Martin Freeman and all the BAFTAs
by V.E. on January 30th, 2012
filed under entertainment, words, wtf
Yes, so here’s my contribution to The “Gee, Martin Freeman should probably have all the BAFTAs” Postcard Project.
All the information you want for this project is in that link, so don’t come running to me if you need help. (Well, I could probably help you, actually, but don’t come running until you’ve checked that page at least, will you?)
(ie: unassuming front)
(on left)
Dear Mr. Freeman,
ALL THE BAFTAS, SIR.
ALL OF THEM.Very sincerely yours,
VE Duncan
(on right)
Martin Freeman
c/o Creative Artists Mgmt
4th Floor
111 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6JN
United Kingdom
Honest to gods, guys; I don’t think I’ve ever sent anyone fanmail in my whole entire life, not even a postcard. Oh, okay there was that one letter of gratitude to the writers of L&O: SVU for a line they wrote for Elliot Stabler in the episode “Mask“, but other than that… never.
In any case, if you like Martin Freeman’s work in BBC’s Sherlock, please consider sending him a postcard yourself, too!
Spelling
by V.E. on January 9th, 2012
filed under meta, words, writing, wtf
This morning at 6:21 AM PT, I was left a (spam) comment on my post about Strawberry Eggs by someone calling themselves Samira Stoots (email address Kornfield[at]gmail[dot]com—yes, really). It reads
Certainly I like your web-site, but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to inform you. However I will surely come back again!
Um, no; sorry. I’m laughing at you right now. Not to be mean, but… well, yes, actually… I am being mean here: everyone makes mistakes (gasp! even me, heaven forbid!), but I’m not the kind of person who makes spelling mistakes on a regular basis. I’m a writer; I should hope I don’t make a lot of spelling errors, you think?
Anyway, I’m deleting that comment, but I thought I’d share the laughs with you all, too.
Protected: Planetary Postcards
by V.E. on October 6th, 2011
filed under beauty, personal, words
Change in perception?
by V.E. on July 15th, 2011
filed under health, personal, words, wtf
When I was a junior in high school I took a psychology class in which we all took some version of the Myers-Briggs Test. I was scored as INTJ. That is: Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging. The Extrovert/Introvert section was so unsure that I had to answer extra questions about it so that it could score me properly.
I just took a similar test, ten years later, and was awarded with ISFP, or: Introverted, Sensitive, Feeling, Perceiving. (ISFJ came in a close second, and there was no question about Extroversion versus Introversion this time.) Here’s what I was told:
If your personality type is ISFP then you have some deeply-held values that, even though your life may be somewhat unstructured, direct the things that you do and say. You probably take a caring and sensitive approach to others, more so than may be apparent to others because you showing your feelings in acts of kindness rather than in direct statements. You probably have a strong sense of the type of lifestyle you enjoy, which you want to maintain.
Here’s how INTJ (my former score) compares, from the same website:
If your personality type is INTJ then you have a strong, private sense of strategic vision, both for the future and how that future will can be achieved. Your vision, or sense of knowing, may be difficult to articulate, but even if wasn’t others might find it difficult to accept (e.g.: as impractical or unrealistic). Pursuing your vision might be a lonely task, therefore, as you develop and pursue plans without anyone else really understanding the nature of what you are trying to achieve.
Later, the reports of both scores talk about “mental muscles” meaning… that I was once more intuitive, thinking, and judging…? and now I’m more sensitive, feeling, and perceive things better? What? How does that even happen?
Seriously, I would really like to sit down with a Jungian psychologist for an hour and hash this out. I don’t feel like I’ve changed that much… but maybe it’s true because I’m feeling it and not thinking it? ha ha ha haaaaaa
Billy Collins at APU
by V.E. on March 26th, 2011
filed under entertainment, recap/review, words, writing
NOTE: This is barely a review; it’s more like a recap.
