I have a problem.
Every character needs some kind of flaw. Perfect characters feel boring and unrealistic. Up until now, my excuse is that the POV character doesn't see his flaws. Which is okay. But just because she doesn't know his flaws doesn't mean that I can ignore them.
This story has been through many revisions. I should have the characters well understood by now. So why am I incapable of thinking of a flaw for this one guy? Maybe I'm thinking too big... Gotta go simpler...
Sometimes I pass empty lots where a gas station used to be. These remain empty for years, I guess because of potential contamination or stuff buried underground? Despite the value of the property, no one wants to take liability for what might be left there (Someone told me that, anyway. Not sure if it's true, but it makes sense).
You know what they should do with those abandoned lots? Put old film sets there! Especially interesting, unusual ones. Like The Borrowers, where everything is built huge to make people look two inches tall.
Or a city from Middle Earth.
Or a wardrobe that opens into a snowy forest.
Wouldn't that be so cool? To have these magic corners that you could explore? It may not be feasible, but I still think it sounds awesome!
I finally got a new printer when my computer stopped supporting my ancient one. I scanned through the directions and warnings as I set it up.
Do they really need a disclaimer about paper cuts? There's not even any paper included. Unless you count the direction booklet itself. Are they going to start having a paper cut disclaimer on all booklets?
And I guess they also have to warn you to not drink the ink.
I finished Dragon Prince. I think? I guess it's not actually done, because they sure didn't finish the story.
I enjoyed the first season or two. Then I got distracted from it while I caught up with other shows. So by the time I finally watched the last two seasons, I'd forgotten a lot of details. That may be a part of why I felt how I did about the last two seasons. But it certainly wasn't the whole reason.
Part of what threw me was the extreme contrast between quite dark stuff, and really stupid stuff.
And I love the reference to, "Hello. Zuko here." But Terry is such a bizarre character. He helped do some really terrible things. But for some reason, killing a bird was too much for him? And a reason that the good guys accepted him on their side is because his farts smell nice?
And then you get Claudia, who almost destroyed everyone. For no actual reason, because she knew it wouldn't bring her dad back? And then she claims, "I'm still nice."
And they killed all the big dragons? Zyms parents? And didn't actually solve anything by doing so?
I don't actually know what happened at the ending. They lost me. Everyone had some strategy to take down the bad guy. Like Callum's dark magic. And I guess all of them failed?
I dunno. I may rewatch season one, because I know I enjoyed that. I assume they'll release another season again, after another time skip. But I don't know if I'll watch anymore.
I finally started reading Daemons of the Shadow Realm. It was only a matter of time. After all, the author wrote my favorite manga/anime: Fullmetal Alchemist.
One of the characters in this new series is a mangaka (manga writer/artist). And everyone gushes about how good his work is. Like how writers like to include writer characters (and so on).
I just read a chapter in which the TV was playing in the background. And what was on the TV, but the Fullmetal Alchemist anime. Well played. Even if it was a sad episode they picked.
I just finished rewatching Arcane. Though I do like many of the characters, I rewatched it for Viktor's sake.
I started the final episode (Last year, I actually saw part of this one at my cousin's house - the weird white dolls swarming all over the place). My mom happened to come through right as it started. Of course, she took a seat and started eating a sandwich. I started trying to explain things to her, and somehow she managed to follow it okay. I cheered for the good guys, so she knew who was on what side.
"The bad guys look intimidating. Actually, that guy looks intimidating, but he's a good guy." Not the best bit of advice for this particular show.
"That's the evil queen. She's basically a one-woman army. But her daughter just found out she has magic, so she can fight back. But it was really dumb of Caitlyn to give the evil queen a weapon. She knows she's no match for her." Then the Black Rose thing appeared, and I had to admit, "I don't really have any idea what this scene is about."
Yeah, I'm impressed she managed to follow any of it. And that she hung around through the whole evil queen fight. She saw the evil Viktor walk in, and commented on the weird third arm. I just told her that it was a good person who had been weaponized. I decided not to say that it was once my favorite character from the show XD
There have been a couple times now where I hear someone say that they were a nerd before it was cool to be one. I'm pretty sure John and Hank Green said this (or maybe just one of them). And the guys from Cinema Therapy said it too.
That's not the same way you say something like, "I liked the Beatles before they were popular!" No. It means that before it was cool to be a nerd, you were teased or bullied for it.
I think some time while I was in high school, it started to be less lame to be a nerd. I still accredit that to How to Train Your Dragon. But through elementary and middle school, I was picked on for being a nerd. So when I hear someone say that they were a nerd before it was cool, I feel an instant camaraderie.
I've been researching the threatened post about Viktor, and I stumbled upon an interview that his voice actor did. He said that "when I was a schoolboy nerd, they weren't really cool." So of course I was thrilled.
For a while now, I've had a strange series of foot injuries. Well, not just a while. A pretty damn long time, to the point where I think I'm walking on my foot wrong, and causing further problems. At the moment, it will be okay until I aggravate it. Which it currently is. So as I'm limping around, I can't help feeling an extra kinship with Viktor.
And on top of it, I tweaked my back a little bit yesterday. Yep, back and right leg. Certainly not as bad as what Viktor's dealing with, but we could go on a nice, hobbling walk together.
Video games drive me crazy. Why does every game use different buttons for the same controls? In one game, a key makes you jump. In another game, that same key makes you attack. So you try to fight off an opponent, and instead find yourself uselessly hopping in the air, because you were just playing a different game.
I have a confession. I actually really like some AI stories. Short Circuit, Wall-E, and Big Hero Six are all about machines that have gained consciousness. Well, I'm not totally sure about Baymax, since his programming can be controlled against his will. But I do love him.
I believe that in one of the trailers for Wall-E, they said that he existed for so long that he kinda became alive. But the modern robots, like Eve, seem alive too. And I love what they did in Short Circuit. A war robot was hit by lightning, and gained life and compassion.
These floods of AI development are so dangerous and scary. There's no responsibility to this powerful technology. Technology that is already having massive effects on many parts of the world.
But for many years, I've been wanting to write a story kinda like Short Circuit, where a computer program gains life. Though the way the world has changed since I first got the idea, it's going to have a very different feel to it.
Terminator and Alien were movies that didn't interest me very much. They were all about being chased by terrifying monsters while people died horribly.
Then they each made a sequel with kids. And I liked the sequels much better.
I don't think that adding kids makes something better. But the way they included the perspectives and talents of the kids gave the movies more depth. (I've only seen them once time each, so I haven't done any analysis on these theories!)
After watching the bonus features on my Lord of the Rings DVD's, I thought I'd rent the extended edition from the library. I saw it once before, long ago. This time, I discovered that there are many more hours of bonus features that go with it. Of course I watched them.
Yeah, I'm going to be annoying and call actors by their character names. Even though some characters have multiple actors that play them.
The weapons from Lord of the Rings are so artistic. I have a couple replicas of them, like Sting (and a letter opener of Aragorn's knife).
For a long time, I didn't pay much attention to Theodin's sword. The guard always seemed like an awkward shape, given that it's meant to protect your fingers. This sword guard doesn't seem like it would do that. I finally realized that the guard is actually horses! So I suddenly love his sword.
Rohan is the kingdom of the horse masters, so there are horse motifs throughout their architecture, armor, swords, and flags. I wish I could find an image gallery of all the horse artwork. There's even a horse design inside of Theodin's armor, which only he can see. He said it made him feel like a king when he put it on.
Edoras is the capital city of Rohan. It's on top of a hill in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains. Building Edoras took months, and they only filmed there for a few days. The insides of the buildings weren't nearly as impressive though. They were used as offices during the shoot. The perfect location for Edoras was on protected land, so before building, they had to remove all of the native grasses and care for them in nurseries. When Edoras was taken down, the grasses were put back.
Theodin's actor is such a goofball! I never would have guessed, based on Theodin's character. But then again, that's what an actor is. He and Aragorn were often horsing around. Someone said that only they could get away with it because they were kings.
Gandalf is also a troublemaker! When they were finished filming in the hobbit hole, Gandalf said to Frodo, "this is our last chance to steal some props that no one will miss!"
