Yui-chan Posted June 12, 2003 Report Posted June 12, 2003 At the request of Ayshela and Peredhil, and because it can be a good exercise, here is the list of topics that were created for the '500-Race' of speed paintings over at Sijun. I think it'd be a wonderful exercise for writers who are interested to adopt this list for an exercise in freewriting. There are two goals in an exercise like this. First, it should be quick and free, without an overabundance of planning and thought, so give yourself no more than 30 minutes per topic. Of course, you can shorten that amount of time if you plan on only writing a few paragraphs for each. Second, and most importantly, try to focus on getting a unique literary image from the words. For example, think about what else 'mountain goat' might describe other than the furry, horned quadraped that your mind first thought up. Two people writing on the same topic should not be writing about the same thing. Finally, and this is my own personal input into the writing adaptation of the exercise, I highly recommend that you make an effort to write in different styles as you go through. Rotate between first-person, second-person and third-person perspectives. Vary the tone from narrative to descriptive to persuasive. Use formal language once, colloquialisms the next time, and then slide into an archaic tone. Heck, I even suggest that you should feel free to pop between prose and poetry whenever you get the urge. This is a chance to stretch your horizons without the pressure of having to write something 'good'! Just write. Best of luck, Pennites. ~Yui Disclaimer: I didn't write this list, and some of the people who did ... well, you'd have to know them to understand their sick and twisted minds. <_ i think the worst in there are some drug references but beauty about those is that it really easy to turn a nickname for into something else. you can skip or change topics feel inappropriate distasteful.> The 500-race (that actually goes to 636) 1. mountain goat 2. solar eclipse 3. partly collapsed building 4. Rocks 5. trees 6. trees planted in rocks 7. tv 8. cars 9. trucks 10. people dancing 11. people running 12. people riding horses 13. horses riding in a trailer 14. trailers carrying logs of wood 15. logs on fire 16. fire burning behind a mountain 17. a mountain with snow 18. a mountain with a waterfall 19. a waterfall with burning logs falling off 20. a waterfall crashing on the rocks below 22. a sink with water overflowing 23. fish swiming 24. people swiming 25. elephants swiming 26. anphibians coming out of water 27. lizards eating eggs 28. eggs hatching 29. egg. 30. cubes. spheres.. 31. prymids(icantspell) 32. king tut 33. a sunset 34. a sunrise 35. a clouded sun 36. a freeway 37. a street 38. a city 39. a city in the distance 40. a distant planet 41. a shipwrek 42. a oilspill 43. a beach 44. a beach with oilspill 45. kids playing at a beach 46. boats 47. big boats 48. small boats 49. a birds eye view of people 50. peoples view of a bird 51. a penguin 52. an artic city 53. a humid city 54. a dry city 55. a flooded city 56. a person crying 57. a person falling 58. a woman looking in a mirror 59. a fat guy looking in a mirror 60. a torn cloth 61. Jar of marbles 62. Flying 63. Scene from the zoo 64. homeless man 65. business man 66. baseball player 67. James Bond 68. flowers 69. running for your life 70. a carpenter's drawer 71. crowd attending a speech 72. band on stage 73. waterfall 74. old ruins 75. sunken ship underwater 76. bar brawl 77. haunted wood 78. old factory 79. a cello player practicing 80. man or woman in bathtub 81. manager of a big company 82. a lighthouse 83. car race 84. scene under a bridge 85. ninja training dojo 86. young girl reading a book 87. farmer at work 88. captain in submarine 89. running man 90. musketeer swordplay scene 91. motorcycle driver 92. Old woman with cat 93. small woodhouse near a lake 94. charging knights on horse 95. policeman 96. Family looking at stars 98. burning house 99. forgotten temple in jungle 100. settlers w/ wagons 101. japanese garden 102. large dead spider on a highway 103. mountain of unwashed dishes 104. sword stuck in a tree trunk 105. empty corner 106. flock of small birds chasing a big bird 107. hanged barbie-doll 108. cat sleeping in a boat 109. ugly dog in a empty garage 110. exploded beer can 111. space ship beaming up a moose at night 112. Rubik's cube with some parts fallen off 113. overflowing fountain on a stone floor 114. dried fish head 115. sad gardener in a cape 116. terrified geek reading a newspaper 117. radio host making funny noises 118. bartender reaching for a shotgun 119. soldier with an umbrella 120. santa claus jumping of a cliff 121. priest digging a foxhole 122. Ballet Midgets. 123. Ballet midgets with mullets. 124. Mullets. 125. Bestiality. 126. Whiskey. 127. Radiation. 128. Naked chicks 129. Failure. 130. Hairy Greek guys. 131. Hairy Gay Guys. 132. Hairy Gay Greek Guys. 133. Hairy Gay Greek Women. (oi.) 134. Chicks with d#$%@. 135. The Houston 620. 136. Sex Court with Judge Julie. 137. Judge Judy. 138. Bull from Night Court. 139. The episode of Night Court that had Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner. 140. The episode of Who's The Boss where Tony sees Angela in the shower. 141. The crazy opening sequence of The Cosby Show. 142. Mr. T. 143. Pee Wee Herman's dual appeal. 144. The fact that the Golden Girls were in no way Golden. And hardly Girls, at that. 145. My pants. 146. Rasta dudes. 147. Ganja. 148. a pot 149. what a dope! 150. big, ugly weeds 151. Bud. 152. Doobies. 153. Reefer. 154. Goofball. 155. Smack. 156. Other fun drugs euphamisms. 157. The pure goodness of Maxim. 158. Stippers. 159. Exploitation. 160. Satanic bands that aren't really Satanic. 161. Death metal. 162. Synth-pop. 163. Christian music laced with Satanic messages. 164. The Who. 165. Dylan Thomas. 166. Poetry. 167. NAMBLA 168. Hot Bosnian chicks who are, unfortunately, heroin addicts. 169. 69ing. 170. Lesbians with mullets. 171. Two dragons in combat 172. Steamy alien jungle 173. Chinese woman combing her hair 174. A godess 175. Close up of two mouths kissing 176. Buddhist monk in orange robe 177. A scene from your dream last night 188. The Eiffel tower at night 179. A strange miniature creature crawling out of a filled wineglass. 180. Night forest with trees limbs like reaching arms. 181. A shrunken head in a container of Chinese food takeout. 182. Log cabin in the snow (outside view) 183. Log cabin in the snow (inside view) 184. George W. Bush purchasing a 3 Billion dollar military airplane. 185. A Robotic Dog. 186. A levitating buisnessman. 187. A coin, with an engraving of yourself on it 188. A person being used as a table. 189. your favorite color at the moment 190. kraken - the ship-eating giant squid 191. unicorn 192. vast corn field 193. rhinoceros & hippopotamus standing in mud 194. violin player on stage 195. green anaconda 196. potatoes growing out of the fridge (it ain't pretty, i'm telling you) 197. helicopter swarm 198. dark side of the moon 199. ice hockey goalie 200. tool shed 201. village built on treetops 202. hot dog with loads of mustard 203. north pole 204. shaman wearing wolf skin & magical items 205. bee nest 206. axe-wielding ghost 207. bottle half-buried in sand 208. car mechanic 209. fuel station 210. birthday cake 211. your nation's flag 212. castle ruins 213. meteorite crater 214. rope bridge 215. church 216. green house 217. police officer 218. girl juggling oranges 219. bank vault 220. frozen zeppelin 221. cat chasing mouse 222. wooden airplane 223. living sketchbook 224. old lady smoking 225. fisherman reeling a shoe 226. apple tree growing skulls instead 227. monorail 228. cemetery 229. clown 230. A computer showing The Blue Screen of Death 231. Darth Maul 232. A Coke bottle 233. A hot-dog 234. An ancient book 235. A snowman 236. A melted snowman 237. Mars 238. A rusty old carwreck 239. A sunken galleon 240. A submarine (under water, of course!) 241. Earth in 500 years 242. A Cro Magnon-man 243. Godzilla eating Barney 244. An umber hulk (Dungeons and dragons) 245. A dragon!! 246. The marine from Starcraft 247. Helena Christensen 248. A man taking a bicycle-ride 249. A man taking a bicycle 250. The number "250" 251. destroyed outpost on Pluto (sci-fi) 252. electric chair 253. underwater scene of a Statue of Liberty 254. badly struck (twisted) nails in a two-by-four 255. police car crushed under a massive letter 'W' 256. mushroom cloud 257. burning 'z'-shaped tetris block 258. Jesus wearing a Nike's t-shirt 259. An owl. 260. A close-up of a redwood deck. 261. Godzilla. 262. A gecko. 263. A rose stone. 264. Cow-themed coffee cup filled with color pencils. 265. an octopus. 266. Master of the Universe... 267. Winnie the Pooh. 268. a pair of Elvis' sunglasses 269. Wine Glass 270. The moon close up 271. a skeleton 272. various anatomy hands feet eyes body =) 273. cruise ship 274. a bed 275. couche or sofa 276. rug 278. curtains 279. volcano 280. 7 wonders of the world.. 