1st Annual Leap Year Day Post!

It's Leap Year, and I thought since it was, I would make my first annual leap year day posting.

Well it's been just over a month people, and I have blogged every day. I realize I did early monday for sunday but I literally did not have the time to post that day. Sometimes my posts have been short, sometimes they've been long and boring or even full of whine. Thank you everyone who encouraged me this past month, and for those who even commented with their advice or responses to Mitt's Adventures. Those will continue by the way, but they wont be only done when I'm sitting down to blog.

I wont be posting every day anymore, but I'll be posting at least once a week. I figure if I promise to do that, then I can manage that. I'll be working on several projects, as well as blog-bound stories that I'll probably end up posting only on here.

Well that's all I have for today, the 29th of February. and so, for those born on this day, Happy Birthday! hopefully you'll be able to vote this fall! Oh and check out the musical Pirates of Penzance; there's a great song in there that deals with the 29th of february. Something to do with an Ill-Natured Fairy I think.

Til next time!

-Spoiled Mangoes

Auditioning

So I think I mentioned this a few days ago, but I auditioned for The Importance of Being Earnest at Master Arts. It's the first show I've auditioned for at Master Arts in 4 years. After doing a stream of CCP shows in 08-09, I kind of spent time there. I always made sure I helped in some capacity with at least one show at Master Arts a season, and since starting there in 99, I have. But since my last year of College, which was the 08-09 year, I had precious little time to do as much theatre as I'd like, including at CCP or Master Arts. And the past couple of years it's down to really only doing about 1 a year, officially. That's acting in it of course. So choosing which shows to do each year has been tough, but doing only one show a year, you don't get many opportunities to audition.

It really is a fun process. Even if you don't get in, it's fun to get up and read with people you've never met, and get to act with for a bit. It's a great learning process too, because you can look back and say "I could have done this better," or "I shouldn't have done that, that was stupid!"

I always say I'll read over the book "Audition" that I bought for my auditioning class at GRCC a few years ago, but I never do. Then again, that infers more rigorous auditions than Master Arts or CCP tend to do. Though Pris MacDonald tends to really put you through your paces, which is really nice because it makes you work for the part even more. Then if you get it, you feel you've earned it all the more.

Anyhow, I just wanted to say how much I love auditioning. I'd go audition for a ton of shows, if a. I had the time, and b. could see myself having the time doing any of the shows. I wouldn't go audition just for the sake of it, because I don't want to have the off-chance of me actually getting into something I know i don't have time for. But we'll see how things go with this one.

Whether or not I get in, I'll be content. I honestly feel I gave a great audition regardless of the outcome, and that's all I can ask for at the very least.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Distribution

not much tonight but read an interesting article posted on a friend's facebook page.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/02/how-new-platforms-streaming-media-change-the-equation-for-indie-filmmakers054.html

it's about indie films and distribution. Give that a read and ponder. I for one am still confused as to how to distribute without having a ton of money to distribute with.

A bit late

Ok so this post is coming out monday instead of sunday. Sunday was a busy day for me and didn't have time to post anything last night. Why you ask? Well the Oscars were on, and even though I did complain a tad in the previous post about how I feel everyone thinks the Oscars are the be all end all of Movies, it's still a lot of fun to watch. Plus, if you haven't seen most of the movies that were nominated, then you get to see bits of them throughout the night so you can decide if you still want to see it.

Also, because you're likely surrounded by a group of people who HAVE seen at least a few of these titles, then it gives you a chance to hear about said films, as well as about the movies that were so good that weren't nominated that might also be worth seeing.

Having seen only 2 of the films that were nominated last night (and for some of the smaller awards too) I fell into the category of hearing about the movies I should see. A few I'd heard about were ones I had already wanted to see, but others I had no idea about, and now DO. I wanted to see The Artist before the Oscars, but now I really do after all the coverage it got last night, and not just because it won 5 Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Lead Actor.

On another note, been hearing A LOT about The Hunger Games. Been hearing that the books are amazing, so that's a must read sometime before the movie comes out near the end of March.

Prediction: If The Hunger Games lives up to its hype, and is really as good as people say it will be (given how closely it stays to the book as well), it will most certainly get nominated for an Oscar next year. I will not say if it will win anything but nominated for sure, IF it lives up to its hype.

When The Last King of Scotland came out a few years ago with Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin president of Uganda, I predicted (at the time of the trailer being released) that he would win best actor for it, and he did. I don't usually have the clairvoyance to see that so well though.

Anyhow, I'll probably post again tonight for today's update, because this is yesterday's update.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Oscar Nom nommed

So the show I was running lights for "Rehearsal for Murder" closed today. It finished out its 4 week run with a mostly full house. They laughed when they were supposed to, they reacted, and they seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. This morning was also the first day of auditions for the next show at Master Arts "The Importance of Being Earnest." Carissa and me both went this morning. I do not choose to speculate, because there is still a monday night audition, but I at least feel we did well. Regardless of the outcome of casting, I think we can look back and say it was a good audition. As long as I gave the audition my best I have no regrets about it.

Tomorrow is the Oscars, and while that should be a big deal for me, having gone to school for Film and Video, and seeing as making movies and tv shows is where I want to be, I don't have much invested interest in them. Not because I'm not interested, but because I haven't seen any of the nominated films. then again, I am not sure what has been nominated. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is BIlly Crystal...which is not a thing, it's a who. HE'S a who. No, not Dr. Seuss style or Doctor Who, just a regular who.

It's kind of funny how we treat the Oscars as the be all end all for film awards. As if once they've achieved that award, they're set. You never see DVD covers of movies say "Best Picture Winner - Tri- Country Awards" or "Won 6 North America Film Association Awards." the Academy is seen as the authority on what is the highest quality of films over the entire course of the year. First off, they normally just do dramas anyway, and they usually seem to pick dramas that push some sort of national sentiment or are about an historical figure. If you make a very good movie, but in the wrong year, your chances as nomination are shot.

But that only matters if you care so completely about getting the coveted award. Sure it's the most televised award ceremony for movies, and everybody seems to watch it, but still, plenty of movies that do great and are well received are seen by sometimes as many people. I don't know, as much as I love the oscars, i tend to think we think TOO highly of them.

Either way, I'm gonna watch them and enjoy them, as long as we don't ever EVER bring James Franco back as a host.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Brainstorming

Talked with scott again this week on our screenplay we are working on. Neither one of us had come up with much during the week, but tonight on the phone we managed to hash out a lot of good stuff. Most of of it just preliminary but we have a good emotional core at our start, which is a good place to be in for any story. With a good emotional core you can go anywhere you need to.

So we're looking forward to moving ahead with this in the coming months.


Also...Quail-Man. Just saying.


-Spoiled Mangoes

Week in-Week out

So I'm going to try something new. Not on here, necessarily. In the past few months I've been trying to write at work on my netbook and I tend to get stuck or frustrated that I'm getting anywhere. I'll bring it into the break room but the noise will be so much (and it's not even that much) that I cannot concentrate. But I've been forcing myself to try every day.

This week though I haven't done any writing at work. So I decided what I might do at work, to keep my mind stimulated and my creative self working, I would alternate. This week I'll read, the next I'll write something, the following week I read, and so on and so forth. I think that's a pretty good plan. It'll keep things from being the same all the time, and I get books read that I would not otherwise finish.

Like right now I'm in the middle of The Hobbit. I've read it before but I've been working my way through it again because the movie is coming out this Christmas. WOOT! A couple of months back I read through Ender's Game again too. I hadn't read that since High School. It's a great book, also going to movie-fied next year.

I suppose I'll retackle The Count of Monte Cristo again. I got a ways in but put it down, so I guess I should restart at the beginning.

So that's what's going on here. I think it'll all work well enough, whether or not I get a lot written. Of course that doesn't limit my writing time at home, if I write anything. And of course I wont say "No writing" anything if I have a sudden stroke of genius, but I just wont focus on it on the alternate week.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Mitt's Adventures in Writer's Block...Land: REAL estate

It had been days since his mystery woman had appeared and then suddenly vanished, but Mitt as determined to win her heart nonetheless. If he could not be provided clarity of mind, he could at least be lucky in love, or so he hoped. There were several things he had to attend to, however, before he could begin his search for his wild-haired damsel.

For starters, he had to procure a habitation. No he would not invite her to live there with him at the start, but as long as he had a physical place of stability he might be able to win her over. So he set about looking in the housing market.

Now, for those who are not familiar with Writer's Block...Land, it is kind of a desolate place. What housing there is, is not usually very nice, and many people do not like to set up residence there as doing so states that one was resigned to it.

However, Mitt believed, or wanted to believe, that any lot in this place could be converted into something vibrant and creative. That, of course, relied heavily on the person or people residing there. If anyone could turn a lump of land into something beautiful, it was his mystery woman.

After several long weeks of searching and proverbial doors being slammed in his face, he found a realtor who dealt in reality realty. That is to say, he had a realistic view of the needs of the individual looking for a home in Writer's Block...Land.

The home he showed Mitt was nothing marvelous, nor indeed nothing one might consider comfortable, but it would do for his purposes. The house itself was a story and a half, squat, and thoroughly thrashed through the years. It was a fixer-upper for sure. Mitt paid for the house with his life savings and a bit of collateral; his talent. He had to make a return on investment, otherwise he could lose his creative spark for good.

What little he'd kept for himself he used to start the renovations. He walked gingerly up the rickety steps to the porch. The porch was worse though, as several planks were missing entirely. A Splash of color; A Twist of Light and an adjective or Two. Suddenly the porch and steps were now fresh and new. The rickety steps became solid planks with an oak hand rail. The entire deck was transformed into a beautiful Mahogany. A white painted bench, carved intricately with Celtic knots and such.

The house was still in shambles, but the front deck looked perfect. It was large enough to sit ten chaise lounge styled chairs at least. A rich green willow tree hung over the deck, providing shade and comfort. Out in the yard, a small swing hung from one of the branches. Things were starting to take shape, and Mitt couldn't wait to get on to the rest of the house.

By his reckoning, it would only take him a few weeks to finish. It would be a palace fit for his queen...

to be continued.


-Spoiled Mangoes

Movie Quotations

Just keep blogging, just keep blogging. Just keep blogging blogging blogging blogging.

Movies can bring joy in the midst of writer's block. Yes I was referencing Finding Nemo. I don't quote this movie often though. What movies do you tend to quote in times of Writer's Block?

-spoiled mangoes

Winter, please give spring and summer amiss and go straight into autumn.

So for today's update I have great news for all Doctor Who fans. Shooting has officially begun on the new season, or series if you're from Britain. Also they have announced that the show will be airing sometime this Fall or Autumn, probably somewhere around September or October, perhaps even November.




here's a link to some information about it.
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/02/20/doctor-who-series-7-news-accumulator/

This is great news for all of us DW fans, or Whovians because after the most recent season ended news struck the internet that the next season would be in limbo til they reached an agreement on when to air it. Because 2013 is the 50th year anniversary of the show itself, they obviously wanted to do justice to the anniversary year of the show.

In past years the show has aired in the springtime and going into the summer, with a christmas special airing on Christmas. Of course we here in the states in the past also were a week or so behind, or in some cases early on a season behind. That of course is in regards to the revived series that started in 2005. Season 6 (2011) aired some in the early summer, and the second half in the fall. Current showrunner Steven Moffat wanted to air it more in the fall and winter months because viewership goes down in the summer, what with all the outdoor activities to do.

For those not familiar with Doctor Who you can go here:
For a regular wikipedia description of the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who

For a more in depth read on the, practically everything there is on the subject, you go here: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Wiki

For Star Trek fans, think of the second link as Memory-Alpha. The quintessential wiki page for the entire canon.





In brief however, there have been 11 actors to "officially" portray The Doctor, the protagonist of the show. over the years other actors have portrayed him in parodies and other versions of the franchise, but only 11 are considered "Canon." Because one actor cannot and in many cases will not remain with the show for eternity, they came up with a way of transitioning to the next actor. The Doctor is a Time Lord who can regenerate, meaning he changes, body and personality in part. When a Time Lord is dying, they do this to "cheat death" and change. For the show, they just change into the next actor, wearing the previous incarnations clothes til they get new ones. ---James Bond could have worked better if they'd done it this way. Or maybe they have...

...Anyway. The show does have a bit of "cheese factor" to it, in that it isn't always epic or amazing, as with every show really (even popular ones). I imagine in the early years of the show, when they would change actors, it wasn't as talked about, so when he changed it came as a surprise. I wouldn't know, I haven't seen much of the original series.

The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, with 7 actors portraying the Time Lord. Ratings caused it to go off air. In 1996 they did a movie set in the States with a new doctor, though the 7th regenerated at the start of the film into the 8th. After the movie, there was nothing official until 2005 when Russel T. Davies revived it. Not rebooted, but revived. Rebooted insinuates starting over, going back to the beginning, but what Russel T. Davies did was genius and that was continue, with a new actor (no regeneration scene...yet). They treated as new for the newer and younger audiences to discover the greatness of Doctor Who, and at the end of the first(27th technically) season he changed again into the 10th. It was a good way of introducing everything about the man, as well as his regeneration, all in that first new season.

