Scott David Brown's Blog, page 6

I’ll Give You a Dialogual!

 

It’s March, the day-to-celebrate-me month, since my birthday is on the 11th (It’s also Women’s Herstory Month). :) If you are feeling generous, http://amzn.com/w/1K9GG14YZG0E1, check out my wish list at that link. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. If not, than how about just reading this blog post? Okay, great, and thank you!

I often get a new Zelda game this month , since Zelda games often come out in time for my birthday. Yesterday I got the Twilight Princess HD bundle that comes with a cool Amiibo. That’s my first one and it unlocks a special dungeon in the game. It’s also going to do something with the new Zelda Wii U game coming out in the future. I’m waiting to finish Majora’s Mask before I delve into Twilight Princess.

I haven’t been writing fiction since last year. That is in large part due to my work on iDropNews.com and the project I’m working at UCI. I’m feeling that once I finish my fellowship, I’ll be leaving the academic world for a while to focus on my fiction writing while I work for the Apple blog. That’s where I’m at right now. One reason I may be leaning this way was a pleasant surprise I received last week, a story I submitted was published on the web recently.

Dialogual, a website hosted by author Adrian George Nicolae, offers an interesting and fun idea: Write a story using dialogue and nothing else. No description, no action, no narration, just a conversation. It was tough to write something without being able to have any narration. The dialogue had to imply what was happening. That forced me to work with the characters and have them reveal themselves through their dialogue. Instead of writing about how sleazy a character is, you show it. I have trouble with that sometimes. ;)

My submission, Avoidance,  was my first try with this concept. It’s currently featured on the website, but if you want to read it just click here. It’s loosely based off a conversation I had with my friend, Mark Mushakian, but the names have been changed…oh oops. Well, it’s not something that really happened, it’s fiction. :) If you’d like to take a stab at it, you can read the submission rules on the site. Every week there is a new story, he publishes them on Thursdays.

Well, if you’ll excuse me, there’s some Zelda to play…

Pika, Pika!

Pokemon Yellow Cartridge

Well, Pokemon is officially 20 years old now! I was 17 at the time the original games came out, so this game really dates me. In fact, if you were born when this game came out, you missed out on the 80’s and most of the 90’s. Still, in 1998, Pokemon Blue and Red were released and started a new phenomenon. It was also the year that Game Boy Color came out, ditching the monochrome. Nintendo may be have been late to the party on that, but the Gameboy was still very popular.

Today Nintendo re-leased the original Pokemon games, Red, Blue, and Yellow (published in 1999). Yellow had a special place in my heart, since Pickachu walks around with you. Apparently he didn’t like being stuck in a pokeball. I decided to buy Pokemon Yellow on 3DS for $9.99. Not a bad price to relive a game I played in high school. I stopped playing as an adult, something I regret, as I have missed out on a lot of Pokemon games.

I think what is the most fun about these games was collecting all the pokemon and leveling them up. What’s really nice is that these new versions let you store your pokemon online, so you don’t have to trade pokemon between the different versions. And you can use the pokemon you catch with the newer games. That’s pretty cool, it’s like you can keep your friends with you instead of leaving them on the cartridge.

I’ve been using my Nintendo 3DS a lot lately, trying to finish Zelda: Majora’s Mask before Twilight Princess HD comes out, so I thought I’d relive the old Pokemon days too. Hoping to get the New 3DS Pokemon  bundle for my birthday, actually. That comes with the smaller version of the system and Pokemon Blue and Red pre-installed on the system.

I’m still waiting on Zelda: Phantaom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Come on Nintendo, show me some love. I just want to continue the Wind Waker story line. :)

 

1/18/2016

I’ve written a post about Dr. Martin Luther King just about every year since I’ve started this blog. Today is a holiday that reminds us where we’ve been and the progress that still needs to be made. Many people will say that we have solved the problems of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, but we shouldn’t forget that the face of racism has changed. It’s out of the public square (though perhaps Donald Trump is the exception) and is now much more secretive.

