Disappointments

[estragon]

Off-Topic, But Very Disappointing

I'll have Another was scratched from the Belmont Stakes with a sore tendon. Even if he didn't win tomorrow, it would have been a race to remember. Now we can watch Union Rags and Bodemeister--if we care.

There's a jinx on the Triple Crown. Some malign spirit is nobbling all the contenders.

 

[estragon]

Off-Topic: Just When I Thought It Couldn't

get any worse, it did. Thomas Magliozzi and his brother Raymond Magliozzi announced their retirement. I am desolate. No more shall Saturday mornings be filled with their inane chatter and buffoonish laughter, and the chump-stumping vocalises of car owners too cheap to find a real mechanic.

Seriously, they were the best, and I wish them health, happiness and every good thing.

 

[BTTap]

NOT Promethius

 

[estragon]

BT, why disappointed?

 

[BTTap]

BT, why disappointed?

I didn't express myself well. I wrote "Not Promethius," meaning that I was not disappointed in that flick (actually 'Prometheus', by bad on the spell). Saw it over the weekend, and it was excellent. Attended with another Ridley Scott fan, we both loved it, and our wives, who were more luke-warm, but gave it positive reviews.
I was confused by the actions of the android in a couple of respects. I won't say more, for fear of spoiling.

 

[estragon]

Grandmistress Lisa Jones' latest story, "A Mirror Up to Nature", did not score nearly as well as I had hoped. Was it the category in which it was posted, NonH? I would have thought the story properly belonged in Erotic Horror, and would have made a fine plot for Twilight Zone. Can you imagine an erotic version of Twilight Zone??

Then again SA Penn Lady's Halloween contest story "Collection" (which she seems to have pulled from Lit, possibly for commercial publication), an EH, didn't score nearly as well as I thought it should have done.

Those are both categories with readers who have very definite viewpoints and obviously are very loyal to the regular writers in those genres. Newcomers not very welcome, it seems.

 

[PennLady]

Grandmistress Lisa Jones' latest story, "A Mirror Up to Nature", did not score nearly as well as I had hoped. Was it the category in which it was posted, NonH? I would have thought the story properly belonged in Erotic Horror, and would have made a fine plot for Twilight Zone. Can you imagine an erotic version of Twilight Zone??

Then again SA Penn Lady's Halloween contest story "Collection" (which she seems to have pulled from Lit, possibly for commercial publication), an EH, didn't score nearly as well as I thought it should have done.

Those are both categories with readers who have very definite viewpoints and obviously are very loyal to the regular writers in those genres. Newcomers not very welcome, it seems.

Thanks, estragon -- yes, I did pull "A Collection" for publishing. Eventually it scored something like a 4.6, so that's "H" territory and not bad. I think it should have been in sf/f instead of EH, but hey, that's hindsight for you. And I think part of my problem may in fact have been that not only was it like a Twilight Zone episode, there was a TZ episode about a camera. I haven't seen it, but more than one person mentioned it, and I hadn't meant to "copy" like that.

 

[estragon]

SA Penn Lady, great minds think alike. You and Rod Serling are in that league. Of course, there's always subconscious recollection, or "nothing new under the sun"; in Sherlock Holmes' words, it's all been done before and will be done again. And the ultimate example is Newton and Leibniz simultaneously inventing calculus, neither knowing of the other's work.

 

[estragon]

Haven't seen any really good stories for a while. I expect the regulars are waiting for the starting gun of the Nude Day contest, holding back their stories. The debutant(e)s haven't been showing me much, or maybe I'm missing some good stories.

 

[estragon]

The spammers are back, flogging their golf clubs or whatever. Ban the bums!

 

[estragon]

I’m a fan of OggBashan’s work, but his Nude Day contest entry “Godiva” promised a lot more than it delivered. Historical accuracy is appreciated, but I felt like I was at a lecture. And the connection to Nude Day is too tenuous, especially as the nudity of the principal character is subject to question. Unfortunate, as Ogg is a talented writer, and hosted many excellent Support Threads.

 

[estragon]

Disappointed at how the voting is going in the N-Day. A great spread between the leaders and the peloton; I know it's early times yet, and much can happen, but the spread in voting is greater than I remember in recent contests. Of course, Darkniciad probably has the statistics to disprove (or maybe prove) my initial impression.

 

[Darkniciad]

Disappointed at how the voting is going in the N-Day. A great spread between the leaders and the peloton; I know it's early times yet, and much can happen, but the spread in voting is greater than I remember in recent contests. Of course, Darkniciad probably has the statistics to disprove (or maybe prove) my initial impression.

Was planning to track the whole contest, but my motivation to do anything is in the crapper.

What little I have at the moment I'm trying to devote to my writing.

May start tracking after the end of the submissions period, if I can summon up the gumption.

 

[estragon]

Dark, please believe me, I wasn't trying to overload your already-full platter. Your statistics in the past have been a real resource, and I deeply appreciate the hard work you've put in over the years. No disappointment from me, just regret if you can't provide the analysis for this contest.