As the series has gone on they've made references to the original series, and even brought some old actors back. Another thing that DW has done is bring previous incarnations back to fight some evil or something with the current one. It's usually some sort of time paradox that allows two versions of the same man to be in the same place at the same time, or in some cases, 4 or 5 versions of himself. In the revived series they did this with putting the 10th doctor and the 5th doctor in the Tardis together.

The Tardis is the Doctor's mode of travel. It's a spaceship, and a time machine, that looks conveniently like a 50's or 60's British Police Box. Long story on that. but you can look up in your research Chameleon Circuit, that should clear things up.

The show combines Adventure, Science Fiction, Drama and Comedy all together really well. Some episodes (or seasons) are mysteries, or satires or even parodies. In fact, in 1999 Steven Moffat wrote a parody of Doctor Who starring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as The Master (Another Time Lord that has become kind of his nemesis, along with the Cybermen and the Daleks)....Look those up too.




There are many reasons the show is as popular as it is, even with it going off air in the late 80's. One reason, I think, is the plot device of changing the actor every now and then.

Let's quickly examine the time frames of all the actors.
1st Doctor (William Hartnell): 1963 to 1966
2nd Doctor (Patrick Troughton): 1966 to 1969
3rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee):1970 to 1974
4th Doctor (Tom Baker): 1974 to 1981
5th Doctor (Peter Davison):1981 to 1984
6th Doctor (Colin Baker...No relation): 1984 to 1986
7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) 1986 to 1989
8th Doctor (Paul McGann) 1996
9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston): 2005
10th Doctor (David Tennant)2005 to 2010
11th Doctor (Matt Smith) 2010 to Present


Certain doctors were more popular than others, Tom Baker and David Tennant among the most popular of the 11. Some who were so popular tended to stay on the show longer, while some of the less popular ones did not. Plus, if the show needed a rating boost, they could change actors. Though, much of the time, from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) most of them left of their own volition, except Hartnell; He was old when he started, so he just couldn't physically handle the role anymore, hence 'regeneration.' Eccleston was popular, but he only wanted to stay on for the 1 season, whereas Colin Baker was forced off the show, partially because his doctor was much more violent and mean that people couldn't handle it, also I think he was a problem in his own way. David Tennant also left of his free will.

I cannot speak to the others, but it's a great plot device that the writers could use as a 'lead up' for several episodes, like with the end of Tennat's era. For him though it was through 4 specials in between seasons 4 and 5 that they used for that. In some cases, plot wise, the Doctor did things that his regeneration was either universally or Time Lord punishment for his actions. Second Doctor broke some laws, so they forced him to change. tenth doctor did a similar thing (but no time lords to stop him), so fate caught up with him.

It is such a vast universe with new creatures and new timelines and parallel worlds throughout the course of the show, that it is hard to go into them all. I've only seen the revived series, but I've been trying to see the original as well. It is hard to find because the BBC so wisely(sarcasm) decided to throw away much of the early years reels and tapes and whatever they had, but a station in Canada managed to save a lot, so what we do have is mostly thanks to the Canadians (WHAT?!).

But most of the revived series is available on Netflix, so for those who haven't seen it and would like to, go there. that's a good place to start.

Also here's a neat little video that somebody posted that is EVERY Doctor Who story broken down into about 10 minutes of video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN5jPQdJXYE


So with the (essential) 33rd season starting up this fall, I think I can speak for all Doctor Who Fans....WOOO WHOO! or as the 10th Doctor would say, "Allons-y!"

So Winter, PLEASE give spring and summer amiss and go straight into Autumn.

oh and go to Blogtor Who for more fun about the Doctor
http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/


-Spoiled Mangoes

Movie Review: Secret World of Arietty

Today will be a movie review, but not a well planned out one. So don't get upset if I don't go into a great deal of detail on certain points. I only JUST saw the movie, so I'd need a second viewing to do it justice, but you can take my review for what it's worth.

Went to the theater today to see The Secret World of Arietty. For those who don't know what that movie is, it is a a Studio Ghibli film. If you don't know what Studio Ghibli is, it is the Japanese Animation studio of Hayao Miyazaki. If you don't know who that is, look him up. He has quite a body of work behind him, and a huge American fan base, which include John Lasseter of Pixar. In fact many of the films released here in the states from Studio Ghibli are distributed and re-dubbed with american actors through Disney.

As John Lasseter would say, "you'll love this movie. in fact you'll love all his movies, they're all great!" something to that effect anyway. Now the Secret world of Arietty is based on a book called The Borrowers by Mary Norton, in which a family of 3 inch or so tall people live under a house. Now I don't know the plot of the book, but I have seen the 97 movie with John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Tom Felton, and a large cast of other famous (then and now) actors and actresses. That film was live action whereas Arietty is animated with the special Miyazaki style.

this movie centers on Arietty the only child of Pod and Homily Clock (Peagreen was her brother in the 97 live action, but is missing in this variant). There are no other "Borrowers" that she knows about, and as she's about to turn 14 she wants to go on her first "borrowing" with her father. Will Arnet(Arrested Development) and Amy Poehler (SNL), who are real life husband and wife, voice Pod and Homily. I thought that was a nice touch. Carol Burnett voices the housekeeper of the house where the Clock's live. She's there to take care of Shawn, the human teen who discovers the borrowers at one point. I know I'm not giving plot away by saying all this cause I think most people know, if they know anything about the Borrowers is that happens.

Anyway, I thought this was a great movie, and not just because I had my sister in law Jessine beating on my arm and tugging at my shoulder and such screaming just how awesome this movie was. It had a lot of heart, and even thought it did not move along at a pace that we as Americans would like, it still had a flow. We got to discover the family and their life a little at time, then go back to the Human's world and see how their lives, or in particular, Shawn's life is. The really cool part was switching back and forth between the perspectives in regards to sound. We'd have Shawn walking around and his footsteps are like we'd hear them on tile or wood, but then from Arietty's point of view it sounds more like thunder.

The story wasn't all too predictable either which was nice, because even though you knew what was probably going to end up happening, it played out beautifully and humorously. Any Miyazaki film I've seen really manages to pull at the emotional heartstrings. Plus, from an artistic point of view, the animation is just gorgeous. The music is also very nice; it kind of reminded of Celtic music. A bit of Irish Jig here or there, and softer country tones.

I'd seriously recommend going to see this movie before if leaves the theater, plus "watch all of Miyazaki's films. They're great!"


-Spoiled Mangoes

Late night Posting

So started watching two shows on netflix, one was The Tudors and the other was Spartacus. I noticed that in the Tudors, the guy playing King Henry the 8th was, in fact, not a chubbier man. I realize paintings aren't always completely accurate impressions of people pre-photos, but a king would probably want his likeness in painting form to be as accurate as possible or at least as flattering as possible. And since many of the images we see of him are of a chubbier man, then it's likely he thought he looked good in those paintings. So the man we see playing this king in the show is a younger, more physically fit man. Not that I expect Movies or Television to good at being historically accurate in everything, but sometimes you know they are stretching things to get a bigger sex appeal, clearly.

Spartacus is much of the same, but in a different way. If you've not seen this show, but have seen 300 or Sin City, it is similar to those. Heavily Stylized, lots of that ridiculous blood splatter and slow motion action sequences periodically.

I haven't studied enough history to know all the details of either Henry the VIII's life or Spartacus's, but you know they have to take some creative license to make things work for their purposes, but not that I'd use either of these shows as an educational tool, partially because the potential accuracy, and partial because it's Showtime and Starz. Many of the shows tend to be on the Mature rating.

Not going on a rant or anything about these shows, but noting that if you're watching it with someone who knows a lot about the actual history, or if you yourself know, then it can be tough to watch it. Are there any shows that you, my readers, watch that are historically based, or movies for that matter, that you know have deliberately changed historical events to make the film work that you have seen that you have trouble watching because of what you know about it? (convoluted sentence, sorry, it's late.)

that's all for now.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Work-shopping

not a lot tonight, actually currently working on the start of a screenplay with Scott. Kind of work-shopping it.It's not much yet, as we are working out the concept and figuring out the story. We're doing this basically from scratch, with the germ of an idea to eventual full fledged script. It will be a bit like remembering our childhoods in the early to mid 90's, but more of our 80's born sensibilities.

We still have a ways to go, and I still have many projects to continue to work on as well. In the coming weeks, hopefully you'll start to see more actual works rather than just talking about things. Mitt will continue his adventures, and I hope to, soon, start another serial about a boy/man/teen named Andy. It's all I can say at the moment.

so yeah, 80's stuff and Andy. Busy times ahead! Busy, but exciting!

-Spoiled Mangoes

This udpate was brought to you by George Lucas, ILM, Skywalker Sound, Lucasfilm and Yoda

Had a good conversation about movies that are just too fake nowadays. By that I mean, there are too many CGI effects that replace what could have been something real and practical. For a moment let's look at Star Wars, both trilogies. The Original Trilogy used what technology there was, which was not great, but Lucas and his team did some amazing things to make that look as good as it did then. Even now I think it holds up in its own rights. Sure he wanted to do bigger things with it then, but then that's why he re-released it in 97 to expand (visually) a few things he'd wanted then. Fine. Then the new trilogy came out.

Before I continue, I am going to say I am not a fan of the new trilogy, though I think I'll be the only one to say that out of the new three, I liked Episode 1 the best, but I'll get to that in a moment.

The new trilogy offered many new things to see visually. We had lightsaber battles like we'd never seen them before, we saw space battles like we'd never seen them before and we saw CGI, like we'd never seen them before. If I could compare space battles from New Hope and, let's say phantom menace, we really saw a lot more of the ships themselves in the original, and not as much in the new. We saw the after effects and a lot of crazy explosions, but not much of these well designed ships. Part of the exposure of them in New Hope might be because of they made models and they wanted to get as much use out of them as possible.

Either way though, the point I'm trying to make is once we hit Episode III, everything, and I mean everything was CG. You may say "But it looked so good!" True enough, it did. It looked TOO good. so good, it didn't look real.

now let's take another film franchise for a second that used CGI in it. I think you may have heard of it; it's called The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was CG, the hordes of Orcs were CG. Sauron's itchy red eye (cue Ben Stein Clear Eye commercial) was even CG. Did they use CG to do everything? of course not! they built a lot of things practically, in an age where they didn't have to. They utilized the technology without it overpowering the movie goer. The used Bigatures, instead of Miniatures for some of the bigger locations they couldn't build full scale and it looked believable and realistic.

Now, I do realize that Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are two different genres with two different goals. Or are they? Star Wars is sci-fi and takes place mostly in space. so how can we expect them to build "Space"? they did it back in the original trilogy and it looked pretty good. Add a few post production twinkling and add some brightness and you have a pretty good looking space set. I realize it's not so simple but think about what I'm saying. They had many planets that, to a point, Lucas could have done practically. He did it for the most part in Phantom Menace, which is partially why I liked it so much. It didn't go completely away from actually building things, like the Pod Racers. I realize he probably got sick of going everywhere and doing things that logistically, but he's George freaking Lucas. If he wanted, I'm betting NASA would set up a film studio on Mars!

So the point of all of this is, why we do need to cheat and do something everyone knows is completely fake, due to it being all digitally created, and not use it only where it's needed. Michael Bay has made a career spending his time and setting up elaborate action sequences. I recall a simple 5 second shot from The Island where a giant metal framed Letter (i think it was R) was supposed to fall from the side of a skyscraper and crash into the streets below. sure he CGed the first part of it falling off the building, but the crashing in the streets? All practical. I watched a behind the scenes on it. They spent 10 days setting it up and even the behind the scenes camera showed it actually falling.

Again I realize there comes a point where you have to use it, but use it sparingly and only if you have no other way, and I mean absolutely NO other way to achieve your desired result. Lucas has the money to spend whatever he wants, so it's not about money for him. I could go on all night about different movies that do that, but I think I'll leave it for tonight and you can all "bicker and argue, about who killed who"...I mean whatever you want to.


-Spoiled Mangoes

Question to Writers.

Tonight's a short posting. I mean really short.

I mean that was just it.

no.

This is a question to all my writer friends out there, or anyone who writes, really. It has been said that to write, you must read. What books do you read to help you write, or what books have you read that have inspired you? I guess I mean more fiction or non-fiction/biographies/etc. Not necessarily "writing help" books.


