Rami Ungar The Writer

Review: Castle Season Finale (Plus Some Predictions)

Posted: May 8, 2012 in Predictions, Review
Tags: entertainment, predictions, review, shippers

(The following post contains some spoilers)

Okay, so last night I’m watching the final episode of Season 4 of Caslte and–finally!–Castle and Beckett hook up! It was what every fan of the show has been waiting for over the course of four years! Along with that, Beckett has resigned from the police force after another near-brush with death and identifying the man who shot her (who I’m pretty sure played Paul in Dollhouse). The tension was unbearable, the confession scene was heartbreaking, and when they finally hooked up, ABC couldn’t show us that much because the FCC would fine them. Other than that last part, a great episode. 4.7 out of 5, with 0.3 taken off for leaving us on a cliffhanger ending!

Alright, now onto my predictions for the inevitable season 5 that will occur(I do so love to rant about what I think will happen in a show, I just rarely get to do it):

Now first, Beckett off the force. I know I should cover the relationship of Castle and Beckett, but I have to cover this because Beckett and Castle’s relationship was founded on solving crimes. Well, Beckett will probably go rogue for maybe 3 episodes at the most, but she’ll be allowed back on the force by Captain Gates, with a few conditions. How it’ll happen, I’ll leave that up to speculation.

Second, Castle and Beckett’s relationship: obviously fans might get bored since the romantic tension isn’t there anymore, but I say that it’s fun to see a fledgeling couple who work together figure things out. Caslte and Beckett will have to get used to each other in a whole new way, and they’ll have to learn to work together as lovers and not just partners. Also, expect at least one or two fights along the way.

Third, the cliffhanger: either that Mr. Smith we finally met for the first time at the end of the episode is going to live and find some way to hold the men who want to kill Beckett at bay, or he’ll die, but his information will still be hidden, so we won’t find out who’s trying to kill Beckett till the end of the season at least. Annoying, I know, but they have to hold the best stuff for last or people will lose interest.

Fourth, new episode ideas (I had such fun coming up with these ideas for new cases):

1. A writer friend of Castle’s turns to his help when murders from his book start happening in the real world (Castle could be annoyed that Beckett’s paying so much attention to this writer).

2. A hard-core anime fan gets murdered, leaving a trail of questions, especially since some stuff in his collection gets stolen (so many jokes, so many anime fans to potentially offend, but it’d be worth it).

3. A powerful lawyer gets killed right before a big case, setting off a political maelstrom that impedes the investigation.

4. A new law prevents Castle and Beckett from investigating someone’s murder, which could be racially motivated (I’d love to see the characters’ views on a case like Trayvon’s).

5. A murder brings up an old case for Captain Gates, putting Beckett, Castle, and Gates in close proximity for this case (bullets will metaphorically fly).

6. A series of seemingly unrelated murders are apparently related, as all the victims seem to have connections to Castle’s mother, including her ex-husband and a former rival actress. Could this also mean Castle’s life in danger?

7. A murder leads back to the government, and Castle’s supposed father.

8. A murder brings up an old case of Captain Gates, and puts Castle and Gates in closer proximity than the latter would like.

9. The final showdown with 3XK.

And for minor plot points: Alexis will be around less and have college problems; Castle’s mother will be around more; Gates may actually come to like Castle, especially if he saves her life; Esposito gets a new girlfriend (and gets razzed for it); and old flames for Beckett and Castle keep showing up.

Those are my predictions. Thanks for reading my rant, Castle shippers everywhere. Have a good one.

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.

An Evening With Deborah Lipstadt

Posted: April 25, 2012 in Uncategorized
Tags: college life, journalism, online magazine, religious organizations, WWII/Holocaust

Deborah Lipstadt speaking in the auditorium of the Ohio State University Hillel on April 24, 2012

I had a wonderful evening tonight. Why, you ask? I got to hear Deborah Lipstadt speak! For those of you who don’t know, Deborah Lipstadt is the formost expert on Holocaust deniers and how to combat them. I read her book, Denying the Holocaust, and I found it very informative. It was amazing to hear her speak.

During the course of the hour-long talk, Professor Lipstadt talked about some fo the methods of Holocaust deniers and their motivations, how she came to research and write about the topic, and, what I thought was most amazing, how she was sued by a henier from the United Kingdom named David Irving because she’d mentioned him in her book and he was accusing her of libel.

That was pretty amazing in itself: with the help of Princess Diana’s lawyer, she ripped this guy to shreds on the stand, and all without putting the Holocaust and its truth on the stand! Now the guy’s a disgrace, forced to “verdict-deny”.

What I took away from it though, besides the fact that I need to do some more studying of the Holocaust (it’s the focus of my history major, after all), is that, even ten years after the trial wrapped up, Deborah Lipstadt still considers herself very lucky that she won that trial. I find that very beautiful.

Tomorrow, I’ll put this, and all the other events of Holocaust Awareness Week, into an article for the Pulse. I’ll let you guys know when it comes out. Should be an interesting read.

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?)

I Almost Lost It All! Why You Should Back Up Your Files If You Don’t Want To Lose Them

Posted: April 11, 2012 in Writing
Tags: computer, God, writing

I’ve always maintained that God has a horrible sense of humor (my evidence: Rebecca Black’s “Friday”). He played this prank on me today:

I was having a comments chat with one of my followers who also follows me (there’s a technical term for that, I just haven’t heard it yet) and we were discussing how frustrating it is for writers to lose something they’ve poured their sweat, blood and tears into because of a computer error or some such reason. I told her that it had happened to me, though not in a while.

Later that day, I go to put my flash drive in my computer to work on something, but the flash drive doesn’t register. I think maybe it’s just a glitch, and I go off to watch the latest episode of NCIS. On the way back, I try the flash drive on a friend’s computer.

It doesn’t register there either. (cue annoying soap opera organ music)

So I rush upstairs, feeling my heart beat, praying to God that He lets my flash drive work.

It does. I thank Him, but then I realize He’s playing another prank on me. Ha ha, Sir. You got me.

So lesson to all you readers out there: whether you’re a writer or not, BACK UP YOUR DOCUMENTS! You may end up regretting it later if you don’t.

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.