Old Year Posting

Fun fact: no year since I've started this blog has had all 365 days with a post in. This year, I figured it would be easy to change that. This month wasn't the only one with that. 10 seconds left. Gotta post, and update later.

AND CRAP I'M LIKE 2 SECONDS LATE ANYWAY CRAP CRAP CRAP. I'll just, uh... just backlog this post as well, then, shall I? And take my sweet time compiling the list of the backlog posts over the past couple of hours.

Here's that list though, in the order I got 'em up:

1/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-backlog-113-bff-bbf.html

2/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-backlog-213-cinderella-in-party.html

3/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/04/2017-backlog-313-soft-targ.html


4/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/04/413-this-neat-french-autism-awareness.html

5/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/04/2017-backlog-513-eames-office.html

6/13 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-backlog-613-champs-and-half.html

(and then I realized I had 15 and not 13) 7/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/01/2017-backlog-715-day-1.html


8/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/01/2017-backlog-815-day-2.html


9/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-backlog-915-yup-this-is-backlog.html

10/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/05/2017-backlog-1015-what-im-doing-while.html

11/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/05/2017-backlog-1115-boring-backlogging.html

12/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-backlog-1215-four-page-zone.html

13/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-backlog-1315-220-and-ten-till.html

14/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-backlog-1415-new-years-eve.html

15/15 http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-backlog-1515-feeling-romantic.html

Yep. Will I be able to be more consistent next year? Dunno. I had this thought earlier today, with 2018 uummm coming up when I thought it, but it's right now as I type this. Going into the future is like, burrowing into a tunnel deeper and deeper. And the tunnel's getting narrower and narrower around us. Maybe there was some sunlight around us even as recently as 2004, but 2018, that's such an abstract thought, a year we never thought we'd get to, that there's no sunlight coming in behind us, down this tunnel at all anymore.

2017 Backlog 1/13: BFF BBF

9:51 pm.

Smarticle that came out a couple of days ago, on a French animated film that looks really good:

http://deadline.com/2017/12/the-big-bad-fox-and-other-tales-patrick-imbert-benjamin-renner-animation-interview-1202203587/

And here's the trailer if you want to watch it I gueeeess:

Mind Flayer

We finished cleaning the house today. Or, as finished as we did. Mom getting a clean house and all, surprising her while she's away? Anyway.

The last two episodes of Stranger Things 2 are cinematic perfection. I think that episode 6 could maybe swap places with episode 7, as a flashback, in order to maintain the suspense at the end of episode 7 there. If that wouldn't be too underwhelming a reveal or anything. That's just a weird weird episode. And season 2 being one episode longer than season 1, I don't know.

Now what do I watch, though? I haven't seen Inception in years, but I guess we don't have it here, which makes sense.

A Cold Coming We Had of It, Just the Worst Time of the Year

Pokémon singing Bette Midler? Yes please.

Anime, Hitchcock, Star Warses 7 and 8. And All That.

I guess I missed my post last night as well; that makes two this month. I'll fill those in with something. Was too busy with a midnight watching of The Boy and the Beast, last year's anime film Christmas gift to Alex, after having viewed this year's the night preceding (Your Name.) There's something really weird about the way that anime films are usually structured, which I'm gradually learning to piece together and put into words.

A funny thing about the pattern that I'm noticing, (at least as I'm expressing it,) is that it's also the way that a lot of Alfred Hitchcock movies tend to be structured.

Hollywood structure is famously straightforward. Bollywood structure, it's a little more complicated than that as a natural evolution of the format (longer pictures means intermission in the middle means the story gets told in two parts, with some sort of tragedy usually which gets rectified in the second half,) but that makes it even more... well I don't want to say predictable, so how about, familiar. 

Hitchcock/anime structure, (and most likely applying to other film genres as well (though really more of mediums than genres) of course,) it's... even more epic and twisty than that. Kind of episodic, but the episodes can be as long as they want? And oftentimes upending a lot of a lot that's gone before. I'd have to get into specific details, which I can't get into here, in order to explain fully what I mean, and I'm no expert of course so maybe my examples wouldn't be the best anyway. But that rough rough rough explanation still stands.

And this combined with genre-typical atmosphere, the effect is... intoxicating. Hitchcock's creation of suspense. Miyazaki's worldbuilding through details. The recent Star Wars films have been leaning very slightly in this structural direction as well; The Last Jedi was weird, and not for no reason.

Dang, I think I've got a pretty good video essay on my hands...

2017 Backlog 2/13: Cinderella in a Party Dress

9:56 pm, 12/31/17. 

This stuff is from a month ago exactly, heading up to Rexburg and napping and getting ideas for NaNoWriMo liked I talked about. Sharing it here!

Cinderella attended the ball and was unprepared for it. It happened one thousand other times, a fairy godmother magicking a Ciderella to a ball, and it never worked; the reason why the version we're familiar with is present in almost every world culture is because how unusual it was. "You're already in a position of power, without working for it. And my power gained through my fairy godmother, I didn't work for that, so what makes us different, what makes this fair?" she asked the high-class there.  "It's a pecking order, a dominance hierarchy, and that creates stability. I grew up in this world and you didn't. We have striated societies to give everyone a place, to make it so that nobody has to fight to belong. But that you can if you want to."

Terry Pratchet in Hogfather has the Tooth Fairy's realm's magic be powered by sympathetic magic, using people's body parts as part of spelled against them. In the realm of children's belief there is a scissorman, body all made of scissors. And death is an abstract concept. But is it not also abstract to adults? Just because adults are aware that it's permanent, what would happen then in an adult-based version of that land?

Christmas Card 2017

Last night I painted the wall of the den for my dad. We built a family history center for him, with a crafty FamilySearch logo as the centerpiece. I did the wall part, with my bro and sis on the non-brown boxes.

The Zootopia plushies represent my mom and dad; they were in their stockings, from me. I only ship Nick and Judy platonically currently, but that's adorbs.

With my painting of the wall, on Christmas Eve, I'd figured that'd be my Christmas card for the year, like the arts that I post up every year somehow.

For my idea of a more traditional, art-type Christmas ecard though, I'd been thinking of something that's reflected my interests lately like video games or Stranger Things, but I had no ideas up until five seconds ago when I crapped something out. It's, "Mercy Christmas."

She's got a tiger on her head.

Yeah I'm totally considering the other thing to be the card for this year though.

The Killers - The Cowboy's Christmas Ball

.



Yup.

The Killers - Joseph, Better You Than Me ft. Elton John, Neil Tennant

This is for the song stuck in my head a couple of days ago. Today it's actually The Cowboys' Christmas ball; guess that'll be for tomorrow?

Tire. So diter. Hopefully I'll feel this way tomorrow; usually I can't fall to sleep for jack on Christmas Eve.

Eurysome Anatid

Woke up from an interesting dream- Dad waking us up to go do a thing which turns out won't be until tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll finally learn what happens with that archeopteryx tonight. And I spelled that right first try somehow.

So Christmas caroling with a Buddhist this evening, that was interesting. Turns out in Thailand, they've got many small Buddhist holidays throughout the year, instead of just a handful of big Christian ones like we've got in the States. That makes sense. We also have little holidays, but secular ones.

Christmas is in three days somehow. We've got all of, ten, eleven gifts under the tree so far? But at least it's snowed, so there's that. It was a couple of days ago, but the snow stuck somehow.

It's also the first snow that the aforementioned Thai has seen in his life.

Upside Down

I've got like two minutes left in the Stranger Things Season 1 finale, but the internet decided to act dumb right then. The action cut to one month later, but so far I don't see why...

Having seen the rest of it, episode 8 isn't that bad. It's like the season finale of Day 5 of 24. You can't walk into a television show (at least not the arc-based kind) just for the season finale.

The Dr Brenner thing where he says "six six six" randomly still makes no krutacking sense though.

Anyhousen. The new video is uploading to YouTube right now. Always it decides to take a long time on me. That's alright I suppose. I'd be so very much in bed right now if it weren't for that.

Medium Strength?

I've got my script all scripted out for tomorrow's fresh new episode of Pretzels, Prints, Repeat. It seems a lot bolder, but there's something I'm still missing out on that would fit it uniquely to the medium. Right now it just feels like a particularly detailed post on my blog. Since I talk about the news on PPR, keeping things kind of ephemeral, sometimes I think perhaps it would be better if these were just blog posts. It's quite vexing. Maybe there IS a reason why YouTube is mostly just a bunch of reviews and let's plays and reaction videos and, cats. Playing to the strength of the medium. While my medium... well, I just get wordy again. Ten minutes of me talking. Woo.

I've been feeling fresh and full of idears lately, so I'm sure I'll possibly think of something between now and then.

But I'm just one subscriber away from having the same number of subscribers as I do blog followers...!

Also the Three Kings thing arrived yesterday, so you can blog about that now Andrew.

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Deepest Thoughts

Did I forget to post yesterday? I did forget to post yesterday. What is a post? Post post post. How much post? One post yesterday. Zero posts yesterday. That means, one post lacked. Post post no post. I made a vlog today and YouTube is just uploading it veeerrryy slowly. The internet is being veeerrryy slow. 

These are my deepest thoughts at the moment. Perhaps it's good that I didn't post yesterday; it would have been much the same.

2017 Backlog 6/13: Champs and a Half

Doing backlog is the perfect place for linking to other sites, ones that I thought were dope and maybe even meant to recommend, but which I didn't get around to for one reason or another. Seriously there's this amazing thing that exists in the world that I'd been going to blog about and highly recommend and rave how awesome it is... but I can't remember what it is right now.

I'll possibly think of it.

Anyway, for now, here's an amazing article (kind of technically anachronistic for when this post is getting put up, since it was published on the 25th-ish) about League of Legends, from the dev team, specifically about how they name new champions. They have to give each name crazytons of consideration, making sure each name is distinct enough from the other characters yet also fit into the same world, and also also being pronouncible and non-naughty in all the  foreign languages that players of the worldwide game speak.

https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/2017/12/naming-new-champions/

Spooliers. Nope None of Those.

$11 and I forget how many cents. 