-Spoiled Mangoes

Mitt's Valentines Adventures in Writer's Block...Land

Well it's february 14th, and you know what that means. V-day...in Japan or someplace over seas, right? haha, no. The day to cherish your loved ones, whoever they may be, regardless of relationship status. That's not to say you shouldn't be cherishing your loved ones on other days as well, but it can be a physical reminder. So whether you exchange candy and little valentines cards in elementary school, or a romantic dinner with that special someone in your life, or if you are two sisters deciding to be each others date for the evening, you can show those you care about how much you love them; and not by buying them candy and flowers, though those aren't bad either!



When we last left our hero, Mitt was wandering aimlessly recovering from his head injury the day before. It wasn't until he saw the bright lights of the city, decorated with whites and reds for the holiday, and the sweet cheery music of the dance hall floated out into the square that he realized it was Valentines Day. He didn't much care for the day, as he never celebrated it much. Mitt was single but not altogether lonely, just unattached. On this day he would march around in Green and wearing a Happy Saint Patrick's Day sign. He figured, if he celebrated THAT holiday within relatively a month's time, he could have twice the excuses to have green beer. Then he remembered, he hated beer. It made him stand out anyhow.

Couples embracing in the streets turned to look at him as he suddenly was wearing his Saint Patty's Day memorabilia. He felt the judgmental eyes searing deep into him. He ignored them and began to chant "Happy Saint Patty's Day!" It wasn't the first time he'd done this, but it was probably the first time in Writer's Block....Land.

As he hopped and skipped around a corner into a half-darkened alleyway, he came face to face with the tear streaked face of the most beautiful creature he'd laid his eyes on. Her hair was wild as the wind, and as vibrant as the sunrise. Her eyes were as blue and as grey as midnight. Were she to speak, Mitt believed she would sound as though an angel were singing God's praises. He did not know why she had been crying, but he intended to find out...


-Spoiled Mangoes


By the by, if you haven't gathered this, Whenever I seem to have the lack of something to write in here I will probably, though not always, write something about Mitt's Adventures. Gives me freedom to write anything, and gets me writing something consistent consistently.

Docu-Write

So I find watching documentaries on various subjects on netflix is useful, whether or not the veracity of the documentary is proven, because it offers interesting views of whatever subject. It is also a good way to do research for projects. I would say it's a lot like wikipedia, where you can start there but expand your research to the sources for more in depth study.

I don't have much else right now, cant focus tonight. what documentaries do my writer friends like to watch for either inspiration or research?

-Spoiled Mangoes

Dislike of titles: Part 2

So just giving a quick update to share that the screenplay I mentioned recently is coming along, and by that I mean I've been writing down many notes on it, and coming up with more details as the days progress. So that's good news, as many of my other screenplays I have notes for don't have nearly this many, and I've had them swimming around in my head a lot longer.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for the encouragement. To all that have sent me private messages or commented directly on here, or called me. I realize when I post every day, I'm bound to post out my frustrations, but I'm grateful that you all have great insight and are willing to share it. so thank you once more.

Anyhow, I got a busy week ahead of me for work itself. I'm working an extra day so hopefully my writing wont suffer too much, but I can afford a slow week if I need it. til tomorrow folks.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Curious, all this seems very peculiar and somehow none of it makes any sense.

Not much to update today. I was gone all day running lights for Rehearsal For Murder. So I suppose for today let's keep this brief and discuss mysteries. I realize asking what you think makes a good mystery isn't all too necessary because I think most would agree that a good mystery gives you lots of misdirection, plenty of tiny tiny clues throughout so the audience doesn't feel cheated when everything twists. Of course variations on these are abundant and there are exceptions to this.

Moreover though, What are some of your favorite mysteries? That can include: novels, short stories, movies, or TV shows or pretty much anything that is presented as a mystery. I'd say one of my favorites, is Clue the movie. Great cast, great script, hilarious, and good twist. Poirot's always great, and so is Holmes, but I am not as familiar with all those stories as I'd like to be.

So, respond with your favorite.

-Spoiled Mangoes

I hate titles.

So this is a late night posting, and this is a two-fold update.

1. Again, yesterday's update was mainly to vent. While some of the things I said were the way I actually feel, some of them are how I feel when I'm in those sorts of moods. You know the sort, the, hopeless type of mood. We all get that way sometimes and just need to blow off steam. But If I concerned any of you too greatly, or made any of you feel bad for some of the things you said to me before, then I apologize.

And now, 2. Been on the phone for the past couple of hours with a close friend. We kind of talked about what I had said in yesterday's update, but also talked about a lot of different things, mostly regarding writing. The purpose of updating every day, as I think I've said before is to get into the habit of writing every day. Whether I'm writing notes about a sketch, or ideas that I just came up with. That's why I am doing this. Some days I have nothing to write in here, and others I have too much.

But I do have quite a lot to work on. It is hard to sit down and do each of them, or even one of them at any given time, but the more I work on one, sometimes that leads me to something for the other. Even venting and ranting in a blog post can be inspiring, believe it or not. I don't want to go into details on here, or even just yet, but today while at work I had a genius, yes I said genius, idea for a screenplay that came to me. And not just an idea, but a good portion of the story started filtering in as the day wore on. that venting really got me out of myself and into...well, i guess myself again, but in a more creative way.

My friend Scott and I are going to start, soon, trying to write a screenplay together in an unusual form. So, we'll see how that goes. All the while I'll be working on sketches and some scenes that I come up with and, as often as I can, post them on here for ridicu...critique. :)

So that's all I have for tonight. hopefully this was a bit more uplifting. g'night.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Don't read this, folks, This is just to vent.

So I had a conversation recently with a friend. She was out of town on an audition and then to Chicago to visit another friend. She said that while she was there she wrote a huge chunk of her screenplay she's been working on, just by being in another city, she said.

I find the only times I write are at work, and this blog. Now, with work I have limited time to write, as I only have two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch. So when the bell (yes we have a bell telling us when to go to and from break)(yes like school) goes off I essentially dash to the break room, whip out my laptop and start...writing, in theory. I have to force myself to be creative and write during those times because that's all the time I get. Yes I have all the time I want when I get home, but let's be honest, with all the other things I could be doing, will I really write?

I see a mess in the apartment and would rather clean it up to keep the place looking nice and uncluttered than write. We have Netflix and would rather watch something on that than write. We have video games, and I'd rather run around with Link than write. I have many distractions, though not all are distractions, my wife is NOT a distraction from other things (just to point that out) and I do all of them rather than write.

My friend said that sometimes a change of scene, a change of location or city or state or all of the above really helps; but I wonder. I know that I once set a list of goals for myself, sometime early last year. It went all the way to 2015. It had things I had to write and by when, and then for the following year it would be some of the same: write a screenplay or two, a TV episode Spec or a few, some short stories. Go back and revise them and improve them. the following year; the same. the one after that; the same, all until 2015 when I would finally make a go for it and start trying to sell my scripts, or get them produced locally.

