~*~
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Narnia and Harry Potter
So, recently, I went and saw the new Harry Potter and Narnia movies.
The first half of Deathly Hallows was pretty good. Except it was really weird how old Harry looked. Couldn't they at least have kept him shaved? That was rather strange. (And a guy in the theatre wolf-whistle when Harry takes his shirt off.) The problem is that people who saw the movie but haven't read the book would probably be quite confused. They don't explain a lot of stuff.
I think I would have Enjoyed the Dawn Treader Narnia movie a lot more if I wasn't so stuck on the fact of how much they changed. "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" was my favorite Narnia book. I love all the different islands they travel to. But again, the movie changed it a lot. Seriously people, you WILL NOT improve on a book like Narina by adding some mysterious evil mist and random magic swords. The magic swords are like a video game. "Gather the magic stuff and then you can kill the bad guy." And why do they have to go and add some big evil thing to be vanquished? Can't they just go through with the quest of finding the lords and going to the ends of the earth? Instead it's just like "Oh, we killed the evil stuff. There's the ends of the earth! Why don't we go?"
And Eustace was a dragon for a very long time. The dragon was pretty good, though the wattle thing on his chin bugged me.
OK. I'm done complaining.
I love Reepicheep!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Parallels
I thought it would be fun to post about them. Movies can have this kind of "analysis" stuff just like books do (I analyzed a scene of Star Wars for my final high school english project).
First there's the obvious ones like Hiccup's "You just gestured to all of me."
And there's Astrid's "That's for scaring me. And (smooch) that's for everything else."
And the "We're vikings. It's an occupational hazard."
"Thank you for summing that up for me." Poor Hiccup.
And when Stoick says "You're not my son," and then later, "I'm proud to have you as my son."
And the one where Toothless looses the left half of his tail, and Hiccup loses his left leg.
At the beginning, Hiccup that the biggest problems with Berk are the pests. At the end, he says the best things about Berk are the pets.
"While some people have ponies or parrots, we have dragons." It was either Ellen or Nicole who asked "Why'd they pick ponies and parrots instead of cats and dogs?" To which I replied, "Parrots can fly and you can ride horses. Which I basically pulled out of thin air, but I guess it make sense... maybe. Plus there's the alliteration.
Okay. Less obvious parallels.
When Toothless first falls into the little cove, he can't get out no matter how hard he tries. But when Hiccup is in danger, Toothless finds the strength to get out to help Hiccup. He couldn't escape to save himself, but he could to save Hiccup.
When Hiccup is looking at Toothless lying on the ground after he shot him, Hiccup says "I did this." And when Stoick is looking at Toothless after he falls into the fire, he says "I did this."
And when the vikings take Toothless and sail for the nest, the vikings aren't really sure what's going on and Gobber is asking what the plan is, in a sort of "what the heck are we doing" manner. While at the same time, the rest of the kids are completely confident in Hiccup and asking "so, what's the plan?"
And throughout the movie, Hiccup is like "I can't kill dragons." And he does. He helps kill the big Green Death (or Red Death?).
I think I'm missing some. Do you remember any, guys?
Friday, December 24, 2010
Climates and Habitats
And the distance from the equator is also a huge factor in what habitats and climates you get. Obviously, around the equator you get a lot of tropical rain-forests.
Now, Magic-Earth shares most of the original habitat that we once had on Earth. But Soreina is entirely different. I wanted to plot out possible habitats around the map.
Again, Ellen drew the maps. Thanks!
So, here's my first attempt at habitat-making. Uh... at least it's a start. I know it has plenty of problems. Bear with me. Photo shop wasn't working properly.
Story and Book
But I never call my stuff "books." To me, a book is a published work that you can hold in your hand and flip through and it has a nice shiny cover and is bound nicely and everything.
None of my works fit that. I just can't think of them as books.
But maybe some day... Sigh.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Old-Fashioned
First of all, I just finished listening through the Harry Potter book on tape. I wanted to get through them before I saw the 7th movie (which I still haven't done yet-hopefully this tuesday).
TT^TT The ending is so great!!!
Harry's sacrifice, and the final battle and the epilogue.
TT^TT
Aww, so amazing. Nicole, you haven't read the 7th book yet, have you? You just made people tell you what it was about? READ IT!!! I'll let you borrow the disks or something.
So, yesterday we went to the Renaissance fair-like thing. And they had a whole bunch of people dressed in old fashioned stuff and speaking in old english and doing skits in the "streets" (It was set up like old england). And there were paper boys, and guys staggering around in a very convincing drunk manner, and there was a Scrooge, and lots and lots of awesome booths.
One booth had these absolutely amazing leather masks like animal faces. The cat mask was brilliant, and the raven was almost like an entire helmet. It was GORGEOUS.
Cat-$140
Raven-$350
Maybe I'll order the cat mask... that at least is somewhat in my possible price range, if unreasonable. I took some pictures. I'll try to remember to put some of them up.
I really like some of the old-fashioned clothes.
And there was a dance square that played lively music and people did those group dances where you spin around each other, and go under people's outstretched arms. And Mom went up and tried it! Hahah! It was fun to watch her doing the dance to the celtic music.
That kind of dancing looks really fun. I wouldn't mind doing that sort of dancing.
Not like the school dances that play deafening, repetitive loud tasteless music and kids packed together like sardines write around.
Prom was actually very boring. Remember, guys? The place was small and cramped, and the music had no variety. The limo ride was the funnest part.
Yeah. The old-fashioned dancing at the fair looked so much more fun.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Project for Awesome
But I will post my favorite video so far.
