Dinosaur Noir, or How I Survived NaNoWriMo 2013

As I write this, I look back over the past year since I really cracked down on becoming a full time author, and I realize how all that proverbial cracking had really started with last year's NaNoWriMo.

For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo (short for the National Novel Writing Month) is that special time of year when all of the wannabe writers, authors and creative types begin oozing out of the woodwork to produce their art, and even stranger, start communicating with one another like an actual real community.

Writing isn't easy.

Trust me.

If it was, I'd probably have a myriad of novels out instead of just the one I wrote for last year's NaNoWriMo. And writing 50,000 words within the confines of 30 days can be a frightening concept if you let it get to you.

And it will get to you on some days. And that is completely normal.

Getting those 1,666 words out every day has to become an exercise to you, if only for that month. Every day you fall behind you will regret it more and more as the daily word counts rise.

In his book On Writing, Stephen King talks about how he rarely does more than 2k words a day of writing. So, by that math, at the end of that month, King will have accumulated about 60,000 words, and by the end of the year, 720, 000 words.

Now, not everyone who writes is a full time author. But for the month of November, you get to challenge yourself to live like one.

By writing that word count, you're living the life style of a full timer when you do NaNoWriMo, even if you're jamming those words in between the hours of 1am and 3am. Ray Bradbury used to type up his stories on breaks, and Terry Pratchett used to pencil in his Discworld ideas while working away at a factory.

It's up to you in the end to reach your goal, but there is an entire community of people attempting that very same goal, and many of them are willing to lend and hand when one is needed.

So, here are my TOP FIVE recommendations on HOW TO SURVIVE NANOWRIMO:


1. OUTLINE

I know some of you writers out there have set systems in place as far as how you go about putting words to paper, and that some of you find a thrill in discovering your story and characters as you go along pulling inspiration from the ether. But in my case, I find when I tend to look to the ether, I end up wandering around it for days on end and wake up with little to no words written that week, and 30 days does not give me a lot of time for 'dillydallying.'

To avoid this, I now outline my novels. It was with NaNoWriMo that I really first attempted what some writers call 'Beats', meaning small synopsis style notes for every scene in the book. From these notes I was able to expand upon the scenes, and from there transform these expanded notes into prose.

Experiment with different outlining methods! Remember, this is a 30 day challenge, so to sit back and hope that the muse will guide you through it, to me anyways, is a very risky notion.


2. KNOW YOUR ENDING FIRST

This is a part of the outlining phase, but I thought it deserved its own attention. Knowing your ending is crucial to knowing your book in general. I'm a big believer in the 7 Act Story Structure, where you start with your ending and from there fill in the obvious counterbalances to create a interesting arc.

Let's say I'm writing Harry Potter this year for NaNoWriMo. I got this idea where a kid becomes a wizard and grows up to defeat the Dark Lord of All Evil. Starting from that ending, I can logically deduce that the best way to dramatically have contrast to the story arc would be to have my Kid Character at the beginning of the story to have an awful life since he's the Hero in the end.

The ending is the opposite of the beginning, so why not start taking that more literally when you attempt writing?

It's much easier to write your beginning if you know your ending than is to write your ending without knowing what it is.


3. HEALTH

This is a pretty obvious one, but one that people don't always follow. Writers are, in general, overly empathic, caffeine-riddled hypochondriacs even on a good day. We're wired for love, pain and noticing the little things about life that some look past.

With that in mind, try to eat healthily and to get as much sleep as you can during these 30 days. Avoid sugary foods and anything that does your body a disservice. I'm not saying go on a diet; if anything I'm saying the opposite of that.

Keep eating. Just eat the good stuff, and as much of it as you want. Do a juice cleanse, start adding more fruits and vegetables into your meals, stop buying the junk food.

Don't look at it like it's a diet, because diets are the worst idea in the world. Healthy eating has to be a regular thing that you take control over, and in the times when the stress is high (YA KNOW, LIKE WHEN YOU'RE WRITING A GODDAMNED BOOK IN 30 DAYS), you're not doing yourself any favors by throwing saturated fats and GMOs into your system.

