Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

Not bad. I like the Johnson character so far. The action in the chapter didn't really hold my attention though. It's hard to find something about the story to criticize with so little of it present, so really I have no idea how some of these characters are going to fit into the equation. I'm intrigued with what you plan for Ben. Why is this guy, who obviously hates this guy he's traveling with, traveling with him? Hopefully, he's not just a straight man for the odd clever johnson. I don't think that's what you're going for but just in case. Then Johnson kills a guy, which is intriguing because Johnson seemed more interested in killing than in the guy in the white gown, but I don't want to read to far into. I'd keep going. Maybe polish the dialogue in the beginning, your narrator seems to switch voices a bit. At first he seems to think along the same lines as Ben then switches to thinking like Johnson.

Take heed of InsertFunnyUserName's words there. Especially on the point about the centerpiece of your story. The story never comes from the setting, but from the character. For instance, we all know that Gotham is a corrupt city. Not because the comics spend 40 panels in the first issue describing it as such but because we realize that only a city as corrupt as Gotham would need a vigilante hero as incorruptable as batman.

Basically it all comes down to a character and the event of change. If you tell us that Drift has gone to the dogs, well we need to see a better example of how that affects people than references to people throwing desks out the window. You want to center in on that special character and the consequences of a life-changing event. This event can be the result of the characters actions, an antagonists actions, or random chance or whatever, but this event needs to occur within the first chapter or so or else you've gone two chapters in without any plot whatsoever.

I'm going to slightly disagree with insertfunnyusername on the dialectic point about "gonna" but only on the idea that dialect is vital to the voice of the narrator and the way he thinks. If you've ever read the novel version of Forrest Gump, you can see instantly what I'm talking about. But Forrest's narrator voice, using words like "spasmoing" and others are traits intrinsically linked to the character. So if the word "gonna" is going to convey something vital about the voice of your narrator, go for it, but be consistent. If you say "gonna" never say "going to."

Also, avoid passive voice. I.E "It`s almost as thick as water, and your vision is reduced severely from it."

Not only that, it would be much more interesting to have your character react to the smog. "The smog cut my vision down to almost nothing" is stronger than "your vision is reduced." I hate seeing "you" when used as a way of trying to get the reader to be "a part" of the setting. We don't live there, no matter how hard you try to convince us otherwise.

I just had an ingeniously ambitious idea for a flash movie. For now I give it the working title "Where's my Shit?" And basically it's an interactive flash movie that branches of in its story and jokes depending on the actions of the viewer. So basically the movie starts with this guy waking up one day and he realizes his missing something, say his wallet or cell phone. So the premise is that if this flash were not interactive the viewer would just watch a normal comedy flash about the crazy antics involved with this search. But this is where things get interesting. The viewer has the POWER of REMOVAL. This means that at specific times during the flash some of the item onscreen become clickable and when they are they are removed from the flash and suddenly the guy has lost another thing and the character and story must deal with the consequences of the missing things. Like imagine the viewer takes his glasses away and the guy has to search for shit blind now. If done right I think it could be all of cool original and hilarious.

So as this is a very intense flash I'm talking about, it's going to need to have good writing no matter what path the flash takes. I'm going to need writing partners for the story, jokes, dialogue.
I'm asking for confident and creative writers only, those willing to work in collaboration. Not to deter people from joining in on the fun, but I'm going to be pretty demanding when it comes to the quality of the writing. Not only does the writing determine how good the actual flash, it also determines how fast the flash gets organized and made because having a good script adds excitement to the whole production process.

Thanks, hope to here for some of you.

I'd like to thank tally for keeping mine updated despite my absence from ever posting on this thread haha.

I have a filter effect where multiple movieclips right next to each other glow. But the problem is that only the glowing on the top layers of the hierarchy show, how do I have so that the glows of even the bottommost layer show on top of the topmost layer's mc? Or do I have to have them on the same layer.

Unrelated but important question.

I'm working in As2 for now, but when it comes to mouse events, I understand it as that there are no mouse event listeners. So for one time effects I can't remove a listener to stop looking for the RollOver. That's a problem that I've only fixed through disabling the mc at the end. Is there any better way of doing this? Thanks for both questions!