And here's another.
Duuude, I really wish I was rich. I want to donate to so many places now... I wish I could fund a clean drinking well, or help pay for a new school, or send food to people who need it. And I want to fly to those places and meet the people there and try to help them...
I will do that some day! Till than, I'll continue to volunteer and save up money to help decrease world suck.
Speed Reading
I can't get as absorbed in books if I rush through them. I like to go at a normal pace and get sucked into them. That's the way to go for me.
I remember a long time ago, I mentioned a book in one day and this rather obnoxious person said "I finished that book in, like, an hour." I don't know why she was so proud of that. How can you enjoy a book if you finish it in an hour?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Banned Books
But so many books are banned that don't deserve it. Sure, I don't like reading stuff that's too... graphic. But that doesn't mean they have to ban them. That just means that I don't have to read them. Or they don't have to force you to read them in class.
I know Harry Potter was banned in some places because it has "witchcraft" in it. Oh my god. No way.
That's just another reason that people are too paranoid. Everyone's freaked out about everything. They take out all the fun rides at playgrounds because the parks are scared of getting sued if a kid falls off a swing or something.
Anyway," the vlogbrothers made me think about this, so I'll let John Green take it from here (although I just read "Looking for Alaska, but I like "An Abundance of Katherines" and "Paper Towns" better).
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Leather
I wish I had some pictures of it.
The problem is, it's all well over $100. It's not uncommon for it to cost more than $500.
Leather vests, jackets, boots with amazing patterns and fringes and textures.
So, remember when I had all those pictures I drew of Fern! And a couple with Ben? Well, Ben has a leather jacket. Not quite as ornate as the ones at fairs, but with an awesome pattern on the back. That's why Fern always pretends to steal his jacket from him.
Took a long time to get this right. I want a jacket like this!!!
Actually, I want a jacket with a feather-wing pattern on the back. But I can't come up with a pattern I like as much as this one. I gotta keep working on it.
So, here's a simplified jacket that Fern's using.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Tangled
Back and Forth
Yeah. I write my stuff in order. Here's my reasoning. If I write all the cool parts first (which I have to force myself to not do) I would probably lack motivation to write the in-between stuff. Also There might me slight things that change as I write out the whole story.
But this is by no means true for everyone. Some authors like to write the end of the story first. Some jump around like Crystal. Everyone has different styles in that respect.
Ah, and in reply to Ellen's post.
I thought about it a little more, and I think that it's anime that makes girls seem really crazy sometimes. Like Yuki's fan club in Fruits basket and all that stuff.
You took me so seriously! Aah! I know you're right though. I read something about that recently. In China they have that one child policy, right? And they prefer male children to female. So women often get abortions if they find out they have a girl. But that means that there a lot fewer younger girls. And a lot of girls are getting kidnapped because of the shortage.
And in places like India where women don;t have many rights and have poor education, similar things happen. Except in India they have a lot of kids, whether the women want them or not. Again, male babies are preferred. But there aren't lots of available contraceptives, and the families of the mothers don't want them to get abortions lots of the time, so the women are forced to do horrible things to themselves to lose the babies.
There's so much debate going on about abortions. I recently saw this huge, horribly gruesome sign someone had attached to their bike about how horrible abortions are.
No, I don't like killing babies, but honestly what worries me more is overpopulation.
Here ya go.
The population is waaaaay too huge. Like I said in an earlier post, several million humans are only alive because of fossil fuels. Which are rapidly running out.
And there's 2 ways to decrease population. Reduce the birth rate, or increase the death rate.
Which would YOU prefer?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Re: Girls are Crazy
Yes girls are crazy, it's a given fact, although I think it depends on the context on which you see girls. If you're a girl yourself you'll probably think that girls are in general crazier than guys, especially now a days. I think that in more recent years (recent being the last century or so) girls have been allowed to be more open about what they think, women's liberation and what not. A long time ago (anywhere from forever ago to the 1800s) women weren't supposed to express their opinions as much. This all varies from culture to culture and from societal norms back then (although this doesnt mean that this doesnt happen today)
For example I'm going to take different time periods and cultures (Ancient China, the 1950s, present) and i'm going to compare them socially and culturally.
So obviously we all know the stereotype of Asian people being soft-spoken, nerdy, shy, and blah blah blah (and we all know i dont really fit that stereotype) Well this comes from years of Asian (especially Chinese ideology) of women being lesser than men. Now I know that all cultures have some kind of thing where men are better than women yatta yatta, but in China being a girl is tough and I mean really tough. If you thought corsets and being forced into marriage was bad consider this.
In China there's a certain hierarchy of importance in a family. I know every culture has a pyrimad like this but bear with me.
At the top of the pyramid you have old people, specifically old men. Then the old women, unless there is a son. In which they share almost equal power over the family. After that come the younger men, grandsons, nephews, what have you, but these men aren't considered children.
Then comes the group of kids (boys of course)
Then comes animals, livestock, pets, etc.
Then comes the women
Then comes the girls.
Yeah...and if that wasnt bad enough, let me show you where each group falls on the resource line. Where those on the + side are seen as a 'gain' in resources, while those on the - side are seen as a 'drain' on resources
+: old men, men, boys, animals
-: old women, women, girls
Say it with me now...WHAT?!??!?!?!
Yeah that's right. women/girls are seen as a drain on resources, you dont really get anything from them, and if they dont like it there's thousands of others who'd replace them.
Isnt that fun?
