If you clicked on that one, you were just ASKING for an earful.

College Entry 63, May 19 2007

Turns out I don't like irony. A little while back, I heard Peter S. Beagle talk about how once a favourite author of his died before he got a chance to write him and say he admired him. That since then he didn't wait, because it feels awful if you happen to wait too long. Around that same time, I found out that Lloyd Alexander was still alive and kickin' and in Drexel Hill. So I decided to follow Beagle's advice. As soon as I could, I would sit down and write him a letter. Or maybe figure out where exactly Drexel Hill was and go bother him like Ed and them did with Jan Svankmeyer. Because the first time someone I wanted to meet died, I was 51/2 and there was nothing I could have done differently. Now I was old enough and I wasn't going to mess up. But I was busy. I was in the middle of my senior animation, for pete's sake. So what happens the day after I turn it in to Karl? He dies. I didn't think I had NO time. He was so near by. Why taunt me like that? I didn't even know he was alive til this year, and just when I.... He was the best. His stuff is always in my head. I got Bob into his books. He has a new one coming out. And what the heck is the deal with cancer? I'm sick of cancer, that's no way to go. It's lame, and I can't even figure out why it happens. I hate cancer more than I hate irony. It's up there with chauvanism and Nazis on the list of things I actively despise. I was so close. I was so excited that I was really gonna write him. Why did I wait even a minute after I decided? Why? I've got my show today. I'm gonna deck out like a rock star and my kids are gonna cheer for me and my parents are coming and now I'm a wreck. And I can't get my nose clear now. I wanted to talk to him so bad. And he was so awesome, on so many levels. I was gonna tell him about the song I wrote for trumpet lessons in jr. high that I called Theo and Mickle cause it really did remind me of them. He played the violin and drew cartoons. He fed squirrels. He liked doughnuts. I feel so selfish right now. Tell him I'm sorry.

(photographer: Matt Tucker) College Entry 62, April 29 2007

Well, yesterday was a day of outdoor shooting for P-38. We nearly thought we'd be rained out. Lise is setting up the shot and Jadick points to the sky and says "Whatever that is, it's coming right for us." But it didn't end up lasting. We just had to shift some things to inside the truck. It was a big Sean Connery impression day. We finally got to Paolo's for supper at 7. Well, about half of us did. And Callaghan thought it would be a good joke if we finished off all three pizzas before the rest arrived. Save for like 5 pieces, we did it, and made it look like there were none. He himself must have eatten an entire pie on his own. There followed a collection of cash if he would finish all the crusts from the two that we'd actually polished off, but he didn't make it. Ran out of iced tea. For this kind of a feat, though, he earned the nickname of Orson Welles, which then changed to Touch of Evil. I was doing behind the scenes.
Then it was off to the 'boneyard' in the middle of the night. A pack of young punks beat us there. HA! So it's really done! Go off drinking in the graveyard, ooooo. I tried to catch them on camera, but the light was understandibly terrible. We found plenty to amuse ourselves with, including the grave that said Judick. "He's looking into the future, when they misspell his name." Kelly got all teary during the scene, which was neat. When we shot infront of Angel's house, we were supposed to be quiet, so Callaghan said nothing at all, which can only serve to make everyone nervous. At midnight, Justin would be 21, so the entire gang, plus Frank the German, headed to The Good Dog. There we all tossed back a few. Well, I had a half. Justin had the equivalent of six shots in a half hour. Lise gave him an increasingly ridiculous list of things we would need for the next shoot, and I think he was quite earnest in wanting to write them down and figure out how to get ninja camels and chorus girls. Then we decided to take Eric up on his usual offer, and ran over to Lucky Strike. They've got a dress code, of all things. Classy, drunken bowling? It still baffles. I did the worst, as usual. I really thought I was getting it down. I even got a spare once, quite on purpose. But mostly the thing was against me. Kelly tried her best to get Justin hydrated. Ant won, it was an impressive display. I wish I wasn't so pathetic. It was a good night, mostly. We're the most well bonded film crew, if that's a bragging point in the business.

College Entry 61, Jan. 21 2007

Bruce Coville, you old devil. What you put me through. Back in elementary school, for pete's sake, I read "Into the Land of the Unicorns", which was book one of two. And I waited and searched for the second. Looked everywhere. And what do I find... today? A compilation of the two in Barnes and Noble. Here I am, all 22 years of me, and the blasted thing surfaces NOW. But then he goes and dedicates it to me. Well, to us. Those of us who waited and searched with an odd determination. He does right by us. Bless the fellow for that. And thought I can't quite recall what any of the characters were like, save the dragon and maybe the unicorn, I get the feeling I'll remember. He'll have been consistent.
Meanwhile, finished the first Conan story, moved on to the second. It started off GOOD. A sword fight right off, and any mention of Valhalla, well... I'll thank you kindly for that.

College Entry 60, Oct. 15 2006

People sure do like to tell you every little detail sometimes. Why a joke's funny, something you can hear just fine for yourself, what they're going into the next room for... Silly things, people. Today is the second time I can recall being shown a new coat and all it's many buttons and features. Nice, really. I got two shots drawn so far just this weekend, and another lined up and on my light box. Tomorrow's a filming day, but I can get something done. Bought food, finally. You know, I'm getting bored with internet forums. It's all stupid stuff. Unless something big is going on, or you have a question that needs answering, there's nothing there for a person like me. A fanatic who manages to be casual and rational once in a while. Enjoying the tidbits I pick up from Whedonesque, though. Alan reading Wash's eulogy, and making corrections as he went, was particularly awesome. There's a fan comic website, apparently. Looking at one now. Alot of Joss's stuff parallels real life in weird ways. Like all the Serenity promotion being as relevant to the fans' experiances as to the movie. And the Firefly theme. He gets us hooked and inspired and devoted to the point that, really "there's no place I can be since I found Serenity". We are marked fans. Bound by our snazzy matching brown coats, and utterly unable to give up on our 'Verse. Curse that man, and his goofy, witty brain....
I can't remember if I told anyone this, but in sophomore year I listened to so much Mercury Theater and Campbell Playhouse that I ended up having a dream about Orson Welles, Agnes Moorehead, and soup. It was something else, and while not the strangest or most convoluted dream I've had by any means, ... I guess it was "oddly specific". Oh, I found the Graham Greene section in my Borders trolling today. Apparently, I forgot that I'm a fan at least twice. Anyway, I read The Third Man. Well, that's a darn lie. I read the beginning, and then scanned for the parts with Harry in them. I might have read through it entirely if it didn't keep insisting on "Rollo Martins". Good grief. I couldn't do it. I had to mentally correct it in the parts I did read. Alot of the lines, duh really, are the same. The frequent "old man" from Harry, that was there. But if Orson didn't pull it off like nobody else could... I tell ya. I think he came off more menacing in the movie, really. In the book, he says one of the other guys suggested he get rid of "Rollo" up there, and he says "I never feel comfortable in these things" sincerely instead of as a subtle threat. That's what I got out of it. A film noir podcast(they've got one for everything!) talked about the movie, and they decided it really wasn't a noir story, but I think it's less black and white then they seem to think.
Realized something odd. I'm crazy as a loon, blind as a bat, got year round allergies, friends with too much drama, constantly surrounded by ...eughh... liberals, my favourite places keep closing, never had any big adventures, constantly freaking out about the future, ... what else?... But when I think of myself, and other people, I think "It must be rotten, having problems. Everything's going perfectly. Too perfectly...Ok, when's something going to go wrong? It can't be this easy." I honestly expect life to follow my plans exactly: New York, Pixar, Rabid Lemur Studios, all the while continuing collaborations with Patrick, Oscar, best career ever. Explain. Seriously. Be my guest here.

College Entry 59, Sept. 28 2006

Made an elaborate list of what shots I'm doing when for my senior animation. It's a lot. Tomorrow's the new Dr. Who. He's not MY doctor, dang it! But one hears decent things and I believe Giles appears in this series, among others. STILL haven't seen the premiere of Criminal Intent season 6, but it replays on Saturday. It was a good comic book day today. Invicible, Robin, Civil War, Astonishing... The Invincible writer, Robert Kirkman, has a son! He's like 4 months old and his name is Peter Parker Kirkman! EEE!!! Lets hear it for awesome spouses! So, I was in Canada all last week. Miss me? It was neat. We went to this Scottish pub a few times. We didn't get too drunk, although one of our number was temporarily giggly and provided awesome quotes. Drew got some expensive Scotch, which everyone had the tiniest sip possible of. Thanks to Miss Giggles, I was dubbed "Jill". Whitters talked music almost constantly, educating the newbie. At the Irish place, the only time I actually really had a drink, they played alot of The Who and other good stuff. There was a candy store called Sugar Mountain, which was probably lost on everyone, in part due to an internet cartoon about "Candy Mountain" that succeeded in distracting them. It was darn good candy. We saw all five shorts competitions, a horrible half hour of a feature, the International Showcase, the most excellent Bozzetto and Bronzit retrospectives, Cultoons and the also horrible "lost Ren and Stimpy episodes". While one or two drooling fanboy pigs may have been in awe of the presence of John K, every female was thinking "John K must die." I spent time with the juniors, and we explored the city, went to the park, hung out by the canal and such. A real canal! With the locks and stuff! Julie took some documentary footage, which I still have to watch. Every evening tended to end with my usual comrades and I skipping the party and playing cards into the night. After the animator's picnic, where we carved the wickedest pumpkins ever(people took pictures of mine!), I drew a new series of plushies of all the students on the trip. Ed Hawkins was around, so everybody said hi at some point or another. Krista made dinner a couple times. We all sat around and discussed story ideas that we were scheming and plotting. There was a great fresh muffin place in the mall, reasonably priced and all! Mmmm. Two of our group had a chance to pitch a tv show called Wiccan Chicken. They had little stuffed chicks in a KFC bucket, aw! Aside from a technical difficulty that was in no way their fault, it sounds like it went ok. Everybody went to the closing ceremonies and the party after that. Karl, our illustrious leader, got an honorable mention and we all went crazy! He even had one of his masks of the festival director. The director and his wife the managing director have two kids named Jarvis and Harrison. Hmm... Jarvis. And Harrison. (What do YOU think, Peter P. Kirkman?) Anyone presenting an award held up a picture of their children or something, to gain sympathy. It was great. At the party, they gave us glowy bracelettes and two free drinks! Eee, they say 'pop' there. The boys did maybe a couple shots. The shot glasses have blinky lights when you slam them down! So, it was Whitney with his Guinness, me with my Coke, Erin trying to find something palatable, and Krista probably with a rum and Coke or whiskey sour. As usual. Upstairs, there was body painting going on, that black light kind. And I shook hands with Bruno. Everybody had managed to meet him, it seems. He's the man. We were all looking out for each other and such, but someone managed to get drunk anyway. It's annoying, and a little unnerving. Put Stickman and I off drinking for life. Heh. Or for a while. On the ride back, we switched drivers a couple times, and got lost, and lost the other van. It was interesting. But let me tell you, 11 hours in a van is so much more entertaining than watching Jeanne Dileman that it's not even funny.

Home Entry 26, June 23 2006

It's the great Joss's birthday. It should, in fact, be a holiday for chicks everywhere. And Patrick. Or, people should at least get off their bums and buy a copy of Serenity. The wicked awesomeness of that movie is not to be disputed, and there ought to be more like that. Specifically, there should be sequals. But Hollywood could learn from Whedon-san, just as the comic book world is learning. I'm just saying.
It's graduation season again. This year's party will not live up to the party of three years ago, I am afraid to say. There just won't be as many wacky folk, and if it rains, the munchkins are likely to hide indoors rather than actively destroy the lawn through intense bouts of badminton. Ah, that was a glorious day. In a change from my last rant, I DO have an internship. At least, I suppose I do. I can't tell whether or not this interview is merely a "get to know, look around the place" sort of thing or what. But it's happening, so...cool. Also, I'm really enjoying the steady stream of comic inspiration we've been enjoying lately. It keeps the stress down. I'm sort of getting used to this blasted Wacom tablet, even though it is still the devil. I am very very busy working on my personal versions of everyone's characters in the new RPG at Elliot's house. It's a period world with lots of paranormal stuff and such. I quite like it. I've done two so far, one of whom I didn't have a description of, but I like what I came up with, so that's that. C is for cookie.
In other news and stuff, we've got that cruise thing coming up. This should be interesting. It sounds very Titanic, like you'd have to wear 5 outfits in one day. I don't roll like that. I mean, snakes on a plane! What do they think, I'm made of clothes here? I got better things to do. Epic swashbuckling movies to make, Shirley Temples to try and get drunk on. (If it can be done, I am certainly the one to do it) Whatever. I leave you with this thought : "Never trust anyone from Delaware."

Home Entry 25, June 2 2006

I hate driving. I even made up a little ditty about it. Mind, it works best if you use your hill billy voice. A-hem.
Drivin' in the car and tryin' not to die, drivin' in the car and tryin' not to die,
Somethin' somethin', I don't have a line for this part, drivin' in the car and tryin' not to die...
Ohhhh, passin' lots of cars and tryin' not to die, passin' lots of cars and tryin' not to die...
There's a theme here. I think you see that. So, still no internship. Wait, hang on. Yep. Still no internship. I do have my Cricket magazine back, so I can use that story for my senior film. Sigh. No one else will be doing an adaptation. But, heck, why not. The KQ9 forum remains abuzz. Especially since the update, which arrived with 2 hours to spare. And there's always the word association game thread in Haven.
Saw X-Men: The Last Stand on opening day. Had mixed emotions. Clearly many missed opportunities, and it was too short, and they put the focus in the wrong places. Wow. It sounds pretty lame when I put it that way. There were moments of enjoyment, the majority of them comedic. But I was really disappointed, even by the wrap-up portion. Then, they cheated. They waited til the last frame of the blasted film and tricked me into excited glee. Which tells us what? That they do in fact know how to make a movie. What's their excuse for such a poor result, then, I wonder. Last minute director change is always a good one. I shake my fist at them. Some points were so dead on and wonderful that it seems wrong how underdeveloped most of it was. And it's funny how some fanboys just can't take a joke and yet others, who are equally fanatic, love nothing quite so much as well placed self parody. Oh, Juggernaut... I thought Beast was great. Could have been a little more happening, but what was there I liked. Angel, unfortunately, could in fact be called the Darth Maul of X-3. Which is a waste of talent, my friend.
Anyhoo, should be a small spurt of comics. Enjoy it while it lasts.

College Entry 58, April 18 2006

Superficial, manipulative ditzes: The death of Topanga
I used to watch Boy Meets World every week. It was the best. It was about kids. Sure, some of the plots were a little "lesson learned" contrived and there were the usual tv school conventions that I have almost never found to be true. (Funny story, though. Once I did and several years later I still laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. "Do you know who that is?" oooo, I'm a'scared! 16 year old 8th graders.... I coulda' engaged in a battle of wits with her but... heh. You know the rest.) But it was fun writing, I liked the cast, and lets be honest; Mr. Feeny is the man. A lot, and I mean a lot of things went horribly wrong with that show as it progressed. Rewriting of history, the dumbing down of the Matthews brothers (Eric especially), 'teh drama' as I believe the coloquialism goes, and apparently accelerated aging that I somehow didn't pick up on. But wait, yeah. High school sure flew by, there. But those are little outrages for another time. (I will not be forgetting... those outrages...) Topanga was quite a character. Brilliant, logical in her own wacky way, unfettered by concern for social heirarchy. She had the weirdest hair of all time and I loved that. I loved her outfits. She took the decidedly unique worldview she had aquired from her parents and applied it to her own life while still recognizing/taking in stride their eccentricities. When it came to exchanging "aren't parents strange" stories, her contributions were the ones that gave you a good laugh, and maybe got your wheels spinning. I particularly like how her parents see Mothers Day and the like as greeting card conspiracies, yet her mom was hinting for a dustbuster. I saw that episode once. On it's original air date. Her dynamic with Minkus was interesting to say the least. Were they dating at some point? I seem to recall... Hehe, he stepped on her during Hamlet. She had a particular style of talking. She made various efforts to be Cory's friend and I believe more than once provided sound advice, if it did come from her oddball perspective. She had that crush on Eric, a silly lapse in sensibility that could have happened to anyone. Fact is, on the whole she did not see any point in posturing, lying, game playing, nor did she ever question her own value because of gender. I would have nominated this little girl for Functional Feminist membership in a heartbeat. __________________________________________________________________________
And then they came, with their retcon and their tired writing and their preconceived notions, and they killed her. She became emotional and shallow. Her speech became typical, high pitched and female. She whined, and lashed out for idiotic 'girlfriend' reasons. Remember how she tried to claim she didn't care about looks, cut a random hunk of hair and then looked like she might die? (and for some reason, the resulting salon trip made her so "ridiculously hot" that Cory was fraught with worry over.... wait, what was he worried about? What the heck happened there?) The real Topanga would have cut it just because her brain was temporarily unnoccupied with ponderings, and gone on being unique and not caring. The real Topanga would have either gone to Yale or stayed in Philly for her friends, the collective gang, not proposed at graduation, turning down oportunity for lame reasons remedied by "a car", and picked out the most God-awful bridesmaid dresses ever (really, hands down. Steryotypical 'girl' wedding plot device much?). In fact, she would have wanted some kind of hippie commitment ceremony(? idk) with all the trimmins, hoo yeah. That would have been way funnier, too. The real Topanga(whose father was a Monkee, by the way, not an uptight whitecollar loser) would have spent college organizing a "Save the" club or three, not running around in carefully planned fashionable outfits, alternately reviling the men as idiots and being all mushy, with the other female interests. Good God. She became an interest. She started as a character and got demoted and given the makeover from Hell. The main girl of the show couldn't possibly not become the main character's girlfriend, and the girlfriend of the main character could not possibly be intelligent and sensible and non-manipulative, non-materialistic, and non-high-pitched! Impossible. Where do we, the loyal viewers, get off? How dare we make such presumptions, that such a wonderful character could retain even a small portion of what made her wonderful.
But, trust me. I'm not bitter.

