Everything is plastic

Finally saw Avatar today. We bought tickets yesterday which is a good thing because the show SOLD OUT.

Seriously, people, STOP THAT.

Thoughts:

( Basically in which every single one of my expectations was completely confirmed. (and just in case I wasn't the last person in the world to see the movie, this thing is totally spoiler-cautious) )

+I will weep bitterly if Avatar takes best picture at the Oscars, but it totally will. I've decided that Avatar is the new Twilight. Not that good, terribly written, AND YET PEOPLE LIKE IT. Nay, love it, and go to see it a million times in theaters. Except Twilight is funny as shit and I have no desire to see Avatar a second time. No, not even to see how much better it looks in 2D. I didn't even want to see it to begin with, adamant from the very first time I saw the trailer in theaters, and then people praising it all over the place made me think it might be worth it, but no, no it wasn't (and yes, I can't help but be slightly resentful). I mean, it wasn't three hours I will rent my garments over having spent watching it, but I certainly can think of about a million ways I could have better spent my time, which include deep-cleaning the bathroom in my apartment or rubbing my puppy's tummy for three solid hours.

I tried to go into it with as open a mind as possible for the sake of my friends who really like the movie as well as, you know, out of fairness, but it conformed to every one of my expectations so thoroughly I honestly can't see why I bothered, in hindsight.

I'm not bashing it for being a terrible movie, because lord knows I enjoy me some books and movies of questionable merit. I'm bashing it for being a terrible movie that bored the hell out of me, and because I honestly couldn't see anything to justify people claiming it as the second coming of Christ. A lot of that is could just be me and my tastes, but hey, I'm gonna hold the movie at fault if I want to (which I do).

So I just signed up for Netflix last night, and I don't know why it's taken me so long to do so. I have a ton of classic Doctor Who set to stream through my xbox already (mostly 4 and 5 - I found a couple of "best of" and "start here" lists and consolidated them. If anyone wants my list, I can hook you up). More than that, I've had a lot of fun rating movies and checking out the recommendations Netflix hooks me up with. On my front page now are recs for "suspenseful TV shows," "campy satires," and "visually-striking quirky movies." Love it.

First day of school today. Had history (age of total war - about WWI and WWII), and video productions. For video productions, we're going through the entire television production process, and making a 6-10 minute video in groups of about 3 for the term project. I'm very excited for it. Looks like we're spending the first couple of weeks on brainstorming, outlining, and writing. Plus, we've got access to all of the university's production equipment, including brand new HD cameras. Ooh, shiny. The professor seems really chill and awesome. My classmates, well, I spied no nerds, and in the meet-and-greet it seems there are a lot of skateboarders and snowboarders (as well as general sports fans), which is totally not my M.O., so we'll have to see about this.

My second assignment is that I need to vaguely outline three ideas for the video, but I'm having a hard time thinking in terms of the length. I can pretty accurately estimate the length of my NaNoWriMo or a short story, and having started outlining a pilot, I'm pretty sure "around 40 minutes" is within my frame of reference, but "six to ten minutes" has me completely baffled.

So if you know of a sketch or video on the interwebs somewhere that's around that length, send me the link! Having some reference for the length would be really helpful. Looking through my youtube favorites, nearly everything I have is too short (around 2 to 4 minutes, it seems). The only video I found that was the length I was looking for is this one:



I was hoping that how to be emo would also be relevant to my interests, but alas, I forgot that it's a ridiculous 20 minutes long, so never mind. But here, you can have that too:



Guys, my situation here is pretty dire. Help plz. 6-10 minute videos plzthx.

( Witty cut text )

Also, I have written 12,146 words since December 16, and I am so effing awesome because I have so far stuck to my goal to write every day, even when it's been really difficult and I've ended up writing 100-200 words of pure shit around midnight just because I have to. (And also when it's been really easy and I've written over 1,000 words without even realizing how much I had written because everything is just flowing out through my fingers). Hell yeah, this is going to be so easy. I haven't written anything yet tonight but I'm getting started on it as soon as I post this and I already know what I'm going to start with, which is a totally awesome feeling.

One exam left tomorrow, then freedom... and realizing it's already time to buy books for next semester.

Kind of in an odd head-space right now. During NaNoWriMo I decided I needed to force myself to write every day, made up a spreadsheet the first day of December because having a place to store raw data makes things wonderfully concrete. There's a line graph and everything. Finally decided I was starting yesterday after 15 days of kind of thinking about it but mostly thinking about finals and term papers. 4,309 words in two days so far; I call that an excellent start.

Anyway, have an excerpt from the short story I somehow managed to get out in 40 minutes today (albeit after a couple of hours of ruminating on the topic)

He tells her that he hits her because she is a worthless whore.

She knows that she is a worthless whore because she lets him hit her.

Yeah, there's the reason for the weird head-space I'm in. Afraid to revise it, afraid to get opinions on it out of fear I've messed it all up and written something awfully insensitive (or just awful). Afraid to just leave it in a first-draft state too; it deserves more love than that. Afraid of all the work it will take to polish it up - usually I call my first drafts not worth saving and leave it at that. Haven't yet decided on an ending, really. I need to learn how to end things before I start creative writing next semester.

Okay, that little rant dealie last night helped out a lot, and I'm registered for 11 credit hours at the moment. I need to find one more class still to go full time, but that's looking a lot more doable at the moment.

( Classes )