Anyway let's jump to America in the 50s...ah a time of peace, the Golden Age. Psh like it's ever that easy. Everyone was so worried about their reputation/appearance or whatever that nobody I repeat NOBODY could do anything against the societal 'norm'. No divorce, no fights, no airing your dirty laundry (figuratively of course, then again I'm not sure if the literal was smiled upon...), no scandals, no being unhappy, no nothing. Everything had to be perfect...
again WHAT?!?!?!
This idea of perfection stretched to men too, but of course women were lower than men anyway so it kind of got worse for them too.
I dont know know all that much about the 50s so I'll leave that for you to fill in.
Let's fast-forward to America today. Going back to Tara's post about crazy girls on the internet. They post...a lot...and not only that they post a lot of weird stuff such as 'please have my babies' and the like. Seeing that women have gained a lot more freedom from the double standard and that the internet is anonymous, I can see why it seems like girls today are crazy (I'm not saying that they're not crazy, just that it makes sense why they seems so much crazier than the old societal norms).
Now that bring the comparison with boys of today. I think that the...expressiveness of the male population has remained kind of stagnant...like the line of y=3. No rate of change (not to say there wasnt any change, just that overall there hasnt been much, especially because they had the most say/freedom of speech compared to girls, and now they're kind of limited because of it).
And the girl's expressiveness over time has kind of grown exponentially so their line is more like y=2^x, and if I'm doing my math right (and it's possible i'm not) it's kind of skyrocketed, especially if you compare it to the other line...
...and my internet died so I lost my whole wrap up bit about why guys talk with guys about girls and girls talk with girls about guys. But that girls also talk with guys about guys and that's because of the whole math bit up there. It was a lot more intelligent and witty the first time (and a lot longer) but that's the explanation in a nutshell.
Hope that answered your question tara. Rebuttals are welcome and encouraged (in no way am I saying that what I think is the absolute truth or whatever, it's just what I think, and I'm open to new ideas and stuff) Um...yeah I gotta go do my project that's due in...a few hours...fun...
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Reply!!!
They actually replied to my comments! Haha! That's like communicating with them! (Another example of crazy girls. Hahah!)
Anyway, I gotta call Nicole. She's the one that got me watching them. She's harder to get ahold of than Ellen is (who I called last night so I could vent some of my energy about this fact).
There's something else I've been wondering about John and Hank Green. What do they DO for a living? I mean, John's an author and Hank runs a website. But do either of those actually give them enough money to continue donating to charities and flying around the country? They themselves have admitted that being an author is not about getting lots of money (cause it doesn't usually happen that authors get rich off their books). And there was a video where one of them said that they were fortunate to be able to afford those plane tickets.
Mysterious, huh? What do they REALLY do for a living? Especially since it takes half an hour to film one of their 4 minute videos (That was one of the questions that they answered for me, and I don't believe that includes the editing time of the videos).
Oh yeah. One last thing. Cause it relates to the ACTUAL topic of my blog - writing.
In the back of "An Abundance of Katherines," John Green mentions a few hints to aspiring writers.
Read a lot. (I wholly agree. There's countless ideas to be borrowed from other sources. It's endless inspiration, and it's fun too!)
Write. (Don't just sit there and plan about writing. You actually got to write.)
Tell stories and listen to them (it IS fun to exchange stories. You can hear some good stuff that way, and get to know people better).
Girls Are Crazy
After much research, I must conclude that he is absolutely correct.
Well, not that much research. After all, I'm a girl too, so I ought to know.
Here's some examples. The Beatles. When they were popular, there were swarms of girls after them. Videos of the sight are terrifying to watch. Masses of hysterical, screaming, sobbing girls.
And then you look on youtube and stuff. I'll use the Vlogbrothers as an example, though there's many others. Most of their followers are girls. And girls can leave very weird comments on videos.
Girls obviously really like guys.
Comments such as "will you marry me" are even less prevalent than taking that one step further. I remember getting into an excited conversation about Howl's Moving Castle with someone in one of my college. Love that movie. Howl, spoiled and whiney as he may be, can be very cool (I mean, he has WINGS!). But this girl said to me "I want to have his babies."
At which point I just went O_O
Now, I'm sort of curious. If some girls started a video blog on Youtube, would most of their followers be guys? I mean, are girls a lot more obvious about stuff they're really excited (obsessed) about? Cause I know there are guys who are far from innocent. So are guys just better at hiding being excited about stuff? Like I get really excited about good movies/anime/ex. I don't recall hearing any of my guy friends getting as excited as me about that stuff.
And one last question. I don't hear guys use the word "cute" too much. Is that a girl thing too?
Yes. Don't I pick such fascinating topics to write about?
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Rewrite
I remember when I first heard that I thought it was pretty crazy. But it makes more sense to me now.
This is partially because of what I learned in my Creative-Writing class. It was during this semester, I think, that I realized that the stuff I'd written before wasn't that good. But that's OK. It means that I've improved since then. I can look back at stuff I used to think was good, and I know I can improve upon it.
For example, Briena's first story, "Or Spirits and Demons" has recently started to bug the hell out of me because it's quite bad. Like I said, I just realized that not far into this semester. I know I'll have to re-write the whole thing to fix it. Although that probably won't be for a while. I've been working on Katani's story. Right now, I think it's good. But I'm sure I'll look back on it and find stuff to change.
Oh, when NIcole, Ellen and I got together a few weeks ago, I got Nicole to read the first chapter of Katani's story. Nicole said that my writing style was a lot better. ^-^
Yeah. Hmm. It's strange. Looking back at how bad you were just half a year ago... But like I said, It's good! I'm better now, and that's what counts.
But it makes you wonder. If you thought you were good before, and you think you're good now, then how good are you really?
