Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 33
October 26, 2018
7 Games that Influenced Me: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Image Source: https://www.slashgear.com/call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-remastered-confirmed-with-emoji-28438154/
Okay, so this blog post was inspired by a video on Playstation Access that talks about 7 different games that inspired the staff at Playstation Access. Gaming, along with reading and writing, and watching movies and television shows, make up a large part of my free time, so I thought that I would also do a blog post that covers seven influential games for me. I will revisit this post several different times, each time updating it with a new game.
Here are mine are in no particular order:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
[image error]
So, Call of Duty was a franchise that I knew a lot about, but didn’t actually pick up until Treyarch’s World War II game, Call of Duty 3, and I really liked the game, but shortly thereafter Infinity Ward announced that they were moving out of the WWII arena and moving the game into the modern era. I really found this to be provocative and I followed the development with considerable interest. When the game released, the campaign just blew my mind. It was tense, fun, and graphically well done and I found it to be one of the best stories that I’ve experienced in any medium. The online component also sucked me in after I finished main campaign several times. It extended my enjoyment of the game and I played the online portion religiously for the better part of two years. Modern Warfare is a game that not just influenced me, but also influenced the entire gaming industry for the better part of 8-10 years.
[image error]
Galaga/Galaxian
Okay, so I’m cheating a little bit on this entry as technically, Galaga and Galaxian are two separate games. However, they came out at about the same time, they play so similar, and they are ones where I played either of them no matter what, depending on the location–some places would have one, other places would have the other, and I personally had no preference between the two. Basically, these two games are what’s known in the gamer community as “top down shooters.” You shoot aliens as they move though space, but your view is from the top as if you were looking down on your own ship and the aliens. Much like the classic game Space Invaders you find your ship confined to the bottom of the screen, but instead of aliens coming down in straight lines, they swirl around the play area, making your job of hitting them, much harder. On Galaga, there is an extra wrinkle in that some ships are able to send out a tractor beam and capture your ship. If it was your last ship, then the game is over, but if you have another ship and can hit the alien that has captured your ship, you have the chance of getting it back and doubling your firepower. It has a great risk/reward system in place with that mechanic. Galaxian is essentially the exact same game minus the alien ship with its tractor beam. These two games were favorites of mine and earned my quarters every time I saw them in an arcade, or where ever they might have been located.
Tomb Raider 2
[image error]
This is probably the most influential game for me in the “modern” era of gaming in that it was the one game that I played when I still had my entire family available to me (my uncle, my grandmother, and my grandfather), so there is a nostalgia factor with this game. Most people, scholars/journalists will cite the rise of Lara Croft as this feminist icon in video games, and while this is true, TRII is most notable to me because of its proto-narrative structure. From the introductory cutscene, all through the in-game dialogue, you can see a narrative trying to be told by the game designers. While not nearly as polished as a movie, you can see early attempts at dramatic irony, a sarcastic heroine, and a narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution), all wrapped around a larger-than-life character in Lara Croft. There was also an element of “world-hopping” similar to the best adventure movies with the game taking place in various real-world settings–from Venice, to Nepal, to other exotic locals. However, what I remember most about the game were the puzzles. The puzzles were clever and inventive. I remember, up until that point, I hated games with heavy puzzle elements because I felt that I just wasn’t very good with them–however, TR II, helped to change that for me. With help from my uncle, I began to be more patient with puzzles and began to really enjoy the challenge of trying to figure them out. We had the “cluebook,” and used it early on in the game, but later in the game, it became a secondary challenge, a mark of distinction, and a badge of honor, to see if we could figure out the puzzle without the cluebook. I credit this game with helping me become a better “library assistant” as it came out during the first two years of my time at the CPL. This game had a profound effect on me during my mid-20s and is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Pacman (Arcade and Atari 2600 editions)
[image error]
[image error]
Image Source: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_017-Atari2600.php
