Spring Quarter 2012: Half-Time Report

It’s spring quarter, the last quarter of the school year, and since Ohio State is switching to semesters in the fall, the last quarter ever. So I have one thing to say to all those listening: somebody slow the quarter down! I’m not kidding, it’s going by waaay too fast. I mean, I’m enjoying my classes, and I’m doing well in them, so why are we already halfway through? I feel like we should still be in week 3, not at the end of week 5! This is why I hate the saying, “time flies when you’re having fun”.

Alright, now that I’ve told everybody in the blogosphere how I feel this spring is going by way too fast, let’s get into the particulars: grade-wise I seem to be doing well, if my quiz scores are any indication. I’ve scored consistently in the 80′s, 90′s, and 100′s on most of them, so I’m not too worried about struggling. I’ve also learned a lot, including that I actually enjoy very old English literature a lot more than I thought I would, and that literature in any period reflects a lot of what society it was written in and what the author was aiming for with the words they write.

I’ve also been pretty busy, what with writing two articles for the Pulse, and taking part in Holocaust Awareness Week and Cover the Night. Not too mention I’m at work almost everyday, and being the financial aid office, spring is busy season, so I’m rarely without something to do. But hey, I’m learning new stuff on the job and `helping out, and getting paid for it too, so what’s not to love?

As for writing, I’ve got three short stories and a poem I’m waiting to hear back on, and once a friend of mine is done looking at the first chapter of Reborn City, I’ll start looking for an agent or submitting to contests, I haven’t decided which yet (and on that, I’d like everyone’s opinions).

So here’s hoping to a good rest of the quarter, let’s hope it slows down and brings plenty of good stuff, particularly in the realms of grades of written works.

An Evening With Deborah Lipstadt

Deborah Lipstadt speaking in the auditorium of the Ohio State University Hillel on April 24, 2012

I had a wonderful evening tonight. Why, you ask? I got to hear Deborah Lipstadt speak! For those of you who don’t know, Deborah Lipstadt is the formost expert on Holocaust deniers and how to combat them. I read her book, Denying the Holocaust, and I found it very informative. It was amazing to hear her speak. 

During the course of the hour-long talk, Professor Lipstadt talked about some fo the methods of Holocaust deniers and their motivations, how she came to research and write about the topic, and, what I thought was most amazing, how she was sued by a henier from the United Kingdom named David Irving because she’d mentioned him in her book and he was accusing her of libel. 

That was pretty amazing in itself: with the help of Princess Diana’s lawyer, she ripped this guy to shreds on the stand, and all without putting the Holocaust and its truth on the stand! Now the guy’s a disgrace, forced to “verdict-deny”. 

What I took away from it though, besides the fact that I need to do some more studying of the Holocaust (it’s the focus of my history major, after all), is that, even ten years after the trial wrapped up, Deborah Lipstadt still considers herself very lucky that she won that trial. I find that very beautiful. 

Tomorrow, I’ll put this, and all the other events of Holocaust Awareness Week, into an article for the Pulse. I’ll let you guys know when it comes out. Should be an interesting read.

Cover The Night: Raising Awarenes

Volunteers for Cover the Night. I'm the guy at the very end of the top left.

On Friday night at 8:oo, about twenty people, most of them students, gathered together behind the Ohio Union to Cover the Night, an awareness raising event to bring attention to Joseph Kony. Among them was me. And I had an excellent time, if I do say so myself. We basically covered the edge of south campus and went all the way into the very heart of the Short North, Columbus’s artsy shopping district. All told, we must’ve handed out at least 200 fliers and talked to nearly as many people, trying to get them interested.

Because that’s the whole point of raising awareness, right? So that people get interested and do something about it. And this was going on across the nation, if not the world, so I’m really happy that I was able to be apart of it.

I hope to turn this into an article for the Pulse, even though I told my editor my next article will be about something else (hey, nothing says I can’t do two articles, right?).

A very good way to spend a Friday night.

Review: Vanessa Bayer & John Mulaney

Alright, so last night I went to Ohio State’s Union (yes, I’m naming my university now; since the article came up and my stats went through the roof, people have obviously seen the article and know the Pulse is an OSU publication, so what’s the point in hiding it now?) to see Vanessa Bayer and John Mulaney perform. Now Vanessa Bayer is a cast member of SNL, and you know how I love SNL, right? So I was super excited to see her live. John Mulaney I was less familiar with, but I found myself liking him very much, as you’ll soon see.

