Quirky Monday: Accents, Dialects, and Language-A Few of my Favorite Things

Pop quiz y'all.

If you want to see me with a big stupid grin on my face, you show me which of the following:

A. Chocolat
B. Letters to Juliet
C. Take the Lead
D. Anything on BBC/ITV
E. All of the above

Answer: All of the above.

Why? Because every single one of them has at least one person speaking another language/in a dialect.

Definitions, real quick:
Accent-unique speech patterns, choice of words of an individual
Dialect-particular form of language specific to a region
And I luv'em both.

Ok, yes, I know the title of the post kind of gave it away, but it's true. I friggin LOVE listening to other languages. Dialects too--some of my favorite productions/films I've seen feature people who speak in dialect--and my ears and heart are in heaven for the next two-ish hours.

French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Irish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, you name it, I love it. Hearing something that isn't English(or American) does something to my smile muscles. Even German has a tendency to make me grin like an idiot.

I own recordings of two French play productions because it's two hours of people speaking in French(and the stories and concepts aren't too shabby either). During my commute or at work, I sometimes listen to the other people around me because they are speaking Spanish(or French, or Korean, or Mandarin). I have watched the behind-the-scenes footage of Chocolat because I get to hear actress Lena Olen and her husband director Lasse Hallstrom speak to each other in Swedish.

Letters to Juliet is set in Italy, and I watch both the film and the behind-the-scenes footage to get my Italian fix. Take the Lead stars Antonio Bandaras and Dante Baco; the former's native language is Spanish and the latter speaks in a dialect in the film(Brooklyn-something).

Are there times I wish my native language was not English? Yes. Are there times I try to imitate another dialect just for fun?...Yes. Do I sometimes buy audiobooks/go see productions/buy movies because not only is the story amazing, but it happens to be read by/starring someone who reads in a dialect/accent(what? David Tennant is in "Much Ado?" Benedict Cumberbatch and Felicity Jones are doing "Mansfield Park"? Judy Dench and Finty Williams are in "Pooh Bear"?)?.......Yes.

I will also admit that there are times--a few times--when someone speaking in a dialect/different language can turn me into a great big pot of goo. I watch Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries and Australia so listen to those amazing accents for hours on end. I watch Red Dwarf because of Lister's Liverpuddlian way of speaking. It also kind of helps that all those characters mentioned above aren't bad in the looks department either.

Dialects can also send me into fits of laughter-especially when done wrong. I have heard native Brits speak and I speak French(and own French films, see above), so I know when people get in wrong--and I know it shouldn't be funny, but it is! I watched the film "Outcast" on Netflix for two reasons, first, because 1) I hadn't seen a Hayden Christensen film in a while and 2) I was curious to see if Nicholas Cage could do a dialect/period piece(no comment).

Dialects and language are things I love. So that's how you get me to grin if I'm in a crappy mood.

You're welcome.

Name of the Game: Mini-Confessions

There are so many quirky/weird parts of my personality. It's ridiculous. There are likes and dislikes that I've expounded on in posts past and then there are some that are little. So today's "game" is mini-confessions--the quirky facets of my personality that don't get their own long posts:

1. I Still Listen to Boy Bands
Backstreet Boys, Youngstown, 98 Degrees, and yes, One Direction. There are some times when I just need fluffy music--I even have a playlist with that title on my iPhone. Maybe it's because I didn't "meet" the Backstreet Boys until senior year of high school(thank you 80s rock upbringing) or maybe it's because I happen to be a romantic female or something, but either way, I have several Boy Bands on my iPhone, and they aren't going away any time soon.

2. I hate horror movies
Appropriate "mini" for Halloween month, yes? This is kind of weird, because, yes, I watch Supernatural; and I watch the 100; and Daredevil, and a couple of(sometimes really baaaaad) adaptions of  Wolfman and  Dracula and Frankenstein, including all the UK Hammer Production ones(question: WHY?!). BUT I can't watch the modern creepy horror stuff. And there is at last one episode of SPN that I skip per season--or there used to be.  The creepiest movie I own is Shyamalan's The Village, which actually isn't all that creepy anyway(confession within confession: I actually bought it because---Adrian Brody, Joaquin Phoenix, Jesse Eisenburg, Bryce Dallas Howard, Judy Greer, Cherry Jones and Sigorney Weaver in one movie? In period costumes? Ummmm, yes please!). I sat through the original Haunting once and pulled my very first All Nighter because of it. And it wasn't a Study All Nighter either. Stupid imagination :p