So, Pacman had a profound effect on me. While it was the most popular of the 1980s “first wave” of video games, it was also influential on me in that it was a game that helped to cement my love of video games at that particular time period. It wasn’t the first video game I played (no, that honor goes to Galaga), but it was the game (along with Galaga, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Turbo, Spyhunter, and Missle Command) that set me firmly in the camp of a gamer. While I was never really very good at the game–I never wanted to memorize patterns–I always just wanted to “play” it, it still was something that I would always gravitate to and want to play. If I (or my parents) ever had spare quarters, they would end up in the cabinet at some point before the night was over. When the game came home, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t exactly match the arcade version, but I can still remember hearing the “dun-na-na-dunm” of the start-up screen as Santa’s elves set it up on Christmas Eve. For a game version that I was mildly disappointed with initially, I have to say I spent an inordinate amount of time playing it. I really liked the game and it was very influential for me as both a child and a gamer.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 25, 2018
A Working Writer Writes
Image Source: https://www.allposters.com/-sp/Construction-of-the-Eiffel-Tower-Posters_i9208492_.htm
This is an extremely hard thing to figure out. There is something about writing in which we give all the praise for writing that has been written versus writing that is being written. Grades, publications, and feedback all come from reading writing that that has been produced rather than writing that is in the process of being produced, but for me, I need the drafting process. I can’t be a “pantser” or a “gardener” because I need the multiple drafts to essentially work on different elements of the story at different times. For me, trying to do character, dialogue (which is a function of character), plot, setting and theme all in one go is simply too much for me as a writer. I need to be able to separate these individual elements out rather than trying to focus on them all at once.
The Architect, Builder, and Craftsman
There is an image of the Eiffel tower is being built. We see its base, and we see it being constructed and being erected slowly, piece-by-piece, but at the end we see the completed masterpiece. This is basically the way I write. I build up images and impressions. They seem so clear in my mind, but as I write them, I find that they are really “fuzzy” and “blurry” (in terms of pure storytelling). The more I work on them and revise them, the “clearer” they become (again, in terms of storytelling). While my new stories might not work in terms of publication because they are not as “grimdark” as the current Sci-Fi/Fantasy works, they do seem to be a lot closer to the vision that I had in my head for the original story genesis. Now I just have to find a way to keep drafting (and perhaps speed up just a bit) so as to get more work done monthly, so that I can finish projects and feel a sense of accomplishment that also drives my writing.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 24, 2018
7 Games that Influenced Me: Galaga & Galaxian
Image Source: Wikipedia
Okay, so this blog post was inspired by a video on Playstation Access that talks about 7 different games that inspired the staff at Playstation Access. Gaming, along with reading and writing, and watching movies and television shows, make up a large part of my free time, so I thought that I would also do a blog post that covers seven influential games for me. I will revisit this post several different times, each time updating it with a new game.
Here are mine are in no particular order:
[image error]
Galaga/Galaxian
Okay, so I’m cheating a little bit on this entry as technically, Galaga and Galaxian are two separate games. However, they came out at about the same time, they play so similar, and they are ones where I played either of them no matter what, depending on the location–some places would have one, other places would have the other, and I personally had no preference between the two. Basically, these two games are what’s known in the gamer community as “top down shooters.” You shoot aliens as they move though space, but your view is from the top as if you were looking down on your own ship and the aliens. Much like the classic game Space Invaders you find your ship confined to the bottom of the screen, but instead of aliens coming down in straight lines, they swirl around the play area, making your job of hitting them, much harder. On Galaga, there is an extra wrinkle in that some ships are able to send out a tractor beam and capture your ship. If it was your last ship, then the game is over, but if you have another ship and can hit the alien that has captured your ship, you have the chance of getting it back and doubling your firepower. It has a great risk/reward system in place with that mechanic. Galaxian is essentially the exact same game minus the alien ship with its tractor beam. These two games were favorites of mine and earned my quarters every time I saw them in an arcade, or where ever they might have been located.
Tomb Raider 2
[image error]
This is probably the most influential game for me in the “modern” era of gaming in that it was the one game that I played when I still had my entire family available to me (my uncle, my grandmother, and my grandfather), so there is a nostalgia factor with this game. Most people, scholars/journalists will cite the rise of Lara Croft as this feminist icon in video games, and while this is true, TRII is most notable to me because of its proto-narrative structure. From the introductory cutscene, all through the in-game dialogue, you can see a narrative trying to be told by the game designers. While not nearly as polished as a movie, you can see early attempts at dramatic irony, a sarcastic heroine, and a narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution), all wrapped around a larger-than-life character in Lara Croft. There was also an element of “world-hopping” similar to the best adventure movies with the game taking place in various real-world settings–from Venice, to Nepal, to other exotic locals. However, what I remember most about the game were the puzzles. The puzzles were clever and inventive. I remember, up until that point, I hated games with heavy puzzle elements because I felt that I just wasn’t very good with them–however, TR II, helped to change that for me. With help from my uncle, I began to be more patient with puzzles and began to really enjoy the challenge of trying to figure them out. We had the “cluebook,” and used it early on in the game, but later in the game, it became a secondary challenge, a mark of distinction, and a badge of honor, to see if we could figure out the puzzle without the cluebook. I credit this game with helping me become a better “library assistant” as it came out during the first two years of my time at the CPL. This game had a profound effect on me during my mid-20s and is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Pacman (Arcade and Atari 2600 editions)
[image error]
[image error]
Image Source: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_017-Atari2600.php
So, Pacman had a profound effect on me. While it was the most popular of the 1980s “first wave” of video games, it was also influential on me in that it was a game that helped to cement my love of video games at that particular time period. It wasn’t the first video game I played (no, that honor goes to Galaga), but it was the game (along with Galaga, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Turbo, Spyhunter, and Missle Command) that set me firmly in the camp of a gamer. While I was never really very good at the game–I never wanted to memorize patterns–I always just wanted to “play” it, it still was something that I would always gravitate to and want to play. If I (or my parents) ever had spare quarters, they would end up in the cabinet at some point before the night was over. When the game came home, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t exactly match the arcade version, but I can still remember hearing the “dun-na-na-dunm” of the start-up screen as Santa’s elves set it up on Christmas Eve. For a game version that I was mildly disappointed with initially, I have to say I spent an inordinate amount of time playing it. I really liked the game and it was very influential for me as both a child and a gamer.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 23, 2018
Netflix’s The Dragon Prince
Image Source: IMDB
I had a chance to watch the first episode of this Fantasy show from the creators of the Avatar: The Last Airbender and I found that it was pretty good. I don’t think, at this early stage (and having seen only one episode), that it is a good as their previous show, but I think that it has promise.
Characters
So, this is where I’m still undecided. The characters that they introduce are mostly interesting, but unlike Avatar, they don’t fully flesh out each character’s relationship to each other. There is an extended “history” of the world at the beginning, but the writers also use quite a bit of dialogue as “exposition” in the episode as well. There are some funny character moments as well as some dramatic ones, but especially for the first episode, I would have liked to have had more grounding in the relationships and motivations. There are, of course, analogies to the old series, a serious sister, a jokey, but ultimately heroic brother, but there are also some new ideas, that of a “step-brother,” which hasn’t really been explored too much in animation, but is pretty much a fact of life in many Western families.
Plot
So, I won’t go into too much of a plot summary here, but basically humans have killed the Dragon King and are pressing the borders of the other races (elves) now that there is no “guardian” on the borders. I understand that the humans are being portrayed as the “bad guys” here (colonists, or as Shuri from The Black Panther might term it–colonizers), they are portrayed on-screen remarkably sympathetic. The writers want you to form an attachment to these humans, even though they are on a mission of war and conquest, and after the first episode, I can’t quite reconcile these two disparate elements together, and it took me out of the plot.
Will I Continue?
Yes, for the moment, I think I will. I’ll probably watch one episode a week (my normal viewing speed) and I’ll report back after the season is done. I really like what they’ve set up, although I can’t quite decide if I’m going to like it as much as their original show, which (although I’ve not seen every episode, I’ve seen enough to know that as a Fantasy and Sci-Fi person, as long as it doesn’t go crazy, I’m probably going to enjoy most of it, even if I don’t enjoy it as much as Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, I’m reminded of the old adage: “Perfect is the enemy of good.” While Avatar looks to have been perfect, this seems perfectly fine as well.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 22, 2018
7 Games that Influenced Me: Tomb Raider II
Okay, so this blog post was inspired by a video on Playstation Access that talks about 7 different games that inspired the staff at Playstation Access. Gaming, along with reading and writing, and watching movies and television shows, make up a large part of my free time, so I thought that I would also do a blog post that covers seven influential games for me. I will revisit this post several different times, each time updating it with a new game.