So find the best way to eat healthier for you and your budget! Take a few extra minutes a day to plan your meals.

The body is a machine, and like any other, will run more efficiently with the proper fuel.


4. DO NOT SELF EDIT

This. One. I. Cannot. Stress. Enough.

Writing that perfect sentence can be laborious, and its easy to become dissatisfied if you're having one of those days where each word that comes out seems worse than the last. But believe me, it is much easier in the long run to keep writing, maintain that word count, and then edit down the line than it is to edit as you go.

Turn that censor off, and keep writing. Remember, this is a writing challenge, and not an editing challenge.


5. WRITE SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU SMILE

Remember that part where I said writing isn't easy? Guess what. Nothing's changed. It still isn't.

So on top of outlining, knowing your ending, staying healthy and not self editing as you write, what's the best advice I can give you when you're faced with the daunting task of coming up with a novel in 30 days?

Write something you enjoy. Think about what you like to read, and better yet, what your friends like to read. Try to come up with a concept that is as fun for you to write as it would be for someone else to read.

Some people say that inspiration comes from pain, and this can be true, but in my mind, a happy writer can write dark just as easy as light when the words come naturally.

So my best advice on top of everything I've said is it to have fun with it. Get the most out of the experience as you possibly can. Shoot for the heavens and don't be upset if you come up short. Even if you fly into the sun like Icarus, you'll be writing more this November that you will have in past years.

Last year I started writing Dinosaur Noir: The Curse of the Diamond Heart, a book about a six-and-a-half-foot-tall lizard private detective.

Why?

Because it's fun. Not just for me, but for the people who I've told about it. There's something about the concept that resonates with people, whether it makes them laugh or just flat out interests them. It was this feedback from people that really prompted me to take this silly concept seriously, and from there I knew my path.

So after finishing the 50k for NaNoWriMo, I upped the word count to 70k. I decided then to send it out to beta readers, and a couple months later, after receiving amazing feedback, I added another 11k to the novel, finishing it at 81k in total.

From there, I hired the wonderful editor Jason Whited (www.jason-whited.com), designed a cover, and uploaded it to Kindle Direct Publishing.

So, as an extra treat for those doing NaNoWriMo this year, I've made The Curse of the Diamond Heart, the book I wrote for last year's NaNo, FREE until midnight tonight.

Here's the link if you want a copy: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P00B6OO

So that's my story. That's how I beat NaNoWriMo 2013, and how I plan to beat it this year. If you find any of my advice or words inspirational or useful, send me an email or comment below! Here's to another great NaNo month and another 50k written.

I'm off to write Dinosaur Noir 2! Good luck everyone! 

Through Laughter & Tears: Remembering Robin Williams

It's taken me almost a day to be able to think properly enough to formulate what I ached to say about all of this. So here's hoping I don't ramble too much.

Yesterday I was having a bad day. After being away from my writing for far too long, I came back to my desk and was quick to sense 'The Fear', as it ticked away in the back of my brain like a bug I can't squash.

The Fear, in my own personal case, has always been strongest when I fail to live up to my own expectations. My mind begins to twist every good thing that I have going for myself into things I should be embarrassed by. I begin doubting my choices, my worth, and my value.

My usual word count of at least 2,000 words a day was cut down to a mere 200. Instead of outlining future projects that I had been excited about beginning, I sat back and debated whether any of them were any good at all; consistently focusing on the negative for no reason other than to perpetuate my own frustration.

I eventually submitted to the Fear, and stopped thinking about writing. I turned to the internet for numbing entertainment, anything that my stuck-on-pessimistic mindframe would be able to absorb/ignore.

And it was then that I heard the news of Robin Williams' passing.

It's sad that it took the death of someone so precious to the world to bring me out of my funk, but it really was like being kicked in the groin.

I found myself crying. Full on 'get out the buckets' crying.

Like most of the world, I never personally knew or met Robin Williams. So why is it that his death has impacted me so?

