Guess who stalled on this month's blog posts and is now desperately trying to catch up? 

While I'm supposed to be writing my story...

Maybe I can just dazzle you with some stripey horsies

 

 

Humor from Around the World

 I was just watching a British claymation series, and it got me thinking. I've heard people talk about "British humor" and I could certainly get a strong taste of that here. 

Watching anime or movies from Japan has such a different type of humor. And of course the more you learn about Japan, the more you find the humor. 

 There have also been some old black and white Mexican movies that had me laughing far too hard. And that was different too. 

The funny Korean dramas I watched might have seemed tacky, but instead they were hilarious.

What about American humor? I've grown up in it, so it's hard for me to really picture it as a whole. 

Either way, it's great seeing all these different ways of making people laugh.

Corrupt Characters Should Fit

Some books put crazy people in high positions. 

Now, let me explain. Crazy people get into top positions all the time. Just look at one of our recent presidents. But what bugs me is when a writer puts a greedy, selfish person in charge of something like a temple or school where everyone else is a good person. It makes no sense for a disgusting, nasty person to have climbed their ranks. The writer just did it for extra conflict, I guess. 

Part of this is probably me rebelling against real-life disgusting people stumbling into power/wealth.

Or maybe the poor character development just irritates me. Anyway, I guess I mention it because I just quit a book for doing this in a very abrasive way. It was a book meant for middle school students, I guess, but still. It just feels like it's giving kids a bad message.

Coco Tales

First of all, I'm a total nerd, and have a Coco lunchbox that I bring to work every day. 

 

I was helping at the zoo summer  camp again this year. In one of my camp groups, the kids were 5 years old. One day a couple of them asked about my lunchbox. So I pointed to the characters and introduced them (I gave them some major spoilers, which I felt guilty about XD ). Then more kids began to gather, until I was surrounded by a circle of six or seven kids, all listening to me talk about Coco and Dia de los Muertos. A couple of them had seen the movie, but most hadn't. I showed them pictures of real Dia de los Muertos celebrations, as well as pictures of the movie characters. I also played them the video of Poco Loco. I talked about the movie without using words like "this is where dead people live," but instead "this is where your ancestors live.Trying to make it a kid-friendly talk about ghosts XD 

 It was adorable. I wish I had a video of it. A couple of the girls kept returning and asking me to tell them about the movie.

(Also, I overheard one of the teachers telling the movie "Frozen" as if it were a storybook. I was impressed. Maybe she'd practiced it before, but the kids were entranced.) 

Also, this is hilarious. When I was with this same group of kids - the youngest - they would beg to hold my hand. To the point were I would sometimes be holding 2 hands in one of mine. Then my next group was the older kids - about 9 years old. And I had to "threaten" a couple of them by saying I'd hold their hand if they didn't behave. So, holding my hand went from being a reward to a punishment. Heheh.

Reading Update

 Tortall: A Spy's Guide, by Pierce

A guide book to the Tortall world. As usual, I'm fascinated reading these sorts of fantasy guides. It tells me what kinds of stuff I need to think about for my own worlds. And it brought back memories of so many books I read as a kid! I should re-read my favorites. I've forgotten so much.

Powersat, by Bova

A story of terrorists hijacking technology that should have been used for good. I'm not quite sure how to take it. I think it's meant to be in favor of clean energy? Also, the bad guys seem to be bad not just because they're terrorists, but because they're middle eastern. Probably because this came out soon after 9-11. But it still made me angry.

 

The Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh, by Naian

This one took me so long to finish XD It's so huge that I had to read it a bit at a time.It's an old classic from China. I understand how old it is, and how different that culture must have been. But I still got so upset about how little value life had. "Oh, we killed your wife and child. Sorry about that. We'll get you a new wife."

Voyage of the Frog, by Paulsen

I've read some of his books, like the Hatchet series and a couple others. I thought this one would be kinda bland because it was such a small book. But it was good! (Never judge a book by its cover!) It also helps that I read his biography, and I now know that he has experienced a lot of this crazy stuff himself!

Gorillas in the Mist, by Fossey

About studying gorillas in the wild. There's even a movie about her. I haven't seen it in a while, but I wonder if she was as strange as they made her out. 

The Hidden Half of Nature, by Montgomery and Bikle

All about the microorganisms that help life exist. It's easy to forget that people only learned about these tiny creatures pretty recently.

