A sleepy day

[cleolinda]

You know, I was in the shower today and I had one of my Great (For Certain Values of "Great") Thoughts, and it was this: perfectionism can be a kind of cowardice. And I'm suffering from it. Because really, perfection doesn't exist, you know? I mean, if it does, it happens only in nature or accidentally; I don't know that you can achieve perfection intentionally, just because of the perverseness of the universe. Um. If that makes any sense. It probably doesn't. What I'm getting at is that--of course we need to have standards. And of course there are objective fields in which you can be "perfect," in which you are right or wrong. Math, for example. The answers on your math homework are either right, or they aren't. Your spelling is either correct, or it isn't. (Yes, I'm sure there arguments against those ideas. Work with me here.) You can choose to break rules for effect in your writing, for example, but that's a kind of perfection you're choosing not to achieve. With objective correctness, when it's right or it's wrong, you can spellcheck the thing and you know when you're done.

With perfection, you don't. Or rather, you know that you're not done. And really, you'll never be done. Which is why I think--I just realized--seeking perfection is a way of being a coward. Because that way you'll never finish, you know? You are nobly dedicating yourself to the pursuit of getting it just right, rather than exposing your imperfect work to see the light of day--rather than allowing yourself to be vulnerable. And being vulnerable is incredibly scary, or at least I find it to be so--opening yourself up to criticism and rejection and all that. And I'm having a big problem with that, in terms of finishing the annotations and the first Black Ribbon book. Obviously we have to have standards, but... I'm trying to teach myself that "good enough" is... well, good enough. Even if people hate it and give me hell for it in some worst-case scenario. Because "I did it" is worth it, at the end of the day.

Linkspam!

Dave Matthews Band saxophonist dies; In Memoriam: LeRoi Moore.

Shamed rocker Gary Glitter denied Hong Kong entry.

Hiding theft suspect crushed in trash compactor. AHHHHHHHHHH.

Newlyweds tasered and arrested twice in 48 hours.

12 Sports Cut From The Olympics.

Our Newest Monster Is a Four-Earred Kitty Cat. Aw, it's really cute!

TMZ Is Going Down -- Is Harvey Levin Killing His TMZ Baby?

New Line's Survivor Party.

John Cusack Pens Worst Celebrity Guest Blog Post Ever Written; 'NY Post' Alleges That John Cusack's Childhood is Sold, Bought, and Processed.

Ekland Slams 'Botoxed' Kidman.

Why We Deserve Better Villains — And How To Get Them. If you write anything with any kind of villain, read this.

Cartoons That’ll Scare the Kids.

Is 'Guitar Hero' saving rock 'n' roll?

How To Talk About Fall Television (That You Might Not Be Watching).

'V for Vendetta' Speech Translated into OMG Terms.

Images: Appaloosa; The Duchess; Body of Lies; Nights in Rodanthe; Transsiberian; New 'Australia' Posters and Photos (as opposed to yesterday, when we just had the posters); New Night at the Museum 2 Set Photos! (Amy Adams - The Cutest Amelia Earhart You'll Ever See!); Couple of Really Cool 'Max Payne' International Posters; Transformers 2 Posters Just "Art," Not Actual Posters; International Poster for 'Le Transporteur 3.'

Trailers and clips: 'Frost/Nixon' International Trailer is Online; First Look Behind The Scenes Of 'The Prisoner' Remake; 'W.' EPK B-Roll Footage Rolls Online (Josh Brolin's 'W' Impression: Erotically Accurate or Sub-'SNL'?); Tom Cruise 'Tropic Thunder' Scene In Bootleg-O-Vision; New 'Tokyo Gore Police' Trailer Good if You Like Totally Insane Stuff.

Memo to protesting 'Watchmen' and 'Harry Potter' fans: It just doesn't matter.

