Desk Cat

We changed Leaf's food schedule a while ago. Now when she wants her after-dinner food, she'll act cute to get our attention.
She'll do one of two things.
Either she'll bring me one of her toys.
Or she'll jump up on my lap and sit on my desk for a few minutes.
She rarely jumps on my lap, so this is something to be encouraged.

Anyway, here's my desk cat.

You can see some of the nerdy stuff that lives on my desk too.

Throwing it Away

I haven't been able to get into the new Star Wars sequels.
I love episodes 1-6.
But I can't bring myself to care about 7 or 8 as much. I liked 8 more than 7, but I can't get excited about them.

It's because 7 and 8 do something that pretty much guarantees that I won't like a sequel.
They made me feel like everything that came before was worthless.

So, my favorite part in the original six Star Wars movies is at the end of episode 6.
Everyone is happy and celebrating because after so long, they've finally won. They've finally beaten the bad guys, and they can start to fix everything.


But surprise. Episode 7 starts, and everything's pretty much back to how it was after episode 3. All that progress is completely gone.
And come episode 8, things are even worse. There are what, only 30 good guys left in the entire galaxy?

Star Wars isn't the only thing that's done this. e
The movie, Logan, for example. All of a sudden everyone is dead except for about 3 characters? Everything that they fought for in every other movie meant nothing.


And those new Star Trek movies, where they look at the young Kirk and Spock and everyone are the same. Except they literally go back in time and go down a different timeline (One of the X-Men movies did that too). So they are literally throwing away everything from all of the other Star Trek movies.

The Legend of Korra did some of this too. The world was so different than the world they gave us in Last Airbender.
And of course they destroyed the connection to all previous Avatars. Another version of throwing away what came before.


And luckily this last one isn't a proper sequel. But it has to do with the movie Willow.
At a used bookstore, I spotted a novel that was a sequel to Willow. And it was written by the guy who does Marvel comics. I bought it, thinking that a marvel sequel to Willow must be awesome.
It wasn't. They'd literally killed most of the characters and destroyed some of the main setting. And the couple characters remaining were so changed that they might as well have been different people. Willow even went by a different name.
I stopped reading.

For these sorts of sequels, I try to pretend like they don't even happen XP

Sequels should build from what came before.
Otherwise why make it a sequel at all?

Cartography

I' just finished redoing the maps for Katani's world.
Well, mostly. The habitat charts are really rough, but I probably won't fix those for a while.

It was pretty fun to make the maps! I've never really done something like that before.

Top Three

On January 11 2017: This day in history!

I'm trying to make this sound as overly dramatic as possible.

Anyway, that's when I realized that Hector is in my top 3 favorite characters.
I don't know yet where exactly he ranks in the top 3. Heck, he may even be #1 (since I haven't been thrilled with most of the new Steven Universe episodes, or Garnet's role in them).
It may be a while before I can pick the order for my top 3 characters. It took a month just to decide that Hector would be one of them.
It's a decision I take very seriously. XD

But this also means that Hector is my favorite Disney character (He's also the only one from a movie, as opposed to a series).
I don't think I've ever had a favorite Disney character. Elsa has always been my favorite Disney princess/queen. Before Coco, Dory was my favorite Pixar character. Baymax is the best robot. There are others I love too.
But no other Disney character has been in my top two/three.


Heh. My top three characters look nothing alike.
First we have Kenshin - a small Japanese guy with red anime hair.


Then there's Garnet - a tall red alien who's thousands of years old.


These two have a couple things in common. They both make me laugh a lot.
And they are both supah-strong. They kick major butt in a fight.
They have a tough side, and a kind side.

Now, the newcomer, Hector. He's a Mexican guy who is kinda dead...


Though you get to see a bit of him alive.

He doesn't photograph very well... but he's good looking.
I'm not sure if he's in his 20's, or if he's in his 120's.

Hector also makes me laugh. I laugh almost the entire time he's on screen (at least for the first half of the movie. For the second half, I want to cry from most of his scenes). But unlike Kenshin or Garnet, he is not physically tough.
His attempts to fight never end with him doing any damage. He's more likely to fall apart that to actually win a fight. Though skeletons do get weaker when they're being forgotten. According to the art book, that's why his bones are always coming apart, and why they're so rattly.
But he is "strong, in a different way" (sung by Sardonyx). He's amazingly resilient to last so long alone without breaking completely.