Here are mine are in no particular order:
Tomb Raider 2
[image error]
This is probably the most influential game for me in the “modern” era of gaming in that it was the one game that I played when I still had my entire family available to me (my uncle, my grandmother, and my grandfather), so there is a nostalgia factor with this game. Most people, scholars/journalists will cite the rise of Lara Croft as this feminist icon in video games, and while this is true, TRII is most notable to me because of its proto-narrative structure. From the introductory cutscene, all through the in-game dialogue, you can see a narrative trying to be told by the game designers. While not nearly as polished as a movie, you can see early attempts at dramatic irony, a sarcastic heroine, and a narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution), all wrapped around a larger-than-life character in Lara Croft. There was also an element of “world-hopping” similar to the best adventure movies with the game taking place in various real-world settings–from Venice, to Nepal, to other exotic locals. However, what I remember most about the game were the puzzles. The puzzles were clever and inventive. I remember, up until that point, I hated games with heavy puzzle elements because I felt that I just wasn’t very good with them–however, TR II, helped to change that for me. With help from my uncle, I began to be more patient with puzzles and began to really enjoy the challenge of trying to figure them out. We had the “cluebook,” and used it early on in the game, but later in the game, it became a secondary challenge, a mark of distinction, and a badge of honor, to see if we could figure out the puzzle without the cluebook. I credit this game with helping me become a better “library assistant” as it came out during the first two years of my time at the CPL. This game had a profound effect on me during my mid-20s and is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Pacman (Arcade and Atari 2600 editions)
[image error]
[image error]
Image Source: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_017-Atari2600.php
So, Pacman had a profound effect on me. While it was the most popular of the 1980s “first wave” of video games, it was also influential on me in that it was a game that helped to cement my love of video games at that particular time period. It wasn’t the first video game I played (no, that honor goes to Galaga), but it was the game (along with Galaga, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Turbo, Spyhunter, and Missle Command) that set me firmly in the camp of a gamer. While I was never really very good at the game–I never wanted to memorize patterns–I always just wanted to “play” it, it still was something that I would always gravitate to and want to play. If I (or my parents) ever had spare quarters, they would end up in the cabinet at some point before the night was over. When the game came home, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t exactly match the arcade version, but I can still remember hearing the “dun-na-na-dunm” of the start-up screen as Santa’s elves set it up on Christmas Eve. For a game version that I was mildly disappointed with initially, I have to say I spent an inordinate amount of time playing it. I really liked the game and it was very influential for me as both a child and a gamer.
October 19, 2018
The Tao of Rest
Image Source: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Lounge-Stressed-Buddha-Meditation/dp/B01HHEAQIW
This weekend and the first two days of this week were Fall Break for me and I went ahead and took the entire time to rest and recover. As I said previously in another blog entry, this semester has been a challenge, so Saturday, I just rested and the results speak for themselves.
A Little Bit of Rest = A Whole New Project
I love creating–if there was job where a I could just create Sci-Fi and Fantasy worlds over and over again and get paid for it, that’s what I would do. Writing is the closest thing to that “dream” reality, so that’s why I write short-stories and why I’m trying to expand those stories into longer and longer works with the end goal being to turn them into novels, movies, and TV series. Not two hours after I awoke from a simple nap, a new project with a new setting, history, and tendrils of a “character” came into focus. While not as visual as a “dream,” it feels more grounded because there’s a history behind the story world.
Those Who Forget their History . . .
This project is an epic Science Fiction project that spans multiple worlds and has a fairly cool backstory. While I don’t want to give specifics just yet, I think that Stargate is the closest reference point to the project. I would actually like to use Stargate as a prototype with its variety of formats. There’s a movie, multiple TV series, graphic novels, etc., and I would like to do the same. I think I would like to cover different time periods in different mediums. A short story for one type of project, a graphic novel for a different time period, etc. I’m not naming the project just yet as I’m no where near ready to work on it, but still, I have to say, for me–a little bit of rest goes a long way.
