Archive for the ‘Living and Life’ Category

A New STAR WARS Film?!

Posted: October 30, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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Yes, you’re reading that title right, and the science-fiction fan in you better be freaking out as much as I am! Apparently LucasFilms was bought by the Walt Disney Corporation this past month, and now Disney’s authorizing a new trilogy, with the first film supposed to be out by 2015! No details yet as to what the film will be about or whether we’ll see old or new characters, and if we’re seeing old characters who will play them (I swear, if Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are brought back and they are played by teen heartthrobs just to draw in a new crowd, there will be an uproar).

“Luke, *breath* they’re making more films.”
“NOOOOO! Wait, is that a bad thing?”
“I have no idea.”

Still, this is huge! I wondered what would happen if you tried to remake the films, but to make an entirely new trilogy? Good God. Let’s hope that the new owners of the franchise can live up to the expectations and produce a quality film, and not a repeat of The Phantom Menace!

Well, George Lucas is supposed to be a creative consultant, so we should be okay.

Or maybe not.

This I Compose by Rami Ungar

Posted: October 29, 2012 in Living and Life
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In my documentary class, we had to make a video on how we write, compose, or create literary projects. After we received our grades, we were allowed to upload the videos onto YouTube if we so desired. And so, I uploaded a video onto YouTube for the first time ever. And it was easier than I thought it would be.

The video below is called “This I Compose by Rami Ungar”, and it follows me as I write “Doll’s Game”, the short story I’ve been working on for my creative writing class. My teacher certainly liked it, because she commented on how I was able to keep it from just being a happy nding and how I was able to make a coherent narrative. For all my efforts, sweat, blood, tears, and anything else you can throw in, I got an A, which I’m pretty happy about.

The video isn’t anything fancy compared to what others have made, and it doesn’t have any background music, mostly because it’s hard to find music with the appropriate copyrights that you want to put into your videos. It also has my voice in it, which isn’t exactly musical to listen too. But I like it, and with any luck, you might too.

So here’s “This I Compose by Rami Ungar”. I hope you enjoy it, and I think this is the point I tell you to subscribe to my channel, though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get more than one video a year up, if at all. I guess it depends on if I can get a video camera, a recording device, a Mac, and time to edit. Anyway, watch the film.

“Are You Autistic Or Something?”

Posted: October 28, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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That was the question I was posed last week. I was telling a guy about some of the stuff I’d published and some of the stuff that will be published and some of the stuff I hope will be published in the coming months. As I told him, I could just see the awe on his face growing, which made me happy because it meant I might have a new reader to be interested in my work, and what writer doesn’t like people to read his work?

And then the guy asks me, “Are you autistic or something?” Yes, he said that to me.

Now, I do have what’s called Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS for short), which is a type of disorder where an individual has some of the markers of autism or Asperger Syndrome but not enough to qualify for either of them, and I don’t mind sharing that with people if the subject comes up. And I did tell this guy that, but I was a little taken aback. I mean come on, who asks that?

When I asked him why he asked me, he said, “You’re just doing so amazing things. You just got to have something.”

So apparently he subscribes to the idea that all great artists either have a condition or a trauma. There is some evidence to support that theory: Stephen King saw his friend run over by a train; van Gogh was mentally ill; Sylvia Plath was bipolar; and Anne Rice lost her father to illness. But not all artists are traumatized or have some mental or social problem. My high school art teacher, who is also a good friend and will be doing the cover to Reborn City, has no traumas or disorders, at least as far as I know, and she’s well-known as an artist and jewelry-maker in Columbus. And Lady Gaga may be a little strange, but not because of anything in her past or brain chemistry.

Amd look at me! I may have both a childhood trauma and a condition, but I don’t let them define me, or attribute them as the sole reasons why I write or write as well as I do. Maybe they help, but so does a lot of other factors, especially experience and hard work!

Well, I ended that conversation as soon as possible and left. I didn’t want him asking any other strange questions to me. It made me wonder though: are other people going to ask that question to me? Has anyone else ever been posed that question? For both, I hope not!

If you have any thoughts, please tell me. I’d love your opinion.

Mazel Tov Rachel!!!

Posted: October 26, 2012 in Living and Life
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My younger sister is having her bat mitzvah tomorrow, becoming a full woman according to Jewish law. My whole family packed and loaded ourselves into a rental car to head to Cleveland to celebrate Rachel’s milestone, and let me tell you, it’s been crazy preparing. We just finished family photos, and now we’re all waiting for Rachel to finish up the photos with the grandparents.

Tomorrow Rachel will read from the Torah and lead about 2/3 of the service. Afterwards we’ll have lunch, then go home for a nap (or in my case, reading and homework), and tomorrow evening after the Sabbath lets out we’ll throw a huge dance party. I’m really excited for that, because my dad’s wife’s side fo the family really like to party and dance, which matches my party temperament to a T.

On Sunday, there will probably be a big brunch at a hotel or something and then we’ll all high-tail it back to Columbus. But Rachel will have achieved something she’s trained hard for, and that’s the best part, don’t you think?

Have a nice weekend.

I’ll Be Using Smashwords

Posted: October 24, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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When I publish Reborn City, that is. I did a little research, and I found out that Smashwords, besides being a retailer for e-books, allows authors to self-publish their works as e-books, formats them for other distributors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and even gives you ISBNs. All this and more for how much? Free! And the authors keep exclusive rights to their works while Smashwords distributes the books. Not only that, but authors keeps up to 85% of the profits (70.5% from partner distributors) and can take their works off or modify them at any time.

With all this and more, is it any suprise that so many authors are using Smashwords? I don’t think so!

I would like to thank my friend Pat Bertram for pointing out the website and its many features (for her blog, click here: http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/ ). Once again, I hope to have RC out as soon as possible, so please bear with me till then and keep reading Rami Ungar the Writer.

If you want to check out Smashwords, here’s the address: http://www.smashwords.com/. While you’re checking it out, I’ll be signing up for a free account. Have a stress-free day.

I Made Somebody Cry

Posted: October 23, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Under all that makeup is a tortured soul. Or an alcoholic. Or he read something I wrote and was really moved. It’s art, it’s up for interpretation.

Now before you start condemning me for making somebody cry, let me just explain what happened: I was at the computer lab yesterday, where I’m well-known among the staff there. I’d told one of the people there about a week ago about my short story “Aasif” (if you haven’t already read it, then look below, the link to the website where it’s posted and the link to the story itself are there) and he said he’d read it. Not only did he read it, but he sent it around the lab and to the office that overseas the lab as well, which I was very grateful for when I found out.

Yesterday I was talking to my friend and he said one of the staff members from the overseeing office had emailed him saying she’d loved the story so much, and that by the end of it she’d been in tears. Now, as a writer I’m happy that I was able to get this sort of reaction from someone who read my work, but as a person I’m a little worried that I don’t feel bad I made someone cry. I know it’s silly, but it’s true.

Still, the fact that I was able to get such a reaction shows that I’m at least on the right track to becoming a writer. Hopefully I can keep it up, especially with “Ripple” coming out in a little less than two weeks.

Here are the links. Enjoy:

Mobius Magazine: http://mobiusmagazine.com/

“Aasif by Rami Ungar”: http://mobiusmagazine.com/fiction/aasif.html

Background Noise Spurs My Writing

Posted: October 22, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I’ve been stuck on a piece of Dodi Li for the past couple of days, a spot that leads into the climax and ultimately resolves the conflict of the story. Earlier I flashed on a scene from a show I’d been watching, where a captain in a police precinct had a talk show on his TV because it made great background noise to help him with his work. I thought, “The debate is on tonight. Why not hear the candidates’ positions on foreign policy while seeing if I can get a few hundred words into a short story?”

Well, I set up shop in the TV lounge of my dorm about twenty minutes before the debates, I turned on the TV to MSNBC, and you know what? I’m learning a lot about the candidates and their beliefs, and I’ve gotten at least 500 words written down on Dodi Li. Talk about effective!

It’s great when you realize a distraction can help you get the results you want for your work, like that one segment from The Big Bang Theory (still can’t embed it, so I’ll leave the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1WpE5ntqbQ). Plenty of people feel that distractions detract from your work, but in actuality, they can really help.

Now if you don’t mind, I have to see if I can wrap up Dodi Li while hearing President Obama’s policy on China. Have a good night.

