"Why does everyone say the same thing before I kill them?!"

You know what? I really like the Narnia movies. I saw Prince Caspian last night and it was, well, quite awesome in my humble opinion. It was a bit darker than the first movie, which was a more straight-forward fantasy adventure, and I appreciated that. While C. S. Lewis' usual Christianity allusions were still in place, they weren't quite so blatant this time around. I suppose this MIGHT have something to do with Aslan -- the infamous Jesus-allegory lion -- being much less involved in the story and (besides a single dream sequence) not even appearing until towards the end of the film's finale.

What I loved most about the movie, though, was the new character Reepicheep. Imagine if Errol Flynn was a 6 inch tall mouse, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what he was like. I felt he had some of the best lines in the movie. ^_^

Squirrel: Oh! We could collect nuts, and berries, and eat those!

Reepicheep: Oh, yes, that's a wonderful idea! Then we can just throw them at the enemy. Shut UP!

Or:

Enemy Guard: *turns to see Reepicheep hanging upside-down from a rope and pointing a sword at his face* You're...

Reepicheep: Yes, I'm a MOUSE! *kills guard*

If you liked the first Narnia, definitely go see it. If you haven't seen the first one, don't be afraid to go, you don't really need to have seen the first to understand the second (they do a pretty good job explaining the backstory, according to my friend who never saw the first one).

Yay for better days!

Today is MUCH better day than the last few. I wrote a new story! ^_^

I'm calling it "On the train to Yonkers"... obviously, a big chunk of it takes place while the narrator and his girlfriend are riding a train through Bronx to Yonkers. The girlfriend sees a man with a cybernetic arm standing on the far end of the train and suspects he's a terrorist...

My only gripe about the story is that the last three or four paragraphs ended up moving the whole story in a very different direction from where I started... I may have to revise it, but I'm not entirely sure HOW yet.

Until then, I think I'm going to make a concerted attempt at finishing "The Atlanta Incident". It's more than half done anyway, I just need to plow my way through to the end (easier said than done... this is one of those stories that's really difficult to write for some reason). I might end up shafting again in favor of writing something else new, though, so we'll just have to see.

In the meantime, I've been getting really geeky recently. You see, the alternate history site I go to has been running a mock government... game, I suppose? Anyway, over the last few days I've decided to dig through the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary threads, see what legislation was actually discussed (which was WAY more than I thought had been discussed), and post it on the site's wiki. I've finished posted the 2006 stuff and I'm now compiling the information for 2007. I should be done soon, I think.

I also saw Speed Racer last night. Not bad, really hyperkinetic and bright... it was like watching a live-action anime. Sort of. Go see it, you'll have fun! ^_^

Also, did you know they're coming out with a new, all-CG, Star Wars movie this August? If not, consider yourself informed!

I have such a headache

UGH.

Remember those Music papers I mentioned a few days ago? Turns out they're not due next week during finals week, during the Music final that would be during finals week because that's when FINALS are SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, but rather tomorrow, during the last class... where I'll be taking my final rather than REVIEWING for the damn thing, which everybody ON THE DAMNED PLANET knows my class is nowhere approaching prepared for. I'm wondering how many people aren't going to show up tomorrow because the professor never actually made a big announcement about the final, as he should have, and assume that there is no class tomorrow... just as there aren't ANY classes on the Friday before finals week EVER because that day is for STUDYING.

God, this guy is such an asshole! >_<

So, I'm here ranting instead of writing those worthless papers. I'm halfway through one, the legitimate one, and dreading the one I have to make up. Did I mention that these are supposed to have works cited? >_<#

Honestly, this class has hit my final nerve just in time to end. Thank goodness this will be the last class, I can't stand this guy any more!

Of course, now this means I have to go to work more, which is just as frustrating, annoying, and unfulfilling. I can't stand that place either, but at least I'm getting paid for that, not money to sit through three hours of crap. The only reason I go is because I happen to like the music and I do enjoy spending a few hours listening to it. I just can't stand this professor! I wonder what was it that pushed my distaste for him over the edge? Was it the callous disregard for the well-being of his student when said student had a sudden nosebleed and refused to walk away from a test, instead lamenting that the student had the audacity into interrupt the proceedings and ruin the paper? Or was it the casually racist conversation I overheard him having with a student, a veteran, who obviously did not want to be discussing Iraq?

Ugh. This guy is a disgustingly pretentious prick. I have half a mind to just write "FUCK YOU" over and over again and hand that in, TWICE, tomorrow. But... the other half of my brain is quite sane and understands I need to pass this idiocy. Thus... Ugh. ><#

Man, I have such a headache.

Stories and Music

I've managed to progress a bit on the Titan story and, although I'm not quite happy with how it's working out, I'm glad I'm that much closer to finishing. The story isn't going to so much need a rewrite as it'll likely need some reorganization... I don't think the story is playing out quite right. I think I'll worry about that more after it's finished -- I'm sure the ending will be fine -- and after reading the whole thing figure out what needs to be done. It's possible that what's needed is some pruning and streamlining... also, I might need some actual character names besides "The Visitor". ^^() Kinda hard when the story is supposed to be set over dozens of generations...