But let's be perfectly honest here for a moment. Grand Rapids, while a great city and it's where I've grown up so I have a certain fondness for it, does NOT really support the arts. Yes there's ArtPrize, and the UICA that just got into a new building right at the center of town at Fulton and Division, and numerous community theatre's spread across the city and outlying areas, and Broadway Theatre Guild stuff and many small independent film people going about making movies, and there's Grand Valley's Film program, and theater classes at multiple colleges.

But how does one go about getting properly trained, in ANY of it without having to put their lives on hold? back when I was in college I had all the time to learn, and learn I did. But now I'm out, how am I supposed to learn more, or relearn things without spending money? Because I know I cannot afford to go back to school, or buy a ton of books that will all tell me to move to LA anyway.

Writers out there, you know how I feel. You feel that you don't know what you're doing or how to do it and that everything you write is slop. You cant objectively look at it and say that someone with any ounce of talent wrote this. But at the same time, you also know that when you share something you've written with people, you are at least somewhat proud of the result. How do you think it might feel to have, a 76 minute feature length movie, and a 45 minute TV series pilot (all from same world essentially) made and you're not really all that proud to show them to anyone? Sure the second one's much improved from the first, but when there's blatant no-nos that any writer ought to know staring you in the face, how can you, and by you I mean I, tell people this is an example of my best work? Because perhaps, it is.

Change of venue is not a possibility. I have too many college loans to pay off, (yeah, loans from a school where I went to study to do the very things I'm NOT doing)...go figure. So I have to work to pay those loans off.

Plus the other thought I always have when I get down about this, is, who do I think I am that I should be able to make MY dream come true when I live with someone else who has dreams of her own? Should her's be cast aside so that I can make my dreams come true?

I didn't want to do this but I'm going to. I've seen friends of mine, who I have had a great deal of respect for over the years. Two of them, after getting involved in the film world here, basically abandoned their marriages. Another, left their job to pursue a several year journey to paid film work. I'm not trying to judge you all for doing these things, at least not the job thing, but let's look at this situation from a certain point of view. If getting into the TV world, getting my show on the air, and making a career out of this thing, is going to cost me my friends, my closest allies and most importantly my marriage...then it is NOT worth it. If I have put my wife and eventual children through hell, just so I can be successful in this, then is it NOT worth it.

I am not giving this dream up, but I have to be realistic about it. Statistically, most people don't get the things they want out of their careers. Many who went to college never use that degree for it.

I know I'm writing this out of a bad mood, but it's hard to be cheery when you run into those people you know who ARE successful. So right now I want to say I am NOT in a good frame of mind to make an objective argument to or for myself. so Please, please just take this as one big MASSIVE vent, because that's what it is. I am not like this all the time, just every so often and need to get it out. Normally I'd be in my car complaining or writing it out in a word document nobody would read, but because I swore to update every day til March (and with some pushing from my wife. I love you honey!), it is ending up on here. So I apologize if, for those who ignored my warning to not read it do read it, that you feel bad or are offended by what I say. Again, is just meant to be a vent update. again, sorry.

Now, I'm off to bed to sleep this mood off. sleep always works. sleep is great.

-Spoiled Mangoes

Reference

The Gray Cells!! They've failed me!!!








-Spoiled Mangoes

Tele-Vision

Just watched NCIS's 200th episode with my wife. It was interesting, but as I've not followed the show entirely over the past 9 seasons, I have a few characters as to whom I was unacquainted with. But my wife has seen it all, so it was an even bigger deal for her.

so for tonight's update, I ask you all: what, in your opinion, makes for good television, and more importantly, how does a show make it all the way to 9 seasons and still be a #1 hit? Do you ever feel like a show has to run out of story ideas at some point? Or do you feel like rehashing is ok if it's done differently? I mean we all know that one plot line we've seen in every tv show, because, inherently all tv shows are the same.

In my personal opinion, it all has to start with a good concept, and then construct great characters. I mean GREAT because if you have mediocre characters, they wont drive the story nor will they be interesting to watch.

I feel for any tv show, no matter what each episode is about, there is an ongoing arch with each character that grows and changes all the time. For most shows I give them a grace period of about 1 season, give or take a few episodes. It usually takes the show writers a season or so to figure out characters, especially in how the audience responds to them, but also in how the characters mesh together. Some characters work, some don't. Some work better than others, and some shows, after a bit of time, manage to get that good mix. From all I've watched, it seems that NCIS has done this.

I, however, come back to my original question. What do you all think makes a tv show work or not work. Feel free to offer some examples.

-Spoiled Mangoes


P.S. If anything appears mistyped, it is because I did this without my glasses, and, to be honest, I don't feel like going back and editing this post. goodnight.

About an article

So for today's update I want to discuss, shortly anyhow, about an article I read yesterday. It is titled "How to Win an Academy Award." It was uploaded by Roger Ebert and it seems it was written by Omer M. Mozaffar. Below is the link to the article. Read that first, and then continue reading below it.


http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2012/02/how-to-win-an-academy-award.html




I guess this wont be refuting the above article because I happen to agree, at least in part that there are certain molds that the academy puts films into to give their coveted award. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching the Oscars and even though I rarely, anymore, have the opportunity to see most of the films up for the award, but it does not escape my notice what kind of films get nominated in the first place.

Until this year, comedies were never really nominated for Oscars, at least not in the best picture category. I do not have enough insight to be able to give an in depth discussion on this article or the implications of it, but I do feel plenty of films get made solely for the purpose of getting nominated for an Academy Award rather than for the art of the film in the first place.

Not much of an update I'll admit. Not much intellectually to say. What do you think in regards to the above article?

-Spoiled Mangoes

The Continuing Adventures of Mitt (not romney please) in Writer's Block...land

Mitt stood upon the precipice, looking down into the endless abyss. He could not see where it ended, hence 'endless abyss.' That thought, however did not occur to him as he knew, logically, that there had to be an end to the 'endless abyss.' Abysses, as we all know can only go so far until they reach the earth's core, or China, whichever comes first; So his thinking was not far from reality.

He bent down and picked up a small pebble. It was smooth and flat; nothing like the other stones that were fat and jagged that cut when touched. It was yellow with hints of red speckled into it. It was a rather pretty stone. It seemed such a waste to lose it, but he knew what he had to do.

