Emerald Realm

Dear Readers

lorettamatson — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:33:04 +0000

APRIL 2011

It has come to my attention that my blogging life has become unmanageable and worse than inefficient. Still, if I delete my moribund blogs I’m afraid I won’t be able to restart them, hence this post. My plan for correcting the situation is to stop blogging until I can overhaul my system.

Thank you for reading and for your support. You deserve better and you will get it when I re-launch my blogs.

Yours sincerely,

Loretta

Movie: RED

lorettamatson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:42:23 +0000

A movie to please the over-fifty crowd. Yeah, we have aches and pains, but on a good day, we’ve still got the magic. Stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman. The critics sneer, but the fans are gratified.

Book: The Insanity Offense

lorettamatson — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:28:03 +0000

By E. Fuller Torrey. While it is true that many people used to be locked up in mental hospitals that didn’t belong there, and deinstitutionalization freed a number of people who weren’t sick, the opposite extreme, of no one locked up until after they have committed a violent crime, leaves a number of problems unsolved. If you have a brain disorder that causes you to *not know* you have a brain disorder, should your right to refuse treatment be respected?

The author makes the point that while most persons with mental illness are harmless, aware that they are ill, and want to recover if possible or control their symptoms at the least, there is a small fraction of the population that is really dangerous and/or endangered. Not only do some brain-disordered people assault others, they may also become victims of violent crimes. What you have are families with a member who is ill and unable to manage their need for safety. You have sufferers threatening and killing their families. You have family members who endure threats until they can’t stand it anymore, and kill the sufferer. You have sufferers who are not able to defend themselves from muggings and sexual assault. You have families who would gladly pay for inpatient treatment programs, but who cannot compel their loved one to participate.

The question is, how to persuade or coerce patients into accepting treatment who unaware of their illness and currently have the right to refuse? The author presents some examples of programs that are reducing violence and victimization. One appoints, not a conservator, but a paymaster who withholds government benefits from the patient if he does not comply with court-ordered treatment. Another offers better housing benefits for compliance.

I am glad to know there are alternatives to a return to large mental hospitals and widespread involuntary commitment. But we are going to need a lot more to really serve the needs of families with a mentally ill member.

Movie: The American

lorettamatson — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:51:33 +0000

Wow. Art. See it.

The Fiction Project

lorettamatson — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:14:32 +0000

This is an art project sponsored by Art House Coop. I got my notebook the other day. My theme is, “In five minutes …” I’m thinking about a million little story starters, one-sentence summaries, pitches, and jacket blurbs. Maybe some greeting card sentiments gone wild, haiku, or graffiti. Illustrations are acceptable too, but the rules say not to paste more paper into the notebook. One must transfer images from elsewhere directly to the pages in the notebook, or otherwise create a notebook the same size, thickness and durability. Will report my progress.

Better TV

lorettamatson — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:06:41 +0000

My sister explained to me why TV shows are improving and movies are going downhill. It’s because cable TV is paid for monthly by older people who have the eighty bucks and demand better stories, whereas the success of a movie is measured by how many young men go to it the first weekend.

My new favorite is “Dark Angel,” which is not very new but pretty good. : )

Movie: Valhalla Rising

lorettamatson — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 02:12:01 +0000

Very arty, very violent. Almost no dialog. Beautiful photography, shot in Scotland, they say. Some very subtle acting by Mads Mikkelsen.

Everybody’s a Critic!

lorettamatson — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:50:04 +0000

I’ve noticed lots of commentary lately about the sorry state of writing on the internet, living on the internet, conducting friendships and business on the internet, etc.

Back in the day before law enforcement as we know it, people made themselves feel safe by learning everyone’s business. When a stranger came to town, everyone wanted to know where he was from. Who were his parents? Why did he leave the place where he was born? Is he an axe murderer? He had better whip out his credentials or be run out of town.

Every time technology lowers the barriers to a profession there is a glut of poor quality product. But it generally shakes itself out. The “professional-looking” documents and web sites of the early days would not impress anyone now. Self-published books are starting to look better, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement, and it will come. And people will judge. We are putting up with typos in e-books that would destroy the reading experience of a printed book. This too shall pass.

Facebook and other user-contributed content is a form of folk entertainment. We make the things we put there.

Murder on the internet! That’s when someone—a vindictive ex, or a business competitor—makes it impossible for you to operate in cyberspace by slandering or vandalizing your online presence. Just when we thought everyone had learned to mind his own business, one’s reputation, one’s “character” is important in the global village. Whip out your credentials or be run out of town.

I think it’s a lot of the old truism that some find order advantageous while others prefer chaos.

Movie: Resident Evil Afterlife

lorettamatson — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:58:12 +0000

This is the fourth movie. The 3D special effects are impressive, but the story is uneven, and revisits some Matrix themes. The second and third movies remain unsurpassed.

Project status

lorettamatson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:54:55 +0000

A writing blog is supposed to be about writing, right? But I couldn’t really say what was going on with my writing before. Now I will try.

Project #1: Working title: Ancestral Magic

I think of this as my “training novel.” I’ve been working on it for years, and it’s the kind of novel writing teachers wish their students would abandon, but I still want to at least finish volume 1. It’s about a folklorist researching an ancestral witch.

Project #2: Working title: Nightsailor

This novel is about a sailor in distress who accepts help from an aquatic vampire.

My goal is to complete a decent outline before I do much writing. I’m struggling with arc and structure.

Project #3: Untitled

A paraplegic teenager is found sleepwalking.

I don’t even know how long this story will be. Working on an outline.

Hopefully I can report the status of these projects in future posts.