WB Responds to Fan Freakout Over 'Harry Potter' Delay, mobs are not soothed ("Warner Bros. Puts Their Disrespect for 'Harry Potter' Fans in Writing"); New BTS photos from HBP; Dan Radcliffe: Gary Oldman to Return for "Deathly Hallows'?; Daniel Radcliffe Goes ‘Intense’ For ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows’; Dan Radcliffe Starts Rehearsals for Equus, Talks Wizard Rock and More; New UK Trailer Due for "Half-Blood Prince?" Not Just Yet Says WB; "Give Light" Competition Features Pane by Jo Rowling, Stephen Fry.

The 'Dark Knight' Script Online.

It's the day after Twilight Tuesday! More visual evidence of vampire baseball (yes, that's Blond Peter Facinelli there in the middle with the scarf, looking like he wants to die); Dramatic Baseball icons; Team Bella or Team Hermione? Whose Side Are You On? (um, the side that doesn't ask dumbass questions like this?); Our ‘Twilight’ Quiz Is Looking For A Few More Good Questions; Hi, your last name is Cullen, can I marry you? I brought cake; Twihards start physically attacking people?

'Quantum of Solace' - Official Blog Report #22; New 'Quantum' Photos Hit The Web; Spielberg Missed Out On Bond Film Dream.

Is Fox Head Tom Rothman Dulling the Claws of 'Wolverine'? [Snikt Snit]; Is 'Wolverine' in Trouble?

‘Terminator Salvation’ Secrets Lie Within Film’s Title, Says McG.

Star Trek Boldly Goes Where Everyone Has Gone Before.

Elton John, James McAvoy, Emily Blunt & Star-Crossed Gnome Lovers; McAvoy, Blunt Voice 'Gnomeo and Juliet.' Good Lord, I think I've been hearing about this one since the days (2001-2003) when I was running a movie news thing on a rinkydink GeoCities site (which... actually was formatted a good deal like today's linkspam...).

Blu-ray Reveals New 'Nightmare': "When director Henry Selick's classic animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas drops on Blu-ray on Aug. 26, fans will get to see some of the movie's details for the first time, Selick told SCI FI Wire."

Robert Downey Jr. Talks About Finding Sherlock Holmes.

Fassbender is Joining 'Inglorious Bastards.' STELIOOOOOOOS!

Heinlein's Creepiest Novella Gets The I, Robot Treatment ['The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag']; Alex Proyas Helming 'Jonathan Hoag.'

Will Rainn Wilson go big and go home?; ‘The Rocker’ just a cover of really funny movies; Review: 'Rocker' doesn't rock.

The Return of "Wizard of Gore" -- Drugged-Out Scifi the Way It Was Meant to Be: "Meet today's most excellent mad scientist. He's calling himself a wizard, he's played by Crispin Glover (yes!) and he specializes in wowing audiences of young hipsters with his gore-soaked sideshow."

Don Mancini Updates Details on the 'Child's Play' Reboot.

We Wear These Pointy Hats Because We're, Like, Scientists [Found Footage]. Man, I do not know what I would do for the Uwe Boll Slot half the time without io9's Found Footage feature.

Comments

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

Hiding theft suspect crushed in trash compactor. AHHHHHHHHHH.

THAT HAPPENED ON SVU. Did you see it?! It was so fucked up! I had that reaction too!

That Gnomeo thing sounds weird, but Emily and James? Yes plz x two. I think I might be down with it just for them.

[allie-meril.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, I REMEMBER THAT EPISODE. *shudders*

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

More visual evidence of vampire baseball

Oh, good Lord. *headdesk*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I just keep going back to that page and laughing and closing the tab and then going back and laughing at it again. Like, all day long. And looking at Peter Facinelli and going, "What the hell, man? What did they do to you? Who thought this was a good idea?"

[laurelin-kit.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Elijah Wood supposed to be one of the lead voice actors in Gnomeo and Juliet?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

God, who knows, it's been so long. I wouldn't be surprised.

