Favourite Duos #7 - David Lister and Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf)

One of the classic odd couples in comedy, from one of my favourite TV shows of all time.

David Lister is a Third-Class Technician aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf. He's lazy, unkempt, and lacks ambition, but is still a moral individual and quite mechanically inclined. He shares his quarters with Second Technician Arnold Rimmer, his immediate superior who contrasts him in every way: While Lister has talent but no ambition, Rimmer is eager to advance his career but is too incompetent to have any hope. While Lister is laid back, Rimmer is neurotic and petty (not to mention egotistical). While Lister is prone to displaying strong moral courage, Rimmer is a dirty coward. Or to use the show's dialect, a smeghead.

After Lister survives the radiation leak which kills the rest of the crew, Rimmer is brought back as a hologram to keep him sane. And because of his ego, he tries to assert his (minimal) authority by claiming to be captain on the grounds that he is technically the highest-ranking crew member aboard the ship. Since Lister does not respect his authority, this goes about as well as you'd expect.

I think the first two seasons highlight this dynamic the best. Kryten hadn't joined the crew yet, and Cat wasn't really involved in the stories at this point. The best example from this series is in "Balance of Power", in which Rimmer confiscates the ship's entire supply of cigarettes and rations them to coerce Lister into working for him. Lister tries to get around this by taking a chef's exam; it's the easiest exam around, and if he passes, he'll technically out-rank Rimmer. The episode also establishes their relationship when Lister asks Holly about his decision to bring back Rimmer. Holly claims that Rimmer was the person he knew best because they exchanged a total of 14 million words. Lister's response: "7 million of those were me telling him to smeg off, and the other 7 million were him putting me on report for telling him to smeg off."

That said, there are some moments when Lister does genuinely care for Rimmer if the latter's depressed, showing that their relationship isn't entirely antagonistic. Rimmer is also surprisingly egalitarian and open-minded when it comes to conflicting beliefs.

The isolation of the show accentuates this greatly, providing some true comedic gold.

Favourite Duos #8: Frasier and Martin Crane (Frasier)

Credit to Frasier Denied

My parents recently got me hooked on Frasier, and a few people online have said that anybody who is interested in writing comedy should watch it. There's certainly a defiance of the old saying "Like father, like son."

Dr Frasier Crane is a psychiatrist who hosts a radio talk show in Seattle. He has a high opinion of himself, and sees himself as an upper-class intellectual with fine tastes. In contrast, his father is a retired police officer from a working-class background who is more down-to-earth. He prefers sports and action films over theatre, and beer over wine.

While Martin does have his silly moments, he often serves as a "straight man" to Frasier's stubbornness, neuroses, and sense of superiority. That said, he is often amused by his son's misfortunes, but is still able to offer good advice and does genuinely care for him.

Frasier was a show built on irony, and the relationship between Frasier and Martin perfectly encapsulates this. While Frasier dispenses intellectual knowledge and refinement, Martin's advice tends to be more pragmatic, and he displays more common sense.

In a deeper example of irony, one of the recurring symbols in the series is Martin's favourite armchair, which he brings with him when he moves in with Frasier. The armchair in question is well-worn, and stands out among Frasier's well-furnished apartment (much to his consternation). In one episode, Frasier accidentally destroys the armchair, creating a rift between the two, but he later has it recreated. Which ended up making it the most expensive piece of furniture in the apartment.

I heard talk of Frasier being revived, but I'm not really in favour of it. Martin was one of the driving forces behind the series, and without John Mahoney, they'd never be able to recreate that dynamic.

Favourite Duos #9: Butch and Sundance (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

I've already talked about this film already as part of my "Western Weekends" series, but I still think the title characters are great.

Robert Leroy Parker, known to all as "Butch Cassidy" is the leader of The Hole in the Wall Gang. He's very laid back and affable, always seeking grander schemes while making friends with everybody he meets (even if he's robbing them). His closest companion is a laconic gunslinger named Harry Longabaugh, known to all as "The Sundance Kid", who serves as his brawn. Well, to some extent. It's established at the beginning that Sundance is handy with a gun, but he relies more on his reputation than his actual skill. This is shown when he's accused of cheating, but the accuser backs down when he finds out who he is.

