Archive for the ‘Living and Life’ Category

Dreaming Up Ideas

Posted: April 8, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life
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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
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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.

Unlikely Advice (And Where I Got It From)

Posted: April 3, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Okay, so I’m watching Once Upon A Time on Hulu yesterday and one of the characters, August, who’s a writer, says that whenever he has writer’s block, he goes back and looks at what he did so that he can find “a nugget of inspiration” he may have left behind. Yeah, it sounds kinda funny to hear, but that’s what he said.

Anyway, I’m writing this new short story, and boy do I have such a case of writer’s block. I just can’t figure out how to make the story flow. I have the idea, I just can’t make the words come out. So I thought, “Hey, why not? I have to find something to help me get this out.” So I’m reading what I’ve already written, and then I think to myself, “You know, I don’t really like how my narrator is telling the story.” So I go along and change the style of narration and pretty soon the words start to flow again! Before  I know it I’ve got three-and-a-half pages written and a few more on their way.

Has this happened to anyone else? Have you heard advice from some weird place and just found out that the advice is legitimate? Please tell me, so I’ll feel less embarassed.

Winter Quarter Wrap-Up

Posted: March 20, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, short story
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I know, that title sounds like something after a NCAA basketball game, but I’ve already used “update” twice in relation to winter quarter, and I don’t want to be redundant.

Now on to the news. Well, I had a slightly lower GPA this quarter, a 3.1, but I’ve got less classes next quarter and despite the reviews of some of them, they don’t seem too difficult or terrifying to me, so hopefully I’ll have a higher GPA than this quarter. I’ll even be taking a class on the search for extraterrestrial life and ways of going about it (yes, my school offers a class on that, you can take it to fulfill a science requirement). Although I don’t believe in alien visitations, I still think the class will be interesting to take. Though if we’re going by what our book teaches, it’ll mostly be what allows life on Earth and how we go about looking for that on other planets.

And as for writing, I’m still working on the final edit for Reborn City, but I hope to get some more of that done. I also wrote a new short story based on the Kony 2012 video I mentioned in my last post. I hope, after that story’s been edited, that a certain magazine I know might want to take it. Fingers crossed, right?

I’m looking forward to spring quarter. More flexible schedule, more time at work, what could go wrong? Wait, don’t answer that.

See ya next post, when it strikes my fancy to write one. Have a good spring break.

Kony 2012: I’m In

Posted: March 13, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Social Activism
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I just saw the Kony 2012 video on YouTube. You know, it’s one thing to hear about kids being put into armies like that. It’s another thing entirely to be confronted by the evidence like that, all in your face, and want to do something about that. And you know, I do want to do something about that. Heck, I’m now writing for The Pulse, I start my first assignment this week, I’m all about the social activism now.

So, I’m in.

SPREAD THE WORD. TAKE HIM DOWN

Joseph Kony has kidnapped nearly 30,000 children and forced them to become soldiers and sex slaves for his private army, the LRA. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the Ugandan army, and human rights groups for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 

I’ll do what I can to help spread the word and bring Kony to justice, because no child should be abducted from their parents and forced to be a soldier or slave, and no parent should have to suffer their child going through that. On April 20, 2012, I’ll even go out and do the Cover The Night, an event happening in nearly every major city where we put up posters, stickers, you name it, to spread the word. I don’t care if it’s the Jewish Sabbath, God would want me helping people.

Finally, I’d like you to check out the website and the video (I’ll be putting them down below at the bottom of this post). If you don’t like what you see, spread the word. You may be an individual, but when an individual is motivated to do something big, all they need is to find others who feel the same way, and they can change the world.

So let’s change the world together, and nab Kony by the end of the year.

Thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

http://www.kony2012.com/

Winter Quarter Half-Time Report

Posted: February 7, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Uncategorized
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No, the title of this post is not a reference to the Super Bowl. You’ll probably be disappointed to know that I am not a fan of sports and only watched a small part of the Super Bowl just so I could be social with the other tenants of my building.

Anyway, to the point of the post: I just got out of the last of my midterms, so the quarter is officially halfway done. Another four weeks and I’ll be worrying about finals! Yippee! My tests were okay, I think I did especially well on my History exam. The English exam was difficult though because it involved a lot of poetry and as you probably realized, I’m mostly a fiction kind of guy. Anyway, I’ll keep working hard.

