tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66677602366795196092024-03-13T23:43:58.343-07:00Greta's Musings and Random ThoughtsThe Semi-coherent Ramblings of an Introverted ArtistGreta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-41747502795809415602018-09-13T07:11:00.001-07:002018-09-13T07:11:36.957-07:00Indie Book of the Month: September 2018This makes two months in a row that I'm late posting my book review. Sorry about that. Other parts of my life are taking too much of my attention away from reading lately. I'll find a happy balance soon, I promise.<br />
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For this month's book, I chose<i> The Wounded World</i> by Ariele Sieling.<br />
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Earlier this year I reviewed<i> All In,</i> a prequel to<i> The Wounded World.</i> I can definitely detect a maturation in Ms. Sieling's writing style between this book and that one.<i> All In</i> features language that seems a little more polished and a little more natural. However,<i> The Wounded World</i> is still a quite well-written book. One based on a pretty unique and creative premise.</div>
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Readers of this book should be aware that it is soft sci-fi. That means that the science aspect is not supposed to be grounded in too much reality. There is science, yes, but there's an almost magical quality to it, making this story border a bit on fantasy. So questions of whether the events in the book could actually happen are irrelevant. Of course they can't actually happen. That's not what soft sci-fi and sci-fi/fantasy are all about.</div>
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<i>The Wounded World</i> is also intended to be a light read, so don't expect to go too deep into, for example, the relationship between Quin and his father or Kate and her brother. Those relationships exist to keep the plot moving along. They also make the characters feel more real by giving them some backstory, but they are not meant to be the main focus of the book.</div>
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<i>The Wounded World</i> is a light-hearted adventure through magical doors into unknown worlds. So if you're reading this one, just sit back and enjoy the journey. The fun of reading it is trying to guess where each new door will lead. </div>
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If you like sci-fi or adventure stories, please go check this one out on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OAQHBQQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3" target="_blank">Amazon.</a></div>
<i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-18386944062465284092018-09-01T05:55:00.000-07:002018-09-01T05:55:05.873-07:00My Favorite Fictional Brothers<b><span style="color: #990000;">Michael and Kevin</span></b><br />
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This is one from back in my soap opera watching days. This storyline from<i> The Young and the Restless</i> tugged on my heartstrings in ways I can't even describe. The dynamic of the older, more stable brother and the younger, troubled brother is one that always seems to pull me in. The fact that Michael's character was not exactly known for his warmth and tenderness made his affection for Kevin all the more touching. And Kevin? Well...Kevin began his sojourn on the show as a villain. Then his troubled past was revealed. If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a soft spot for male characters with a hidden vulnerability. Michael and Kevin both filled that role for me.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Sam and Dean</span></b></div>
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What discussion of brothers would be complete without these two? Because, as I said above, I enjoy stories about a supportive older brother lending aid to his distressed younger brother, the first two seasons of<i> Supernatural</i> drew me right in. After Season 2, I've really had a love-hate relationship with this show. Season 3 shifted the focus from Sam's problems to Dean's. The troubled little brother aspect was removed, and it just didn't do it for me like the first two seasons did. Yes, Sam goes through some crap in Season 4, but so does Dean (he just came back from Hell, for crying out loud) so he's not in much shape to be that solid rock I would prefer him to be. And ever since then, it's like the writer's are just taking turns. This season Sam is the vulnerable one. Next season it's Dean. And on and on and on. But Seasons 1 and 2 were something special and they are the reason these guys are on my list. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Thor and Loki</span></b></div>
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These two are my newest discovery, and I must say, I honestly wish they could be freed from the confines of the Marvel universe, where everything is kept upbeat and the focus is more on action than character development, and plopped down in the middle of an intense, poignant family drama. There's just so much complexity in this relationship, and I'd love to see it fully explored. Of course, any movie attempting to plumb the depths of this family dynamic would have to keep the same two actors. After all, good writing is only half of what makes a character great. The rest comes from the actor's ability to bring that character to life on screen. </div>
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Ah, the classic evil twin story. It was only a matter of time before<i> Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> went there, and I'm so glad they chose Data as the character who encounters his evil twin. This is another story I wish had been given more depth. The "family" dynamic that exists here is actually quite similar to the Thor/Loki relationship, with one brother consumed with bitterness and jealousy over what he perceives as his father's favoring of the other brother. When we first meet Lore, he's presented as being purely evil, and it's Data we feel for. But when he returns, in the episode<i> Brothers,</i> it's Lore who breaks our hearts. I hate that he only appears in four episodes of<i> The Next Generation.</i> I would have loved to see him explore his many and complex issues, and maybe even be redeemed. I've mentioned before that I've sucker for a good redemption story. Lore would be the perfect candidate. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></b>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-67679741225093928142018-08-19T06:48:00.000-07:002018-08-19T06:48:49.362-07:00My Identity in My Favorite Fictional Universes<b><span style="color: #990000;">Harry Potter</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Of course I have to start with Harry Potter. Finding our true Hogwarts house is so popular, it's almost replaced Myers-Briggs as the preferred way to define our personalities. And my personality? I'm a Ravenclaw. Reading is my idea of an exciting way to spend a Friday night. I yearned to be the teacher's pet when I was in school. Research is one of my favorite ways to have fun. Put me in a big enough library and you may never see me again. Get me going on a good nerd-talk session and good luck getting me to shut up. Before Harry Potter came along, I just called myself a nerd. Now I say "Ravenclaw". It sounds so much cooler. </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Divergent</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The factions in the Divergent books bear a striking similarity to the Hogwarts houses. And if I'm a Ravenclaw in the Potter universe, obviously I'm Erudite in the world of Divergent. I was so disappointed when they turned out to be the bad guys. I mean, come on! Nerds aren't evil. Just because we're quiet and like to keep to ourselves doesn't mean we're plotting the world's destruction. Well, at least most of us aren't.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Friends</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">This was the first fictional universe I identified with. Can you guess who I am? Who is the Ravenclaw on Friends? Ross, probably, and I may have a little bit of him in me (my children say I have his habit of droning on and on when discussing topics nobody else cares about), but in my heart of hearts I'm totally Monica. Okay, I'm not much of a neat freak, but I do have my specific ways of doing things and get very upset if someone messes up my system. I also have an intense phobia of being late to, well, anything, and I'm driven by this obsessive need to be the best at everything. </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">The Big Bang Theory</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I'd love to say I'm Leonard. Don't we all want to be Leonard? He's so even tempered and logical and just an all around nice guy. But, alas, I'm nowhere near that well-adjusted. With regard to The Big Bang Theory, I'm really a combination of two characters. Sheldon and Raj. Remember how I said I go on and on about subjects that interest me? One day my kids asked me what a sentence in one of the Harry Potter books meant, and I gave them a full history lesson, beginning with Ancient Egypt and working all the way up to present day. I even drew diagrams on the marker board in my kitchen. It took about twenty minutes to get through all of it. I don't even know if my kids were still listening by the time I was finished. So, yeah, I'd say I have a good bit of Sheldon in me. But I also have a fair degree of social anxiety, which can get pretty intense in certain situations, bearing a strong resemblance to Raj's inability to talk to girls (in the early seasons). </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Okay, your turn. Do you know your Hogwarts house? Do you have fictional characters you feel are mirror images of your own personality? Let me know in a comment. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">And don't forget that my new book is now available on Instafreebie, so swing by and check it out: <a href="https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/oasnYrcL" target="_blank">https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/oasnYrcL</a></span>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-17792381763712697692018-08-12T14:03:00.000-07:002018-08-12T14:03:36.675-07:00Indie Book of the Month: August 2018This post is about a week and a half late. First, I wasn't quite finished with the book when I wanted to be, then when I finished it my internet went out and stayed out for a week. But I'm back to blogging now, and I've got a new indie book of the month to announce.<br />
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<i>Saving Paludis</i> by Clayton Graham.<br />
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This is the second book I've read by this author, and I must say, he does not disappoint. The writing style was top-notch, the world-building fascinating, and the characters likeable. </div>
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And like all good science fiction, it got me thinking about the future of mankind. If you don't mind too much, I think that's where I'll focus my attention in this review.</div>
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This book, being futuristic sci-fi, envisions a future in which technology has expanded beyond what we, in our current world, can even imagine. And that technology has had an impact on the culture of the times. There were parts of the book in which I found myself agreeing with the author's vision, and there were parts in which I disagreed. Don't get me wrong. I don't consider the parts I disagreed with to be plot holes. This is a well-thought-out book. It's just that the future can go in many different directions, and the one I picture is, in some areas, a little different from what the author shows us in<i> Saving Paludis. </i></div>
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First of all, I sincerely hope that we have learned enough from our own history to avoid tragic situations like the one that exists on Paludis with regard to relations between the humans and the Muskans. I hope that, should we ever encounter other intelligent life out there in the universe, we can treat it with dignity and respect, rather than seeing an enemy to be conquered. But, of course, we are only human, and humans are flawed by nature, so its highly possible that history could repeat itself. </div>
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I also found myself thinking a great deal about the use of technology in everyday life, particularly with regard to nutrition and reproduction. A lot of the sci-fi that came out in the 20th century envisioned a high-tech future, much like the one in this book, in which humanity has removed itself so far from the natural world that people have nearly forgotten how to live naturally. It's understandable that 20th century authors would see the future in that way. After all, it was a century of unprecedented technological advancement. However, in recent years the pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction. Let me explain.</div>
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I was a kid in the 80s. I like to joke that 80s kids grew up in a science fiction movie. Our soup came out of a can. Our waffles came from the freezer. We drank Kool-Aid more often than we drank juice. For most of my life I thought I hated ravioli because I had only tasted the canned version. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I finally tasted the real thing and realized I actually loved the stuff. </div>
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Today, we're a lot more health-conscious than I think a lot of people were back then. We don't want to feed our kids three canned meals a day. We want to provide fresh fruits and vegetables. We intentionally seek out free-range eggs. The locavore movement has spawned it's own counter-culture. I can't help but wonder if this trend will continue as we go forward, with people turning away from technology and toward the natural when it comes to what we put in our mouths. </div>
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Likewise, human reproduction. While I don't doubt that many women would choose to avoid the pain of childbirth, I somehow doubt all of womankind would forego the unique experience of getting to carry a child inside their very own bodies. And some women (I was one of these) actually choose the pain of childbirth over the drugs and interventions available today. The natural birth movement is much like the natural food movement. It began as a reaction against some of the unhealthy practices which became popular in the 20th century, like drugging women to the point of unconsciousness and delivering babies with forceps. We took a huge swing in the assisted birth direction, and now the pendulum is moving back the other way. My natural inclination is the see the trend continuing far into the future. </div>
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Again, do not misunderstand me. None of this is meant as a critique of the book. Actually, the fact that the book got me pondering all these things is a testament to the quality of storytelling.<i> Saving Paludis</i> is much more than a light-hearted romp through the cosmos. It's a well-drawn book with a level of depth that took me pleasantly by surprise. </div>
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If you enjoy futuristic sci-fi, by all means check out this book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Paludis-Clayton-Graham/dp/0994495625/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Paludis-Clayton-Graham/dp/0994495625/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=</a></div>
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And if I may end this post with a little shameless self-promo, I've got a new book available on Instafreebie right now, so please take a moment to check it out: <a href="https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/oasnYrcL" target="_blank">https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/oasnYrcL</a>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-50392647129414496252018-07-26T05:54:00.001-07:002018-07-26T07:58:22.568-07:00The Most Memorable Summer of My Life<b><span style="color: #990000;">Nerd Girl</span></b><br />
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I mentioned <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2018/07/dating-advice-on-television-shows.html" target="_blank">last week</a> that this blog is proof that there are nerdy women in the world. Well, today's post may just become the key piece of evidence. It may have to compete a bit with the <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2018/03/wrestling-with-genesis-22.html" target="_blank">post</a> where I shared a snippet from my teenage diary, showing the world that at one point I was this dorky kid envisioning Heaven (yeah, I'm talking about <i>that </i>Heaven: Pearly Gates, St. Peter, Jesus seated at the right hand of God, and all that) as an eternity of<i> Star Trek</i> binge-watching. Don't believe I really wrote that? Go <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2018/03/wrestling-with-genesis-22.html" target="_blank">read it </a>and see for yourself.<br />
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Is today's post as nerdy as that one? Not sure, but it's pretty nerdy.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">The Backstory</span></b><br />
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The story of the most memorable summer of my life actually begins about a year and a half earlier. The Memorable Summer occurred between my seventh and eight grade years of school. The story begins back in sixth grade.<br />
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It started with a casual conversation with my parents. My mother was telling the story of the worst date my dad ever took her on. It must have been when they were both in high school, because<i> 2001: A Space Odyssey </i>was playing in theaters. And my dad took my mom to see it. In telling me the story, my mom went on and on and on about how incredibly stupid the movie was.<br />
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One thing I could not abide at that age (I was around eleven) was someone expressing an opinion without lists and lists and lists of facts to back up their position. Come to think of it, that still bothers me. Don't just say a movie is stupid. Give me bulleted lists showing all the things that make the movie stupid.<br />
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I was also at that preadolescent age where I liked to disagree with everything my parents said. My mom thought the movie was stupid? I was just going to have to watch that movie and prove to her it was<i> not</i> stupid.<br />
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So I watched it. My parents and I watched together, in fact. Of course, my mother complained all the way through it. Maybe if I hadn't had her voice in my ears the whole time, I would have felt differently about it, but I was a preteen with something to prove, so I naturally<i> loved</i> the movie. Deliberately and defiantly, I loved<i> 2001: A Space Odyssey. </i><br />
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After seeing the movie, I wanted to do two things. I wanted to watch the sequel,<i> 2010: The Year We Make Contact,</i> and I wanted to read the book.<br />
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The book was easy to find at the local library. The movie version of the sequel was not so easy. My dad and I went to every video store in the area looking for it. Nobody had it. You see, at the time, video stores only kept new movies in stock, and<i> 2010</i> had been out for about six years by that point. And it wasn't exactly the most popular movie of the decade, which made it nearly impossible to locate.<br />
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I did read<i> 2001,</i> however. And I must say, I enjoyed the book more than the movie.<br />