Butch is always coming up with ideas, and Sundance will always provide a snarky comment when they don't work out. This also shows that Sundance is a lot more pessimistic than Butch. Their bickering provides some of the funniest dialogue in cinema, most notably in this scene where they are cornered on a cliff by the posse hunting them. Sundance seems to be more willing to make a last stand than Butch, who devises an even crazier escape plan and has to convince him. It perfectly establishes Butch's thinking aloud as Sundance argues them with a few choice lines.

In an even more extreme example (with a minor spoiler), the pair are confronting Bolivian bandits who have killed the payroll carrier they're escorting. While staring them down, Butch awkwardly reveals that he has never killed anybody in his life, and Sundance is desperately trying not to facepalm (and break contact with the bandits), but is able to help see them both through.

As he says it best, "You just keep thinkin', Butch. That's what you're good at."

Favourite Duos #10 - George Milton and Lennie Small (Of Mice and Men)

I thought I'd start my countdown by looking at the main protagonists of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I'm sorry to invoke bad memories of English GCSEs for people, but these two migrant workers in Depression-era California certainly are a duo with a dynamic. I think most "Brawn and Brains" duos owe a lot to these characters.

George is a somewhat small man who is very intelligent despite not being educated. His closest companion is Lennie, a much larger man with a developmental disability.

While Lennie is what TV Tropes refers to as a "Gentle Giant" who likes stroking animals and soft materials, his biggest flaw is that he doesn't know his own strength. This is established early on through an argument which reveals that Lennie had been accused of rape after feeling a young woman's dress, and is also known to accidentally kill the animals he tries to pet. It's something which develops conflicts throughout the story.

Meanwhile, George is acting as a caretaker since the death of Lennie's aunt. He's constantly frustrated by the trouble Lennie brings on them both, but he has no intention of abandoning him. In a time where prospects were bleak for most people, Lennie's dream of owning a farm and tending to rabbits serves as a driving force for George. This means that George needs Lennie just as much as Lennie needs George.

I probably don't need to mention how this dynamic eventually plays out, because most of you know already, and I prefer to leave it a surprise if you're fortunate enough not to. Plus I'm hearing the sirens from Kill Bill in my head and want to steer this away from "I hate exam boards" territory.

While I may not have taken the mental aspects of the duo, I've certainly borrowed from the physical elements in my own work. Especially from Lennie.

I'll see you tomorrow for a duo I thankfully didn't have to write essays on at school.

Top 10 Favourite Duos (Plus an Honourable Mention)

It's been a while since I did a Top Ten on the Writer's Block. I've seen various "top ten characters" countdowns around, but instead looking at single characters, I thought I'd look at two characters at a time. After all, the main characters in my work-in-progress are a duo, so I decided to think about influences.

I'm not really looking at "hero and sidekick", but rather duos which are more of an equal partnership. In other words, no Batman and Robin. The main thing I'm looking at is dynamic and contrast.

I'll start with an honourable mention by looking at Junkrat and Roadhog from Overwatch. Since I haven't played Overwatch, I can't really include them on the countdown. So, why I am mentioning them? Well, I was reading an excerpt from one of my stories at a writers' group meeting, and another  member said my MCs were like Junrat and Roadhog if they were pirates. And not as psychotic.

Intrigued, I searched on YouTube and found a promotional video: Junkertown: The Plan. In this short video, we follow Junkrat and Roadhog as they're kicked out of Junkertown, a Mad Max-style scavenger community in the Australian Outback, and seek to get even with a plan which requires money and explosives.

Junkrat is established as being a small but troublesome pyromaniac who is egotistical and talkative, while Roadhog is a silent brute who serves as the muscle. Although he doesn't say anything, and you can't read his face behind the mask, he is always able to point out flaws in Junkrat's zany schemes. I love how his method of arguing is simply stopping the plan from moving ahead until Junkrat sees what he's overlooked.

