Contemplations on a whim

I have a design for a character in my head, and yet, I don’t know what I’m going to put her in.  I have all the characters I need for my Aenen storyline, and she definitely doesn’t fit into any of my Chick lit stories.  I’ve sketched her a dozen times and cannot get the character out of my head. 
It’s possible I’m looking at a new fantasy story.
I’ve been pondering my process lately.  The most seemingly random things inspire me.  I have a couple of short stories that were written based on a necklace or a hairstyle.
Yes, I know that makes it sound like they’re fluffy little pieces about girly things.  Not really.  One based on a necklace actually doesn’t even mention the necklace itself.  It’s a story about a girl who makes friends with a leopard.  It was the necklace that made me think of talking animals.
See?  My process is so totally random that it makes no sense when I try to examine or explain it.  All I know is that it works, and I should stop trying to question it.

Nahemii-san's designs, which I "purchased/adopted"

I think I’m also getting pretty good at sketching.  Not faces, mind you, but I’m definitely improving on hair and clothes.  My only problem is that I don’t have any ability to draw bodies, so I’ve been using models.  I “bought” a couple of different poses from one of my “friends” on deviantart, Nahemii-san. 
Now there is an artist who can draw clothes!  I’ve adopted a couple of outfits that I’ve tried redrawing- they never look as good when I do it. =D  But, again, they inspired me, so I “bought” them.  I do love deviantart points.

 

Mom is right; I need to make changes more often if my reaction is going to be so prolonged.  Every time I look at my pretty blue toenails, I get all giggly again. J  I’m such a dork.
So, it’s been more than a week.  I feel comfortable reviewing Lucy now.  Even so...

CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  SPOILERS AHEAD.

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Okay, I'll start with my assessment of the movie:

It was totally weird. There were three of us watching and we could only come up with about one word to describe it: weird.

Now, from here on, there are spoilers ahead, so please, please don't read this if you haven't seen the movie yet.

So far as movies go, it actually started out really well. Very intense from the beginning, Scarlett Johanssen made a rather believable character.

So the basic premise of the story is that Lucy is hijacked to be a drug mule, the bag leaks, and she ends up developing super powers as a result.

She goes on something of a rampage, killing everybody responsible for her kidnapping and the drugs- or trying to- along with a couple of innocent bystanders. Which was a MAJOR personality shift from the character in the beginning of the movie who was freaking out from being kidnapped.  I mean FREAKING OUT- she threw up and her nose was running from the crying she was doing.  As she gains more and more powers, she starts to become kind of loopy and emotionless, which totally distracts from what should be the coolness of the character and her powers.

The effects were amazing, and the acting, such as it was, was very well done. Morgan Freeman did an excellent job as the professor.

The ending though...it was just WEIRD. I liked the cop character, Del Rio, but didn't really understand his purpose. Lucy claimed to want him around to remind her of what it was to be human, but she kissed him and it felt awkward and out of place and, frankly, pretty pointless. It didn't feel romantic in the slightest.

And as for Lucy's "death"- I'm still not entirely sure how that came about.

In all, I'd give the thing a C. It could go either way, but the last time I was so confunded by a movie was from watching The Fountain.

My suggestion: wait until it comes out on DVD, and either rent it or add it to your netflix queue. The scenes in the trailers were easily the ones worth watching in the whole movie. Unless you enjoy the plot holes and randomness of this kind of story.
Thus endeth the review.

It's such a pretty blue!

Chibi Beryl and Shitennou by SemiMage

I found this art when I was checking my dA messages, and (after asking permission to share it) decided to post it here because, let's face it, whether you know what it is or not, it's adorable art:
So, there you go.

I think my mom is right; I need to change things up more often, because I am waaaaaaay too excited about the polish on my toes.  And the highlights she put in my hair last week...
On the up side, I totally wrote like three more pages today, so woohoo, go me.
I just wish I didn't feel like I needed a nap now. :)

 

Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass

I watched this video and then promptly shared it on Facebook.  It's got a beat that makes it immediately catchy, but then listening to the lyrics, it was even more fun.  It's important to claim who you are, no matter your size or anything else about yourself that might be "objectionable".

Own it, honey, you're beautiful no matter what you look like!

Insomnia strikes again

This has got to stop.
For some reason, I haven't been sleeping well.  And trust me, as someone well acquainted with insomnia, I know what it feels like to need it and not get it.
This is me, averaging about five hours of sleep a night, even (and maybe especially) at work.

And also, my feet hurt.

And it's only Friday.

I bet I got you with that one.  Well, unlike most of the rest of the population, Friday does not signal the end of the week for me.  Actually, my weekend isn't a weekend so much as a day on which I can do weekend-y things.  Usually, that's Tuesday.  Sometimes Sunday afternoons.

I'm wearing my African beads today.  They go with my shirt.  Mom and Dad brought me these really awesome beaded necklaces back from South Africa.  One of them has these teal beads, and the other one is brown and gold.  What's really cool about them is that Mom says they're all seeds.
Haha, literally "seed beads."

Speaking of Mom, we had a lot of fun on Tuesday, despite the heat.  Well, I say despite the heat, but I'm sure Mom enjoyed it. :)  She highlighted my hair, which was fun.  I like how it looks- it makes me look like I actually spend some time outside in the sun.  And she curled it for me too (I washed the curl out last night, unfortunately), which was awesome.  We watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes so she would remember what had happened when she and Dad went and saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

They were really excited about having date night in the middle of the week. 
I love my parents.  They are adorable and I love how in love they are. 

Projects and word counts- begin again with wedding bells!

I've got a song from an animated movie stuck in my head.
And it's not annoying.
Weird.

I am a Ravenclaw prefect this week.  My nail colors are gold and blue.  The gold looks kind of bronze-y, so I declared them Ravenclaw colors.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Next week, probably, I'll be doing Sailor Venus nails: yellow, orange and blue.

I wrote 2,050 words on ilys.  Emma's story is taking shape.  I might even have it finished by the time NaNo comes around.
I really want to do NaNo, merely because I know that writing is good for my sanity.  Maybe I don't churn out a new book every year.  But you know what?  That's okay.  So long as I keep writing, it doesn't matter.
Emma, by the way, is probably going to get her own sequel.  :)

And Emma's story is only one of the projects I'm currently working on!  Whew!  It's a sort of Lakeview Heights novel, so there might be some character appearances that are familiar.
But I'm also working on a high fantasy and an urban fantasy (that one's kind of out of my comfort zone, so I don't know how much I'm going to be working on it). As well as a collection of faith-based short stories.
See what I mean by projects?

But this is what I want to do with my life.  So I'm content.

Also, because I believe this bears mentioning; I wish I could have been there:

Congratulations, Tiffany and Luke!

They've been married six days now.

Saving America -- Mom made a countdown.

Saving America -- http://www.webcountdown.net/?a=mUqPRec

Share it EVERYWHERE!

Inspired by Hannity (at least I think it was Hannity), Mom went online and made a countdown to Obama's end of term.

Review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and other words...*SPOILER ALERT*

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW DETAILLS THAT MIGHT SPOIL THE MOVIE FOR YOU.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

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Well, to begin with, the effects in this most recent incarnation of Ape World are so phenomenal, they carried the story through the excessive violence. There's a lot of that, so you know. This movie is NOT appropriate for young children and might even be questionable for teenagers. But you're their parents, so you'll have to make that distinction yourself.

As with the last movie of similar title, it is the characters that carry the movie. Most notably the familiar names of Caesar, Maurice, Koba, and Rocket. The movie opens where the last one closed, fortunately, and it passes through approximately ten years in the span of the opening credits before we get our first view of the apes the movie is named for.

More ape characters are introduced- most notably the first generation of super-smart apes after the "jail break" that ended "Rise". We meet Caesar's son, Blue Eyes, and as much as the story is about the tensions between human and ape (and, eventually, ape and ape), it is also about Blue Eyes coming of age in the world as it has become.

The range of emotions the characters display for each other even before the introduction of this round of human characters is phenomenal: we watch the apes hunt in a pack, playing off each other's strengths, we get to see Caesar's wife/mate give birth to their second son (poor thing never does get a name before the end of the movie), we see the family love and dynamic within the larger ape groups. We also experience the moment that the apes become, for all intents and purposes, human- because only humans commit murder (I define murder here as the killing for pleasure or material gain rather than survival).

There are a few comedic relief moments to lighten a movie that otherwise had me tense the entire time- usually waiting for something to jump out. Koba's pretense at being a "dumb" ape to escape a couple of humans was entertaining, if slightly creepy because you understood the motivation behind it. His relationship with Caesar, who freed him from the human labs in "Rise", is intriguing to watch because it carries with it the opposite end of the spectrum of very human relationship (the other end being love, the love Caesar has for wife and children). Koba's betrayal of everything the apes are supposed to hold dear- for power, no less- is a very humanizing component of the story.

And yet, even though the apes started the war, it was the humans, in the end, who still managed, in some part, to be villains.

And I suppose I was not the only one at the end thinking, as his "people" bowed to him, "All hail Caesar!"

My recommendation: if you're only seeing one movie this year, it should have been Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If you're seeing two, try Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- especially if you saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes a couple years ago. (This recommendation is subject to change as more movies come out.) Next movie review: Lucy!

Today was more than a movie, however. I got to contribute to a project I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of (anything that contributes to the mainstream recognition of ElfQuest is something I want to be a part of!).

And I read and I wrote and I hung out with my mom (we watched Revenge of the Sith and part of A New Hope) and I caught up with my brother.  That's always a reason to celebrate.

Because I needed to vent

Ewoks vs. Marvel characters

I'm rather irritated.

It's sad, really.  I have all sorts of verbal "reviews" from family members (to whom my mother sent my books), but not one person has posted a review on Amazon.

NOT ONE.

That's both irritating and depressing.
Anyway, I've had kind of an annoying afternoon.  But at least I got rid of one facebook "friend" who's been acting like an ass.
Yes, I said it!  Like an ass! 
Where does he get off calling me stupid? 

