Knight of the Living Bread

Steak Ain't Look The Same No More, When Ye're A Butcher

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:59:55 GMT

Detailed reviews are a bollocks to write right now. Let us just say that I am essentially a hollow shell of a man, dead on the inside, with a smouldering cinder suspended where my heart ought to be. Until my fiancee holds my hand that is, at which point I am the happiest creature on God's green earth, but for now let us focus on the phenomenon I was affected with in the times I was in an audience seat. As I said, detailed reviews are a bollocks to write right now, so here is a list.

Some of these I watched in the comfort of my own home, and others in the theater, like they were meant to be seen. Some I watched while imprisoned in a giant cylinder of metal hurtling at high speeds through the lower stratosphere to exotic continents.

500 Days of Summer - I was prepared to be pissed off at this movie, and actually was for a while, but it all turned out alright in the end, and I have decided that I like it. A good movie for men who know what it is to have been broken up with.

The Time Traveler's Wife - not supposed to be as good as the book, but if the major plot points are anything alike, I say the whole thing is gimmicky and contrived. Interesting at best, kinda slow and boring at times, pretty creepy/cringe-worthy in a few parts. If you pass this one, you won't miss much. Holy crap, that's Eric Bana, no wonder he seemed familiar.

Julie and Julia - I'm so glad I didn't sleep on the plane when this came on. One of those movies that worked so well because I started watching it knowing absolutely nothing about it. Super, super cute, feel-good date movie, one of those I might be ashamed of admitting that I liked, if only I felt any shame at all.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - it's Harry Potter alright. allisino and I have a running joke where, instead of 'Harry Potter', we say 'helicopter' with the same space and stresses as when you would say the name; 'Heli Copter'. Now say it in an exaggerated British accent. It still cracks me up, and I think it improves the series greatly. Just thought I'd share that. As usual, Luna Lovegood is awesome.

Avatar - in 3D, it is a tremendous technical triumph, and a visually magnificent movie.

District 9 - a dark, stark rogue of a movie, hard to pin down, but delivers on the pew pew. My brother gave it to me for Christmas on blu-ray, and I foresee repeat viewings, though probably infrequent and far in between.

The Princess and the Frog - biggest disappointment of 2010 so far (yes, I know it was released 2009, but I just watched it yesterday, ok). People say it was 'classic' Disney, but what I saw was a try. A pretty good try, but in their own words, they were only 'almost there'. I don't think I'll even be owning this one.

Sometimes I wonder whether I've lost something. I can't watch or read anything anymore without running a kind of filter in the back of my mind, one part already dissecting the story and dialogue, weighing the characters and setting, predicting the next plot turn, deciphering the overarching message, another part discerning and judging the moral decisions portrayed and in what light they are presented, and probably a few other subroutines thrown in there that I don't care to psychoanalyze right now.

It... it kind of kills the fun of it sometimes, particularly the first part. It's not really as much a matter of any standard of 'good taste' as it is the fact that I consider myself practicing the same craft as these people, as unpublished and as unpaid as I may be. When you know where to look, you see the seams in things, and sometimes the stuffing too.

Even with the ones I liked, I had to hold out liking it completely until the end, when I had all the information to work with and analyze and synthesize. That is an unfortunate tension, one that I wish I could suspend, particularly for movies that friends, family and the general populace seem to enjoy.

Am I missing something, I wonder, or perhaps I am picking up too much? In the end, it's not really something I can think of in terms of 'is it worth it?', just a growing awareness of how different my perspectives are now compared to when I was younger and less discriminating, and compared to those who have had exposures and experiences different from my own. It's nothing that can really be helped, especially given that I choose to train in just this sort of thing.

At the very least it might be a spur for me to create more. When the day comes that I enjoy nothing that recreational media has to offer me anymore, perhaps that will be day that I say bugger them all and make some of my own, all of it everything that I would rather watch, read, or play myself.

But how to make something that others will watch, read or play, now there's the rub.

God bless~

Christ Is Born!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:20:26 GMT

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! I know it's been kind of rough for you these past two thousand years, but we've had good times too! Me and my family, our birthday present to you is our lives and our all! See you in church! Love ya! ^.^

Advanced Memetics Reredux

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:34:51 GMT

The Animated Movie Meme:
- X what you've seen
- O what you haven't finished/seen sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italics for what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

Mads's own personal remix:

- Font color red if it induced actual rage or depression or extreme negative reaction
- Font color green if one of absolute favorites and watched more than five times

Blame pixelphile and chaos_r and

Classic Disney
[x] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[x] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[x] Bambi (1942)
[x] Cinderella (1950)
[x] Dumbo (1941)
[x] Fantasia (1940)
[x] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[o] Mary Poppins (1964)
[x] Peter Pan (1953)
[x] Pinocchio (1940)
[x] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[x] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[ ] Song of the South (1946)

Disney's Dark Age
[x] The Aristocats (1970)
[o] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[x] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[o] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[x] The Jungle Book (1967)
[o] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[x] Oliver and Company (1986)
[ ] Pete's Dragon (1977)
[x] The Rescuers (1977)
[x] Robin Hood (1973)
[x] The Sword In The Stone (1963)

The Disney Renaissance
[x] Aladdin (1992)
[x] Beauty and the Beast (1991) - probably one of the best, but nowhere to be found in dvd. Oh, how I loathe the "Disney Vault".
[x] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[o] An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
[x] Hercules (1997)
[x] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
[x] The Lion King (1994)
[x] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[x] Mulan (1998)
[x] Pocahontas (1995)
[x] The Rescuers Down Under (1990) - omg, the flight sequences. And Bernard/Biance is just too adorable
[x] Tarzan (1999) - omg, omg, my absolute favorite Disney animated film of all time. Could do without all the Roseanne-gorilla sequences, but Tarzan's maleness and Jane's femaleness and how they interacted throughout the movie just resonated with most every romantic ideal in my bones. And, as it turned out, Jane's cute energy foreshadowed the supreme cuteness I proposed marriage to. X3

Disney's Modern Age
[x] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[x] Bolt (2008)
[ ] Brother Bear (2003)
[x] Chicken Little (2005) - tried a little too hard, would have been a good effort, but loses points for being hideously overpromoted.
[ ] Dinosaur (2000)
[x] The Emperor's New Groove (2000) - I like David Spade, and I do not apologize.
[o] Fantasia 2000 (2000)
[ ] Home on the Range (2004)
[ ] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[ ] Treasure Planet (2002)
[ ] The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Pixar
[x] A Bug's Life (1998)
[x] Cars (2006)
[x] Finding Nemo (2003)
[x] The Incredibles (2004)
[x] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[x] Ratatouille (2007) - a very nearly perfect film by the measure of what I look for in films. Must have literally watched it twenty times, and still am not tired of it. One of my top three favorite movies, period.
[x] Toy Story (1995)
[x] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[x] Wall-E (2008) - if not for a couple of critical niggles, very nearly worth a bold, or maybe even a green. I'm just not that into robots, I guess. Fleshies all the way!
[x] Up (2009) - haven't watched it in a frequency of double digits yet, but that's only because it's so new, and you don't guzzle fine wine like Coca-Cola. One of the most touching films I'd ever seen, and elevated my already stellar esteem for Pixar studios. It made me cry viewing it the second time around-- partly because allisino wasn't with me on the plane. TwT

Don Bluth
[o] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[o] An American Tail (1986)
[x] An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[ ] Anastasia (1997)
[x] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[x] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[x] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[x] Thumbelina (1994) - wow, she seriously seems like she has a learning disability. A rare film where the only endearing character is the prince.
[ ] Titan AE (2000)
[x] A Troll in Central Park (1994)
[ ] Bartok the Magnificent (1999)

Claymation
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[ ] Chicken Run (2000)
[x] Corpse Bride (2005) - severely disappointing after Nightmare. Just a whole lot of gothwank, and not very good at that.
[o] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[x] Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993) - a truly worthy classic; now if only it weren't for all the neogothlites attaching to it like so many barnacles...
[ ] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
[ ] Flushed Away (2006)
[x] Coraline (2009)

CGI
[x] Antz (1998) - Woody Allen, ugh.
[x] Happy Feet (2006) - not really sure what to feel about this one. It's just so weird!
[x] Kung Fu Panda (2008) - only barely a fave, but that's because Jack Black is something of an endearing fellow to me.
[x] Secrets of the Furious Five (2008) - sneaking this in here because it didn't seem to have much other place to go. Not groundbreaking, but a net good, with more stories interesting than boring.
[ ] Madagascar (2005)
[ ] Madagascar 2 (2008)
[x] Monster House (2006) - it's no Pixar, but very cute
[o] Over the Hedge (2006)
[ ] Polar Express, The (2004)
[x] Robots (2005) - OMG, ROBIN WILLIAMS, I KNOW YOU USED TO BE THE BOMB, BUT MAN, YOU NOW POISON EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH! Such squandered film potential, srsly
[x] Shrek (2001)
[x] Shrek 2 (2004)
[o] Shrek The Third (2007)
[ ] Happily N'Ever After (2006)
[ ] Open Season (2006)

