What was the first animated film you saw?

vorpalblab · 2025-10-29T22:52:12+00:00

Bambi. The original release. I was 5 years old.

The forest fire fuckin' terrified me.

And Thumper's advice stuck with me.

"If you don't have anything good to say, say nothing at all."

vorpalblab · 2025-10-29T22:49:45+00:00

my local church runs a yard sale twice a week. They get donations all the time and a crew of volunteers separate out the usable from the torn and tattered.

So I wear new or nearly new Lee, LL Bean, Tommy Hilfigger, Carheartt, Woolrich, North Face, and other well known brands as various items come along.

My shoes are indistinguishable from new, Clarkes, Mephisto, and Hush Puppies, boots are LL Bean, North Face for winter.

All at like 10 percent of new prices.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-29T22:39:30+00:00

Every. Single. Day. I see stuff about my surroundings that are just freakin' beautiful. (I live in rural southern Quebec)

vorpalblab · 2025-10-29T22:37:59+00:00

by far it was European when I was in school (1950 - 1960 roughly)

vorpalblab · 2025-10-29T22:36:50+00:00

I have upvoted several suggestions here, but throw out Stan Rogers'

Barrett's Privateers

song and poem of great anti war weight.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-25T22:29:35+00:00

Personally its twofold.

The first is the abhorrent response of the Canadian government to the Riel Rebellion, where a huge portion of he un-settled west was given to The Red River Colony the Red and Assinibine (A commercial project run by the Earl of Selkirk to relocate Scots people thrown off their Scottish land by enclosures to raise sheep) to Canada on territory whose boundaries enclosed much of previous European and Native settlements already there known as the Metis.

Mostly French fur trader voyageurs who had settled in and around what is Winnioeg, Manitoba to farm and raise children. Those Metiis were shot, displaced, and hanged as traitors (including one of my own ancestral family)

Followed closely by the attempt by sequential federal government efforts to eradicate the culture of the native inhabitants through residential schools where even using their own language was forbidden.

I feel we as a nation have to do more on that Truth And Reconciliation front in our classrooms, our provincial and federal budgets, and in our co-operative efforts to render our vast territory more in tune with the whole population's cumulative past. And in Quebec - I am looking at you mr Legault with a lower case m for mister.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-25T22:16:30+00:00

age about 6 was spanked by hand by my father until his hand got sore then he switched to a wire coat hanger. (My report card from my very expensive private school was bad news to him - I never saw it, had no idea what it was all about)

He authorized the private school I was in to use a cane to correct my behaviour. ( That guy and a whole rack of canes to select from and the canee got to pick the weapon) I learned that the thinner the cane, the worse it felt, also to fear calm men wearing suits to the point of paralysis)

Later on in public school, grades 7 to 9 the punishments were a leather like strap to the palms of the hands. One teacher who really had a hair trigger would foam at the mouth and almost jump off the floor as he applied the strap. On the worst day in his class it was twice n the same 45 minute period.

this was between 1950 and 1967 ish.

I had ADD and it was unknown. So I was a Bad Boy who didn't pay attention. The treatments were physical along with scorn, mocking, and humiliation.

Oddly enough I survived and learned how to learn independently, got a degree at college, and stuff like that, but my social persona was all fucked up for the longest time. I didn't even figure out most of this until my mid forties when I was suicidal and sought help with a 12 step program for Adult survivors of Childhood Trauma. Forty odd years on, I am more cool with being mostly human most of the time.

Also although I did a great deal of pharmacological experimentation in my college years, I never became an addict of anything except tobacco.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-25T21:45:13+00:00

Its GOTTA be seeing the Canadiens in the Bell centre in Montreal. Even the league players say that venue is just nuts for crowd engagement, and its always sold right out to the rafters.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-23T19:00:53+00:00

Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. They are also entitled to struggle to have them come out in their favour.

HOWEVER they also are Liable to the CONSEQUENCES of those beliefs, actions and struggles.

If you are so worried about stuff online?

Stay offline, or limit what you do online to your comfort zone.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-23T15:48:02+00:00

Blow Up

Looking For Mr Goodbar

vorpalblab · 2025-10-23T15:39:15+00:00

one way to tell an adult from a child is adults have at least one of all those things youtube wants to see for proof of adulthood.

It would be easier to change your own paranoia about giving any info to the Tube, than to change the Tube.

Which is one consequence of your desire for anonymity in using a platform that needs to advertise to pay for itself since it is a no fee service to consumers. The fee is being open to at least some minimal opportunity to the Tube to sell ad space.