College Entry 57, April 6 2006

I don't know if I've made this clear to anyone yet, but I am madly in love with Eric Burns. Yeah, the Websnark guy. (I also have a very healthy respect and admiration for Wednesday White, but that's different.) He is so passionate about writing. And he is so eloquent and witty and I love his webcomic critiques. I've read this one post three times and it's still fresh, I still laugh out loud at the same places and go 'ooo' and can picture exactly what he's describing and I KNOW that feeling PRECISELY! He's so unfair. I know writing is not my true calling, but I do love it something awful. It's really great of him to tell us so much about writing and stuff. If only I had his way with words, but in the end I'm still a post-adolescent sometime intellectual comic geek. Seeing the word "awesomest" printed in an actual movie review is the kind of thing that makes my week (See memory file "Pine Street Pizza/Neverwhere marathon with Andy, Jeff, and Callahan, 2005). I would just love to read one of his stories, though. I know he's written two for that novel writing month thing, and he put up some excerpts, but that's the kind of thing that will just tease you. He should publish those suckers. Another guy I'm crazy about, for similar reasons, is Pat Smith. What a great guy! How humble and friendly and desperately passionate about his craft is he! Never mind computers, those are for squares. And assistants. Pat's all about putting graphite to paper. And trying to remember to storyboard once in a while. I like his style, I like that he has no problem whatsoever doing random commercials to pay the bills. I love that he highly advocates working for a studio to start with, that he keeps a little wall of post-it quotes, and has a bookshelf packed full of art books, cartooning books, and the 5th and 6th Harry Potter American hardcover editions. I love that he started as a painting major and he says he really only recently learned to draw and he believes he might be a master someday if he lives to a hundred and sixty. It's great that a visit to his studio can inspire everybody to want to run home and animate stuff, even Mike Johnston who doesn't like anything and criticizes everything. I also like Jon Stewart. I'm not sure why, really. It could be the charisma, and how polite yet fun he is with his guests. Not to mention that I've discovered he's such a good actor that I will fail to recognize him every single time I see him in a movie. I feel like an idiot, but hey! Bravo to him! I'm fooled.
In other news, huge shock all around yesterday in Karl's class. Well, first off, I got the highest quiz score from last week, so 'go me'. But seriously, Rob shaved and cut his hair! It took all class for us to come close to convincing ourselves that it was really him. Sure, this stranger in our midst had a familar nose and crafty, shifty eyes, a Homer Simpson-as-anime t-shirt, and a voice that means hilarity and doom to all that hear it. But who was he?! Had some alien being fused itself with our imposingly eccentric classmate? Was this some failed crossing of the twisted faux-Russian harmonicist and Mel Gibson? No, somehow it was really and truly Rob. He hasn't seen his chin in 8 years. I can only imagine what it must be like for him to look in the mirror. Some fellows decide to shave and it's suprising at first, but this was something different all together. If we didn't know him so darn well, I think the confusion could have lasted significantly longer. Instead of "woah, look at Rob" I believe the outloud sentiment would have actually, literally been "who's the new guy?"

College Entry 56, March 17 2006

Strange confession. I am addicted to fake cigarettes. Pens, pretzles,the little stick that holds my hair thingy in place. I blame the media. Anyhoo, it's my first "still not old enough to buy huge markers but old enough to drive, join the army, and drink" St. Patrick's day. But I can't actually drive, and I fear... the army...in ways... so it seemed only logical to make a go at exercising ONE of my rights. That's it. The right to enter bars and watch my friends get goofy. I couldn't find anybody to go with, and no way I'd go on me onesies, for many reasons. Speaking of stuff, saw Harry and the Potters, along with Uncle Monsterface on Wednesday. In line outside I was in front of a very amusing 5-some and I was cracking up so much that indroductions were made then and there. We quoted Penny Arcade and I wound up hanging with them the whole concert. There's Maggie and TJ, she's the sanity and he's the high strung mosh-starter. He said if he died I'd get his experiance points. Jake, the tall scruffy chinned one with the Hogwarts scarf is French, not real French but enough that TJ smacks him. Maggie plans on sewing some lead weights into the scarf as an anti-TJ weapon. Lester is a short fellow with the most enthusiasm for the concert. Him and the Sibs had Dumbledor's Army t shirts. Bill is not without the height and is apparently accustomed to using Lester as a weapon. When Uncle Monsterface had us shouting stuff, we always yelled the opposite. Always Monsterface, then Uncle. It rocked. They had puppets, and a guy with a monster head, and videos of dancing prarie dogs. When they put on the super capes was the best part, followed closely by the Oingo Boingo cover. When the Potters finally got on, there was much cheering. I worried because their recorded stuff is a little slow, but when you're live and rocking out and there's fans singing along, it's much better. Voldemort can't stop the rock, indeed. Trouble with the kind of people I'm drawn toward is they're the cynical, can't act like the crowd sorts. So in some ways a group of mindless girlies would have been more fun. But it was fine. There were some total Emo kids and we're all like "our natural enemies!" but Maggie's a pirate of course so her natural enemies are ninjas, which Jake is. Oooo. Dangerous combination. I lost them toward the end when I went to buy a shirt. Glad I latched on to 'em though.
Watched the new Dr. Who today. I like it. It's slightly confusing, but it was fun. Need to think of a book to do for my illustration project. I'd rather not have to make it up, that would be really really hard.

College Entry 55, March 2 2006

On Heather and Anne's whiteboard, it says "Deadbolt darling". I think that would make the best name for a band ever. Or Deadbolt Darlings, so each member would be a darling, you know. So, I'm sitting here, breathing, and the fellow on the television says "Do you use oxygen?" "Yes! Yes, I do, why... uh, why do you ask? Does it come in flavors now?" Yeah, yeah, I know. I guess that really is the most convenient way to phrase it, but it's still funny. You ever watch Age of Innocence? Dreadful book, tried reading it once. I recognized the film as an adaptation of the same by the opera singer. What was it now... a Swedish singer performing a German opera in Italian for an English speaking audience. Something like that. After that point the book goes rapidly downhill. The film merits heavy narration, and probably follows the book quite closely if that's an indication, so I care nothing for it save it is well shot and delightfully cast. Much as I love a period piece with lovely colors and grand dancing. Hehe. Amusingly, at one point I began associating the flimsey fiance with the actress herself, and half expected her to make off with the silver.
Anyhoo, thank God some sweet wonderful person has free recordings of Fan Boy Radio. I would have missed the latest Kurtz episode. Did they change hosts? Where's Oliver? hmmm
We had a fire alarm yesterday during History of Rock. Very loud. Very painful. But me and Heather the illustrator had some girl time. Hehe. Discussed the odd way that you can tell what year someone is. Laughed about fellows. She is me out loud, only way to put it. We went back inside, watched a video about The Animals. Funny looking bunch, but you kind of have to love 'em. Listened to Donovan, that was fun. Procol Harum... not such a great band. Not our style, really. Little boring.

College Entry 54, Feb. 8 2006

So apparently Valentine's Day is coming up. Yeah, whatever, right? What we really care about is this: Angstgiving is coming up. Half off perfectly good candy, much comisserating, punk rock music perhaps. It'll be good. Anyway, point is, on tv there was a commercial and all these dames are like "Women love chocolate", "Women love chocolate"...."blah blah BLAH"... I have news for you people. I don't love chocolate because I'm a woman. I love it because... and this may shock you... it's CHOCOLATE. It's made with cocoa and sugar and is often filled with gooey stuff, made from sugar. Are you going to tell me that there is something peculiarly feminine about liking candy? Who is infamous for rotting their teeth? Little boys. I rest my case. Enough of that. You know what's the best sound effect ever? Bond henchmen feet. All these guys running around on superfluous catwalks in their boots with their guns making that noise. No other circumstance produces quite the same sound. I don't know why but I love it. I may in fact marry a foley artist. Or James Bond. Whichever is more practical.
We watched Rent last night, in the auditorium. It's pretty good, they were able to add alot that they couldn't do with the play. I love musicals. But you knew that. I really need an excuse to burst into song periodically. Speaking of, no sooner had they turned off the movie, but we heard "Seasons of Love" coming seemingly from nowhere. A glance around revealed a rogue piano player. This prompted an enthusiastic group, who for all I could tell had dressed up for the occasion, to get on stage and line up and try their best to sing the song. It was adorable. They ran out of familiar lyrics really fast, but hey, right? Anyhoo, the reason there's a new comic today is that somebody recommended I audition for keenspot. But to do that you need to actually post a new comic regularly. And have a following. Do me a big favor, folks. Help me with that second part. And tell people to use the message board, I need the feedback. Thanks much.

College Entry 53, Nov. 22 2005

Happy birthday to me. Woo hoo. It really really really doesn't feel like it. And I've got sound class so nobody can take me out to watch them drink. Which would have been funny, so I'm disappointed. Speaking of sound, I've got to get over there early, because my cd doesn't work. In other stuff, I feel like I've got half my animation still to do. Which isn't quite right, but I really should be done by now. I haven't seen the roof guys in a while. I really don't have much else, so I'm going to post my review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Spoilers aplenty, I'm sure.
I was not much impressed. I suppose I went in with high expectations, but i feel i had the right to. As always, they insisted on showing us the lovely Scottish scenery when they could have been expounding on plot, filling in details that i found important. And once again, they took fear of redundancy to new heights, many things relegated to only being mentioned after the fact via "Hermione's expository commentary". Oddly enough, they found ample space to show just how shifty and distraught Moody was everytime he took a drink from his flask no less than 4 times. The main peculiarity of this movie was that they refused to end a single scene. Nearly every one was a cliffhanger, in the vein of "oh you know what's coming next, why show it?" and "oh, you're going to see the results in 2 seconds, why say it?"
So many things were rushed in favor of showing us pretty little spectacles. The first task, and the second for that matter, were a bit drawn out. The beginning, which had a lot going for it, still a bit rushed. Didn't show any of the quiddich match, which everyone was hoping for. They eliminated subplots by the score, so things had to just go without explanation, because there would have been too ruddy much of it. As far as pg-13 stuff, Moaning Myrtle was coming on pretty strong, i notice. yech. and there was that joke about Krum being a physical guy. I wanted more with Krum,...somewhere. In addition, Dumbledor's cryptic, epic sage advice was used terribly often, and sometimes seemed comedically out of place to yours truly. And the acting was grand in some places but lacking a little bit in others. At least the bums found room for Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret.
It was not without delights. the visuals were topnotch as always. Our Voldemort was something else, he really was. I wanted him to talk more, reveal some more stuff, but he did well. Barty Jr. insisted on doing this odd tongue thing, but I guess he was alright. aw, they cut out so MUCH! Neville was adorable, and I am actually very glad that they gave him something to do, as it should have been. The maze was terrifying, in a way that I really hadn't pictured. They eliminated creatures and puzzles, but there were scary plants. That was...scary. Dumbledor felt a little off, and Harry had one or two out of character moments, possibly through no fault of Daniel's. Gred and Forge did not disappoint, never imagined they would. I think they were at the top of their game, the age line scene was super and they were playing bookie the whole tournament which was smashing. The trio were great, the interaction was just what you'd hope for.
The graveyard, good yeah, harry's parent's really got to me. but when he got back to hogwarts, he was really crying. He was just...that's what it looks like when you've just seen a friend killed, I'm sure of it. Mr. Diggory, poor Mr. Diggory, just openly weeping and in front of everyone. His grief was overwhelming to behold, or hear for that matter. oh, and Barty Sr. put me in a powerful mind of Vincent Price. Funny that.
All in all, this is a cruddy movie with some amazing acting, and some sweet special effects. and very good music.

College Entry 52, Nov. 6 2005

Let me tell you about The Roof Guys. The Roof Guys live in the top apartment of a building on the other side of 13th street. Consequently, they have something of a porch going on, but it's really the roof. Sometimes they even hang out on the roof above their apartment. I love to watch them. It's very Rear Window, except they don't do anything suspicious. The first night I saw them, there were like 5 people up there, and one of them had a megaphone, I presume just because you get that kind of urge hanging out on a roof. I've seen them a few times since. I think only two of them live there. Megaphone guy, and Hat guy. The other day they may have spotted me, because there was pointing, but I can't tell what they were saying. It was funny as all heck. I should get my own megaphone, so I can find out who the dickens they are. Shouting might work just as well, but everything's funnier through a megaphone. I've tried to draw the roof, and it's guys, but they're so far away and the roof is such a funny shape. I have now taped a viewfinder to my window, so that should help. Man, I don't know why being on a roof is so cool, but it is. I wish we had a roof to be on. I'd probably end up shouting crazy stuff or singing or something. Hmmm. Roof party. Yes...yes...
So, chipping away at my workload slowly...oh so slowly, but surely, I suppose. It's going pretty well. I'm rather happy with it. Just needs some testing, but I'm confident it'll look ok. I bought the Killers cd today, because I'm always singing their stuff anyway. I don't have as big a collection as Andy "500 THOOOUSAND cds" Stiles, bless him, but it ain't too shabby.

College Entry 51, Oct. 14, 2005 Edit: also, Maurice LaMarche. Sooooo cool.

Voice actors. One of the greatest of our time that I can think of is Rob Paulson. He was Yakko, and Pinky. Really, do you NEED any more proof of his greatness? I didn't realize how much cool stuff he'd done. He's even the Box Ghost in Danny Phantom. (Bubble wrap of DOOM!) His work dates back to... pretty early in my life. It's awesome. He was on Darkwing Duck. As was Jim Cummings. Now, he's the guy you've probably heard of. He is like Disney's go-to guy. Unfortunately, he starts to feel over used, and you can tell it's him alot of the time. I respect some of his work, I do, but ...eh. Now, Phil LaMarr. That is a cool fella. In general, the cartoon world's go-to black guy. But also, and this bears notice, Samurai Jack. That is right. Oddly enough, Rob Paulson also worked on that show. Somebody alot of my friends dig is Ron Perlman, an actor AND voice actor of resonable renoun. I love him on Teen Titans. And he's also the Vice Principal on Danny Phantom. Eerie. I vote Rob Paulson the new Kevin Bacon. It all comes back to Paulson. I am also a fan of Dominic Armato. I have my reasons. The chick who's everwhere is Grey Delisle. I particularly like her on Foster's and Fairly Odd Parents. You can usually match up her early roles, but she's playing some different stuff recently. And she has a band! Sweet!
The topic is about to change abruptly. Last week, though I was not aware until moments ago, Vivendi shut down the illustrious fan game project KQ IX. The community is in an uproar. While the company is within it's rights to do so, trust me I just looked up copyright laws and it's totally there, it is still incredibly unfair. Considering there has been at least 4 years of work put into this project if not more, they had ample time to take action. If they really did not know about it until after the trailer for part one came out, then they obviously don't care about the franchise nor were they planning a sequel themselves. The project was huge. Ken and Roberta Williams themselves gave their moral support to the effort. Word was out. Helloooooo. The project leaders remind the troops that our motto should be "Every Cloak has a Silver Lining", but it is hard to have hope for the future just now. They say they are exploring their options, but I see none. We have considered leading the fans in an attempt to become majority stockholders of Vivendi.... it's an idea. We're desperate, we'll grasp at straws until there just aren't any.We were sure that they could not object. Nobody was making money off of it, and the official series was over and dead. Why? Why now when we were so close we could taste it? It was real, it was happening... I'm rather numb at the moment. The dull knowledge of the tragedy which has struck simply serves to annoy me as I try to get work done. Now is the time when the world proves itself. Now, it is either done and gone or there is a chance. Now an enourmous community of fans band together in the hopes that our voices united can actually mean something. Now we see whether a Phoenix can or cannot rise from the ashes.So many working together for a good, innocent, wholesome purpose, only to be defeated by lawers? That is the issue; that dream, that cause. God be with us.

