Writing Challenge #21: Someone I Miss:

Someone I miss:

This one is rather difficult because I can’t narrow it down to one individual person.  I miss my friends from high school since we were such a tight-knit group.  In fact, I had a dream where I discovered a handful of them lived near my school for 3+ years without telling me.  So, I went to their house and sheepishly threw eggs at it.

I still go through periods where I’ll call one of them.  Though, it’s frustrating that most of them never take the initiative and call me.  It would just be nice if someone called and said hello.  I’d like to hear your voice rather than read the words/pixels you have typed or punched in on your phone.  It seems like I’m the only person that makes the effort, and it would be nice to have that be reciprocated.

So, I guess rather than missing someone, I just miss communication from all of my friends.  Communication that beats the computer or the phone or the phonecomputer.  A voice is a powerful thing, and I’d like to hear yours.

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For the entirety of the WRITING CHALLENGE, follow the link!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7: Review!

Some of you may be wondering, “what happened to that Turtles guy who did all of the reviews?” after I neglected to post a review for issue #6.  Well, I’d like to reply that it did absolutely nothing for me.  How am I to write on something that I just toss away and forget about?

The last issue was very bad because it was so unremarkable.

This issue just continues the trend of bad dialogue and lack of detail in the art.  Let’s tackle the dialogue/writing through some examples:

“It’s high time he and I get together… [cut to Krang's menacing, pink, alien body] for a little FACE-TO-FACE.”  Krang says this when he’s angry at Stockman and we discover that Krang is the unfortunate blasphemy of the Utrom idea from Mirage.  Krang mirrors the style of his kids show variant only with a more intimidating host/mechanical body.  I’m not okay with this decision, but I realize that I must get past it in order to fairly review the comic.

“righteous dude” “bustin’ their humps” “that Rat-man digs it.”  Here’s some excerpts from Mikey’s conversation with the pizza boy character.  They’re trying WAY TOO HARD to have hip dialogue.  Do people still talk like this?  Or do comic writers just think people talk like this?

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit, hm?”  Classic line… so classic I’ve seen it in so many other places.  Is it a trope?  Is it!?

“Get showered, slugger – We got a paper to knock out!”  Puns!

Over in the art corner, we have Dan Duncan’s impressive scratchinesss/heavy line working its magic in (most of) the action scenes.  However, when we get a half-splash like on THE VERY FIRST PAGE of a war zone, there’s 2 or so tanks that have been blown up and a few scattered bodies.  THIS IS ONE HECK OF A WAR, isn’t it?  I can see why Krang is soooo worried.

The only thing that saves Duncan’s talking scenes are the colors that add some really nice texture and prettiness despite being so focused on setting up an atmosphere with the tones.  At one point they both fail when I can’t tell if April’s walking into a wall or through a door with a “Ladies” sign hanging up as decoration.

Some nice things:

Despite all of these problems, I was still interested in what happened in the next issue if only because I know there’s going to be more fighting which both the writing and art excel at.  The mousers still intrigue me especially with this variation upon the concept (but how does Old Hob control all of them with a remote that has about 6 buttons on it?).

I’d like to give props to Duncan for giving April a fairly normal body with fairly normal proportions.  She’s not exploited in the least.  It’s sad that I have to applaud this (when this should just be considered normal), but taking notice always helps.

Conclusion:

The writing has the basic plots down which work really well and are quite layered, but the details in the actual dialogue and execution cause the whole thing to end up as a mess.  I really want to like this comic, but it’s hook is getting dull and I’m slipping away.

I just cut 8 titles from my pull list, this may be next.  As a turtles fan, that hurts so much.

Writing Challenge #20: Attractiveness

What I find attractive in other people:

Oh, how this list could go on…

• Reading comics
• Talking comics
• Loving Pokémon
• Having a cute butt
• A kind heart (that was a lie)
• Distinguishing features
• Love for cats
• Ability to burp on command
• Yogurt
• Own an ice cream truck (side story: one time Aaron and I were in Oregon City and this girl selling ice cream drove up and we bought some ice cream from her and she was wearing the shortest short shorts I have ever seen – that wasn’t in a porn)
• Tentacles
• MUST LOVE PJ HARVEY
• Slightly ruffled hair
• A lanky stride
• Know Pi up to 8 decimal spaces
• Does their laundry at least once a month (preferably twice or more)
• Owns a squirt gun
• Compiles lists

Does that give you a good idea?  Sure, sure… half of those are not true, but it’s a game for you to find out which ones are!  (please don’t come up to me and burp in my face)

Grossssss

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For the entire Writing Challenge, follow theeee link!

Writing Challenge #19: Happy Things

3 Things that make me happy:

Hmmm, this may be a difficult one since I spend so much time thinking about things that anger me.  I’m going to list some of the ones that first came to my head but aren’t going to be officially included because you should already know this about me: Pokémon, Sabretooth, Breathe Owl Breathe, Comics Books, Custom Artwork, Ninja Turtles, and daffodils…

1.) Raspberry Mambas

I have gone through my trials of candy loving.  From peach rings to peach rings to peach rings, Raspberry Mambas overtook my world.  I still have two packets left that I’ve been saving for almost a year.  The genius thing about Mambas is that there are four flavors, but only three come in a package.  So, you may not get raspberry on your first go-through.  Then, you must continue buying and buying until you get that coveted flavor.

