Something for Halloween.

Now, I don't do much for Halloween. Sure, I love candy and costumes. Costumes especially for some reason unknown to me at the moment. When I think of this time of year, I think of the movies. Like all the Tim Burton movies that are on this time of year. My favorite being Corpse Bride. I absolutely love that movie! Probably the best Halloween movie for me.

 Then  I think of a scene from Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. Namely this SCENE. (I am pretty sure this is the whole song.) If you haven't seen this movie, then I guess you haven't seen it. But it is, in a lame way, EPIC.

 Danny Elfman was in charge of the music score on Beetlejuice. I have recently learned that he is also Jack Skellinton's singing voice. I knew that Jack had two voice-actors--one for singing and one for regular dialogue. And I was totally psyched when I found out that Danny was his singing voice! It's just the nerd in me I guess. ^^

OMG IT SPARKLES!!! ^.^

 So, Happy Halloween tomorrow then!

And I hope that all of ya'll that are living through Sandy are doing well. The yard here is swamped. May never dry out again...But at least its just rain and wind.

~~Natsu

(Still working on the blog! I think I may be digging this blue :) )

Instead of a Cheese Documentary.

 I have been working through walls (the walls that block my ideas that is.) It is getting a little simpler to write now that I have a couple things to get me to do it. Firstly, I usually wake up with a song in my head. So what I do it write down the song name and singer, and then I force myself to write a couple paragraphs about it. Whether it be an essay-like piece, or something I could eventually put into one of my stories. Secondly I found that having new music to listen to helps me as well. Like if I change the channel on the radio from country to pop or just buying a new cd from the store.

 This week I actually bought two albums. On Monday I went to Wal-mart for Taylor Swift’s Red and ended up finding Eric Church’s Chief album. (Which I had been looking for FOREVER…Sometimes the music is all mixed up, so it’s harder to find things.) In the end, Red was bought on Tuesday because it wasn't there Monday.

 Now I told myself that I would listen to the cd a couple times before I decided what I should write about it. First off: It is much different from her last 3 records. A few songs are completely “pop style.” It is a good blend with the couple slow, more country songs. There was not a song that I didn't like. My favorites would have to be—

1. Stay Stay Stay (Adorably cute song. Omg.)

2. Begin Again

3. The Last Time (With Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol)

4. Everything has Changed (Featuring Ed Sheeran)

5. (These are not in order, but The Last Time is basically on the top…)

 And basically, I really like each and every song. 22 is fun to dance to as is I Knew You Were Trouble. It is a fun album. And I really like it. I actually caught the Begin Again music video as I was typing this up…That was more of what I thought it would be--Really awesome. :)

 What I really wanted to blog about was Eric Church’s Creepin’ music video. I really like the theme of it…I thought it was amazing when I saw it. The song is totally awesome too. Springsteen is probably, for me, the best song that came out this year. But here is Creepin’ since I already blogged Springsteen ♥ 

 

 Anyway, other than that, my week has been pretty beige…I have been in extreme muscle pain for the last few days. Why? Because I thought that using a jump rope for exercising would be fun. Ya know, instead of the boring treadmill…But now I know the real truth…JUMP ROPES ARE EVIL.

I have to get up at the absurd hour of 6am tomorrow, so I guess I should go.

Have a great weekend!

 (PS. I am in the long process of updating the blog. SO if things start to look  a little different...Yeah....)
~~Natsu~~

Good Grief!

"In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back." 

-Charlie Brown.

 I am seriously in a sticky place. Cursed with…WRITERS BLOCK! And oh what a terrible thing it is too! So many ideas, nowhere to put them, and what’s worse, I haven’t even finished the grand plot of my story! I can’t even blog it’s so bad…There was absolutely nothing going on or anything interesting happening, so I will probably  write about my writers block, and, when I Google Search “how to get rid of writers-block” I will probably write about that too.

  This is what I found: http://write-easy.blogspot.com/2009/06/5-ways-to-get-rid-of-writers-block.html And I think it is a really good article...

5 ways to get rid of writer's block

It's inevitable - the block gets us one day. It is as if the words refuse to flow, thickened somewhere in the brain, not moving, getting hazy as moment passes...nothing to type. The familiar keyboard doesn't help. If you do use the keyboard, it is the backspace that gets the most hits! Does it ring a bell? Yes, we all go through this and you are not alone. We cannot avoid it - but we can definitely come out of it faster.

Here is how -
Write, write and write - The most easiest way to come out of writer's block is to write! Forcing yourself to write something no matter how ugly it is would help getting the juices flow. I feel that the block is nothing but the fear of writing something terrible, something you would hate to know are your words. The best way to shoo away that fear is to actually put in those words out in the open. Good thing is you need not have to show it to someone else. You can be the only reader! Once the worst is over, you can only get better!

Go back to your favourite author - One of our most common inspirations are our favourite authors. They have inspired, coaxed, demanded and threatened us to write and write better. Sometimes, writer's block is a plea for a break and it would be great idea to go back to our masters and get rejuvenated! We have discovered our talents in their words and I am in no doubt that when you have finished reading them, you would ache to come back to your desk and type away the rest!

"Word-a-day" - I remember inventing this game in my initial days as a writer. I would often be at a loss of what to write due to various reasons (that should come in a separate blog :)) and I would think of ways to make myself write. "Word-a-day" is simple and effective. I would look at my surroundings and pick up any object among them randomly and say, "Ok...this is my topic. I need to write 250 words about this". Lo! I would force the words to come and as days would pass, I would start deliberating picking some things over others because they would interest me! As I said, it is very simple game to play. All you need is a determination that you would write those 250 words without giving up! The rest is easy.

Turn in to a critic - If you cannot write than start reviewing your older work. Some find it very embarrassing to read their work later, but that's one of the highs I get in my life! Reading and commenting on my articles/writings makes me much more aware of what kind of writer I am. It simultaneously also infuses in me the excitement to write something better. When you are short of words and are reviewing your own work, don't forget to keep pen and paper handy. I bet there would be moments when you would feel, "ah...this line is what makes it attractive", "oh...this could be phrased better!"...and so on. The important thing is it is making you think about words and hence, your brain is trying to form sentences again!

Do not give up and go on a long break - Going on a long break is the greatest danger during these times. I did it once and I regret it till date. You need to realize that writer's block is temporary and is not a proof that you are a bad writer. This thought scares the writer away in to oblivion and all that is left is lost clients, projects. When you get the inspiration again to write, all you are left with is starting everything from scratch. No need to add, it is not a pretty picture! So, do whatever you can, but do not be away from your writing desk for a long time.

Finally, any career would have its ups and downs and freelance writing is no different. In fact, the decision to freelance in much braver than any secure company job and it demands much more patience and work from you. You have taken that decision which means you are brave. Do not let a tiny obstacle like writer's block stop you! All the best!

  I am pretty sure that my main problem is that I am a perfectionist. And I have so many ideas. It got me thinking. What does it take to make a good story? I came up with a couple things that I think make stories great.

1. Adventure
2. Mystery
3. Good Story Telling ability
4. Characters with good back-stories and such things that make them who they are.
5. Interesting places, people, things, basically cool nouns. Haha
6. Suspense!
7. Point of view. Whether it switched from different people or different “Camera Angles.”
8. Bad guy/group. (Obviously!)
9. Good ending. And by good ending, I don’t mean “everyone lives happily ever after.” It could be an ending where the whole world explodes; it just has to be done right.
10. And I am sure there are a WHOLE BUNCH of other things that I don’t have here. I forgot where I put my list, so this will have to work.

Since buying my laptop, I have neglected my huge stack of notebooks. It’s sad really, I sit down to write in them, and go completely blank. Mostly because I haven’t seen them in forever and probably because I am stretched the story plot to its breaking point...Maybe it’s time I move on and begin different stories. It seems as though I start at least two new stories a month…

 At this point I am not sure what to do. I take ideas from the real-life scenarios and mold them into my own twisted image! I am jesting! 

  It’s actually easier for me to write fantasy than it is writing fiction with real-life happenings. Like for instance, “A giant dragon flew through the window and grabbed Ferdinand with its huge greedy talons.” It didn't take much thought to write that…But anything else, ugh!!

 I am working on it though! Working on it!

 ~Natsu

Narnia and other Sunday Fancies. ^.^

 Today I am working on finding the voices of Naruto characters including Tsunade, Jiraiya's and whoever else I come across. Switching out between the first Narnia (which isn't technically true...Hmm...First Narnia Movie.) and the 4th Indiana Jones movie.

 More to come.

A Brave thought.

 This evening, I sat down at my desk, turned on my computer, and looked up at the huge BRAVE poster that loomed above on the wall. Then an idea came to me. I should try to sketch that! So I did!

 And this is what I came up with. It's not my greatest drawing, but there were a few reasons for that.

1. It was on my wall so I had to stand back, not the greatest view.
2. It's in 3D and I am not skilled with drawing 3D images.
3. I am not great with people.
4. And last but yeah, least, I was basically just for fun sketching.

But yeah, that's what I got. Now that I look at it, the bow is off...Well, live and learn I guess.

 ~Natsu.

Luke, ich bin dein Vater.

  I am not bored.  Quite the contrary, actually, I have much to do and no time to do it!  I have collected a reasonably good bunch of words to use as a blog post, but I can never find the right time to post such things. Today, however, is just a thought-filled post. Some things I have learned, done, and thought over through the week.

  As for the German, I read a book called “Waiting for Summer’s Return,” by Kim Vogel Sawyer.  Most of the town spoke High German. So I learned a couple German words in the course of reading that book. It was really interesting to me for some reason…Probably because I enjoy listening to foreign languages…And I am in the process of learning Latin, so different languages and where they originated is kind of cool to me right now. The classic phrase, “Luke, I am your Father,” was something my sister randomly typed into the Google Translate. It kind of stuck in my mind as a good title for a random blog post, such as this. :)

  Skipping through the pages of “The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle” (EPIC book if you love concept art ^^) I realized how much I LOVE concept art. Heh. ♥

 I read on of the more recent Penguins with Jet Packs posts, that she had done a cute little rainbow gif, I believe it is called. That got me thinking.  I have been trying to figure out the name/ how to make pictures such as this,

since I found this one a couple weeks back. (Because I think they are so cool!) And I am pretty sure that that is what they are now…A big thanks to Elizabeth! :) (If I am correct about the matter anyway... I misunderstand things sometimes...........)

 Another wonderful Bologna dish brought to you by my father. A Sunday afternoon dinner that consisted of:

• ·         Bologna
• ·         Lettuce
• ·         Tomato
• ·         American Cheese
• ·         AND MAYO!
•       And bread. Toasted bread ^^

All grilled up and toasty! :)

 I am a little bummed out today because (once again! \>:( ) I have misplaced my envelopes of pressed rose petals. I had waited for the rose petals to drop—and pulled a couple out a couple—earlier this year. Like, spring. They turned out really cool after weeks of sitting under  5 Encyclopedias…Now I can’t seem to find them.

 Today I happened to walk outside and found that the big pink petals had fallen! So I scooped them up, dried ‘em off, and stuck them into two different envelopes and stuck them under a box, THEN I put the stack of Wedding Dress folders on top of the box. The box is probably caved in right now, but I just put all the classic literature into the attic. You’ll see em probably when I pull them out in a month or so…

I have nothing cool to close this up with besides the fact that King Caspian is MUCH cooler than Prince Caspian...More to come...

 ~Natsu ♥

~No-face and other fancies~

This guy here, this guy is amazing.

  I can’t really put a finger on it, but for some reason, he is just so interesting to me.  I even thought about making a costume since Halloween is almost upon us. But I don’t really do Halloween. Candy is fun and all, don’t get me wrong. And I LOVE cosplay! Nevertheless…I don’t know if I will even have time to complete it. The mask would be fun to make though… ^^

  

Other fancies include,

Excitement about Hunter Hayes first #1 song!

 Wanted, I knew, would make it to the top. I think it’s because of his spectacular amount of fans. I don’t know anyone personally (Ya know, besides myself.) but I have seen him live on a television event once. True, I can’t be sure that they were all his fans, but the meet-and-greet sure had a lot of young girls. Lol.  In my opinion, I think it was a good call to make Wanted a single.

  I guess that’s really all. I still need to upload some pics and get them on here. I just need to send ‘em…But I am much too lazy.

Let’s hope the day goes well for me and my family, it’s been a disappointing morning. May the odds be in our favor…

 ~Natsu  O_O

National Sandwich Day: November 3rd 2012. Waiting. Oh yes, waiting. :)

I have noticed that I have published 123 posts...1-2-3....Yeah.... :P

Savvy?

Now, I wasn’t going to start a Talk like a Pirate day post with a title like, “Ahoy There!” Only because I thought it would be a little corny. And Savvy is about the only “pirate word” I used today. I like how Jack Sparrow says it.  It’s been pretty obvious to me how much my family has been waiting for this day. I guess “Scurvy Dog” has been a popular saying in the house…And a child had a Rubber Duck taped to his shoulder, saying that that was as close as he could get to a parrot.  Needless to say it was kind of funny. ^^

  I have a bunch of pictures to upload before I can post anything more, so…

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

~Natsu “Arrrrg!” 

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo...

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo, fishy in the sea,

Tiny little fishy, who could you really be?

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo, magic set you free,

Oh she's a little girl with a round tummy.

  I guess it's pretty obvious which song is stuck in my head at this point...^^ All because I went on a Google search for Ghibli films. I am looking for the next film that my "Ghibli group" will watch next. Requests include, "PONYO! PONYO! Pick Ponyo this time!" I pardoned the request because I decided that we will save the "Lovey-touchy-feel-y" movies for last. We have seen Ponyo before. After it was released on DVD, we got it on Netflix. It was really good, so don’t get me wrong.

(BTW, Fujimoto was total AWESOMESAUCE! Fun fact, the English voice of Fujimoto was Liam Neeson. He was Qui-Gon-Jinn in the new/first Star Wars. AND I JUST READ ON IMDB THAT HE WAS THE VOICE OF ASLAN ON NARNIA! Now I know why Fujimoto and Aslan and Qui-Gon are all amazing. Yes.)

 I had a discussion with one of the members. This is how it went:

Me: Hey, what film do you want to see next?

(Let’s assume her name is Hyuga. I call her that anyway 'cuz she likes Hinata Hyuga from Naruto.) I don't know, what's there?

Me: Well, I want to see Princess Mononoke...What do you think?

Hyuga: Is it nice, or EPIC?

Me: Well, it's rated PG-13...

Hyuga: ~Smiles~ Sure! ~Walks away~

 I am kinda in an Anime mood tonight. I watched bits and pieces of Naruto episodes 30, and 31.  Only because I wanted to know what Orochimaru's voice sounded like. He is a very...interesting?...character. Little did I know that I already knew what he sounded like. The guy who does his voice also does Amon's voice, from The Legend of Korra. (Steve Blum) Amazing how you figure out things in a crazed Anime mood. I think to finish that; I will do a Manga-marathon. I need to start Volume 10 of Naruto. A Splendid Ninja. Rock Lee VS Gaara. I know for a fact the Lee gets basically destroyed. Totally crushed when I figured that out...

  5 more things tonight:

The Cosby Show is on TVland now, I hadn't known that and now I am excited. ^^

My favorite song--at this point--by The Script is The End Where I Begin.

The Saga Begins is the greatest song ever. :D Almost as good as Weird Al's play on "My Sharona." MY BOLOGNA! Teehee.

PS: I am a pixie. And yes, they do express emotion. Despite what "some people I know" think. ♥

I am addicted to "Lights" by Ellie Goulding. Adele and Ellie are both British, I believe. Love. :)

  This day whopped my rear. Exhausted. 

~Natsu

Updated Sep/19/12

Cold on a Saturday Morning.

   This past week has been pretty much like every other week. I bought some K9 Advantage II for Ginger. It has only been 3 days, but I have not seen one flea on her. She seems less annoyed and she follows me around again! For a while she totally ignored me, I thought that it might have been the recent company that's been annoying her. (Mostly because she is a little spoiled brat and doesn't like it when my attention is divided between her and other people.) But now that I think of it, she may have been agitated for other reasons. 

  Now she is fine. She seems a whole lot happier and I believe that the Advantage stuff really works. I had heard things about it on commercials, but I spent some time reading reviews online as well. Some of them said that it was better than Frontline, and others said that it didn't work at all. Well, Ginger is an 11 pound Mini Long-haired Dachshund, and it works for her. So happy that it does! :)

 What I have thought about in the past couple days is that some bits and pieces of this blog are really high-strung sounding. I don't know if that's a bad thing, sometimes I just get really excited! I am working on it though. Lol.

 I have also learned that if you get 1 or 2 books from the library, thinking that the week will be busy, odds are that you will be finished with the books in 2 days. That’s how it is for me, anyway.  Whenever I get maybe 7 books, my weeks are so jammed with crud to do, that I never get to read! I have been pretty crammed trying to read the books I have now...Then again, I can always renew them. I wanted to take some time off today, however, because I just wanted to sit here and blog. 

  It's really cold here, which isn't surprising because it is almost fall. I really didn't feel like doing anything else. Yesterday I worked all day. Which was my fault, I guess. I didn't have to work that week, but I chose too...I think it was a better choice in the end. 

 Besides reading, working, school and other things, I have been trying to draw Anime. Mostly characters from Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. So far I have done one of Naruto and Anko, two of Rock Lee (because for some reason I find him cool and awesome. Lol) I have done one of Orochimaru, and one of Sai. Sai was introduced into the series in the first episode I had ever watched. I guess at that point I was just looking for a character to be my favorite. And that was maybe a year, year and a half ago. I was pretty new to it. Still, today, even though there are a couple new characters added to that list, Sai is still one of my faves. Favorites besides Sai include, Hatake Kakashi, Rock Lee, and Gaara. That is basically it now. I am not that far along in the manga, and I have been trying to keep myself from watching the Anime because I wanted to finish the manga first. 

 Other things that happened...? Hmm... Me and my "Studio Ghibli group" (in other words, a group of my buddies who watch Ghibli films, and are reading/watching Naruto with me) watched Spirited Away this week.  It was AMAZING! Like, completely AMAZING! It was an AWESOME movie! I will try to get a real review out sometime soon. I am most likely to watch it again. So there should be a post about it some time. Hehe ^^

  Later days, 

Natsu

The Continued List.

 Hello, long time no see! I have been waiting for an opportunity to actually get on my laptop. Sure, I could do it anytime, but I was never motivated until today. I decided that I should finish the post that I started, and frankly, I missed blogging!

       So here is the list I was talking about.

•         NARUTO VOLUME 9
•         HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
•         WAITING FOR SUMMER'S RETURN~KIM VOGEL SAWYER
•         THE INHERITANCE~TAMERA ALEXANDER
•         REMEMBERED~TAMERA ALEXANDER
•        MAID TO MATCH~DEEANNE GIST
•         STEVE JOBS~WALTER ISAACSON
•         Revealed by Tamera Alexander
•         Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (The original Novel)
•         Spirited Away, a Studio Ghibli film
•         Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist
•         Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist

These are the books/movies I have recently been working on. Naruto, Howl’s Moving Castle, Remembered, Maid to match, and Spirited Away, are finished. My plan was to write a brief review about each of them.  Here we go!

 Naruto Volume 9: Not much to say about it…Except it was awesome! It covered the third part of the Chûnin Exams. Fights including, Kiba VS Naruto, Hinata VS Neji, and the last part of the battle between Ino and Sakura. Then Rock Lee was chosen to fight Gaara. And then it was...TO BE CONTINUED! Now I have Volume 10 on hold. ^^ (Totally killed me, I wonder who will win. No internet spoilers for me this time!) Over all, it was really good. If you are into that kind of stuff.

Howl’s moving castle review, you can find that here: http://camobaginside.blogspot.com/2012/08/howls-moving-castle-my-new-obsession_2129.html

 Remembered.  If you have read Rekindled, and basically any other books by Tamera Alexander, this one will please you. When I picked up Revealed, I realized that the characters all showed up in each other’s lives’ in the books. Larson and Kat Jennings made a small appearance in Remembered. It took me a couple minutes—after I finished the book of course—to realize that they were in Rekindled. It was kind of epic. Remembered was a wonderful book. Period. Alexander hasn't failed me yet!

 Maid to Match, written by Deeanne Gist, was also wonderful. I honestly started around 3 on one afternoon. I finished the book around 10:30 that same evening. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to stop. Not even for things like eating or ya know, moving so your legs don’t fall asleep to the point where you can’t use them for an hour.  

If it isn’t quite obvious, I am into Historical Fiction…Hehe.

 Anyway, that about settles it. I have finished my list.

  So, how did your Labor Day weekend go? Mine included an all-day read-a-thon 

of Remembered, BBQ ribs with the family, and to finish it off, a new episode of Adventure Time! Which really wasn't a huge highlight of the evening…I was reading so I really didn't even pay attention. Lol.

 The summer is coming to a close, and now I have the school bus down the street to tell me what time it is in the morning. Not the greatest thing, but I won’t complain. I need to learn how to get up early anyway. ^^

  I should move on now, I still have one more thing to do before I leave the blogosphere for today.

~Natsu