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There was one thing in the book that bothered me. It was the fact that the astronauts all had families back home, and they never got to see them again. The book mentioned that unmarried men were intentionally chosen because of the length of the mission, but it also said that Dave Bowman and Frank Poole both had girlfriends. Girlfriends who would be waiting back on earth to see their men again.<br />
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I could not shake that idea from my head. They left their girlfriends behind. They never went home. It was all very well and good for Frank. Frank died. There was some closure there. But Dave? He evolved into some alien entity and then chose to never go back home. How could he do that? His poor girlfriend!<br />
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The thought of Dave and his girlfriend nagged me for a long time after I finished that book. Then the Memorable Summer happened.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">A Very Nerdy Summer Vacation</span></b><br />
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When I was twelve or thirteen, my parents and I went on a camping trip. I use the word "camping" loosely. We had an airconditioned travel trailer with a full kitchen and bathroom. But my parents referred to it as "camping."<br />
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We also brought a TV and VCR with us. It was the first time we'd had a TV in our camper. It was all very exciting.<br />
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There was a little gas station/convenience store not too far from our campground. Do you remember that, back in the 80s and early 90s, gas stations used to rent video tapes? Well, this one did. While my parents were busy getting gas and picking up some sodas and snack foods, I was perusing the video tapes. And guess what I found.<i> 2010! </i><br />
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I excitedly ran over and showed it to my dad, beaming my biggest "Can we get it? Can we get it?" smile. He seemed almost as excited as I was. After all, he was the one who had driven me all over our county looking for the darn movie. He was as ready for me to see it as I was.<br />
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So we rented it. This was before all rental stores required membership cards. Anybody could rent a movie back then.<br />
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The movie blew me away. Remember that I was obsessed with this need for Dave Bowman to reconnect with his girlfriend? Well, guess what happens in<i> 2010.</i> He goes home and talks to her! Even tells her he loves her. My little heart did its best reenactment of the ending of<i> How the Grinch Stole Christmas,</i> when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes. Pleasant tingling sensations spread all over my body and I truly thought I would burst from the intensity of emotion.<br />
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Not only that, but HAL is redeemed in<i> 2010.</i> The villain from the first movie becomes the savior in the second. I'm a sucker for a good redemption story, and this one did quite a number on me.<br />
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I cried myself to sleep that night. I don't remember if it was the first time I cried for a movie. I know I cried the first time I saw<i> Beaches,</i> but can't recall if I saw that before or after seeing<i> 2010.</i> I do know I've never cried harder for a movie than I did for<i> 2010.</i> Seriously. I cried myself to sleep every night for about two weeks after I watched it.<br />
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I spent the rest of that vacation wandering around the campground by myself, rewatching my favorite scenes from the movie in my mind. I remember that certain words and phrases would get stuck in my head, and I would make up little melodies to go with them, and pretend I was singing them to the characters in the movie. One was the catchphrase on the Morton's Salt container: When it rains, it pours. I turned it into a song:<br />
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When it rains it pours.</div>
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Pours so true.</div>
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Hold you head up,</div>
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So I can love you.</div>
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I constructed the melody in such a way that the last line led right back into the first, so I could sing it over and over again without stopping. And I walked around and around the campground singing that song and thinking about Dave Bowman and his girlfriend. </div>
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And HAL. Let's not forget HAL. I assigned a song to him, as well.<i> 905</i> by The Who. It's on their album<i> Who Are You.</i> I thought the song was about a robot, because that's what my mom told me the song was about. I realize now that my mom was wrong, but at the time I didn't know that, so I spent my summer singing that song and thinking about HAL. There's a line in the song that really grabbed hold of me: "At each end of my life is an open door." Because I did not have the internet to give me access to all lyrics of all songs ever written, I misunderstood that line and thought they were saying, "And the end of my life is an open door." I thought it was about immortality. You know, the kind of immortality HAL finds when Jupiter explodes, destroying the Discovery and uniting HAL's consciousness with that of Dave Bowman's for all eternity. After we got home from vacation, I spent hours in my room listening to that song and crying. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">When Summer Ended</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Eventually I had to go back to school. You know how some teachers like to have students write about their summer vacation on the first day of class? Well, I had a teacher who assigned that very thing. Can you guess what I wrote about?<i> 2010!</i> I told the whole story. How my dad and I had been looking for that movie for such a long time. How we finally found it in this little gas station near our campground. How it relieved all the frustration I was left with after reading<i> 2001.</i> How I spent the rest of our trip sitting alone in quiet contemplation of the best movie I had ever seen. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">After writing our essays, we had to exchange papers and let a classmate critique our work. The girl who read my paper commented that I spent too much time talking about the movie. There was nothing about what I actually<i> did</i> on vacation. Well, sure, we had done other things. We swam in the campground's lake. We went fishing. We did some sightseeing at nearby tourist attractions. But through all of that, I was only thinking about the movie. The movie was the most important thing that happened that summer. </span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">A Lingering Effect</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I was inspired to write this post after listening to music while working in my kitchen the other day. I have quite a long playlist on my phone, which contains the song<i> 905,</i> and I was listening to it on random shuffle. When that song came on, I felt all those same pleasant tingles coursing through my body that I felt during the summer that I saw<i> 2010</i> for the first time. And though I knew the song wasn't really about a robot, still I sang along with it and pretended that it was about HAL. I may have even teared up a little. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">So there. You've now heard the story of the most memorable summer of my life. And I think I've nerded out enough one day. </span></div>
<b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-84987467640862756972018-07-20T05:06:00.001-07:002018-07-20T05:06:49.102-07:00Dating Advice on Television Shows<b><span style="color: #990000;">Rediscovering an Old Favorite</span></b><br />
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I've been re-watching<i> Friends</i> recently (sharing it with my kids). A huge chunk of time on that show is spent on the dating lives of its six primary characters, and certain themes keep appearing that seem to reflect (if the TV shows I watch are any indication) mainstream society's views on what "rules" we should follow when interacting with the opposite sex.<br />
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Disclaimer: I started dating my husband when I was sixteen. We've now been married nineteen years. I haven't been in the dating world for a<i> long</i> time.<br />
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Nevertheless, I have some opinions. I know what would attract me to a man and what would turn me off. And I must say, I couldn't disagree more with the sitcom version of dating etiquette.<br />
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In the episode of<i> Friends</i> we watched last night, Ross was talking about how advanced computers were going to become within the next fifty years and how one day it would be possible for humans to upload their consciousness into a machine and live forever. The reaction of the others seemed to say that if he ever talked about that stuff to a woman he was interested in, he had basically zero chance of getting a date. Ever. For the rest of his life.<br />
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Um...I was kind of offended, if you want to know the truth. After all, there<i> are</i> nerdy women in the world. If this blog isn't proof of that, I don't know what is.<br />
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The implication on the show is that women will flock to a guy like Joey but will run screaming in terror from a guy like Ross. Again, I've not been in that world since...well...probably since<i> Friends</i> was still in its first season, but I know I'd much prefer a guy to come on with the nerd talk than come at me with a calculated, "How<i> you</i> doin'?" I'd recognize a genuineness in the first guy while recognizing that the second guy was just turning on the charm. You want to know something about charm? Charm is manipulative. If you want to get to know me, show me your true self. Don't show me the charismatic face you put on when you're trying to woo beautiful women.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">My Experience in the Real World</span></b><br />
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Let me tell you the story of how my husband and I got together. I'd been acquainted with him for a while because we were in marching band together. He was a senior when I was a freshman, so he graduated pretty soon after I came along, but he was good friends with a guy who was dating one of my good friends, so we saw each other from time to time.<br />
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One day he came to a band competition our high school hosted every year. It was common for former band members to come back and watch other bands perform. Once a band nerd, always a band nerd, after all. He was sitting in the bleachers with his friend, who was naturally sitting with my friend. When I got a break (all band members were required to work the event), I came and sat with them. I remember very little about what we talked about. It was probably a lot of my husband and his friend goofing off while I and my friend sat and listened (we were both very shy and didn't talk much back then).<br />
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Then my (future) husband turned to me and, out of the blue, said, "Did you know that the United States is actually a representative republic, not a true democracy?"<br />
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Okay, before I go on, a little something you should know about me is that I am absolutely<i> terrified</i> of people thinking I'm not smart. When someone tries to tell me something I already know, I have this irrational anger reaction. So when my (future) husband said that to me, I responded with a curt, "Yes, I knew that."<br />
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He was surprised. He had just learned that in his college political science course. But I had taken political science in high school the year before and had already learned it.<br />
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Once I succeeded in making it clear that I already knew the mind-blowing information he was trying to give me, my mood improved considerably, and he and I lapsed into a comfortable nerd-talk session. I don't even remember what we talked about. Only that we talked and talked. And talked. So much so that my friend and her boyfriend (my husband's friend) began scheming to get us together. So about a week later he asked me out and we've been together ever since.<br />
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The moral of the story is that I'll take a Ross over a Joey any day. Joey might be fun on a first date, but seriously, what would you do for the rest of your life if you married him? I'd be bored out of my mind after a week.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Another Sitcom Example</span></b><br />
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<i>Friends</i> is not the only place I've heard this terrible advice. There is an episode of<i> The Lucy Show</i> (not something I watch regularly, but I happened upon it while flipping channels one afternoon) where Lucy is attracted to this handsome, wealthy man. She wants to know how to entice him, so her friend tells her to pretend to be interested in everything he's interested in. In this case, it happens to be duck hunting. So Lucy goes hunting. And hates every second of it. She asks her friend why she has to pretend to love something she hates. What if she ends up marrying the guy? Is she going to be duck hunting for the rest of her life? No worries, says the friend, after you're married you get to make him do the things <i>you</i> like.<br />
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Um...yeah...that sounds like a<i> terrifically</i> healthy marriage.<br />
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And it reminds me of another story from my high school years.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">One More Story</span></b><br />
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It was before my husband and I got together. There was a guy in my Algebra II class who was being really nice to me. I told my mom about it. She began grinning foolishly and making all sorts of "ooh la la" noises. She saw romance on my horizon.<br />
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But, I said, he has long hair. (I didn't care for guys with long hair back then.)<br />
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She made her infamous<i> pshaw</i> gesture and said, "Oh, you can change him!"<br />
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I instantly gave up on any thought of a future with the long-haired guy from Algebra class. There was no way I was going to enter into a relationship based on one person's desire to "change" the other.<br />
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And yet this mindset is rampant. It's all over the television. I've seen it on<i> Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Thirteen Reasons Why, Freaks and Geeks,</i> and on and on. Why do people think you can't be your true self in order to get a date? I mean, if you want that date to turn into anything long-term, it seems to me you<i> have</i> to show the other person your true self.<br />
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But, like I said, I've been out of that world for a long time, so maybe I just don't understand.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-14566912208906704302018-07-15T04:06:00.000-07:002018-07-15T04:09:34.487-07:00The Fickle Nature of Book ReviewsYou expect to get a few critical reviews when you put a book out into the world. That's the nature of the beast. That doesn't stop it from hurting though.<br />
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Of my first two books, <a href="http://getbook.at/AmeliasChildren" target="_blank"><i>Amelia's Children</i></a> and <a href="http://getbook.at/Primogenito" target="_blank"><i>Primogénito</i></a>, I openly admit to having a favorite.<i> Primogénito</i> just plays on my heartstrings more than <i>Amelia's Children </i>does. It's deeper, darker, and richer in detail.<br />
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Readers, on the other hand, seem to flock to <i>Amelia's Children</i> while avoiding <i>Primogénito </i>like the plague. Now that I've put a couple of years distance between me and those two books, I can look at them more objectively and see that <i>Amelia's Children</i> has more mainstream appeal. <i>Primogénito </i>doesn't exactly qualify as navel-gazing, but it is none-the-less a very personal work. A primary concern of mine in writing it was to hit myself in my own feels, so to speak. I assumed everyone else would love it because I assumed everyone else kept their feels in the same place I keep mine.<br />
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So I published <i>Primogénito</i> and reviews began to trickle in from readers and book bloggers. The reception was lukewarm. No one really hated it, but only a select few gushed over it the way I'd hoped. Nevertheless, it's held its own. Some people find it a little too slow at the beginning and others are turned off by its dark themes, but general consensus seems to be that it's a decent book.<br />
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When I decided to start entering writing contests,<i> Primogénito</i> was the first book I wanted to put out there. I was still convinced it was my best. I've entered it in three contests so far, two of which, Writer's Digest and Booklife, give professional critiques to all entrants.<br />
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The Writer's Digest critique came first. I was so excited to open my email that day, just knowing I'd have something I could proudly display all over the interwebs to show what a world-class author I was. Here's' the review I got:<br />
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<b style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Plot and Story Appeal:</span></span></b><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> 3</span></span><span style="color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; direction: ltr; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br />
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Character Appeal and Development:</span></span></b><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> 2</span></span><span style="color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; direction: ltr; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br />
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Voice and Writing Style: </span></span></b><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">3</span></span><span style="color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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</span><br />
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 480px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 480px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Judge’s Commentary</span></span></b><span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">*:</span></span><span style="color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; direction: ltr; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 480px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: #404040; direction: ltr; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; position: static;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A striking cover but almost a little too spare. The title certainly piques the curiosity. Okay, you only need to state once about Ashley. I feel like you’re hitting me over the head with it. Otherwise, it’s an intriguing opening. Was Damian a good name choice? Isn’t that a little loaded?
