Eccentric Flower talk:200906/Bruno and Damage

Harmony:

Wow. I was reading Bruno over 10 years ago. What a flashback.

I stopped reading for the very reasons that it pissed you off. No matter what good things were happening, she was unhappy and unsettled. It got old.

-- 21:23, 9 June 2009 (BST)

Danima:

I read Bruno right up to the end. I think Baldwin was very aware of the problems, and towards the end there were some authorial pushes on the character -- a vague sense that she was starting to turn her ship, or at least learn that she had the power to take the helm internally as well as outwardly.

But, yeah, it was a difficult ride.

His current project, Little Dee, is much more fun -- for the reader and, one gets the sense, for him, too.

"one phone call from me, and you'll never see your topsoil aerated again."

-- 23:06, 9 June 2009 (BST)

ProfRobert:

I realize this is tangential, but why would anyone in authority permit an annoying, angst-ridden teen to go to a world that had never had human visitors before? That sounds like a recipe for disaster for the human race.

-- 00:09, 10 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Because the Sethin wouldn't let adults do it; it was either a set of kids they selected or nothing.

I don't believe I'm giving away anything serious by revealing that they have a set of hidden motivations for this.

-- 01:07, 10 June 2009 (BST)

Kymmz:

My last comment was flagged as spam! Probably the Little Dee link, which I was pointing out is .net not .com. The rest of my comment was that I remember that book of yours, and how I always wanted to read it.

-- 02:02, 10 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Apparently all <a> links are marked as spam. But it's okay because <a> tags aren't legal here anyway.

To make links in mediawiki just type the bare URL, starting with http ... or if you want to make alternate link text, see the editing help.

-- 03:42, 10 June 2009 (BST)

Ursula:

Having not checked here for a few days, I now find that I can't respond to everything I'd like, it'd just take too long. So, a few bullet points.

• Writers, comedians and cartoonists certainly aren't the only terribly damaged creative people. The same is true for actors, musicians, dancers, and almost everybody else in the arts. To put yourself out there, you have to have a mix of crushing insecurity (the need to be loved) and insufferable ego (the conviction that you have something unique and worthwhile to offer.) I don't think it was coincidence that Hitler was a failed artist. Scratch a ballerina, and you'll find a little Hitler underneath.
• Your update on the toxicity of this Eric person reminds me of the feedback I once got from a person to whom I no longer speak. He glanced at my comics for the first time ever, and after like twenty seconds he said, "Well, you're not a genius, if that's what you were hoping for." That was such a weird, hostile, messed-up thing to say that I couldn't take the rest of his criticism seriously. It's not that I thought my work was so great, but it seemed like he was choosing his words for maximum mindfuckery, rather than truly commenting on what was on the page.
• Having not seen a picture of you in some time, I was really struck by the resemblance to the young Brad Dourif. That's not a bad thing. He cleans up well.

-- 09:04, 10 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

I don't usually resemble him, but one particular set of mirror pictures, the yellow-faced ones, definitely do. I think it's mostly the light and the makeup in those. The celebrity I have most often been accused of resembling in the face is Tom Hanks, especially when my hair is short (which is one of several reasons my hair is not short).

-- 14:38, 10 June 2009 (BST)