281. clouds 282. paint a song 283. A plate of Sushi 284. Waking up in the summer morning 286. A beautiful corpse 286. Playing piano in the dark 287. Sunken city of R'lyeh 288. Nightclub scene 289. Astral traveling (Out of Body Experience) 300. Permian landscape 301. A 3-legged rhino 302. Siamese twins joined at the head 303. the back of a old woman's wrinkly neck 304. medievil torture devices(ie: iron maidens,etc...) 305. A man with his hands nailed to his knees, tied to a chair about to fall out of a moving van on a rainy night 306. old DiVinci style contraptions 307. paint a group of boring objects. 308. paint something you see everyday 309. paint a party scene 310. paint something delicious 311. cut-up pieces of fruit 312. plate with food on it 313. package of candy 314. set a table with afternoon light hitting it 315. closeup of a flower 316. imaginary flowers 317. dried flowers 318. a bunch of objects that are the same color 319. complementary colors 320. a variety of round objects. 321. dynamic triangle composition 322. a still life with three or fewer objects 323. combine mechanical and organic elements 324. animal, vegetable and mineral 325. objects that represent a season of the year. 326. three objects from your childhood 327. objects that make you laugh 328. the shadows cast by a machine 329. a weird musical instrument 330. a family member 331. a crowd of people 332. a figure by candlelight 333. an animal in human costume 334. a season of the year 335. a landscape view with no specific details 336. early morning fog 337. the pattern of a city skyline or series of rooftops 338. an architectural detail 339. a sidewalk scene with loose strokes to create movement 340. a sign on a building 341. colors you never use. 342. a figure from below. 343. the dead 344. draw yousrelf being 66 years old 345. your dreamhouse 346. a happy graveyard 347. Bert and Earnie 348. View out side your window 349. SOme kind scifi fat man 350. YOur fear 351. Ballet 352. Foreign country scene 353. Lava Lamps 354. Twilight zone 355. YOur dream Hamburger 356. Medical Illustration 357. Fat Kun Fu ninja 358. Michael Jackson 359. A MOUTH full of braces 360. A starship exploding 361. Closeup of the helmet of a lost spacetraveler. 362. A sieged planet 363. A solar eclipse 364. A monk in meditation 365. A broken sword on cloth 366. A tired but happy man 367. An alien 368. A two headed alien 369. Scientist working on a chemical experiment 370. An army on a hill 371. A droid army 372. A gun and a flower 373. A person eating 374. A ship sailing through a storm 375. The same ship after the storm 376. Entrance to Valhala 377. Roman market 378. Greek comedy 379. Sight from the tower of a castle 380. A captain of a starship 381. A spaceport 382. A shuttle 383. A satellite 384. A photographer 385. A fashion designer 386. A post apocalyptic church 387. A passenger's view of the spaceship he's travelling in. 388. Asterix village 389. A white dragon 390. A fighter launching a missile 391. A person playing with his/her dog 392. A person playing with his/her cat 393. Some nuns with rocketlauncher 394. When the moon gets between the sun and the earth. 395. a secret agent 396. mars colony 397. caravan in sandstorm 398. typical street in chicago 1930 399. rainy night in tokyo 400. prehistoric landscape w/ dinosaurs 401. a roman centurio 402. a high tech car 403. time machine w/ pilot 404. a family of mutants 405. wood of giant meat eating plants 406. landscape 'after the bomb' 407. astronauts in space shuttle 408. gorillas in jungle 409. haunted castle 410. orpheus walking down to hades 411. people waiting in a room 412. opera house w/ people 413. a shark 414. nest of spiders 415. old books, candle and skull 416. lord of the underworld 417. jellyfish 418. a scene from the olympic summer games 419. strange plant on an alien planet 420. factory robot assembling artficial humans 421. cloning device 422. desert landscape w/ tents 423. old dirty jeep 424. rocket taking off 425. really evil face 426. WW2 dogfight over britain 427. a fancy hotel room 428. king and queen on throne 429. gothic cathedral 430. chair made out of bones 431. inside of a parking house 432. classic horror movie scene 433. 60's pub w/ people 434. couple kissing 435. zeppelin over mountains 436. chemical laboratory w/ scientists 437. a big library 438. marvel hero fighting super villain 439. a scarred face 450. old train 451. scene from american civil war 452. submarine fighting w/ giant squid 453. titanic hitting ice berg 454. scene under the bed 455. a plate of food 456. giant commerce building 457. 'when worlds collide' 458. oldtimer w/ driver 459. a modern jetplane taking off 460. inside a airport 461. high heel shoe 462. politican at election 463. boxer training 464. big dogs casing a child 465. swarm of fishes 466. old guitar 467. keys on a table 468. stylish lamp 469. freak 470. something cute and wooly 471. something evil and horny 472. prisoner fleeing from jail 473. city under artillery fire 474. bodybuilder 475. scene from a fashion show 476. old sick man in hospital bed 477. 