The Last Jedi is a weird weird weird weird weird weird weird weird movie. But  a wise and good one. Sometimes our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses, are our greatest strengths. 

I woke up just to tell you these things before midnight. And awake is a relative term. I'm basically still asleep right now.

Shopping Almost Done

I have $23.75, and still need to go Christmas shopping.

D:

Actually, it might already be done. Or, almost done. I've got ideas for stocking stuffers, so we're good there... but that's not the only money I lack.

There is still one semester left. There's two more payments due rent-wise, $626 total, which means I pay $1876.49 and am done.

I owe $1250.49 to the school by the end of the month somehow. $251.49 of that is from this semester's snazzy new health insurance plan; half a semester's insurance is ~$250, $490 per semester. There was a small charge on top of the $249 half-semester insurance for switching plans. 999 minus 490 is 509, tuition is 501, where are the other $8 coming from?

I went to go check it out yesterday, and arrived four minutes late to the Bursar's office.

I need a job. I'm making through Plasma enough to feed myself, but the body is more than food. I have subscriptions; I'm going to need to cut back on my Patreon support this month between the two weeks without donation and the fact of gift-giving.

I've got one last shot at applying to a place. That isn't Taco Bell.

I've managed to get through college without accruing any debt.*

I've also managed to get through college without accruing any marketable skills. "And you lose some," concluded Tom winsomely.

*Except to my mom. But that was an avoidable, thing, and my bad entirely. I just had to rush in...

The Killers - Christmas In L.A. ft. Dawes

If it was Christmas in L.A. that I had stuck in my head yesterday, it's A Great Big Sled today, so, I guess I'm putting this one up. I'm doing this in order of when they burst into my head of course, except for Dirt Sledding which had come into my head a day or two before I'd posted it but had forgotten about it.

Christmas in L.A. anyway. This almost made me cry the last time I watched it, so I'm just posting it up here without watching it myself...



Harry Dean Stanton is dead, which sucks. But so are a lot of other people.

So it's Christmas, last day of the semester is tomorrow or today depending on final exams stuff. Things are... mixed. But looking up.



There, Christmas lights at Temple Square. This year's video. I keep on expecting to see myself, but that was four years ago. Kind of mars my perception of the lights on Temple Square, that incident during my mission; everyone's happy and taking it in, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for bad things to happen there. The lights on Temple Square are a bit of a raw nerve.

And I'm posting a video of them up here.

Because I raised my voice again today. Roommate issues. Thought that had been the last time yelling at someone, Thanksgiving 2013, but I guess not. (My yelling to get help after Elder Urena-Perez chipped a tooth, and my yelling the fourth verse of the Star-Spangled Banner while singing it, both also on my mission but after the Thanksgiving thing, those weren't yelling, as much as others interpreted it that way.) Four years broken. It was a magnificent run, though, wasn't it?

And I didn't physically assault anyone this time! Just got testy.

There was this thing. So apparently it had been a joke, running gag this whole time, but I hadn't been seeing it that way? and it was just, building up inside of me until I flipped my lid. And. Turns out it was joking, this whole time. Whoops.

But it blew the lid off of this whole thing, nobody had really been communicating with each other, and just getting on each others' nerves, and building up, and building up. Reached a head here.

And things are better with my roommates now, though there are still a couple of loose ends that need to be resolved, further communication that needs to be made. Which can't be made right now because the roommate in question is at The Last Jedi right now. But it can take its time.

So that's looking up. The mixed part is, I'm flat broke and need to do Christmas shopping? I've got all of, $23.75, and haven't gotten any stocking stuffers for anybody yet. Whom all do I need? Like, 8 people? Sam, Danny, Ryan, Alex, Mom, Hannah, Dad, me... Yikes. And beyond that... well, that merits a post of its own tomorrow, I think.

The Killers - A Great Big Sled ft. Toni Halliday

I post these up when they come to me from nowhere, just getting a song stuck in my head and thinking, you know what's a good Christmas song? That one.

Like this one.



Only "Christmas in L.A." is stuck in my head right now because I looked that one up thinking it may have been the one that had forced its way into my head this morning. And having looked that one up, well it's forced its way into my head as well.

Anyway. The last reshoots of Tony Boi were completed today; I'll receive a copy of the entire edited short film over Christmas break sometime, once it's done.

I finished the first episode of my new series last night/this morning, as well. It's intended to be more, current events-y, and it looks like both of the subjects I discuss are resolving themselves already (that was fast,) so I'm not posting it here (maybe I'll post it on my wordpress) as it's very much a yesterday thing. And I'm tired.

The Killers - Dirt Sledding ft. Ryan Pardey, Richard Dreyfuss

As a grown-up I find it more difficult to get into the Holiday spirit than as a kid. It just never feels real. But a great way to get into the Christmas mood is through music- music makes it real.

If the spirit of Christmas can be brought through music, and the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Christ, I guess it's not too weird that we sing hymns at church- the music doesn't do it for me there, but it definitely does here.

Finished my YouTube video. Uploaded like 20 minutes late, on the 13th, when it was specifically supposed to go up on the 12th. AND THAT SUCKS SO BAD YOU CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE.