Posts Tagged ‘entertainment’

I’m Writing What I Know For Once

Posted: February 11, 2013 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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Last semester, I wrote how I continue to write about subjects I have no personal experience with, despite my creative writing class’s textbook’s insistence that I do so. It wasn’t that I thought anything from my own life wasn’t good enough for writing about, it’s just that I was more interested in writing about a demon causing a human to become a cannibal or a war between humans and werewolves than I was writing about my anxiety before a test or my sometimes stormy relationships with my sisters. When people like my dad would tell me to at least give it a shot, I would usually reply, “That’s too scary for literature.”

But lately–and I blame the workshops I’ve been taking for this–my writing has taken a more personal tone. Over break, I wrote “Enigma” (later renamed to “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”), which has an autistic child as the main character. I’ve worked with kids with autism before, and I’m even on the spectrum, though I’m very high-functioning. Later I wrote “Old Sid” for class (I’ll be turning that one in a week from Wednesday) and that story takes place on the Ohio State campus, where’ I’ve either been working, learning, or both for the past two years. And recently I’ve been working on a short story called “Three Life Saving Phone Calls”, which is based on some dark experiences in my life that for a time made me very depressed and even contemplated suicide. Sure, I’ve changed so much around that it’s now only very loosely based on my life, but if someone were to look closely, and if that someone knew a lot about me, they could see through the fictional veneer and spot what I’ve taken from my own life and put into the story.

Why the change? Like I said before, I think it might have something to do with the workshops I’ve been taking. The emphasis on literary fiction as opposed to genre fiction requires me to be more personal than I have been, and a lot of what those workshops have been teaching me I’ve assimilated into my writing. I guess finding ways to make my own life and experiences interesting is part of what I’ve taken away from these classes. I’m not exactly sure if it’s the best thing for my writing–after all, I’m still devoted to genre fiction, and I prefer to use imagination rather than confront an actual serial killer–but while I’m stuck with this new appreciation for things in my life and using them in my writing, I might as well take advantage of it to the fullest.

And besides, who knows? “Three Life Saving Phone Calls” seems to be just literary enough that I could submit it to a major literary journal, one that pays its contributors. That’s the hope, at least.

What about you? Do you use your own life in your writing, or is your work so strange that your life couldn’t find a place in your work?

I Can’t Believe The Entertainment Industry Is Taking Most Of The Flack

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Politics and Leadership, Reflections
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Today on the bus downtown I was reading my latest Entertainment Weekly, and there was an article talking about how the entertainment industry is under increasing scrutiny for gun violence in the United States and different perspectives on the debate. Not long after that, my friend and fellow blogger Matt Williams posts an article about how two Swiss human rights organizations have recommended taking certain aspects out of video game violence because in the real world those same aspects might constitute war crimes if performed (for said post, please click this link: http://storiesbywilliams.com/2013/02/10/war-crimes-in-video-games/#comment-8258).

Has the world lost its mind?

First off, the movies, TV shows, books and video games are all fictional. FICTIONAL! Not real, never happened, the product of someone’s imagination and transferred to us using words, visuals, and (increasingly) technological gizmos. If you can mistake something in a movie or a video game for real, I think that points to some underlying psychological disorder.

And that’s the problem here, isn’t it? People with psychological problems getting their hands on guns, and often they get them through legal means more often than they get them illegally. In fact I read the other day an article about a man who was released from a mental institution after being incarcerated for murdering his mother. Not long after he got out, he bought up a ton of assault weapons and wrote in an online diary that he thought about killing all the time. It wasn’t until a police officer noticed the man had bought the guns, realized who the man was, and that he shouldn’t have guns in the first place did the man get arrested again. Seriously folks, we need more help for the mentally ill and better protection from dangerous weapons.

By the way, nowhere in this article did video game violence come up.

