Rami Ungar The Writer

I’ve Been Nominated for the Liebster Award

Posted: April 14, 2013 in Living and Life
Tags: blogging

I love these Internet memes, this one sent to me by my friend Lorna (http://lornadounaeva.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/ive-been-nominated-for-the-liebster-award-2013/).

Here are the rules of the Liebster Award:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to their blog.

2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees;

3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been chosen (I have a bit more than 200 followers at this point, but who’s counting?).

4. Copy and Paste the blog award on your blog.

Okay, 11 random facts about me:

1. I think the best moment of my life so far was the moment I found myself at OSU, I took a look around, and I said to myself, “I’m a Buckeye. I’m an official Buckeye.” It was quite the moment for me.

2. If I had a time machine, I’d probably attend a ball and go out with some nobleman’s daughter in Victorian London. Then it’s off to Germany during World War II. I’m gonna get you, Adolf Hitler!

3. I’m an optimist. I always look on the brighter side of things. It makes a bad situation good and allows me to find some good aspect in my situation. You don’t know how helpful that can be some days!

4. My greatest passion in my life is probably my writing. No wait, I’m wrong. It’s scaring people. Without that, I’d be3 very bored and I’d have nothing to write with.

5. If I had to pick someone to write a guest post on my blog, it’d probably be Stephen King, Anne Rice, or James Patterson. That’d be awesome. If I couldn’t have any them though, any of my self-publishing or regular-publishing writing friends. Any takers?

6. If I could throw a custard pie at anyone, it’d probably be Michele Bachmann. That woman deserves it!

7. The question is “what superpowers would I have if I could have any”, but I already have my own superpowers: I am Judgment. Using telekinesis, green energy beams, and a creepy transformation, I search out the corrupt and the untouchable and make them regret ever being on the wrong side of the law…

8. I listen to all sorts of music. However, I prefer on most days music from bands like Disturbed or Marilyn Manson. Yes, you should be afraid of me.

9. If I were stuck on a deserted island, I’d take with me a book on surviving a desert island. That’s the practical thing to do.

10. I love reading, writing, and just relaxing. Oh, and if I can sit down in front of the TV and watch what I want to watch, I won’t complain.

11. I’d like my last words to be the Shema, the prayer all Jews say on their deathbeds. Afterwards, I’d like to tell all my loved ones not to worry, that I’m proud of them, and that they will do great things, whether or not I’m there with them.

Alright, time to nominate. I don’t have 11 people to nominate though, at least not off the top of my head. So if you have less than 200 followers and want a Liebster award, take it. You’re nominated.

Alright, time for the questions. Here we go:

1. Who’s the biggest strength in your life?

2. If they brought back any TV show you used to watch and enjoy, what TV show would it be?

3. If you could play on a sports team, which sports team would it be?

4. What was your favorite vacation?

5. What size are your feet (that was random)?

6. If you could have an exotic pet, what would it be?

7. Who was your childhood hero?

8. What’s your favorite movie?

9. If you could take an all-expense paid trip anywhere, where would you go?

10. What book did you read in school and actually enjoy?

11. What are your plans for summer? And if you don’t have summer plans, what do you wish you could do for the summer?

Once again, thanks for the award Lorna. I appreciate it.

Leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

Review: “From A Name To A Number”

Posted: April 13, 2013 in Review
Tags: authors, review, WWII/Holocaust

F0r Passover, I received a gift from a friend of my mother’s as a thank-you for letting her come to our Passover Seder. Unusual for Passover to receive a gift, but I was extremely grateful to receive the gift, and heck, Kelly was grateful for the chance to attend a Passover Seder. The gift: signed copies of “From A Name To A Number: A Holocaust Survivor’s Autobiography” by Alter Weiner. As the focus of my History major is the Holocaust and yesterday I wrote a post about the dehumanization that occurred during the Nazi regime, I thought it’d be appropriate to finish the book over Shabbas and review it here. Later I’ll send it to Kelly (apparently she manages the author’s Facebook page for the book).

First, I’d like to say that this book is very touching (what do you expect?). But also, it’s very revealing. Covering the author’s entire life from his younger years, to the deportation and incarceration in five different concentration camps, to liberation and resettlement in Israel, and later life in America, where to this day Mr. Weiner goes to high schools, churches, and even prisons to tell his story and let people know what his life is like.

Some things came to me while I read this book. First, that the Holocaust left many of its victims with PTSD. I already knew this, but hearing it for the first time from a survivor, even if only in book format, made me realize how much Mr. Weiner was suffering years after the Holocaust. While many contemporaries of his and his own family brushed off his constant preoccupation with the Holocaust, the reader’s own emotions are stirred and we want to reach out and hug the author over the distance.

Second, how lucky we are. I have a loving family, a fairly liberal society, and I’m getting a great education. Mr. Weiner’s formal education ended at age 13, when the Nazis took over Poland. He lost most of his family shortly thereafter, and lived in slavery and horrifying conditions for three whole years. It’s affected his very person to this day, and it makes the reader appreciate his/her blessings.

And finally, we learn the evil of hate. “Hate hatred and shun violence”, Mr. Weiner implores several times throughout the book. Indeed, I find it hard to hate anyone on a daily basis, but now it’s even harder for me after reading this. I hope Mr. Weiner’s story affects all others similarly and that you treasure this book for years to come.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this book a well-deserved 5 out of 5, for reminding me to count all my blessings and to love my life no matter what. I hope you pick up a copy and read it yourself so you can see the magical effect of this autobiography by a living treasure.

Some Thoughts During Holocaust Remembrance Week

Posted: April 12, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: activism, college life, human rights, Ohio State University, proper decisions, writing, WWII/Holocaust

This week at Ohio State University is Holocaust Remembrance Week. Like last year, I am giving a small speech to commemorate this sad occasion at OSU’s Jewish organization, OSU Hillel, during the Friday night service. Since I know most of you won’t be at Hillel, I’m posting my thoughts on the subject here. If there are any grammatical errors or misspellings that I missed, please forgive me, it was not my intention to leave those there.

I hope you enjoy reading this and that it affects you positively. Thank you for reading.

***

It’s been nearly sixty-eight years since the Holocaust ended and Adolf Hitler committed suicide, signaling the end of the war in Europe. The war left millions dead, millions more displaced, and thousands of questions unanswered, many still unanswered. The most important question though, at least for those of us who commemorate the estimated thirteen million dead, is how could the Holocaust happen?

As one of my majors is History, and my focus is on the war in Europe, I could go into all sorts of reasons as to why the Holocaust happened. I could go over for hours on the “Stabbed-in-the-Back” legend, Germany’s political and economic conditions during the Weimar era, Hitler’s underlings meeting at the Wannsee to determine the Final Solution, quotations from Mein Kampf—but the one reason I’d like to focus on can be summarized in one simple word: dehumanization.

Hitler made numerous insinuations about the Jews of Germany and the rest of Europe. However one thing that remained true of every insinuation, and that was the Jews were less than human, as if they were monsters with barely human form. As more people came over to Hitler’s side, more and more people were willing to see the Jews and all those that Hitler deemed “sub-human”, as not a human being like them.

And once you see something as non-human, it becomes easier and easier to discriminate against it. First the Jews and all “sub-humans” were discriminated against. Then legal measures were taken to turn “sub-humans” into second-class citizens. And then the “sub-humans” were turned into slaves. And finally, cattle to be slaughtered and thrown out with the trash. Such is the value of things considered less than human. It took the efforts of many Righteous Gentiles, risking their very homes, security and lives, to see past this illusion of inhumanity and protect many thousands from the gas chambers Hitler had built for us. If more had thought like the Righteous Gentiles, perhaps more people would’ve survived the Holocaust.

We often think that the events of the war couldn’t possibly happen today. Sadly, we are so wrong. As we all too well know, minorities in this country such as African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans were discriminated against for years, and even amendments to the Constitution haven’t totally brought those with darker skin to the same status as whites, whether it be educationally, economically, or socially. Stereotypes keep well-qualified workers away from jobs, and can even lead to them being imprisoned simply because of their race.

In addition, women the world over are given second-class status, and any actions to rise above that status can get them beaten, imprisoned, committed to insane asylums, or even executed, all in the name of “morality and modesty”. Even in countries where this is not the case, such as America, women still aren’t equal to men in the eyes of the Constitution, and their voices are often drowned out by government officials who do not represent their interests.

And we all know that many people in the LGBT community still lack the rights of straight people. In certain countries homosexual activity can get you jailed or killed, and even in today’s air of equality, there are those who will stop at no end to keep the LGBT community in the place they are now, simply because they are different.

