Mood:  irritated

Not to at all condone violent behavior, but around my place something like this would actually be grounds for justifiable homicide...

...or at least one hell of a mitigating circumstance...

On a Zelda note, I'm finding the whole beginning of 'Link's Adventure' to be MUCH more difficult to get down than 'Ocarina of Time' was. A lot of 'Ocarina' just flowed for me, and there was a whole lot there to work with. With 'Link's Adventure' I've got much fewer characters to work with and a lot more difficulty trying to figure out how to arrange everything temporally (most of the story is told in layered flasbacks... a warning sign of 'questionable writing' if there ever was one, yeah, but there's a good reason for it, I think...)

Or maybe not... I'll see if that's the case when I'm deeper into it...

...although by then I may need some heavy-duty waders...

...or a snorkle...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 10:51 PM MNT

Updated: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:52 PM MNT

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Mood:  chatty

More Zelda-ish artography...

I wanted to jack some art depicting Link in order to show that "my" Link will have a little heterochromia in the next story: I think he should have a slightly reddish hue in his left eye due to certain events that occurred back in "Ocarina". It's a continuity thing: something I caught last-minute while storyboarding...

...and I changed the tunic color: I don't plan for Link to really be "a fan of green"...

Does thunderbird look scary, you think? Yeah, not so much. Not at all how I'd envision the creature, should it ever be put to film. Not a problem: I don't have to worry about that happening anytime soon...

On an actual film note, I'm starting to kinda worry about this whole Avatar thing. With its ultramassive budget and... well... frankly strange incorporation of CGI (I've seen the previews: the technology is reaaaaaly close, but it isn't there, yet, I don't think) it has a very 'green' look to it, if that makes any sense. I think it's kinda an uncanny valley thing, and if I were investing in a project like this I would think it to be something of a gamble...

...Fox certainly has a hell of a lot of chips set on it, too...

Alternatively, of course, Avatar might be the ultimate blockbuster this year, who knows? And if it turns out to be certifiably made of awesome then I, of course, will change my tune. Again: who knows? 

Well, we will, soon enough, I suppose.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:25 AM MNT

Updated: Saturday, 12 December 2009 1:24 AM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

Pretty funny...

I'm not gonna spend any time raggin' on the Twilight franchise. The several dozen pages I've read have convinced me that the overall writing is not particularly good (and the dialogue, one of my pet peeves, is severely lacking, IMO), but in this Meyer woman's defense she's at least got herself a good 'mythos', or backstory, upon which she's building her world. She's a clever thinker, I think...

...just not such a clever writer...

...eh...

I figure, push-to-shove, that if I had the choice I'd be a writer more bereft of overall ideas than general storytelling ability... and I think I am, actually. Not that I'm unimaginative, mind you, but a good imagination is only a very small part of worldbuilding, after all, and putting the blocks together into a 'suspension-of-disbelief-granting' yarn ain't at all easy. For an ADD-driven neurotic like me the concept is more than difficult. From what I've heard of her 'Twilight' backstory, this Meyer woman has a rather clever knack for something like a good backstory...

...that, and for getting lonely, bad-boy-wanting twenty-to-thirty-something women to crave a little vampire/wolfboy action...

But I digress...

Making me think of myself, again, I chuckle at my penchant for such a thing as videogame fanfiction. Bereft of an overall idea myself, I think that in my defense I do a good job of really running with other people's stuff. I don't think we'll EVER see a term like 'literary fanfiction' used with any semblence of seriousness (nor should we, perhaps), but personally that's more what I see my hobby as being... again, push-to-shove...

...but then don't all fanfic-writers, I'm sure?

In the end, though, you gotta do what you love, and I do love what I do. Writing is a craft, after all, and practice makes semi-perfect, so even if my hobby is a little... well... meaningless, I think it's important to remember that, in the far long rum, it actually isn't.

Again, practice makes perfect, you know.