In my humblest of opinions, there is only one connection between quality and target audience. For starters no matter who the intended audience is, almost every medium of art, not to mention pretty much everything else, is dominated by world of adult visions, interpretations, and visions. Sure they are exceptions, most notably in acting I think, but when we think about the products of youth in these disciplines we are more taken by the initiative of the child of simply doing "it" (writing a book, making a film, winning an academy award) than by the quality of what they've created. So really you can see virtually every novel or film or whatever as "adult" because adults made them. This is why the popularity of shows about high school drama bug me, because they simulate the visions of modern day high school experiences of people who are twenty or thirty years out of touch.

But that's where the connections end.
Moving on. I can cite great movies targeted at a younger audiences with more mature themes underlying the story, but frankly adult themes are not what make the movies great in themselves. Do you think everyone is in agreement over what's the best Pixar movie? Hell no. This is because there's more than one way to connect with a general audience. Up did it with adult themes yes, but it served the movie to do so. Ratatouille's script was as delicious as the on-screen food. I could go through every Pixar film like this but you get the idea. Every Pixar movie is a door to a new world with its own lock and key that fits.

The best example in books (not as successfully done in its film version) is Where the Wild Things Are
The target audience is that of children. Its message (it's okay to feel angry) is for children. The reason for this being such a great book is precisely because it exposes a rift between parents and their children.

Anyway, hope this is enlightening

Hey guys, working in AS3 here.

How do I get a movie clip's animation to start on rollover but continue looping even after the mouse has rolled off? What I'm thinking of is turning a static, grayscale background piece by piece into a group of animated movieclips. Sort of like the mouse rolling over unlocks the animation, but keeps it unlocked as it goes off to unlock other movie clips on the page.

This is for a webpage

You guys think that any particular series would have a shot as a 15 or 30 minute show on TV, on a network like Adult Swim? The one that comes to my mind in a hurry is Mastermind. The-Swain has proven himself not only to have a great vision and art concept, but has been able to establish a brand of humor that I think a wider audience on TV would respond to.

Any other series come to mind?

At 3/11/10 10:35 AM, Ericho wrote: I used to know a kid back in Pennsylvania whose name was Aaron Gray. He went on to become a professional basketball player and he was even a pretty close friend of me and the family. It is a pity we lost contact with him after all these years, but at least we knew someone who has a biography on Wikipedia which is good enough for me.

Aaron Gray had been my favorite bulls player for the past 3 years. No lie. I mean yeah it was in a joking sense, but seeing as I don't have an actual favorite, he's the closest thing to it. I was devastated when he was traded.

At 3/23/10 02:21 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 3/23/10 02:18 PM, Skeik-Sprite wrote: No pigpen :(?

That was submitting in 2010. It will be a nominee next year.

Yeah for a second I was like "So even tom fulp is corrupt" but then of course I realized how silly I was being, tom i owe you a sincere apology for my moment of reckless doubt in you.

Yay! It passed! I've wanted this ever since I played pokemon for the first time!

For girls I think it's either Don't Stop Believin'

or....

Hold me closer tiny dancer
count the headlights on the highway!

While meeting Johnny Utah because he would make an exaggerative flash about the incident.

At 3/12/10 05:08 PM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote:

EKublai
Entries: Child Changing Chains & The Subway
Synopsis: Ellen and her young Daughter Paige are doing their daily routine of going to work and school on the subway. However, after a mix up Ellen loses Paige in the labyrinth machine of the subway's underground.
Overall Rating: 2 Out Of 5.

Well, I probably would have been angrier had you said this was a good story. Certainly I wouldn't respect your judgement :)

At 3/11/10 06:09 PM, Master-Samus wrote: QUOTA COMPLETE THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!!!

Fuck you Im getting my name on that cast. Twenty dollars coming your way tomorrow. Treat your dog to something nice with it.... Dare I. Say... Find him a nice bitch.

At 3/11/10 01:38 AM, Warrickneff wrote: Scotty Pippen in Chicago last fall with members of my cross country team. I'm in the red hoody and plaid jacket.

You go to Morgan Park?

Wow, too many to count.

Pretty much every Democratic Senator since I was a page. I'll just count the ones I actually spoke to.

Barack Obama (4 or 5 times, I talked to him twice when he was state senator and twice as a U.S Senate)
Dick Durbin (too many times to count, I had dinner with him twice)
Joe Biden (by far my favorite politician, he's just awesome in every respect, he just talks I talked with him one on one for like an hour haha)
Several other senators including Byrd Kennedy yea you get I've met a lot of politicians.
Clinton, Ford (okay I'm done)

Yogi Beara
Mike Ditka
Smoked with Joakim Noah

And a hell of alot more. Funny you'd think I'd do more name -dropping than I do

At 3/10/10 08:38 AM, flashero wrote:

At 3/10/10 04:08 AM, rabidbaboy wrote: Sorry, couldn't go online much. Ease in, ease out? I don't even know what those words mean, unless you mean. :P

It's like the pic below, the circle begins to move to the right slowly and then speed up(that's ease in). Ease out is the exact opposite ; the circle is travelling fast to the right and instead of stopping abruptly it slows down first. Basically like a car accelerating and breaking.

Though in flash, ease usually has to do with tweening. I think here he's talking about the motion of the wave, which I wouldn't call good easing as much as good distortion in simulating motion, especially on the upswing you see the arm getting fatter, it gives the character nice weight.

I only started goin' last year and even though The Killers and Snoop Dogg wasn't my vision of great headlining, I still had a blast with Passion Pit and Decemberists. This year I think the headlines are gonna be better with the exception of Lady Gaga. Otherwise, Arcade Fire anyone? If you're thinkin' of goin' post here and MAYBE I'll acknowledge you if I see ya there.

Hey Guys!

So I need two voice actors who would be willing to try to act as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. My new flash is about the Oscars this year. The script is funny if I do say so myself. Please PM me if you are interested. The script is below.

Title: That Darn Steve Martin!

(Typewriter Style: Temporary Abode of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin (Beat) 02.07.10, 11:47pm (Beat) 1Month Before Oscars)
(Hotel, Exterior)
(Hotel, Interior)
(Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are both writing jokes for the Oscars in relative silence, then)

Steve (snickering): Heh (Beat) Hehe, hey Alec.
Alec (Still writing): Yeah Steve?
Steve: How about this one? (Slides paper over, Alec reads)
Alec (muttering): Of course, Vera instantly realized why they all call him... (clear) Haha! George Luny! That's gold Steve! Pure fuckin' gold! But wait... wait wait wait (Beat) Steve what do you think of this? (Slides paper over, Steve reads, then laughs)
Steve (amused): Haha! Depp was as mad as a hatter when he heard he wasn't invited! That's cute Alec.
Alec (grateful): Hey, I try.
Steve: You know, we've come up with a couple of good ones tonight Alec.
Alec: Steve, I think we've come up with MORE than a couple. This routine will have'em in stitches.
Steve: Man, great idea to have two hosts this year! I'm feeling really good about this.
Alec: I.. I have to agree. This is fantastic. (Looks at watch) Oh boy, but it's getting late. Let's call it a night, shall we?
Steve: Sounds good. Same time tomorrow?
Alec: It's a date! (Beat) (They catch each other's eye and slowing point at each other jokingly)
Both: Ahhhhhhh!
Alec (deep, drawn out): yeah...

(Cut Scene)

(Typewriter Style: Bed of Steve Martin (Beat) 02.08.10, 2:34am)
(Steve is sleeping in his bed, tustling)
Steve (slight incoherently in his dreaming): Damn Mirren (Beat, more coherently) Hitler! (more coherently, but still sleeping) Jews (Beat) Hollywood (Beat, shouts the last word, waking up) Mother Lode!

(Cut Scene)

(Steve Martin in a dark living room, throwing paper into the fireplace, giggling to himself. Alec Baldwin opens the door)

Alec (slowly): Steve?
Steve (casually): Oh hey Alec!
Alec: What the hell are you doing up? It's almost four in the morning!
Steve (distantly): Just makin' a fire...
Alec: Steve, I-wait (beat) Is that... (outraged) Is that our routine you're burning!?
Steve (cheerfully): Yup! (Sees Alec's reaction) Oh don't worry, I wrote another one. I thought some of the jokes in the last draft were a bit meh, so I decided to ditch it and throw another routine together. Here take a look. (Baldwin takes the script and skims through it)

Alec: Steve... 75% of these jokes are gay jokes directed at US.
Steve (condescending): Yes Alec, it's called a theme.
Alec (exasperated): Fine but, all the other jokes are backhanded compliments to Hitler and Nazis... With more compliment than backhand! And... born a poor black baby... Steve, Gabourey (Gab-or-ray) wasn't even born when "The Jerk" came out! It's just gonna seem racist to her! How the hell are we going to pull this off?
Steve (fatherly): Alec, you worry too much, it'll be great... Trust me.

(Cut Scene)

(Typewriter Style: Academy Awards (Beat) 03.08.10 12:00am)
(Steve and Alec are on stage near the end of the Oscars)

Alec: Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. The Academy is broke from going 30 minutes overtime tonight. (Audience Laughter) Haha! Not a joke! (Audience Laughter)
Steve: See Alec, I told you everything would work out with the new script.
Alec: Steve, Tom Hanks still has to announce Best Picture and that'll take like 10 minutes or more
Tom Hanks(off-screen): It's hurt locker!
(Alec and Steve look off-screen, then Alec looks back)
Alec (Shrugging): Okay!

I'm jumping between Killzone 2 and Heavy Rain right now, hoping to reach at least 230 by the time I go back to school. To think If I had my ps3 at school, probably be at 400 by now.

Comments and Suggestions in the next 24 hours would be helpful. This is a flash script about Sunday's Oscars.

Title: That Darn Steve Martin!

(Typewriter Style: Temporary Abode of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin (Beat) 02.07.10, 11:47pm (Beat) 1Month Before Oscars)
(Hotel, Exterior)
(Hotel, Interior)
(Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are both writing jokes for the Oscars in relative silence, then)

Steve (snickering): Heh (Beat) Hehe, hey Alec.
Alec (Still writing): Yeah Steve?
Steve: How about this one? (Slides paper over, Alec reads)
Alec (muttering): Of course, Vera instantly realized why they all call him... (clear) Haha! George Luny! That's gold Steve! Pure fuckin' gold! But wait... wait wait wait (Beat) Steve what do you think of this? (Slides paper over, Steve reads, then laughs)
Steve (amused): Haha! Depp was as mad as a hatter when he heard he wasn't invited! That's cute Alec.
Alec (grateful): Hey, I try.
Steve: You know, we've come up with a couple of good ones tonight Alec.
Alec: Steve, I think we've come up with MORE than a couple. This routine will have'em in stitches.
Steve: Man, great idea to have two hosts this year! I'm feeling really good about this.
Alec: I.. I have to agree. This is fantastic. (Looks at watch) Oh boy, but it's getting late. Let's call it a night, shall we?
Steve: Sounds good. Same time tomorrow?
Alec: It's a date! (Beat) (They catch each other's eye and slowing point at each other jokingly)
Both: Ahhhhhhh!
Alec (deep, drawn out): yeah...

(Cut Scene)

(Typewriter Style: Bed of Steve Martin (Beat) 02.08.10, 2:34am)
(Steve is sleeping in his bed, tustling)
Steve (slight incoherently in his dreaming): Damn Mirren (Beat, more coherently) Hitler! (more coherently, but still sleeping) Jews (Beat) Hollywood (Beat, shouts the last word, waking up) Mother Lode!