I love the literary mystery aspect of the story, 11%. This is a pretty fascinating discussion at 20%. I like your insights about the patterns in their relationships. Pretty inventive, this glowing, evil scar, 30%. “Right now, he had a lot to prove,” – good line, 37%. A little bit of overexplaining sometimes. I feel like I’m watching a soap opera, 45%.
Your characters seem cold and clinical. I’m having a hard time caring about them, 52%. This shadow world is used far too often in books of this type, 65%. Pretty interesting, having the baby be the focus of all of this, 74%. There’s far too much talk. The story needs a lot more direct, present action. You spend a lot of time having your characters discuss past events, 81% “like her heart was being ripped right out of her chest,” That’s a little bit over the top, 88%.
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
I was devastated. And, honestly, I couldn't disagree more. My characters were cold and clinical? My characters were my favorite part! I loved them almost as though they were real people. As for the rest of it...well, I've learned a lot about "show, don't tell" since then and can recognize a tendency in my earlier work to be repetitive when I had a point I wanted to drive home.<br />
<br />
Still, I was bummed. This being my first professional review, it left me with the feeling that my books were good enough for the average Joe, but I would never be able to compete with the big kids.<br />
<br />
Then the Booklife review came rolling in. I'll let it speak for itself:<br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Plot/Idea:</strong> 7 out of 10</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Originality:</strong> 7 out of 10</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Prose:</strong> 8 out of 10</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Character/Execution:</strong> 7 out of 10</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Overall:</strong> 7.25 out of 10</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Assessment:</strong></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: jaf-facitweb,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Plot:</strong> The plot of this novel is engaging and soundly constructed. The story moves along at a good pace, but some readers may find the ending a bit predictable.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Prose</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">: </strong>The prose is one of this book's main strengths. The writing is clear and smooth. The dialogue is effective.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Originality: </strong>Though the conceit of this novel will be familiar to some readers, the author manages to make it feel fresh and different.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Character Development: </strong>The characters here are well rendered and believable. Readers will care about them, though some character motivations could be clearer.</div>
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So readers will care about my characters, eh? Take that, Mister Writer's Digest Reviewer Guy! And...my story is well-paced? The dialogue is effective? Ah...Mister Booklife Man, you are my hero!<br />
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So what have I learned from all of this? I've learned that all reviews, even professional ones, are subjective. What one person loves in a book, someone else will hate. That's the way it is and that's the way it will always be, so there's no use fretting over it.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-30634355662138907322018-07-07T09:54:00.001-07:002018-07-07T09:54:39.468-07:00Indie Book of the Month: July 2018<i>The Girls Across the Bay</i> by Emerald O'Brien<br />
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I went back and forth a bit in deciding how to rate this book. Here's the thing: When indie authors read indie books, they fall into two basic types. There's the type who says, "These are my fellow indies! This is my tribe! These are my people! We've got to stick together and support each other!" Then there they type who says, "If just one indie author publishes a bad book, that reflects on all of us. It's up to us to find all the mistakes in all the books and get all the authors to rewrite and re-edit and re-proofread until it's absolutely perfect so no reader will ever again point to a bad indie book and say 'There! That's why I only read traditional books!'" </div>
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While I like to remain somewhere in the middle (I get no pleasure tearing other authors down and try not to write scathing reviews if I can help it) I have to admit to leaning a little in the critical direction. And I tend to be more critical of indie books than I am of traditionally published books. Basically, I don't care if traditionally published books are bad. Bad traditionally published books make me pat myself on the back and say, "Hey! I can write better than this guy can!" But I tend to hold indies to a much higher standard. </div>
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I won't review indie books if I can't give them at least four stars, but I've been known to come down to four from five for things like typos or details that are just slightly off. Things many readers tend to ignore. I can't ignore them. And if there are grammar mistakes...well, I can be a bit pedantic in that regard. I've always been this way, and I annoyed many of my friends when I was in school because I was always correcting their speech. </div>
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So with<i> The Girls Across the Bay,</i> it was a given that it was getting at least four stars. Like I said, I won't read indie books if I can't give them that much. But the question of four or five plagued me right up until the end.</div>
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I've finally decided on five stars because I realized that the little things I was getting hung up on while reading it were truly<i> little</i> things. When I stepped back and looked at the big picture, what I found was an engaging story with likeable characters set in a beautiful location. What more could I want? </div>
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Yes, I thought Mac was a little too crotchety to be believed, but Grace and Madigan were beautifully written, as were Evette and John. Yes, I felt that some aspects of the police investigation were glossed over and parts of it seemed rushed, but I was compelled to keep reading because I needed to know all the connections between the characters. The personal drama between the two main characters and their former foster family made the book a page-turner for me, and the way it all came together at the end was fantastic. </div>
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The author did a wonderful job of weaving the backstory into the narrative. Some data dumps are inevitable when writing a story in this way, but this book managed to avoid having too many of them. And when I did come across one in the course of reading, I was intrigued rather than annoyed. Finally, I was getting some answers! And because they were spread throughout the book rather than all being clustered together at the beginning, there was plenty of time to become engrossed in the story before getting plunged into stuff that happened in the past. </div>
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I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read murder mysteries. </div>
<i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-15098753341342296802018-06-28T04:14:00.000-07:002018-06-28T04:14:15.183-07:00Horror Movie References in Event Horizon I just saw<i> Event Horizon</i> for the first time the other day. It's odd; I loved horror movies throughout my childhood and was obsessed with science fiction for a good chunk of my adolescence, but for some reason I was never into sci-fi horror. I liked my horror spooky and ghostly, like<i> Poltergeist,</i> and I liked my sci-fi to show me the wonders of the universe, like<i> Contact.</i> I didn't care for mixing the two.<br />
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As an adult I've been discovering all those wonderful dark science fiction movies I missed when I was younger.<i> Alien</i> being a prime example.<br />
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And speaking of<i> Alien....</i><br />
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Is it a coincidence that the set-up of<i> Event Horizon</i> is eerily reminiscent of that classic Ridley Scott masterpiece?<br />
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In both movies the crew of a spaceship comes out of hibernation to answer a mysterious distress call.<br />
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In <i>Alien</i>, the crew consists of five men and two women.</div>
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In<i> Event Horizon,</i> we have six men and two women.</div>
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In both movies, the first victim is killed by disembowelment. (I thought about posting pictures of that, but then changed my mind because the one from<i> Event Horizon</i> is particularly gory and I didn't think everyone would want to see that.) </div>
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But<i> Event Horizon</i> borrows imagery from more movies than just<i> Alien. </i></div>
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I couldn't find a picture of the scene where Laurence Fishburne is almost sucked through the broken window, but it reminded me a heck of a lot of a little girl getting sucked into a closet in one of my favorite horror movies. </div>
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A few scenes later, we see the walls of the spaceship dripping blood. Again, I couldn't find a picture, but remember this iconic bloody wall scene?</div>
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And then, a little later, we have an entire room bathed in blood.</div>
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Remind you of anything?</div>
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And, of course, the whole idea of opening a portal to hell is straight out of<i> Hellraiser.</i> Again I ask, could all of these things be simple coincidences? I highly doubt it. </div>
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<br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-41234768714796432332018-06-24T03:37:00.000-07:002018-06-25T03:09:22.480-07:00If The Odd Couple Took Place TodayI hadn't seen<i> The Odd Couple</i> (1968 movie) in years, so the other day I decided to watch it with my husband and kids. It's just as hilarious as it always was (the scene in the restaurant where Felix is trying to clear his ears had us rolling!), but a few aspects of the story got me thinking.<br />
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Could<i> The Odd Couple,</i> as it was originally written, take place today?<br />
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The whole premise of the movie is based on the old-fashioned view of marriage where the husband goes off to work while the wife stays home and tends to the house and kids. Don't get me wrong. I am not in any way offended by the idea of traditional gender roles. In fact, my own marriage is structured in much the same way. My husband works full time and, while I<i> have</i> had jobs outside the home, for the most part I've been a stay-at-home mom for the majority of my adult life. And when we're both home there's sort of an understanding that I take care of things inside the house (laundry, cooking, etc.) while he deals with the outdoor issues of cutting the grass and trimming the bushes. It's all very traditional, but that's okay with us. As long as the division of labor works for both partners, there's no problem.<br />
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In<i> The Odd Couple</i>, that division of labor obviously did not work. But it begs the question: If the movie took place today, would Oscar and Felix have ended up divorced?<br />
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Felix says that the reason his marriage ended is because he was always going around and cleaning up after his wife. He would also go into the kitchen and recook all of her meals. Back in the sixties, that would have been a major problem. The wife's whole identity would have been wrapped up in her role as homemaker, so a husband coming in and trying to usurp her role would have come across as an attack on her character. But today? Today we would be inclined to ask why the wife couldn't go out and get a job while Felix stayed home and did the cooking and cleaning. That's obviously where his talents lie.<br />
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What about Oscar? He sums up the problems in his marriage when he describes the wife asking him when he wanted dinner. He would tell her he wasn't hungry, but then he'd wake her up at three in the morning and ask her to fix him some food. Again, in the sixties that would have been a problem. In the sixties, it was a wife's job to keep everyone in the home fed. Today? Well, today no wife in her right mind would get up in the middle of the night and fix her husband a meal. She would simply roll over and go back to sleep, leaving the husband to fend for himself. And the husband would, we certainly hope, be perfectly okay with that because he would know that he just made a ridiculous request.<br />
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I do recognize that there are pros and cons to modern society's shunning of traditional gender roles. While it gives people more freedom with regard to how they're allowed to live, it can also make it confusing when two people are just starting out in their life together and are trying to decide who is responsible for what when it comes to care of the home. However, up until the late twentieth century, people were married (no pun intended) to the notion that there were manly jobs and there were womanly jobs. If people didn't fit naturally into those roles, too bad. And in the case of Oscar and Felix, it resulted in the end of two marriages. And we have to ask: Had they been given the same freedom of choice that couples today have, could their marriages have been saved?Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-79067191134858250402018-06-14T06:36:00.000-07:002018-06-14T06:36:28.983-07:00The Beauty of the Well-Drawn Villain<b><span style="color: #990000;">A Soap Opera Staple</span></b><br />
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My mother's favorite soap opera was<i> Guiding Light.</i> I think she told me she started watching it with her mother when she was in fourth grade. When I was growing up, the show was a daily tradition in our home. My mom would watch it, then call my grandma and talk about everything that happened. Sometimes they would spend an hour or more just talking about "the stories."<br />
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It was inevitable that I, too, would become a fan of the show. And, like my mother, I think I was also in about fourth or fifth grade when I first fell under that well-known soap opera spell. And there was one character we (my mother, my grandmother, and myself) all fell head-over-heels in love with. Roger Thorpe.<br />
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Do you remember Roger Thorpe? He was a scoundrel. I mean, he did some seriously awful things. But he had one vulnerability: his undying love for Holly, his ex-wife and the mother of his child. Yeah, I know, some of the most heinous acts he committed on the show were done to Holly. Viewers never forgot that, and neither did the characters. Still, we all secretly hoped for a reconciliation. I remember my mother saying countless times, "I think Roger could finally be good if Holly would just give him another chance."<br />
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We really wanted Roger to be good.<br />
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But he wasn't good. He had his moments, yes. A scene here and there where the audience was allowed a little glimpse of vulnerability. An entire storyline centered around his quest to turn his life around, usually for the sake of either Holly or his daughter Blake. But given enough time, he would always come back around to the dark side. It was incredibly frustrating, but it was also a mark of genius on the part of the writers. You see, they knew if they wrote a villain who was completely evil, he would come off as two-dimensional and not very realistic. But if they gave him a softer side, women would swoon for him. But the writers also knew something else. They knew that if they took Roger's softer side too far, to the point that he finally turned good and never looked back, viewers would get bored. There'd be nothing left to root for. Turning Roger Thorpe into a good guy and allowing him to live happily ever after with the love of his life would ultimately require writing him off the show altogether because he would no longer have a purpose. And, let's face it, he would lose a lot of his appeal.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">The Harry Potter Character Who Broke Our Hearts</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I won't beat about the bush. We all know I'm talking about Snape. </span><br />
