Creative writing exercises (two, since I didn't do one yesterday and went to sleep early instead - which, by the way, was the best idea I've had in a while.) There is actually another exercise called "Noun + Verb" that came before these, but it seemed time consuming so I'm saving it for when it's not so late.
Alphabet
The rules: Write a 26-sentence story with each sentence beginning with each letter of the alphabet. (In order, A to Z.) Here it is:
A woman stepped out of a cab, one long leg at a time. Before she even closed the door, the driver hit the gas. (Cabbies are an impatient group sometimes.) Dust flew up from under the spinning tires. Exhaust choked the woman and others nearby. "Fuck you!" she shouted, giving the back of the car the finger and hoping the driver saw it in the rearview mirror. Great, now everyone is staring. Her name was Lola, but no, she wasn't a showgirl. In the corporate world, they're called escorts. Just keep moving. Knowing people were still staring, she walked into the coffee shop on the corner. "Latte, nonfat," she ordered, then slipped into a booth by the window. Men in suits walked to and fro along the downtown sidewalks. Nearly half an hour went by before she saw the one she was waiting for. One o'clock, on the dot, she thought as she watched him enter the hotel across the street. Politicians didn't want to be seen with their escorts, so she waited for the text message that he said he'd send. Quickly, she scanned the street for media, just to be safe. Relax, you can do this. Suddenly, her phone buzzed. "Take the service elevator to Room 836, knock twice, identify yourself as X." Ugh, the service elevator. Very quickly, she left the shop and made it up to the room without being seen. "Who is it?" he asked when she knocked. "X," she answered, per his ridiculous instructions. "You're right on time," he said as he opened the door. "Zachary Brown... or do you prefer Mr. Mayor?" she replied, holding up her badge, "You're under arrest."
That was kind of hard. The next one was easier.
New Lyrics
The rules: Using the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," write your own lyrics. Here it is:
"Steffy had an urge to write,
Urge to write,
Urge to write,
Steffy had an urge to write
And publish a book.
It made her nervous to think of,
To think of,
To think of,
It made her nervous to think of
letting people look.
What if they thought it sucked,
Thought it sucked,
Thought it sucked,
What if they thought it sucked
And told her so?
But if she didn't take that chance,
Take that chance,
Take that chance,
But if she didn't take that chance
Then she would never know."
Ta-da!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Movie Review: "Black Swan"
We interrupt your regularly-scheduled posting (creative writing exercises, which I'll pick back up tomorrow) to bring you this movie review.
Natalie Portman deserves any nomination she gets for "Black Swan." I would say that based solely on her transformation into an actual ballerina alone, but her mental/emotional portrayal of her character - though not as impressive as the physical - was nothing to sneeze at. The woman got down to 89 pounds, trained for 10 months and literally BECAME a ballerina. Amazing.
Her character is Nina Sayers, a core company member of the New York Ballet who dreams of being chosen to play the Swan Queen in the company's upcoming production of "Swan Lake." The problem is, the director wants his queen to play both the sweet, virginal White Swan and the seductive, dark Black Swan. If he was casting only the White Swan, he tells Nina, she would be it. He doesn't see the lusty, confident Black Swan in her at all. Lily, a new company member (Mila Kunis) from San Francisco, has all the lusty confidence in the world, but not Nina's precision-perfect technique. When Nina sees the director eyeing Lily, she begins to see Lily as her competition (along with the rest of the women in the company, whom she doesn't seem to have any sort of friendships with.)
The director (played by Vincent Cassel, I should have mentioned) ends up choosing Nina for the Swan Queen, and suddenly all the pressure of the world is on her shoulders. The other girls hate her. Lily tries to be her friend, but Nina doesn't trust her. Nina's mom, a former dancer herself, is living vicariously through her daughter, controlling her every move and clearly resenting her daughter for being conceived and ending her own ballet career. The director continues to tell her she's not capturing the spirit of the Black Swan. All Nina wants is to be perfect. It all begins to take its toll.