College Entry 50, Sept 21, 2005

"I've just been inside the mind of a genius. There were a lot of commas."
As you all know, yesterday was a great day. An important day. Not only the day after Talk Like a Pirate Day, but Wallace and Gromit day. You don't get much better than that. It was something else. We were laughing for the entire movie. A couple of the puns were groaners, but why not, right? Some of it was really cute. Anything with Gromit is cute. The eyes, the floppy ears... The rabbits were hysterical. By necessity the plot had to get a little contrived, but on the other hand, these two have been to the moon, fought an evil penguin with robot pants, and balanced an entire flock of sheep on their motorbike. Nick Park was a sweetie. I think I just love English folk. They're good people. There was a fanboy in the audience. That was kinda funny. The little kids asked some great questions. I wouldn't have had the guts at there age. Nah, I might have. I just don't NOW.
So, seems the folks at Disney realize that they're the laughing stock of the industry and it's time to do something. I certainly hope they do something. If you can't trust Glen Keane, who is there left in the world? He understands. He knows, man. He's got to make it great, it's the end if it isn't. Ah. All this nonsense could get to a person.

College Entry 49, Sept. 3 2005

I can't recall actually telling you guys about the 6th Harry Potter book. Not here anyway. Well, all told, it took 12 hours straight. 12 hours of eating, websurfing, scratching the dog's belly with my foot, and many other things normal people don't do while they read a book. But normal people don't read books. Not real books. If they cared anything about reading, they sure as heck wouldn't put it down for something as trivial as lunch. As you can imagine, it was a good read. Very interesting. Chapter 2 made Mary angry, but it delighted the heck out of me. I can't tell you how I'd been longing for something of that nature to come up. A true challenge for the mind, why should one be mad? Though it has been revealed publicly, I will not divulge the ending here. Not ending, so much as the big event. For the record, though, I cried. I can think of two books just now that have actually made me cry by their own merits. One being HBP and the other being The Hobbit. Did I get attached to those dwarves or what, I tell ya. Only that time I was in 5th grade. Yeah, it's few and far between.
You know, I went to the bookstore today, and I saw right in a row three books on the same oddly specific subject. A popular subject, I guess, but it's not every day you expect to read "Six Wives", "The Wives of Henry VIII", and "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" all sitting right there like that. It's funny, according to what I've read, he was on pretty good terms with the ugly one after he divorced her. That's kinda great. There were also a few books on Elizabeth I. I've come to understand recently that if you're named after someone, you're the namesake, even though I always thought it referred to the original. Whichever it is, it's a big sort of name to live up to. Never mind just ruling queens, it's HER! She'd have been my idol if my name was...um.. I dunno, Samantha or something. She's undisputiably awesome! Lots of people write BOOKS about her! She's grand, and oh, what did she say in "Shakespeare in Love"? "I know something of a woman in a man's profession. Yes, by God I do know about that." Not a real quote, but she would have said it, I'm sure. One finds oneself in a similar position. Or nearing it, anyway. Quite a name to live up to.
Have I given you my career schpeal yet? Despite having found my path in life at the age of 4, I hadn't absolutely decided on it yet. There were other careers that struck my fancy. In Nursery School it was puppet making. Then, naturally, consulting detective. When I began to get the impression that nobody did that anymore, I moved on to police detective. That had some merit. But I was a coward, so it never seemed practical, especially after watching Family Matters religiously. In 5th grade I wanted to be a lawyer. For all those stupid, unrealistic reasons that you probably think of first when you hear "5th grade" and "lawyer" in the same sentence. My love of fact and justice also played a hand, though. I even took on a case once. Never came to "court", but all the major players had been assigned. Through the whole mess, I was always trying to put on plays, and coming up with film ideas. I entertained the idea of professional soccer player, I tried to write novels(I still do, but for a living? Please.), spurred on by feminism as much as love of music I thought I'd audition for an orchestra with my trusty trumpet. (You'll note, I hope, that not one of these jobs ends with "-llarina" or "-ess"or involves cuddly animals with boo-boos.) Even with all these side options, from age 7 onward Disney was the goal, nay, the dream. The obvious variations came up, naturally. Cartoonist, comic book artist, Saturday Morning fare, book illustrator popped up a lot... being a starving painter with a loft apartment was Mom's idea, never mine, oddly. Now Disney isn't even an option, but with John Lassetter comes hope for the future.
Good grief, sometimes I think I started writing my memoirs in Kindergarten.

Home Entry 24, August 4 2005

Welp, folks. Filming is finished. Now I'm putting it together. Bit by bit. Hehe. Please excuse any and all musical theater references. This editing is a very aggrivating process, but at least the lines are right more often then our previous productions, by a wide margin. And the locations are infinitely superior. Woot. Woot indeed. This morning I finalized the scripting for my junior film and brainstormed a thing or two about the storyboarding. It's coming along nicely, yes. On the subject of hands, what do you folks think? Five fingers or four? I'm torn, I never did four fingered characters, but it would simplify things a lot. While I still can't help but think that what I am undertaking is suicide, some lunatic part of me insists that we'll get it done, and wow them all. Wouldn't that be nice.

Home Entry 23 July 1 2005

So, Rabid Lemur fans, the shoot starts on the 5th. Cross those fingers. I made the mistake of watching Ed Wood yesterday, and let me tell you. Just now the parallels are a bit eerie. If I was anywhere near a movie studio, you can bet we'd be stealing their octopus. Besides, the guy was from here. It doesn't get much weirder than that. Just now, my mind is on more mainstream films. Like Batman Begins. You saw it, right? Right? Oh good grief. It was astonishing. When he started scaring the heck out of those crooks I could barely contain myself. He's mysterious, he's intimidating, ... he's a nut dressed like a bat but for some reason we're not laughing our heads off or going "huh?"! Never before have the Knight and his city been so grounded and plausible. Alfred is not quite the comic book classic, but he is a valid variation, and all the right emotions are there. Jim Gordon is not only a dead ringer but also exudes exactly the proper attitude. He is a good cop, he is a little thrown off by villains with plots and a guy jumping around in a cape but recognizes a valuable ally when he sees one. I'll tell you, I think Gordon is my favourite comic book character of all time. They more than did him justice. As for Ras al Ghul, I much enjoyed their take on his "immortality". This part of him could not be ignored, so naturally they make it more acceptable within the world they've created. Lucius Fox was integral to making this origin story work, and he could have been a lesser character but they gave him genuine personality. Hats off to that. Finally, I must say that finally seeing Bruce in action, seeing all the familiar pieces coming together from the fall when he was a kid, to the Waynes' death, the bat in the house, Alfred patching up and chastising him, the billionair playboy persona, and the beginning of Gordon and Batman's partnership as we all know it and always imagined it..... it was incredibly satisfying. This was clearly the one we'd been waiting for. Minor issues: I didn't like Rachel. Did you? She had her moments, particularly after the Joe Chill thing, I must grant her that. But, get rid of her. Bring in Harvey Dent. There is some redundant exposition in the midst of the climax that irks me. You know what? Those are my only complaints. Good jorb, Nolan and company.
Man, sometimes I really wish there were superheroes. Looking at the site for Superman Returns got me thinking. "The legend will return", "You will believe again", "We will look to the sky again"... It's like they know exactly where to hit me. Exactly the words to make me ache for that kind of person to look up to, somebody tangible to be in awe of . I don't read Superman, I probably never will. Reading Batman provides me with plenty of the ol' boy scout as it is. But I think I've always liked him. As a person. He's genuine, he's incorruptable, he's a big bright symbol of a man and he makes a difference. And he flys through blue skys and puffy clouds decked out in primary colors; that's just not fair, that just completely overrides realistic thought. You know, that's a quality I've got to incorporate in Rhigh somehow, if her comic's going to be any good. Quick, to the bat drawing-board!

Home Entry 22 May 28 2005

Hokay, I know there has been a certain lack of updates these days. And for three weeks the majority of you will not hear from me at all. But after that, oh just you wait. There will be SO much to say. I will be returning from FRANCE, Batman will be in THEATERS, and HARRY POTTER will be at Hogwarts for his 6th year, everybody say "Hurray!" Yeah? Yeah. Is good. Don't worry. Everything will be awesome. Lots of new pictures for you. See you then. Mwah!

Home Entry 21 May 19 2005

Ah. Star wars. Nothin' but Star Wars. Naturally, we went to the midnight show. We did manage to run into the high school group before hand, since we got there at 10:30. They were among the oddly few idiots who dressed up in robes and brought light sabers. But we were sitting in theater 2, where there was a distinct lack of Happy Elves, but a fully stocked supply of Bob's church buddies. It was decided among the collective to purchase the biggest popcorns they had, because hey! Unlimited refills. And if they were in fact limited, we'd just send somebody else to do it every time. I don't think anybody bothered getting up for popcorn once the movie had started. And this is why. If you're Chuck, or I guess anybody who hasn't seen it yet, DO NOT READ ON.
Ok. This movie made me realize just how much like the serials they actually are. (Would somebody smack Bob in the head for not knowing what I was talking about?) Hey. I'm finally old enough to make the connections, and I finally care. But, they always start off the same way, with the words going back and the theme blaring and they tell us what's been going on since we last tuned in, how great is that, and then throw us into a battle in space or something. No wait, as far as I can recall, it's stars and then a pan in whatever direction and THEN they launch us into the middle of things. This particular battle was big. And it was busy. Too blasted busy. I could hardly focus on anything. That happened a lot in this movie. R2 was rockin' it in this one. He's always been the true hero of Star Wars. The politics of this movie confuse the heck out of me. I mean, if I feel like thinking about it, it's pretty simple. The Chancellor cooked up this whole war to take control. He got an army built for it and had the Jedi fooled into working side by side with them. Ok. The separatists think they are backed by a Sith lord, which technically they are. I guess they just don't know he's the Chancellor, which makes life interesting. Or DO they?! Since Count Dooku is the apprentice of Sidious, surely he would HAVE to know who he was. He did. I saw it in his eyes before he died, he knew he was getting sold out and replaced with some punk kid Jedi. That's gotta hurt. But hey, you're going to get burned if you play with magma- I mean fire. So, conclusion. WHO knew what was really going on besides Darth Emperor Sidious Palpatine? I don't know. I'm really confused here. We got to see Senator Organa, for the second time I believe. I really like him. They REALLY make you like this guy. (Ok, if a character was just addressed as Senator Organa, and allowing for you not catching, it the person next to you just said as Anakin "hey, while you're here,wanna raise my daughter?" wouldn't that kinda clue you in to his identity a lot sooner than practically the end of the movie?) Much like they really make you hate Anakin. But more on that later. So, everybody was a little anxious about this one. Who wouldn't be. But what was it that convinced us to go at midnight? What trailer tidbit sold us on this last installment and convinced us it would all be made better? I don't know about you, but I did it all for the Wookies. But there was hardly anything. 'Goodbye Chewbacca'? What happened to 'Hello Chewbacca'? 'I have a plan, Chewbacca'? They did show us a big Wookie army charging off to engage the enemy. But I was looking for more. So, uh, so Yoda. Kicking butt. Still wish so much that he was a puppet. It was very pretty CG to be sure, but it ain't the puppet. And you don't have to be clever with CG, you just don't. We were concerned when the big Anakin/Obi-wan fight got cut into by a Yoda scene, but boy if it wasn't worth it we had TWO fights going at ONCE. 'Say helloh to my liddul greehn friend!' You know what? I just really wanted to say that.
Moving along. Ending. Well, there's a whole big chunk which could be called the end. Some of this stuff was heart wrenching. I mean, he KILLED the little tiny JEDI KIDS!!! Oh my God! And, the big light saber showdown, as it were, was stunning. I loved it. Ewan turned in a fine job, and Hayden was suitably power crazed and thus very suspicous and defensive; it was great. Dang, there's that magma I mentioned earlier. Oooh. Pain. So, we see the emperor turn all ugly, which was cool, we see Darth Vader get the suit, Obi-wan says "I've got a bad feeling about this", Vader shouts "NOoooo!", Luke and Leia are born and go their separate ways, and as I mentioned, we do see our good friend Chewie. Oh, and 3PO gets his memory wiped, which explains why R2 still remembers Kenobi and he doesn't. Good of them to do that much for us. And to end things, because this is a long post, Tatooine. Beautiful Tatooine, where suns set to the same tune every night and we LOVE it. Talk about a perfect wrap up. It was the only way TO end things, really. Glee.
One last criticism. Did not Luke ask Leia if she remembered her mother? Her real mother? He specified even, and she claimed to remember her. I assumed she remembered Padme. But she couldn't have memories of her, she was just born. So, yeah.... Eh, who cares. Take it away Bill Murray!"Star Warrrrrrrs! If they should bar warrrrrrs, please let these Star Wars.....stayyyyy..."

College Entry 48, May 9 2005

I've been watching the video blogs for Superman Returns. Ack. On the one hand, movie looks cool. They've got some sweet flying rigs, a nice farm, all that. But seeing Singer in his natural habitat makes one wonder. He's a child. This man has directed movies before? I wouldn't have guessed that. This is the man behind the X-men flicks? How? Steve and Callahan seem like more professional filmmakers. Seriously. I dunno. Something about him just sets me off. Although it was sort of funny when he was aiming that light at everybody and then he's like "Big scary lit up director face!" I wonder why the digital stuff is taking longer to get to the editor than regular film. It's a whole day lag, why would that happen? Well, he is trying to keep up to date with the production team, and solve problems early, and I'm sure he knows how to direct cause I loved X2. But he does seem very immature. It's like watching myself trying to be a director.
So, nearly done with my animation final. I listened to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy soundtrack like 5 times. I love that cd so much. Just wait. I WILL write "Hitchhiker's the Musical", and there will be tapdancing dolphins. In other activities, there will be some big doings at kq9.orgon the 15th and everyone is eagerly awaiting the forthcoming revelations and stuff. The character contest is in the 2nd or 3rd phase(I don't know. I don't do phases. hehehehe) which means a voting poll in the forums. I went with this crazy fellow who wears a mask because his face was naked, and bursts into song and harasses people with predictions of doom and does funny accents. But I decided to tell the guy who's a sailor who acts like a pirate that I liked his character as well. I've been asked to help paddle the ship. YAY! Man the cannons! (ha HA!)

College Entry 47, April 29 2005

Well, today is a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very VERY important day. I think you know why. I hope you know why. Because otherwise, you haven't had warning and you'll never manage to get offa this rock before it 'asplodes. S'all I'm sayin'.
YES! It's THAT day! The day when we grab our towels and maybe don our bathrobes(unless we're Bathrobe Jim, in which case we're already wearing it) and troop off to the movie theaters like the geeks we are. God bless geekery. You shall be receiving a summary of my thoughts più tardi. So, vote Beeblebrox, try throwing yourself at the ground and missing, and most importantly: Don't Panic. And to answer your question, 42.
Update: It was good. Dolphins, oh the dolphins. Arthur- PERFECT! Ford- PREFECT! Trillian- Dead on! Zaphod- A bit like this fellow we know, actually, but I did enjoy his performance. I found it greatly amusing, out of his mind, sometimes literally. Marvin was perfect, Slartibartfast was just like you'd imagine... it wasn't a flawless film, I won't say that. Can't possibly say that, but oh.... sometimes it was JUST like the book. If not word for word, then in spirit. I'm going to be singing for a while, as will Krista. Don't get me started now, though. So, it feels like something was missing, but ultimately I was pleased. The ending was right. There were some giggles and someone said "I smell a sequel". Yes...it reeks of sequel. Only today can I say "I love the smell of sequel in the evening." OOOooo, the Serenity trailer is in theaters now. Rejoice, I say! -"This is going to get interesting." ~"Define interesting." -"Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?" Hahahahaha. Well, I think-(WHAP!) Ow! Zarquon, what was THAT?!

College Entry 46, April 15 2005

Isn't it weird how you hear about things? Example: The Great Gatsby. I saw something on tv, part of a series about particular works of literature. From that I gathered that it was about a man obsessed with a green light, who threw shirts around, ran somebody over, and died in a swimming pool. Actually, that sums it up pretty well, doesn't it. Another one, my mother once told me about a woman who fed poor people, but then she went away and two sisters took over that job. However, the poor had gotten spoiled and didn't think much of the sisters' cooking. Little did I realize that she had just told me a minute portion of the plot to Babette's Feast. And finally, The Graduate. Everyone has heard of The Graduate, and Dustin Hoffman. No matter what. When I was a kid I played Monkey Island, and there was an option to stop the wedding by shouting ELAINE! The significance was lost on me. In an episode of The Nanny, someone said to the son "I've got one word for you. Styrafoam." I was informed that this was a parody of The Graduate, and in that way found out that the title actually had something to do with the movie and that someone would say "Plastics" at some point. On the radio one morning I heard a cover of "Mrs. Robinson", a name I knew vaguely to be connected. Eventually I got the plot explained one way or another, saw miriad parodies, endured my mother shouting "Elaine!" "Bennnnnnn!"(yes, both) whenever the topic came up, and finally Wednesday saw the blasted film. Anyhoo, it's a great movie. Hoffman was an absolutely convincing 21 year old. (Trust me, I happen to know a few) Of course there were some shots where he just looked like Dustin Hoffman, but when he was actually doing something, total transformation. (Teehee. "Bring me Peter Pan!") I know, I've lost my marbles. Ba dum ching.
Went to the animation show with Andy, Rob, Jeff, and Bao Tran. It was pretty fun. We should have gone to the party afterwards, but I think we were a little disappointed that we wouldn't be able to go upstairs. Next year, I tell you! Oddly, I'm employing all four of them in my film final. Moving along, perhaps you know and perhaps not, but Ava's story has a couple new characters. The most important is Dante Roth, her partner in...whatever they do. He bears a suspicious resemblence to Alex Abrams, but hey. Alex was created for a noir story of sorts anyway. It seemed fitting. The other is Jimmy. I don't know if I'm going to stick with that name, because it makes his role in things a little obvious. At least to me. I'll give you a hint. What is Rob Dobler obsessed with, and go from there. Well, in any case, new part of the story is up. Enjoy.

College Entry 45, March 27 2005

It is with great trepidation, and at the risk of being redundant, that I post this rant. I may bore you, or irritate you, or leave you hanging with very little useful information provided. Then again, it is a rant, and no one is making you read it. So, if you want to hear my inane opinions, by all means read on.

The problem with geniuses, great men, inspiring rebels and that sort is that they always turn out a little disappointing in some way. Those who are truly noteworthy are a strange, tangled combination of good and bad, admirable and reprehensible. Which is why one should avoid biographies unless they WANT their every happy illusion shattered. You will end up reviling your heroes if you learn anything about them. Yet at the same time you will be unable to deny the wondrous things they have done. For the world. For you. If you haven't already heard, I've been on an Orson Welles kick ever since we watched Touch of Evil. I've been listening to Mercury Theater on the Air, looking at pictures, scanning mini bios and lists of quotes. It was all looking pretty good. I knew without a doubt that he deserved more recognition of his genius and more support in his filmmaking, that the studios had robbed the world of priceless works he never got to create. And I knew he wasn't difficult; well he was but he had reason to be. He wanted perfection, and when he got his way he had it! But then you read some more, go deeper, find out how he got the chances he did and what he did with them. And you're not sure of anything anymore. You're not sure how conceited he was or wasn't, you're not sure what was bravery and nobility and what was arrogant defiance for it's own sake. You're not sure if you can have sympathy for a guy who had more extraordinary opportunities thrown at him than us plebeians will ever even have the chance to blow. I can't give you alot of examples. Let's see. He didn't bother with much in school except theater, but if you've been in theater you know that's forgivable. He made up stuff about his life, claimed his father killed himself, and other things. Some of it made for a better legend, I'm sure and in a weird way it's dishonest and yet kinda neat. Who can say WHAT he was like to work with; probably "an adventure" covers all bases, negative and positive.
According to something I was reading today, the one that really started injuring my image of him, he was all of his characters and vice-versa. Even George in "The Magnificent Ambersons", though he didn't act in that movie. And it makes sense. They are hard to label as good or evil, for very complex reasons. The movies leave me feeling torn in two (not to mention exceedingly glad to be challenged intellectually), just like that biography did. And more directly, their individual faults seem to be shared by him to some degree. In the midst of all this you have to wonder...Who cares? What does it matter? But I'm convinced that it does matter, that now I've started, I have to get to the bottom of it. Even though you might not see it, I think I've got something in common with him, so understanding him would make finding my own path the easier. He's certainly had an impact on my life, on the animators and film majors lives. That alone makes this important, doesn't it? Or, heck, maybe I only care because the book said that it mattered. Look at that, literature leading America's impressionable youth astray. Go watch television, you poor innocent things. That certainly won't make your brain hurt so much. Me, I'm going to see if any channels are planning on airing "The Lady from Shanghai."

College Entry 44, March 20 2005

Friday was an historic occasion (and in honor of it I even said "AN historic" because fancy pants weirdos SAY that) Friday we took care of our travel booking issues, quite neatly I might add, and suddenly we find that we are really and truly going to France. Don't worry, we are not foolish tourists. We have plans. Taylor will fit right in, with his leather jacket and black boots, his impeccable French accent, and his knowledge of fine wines.(a giggle? anything? no?)Krista will be resorting to dark clothing, and I will don my Maple Leafs cap and play the Canadian, eh? We are already learning the odd formality of the French, and will be picking up a few phrases from various sources. And, God willing, we won't stick out like the washed Americans we are.(there's a little ironic joke there.) Hem. Slogging onward, there was a great congregating of persons for Beth Ellen's birthday last night. There was ice cream cake, and Tetris, and a sneak preview screening of Bryan's masterful "My Interview with a Ninja". Wow. Good grief, wow. Meh, I'm hungry. It feels like I just ate, but there you are. At least the food in France will fill us up. Hurrah for France! Hurrah for food! (P.S.don't ask them for butter. Or ketchup.)

College Entry 43, March 15 2005

Back at school. Break always seems too short. But I was beginning to miss everyone here anyway. Time for some reviews. First, me and mom saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Well, it wasn't the movie. It couldn't really be, could it? But they did have some creative effects. Talk about working with what you've got. I liked the added songs. They mostly seemed to fit. And were often amusing. I've had "Home" playing in my head for nearly a week now. There was some good acting, there was some bad acting. Maurice...eh. LaFou? Perfect. Belle was pretty good, except for when she'd get a weird shake in her voice, and sometimes she seemed to put the wrong emotion on a line, but I guess it wouldn't be acting if you didn't put your own spin on it. Beast sang very very well, but he wasn't gruff enough. There were necessary story tweaks, but some I could have done without. It was like they were channelling the non-school version of Pippin. As far as the big numbers, anything with the objects was good stuff. It was exciting, even. "Belle",on the other hand, I myself could have choreographed better. There are better ways to use your space. There should have at least been a cart involved, since I'll grant a wagon would be difficult. That way, Pumpkin Cart Man could have been in the scene! I love Pumpkin Cart Man, with his bouncy cart and his floppy hat. But, yeah, should have been more motion in that number. The movie version is all about moving around the town, with rotating shots and stuff. It's Broadway, for pete's sake. They could have a rotating stage. I hear there was one in Les Miserables. Or they could have just moved around more. Yeesh. Eh, enough criticizing. It was fun, the costumes were great, the singing was great, the conductor was a woman, the castle sets turned all the way around...what more could you ask for?
Sooo, Robots. Fun movie. Visually stunning. Some very good gags. I'll admit, if you actually try and think about it, the plot has issues. And Halle Berry's character was really boring. Any good stuff from Cappy was the animators' doing. Say...how does Cappy change clothes? Robots don't appear to wear clothes exactly. I mean, Rodney and Fender added some stuff to themselves to be all disguised and get into the big shindig, but that was different. Did I mention that bit is hilarious? He just...they...aw, it's so great! You have to see it. I don't care if a couple of narrative points just kinda inexplicably HAPPEN, it's still awesome. And there's dominos. Need I say more?
Curse that Pat. He got me hooked on this AMV of Cowboy Bebop. Good show, Cowboy Bebop. I mostly watch for Ed, she's adorable. The chess episode alone was reason to be a fan. But anyway, the song gave me a name for that new doodle chick. I've put up some new stuff of her, kind of an average of the best drawings that resemble her the way I want her. The original one is actually a little wrong now. It lacks attitude. So, I've been reading "The Dark is Rising", and it's going so ridonkulously fast. I mean, sometimes it's so complicated that I have to read it again, but she's a far more conscise writer than, say,....J.K. Rowling. It's fascinating stuff. I can't stop reading it. (mmm. Danish!) Sorry, sidetracked. I do get a little annoyed at the ambiguous nature of "the Light" and the Old Ones' position on the existance of God. I really can't figure out what this universe of hers proposes as reality. You know, that "Dark Materials" series by whatshisname, everyone KNOWS exactly where that's coming from. (Though they're taking out what sounds like the core of the story for the movie adaptation, I hear. Seems to be a trend, quite akin to taking the demons and Mars out of Doom. We can thank God such people aren't the ones making Narnia.) But it is very British, plenty of King Arthur and even some almost druid-like traditions and that sort of goodness.

College Entry 42, Jan. 18 2005

I bought 6 comics today. I've read them all now, and each one left me decidedly unsatisfied. Excepting Nightwing, perhaps. It's the Year One storyline, starting with his last day as Robin, of course. You know, the more Batman I read, the less convinced I am about Michael Caine's qualifications as Alfred. He just doesn't have the right feel for him. I'll see the movie anyway, of course, and maybe he'll surprise me. I hope so. Anyway, I actually ended up with 2 Invincibles today. Yet even reading 2 in a row was not enough. The second one answered no questions from the first but instead raised more of its own. Benito and Nate's stuff in the back was splendid, though. Really must compliment them. Nightcrawler was good, but I am going mad for the next installment. Not to mention I could kill for a new installment of The Losers. Best comic book ever. I might have to start on some fan art of that lot. Meanwhile, what's really irking me is the multiple timelines that the Batman titles seem to operate on. Or, the fact that the "present day" portions seem to be happening around the same time, but so much is going on at once if you think about it. But truthfully, I can't tell if these flashbacks in "Legends of the Dark Knight" come before the Riddler started or inbetween the last time he was operating and the present. He hasn't been underground for THAT long, surely. Besides the time issue, I don't like his new look. He looks like some sort of beatnik pretty boy, if that's a physically possible combination. He just....ugg. Oh, and apparently he used to have a more sensible last name. It did start with N, though, so Nigma was a reasonable jump.
Other things, other things. I've got Narrative Cinema in an hour. Love that class. I'm making headway with the story. You may have heard that there's some historical backstory in the works, but that won't be on the site til I decide where it goes. And finish writing it, of course. But I figured out some dialogue for that blind guy who showed up in my sketchbook , the one Rhigh's marker coloring interfered with a little. I like him. I just don't know what kind of information he provides, namely because I remain in the dark as to WHAT they are up against and what must be done to stop whatever it is. I got nothing. I could use a visit from Nuncio myself at this point. Heh. Lets be honest, we're lucky I decided on that tidbit I threw in for the second meeting. Remember, folks, many of you know exactly as much as I, the author, know. Except for that one clever little twist I dearly want to work in. That is my secret. HAHA!
It's snowing, by the by. Profusely, if one may say so. Much as I enjoy a day off, I hope we have class tomorrow, I got people to see and stuff to animate. So, I should do some updating before I have to go. Look around, enjoy. Ta.

College Entry 41, Dec. 10 2004

Time for another lesson from the art world, folks. Take a gander at these drawings. What do they all have in common?

Wrong. All answers are wrong. Probably. They are all, everyone of them, of me. Some more abstract representations than others.... You see it now? Almost any time I draw a random little blond thing, that's me. Well, if it's a purposeful one, not just sitting there looking mopey. It's not always trying to LOOK like me, but it's me in my head, secrety-like. And just so you know, I am constantly trying to figure out what I look like. All I know is, it's not whatever I see in the mirror. For one thing, that changes all the time. You wouldn't think that but it does. Sometimes I can become happier with how I look just by making faces in the mirror for a while, becoming cheerful and BAM! I look good. But I never look exactly like me. It's in my head somewhere, how I really look, and bits of it appear on paper. You know what I mean?
Ok, so in other news. A microphone, a guitar, and a pack of animators. Throw in an extensive knowledge of Irish stereotypes, and you've got possibly the BEST soundtrack for a class animation EVER. Oh, the Irish drunkenness. It...it was too much. You had to be there, we were dying. "I could really go for some potatoes. I'm not lyin' when I say tha'." "We're Irish Pirates, the Little Pirates!" Also, next movie, Rabid Lemur fans, if there's a fight scene, there will be a guitar guy IN the scene. Cause you need that. Hehhehehe

College Entry 40, Dec. 3 2004

So, I finally bought a copy of The Evening Bulletin(only 25 cents!) and there it was: PVP on the comic page. It's so awesome. If it's old PVP strips that I've seen before, I don't remember them. I figure I should read some of the actual paper also, just to learn stuff, I guess. I can't wait for the semester to be over. I need to be home and bum around, badly. Too bad there's no more Lord of the Rings, except for the extended edition of course. But there look to be some pretty good movies coming out anyhow. FUN!
Tonight I'll probably go see Pippin with Kara. What can I say, I love musicals. Oh, I went to the library again, copied a couple articles off microfilm. It's so cool. Very strange, reading a pre-WWII newspaper. Saw an article that talked about Hitler in a pretty neutral way, really. Strange, only word for it. I stopped in a Barnes and Noble on the way home, found a book called "How to be like Walt." I read a little bit of it, it was comforting. I hope I can be something like Walt Disney, maybe. A better animator, possibly, but that's hardly the point! He MADE good animators! He drove them, he told stories, the guy is just....words fail. I think he really was that nice a guy. He couldn't have done it otherwise. I'm babbling. But that's what you get from animation majors.

College Entry 39, Nov.18 2004

I have now decided to call my corduroys my "kamikaze pants". If they provided any less friction, it just wouldn't be safe to slide down railings in them. They're so cool! So, as some of you know, but possibly not everyone, Bob FINALLY came to visit this weekend. It was really fun, we got to play Halo 2 with the guys downstairs! Considering it was my second Halo session ever, and last time was the original Halo, I did pretty well. We all referred to each other by our player names, all but one of which started with an 'S', a bizarre coincidence, really. Naturally, my handle was "Sven Logan" which the guys thought was a great gamer name. YAY! The new comic is actually based on later goings on that same night.
You ever watch a movie and empathize with the character in really unexpected ways? Like, hearing good ol' Jeff Smith still talking after 23 hours on the senate floor made MY throat hurt! Seriously. Oooo, by the by, I bought the 3rd Invincible trade, so I should be totally caught up to the point where I started buying the individual issues. Weird artist on Robin this story arc. I just don't like the style. In Gotham Knights, Mr. Freeze showed up, I'm very excited. Yeah, so animation was fun today. This one excercise got everyone's creativeness really going, you can't imagine how great it was. Alrighty, I'm going to sleep now. See ya.

College Entry 38, Sept. 24 2004

Well, all, the day after it came out, I sought out Kara and she a friend of hers and we all went to see Sky Captain. The acting was overdone, the plot improbable, and I've never had so much fun in my life. It is pure entertainment. It is as if they had modern movie technology in the 30's. Everyone at school adored it and wants to see it again as soon as possible. I mean, ray guns and giant robots and amphibious airplanes, for pete's sake! An intreped reporter and a flying ace hero with classic Thin Man "I'm going WITH you!" "No you're NOT!" dialogue. You would THINK that this would be undeniably a trip to a totally different place, where the cares and logic of the real world don't even enter your head. But no. Somehow there are people who hate this movie. I don't understand it. Worse still, there are people who have declared it racist. Alright, neither Sky Captain, nor Polly, nor Frankie, nor Dex are black. Maybe one of them could have been. It could have worked. But surely someone somewhere would still find it racist by declaring it a token casting. But here is the part that kills the argument: part of the movie takes place in Nepal. Asian people abound! Plus, the guy who is clearly a friend of Sky Captain's and has worked with him before is...well I don't know,but I think the message boards said he was Arabic or something. Sorry, I'm just not sure. It certainly isn't excluding all non-white people, and I really don't think it was out to insult black people either. You know, sometimes I long for my childhood, when the imagined idea of races had not yet polluted my personal little world. I watched The Cosby Show, A Different World, Full House, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sesame Street, and cartoons with talking ducks, my best friend was(and is) Chinese and she and I didn't even immediately realize it, one of my favourite friends of my dad's was black.... people were people, differences in skin tone was no different than having different eyes than my sister, and I had no reason to believe that anyone thought differently in our modern age. So was I blissfully ignorant or is society today detrimentally ignorant? Hmm?
I'm not sure where to throw my lot in here. Obviously, the world is messed up and there IS discrimination in it. Yes, even in a modern Hollywood when there are black stars who are just as big, if not bigger, than white stars, and there are still other stars of various other what-have-yous. I don't understand how there could still be issues, but I can't just say there aren't. On the other hand... some people are just LOOKING for it where it really ain't. It's a fact. Look at the protesting over Shark Tale. Good grief. I am Italian, I love Italy, and I also love all that classic mob stuff. It's a GREAT part of movie culture that has already infiltrated cartoons, I hate to break it to the protesters. The actors in the supposedly offensive roles are ALSO Italian, and are not just doing this because it's the only sort of thing they can get. They have all done other types of roles, I'm almost POSITIVE! So obviously they don't have a problem with it.Yeesh.

College Entry 37, Aug. 31 2004

Classes start tomorrow. I can't wait. Really. I'm going out of my head right now. I keep trying to see Kara and she's never in, I don't know where on earth my current roomie went off to, and Amanda is off with Nicole. I wish I was off with Amanda and Nicole. Eh, what can you do. I did run into trombone girl from last year. And supposedly there's some party going on on the eighth floor but I don't know when or who's going and I'd rather Lindsey were here to check it out with me. I bought a bunch of comics today. Gonna buy some more tomorrow during lunch. The most important acquisition was the ninth Bone volume. It is the end of the story, and I've been waiting for ages. I also got Invincible #14. Apparently, important events occurred in #12, so I'll have to grab the trades if they have them. Kirkman is bold, I'll give him that. And it's an original idea (remarkable for a superhero comic these days, I know). The story is so good it's got me mad at him. You get attached to the characters, lets just say.
I've discovered a problem with my comic book plans. Nobody writes AND draws a ruddy superhero book. Granted, web cartoonists do all their own work, but it suddenly seems like too much and yet to chose between the two jobs would give me too little. I wonder if the City of Heroes folk would think anything of my drawings of ol' Rhigh. Man, I really really want to do a book. I just have to study up on action poses and stuff, really. I could do this. Perhaps.
PS: I'm going to write new comics. SOON! Never Fear! (if the RPG World guy can do it, surely I can.)

College Entry 36, Aug. 29 2004

Hello all. Obviously, I am at school. It's four of us in this room, which isn't bad. It's spacious, often in useless places, and at least everyone cleans up after themselves. It's an excellent floor to be on. Dan, Keith, and Tom are right down the hall. So is ...somebody else, I can't think of it now. Liz is just below us I think, Amanda and Amber are rooming together a couple floors down and Kara is down the hall from them, so that's cool. And I know Nicole is somewhere abouts, as are Jack, Shani, and Cassandra. Yesterday, as with most first days, had it's ups and downs but ultimately ended on a positive note. Well, it's gettin' to be church time, so I best be off. Be sure to check out the new artwork. You may have seen most of it already, but I think it bears additional viewing. I mean, it's pretty good.

Home Entry 20, June 30 2004

I saw the new Spider-man. Not at midnight, I'm afraid, but I saw it. It had a good crowd for the middle of the afternoon. That said, oh MY GOD!!!! Words...fail me. Nothing, no nothing, can sufficiently describe what I saw. It was awesome. Spider-man 2 has everything you could ask for: comic book action, comedy, compelling characters, and quite a nice soundtrack, thank you Mr. Elfman. Hehehe. Elfman. If you have not seen Spider-man 2, READ NO FURTHER!!! Don't even think about it. I won't warn you again.
Wasn't it great? Family favourite was that Chinese lady with the violin singing the theme song. Hahahehee. Jameson was in top form once again. "Parker, you're fired. Parker, you're unfired." I got a little worried when he actually showed remorse for driving away Spider-man, but when Pete grabbed the costume he was ranting like the fellow we know and love. Perfect. The landlord cracked me up. And it was nice to see Dr. Connors. I hope they don't do the Lizard next film, though; that would make three scientific accident villains. Sort of. Anyway, they've already done a nice set up for Harry to do the bad guy thing. Poor Harry. You know, by watching all the trailers, I already figured out that it was Pete under the mask, because one of them had a shot of Harry looking very shocked, and it was obviously the same scene. But that hardly ruined anything for me.
Lets see. This one was just full of good stuff. The opening titles were a beautiful, artful recap of movie one. I wonder if they drew the pictures or just photoshopped some stills. It was wacky with Pete losing his powers, falling down walls. Nice technique telling the doctor about his "dream". Aunt May. Love Aunt May. Didja see her? She womped Doc Ock but good! hehe. And then there's that "hero" speech. She knows, she must. But how? What a lovely woman, and a good aunt. You'll notice that alot of easily recognizable plot points are in this movie. Aunt May with overdue bills. Peter missing MJ's play. Jameson's son. I've never read the comics, but these are very familiar to me thanks to the cartoons. And lets not forget the comic strip in the paper. They ran the Lizard story a while back. - Ahem! Doc Ock: I liked him. When he was evil, he was delicious, and when he was good he was a very admirable sort of fellow. When he was discussing the fusion thinger with Pete and his wife was chiming in and they were reminiscing about how they met in college, it tugged the heartstrings. Really. And Octavius was better than Norman Osborn ever was. He actually conquered the evil little voices in his head and did the right thing. So in my opinion, he didn't die a monster, whereas Osborn did, sad though it was. -How neat was it that MJ was in "The Importance of Being Earnest"? I saw the ticket and nearly laughed my head off. I didn't know she could do an accent. Thank goodness her and Peter finally got together. I mean, John Jameson seems like a nice fellow, very athletic, and at least HE wanted to invite Pete to the wedding, but it's Pete and MJ. Can't mess with that. She actually said "Go get 'em, Tiger." Yes! High fives all around!
I know you've heard enough about the train scene, but I have to talk about it anyway. Forget how amazing that fight was, to heck with the remarkable special effects that were almost impossible to distinguish from reality. How about them citizens? Now that was touching. The way they caught him before he fell over and they just.. aw. It made you wish that a train car full of people was enough to come between Doc Ock and poor Spidey. It was nice of the film makers to give us that moment of soliderity, though. So, closing thoughts. I'm glad Stan Lee decided to make another appearence. If I was the creator of Spider-man, I'd totally pull an Alfred Hitchcock. Also, let's hear it for awkward elevator scenes! Yay! Props to the actors, especially Tobey Maguire, who makes me want to marry Peter Parker myself, and Alfred Molina, who, while not Jewish enough a Tevya for Alyssa's taste, made a perfect sympathetic villain for we Spider-man fans. So at last I ask you, "What do we have to do to get some costumed vigilanties around here?!?!"

Home Entry 19, June 5 2004

Well, everything happened yesterday. The senior prom, the dog's birthday, and oh yeah, HARRY POTTER!!! hehehe. Me and Bob went, and they gave us lego Knight Buses! They are so cool! Although, they're too tiny to have little people in them. So I'll tell you what I can without giving away the secrets, I suppose. There's some grand stuff with the Hogwarts paintings, particularly the fat lady, but also a fellow that got a lot more to do in the book but you'll see him enough to recognize him if you've read it: Sir Cadogan. Hahaha. He's a nutter, that one. Everyone seems to have quite suddenly grown up. Ex, I took one look at everyone's favourite forgetful Gryffindor, and said "Good grief, has Neville finally hit puberty or something?" Seamus is slightly easier to understand now, the Weasley twins are up to some good mischief AND saying things in unison(and got nice hair going for 'em), Percy was FINALLY acting a little Percy-like thank goodness, and naturally you've all seen Malfoy's new hair cut. And in winter, he sports this adorable little musher's hat or something. pfftt.hehehe Interestingly, they seem to have added some completely random new students to the cast. Some of them Gryffindors, when there are only 8 Gryffindors accounted for in Harry's year, and only conceivable room for two anonymous girls. Ooo! Ooo! You'll LOVE the new Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, love them. Prof. Lupin is so wicked cool. And the effects in this one were, as usual, quite good. Hippogriffs are so beautiful, I mean, you should see ol' Buckbeak in action. As with the first two films, I feel it could use some filling out, it's a bit jumpy. We witnessed what? Four class sessions all movie? But somethings were dead on, and the beginning all felt so immediate and real... or something, I'm at a loss for proper description right now... So no complaints really. You will adore the Knight Bus sequence. Mwah! Che bella! And the landscape, too. It's lovely. There's so much more to the grounds this time around. P.S.: Though they are not named, you will no doubt realize who a couple of characters are meant to be. A certain Slytherin girl we all know and hate, and a certain Hufflepuff seeker. Heehee, I should find a way to scan my white board, I did an elaborate drawing especially for yesterday.

Home Entry 18, May 18 2004

There are a number of things I could report on, but honestly at the moment I don't feel like it. So for the time being I will simply provide you with this: The Harry Potter Rap. Enjoy.

He's the boy from Little Whinging, and i gotta say
y'all got nothin' to fear, he keeps the dark lord at bay
It's the kid from Surrey, there ain't no hurry, shake his hand, meet the man,
got his mother's eyes,eyes on the prize, He stands up to the bad guys
even if they happen to be- in positions of authority,take it from me.
people tryin' to say he's crazy, you-know-who alive? they say he's lyin',
say it's just for the attention, I ain't buyin' it!
Raise your hands, Pots and pans, house elves doin' the scrubbin', Hermione don't like it
slave labor, don't care if it's accepted, she gon' fight it
and it's S to the P to the E to the W
Oi, Ronnie, What's that spell? "Spew!"
Who? You? Knew? Who? You-know-who
don't say his name, but he's still got the fame, down and out and Harry's to blame, ain't it a shame, NOT!
Voldemort That's right I said it. You got a problem with that? come and get it. What scares you more? thought of the dark lord knockin' down your door, byebye, dark mark in the sky, ain't no lie, can't stand the guy
well he's back, did ya think it'd last? Blast from the past, people, best think fast, know your spells, be willin' to cast, but Fudge ain't talkin', don't want the boat rockin', You-know-who could walk in -
to the Ministry and no one would know. They're not prepared for this thing to blow. Two marauders down, so who's got to go?
Should be dead, scar on his head, got some tricks up his sleeve, know what I mean? Harry Potter, y'all. Yeah.

College Entry 35, May 9 2004

Harry Potter is on tv tonight. It's grand, they've got a few bonus bits, rather like an extended edition. Plus the three main kids talk inbetween. Me and Amanda also think it's a brilliant idea showing this on Mother's Day. Harry's parents are dead. Happy Mother's Day. I imagine I'm not the only person to ever imagine themselves inside a book they've read. I hope? Maybe? But I do wonder how many people imagine themselves AS themselves. Simple example: Harry Potter. Granted, my Harry Potter self is more confident and outgoing, but it's really just the way I am in my head, as opposed to the way I act in reality. So, here's the fun part. I'm a muggle, yet I attend Hogwarts. Don't ask me how I got in, I haven't worked that out yet. Anyway, as a muggle, I only sit in on any class requiring a wand. But I still take potions, history of magic, that sort of thing, for a grade. I'm a Hufflepuff, as you probably knew, but I usually end up hanging out with the Gryffindor gang, naturally.Otherwise I wouldn't appear in the story much would I? For convenience, I am English. That's the only major change, although I'm not sure if I have my actual name or not. It's loads of fun, really.
What is a "Huffle"? I know what a Gryffin, a Raven, and a Slitherin...Snake.. whatever, is. I assume a Huffle is a badger or something. So that would mean Hufflumps and Woosles refers to badgers and weasles, wouldn't it? The English are a strange people. So, must be off. Me and Amanda still have loads more Harry Potter to watch, and laugh over.

College Entry 34, May 4 2004

It's remarkable what one can do these days, what with technology and all. And even technology aside, the fact that simple juxtaposition of images and cleverly selected music can be so manipulative. The results can be quite moving, or they can have you rolling on the floor. http://chance.slashcity.net/videos.html Just look. It's so great.Oh wow. Just watched a little "Jump Street" with Nicole, Amanda, and Matt. Oh goodness, the Deppth. But the real fun was watching the sparkly new Peter Pan DVD. And yea, there was much drooling over Jason Isaacs, and cooing over the cuteness of little Michael and the brilliant acting by young Slightly. He really is remarkable. I wish I could honestly say "I do believe in fairies" or that leaving my window open would increase my chances of Peter dropping by. Seriously. Reality is dreadfully unfair. The bonus material was fun. The girls seem a bit more astute than I when it comes to picking up on subtexts, or whatever it was they said. See? I'm still a naive kid. I can't possibly be as old as I am.
Hum. I can't believe this year is almost over. I mean, I have no more classes. It's just so odd. Ah, well, back to doing... whatever. I think Nicole is dying her hair. Or Amanda's hair. I'm not sure. Brownies are good. Yeah....

College Entry 33, April 25 2004

Wow. Wow is it great outside. Have you been outside? I feel like I completely forgot what leaves looked like, seriously, it is so good to see green trees. Dude. So, I had to give up the 24 hour comic plan, in exchange for making a 24 hour animation, if you will. Oh yes, I plan on having this sucker drawn by midnight. You just watch. Then tomorrow I can do my drawing homework, and then I've got a couple days to reshoot all my pencil tests and stuff and it'll be great. I've just been thinking about "The Hound of the Baskervilles". I'm thinking we'll be shooting in July or August. July could be a pain, but it'd give us more time than August would. So, if you see any of the usual suspects around, please let them know about this. I also will be getting the word out when I can. Please see the update in the Rabid Lemur section. This is going to be so cool.
Oh! Also, I got myself a Deviant Art account. So check it out at http://daria-rat.deviantart.com It's a modest little page for now, but I will be adding to it. And you should certainly see the page of my good friend Tina, whom you all know as "Zombie Chick". http://bilious.deviantart.com She rocks.

College Entry 32, April 13 2004

Last night of fencing club. I totally lost, but I scored a few hits; almost beat one fellow, was 14 seconds away from a tie. Rick had the most humorous bouts, including when he managed to drop his sword, and when he did this light little skipping thing while still in fencing stance. It was weird. I made Klinger cry. hehehe. If the others hadn't been distracting me, I coulda taken him. Totally. Not.We all got into an argument over whether John Leguizamo was a good actor. Actually, we all agreed except Klinger. But he conceeded that Goon was an example of one of his good roles. Me and Klinger and Justin had sliding races down the railings, but Justin cheated. They finally figured out my name, so I am no longer E2. Although E1 seemed to stick for a bit longer. When she and Rick fenced, or was it her and Ben, either way, her blade touched the ground and we're all like "ooooo" and Rick was like "so be it, shorty." Seriously, all of us were out for blood, which is hard when there's a rubber tip on your foil. I'm gonna have some bruises, tell ya that.