One of the greatest teachers of Judaism, Hillel the Elder, taught that “what is distasteful to you, do not do unto others. That is the whole of the Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.” By “it”, Hillel does not refer to the Torah or commentary, but the lesson that we may derive from this main truth. So when you go out tonight, remember that you would not like to see happen to you, don’t wish it or perform it on others. And if you see someone less fortunate than you, don’t look down on them, but ask yourself, “How can I help this person whom I might be like if I were in a similar situation?” And then once you’ve thought about it, act upon your conclusion. That is the whole of Hillel’s teaching. It was applied by the Righteous Gentiles during the Holocuast, and it can still be applied today, by you and by me.

Thank you and Shabbat Shalom.

Snake: A Third Draft Is Needed

Posted: April 12, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: authors, college life, editing, entertainment, ideas, novel, Snake, writing

I had a bit of a revelation last night, but I haven’t been able to share it until now. So without further ado, here’s my revelation:

Last night I was watching the second episode of the new TV series Hannibal, which for those of you who don’t know is a prequel to the Hannibal Lecter novel Red Dragon. As I watching it I was seeing all these little things they were doing to develop the characters that the author of Red Dragon, Thomas Harris, hadn’t done when he originally wrote the novel. It struck me then that I had committed a grevious error in my own serial killer thriller, Snake: I hadn’t gone into any sort of character development whatsoever.

I hadn’t gone into the pasts of any of the characters, only focusing on the events of the story and what immediately precipitated those events. I had not gone into any detail on why the Snake was so twisted, why the female lead was so defiant and spunky, why the villain was who he was, none of that! I’d left it all up to the imaginati0n of the reader, but now I realize that might’ve been a mistake. I mean, the reasons why we emotionally invest in characters is that we want to know them, not just what they do in a story.

So I’m going to go over the manuscript one more time and see where I can add in more character development. Perhaps then I know it’ll be ready for publication. Heck, my beta reader’s on board with it, so why not?

I’ll let you know how things go after the third draft is done. Hopefully it’ll all go well.

France and Uruguay and England Are Doing It. Why Not The United States?

Posted: April 12, 2013 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Social Activism
Tags: activism, government, human rights, politics and leadership, proper decisions

Today I’m checking the news on AOL and I see that France’s Senate has passed a bill allowing LGBT couples to get legally married. The bill was passed despite huge protests and opposition from conservatives and Roman Catholics wanting to preserve their definition of marriage. Yesterday I read how Uruguay had done the same thing, passing a bill allowing members of the LGBT community to marry and adopt. And quite recently, England voted to have same-sex marriage. So that’s three countries within the past three months that will allow same-sex marriage in their countires.

My question is, why hasn’t the United States jumped on board yet?

I know the Supreme Court is debating DOMA and Prop. 8 in its chambers these days, but even if the ruling is in favor of gay rights and same sex marriage, I’m a little worried aobout the outcome. First off, there are some justices on the Supreme Court who have called same-sex marriage “an experiment” that is “newer than cell phones” and may vote against gay marriage due to their conservative principles. And even if they don’t vote against it, I doubt the Supreme Court will mandate that same-sex marriage will be allowed nationwide, especially if they don’t want some states to sue the federal government for interfering in the states’ right to decide for themselves what legally constitutes as marriage.

Not to mention that in some areas the LGBT community still face horrible discrimination in the workplace, bullying is common for students who come out of the closet, and in Montana, a hospital forced a man out of his husband’s hospital room and treated him like just touching him could get them AIDS and later said they forced him out for being “loud and belligerent” (even though the patient’s brother was supposedly much worse than the husband). If we really want gay marriage to take hold in this country, first we need some serious attitude changes.

Luckily the gains made in the past four years for the LGBT community have been incredible, so I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 10-15 years gay marriage became legal nationwide and discrimination against the LGBT community was sought out and abolished. But like I said, it’ll take time and attitude changes. So whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling, I hope it brings some positive change in the years to come.

Learning To Do Flash Fiction

Posted: April 10, 2013 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: college life, flash fiction, Ohio State University, writing

I’ve only attempted to write flash fiction once in my life, back in high school. The attempt did not go very well: I was barely able to keep the word count under 1000 words, and the magazine I sent the piece to didn’t like it, something about the twist at the end. I have not attempted to do any sort of fiction under 1000 words since.

However lately I’ve been thinking of trying again. After all, if I can make a meaningful statement in a Facebook status, which is usually less than 100 words, why couldn’t I do a piece of flash fiction? Luckily my creative writing class was having a small lesson on flash fiction this evening, so I got experience from one of the best teachers at Ohio State University. Using examples we had to read for homework, my teacher taught us some things about flash fiction and then left the room to give us time to write our own stories. When he got back, I was eager to read my story to the class. He suggested a change, but then said I had the form down. Considering my first attempt was such a disaster, this was a much-needed piece of encouragement.