3.Mysteries aren't so "mysterious" to me anymore
I read too much. It's a problem. and sometimes I read too much of one genre. Ok, yes, the crime doesn't necessarily happen within the first couple of minutes/chapters/whatever. But even then, I usually know "whodunnit". The same goes for mystery shows. My family watches Poirot/Marple Sunday nights(thank you Netflix) and I just got into Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries, and the biggest problem is I know who the culprit is like--ten minutes after the crime is committed(Poirot/Marple) or at least before the detective does(Miss Fischer). And this isn't really as much of a problem as you would think, because I usually spend the rest of the book/film/episode trying to figure out the "why", which is sometimes much more interesting than the "who". Side note: so far as the Christie stuff goes, I've taken to timing how bloody long it takes for Poirot to actually say whodunnit--and it's usually between ten and twenty minutes. I kid you not.

4. I have never been on a roller coaster
My family went to Disneyland the summer I was eighteen, and we went of just about every ride(thanks to my dad's awesome Disneyland Schedule--yes, he took a map and Excel and figured out how to get us on every "important" ride--in five days). When we spent the day at California Adventure, the one ride I didn't go on was Screamin California(and there was a good reason, I promise!). I've never been to Lagoon; I've never been to Six Flags; even when I went to the Mall of America I didn't get on any of their roller coasters. But it's on my Bucket List.

5. I trip over my own feet at least once a day
It's a serious problem. Whether I'm in heels, or flats, tennis shoes or sandals, chances are I'm going to end up flat on my back(or front, or side, or whatever). I don't quite know how it happens--summer, fall, spring, and especially in the winter. Stupid ice is no help to my stupid feet. Which probably also explains why I can't roller skate/blade, ice skate, or dance anything other than Blues. Speaking of which---

6. Blues is my favorite form of dance
I got introduced to this style about a year and a half ago, and ohmygoodness it's so much fun. There's a place downtown that does it every Friday night, and I try to go whenever possible.  I never really considered myself a dancer(see #5 above), but this style is something that I don't exactly need to "learn" as much as I thought I did. Check this out:

Quirky Monday: True to Gender

I used to hate romances.

With a passion.

Maybe it had something to do with the covers(I don't really like seeing "bodice-ripper covers" because they either A) make me uncomfortable or B) make me want to laugh out loud because they look sooooo ridiculous); or maybe it's got something to do with the formula of the plot. 

I also wouldn't read some sci-fi--because plot. 

YAs? Same plot, same character types, same, same, same....all of it. 

Mysteries? Confession: I pretty much know who it is like--halfway through the book? Even if it's well written I think I was only surprised once. ONCE!!!

And yet I read these books over and over and over again: Lauren Willig; Alex Flinn,  S.E. Hinton, and more recently, Tasha Alexander, Deanna Rayburn, Rhys Bowen and Lucinda Brant. So far as males authors go, give me Jerry Barrowman, Terry Brooks and CS Forrester anytime.

Why? 

BECAUSE THEY WRITE REAL MEN AND WOMEN, THAT'S WHY?!

Yeah. I have this weird thing about being "true to gender" because there is nothing more frustrating than reading or seeing something written by a man or woman where all the characters that are the same sex as the writer are spot on and all the ones who aren't are, well--not.

Example: Before my brothers were born, I was under the impression that boys did not cry, This was due to fact that I had never(and still haven't ever) seen my dad cry. To a five year old, if the only male model you have in your life is a father who never cries, it makes sense, right?

It didn't help that my viewing choices were stereotyped with regard to the males. You know how many male characters I saw throw temper tantrums? Two. Donald and Scrooge McDuck.

Until I saw three films that started to change my childhood perspective on males.

First, Jungle Book.

The Disney Jungle Book. You know that scene at the end where Baloo is dying after the fight with Sheer Khan(sorry SPOILERS!!!!)? Well in that scene--Mowlgi cries. He cries!!!
See:

It's a saaaaad scene, right? But it made me really uncomfortable. I'd never seen a boy--or any male for that matter--cry. And it didn't make sense to me. In my five year old brain, girls are the ones who are supposed to cry; and guys man up and move on(thank you male stereotypes).