Unbiased opinions are great in that. Although it can be hard for people to reading it to pinpoint exactly what's wrong if they're not professional or something. And it's no fun to get criticized or told what to improve on. I know people who kind of bristle when they're told about mistakes they've made. This is true for anything. Get over it, swallow your pride, and fix the mistake. It's the only way to improve. Criticism is good (though people being mean about your stuff is not good).
Monday, November 22, 2010
Picturesss
THe first two are environmental. I saw a bumper sticker I liked on my neighbor's car, so I looked the quote up and found the first picture.
And I've seen a poster for this one too. I think at my library.
And I love how they do his eyes! These pics aren't really high quality, but I couldn't find any online so I had to "make" them myself.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
CW-More Poetry
So, like I said, we started our poetry unit a few weeks ago.
I like poetry. It's fun to play with words and rhythms. Iambic pentameter comes sort of naturally after a while.
There was an exercise where each of us was given an object to describe - a stone, flower, pine cone, or seashell. And then we had to compare it to ourselves. We've also been writing daily lines comparing normal things to something completely different.
And then each of us in class was given a card with a word written on it. We had to write a line of iambic pentameter ending in that word. And then everyone lined up in order in front of the classroom and recited their lines. And it was organized in a sonnet! It was fun! Each of us wrote a line of a sonnet without knowing it!
And to prepare for writing the poems, we wrote pairs of lines ending in homophones.
So far we've written a sonnet (which we did in high school) and something called a Ghazal, which I'd never heard of. But It was fun to write too. The repetition and signature thing at the end. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time explaining forms of poetry. You can probably find explanations online.
Oh yeah. I'll post my short story. I want to re-write it and make it longer. But here's the less-than-ten-page version.
It's not fantasy, and I don't have much experience in this genre, but this is a story idea I've had for a few years. It was good to finally get started on it.
Antoinette
There was an outburst of raucous laughter from the desks next to Jamie. She turned and glared at the group consisting of Scott, Andra, and Jerry.
“And, dude, the big feud is over fish? Seriously!” Jerry said, not trying to keep his voice down.
“And the gang members are too nice,” Andra snorted.
The three of them laughed again. Scott, who was leaning on the back legs of his chair, almost toppled over.
It was easy to tell by looking at the four of them that they fancied themselves the coolest students in school. Andra wore as little as possible while still being legally allowed in public, plus her face was plastered in bad makeup. Jerry’s pants were several sizes too big, letting his boxers show. Scott’s jeans at least fit, but instead wore a skin-tight shirt to try to show off his looks.
“All looks and no brains,” Chloe whispered.
Jamie tried to stifle her laugh, but it just turned into a loud snort.
Mr. Dans stood up in front of his English class.
“Now, onto another, bigger project. As you know, the protagonist changes throughout the story. Without this change, he would never have been able to cope with this new life. You’re going to do a group project about that over the next week. We’re going to pick partners by lots this time.” There was a groan from the class. Mr. Dans laughed. “See, it’ll do you good to get to know someone new. Everyone come pick a number.” He placed a hat full of paper scraps on the front desk. Everyone swarmed to the front of the class to grab a piece of paper.
“What’d you get?” Chloe asked eagerly.
“Six,” Jamie replied.
“Crud. I got eleven.”
“Everyone, find your match!” Mr. Dans called.
Everyone chorused out their numbers, slowly dividing up into pairs.
“Six,” Jamie called unenthusiastically. “Six.”
“Six,” called a voice back.
Jamie turned and her heart immediately sank. Facing her, waving his scrap of paper, was Scott.
So, the next day after school, Jamie found herself walking to Scott’s house to work on their project.
Jamie wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting. Maybe graffitied walls, parched yellow grass and a snarling rottweiler tethered by a spiked collar. In fact, the house was very nice. The garden was well-tended and neat.
As she reached the front porch, she took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell.
There was a loud bark from inside and Jamie flinched. It was a Doberman or something!
“Hold on, Antoinette,” came a voice from inside. The barking ceased. A moment later, Scott opened the door. For once, he was dressed normally in a plain t-shirt and jeans. At his heels was a large dog with long, silky red hair. Her tail was swishing behind her, whacking Scott in the knees.
“Hey,” he said calmly, raising a hand in greeting. “Come on in.”
Jamie did so. Antoinette, paced up to her, whining happily. Jamie grinned and held her hand out for Antoinette to sniff.
“We can work in the living room,” Scott suggested, leading her through a doorway and into a spacious carpeted room with a wooden table and couches in the center. “We need to do a timeline, right?” Scott asked. “I got a big piece of paper so we can show things in order. Should we try to draw the events out with paragraphs explaining them?”
“Uh,” Jaime said blankly, “Sure.” She was just glad that Scott wasn’t being as loud and boastful as he was with his “cool” friends at school. Or at least, not yet. “I’m not great at drawing,” she admitted. “But I’m not bad either. Anyway, I wrote down some of the changes the main character goes through, and how they effect the people around him.”
“Yeah, so did I.”
Shock of all shocks. Scott had actually prepared for the project!
“I liked this book,” Scott continued, spreading the poster paper out on the table. “I mean, the others we’ve read were well written, but they weren’t that fun to read.”
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed, warming to the conversation. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m not sure why all the great classics have to be so... depressing, I guess. This one was fun to read.” She sat down and pulled her backpack off, taking out her binder and a pencil.
Scott sat down across from her and Antoinette flopped down beneath the table and put her head on Jamie’s ankle.
“Mark Twain was fun too,” Scott said, tapping his finger on the table. “He was funny.”
Jamie vividly remembered Scott’s friends talking about how much they hated the book and Scott laughing along with them. But he seemed genuine in how he said it.
“Yeah,” She agreed, surprised. “Most people say that they didn’t like Huckleberry Finn, but that was one of my favorite books so far.”
Scott grinned. “See, Andra and Jerry hate reading this stuff, so I never really talk to them about it. They really can be pretty immature.” He sighed. “Let’s see,” he continued, looking down at his paper. “I guess we should get to work, huh?”
The two of them started taking notes, making suggestions about the story and sketching out designs on the poster board. When they had a good outline set up, Antoinette decided that it was time for them to take a break. She crawled out from under the table and started bounding back and forth, crouching half way down and leaving her rear in the air as she wagged her tail.
Scott and Jamie laughed.
“She still acts like a puppy,” Scott sighed, standing and walking across the living room to retrieve a red chew toy from under a chair.
Antoinette stood, suddenly alert, eyes fastened on Scott’s hand. Scott threw the toy into the hall and Antoinette bounded after it.
“Listen, do you want a snack or something?” Scott offered. “Or we could play some music on the stereo.”
“I don’t really like loud music too much,” Jamie admitted.
“That’s Okay. We don’t really have that much loud music,” Scott said. “I have a few soundtracks, depending on whether you like the movies. Beatles…”
“Beatles?” Jamie laughed.
“You got something against the Beatles?” Scott asked, pretending to sound offended.
“Not at all, actually. I like the Beatles. Especially some of their later stuff.” She’d always thought that Scott was into rap or something.
Antoinette trotted back into the room and dropped the chew toy next to Jamie.
“You don’t have to touch that if you don’t want,” Scott said. “It’s all slobbery.”
Jamie shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’ve never had a dog. I have a cat, but Mom won’t let us get a dog.” She picked up the toy and threw it for Antoinette.
The next afternoon, Jamie sat in her living room, listening for the doorbell. She’d invited Scott to work at her house that day. Two days ago, she never would have invited him inside.
She heard the chiming from the front door and jumped to her feet. Scott greeted her with a smile and a raised hand as she let him in. He unrolled the poster from under his arm and spread it out on the table. It curled inwards at the edges as he let it go.
“Looks like we’ll be able to finish today,” Scott said, standing back and looking at the poster with sketches and scattered paragraphs inked onto it.
“I think so,” Jamie agreed, plopping down onto the floor. Scott did the same, leaning against the side of the couch. He suddenly sat bolt upright. “Dude, I thought the pillow moved,” he said, laughing at himself. It was, in fact, Jamie’s cat, Annie. Annie had been curled up on the sofa, resembling a pillow, but she’d stood up and stretched as Scott sat down next to her. She curled up again and went back to sleep.
Jamie and Scott got back to work, occasionally pausing as Scott made her laugh or to exchange a quick personal story. It took Jamie a while to realize that she was just as comfortable with Scott as she was with Chloe. And he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him.
Annie stood up again, stretching. She purred loudly and padded over to Scott, rubbing against his shoulder. Scott grinned and scratched her warm chin.
“Animals are great,” Scott sighed. “They don’t really care what you look like or how popular you are.”
Jamie looked at him, startled. “What do you mean? You are popular!” It was out before she could stop it. She snapped her mouth shut, but it had been said. She was used to saying whatever she thought to her friends.
Scott gave a hollow laugh. “Yeah. It stinks, doesn’t it?”
Jamie couldn’t help her mouth from falling open.
“Eheh. I guess you don’t want to hear about that,” Scott sighed, turning a bit red and scratching the back of his head.
So, Scott didn’t feel like he could confide in his “friends” at school. She shook her head. “I don’t mind.”
“I know that Andra’s kind of mean to you and Chloe. I’m sorry.”
“Why do you hang out with them? You said they were immature, and you can’t talk to them about some things.”
Scott paced across the room. Jamie wondered if the question was too personal.
He sighed. “Well, you asked for it. Don’t laugh. Truth is, I’m afraid of being alone.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why would I laugh at that? Anyway, even if you don’t want to be alone, you should surround yourself with people you don’t like. Uh, not that you don’t like them, but…”
Scott gave a small smile. “I know what you mean. They can just be jerks sometimes.”
Jamie hesitated, then plunged forwards. “Back in middle school, they used to pick on me. But you know, once I got a couple good friends, that pretty much stopped. It’s not so bad in high school anyway. You’re stronger with good people at your side. You don’t need a lot of lame friends, especially if it makes you do things you don’t like.”
Jamie suddenly turned furiously red. All of that had come out of her mouth without her really realizing it. She had been of thinking aloud without paying much attention.
Scott knelt down in front of Annie, who had sat back on her haunches and was watching them with eyes narrowed in a cat smile. For a while, there was silence.
“You could be a student counselor,” he said, giving a half laugh. “I’ve never heard a speech like that before.”
If possible, Jamie’s face turned even redder.
Scott grinned broadly at her. “Thanks.”
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Ugh...
Anyway, onto the topic of sibling rivalry....I have no idea. All of it just kinda happened, dont know why it did, it just did...i guess i'll have to change Nex's arc completely which i guess is a good thing cause some parts of that arc seemed forced and rushed. in any case i'll just make something up that still works but doesnt have anythign to do with sibling rivalry...maybe it'll go back to the idea of other people's expectations of you and how that can be super annoying and ...I cant think of another word for annoying....
Um...yeah now I'm gonna rant to you about why I'm so tired...