2.) Volunteering at The Grand

As followers of my Twitter have probably figured out, I volunteer at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma.  It’s a volunteer-run theater, and you can often find me making popcorn.  I’m typically a staple of the Friday night crew.  It’s just a lot of fun.  Sometimes I dread it and it feels like a burden until I get there.  You basically just get to talk movies with people for 3 hours.  It’s great.  We work for conversations, soda, popcorn, and movies!

3.) The Toxic Avenger

When my grandfather died, he left behind a bunch of crappy movies (including his obsession with Spanish singers’ CDs).  One of which was The Toxic Avenger where, upon watching it, the film turned out to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  It’s hilarious, ridiculous, and full of Troma’s characteristic gore.  This film created the genre of slapstick gore.  It’s definitely one of those films I test my friends with watching to find out if they can truly be my friends.

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For the whole, entire, amazing compilation of the WRITING CHALLENGE, follow the link!

Congrats to Bret!

For writing an Academy Award winning song!

Writing Challenge #18: Things I Don’t Like

3 Things I Don’t Like:

THIS IS AN EASY ONE!

Well, sort of.  As frequenters of this blog know, I also run a sister blog called 1000 Things We Hate.  In about 3 years we have reached 227 things we hate.  Which, to me is pretty good.  We normally write about 300+ words per post meaning that we have written probably 250 pages of hate.  (though, some hate posts are just me bitching on a webcam).

So, let me choose 3 of the things I hate most at the moment.  I’ll give them a brief synopsis, but I highly suggest you read the entire post.

1.) Boots with Socks Showing

Living in the Pacific Northwest, you see this a lot.  It just breaks up the flow of an outfit.  I want to focus on the cute boots you’re wearing, not the bits of sock sticking up over the top.

2.) Holes in Socks

I have written extensively about the dangers of socks.  Lately, I’ve been noticing that my socks are getting a little crunchy and will probably need to be replenished soon.  They haven’t broken apart yet, but it’s possible.

3.) Movie Rain

We just watched the Chinese musical Perhaps Love for class, and they relied upon the classic movie rain.  Basically, movie creators wish to have rain be visible for the viewer.  So, they drench the actors in impossible amounts of rain.  Only a couple of times have I seen movie rain, and those times were during thunderstorms where it hadn’t rained in the area for a month or two.

I highly recommend checking out our MASTER LIST of hates, and I’m sure you’ll find something you agree with.

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Check out the rest of the WRITING CHALLENGE by following the link!

Sexy Batman Dance

Because this will only make your day better…

POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE 2

Surprise everyone!  The next Pokémon game isn’t going to be Pokémon Gray, but actually Black and White 2.  I’m very excited by this because it implies a continuation of the original story rather than just a refining of the first games.

I’m so super pumped you guys.  Seriously, Kyurem has two forms!

Hopefully N will come and kick ass and make out with everybody.

Writing Challenge #17: My Favorite Band

My Favorite Band:

Is Breathe Owl Breathe.

I’ve spent a great deal of my music posts talking about how much I love Breathe Owl Breathe as can be seen specifically here with my review of their last album.

There’s just something magical about Breathe Owl Breathe.  The first time I saw them, they were wearing capes, and, on their first song, they asked everyone to make woodland animal noises.  I croaked like a frog, other people hooted, others tweeted, some roared.  It was great!  They interact with the audience with waves, claps, dance moves, and the sort.

On Thursday night, I saw them for the third time (which is tied for the bands I’ve seen the most) with Ashley, Daniel, and Lillian.  The opening bands of Kendl Winter and Cataldo.  It was a pretty great show which didn’t end until almost one in the morning.  They played a little bit more of their sadder songs, but it was still pretty fun.  Unfortunately, during this show they didn’t have as many of their usual props like a scuba/snorkeling mask or the capes.

The thing about them is that every show is different.  The frontman Micah, dances or acts out the lyrics and tells funny stories which always makes Andréa laugh.  Meanwhile, Trevor sits calmly at the drumset with his eyes closed.

They’re just a lot of fun and inventive.  Their songs are about things that most people don’t write songs about any more like magical tales of dragons working on their penmanship to correspond with princesses or walking dogs or swimming.  On top of that Micah is an accomplished printer, and their newest endeavor was creating a children’s book with a matching 7″ vinyl record matching it.

I walked up to Micah before the show and reminded him that I named my cat after their song “Sabertooth Tiger” and he gave me a hug.  They’re the type of people that walk around before the show and greet their fans.  It’s great.

Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite songs:

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For my whole Writing Challenge extravaganza, follow the link!

Quickness

Just so you know, I’m booked almost all day today.  So, I’m going to try to get the next Writing Challenge done by tonight, but it probably won’t come until about 11:30 or so.  I have physical therapy, comic book buying, volunteering, and then I might catch a movie after my shift.  So, I’m booked!  I feel bad, but I want to spend time on this post.

Have to go run to my physical therapy appointment!