Imports

[ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[x] The Last Unicorn (1982) - nostalgia wins the day! Didn't age very well, but I think that's part of its charm.
[ ] Light Years
[ ] The Plague Dogs
[ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
[ ] Persepolis (2007)
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[ ] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[ ] Yellow Submarine (1968)

Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki & Satoshi Kon
[x] Grave of the Fireflies -- nothing personal; it's not that I hate or dislike it, but damned if I'm ever going to watch it again.
[x] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[x] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[o] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas
[x] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[x] Nausicaa; of the Valley of the Wind (1984) - soooooo generiiiiic
[ ] Only Yesterday
[ ] Pom Poko (Tanuki War)
[x] Ponyo (2008)
[x] Porco Rosso (1992) - everything I love about Miyazaki films. Likable heroes, pretty girls, flying, machines, and just a smidgen of magic.
[x] Princess Mononoke (1999) - basically a Nausicaa upgrade
[x] Spirited Away (2002)
[ ] Tales of Earthsea (2006)
[x] The Cat Returns
[x] Whisper of the Heart - heartachingly sweet and innocent. You need to watch this if you've ever been young and in love once.
[x] Millennium Actress (2001) - green, if it weren't for the ending and the implied message.
[ ] Paprika (2006)
[ ] Perfect Blue (1999)
[ ] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
[x] Memories - Magnetic Rose (1995) - a grab bag, but ultimately a net loss and very nearly a waste of time.

Shinkai Makoto
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[x] Voices of a Distant Star (2001) - too much CGI.
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

Other Anime Films
[ ] Adolescence of Utena
[x] Akira (1989) - classic. The only reason I don't watch it more is the length.
[ ] Appleseed
[ ] Appleseed: Ex Machina
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth
[x] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden
[x] End of Evangelion - wtf is this shit? Seriously? gtfo
[ ] Fist of the North Star
[ ] Galaxy Express
[x] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[ ] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
[ ] Lensman
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love
[x] Metropolis (2001)
[ ] Neo-Tokyo
[ ] Ninja Scroll
[ ] Patlabor the Movie
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13
[x] Project A-ko - I need to track a copy of this down, because it's just such old school, surreal fun!
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle
[ ] Silent Mobius
[ ] Space Adventure Cobra
[x] Steamboy (2004)
[o] Street Fighter II
[ ] Sword of the Stranger
[ ] The Fantastic Adventures of Unico
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie
[x] Vampire Hunter D
[ ] Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlines
[ ] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force
[x] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland - sumptuous animation, even though it does leave you feeling like you really did wake up from a confusing and rambling dream.

Cartoons For Grown-Ups
[ ] American Pop
[x] The Animatrix (2003) - one of the better things to come out of the whole Matrix craze. Just the Beyond featurette carries the whole thing, honestly.
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie
[x] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996) - AHAHAHA, OH MTV
[x] Cool World
[x] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[x] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2006)
[ ] Fire & Ice
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)
[ ] The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)
[ ] Heavy Metal (1981)
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Hey Good Looking
[ ] Lady Death
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[x] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (AKA - Coonskin)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)

Other Animated Movies I Can't Categorize

[ ] Animal Farm
[ ] Animalympics
[x] Balto - good, clean fun. Also, wait, what, there were sequels? :O
[ ] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[x] Batman and the Mask of Phantasm
[x] The Brave Little Toaster (1988) - this movie always did, and still does creep me out.
[ ] The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997) - wtf
[ ] The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) - WTF!!?
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie
[x] Care Bears: The Movie
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie II
[x] Cats Don't Dance (1997) - so goofy and sooo happycute! One of those movies I was just glad was made, even though it never made it commercially (and probably for very good reasons too). The movie that made me borderline furry.
[ ] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[x] Fern Gully
[o] G.I. Joe: The Movie - you know what the great thing is? I was actually more aggrieved about Cobra Commander getting turned into a snake than Duke dying. I AM SO WEEEEIIIRD
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword
[ ] The Hobbit
[x] The Iron Giant (1999) - when I found out that one of Pixar's driving personalities was involved in this (Mike Lasseter, I believe. EDIT: Brad Bird, actually! Thanks, kouaidou!), I was hardly surprised at all. A true gem of an animated film, an instant classic, a cult favorite, and a wonderful story. Let it never be said that Vin Diesel was never in anything truly good. XD
[ ] Justice League: The New Frontier
[ ] Lord of the Rings (animated)
[ ] Looney Tunes: Back in Action
[o] My Little Pony: The Movie
[ ] Once Upon a Forest (1993)
[ ] Opus: A Wish for Wings that Work
[ ] The Phantom Tollbooth
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[x] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[x] Joseph: King of Dreams
[x] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie
[x] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[ ] Ringing Bell
[o] The Road to El Dorado (2000) - I need to watch this again on a real dvd; as it was, I think the pirated version ate all the music in the movie, and that seriously crippled it.
[ ] Rock & Rule
[x] Space Jam - I watched this many times in theaters when it came out. Now, I couldn't tell you why. Or rather, I probably could, but would rather not. :|
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
[ ] Superman: Doomsday
[x] The Swan Princess (1994) - nostalgia glasses totally fooled me on this one. Barely passable as a movie, only effort saves it.
[x] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards
[o] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[o] The Rugrats Movie
[x] Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie
[o] Wakko's Wish
[x] Digimon: The Movie - the first half anyway. I don't even like Digimon, but the english dub makes me laugh despite myself.
[x] Escaflowne - about the only thing I like about it is that Dilandau lives in the end.
[ ] Wonder Woman
[ ] James Cameron's Avatar

This list is far from exhaustive, so I'm throwing some more down here in case people missed them doing it the first time around. These are the ones familiar to me; Wikipedia has a bunch.

[x] Dexter's Lab: Ego Trip Special - WHY IS THERE NOT A DVD OF THIS YET
[o] The Three Caballeros
[x] The Dragon Hunters
[o] Sinbad: The Legend of The Seven Seas
[o] The Wonderful World of Puss In Boots - holy crap, I remember loving this as a kid! Maybe it's just the nostalgia glasses talking, but I never knew what it was really called, and thus could never find it. THANK YOU, WIKIPEDIA
[o] The Incredible Mister Limpet
[o] Asterix Versus Ceasar
[o] The Pagemaster
[x] Beowulf (2007)
[x] Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer - OMG, WHO DOESN'T LOVE RAINBOW BRITE
[o] The Adventures of the American Rabbit
[x] The Chipmunk Adventure
[x] The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones
[x] Metal Skin Panic: Madox-01
[x] Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture - lumping all three movies in here; a guilty pleasure, really-- a reminder of days gone by when I had no standards whatsoever.
[x] We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story - ... okay, I guess I had some standards.
[x] Samurai Shodown: The Movie
[x] Gargoyles The Movie: The Heroes Awaken
[x] Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
[x] Aladdin : The Return of Jafar
[x] Aladdin and the Prince of Thieves
[x] Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - not as depressing as Graveyard, but damned close
[x] Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World
[ ] The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
[x] Pokemon: The First Movie
[ ] Ice Age
[ ] Ice Age: The Meltdown
[x] Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs
[x] Osmosis Jones
[x] Lilo and Stitch
[x] Return to Neverland
[x] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - good horse movie
[x] Tom and Jerry: The Movie - oh, wow, this... this severely embarrassed me as a child. I knew my uncle liked Tom and Jerry, and so I pulled him to the tv to watch with us, thinking he'd enjoy it too. I had no idea how much they'd changed the whole dynamic that makes Tom and Jerry what it is just to serve a sickeningly watered-down movie. They even made Tom and Jerry talk. My uncle was a dear and watched the whole thing with us and said he liked it, but I was and still am mortified. Ugh.
[ ] Kim Possible: A Stitch In Time - maybe someday I'll even watch the series. Hah.
[o] Kim Possible: So The Drama - DRAKKEN/SHEGO WOOHOO
[x] Shark Tale - only Will Smith's charisma saves this from italicization.
[ ] Valiant
[ ] Bee Movie - yes, I do dislike Jerry Seinfeld that much.
[ ] Donkey Xote
[x] Surf's Up
[x] The Simpsons Movie
[ ] Horton Hears A Who
[ ] Igor
[o] Resident Evil: Degeneration
[ ] Star Wars: The Clone Wars
[x] Star Wars Clone Wars - not a Star Wars fan, but this was freaking awesome, and infinitely better than the CGI Lucas vomit of almost the same name. GENERAL GRIEVOUS I STILL BELIIIIEEEVE. Asajj Ventress is also the bomb.
[x] The Tale of Despereaux
[x] Tinker Bell - hush, you.
[ ] 9
[ ] Astroboy
[ ] Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
[x] Monsters Vs Aliens - this is soooooo bad, I'm actually working on a script treatment to improve it. IT'S AN ACT OF CHARITY

Still feels incomplete somehow. I wish I were back at home so I could look at my dvds. Otherwise, still altogether too much time I spent watching cartoons. XD

Have I Ever Mentioned How Much I Hate Travelling?