Have a great weekend!
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 18, 2018
7 Games that Influenced Me
Pacman Screenshot. Image Source: https://moneyinc.com/how-much-is-the-pac-man-franchise-worth/
Okay, so this blog post was inspired by a video on Playstation Access that talks about 7 different games that inspired the staff at Playstation Access. Gaming, along with reading and writing, and watching movies and television shows, make up a large part of my free time, so I thought that I would also do a blog post that covers seven influential games for me. I will revisit this post several different times, each time updating it with a new game.
Here are mine are in no particular order:
Pacman (Arcade and Atari 2600 editions)
[image error]
[image error]
Image Source: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_017-Atari2600.php
So, Pacman had a profound effect on me. While it was the most popular of the 1980s “first wave” of video games, it was also influential on me in that it was a game that helped to cement my love of video games at that particular time period. It wasn’t the first video game I played (no, that honor goes to Galaga), but it was the game (along with Galaga, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Turbo, Spyhunter, and Missle Command) that set me firmly in the camp of a gamer. While I was never really very good at the game–I never wanted to memorize patterns–I always just wanted to “play” it, it still was something that I would always gravitate to and want to play. If I (or my parents) ever had spare quarters, they would end up in the cabinet at some point before the night was over. When the game came home, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t exactly match the arcade version, but I can still remember hearing the “dun-na-na-dunm” of the start-up screen as Santa’s elves set it up on Christmas Eve. For a game version that I was mildly disappointed with initially, I have to say I spent an inordinate amount of time playing it. I really liked the game and it was very influential for me as both a child and a gamer.
October 17, 2018
Return of the Blog
[image error]
Many apologies for not posting over the past two months/posting sporadically. This semester has been the “perfect storm” for me in terms of trying to find a work-life balance. With two classes back-to-back early in the morning, I really don’t have time to prepare for anything else. After teaching those classes, I either have classes myself to take (Modern British Literature) or I have office hours where I’m trying to grade or prepare for the next day’s class. After that, I generally go to my second job or to my other class 6pm-9pm (luckily that class is only 1 day a week, but my second job is the other 4 days.
Behind in the Seat
All that to say, time has been a real struggle this semester. I’ve been fairly consistent with writing creatively after coming home after my second job because I have a routine where I reward myself with a snack of some sort and I write as I’m eating the snack. 250 words can go pretty quickly, but with a blog, I generally write double that 250 words, sometimes more. Then add tagging, finding and downloading an image, sourcing that image, and scheduling the entry, all take a considerable amount of time.
I’m going to try to be more determined to get blogs up even if it is later in the day. I like scheduling them so that they pop up in the mornings, but I just need to get them done and out, no matter when that happens. That’s what is going to happen with this entry, btw.
Well, that’s all I have for now–nothing world changing. Just trying to get back on schedule with a super hard/super intense schedule that leaves me with little-to-no time for work-life balance. Hopefully, I’ll get better over time.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)
October 9, 2018
DSRV OUTRIDER–Finished the Script for Issue #1 (of 4)
Image Source: http://www.scifiideas.com/sfi/alien-ideas/creature-concepts/spider-demon-laskaris-iii/
“Ship of Shadows” Graphic Novel = DSRV OUTRIDER
So, a couple of nights ago, I finished the first issue of the Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel. It is 28 pages long (so far) and is the first part of 4 stories. I’ve decided on a name for the overall series–DSRV OUTRIDER. The DSRV stands for “Deep Space Recovery Vehicle” which is the type of the vehicle that the main character, Tana, pilots. Outrider is the name of the ship. This is important because I hope that I’ll be able to write more stories/have more adventures with Tana as a character (my ultimate goal is to have her become captain of the Outrider) and I want to focus more on the ship and its adventures rather than the one story that is SF Horror.
Artist or Go It Alone?
