Blog change...we moved...

To all my followers on this blog plz visit my new blog at...
http://sesamestreetispopculture.blogspot.com/

Creative Writing posts (3 of 3)

Prairiefire Volume.31.  Spring 2010

Mazing Grace by Michael Van Rooy

The narrator tells of his dad’s job as a bank robber in a pretty nonchalant manner. He says it like saying his dad was a farmer.  At the beginning of the book he details how his dad prepared the entire family for his “trips”.  He describes the effects it has on the family dynamic, by referencing how his mother would refuse to talk to his dad just before these trips and how she would warm up to him only a few days after his returned.  The reader picks up on the tension which obviously would be between the parents regarding his work of choice.  His dad refers to the bank robbing as addictive.  

The scene where the son picks up on the definite dislike bristling between the mom and the police woman who came to inform them of the arrest of the dad.  We see here that the mother has a certain pride and is fiercely loyal to the dad.  The scene where she dresses to go visit the father had me for a bit. I was unsure if she was actually dressing to go visit the dad in jail or if she was dressing up to go out as a “working girl’. The breadwinner was in jail after all. You do not get the sense that the mother was too involved much further than being in love with a bank robber. That is until the arrest.  She knows her hubby would not steal from a jewellery store…He is a Bank robber…

It showed that even the most complicated family can be inundated with petty jealousies.  The female police officer was out to settle a grudge that went as far back as their great grandparents.  They are of French descent and bits of the language emerge in the mom’s speech as she agitating relates this to the narrator.

Very engaging read!

True Blood Mania

I have always thought of myself as an avid Trubie (True Blood Fan)...but I must say this past Halloween I saw some die hard (pun intended) fans strutting their stuff on Facebook and on random searches...I have never been a person to mess myself up with fake blood or put fake fangs in my mouth;thats just not for me...I do however like to dress up as much as the next girl.


I have been known to purchase True Blood attire via Ebay, and I am sure I have at least two Merlotte's t-shirts, 2 matching bar aprons and even a name tag.  It says Arlene though (I have yet to run across the name Sirissa on any pre-printed merchandise...ANYWHERE...)  Below are some of the best and most memorable costumes I saw...

Creative Writing posts (2 of 3)

It was a veritable maze inside the McNally Robinson's bookstore on Friday November 5th.  After standing at the entrance to the Prairie View restaurant for about 10 minutes I finally paid attention to the PA system.  A man's voice smoothly interupted the lady announcing seatings, "Please join us for the book launches of two local writers...".  The rest was drowned out by the sounds of the people  clanking their silverware.  I took off in the only reasonable direction and soon rounded a few corners to stumble into an open space lined with chairs.  Only four people sat facing the podium, which was next to a table where a few books written by both authors were on display. The  two poetry collections, Clockfire by Jonathan Ball and Indexical Elegies by Jon Paul Fiorentino were the more prominently situated.

Just before the 7:00 p.m. mark hit the room filled up noticeably until there was a group of about 25 people gathered.  The announcer took to the podium and welcomed everyone to the launch and gave brief backgrounds on the authors.

Jonathan Ball took to the podium first and it is easy to picture him pounding away at a keyboard as he explains his process of creating. His book of poetry  which is actually, "a series of made-up plays that would be impossible to produce", is not restricted to any specific theme.   From  actors who murder their audience and doppelgangers fighting to be the 'only one', John insists that any morbidity is strictly a product of the readers interpretation. There are 77 plays in Clockfire and John read a couple of his favourites.  '8 Minutes' is a play that has to begin and end within 8 minutes and  “The Play Begins”, turns out to be self explanatory when it is revealed that the only words in the play are, 'the play begins'.


“My god you have a sexy voice.” Jon Paul Fiorentino announces to the announcer John Toews the Events Coordinator for McNally Robinson.  Fiorentino has written 3 other poetry books and a novel. He says that  Indexical Elegies was written as a elegy to the late Robert Allen, his mentor and friend. "He guided me when I had no idea what to write about." Robert Allen, died in 2006.   The majority of Jon's lecture was erratic but entertaining as the author sipped on what was way past his fifth beer throughout.  He prefers Stella Artois.


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Noise

There's noise in my head,
and no one else can hear.
It's not a loud noise,
so I can pretend not to care.
When the sounds make me imperfect,
when I cannot shut them out.
I simply act like all is well,
and try my best not to shout.
There's garbage in my head,
that should be burnt out back.
But who wants to sift through garbage?
Who would go through it stack by stack?
It'd be better just to dump it all,
To leave it at the curb.
But buried among my garbage,
is the lonely little pearl.
Of the little girl I never was,
who I never got to be.
I don't think I've met that person yet,
she was plucked away from me.
You can't miss what you never had,
but at times I get a glimpse.
So I hoard it all the good and bad,
I hold in every hint.
Of the terror that awaits me,
when the noises turn to dreams.
I know that no one ever hears,
when my dreams turn into screams.
The noises are getting louder,
I have yet to figure out why.
But the noises won't defeat me,
even if they make me cry.

A poem by Sirissa Rawlins-Sabourin

Draw me True

I love cartoons and comics.  True Blood has been adapted into a few graphic novels and after browsing though one I decided to search online for other examples of True Blood artwork.  Here is what i found;

I also ran across this funny  PSA...lol...
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/true-blood/videos/6767144/title/vampire-rights-amendment-cartoon

My puppy dog and ...Snoop Dogg...sippin' on Gin and Blood...

So as you all know I am the biggest True Blood fan.  I have been off topic for a few weeks so I decided to remind you of why you come here. I am always on the look out for anything and everything True Blood related...I will share with you my 'Sookie'...

That's my baby!!! She is awesome as you can tell and she has my smile... I also will add a lil sum' sum' to make you laugh...enjoy!!
                                               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBw2z_p1JfE

                                                                      

The Social Network------JMHO

You can't throw a cordless mouse more than 2 feet without hitting someone on Facebook.  Or as it narrowly escaped being named, 'The Facebook'.   Mark Zuckerberg co-founder and CEO was not necessarily portrayed in a negative or positive light in my eyes.  He just came across as a hurt and vengeful jilted lover.  He had the advantage of being a computer whiz and access to the brainchild of his roomate Eduardo Saverin.  Show me one person who would not build a website exploiting the female students at Harvard University when afforded the opportunity? What saint would resist hacking into said school's database, and using the pictures and names of the female students, create a girl vs. girl themed site?  And who could ever resist calling that site "FaceMash"?  I don't know about you guys but I would have to be tied down to keep myself from being naughty. All joking aside while I am sure not many of us would go to such lengths, I don't think that the movie showed Mark in any other light than that he was a hurt man and was just trying to lash out at the female that hurt him.  He did it the way most of us usually do, irrationally.   But he was lucky enough to flip the venture, which earned him six months academic probation, into the huge success that it is today.

Of course, no movie is compelling without some sort of intrigue (corporate?).  Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, accuse Mark of stealing their idea. They claimed that Mark had agreed to work with them on a similar site, Harvard Connection.  All the legal bru-haha kind of bored me to be honest. 

I am not sure if Facebook can possibly get any bigger, but I am sure that alot of people probably flocked to the site. Sheer curiosity would be my guess; maybe the movie urged them to give Facebook a second glance once they were given a more human face to the concept behind the popular site.  It could only have been a positive impact, I would think.


Mark's response, due to what I took away from the way he was portrayed in the movie, did not surprise me.  He still comes across as a socially awkward person.  His responses could be taken as rude or inappropriate but I just see it as him bumbling his way through the real world.  He is not stuck behind a computer where coding is his top priority.  He has no idea how to deal with the intricacies of human interaction. He seems to be deflecting from actually giving a concrete reaction, which leads me to think maybe the portrayal is a bit closer to home that he would like to admit.  People may feel that he is detached, but I wonder if it would be in the sense that he is just a kid that hit it rich, on an idea he had to get back at his girl for dumping him.

Considering that he is filthy rich, I would say he may want to get a speech writer. He has no clue it seems as to how to speak without making people either roll their eyes or walk away mid-sentence.  But that is something that I am sure time can fix.