Nanowrimo

It's that time of year! For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as Nanowrimo! During November, those participating in Nanowrimo attempt to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. This is roughly 1,667 words a day and no easy task.

I've known about Nanowrimo for a few years now, but this will be my first year actually taking part. I've always put it off in the past, saying that I don't need the time pressure or I'm too busy or I don't have any inspiration to write or any other bullshit excuse you can think of. I've decided firmly and absolutely to take part this year. I have so many ideas floating in my head for what I want to write, but I never actually get around to writing them. Nanowrimo will force me, if nothing else, to get words down on the paper. I'll worry about whether or not any of the shit my fingers typed makes sense in December.

There's tons of information about Nanowrimo out there, but where I first heard of it was youtube, so I'm going to link you to a few videos that I found helpful/informative/inspiring/entertaining. I hope they'll inspire you to participate this year as well :)

• I've mentioned Kristina Horner before, talking about how much she inspires me with the sheer amount of stuff she has accomplished in her life so far. One of those things is the Nanowrimo Song, which is cute and goes through the basic stages of Nanowrimo Feels. Don't let the depressed and crazy stage scare you away, I'm sure it happens to all writers whether they're writing under such pressing time constraints or not.
• Kristina has put up pretty regular videos about Nanowrimo with advice, which can be found here and also here and most recently here
• Acclaimed author, John Green, and the puffier half of the Vlogbrothers has also done a video about Nanowrimo which you can find here
• Then there is another one of my youtube celebrity crushes, the illustrious lioness hayleyghoover who has her own video about the 5 Reasons to do Nanowrimo

You should go check all of those out, maybe they'll help you the way they've helped me--golly I hope so. People don't say golly enough, you know?

As I said before, this will be my first time doing Nanowrimo. I don't have high hopes (cause if you set your expectations low you always end up with either a pleasant surprise or an expected disappointment, neither of which is as soul-crushing as if you had actually aimed for the stars...wait a second, this was supposed to sound like a good idea...) but I am hoping to at least get a good chunk of my hopeful novel out of the way this November. So far I've got exactly 3500 words. I'm chuggin' along like a turtle, slow and steady baby--like your mom in bed last night.

If you'd like to participate in Nanowrimo, click the link I posted at the top and get started because it's November 2nd and you're already RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

happy writing

Chihayafuru

I haven't mentioned this before, because I am aware that I already seem like such a dork that I probably shouldn't push the envelope, but I like anime. Granted, I'm no diehard fan, but my freshman year of college was spent watching quite a number of anime. Ouran High School Host Club, Fruits Basket, Itazura na Kiss, Junjou Romantica, Inuyasha, Kimi ni Todoke, Zero no Tsukaima, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Loveless, Shugo Chara, Gakuen Alice, Card Captor Sakura, Skip Beat, Clannad, Vampire Knight, La Corda D'oro, Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, Full Moon wo Sagashite, and Full Metal Panic. That's a lot of anime to watch in a year at college.

In case you couldn't tell by that list, I'm kind of into the girly animes. I know they have a technical name (shoujou, maybe?) but I just call them girly. Even Inuyasha was too battle-y for me and I ended up fast-forwarding through the fighting parts and mainly just watching anything with Kouga in it. I would classify Chihayafuru as a girly anime, so if that's not your thing then steer clear.

Without giving away any spoilers, Chiahayafuru is the story of three childhood friends who grew up and grew apart, and are now trying to find their way. What brought them together was a card game called karuta, and that is what will hopefully reunite them. The protagonist and character who is mainly pushing for the reunion is Chiahaya, whose love for karuta has remained even while her friends have moved on to other hobbies.