In fact, not a lot of killers are actually influenced by the entertainment industry to become killers, if any at all. Eric Harris was a sociopath who influenced Dylan Klebold, a manic depressive, into becoming a killer. Adam Lanza seemed to have Asperger’s syndrome and a few other problems, plus access to a bunch of guns in his mother’s house. The guy who shot the Sikh temple in Wisconsin was a neo-Nazi who believed he was doing the world a favor. The guy who shot up the first responders in New York was inspired to kill by Adam Lanza! The guy who kidnapped the child off the bus in Alabama seemed to have a thing for conservative pundits on the radio (not very entertaining, right?) and possibly suffered from a persecution complex. And James Holmes? Well, I’m not so sure The Dark Knight is wholly responsible (I have my own theories on what drove him to murder, but I’m not a psychologist, so unless asked to tell I’ll just hold off).

In fact, our psychological state of mind is based on biological, sociocultural, and environmental factors. So if James Holmes’s biology, culture, environment, and his social circle was defined by The Dark Knight, then maybe we might have to examine the entertainment industry. Besides, there are no studies that indicate a link between video games and gun violence. Not even a correlation, which is only a possible indicator of causation. Emphasis on possible. And the people who say that there is a link that just hasn’t been found yet, such as Wayne LaPierre, are usually in favor of gun rights or are actually paid to advocate for gun companies. Should we really believe these guys when they say the guns they own and try to sell say that guns can’t be apart of the problem our society is facing?

Besides, I still believe that humans are rational beings with the power of choice. Most people know that killing is wrong, that firing a bullet at someone means they probably won’t get up again if they’re hit, and that the soldiers in video games or the serial killer I created or Bruce Willis’s character in the Die Hard films are not real and therefore so is the gun violence, which means the cool gun violence in those examples are as real as the tooth fairy. And most people choose not to kill others. Those who do, and do it with assault weapons are, like I’ve said before, are mentally ill and need pscyhological counseling.

So stop blaming the entertainment industry. Yes, there’s more violence in media these days, but that’s a response to both the world and what the world wants in its media, but if we start censoring our TV shows and video games and movies, I think we’re doing more to set up a totalitarian state than we are by confiscating dangerous weapons. And where does the censorship end? When media is dull and boring? It’s a horrible direction to go down.

So let’s not censor. Instead, let’s actually work to create a safety net for those with mental illnesses that make them dangers to themselves or to others, keep military-grade weapons out of the hands of citizens (even well-intentioned ones), and institute universal background checks. That’s a responsible response to the wave of violence the United States is facing right now.

Review: Justin Bieber on Saturday Night Live

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Review
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People are free to disagree with me. I’m fine with that. But I must say it, because it has to be said: I was not that impressed by Justin Bieber on SNL tonight.

I think the funniest skits were the ones where they made fun of Bieber, like during the Miley Cyrus show sketch. However there were moments where Bieber shown through as having comedic talent. That opening monologue, where he messed up Black History Month facts was hilarious. And the Californians sketch is goofy as ever. Oh, and Bieber as a greaser–ha! They made the impossible look halfway possible.

Still, this is one of those episodes where they really didn’t know what to do with the host, so they mostly made fun of who and what he is, with a few brilliant moments besides (for another illustration of this, check out the Bruno Mars episode from October).

However, the regular cast members were phenomenal as usual. I love Vanessa Bayer’s impression of Miley Cyrus, and those Booker T. Washington sketches always get me, especially when Jay Pharoah and Keenan Thompson do their thing as Principal Frye and the gym teacher. Plus that one sketch with “glice” and Taram Killan acting like a total doofus was hilarious. Even Bieber couldn’t keep a straight face. And let’s not forget that Cold Open, where they made fun of the Super Bowl blackout was genius. I couldn’t stop giggling. And during Weekend Update, Thompson once again wowed with that dude from every commercial. That was so hip and fun.

Oh, and speaking of Weekend Update, despite what was said on Richard III, he didn’t actually kill his nephew, and he wasn’t particularly ruthless. In fact, nobody knows who killed his nephew, or if it was even murder; they just seemed to disappear one day. It’s a historical mystery. Not only that, but Richard III seemed to be very merciful, from what I’m told; he pardoned or gave reduced sentences to several people involved in a plot to overthrow him. Can you believe that? The whole bad image of him that history and Shakespeare gave about him was part of a disinformation campaign by the House of Tudor, who took over the throne after destroying Richard’s Plantagenet house. The whole point was to make Richard look like a villain so that the uneducated masses would look upon the new rulers more kindly than the old ones. I’m a History major, so I know this stuff.

I know it’s not essential to this review to point that out, but I had to anyway. I can’t stand it when history is obfuscated by ignorance or misinformation (which is why I also fight against Holocaust deniers).

Now back to the review.

Really happy to see Whoopi Goldberg in the monologue. That woman is an inspiration. And the Grease parody sketch was so funny, you could ignore that an 11-year-old was in a high school. Also, I thought seeing Bieber with his old hair in the “Glice” sketch was a treat for me. The music was not my thing–I don’t like Bieber–but I’m sure there were others who thought it was soulful. I was more surprised that there wasn’t any big performances with some of his more pop music hits, to tell you the truth. And that Valentine’s Day message was crazy funny. I’ve never seen Bieber’s supposed sex appeal skewered like that before.

And who knew he was so inked? Yes, I noticed that stuff. Call it a weird detail to notice, but notice it I did.

Overall, a good episode. Not great, but good. 3.5 out of 5. Good night, and if you disagree with my assessment, please feel free to voice your opinion. I’m always open to differing opinions.

Every Writer Does This

Posted: February 8, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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It’s not uncommon for people reading fiction or watching a movie to identify with a character and say to themselves, “I want to be like that character”, or “I so wish that could be me.” We’ve all done it at least once. For years, I waited for a letter to go to Hogwarts, and was a little disappointed that I never got one, even if I knew it wasn’t possible to get one. Teenage girls today look at the Twilight books and films and wish they were so lucky that two hunky, supernatural guys would fight over them, even if one of them has some personality problems and wants to bite you. And I think plenty of us have wanted to blow up the Death Star or use the Force (I know I want to be a Sith Lord).

But it may surprise some people that writers of fiction do this too. In fact, it’s not uncommon for writers to insert themselves in their stoires, sometimes in very heroic or very different roles that are unlike who they really are. Now, you may be thinking, why should a writer do that? Shouldn’t they be creating figures we ourselves want to emulate, not figures they want to emulate or wish to be? But if you think about it in a certain way, it makes sense:

Nobosdy ends up a writer by accident or by purpose. We end up as writers through the various events in our lives. Yes, some of us show talent early on, but we don’t end up becoming writers just because we display talent. I ended up a writer because I liked to create stories, and writing allowed me to take those stories and share them with others in a very efficient way. Not only that, but I had plenty of people over time who encouraged my writing and helped shape me into the person I am today.

Imagine what would happen if I had never learned to love writing though. What sort of person would I be? Well, maybe I’d be a psychology major instead of double-majoring in History and English. I’d be learning about psychopathy and trying to become an analyst for the BAU. Of course, I wouldn’t look forward to the Stats classes. Those are tough!

Or imagine if I’d never come to Columbus and made a fresh start, but instead stayed at the same school in my old town where I was bullied. I might get fed up with it and one day just snap. This would lead me to become a delinquent with anger issues, and eventually I might go to jail for all of my fighting and other bad behavior. Or maybe an intervention might occur, I’d repent my ways, and become a lawyer dedicated to reforming schools.

Or imagine I was a girl. Would I still write? Might I instead be interested in a different lifestyle? Perhaps I’d be a friendly rival of Lady Gaga in terms of fashion and singing! Or perhaps I’d have done some stupid stuff in high school and I’d be a single mother working her way through college. How would I find time to write with all that going on?

You see what I’m doing here? I’m imagining myself in different roles and under different conditions. And as each person is the star of their own story, I’m basically imagining myself in a story where I’m the star and I’m very different from who I am. It’s not too hard after this to apply myself in a different character role for a completely different story.

And the examples above are only the start. It could get wilder, especially since I write fiction with horror/sci-fi/fantasy elements. Imagine what I would be like if I grew up in a world where psychics were a real phenomena, and about 10% of babies were born with it. Imagine that I was born with psychic abilities. What would my life be like? Or what if one of my siblings was a psychic and I wasn’t? Would jealousy make me do strange things?

Or what if we lived in a world where South Africa was the dominant superpower on Earth? How different would our culture be? Would I still be living in the US, or would I live in Johannesburg?

What if humans weren’t the ruling species of Earth, but some other creature was? Would the relationship between humans and this ruling species be symbiotic or would we be hunted by them? How would I feel about the relationship?

Or imagine if the Kingdom of Israel had never fallen, but had lasted for centuries, expanded beyond its original borders, and Islam and Christianity were minority religions like Judaism is today. Would I live in Israel? What would I be doing there right about now? What other countries, faiths, and cultures would exist? What sort of technology would be available, and would the religious establishment allow or ban certain types of technologies?

Or imagine that humans never aged beyond fifteen, died at sixty-three, lay eggs instead of gave life birth, and turkeys were considered divine symbols? What would the world look like, and what sort of strange comedic science-fiction story would I be living?

You see how this is for writers? We put all these possibilities into motion when we sit down to write and we insert ourselves into the story in some capacity. It’s weird, but it’s what we do, and as you can see from above, it’s a lot of fun to do. I actually do it a lot. And if anyone tells us that we could never be military captains or wizards or the pop divas with supernatural abilities, we just say, “It’s fiction. Besides, who says if things weren’t a little different, I might actually be these things?”

What’s your favorite role to imagine yourself in when you insert yourself in a story? Do you think you could be any of those things if life were a little bit different?

The Superdome Goes Out, But I Light Up…With An Idea

Posted: February 3, 2013 in ideas, Scary Stuff, Writing
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I was watching a scary movie in my room while everyone else watched the Super Bowl downstairs. I’m telling you, besides college football and basketball, I don’t usually give a damn about sports. I only decided to support the Ravens out of some admiration for Edgar Allen Poe (“Nevermore!”). So I ended up in my room watching the sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut, which was decent compared to some other horror films I could name. After it’s done I check the news, and see the headline: 39-Minute Delay as Superdome Experiences Outage.

It’s at these moments, when I’ve just been in a scary state of mind and strange events happen, that ideas come to me. Scary ideas, horrific ideas, macabre ideas. And one did come to mind. I immediately start pondering the idea, meditate, and then start thinking of an idea. Suffice to say, I came up with a possible story. During the coming years, until I actually get around to writing it, that story will probably change around in my dark, zany mind until a fleshed-out story appears. At the very least, I have something here that I can put down on my ideas list.

Tell me, have you ever had any ideas that have come to you from strange events? Because I have an idea for a slasher film based on Hurricane Sandy also that came to me when I was walking into work after the third straight day of rain.

The Rise of the Television Serial Killer

Posted: January 29, 2013 in Reflections, Scary Stuff
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Occasionally, I have to devote a post to some hardcore horror subjects, and today I’ve got something I’d like to discuss: serial killers on TV. It used to be that serial killers were relegated to the worlds of novels, and films and they stayed there. Why wwas this? Well, novels had long ago ceased to be scandalous, and a novel was only called to be banned if there was something very extreme about it (such as the gratuitous and very kinky sex of Fifty Shades of Gray, or the popularity and messages seen or percieved in Harry Potter). A serial killer or two in a thriller novel wasn’t so bad, especially since there was always a detective or two there to hunt the freak and his mommy issues down (because until recently, it’s always been mommy issues; damn you pop psychology!). As for movies, they may be decried for their violence and sex, but those sorts of horror movies are restricted to adults mostly, and it is difficult for a kid to get in to watch them. Even with videos and DVDs, not a lot of parents show their kids serial killer films, afraid their kid might become the next James Holmes, Eric Harris, or Adam Lanza.