Dr. King helped us break through segregation and some forms of institutional racism, but there is still more to be done. It may not always be intentional, but a byproduct of polices and rules that have had unintended results. Affirmative action was one policy to fight this type of racism that may be over turned this year. It’s a program that will hopefully one day be unnecessary, but I believe is still necessary.

A sad fact: African-Americans have a much larger rate of incarceration versus Caucasians in drug cases. This is despite the fact that both groups have about the same level of drug use. I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, probably on this same holiday, so I might sound like a broken record here. I just wanted to say a little something about the issues we still face as a nation. I don’t know what laws or polices specifically that we could enact to improve the situation. However, I feel that many of these problems are cultural, which require education, but also can be solved with diversity. The more we interact with people who are different than us, the easier it is to understand each other. When a person can relate to someone of a different ethnicity, fear and confusion goes away about that group of people. Prejudice ends when we are challenged and are shown the truth. This is perhaps the best thing we can do, encourage diversity in our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.

 

Where in the World is Scott Brown?

Ever so often I have one of those, “I haven’t been posting in a while,” type posts. Well it’s time for another one! Since it’s the holiday season, I thought it was time to stop being so lazy. Let’s see how long this lasts. :)

My most major announcement would have to be that I got a job as a freelance writer for iDropNews.com. It’s a website devoted to all things Apple. The computer company, not the fruit. I write about three articles a week, give or take. I’ve wanted to have a real writing job for a long time and I’m thrilled to have one. It’s not a lot of money, but the experience is worth it. I’m also working as a Tobis Fellow at UCI. I’m working on my own project. It’s been tough to say the least, but I think I’m making some headway.

As always, the war on Christmas is going strong, just how we Atheists like it. Pretty soon, we are going to make you stop saying Merry Christmas. Sorry, that’s just how it goes. Instead we are going to make you say, Happy Imaginary God Day, just to mess with you.

I admit, I haven’t been doing any fictional writing (other than the last paragraph), or really thinking about it much. I keep myself occupied on other things, including Heroes of the Storm. This game is soooo addicting! It’s a lot of fun and the game is free. Just click this link: https://battle.net/recruit/5J8RWQM9KB. That will get you two free characters. :)

I spend a lot of money during this season. Much of it on myself, but I also like buying gifts for my family. I came up with some nice ideas and I’m sure they are going to love them. It’s funny, I’m usually pretty good about picking out the right gift for the right person, despite the fact that it doesn’t run in the family! Sure, I’ve had some mistakes, but for the most part I’m pretty good. Just had to brag for a moment there.

It’s hard to believe it’s already the holiday season and it feels like it’s going too fast. Soon it will be the new year and winter will be over. Back to the hot California weather. Hopefully a lot of rain in between then and now, we could really use it. And that’s the small talk portion of today’s post.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and that you get everything you want, unless you enjoy being disappointed. Well, I can’t help you there, unless you are happy that I post so little, if so then Merry Christmas!

Donald Trump and Political Correctness

Photo taken from: https://queerguesscode.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/why-you-shouldnt-be-politically-correct/

 

When Donald Trump announced he was running for president. I thought it was a hoax. Now I have to constantly remind myself that it’s real. While he’s quite entertaining, he’s really hurting the Republican party. At some point, the party might have to separate into two. John Kasich seemed to me to be the most reasonable candidate at the first debate, and the one I’d support if I was a Republican. However, Trump won the debate apparently. Well, everyone has their own idea about who won, but right now Trump is leading in the polls.  There are 17 candidates and Trump seems to have tapped into a powerful minority. The majority of Republican voters are spread out too thin. I don’t see how Trump could get the nomination, even though it is still a possibility.

Supporters often say Trump is not politically correct. It’s had me thinking about being “PC” for the last couple of weeks. I tend to be “PC” without really thinking about it. I admit, I’m concerned about hurting someone’s feelings or offending them. Just because you think the word is fine to say, but it’s important to be mindful of who you’re talking to. I grew up saying things like “retard” and “that’s gay.” I’ve managed to stop saying those things and I certainly don’t miss using them. I understand some people don’t like it; they get used to saying certain words and don’t want to change.

