Earlier today as I was collecting a caffeine refill, I overheard what appeared to be a more senior student. He was complaining about the fact that as a computer science student, he was still expected to write essays. This was, to him, unfair and a waste of time.
What really concerned me though was the fact that he was saying this to a member of the academic staff - who was agreeing with him!
Now hold on a moment. I have worked with a lot of graduates over the years including IT graduates. Ever so many of them were frankly hopeless at expressing themselves, especially in writing. But the IT graduate does need to be able to write. They have specifications to work out with clients, reports to file and technical documentation to author. How good is any of that going to be if the IT graduate cannot write well? In my experience, IT people have been worse than average in this respect, which probably explains some of the messed up specifications and documentation that I have come across over the years.
Our education system in Australia has been letting people down for decades in this whole area. The 'authorities' decided long ago that things like grammar were no longer needed in the English curriculum. In my case, it was replaced with things like studying 'cause and effect' (useful but not exactly teaching me how to avoid dangling participles or even what the perishers are) and a rather fanciful description of the 'typical Australian' (a complete load of bollocks and thorough waste of time).
The complaint from students about not needing to do essays etc due to their specific field of study not requiring it, is hardly a new one. And it is still just as invalid an argument now as it ever was. But what hope do these students have when even their teaching staff seem to think that their students do not need to be able to write well?
Not happy, Jan.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
BOOK REVIEW: Bossypants by Tina Fey
Bossypants
Tina Fey
9-781847-4451993
Little Brown
2011
Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
She has seen both these dreams come true. And now, here is her story.
REVIEW
OK the first and frankly rather obvious question is why am I reviewing Tina Fey's autobiography when my more usual gig is speculative fiction?
Well, firstly, only ten copies were being made available to blog-based reviewers in Australia. I put my hand up for a copy, not expecting to get one. It was a rather delightful surprise to receive an email a few days ago that a copy had been tossed into the post for me. Next, Fey is a writer and I believe in learning what we can from those who have gone ahead of us on the writing journey. Finally, I think Tina Fey is very funny and talented. And cute. There. I said it, OK?
When I first elevated myself to the luxury of pay television here in Australia, The Comedy Channel was running old episodes of the long-running US comedic icon, Saturday Night Live. The humour did not always do a lot for me but it must be incredibly difficult to keep turning out comedy sketches year after year. My favourite part of the show was easily the Weekend Update piece featuring a quirky, bespectacled lady who was not above throwing the occasional comment to the audience.
To many people, Tina Fey is “that” woman who did the impersonations of Sarah Palin even though this was just one small part of her story, albeit one that brought her a much wider audience and attention.
This was a very entertaining book. While some cultural references are naturally US-centric and I did not necessarily always get them, it is fast-paced and very easy to get right into. It is a confession, the story of a journey, an account of life in the entertainment business, genuine admiration of others, biting sarcasm, self-deprecating humour and some lovely lunacy.
With all the many people Fey has worked with, particularly the special hosts on Saturday Night Live, there must have been a temptation to do a 'tell-all' about some of the 'd-bags' (Palin's expression) but she has resisted that. But some people from earlier in her life come in for some biting sarcasm and ridicule but are generally kept anonymous.
I am left with the impression that Fey is a bit puzzled by the attention she has received in more recent years as an attractive woman. Her list of self-perceived body flaws includes her feet.
“My Father's feet. Flat. Bony. Pale. I don't know how he even gets around, because his feet are in my shoes.”
I was also a little puzzled by Fey's references to the alleged low popularity of her current creation, 30 Rock. That is easily one of my favourite programs.
As a biography, Bossypants will appeal to more than just Tina Fey's fans. It is a delightful reflection by a very entertaining and perceptive person and keen observer of life, not to mention giving an insight into life working in comedy and television.
I have also reviewed this at www.awritergoesonajourney.com.
Tina Fey
9-781847-4451993
Little Brown
2011
Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
She has seen both these dreams come true. And now, here is her story.
