words of emo
Dec. 5th, 2012 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
china_shoptahi. Vidding is made of technical difficulties. I'd kind of forgotten that (possibly blanked it out) and deluded myself that it was primarily an artistic challenge. But ohhhh no. First you have to get the vidding program to recognise the source files properly. And then you have to deal with shitty image quality. *shakes tiny fist of frustration*
I want to go back to writing! I KNOW HOW TO WORK A WORD PROCESSOR!!!
rua. There should be an End of Times Advent Calendar. IJS.
toru. Last night we watched Supernatural 2.03 and 2.04. I don't know if they have new writers or what, but several times in 2.03 and 2.04, characters (even characters who didn't know each other) finished each other's sentences. Maybe it was supposed to be a sign of empathy or whatever, or maybe they just thought it was boring to have one person say the whole thought, but that writing tic almost always falls flat, imo. It's particularly egregious when the sentence-finisher is fishing for information/interrogating a witness or suspect. (Charlie Crews in Life season 2 did this ALL THE TIME! It was infuriating! I can't imagine that a confession is admissible if the attending officer provided half the words!) Seriously, whatever, dudes.
Fwiw, Due South always twisted this trope masterfully, by having the conclusion supplied by the second character be not quite what the first character intended. It was never explicit, but it was there in the acting, and those little moments of disconnect revealed character wonderfully.
There are ways for character B to finish character A's sentence that do work: tentatively, with enquiry, opening it out into a deeper conversation. But just flatly stating the end of someone else's thought as fact shuts conversation down. Like, "You don't need to say any more or think about this, because it's trite and obvious." Blah.
Uh. Clearly this is one of my buttons. Also I am super-emo today. Ignore me. /o\
rua. There should be an End of Times Advent Calendar. IJS.
toru. Last night we watched Supernatural 2.03 and 2.04. I don't know if they have new writers or what, but several times in 2.03 and 2.04, characters (even characters who didn't know each other) finished each other's sentences. Maybe it was supposed to be a sign of empathy or whatever, or maybe they just thought it was boring to have one person say the whole thought, but that writing tic almost always falls flat, imo. It's particularly egregious when the sentence-finisher is fishing for information/interrogating a witness or suspect. (Charlie Crews in Life season 2 did this ALL THE TIME! It was infuriating! I can't imagine that a confession is admissible if the attending officer provided half the words!) Seriously, whatever, dudes.
Fwiw, Due South always twisted this trope masterfully, by having the conclusion supplied by the second character be not quite what the first character intended. It was never explicit, but it was there in the acting, and those little moments of disconnect revealed character wonderfully.
There are ways for character B to finish character A's sentence that do work: tentatively, with enquiry, opening it out into a deeper conversation. But just flatly stating the end of someone else's thought as fact shuts conversation down. Like, "You don't need to say any more or think about this, because it's trite and obvious." Blah.
Uh. Clearly this is one of my buttons. Also I am super-emo today. Ignore me. /o\
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 02:36 am (UTC). . . and my favourite subversion of that "finishing each others' sentences" trope is in Community, when Troy and Abed are talking about twins - it goes something like:
Abed: "I hope they're not twins. Twins freak me out. They always know what the other one is - "
Troy: "Thinking?"
Abed: "Yeah. And they're always finishing each other's — "
Troy: " — pie?"
Abed: "Exactly. It's creepy."
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 02:54 am (UTC)It is hell! Why is it so hellish?! *whimpers*
Troy: " — pie?"
Abed: "Exactly. It's creepy."
*dies* I love them.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 02:27 am (UTC)And in the hands of a bad writer, that means fucking the characterization in favor of not giving anyone too many lines to memorize on a tight shooting schedule.
Hee! I guess.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 09:26 am (UTC)I have a little experience in the field, and sadly, that's what usually happens. Police officers don't usually have time to listen to their suspects, and think they know better anyway.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 10:15 am (UTC)*distracts self with shiny things*
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 05:37 pm (UTC)I have a horrible tendency to finish other people's sentences and have to keep it constantly in check, so hearing TV characters doing it would make me crazy. "No! Wrong! BAD MANNERS! STOP!"
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 09:09 pm (UTC)HEE! Exactly!
I have a horrible tendency to finish other people's sentences and have to keep it constantly in check
See, I do it too, and I think it can be okay, so long as you're careful not to trample on the conversation. Like, instead of interrupting and grabbing the conversational turn, it can be kind of a prompt, which the original speaker then confirms or corrects. You know? It can be part of active listening. It just doesn't seem that way on TV.