My Star Wars Novel Is... Kind of Getting Annoying!

I'll just go straight out and say it, I love Star Wars novels. If you ever see me reading a book, it's probably a Star Wars novel. I don't why.. but the entire ideas and themes expressed in the Star Wars universe just speak to me. I love the entire concept of like "Good Jedi" and "Bad Jedi" and "Good Jedi that Become Bad Jedi" and "Bad Jedi That Become Good Jedi" and.... the list pretty much goes on and on and on and on and on. So to put it simply, I am a pretty big Star Wars fan. Not just of the movies though.. but of the entire concept behind Star Wars.

Very rarely do I read a Star Wars book that I don't enjoy. Unfortuantely, "Labyrinth of Evil" just had to go and ruin it for me. It's just kind of boring and hard to follow. For one thing, there isn't as much of the entire Star Wars feel to it. No really cool lightsaber battles, no geek philosophy about the force, and no new concepts to speak of. It's like the ultimate filler I have ever read! This is why Episode 3 open the way it does.. because no body cares about the political side of Star Wars! We either want to see people slinging lightsabers around, or we want to hear some geek philosophy. That's why we watch Star Wars movies, and that is why we read Star Wars novels. Without the lightsabers and the philosphy.. it's just boring! Especially when your book is set in the time of the prequel films, meaning that you have one of the whinest main characters in all of history (for those of you who don't know, it's Anakin Skywalker).

I'm almost finished with the book anyways, so I can soon move on to something else. It wasn't painful.. but I didn't really enjoy it all that much either. I should really read some reviews before I buy my books. So until next time, May The Geek Be With You!

Crazy Disneyland Trip

So anyways, today I ended up going to Disneyland with a group of my friends. It was all very last minute, since I wasn't really informed about it until a buddy on mine left me a Myspace comment asking whether I was going. Soooo, thanks to my top notch totally awesome skills of reasoning, I was able to figure when they were showing up and when to meet up with them. Oh yeah, I'm that good! You wish you had my skills dont'cha?! Dont'cha?!!

To sum it all up, I pretty much just had a blast. We didn't go on quite as many rides as I would have liked, but I really can't complain. Okay, I can complain.. but I'm not going to say what about. There was an incident with a Finding Nemo sign and....yeah. You know who you are, and you know what you were doing! I'll just leave it at that, and try to erase the incident from my memory. Not that it was particularly awful it was just... strange.

While we were there, for some reason we dropped by the arcade in Tommorowland. It was really quite fun, but the stupid Lost World machien gobbled up all my dollar bills. It's just too dang addictive! For one second you're shooting up some Raptors, and then the next it's asking you to put in another dollar bill. That's ridicoulous! I've played that game in plenty of other arcades, and I've never had to pay that much money before. Of course.. this is Disneyland, so that isn't all that unexpected.

I swear, the Matterhorn will never seem the same ever again. My friend Ryan and I went on with my iPod jacked into both of our ears, and we listened to M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" while looking backwards. It was quite incredible, and just a little disorienting. It truly adds a whole new layer to a ride that didn't have very much of a plot to begin with. So you can kind of invent your own, through the magic of M.C. Hammer! HAMMER TIME!

Oh! And apparently all my friends hate Fullmetal Alchemist for some reason. *shakes head* They will never know what it means to truly fall in love with an anime cartoon. Pity.

Anyways, I'm just gonna end up yammering on and on and on and on unless I end this thing right now. So I'm just gonna slam on the brakes here, and tell you guys "May The Geek Be With You." :)

The Stories Remain Untold

For the last couple years, I've had a few good ideas that I thought would translate into great stories. Unfortuantely, due to my complete lack of motivation, I haven't really gotten around to actually writing them. Now that I'm in college, matters have only gotten worse for alot of my unrealised ideas. It isn't that I don't have enough free-time to write them.. it's just that I can get too easily side tracked.

There was one story that I actually got around to writing, mostly because I thought the plot and twists were fairly orginal and it would be something to creative to partake in. Unfortuantely, I only got about two chapters in before I stopped writing. The intro (in my opinion anyways) was fantastic.. I just didn't like how Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 came about. I guess that's why they call them drafts, but I just can't get myself to revise and reimagine things so they'll work on paper. It's always far more difficult to tailor something to your vision then you first expect.. especially when it would technically be the first novel you have ever written.

Don't ask me what I didn't like about Chapters 1 and 2, because I really can't put my finger on it. It just never seemed quite as inspiring or as exciting as it appeared in my head. When you actually have to draw it out and describe it, you realise that it isn't going to move along at the roller coaster like pace you first expected. And the dialouge and world seemed far too child-like, not exactly what I had in mind when I developed the plot outline. In order for the story to work, there has to be a certain amount of maturity to the story.. and that just wasn't showing through for me. Call me picky, but if I'm gonna write an entire book, I want it to read exactly how I imagined it or not at all.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Describing this is kind of weird, since I don't really talk about it very much (unless I'm talking to Christine.. you know who you are). But for a while there I figured that I would just write a couple of fan-fictions based off of my favorite anime cartoons to get some experience. Well, I started writing a fan-fiction for Fullmetal Alchemist.. got two chapters in and stopped writing. Ugggggghh! I am not easily motivated! It was gonna be a really good fan-fiction too!

