Alone in the Jungle (Not really)

Well, I'm through with AT&T. None of the staff seem to know anything. I spent almost 2 months trying to prep my phone to work in Peru. After tons of calls and in-store visits, I only had staff telling me completely opposite info every time. And yet in they end, no one could make it work. Even though I know it can work in Peru. 

So I'm quitting them when I get home. 

I'll be without phone and probably internet for two weeks, so I'll have a lot of messages to get to when I'm back. Hopefully I won't need a phone to contact anyone, or fix plane flights or anything. 

But I'm here! I'm in Iquitos, in the Amazon! And tomorrow I meet up with the study group. 

Peru

 I'm leaving for Peru in just a couple hours. 

I've spent about three months getting everything prepared. Then at the beginning of this month, we all got sick. I was so tired that I couldn't do much for a while. And I couldn't run errands. So I lost about 2 weeks that I was planning to tie up loose ends. 

And stuff that I had prepared over a month ago is suddenly falling through. For example, I had my phone all set up to work in Peru. And now I'm realizing how utterly useless this phone company is. They've been screwing up parts of my phone plan ever since, and I'm probably going to quit it when I get home, because I have no idea if I'll have a phone when I get to Peru. And some of my flights keep getting cancelled. So how will I fix that if I don't have a phone? 

So yeah. I'm super excited, and extremely nervous.

Cross your fingers! 

 

 Wolverine

Respect the Endings

I usually find endings to be the most powerful part of the movie. Probably because that's what you walk away with. It's like the last bite of your dinner is the taste that lingers. 

So I get really... irritated when people ruin the ending of something. Especially if it's something I've never seen before. And if I watch something with a friend, I try to extend that courtesy to them. Nick and I just watched the season 2 finale of Sherlock. He'd never seen it before. And while I don't care about the show beyond this point, this season finale was so powerful. 

And of course my parents happened to be around. Just before we started the episode, my mom spoiled the ending. I told her to be quiet, but she continued talking, spoiling even more of it. 

That was bad enough. But when we finally got to the ending, Dad walked in and started talking loudly to Nick. I asked him three times to stop talking, but he ignored me and continued talking. Effectively ruining the entire part I'd been looking forward to.

As a writer, I take endings very seriously. And I get really pissed off when people are utter jerks about wrecking endings, especially if it's someone's first view. 

Don't do it.

Giraffe

Man, my blog posts have been pretty sparse these last couple months. 

Though I have a good excuse! I've been swamped prepping for my Peru trip @_@ That means when I get home, I won't have an excuse for not keeping up with my blog.

Mexican Gray Wolf

Unicorns in the Sea

Long ago, I had an idea for a writing exercise. I wanted to take some of my favorite movie finales, and try writing them out. I even made a list of the different movies I wanted to try. A while ago, I found that list and realized that I didn't care about writing out most of those scenes anymore. Though I still liked most of them. 

But there was one that still called to me. The Last Unicorn. 

 

So I finally tried to recreated the final battle in my own words. I figured I might as well post it on fanfiction. So here it is!

I'm not sure if it came out too flowery. I was trying to capture the scene and the feelings. I didn't spend any time trying to set up the characters and context. It would have taken away from the scene. So I just threw in some quick context at the beginning.

Howl's Moving Castle

Aaand, I've seen one more Ghibli movie on the big screen!

Howl's Moving Castle. This was actually the very first Ghibli I ever saw on the big screen. But that was many years ago. Howl is so detailed that I was eager to see it again. And I still feel there's a lot I missed. I went with my parents. We've seen it many times, and we all love it. But we were blown away all over again.  

The ending is rather odd, with the identity of a certain scare crow and an abrupt end to the war. And it's always kind of felt like Sophie is telling you to run away from your problems instead of standing to fight? And it used to rub me the wrong way that she started kissing everyone at the end of the movie. But I don't really care that much about these complaints. The rest of the movie is just so stunning and entertaining that it's always been one of my favorite films.

One thing that struck me anew was Howl. I always liked him. It's hilarious that he seems so cool and smooth at first. And then he pitches a fit like a little kid. But as Calcifer says later on, Howl still has the heart of a child. And his animation is so beautiful. The way his hair movies, his clothes, even the monster and bird forms. I've always known that. But seeing it in so much detail is a whole different story. 

The bacon and eggs scene always makes me hungry. And I almost never like bacon. Miyazaki's food animation is unbelievably mouth-watering. 

I tried reading the book, because I loved the movie so much. They were quite different. In the book. they kill the Witch of the Waste, and that breaks Sophie's curse. Miyazaki has them befriend the Witch of the Waste. Because human evil is never so simple. And Sophie breaks her own curse. It slowly weakens as she grows stronger. 

And I love the dog.

Jeez, I just love this movie all over again. I already want to re-watch it.

Secret Cosplay

Okay, in the Pokémon Sun and Moon games, there's a gangster named Guzma. 

 

I've just been watching a few replays of those games to get info for my Pokémon fanfic. Guzma kinda reforms at the end. (And if you're ever played Pokémon Masters, you can see him being almost sweet, which was unexpected and hilarious. That game is quite sappy at times, but that's kinda its charm).

 Anyway, why do I mention this? Well this month at work, I was doing a shift at the petting zoo and a group of teenagers came in. I'm always kinda excited when it's not just little kids and their parents that come in. Because I love the goats, and I want everyone to get a dose of goat love XD

Anyway, one of these guys caught my eye. He was wearing a black jacket with white zigzags down the sleeves. I wouldn't have recognized it if I hadn't just been gathering data for my fanfic. Even so, the jacket may have escaped my attention. But this guy had white fluffy hair with black roots. So as I started talking to them about the animals, I slyly asked, "is that a Guzma jacket?" At which the guy got very embarrassed and told me to keep it a secret. 

But I love it! Secret cosplay at the zoo. Another of the teenagers was in a Mewtwo shirt. So double bonus. 

I've occasionally worn a subtle character costume when I was out and about. Just a shirt or accessory or something. And no one really notices unless I'm actually at a convention, or it's Halloween or something. I love costumes. I love seeing them, and dressing up occasionally. Even though I'm not one of those people that looks awesome in costumes XD. But dressing up can make you feel a little like someone else. It's fun.

Beware the Tense

The worst is when I'm writing something in past tense. And then I switch to a project in present tense. Present is hard enough on its own, since I'm not used to it. But when I switch back and forth, my brain just can't keep up.

Snow Leopard

Reading Update

 The Princess Diarist, Fisher

Princess Leia's story about filming the first Star Wars movie. I liked a lot of her stories, though this book was mostly focused on a certain romance. She's really poetic. 

They Can't Kill us Until they Kill Us, Abdurraqib

A series of essays about music and equality. Some really stick with you.

 

Voyage of the Bassett, Christensen

As a kid, I loved this made-for-TV show called "Voyage of the Unicorn." I recently found it was based off of a book series. So I tried it. But the TV show was too nostalgic for me (hokey as it is), so the book felt kinda flat. 

All the Impossible Things, Lackey

A story of finding family in unexpected places. With a hint of fantasy.

 

The Dark Half, King

I don't usually read Stephen King books. But this one was on my reading list (and as usual, I don't know why it was on my list). After a couple people got slashed to death, I was afraid that the ending would be much worse. But luckily it wasn't. And it was an interesting concept, with a pen-name that comes to life.

 

Zoo Story, French

It was hard to tell if this book was for zoos or against them. Or whether or not they were condemning certain people. People they were scolding they later seemed to forgive. I guess they were trying really hard to be neutral about it. Anyway, it was like those zoo shows they have on TV.

 

A Graveyard for Lunatics, Bradbury

This book just... confused me. 

 

The Incredible Tide, Key

I read this because it's what "Future Boy Conan" is based off of. It's not a long book. It's amazing to think that Miyazaki could turn this into a full series. And of course, he changed most of it. The book felt rather bland in comparison XD

The Blue Sword, McKinley

I didn't realize this was a sequel to a book I'd read before. It was good though. So far I like this author's fantasy stories.  Though I'm noticing she has a way of using confusing magic to win the day.

 

Eaarth, McKibben

Well, this was a depressing book. I learned a lot of this in school, but it looks like I needed the refresher. It's all about how we're screwed with climate change. But it's also so important. I think the scariest part is that this book is old now. How have things changed since then? 

 Journey of the Pink Dolphins, Montgomery

I like her animal books. And this one is about the area I'm about to go in Peru! It was fascinating to hear all of the mythology about the dolphins. 

 

Shadow and Bone, Bardugo

So far I've only read the first book in the series. I'm going to try the tv show next. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep reading.

 

Horse Thief, Peck

When I started this book, I was kind of concerned that pretty much every character was a jerk. Luckily that was not the case! I like the nice guys (usually). It was an unlikely crew on a noble quest.

 

Dogs that Know When their Owners are Coming Home, Sheldrake

Okay, here's one bizarre study from this book.  They had a robot that would randomly move back and forth and side to side. When it was by itself, it moved randomly across the enclosed area. But then they hatched some chicks, and had the chicks imprint on that robot. And when the robot was turned loose outside of their cage, it spent almost all of its time right beside the chicks. It was as though the chicks were calling their robot dad to them.

 

Paper Menageries, Liu

A series of short stories, some sci-fi, some fantasy, and mostly about Chinese mythology or culture. They were fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking. My favorite was the Paper Menageries one. I love the idea of breathing life into origami. But man, so sad!

 

Nim Chimpsky, Hess

A book about one of the first chimpanzees that scientists ever taught to use sign language.  I've learned how they used to treat these kinds of study animals, but it's still is hard to read. For example, usually when the chimps have grown up and were no longer sweet babies, they were dumped in research labs. There they were kept in little cages and used in experiments. That nearly happened to this chimp.

 

My Sister's Keeper, Picoult

When I finished this, all I could think was reverse-deux-ex-machina. The total blind-siding of the ending kinda made me mad. 

 

The Anthropocene Reviewed, Green

I really like John's nonfiction writing! I suppose that's not surprising. I always liked his "Thoughts from Places" videos. 

 

Equal Rites, Pratchett

I've been on the fence about the few of his books I've read. But I really liked this one! It's one I should have read in high school. 

 

Wonderbook, Vandermeer

 My cousin lent me this book about writing. I think it was a good book. But the illustrations and diagrams were so confusing that it's really all I remember. For example, several charts saying that a story is a lizard.

 

Hyperion, Simmons

 I liked the format of each person telling their story. But I didn't realize it was the first book in a series. I was really confused when it ended apparently right at the beginning of what they were building up for. I looked up summaries of the other books, to try to find out if I wanted to continue reading. But they didn't even make sense to me.

 

Teen Killer's Club, Sparks

I loved that this normal girl was able to help several very troubled teens feel like actual human beings.

Animals Should Behave Like Animals

I just read The Life of Pi. And I was impressed at their discussion of animal behavior.  He really nailed it. It was detailed and accurate, and I didn't notice anything wrong though I've worked at a zoo for over four years.

Which made it even more contrasting when I saw the new Jurassic World. Their portrayal of animal behavior was totally nonsensical from the get go. Like Owen roping a freaking dinosaur on horseback. As if a horse could hold down an animal five times bigger than itself. And then Owen had this full-on How to Train your Dragon approach, holding out his hand and petting the dinosaur's nose to automatically calm it. That worked for Toothless, because he was an intelligent dragon who understood that this boy was trying to make peace. But the parasaurolophus was a terrified animal being hunted. 

And of course, how could a handful of dinosaurs of various species come to populate an entire planet?

And then there was that long-clawed vegetarian dinosaur. I remember learning about it long ago, but I forget what's it's called. In the movie it walked right up to a deer, who completely ignored it. And then the dinosaur slashed the deer. Deer are so freaking jumpy, they would never let anything get so close.

And then when they evacuated all of the dinosaurs from the fire, all of these different species calmly walked into the arena, like kids on a fire drill. Panicking animals would not quietly walk into an unfamiliar place with a ton of unfamiliar animals, many of which were predators. 

Their approach seemed to be to throw in as many new scary looking dinosaurs as possible. Even though the actual threat of the movie was bugs. (A few years ago, I heard that this movie was originally going to be about some sort of human plague. I'll bet anything they changed it after Covid hit. Assuming the rumor was true).

It's a shame, because I might have been more interested in the plot otherwise. It was cool to have all of the old and new characters working together. This is why you do research. Because otherwise you just end up with scorn from your audience @_@

And?

I'm still working on the series of Mrs. Murphy books. I generally get the audio books from the library. But there was one book they didn't have. So I checked out the actual book and read it the traditional way. 

And for the first time, I noticed that she often will leave out an "and" when she's listing something. I never realized before, I guess because when it was read out as an audio book, it sounded more natural. I suppose when I'm talking, I'll skip "and" sometimes. I never really thought about it. It's only when I see it on paper that it sticks out to me.

Young mandrill