Oh, and before I forget, I changed the doctor and the detective from Dodi Li into male characters. I think that works better: the two adult males, supposedly smarter and more rational, end up getting shown up by a child and a succubus, aka a spiritual, feeling woman. I think it sends a better message than two or three women in leadership positions getting shown up by a demoness, right?

500 Likes!

Posted: October 22, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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That title’s pretty self-explanatory. This morning I was informed I have passed the 500 mark on the number of Likes I’ve gotten. Everyone, thanks for liking me so much. It means a lot to me, and I appreciate it so much. To thnak you guys for liking me and sticking with me all this time, here’s a funny video I found online. Enjoy:

Ohio State Goes Gangnam Style

Posted: October 20, 2012 in Living and Life
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My grandmother, who’s an alumna of Ohio State University, sent me this video (thanks so much, Nancy!). It shows everybody’s favorite mascot, the poisonous tree nut Brutus Buckeye, dancing to Psy’s “Gangnam Style” with the awesome OSU Cheerleading Squad. I hope you enjoy it, it’s just so much fun. O-H I-O Buckeye Style!

Some Thoughts on “Dodi Li”

Posted: October 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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For those of you who have no idea what that title means, Dodi Li is a short story that I started this summer and that I’m rewriting before National Novel Writing Month starts in two weeks. It means “my darling” or “my beloved” in Hebrew and should not be confused with a popular Jewish song that is sung sometimes on Friday nights by Jews everywhere.

Dodi Li features a succubus, a demoness who visits men at night as a beautiful woman and steals their sperm in order to create demonic children or steal pieces of their soul through fornication, depending on what myths you believe. However my succubus, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a name a succubus would have, right?) is not the antagonist of the story. Instead, she struggles to protect the other protagonist, a male she’s fallen in love with. Succubi have fallen in love with humans before, according to the folklore and stories I found by people who say they’ve had experiences with succubi (it’s on the Internet, so I can’t be sure if the writers are crazy or not, but I try to keep an open mind), and I decided to tap into that for this story.

The first draft was very plot-oriented, and sucked immensely. I decided to leave it alone until I could think of a way to make it better, and if I couldn’t, then it’d make a great learning experience. But yesterday in creative writing class, my teacher gave me an idea on how I could improve the story. So I went back and started to completely rewrite it, going until half-past ten last night, and then resuming for a little while this morning before class.

As I was heading to class, I realized something about my story: the main character, whose nine years old, and the antagonist, a 40-something with some mental issues, are the only male characters. All the rest are female: the doctor, the head nurse, the head of neurology, a possible detective character, and of course the succubus Umuruk, are all women, and all are women in positions of power that they use to help people.

I started to wonder if that might mean something, if my psyche was trying to tell me something through my writing. If it’s that I respect women in positions of power and that I think there should be more of them, that doesn’t surprise me at all; I grew up in a house full of women, my mom’s a rabbi, my boss is a woman, her boss is a woman, and I took a Women’s Studies course my first year at Ohio State, which I did very well in. So no surprise that powerful women show up in my story.

However, if it has something to do with the fact that Umuruk is able to help the main character more than these women, then I wonder what that might be saying. Perhaps even if women are educated and in positions of power, if they don’t occasionally open their minds to the impossible, then a mentally unbalanced man will hurt an innocent nine-year-old? That’s also a possibility.

In any case, once I finish the story I might understand more, and if I manage to get it published, you might be able to read it and give me some suggestions on what my Muse is trying to tell me.

Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do before I go to work, so I better get that taken care of right now. Have a nice day.

Oh, before I forget, something funny I have to tell you: I was talking to my history teacher after class today, and we had a really great discussion on the way out the building. You see, at the beginning of the semester, my teacher, whose focus is African History, told us that if any of us intentionally failed his class, he’d used magic he learned from tribal priests to enter our dreams and scare the heck out of us. Ever since then I’ve been trying on and off to get him to agree to teach me how to enter people’s dreams (can you blame me?).

At some point during our conversation, my teacher revealed he’d been joking, but I thought he’d been serious because he said it in such a serious way. This led to a discussion on witchcraft in different cultures, which led to a discussion on using magic and summoning stuff. That led to a discussion on spirits and possessions, and in the end, I ended up recommending my teacher to go see The Possession, which I reviewed back in September. Turns out, he agreed to see it. How about that?

Anyway, I think it’s funny, I have no idea what you think.

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