Great Movies

So the other day I went with my Pawpaw and two of my younger brothers to the theater to see the movie Avatar, and it was the most amazing movie I've ever seen! There are so many things I love about it, I don't even know where to start!
First of all, the fact that the main character, Jake Sully, is a marine immediately drew me in to the story, completely aside from the fact that it's a science fiction (my favourite genre).
The plot is also interesting and unique, unlike any movie I've ever seen before. I loved the idea that the Na'vi, who are blue cat-people that live on a moon called Pandora, connect to every living thing in the forest, although I think it's strange how it's done. They all have long braided hair which actually turns out to be these tentacle thingies that grow out the backs of their heads, and they intertwine them with similar structures on the animals that they ride, causing the minds of the two to meld together.
The romance between the human man and Na'vi woman was unusual but still rather sweet, even though realistically there would have been too many complications for it to work out. I never really did understand how the avatar bodies, being made partially of human DNA, could still survive and function exactly like full Na'vi, but I guess that's okay, since it's just a movie and I need to quit being so overanalytical.
The special effects dazzled, delighted, and overall fascinated me in a way I have never been amazed by any other movie before. Most of the jungle scenery and Na'vi characters were completely computer animated, but at the same time, they looked so real. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought they were real people, real animals, real plants. It was really that good!
My favourite scene out of the whole movie was after Jake catches the red banshee and goes to the spirit tree where all of his people have gone to hide from the humans, and they suddenly realize that he really does care about them.
My favourite thing about the story overall is the fact that all the alien stuff seems so familiar, even though there's absolutely no way it could be real. You can see a lot of Native American culture in the Na'vi culture too, which is cool to me because I've always had this great respect for the Indians. I also really like the little seed things that keep appearing throughout the movie. I guess what's so cool about them is that you can't really tell whether they're supposed to be animals or plants, and it really doesn't matter either way.
As soon as this movie comes out on DVD, I plan to buy it. [for MYSELF and NOT for the whole family to share! No way am I going to let any child under the age of 12 even touch that disk, because I do know that they will scratch it. ~(>___<)~ ]

I also got to watch part of Where the Wild Things Are, which is also a very good movie. Unfortunately, the site I was watching it on not only produced really poor picture quality (very, very pixelated) but also turned out to contain illegally downloaded material. (Of course, I should have known...) Needless to say, after finding out that bit of information, I didn't watch the remaining part of the movie.
You may have heard it said that this movie is not for children, and I will agree, it wasn't really intended for young audiences, but what I did get to see of it wasn't actually that bad. I think mainly the reason people say it's not for kids is because of the mood of the story and not actually due to inappropirate content. All of the main characters are really emotionally screwed up.
The main character, Max, is a little boy who feels like no one loves him, and one night he gets into a fight with his mother, bites her, steals someone's sailboat, and sails away to an island that just happens to be inhabited by a really messed up family of emotionally challenged monsters.
The main monster, Carol, is really dissappointed with life and gets violent and destructive when he thinks things are going wrong. The girl monster that Carol likes, KW, has left her family to go hang out with two owls named Bob and Terry all the time. Ira is the one that likes making holes in stuff and doesn't seem to be able to make his own decisions. He just always goes along with his girlfriend, Judith, who always sees the negative side of things and tries to pick fights with anyone she thinks might be opposing her. There's a goat man named Alexander who is always doing stupid stuff trying to get attention because no one ever listenst to what he has to say and a bird man named Douglass who does whatever Carol wants because he doesn't want to put up with one of his tantrums. A nameless bull creature has not spoken in any of the parts I've seen so far.
The most disturbing part of the movie is when Carol realizes Max isn't really a king and tries to destroy their fortress, and then KW swallows Max whole to hide him from Carol. Those two things might possibly scare kids, but other than that, it's not a scary movie, just really sad.
Really, the story is just a little bit depressing, but I'm pretty sure it must have a happy ending, or else all the movie trailers wouldn't have portrayed it the way they did. I really want to finish watching it (the REAL version this time, and not the horribly pixelated way) and most likely will add it to my movie shelf as well.
So that's it for this movie review. I hope everyone else who watched either of these two movies liked them as much as I did.

Pax, y'all!
~Sunshine W.

What Comes to Mind

So today was a pretty good day for me. We started to act out Oedipus the King in English this morning (that was quite entertaining) and my report on Anna Zenger for Journalism turned out pretty well. Then in art I started a new drawing that I've been meaning to do for quite some time of me and three of my goth friends on a swingset. (Of course, I stand out quite a bit in that particular picture. lol) In band, we are currently doing concert auditions, and me and one of my friends were comparing the highest notes we could play. (LOL) The amazing-ness of band membership never ceases to amaze me. :)

Which reminds me, what should you do when you think someone might possibly like you, if that person is always trying to act like they hate you? Just a little something that's been on my mind the past couple of weeks. It's not really that the guy actually hates me, just that I think he kind of wishes I didn't like him... what the heck is up with that?

Well, on another note, I've done some more work on my SZR novel (not much, but a little) and I still have a long, long way to go. I still have some ideas floating around that I haven't really gotten around to working with yet, such as the interview with Kitty Krowkiller. And I need to figure out some way to contact Jack, because I want to ask for his permission to use photographs of him in the novel and online.

I'm also toying with the idea of using subtle advertisements within the story, like somewhere in the background having a sign hanging on a wall, or making the characters wear t-shirts advertising for stuff like different websites, bands, drinks, etc. What do you think about that? Would there possibly be any legal issues with it? just some ideas I've been tossing around in my noggin. I also have an assignment for art I need to be working on, in which I have to design a possible cover design for this year's school literary magazing with the theme "True Colors, False Hues". I was thinking about drawing a zebra looking into a mirror, and there being a rainbow zebra looking back. I need to practice drawing my zebra though, because I've never really done anything like that before. I think it'll be interesting.

And one last note to be leaving you with, I think I've become somewhat obsessed with critters of the feline sort of late. I find myself wishing I had more than three cats, and wanting to put every one of the cats I've ever had, or wished I had, into SZR as minor characters. jah, I know. insanity... lol.

Wolf Out!

~Sunshine W & zombie co.

In the Spirit of Halloween...

So, it's Halloween today, and I am dressed weird (but that isn't unusual for me at all.) All day today I wore a pair of fluffy black animal ears (Which animal, I'm not so sure...) and sparkly dragonfly wings. I sprayed my hair with so much glitter, it makes me feel like a princess. lol.
I went to a Halloween party tonight, and it was really boring. There were mostly just little kids there, but I did make friends with two guys named Austin and Chase, and we tossed a football around for a few hours before going on a long, cold hay ride. Unfortunately, they both went home early, so for the second go-round, I was all alone, and my phone wasn't even working. boo...
I totally just got done reading this book called Generation Dead, which I'm going to give a book talk on for Mrs. Pinkerton's class on Monday. It has a blog that goes with it too, which I just recently started following. www.mysocalledundeath.com
And, since I promised, I suppose I could update some info on the Save the Zombies! Revolution.
The main character of the story is Sunshine, a Christian werewolf with a mission to save the world (and everyone- everyone- in it). With her is her best friend Jack the zombie, who loves and supports her unconditionally, and her uncle Bryan, who is also a werewolf. The rest is as follows:

• Lost--> is the leader of the Lost City, an anti-zombie nation who hate Sunshine and all she stands for. They've tried to silence her many a time and almost succeeded once. Many of Sunshine's followers came to her after injustice with Lost City. He represents all hate and injustice in the world.
• Commander LoneWolf--> is a huge talking wolf in physical form, but symbolically represents everything good about the military: loyalty, strengh, willingness to serve and protect, courage, honour, etc. He is the leader of the military group WolfPack, and has dedicated his life to protecting the innocent at all costs.
• WolfPack--> are LoneWolf's followers. They follow a code of morality and chivalry and support what they know to be true and good, even if it seems wrong to the rest of the world. At first, they are enemy to Sunshine, because she seems to take away the freedoms of life by helping zombies, but when they realize her true intent they give her their full support, but are still wary at all times in case of danger. They represent a true, God-serving Church.
• Hornet--> is the exact opposite of LoneWolf, an embodiment of all things corrupt in the military. He takes over when Loner goes missing for a while and completely destroys all WolfPack's ethics, doing things his own way just because he has the power to do so, and criticizing those on Sunshine's side because they don't do what looks good for them. His "New WolfPack" represents hypocrisy in the Church, so-called Christians that go through the motions but don't really try to follow Christ.
• zombies--> (drumroll, please) are a symbol of what our world seems to be coming to these days. They are all the lost souls in the world that don't seem to realize where they're going. They wander aimlessly, not dead, but not really living either. They cannot survive without the life-sustaining blood of others, just as a human soul cannot truly live without the blood of Christ. What Sunshine gives these things is not exactly a second chance to prove themselves, but really a second chance to Love and be Loved.

O Hallo There!

Wow, so I can't believe, after all this time of having this site, that this is my very first blog post... ever! So, some about me that won't exactly fit on my profile, yush? Well, alright then, but don't say I didn't warn you. You may go through personality changes from following this blog.

First of all, my mother has a blog here ==> http://www.fullhandsfullheart.blogspot.com/ There's lots of interesting stuff on there about herbal remedies, raising children, and Catholicism. Mum is someone I really look up to and respect, so you might see some similarities between our blogs in some places. In others, you might be amazed at how different they seem to be...

and then of course there are some things about me alone that baffle and daze people, like the fact that I can be and am both a devout Christian and someone who loves and respects a man like Brian Hugh Warner (aka: Marilyn Manson). Don't strain yourself too hard, this is just to set things straight, for future references, because I will most likely mention him in several of my blog posts.

What makes Manson (no, we'll call him Brian; I like his real name better) such a great man, I believe, is the fact that he doesnt' take things for granted. He always questions what information is given him so that he isn't played for a fool. Sure, he does question my own faith far too often for comfort, but that's his right, and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about that. God gave me the gift of understanding, and I think he intended for me to use it this way, because when I look at someone like Brian, instead of thinking he's far beyond hope and giving up on him like many Christians today, I stick with my belief that if someone, anyone, were to take the right approach toward him and be genuinely concerned for him and stick with him for long enough, that he could be saved.

Now, that gotten out of the way, I can also say the same for so many other topics. I have hopes that one day maybe I can change the world a little bit for the better by helping at least a few peopole understand things in a new way. Nothing is past hope for me; as long as my God is on my side, I can do anything he calls me to do. I've been working on this novel. I call it "The Save the Zombies! Revolution", and, while on the surface it's about a werewolf girl and her zombie friend trying to survive the apocolypse, underneath it's so much more than that. I use symbolism throughout the entire story (my English teacher, Mrs. Pinkerton, told me that's called an "allegory") using things like zombies and different political groups and the mafia and all that junk to portray the world as it is today: a spiritual wreck. My next poste will probably be about the symbolism in the work, but I don't exactly have time for all that right now.

Sure I have my goals set pretty high (I mean, after all, most writers usually don't get their books published. My dad says I'm gonna have to work super hard to give my story that special thing that no one else has, that way someone will decide to choose it above all the rest.) but I also have normal-high-school-student stuff to do as well.

I have marching band, English tests, essays, journalism 1, art 1, biology (which I hate), algebra 2, friends to hang with at lunch, a lover that plays basketball, a huge collection of random stuffed animals crowding my bed, and all those stupid teenage hormones raging inside me making me have a huge crush on a guy I totally can't have, you know, just the normal, every day stuff. Right now I've been working on an English essay, "My Greatest Regret," have to give a presentation on the biography of Anna Zenger for journalism class, and am assigned to do a monochrome painting for art which I still haven't decided whether to do of Adam Young of Owl City in orange or of a cityscape in blue...

I also really, really need to clean my room...

So anywayz, I'd better get to bed now.

Ciao!

sincerely,

Sunsine W. & Co.