So, the show started out with a surprise opening act by (and I hope he’ll forgive me if I spell his name wrong) Shen Wang: a Chinese-American comedian from New York with a deep voice and the funniest drunk idiot stories about himself. He was pretty good, and he really connected to the audience, pointing out that our mascot was a poisonous tree nut. Smooth, man.

Then Vanessa Bayer came on, and boy was she awesome! She made fun of herself, of what she was like in college, she even showed us a video she’d made when she’d tried one of those dating video services. It was just great to see her live and hear her do her Miley impersonation. Huh-lare-eee-ose!

Vanessa Bayer, John Mulaney, and a very blurry Shen Wang. So sorry about the quality of the photo.

And finally, John Mulaney with his stories of black-outs, and his making-fun of whatever was on people’s T-shirts. This uy was great; he even told us about how he was confused for an Asian American woman as a child (strangely) and made fun of Law & Order: SVU, or more specifically, Ice-T’s character. Great job.

All in all, I gave the show–which I assume is playing in some other city right about now–a 5 out of 5. (And for those of you who think I don’t do any bad reviews, I just haven’t seen any bad shows or movies lately. But seriously, do you want me to recommend bad stuff or good stuff to you?)

 

The Pulse: My First Article

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve done it! Remember when I said I would be working with a social-activism magazine called the Pulse at my school? Well, the article I wrote, about Facebook and how I felt about it, has finally been published! I’m super excited that it is finally online and I would like to thank the Pulse for letting me work with them and write for them. Continued success for the magazine.

I would also like to thank all of you who have helped and encouraged me since I started this blog. Since August I haven’t had any real success getting anything in print (or in digital code, as the article is), so thanks for being patient.

I’m including a link for the article below. Please comment on the article, and feel free to check out the rest of the website and see what the Pulse has to offer. You might just find something interesting there for you.

http://thepulse-mag.org/2012/04/facebook-an-outsiders-journey-inside-the-social-network/

New & Old Work: Getting It All Done

Well, this is my fiftieth post. A milestone by anyone’s considerations. And like all milestones, this is a time to look both back and forth. Which is what I’ve been doing lately:

These past two weeks or so, I took a look at some old short stories back in high school, one of which happened to be inspired by a very creepy dream I had. Neither one got accepted for publication, and after so long I could see some of the reasons why they were rejected. So in the meantime, I thought I’d edit them and maybe see if they were any better after a good editorial bath and polish. So far, I’m thinking they may be more appealing to publications, but I’ll have to wait and see if they actually get published, because I may just be taking too much pride in my own work. Anyway, fingers crossed.

Also, after I’ve finished editing these old stories and have found time in my busy collegiate schedule to sit down in front of the computer, I plan to pen (or type, actually) some new stories. One will be based on that Law & Order: SVU dream I had a week and  a half ago, though it’ll probably end up being more of a thriller story involving events after the key evidence has been collected than your typical police procedural (I’m not sure I could write that sort of story in under 20 pages anyway without making the story too complex or full of technical details).

The other story will be based on the concept of kotodama, which is a Japanese belief that words have power and can affect the lives of people around us. This belief is found in many other cultures besides Japan, and we can see throughout history and up to today how accurate a belief it is (I tend to think that what happened to Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke after Limbaugh said some very nasty things about Fluke is an example of kotodama on a large scale). I will be blending this concept with a very dark event that happened in my life recently, though I haven’t figured out how this will blend yet or how it will end up coming out. But I’ll figure that out when I get to it.

Thanks for sticking with me up till the fiftieth post. I’m so glad that people are reading Rami Ungar The Writer and I hope to bring only good news to you in the future. (wouldn’t it be nice if kotodama could take effect with that last part, huh?)

I Almost Lost It All! Why You Should Back Up Your Files If You Don’t Want To Lose Them

I’ve always maintained that God has a horrible sense of humor (my evidence: Rebecca Black’s “Friday”). He played this prank on me today:

I was having a comments chat with one of my followers who also follows me (there’s a technical term for that, I just haven’t heard it yet) and we were discussing how frustrating it is for writers to lose something they’ve poured their sweat, blood and tears into because of a computer error or some such reason. I told her that it had happened to me, though not in a while.