I'm workign on art for a videogame. This I have told you already. But we were assigned to do storyboards for serveral scenes on tuesday. We recieved which scenes we were supposed to do on Wednesday 1AM. Then we went over what they wanted in the scenes on Thursday...then they were due sunday, completed, colored, multiple color schemes, different styles for every scene or for the super ambitious every panel. Well color me dumb cause i tried to do every panel a different style. That failed...miserably. Earlier I had given up the use of the tablet to another girl cause I figured 'hey i have a scanner and soem pens!' so i inked my drawings and scanned them.
Normally this wouldnt be a problem. Ink a drawing. Scan it. Clean it up. Color it. Shade it. Add atmosphere. Tweak it. And wala it's done. but no. Cleaning it up took forever, and I didnt even get to finish cleaning all the panels. Then photoshop crashed. Then the paintbucket was doing stupid things. There were too many pencil marks that the scanner picked up and no matter how many times I changed the levels and posterized the darn picture they were still there! so the paint bucket, being the stupidly blessed tool that it is would color one part, then I'd try to color another, and it'd color the previously colored part darker when i was using a lower opacity so the two parts would be colored, one would just be colored twice as dark as I wanted and mismatched...GAAAAAAAAH
And all the panels are due at midnight at the very latest. Now I'd work on them for the next...hour, but I'd get nothign done, and I have work at 8am tomorrow, which means I have to wake up suuuuuuper early to catch the bus that takes forever to get up there. Normally I dont mind getting up early, but when your version of 'sleeping-in' turns to sleeping till 8, you know something is wrong. Ugh...
In short, I'm tired and overly busy. I didnt even go to aikido club today, and the one day I decide not to go there is a punishment of being thrown during the next meeting...which is tomorrow T_T fun...
Sorry if I sound really bleh/meh but I feel bleh/meh. If I had a cookie I'd be so much happier. And I should really go to sleep...yeah...
So I'll change the story whenever I get a chance...if I get a chance...maybe...it'll eventually get done...in the next five years :D
God why did we have so much sibling rivalry?!?! and they all come in pairs too! Saleera/Arith both have older brother problems. jade/Nexsidus have younger 'identical' sibling issues. I say identical cause Jade's sister is actually her twin, where Nexsidus's brother is not related to him at all, but they just look a lot alike...I'm probably going to have to delete that younger brother entirely....
ooh look it's eleven. I'm gonna go to sleep now. Sorry bout the long angry rant XD I'll be in a better mood tomorrow...maybe ^__^
Friday, November 19, 2010
Sibling Rivalry
Arith and Saleera's story is entirely about sibling rivalry.
Now, the first part of it was intended. Both Arith and Saleera have older brothers that indirectly drive them to their quest.
But even after that, EVERYTHINg is fueled by sibling rivalry.
You got Nex and his adopted brother, and then you got the problems among the princess twins.
Everything comes from sibling rivalry. Arith and Saleera's journey, Ginger's flight, Nex's banishment, and the destruction of the towns. Especially the finale. I didn't realize that that was such a huge theme until a few days ago... Even though we spent a few years writing and editing it...
It's like that author speech I went to - that Chabon guy. As he was talking to us, he said that his story was about escape and that he didn't realize it until that moment. Unintentional themes introduced into the story... How strange that such stuff pops up without the author noticing.
And then there's what John Green said in that video I posted about book analysis. That it doesn't matter if an author intended something "deep" in their book. The fact that it's there makes it important.
Here's the funny part. I DID do the thing where Arith is always overshadowed by his brother, Bram. That's what made him leave home in search of a dragon. But the other three HUGE sibling rivalries were created by Ellen. Not to mention that Nex and Jade's sibling situations are very similar.
My goodness, Ellen, is Kelly really giving you that much trouble?
^-^'
So, Ellen, what have you to say on the subject of sibling rivalry? I have no siblings. Unless you count Alaska and Lanayru (Rabbit and snake - and my fish too, I suppose)
Ash and Selfishness
And then I rented the extended version of Lord of The Rings. I wanted to watch the scenes that were cut out of the original version. There were 3 of those scenes that I really liked, but I can't remember one of them (it was from the Two Towers). Anyway, I liked the scene where they get the gifts from Galadriel Fellowship) and where Aragorn helps the horse, Brego (Towers). Most of the other new scenes weren't too exciting though.
A great series. Great characters too. This time through, I kept thinking what a loyal friend Sam is. Where would Middle Earth be without Sam? Sam is such a great friend!!!
So, anyway, today I was reading this article written over the summer by a man named David Spangler. A few months ago, a big volcano erupted in Iceland and filled the sky with ash. All of the airplanes in europe were delayed, so the people were stuck at the airports with no way to get home.
So, some of the airports refused to help their stranded passengers. In fact, some of them started raising the prices for food, and even charging for water. The hotel prices nearby shot up as well to take advantage of these desperate people. All these people on vacation ran out of money and had no way to feed themselves.
But one airport in Amsterdam did take care of their customers. They provided food, showers, and even hired entertainment for the people stuck there. They had such a good time that they declined the offer of shelter from an embassy.
This is one of those things that makes me so desperate for humans to stop being selfish. We MUST show compassion to each other. That's what holds the worlds together during disasters. And if what I wrote in the last post starts to come true, sticking together is the only way to stop our planet from cracking into pieces.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Future of Fossil Fuels
But this post is the reason I wish more people read my blog. No one knows how important so much of this is... The fate of teh world depends on it.
Remember when I go to go see the interview by Miyazaki? Well, one of the things he said was that he found the end of society very interesting (hence stories like Nausicaa) and he'd like to see the end of this society. Hmm. I'm starting to agree with him.