I could go on forever about how the man's career and personality directly influenced me. As a kid I dreamed of being able to do what he did. Not acting or doing stand up. I'm talking about making people smile, making them laugh. What is a greater gift than laughter? This concept alone is what I've always striven towards, whether it be through art, music, film or writing.

I could talk about how as a child I would watch Hook multiple times in a row, and how as an adult I've done the same (To live would be a great adventure).

I could talk about how every time I see Robin Williams cry in a film I start to cry as well.

I could go on about how much this man meant to me personally, as a complete stranger from a different country, but it wasn't for any of my own personal reasons that I was so upset by his passing.

What impacted me the most was the idea that this man, this embodiment of energy and happiness and love, a person who was adored the whole world over by a multitude of generations, still was a man who carried his demons.

It frightened, and humbled me to think that even Robin Williams could let his worries and fears get to him that drastically; that he still suffered in his daily life despite how many people loved and cared about him.

It dawned upon me that depression/anxiety/whatever you want to call it, is not something that just goes away when life decides to tip the scales in your favor. You can become a household name, make money doing the thing that you love, earn the respect of your peers and colleagues, and yet it will be never enough to satisfy 'The Fear'.

I push myself to the point of insanity every day-- every ounce of it self induced. I rarely ever feel that I'm living up to my fullest potential because of this pressure I put on myself. And as much I know that's something won't go away, I know also that I can't give up the fight. 'The Fear' will always try to bring me down, but its up to me to push back against it.

It saddens me to think that Robin Williams had fought the battle so dearly for so long. It is well understood in the world of comedy that most humor comes from a dark place, and obviously with Williams it was no exception. It was from that pain that such electricity and love was able to come out of his performances. He took that negativity and turned into something positive that made the world around smile. He made us laugh.

Someone on Twitter elegantly posted, "You never know another man's burden until he puts it down and you feel the ground shake."

In Robin Williams' case, I would say the world has indeed felt it.

Yesterday we lost one of the world's greatest comedic minds and a truly genuine person.

Know that he didn't lose his battle to depression, and that there are no losers in this war.

Know that whatever problems you face in your life, whatever they may be, are temporary, and need no permanent solutions.

Know that love is always there just around the corner, and that laughter is the best medicine.

Know that you're not alone in this, and there will always be people ready and willing to help and support you through the hard times.

Crisis Call Center: 800-273-8255 or text ANSWER to 839863 

Rest in peace, you sweet, sweet man. Your laughter touched thousands, your smile brought out those in others. Thank you for everything you gave us, I know you gave it all.

Writers Vs. Storytellers: The Great Debate

I've had some time the past few days to do some thinking. During that time I've been debating to myself, friends, and colleagues some of the major issues in publishing and indie writing that a lot of upcoming authors are facing.

One of these main discussions was the tough to crack debate over difference between Writers and Storytellers.

When authors first sit down to start their next project, a slew of possibilities opens up with the creation of that fresh blank Word document. Where the ideas come from is often irrelevant; it is within human nature that the concept of storytelling and prose comes from, and it doesn't take an award-winning writer to come up with a great story to tell around a campfire that captivates each of the campers no matter what age.

So, if everyone in the world has the potential to be a storyteller, what is the true definition of a writer?

I've had the time to think about and have come up with this:

Anyone can be a part-time story teller, but not everyone can be a full-time writer.

Coming up with fantastical worlds, great characters and dialogue-- these things do not make a writer.

These qualities make you human. 

What really defines an author or writer is the fact that once you have come up with an amazing concept and world, you actually take the needed time to get it down on paper. The point where your story has been told and the text has filled the page to the point of completion, THAT is when you are a writer.

Neil Gaiman described writing as being as easy as typing one word after another, and also that hard.

Since we all from our daily experiences and histories have enough to draw upon to create amazing stories, it takes a different kind of person to actually translate those ideas into something concrete that you can hold in your hand. Telling a story and writing a book are universally different things, though the two can often be mistaken.

