Consider the Source
My old high school AP history teacher always used to say this: Consider the source.
That is, when you read a piece of information, an opinion, or an item posted as fact, consider the source. Consider the reliability of the source, the source’s self-interest in the matter. Information often has a vector attached: A direction that the informer wants to lead you in, and a level of intensity and implied significance toward that direction.
Fox News. Digg. Peoples’ OKCupid posts about themselves. Consider the source, people! Consider the source!
I am thinking about this a lot lately because I am constantly framing information inside of fictional stories.
This may be thematic information, or plot/character information that really needs to read. So for me, that attached vector and how big to skew it is really important.
And there are times when I need a reader/audience to suspend their disbelief, but there also times when I need them to specifically consider the source!
The Four Toed Statue
I’m finally caught up with LOST. I don’t have a lot of time to sit and watch TV these days, but being sick and having no energy to do anything but watch TV made it all possible.
My favorite shows that are on right now are probably LOST and House MD; the mourning period I spent after The Sopranos ended is now more or less over. When that show ended, TV was pretty much dead to me. It was like seeing a carnival on the side of the road after your beloved carney uncle had died. Everyone in there looks like they’re having fun, eating cracker jack and riding the rides, but out of respect for your small-handed, cabbagey uncle, you stay away.
The thing that TV does extremely well is developing a relationship between characters and the viewer. Over the seasons a good TV show collects knicknacks and doodads, building up an investment between the two groups. Think of The Simpsons’ basement filled with all the souvenirs of past episodes. The Olmec head, etc.. TV has the time to do that. That’s the beauty of a serial form of story telling.
LOST is full of stuff like that. My favorite is that damn Four Toed Statue. Will its backstory ever be revealed? With the imminent end of the series penned out, is there even enough time for that? Or is it just a fun mystery that will never be solved but will be argued over forever?
Along these lines: If you haven’t seen this great TED talk, here’s JJ Abrams on the power of mystery boxes.
Harm
It’s difficult to measure how much the Hillary4U&Me video has hurt her. It’s so painfully lame that some believe that the Obama camp put it together to undermine her. Turns out it’s real (See NY Times piece here) — created by a tech CEO with good intentions but little else.
It’s like what Obama said about Louis Farrakhan in the debate last night: You can’t choose who endorses you. With friends like these, right?
What’s amusing is that in the same way Hillary’s handlers can’t understand why they’re losing, the guy who created Hillary4U&Me can’t understand why the song sucks.
It sucks in the same way socks suck as a Christmas present. On a rational level, giving someone a pair of socks seems like a good idea. Hey, they’re useful right? Who doesn’t need socks?
But on an emotional level, socks represent the least thoughtful, least inspired, and least exciting gift a person could get. Just like Hillary4U&Me, from its title with a number in it to its solid gold sound lifted from a 90s TV sitcom.
Campaigning is about emotion. Mario Cuomo said that a politician should campaign in poetry and govern in prose. And the reason why Hillary4U&Me sticks to her so hard and with such negativity is that it connects with her campaign’s paint-by-numbers, old school political machine approach. It feels like something her campaign would actually put out if reality was defined by The Onion.
On the opposite side of the fence: There’s a pretty good article in Newsweek on the Obama campaign’s graphic design.
I think I posted a different article about this before, but this one goes further in depth. It goes so far as to mention that his main font Gotham is a 100% American invented typeface.
Thug / Life
I have to write some rap lyrics for a project of mine. I’ve never written rap lyrics before, so I emailed a couple of friends who are good at such things for tips. I’ve also been listening to and dissecting lyrics that I like to figure out what makes them tick.
I think a huge part of writing is confidence in the endeavor. It is, in essence, improv in extreme slow motion — you are thinking of things on the fly, tying them together, and setting them on the page. An audience or a reader can easily sense insincerity or inauthenticity. Young writers or writers operating without enough research have a huge problem with both of these things. But confidence goes a long, long way.
When you write with confidence, even if you are putting down words/stories that are factually untrue, they feel true. They become true. Fiction can be as true as fact.
The reader/audience is giving themselves up to your narration. They are letting their minds go, putting themselves in your hands. Everyone wants the truth (or something that sounds very much like it!) to be told to them. And the best writers write with authority.
I’ve been saying this a lot recently: The best writers I know have all developed a sort of Dude-like Abide and Fuck-It mentality. They cruise along, putting out tons of work and writing with authority. Everything they put out is good, and it’s all about the truth. I read somewhere that you can always be chasing after the next thing, worrying and wondering, always asking the universe why it hasn’t given up its gold — or you can just sled down the mountain, always onto something new, finishing one thing and immediately jumping onto the next. It’s your choice.
The more I think about it, the more I think that confidence is about letting go rather than armoring up. And it comes with practice. Practice, practice, practice.
It’s finally open: The Echo Park Time Travel Mart!
My friend recently pointed me in the direction of this biz — it’s by the 826 National folks, the guys behind McSweeny’s. They run tutoring programs for kids cleverly disguised as pirate stores, super hero supply shops, and space travel supply stores. According to their website, 826LA is currently looking for interns. Teaching kids how to write — sounds like a swell time!
RIP
My mom bought a Playstation 3. The guy at the store told her that it plays Blu-Ray discs and also plays games. And since it’s the same price as a standalone Blu-Ray player, it’s two machines in one. So she now owns a PS3.
The Great Format War is over. HD-DVD may now be relegated to the dustbin of history. Guess which side I chose?
That’s right: HD-DVD. I backed the wrong horse. I bought the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 because it was cheap and came with five free discs (among them, Tomb Raider and The Rundown, natch). Although I did get Casablanca as well, so all is not lost. I still use it primarily as a DVD player (my old Sony DVD player is nothing more than a shiny turd).
How do I feel? Like I need to get a PS3. I just wish there were better games on it. I need to ask my mom what she’s playing.
I need minions. House MD provides a good template for how minions should behave. I need one that always agrees with me, a second that always disagrees with me, and a third that is morally outraged by whatever I do.
One of them should also be a melee expert; the second should be good with ranged weapons, and the third should be a magic user.
Negative Space
I saw an odd and interesting movie on Friday: The Band’s Visit.
Story: An Egyptian Police Orchestra spends a night in the Israeli equivalent of Los Banos, California. Everyone’s inherent loneliness is exposed. The end.
Seriously though, this movie was quirky and highly entertaining. Lots of really funny moments. Plus it’s interesting to see how people in other countries live, and how much alike people who live in the middle of nowhere are.
Beyond this I spent all weekend working on rewrites on a project. Each day dealt with one section. Tomorrow I’m going to finish this up by going over the entire thing as a whole.
I would do this now, and I’m raring to do it now, but I’ve found that in cases like this I need to wait. Relax, go do something else. Rest my brain. I’m more effective that way.
Gaining perspective, in every meaning that phrase has, is essential to this business. Time away grants such perspective automatically. Even just twelve hours gives you new eyes. And that’s what I always need more of.
BOUO
My new favorite show is House MD. It feeds my love for science-based drama and my hypochondria.
It’s also a very well balanced show in terms of characters and internal/external conflicts. Something’s always pushing on House from outside — a Big Money Dude, a vengeful cop, cancer. His three minions (Omar Epps, Pretty Girl, and Mini Cary Elwes) are constantly forming alliances and breaking them. Meanwhile House totally wants to hit it with Cuddy but something or other keeps getting in the way. Sexual tension ahoy!
There’s an article in the New York Times Books section today on The Age of American Unreason, a book about the anti-intellectual attitude in America. The attitude is definitely there, but the success of shows like House point to a real interest among Americans toward intellectual heroes. Scientists, teachers, authors, etc., just need to come out of their holes and kick some ass. American proverbs (“Talk is cheap”, “Git ‘r done”) emphasize action over sedate knowledge. Tell us what the knowledge means! We as a people are more interested in what you can do with what you know as opposed to just knowing things.
A blue flame in a chemistry class. A rocket car breaking the sound barrier. A man on the moon. Americans love real, physical results — big wins, touch downs. People want to see the usefulness of science in their own lives. And smart people are still highly rewarded — the richest people in America are all huge nerds.
And unfortunately, there will always be an underclass of dumbasses. Society requires them. The hoi polloi, the opiated masses. That’s what a service economy relies upon: Loads of people buying stupid shit. But what people need to realize is that the modern American dumbass is the most educated, literate, most disease-free and wealthy dumbass that has ever existed in man’s history. Compared to a toothless, plague-ridden, growth-stunted, flea-infested European serf from 1057 AD, our dudes have it made.
I am not a snob. I love stupid shit as much as the next guy. I was yelling at my TV watching American Idol the other night. I love McDonalds’ french fries and iCanHasCheezburger. But it’s good to know that there’s more out there. Books, television, documentaries that teach a deeper understanding of the world. Novels that teach a deeper understanding of human nature. That everyone (more or less) has access to it all. And shows like House MD, etc., prove that there’s still an audience for smart heroes.
House has seriously resurrected my belief in good TV.
My Work in Print
Year Zero
Available from Samuel French and Amazon.com
Cowboy Versus Samurai
Available from Samuel French and Amazon.comFor a complete list of books containing my work, please click here.