 I tried a romance in high school. And this was a bad idea. I don't even remember what the author's name was, but I do remember the men in that book. Or rather, the characters that wished they were men and spent most of the novel whinging and mooning and making me want to strangle them!!!!!

And ok, I live with five guys now(my dad and four brothers) so I have seen a little bit of the male side of "oh-I'm-attracted-to-so-and-so-what-do-I do?!"--boy have I ever! But here's the thing: none of them tune out of life and go moon about her for days on end because that isn't how guys are wired people! It just isn't!

When I was seven, my grandpa introduced me to the second film: Princess Bride(which everyone and their aunt has seen at least fifty-thousand times). I've mentioned before how much I love this movie--and now I think I understand why. There were men in this film that showed emotion! Westley cries; Inigo is in intolerable pain; both Fezzik and Inigo are upset when they find Westley's "body"(I know, I know SPOILERS!!!!!).

Film number three with men was West Side Story. Now, up until this point, no matter what movie or tv show I saw, if I guys started showing emotion it made me really uncomfortable(see reason above). So uncomfortable, in fact, that I'd look away from the screen until the scene was over--even after Princess Bride  and Jungle Book. This film, though, was different. This scene especially:

It's messy; it's raw; it's a man going to pieces--and I sat and watched the whole thing. For probably the first time in my life(I was eight). And I kept watching those movies and those scenes for one very important reason.

It's for the same reason I love things like the Fast and Furious franchise and The Prestige and...oh oodles of movies with male leads--because they are Real Men. They cry(Westley, Dom, Angier) and they feel(Brian, Dom, Angier, Drover, Westley) and they go crazy(Inigo, Westley, Dom) and they man up and save the day and all that other good stuff that both reality and imaginations just LOVE(list is too long to insert here)!!!!!

Of course, watching men that are true to life is a little different from writing them. Here is what I learned about writing men: a male's brain is not the same as a woman's(no DUH) and men handle different emotions and problem-solving skills in a way women don't. 

And it isn't just the men either. Poorly written women can drive me up the wall too. I read a book recently for the upcoming Utah Beehive Teen Read Awards--and it was terrible. Because this was a women who didn't know how to write women! And it made me nuts.

Opinion: just as the world has the tendency to stereotype men as "emotionless robots", it also has the tendency to stereotype women as either "emotionally charged drama queens" or "ice women". I'm serious, those are the two "niches". Which is ridiculous on both counts. 

Just as men feel emotions, but aren't allowed to show them, women can be criticized for showing either too much emotion or not enough. There are some really crappy romances I haven't finished for that first reason; and some action flicks I haven't seen for the second. 

Second opinion: reason A happens when women try to write women to please the rest of the world, and reason B happens when men try to write women like men. 

And both backfire. 

You want an example of  what I think is a good film about a woman written by a man? Red Riding Hood. And yes, I know that this film had--mixed reviews and some people(no names) have asked me why the heck I bought it in the first place. My answer? For two reasons--it harkens back to the original tale; and it's written by a man who knows how to write women:

 

And he doesn't stop there. Check this:

This are both  romance scenes. The second is like a high heat romance scene. A scene worthy of a female writer. And this guy hits it spot on!!!! Because he understands that women have a vulnerability that men don't have. It has something to do with the way the female is wired. 

You know another quality women have? We can be little spitfires!

Marvel and Stan Lee taught me that. After Chris Morgan and Ted Elliot and Terry Russio of course(late comic book bloomer, remember).

Want a spitfire woman example? How about this:

So here's the point of this post(if it isn't clear yet): if you're going to write good characters you have to be aware of the gender of the character and be true to it. Men cry; women fight; both have facets of personality that should be taken into account EVERY TIME!!!!!

Keep this in mind and your characters will be friggin awesome!!!!!!

Name of the Game: Weird Happenings...On Stage

Haven't done storytime in a while, so here's couple of stories for you.

And they all have to do with my weird little quirk this week: the funniest things happen to me on stage. Yeah, I know, it's not a single word quirk, but it's true. Maybe it's because I'm playing someone who isn't me and does things I may or may not do; and says things I may or may not say; but if the experience is weird or quirky and hasn't happened in the presence of my family, it's happened onstage.