Nina begins seeing things. Hearing things. Imagining things that she thinks are real. It's hard to tell if they are or not. Are these things she wants or that she fears? Is she crazy or on the brink of crazy? Are the people around her really out to get her or is it all in her head?
I think the answer is "yes" to all of the above.
I used to dance. Not at that level by any means, but competitively enough to understand the pressure of perfection. And of a director pitting you against your teammates because he/she wants to push you to your best performance. And of being scrutinized every time you eat. And the exhaustion of it seeming like no matter what you do, it's never EVER enough.
"Black Swan" takes those feelings and actions to an extreme level. Some of the happenings, whether they are actually happening or not, are over-the-top. But I went with it, because the underlying feeling - that loss of control, that desperateness for approval, that exhaustion - is very basic and very real.
You'll be disturbed when you leave the theater. I was, at least. Maybe it's because I was watching from a dancer's perspective. And I can easily see how losing it like that could happen. For non-dancers, it might be simply unsettling. Like that feeling you get when you've driven from one place to another and can't seem to actually remember getting there.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Maps
Creative writing exercise #6: Imagine an alien has landed at your office. Explain, in meticulous detail, directions on how to get from the office to home.
Well, Alien, it's the end of the day. Let's push CTRL+ALT+DELETE on the keyboard and then ENTER to lock our computer so that nobody else can use it while we're gone. Then we'll put on our jacket, which is hanging on the back of our chair, get our purse from the shelf on our left and our lunch bag off the desk on our right. We're ready to go.
We have to navigate through the newsroom. Once we go around Jim's desk, the path is clear to the main walkway. We'll be stepping from ugly gray carpet to ugly gray tile, so don't be alarmed when our shoes start to make noise. We walk to the front of the room, and turn left at the bank of TVs, all of which will be playing some sort of news since we leave at 6 p.m.
Once we push through the ugly gray double doors, we're in the break room. The floor is now an ugly brown. We'll walk between the cafeteria-style tables on our left and the vending machines on our right. We have to turn right toward the stairwell, or else we'll hit the brick wall. We follow the steps as far as they go, then turn left out of the double doors and we find ourselves just inside the glass doors marked "Employee Entrance." We say good night to the security guards out of courtesy, but they're not paying much attention to us, so if we forget it's not a big deal.
We pass through the glass doors and turn left. Our car will be parked at a meter somewhere nearby. Once we get in, we lock the door immediately. Lots of shady folks in this area, especially if it's after dark.
We have to turn east on McCullough Ave. to get to the highway, which is what we want to do. Once we're headed that direction, we make sure we're in the left lane, because we'll need to turn at the next light. We have to go under the highway first, and when we do we always scan the sidewalks on either side and see what the homeless people are up to. Every once in a while they're arguing with each other, but most of the time they're just sitting.
Now we've passed under the highway and the light is ahead. When it gives us the green, we turn left and directly onto the ramp that leads up to the highway. Once we're on it, we have to merge left into the next lane, because the original lane becomes an Exit Only lane to merge onto another highway. After making that lane change, we have to look for another opening to merge left one more time. (The new lane will become another Exit Only lane.) For good measure, we always move left one more time. This puts us in the middle lane for the rest of the highway drive and usually the traffic moves steadily in this lane.
As we go north on the highway, we pass a lot of interesting things. To the right: Sam's, which has good burgers and better live music. To the left: The Pearl, one of the coolest spots in town and home to a bookshop, the culinary academy, some boutiques, restaurants and a weekly farmer's market. After that, we pass between two universities and, on our left, the large rock wall that is the outside of the coolest football stadium in town. A little further ahead and to our right is The Quarry, a huge shopping/dining/entertainment center that has an awesome ice cream shop, the Whole Foods, the UT Co-op and only a few other places worth visiting. (Sorry, P.F. Changs. You're overrated.)