On March 1, I headed down to Azusa Pacific University by bus to see Billy Collins read some of his poetry. My mother, who works at APU, bought us both dinner ahead of time and we went together. (She said afterward that she was relieved to do something on campus that didn’t involve her own department.)
After an introduction by the head of the English department and the man after whom the James L. Hedges Distinguished Series (“celebrating the written word”) is named, Collins got up and charmed the audience with his wit and poetry. I’ve included a list of the poems he read with notes as I wrote them.
—Monday, about the habits of poets
—The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska, inspired by a former poet laureate Howard Nemerov
—Drinking Alone, after Li Po
—Grave, from the forthcoming collection Horoscopes for the Dead
—What She Said, in the voice of a young American woman (school age)
—Oh My God, just nine lines long
—The Dog, on his Master, in the voice of a young dog
—Greek and Roman Statuary
—Hippos on Holiday, see note below
—Hangover
—The Lanyard, (for my mother)
—Building with its Face Blown Off, inspired by a photograph
—Creatures, mention of Hamlet
—Sunday Morning with The Sensational Nightingales
—The Four-Moon Planet, after Robert Frost‘s journals in which he wrote, “I have always envied the four-moon planet.”
—Stenius, noted Yeats‘s poem “The Wild Swans at Coole”
—I chopped some parsley while listening to Art Blakey‘s version of “The Three Blind Mice”
—You are the bread in the knife, wherein he took another poem’s first two lines and rewrote it (“It’s obviously improved,” he said.)
—On Turning Ten
Mom said she probably liked “Oh My God” the most—so much that she had me find it online when we got home so that she could read it to my father. I rather liked “Hangover” (“Or you can call it ‘Migraine’ if you’re not a drinker, as this school—of course—is dry,” he said, and got a lot of chuckles from the audience. APU is a Christian university, so “no alcohol” is kind of a school rule—yeah, right).
Collins said that he wrote “Hippos on Holiday” one day when he felt like he had nothing to say. In cases when he had nothing to say, he writes a phrase on the top of the page and then commit himself to writing something underneath it.
After his reading, Collins allowed a few questions:
“Are your poems just funny because they’re funny, or are they disguises over sadness?”
Basically, both.
“What is your writing process?”
Everyone’s process is different.
“Why were you worried about explaining your poems?”
Some people think that art/poetry/music should speak for itself, so explaining a poem just uses more words to say the same thing.
“What is the difference between poetry and prose? And, why do you write poetry?”
Poetry is superior. In poetry, the words enjoy themselves.
“Is there a lot of technical knowledge needed to write poetry?”
Poetry requires reading. Read all the poets. To write poetry, you must pretend to care about poetry more than you care about yourself.
“How useful is it knowing other languages?”
Knowing Latin is the most useful. Knowing the meaning/history of words is important.
Damn you auto correct!
by V.E. on February 5th, 2011
I don’t usually troll/surf/browse sites like Damn You Auto Correct! and SmartphOWNED, but I was searching around the other day showing my dad the dangers of auto-correct. I cracked up when I saw this screenshot on DYAC (transcript below).
Then, tonight Thursday night my sister got a text from someone who’s auto-correct changed “favorite” to “farmsht” (And no, I have no idea why it would correct to that. Seriously.) We laughed (and the guy felt awkward for a minute or five, I’m sure) and then I looked up “Jews and fags autocorrect” on Google and came straight to the original post. Thanks, Google…. I think.
Transcript:
Between a guy & his brother, Tyler.
Dec 9, 2010 7:27 PMTyler: Just got back from the house
Guy: Good, did u [sic] pick up the fags and the Jews?
Guy: *I mean fags and keys,
Guy: **I mean bags and Jews
Guy: FML. I ment [sic] BAGS and KEYS.
Tyler: Lol, yeah I got the keys and bags, I picked up some Jews too
Saturday Afternoon Poetry
by V.E. on June 27th, 2010
filed under recap/review, school, words, writing
