Taking a look at my process here. This took about 3 1/2 hours to complete. All done on PhotoShop with my Wacom tablet. If the layout is backwards, it's because of my depressingly bad computer skills. And the fact that I am too lazy to go back and fix it. Sorry about that. I fail!

The picture on the bottom is the original sketch. I'm not sure what I was really thinking of in terms of background. Looking at it again makes me think 'absolutely nothing at all'. In my head, I had only envisioned the girl posed in a sort of lounging position. When it came to sketching it, I hurriedly added the window-ledge-whatever around her so that I could get my bearings on how she would be leaning. Or something like that. As you can see, the window mysteriously disappeared after the second stage.

The second stage was polishing the lines a little bit - lowering the opacity on the first sketch, adding another layer, and then going over the lines again. Sort of fine-tuning it, getting a better idea of the pose. I then lowered the opacity on the second layer, making it so that the lines were slightly darker than the original sketch's.

Third stage - added another layer, and then did the polished inkwork. Smoothing out the lines and whatnot. Most annoying part of the process. At least, it is for me.

In stage 4, I create yet another layer, and then place it below the final ink layer. I erase the two earlier sketch layers, and then decide on colors. Gehnn (the character pictured here) has a sort of plain, muted look, so I keep it relatively simple. Her wardrobe goes more for function and comfort than fashion. Am now enjoying myself immensely.

LAST STAGE is shading 'n shining. Well, more shading than shining. Shining comes later, when I have time. Anyways, imagining where the light source is, and outlining and filling the shadows accordingly. Adding a shiny silver sheen to the metal parts of her boots. Finishing up, and yes! I am done!

Well, almost. There's still the shining to do. And a background, I suppose. But for now that's good enough.

And now I must go watch White Christmas with my mother. Tootle pip!

MOOVAAAYS

Here is something about me that not many people know (oh, no, wait...): I. LOVE. MOVIES.

As long as I can remember, one of the most exciting and nostalgic parts of my childhood was going to the movie theater. There are three in my hometown - the Del Oro Theater, Sierra Cinemas, and Sutton Cinemas. My favorite was, and still is, Del Oro. Sierra Cinemas is perhaps the most modern(ish) of the three, and has the most screens. Sutton is....well....it's tiny, and not very high quality, but by gum they show some good movies. Sometimes. Usually, you only go there if the movie you want to see is playing there (I think there's an agreement among the theaters that no one movie will be played in any of the theaters at the same time). But ANYWAY - they just can't compare to Del Oro. It's the oldest, the prettiest, and by far the most atmospheric. Walking into the main theater, you really feel like you're going to see something amazing. Not just walking in and sitting down in front of a huge screen, but as if you are actually going to see something. Does that make sense? Probably not. You'll just have to go there and see for yourself. Meh.

At any rate, speaking of movies, I went to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader this weekend with some friends at Sierra Cinemas. I had seen the trailer, and thought that it looked like it might be decent. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had been really good, and Prince Caspian was okay, verging on pretty good. I was hoping for some of the fantasy elements of the books being more present in the movie this time. Boy, was I disappointed.

Now, it wasn't a bad movie. My philosophy about movies based off of books is to mentally separate them, so that when I go to see the movie, I won't be biased based on how accurate it was to the book, or based on the fact that it IS based on the book and thus must be worth seeing (Harry Potter, anyone?). So I see the movie as a completely different story, a different media. Which is exactly what it is.

Watching Dawn Treader, I was impressed with the special effects, and the way they were presented. Most of it was absolutely beautiful - my favorite scene was at the end, with the sea of white flowers floating in the water. Gorgeous.

That said, the CGI was also a problem. As cool as it was, it was just....EVERYWHERE. The entire film was just smothered in it. There are some movies that can maybe make this work (ahem Avatar cough cough), but in others it's just a distraction, and can grow to be very annoying.

All in all, the movie was just way too flashy and not very subtle. And not just the CGI, but the plot and the writing. No, the movie does not follow the book, in case you're wondering. I mean, it had the essential bits (the painting with the ship, Eustace being turned into a dragon, etc.), but mostly it was all from the writer's imaginations. But, as I've said, I don't really like to involve that in my movie viewing, so that's just an aside for easily infuriated movie-goers.

Again, nothing was very subtle. In a good movie - in a good story, just in general - much of what the characters are thinking is left up to the reader's/viewers interpretation. The actors won't give long monologues about how depressing their life is, they won't even openly talk about their feelings. When they do, it's sort of (inadvertently) condescending to the audience. If you're too oblivious to figure out what's going one without a long explanation, then why the heck are you watching this movie? I like to be treated like I can understand the course of events without having every plot point explained to me. That's closer to real life - no one walks up to you when you're confused and explains what you should do next. You have to figure it out on your own. And that's that.

