Book to Movie

I have always been an avid reader, and as always I enjoy going to see movies based on books. Sometimes I have read the book and have been gravely disappointing with the movie (My Sister's Keeper), other times I have read the book and have walked away from the movie saying that is the best anyone could have ever wanted from a movie based on a book (The Road; The Time Traveler's Wife).
Recently Disney decided to make movies based on the Narnia Chronicles. That was cool with me. I had seen some BBC production years before and enjoyed it greatly. I had a few complaints, but nothing that I couldn't get past. Disney made "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", while not as good as the BBC version, it was still good. It was better for the graphics, I must admit. Then Disney went on to make "Prince Caspian", I was fine with this movie, until the last 10 minutes (I have noticed the last 10 minutes break or make a lot of movies). At which point I was almost got kicked out of the theater for the outrage that spewed forth.
Now Disney has gone and done it again, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is coming out. Already I know some plot points are ruined, because of how they treated "Prince Caspian", but to add insult to injury Susan and Peter are in this atrocity.
I loved the Narnia Chronicles, I read them multiple times as a kid, I know how "Prince Caspian" works and what it means to the rest of the books that certain characters are represented when they should not be.
~Spoilers~
Let me explain the plot of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader". Edmund and Lucy are staying at their aunt's house, they have an obnoxious cousin, Eustace. He continues to be obnoxious until he is carried off by a dragon at one point. The older siblings have stopped believing in Narnia. This became apparent at the beginning of "Prince Caspian", when only Lucy could see Aslan. Susan is especially annoying about Narnia saying things like "Oh that old game we used to play".
Now much later in the books Susan being a...brat, yes we'll go with that, means much more about all of the religious "under"tones within the series. ~MAJOR SPOILER DO NOT READ IF YOU CARE~ They all die and go to the world that has cast the shadow (which is the world we live in/Narnia/etc) except Susan who wasn't on the train and did not really believe all that non-sense. This means she didn't believe in Jesus and when everyone died she did not go to heaven, get it? Ok so hear is the problem, if she loves someone in the "pretend" world, how does she justify herself when she begins to stop believing? Is it a jealousy thing because Prince Caspian ends up with the star princess, and not with Susan. In fact Susan should be in her teens or possibly her 20's during "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and several years have past since "Prince Caspian" which means Prince Caspian aged quite a bit more than the rest of them. Try that one on for size, what was originally a match of proper ages is now gross.
~End Spoilers~
With all this rewriting of a classic, I can't handle it I am refusing to go see the movie. Feel free to do the same.

New Year's resolution Update

It has been almost a year since I posted that I was going to stop using chapstick, I have been really bad about updating about that and for that I apologize, but as I sit here trying to avoid working on this years NaNo (word count 7,171) I was wandering around my blog and found the post about my desire to no longer use chapstick.

The update is: I am no longer using Burt's Bees (the first step of my plan), I no longer sleep with my chapstick. After I brush my teeth I don't even put on chapstick. I have been rather good about going hours without using chapstick, some days I haven't even used it. I am super proud of myself for this. Now my next goal is to leave my chapstick somewhere (such as at home when at school), which means leaving my comfort blanket at home essentially. This will be a bit more difficult.

Copyright...or public domain

The Internet (not just for porn), is a wealth of posted articles. I have posted articles on the Internet, specifically I am posted on a protected site that copyrights my material, even if I re-publish it on another site or through a magazine I can get in trouble of it, because I essentially sold my material to this site. They pay me (not very well mind you) to have it posted on their site.

If you follow, say @neilhimself you have probably heard about Cooks Sources big faux pas and possible Copyright infringement. If not here is a link to the story or if you want a more elegant version of the story here is that link.

Now here is my issue with this whole thing (meaning Cooks Source claiming they did no wrong). The words about the Internet is public domain. It isn't. Not when the article is posted on a copyright protected page (which this article was). It'll be interesting to see what the court says about this, I have a feeling that we may be finding out. For good reasons too. This issue if it hits the court system will change how Internet posting is dealt with completely. If Cooks Source wins, as a writer I will be extremely disappointed and will have issues from here on out of how, when and where I post anything. Hopefully Monica Gaudio wins, if so I think from then on the Internet will never be considered public domain again.

Before I sign out on this posting I would like to point out that as a college student that if I so much as use three words in the same order as someone else I have to give that person credit (yes Cooks Source did give credit to Gaudio, but they did not so much as contact her about using it). This is a different situation, because thankfully in that way I do not have to contact every source I use, but also different is I am not lifting an entire article (editing added or not).

If you hear more about this let me know, though I will probably be following this situation closely out of respect for a fellow writer.

An observation from a JC Student Lounge

So right now, as I write this, I'm sitting in the JC's student lounge. Prior to this day I had started noticing small things that differentiated JC from a CSU, today was proof of that.

A group of kids, I mean that when I say that, they are fresh from high school they are kids, were playing toss back...or hacky sac with a balloon. This on its own does not bother me, in fact I almost joined in. They were having fun, that's cool some juvenility should happen. Then out of no where (maybe I wasn't paying that close attention) one of the other kids in the room comes over grabs the balloon and yells "I'm putting an end to this!" and popped the balloon. I hate the sound of balloons popping so I jumped a bit.

Let's put this room into perspective, 90% of the people (the ages vary so I'll use a more broad term now) are playing Magic: The Gathering, or something similar (Yu-gi-oh etc). Some are on their computers playing games and listening to music. Most conversations are ones I'm used to, about his anime or this comic book or the last game of Dungeons and Dragons. I can participate in a lot of these conversations. I probably couldn't with the card games (never got into them really), but it isn't the games or the conversations, or even that a group of people will step outside every half hour and smoke for ten minutes (I don't know how many of these people are over 18 (most probably though)). What is important about this group is how they deal with issues, it is how they act about a situation. That is what is different. At the CSU there was juvenility, I won't deny that. In fact I was juvenile at one point, and very good at it thank you very much. Here though there seems to be a disconnect to the fact that they are in college, it is a JC I know, but what they do here is important to their future. Instead is feels like high school has continued. For having been to a 4-year college and then coming to a JC I feel like I went back to high school. I'm glad that I did not start here. I don't think I would have matured the same way.

As a follow up to my "Late Night Thoughts" Post I'll say this. I didn't keep my promise. I made friends. That is part of the reason of why I am in the Student Lounge. One of the guys that I LARP with occasionally is in a class and hangs out here.

OMG Helium! The kids are breathing in the helium from balloons now. I can say I have done this. This may be juvenile behavior, but it is practiced by a lot of people...I don't know why I'm surprised by this roomful of people doing it.

Back on subject. Like I said I didn't keep the, "make no friends" promise. It had to be changed to "make little friends" I have friends in almost every class now. I'm taking 4 classes. My first class of the week is the one with the guy from LARP, after that I have a couple of study partners, one of them I'm friends with. Tuesday and Thursday my first class is the only one I've kept from talking to people in. The second one I have a study group with.

And a guy dressed like the Joker just walked in. Fairly good make-up job too. I know it's the week before Halloween, but isn't that a bit early? Sorry that this post is all over the place this is what happens when I write about a room that I'm currently sitting in *sigh*.
Now I've been told a joke "What's the difference between Heath Ledger and Heath Ledger jokes?...Heath Ledger jokes can get old" *face palm* Ok I'm going to edit this later when I'm not sitting in the room I'm talking about.

Short Story work

Well working on a short story right now. According to a friend I need to work on the connection to the "main" character. I say "main" because I'm not sure if she actually is or not. This story is this odd ball of ideas all rolled up into my mind. I think the editing process is going to take a while. But when I publish it I'll post where it is.

Of course NaNo is coming up too...just a few more days....For that I plan on re-writing a story I wrote in middle school. It has changed a lot since those days so I'm probably not even going to look at the old draft for it. This will be like writing from scratch except for the plot has been in my head for years.

An essay

So I wrote an essay a while back about Octavio Paz and how I thought he was an RPGer. Here is the link to the site that is hosting it. Hope you enjoy it!

Mis-informed posts

I would just like to say, everyone sometimes gets there facts wrong. I can accept that. I cannot accept a website claiming college degrees getting their information wrong. I stumbled upon a posting, a rather cool one, 50 banned books everyone should read. I agree read Banned books and from the ones I know on this list read them all. My problem with this list is:

"Gulliver’s Travels" by Jonathan Swift. Underlying themes in this famous work include political corruption, anti-war sentiments, and the injustices of colonization. It’s no wonder this book has been banned in several countries and Swift had to publish it anonymously.

That little bit italicized there, see that. It is wrong. Swift did not have to publish anonymously, he chose to make the book stronger. Yes he got tons of flack, but it was also a huge success. He was a satirist his job was to make people feel something about anything. He poked fun at our flaws, and he was good at it. Most people, the intelligent ones, saw it for what it was, satire. The ones who didn't where the same ones scandalized by "A Modest Proposal". Swift published "Gulliver's Travels" under the name Lemuel Gulliver. Which if you notice is the same name as the narrator/main character of the book. Hmm I wonder what statement he's trying to make.

