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People drama is the worst thing in the history of ever. Any time it pops up I am just like "Woah, you guys chill. It really isn't that big of a deal." And they never doooo~ D=

The word is properly pronounced the same as "mock" as anyone who has attended a convention can attest to. (We could get into the difference between initialisms and acronyms, as per publishing rules in newspapers and copyediting, but few are interested in that, I think.)

IMPORTANT: Don't add me to the drawing. Just wanted to add some insight on DVD region locking. DVD's may be region locked, but that does not mean people in other countries can't play them. VLC is a region independant player for computers, and it is possible to buy players for different regions. Unencrypted DVD's are region free. The are almost never published commercially however, even though DVD CSS was broken ages ago.

Silly paint scribble from roughly ten minutes ago; resized so as to get rid of the squigglyness of the lines, although this was done with a graphics tablet... so yeah. The text is supposed to read "DRAMA~", BTW. ^^ Last week before summer break has always been the most annoying, stressful and evil thing there is. ><

I'm leaving today to work for the summer. As such my activity will be decreasing. I cannot promise that I will be very active at all; Internet can be pretty spotty where I'm going. Book 2 might be delayed if I am unable to work on it during the summer, but I'd that is the case I'll be throwing myself into finishing it when summer ends.

When I first read this entry's title I thought you were leaving for good. *Whew*

I used to pronounce it "Em-Oh-See" but convention attendance plus the clumsiness of terms like "MOCist" or MOCing" when pronounced that way got me pronouncing it properly over time. Ooh, I'm interested! I'm interested!