Now, Dawn Treader certainly was not made up of monologues or anything. But it doesn't leave much to your imagination. The story the writers give you is just very tired out - you've heard or read something like it many times before. And that sort of makes it a bit dull. Halfway through the movie, you're thinking "Come on, I know how this is going to end. Why are they stretching it out?"

Ah, well. Let's hope the next movie is better. What IS the next book anyway? Let me check.....

The Silver Chair. Aye yi yi YI.

Well, one can only hope.

I will say this - the actor who played Eustace was awesome. At least in the beginning. He's excellent at portraying an obnoxious schoolboy who thinks he's a genius. It was sort of weird when he started behaving nicely. I mean, that's not bad, it's just -

(slip BANG)

Ouch.

Cartoons Are Wonderful

Just finished this today! Took me about 45 minutes. (does it show? :3)

Ahh. Drawing cartoons is very relaxing. It really takes the pressure off on you to make something look as realistic and awesome as possible (not that cartoons aren't awesome!). It gives you a chance to just fool around, have fun, draw something absolutely ridiculous. You can also use it to experiment with your style a bit. Very fun!

And of course, some cartoonists have a gorgeous way of drawing, as is evidenced by the style of Yuko Ota in the webcomic Johnny Wander (check out johnnywander.com - it'll be worth your while), or the style of Lucy Knisley (um....well, she wrote a book called 'French Milk' and has a website somewhere...meh, just Google it. You'll find her.)

Maybe someday I'll write a highly detailed blogpost about the amazingness of cartoon drawing, but right now I am lazy and tired. Yawn. Away with ye.

Senioritis

Been thinking about a few things recently.

You know, it's only the beginning of the year and I've already got what is called "senioritis". For those few weird people who don't know, "senioritis" is this condition that high school seniors develop, usually towards the end of the year, where they just stop caring about EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Basically, you just want the school year to end so that you can grab your high school diploma and get on with your life. You're sick and tired of sitting in the classroom counting the minutes until the class is over, you're sick and tired of looking at colleges and getting good grades (or not, in some cases), you're sick and tired of worrying about everything from where you're going to live next year to how you did on that stupid English test - after four years you just want it to END.

Sound familiar? No? Oh, you poor, sorry excuse for a human being.

As you might imagine, this is a very unhealthy condition to be developing this early in the year. But the thing is, I don't care about anything anymore, so I can't really bring myself to be concerned about it.

However, in the attempt to make myself concerned about it, I did a lot of thinking. You know, about the future. And stuff.

And I realized....

This is a very....trying step in my life, to say in the least. This is practically my last year living at home.

But....to tell the truth? I'm not entirely unhappy about it.

It's not that I won't miss my parents, or living at home. When I leave this house, I am going to be shouldering the responsibilities of being independent - I will be, in essence, an adult. Well, sort of. My parents will help pay for my tuition and stuff, but that's beside the point.

What I mean is, I am moving on with my life. Which is both absolutely terrifying and quite possibly the most exciting thing I have ever done. Sort of a conflicting that way. So I am both terrified and excited.

When I went into high school, and while I was IN high school, I have had people tell me:

"You know, these are the best years of your life. High school is the best time you'll ever have. It doesn't get much better than that."

Well, I thought reflectively to myself, if this is as good as my life will ever get, my life is totally going to suck.

My entire life, school and I have had something of a hate/hate relationship. I hated it, It (in all its sentient glory) hated me. And despite many attempts (and believe me, there were many), there was no reconciling this. I tried having a positive attitude, smiling at everything (didn't work - only increased my reputation as some sort of crazy hermit person, only in the form of a teenage girl), trying to get good grades (I am such a skillful procrastinator that this never worked), trying to take an interest in my subjects, etc. Nothing worked. And so, somewhere in my elementary school years, I gave up. And so when people told me that these are the best years of my life (they STILL tell me this - they actually seem to tell me a lot more often, now that I'm a senior), I felt a deep pit of depression sink through my chest and give me a horrible stomachache.