He took a step forward, thrust his arm out over the edge and let go of the stone. It plummeted down, down and further still. It passed caverns and ledges, and all manner of creatures big and small. Mitt thought the stone would never stop falling, and by now he could no longer see it so he could not even tell if it had landed or still gathered momentum as it sped its way towards China.

He pondered for a moment the implications of that stone. It had not been like the others, and therefore, in his mind, had to be the one tool he could use. It had been flat and unimaginative; the kind of stuff children played with. Its smooth nature took no chances with it. It was safe. He realized that if he had taken that pretty looking stone and put it in his pocket, he would be doomed to not see the spontaneity around him. Stones and rocks of varying sizes and shapes. rocks that had sharp pointy ends, or stones with many facets.

It was then he knew that it was not only one thin,; one stone, one idea, one solution to his problems but many. He smiled, no longer concerned about the falling stone and began to walk away with a spring in his step.

Suddenly the smooth stone fell from the sky and pelted him in the head.


-Spoiled Mangoes

The Adventures of Mitt in Writer's Block...land

I want to talk today about Writer's Block. I said I'd update every day with whatever I could, but today I could not think about what I could update with. Not that I had any time til about now to do it anyway, but I still could not think of anything useful to post about.

So here I am talking about Writer's Block, or will be very shortly.

I have this friend you see, and he...well let's call him, Mit. no....Mitt. Mitt's a nice guy, and he's really talented you see, and has lots of great ideas; but I...I mean Mitt doesn't always know how to convey them, either in speech or in writing.

I'm sure all of you have experienced this at one point or other. I tell Mitt that he just needs to write something, no matter what it is, but he always comes back with arguments like "Well, I'm too tired to write." or "I don't really have any time to just sit down and focus on it." or most importantly. "Maybe I'm just no good at this and I should just give it up for something I am...which is nothing else."

You see how frustrating it can be to talk with Mitt. So I gave him little exercises to do, and they seem to help a little. They give him a boost of creativity but then he slumps backward. You see, he also has a lot of projects on his mind that he wants to work on. He has, if memory serves me, 4 or 5 screenplays in his head and in notes, about 3 television shows (or at least the pilots of them), countless short stories and short films and sketches, and a couple of long form fiction or novels (or novellas). However, he jumps from project to project as if he had Creative A.D.D.

So, in response to all this, and all of my...er...Mitt's problems in this area, what do you all suggest? Can you help a brother out?

-Spoiled Mangoes

So for today's late update, I've been running lights for a play called "Rehearsal for Murder." I can't really tell you what it's about, or who did it. But I find the mystery interesting because you must make the audience believe in your lies, believe that your lies are truths. Good writers can do it and do it well. I do not claim to be among that group in the least, but I'd like to think I have it in me to write something in that vein.


The MacArthur Files is meant to be in that vein, however I don't think my writing, nor the show is up to the task at taking on mystery just yet. So it's probably for the best, that even though I've written and shot a pilot, I must wait until everything is set for MacArthur Files. That is of course if Grimm fails completely. If it doesn't, then we'll see, but til then, we play the waiting game.

As an added note, I've been writing today. I wouldn't say a lot, but it's something more solid than I've had in months. It's not a scene, or a short story, it's more of a post for that writers group. But I think it's progress nonetheless.

:) that's all for today.

-Spoiled Mangoes

If I post this, will this day repeat?

So it's Groundhog Day, and you know what that means? One of you is doomed to repeat it over and over until you get your act together!! So don't waste time and, you know, get it together!

In all seriousness, I really would not want to repeat this day over and over. It wasn't a particularly bad day or anything, just ready to move on to the next.

I know all marrieds out there will tell me "told you so" or "I could have told you that," but you think you'll have more time to do things once you get married but you don't. All that planning for the wedding has to pay off for relaxation, right? haha, nope. Now you work to support yourself. Then again, I know people who do that and aren't married. But for me and my wife Carissa, we both lived at home with our folks until we got married. Not necessarily by choice, but we had no other options financially. Then once we got engaged we found the jobs we needed to get things rolling.

I know, what does this have to do with my particular style of blog? (told you I made no promises this wouldn't be an update on the day or life.)

Well, not that I mind, because being married is great and I wouldn't trade it for anything; but with all the new extra things we have to do, like keeping the house clean, paying the bills, going to work to get the money to pay the bills to keep the apartment clean........"in the house that Jack built." oh wait, wrong story.

But I find I do not have a lot of time to write. Moreover, when I get home I'm too tired to write, and then we have other things that come up. I suppose that's why I have this blog, and why I gave myself an every day update til March at least, to get in the habit of doing it every day. With the little time I do have, i can write a paragraph or two, or if I'm lucky a page while at work during breaks, or get home and research for 10 minutes to write the next day, then get on here and update whatever I can.

Then once it's become habitual, it wont be so hard when the time is even shorter. So I'll write today, and then tomorrow and then tomorrow. Or if I am to believe the movie, I'll write today...and then I'll write today...and then I'll write today. Let's just hope it's not the same line over and over again.

I hope the above stuff didn't sound depressing because it wasn't meant to be. I was merely stating the facts, but then adding my solutions. So please don't get me wrong. I love every minute I spent with my wife. And in honor of the upcoming Valentines Day in a week or so; I Love you Carissa!

A bit of a sentimental update too, but I can afford to be. It don't cost me nothing. Til tomorrow folks.

or...til today.

-Spoiled Mangoes

So today's post is not greatly inspired. As the next few days will end up attesting to, I do not have a ton of time to do much writing, as I will be running lights for a play through the whole weekend.

I've been doing a bit of writing every day so far, besides this blog, which is good I'd say. It's mostly a couple of paragraphs here and there, as at work I have very little time to write during my breaks and no place to go focus on it.

But what I've been doing lately, is for the things I am writing now I am doing research to ensure accuracy.

So for the things I've been working on (small things mostly that wont see much light til later, if ever), I will give you all a few words to attempt to figure out what I'm doing.

ahem.

Horticulture
Sci-Fi
Historical Figures


:)

-Spoiled Mangoes

A post because I said so.

So had a bit of a rough and busy day and did not have a lot of time to sit down and write so this post will be very brief.


started doing some scene exercises, of which I will post in the future. They consist of taking 4 full hands of 7 seven Apples to Apples red cards, and then pulling a Green card and matching it as best I can with a card from each of the 4 hands, and then trying to create a scene with those 4 elements. I did about 10 of those, though I have yet to write anything officially yet, but I have the idea starters.


So we'll see how that goes.

that's all for today's very late and hurried update.