Essays, Not Rants! 118: The Dynamics of the Buddy Movie Im on vacation. As such, heres an essay I wrote for class during my Spring semester. We were assigned seven movies and had to compare the lot of them. Hence writing about The Parent Trap. Enjoy. The buddy movie is one of the most prolific genres in cinema. With movies as diverse as the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, recent blockbusters like The Avengers, and animated films such as Toy Story; chances are everyones seen some variation of a buddy movie. One of the things that keeps the genre timeless is the myriad of buddies they can feature. We could have four characters who start out as friends and have their friendship tested, or they could be rivals who learn to work together. Alternately it could feature a pair of old friends who decide to roam the world together, possibly saving it in the progress; or two people with opposite personalities and a common goal. Point is, these different character dynamics are what make the genre unique. At its basest the buddy movie genre allows for two characters to work together towards a similar goal. Such is the case with The Parent Trap. Annie and Hallie, the long-lost twins, are essentially the same character, though in English and American forms. The first portion of the film focus on them meeting, disagreeing, and coming to terms with each other whereas the remainder of the film follows them as they strive to reunite their parents. Here the characters compliment each other, their shared goal and similar personalities allow them to work together perfectly to achieve this goal. Of course, thats just one personality. Things get more interesting when more personalities are in play. The ancient Greeks put forth the theory of the four humors; that is that personalities could be divided into four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. The definition of these fall on different ranges, being extroverted and people-orientated, extroverted and task-orientated, introverted and task-orientated, and introverted and people-orientated; respectively. Writers and viewers can use these to identify the roles characters have in a group. Take Sex and the City as a key example. Carrie, the main character, tends to be introverted and focused on her work (within the film shes not seen as being terribly outgoing). Samantha on the other hand, is much more extroverted and focused on the people around her, as seen by her frequent flying from California to New York to visit her friends as well as her constant interest in the people (particularly men) around her. Miranda and Charlotte fall between choleric and phlegmatic respectively. When the buddy movie features an ensemble of four, each character will usually embody one of these temperaments. These contrasts allow for tension to build between the characters and conflict among them which, in addition to the central conflict, makes for an interesting story. The titular foursome of Fantastic Four fit these roles with near perfection. Reed Richards is the cool, collected, melancholic leader of the group; he wants to create a machine to reverse their transformation. Ben Grimm too is task-orientated, though tends to be more outgoing and fulfills the role of the choleric. Johnny Storm is even more extroverted than Ben and lives for the attention of people around him so he clearly is the sanguine member. Lastly, Sue Storm is the mediator of the three focused more on the team themselves and falls under the heading of the phlegmatic. The Fantastic Four fit the temperaments and with it conflict is born. Johnny, the sanguine, is eager to embrace his powers and go public with them. Reed, however, wants to not only make sure theyre safe but to reverse them. Here we see the tension between Johnnys people-orientated nature and Reeds tendency to pursue tasks. This same dichotomy is where a measure of the romantic tension between Reed and Sue stems from: his want to finish his machine and undo the effects of the cosmic storm and her want for him. Its when Reed pursues her and momentarily abandons his focus on the task on hand that strain between him and Ben develops. Many of the films key moments, the incident on the Brooklyn Bridge and the fight outside the stadium, for example, are born out of the tension between these personality types. Its only when they learn to work together that they are able to beat the villainous Victor von Doom and truly become heroes. Removing one character from the foursome creates a different dynamic, one which website TV Tropes dubs the Power Trio. In this set up the three characters contrast and compliment each other, often (but not necessarily) with each one embodying one aspect of the Freudian ideas of the id, ego, and superego. The id is wild and impetuous, frequently jumping headfirst into situations; the superego is the ids foil, rational and willing to look before leaping. The ego exists between them, balancing out their extremes. It can be seen in the original Star Trek TV show, with Kirk balancing out the hyper-rational Spock and the instinctive McCoy. This also serves as a lens to look at Harry, Ron, and Hermiones relationship in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry is clearly the id of the trio; when he accidentally makes Aunt Marge float he doesnt think twice about leaving home and charging out into the night. We see this aspect of him again later when, upon hearing that Sirius Black betrayed his parents, he adamantly declares that he will kill the convict. On the opposite end of the spectrum, assuming the role of the superego, is Hermione. She is heavily focused on her studies, going so far as to have one of her professors procure her a time-turner so she can take a large number of classes. Furthermore, she is also the most sensible of the group, often exhorting the other two to calm down and listen to reason lest they get themselves hurt or in trouble at school. Ron stands between them as the ego. Sometimes ###### be as headstrong as Harry, other times hes with Hermione trying to talk down Harry from doing something reckless. Though theres little infighting amongst the threesome (especially compared to, say, the Fantastic Four), their differing personalities still serve to accentuate each others traits. Harry and Rons laid back attitudes sharpen Hermiones studious nature, just as Hermiones tendency to sit back and figure things out contrasts against Harrys impulsiveness. The different views that Harry, Ron, and Hermione bring to the table enhance the characters and give their interactions and by proxy their adventure a great dynamic. It can also be seen in the key adults at the end of the film, with wild Sirius Black as the id, the mediating Remus Lupin as ego, and calculating Severus Snape the superego. Narrowing the number of characters further results in foils; two characters who may share a similar goal but contrast sharply with each other. In Kinky Boots the tight-laced, somewhat-sheltered Charlie Price is paired up with the vivacious drag queen Lola. Their differing personalities clash on occasion, primarily over the subject of Lolas identity. Charlie wants her to hide who she is in Northampton for fear that people will think ill of him, whereas shes proud of her identity. The tension between their points of view and what they represent colors much of the films tension and the themes of acceptance and coming to terms with your identity. Alternately, one character can influence the other. In Fried Green Tomatoes, the straight-laced Ruth becomes friends with the wild Idgie when asked to by the latters family. Over time, Ruth opens up to Idgies adventurous life and their friendship grows. Their differences help each other: its Idgies feisty boisterousness that causes her to get Ruth out of her abusive relationship with Frank; and its Ruths level headedness and warmth that help give Idgie a home. Theyre opposites, yes, but their personalities compliment and strengthen each other, making for a compelling dynamic. Another common incarnation of the buddy movie is the buddy cop movie. The conceit usually incorporates two police officers of contrasting personalities and, frequently, different races who have been ordered to work together. Films like Rush Hour, BZP Lovers, and End of Watch have done this to great commercial success. Lethal Weapon too was a commercial success and is unquestionably the quintessential example of a typical buddy cop movie. Like other buddy twosomes, Martin Riggs and Roger Murtagh are opposites. Riggs is young, white, impulsive, and somewhat suicidal. Murtagh is middle-aged, black, reserved, and has a wife and kids to worry about. What Lethal Weapon, and other buddy cop movies, does is accentuate these differences to near extremes and forces them, by virtue of orders from their chief, to work together. This handy trope explains why the two opposites have to be together and provides the catalyst for the inevitable fights between the two. And fight they do. From their initial meeting, Riggs and Murtagh find themselves at odds with each other. Something as non-dangerous as dealing with a jumper displays their different approaches: Murtagh stays near the car and tries to talk him down whereas Riggs climbs up to the jumper, cuffs themselves together, and jumps off onto the inflatable bag with him. This conflict amongst the cops compliments their struggle against the antagonists. It's only when they are finally able to reconcile their differences and work as a team that they are able to defeat the bad guys, as we see in the iconic moment when Riggs and Murtagh shoot the villain Joshua together. The buddy movie is a genre as diverse as its characters. Different combinations, be they based off the four temperaments, embodiments of Freudian ideas, or plain old opposites provide interesting dynamics that add an additional layer to the conflict and tension not usually found in other, single protagonist films.

