nindogs

No, I'm not talking about when a boy and girl put their naked parts together, nor am I talking about that game where you are symbolised as a shoe or a thimble and go around and buy property. No, I am talking about the game where you choose actors to portray the mental image of a picture in your head - also known as Celebrity Cheek (because I have heard people pick actors for nearly every feature but their rear ends). Yeah, I actually sat myself down with my homework in front of me and sat through the how ever many torturous hours of the 83rd Academy Awards. And yes, seeing Melissa Leo drop the f-bomb and James Franco in drag - not to mention his granny say "Marky Mark" - made it worth it. But seeing all of these men that I've continually drooled over, and the ones that I just think are amazing, as well as those women who are so pretty I wish they'd trip, it made me wonder: to what extent should authors match familiar faces to their characters? I'm not frowning...

Say hip hip hooray for absurdly long titles. (And if you didn't catch those references, look here (at 2:50) and here ) I apologise profusely here, boyos. School has been an even greater burden that I'd ever imagined. If I want this mark I've been blabbering about, I am going to need to clone myself. Seriously. It's been a long week since I last spoke to you all and I'm afraid it may be another until I can break above the water. I'm drowning in homework, and core texts that I absolutely despise. In fact, I'm starting to look a little like this: And this glorious situation sparked me with inspiration as gracefully as lightning destroys a palm tree. Inspiration for, well, my blog. *Casts longing glance to manuscript in the corner* As I tried to straighten out my weekend to catch up on all the work I missed when I was sick this week, I realised that Saturday - my devout RETURN revisions day - was being consumed by extra reading/film viewing/art sketching for s...

Salut, madame et monsieur! (Apologies, I've had two French classes and I think I know everything. *wink*) Now we have two fellows to our right today: Saladin (SAH-LA-DINN) and Richard the Lion-heart. So where are we - or, when are we? The Third Crusade! Say whuuuut ? Isn't this a writing blog? What's with the history lesson? Oh, pardon me. (And secondary apologies if you didn't catch the reference in the title. For enlightenment, see: Easy A .) See that grey cross emblazoned over Richo's breast? It's meant to be red. Sorry, Google images is colour-impaired. Anywho, back way back when, Crusaders would sew a red cross into their tunics to show that they were on Crusade, also known as "carrying the cross". (Google the Crusades if you're interested - it's bloody brilliant). And the title comes into play as I briefly mention that in a recent film: Easy A , just like in the book: THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, a girl sews a red A onto her shirt (A for ...

This a bit of a belated post, but you'll cope. I bet more than half of you haven't even noticed the badge that's been sitting on the far right sidebar. So basically, my blog is now carbon neutral. (Or, you know, so says the badge) Basically, it's a programme that started in Germany (By the company Make It Green) that aims to lessen carbon dioxide emissions. For this programme, My Blog is Carbon Neutral, they joined forced with Arbor Day Foundation. And when they put their rings together... (Nah. Sorry, no Captain Planet). Anyway, these awesome people are aiming to replant the Plumas National Forest in Northern California, which was nearly destroyed by fires in 2007. So, go to this link and follow the steps. All you have to do is put the badge somewhere on your website, and write a little blog post like this one. Then, email the link to the guys at Make It Green, and they'll plant a tree in the Plumas on behalf of your blog. Now, you all know I'm not a Tree Hugg...

I apologise in advance for the size of this post. Today's second post is about motivation, success and beating procrastination, just making you (the little white plastic guy on the left) defy all laws of physics and, Inception -style, walk up that ginormous arrow on the tip of that red carpet. At school this morning, I sat through three seminars given to the Year 11s by a presenter from Elevated Education . Her name was Carmen and she was a sixth-year law student. Her seminars on study skills for the next two years inspired me to adapt the hand-outs and information and stories I was fed today and change it into a blog post on writing and authors. So, going off how I was given this information, this post will be divided into three: The Sensei, The Clock, and The Elevator. I hope you get motivated or inspired yourself. This is really just a self-help book shrunken down into a cheesy post. So, without further ado... THE SENSEI I want you to imagine a pyramid, in fact, draw a triangle ...

It's been about a month since the absolutely amazing and drop-dead-gorgeous Trisha over at WORD + STUFF awarded me with the blog award you see to the left. Go look at her blog now. Now, I say! And now, the rules. So in order to accept this award I must 1) share seven things about myself, 2) pass the award to fifteen bloggers, 3) notify the recipients, and 4) link to the blogger that gave me this award. Alright. I've already done one of these sorts of posts, so I'll try not to recycle anything. Anyway, SEVEN things about me. ONE : I am an insanely bad fanfiction writer. I just can't do it. I take a firm stand against Mary Sues and author projection into fiction, but if I ever delve into another fandom, I always find myself - the best (fake) version - seeping into the OC or love interest. I'd prefer to formulate my own worlds and characters where I seem to be able to restrain myself. TWO : Despite only having read the Harry Potter series during the Great Sickness o...

I returned from Thailand on a TG-something to Sydney on Friday morning. My brain was telling me that it was nine in the morning, but the clocks and air hostesses told me otherwise. For the past two days I've been roasting in a heatwave where each day sits at about 42 degrees (celsius) and retains that until early in the evening. I know some of you must be thinking: "You just came from Thailand, what are you talking about?" Yes, but alas, I spent half my time in air-conditioned rooms, or out in the evening when the temperature had dropped. It was also winter while I was over there. But what does this have to do with anything? Writing-wise? I got a brand new spanking idea for a novel, involving a lot of culture and delving into mythology and the Himmapan forest. Over the last day, I've poked at it a little bit, finding places to integrate past ideas into it. It could be bloody brilliant. But if it's the one, it will be there, perhaps even stronger in my mind, when ...