While it's a short video, it establishes their characters well, and makes me wish they'd do more, so I can see what others kinds of antics they get into.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow to start the real countdown.

A Rake's Progress

The Young Heir Takes Possession of The Miser's Effects

Surrounded by Artists and Professors

Looks like I'm diversifying into writing about art. Well, I always considered myself a visual learner. Last year I stumbled across the works of the 18th Century painter and satirist William Hogarth. It was while doing some research for one of my stories that I discovered A Rake's Progress, a series of eight paintings Hogarth produced between 1732 and 1734, first as canvas and then as engravings. This series, along with his earlier A Harlot's Progress and later Marriage A-la-Mode could be regarded as the first storyboards.

The Tavern Scene

Arrested for Debt

A little context first; a rake is a person (usually male) who is habituated to immoral conduct, typically gambling or womanising. The "original" rakes were a group of witty and carefree aristocrats in the court of King Charles II who combined riotous living with intellectual pursuits and patronage of the arts. Known as "The Merry Gang" or the "Restoration Rakes", their shocking escapades and antics became popular, as they were seen as rejecting the Puritan doctrine of the Lord Protectorate which governed England previously. In fact, the rake became a popular stock character in the Restoration comedies produced at that time. Unfortunately, attitudes changed after King Charles died without a legitimate heir, which would have dangerous consequences for the whole kingdom. 

Married to an Old Maid

Scene in a Gaming House

After The Glorious Revolution, the archetype of the rake became the subject of morality tales, the most famous of which was Hogarth's A Rake's Progress. These paintings follow Tom Rakewell as he inherits a substantial fortune upon the death of his father. Eager to live a more lavish lifestyle than his miserly father, he breaks off his engagement to his girlfriend Sarah Young, and exchanges his father's drab home for a more upscale bachelor pad. The second and third scenes show both aspects of his new lifestyle, holding formal receptions with his entourage upon waking up (based on a royal practice known as a levee) , and spending the nights carousing in taverns and brothels (and most likely contracting syphilis). Soon, his lavish lifestyle soon incurs lavish debts, bringing the bailiffs down on him. However, he is saved by Sarah Young, who pays his bail, but he tries to alleviate his debts by marrying a wealthy old woman (while eyeing her maid). It's only a matter of time before that fortune is gambled away, and our protagonist finds himself in a debtor's prison, before descending into madness and spending the remainder of his days in an asylum (most likely the infamous Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as Bedlam).

The Prison Scene

In the Madhouse

I found these canvas versions on Wikimedia Commons, where you can also find engraved and print versions, which show some of the finer details of the paintings. For example, it's not clear in the canvas version, but in the sixth painting, Tom is shown between a nobleman brokering a loan from a moneylender to keep playing, and a dejected-looking highwayman (he's wearing boots rather than shoes, along with a riding cloak, and there's a mask and pistol sticking out of his pocket). I recommend you check out all three versions.

Happy writing.

Happy New Year

New Year, New Hat

Happy New Year. I've pretty much had a lazy day today, binge-watching the third and final season of A Series of Unfortunate Events which was released on Netflix today. I reviewed it a while back, and will pretty much say what I said before; it gets bleak and depressing, but there's still an element of intrigue and mystery which keeps me interested. Patrick Warbuton's great as Lemony Snickett, and (as was revealed in the teaser) I was looking forward to seeing what role he'd have in the story beyond his unconventional narration now codified on TV Tropes.

I'll be going back to university soon, I've got an assignment due in the first week back, but thankfully no exams (if there were exams, I wouldn't have enrolled).

Anyway, will I have resolutions this year?

Well, as mentioned before, I thought I might try National Poetry Writing Month in April. I also thought I might try and compete in a BUCS fixture with the fencing club.

Other than that, keep writing, try and get something published, attend to my teetering TBR pile, and keep posting on here. I've been writing in my journal every day, and I might share the most noteworthy parts on here.

Happy writing for 2019.

Oh, and I'm NOT doing Dry January.

