Holyshit, why didn't anyone tell me one of my fav PC games of all-time was being remastered?! Let alone that it's out right fucking now!

I'm so fucking happy :'D

Before I get started, let me make this much clear: I love DC Comics. I grew up in the ‘90s when the DC animated universe was tearing things up on the small screen hit-after-hit series headed by artist Bruce Timm and writer Paul Dini. The first graphic novel I bought was Batman: The Long Halloween; one of the first DVDs I bought when I opened by Amazon.com account was the two-disc special edition of Tim Burton’s Batman along with Richard Donner’s Superman. In 2008 I was there for the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight (the first of six screenings I’d catch in cinemas). Aside from Spider-Man, Marvel Comics didn’t enter my consciousness until the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s from this place of love for DC Comics, WB, and their characters that I say Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the greatest creative misfires in cinematic history. It's an oppressively glum film, with bland, unlikable characters guided by a director who’s more concerned with lining up cool shots for the trailer than telling a coherent narrative in a package that's honestly hard to sit through (you could have never told me 5 years ago a Batman/Superman movie could be this boring). What makes this even worse is that, rather than being a strange studio gamble, this was one of the most highly anticipated films of the decade, and will now hang as the albatross around the neck of all future DC Comics film adaptations.

Some of the film’s problems can be explained away by the fact that it was cut down from an original 3+ hour run time. Even so, that doesn’t excuse the film from being one of the most slipshod affairs you’ll ever see. Scenes exist independently of one another lacking any form of transition, or setup. There’s this scene where Batman’s chasing some goons, turns a corner, and BOOM: There’s Superman standing there. No, we don’t know how long Superman’s been waiting around for this, or why he didn’t care to stop any of the criminals Batman was chasing in this sequence. Zack Snyder just thought this would be a cool image (this seems to be Zack Snyder’s approach to every feature in his filmography).

That’s not to say everything is bad. There are some good sequences, I can give the film that. For all the shit I give him, Zack Snyder does usually have three or four scenes I enjoy in each of his movies. Here, the opening sequence with Bruce Wayne running through Metropolis during the Superman/Zod fight from Man of Steel is first rate. No one can deny that Zack Snyder has a good eye for action. The problem is that everything between the action sequences is pure tedium. I’m not exaggerating when I say I began dozing off three times during this movie. While the action at the end of the film is well executed, I was too drained by the experience to care.

I can’t help but feel sorry for Ben Affleck. He’s been having a career renaissance these past couple of years, both as an actor and director with stellar films such as The Town and the Best Picture winning Argo. As Batman, Affleck is BvS’s one revelation: He’s really freaking good. I’m sorry that he couldn’t have launched his portrayal of the character in a better film. If not for awful characterization of Batman provided by the film’s script he could have easily emerged as the definitive actor in the role.

Henry Cavil has a good Superman in him, I’m sure of that; maybe not as good as Christopher Reeve, but a good one. Once again, he’s held back by Zack Snyder’s complete lack of understanding for the character of Superman. All Superman does in this film is make dramatic entrances into scenes (usually by hovering over people in slow-motion before descending), and brooding.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, since I’ve ranted and raved about all these issues before in Man of Steel, but here these problems need to be repeated. In every comic where Batman and Superman have fought it’s been a contest between ideology; dark versus light; hope against despair. There’s none of that in Batman v. Superman. This Superman isn’t an optimistic figure who wishes to bring out the best in humanity. Through the lens of Zack Snyder these two are essentially the same bloody character.

You can’t write a universe where Superman constantly resorts to violence, but wags his finger at Batman for his brutal vigilantism. Likewise, you can’t have a Batman who guns down countless goons taking the moral high ground. These two should be sharing beers and laughing over their kill counts, not arguing moral superiority.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman -thankfully- emerges unscathed from this brooding, overly serious nonsense Supes and Bats have been burdened with, and offers some of the film's few bright spots. Given what I've seen of Zack Snyder this probably has everything to do with him not having enough time to screw her up.

Then there's Jesse Eisenberg as “Alexander” Luthor. What drunk writing session did little Alexander Luthor crawl out of? I sincerely want to know. This character is the poster child for everything that is wrong with this motion picture. I can’t even blame Eisenberg much for it. This is clearly the performance Zack Snyder wanted him to give. He seems more like a lost character from the Adam West Batman series than a credible threat in this dark, brooding world Snyder’s created. I constantly found myself smacking the side of my own head saying, “That couldn’t have just happened.”

But it did. It really did. (One of the film's "tense" scenes involves a jar of Luthor's piss... Some people seem to have enjoyed this bit, but I could hardly contain my laughter.)

At the end of the day none of these criticisms hurt worse than the fact that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice simply isn’t a fun movie to watch. Failing to entertain on any worthwhile level is the greatest sin any movie can commit. Aside from Jesse Eisenberg, the film takes itself far too seriously to enjoy on a cheesy movie level, and too ridiculous to enjoy as a serious action movie.

Already the directors of Wonder Woman and Aquaman are coming out at cons promising fans that their movies will be fun. This is the hole Zack Snyder has dug for the DC Cinematic Universe. Warner Bros. needs to act, and they need to act fast if they want any hope of competing with Marvel.

While considering the possibility of returning to short fiction I’ve spent some time taking stock of what writing I’m most comfortable producing. After some thought it became clear that sex and intimacy are my greatest roadblocks. I don’t consider myself a prude, by any means, but I feel my past has gimped my ability to express those sort of fantasies in writing.

Anyone who read my teenage fiction (and I hope none of you have) would know that this wasn’t always the case. During my high school years I was quite enthused in the production of smut; scribbling out my fantasies openly on the page, then posting them for all to see.

I was in relationship that last six years with a partner who became increasingly abusive in their conduct. Because I aimed to please my partner I never spoke up about how they weren’t taking my needs into consideration. I was trapped beneath the societal construct that the man in a relationship needed to be the provider. As a result, I was a door mat to someone who was becoming steadily less mature and was expecting me to provide everything for them, without ever giving anything back. This is how my ex treated emotions, and how they treated sex. It never mattered to them if I was happy, or was enjoying something, so long as they got their fix. These moments have tainted my ability to self-insert myself in sexual fantasies (because of my ex, the phrase “blow job” remains closely associated with teeth).

2012 it all came to a head and we broke up. Immediately after they ridiculed my sexual performance in a series of nasty Tweets, labeling me: “selfish,” “clueless,” and “incapable.” I’d already felt uncomfortable during sex, with exploits often being driven by what my partner wanted without any regards for my own enjoyment.

After this I essentially divorced myself from producing sexual content and buried my sexuality where no one could hope to reach it. There’s only one problem: I still fantasize about sex. I read porn, think of kinks and characters to engage in them, etc. I just can’t write it. Whenever I try writing erotic or pornographic scenes/shorts I wind up trashing the document two sentences in. I feel like a part of me has set a wall between those fantasizes and my writing.

It probably seems silly to some that I’d be fixated on this. After all, it’s only one form of writing. The point is that I can’t produce this content even when I want to. That’s why I’m frustrated with the situation. How am I expected to have found closure with the past if I can’t return to writing anything I like?

* sigh * This has been an incredibly sensitive topic for me that I’m only now choosing to address openly. I don’t have any idea how to address this problem, or strategies to cope with the anxiety it creates. So, I’m just going to leave things off here.

Hoh boy. Graduation’s coming. It’s almost here.

Soon I’ll be leaving Los Angeles and making for my college campus nestled in the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. They’ll walk me out on the stage, hand me a diploma, have me pose with the dean, and then throw me out on the curb of adulthood.

It’s at this moment, with stress clouding my mind and keeping me up to the wee hours of the morning, I decided it was as good a time as any to start keeping a public journal. So, whether you’re a friend or guest, I’d like to thank you for dropping by.

As it currently stands, I have fifteen days to draft and polish the last forty pages of my thesis screenplay, wrap up my two Los Angeles internships, then pack everything up and figure out where I go from here.

I don’t have any job offers lined up, and cinema and photography graduates notoriously are made to suffer through 5-8 years of grueling, menial, low-paying work before finally gather enough experience to land a dependable industry job.

Yay, life choices!

The stress of these realities has caused me to break out across my upper chest, and scratch anxiously at my scalp (this is about as unsexy as it sounds).

I went to see a movie with a gal I met online. Didn’t go so well. Nothing bad. I just wasn’t feeling anything.

She had a strange walk—a birth defect in her left leg (I don’t know the specifics). I wonder if her disability played any part in my feelings (or, lack thereof). It’d be a real shitty reason not to follow-up, if that were the case.

Of course, lots of people I know and love have physical defects of one kind or another, so I don’t think that was the main reason.

Perhaps I’m just not ready to be in a relationship again.

Despite these mounting anxieties, I’d be remiss if I didn’t make note of how things have changed for the better.

I am far better off now than I was two years ago. I’ve made new friends, become more open in sharing my work online and in-person, and have made great strides in improving my self-image.

But there’s still work to be done.

When my thesis screenplay’s over and done with I think I’ll try my hand at short fiction, again (maybe even go full furry). I’ve sorely neglected my traditional writing skills during these past three years of my screenwriting concentration and I hope to remedy that. Perhaps writing prose again will help clear the specters of my past.

Although I’m afraid of where my future leads, I must keep reminding myself of how much better things are now than they were before. I’m no longer tied down by an abusive, one-sided relationship, I’ve reaffirmed my belief in myself as a screenwriter, and met some of the best friends I could ever hope for.

Here’s to a prosperous new chapter in this story I call life. I hope some of you will join me on this journey.

Even though I’ve never seen Cloverfield I decided to pop into cinemas to see 10 Cloverfield Lane. Let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more entertained. It was like watching a great 100-minute episode of The Twilight Zone in the cinema.

This is Dan Trachtenberg’s directorial debut, and what a debut it is! The actors all turn in great performances, with John Goodman’s unsettling survivalist character stealing the show, and, once again, proving he’s one of the great character actors currently working in Hollywood.

I could say more, but I think this movie’s best viewed without knowing much about the plot going in.

Go see it!

In a two week stretch that has been marred by personal and emotional turmoil I can now add having a fever to my list of problems. Isn't that just dandy?

Since I'm now taking my furry accounts seriously I wanted to announce an overhaul to my profile complete with personal details, a list of community friends, links to my characters- the works!

I'll also be going into the uploads of my characters' art and adding bios. Links in my profile will take you to the character art detailing these additions. c:

Peace be with you all!

Well, after skirting around the fence for years I'm going to fully embrace this community. I've really had a wonderful time getting to know so many wonderful people this last year and I wish to continue this growth in the foreseeable future.

So, yes: I'll officially be acknowledging my furry-ness from this point forward.

This has been my furiest fur year of my life. I made furry friends, I created furry characters. And these -fan characters not included- are all the original furry characters in my line up.

To put it all in perspective: 2015 I spent twice as much on art as I did in 2014.

These are the new characters I am proud of.

Zita – An Italian-American otter lady with
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17492435/

Rhonda Raccoon – A sassy roadster
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17652256/

Stella Glamour – A regal bat, darling.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18401993/

Val – A raccoon journalist
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17759580/

Dalys – Intergalactic space goat boy
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17759527/

Nica the Fall Fairy – The force between summer and winter… She likes candy.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17944254/

Chloe Couture – A foxy model/actress trying to make ends meet and have a good time.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18439618/

December 8 was my 23 birthday. Which I could stop and say more but college finals and beating me down.

Peace!

Nicanor, the velociraptor with sandy Mongolian feathers hasn't been featured in new works since 2011. That's about to change.

Prepare, lovers of fluff. Nicanor's coming back to FA! It'll be the 12 featheriest event on the web, so hold onto butts.

Well, I was kind of downplaying my involvement on Fur Affinity, but now that I'm active again I guess there's no use hiding all the art I've commissioned over the years.