If a serial killer did show up on TV, usually it was in a crime show, and only just for one episode (two, if it was an episode arc meant to draw out something special from a character). There were never any shows about serial killers, the movies that featured them were heavily edited for sexual content and swearing before airing (never mind being fitted so that the end on the :00 or the :30), and otherwise they weren’t a part of the wasteland that is television. Why is that?

I think it might be due to that TV, unlike the movies, is open to everybody with a TV and a remote, so it would suck if a kid whose favorite game is fairy princess sees Michael Myers stab two teens who’ve just been copulating. Also, TV shows are marketed to get the most viewers, unlike movies, which are marketed to get the most money from moviegoers. Yes, there is a difference: movie studios get a portion of the sales from movie theaters when people see their movies, while television studios get profits when companies pay to have their ads air during the commercial breaks of popular shows. Since a broad variety of people watch TV in general, unlike a single movie, so the shows are marketed to get the most people watching in order to get the most ad fees.

Horror only appeals to a small number of the TV-watching population, and serial killers appeal to only part of the horror fan community. With that in mind, horror doesn’t often get airtime, let alone serial killers. When horror does make an appearance, usually it’s during Halloween or it’s an element of a crime or drama show (examples are Grimm or SVU).

But for reasons I’m not sure about, serial killers are appearing on TV these days, with their own shows or being a huge part of other shows. I think it might have something to do with a resurgence of serious horror on TV. We’ve got Walking Dead on A&E, American Horror Story on FX, and Supernatural on CW, serious horror shows without any of the comedy associated with earlier horror shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the girl-bonding themes of Charmed. No, this is serious horror with traditional tropes like angry spirits, demons, and zombies, and the critics and the viewers are eating it up like candy. I guess it was only a matter of time before serial killers started getting their fair share of airtime, and there’s been some pretty good sharing there:

There’s the Bloody Face character(s) of American Horror Story: Asylum, who’ve been bringing the terror to the TV screen; the cancelled J.J. Abrams show Alcatraz had several serial killer characters throughout the series; and The Following, a crime thriller about a serial killer with a following of killers he manipulates from his jail cell, is enjoying strong ratings on FOX. Plus there’s more: A&E is developing a prequel-that’s-not-a-prequel of the famous 1960 thriller movie Psycho called Bates Motel; and on NBC, there is a much talked about adaptation of the first Hannibal Lecter novel Red Dragon called Hannibal, that I am looking forward to with a vengeance.

So there are several shows featuring serial killers, some on the major networks such as FOX and NBC, and perhaps more will be made in the future. As a huge fan of serial killers (the fictional ones; I don’t condone killing outside of fiction) and a guy who penned a novel about one, I can’t complain about that. Thoguh don’t expect me to watch the Psycho prequel unless the reviews are phenomenal, because with a story like Psycho where the sort of psychosis that Norman Bates has isn’t even clearly defined, it’s going to be difficult to create a show based on how that psychosis developed and keep it interesting. Now if there was a show about Jason Voorhees between his supposed death and when he started killing…no, that’d still be difficult to sell to me.

Also, I would like to clarify some comments I made on this post. Although I said that parents don’t usually show serial killer-themed media to thier kids so they don’t become killers themselves, and that TV shows try not to traumatize kids for that same purpose, I don’t believe that violent movies/TV shows/videogames produce killers. Although there are studies that link excessive video game playing and violent behavior and stuff like that, there is no proof that these violent shows, movies, and games produce actual killers. And if there is any study that shows a correlation, feel free to show me, but I would like to remind you all that correlation doesn’t mean causation; I’ve taken two or three classes that have emphasized that point. Besides, the killers I listed above all had documented mental disorders, and there’s no study yet that show a correlation between movies/TV shows/video games and mental disorders.

And while we’re on the subject, mental disorder doesn’t necessarily mean dangerous. That’s very rare, and it usually doesn’t get to the level of violence we’ve seen in recent months when it is dangerous.

Now that I’ve said all this, I’d like to say good night.

Review: Adam Levine on Saturday Night Live

Posted: January 27, 2013 in Review
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Can I just say, when SNL does a good episode, they do an amazing string of sketches garaunteed to get me laughing?

Adam Levine is a great actor, a wondeful singer, and can I just say I was a little overwhelemed in a good way when he took off his shirt? Holy crap! My buddy and I were watching the show together, and I both think we developed man-crushes on the guy. Also, Mr. Levine does a great gay talk show host, and he interacts so well with Bobby Moynihan (more on that later).

That being said, the other actors also were wonderful. Nasim Pedrad always kills me as Arianna Huffington on Weekend Update, the way she’s flirting with Seth Meyers without actually flirting. Bill Hader showed us what would’ve happened if one of his other characters, Stefan, was named Bryce, had his sexuality repressed, developed rejection issues, and developed a need to control everything around him while showing me that his voice can go higher than I thought possible. And I just love it when Bobby Moynihan dresses in drag, especially when he dresses as Janet, the strange woman from Yonkers who has a horrible face and yet beds a lot of celebrities.

Some highlights from the show include the Janet sketch, the Cold Open where Jay Pharaoh as Barack Obama has a weird conversation with Keenan Thompson as Martin Luther King Jr, the SNL Digital Short featuring The Lonely Island (how I missed you guys and your shorts!), the joke commercial for a prequel series to The Sopranos that almost put me in an early grave and…I’m forgetting something…oh right. ANDY SAMBERG! Along with Cameron Diaz and Jerry Seinfeld, they parodied Levine’s show The Voice and got him to take his shirt off. I missed that dude and his Digital Shorts.

Kendrick Lamar was a good musical guest. He’s not my thing, but you know what? I didn’t dislike him, and I didn’t totally ignore his act either. So there’s something to be said for that.

For this episode, I give it a 4.2 out of 5 for a ton of entertainment, a ton of laughs, Janet, and Andy Samberg.

Join me for a review in two weeks, which will probably involve me either tearing into Justin Beiber or being pleasantly surprised by him in most aspects except his singing.

I Love Turning Stories On Their Heads

Posted: January 20, 2013 in ideas, Reflections, Writing
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We’re all familiar with the Brothers Grimm and their stories. Usually they involve a helpless princess being rescued by a dashing prince from some sort of evil, and then the evil is defeated and the prince and princess live happily ever after. They’re good tales, but once we get past a certain point we realize that the classic fairy tales are simple, slightly sexist, and don’t show much beyond the surface.Recently we’ve been getting some updated versions of the old classics: NBC has the supernatural crime thriller Grimm, where a Portland cop interacts with monsters in human form that inspired our myths of werewolves and dragons and ugly old hags. We’ve seen some reworkings of the Snow White myth with two movies this past year, plus Oz, The Great and Powerful rebooting the old Oz mythos this March. And who can forget Once Upon a Time, the ABC series that’s taking all the old tales and working them into a single, kick-ass narrative with a warrior Snow White, a Beauty dating a monstrous Rumplestiltskin, and a not-so-little Red Riding Hood with lycanthropy, told through flashbacks that relate to today’s events (of the story).

I was thinking of these sorts of stories and I realized something: I love those kinds of stories. I love how they take preconcieved notions that were before unbreakable and break them before building the stories into a new form. In fact, I’ve got four of those ideas for books or book series, though nothing involving Grimm. That’s probably best though: I can get a whole lot more fans by messing with 19th century children’s literature, Arthurian legend, Hans Christen Andersen, and Judeo-Christian mythology (that last one might offend a few people though. Oh well).

