Friday, July 31, 2009

Plot, subplot, Monkeys and facials...

I know what I said, believe me! I said "...every day, or couple of days." So, I got busy, meh... no one really reads this anyways, so what does it matter, right?

But on the same token, you're reading this, so not all hope is lost!

Okay, back on subject. Plot and subplot. I don't know why or how or whatever might have prompted this, but I've been thinking a lot about story structure lately. Could be the story percolating up through my subconscious of late... who knows?

The bare bones of a through story, or a series especially, is plot. There is a problem that needs to be solved and it needs to be something people care about. People will get sick or something, someone with lose their house or their livelihood, or maybe the world will be stuck by a meteor... whatever.

The plot comes from the progressive trials, discoveries and journey through to the resolution of this objective. This is also where sub-plot lives. Subplot is the side-bar objectives and trials-discoveries-journeys that eventually lend themselves to the main plot, but they are their own smaller, contained pieces of the larger story.

A really good example of this can be seen in the show "Burn Notice." The show is based on Michael, the protagonist, in his quest to get back to being a spy, after being "burned" and cut out of the profession that he loved. Every episode has its own sub-plot that contains the main elements of his spy skills that he uses to help whomever it is in trouble that week.

In addition to this, there is the underlying plot where the objective for Michael is becoming a spy again, and his girl-friend pushing for him to quit and rebuild with her.

Without both plot AND subplots, and a strong objective that the protagonist or whoever is striving for, the story is limp and sad.

Moving on...

Monkeys!!! ...and other figurines! I've finished Nicole, Sean's drummer, last night. Henry is still in the fridge, but I'm still working on him, don't worry. He has a lot of muscles, actually, and is taking massive amounts of clay. www.seantiffany.com

Here are some pics:

Nicole, no paint with Henry wire frame:


Nicole, with paint, and Henry with basic body:


Now a quick note about facials...

Have you ever had a facial? I mean in a Spa, performed by an Esthetician or a Cosmetologist and probably between $50 and $100. Well, then you know how great they are... and not to toot my own horn, but I'm really good at them.

If you know someone who needs a facial, we have facials, body treatments (whole body salt scrubs are out of this world great) and other things available at my school: www.longspeakacademy.com

If you call me and ask nice, and its a night that I'm allowed to have models, its FREE!! Let me know if you're interested, I have to do lots of these things before I can graduate, and I love helping people feel good!

Well, until next time... Best wishes and good health!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Rats...

...even a rat knows when to desert the ship.

If you've watched enough pirate/sailing/sailor movies, you've no doubt encountered this adage. As I survey our general lack of staff at work (even though we're inundated with a large variety of customers) I'm irresistibly reminded of this line. Actually, its haunting me.

Why does a rat desert a ship?

My managers that I've mentioned this to, and even my friends - insist that I'm looking too hard at this and probably I am. But like it or not, the 'rats' are jumping ship. Planes with the most cancellations or no-shows tend to be the ones that crash. In the next month, we're losing 2 employees. The month after that? 2 more are slated to leave. The next month? Who knows?


On a lighter note, the movie rental for the week was "Roman Holiday" featuring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.

According to the Netflix wrapper: "Audrey Hepburn (in an Oscar-winning performance) stars as a cosseted European princess who goes AWOL in Rome and is soon taken under the wing of tabloid journalist Gregory Peck and his photographer sidekick Eddie Albert. She thinks the boys don't suspect who she really is... but they're clued in the sense a sensational story if they can just keep Audrey's handlers from retrieving her too soon. The essence of 1950s chic."

Super cute movie... they sure don't make em like they used to, ya know? I liked it a lot, actually. I've been curious about this movie ever since I was a kid watching "Only You". In that movie, they re-enact a scene from the movie "Roman Holiday" in which they go to the Mouth of Truth... very enjoyable! Good stuff...


Random thought for the day: Why do fat men ride cheap motorcycles? I can understand the tough factor and all, but the jig is up! I'm not scared of a three-hundred pound dude on a rice-cooker, especially when its all fat and no muscle. Craziness...

Sunday, July 19, 2009

I now pronounce you...

Wedding stylist!

Ok. So I've been busy. Big whoop... Sean is busy and he blogs almost daily. So no more excuses! I'll be blogging again much more often now. At least once a week, if not more.

Granted, no one actually will read this, but still... if nothing else it gives me an outlet and an excuse to write.



This week I finished a mauquette of one of Sean's figurines (I'll post pictures tomorrow). Also, today I helped my friend Audrey, who I met in Cosmetology school, to do the hair and make-up of the wedding of a friend of hers.

Here are some pictures:



Tomorrow I'll try and post the pictures from the mauquette... Oh! I have to go get her out of the oven...

...until next time...

Ps. This week, I'm weighing in (ala weight watchers, btw) at 167. Last week was 171