Writing/Naming Styles

I've been analyzing my writing using this thing for quite a while, only stopping to start this blog about it because it's strange and awesome and could very likely be of use to you guys. The first thing I tried was my blog here on the 4th of July (the last blog wherein I actually talked about things), and I got Stephen King.

So, yeah.

But then I decided to do a very decidedly scientific thing and analyze other samples of my writing to see if the results were consistent. They weren't. I got JD Salinger twice, George Orwell once, Shakespeare once (I know, right?) with the most frequent being Margaret Atwood. I wasn't familiar with her style of writing enough to be flattered by this, so I Wikipedia'd her. I like the comparison now, but I still can't form an opinion as to whether or not it's accurate.

I don't know who I would've LIKED to have gotten (*cough*MaureenJohnsonJohnGreenDouglasAdams*coughcough*), nor do I know all the authors entered into the analysis-thing. Or what criteria it bases the results on (I'd say it's more on word choice than genre or subject, though). I just thought it was entertaining. And in theory I could continue to search through everything I've written that's conveniently accessible on my computer and analyze it until I get the result I want.

My last scientific venture was to submit an excerpt from my novel instead of blog posts, so that the writing would reflect how I write dialog and whatnot in SERIOUS WRITING FORM as opposed to rambling about my life non-seriously. Unprecedented results. Woo. Chuck Palahnuik, the guy who wrote Fight Club. I haven't even seen the movie but I'll take that as a compliment. Yes? OH OH OH AND: Excerpt from my uncompleted Harry Potter-Doctor Who crossover fanfiction (bask in the supremely nerdy glory of that phrase...) got JK ROWLING. Previous results have shown subject is irrelevant, so that proves the style is at least somewhat right. Right? Whatever. Yay.

Also (I sense this post is getting long, but I guess that will make up for my recently very short ones), I finished Catching Fire (the suspense was ruined for me by my knowledge that there had to be another book, thus realistically no one important would die...) I like everyone except for Katniss now (I'll go into specifics later, in another post/the comments). Which was probably not supposed to happen, but I'm definitely going to read Mockingjay. What interested me more were the names of the characters, which can be broken down into 4 categories:

Plants And Nature: Katniss, Primrose, Gale, Posy, President Snow, Haymitch arguably

Random Cool-Sounding Nouns (Correct Spelling Optional): Peeta, Rue, Marvel, Glimmer, Cashmere, Twill, Wiress

Names Ending In A Long E: Annie, Bonnie, Rory, Posy, Effie

Roman: Cinna, Caesar, Portia, Brutus

At first I just thought these were weird choices, but then: what do most modern/common names mean? Most are foreign and/or archaic, about God/justice/defense/peace/hope-- concepts that have probably been corrupted for these people, having to watch the country fall into ruin and then watch their kids go on a killing spree to make up for it. So they just pick things relating to their occupation or that sound cool.

There's a Hunger Games name generator somewhereabouts on the internets, which I can't find. But here's what I remember of it + my addendum:

1.) Second syllable of your middle name (If it's one syllable or you don't have one, or you're rocking the Harry Truman initial-only thing: second syllable of your last name)

2.) Add "ket" to that = first name

3.) First letter of your favorite teacher's last name = middle initial (if you want a whole middle name, pick a word you like the sound of that starts with that letter)

4.) Plant

5.) Add a verb to 4. = last name.

Mine: Chelleket Whistle Basilrun-- I'm pretty sure I'd get killed on the third day.

Poetry: Abridged

So.

This isn't what I promised I would write about today. Sorry; that will for sure be on Friday. I didn't have time to finish writing it today, what with my summer-school-going and Harry-Potter-marathon-watching and my poem-analyzing.

Which is what I'm going to (very briefly) talk about: poetry. Perhaps you recall the many times that I expressed my disinterest in poetry, primarily because I didn't understand it? Well, I have by no means been transformed into a poetry expert, but I have at least been enlightened to the ways of poetry. It's all about emotion - not the poet gushing out their every heartbreak, but the reader or listener's (that doesn't sound like a word) reaction. It's what you feel. It's what the poem means to you. And yes, even with all that open ended interpretation, it is still possible to interpret a poem incorrectly, but there is no right/wrong answer per say.

Anyway, read this poem and then read it about four more times and then tell me that the last three lines aren't some of the saddest and most beautiful words you've ever read. (If you don't know what the Vietnam War Memorial in DC looks like... it pretty much looks like this, but bigger.)

Cheating and Soccer (completely unrelated to each other)

So I read this book (The Sky is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson. READ IT. I'm not even kidding. It's like Sarah Dessen meets John Green--okay, so maybe adding John in there is extreme, but still. It's GOOD). A really, really, good book. I've read a couple really, really good books lately. I love reading good books. On a side, I'm possibly developing an inferiority complex in regard to my own work.

But that's not what this decidedly purposeful blog is going to be about. I feel the need to add a disclaimer but I don't know what said disclaimer should announce. So I'll just give it to you. I don't even know where to start or how to go about this but I do have something to say so I'll just say it.

