Watch and Learn

July 23, 2012 by Cassidy Frazee | 4 Comments

Really, no, last night I did something I haven’t done–well, like, ever.  I watched TV on my computer.

Allow me to explain:

I was writing last night:  Part Thirteen of Diners at the Memory’s End.  And it was coming along very well.  I like the vibe I’ve set up with Albert and Cytheria at this point, as she gives him a bit of a history lesson about his little college study partner.  Now, part of this–the part before I had to look at something on TV–involved me doing some more research as I went along:  namely, I need some information on neuroscience.  Found some very interesting information . . .

Oh, wait:  I was doing research before that, too.  And I was doing it while fielding questions from one of my writing friends.  She was asking we what I was up to, and I told her, “Oh, looking up some Celtic Goddesses.”  I needed some names, and while I knew of a couple that I wanted to us, I’m not very good when it comes to spelling their name–or even remembering how to spell them–so it was time for research.

When I was done with that little bit, I had Arianrhod, Rhiannon, Ceridwen, Blodeuedd, Branwen in my story–with Modron and Morrigan watching over all those nice ladies.  (As a side note:  Annie and Kerry know three of those names very well . . . very well, indeed.)

So, all this going on while I’m writing–and then I come to the part I referred to above.  Cytheria asks Albert if he knows about something that was particular to Welsh history.  Albert rattles off a description that sounds like he could be reading it right off the computer; which, given some of their nano-modifications, he could.  And Cytheria is very surprised that he knew that, and even asked if he’d looked it up while they sat there. Albert tells her, “Hey, I got it covered:  I once watched this on TV back when I was a kid.”

That’s when the TV part, for me, came in.

Albert was referring to something he’d seen on the show Night Gallery, which I, too, watched as a kid.  The thing is, the episode in question, I didn’t remember it all that well.

But this is the 21^st Century, and damn near anything you want can be found on the Internet, so I hit Google, put in the name of the episode I’m looking for, and . . . well, now:  there you are, out on Hulu.

Mind you, I’ve never used Hulu before, so I wasn’t certain how well the episode was going to come across on my Beast, the six year old laptop I use at home.  When the episode first started streaming, I began getting a Max Headroom-like stutter every fifteen seconds, but quickly realized that was being caused by my streaming radio app.  Shut down the radio, and everything settled down, and I watched the episode.

To be able to see something like that, something I haven’t seen in forty years . . . it was a nice moment.  For I hadn’t remembered much about the episode, one I’d seen only one time before, and even though this was being done for research, it was sort of nice and relaxing to kick back with big of history.

I even managed to write a little while the ads were on.  Not much, but a little.

So there:  research.  I use it all the time, even while I’m writing.  This is why I get a little cranky whenever someone goes, “Hey, I need the name of a town in Utah that might be an Indian name.  Who can help me out?” and I type in a modified version of that question and come up with something in like fifteen seconds . . . really, whether or not I give them the link depends on (1) was sort of mood I’m in, and (2) what sort of friend they are.

Research, people:  you wanna write, you wanna do it.