Thanks, everyone.

Reading your weird yet beautiful ideas helped me refine my weird idea so that I think I can make it work. You remember what it was in the opening post? If not, go back and reread it before seeing the updated version.

The title is “Round Two! I Do!” and the premise is about a beloved celebrity couple that whose popularity skyrocketed after they married and officially became the world's most loved power couple. The pair consists of a heavyweight bodybuilder and wrestler and a supermodel who also doubles as an actress.

But once the honeymoon phase was over, the couple began to fight a LOT sometimes in public places and one time became a huge scandal which permanently tarnished their careers. That event was the last straw and the divorced which broke the world's heart especially because the supermodel wife just gave birth. Well, fast forward to two years later, and neither of are what they once despite their talents being unwavering. It turns out that after they became an item, 70% of their popularity came from them just being together romantically, so when they left each other a large majority of their fans left them. In a desperate attempt to get back in the spotlight, they agree to a very out there idea: reconcile, or rather, pretend they have reconciled and make it very convincing that they have. This is a lot harder than it looks because only the wife is good at acting while the (ex-) husband wears his heart on his sleeve. There's a lot of hilarity in their interactions while pretending to be lovey dovey again because underneath it is still a lot of resentment, aggression and spite. And I mean a LOT. Also their son is a toddler and and he is both curious and energetic which also adds to the tension. In other words, the kind of kid who sees being told “no” as a challenge to do the opposite, “come here” as run away, and such. There is also a lot of satire behind the rich lifestyle and exaggerated luxuries. Yet… at the same time, it does get them finally talking and while they both understand that this is just a sham marriage, they find it hard to cross certain lines you're not supposed to do in a marriage. They begin to question what was really missing in their marriage and maybe, it wasn't love after all, but if that's the case, does it make a difference?

What do you think of this premise? Weird yet it works?

It's not weird, it's a romantic comedy that Hollywood has done several times. However you have added bits to make it your own and the toddler is a great idea. Remember, every idea has been done, but it's what you do with the idea and there you make it totally your own.

I think this story has the potential of becoming something surreal, at least in terms of style and/or tone, if you choose to go really hard and over-the-top with the whole celebrity, what-is-genuine-and-what's-just-make-belief kind of atmosphere - the sort of fake reality bubble that hollywood stars live in. It could have that satirical kind of element where you get to see the reality of the media world hiding under the glamorous surface, for which the couple's whole relationship drama is the lense through which we see it. Either way, if your feelin' the magic on this one, go for it.

This umpteen-millionth writers' strike doesn't seem like it's going to be resolved anytime soon, I wonder if maybe this now could be my chance to actually write for a show I was told the spec script I wrote for couldn't be accepted?

I'm finally working on comics again. I stopped last March/April when I got that big break, a unicorn of a job offer (not great but much better than being seasonal for the 16th year in a row and also very very hard to come by).

My dad is bringing me the rest of my pets tomorrow. They've been with my parents since I listed my house for sale way back in spring. (Litter boxes aren't great for house sales.) I miss my three cats dearly, and I have nine geriatric rats I want to have the last precious months with since I don't plan on getting more rats (after having them for over 20 years).

I was missing my animals so much, I answered a Craigslist add selling fertile chicken eggs and hatched them in an incubator. So, now I have six tiny chickens – and more that I ordered coming in October.

Anyway, I'm working on page 1552 of Used Books after the longest hiatus I've ever had to take. I want to bring the series to a conclusion. I refuse to let it just go abandoned like so many previous stories.

ayesinback wrote:
Hello Ducks!

I'm still alive :) But apparently it's been too too long since my last howdy and the site said (figuratively) ‘ayesinback Who?’ Obviously that's been straightened out.

Now that it's been almost four rollicking years, we're settled into our Lancaster Co. abode, learning the Lancaster Co. speak. For instance, the locals pronounce Lancaster as Lan-kissed-her.
The produce and meat are better quality here, but not so much the cuisines; certainly diversity is lacking.

I miss the ease of getting into Manhattan and the shore, but the plus side is huge: people here are just so much more relaxed. I don't know about “nicer,” but I haven't experienced anything like the Jersey hurry. Absolutely amazing how much more enjoyable the days are when there's less pressure. Yeah, I KNOW that's a no-brainer, but I was like a frog in that pot of gradually warming water. Glad I'm out.

Hope to be lurking through the forums more frequently now. ta ta

For a moment there I thought you'd moved to Britain haha!
Good to see you back.

So let me get this straight . . . a little preschool show is now a PG-rated movie with an A-list celebrity voice cast? Really?

J_Scarbrough wrote:
This umpteen-millionth writers' strike doesn't seem like it's going to be resolved anytime soon, I wonder if maybe this now could be my chance to actually write for a show I was told the spec script I wrote for couldn't be accepted?

Not to mention this show has brought in a number of new writers in its past couple of seasons, so why can't I?

J_Scarbrough wrote:

J_Scarbrough wrote:
This umpteen-millionth writers' strike doesn't seem like it's going to be resolved anytime soon, I wonder if maybe this now could be my chance to actually write for a show I was told the spec script I wrote for couldn't be accepted?

Not to mention this show has brought in a number of new writers in its past couple of seasons, so why can't I?

Hey… I think what you're describing is scabing… And this could hurt your career in the long term, if you hope to have one.

FlydiscDude wrote:
This here's a gamepost since Charles Martinet {recently} stepped down as the voice of Mario.

…

This game below was one of Charles Martinet's first games to voice Mario before the mainline games.

I wonder if they have already cast the new voice of Mario (or if they recorded a likeness of Charles Martinet and will have a machine recite lines).

Will the new generation Mario voice sound like a New Yorker from the 1990s or will it continue to sound like a New Yorker from the 1890s?

BettyTeaHorse wrote:
Hey… I think what you're describing is scabing… And this could hurt your career in the long term, if you hope to have one.

You're not the first one to have reached such a conclusion, but let me just clear something up here: I'm independent, always have been, and probably always will be. The thing of it is for me, it really isn't even about money or profit or anything of the sort, I just really would like to write for this show simply because I want to - it feels like a show I could wrote for, and I have a number of storylines I could pitch for future episodes if I had the opportunity (especially since this show has now reached a point in its longevity that it's basically just recycling its own plots and storylines, and even rehashing such from other shows). I did actually write a spec for the show, and even got in touch with the head writer (now one of the producers) about it, but he told me the studio that owns and distributes the show has no policy or procedure set into place that would allow he or any of the other writers to legally accept or read scripts written for their own show, so I wasn't able to submit it. (FWIW, I shared the spec with a few other fans to get their opinions of it, and they felt it could actually work as a legit episode of the show).

This isn't even my first rodeo. Now that the show is over, I suppose I can tell this tale, but another show I once wrote a spec for was ARTHUR, and I actually was able to get that one submitted through the show's associate producer at WGBH in Boston (which co-produced the show), who informed me my spec would be forward to their head writer during that year's new writers' meeting for their upcoming season. And that was it. Never heard anything further, and they obviously never used my spec, but at least I was able to get it through.

Has there been any information released regarding the reasons for Martinet's departure? Is he simply retiring of his own volition, is it a corporate decision on Nintendo's end? What's going on?

Totally, he seems like such a great guy. He's been to my town for a con at least once, and while I was interested in meeting him, the line to his table was far too long for my stupid flat feet to tolerate, so I regrettably passed, but yes, people like him have played such a huge part in shaping and influencing our childhoods, and it's not to be able to express your appreciation to people like him.

Omg …. I got the worst hangover. You ever get over of those hangovers where you still feel drunk the next day? I gotta go to work but I'm gonna try to go to sushi for lunch. They got these little ipad looking things that you order from and then the sushi comes down a conveyor belt straight to your table. Sometimes I watch other people's food go by and think I want that one too. It's just good marketing

Nope. I can't drink alcohol; carbonation stings and burns my throat.

lothar wrote:
Omg …. I got the worst hangover. You ever get over of those hangovers where you still feel drunk the next day? I gotta go to work but I'm gonna try to go to sushi for lunch. They got these little ipad looking things that you order from and then the sushi comes down a conveyor belt straight to your table. Sometimes I watch other people's food go by and think I want that one too. It's just good marketing

I've been so drunk that I feel drunk the next day but hangovers are different. If I have a hangover I'm not drunk, I'm in pain and sick to my stomach.

Hahaha! You know that trope where people get a bad hangover and swear never to drink that much every again, but they still do anyway?
Well I suffer migraines pretty badly so my hangovers were always extra bad. For that reason I swore not to overdo it with drinking and actually made good on that oath :D
I haven't had a hangover in a loooooong time.

Ambien hangovers aren't unheard of for me.

I speak as an insomniac, BTW.

Back when I could imbibe only ever had one hangover. Now with my sinus headaches and migraines I have all the symptoms of a handover without any of the drinking.

Where did the summer go? Like I turned around and suddenly it's September.

Is insomnia really that bad? I've always kind of envied people that have insomnia. I feel like I could get a lot more done. I tend to have them opposite problem. I fall asleep wherever. For example, last night I feel asleep on the train.