We're about halfway there, Alien. Coming up is the cloverleaf that connects our highway to the city's inner loop. We don't want to take it, but it's fun to feel like we're at the bottom of a bowl of spaghetti when we drive under the curving ramps. Now we're about to pass the airport. It's on our right, and once we go by the entrance and the bright orange hangars that hold the private planes, we'll see the runway. Sometimes, if we're lucky, a plane will be landing as we drive under it. There's a lighted bridge that goes over all 10 lanes of the highway and access road that guides the planes onto the runway. It gets loud if one is landing as we drive under the bridge, but it's a cool thing to see.
I'm sorry to tell you, Alien, but here is where the journey gets boring. For some unknown reason, the cars all creep to a near standstill. We inch along for about half a mile and then, just as suddenly, there's all kinds of room to drive. It never make sense. We just have to deal with it. There are plenty of neon signs and digital billboards for you to look at on either side of the highway if you like. I think there's nothing much to see -- it's all fast food chains, drug stores, gas stations and a few big office buildings -- but knock yourself out.
Finally! Our exit! We have to cross into the far right lane and then go down the hill that is the exit ramp. We have the right of way, so the traffic on the access road below is supposed to yield to us, but they don't always. Here's a good rule of thumb: Move, again, to the center lane of the access road because if we go all the way to the right lane (which we'll have to do so we can turn on our street) it's inevitable that the car in front of us will slow to a glacial pace to turn into the steakhouse parking lot. Once we pass that steakhouse, we can move into the right lane. Nothing will slow us down but the light.
When we get to the light, we turn right and stay in the right hand lane. It's a little curvy, and people drive much too fast for my taste. On our left is the delicious Greek food place and the Irish pub. On the right is the apartments we don't live in, but once we pass those we're driving alongside the apartments we do live in. We pass the first three driveways of the complex and turn right into the last possible one, which is just before the bright sign for the church next door.
There's a card in our wallet that we push against the sensor to open the wrought iron gate. Sometimes it sticks. Use the card again and it will open. We drive through the open gate, slowly -- kids like to play here -- until the parking lot curves to the right, at which time we must curve with it. We go over the speed bump and down the little hill, avoid the two big potholes that somebody should really fix already and then park wherever we can find a place. We are home.
Well, Alien, it's the end of the day. Let's push CTRL+ALT+DELETE on the keyboard and then ENTER to lock our computer so that nobody else can use it while we're gone. Then we'll put on our jacket, which is hanging on the back of our chair, get our purse from the shelf on our left and our lunch bag off the desk on our right. We're ready to go.
We have to navigate through the newsroom. Once we go around Jim's desk, the path is clear to the main walkway. We'll be stepping from ugly gray carpet to ugly gray tile, so don't be alarmed when our shoes start to make noise. We walk to the front of the room, and turn left at the bank of TVs, all of which will be playing some sort of news since we leave at 6 p.m.
Once we push through the ugly gray double doors, we're in the break room. The floor is now an ugly brown. We'll walk between the cafeteria-style tables on our left and the vending machines on our right. We have to turn right toward the stairwell, or else we'll hit the brick wall. We follow the steps as far as they go, then turn left out of the double doors and we find ourselves just inside the glass doors marked "Employee Entrance." We say good night to the security guards out of courtesy, but they're not paying much attention to us, so if we forget it's not a big deal.
We pass through the glass doors and turn left. Our car will be parked at a meter somewhere nearby. Once we get in, we lock the door immediately. Lots of shady folks in this area, especially if it's after dark.
We have to turn east on McCullough Ave. to get to the highway, which is what we want to do. Once we're headed that direction, we make sure we're in the left lane, because we'll need to turn at the next light. We have to go under the highway first, and when we do we always scan the sidewalks on either side and see what the homeless people are up to. Every once in a while they're arguing with each other, but most of the time they're just sitting.
Now we've passed under the highway and the light is ahead. When it gives us the green, we turn left and directly onto the ramp that leads up to the highway. Once we're on it, we have to merge left into the next lane, because the original lane becomes an Exit Only lane to merge onto another highway. After making that lane change, we have to look for another opening to merge left one more time. (The new lane will become another Exit Only lane.) For good measure, we always move left one more time. This puts us in the middle lane for the rest of the highway drive and usually the traffic moves steadily in this lane.