I say MOC as in 'mock', but to be honest I think it sounds pretty ridiculous either way. "I built a creation" is just all around the better phrase, as it makes more grammatical sense than "a my own creation."

>Start the required programs >Start Skype call >Play a level >Best episode yet with hilarious commentary >Nearly a half hour to beat level >Realize you never hit the record button > TN

Well, I feel conflicted. The baker in me wants to congratulate you, but the part of me who is constantly lost on TF2 references wants to smack you upside the head...

Ah, yes. "Hello, I'm calling on behalf of someone on the internet who says she didn't get her Delorean. No, I dont actually KNOW her, per se, or have proof she didn't get it, but she hates phone calls so this is a completely viable alternative."

I'm planning on tackling this and some other archival things fairly soon. Remind me in July during the BBC contest intermission.

Are we absolutely sure this entry doesn't count as a comment drive and, therefore, should be locked? I kid. I kid. I already pre-ordered my copy, so I don't need in on this. Still, so nice of you to run this, Jedi Master Generous. Takuma Nuva

brontosaurus

Been a while since I've done a Dreaded Real Life entry, and figured I might as well announce a few other things along with that: Blog: -- I've revamped tons of imagery and such for the Bones Blog. The cheesy example skull from this entry: Vector Art in Powerpoint: Quality, Inexpensive, Easy inspired me to make a real one. Not as an av -- I still like my avvie as is -- but for blog stuffishness like the main pic at the top of the sidebars. It's also used for the brand new Skull of Approval for blogs: Omi and ToM have earned it so far. Lotsa past entries could win; haven't decided if I'm gonna do that or just award for new entries. Feel free to make suggestions, just like the bonesiii Gold Key to Nongu award for theories, except with this blog award, I decide purely on my own reasons. New sidebar content block added for that, listing winners. Note that it's blog entries that wins, not the blog in general, so you can win more than once. Revamped my categories, adding "debate" and "coolified artwork", and changing "Other" to "Ectetera." The two guides to Powerpoint are the main things in "Coolified", as well as the Ruthless Elegance: A Visual Guide to Cool entry (one of my top favorite entries). Also cooler banners, standard for the six main categs, and three special banners for my main creative writing serieseses. Lotsa more entries planned for the future. My free time and typing/drawing speed can't keep up with my ideas at the moment. I wanna keep posting them often; we'll see how that goes with evil homework and such. Real Life: In my final semester of college (fiiinally). Done with four semesters of German (I'm actually teaching Ojhilom German now; my homeschooled brother), done with vast majority of everything else. Taking a poetry workshop, which I'm shocked to find that I'm enjoying the most and the class is liking my poems. I might post some of my best poems here later. I think of myself as a prose writer, not a poet, but maybe I should think of myself as both. I'm learning fast; there's a lot to poetry that I never realized. BTW, that prof is hereby exempt from the status of evil professor. The history methods seminar prof is not even close to exempt. Ugh, evil homework galore with that class. All this fancy stuff due with barely any lecturing at all -- how we supposed to learn if not taught? This is the main reason I'm not on here much getting things done. Also taking a senior capstone with the poetry guy, basically a workshop with info about publishing and such. Another good one. Got a weekend paper delivery job now. Before this Friday, it took almost all of my free time on the weekend; literally out there walking from house to house from sunup to sundown on Sat and bagging all afternoon on Fri. Plus side is we're really popular with the bigwigs 'cuz we do a better job than most everybody else. Whole family helps, paychecks go in my name. Had to take it 'cuz my dad lost his job; he's in tool and die and that whole industry is just dying in our area. Thankfully, today he started a new job. I enjoy it, so no complaints. It's not evil like homework -- with college I slave away at it, and I have to pay them rediculous summages so they can torture me. It's extortion, really. I'm lucky enough that I enjoy learning so I haven't yet lost my mind (I think ). Of course the pay isn't that great, but I work here for free. I say before this Friday 'cuz the other paper in the area stole our two biggest advertisers, so