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The question of whether Snape truly qualifies as a villain is too complex for me to deal with in this post. Suffice it to say that he is presented as a villain in the first few Harry Potter books. Even when the story begins to probe deeper into his character, we still think of him as a bad guy. At first, we view all those traumatic events from his past as his motivation for turning evil. Then we get to the end and, well, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you know what happens. </div>
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Still, it's an example of the same type of writing. What makes Snape different from Roger Thorpe is the fact that Harry Potter is not a soap opera. It is a story that has a definite beginning and a definite ending. So a character like Snape can come full circle and never go back to where he started because there's no more story to write. The pressure to keep viewers interested by having him vacillate between good and bad is not there, so he can be good and stay good. And we all love him for it.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">The Latest Iteration</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Are you a fan of the Marvel movies? It's okay if you're not. They're not really my favorite genre, to be honest, but there's one character I can't get enough of. If you think I'm talking about Loki, you guessed correctly.</span></div>
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In trying to categorize Loki, I'd say he's something of a combination of Roger and Snape. Like Snape, he is consumed by bitterness and jealousy. Like Roger, he's driven by ambition. Like Snape, his trustworthiness is constantly being called into question. Like Roger, he can never truly be good because then his character would have no further use. Like Snape, he consorts with the enemy and we wonder whose side he's really on. Like Roger, and every other soap opera villain ever written, he has a tendency to die and then come back from the dead. </div>
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And we can't help but love him. Even when we hate him, heaven help us, we still love him. </div>
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If you have a favorite character whom you "love to hate", let me know in a comment. </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-52557473399037895532018-06-07T09:39:00.000-07:002018-06-07T09:39:11.012-07:00Indie Book of the Month: June 2018<i>Moral Panic</i> by K. M. Ecke.<br />
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This is a book that will make you think twice next time you want to use the internet. The author actually has a warning at the beginning that if you are easily frightened by conspiracy theories, this may not be the book for you. I brushed it off as I do most warnings. I'm not generally squeamish about...well...anything really. But I have to say, this story gave me pause. I admit I'm not a tech geek, so can't speak to the realism of Ecke's portrayal of computer technology, but to a layman it felt pretty real. Think about all the times you did an internet search while signed in to your Google account. Every time you "liked" something on Facebook. Every time you did just about anything on your home computer that remembers your search history and all of your personal information. What if someone was actively monitoring that activity? And what if that someone had a personal vendetta against you? It sounds paranoid, and it probably is, but this book made it all seem just a little bit too real. And, honestly, in this age of hacking and identity theft, maybe a little paranoia can be a good thing.<br />
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Definitely check this book out. It is available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Panic-Cautionary-Vigilante-Justice-ebook/dp/B079TJL9RQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528388536&sr=8-2&keywords=moral+panic" target="_blank">Amazon.</a>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-74966279658958313232018-05-20T03:30:00.000-07:002018-05-20T03:30:56.378-07:00When Details Matter...and When They Don'tWhen I read books, I'm a stickler for detail. When I read<i> Fifty Shades of Grey,</i> I rolled my eyes during the part where Ana visits Tybee Island (close to Savannah, Ga) because the book talks about riding on the Savannah Parkway. Um...there's no such thing as the Savannah Parkway. How hard would it have been to look at a map and give the name of a real road?<br />
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I'm not only this discerning with books. My critical eye extends to movies and television shows as well. My husband and I binge-watched ER a few years ago (before binge-watching was even a thing--we watched it on DVDs we got from the library) and in one season there is a character who is supposed to be from Savannah. At some point he mentions the hospital where he used to work. Savannah General. Um...again...there's no such thing. My husband and I exchanged a glance and mutually rolled our eyes. Yes, I know when ER was on information wasn't as readily available as it is now, but phone books existed. It<i> would</i> have been possible to find out what hospitals actually existed in Savannah.<br />
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Okay, okay, <i>okay! </i>I'm aware that the hospital in which ER<i> takes place</i> is a fictional hospital, so why can't other fictional hospitals be mentioned as well. I didn't say I feel I'm<i> justified</i> in having these opinions. Only that I have them. Inattention to these kinds of details is a major pet peeve of mine.<br />
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And then we have my favorite movie. Ah...my favorite movie. Do you remember what my favorite movie is? I've blogged about it <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/12/because-nothing-says-childhood-like-ken.html" target="_blank">in the past</a> but if you don't want to read all that, I'll tell you.<i> Tommy.</i><br />
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And, just in case you're not familiar with<i> Tommy</i>, it's a rock opera based on The Who's most famous album. It tells the story of a young boy who loses his sight and hearing after witnessing his father's murder, and who then goes on to become a pinball prodigy.<br />
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Where, you may be asking, is my fondness for detail in regard to<i> that</i> movie? After all, what is it even supposed to be about? Is it about a young man struggling to deal with the fact that he is deaf and blind? Is it about psychosomatic symptoms caused by PTSD?<i> Can</i> PTSD cause a person to go deaf and blind? And what about the whole pinball thing? Are there really pinball prodigies in the world? Does that game actually come naturally to<i> anyone?</i> And if Tommy is such a prodigy, doesn't that make his character look more like an autistic savant than anything else? What the heck is going on with this character?<br />
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The truth is, when you watch<i> Tommy,</i> you can't analyze those details too thoroughly. The movie is based on a story written by a rock star. Not a psychologist. Not an educator. Not the parent of a special needs child. A rock star. Do you think Pete Townshend hit the books and studied the ins and outs of psychosomatic illness before penning<i> Tommy?</i> Of course not. He just had a cool idea for a story and he ran with it.<br />
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And you know what? When I watch that movie, I don't care. I really don't. The experience of watching<i> Tommy</i> is not supposed to be about realism. It's supposed to be about the music. And you might just notice that Roger Daltrey and Ann Margret are pretty darn easy on the eyes. And if you're like me and you're obsessed with the cinematography of the seventies, then<i> Tommy</i> is all about set design and camera angles. But it's not about psychology and you can't try to make it about that. You can't squeeze Tommy's character into any known parameters of mental illness. It just won't work.<br />
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The moral of the story? I'm not sure that I have one. I only want to say that even someone like me, who loves realism and wants all the details to be right, can occasionally suspend my disbelief and just enjoy a good movie.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-29687496910264089672018-05-13T03:53:00.000-07:002018-05-13T03:53:36.068-07:00Why I Finally Bought a Digital CameraYes, you read that correctly. I now own a digital camera. Yes, I, who extolled the virtues of real film photography in blog posts <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/05/what-i-learned-from-my-1st-semi.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2018/04/whats-my-artist-brand.html" target="_blank">here,</a> am now the proud owner of a Sony a77 (I had to go with Sony because they make a line of cameras which are compatible with my Minolta lenses).<br />
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So why the switch? Remember that, not too long ago, I also wrote about the fact that <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/08/why-do-cameras-hate-me.html" target="_blank">cameras hate me?</a> I concluded that post by telling you my trusty Minolta Maxxum 5 had begun malfunctioning. Well, I couldn't go without a camera for too long, so I went on eBay and bought a Maxxum 7. Still a film camera, but an upgrade from the Maxxum 5.<br />
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I was wary of the Maxxum 7 for a while. I tend to have a lot of anxiety where cameras are concerned. The thing is, I'm so passionate about this photography thing that if something goes wrong, it can put me in a foul mood for a week. So I didn't want to do too much with the Maxxum 7 because I didn't trust something that old, and from eBay, to do what it was supposed to do. So it sat in its case for a few months before I worked up the nerve to get it out and load a roll of film into it.<br />
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The thing shot exactly two rolls of film before breaking.<br />
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And it broke exactly a week before we were scheduled to leave for vacation. A vacation that was supposed to be, for me at least, all about taking pictures.<br />
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I can't tell you how depressed I was.<br />
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The first thing I did was go on eBay to look for another Maxxum 7. I found a few that weren't too expensive, but when my husband walked by and saw what I was doing, he pointed out that I've bought too many old cameras over the years, only to have them fall apart. He suggested buying something newer. Something that would last more than a year.<br />
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So I, begrudgingly, shifted my search from Minolta to Sony. I did a lot of research and determined that the a77 was the camera I needed. And I just happened to find one in a store not too far from our vacation destination. If I could arrange to pick it up in the store instead of waiting to have it shipped to my house, I'd get to use this camera on vacation!<br />
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Once I got over the guilt about how much money this camera would cost, it was an easy decision. Yeah, I had something of an identity crisis. I was a film-only photographer, after all. Switching to digital felt like giving up a piece of my soul. And I had just purchased a couple of rolls of professional black and white film that I was looking forward to using on my trip.<br />
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But what we need is not always what we want, and my photography career needed that digital camera.<br />
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And as far as cost is concerned? Well, I compared the cost of the camera to the cost of film and processing and calculated that once I've shot 1000 pictures, the camera will have paid for itself. And I've already shot over 400. Give me another week, and I'll break even.<br />
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Here are a few photos I took with my new toy:<br />
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And then, well, I won't attempt an explanation for this one. I'll just let it speak for itself:</div>
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<br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-7515824781840170142018-05-07T03:54:00.000-07:002018-05-07T03:54:36.704-07:00Indie Book of the Month: May 2018<div>
<i>Looking for Dei</i> by David A. Willson</div>
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We've got your typical fantasy story: Orphaned girl growing up in a remote place where no one will ever think to look for her discovers, as a teenager, that she possesses magic the likes of which the world has not seen in hundreds of years. If that particular fantasy trope is not for you, then you probably won't connect with this book, but The Chosen One happens to be my<i> favorite</i> trope, so I was pulled in right away. </div>
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<i>Looking for Dei</i> captured my attention simply by being a chosen one story, but it kept me reading with its enjoyable style, likeable characters, and attention to detail. The historical detail, in particular, held my interest. The fact that it was a fictional history of a fictional world just made it that much more enthralling. </div>
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I mentioned likeable characters. Of course, not all of them are likeable. Every fantasy has to have a villain, right? And villains aren't likeable. Nevertheless, the villain in this story is amazingly well-drawn. I found myself hating him and empathizing with him at the same time because the author goes deep enough into his psyche to give the reader some understanding of why he is the way he is. In fact, you get the impression that all the characters in<i> Looking for Dei</i> are simply, as the title suggests, looking for something. Maybe not Dei (a deity), in the case of the villains, but, at the very least, a reason for living. Or, to get a little more philosophical, the meaning of life. Some people search for that meaning through doing good. Helping others. Trying to make the world a better place. Others try to find a purpose for their lives by making themselves more powerful in an attempt to gain glory. And those who are only out for their own glory turn evil, like Vorick and Kayna. Some, like Gwyn, get a little lost, only to find their way in the end. This book gives us a glimpse of some absolutely beautiful character arcs.</div>
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I highly recommend this book. Grab a copy on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Dei-David-Willson/dp/0999615017/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525688311&sr=1-1-spons" target="_blank">Amazon.</a></div>
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Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-41441519775375892952018-04-29T03:49:00.001-07:002018-04-29T03:49:39.950-07:00What's My Artist Brand?<b><span style="color: #990000;">An On-going Argument</span></b><br />
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A while back, I talked about my photography journey in a post entitled <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/04/why-im-still-embroiled-in-film-vs.html" target="_blank">Why I'm Still Embroiled in the Film vs. Digital Debate.</a> I wanted to write about the film/digital question because that discussion has a tendency to turn nasty when brought up in online forums. I have no idea why. I mean, we're talking about what kind of camera you use to take pictures and make movies, for crying out loud. So many other subjects--child abuse, domestic abuse, drug abuse, war, etc.--deserve a strong emotional response. Film vs. digital? It seems trivial by comparison. So why all the drama?<br />
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I think part of the reason is that the film purists tend to come off as a bit snobby when talking about their art form. I can understand why they would have that mindset. After all, photography and filmmaking used to be disciplines reserved for those most dedicated to the craft. Learning to get a good picture (and even more so a good movie) on film was (is) hard work. It doesn't happen overnight. Why? Because when you're using real film you're shooting blind. You don't know if your picture is going to turn out dark or grainy, or if the shudder speed is so slow it results in a motion blur, until you've shot an entire roll of film and taken it for processing. So to do anything professional with the medium, you really have to know your craft. You have to practice. You have to shoot hundreds of terrible photos so you can learn from them and not make the same mistakes again. Then, when you know the workings of your camera inside and out, you can think about going pro.<br />