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:57:17 GMT

On the seventh of December, I flew off to the Philippines to be my best friend's best man and to spend some time with my semi-estranged father. The wedding was lovely (both of them), and my father was absolutely delighted to see me, along with a couple of cousins I'd never met before and other relations. I flew back on the sixteenth, slept for a day, and then had to work my three-day weekend at the usual twelve-hours-a-pop shifts, all the while attending Christmas novena masses at night afterwards and having dinner with the family. Yesterday, I did some last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping for the night's Early Christmas Party and Gift Exchange. Today, I fly off to Texas for a mother's side family semi-reunion and am coming back on the twenty-ninth.

So I've been a little busy. I did however take a moment of silence when I found out on the seventeenth about jaeai's passing away. We never got the opportunity to be close, but I followed her story for some short time, and we were, to the degree possible in the little time we've had, friends. I mourn for her now, in my fashion, and for the happiness in life that so eluded her, and for the pain and suffering that she's managed to escape.

I've been told once, or perhaps I've read somewhere that praying for the dead is the highest form of charity one can perform. I've pondered that for some time, and the obvious objections began to melt away one by one as I thought on it. The dead, after all, can no longer do anything for themselves-- they have to depend on the fond remembrance and thoughtful consideration of those who live after them to ask for mercy on their behalf. The dead can in no way pay you back for what you do for them, cannot even thank you, and so anything done for them takes the form of pure, selfless giving, by definition.

Those of you who knew Joyce probably already heard of her passing from elsewhere. But for those of you who don't know her, I ask for your prayers all the same. In the infinite wisdom of He who listens, no prayer said with a pure and contrite heart is ever wasted, whether you know who you are praying for or not.

And I ask that this Christmas season you think about those you may want to pray for before it is too late, either for you or for them. Love never fails, but we have to do our part as well.

Have a blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas, you guys. Peace be with you and your families.

Holy Filipino Traditions, Batman

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:08:57 GMT

I have done nothing but eat since I got here. Maaaaan.

SCIENCE!!!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:27:25 GMT

Posting this from the Verizon Chocolate my brother Mike gave me for my birthday. It's pretty sweet. I am also totally posting from the boarding gate to the plane for Hong Kong where I'll be laid over for five hours before my transferring flight to the Philippines. Yeah, I can't believe I'm here either.

The only other thing of note is that the 'Epic' video shown to us during homily last night was pretty much the best thing I'd seen in ages. I can't copypasta links or embed videos with this thing, but a simple Youtube search of 'epic' and 'Catholics Come Home' should suffice.

Or you can just go here: www.catholicscomehome.org

Man, can't wait 'til I come home. God bless! X3

Reflections and Invocation

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:34:21 GMT

"Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. "

- Matthew 15:29-30
New American Bible

The above was the gospel reading at mass today, and it touched me to the quick. Father's homily then centered on how it is the infirm who typically flock towards Jesus, and how when we are healthy or well off, that is when the temptation to think, "I do not need God" is greatest. I know this well. Many times I have had to remind myself that my light is not my own, and though I may sometimes feel I need nothing more, then that may be the best time to remember that I am nothing.

I am in need of healing too. When I am slow to love my neighbor and help those in need, I am lame. When I refuse to see the truth, I am blind. When sin distorts the image of Christ in my actions, my life, and in my soul, I am deformed. When I am silent when I ought to speak out against gross error, against injustice and evil, I am mute.

All I can do is bring all of myself to His feet, at the foot of the Cross. As Catholics, we have no pretensions about our own sinfulness and weaknesses, that we stumble-- repeatedly-- before we get it right. If we get it right at all. Those who are healthy have no need of a physician. The rest of us need a saviour to cure us, to make us whole. Sometimes the way looks hard and times look grim, but all we can go on is the promise that He would ever remain with His Church and never allow it to be destroyed. Even at the hands of its own members.

Something I'd wanted to share from last week: we were at my parents' place for Thanksgiving, and they were watching Hannity on Fox News (thank goodness I don't have tv or cable at home). It was a special episode though, dubbed 'Beyond Belief', and it talked about a bunch of interesting stuff like the Illuminati, the blood miracle of St. Januarius, and exorcisms. What was of great interest to me however was the featurette on Santa Muerte of Mexico.

I had not even heard of any of this before watching that episode. In some ways, it wasn't much of a surprise that this sort of thing was going on in one of the most chaotic areas of the world; even the idea of a patron 'saint' for drug smugglers, dealers, and other violent sorts wasn't new to me. In other ways, it was quite an eye-opener, something so specific, a name and a face (of sorts) given to the phenomenon. It's somewhat rare to see the face of the enemy so brazenly on display.

At any given moment my brain is given to freeform association, so I apologized to my dear wife-to-be for shifting into mystical thought partway as I watched the show. It occurs to me that this Santa Muerte is nothing more (or less) than a holdover from the ancient Aztec pantheon, refusing to vanish completely without a fight. Wikipedia mentions as much about the MesoAmerican association after a skim, but it was a stark realization for me at the time.

I was gratified immediately after however to remember another factoid, one I deeply cherish. It has been almost five hundred years since the Aztec civilization was destroyed and since the apparitions that gave the Blessed Virgin Mary a new title: 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'.

'Guadalupe' means 'crusher of the stone serpent'.

The nightmare scale of ritual human sacrifice in the Aztec temples was destroyed, and over six million Aztec Indians were converted. The fight in Mexico goes on, but the battle over Guadalupe is decided, and the war is already won. May Mary watch over us in our fight here.

My best friend's wedding is on the twelfth of December, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is no coincidence, and I will make sure to mention as much in my best man speech.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, intercessor of the unborn, pray for us.

PIIIIIIIIIIIG

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:29:23 GMT

HOLY CRAP, you guys, I am not buying an eighty-dollar ham, not even for my father! He seems to have come upon the idea that Chicago is famous for some kind of sliced ham, but I couldn't find anything with the city's handle on it specifically.

Looks tasty though. :O~~~

I Hope Your Bandwidth Is Good

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:46:40 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving, you guys!

Stacked drawings are meant to give a little look at the process where I try out different looks and then settle for one for a new character, or just develop a clear mental image I already had.

As per usual: poses are something less than dynamic, but that seems to be the case when I'm still getting to know a character and setting up his/her appearance and a full up frontal shot serves best to figure out the general impression and silhouette. 3/4 view is limited to facing the left, and the light source is usually there too. Being right-handed can get so annoyingly predictable.

Did a couple of different things here: allisino showed the noob that is me how to use the adjustments tab to shoop my lineart into something approximating the lineart I typically work with when coloring. As it was, I was just drafting some ideas, and so used a lighter pen than my usual black gel. Trouble was, using the adjustment technique on draft art compromised some of the subtlety of the original linework, so I decided to experiment.

The first colored piece above was the first I'd done in a long time, and while it's alright, I disliked how heavily I colored. The second one was better-- I didn't darken the lines at all and used more muted tones.

I did the same thing for the third, and damn, she looks like she's standing out of the page.

I guess there're diminishing returns for the fourth one-- with the lightest linework (or perhaps a bad scan), the colors end up overpowering the original drawing, plus I didn't quite get the shade I'd wanted for her armour. I was going for a dull rust red. Everyone says it's pink. I should've used more orange. :/

God bless~

EDIT: On closer inspection, Juniper was supposed to have a white shirt. Oops.

Amadeomon Has Digivolved to AMERICAMADEOMON

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:52:39 GMT

As a resident alien, I was never entirely versed in all of my rights and privileges as a guest of this great country, but I was always acutely aware that I was already reaping a share of the fabled opportunity and plenty that brought me and my family here in the first place. I had my share in its upkeep as well. I was already paying a significant amount in taxes, I was contributing to its free market as a regular laborer and a tiny entrepreneur, and was also taking part most avidly in its free exchange of ideas.

I even courted and proposed marriage to one of its citizens. :D

How much will this change with my upgrade in legal status as a full American citizen? Not a whole lot in terms of external appearances; I doubt I'll be earning any more than I already am. I'll still be paying pretty much the same deductions, be part of the same Social Security System, receive all the civil benefits I enjoyed as a legal immigrant, and I'll still be marrying the sweetest, most wonderful girl on the face of the planet.

Internally, I realize that it is a huge step; whilst my ethnic heritage will always be Filipino (and I would not have it otherwise, even were it in my power to change), I have with full knowledge and free will accepted the grave responsibility of being an American citizen. With all the nation's discords and difficulties, it is, in some ways, the worst time to be a citizen. But what better test of loyalty is there than to stand true in the face of tribulation? So, in some ways, it is the best time to be a citizen.

During the oath-taking, I swore to bind myself to the United States, and to rescind and abjure all loyalties to any foreign prince, power and potentate. I find in this no contradiction whatsoever with regards my first and fullest loyalty: to the Roman Catholic Church, which is universal by its very nature.

