[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

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The player scrapbooks forum is literally a place for writers to warm-up, brainstorm, keep little scraps of notes, or just post things to encourage themselves and each other. Each player can feel free to create their own thread - one per account - and use them accordingly.

[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Montaine on April 26th, 2012, 1:58 pm

The Cellar Door

Image


Name: Those who should know, do
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Characters: Montaine
Nationality: British
Location: UK
Likes: Stories; Science Fiction; Film and Television; Video Games; Stand-up Comedy; Chocolate; Pianists; That one scene in the final episode of Firefly where Sean Maher takes his shirt off
Dislikes: Work; Exercise; Hugs; Waking up before 10:00; Sports; Gore; Gastropods; That one scene in Basic Instinct where Sharon Stone uncrosses her legs


Welcome one and all to the depths of the Cellar Door. Feel free to take off your shoes and grab a recliner. Now, those of you that read my scrapbook prior to the twenty-sixth of May 2012 might be wondering where my original first post went off to, well no worries it has just been shifted somewhat Southwards. I decided to insert this introductory post in here with a few simple details about myself so that they are easy to find and give some information to those of you that don't know me but perhaps accidentally stumbled upon this bizarre repository of a middle-aged young man's ramblings and complaints. I stick up one post using the official Cellar Door template each time I get graded, though if two gradings happen simultaneously I'll generally smush them together. On special occasions I'll do a double scrap day and every season change I bring in a guest speaker. I'm still trying to figure out the kinks in the spotlight above the door, you know, for snazzy entrances.

Keep it clean and avoid page six. There's nothing worthwhile over there.

Subject Date Title
Montaine the PC 26/04/2012 My Man Monty
The Scrapbook 27/04/2012 The Actual Cellar Door
Hugs 30/04/2012 My Hug-Bugbear
Romance 07/05/2012 The Other Mister Monty
Video Games 11/05/2012 Video Games
Crying 21/05/2012 Cry Me a River
Introversion 21/05/2012 Inside the Mind of an Introvert
Character Creation 02/06/2012 Skin Deep
Names 07/06/2012 By Any Other Name
Inspiration 11/06/2012 Musings on Muses
Stand-up Comedy 16/06/2012 My Second True Love
Belief 24/06/2012 Would You Believe It?
Fear 28/06/2012 Fear and Loathing
Marriage 13/07/2012 A Modern Marriage
Sci-Fi 20/07/2012 The World of Tomorrow
Alcohol 23/08/2012 Cheers!
Edinburgh Fringe 07/09/2012 A Series of Brief Reviews


Guest Speaker Date Title
Pash'nar Spring 512 Why Role Play By Writing?
Seven Xu Summer 512 Getting Back
TBD Autumn 512 TBD




My Man Monty

Image


12/05/2012: A quick edit just for completion's sake, here's a link to A Broken Glass Boy.

So, I've been here for twenty days, there or thereabouts and am pretty settled in. Got Monty off to a fair start too, methinks. I figured that, what with exams looming and all that revision piled up to do, now would be a good time to start one of these here scrapbooks with a suitably pretentious title for a suitably pretentious person. I'll probably talk about it in another post, if you don't know what it means. Besides the obvious, of course. You can Google it, but that would be cheating. Not that that has ever stopped me in the past.

Anyway, I was going to talk about Monty. This is a roleplay site, after all, it would make sense to discuss the character I made for it. I would describe Mizahar as being of, certainly heavily influenced by, the fantasy genre and when I think of fantasy, I think of sword fighting, magic, and archery. Many people would probably disagree with me, but I've always seen the genre as possessing a strong combat orientated core. Perhaps this is due to the danger presented in the wilds, it is impossible to travel unless you can defend yourself, perhaps it is due to the sheer amount of physical labour required in such a world. Generally speaking though the weak and weedy of the fantasy genre are the badass mages, right?

So. Monty makes glass. I don't know why I picked it really. I suppose I wanted him to be special, and figured that glassworking was not going to be all that common a skill. It certainly helped that the glassworking page on the wiki was complete, and so detailed. Whoever wrote that all up has my eternal gratitude. The other half of Monty is his illness. I think the two are linked, as it highlights his skills, I believe, in glasswork if he can't physically do much else. Sure, he faints if he runs a little too fast, sure he gets sick easy, but he can make glass with the best of them. Or will do. When I finally force some glassworking into enough threads to boost it up.