Why do we like these sorts of stories? Why are they so popular? Maybe we like seeing something we all grew up with in a new light, or perhaps we enjoy seeing something familiar without all the politically incorrect quirks we weren’t aware of when we were young. Or maybe we like seeing a new side of something familiar. Who’s to say? We’re all different, with different tastes, beliefs, and psychologies. Even identical twins aren’t always perfect mirrors of each other.

Whatever the reason, I can’t wait to tackle my own stories and turn them inside out. Just got to get some other stuff out before that. But I have a feeling I’ll do that soon.

Review: Jennifer Laurence on Saturday Night Live

Posted: January 20, 2013 in Review
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Can I just say, I think I have a crush on that woman? I’m not kidding, I’m going to say it right now: I love Jennifer Laurence! Can I treat you to dinner, provided you come out to meet me here at OSU and any place we go is within walking distance of campus?

Anyway, I think this was one of my favorite SNL episodes ever, and not just because I fell in love again. Nope, the writers were just hilarious, and the actors were top-notch! My favorite skit was the Top Dog Chef bit, where every character looked positively adorable as they ate stuff out of a garbage bag! At the end of it all, I was laughing for two whole minutes, right as the commercials came on. In addition, there was a Hunger Games sketch that I couldn’t help but giggle about. And Taram Killan as an abnormally short Peeta Mellark was a hoot! Kudos to the make-up and costume artists as well, you made the actors really look like they came right out of the book. Plus, Laurence can rap and rhyme…sort of. It’s still hilarious. And check out the foreign film sketch Danielle: A Free European Woman, which catches all the cliches of old foreign films that are attempting to be the film equivalent of artsy, elite literary novels.

My one complaint was that Weekend Update was a little too short for my tastes, though I was happy to see Bobby Moynihan reprise his role as Anthony Crispino, who never seems to get the news right. Also, I expected some more coverage of the gun control debate, but instead they decided to make fun of Manti Te’o and his unfortunate hoodwinking by a conwoman. I’m not sure I would’ve gone that way myself, personally. I mean, the guy found out a girl he loved and whom he thought had died was all a hoax. Cut the guy a little slack.

Still, gotta say, I found the show hysterical.

Can’t say I enjoyed the Lumineers, but I’m not familiar with their music. Now if Lorne Michaels got Disturbed or Marilyn Manson, then maybe we could talk.

For this show, I give SNL a 4.5 out of 5, for bringing in the new year with an awesome episode that’ll definitely be remembered as a highlight for the season. Look forward to next week, when Adam Levine hosts and Kendrick Lamar sings. By the way, my sister is obsessed with Lamar, so is he any good? We’ll find out next week.

This Coming 3-Day Weekend

Posted: January 18, 2013 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Writing
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Well, it’s the end of the second week of the new semester, and I’m hopefully settling into a rhythm here with classes everyday and work 3 days a week. In the midst of all this I find time to write short stories (such as those that will be in The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. Coming soon in e-book format), including a short story for class. For this short story, I plan on the plot to center around the subject of a fictional urban legend at Ohio State University, my own school. I plan for the story to be written in the style of The Virgin Suicides, where a group of people narrate the story as it happened to them. I’m pretty sure this’ll work for the story.

I also plan on doing homework, because I have to keep my grades up. I also plan to relax a bit, maybe watch a new SNL with Jennifer Laurence hosting. But most of all, I’m looking forward to the inaguration on Monday. In fact, the movie theater near campus will be showing the inaguration live in one of the theaters, so I’ll go there to watch it. I can’t wait!

So have a great 3-day weekend, and I’ll hopefully write a few more posts as the weekend goes on, especially if I have any news to report. See ya!

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