once they discover how to use email, I get recipes, cute grand baby pictures, forwarded jokes and all sorts of geezer spam I don't really want. And I've got to look at all of it because in the mounds of crap are occasional requests for services. Upside: I'll be publishing a collection of ten thousand casseroles recipes. Downside: I hate ALL of them.

1825!? Bull. I want to see some documentation of that. If we're talking drunken driving and death while intoxicated and stupid- sure. That's Darwin sorting out the heard. I just don't think there are that many rectal rummies.

I didn't have braces. Back then nobody in the country had braces. I don't even remember seeing them around until the late-70s and only on people from the big city (that would be Jackson or New Orleans). i should have had them. My teeth are crooked and I've had a lot of trouble with them.

It's not like the regular refs can't blow the calls with the best of them.

I've been denied entry to gay bars because they thought I was a just a big mean jock that wanted to come in and start trouble.

We are not amused with the NFL this season after what they did to the Saints. I think the refs controversy is to distract attention from Goodell's rape of the Saints.

Here's a few from Mississippi: The lights are on but nobodies home = not very bright this ain't my first rodeo = I've been around as full of wind as a corn eating horse = boastful ju-heer = did you hear? jeet? = did you eat? wan to? = Want to? Lagniappe = something extra (like buy your wife a diamond ring and get a free shotgun). cut your own weeds = mind your own business Marred = married Cajun: Make the misere = to cause trouble Up the bayou = North Down the bayou = South gree-gree = to curse someone boy = a male from 6 to 60 T'Paul = little Paul, works with other names too Most of the rest is a derivative of French and won't mean much.

I've seen season 1 on video and I'm not very impressed. There is a lot of cliches and... frankly it looks like every episode is being filmed like it might be the last. It looks like it's being produced out of the back of a semi in the woods. I don't trust TNT. If it's any good, they'll cancel it. But- what do I know? If a piece of crap like Terra Nova can be made and run as long as it did, I have no idea what the network pricks are thinking.

Check out Comicality and Dom Luka.

< Say Mohammad! < Whut? < You mad bro?

Don't worry mate. I'm enough trouble for six people.

I've met a few friendly athletic gay Hispanics... much to my delight.

I'll eat the chicken samich but the waffle fries... fogetaboutit.

I would prefer to slap him on the wrist than to make an enemy of him forever.

The film is called the Mudge Boy (http://en.wikipedia....i/The_Mudge_Boy). It's a highly rated G&L film. It's all very literary and boring and filled with stereotypical characters that you will instantly recognize: the hapless gay youth, the father that doesn't understand, the bullies, the unrequited love... It's the sort of film the critics love. I hate it! Oh my God is it ever a stinker. Why do you ask? The writing. This 4 star piece of crap takes all the negative stereotypes about gay people that it can find, wraps them in literary hash and puts them on film. The gay kid is my #1 problem. Of course with a name like "Mudge", start the protagonist with a serious depression and an inferiority complex. He is written to be a mental case, not necessarily gay. His mother died in the back story of the film so naturally he befriends a chicken. When the chicken becomes upset he puts the chickens head in his mouth to calm it down. Of course the god damned chicken calms down! It thinks you are about to eat it you fucking idiot! When he is not molesting farm animals, he is wearing his deceased mothers clothes. OK just fucking stop! WHAT THE suffering, stuttering FUCK!? That's not gay. That's a serious mental disorder. Start a club against it. I'll join. Just say no cross-dressing chicken fellatio! No wonder people join the Family Research Council and the American Family Association. They watched this film and think we're mental. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!! I am not looking for G&L films to be p0rn or propaganda but this one is not labeled right. It's not a gay coming of age story: it's a disturbed little fuck's coming of age story. Authors! Don't do this to your characters! Unless of course, you are writing about crazy people. Granted- growing up gay in a lot of places can make you pretty crazy. I'm living proof of that. But crazy enough to perform fellatio on a chicken head? I DON'T THINK SO! Characters need their flaws, their weaknesses and faults but don't go overboard. It is very easy to go from a sympathetic character to a flawed character to a character that readers respond to with revulsion. The difference can be measured in millimeters.

I like being lazy and shiftless too much.