30 July 2009

Too Much Fun For One!

So I kinda cheated and made two. But it's so much fun I might just make a few more. ^_^



Cover #1



Cover #2



CREATE YOUR DEBUT YA COVER

1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or clickhttp://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml

The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.

5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

27 July 2009

Who is Morike?

The summer before my freshman year in high school, I attended a summer music camp. Probably one of the worst weeks of my life, as student life was startlingly similar to college and I wasn't even ready for high school just yet. Also, I was extremely shy, had low self-esteem, and didn't know how to reach out to make friends. Luckily, I managed to make one friend who helped me get through the week. We shared the same interests in Japanese anime, and she had even picked a Japanese name for herself. I followed her footsteps and picked one out as well -- Moriko.

High school started a few months later. Another friend asked me to help out with back stage theatre, so I did. (Why not? I thought) As is tradition, tee shirt orders were passed around to everyone. There was also an option to have something written on the back. As per my chosen Japanese name, I worte down "Moriko". A few weeks later, when the shirts finally came, I recieved my shirt to find that "Moriko" was changed to "Morike". I was dismayed at first, but I soon got over it.

It's been an online alias ever since.

And for the record, it's pronounced [moh-ree-kay], no syllable is accented more than another. I'm personally fond of this name. It's unique, not really Japanese, and (I later discovered) a Guild of Wars goddess.

If you ever come across a Morike on a random site (like YouTube), send a greeting (or hilarious video).

23 July 2009

On Mornings and Trains

I was driving to work this morning and thinking about twelve year-old geniuses (curtesy of my current book) when a train burst through the trees on the side of the road. I caught my breath, and immediately thought of majestic and fun chase scenes back when the world wasn't so developed. A man running through fields with mustangs, both chasing and being chased. So I chased and was chased by the train. We were going the same speed, me slightly faster. No one won, no one lost.
I gave up when I came to my turn, since my turn goes over the train tracks. I had thought that I would be closer, but there was already a line of cars. And more cars came, but could not turn on the road. I felt those cars somehow broke the connection I had with the train. It was our own mini traffic jam. But the end of the train wasn't far. As I rolled over the railroad, I looked to my left to see if I could see the train, perhaps glimpse that majestic chase scene again.
It had already disappeared behind a bend.

20 July 2009

A Movie is Not a Book

It always urks me when people don't like a movie because it was different than its book.

1). Let's say, here we have a book. It's 365 pages in length, and surprisingly full of detailed action and character development. Normally, that would make it a great book. However, if we are to put everything on the big screen, we have a few difficulties. A normal screenplay is roughly 95 to 125 pages in length (read this link for more details). Therefore, we have to condense 365 pages into less than half its length.

A person able to accomplish this feat and still produce a great film to match the great book is a rare gift. Hollywood should worship the ground they walk upon.

2). When dealing with different mediums of stories, there WILL be changes. The audience changes, the way the story is told changes (i.e. first person to third person - a movie is always in a third person point of view). And the story is not being displayed because one person is doing this for their own enjoyment. The story is being displayed because a handful of people wanted to make a two-hour movie out of a 365 page book.

The addition of more people opens up a new door.

3). A movie is a collection of interpretations, not just one interpretation. We have our 365 page book again, only limited by the imaginations of its readers. Let's say, we have five people who read the book. The Director pictures the monster's horns curled inward, the Producer imagines the monster's horns curled outward, and the Screenwriter completely forgot the monster had horns. So what happens? They collaborate their views to create a final product. We are not getting the vision of a single person (maybe we are, depending on the director), we are getting a compliation of visions by multiple people.

So the next time you walk into a movie expecting to see its book counterpart: don't. You will always be disappointed.

19 July 2009

Is it August yet?

I miss college. The life, the homework, the wandering on my own for hours on end. The working on your feet for five hours straight. But what I mostly miss is being able to sleep in.

