Stuff you hate (aka: the new f. you thread)

[Martin]

Rugby, not soccer.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Seems to me mountain climbing and cannibalism go together like two things that go together very well.

Didn't I read a book about this combo already?

No!  Soccer players not mountain-climbers.

This is my first attempt at writing a novel, and I'm finding that so many ideas I have had for it came from old concepts lodged in my brain that are not even conscious to me anymore. I suddenly have more sympathy for people who are charged with ripping others off.  For example, I was watching "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" for the first time since childhood the other day, and realized that I had unintentionally ripped off a whole scene from that film in my book.  Then I created a character who in hindsight is Sacajawea even though I was not conscious of this as I was writing her. I had forgotten about her story for decades.

So for all I know, the mountain/cannibal connection in my book is indeed there because of "Alive" although, as you point out, FONPR, these are climbers, not plane crash survivors.

It's amazing how little is original under the sun.  I am trying to write every paragraph to be as original as possible, yet here I am...the Carlos Mencia of authors.

[fonpr]

Seems to me mountain climbing and cannibalism go together like two things that go together very well.

Didn't I read a book about this combo already?

No!  Soccer players not mountain-climbers.

This is my first attempt at writing a novel, and I'm finding that so many ideas I have had for it came from old concepts lodged in my brain that are not even conscious to me anymore. I suddenly have more sympathy for people who are charged with ripping others off.  For example, I was watching "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" for the first time since childhood the other day, and realized that I had unintentionally ripped off a whole scene from that film in my book.  Then I created a character who in hindsight is Sacajawea even though I was not conscious of this as I was writing her. I had forgotten about her story for decades.

So for all I know, the mountain/cannibal connection in my book is indeed there because of "Alive" although, as you point out, FONPR, these are climbers, not plane crash survivors.

It's amazing how little is original under the sun.  I am trying to write every paragraph to be as original as possible, yet here I am...the Carlos Mencia of authors.

Did I mention I will soon be reading From Cliche to Archetype?

[Martin]

This asshole

One person has created the world's biggest writing by using a car and a GPS tracking device as a "pen."  The writing -- "Read Ayn Rand" -- consists of 12,328 miles traveled and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and covers 30 American states.

[robertc]

Sounds like the work of a rational actor to me!

[NJL]

This asshole

One person has created the world's biggest writing by using a car and a GPS tracking device as a "pen."  The writing -- "Read Ayn Rand" -- consists of 12,328 miles traveled and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and covers 30 American states.

[Martin]

Hahahahahaaa!

[fonpr]

This asshole

One person has created the world's biggest writing by using a car and a GPS tracking device as a "pen."  The writing -- "Read Ayn Rand" -- consists of 12,328 miles traveled and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and covers 30 American states.

I'm sure the Petroleum giants concur with the sentiment.

[Stupornaut]

This asshole

One person has created the world's biggest writing by using a car and a GPS tracking device as a "pen."  The writing -- "Read Ayn Rand" -- consists of 12,328 miles traveled and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and covers 30 American states.

Hey, you gotta admire the willpower of someone who is capable of pulling that kind of stunt without ever once using a single roadway that was built by the public sector.

[Andy]

someone needs to die.

Bret Michaels - What I Got (New Song 2010)

[cutout]

^Worst anything of everything. Thread over. 

[Mark in Helsinki]

This asshole

One person has created the world's biggest writing by using a car and a GPS tracking device as a "pen."  The writing -- "Read Ayn Rand" -- consists of 12,328 miles traveled and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and covers 30 American states.

Hey, you gotta admire the willpower of someone who is capable of pulling that kind of stunt without ever once using a single roadway that was built by the public sector.

Aren't GPS satellites also government built? 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

It's amazing how little is original under the sun.  I am trying to write every paragraph to be as original as possible, yet here I am...the Carlos Mencia of authors.

Sorry for the unfunny thread drift, everybody, but Jon, I'm assuming you already know Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence."  Embrace it!  The most successful play I've ever written swipes from all over the place (and acknowledges this up front), but people are always talking about how original it is, something that never happened with anything I wrote that actually was original.

To those that argue that Mr. Mencia lies in a pool of his own sweaty mendacity at the bottom of that slippery slope, I would agree that jokes are the one exception to that rule because they rely on novelty and the unexpected.

[JonFromMaplewood]

It's amazing how little is original under the sun.  I am trying to write every paragraph to be as original as possible, yet here I am...the Carlos Mencia of authors.

Sorry for the unfunny thread drift, everybody, but Jon, I'm assuming you already know Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence."  Embrace it!  The most successful play I've ever written swipes from all over the place (and acknowledges this up front), but people are always talking about how original it is, something that never happened with anything I wrote that actually was original.

To those that argue that Mr. Mencia lies in a pool of his own sweaty mendacity at the bottom of that slippery slope, I would agree that jokes are the one exception to that rule because they rely on novelty and the unexpected.

Thanks. You made my day, because it happened again last night in what seemed like a case of cosmic coincidence. 

As for Mencia, it is not the theft of concept, but the theft of concept and delivery. Just like that FWD who was ripping off Patton Oswalt recently. In these cases, there is no chance of simple coincidence.

[waltkellysghost]

Jim Morrison's poetry. Also...Jim Morrison.