REVIEW
OK the first and frankly rather obvious question is why am I reviewing Tina Fey's autobiography when my more usual gig is speculative fiction?Well, firstly, only ten copies were being made available to blog-based reviewers in Australia. I put my hand up for a copy, not expecting to get one. It was a rather delightful surprise to receive an email a few days ago that a copy had been tossed into the post for me. Next, Fey is a writer and I believe in learning what we can from those who have gone ahead of us on the writing journey. Finally, I think Tina Fey is very funny and talented. And cute. There. I said it, OK?
When I first elevated myself to the luxury of pay television here in Australia, The Comedy Channel was running old episodes of the long-running US comedic icon, Saturday Night Live. The humour did not always do a lot for me but it must be incredibly difficult to keep turning out comedy sketches year after year. My favourite part of the show was easily the Weekend Update piece featuring a quirky, bespectacled lady who was not above throwing the occasional comment to the audience.
To many people, Tina Fey is “that” woman who did the impersonations of Sarah Palin even though this was just one small part of her story, albeit one that brought her a much wider audience and attention.
This was a very entertaining book. While some cultural references are naturally US-centric and I did not necessarily always get them, it is fast-paced and very easy to get right into. It is a confession, the story of a journey, an account of life in the entertainment business, genuine admiration of others, biting sarcasm, self-deprecating humour and some lovely lunacy.
With all the many people Fey has worked with, particularly the special hosts on Saturday Night Live, there must have been a temptation to do a 'tell-all' about some of the 'd-bags' (Palin's expression) but she has resisted that. But some people from earlier in her life come in for some biting sarcasm and ridicule but are generally kept anonymous.
I am left with the impression that Fey is a bit puzzled by the attention she has received in more recent years as an attractive woman. Her list of self-perceived body flaws includes her feet.
“My Father's feet. Flat. Bony. Pale. I don't know how he even gets around, because his feet are in my shoes.”
I was also a little puzzled by Fey's references to the alleged low popularity of her current creation, 30 Rock. That is easily one of my favourite programs.
As a biography, Bossypants will appeal to more than just Tina Fey's fans. It is a delightful reflection by a very entertaining and perceptive person and keen observer of life, not to mention giving an insight into life working in comedy and television.
I have also reviewed this at www.awritergoesonajourney.com.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Review of Laid
I do not normally review television. In fact I have never reviewed television. I stick to my meandering about books for awritergoesonajourney and occasionally elsewhere. However on this occasion I have decided to review the latest new offering from ABC Television, Laid.
This program was the brainchild of co-creator, writer and co-producer, Marieke Hardy. Marieke has an enviable television and entertainment pedigree. Her parents were television writers and producers. Her grandfather was Frank Hardy, noted Australian writer and radical (the polite family euphemism for becoming a communist) and grand-niece of the very funny and always unpredictable comedian, Mary Hardy. Any Victorian from my generation and back would remember Mary Hardy and her caustic, riotous wit on The Penthouse Club. The fact that Marieke became an actress and then writer is therefore not surprising although she has emerged to become a writer and personality in her own right. Her love and opinions of literature come through loud and strong with her appearances on ABC Television’s First Tuesday Book Club. Quirky, funny, intelligent and a vegan (which has nothing whatsoever to do with things but it’s a useless fact I know from following Marieke on Twitter) I was really interested to see what her new work was like.
Unfortunately I missed the debut of the program on Wednesday, February 9th. I was otherwise engaged on matters of earth-shattering importance. Oh OK. I was too busy scratching my fat, hairy ass and forgot. Happy now? Anyway I was able to legitimately download a copy from the ABC’s website today and watched it earlier this evening (after fighting with the DVD burner to get a disc burned that actually worked in the television’s DVD player rather than trying to watch it on the small laptop monitor).
Roo McVie is a market researcher. An old boyfriend that she privately refers to as ‘that dickhead’ has just died and Roo attends the funeral. She finds herself attending the wake with the family afterward and things go downhill from there.
Laid is a somewhat dark, adult comedy. It is not slapstick or farce. There is no laugh track, synthetic or otherwise. I hesitate to say that it is a clever piece. It was Chris Rock who said “If only smart people like your shit, it ain’t that smart.” But I thought this was a cleverly done and thoroughly enjoyable although to get the most out of it, you need to be listening carefully to the dialogue. The closing left things on a note that just compels coming back next week. I have already noted the diary.
This program was the brainchild of co-creator, writer and co-producer, Marieke Hardy. Marieke has an enviable television and entertainment pedigree. Her parents were television writers and producers. Her grandfather was Frank Hardy, noted Australian writer and radical (the polite family euphemism for becoming a communist) and grand-niece of the very funny and always unpredictable comedian, Mary Hardy. Any Victorian from my generation and back would remember Mary Hardy and her caustic, riotous wit on The Penthouse Club. The fact that Marieke became an actress and then writer is therefore not surprising although she has emerged to become a writer and personality in her own right. Her love and opinions of literature come through loud and strong with her appearances on ABC Television’s First Tuesday Book Club. Quirky, funny, intelligent and a vegan (which has nothing whatsoever to do with things but it’s a useless fact I know from following Marieke on Twitter) I was really interested to see what her new work was like.
Unfortunately I missed the debut of the program on Wednesday, February 9th. I was otherwise engaged on matters of earth-shattering importance. Oh OK. I was too busy scratching my fat, hairy ass and forgot. Happy now? Anyway I was able to legitimately download a copy from the ABC’s website today and watched it earlier this evening (after fighting with the DVD burner to get a disc burned that actually worked in the television’s DVD player rather than trying to watch it on the small laptop monitor).
Roo McVie is a market researcher. An old boyfriend that she privately refers to as ‘that dickhead’ has just died and Roo attends the funeral. She finds herself attending the wake with the family afterward and things go downhill from there.
Laid is a somewhat dark, adult comedy. It is not slapstick or farce. There is no laugh track, synthetic or otherwise. I hesitate to say that it is a clever piece. It was Chris Rock who said “If only smart people like your shit, it ain’t that smart.” But I thought this was a cleverly done and thoroughly enjoyable although to get the most out of it, you need to be listening carefully to the dialogue. The closing left things on a note that just compels coming back next week. I have already noted the diary.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
10 "Rules of Life" from Tolstoy
From www.happiness-project.com, these are supposedly Tolstoy's 10 Rules of Life, written when he was 18. Let's see how I stack up against them.
Get up early (five o’clock)
There's a five o'clock in the morning now?
Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
And miss out on all the thrills of the late-night 'infomercials'?
Eat little and avoid sweets
Oh strewth - this man was a masochist!
Try to do everything by yourself
Nobody else going to do it for me, so that means I have to do it for myself. But surely it is a good thing to utilise the resources of others when relevant?
Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
This I agree with. I do not always do it as often or as well as I could or should, but I think he's right on the money.
Keep away from women
Definitely not an issue for me except that it's the women staying away from me! I think that my deodorant must emit the wrong sort of pheromones.
Kill desire by work
Man, this fella had the constitution of a Benedictine monk!
Be good, but try to let no one know it
I hide my goodness by being a bastard - and I'm good at it!
Always live less expensively than you might
Aren't we writers all supposed to be starving in French garrets anyway?
Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer
Oh please - continue starving in a garret even after you start getting the seven-figure advances?
So how do I rack up against Tolstoy? Not terribly well. With those rules, he must have lived the life of a particularly unhappy monk. Or were these the sacrifices he was prepared to make for his calling? The question then becomes just how much am I prepared to sacrifice for my chosen vocation?
Get up early (five o’clock)
There's a five o'clock in the morning now?
Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
And miss out on all the thrills of the late-night 'infomercials'?
Eat little and avoid sweets
Oh strewth - this man was a masochist!
Try to do everything by yourself
Nobody else going to do it for me, so that means I have to do it for myself. But surely it is a good thing to utilise the resources of others when relevant?
Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
This I agree with. I do not always do it as often or as well as I could or should, but I think he's right on the money.
Keep away from women
Definitely not an issue for me except that it's the women staying away from me! I think that my deodorant must emit the wrong sort of pheromones.
Kill desire by work
Man, this fella had the constitution of a Benedictine monk!
Be good, but try to let no one know it
I hide my goodness by being a bastard - and I'm good at it!
Always live less expensively than you might
Aren't we writers all supposed to be starving in French garrets anyway?
Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer
Oh please - continue starving in a garret even after you start getting the seven-figure advances?
So how do I rack up against Tolstoy? Not terribly well. With those rules, he must have lived the life of a particularly unhappy monk. Or were these the sacrifices he was prepared to make for his calling? The question then becomes just how much am I prepared to sacrifice for my chosen vocation?
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Don’t just write it down...
There is an episode of Seinfeld, the show about nothing, where Jerry has a funny idea occur to him during the night, writes it down, then spends the rest of the episode trying to work out what he actually wrote.
I am sure every writer has experienced the frustration of having that great idea pop into their head, failing to write it down and afterward not being able to remember what it actually was. Hence the thought that it is always a good idea to have a pen and paper handy. I first got into the practice while at uni, of keeping the pen and paper handy on the bedside table. All too often the solution to the latest problem for a taxation tutorial or computer programming would occur to me during the night and I saved them by scribbling something down.
One of my vanities (curiosities, eccentricities) is writing comedy routines for my alter ego, Teddy Rant. I came up with one the other evening and scribbled out a rough outline. Earlier today I sat down to do something with the idea. It generally makes sense and is humorous but there, right in the middle of a seemingly key passage, is a string of incomprehensible scribble.
What on earth does that scribble mean? Where’s my George Kostanza or Elaine Bennis to help me out. I wonder if sending a copy of it to Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Elaine) would be of any help? Doubtful, but it at least it gave me an excuse to briefly think about the lovely JLD as a pleasant distraction.
So the moral of the story is don’t just write it down, write it down so it makes sense afterwards!
I am sure every writer has experienced the frustration of having that great idea pop into their head, failing to write it down and afterward not being able to remember what it actually was. Hence the thought that it is always a good idea to have a pen and paper handy. I first got into the practice while at uni, of keeping the pen and paper handy on the bedside table. All too often the solution to the latest problem for a taxation tutorial or computer programming would occur to me during the night and I saved them by scribbling something down.
One of my vanities (curiosities, eccentricities) is writing comedy routines for my alter ego, Teddy Rant. I came up with one the other evening and scribbled out a rough outline. Earlier today I sat down to do something with the idea. It generally makes sense and is humorous but there, right in the middle of a seemingly key passage, is a string of incomprehensible scribble.
What on earth does that scribble mean? Where’s my George Kostanza or Elaine Bennis to help me out. I wonder if sending a copy of it to Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Elaine) would be of any help? Doubtful, but it at least it gave me an excuse to briefly think about the lovely JLD as a pleasant distraction.
So the moral of the story is don’t just write it down, write it down so it makes sense afterwards!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
And my perfect match is...
So there I was, happily tweeting away on twitter (Rossisawriter), when I noticed twitter's suggestions for who I could be following. I assume these suggestions are the product of some sort of algorithm which matches you against other tweeples with similar interests etc. But please, pray tell, what in the blue blazes of hell I am supposed to have in common with a bloody vacuum cleaner?? Yep, that's what twitter in it's wisdom thinks I am best matched with. No wonder I'm on my own.
Monday, November 29, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010 and what I learned from it
Well I have made it to the end of NaNoWriMo but could not have gotten there without my writing buddy, Lisa, cyber-whipping me there (sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me!). So what lessons have I learned this year?
- I reconfirmed that I am a plotter/planner and not able to just sit and the keyboard with a vague idea and the story comes flooding in as some people seem to be able to do
- Do not get too wedded to the original outline as the story may well want to be going in another direction entirely and that little person in the head pushing it in that direction may well be right
- For NaNoWriMo - plan and plot further ahead!
- I did not know my characters well enough and found myself regularly wondering "hold on, is this what they would really do in that situation?" so more character work in advance for future projects
- That having a writing partner egging you on is a great way to work
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