Getting up at quarter to seven in the morning every morning is not fun. Next semester, my classes start around ten, so I'll be betting up at nine. Which works because that's when I naturally wake up anyway. Even so, I would much rather be at school, even with homework.

But this is a post expressing how much I miss college. I can't wait to meet my new roommate. I'm totally psyched about my CommArts 350 class. And I am pretty sure I will make an actual effort to talk to professors, especially if it's a class for my better interest. I can't wait to get everything all organized.

I fell I should do something for August, but I don't think I will. I started working backstage at a play near my area, and last week went really slow. Like a busy slump. Every day is a boring day. You find yourself wishing for late August every five minutes. I need something to keep going, both at work and at home. But when you're doing random jobs no one else wants to do, it's hard to do something for more than a single day.

And that's why I miss college. Life goes fast, and you feel like you're living. I'm not yet suffocating, but I'm finding it hard to catch a good breath once in a while.

10 July 2009

Bad Guys need more substance!

I'm at a point in my life where bad guys need more than a monologue to justify their means. If an author can write an entire story detailing how a bad guy became a bad guy, then I can accept them as bad guys. But if all it takes is a single monologue for a bad guy to describe themself, then they just fail.

I don't like the presence of evil for the sake of a balance between good and evil either. It's a good idea, but never done the right way. Good and evil is in everybody. That's all a matter of what you choose to act upon.

I thought of a story concept involving four powers: Day, Night, Twilight, and Dawn. Obviously, Day and Night symbolize the standard good and evil powers at play. Then what's Twilight and Dawn? Twilight is the powers of the Night acting for the Day, and Dawn is the opposite. There was no obvious line between good and evil in this story. It's supposed to illistrate that it doesn't matter what sort of powers there are, good and evil is all a matter of point of view.

Which is kind of why Sith bug me. Unless I look deeper into the creation behind the Sith of Star Wars, I just see the standard good vs. evil. But wait. Jedi trust their feelings, but they don't act on them. They can't do some things other people can, like fall in love and get married. Sith, however, act upon their feelings. If they're angry, they go on a rampage. But what if they're happy? Do they still smile and walk with a bounce in their step? Jedi have to remain calm at all times. I've never seen Jedi exchange jokes before, have you? And so we have a fine way to blur the lines of good and evil. Good means suppressing emtion so it doesn't cloud your judgement. Evil means using the Force to your own will.

I can't mention Sith and Star Wars without mentioning Anakin too. This guy is BA in episodes IV - VI, and then he gets a whole freakin' trilogy to explain his story. That's just sweet. Props to you, George Lucas.

If you want a good story, blur the lines of good and evil. What makes a person good? What makes them evil? Is it accepting only the 'right way' to do things? But isn't a good person supposed to consider all options before making a sound decision? That involves tainting your hands sometimes, doesn't it? But if a decision is made for the right reasons, surely that must mean their hands won't be tainted. But isn't that what the standard bad guy is doing? They don't believe they're wrong. Oh, the possibilities with this kind of thinking!

If ever you want to write a good story, think of something where good and evil are blurred. If you have a story on one side, you must have a story on the other. Let the reader figure out all that goes on.

There are always two sides to a conflict. There's Side A and Side B. The third side, Side C, is a combination of both sides to discern the Truth, which is always somewhere in the middle. That is the kind of story I want to read whenever I sit down. I don't want "good vs evil", I want "are they really doing the right thing?" It's this way of thinking that makes a really good story.

06 July 2009

Happy belated Independence Day!

Looking back, a lot happened this weekend. Let's recap:

Thursday: First day of rehearsal. Alternater in car snaps while driving home.

Friday: I can't remember. Lots of lodging around. Write short story.

Saturday: Wisconsin Singers performance at park. Lightly burn face. BBQ with family friends. Fireworks with friends not seen all summer.

Sunday: Start editing short story. See movie with family.

And that's where I've been for the past while. I'll try to update more often.