tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post4079715933579494283..comments2023-11-18T03:15:19.102-06:00Comments on Straight From Hel: Guest Author Mark H. PhillipsHelen Gingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794759602654727110noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-38249354929911344622010-01-27T20:47:42.242-06:002010-01-27T20:47:42.242-06:00Thank u :-) look at that emo boy hair on this blog...Thank u :-) look at that emo boy hair on this blog:<br />http://emo--boys.blogspot.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-74651874078198894862009-03-28T06:45:00.000-05:002009-03-28T06:45:00.000-05:00Thanks again, Cynde. Have a great writing day.Mark...Thanks again, Cynde. Have a great writing day.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-3528758261144112232009-03-27T17:59:00.000-05:002009-03-27T17:59:00.000-05:00Great post.Cyndehttp://cyndes-got-the-write-stuff....Great post.<BR/><BR/>Cynde<BR/>http://cyndes-got-the-write-stuff.blogspot.com/Cynde L. Hammondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15965516045079529435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-2814410612426679862009-03-26T21:10:00.000-05:002009-03-26T21:10:00.000-05:00Mark, your post was thoughtful and very informativ...Mark, your post was thoughtful and very informative. Having you here today was great. Thank you so much for posting and for including Straight From Hel on your book tour.<BR/><BR/>Thank you.Helen Gingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09794759602654727110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-25226753586407713222009-03-26T20:03:00.000-05:002009-03-26T20:03:00.000-05:00Thanks for hosting me today, Helen. The discusion ...Thanks for hosting me today, Helen. The discusion was a blast. I'll be back to read more of your fascinating blog entries. We received a copy of your newsletter today--the lists of contests will prove most useful. Thanks again.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-24550417418023446392009-03-26T19:34:00.000-05:002009-03-26T19:34:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-5331998614075228952009-03-26T17:02:00.000-05:002009-03-26T17:02:00.000-05:00Hi Jenny,Thanks for your kind words. Excellent poi...Hi Jenny,<BR/>Thanks for your kind words. Excellent point about the differences between book gore and cinematic gore. Lack of control makes everything so much more terrifying.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-34234910839235314672009-03-26T16:59:00.000-05:002009-03-26T16:59:00.000-05:00Hi Jean,Thanks for your comments. Our whole societ...Hi Jean,<BR/>Thanks for your comments. Our whole society may need deep psychoanalysis. Psychology/psychiatry: probably a growth industry for many years to come. But let's put a positive spin on slasher films. Perhaps they are so popular among teen males for the good old-fashioned and entirely laudatory reason that it makes their girlfriends hold their hands and occasionally even welcome a hug.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-76311348249672936602009-03-26T16:46:00.000-05:002009-03-26T16:46:00.000-05:00This was a fantastic blog, I really enjoyed readin...This was a fantastic blog, I really enjoyed reading Mark's thoughts. Thank you so much for posting them here. I especially enjoyed his views on splatterpunk and slasher films. My husband and I were just talking about subtle differences between horror films and horror novels, and how the gore often has a completely different impact in a novel or short story than it does on screen. I think it's because you control the level your imagination processes when you read, but in a film it's presented to you. If it's really gory in a book, you can tone down the visualization a little, or even increase it if that's your thing. It was interesting to read that Mark thought we were still culturally working out or relationship with violence. It's in interesting concept, considering that historical records link us through the ages to continual acts of gore and violence. Excellent interview. I will have to check out theh other two parts and soak it all in. <BR/><BR/>Jenny<BR/>http://theinnerbean.blogspot.com/Jenny Melzerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11235663870008150355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-23414251056835219042009-03-26T16:39:00.000-05:002009-03-26T16:39:00.000-05:00It's sad that slasher violence is so popular. It m...It's sad that slasher violence is so popular. It makes me wonder what in our DNA predisposes people--especially kids--to enjoy watching it. Is it repressed anger? I wonder what a psychiatrist would have to say on the subject.Jean Henry Meadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08146960738692672013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-83929625719503314642009-03-26T16:01:00.000-05:002009-03-26T16:01:00.000-05:00"might shrug off the violent content as just the s..."might shrug off the violent content as just the stuff of daily life." - There are areas here in the U.S. that your statement could apply to as well, not just in foreign countries or in the past.Helen Gingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09794759602654727110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-52018352449895210592009-03-26T14:05:00.000-05:002009-03-26T14:05:00.000-05:00Great comments, Lisa. But, as I argue in my articl...Great comments, Lisa. But, as I argue in my article, past societies were no angels with regards to violence. I've been reading some anthropology concerning pre-civilization hunter-gather societies. In many though not all, the daily exposure to violence was staggeringly large. The life expectancy of Cro-Magnon humans through Bronze Age humans was a depressing 18 years old, and although a lot of that is attributable to disease, injuries from combat was a major factor among males. Modern hunter-gatherer societies in the Amazon basin with little or no contact with modern society often show patterns of daily exposure to brutality that would make a modern citizen blanch. If Queenofmean in the comments above is right about the more devastating psychic effects of witnessing real as distinct from artistic displays of violence, these earlier societies dealt with psychic traumas that would floor us. In medieval times audiences would laugh uproariously at bear-baiting and animals or heretics being burned alive. More recently battles between armies were spectator events. The Battle of Bunker Hill was witnessed by a crowd of well-to-do revelers who assembled on nearby elevations to enjoy the show. Public hangings were social events well into the last century of this country. I half suspect that if I went back in time and randomly selected humans from a wide variety of ages and cultures, they would be utterly amazed at the technology of modern violent movies, but might shrug off the violent content as just the stuff of daily life.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-77770614588952182802009-03-26T13:40:00.000-05:002009-03-26T13:40:00.000-05:00All true, but also art imitates life. Is violent c...All true, but also art imitates life. Is violent cinema/literature dulling our senses to cry out against the violence, or a response to an increasingly violent society? An attempt to desensitize us so we can walk in society rather than cower in a closet? One wonders.<BR/><BR/>Either way, one fact remains certain. When looking for sure fire big sellers in cinema, look no further than horror or porn. Or better yet, horror porn.<BR/><BR/>--Lisa<BR/>http://authorlisalogan.blogspot.comLisa Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18259624498661417075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-9273598237021634982009-03-26T13:25:00.000-05:002009-03-26T13:25:00.000-05:00Thanks Autumn. Charlotte and I are currently worki...Thanks Autumn. Charlotte and I are currently working our way through all 1200 some episodes of Dark Shadows. I was addicted as a child, and Charlotte was forbidden to watch as a child. Now we're both addicted and having a nostalgic good time. Does anyone out there remember the other daytime soap that was a direct ripoff of Dark Shadows. It was called Strange Paradise and was set in a voodoo haunted Caribbean milieu. It was a hoot. I'd like to see that released on DVD someday.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-27449795546378768692009-03-26T13:03:00.000-05:002009-03-26T13:03:00.000-05:00As usual Mark you have out done yourself...I find ...As usual Mark you have out done yourself...I find that I can do without the actual slasher type films but love a good suspense. I don't mind watching people die, I just don't need all the blood and guts. Now Cliff on the other hand won't watch anything that might lean in that direction - says Dark Shadows did him in when he was a kid. Thanks again for sharing these interesting points on violence.Autumn Stormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03190289792154640943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-44133144343479450692009-03-26T12:02:00.000-05:002009-03-26T12:02:00.000-05:00My lovely wife Charlotte wins every time.My lovely wife Charlotte wins every time.Mark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-42657156702749217012009-03-26T11:57:00.000-05:002009-03-26T11:57:00.000-05:00I agree violence that has happened or could reason...I agree violence that has happened or could reasonably happen is more disturbing that the 'fantasy' type violence. <BR/>Thanks for the offer of math help. I think my son's biggest problem is he now has a girlfriend. Math? Girlfriend? Hmm, which one is going to win?queenofmeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16488271353775981931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-11901499043232149872009-03-26T11:31:00.000-05:002009-03-26T11:31:00.000-05:00Hi Queenofmean,Thanks, as always, for your insight...Hi Queenofmean,<BR/>Thanks, as always, for your insightful comments. I agree about real world violence being different from mere cinematic violence. But there is a spectrum. I find that the more realistic the setting of the movie, the less I am able to watch. I almost cannot watch war movies any more--their reality disturbs me too much. But I know the werewolf picture is only a movie and so its violence doesn't disturb me as much.<BR/><BR/>You're absolutely right about sex being linked to vampirism in art right from the start. Explicit vampire erotica is really big right now. There's an excellent anthology of vampire erotica published by L & L Dreamspell called Sleeping with the Undead. I know because, well, I have a short story in there. Beware, it's not for the faint of heart. You have been warned.<BR/><BR/>I wish your son good luck with his math. If he has a specific question, have him drop me an e-mail at markandcharlottephillips@gmail.com and I'll see if I can be of assistance.<BR/><BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-67258463425573590172009-03-26T10:49:00.000-05:002009-03-26T10:49:00.000-05:00Hi, Mark. Once again, an interesting post. I wish ...Hi, Mark. Once again, an interesting post. I wish I'd known you taught pre-calc. I could have used your help! My son's struggling with Adv Alg & Calc. I took it in high school, but that was WAY too many years ago.<BR/>As far as the reading goes, I always read to my kids when they were little, but when it became their choice, they always seem to find 'better' things to do. I still read all the time (usually 2 books going at one time). That has rubbed off on my oldest, who is college now. He has discovered reading for pleasure. <BR/>I'm not really big on the slasher movies. So, I can't really comment on the 'lust' aspect of them, but it is obvious in the vampire movies, even some of the very early ones.<BR/>I do agree that we (as individuals & a society) do become immune from the exposure to violence. But I also feel there's a difference between violence viewed on the movie screen & violence witnessed in real life. While most of us can & will simply walk away from a movie & forget the violence the next day, it's much harder to foret violence in your own life.<BR/>Thank you, Mark, for these 3 days of interesting discussion. It's given me a different perspective on how to handle violence in my WIP.queenofmeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16488271353775981931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-31564880585255090412009-03-26T10:41:00.000-05:002009-03-26T10:41:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-42363263265799142092009-03-26T10:40:00.000-05:002009-03-26T10:40:00.000-05:00Marvin,Great question! I can attest to the fact th...Marvin,<BR/><BR/>Great question! I can attest to the fact that Mom loved The Resqueth Revolution. She read more than one draft, asked interesting questions, and made suggestions. <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure if she enjoyed the sci-fi story more than the mystery story in Hacksaw, but didn't make any of those, "my kids aren't supposed to know about such things" commnents like she did for Hacksaw. <BR/><BR/>I wonder why she always looked at me when she made those comments? Did she think I introduced Mark to the world we created in Hacksaw?<BR/><BR/>Anyway, she loves Resqueth and wants Mark to turn it into a series. <BR/><BR/>Charlotte PhillipsCharlotte Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09336641340221491792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-69121828680379392702009-03-26T09:50:00.000-05:002009-03-26T09:50:00.000-05:00Hi Lynnette,I too try to be entertaining when I te...Hi Lynnette,<BR/>I too try to be entertaining when I teach, but it's hard, especially when my subject is precalculus! There are days when I think that the students would still ignore me if I were juggling, standing on my head, and on fire. I just attended training from my school district here in Houston on how to design exciting podcast lessons that the students can download to their i-pods. Perhaps I should add zombies to my podcast lessons?<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-63660778990435864812009-03-26T09:38:00.000-05:002009-03-26T09:38:00.000-05:00This numbness also makes teaching more difficult. ...This numbness also makes teaching more difficult. Kids don't want to sit and learn. They need to be entertained instead. When I was a teacher, I tried to entertain my students while they learned. <BR/><BR/>Lynnette Labelle<BR/>http://lynnettelabelle.blogspot.comLynnette Labellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03227593491562480538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-19141463639596936032009-03-26T09:10:00.000-05:002009-03-26T09:10:00.000-05:00Hi Morgan,Good points. I actually take advantage o...Hi Morgan,<BR/>Good points. I actually take advantage of the numbing effects of too much exposure. I get so scared when watching horror movies that they are hard for me to sit through. Yet I love them. My solution is to watch a marathon of like ten horror films around Halloween. The first one is hard to watch, but after a while I get so desensitized that I can better enjoy myself. Sick, isn't it?<BR/><BR/>People who confuse fantasy and reality can be quite dangerous, but I suspect that there are fewer of them out there than the media would have us suppose.<BR/><BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32918125.post-2751926940601147892009-03-26T09:02:00.000-05:002009-03-26T09:02:00.000-05:00Hi Helen,I too hope they become readers. We live i...Hi Helen,<BR/>I too hope they become readers. We live in such busy times, our critical time to read is too often the thing that gets sacrificed to the exigencies of the moment. I was teaching at a local community college and I had made friends with a number of the literature profs there. One day I was sitting in the teacher's lounge reading Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables (one of my favorite books of all time). Three literature teachers, independently, saw what I was reading and asked me what class I was reading that for. Their underlying assumption was that the only time anyone would read a book they loved and admired was as an assignment for some class. It never occurred to them that anyone would read it for pleasure. I found that so sad.<BR/>MarkMark Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601652717542654531noreply@blogger.com