 

[estragon]

I haven't had a lot to say about disappointments lately, but zydrateaddict's fetish story "More Watersports Fun with Wife" needed a thorough copy editing; good idea, and a hot story, but spoiled. Likewise njoyjade's "Byrned", though better mechanically, still needed a last re-reading.

I could go on about the scores in the N-Day, but it's a waste of time. Let's see what the Hoover does when it goes through.

 

[estragon]

I have received a PM speaking of shenanigans in the N-Day. Without proof, I will not provide details. I can only hope that the purported misdoings ain't so.

 

[sr71plt]

Consider the source of the PM. I highly doubt that there are any different shenanigans than usual.

 

[estragon]

sr71plt, I hope there aren't. Unfortunately, the urge to show how clever one is often overrides any moral sense. In my experience, the worth of the prize doesn't begin to equal the penalty for failing to reach it, or having reached it, of discovery.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, and the urge to smear someone you just don't happen to like tends to override any moral sense here, too. If the PM was from someone like Darkniciad I'd perk up my ears. From many other folks here, though, I'd just chalk it up to their agenda and wishful thinking.

 

[estragon]

That's why I was disappointed; a nasty accusation but no proof.

 

[Darkniciad]

Most of the shenanigans people like to talk about aren't actually happening.

From my observations, most of the underhanded stuff that goes on in the contests actually comes from readers, and is neither known by or condoned by the authors involved. Even less that actually matters ( as I'm still fairly positive that contestant votes get wiped by default and so "vote trading" and such are irrelevant )

Hell, I even regularly acknowledge that Lit's #1 Troll may not be behind his meteoric rise to the heights of fraud. I honestly don't know that he's intelligent enough to even run AOL script-kiddie tools or get around the elementary controls trying to prevent stat-bloating.

May be some deranged fan who's feeding his egomaniac psychosis by pumping up his numbers.

If that's the case, woe be to the troll when that fan gets bored, sick, jailed, or dies. He'll smack face first at terminal velocity into the brick wall of reality.

It may be the height of assholery, but frankly, I'd enjoy watching that crash and burn in slow motion over and over and over...

 

[estragon]

Dark, you hold the record for being the Voice of Reason on this BB. Please consider the whole thing dropped. As I said earlier, I don't want to overfill your already over-filled platter.

A true disappointment, however, is a response I got to some feedback I had given, criticizing the writer's vocabulary. "But I used spellcheck", was the reply.

But spellcheck doesn't distinguish between homophones like "course" and "coarse", both of which may be spelled correctly, but one of which is just plain wrong in the context where used. I'm no Luddite who wants to "rage against the machine", but the writer still has work to do, notwithstanding the technical marvels in the palms of our hands.

 

[ScouriesWorld]

I would have missed this gem if someone hadn't quoted it on the other thread. I showed it to the boss over breakfast. He laughed (he's in a great mood this morning!). Then with a smile said, "Well I guess we now know why she's an editor and not an author."

I believe it properly belongs on this thread...

OMG!!!! Did darkboy concede publicly what he's always known?

anti-estrogen?

​

Playlet. Scene, a waterfront bar.

Chick (bartender)--Hey Rick, glad ta see ya. What can I getcha?

Rick--A shot and a steam.

Chick--Rye do ya?

Rick--Yeah, CC, not that Rittenhouse fancy shit.

Chick hands him a shot of CC and an Anchor Steam.

Rick tosses off the shot and takes a long swallow of the beer.

Rick--Damn, I needed that bad.

Chick--Tough trip, huh?

Rick--You could say that again, and a third time in Gaelic.

Chick--Lose some pots?

Rick--If only. Two outta three I had to throw back. A miserable catch, enough to pay the diesel, the deckhand and the insurance, and shit for me. I might as well ha' stayed home. Yeah, I got all my pots, but they ain't got no fuckin' crabs in 'em.

Chick--Two outta three? Never heard of that.

Rick--Neither did the brains at the University, or the Smokey Bears at the State Fish and Game. They shook their heads, cussed, scratched their asses and said they'd never seen the like of it. I'm getting written up in some learned journal. Like that pays my damn income tax! Give me another; might as well get myself fucked up like everything else.

Chick--Take it easy, Rick, don't want to see you get the jail tonight.

Rick--Don't worry, I can't even fuckin' get myself arrested.

Chick and Rick repeat the shot-and-beer.

Chick--So what was it?

Rick--Scouries. Every damn crab had a case of the scouries.

 

[Darkniciad]

Wow, the troll is all over the place today.

Must have finally realized he's doing nothing but talking to himself in his ghost town threads.

 

[TxRad]

Wow, the troll is all over the place today.

Must have finally realized he's doing nothing but talking to himself in his ghost town threads.

Desperation. He has no where to go that people don't know what a fake he is.