Being a citizen affords me one great right and privilege which I intend to exercise to its fullest capacity; the power to vote. I was heretofore only able to express ideological and political will into opinion and indirect monetary and moral support, but not into direct civil action. Now I can do all these, in union with the Catholic Church in America. As far as I am able, I will vote according to the dictates of conscience and prudence, but always in obedience to and in accord with all of the Catholic Church's social doctrines. All of them.

More immediately, my citizenship meant that I needed to go to Chicago-- again-- yesterday and apply for an expedited passport in person. Last month or so, I made the four-hour journey for my citizenship interview. Yesterday, I confirmed that I still hate large metropolitan cities.

Why apply for a passport? Because I am going to the Philippines-- again-- on December 7. The notice for me and my brother's oath-taking ceremony (which was scheduled separately, but which we managed to take simultaneously, praise God) came at rather short notice (like, within the week). We managed to get the day off through the kindness of our superiors, but for a couple of days I was presented with the rather hairy dilemma of choosing to either 1) become an American citizen and have to go through the bother of obtaining a passport fast, or 2) delay my citizenship so I can travel as planned, but risk the annoyance of the American naturalization system, which has a reputation for being somewhat fickle.

I made my decision on Friday.

The good news I found after the fact was that I did not need to apply for a Philippine visa as I had realized and feared last week. We wondered for a while about a legal ambiguity wherein the Philippines still recognizes me as a dual citizen although the US doesn't (thus eliminating the need for a foreigner visa to the Phils at least), but then the question became moot when I learned that I did not need a visa for trips under twenty-one days. Perfect! I'll only be there for seven days or less, depending on arrival-departure and dateline reckonings.

And as far as the whole Phil-Am thing goes, my dear wife-to-be urges me to seek out legal dual-citizenship in an American context if it exists; she has this odd fixation on having our future hybrid mutant children. :D

Anyway, the trip stuff's all taken care of now, and I don't even have to worry about getting the oath-taking notice and ceremony while I'm away-- something that's happened to prospective Americans in quite a few horror stories. I am returning to the birthplace of my fathers one more time to attend my best friend's wedding as his best man. I really, really hate to be so far away from my fiancee for seven days, even more that one of those days is my birthday, and it's a little gnawing that the cost of travel was carved out of funds that could have gone to our wedding war chest, but a promise is a promise.

It's oddly appropriate and symmetrical though-- last year, I went to celebrate death. This year, I return to celebrate life.

Still, for a guy who likes to stay in one place for as long as possible, I sure do travel a lot. Almost as soon as I return, I go to Texas with my family for Christmas. Irony makes philosophers of us all.

God love you and God bless!

Ahem.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:39:54 GMT

WHAT IS UP, MY FELLOW AMERICANS

Am Actually Halfway Through Purgatory Already, But...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:15:16 GMT

"Anybody who prefers to read the poem, as Dante of course meant it to be read,
without knowing from one canto to another what is coming next, can do so,
ignoring both Introduction and Notes at the first run-through.
Those who choose this course do Dante honour and therein do well."

- Dorothy Sayers
The Divine Comedy: BOOK 2, Purgatory
Introduction, PAGE 63

I read everything. Everything. NOW you tell me. :|

My Email Asks Me If I Like Elf-Woman

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:05:08 GMT

One of the reasons I've held my peace on this journal for so long is the all-too-keen awareness that it's not really a diary in as much as it is a public forum, and I try not to speak on a public forum unless I actually have something interesting to say. Added to the knowledge that the people I associate with tend to have a very specific range of interests indeed, the result is my choosing to just keep to myself for now the personally important but admittedly mundane business of building a marriage.

Well, I could wax poetic about what is to me an exciting engagement, as well as a very riveting religious regimen, but given the volumes I could easily fill my friends' FLists with, I decided to spare everyone for now. :V

Logistically, it's not looking good for me on the pop culture front; of the last few batches of nonessential purchases I've made, the overwhelming bulk was made up of history and historical commentary books (SHOCKING!). Muramasa was the only game I bought this year, and I didn't even play that, leaving it for my brother to finish while I messed around with Einhander, Geometry Wars, Team Fortress 2, and Rock Band 2.

Fortunately I've bought some DVDs instead, plus my youngest brother has been pirating movies like a crosseyed Hong Kong Chinaman selling to the Philippines, thus freeing me from legal culpability, as well as providing me with provender for pithy pulp perspectives!

Alliteration is fun.

Ponyo

As much as I like Miyazaki, I can't help but wish that he actually has less to work with than has been the trend. It may be an inaccurate assessment, but I've observed that the more leeway the animation giant has (i.e., a bigger film budget), the crazier and more involved his movies get. Attend-- My Neighbor Totoro and Whispers of the Heart are among his earlier works, and their charm rests primarily on the character relationships captured by the simplicity of their movies' execution. This is in direct contrast to Princess Mononoke, a movie I outright disliked just because of how convoluted it got towards the end. I don't even remember everything that was going on in that story, it just got so bogged down. Even in the later ones I did end up enjoying, such as Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away, the sumptuously animated sequences with the most happening onscreen tended to be a net minus for the films as a whole.

At the risk of lecturing an acclaimed director in a field I have no formal training in, I'd have to say that some of his work could have been better served by the elimination of a good deal of the most fantastical scenes-- distractions at best, confusions at worst. I've decided that my favorite has to be Porco Rosso, a near-perfect balance of narrative simplicity and the impressive animating muscle we've come to expect from Studio Ghibli.

Ponyo belongs to the middle-latter class of Miyazaki movies as I layed them out. Storywise, there's not much to say, really-- a fairy tale that claims direct descent from the Little Mermaid, retooled for more modern youngsters. Animation-wise, it was superb, but left me reeling in some parts. Overall, a cute diversion, but light fare to more seasoned tastes.

allisino liked it a lot though, so this review will probably get me in trouble. :(

Coraline

Gaiman, a strange creature in his own right, breeds similar oddities in the media he touches. Treatment of his original work into different forms have been maddeningly inconsistent in resultant quality-- e.g., the Neverwhere comic was ghastly; the Stardust movie was flashy and fun; both Beowulf movie and comic were inventive and haunting, but strangely bland and lifeless at the same time.

Coraline was simultaneously a relief and a pleasant surprise. I found the book alright, but the animated film adaptation is a decided improvement of the sort that immediately and immovably ingratiates itself in my estimation.

In specific, the stop-motion technique for one lends itself particularly well to the story's mood of muted melancholy, making the brighter parts all the more appreciated. Also, I'm typically wary of any major changes made to story dynamic, such as the introduction of a character woven out of whole cloth, but Wybie was here not only a welcome addition, but an active foil and indispensable support to the film's timing and flow.

At least I'm pretty sure there wasn't a Wybie character in the book. It's been a long, long time since I read Coraline, but I'm preeeeetty sure I'd have remembered a character as... ahem... colorful as Wybie.

... right?

My only regret was that I watched it for the first time in DVD-quality 3-D version, complete with red-blue stereo-optic glasses. While admirably effective at first, the technology was still largely rudimentary, and the novelty wore off fast. I missed a lot of the color play and other visual cues because of 3-D-induced squinting that time around, but it's fortunate for me that Coraline is a movie I'll be sure to watch over and over and over again over the years, one of the surest signs of something's significance and superiority to my standards.

allisino wasn't that fond of it though, so this review will probably get me in trouble. :(

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

AHAHAHAHHAHAHA, OH WOW, IS THAT REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE DEADPOOL? AHAHAHAHA

Easily one of the dumbest things I've ever seen, even without the ham-handed handling of established comic characters, and that's no mean feat.

Drag Me To Hell

A good film by its own standards, meaning that fans of Sam Raimi and the Evil Dead series won't be disappointed, I don't think. Great special effects done for relatively cheap by Hollywood reckoning, and with admirable directing resourcefulness. Ironically enough, it leaves a lasting impression for a horror movie with a lot of bright primary colors, thanks in no small part to its use of basic cinematography and still imagery, coupled with Raimi's macabre sense of humour as manifest in some of the most disquieting but grimly amusing moments I've ever seen in a movie.

I guess it's a compliment to dressed-up schlock that I can proceed to the next points of discussion, but the movie is otherwise a moral morass, and fairly imbalanced in terms of spiritual thermodynamics as well. The weaknesses of the movie's superstructure can perhaps best be expressed in the many questions the film's ending (SPOILERS AHEAD) gives rise to.

Among which-- how broken is it that, according to the movie, gypsies can pretty much consign anyone they wish to eternal hellfire? And with such a simple-seeming spell too! Is denying a mortgage extension to anyone really something deserving of an infinity of punishment, as the main character's final plight seems to imply? From the events of the movie, the main character's pivotal decision appeared to be nothing worse than a momentary failure of charity, with mitigating circumstances to boot, and-- here's the important thing-- eventually repented of as well. You mean to say that saying sorry doesn't count anymore? Perhaps Sam Raimi's own mother was denied a similar extension?

And when will I see a movie where a psychic the characters "happen" to consult is actually a fake (my brother pointed out the movie Ghost, but that doesn't count because Whoopi turns out to be real anyway, she just didn't realize it yet)? Nine times out of ten, movie psychics are real psychics, which is immensely better odds than you'll get in the real world.

Finally, why consult a psychic anyway? Seriously, don't deal with demons on their own terms, don't play by their rules, and you certainly do not try to appease them. You fight the diabolical with its opposite number. If you ever find yourself in any kind of similar straits with occult trouble, do yourself a favor and find the nearest Catholic priest. If he isn't trained to help you, he will know someone who is, and he can help you improve your lot in the meantime.

But again, the movie gives little indication that it even cares about the curious implications it slings around in the service of grisly entertainment, so conjecture and speculation may be for naught. All the same, I am compelled to object; it's no joking matter to condemn anyone to Hell, even in fiction, and I can just hope, perhaps vainly, that future films deal with the subject with more responsibility than was demonstrated in this one.

Perhaps a better title would be I Got Dragged To Hell, WTF?

Monsters vs. Aliens

Watching it by myself would have been bad enough, but with my fiancee and my brother in the same room, I was just downright embarrassed for the craft, that craft being of writing in particular, and making things that are not garbage in general. It hurt to watch, when we weren't all just bored out of our wits that is.

One of the biggest disappointments in animation I've had to stomach, due mostly to my high hopes for the Susan character, hopes which in their turn inflicted the most grievous wounds on my shattered expectations.

This is intolerable. I can do better than that without trying. In fact, I have half a mind to do so. I've got a few minutes and a laptop. That's all I need.

I started making this post at eleven o'clock am. It is now just a little past four in the afternoon. Chee, I'm thinking and moving in slow motion today. Must be the three-day, twelve-hour weekend I just got through. Sooooooo tired. I hope these ramblings find you in better spirits. XD

God bless~

My Mom Says It Was Technically Yesterday, When We Flew Into California

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:57:54 GMT

I've been in the America six years as of today. Crazy stuff. I haven't posted in my Livejournal account for about as long. CRAZY STUFF

Just a couple of big things for now, first being my having taken and successfully passed my naturalization test last week. Yaaay! Not that the feat was anything to be particularly proud of; I only needed to study one hundred basic questions that gave a very rudimentary knowledge of the personality and history of the US of A, and it's not like they waterboard you for the right answers or anything either.

In fact, I believe you only need to get six questions out of ten right, and as soon as I got exactly six questions right, the agent stopped asking me questions. Oh, government! Now am just waiting to be contacted for the swearing in ceremony, and then I'm officially a citizen. CRAZY STUFF

Second, I've been in the Cadbury Adams plant making gum for five years as a permanent since this past July. It may not seem like such a milestone at first, but when I realized that this means I've been working in that place for longer than I've been in some of my schools, it kind of puts some things in perspective. CRAZY STUFF

Perspective being that I believe I am being kept in that place so that I learn humility and patience. I sure do wish I learned a little faster.

Nextly, one of my biggest excuses for spurning the internet and all its charms altogether boils down to a giddy, semi-nervous state of anticipation and preparation for a very special date about seven months from now. I'll be asking some of youze soon if it's possible for you to be in the general Chicago Illinois area on the 22nd of May, the Year of Our Lord 2010. Chances are, you'll get to witness me sacramentally secure myself to my sole soulmate indissolubly, and afterwards maybe have dinner with us and the family or something. CRAZY STUFF!

We hast begun the pre-marriage orientation process with our parish priest, and have been puttering about with other things besides; to follow will be a friendslocked post with a link to something we have up under construction at The Knot. Please to be checking it out, as it will have pertinent information on the both of us for the interested, including a re-post of allisino's version of our pop-the-question story, and some photos taken throughout the course of this not-very-long-but-feels-pretty-long engagement. Seriously, I catch myself sometimes and have to be very careful not to dwell inappropriately on the events of the wedding night. :O

Finally, I have begun reading Dante's Divine Comedy, Book One: Hell, and his description of the inferno probably helps with the troubles I intimate on in the preceding sentence somewhat. It's the translation by Dorothy Sayers, as very thoughtfully provided to me once again by the inestimable lirazel, a repeated procurer and purveyor of fine literature for my most unworthy self. I've never been an enthusiast for poetry, to put it mildly, but being exposed to what is arguably human history's best instance of it is threatening to change that. Seriously, the notes and addendums feel like I'm taking a school course on both Dante and artistic language, not to mention orthodox moral thought, all of which comprise a most pleasant and welcome surprise, yet another thing for which I must extend Lira my most heartfelt thanks once again.

I can't do very much more than very quickly skim my Flist nowadays, but please know that my prayers are still with all of you. Perhaps soon enough, when my flesh and blood and soul aren't engaged -- heheh -- in other endeavors, I can spare some soon enough for a returned resemblance of regularity on this rambling reader's ruminating r... uh... rrrr.... blog.

God bless! :D

Matthew 13: 45-46

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:14:07 GMT

Alright, here's how this is going to work. Before I garage sale/E-Bay my stuff, I would like to offer all my buddies the chance to snap them up first. Most all of these are in good to perfect condition, minus the original packaging, and missing nonessential parts in some cases (the tabs of a guitar, a bust of Lord Raptor one of the Liliths was leaning on, etc). Near the following items will be the estimated retail price as best as I can Google them or as best as I can remember.

For the most part, the ERP is only a guide; this will be a silent auction, held right here in this journal, on this post, as far as I am able, because I can't be stuffed to do it anywhere else in any other way. I will be using for the first time the comment screening feature LJ offers, so please be patient if things are a little hiccupy at first.

All I want from interested parties is a good reason for me to send them something they want. You can give me your best monetary offer, or even a trade. Though you have nothing to send me in return, perhaps you can try to convince me that the item would have a perfect home with you. Maybe it was something you've wanted all your life, or your dying dog wants it. Or, just as likely as any of these, nobody's expressed an interest in the item at all, and simply by being the first to drop by and say, "That would kind of look nice beside my garden gnome", it could be yours by default. You may ask for more than one item. Or just tell me that I am a fool and that an item will fetch 500% its original price in the black market, and we can split the profits. You could be a friend of mine for years, or a passing stranger. Say something. Ask and you might receive.

Be warned however-- not everyone will be treated equally. I owe a lot of people a lot of things, and if I spurn a good, reasonable price for someone else's mere "Send it here", there may be reasons for this beyond your ken. Comments, offers or questions are subject to being unscreened and published at my discretion, unless otherwise specified or requested. When I say I am considering an offer, it means I am considering the offer. Once I promise you an item, it is as good as yours as soon as manageable.

Once a matter is settled, the details of addresses and logistics can be discussed over email. It may take moments to settle. It may take days. I have almost a week off until next Wednesday, and excepting Friday, so this is the best time for anything. Beyond that, the ball will be in the air. I will try to provide ample time for as many as possible to see and consider what I offer, but beyond a certain time after the latest ping I got from interested parties, all items are going to be gotten rid of some way or another.

While I do not require full price for any item, I do hope that interested parties give some small token to cover as much shipping as they can, though, again, it is not required.

Finally, you may not even be interested in anything I have (which is hardly a surprise), but may still be interested in helping me out a bit (which is always a pleasant surprise). Feel free to drop any amount you wish through the button below.

All proceeds will go to the Alliedeo 2010 Matrimony Fund, and whatever charities we deem worthy.

Yuki Nagato gashapon based on a doujin cover. Exquisitely crafted, one of my very favorites. Head, right arm and vest detach naturally, do not be alarmed. ERT = $49.00 - 60.00

Haruhi Suzumiya in season finale concert bunny outfit. Superb craftsmanship, good heft. May be missing some small locks of hair, or ribbon, and guitar may be missing one or two tabs. ERT = $65.00 - 80.00

Jo from Bakuretsu Tenshi. Terrible series, great character design, mediocre figure. ERT = $16.00 - 25.00

Some Chick From One Of The Summon Night Games. Ingenious character and weapon design, disappointing figurine (what the heck is up with giraffe neck here?). ERT = $25.00

Dunno Who This Is, But The Pumpkin Skirt Charmed Me Into Buying Her. Come on, you guys, pumpkin skirt. ERT = $25.00 - 36.00

The Demoness and Succubi Revue. From left to right:

Playful Lilith Aensland. Wings are around here somewhere, but could be missing. Mass produced manufacture, cheap plastic, won't stand on its own. ERT = $10.00 - 16.00

Distracted Lilith Sitting On Top Of L. Raptor's Blue Crystalline Bust For Some Reason. Raptor head somewhere around here somewhere, but who cares about that guy. Decent cast, but fragile and falls apart easily, can't stand independently without Raptor. ERT = $10.00 - 16.00

Etna from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Excellent piece, though tail may fall off if one is not careful. Is this one seriously selling on EBay for two hundred dollars?? Seriously? ERT = $85.00

Ceras Victoria from late game Hellsing. Beautiful workmanship for price, though leans forward oddly. Great character, one of my favorites. ERT = $25.00 - 30.00

Disgaea 2 Etna With Considerably Shorter Micro-Skirt. Excellent make, gorgeous design, one of my very favorites. Falls off stand if moved too much. ERT = $49.00