Anyway, being the nerd that I am, I decided to alleviate the hurt (even from someone you don't actually care about, being called stupid still hurts) by playing Star Wars.  I got Han Solo, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 already, along with a bunch of name less characters (a Trandoshian slaver, an Ithorian outcast, a Katan, a probe droid, and a Jawa).  It's fun.  It's nerdy.
I like it.

And that's about all I have to say on the matter today.  I don't normally like alienating people, but I'm pretty proud of myself, actually.

Why are philosophers so long-winded?

Do they get paid by the word?  Is that why they use four hundred words where three will do?  I mean, come on, I'm a writer by nature and by choice.  But even I know that the higher your word count goes, the less likely people are to read what you write!
Ugh!
Philosophers are like theologians, I think.  They are under the impression that if one is to convert a person, one must pile so many words on top of them that the person will agree with them just to escape.
Yes, I know that's uncharitable.
But you didn't have to do the homework for this class I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR in the first place!  The only good thing about it was being able to watch Groundhog Day in week four!  I wrote three papers about euthanasia because the other topic choices were animal rights, environmentalism, and the ethics of war.  And seriously?  I'm a Christian, and my perspective on every one of these topics is an unpopular one in liberal circles (this is why a liberal college was not my smartest move). 

*sigh*
I needed a break to rant or something.  I felt like I was going to explode!

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

Can you believe it's July?  Part of me feels like I should say "finally", and another part of me wants to say "already".  Most of me just groans because it's summer and it's hot and I don't like it.
But then, we all know I'm weird and quite possibly more than slightly insane.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of being told you're adorable by someone who has no personal stake in your happiness.  Yes, my parents never fail to tell me how cute I am, and (as a female) any man who wants to stick around had better appreciate how cute I am.  But someone outside that circle, who doesn't need me to be happy for their own reasons, telling me I'm adorable?
Well, shoot, that just about made my day.

So, as I'm sitting here, I am realizing that I've become a slacker again.  I have homework I need to be doing (I have a paper due on Monday) as well as a book I could be working on.  Should, in fact, be working on.  I'm still hesitant about doing NaNo this year, if only because by the time November rolls around, I will be deep in the throes of my degree capstone.  Bleh.  But c'est la vie.  Maybe I'll do my own version of NaNo after I graduate, hey?

In the meantime, I'm going to eat lunch and continue to contemplate my advanced capabilities for procrastination.

I read, therefore I am: Discuss (or Review of The Winter Letter by D. E. Stanley)

 

I suppose I'm supposed to say "SPOILER ALERT" as though someone actually reads my blog. :P
Anyway.  I started to have a few doubts when Jared got all up in Will's face and took the letter from him after the Awakening Ceremony, but then wrote it off as his just being stressed.
However...For the last several chapters, ever since Jared forbade Gat, Will, and Wohie to attempt a rescue of the missing orphans and tried to imprison them when they decided to rescue them anyway, I'd started to suspect the King Mel is not the evil one after all.  It's all a conspiracy.  Or, as Phoebe might say (I was watching Charmed last night): "Somebody's working on a massive evil plan!"

At this exact moment, I suddenly got an incredible epiphany.  See...according to the SSF (story so far), there were three major knights/guardians of the Kingdom of Neba.  Markus (who is now called King Markus of the Under-Kingdom), Andrias (whom the children all think is an evil spy, turned by King Mel), and the last, being Eleazar.  The only one we haven't met yet is the last.

I just drew the connection when Jared started yelling at Will about his parents.  Will's dad's name was Eli.

It was no accident that his parents died.  It was no accident that he ended up in Baru.  And it was no accident that some bird dive-bombed him on his way to meet the King.

I love it when epiphanies come before the end of the book.

Oh.  And the book is called The Winter Letter by D.E. Stanley.
It's something you should definitely read if you were a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia (trust me on this; I read Narnia every Christmas and have for like the past fifteen or so years!).  The story itself is a good faith-fantasy.  The characters are fun (I dare you not to enjoy a "butterbug" named Jabber, a tree named Forest, a trio of talking lions who aren't just lions, or a quartet of boys named Yoh, Goh, Broh, and Sloh), the "magic" is real, with real costs and real consequences.  The story has adventure and tragedy and hope.

Really, I cannot wait to read the next installment.  I even liked the author's page (as well as the book's page) on facebook!  And you know how I feel about facebook!

*sigh*

I am feeling decidedly unmotivated lately.
I feel out of sorts, but nothing's really wrong.

I'm weird.  Some women have closets full of clothes and shoes, and I laugh when I hear them complain that they have nothing to wear (granted, this is mostly sitcom characters, because I don't really know women with that problem).  I have more than 900 books on Kindle, and probably around 300 still in paper, and I feel like I have nothing to read!
I want to read the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, but the latter quintet won't be finished until October, and I want to read them in order.  Which sucks, because I'm seriously impatient. 
I'm a junkie.  A book junkie.
Let's face it, there are worse things to be addicted to.
Which is why it sucks to be going through withdrawal when I have so many books to read.  The problem being, they're all incomplete series or something.
I suppose I could read the Sword of Truth books again.

Or maybe the Yada Yada Prayer Group.
Yeah, I think I'll read those next.

You, on the other hand, should read THIS