3 heroes 478. train bridge over a river 479. landscape in asia 480. woman making her make up infront of a mirror 481. irish pub 482. pile of torn dolls 483. scene in the severs 484. mountain w/ snow 485. lizard on stone 486. space station near sun 487. rock climber 488. someone totally unimportant 489. inside of the heart 490. old man cutting grass 491. really dirty kitchen 492. futuristic tank w/ soldiers 493. ship being repaired 494. glass of water 495. chinese wall 496. realistic alien spaceship 497. mafia meeting 498. self portrait 499. pirate ship 500. llama 501. gasmasked fellow 502. some cosmonauts 503. Mech 504. Cthulu 505. Azathoth 506. Yog-sothoth 507.A bullfight (una corrida de toros)... 508.A mayan piramid. 509: A lagoon 510: 510 mph 511: "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" 512: reflections in the mist 513: an overgrown (with vegetation)civilization 514: drifting 515: the race before dark 516. Lesbians with MULLETS! 517 : oops ! 518 : barbarian organ player and his monkey (maybe its not the good word ...) 519 : a mime (mime marceau) 520 : laurel and hardy 521 : x-files 522 : the sixties 523 : genesis 524 : heaven 525: a deaf dog. 526: a rock on steroids. 527: a sea urchin in a schoolbus escaping police forces in the Nevada desert. 528.a guy jumpnig off a building on a busy street 529.hannibal 530.a primary school athletics carnival race 531.skateboarder in mid air trick 532.godzilla and that.. ape thing 533."A Typo Personified" 534."Burning Igloo" 535."A Sheep with Magical Powers(who seeks cheese at the dead of night)" 536: City of Atlantis 537: Satyr 538: Broken Statue 539: Modern day techology in the future (monitor in a junk yard or your cell phone broken and rusty, etc..) 540: Cerberus 541: Woman painting her toenails red 542: The perfect gem 543: Monkey scratching it's head 544: A. Buttle in bed with a mullet-headed lesbian (note: this is the best suggestion ever - LSE) 545: Jezebel - the real Jezebel, not me 546: Cat tails at the edge of a still pond 547: Tornado 548: Blind date from hell 549: Remake of one of your first (and worst) digital paintings 550: A hobbit 551: Child dragging their parent through an amusement park 552: Pack of wolves 553: The hand of a demon holding onto something 554: Necromancer 555: Disfunctional robot 556: Pegasus done without the traditional bird-like (feathered) wings. 557: Medusa 558: Giraffe at a watering hole 559: Circus freak 590: Your favorite character - book, movie, game, whatever 591: Pin-up girl 592: Alien temple 593: A pickle 594: War 595: Pandora's box 596: A bundle of silk crumpled up on the floor 597: Your astrological sign 598: A sacred place 599: Adventurers around a campfire 600: Rapunzel 601: A road that leads to nowhere 602: Take 3 or more of the themes listed and combine them into one image (list which ones you picked) 603: A woman with two much make-up on 604: A road-side fruit stand 605: If "you are what you eat" then what would you look like? 606: Coffee 607: Hypnotist 608: A spell being cast 609: A polar bear drawing back a bow 610: A jester 611: Shape-shifter 612: Candle light 613: Masquerade ball 614: A nerd 615: Bruce Lee 616: A magical amulet 617: A quill, a bottle of ink and a scroll on a desk 618: A conductor 619: In the woods with a flashlight 620: Pixie 621: A crazy person 622: Harpy 623: Chimera 624: Lightning 625: An unlikely superhero 625: Field of wild flowers 626: Dusty typewriter 627: A chef 628: A kiss 629: Sleeping Beauty 630: An alien being intravenously fed a glowling green ooze 631: Palm trees 632: Greek ruins 633: A faerie in someone's hand 634: Excalibur 635: Aphrodite/Venus 636: A pair of shoes/boots/sandals/whatever
Ayshela Posted June 12, 2003 Report Posted June 12, 2003 YAY!!! thank you very much, Yui! i agree, there's some strange stuff in there (lol). There's also enough extras that anything which simply doesn't work for you can be easily sidestepped in favor of another option which does, and still come up with a respectable number of free-writes. (sad but true, i'd have a much easier time writing about the drug references than i would about the TV shows i never watch.)
Vlad Posted June 12, 2003 Report Posted June 12, 2003 the 150s - 170s are rather interesting. and rather amusing.
Ayshela Posted June 12, 2003 Report Posted June 12, 2003 lol yep. there's a few repeats, but it's still an impressive and amusing list. i think the hardest part would be deciding what to write about first.
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