NOW There Are Spoilers

Okay, there are several things I really liked about Chihayafuru. First of all, I never imagined that watching a show about a card game could be so intense! The creators do a really good job of making sure you understand how the game is played so you can follow along in suspense rather than be confused about the rules. They really got me invested in who was going to win and what mistakes Chihaya was making and how she could improve and omygodpleaseletherwin

The players' movement is a big part of what makes the show so suspenseful. The objective of karuta is to listen to the first part of a poem being read, and to touch the second part on the board in front of you before your opponent does. That is obviously a very simplified version, but you get the gist. The players move with sharp, sweeping motions that utilize their whole bodies, which helps to make karuta much more interesting than if they were playing, say, rummy, which would get old around episode 2.

The show made me want to learn how to play karuta, which is saying something. Of course, I won't. I have no time to play, no money to buy cards, and no friends to play with. That is discounting the biggest obstacle: I wouldn't understand the japanese poems.

Another aspect of Chihayafuru that I really enjoyed was the art. I am unable to watch an anime, no matter how good the plot may be, if I don't like it visually. It just doesn't work for me. Chiahayfuru was beautiful. The characters were very detailed--I especially noticed that Chihaya is drawn with lips. Isn't that kind of unusual for an anime? Maybe not but it felt unusual. Or maybe unique would be a better word. Taichi was my favorite character visually because, well...you know. I got the inappropriate feelings towards an animated character. Just look at him!

Who wouldn't get squiggles in their stomach after looking at that?

The characters were another thing I really enjoyed about the plot. They were all likable, but had flaws that were realistic and are each dealing with their own personal struggles within the major karuta-reauniting conflict. Chihaya is too oblivious to anything other than karuta (including Taichi's feelings, damn her) and has to deal with the unfair amount of attention which is placed on her sister. Taichi is pressured by his family to be perfect, a little spoiled and used to getting things his own way, and has to deal with his feelings for Arata both as a rival for Chihaya's love and as a friend. Arata's grandfather tragically passed away while Arata was playing a karuta tournament, plunging him into depression and guilt. And that's only the main characters! All in all, I would say that they are very well-developed.

My only real complaint would be that there is a lot of recap in the show before you move on to the new plot devices. Which is fine, you can always use a refresher on how the characters are doing in their matches, but it does get a little annoying sometimes. Just sayin'.

But what I like most about Chihayafuru is that there is going to be a season two! 

Hey, that just rhymed! 

Don't judge me.

The Legend of Korra

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was watching The Legend of Korra, the much-anticipated sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. I wrote a post about Avatar where I pretty much talked about how amazing it was and that you should go watch it. I stand by this opinion with Legend of Korra. It is fantastic for a children's show--something that can be entertaining and accessible to all ages. I will admit that I wasn't as whole-heartedly thrilled with LoK as I was with Avatar, but I enjoyed it.

The main premiss of Legend of Korra is to follow the next avatar, Korra, and her adventures in the future. It seems to be set in Republic City around a 1920's-esque time period, with cars newly emerging and jazz etc. What this means is that we get to know a whole new cast. The only really familiar face we see is Katara, the only surviving member of the gaang. I actually preferred this to continuing with the characters we know. I feel like Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko's story was done and that any more story dealing with them would have felt cheap.

That's not to say we leave the old crowd behind entirely. Korra ends up living with Tenzin, one of Aang and Katara's sons, to learn airbending. From their house she can see a huge statue of Aang looming over Republic City. We also get to see a statue of Toph, and meet her daughter Lin Bei-Fong. Lin is the police chief of Republic City, enforcing laws by using metal-bending--a nice connection to her mother.

The producers actually put a lot of little things in LoK that you can just tell are purely for the fans to feel nostalgic of ATLA--and I'm grateful for them.

I came across this picture on Pinterest the other day and it just about made me cry. I feel like Katara must have a very conflicted but strong relationship with Korra. On the one had, Korra is the reincarnation of the love of her life. But on the other, she is a constant reminder that Aang is really dead and gone. I feel like these two images are too similar for the artists not to have done it intentionally. They're beautiful.

Another cool moment was in the finale, after General Iroh II jumps out of a plane and manages to hang onto a rope attached to the statue of Aang's glider. Iroh says something along the lines of, "Thanks for looking out for me, Aang." This is such a tear-jerking moment because, while it's the General who says it, he is voiced by Dante Basco, the actor who voiced Zuko in ATLA. Sooo goooddd.

Avatar and Legend of Korra are different though. LoK is considerably darker than ATLA. The villain is Amon, a mysterious, masked man who somehow can take people's bending away. Only the avatar is supposed to be able to take people's bending away, which makes Amon truly scary. He uses this power to pursue his dream of creating a bending-free world. His Equalist movement is supported by lightning-fast chi-blockers, reminiscent of Tai Lee in ATLA. I found it really interesting that Amon and the Equalists used technology to fight against the benders, kind of like a metaphor for traditional old values being beaten out by technology.

My only real problem with LoK is how rushed it felt. I'm not just talking about the finale (which was much too fast-paced IMO) but the season as a whole. From what I understand, LoK was initially supposed to be a 12-episode mini-series, meaning that the creators had to set up character development, plot, conflict, and resolution all in 12 episodes. This is made even more challenging by the fact that, apart from the finale, the episodes are only 30 minutes long including commercials. Considering that, the producers did a fine job, but now that we know there will be a second season, I would have liked for things to have slowed down and been fleshed out more.

For instance: the romance. Anyone who watches this show can tell you that romance is a major part of the plot line. This makes sense because the characters are in their late teens so are obviously...romantically inclined *coughcough* horny little bastards. But there's just so much romance for 12 episodes! I think what mainly frustrated me was that it appears all the conflict, both romantic and otherwise, has been resolved with the end of the season. Normally producers like to leave you with a little something to push you into watching season two, but we don't get that in LoK. All the characters are left in a pretty good place (I'm trying to do this with minimal spoilers, y'all, but it's hard as fuck) more in line with a series finale than a season finale. It disoriented me, I guess you could say.

I think that how rushed the season was definitely impacted the character development. Without going into details, we learn a lot about Amon very quickly without really having time to process it before the season is over. Other than Amon the characters are reasonably well-developed even though I still want more. But I don't think I'll ever stop wanting more.

Overall I had a lot of fun watching the first season of Legend of Korra and will definitely watch the second. I hope the second is a little more spread out, and I pray that there will be a third season. I feel like they could do a third season because the fandom is so loyal and friggin' amazing that they would watch it forever.

SPEAKING of the fandom, I have some recs for you of awesome people doing awesome things in the ATLA/LoK realms.

First, I believe I've mentioned her before for her Harry Potter fanart, but Viria13 is a lovely artist who also has a few ATLA/LoK drawings. They are amazing and you should go check them out!

I've mentioned the youtuber sawyer7mage before too, but he's worth mentioning again. He reviewed every episode of LoK nicely. I agree with pretty much everything he says and I strangely want to rub my nose up against his. Don't judge me.

You should also check out the myriad of fan-made youtube videos that are out there for LoK. Below is one of my favorites by RoseKnightingale. it combines the  series ATLA and LoK and throws in some Anastasia music to boot. Watch it please! You can check out WooperRevival134 as well. His videos are hilarious!!

Well, that's it for me! I hope you'll give Legend of Korra a shot if you haven't done so already!

Dork Alert

I've given it quite a bit of thought and done hour after hour of research, and I've decided that I'm a waterbender. For those of you who don't get the reference, this is my way of saying I've just finished watched the Avatar the Last Airbender series! Woo!

I'm going to go ahead and warn you here that there are SPOILERS!! But I figure if you haven't watched the series by this point then you don't really care too much anyway...just be warned.

Yes, I realize how dorky this is. I saw bits and pieces of the first season years ago when I lived back home with two younger brothers and always wanted to watch it. So, I went to college, got a Netflix account, and a year later I decided to actually watch the show! Oh boy.