Robots and Empire, by Asimov

 I finished the series. Some parts of it I liked. But Bailey never seemed very good at interrogating. His technique is to badger the witnesses until they got pissed and tried to hurt him. Huh. 

I get that this was written in a different time, but some stuff still drives me crazy. And not just his views on women. But the fact that their ultimate goal is to fill up all parts of the galaxy with humans. Ugh, as if humans aren't invasive enough as it is.

The Plague Dogs, byAdams

I knew this book would be depressing, because I'd seen the movie. But the book had a very... different ending. It felt more like a gag ending. Or something from a fanfiction.  It did not fit the rest of the story. Though it left a much better taste in your mouth, I guess. 

The Maine Woods, by Thoreau

Maaan, this book makes me desperate to get out in the woods. I wish I still had a place I could explore without fear of getting in trouble for trespassing or something. TT^TT

Kokinshu

Finally finished! A book of Japanese poetry. A lot of them were really beautiful. I love how so much image can fit into so few words. 

The Big Rock Candy Mountain, by Stegner

This book... stressed me out. I probably wouldn't have finished  it if I hadn't quit a different book directly before.

Innocent Killers, by Jane Goodall

I love Jane Goodall's books! She's a great writer and has done so much for our world. This book was mostly about animals that a lot of people hate - hyenas, jackals, and painted dogs.  She wants us to appreciate them for their amazing qualities - not for their bad reputations. 

Actually, half of it was written by her then husband. It sounded like they were going to work on another similar book, but I guess it never came to be.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Sanderson

Oooh, this is the first really good fantasy I've read in a while. I pray the rest of the series stays good! I'm half way through the second book right now.  And so far it does not disappoint! The author has built such a real-feeling world. And he does an amazing job of making you think that all is lost, and then they somehow find a way of snatching victory despite that.

Reason for Hope, by Jane Goodall

Yet another amazing Jane Goodall book. It had so many amazing tales and ideas - definitely recommend. 

Seven Years in Tibet, by Harrer

This was way different from the movie. And it was very good. It's amazing to learn about how Tibet was before it was invaded.

Animals make us Human, by Grandin

Her animal books are amazing. She does a great job explaining why animals do things that seem strange to us.

The Future is Japanese, by Mamatas and Washington

Short scifi stories from Japan. I've read some other stories translated from Japanese, and this translation felt a lot more fluid that most.

Flamingo

I recently heard a very cute song about Flamingos. I always love finding stuff about animals that I get to work with. So I went back and listened to it some more. It's such a cute, fun song. I love it!

Then it hit me. This song fits Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. Just like the "Shiny" song that I used to fit Scarlemagne. So once again I had to set it to images. (the picture goes above the lyrics)

Black, white, 

 

 

green 

 

or blue

 
Show off your natural hue
Flamingo, oh oh oh-woah

 

 

If you're multicolored that's cool too

 

 You don't need to change
It's boring being the same

 Flamingo, oh oh oh-woah
You're pretty either way

 

 How many shrimps do you have to eat
Before you make your skin turn pink?

 

 

Eat too much and you'll get sick

 

Shrimps are pretty rich

 

Once I was working with a group of kids when out of the blue, one little boy asked me what "nothing" meant. 

My mind was blown. I tried to describe it, but I'm not sure I got through. It's a really fascinating question. How do you define nothing to someone for the first time?

Hmmm. I wonder if my newer stories are too short. Arrin's story will get longer when I finally build up the courage to edit it. But Evva's story is short too, and I can only think of one way to add a couple pages. 

I've wondered this before, but I was just looking at word counts, which has me thinking about it again.Katani's story wasn't too short. There was a lot going on in it though.

How short is too short?

Zym and Shalia

I'm watching The Dragon Prince. It's really good so far! Heheh. Was that a boomerang reference they slipped in? "Boomerang, you do always come back!" Yeah, it was a while before I stopped calling Callum "Sokka."

(I do wish it was traditional animation. But I'm biased XD )

Anyway, this is my point. Zym and baby Shalia are so similar. Even their colors are similar. It's bizarre writing about Shalia right after watching an episode.

Underground Dragon

A lot of Arith's story will take place in underground caverns. I keep wondering how I'm going to give Shalia a significant role. How am I going to include a fire breathing dragon when a good chunk of the story, and finale, takes place in narrow underground tunnels? 

 

True, Shalia is a narrow dragon, but I still need to make sure she doesn't fall into the background.