~~I-No of Guilty Gear. Kickass character, poor figurine, low detail, bad aesthetics, alarming anatomy. Not sure why I bought it. ERT = $20.00 - 25.00~~

New Arrivals Corner. From left to right:

Aya of Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad. Her clan's bloodline feeds off of power from the blood of zombies splashing on their skin, which is why she wears as little as possible to combat, I kid you not. I can't make shit like this up myself. A superb figurine nevertheless, sturdy and very finely detailed. Hat comes off. One of my favorites. ERT = $30 - 40.00

Misato Katsuragi of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Unique among the batch, completely handmade from ceramic, bought in the Philippines. Fragile and must be handled somewhat gingerly. Low detail and finish, but admirable simply for skilled work. ERT = 10.00

Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children respectively. These things are all over the place. Articulated joints mar otherwise finely-made statuettes, but I suppose it's a trade off for the poseability. Alternate hands and shuriken are around here somewhere if desired. ERT = $16.00 - 27.00

Agrias Oaks of Final Fantasy Tactics. Great character, small airtime, smaller figurine. Came in a set, but is now alone. Missing stand. Good make. ERT = $5.00

Yuki Nagato Again, Facing Mirror, Obliviously Adjusting Bathing Suit. Generic make and design, but golly, it's a real mirror! ERT = $7.00

Operators are standing by to take your calls. God bless!

Star Trope, Up Ours

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:46:22 GMT

Events after my youngest brother's wedding have been a blur of depressurization and the whirlwind descent of the preparations for my own nuptials in The-Year-Of-Our-Lord-Two-Thousand-And-Ten. Can there be such a thing as preparations for the preparations to a wedding? It's looking more and more like this is the regular run of things when speaking of the impending merger of two people and two families. How can people have more than one of these things? It boggles the mind.

As usual, in the face of enormously important things looming over the horizon, I have chosen to break my silence by speaking of enormously unimportant things-- specifically, my opinions on movies professionals are paid to have opinions about.

Star Trek was an enjoyable movie experience, but a markedly poor Star Trek story. I can't call myself a Trekkie, but I've lived around them, and the series is firmly in the background of my makeup. What I saw in the theater was a big, transparent RESET button for the franchise, but a shiny, understandable one. I only wish that they'd offered a better tale while they were at it.

Basically, I now see that what they (by which, I mean the writers/producers/source) had set out to do was to breathe new life into the old, familiar characters of the series' inception, at which they have succeeded admirably; every name was given a new face and a new dynamic, especially effected through the contrivance of forcing the 'original' crew together in the context of just having emerged from the academy. I particularly enjoyed the new hook of Young Spock being romantically involved with Young Uhura (missed her first name, how ironic).

What I didn't appreciate was seeing old cudgels of lazy science fiction being used for the purpose; black holes, planetary destruction, time travel. I acknowledge their usefulness in evoking emotion and thought-pictures, but they are quick fixes and cop outs for the most part. I had imagined that the Star Trek franchise might start adopting a more mature approach to science fiction and thus shed some of the disdain it's accrued as 'McScience Fitcion' over the years, but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

Sadly, these are the least of my problems with it-- what prickles me more than the pseudoscience involved (which I am not a qualified authority on by any means) are the botched narrative opportunities littered throughout the film (which I am still not a qualified authority on by any means!). Most disappointing to me was the revelation of the nature of their primary antagonist; the captain of one of the most fearsome starships ever designed for the big screen turns out to be nothing more than an angry Romulan miner out for revenge. While I cannot reasonably hope for another favorite pulp SF villain, it almost makes one wish for the Borg again.

Finally, we get to the elephant in the room, the eye-popping moral conundrum that the writers seem to flit blasely through and about (and I'm not even talking about how easily Green-Skinned Girl was forgotten after her ship was presumably destroyed in the Federation fleet that was wiped out)-- how it can be considered, by any stretch, that the day was 'saved' when an entire planet of souls was completely and utterly annihilated. Now, I have no great love for Vulcans; to my mind, they are the Star Trek equivalent of Tolkien's elves, and you all know how I feel about that lot. No, my bigger problem is the implied attitude that as long as the planet destroyed wasn't Earth, it's perfectly okay to carry on without it.

Seriously, you guy? Seriously??

The sequential beginning of the events portrayed have an older Spock seeking to save planet Romulus and failing, subsequently earning the eternal ire of one of its survivors, with the additional complication of them both being thrown back in time to different temporal points. So far so good. And then we have the irate fellow swearing revenge on the Federation older Spock represents, starting with the ship that lay conveniently just outside the black hole he emerges from into the past, which just conveniently happens to carry James T. Kirk's father.

Somehow, despite the drastically different circumstances of James growing up with no father, not to mention the other, myriad changes to the universe presented by an extra-temporal visitor, Kirk largely grows up unchanged and the universe is still a perfect place for the crew of the original Star Trek tv show to appear together like family again for the first time. O... kay. Fine. I can accept that.

So now Irate Fellow means to destroy the Federation, starting with planet Vulcan, and following with planet Earth. He succeeds in destroying Vulcan in the first half; the rest of the movie is about saving planet Earth (which is, of course, saved in the end).

Alright, so a new alternate reality rife with future franchise possibilities is born; a Federation universe minus Vulcan, plus two Spocks, and an extremely young and plucky revivified crew of the Enterprise. All perfectly acceptable, but they didn't have to rub it in my face.

The dialogue and mood of the story were at odds with each other at very critical points, particularly when Older Spock speaks warmly to Young Kirk about 'cheating' being sometimes acceptable to solve no-win problems, 'cheating' being in reference to time travel.

... but they didn't mean to travel back in time! And the cure was worse than the disease, in any case-- Vulcan remains destroyed, Irate Fellow killed and gloated upon for all his trouble, with Romulus faring no better in the other reality. I kept expecting them to plunge into a black hole and through time again to bring Vulcan back, but then the credits started rolling, and I was all like wtf?

Seriously, you guy? Seriously??

I look forward to more jaw-droppingly beautiful rendered pew pew in the future, but damned if I'll ever forget that they murdered a planetful of people and casually told us all that it's perfectly alright.

I'm always sorry when I have more to say about things I didn't like than I do about things I did like, because I did like Star Trek (as a net gain anyway). However, I liked Pixar's Up a great deal better, and thus I will probably speak about it exponentially less.

Aside from the fact that I watched this one with allisino this time whilst nomming on some decadently chocolatey brownie melts, it was the first 3D film I'd ever been to, and the effects are wholeheartedly recommended (if you're not prone to siezures or bouts of vomiting in the face of overwhelming visio-sensory assault, that is). I didn't even mind sitting way up on the very first row; may have enhanced the experience, really.

And of course, it was Pixar, from which I've come to expect lackluster publicity but great filmmaking. If I hadn't seen the trailer to Up, I'd have been better off; as it was, I still had a swell time. As such, I don't really want to give too much away, but I will a couple of general impressions.

I have an extraordinary respect and admiration for Pixar's commitment to perfecting the art of expressing motion and emotion without words. They're no slouches when it comes to narration, dialogue, and banter either-- their previous films, particularly The Incredibles and, my favorite, Ratatouille, establishes that-- but I take an exquisite appreciation for the times when they put the microphone down and let the reel do the talking. As with Wall-E, my favorite sequences in Pixar's Up were all in the first few minutes of the movie-- if wishes could be granted, I would have wanted for both movies to be entirely speechless. But alas, as with Wall-E, Up is, first and foremost, a children's movie (so no smart-alec 'What's Up?' jokes anymore, hmm, k?), and they have children to please.

That's the movement I perceive in Pixar's last three feature-lengths; perhaps Ratatouille's comparatively poor reception was due to the fact that it was a more cerebral comedy, with some very nuanced, eccentric dynamics carrying the bulk of the chemistry. Both Wall-E and Up start off with subdued scenes and situations, which suddenly-- almost jarringly-- segues into a lot of rollicking action sequences and a lot of physical comedy. Happily enough, Pixar blends both to their purposes masterfully, but with marked contrast comes a marked preference-- I enjoyed the fast-paced sections well enough but I dearly loved the quiet parts.

Oh, and so daring! Pixar deftly and subtly tackles extremely sensitive issues in Up as well, and again does them justice without dwelling on them too much to be depressing. They remind us that some of these things are real, as any storyteller should. But they do not lie to us and say that it is all perfectly acceptable-- something better is always possible and within reach, and you always leave their movies with a sense of hope and a smile.

These two movies amount to my total expenditures for media-based entertainment in forever. Has it really been more than a year since I last bought a videogame for myself? The times, they are a-changin'. More on this when I return.

God bless!

sotiredkthxbye

Sat, 23 May 2009 00:33:27 GMT

ACen weekend was a big, long blast, and it was followed immediately by my youngest brother getting married. I am wiped out.

So, now I get to plan for the date exactly a year from now, which will be the most important day of my life.

