Author Shlomi Harif – Home – Page 12 – On Creativity, Writing & Reality

ArmadilloCon & Fast Drafting

shlomi on June 12, 2014

ArmadilloCon 36 Logo

ArmadilloCon is one of those events I kept promising myself to attend, but for which I never chose to make time. I thought I had an out this year: I didn’t have any 5k word writing samples, which is the limit for the the workshop component of the Con.

Whew!

Then I rifled through my stories. Ah, From Generation to Generation. Fantasy. Jewish mystical fantasy… Oh, good: almost 6,000 words. Won’t work.

Good.

Um, well, maybe if I gave it another editing run-through…

It’d been long enough since I’d last read it not to wince at the trimmings of word and scene. A couple of ‘ritas later and 4,998 stood the word count.

Now I have no more excuses. And am looking forward to all manner of critiquing late next month.

Sassy, Bossy, Sluts & Bitches

shlomi on June 3, 2014

The culture “war” (to besmirch Rupert’s pet yellow rag) continues. This time it’s “Ban Bossy,” an alliterative sound bite. Proponents of putting “bossy” in the same isolation ward as “retarded” say it’s because the word is fundamentally pejorative and used in conjunction with girls.

Unlike the “R” word (thanks, Tali, for being early in the game in having that banned in our households), “bossy” isn’t an objectively difference in a person from the perceived physical or psychological norm, it’s the user’s subjective opinion of another’s behavior.

Bosses should be “bossy.” In a random grouping, there will be leaders and followers. Leader frequently “boss” others to achieve their — and hopefully the group’s — goals. Bossy is a power term: this person directs others.

In the warped world of misogynistic etymology, “bossy” is the new “assertive” (trans: “aggressive”). Should we ban “assertive?” How about “pushy?”

Let the words roam free, I say, and attach the meaning to the speaker and context, and not the sequence of letters. And if that makes me bossy, or a pushy bastard, so be it.

Deserters, Traitors and Captives

shlomi on June 2, 2014

The US wrangled the release of Bowe Bergdahl, a US Army soldier. Handily it also got rid of five Taliban folks who’ve been out of circulation for 13 years, and had nothing to do with the Afghan war. (I’m not saying they’re not bloody murderers, its just that we haven’t been able to convict them, deport them, or do anything else with them.)

Some military folks are saying he was a “traitor,” that he “went AWOL.” I’m not sure how that’s relevant to the joy the family has of his being returned. I’m sure the military court of justice will do what it does with all soldiers: try the facts of the case.

I don’t pretend to know what really happened the night he was captured. I _do_ know that PTSD has terrible effects on soldiers: getting drunk, suicidal actions, running away… these are all part of that kind of reaction. What was he like before this? A sane person would not go past the fence into enemy terrain just for giggles. Something drove him, if he indeed did this, out.

The politicians, safe and smug, are throwing stones at President Obama’s actions. Leaving no one on the field of battle is immensely important, no matter what the circumstances. The Israeli army went to great lengths, returning literally thousands of dangerous prisoners to their homes, to regain the remains of soldiers.

I say welcome home, Bowe. You’ll have your day in court, but also the rest of your life as a free man. And to your former comrades-in-arms: take a step back and think about all your partners who killed themselves, instead of “just” walking out into the night past the fence.

Google “Games” with Words: Spell Up

shlomi on May 29, 2014

I really like a lot of what Google is doing. Really. Cars without pedals, glasses except for people who need them… Okay, fine: much of my online presence is Googlish.

One of their pastimes has been games. There was a great physics game where the object was to make intricate Rube Goldberg machines out of flippers, bouncers and other pinball-esque pieces.

I’m not sure what they learned about me from that game, but I’m pretty sure that Spell Up has a couple of bonuses for Google aside from the warm fuzzy feeling of helping to cure hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobics of their fear of achieving sesquipedalianhood.

It gets chrome users to allow Chrome to use their microphones. This is big if they want to get people using their voice-command search service.
It gives them a huge sample of people all over the world speaking single letters. A great way to improve their voice recognition algorithms, perhaps even tying them to the player’s account

This second has, for the tinfoil-hatted crowd, the obvious issue of “the microphone will go on and I’ll be spied upon by clean-cut, serious Mormons in Pochatello, Idaho who are determined to keep Amerka safe at all costs.” That’s sort of an issue, I guess, if someone is truly sloppy with where they go on the Internet and how they set up their systems. Which means, about 90% of users.

For me, I see the game as a lost cause, since it’s us polysyllabic aphorism users who will wage war with the game. And give Google a very good vocal profile of people who already know how to spell and have great diction.