Political correctness is about being respectful to others, yet it is used as a political football. Some use it as a way to criticize society, claiming that people who are “PC” are just adjusting their own behavior to an extreme in hopes of not offending someone. Even so, there are certain racial terms that most of us don’t use anymore. I shouldn’t have to mention them! We don’t use those words because of what they represent, like slavery, exploitation, and racist.  Still, some still ask, “Why can’t I say that?” I’d answer with a question, “Why would you WANT to say that?”

Take the word retarded. A couple of years ago, The American Psychological Association replaced mental retardation with “intellectual disability.” In part, this is due to the negative and derogatory meaning the word now has, but it’s also not a fitting way to describe a person’s mental issue. Not every person with a mental disability is a slow thinker, and people can be labeled incorrectly, which in turn can affect a person’s treatment. It’s a much more accurate description. Mental retardation replaced certain words when it was adopted and it is fitting that it be replaced as science advances and we understand how the brain functions. In this example, it’s not simply about being politically correct. There’s a scientific rationale.

So does that mean we all need to police ourselves about our language? Well, yes, hopefully you do. Sometimes it’s just best not to say anything at all and you don’t want to get yourself into trouble for saying the wrong thing. However, if you want to say something that isn’t “PC” that’s fine. You have the right to say what you want, you just don’t have the right to control how people respond to you. When some shock-jock get’s fired for saying something racist, his rights are not being violated. The first amendment only protects you from legal action. There are still consequences for what you say.

I try to pick words that fit the right context, that convey what I intend to say. I don’t always do it very well, haha, but I try. If that means I don’t want to use a particular word, that’s my right. I can respect you for being unfiltered if you can respect me for being “PC.” It would be wonderful if everyone stopped saying words that I find offensive, but I won’t try to force people to stop. I just may have something to say if you do use a word I don’t like. That’s freedom baby!

Trump will continue to say what he wants, and it will eventually catch up with him. I’m confident about that, but who knows. Maybe a year from now we will have a President Trump. Maybe a year from now I will have a million dollars and a movie star wife. And a canoe, for some reason.

Just Desserts

Oh oh, Ashley Madison got hacked!

I think many might suggest that the recent hacking of the Ashley Madison website is just desserts. It’s certainly not an ethical website, by any sense of the word. After all, their slogan is “Life is Short. Have an Affair.” It’s fair to say that the website at the very least encourages unethical behavior. The site is obviously targeting people who are lonely, desperate, or use poor judgement. I’m being fairly judgmental here, but I take an offense to people who cheat. No, I’ve never been cheated on, but I see it as a violation of fairness. Cheating is bad, no matter the context.

While I do believe that websites like these ought to be shutdown, that will not stop people from cheating, obviously. An article The Huffington Post, The Blog laments the fact that website like Madison support a person’s rational for cheating. We humans tend to do what we want, our desires drive us. So, really you don’t need a website to convince you to cheat, it’s just an excuse. I think most of us tend to picture a lonely guy feeling neglected by his wife, decides to step outside of the marriage. Why actually talk about his feelings? Nah, we’re men, we don’t do that! (Something thanks the patriarchal system we have in our society).

Unfortunately, what I see as the real victims of the hack, are the partners and spouses of the cheaters. They have to face heartbreak, but they may also face embarrassment, financial problems, or other consequences. Just imagine having your reputation ruined because your spouse was identified on that site. So yeah, while I do want to make fun of these websites, there is a serious situation for some who are affected by this hack. Our lives are becoming virtual, we live online, and the consequences of that are being felt.

Jurassic World

 

I remember seeing “Jurassic Park” in a movie theater, feels like more than 20 years ago. As a kid who loved and still loves dinosaurs, it was the perfect movie. It was scary, even as a kid, but it didn’t go to far. I still watch the trilogy every few years. I knew there was a fourth movie in the works for a while, I had hopped they wouldn’t mess it up.

“Jurassic Park” was a positive childhood experience and the feelings that movie inspired within me made that movie something special. When the advertisements for Jurassic World started up, I started to feel better about the potential for this movie. I don’t think it’s fair to compare “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World.” While it’s probably unavoidable, Jurassic World can’t live up to the original. Heck no dinosaur movie could. That said, Jurassic World reminded me what it was like as a kid, seeing dinosaurs for the first time in a movie. Of course, I was also reminded that this wasn’t “Jurassic Park.” That kinda nagged at me, like there was a part of me that wanted to hate the movie.

I decided that I was going to allow the movie to be what it was and not try to force it to be what I wanted it to be. I think that worked. Two important things to say off the bat: I’m buying this movie either digital or blu-ray and I’d definitely like to see it again! I think I’d enjoy it more the second time.

If you have never seen a Jurassic movie, then you may enjoy it more than I did. In many ways, this IS my “Jurassic Park,” if I was a 12 year-old boy present day. In that way, I feel like the movie delivers the same way that “Jurassic Park did.” It has the same spirit, without it feeling like it’s the same movie. Yes, there is some element of surprise that isn’t there for me, but I jumped at least once, maybe twice. Heck I even felt some emotional connections with some of the dinosaurs, that says something!

The musical score is similar to Jurassic Park, obviously with its own style. That really helped make “Jurassic World” feel like an old friend coming over to visit, except this friend wants to eat you! No worries, it’s not a real! Haha, I can’t imagine what this movie would be like in 3D. ;) By the end of the movie, I felt good about the direction they took. I felt satisfied, this is certainly no crystal skull. Boy, I think Chris Pratt was awesome in this movie! And I found Bryce Dallas Howard’s character quite fun. Definitely a good cast all around.

It’s no surprise to me that this movie has been so successful and I think it deserves it, even if it’s probably best enjoyed with fresh eyes. Still, I think die-hard fans like me have nothing really to complain about with “Jurassic World.” It’s the best that it could be. I mean, it could never live up to Jurassic Park for us. However, I could tell for the newbies that this movie probably is their “Jurassic Park,” and that made me smile. I’d honestly give it 4.3 out of 5 stars at this point. Just forget about the original movie and give yourself permission to like this one.

Bottom line, “Jurassic World” does a lot of things right. It’s exciting and tense, and doesn’t feel boring at all. It didn’t feel like a sequel to me. More like the return of an old friend. The experience was not the same, but it reminded me why I like the older movies. In that, “Jurassic World” accomplished what it set out to do and it was quite an entertaining movie. Besides, dinosaurs are cool.

P.S. The main antagonist, really cool! :)

I Dream of Jon Stewart

In this Nov. 7, 2014 photo, Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his film,”Rosewater,” in New York. Stewart, who hosts the political satire series “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” makes his directorial and screenwriting debut in the film about a journalist who is detained in Iran. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP)

If you don’t recognize the person in the above picture, where have you been?

Yesterday morning I had an odd, but emotional dream about Jon Stewart. It seems weird to have a powerful dream about someone I haven’t met, but Jon has had a powerful effect on our world. Perhaps his most notable contribution was his appearance on CNN, taking down the T.V. show Crossfire. CNN didn’t learn from that experience, as they brought the show back, which thankfully was short-lived. Honestly, I get the excitement in pitting liberals against conservatives, but what does that really add to our culture? Jon believed it added nothing, and I tend to agree.

I started watching The Daily Show in the early 2000’s when I first discovered Comedy Central. Certainly it has become one of my favorite T.V. networks, and that is largely thanks to Jon. He may not have been the first host of The Daily Show, but he was the first I knew about. His satire is a special kind. My favorite thing Jon did were his impressions. Especially Senator Lindsey Graham and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Jon probably wouldn’t say his impressions are the best, but I really enjoyed them.

Liberals, I think, often claim Jon as their own. I’d say he’s on our side most of the time, but of course he isn’t afraid to show the hypocrisy of liberal and conservatives politicians. I remember the coverage of Anthony Weiner. ;) Yet Jon would probably want to been seen as an independent. He has his causes, like pointing out the failures of congress to pass a bill that would help our military veterans and calling out the V.A.’s lackluster support of said veterans.

It was the Rally to Restore Sanity and or Fear that got liberals complaining the most. Many thought that Jon should have encouraged his attendees to vote or support political change. I don’t think that was what the rally was about. The main point of the rally was that the citizens of our country manage to get along and work together regardless of our politics. Currently, and at the time, it feels like congress cannot get along. Jon wanted to do what he did to the Crossfire T.V. program: Give a wake-up call.

I was able to attend the Rally. It was the first time I traveled by myself or even visited the East Coast. The first time I took a taxi or saw the Washington Mall. I was lucky to arrive on time and still be able to get close enough to the last row of speakers so I could hear what was happening on the stage. The crowd was larger than one might expect. I wonder if Jon knows how important he has been to American society. I suspect that he would make a joke of it. Always the humble man.

The dream I had took place in a strange holy place. Kind of felt like a cross between a church and a university. Haha, for an atheist, I’m not used to having such a spiritual dream. Perhaps that is what Jon has done for me, brought out my spiritual side. It seldom get’s a chance to come out. I sat with Jon and two other ladies, whom I did not know. Jon was playing a guitar. The melody he was playing was beautiful. We all talked, and I noticed a tear stream down my face, it was a very sad occasion. It was time to part ways, and after being blessed by a holy guy with rice or confetti (not really sure which), Jon and the others drifted off into the dreams-cape, leaving me alone. Waking up, I found the dream really strange at first, but now as I think about it, it seems fitting. A great way to say goodbye without lingering.

I’ve been watching The Daily Show for about 15 years now. I’ll keep watching it when Jon is gone, but it sure will not be the same.

I took the photo from here: http://mashable.com/2015/02/10/jon-st..., just wanted to cite my sources. ;)

Flying around in Draenor

No, this isn’t Photoshopped (can’t afford that program), this is an actual screenshot. I am actually in flightform, on my druid, in Spires of Arak. How is this possible? Well, several days ago, I was in Ashran collecting artifacts so that I could turn in the daily quest for 1000 apexis crystals. I found a group looking to take on a boss mob. After the panther boss guy, our second boss take-down, I discovered that he had a legendary skill book in his possession. In Ashran, you can sometimes find these skill books that give you a temporary buff to one of your abilities, such as a 3min cool-down for rebirth. Well, this particular difficult-to-find item gives druids the ability to use flightform while in Ashran, at least that’s what it is designed to do.

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering what would happen if I left Ashran in flight form. obviously what normally happens is that as soon as you leave a zone with a zone specific buff, it goes away. That’s what I was expecting to happen, but I tried anyway, and boy was I pleasantly surprised. I ended up leaving Ashran, after checking out the horde base there, and flew to Tanaan. Well, I couldn’t get in, since that zone is blocked off until some future update. I was able to fly to other zones. I ended up going to Shadowmoon Valley and flew to Talador, then Nagrand, and ended up in Spires of Arak. A bug, no doubt, and the visual image above is enough evidence of that.

I had to get a pick of me in flightform, while looking like a ghost!

It was so much fun to fly around in a game world where normally you can’t fly! At times, I worried I might get in trouble, but hey it’s not my fault. I simply found a bug. I flew around Horde and Alliance players to see if they would react. Finally, one alliance priest sent me a whisper asking if he had actually seen me fly. I told him how I did it, and we talked about how great druids are. At some point, we will probably be able to fly in Draenor, probably once the next expansion pack comes out. I’m happy I got a glimpse of what that will be like!

 

An Interview With Eleanor Leonne Bennett

Portrait of Eleanor Leonne Bennett

With the exception of the first book in the series, Eleanor Leonne Bennett is credited for the wonderful photos used for the cover art of The Lost Elf. Personally, I feel that the theme of nature is a powerful theme in these books, and I was impressed by Eleanor’s choices of location for her photos. I asked Eleanor several questions about her work and how she feels it relates to The Lost Elf.

Why did you decide to get into photography?

Eleanor: I remember creating art at a very young age – almost like it was the first thing I wanted to do. I remember first picking up a camera around the age of twelve. I am nineteen now and the first art competitions I won were the ones ran by the Woodland Trust Nature Detectives club for young people with my mixed media work (at age eleven). This would give me an award winning artist career of eight years so far. As a young person the natural world was my biggest inspiration as well as stop motion animation amongst other subjects.

Nature seems to be a theme you use often. Why is that?

