tzikeh

(x-posted to tumblr, pillowfort)

I’m not mad at the movie per se; I’m mad about the narrative construct employed by pretty much any movie/show/insert-form-of-storytelling-here that the death of one or more main characters (especially The Grand Sacrifice For All Humanity) is the only option in a high-stakes situation––anything else, and the payoff is just not enough, somehow. There is no closure without death? That’s a pretty terrible position for storytellers to take.

This is so baked into our collective consciousness that no one stops to think about it and ask, “Well, but… do you mean there’s no other way to bring this story to a satisfying conclusion? Like, none? If no one dies, then the story isn’t satisfying?”

Everyone went into Endgame expecting at least one death of one of Our Heroes, if not more. We expected it because of this pervasive-yet-provably-unfounded narrative cliché, and I don’t think that’s how narrative creators should be approaching storytelling. I think it’s time for a radical change in how we conclude entertainments (re: provably unfounded--see final paragraph of post).

Honestly, from now on, if a storyteller says anything along the lines of “If none of the main characters die, there’s no emotional payoff,” I am going to stop engaging with that storyteller’s works immediately.

You know what would be a huge emotional payoff? Seeing the characters we love–-have loved for ten years-–fighting the good fight, and emerging victorious. Joy is a huge emotional payoff. But we seem unable to question this central tenet of our storytelling, and it leads a lot of writers to purposely write toward crappy endings.

I’m not saying narratives should never include the death of a major character. I love me a heroic sacrifice! But if every high-stakes story means Someone Has To Die, that means that we, both writers and audience, are unconsciously locked into this pattern and blinded to any others such that writers start writing with killing off beloved characters as the goal because now it's the rules, and it doesn’t have to be. The fact that we all “knew” that someone “had” to die, and we “knew” it for, if we’re being honest, even before Infinity War–-I think that’s bad for us. I really do think it’s bad for us.

If anyone ever says that a happily ever after ending in which all of the main characters live isn’t narratively or emotionally satisfying, they have likely absorbed that idea from society's disdain for romance novels and “chick flicks,” which as we know must be objectively terrible because women like them. So here’s what you do. Point that person at the nearest hard-ass, backwards-ballcap-wearing, swole Chicago Cubs fandude, and ask them about the 2016 World Series. Was it gratifying? Did our heroes fight the good fight and emerge victorious? Did everyone go ape-shit? Did we hold a parade? Was it a spectacular, emotion-filled conclusion to a hundred-year-long story?

DID ANYONE ON THE TEAM DIE?

NO?

Joy is a huge emotional payoff.

IT'S TIME FOR HOT DOGS AND FIREWORKS AND SONGS ABOUT BEING OBNOXIOUS AND DISLIKED -- in other words, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

We are a TERRIBLE FUCKIN' COUNTRY but man, I still love this movie, in the same way I love The West Wing. It makes me feel super-patriotic and joyful about the country I wish I lived in.

I'm posting a whole bunch of 1776 stuff at my tumblr.

Now and Again is coming to DVD this summer, according to one VERY large retailer! TVShowsonDVD has got the heads-up info.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?



ETA: Pre-order at Amazon.

"The first-ever screening of Tom Hooper's Les Misérables received a rapturous standing ovation on Friday afternoon in New York."—Huffington Post

"Each musical number was followed by raucous applause with the principal cast taking the stage to a standing ovation at the end of the film."—Collider

"Twitter proclaimed rapturous, ecstatic acclaim for Les Misérables. Apparently the crowd went nuts, on their feet, in tears."—Awards Daily

"Les Mis brings screening audience to tears and becomes instant Oscar contender."—The Examiner

"Judging from a raucously well-received New York screening of Les Misérables on Friday afternooon, the most exciting aspect of the 2013 Oscar race will be a contest between the precision of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln and the passion of Tom Hooper's epic musical.... Hugh Jackman, who anchors the film as the ex-con Jean Valjean, and [Anne] Hathaway, who plays the doomed grisette Fantine, are shoo-ins for Best Actor and Supporting Actress nominations."—Movieline

****************************

Official Site

Official teaser trailer

Official international trailer

Hooper made the decision to record the entire thing "live"—the actors sang while filming, rather than recording songs beforehand, and then lip-syncing on set.

