FEZ in a nutshell

Because fun.

02-08-14

Something I Noticed...

My imagine has mostly been taken over by an "original" idea. So far, when it comes to these original ideas, I start with characters long before I start with story. With this case, I started off with a look. An outfit. And from that sprang a character. Then I kept thinking of the character. Trying, and failing, to draw him. And then I thought of a situation involving him. And then a few more. And from there, came three more characters.

After a while, I needed to start writing this down. I needed an outline. And when I started writing, I wrote out a sentence for each of the four characters. Today, I finally gave them names.

Out of these four characters, only two of them actually seemed defined. The other two, I'm still having trouble with.

Before, most of my fictional writing consisted of romance, so I thought of these four as pairs, as two couples. I knew that whatever their story ended up being, I wanted these couples to be together. But that may be why I'm having trouble with the other two.

Here's what I noticed: The characters that are more defined and identifiable in my head are characters that sprang from character arc ideas. While I hadn't before known their names, I knew what sort of arc they would go through. The other two, however, were not. When I started thinking of those other characters, I didn't have much of an arc for them, aside from the romance. Those two characters weren't conceived as characters with their own arcs, they were conceived as love interests whose arc revolved around their respective crushes.

So that's something I need to think about from now on. It doesn't matter what trappings of a story I want to incorporate until AFTER I fully understand and know who my characters are.

Tamaki as The Spoony One

I made a thing 'cause I was bored.

Academy Awards Nominations for Best Animated Feature 2014

I haven't been very current when it comes to films this year, mostly because of expenses and also because of not feeling like it. Like, I'm sure all the Best Picture nominees are well done movies, but I still haven't seen any of them. One thing I do hear about from a few critics is that American Hustle is basically David O. Russel pretending to be Martin Scorsese, and may end up getting the Best Picture award, and then going to be swiftly forgotten in the coming years, like many of the recent Best Pictures (i.e. The Artist).

But of course, the only category that I find myself giving a damn about is the Best Animated Feature category, mostly because I have actually seen a few of the nominations. This year, we have an interesting batch, so lets take a quick look.

The Croods

As someone who isn't easily entertained by slapstick, the beginning of this film felt pretty slow, but once the story got going and the characters became relatable and likable, I became very invested. Very well done. 

In general, I would prefer it if a film began clunky but then improved in quality as it went. One of the few exceptions I can think of is Pitch Perfect, where it was consistently obnoxious up until the last ten minutes, then it got good.

Despicable Me 2

I haven't seen this one, mostly because I wasn't that interested in the first one, so by extension I wasn't interested in this one. It makes me wonder why it's even nominated. I'm sure it's at least enjoyable, but it feels like the filler nominee.

Which reminds me, I remember hearing about the third Madoka Magica movie (The Rebellion Story) being submitted for this category. That would've been interesting.

Frozen

I love this movie so much. Are there things I could nitpick? Maybe. Is it odd that the film just kind of stops being a musical once the third act hits? Yeah, kinda. Do I care?

Also, "Let It Go" is nominated for Best Original Song. I'm hoping it wins that award, but I also hope that we bring back the Original Song performances. I wanna see Idina Menzel sing at the awards.

Ernest and Celestine

This is a French-Belgian production, and it looks pretty interesting. Though the story of a mouse befriending a bear and then both getting ostracized sounds like a story that has been done before, the style and animation look incredible. I do wish there was a way to see these movies (aside from torrents). The foreign animated movies don't really get screenings in my area, unless it's a Studio Ghibli film. Speaking of which...

The Wind Rises

So the buzz about this one was that it would be Hayao Miyazaki's last film before retirement, but then I heard something about him "rescinding" his retirement, and apparently he's been planning on retiring for a while now, I don't know. As for the film, I know little else about it, but I still want to see it. It doesn't come out here until February, a few weeks before the ceremony. I haven't seen all of Miyazaki's work, but I think Nausicaä, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle are enough reasons to go see this, for me at least.

So a good turn out, now let's see if I can go see a bunch of the Best Picture nominees.

Commentary - Boast Busters

I was bored and needed to feel productive, so here's a commentary.


 I also have an Instagram now, in case you are interested.

2013

In January, I decided that I should end my stay in Germany. By February, I had made it home.

From then to about September, I did nothing much except fill out doomed job applications and slowly writing scripts and stories.

In September, I started classes at my community college. Later on, I had started a job, which I foolishly quit less than two months later.

Much of the year was filled with depressed introspection and absolute confusion.

But through it all, there was someone to help.

Thank you all.

I hope to make more videos, so that I may bring joy to you all.

And thank you, Elizabeth.

Happy New Year, love.