"I wish I had your job. You just sit around and come up with ideas all day."

Wrong. If I got paid simply for pitching concepts so other authors could go off and write them, I'd probably be doing a hell of a lot better financially. The only place this kind of thing happens is in Hollywood, where writers are treated as replaceable hand-monkeys without the silly hats.

So ultimately, writing is not storytelling as much as the two are intertwined. You cannot be a great writer without being a great storyteller, BUT being a great storyteller does not make you a writer and vice versa.

What all aspiring writers face is the point where they figure out if they are a real writer, or just a great storyteller. The sooner that person figures that out, the sooner they'll either crack down and get writing that book, or shelve it forever and find a new hobby, because that's all it really was.

But I'm not saying there is no hope, nor am I saying that being a writer is an exclusive club open only to those that follow a specific guideline that I will post later. That's just silly.

What I'm saying is that you need to differentiate passion and work.

If you're a writer, that is your job. 

Don't like to work? Don't be a writer. 

If you simply have your head in the clouds, dreaming of dragons and rocket ships with big titted ladies riding dinosaurs with machine gun heads, and have no real drive to get that idea out to the world one word at time?

You're a storyteller, and a strange one at that.

The best way to turn this whole concept upside down is when you actually DO realize you have the balls to be an author and want to go about it in the correct manner. The best way to go about creating fiction or non-fiction is to write what you know and what you know people will love.

Think about your favorite television shows, music, and movies. Even if whatever project isn't a blockbuster smash, it still has that small and loyal cult following behind it.

Why?

Because people are storytellers, and what do storytellers love most?

Stories.

So bear that in mind when deciding your next project. No matter what, someone is going to love your book. It might be lost amidst the swelling market, and there may be some who hate it, but in the end you will find exposure one reader at a time.

Building that fanbase is as easy as making friends. If you are not a friendly person or a good friend, best of luck trying to get people to like you, let alone buy from you.

In a world where everyone can be a storyteller, authors need to realize that all readers have the potential to be storytellers themselves. With that in mind, writers need to understand they can't get away with putting out a sub-par project.

Readers know shit storytelling as much as an author would. Authors are not the the authority over what is good, nor are the editors or publishers. The readers are. The worldwide circle of storytellers keep us in line.

So the next time you sit down to start writing, remember to keep your readers at the same level as you. As a writer, you are at the mercy of your readers and reviewers. Give them what you would want to receive yourself, tell the story you want to hear.

Or else, some other storyteller will call you on your bullshit, and you'll know your true failing.

Custom Ebook Cover Design

Hello, everyone!

As some of you readers might now know, I have been offering my services as an ebook cover designer to the public. I do all of my own covers and have lately started doing work for writer friends.

I intend to charge cheaply for covers, and have even done some for free in exchange for promotion of my work. I believe having a community of creative people with different skill sets is essential and lucrative; if we all can in one way or another pitch in towards each others' works, we can help each other succeed in ways that we alone could not otherwise.

Click here to visit my Ebooks Page and have a look at the upcoming titles I've done the covers for.

Also, here are some links to books by author friend, Scott Richards, for whom I have done the covers for his latest works.

Click on the images to visit their respective Amazon.com pages.

Landon's Prison (synopsis):

On the last night of his life, all Landon Price wanted to do was make a cake in memory of his father’s death. A trip to the corner store for milk changed everything when some local thugs tried robbing the place. Trapped inside the store, officer Price called for back-up, but a lucky shot to his chest ended his life. True to his nature, he died bravely protecting others.

And then he woke up.

Surrounded by walking, talking insects, trapped in a body he has no control over, Landon finds himself in a situation impossible to explain. What’s worse, his career spent safeguarding the innocent now seemed for naught as his body – wild, with a mind of its own – slaughters and wreaks havoc upon those that created it.

LANDON’S PRISON is a sci-fi action adventure set aboard an alien ship where a genetic experiment has gone awry. Landon must discover what’s happened, and try to gain control of his prison before it murders every living thing aboard the ship.