College Entry 31, April 9 2004

Well, it figures. You invite another class to watch your collective pride and joy films and they go off and say your class is unstructured. Feh! They only WISH they could have made films as awesome as ours! We did some kinda job, man. We laughed, we cried, we gasped,...occasionally there was boredom, but not very often. Our successes resulted from a range of careful planning, fun with post production, and lucky chance that provided awesome content.What are the odds, por example, that someone is filming as they drive along in the car and there is a harmless, yet nonetheless dramatic, collision?! Even though I personally thought my Buffy Air Guitar could have been better, it got a great audience response. They liked Dandy's cameo after the credits filling in for the Mutant Enemy.
By general consensus, it has been beautiful these past few days. So nice that Jon and Neil were willing to make the trudge to South Street just to pick up some Pimp Juice. Hehe, apparently, this is some sort of drink that they sell at Tower Records. But the one near us had sold out. How weird is that. On the same sort of theme, in the process of their "pimp speech" practice, they invented a new vowel. I couldn't spell it if I tried, which is why it counts as a new vowel entirely.
In mourning the end of The Show, I have had Graham's safety song stuck in my head all day.
"When you're running across the street holding your scissors, stop and wait.
Always look both ways before you cross the Interstate.
Better yet try and get a ride across it if you can.
Why don't we ask that nice man in his dark windowless van?
Oh, I bet he'd be delighted if you asked him for a ride
and he'd offer you some candy if you'd only step inside."

THAT is a great song. And that's only part of it. See, this is the kind of thing they should have taught us in elementary school. Instead of scaring the bajeepers out of us and making us think that the whole world was out to abduct us, or even worse, little creatures would pull our tail if we didn't tell them to stop in our important voice. That was scarring, let me tell you. Guess what? Never happened. I'm still here. And the looming possibility gave me nightmares. So thanks, public education system. Anyway, we'll miss you , Britney Matt and Graham.
Update: Oh, in local news, there have been more Cameron Diaz sightings by my classmates. I myself have yet to see her. Blast. I want to have something to tell people, curse it!

College Entry 30, March 27 2004

Do you remember Dexter Freebish? Of course you do. Back in 10th grade, man, they were huge. They played the Chance like how many times? It was like our own local band, even though they were from Texas. Those were times to be proud of our pathetic little area, man. So, they have a new album out, which I am preparing to listen to at this very moment. Heh, funny thing. In a store where all the employees wear dark shirts and bright yellow tags hanging from their necks like backstage passes, how the deuce could it even enter into anyone's head that I worked there? I just don't understand. Out of all the people in the store, unless of course they asked EVERYONE, and they may be that stupid, what on EARTH made me stand out to their imbecilic little minds? So in other stuff, in case you were not informed, the Foundation department took a trip to NYC to hang out at the Met. What did we do there? Well, what would you do at an art museum? That's right, you'd play frisbee and tick off the local wildlife. Eeh...you do not want to make the squirrels mad. We're still not sure what we did, maybe there were nuts hidden near that tree, but you could tell they were plotting something...
Sweet. Jackie and Jen just called. We should get the old trio together this summer. I mean, totally. Those were the days, you know? We're not very good conversationalists over the phone, but get us together and it's non-stop sarcasm. It's cool stuff. Excellent. Party on.

College Entry 29, March 23 2004

First off I would like to say, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYSSA!" She is now officially old like me. Embrace it, my friend. Soon we will be old enough to do anything... except purchase really big markers. We can't do that 'til we're 25. G.B.A., as Dan would put it. Anyway, Secondly, I need to announce that the comics will be starting up again very soon. I've been in a slump, but that's over and I've got just the thing for a comeback. I'm not going to give anything away, just be patient. Hehehehe. Mwahaha. Oh, so I used Jackie's picture for a drawing assignment and Kendra thought she was a celebrity of some kind. Isn't that wacky? Anyhoo, I got class so I'll continue later if anything comes to me.

College Entry 28, March 14 2004

Wow. Sondheim... nothing like it. Brilliant, but always a little sad. I love that music. So, yeah, I would say that Into the Woods is another success for the old gang at Masque and Mime. The casting was superb. The princes were too much for words. hehehe Our baker was comically skittish, and his singing was perfection, as usual. His wife, an inspired choice. She's always been MY favourite, don't know about you. Jack was oh-too foolishly adorable... and he sang quite well, I'm impressed. I found everyone else equally satisfactory. Which of course, to Nero Wolf fans, means quite a lot. The sets were marvelous. I wish I'd worked on them. So, today was Aunt Mary's birthday party. It was good to see family, of course. And the food was alright. But as usual, I found little to talk about. Not with the adults, mind you. And Julianne and I still get on. So, go figure. I ramble.
I'd love to say it's good to be back, and it ain't bad to be back, but I can't wait til this year is over. It's tricky, living in two places. I got friends here, a routine here, but I've had home longer, and also there are no grades when you go home. It's a complex issue. Well, that's all for now. Be talking to you guys, no doubt.

College Entry 27, March 3 2004

Yar! Me and Alf had the best conversation ever yesterday. Absolute nonsensical pirate talk. It rocked. How did this come about, you may inquire. If you must know, I have become infatuated with the literary work of our old mate, Zombie Chick. (Not to mention its main character...hehheh) It's totally brilliant, with all the seafarin' and swashbucklin' you could ask for, plus some really fascinating character traits. I'm trying very hard to come up with my own version of the captain's likeness, but it's hard going. In other news, I'm almost out of here, I've nearly finished rereading The Hobbit, I'm stuck in the novel again(blasted action), and animation is going well. Today we learned about Walt Disney and the illustrious Ub Iwerks. We would just like to state that Ub is the coolest name ever. Also, we watched our metamorphosis pencil tests, and as usual the one fellow managed to throw a falling knife into it. His project came off like a warped public service announcement. Release a balloon, save a jellyfish. Bible Study was pretty good today. There were buffalo wings, and also Shasta, the mysterious alternative soda brand. Oooo. Yeah, so, bored now. You know what's fun? Making up random quotes that sound like they actually came from somewhere. I couldn't tell you why this is so amusing, but it is. Example: Clearly you possess an extensive knowledge of useless trivia; even so you are no match for me.

College Entry 26, Feb. 26 2004

Isn't that interesting. Anyhoo, here's a question: How often do you hear this one in the proper context? "Stop trying to hit me and Hit Me!" What the heck am I talking about? Well, I'm not going to tell you. Ha! Haha HA! Suffice it to say you will all find out eventually.... Moving on. I am now quite impatient for Spring Break, and yet there is so much here that I am in no hurry to leave. Blasted irony. My latest 2-d torture is looking better. My novel? Well, Dan and I did some brainstorming, so I should be posting some more brilliance soon. I'm sick, that's kinda a pain. Not digging the sore nose. Aw, nuts. I missed Justice League today. And of course, I've seen every episode of Family guy like 3 times.You know what's amusing? I guess you'd have to be there, really, but we watched this video on DaDa and out of nowhere this guy would start going "dadadadadadadadaDADADADAdadadadaDAdaDAdaDada!" It was awesome.
Other stuff. Been thinking about French Dogs in China. Trying to pinpoint their style. I think they're somewhere inbetween punk and alternative, bit of a Lit feel in there alot. It seems like I should cover the band's activities in the strip at some point. Well, ya do what ya can.

College Entry 25, Feb. 14 2004

This St. Valentine's Day was different from most in my experience. No little cards with cartoon characters, no singing in the halls, I'm not even in New York. And for once, I was not obligated to mock and curse the holiday, as that is reserved for the embittered single sorts. Good heavens, how strange is that? Mind you, I cursed it anyway. Old habit, and lack of human contact will do that. Ah well, moving on. Watched Pocahontas today, it's been awhile. Can't believe dear, adorable Thomas will be the next Batman. Anyway, it occurred to me: What the deuce makes me associate these pictures with human beings? No one looks like that, no one is those colours, no one moves that way. Besides, they're flat, for pete's sake. And yet they live! And I am invested in their lives! How can that be? You see, people, this much I can articulate, and my passion for the stuff goes further still. See, I'm babbling. Absolute nonsense at this point.And so, I bid you adieu. [ PS: Thomas is cute : ): ): ) ]

College Entry 24, Feb. 11 2004

Today in animation, break was most interesting. For one thing, we had one. For another, there was Penny Baseball. It didn't go too well, I mean a penny is a tiny thing with limited aerodynamic properties at best. Add that to a bat made of a newspaper, and it's really just for laughs. It is enough. The boys talked of a thing called Battle Royale. So I naturally looked it up as soon as I got home. It sounded like an anime. Apparently, while there is a Manga version, the film is live. It doesn't sound like a pleasant film, it's Lord of the Flies meets Gladiator or something. Yet, it remains vaguely intriguing. Class itself was a lot of lecture. We got our first major assignment. Gotta animate a bag of flour. The classic gag. Good times. A lot of guys are thinking serious flour bag violence. Figures. I'm gonna have fun with this, just gotta think of something cool. In other news, Jon dyed his hair black, which Deni says is gonna give him cancer or some such thing. It was a lively 2-d class today, yessir.

College Entry 23, Jan. 30 2004

School goes well. Also, I have discovered the greatest chicken dish ever invented, had a breakthrough in my current novel( this is the one I finish, galldarnit!), and I made a wicked cool flipbook. It's hysterical, you'll dig it. In today's news, Zombie Chick and I showed off our sketchbooks to each other. She's quite good. She's got this one character, Newt, who I believe is the one with the split personality, and he is just adorable. There's a whole cast of them. Very stylized, something you gotta admire in a college kid's personal doodles. My own work is far less polished, and lets be honest, a little cutsey. So, to hone my skills really, I'm trying to draw a cast portrait. It's ok so far, not great. Oh, and that literary breakthrough I mentioned? Granted, it solved the difficulty at hand, but now I still have to figure out what comes next. And I'm sure the language could use a little tweaking. But it's coming along. You know what? I ran through my list of actors, and it's really narrowed down recently. Of course, my obsession with them has increased proportionally, it would seem. Heh. I can't get a break, can I? On the plus side, it's Monk night. Therefore, all is well in the world. Or at least San Francisco.

College Entry 22, Jan. 21 2004

Well, VH1 was right. The 80's have indeed struck back, and with enormous force. Just look in any emporium of frivolous garb, and you will see its influence lurking about. But that is not the topic of today's rant. Today I would like to take you behind the scenes, as it were, namely because I have to come up with an idea for a flipbook and it got me thinking. I figure I'll go with a Pointless Adventure of Stickman and Bob. The reason they are pointless is really directly related to the method in which they are conceived. Specifically, I draw Stickman in an amusing pose and whatever he looks like he's saying begins the storyline, which is generally pretty short unless I can come up with a few good tangents. This sort of expression-based story telling is actually the same way that our dear friend Dan Richard came into existance. That's why he traditionally never opens his mouth if I can help it; the original drawings were just fun faces with one-liners or, more often, thought bubbles. I bet you didn't know any of that, now did ya? You're welcome.

Home Entry 17, Jan. 13 2004

So this morning I am watching one of those music video channels, who knows which anymore, and on comes this song from that new fellow that all the little girls are going on about. "Who is this Clay Aiken?" I spit, in the manner of some kind of husky Russian girl. "What is big deal? Is funny lookingk." And yet, I listen to this fellow, and it dawns on me: this boy should not be singing trite love songs for the enjoyment of little preteens. This boy belongs on the stage! He's got a voice on him! Who knew? Yeah, ok, in other news, I cannot believe it's practically time to go back to school. At least the high school kids don't have to go three hours away from everyone they know for their education. Not only is that looming over my head, but you know how when you plan something ahead of time and you have a chance to look foward to it and then it doesn't happen in the end? Man I hate that. Grrrr. Hmm. Maybe I should write a new strip before I head back. I'll see what I can do.

Home Entry 16, Jan. 4 2004

Recalling an idea I had awhile ago, I have begun writing a dictionary. It is a very unique dictionary, filled with my personal definitions for various words and terms. I will be adding to it as I remember things, but here is the beginnings of it. Dictionary of Personal Terms

Home Entry 15, Dec. 29 2003

Having another argument with yours truly today. Between me, myself, and I, we still haven't reached a conclusion hehehe. I bought a new watch today. That'll come in handy. Also, went driving. Went into first a ridiculous amount of times. Cars and I do not get along too well. I've been reading a lot of comics. I found these collections of an old series I started reading in Disney Adventures, but it's so much more than what little they printed. The guy's amazing. It's called Bone, it's by Jeff Smith, and I am so obsessed with it now. Little bald big-nosed guys called Smiley, Phoney and Fone, rat-like monsters that like quiche, and a girl named Thorn with a Grandma who kicks butt and races against cows. How could you not be drawn in by that?! Other news. Well, last night I got beat at my own game. Literally. Bob and I were trying out my new chess set and he beat me. Beginners luck, I say! ..grrr. But, seriously, it was fun. It's a LOTR chess set, actually. There was some confusion on the black side as to which were the rooks and which were the bishops, but we figured something out. I can't believe I lost! Aside from that, there was a Fred Astaire movie on. He is the man! All in all a nice evening. I leave you now with some humming. *hm hmhm hmmm, hm hmhm hmmmm, hm hm hm hmm...*

Home Entry 14, Dec. 24 2003

I must say, it's nice to spend the day before the day before Christmas hanging out with your best friends, and some guy they met at summer scholars or something. It was a crazy time, with hysterical laughter over fairly bizarre things. Can't believe I forgot all about "garn". To misplace in one's mind the significance of the scene between Scrooge and the boy in the street is foolishness. Good old Michael. We watched Scrooged, after dinner and a futile visit to the bowling alley. Great movie. You can't top the Ghost of Christmas Present, man. Wish we'd had Alf still with us, and that we'd remembered to call Bob up. Oh well. Too bad we didn't actually go Christmas Caroling at 11:30 at night. That would have been great. hehehe

Home Entry 13, Dec. 18 2003

Wow. Just wow. Peter Jackson is my hero. I do mean, people, oh my GOD! It was beautiful, it was wonderful, I'm going to watch it again and again and again! hehehe Marathon day was great. 8 teenagers in one room for 7 hours is always a good time. But it's when you let the dog out into the living room that things get interesting. He smelled all the feet, attacked Dan a couple times, leapt over the coffee table, fun stuff, you shoulda been there. Heck, maybe you were. It was funny, we kept score of witty comments throughout the first two movies. I think Mike got up to 9 or so. Anyway, ROTK was amazing and I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't, so it's driving me up a wall. Alright, I'll write something that you'd have to make an effort to read, so if you've seen it you can and if you haven't you can ignore it. Ym etiruovaf trap saw eht selgae. I t'nod wonk yhw, spahrep esuaceb yeht dnimer em fo eht tibboh. Tub, I saw yrev deticxe ot ees eht selgae. Osla, neknurd stibboh era ooooos ynnuf! Hayoob! Yb eht yb, "I ma on nam."

College Entry 21, Dec. 7 2003

10 Days, people. We're wrangling up the fellowship, and things are looking pretty good. So the other night I was watching The Show. For those of you who do not know The Show, it is a brilliant piece of college television from LaSalle, starring Britany, Matt, and Graham. Each show has a theme, like "The TV Show" or "The Safety Show". My personal favourite would have to be "The Music Show". Graham owned this episode. In one segment, they played a music video by a group called Hot to Trot, consisting of Trevor(Graham) and some guy with initials for a name(Matt). The song, called "Girl, u know(u r my girl)", featured such delightful lyrics as "Girl, I saw you on the street, you were lookin' kinda neat, how 'bout you come to my place and I'll make some Cream of Wheat" and "Even though I have to stay at least 50 yards away, you still can't spell 'Court Order' without U...". And of course there were the obligatory shots of the duo in front of a fan taking their shirts off ala' Backstreet Boys. It was quite good. And there was a video of Britany's friends staging an intervention because she had no rhythm. And Thrift Store Item of the Week was good, although I was rooting for the "I survived the taco party t-shirt", last week's winner. The stupid walker(not a Texas Ranger, as Graham points out) won instead. Good show, man.

College Entry 20, Dec. 3 2003

Last night I was watching the tape of Les Mis, courtesy of good old Bob. ...Sigh...I really miss it. Those were good times. Even though the tape quality is so-so, and the camera will never be as good as being there, watching from the side, it's enough. Hehe, everyone looks so funny on camera with their makeup and everything. Kara decided that Kapusta looked like Abe Lincoln.Whatever. So I sang along, particularly with the Eponine parts. They seemed appropriate back then. Good grief, did I embarrass myself that one time... Anyway, that much is in the past. Even with the embarrassments and the disasters back stage, I wish I could live it all over again. Wouldn't change a thing. Well, not much. heh. I loved building that barricade, rounding up props for the tables, singing with little Adam, sitting up in the scaffolding... why does everything have to end? Ah well, the new musical will begin without moi. I wonder how many of my casting predictions will be right this time. Too bad I have no idea what kind of Freshmen we ended up with.