And in that vein (no pun intended) maybe Miss Meyer's next book series will have a little more well-honed writing to go with its well-placed imaginitiveness.

If that were the case I might even be willing to bite.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:29 AM MNT

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Mood:  energetic

Yeah, no updates here for a month and ten days. Exceedingly lax of me, I suppose...

Truth be told, Shane's currently working on getting into Law School (yeah, I know...). The whole application process is daunting, to say the least. Last week I heard that I've been accepted (!) to one of my first-choice schools, at least, and while I'm not totally finished with all my applications that news is something of a relief. I'm still waiting for word on my first first-choice, though...

...and the worst part is that I probably won't hear a peep from them for another 10 weeks or so...

Anyway, with my day-job, and all, my spare time has been somewhat... uh... nonexistant. But now that some of the pressure's off me I'm in a somewhat more creative (and capricious) mood. Just yesterday I wasted 100 bucks applying to Legal Nirvana (because why not, right?) and I'm shooting high in all things.

Given that I'm still on sabbatical from TYPERS (and I am, at the moment), I'm in the process of continuing my 'Legend of Zelda' screenplay series.

...didn't you know I had a triology in mind? No?

Huh...

Well, I had so much fun with Ocarina that I'm chompin' at the bit to go a little further. Next up, you ask? (and even if you don't, I'm gonna tell you...)

Yeah: the game itself is actually called 'The Adventure of Link'  but I prefer the possessive nomenclature for some reason. Also, I prefer to keep the 'The' out of the titles' names (ie: 'The Legend of Zelda: The...' seems a little redundant, to me at least).

Incidentally, I steal others' artwork all the time, but seeing as how this time I took someone's art and didn't even bother to modify it a lick (ie: that really neat-o background) I'll officially give credit to this guy, who actually made the scenery I saw fit to rip-off.

'Link's Adventure', in keeping with the tone of my 'Ocarina' screenplay, is again going to be a somewhat darker take on the Zelda franchise, but in the end I don't think it'll be quite as dark as 'Ocarina'. This is a psychologically 'different' Link we're talking about, too: the brooding, vengance-addled "Pale Rider Link" from the previous story never actually comes into being, given the timeline changes in 'Ocarina', and I plan for this story to pick-up about fifteen years from where 'Ocarina' left off (ie: the "re-child-ized" Link and Zelda are... uh... "re-grown" into young adults).

Thematically the story will deal with the consequences of one having a 'knight's' devotion to a cause or (in this case) a person, and the unpleasantness that can result from confronting, headlong, the sacrifices one makes for that devotion. I don't plan for Ganon to make any appearances in this story, in keeping with the game, except for a possible 'post-credit stinger' tacked on to the end. The most 'visible' enemy in the story is going to be, undoubtedly, The Thunderbird (as if the skull in the artwork didn't give that much away) but it is not, by any means, the primary antagonist. I plan for Thunderbird to be a certain kind of... well... 'force' that someone... well, someone 'else' is using for their own purposes. And Link won't be carrying 'Dhise Slaighre' around this time, either: he needs to become a master to use the thing properly, after all. This story helps explain one of the steps he takes to becoming such.

I won't go too much further into this, but suffice it to say that my idea for the identity of Dark Link is rather original, if I do say so, myself...

...even if I'm re-using a certain deceased character from my 'Ocarina' screenplay...

...hmmm: maybe I've said too much, already...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:06 PM MNT

Updated: Friday, 20 November 2009 2:30 PM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

This movie is a rather scary thing...

Not to be an elitist snob, or anything, but unless you live in certain select cities (for now) then you probably won't get to see this thing for some time (although, given all the hype so far, it's bound for wide release soon enough).

"Paranormal Activity" is being billed as the 'scariest' movie of all time by many critics, and fan reaction, so far, is quite energetic.

Shane saw a certain screening (at the seaside shanty in Shropshire-upon-Steewick... uh, sorry...) at midnight yesterday (...well, today... you know what I mean). Man: the auditorium was packed!

And my verdict?

Yeah: it's scary.

However, in the final analysis, that's not all a film can be about...

Bottom line on the visceral stuff? This is one of the 'scariest' films I've ever seen in my entire life. It is not (by far) one of the best films I've ever seen (or even seen this year). It's very good, but it has some problems.

If you don't know the background (or haven't bothered reading my Wikipedia link... slacker) the film follows the 'handy-cam' footage of a couple haunted by what turns out to be a demon (and, technically, only one of them is 'haunted', but let's not quibble on semantics).

The main draw of this movie (and its absolute reason-for-bein') are the aptly titled "NIGHT" segments (of which there are 21 in total, although fewer than these are actually shown). These detail (via a static, grainy-infrared nightvision filter) various... well... 'happenings' at night while the couple sleeps with their handycam pointed at their bed and showing part of their dimly-lit hallway beyond the room. If you go see this film that grainy image of their bed (and hallway) will quickly etch itself into your brain.

These 'happenings' start very benign, and then quickly... escalate...

...yeah...

The "slow build" of suspense throughout the film works well, and the eventual escalation of events, all through that creepy 'no-color' nightvision camera mode, is chilling to the core.

If nothing else it makes you take note of things when you go home at night to your familiar bed, in your familiar room, with your familiar hallway leading into other familar places...

...but when you turn out the lights... well, for some, it makes that darkness seem a little less 'familiar', and all those usual 'bumps' in the night a little less... routine...

By that I mean I didn't get to sleep quite as fast last night (well: yesterday morning) as I usually do...

So, what's all this about 'scares' not being the whole part of a film? Well: they're not. Interspersed throughout these 'NIGHT' scenes are, of course, the couple filming themselves during the day: routines, banter, consultations with an awkward 'psychic' who gives them rather specific advice...

It's the human factor that's this film's weak link: the movie takes the tone of 'realism' overall (I mean that this is what it might be like if REAL people were beset by a REAL demon), however the boyfriend is a candidate for an Academy Award for Most Ridiculously Clueless and Stupid Character of the year. Everything he does (from continuing to film after suggestions that it is 'escalating' the situtation to buying a Ouija Board after the psychic warned that such a thing was literally 'inviting' the entity in) is counterintuitive foolishness at its absolute worse: you find yourself thinking that there can't POSSIBLY be someone this dementedly moronic in reality.

The scene where they find three-toed footprints (THREE-TOED!) in babypowder beside their bedroom door and he decides to crawl up into a hole in their attic to investigate a loud banging would make you laugh 'till your face turned blue... if your knuckles weren't already WHITE from gripping your armrests, of course...

Here's my quibble: I don't find that kind of action 'realistic'. After two nights in a row of going through that kind of activity I can guarantee you that I'd be spending ALL of my sleep sessions inside packed homeless shelters and crowded subway terminals, probably for the rest of my natural life, at that.

I think you would, too. And that's where the film loses me a bit: the boyfriend's actions are so unbelievable (and, honestly, the acting on both ends isn't stellar either... although that's supposed to be the way it is, I think). The girlfriend, meanwhile, could be replaced with a tape-recorder looping the phrase "Turn the Camera Off" in meek tone (which she does about two-dozen times, I think).

So, bottom line? The "Paranormal" side of this film is undoubtedly one of the scariest movie moments I can remember (and a good reason for goin', at that)... it's the human "Activity", however, that I can't abide.

It keeps the film from being too 'real' for me, but then again the film keeps me from being too cozy under my own sheets, too...

...I think we have a draw, then...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:06 PM ADT

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Mood:  chillin'

It's raining pretty hard where Shane is, right now, which is good, since my area's been in the MOAD (mother-of-all-droughts) for some time now.

During that time I've resisted the urge to bust-out an Ocarina and play the 'Song of Storms' on it...

Oh, yes: and my Ocarina of Time screenplay is finished, too. All 408 pages of it...

