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This Crazy Weekend (June 1-3, 2012)

Posted: June 3, 2012 in Living and Life
Tags: college life

No seriously, it’s been a crazy (but super-fun) weekend for me. It’s the last week of the quarter, and everybody’s getting ready to move out while studying at the same time. Still, events occur that perk up everybody’s moods and give them a welcome break from studying.

For instance, last night at Hillel (the Jewish organisation on campus, for those of you unfamiliar) hosted the all-Jewish acapella group, the Meshuggenotes, for an awesome concert, in which 9 seniors, one or two I’m friends with, were thanked for all their hard work and wished luck after graduation.

Then today, I found out at the cookout my dorm had that in the Biggest Loser challenge at my dorm, I was actually the winner! Oh my god! Really didn’t think I’d win that, but it looks I did! This’ll encourage to continue eating and working out over the summer! And that’s not all; my floor gathered the most food in a food drive, which means we get a pizza party! I knew buying all those ramen cups in bulk would pay off!

And tomorrow’s probably going to be the biggest thing yet: my sister is graduating from Bexley High School. She’ll be an OSU student like me in the fall, though we’ll be living on separate sides of campus and probably won’t have classes together or anything (anyone who knows us will say that’s probably the best arrangement for all concerned). Congrats Adi! Love you no matter what, and I look forward to you being a Buckeye on campus!

All for now, write a new post later. Oh, and if you haven’t already, go back two posts to “Writing in the Summer: What to Do” and please participate in the poll going on there. Polls open till June 10th, so please vote.

Post-It Note Prank: Why This High School Is Overreacting.

Posted: May 16, 2012 in Living and Life
Tags: activism, comedy, education, entertainment, proper decisions

So I log onto my computer barely five minutes ago, planning to check my email and whatever before I start on the last bit of homweork for today. On AOL News, I see this article about students getting suspended for a senior prank. Curious, I click on it. What I found shocked me: a bunch of students had come into their high school over the weekend with the help of the custodian, and they had preceded to cover up the hallway in colorful little sticky notes. For that, they got suspended for being in the school after hours without permission and the custodian was fired for helping.

Funny thing though: my junior year of high school, the graduating seniors did the same thing to my high school and got away with it! I’m not kidding, they came back from a convention (most of the school belongs to the same regional youth group, and the school sets a few short weeks based on these conventions) and went through the school putting up sticky notes. One of the teachers, who was chaperoning the convention, later was heard saying, “Oh, so that was why they were all agreeing to meet up at Staples!”

Those seniors didn’t get in trouble for it, and I could understand why; it was hilarious! Imagine walking into the high school wing of the school and seeing the entire hallway covered in sticky notes! It’s a gas. The only thing the seniors really had to do was clean up the mess after a day or two.

So do I think the high school in the news article is overreacting? Yes, I do! It was a harmless prank, and the worst thing that could happen would be that the sticky notes wouldn’t get put in a recycling bin. The students shouldn’t have been suspended, and that janitor should be allowed back with retroactive pay and a bonus. Apparently, some of the students at the school agree with me too, because they’ve been having sit-down protests since this whole thing started. Go get ’em, guys!

I’m putting the article’s link below. Tell me what you think after you read it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/post-it-note-prank-cascade-high-school_n_1521649.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D161526

A Novel Idea Part 2

Posted: May 14, 2012 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: college life, novel, short story, writing

It’s unusual for me to publish two posts in a single day, so three might be a sign of the apocalypse, but I’m going to write this one anyway, so if you would kindly not hide in your basement for fear of meteors and aliens and earthquakes, I would be grateful.

If you remember a few months ago, I attended an event funded by the English Undergraduate Organization (EUGO) called “A Novel Idea”, which was for studnets who wanted to publish novels to sit down and hear from professors with publishing experience. The event was so successful that tonight they held a “Part 2”, which I was just at. We heard from a professor who worked on reference books for librarians trying to find the best of certain genres, and we discussed the pros and cons of self-publishing, the revolution of e-books (there’s a post two back that also covers this topic), and other topics. One of the things I learned was that with the emergence of e-books, publishers are now more willing to tlak to authors who aren’t represented by literary agents. Since I don’t have an agent (yet, anyway), that definitely got my interest, so maybe tonight I’ll see if there are any publishers that don’t mind a writer without an agent.

We also discussed the use of publishing short stories before publishing a novel (still relevant, especially with e-mags) and books that have defied the usual statisitcs associated with breaking away from the usual publishing process (50 Shades of Grey being the most talked about).

So, now that I’m back in the dorms, I’ll finish what homework I have, and then do a little work on getting Reborn City into book (or e-book) form. Wish me luck, and if you have any suggestions or helpful ideas, let me know.

Politicians Comparing the Holocaust: CUT IT OUT!

Posted: May 2, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Reflections
Tags: government, politics and leadership, proper decisions, WWII/Holocaust

Today I check the news on AOL, and what do I find? Two stories where politicians and ministers have been comparing legislation to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. My plea to all politicians, on both sides of the political spectrum: please stop! For the love of my family and my people, please stop making those comparisons! It’s trivializing the Holocaust and the memories of those who were victims of Hitler, turning a tragedy into a political cudgel akin to what socialism has become.

I know there are people out there who are passionate about the issues, but to compare the issues to what Hitler did is upsetting to a lot of people, and I think it’s an overreaction. You can’t take an issue, even one like laws regulating child labor on farms, and turn it into the Nuremburg laws. It’s taking both the former and the latter completely out of context and turning them into something they are not. Nor can you compare laws trying to protect the health of women to people getting loaded into cattle cars and sent to Auschwitz or Dachau, because it’s taking these two different things out of context. You wouldn’t want me comparing an issue or a piece of legislation to the terror attacks of 9/11, right? I didn’t think so.

So, to all those elected officials and to all those who try to guide people through faith, I ask you to stop with the Holocaust references. It’s offensive, it’s taking a very dark event in our past and marginalizing it, and it’s counterproductive, especially if you want to stay in office and a large part of your constituency is Jewish. Besides, people prefer leaders who unite other leaders and help their people, not politicians who divide other politicians and who offend their people, so not using the Holocaust is actually a pretty sound strategy.

On an unrelated topic, yesterday I reached one-thousand views on Rami Ungar the Writer. Thank you all who have been reading my blog and staying with me all this time. I hope we’re still together a thousand views later.

Spring Quarter 2012: Half-Time Report

Posted: April 27, 2012 in Journalism, Living and Life, Writing
Tags: college life, journalism, Ohio State University, writing

It’s spring quarter, the last quarter of the school year, and since Ohio State is switching to semesters in the fall, the last quarter ever. So I have one thing to say to all those listening: somebody slow the quarter down! I’m not kidding, it’s going by waaay too fast. I mean, I’m enjoying my classes, and I’m doing well in them, so why are we already halfway through? I feel like we should still be in week 3, not at the end of week 5! This is why I hate the saying, “time flies when you’re having fun”.

Alright, now that I’ve told everybody in the blogosphere how I feel this spring is going by way too fast, let’s get into the particulars: grade-wise I seem to be doing well, if my quiz scores are any indication. I’ve scored consistently in the 80’s, 90’s, and 100’s on most of them, so I’m not too worried about struggling. I’ve also learned a lot, including that I actually enjoy very old English literature a lot more than I thought I would, and that literature in any period reflects a lot of what society it was written in and what the author was aiming for with the words they write.

I’ve also been pretty busy, what with writing two articles for the Pulse, and taking part in Holocaust Awareness Week and Cover the Night. Not too mention I’m at work almost everyday, and being the financial aid office, spring is busy season, so I’m rarely without something to do. But hey, I’m learning new stuff on the job and `helping out, and getting paid for it too, so what’s not to love?

As for writing, I’ve got three short stories and a poem I’m waiting to hear back on, and once a friend of mine is done looking at the first chapter of Reborn City, I’ll start looking for an agent or submitting to contests, I haven’t decided which yet (and on that, I’d like everyone’s opinions).

So here’s hoping to a good rest of the quarter, let’s hope it slows down and brings plenty of good stuff, particularly in the realms of grades of written works.

Review: Vanessa Bayer & John Mulaney

Posted: April 20, 2012 in Living and Life, Review
Tags: celebrities, college life, comedians, comedy, entertainment, review, Saturday Night Live

Alright, so last night I went to Ohio State’s Union (yes, I’m naming my university now; since the article came up and my stats went through the roof, people have obviously seen the article and know the Pulse is an OSU publication, so what’s the point in hiding it now?) to see Vanessa Bayer and John Mulaney perform. Now Vanessa Bayer is a cast member of SNL, and you know how I love SNL, right? So I was super excited to see her live. John Mulaney I was less familiar with, but I found myself liking him very much, as you’ll soon see.

So, the show started out with a surprise opening act by (and I hope he’ll forgive me if I spell his name wrong) Shen Wang: a Chinese-American comedian from New York with a deep voice and the funniest drunk idiot stories about himself. He was pretty good, and he really connected to the audience, pointing out that our mascot was a poisonous tree nut. Smooth, man.

Then Vanessa Bayer came on, and boy was she awesome! She made fun of herself, of what she was like in college, she even showed us a video she’d made when she’d tried one of those dating video services. It was just great to see her live and hear her do her Miley impersonation. Huh-lare-eee-ose!

Vanessa Bayer, John Mulaney, and a very blurry Shen Wang. So sorry about the quality of the photo.

And finally, John Mulaney with his stories of black-outs, and his making-fun of whatever was on people’s T-shirts. This uy was great; he even told us about how he was confused for an Asian American woman as a child (strangely) and made fun of Law & Order: SVU, or more specifically, Ice-T’s character. Great job.

All in all, I gave the show–which I assume is playing in some other city right about now–a 5 out of 5. (And for those of you who think I don’t do any bad reviews, I just haven’t seen any bad shows or movies lately. But seriously, do you want me to recommend bad stuff or good stuff to you?)

New & Old Work: Getting It All Done

Posted: April 15, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
Tags: college life, editing, milestone, short story, writing

Well, this is my fiftieth post. A milestone by anyone’s considerations. And like all milestones, this is a time to look both back and forth. Which is what I’ve been doing lately:

These past two weeks or so, I took a look at some old short stories back in high school, one of which happened to be inspired by a very creepy dream I had. Neither one got accepted for publication, and after so long I could see some of the reasons why they were rejected. So in the meantime, I thought I’d edit them and maybe see if they were any better after a good editorial bath and polish. So far, I’m thinking they may be more appealing to publications, but I’ll have to wait and see if they actually get published, because I may just be taking too much pride in my own work. Anyway, fingers crossed.

Also, after I’ve finished editing these old stories and have found time in my busy collegiate schedule to sit down in front of the computer, I plan to pen (or type, actually) some new stories. One will be based on that Law & Order: SVU dream I had a week and a half ago, though it’ll probably end up being more of a thriller story involving events after the key evidence has been collected than your typical police procedural (I’m not sure I could write that sort of story in under 20 pages anyway without making the story too complex or full of technical details).

The other story will be based on the concept of kotodama, which is a Japanese belief that words have power and can affect the lives of people around us. This belief is found in many other cultures besides Japan, and we can see throughout history and up to today how accurate a belief it is (I tend to think that what happened to Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke after Limbaugh said some very nasty things about Fluke is an example of kotodama on a large scale). I will be blending this concept with a very dark event that happened in my life recently, though I haven’t figured out how this will blend yet or how it will end up coming out. But I’ll figure that out when I get to it.

Thanks for sticking with me up till the fiftieth post. I’m so glad that people are reading Rami Ungar The Writer and I hope to bring only good news to you in the future. (wouldn’t it be nice if kotodama could take effect with that last part, huh?)

Dreaming Up Ideas

Posted: April 8, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life
Tags: dreams, Law & Order: SVU, writing

I read when I took AP Psychology back in high school that dreams–while still so mysterious and strange–can be places to figure out problems or come up with new ideas, thanks to the fact that in dreams the rules of reality do not apply. Well, let me tell you something: the other night I had a really awesome–and vivid–dream and I think it makes a great story idea.

This isn’t the first time I’ve come up with a story idea through a dream. A while back I came up with a very disturbing kidnapping story based on a dream I had (and I should really take a look at that story again, I’m sure with some edits it could really get published). What never fails to get me though is how creepy or bizarre these dreams can be, but how helpful they are.

Anyway, the dream from the other night. I dreamt that I was a guest star in an episode of Law & Order: SVU (before you take that the wrong way, let me tell you what my part was). In the dream, I was John Munch’s distant cousin (we’re both Jews) and I was visiting him. Munch and the other detectives were trying to get proof that some teens from a neo-Nazi group had committed a rape and murder of a Jewish girl. I volunteered to go undercover because I look very much not-Jewish and infiltrated the group. Not only did I get evidence against the teens, I showed that the leader of the group–a man with a history of racism and violence–had known about the rape and kept silent. I helped to bring down the group and give justice to the family of the girl. When I woke up I said, “Man, that was a good dream!”

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I can turn that dream into a short story, if not a novel. I’ll see what I can do when I get the time.

Writing Stimulant: A Good Horror Movie Goes A Long Way

Posted: April 5, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
Tags: films, ideas, inspiration, writing

It’s amazing what happens when you see a good movie and it just makes you want to write. For instance, I just saw The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe in it at my school’s union and was totally freaked out by it (I would write a review on it but it’s just too soon after the last review). Even while I was watching the film though, my head was swirling with inspiration. Horror is my craft, and I was carefully noting what the filmmakers had done, how they built up tension in this or that scene, how they symbolically signaled that Radcliffe’s character had discovered an important clue, and basically how they told the story (you can learn a lot about storytelling just by watching a good scary movie).

In addition to noting these things, I was also coming up with ideas, ideas for my own stories that I’d like to write someday. When I do come up with stories based on films I’ve watched, it usually has to do with some element from the movie that really stuck with me or something that I’d like to use myself someday, or even just some stray thought that goes through my head while I’m watching. For example, when I saw Taken with Liam Neeson back in high school, I thought how cool it was that he was taking out everyone and anyone with guns, and that led to my idea for a story on a serial killer who tracks down and kills mafioso (do not take that idea!). I also thought that when he was chasing down that punk from the airport, how much Neeson would have it if he was a werewolf, and that led to an idea about werewolf spies/detectives (don’t take that idea either, I will know if something similar is published after this blog post! Just kidding, I know you wouldn’t do that.).

I’m not going to go into details about the ideas I had in my head when I left the theater. I will say though, that once I’m done putting them down on the ideas list I have on my flash drive, I’ll get to work on finishing my new short story. I am in such a writing mood. Wish me luck.

Rami Ungar The Writer

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