In the middle of my junior year, though, I decided something: that whole 'high school is the best' thing is crap. Maybe they're the best times for the popular kids who've got it made in high school, but let's face it - that's just sad. I've known people who just never got their heads out of their high school years, and look back on them with wistful regret, never getting on with their lives because they're convinced that the climax of their lives has already passed. That's not going to be me, no sir. As far as I'm concerned, the day I finally take that high school diploma and do a little victory dance on the stage (probably involving the worm), my life will finally BEGIN. I mean, not that my life isn't going on right now, but that's when I'll be OUT and into THE WORLD.

My lands, what a frightening thought.

Recently, one of my teachers made a surprisingly wise statement: "Here's the facts, kids: high school is weird. It's full of all this stupid drama and adjustment and all this other crap. Life outside of high school is not like that. High school isn't what life really is. Life is different, and it's a whole lot better, if you ask me."

Well said.

That's not a word-for-word quote, of course, but that's the gist of it. And it's true. High school IS weird. It's full of a bunch of kids who are doing a lot of growing in a very short amount of time. They aren't adults, they aren't children, they're somewhere in between. And it's a tough adjustment, one that is full of, yes, drama and all this other crap. So it really isn't logical to assume that life in the outside world is like that, too.

I like that. If there is one thing that I have absolutely no qualms about, it's leaving high school behind me. And you can be sure that I will only look back when I'm having troubles with my life, and need to remember that although my life isn't easy, it could be a heckuva lot worse.

Because the truth is, life gets better after high school. And that's a fact.

Vengeful Bacon

It is my theory that pigs, in retribution for being sliced up and then sizzled on a pan, live as vengeful spirits that throw bacon grease at you when you least expect it.

Aren't my cartooning skills amazing? It's like I took ten hours instead of fifteen minutes to draw this....?

I Am A Booky Nerd - Brandon Sanderson?????

This past week, I had the pleasure of going to Utah to visit my older sisters and go tour a few schools. As part of our regular Utah Tradition, I also got to go to BYU bookstore.

Going in to the Science Fiction/Fantasy section, I notice that there is a very prominent display of books set up at the front of the aisle. Upon closer examination, I saw that the display revolved around the recent works of a certain author by the name of Brandon Sanderson.

Now, just to set the record straight, I had read a few of Mr. Sanderson's books before seeing this display. This is not like my introduction into Twilight (lesson learned - never take reading suggestions from girls my own age). This display simply made me remember those books that I had read, and made me reflect on them. Key word: MADE me.

Now, the first book I ever read by Brandon Sanderson was the first book in the Mistborn series. My dad had borrowed it from the library (if I remember correctly) and when he finished with it he let me read it (this was, once again, one of my book-less periods).

I liked it. It was decent. Not necessarily amazing, but still a LOT better than a lot of other fantasy books I've subjected myself to in the past. Maybe, someday, I'll read the sequel. Maybe the entire series. But so far, I haven't been especially motivated to do so, which will give you some idea of what the books were like.

At any rate, after reading Mistborn, I decided to read his debut novel, Elantris. Again, I was somewhat impressed, but not spectacularly so. It was a good book. Just not an amazing one.

So you see that there is a pattern with Mr. Sanderson's books, at least with me. I'm sure that other people would love his books, but I am not those people. That is the way of things. And so it is.

I'm not sure why I am blogging this, but there you have it. Have a loverly day. :3

Back To Earth (sort of...?)

Aha! Ahahahahaha! Ha!

I am BACK, baby! And, boy, have I got something to tell YOU!

Well, sort of. It's something that no one will care about but me, but I think it still warrants a blog post.

You remember that webcomic I was going to do? That supposedly full-color fantasy webcomic? Of COURSE you don't!

Well anyway, there's been a....semi-change of the plans.

I have decided that full-color is overrated and decided to go with greyscale.

(Translation: I have no freakin' idea how to color hand-inked images on PhotoShop and so I gave up trying to find out)

The plot's changed a bit as well - my original idea was......really complex. I didn't realize how complicated it was until I started on it and got lost in my own story. So, while I intend to do that story when I'm a wee bit more experienced at some obscure point in the future, I am going to do a slightly less complex one. I am actually really looking forward to this, as I have wondered what to do with this particular idea for a long time and now finally have an excuse to use it.

So there you have it.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of What On Earth are you talking about?

There are times when I can be funny. There are times when I have to be serious. And then there are times when I am a little bit of both.

This, my friends, is one of those times.

Today, I have a cold. As many people who have had colds might have experienced, your mind is a little more......loose than it usually is. Whether it just gave up trying to make sense when it couldn't pull enough oxygen from your deprived lungs that have been breathing through a plugged nose all day, or simply because your mind is much more prone to wonder when you're lying in bed doing nothing but consuming copious amounts of orange juice and adding to the huge pile of disgusting tissues in your wastebasket, is a question that I don't really care to answer. Mostly because I just don't care about it.