This is the first semester that I've really taken classes for my environmental science major. Before now, I'd really only taken a couple. Now I have pretty much all environmental classes. I'm usually a very optimistic person, but my major is incredibly depressing at times...
Our society really kinda sucks in a heckuva lot of ways. It needs to change. If we'd started that change a couple decades ago, we wouldn't have had a problem. But we didn't. And now the possibility of a smooth transition is rapidly fading. Humans think that we can continue taking more: more energy, more money, more food, more water. We can't keep taking more forever.
When you think about fossil fuels, you think "eew! Dirty, polluting energy, and oil companies that are trying to take over the world!"
That's not the whole story.
For one of my classes, we read a book called "The Party's Over" by Heinberg. And we also watched a documentary called "The End of Suburbia" that talked about this too. Most of what I'm about to write came from those 2 sources.
OK. So there's this thing called Hubbert's Peak. The graph involved shows how many fossil fuels we've gotten out of the earth every year. So, for the past many years, advancing technology means that we've been able to get more and more fossil fuels. But recently, that amount hasn't increased by as much. In fact, it's going to be decreasing very soon. There aren't enough fossil fuels left in the ground for us to keep increasing how much we take. Hubbert's peak is the peak amount of mined fossil fuels. And once we hit the peak, the only place to go is down. Here's a graph showing what's happened and what will probably happen.
Notice the time period. We're hitting the peak right about now. Starting in the next few years, we're going to be mining less and less oil, coal, and natural gas. And soon enough, it will take more energy to remove those fossil fuels than we will actually get from burning them (Mining includes building all of the equipment involved - trucks, machinery, so on). Even coal, which we think to be abundant.
As mentioned earlier, we could have made a smooth transition to renewable fuels if we'd started a couple decades ago. But we didn't. We're running out of time. Unless we do something, this country that's entirely based off of everyone owning cars and driving miles to work and shop, is going to collapse on itself. The transition will be rocky enough even if we start changing NOW.
We ship in so much stuff from China. That shipping takes huge amounts of fossil fuels.
Wal-Mart and other huge chain companies take over the smaller local companies. These big chain stores ship their goods from far away too.
We'v replaced sooo many trains with big polluting trucks.
Our public transportation system is absolutely dreadful compared to that of other countries.
We grow food with pesticides made from fossil fuels.
All our computers rely on energy fro fossil fuels. What happen if the computer system crashes? What about all the data stored electronically?
There are a few million people on the planet who are only alive because of the existence of fossil fuels. What's gonna happen to our population when fossil fuels are gone?
Did you know that one of the presidents installed solar panels on the roof of the White House? And the next president promptly tore them down. What one president does to try to help the environment, the next president will undo completely.
Oil companies are trying to stop us from making this transition to save the freaking planet.
The US is WAAAY behind other countries in a lot of these issues.
There are already signs that we rely far too heavily on what fossil fuels give us. There have been massive blackouts in parts of the world. There was one in Canada not long ago. Most of society was completely disrupted for several days. That was a warning. A warning we ignored.
And when there's an election, you'll get a candidate that tells you all these problems that have to be fixed. And the other candidate tells you that everything' perfectly all right. Guess which candidate won? The one that tells people what they want to her.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Anime Update
FIrst of all, I wanted to post this. This is the opening to that "Origin: Spirits of the Past" movie I mentioned a few weeks ago. The opening is really different from the rest of the movie, but it's really mind-blowing. Again, there's some beautiful stuff in the movie. It's not perfect, but few movies are. You got the pretty ending song a little while ago, now you get the opening.
So, I though I'd write about some of the anime/manga I've been getting through.
I've been reading more manga than watching anime. I guess because I can read through manga a lot faster than watch the cartoon equivalent. Plus, as usual, the books are often better than the "movies" (though both can be excellent, like FMA Brotherhood).
So, the manga I read is pretty much dependent on what they have in the library. There's a good selection of manga at the library near my house, and at the one at my school. I'll look for a series I've heard of that has the first book in, and I"ll check out the first few books. I'm actually in the middle of about 5 right now.
I prefer to read the real books than to read them off the internet.
OK. So, let's see. What ones would I recommend since I last write about anime...
Nicole really likes Spice and Wolf. I watched the first season ages ago. It was pretty good. It was pretty. I think the second season's been out for a while. I guess I'll watch it.
Fruits Basket I mentioned, I think.
I know I've mentioned FMA repeatedly.
The author of FMA did several other short manga. There's "Stray Dog," "Demons of Shanghai," "A Bat in Blue Sky," and "Raiden."
I mentioned Tegami Bachi, which Crystal told me to read.
Ellen told me to read Yuyu Hakusho. I liked Kurama and Hiei a lot. Although I don't think I would have ever finished reading it if I hadn't found the books in the library. There's strange parts to it. Definitely. But there's some good stuff too. At the beginning, I liked the stuff about the spirits. And there was some cool stuff at the end too. Stuff that made me laugh. Like I wonder what Kurama did to make that guy laugh. And Hiei fell out of a tree! Hahah! I'm interested to watch at least a few episodes of the anime, but I can't find it in japanese anywhere on the internet. I guess if I rent a DVD, the original japanese is usually on those. But there's other anime I want to get through first.
Nicole told me to read the Tsubasa Chronicles. I really liked the first half or so. The second half was darker... and then very confusing at the end. I'm watching the anime right now, but I haven't gotten really far. There's been a few random episodes added in that weren't in the books, which I wouldn't mind so much if SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THEM.
I've read XXX Holic, though it's not finished being written yet. It synchronizes with Tsubasa.
Nicole told me to watch Natsume Yuujinchou. I watched the first season. It's pretty good. Not REALLY exciting, but it's interesting. I really like the fox kid. I was SOOO convinced that that fox spirit was a girl at first... but he's sooo cute!!! The different spirits are interesting.
I'm almost done reading Ouran High School Host Club. I remember that was one of the first ones I tried, before I knew anything about manga, and I didn't care for it. But they had it at the library, so not long ago I gave it another shot. It's good. It's really funny at some parts! I like Tamaki (when he's not being confident about stuff that isn't true, Ex, Haruhi).
I'm reading Rurouni Kenshin on the internet, so that's going slowly. I'm not very far yet, but so far it's interesting. I like Kenshin.
I've just read the first part of D-Gray Man, but I might not read any farther.
And then they had Bleach at the library, which is a manga that I know is very popular, so I've been reading that. It's good.
And then a week ago, I started checking out DN Angel. It's interesting, though a bit confusing about the transformations somehow.
Yeah, what I read pretty much depends on what they have in the library when I go in.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
game art
Ok so I'm doing some art for a game that's currently in progress, so I dont know if they want me posting it on this, so nobody steal it! I probably shouldnt post their game concept either so I'm not going to. But here's my art for it, which they're probably not even going to use, but here it is anyway ^__^
Friday, November 5, 2010
To Watch
Here's my list of recommendations to watch and read (among other things). If it's not on the list, then either I haven't seen it, or it didn't occur to me to recommend it XD
These are mostly suggestions for entertainment. I have a separate post where I list research sources: References for Writer's.
Just a heads up, a few of these movies contain insulting stereotypes (It's mostly confined to older Disney movies).
Disney Shorts
Burn-E
Dug's Special Mission
Feast
For the Birds
Geri's Game
Inner Workings
Jack Jack Attack
Kitbull
Knick knack
La Luna
Lifted
Luxo Jr.
Mike's New Car
Paperman
Partly Cloudy
Piper
Presto
Sanjay's Super Team
TV
Agents of Shield (Season 1)
America’s Funniest Home Videos
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Beyond Belief
Doctor Who (Through season 7)
Dragons: Riders of Berk
Dragons: Race to the Edge
Gilmore Girls (First two seasons)
Green Eggs and Ham
Heroes (First 2 seasons)
Hong Gil Dong (Korean Drama)
How Do They Do It
How It's Made
Hey Arnold
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
The Joy of Painting
Marvel's Hero Project (Disney Plus)
Merlin
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Mythbusters
Once Upon a Time (through Frozen arc)
Over the Garden Wall
Rugrats
Secret Life of the Zoo
Secrets of the Zoo
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Sherlock (first 2 seasons)
Somebody Feed Phil
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Star Wars: The Mandalorian
Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett
Steven Universe
Sungkyunkwan Scandal (Korean drama)
Teen Titans
Toxic Crusaders (It's such a weird satire that I can't help but like it)
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
Warehouse 13
Wolverine and the X-Men
X-Men Evolution
X-Men (1992) (Some is very good, some not so much)
Young Justice
The Zoo (Bronx Zoo)
Jane Goodall's When Animals Talk
The Last Mountain
Life
The Living Planet
Living with Wolves
Madagascar: The Land Where Evolution Ran Wild
Monty Roberts: The Real Horse Whisperer
Monty Roberts: Shy Boy: The Horse that Came in from the Wild
Nature's Most Amazing Events
Obsession with Orchids
Planet Earth
Planet of the Humans (with Michael Moore)
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (American Experience)
Return of the Clouded Leopards
Ripley’s Believe it or Not (1994)
Rivers and Tides
Seabiscuit (2005)
Sea of Hope: America's Underwater Treasures
Secrets of the Wild Panda
Silver: An American Eagle
Speciesism: The Movie
Stomp Out Loud
The Story of Stuff
Bambino (drama)
Maximum Ride
Natsume's Book of Friends
Noragami
Ouran High School Host Club
Pokémon Adventures: Red, Green and Blue
Pokémon Adventures: Yellow
Pokémon Adventures: Gold, Silver, and Crystal
Pokémon Adventures: Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Adventures: Firered and Leafgreen
Pokémon Adventures: Emerald
Pokémon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl
Pokémon Adventures: Platinum
Raiden
Rurouni Kenshin
Silver Spoon
Smargs Won't Sing
Spice and Wolf
Stray Dog
Tiger and Bunny: The Beginning
Tsubasa Reservoire Chronicles
Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
XXXHolic
Yotsuba
Yowamushi Pedal
Roman and Wilgus, The Last Airbender prequel: Zuko's Story
Telgemeier, Ghosts
Yang, The Shadow Hero
Web Comics
Aftertale (Undertale fan comic)
Chiaki's Nuzlocke (Pokemon)
The Fall (Pokemon Nuzlocke)
Nuzlocke Challenge-LG (Pokemon Nuzlocke)
On Borrowed Time (Pokemon)
Myths of Unova (Pokemon Nuzlocke)
Nessa's Nuzlocke (Pokemon)
Team Rowanberry (Pokemon)
Trick of the Night (Pokémon)
Triforce of Power (Zelda)
Victory Fire (Pokemon fan comic)
YTWC's Nuzlocke (Pokemon)
Nonfiction
Other
The Dragon Chronicles
Green, The Book of the Dragontooth
Larson, The Far Side
Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
Super Smash Brothers
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Super Smash Brothers 3DS/Wii U
Undertale