Suggestion Saturday: May 7, 2011

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, videos, games and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

This is Only a Test.  If I could influence traditional movie plots the hero of an action movie would be the first person to stop and help at the scene of an accident. I can think of no better definition of the term than someone who reacts to a dangerous situation in this manner (especially if he or she is a civilian).

25 Abandoned Yugoslavia Monuments That Look Like They’re From the Future. These are great monuments. I don’t know the social or political significance behind any of them but they are a good inspiration when you’re working on story ideas. The otherworldly Tjentište one was by far my favourite.

Stop Disasters Game. How would you minimize property damage and the loss of human life if you had $50,000 to upgrade a village before a natural disaster hit? It’s not an easy game but it is something I’ve returned to over and over again. Either the game makers want us to realize that there is never enough money to save everyone or there is some sort of trick to it I have yet to discover.

Music Cubes. Making music has always been a bit of a mystery to me despite growing up in in a musical family. I’ve never been able to figure out how to string notes together to make something ear-pleasing…until now. It’s funny how that works and it makes me wonder why a slightly different approach can have such a big impact on how well someone understands something. Any theories on this?

Drew and I discovered something odd on a recent walk. It looks like part of an old fence. What I don’t understand is why it has been wedged into and tied onto a tree. None of the surrounding trees had anything unusual in or on them. Do you have any theories? If I can’t come up with a good explanation I may need to dream up a short story about this to satisfy my curiosity. 😉

I’m reading another Jodi Picoult  brain candy book this week: Second Glance. It’s about, among other things, a developer who is trying to turn an ancient Abenaki Indian burial ground into a strip mall, a ghost hunter who has never actually seen a ghost, and small town secrets that are bubbling into general knowledge after decades of being submerged.

What have you been reading?

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorised

0 Responses to Suggestion Saturday: May 7, 2011

  1. About the tree, my first thought was that it was a hunters attempt at a tree stand.

    • Interesting thought! The tree is is a very suburban area now but I don’t know what the area looked like a generation or two ago. Maybe it’s a very old tree stand?

  2. Twyseschoch

    I wonder if the tree grew around the fence.

    I love that site with pics of Yugoslavian sculptures. It looks so other worldly — I thought that sort of art only was seen in sci fi movies of other galaxies. Apparently sci fi has merely copied the art of eastern europe, mid 20th century.

    • Another intriguing idea. The fence piece is very deeply embedded into the tree and the bark has grown up right up to the edge of the metal.

      Those sculptures were amazing. I’d love to see them in person one day. 🙂

  3. I’ve been reading “Mariette in Ecstasy” and “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” So far, so good on both counts!

    Maybe the tree-fence thing is a hook for a lantern for late-night woodland creature gatherings. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *