Creativity of the day

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Ashroot
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Ashroot »

Astraios wrote:So, I got bored this evening, and wrote this. I regret it now, because writing it seriously freaked me out (it's based on one of my own nightmares, and I am a very nervous person, so it's pretty easy for me to be creeped out by a nightmare from when I was a child), but here.

I wrote:His eyes snapped open. It made no difference to the blackness, and the slow chill of damp was seeping up from the unforgiving slabs. There was no sound, but the drowning silence roared painfully in his ears, sharp as broken glass, and each noisy breath was emptier of air than the last. He felt immensely heavy, as though his very soul had turned to a lump of ice-cold lead, and there was a crushing tightness wrapping inexorably around him, squeezing him out of existence. His limbs no longer belonged to him—they seemed pinned to the stone. He gurgled once, deep in his throat, and the sound rattled and echoed off unseen walls. With a Herculean effort, he rolled his eyes upwards and watched helplessly, unable to blink, as a bubble of black burst from the pale, numb face suspended above his own. His stinging eyes were bulging, stained by broken bloodvessels. Within moments he was blind again, the skeletal face hidden behind a filmy layer of freezing tears that refused to fall. The invisible fist surrounding him clenched still harder, and a sudden snap cracked through his already lacerated eardrums like a bullet. The pain took longer to arrive through his deadened arm, but when it did he screamed, a horrible sound devoid of emotion, made louder as it was joined by the mocking echoes. The echoes seemed to shift and grow in number, circling, crowding in on him, buffetting him from every angle, until he could feel the air stir at their passing, and smell the fetid stench they brought with them-,

His eyes snapped open. It made no difference to the blackness, and the slow chill of damp was seeping up from the unforgiving concrete. There was no sound, but the oppressive silence roared in his ears, sharp as glass, and each labouring breath was emptier of air than the last. He felt immensely heavy, as though his soul had become ice-cold lead within him, and there was a crushing tightness insinuating itself over his body, squeezing him out of existence. He contracted the muscles in his little finger, found that he could move it. With a throaty gurgle that echoed and bounced off unseen walls, he heaved himself upwards until his upper body was supported on his bruised elbows. His eyes would not close, and he watched in helpless horror as a black bubble burst from the grey lips so close above his own. His bloodshot eyes began to water, and within moments he was blind again, the skeletal face hidden behind a filmy layer of freezing tears that refused to fall. The invisible fist clenched once more, and a sharp report whipped through the grimy air and pierced his already lacerated eardrums like a bullet. The pain was slow to arrive through his unresponsive nerves, but when it did he screamed, a horrible sound devoid of emotion, made louder as it was joined by the cruel laughter of the echoes. The echoes seemed to shift and grow in number, circling, crowding in on him, buffetting him from every angle, until he could feel the air stir at their passing, and smell the fetid stench they brought with them-,

His eyes snapped open. It made no difference to the blackness, and the slow chill of damp was seeping up from the unforgiving rock. There was no sound, but the deep silence roared in his ears, sharp as glass, and each strained breath was emptier of air than the last. He felt immensely heavy, as though his soul was turned to ice-cold lead within him, and there was a crushing tightness cloaking and choking him, squeezing him out of existence. He contracted the muscles in his right leg, found that he could move it. Like a drowning man he gurgled deep in his throat, and as the sound ricocheted and echoed off unseen walls, he struggled upwards into a sitting position. His eyes would not close, so he turned his head as far away as he could from the gaunt face above him as a black bubble burst from its cold lips. His bloodshot eyes stung, and within moments he was blind again, the dead darkness hidden behind a filmy layer of freezing tears that refused to fall. The invisible fist clenched once more, and a loud crack shot through his already lacerated eardrums like a bullet. The pain was slow to arrive through his unresponsive arm, but when it did he screamed, a horrible sound devoid of emotion, made louder as it was joined the mocking laughter of the echoes. The echoes seemed to shift and grow in number, circling, crowding in on him, buffetting him from every angle, until he could feel the air stir at their passing, and smell the fetid stench they brought with them-,

He fell sideways onto the hard stone with another scream, trying to defy the echoes, clutching his broken wrist in agony, painfully drawing in what little of the grimy air was left. It took a few moments before he realised that the suffocating blanket of pressure was gone, and that the air was not freezing and dirty, but cool and thick with of the scent of pine trees. The echoes still reverberating in his head were not terrifying, but reassuring—the sounds of a dinner party downstairs—and the floor onto which he fell was not black stone, but deep brown planks of polished wood. He heard a set of heavy footsteps running up the stairs, and the landing light switched on, flooding into his room under the door where it was badly fitted. The door swung open, and he threw up a hand against the glowing lamps. Then he was enveloped by a warm pair of arms and held against a solid chest, and there were soft words murmuring his name into his hair, and a hand rubbed his sweating back comfortingly.

His eyelids drifted downwards, and he fell into an exhausted, mercifully dreamless sleep.

Thoughts?
It is...

interesting.

A little repetitive.

Do you have dreams like this often?

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Astraios »

Ashroot wrote:A little repetitive.
You don't say...

Ashroot wrote:Do you have dreams like this often?
Repetitive ones? Or creepy ones?

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Ashroot
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Ashroot »

Creepy and nightmarish.

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by sarcasmo »

This is a short story I wrote called "You've probably never heard of it" with some edits by my creative writing teacher. He took out some of my favorite parts but I don't have access to the original.

------------------------------------

Inside The Record Palace, Jordan Owens glanced at his watch. He had half an hour before he had to meet his crew at Lot K, outside Citizens Bank Park, for the Phillies tailgate.

"Welcome to The Reord Palce, my name is Oscar," said a skinny guy behind the counter. "What can I help you with today?" Oscar ahd rolled the sleeves on his purple, black and white plaid shirt up to the elbows. The shirt hugged his shoulders like a youth medium. He stared at Jordan through thick, black-framed glasses.

"I need something for my girlfriend," Jordan said. "It's her birthday tomorrow."

"Ok," Oscar said, rubbing a scraggly thinck beard that made him look like a lumberjack. "Does she have a record player?"

"Well, I guess she could use a CD and just download it to her iPod."

Oscar sighed. "I meant vinyl. You get the best sound on vinyl."

"Oh," said Jordan. He didn't know anyone still listened to vinyl. He stood there, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his own appearance: backward fitted Phillies cap, aviator sunglasses, green polo shirt, white and beige plaid shorts, black basketball socks and white Nike high tops with white shwooshes. "My girlfrind's into rap and rock," he said, to break the silence.

"Do you mean to say rap-rock fusion, or rap and rock separately?"

"Separate," said Jordan, wondering how or why anyone would fuse rap and rock.

"We haven't got much rock here in The Record Palace, but we have a lot of what could be cosidered rock," said Oscar, using his fingers to put air quotes around "rock."

"What do you mean, 'considered rock'?" asked Jordan, repeating Oscar's air quotes.

"Rock is a broad term," said Oscar. "So broad that it practically doesn't mean anything anymore. 'Rock' could mean classic rock, vintage rock, early prog-rock, modern rock, post-modern rock, indie rock, garage rock, grunge rock, punk rock, funk rock, funk-punk-rock and any number of other genres."

Jordan tried to process all of this information. He liked music but he was no aficionado; how was he supposed to differentiate between funk-punk rock and classic punk-prog rock?
Oscar smiled. "Let me make it easy," he said, a little too politely. "what are you girlfriend's favorite artists?"

"She likes The Killers, Third Eye Blind and Oasis." Jordan crossed his arms annoyed atthe clerk's tone.

"The Killers? I know their work well," said Oscar. "not the new stuff so much, but back before they signed a record deal, they were huge in the Vegas underground indie scene. That was even before indie sold out as a genre."

"I didn't know genres could sell out," Jordan said flatly.

"Well, the genre can't, of course," Oscar responded, a faint smile on his face. "But the main artists in the gnere have to serve as leaders for their genre. If they sell out and sign record deals, others will follow. The little artists never read Jack Kerouac."

Jordan remembered ignoring Jack Kerouac in American Lit back in high school. "What did Jack Kerouac write about selling out?"

"'Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to fads and trends and popular opinion,'" Oscar proclaimed. Jordan couldn't tell if he was quoting something verbatim or making it up on the spot. "Kerouac was a great poet and author. It's a shame his works aren't more widely read."

Jordan struggled to reconcile the Kerouac quote with what type of music his girlfriend liked. "What does this have to do with the Killers, bro?" he demanded.

"You're right," Oscar responded calmly. "I got sidetracked by my poetic musings. I'll got look at the pre-modern indie rock section and see what we have similar to the Killers. Wiat here."

With Oscar gone, ordan scanned the front of the record store. Behind the counter, he noticed a half-open one-strap backpack. An old Polaroid camera protruded from the opening, whil the newest iPhone rested on top of the bag.

Jordan walked over to one of the record racks. Eight shelves reached from the floor to the ceiling. Vinyl records filled each shelf; Jordan guessed that there were over 500 records in the front of the store. He squinted at the words on the spines of the jackets: Obscure Alternatives by Japan, Nimeämätön by Javobinarina, Deptford Flats by Jazz Cat and the Supermodels.

"What the hell is this?" he whispered to himself, shocked at the obscurity of this music. He glanced at his watch. He needed to be at Citizens Bank Park in fifteen minutes.
Oscar was strolling back toward him, clutching three CD cases. He ambled over, looking at the shelves of records with more interest than any of his customers. "I think I've found some real gems for you," said Oscar. "Army of Prawsn' second album, Damn You Peter Pan!" He started in on the band's rejection of old grunge-indie conventions when Jordan cut him off.

"Dude," Jordan said, "I gotta get outta here. I need to get to South Philly in fifteen minutes."

"I'm sorry for the delay," said Oscar. Jordan thought he heard some condescension, but he didn't have the time to pick a fight.

"Can I just pay for the album?"

"OK. Walk with me." Jordan followed Oscar to the counter. "That's $15.89, sir."

Jordan fumbled through his wallet. With a ten and a five in his hand, he knew he had a one somewhere on him. He rumaged through his pockets. Just before he unveiled a crinkled Washington, he heard Oscar's voice.

"Are you a Phillies fan?"

"Yea, why?" Jodran wondered if Oscar might be a fan. He probably coudn't tell a sport from a game froma leisure activity.

"I am," replied Oscar. "I've always loved sports. I was never any good at baseball, but I've been a fan since Lenny Dykstra and Curt Schilling helped us to the 1993 World Series."
Jordan was surprised that a guy working in a record store would spend even a second talking about baseball. "I've been a PHils fan since my first girlfriend got me into them back in '98," he said. "You're a long-time fan."

"I suppose so," Oscar said. He adopted a pensive look. "I guess it's the inherent drama of sports that attracts me. Both temas desperately want to win, but obviously only one team can get what they want. Combine that with the pressure of playing in front of thousands of people both live and on television, and you get an interesting test of character. Baseball in particular, with its slow, deliberate pace, really resembles a story. As Paul Gallico once said, "No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined.' "

Jordan ignored the obscure quote. "You coming to the game tonight?"

"Of course," said Oscar. "I have season tickets."

"Same. What section are yours in?"

"220," replied Oscar. "And yours?"

"331. Those are asome nice seats you have," said Jordan.

"Well, thank you. It can get a bit expensive, but I think it's worth it to see the Fightins' every home game. It's why I got this job instead of working for NYU after my freshman year."

"I feel you, man. Alright, maybe I'll see you at the game. Take it easy, bro."

Jordan could barely hear Oscar's faint "goodbye" as he walked out the door of The Record Palace. A complete hipster was a bigger Phillies fan than he, Jordan Owans, who practically lived for the Phils, was. The idea was jarring. As he walked to his car, Jordan lifted his cap and vigorously scratched his scalp.

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Ulrike Meinhof »

More like "creativity of the last three years", but my band releases an album today. Here's the cover art:

Image

It's sooo good to finally have it all done, I hate having unfinished projects lying around.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Viktor77 »

It's a cool concept. Photo itself needs to be sharper and the lighting could use a readjustment. The band members are too unevenly distributed and the color palette is odd.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Cathbad »

Ulrike Meinhof wrote:More like "creativity of the last three years", but my band releases an album today. Here's the cover art:

Image

It's sooo good to finally have it all done, I hate having unfinished projects lying around.
Whoa, that's not half bad actually.

Is anyone besides the mask-wearing chum on the cover actually a member of the band? :P

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Re: Creativity of the day

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Cathbad wrote:Is anyone besides the mask-wearing chum on the cover actually a member of the band? :P
From the cover it would seem only the mask guy and the green beret girl but I don't know. I'm just giving the avergae impression of somebody who doesn't know the band but saw the CD cover.
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Re: Creativity of the day

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Viktor77 wrote:It's a cool concept. Photo itself needs to be sharper and the lighting could use a readjustment. The band members are too unevenly distributed and the color palette is odd.
Heh. The idea was to make the cover art look punky and harsh, contrasting with the music. So we shot it with a disposable camera to get that kind of feel.
Cathbad wrote:Whoa, that's not half bad actually.

