Hounding After Hours

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soapdish

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Only 1k more to hit my target. But I'm nearly out of writing time. :e2thud:

*bitch slaps the outline some more*

COME ON, YOU! COOPERATE!
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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Struggling to have something to report at the end of the day, like me? Yep. I'm not so sure this outlining thing is working out for me. My fear--that once I had the story outlined, I'd lose interest and go looking for the next bunny to feed--seems to be coming true. I'm not caving yet, but...yeah, I'm still a pantser at heart.
 

BigWords

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OH, and it's my b-day today. Woo! Nothing happening today; celebration is tomorrow. So I'm chillin.

:partyguy: :partyguy: :partyguy: :partyguy: :partyguy:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. :)

As the Mythbusters have shown, given enough duct tape, there really isn't much you can't accomplish.

Much as I love them, their spectacular lack of research into certain areas is a major annoyance. There are some things they could have found out in three minutes if they thought to crack open a book once in a while instead of blowing shit up all the time. And yeah, explosions are cool, but the epic research failures... *sigh*

(was beginning to think Abby had him stashed in a storage unit somewhere. :eek:)

:scared: Don't give Abby ideas...
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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C'mon, BW. Surely blowing stuff up is way easier than cracking open a silly book. And loads less time-consuming, surely.
 

BigWords

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There's one episode, in particular, where they test out if it is possible for a person to catch a bullet in their mouth. They go through their usual antics (including using a pig's severed head in a particularly icky way), but ignore the story about the Sicilian woman who caught a bullet in her mouth in the late seventies - hell, they could have done an interview with her via satellite.

Just sayin' - research can add much value to an otherwise entertaining episode.
 

soapdish

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Yep. I'm not so sure this outlining thing is working out for me. My fear--that once I had the story outlined, I'd lose interest and go looking for the next bunny to feed--seems to be coming true.
Oh, yeah. That happens. Usually after I'm done with the first draft of something, not the outline.
I'm not caving yet, but...yeah, I'm still a pantser at heart.
I am a little bit of a hybrid, I'm realizing. I often start out pantsing it, then force an outline on it because my pantsing can get me wildly off tangent. And not in that good, discovering all sorts of wonderful new story threads, way. :rolleyes: More like the: WTF is that doing in there? way.

ETA: 200 words to go. If I can get a little more time in tonight, I'll make it.
 
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slcboston

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There's one episode, in particular, where they test out if it is possible for a person to catch a bullet in their mouth. [...] hell, they could have done an interview with her via satellite.

Well, yes, but the problem with that is, if you don't demonstrate it, people aren't going to believe it. I, for one, would have difficulty taking at face value some story that's as old as I am out of Sicily, or, heck, out of Syracuse NY. Doesn't much matter where it's from. People claim to have done things all the time, they might even have video of it. Doesn't mean they did what they claimed.

There's video of Uri Geller, after all, and he's pretty much a fraud.

Moreover, a number of things work better via experiment. You can research all you like, but especially with a number of their historical and/or physics thought experiments, without empirical (or at least quasi-empirical) testing, research alone doesn't settle the argument.

ETA: They are also pretty good about establishing that some things are possible, in a once-in-a-great-while or under-controlled-circumstance kind of way (like the ninja catching the arrow), but then demonstrating that, for most times under most conditions, it's not going to work.

And admitting when they're wrong, too.

:)
 

BriMaresh

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Mythbuster Alaska episodes drive my local writing crew absolutely nuts - the cabins "in the middle of nowhere?" There's a road not five steps outside them that gets a lot of traffic in the winter, since it's the main way up to the mountains for boarding and skiing and whatnot. It's not secluded, at all.

EDIT: We also have awesome things like the drunk moose, and washboard roads. Turns out my state is awsesome and mythical.
 

BigWords

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The best episodes are the ones in which they do have some historical references and precedents brought up in their discussion of the myths, but overall they tend to skip a few steps.
 

BriMaresh

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Do they skip the steps, or do those steps just make for bad television, and thus get omitted?
 

slcboston

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Mythbuster Alaska episodes drive my local writing crew absolutely nuts - the cabins "in the middle of nowhere?"

I don't think it was supposed to be actually in the middle of nowhere. Just to simulate it. :rolleyes

You people sure are literal for a bunch of writers.

:D
 

slcboston

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Do they skip the steps, or do those steps just make for bad television, and thus get omitted?

Having been to see them live about a month ago (they have a stage show, and I took my little one because she loves them) - it's the latter. Someone asked them this question, or a variant thereof at least, during one of the audience Q&A sessions they had.

Actual time on most of the myths takes weeks, if not longer, from idea to completion, and most of that gets shortened and cut for tv.

And the shop is a lot smaller than it looks on tv. (There was a video tour.)

:D
 

BigWords

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Do they skip the steps, or do those steps just make for bad television, and thus get omitted?

Y'know, with the way most television gets made these days (and I am SO not divulging anything on these boards that may get my neck in a noose) I would be willing to bet that the groundwork in scouring historical information wasn't done. It's expensive, time-consuming and requires years of practice to sift through the various (often contradictory) accounts to get to the truth. Because of "television truth", it is more important than ever that writers sift through the bullshit to get to the facts, otherwise we're going to be stuck with inaccuracies being accepted as gospel. Pet peeve of mine. I could be here all day ripping holes in what passes for historical accounts.

I don't think it was supposed to be actually in the middle of nowhere. Just to simulate it. :rolleyes

You people sure are literal for a bunch of writers.

:D

LOL. If you're gonna do something, you gotta go the extra mile or two. So much of what I see is perfunctory, and it bugs the hell out of me. I'll try and play nice...

(on a related note, Ghost Adventures has an awesome research team. If only all shows spent the extra cash on backing up their claims...)

ETA:
Someone asked them this question, or a variant thereof at least, during one of the audience Q&A sessions they had.

Actual time on most of the myths takes weeks, if not longer, from idea to completion, and most of that gets shortened and cut for tv.

I stand corrected. Still strikes me that they could include all their research somewhere for the public to verify independently, through record checking and factfinding.
 

slcboston

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(on a related note, Ghost Adventures has an awesome research team. If only all shows spent the extra cash on backing up their claims...)

:Wha:

*rereads*

coffeescreen.gif



That's your point of comparison for accuracy in television?? *THAT'S* your point of comparison???

:ROFL:



Don't get me wrong, it's a fun show, and I love all those "finding ghosts" or "hunting bigfoot" shows, and I believe in ghosts and bigfoot (maybe) and such, but... but...

*chokes on dinner*

Ok, ok. Truce. You don't pick on my shows, I won't pick on yours.

:D
 

slcboston

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Oo, a man in a kilt! Hey baby, wanna chat in private? *sexy wink*

I like a man with a long sword.

Oh COME ON, Abs. The man's been back on the boards less than half a day. You could wait a respectable 24 hrs before drowning the boards in all the smoochy-smoochy talk.

:rolleyes

:tongue
 

BigWords

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Oo, a man in a kilt! Hey baby, wanna chat in private? *sexy wink*

I like a man with a long sword.

Be right there... :D

That's your point of comparison for accuracy in television?? *THAT'S* your point of comparison???

I'm not convinced on much of their findings, but the legwork (all the dates, names, and locations which are looooong gone) are as accurate as they can be. They have even managed to preempt a few history books with some of the information which they presented for the first time. The guys may take shit for their "hauntings", but the guys digging through the books to back them up know what they are doing.
 
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