Both Kenshin and Garnet are not necessarily the most sociable, unless you've gotten to know them really well. But Hector seems like he'd be fun to hang out with.

Pretty much the only physical trait these three share is that they all have fluffy hair.
Huh.
I do like fluffy hair, but I think in this case it's a coincidence (though Hector doesn't look nearly as good when he takes his hair off XD ).

So, anyway, Coco has definitely taken over as my favorite Pixar movie. Sorry, Finding Nemo. I still love you.
There's a chance Coco may be my favorite all-time movie. But I won't know for sure until I can think about it rationally. Which hasn't happened yet. If it happens at all.
I get excited about movies and stuff all the time.
But never this much.


If you google "Coco," a plot summary shows up. It includes this phrase:

"Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead. After meeting a charming trickster named Héctor, the two new friends embark on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history."

I started laughing at the phrase "charming trickster," because when you first meet Hector, he isn't charming at all.
He tries to sneak through security in a dress. When that fails, he tries to break through anyway. After he's arrested, he tries to bribe the officer and literally climbs on the guys desk.
And he does weird stuff like this


When you get to know him better, you can call him charming. But it sure doesn't show when Hector and Miguel first meet. Miguel doesn't think so either XD

Aah, another review refers to Hector as a "melancholy goofball."

Okay, Gael Garcia Bernal, the voice actor for Hector, refers to Hector as "a very funky guy."
These are pretty hilarious. I kind of want to look up other phrases people use to describe him.

Someone responded to one of my comments on a piece of artwork saying that Hector was adorable. To which I replied, "An adorable weirdo."
So I guess "adorable weirdo" is my phrase for him.

I'll Put Up With a Lot

I'm willing to put up with lame stuff in a story as long as there are some awesome redeeming qualities.
I was talking with my friend a while ago, about Tangled and Frozen.
Tangled has far fewer flaws. And the villain setup is a lot better.

Really the only thing that really bugs me in Tangled is that weird old guy in a diaper...

I have several problems with Frozen (spoilers if you haven't seen it. But who hasn't? XD ). I really wish that Hans wasn't the villain. I know Disney doesn't really do subtle. But it would have been great if Hans was not trying to marry Ana because he had evil intentions. He could have wanted to marry her for her title. Maybe he liked her without really loving her.
Anyway, that's my opinion.
Also, the trolls made no sense to me.
But I still like Frozen better. Because of Elsa. And because of Let it Go.
The awesome parts are bright enough that I'm willing overlook annoying things.


So, I mentioned the villain in Tangled.
She was awesome. We knew from the beginning that she was the bad guy. They didn't try to keep it a secret.
Since Tangled, almost all the big Disney movies have tried to throw surprise bad guys at you.
Except now I'm so used to it that it's not even a surprise anymore. Well, that's not always true. But I do suspect it a lot more.

Wreck-it Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero Six, Zootopia, and Coco all had surprise villains. A couple of them I didn't expect, but most of them I spotted before they were officially revealed. Moana also had a twist regarding the final villain, but as I've said, they did that one amazingly. So I won't complain about that.

But really, Disney. You don't have to have a surprise villain in all of your movies.
A villain can be awesome, even if they aren't a surprise.

Animate

I get very excited about stuff I like.
Especially about animations.

As strange as this feels to say, if any of my stories is ever made into a movie (or something), especially an animation, I'll probably cry my eyes out.

Fern's Glossary

I've known for a long time that my books will probably need a glossary. It will list characters and define some details of the world.

I was amazed at the glossary at the end of Seraphina. It was the first one I'd come across that was entertaining to read. I almost always read the glossaries of books I enjoy because I like to see the various bits of world-building. But this was the first time it was a fun read.
I want to do something like that too. I'm planning on writing my glossaries as though Fern is giving you a tour.

A while ago I finally wrote the glossary for Katani's story. I haven't reread it yet, so I'm sure it needs a ton of work. But at least I'm getting all the different bits put together.

