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Newcastle In A Day.

  • Sep. 29th, 2004 at 9:02 PM
The first person I met in Newcastle was a blonde Swedish girl. Life can be like that upon occasion.

The Critical Animals symposium went fine, I guess. Okay, I do have a few reservations. The fiction I heard was a bit on the-lets-recreate-beautiful-landscapes-and-have-nothing-happen-in-it side, which is fine if that's what you dig, but I want more content and weight to it. Putting the story of your family, or a made up family, and their trials and troubles, just isn't it for me. I'm not the audience, and I don't think they were my audience. For example, I read out a bit of the large crime story in A Walking Tour of the Dreaming City, which contains nasty violence and the continual use of the word fuck in escalating volume and tension. It should be said that I'm not a total shit and that I did advise the woman holding the baby that this might not be the place to be with him, but she replied, "That's okay, he's asleep."

She left about three minutes into the fiction.

After I had finished, the following guy told everyone he had cut out the two offending words from his reading, so as not to offend anyone. Especially his parents, who had also come along.

Comments

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drjon
Sep. 29th, 2004 04:18 am (UTC)
> After I had finished, the following guy told everyone he had cut out the two offending words from his reading, so as not to offend anyone...

What a bleeping bleep bleep bleeper. Poke him in the eye from me.
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benpeek
Sep. 29th, 2004 06:37 pm (UTC)
i should have stabbed him in the eye. instead, i just amused myself by noting that he'd named his protaginist dr. timberlake.
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shadowsandice
Sep. 29th, 2004 05:49 am (UTC)
Weenies. Whole lotta wankitude.
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benpeek
Sep. 29th, 2004 06:38 pm (UTC)
i dunno about that. just not into my stuff, i think. it'll be interesting to see what went on after i left.
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bodhichitta0
Sep. 29th, 2004 05:52 am (UTC)
Because that's what life is all about you know, not offending anyone. Fuck him. Oh wait, we're not using fuck in your journal anymore. :-p The stupid cunt. But in all seriousness reading to people who aren't your audience is HARD.
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benpeek
Sep. 29th, 2004 06:42 pm (UTC)
i was actually reasonably pleased with my reading. i thought i did well--i think the fiction came out good. not sure if others thought that, though. usually i don't think anything good when i finish reading, so i must be picking up a bit.
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bodhichitta0
Sep. 30th, 2004 09:14 am (UTC)
What you think trumps everything. So congratulations on a good reading.
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jack_ryder
Sep. 29th, 2004 03:33 pm (UTC)
Offending people
My mother came to the performance of my live radio play, and I warned her she might find somethings not to her taste (as it was about killing God - and she's a Xtian)

The only thing she commented on was a bizarre running joke that she felt she didn't understand.

That being said, a woman sitting behind me and my fellow writer, Brett took great exception to any and all sexual references (and to the comedian who warmed up the audience beforehand.)

I guess my point is, there's no telling what people will find offensive or not understand so you might as well leave it in.

So Kudos to you Ben for staying true to your vision.
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benpeek
Sep. 29th, 2004 06:44 pm (UTC)
Re: Offending people
it's not hard to stay true to your vision when you don't know the other people.
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