Anyways, I spent a lot of time thinking today. Thinking, and planning. I have a hefty goal ahead of me. Well, several, actually - to get into an art school, which, from what my art teacher says, is very competitive and very expensive (which is ironic, considering how successful most artists are after college), to write and draw and color this comic of mine, to prepare to be in another country next year.....it all really starts to pile up. And, believe me, that stresses me to no end.

I admit to being (somewhat, although not lately) prone to having panic attacks, and also unable to take criticism very well. The latter is not because I think I'm above criticism - it's just that every time someone says something like "your drawing sucks", I go into Horrific Emotional Black Hole mode, and curl up into fetal position while sad music plays in the background and rain pelts at my pathetic figure. Sad, pathetic, and really not kidding - that is how it feels. Good, constructive criticism is all fine - but remarks like 'hey, you're messing this up' really set me off. And that's no fun. And it's really hard on someone who is about to pursue a career in a field that's filled with remarks like that.

This year, I am trying to write two stories at once - one in book form, one in comic form. The book is one I have been working on unfalteringly since I was about eight years old, writing and re-writing until my brain hurt and my fingers were sore from tapping on the keys and I was about to explode with frustration at my writer's block. What really got to me - and what gets to me still - is that I never made it beyond the first freaking chapter. GAH! I hated that stupid Chapter 1 heading every time I saw it. That disgusting testament to my own inability to continue and FINISH it.

On the plus side.....this story was really what taught me to write. I mean, really write. It all started as an attempt to catch up to my older brother, who was a talented (although still flawed) writer at age 12. And then it began to escalate! I started reading more books, writing more and more often, actually studying the art of writing.

There have been people who have told me that I have a lot of talent in art and in writing. The truth is, I am not talented. I started drawing when I was a little kid, and I drew like a little kid does. I drew rainbows and hills and flowers, because they were the only things that I thought I could make any good. Then I started drawing people, and when my shyness sort of separated me from the rest of my classmates, and when I went through a horrible crisis in my life, I found sanctuary in the images I could create. And when I started to write, I brought the two together, to make stories in my head. The gift I have is imagination, not drawing or writing. And that was all I needed. That, and the need and the want to keep improving. For a long time, and still to this day, what I write and what I draw is what helps me feel like someone worth acknowledging. I don't even NEED acknowledgement, really - I take the greatest pleasure in the joy of creation.

My greatest friends and most precious treasures are my stories. I love them and take care of them in my head. I have real flesh-and-blood friends that I love and spend time with, but when they aren't with me and I start to feel lonely, I can shift my focus to my stories.

I suppose that's the main reason I can't finish anything, and I have a hard time letting people look at my stuff. If someone thought it was stupid and told me so, it would be like.....I can't really describe it. It's like something I love and devote my entire time to is suddenly realized to be a waste of time. It literally breaks my heart, and I don't know if I can handle it.

Perhaps I'm just being stupid. Perhaps you're thinking 'Oh brother, this girl needs to get a life'. Well, I'd like you to remember that all people are different. As much as we'd like to think that we all conform to a certain style - whether of clothing or of thinking - we are all individuals who all function differently. I am not you, and you are not me. Simple as that, really.

Anyway.....had to get this out of my head, I suppose. My air-deprived brain spews out the most appalling things....

Such a Bookworm - I rant about Twilight.

A long time ago, attending EFY for the first time in Boise, Idaho, I was roomed with some very girly sort of girls. They were very nice, of course, but we were so different that if we had all gone to the same high school, we wouldn't have been aware of each other's existence. As it was, we were roommates, and so we were obligated to get along.

It wasn't so bad, really - they really were very nice. I got to know them pretty well, actually. Well enough that one day, while we were waiting for our counselor, we began talking about books. I mentioned that I was looking for a good book to read (I go through a LOT of book-less periods, which drive me nuts). Hearing this, all of them instantly light up and start talking excitedly. "Oh, you should read Twilight! It's such an awesome book, you would love it!"

Intrigued, I asked, "What's it about?"

"It's about this girl who meets this vampire, and they fall in love, and - oh! It's just so cool! He goes to her school, and they...."

The rest of the description was rather vague, but my curiosity was, oddly enough, piqued.

I suppose I should mention that at this time, Twilight was JUST entering into its popularity, so I'd never heard of it before, and thus hadn't met anyone else who had liked it. So I didn't have much to go on, really - just my roommate's description of it. I was somewhat doubtful - but if THEY had liked it so much, I thought that it was probably worth a try.