2018: A Retrospective

Once more around the sun. As 2018 draws to a close, I thought I might take an opportunity to look back on the events of the past year, as I went through some major life changes. After a rocky (not to mention cold) start, I think this year really worked out.

At first, I was still working full-time as an accountant. I'd been in this particular job for over a year, and felt like it was getting in the way of my writing, and had been acting on Twitter. It was in May that these tweets were picked up, resulting in my dismissal, but at that point I was making plans to leave anyway. Said plans were to go to university to study creative writing, and as soon as I got home, I made a start on the UCAS application.

I actually felt happier after leaving the job, as I now had time to catch up on lost sleep, get a couple of good books in, and revise one of my WIPs. I've actually sent that off, but I'm still waiting to hear back. I also did a review marathon of the Asterix comics, and found them to be a lot funnier than I originally remembered them to be.

One unexpected fortune occurred when I contacted a previous employer for a university reference, and was offered a summer job. I never thought I'd be working somewhere like that again, but I was offered a second chance and took it. After all, it was part-time, which worked better for me.

Anyway, I've left that job again, and have since started studying for BA in Creative Writing. Life's a lot fuller at university. I might not be spending as much time as I'd like to on my regular WIPs, but I've started a journal which I'm writing in every day, along with the creative assignments. It was through these assignments that I've started to expand into poetry.

I'm going to sound very full of myself now, and say that in the last few months of the year, I've been able to look at myself in the mirror and sincerely say "I'm awesome!"

See you all in 2019!

Happy writing.

No NaNo This Year

My latest WIP

Well, November and National Novel Writing Month have been and gone. It's now December, so I can technically enjoy the Christmas decorations and songs (not too mention a few seasonal freebies at my lodgings this coming week).

Anyway, as stated above, November is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. This annual writing challenge involves writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Not always easy when life gets in the way. My relationship with the tradition has been...interesting to say the least.

I tried NaNo back in 2016, and managed 34,000 words, but realised that I have a rather laconic writing style which is more suited to short stories. I was working at that time, but I had Fridays and the weekends to catch up if I fell behind. Regardless, I decided it probably wasn't for me.

When November came around again in 2017, I was working in another job which was full-time. Since I'd been struggling with fitting my writing around the new hours, I elected not to do the actual challenge, but pay lip service and try and write every day. Even if it was making a plan at work. I kind of managed, but wasn't able to keep it up afterwards.

This year, I've been at university and have had assignments due in November. I would argue that the point of the challenge is to teach you to write every day, but I'm pretty much doing that anyway, so I didn't bother with anything NaNo-related this year. It's mainly been my journal and the creative assignments.

However, since a lot of my output lately has been poetry, I'm tempted to do National Poetry Writing Month in April. Since there isn't a word count goal, I think that allows a lot more flexibility.

I'll speak about that in April.

Happy writing.

University Life: Revisiting Laser Tag

I love it when a poem comes together

It's been a while since I've put anything on here, mainly because university life is a lot fuller than the 9 to 5 life. In addition to writing full time and experimenting with different kinds of writing (especially poetry), I've also taken up fencing and started playing Dungeons & Dragons again. Although I might say that was one of the reasons I wanted to go to university in the first place.

However, one of the strangest hobbies I've picked up has been laser tag. This used to be a popular activity for birthday parties back when I was in primary school, but after discovering there was a society for it, I decided to take it up again as another means to indulge my quarter-life crisis. Plus the Megazone in Leicester offers great student nights.

For those who are unfamiliar, let me explain: Laser tag is essentially a real-life shoot-em-up. You go into an arena with the pack I'm wearing in the image, and score points by shooting at the other players, aiming for the lights on the packs. If you're hit, your pack goes offline for a few seconds before you can shoot again. Different areas of the pack yield different points, and there are also three bases and numerous targets which yield bonus points when shot. There's also a touch screen in the arena which dispenses random power-ups, such as shields or rapid fire.

Games can be solo or team-based, and sometimes there are special rules to mix things up. Examples include:

• Mario's Mushrooms, in which the targets strewn around the arena give you power-ups when shot.
• Friend or Foe, a team game in which everybody's packs display the same colours, and you lose points for shooting teammates. My hat comes useful here.
• Insanity, a team game in which the teams change randomly during the game.