[lyrainverse.livejournal.com]

That's... kind of exactly how I am about my writing. I get really close to finishing something, then totally self-destruct, tell myself it's awful, it'll never be just perfect and then flee in terror. Because one of my deepest fears is working hard on something, showing it to someone and being told it's awful. This was really good to read, I'm just now rediscovering creativity after the creativity void of gradschool. Thanks for writing it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Aw, you're welcome. : )

[saramiskismet.livejournal.com]

GET ME OUT OF TWIFANDOM.

GET ME OUT GET ME OUT. It's starting to look like Scient-fuckin-ology.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You see now why I was so scared when nymag.com linked to the recaps. I kept having flashbacks to Gandalf being all like "THEY ARE COMING" in the Mines of Moria.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Tom Rothman, Jon Peters. If I ever have a tumor, I won't know which to name it.

[oohasparklie.livejournal.com]

Newlyweds tasered and arrested twice in 48 hours.

Sounds like my kind of honeymoon. ;P

[edda.livejournal.com]

Perfection is for those incapable of greatness.

You? Are capable of greatness.

*makes swishily dramatic exit*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You're not helping me dump my mental baggage here!

[lauri8.livejournal.com]

I think calling perfectionism a kind of cowardice is a bit harsh, but I do understand what you're saying. I often suffer from the same paralysis.

As Voltaire said, "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."

The best (or the perfect) is the enemy of the good.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

A form of fear, then, maybe?

[elizardbits.livejournal.com]

WAH. The Tropic Thunder Tom Cruise bootleggy scene is no longer available. *sobs*

Also, Gary Glitter? Ick. Is it wrong that I'm kinda hoping that he'll be allowed entry into mainland China, after which the Chinese government will quietly "disappear" him?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Aww, I didn't get to see it either before it went down.

[jess-d-ripper.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that this Rosalie Cullen doesn't exist (yet) but only because if she did, she'd be the one going around bragging about marrying a Cullen. I mean this is the sort of move that could make you a BNF of such unparalleled bigness that you could start challenging SMeyer herself to slap fights. There's no way a Twilight fan would pass that up.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep hoping that the story is totally made up. I'm actually hoping that it's the Rosalie Cullen-wannabe who is the "guy" who submitted it.

[msilverstar]

I think you're absolutely right about not expecting perfection. In fact, you want something other than perfection because if the story gets bought for publication, some editor will want to tinker with it, I assure you. It's your baby and you're going to love it, but you have to let go some bits if you want it to go out in the dead-tree channel. Fiction, at least. Lots of non-fiction has very little editing, but novels, omg, every editor thinks they know better. And sometimes they do.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Someone — Voltaire? — once said, “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” I try to keep that thought in mind.

I was going to jokingly comment, “Musta been one heck of a honeymoon!” but then I clicked on the link and it turns out, yeah, pretty much. Dayum.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Perfection is a hobgoblin -- I don't know that art can perfect, anymore than poetry could be square. Sure, in our heads it's idealized, but it's inaccessible -- none of my perfect pristine works in my skull are worth more than the worst stuff I've actually written.

I like to go back to math, here -- remember that vexation when you first realized that a "true line" had no physical dimension? So now matter how fine of a line you could draw, it'd never be a true line, because in the act of putting it on paper, you give it width, even a tiny tiny width? And how useful are Euclidian or Socratic ideals outside of the realm of theory? Two-dimensional vectors are great and all, but that doesn't help you when you're figuring out where to install the drywall.

And if you commit yourself too much to that idealized version, you become subservient to it, unwilling to give it form and taint it until you Get It Right, and with every word you move away from that ideal. Am still recovering from JulNoWriMo, and while what I have is hideous and ungainly and needing a skeleton and some skin and a few organs, it's still infinitely more useful than the unwritten, unreadable idea from which it sprang.

[sugarcages.livejournal.com]

Bella is magnetic. Hermione is awkward.

Wut.

