"Monomythous" Relationships...
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

I always do a little background reading when I'm writing (although, truth be told, I tend to read much, much more when I don't write),  and our good friend Joseph Campbell has come foremost into my mind lately...

...ever heard of his Monomyth hypothesis?

Yeah, pretty basic stuff, right? And, like most topics in a Psychology 101 class, anyone could probably figure this particular trend out by themselves, even with a raging concussion.

Anyway, here's Campbell's take regarding almost every single 'Hero's Quest' in literary and mythological history:

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

...really? Is that really the push-to-shove, bare-bones summary of almost every high-fantasy/adventure quest story ever written?

Yeah... it is...

Is that the push-to-shove, bare-bones summary of the plot to The Adventure of Link?

Yeah... it is...

So, is that the push-to-shove, bare bones summary of the plot to my adaptation of the game: "Link's Adventure"?

Yeah... ish... and no...

Any time you've got a story burning a hole in your head (pardon the rather graphic analogy...) it's usually a fine thing. All the better if, at least by your own reckoning, you can possibly add something to the genre. "Link's Adventure" is a high-fantasy questing adventure story- at its foundation, at least- but with a (somewhat macabre) twist that I like to think can compliment the conventions: in my story Link's quest doesn't just provide him with the 'victory' he needs to grant a 'boon' to his princess back home, but it also serves the dual-purpose of exposing a few... uh... 'things'... about himself that he is forced to take to heart upon his return home. Bottom line? This story does end well, but it does not end happily.

...don't wanna really give anything away at this fairly early juncture, mind you, but even though I haven't come near the end of the story yet I already have one of the screenplay's last lines firmly entrenched in my head. Link says this in response to a certain "running line" that has appeared several times in the scrip so far. His final reply, given at the end of the story, goes like this:

"I'm not a hero... I'm just a knight."

There's a difference, you know. Heroes are pillars of chivalry; they can always be counted on to save the day for anyone in need.

And knights? They can be counted on to save their charges' backsides...

...and they can, and will, do whatever is necessary to do that. They can, if need be, run right over a bystander or two in order to do that. 'Heroicism' and 'Devotion' are nowhere near to being equivalent as descriptive terms go...

...and what does it take to learn that lesson? I dunno, exactly, but the journey to learn that lesson would certainly be one hell of an 'adventure' in itself, wouldn't you think?

Space Oddity
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: A not-so-random David Bowie song...
Topic: Pseudoscientific Musings

State of the Union tonight...

I've never been big on these kind of things; they're most often a simple platform for some serious presidential puffery. Other than a constitutional mandate there's little reason to keep doing them, I think, given the fact that 24/7 news coverage covers... well... everything these days.

However, there is one recession-linked casualty that might be announced this evening: NASA'S Constellation program might be going the way of the dodo.

Seriously? Are you kidding me? It's gotta go, altogether? Isn't there a way to keep this thing on the front-burner with a just a little bit of trimming from its budget ('tightening Orion's Belt'... yeah, sorry...)

We're gonna be retiring those lumbering dinosaurs we call 'shuttles' quite soon, you know, and after that the United States will be left without any way to send up manned mission to... uh... well, anywhere.

'Constellation' is/was our way of getting the next-gen transportation we need to continue serving our manned-space interests. Without it we're looking at over a decade (at least) of nothin' doing...

I must say I don't like the current idea of 'carpooling' with other player like Russia and China: any picayune political situation could leave the US 'grounded' (literally). I mean, this is the United F**king States of America: we reached the moon first, and now we won't even be able to reach the ISS without help from a 'space-faring country' (how the mighty have fallen, huh?).

Seriously: there's some cool stuff out there in the darkness. We've only taken baby steps as it is. I don't think it would do to saw our legs off, now...

 

 

 

And while we're at it, lookit the Zelda art:

 

 

So far "Link's Adventure" isn't coming out as 'Quasi-R-Rated' as "Ocarina" was (kinda like I predicted). It certainly isn't even close to being as violent, but it is much, much more... well... 'sad'. If I had to pick one word to describe it at this fairly early date I would call it 'bleak'...

I like to think that I'm learning alot as I go with my writing, or at least getting my 'do's and 'don't's' down (say that three times fast). As much as writing is a journey more than a destination, I kinda like my current 'trajectory', so to speak. "Link's Adventure" is shaping up to be the best piece of standalone fiction I've ever written (yeah, I know: that's like saying your kid is the 'brightest' one in his special-needs class. Even then, though, that's saying something, right?)

And if you're wondering, yeah: the background in that image is from a Smash Bros. game (hey, I get the visual material from wherever I can, alright? Artistically-challenged beggars like me can't exactly be choosers now, can we?)

Stellar Cartography?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

 

I'm gettin' myself a serious case of Zelda-fever, I think...

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Well: at least one can't accuse me of not following the source material at least a little bit (Ha! Try parsing that sentence, why don't you!)

The red line is Link's tentative path through the "Threadbare Lands" (ie: where his eponymous 'Adventure' actually begins and ends). Everything I've changed around is all glow-y and outlined.

With all the requisite flasbacks to his 'pre-adventure' time over in North Castle, I think that particular path gives me just enough material to work with...

...not so 'stellar' cartography.
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: "Music is my Boyfriend" by Tired of Being Sexy
Topic: Scientific Progress...

 Hehehehe!

So, anyway, I'm kinda enjoying the marketing back-and-forth between Verizon and ATT over their competing 'maps' commercials. Verizon fired the first salvo, naturally, and recent news shows the slight problem Verizon might have with its strategy...

One of the most... 'interesting' things I've noticed about these Verizon 'there's a map for that' ads is that, when I really squint at the so-called 'ATT coverage' map I am informed, quite matter-of-factly, that I do not have ANY possible 3G coverage in my whole area (oh, you know that 'spotty' ATT coverage, and all)...

...That's all good and well, sure, but there's a small problem: see, Shane gave his 'Pantone' phone a bath some months back, and so I finally broke down and used my upgrade rebate to buy myself a damn iPhone 3GS (yeah: snazzy, huh?).

Here's the kicker: the thing... well, works in my area, lo and behold, 3G and all, despite Verizon's dire warnings about ATT's lack of coverage in my area.

Bottom line? Falsehoods abounding? Certainly seems like it, doesn't it? How should Verizon get rid of such a pesky lawsuit, you think?

Unfortunately, I think there is 'an app for that', but without an iPhone those Verizon execs won't be able to avail themselves of it.

And to be clear, Shane doesn't personally like any particular phone company: they're all a mess of hidden fees and rip-offs, natch, but what I don't like is being directly lied to...

...and when I watch a Verizon commercial on my YouTube app on my iPhone at home and see them tell me, straight-faced, that I cannot watch their commercial on my damn phone, I get a little bit miffed...

 

I got myself a PDF reader on my iPhone, to boot:

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You want seriously disturbing nerdiness on the go?

Well: there's an app for that, too...

Still: I'm not quite as nerdy as some:

 

 

Lights Out...
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

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...

Linkin' Blogs
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

More Zelda-ish artography...

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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.

Cam-pires...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Werewolves of London"
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

see more Funny Graphs

 

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.

 

Legalese
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

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...

Sleepless Nights...
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Entertaining Insights

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...

Song of Storms
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: SEE TITLE
Topic: Copyright-Infringementish

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...)