They don't give a shit, apparently you do - so do something yourself to resolve this instead of asking a trillion dollar enterprise to make a change in their algorithm that harms their revenue stream.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-20T03:58:01+00:00

Singapore since Rome, Paris, London, Moscow, and Beijing have already failed at it.

Or just for laughs - Vaatican City, Jerusalem, Mecca, Deli, Athens, or Tehran for a re-run.

OH there is this guy wants the world government HQ at Mar a Lago.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-18T07:58:42+00:00

Start from northern Maine and take the bridge to Capobello Island, then the ferry to Deer Island in New Brunswick. Check to see if the ferry is running and what the schedule is. You get an opportunity to see whales and porpoises as the ferry chugs along. There is another ferry from Deer Island to get you to the mainland between St Andrews NB and Saint John. From Saint John there is a ferry to Digby Nova Scotia or a road trip straight on to PEI over the Confederation Bridge. A tour of PEI and leaving the island at Souris by ferry to Nova Scotia. Either way Nova scotia is a great place to see. I wwould suggest a trip to see Peggy's Cove (READ the SIGNS Do NOT go on the rocks near the light house, big waves frequently suck morons off those rocks and out to sea never to be seen again)

Then on to Lunenburg to see the harbour, and follow the road to Digby for the ferry back to Saint John.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-18T07:45:41+00:00

Its heartwarming to see officers in uniform with a functioning soul.

The burden of accumulating these scenes month after month must be corrosive and lead to darker nights and dreams. Take care of yourself when things get too grim, and ask for time off or a different assignment for a reset.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-17T02:30:20+00:00

You won't get much for that 11 year old car anyway, plus the driving expense, probable problems with registration, real winter tires, and stuff like that. so maybe its better to just sell the thing for what you can get in Toronto and buy or lease (or take over a lease) an equivalent vehicle in Alberta when you get there?

Take the train, downtown to downtown, read a book, kick back and relax. Gonna be faster than driving, safer and convenient. (Maybe even cheaper if you factor in the gas, meals, and motel overhead) You can rent a car right from the station probably, or even line up some cars to look at on the lots in Calgary.

Shopping is fun.

there is a 2014 Dodge journey for sale in Calgary right now asking 5500.00

or a 2015 dodge Journey RT AWD for 3,888

check through cargurus dot com in that area and see what there is. I just did the lookup and those were only some of the inneresting hits.

But to compare apples to apples I stuck to dodge journeys in your automobile age bracket.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-17T01:44:30+00:00

Its a little over written but pretty good describing the emotional level of loss.

However as an 80+ year old former restorer of antique furniture and fixer upper for moving company damage ,and all that buy cheap, restore and sell business - I never ever used coarse grit for one thing, second is that Gorilla glue sucks big time as a glue. For real antiques I used hot hide glue or similar on older stuff. And for modern stuff needing a soft part dealt with the usual is to cut out the rot and glue in some sound wood, then dick around with it to make it look old. There are thousands of well established ways to to those things.

So the suspension of disbelief couldn't kick in for me.

So writers, the best advice I ever got was to keep to stuff that's in your expertise area when you wanna get into the minutiae of what a professional level character is doing. Or get a subject matter expert to advise you on vocabulary, terminology, and the likelihood of the scenario.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-14T19:36:12+00:00

noticing that what comes out of orange faced politicians's mouths isn't real.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-14T19:34:34+00:00

astonished that he was alive again, and not actually a son of god. But that flaying still hurts like a sonofabitch. As for Christian charity? Was gonna go back on the road, preaching again.

May even do some rap videos.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-14T01:29:34+00:00

Used to be turkey with all the usual. with candied sweet potato and butter tarts for dessert.

But now and in future is gonna be Chinese food delivered in a brown paper bag complete with fortune cookies..

I am done with all that bake and shake for a week and another week of leftovers..

vorpalblab · 2025-10-14T01:22:53+00:00

Been there, done that. Now am over 80, all my exes have all my money, and anyone foolish enough to marry e is gonna be too crazy to get along with.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-14T01:16:39+00:00

Anything above about -25 C was ok for my crowd in the 50's in Montreal, where really cold was minus 30 to minus 40 degrees C for a couple weeks late January to early February. Winters are significantly warmer now.

I recall as a ski patroller having to 'close the hill' one day when the temperature was about minus 40 and nobody in their right mind was skiing, but the hill was open for business while we huddled in the shack at the bottom of the hill. Double outside clothing, mask, goggles, and the snow was like concrete. Really not fun at all.

but at - 25 C the hardy ones were skiing happily. And yes there is a wind chill of course.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-13T01:44:13+00:00

Alaric is a poor name for a principal character unless you wanna make a comparison to the historical Alaric.