If there's anything I do have to criticise, it's the fact that the guns have to be fired two-handed. There's a heat sensor on the front grip which enforces this. If your hand's not on there, the weapon won't fire and will beep angrily at you. That's all well and good, but when your hand sweats it can slip in the spur of the moment.

There are also times when some modes can have glitches. For example, one game known as "Random Madness" involves players' colours randomly changing between blue, red, yellow, and green. Only the blue players can score points, while the other colours yield different point values. Unfortunately, sometimes it ends up with every player being blue, except for one. But to be fair, that does result in some particularly humorous games.

All in all, I'm glad I joined that society, because it's a lot of fun.

Review: Red Dead Redemption 2

Sorry, I've been off the radar for a while. Student life keeps me busy, and I've been observing the fact that I've now been living for a quarter of a century by playing through one of my most anticipated games of the year; Red Dead Redemption II. I've mentioned previously that Red Dead Redemption is one of my favourite games of all time, and I was so hyped for the follow-up that I did those Western Weekend reviews.

This one is actually a prequel, taking place in 1899 (12 years before the previous game) and focused on the waning days of an outlaw gang led by Dutch van der Linde from the perspective of Dutch's protege, Arthur Morgan. Following a botched robbery in the town of Blackwater, the gang is forced to lead a nomadic lifestyle while continuing to pull off robberies to support themselves. As time passes, they find themselves facing conflict on multiple fronts: the bounty hunters who pursue them from Blackwater; a rival outlaw gang led by Colm O'Driscoll; Leviticus Cornwall, an oil magnate who has the Pinkerton Detective Agency in his service; highly volatile new gang member Micah Bell; heists which carry greater risks and lesser rewards; and Dutch's gradually eroding sanity.

The story seems reminiscent of films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or The Wild Bunch. However, I think they really stretched things out. It's about halfway through the game when all the internal conflict happens. But I love the characters who make up the gang, including characters who would go on to appear in the first game presented in a different light. I also like a lot of the new characters they introduced, such as Lenny and Charles, and Sadie Adler. When the story does kick off, it gets really poignant.

The open world is a lot bigger than the first one, and they tried to make the game a lot more realistic, utilising RPG elements similar to those used in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You can have meals in towns, sleep and bathe in hotels, get drunk, and even visit barbers. You also have to take greater care of your horse, and could be stranded if it dies in the wilderness. You can also hunt for provisions to keep the gang fed. This is optional, but they do look on you more favourably if you ride into camp with a deer carcass on the back of your horse.

However, the realism sometimes adds a little tedium. Travelling takes a while, and you never know what you'll run into in the wilderness. The "core" system can take a bit of getting used to. You have metres for health, stamina, "dead-eye", horse health, and horse stamina, but these also have cores which are maintained by eating and sleeping regularly. If the cores are low, the stats regenerate slower. There's also the fact that weapons have to be primed before they can be fired again, which I sometimes forget to do in a firefight.

OK, I'm starting to nitpick a bit. Despite those relatively minor issues, it's a great game, and I kill a lot of time when playing it. I finished the main story in a week, but I'm trying to avoid free-roam for the sake of my upcoming assignments.

There is one thing I do wish to talk about, but it involves major spoilers. Highlight the text below to read on.

The end of the game involves a prolonged epilogue in which you play as John Marston, the protagonist of the first Red Dead Redemption, as he tries to get out of the outlaw life and sets up a farm. During this time, he does a few jobs with Sadie Adler, who now works as a bounty hunter, and you continue to play as him in the free-roam after all the story missions are completed. Personally, I think it would be more fitting to do the post-game free-roam as Sadie, as she is still bounty hunting while John has settled down with his family and waiting for the FBI to pick him up to initiate the events of the previous game. It's not a major issue, but I think it was a missed opportunity.

All in all, I think it was worth the wait, and I recommend the game. In fact, when I go home for Christmas, I think I'll play through the first one again.