-Spoiled Mangoes

A Link to Writing

So in day 2's edition of this, attempt to write every day til March, thing I guess I'll give an update on a game franchise I think many people love, and hopefully several of you will appreciate this.

First off, if you are not a fan of the Zelda series, or just simply have not heard of it or been interested in it or don't know much about it, you don't have to read on...but you can!

Recently I finished the latest game in the Legend of Zelda series "Skyward Sword" that was released for the Wii this past November. To my knowledge it is the 16th orso installment in the series. Now each game has its own legend and makes references to events that have taken place or are bound to take place due to inevitability. But since it is all presented under the auspice of "Legend" it can be assumed that either the "Legends" we hear about are games we can name that we (as gamers) have played, or is a reference to another event that either A. happens in another timeline, or B. will be the hopeful setting of a future Game.

Either way, there has always been speculation as to what the timeline for all the games is. As in, what order do they come in Chronologically as opposed to release order.

Many people have always said that Ocarina of Time is the first and it is from there that everything converges and diverges. However, since Nintendo themselves stated that Skyward Sword takes place before that, we can now assume Skyward Sword is the first.

However, do we know what game comes after what? Do we know if Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both in the same timeline or are they splits from "Kid" Link or "Adult" Link at the end of Ocarina of Time? Who is Ganon and where does he come from? What event leads to what?

Endless opinions are out there, spread across the vast landscape of cyberspace. But, now Nintendo along with the release of the new game and the 25th Anniversary Orchestra soundtrack, have released a 240 some page book called the "Hyrule Historia." From what I have read, it is not only a history of the land of Hyrule as shown and told about in every game, but also includes a succinct Timeline as created and released to us by Nintendo themselves!!


This may sound exciting, as we will now know the truth behind every thing. But this also creates some problems and, quite honestly, some apprehension on my part. 1. If Nintendo says what is and what is not Canon and part of the Official "Timeline," then every theorist has nothing to do. No discussion can commence on the part of how things progress through the games.

quick side note: I'm being intentionally vague about events in games so I don't blow it for those who have not played any of them (who still intend to). End of side note.

And 2. It feels to me that if they release the official timeline, then it seems that there could be an end to the Zelda series as a whole. Because the Timeline would not include any "Future" games.

So for those who want to know about this supposed official timeline you can go to



Scroll down a bit and it has a section of "Spoilers" that then refer to the Hyrule Historia. For those who wish to remain in the dark about Nintendo's view on the timeline, or those who don't give a Hoot, ignore it.

On the plus side, there is a rumored Prequel to Skyward Sword Manga in the Historia. So I guess if I can get my hands on this it might be worth it.


So yeah, today's update was about a video game, but in some reference to plot and overall structure of the timeline. So I feel that applies to the Writing Blog that I want this to be.

that's all for today.

-Spoiled Mangoes


also, for those who want to see an awesome Mural that was created a couple of years ago....

Troubles

Ok, So I have a really hard time writing anything. As soon as I sit down to write, I get writer's block. Even if I have something simple to write, like for the exercise I asked for suggestions for.

So for now, instead of going back to doing this exercise, (as if that weren't far enough back to the beginning) I'm going to just try to write something, anything, every day for some period of time. Since everyone seems to do that for about a month. I'll attempt to do it for a whole month. So I guess, until March I shall try to write and post something every day.


to help me get back into the habit of writing in general, I have rejoined a group of writers that I used to write with, but I left because I felt I did not have enough time because I wanted to write scripts or stories that would, you know, get me work. But since I've done precious little writing to begin with after that, I figured I think I can have time to rejoin.

Sadly it's not something I can post because it's one of those each person posts their own part of the story, so it would make little sense to the rest of you. but as I write something I will post it. Other than that, I'll be posting about random things for a month. hopefully nothing as mundane as how I spent my day, but no promises.

so let this day mark as day 1 and we'll see where I am by March 1st.

wish me luck!

-Spoiled Mangoes

1st Exercise

Ok, so I'm a few days late on the update. Yeah "follow up tomorrow" didn't happen.

Ok here's the 1st Exercise is from a book called "Storymaking" that I used in my Story Writing Class.

In our first exercise our teacher gave us a scenario from which we had to create a detailed account, using no plot, or character development or any author intonation of inner thoughts. Basically a beginning to end record of events.

So this first exercise is an exercise is writing in great detail to help the reader visualize the world the author has created in their piece.

in class we were given the scenario "Man Walks Out..." We then were given his destination which was the door of a woman. It didn't matter the woman's age, nor the man's age, nor his purpose, just him walking out of his house and arriving at the woman's door.

So in this post, what I want from all of you, is to give me a similar situation. Anything that could give me a starting point and an end point. Make the first action very mundane, or at least giving no details to me. I will then write a beginning to end account of whatever it is you give me with nothing but physical details of events and scenery and such. And then the end make it as simple as "arriving at door" as in the classroom exercise.


Looking forward to all your suggestions. note: I may end up doing multiple if I get a lot of responses. No promises though. :)

-Spoiled Mangoes

Back from the New Year

Ok, so I intended to get on here to, you know, write. Put up some little snippets of things I'm writing, or exercises to inspire creativity or even exercises for the writing craft itself, but then December happened at work, and you know what that means? Well, I'll give you a clue, I work in a retail warehouse, and Christmas was looming. Yep, you guessed it, I was busy busy busy with work, working weekends, getting home and being exhausted. Sooo, nothing got written.

I even, a few weeks ago, wrote down a blog post to put up when I had some time. That worked well didn't it?

Well, now that it's the New Year and even though I'm a week late for resolutions (which I never keep if I make them anyway, so I'm not bothering to do that), I'm going to at least try to post a little regularly.

So my goal (threw last years goals out the window. I didn't do any of them), is to start back at Square 1 with everything. I'm going to act as though I didn't know how to write (obligatory comments from the sarcastic group out there), and work through exercises to re-teach myself how to, building from the foundation on up.

I will be asking for all your help in this too. with my exercises, I will at times need suggestions on a topic for the particular exercise, as well as feedback on each posting of an exercise. I am really putting myself out there for heavy criticism, but if I can't take it, then I'm looking in the wrong place for a career.

So, tomorrow will come the first post in 'the exercise series' of what I will be asking for to do the first exercise. The reason I'm waiting until tomorrow, is so some of you have time to read this over, and that post will be shorter than this, and I'm sure many of you stopped reading way up at paragraph 3, so I want actual responses. I know how skimming works. :)

look for it tomorrow!

-Spoiled Mangoes