(Cut Scene)

(Steve Martin in a dark living room, throwing paper into the fireplace, giggling to himself. Alec Baldwin opens the door)

Alec (slowly): Steve?
Steve (casually): Oh hey Alec!
Alec: What the hell are you doing up? It's almost four in the morning!
Steve (distantly): Just makin' a fire...
Alec: Steve, I-wait (beat) Is that... (outraged) Is that our routine you're burning!?
Steve (cheerfully): Yup! (Sees Alec's reaction) Oh don't worry, I wrote another one. I thought some of the jokes in the last draft were a bit meh, so I decided to ditch it and throw another routine together. Here take a look. (Baldwin takes the script and skims through it)

Alec: Steve... 75% of these jokes are gay jokes directed at US.
Steve (condescending): Yes Alec, it's called a theme.
Alec (exasperated): Fine but, all the other jokes are backhanded compliments to Hitler and Nazis... With more compliment than backhand! And... born a poor black baby... Steve, Gabourey (Gab-or-ray) wasn't even born when "The Jerk" came out! It's just gonna seem racist to her! How the hell are we going to pull this off?
Steve (fatherly): Alec, you worry too much, it'll be great... Trust me.

(Cut Scene)

(Typewriter Style: Academy Awards (Beat) 03.08.10 12:00am)
(Steve and Alec are on stage near the end of the Oscars)

Alec: Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. The Academy is broke from going 30 minutes overtime tonight. (Audience Laughter) Haha! Not a joke! (Audience Laughter)
Steve: See Alec, I told you everything would work out with the new script.
Alec: Steve, Tom Hanks still has to announce Best Picture and that'll take like 10 minutes or more
Tom Hanks(off-screen): It's hurt locker!
(Alec and Steve look off-screen, then Alec looks back)
Alec (Shrugging): Okay!

At 2/27/10 01:01 PM, funnyhomeboy wrote: I'll try to improve on it, seeing it's only 1,200 words. I left a big chunk out of the intro so I think it will come up to par. I doubt I'll win anything, (I like to think the worst of my ability, that way I'm never disappointed.) but I'll try.

Do literary devices score well with judges, or does it just have to be a good story?

don't really understand what you mean. A good story, as in an interesting plot, can be total trash if it isn't written well, just as a story that doesn't seem to have a lot going for it plotwise can be well received it if it approached the right way.

But what do you mean by using literary devices? Like extended metaphor or foreshadowing? Judges of writing rarely see a device and automatically give points for it and the device is only the first part of it. A device must have function and effect in the context of the work, otherwise it only serves as fluff. The thing you have to realize is that the judges aren't trained to effortlessly perceive every obscure reference to Nietzsche you throw at them so that shouldn't be your aim. You aim you be to show your creativity as a writer. They are, however, expected to be attentive readers, ready to be struck by what they're reading. How can you deliver a story to them that stands out from the rest creatively, while still being in control of your own experimentation?

hope this helps.

A DARK HORSE ENTERS!!!

The Subway - by Ekublai
Part 2

It was a corner, a corner that may or may not have been there when Ellen went into the bathroom. The fact that it was there now, however, baffled her even less than everything else as she started to walk down one of the corners. Every step she took chilled her bones though there were built-in heaters every fifth step. And as she walked, she passed the defeated faces of the working class. It was the Machine all over again, except here it was worse. People here were mere clones, only differentiated by the colors of their coats. It was barely impossible to separate the young from the old, even the men from the women. Few of them took notice of each other as she passed them, and if they did they scowled because they knew that it was no different than looking in the mirror. No one stood in the corridors, everything was in motion. Nor did anyone speak. They stared at the floor, the lights, the walls to white to remember; it really made no difference what they stared at since everything was bright, spotless, and tiled. It was like trying to stare into the sun until it became a silver disc. The walls, the low ceiling, and the steel bars had created a maze, and the people inside the subway were the lab rats, and the yielding captives in a prison which had boundaries that extended outside the physical walls. And Ellen saw all of this while looking for her daughter, and then was not surprised to come to the end of the corridor to see people panting as though they had just run a marathon. She had to find Paige and go before she became lost with them.

Ellen came to a circular place that had at least six different corridors intersecting, and a staircase from which she could hear the scream of trains stopping. She looked around to try to find someone who would help. Though she knew already what to expect as answers. Behind her were two grumpy-looking men who looked as though they would maim anyone who asked them a question. Ellen turned her head to the left side where the circle became inconsistent and made a small nook. A man there stood leaning against the wall, sobbing into his arm. Knowing that one should never disturb a man in mourning, she looked helplessly towards every other person in the room. However, no person seemed in the condition to help, or even in the condition to go the jobs they were heading for. She nearly started crying herself.

"Looking for something honey?" Ellen looked up and struggled to find the voice that was so weak and distant, yet she knew it was directed at her. Finally, her eyes fell on the wrinkled face of an old woman in the room next to the one she was in, separated by the green steel bars. She pattered over, hopeful that she had finally found someone who could help. The woman was wearing the same purple coat that Ellen had on.

"Yes, please I'm trying to find my daughter."

"Daughter?"

"Yes'm, my little girl," Ellen said frantically.

"There aren't any little girls down here... But I've lost my daughter as well. Can't really remember where she is though. To be honest, I don't quite even remember her name. What's your little girl's name?"

"Paige," Ellen responded, already beginning to turn her back on the woman, "I'm sorry I really have t-''

"Paige, yes that's what my daughter's name is. Maybe we're looking for the same person."

"No, see I'm looking for my little girl," Ellen said in a defeated tone.

"Well, maybe then my name is Ellen," she said. Ellen turned towards her, wide-eyed.

"How did you know my name?" She asked, bewildered.

"I'm only saying it's a possibility. I don't rightly know who I am much anymore, so I see myself as the people that come down here. I'd say that I know where your daughter is since I'm sure if she's still here, someone's looking at her. It's so strange to see a child down here, really catches your attention even when you have other things on your mind. Course, I could only be guessing that's your girl since I can't actually see her. The heaters make it so foggy down here, the walls are so thick, and the bars want to separate us very badly. No, the only thing I'm certain about at this point is that I am you and that you are scared of me. Which I think makes sense don't you?"

Ellen remained silent, unable to make sense of anything the woman had just said, but still could not deny that it had left a prickly feeling on her neck. Wanting very much to get as far away as possible from her as possible, Ellen backed away.

"Well if you see a little girl tell her to go to the operators booth and stay there."

"Who? The little girl? She's one room over from you by the monitors. I do hope everything turns out just fine."

Ellen didn't even ask how the old woman knew, but when she turned and peered through the bars on the other side by the sobbing man, there she was. Paige.

Ellen suddenly didn't feel lost anymore as the other people so obviously did. She had a purpose; she could make things better and start over. It felt as though no time at all had passed once Ellen had placed her hand on Paige's shoulder. Paige's faced lit with excitement at her mother's touch and hugged her like a new Teddy Bear. Ellen let the warmth sink in, but knew it could not last them in this place.

"Come on Paige." The little girl started to walk with Ellen, then stopped and pointed out the man Ellen had saw earlier crying. This time he was on the other side of the bars, and from this point of view it seemed as though he were trying to squeeze into the space between the walls and the steel bars.

"Look mommy, it's that man I asked about where you were."

"Paige, you know you should never talk to strangers."

"It's okay mommy, there were bars, he couldn't get me even if he tried," she said still staring at the man with a frown on her face. "He's lost."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I asked him. He said he was trying to get out of the subway, but he couldn't because he doesn't remember how to get out anymore. He's been coming here for twenty years everyday, and he forgot today. He said he's been forgetting more and more everyday because all he ever looked at were the walls, never the entrance. Then he said only the corners look different because they come and go. What do you think that means?"

Ellen stared hard at her child. Then said slowly,

"I don't think we have to find out. Come on we're going home Paige."

"But what about you job mommy? And school?"

"I think just for today, we should just go home and have some ice cream."

The Subway by Ekublai
Word Count: 2611
Part 1

"Mommy... How am I going to get to school today?" Ellen's little daughter Paige asked as she picked up her finished bowl of Cheerios and brought it to the sink. Ellen put down her morning cup of coffee and watched Paige as she stood on tiptoe to reach the tap, and then sprang back with a yelp of glee as the water came on forcefully and splashed against her arm while catching some of her shoulder length blonde hair. Paige then walked over to Ellen and settled herself on Ellen's lap. She looked up at Ellen expectantly with a small smile, waiting for the answer to a question both had been wondering about for the past two weeks.

