Another weird ass dream

Admittedly not as weird as my other one, but still weird enough to make me go wtf...kinda.

You ever seen that movie "The Holiday", the one with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz? (It's my mom's fault alright, she keeps watching those gay ass chick flicks and I can't help but sit and watch)

Yeah, that's basically the premise for my dream, except though, I switch places with Canadian music legend Bryan Adams. yeah. And I spend the rest of the time looking for cleaning supplies cause I fucked up his million dollar bachelor pad.

It's not something that makes you go WTF? but it certainly was something too out of the ordinary.

Out all celebrities, why Bryan Adams?

And I'm quite sure the dude's got a family and all so the entire idea of a bachelor pad is kinda out of place.

Memoirs (Remember Me) : A script Review

I hate the Twilight phenomenon. And I hate waiting to find out the endings to movies. So I have Twilight fans to thank for them forcing many people on the internet for taking down links to the script for Memoirs. God people, could you just not ruin things for everyone? We get it, you think that Pattinson dude is hot and shit but don't screw it up for people like me who just wants to read a script. And arguably, I hate that I don't have the patience to wait it out before discovering the twist to the ending in this script. So basically, fuck you all for exploiting my weakness.

/rant over, seacrest out.

Ok, now to my script review of Memoirs, this is the october 27, 2008 version, so obviously, there may be some changes.

Here's the thing, I knew of the so called twist before reading the script and as a result, everything in the script has a more bittersweet tone.

So the story is about Tyler, struggling to live with the death of Michael, his brother. Kind of a lame logline and could easily go into a melodrama. He sulks around all day doing dick and generally not giving a fuck about anything. He gets in a fight one night while hanging out with his buddy Aiden, the asshole of an officer comes and breaks it up and because Tyler pisses him off, throws him in jail. Aiden finds out that the cop has a daughter, and convinces Tyler to seduce her to get back at the cop. But it turns out that they have a lot more in common than they think.

If there's ever been a good reason for women to throw their panties at Pattinson, this movie's going to do the trick. The characters are very well defined. Tyler may sulk around feeling sorry for himself but when it comes to matters of his little sister, he goes a million miles and beyond for her. I really liked how Tyler and his sister Caroline interact. That's the thread of the overarching conflict in this piece, or at least one that is done very well dramatically in my opinion.

It's not really a Romance movie, if you're expecting the traditional guy falls for girl, guy loses girl, and guy gets girl back. Yes, that structure is in here but it's not the most important part of the screenplay. The romance is used to highlight a thematic element, enjoy life for what it is even if it doesn't matter in the end.

What liked about the script is how well drawn out the characters are. It may border on the melodrama but I think the writer does a fine balancing act between realism and over the top. Tyler's still shaken up over his brother's death after all these years, his father is absent, his sister is picked on for being a "freak", and Ally's in the same boat as Tyler, both nursing a still open wound. It doesn't go too far into the grief, but rather this is more of a family drama with a hint of romance intertwined.

I think that some parts of it feels forced, particularly around Ally and Tyler's blow up over finding out why Tyler asked her out in the first place. The relationship between Tyler and Ally doesn't call for her reaction to the truth. They were two people form families that have felt the same pain in their lives, the loss of a loved one. In fact, the setting up of the plot between the two with the "fucking his daughter means fucking him" felt unnecessary, and I think it would've been a little stronger without it. But it's not an overtly big issue.

I don't know if it's just me but I love it when there's a little piece where the dude hits on a woman and just sounds as smooth as satin. It's probably due to the nerd in me but I like it when we get to see these characters be confident and smooth. Something to learn from here I guess, confidence and wit goes a long way in impressing people, but I guess it's just the confidence part. Must apply it to real life...

Arguably, this may come off as a rather bland drama, if it weren't for the ending, I don't think I would care as much for the characters. But I really got into the drama and the personal conflicts. It's a family drama done very well in my opinion, and the family dynamic works very well. There's moments of triumphs and moments of disappointments and people say and do things they shouldn't. I've probably seen this kind of movie a million times but it got to me for some reason. It makes for something, dare I say, compelling.

3.5/5

Some more updates

Ok, winter break is coming up which allow me to spend some time and finally get the fuck writing my goddamn script.

I'm going to do a script review of The Road sometime in the next week, depending on how I feel. For some strange reason, I actually picked up The Road and read it cover to cover, which is an extremely rare thing for me to do. The reading part anyways. Besides The Road and My Sister's Keeper (yeah kinda gay I know, but I couldn't pass up the emotional drama behind it), I don't think there was a book besides the 7th Harry Potter that I legitimately picked up to read on my own. Everything else was from school assignments and the like. I don't know about you, but I find Shakespeare extremely boring. The stories are there but I can't get through the language which has always been a pet peeves of mine in terms of reading plays. It's always going to come down to the format and the language that makes or breaks the reading experience.

Now what has been going on in my life?

Nothing, again. Most kids have an unlimited amount of ideas as to what to do. Me and my best friend can't fucking find anything. Nope, it's all about waiting in our mother's basement until next year's Wondercon where we (I) could cream my pants looking at an extremely rare Max Rebo action figure up close and personal. Hell that happened last year when I met Mr. Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamil. I can now go around town telling people I got "Hamilled". Can you say BEST DAY EVAR?

Not to mention all the the cool ass movies clips that they're hopefully going to show there.

So yeah...

And I should really get back to writing my script

Yeah...

Alright, so I'm a little behind schedule; no matter. Winter break is coming up and hopefully, that'll give me enough time to go and write my script. Honestly, I don't think I can make my deadline for the end of the year mark, but the point of my "promise" to myself is to get my ass writing, and quite honestly, I have accomplished that even through a miniscule amount.

So yeah, basically fuck it.

So on to other news... well nothing much.

No new script review, maybe next week perhaps.

For a kinda young guy my age, I should be out there doing shit but I've perfected the art of slothing. It's amazing how easy it is to sit around, nap around and all around dick around to waste the time of your day. Obviously, if you're reading this, the information's a little too late, if your young (like 15-ish) get the fuck off the internets and socialize man!

God I can imagine how one day my marriage proposal will be like. If I'm lucky enough to find a girl that'll put up with my shit, it's gong to be one of those extremely unromantic marriage proposals in the face of the earth.

It's going to revolve me and her sitting down having a frozen dinner or take-out some shit like that, and I'll just causually ask her "hey wanna get married one day, you know. Like if 10 years from now you and I are still together, obviously we're not going to meet new people?"

and in a perfect world she'd go yeah, and I'd go "cool, could you pass the remote?"

Now that's fucking true love right there, but one can only dream...

Script Review and more...

You know how I said I'd be reviewing a script at least once a week? Well, I didn't lie. I did review one, honest. It's just on another website.

http://mscriptparadigm.blogspot.com/2009/11/fahrenheit-451-guest-review-8.html

Yeah, I'm a professional now.

So basically, I didn't lie about my goals, just got re-directed elsewhere.




In other news, I think I would have to take a little break from writing on the blog. I'm currently suffering from the Fucking Swine Flu... yeah... fucking sucks ass big time. I have little energy to write, read, think, it's been a fucking terrible week. And on Thanksgiving break no less. I don't know whether to call it a good or bad thing, good in that I don't have to miss school or bad that I'm going to be sick during a holiday.

What the fuck am I saying? It's bad all the way! I could've had a legitimate reason to skip school. Bullocks, my life blows.

Weirdest Fucking Dream Evar.