Anyways, that is enough whining for today. I just felt like expressing one of my interests with you, my loyal readers (I know there aren't any of you... except for Christine). So until next time, MAY THE GEEK BE WITH YOU!

The Last 24 Hours

Don't ask me how this came about.. but just today I started wondering what I would do if today was my last day to live. That begginning right now, the next twenty-four hours would be my last. What would I do with my time? What things would I attempt to accomplish before death parted me from my family and friends? It's really interesting when you think about it, you would probably accomplish things you would never before see yourself doing. So to myself I began to day-dream... what would I do with the time?

1) Say goodbye to my family and friends: This step would be the most difficult of all, and couldn't be put off until the last minute. In my opinion, there is nothing more important in this world then the love I receive from my family and friends, so in my final hours I would want to tell them exactly how I felt. How much they had ment to me, how much they helped me develop who I am today. I can just imagine saying goodbye to my grandmother and mom.. how heartwrenching it would be for them to know that they will never see me again.. or at least not in this life.
One man that I would absouletely have to send my best wishes to is my best friend Dylan, who has been more like a brother then a friend all these years. We've had our arguments and the times when he bothered me more then anything else... but he's always remained my best friend this entire time. And for that, I thank him.

2) Resolve any loose ends: If there was ever anyone that I hurt at one point or another, I would want to resolve everything between the individual and me. Maybe for some odd reason, I had emotinally damaged someone in ways that cannot be easily mended (I think everyone has at one point in their lives). So, I would wish to meet them and make everything right. Hopefully they will understand why I did the things I did, and they would find it somewhere in their hearts to forgive me. It would make me very happy knowing that there weren't any hard feelings before I ascended into the great unknown.

3) Have one last Disneyland trip: This would be assuming that I was well enough to even go to Disneyland.. but if I was, I would want to go on one last Disneyland trip with my friends. The mood probably wouldn't be the same, but at least I could leave with a sense that I tied up that portion of my teenage years. Some of my fondest memories took place at Disneyland.. I would want to relive all of that.


4) The last prayer: I have never been particularly religious, but I know there is something out there. Death might not be the end for me.. and I would want to meld with whatever created me. This would no doubt be where the entire whole life flashing before your eyes thing happens, but I know I'll leave with no regrets.

And yeah.. that would basically be it. ....... That was incredibly depressing. What kind of a mood am I in?!! Need to lighten the mood here. Uuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... may the geek be with you? Yeah, I think that closes it pretty well. Or at least I sure hope it does. *shuts up*

Life in General: aka "The Real Life Discussion"

I just realised that out of all my recent blog entires.. I haven't talked about my actual life very much. So without further ado, here is a long drawn out and possibly boring description about how my week has been! Wheee! *waits for applause* Okay, so it's not the most exciting topic in the world.. but at least I'm not talking about anime.

You know the one thing that kinda sucked about this week? I was sick! Yep, that was kind of a bummer. You know, I had the usual *hack hacks* and *cough coughs* lately, but thankfully the magic of pills have reduced it to a minimum. Thanks Advil! You're my best buddy! You know.. besides all those other people I've told are my best buddies. But those were all lies!

Being sick is not fun, as illustrated by this adorable drawing. Isn't it cute!

I've been completely unmotivated though, which is unfortuante. I was really active last month, but for seem reason I've been really really lazy as of lately. But school's gonna start up on Monday. :) Yeaaaaaahh.. and all that Bleach time just went flying out the door. It's better all around though, since I feel alot more confident about myself when I'm actually working towards a goal. This semester.. it's gonna be the big "A"! Oh yeah! It shall be mine once again! *sinister laugh*

Oh yeah! And I haven't even talked about sacred "Fullmetal Alchemist Calendar" yet. My brother and sister-and-law got me a bunch of FMA stuff for my birthday (and a Darth Vader t-shirt). I got a deck of Fullmetal Alchemist playing cards (traditonal playing cards, not a TCG) and the real star of the show.. the beautiful Fullmetal Alchemist calendar. I immediately nailed it up to my wall. And whatever that thing says goes man! Each day before I'd go to bed, I'd write up an entire schedule in the square for the upcoming day. If I didn't do everything I had written down, I would get a frowny face. If I did it all, I would get one completely professional check-mark! Sounds really childish, I know. LOL, it really worked for a while there though. That was until I got sick.. then I just pretty much told myself that the schedule wasn't valid anymore. Like everybody else.. I get incredibly lazy when I'm sick. :) And I'm proud of it!

This is a FMA calendar. Not the one majestic one I own mind you, but this is just to illustrate the point. Anime calendars rule! Nuff said.


So yeah, that's all I have to ramble about for right now. Nothing too overy tramatic or dramatic happened, so I really don't have anything to complain about. Which you know.. is basically all Blogger's do. No offense nice Blogger's who are no doubt totally digging my blog. :) Leave some nice comments! May the geek be with you.