Then there's his Dad. I was presented with two choices when it came to his father. One, perhaps the more obvious, would have been to have his father hate him due to the links between Monty's birth and his mother's death. I decided not to go for this, not just because it had the bitter taste of a little too much cliché, but also because the idea of option two just felt so right. Two, was that they would be very close. Monty's dad decides to do with Monty what he failed with the boy's mother, and keep him alive. But it seems I couldn't resist a little of the angsty pull of option one, as seen in Unfaithful Telling, where I tried to make Tiffan as apathetic to his infant son's plight as possible, as Herenna died.

Finally, if you can identify the model for the sketch that I use to represent Monty, we will be good friends. Bonus points for his mother.

-Monty
Last edited by Montaine on September 7th, 2012, 12:31 am, edited 20 times in total.
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Echelon on April 26th, 2012, 8:51 pm

This guy can write. Just wanted to throw in my highly valued word here. If you are looking for a good read check out some of his flashback threads. You won't be disappointed. Monty is a star of Zeltiva, in truth. Gold stars galore.
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Montaine on April 26th, 2012, 11:01 pm

Gah, Eche, you're too kind. I'm not used to flattery and start grinning like a maniac when I receive it. I think it worries my friends, as I'm usually somewhat more dour.

Stop worrying my friends!
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Pash'nar on April 27th, 2012, 1:12 am

Yes, I agree. Flashbacks with Monty are awesome. I look forward to more.
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Montaine on April 27th, 2012, 2:06 pm

The Actual Cellar Door

Image


Right, I think I'm going to try and do one of these little posts with the fancy background a long spiel on some topic no one but me cares about for each time I get a thread graded. As such, I owe one for Unfaithful Telling. Hold on, I'll just put a link for that so I can try and boost the view count a little. What can I say? I like it when that little number goes up.

So I thought I would explain the title of my scrapbook to those of you who haven't heard of it, as I promised in my first post. I'm kind of a word junkie. I like finding out new words, long words, interesting words, and their origins. I'm currently studying English Literature at a university that offers a whole range of medieval English courses, we're talking way back when they used the letters thorn, eth and yogh, (þ, ð and ȝ). Most of my colleagues hate these courses and loathe the fact that a single half unit across two years is a requirement for the degree, if all goes well I will have the equivalent of seven half units, maybe more if I get a few of my second choice options for next year. Why am I so intent on destroying my brain? Because I find it so interesting to see where our modern words come from, for example I read in a poem the word 'togadere', which means 'together'. Clearly, over the years the 'd' was accidentally mis-transcribed enough times to change it into an ð, which is pronounced 'th'. When the eth went out of use and they were replaced with the letters 'th' that's where we got our modern version from.

I realise I just went on quite a long talk about old English there, when I was supposed to be talking about the cellar door. Apologies, I will try and keep on topic. No promises. Because of my interest in words, my curiosity has always been particularly piqued by some of the odder occurrences in the language. Some of you may have heard of the sentence 'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.' It is a perfectly acceptable sentence, as 'Buffalo buffalo' can mean bison from Buffalo, NY and the word 'buffalo' can also mean to bully. The sentence therefore means 'the NY-based buffalo that other NY-based buffalo pick on, in turn bully other NY-based buffalo.'

Gah! Damn it, Monty! The cellar door. I'll talk about it now, I promise. The phrase is argued to be one of the most phonaesthetically beautiful in the entire English language, without regard for semantics. This means that it should sound pleasant to the ear of anyone, whatever language they speak. I think that the sheer mundaneness of its meaning, however, strengthens the case for its phonaesthetic beauty in the same way that a blind man's other senses are heightened. Euch, I sound really pretentious right now. Hold on, I'll make it better.

So, why did I pick the most beautiful, yet semantically unremarkable phrase in the English language for my scrapbook? Well, it's largely where I discovered it. Not from my studies of the language, not from a deep curiosity and hours spent researching hunched over in a library. No, but from the film Donnie Darko. They use it to create a sense of foreboding in a later scene as a contrast to its supposed sonic perfection. I picked it for my scrapbook because I think it nicely combines my horribly artsy-fartsy love of linguistics and my all out sci-fi nerdiness in where I found it.

I swear, the next post will actually be interesting. Maybe.