 

 

Spiritually Deficient (synopsis):

John Catcher is a normal man with an abnormal job just trying to relax, eat some pizza, and watch his soaps in peace. This is his daily routine, and has been ever since the rest of his team deemed him "unfit" for field work.

No! That's fine!

See, John Catcher watches possessed items. Angry ghosts, ancient and evil spirits, demons minor and major - really, anything capable of possessing a human. It's his job now to, well, babysit them. It sucks, but he gets plenty of TV time.

Or, he would have if someone hadn't summoned one of his charges.

What starts as a simple fetching of a stray demon prince turns into a full blown catastrophe when he returns home to find his house had been broken into, and the rest of the vessels gone. To make things worse, his only lead is a young paranormal investigator staking out the place that refuses to tell him who did it unless John agrees to let him come with.

He's going to miss his soaps...

New episodes released every Tuesday!

If you feel like you'd like to talk about me doing your next ebook cover, leave a comment below, or send me a personal email at xavier.granville01@yahoo.ca or theideapool@gmail.com

 

The Post of Things To Come

Hey, folks. Just thought I would do a quick update as to talk about what The Idea Pool has in store for publishing in the next few weeks.

My good friend Tyler Sellars and I are hard at work on a new 10 part serialized novel, which we will be giving away the first episode for FREE, and selling the full set of 10 novellas for 5.99.

At the same time, I am even more hard at work currently trying to finish up my first 60,000 word novel, Now Hiring, to be released mid October, much later than I expected due to the book growing in length and detail each time I sat down to write it.

I recently, alongside, challenged myself to write 12 separate shorter works to be sold as a collection. The catch was that I would use four single word writing prompts to come up with the ideas for each of the stories. (Eg. Dust, Rain, Lock, Balloon)

The process has been quite fun; developing the individual storylines went in directions I never would have expected and I am quite happy with some of them so far. The expected length of the full length shorts will eventually range anywhere between 5,000-30,000 words. The ultimate goal of the whole collection of short stories for all 12 is around 100,000 words.

Other than that, I am just adjusting to my move to Toronto and taking in the sights of the city while looking for part time work to keep my head above water.

Look forward to more releases soon! Until next time: Be Awesome!

Troubles with Port of Call on Kobo

So I recently uploaded the first short story I ever self published on Amazon onto another platform, being Kobo, the Canadian company that I bought my eReader from.

So far I've had some slight trouble getting the formatting correct using their uploading system but I think its worked out fine enough for this first attempt.

Because of an error in the system, I now have two separate copies of the same short story up online for FREE, though both of the formatting on each seem to be off.

The book is available for FREE at Kobo for time being here:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/port-of-call 

and here:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/port-of-call-1


 I hope everyone enjoys the free copy despite Kobo's screw up in the formatting. Hopefully Amazon will do their price match soon and everyone will be able to get this short story for FREE in a short while. I will have several titles being released within the next month so stay tuned for updates in the near future!

Hurting My Hand

Hey guys, haven't updated in a while. This is one of the things I've been up to:

HURTING MY HAND!
This is a few riffs from one of the acoustic songs I'm working on off my upcoming solo CD. I've only recently started getting into fingerstyle guitar so it's something I'm just exploring now. Hope you all dig it!



Also, as a quick plug, I'm going to recommend checking out my buddy Chris' video reel, featuring music by yours truly. It's called 'Rebel without a cause' and Chris' photography really makes my music look greater than I could have imagined when writing the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDqda6mPI4M

Review: Edge of Darkness

I'm sorry but this needs to be discussed. After what seems like decades since Mel Gibson has shown his face in a film, he has returned and just thought we'd all be OKAY with it. I mean, this is the guy that for the past four years has been in the news beating on officers about anti-Jewish psychobabble and directed Apocalypto. I remember clearly seeing those fake heads rolling down those Aztec stairs and was thinking, maybe Mel Gibson isn't as sane as we all hope his is. Maybe we're all more just too scared of him to otherwise not say his films are questionable. Either that or you do a film about Jesus and you get so many check and black marks to your name its really hard to determine what you can say about the guy.