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Not so with digital. If you have a digital camera, you can see the finished image before you shoot. You can adjust and get it almost perfect before you even take the picture. And if the picture turns out terrible? You can immediately delete it and snap another.<br />
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Because of all this, I think some film photographers feel they've earned bragging rights that digital photographers don't have.<br />
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But why are the digital guys so adamant that we should just let film die? Well, I think they may feel insulted by everything I've mentioned above. But that doesn't mean film should die. It just means digital photographers should fight for their chosen medium. To each his own, right?<br />
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Maybe the issue is that some film enthusiasts want to keep harping on all those points, to the degree that digital photographers are made to feel like they <i>have </i>to use film if they want to be "real" photographers. And the digital guys don't want to use film because of the freedom digital cameras give them and because...well...film is expensive and who wants to have to pay as much as a dollar per exposure (depending on what film you're using and how much your lab charges for processing) when digital makes every shot free?<br />
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Still, I don't think that is a reason to let film die. It has a different look from digital, especially if we're talking about filmmaking, and that's reason enough to keep it around. Some people will always prefer it and they have the right to create their art the way they want to create it.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Should I Go Digital?</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">In another post, <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/05/what-i-learned-from-my-1st-semi.html" target="_blank">What I Learned in my First (Semi) Professional Portrait Session in Over 10 Years,</a> I discuss my frustrations with the fact that I can't afford a digital camera. I'm frustrated because if I want to be a professional portrait/event photographer, I can't keep shooting film. First of all, it's expensive, and I'd make more money if I made the switch. And second, clients have come to have certain expectations from a photo shoot. Quite often, they like to see their pictures right away. They want to pay by the hour instead of by the roll and have grown accustomed to a copious amount of shots being taken in that hour. And they've come to expect perfection, which is something a digital photographer can give them because a digital camera tells you immediately if you've messed up a picture. </span></div>
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In addition, film does not do well in low light, which makes it less than ideal for capturing those candid wedding shots everyone loves.</div>
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But should I switch? The thing is, I love film. Especially in movies. When I watch a movie, I notice right away if there are dots dancing in the white part of the screen, and if I see the dots (I'm talking about film grain, if you haven't figured it out) then I enjoy the movie even more. I love the look of a movie shot on 16mm. It reminds me of a lot of the low-budget horror movies from the seventies.<i> The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> is a beautiful (in terms of cinematography) film shot on an Eclair ACL. Then there's<i> The Evil Dead.</i> Ah,<i> The Evil Dead.</i> That great beacon of hope for all amateur filmmakers everywhere. It's truly one of those movies you watch and think to yourself, "If<i> they</i> could do it, so can I!" And it was shot on an Arriflex 16 BL. </div>
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Yeah, I nerd out on cameras a little bit. </div>
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But, the thing is, I nerd out on<i> film</i> cameras. I don't feel the gentle stirrings in my soul when I think about digital. And honestly? Now that I've spent<i> so</i> much time learning the intricacies of real film, if I make the switch, I think it will feel like cheating. </div>
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But the question is, do I need to make the switch? There are still a lot of artists out there shooting exclusively on film. Why can't I be one of them? Why can't I make that part of my brand? There are a lot of reasons, of course. Cost of processing is a big part of it. But, if I ever manage to go pro, all I need to do is charge enough money to compensate for the cost of developing and I'll come out in the black.</div>
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So what's a camera nerd to do? Buy a digital camera because it would make achieving my dream of professional photography easier? Or stick with film because it's what makes me unique? And, let's face it, I really do love film.</div>
<b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-79942746025357853322018-04-22T03:57:00.001-07:002018-04-22T03:57:46.111-07:00The Cinematography in Life is BeautifulHave you seen<i> Life is Beautiful?</i> I highly recommend it. It's a great movie. However, my focus today is not going to be on the merits of its story, its unique treatment of the serious issues it tackles, or the talents of its actors. Today, I'm only focusing on its cinematography.<br />
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So<i> have</i> you seen it? If you have, you may have noticed that, when watching it, you feel like you're watching a much older movie, perhaps one from the fifties or sixties, despite the fact that it was made in 1997. Part of this is the acting style seen in the film. The people speak and comport themselves in a way that feels very old-timey, but the retro feel of<i> Life is Beautiful</i> goes beyond that. It<i> looks</i> like an old movie. Why? I can't say definitively, but I have some theories.<br />
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Before going any further, I want to refer you to my older posts, <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-made-70s-movies-look-sowell70s.html" target="_blank">What Made 70s Movies Look So 70s, Part 1</a> and <a href="http://gretacribbs.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-made-70s-movies-look-so-70s-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, in order to understand more fully what I've already learned about the look of older movies.<br />
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I had come to the conclusion that older movies looked the way they did because they were shot in Technicolor, while movies made in the 70s and later were shot on color film. So you can imagine how confused I was when I saw<i> Life is Beautiful</i> and felt like I was watching an old movie.<i> Life is Beautiful</i> couldn't have been shot in Technicolor, could it? It is my understanding (and please correct me in a comment if I'm wrong about this) that movies have not been shot in Technicolor since the mid-70s. I know there was something of a revival in the late nineties (around the time<i> Life is Beautiful</i> was made) but, based on things I read, I concluded that the movies utilizing this process were only<i> printed</i> in Technicolor, not actually filmed in Technicolor. And I've watched clips of some of those movies.<i> Pearl Harbor</i> is one. It doesn't look like<i> Life is Beautiful. Pearl Harbor</i> looks like a newer movie while<i> Life is Beautiful</i> looks, well, old.<br />
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I needed to know why this was, so I paid close attention to detail while I was watching it, and I noticed some things.<br />
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I've already mentioned the acting styles, and that's certainly a big part of it, but it's much more than that.<br />
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First, there are the camera angles. The movie utilizes wide, medium, and close-up shots, with very few, if any, extreme wide or extreme close-up shots. Also, when showing the characters, the camera remains approximately at eye-level with the actors, so no high or low shots. That sort of limited camera work is quite common in older movies. At least in older color movies. Film Noir was a bit more creative, but I don't want to get into a discussion of Film Noir here.<br />
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Second, the filmmakers seemed to prefer a deep depth of field. This means that everything in the shot is in focus. Even in the close-ups of the characters, the background can be clearly seen. This is a camera technique that is not really in vogue at the moment. Newer movies are all about blurring out the background, or sometimes the foreground. Focus pulls are quite common (and beautiful...I love a good focus pull). Not so in older movies, and not so in<i> Life is Beautiful.</i><br />
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And finally,<i> Life is Beautiful</i> is lit differently from movies of today. Nowadays, natural lighting is quite popular, and studio lighting is stylized to the point of being somewhat reminiscent of Film Noir (I may need to write a post on Film Noir in the near future, I seem to keep harping on it).<i> Life is Beautiful</i> is different. In the studio shots, light spills in from everywhere, even from above. There are shadows, sure, but not deep shadows. There are no dark parts of the frame anywhere in the movie. Even nighttime scenes are bright. Blue in color, yes, but still bright. And the outdoor shots? Well, they all look like they were filmed at three o'clock in the afternoon (can I get a collective groan from any photographers reading this?). No use of the precious "golden hour" in this unique film? Maybe in a couple of scenes, but for the most part the sun seems to be high in the sky whenever the actors are shown outside. I imagine it was through a generous use of reflectors and fill lights that they avoided making this look unflattering to the actors. And, to my recollection, there is no use of backlighting anywhere in the movie. Contrast this to movies of today. It seems that almost everything is filmed at the golden hour now. Backlighting is incredibly popular. Shadows are used to create mood and a sense of realism. </div>
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Now that you've read my thoughts on it, I'll ask again: Have you seen<i> Life is Beautiful?</i> If not, you really should. While you're watching, pay attention to some of the things I've pointed out in this article. And if you have seen it? Go back and watch it again, this time with a keener eye for detail. </div>
<i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-91036916569298885892018-04-13T05:37:00.000-07:002018-04-13T05:37:47.689-07:00Showing My AgeI think I was in middle school when I started watching reruns of<i> The Smothers Brothers</i> with my parents. I don't remember what channel it came on, but it became a nightly ritual in our home. My parents, of course, were reliving good memories of having watched the show when it was new. I was discovering it for the first time.<br />
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Several years later (I was either dating my husband or we were already married, I don't remember), we were all over at my mother-in-law's house. My parents were there as well. I don't remember what the occasion was. I just remember that we were all together. Somehow conversation drifted to a discussion of Bible stories about brothers, and my dad made some quip about Tom and Dick Smothers. I, desperate not to be left out of this lively conversation, quipped right back, "I don't think they were in the Bible." My mother-in-law (who may or may not have been my mother-in-law yet) apparently didn't pick up on the knowing smile I shot my father when I made my joke because she looked directly at me, with that look an older person gives a younger person just before imparting some useful knowledge which the younger person obviously doesn't possess, and said, "That's a joke only us old folks would understand."<br />
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I was highly offended.<br />
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I've titled this post "Showing My Age", but I'm using the title ironically because I rarely "show my age." And I'm bothered by anyone who, after referencing a beloved song or movie, immediately follows with, "I'm really showing my age here!"<br />
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Why? Why does knowing about a specific song automatically date a person? Can't people know about songs that came out before they were born? I certainly do. And I have for a long time.<br />
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1989 is the year I turned ten years old. It's also the year my parents decided to go see Paul McCartney in concert. They loved going to concerts, and for some reason they always took me with them. They wanted to take me to see Paul McCartney but remembered the last two concerts they attended, with me in tow, and realized that, if I didn't know any of the songs being performed, I would be miserable. And if I was miserable, I would make them miserable.<br />
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Thus began my musical education.<br />
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Songs by The Beatles, as well music from Paul McCartney's solo career, played in our house day in and day out for months. My parent's goal was that, by the time we went to the concert, I would know all the songs well enough to sing along to them, which would make me enjoy myself while I was there.<br />
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Their evil plan worked. Not only did I enjoy the concert, I became completely obsessed with The Beatles (a fact that got me teased a good deal in school). But I didn't stop with The Beatles. By the time I was in eighth grade I had discovered all the best songs from the sixties and seventies (and a few from the fifties). In ninth grade, I found our local oldies station, and that became the background music for my commute to and from high school and, later, college. While most people my age were listening to...whatever young people listened to in the nineties (I have virtually no memory of the music that was popular during my teen years), I was rocking out to Petula Clark, The Hollies, Sonny and Cher, The Seekers, Buddy Holly, and the list goes on and on.<br />
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Showing my age? Well, I'll certainly never show my age when it comes to the music I like. While I have, in recent years, found one or two nineties songs that I've determined are worth listening to (I think Hootie and the Blowfish have a couple that I like) for the most part nineties music leaves me cold. Or, worse, it sounds like the music all the mean girls at school listened to. You know, the girls who made fun of me for liking The Beatles.<br />
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It was very frustrating when, as a teen, I would try to talk to someone of my parents' generation about music and they would preface every statement with, "Of course you're too young to know this song..." Why? Why was I too young? Maybe I was too young to remember when the song was new, but the song still exists. Anyone, young or old, can listen to it. There's no such thing as "too young to know a song."<br />
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And now? Still not showing my age. You see, I'm now a<i> mom</i> of teenagers and they, unlike me at their age, are into new music. So I listen to it with them. And I'm finding that I like today's music a whole lot more than I will ever like anything that came out of the nineties.<br />
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What can I say? I've always been a little weird.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-34319055315982611722018-04-08T16:18:00.000-07:002018-04-08T16:18:10.203-07:00Indie Book of the Month: April 2018<i>Given to Fly</i> by K. L. Montgomery:<br />
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I've known about this book for a long time, but was somewhat wary of reading it based on the first line of the blurb, which says, "Can you break your vow if it's the only way to save yourself?" As someone who cherishes my religious beliefs and who also views marriage as a beautiful thing that's always worth fighting for, I feared this book would be an attack on all the things I hold dear. Not that I don't respect an author's right to tell a story from her own point of view, even if it differs from mine. I just knew that if I read it, I would then feel obligated to review it, and I try very hard to only read indie books if I can give them a good rating. </div>