READ IT, if you're so inclined (.pdf formatting, so's you know)

(well, at least I had the courtesy to include scene bookmarks...)

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 5:53 PM ADT

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A television post... God help me...

Anyway, ever see this show?

Fairly popular. Probably heard of it, at least...

The premise of this show is very similar to the dry-as-toast, boring-as-hell hole-in-the-wall that is JAG (and that review there is based off a total of three episodes I've seen... two in their entirety... Shane's not all that much for television, push-coming-to-shove...)

Anyway, it's the same usual cop-drama ludicrousness that you see on, say CSI (where the forensic analysts take charge of the cases from start to finish, interrogating suspects, packing guns, getting into high-speed chases etc... in real life, of course, an overweight detective makes those guys his bi*ches at their dreary crime lab while he does the actual cop work, 'natch).

In this case, well: we've got 'Naval Criminal Investigative Services'. Each episode desperately reaches for a reason for them to basically investigate whatever case they want, wherever they want (even going so far as Iraq and Afghanistan... yes...).

Usual episode:

"A massive drug smuggling ring was brought down today, which would usually involve a coordinated FBI / ATF / Justice Department effort spanning several counties (and countries) and multiple jurisdictions, but, since some Naval petty officer out of Quantico accidentally got run-over by a gang member's car, "NCIS" handled the entire case, start to finish, single-handed, without any inter-agency cooperation."

Yeah: overall, the actual episode plots are ham-fisted, at best...

But you know what?

The show is actually exceedingly addictive, I must say.

Most of the draw, I think for me, anyway, is the rather witty rapid-fire dialogue between the cast members. They don't have a 'Seinfeld-esqe' level of chemisty, mind you (if that makes any sense...) but for the most part the dialogue writing and character interactions are quite good...

...also... well... their forensic analyst girl has this thing going on: it's like she's the dark sister of that Progressive Insurance Girl...

...but I digress...

I'm not totally a devotee, mind you (still mostly just catch the reruns on USA Network while I treadmill), but still: there's something about this show that's quite 'hooking', and it certainly isn't the overall episode plots, for sure...

And yes: I actually did watch the gimmicky two-hour crossover plug for their newcomer spinoff 'NCIS Los Angeles' (basically where they forced the NCIS cast to awkwardly interact with the cast of a new series for those two hours...)

How pathetic...

...but, in spite of that, I'm still keeping my eye out for those NCIS reruns...

...for that Abby girl, if for nothing else...

Here's pages 269 and 270 of Ocarina of Time.

Yes... it is very long...

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Yup: it's long. But in my defense I am quite close to finishing it. All I've got left is one 'peril-related scene' aimed at li'l Link (which I hope to completely knock-out tonight, actually) and then a brief lead-in to the storming of Ganondorf's castle and the grand finale (and we all say 'ooooooh'!)...

...my only criticism of myself, so far, is that this thing gets awfully dark, especially towards the end... let's just say that I strive to be realistic in some aspects of the story, and what do you think might happen... realistically... if an 8-year-old boy took on a deranged, homicidal, power-mad grown-up tyrant?

...yeah, you figure that might not end so well, actually...

but on the bright side, there's always 'replacements' out there...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 10:53 PM ADT

Updated: Saturday, 12 September 2009 12:27 AM ADT

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Mood:  incredulous

Think of some insanely cool and awesome sports drinks out there: you've got your Gatorade, naturally, and all its derivatives...

Then there are the psuedo-'sports' drinks of the kind put out by twits like our good friends over at the "Rockstar" Corporation, whos main venue of advertisement is enlightened fare such as all the "Girls Gone Wild" videos (no: I'm not a subscriber, but when you watch the rancid commercials you can see that all the... well... um... skanks who are lounging around sit on 'Rockstar' towels, or they're holding up cans of insipid 'Rockstar' energy drink product in their hands). Such trash, of course, contains ridiculous amounts of caffiene (and its incredibly misleading 'cousin' Guarana, which is, yes, another name for caffiene).