Swimming in Fantasy

I've always gotten super excited about movies and stuff, but this year it's been more intense than usual. Probably because I'm not in school anymore, and I've been mostly working for my Mom and writing. So, not nearly as much social interaction as I've always had before (This obviously excludes my summer job).
I guess I've been latching onto fictional characters XD

The first thing I got hooked on doesn't really fit in with the others, but I'll mention it anyway. Breath of the Wild was a truly excellent distraction for me. For an entire month it made me feel better because my brain was sucked into the game. Then, of course, something else happened to pretty much drag me back to the beginning.


At the beginning of summer, I got a new wave of Steven Universe obsession.
The problem is that some of the episodes are pretty emotionally intense. If you're not careful, it can pull you down further.

Then after summer, it shifted to Strange Magic. That movie just made me really happy, so it helped me feel a lot better. And as an added bonus, Strange Magic came with music that I could sing loudly around the house.
(My aunt said that the Bog King is beautifully done. And I think it's cute when he's nervous. So, there you have it, world. The Bog King is both beautiful and cute).


Now, of course, it's Coco that I'm obsessed with. Especially Hector.
It’s been weeks since I first saw Coco, and I’m still thinking about it nonstop.
This is some kind of record. I’ve never gotten this hooked on a movie before.
It also comes with music for me to sing. But most of the songs are pretty short.


Now I'm just going to write to blow off steam XD
Spoiler alerts.

Hector seems like he’d be really fun to hang out with.
Plus he’s super supportive, to the point where he takes a pretty major risk to let Miguel perform for the first time.
I wish I could try some of his methods to shake off nerves. But if I gave "my best grito" and started yelling in the middle of a concert, I'd be kicked out of the band...

And I can’t get over how amazing his animation is. I just love to watch him. How he walks, his expressions, his bones rattling around (and making funny noises when he twists his head on and stuff).

The animation is a huge part of what I love about Hector. It's genius. Yes, I'll probably say that about a dozen more times. Genius~
I’m a sucker for animations. And this one in particular: Pepita, Hector, the Land of the Dead, they’re all gorgeously done. I want to watch them over and over.
It sounds like I'm calling Hector gorgeous.

Hector’s story, as I’ve said, is so freaking heartbreaking.
Oh my god, if wikipedia is to be believed, he was only 21 when he died? Freaking hell, he died so young TT^TT
I wonder if word even got back to his family when he died.
It kind of makes me angry that they made his story so sad. It's like overkill tragic. But a lot of it is never stated directly in the movie. You know it happened. You know that at some point, Hector went to greet Imelda when she arrived in the land of the dead. And then he found out that his family was never going to forgive him, and that he'd be stuck there alone until he finally disappeared.
You can only imagine what happened to him to give him a broken leg, broken arm, cracked rib, and an entirely missing rib.
You can only imagine what that scene at the end was like when Hector is slowly disappearing as Coco forgets him.

I would say that the crazy sadness is almost manipulative, except that so much of it is only hinted at.
But still, Disney, why do you have to make everything awful happen to him? TT^TT

He’s amazingly resilient. He keeps fighting, no matter how many times he gets beaten down. Like when he gets arrested at the bridge, he still tries to convince the officer to help him.

We don't see him scared until Miguel runs away from him. But still, he keeps trying and manages to find Miguel again.
It’s not until they’re stuck in the sink hole that it really seems like he’s lost hope.

When he meets up with his family that first time, there's so much pain on his face. Especially when Imelda says that she wanted to forget him. She has been dealing with his desertion for decades, and it's hard for her to let go of those feelings.
But she does. And she’s freaking awesome when she beats up De la Cruz XD

“That’s for murdering the love of my life!”
“I’m the love of your life?”
“I don’t know! I’m still angry at you.”

And Hector looks so happy TT^TT

During La Llorona, when Hector starts playing guitar, Imelda sings "no dejara de quererte." Those words translate to "I won't stop loving you." It's the first time she really looks lovingly at Hector.