'I'm gettin' too old for this shit," a wise man once said. That's what Mel Gibson could have said before he signed on for Edge of Darkness. I wouldn't have cared if I ever saw Mel Gibson's face on screen again if this movie hadn't of come out either, but alas, it did and now I'm faced with the jaw dropping realization that perhaps Mel Gibson should be seen more often. I'm not saying I want him playing the goofy father in the latest Disney movie with Miley Cyrus' newly revealed third personality or to be the voice of some CGI Dreamworks pic, I more mean if every once in a while, some corporate/legal thriller with need of ass-kickery came out with Mel Gibson slotted in for the main role, you might catch me in the theater more often.

Edge of Darkness is a quick to the chase mind bender based around a police officer losing his daughter. Police assume that he was the primary target for the killing and begin to build their case around that assumption, whereas Kraven (Gibson) isn't easily convinced and begins to investigate his daughter's life in search for a possible reason why someone could have wanted his daughter dead.


I know I'm a sucker for the lost child angle, there is nothing worse than a parent losing their son or daughter, Minority Report, Shutter Island, these films just seem to get to me emotionally because of that angle. It's something that not only is universal but is in my opinion very effective when captured on film. There is something about the grief of loss that when really explored in film transcends words or images, take Minority Report for instance: you really feel John Anderton's apartment when he or Colin Farrell's character walk into it. It looks like a terrarium, like the place he lives is its own environment; his apartment in every way reflects his state of being: it is divided, on edge, disorganized and a place of excess and haunting memories. Having such a powerful emotional drive behind a character not only connects the character to the audience, but also to the cinematographer because now he can capture that raw emotion and have the ability to subtly explore those themes through images and little half hints that you may notice and get something from if manage to catch.


There is something universal in this theme, the loss of a child. Those who have gone through it understand the loss, those who haven't can only imagine. Mel Gibson's revenge is the same as Liam Neeson's need to save his daughter in Taken, and though I can see many similarities between both Taken and Edge of Darkness, I personally think that Edge of Darkness is a much less of an action film and more a personal story and a personal story is always the best to get your audience really rooting for your characters.

That is what this film did more that anything, kept it a personal story. You really do feel that Mel Gibson has lost the only thing that mattered in his life, Thomas Kraven's little girl was the only girl in his life and she was taken away from him and now he's got nothing left but a lot of unanswered questions. Some of the best segments are those of Kraven at his home and in the flashbacks with his daughter as a child, what the filmmakers managed to pull off was building the character's back story and history without ever going into it to explain it all, much like in Minority Report with Tom Cruise's apartment, Thomas Kraven's home just screams this man's life in every shot, every close up of a photo album or picture frame, case file, chair, that old mantelpiece, whatever; the viewers see this home as a place that once held love and history.

And then there's the legal/corporate mind game and the action and all that. I've managed to talk quite a bit about the emotional draw of the movie and not much about the very well done and executed fight scenes and explosions and car crashes and mystery and what have you. I can say a number of things about all the nice action and confusion along the ride but I think this review has gone on long enough for you to be bored by now or maybe enticed to see the film. What separates Edge of Darkness from any other corporate thriller these days is its deeply rooted personal themes and humanity. This film is not something new, merely it is something very good. Mel Gibson, hats off to you, you crazy, crazy person.

KA-ZARJGH: The Michael Bay Syndrome

Near the beginning of the millennium I began to really appreciate the film industry in its beginnings to show really impressive improvements in the fields of visual effects and CGI. I clearly remember being young, seeing The Rocketeer and being damn impressed. Later on I saw TRON. Then suddenly with the explosion of high budget action films, VFX became a large role in many of the top grossing films. So much that then wholly computer animated films became the iron fisted leader of the animation world. Disney died along with it. But at least they gave us The Rocketeer.