A few weeks later, as we were perusing through our local bookstore, I happened to spot the paperback copy on the shelf. The cover looked cool - a pair of pale white hands holding a bright red apple on a plain black background. It was certainly a lot more original than most cover art I'd seen. This more or less cinched the deal for me, and I pulled my mom over and asked her to get it for me.

And thus, I was pulled into the world of Twilight.

Well, actually, I went there voluntarily. Which just KILLS me, because at least if someone had forced me to read it, I'd have a better excuse for hating it.

But no, I went and got it and read it completely of my own free will.

And, to tell the truth, the first few chapters weren't so bad. The writing was different than what I was accustomed to - most writers nowadays conform to a certain popular style. Stephenie Meyer doesn't, which is probably the only thing going for her. I liked how she described everything, and her writing was so magnetic that I couldn't stop reading even when I had realized what I'd gotten myself into and wanted to escape. The fact that I have read all of her books testifies to that. I just can't help it - every time I see a new Stephenie Meyer book on the shelf, I have to read it, if only to see if she's improved at all. She really does have potential in her writing.

But, as much potential as she DOES have, she doesn't have it YET. And that's where my hatred of Twilight comes in.

Now, first off: what sort of message does this book send to us, exactly? Love someone even if they're dangerous? Force them to turn you into a sexy monster because you want to be with him forever, even though you're only a teenager with the MATURITY of a teenager, and he is a 100-something-year- old man who has the physical appearance of a seventeen-year-old boy? Abandon your family, abandon your friends, go run off with your boyfriend. Yep, that sounds like the message we want teenage girls to absorb.

I mean, think about it. In this series, being a vampire is originally shown to be something of a punishment, something you would never, ever want to be. The only other thing I like about this series is the vampire part - like, the way she portrays them, explains how they work and live, what they're like (Although the sparkling diamond skin was a bit over the top). I like how she describes their beauty more as something dangerous than as something desirable (at least, she does when Edward and Bella aren't in the same room) - in other words, something meant to draw in prey. You get the sense, especially when the nomads come along, of just how monstrous these beings truly are. At the end of the book, unless you are exceptionally clueless, you're wondering why the heck Bella wants to be changed INTO one of them after being hunted down and attacked like that. I mean, I know she wants to stay with Edward, but if I was in her position, after an affair like that, I would be more determined than ever to STAY human as long as I possibly could. Being a vampire is clearly not a desirable situation, in spite of the fancy cars and beautiful marble skin. So WHY DO IT???

Well, in the next few books, vampirism seems to take a bit of an upturn, as we find out that Bella is probably going to be changed into a vampire anyway, what with the Volturi taking such an interest in her and evil vampire Victoria plotting her destruction. So now it's less a matter of 'will she?' and more a matter of 'WHEN will she?'

I guess, since Bella is heading in the vampire direction, Mrs. Meyer has to put a more positive spin on the whole thing. So now being a vamp suddenly isn't such a bad thing. I mean, you get a hot boyfriend/husband, perfect looks, superhuman strength, immortality - the list goes on. Mrs. Meyer doesn't exactly promote it, but she's not really warning against it either (apart from Edward's feeble attempts to talk Bella out of it).

That really just bugs me. It really does. Remember Rosalie's story of how she was turned into a vampire? Remember Jasper's? Carlisle's? Remember how they all turned?

AGAINST THEIR WILL.

Almost every single vampire was turned into what they are involuntarily. They had no say in it whatsoever. Especially Rosalie. Remember Rosalie? She had every right to be angry at Bella. She would have lived a reasonably happy life if it weren't for her evil fiancee. She never WANTED to become a vampire, for good reason. You're not human anymore. You can't be AROUND humans anymore. You don't eat. You don't sleep. You feed on blood. You have to watch your family grow old and die, decades and centuries pass, and never age along with it. I suppose there is solace in love, as all the vamps seem to find sooner or later, but still - what a torturous sort of existence. Who would WANT that?

Bella, that's who. Figuratively sticking her tongue out at these tortured souls, she skips along happily to have her neck bitten. Well, not exactly, as we find in Breaking Dawn. (Ironically, neck-biting would have preferable)

Man. I HATE this girl. Isabella Swan, fictitious though she may be, is the only girl I have ever really wanted to punch in the face.

But.....fate can't be changed, and everyone winds up living happily ever after. Seriously. There is practically nothing negative about this ending. Apart from the fact that Bella is going to outlive all her relatives, but no one really talks about that.

Don't get me wrong, I am ALL for happy endings. But when it comes to fictitious worlds like Twilight, I like a little bit of bittersweet realism. I'm not saying that it shouldn't have been good, I'm just saying that it shouldn't have been so darn PERFECT.

This is another thing that bugs me, about modern novels in general. You can pretty much predict that everything is going to end happily, because that's the fashionable thing nowadays. Whatever happened to endings like in Lord of the Rings? Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond (SPOILER) all sail away to the Undying Lands, leaving behind their friends and ending the Fellowship. Not bad, but very sad nonetheless. Where are these endings? What did the publishing companies do to them?

I don't know. I probably shouldn't whine about it like I do, but it's an old complaint that's been bugging me for years. I just had to get it out.

Just like this post, actually. I've been holding in that rant for almost FOUR YEARS.

And now it's finally out and over with. You can't fathom my relief - I felt like I was about to explode.

That said: Twilight sucks. End of story. Good evening.

I

Respect me because I art.

You know, I have heard that some people firmly believe that procrastination is the key to failure and that all procrastinators wind up as hobos on the street or something.

I, on the other hand, believe that procrastination is the key to all happiness and if you just shove your conscious (or however you spell it) to the side and play another hour or three of Half-Life 2, you will be very successful and probably will become famous.

This must be so. I will MAKE it so.

So, in case you haven't caught on already, I am a hopeless and lazy procrastinator who has issues with commitment. More specifically, commitment to my personal goal of ALWAYS WRITING IN MY FREAKIN' BLOG EVERY WEEK!!!!

'Cause, you know, people only read blogs that update. And I am a very lonely, lonely soul who wants to be loved, so I need to buck up and go forth and DO to attain!!!

There. I have made my declaration.

Have a cookie.

Dune Memories and Ranting

Oh, would you look at that! TWO blog posts in one week! I am making progress. The goal is not far away.....

Now, as very few know, I regularly watch Nostalgia Critic on YouTube. I wouldn't really recommend watching him if you don't like swearing....or the occasional sexual reference. (By this point, you, my relatives reading this, are no doubt wondering if I am a closeted rebel or something. I will explain, and eeeehhhverythiiing will become clear. ) So why do I, devout Mormon that I am, watch it? Well, you see, I sort of got hooked on it because I find his reviews very interesting, fun, and even intelligent (when he's being good funny, not bad funny. Just to clarify). It's....well, it's sort of like a shameful addiction to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or something along those lines.

But I digress; that is not the point of this post.

My POINT is, that Nostalgia Critic has various other channels relating to him, including a certain channel known as Nostalgia Chick. She basically does what he does, but focusing more on female-oriented vintage films/TV shows. Recently, for some reason or another, she reviewed Dune, which I watched and was both repelled and slightly amused by. And, as her name suggests, it also made me feel slightly nostalgic. Let me share it with you!

The particular Dune adaptation she was reviewing was what you might call the OLD one - the CLASSIC, the 1980's ERA. Some of you sci-fi movie people might be thinking 'Um....yeah, I've heard of it. Wasn't the so-called OLD Dune movie the ONLY Dune movie ever made?'

Well, it's interesting - ironically enough, while everyone remembers and even reveres the Old One, hardly anyone remembers or has even heard of the New, up-to-date(ish) CGI made-for-the-SciFi Channel-TV One.

...................................

Which, now that I have written that, suddenly makes perfect sense.

At any rate, I have seen BOTH movies, as well as read the book (twice!). If you care to look at my profile, you might see that Dune is actually one of my favorite books. And why not? Dune is practically the Lord of the Rings of science fiction. Admittedly, it's not to everyone's taste, which, considering how it was written, is understandable. Some people just find big political battles over alien products and desert planets with freaky blue-eyed people boring. Hey, I don't judge. To each its own.

ANYway, my point is, having read the book and being a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy nerd, it's interesting to take an in-depth look at these two particular movies.

Now, the funny thing is, I saw the old Dune movie a looooong time ago, when I was really little kid. I'm not quite sure what the total incentive was for my family to watch this movie, but I think my dad and perhaps other siblings having read the book had something to do with it. I'm guessing they saw the movie at the rental place and they thought, "Hey! I read Dune! I wonder how the movie is?" And so they got it. Or, more likely, someone lent it to us.

I think my family regrets this, because we have never mentioned it in the years following. My family has a thing about movies: there are actually a very few that we all like, and a very choice few that we all love. These are the Traditional Blackham Movies, and they are so important that we force all incoming fiancees to watch them before marrying into our family. Or immediately afterward, depending on circumstance. Either way, they HAVE to watch these movies, or else they are not true members of our family. They don't have to like them, of course, but they are required to at least watch them.

But that's not what I mean - what I mean is, we only ever saw Old Dune once, and we never, ever, ever mentioned it again. Except maybe for my older brother, once, after watching the New Dune, but I'm not sure.

Even though it was so long ago, I actually remember this movie - sort of. I remember certain parts of the movie that either really weirded me out or scared the everloving crap out of me. I also remember that there was nothing I enjoyed about this movie. It was too weird and scary. Which, from a little kid's view, is pretty understandable.

The parts I remember the most clearly, without looking back on Nostalgia Chick's review, were:

1) the curly-haired boy who shouts (Paul Atreides - back then, that was the label I gave him) making some sort of monotone 'aaahhh'ing noise at a pillar while holding something like an old-fashioned camera in his hands, which made the pillar explode (I might just be making this up, but this seems too clear to be fabricated)

2) the bad fat guy (Baron Harkonnen) getting his...erm...enormous, disgusting boil-pimple thingies on his face popped by a doctor/dentist person, and then pushing a button that made him float in the air, and pointing his black-painted toes to float forward so he could kill this guy who was putting flowers in this counter.

3) this gross octopus tentacle thing talking to this old guy (scary, scary, SCARY moment).

4) a lot of people screaming when they drank this blue stuff (sort of bewildering)

5) this guy with a mustache saying 'the tooth, the tooth, DA TOOTH' over and over again.

6) A bunch of people with really, really blue eyes.

and 7)the little scary girl with the glowing blue eyes saying in a spooky voice "Wait for my brother, Baron. Wait...wait for my BROTHER."

Now, of course, it was a long time ago, so these memories are not entirely accurate. But that's what I remember of the movie, so it all adds up to something dark, scary,and really, ardently twisted. I'm sure if I saw it again now, I would still feel the same way.

The New Dune was very different - and I mean VERY different. For one thing, Sting was not in it. Which, of course, was unforgivable. And neither was Patrick Stewart. Also unforgivable. From these two statements, I am sure you can already tell how this movie went.

This movie wasn't really a movie so much as a mini-miniseries. In total, it was a good five or six hours long, originally divided into hour-long episodes for TV but now squashed together in grueling movie form. To see it would be asking for a literal marathon. You would have to devote your entire DAY to watching it. And that's only the beginning.

We haven't just SEEN this movie at my house - we actually, physically OWN it. All 4 (or 5?) DVDs, tucked away in one of our DVD binders. Lurking. Waiting for some unsuspecting victim to pull it out and put in the player. Unleashing its horrific power upon yet another innocent soul who thought they were watching some weird Frank Herbert version of Star Wars. And it's all so much worse because we possess the DIRECTOR'S CUT!! A whole half hour of deleted scenes that you really did not want to see but the director is forcing you to watch anyway!

Such is the nature of this movie.

Now, granted, this movie (unlike the Old Dune), at least tried very, very hard to stick to the book. Therein lies the key word: TRIED. If I've learned anything about movies based off of books, it actually doesn't really work when you try to stay accurate to the book. A lot of people would disagree, but think about it: there are sometimes important elements in the books that just can't translated very well into movie form. Like in Dune, there are all these subtle shifts and sidestories and viewpoints that work very well in text form, but just can't be taken onto the screen. Period. You just can't do it. Thus, in trying, you fail. At least in this case.

So, in trying to compensate, this movie changes the main character, Paul, a little bit. Whereas in the other movie he at least GAVE the appearance of someone who has been under heavy training all their life, this new movie makes him a whiny teenager whom you would just love to smack. He does mature as the movie goes, becoming a bit more complex and likeable. But still............. I...want...to....SMACK.

Oh, wonderful, this is turning into a movie review now. I need to slow down and rethink this.

The point of this is, Dune just can't be properly made into movie form. It is an excellent book, and it will always remain an excellent book. I suppose both movies had their charm - the Old One for its strange epic feel (why is it so epic? Why?), the New One for its...erm...attempted epic-ness, its interesting CGI (well, it's sort of outdated now), and some unintentionally funny moments. I would avoid both - Old One for its sort of horribly disgusting scenes (particularly involving the Baron or a strange hairless animal that makes me think of a cat), New One for its blatant and unabashed pornographic scenes and gore.Which were never really in the book, as far as I can recall. And which is one of the reasons why we never watch it anymore, without the remote in hand and finger pressed against the fast-forward-by-scene button.

This post, by the way, was the combined product of a headache, watching that NC review, and staying up waaaaaay too late. Please forgive me.

I am bored.

I think this is the grand declaration of teenagers all across the U.S and possibly Canada: WE ARE BORED.

I don't really know what it is about my particular age group, but summer often finds us lolling around on the couch, with books and computers and iPods and swimming pools and other such things surrounding us, and we'll be moaning that there's nothing to do. The same thing applies to food: we'll walk up to our mothers (or fathers) working in the kitchen, with the fridge full of vegetables and sandwich meat and fruit and cheese and whatever else, and we'll tell them quite seriously that there's nothing to eat.

My theory is that we just like to complain. We're just not complete without having something to moan about. I think it's sort of a subconscious sign that everything's as it should be, there's nothing big to worry about, we're in a place where we ought to be content.

But, as everyone knows, teenagers are uncomfortable with being content. Human beings, in general, aren't comfortable with everything being perfect. I think that there's a sort of need for difficulty and opposition in our lives somewhere. I know, for a fact, that when everything's peaceful and hunkydory in my life, I feel kind of restless and bugged. It doesn't feel right, to have everything be this perfect. I need something wrong. I need something....ah! There! We're out of peanut butter! That's no good! No good at all! My life is now balanced.

And there you have it. This need is particularly potent for my age group. I think all the TV and movies we watch (and all the - ahem - books we read) makes us need drama even more than we once did, in times past. Anyone who's attended a public high school knows that there's a sort of toxin in the air that causes people to act like a teenage soap opera when they're gathered together. This never really had an effect on me, because I have pretty much no social life at school (I know that I am considered to be something of a silent hermit in many social circles), so in those few times that I have interacted with my fellow students, it's sort of bemusing and a little bit funny (but mostly bemusing. Sometimes it's even a bit scary). I just never had a chance to become fully acquainted with teenage drama, and so seeing it in action is........yes, bemusing. I said it again.

More often than not, though, I have no patience for it. I listen to my sister talk about the boys she likes, and her friends talking boys they like (it seems that boys are the main focus for most teenage girls until they leave high school. Sometimes, though, it never seems to go away), and how this has such a big impact on their lives, and how it gets them into arguments and conflicts and flouncing about and tears.....it's pretty dramatic.

You know what, now that I think of it, most teenage drama is attributed to girls. That isn't to say there isn't teenage guy drama, but most of it is definitely girl stuff. I guess, since we don't generally get physical like guys do, we just make it mental and verbal.

So thus is my post. I am no longer bored. I am now inexplicably tired and wanting to take a nap. I think that this post made me think too much of high school. So I will stop it HERE, so I can stop thinking about it.

Ta!

Well, well, well.....blogs ARE like diaries. aren't they? That must be why I am so phenomenally bad at retaining them.

Well, at any rate - I have had this blog for something like 3 years, and am just now getting into this whole 'blogging' thing. I have had a sort-of blog on Nerdfighters.com that I have been writing off and on, and which I will still occasionally pop in and add little tidbits to every now and again. If you happen to be a Nerdfighter (if you don't know what that is, check it out - it's awesome), then you should definitely go and look me up. Yup. Do me that little favor. It makes me feel loved. :3

But now, I come to my plan - my ultimate, AMAYZING plan that will knock your socks off. If you wear socks, that is. If not, I feel sorry for your toes. (bad joke)

At any rate, I'm going to actually try to blog here at least once a week. The reason for this is that I am making plans to become considerably more active on the Internet, as I am.........

*********PUBLISHING A WEBCOMIC***********

Yes! For my senior project this school year, I am going to be writing, drawing and publishing a full-color webcomic that I have been planning for the past two years, and which I have written approximately 20 pages of, and of which I have completed about 2 pages. It takes about 8 hours (max) to fully draw out, ink, and color one page. And I still have yet to figure out how to transfer a hand-inked page in order to color on Photoshop.....

But ANYWAY, this is going to be a real challenge for me, as I am a hopeless procrastinator. But I am determined! I shall persevere!

So, what does a blog have to do with all this? Well, it just seems like a good idea. A blog and a webcomic go very well together. Some blogs ARE webcomics, as a matter of fact...

But I rant! This just seems like an excellent idea. I am really looking forward to it.

So, I guess this means that I am actually going to try and entice more readers! ('entice' sounds uncomfortably close to 'seduce', for some reason) Oh, this is going to be so much fun.....

Well, that's it for now, I suppose. I'll see if I can actually STICK to my goal this time....