A Sneak Peek Long Overdue

So I've become immersed in Final Fantasy XI again....

I am currently swamped with work...

I've had a bit too much coffee....

I feel sleepy.....

No. No more excuses this time. I promised a preview of my work, and I'm aiming to deliver this time, on time.

No long winded introductions, self monologues or what have you. Here's a paragraph or two. Work in progress. Enjoy:

Sea of Sorrow (work in progress)

I think that one looks like a dog.

Well, in this angle, it probably looks more like a rabbit.

That one over there, though, definitely looks like a dog, ears and nose, fluffy tail just hanging off the edge.

Of all the clouds way above, that one resembles a dog the most. And since I've been staring at clouds all day, it deserves recognition.

Now I just have to think of something else to do while I float out here, in the middle of the ocean.

Based on the darkish blue coloring the sky, I'd say it was close to being late in the afternoon. It's hard to believe that I've been swimming for half a day at least, if it was morning when I regained consciousness. Actually, it's still hard to believe I'm even in this predicament. I'm lost at sea, no visible land in any direction, covered with wounds and nothing at all to help me stay afloat.

I should be panicked.

But I'm not.

I'll reach land soon enough.

What if you don't?

I will.

Why?

Because I just will. I'm too young, it isn't my time. I know God wouldn't let a fifteen year old, a hard working student drown at sea, all alone. It's uncommon. I'm not injured too badly, and the water washed away most of the blood from my arms and legs. Okay, I'm too tired to keep swimming, so that's why I've started to float belly up for a while. Nothing hurts aside from my head.

So that's why I also stopped thinking about what happened. It's not like I could remember anything, anyway. I know Mom and Dad were planning a trip, a plane ride to....I don't remember. I was just happy to finally get away. We went on a small plane, just the three of us and a pilot. It was dark when we were up in the air, so I dozed off. Then a sound woke me up, something loud but not earth shaking loud, even though the plane was shaking. Mom's scream was much louder, much more frightening.

And...that's it. I'm not going to wreck my head any further thinking about it.

So I'll just sit back, float around and watch the clouds. It's not the first time I spent all day watching the floating art gallery. In fact, I'd say I developed a keen eye for spotting the different shapes these white puffs could imitate.

Maybe you would have amounted to something better, if you hadn't always kept your head in the clouds.

Just call me the cloud critic.

You could have done so much more, but now it's too late.

Great Excuse

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. I know I did. Enjoyed a breakfast of Eggs, Biscuits, Bacon and Cookies, then later on to a dinner of Turkey, Stuffing, Baked Potatos, and Ice Cream cake.



After all that, the one thing I am most thankful for is that my bowels did not suffer the after-effects for such a feast.



My father wasn't so lucky in that regard.



As for the promised draft of my story, I truly was ready to give you a glimpse of a paragraph or two, but I figured the payoff would be worth it if I took the extra two days to look over the writing, then add a bit of poilsh to it rather than just directly copy what I wrote five years ago.



So really, look forward to the first sample Monday.

An Adaption With Balls

By now you've probably read about the alleged confirmation that Fox is moving forward with a live adaption of Dragon Ball Z. I say "alleged" because we've been down this road before; As a highly popular anime series, DBZ has been cast, directed, composed, and tossed into post production by its fans for as long as the internet has been active in American culture.

So that's why I can't help but take a "believe it when I see it" attitude over the news that Fox is pushing for an adaption to be ready as early as Summer 2008, with casting for two of the most major characters along with supervision by a very well known martial arts afficianado.

For the casting, we have Justin Chatwin (the kid who so desperately wanted to play hero in War of the Worlds) and James Marsters (Buffy's Spike, who echoed Power Rangers' Lord Zedd as a villain who was pretty awesome and evil in his debut appearance, but eventually became very comic relief as the series moved forward) as Piccolo.

At first, second, and third glances, this is an absurd casting. Chatwin is too young and too skinny to portray Goku, and Marsters is too....blonde. Based on the synopsis, however, which states that Goku is a warrior in training and that Piccolo is a villain, this movie may in fact be an adaption of Dragon Ball, the story before Dragon Ball Z. Here, Goku is still a young boy in training, and Piccolo's father is the central villain. After King Piccolo is soundly defeated, he spits out an egg as his dying gesture, which later hatches into Piccolo Jr, who faces off against a teenage Goku in Dragon Ball's final chapter.

Even if Justin was cast with Goku's younger incarnation in mind, he's still going to have to do a massive amount of bulking up, since Goku always had a ridiculous physique even in his teenager days. Marsters should have less trouble portraying Piccolo, as that character's primary requirements are a lot of green paint and perhaps some CGI thrown here and there around his scaly body.

Less hard to picture is that Stephen Chow has been hired as producer for this movie. If you've seen Kung-Fu Hustle and/or Shaolin Soccer, you would know why this is the most sensical decision regarding a live Dragon Ball movie. If you haven't, stop reading this blog (as if you needed an excuse) and rent those movies right now. Chow has managed to recreate DB's unrealistic battles and high flying energy attacks with his movies; It all looks fake, but it also looks cool.

A lot of fellow forum-goers are interested in watching this adaption, but not because they expect a movie, but because they expect the equivalent of a ten car pile up; It's horrific, and yet you can't look away.

I, on the other hand, am viewing this with a casual tinge of optimism. I convinced myself long ago that with the right budget and choreography, a live action Dragon Ball Z adaption could work. I've heard plenty of people who attested to the final battle in The Matrix Revolutions to be visual proof of that claim. We're certainly at an age where just about anything can be acheived through CGI and monumental budgets.

Well, everything in regards to special effects. As far as the appearance of the actual characters, there's really no amount of CGI or makeup that will make Goku's foot-long spikey hair or Piccolo's green-scaled body appear believable on any actor. But if FOX wanted to create a believable film, they would never have picked this series, or hired Stephen Chow as producer. Anyone with a computer or Cartoon Network can tell you that the DBZ series was never intended to be viewed realistically, or even partially realistically. This isn't a story about regular children attending a wizard's school, or humans driving transforming cars. The premise is simple enough (young boy aspires to be greatest fighter in the world), but quickly and increasingly escalates into super-powered fighters who can fly in the air, unleash attacks strong enough to decimate the planet a hundred times over, and becoming so strong that even God's God's God shudders at their power and strength.

Because even God has someone to answer to, but he answers to Goku.

So yes, I am excited at the prospect of a live movie featuring God-fearing superpowers, kung-fu aliens, transforming pigs, bald-headed midgets, and green-skinned devils. Regardless of the actual quality of the film, if the effects at least hold out, then there's going to be quite a number of curious moviegoers in addition of legions of longtime fans (disgruntled or not, they'll flock to this movie just like the fanboys who huffed and puffed about the flames on Optimus) at what could be the first majorly successful anime-to-live film adaption.

Did I mention there were also dinosaurs?

Re-Greetings and Re-Welcomings

Welcome to my new and improved blog, Scribbling and Scrutiny.

New features include a name change. Worth the extra four week wait, no?

Well aside from that, the layout and purpose of the blog remains the same. But now you can look forward to two entries a week rather than one, as well as a primary focus on quality over quantity. Well, I do plan on making shorter entries, but I can't promise that they'll be necessarily "quality" posts each time. But with the stick firmly dislodged from my buttocks, I do intend to type these entries with a more personal flair to it, and not obsess so much with creating mini college essays (although that's a bit pretentious on my part to suggest I'm even that good).

My first iternary is to have my long overdue story published to this blog, a task I've literally locked away at my desk drawer as it would require manually typing all the information from paper back into PC, but I'm commited to finally get started on the task, as well as make some edits or changes that reflect my improved perceptive from over five years ago.

Aside from that, I'm mostly counting the hours until Super Mario Galaxy becomes available at my local Toys 'R Us. Despite calling twice the day before for confirmation that I could pick up my reserved copy first thing in the morning, I was greeted with expected dissapointment from a mole-faced clerk that informed me that the game won't be available until 5 'o clock. And since I now work around that time, I left the task to my father to pick up the game while I sit back and have customers yell at me for not sponsoring tickets for Celine Dion.

Because, after all, "what's bigger than Celine Dion?", says the rage-driven elderly woman frothing into my ear.

It isn't impatience in waiting until my shift ends to play this game, or lack of faith in my father in picking the game up at the scheduled time, but rather it is the inept service from Toys 'R Us that worries me most of all. I was informed the previous weekend that even though I reserved a copy of the game, the reserved copies would still be distributed in a first come, first served basis. If twenty five people reserved the game, but only twenty reserved copies would be available, I would be quite SOL if I arrived late. Hence why I made the effort to sleepily arrive at the store the minute it opened, only to be shot down for my efforts.

But wouldn't my father be able to get the copy as long as he arrives at the appointed time? Not so, because I asked the same grand-mole clerk what would happen if the shipment arrived earlier than Five 'o clock?

"Oh, we would sell the copies immediately." she replies, a disgusting hint of cheerfulness in her voice that was either meant to be uplifting or mocking.

With that in mind, all I can do is leave it to daddy and wait for the results. Three more hours to go....