Enjoy all the characters I've created over the years and the artists who've helped bring them to living color! :D

Well, a little over a week ago I stumbled across the auction for a sassy looking raccoon gal by artist Nicnak044. I don't know what it is about this character's look but she immediately became a source of inspiration.

Her name is Rhonda and she's a Grade-A sassy pants in a leather coat who races hot rods when she isn't busy being cooler than everyone else in the room.

You can expect her to become a fixture in my gallery from here on out.

Been writing concepts for years and now I'm actually interested in finding artists capable of bringing these visions to life.

After a lengthy brainstorming session with a friend -bouncing all them ideas around- I think I'm making some headway on a WIP fantasy story I've wanted to write. It is my more whimsical world filled with odd technology and creatures and I'd always felt kind of stuck on it. Now there's wind in the sales, a cast of characters has been formed, and a basic plot summary is in place.

Hope I can keep this up and see a story finally emerge!

I am so fucking pumped- a full on survival horror based on Ridley Scott's Alien (NOT Cameron's Aliens) where you don't have any weapons and only one xenomorph- oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Ohhhh this is exactly what I've been wanting from an Alien game since- FOREVER!

Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck...PLEASE GOD DON'T SUCK!

I didn't realize it at the time, but for years I had my creative tampered with by an outside force. Now that I'm free of it it's like I'm seeing the world in an entirely new light. I can see colors, life, and energy, and it is glorious! I want to create, I want to bring people together and create new characters and worlds in ways that I'd never previously thought of.

This is a good time to be alive.

Some events in my life make me rethink where I stand as an artist/creator. The more I go on the more I realize that my focuses take inspirations from loads of different medias. There are elements of classical literature, Hollywood blockbuster, Broadway musical, video games, Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, and all kinds of other random things that influence my world building process.

I've gotten down to thinking: "Is there a way to blend these together into some sort of super media?"

A problem I have with current storytelling trends is that everyone is moving towards "realism" when it comes to storytelling. You see it in our Hollywood movies, we see it in our video games: these fabrications of reality are infecting everything! The only thing that seems unaffected are stage dramas and musicals which still rely on imagination and effectively use dynamic lighting and set design to convey their meanings. I think these elements need to be brought back into our mainstream storytelling formats. Especially the movies.

Lately I've been thinking how I want to write a script that pulls in elements of stage theatre, the color and manic energy of a carnival, the lively character design of animation, and the dramatic character arcs and themes of literature. I don't know what the story will be, but I'm always on the look out for what story will have all the right elements to make this conceptual project a reality.

Anyways, that's currently my dream project as a creator and I hope that it will develop into a feasible work someday.

I love people who will preach against something and then go ahead and do it themselves. It's just such a perverse reflection of a legitimate values system and the people who do it are completely unaware. Sometimes you just want to laugh, but you have to hold your tongue because if you point out the flaw these people will violently deny it. Who wants to deal with that fight?

Regardless, if someone claims to be passionate about something, or that a certain idea is central to their being, it shouldn't be negotiable. If you say you'll never, ever do something then you don't. And if you criticize someone else for something you don't go ahead and do the same exact thing later.

If you aren't willing to lead by example don't preach the words. It's that simple.

I've been reading some comics lately and I was curious how I can come by some original comic scripts. That is, what the writer gives to the artist. That thing. I'd like to know the rules and format.

My friends and I have long wondered when Ender's Game would arrive on the silver screen. In the stream of young adult fiction being adapted for the silver screen I always figured it was only a matter of time before Orson Scott Card's 1985 classic Ender's Game received the Hollywood treatment. While I don't think Gavin Hood's 2013 adaptation is going to win over many converts, nor do I think it will particularly anger fans. For what it is I believe 2013's Ender's Game does the best it can within the confines of a 100 minute running time.

I'd like to say right of the bat that it's been a few years since I read Ender's Game. I first read it in the 6th grade, and went on to read it a few more times, most recently being roughly two years ago. From what I remember the movie does a decent enough job summarizing the events of the novel. There are some major omissions to be sure, but there isn't any alterations that made me feel the source material had been betrayed in any way. Problems within the film arise from omissions, not flagrant disregard for the source.

