Snippets

[chipotle]

I think the interview went well. Generally relaxed, despite this being, I think, the only time I've worn a tie since I've been living in California.

* * *

I'm actually heading off on the Portland trip tomorrow. No idea what I'll be doing when I get there. Those who need to get in touch with me, well, you can probably figure out how. (AIM, SMS, whatever, and actually I expect to be online a fair amount -- this may be a working vacation of sorts.)

* * *

I've just read a story on the Transformation Story Archive list, and it had a problem, of sorts, that reminded me of a problem that a couple of the stories submitted to me both recently and over the years have had. (Lest anyone on my LJ friends list think I'm talking about them: no, I'm not. I promise.) The problem is extreme heavy-handedness. This is something I've long thought of as "The Technicolor Troll Problem," after a character on some afternoon cartoon show -- either "He-Man" or "She-Ra," I think -- who was a little rainbow-colored troll who'd come on right before the end credits and effectively say, "Okay, kids, in case you didn't get the message of today's episode, let me spell it out for you!"

I was considering posting this URL as a comment to the TSA story, but I won't. I'm a good coyote, mostly.

Comments

[chastmastr.livejournal.com]

It was She-Ra.

[pathia.livejournal.com]

In the show's defense back then, it was required by law to have all shows be 'educational' and for shows that did not have a more obvious message it had to be spelled out or it would yanked off the air.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

No, it was not required by law that all shows be educational. What was going on was that the FCC required stations broadcasting over the airwaves to devote a specific percentage of each week's programming to "educational" programming or to information that served the public. In an effort to fill the airwaves with things which would get high ratings but still call it educational, the producers responded by tagging things like those "moral of the story" bits to the end of the G.I.Joe show, for example.

Those rules, by the way, are still in place, now.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

And the bit I left out, that 30-second "moral of the story" or whatever added to the end allowed the entire half hour to be counted toward the educational percentage.