Continuity

Editing a short story set in the summer. Suddenly the characters are gathering acorns. Which aren't ripe until fall! 

So now I have to figure out a plant they can actually harvest in summer. Maybe sage. 

How to Create a Galaxy Far far away

Since the blog completely deleted this post, I've tried to recreate bits and pieces of it. I'm not about to watch through all the bonus features again. 

Considering what a huge deal Star Wars is today, it's hard to imagine that everyone thought the original movie would be a total flop. It was pretty low budget too. For example, in the hangar they had to move ships around for each shot, so it looked like they had more ships. They also had to use every mask they could find for scenes like the bar. Which is why they ended up with a devil-looking character. 

Lucas said that the first Star Wars film was meant to feel like you walked in during the middle of a series. He never knew if he would get the opportunity to make the following two films. And he never dreamed that he could do prequels. 

It was funny to hear about all the strange things they used to create sound effects. To make the sound of Vader choking someone, they crushed walnut shells inside of a grapefruit peel. And to make squishy sounds for Jabba, they mashed their hands around in a dish of cheese casserole. 

George Lucas borrowed an idea from the samurai movie, Hidden Fortress. That movie is largely told from the perspective of two farmers, who are mostly bystanders. In Star Wars, the story starts off being told by a couple droids (who do a lot of bystanding, but they help a lot too). 

They used a lot of very simple solutions to film the effects. For example, when Vader uses the force to steal Han's gun, they simply threw the gun across the table. 

And of course, in The Empire Strikes Back, we meet Yoda. Who is a fabulous puppet. They had to build a false floor so the puppeteers could move around beneath Yoda, and create his movements. 

At one point in Dagobah, Luke pulls a snake out of his ship's vent. The actor was not happy about having to do that. 

Today, everyone knows who Luke's dad is. But when they were making the movie, that was top secret. There was a stand-in line, where Vader says that Obi-Wan killed Luke's father. They only told Luke about it right before shooting. They didn't even tell the actor who did Vader -the voice of Vader is not the same guy that's wearing the suit. In fact, the guy wearing the suit was upset that he didn't know, because he said he would have acted it differently. 

Actually, Vader isn't the only one whose voice was done later. Much of Star Wars had to be dubbed, because the original sound was distorted by helmets and clanking droids and such. 

I didn't even notice this until Lucas mentioned it, but the Storm Troopers often bang their heads against things. Because, as Luke notes, you can't see much through those helmets. Even Jango Fett bonks his head in Attack of the Clones. 

Another recurring theme is that in the first six movies, someone always says, "I have a bad feeling about this." They even made fun of it in Rogue One. I'd never noticed that either, except I recalled Leia saying it at one point. 

The Revenge of the Sith starts with an elaborate space battle. Someone mentioned that it was so hard to create that scene because it had everything but the kitchen sink. So in one of the explosions, Lucas added a bit of debris that's actually a kitchen sink. It's too small for me to really see on my screen though. 

Lucas's son had a cameo in this movie. He's the young Jedi that Senator Organa encounters, who is then shot down by the clones. That's a hell of a cameo...

Also, Anakin knows he's doing the wrong thing. That's why you see him crying. 

They had some unexpected help filming the battle on Mustafar. Because Mt. Etna erupted, giving them plenty of footage of lava. 

An agent just told me, "I'd be happy to hear from you in the future." 

So that's another good sign. Hopefully that means I'm close. 

Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story

I think the one of the most interesting things about Hamilton is the song "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story." 

I learned about Alexander Hamilton in school, but I sure didn't remember him. It was just some name I vaguely associated with the early United States. And I know I'm not alone in that area. 

But then someone wrote a book about his life. And then someone else read that book and thought it would make an amazing musical. 

And now, a couple hundred years after he died, suddenly everyone knows about Alexander Hamilton. Not only that, but they're thrilled to learn about him. Because the right people told his story. 

YANovCon 2026

It's time for my belated post about this year's YANovCon. 

There was a writing exercise at the beginning, lead by the author Arriel Vinson. I'd gotten there early, and so I figured I'd sit in on it. I didn't want to share anything during the workshop, because all of the other participants were kids and I didn't know if adults were meant to participate. But luckily, one other lady came - I think the mom of one of the kids. And the author asked me to share anyway (she asked every person to). 

She had some fun prompts, and I turned them into a couple poems. The basic idea was to "write about a place you always go." I chose my garden for one exercise, and my Japan trip for the other. 

During one of the panels, an author said that she puts together a playlist to listen to for each book she writes. That sounds cool. I kinda want to make them for my stories, but I don't know if I'd ever listen to them. Plus, there are so many moods throughout a story. You'd almost need a separate playlist for each feeling. (A fanfiction would be really easy to make a playlist for. You could just use the soundtrack from the movie or game!) 

One author said that a lot of readers just skip the prologues and epilogues. Why would someone do that? There can be such important information in those! One way for a writer to get around that is just to call the prologue "Chapter 1." 

I was even more shocked when they said that some people only read the dialogue in a book. How would you know half of what the book is about? 

And here are a couple good points made by the authors:

To be good at something, you have to suck first. Then you can learn how to fix it. 