So now I’ll touch up the story I wrote in class and write another one that’s been sitting in my disturbed head for a little while. I’ll see if I can get either of them published in a magazine and then post about it here. Wish me luck, folks. I’m embarking on a bit of an adventure for myself, and in less than 2000 words to boot. (speaking of which, this post is 277 words. Who’d have thought?)

Last Night’s Spooky Experience

Posted: April 10, 2013 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff
Tags: college life, scary stuff

I’ve had spooky experiences with ghosts before. One time I got a visit from my deceased cat on Halloween. Another time I woke up to a presence in my room and a horrible pain from my teeth that only went away when I said a Jewish prayer (exorcisms work when you say them in Hebrew, apparently). But last night I had my spookiest experience of all, and I’d like to tell you about it.

I was just falling asleep last night when it happened. This was about 12:30 in the morning, I’d been having a little trouble falling asleep but now it looked like I could get to sleep. However as I was drifting off, I suddenly felt unable to breathe and woke up, sucking in lungfuls of air. At the foot of my bed was a translucent form that said “Vietnam.” It moved to my dresser and then towards me, and as it did I saw a little old man wearing a dark sweater saying “Vietnam” to me. I could see right through him, but I could make out all of his details, and I still remember the sound of his voice in my head.

Now naturally I was freaked out. I love ghosts, but I prefer seeking them out rather than them finding me. Imagine waking up and finding one right in your room saying something about Vietnam (maybe he fought in the war?). It’s a little disconcerting, to say the least. So I said, “Go away!” in a clear voice. The ghost just looked at me like it was surprised. Then I said, “In the name of God, go away!” In times of fear or crisis I like to fall back on my faith in God, which shows how big my faith is a part of my life. And it seemed to do the trick, because the old man just faded away before my eyes and disappeared. A moment later I had the strangest sensation of something moving over and across my bed and then I was alone. I lay there for about five minutes letting the adrenaline and fear work its way out of my system before I attempted to go back to sleep.

And while I waited for my body to calm down, the significiance of what I’d just experienced came over me. What I’d experienced was a full-bodied apparition, as ghost enthusiasts call any spirit able to fully materialize itself. It’s the rarest of all ghost phenomena, largely due to the amount of energy a spirit would need to fully materialize like that, and it’s the hardest to capture on film as evidence of the paranormal. This wasn’t lost on me, especially since I watch ghost-hunting shows on TV. I realized though that people would have to go on my word of what I saw, because I don’t have a roommate in my dorm room to verify the story and I certainly wasn’t recording what was happening while I slept. Still, the fact that I witnessed that was pretty amazing, though still pretty scary at thte time.

I’m not sure why all this happened, why the ghost appeared to me, or why I suddenly had trouble breathing, and don’t ask me what Vietnam had to do with anything, because I’m not sure. However I still think this is probably one of the more significant paranormal events to happen to me, and there are a few. You are free to doubt me and what I saw and I’m okay with that. But this is still an amazing thing, and even though I was scared at the time, I’m happy I got to experience it.

Have you ever experienced anything rational explanations couldn’t explain? What happened?

Review: Evil Dead

Posted: April 7, 2013 in Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: entertainment, films, review, scary stuff

I swear, it’s so hard to find a good scary movie that doesn’t rely on obscene amounts of gore these days. However, the remake/sequel of 1981’s The Evil Dead does do the original justice, even with the amount of gore involved. Throughout the film we see both homages to the original, and we see it made anew with much better special effects (which apparently never relied on CGI, though at times I find that really hard to believe, especially during that first scene and the scene with the meat cutter). Plus there’s a bit more substance to this film in terms of character motivations and what-not, but like I said, just a bit.

For those of you not familiar with the original film, these films revolve around a magic book that summons sleeping demons that possess human bodies in order to resurrect something much worse. As five teens get possessed and become bloody and disgusting, it’s up to the one normal dude (or gal, in this case) to kill them all to save their souls. The original films were DIYers, so they didn’t have much in the way of special effects and they were simplistic in nature. However the odd camera angles and filming techniques were what made this indie project a classic, spawning sequels, comic books, video games, and now a new line of films meant to bring the old and the new films together.

I warn you, if you’re not easily scared, you may only receive minimum scares to satisfy your morbid self. If you scare easily though, you will not be disappointed by this film. I would’ve preferred a lot less gore and more focus on building suspense and causing terror, but what’re you going to do, except either not see the film or show the world how you make a scary film?