The Donny and Marie Show!! aka "Crappy Show my Mother Used to Watch"

She's a little bit country, and he's a little bit rock n' roll. But there is one thing they both are, incredibly fake and boring. For those of you who don't know, The Donny and Marie Show is a staple of bad 70's television. Everything down to the hair styles to the tacky music simply wreeks of the 70's... but not in a good way! Let me explain further.

Wow! Donny and Marie action figures! So it wasn't an urban legend that they were a pop culture smash. That's reassuring to know after watching their show.

My mom has a bad habit of wanting me to watch the show's she grew up when she was a girl, so I was forced to sit through this retro piece of variety show waste. For one thing.. the show is just stupid! I feel really immature lowering to such adjectives, but it's true. The skits are anything but creative, making even SNL's worst seem like comedy gold. Now the musical numbers are actually pretty decent, but them come in such excess that you feel like you're at the opera instead of watching a variety show.

Wow! A Donny and Marie button! Now I can bring the tackyness with me wherever I go! Thanks marketing executives!

Everything about the show just seemed fake to me. Infact, the best metaphor I can think of is a man who has had one too many botox injections. He's trying to make himself look good.. but in the end he just looks really akward and kinda scary. Now that I think of it.. that metaphor wasn't half bad at all. Come on Donny! Don't you realise you look like a geek prancing around in your tight pants and puffy jacket (apparently, no one had any fashion taste in the 70's). Don't tell me kids at school didn't get made fun of back then for wearing stuff like that. It looks ridiculous!

Wow! Donny Osmond is dancing! And.... girls are swooning? Over what?!!

One interesting thing I did find out was that the show was produced by Sid and Marty Croft. For those of you who don't know, they were the minds behind such fabulous programming as "H.R. Puffinstuff" and "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters". In other words, these men have created nothing but garbage their entire lives. No wonder the show was so tacky! Thank you Sid and Marty, thank you for all the unintentional laughs. May the geek be with you!

Howl's Moving Castle Review

Very rarely do I find myself particularly engaged or fascinated by a movie. As a fairly avid film fan, nothing is truly new or unique. You realise that every theme and idea has been recycled in some way, and even the big time summer blockbuster's have mostly been remakes or retreads of old classics. Then finally, after watching nothing but complete garbage for the last few weeks, I found Howl's Moving Castle. Being the hard-core otaku that I am, I basically had to see it.

You put your left foot in you put your left foot out. And you shake it all about!

Created by Hayao Miyazaki (the genius behind such films as Spirted Away and Kiki's Delivery Service), Howl's Moving Castle felt like a breath of fresh air. Even at it's least inspired, Howl is still one of the best animated films I have seen in a very long time. Kind of makes me wonder what's been wrong with the Disney Studio over the last decade. While they continue to create uninspired animated trinkets like "Chicken Little" or "Meet the Robionsons", a bunch of Japanese guys manage to make something like this. Gimme a break! Isn't Disney supposed to be the leading animation studio in the world?!
Speaking of Disney, this film brings to mind many old classics. It really reminds me of sitting down and watching The Lion King for the very first time. As a kid, I was so completely immersed in this world whenever I plopped it into the VHS player. It wasn't just a great animated movie, it was also a fantastic film. The characters in Howl's Moving Castle are developed with the same care and detail as any live-action film, making the movie feel like something much more then your average cartoon romp. That isn't to say that it isn't without humor or those silly zany moments that keep younger audiences engaged; it just feels more personal.

Christian Bale is the voice of the film's leading man "Howl". But geeks everywhere truly know him as the first decent Batman in "Batman Begins". Billy Crystal lends his talents too!

From begginning to end, Hayao Miyazaki packs every frame with a vibrant amount of detail. The moving castle is a great example, resembling what happens when you mix an Imperial Walker from "The Empire Strkies Back" and your average garden toad. Many of the set-pieces later on in the film are really dazzling. One of my personal favorites was the view of a gorgeous landscape from the top of the castle. You know you're watching a great movie when you've almost forgotten that the people and world onscreen were hand-drawn by some Japan's finest talents (and they really did a bang-up job).
That's not to say that I don't a few little gribes about the movies. The ending was far more sastisfying then any movie I've seen recently, but I still felt it lacked something. I really can't put my finger on it, but something was missing for me. And while the dubbing was for the most part superb, there were a few moments when I felt the voices were just a little off. But when you take into consideration that this minor detail only creeps into about one minute of the finished film, it isn't going to annoy or distract anyone from the movie. Now what might is the defenite difference in story-telling style when compared to American films. Howl's Moving Castle isn't particularly a fast-paced movie. Young kids might get bored.. but since when aren't they bored? Screw them! I'll take the beautiful vistas and fantastic musical score over 'Stitch' any day.

Just in case I didn't warn you before.. this movie is kinda weird. But a good weird. Like Wizard of Oz meets Beauty and the Beast weird!

So in conclusion: see this movie and thank me later. Trust me, you'll have a great time. May the geek be with you!

Final Film Rating: A-