Here's the clincher: two of them were with the same scene partner. And generally speaking, we were in the same roles--sort of.

This guy was and absolute sweetheart and someone I had no trouble with as a scene partner. See, he Filipino-Iranian and six-foot-two at least(I'm five-five), and talent? This guys had it in spades.To a romantic nineteen-year-old, this was a dream come true.

Until I got the casting notice.

We had both auditioned for a production of Romeo and Juliet, and the director had come up with a fascinating idea that Lord and Lady Capulet(Juliet's parents, for those not too familiar with the story) and Paris(Juliet's betrothed) had an---interesting relationship.

See, she decided that Lady C and Paris were having a fling, and that Lord and Lady C had an abusive relationship. Which meant that the dynamics of one scene in particular(ie, the scene after Tybalt's death where Lord C announces to his wife that Paris will marry Juliet) one of the most fascinating scenes I've ever participated in.

And guess who Lord and Lady Capulet were.

The rehearsal process was one of the most interesting I've had. We didn't get to the actual combat stuff--at least Lord and Lady C wise--until about a week or so before we opened. I won't bore you with too many details, but I will say this: after the "pre-combat eye contact moment"(which is what you do when you fight onstage), I was not acting--I was terrified. Because initially there is nothing more terrifying than a six-foot-two male coming at you in the dark, or semi-dark(we were rehearsing outdoors under street lamps most nights) shouting things at you in iambic pentameter. Nothing.

But I got used to it because it was part of the scene. That didn't mean I didn't jump out of my skin during some performances, but it also didn't mean that it felt awkward or weird. It was part of my job, so I did it. And it was interesting.

You know what else is interesting? Explaining to your friends why you have thumb-sized bruises on your wrists for about a month and a half.

Flash forward eleven months. Same company, same director(or producer at that point), same scene partner. Different show.

It was called "The Camberley Triangle"(which, for you reading pleasure, can be read here), and concerned, well, a love triangle. And this particular guy and I were two sides of said love triangle. Now, in the script, there is no kiss. None. But two days before we opened, the director stopped us mid scene and said there was something missing. She had no idea what it was, but we needed to fix it.

So we started from the top. In the script one of my lines is interrupted by my scene partner saying something to shut me up. Only when we got to this line, he didn't shut me up by speaking. He shut me up by kissing me.

Confession: this was my first kiss. Ever.

And it was weird. It was one of those ten-seconds-of-fireworks-thirty-seconds-of-wth-kind of moments. Until my director said, "yes, perfect, do it again!"

So we did it again, and it stopped being weird--just as the getting "hit" thing stopped being weird. That kiss worked because A) my character was not expecting it and B) I was not expecting it, and made the scene believable.

Because that's part of what we do as theatre artists. We try to make things work.

And when we pull it off, it's AWESOME!!!!!!

Name of the Game: Epic Fail #1

Once upon a time, I wrote steampunk.

And it blew up in my face.

Literally.

I mean, I got this idea a couple of years ago that I wanted to put on paper and get up on the stage or screen or something. And it was a fantastic bubblegum of an idea. So naturally, I wrote down the outline and the characters; and then, just for variety, I wrote out the entire treatment, just make sure I got everything I wanted.

And came to screeching halt.

While it may have had a little to do with my inevitable "college breakdown"(because we always get those at least once--don't lie, it happens to everyone), it also had a lot to do with what happens to us--not just as writers, but as humans.

We fail. Epicly. Sometimes it's a decision we made that seemed right at the time; other times it's something we said, or someone we talked to, or whatever. It happens. And when it happens, we have two choices:

1. Beat our head against the wall and then curl up and wish we were dead

OR

2. Get up. Move on. Try again. Never look back.

I have done both. And you know, when I've moped about how my life isn't at all what I've thought it should be, I find myself--sometimes literally--running around in circles with no idea which way is up.

But, when I've taken option 2, I still have those things I've failed at, but those are in the past--and they belong there. Embrace them, and move on.

As an aside, I still have that twenty-something page treatment sitting on both my drive and in a notebook somewhere. Someday, something will work out and I can get the thing actually written. Until then, I'm not going to worry. It will work out. It always does.

For those of you interested, here are the links to the posts about it way back when. Enjoy!