I've been kinda busy lately, what with school (school sucks, but less so than the last two years), the roleplay (we've been redeveloping everything), and debate (I also joined the debate team, just by the way). So sorry for not posting very often. I was going to compare The Maze Runner (book) with The Maze Runner (movie), but I get kinda rambly when I review. So maybe later. (Long story short: the movie was better. I know, I didn't believe it either.)
But yeah, this blog is a bit behind. I think it's time for an update post. So now, in no particular order...
Update 1: Yeah, seriously, I joined the debate team. I kind of regret it though, 'cause my most enthusiastic debate team friend (AKA: 70% of my motivation) has had to take a lengthy leave of absence. But I already paid club fees, hotel fees, and an extra sweatshirt fee, so yeah, there's no going back. Our first tournament is on the 11th, which is soon, so maybe I'll post about it after.
Update 2: School started a couple months ago, and my classes this year suck significantly less than they did last year. Unfortunately, I allowed myself to get discouraged around registration time and did not sign myself up for Drawing, but hey man, I took Photography instead. It quickly became my favorite class, so I call that a success. But more on that later. I'm also taking Creative Writing and Honors English, both of which should give me posting material (in the fullness of time). P.E. is dumb and Honors Math is dumb, but that's just two of eight classes. I got more than half-lucky this year! Yessssssss.
Update 3: Right but so photography. Photography is hard, so we're taking it slow(ly?), meaning we don't develop our first round of actual film until Monday. But earlier, we made pinhole cameras (mine was unsuccessful), and photograms (mine were very successful). So yeah, let's talk about those.
First thing's first: I have to explain how photo paper works. Basically, a bunch of goddamn magicians came together and created a type of white paper that turns dark when exposed to light. Well, okay, it doesn't turn dark until you put it in the developer chemicals, but the important thing is this: the parts that had light on them will be dark. Shine light on one corner? Dark. A different corner? Dark. A tiny spot in the middle? Dark. Just how dark it really gets depends on how much light hits the paper and for how long. If you shine a really dim light for a fraction of a second, it'll turn kinda grey. A glaring bright light for a minute or so should turn it completely black.
So, a photogram is what you get when you cover up certain parts of the paper to prevent the light from reaching them. In class, we stood in the dark room and laid a bunch of objects on our photo paper, put it under a light, and shined it on for a couple seconds, then put it in the developer chemicals. (side note: do not get developer chemicals on your hands. They won't hurt you, but you'll smell like old rubber and vinegar for the next two days, which makes you really sick really fast. It's gross.) My best four came out like this:
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| This one's fancy 'cause I mounted it. (sorry the photo's not the greatest. I had to turn it in, so I took this one in class.) |
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| Admire the doll arm. (And wonder why the hell it has those shadow objects reflected on it. How does light work again?) |
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| I am so sorry about the dust. I tried to get it off, but in my house, it's pretty much unavoidable. |
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| b r o k e n l o c k e t (broken hearts) |
Maybe I needed the change of medium from drawing to art. I like this. I really do.
Update 4: Like I said, we've all been working on the roleplay, and I'm really excited about this. We've been doing this without actually roleplaying it though, which just means lots and lots of redevelopment with hardly any writing. Which I love, actually! It's satisfying and refreshing. And remember Raven? (I mentioned her briefly here.) I kind of killed her off and deserted her, but now I'm fixing her! I've been meaning to do this for months. It only came off the ground now because Mr. Parker (yeah so last year's English teacher is this year's Creative Writing teacher - cool beans, right?) assigned a short narrative written about a Facebook status. I don't have a Facebook, so I made a status up and ended up writing about Raven running away from home. It was almost kind of enlightening, actually. I always try and map out my character and storyline before I start writing, but this time I just kind of just let it go, and I learned things. Like that Raven is gay, or at least bi. Despite having a girlfriend myself (damn cutie she is), I am not usually prone to writing LGBT characters, so that was kinda surprising.
The real challenge here is going to be handling two developed characters in my head without getting more excited about one than the other. And if I succeed to love them both, the next challenge will be to kill Raven off anyway.
Yay!
Update 5: Okay, I think this is the last thing. Here, we have...webcomics! God, do I love webcomics.
CUCUMBER QUEST is really fuckin' cute, guys! These four hero people (er, *bunnies) have to travel all through these crazy kingdoms to collect some silly stuff and fight some ridiculous villains, and I won't lie to you, the whole quest thing is really just kind of inane (even to them). The heroes are all really adorable though, and like - I mean, can I be your friend, Cucumber? Pleeeaaase?? - and the villains are all really compelling, actually, with really interesting dynamics. (Like Nightmare Knight and Rosemaster. I really want to know what's going on there.) I mean, their quest is kind of frustrating, and a million times harder than it needs to be just because some of the characters are just stubborn, but the webcomic itself is so cute. Read it. You must.
BLINDSPRINGS is...ahh...I'm not sure how to explain Blindsprings. It's kind of involved, or at least, the whole story hasn't been revealed to us yet. As I understand it, a kingdom was ruled by a group of people known as Orphics, who were born with magical abilities that came from the spirits. But the Orphics were too oppressive of their people and the Academists (scholars who managed to invent their own, artificial magic) revolted, quickly taking over the kingdom. The Academists developed a way to seal Orphic powers, and quickly became distrustful and oppressive of all community members who were of the Orphic line. Now (about a hundred years later?), Orphic community members are beginning to revolt again. I think. Despite it being kind of complicated, the story is told with such incredible charm (and such a different and lovely range of characters) that it immediately keeps you reading. It's not very long, and updates relatively often, so if you're looking for something elegant and new, I recommend this one-hundred percent.
BFF COMIC is something I was only introduced to a couple days ago, but it is damn freaking adorable! I'm not far enough in to write my own description of it, so here's the author's: "Best Friends Forever is a (b)romantic dramedy about a dirt-poor quarterback and the nerd-chic president of the student council trying to hold their unlikely friendship together - despite the suspicions & meddling of their frustrating classmates." Honestly, I'm still early enough in the comic (chapter seven) that I technically shouldn't be reviewing yet, but it is so cute. Teddy (the nerdy kid) is adorable, and Vincent (the quarterback) is beautiful, and they're just...aw. You should read it. Please.
(UPDATE: okay so I caught up on it and it starts out adorable, but then it gets really angsty really fast. I'm not saying you shouldn't read it, but ahh, be warned. That's all.)
Oh Yeah and Also Update 6: I'm about 20 pages into 1984 right now. You know, that old dystopian classic by George Orwell? Yeah. It's scaring me.
Alright, so that's the last of my updates. I hope you guys are all doing wonderfully, and I myself have been doing pretty okay. I'll talk to you later!
-Allie H-S