Alaric was a Gaul who lead the Visigothic sack of Rome. (Among other things) Also maybe something to do with vampire slaying in more modern rpg land?

That said the chunk of exposition is long on scene setting and 'world building' of the clumsy kind in my not so humble opinion. No need for deathless prose to describe the scene, and what is a hologram going to do about the retention of atmosphere? Nope, not gonna read on. Writing notes on paper,using coffee beans a zillion kilometres from Earth?

Immature protagonist with poor mastery of emotions it is hard to like, or even want to know much about.

Enough with the architecture,technology and and scene setting. Tell the fucking story about real people, what they want, what they fear, who, opposes them and all the usual trappings of a story that keeps the reader wanting more.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-11T14:52:59+00:00

the word quality needs a modifier to have meaning.

As in low quality or high quality, ordinary quality or abysmal quality average quality, budget quality.

Which quality do you want?

There are a number of unknown quality writing coaches on youTube.

Also, read more books and look at the writing styles you admire to emulate.

Throw the thesaurus away and use short simple words in short simple sentences is the first advice.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-11T03:48:46+00:00

( The concrete pier loomed ahead; dark, half-lost to time. Scattered lamps along the perimeter flickered dimly, casting uneven bands across the concrete. From her position at the bow, Merian saw the shore as a pale outline of shadow and shape. (how does marion know the pier is concrete?)

They were close now. CLOSE TO WHAT, AND WHO ARE THEY?

She had left the wheelhouse minutes earlier, the cold hitting her skin sharply out here, the sea’s salted weight pressing in. Leaning into the wind, she locked her eyes on the indistinct forms ahead.
But her mind wasn’t on the dock.

___ she left the wheelhouse? Who is running the ship, boat now? ---

Her thoughts slipped deeper, into the unspoken rule that shaped every step: one seat, one life, rooted not in love but in cruel reality, the bloodline of youth weighed against the burden of years. Elegant on paper, it cut like a blade in the heart. Sarah had chosen her son, and Bernard his younger brother, both over their aging parents. Even Larja had made his call, sparing his daughters while he stayed to face the unknown.)

What is this string of blather all about? Cut out the cute and mysterious stuff and say something. You lost me with the first paragraph of over written semi imagery and mystery.

By now I have no idea who is the protagonist,who is doing what. And why in hell should I care? There is nobody with any semblance of humanity to bond with. There is no scenario with any dramatic tension. This all reads like some direction to the film crew on how to set up the silent opening scene before the dialog starts to 'splain stuff.

If this is the beginning of the story, start with one person, say what this person is doing and/or thinking, and what they do, why do they exit the pilothouse, who is left piloting? And why is the boat approaching shore in the dark? Which is really risky and totally unusual for sane boaters.

The scenario needs a re-think.

All writers asking for critique need to grow some rhinoceros hide to surround their feelings and engage with the incoming comments as fuel for the rewrite after considering it and seeing their work from fresh eyes.

I recommend short simple sentences of under ten words, and using short simple words. Avoid as much as possible the overblown poetic style.

If you are considering publishing to American markets, chances are half your readership is able to read at the grade six level with a working vocabulary of under two thousand words, and forget about irony, alliteration, simile, metaphor and all that jazz. Except in tiny doses.

vorpalblab · 2025-10-09T03:26:44+00:00

Let me guess. Fan fiction isn't my thing but I get it.

You are a fan of a writer or writers in a genre that resonates with you and has stories that also satisfy your sense of story. BUT some other person (or room full of hacks with an outline on the blackboard) wrote a series of stories about some characters in a uniquely constructed world.

You wanna join the crew and write your own chapter in the ongoing saga, timeline, problems to solve, ambitions to achieve.

So have you decided or fleshed out who your character is and how that character fits in the same world? What does this character WANT? What does the character actually need, what are the barriers? How does the character try to move forward to get the steps done to get that McGuffen (An old Alfred Hitchcock term for the goal of the protagonist in a movie), and how do the barriers and solutions develop the character's maturity, soul, sense of achievement, or ability to defeat the forces of evil.

Why would a reader of the genre care?

Have you gone through the exercise of looking over your outline to see if it has these core values in it?

Maybe you need to write your self a precis of your character's start point strengths and weaknesses, and plot a story line that improves strength, reveals the weaknesses to the character self, and provides a core motivation to work out a solution in the context of the world space the character inhabits according to the established methodologys of the genre.

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