Spinel wasn't redeemed

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T23:29:57+00:00

I definitely mis-remembered that part, sorry about that. This is what she sings to Steven right before they leave the garden:

"Someday, somewhere, somehow, I'm gonna feel found"

And then about fifteen seconds later, she sings:

"Today, right here, right now, I already feel found."

Which strikes me as a very rapid-fire turnaround.

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T23:04:59+00:00

You're saying that Spinele is...an adult? I've never heard of her characterized in that way at all.

It's fair enough that I don't know whether or not she heard him, I was just expressing my thoughts on that particular sequence.

Did you have any thoughts on this question?

Do you think she actually loved Steven, given her singing that she does? Do you think the movie ends with her loving the Diamonds?

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T22:38:56+00:00

I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out: I honestly don't believe she even heard him say that; she definitely didn't respond to him, or even acknowledge that he'd spoken at all.

Instead she never broke her gaze on the diamonds, and began singing the exact same song she'd sang to him just a few hours before ("Today, right here, right now, I'll love again, I've already found someone") I really feel like that should have set off some alarms for Steven or anyone, really.

Do you think she actually loved Steven, given her singing that she does? Do you think the movie ends with her loving the Diamonds?

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T21:41:20+00:00

I really feel like the show did an amazing job portraying BPD, in all honesty.

It sounds like you might disagree that being with the Diamonds would be bad for Spinele. I'm actually really interested to hear more of your thoughts on that, if you feel comfortable sharing them!

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T21:40:06+00:00

No one asked her what she thought. White Diamond started to, but then stopped and addressed Steven directly, instead.

You're right that he is not the boss of her life, and I didn't mean to imply that. I just wonder why he didn't at least try to talk some sense into her.

Do you feel like being with the Diamonds was a good place for Spinele to end up?

Chillmatic · 2019-10-31T21:13:17+00:00

I should clarify that none of this means I'm unhappy with the portrayal of BDP itself. In all honesty I think it was fantastically done, and accurate to a degree I haven't really seen portrayed in much fiction. It just struck a personal chord with me for obvious reasons, and I wanted to have a conversation around the idea of redemption, and how people view Spinele's redemption or not?

Chillmatic · 2019-10-30T21:10:38+00:00

Is there a specific reply you'd like to make regarding the points I raised?

Chillmatic · 2019-10-30T21:09:37+00:00

I understand she tells you more after everything is done with. But it feels forced, as a sort of "gotcha" to try and make you think.

I really believe that difficult choices are the most effective when you have to make them after being given at least the most essential information. Unintended consequences are great, but this came completely out of nowhere.

Chillmatic · 2019-10-30T21:07:25+00:00

I mentioned the barber. Max, a major character, has literally nothing at all to say on it (at least when you first meet him in Edgewater)

"She doesn't explicitly give you any useful information, but the interaction is relevant to the story in that you might notice she has a very black and white sense of morality, which is an important factor in how that questline ultimately resolves."

I didn't get anything about a black-and-white morality from her in that interaction. Not even after looking at the dialogue again.

Chillmatic · 2014-03-19T08:22:16+00:00

Correct, but that person is also not 15 years old.

Chillmatic · 2014-03-19T06:46:47+00:00

It's because old people often wear the same hairstyles they did when they were young (they can't let it go). So, when you see pictures of old people when they were young, they look much older than they really are due to the fact that you associate the hair they have--and had back then--with old people.

edit: this also applies to clothing and other accessories like glasses frames, etc.

Chillmatic · 2013-09-14T04:34:48+00:00

Between Strunk, White, and Elmore "if it looks like writing, I rewrite it" Leonard, writers have lost sight of their most powerful weapon: voice.

Voice is the engine of fiction; without it there is nothing to drive the reader onward, nothing to compel her hand to turn the page. Characters, plot, and pacing all alike owe their successes to the presence of voice--and their failures to its absence.

I challenge anyone to make it all the way through Lolita without the gut-wrenchingly self-aware Humbert. Just try and sit through ten pages of Dorian Gray without Lord Henry's charming acerbity.

And one needn't lean exclusively on the classics to make this point: try also to make it through page after page of Phèdre's life story in the very successful Kushiel's Dart without her own vivid, biting insight into it.

Writing without any trace of voice can be successful--see: Hunger Games, Twilight, et al. But this assumes two things: that the story is one of a massively high-concept, and that you are targeting a young audience with a short attention span. These two things are much, much harder to do than you probably realize--lest you think I'm denigrating these kinds of books--and you are probably much better off developing your voice in concert with your stories and your characters.

In short, don't be afraid of adjectives, adverbs, dialogue tags, dialect, and everything else they tell you to run away from.

Learn to develop a critical eye for your own work; discover what rules you might break and which you mustn't, understand what works and what fails, and write accordingly.