Such a thing gives a body 'energy' in the same vein that sticking a fork into an electrical socket gives you 'light': it's technically true, but there are better ways of doing it, frankly...

Anyway, the bottom line for most (reputable) sports drinks is that they maintain their effectiveness through their ability to replace a body's lost electrolytes; that is to say, most energy drinks are, at their most basic level, glorified sugar water.

That's not being entirely fair, and its an overgeneralization, but still...

Anyway, along comes this study  touting the benefits of... chocolate milk?

Huh? For exercise, you say?

And its even got its own Wikipedia verification (as of today, anyway...) which means it must be true!

Honestly, though: I suppose this finding does make a certain amount of sense, at least conceptually. What're the two major components of chocolate milk (again, overgeneralizing)?

That'd be sugars and proteins, in large part.

I suppose then, that a good ol' cup of choco milk might be just what the doctor ordered for the post-workout pains.

...or not. But, if you disagree with these findings, does that make you 'lactose intolerant'?

...yeah, sorry...

I've discussed my own prejudices in a previous post, haven't I? Seems I find a whole lot of things objectionable. My intolerance, I think, might be on a much bigger scale. Hell, mayby I'm even 'galactose intolerant'...

...sorry...

Anyway: here's a page from an early part of Zelda: OOT. I'm trying to edit the f**k out of this thing before I wrap up the ending.

Don't know why I keep trying to edit the thing before I finish it, though: juggling two things at once like that: I'm really just not that dextrose...

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And no: in my adaptation Link actually doesn't speak... as a little kid, at least. Not very much, anyway...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 5:53 PM ADT

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Mood:  don't ask

Alright, this one's gonna be interesting, so... well... bear with me a time...

I read a recent online article by Newsweek deploring what they call America's "Fat Hatred" (and no: not just hatred of fat, but specifically the non-obeses' hatred of fat people)

The article interested me because... well... not that I'm an all-around paragon of 'tolerance' in other respects, but Shane does, in fact, actually 'hate' fat people. It's not that I'm mean-spirited in public, or desire to openly ridicule people (far from it), but in my heart-of-hearts, when I see some relative behemoth strutting in public before me, I feel something quite strongly: it is, in fact, a hatred.

By 'hate' I mean I demonstrate a somewhat 'latent animosity' towards the obese or the general 'logie' (it means what it sounds, basically). I have for awhile, now, actually, and in point of fact most of the reasons the article speculates for why non-obese people hate fat people are quite spot-on for me: it does a rather good job of explaining some of the rationale, there, for why certain people might despise the grossly overweight.

However, in all fairness, I have some problems with this article...

Firstly, the tone clearly indicates that this feeling is irrational and meanspirited. I don't really think it is. The piece goes to great lengths to try to explain that many (nay: ALL, even!) fat people are fat not from choice but from chance (ie: 'genetics', that great catch-all for explaining away all of life's pressing problems...)

One of the doctors (doctors!) quoted in the article explains that many Americans operate under the 'misconception' that it's all about 'calories in and calories out': that getting rid of fat is as simple as that, and that it's really not.

That argument, he claims, is too simplistic.

...excuse me? What the F**k?

Alright: biologically speaking (hell: mathmatically speaking!) if person X takes in Y number of calories from his environment each day, but expends Y-times-1.5 that number of calories in physical activity and general energy expenditure, there is absolutely no way in heaven or on earth that he can maintain his body mass. It is absolutely, mathmatically impossible: weight will have to be lost in the long run.

It's true... really. I don't really have a head for numbers, but I'm pretty sure my equation is spot-on, here. Double-check my math, if you're so inclined...

Now: do genetics play a part in fat-intake and weight gain? Oh, absolutely 100-percent undoubtedly. Here's a cold, hard fact: it's gonna be a hell of a lot easier for some people to maintain a decent weight than others.

For others? Well: it can be a damned struggle, I'm sure.

Here's my problem with fat people... I think...

If I were a house (figuratively speaking), and my body were bloated to dramatically oversized proportions, I would do anything I could under God's yellow sun to rectify the problem. I honestly couldn't live the way I see some people living their lives. I don't, in the final analysis, understand how some people can live the way they do...

(DISCLAIMER: Shane does not mean to imply that he is a) Adonis come to life or b) completely without a small bit of a stomach himself. Shane works out, yes, but there are, I'm sure, many fitness-Nazis out there that would feel the same way about me, I know, but the degree of difference we're talking about here is like comparing Eros to the Moon)

And, yeah: Eros is even oblong and not totally round, so that simile works on a few different levels... well... two, at least...

No one's arguing that getting a curvy body down to proper size isn't a struggle! What I would argue is that, short of a very, very, very, very, very limited number of people with strange and rare hormone disorders, etc... every other overweight person on this planet does have the power to fix their problem: it takes pain, it takes sweat and, yes indeed, discipline.

To suggest anything other than that is to (in my humble opinion) expand the already loose definition of 'victimhood' and (ironically) disempower people from the necessary need to take serious, arduous personal challenges on head-on.

Yeah: genes are powerful, and they certainly have a say in how your life unfolds, but they don't damn-well get the last word (unless, of course, they sometimes do...)

I really think that Naomi Hunter put it best in the original Metal Gear Solid:

"You mustn't allow yourself to be chained to fate, to be ruled by your genes. Human beings can choose the kind of life that they want to live. What's important is that you choose life... and then live."

 I like to think that my chromosomes work for me, not the other way around (and no: we're not going to be getting into that debate, here).

That said, I'd personally love to see all the 200-lb-plus families (kiddies included) barely wedged into that corner booth at my local Dairy Queen put down their f**king 'Blizzards' * and skip some rope together...

But that's 'cause I'm a 'hater', I suppose...

* (Yeah: Shane is actually slurping down the remnants of a large Heath-Bar-Crunch Blizzard as he types this... owing to the 12 miles of running/cycling I've done today, though, I think my body's gonna manage to stay a little more 'Erotian' than others, in the long run, regardless of what my chromosomes may have to say about it.)

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:32 AM ADT

Updated: Saturday, 29 August 2009 1:51 AM ADT

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Mood:  chatty

 How about a little more about my reasoning behind this whole Zelda sample script thing...

One of the principle things that attracts me to Ocarina of Time's storyline is the fact that, in the final analysis, a good story could be made almost entirely from the point of view of Link but which is, at its core, actually all about the eponomous princess in question.

...and just what do I mean by that?

Well, consider that in the original game, after Link awakens from his seven-year slumber (in my adaptation its actually a 12-year leave of absence, and not a magical suspended-animation trick) his warrior friend 'Sheik' follows him around- happy-go-lucky, almost- giving advice to Link as he goes on his little quest...

Considering what Zelda did as a kid, and the little mistake she made that caused her people such unimaginable horror under the rule of Ganondorf... I find this characterization a little 'off': 'Sheik' should be a character absolutely consumed with guilt and (in my adaptation) one that harbors fairly intense personally-destructive characterists.

 And, of course, the one person 'Sheik' hates most would have to be the Princess of Hyrule.

So far my story deviates in several other ways: in the video game the kids are about 10 and the adults about 17, or so. My timeline has the kids (Link and Zelda, at least) a little younger- around 8ish, although Malon is slightly older- and their older counterparts about 20ish.

Also, whereas the original game involved actual, physical timetravel on Link's part, I handle the whole process a little... 'differently'...

Probably my greatest sin (for nitpicky fanboys out there) is that I gave the 'Master Sword' a proper name:

 Strange name, huh? Well: that's just the cumbersome old 'Ancient Hylian' langugage, for you...

I meant to talk about District 9, here, too, and a certain film critic I've noticed doing some really weird things, too, but that'll have to wait a day, I think: Shane's plate is full at the moment, and its not even 4:00 AM yet!

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:05 AM ADT

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