Confessions of an unhealthily dragon obsessed manchild

?The Flash: Analysis of Flash Forward

nickoomba — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:49:41 +0000

Two weeks ago, ABC Network launched it’s new show, “Flash Forward”, in which the whole world blacks out for exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds. During this black out, the people have visions of their futures from about six months later, and they now must deal with what they know (or don’t know) is coming. I’m not going to say too much more, just in case you’ve stumbled across this by accident, and just aren’t caught up on things yet. If this is the case, you should probably visit http://www.hulu.com, and watch the first two episodes before continuing your reading.
So remember how yesterday I said that I had been in Twitter’s dungeon? Well, as it turns out, being there has its benefits. It’s interesting to see people’s reactions to events as they unfold. The trend that I noticed with the people I was following was that they were confused, and therefore turned off by the show’s premier, one young man saying, “I am so done with Flash Forward.”
Why is this so? Why are people so confused by this show? After all, it’s not the first story dealing with cataclysmic events. The Stand, Break Out, any of the Scifi channel’s Nature Unleashed movies–they all deal with this kind of thing. I think the biggest reason is that the first episode was so chaotic.
There were so many things going on at the same time: The FBI’s trying to investigate, the show’s main characters are trying to cope with the fact that (a) they have lost time and have no idea where it went, and (b) what they saw–or didn’t see, in the case of at least one FBI agent. Also, “Flash Forward” is what Jerome Stern, author of Making Shapely Fiction, would call a “Once in a Blue Moon” story; the reader must accept that, for the duration of the story, what the author is saying is true, and they’d better put down the book–change the channel–if they can’t get on board with that. In other words, the viewer must accept that there has been a black out, and people have seen their futures.
One thing the first episode did do was to depict the right level of chaos for something of that magnitude. People generally seemed to be turned off by this, not knowing where the episode was leading up to. The same man from earlier said something to the affect of he was going to be seriously pissed if the episode didn’t have some kind of epic ending, what my Advanced Fiction teacher, Professor Hill (Nathan to his students–me, too, I just want him to sound a bit more credible here), what have called a cookie, or the thing that makes the story worth reading or watching.
“Flash Forward” failed to do this because it is, essentially, a novel for television, a phrase first used by Stephen King for the promotion of his mini series, “Storm of the Century”. These novels for television are sometimes the best stories, but people tend to have short attention spans. It’s a shame because the second episode of the show is very revealing, but they’ve already lost a lot of people, and it is possible that the show could be canceled–a damn shame, since it’s very original. In other words, people should stick to watching the show before passing judgment. And that’s your cookie for this post. Do with it as you wish.

Posted in Books and Authors, Computer Stuff, Television Tagged: "Flash Forward", ABC Network, Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction

Nickoomba’s Back! … In Force

nickoomba — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:52:17 +0000

Ye Gods! It’s been forever since I’ve updated this thing. That’s mostly because I’ve been bound and gagged in the dungeon of that technilogical beast they call Twitter. For those of you who aren’t already, follow me at http://twitter.com/nickoomba. Anyway, Twitter’s wonderful from the communications major standpoint. It’s the one place where many people from all over the world can come together. For all you who still think Facebook and Myspace is the thing to do … Seriously?
Oh, yeah. There’s school, too. Classes are boring this semester. I’ve got Principles of Rhetoric and Argumentation, which is okay, but it’s an 8:00 in the morning class; Gender Communication is an interesting course, but I don’t really like reading the book for it; Ethics in Theory and Practice is a class that is only interesting to the most boring of philosophers; Theories of Human Communication is both boring and taught by a man that makes the Gods look humble. Speaking of Gender Communication, here’s something that all one of my loyal readers should find interesting.
I’ve been on Twitter for about 3 months now. During this time, I’ve talked to many people, and talked to a few of those on MSN. So I was talking to this guy on MSN, and he asks me what I’m wearing. I tell him I’m a muscle shirt and jeans and sandals, and he’s turned on by the fact that I’m wearing a muscle shirt, so I think he’s gay–not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just feels weird if you’ve never gone through that before. So I didn’t talk to him for a while, and then one night he asks me to describe myself, so I do. I tell him I have brown hair and eyes, I’m somewhat hairy, medium build, about five foot 7+1/2, and I have some manboobs going–and I do. They’re not ginormous or anything, but they’re there, and I can hide my dragon talisman in them if I lay down in just the right position.
At this point, he asks me if I’m a woman or a man. I tell him I’m a man. Apparently, not only did he think I was a woman, but almost 90% of my followers at that time thought so, too.
Now. Keeping in mind that I’m in a gender communication class, it’s only natural for me to want to know how these people got this impression. Never got a straight answer on that, but here’s the really cool part. In our text, there are people who are transgendered, meaning they have stereotypical traits of both males and females. I was particular taken with the idea, but only thought of it as an ideal for myself, since I thought I had traits from both sides anyway, but I never dreamed that I had achieved this state without even trying. So taken was I with this fact, that for the next 4 weeks, I went around proudly announcing to people that I was a transgendered individual. This, as you can already imagine, got many snickers from people. Only after going through about 5 or chapters of the book did I remember that another more acceptible term for my state of mind or being is androgyny, or androgynous.
And on that note, folks, it is apparent that I am back. In full force. DAMN! Does it feel good not to have a character limit.

Posted in College, Computer Stuff, Dragons Tagged: Androgyny, Transgender

Word’s Worth

nickoomba — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:32:47 +0000

I don’t if I’ve mentioned it here or not, but I’m a communications major, and we need to know how words affect people. I asked the Twitterverse “What is the difference between calling someone a bitch or a cunt? Aren’t they both just as bad?”
The general agreement was that, since the first word referred to a woman’s nether regions, it was worse because it was a slight against the gender. I responded by saying that if it was gender discrimination that was the issue, then we needed to also stop using words like cock, dick, etc.
The most alarming thing about this question was the number of people who chose to ignre it. This may have worked about 60 years ago, when the word “shit” would have gotten you 30 days in jail, but now kids in elementary school are dropping 4-letter words like dimestore candy. This is the elephant in the room.
Apparently, words like cock are okay because you never hear them used unless someone is being called a cocksucker, which isn’t an insult to a man’s gender, but really is because you’re calling him submissive, which is, even with advancements in sociological thinking, bad.
In other words, the times are changing, and so must our values. Which words, if any, are worth getting upset over?

Posted in College, Hot Button Issues, Tangents: Weird stuff from the dark corners of my mind Tagged: Bitch, Cunt

Under The Dome’s Release

nickoomba — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:19:15 +0000

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated–it’s not my fault! It’s because of that Twitter. There I can put out my thought, not worry about being grammatically sound, and get responses–instant gratification. Unfortunately, I just can’t bring myself to terminate this thing because I created it, and it’s had minor success. So I did the only thing I could do.
I turned myself over to the Twitter world (sold my soul, in writer terminology–I am not a writer), and asked for suggestions. In other words, I’ve becomes Twitter’s blog genie, working on demand, which puts me up a step from George R.R. Martin, by the way, who still has not finished his book, or given an update on its progress
People want to know how I know about the release of Stephen King’s new book, Under the Dome. The truth?
I looked it up foolish. Here it is anyway. Under the Dome is currently set to be released on Sept. 10, 2009, and have 1088 pages (this last part is constantly changing, and it shouldn’t matter if the book is good). Like so many of King’s other works it deals with the way people act when they are cut off from their world. Apparently, he’s been working on it for some time.
Since I have the subject of Stephen King open, the remake of It that I was so outraged about about 6 months ago is looking more promising now that it is going to be a theatrical release. Awe, how tempting to say that this change from a scifi mini series was solely because of me. Somehow, though, I’m sure that it had to do with a conflict between scifi and the writer, like the same thing that shut down the production of the Talisman mini series, which was supposed to be broadcasted on T.N.T., but was indefinitely suspended due to budget cuts.
There’s not a lot more to say about Mr. King, I guess–not without rehashing old stuff , and I’m already guilty of that.

Posted in Books and Authors, Computer Stuff, Hot Button Issues, movies, Television, Uncategorized Tagged: It Remake, Scifi, Stephen King, T.N.T., Talisman, Under the Dome

Where Should I get My News?

nickoomba — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:11:55 +0000

Well folks, it’s o secret that the major news networks have become corrupt by their desire to make a profit. On one hand, we have Fox News, which is largely biased toward the Republican party. On the other hand, CNN, once the most trusted news source in America, has now become clogged by catchphrases (according to my sources). With all of this, where can we get our news in a reliable way?
Well, I guess there’s the BBC, but they’re just a bit too dry for my liking. NBC and MSNBC’s anchors have voices that drone worse than Ben Stein’s. This leaves us with one option for reliable news.
The folks at Commedy Central have made sure that we get at least one hour of reliable news–John Stewart and Stephen Colbert have it down. Okay, okay. They make fun of it a lot, and their opinion does slip through, but you just can’t help it.
The only thing that bugs me is that at the beginning of every one of Stephen Colbert’s shows, he always seems to battle the audience to sit down and stop applauding him. You know he likes it. I wonder what would happen if, for just one night, nobody clapped for him. Indulge me for a moment (about 6 pages in writer’s terms), as we take a look.

So the theme music comes up with that bird noise (what the hell is that anyway, a vulture? Really annoying.), and he begins talking about whatever’s going on (probably healthcare). We watch as he talks, he really talks fast, and then we watch as he realizes there’s no reaction from the crowd. I imagine the suden stop would look something like the cayote tries to pull off before falling off the cliff. And as we watch him try and try for a reaction–even a snicker would do–he becomes more and more desperate until he has a mental breakdown similar to the Michael Richards clusterfuck of 2009.
What is the point of all this? To tell you that no one news source is totally reliable. You have to watch a number of them to figure anything out.

