Perceptions of Trona

News pertaining directly to Trona, Death Valley, the northern Mojave Desert, Inyo County, and adjacent areas.

Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby shadylady » Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:34 pm

re: Creepy Book
I checked out this book and wasn't too impressed. It was mediocre, but not horrible, and the writing was competent, but pedestrian, at best. That being said, those who wish to read a story about a haunted house set in a small town in the middle of the desert, might find the book tolerable. It did seem like they portrayed Trona in a rather negative light, which begs the question as to why they felt it necessary to use the name of a real town in the first place, as tronagirl pointed out. Trona-bashing may be a popular pastime in Ridgecrest, but most people have never heard of the place, and so what's the point?
:roll2:
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby CoolChick » Sun Aug 04, 2013 5:54 pm

re: Creepy Book
I didn't think the book looked all that bad. It doesn't sound all that interesting, but a kid who has to read a book for a school book report might like it since from what I read when I checked it out at Amazon it's an easy read. It reminds me a little of the Goosebumps series that was popular a while back. Some kids might find the book fun and I disagree a little about the book putting down Trona. It does seem like it's kind of negative, but I think it's describing Trona from the point of view of a child. I'm sure a lot of kids who live in Trona wish they lived somewhere with grass and parks and all that stuff. Of course, then they'd complain about having to mow the lawn and other things like that, but that's kids for ya!
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby MojaveMike » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:32 am

re: Creepy Book
I checked out the book on Amazon too. It doesn't seem like it's all that bad to me. Not that I'd consider purchasing it, but I could see kids who live in Trona finding it interesting because of the local sites mentioned in the story. It would have a special novelty for kids who live in town. As for the bigger issue mentioned by Cactuspete:
They wrote a book with a "strong female lead" because that's "what's selling"...

I find that interesting. It seems that males don't read much and so the target audience for books is females. Males play video games in their spare time and stay away from books. Females, however, find time to read books, although most of the books they read from the looks of things (take a look at the sales charts on Amazon some time) tend to be books which deal with trivial matters. It would seem that this creepy book we're discussing would be suitably superficial to appeal to this demographic and so it might do well. If the authors/publisher can promote the book within the educational community and it gets included in school libraries and that sort of thing, they'll have a captive audience and then even the boys will have to read their crappy book since boys have to write book reports too!
:laugh:
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby wildrose » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:37 am

shadylady wrote:re: Creepy Book
I checked out this book and wasn't too impressed. It was mediocre, but not horrible, and the writing was competent, but pedestrian, at best. That being said, those who wish to read a story about a haunted house set in a small town in the middle of the desert, might find the book tolerable. It did seem like they portrayed Trona in a rather negative light, which begs the question as to why they felt it necessary to use the name of a real town in the first place, as tronagirl pointed out. Trona-bashing may be a popular pastime in Ridgecrest, but most people have never heard of the place, and so what's the point?
:roll2:

The two books featured at the book signing in RC yesterday both portray Trona in a somewhat negative light. (See the Trona Bloody Trona thread under Local History for more info.) "Trona, Bloody Trona" is about a rather unpleasant period in the history of the town and the "Zion's Web" book is a fictional story which places a polygamist cult in the immediate vicinity of Trona. I haven't read the "Zion's Web" book yet, but the idea of a polygamist cult being located in the area implies that crazy people are attracted to the area!
:shrug:
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby tronagirl » Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:26 am

Just Add Water - Trailer
This is about the dumbest movie I've ever seen. It makes Trona look really bad. What's the matter with these people from Los Angeles? I'd much rather live in Trona than LA any day. The crowds and smog and endless buildings would drive me crazy! There should be some way of filing a class action lawsuit for defamation!
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby pcslim » Sat Sep 21, 2013 7:23 am

12 Of The Bleakest Places On Earth :upset:
Somehow Trona made the eleventh spot on this list. I'm not quite sure how that happened. I can think of quite a few towns that are very similar in appearance. The only other place in the USA on the list was Youngstown, Ohio. I think it was the "only dirt football field" that brought Trona to the attention of whoever compiled this list, but that's just a peculiarity, not something that warrants inclusion on a list like this one. As far as bleaker places, I can name a couple dozen right here in California which have much larger populations.
(Notice that they were unable to spell San Bernardino correctly!)
Named after one mineral (trona) and established for the purposes of mining another (borax), Trona in San Bernadino County, California, numbers a population of just under 3,000. The town is dominated by Searles Valley Minerals Inc’s soda ash processing plant and the only dirt football field in the States outside Alaska.

LINK: http://www.buzzfeed.com/timchester/12-of-the-bleakest-places-on-earth-baqg
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby desertrat » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:08 am

Dirt Football Field
Yep! Between the dirt field and the unsightly plant the town probably does make a bad first impression, but it seems a little odd to pick such a small town when there are much larger towns all over the place that are much less pleasant. Also I believe that the current population of Trona is currently less than 2000!
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Re: Just Add Water

Postby kitkat » Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:11 am

There is no disputing the fact that JUST ADD WATER is one crappy ass movie. What made someone want to do a movie like that is impossible to comprehend. The movie has no redeeming qualities. OK, I guess the scene in the grocery store was marginally funny... almost.
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby CoolChick » Fri Oct 11, 2013 8:44 am

re: Just Add Water - Hey tronagirl, I hated that movie too! I also like your idea of filing a class action lawsuit! The only problem is that the movie was so unsuccessful that it would probably be impossible to get any money out of the idiots who made it!
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Re: Perceptions of Trona

Postby panamint_patty » Mon Nov 11, 2013 2:14 pm

Desert Town :cactus:
I checked out Blackturtle's YouTube page and came across this interesting vid. Lots of views of Trona from the air. The plant is a bit prominent, but from the air the town looks kind of nice.
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