But fans of both the Twilight and Harry Potter series pick Hermione over Bella any day. Why?

Never mind THAT, I wanna know why they named their bands after the more unlikeable girls in the HP series!

That's it, I'm forming an emo goth band and naming it Azkaban and the Dementors. Or Voldemort and the Death Eaters? Snape and His Unhealthy Obsession? I'll think of something.

[e-chan-21.livejournal.com]

Azkaban and the Dementors sounds rocking.

[obigrrl.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Ewan McGregor supposed to be voicing Gnomeo when it was first announced way back when? Or am I remembering some weird dream?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that you mention it, I think it was supposed to be someone (maybe McGregor?) and Kate Winslet.

[the_rainbow_jen]

They look like they're going to launch into vampire baseball ballet, or something. Yeesh.

Did you see this one? Latest in Underage Gymnasts

And someone tell me where this Rothman lives, because if one more person tries to fuck with my fave comic book character, I will hunt him down and gut him like the pig he is. Grr.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

And someone tell me where this Rothman lives, because if one more person tries to fuck with my fave comic book character, I will hunt him down and gut him like the pig he is. Grr.

Too late. I know it's best to try to forget X3, but it did happen and now I can't unsee it.

[sarapada.livejournal.com]

And being vulnerable is incredibly scary, or at least I find it to be so--opening yourself up to criticism and rejection and all that.

AND

Because "I did it" is worth it, at the end of the day.

You're damn right. I constantly struggle with that - in fact, I almost related a charming therapy-related anecdote before I realized it was only tangentially related to your point.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

Michael Fassbender! He's one of those people who makes me want to devote an entire fansite to the colour of his eyes (like Clive Owen and Ralph Fiennes). He's got crazy!eyes.

Also, I have no idea who the blondeish pale chick is in one of those pictures at the vampire!baseball link, or who she's supposed to be playing but...I might devote a fansite to her lips and hair. Hott!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Ironically, that's Nikki Reed (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1223023/), and neither of those are real--she's actually a very dark brunette in real life, and I'm fairly certain those are the topaz "just fed" vampire contacts.

ETA: Duh, you said "lips," not "eyes." I'm fairly sure the lips are actually hers. Heh.

[rinnamarie.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking the other day about those writing tips that you posted forever ago, and I think you're hitting on something really similar here. People aren't satisfied with rough drafts anymore. I know that whenever I had to turn in a rough draft of anything I would just write the damn thing and then purposefully mess it up in parts.
It is a real fear, especially when you know going in that someone is eventually going to see your work and kill it with an editor's pen. And because people in general are so opposed to rough drafts, we don't like to think of anything we do as being lacking in any way. So it becomes easier to just keep pushing a release back because 'it's just not ready yet.' But, as so many others have said, bravery isn't the absence of fear - it's acknowledging the fear and taking the step anyway.
One of the mentor students at the law school here in town was giving some advice to students about how to handle themselves when they start to get overwhelmed. He told them that whenever he was feeling like he couldn't hack it, he would go get his phone book and open it to the back cover. He would look at the large ad for the sleazy, ambulance-chasing attorney who plasters his face all over anything that will stand still (here, his name is Peter Miller, I'm sure there's one like him in your neck of the woods). He would look at that ad and tell himself "If this clown could get through law school, I sure as hell can do it."
So go find yourself the worst book you can lay your hands on, and when you're feeling like your work just isn't good enough, read it. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

So go find yourself the worst book you can lay your hands on, and when you're feeling like your work just isn't good enough, read it.

Let me just say that... the last book I read was very good for my writerly self-esteem. Cough.

