Fantasy Gathering A dash of wizardry and dragons

The Daily Post asks:
There are tons of blog posts out there and all too many of them take the form of top ten lists. Perhaps David Letterman is to blame, or there’s just something satisfying about the number ten that we can’t avoid. They’ve been around for a long time, and there are even websites dedicated to top ten lists for everything.

Either way, make a list of the reasons why top ten lists are often so disappointing. If you can’t quite come up with 10, go for a Top 5 list. And if you’re feeling more positive today than I am, go for a top ten list of why top ten lists are awesome.

—

I decided to go the ‘awesome’ route.

The top ten list about why top ten lists are awesome:
10. It encourages discussion. People like to point out certain stuff that made it to the list or point out stuff that should’ve been on the list. If it’s a top ten that lets everyone vote for what should be listed, that’s even better.
9. It allows you to group together the best of the best, especially funny ones where you’re counting down to the final most hilarious pick of them all.
8. If it’s a top ten of products and/or companies, this helps you to decide whether to spend money on the items or not.
7. A top ten list inspires other people to make their own. Like this prompt!
6. Usually top ten lists have a specific theme. Movies, books, games, songs, etc. Because of this, you might discover new things you never knew about something you’re interested in. You may end up doing new things and visiting new places.
5. The top ten list has been used to place importance on a group of things, to bring attention to them – such as the most dangerous snakes or the most wanted criminals!
4. …
And uh… well… ran out of steam on this one. I guess top ten lists only work when you’re not re-hashing the one concept over and over. I thought I had a long list but after chatting it out with a friend for almost two hours, it seems most of them could be categorized under the stuff I already listed. No idea what else I can add! hehe.

Tags: postaday2011
Location: The Green Room
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The Daily Post asks: Can a movie be better than the book it was based on? What examples come to mind? Or is it sometimes just a matter of which version you see first, as that will define the story for you, regardless of which version was made first?

My answer:
It’s hard to answer this one. Try as I may, I rarely make it to the end of a book – unless I really really force myself to but usually I run out of steam by then. (*hides pile of books on side of desk* I am trying to make it through ‘Little Myth Marker’ by Robert Asprin at the moment.)

I guess I can toss Willy Wonka in there. No, not the steaming pile that Burton/Depp made. That was a total abomination. I’m talking about 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. I loved the movie. It captured my imagination. Then at some point, I heard that the Oompa Loompa in the book were actually aborigines. I went on a hunt and got myself an older copy of the book. It was okay. it was all right. (I’ll ignore the peanut butter smears or whatever they were on the pages…)

But the problem with this is that I saw the movie first before I read the book. It’s the same with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My favorite movie in the whole line-up will always be the first one. I saw the movie first to see what the big deal was and it convinced me to read the books. I will always think the first movie is better than the book.

Now, Lord of the Rings – when I heard that they were making this, I ended up getting the book. I was stunned at how huge and fat that book was. I sat down, did my best to read it, and then struggled through the constant descriptions of brambles and branches and on and on and on and on with every single step that the hobbits took. I quit the book before I could reach the tavern near the beginning.

Then I saw LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring. I thought, “Oh! Okay, so something DOES happen then.” I pulled out that big book and forced myself to read to the very… bitter… end. Tolkien’s writing is just so … boring. It’s so dry. It’s so detailed that you can’t help but start skimming the pages to get to something that happens.

Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King – The movies are definitely better than the book but I WILL add that I am glad I read the book because some of my friends seemed confused on why certain things happened in the movies ‘out of the blue?’ so you really do have to read the book to get everything absorbed in your head.

Interview with the Vampire – Another one where I saw the movie before I read the book. I think there’s a bit of a bias here when I say that I prefer the movie. I kept recalling the actors as I read the book so I can’t really say.

I keep meaning to add Jurassic Park to the list to see if it’s more awesome than the movie. I still remember seeing it in theatres and it was mind-blowing at the time.

Tags: postaday2011
Location: The Green Room
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The Daily Post asks: If you knew you were going to live forever, what would change?

Well, I’d lock myself in a basement and cry because the idea of living forever is an absolute nightmare. I don’t know what some people see about this immortality stuff. Then I’d have to face the idea of seeing family and friends die. I don’t think I could stick around family after generations and generations of children, living and dying, going through their own experiences. I don’t want to be some young-looking yoda giving advice to a great great great great great great nephew at some point in time.

What else would change… Well, I definitely would not have children. I can’t imagine being 1,000 years old and having fathered many children over all those years. I would be very close to the children and be incredibly sad to see them and their children and their children and their children, et all… pass away.

If this is only known to me:
Remembering “Death Becomes Her” movie, there was a rule where you could be out in public for about twenty years but after that, you have to disappear forever. I would have to worry about being too known so I might not make too much effort into doing anything at first.

If this was done to me and everyone knows:
I would probably learn lots of things. I get bored often so I wouldn’t be able to stick to one area for too long. I’d probably do one thing and then another and then another… wherever the wind takes me!

Then there’s different kinds of immortality. “It just means that it’s harder to kill you.” Is it just that my body is super efficient that it stays young and the organs don’t deteriorate over time but I can still break my neck from a fall? Or is it invincibility like “Tuck Everlasting” where you could put your hand in the fire to melt metal in your hand?

I think far far far down the road would be scary too. There’s articles about the moon drifting away over the years, articles where the sun is supposed to eventually expand really huge and boil the Earth. And then the ultimate end where the universe is left to infinite blackness after everything burnt out? and then still alive at the end of all that? …….

Tags: postaday2011
Location: The Green Room
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The Daily Post asks: “How do you decide what risks to take?”

I immediately thought, “When it benefits you in the end.” but that’s … sort of…

I think a lot of people immediately think of something dangerous where you could stand to lose something. “She took a risk and lost her life in the end.” There can be other kinds of risks such as trying to get on stage to sing a song or read a poem.

I guess taking risks would really depend on the situation. I remember there was a question that was posted about how there was a dog trapped somewhere and a man trudged across some muddy water flow to save the dog but then he got stuck himself. Then there was talk about suing him for doing something like that because it wasted dollars to rescue them both. So the question was, “Would you risk your life to save your dog’s life?” I would. Yes. I’d risk my life to save my animals.

But I guess there’s some risks that I won’t take. My most recent example would be the book. I’m just interested in the free proof copy (which is ordered and on its way) but I am seriously not very good at writing. I won’t take this risk because I guess I want my writing to be fun. The idea of it turning into a job or something similar to that… It concerns me. I don’t know how JK Rowling did it. I wonder if there were times where she just wished Harry Potter didn’t get so popular. Deadlines, time crunches, demands from agents to see chapters, fans clamoring for the next book… And then there’s the other side of the spectrum where if I took the risk in publishing and then hearing lots of bad reviews about it. I’d always think about them even when I’m writing just for fun. I don’t want to ruin that.

I was told to join crit groups – which is a major no-no for me! hehe! I did take a smaller risk though. I gave the PDF to a couple of friends. I really do want to know if I messed up on something. I can see the world in my head but I worry that I didn’t explain it so well on paper.

Tags: postaday2011
Location: The Green Room
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