Imelda kicks major butt XD . Meanwhile, Hector just kind of weaves around and swings his fists, not doing much damage. He also doesn't get a single hit on De la Cruz when he first tackles him at the party.
But the poor guy is pretty battered.

The ending is bittersweet, but it's so upbeat that it doesn't even feel that bitter.
Hector never does see Coco alive again. But they end up together as a happy family.
And it makes me disproportionately upset that Miguel and Hector can’t speak to each other anymore. From a creative standpoint I understand it, and I know they couldn’t have done it any different. But I want Miguel to see how well Hector is doing! He even has new shoes from his familia. Just to prove that he's been accepted back with the shoemakers.
After such extreme "sads," the ending feels crazy happy.

And when Hector goes to cross over the bridge at the end, he's so scared that he’ll be thrown out. Or that he’ll sink into the flowers again. He probably has no way of knowing that there was another photo of him.
But it’s okay! For the first time in almost a century, he can visit the Land of the Living.
Despite everything they had to go through, everything's okay.

Revelation

I've gotten good at predicting what will happen when I'm reading or watching something.
I know other people who are good at it too.

I forget that plenty of other people aren't so good at it. Probably because they don't write stories, so they don't have that stuff ground into them.

The rest of this post has random spoilers from different movies/books. You are warned.

Might as well bring Coco back in.
when Miguel and Hector first teamed up, I knew immediately that Hector would end up being the ancestor.
Though some of my other predictions were wrong. Heh. For some reason I convinced myself that he would end up being De la Cruz? Which makes zero sense in hindsight.
I only know a couple other people who've seen Coco. But they were surprised about who Hector was. So I know it wasn't obvious.


It's exciting when I find a twist that thoroughly and skillfully fools me.
In one of the Da Vinci Code books - Called The Lost Symbol - there is a truly evil bad guy. I didn't really like the book because of him.
At the end of the book, they finally reveal who the villain is. I'm used to this series throwing you curve balls, so I was alert for them. But I did not figure out who this guy was until two seconds before they finally revealed it.
It was beautifully done.

The reveal at the end of Moana freaking blew me away.
Moana finally reaches the top of the mountain to return the heart to the goddess.
And then she turns around and sees the spiral symbol on the front of the lava monster.
Me: "OHHH MY GOOOOODDDD!"



Even better is when a storyteller drops strange little touches that make you feel like something is wrong. But you don't realize what's up until the end and you go "Aaaah, no wonder that felt so wrong!"

One of the most impressive cases I've seen is in the Movie Wreck-It-Ralph.
We go into the game Sugar Rush, and they're setting up the qualifying races. That's when they introduce King Candy.
Immediately, I thought that King Candy did not fit in that game's world. But I didn't really suspect anything, because I'm used to stories having their flaws.
That was no flaw. He did NOT belong in that game!
Amazing.

There was a little of that for me in Coco too.
At the beginning of the movie, they show the clip of De la Cruz singing that big extravaganza of Remember Me. I thought it was kind of dull. I didn't get why it was his best song.
But now it makes sense. That performance went entirely against the spirit of the song! It's not a song for the world. Just a song for a little girl.
TT^TT
It must tear Hector apart to hear that song thrown around all over the place.

Also, when Miguel is hanging out with De la Cruz, something else struck me as off. De la Cruz's alebrijes. They were so different than what I expected.
I mean look at Imelda's alebrije. Pepita is beautiful and big and powerful and can fly. And Imelda was a shoemaker. I expected someone as "big" as De la Cruz to had an alebrije more like Pepita. So those four tiny dogs threw me off.
But he would never deserve something like Pepita!
I want to punch his stupid face off, for what he did to Hector. >:/
He's got some serious problems. He could have let Hector go home. The two of them could still have worked together. Hector could mail him songs. They were still amigos after all. But no. He kills Hector. Plus he travels around with something poisonous in his luggage? And it takes him three seconds to decide to use that on his best friend.

Happy New Year!

Hey all!
I wish you all the best for this new year.
I'm gonna work hard to make sure it's better than last year @_@

Hey, I might as well share this. I finished it months ago and never really felt ready to post it.
I designed a logo for my worlds!
At some point I'll probably need a professional artist to redo it, but here's my version.