I hope I make it there, haw. Godspeed~

Would Have Posted Sooner, But Had No Internet For Whole Weekend

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:47:34 GMT

I'm going to bed now. I'm totally wiped out. Good night and God bless~

'Seeing' Of Course Meaning 'To Behold With One's Own Eyes' And Not The Modern 'Meeting Socially'

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:55:03 GMT

"I could never mix in the common murmur of that rising generation against monogamy, because no restriction on sex seemed so odd and unexpected as sex itself. To be allowed, like Endymion, to make love to the moon and then to complain that Jupiter kept his own moons in a harem seemed to me (bred on fairy tales like Endymion's) a vulgar anti-climax. Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurate with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it."

- G.K. Chesterton,
Orthodoxy

MAN, I love this guy. As a bonus, the more and more I read him, the more and more I see how he has influenced Neil Gaiman himself to the point where I now recognize that one of Gaiman's more beloved characters is essentially Chesterton.

How oddly their paths have diverged since this meeting of minds.

Easter Feaster

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:57:11 GMT

The weekend is gone, but not its effects! Man, what a three days. Not even working two twelve-hour days back-to-back can seem to dampen it. As it is not within my power to have my friends live those days with me and thus share my joy, I will instead report on some of the highlights!

To start with, a most prize find from a garage sale near my parish church served to buoy my spirits in a most welcome fashion on Friday, a beautiful sunny day, perfect for curb shopping. I'd been desiring and keeping an eye out for an easy chair or recliner for a while now, something for if I wanted to just sit and read, or lie back and relax and watch the rain. I didn't want something cheap but serviceable-- I wanted something Nice, something that was worth my time and money and more. I wanted something that could possibly outlast me, something hard and sturdy, but luxuriant and comforting as well; in other words, I wanted a chair I could love.

Divine providence has graced me with the beauty you see before you:

In a word, this chair was perfect, exactly the sort I was looking for, large enough to lounge in with a book, a drink, a laptop, or all three and STILL have room for someone small to sidle in beside you with her own book/drink/laptop/cat. The latter quality was actually the thing that first struck me about it, but you know, whatever.

The thing comes with a fairly interesting semi-adventure too; the minute I walked into the house it was in to look at the big furniture they had for sale, I knew immediately that I may have stepped in way over my head. The dining set was genuinely antique, and the living room looked like something from a high-end designer catalogue. No way I could get anything here for something reasonable a poor working boy like me could afford, right? My trepidations were heightened when the owner's husband called and engaged her in some conversation; from what I could accidentally overhear, he was allowing the living and dining sets to be sold in separate pieces, which was good news. Bad news was I heard something about him getting the chair for a thousand frickin' dollars.

I was about ready to bolt, really.

Much to my surprise, when the woman turned back to me and the other customer with us, she said she could give it to me for a hundred bucks.

Now, I know I can be impulsive sometimes (HAHAHAHA), especially when it comes to money and unwise purchases, but this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I didn't have the cash up front, as I was short by like five dollars, but I made a down payment of half and promised to return with a vehicle capable of actually lugging the thing around. The other fellow with us nodded sagely as we left, saying it was a very good buy. Feeling rather pleased with myself and my new acquisition, I made the garage sale rounds for a while after that, snagging some other great stuff, and picked up some additional liquid funds on the way home. I called my mom somewhere in there too, as, through circumstances irrelevant and too lengthy to relate here, she was borrowing my van, and I wanted to know when I could retrieve it. When I told her what it was for, she asked me how much I got the chair for. I told her, and she didn't seem terribly impressed; my mother is a very frugal woman, she well knows my weaknesses when it comes to finances, and I was driving while talking, so I wasn't terribly inclined to explain the whole situation to her.

Anyway, she felt that a hundred was a little much for a garage sale item, and so she decided that she'd bring my dad and have a look at the thing on their way from somewhere else. Yeah, she does that kind of thing quite a bit. She's only looking out for me though-- something for which I am eternally thankful, even though I may not feel as I should it sometimes-- and besides, I was quite convinced that the chair would enchant anyone who laid eyes on it.

As it turned out, it was very, VERY good that they made their way down to the sale. Still thinking I had some time before going back, I suddenly got a call from my mom; apparently, they had shot down as they had intended to the place I told them about, and they had paid for the rest of the chair for me... temporarily. In a mild state of agitation, my mom was telling me to hurry down with my brother to help me carry the thing because someone was offering the owner to pay more for the chair and it was a good thing that they were there to hold it for me because the woman had wanted to call me but it was good that I didn't leave any name or contact information whatsoever because the lady said she'd remember the young man with the black hat.

A little flustered, I hurried down as I was instructed, perhaps feeling a little peevish too because I was under the impression that the lady and I 'had a deal'. Apparently, they were more of a mercenary bent than I had imagined, and so I should really rush down if I still wanted that chair. Which I did. But I was already somewhat resigned to the possibility of not getting it; the owners were well within their rights to renegotiate if they so chose, and I was imagining some rich, fat Texan with a cowboy hat waving a wad of bills in their faces, ready with a pickup truck and burly manservants to take the chair away and out of my life forever.

Well, at least my mom and dad likes the chair too.

I arrived without incident, and loading the chair into my van transpired in a similar fashion. The lady wouldn't even take the little extra I had resolved to give her for the trouble of ultimately holding the thing for me even in light of a better offer.

It wasn't until we were on our way out that mom pulled me aside for a bit and told me what she had learned in the thirty minutes or so of small talk she had a chance to share with the owners while waiting for me to arrive: this family was selling their possessions because their home was under foreclosure. My eyes went wide at this, but she went on: they had to be out in three weeks, but they didn't really have anywhere to go.

All this new information put a whole new light on the situation as I drove away with my prize. I had assumed that this family was simply relocating to greener pastures as so many other pseudo-nomadic American families have done for generations; the truth was profoundly sobering. I began to imagine what the woman must have felt like, selling the trappings of her home piecemeal to roving opportunists all too ready to pick them clean. I felt bad about taking her chair from her, projecting my own infatuation for it onto her, and trying to imagine what it would be like to lose it after years of owning it.

I was sad for her, but I thought I had at least not gone there knowing I was swooping down on the spoils of their misfortune. In some small way too, I had done them a service by taking the thing off their hands, albeit at a price smaller than they deserved, but I plan to make up the difference by keeping them, and all those like them, in my prayers. You guys please pray for them as well.

Now I have to ask my mom what their names were.

So, yeah, I can hast a chair nao, and have a story to go with it too.

A link, a link! Because I'm a moron, and can't figure out how to embed video.

This is copied and pasted from the video description:

"On Friday, the weather told my girl and I that it would be nice and sunny on Saturday. IT LIED TO US. We had planned to shoot down to the park near my condo, lay out a blanket, and then eat lunch while watching the river people frolic in the water. As it turned out, the water came to frolic on US when it became obvious that it was going to rain that day.

Unwilling to be defeated by some downcast skies, we decided then to have our picnic indoors instead, trying not to cheat and using only the things we were going to bring with us anyway. As it turned out, all we forgot were the napkins, and we weren't messy eaters then anyway. Too bad about not having ants or squirrels though.

In the end, the clouds were a tease, and only threatened with a few sprinkles of water instead of actually out and out raining. We both say we could have taken it on, but oh well.

In the background is my laptop playing some generic classical music for 'ambience', and, very faintly, my brother playing Resident Evil 5."

On Saturday, after going to Mass with the family, we ran down to mom's place to hang out a bit. While there, I had a twinge on my back, and asked Allie to knead the area. Well, whatever she did, it loosened up all kinds of tension in me, as the next day, I woke feeling more physically relaxed than I had in a good, long time. I mean, I was always pretty calm and laid back, but the body can harbour all sorts of subconscious tensions and knots that don't get noticed until they are removed.

That, and the rainy weather, which I have always loved, combined to make our visit to her parents' place, where I have always seemed to be fully at peace in, an incredibly restful one. Her mom made us a traditional lamb cake, which was both very cute and very novel to me.

There, Allie was gracious and wonderful enough to tackle the rest of the knots in my back, surprised and a bit disturbed that she wasn't hurting me with her ministrations, even when I asked her to use her knuckles. Not only did it not hurt me, it was just what I had been needing for a good, long time.

The next day at work subjected my muscles to all the usual twists and stresses, but they somehow slid off better, and I coasted through the day on a cloud of pleasurable limpness. If nothing else, Allie may have a very promising future ahead of her as a professional masseur. Exclusively catering to me.

And there you have it, Best Weekend Ever, topping what already seems to be an obscenely long series of Best Weekends Ever.

I'm going to play Team Fortress 2 now. I didn't get to play any over the long weekend, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.

Godspeed! X3

Pocket Theology

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:38:42 GMT

I still love Neil Gaiman dearly for his role in my creative and artistic development, but damned if his influence didn't nearly cause lasting harm on my conception of spiritual realities. That was a close one. Not to say that he hasn't learned me some pretty good life lessons over the years, wholly independent of any sought-after objective metaphysical truth.

For instance, I've had cause to ponder something he shared with me in the story with the gypsy fortune teller and her wares: value is in the eye of the buyer.