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I've never been of the camp that views religion as a man-made institution designed for the control of the masses. That's not been my personal experience with the whole church thing. For me, church is a place where I can connect with fellow believers who support me on my walk of faith. And religion itself? Look, I won't claim I know with absolute certainty that the teachings of my church are one hundred percent true, but even if the theology passed down by this religion or that religion turns out to be false, still I don't see the whole thing as one big pack of lies, but rather as a natural outcropping of man's search for the truth and the answers to life's big questions. And the reason there are so many different religions with so many different beliefs? Well, those big questions are hard to answer and we're only human. We can only understand so much. </div>
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Because my faith is so precious to me, it hurts a bit when people want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. I'm referring to the attitude that because some religious people are hypocritical or judgmental, even bigoted, then religion, by extension, must be all those things as well. As though God is to blame for the fact that some of his followers are scoundrels. As though there's something wrong with me because I choose to seek God within the walls of a church.</div>
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I was afraid that's what this book was going to be. I was afraid it was going to tell me I've been brainwashed by an evil institution that specializes in selling lies for the purpose of mind control. </div>
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That is not what this book is. </div>
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Rather than an attack on faith itself, <i>Given to Fly</i> is a critique of the hypocrisy often found in Christian social circles. The fact that hypocrisy is one of the biggest problems within the religious community is well-known, even by the members of that community. We all know the temptation to be more self-righteous than we are righteous. We all know the temptation to gossip about our fellow man. We all know at least one group of judgmental little church ladies who look down their noses at everyone else. This book calls out communities of faith for those behaviors, and I think that's a good thing. People need to be aware of the damage they often do in the name of God.</div>
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The book also seems to be something of a critique of the megachurch culture so prevalent in modern Christianity. Listen, I'm not going to criticize<i> anyone's</i> chosen form of worship. If people find God in a megachurch, good for them. However, that particular brand of faith has never been my preference, so the glimpses this book gives into that culture did not bother me. Whether they are accurate or not is not for me to say because, as I said, I don't attend a church like that. </div>
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So I'm giving this book a proud five stars for tackling some serious issues in what I felt was a very sensitive way. I can't say I agree with all the conclusions drawn at the end of the story, but following Annelise on her journey of self-discovery got me thinking about some of those big questions I mentioned earlier, and I appreciate a book that goes that deep into the philosophical and the theological. </div>
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I want to mention that I appreciate Annelise's reluctance to leave her husband when she finds out he's cheating. I know that's an area where some reviewers have taken issue, but I fully understand her point of view. You see, this is her marriage she's fighting for, and she entered into that marriage thinking it was her happily ever after. Thinking it would last forever. That's not an ideal she's going to let go of easily. You don't change your whole worldview and give up on your lifelong dreams overnight, even if letting go of those dreams are what you really need in order to be happy. And confronting her husband about it? Sure, that would have been the right thing to do, but it would also be the scary thing to do. I'm one of the most non-confrontational people in the world. I can't imagine having to go to my husband and tell him I caught him cheating. Heck, I break out into a cold sweat every time I have to call my parents and ask them if they can babysit our dogs when we go on vacation because I'm worried they won't want to do it. A cheating husband? Yeah...my first instinct would be to pretend nothing was happening, just like Annelise does. Though I did want to scream at her to stop trying to get pregnant with her husband's baby. I realize she thinks that's what it will take to save her marriage, and I guess I can understand the fact that, until you actually have kids, you don't realize that, rather than<i> saving</i> a marriage, they are more likely to put strain on that marriage. I've known so many people who seemed perfectly happy together until that bouncing baby came along, then a couple of years later suddenly they're separated. Raising kids is hard, and bringing one into an already damaged home is never a good idea. But how could Annelise know that? She wouldn't. </div>
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I would have liked to see a little clearer glimpse of Annelise's faith. By the end of this book, she makes a decision that goes against everything she's been taught her entire life. I don't think she would make the transition quite as easily as she seems to in this book. I've gone through more than one period of doubt in my own faith journey. Doubt in my fellow Christians. Doubt in the church. Even doubt in the existence of God himself. Going through those doubts is scary. You feel like the very ground on which you're standing is about to be pulled out from beneath you. I would have liked to see a little of that in Annelise's story. It would have made it feel more real to me. </div>
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I also felt the ending was a little too pat. Everything seems to come together perfectly in this beautiful package that's wrapped up all pretty and topped with a neat, red bow. Life doesn't work that way. Life is messy. There are loose ends that sometimes never get tied up. And after everything the characters in this book have been through, it seems that there would be some lingering wounds that will take a long time to heal. </div>
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Nevertheless, this is a great book that really got me thinking about what I believe and why. </div>
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Whatever your personal conviction regarding faith, marriage, family, etc., I encourage you to take a chance on this book. If nothing else, it will get you thinking, and that can't be a bad thing.</div>
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Grab your copy here:</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Given-Fly-K-L-Montgomery-ebook/dp/B01MS8S1QU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon US</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Given-Fly-K-L-Montgomery/dp/0998335304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523228927&sr=8-1&keywords=given+to+fly+k+l+montgomery" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></div>
<i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-17121959752136351502018-03-30T07:16:00.000-07:002018-03-30T07:16:04.982-07:00Wrestling With Genesis 22Note: As the name of this website suggests, this post consists entirely of my personal musings and random thoughts. I do not claim to be a theologian with the authority to speak on behalf of any religious organization, and I certainly do not claim to be a prophet with the authority to speak on behalf of God. I am not here to present to you a guidebook on what you should believe. I'm just sharing some things that have been swirling around in my head for the past few days.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">The Most Difficult Chapter in the Bible</span></b><br />
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Genesis 22 is the story of Abraham going, at God's request, up onto a mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac. As a modern Christian, I find this chapter to be one of the most problematic in the Bible. What kind of God would ask a man to kill his own son? And do I want to align myself with a God who would do that? The most common interpretation of this story, one I've heard preached from pulpits and asserted within the cozy confines of Sunday School classes, is that God was testing Abraham's loyalty. To that interpretation, as to the story itself, my first response has always been, "Um...what?" Again, why would God ask a man to kill his own son? </div>
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Yes, the general consensus is the God never intended for Isaac to die. That the ram trapped in the bushes, which Abraham sacrificed instead, was part of God's plan all along. But still...why make the request in the first place? And the idea that it was a test of loyalty...yeah, I still have some issues with that. Looking at it from Abraham's point of view, I wonder why he would want to follow a God who made such unreasonable demands. And looking at it from God's point of view, I wonder why He would want followers who would even consider killing their own children. </div>
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The whole thing has been something of a stumbling block for me for most of my life.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">A Quick Story From My Own Life</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I'm going to take you into the mind of my teenage self. Get comfortable. You're about to go on one of the strangest journeys through Nerdville you've ever experienced.</span></div>
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I didn't discover<i> Star Trek</i> until the early nineties. I didn't start really enjoying<i> Star Trek</i> until 1994 when<i> Generations</i> was released. When<i> The Undiscovered Country</i> came out a few years earlier, I had been interested in seeing it in the theatre, but I didn't go because I had not seen any of the previous<i> Star Trek</i> movies and could not bring myself to watch them out of order. So I let the opportunity pass me by. The chance to see<i> Generations,</i> however, was not one I was willing to pass up because it was the first movie centering on the characters from<i> The Next Generation,</i> and I had always preferred<i> TNG</i> to the original series. I had to see this movie in the theatre. But I had to watch all the previous installments first. </div>
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So my parents and I had a<i> Star Trek</i> marathon. This was one of the first movie marathons I ever had. In the years that followed, many more were to come, but it all started with<i> Star Trek.</i> You could say it was my first binge-watching experience. </div>
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I began the marathon with the intention of having a greater understanding of<i> Generations.</i> I was not interested in the movies based on their own merit, but only for the insights they could give me regarding the one I really wanted to watch. Honestly, I didn't give a rip about Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. I was watching the movies from a strictly intellectual point of view. I thought of it as a type of historical research. But something began to happen as I continued watching. I fell in love with Spock. It's not surprising. I loved Data on<i> The Next Generation,</i> and Spock was really just another version of Data. </div>
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My love for Spock became problematic for me because now I was invested in the original series, but all I had were the movies. I had no access to the original show. Netflix didn't exist back then. DVDs didn't exist back then. Yeah, some TV shows were beginning to be released on VHS, but they were not easy to find. And assuming I could find them, what was I going to do? Buy the entire series? With no more than two episodes per cassette, the full collection would likely have taken up a fourth of my bedroom. Assuming the full series was even available on VHS, which I'm not sure it was. </div>
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I became so desperate to watch the old<i> Star Trek</i> that I actually picked up the<i> TV Guide</i> one day and read it from beginning to end, looking to see if the series was playing on any of my channels. It wasn't. </div>
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I became very depressed about all this. Yes, depressed. What can I say? I was a weird kid. In the diary I kept back then, there are probably thirty pages devoted to my obsession with<i> Star Trek</i> and my despair over the fact that I was unable to watch the original show. Here's an excerpt from one of those entries:</div>
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<i>I thought that, surely, someday, everything will even out and we will all be given the things we thought we missed out on. But when? Heaven? Possibly. I held on to this hope happily for a few seconds and then thought, "How can I know what's in heaven? The problems might not actually be resolved. The emotions that go along with them might simply be taken away." This thought bothered me so that I started crying again. I don't yearn and work for something only to forget that I ever wanted it in the end. That would not make me happy. Suddenly I realized that if it could not make me happy, it could not be heaven. Heaven was the main goal, the main thing we work for in life. It is what makes all of life's little trials, and all of the problems and overcome obstacles worth it in the end. And if it really is that, then everything will work itself out, and all of the empty spaces in the heart will be filled, not taken away so that you can no longer feel the pain. My next question was, "is it true? How can I presume to know what is in Heaven?" I had to pray. During this, several images passed through my mind. The first was something from the Bible. "Where your treasure is, there your heart is also." Many things could be considered treasures. A loved one, a poem, even a pet. My fixation on</i> Star Trek<i> could even be considered a treasure. Heaven was the final reward for the hard test of life. It was the treasure. My heart was there, and there my dreams could be fulfilled. I remembered a phrase of my own, "Anyone can make a person laugh, but it takes a lot to make a person cry." We need our tears, we need to feel sorrow in order to feel happiness. It's no use to search for the gold at the end of the rainbow, only to get there and forget that you wanted it to start with. We all need the things that touch our hearts so deeply and make us cry, so that, when we finally find our goals and our happiness, we can look back and be thankful for it. Without sorrow, there can be no happiness, for there is no standard of comparison by which to judge.</i></div>
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Yes, I was creating for myself a vision of heaven as a place where I could binge-watch<i> Star Trek.</i> Are you still there? Have I scared you away? I told you my teenage mind was a strange place. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">How Is My<i> Star Trek</i> Experience Related to Abraham and Isaac?</span></b></div>
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I'm not trying to say that I loved<i> Star Trek</i> in the same way that a father loves his child. The point I'm making is that I wrestled with the question of whether God would ask me to give up this thing that I loved, and I came to the conclusion that he would not. In hindsight, I can see that maybe God wanted me to have a healthier attitude toward<i> Star Trek,</i> and I no longer think of heaven as an eternity of Netflix binging, but I still hold on to the notion that God won't ask us to sacrifice the things we love, the things which form the core of our identities, in the name of loyalty. </div>
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I still wrestle with this. I married young and, in my twenties, I chose raising children over having a career. Now I'm in my late thirties and I think a lot about all of the career goals I never achieved because I was busy doing other things. Traditional Christian thought tells us that women should not desire a career. That hearth and home is our domain and we should be content to remain there. And don't get me wrong, I have a deep love for tending the home fires. I like being the one who cooks the meals for my family and who shoulders the primary responsibility for raising the kids. But I do have other dreams, and part of me hopes that one day I can make those dreams come true. </div>
