Welcome, everyone! I'm glad you stopped by. Please, feel free to flip through the pages.
- Created By red:leaf
What I've Been Up To
I've been reading a lot of literary fiction recently and it's set my fingers itching for writing. I never know what I want to write about though. One of the things that I utterly fail at is coming up with a writing prompt. Sometimes it's pure torture. I was told that was a good thing, and my source is very reliable, so I just try to take it in stride and not give myself tension headaches.
I have to plug for some of the books that I've read though 1) because they're awesome and 2) because I've known/met most of these authors. So if you're looking for a good read, here are some suggestions:
Bear Down, Bear North by Melinda Moustakis
Flight by Sherman Alexie
Hustle by Jason Skipper
Plume by Kathleen Flennigan (I may have spelled her last name wrong.)
12th and Race by Eric Goodman
Most of them are pretty raw and deal with hard subjects but they're so good. If you decide to read any of them, let me know what you think!
I've been looking into literary magazine publishing but most acceptance periods don't start until September. I guess that means I've got plenty of time to edit. It's really hard to determine if a magazine would be a good fit for your writing, or rather, the other way around.
Otherwise in my life, still hardcore failing at finding a job but whatever. Can't be unemployed forever!
So...Summer...
A recap on life, shall we? End of the school year went well enough. My thesis on Miyazaki went amazingly. I couldn't have asked for a better presentation and paper. My fiction writing thesis, on the other hand, did not go very well. I was all nervous and flustered and it was a long twenty minutes of torture. But it's over with and people liked my short story, so I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought....
And suddenly summer is here. My very productive summer has gone like this:
- Added another reason to list of reasons why red:leaf hates summer
- Colored a piece in colored pencil. That was fun
- Finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. (Hemingway is much more interesting when I realized how he writes. Have you noticed that all of his writing is in real time? Like, there's not any long introspection going on in his stories.)
- Applied for jobs
I plan on trying my hand at publishing this summer too, sometime. We'll see how that goes.
Typical Me
Spring Break started. And the second it did, I got sick. That is so typically me. Guess I've been working too hard. I had plans to get super far ahead on school projects, do a little shopping (that is desperately needed), and finish up cosplay things. This cold is throwing a wrench in all my plans...Everyone is getting sick too. Don't get sick you guys! Stay healthy!
Checking In and Other Things
For the first time in my life, I've gotten a bad grade in a class based on personal reasons. You would think that would be beneath people. But no. I got told today by my teacher that I received a bad grade because I "baffled" him. I should be more pissed off right now but I can't help wanting to laugh--his reasoning is ridiculous.
Anyway, how are you all? Feels like it's been a long time. Can't say I've been up to much, despite how busy I've gotten all of a sudden. I've narrowed my thesis now and have started my project in earnest. I wonder if I could do a fan panel at a convention with this project...? As con gets closer, that's what I've been thinking about. That, and costuming.
Other than that--there's been a lot of drama with money and friends (not a good mix) but I will spare you that. The weather has been alternating between snow, rain, and sun for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully, though, we are though the snow portion of the year. Work has been extremely lax lately too. We're working on a very small show right now (opens this week). I don't even know if I'll even need to go in this week....The break is nice though. By "break" I mean not having to feverishly be working and having the boss all stressed out. I like it.
Until next time, all.
Research
I've steadily been making my way through Miyazaki's movies for my thesis this past week. It's resulted in some late nights. One of my housemates, who has previously been unexposed to such wonderful films, always wants to watch them with me and he gets home late. I enjoy his company but sometimes it's like watching a movie with a five year old. In the first minute, he's already asking questions.
HIM: Is that Ponyo? [refering to one of those little jellyfish.]
ME: No, Ponyo's a fish.
[Ponyo appears on screen leaving the porthole.]
HIM: Ponyo! Hey, she doesn't look like a fish. What is that?
ME: She's a fish...princess...thing--I don't know! Like "The Little Mermaid." Don't worry about it. Just watch the movie!
That kid asks too many questions. But anyway, I've still got to get my hands on a few last movies, like Pom Poko and such. Then it will be time for narrowing my topic! I'm struggling with just how to do that exactly, but I'll figure it out.
When you're actually analyzing Miyazaki films, you pick up a lot more. Like water is always used as a healing aspect. There's always someone who is turning into an animal or vise versa. Nausicaa is probably the heaviest of all of his movies (war, genocide, environmental destruction, sacrifice...need I go on?). All of the movies that have titles that come from characters are always named after secondary main characters. For example, Princess Mononoke refers to San when the plot line follows Ashitaka, mostly. Really interesting stuff.
(I just thought of this, randomly, but why are there so many stories about royalty? Like, almost all of Miyazaki's heroines are princesses in some form or another. Maybe it's a feminism thing, or maybe just a celebrity thing? Who knows.)
Otherwise, things are going smoothly enough. Working hard to get back into the swing of things and keep track of the many assignments I've got coming up. Hope you all are well and had a nice Valentine's Day. Until next time.
