Friday, February 25, 2011

A Very Paul Moment

  In 'Netherbeast Incorporated' there's a scene where a lady named Rebecca disappears.  In a later scene, someone thinks she hears Rebecca's voice.  When she tells someone about it, he asks her, "When you thought you heard Rebecca, are you sure it wasn't Ricotta?"  The lady looks at him confused-like and says, "Ricotta?  Like the cheese?"  That is such a Paul Loh moment in cinema.
  In 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' when Charlie Bucket's teacher addresses his class and says, "I've just decided that the test we normally take on Friday over the things we've learned all week will now take place on Monday before we've learned them, but since today is Tuesday, it doesn't matter in the slightest."  That is one of my favorite Paul moments.  That movie is full of them.
  Of course, there's the ever-popular scene in the 'Princess Bride' when Inego and Fesik are rhyming and Wallace Shawn gets frustrated and declares, "No more rhyming now, I mean it!"  To which Fesik replies, "Anybody want a peanut?"  That's a classic.  If you've ever read any of my work, especially my blogs, you'll recognize moments like these strewn about.  If you've ever had a conversation with me, you might have heard it there too.  Absurd statements or dialog that somehow fits within the context of a piece of writing.
  One example would be in the Nocent when the band is driving in their van through the desert and one of them looks out the window and says, "What a pretty plateau," to which another character replies, "Isn't it a butte?"  That joke originated when I was in middle school and went on a field trip to Carlsbad Cavern.  It was there that I learned the differences between plateaus, mesas and buttes.  Originally, I had the joke involve two geologists walking through the desert.  I submitted it to Reader's Digest but it was rejected so I retooled it for inclusion in my first novel.

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