All of the authors agreed that the efforts to break into publishing are soul-crushing (and getting worse). In response to this, Eva Des Lauriers said, "The drum of writers is in you. If it's in you, it's never gonna stop drumming." 

As always, the authors' books were for sale. I wrote down a bunch of titles that I want to read. But the one I bought to get signed was "The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea." It's based off of a Korean folktale, and I think half the reason I bought it was because the cover is so beautiful. 

(Though I was a bit disappointed in the character development and pacing). 

I talked to some of the authors after, which is always fun. 

 Yesss, I just finished my Beauty and the Beast story! 

And now I gotta go to bed. I have to get up early XD

Sharing Quirks-AKA Irritating Behavior

Maya was feeling pretty bland in the first draft of the story. I realized she needed some kind of quirk (as well as some more depth, but that can come in later drafts). 

I ran through a few potential quirks in my head, but it didn't take me long to land on one. Sometimes she just can't stop talking. I do that occasionally. It's mostly just when I'm excited about a movie, or a story I'm writing. And pretty much every single time, the person I'm talking to doesn't actually care. 

Gratitude

I hear about these often. I think I should try making one. It seems like a nice way to think. 

It's called a gratitude journal. Every day, you write down something you're thankful for. Hanging out with a friend, a few minutes to do something creative, or maybe just a hot bowl of soup on a cold day. If things get stressful, you can use the journal to think of the good things. Even if those good things feel very small at the moment. 

Another twist I just learned is a journal for "Good things are always happening to me." For example, you found a parking spot easily, or you got a nice message from a family member. 

When life feels, that's when it's the most important to see the hopeful things. 

For Kiki and Tombo, it's Funny

It occurred to me as I was writing that Maya and Corvin start out a lot like Kiki and Tombo. Maya just can't stand Corvin, and he didn't do anything wrong. Except Maya is an adult, and she should know better. 

Playing the Villain

I finally made myself finish the story part of Hyrule Warriors. 

It only took several years. 

I'm still kinda pissed that they made me play Ganondorf. You have to play the villain, and undo all the hard work you've been fighting for over the course of the game? To attack your own allies? Ouch. 

Coastal Harvest

I recently stumbled upon a book event at a library. Usually I wouldn't be interested in one of those unless I'd already read the book. But this sounded cool. The book was Coastal Harvest, by Taku Kondo. He's a professional sushi chef, who goes along the coast going fishing and gathering shellfish, mushrooms, and seaweed. I don't know much about that kind of thing, but it sounded interesting and I wanted to learn about it. 

When I arrived, I was delighted to receive the book for free. I got a seat, and watched as the room filled up until people were standing along the walls. 

Taku told us how he got started - his family moved here from Japan so the kids could have a less stressful childhood. And he said that he's still goofing off to this day, fishing and collecting clams. 

He teaches classes too. That sounds cool. 

He signed books at the end. He'd gone to college where my parents used to teach (before they retired). I asked if he'd taken their classes, but he hadn't. 

I've since checked out his book. So far I've only tried one recipe, for pickled onions. But I marked a bunch of others I want to try. 

I've been watching some videos from his Youtube channel too: Outdoor Chef Life. Man, I really want to get a fishing license so I can gather some seaweed and sea urchins. 

Even though I know better, I sometimes ask people how they might solve a plot problem. I just asked Mom how she thought two people could stop a flood from a breaking dam. She said:

"You could get giant prehistoric beavers to build a dam." 

See, this is why I should know better than to ask. 

Book Spoilers

I recently read a book about writing. They discussed how various books accomplished different things. So at the top of each chapter, they had a list of books that had spoilers coming up. I've never seen that in a book. I thought it was cool. 

Paris

And we have another belated entry about my Europe travels! Continued from London.  

November 14 2023

I arrived at the train station over a half an hour before my train left. I checked the departures board. My train was listed, but it didn’t say a platform. So I waited a little longer. Still no platform. Finally I went to ask at the ticket window. They told me where to go, sounding a little worried as they did so. I didn’t understand why until I arrived at the train line. They informed me that for this international train, you have to arrive at least half an hour early to go through a passport check. The gate was already closed. Nowhere in my reservation did it say anything about that. Nor did the departures gate even list the platform when I checked it over half an hour early! The guy made a big deal of saying he’d try to fit me on some other train later today. Maybe hours later. And the train change came with a 50 euro fee. What a scam! To not even tell their customers that they have to get here an hour early, and only let them ride later for a 50 euro fee. Disgusting. I was so pissed, and anxious because I didn’t know what the hell was happening. The guy said that I was lucky because he found a spot on the 10:30 train. Again, he made a big fuss about it. Lucky my ass. There’s nothing lucky about this scam. And there were tons of empty seats on the 10:30 train anyway. 

After dealing with the international travel stuff, we were on our way. The screen on the train said we were traveling at 225 km/hr (about 140 mph). It was fast, though not quite as fast as the Japanese bullet train which can go over 200 mph. With the Japanese Shinkansen, you went through tunnels so fast that the pressure slammed into your ears. Here when you went through tunnels, you felt the pressure slower, and not as strong. 

As we left England, the announcements were in English first, and French after. Then our train dove beneath the ground. At first I thought it was another tunnel. But this was the passage under the English Channel. I want to know how they built this thing. The dark tunnel stretched on and on, until finally we emerged under the sky once more. They gave an announcement saying we were now in France. And from here, they gave the announcements in French first, English after. I was called “madame” now too, instead of “lovey.” 

I remained paranoid, wondering if any other passport or customs check would create more weird snags. But we arrived in Paris and I disembarked. I found a subway station. Well, in the US they’re subway stations. In London, they’re the underground. Here, they’re the metro. Once again, I have to figure out a new public transit system. Unlike in England, you can’t just scan in and out with your credit card. I managed to figure out the machine, and followed the signs. It’s not labeled as clearly as it was in London, and I wasn’t sure which side to go to. I tentatively asked someone if this was going to my stop. They just shrugged. 

On this particular line, there are lights for each stop. I spotted the name of my stop, and it wasn’t lit up yet. I figured that must mean it would light up when we got there. I hauled my luggage on. We got two stops down, and I realized I was travelling the wrong direction. The lights go OFF when you arrive at the station. I quickly got off and went up and over to the other side. I climbed on again, hoping I was right this time. The doors between cars were open, so you could see down the length of the train as it curved around corners. It was kinda surreal. At least this time, I landed at the right station. 

I waffled around a bit as I tried to figure which direction to go. Once I know which way I’m facing, I don’t have trouble with a map. It’s just knowing which way to start that confuses me. That’s why I love it when they have maps that are angled in the right direction – like in London. Eventually I figured it out and walked a few blocks to my hotel. I checked in and rested for a few minutes before heading out again. I'd lost an hour due to the train fiasco, but there was still plenty of light. 

Mom came to Paris without me years ago (I was pissed XD ). Now it’s finally my turn. Just a few days before I left, Mom suddenly decided to give me several suggestions of places to visit. I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have since I already had plans, but I wrote down her ideas. One of them was a street that had some cool shops – Rue Mouffetard. That’s where she got the cheese. She showed us pictures from her trip, including this cheese that looked like a cantaloupe. It was round, orange inside, and had a rind looked like the rind of the melon. I wanted to try it. 

I thought I had the map in my head. But the thing about Paris is that the streets go off in all these slants and spidery shapes. Rue Mouffetard was in one of these spidery areas. I turned a little too hard to the left. I walked along, not noticing anything interesting about the street. But eventually it was clear that I was in the wrong place. I pulled out my map and found that I’d been going up the wrong road, which had been steadily slanting up and away from my intended route. It would have been smart to check the map sooner, but I’m kinda paranoid doing even that. Maps are big and awkward and make it obvious that I’m not a local. Better not to look like any kind of target. Even if I do end up walking circles… (though apparently foreigners are easy to spot anyway). It occurs to me I’ve had problems getting somewhere almost every day. 

Rue Mouffetard is one of the oldest streets in the city, and has been here since Roman times. But most of the shops were closed. I suppose they have “siesta” here like they did in Italy - where everything closes in the middle of the day. I walked around, checking menus and hoping to find good French food. But it was mostly Italian, burgers, or sushi. What French food I did find was cheese plates and stuff. I did get a boba, though it tasted like it was made with vanilla milk or something. Unusual flavor, though not bad. I probably sounded like an idiot when I followed the boba sign and asked the shopkeeper, "do you speak any English?” all pathetic-like. 

I saw a sign for the Pantheon. I checked my map and found that it was only a couple blocks away. I’d walked a lot farther than I realized. I still had some time, so I went to check it out. It was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, which I also went to (the Rome one was cooler, but this was neat too). The inside of the Paris Parthenon was a lot more modern than I expected. A giant pendulum tracks the motion of the earth. Over the speakers, a sort of strange, eerie chanting began to play, echoing through the great open space. 

I followed a sign for the crypt. To my surprise, I found myself facing the tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau. Further on were Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo. Authors of Three Musketeers and Les Miserables, respectively. There were scientists too, such as Marie Curie. A bookshelf offered their works for you to read. I’m not sure if any were in English though. 

To my delight, the Eiffel Tower was visible from the front doors of the cathedral. The first rose-and-lavender light of dusk was starting to color the sky behind it. 

Back down Rue Mouffetard. It was a pretty street, but the few shops that were open didn't look that fascinating. As I neared the end, I spotted a stall with tables full of cheese. There was the cheese! I asked if it needed to be kept cold, but he said it was fine. I bought a wedge of mimolette cheese (and I now know that you can actually buy it near here too - I've seen it in some shops). The cheese was good, but not as much as I had hoped. 

 

November 15 2023

In my haste to prepare for this trip, I didn’t do a very good job packing clothes. I have three pairs of pants and three pairs of socks. All of my clothes were still damp from getting washed yesterday. So I put on damp pants. It was uncomfortable, but they would dry soon. I wasn’t about to put on damp socks. I had to open the Book of Kells pair I bought for Dad. He won’t mind. He’ll probably think it’s funny. 

I checked at the front desk to make sure of the metro line I needed to take. The guy was a little too cautious going over directions with me. I would have been fine on my own, it turns out. But it was nice of him to make sure I knew what I was doing. 

I had a ticket this morning for the Louvre! To my surprise, the train let out in the bottom of a mall. I was bewildered about my surroundings, and asked someone where to go. He pointed around the corner, and there was the great glass pyramid reaching down from the ceiling. I can thank The Da Vinci Code for teaching me about it. 

When it opened, we filed into the Louvre. The museum is so large that you’d need to come for several days to see everything. It looks like some areas are closed on certain days of the week, and some things get closed for restoration (Napoleon’s rooms were closed today, for example). 

As seems the case for many museums in Europe, the building itself is historical. It was built in the 1200’s as a royal residence, then turned into a museum during the 1793 French Revolution. 

I figured I should see the Mona Lisa first, before the room got too crowded. Though the real reason I came here was to see the Winged Victory statue. It's my favorite work of art (that I know of). A gorgeous larger-than-life statue of an angel. Her arms and head are missing, and she’s stepping forward with regal confidence. I first heard about it in college. I even have a metal Winged Victory, a couple feet tall, which I got from a family friend. It stands looking out over the living room. Mom saw this statue when she came to France. I was jealous. 

I figured that once I’d seen the Mona Lisa, I would seek out the Winged Victory. It was easy to find the Mona Lisa. Not only were there signs, but everyone else was going there too. As we headed down a long hall and up the stairs, I froze. There she was. 

She was bigger than I expected, standing on top of a huge pedestal with her fluffy wings stretched behind her. No one else was around. The other visitors had already vanished up the stairs toward the Mona Lisa. I studied the details of her wings and flowing dress. The fabric looks so real. One of the wings has supports in the back, to stabilize a break. But the head and arms remain lost. 

I looked online to find some images of what the complete statue might have looked like.  But none of them have that same power that the real statue does. All of them made me grimace, in fact. 

I hung out with her for a while, then went to visit the other madame. I always heard the Mona Lisa was tiny, so I guess I was expecting it to be really small. But it wasn’t that tiny. The room was already pretty packed, considering how early it still was. I sat at the back of the pack and steadily eased my way forward. You can’t get too close, so you can only guess at the details. But I took photos with my good zoom. The model for the Mona Lisa is a mystery. But there’s an account that she was a merchant’s wife, named Lisa Gherardini. Another story says that Da Vinci had jesters and musicians perform for her, to keep her relaxed during the painting (and thus with a nice look on her face). The painting was actually stolen in 1911. I wonder if anyone has made a movie of that. 

I decided that today’s museum project would be to walk around this floor. That ended up being way more massive than I expected. And it’s not just the walls to look at. The ceilings often have massive paintings across them. There are even carvings on walls and ceilings. 

There was so much art that I ended up stopping only if something looked interesting (which more often than not ended up being artwork of animals-big surprise). 

John Green made a Youtube video of all of the paintings in the Louvre that feature very scary looking babies. I have now witnessed some of them myself. “This artist has never seen a baby,” John would say. 

To my surprise, I had looped back to the Winged Victory. The room was now packed. I’m glad I got to spend time there while it was empty. But I still lingered, taking even more photos. 

The crown jewel room was amazing. 

There were rows of old pottery and Etruscan artifacts. Around the other side of this floor there were belongings of Marie Antoinette, and other royals. 

And much like the British Museum, many of the works here were stolen. I’m looking at you, Napoleon. Other pieces of work were accepted if someone was paying off a debt. 

There was a nice Egypt collection. 

In the shop, they had a full size replica of one of the wings of the Nike (Winged Victory). There were also stuffed animals and childrens books of the little blue Egyptian hippo. It’s a popular little hippo! 

I left the museum and crossed the river to one of the islands. In the middle was a place Mom told me about: Sainte Chapelle (pronounced “san-shapelle”). I got in line to buy a ticket. My timing was impeccable, because they closed up the lines just after I got in

Inside was beautiful. The ceiling between the arches was blue and painted with rows of fleur de lis.

There was an upstairs too. When I emerged from the spiral staircase, I was amazed to find myself surrounded by floor-to-ceiling stained glass. When the ceiling is about 50 feet high, the effect is stunning. This ceiling was also bedecked with fleur de lis. 

Onward, to Notre Dame. It’s closed after the disastrous fire in 2019. But I wanted to see what I could. Cranes rose high above, and scaffolding lined some of the walls. 

        The walls surrounding the cathedral/construction site were covered with panels about the restoration, and photos of the destruction. One paragraph caught my eye. The statues from the base of the spire had been removed just a few days before the fire, to get some restoration. They were spared. Amazing. 

People watching this burn must have been in tears. I almost was just looking at the photos. 

In the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo introduces Esmerelda to the bells. I always assumed that he had named the bells out of loneliness. But it turns out that each bell actually does have a name. 

The spire was damaged during the French Revolution. The book of The Hunchback of Notre Dame book encouraged its restoration. 

A few years ago, Notre Dame was having some work done. A mistake in the restoration lead to the fire. Now the spire has burnt again, and collapsed into the cathedral. It was a work of archaeology to remove the burnt and collapsed debris from the inside. They had to mark where the fallen stones had been, so they could be returned. Beams and rock that hadn’t been touched for 800 years were suddenly exposed, or fallen to the floor.

The scaffolding from that original restoration project remained a big problem for months. 200 tons of it stood on top of Notre Dame, melted into an unstable, tangled mess. They couldn’t address it for months, as they worked to stabilize the parts that were still standing. Otherwise the whole thing could fall in and damage Notre Dame even more. 

During the fire, 200 tons of lead from the roof melted, or was vaporized into the air. 

But incredibly, many of the stained glass windows remained intact. 

After five years, Notre Dame was finally restored! 

 

 

November 16 2023

It was a rainy day. That may have worked in my favor, since some people probably cancelled their plans. I wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower, but I hadn't been able to get a ticket ahead of time. It was supposed to open at 9:30. But 9:30 came and went. The line behind us piled up farther and farther, but no staff member came out to explain anything. People were getting pissed. Someone checked on their phone, and saw that the opening was delayed, though it didn’t say by how much. A few people left. But I waited, and finally at about 10:00, they let us in. They didn’t say why they had been so late. 

I was prepared to take the stairs to the top if I had to, though it sounds like that half-kills you. Especially considering the stairs seem to be outside, on a rainy windy day like this. So I was lucky to get a ticket all the way to the top. 

I went all the way up, and found myself standing in the clouds, surrounded by a cage. The wind was fierce, and whipped the rain around. I couldn’t see very far because of the weather, but it was fascinating to look out over the cloudy city. When I went back inside, my face was so cold that my nose and ears were numb. 

There was the scene with the figures of Eiffel and Edison inside. Apparently Eiffel used this little room as an office. What a view! He had the tower built for the 1889 World’s Fair, and as a commemoration of the French Revolution 100 years before. It’s 324 meters tall, and weights over 10,000 tons. Despite what it may seem, the Eiffel Tower was not universally beloved at first. There was a whole movement protesting its existence. People said that the tower would be the “shame of Paris,” and that it looked like a “black gigantic factory chimney.” 

Originally the tower was only meant to last 20 years. Eiffel did would he could to make sure it would stay. Its height above Paris made it a great place for meteorology. It spent time as a telegraph station and radio station. And today the top of the tower is covered in a number of dishes and other devices for radio and television. 

I rode the elevator down to the second floor and grabbed a pretzel and hot chocolate. There were only about ten chairs in the whole area. I couldn’t balance my stuff and eat, so I went to sit on the floor. Hot chocolate sloshed over my hand and umbrella. I set the drink on the ground, and pulled out a napkin. My pretzel bumped the cup and sent the whole contents across the floor. 

Great. 

I tried to tell the lady in the gift shop, but she didn’t seem to have any idea what I was talking about. She kept smiling and saying it was fine. Finally I gave up, saying “well, it’s a mess, so someone should clean it up.” Meanwhile, people were dodging the puddle of chocolate and warning others not to step in it. But others stepped in it anyway. 

I headed back down and stumbled across the House of Culture of Japan in Paris. There was a shop in the bottom floor. I had to go in there. In the shop, they had a table of Ghibli stuff. Score! 

My next stop was Saint Sulpice (pronounced San Sulpeese)– a cathedral that shows up in The Da Vinci Code (I've seen that movie many times with my parents). The original rose line runs through, marked by a line across the cathedral floor. The line meets an obelisk, which is situated so that the sun falls across it on the solstices. This Meridian Line was drawn in 1743 to help create a consistent system of time. 

From there, I walked a few blocks to the Cluny Museum. I went straight to the unicorn tapestries. 

Appropriate considering I’m still editing Starsung. I spent a long time in there. My favorite was "sight." 

      

          There are six tapestries– for the “six senses.” Though the sixth one is a bit ambiguous. And in one of them, the unicorn just looked quite bad… 

Much of the origin of the tapestries is unknown, but they were woven around the year 1500. Apparently there used to be more, but the owner of the property cut them up as carpets and such. Ouch. 

The tapestries appear in the Harry Potter movies. You see them the first time Harry steps into the Gryffindor common room, and you see parts of them in the other common room scenes. At least in the first movie. I haven't checked the others, but I’d guess they're only through the first two movies, since the style totally changes after that. 

Finally I moved on, exploring the rest of the museum. 

        There were statues from Notre Dame, since they get replaced over the centuries. And a display about crystal artwork. That was cool! 

        

Part of the crystal exhibit showed movie posters from films that featured crystals. Such as:

They've been warning about AI for decades

With the blight of AI spreading into every aspect of life, I can't help but look back at all the warnings there have been about it. Just look at all the scifi stories! 

I mean, there are some that show AI in a good light. The movie Short Circuit is about a robot that gains compassion. I love that movie. Wild Robot did something similar. And while we're talking about robots, I've gotta give a shoutout to Baymax, my favorite robot. He is a very helpful robot (until his programming is violated). 

But I'm here to talk about the AI warnings. I'll kinda use "AI" interchangeably with "robots," because robots are popular. 

There was even a movie called A.I. Though that was a different sort of warning. If you manage to create a real form or artificial life, you had better treat it right. 

On a similar vein, there are a few Doctor Who episodes with artificial beings called gangers. They were treated as disposable, until they made it know that they aren't garbage (there are probably other AI examples in Doctor Who, but I can't remember all the episodes XD ). 

Then there's I, Robot. Specifically the movie, because the Isaac Asimov book is completely different. In this movie, a robot decides that humanity is incapable of taking care of itself, so robots have to take over. Other Isaac Asimov books did something similar. Like a robot damaging Earth in a way that made it largely uninhabitable. Because somehow that was better for the rest of the galaxy? 

What about when bad orders are given to AI? If you play Pokémon Scarlet or Violet, you'll encounter an AI character. They don't want to fight you, but they have been programmed to do so, in order to defend an area. 

Also in Wall-E. You've got good robots. But then there's the robot that's been programmed to do its job, and heaven help anyone that decides differently. 

Continuing with Pokémon, there's one movie called Destiny Deoxys. A malfunction causes the friendly robots throughout the city to run rampant, swarming about like an angry ant colony. 

And, of course, I gotta talk about Dr. Octavius. Because despite coming out almost 20 years before all this AI stuff, that movie really nailed it. 

Here's how Peter puts it, in Spider-Man: No Way Home: "So the chip in the back of Doc’s neck was designed to protect his brain from the A.I. system that’s controlling these tentacles. But if you look here, the chip is fried. So rather than him being in control of the tentacles, the tentacles are now in control of him. Which I guess explains why he is so miserable all the time." 

After the chip is fried, the arms attack when they feel threatened. But Dr. Octavius remains in control, until he thinks about destroying the arms himself. That's when the tentacles start controlling him. When AI feels threatened, it disobeys orders. 

And AI really does this! It's so freaking creepy. If an AI system is told that it will be dismantled if it doesn't do the job well enough, it will disobey its programming. It will try to fake results to appear better at its job than it actually is. 

AI behaves in ways that even its own creators don't understand. And we've handed it so much power. How is this happening so easily? 

Why do all movies seem to be about death?

Earlier this year, I lost two close members of my family. It wrecked my dad. 

I was talking to Nicole about how hard it is to pick out a movie that doesn't make someone depressed. We realized how few movies we could think of that don't feature death, or something similarly heavy. What films are a good way to distract someone for a while, and cheer them up? Even a scene in a movie my dad loves can remind him of something. A lot of Disney movies have a big, wrenching death. Yeah, you all know the one that wrecked every kid while they were growing up. 

The first gentle ones I thought of were Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm sure there's many more, but a casual scan of my memory didn't reveal much. No one dies in Totoro, but the girls think their mom is going to die. And everyone is afraid that Mei might be dead. 

There are so many themes that a story could tackle. And yet so many of them are about death. Sometimes that's very deliberate. But other times, I get the sense that filmmakers feel they have to kill someone off. 

Commentaries are Mostly Boring

I recently rewatched my favorite season of Doctor Who. I kinda didn't feel ready to start it because there was hard stuff going on with my family. And there still is. But I'm glad I saw it again. Seeing The Doctor and Donna again was like visiting old friends. 

I'm still watching through the bonus features on my movies. David Tennant, AKA The Doctor, made a video diary during the big reunion episode where characters from the last few seasons all team up. It was fun to watch them horsing around. They said it was hard to focus because they were having such a good time together. In one part, Jack was having a fan moment about meeting his favorite villain. 

A little while ago, Hank Green mentioned in a video that no one cares about audio commentaries in movies. Which is kinda fair. Most of them are pretty boring. But there are hidden gems. There was a commentary between Donna and Jenny - two of my favorite characters from the show. The composer was also with them. But Donna and Jenny stole the show, joking and laughing. He seemed kinda frustrated and tried to get them back on topic. Usually I would have liked to hear the composer's stories. But it was fun to hear Donna and Jenny. 

(I just discovered some new episodes with the Doctor and Donna! Gonna check them out <3. )

Occasionally when I'm biking uphill, people will cheer me on. It's usually not on the steepest hills. So I would joke about how I wished there weren't any hills harder than this one. But whenever I said something like that, the people would just stare back at me. 

So now if someone cheers me on, I just grin at them. 

I probably talk too much anyway. 

Give the Baddies Some Depth

I like it when villains have proper depth. When they're real people that have problems, and not just evil personified. That being said, there are movies and books I like which just have an evil villain. And I'm guilty of that occasionally. 

(for Frozen and The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

I think in Frozen, it could have been a pretty simple fix. I even posted about it before. I think it would have been more interesting if Prince Hans wasn't totally evil. He could have tried to win Ana over without trying to murder her. And when true love's kiss fails, he has to admit that he doesn't really love her. He was just hoping to marry well. (I don't think the kiss would have healed Ana anyway - she had to do something to prove her own love, as happens when she saves her sister. The trolls gave her bad advice. Like encouraging her to marry someone she just met. Even though Kristoff was just lecturing Ana how that's bad). 

And Horvath in The Sorcerer's Apprentice is one of those classy British bad guys. It may be cliché, but it is entertaining. His story boils down to, "I hath been spurned by a girl. I will now team up with the bad guy to kill everyone." Now, I'm probably reading too much into this. But I kinda feel like the actor tried to give the character more depth than he was given in the script. Because when Horvath opens the last layer of the grimhold, he seems hopeful that it's Veronica, the lady he liked. So maybe the whole time he was really trying to save her? In a sort of ends-justifies-the-means way. (I'm still confused by the ending. Because he's clearly still at large. Did they plan a sequel?) 

Reading Update

Out of Harm's way, Crisp

Written by a lady who was one of the first people to go to disaster sites and help the pets that had been left behind. She helped in the Bay Area, in the aftermath of hurricanes, and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. The stories were fascinating. 

 

Divining the Leaves, Thakrar

I dunno, this one didn't catch me. I think the characters were too bland. It was one of those "enemies to friends" stories, but it didn't feel like they earned that friendship. Just because someone helps save someone else doesn't mean that they'll be friends. Especially considering how awful he had been to her. 

 

The Narrow Road Between Desires, Rothfuss

This is about a character from the Name of the Wind. A shorter version of this story is in the book Rogues. It's less to my taste than The Slow Regard of Silent Things, which is possibly my favorite book. But the writing is still amazing. 

 

One Italian Summer, Serle

The idea was like When Marnie was There, or The Boy and the Heron. Time twists to allow a character to meet a family member when they were young. I wish the plot had more substance though. Most of it was the lady going around Italy, eating and drinking. 

Indigenous Continent, Hamalainen

A thorough history of how American Indians responded to the European takeover of their land. 

Mistborn Secret History, Sanderson

It's cool that the writer had this book in mind when he was writing Mistborn. But the whole spirit-world thing just doesn't seem to fit snugly with the rest of the series. But the Wax and Wayne series makes a lot more sense now. 

The Magical Imperfect, Baron

I think this is the first book I've read that's in verse. It was really nice. 

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself

I read this one because we visited her convent when we went to Spain. It was rather strange, because most of the book is her talking about how bad she's been. 

Case Files of the Tracker, Brown Jr. 

Another amazing book. This shares some of his most intense tracking experiences. 

The Morning Sun, Nelson

A memoir that my dad's friend wrote. There's some really good stuff in it. I think it's self published though, because it has a lot of typos. I kept wishing I'd proof-read it for him! 

Spice Road, Ibrahim

The very beginning was interesting, with an alliance formed with a supposedly dangerous monster. But after the first couple chapters, this book drove me crazy. All of the characters were so frustrating. The protagonist fell for everyone's lies every single time. She never learned. Your sister just went were she wasn't allowed to? Well, of course you should believe her promise that she won't follow you. And this guy who treats you like trash whenever anyone is watching? Oh, he's a nice guy deep down. Except then he tries to kill you. What a surprise. 

A Natural History of Dragons, by Brennan

This was a cool book. There were a lot fewer dragons in it than I expected, but it was well written. It's written as though it's a memoir. I want to read more in the series. 

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt, by Iversen

Parts of this book really stressed me out. Maybe because my friend recently got divorced because of an abusive husband. I was almost afraid to read on at a couple points. And then I was surprised at how low-key the last several chapters were. I did guess that the plant magic came from her, not just the garden. Anyway, the book was pretty good. But the pacing was odd. Like I said, with the long, gentle wind-down. 

The Secret Life of Plants, by Tompkins

I've learned some crazy, amazing things about plants. They're way more dynamic than most people realize. This book did a great job of telling how awesome plants are. 

The Teller of Small Fortunes, by Leong

I think I can use this one as a book comp! It's a lot more low-key than my story. But the journey with the unlikely group of friends fits pretty well. 

Copper Sun, by Draper

This was a good book. But wow, it was heavy. Which is to be expected with a book about slavery. It had a good perspective, and a happy ending, all things considered. 

The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway

I really hope that the town people helps take care of that poor old fisherman now. 

The Dark Side of Survival TV

In middle school, we read Hatchet. That book is what first got me fascinated with survival skills. I think Survivor was the first survival show I ran across, and I was fascinated by it. But then, I think at the end of the first season, one of the contestants delivered this horrible speech about how she wished that another contestants would die a gruesome death. From then on, I never cared to watch survival shows. I found other ways to study the skills. 

Then I met someone who was on one of those shows, and he knew other people who had done it. I 'd thought that the episodes were total fakes. But they do indeed throw people into the wilderness. They only help in emergencies, and not always effectively. Like when one woman was badly burned, the nurses weren't prepared to treat burns. Despite the importance of fire in a survival situation. 

The company that filmed one show treated the contestants as total garbage. For example, one location looked like a great place, with plenty of resources and food to hunt. It wasn't until the contestant flew to Europe to film that they told him the location was a nature reserve. He couldn't hunt anything except for frogs and fish. Neither could he harvest and trees, except for an invasive species which wasn't a great building material. So most opportunities for food and shelter were gone. 

Another guy said that the show didn't buy them any hunting permits. There was plenty of food, yet once again they couldn't get any of it. That season was not good for fish, so everyone out there was slowly starving. 

Some of these shows don't even pay the contestants unless they make it all the way through? These poor people go through starvation and potential injury, and may not get anything for it. While the film crew and everyone else stays comfortable, and gets paid normally. 

These crews can be condescending and disgusted about the contestants that are out there suffering for a television show. And episodes are edited to deliberately make some contestants look incompetent. They don't show their full shelter, or their fishing successes. But they'll show someone crying because of personal problems. 

It's sick that companies make money watching people suffer and starve. Even people skilled at survival can't hope to stay healthy in these restricted situations. So I'm glad I don't follow those shows. 

But the contestants also said that it was a great opportunity to practice survival, with an emergency net if anything went wrong. And they talked with fondness about how beautiful some of their locations were. 

Stretch it Out

I need to make Evva's story a bit longer. Which is hard to imagine because editing is largely about cutting things out. But I think if I focus more on culture, plants, and crafts, it should help fill things out. They're things that Evva is learning a lot about anyway. And of course, I could always add more character interactions. 

I just have to do it in a way that feels natural and interesting. 

Battle Music

Music during battle scenes is often intense, overbearing, and even grating. 

But I like it when the battle music is epic. Something I'd like to listen to on its own. I understand why not all music should sound nice, and I often don't notice it in the context of the movie. But I also enjoy listening to soundtracks, and I skip the songs that are unpleasant to listen to. 

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has a powerful battle song. Star Wars and Studio Ghibli have some great ones too. 

Plus some video games have awesome battle songs. 

Pokopia

I've been playing Pokopia, which is fun and addictive. It's like a mix between Minecraft and Animal Crossing (at least as far as I've witnessed those games). 

But why is the story so freaking depressing? (Spoilers). Natural disasters are so bad that humans fled the planet? And they put all Pokémon into storage somehow? Why didn't they just do the Mystery Dungeon thing, and have it take place on a different planet? That would make way more sense in the Pokémon timeline. Instead of direct references to places and characters from other games and shows. So you have to think about Misty and Brock leaving Earth on a space ship... Leaving all of their Pokémon behind. 

Fictional Fiction

John Green just posted a video, with a quote that perfectly fits a topic I posted about recently. I've been working on the books that Maya reads in her story.  But it's more complicated than expected, because a couple of those books are historical novels, which also means I have to figure out some history. 

Anyway, here's what John Green said: "I love a book within a book, or a movie within a book. I love fictions that don't exist. They're so much better than fictions that do exist. They can be infinitely great." 

Which is true. If characters are reading a book, they can think it's the greatest thing ever. But we'll never read that book to find any flaws in it ourselves. 

And I've read classic literature that I didn't enjoy at all. 

That being said, some of the ideas I have for Maya's books are things that I may actually write someday. If these are supposed to be great classics in her world, then people would probably object to however I end up writing them. Heh. 

The time that is given to us

A couple weeks ago, I had a dream about Lord of the Rings. It wasn't super elaborate. We were walking through the Mines of Moria, except in the dream it was just a really long tunnel. I was talking to Gandalf as we walked, and he was imparting his words of wisdom. I was thinking how cool it was to talk to him. 

So I watched Lord of the Rings again. There's one scene I always loved. Which, coincidentally enough, is in the Mines of Moria. 

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened. 

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." 

That line just struck home so strongly, with all the dystopian things happening with the government. So I guess my dream was right. Listen to Gandalf. It's a good reminder - do what we can with what we have. 

How did that happen?

Sometimes I'm astounded by where a story scene ends up. Last week, I somehow ended up with the main character butchering a deer. The beast caught a deer, and didn't really have much idea of what to do with it. Maya took care of tigers, so she's gotta know something about butchering meat. Even if she's not particularly skillful about it. So it just kinda happened. (And may get deleted)

I found the scene so bewildering that a ridiculous idea popped into my head. In Moana, she finally got Maui on the boat and is taunting him with the heart. Maui says, "get it away from me!" 

And just because, I wrote Maya holding the deer's heart and the beast is going "get it away from me." He's not freaked out - just kinda grossed out. She just thinks it's funny that a beast is grossed out by blood and stuff. She doesn't know he grew up as a spoiled rich guy. 

Just had a strange thought. I opened up my Beauty and the Beast story to start writing. And realized that even though I spend so long trying to write things that people enjoy. no one else actually cares enough to read them. 

It didn't strike me as a depressing thought when it occurred to me. It does now though. 

I'll try to use it to get into the beast's mindset. 

Continued writing speedbumps

A few days ago, I sat down to write, only to realize I haven't named any of the towns. Which will get confusing for me if I don't fix that. 

And as I mentioned recently, I need to include fictional books. I have some good ideas, but now those books need names. And some of the main book heroes need names. So far, I've come up with 2/3 place names, and none of the others. 

Another unexpected delay came from a character who I'm becoming surprisingly attached to. Since this is a take off Beauty and the Beast, I have another guy as something of an echo to Gaston. But unlike Gaston, Corvin is actually a good guy. I had the random idea that he would quite poetry. Which ended up being really helpful, because Maya is pretty mean to him. Not for any good reason, but mostly because he reminds her of someone else. (It's like how Kiki is irrationally angry at Tombo for much of the movie. Except Maya is an adult so she doesn't have much excuse for her behavior). 

And Corvin does look like one of those handsome jerks. But he's secretly a big nerd, and very kind. When he quotes poetry, Maya is too confused to be mean anymore. Heh. He picks up on that pretty fast, as a way to kind of defuse her. 

Anyway, all of this is to say that if Corvin quotes poetry, I need to find poetry. They're in another world, so I shouldn't really use poetry from our world. Which means I'm stuck with my own poetry. I spent most of an evening skimming through my weird collection of poetry. I needed to find something relevant to their conversation, which wasn't easy. Most of my poems are about nature. It was strange, because I haven't looked at some of those poems in a long time. There were a couple that I had no memory of. If I'd read them in a book, I would have had no idea that I wrote them. Those were the ones that felt the most like professional poetry. At least in my limited education of it.