General Geekiness

On Robin Hood

General Geekiness

Apparently, Robin Hood wasn’t a very nice guy. He was a nasty dude, robbing from EVERYONE.

There goes my childhood. I spent it watching the Disney animated Robin Hood, practically idolizing the fictious(?) hero. I pretty much just wanted to be a badass archer, but I loved the stories, too.

Still, it makes for an intriguing story; this echoes the storyline from one episode of Firefly, “Jaynestown.” The character Jayne screws up a robbery and upon returning to the planet, he’s remembered as a hero of Robin Hood proportions.

So, a writing prompt or two.

1. Write a story about a man/woman who is anything but a hero, but interpretted as such.

2. Write about a person who is robbed by this individual.

On firsts

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Today the sun was out, the birds weren’t quite singing, and it was warm enough for my mom and me to brave the outdoors.

So we made the first fire of the season. We piled sticks and logs from last winter’s ice storm into our little outdoor fireplace and let it burn. There’s no better way to dispose of dead tree limbs than to burn them.

While we were enjoying our fire, we decided to toast marshmallows as well. I’m now officially a grown up–I made not one, not two, but three perfect, golden marshmallows. The last one was true perfection, the divine come down to earth and made a toasted marshmallow. The outside was the color of toast, and the inside molten.

I can’t wait to make s’mores this summer.

On the Who

General Geekiness

My love for The Who began in my senior year of high school. It was a long, slow process, this becoming attuned to a “new” band, but it seemed like the world was kicking me in the seat of my pants to listen to them.

My first encounter was the summer before senior year. I was at a Shakespearean acting camp, and as luck would have it, I wore my Beatles shirt the same day as my friend Nick wore his Who shirt. “Who are they?” I asked. Nick listed their most famous songs–“Baba O’Riley,” “Pinball Wizard,” etc–and I stared at him like an idiot.

Flash forward three months. I sat in art class, and my teacher played The Who to get himself psyched for their concert. I liked it enough, but didn’t think anything of it.

A couple months later I was looking online at Beatles and Queen fan art, when I noticed a few of the artists also drew The Who. Intrigued, I went to the library and listened to a few Who albums–Greatest Hits, Tommy and Quadrophenia. With the opening notes of Tommy‘s “Overture” I was hooked.

On visiting places in movies

General Geekiness

There are fewer things in life that make me smile more than knowing that I’ve been somewhere that a movie’s been filmed. It’s a simple pleasure, but one that I particularly like (especially when watching a movie and recognizing a place).

When I was younger, my family went on a trip to the UK. One of our stops was Oxford, where we visited Christ Church College. Otherwise known as the place where the staircase from Harry Potter is. Also, part of The History Boys was filmed there. I had to smile.

A big surprise came when I was watching Quadrophenia last summer. The whole mods and rockers thing intrigues me, but enough on that. I knew that the movie partially took place in Brighton (where I visited in high school), but I didn’t realize that the big fight took place outside a restaurant I ate at (or just paid a visit to the loo…I can’t remember). Either way, I walked down quite a few of the streets (and of course, the beach) used in that cult film.

On The History Boys

General Geekiness

Well, what can I say? Despite the touchy subject matter, I spent the entire time watching this movie with a smile on my face.

For those who haven’t heard of this movie, it’s about a group of boys studying for their exams to enter Oxford or Cambridge. Of course, life lessons abound. Not so much. More, the characters deal with sex, life, growing up, and exams. Their teachers, from the eccentric closeted-homosexual Hector to the atypical Oxford alum Irwin to the sole female Lintott, try to push them forwards and into these Universities.

While this film can’t be described as a “great one,” it is certainly very good. The characters all had their various facets, even if they weren’t the main focus, which many films (and certainly books) can’t attest to. The acting was very good.

My favorite scene was the final one–not because it was the last one (as can be said in the cases of some movies), but because I felt it was an interesting and effective way to do the “and then what happened” so common at the end of movies.

Watch it if you’re looking for something entertaining, well done, and different.

Of course, I haven’t seen the play yet. Hopefully a production will be staged near me in the not-so-distant future, so I can rectify the situation.

On reality (or confusion of)

General Geekiness

In a strange case of life blatantly copying art, a soldier dressed as (and wearing the make up of) The Joker was shot and killed by police after he pointed a loaded shot gun at them.

This makes me wonder, do people know the line between reality and fiction? Or did the soldier want to go out of this life dressed as a creepy comic book villain? It’s a strange look into what people do.

Here’s an interesting little thing to do. Write about a character who delves into his own world so deeply, he’s uncertain of what exists and what doesn’t.