I’ve spent almost all of my life living in the countryside on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border in England. Because of this almost all of the scenes I’ve pictured are within walking distance of my old home in Cheshire. My favorite subjects when I was studying as a youngster were biology and environmental issues. I was somewhat of a nerd and I remember when I was very young writing to our representative in parliament for the local area to bring about recycling to make it a lot closer to home for people that aren’t going to recycling banks on the regular.

One of the major themes in The Lost Elf series is nature and how important it is to the main character. What is your relationship with nature?

I would like to be involved with more exhibitions to promote awareness of conserving nature and making the most of our wild spaces.

I am lucky to live in a town that still has a lot of access to wild spaces in the surrounding area. Everything from bulrushes to wild orchids and the animals that inhabit those environments. I thought it was funny that recently in a more heavily built up town with a motorway cutting straight through that I saw my first weasel skipping through a tiny patch of weeds beside one of the roads. I’ve been a member of multiple organizations that have nature at the heart of their goals including the RSPB as well as the previously mentioned Woodland Trust.

House and trees covered in snow as seen from the community orchard in New Mills

 

The photo used for book 2, Reptilian Encounter, has a fascinating contrast of light and dark as well as a winding pathway. How does light and shadow play a role in your photos?

I am very inspired by the play of shadows and contrast in my photographs as well as in the photographs of others (such as Bill Brandt for one example). You wouldn’t say that I’m a photographer who is afraid of working in the midday sun as I believe the boldness of shadows to completely change ordinary settings. I know when to have a perfect balanced light for more “professional” work but the strength of light can evoke such true emotions. It is there to be experimented with. I know tricks of the light have brought some very important silhouettes into my work. It can bring such whimsy and nostalgia in a photo when I want to show as if older eyes were behind the camera that what my age is in actuality.

The Roaches near the town of Leek in Staffordshire

 

I feel like the pathway represents the confusing and difficult quest the elf has in recovering his memories. It sort of describes, I think, the journey most of us have in discovering our own identities. Do you think about symbolism with your work?

I love the winding pathway. I have walked that same route with my fiance and I walked the same route more recently when going past the home of a relative I dread seeing. It is curious how tucked away it is. You could see it yourself if you walk the old train route to Hayfield in Derbyshire. To actually walk the route is so peaceful I think it does make you contemplate your journey. If you are to walk it alone it would be very quiet. You would be lead to a lovely stretch of water that has a faux-island in the center after about a mile and a half of walking. Symbolism in my work is something that is hard to avoid. It is just nice to know that people find themselves in my work or even see their character’s journey in the photos.

Book 3, Liberation, is set in a dense swamp. Where did you take this photo and what was your inspiration behind it?

I took the swamp photo in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire near Tod Brook. I remember when taking this that at the time I didn’t have very many swamp photos. I used to think when I was little that this small patch of constantly wet ground in a field at home was “a swamp”. When I grew up I realized that it was awfully tiny to take a good swampy photo of. I do think the photo I took in Tod Brook was the prettiest swamp I’ve seen. On the same day I also got a lovely photo of the trees reflecting in the water. The photo became an abstract impression of flickering water and nature combined instead of a literal interpretation of a reflection.

Abstract, taken at Tod Brook in Whaley Bridge

 

How often do you travel?

Not very often, even to those places within walking distance of. Because I am a student for the moment I have to make the most of the opportunities when they come to my doorstep. I live somewhere very cold so in recent years I have been spoilt for extremely snowy photos. High snow drifts are great fun to photograph as they can make a landscape almost foreign to the eye of the viewer. The forms they take when manipulated by the ice and wind are beautiful.

The Pennines of England as seen from Higher Disley, Cheshire

 

What are some of your favorite places to photograph?

As well as rural locations in Cheshire and Derbyshire I love to branch out and visit Manchester for photo inspiration. I would like to visit London and Liverpool more as I’ve only been to those locations once. I also like to photograph within museums and make my own archival footage of very rare antiques and fine vanities.

I’m thankful for Eleanor’s time and that she was willing to share some insight into her photography. If you would like to know more about Eleanor, please visit her website: http://www.eleanorleonnebennett.com/