Well, I was sick with a fever last night, and with a fever comes possibly the most random dream I ever had.

So I was at an airport with Spider-man and I met James Brown. He called me over to where he was and I obliged. Here, he introduced me to this old woman who was having marital problems with her husband, and she proceeded to tell how in order to re-ignite their sex life, she gave him blow-jobs every morning before he wakes up. And the dude happened to be Ronald Reagan, who's supposed to be dead but apparently not enough to get wet dreams from an old lady.

Seriously, Waht Teh Fuck?!

Honestly you can not make shit like that up.

On one hand, I laughed. On the other, it made me sad that one of the few dreams I have about sex is an old lady telling me a story about giving blowjobs while Spider-man and James Brown watch. Why can't I be on the receiving end except instead of an old lady it's some hot ass babe?

You know life sucks when even in your dreams other people get more ass than you.

A haiku by me

Science advancement
People healthy, happy, good
and dead. Ironic...

Like Nike, Just Do it

Alright, as you may know (you being me since I'm the only one who reads my blog), I'm a BIG procrastinator. I said I would do my one page a day and then amended that rule to "if not a page then read a script". I guess you can thank another blogger for this inspiration.

So I'm altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

I'm still going to have to do a page a day. No excuses. At the very least a page a day, no rollover, no write 7 pages so I have the rest of the week off thinking. I'm not going to let myself go that easily. Fuck it. I'm too young to sit in front of the computer dreaming, I'll save that for my mid-life crisis.

So here the fuck goes.

First Screenplay: I'm going to write about the roommate from hell. This may or may not come from personal experiences. But whatever. It will suck major balls. It will make you vomit. It will make you wish you could gouge out your fucking eyes because there is no way an author could write something so terrible or execute in such a boring way.

But I'm not here to write well, I'm here to get the crap out of my system. I'm here to just write. Fuck quality...

For now.

Script Review: The Apartment

I decided that for my first official script review on this blog, I would review a movie I have not seen. Don't know why it's just the way I chose it. Ok I'm lying, I'm lazy and I had just finished reading the script courtesy of the 14 scripts in 14 days over at gointothestory.com. So sue me dickhead, at least I'm reading!


So why did I pick this script up to review? First because it's OLD. The film was shot in black and white, and in my own personal count of watching movies in black and white (an amount I can count on one hand), I've only seen two that I can say I thoroughly enjoyed, Psycho and Casablanca. Don't get me started on Citizen Kane. I watched it in a bad mood and the experience was soured, but I digress.

First impressions of The Apartment. How the hell do you make a movie about a guy letting other people use his small apartment building? By all accounts of what screen writing gurus talk about strong story hooks, this is a film that would never get made in today's climate. But then again, the present time didn't have writers like they did back in the old days. I'll admit, the premise felt extremely weak and I thought it would be one of those really long old movies everyone says is a classic but you can't bring yourself to watching it. But I'll catch The Apartment one day, I'm looking forward to it.

The story is about C.C. Baxter or as he likes to be called, Bud. Bud is this young insurance guy looking to make his way up the ranks. So he does what anyone desperate for a promotion does, blowing everyone in a huge orgy every week. Alright it isn't explicit, the film was made in the 60's after all! Bud "leases" out his apartment to his co-workers so they can commit adultery or as I like to call it sexy time. Bud gives them a place to go and the "Clients", that is, Bud's superiors, give him a recommendation for promotion. Bud wants to have enough money to buy the latest fashion, become one of the big dogs by looking like one.

Well things get complicated, as it should. Bud develops a friendship with Fran and Bud had just been promoted to Personnel department under Mr Sheldrake, the kind of guy who likes to cozy up every secretary's skirt he sees. Sheldrake is cheating on his wife with Fran but Bud doesn't know it yet. Bud asks Fran out on a date to see a musical, with tickets given to him by Shledrake himself. But what Bud doesn't know is that Fran has a date already... with Sheldrake! Oooh, twists and turns just like a Soap Opera, my mother would like this.

Like I said, this is a film that would never have gotten made in today's climate. But the script is a real solid story. Bud is generally a good guy but is blinded by the fact that he's allowing other people take advantage of him. All for the purpose of promotion and money. It's certainly a timeless theme that the script explores, where do you draw the line between your job and your life? And I loved how the apartment was a metaphor for this. People taking advantage of other people to advance their wants. The clients want to unleash their sex hounds by cheating on their wives and taking them to Bud's apartment and Bud in return wants them to recommend him for promotion. Fran is his love interest but not a cliche'd one. She's her own person and she isn't there to just raise the stakes for our main character. She's there because she is a mirror of Bud, someone who has given much for her "happiness". She's in love with Sheldrake but Sheldrake is just stringing her along for most of the script.

Now, on to the criticism. The script stands at 156 pages (give or take, it was downloaded from mypdfscripts.com and converted) and much of that is to be blamed on the overly descriptive language. The screenplay dips into novel like description in some parts and makes the reading of it slow down considerably. But this is written in the 60's and that was how it was written back then. Nowadays, scripts have to be as concise as possible, because the thing was, I didn't really care about the description anyways (I skimmed the long paragraphs; I think I could catch what was going on)

What I noticed is that scripts from waaay back in the old days liked to take their time with establishing characters. I kinda got the hint that Bud was a good guy by the way he acts around people, how he is the only man in the elevator who takes off his hat in the presence of a woman, (How's that for being dated?) and how he cares more for his job than his personal health and personal life. But it could be trimmed down in places.

What I absolutely loved was how the script ended with Fran and Bud being together without doing the whole hugs and kisses at the end of a romantic comedy. It was beautifully written and orchestrated. New Years and she runs back to the apartment to play a game of Gin with Bud instead of being with Sheldrake. Subtext of saying "I want to be with you" without saying it. It was all done in action. Beautiful

Now, I'm going to put this movie on my to watch list.
4/5

here's the trailer, amazing how marketing was back in the day, I wouldn't go watch it if it had been marketed like this:

A New Challenge

I've been thinking about it. They say that the best way to learn about screen writing is through reading lots and lots of them. I think the best way to learn is through reviewing them. Since I'm lazy, I'm going to start reviewing scripts (mostly ones that have been made into movies) once a week. But don't count me on it.

I'm already taking the 14 scripts in 14 days challenge over on http://www.gointothestory.com/ but I haven't been keeping an eye out for what works. Mainly for what doesn't work. I guess it's time to start being more positive and start looking at the overall package of the script, which is why I believe looking at scripts that have been made into films could be beneficial towards my learning. They have been greenlit for production and made into a film which logic dictates, there should be something positive about the script that made studios and producers say "Yes!" to the project.

So there you have it internet, another challenge I present to myself.
One post a week,
one review a week, at least.
Essentially two posts a week now.
And Here we go...

When Harry Met Sally

Wow, what a movie. I know, a nineteen year old male should not enjoy such romantic comedies but I got a soft spot for them, when they're good. What blew me away was how human the characters were. None of the actions or events felt contrived, and I was amazed at how mature the film was presented. No extraneous gags, only real solid grounded humor. In short to a short review, absolutely loved it.

On another note, I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a self amendment to my goals. I'm having a bit of writer's block (ok more about the fear of writing something terrible) but I'm going to lay it out. If I can't write a page a day, then I will read a full script. That's right, I'm going to surround myself with work (alright it's only a little but c'mon, the best way to learn is through observation and analysis). So yeah.

