I don't know what planet I'm living on anymore. On one hand, we've got people complaining that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is too "religious" a song to be sung in public schools. On the other hand, I have an eight year old coming home from school scared by tales of Bloody Mary and Candyman. In what world is it appropriate to let elementary school kids watch Candyman? Edited for TV version or no - there is no way that's an appropriate movie for those under 12, let alone under 10. I admit, I was young when I watched it with my mom but it wasn't until middle school that I became a horror movie junkie and I was NEVER normal. These kids - they are absolutely too young and I shouldn't have to be explaining urban legends at 8. What is the world coming to? We have warnings on plastic bags (like *anyone* thinks they're appropriate toys), we have to tell people who order coffee through a drive thru to be careful because *gasp* it's HOT!, there is no such thing as responsibility anymore. My generation is giving birth to the next one and I'm not at all convinced that is a good thing. We live in a litigious age where everything is someone else's fault. This is not something I want my kids to learn. My oldest is 8 years old. He's not ready for horror movies. He's not ready for horror stories. I didn't let him read past the third HP - it's not appropriate for him just yet. I don't let him watch even the editted for TV versions of *my* favorite movies. I don't watch things like Jaws or Candyman or Pet Semetary or about a billion other things I would love to watch on any given day. What are parents thinking?? Sure - we'll let them watch whatever they want to watch, play whatever brainhack thing they want to play and ignore books completely, ignore building stuff, creating stuff, doing all the things little kids have done since forever. But no. Let's take the easy way out and let the TV do our jobs. oy.
I've gotten a good way through the novel and I've hit a bit of a block... which sucks but it gives me a chance to pen some new shorts right? I have several hundred ideas for shorts in my head so any chance to get them on paper should be a good one right? I suppose it would be if not for my obscene problem with making up names! it shouldn't be this difficult! I'm working on already established worlds, rules, and cultures. I have been working with these planets for the last five years give or take. It shouldn't be that difficult - even if at the moment I have the attention span of a gnat - I should be able to at least get some fragments down on paper. I want to. Really badly but it just isn't working for me today. So - this is my writing for the day - everything else I've touched today sucks.
Why was it so easy to come up with the maraph and the dromin and the mettiks (all animals related to the Strange Angel worlds) but on Wyalat right now I have the rfm - really fast mammals and the lsm - large slow mammals... that sucks. And the names of the characters for the particular short I'm attempting to work on are literally - C, N, R, D, - using the first letters I want until I can figure out thier names later. names are usually so damned easy for me! It must be everything else just piling up on me. Whatever it is... It sucks.
~S
I was watching the news last night and heard what has to be the greatest case for a sentance of mandatory sterilization. A woman left an infant (I did not catch how old) in a crib for three weeks - alone. The baby, miraculously, is not dead. A neighbor found him. The mother had told a friend that the baby was with a sitter. Instead, he was slowly starving to death. The baby is in the hospital now and I hope she has a creative judge - one willing to make an odd sentance. This woman should not be allowed to have children - not even allowed to create them. CPS has it's good points but, how many kids slip through the cracks, how many parents are so good at charming the agents? There has to be a point where these parents are just so bad that they get to be sterilized. When my son was a baby, I could barely leave him for three hours - and that was only if he was with relatives and had everything he could possibly need. I can't imagine a mother who could leave her child for three weeks. It just flat out makes me sick.
~S