It had been 4 months since Ellen's husband had taken off in his car with a redhead at his side and no intention of looking over his shoulder, and since then Ellen had seen herself and her daughter taken captive by the buses of the Public Transit. Ellen saw this Machine and despised it for what it was. She hated the Machine, which was always broken, in need of a spare part, and taken care of by engineers who were only concerned with the color of the numbers instead of the depressed faces of its riders. Though she was fortunate enough to have a job with an adequate salary so that she could mold her hours around Paige's schooling, she was reminded everyday of those who were just below her, those who sat in the back of the bus in fear of reaching the jobs that never made life worth anything, and those who sat at the front with their faces pressed against the cold steel poles as though they were cushy pillows. Paige saw it too.

"Well honey, we do have a few options now," Ellen said slowly and cautiously to Paige. Paige's smile faltered slightly as she remembered the first time her mother had to use that word, 'option.' Paige had asked her teacher that day what 'option' meant and he told her it meant something along the lines of choice. But now, little Paige thought about how ridiculous that seemed. How can they be the same word? Choice was like telling the ice cream man that you wanted chocolate instead of strawberry, but when Paige's mother said 'option,' it was more like the school bully asking Paige if she would rather be punched or kicked. It depressed her further to hear her mother tell her the options, to know there was little choice to the matter.

As the two walked through their small, barren front yard they thought about the facts. They thought about how the city was so cruel to not care about mothers and daughters who needed the buses to get places and now could not because of the route cuts and fare hikes. They thought about the walk they now had to endure in January's frost and wind. Most of all, they thought about where they were going. Never having traveled by these means before, neither felt relieved nor any warmer as they walked down the flight of stairs under a big sign that said "Subway." The first thing they saw when they reached the bottom was a row of huge automated ticket booths. Then they saw the people in coats standing in front of the booths. The booths were ugly and green as they dispensed the tickets into the cupped hands of the people in coats as though spitting at their poor excuses for payment. And though she hated the Machine as a whole, Ellen knew the individual parts of the Machine were even more diabolical, the oily cylinders of the Machine's engine. After checking the map three times over, Ellen placed her money in the booth and took the two tickets it spat into her hands. She held Paige's hand as they walked down the long corridor to the ticket barriers where people walked through to the sounds of *ping* and the flashing of green check marks. She gave Paige her ticket and beckoned her forward. Experienced with putting her bus card into similar machines, Paige inserted her ticket and timidly pushed through the barrier once she heard the *ping!* . Ellen then took her ticket and put it into the slot. But just as she was expecting to hear the sound and see the check mark, the barrier regurgitated her ticket, accompanied by a flashing red 'X' and an annoying low buzz. The barrier operator, whose silhouette behind the smoky glass in the booth next to the barrier suggested an old woman, told Ellen in a tired voice to go back to customer services near the ticket sellers for a refund. Ellen looked at Paige on the other side of the barrier with worried eyes.

"Fine then, would you please watch my daughter while I'm gone? I'll be only a few minutes I hope." The operator's smoky head gave a very disinterested glance at Paige.

"Sure dear," she replied lamely. Ellen quickly walked back up the corridor, once again feeling the trace amounts of wind that escape underground form the streets above. It chilled her bones and made the refunding seem to take ages. Finally, new ticket in hand, Ellen made quick, small paces back towards the ticket barrier, desperately tightening her purple coat around her shoulder to hide from the stubborn wind. She approached the operator booth apprehensively before stopping dead in her tracks.

"Where is she?"

"Where is who? Your girl?" The operator said this without even seeming the slightest bit interested. "She said she needed to use the bathroom, so I told her where to go."

"By herself?" Ellen cried, "She's seven!"

"Well she seemed older. You've got a mature girl there."