Posted in Hot Button Issues, Tangents: Weird stuff from the dark corners of my mind, Television Tagged: ABC, BBC, CNN, Fox News, John Stewart, Michael Richards, MSNBC, NBC, News Sources, Stephen Colbert

On the Subject of Talismans

nickoomba — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:08:04 +0000

Okay. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and this subject is a couple of weeks old. I reread the first Dresden Files book because I was superbored, and I ran across the subject of talismans.The only thing I really knew about them was what Jim Butcher said, which wasn’t much, and skewed by the fact that Harry Dresden is a wizard, only givng you one point of view. So I did what any computer geek does and looked it up.
Talismans in general are objects (usually jewelry) that one keeps on his or her person at all times for good luck, focus of pwer, protection of demons etc. The more often you wear your talisman, the stronger it gets because your and its auras mix to create the driving force (a.k.a. magic). So the next question was how to go about making one?
This is where the gray areas are. The making can go from just having a priest bless it (done in some Wiccan covens and all Catholic churches), to detailed rituals with regard to puurpose, to just a simple consecration involving the five elements, to just believing in that object. In all of these, though, faith is the key. This means that if someone becomes confident enough in their ability to accomplish whatever the talisman was supposed to, you don’t need it.

Posted in Books and Authors, Computer Stuff, Dragons Tagged: Catholic Church, Dresden Files, Talismans, Wiccan Coven

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review

nickoomba — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:29:21 +0000

By now, a lot of peole have seen the sixth Harry Potter movie. We’ve definitely seen worse within the series, particulars III and V. If I had to rate it, I’d give it 7/10. There wer some things left out that were inthe book, but all the important stuff was there. The problem I had was that the movie was so draggy. We were 2 hrs into it before anything happened. Now that I think about it, that book was a little slow going, too.

Posted in movies Tagged: Harry Potter, Sixth Movie

New Leap in the World of technology

nickoomba — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:09:23 +0000

Well Folks, I’ve done it!!! I’ve finally created a twitter page. You can search me by “Nickoomba Puck”, or go to http://www.twitter.com/nickoomba. I’ve already done two updates, so check it out!!!

Posted in Uncategorized

Outrage

nickoomba — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:06:40 +0000

So I understand that the economy’s in some trouble, and we all need to do tings to save money, but shutting schools for the deaf and the blind run by states like Florida, Oregon, and Michigan is going just a bit too far. Sure, the country has passed laws that entitle a student who is, for the sake of political correctness, visually impaired to an education, but not the best possible education.
Counties do the minimum to meet the requirements, cutting a corner here, jumping through a loophole there, and the kids’ suffer because the environment is still dominated society’s standard of normal. The result is that these children are at an unfair disadvantage in regards to academic achievement, and because they are often the outcasts in shool social situations, they have a lesser chance of developing necessary social skills.
The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB), in St. Augustine, Fl, is considering only taking only deaf and blind students that have forms of varying mental retardation, which often accompanies visual and hearing impairments.
This is due, in part, to the strain placed on schools by the No Child Left Behind Act, which uses standardized testing to determine how much money a school is given for their budget. If FSDB and similar schools only offer their services to children with “special needs”, they will not be required to meet the standards of tests like the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Asessment Test). This means that the school will remain open under its original title, still earning respect from the community, and the board of trustees will remain at their current level of prestige; students who are not “special” enough will lose out, however.
See how unfair this is? Parents have the option to send their children to schools that educate according to religious beliefs. Religion is an option, and so the parents must pay to send their children to such schools, but I’m willing to bet that they are state subsidized. Now, hearing and visual impairments are not a choice, they are part of the packaging. Why should these children suffer?

Posted in Hot Button Issues Tagged: American Economy, FCAT, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, Hearing Impairments, No Child Left Behind, Special Needs, Visual Impairments

News from the Wonderful World of out of Touch

nickoomba — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:41:45 +0000

YO!!!
What’s going on? Just figured I’d take this opportunity to update. We’re having some really bad weather here. Anyway, I just found out that I earned a 4.0 for the last summer semester, which brings my GPA up to a 3.65 cumulative.
Next semester I’ll be taking 5 classes, though, so the easy stuff is over. I’ve also started writing again, but I’m not putting any of that stuff up since the whole plajorism thing back in January. If I’m good enough to be plajorized, then I’m good enough to take it seriously. Not seriously enough to send stuff in–I’ did that once–but I’ll get there. I’ve actually gotten to where I can go for an hour without wanting to go for a glass of water, and to where I can go for almost 3 hours without stopping–COOL STUFF!
So I guess that’s it for now. I’ll be going to Orlando in a couple of weeks, and that’ll be my summer. I guess I could tell you that I had my first cup of coffee in about 3 months, or … Well, that’s the last of it, and that’s boring!

Posted in College, Writing Tagged: Coffee, Orlando, Writing