Later that day, I go to put my flash drive in my computer to work on something, but the flash drive doesn’t register. I think maybe it’s just a glitch, and I go off to watch the latest episode of NCIS. On the way back, I try the flash drive on a friend’s computer.

It doesn’t register there either. (cue annoying soap opera organ music)

So I rush upstairs, feeling my heart beat, praying to God that He lets my flash drive work.

It does. I thank Him, but then I realize He’s playing another prank on me. Ha ha, Sir. You got me.

So lesson to all you readers out there: whether you’re a writer or not, BACK UP YOUR DOCUMENTS! You may end up regretting it later if you don’t.

Dreaming Up Ideas

I read when I took AP Psychology back in high school that dreams–while still so mysterious and strange–can be places to figure out problems or come up with new ideas, thanks to the fact that in dreams the rules of reality do not apply. Well, let me tell you something: the other night I had a really awesome–and vivid–dream and I think it makes a great story idea.

This isn’t the first time I’ve come up with a story idea through a dream. A while back I came up with a very disturbing kidnapping story based on a dream I had (and I should really take a look at that story again, I’m sure with some edits it could really get published). What never fails to get me though is how creepy or bizarre these dreams can be, but how helpful they are.

Anyway, the dream from the other night. I dreamt that I was a guest star in an episode of Law & Order: SVU (before you take that the wrong way, let me tell you what my part was). In the dream, I was John Munch’s distant cousin (we’re both Jews) and I was visiting him. Munch and the other detectives were trying to get proof that some teens from a neo-Nazi group had committed a rape and murder of a Jewish girl. I volunteered to go undercover because I look very much not-Jewish and infiltrated the group. Not only did I get evidence against the teens, I showed that the leader of the group–a man with a history of racism and violence–had known about the rape and kept silent. I helped to bring down the group and give justice to the family of the girl. When I woke up I said, “Man, that was a good dream!”

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I can turn that dream into a short story, if not a novel. I’ll see what I can do when I get the time.

Writing Stimulant: A Good Horror Movie Goes A Long Way

It’s amazing what happens when you see a good movie and it just makes you want to write. For instance, I just saw The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe in it at my school’s union and was totally freaked out by it (I would write a review on it but it’s just too soon after the last review). Even while I was watching the film though, my head was swirling with inspiration. Horror is my craft, and I was carefully noting what the filmmakers had done, how they built up tension in this or that scene, how they symbolically signaled that Radcliffe’s character had discovered an important clue, and basically how they told the story (you can learn a lot about storytelling just by watching a good scary movie).

In addition to noting these things, I was also coming up with ideas, ideas for my own stories that I’d like to write someday. When I do come up with stories based on films I’ve watched, it usually has to do with some element from the movie that really stuck with me or something that I’d like to use myself someday, or even just some stray thought that goes through my head while I’m watching. For example, when I saw Taken with Liam Neeson back in high school, I thought how cool it was that he was taking out everyone and anyone with guns, and that led to my idea for a story on a serial killer who tracks down and kills mafioso (do not take that idea!). I also thought that when he was chasing down that punk from the airport, how much Neeson would have it if he was a werewolf, and that led to an idea about werewolf spies/detectives (don’t take that idea either, I will know if something similar is published after this blog post! Just kidding, I know you wouldn’t do that.).

I’m not going to go into details about the ideas I had in my head when I left the theater. I will say though, that once I’m done putting them down on the ideas list I have on my flash drive, I’ll get to work on finishing my new short story. I am in such a writing mood. Wish me luck.

Unlikely Advice (And Where I Got It From)

Okay, so I’m watching Once Upon A Time on Hulu yesterday and one of the characters, August, who’s a writer, says that whenever he has writer’s block, he goes back and looks at what he did so that he can find “a nugget of inspiration” he may have left behind. Yeah, it sounds kinda funny to hear, but that’s what he said.

Anyway, I’m writing this new short story, and boy do I have such a case of writer’s block. I just can’t figure out how to make the story flow. I have the idea, I just can’t make the words come out. So I thought, “Hey, why not? I have to find something to help me get this out.” So I’m reading what I’ve already written, and then I think to myself, “You know, I don’t really like how my narrator is telling the story.” So I go along and change the style of narration and pretty soon the words start to flow again! Before  I know it I’ve got three-and-a-half pages written and a few more on their way.

Has this happened to anyone else? Have you heard advice from some weird place and just found out that the advice is legitimate? Please tell me, so I’ll feel less embarassed.