As we go north on the highway, we pass a lot of interesting things. To the right: Sam's, which has good burgers and better live music. To the left: The Pearl, one of the coolest spots in town and home to a bookshop, the culinary academy, some boutiques, restaurants and a weekly farmer's market. After that, we pass between two universities and, on our left, the large rock wall that is the outside of the coolest football stadium in town. A little further ahead and to our right is The Quarry, a huge shopping/dining/entertainment center that has an awesome ice cream shop, the Whole Foods, the UT Co-op and only a few other places worth visiting. (Sorry, P.F. Changs. You're overrated.)
We're about halfway there, Alien. Coming up is the cloverleaf that connects our highway to the city's inner loop. We don't want to take it, but it's fun to feel like we're at the bottom of a bowl of spaghetti when we drive under the curving ramps. Now we're about to pass the airport. It's on our right, and once we go by the entrance and the bright orange hangars that hold the private planes, we'll see the runway. Sometimes, if we're lucky, a plane will be landing as we drive under it. There's a lighted bridge that goes over all 10 lanes of the highway and access road that guides the planes onto the runway. It gets loud if one is landing as we drive under the bridge, but it's a cool thing to see.
I'm sorry to tell you, Alien, but here is where the journey gets boring. For some unknown reason, the cars all creep to a near standstill. We inch along for about half a mile and then, just as suddenly, there's all kinds of room to drive. It never make sense. We just have to deal with it. There are plenty of neon signs and digital billboards for you to look at on either side of the highway if you like. I think there's nothing much to see -- it's all fast food chains, drug stores, gas stations and a few big office buildings -- but knock yourself out.
Finally! Our exit! We have to cross into the far right lane and then go down the hill that is the exit ramp. We have the right of way, so the traffic on the access road below is supposed to yield to us, but they don't always. Here's a good rule of thumb: Move, again, to the center lane of the access road because if we go all the way to the right lane (which we'll have to do so we can turn on our street) it's inevitable that the car in front of us will slow to a glacial pace to turn into the steakhouse parking lot. Once we pass that steakhouse, we can move into the right lane. Nothing will slow us down but the light.
When we get to the light, we turn right and stay in the right hand lane. It's a little curvy, and people drive much too fast for my taste. On our left is the delicious Greek food place and the Irish pub. On the right is the apartments we don't live in, but once we pass those we're driving alongside the apartments we do live in. We pass the first three driveways of the complex and turn right into the last possible one, which is just before the bright sign for the church next door.
There's a card in our wallet that we push against the sensor to open the wrought iron gate. Sometimes it sticks. Use the card again and it will open. We drive through the open gate, slowly -- kids like to play here -- until the parking lot curves to the right, at which time we must curve with it. We go over the speed bump and down the little hill, avoid the two big potholes that somebody should really fix already and then park wherever we can find a place. We are home.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Lunch Haiku(s)
Creative writing exercise #4: Write a haiku about each part of today's lunch. :) Here it goes:
A poor man's pasta
A poor man's pastaSpaghetti squash with ground meat
Going for low-carb
Diet Coke with Lime
Nowhere near Diet DP
But nothing can be
Then there's banana
Now zero points - a huge plus
Threw out the bruised part
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Zymurgy and counting words
I stayed up late finishing a book last night (review to come) and didn't do yesterday's creative writing exercise, so today you get two!
**holding for applause**
;)
First up: Dictionary. The rules: Flip open the dictionary and find a word you don't know, then make up a definition for it.
I went to the last page and chose the last word in my ancient paperback Webster's.
"Zymurgy"
The real definition has something to do with beer and brewing. My definition is this:
"The process of harnessing Zym, which is a fun way to say awesomeness. It's different for every person. Some of the things I think are awesome are the beach, hiking, yoga, homemade oatmeal, newspapers, gloves, art, live music, hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, Mexican food, going to the movies and school supplies. They all radiate zymurgy for me, and I respond to it like a magnet, drawing the Zym in."
The second exercise is "Descriptions... with limits." The rules: Write descriptions of your family members, using only the number of words that equal their age. (I stuck with immediate family, since I have something like eleventy billion aunts/uncles/cousins and would be here for the rest of my days doing the whole lot.)
Mom (55): I don't remember ever feeling straight warmth from her. She's always in business mode, even when she's having fun. She's very talented, and smart, but cautious. She's quick to notice flaws in others, but never sees her own. She can hold a grudge like no other. But if you ever needed her, she'd be there.
Dad (55): Lots of warmth. He looks scary, and he can be, but mostly he's just a big teddy bear. Loves to tell really bad jokes, the kind that earn a groan. He's smart, but I don't know if he ever had a dream to be something someday. He loves to cook and is great at it.
Nat (26): Younger sister. The kind of person who's good at almost everything she tries. She will do what she wants and take the consequences as they come.
Ace (4): Nephew. Best kid ever.
**holding for applause**
;)
First up: Dictionary. The rules: Flip open the dictionary and find a word you don't know, then make up a definition for it.
I went to the last page and chose the last word in my ancient paperback Webster's.
"Zymurgy"
The real definition has something to do with beer and brewing. My definition is this:
"The process of harnessing Zym, which is a fun way to say awesomeness. It's different for every person. Some of the things I think are awesome are the beach, hiking, yoga, homemade oatmeal, newspapers, gloves, art, live music, hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, Mexican food, going to the movies and school supplies. They all radiate zymurgy for me, and I respond to it like a magnet, drawing the Zym in."
The second exercise is "Descriptions... with limits." The rules: Write descriptions of your family members, using only the number of words that equal their age. (I stuck with immediate family, since I have something like eleventy billion aunts/uncles/cousins and would be here for the rest of my days doing the whole lot.)
Mom (55): I don't remember ever feeling straight warmth from her. She's always in business mode, even when she's having fun. She's very talented, and smart, but cautious. She's quick to notice flaws in others, but never sees her own. She can hold a grudge like no other. But if you ever needed her, she'd be there.
Dad (55): Lots of warmth. He looks scary, and he can be, but mostly he's just a big teddy bear. Loves to tell really bad jokes, the kind that earn a groan. He's smart, but I don't know if he ever had a dream to be something someday. He loves to cook and is great at it.
Nat (26): Younger sister. The kind of person who's good at almost everything she tries. She will do what she wants and take the consequences as they come.
Ace (4): Nephew. Best kid ever.
Monday, January 10, 2011
7x7x7x7
Dianna sent me a link to 10 really cool creative writing exercises. I'm going to do one each day for the next 10 days, just for fun. :)
Day 1 - Choose the 7th book on your shelf, flip to page 7, select the 7th sentence on that page and then write a 7-line poem beginning with that sentence.
I am slightly ashamed to confess that the book is "Eclipse," the third in the Twilight series. But what can I do? Here it goes:
"Afternoons were the hardest part of my day"
Between golden morning and Sun's final ray
When the world is bright but empty
Nothing to discover
When a person thinks he sees
Every secret of every other
But it's really only part of the game we all play.
Day 1 - Choose the 7th book on your shelf, flip to page 7, select the 7th sentence on that page and then write a 7-line poem beginning with that sentence.
I am slightly ashamed to confess that the book is "Eclipse," the third in the Twilight series. But what can I do? Here it goes:
"Afternoons were the hardest part of my day"
Between golden morning and Sun's final ray
When the world is bright but empty
Nothing to discover
When a person thinks he sees
Every secret of every other
But it's really only part of the game we all play.
Movie reviews: "The King's Speech," "Country Strong"
I told you I was going to take advantage of these Fridays off! (Next up: "Black Swan.")First, I saw "The King's Speech." It is SUCH a good movie!! I love when actors can become their characters so completely that you forget that they have ever played anybody else, let alone that they are themselves. Johnny Depp is my #1 example of this trait (which is why I love him the most.) But after seeing this movie, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter are right up there with him. Geoffrey Rush was nothing to sneeze at, either, although I heard a twinge or two of Captain Barbosa in his dialogue.