Behind-the-scenes featurette: the actors talk about singing live while filming, and how it can make an enormous difference in a performance.

****************************

I saw Les Misérables with Colm Wilkinson, both in the West End and on Broadway, in my teens. I also saw Phantom of the Opera with Michael Crawford, both in the West End and on Broadway. If you'd asked me then which movie I'd have been more excited for, it would have been Phantom, without question. When they finally made Phantom into a movie (I was in my mid-thirties), the trailer turned me off. I thought "Wow, that's gonna suck." And I wasn't wrong.

This?

It doesn't premiere here for 30 days yet.

I'm already in line, motherfuckers. I'm already in line.

DEAR WHITE COLLAR YOU ARE DRUNK

YOU ARE WRITING NC-17 FANFICTION OF YOURSELF

NOT THAT THIS IS PARTICULARLY NEW

BUT THIS IS A LEVEL I DID NOT EXPECT

WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN

ELIZABETH I LOVE YOU

THIS SHOW IS SO FUCKING DRUNK RIGHT NOW

AND THEN AFTER NEAL TOOK THAT SIP OF WINE EVERYONE HAD SEX WITH EVERYONE

I EXPECT TO SEE THOSE STORIES PRONTO

LET'S GO FANDOM

ALL OF THE WRITERS WERE DRUNK WEREN’T THEY

ALL OF THE WRITERS

ALL OF THEM

ALL

My friends J & P are downsizing from a very large house, and they've packed up over two decades of books, CDs, and DVDs to sell. Since they're ridiculously busy, they've made me a kind of estate agent: my job is to sell all this stuff, and then give them the cash (though I get a cut for doing the work, which is awesome). There's a wide range of quality and value -- some of the DVD cases are kind of battered; others are still sealed in the original plastic. Some of the books are ratty paperbacks; some are first-edition hardcovers.

My current plan is to build an Excel workbook that I can use to keep track of of everything that will be available, along with ISBN numbers for the books, release dates for the DVDs (and notes if it's a special edition, box set, blah blah), among other things. Then online research into fair prices for each of the items so that I know what to advertise as price (or what to expect from auction).

The problem is that there are so many options for how to sell this kind of stuff, and I'm at a bit of a loss to choose the best way (or ways) to do this. There's craigslist, ebay, and amazon, plus advertising the stuff on my dreamwidth, livejournal, and tumblr accounts (and then putting a link to those announcements on twitter). There are probably more I'm not thinking of, or don't even know about.

I have never sold anything on ebay, so my lack of familiarity with it is an automatic barrier to doing this easily, but if it's the best option for some of the items, I should probably look into it. But my understanding is that there are all kinds of fees and other details that make it sound like it's more trouble than it would be worth.

MY QUESTION:

Those of you who have done things like this--what do you suggest? What kind of success have you had in the past with the aforementioned venues for selling used stuff? What kind of bad experiences have you had? Do you have other ideas for me?

(Obviously I'll be making the Excel workbook available for download once it's finished for perusal by anyone who might be interested, so watch this space....)

NJ Doctor Would Reportedly Rather Let Patient Die Than Treat Him For ‘Gay Disease’

New Jersey doctor refuses to treat gay patient for HIV, says “This is what he gets for going against God’s will”

...

Doc, while you are a religious person, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that you haven’t bothered to read Your Rulebook. I’m not a religious person, but it just so happens that I’ve read it, cover to cover, and more than once.

If it turns out that you’re right about The Contents of Your Rulebook (that you probably haven’t read), I fear you are going to be in for an epic shock when you find out what neighborhood you’re slated to spend eternity in after you die.

Why you gotta break my heart, Fringe?

Why you gotta do me this way?




Fuck you, Fringe.

Just... fuck you.