when the movie independence day came out, i read a great review by mick lasalle, containing this point:

These early scenes capitalize on the dark human tendency to enjoy watching people get bad news. The kicks keep coming: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Robert Loggia) is told that the object heading toward Earth can’t be a meteor because it’s slowing down (“It’s slowing down?”)

he’s so right! the only thing more common to film (and tv) than watching people get bad news is watching people get bad news from afar. for instance the action of the bad news revelation happens on the other side of a window, or across a noisy room. we know what they are being told, and it is not good news, but they are far away from us and for some reason, it feels more perverted that way.

i’ve been fairly obsessed with this idea since i first saw the lame quasi-lifetime movie “just between friends.” thanks to hulu, i can show you the clip!

first we get to see christine lahti find out that ted danson is dead. then we get to see about 400 hours of full frontal aerobics by mary tyler moore, who is married to the now-dead danson, she just doesn’t know it until… let’s watch, shall we?

i know i’ve seen this done dozens of times since then. i’d love to put a montage of these scenes together. for fun. sort of like this genius tv carnage “gun and badge” montage:

anyway, let me hear from you if you have good examples of this, or if you know about any established term or convention for this technique.

p.s. independence day is so much better with rifftrax!

come see a theatrical work-in-progress with me tonight. my friend nick is working his shadow puppet mojo and you don’t want to miss it. “The Lady Liberty Blues” will have two workshop performances at Live Girls! Theater so if you aren’t coming with me tonight, you can still check it out tomorrow.

while quoting a fantastic post by jack shedd about professional blogging and the stupidity that often lives there, merlin mann made some comments that i think are smart and important.

If you do not agree with Jack’s or my opinion on building your audience — or if you think this is an unrealistically conservative tactic for simps and losers — consider this: I learned about Big Contrarian from reading a blogger I trust and respect: John Gruber. Today, the chances are good that at least a few of you might visit Jack’s site for the first time because you learned about it from someone you (theoretically) trust and respect: me. If you like Jack’s stuff as much as Chairman Gruber and I do, I’ll bet you’ll tell others about it through your own sites or through emails, IRL conversations, and what have you. And the music goes round. Organically.

Jack didn’t beg a link, he didn’t pretend to be 50,000 peoples’ “friend,” and he didn’t concoct a bunch of tricks, games, and page-padding bullshit in an attempt to increase views and time-on-site. Jack didn’t do anything except write a great blog. It’s up to his readers to do the rest. If what you’re doing is interesting and appeals to someone, that’s all you need. Seriously.

now, if you take the concept jack and merlin discuss, and switch the topic from “pro blogging” to “pro crafting,” it stays just as true. desperation doesn’t work. you have to start by playing, by exploring mediums and finding your own style. you have to get excited about what you make, and it doesn’t hurt to share what you learn along the way. it’s the difference between discovering that you love getting your hands sticky, the smell of mod podge and the joy of turning materials into something unexpected, or waking up one morning, rubbing your hands together and saying “yee-haw! i’m gonna get me some o’ that craft money!!”

i’m not saying that promotion isn’t part of a functioning business. being a working artist isn’t easy, and most people can’t manage to do it full time. we all need to pay rent and eat and survive. but when you are excessively pushy, get ugly or competitive, trick or force attention, try to sell sell sell in the wrong environments, etc., you cross the line between tenacity and white-knuckled grabbiness. the latter is less creative, less spontaneous. customers and colleagues alike can smell it on you. and it smells not good.

it’s ok to have needs and want business, but if you’re not centered around something you really care about, it’s easy to find yourself relentlessly grasping at thin air.

here we have a photo of 1980 moxie, sporting a stylishly illustrated fiddler on the roof graphic tee, the tightest pony tails known to human kind, unbuttoned generic jeans and playing my microvision, i think the game was blockbuster. i rock it.

my sister and i played with fondant for the first time and made some breasty cupcakes for one of her friends.

the real nipply ones are here.