Do You Feel Lucky?

(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Quote of the Day

"This film has all the suspense of a Lou Bega concert."

10 comments:

Elliott said...

Is that the part of the Lou Bega concert before or after he plays 'Mambo No. 5'? Because the suspense level is certainly higher before...

dogimo said...

See, I think for there to be any suspense, there has to be some doubt as to the certainty of the outcome doesn't there?

Elliott said...

But...what if he decides not to play it, because surely everyone's more interested in his latest album, right? Who'd buy tickets just to hear the only song anyone's ever heard of?

Besides, well, everyone...

dogimo said...

I don't know what you'd call that, if he did that. Isn't that a separate sort of trick? There's the suspense, when you don't know what's going to happen and it's killing you. And then there's the...well, this could be one of two things: either you're dreading what's going to happen and then it doesn't happen, and you're happy? Or...you expect something is definitely going to happen and you're kind of let down it doesn't.

I feel like there should be special terms for each of those feelings, because they happen enough in life! There probably are such terms. I'm just blanking.

Mel said...

To me, the first emotion you describe Joe is "euphoric relief" and the second is "bummed out"

Is that what you meant?

dogimo said...

@Mel - well, that's accurate I guess, but I just feel there should be a special term for it. Like, a perfect word, that means that thing.

snortingmarmots said...

This is related to the three types of fear that Orson Scott Card discusses: http://bit.ly/bbw6GI

Incidentally, while I know Card mainly as a sci-fi novelist, his horror short stories are equally powerfully written and matches that definition of dread. I started reading the above collection for what I thought was the first time, got about a page into one of the stories and was so overcome by a remembered fear as I realized I had read that story before and even though I couldn't remember any details other than something with a baby I knew I had to put the book down and never pick it back up.

And yes, horror stories are best discussed in breathless, run-on sentences.

dogimo said...

He describes it very well! A classy prose style, kind of an old-school clarity that I very much enjoy. Thanks for the tip, snortingmarmots. I'll have to check that guy out. Orson Scott Card.

Do you remember the name of the story that freaked you out so bad? :-D I could start with that one while my resistance is high!

snortingmarmots said...

I do, because it's the first one in the book. "Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory". You can read it at the same link.

I'm not going to read it again to see if it's as dreadful now as it was 4 years ago, so I'll just be sitting in my cubicle waiting to hear your screams and/or moans.

dogimo said...

Right on - I'll have to check that one out after work. Thanks!