I liked seeing the The Matrix, you know? A nice neo-Gnostic reincarnation through one of science fiction's darkest dreams of artificial intelligence. A story that made sense- for the most part, acting that was tolerable- for the most part, Keanu, and wicked CGI that was to my young eyes unprecedented. I remember seeing Dragonheart a little before that and even at that age I was saying, 'Big green screen, Dennis Quaid isn't talking to anyone and Sean Connery is no dragon.'

It was a time then that I was naive in general but I didn't think I was being naive when it came to movies. People around me started dissing the awesome effects and graphics coming out of films and saying that they didn't look real. I had no qualms about that at the time because I didn't care if it looked real enough as long as the movie was still awesome. And for a good long time it stuck like that, where most of the really big budget films with the awesome effects, CGI, puppeteers, props and sets were the best of the films that were coming out.

Now I'm drowning in overproduced CGI saturated films. Pixar started pissing me off and it took Bluray for me to find my love for most of them again because for a good while except for certain exceptions, CGI started to go downhill and I started to enjoy more films that were more down to earth or at least didn't have five lens flares seen in between a given blink.

Which brings me to the flares. Did anyone see the new Clash of the Titans? Way to throw storyline and character arcs out the door. They had the chance to be legendary. Liam Neeson was Zeus for godssakes, how could they fuck that up? I bet if we did shots to the artificial lens flares seen in this film, anyone under 7 feet tall would have alcohol poisoning. I'm not doing a review of Clash of the Titans now, I can't be bothered enough to try to remember all of it because there was so little story in between action that by the end of it, I didn't even care if Hades won or not, fuck, if Ralph Fiennes wants to rule the Heavens, I'm all for him. The whole damn film leads up to the fight between Avatar boytoy Sam Worthington and the Kraken and he manages to not even touch it to kill it in mere seconds, the whole movie crashing down with the awful bits of stony Kraken meat falling into the Greek ocean. Then came the fight between Worthington and Hades, which again, lasts thirty seconds the most. One of the most anti-climactic films I have ever seen but do you what? Wow, was that Pegasus pretty. The monsters were awful beasts that for the most part seemed real enough to be feared in a CGI sense, the polygon count would be staggering.

All I'm saying is that in a world where technology in CG and VFX has become this advanced, it is far too easy to get carried away with what looks ridiculous and mistake that for something that is synonymous with blockbuster. If I wanted to watch something that has immense graphics and zero storyline I would watch the DragonBall movie again, no more can I have directors who flaunt their CG friend's talents while paying zero attention to their script. If the budget calls for more CG than talented actors who are convincing in their roles, your movie sucks no matter what goofy bow you strap on for wrapping. Worst Christmas gift ever.

This Michael Bay-ishness must come to an end. If your movie is just KABOOM then don't try to convince me otherwise by cutting your trailer with intrigue as its motive, DO NOT GET ME INTERESTED IN SOMETHING THAT IS GARB. All I can tell by the Transformers movies is that they sure know how to market explosions.

Directors need to like church and state divide the advancements in CG from their film's message because if the two become confused for the one another or synonymous, we lose what film is really about: the development of ideas through visuals and storyline, the revealing of character and emotion, the discovery of pieces of ourselves in the heroes and villains that appear in a film.
We need to realize that an original idea transcends everything else and unless your film has that why are you wasting people's time? Why waste your time?

It took you a full year-2 years to put together that awful mosaic of explosions, lens flares, tits and epicness? Hope it was it was worth it because you got nothing to show for it.

First Steps Music Video Youtube

I submitted the music video my band performs on and I directed this year at college to Youtube two weeks back. It took us from late September to early March to complete this bad boy but it was worth it and it looks great. Along with writing the song and producing the album, I directed the video, made several of the 2D cell animations used and did lots of the coloring/effect work.

Aidan Kennedy was my director of photography and was a great cameraman for what shoots we had. Three. Three very necessary and metal shoots. Running around in the woods has never been so much fun.

Tyler Sellars was my producer and he was great from the get go basically letting me do my crazy thing whilst trying to keep us on track. Produced. Metal. Produced.

