Sorry, but I am going to have to say that this Blog is now officially on haitus.
I figured that everything would blow over, be quick, nice and easy. But it won't. I will not be able to post for a while. Well, maybe here I can. This is a normal journal, after all, but the other two will not be updated too soon.
Not that anyone reads this.
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Monday, 7 May 2007
Saturday, 28 April 2007
A rant no one really wants to read
This is one of those rants in which I will be talking about something that no one knows about but me and is only here because I'm being narcissistic. It's one of those 'I'm ranting about a story idea' which means that no one else will really want to hear about it.
A long time ago, I wrote two stories. One was about two vampires wandering into a diner. Eventually they end up killing the staff. It was a project done for fiction class. We were given the first page of the Killers (Hemingway) and told to write the rest of it. The other was about two detectives looking for a supernatural killer. The two detectives themselves are rather off-beat. They're heavily noir-based, from London and are rather supernatural themselves. I loved these four characters a lot. I always wanted them based in their own books somewhere. I recently made up two new characters. One is a kidnapper and the other a demon who was the kidnappee. All six of these characters live in the same world. Slightly fifties based, lots of smoking and cursing and suits. I figured they could all star in the same book. Maybe even give them their own one day or at least a few short stories.
Frankie and Al were the first I created. They are vampires. They both wear suits. Frankie doesn't really smoke and nor does he really curse. He would, but he has Al do it for him. Frankie is older than Al, I'm not sure by how much, and he constantly feels sorry for all the people Al talks to. Al smokes and curses like hell. That's all there is to him. He's also rather self-centred.
Spade is the head detective. He has a power over fire, and no one really knows how much, and tends to smoke because he likes the niftiness of never having to buy a lighter. Spade is not his real name. His real name is unknown and not detective-enough, as he puts it. Bartibus Max is his partner. He's older than Spade. He's also shorter and stockier. He has power over water. He spends his nights in brothels and is constantly out of cash (and has to steal it from Spade's pockets). Most people would argue that he could beat down Spade in a fight (of supernatural powers) but as Spade would like to say 'In this world, there are no cheap tricks of elemental superiority; water may extinguish flame, but heat evaporates water'.
Raymond Smelt had the unlucky chance to kidnap the wrong demon. His life was constantly a battle of bad luck and failure. In a way, he would have rather picked the right demon and died rather than pick the wrong demon, especially this one. He might have had a better chance in Hell. Belle, for all her sweet and innocent looks, was harbouring a dangerous secret, one that was wanted in five planes of existence. The problem was, she was just too adorable. She wasn't particularly mean and nasty, either. She was just dangerous to be around. She liked Ray, even if he spilled greasy food on his pants and tripped while running from a fight. He bought her sweets, after all. No one had ever done that. They mostly attempted to capture, maim and kill her for her powers.
This story, which has no name, will revolve around all three groups. Ray, being the man who kidnapped Belle, is an obvious choice. Spade and Max are trying to find Belle and bring Ray into jail for minor atrocities and bringing a dangerous being into the first plane on Earth. Frankie and Al? Well, they're just there. Their purpose is unknown and probably a little bit of a secret. I just think they shouldn't be left out of the fun, even if they're just cameos.
A long time ago, I wrote two stories. One was about two vampires wandering into a diner. Eventually they end up killing the staff. It was a project done for fiction class. We were given the first page of the Killers (Hemingway) and told to write the rest of it. The other was about two detectives looking for a supernatural killer. The two detectives themselves are rather off-beat. They're heavily noir-based, from London and are rather supernatural themselves. I loved these four characters a lot. I always wanted them based in their own books somewhere. I recently made up two new characters. One is a kidnapper and the other a demon who was the kidnappee. All six of these characters live in the same world. Slightly fifties based, lots of smoking and cursing and suits. I figured they could all star in the same book. Maybe even give them their own one day or at least a few short stories.
Frankie and Al were the first I created. They are vampires. They both wear suits. Frankie doesn't really smoke and nor does he really curse. He would, but he has Al do it for him. Frankie is older than Al, I'm not sure by how much, and he constantly feels sorry for all the people Al talks to. Al smokes and curses like hell. That's all there is to him. He's also rather self-centred.
Spade is the head detective. He has a power over fire, and no one really knows how much, and tends to smoke because he likes the niftiness of never having to buy a lighter. Spade is not his real name. His real name is unknown and not detective-enough, as he puts it. Bartibus Max is his partner. He's older than Spade. He's also shorter and stockier. He has power over water. He spends his nights in brothels and is constantly out of cash (and has to steal it from Spade's pockets). Most people would argue that he could beat down Spade in a fight (of supernatural powers) but as Spade would like to say 'In this world, there are no cheap tricks of elemental superiority; water may extinguish flame, but heat evaporates water'.
Raymond Smelt had the unlucky chance to kidnap the wrong demon. His life was constantly a battle of bad luck and failure. In a way, he would have rather picked the right demon and died rather than pick the wrong demon, especially this one. He might have had a better chance in Hell. Belle, for all her sweet and innocent looks, was harbouring a dangerous secret, one that was wanted in five planes of existence. The problem was, she was just too adorable. She wasn't particularly mean and nasty, either. She was just dangerous to be around. She liked Ray, even if he spilled greasy food on his pants and tripped while running from a fight. He bought her sweets, after all. No one had ever done that. They mostly attempted to capture, maim and kill her for her powers.
This story, which has no name, will revolve around all three groups. Ray, being the man who kidnapped Belle, is an obvious choice. Spade and Max are trying to find Belle and bring Ray into jail for minor atrocities and bringing a dangerous being into the first plane on Earth. Frankie and Al? Well, they're just there. Their purpose is unknown and probably a little bit of a secret. I just think they shouldn't be left out of the fun, even if they're just cameos.
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Film Class
So, I haven't popped up around here in ever. This is rare, because I have something I have written. They are, of course, just some bad essays from school, but hey... why not? (It's probably just because I want to procrastinate, haha).
The movies are M, The Third Man and Breathless.
M is directed by Fritz Lang (his wife wrote the script, I think), is German and from 1931.
The Third Man is directed by Carroll Reed (written by many people, most notably Orsen Welles), is British and from 1941.
Breathless is directed by Jean-Luc Gudard (amazingly I spelled it correctly), is French and from 1959.
The movies are M, The Third Man and Breathless.
M is directed by Fritz Lang (his wife wrote the script, I think), is German and from 1931.
The Third Man is directed by Carroll Reed (written by many people, most notably Orsen Welles), is British and from 1941.
Breathless is directed by Jean-Luc Gudard (amazingly I spelled it correctly), is French and from 1959.
Sunday, 28 January 2007
Pan's Labyrinth Review
Yesterday... Yesterday was seeing Pan's Labyrinth. Kristin and Kiwii went with me to see the movie at the Harbour Centre (Annapolis). We arrived relatively early and meandered around for a while. We went to the bookstore, where Kristin bought a few books (Augh... Good Omens and Complete Lewis Carroll?).
The movie was excellent. It is adult, it is rated R. Some people said it was very gory, which it certainly is not, but it is not free of violence or blood. There are three parts that would claim 'gore', but it is not like these Saw or Chainsaw Massacre movies, which are relatively akin to the pulp horrors of the 50s. It was, to say, necessary gore. It could have been done, cinematographically, differently but it was better this way. The audience understood it this way. The example I will use (and not be a spoiler) is when the Captain beats and kills a man with a bottle. We see him break his nose and smash it in. I would deem that more violent than gory. However, when watching it, remember that 1. This is NOT an American film and 2. It has violence and blood (and some gore).
I expected there to be more of the fantasy. While Ofelia is the main character, we get a lot more of the Spanish Civil War and the Captain, in some ways, than Pan and the fae. I think Gaiman (oh shut up, there are not many OTHER authors on blogs so I can't quote them, now can I??) said it best: 'an uncompromisinly adult film, with a child and her fairy tale inset into it as a contrast and echo.' There are two plots, really. I thought they would converge at one point (and that was slightly disappointing, but I will get to that later), but they never really do. There is the Captain (and his bastardness) with Ofelia's mother and Ofelia and her brother and then there is Ofelia and Pan and the fairies. The movie is mostly done through Ofelia, but we also see a lot of the Captain's view. That is, of course, interesting. As the villain, we should see less of him and more of Ofelia, but when we are in the real world with the Spanish Civil War, we see both Ofelia and the Captain. When we slip in the fairy world, we only see Ofelia. There are no 'only Pan' moments. We get Ofelia and that is it. Actually, for a movie called Pan's Labyrinth, it is not so much as based around the labyrinth itself. (Do not mistake me, for I love the fact that it is called that).
I loved the faun and the white man. I should actually stop calling the faun 'Pan' because I don't think he was named that. He was always just the faun. The white man was most interesting. Both were the same man, if I remember correctly... Yes, it was Doug Jomes who played them. I love the costuming for that. It was latex plus CGI-ed lower halves (if you look at the white man's lower half, it is extremely skinny and unhuman). The legs for both were made latex and they deleted Doug's legs, out of the picture. Very interesting and beautiful. Nothing was, I think, compeletely and utterly CGI. The fairies are the only thing. Everything else was latex - the frog, the captain's face... the mandrake was there, too. That makes me very pleased with Guillermo del Toro. It was done, special effects wise, how I think films should be done - anything that can be done (well) with latex and models and costumes, do so... anything else done by CGI. The imagery was wonderful (as an add-on, so was the music).
I found it interesting how I forgot about the sub-titles. Completely forgot. They were done well.
Now, the plotlines. This is most likely to contain a bit of spoilers (I will attempt to NOT make many, but I'll put the horrifically big ones in white). I thought that, in the end, Ofelia's world and the real world would collide. Interestingly, it never really did. Some people might be disappointed, I found it refreshing. It was nice for them to not, blatantly, converge. My theory on it is that the faun and fairies are all in Ofelia's mind. ((SPOILER, highlight to see: This is most obvious when the Captain (his name is Vidal, apparently) enters the middle of the labyrinth. He does not see the faun and the faun does not see the Captain. There is no interaction at all. )). It is a bit iffy, really. There are some things that it does not make entire sense, but we do see it (the fairy parts) through Ofelia. The movie is not a fairy tale, so much as a war story fused into one. Instead of seeing it through the eyes of an adult, where we would get an accurate tale of the war, we get it through the eyes of a little girl who is obsessed with fairies and fantasy. Ofelia, being an imaginitive little girl, does not absorb herself into the happenings of the war and so, makes up her own little world. The only way we can see anything about the war is if we look through the Captain's eyes or Mercedes (I realise I haven't said much on her... haha) or Ofelia's mother or even the Doctor ((SPOILER, highlight to see: Minor note, I love it when the Doctor dies. It is astonishingly done... The view of the camera and his actions - wonderful)). If the film was done entirely through the eyes of Ofelia, we would not have any of the war, most likely. It would have been all faun and fairies.
...
On another note, Ray Bradbury is going to Comic-Con. This makes me really happy. Now it is both Bradbury AND Gaiman, haha!
The movie was excellent. It is adult, it is rated R. Some people said it was very gory, which it certainly is not, but it is not free of violence or blood. There are three parts that would claim 'gore', but it is not like these Saw or Chainsaw Massacre movies, which are relatively akin to the pulp horrors of the 50s. It was, to say, necessary gore. It could have been done, cinematographically, differently but it was better this way. The audience understood it this way. The example I will use (and not be a spoiler) is when the Captain beats and kills a man with a bottle. We see him break his nose and smash it in. I would deem that more violent than gory. However, when watching it, remember that 1. This is NOT an American film and 2. It has violence and blood (and some gore).
I expected there to be more of the fantasy. While Ofelia is the main character, we get a lot more of the Spanish Civil War and the Captain, in some ways, than Pan and the fae. I think Gaiman (oh shut up, there are not many OTHER authors on blogs so I can't quote them, now can I??) said it best: 'an uncompromisinly adult film, with a child and her fairy tale inset into it as a contrast and echo.' There are two plots, really. I thought they would converge at one point (and that was slightly disappointing, but I will get to that later), but they never really do. There is the Captain (and his bastardness) with Ofelia's mother and Ofelia and her brother and then there is Ofelia and Pan and the fairies. The movie is mostly done through Ofelia, but we also see a lot of the Captain's view. That is, of course, interesting. As the villain, we should see less of him and more of Ofelia, but when we are in the real world with the Spanish Civil War, we see both Ofelia and the Captain. When we slip in the fairy world, we only see Ofelia. There are no 'only Pan' moments. We get Ofelia and that is it. Actually, for a movie called Pan's Labyrinth, it is not so much as based around the labyrinth itself. (Do not mistake me, for I love the fact that it is called that).
I loved the faun and the white man. I should actually stop calling the faun 'Pan' because I don't think he was named that. He was always just the faun. The white man was most interesting. Both were the same man, if I remember correctly... Yes, it was Doug Jomes who played them. I love the costuming for that. It was latex plus CGI-ed lower halves (if you look at the white man's lower half, it is extremely skinny and unhuman). The legs for both were made latex and they deleted Doug's legs, out of the picture. Very interesting and beautiful. Nothing was, I think, compeletely and utterly CGI. The fairies are the only thing. Everything else was latex - the frog, the captain's face... the mandrake was there, too. That makes me very pleased with Guillermo del Toro. It was done, special effects wise, how I think films should be done - anything that can be done (well) with latex and models and costumes, do so... anything else done by CGI. The imagery was wonderful (as an add-on, so was the music).
I found it interesting how I forgot about the sub-titles. Completely forgot. They were done well.
Now, the plotlines. This is most likely to contain a bit of spoilers (I will attempt to NOT make many, but I'll put the horrifically big ones in white). I thought that, in the end, Ofelia's world and the real world would collide. Interestingly, it never really did. Some people might be disappointed, I found it refreshing. It was nice for them to not, blatantly, converge. My theory on it is that the faun and fairies are all in Ofelia's mind. ((SPOILER, highlight to see: This is most obvious when the Captain (his name is Vidal, apparently) enters the middle of the labyrinth. He does not see the faun and the faun does not see the Captain. There is no interaction at all. )). It is a bit iffy, really. There are some things that it does not make entire sense, but we do see it (the fairy parts) through Ofelia. The movie is not a fairy tale, so much as a war story fused into one. Instead of seeing it through the eyes of an adult, where we would get an accurate tale of the war, we get it through the eyes of a little girl who is obsessed with fairies and fantasy. Ofelia, being an imaginitive little girl, does not absorb herself into the happenings of the war and so, makes up her own little world. The only way we can see anything about the war is if we look through the Captain's eyes or Mercedes (I realise I haven't said much on her... haha) or Ofelia's mother or even the Doctor ((SPOILER, highlight to see: Minor note, I love it when the Doctor dies. It is astonishingly done... The view of the camera and his actions - wonderful)). If the film was done entirely through the eyes of Ofelia, we would not have any of the war, most likely. It would have been all faun and fairies.
...
On another note, Ray Bradbury is going to Comic-Con. This makes me really happy. Now it is both Bradbury AND Gaiman, haha!
Thursday, 25 January 2007
First Chapters Writing Competition
http://www.gather.com/viewGroup.jsp?grpId=3659174697244428
On Gather.com, there is a competition running of Touchstone's to publish a book. Sadly, I cannot enter. I do not have a finished manuscript, which makes me want to cry. I'll wait until another opportunity, but felt like sharing this. ((And if anyone else new to Gather was wondering, yes... it is extremely confusing your first time around)).
On Gather.com, there is a competition running of Touchstone's to publish a book. Sadly, I cannot enter. I do not have a finished manuscript, which makes me want to cry. I'll wait until another opportunity, but felt like sharing this. ((And if anyone else new to Gather was wondering, yes... it is extremely confusing your first time around)).
Snow and cuts.
http://kino-express.ru/stills/stardust
Russian site, has a lot of pictures of the movie (Stardust).
http://www.theoriginalsushipillow.com/home.html
Wonderful pillows. They are very beautiful and I really would love to get one. They are sushi pillows. I want the avocado nigiri and the shrimp the most.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6286617.stm
Romanian news (because I care?). I always post these articles.
...
I got my haircut (whoo). It's a lot shorter than before. It was too long, before. It was grating on my nerves, really. This is the best picture I took (no one was awake when I was taking pictures, so I had to take them by myself). I look a tiny bit scary here?
Here is when I first tried to take my picture, and sort of missed.
Finally, this is how short it is in the back:
If you want a reference picture, this is what I looked like before hand:
Much shorter.
On another note, it is snowing here. It's been snowing off and on this week, but it snowed uite a lot (actually) today. It kept flurrying. It was very beautiful. We all went out and threw snow at each other and played, for the most part. Then everyone shuffled off to go home.
I figured out how to add fonts to Word (and all that). It was very amazing. I've added Ancient (both versions) and Go'auld, from Stargate. It amused me greatly.
I've been doing nothing all night. I ought to go do my homework now... *sighs*. (I also need to finish up reading Spindle's End and give it back to Cunningham).
...
Edit: I had forgotten to mention this earlier, but I am going to see Pan's Labyrinth this Saturday. It is playing at 7 in the Harbor theatre and I can't find the thing for the mall theatre (this would be in Annapolis). We (my dad and I) want to arrive in Annapolis at 6-ish, so we (Kristin, Kiwii and I) can eat dinner and kind of play around for a bit. I was hoping for the movie to be at 7:30 so that we could have more time, but the only other time is 10 and that is most certainly too late (we can only see a movie around 7 or 8 because of when Kristin gets off work).
Russian site, has a lot of pictures of the movie (Stardust).
http://www.theoriginalsushipillow.com/home.html
Wonderful pillows. They are very beautiful and I really would love to get one. They are sushi pillows. I want the avocado nigiri and the shrimp the most.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6286617.stm
Romanian news (because I care?). I always post these articles.
...
I got my haircut (whoo). It's a lot shorter than before. It was too long, before. It was grating on my nerves, really. This is the best picture I took (no one was awake when I was taking pictures, so I had to take them by myself). I look a tiny bit scary here?
Here is when I first tried to take my picture, and sort of missed.
Finally, this is how short it is in the back:
If you want a reference picture, this is what I looked like before hand:
Much shorter.
On another note, it is snowing here. It's been snowing off and on this week, but it snowed uite a lot (actually) today. It kept flurrying. It was very beautiful. We all went out and threw snow at each other and played, for the most part. Then everyone shuffled off to go home.
I figured out how to add fonts to Word (and all that). It was very amazing. I've added Ancient (both versions) and Go'auld, from Stargate. It amused me greatly.
I've been doing nothing all night. I ought to go do my homework now... *sighs*. (I also need to finish up reading Spindle's End and give it back to Cunningham).
...
Edit: I had forgotten to mention this earlier, but I am going to see Pan's Labyrinth this Saturday. It is playing at 7 in the Harbor theatre and I can't find the thing for the mall theatre (this would be in Annapolis). We (my dad and I) want to arrive in Annapolis at 6-ish, so we (Kristin, Kiwii and I) can eat dinner and kind of play around for a bit. I was hoping for the movie to be at 7:30 so that we could have more time, but the only other time is 10 and that is most certainly too late (we can only see a movie around 7 or 8 because of when Kristin gets off work).
Sunday, 21 January 2007
The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) - Link
The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) has been written, edited and finished... and submitted to Suite 21.
The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) is about a more-or-less modern-day Cain and Abel story. ((There is no definitive time period, but it is done in the 20th century)). Cain and Abele are sons of the mafia members: Adem and Ava Arlini. Cain and Abele live and run an apartment building. Abele, to his dismay, is beaten by his brother on a monthly (and sometimes weekly) basis. The Sacrificing Brother is a second part (of sorts) to The Sacrificial Brother (Abele Arlini).
Note: I will be making these little posts from time to time because it is easier to look at then digging through my mass of links in Never Wonder Nights.
The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) is about a more-or-less modern-day Cain and Abel story. ((There is no definitive time period, but it is done in the 20th century)). Cain and Abele are sons of the mafia members: Adem and Ava Arlini. Cain and Abele live and run an apartment building. Abele, to his dismay, is beaten by his brother on a monthly (and sometimes weekly) basis. The Sacrificing Brother is a second part (of sorts) to The Sacrificial Brother (Abele Arlini).
Note: I will be making these little posts from time to time because it is easier to look at then digging through my mass of links in Never Wonder Nights.
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