College Entry 19, Dec. 1 2003

Well, I'm back. Fun... And to top off the excitement, Everwood is a rerun. We are not pleased. Candace expressed her disgust of everyone in the opening credits individually. I for one am up for watching Harriet the Spy or something, too bad we don't have it here. Well, Thanksgiving was good. Got the TT EE("Shimmer"....) which is so beautiful. Sean kicked our butts at poker. We went to Hershey Park, there were a few rides open. So anyway, today I finished chair construction, primed it in 40 minutes after dinner and got back here in time to see the rerun-ness of Everwood.
Regarding the Two Towers, let me just say that Peter Jackson is the man. It was amazing! It makes so much more sense! Perfect. I can never go back to the theatrical version. Oh man, with the flashbacks and the character development and the ent draught!!! Best part! Ok, actually the flashback was the best part, but Treebeard and Merry and Pippin are fun. Heeheehee I am so glad they put in the bit with the orcs and the Uruk Hai meeting up. Totally important. And that part with Sam and Frodo: "I think I found the bottom." hehehehe But seriously, they really filled out the Faramir story. And if you haven't seen it, you will totally love the song at Theodred's funeral. Wow. I'm going to watch it over and over and learn it. Every time I cross off a day I get happier. I cannot WAIT for marathon day! I'm almost positive I'm going to make it. Wouldn't that rock?
Oh, so last night after the McGuire Demon marathon, they showed Sleeping Beauty. I was really in the mood for the McGuire movie, especially after the "Clueless" episode where they came so darn close! But Sleeping Beauty is some good filmage. Ex: Philip is my favourite prince of all time. He's like the first one who was manly and actually took a truly active role in the story. And he's way charismatic, and him and the horse are just too much sometimes. Can't forget the kings, and the fish fight. hehe. And, naturally, Maleficent is the scariest villain they ever created. I mean, I guess her theme is from the ballet, but they did well to use it. It's really unsettling. She was so evil. We didn't get to see the end, 'cause it was Alias time an hour into it. Ah well. Just have to see the end some other time.(hm hmm hm, hm hmhmhm hmm hm hmm hm hmmmmm....)

College Entry 18, Nov. 21 2003

How's this for irony folks? Our school's funeral for boredom was, in short... boring. I mean, I didn't stay too long, but sometimes you don't feel like wasting your time WAITING for an anti-boredom party to get interesting. Our floor social hours are far more fun, and we just sit and talk and eat, maybe watch a movie. The guys down the hall have scooters. You could hear them for a while. Oh, and I think we can officially say that Jon and Keith are honorary 10th floor residents. They're social guys, what can I say. Bought myself a birthday present, namely The Long Halloween, a masterpiece of a Batman story if I ever read one. My favourite writer,no less: Jeph Loeb. That's just an interesting name to begin with, and the guy just happens to be a great Batman writer too.
Odd that there should be a funeral today, because I just found out that Jonathan Brandis, a decent sort of actor in my opinion, is dead. I didn't see him in much, but I do know that I loved his voice. Sad, isn't it? He was 27. He wasn't doing too bad for a guy who started out young. But I guess....I don't know.
In other stuff, I was just wishing they'd put Gargoyles on DVD. It was a great series, man. Taking a show like that off was a big mistake. Did anyone even watch it's replacement? They could make so much money just putting it on DVD. And we know how much Disney likes money, so what's the problem here?

College Entry 17, Nov. 17 2003

ONE MONTH!!!! Egad! I can't take it! Can you take it? Cause I can't take it! It's enough to drive one insane. Ah, well, nothing to be done but wait. In other news, I continue to emulate the great artists of the past, by copying their compositions and copying their own idea of copying other people's compositions. It's quite fun. Ever see La Bar aux folies-bergere? I love that painting. So naturally it was screaming for an update. Being an artist is a great thing. Anyhoo, gotta go... do...stuff...

College Entry 16, Nov. 6 2003

Oh my God. I have never been that close at any concert ever. 8 rows away from Hanson. It was amazing. Zac's solo was so cool. It was almost dead silent through the whole song, you know, a few cheers here or there. The girls of row 7 were about the 2nd... 3rd... well, they were among the best parts of the night. They screamed, they danced, they clapped. A couple of times they shouted "Guitar guy, we love you!" At first I thought this was directed to Isaac, and then I realized that they were actually shouting at, well, the guitar guy. Hehehe. One of the other awesome things about a Hanson concert is that you are going to here a number of styles of songs. The boys do a mean cover, I'll tell you that. They sang "Ain't no Sunshine", which Isaac was awesome on. There was also, I do not kid, a Little Richard song. Who would have thought. During that one, Taylor had the audience first snapping and then clapping,.. and then clapping really really fast. He was having some fun with that, you could tell. Speaking of Tay, he was still doing his trademark foot stomping, though not quite as fiercely as usual, this being an acoustic show. You should have heard the audience during Mmmbop. It was something else. The last song they played was "Song to Sing", my old favourite. My NEW favourite is "Penny and Me".
I wonder how the new Matrix movie looks. Unfortunately I will have to wait to see it. Ah well, as long as no one tells me ANYTHING. You heard me, people. That said, I leave you with this thought: "I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."

College Entry 15, Oct. 25 2003

Last night, put simply, rocked. Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, movie night thing with school, and I ran into a couple of chums of my roomie's. That in itself made the viewing more enjoyable. Also, either a majority had not seen the film previously, or everyone was extremely appreciative and it had been a decent amount of time since last they saw it. Such an enthusiastic audience, it made it even better. Apparently one of my compatriots was obsessed with parrots. She went mad over Mr. Cotton's bird. The other and I paid more attention to the leading men. They had to show the movie on film reels, so there were ill-placed gaps we had to sit through. There was applause at the end, quite a bit of it. So then, we headed home, raving about Johnny and parrots and hot cocoa. We came here, one floor down to be precise, to watch Shakespeare in Love. But first we had to view the room, which was covered in the most wonderful posters. She has the Hildebrant Minas Tirith poster, and one from each movie, and Johnny Depp and all manner of things. Pictures from high school plays, ticket stubbs of varying natures. Including a Hanson concert. This sparked a long, excited comparison of fan-dom, and a few surprising updates that I had been completely unaware of. Ex: Taylor is married! Has a little one. How did I not hear about this? Also, Zac cut his hair, grew out of his awkward stage and his voice settled into the most fabulous sound. Hehehe. I have not said all. They are playing at Carnagie Hall and my new friend has an extra ticket. Words fail me, beyond "YAY!!!!!!!!!!! HEHEHEHE!!!!" Needless to say, it was a good time. How often do you meet someone else who is in love with Dom Monaghan, Zac Hanson, and Johnny Depp as much as yours truly? Not very, I'll tell you that. 'Course, I didn't get back to our room until 2, and forgot to tell the roomies, so they were all sitting on the couch doin' the parent thing. oops.

College Entry 14, Oct. 21 2003

You kow what's driving me nuts? I cannot, for the life of me, come up with an ending for the matrix that is satisfactory, plausible, and likely at the same time. example: you know a happy ending is too common, too "done" and could easily come off as a cop out; but on the other hand, how could they possibly do one of those "nothing changes and the hero's struggles have all been part of the cycle" endings when the whole thing has been about the people of Zion believing and pulling through and striving to break said cycle, if it really does exist at all? I can't tell what will happen, or how it will happen, which probably means that these guys have done a good job of creating this world and keeping us fascinated with it. I'll tell you this, though. For now I can entertain my own delusions regarding the questions that need answering. Much like The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in which the answers will never come and it is not even a matter of waiting, I know how it should work, never mind how it actually will, or would have. #1- I like the Oracle. Thusly I decide that she is on the side of good, and only lies when it is more helpful than the truth. #2-I want good, and Neo, and Zion, to win. Therefor, either the architect is lying and there has only been one Zion, or this time The One will not follow the architect's plans. This time, with Neo, humans will win. #3- Having the robots win would be kinda the opposite of uplifting. So, they can't win. End of story. #4- As mentioned, I want Neo to be the different one. Thusly, he did not pick the door every other One picked. Assuming there were others. #5- I also like that important old dude in Zion. So he is good too. #6- Come on! Would they go to this much trouble with the Animatrix and Enter the Matrix and a whole trilogy and everything if we lose in the end? So, again, we win.
The world is so much nicer when I apply my own personal logic to it.

College Entry 13, Oct. 18 2003

Well, all, it's amazing, but only 2 more months until the greatest cinematic experiance of all time. God willing, I will actually be home for it. I watched the trailer the other day, and I started crying. It was so beautiful, even with crummy sound. Man. PJ is the greatest. Not to mention Howard Shore, can we say "Awe-some"? Other stuff. Today I discovered the wonders of Walnut Street. Said street is lined with the most ridiculous stores imaginable. One such "shoppe" sold the softest sweaters known to man, the cheapest of which was $200. I have no idea who buys these things. But they have more money than they deserve. I went to the Penn University museum with Maggie and Jason. They have the greatest Egyptian stuff. The carvings were so intact on most of them... it's amazing. And in the Lower Egypt exhibit, the lighting alone was genius. And the columns were so cool. Kinda gave me a headache in there, with only the lights shining up from the bottom of the pieces. But it was neat while I could stand it.
At home, Kara and Amanda are making cards to give flowers to their friends in the show. I'm going to go see it tonight. It's all musical stuff, sounds pretty good, as long as another light doesn't burn out. Don't know the whole story, I wasn't there. I should have dinner. I wish someone was online. Bob's at that wedding, Dan's who knows where. Amanda's never on. Yeah, I'm thinking food.

College Entry 12, Oct. 16 2003

Bleh. I have a cold. Colds stink. Ok, so in 3-D, we had our critique on our plaster sculptures. It went well. He seemed to like my Rabid Lemur, I just have to sand some more before the final crit. Neil got a warm reception, and an unorganized class debate, over his bust of a Ninja Turtle. He says that it is Michaelangelo, but some of us would prefer if it was Donatello, because Donny rocks. He just does. Jack's frog was too awesome for words. Of course, he only got it looking that cool because it broke and he worked before reattaching everything. But still. Off in the back, behind our teacher, were Jon and Keith, laughing, commenting, and just making funny faces. Someone compared them to the heckling muppets we all know and love, hence the new doodle. It was just too good to pass up.

College Entry 11, Oct. 15 2003

Jon says I should be an illustrator. It's amazing how flattered people are to get put in the old sketchbook. I certainly will be taking some illustration classes, it's great stuff. In other news, it's mad windy out there, man. I took the old camera out and snapped some shots of stuff getting blown around. This city is incredible for composition.And Pierce has some convenient flags hanging off it's building. : ) In our room, it looks like we have a Brownie infestation. Amanda and her Grandma made a crutain, tent flap thing for her bed. Lots of patches, looks quite cool.
Moving on, stuff of an indeterminite nature goes on with Amanda and Dan, the one's from home, not from here. I say indeterminite because after a while no one was telling me what was happening any more. Hopefully, it's all good. I think it is. Probably. You know what's weird? Today out of nowhere that song from Hercules popped into my head. You know, "blah blah blah... i can go the distance..etc etc..." I had the sudden urge to watch the movie. Then I remembered how it sounded when the chorus sang that song, and there was much writhing in agony. Man, nothing kills a good song quite like that. Euaugugh. Ok. I'm gonna go check on my dinner. Food is my friend. Do you like food?

College Entry 10, Oct. 12 2003

Curse this school and it's lack of Columbus Day observance. I could have been home until Tuesday, but noooooo. Ah well, I won't say I didn't have a good time for what it was. I got to see all 3 Stooges at once, kicked everyone's butt in Battle Tech, as usual. A certain fellow with a certain fettish absconded with my footwear at one point. That was fun. Said fellow, by the by, should not be allowed to play with daggers, it's just a little scary. :) Good time. Then I got to see the old best mate, she was her usual cheery self. Her shopping spree was not as fruitful as she'd hoped, or so I gather. The sibling went to homecoming, though I can't imagine why. Watched some Jeeves and Wooster, good show. Yeah, good time, but far too short.

College Entry 9, Oct. 5 2003

Well, folks, I had a great weekend. How about you? Great. Anyway, made a plethera of new friends, learned about God, played the craziest, most addictive games known to man... and there were S'mores. You can't say you don't wish you'd gotten in on the S'mores. There were a couple times I thought someone was gonna catch on fire, and I swear we saw the Batsignal, but mostly just some old fashioned marshmallow roasting. It's all in the technique, really. Also, and this is the cool part, I fed a baby! YAY! I like babies, ok? Wait, there's more. One of the adults knows, from memory, how to say "hill" in Entish! May we say wow? That is the most awesome thing ever. I met so many people, I can't keep half the names straight. By the by, may I suggest "the cup game" if you ever need to kill a lot of time and you don't need to be able to feel your hands afterward. You can actually sing "we will rock you" and it will fit the rhythem. Seriously. And if you've ever played Big Bootie, try replacing it with someone's name. It's so much more funny. Wow. I never had so much fun, not that I can immediately recall, anyway. Retreats rock.

College Entry 8, Sept. 27 2003

Wondering what happened today, I imagine. Oh, nothing much, did some homework, ate some food, and discovered that one of my former compatriots in secondary education has quite recently become affianced. That's right. I actually did homework. hehe, I'm just messing with you. In all seriousness, that last bit still has moi in shock likewise. Happy, of course, but definitly surprised. In other stuff, the chick across the hall was playing her trumpet for at least an hour. I'm impressed, talk about endurance man. So yeah, not a bad day. Hmm. I'm hungry again.

College Entry 7, Sept. 25 2003

This morning was absolutely beautiful. The birds were singing, the fire alarms were going off, and the construction workers were showing that bad pavement what for. It was great. Had a decent day. In modernism Jon decided that we should give people more descriptive names, like the Native Americans. Like Dances With Wolves, 'cause the guy danced with wolves. So he says we should do that. And this girl in the back says "Like 'Talks Too Much'?" And we all got a kick out of that one. Awhile ago, I went down to the 5th floor to partake of the free pizza and watch a movie with some new people. They finally settled on Snatch, which I for one love. One of the guys who lives in that room is in my painting class. I think the wicked books near the tv were his. You know what the problem with Snatch is? I can't quote the darn thing without swearing. I mean, there's a few good ones. Like "Sugar?" "No thanks, Turkish. I'm sweet enough." But there are some good ones I just can't do. Ah well, I'm going to bed. See ya.

College Entry 6, Sept. 23 2003

Guess what. One of the washing machines is on perpetu-wash. It goes through all the cycles and starts over again, no money required. News of this spread through the building like wildfire, naturally. Isn't that neat? Meh, well I didn't have the best day off, but I did get the impending homework done, so I feel good. And the fourth roomie is over, so quite amusing.There was the best Samurai Jack on tonight. They did this wacky thing with a black ninja and Jack in a white ninja outfit, and the shadows and light of the environment were all extremes, so it was really cool. It also bore a creepy resemblence to the 2-D assignment I was working on at the time. Weird. Moving on, sometimes I wish I could be a cartoonist, and go to comic conventions and stuff. That would rock. The great Scott Kurtz makes it sound like a lot of fun, based on his convention reports. Even with the weirdos who request very strange sketches.

College Entry 5, Sept. 21 2003

No mail. Nobody loves me. Meh. And nobody's online. On the plus side, I'm getting some work done. Church was good. In today's episode of Luke, Zechariah finds out that his wife is going to have a baby. *GASP* To be continued... Yeah, I'm a nutcase and I know it.

College Entry 4, Sept. 20 2003

Man, I want a Batcave.(long story.) Here's a weird thing: did you know Oreos are illegal in California? My roomie tells me it is so. Wouldn't it be weird if you had someone with bags of 'em under their coat, making shady sales in alleys? Hehehe So, me and the other roomie watched some classic season 2 Buffy, specifically "What's My Line?", with commentary. It's really amusing. The Xander/Cordy kissage, classic... and totally digging the cuteness with Oz and Willow. "I mock you with my monkey pants!" Today was not the most productive day I've ever had, but it wasn't the least either, and that is something. I did some 3-D work, and some major shopping. Reading a little of The Silmarillion. It's so neat, I highly recommend. Hey, want to hear some of that long story? We had a number of guests last night, of varying levels of hyperness or what-have-you. One in particular was quite vocal, even shouting at complete strangers on the street below us. It was somewhat weird, and I was quite glad when they all settled down for the night. Anyway, this morning the less hyper one noted my Batman comic and told me about her dad's collection of awesomeness. Hence "the Batcave". In other news, cooking has been an adventure. I made muffins this morning that required a little improvising in order for them to actually cook. That's what happens when you don't read the package right and end up with an extra cup of water. Oh, they're quite good. They're just very odd looking, and have this fluffy egg thing going on inside. I'm getting the hang of things. Only now I'm out of muffin mix.