I think I may have to go it alone. I discovered my artist last year, but it took my all year to figure out a system that works for me in terms of writing and creatively. The artist was very interested at first, but has lost interest over time–which, I don’t guess I blame him–as it should have taken a year for the whole graphic novel, not just issue one. I really have tried to refine my writing processes over the past year to be more effective and I’m slowly getting there, but slowly doesn’t seem to be good enough for others. I don’t mind going it alone–it’s just that many of the publishers for graphic novels want to have a “team” in place (art and writing).
What’s Next? The Art of Adaptation
I need to figure out Issue #2, so I’m going to move it off the “front burner” and work on rough drafting Issue #2 (major plot points). I had great success with actually writing a rough draft for the story and then writing the second draft on the next “rotation.” The thing is, in the short-story, one of the characters saves themselves off-screen, while for issue #2, Tana will save her on-screen. I have an idea of how this happens, but I want to write it down in rough draft first before I actually try to write it in the next draft. I’m adapting the short-story, but that doesn’t mean that I want to make it exactly like the short-story as the graphic novel affords more pages to go into more detail. In the story, it wasn’t necessary for Tana to actually save the other character–just to make the attempt. However, in this story, to show Tana’s attachment to her “mother” figure, she would have to save her to make her character believable. I’ll probably start to write issue 2 in November (maybe sooner depending on whether or not the proposals that I hope to send out are successful).
Anyway, that’ all I have for now. Have a great day!
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 25)
October 5, 2018
Kubo and the Two Strings (No Spoilers)
Image Source: Amazon.com
Kubo and East Lake Academy
Before I get into my impressions of the movie proper, I wanted to note the context of my seeing this movie. I first heard about it from trailers and during the Oscars where it was nominated for a couple of awards (just checked via google and it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Visual Effects for 2017). I then saw that after its theatrical run, it had come to Netflix and I intended to see it. At the end of the 2017 semester, I went back to East Lake Academy during the final week of school just to see how things were going with my former 6th grade teammates. They raved about Kubo and the Two Strings and told me how much the kids loved it. I had always intended to see it, but one thing led to another and I would put it off again and again. Finally, this week, it is set to go off Netflix the 6th (?) of this month here in the United States, so I thought I’d better make it a priority.
Kubo = A Great Animated Movie
I really liked the movie. It is one in which the main character doesn’t complain about his circumstances. He doesn’t always want to do as he’s told, but from the characterization and editing of the movie, you can see that he very much loves his mother and wishes that he could help her more than he is able to because of his young age. He also wants to know his father better and that touches off the beginning of the story’s central plot. While the humor is isn’t as laugh-out-loud funny as, say a Pixar movie, still it has quite a bit of humor and their are a ton of verbal gags and quips that could easily become referential or memes in the future.
Kubo = A Film with a Message
Now, most films have a message or theme that they are imparting to the audience, regardless of whether it is explicitly made clear or not. In Kubo, the theme is explicitly spelled out at the end, so if that type of thing bothers you, be aware that is there. However, there are other themes, like fidelity, family (both the good and bad of familial life), and disability/ability that one can glean without having it told to the audience. I personally don’t mind when movies do that in most cases (really, the only animated movie that I’ve actively disliked is Happy Feet which presented its theme in a very confusing way and in an utterly unrealistic ending). Kubo isn’t like that–however, as its theme always derives from its story and the actions of its characters. So, Kubo always makes sense in its formulation of story, plot, and characters. And its fun, too, without being mean-spirited, which is ultimately what I think Happy Feet is–albeit unintentionally.
Overall Grade: B+
I think Kubo and the Two Strings is a strong entry in the animated movie field. There are other movies that I like more than this one, but as both a story and a life-lesson, I think that it really has strong narrative and visual elements that help to make it a must-watch movie at some point. As a Fantasy movie, it also works well, in that it allows the hero to access “magical powers” that are unique to the Eastern Tradition. While the movie doesn’t fully explain his powers, it does explain the hero’s origin, which then suggests how Kubo can do magic (to explain further would probably be “spoilery” so I’ll leave it at that). I really liked it and I only wish that I would have seen it earlier (when the teachers at East Lake were raving about it as I feel it would have been more impactful at that time because I wouldn’t have seen as many Disney animated movies and Pixar movies with which to compare it to.