I would also like to note that he published this during a time when the Travel narratives were very popular. People wanted to hear about far away lands. Swift gave them that and a look at there world through the eyes of an intelligent Yahoo.

By the way if you want to read the original post I do recommend many of the books on the list. It is a good list even if it is incorrect about some facts. If anyone is wondering why I think I have the authority to write this blog let it be known that my Thesis for my English degree was based around "Gulliver's Travels" I spent months researching it and the political situation surrounding it. If you chose to go to the site you'll also find a shorter version of this rant.

Late Night Thoughts

I know it isn't that late right now, at least not my time, but that doesn't mean I can't have thoughts. Anyway, lately I've been thinking about changes. Mostly because I went through some major ones this year. I walked, meaning I crossed the stage from undergraduate to graduate. I got the folder for my degree, but due to some unforeseen circumstances I do not have my degree. I am now going to a JC. The sudden shift from a 4-year college to a JC has been rather harsh. I learned a few things. High School does not prepare you for a JC it prepares you for college. JC does not prepare you for college it prepares you for graduate college. I'm saying this because for some reason JC has some weird ideas about what college is like. I had a professor Thursday tell the class that a friend of hers (who happens to teach at the 4-year college I went to) said that the students that come from the JC ask questions that the High School kids don't. This professor was complaining about it. In 4 years at college I never once had a professor even hint that if we came to office hours they wouldn't give us the time of day. Every single one of my professors insisted we come to office hours. In fact a few classes it was required that we have at least one meeting with the professor. So the idea of a professor having problems with us asking questions blew my mind. I wanted to raise my hand and argue the point. In fact I still feel like emailing the professor and saying something about it. Problem is I don't think it would matter.

Another thing that JC's have is the old high school clicks. I admit that the 4-year college had some clicks, especially the Greeks, but when it comes to the JC I feel like I'm on a High School campus. There is no shifting of political ground a group has an area staked out all semester, not just for that hour between class one and class three (when class two is in process but they don't have that class hour filled). There is absolutely no parking. I thought the 4-year was bad for parking, this is nothing compared to the JC's parking problem.

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss my 4-year college. At the 4-year college I couldn't cross the quad without running into someone I knew. At the JC I can spend an entire day wandering and not see a single person I know. My first day at the JC I had to go out of my way to see someone I knew (a friend's mom works in the counseling office). After that I met a few other people I knew by happenstance. Every time since then that I've seen them has been on purpose. I have to go out of my way to see friends. I miss the random encounters (pun intended) of the 4-year college. Even still I was at the 4-year for paperwork I was there barely 20 minutes and saw people I knew. Hours on JC campus and no one. No classes with friends (I almost did, but was wait listed, there wasn't enough room for me).

I started this semester with a goal of not making any new friends. It's surprisingly hard. I'm not counting the one person I was introduced to, we only say hi in the hall anyway. I've gone out of my way to not speak to anyone I don't already know, for those of you that know me IRL you know how difficult this actually is for me. I walked past a group of people talking about the Zelda cartoon and had to resist the urge to say "Excuse me Princess". I wonder how well my promise to myself would have held up if I had said it. I went to the game room, it was closed (thankfully or knowing me, new friends for me!).

What am I getting at? I'm learning, that's what. I am teaching myself how to deal with a new environment. I have plans to move to the other side of the country for my career, if I can't handle a change in scenery here, what makes me think I can handle moving to the East coast? I've never even been to the East coast. There it is, I'm afraid of not knowing someone. Me not knowing someone...anyone. I can't go anywhere without knowing someone. I've been in Hawaii and ran into people I knew, not just one person, but multiple people I knew. What if the East coast refuses me that? Sure I know a few people thanks to the Internet scattered around, Georgia, NC, Boston, and even DC. That isn't the same though. I will have to start over. Sure I'll have my boy friend (hopefully) with me, but other than that I'll have to find a new D&D group. Or a book club or Anime group. Do they even watch Anime over on the East coast like here in Cali? I have an odd sense of humor, will they get my jokes? I don't want to start over, I really don't. I will though, and now at least I know what I will have to face. I know how hard it will be at first to not know a single face in a crowd of people.
Goodnight...or whatever it is really when you read this.