Christopher Faria fulfilled the role of Vocalist/Editor/Stop Motion Extraordinaire/Dark Lord Kromdor. Not enough can be said about anyone on the crew but I think Chris really needs a little extra being that if it were not for the commitment made between him and I, the video would have turned out very differently and nowhere near as good as it has. So there's that.

Mantakor are currently recording our first EP, Chamber of Iron Trees which I will post songs from or links to them hopefully within the week. We have a Myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/mantakorband , so check that out if you're impatient for early songs.

But without further ado, after many months of labor and love: First Steps by Mantakor

Review: Nic Cage & Werner Hossephepher's Bad Lieutenant

Hey, about time crazy Nic Cage went back to being crazy ol' Nic Cage. Plus his hair didn't look ridiculous, as it has in every last Nic Cage movie within the past what, four years now. I used to really think Nic Cage was where its at: Con Air, Adaptation, Raising Arizona, Matchstick Men, The Rock - I was almost tired at that point of how many GOOD movies this guy had been in.

Maybe I just had to wait around for Ghost Rider to usher in a sea of shit coming from his general direction. Not to say that Nic Cage was the worst part of Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider being Ghost Rider made it awful and having a seasoned actor come in on a project that already had shitty writing and concepts didn't save the sinking ship. I know some people like Ghost Rider but I dont know how many of the people who back up the movie have seen it more than twice. Why would you? You could ride a bike. Or watch another movie.

Then there was the two or three year stretch where every Nic Cage movie involved clues and puzzles, labyrinths and codes, and it was around this time that slowly I began to notice something very disturbing:

Is Nic Cage slowly turning into Jimmy Stewart?

Seriously. Check it out. The lisp, the goofiness, the sharp wit when serious, the silly laugh. His voice in my opinion is getting ridiculous. If only at the last scene of Knowing they could find out that all the evil aliens were Mr. Potter's goons and if they don't find out the clues found in the stupid number clue sheet from the goofy goddamned time capsule there won't be Christmas for the poor kids.

Which, I think, maybe, brings me back to Bad Lieutenant. Now, having seen Harvey Kietel's Bad Lieutenant several years ago, I personally was happy enough with one crazy motherfucker cop doing crack off of hookers and jacking off in public in a movie called Bad Lieutenant already. So I had my skeptic radar on high and I was very fearful indeed at this horrid remake and Nic Cage combination.



But alas, due to a recommendation from a cousin of mine I checked out what I figured would be horrible but turned out to be a little more than decent, border-lining on good. Sure it had everything the first Bad Lieutenant had, lots of drugs, violence, abuse, hookers, gambling, lying, cheating and all that essential crooked cop goodness, but what it also had was a semblance of story and dark cleverness that isn't prevalent in many movies today.

Nic Cage is fucking crazy. In this movie, the man is simply nuts. I like it. Made up for Eva Mendes coming back for more, back from Ghost Rider with a supporting cast vengeance. And I saw you too, Val Kilmer; always a pleasure seeing that chap on the screen, not counting Top Gun, that is. Sorry Ice Man.

I suggest checking out the new Bad Lieutenant. It may not be a buyer, but check it, even.

Site Up

Well I managed to do the five or so clicks and three - four type jobs needed to be performed in order to make this blog so I'd say that's a five or so six clicks and three to four types well done, right?

I guess I'll just say welcome to all those who will end up on this site maybe one day; it will be future home to my rantings, ravings, art, music and video projects and maybe some other random things I'll try along the way. I don't care for Facebook or Twitter to keep in contact with people so I figured if I'd make a website for me I could just update people on my life from here and therefore eliminate all the other people who really wouldn't care otherwise.

I imagine I'll throw up art works, links to youtube (I'll try to make it mostly stuff I personally post, not just stuff I might happen to 'dig'), music, who knows. I'm too scatterbrained to concentrate on less than seven things in a given sitting or standing so expect lunacy in all shapes, forms and sizes but granted you came to the site in the first place, I doubt you were expecting nothing less.