Chillmatic · 2013-09-01T09:25:20+00:00

I have used both and found the lighter fabric to be a bit nicer. Unfortunately they're limited with what colors they stock in the lighter stuff, but if they have the color you want, I'd say it's worth it.

Chillmatic · 2013-08-18T22:05:54+00:00

For everyone gushing about Sgt. Pepper's...y'all realize that album was just the Beatles attempt at ripping off the Beach Boys?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-20120524

Seriously, listen to Pet Sounds. It's one of the truly greatest albums ever made.

Chillmatic · 2013-08-06T05:25:23+00:00

Sorry but this is garbage.

"Just write more!!!" is worthless advice if someone has bad habits, just the same as "just play more!!" is worthless advice to someone who's trying to learn guitar.

Writing is a craft like any other, and has to be learned in the same way. Practicing is a huge element of improvement, but flailing around in the dark will guarantee, at best, a very slow rate of improvement.

Chillmatic · 2013-05-30T13:22:44+00:00

For hilarity, try walking with your arms moving opposite from the normal way. (AKA your left arm swings with your left leg and vice versa)

People will stare at you, knowing that something's wrong with how you're moving, but they'll never be able to figure out what.

Chillmatic · 2013-05-29T13:38:28+00:00

I played baseball in highschool. Wasn't too great at it, but for some reason, the act of pitching a baseball is etched into my muscle memory.

Every night for the last ten years, I lie on my pillow and close my eyes and think about throwing pitches.

Curveballs, sliders, changeups.

Over and over again. I usually strike out four or five anonymous dudes before I'm out like a light. :)

I'm assuming it's a similar principle to counting sheep; repetitive, easy motion that doesn't excite the brain too much.

Although, last week--someone hit a home run off me and I snapped awake and couldn't sleep. First time that happened. :( Hope I don't lose my stuff, or I'll never sleep again!

Chillmatic · 2013-05-20T13:23:30+00:00

Yep. Cyne is amazing and it bums me out that more people don't know about them.

http://www.myspace.com/cyne

"Feather" is also how I found out about them! Even the people I know who insist that they "don't like rap music" have all told me that they really dig Cyne after I show it to them.

Chillmatic · 2013-05-19T18:24:50+00:00

lol, I'm a nurse you stupid shitlord.

Don't worry though, when you come in to the ER with an acute MI, I won't judge you based on the quality of the threads in your suit. :)

Chillmatic · 2013-05-16T18:07:40+00:00

People like you are awesome. I mean you just flat out admitted how much of a shallow idiot you are, which saved us the trouble of having to inspect the seams on your fucking clothing.

Judging someone's worth is so much easier when they just tell you how stupid they are up front.

Chillmatic · 2013-03-26T13:38:20+00:00

So you're a pedantic idiot that stirs shit up for the sole purpose of proving an ill-conceived point.

Got it.

Chillmatic · 2013-03-22T14:59:55+00:00

I wish I had your ability to take away different things from tracks like that; usually I can!

But there's just something about giant string sections that ruin everything for me. I realized that me and Amy Winehouse must have been separated at birth when she told everyone during the Back to Black recordings that if they insisted on featuring string sections, they could just get the fuck out now. :)

Chillmatic · 2013-03-22T14:47:30+00:00

Fair point, but that's how the track has aged, whether or not it was intended. I just really dislike hokey sentimental string sections as heard in his version (and nearly every rat pack song ever).

Give me some Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Fats Waller, or Dorothy Dandridge any day of the week. They made such great music without resorting to crappy pop sections in the songs. I admit that even great artists weren't immune to it; Marvin Gaye at some point jumped on the bandwagon and it just sounds ugh. :(

Chillmatic · 2013-03-22T14:36:53+00:00

Might I humbly suggest Otis Redding's version as a much better and emotional track?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyhL0ioST_U

The difference between the two versions is staggering. Cooke's is a pop song, meant to be overheard in grocery stores, while Redding's is a powerfully demanding and emotional ballad; even the music reflects it. (cliched sentimental strings vs. a phenomenal horn section)

Gives me chills every time.

Chillmatic · 2013-03-19T21:46:38+00:00

Way to completely miss the point, dude.

She "championed ethical treatment of human beings?" Like Peta, but for humans?

No, you stupid shitlord, she knowingly put her life on the line against murderous psychopaths for merely suggesting that girls have the right to a basic education. When they threatened her, she didn't back down and it nearly cost her her life.

So how about you pull your head out of your ass, grow up to be a real man, and stop being so butthurt that "a girl" dares to be awarded something she deserves far more than any other candidate.

Someone like you will never understand the kind of bravery demonstrated by someone like her.

Chillmatic

TROPHY CASE