Kurry's Journal

So.

Last journal ended up being a bit of a lie. Truth be told, I haven’t sat down and done some proper journaling in a long while. I’m getting out of practise. Since the rest of this week is my last chance to get some things done before work gets stupidly busy again, I decided to actually take a break from writing, make a list and do it. So far I’ve made… well, a bit of progress, at least. But I still haven’t sat down and unloaded my thoughts properly. So for the next six days I’m going to attempt to write at least one journal entry a day. It might be an online journal, or it might go into my private one. I might even end up writing one of each type every day. We’ll see what happens.

As the title suggests, this particular entry will be generally random thoughts while I try to get back in the groove of journal writing.

Saw the new Star Trek movie last Thursday. I won’t spoil anything for you, but I will definitely say that I LOVED it. Absolutely adored it. I used to watch Star Trek TOS and TNG with my father every day after school while he was working on his thesis. I have extremely fond memories of both series. My father and I enjoyed making fun of TOS’s campiness, but I always loved the show anyway because you could tell they were having a lot of fun making it. I even read the various Star Trek novels my dad had kicking around the house. I enjoyed them almost as much as I enjoyed the show – being able to view the characters AND carry them around with me made me a very happy camper indeed.

My favourite character has always been Bones, so I was anxious to see what they’d do to him in the new movie. As far as I’m concerned, Karl Urban IS Bones. (Both Boneses are sexy as hell, in my opinion. :3) In fact, I thought the new movie was perfectly cast. They even managed to get Captain Pike in there, which I was highly impressed with. (My father also had the pilot episode of Star Trek TOS on video and he made sure to show it to me as part of my Trekkie education.) Since then, I’ve been educating Sunie in turn on all things Trek and we’re having a helluva good time. I’m not going to recommend that you go see the movie, because I realise some Trekkies aren’t going to like it. But I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed it. Damn, what a thrill ride.

Going to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as soon as I get paid again and the line-ups get shorter. Note to everybody: NEVER go see a high-grossing movie in its first week, unless you enjoy the crowds. I much prefer a mostly empty theatre around two o’clock in the afternoon. No lines, spoiled choice for seats and you’re less likely to have annoying people behind you talking through the whole thing. Much more comfortable.

Just today I read an article (found here: [link] ) that cited Transformers II as the ‘worst reviewed movie ever to make the $400 million club.’ I have only one thing to say about this: for your own sake, Don’t Listen To Critics. There is a difference between criticising and reviewing a film. A review gives a run-down of the film without, hopefully, spoiling it entirely and tries to convey the overall tone of the movie so that viewers can decide for themselves whether they want to see it or not. A critic these days, it seems, goes into a movie prepared to nit-pick it to pieces in order to make a buck off of their articles. I know this from experience. There have been at least six films over the course of several years that I bought which got horrendous reviews and you know what? I loved every one of them. I can’t think of an example right now, but it’s true. I don’t follow the critics because I believe they are paid to put a certain light on certain films.

I am not, however, suggesting that you allow yourself to be led blindly into the theatres. Movie-going is far too expensive nowadays to do that. What I do suggest is that you follow the trailers. They’re easy to find, especially on Sympatico MSN’s trailer feed. (That’s the one I use to keep an eye on things.) If a trailer is well-done and really speaks to you, then chances are the movie is one you’ll enjoy. You have to let your personal tastes and instincts drive you. Entertainment is, after all, largely a hit-and-miss game. One day you, as a viewer, might be more in the mood for an action flick than, say, a romantic comedy. Keeping an eye on the trailers lets you see what the tone of the movie might be and allows you, the viewer, to make the decision. There’s no point in judging a movie based on a critic’s review, because their tastes might be different from yours.

That’s all I have to say about that.

As I mentioned above, I have a whole list of stuff to get done this week. Some of that list includes a bunch of sketches I want to do of some of my original boys. I’ve been working on getting face shapes down pat before I fill in details, which I think is helping a lot.

Another thing I’m trying to do is have patience. When I started sketching, way back in 2003, I didn’t have enough mental patience to give the drawing time to develop. I wanted what was in my head on the paper NOW so that I could see it. Unfortunately drawing, like writing, doesn’t work that way. The drawing has to breathe, and it might come out looking a little different than what you originally pictured. I’ve been consciously forcing myself to slow down and make sure I have all the parts of the drawing completed properly before I move on to the next part, and I think it shows. So I’m going to attempt something I’ve never tried before and do a set of profile drawings of my main original characters. It’ll take a long time, but I think it’ll be worth it if I can get my boys down properly on paper.

I also have a bunch of letters to write. Should maybe sit down tonight and do one of them at least.

This is getting ridiculously long now, so I think I’ll stop. If you read all of that (wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t), thanks for sticking with me and keep an eye out for further updates. I’ve got a few things in particular that I want to address. Should be interesting times.

Until next time, then.

~ Ry