Observations from Slience

I participated in "National day of Silence" on the 16 of April and learned something interesting. People take your choice to be silence oddly, the most popular way was people started whispering to me after I showed them the note explaining why I was choosing to be silent. One guy actually thanked me (he isn't gay either). I was questioned on my motives by another, and one guy seem actually annoyed that I was refusing to speak he said essentially that verbal communication was hard to talk without. I agree that yes verbal communication is key to having a conversation, unless you know sign language, but 95% (yes that's the actually percent I'm not making that one up) of communication is non-verbal. Part of that is inflection but a lot of it is body movements and facial expressions. At points I felt like I was doing an interpretive dance, I did have a notebook to convey important ideas across and luckily I didn't have class or work, but I had to go to the bank. They teller thought I was crazy (my sister was my interrupter for this exchange). He didn't say anything, didn't even ask why I wasn't talking, just took it. He made a face though, one of "are you really just being annoying or are you mute?" he still didn't ask. I thought maybe I should give him the note, I didn't for some reason and I wish I had because I think of everyone who whispered at me I might have made the biggest impression with him.
Verbal communication is important but so is empathy. Without empathy all nuances of conversation are lost and your social understanding is extremely stunted. People with Autism don't have what is called mirror neurons so they lack the ability to empathize with people. I'm not sure where I'm going with that or any of this other than the thought that whispering to people who are being silent for a cause seems like an odd, but common, reaction. If I hadn't have known about it and someone gave me the note I would have immediately shut up and pulled out a notebook and joined the cause...not whispered to them, because whispering is a show of support (<---sarcasm).

Top 10 Reasons Gay marriage should be Illigal

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all like many of the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

For the original site (I think) follow me! Meaning that link, not really me as a person, because I didn't write this list orginally I actually found it on this site.

Script Frenzy

Well NaNo passed me successful and now for some ridiculous reason I've got it in my head to do script frenzy. 100 pages of script in 30 days. This will be the first script (other than one for a creative writing class) that I've ever done. I want to do an actual play. The whole reason this came to be a good idea was today while at work I had an idea pop into my head.
The life of a handful of college students through their interactions at a coffee shop. I probably wont hit 100 pages, especially since priority will be going to homework for my thesis paper...hmm too bad I'm not taking this class in November I may have a 50,000 word essay.

Well here is to my crazy this year!

A review of "Alice in Wonderland"

It was beautiful! I was swept up in the story and the visuals (maybe I should make this a review of Avatar as well, just kidding). The acting was superbly done. Johnny Depp was totally in his element as the Mad Hatter.
Mia Wasikowska was an amazing choice for Alice. I am now looking forward to seeing her next up and coming films (yes even Jane Eyre, a book that was the only good thing from those sister's (that I've read)).
I am glad Anne Hathaway turned down the role of Alice (oh so long ago) and said "Yes I'll play the White Queen, Please!" (Though how she held her hands the entire movie I just wanted to come over and put them down at her sides, it was reminiscent of the old style princess of Disney (Snow White for example) though that may have been the point it was still annoying, my hands hurt just by looking at her).
Helena Bonham Carter plays a good crazy person. From Bellatrix Lestrange to Mrs. Lovett she really pulls off the "I'm so nucking futs you can't even fathom where my head is when you've got it your hands." Then again she can also pull off sweet motherly type (Mrs. Buckett) in fact the only reason I even knew she played that part is I just looked at her IMDB. The first roll I remember her in was Merlin as Mogan Le Fay (dear God was she made for that roll) so the whole nucking futs bit has been what I've always seen her as. Just saying that as the Red Queen she was magnificent (so stop complaining about Tim Burton overusing her and Johnny Depp, because he's doing it for the good of the project!).

I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars and if it doesn't get at least nominated the Oscar committee is on some nifty drugs.

Back in the swing of things...for now

New semester here I am. While things may still be chaotic (at the best of times) I have the confidence that everything will go if not according to plan at least passable alternatives. I moved, and there is no power/gas at the new place yet. So I'm spent last night and will spend tonight (and possibly tomorrow night) at the old place. Classes so far look great! I have one class left to go to and that is the only class I actually need this semester, unfortunately I'm not actually enrolled in the class yet. The joys of cut classes and such means there weren't enough of this class for everyone who needs it. So here's to keeping my fingers crossed that I can get into it. If I can't I'm thinking of just scrapping this semester and holding off graduating once again. I suppose it is a good thing I haven't actually been accepted to my graduate college of choice as of yet.

Have a nice day and I'll be seeing you again soon I hope. (I will be getting internet at my new place tomorrow it seems! Yay!)

I've been crazy busy lately, I'm in the process of moving and in between terms. Money is tight due to needing a car, life is just complicated right now.

Thoughts for a new story

Well I have a new story starting in my head. It's a horror story. The main character is a librarian, she has recently gotten hired on in a private library that has an extremely high turn over rate. Starting the first day strange stuff happens and it is all rather super natural. I am not entirely sure if and let alone when I am going to write this since I still have NaNo to clean up. I suppose I'll see. Wish I could get away with being a full time writer.