Edited to cut out spoiler

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

You just summed up what is the probably my biggest hurdle when it comes to writing and drawing. It's just so damn paralyzing. I worry over whether my technical skills as they stand now are "good enough" for all of ideas (especially on the drawing side) concerning characters, plots, and worlds that I have (often painfully clearly) realized in my head. Holding on to older sketchbooks has both helped and hindered me in this regard. It's very inspiring to look at older work, albeit while cringing a great deal, and see that, yes, objectively speaking, I have in fact improved. But at the same time, I look at those old scribbles and think, if that's me five years ago, what will happen after I've created [comic] and look back on it five years later? It's deeply stupid, but it really gnaws at me that I can put so much work into a project with characters that I really care about, only to know that at some point in the future I'll only be able to look at it as a mess of errors. (Subsequently I am a little bit more sympathetic to George Lucas)

It's hard, because I know that there does need to be some improvement on my part when it comes to the technical side (which I am, in fact, working on. Though not nearly as much as I should), but it's not like that's preventing me from writing up a draft of the script, is it? Or hammering out all the written world-building details? It ultimately comes back to, as you said, that fear. And I've been stuck in that spot for quite some time.

A book that I've seen recommended quite often when it comes to this topic: Art & Fear: On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219300748&sr=8-1). It's supposed to be really good, though I haven't yet gotten around to checking it out of the library.

As for the essay on great villains...hmm. I agree with the writer on quite a few of the points made (that political villains who are just current political figures with the serial numbers filed off suck, too many loses/wins can seriously weaken a baddie) but I have some serious bones to pick. Primarily the fact that the whole essay strikes me as arguing for an incredibly limited definition of a "good" villain. What the essay writer describes is only one type of villain. The character who is Evil. Why does s/he do what they do? 'Cause they're evil, that's why! No rhyme or reason given or needed, no redemption called for. And in the hands of a good writer, this can result in some amazing, memorable characters. But there are so many great villainous characters that aren't simply The Monster, the Two-Faces, Roy Battys, Lex Luthors, Doc Ocks, and [WATCHMEN SPOILER HO], to name a handful. There's a rainbow of maliciousness out there! (And I am trying so hard not to link to TV Tropes right now, 'cause it's late)

I mean, superhero comics are littered with the corpses of villains who were supposed to be the Toughest, the Scariest, the Bestest, whatever, The Next Big Threat. And they maybe stick around long enough to knock off Captain C-Lists before being relegated to the character dustbin.

Ultimately, to me, what makes a villain truly stick isn't just the way he is able to tick off a list of traits, but the way his character works in relation to the protagonist. Great villains are those that serve to reveal something about the hero.

That's not my only issue with the essay (the whole shades of grey vs black and white bit left me rolling my eyes) but I should be in bed, and this comment is long enough already. :) I'll end by linking to a couple of really good essays that have popped up recently about some specific villains, and what makes them tick: The Joker (http://www.the-isb.com/?p=505) (and why he's Batman's arch nemesis) and Lex Luthor (http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/08/18/on-luthor/).

(There was another really good scans_daily post sometime back that broke down what makes a bad supervillain, with examples, but I can't find it. :\ Found it! (http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/5604413.html))

Re: Edited to cut out spoiler

[dives.livejournal.com]

WATCHMEN SPOILERS RIGHT HERE WRITTEN IN WHITE FONT HIGHLIGHT TO READ OTHERWISE...YOU KNOW, DON'T HIGHLIGHT ANYTHING

[erasorhed.livejournal.com]

My mom told me (when I told her about writing for NaNoWriMo) "Perfectionism leads to Procrastination, which leads to Paralysis." SO TRUE.

[yanks-02.livejournal.com]

Hello Miss Cleo. My name is Johnna, aka yanks02. I'm switching journals at the present time, so I'm adding you on this account. I just wanted to let you know!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for letting me know!

[sneaky-minx.livejournal.com]

Oh, hon, I can totally relate re: perfectionism. I agree with the existential notion about just finishing something being important. But, you also have to accept the fact that you won't please everyone. You've proven in the past you can please a lot of people, though, and entertaining even a few people is worth something, right?

[viorica8957.livejournal.com]

Hi, your last name is Cullen, can I marry you? I brought cake

. . .

*runs screaming*