Is anyone besides the mask-wearing chum on the cover actually a member of the band? :P
Like Viktor guessed, him and the girl with the green wig. The guy in the back is a friend and the other two people were tourists who just happened to be there. The guy represents Rupert Cloud, who's the central character on the album. He's an alcoholic cloud, hence the bag (which is readily recognized by most people in Sweden as the characteristic bag of the state liquor monopoly). The girl represents Selma Tree, an apple tree who's a friend of Rupert's and the narrator of many of the songs. There are descriptions of the characters on the album's Bandcamp page.

And then there's me, but I shot the picture so I couldn't be in it!
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Re: Creativity of the day

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Viktor77 wrote:It's a cool concept. Photo itself needs to be sharper and the lighting could use a readjustment. The band members are too unevenly distributed and the color palette is odd.
Viktor Seventy Seven: Spanish and French teacher, home restorer, and professional photographer.

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Viktor77 »

William H. Crocker house, Nob Hill, San Francisco. Destroyed by 1906 earthquake. Rendered by Viktor77:

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Drydic »

where are the murder holes

and the oil cauldrons
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Jetboy »

The windows seem a bit too light; I would expect windows to be a darker color than the sky behind the house.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by mouse »

Drydic Guy wrote:where are the murder holes

and the oil cauldrons
They're hidden. You should see that thing when it's under attack - cannons spring out of it like it's the rock of Gibraltar.
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Re: Creativity of the day

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Drydic Guy wrote:where are the murder holes

and the oil cauldrons
That was his dad. William Crocker's only horrible wrong doing in this world was creating Wells Fargo Bank.
Jetboy wrote:The windows seem a bit too light; I would expect windows to be a darker color than the sky behind the house.
That color came from Shomakar. I have no idea how to render the color of windows as they are colorless....
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by dhok »

My new novel has the working title "Pikatum Uttungmi". I can post the first few sentences later.

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Re: Creativity of the day

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Viktor77 wrote:That color came from Shomakar. I have no idea how to render the color of windows as they are colorless....
You could try grey.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Shm Jay »

You could use rainbows :wink: Or you could put a great big asterisk in each window, with a note on the bottom: *this is a window :P

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Jetboy »

I'd say just kind of dark blue– the shade you have right now makes it look like there's some sort of bright, greenish glow streaming out of the house.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Viktor77 »

Ok, I took the advice on the window color change and chose the color used in some architectural renderings. Myself, I think it looks a bit dark.

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Re: Creativity of the day

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Viktor77 wrote:Ok, I took the advice on the window color change and chose the color used in some architectural renderings. Myself, I think it looks a bit dark.
Yeah, you might want to lighten the windows a bit. Also, you missed one of the windows behind the arch in the front of the house.
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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Jetboy »

Yeah, a bit too dark. More like ocean-blue.
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
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Even better than a proto-conlang, it's the *kondn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Rik »

Just uploaded a trailer thingy for my novel to YouTube.

Given that I have near zero artistic abilities and my music composition prowess is scientifically undetectable, I'm quite chuffed by my efforts ...

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by dhok »

More love poetry which I will probably get lots of flak for! It was inspired by the idea of having a little cabin up here in winter.
Ahem.


Tonight I'll lie and doze upon your shoulder,
Your hair like silk, your eyes like burning fire;
Your skin the colour of the wine we drank, your lips like velvet,
Your tongue like candy and your voice like music.
Our outpost, cabin, hut alone among the winds,
The tundra hills as bare as dunes of sand,
Where life is gone, tuktulu nanurlu,
And our compatriot the ceaseless wind.
Who knows the minute, hour or the day? Afternoon and morning
Are reunited with sadistic night.
We are a little lamp of lightened kerosene,
The only light or heat, our own defences in a cabin
Alone among the winds of chance, despair, ennui
Where facing fire, you and I sit alone,
Lost to the world, lost to all things but in each other.
We pass; the senseless, cruel amoral tundra shall remain,
As was before us and will be forever afterwards;
The love we make shall not be understood by this cruel land,
But we understand it, both joy and futility
And I shall shout "Cruel land! Cruel hills! Cruel world! We
For a minute, tamed your wretched savagery!"
Then rage shall subside, and this immortal land unblemished both by city, town and farm
Once more surrounds two innocents unknowing in each other's arms.


What on earth was I smoking? Who knows?
Last edited by dhok on Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Creativity of the day

Post by Astraios »

I actually really like it.

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