On the whole, I’ll give this film a 3.6 out of 5. Not bad, but still room for improvement.

My First Writing Experiences: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted: April 7, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
Tags: authors, editing, entertainment, ideas, novel, Reborn City, scary stuff, writing

I woke up yesterday morning and was filled with memories of some of my old attempts at writing, the first fiction stories I ever wrote, and how they shaped and defined me over the years, and how I got to this point in my writing.. I wanted to write a post about them, but with all that was going on yesterday, I didn’t have the time. Well, better now than never, right?

The first time I tried to write anything, I must’ve been five or six, eight at the most. I had just seen Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the first time and then read the book, which was infinitely better. My mind was blown, and I could only think to myself, “I want to write something like that”. So I did, creating a similar story to HP1 except with the genders of the characters switched (even then, I had a thing for strong female leads, I guess). I called this obvious copyright violation Amanda Robinson, I gave her a cat instead of an owl, and I planned that the cat was a prince in cat form who would be my main character’s love interest at the end of the book, but beyond that same basic plot as HP1. I didn’t finish this work, either because I had the good sense to stop before I got sued or because at that point in my life I couldn’t keep my focus on any one project for very long. But it did spark my interest in writing, which only grew as time went by.

My next major project was a pirate adventure story called Bane Nycroft and the Maelstrom Pirates (I’m not sure if this one was inspired in any way by Pirates of the Caribbean, but it’s a possibility). That story featured a lycanthropic teenage pirate with a stolen Navy ship, leading a band of fellow orphans on the high seas and stealing from rich government banks and fighting monsters and demons. Along the way the pirate picks up a rebellious princess and they discover an island where all sorts of strange and magical creatures reside, and eventually they take on a prince who’s actually a demon in disguise. This one went through several rewrites, each rewrite growing more supernatural as time went by. Eventually I lost interest, but more than Amanda Robinson, Bane Nycroft gave me a taste of what professional fiction writing was like.

After that came the Davis trilogy, a couple of vampire novels that were inspired by the movie Van Helsing. In those novels, which fused a lot of the Buffy mythology to Van Helsing and my own twisted imagination, a teenager commits suicide after seeing his crush with her boyfriend. The teenager makes a deal with the Devil to become a vampire and take over the world and make the girl his vampiric bride. The girl, on her way to becoming a vampire, must band with her boyfriend, her older brother, and her best friend, who happens to be a witch, to stop this horrible vampire from turning the world into permanent darkness. I actually got to the third book with this one, but at that time the slow realization that nobody would want to publish such a confusing story that ripped off so many works came over me. Plus as I got further along the story got more and more sexualized, which sort of corresponded with where I was at that point in my teenage years.

I wasn’t entirely finished with the vampire mythology though, and almost immediately afterward I began work on Mahiro, which in my opinion had the first inklings of the style of writing I have today. In it a teenage boy travels to an alternate universe inhabited by vampires. While there, he is found by Mahiro, the queen of vampires, who takes a liking to him and turns him into a vampire. But before she can finish the ritual and take his soul, he escapes and finds the human resistance, where he assembles a team of crack fighters to help him take on Mahiro and perhaps find a cure for vampirism. At the same time, he must deal with a romantic triangle, being drawn both to his girlfriend, whom he left on the other side of a dimensional portal, and an equipment tech with some terrific sharp-shooting skills. It was promising, but at that point Twilight was hugely popular and was gaining more fans everyday. As a consequence the number of vampire books out there was astronomical, and I didn’t want to compete with that. With that in mind, I shelved Mahiro until a time I could bring out the characters again and rewrite the story. Until then, no vampires for me.

There was also a poorly-researched caveman story and a Frankenstein-esque horror story I wrote in between Bane Nycroft and the Davis trilogy, plus some attempts at zombie literature. Other than that, those were the main works that preceded the creation of Reborn City, which I’ve stuck with up until now and I’m happy to say will be published as soon as the beta reading period is over, I can create a cover, format the whole darn thing, and get a copyright.

Over the years, I’ve written a lot. My writing style’s changed drastically since I started writing fiction, and I’ve incorporated new elements to my work with every author I’ve read and every experience I’ve gone through. I wonder what the kid who sat in front of the old Windows 97 computer hen-pecking out a Harry Potter rip-off would say if he saw me now and what my writing’s like (probably “Why aren’t you living in a mansion yet?”). I hope to continue to grow in my writing and to create awesome and scary works. And perhaps, unlike my previous work, the characters will be college students or even full adults instead of teenagers. That’d be a break from the past!