technically the company I worked for ceased to exist, as it was a delivery company that included a newspaper and ad packs. But the newspaper is still gonna get delivered and due to being popular with the bigwigs I got hired there last week. Start this Friday, driving and throwing out at driveways this time instead of walking, and taking half a zipcode instead of a neighborhood. No idea what it will be like. After college be over, not sure what I'll do other than just try to get some other job. So no idea how that will affect BZP time. I hope, hope to have more time when I graduate. One thing I am reasonably certain of -- I would prefer a job with no homework. (Had my prof tell me he thinks I'd make a good teacher -- when I talk, people listen. I suppose I would, but I'd have to grade stuff! ) Oh, BTW, I'm on the Dean's list at my college. I don' remember if I ever said that here. It's really annoying; they're always mailing me "Buy this fancy class ring! Sign up for this group that meets every week taking away what little free time you had left!" I wasn't trying to get on the Dean's list. All I did was my homework. The other students are the ones that decided not to get all "A"s. But whatever. It's cool anyways. (In all seriousness, having no job until now helped. Most of my fellow students have jobs, and not just on the weekend, so it's understandable. I'm feelin' that pressure now even with this job and it's quite possible I'll have to struggle to keep a "B" in the methods seminar. Tryin, tryin... Last thing I would do is quit the job; I support the paper and they really do need reliable deliverers.) BZP: There's another BRC topic in the works. Freetime willing, we should be able to get that sometime next month. I was hoping for October... we'll see. Nothing superduper amazing but it should be helpful. Also tons of updates and stuff needed with the BRC existing topics, including many things that are my responsibility. *reminds self* Blame the evil profs. Paracosmos Computer RPG: The RPG isn't dead, it's just that all these other things are priority and progress is going slooooow. We really have the Le-Wahi update almost done and what's left is almost all Ojhilom's department, but he's got a lot going on too. I reeeeeeally wanna put that update online cuz it roxorz, especially the (only for now) Le-Koro minigame. My fav so far; both Ojh and I spend more time playing it than coding. There's also a lot done for the final level, and I loooooove that soooooo much, the rest pales in comparison. But also a looot to do; I'm torn between trying to get a skeletal version of that up, or putting it off so I can get just Le-Koro up. Hrm. ... Did I forget something? Eh, probably.

But beware of the ego, bonsy... ~EW~

Huzzah for approvals!

Congratulations! You people's crazy ideas have given me a heart attack! Your Nobel Peace Prize will be delivered shortly. Back to sanity, the blog looks completely different now.

Congrats! You Guys Turned Me Into A Sheep! Disclaimer: This award is not only fake, but also illegal. If you are ready this, you are subject to random strip searches. You are also the legal property of Bill Gates. Your busy, maybe you should get a butler monkey...or should I say, munkey

Congratulations! You have just won the EW Seal of Awesomeness and Other Traits! Disclaimer: This award was created by EW Syndicate Inc. to celebrate the busyness of the said memeber, named bonesiii. This award does not under any circumstances denote any other specialities other than those of wesomeness and other traits, and does not, under any circumstances, make the said prson any better, smarter and/or cooler than the awarder. This award has been awarded under the circumstance that the awardee feels no ego after reciving this award and it can be taken away if any ego is seen. This award was given with a good heart. This award is given by way of EW's new laptop via a dialup internet connection. Some restrictions may apply. Not available in most blogs. Anyways, do you think that you could make a seal for me? I want to make sure that the coast is clear before I send any templates... I have yet to ask Swert, but Zenith has no time... Anyways, no need if not. You lead a far more exiting life than I do! ~EW~

Congrats! You have just won Grav's imaginary award for scaring the heck out of him with your busyness! Feel happy! (Do note that while Grav made up this award like two seconds ago and that it is totally fake, you should be very grateful. If you aren't, he will go make a real award and give it to someone else. Also, an imaginary payment will be due from you in two weeks' time.) You earned it, bones.