Aragorn's actor seems so soft-spoken on the interviews. But don't let that fool you. He's one of those people that delivers jokes so matter-of-factly that it's hard to tell they're joking. Then you get other actors teasing him for things like making out with a horse (because the horse snuffles around Aragorn's face when he washes out of the river). And he also does stuff like showing Sam how to kiss someone.
Wow, he's dedicated though. In The Two Towers, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas have been tracking the orcs to save Merry and Pippin. They finally catch up, only to be told that Merry and Pippin have been killed. Aragorn kicks a fallen helmet and screams, falling to his knees at the loss of their friends. During that shoot, when Aragorn kicked the helmet, he broke two of his toes. That guy stayed in character, pouring the pain of his broken toes into the character's anguish.
Holy crud.
And then of course, the characters had to spend the next day running across country. Legolas had just been injured when someone fell on top of him. And Gimli's body-double had hurt his leg. All of them had to do multiple takes, running through hills and country. Ouch.
There were plenty of other injuries. Theodin needed a couple stitches, because Gamling accidentally cut his ear.
Aragorn and many of the warriors had this greeting where they'd headbutt each other. Aragorn dared one of them to headbutt Legolas. That headbutt was hard enough that the elf saw stars and got a welt.
Then there's keeping your voice healthy (which I've had trouble with). Gollum especially had to contend with this, because of how he talks. He had to constantly drink what they named "Gollum juice." A combination of lemon, ginger, and honey. I wish I knew about that when my voice was a mess (I think my voice is still slightly unhinged, honestly).
Some of the actors were gifted special props too. I would hope so! Things like swords, or gowns. Some of the actors and stuntmen bought the horses that were trained for the film too.
And Helms Deep was generally hellish to shoot. Almost three months of night shoots, in the rain. With the costumes not having enough time to dry out before the next shoot.
The people working on those movies were such nerds. Which I love. The music people had a code to communicate with other departments. They'd call, and let the phone rings once. Because "one ring to rule them all."
There's one thing I always noticed, but never realized the significance of. The Ring itself has music and sound effects. That's actually the voice of the ring, either enticing or enraged.
There's a beautiful, haunting moment in The Return of the King, where Pippin sings a song during the massacre of Faramir's men. That only came about because one of the song people happened to hear him sing karaoke. They gave him some lyrics (I think from the book) and asked if he could make a song to go with them. He had about a day, and he came up with that amazing movie moment.
I imagine that's also how "The Last Goodbye" came about. Which is the song he sang for the end credits of the last Hobbit movie. I didn't care about those movies, but I've listened to that song so many times.
As well as Into the West. So freaking beautiful.
The work that went into these three movies is unbelievable. I gotta look up what else this director's done.
When I first saw The Boy and the Heron, I was totally bewildered.
The movie has kind of become an acquired taste though. Cinema Therapy did an episode about it, and they said something that made me see it from a different angle. It's basically a movie about a boy who lost his mother, and is living through a terrible war.
Still, I can't help but look for meaning in some of the Ghibli strangeness. Not that there's any way to prove any of these points. And yeah, people say that a story is however you interpret it. But that's garbage. I've seen people give total garbage readings to movies and books. I like to know what was intended. Even if Miyazaki doesn't always do things that make sense to begin with.
Anyway, here are a few ideas I had.
In the world Mahito falls into, there are many spirits of the dead. Some places belong to the dead, and we see the ones that come to get fish. Are they meant to represent those that died during the war?
And then there are the warawara. They're supposed to fly up to our world to be born as humans. But along the way, many of them are eaten. Others are burned by accident as Himi tries to drive the predators away. Are they meant to represent the children that died during the war?
Mahito's uncle (great, great, great uncle?) Wants Mahito to inherit the world he built. Mahito refuses. It's a broken world, and war-torn Japan must have felt very similar. Sometimes we don't want to continue the work of our ancestors. It's not always right. Sometimes something new and better has to be built, instead of trying to repair something old and broken.
Precarious towers of varied blocks give this world its stability. Every three days, they have to be re-stacked. A Sisyphean task. It's been holding on, if imperfectly. Until someone angry and aggressive comes in and makes an unstable tower, and in his frustration, destroys it. Like a spark that topples a land into chaos.
And then there's the beautiful way Ghibli has of making peace with enemies. All the pelicans and parakeets that had been so dangerous manage to escape the wreckage of the old world. They fly to freedom, finding a new, better home. Mahito and his companions are happy for them.
When Big Hero Six released its first trailer, I wasn't sure if Hiro was a boy or a girl. When it was confirmed that he was a boy, I wanted to design a character that looked a lot like him, but was a girl.
And Mabel did it for me! I love her design. Both as a human and a beaver.
I love her passion for protecting the beautiful pond.
Though the movie was a bit weird for me. Maybe I'll feel differently after a second viewing.
Well, I make a post about each X-Men movie I see. So I guess I'll do one about The Gifted.
It was basically a series in which they broke in and out of places over and over.
It was depressing. It may as well not have even been in the X-Men universe, because it's in my least favorite timeline in which the X-Men are gone. And mutants are about to be wiped out? So we know that's waiting ahead for most of the characters.
I don't plan to watch season 2.
I'm impressed when a long-time series manages to keep a clear continuity.
The X-men movies don't have good continuity. Which is distracting, but it doesn't stop me from loving many of the movies.
Doctor Who does have good continuity. I haven't seen all of it. Indeed, many episodes seem to be lost forever, so no one can watch all of it. But I haven't noticed any glaring plot holes from the timeline (Doctor Who logic isn't always logical, but that's a different issue). In some bonus features, they say that people go back through old episodes, to make sure that everything lines up.
There are also audio shows, books, and other stuff too. I wonder how those fit.
I found the anniversary specials with The Doctor and Donna. It was great to see them together again. But they changed the word for "gravity." Does that mean that from now on, they can't use the word "gravity"" in Doctor Who? Or will they go fix it? Perhaps this has been answered already - I haven't caught up with the newer seasons yet.
Star Wars wasn't created to be a series. George Lucas was happy just to get one movie out. He didn't even know if he'd be able to complete the first trilogy, let alone prequels. But since then, there have been more and more movies and series. Characters will pop up from older shows, which is always fun. (Even though I still don't buy the fact that Darth Maul survived being chopped in half).
On the flip side, you almost have to watch all of the different series now just to understand some of them. For example, I watched Ahsoka when it came out. And only now that I'm in the middle of Star Wars Rebels do I realize that many of those characters were actually introduced before. I didn't know I'd need to watch Rebels for Ahsoka to make sense. So while I love that they build off of each other, there's just so much of it now that it's a real time suck if you want to actually follow one of the newer shows.
One of this year's guest speakers at Fanime was Hiroshi Nagahama. He worked on the Mushishi and Fruits Basket anime (the first one). As well as several others I haven't yet seen, like Utena, which I now need to watch.
He had a presentation of storyboards from near the end of Fruits Basket, which was cool to see since parts of it were different from the final version.
He also showed off some of his comic book collection. It was fun to see how excited he was about them.
After his talk, I went up to tell him that Fruits Basket was my first manga, "so the anime holds a special place in my heart." It was cool to get to talk to him.
(I had actually read Pokemon manga before that, but I didn't even know what manga was back then, so I don't count it XD )
Elsewhere in Fanime, they now have these "rallies." If you buy something from all involved artists, you get a special print. Which is so bizaare. You can't buy the print if you like it. You have to spend money at a bunch of other places first, for stuff you may or not care about. More ways to suck every coin out of people.
They were playing Princess Mononoke on one of the big screens, so I went to watch that. I think one guy in the audience must have come in during the middle of the movie, and had not seen it before. Because when a couple people get limbs shot off during the final battle, he made shocked exclamations. I couldn't help laughing. If you'd only seen Ghibli movies like Totoro and Ponyo, it would be a shock.
The next log of my Europe trip, continued after Paris.
November 17, 2023
I turned on the heater last night to try to dry the clothes I'd washed. It didn’t work. I wrapped them up with the damp parts inside, so I could transport them without getting the rest of my luggage wet.
My train tickets weren’t until almost noon. I tried another boulangerie for breakfast. It was really good, and I wish I'd found it earlier. I had bad luck finding good food in Paris.
I left my hotel early, with lingering paranoia from my last train ride. I got to the train station almost an hour and a half early. I wasn’t thinking straight, because I couldn’t seem to find my train to Frasne listed anywhere. There was one that left at the right time, but it wasn’t listed as the Frasne train. I wandered around, looking for information. I sat and waited for half an hour, expecting the train to pop up on screen a little later. Someone was playing a piano. They were doing a good job, but the piano was slightly out of tune. Not surprising, since the room wasn’t sealed from the elements. Still no sign of the Frasne train. I talked to a staff member, who pointed me in the right direction (and I finally remembered that the train was listed by it’s final destination, and Frasne was not the final destination). I got on without any trouble.
Made it to Frasne no problem and transferred to another train. From there, I just watched the scenery. It was the best so far. As we got toward the Alps, the fall colors became stunning. Golden trees, which darkened to orange and red the farther we travelled. For a while, we were riding alongside a river. Cliffs and ridges rose up around us, and some of the highest distant peaks were sprinkled with snow.
Finally we arrived in Bern. I hauled my stuff across the station and to the bus stop. I’m always nervous with new public transit. Each place has been so different, and I didn’t even know what the main language was in Switzerland. The last train had been announcing most of the stops in French, but the names didn’t look French. And most of what I heard spoken was German.
As I boarded the bus, I showed the driver the name of the stop on my phone, to make sure I was headed to the right place. The bus was packed and I could barely squeeze in with all my luggage. But I arrived okay, and luckily my hotel was right next to the bus stop.
This was my nicest room so far. Spacious, with a huge bed and big shower. The only funky thing is that you don’t get a normal sized blanket. You get two small ones that only cover half the bed. That’s a first. Clearly meant for two people, though I am only one.
I headed next door to the Co-op market. I grabbed some snacks for a simple dinner. But when I tried to check out, the lady told me something about the apple. I couldn’t understand her, and she left, taking the apple with her. The guy behind me explained that I was supposed to weigh it back in the fruit area. She returned with a sticker that covered about a third of the apple, and I headed back to the hotel. With a detour to pet a friendly cat.
November 18, 2023
didn’t have any reservations for Bern. I did look into a tour, but none were available today. I could just walk around town and relax. It was nice, after worrying about public transit and ticket times every other day.
My map marked the main sites around Bern. The town is a Unesco heritage site. Just around the corner from my hotel was a rose garden. I didn’t expect much action in November, but I went to check it out. There were actually some flowers! But even better, the rose garden was on top of a hill. Across from us was a stunning view of the old town of Bern. The river wrapped around the town, and the water was bordered by autumn-colored trees. The cathedral tower stood high above everything. In the distance, snow-covered mountains melted into the clouds.
After I took in the view, I headed toward the resident bears. They have a nice hillside enclosure beside the river. I wasn’t sure if they would still be awake, with winter fast approaching, but two of them were up and about.
I watched them for a while, then crossed the bridge into Bern. It was after 10, but nothing was really open yet. There’s a big, beautiful old clock tower in the middle of town. Though it kind of ruins the effect when there’s a McDonalds and Gamestop at its base.
There was a little stand selling roasted chestnuts. I sat by the path, peeling the chestnuts and breathing hot steam (I wrote a poem about that memory).
As I continued on, I spotted a tea shop and headed inside. I said I was interested in oolong, and they told me about the different types they had, offering to brew some for me. As it steeped, I talked to the lady there. I think I’m kinda desperate to talk to people since Paris, where I no longer understand the language. It’s a strange kind of lonely isolation. I’m tempted to say things even if I overhear people speaking Spanish or Japanese. I think I chatted too much to the lady there, and she deflected me when she could. I turned away, kinda embarrassed and wondering if I was babbling.
The guy who had been brewing the tea for me returned with a tray and invited me to sit down. He had four cups –for the both of us to try both teas. He poured the first kind, explaining the difference in flavors and origins. I’ve never been good at telling the details of tea flavors (As Uncle Iroh would say, I’m fine with some “hot leaf juice”). Though I can tell if I don’t like a tea, or if it’s too flavorless. But with his descriptions, I found that I could sense some of the differences. Even when the tea sat for a few minutes, there was a shift in flavor. He told me there were six kinds of tea, all made from Camelia sinensis (green, black, oolong, pu’er, white, and yellow). Some teas are so reliant on quality plants that they’re hard to find. I’ve had pu’er twice, but never really liked the flavor or feel. He said that it was probably made the cheap, fast way. I’ll have to try the good kind someday.
I was there over half an hour. It was good to have someone to talk to, and I learned more about tea! Back when I read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, I went on a quest to get a tea tree of my own. It took over a year to find one though. Earlier in the year, I’d dug out a big root ball from a sickly pittosporum, and planted my tea tree there. I harvested just a few leaves, not wanting to stress the new plant. I tried making tea out of it, but messed up and made the leaves too crisp. They didn’t have any flavor.
I continued exploring. The houses are beautiful, with unique shapes, or angled roofs with towers.
I crossed the river, heading for the natural history museum. The second floor was a hall of animal skeletons. I had fun trying to identify them before looking at the signs. Some of them are really bizarre, like the dugong. The shoebill skeleton was cool – I’d love to see a living one.
Then there was the exhibit on St. Bernards. Crossing the Great St. Bernard Pass was so dangerous that there have been shelters there since Roman times. At an elevation ot 2,500 meters, it could snow at any time of year, and could catch people unprepared. In the 1000’s, Bernard of Menthon built a hospice at the top of the pass. Anyone was welcome to come in – the doors were never locked. Every day they sent out guides to help people. Some time in the mid 1600’s the guides started taking dogs with them. The guides and dogs saved over 2,000 people. Bernard was canonized in 1123, hence the name of the pass, and the name of the St. Bernard dogs. Originally the mountain dogs were a variety of breeds – St. Bernards became more common later. Oddly enough, present-day St. Bernards have been bred in directions that no longer make them ideal dogs for mountain rescues. And you know how you often see images of St. Bernards carrying little barrels of rum around their necks? Yeah, that never happened in real life.
The creepiest room was full of bottled specimens. Including a few shelves of puppies in jars. That’s enough to make you a bit queasy. It turns out that this museum has the largest collection of pedigree dogs (all dead from natural causes, luckily). Scientists use this collection to study how dogs descended from wolves.
They can use ibex horns to study climate change – because the chemicals in the grass they eat leaves traces in their horn growth. And fish specimens can show historical amounts of plastic pollution.
On the bottom floor, they had a crystal display, with nearly 2 tons of quartz.
Back across the river, and to the cathedral.
Because I was chatting to the camera during my climb, I didn’t really notice how long the spiral staircase was. But climbing down in silence, it never seemed to end. Finally I was back out in the town again.
Both here and at the train station in Paris, you have to pay to use the bathroom. I get it in Peru, but not here. Luckily it was time to eat, so I found a restaurant and used their bathroom. The panini was really good: spinach and tomato, and something called la bouze cheese. Creamy and melty like brie, but not as salty. I haven't been able to find it anywhere since.
In addition to the storefronts, there are basement-areas with trap doors. Many of these open up into shops! One of them had boba, so I had to get one. It was really good.
I headed back to the hotel, crossing the bridge. There was a restaurant near the bears, and they had a sign for gelato. I hadn’t had any since I last came to Europe (not good gelato, anyway). The great thing is that you can pick two flavors. I got dark chocolate and marzipan. It was amazing!
I decided to take the slightly longer route back, through the rose garden again. The city was starting to light up for the night.
The cathedral bells started chiming. When dark fell, I felt a couple rain drops and decided it was time to go. The stone wall had frozen my butt, and it stayed cold until I took a hot shower.
I have weird taste.
I sometimes see art of animals and food. As in, a cat sitting in a cup of boba. Or an owl sitting in a bowl of ramen. An animal wouldn't want to sit in a cup of soup. Except maybe a raccoon, which will eat anything. They'd get gross and sticky. And who would ever want to eat something that an animal had been sitting in?
Am I being too literal? Absolutely. But these are the things I think of when I see pictures like this.
But if you give me a cat that's MADE of boba, I love it.