That's why I try to draw really fast

Sometimes sleep can be worse than insomnia. Insomnia is a relief for some with PTSD. No sleep, no nightmares. Sometimes those nightmares leave you more exhausted than if you hadn't slept.
Hard physical labor until you're bone tired usually kills any hope of insomnia and often a very brief sleep of a few hours can be incredibly restful. You also can get lots of endorphins from the satisfaction of a job well done so negative thoughts (one formidable part of most insomnia) just don't happen.
Thing is that it's hard work. So much easier to complain about it than to actually work very hard at solving the problem. One reason they teach problem solving to people who've had complete emotional breakdowns.
But I'm lazy and defining a problem and planning solutions is the easy part. Actually doing it is hard. Then there's maintenance and that can require constant attention (mindfulness or cognitive behavior) And again, that's really hard.

Oh and another cure for insomnia is to have your doctor prescribe multiple medications that warn of drowsiness. Even if you never actually sleep, the perpetual brain fog is almost as good. (Not really, I just like to end these posts with something funny)

How much insomnia benefits you hinges greatly on your general emotional and mental state. You can stay up and be unable to focus because you're stressing the hell out about something, or you can just forget it's night time and decide to drop off at 6 am after having done next day's quota if you are feeling ok with things.

Yes I've been there in both occasions. Yes I'm an insomniac.

Me I'm at this point where I need to have a list of youtube videos or soundcloud audio files where people talk running on my laptop the whole night to sleep. It's like a comfortable white noise that is like a lullaby that I can't sleep without. I believe Marilyn Manson once mentioned he had a similar thing going on. Can't sleep without the TV being on all night.

lothar wrote:
Is insomnia really that bad? I've always kind of envied people that have insomnia. I feel like I could get a lot more done. I tend to have them opposite problem. I fall asleep wherever. For example, last night I feel asleep on the train.

Same!
I've had insomnia at certain parts of my life, usually when I force myself to stay up too long and really NEED the sleep.

Most of the time it's anti-insomnia though.
I don't even GO to sleep, rather I just wake up minutes or hours later after with lots of lost time. There's no drifting off to sleep it's just awake and then dead and nothing till something wakes me up.

I've always been envious of people like my dad who can fall asleep literally as soon as their head hits the pillow, and stay asleep all through the night.

Me, on an average night, it can take me 2-3 hours to finally doze off, and then I usually wake up periodically throughout the night . . . in some cases, it's almost like clockwork, I can find myself waking up at the exact same minute every hour all throughout the night, I am not kidding in the slightest.

Yup, the waking up at the same time is an annoying body clock feature. Very common.
I really wish there were some drugs or devices to control that. I imagine there will be at some point. You could make yourself wake up exactly when you want- no alarm needed, just by harnessing an existing biological function.
That would be so useful!

The fact that we can't do that gives you an indication of just how crude and clumsy a lot of medical science really is unfortunately. :(
I mean, it's the best we have, there are NO alternatives and we've come a long way with many things but there's a long way still to go.

———–

I can NOT stand those STUPID face microphones that performers wear now. They look SHIT. Surely in 2023 there has to be a better looking, less ugly, less distracting tech than sticking an ugly microphone and its wire directly on a person's face?
Mic up their clothes, give them a collar, put it in their hair, behind their ear, whatever, just not on their cheek like a damn helicopter pilot.

Breaking up the subject here a bit while drunk on wine. I was looking for some Lemmy interviews on youtube (God shame that it's been almost eight years since the man passed away. The world needs more straight shooter rockstars wearing hats that is a cross between a cowboy hat and a beefeater's cockade these days) and came across some Hunter S. Thompson interviews (The inventor of Gonzo Journalism and the writer of the book that the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) is based off of). Never actually seen interviews of the guy.

Considering how many drugs that guy's been on, particularly acid, it kind of makes you wonder what his nights must have been like. I mean he said he doesn't sleep cuz he's gotta work, but still:P

Ozoneocean wrote:

———–

I can NOT stand those STUPID face microphones that performers wear now. They look SHIT. Surely in 2023 there has to be a better looking, less ugly, less distracting tech than sticking an ugly microphone and its wire directly on a person's face?
Mic up their clothes, give them a collar, put it in their hair, behind their ear, whatever, just not on their cheek like a damn helicopter pilot.

Theater does it so well with some little thing behind the ear, or hidden in the costume. Otherwise it really does look like they're chopper pilots or NASA ground crew.

Ozoneocean wrote:
They look SHIT.

Um, what happened to, “I have to censor myself because I'm an admin”?

Im pretty sure “ shit” and “fuck” are right proper discourse these days, the equivalent of “Hell” and “damn” back in the old days. the real bad words now are things like “bitch” and “idiot” thats according to the word police down at the ministry of truth

“Idiot” has never been a dirty word. It's pretty benign.