The Portrait of Zool

Ya know, I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. I was thinking about that. Let's see, a 'disease' that makes you faster, stronger, and more resilient, with the *negative points* of slightly pointy canines and light sensitivity - I wonder how long it would take for the world's armies to be infecting it's troops wholesale? I mean, what's wrong with this picture (pun intended)? Ah, yes. The infamous 'Hollywood Logic' is indeed alive and well.

Recently I went to see Brokeback Mountain. This is actually a rather simple story, that if acted out under differing genders wouldn't have been a blip on anyone's radar, as just another adulterous affair movie. Of course, it is the larger social implications of the relationship that have caused all the noise. Those people shouldn't have that kind of relationship in that place at that time. As such the controversey, to me, is less about the relationship itself, and much more about the strict moral codes of our society, in our very heartland, that we all unwittingly buy into and perpetuate - morals of fear, hatred, prejudice, and ignorance. The characters all pay dearly for ignoring those silent rules. The popularity of such a simple story itself tells how it has touched a nerve in America, and should be seen if for no other reason than for you to be able to say you have seen it. It is a beautifully made picture, with superb acting and wonderful writing. The screenplay Oscar was well deserved. I highly recommend this movie.

LOL! Wow! and I thought I was being rough! You guys really shoot to the heart of a flick, don'cha? Arright, since we got the spoilers going, I'll chip in to add to Ultraviolet. First off, what was with the lack of blood? IMO, swords and blood go together like ham & cheese, peanut butter & jelly, sandwiches & bliss. The only blood shown in the flick was hers. Even when the enemy wore white suits and was getting hacked to bits, you still didn't see any blood! Was this to say only her blood mattered? Strange. Yeah, the color changing thingy was pretty cool, but as I implied earlier the CGI thing is getting pretty old. Also, just how many 'all the cool people are vampires' flicks can we stomach? And yeah, what really killed this flick was bad writing. Was her tear magic or something, to infect the kid and save him within seconds of death? Not to mention the abrupt transitions and unconvincing background, and even one scene early in the movie which showed her surrounded, then simply cut to a scene of her walking somewhere else. Yeesh. Like I said, it certainly was a big bag of eye candy. The motorcycling on the sides of the buildings was cool, as were most of the action sequences, but overall, it stuck pretty hard to the bad stereotype of 'comic'.

Last weekend I went to see 'Ultraviolet', mainly because my brother wanted to see it and he was buying. What can I say? The movie is exactly what you would expect - a 20 pound bag of eye candy, and nothing more. (Just watch out for visual cavities after the movie! ) A combination of Kill Bill, Matrix, and Aeon Flux (with various elements of various others), it does pretty well visually in the comic-to-movie genre, except for all the comic-to-movie genre films that have already done what this film does. If you enjoy the genre, then you might want to see it, otherwise, I advise seeing this movie only if you know your attention will be elsewhere.

The Coen Brothers are my heroes! I will definitely catch The Hudsucker Proxy as soon as I can.

Excellent story Solivagis. Welcome back!

Happy B-day Happy Buddha!

Yikes! Car accidents are bad. I don't recommend them for anyone. Also soooooo glad you are okay!

She of golden tongue Lycan grace and human heart Brightening my day Thanks Tanny. Good to see you too.

Okay, now I'll really stop. :/

Wind, rain, dark of night Blue flash, thundercrack of doom I run for my life.

I'll stop now. >

Trees snap, roofs tear off easy summersaults, a car The hurricane blows.

Footfalls crunch in snow Whiteness ahead, on all sides Follow the voices

Whirling sand dances tossing grit in clothes and hair. Dust devil at play.

Sun and knifelike wind ice sparkling like broken glass cracking like dry skin

Rain falling like tears a weeping veil of gray that covers the world.

Zool watches the proceedings form his perch on the wall with mounting anxiety. Evisceration? Soul Reaving? Shifting planes? That doesn't sound good. At least he had the comfort of Bravery and Wyvern's company... "Wait!" he called after the rapidly receding characters, "Where are you going?" Too late. They were gone. His gaze slowly turned to first read the flyer - "Zadown's birthday? How smashing!" - and then turned to the shimmering sizzling portal left by Wyvern's inept magic, his eys growing larger as the portal spastically grew in size, spitting ice and flashing discharges of blue energy. Then Zadown came in. At first Zool felt a wave of great relief in seeing someone of such capability and strength, then it all came back to him that when the Dreamer got involved, people, monsters, gods, toads, warthogs, ostriches, trees, minor astral entities, major astral entities, and sometimes small planets tended to be obliterated. Zool turned an interesting shade of zinc white when the lynx leaped out of the steaming portal. The scene froze. "Happy Birthday Zadown," squeaked Zool, breaking the silence like the chop of an executioners axe, then turned and ran, disappearing out of frame .

You actually got somebody fired at DMV!?!? WOW!! That's AMAZING! Oh happy (belated) B-day TO YOU girl!

Amor amicus, amor inimicus.

Yes, happy B-day!

Fourtyfour faked Frankensteins flew frosty frisbees for free. (Sorry about the earlier, guess I got carried away!)

Yesterday young yellow yeomen yoga yodeled yeasty yogurt yippees.

1. Color - watermelon-seed black 2. Adjective - dribbley 3. Name of Male - Choo 4. Adjective - addictively 5. Verb (Past Tense) - pollinated 6. A Profession - Guillotinist 7. An Exclamation - Great Ceaser's Weltanschauung! 8. Adjective - beautiful 9. Noun - barn 10. Part of Body (Plural) - short-hairs 11. Noun - rat 12. Verb (Past Tense) - bent 13. A Hobby - fencing 14. Noun - cat 15. Verb (Past Tense) - tousled 16. Name of Female - Ahhh 17. Noun - thong 18. A Number - 47 19. Adjective - corroded 20. Adverb - extremely

I don't have a problem at all with long sentences. I am reading a book right now called 'The Speed of Dark' by Elizabeth Moon, about an autistic person who speaks in a lot of short sentences. I don't mind because it is appropriate to the character. It is a very noticable device. The lead character works with other autistics, and when they are together the dialog reads almost like a text book. It all comes down to what is appropriate to the story, the characterization, the setting, the mood, etc.. A long sentence can be a wonderful thing. A short sentence can be just as beautifully crafted as a long sentence, personal taste obviously carrying great weight, but sentence length to me is really a function of how it works together with all the other elements. Zadown your works have the very classical feel of raw mana, leather and steel, ectoplasm and corrupted flesh. The rythm of the words often flows like glyphs prysed from an ancient stone wall, which only adds to the flavor.