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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Blog Harbor" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross Blog Forum" Thanks for stopping by! 
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 Prompt #47: Do you think you have a good imagination? Why or why not? I think the answer to this question, at least for me, depends on what you define as imagination. One of the common dictionary definitions of imagination is "the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful," and I actually think those are two completely different skillsets. In a lot of ways, I suppose imagination then is a lot like intelligence, where you can have different types of intelligence and some people are gifted in some ways but not others. For example, someone might have exceptional logical-mathematical intelligence, but have very low interpersonal intelligence or bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. I'm not sure that anyone's actually broken down the concept of "imagination" into different types the same way intelligence has been studied and diversified over the years, but I think the methodology still applies. On the one hand, I don't think I'm particularly good at coming up with original concepts. Whether it comes to writing, or ideating in everyday life, I tend to be a very linear thinker and don't spend a lot of time wondering about different ways to do things. When it comes to tasks, after some trial and error, once I find a process for something that works for me, I tend to stick with it. And similarly with writing, I don't think I'm often the type of author who comes up with completely off-the-wall concepts that make people say, "Wow, I don't think that's ever been done before!" I don't think I'll ever be the kind of person who invents something (even though one of my earliest memories is wanting to be an inventor), because I just don't tend to think outside the box in that way. So in terms of imagination being raw creativity and ingenuity, I wouldn't say that I have a particularly good imagination. On the other hand, I do think I'm quite good at putting unexpected twists on things, or combining things in creative ways. As a writer, I'm really good with taking a prompt for a writing contest and spinning it on its head. I'm good at mashing up multiple genres and using the conventions of each. In my everyday life, I'm good at synthesizing information, organizing data, and making sense of a lot of different factors and then finding an efficient way to make use of them. My imagination kicks in when I'm thinking of different possibilities and configurations, rather than staring at a blank canvas. So I suppose like there are different types of intelligence, there are different types of imagination. And I'm more imaginative in the "resourceful" kind of way than I am imaginative in the "creative" kind of way. It's why I've always done better with adaptations and and prompts and rewrites as a writer, rather than staring at the blank page and coming up with something wholly original to write. Which is why these "Blog Harbor" prompts and so many other activities that offer inspiration for what to write are so great for me personally, and why screenwriting is so appealing to me. |
 Prompt for Day 2604: Road Trips. “As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert that seemed to point a finger at me and say, 'Pass here and go on, you're on the road to heaven.'" — Jack Kerouac, On the Road. What do you think of road trips? Do you have any memories you'd like to share with us? I spent a lot of time on road trips as a kid. My parents were fishing and camping enthusiasts, and I was active in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts until I turned 18, so it was a common occurrence in our household that we would pack up on a Friday afternoon and head off to some river, lake, etc. or another for a weekend of "roughing it." My parents were also quite frugal, so family vacations were matters of driving a car rather than getting on a plane whenever practicable. Full disclosure, practicable by their definition meant anywhere within driving range of 1-2 days which meant pretty much anywhere in the Western United States was fair game for a road trip.  My favorite road trips as a kid were when my family would drive from Sacramento up to Montana to visit my grandparents for the summer. That was a two-day journey (one to get from Sacramento to the Nevada-Idaho border, then a second day to get from the Nevada-Idaho border to my grandparents' lake house in Western Montana), and even though it was a very long trip those were some of my favorite memories as a kid. The excitement of getting to the lake house for a summer of swimming and playing games and horseback riding and river rafting and eating raspberries, combined with the things my parents did to make the road trip fun: buying us those huge books of crossword puzzles and word searches from the grocery store, along with a handful of books to keep us busy in between rounds of the license plate game, or "I Spy," interrupted only when we had to stop for gas and would load up on junk food at the mini-mart while we were at it. Those moments (combined with a brutal commute driving through the vast majority of Los Angeles each day for the better part of twenty years) are probably why I find being in the car comforting. Or, if not comforting, at least less stressful than most people seem to. I almost never mind driving somewhere within 2-3 hours (day trip to San Diego or Santa Barbara? Sure, why not!), and I still have a dream of one day driving across the country and stopping at all of the places between this country's West Coast and East Coast. That said, road trips are not without their troubles, and I have plenty of those stories as well... of being stranded by the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, and having to make the rounds with him as he picked up a bunch of other cars as well. Or just barely making it to a tire shop after realizing that there's a slow-leaking puncture in your tire about a hundred miles into a four hundred mile road trip. But at the risk of going full "dad mode" at this point in my life... those are also the experiences that have built character and given me stories to tell. |