I just finished reading Emergency Contact, so thank you ScriptShadow.com for providing the link (where I get most of the un-produced/in production scripts). It was a fun read but I thought the beginning of it was a little slow and not enough funny. Luckily that quickly changed by page 10 and off we go on a rip-roaring adventure to gay bars, porn sets and elevator shafts. Completely unpredictable in a good way. Maybe I should do my own analysis of scripts in the future... I dunno. I certainly won't call it a review, but more of a reflection on what I learned as I read it. For example in Emergency Contact, you have to have the set-up and the pay off. You definitely can not avoid that in comedy.

Ok it's a half ass review (Fuck, I said I wouldn't call it that, it's not a review) but only because I plan on reading another script in a few minutes. I'm bored and don't have a movie to watch so reading one is the next best thing right?

Why George Lucas?

Why didn't you use the Frank Darabont version of Indiana Jones 4? It had everything you could possibly hope for. Edge of your seat action, witty dialogue (Indy vs Marion), great twists and turns, memorable villains and above all, a race to find power. The characters have a lot more room to breathe in this script and Marion, god, Marion actually has something useful to do in this movie. She's not just a simple nod to the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, no she has a past, personality and a burning fire against Dr. Jones.

This script has all the major elements of the version you see in in KOTCS, just executed infinitely better. No Mutt, no Mac. This was a more personal journey for Indy. Oxley is still the crazy old man but luckily he's not in it for much, as it should. One of the biggest complaints I have against KOTCS was because they hired such an immense talent in John Hurt only to have him babble like a crazy old person, and he still seems to have more importance in the movie than Marion.

But C'mon Lucas, this was the version of Indy we wanted to see, the version we waited a good 20 YEARS for.

But alas, City of the Gods is only a movie I'll see in my dreams. My one wish to the stars...

Characters, characters, characters...

It's amazing what setting a few new goals can do for your life. I'm currently back brainstorming my first script, (but with a better idea for story and characters) and hopefully I can finish or be close to finishing the script by the end of the year.

In other news, I recently read an article about character building
http://rougewave.blogspot.com/2008/03/guest-blog-your-character-is-not.html

I find it very interesting in the approach to character. It's not about who your character is much less than WHAT your character does. I think it's a truly profound thing to think about when creating your character.

Just go and sit in a public place observing people and what they do. Notice the people singing on the streets, the person who looks both ways before crossing vs the person who doesn't. The people who patiently wait for the light to turn to "WALK" while others around them rush through disregarding the traffic light.

Why does the person perform in the street for free? Are they showcasing their talent for the world, sharing it, or do they have more selfish, desperate reasons? Do they hope that in a miraculous twist of fate, a music producer hears the music and is touched and enthralled by it?

Or perhaps notice how the person singing at the local subway station has a slight quivering voice, terrible to hear but she's smiling, perhaps enjoying the fact that she finally has enough confidence to perform in front of others. Or in a more depressing note, perhaps she is LOSING her confidence as a performer, and the smile is merely the singer hiding her loss in confidence.

Notice how the woman sitting in the train is constantly looking at her phone, but doesn't make a call or even a text. Is she desperately waiting for a loved one to call, or is she merely pretending to have something to do to avoid seeing where she is and who's around her.

It's something I think that writers inherently do to themselves, observe people let our minds wander off filling in the blanks. I think that the reason writer's write is because the seemingly boring populace captivates us, we see things most people don't care about, the individual quirks that makes one person stand apart from the rest.

A page a day cont'd

Ok, so what I meant to say last week was that I was going to write a page a day starting next week, which would mean starting this week. Now, I did in fact write a little something for my creative writing class but it is by no means in my opinion a good or necessarily complete story. But I felt it was better than my first submitted story though mostly because it seems a lot more emotional. I only fear that it may have turned a little too sappy and that may turn off a few readers.

It's a little funny how this story turned about. It came from two previous incarnations. The first one was simply a hitchhiker getting into a car and planning on robbing the man who picked him up. For some reason or another, it didn't turn out that well, perhaps I was being a little too ambitious since I wanted the driver to be some serial killer too. The tables were turned but I couldn't figure out a way of including dialogue and a few scenes and confining it within 10 pages. It could be done except that I'm a dialogue heavy person. I don't overly visual and emotional senses that well. I can describe the gist of things concisely but that's as far as I'll go (perhaps something I could work on in the future).

The second iteration of the story was basically about a man/teenager who was driving down a road and getting chased by a phantom car. Now this is the story that I really wanted to write but came with a few problems for me. 1: It sounded too much like Sleepy Hollow with Duel. I'm the kind of guy that likes an original idea and I felt that it may be a bit derivative on my part. 2: I couldn't figure out a decent reason why someone would drive down a haunted piece of road besides being in a hurry. Stories that have a supernatural element to it seem to foreshadow or hint at the idea for paranormal very early on. I didn't find the phantom camaro too scary because either the protagonist wouldn't know about the fact and percieve the threat as an angry driver, or he would be a complete chicken. As a complete chicken, he wouldn't drive down the road in the first place (I've thought about a truth or dare situation, maybe it could work if handled correctly) and by the protagonist not knowing, I lose a valuable expositional device that would otherwise seem to come out of nowhere for the ghost(since I am a newbie writer, I can't think of another way).

The third scenario is very much like the Phantom car but without the supernatural. It dealt with a teenager running away from a hellhole of a house and driving to see his father. This part of the story was part of my phantom car story, but I felt the drama behind the main character running away was better suited towards a slightly more dramatic piece. He meets his dad at a gas station much to his surprise and spends a lot of valuable father and son time. He heads back home and finally discovers why his mother is such a bitch and why his parents are divorced, a fact that I will not divulge here because I felt it was too subtle in my piece. Or perhaps a little unrealistic of the characters. But hey, that's why I was taking the class, to get constructive criticism.

So this leaves me with a lesson in storytelling, or it should. Find a reason for your character's actions. My first two story ideas weren't particularly strong with character I felt. A guy whose afraid of ghosts wouldn't drive down a spooky road if he could help it nor would a cunning thief be so stupid to rob from a murderer.

*Actually, now that I've written these things down, I think I got another burst of an idea for the first two. I'll go over the previous ones and hopefully find the story I meant to write with each one. Lesson 2, write down all ideas good or bad and when you get writer's block (like what I had just about now) write down the reasons why the characters and the piece doesn't work. I think you will be surprised at the results.

A Page A Day...

I'm finally going to do it. I'm going to start writing at least a page a day. Doesn't matter what it is or whether I got a plan going for it. I want to have a script done by the end of next year.

What I've realized is this: you can either wait, or you can write. Doesn't matter how bad or good an idea is, the point of this is to get the creative part of your brain running so that when you DO get that golden idea, you have some kind of confidence you can nurture it into a cohesive and hopefully compelling story.

Of course, I'm not abandoning the blogging. I'm still going to do the "at least one post a week" thing. Mostly just random thoughts I have maybe a short story. Whatever the case, I'm writing.

Peace til later yo.

New Toy Story Trailer

I just have to say, this looks awesome. It's a little heartwrenching to see how Andy grows up in the first few moments of the trailer which inevitably means that Woody and the gang will soon be replaced by other more grown up things. Pixar never dissapoints on the storytelling.