Oh, and speaking of fiction, I’m still giving Reborn City another edit, but what I’ve done so far is pretty good. I think that maybe after this edit I’ll be ready to find an agent. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, okay?

In the meantime, I’ll try and get some editing done after this post. Bye!

Winter Quarter 2012

Posted: January 12, 2012 in Living and Life, short story
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Well, I’m working hard. That’s pretty much it. I’m taking four classes and they’re not exactly the picture of easiness, especially my Linguistics course (that last one counts as my math requirement, believe it or not!). I’m also working two days out of the week, and also trying to have a life (which for me basically involves conversations with friends, reading a multitude of books, and watching different shows on TV. I don’t do the drinking-partying scene, though I’m sure I’d be popular there).

I’m also still working on that short story from last quarter/year. I’m still trying to work on whether to have an ambiguous or flesh out a real creepy one. If I do the former, then the story will be more literary than horror but will have plenty of choices of places to be published. If I do the latter, then I’ll have to make a rather violent ending and try and find a horror magazine that would go for this sort of story. Thankfully I’m working with a friend who’s been giving me excellent feedback. Perhaps I’ll be able to get this thing published with his help.

I’ll keep you posted on how this quarter and my writing goes. Wish me luck!

It’s 2012! Happy New Year!

Posted: January 1, 2012 in Living and Life
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Well, 2011 has come and gone. In my humble opinion, it’s been a pretty good year. Our economy has even improved a little. And now it’s 2012, I’d like to share my new year’s resolutions: one is to improve my writing and strive to get more short stories and possibly even a novel published. My second resolution is to make more friends and just to control my sometimes wild behavior.

Also, I’d like to say one thing: I don’t believe the world will end in 2012. Not by earthquake, fire, water, natural, supernatural, angelic, demonic, bacterial, viral, vampiric, or zombified means. However, God forbid that the world ends, I’m guessing by zombies, my sister Maya’s bad gas (LOL), or the wrong candidate getting the presidency. I’m not saying who on that last one, because I have no idea what my readers’ political leanings are. However, if you want to post who you think is the wrong candidate in a comment, I’d love to see what you say.

Happy New Year, and have a nice day.

Northeastern University

Posted: December 16, 2011 in Living and Life
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My sister (not the one having the bat mitzvah this weekend) has just recieved her first college acceptance! What’s more, it’s her dream school, and it looks like they’ve given her a merit scholarship to boot! Pretty amazing right there.

Now she’s in a daze, looking at the website, finding out the university has given her an email address already, seeing all that is possible. She reminds me of me when I was just getting accepted to colleges and everything was a strange and wild process full of wonder. I feel so proud of her! Congratulations, Adi, and I know wherever you end up going (though for your sake, I hope it’s Northeastern), you’ll do amazing.

This Coming Weekend (Dec. 16-18)

Posted: December 15, 2011 in Living and Life
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Well, life’s been good. I finished my first term at school (with a 3.76 GPA), I’m employed and able to make a little money, and the holidays are coming! Yay Hannukah! (What? Is there something wrong with yelling out the holiday you celebrate? Christians do it all the time)

Now, as for the true reason behind this post: I’ve got a huge weekend starting tomorrow. First, and taking up most of the weekend, is my younger sister’s bat mitzvah (coming-of-age ceremony in Judaism celebrated in the teen years, for all of you who don’t know a lot about Judaism). It’s a big thing and I’m even reading Torah in honor of it. After the Sabbath we’ll have a big party (it’s pretty much standard in America these days to hire a DJ and have a party after a bar/bat mitzvah), during which I’ll dance as I usually dance, which will lead my sisters (yes, that’s right, sisters) to beg me to stop, which I won’t do.

After the bat mitzvah, my dad’s family will be having an early Hannukah party, during which we’ll exchange gifts and I’ll get razzed because of the school I go to (most of my dad’s family went to U of M, darn Michigan fans!). After the party is over, I’ll be heading to campus to stay overnight. Why you ask? I’ll tell you: Tran-Siberian Orchestra! The bus route to the concert runs right through campus, so I’ll stay overnight after the concert. I’m looking forward to the concert, it’s supposed to have a killer laser-light show!

What happens after that, I don’t know. I may go to the gym, or I’ll go see Sherlock Holmes, or both! All I know is, I’ve got a busy weekend up ahead and I’m looking so forward to it! Shabbat Shalom and good luck, Maya! I know you’ll do amazing on Shabbas!

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