Let me start off by saying that I think this show has so much potential, and that I think the producers do a reasonably good job of fulfilling that potential. This is designed as a children's show, so they obviously can't go quite as in depth as I would have liked, but they do well. When I say that Avatar the Last Airbender has a lot of potential, I mean in the characters and the story. FOR INSTANCE!

The Bending: The idea of people being able to manipulate the elements, that they build cultures and societies around these elements, and that one special person can wield them all is fascinating. I especially liked that each element had its own bending style, such as the firebenders using a lot of sharp, punching movements that looked to me like a mix of martial arts and boxing, and the airbenders using more sweeping, arching motions. I also liked that the different elements the characters bended was reflected in their personalities--it was just cool and rang true to me.

I also liked that there was more to discover about the bending and all the different forms of bending within  an element. For instance, I loved the swamp benders and the sand benders. I also loved how Toph learns she can bend metal (something we're initially isn't supposed to be able to do) and, though scary, how Katara learns she can bend blood. Bending in itself is just cool. I mean, it's basically a super power, and who doesn't want super powers?!?

The Characters: I found the characters surprisingly well-developed. It started out rough, (the dialogue in the first few episodes killed me) but eventually the actors and writers found their groove. I felt like each characters' psychology, past, motivations, goals, weaknesses, and strengths were all laid out very well, especially for a children's show. I especially liked Zuko. He was attractive, which didn't hurt, but I liked that even from the beginning he was a bad guy we could love. He was sympathetic, his motivation and past were explained, so you didn't automatically write him off as evil, as black, as dark. The shades of gray about what is right and what is wrong in Avatar are very well done (I know I keep saying it but I'll say it again) especially for a children's show.

Katara is my least favorite character. I don't quite know why, but I didn't find her very likable. I really started not to like her the moment she stole the waterbending scroll from the pirates and chose to believe/trust Jett over Sokka. She's such a little whore too, isn't she? If George R.R. Martin wrote Avatar she'd be having sex left and right. She doesn't deserve Aang.

One of my favorite characters (besides Zuko and his uncle--I'm such a sucker for good-bad guys!) was Toph, but she also disappointed me. I felt like her character was the least developed. She had a few episodes where she was given a large emotional part to the story, but other than that she is just the sarcastic little blind girl. But I loved her! I thought she was so strong, and so talented, and I definitely thought she deserved to end up with someone--Aang, prefereably. I think they would have been good together.

The Story: My favorite season was the 2nd (Book Two, as they call it) because it was just so plotty. I love political intrigue kind of stories, so the whole spiel in Ba Sing Se with the Dai Li (spelling?) was really interesting and creepy to me. I felt like a lot was happening in this season as opposed to the third season. I felt like apart from the super long battle episodes, Book Three was pretty much all filler. Like that episode with the play--I could have done without that.

I really wish Avatar the Last Airbender was a series of books--adult books, or at least books that can bridge the gap like Harry Potter. Because, as I said, I feel like there is so much potential in the story and characters that just can't be fully realized in a children's show. I also feel like Season Two would make an awesome book--everything would be nice and spread out with lots of detail.

Now, as I said before, I've cast myself as a waterbender. Preferably to replace Katara. I chose waterbending very carefully and for several reasons.

1. I'm not strong enough for earthbending. I get scared at pretty much everything, I don't like rocks, and I definitely don't like rocks flying at me.
2. I'm not controlled enough for firebending. I wouldn't be able to handle the destructive power of firebending.
3. I want something a bit more substantial than freaking air to fight with. Also, I hate flying--all those bugs in your teeth!
4. Blue is my best color.
5. I've always wanted to go to the south pole.
6. I love the healing aspect of waterbending (fyi, if I had to pick a superpower, it'd be the regenerative power like Hayden Panatierre's on Heroes).

So there you have it! Whoo--JUST getting this in on my self-imposed Friday deadline. *pats self on back*