Disney Movies

One of the best things about childhood that comes to my mind is simply the movies Disney managed to produce in the 90's. I was very lucky to be a child around that time and it has shaped the essence of my childhood. Here, we have these movies that appeal to kids first and foremost, but also has the ability to lure in the parents too. This is just plainly and bluntly classical storytelling, something that is unfortunately scarce in Hollywood these days and in the past decade for Disney too (with some exceptions). They aren't taking enough risks but let's face it, kids are smarter than you think and they enjoy movies the same if not more than adults. One of the things I detest about children movies is when they are children movies. There's little to no effort to make it any deeper than what it could be. The only studio around currently that still tries to make it appealing to all is Pixar. These guys really get what a good film is.

I can still remember the first time I went to watch The Lion King with my mom, and how shocked I was when Scar let Mufasa fall to his death. The second time I watched it, I had to cover both mine and my mother's eyes just because it was such a shocking moment (First movie I've seen in a theatre by the way). But of course, leave it to Timon and Pumba to make things ok again for Simba



Storytelling is a combination of high and low moments. There needs to be an emotional connection to the story and characters in order for the film to be appealing. Just because you have a bunch of cute looking characters and colourful animation doesn't mean kids will automatically like it. Beauty and The Beast wouldn't be as fulfilling of a story if the love between Belle and the Beast was simply two characters falling in love at first glance. In one of the more poignant moments of the film, the Beast finally gives Belle the chance to be with her father instead of fulfilling his own desires to be human. He readily sacrificed his life for love. Here we finally see the theme of the film, that love is transformative, both figuratively and literally.




The good news is that Disney is trying to go back to Classic Disney with their new films "The Princess and The Frog" as well as a CG "Rapunzel" movie instead of looking at CG animation as an easy way out. Whether the story is presented in 2d or 3d, there's always one thing that's certain. It took a lot of hard work and energy for Disney to get where it was 10 years ago. Hopefully, they'll get back to this work ethic and give kids movies they would be proud to watch with their future children.



If Enchanted and the first 5 min. of Princess and the Frog was any indication, I'd say they're ready to get back in the game.
And yes, this is just a lame post to keep me at one update a week. But I love me my Disney movies. I'll probably write more in the future.

Music by the Lake

Intro:
It's kinda cheating in term of posts, this is a story I did for my script and storyboarding class not too long ago where the idea was to construct a story with these elements: one location, and two characters who are very different from one another. We basically wrote down the premise and characters and switch the ideas with a partner and construct a story out it. My partner gave me this for the premise.
Characters: Punk rocker man and a small baby doll like girl who likes to wear frilly things. They sitting on a bench by the lake. (Yikes for finding conflict)

Music By The Lake

Harley, like the bike. That’s his name. He sat on a bench with his guitar at his side and a writing pad sitting at the corner of his lap as if he was hiding it from view. Harley had a lot of ink, not just in his little writing pad. The man was built like a Porsche, lean but tough, the kind of guy who could get away with wearing skin tight jeans and a leather coat at his age.

His pen touches upon the pad as he busily scribbles something down, music notes and lyrics. A look of frustration, he quickly tears off the page and stuffs the wrinkled paper in his coat pockets, which falls out without him noticing. “Just one song, let me write just one song,” he says to himself.

A bright red ball bounces down the trail and rests at the bench corner, chased by a little girl, no more than ten. She wore glasses but otherwise looked like a spitting image of a porcelain doll except for the dress. She instead wore a frilly shirt and a pair of nondescript jeans that looked older than her age, probably hand me downs. She wanders over to the bench to pick up her ball and notices Harley. “I like the drawings on your skin” she remarks.

Harley looks at her. “They’re tattoos”. The conversation dies rather quickly as Harley goes back to his writing. Dolly can’t help but talk.

“Some kids think I’m a little weird because of my glasses. Do some people find you weird with those tattoos?” She waits, no reply from Harley. “I’m Dolly” she bursts.

“I thought little kids were warned not to talk to strangers?”

“How can you make friends if you can’t talk to strangers?”

“Go back to your playing kid.”

Harley sits and ponders, Dolly standing there as if waiting for him to say something. A long moment passes by before Harley submits. “Okay! I’m Harley.” He tries to shoo her off.

“You’re writing an awful lot Harley.”

“It never seems enough.”

Dolly picks up the wrinkled piece of paper that Harley trashed earlier and un-crumples it

“What’s this?" She takes a look at the song, music notes and lyrics and all,
“What’s the song about?”

“Nothing, it’s not my style. See this?” He shows her his tattoos, a beautiful collection of hellish images. “That’s me.” He snatches the paper from her hands and stuffs it back in his pockets, in its proper place.

“I wrote a story once for school,” begins Dolly. “I heard how much Mrs. Wilson loved Lizzy’s stories about unicorns and princesses and how she gave her stories an extra stamp in our journals. I tried making a story about something like that, but I got stuck. I asked my mom for help writing it because I didn’t know what to do… I didn’t get that extra stamp. Sometimes it’s better to do your own thing.”

Harley looks at Dolly with a newfound respect in those words.

“Thanks kid.”

Dolly smiles and picks up her red ball to leave, while Harley picks up his guitar and begins strumming a tune. Harley un-crumples the piece of paper and reads it over, a grin.

“Hey, Dolly!” he shouts, she looks back in surprise, “Wanna hear my song?”

Short Story Outline

Well. Since I made a promise to myself to start writing more and posting more things on my blog, I figured this could be a good place to upload my step outline for my script and storyboarding class. Before you judge, I promised quantity, not quality. It's a horror outline for my ten page script I'm going to write (hopefully). Here it is:

1.Pickup truck with a trailer crawls to the shore of the lake. Mark Glen and Ellen are setting up for camp during the long weekend

2. Mark goes out to collect firewood for their campfire. A creature is watching Mark, hidden from view.

3.The three friends cook dinner and have a good time.

4. Glen goes out to take a piss in the middle of the night where a creature attacks Glen

5. Mark and Ellen comments on how long mark has been missing and head back to the trailer. The creature attacks the trailer, Mark and Ellen freak out.

6. Mark tries to start the car but faces the creature instead. Creature smashes through the window.

7. Ellen grabs a knife and stab’s the creature’s hands. She keeps the knife in her hands.

8. Mark is wounded badly, they try to run out but the creature is close on their trail. He realizes he can’t go on anymore and begs Ellen to leave him there.

9. Ellen attempts to flee out of the forest by herself. She’s getting tired. She realizes the only way out is by running back to the truck.

10. The creature smells her scent and runs for her

11. Ellen is sees the mangled corpse of Glen and tries to stifle her shocked reaction since the creature is near by. She has to navigate quietly but injures her foot.

12. She makes a last run for the truck and gets in only to realize the keys are missing, Mark was holding it last.

13. She runs back to mark’s body but the creature is there. She hides from view until it nears and stabs it in the chest with the knife.

14. This buys her enough time to grab the keys but she is injured and the creature isn’t far behind.

15. She gets in the car but the creature attacks the door, teeth and claws snarling. She guns it and drives off into the night crying to herself.

I know, this falls into the horror convention of lone woman against the evil monster, but hey, I'm a beginner so let me follow the rules before I break them huh?

Setting Some Goals

Alright. First thing's first is to address the idea of discipline. I've been slacking off, ok not really. You can't be slacking off if you weren't working hard in the first place. Since I've started the blog, it was under the impression that writing would become a larger part of my life and it has if only by a significantly small amount. I haven't really written anything I felt was really decent but that's not the problem.

The problem is I haven't gotten around to writing any pieces of fiction. Plenty of Brainstorming but not enough with completing things. So from here on out, I'm going to be writing on this blog at least once a week. Sometimes it'll be a short story, sometimes a movie review. Mostly just random ramblings of an internet nerd.

Once a week...

Let's see how easy it is to break that promise.

Words To Live By From Steve Jobs

I recently came upon this quote while, as per usual, I was wasting time away on the internet looking for writing tips, movies, Hollywood and the like and it is something that I think is exceptionally profound.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

The quote came from the Whole Earth catalogue, and was made famous by Steve Jobs in his 2005 commencement speech for Stanford Graduates,; advice that could never be more true. I like the simple four words and the message it evokes and it is something that I fear many of us will never truly understand or are too afraid to live by. We are arguably, animals of instinct, and as such have our minds set on just one goal: safety; or security, both are loosely the same thing in modern terms.

Here I dissected the words to what it means to me:

Stay Hungry

Never become too complacent, always be curious and never settle for just what you have. Look for more to learn, more to be, educate and be educated. Never believe you have quenched your thirst for knowledge and never think that you have learned all there is to learn.

Stay Foolish

Be foolish enough to pursue those crazy ideas that everyone else is too afraid to chase. Hell Steve Jobs did it, Bill Gates did it, and even George Lucas did it. Without these guys to take that foolish leap of faith to pursue thier passions, our world would have been a completely different place. Don't look at the odds and be defeated, dream to become the exception and work towards becoming it. Don't allow fear and logic control your actions, sometimes you just have to follow your gut and your heart.

We are led to believe that success is determined by the size of your paycheck and the prestige of the job, but that's no way to live. Life is too short and too important to follow the sheep and do the things everyone else is doing or are striving for. Why not venture out of the group a little and discover things most miss out on? Even if the grass isn't greener on the otherside, you at least know first hand that is isn't. I guess the underlying theme of those words is "know what you want", discover your passion and pursue it, whatever it may be and however crazy it sounds because life is never steady and same, it ebbs and flows and the things you least expected to happen may just happen, you just won't know until you try.

I'm reminded of another quote though I'm not particularly sure where it came from: Nothing worth doing is ever easy. So to those in college who think that it is THE door towards finding a good job and an easy life, think about this. People don't go to college to find financial security though it is part of the equation, they do it to learn and follow their passions but especially to follow the passion. They take that foolish leap of faith, sometimes dropping out in order to chase a dream like Jobs or Gates, but they have the stuff that I fear few too many don't. The ability to take risks. Be willing to grow some thick skin when the shit hits the fan and all you have are the clothes on your back. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.

Remember, you don't have to be an Ivy League graduate to change the world, you just have to believe in yourself. Don't live to dream, dream to live. Those are my words, and to whomever took their time to read this only to find out what a waste it was, that's four minutes you won't get back anyways so stop complaining. Don't dwell on it, you got more important things to do.

Metric vs Imperial

See that little grey spot? Guess who that is?

Here's what really makes me mad. In order to accurately measure any amount of anything, I have to go through the Imperial system to the metric system. Now of course, many Americans do put up with that when they do scientific calculations (for the most part) but here's the thing. I can't do the Imperial system. Fuck if I know how many ounces in a cup and shit like that. I know metric, as well I should, it'd be quite embarrassing for me not to, I AM Canadian. So it really gets me in a fit when I have to do calculations by converting numbers from the old Imperial system to the metric. I basically only know metric in the first place and it's a lot easier anyways. It seems redundant in the educational system to teach the Imperial system when you're going to use the metric system anyways.

This here's my problem. My Nutrition 10 class gives me an assignment where I have to make note of what I eat and the quantity of what I eat. No problem there, right? Except I have to measure the amount in oz, cups and so on and so forth. I don't even know how much a cup is(just let me measure in grams or something, please!). I'm stuck using an old outdated system to quantify food consumption when I should be using the metric. Hell, I know how much grams there are in a kilogram, I know the approxiamate sizes of litres, metres, and millitres. The other things, is a cup supposed to be a real cup?

I guess this is just one of those pitfalls of American education, holding on to old outdated things because of tradition. Who the hell came up with the imperial system of measurement? Yeah, the British, the ones Americans fought so hard against to gain independance? What's that I smell? Yeah, that's IRONY.


But really, why use something you REALLY don't need, especially when you're required to learn the more efficient and common cousin in science class anyways? But I know I'm in no place to complain though, I am living here. The thing's here to stay.

District 9 Review

Prawns: that's the deragotory term for the aliens in the movie District 9, and it is the word that sets up the relationships between the visitors and the humans. This is perhaps one of the most original and thought provoking science fiction films in quite a while.

The aliens take refuge above the skies of Johannesburg, South Africa, though it is not exactly clear why. What does matter however, is the fact that the aliens are in dire need of resources. They are malnourished, weak and most importantly to the humans, have advanced weaponry. So we leave it to the good citizens of the human race to help out these poor fellows, give them a temporary home and welcome them with open arms as we would do with anyone in need of help. Or so it seems.

This idea is the entire point of the film. If visitors who are just as physically capable as we were asking for our help, would we offer it? Not since Planet of the Apes have we been presented with a film of thinly vieled commentary about human nature that asks the big questions of who we are. Realistically speaking, would we want to take advantage of these poor souls in order to create more advanced weapons? It's the kind of questions that all good science fiction films should try and explore, the deeper darker aspects of our humanity.

Wikus van der Merwe is the dorky and naive human character that the film follows. We see through his eyes how the treatment of the "Prawns" is just another day in the life of Jo'burg citizens. They're here, and we want them out and he's as guilty as the next man when we see his prejudices against them, whether it was an innoncent thought or one of hate. It's not until he accidentally opens an alien canister that he's exposed to some liquid that slowly turns him into one of the aliens. Of course the physical change makes him a target of the government who want to take advantage of the weapons that the aliens have (humans can't use them since the weapons are activated by some DNA recognition technology) and so the hunt begins. We see how the innocently prejudiced are often blinded by societal norms that they fail to see what is clearly in front of them, the mistreatment of others. Perhaps the most human of characters in the film turns out to be the aliens. "Christoper Johnson", as the alien is so called named, wants only to return his people home and live in piece, in no part due to the spectacular special effects that make his body language speak volumes about his emotions. "Chris" is never vicious, and the film certainly gives you room to root for him and his goals.

Even though I throughly enjoyed this movie, it's not without some problems. Why were the aliens there in the first place? Why did they have to land on Earth?

Spoilers

And perhaps glaringly, how the hell did Chris Johnson manage to escape on the ship when the Aliens could've packed up and leave in the first place? What the hell was the point in jettisoning the command module to District 9 when they could've kept it on the mother ship and left Earth a long time ago?

End Spoilers

It's bloody and violent too, and more importantly, when someone like a prawn is shot dead in cold blood, it rattles you. I've never felt more uncomfortable seeing a computer creation shot dead, and this is the point of the movie, humans can show great compassion but they can also be very cruel.

I can't help but think about our own problems with people when I saw this movie. Time and time again, we see this in various societies around the world, the fear of what's different, the change in our lifestyles, the want for the status quo to remain just that. Damned if I didn't think how people still treat outsiders these days, and it's just sad. Look at the problems in America alone: Illegal immigrants are condemned by some because they are "taking advantage of the system and creating less jobs for the citizens" despite the fact that most of the country does run (unfortunatley) on their cheap labour. Or how some Americans won't give gay couples the same rights as married ones, an entirely big issue all together (I won't go into detail about this but fuck, it's only rights they're asking for, what does "family" have to do with anything?) It's all scare tactics that in order to keep the big dogs in power.

District 9 is certainly going to be one of those rare sci-fi movies that only comes along once in a haley's comet. It's entertaining, smart, allegorical, and thought provoking. I would be glad to say that this film is the Planet of the Apes of this generation. I only wish that hollywood grew some balls and make more movies like this.

5/5

Really go see this! Get up off your asses and spend 2 hours with this jewel of a movie. Better than all the other shit like Wolverine, Transformers and GI Joe.

Doughnut Wars

Between Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Hortons, there can be only one...



Well this is the perfect news for me. At least 11 Dunkin' Donuts have closed down in Manhattan and has made way for a another, more northern taste. Now most Americans wouldn't know too much about this doughnut chain but for us Canadians, its mark of our heritage, a place so deeply ingrained into our cultural consciousness that it's as popular as hockey. I am talking about the one, the only Tim Hortons.

What?



Tim Hortons began as a simple doughnut shop founded by: you guessed it, Tim Horton, a reknowned Canadian hockey player. It's a story of small humble beginnings, fame and ultimately tragedy. Hell, even I wouldn't believe this story if someone told me a hockey player started one of the largest franchises in Canadian history. It's too stereotypically good to be true.







If it does well in New York and those other more northern american cities, hopefully, it would spur the opening of the restaraunts to a more southern location. I'm not blasting Dunkin' Donuts, even though they spell DOUGHNUT wrong, it just doesnt't have the comfy feeling that Tim Hortons has, but again, I am biased.

One of the first things that I do whenever I land my ass back home in Vancouver is to eat my ass off. That's right, despite all the junk that permeates American diets, even the Canadian crap tastes better even if it's an American franchise. I cross off all those awesome chinese restaraunts, fast food chains such as White Spot (B.C. thing), Dairy Queen, A&W, Boston Pizza, and of course the very Canadian Tim Hortons.

I don't care what people say and what their taste in fast food chain dougnut shops are. To me, there is only one, and I await the day where I don't have to fly all the way back to Vancouver to nab me some of those Timbits. C'mon, come over to California I need my doughnut fix...




Always fresh, Always Tim Hortons...

Transformers: ROTF Logical Inconsistencies A Nerd Rant

I didn't notice most of these things until after I've read about them online, which just proves that not only can Michael Bay make an extremely dumb and entertaining movie, but also has enough talent to lower the audience's IQ.

5-1+1=6 Math doesn't count
Apparently, not even military specialists know how to do simple arithmetic in the movie. Submarine technician counts five decepticons going down to rescue Megatron, one gets turn to scrap for parts in order to repair him - essentially as a sacrifice; Megatron awakens and the techy counts six decepticons rising from the sea. Where the fuck did the extra one come from? Must be the shit Michael Bay is pulling out of his ass. Plus not to mention that the Arcee twins, the three tranforming bikes that you only see in the beginning and near the end of the movie, are a group of three. How the fuck can you call them twins?

Walking is faster than driving.
Thankfully I actually noticed this one. Apparently in the Transformers universe, walking/running is faster than any other form of short transportation. Take the scene in the forest for example. Sam can fucking outrun the Decepticons that not only are as tall as two story buildings but can transform into cars and jets! WTF?
Not only that but considering the final act of the movie where it was of the utmost importance to bring the Matrix of Leadership to revive Optimus in a timely fashion, Sam chooses not to drive but walk... Walk across the desert in blazing hot heat while the evil decepticons are on his tail and the military is bombing the place like Hiroshima cause it's more logical that way... cause walking's for pussies and faster than any form of transportation which brings us to the next point...

Reviving Optimus.
Ok, we get that Optimus is like the Biggest Baddest transforming mother fucker ever and that he needs to come back to life in order to save the day, but did they have to go through all that trouble just to revive him? Sam's got a sliver of the Allspark with him right? And the Allspark can be used to bring Cybertronians back to life like it did for Megatron. But no, leave it to the humans to complicate it all by going to the agent, try to decypher the symbols and use the last of the AllSpark to revive a grandpa transformer and teleport you all the way to Egypt just so you could travel through the desert and locate the Matrix of Leadership to revive Optimus just so he could destroy the Fallen one, because he's the only one that can.
Fuck! You already have the Allspark in your jacket. "Geez, let's go find that old transformer and use this Allspark sliver to bring him back to life so he can tell us how to bring Optimus back."

Decepticons aren't EVIL... at all
OK, so the series has divided the lines, Autobots good, Decepticons bad. Two years after the incident in L.A. where a bunch of huge Robots basically fuck up the city, Optimus and the rest of the autobots form an alliance with the military to hunt down the decepticons hiding in various locations on Earth. This is the opening first ten minutes of the movie, Autobots and military taking down a decepticon in Shanghai. Two years of hiding on Earth, what the HELL did the decepticons do? NOTHING! They're hiding peacefully in plain sight not harming any humans or other autobots in their time on Earth but leave it to Optimus to hunt those guys down like animals. Shit that big ass Tranformer wasn't a threat to anyone if anything, he was helping the chinese government build up their economy. No wonder why Decepitcons hate autobots and humans. That my friend, was just cold blooded murder.

Humans are retarded
A bunch of huge transforming robots fuck up one of the most famous and populated cites in the world, and still the government can find a way to cover it up. Guess Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones should've made a cameo, but since they didn't, humans are stupid for believing the government's shit. You can't cover-up countless buildings destroyed, unless you use asteroids as a scapegoat. Armageddon should've been a spinoff of Transformers in that case. Then you got the huge experimental weapon known as the Rail Gun that could fuck up a HUGE Transformer in a single blast. Where the Hell was it when Megatron and the Fallen were up at the peak of the pyramid with the Energon making machine? Three birds one stone and they only managed to kill one. Humans can't do math in this movie. Plus just look at Sam's quest to revive Optimus for more proof of humanity's stupidity.

Decepticons are retarded.
Even worse than humans are the decepticons. Sam is going to college and the Decepticons sent a human/transformer hybrid to hunt him down for... whatever reason. One would be lead to assume the Allspark but then again, if you know what school he's going to, his dorms and his classes, why bother sending an infiltration unit? If they had the technology to trace Sam's footsteps all the way to college, why didn't they just confront him earlier? Or maybe they know that he's got the symbols in his brain or something that they needed to extract from him after he's touched the All Spark sliver which begs the question, why don't you steal the thing from him before it gets into his brain? I'm sure that scientist Transformer can steal the sliver, inspect it and discover the symbols to the Sun Harvestor without having to go through Sam. Also, what with the plan to kidnap Sam's parents? You mean that a big bad Decepticon would rather use his parents as a bargaining chip to get the Matrix of Leadership instead of picking him up and shaking it out of him. I don't know about you but if some puny animal was in the way of my survival, the last thing I would do is threaten its family, I'd kill it before it kills me. Decepticons make Rube Goldberg plans that never seem to work.

Maybe all Cybertronians are retarded...
So Autobots and Decepitcons need a source of Energon in order to Survive... what to do? Build an Energon harvestor that destroys suns in order to make that energon. But here's the catch, the 8 (or 7)Primes have vowed never to destroy a Sun that provides energy for any other living thing. But one Prime's all like "Man, Fuck humans, let's blow this shit up anyways" (cause it's a Micheal Bay movie) Thus is the one called the Fallen. They need to find a way to stop the fallen one but here's a catch; the fallen can only be killed by a Prime. The remaining primes devise a plan soo ingenious that it is bound to work, they kill themselves and hide the Matrix of Leadership in a tomb made of their bodies so that the Fallen one cannot put his hands on it, and hide the Harvestor in a pyramid thus preventing the Sun Harvestor from being activated and protecting the human race.