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Sometimes, like I did with<i> Star Trek,</i> I let these unrealized dreams take up too much room in my heart. Sometimes I have an unhealthy attitude toward them. I know it's becoming unhealthy when I start moping around the house thinking about all the things I wish I had done with my life rather than enjoying the good things I already have. But developing a healthy attitude about my career goals is not the same thing as giving up on my goals altogether. My love of writing, photography, filmmaking, etc. are part of the fabric from which I was cut. To purge myself of those things completely would be to deny a fundamental part of who I am. Would God ask me to do that? Would He ask me to lay my very identity on the altar the way Abraham did with Isaac? I don't think so.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">So What<i> Was</i> God Asking of Abraham?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Again, I'm not a prophet. I don't speak for God. I can't claim that my interpretation of this biblical story is the "correct" one. This is just a thought that has settled in my mind, so I decided to write about it. People may agree with me or disagree, and I'm perfectly fine with that. </span></div>
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I'm also not an expert on ancient history, so take this with a grain of salt and do your own research if you want to know more, but my general understanding of the ancient world is that many religions of the time centered around the notion of an angry god who needed to be appeased with sacrifices. If this was the culture into which Abraham was born, it makes sense that he would feel compelled to offer up his greatest treasure as an act of loyalty to his God. What if...and this is only a what if...God allowed Abraham to believe this in order to show Him that this was not the kind of thing He would ever demand? So the command to sacrifice his son came not from God but from Abraham's preconceived notions of what religion meant. And God played along right up until the moment of truth because that was the only way to show Abraham the nature of his folly. </div>
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And we can apply it in our own lives when we wonder if God wants us to give up something that makes us happy, just because the culture from which we came has thrust that image of religious devotion onto us.</div>
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It's a new way of looking at it, but one which offers a bit more comfort than the typical interpretation. </div>
<b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: #005300;"></span><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><i></i><i></i><b></b><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-19873732101539452962018-03-24T15:20:00.001-07:002018-03-24T17:16:52.392-07:00What We Love and What We Need<b><span style="color: #990000;">Nourishing the Body</span></b><br />
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I love sweets. Almost any kind of sweets. Donuts. Pie. Cake. Even bread smeared with jam will suffice in a pinch. I've been known to eat honey from a spoon straight out of the jar. I seem to be genetically programed to crave a little sugar several times a day.<br />
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Indulging my sweet tooth gives me pleasure and, if done in moderation, can be a harmless indulgence.<br />
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My body, however, will not thrive on sugar alone. For my body to thrive, I need balanced nutrition. That means vegetables and healthy protein. And don't get me wrong, I'm capable of taking pleasure in healthy food. My affinity for sweets doesn't preclude my enjoyment of a nutritious meal. But sometimes...oh, sometimes...sometimes those green peas leave a taste in my mouth that no amount of water will wash away. Sometimes that broccoli smells a little too much like old garbage. Sometimes a raw apple doesn't feel nearly as good in my stomach as it would if I cut it up and cooked it in a pie.<br />
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But I still have to eat the healthy stuff. Okay, I don't<i> have</i> to. I'm an adult. I have free will. I can choose to have Reece's Pieces for every meal if I want to. But I don't because I know my body needs that other stuff in order to work properly.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Nourishing the Soul</span></b><br />
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I am an introvert. I crave alone time just as much as I crave peach cobbler. I'm never happier than when I'm all by myself watching a sunset or immersed in a good book or soaking in fragrant bath water.<br />
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But I need more than that in order to thrive as a human being. I need to be a part of a community and have the support that only friends and family can give. To have this, I have to spend time around people. Even when I don't want to. Even when I'd rather stay home and look for a new show to binge-watch on Netflix.<br />
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Being around people is kind of like eating vegetables. Sometimes it's pleasurable. Sometimes it's not. Actually, my first instinct is usually to shy away from social situations. I remember getting invited to go out to the movies or the mall or the whatever by friends when I was in high school and I would beg my mom to say I wasn't allowed to go so that I could have an excuse to stay home. Sometimes she would give in to my entreaty, but more often than not she would advise me that it was in my best interests to say yes to the invitation because if I said no too many times, eventually the invitations would stop coming. I still go through this as an adult. Sometimes a group of women I know from the gym will ask if I want to go out to lunch after class and I almost always decline because I'm afraid that being in that situation with a group of people I know only casually will quickly turn awkward. And awkward social situations are scary.<br />
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Putting myself out there in that way is not something that comes naturally to me, but it is absolutely vital to my psychological and spiritual health.<br />
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The thing is, we all need a community. We all need a circle of loved ones we can count on when times get tough. But in order to have those relationships, we have to work to build them. Even when we don't feel like it. Because you don't get to be a part of a community by just existing close to it. You don't form bonds with people by sitting ten feet away from them and never making eye contact. You can only make those connections when you reach out. When you make the effort. When you force yourself to be a bit more social than your natural inclination would typically allow.<br />
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I know probably half of the people reading this will not identify with this post. I think it's one of those challenges unique to us introverts. The point is that sometimes what we really need is something that goes against our natural inclinations. But we have to fight the instinct to back away if we really want to grow into more mature, more complete individuals.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-81402705890602364622018-03-18T05:16:00.001-07:002018-03-18T05:20:44.317-07:00What Gandhi and Michael Jackson Have in Common<b><span style="color: #990000;">Good Advice</span></b><br />
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My favorite quote is one from Gandhi. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." It's a great quote for two reasons. First, it empowers us. It tells us that if we see something that needs to be done, we should do it. And second, it reminds us that we can't wait for someone else to do it because we can't control another person's actions. </div>
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Michael Jackson's advice to "start with the man in the mirror" is really saying the same thing. Don't wait for someone else to do the work that needs to be done. Do it. And don't wait for the world to be perfect because it never will be. Go ahead and start working on yourself. Strive to become the person you wish everyone else would be. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Living our Ideals</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">We all have ideals, right? We all have values. We all have an idea of how we think everyone else should live. But, the thing is, we can't force other people to live by our values because their values may be different from ours. </span></div>
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I'm not trying to say truth is relative. I'm saying no one is perfect, and we can't make them perfect. If we try, we'll only make them resent us. We'll come off as being self-righteous, and no one likes that. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">A Practical Example</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I'm going to use environmentalism as an example, mainly because it is a scientific one. It is easy to see which activities are beneficial to the environment and which are not because the scientific evidence generally speaks for itself. I say "generally" because there is a fair degree of interpretation involved in empirical analysis. Think of a murder trial. The evidence is there for all to see, but what the evidence says depends on which spin the attorney puts on it. Science works the same way. </span></div>
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So when I say a certain practice is beneficial, what I'm saying is that the evidence seems to point that way. </div>
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Perhaps I should have been a lawyer. I seem to be good at this disclaimer business. </div>
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But I'm rambling. Back to the question at hand. How do we live in a way that is not detrimental to the environment? </div>
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There is pretty convincing evidence showing that a vegan lifestyle is the best choice for healing an ailing world. Notice I said "pretty convincing." Since we've never lived in a world where everyone was vegan, we can't know what kind of effect it would really have. And I'm not vegan, so I'm certainly not promoting that lifestyle above all others.</div>
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My inner lawyer is coming out again. Sorry.</div>
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Let's look at three people with three different lifestyles.</div>
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Bob is a vegan. He chooses to live this way for multiple reasons. First, he has a love of animals and can't imagine consuming animal flesh. Second, he feels that this diet is the best thing he can do for his body. But his primary motivation is his disdain for the modern meat industry and the damage he feels it is doing to the world. Because of all of these ideals, he can't bring himself to put even one bite of animal protein into his mouth. </div>
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Teresa is not vegan, but she, like Bob, is wary of the meat industry. While she does eat meat, she tries to buy from local farms that raise free-range chickens and grass-fed cows. Like Bob, she feels that these choices are the most humane for the animal, the best for her own body, and the most beneficial to the world as a whole.</div>
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Shirley would like to be more deliberate about her diet, but she's a young mother trying to feed herself, her husband, and their three kids on a tight budget. She won't go vegan because she knows how hard it is to get her kids to eat vegetables and fears that removing meat from their diet will deprive them of the few nutrients they're actually <i>willing</i> to eat. And she can't do the locavore thing because it's just too expensive. So she buys the cheap cuts of meat from the supermarket. She occasionally serves up a plate of frozen chicken nuggets. Being a mom is tough, but she does what she can.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">Avoiding Judgement </span></b></div>
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We can all look at Bob's lifestyle and applaud him for his efforts to live according to his values. But what if he tries to force his values on others? What if he sees Shirley bending over the meat counter at the grocery store and takes that opportunity to inform her of the horrible consequences of her diet? Now Bob has gone from being a respectable man, who knows his own heart and lives his life accordingly, to being a bully. And no one likes a bully. Even if that bully has a good message. Even if, in his mind, he's only trying to help. Do you know what happens when you try to bully people into doing what you think is right? You actually have the exact opposite effect. You make them want to dig in their heels and refuse to budge from their position. </div>
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Basically, if you think being vegan is the best possible thing to be, then be vegan. Because you can control your own choices. You can control your own diet. But don't expect everyone else to agree with you because they won't.</div>
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The same principle can be applied to nearly every decision we make in life. How much television we allow our children to watch. How much time we spend in the gym. Whether we go to church or not. Whether we drink alcohol. What kind of car we drive. </div>
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In the end, all we can do is live our own lives according to what we feel is right. Even if we firmly believe that if everyone agreed with us the world would be a better place, still we cannot ask others to share our values. Doing so will only push them further in the other direction. </div>
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Okay, so I got a little philosophical this week. Hope it didn't get too heavy for anyone. On a lighter note, I'm taking part in a group promotion right now.<i> Amelia's Children</i> and eight other mystery/thriller eBooks are available for only 99 cents. Check them out at this website: <a href="http://www.emeraldobrien.com/99-cent-mystery-suspense-and-thrillers" target="_blank">99 Cent Mystery, Suspense, and Thrillers.</a> All of the books are available from Amazon.<i> Amelia's Children</i> is available from all major online retailers. <i></i></div>
Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-8052100682184277992018-03-08T05:34:00.001-08:002018-03-08T05:34:39.569-08:00Why Self Publishing is not Vanity PublishingI don't remember the name of the anthology. I don't remember how I became aware of the anthology. It was probably a letter that came in the mail, inviting me to publish my poetry.<br />
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Publish! Well, of course, I wanted to publish my poetry. That's every writer's dream, right? To get published.<br />
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So I meticulously chose a poem. I even gathered up several of my poems and took them to my English teacher at school (I think I was in tenth grade) to ask her advice on which poem I should send in. She sat with me for a few minutes after school and gave me what I thought was some sound advice. So I chose a poem and sent it to the publisher. Then, a while later, a shiny hard-bound book came in the mail. A book my parents had purchased because they knew my poem would appear in it and they couldn't wait to see their little's girl's words in print.<br />
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Fast forward a year or so. We get another letter in the mail, from the same publisher. This time they want to publish a<i> collection</i> of my poetry. That's right. An entire book of just my poems! I naturally wanted to do it.<br />
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This time I had a better authority to turn to for help than just my English teacher. You see, by this point, I had met my husband and we had been dating for a few months. And his grandmother was a poet. A fairly serious one at that. I knew she would be able to look over my work and tell me which poems were most worthy of publication.<br />
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The next time we went over to her house, I carried a bundle of my precious words with me. Nervously, I approached her, told her about the publication opportunity, and asked if she'd look over my poems and give me her thoughts. Then she gave me "the look." You know the one I'm talking about. The one where an elderly person tilts her head down so she can get a really good look at you over the rims of her spectacles? Yeah. That look.<br />
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The first words out of her mouth were, "Do you know what a scam that is?" No, "Congratulations!" No, "Good for you for pursuing your dream of being a writer!" Just, "Do you know what a scam that is?" I was speechless. After all, in truth, I did<i> not</i> know what a scam it was. I had no idea.<br />