| WDC 48-Hour Challenge: Media Prompt | Prompt ▼ I still remember when this song first came out in 2007. At the time, Colbie Callait was a 22-year-old singer-songwriter releasing her first studio album — Coco — and I was a slightly-older twenty-something in the midst of planning his wedding. I distinctly remember listening to this song repeatedly during those months because it was soothing and relaxing at a time when I was stressing out over the wedding details a lot. (My wife and I basically planned our entire wedding ourselves thanks in no small part to limited family involvement and a wedding planner who was less helpful than we would have hoped!) Similar to my recent experience with Avril Lavigne, Colbie Callait has released a number of albums in recent years that I apparently didn't realize she had released, so I have a bit of catching up to do, but I remember that each of her early albums had a number of songs that I really liked. Coco had this one and "Realize," Breakthrough had "Fallin' For You" and "I Never Told You," All Of You had "Brighter Than The Sun" and "What If," and Gypsy Heat had "Try" and "Break Free." Not to mention the non-album single "Hold On" which is probably one of my favorite songs of hers. There's something about her musical style that I really like, especially in her more carefree songs. There's an easygoing style to it, and a lot of her songs are definitely relaxing listens; the kind of thing you could have playing from a bluetooth speaker out on the beach, or during a summer backyard barbecue. I will admit that for the longest time I was convinced that she was Canadian for some reason (maybe the French-sounding last name? ) and I was surprised to find that she was born in Malibu, California and raised in nearby Newbury Park as I was doing some research for this blog entry. I also didn't realize that she spent 2018-2020 as part of a country quartet called Gone West (which, sadly, is not the same group as Go West, an 80s duo whose hits included iconic "King of Wishful Thinking"), which is something I'm definitely going to look into more as I put together my Spotify playlist for future listening. She's got a great voice that I imagine would go pretty well with an easier-listening country music style.Callait's most recent album is 2023's Along The Way, which also marks her return her career as a solo artist. If anything, this month's Media Prompt definitely reminded me that I need to listen to that and see what else I've missed while she's been under the radar for the past few years. She also apparently did a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" sometime in 2022 which is a great song. Honestly, the Goo Goo Dolls are a band I need to give another listen to again sometime soon as well. They had quite a few songs featured in regular rotation during my high school and college years as well. |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies  The Accountant 2 Ballerina Elio F1: The Movie How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Ice Age: Collision Course Love HurtsI saw more movies in the theater this month than I have in ages (four!), and it was fun to get back to the idea of prioritizing viewing a movie in a quiet theater where the movie itself is your only focus, rather than watching it home where you might have a bunch of other distractions keeping you from focusing on the story and the characters. And with the sole exception of Ice Age: Collision Course (which is one that my kids picked to watch one day), I thought all of the movies I saw this month were decent in their own way. The movie that I was most excited about was F1: The Movie since I've been following Formula 1 racing a lot lately. While the movie wasn't by any means perfect, it was really engaging and I liked it a lot. I can't remember the last time I was a movie that was over two hours that I didn't think could stand to be edited down a bit, but this one flew by. The racing action was really great, and it was a fun watch. I definitely want to go back to see it again in a 4DX theater (where the seats rumble and move)! Television Goliath (Season 1) Goliath (Season 2) Top Chef (Season 22)Goliath was an interesting show. The first season was an excellent legal drama, and then the second season was almost nothing like the first, as the show turned into more of a crime investigation/thriller with very few legal aspects to it. I heard that the showrunner changed after the first season so maybe the new one just didn't want to make a legal show, and instead make a crime show where the lead character just happened to be a lawyer? I've heard mixed things about the third and fourth seasons, so we'll probably watch them at some point, but we're not rushing to do so. The only other thing I watched this month was Season 22 of Top Chef which was a good if unremarkable season of the show. Maybe it's just starting to feel a little old, but I wasn't really wowed by anything. I was rooting for the person who won, so I was happy in that respect, but I'm not sure how memorable it'll be in the long term. TOP PICK: F1: The Movie |
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