Fuckin' A.

Never mind the fact that it's at least 7 Primes to 1 (doing that math I think the chances are pretty good that you'd win, but then again since 5-1+1=6, I don't think the same rules applies in this universe) or that you can go the Michael Bay route and Blow up the Fucking machine. The Primes seem get a hard on whenever the thought of sacrificing themselves for the greater good comes along, seriously look at them all, Optimus tried sacrificing himself in the first movie and that was his plan. But why not just move on to another fucking system? Last I checked there's at least a good few hundred BILLION other fucking stars in this galaxy. One Sun ain't gonna make much of a difference. Instead of nipping the problem in the bud by either A) Killing The Fallen by jumping his ass (remember, it's at least seven of you Primes and one of him); B) Blowing up the Machine instead of hiding it or; C) moving to another system. They wait for a decendant of the Primes - Optimus, to vanquish the evil in thier place. And what did Optimus do? He blew up the fucking Harvestor.

This is one of those movies that kids will look back on in ten years and laugh at how stupid the whole thing is. It's a fun dumb movie, and unfortunately too dumb for it's own good. I'm not gonna lie though I enjoyed it. I knew going in that a Micheal Bay movie is going to go one way and one way only: Shit blows up. I guess that's why most of the general audience can enjoy this movie, the explosions prevent you from questioning the movie's logic until after you leave the theatre. Fuck man everything blew up in the movie; cars, building, dorm rooms, forests, deserts, even the Dog's House Blew up!

Toy Story 3

So far Pixar is 10-0, not a single bad movie under this production studio. Now I didn't get to see UP this weekend (will do it soon), but I have no doubt that it is another one of Pixar's masterpieces. Toy Story 3 isn't out until June 18, 2010 but here's the teaser trailer.



And to look back at how far Pixar has come, here's one of the first films that Pixar produced titled "Luxo Jr.", later adopted as the mascot for the animation studio and as part of their corporate logo. This short is dated 1986.

Star Trek Review: 4.5/5

Space: The Final Frontier...

Well, I guess you could say that this movie does indeed boldy go where no one has gone before (in the series): mainstream appeal. I'll have to say that I enjoyed this movie immensely the two times I watched it. The movie was superbly cast, had great action scenes and a distinct artistic style that pays homage to the original series' set pieces while updating them to have less of a chessy 60' sci-fi show feel with more of a sleek futuristic setting.

The movie follows the early days of the famous Captain James T. Kirk, whose father sacrificed his life to save the crew and passengers from a deadly Romulan attack. Poor young Kirk has a lot to live up for, and already the film establishes his journey to become the future captain.

Star Trek features new actors assuming the roles of familiar characters and to their credit, brings new life into the role without feeling like a carbon copy of an the original actor's portrayal. Chris Pine channels kirk without becoming Shatner, he is equal parts Space bad boy as he is a rebel. Zachary Quinto is plays the role of Spock, balancing a fine line between showing emotions and logic that the character is famously known for.

Nero, played by Eric Bana, feels a little light on the villainy. Despite commanding a massive starship with technology from the future, Nero never feels quite threatening as the circumstances make it out to be. The real stars of this show are in fact, Kirk and Spock. They start off on the wrong foot; rebellious Kirk cheats on the infamous Kobiyashi Maru test and is brought to academy judicial affairs where Spock teaches him a lesson about leadership. They have a rocky starting relationship that begins to blossum once the two characters realize how valuable they are to each other. A bromance if you will.

The film does suffer a little from a weak plot. While Nero's intentions are well founded, his scheme to destroy the federation seems rather rushed. By the film's frame of time, not soon after that Romulan was destroyed that Nero vowed vengeance against Spock and set his plans in motion. In retrospect, it is forgiveable since this is more of an re-imagined origin story (origins always seem to have a weaker plot than its inevitable sequel).

I'm not going to lie, I was immensley impressed with Star Trek. Unlike other tentpole summer movies of this year, (Looking at you Logan) Star Trek never feels like it betrays the audience. It manages to pay homage to Trekkies who have been with the series since the beginning without alienating the newcomers with overcomplicated plots and a truckload of cameos that may advance the plot but are unnecessary. J.J. Abrams understands that movies like this aren't just about the razzle dazzle of explosions and actions, but are about the journey of the characters.

4.5/5

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

(First Film review so excuse me for sounding like a fanboy)
I had the pleasure of watching the workprint version of the new Wolverine movie; and before anyone can tell me piracy is wrong, I will just say that yes, it's illegal but in my opinion, piracy has the added benefit of free advertising but that's a whole other issue.

Hugh Jackman returns as the badass Canadian antihero Wolverine in a prequel to the X-men movies. The film tells of his exploits in the Weapons X program that would be responsible for his adamantium skeleton.

X-men origins has a lot of great eyecandy in its actions sequences; but unfortunatley they fall into the usual tired movie cliches. Wolverine fights Sabretooth, gets attacked by a helicopter fights it off in his motorcycle and walks away with his back to an explosion. The action has little to add towards the advancement of the plot. Wolverine gets to be a badass just because he can.

The movie is loaded with cameos from the entire X-men universe which is sure to please the fanboys. We also have some popular characters playing important roles. Ryan Reynolds is cast as the quick witted and mouthy Deadpool and the character many have been clamouring for an appearance since the first X-men, Gambit. The main problem with the extra characters in this movie is that they serve as merely convenient plot devices rather than fully realized characters we know and love from the comic books.

The plot has a decent first act that chronicles the lives of both Wolverine and Sabretooth who in the movie's continuity are half brothers. After Wolverine leaves Team X the plot turns into a bit of a mess. From this point on, the movie begins to lose its focus until we get into the last act of the movie where it is no longer sure just exactly why Wolverine is where he is. Wolverine was never much of a strong three dimensional character in the comics and doesn't gain much when exploring his "darker" side in this movie. The movie doesn't delve into why he is the way he is and doesnt portray a character arc that shows wolverine growing into the badass antihero we know. He is pretty much the same throughout the movie.

The acting for the most part is pretty decent. Hugh Jackman is Wolverine and despite any misgivings about respecting the character's origin story gives a fine performance. Liev Schrieber was an interesting choice to cast as the ferocious Sabretooth since he doesn't look too much the part but it's no matter. His portrayal imbues a mixture of maniacle fun with the menacing nature of the character and it was great fun to watch him go toe to toe with Wolverine. William Stryker on the other hand doesn't feel like much of a villain despite being a huge antagonist in Wolverine's history. He lacks the subtle hatred for mutants that Brian Cox did so well for the character in X 2. In fact, were not sure if he even hates them in this movie.

Fans of the X-men movies should rejoice that it is nowhere near as bad as X-men 3: The Last Stand. The movie has spectacle and great action but ultimately falls short of being a memorable summer movie. If anything, it feels rather unnecessary because X-men 2 was more of a movie that focused on Wolverine's character than this movie. People going into the theatres expecting a fun action movie should not be dissapointed but for those of us expecting an engaging study of Wolverine's character and origins and how it fits into the X-men mythology might feel a little dissapointed. I guess if you've been planning to watch it, you will and if you never felt any inclination to catch the movie, you won't be missing much.

3/5

nothing in particular

I figure now that writing is going to be a major part of my life, I might as well start writing for the fun of it. This blog isn't something that I intend for others to read, but more for my own uses, as a journal of sorts where I can freely write about anything and everything I want, and as a tool for me to reflect on not only my life, but also my abilities as a writer. I'm not good at the moment, grammer's a HUGE bitch at times. Hopefully with enough practice, I can write more eloquently and form more cohesive bodies of work that don't feel all over the place with ideas (possible that I'm ADD lite).

Now on to my news...

Today marks the start of the new school quarter here at UC Davis. To me, it's just ten more weeks til I'm outta here for good, it's no secret that I despise the place. Hell, just take a look around, just grass... and cows. All flat land. Boredom to the nth degree. Now, I'm not saying that I hate the people there, certainly better that the douchebags you meet in high school. My problem with the school is just a general lack of interesting classes.

As much as I hate college at this point, I can't help but wonder if education still means the same thing. Everyone expects the smart people in highschool to attend a prestigious school such as Harvard, UC Berkeley or any Ivy-league school. It certainly is a great networking tool, just look at Obama. He got most of his help in his presidential campaign from colleagues he went to school with. My problem with college is simply the illusion it creates. Does smart equate to our definition of education?

There certainly has to be a point where the school no longer becomes part of the educational equation. Ask any teenager what their plans are after highschool and most would say "I'm gonna get an education", which is fine. I feel though, that the defintition of education has become something along the lines of being a success which, in my opinion is not necessarily the case. Why is it that some people who never attended any schools after highschool managed to make a better living than others who have graduated from a four year educational institution? I guess the simple answer is that these people know what to do with their life, or at least more so than some. I'm not trashing people who go to college, no. I simply think how ridiculous it is for some people to expect that college is the gateway to money. Most of it is hard work and determination, and hopefully passion for your area of interest.

College can be a wonderful place, as long as you know in your gut that you belong there, because there is something that you have to learn from the institution. I guess that makes me an outsider of sorts, I never did learned much from highschool and once college started, didn't learn it there either. I guess the thing is, make learning a priority. It shouldn't matter what it is, and be open minded.

Finally something went right with my life. I got off the waitlist for the Simpsons Class! I finally have a class that teaches you how to write scripts!

Epiphany

Well, I'm not one to do these "Blog" things since admittedly, I'm not good at commitments. I guess I'm gonna start by saying this: follow your dreams. Now you may be thinking to yourself, "that's nothing new fucktard" but in all honesty, this is something that I feel most of us lose sight of once we "move on with our lives," college being a major reason why. Most of us are so concentrated on the idea of money that I feel many trade dreams for a paycheck, or maybe lie to ourselves to the point which our paycheck becomes the dream. You may be wondering why I've come to this conclusion so let me begin by telling a little something about college.

It was about early last September and in many ways, it was just the same as the summers before it. I was at home... doing absolutley nothing. I guess in all my time of being un-preoccupied left me with a lot of time to think about many things, usually life in general. There was no question just a few months prior, that it was a definite plan that I was going to college, learn about biology and find a nice cozy job pertaining to the field of environmental studies. Somewhere along the way though, I began to question myself, I began to wonder why it would be something that I would like to do one day. I couldn't figure out an answer. I just can't!

So I began to question myself more and more until finally, I couldn't see why I wanted to go to college in the first place. Everyone says that an education is a good investment, but what many don't realize is that there's this ultra fine print that says "depending on how you invest it". I looked at the value of education, and questioned the monetary value attached to it. If money was taken out of the education, would I still do it? I found out no. I would not be studying any sort of science in the professional field if money was not a part of the equation. This was a rather disheartening time for me. Here I was, about to embark on my first steps of being an adult and already I'm overwhelmed by my life. I asked my parents if I could drop UC Davis and go to a community college instead, but parents being what they are, felt I was being unreasonable. They thought it was all nonsense. Long story short, the answer was no. You ask why didn't I just drop out and go to community college instead? Tell you the truth, I didn't have the balls. I became responsible for myself.

Day came to move into the dorm and what a wonderful crapshack it was. Light was a dusty yellow and the walls looked like it hasn't been painted in a good forty years. Floors looked dusty as hell with minor cracks in it. You'd figure that a school such as UC Davis would have the money to at least have everything maintained well but, guess they don't have enough dough. I couldn't feel anymore trapped than now. Few classes there actually interested me and I felt like running away back home. Every weekend, I took the Amtrak to get back home and every weekend, I dreaded going back to that godforsaken school. I'm not the socializing type so making friends was rather difficult and my roommate was rather annoying, never could use his earplugs to listen to music.

About a month in, I couldn't take it anymore. I never remembered being so depressed with my life. Here I am, at one of the more prestigious universities of the country and I can't get any shit done and learned. I guess you could call it a nervous breakdown of sorts. I didn't eat as much, became extremely irritable and was angry with everything. Those close to me know, it's usually really difficult to get me angry (think like pre-radiation Bruce Banner). Now you may be asking yourself dear reader, what does the saying follow your dreams have to do with any of this depressing drabble about college? To tell you the truth, I do have a passion, and it was always movies.

I don't remember exactly when movies begam to be a big part of my life, but I know Star Wars was a big influence. I was always interested at how movies were made. People often buy DVDs for the movies and ignore the special features but I was the one who always watched it. They all share an insight on exactly what it takes to make a film and how different factors affect what we see on screen and the like. Whatever it was, I knew I was hooked. They have this sort of specialness to them. Movies are an experience, something that you share with strangers in a theatre and engages an audience on an emotional level that I find books can't. Anything you can think up, you can put on screen and Screenplays offer such a control over the movie's world. I knew what my dream job would be, to be a screenwriter.

But this is something that I could never imagine doing. How many famous scriptwriters can you name? Few can come to mind if you're into following movie news. To casual moviegoers, most never think twice about the author of the movie they just watched. No one can imagine that someone sits at a desk writing little notes on a piece of paper, sticks them to a wall and over a course of a few months uses the notes to form a screenplay. Nevermind the fact that screenwriters don't get paid nearly enough as director or actors. It certainly was nothing more than a dream job. Hell I'd do it for free.And that was it. I found my reason. The one job that I would be willing to do for free and it was perhaps the craziest thing anyone can think about.

But it wasn't a time that I celebrated. I had this epiphany long ago even before applying to college. I guess I just wanted to find an excuse for not doing it. Paychecks are really unstable and honestly, who wants to grow up to be a forgotten writer in hollywood? I looked to science and college as a gateway out of this, perhaps I'll find something else that I like equally as much, but life has a funny way of showing you the truth. It was in my nervous breakdown that I finally had enough with it and I looked at myself, square in the eye at my reflection, "I'm gonna be a screenwriter", crazy isn't it?

So here's what I want anyone who gets to read this, (most likely no one) that it really is important to follow your dreams. I learned that the hard way, spending a year at UC Davis doing nothing, a full year truly wasted, not to mention all the financial aid that I used towards nothing. Don't make the mistake of burying your dreams for the promise of a paycheck or a prestigious title that everyone would look at you in awe for or it'll eat away at you until you start to hate it.

I may never get to write for a big hollywood movie but my passion to do it is there, and hopefully that will take me as far as possible. All I know is that I'm eighteen, and I'm an adult. I guess if there ever was a mistake to be made, it better be something made early rather than later.