Firth plays England's King George VI, who took the throne on the eve of WWII after his older brother abdicated to marry some American hussy. Carter plays his wife, Queen Elizabeth (mother of today's Queen Elizabeth). The story ends with all that business, and begins months before, when we learn that Albert (Bertie, to his family, and later King George VI) has a terrible stammer that humiliates him publicly when that damned new technology -- radio -- becomes the medium by which the royals address their subjects. This is on top of the humiliation he's already felt at the expense of his family and the doctors who have been hired to try and help him.
Enter Rush, a wannabe actor and linguist named Logue who is the only person that is able to help Albert find his voice. Things aren't easy, but eventually they are able to work together and the King delivers a rousing speech to his people when they most desperately need to hear it.
I think one of the coolest things is when a movie audience is so pleased with what they've seen that they applaud. It's so odd, because it's not like anybody who actually made the movie can hear them. But they love it so much, they don't care. I love that. And it happened with this one. Go see it!
Later that same day, I saw "Country Strong." I'm not thrilled with paying full price for this one because it didn't live up to my expectations.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, a country superstar trying to make a comeback after her umpteenth time in rehab. Paltrow has the chops for this role, and she does a good job. Tim McGraw plays her husband/manager convincingly. Also a good job. Garrett Hedlund is singer/songwriter Beaux and Leighton Meester is upcoming country pop tart Chiles and both do a fine job in their roles. My dissatisfaction with the film has nothing to do with any of the cast or their acting.
I blame the writing. Are we supposed to care most about Kelly, or Beaux? Or Chiles, who sneaks in with an emotional storyline somewhere in the middle? Why did we start the film with Beaux, if the big climactic moment is Kelly's? Why do we care if Beaux and Kelly have a fling, when Kelly really wants to be back in love with her husband? Why do we care if Beaux is jealous of that, when later we're obviously supposed to want him and Chiles to end up together?
The plotting of this movie was a hot damn mess. Had they streamlined, made the movie what it was supposed to be -- Gwyneth's -- and made Beaux the whipping boy in a more emotional way, I think I would have left the theater feeling something other than disappointment. It's really too bad, because all the performances were stellar. They just didn't have a solid foundation to build on.
Monday, January 3, 2011
2011
So far I haven't done that annoying thing where I continue writing 2010 and have to change it. Have you?
Last year my resolutions were to work on my posture, stop making excuses and lose weight. I lost some weight. I sit up straight when I realize I'm rocking the hunchback look and I think I've done a pretty good job with the no excuses thing.
This year, my resolution is to use my time wisely. That sounds like a basic common sense rule, but hear me out:
It seems like, as each year draws to a close, I spend some time reflecting on it and all the things I did and didn't do. And I always think, "Damn. I wish I had..." I'd like to not feel that way at the end of 2011. Therefore, I am going to use my time wisely. I am going to focus my efforts and energy on self-improvement, getting tasks done, staying positive, having fun, keeping myself healthy and happy and just generally not laying around thinking about doing things instead of actually doing them. That way, at the end of 2011, I'll think back and say, "Damn. Look what I did!" :)
Here's to a new year!
Last year my resolutions were to work on my posture, stop making excuses and lose weight. I lost some weight. I sit up straight when I realize I'm rocking the hunchback look and I think I've done a pretty good job with the no excuses thing.
This year, my resolution is to use my time wisely. That sounds like a basic common sense rule, but hear me out:
It seems like, as each year draws to a close, I spend some time reflecting on it and all the things I did and didn't do. And I always think, "Damn. I wish I had..." I'd like to not feel that way at the end of 2011. Therefore, I am going to use my time wisely. I am going to focus my efforts and energy on self-improvement, getting tasks done, staying positive, having fun, keeping myself healthy and happy and just generally not laying around thinking about doing things instead of actually doing them. That way, at the end of 2011, I'll think back and say, "Damn. Look what I did!" :)
Here's to a new year!
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