College Entry 3, Sept. 18 2003

Yessir, it's hurricane weather. I for one do not wish to have class tomorrow. I have to stay in and BASK in the glorious rain-stormage.Moving on, in 3-D we sent our precious creations hurtling to their doom. Egg Man had a spectacular splatter, preceeded by a couple of spins, which made the whole ordeal almost worth while. Keith's plane, which was brilliantly designed, should have worked. If only the skids hadn't broken off prior to launch time. It flew, man, it flew. Jack's piece hardly even broke and the egg made it unharmed. there was much rejoycing. Jon's "Sputnik", which was tossed with a cry of "For the Soviet Union!", was a glorious failure and there was much cheering. Maggie's egg survived, rolling gently out of the wreckage that had been it's vehicle. Andy's fell and broke exactly as he had planned, but the egg sadly did not make it. Jonghyun's box of many boxes did not break. The egg suffered some fractures, but that box could withstand anything. There were other spectacular ones, but I can't remember them all at the moment. But dude, that was a good time.

College Entry 2, Sept. 16 2003 Updated

I have had one crazy day, especially for a Tuesday. I got locked out, my ID fell behind a washing machine, and I had to keep running places. I still have to design a maze for 2-D and finish my painting homework. But honestly, I love this place. Anyway, I saw the neatest thing. Some girl was standing on the sidewalk with a camera, aiming it at the building across the street. Across the street was a girl sitting in her window, apparently the subject of the photograph. It just struck me as incredibly elegant.Or just nice, you know? It was cool. Ow, man, my back hurts. I should like stretch or something. ooch. By the way, I'm writing a new comic, it should be up today, maybe tomorrow.The Koreans are here! The Koreans are here! Oh joy, oh happy day! I was on my way home from Tower Records and a bus pulled up to this hotel and what do you know, it was my all-time favourite football team! Yay! Man, I was right there, in the midst of greatness. I really really hope I get to see them play. I tell you, dude, women's football gives you a reason to get up in the morning. It's a beautiful thing.

College Entry the First, Sept. 14 2003

Hullo, Hullo! We just got internet yesterday! No more being cut off from the rest of the world, huzzah! Well, college life is pretty good. The roomies are cool, we have a heck of a lot in common. We dig the same movies, we watch Buffy together, and we all adore the ever-awesome and super cute Seth Green. Speaking of Buffy, I never watched so much of it in my life, it's insane. hoo boy. Speaking of boys, can you say lots and lots of cuties? ...Aw, come on, I'm just looking.(It's quite a view, if I may say, heheh) Ok, moving on. I found myself a church. They're nice people, it almost felt like home. Minus the actual people from my Youth Group, and also brownies. I just got word from the homefront, the fall show cast had some surprises in it. For instance, I had no idea that "Props Man" could act! It's weird to think of all the people who won't be in it, due to an acute case of graduation. And I won't even get to see the show live, phoui. eh, must go, have church.

Entry 11, Aug. 13 2003

Hello again everyone. As I sit here writing, la musica del' film "McGuire"stuck in my head(Io lo so, mi dispiace, ma e' il bello Adam! Tu comprendi, si?), moving day fast approaches. I can't wait, mostly because waiting gives me too much time to worry. What if it's too hard? What if I get lost? What if I don't get on with the roomies? What if I don't have time to do anything but homework? I know this is probably normal paranoia, but they are very real possibilities too. This is ME here. On the other hand, there is also optomism and excitement. I mean, I'm going to ART SCHOOL. As in going to SCHOOL for ART. I am going to be surrounded by people who actually share my passion for drawing and don't just say "Wow, I can't even do a stick figure." This is great! This is gonna be better than RISD! (I know! As if it were possible!) Anyway, to tutti l'amici who are also getting ready for college: Let's puncture some vital organs, huh?

Entry 10, Aug. 9 2003

Well, since I finally got the creative juices flowing again in the comic department, I don't feel guilty writing a new rant. That said, it is time to hear about my newest obsession. You're going to be surprised this time: Peter Pan. That's right. There's a new movie coming out for Christmas, and she looks to be a beaut. I just watched the trailer this morning and it made me giggle in girlish excitement, which is nothing new if you know me. :) But I don't giggle like that at just any kind of trailer. This one is exciting and adventure-packed and beautiful. The best part, for now anyway, is their choice for Captain Hook. He is none other than Jason Isaacs, the evil guy from "The Patriot" and Malfoy's dad in "The Chamber of Secrets". The guy rocks, he is PERFECT for the part. Ah, but let's not neglect the title character. Peter is played by this 14 year old American kid named Jeremy. Obviously below my range, but there are other forms of admiration. He seems to have the makings of a fine actor. Really, he portrayes the conceited, heroic boy stunningly. That's all I can really tell you for now, but I think it's going to be one of those films that sucks you into it's world. By the way, you'll love the kid who plays Michael. SOOO cute!

Entry 9, July 27 2003

Gosh I wish I could live in New Jersey all the time. The quaint streets with the delightfully cracked sidewalks, the proximity of ice cream, the cute boys... That's the important part. Godspell was awesome, by the way. My favorite number was outstanding, with the tapdancing and the cane tossing, it was great. This one kid turned out to have this almost Operatic voice that you can't help but be impressed with. Him and these other two have a really pretty, kinda soft song,"On the Willows", which I now love. Then there's the crazy boy who sings "We Beseech Thee"; what enthusiasm. The parables were pretty funny. Like in the one about the servant who gets his debt forgiven but then throws the other servant in jail, the master does this Godfather voice like "You scoundrel...I remitted the whole of your debt when you appealed to me...",you get the idea. And in the good Samaritan one, the Samaritan is supposed to be moved to pity, so he goes "OH, Pity!" and another night he went "I don't even know you!", it rocked. "Turn Back O Man" went well. She was all over the piano player and he had the best look on his face.
So my sister managed to sneak us into the cast party and I made friends the usual way. Sketchbooks are the most powerful people-magnet I know of. (I put the pics on the sketch page, go see)I even got some requests. I could only do so much, but I tried. I think I have a new friend in the aforementioned "crazy boy". Everyone there was really nice. "Judas" got a haircut while we weren't looking and everyone was like "Oh my God!!" I mean, the show was over, we went to the party, when did he have time for a haircut? Weird. I'll tell you this, I'm getting in on next year's show a lot earlier. I like these people.

Entry 8, July 20 2003

I just heard someone on tv say that "Madonna is the woman". I'm sorry, no. You can't say that. If you want to employ the concept, you say "the man". For guys, you say "the man", obviously. For your best friend, you can call her "the man" if you want. But not "the woman". Supposing you just can't get around the technicality, there is an alternative. Well, I use it anyway. If I really admire and respect a female, like Gwen Stefani or Angelina Jolie or Elizabeth I or Parminder Nagra, I call her "the lady". You know, as in "she is beautiful, she is talented, I wanna be like her. She is the lady and she has no parallel." Or something to that effect. But if eloquence doesn't quite flow for you, just say "she's the MAN!" and say it loud and proud. hehehe

Entry 7, July 15 2003

I have a number of things to say. First off, a bicycle ride ought not involve putting your life in someone else's hands. You do your own peddling, your own steering particularly, and you'll be fine. None of this tandem nonsense. Don't believe me? It's bloody scary, mate. Especially with a loon at the helm.
By the by, I now love the drive-in. How many theaters can you throw a frisbee around in? Not too many, I don't imagine. Thing is, he keeps throwing me slow ones, but I can't even catch all of THOSE, so I don't bother asking for some harder ones. It's not fair, the idiot manages to look cool even when he misses it and I have a hard enough time maintaining any kind of dignity.

Entry 6, July 13 2003

A friend of mine is always talking about chivalry. Despite being an utter nutcase, he's quite a gentleman when it comes down to it. Anyway, he says that it's stubborn females that killed it. And I seem to be single-handedly perpetuating this theory. Alright, an exaggeration, but you know. I always seem to do the wrong thing. He would relinquish his chair and I, not only hesitating to deprive him, also genuinely prefer to stand. He offers a jacket and I do not want to seem weaker and more susceptible to cold than he. Naturally, immediately after I make such an error, he starts complaining about the attitude of my entire gender. Now, I like chivalry fine, I really do. It has the potential to be a real pain, but in this case not so. It's nice to know a few guys with good manners. I don't want to discourage him, not for anything. Why don't I explain this to him? I think I have, somewhat. He most likely gets it, he just likes to be impossible. :)

Entry 5, July 10 2003 Updated

In my never ending quest for coolness and such, I recently picked up the latest issue of Batman. I just spotted it in a rack in the video store, how crazy is that? It's quite good. If any comic made good use of foreshortening, it's Batman. Here's a neat tidbit. Batman himself in this issue points out that he is one of those shifty types with two first names. Bruce Wayne? Sounds shady to me. Let's see what Mr. Wayne's name says about him. I just so happen to have the Encyclopedia of Baby Names handy: Bruce, Old French in origin, means "living in the thicket". Wayne, which comes from Old English, is "a maker of wagons". I did not realize that Batman was a wagon maker who lived in a thicket, did you?
It's facinating stuff, though. For example, I have a friend who, according to his names, "will illuminate through fame", is "priceless with great worth", and "a twin". A second friend will also "illuminate through fame", but "with agressive tendancies". In reality, the first guy is not a twin, but strangely enough the second one is. Neither has particularly "agressive tendancies". I seem to know a lot of "illuminating" people, though. Whatever that bit is supposed to mean.
Yo ho, yo ho! Well everyone, I just got home from seeing Pirates of the Caribbean. It was, in effect, everything I'd hoped for and more. It had everything we were praying it would: the song, the dog with the key, and a nod to the Monkey Island fans with some true insult swordfighting if I ever saw it. Johnny Depp is the greatest actor alive. I can't tell you how I adore that drunken, staggering Jack Sparrow swagger, except that I have temporarily adopted it. The CG was amazing. The skeletons were unbelievably believable, if I may say. Just makes The Hulk look even sadder. And there was this cute little monkey! Awwww! Orlando Bloom did an admirable job; quite the swordsman, but you all knew that. It was a little disconcerting to hear him shouting my name all the time or saying it all what-have-you like the lovesick dope he was. That was the only time reality entered into my head, however. For the most part, my mind was in the Caribbean. What a ride, man. So, you'll love it. Don't let anyone tell you different.

Entry 4, July 8 2003

Man I have a head-ache. You know how sometimes nothing is working and you go look for the Tylenol and all you find is a bottle that used to contain Tylenol and then somebody wrote "+ Advil", but what it should really say is "we've replaced all the Tylenol with Advil, let's see if they notice." ...Well, I thought that was funny. But that's me for ya.
My sister's in Jersey, the Florham Park kids are doing "Godspell" this year. I love that play. Like, passionately. It's really quite classic, I highly recommend seeing it. There's this one song that Jesus and Judas, I think, sing that is so funny. They picked these two guys for those roles that are absolutely perfect. The fun guy, who played the Jets' leader in West Side Story last year, is Jesus. And the one who played Tony last year, in fact he always plays the lead, is Judas. Believe me, that's how it ought to be.
I really have every intention of doing something constructive this summer. I just have to get rolling, really. I've thus far started replaying "Grim Fandango", an excellent game from our friends at Lucas Arts, and watched a frightening amount of television. I did manage to see "Sinbad" yesterday. Not a bad piece of filmage. Despite the slight deviations from the Sinbad legend and traditional Greek mythology, no real plot holes. His crew is great, I for one love the two asian dudes who are always betting on stuff. Like, they get to the edge of the world and the one guy's like "Pay up, it's flat." And the Italian, Rat, was neat, especially the way he swings around on the rigging and such. Dreamworks makes the character movement very fluid, I notice. I also had to appreciate some of the lighting techniques. There's this one bit when Proteus walks out of the reach of the candle light, and the transition is so cool. Did I mention Eris was awesome? She's all smokey and swirly and her hair never stops moving, it's like The Little Mermaid all over again. So, go see it, support the industry.

Entry 3, July 3 2003

Just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was wicked, in case you were wondering. Quite exciting, didn't know what to expect next. I don't want to tell you too much. Let's just say a lot of questions were answered and only one was raised: "What comes next?" The fun thing is, I've started to see the actors in my mind. Ron, of course, is very clearly pictured as old Rupert. And somewhere in the middle of the book, Dumbledor's voice took on the very distinctive quality that only Richard Harris possessed. The surprise is that, though I love Daniel and he makes a fine Harry, he is simply not the Harry of my mind. I just can't picture him. Most of the others are there, for example Mrs. Weasly also appears very clearly, as does Malfoy's dad.
Let's see, what can I tell you? Here's one for you: Lee Jordan remains my absolute favourite character. Anyone else like me? The Weasly twins get to have some fun, you'll all enjoy that. Oh, did I mention that it's OWL year? I hope the gang got enough OWLs; they're probably fine, they're a smart bunch. And of course, there was an encounter with Voldemort, surprising, no? What's equally shocking is that they live to fight another day. Didn't see that coming at all. Rats, now I have to wait for the 6th one.

Entry 2, July 1 2003

Ring. Ring. Ah, the telephone, my old nemisis(isis), we meet again. Generally, when I stare it down and demand that it produce a coherent message on the machine or suffer the consequences, it calls my bluff. Today however, my usual taunt of "speak or die" (I'm gonna put that on my machine some day) was answered with a familiarly perky voice asking for yours truly. After I explained the adjective to her, somehow she heard "Turkey", she told me that I was invited to tag along on the girlies' shopping spree tomorrow. Of course, I paraphrase. To which I replied certainly I'm going. Same group as yesterday? Surely you're not dragging the poor BOY along? They are. I'm not sure he can survive that all over again. Ah well, it's not the turkey's fault, it's my blasted ivy league genius best friend's idea. So, the point is, all day today I'll be figuring out what I don't already possess in excess so I can participate in this bizarre ritual properly.
In other news, an interesting sentiment came to my attention yesterday, thanks to aforementioned "poor boy". He quoted it from a movie, Adaptation, I believe. "You are who you love, not who loves you." (He recited the whole scene, actually. It's a nice scene.) Maybe I should make that my new motto or something, unrequited love being my field of expertise... But as I always say, I'm not bitter, really. It does, though, tie in with my agreement with the British attitude towards it's athletes and whatnot. They can be possessive, you know. Like "our Tim" and so on. Well, I had just being pondering such an idea in my own experience. The way the people I know from school who are sure to go on and do great things make me feel proud for some reason. It's as though my supporting them and believing in them has paid off now that the outside world has recognized their awesomeness. That's the simplified version, anyway, it's more complicated than that of course. But, weird, no?

Entry 1

So checking my favorite IMDB boards today. Particularly Return of the King. Naturally, there is an ongoing debate regarding the amount of "screen time", using the term loosely, that Tolkien gave to women. Quite frankly, I have no complaints with the way he did things. If Arwen did nothing the whole book, I think Eowyn makes up for it. And Galadriel is clearly a strong female character, so I don't see why some people say she doesn't count. I don't see why they keep score, either.
I don't write women much, personally. Well, I stick myself into a lot of stories, but that's because I'm me and I want to be there. Only my most recent literary endeavor includes a female who is a strong character and who was not put in for the sake of equality. I felt it needed such a woman, so I put her in. End of story. I'm not saying I don't like books about girls or women or whatever. Take Nancy Drew, for example. I love those. But there are a number of books and serieses...eses... whatever... about girls which only stupid girly girls could possibly read without feeling patronized and/or ill. Give me the women of Dickens, who are as necessary and as varied as the men.
Here's another thing I like to gripe about. My friend lent me these fantasy books last year and they were about a boy and all was good. Then later on they threw in more and more conniving, manipulative, condescending, callous females whom I could tell one was meant to side with. I could not, however, enjoy the guy-mocking and manipulation of these despicable women. I felt like slapping them quite often. These books were written by a man. With later contributions from his wife, granted, but even so I find the situation hard to reconcile in my mind.

So, yeah, the life of a functional feminist is not all laughter and BattleTech, let me tell you. (bet you're sorry you clicked there, you know you are.)