7 hours to go...

Just a little over 6 hours to go until NaNoWriMo 2010!

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. All throughout the month of November, several hundred thousand people--writers and non-writers alike--get together while still crazed on sugar from Halloween candy and write 50,000 words in 30 days. If you know me, you've probably seen my NaNoWriMo winner shirt from last year. It doesn't matter what's going on in November, it's not November without this event for me now.

I might give you updates on my story occasionally through the month here. It all depends on how utterly exhausted I am after writing, working on my thesis, and all that other stuff.

Wish me luck!

Harry Potter and World-Building

The Harry Potter series will always hold a special place in my heart. I've read the first five books more times than I can count on two hands and a foot, and the last two a handful of times each. In my (relatively short) lifetime, I've only come across one other series that even made me want to reread all of them. Something tells me this is a phenomenon that happens only rarely, and only with those books that really mean something to us.

There are many amazing things about these books that people have written whole books (and theses!) on. But there's one aspect that I've been thinking about recently that I want to talk about. The Harry Potter series exhibits some of the best world-building that I've ever read.

I have had an unusual first encounter with this series. I was around six years old. I had been reading fairly well since kindergarten, and the reading level of the first book was simple enough so that I could read it on my own. Of course, my mom was reading the book to me so that she could explain and edit the story if needed (My memory is fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure she glossed over the "dueling" scene that had Harry wandering out at night to fight Malfoy. That scene scared me when I read it on my own later).

I remember looking at the cover, staring at this kid so much older than me in this magical world. I wanted to see this magic, but so far all we had seen was a rude cousin and a zoo that only hinted at anything magical. I wanted to read about the amazing things. So one day I picked up the book on my own and started reading in the middle of the book (awful of me, I know). It was a scene that had Harry and Ron talking. But strangely enough, I imagined them as these two young boys, talking on a playground next to the brick wall of the school. Where was the magical world?

I had skipped right over it. What I had missed were the chapters that so wonderfully and quickly set up this whole new world right in our own. Because I skipped over this, all I saw were two little boys barely older than me talking on the playground, the best setting I could come up with on my own with my first grader mind. But when my mom read it to me that night, and I got the story properly, I was taken to a world I never would have been able to imagine. And there was no going back after that.

I think it's because this magical world does have clear ties with the normal world that make it all the more believable. Who hasn't seen a locked, unmarked door and wondered what was behind it? Who hasn't seen something ordinary and imagined some fantastic idea behind it? Or the train station through the solid brick wall? This series fueled my imagination for my entire childhood.

I think it's time for a rereading.

To Utah!

Behold! A picture blog to feast your eyes upon!

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On our way to the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport!

The Dallas Airport. Very modern looking.

Ogden: Home of this sign.

Also home to this Mormon thing and a collection of painted horses.

A theater themed like ancient Egypt. Can't get much cooler than that.

My water had a strawberry in it. Imagine that. Much better than a lemon, that's for sure.

Something was on fire. We spent the drive theorizing what it was.

Here you go, history nuts. The monument at Promontory Point.

If train A leaves the West traveling 100 MPH and train B leaves the East traveling at 100 MPH in a winding, curving fashion and the distance between the two is a whole continent, how far from the East will it be when the two trains meet?

Salt Lake. It smelled really nasty. This is how I think the moon would look if it had water on it.

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For those of you who follow me on facebook, I'll be uploading more pictures with people in them there.

Movie Monday: Groundhog Day (PG)

I was less than a month old when this movie came out, but then again, most of my favorite movies are before my time. I'm going to start a series of themed blog post days, and that makes today Movie Monday. I thought this would be a good first movie since I had been thinking about it earlier through a long, strange train of thought. It led my along its winding path to think that if I was stuck in today, doomed to repeat it over and over, that wouldn't be too bad. After going crazy like the character of the movie does, I could spend my time doing various things and learn life lessons along the way. But to be sure, I definitely wouldn't kidnap a groundhog and drive off a cliff with it.

From a storytelling standpoint, I really love the characterization of the main character and how his imprisonment in time slowly changes him and makes him a man everyone looks up to. He learns from his mistakes (and he makes plenty of them), becomes a better man, and even manages to befriend and save everyone in the town at some point. I wouldn't recommend this movie for younger audiences, but it certainly is among my favorites.

Before School Blues

I'm well into my last week of freedom before the school year starts, and the mixed feelings are already setting in. But I'm not going to miss the long hours with nothing to do as much as I'm going to miss the food. It's nothing amazing and just out of the Food Channel, but there's something wonderful about not having to eat cold peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that taste more like refrigerator and ziplocs than they do anything natural. You know, the kind where the jelly's soaked through the bread and gone stiff, like the sandwich bled out and died in your bag.

I'm going to miss having whatever I want for lunch, so for the next four days I'm going to enjoy lunch. Here's what I had today for lunch:

That right there is the extent of my cooking skills. I overcooked the egg a bit, but it was still delicious and it disappeared within minutes. Later I got creative and made a smoothie:

I know it looks gross and you would probably give me raised eyebrows when I told you what all I put in it but I assure you it was delicious for a first try at making smoothies.

Here's to enjoying varied foods for lunch while we still have a chance!

Movie Review: Despicable Me (PG)

So I finally went to see this movie the other day. It was a long drive up to the movie theater (nearly an hour), but we had to go there since it was the nearest Rave theater that had it in 2-D. I can't see 3-D so Katie was kind enough to change theaters.

It was a cute movie. Some of the sequences in it reminded me of old Loony Toons cartoons where all of the humor was in the character getting blown up or squashed. I found the main character to be a bit creepy at times but I think that was purposeful, and his turn around at the end was really sweet.

But the real adventure was after the movie. The bottom dropped out of the clouds as I was on my way home. The rain was coming down so hard I could hardly see the taillights of the truck in front of me so I stopped at the nearest gas station to wait it out (if that doesn't get me a good driver award, I don't know what will). While I was waiting I ran inside, bought some pretzel M&Ms (which turn out to have the texture of Whoppers, but the taste of a semi-stale pretzel inside), then hopped back in my car and took of now that the rain had slowed. I made it about a mile down the road before being stopped by... a raging river? Across 119?

One hour later, I finally got home. At least we got that rain we needed.

Would I watch this again?: Yes

My rating: 3 out of 5

Movie Review: Inception (PG-13)

I went to see Inception today with Katie of ArtisticalThoughts. I thought a movie review would be a good first post, since that's probably most of what I'll post here. So here we go. You might not want to read on if you plan on seeing it and you don't want spoilers.

I decided last minute that I wanted to see this movie. I had heard that it was good, albeit confusing, so I thought I would give it a shot. Despicable Me was calling to me, but I put it off for next week. So I drove over, picked Katie up, and made it to the theater with four or so minutes to spare. We needed every single one of those four minutes since Katie decided to earn her "eccentric public nuisance" badge by paying her $7.25 all in change ($7.25? For a matinée? Thinking about it still hurts). A few minutes later, our tickets were paid for, we had our tickets taken by a man who claimed to be "the most beautiful black man in the world" (Katie attracts funny events, it seems. It's her gift in life. That probably wouldn't have happened if I had gone alone), and we slid into our seats as a trailer played and Katie tweeted about the man.

For an action movie, I was happily surprised by the lack of cursing every other word, and the absence of other adult stuff. The scene in the second layer of dreams when one of the men is fighting off the defenses of the dreamer's mind in the hotel hallway was cool in the effects and stunts departments, and the whole thing had nice cinematography. The use of slow motion made sense in most parts (using it at all was a risky move. I know pretty much since Kung Fu died off slow motion is usually played for laughs). The plot was hard to follow at some points (my joke is that this movie makes the plot of Lost look tame and easy to follow in comparison. Give me time-traveling, manipulative villains, and flashbacks from flashforwards any day. Just please no dreams within dreams that might not really be dreams or whatever it was that happened there at the end.)

So was this movie All Just a Dream? Was part of it real? Was the ending some sort of statement about perception of reality and its relativity? I have no clue. I've yet to meet someone who does.

Would I watch this again?: Yes

My rating: 4 out of 5