-Monty
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Montaine on April 27th, 2012, 11:46 pm

Just thought I'd post this here as a quicky. Finally found a live action model to represent Monty, an actor playing the part of the historical figure that the charcoal drawing I used is of, in a film based around his life:

Monty's Face :
Image


I'll have to get him that jacket in a thread...
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Montaine on April 30th, 2012, 1:45 pm

My Hug-Bugbear

Image


So The Sailor and the Child got graded and I apologise profusely to Echelon for the unconscionable length. But what that does mean is I'm writing another one of these thingamawhatsits. Quite a number of possibilities for what I would talk about have gone through my head since I started this scrapbook, so many that I was almost tempted just to write them all out and be done with this one per graded thread deal. But, I suppose I'll always have something to natter about this way. This time it's on hugs. Yes. Hugs.

I don't like them. Now, just a brief disclaimer before we get into the nitty gritty of hugs, I know I'm odd in this respect. My instinctive response is to ask you to at least read my reasoning first, but frankly I'm pretty sure it'll just compound my insanity. I should also point out that I'm not obsessive compulsive, and I'm not autistic and I'm not germaphobic. Well, I don't like to use public toilets, but really who does? All I'm saying is, I don't like hugs, or really physical contact with another human being at all.

Okay, here's the reasoning: a stranger is someone you pass on the street, a stranger is someone you don't acknowledge, a stranger is someone who isn't close to you. A friend, you are closer emotionally and more frequently in terms of physical distance. You are comfortable around friends, you can sit in a room with friends in a way you can't with a stranger. Yet still there is a boundary. For those of you with siblings, do you remember when they would put their hand right in front of your face with the excuse 'I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!' This was annoying, and not simply because my brother was an obnoxious tool, but because it was an invasion of personal space.

Physical contact, to me and I realise very few others, is the ultimate personal space. If you feel most comfortable with a stranger at a distance, a friend in a room, then the next step is as close as possible, actual contact. For most people, I think, sex is seen in this regard, I simply extend it to all physical contact. As such, it is not that I dislike hugs per se, more that I think they are an incredibly intimate act, requiring the lowering of one the most personal boundaries. I willingly hug one person in my life, and that's my mum, be it because she's my parent, or because we've known each other for almost twenty years, I feel comfortable hugging her. I will willingly be hugged by a number of other people, however. Yet for that boundary to be lowered, for that permission given, we have to have such a relationship that they know me too well and respect me too much to actually hug me, aware of my distaste of it.

Now someday, when I'm a little older I'm sure I'll find some bloke that I'm willing to embrace, and we'll settle down and raise a few kids who I'll be more than happy to hug. Unless they're precocious little brats, in which case the other Mr Monty can deal with them while I lock myself in the study I imagine I'll have and write a diatribe on hugging. Well, lookee there, we've gone full circle and started self referencing, I suppose that's my cue to stop. I guess in summary, if we ever happen to meet face to face by sheer chance, don't be offended if I don't want to shake your hand.

Oh, word of the day: pulchritudinous, perhaps surprisingly meaning 'possessing of great beauty'.

-Monty
Last edited by Montaine on May 7th, 2012, 12:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Eridanus on April 30th, 2012, 1:51 pm

This ðaefal over here bows down to your literary might. When are we gonna thread?? xD
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Echelon on April 30th, 2012, 2:04 pm

You and I, friend, are impeccably in opposition in all things! Well ok perhaps that is a tad exaggerated and over dramatic. Perhaps we are just opposites in this. I love physical contact! And here I thought it was odd when my friends asked me not to lick them. Hrm...

That said, it's not because I'm just free with physical touch, not when you get to the root of the situation. It's just that I care for people easily, and I have the coping resources to back this up. Not everybody can just open up to the world, and let it all in, and still get up after a few blows come there way and keep walking. In fact, I'd say I'm quite the oddity. But, I count this as a strength, though a often invasive one. I've toned down a lot since my younger days, but still county imagine going an entire day without the hug of a person I love. Luckily for me I love the world, eh?

That said, I'm glad you wrote about this. Not only was it fascinating, but also makes you seem all unattainable and protective of your heart. A rare and valuable gem clamped firmly in a self imposed shell of uncrackable steel like muscle. How romantic!

More importantly, I know not to hug you! XD
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[Montaine's Scrapbook] The Cellar Door

Postby Pash'nar on April 30th, 2012, 2:06 pm

I would still hug you. You would just have to get over it. <3
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