Infuriated, but mostly scared, she went through the barrier and ran down the staircase to the main corridors. She had expected to see a sign that pointed towards the bathroom if it wasn't near, but she saw no directions, and the bathroom certainly was not near. She turned to ask a handsome, middle-aged man who was leaning against the hand-railing at the bottom of the step, but stopped herself at the sight of his face. Tears were shimmering down his face silently as he stared at the fog of his breath, hands in his orange coat pockets. 'Probably not a good time,' Ellen thought to herself and she quickly walked away towards another man who too seemed extremely sad and exasperated about something, but Ellen decided it would be ridiculous not to ask a simple question.

"Sir, could you please tell me where the bathroom is?" The man turned to her and scowled deeply at her. Slowly, almost painstakingly, he raised his hand and pointed down the hall.

"Can't miss it," he grunted and not taking another moment, left. Ellen was struck at how rude people were down here, but pushed the thought aside as she ventured down yet another brightly lit corridor. Upon reaching the bathroom entrance, which actually would have been very easy to miss seeing as it sank into wall in an almost perfect blend of tile, Ellen was caught off guard by a throng of people getting off their trains. Like charging bulls, they nearly trampled her as they pushed through and then almost immediately dispersed into various other corridors. Ellen let herself be pushed into the bathroom before shaking the crowd off. She called out her daughter's name, but there was no answer. She checked several stalls frantically, all the while shouting, "Paige!" The shouts were soon drowned out by the roars of the other patrons.

"Shut up!"

"She's obviously not here!"

"I can't deal with all this noise! Someone tell her to be quiet!" Ellen angrily stepped out of the bathroom, disgusted by the din still emanating from inside. She turned to walk back up the corridor she came down, but was met by a wall. She looked around at the other four corridors that diverged from the point where she stood. No of them looked like the one she had already been in. Suddenly, Ellen was overcome by the depression that filled the entire terminal, the fear she could hear in the squeaking of running shoes, and the anger that radiated from each and every other person's face that she could see. And for the first time since she her daughter became lost, Ellen was aware of where she stood.

Story 1 - Child Changing Chains

The tundra of the subway imprisons all who stare into its mechanisms too long. What difference could a child make?

This is unfeasible for most but I have aftereffects cs3 and what I do is export my flash as .png sequence and import the sequence via import multiple files into aftereffects sometimes it's a hard program to work with but the results Are very satisfying I can export into slot of different formats. A cheaper alternative would be what Adam Phillips does. He uses a cheap (maybe $80) progrAm called flashants to do essentially the same thing. Hope this helps

I doubt I will find many on NG with experience with this sort of thing, but if anyone has any experience using ED meds like viagra cialis or levitra, could you pm me, I have a personal question about them that I 'd rather not ask on the bbs. don't worry it's not gross or too much information or any of that just a question. thanks.

The great thing about great ps3 exclusives is that they usually could not be done on xbox 360
Uncharted 2 LittleBigPlanet MGS4 and Killzone 2 are all great examples of this. Gt both uncharteds they're great and 2 has an awesome multiplayer, and so is the resistance franchise though i don't know if you'll get much out of their multiplayers anymore. inFamous is great, though not groundbreaking, and the other game i have is motorstorm which is a good racing game.

The perspective I may have that others don't have are on downloadable games, which I play alot of.
In my opinion psn games are tons better than xbox downloadable games

Fat Princess spectacular multiplayer all around fun game to play
Flower really off beat game with no other goal than to make flowers bloom and bask in its relaxing calm my favorite game to play when I'm stressed out
Noby Noby Boy cheap game that costs 5 dollars but it offers so much more, theres no goal to this game either other than to explore the wacky world in which it takes place i've spent 6 hours playing this game not achieving a thing it was great
Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty good game and addition to te series, it's not full length but still good
The Pixeljunk Games these are called Shooter
(arcade shooter), Eden (organic garden its better than it sounds), and Monsters (tower defense) all of them are great and offer something addictive to play, all of them are collection based, like you have to collect a certain number of stars to get to the next area.
Super Stardust HD great arcade shooter very chaotic.