Besides that, it's the last week of classes for the spring semester and, well, I've got a minor problem: I was supposed to see two concerts for music, and only saw one. Crap. I think I'll check Ticketmaster, but more likely I'm probably never going to see that second show. Gah... I hope I don't fail because of it. >_>()

I looked at one of my other stories, The Atlanta Incident, too. It's good, although unfinished and probably a bit wordy. I have two versions of the story on my computer, one of which has some interesting background info on the narrator. I'm not sure which version I'm going to use yet, although I'm leaning towards the older version. Neither has an ending yet, although I do know that they both end the same way and that I'm just going to dump all of the stuff I originally wanted to write between where I stopped writing and the ending and just skip ahead. The story comes out better that way anyway.

Um... I guess that's about it. G'night!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today was blah, as usual. In the morning I did the usual busywork they force down my throat in work, in the afternoon I sat through American Government (a class I enjoy, but today wasn't too interesting). Gah.

For most of the day, I thought about videogame ideas to pass the time. I decided a long time ago (I believe it was one of my first blog posts that I mentioned it) that a fusion of Grand Theft Auto's open world concept with Half Life's in-game (no cut scene) storytelling is the future of how games will tell their stories. After playing GTA4 for a few days, especially the social minigame/subplot, I can see even more clearly that this is the case and that this will be the avenue for games taking on more substantial story concepts (specifically, moving away from Action based to more Drama based stories). So, in wondering how that could work, I thought: "If I want a more substantial story, why not adapt something... Shakespearean?"

Thus, my idea: Henriad.

The player takes the role of Hal, the young delinquent prince and the future King Henry V of England. The game takes place in a stylized representation of Britain and France during the Hundred Years War... miniaturized a la California and Nevada in San Andreas. There are no cut scenes (except for perhaps an Intro and Ending), all dialog and plot will be relayed through in game dialog with the other characters. The plot itself will be based upon Shakespeare's Henriad cycle -- Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, and Henry V. In order to properly adapt it, it may have to be partly rewritten so as to focus more on Hal... also, I'm not entirely sure how to incorporate the events of Richard II properly into the game (perhaps as an extended prologue?)

That's more or less the gist of it.

Man, today's dull. Considering the wonderful weather and Cinco de Mayo... aw man... *sigh*

I need to find something to do.

Best Random Dancer EVAR

So, I drove out to Iona on Thursday to visit Rob and take care of that transcript business. All went well, although I felt bad about not joining Rob & Co. in seeing Iron Man that night. I really did want to go, but considering I hadn't been sleeping much (thanks to my cousins, who kept me up to the wee hours of the morning the weekend before and screwed up my sleep schedule) and that I had work the next day, it just wasn't a good idea to go see the midnight showing. I wouldn't have gotten home until 5 A.M.! >_>()

I did get to see Iron Man this weekend, though. It was good! At times, it seemed more like a military thriller with a sci-fi twist rather than a superhero flick. I think what really made the movie was Robert Downey, Jr. ... he brought something to the movie that it would have seriously lacked otherwise. I honestly can't imagine ANYONE else playing Tony Stark now and look forward to the inevitable sequel:

The Avengers.

^________^

BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, DEFINITELY wait until the credits are over. A character barely hinted at during the film appears, played by an actor you may not at all expect (but makes sense, because the latest version of the character's design is specifically based on this actor).

Go! See! Now!

On Friday, I went to a party. Like usual, I was just about the only person who WASN'T drunk. >_>() On the plus side, though, I won an award for my work with the TV Station!

Paul Cwiakala, BEST RANDOM DANCER!

^_________^

In the meantime, I'm having issues finishing one of my stories (not the story for the contest, that's already finished and submitted). I think the problem is that the nexus of the creative energy for it was about a week ago... I didn't take advantage of it until too late, so I haven't been able to get much further than a page. It's not a difficult story (and I really like the concept here), but it's being bitterly slow.

I'll probably give it another shot tonight.

I should probably mention what the story is about, eh? I'm calling it "All Hail the Gods of Titan"... yes, it's pretty much that Titan story I've been kicking around for who knows how long. I've decided to attack it from a different angle, though, and now I'm telling the story from the POV of the Huygens probe rather than either the Titanians or the ISRO gaganauts that arrive at the end. The premise is that NASA lands its probe on Titan, it remains active for 2 hours, and then shuts down. In those two hours, how was this stationary object supposed to learn that there ARE in fact intelligent, albeit primitive, aliens on the moon? Little does humanity realize, but we have just introduced a metal piece of technology on a world that knows neither. The story follows the chaos that overtakes the Titanians and, ultimately, the reactions of the Humans when we finally conduct a manned landing 150 years later.

Oh, I also bought GTA4 yesterday. It is AWESOME. More news as it arrives. ^_^

As a final note, I recently noticed that I forgot to actually include a link to The Race, but not their Empire, ISOT to OTL 2007 the last time I mentioned it. So, here it is! Let me know what you think... I've been getting pretty good reviews, but I don't know how good it could be... I mean, it's just fan fiction. ^^()

Ah well, until next time!