After a few rounds of this recently I’m honestly starting to wonder if schools don’t teach children to read the damn question anymore. One of the basic things I was taught when it came to exams was that I ought to read the question as many times as I needed to make sure that I understood what it was asking, and if I wasn’t sure that I needed to ask an invidulator for help. I even recall being told to read the question at least twice slowly to make sure I understood what it was asking so that I didn’t make the mistake of answering what I thought was being asked only to discover much later, probably just before time ran out, that I’d misread the question and that the answer I’d given wouldn’t be applicable.
Alongside this I’ve also been recently coming across statements, usually of specific facts, that are entirely irrelevant to the discussion. They’re always complete non sequiturs though they usually have some casual relationship to what’s going on; the most recent example being equivalent to having a discussion about the character of Von Rothbart in Swan Lake and having someone interject with a list of places Swan Lake has been performed. Do people honestly think that sort of thing is relevant? Is it due to some burning urge to contribute with something, anything regardless of how tenuous a connection there is? Quality not quantity, children. If you throw up every line of text that features a key word, regardless of the context of said key word in each case, then nobody will ever be able to figure out what you’re actually saying.
I really have to wonder: has reading comprehension, the ability to sift data and being articulate gone out of fashion these days?
Alongside this I’ve also been recently coming across statements, usually of specific facts, that are entirely irrelevant to the discussion. They’re always complete non sequiturs though they usually have some casual relationship to what’s going on; the most recent example being equivalent to having a discussion about the character of Von Rothbart in Swan Lake and having someone interject with a list of places Swan Lake has been performed. Do people honestly think that sort of thing is relevant? Is it due to some burning urge to contribute with something, anything regardless of how tenuous a connection there is? Quality not quantity, children. If you throw up every line of text that features a key word, regardless of the context of said key word in each case, then nobody will ever be able to figure out what you’re actually saying.
I really have to wonder: has reading comprehension, the ability to sift data and being articulate gone out of fashion these days?
Prompted by this
bad_rpers_suck post I have to say that I’ve never understood this RP buddies = actual friends theory. I can understand becoming friends with the people you RP with, I can understand joining an RP because your friends are involved in it, I can even understand that perhaps many people do genuinely ‘want to meet new people’ and other such stock tripe that gets put on UCAS applications but that still doesn’t make friendship an instantaneous occurrence.
( Read more... )
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
( Read more... )
RP as therapy
May. 17th, 2009 01:57 pmHaving seen this post on
bad_rpers_suck I was about ready to dismiss the idea of RP as therapy out of hand until it occurred to me that I have seen it happen. ( Read more... )
None of which is the RaceFail 2009 post I’ve been meaning to write but once my brain has kicked into gear I’m going to have something to say on the topic of dismissing the evidence because it’s a highly favoured academic tactic which illustrates one of the major problems with epistemic communities.
In other news, I have two DreamWidth invite codes to hand if anybody wants one.
( Dollhouse - last ep )
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
None of which is the RaceFail 2009 post I’ve been meaning to write but once my brain has kicked into gear I’m going to have something to say on the topic of dismissing the evidence because it’s a highly favoured academic tactic which illustrates one of the major problems with epistemic communities.
In other news, I have two DreamWidth invite codes to hand if anybody wants one.
( Dollhouse - last ep )
Writing about sex
Apr. 10th, 2009 03:29 pmWhy is sex so hard to put into words? - Maeve Haran (Telegraph.co.uk)
By now, though, I was beginning to learn a few lessons, the first of which is that being convincingly erotic is hideously difficult. It seems the writer can be erotic or convincing, but rarely both at the same time. For this, blame sex itself. The awkward truth is that real sex is often anything but erotic. It is awkward, kinky, funny, tender and messy.
Which says it all. Writing about sex is nothing like the real thing and I wish people would learn this. Or stop writing.
( Read more... )
By now, though, I was beginning to learn a few lessons, the first of which is that being convincingly erotic is hideously difficult. It seems the writer can be erotic or convincing, but rarely both at the same time. For this, blame sex itself. The awkward truth is that real sex is often anything but erotic. It is awkward, kinky, funny, tender and messy.
Which says it all. Writing about sex is nothing like the real thing and I wish people would learn this. Or stop writing.
( Read more... )
A brief note on lunatic asylums
Aug. 20th, 2008 09:17 pmHaving made a brief foray into Batman fiction recently this mostly constituted an excuse to read Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth and complain about the casting of Cillian Murphy in the role of Scarecrow, again. But beyond that it did trigger the beginnings of something that’s been nagging at me from time to time, namely the portrayal of mental asylums in fandom.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Glancing over
bad_rpers_suck in an attempt at cohesive procrastination today I came upon this post about problems in an RP where just about everybody was joining up with the bad guys rather than picking the other side. The question there posed being mostly; why?
( Read more... )
All of which probably ties in with this at a tangent.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
( Read more... )
All of which probably ties in with this at a tangent.
From the
7_deadly_sins_ community, just jotting down some drabble information for what I may write later.
( Read more... )
( In which I don’t quit fandom at all really )
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
( Read more... )
( In which I don’t quit fandom at all really )
Curious thought: Fandom vs Real Life
Jul. 15th, 2007 04:44 pmLately I’ve been reading
fandomsecrets on and off and while it’s mostly the usual sort of thing you might except with people declaring a dislike of some popular pairing or a like of one that they won’t admit to their friends, with a couple of what seem like vaguely trollish secrets too and stereotypes to boot, what’s really surprised me was a certain sort of secret that seems to be occasionally reoccurring. Namely that various posters declare that whichever fictional reality of choice is somehow better than their own life or that they’d love to live in a certain fictional setting.
( “And though scary is exciting, nice is different than good.” )
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
( “And though scary is exciting, nice is different than good.” )
Perpetual peace has always struck me as being like one of those perpetual motion desktop toys; eventually it stops. But one toasted bagel with herb & garlic crème cheese and pancetta later; while words like ‘Teeplantage’ and ‘türkische Haremsdame’ are still making me boggle I’ve decided to address an entirely different topic instead.
( “Making a point to waste my time” )
( “Making a point to waste my time” )