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....