How Do You Like Your Noodles?

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Let Me 'Splain Something Lucy:

        For those of you who are wondering why this blog is called Tossing It Out let me reexplain.   I've told the story before so those who know please bear with me.  I don't want any readers to think that my blog name has any naughty or disgusting connotations.

          When I first named this blog I wanted a title that related to juggling (since I am a juggler).  The idea of tossing objects in the air seemed like a good writing metaphor of juggling words to create some sort of order.  "Tossing it out" also can mean expressing ideas for consideration which is what I do here.  The phrase can have other meanings as well that don't have anything to do with tossing cookies, although I'm a big fan of cookies in the sense of baked goods.

           So there you have it, and today I want to toss out a few ideas and this and that.   Toss them out for your consideration that is.

Did You Get Your Fill of Alex Yet?
     
          Just in case you've just crawled out of your bomb shelter or something there's this Adulation of Alex J. Cavanugh BlogFest going on right now.  If you missed my post you can find it here and then you can find all the other entries here.


Are You Afraid?

          Speaking of bomb shelters, do you realize the end is almost near?  Just a week from this Friday, on December 21, it's all over folks.   So say some.  Personally I don't believe it.  Do you think the predictions are correct?   Did anyone say what time it's going to happen?  I need to plan for that day.  An end of the world could mess up my whole schedule.

But What About This Friday?

         Since we may have no future we can look back at the past.  Once again our A to Z Team mate D.L.Hammons is hosting what may or may not be the last Deja Vu BlogFest.   This one's easy, bloggers.  All you have to do is repost something you did over the past year.  This is a great way to give those neglected posts another chance for an audience or to just post one of your favorites.  Come on and join the fun!  It's the easy way to post something on your blog.

Happy Anniversary!

         Something else that happens every year is my wedding anniversary.   My wife Betty and I will be celebrating our 15th year of marriage come this Thursday December 13th.   Betty probably won't see it here on my blog, but I'll announce it for everyone else to see:  Happy Anniversary to Lee and Betty!

To Be Continued...

         This is one of those posts where I set out to say something and got totally sidetracked.   Since most of us are not particularly fond of huge epic long posts I'll save what I was going to say for later.  And believe me I've got plenty to say.  But I seriously doubt that I can say it all before next Friday.

         Do you sometimes wonder how some blogs got their names?   What'd you think of that Alex Fest?  Do you believe the end of the world prognostication?   Do you have a blog post from 2012 that you'd like to share with us again?  Oh, yeah, and how do you like your noodles?

#AlexFest: In Honor of the Ninja Captain

Welcome to the “Cheers, Cavanaugh BlogFest.” 

Hosted by Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King and Stephen Tremp, the BlogFest runs from December 10 - 12.   For more details on today's fun check out any of the above links.

While Alex is an awesome blogger, he’s also an enigma. 

So, here are some questions I need to answer:

·         In +/- 20 words, what does Alex look like?

·         In +/- 20 words, who could play Alex in a documentary? (Living or dead.)

·         In +/- 20 words, who does Alex remind you of?

·         In +/- 100 words, (excluding the title) write flash fiction using all these prompts:

     ·         Cavanaugh

           ·         Ninja

           ·         IWSG

           ·         Cosbolt

           ·         Guitar

For Bonus Points:

·         In +/- 40 words, leave a comment for Mrs. Cavanaugh - thanking her for sharing.

**********************************

Here's My Take on Alex J. Cavanaugh: 

        I can't describe to you what Alex J. Cavanaugh looks like, but if I saw him I would know him.  That's what Alex looks like:  The friend I've always known and who was there when I needed him.  How could I not recognize Alex?   Besides, I've always been kind of lousy at describing people.  

       If someone were to make a documentary about Alex, who could play Alex other than Alex.  Excuse me, but it's a documentary so I want to see the real guy in the real story.  And that's a documentary I'd like to see.  I'm sure it would be more excitement than we could stand.   Maybe they could throw in some conspiracy theories to spice it up.

        Just thinking of Alex I am reminded of Don, one of my friends from younger days.   Good ol' Don could play a clean guitar lick like no one else I'd ever known.  And he was so darn meticulous and precise in everything he did that it would nearly drive me nuts because I didn't have that kind organization.  Like Don, Alex seems to be good at just about everything he does, filling me with a touch of envy, but loving him for his absolute mastery of life.

        That's Alex in a few words as seen from a faraway view of him.   I love the guy in every way from A to Z and I'm glad he's on my team.   Thanks for the friendship, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

So here's a little tale:

                             Stranger Than Science Fiction

         On a recent chilly rainy Southern California day I headed down to Stephen Tremp's place to see if he'd shoot me over to the warmer climes of Hawaii to see Mark Koopman.  You see, Tremp has this wormhole hidden away in his garage and I figured he wouldn't mind giving me a Breakthrough to see "The Madman" Koop.

         Stephen was amenable to the idea and led me to the portal of limitless possibilities.  Soon I was tumbling through an ethereal realm until I found myself in an unexpected place.  Curse that Tremp!--Always the practical joker and I was on the receiving end of Stephen's demented sense of humor.  This was not Hawaii.   I immediately recognized the desolate arid landscape as that of the distant planet of Tgren just as described by Alex J. Cavanaugh in his second novel CassaFire.

         Feeling as insecure as a writer submitting a blog post for the IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) I realized there was no return portal to get back to Earth.  If no one were to come to rescue me I would be hopelessly stranded on this alien sphere.