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She explained to me that my parents and I would likely be the only people to ever see this "book" that was being printed. This publishing company was not in the business of marketing books for their authors. Publishing with them would never get my work onto the shelves of Barnes & Noble. They were just after my money.<br />
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"But," she said, "if it means that much to you just to see your words in print, go ahead and do it."<br />
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Welcome to the world of the vanity publishing house.<br />
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No wonder there has been such a stigma attached to self publishing.<br />
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Fast forward about twenty years, and self publishing has taken on a whole new meaning. It is no longer a scam. In fact, for many people, it has been a quite lucrative business opportunity.<br />
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So what's the main difference between self publishing and vanity publishing? It's primarily a difference in the mindset of the authors. Vanity publishers came about because people saw an opportunity to make money off of aspiring authors who knew, because it was the truth at the time, that the only way to get their work out there was to go through a third party publisher. Today's self published authors<i> are</i> the publishers. It's not so much publishing a book as it is starting a business. And, as I said above, some people are doing some darn good business.<br />
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No, the self publishing world is not perfect. But neither is the traditional publishing world. And, yes, the relative ease with which today's authors can put their books on the market opens the door for a lot of poor quality work. I'm not blind to that. It's why I always read the sample chapters on Amazon before committing to buying an indie book. With the business being, for the most part, unregulated, you can never be sure what you're getting when you decide to read a self published eBook.<br />
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But I stand firm on my assertion that we are no longer living in the days of vanity publishing. You see, at one time virtually the<i> only</i> people who chose to self publish were those who knew they weren't good enough to go the traditional route. But they wanted to see their work in print. Maybe they wanted nice, hardbound volumes of their stories to give out to friends and family at Christmas. Maybe they wanted a collection of poems written by the little old ladies of the community to sell at a church fundraiser. Whatever the reason, everyone was aware of one rule. If you were a serious writer, you did not self publish.<br />
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Nowadays, a lot of self published authors are<i> very</i> serious about their writing careers. There are even awards, some fairly prestigious ones, for self published books. Heck, indie books are eligible for the Pulitzer. Imagine the boost our reputation would receive if one of us ever won<i> that</i> award!<br />
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Don't misunderstand me. I do see the other side of the argument. I get the point the naysayers are trying to make. Getting a book noticed, and then printed and distributed, by a major publishing house carries with it a level of prestige that indie publishing will never have. After all, there's a huge difference between saying, "I thought my book was good, so I published it," and saying, "This agent, and then this editor, both well respected people in the literary world, thought my book was good, so it's going to be published." Being your own gatekeeper does strip you of a certain number of bragging rights. But, for me, that's where those awards come in. Submitting to contests is a big part of my marketing plan for my books (though I don't know if I'm bold enough to go for the Pulitzer!) because if I ever win one, that's third-party validation that my books are, indeed, worth the money I'm charging for them. So I've swapped one querying process for another. The difference is, while I wait for some literary expert to take a shine to my work, I can already be selling it in the digital marketplace.Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-63721282630961064032018-03-02T04:14:00.000-08:002018-03-02T04:14:56.664-08:00Indie Book of the Month: March 2018<i>Chevalier</i> by Bree M. Lewandowski<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9wzrvZFz37c/WpkzA1wJY7I/AAAAAAAAAqM/2AVENbuSg3Ev3GOIC-gfdM9DafICoVu2gCLcBGAs/s1600/Chevalier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9wzrvZFz37c/WpkzA1wJY7I/AAAAAAAAAqM/2AVENbuSg3Ev3GOIC-gfdM9DafICoVu2gCLcBGAs/s320/Chevalier.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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This one's going to be four stars for me.<br />
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Let me say one thing before I start. This is a<i> good book.</i> I had some personal issues with it, but I know those issues won't bother everyone, so please take my critique with a grain of salt and give this book a chance.<br />
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I always start with the positive and move to the negative when I write these reviews but have come to realize that structuring them that way gives the impression that I'm saying something along the lines of, "It was okay, but..." What I really want to say is, "It had some issues, but I still liked it." So I'm turning my normal review structure upside down and starting with my critique.<br />
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One issue I had with this book was the wonky grammar. Notice I've not said "bad grammar." The grammar is not exactly<i> bad,</i> just...wonky. The reason I say it's not bad is that the most common grammatical error I found was the dangling modifier, which is probably the easiest language faux pas to commit. Really, nearly everyone, except the staunchest grammar nerds, is guilty of dangling modifiers from time to time. And most people probably wouldn't notice them. I did because I'm a grammar nerd. There were also a few cases of mixed up pronouns (object pronouns that should have been subject pronouns and vice versa) but those were few and far between, to the point that I could almost dismiss them as typos (I've said in numerous reviews that I can easily overlook typos because I know how easy they are to miss). Again, these are things some people might not mind. I did because I'm a nerd.<br />
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This is the third book I've read by this author, and I'm not sure why I'm only just now noticing these errors in her writing. I think it may have been that the other two books I read by her were her<i> Under Lights</i> duet, which takes place in the world of ballet, and I was so in love with that world that I was blind to any mistakes that may have been present.<br />
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On to the story itself. It was good. But it left me underwhelmed in some ways. Again, I couldn't help but compare it to<i> Under Lights.</i> Ms. Lewandowski's first two books blew me away with their attention to detail. I expected the same when she tried her hand at fantasy. I expected such in-depth world-building that I would live in this beautiful place she created. And don't get me wrong. There<i> was</i> world-building. And it was beautiful. But I wanted more. I wanted to know more about the Shirs and the Nightingale Queen. I wanted a front row seat for the ritual that elevated Kohl to the Order of Chevalier. Details were there, but not as many as I wanted.<br />
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And the romance? Well, I've said before that I don't normally read romance, so maybe I'm not the target audience in this situation, but I felt that the whole thing unfolded too quickly. Remember, I was spoiled by<i> Under Lights.</i> That story is told over two books, and the first one is 300 pages long. The two main characters have heaps of time to get to know each other before they start declaring their undying love. And they take their time. So much time, in fact, that when they<i> do</i> get together, the audience is like, "Finally!"<i> Chevalier</i> is one book, and it's barely more than 150 pages. Basically a third the length of<i> Under Lights.</i> So, of course, it moves at a faster pace. And maybe that's what romance readers want. Maybe it's a genre where you get in trouble if you let the sexual tension build for too long without giving the characters, and the audience, the release they crave. But I love a good build-up of tension. Heck, my favorite love story is Mulder and Scully from<i> The X-Files.</i> Remember how long it took them to get together? Seven seasons. Yep. We waited seven years for that release of sexual tension. And I loved every minute of it. So I guess I prefer slower-paced stories. Again, maybe it's because I'm a nerd.<br />
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Okay, so that was a long critique, but I want to repeat what I said above. These are<i> my</i> issues. They may not bother other people at all, so please give this book a chance. There is plenty of good in it. I loved the two main characters. The flawed heroine and the strong hero with the tortured past. Two people who believe no one will ever love them...until they find each other. It's a beautiful concept, and Linah and Kohl fill their roles well.<br />
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I also appreciated the role reversal at the end. Linah is portrayed as a delicate flower who needs to rely on the help of others. Kohl is her knight in shining armor. Until Kohl falls ill and it's up to Linah to save him. In order to do so, she has to rely on reserves of strength she didn't know she possessed. I'm a sucker for a story with a vulnerable male lead, so I was eating all of that up as I read the ending of this book. <br />
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So please go check out this book and make up your own mind about it. If you like a touching love story encased in beautiful world building, this may be the perfect book for you.<br />
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You can get on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chevalier-Bree-M-Lewandowski-ebook/dp/B079C3XY1T/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon.</a>Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667760236679519609.post-84595372184623500702018-02-22T06:01:00.001-08:002018-02-22T06:01:32.922-08:00Our Love/Hate Relationship with the Damsel in Distress <b><span style="color: #990000;">It's Complicated</span></b><br />
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Women seem to be all over the spectrum when it comes to the damsel in distress. Some love to put themselves in her shoes, and they feel tingly all over when that knight in shining armor scoops her up and nestles her safely against his strong, muscular chest. Other women want to tell her to grow up, learn to fend for herself, and stop relying on men to get her out of the tough situations she so often finds herself in.<br />
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Being a woman myself, I'm not sure how men feel about this helpless heroine. Do they imagine themselves playing the man's role in the story, swooping in to save the day and being showered with grateful kisses? Or do they want to shake our dear damsel and tell her to get off her butt and rescue her own darn self? Maybe a little of both? I really don't know.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">I Like Her...Sometimes</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">If I'm going to enjoy a damsel in distress story, it has to be there for a purpose beyond making the woman look needy and the man look strong. It has to be there as part of a bigger character arc. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Here are a few examples I've enjoyed over the years:</span></div>
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Christian Troy and Gina Russo on<i> Nip/Tuck.</i> This was back in the first season, when the show was actually doing some pretty awesome things with Christian's character. He's portrayed, in the first episode, as a womanizing jerk with no heart. It is implied, however, that he had a traumatic childhood, hinting that his early experiences may be the reason for his cavalier attitude toward the women in his life. Later episodes confirm this, and set him on a path of self-discovery, which all culminates, of course, with the birth of his son, Wilber. Along the way, we see him slowly developing into a more caring, sensitive person as he tries to form a relationship with Wilber's mother, Gina. We are not supposed to like Gina. But we are supposed to like Christian's<i> reaction</i> to Gina. For the first time, we see him being tender and sweet, and we see him doing it for purely altruistic reasons and not because he has something to gain from the relationship. So the fact that he constantly has to come to Gina's rescue is not troublesome because it's important for his character development. </div>
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Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in<i> Gone with the Wind.</i> Here we have two characters who are both growing and developing into more mature people. Scarlett is stubborn and independent and, most importantly, despises Rhett. Or, at least, she<i> thinks</i> she despises him. Rhett is callous and crude and looks at Scarlett with a heavy amount of disdain. Or, at least, he wants<i></i> Scarlett to <i>think</i> he views her this way. Scarlett has had to be the strong one in so many situations--delivering Melanie's baby, working the family farm after it's been decimated by the Yankees, taking care of her feeble-minded father--that when she<i></i> finally shows a little weakness it's actually touching. She has to admit that she can't do it all herself, and sometimes it takes a lot of strength to admit that. And the fact that it's Rhett who so often comes to her aid...well, we knew all along that he had a tender side lurking somewhere under that rough exterior, didn't we? </div>
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Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen in<i> The Hunger Games</i> trilogy. Katniss is supposed to be the stronger character here. Peeta is painted as a bit of a wimp from the beginning, and spends more time, especially in the second and third books, needing to be rescued than he does rescuing anyone. But he is, nonetheless, the person Katniss turns to for support when she feels afraid. The juxtaposition of those moments in which Katniss allows herself to be weak, and Peeta answers that weakness with his strength, against the rest of the story, in which those roles are reversed, was the main reason I was rooting for those two to get together in the end. I think those short glimpses of Peeta's strength are necessary to make us like his character. Without them, I don't believe we'd care so much about all the terrible things that happen to him. And we certainly wouldn't understand Katniss's overwhelming need to try to save him. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">What I Prefer</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I've always much preferred stories that take this trope and turn it on its head. In other words, I like seeing the woman come to the man's rescue.<i> The X Files</i> is probably the best example of this because, in every episode, Mulder and Scully get themselves into some kind of dangerous situation. And they seem to take turns rescuing each other. This week it's Scully's turn to be vulnerable. Next week it'll be Mulder's turn. I've always really loved it when it's Mulder's turn. </span></div>
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It should have been touching to see Mulder's relentless quest to find Scully after she is abducted by Duane Barry in season 2, but it didn't make my heart go pitter patter anywhere close to the way it did watching Scully try to come to terms with Mulder's abduction in season 8. </div>
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Mulder keeping vigil at Scully's bedside in One Breath does not hold a candle (in my admittedly weird mind) to Scully watching over Mulder in End Game. </div>
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I very nearly snored all the way through Scully's cancer storyline in season 4 but was glued to the set when Mulder experienced his own life-threatening illness in seasons 6 and 7. </div>
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What can I say? I have a thing for the vulnerable male lead. That's<i> my</i> favorite trope. </div>
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All right, you've heard my thoughts. Now tell me yours. Do you love the damsel in distress? Or hate her? Or do your feelings fall somewhere in between?</div>
<b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><b></b><span style="color: #990000;"></span><b></b><span style="color: black;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />Greta Cribbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736694597366470905noreply@blogger.com4