Cheating is bad. I know that. And I mean the unfaithful, kiss/have sex with another person who is not your significant other kind of cheating, to be clear. I'm not saying you should forgive someone for cheating* and I'm definitely not saying you should stay with a cheater but if someone is trying to give you an explanation, I think you should listen.

I've never been in one such situation and I can't know how I'd react but whenever I read or see a fictitious character completely shut someone off based on anything from walking in on the person with another person to hearing it from someone else, I can't help but lose respect for that character. If you ever loved a person or even liked them at all, wouldn't you give them a chance to tell their story? Why do we have to be dramatic and tell people we never want to see them again?

I'm not saying that cheating is cool. I already said it's not. If someone agrees to be with you and only you, you deserve better if they break that agreement. But please don't be silly enough to forget that there are multiple sides to every story. And what's the worst thing that could happen if you hear out the cheater? Your broken heart hurts a little bit more and then you make an informed decision to never speak to the cheater? I think that's better than hot headedly writing them off forever. But again, this is all theory.

Anyway, maybe this quasi rant wasn't any better than my sleep deprived musings but I felt the need to get this off my chest.

I feel the need to mention something about the World Cup because it happened today but I don't really have anything. I think losing sucks and I'm really sorry that Netherlands lost (or that anyone had to lose, in fact). I know losing sucks. When I was a kid, I cried at the end of every Monopoly game.** If it makes you feel any better, Scotland didn't even qualify (have I ever mentioned that my dad was born in Scotland?). And not getting a chance sucks almost as much as being second place. Or maybe more.

*can I just say randomly that I find this a word inadequate? You cheat on your diet, you cheat at Monopoly but cheating on a person? I guess if you have written rules to your relationship it could work but do we have no other word we can use? I put forward butt-faced miscreant. But that's two words unless you count the hyphen as a word break.

**Which, by the way, was invented by a Quaker who wanted to demonstrate the pitfalls of capitalism.

Nostalgia: Always A Good General Topic

It's not even 10:30 but I am insane amounts of tired right now. As I should be, having driven myself to near-pointless insomnia as of late. Anyway...

Were either of you guys on Neopets when you were younger? Pre-YouTube/Twitter/Other social-networking-what-have-yous Neopets was teh ultimate awesum. I was an addict in 4th-7th grade. The games were time-consuming and fun and besides that there was an entire virtual world to do little tasks in. The pet creature-things (among other species, unicorns, wolves, and dragons could be owned. Awesome.) never died but loads of points were spent on food anyway. Those things were REAL, dammit. I went back on it for the first time in years once I decided on this as a blog topic, for research, and wasted about 2 hours on it. It's changed, but I still got drawn in really quickly. Ahh, nostalgia. It's strange to think of a.) The Internet and b.) a period of time in my life that ended only 3 years ago as being nostalgic, but it is. If/when I ever have to explain to future generations that a pet-based computer reality was how I spent most of my free time and have fond memories of during my childhood, it's going to be awkward.

And with that, I bid you buenos noches. (Obligatory promise of better blog later. Seriously though.)

Albino Black Sheep

Hey, y'all. I desperately need to go to sleep, so I leave you with the promise of a legitimate blog on Monday. (I already know what I'm going to say, promise!)

In the meantime: Did you guys ever hear of a website called AlbinoBlackSheep? It was all the rage when I was in fourth, especially fifth, and maybe even sixth grade; Youtube wasn't invented until I was in sixth grade, so it was sort of the go-to place for stupidly entertaining videos. It's where an entire generation (or at least my entire fifth grade class) learned the enthralling beat of the Badger Song, the seductive allure of I'm a Kitty Cat, the genius of the Llama Song... and, of course, the now-infamous Numa Numa lip-syncing incident.

'Twere good times. Of course, we have since moved on to far more mature things, such as Mister Raisintoast and Obama Rick Roll'ing McCain...

Broad Fantasy Statements

I should really start to write these things before 11:20 at night when I'm about to brush my teeth and I can barely keep my eyes open.

I'm really tired right now only I can't bring myself to get out of this chair. I suppose this is all due to the strenuous day I had in which I didn't change out of my pajama pants and stayed in the house all day (unless you count going to the mailbox). You know how it is with the reading fantasy books (really just one, though) and knitting and eating brownies and ice cream bars. It's tough.

I'm so shallow. Urg.

I don't really enjoy fantasy books. That's a pretty broad statement, I know and also flawed seeing as how I'm a self professed Harry Potter nerd but I'm limited in my fantastical scope. As for context, I'm reading Sabriel, by Garth Nix, for book club and it's not exactly gripping.

Today, at my dinner table we had some insanely mental conversation, some of which involved what it is we don't like about the fantasy genre exactly. I wasn't completely satisfied with any of what we came up with except for that Sabriel is very much a reactive characters. She only makes decisions when she has to. She only reacts, never does anything without an external push. It's infuriating.

That's all the thought provoking material you're going to get tonight. It's now 11:33 and I'm apparently going on a hike tomorrow in the 30 degree weather. I don't know what that is in American but last week it was no hotter than 17 C so it's a dramatic change. And I just talked about the weather... yeah.