          Then I looked up with an apprehensive feeling.   A Cosbolt fighter appeared above.  Gracefully, the craft maneuvered towards me and settled onto the dusty terrain.  The door opened and a figure emerged.   It was the Ninja Captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh.   I would have recognized him even without the guitar he carried.
 
          As Alex started towards me with a determined stride, like clowns from a clown car in a circus, a veritable Ninja Army emerged from the Cosbolt.   Except they were not clowns.  They were clones--Alex clones.  As I had always suspected, there was no way Alex could do as much as he did without help.

        Hah!  Clones!   That's how Alex does it.   And now I'm stranded on Tgren with all of them.   Tremp!  I'll get you for this!

In Closing:

        I'll have to commend Alex's dear wife for putting up with all this blogging and everything else.  Thanks for sharing Alex with all of us.   To borrow from Jimmy Durante, "Goodnight, Mrs. Cavanaugh, wherever you are."

        As for me, I'm still here on Tgren. "Trrrremmmmp!   Get me outta here!"
   

Related articles

• The Big Reveal and the Day the Ninja Died...
• Year End Kibbles and Pieces
• My Thankfulness to Bloggers Post

When Is Profanity Necessary in Writing?

Cartoon of a person waving fist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Not in this House!

        In the early 1970's when I was still in college, my dad found a book that I had purchased at the University of Tennessee bookstore and being greatly offended by that book he promptly tore it to shreds, leaving the pieces strewn about our rec room so I would be sure to find them.  That book, The Anatomy of Dirty Words by Edward Sagarin, was a scholarly examination of the meanings, origins, and etymology of various words that are typically considered to be profane, obscene, or unacceptable.

         Profanity was necessary in this book because the words were the subject matter.  What I learned from the book in the short time I was able to access it is that dirty words are just words that in many cases had perfectly legitimate beginnings in English or another language and over time had become offensive in one way or another.  The words are only words, but the associations can arouse strong feelings in others.  The offense might stem from the way the words are spoken or in the context they are used.  They have become words that are intended to shock, embarrass, or anger others.

         I am probably a bit more open-minded than my father was, but I also went through that era of rebellion and radical change where profanity came more into common use in the arts, media, and everyday conversation.  Not that I approve of this usage.  I don't blush when I hear offensive language, but I don't encourage it either and rarely use it in my own speaking or writing.  Frankly, my dear reader, I don't think it's necessary in most cases.

Do You Want to Talk Dirty?

         In a recent Tossing It Out guest post,  Profanity: Where Do You Draw the Line?, Bridget Straub discussed how she approaches this issue in her writing and in her life.  The ensuing conversation in the comment section offered some interesting and radically different points of view.  As promised in those comments I am here with my thoughts on the use of offensive language in writing.

         I avoid most use of language that I deem offensive because I think there can be better ways of saying things.   Personally, I find profanity to be very distracting, often coming across as an author's attempt to be edgy, gritty, or "realistic".   But is this worth the possibility of losing a potential portion of a reading audience?  And is a larger sector of audience going to be gained because an author uses profanity.   To my thinking, excellent writing can convey grittiness and realistic characters in such a way that the fact there is no profanity would go unnoticed to the average reader.

          In my opinion the reader who is looking for obscenity in writing and titillated by it is puerile and unsophisticated.   They are not looking for literature, but just dirty writing.   Quality writing should not stoop to that level in hopes of better suiting it to modern tastes.   Writers who are trying to deliver that experience are not being especially creative or original.

Let's Look for the Nasty Parts

          An example from cinema that I always think of is the Oliver Stone Viet Nam film Platoon.  When I first saw this in the theater I was so distracted by the use of profanity in the film that this aspect was what I remembered most.  I disliked the film after that first viewing.  Some time later I saw the film again on television in a censored version where the most obscene things were the commercial breaks.  Without the distraction of profanity I was able to pay more attention to the characters and thematic elements of the story. I enjoyed the film much more in this second viewing.   I realized that the profanity had hindered in many ways and helped in virtually none.

        In literature I will cite Catcher in the Rye for two aspects of the use of profanity.  Firstly I was annoyed and offended by the ongoing using of the Lord's name in vain by Holden Caulfield.  There is some suggestion that Holden's casual use of "goddam" throughout the book helps establish his character, but I would argue that there are plenty of other things that the character says and does to show his rebellious and belligerent spirit.

         The second use of profanity in Catcher in the Rye is probably necessary because it is an integral part of the story and it is not used in a gratuitous way.  When Holden discovers the "Fuck You" graffiti scrawled on the walls he is shocked and angry because of the possibility of children seeing the words that are offensive even to him.  Since the theme of the book has to do with protecting the innocence of childhood, the shock of seeing the words symbolizes the loss of that innocence.   The argument that could be made as justification for Holden's use of profanity is that it illustrates the same kind of phoniness that he disdains in other people.  Profanity is in a sense central to the theme of the novel.

        However, in nearly every other case of profanity used in written work, that profanity is unneeded.  I will probably always shy away from the use of offensive language because I strongly feel that there are other ways to deal with what an author is trying to convey by using it.   I won't commit myself to this, but this is my intent as I see it now.

          How else can a writer depict bad people without using bad words?   Do you notice when obscene language is not used for characters who might use it in real life?   Do you miss the language when it's not there?   Would you like to hear offensive language used regularly in network television programming?  If so, why?


     

Related articles

• Profanity: Where Do You Draw the Line? (A Guest Post from Author Bridget Straub)
• Choose Your Own Appropriate Language
• So Long, Holden