The casting feels spot on. Asa Butterfield is a great Ender Wiggins and is a spot on representation of the kind of kid I imagined reading the book. Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff more or less steals the show, reminding us of what a magnetic screen presence he's always been (although he's more or less just playing Harrison Ford) and Viola Davis as Major Anderson does work excellently well as his counterpart. Ben Kingsley does a serviceable job, but has such little screen time that he doesn't really have a chance to establish his character. Ender's siblings Valentine (Abigail Breslin) and Peter (Jimmy Pinchak) have such little presence that they might as well not exist (despite their significant roles in the book). I can understand why these characters had their roles cut down so immensely for the sake of adaptation, but the film still has them referenced constantly, so their lack of development doesn't help you feel much for Ender's internal conflicts relating to his family.

The main problem with Ender's Game is that it has so much story to tell in such a short span of time. Certain plotlines are sped through, some are omitted entirely, and it just feels incredibly condensed. If you haven't read the book I don't think you'll have time to develop much empathy for these characters, or get a grip of what's going on. Having read the book I was able to appreciate these scenes, but even then it felt lacking; like I was watching pieces of an unfinished whole.

Do I think Ender's Game is a great or bad movie? Neither. It's an okay movie. As a movie it doesn't really stand up on its own merits, so that limits its appeal to new audiences, and a movie should work on its own separate from its source. Then if you've read the book like I have you may feel disappointed by how rushed some of the events and messages are handed to you. This doesn't make it a bad movie, because some scenes do work, but it just never reaches its full potential.

While not reaching its full potential it isn't by any means one of worst adaptations ever made. If you've read the book the movie is worth seeing once or renting, but if you haven't read the book I'd suggest reading it first: it's a good book and the movie makes more sense if you've read it.

There is a person and a conversation. The two are connected inextricably to your life past and present. You don't know when or if you'll ever have this conversation but it will always exist as an idea. Day after day the conversation fails to take shape and, well, patience, civility, that too starts to crumble with the passage of time.

Contrary to what most people would have you believe time is not the great healer. It is a variable. If you have friends, and a healthy dose of conversation then, then you can heal with time, but not without. Without it you are left alone in the pit with binoculars that amplify to flaws in these...people. People who have avoided responsibility at every turn and who are incapable of accepting their own twisted moral depravity.

Maybe this won't be an issue much longer for me. I do have a friend or two that truly matters in my life and I hope to continue communication and understanding of those people who have done nothing but be supportive. I am forever grateful to these people.

Those who have helped me know who they are. Same as I know the people who have done harm know who they are. They can do as they wish. I remain open to discussion, but I will not be bullied or put down.

Felt a brief moment of joy the other day that made me feel like things made sense again. Then it was gone and I was alone an unsure of everything once more.

Oh my God that was one of the best summer popcorn films I've ever seen! Guillermo del Toro, my man, as usual you hit the sweet spot fusing geekdom, art, and spectacular action into a delicious ball of filmmaking.

This movie is just a treat. A sweet invitation to revisit your childhood on the big screen. This is everything those atrocious Transformers movies should have been. Anyone who compares Pacific Rim to Michael Bay's Transformers films needs to be punched right in the jaw. There is such a distinct difference between this film and that garbage that making that comparison will make me disregard any opinion you ever have about film.

Pacific Rim works because it treats its subject with respect. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but everything about this movie radiates with Guillermo del Toro's affection for the subject matter. This isn't a shameless blockbuster, or a cash in, it is a love letter to a genre that has never seen a truly spectacular live-action feature.

It doesn't have a deep plot, but it does what it has to do. The characters are archtypes, but in the same way the shows you watched as a child used archtypes and that's all a film of this nature really needs in order to work.

If you are someone who just can't accept the premise of giant robots fighting giant monsters than you will probably not enjoy it, but for people who grew up with these kinds of stories Pacific Rim is everything our inner child ever wanted to see on the silver screen.

This week I am playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES.