The Best Voices

When I was writing about Shadow Weaver,  it got me thinking about voices that I've really liked in movies. Actually. I don't notice that too often. I don't really care what people look like, so I guess I don't really care what they sound like either. 

Though I do love some accents! 

Anyway, for my own fun, I thought I'd try to figure outwhich characters have voices that I love. I'm not talking about their acting ability, or their singing ability. This is mostly just going on the sound of their voice. I'm probably missing some, but here are a bunch of the main ones! 

(Some of these actors have done more than one great voice, so I'll try to pick one or two I'm most attached to)

Like I said, Shadow Weaver, From She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. 

Lio Oak, from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Elphaba, from the original version of Wicked (I would literally listen through a song that I didn't care about, just so I could hear her sing a few lines at the end.) And of course Queen Elsa in Frozen!

 

Mufasa, from The Lion King

 

The original Black Beauty

 

Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, from the English version of The Cat Returns, and Whisper of the Heart (And also Westley from The Princess Bride, of course)

Fujimoto from the Japanese version of Ponyo (though the English version may also make it on my list)

Pearl, from Steven Universe

Also Blue Diamond, from Steven Universe (she's also in Song of the Sea)

Hazel, from the original Watershiop Down (though this guy has done a lot of great voices)

 

Chief Powhatan, from Pocahontas

Zuko, from Avatar the Last Airbender

 

Edward Elric, from the two Japanese Fullmetal Alchemist series

Learning to Lead

I've been reading a really good fantasy series. It's a bit surreal, because part of it parallels what's happening in Arith's story. Arith has to learn to act like a high-born guy, just as the main character in the series does. And Jade needs to learn how to be a good ruler, just like the young king in the series. 

 This is treacherous ground, because I have to be careful that I'm not accidentally stealing the content from this series @_@ 

Gilmore Girls

I just started watching a TV show called Gilmore Girls. It has really great banter. Some of the best I've ever heard. 

I'm easily influenced, so after I've watched a couple episodes, I start talking like the characters. I'll have to be careful what I write while I'm watching this series, because otherwise I'll start to write like this show. Similar things have happened before. The most memorable one is when I was reading a book where the main character was really formal. Suddenly one of my characters ended up acting that way too, which was way out of character for him. 

Like I said, I'm very easily influenced @_@ 

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist was one of my first anime.

The manga and the remade anime remain my favorite manga/anime (though the original anime had better art and music). Unlike many good stories, FMA doesn't drag on to the point where it falls apart. It has a cohesive plot, with great characters (Ling is still among my top favorites from all shows). FMA can make you laugh, cry, and sit at the edge of your seat all in one episode.

 They just made a live action movie of it. The first 2/3 were really good! I was impressed by how accurate everything was. Al looked perfect. So did Nina TT^TT

The ending confused the heck out of me though. The rest of the movie followed the beginning of Ed and Al's adventures. But then suddenly it leapt all the way to the end of the series. 

Ah well.

That Parts That Stick With You

I unearthed a book of short stories that I had from a writing class. I no longer remember which class it was. I decided to read through the stories, since we only read a handful of them at school. 

I so far recognize one of them, but only from a single phrase. I remember the teacher pointing it out in class, and I elaborated on it. It's strange that one line should stay with me when nothing else about that book has. Not the teacher, or the school, or the class. We'll see if any more stories catch my memory like this one did.

 I keep stalling my first edit of Arrin's story. It's such a mess that it's going to be really confusing making it more cohesive. 

I'm afraid that may also end up the case with Arith's story. A lot of what I've been writing so far is brainstorming. Then I'll manage to plow ahead more, and then get stuck in more brainstorming XD

Accents

 Heheh. Arith has to use a fake accent in part of his story. Just the thought of him trying to act is laughable. Poor guy. Thinking of him faking any European accent cracks up. British, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, French, Russian, etc. But I need to think of the accent that Arith would choose. Hmmm. I wonder if I'm capable of figuring this out without any bias of my own. 

 

(Edit - I may not need to have him fake an accent after all)

Poems for Strangers

I was at a farmers market a little while ago. There was a guy with a tiny table, a typewriter, and a sign that said "poems for strangers."You could pay him the price you wanted, and he would write a poem on an index card. What an awesome idea! 

I asked him to write me a poem about something beautiful he'd seen in nature. That's what most of my favorite poems are about. Within a few minutes, he whipped up this beautiful poem about the time he saw an aurora as a kid. 

This is so cool! I wish there was more stuff like this around. 

Black bears - one chilling in the pool, another shaking off after a swim.

Introducing the Dusk dragon

Okay, I'm finally done. This is the last new dragon species. 

 

'I had the Sun, Moon, and Dawn dragons. It always felt weird that there wasn't a Dusk dragon. So I finally made one. Except they're extinct (I'm not sure yet if I'll have one or two still alive - dragons are very long-lived after all). They were driven to extinction during the big war. The same thing that wiped them out nearly wiped out the Moon dragons. Moon dragons continue to have few eggs as a lingering result. It's probably from some sort of biological weapon, but I have no details on it yet.

These guys were targeted because they're incredible dangerous in a fight. They're not particularly large, but they're very fast and maneuverable, thanks to their two sets of wings. And they spit explosive fireballs. They're also more ferocious than any other dragon (except maybe the Lash dragon). 

They have small forearms, but their back legs are long and provide them a way to spring into the air to get airborne quickly. They have a long serpentine tongue, and a long tail tipped with a sharp barb.

Heheh. It's cool designing these last 3 dragon species after working at a zoo for 3+ years. I can incorporate all these cool features that exist in real animals. Like the long, spring-loaded hind legs of a snow leopard.

Though I'm slightly concerned about the Earth dragon. Its neck is longer than its forelegs. How can it dig tunnels when its head sticks out farther than the claws do? TT^TT

 Aaand it's happened. I'm sick for the first time since the pandemic started. 

I'm vaccinated, so it's probably just a cold. Hopefully my immune system remembers how to act! 

Kind of inevitable, considering what work's been like this summer. The physical situation combined with being mentally exhausted @_@ 

 

I'll leave you with some meerkats.