I'm still at Ezekiel, so I haven't gotten to come across Paul's teaching that humanity has been bought at a steep price, but I'm still at least familiar with the concept... and it's made me wonder just what sort of value humanity has been given as a result.

When a buyer purchases something at what he feels to be a fair price, there is almost always a range of deviation in the exchange between what was paid and the actual objective value of the item acquired. That is why someone who pays much of his wages for something that is worthless is thought a fool, and someone who pays very little for a pearl of great price is thought blessed.

Sometimes, the act of buying in itself imputes some value to the item; that affirmative act of bestowing value on something which did not have it before is commonplace in the buying and selling of items with a certain flexibility in subjective value, such as art or currency. And yet, the buyer of bad art is still thought a fool, because sometimes, no matter how many millions was spent to buy it, a toilet seat is still a toilet seat. Neither the buyer nor the act of buying can gift it with actual objective value.

... but what if the buyer was the creator of actual objective value? Actual objective reality? Not only would the act of buying attribute a subjective value, but if there was a discrepancy between the price and the item, such a purchase by a divine Buyer would impart the value of the price onto the Bought, essentially recreating it.

What is the price discrepancy between the God-Man and the men He came to buy with His blood? No wonder He makes all things new.

I walk about life nowadays with the air of someone who has been given a great gift and responsibility, but unsure whether he can live up to it.

Trials and tribulations have a way of forcing one to shed the immaterial things in life and forces one to change perspective and hang on to what really matters, if only as a way to make it through; it becomes possible to be satisfied, or even happy with less. In an almost inverse manner, great blessing and great fortune have a way of making those with grateful hearts keenly aware of how undeserving they are of such gifts, especially in the midst of what seems to be so much misery and suffering. Certain children think nothing of being given something they have dreamed of all their lives; certain others, upon receiving, immediately think, "Oh, darn it, now I'm expected to live up to this. Now I have to earn what I have been freely given."

But a gift freely given, by definition, can never be earned. When presented with a happiness the heart cannot contain, it can either blanch and retreat, try to take in too much at once and burst, or float along idly, satisfied only with what it can hold... but it can also expand.

I'm... I'm trying to expand. Sometimes despite myself. I have been given great gifts, and I'm finding that this means I must unclench my fingers to receive them, must let go of the things of this world that I have held on to for so long, and which are really just so much dust in comparison.

I can't do it on my own. But I'm not alone anymore. And that's another gift I have to live up to for the rest of my life.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:04:17 GMT

Fixed the place up a bit and cooked a big dinner for family and company. I'm pooped. 'Pooped' is such a funny word.

This was probably the first Easter Triduum where I reeeaally paid attention. It was awesome. Oh, and allisino is Catholic now-- my heart is apt to burst. Mine cup doth indeed overloweth. Eth.

Happy Easter, you guys.

God be with you!

Giants of a Generation and a Mental Midget

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:30:46 GMT

So, in the past few months I've had the singular pleasure of reading C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, and The Great Divorce. Somewhere before the last two, I also had the great blessing of getting to read G.K. Chesterton's masterpiece, The Everlasting Man. It was at this point that I pondered J.R.R. Tolkien and wondered whether you had to be an englishman to get cool first name initials like that.

Next, I made the inimitable blunder of thinking in the following manner:

"Wow, Chesterton is such a thinking heavyweight! Good thing I have Lewis for lighter, folksier fare."

And C.S. Lewis's sainted soul, apparently ill-disposed to suffer such a misapprehension as I was laboring under, was all like, 'o rly?'. I shortly came upon his book Miracles, and was driven to blushing, if I were of the complexion to blush. It was like being punched in the head with clear thinking.

Chesterton and Lewis aren't theologians in the strict sense, but their musings make my own reflections seem like just so much desperate grasping, reaching, as with little raccoon fingers.

This is gonna be a huge week. Godspeed!

Throw and Throw

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:22:17 GMT

Me: Say, you know those throw moves in Street Fighter?

My Brother: (while playing) Yeah?

Me: What if the character doesn't have a shirt on?

My Brother: Haha, I thought of that too. I guess they get grabbed by the chest hair or something.

Me: But wait a second-- some characters don't have chest hair.

Me: I guess Sagat just always gets grabbed by his nipples.

My Brother: ...

Me: No wonder he seems so angry all the time.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:42:29 GMT

So for lunch I was doing a Tuna Helper dish for the first time, and Allie reminds me to drain the tuna before adding it to the mix, otherwise it would turn the whole thing soggy-- Tuna Helpless, as she quipped.

I retorted that, knowing me, it would as likely turn out to be Tuna Hell. That cracked her up.

Seeing as I already had as many as three fleshed out D&D characters I had never gotten to play with yet, it seemed silly to be making any more. Silliness seldom stops me from doing certain things however, and I decided that Tarkov, Farlow, and Siya would be lonely all by themselves; they needed a party.

I enjoy drawing Mei, and so she had to be in there somehow, small and smug as ever, but packing the firepower to back it up. Human Wizard was the easy spot for her, canceling out my long-standing allergy to casters and magic users in general. Snuck in a little Spiral Power flavor in there as well, heh.

Now we had crowd control. We needed a healer.

Once again, it was time to mix it up with a race I never play, and a class I avoid. Dwarf was the obvious pick to round out the races but am not sure whether to pick a Dwarven Cleric or a Dwarven Paladin, both of which are as common as the grass. To distinguish him a little, I decided that a fairly unusual background and backstory might be in order.

I already had a female black Elf, so why not a male Asian Dwarf? I'd already decided on a black, bulky armour motif, wicked-looking sword/war axe, and if I had to have a shield at all, it would have to be spiked. I'm keeping the long, silky black hair, too. Can't quite decide if I want them braided though. At the same time, I tried out a couple of other concepts I liked, including the scarab-horn helmet and the sacred writings draped over the breastplate.

As sinister as the initial appearance of this fellow is, he is designed to be the most benevolent and charismatic of the group. His story is one of the religious devout, happily married for some hundreds of years, but sadly lacking in offspring to bring up in the faith. Eventually, this dwarven dogmatic decides to go on a pilgrimage to his pantheon's holy land in the hopes of acquiring favor enough to father a pious heir or heiress. He sets off not on the usual paths however, or even in a caravan of like-minded dwarves, but throws in with a most unlikely set of adventurers whose goals, or at least destinations, intersect with his own.

If he was going to go on a pilgrimage, might as well take the time to preach and perhaps convert others on the way. Then he might get twins.

So now we had the rudiments of a party-- a little geared towards offense, but with myself being the sole architect of this gathering, one can scarcely expect something as quaint as balance.

When the PHB2 came out, I was told a little about the Primal classes, including the Druid, which gave me some ideas. Having looked over the book myself, I saw that another viable option for an additional controller in the team was available.

Male Human Warden, and none of this forest-love nonsense either. This fellow is a bog-dweller, and channels the powers of rot and decay. Drawing heavily from Magic: The Gathering themes here, particularly the regime of Black mana and swampery. I don't even have a drawing for him yet, as I can't decide whether to have him in black, or dress him as the most colorful of all, on account of his clothes and gear all being random salvage from the hundreds of travelers to have lost their lives over the years in the marshes he dwells in. Maybe the latter is better. Point is, this fellow's hook is in his quiet mystery, this gaunt, pallid fellow with the stringy, greasy brown hair and the air of nausea about him, even though he has not a speck of dirt on him.

A poison fighter if I can make him so, and an angle I think would be neat is if all his weapons were corroded to the point just above usability, but so rusted over that any contact by the blades with a victim would likely result in some kind of enchanted tetanus or something.

Finally, we get to Saynora, whose name means the colorful marbling found in various metamorphic rock. Thinking up this female Goliath Barbarian was loads of fun, primarily as a comedic foil to Tarkov, my big, obnoxious Dragonborn. Sparks flew immediately upon their first imaginary meeting, centering on how short Saynora is compared to other Goliaths, and Tarkov's insistence on calling her Elthen, the dragonborn word for 'tower'.

I already knew this girl would be very, very angry-- straightforward rage barbarian for easy play, but I was free to mold her appearance as I wished. Given the significance the dark patches have for the Goliath race in general, an ominous tear drop shape was something I was thinking about if it didn't feel too contrived or generic.

As another departure from my convention, she will be a Great Mace user. The fun thing I want to try to implement is a minor weapon she has that doesn't interfere with the two-hand status of her main weapon, but is an off-hand weapon that can be used in conjunction with it-- in giving her a nice, long braid, I decided to add an iron ball at the end of it. Might just count as a distraction at most, but the thought of a mace-wielding girl flicking her head around in battle to swing what amounts to a hair flail into enemy faces tickles me to no end.

So there you have it. None of these guys even have character sheets yet; just placeholder images and glimpses of lives into whose shoes I may want to jump in in the future. The biggest temptation I'm trying to resist is the thought of just taking the lot of them, saying bollocks to actually playing the game, and then setting them down on their own adventures with each other, where I am both PCs, NPCs, and DM.

I think that's called 'writing'.

Godspeed~