What I Learned During Nanowrimo Part 2

Back to the things I learned by taking part in Nanowrimo. If you haven't read Part 1 make sure to check it out. And if you have let's see how things went on Week 2.

Week 2: Stay true to your characters

   Week two is usually when things become difficult. Your initial excitement isn’t carrying you and if you haven’t planned, you’re not quite sure where things are going.

   In week two I had three days where I made the progress of about 100 words. It was hard to see that word target getting away from me again. The nice thing about Nanowrimo though, is that it works out how many words a day you need to finish. Thankfully my required daily average wasn’t ridiculous.

   A day or two of dedication got that word count up in leaps and bounds. A lack of a plan meant my characters were guiding themselves. I think my favourite aspect of writing is creating characters. If you make characters that are interesting enough, people will follow them wherever you take them.

   Over the years I’ve learnt about plotting and character development and hopefully my projects are stronger because of that. The main character for my second novel (the one I was halfway through) has a much more satisfying journey than the one in my first.

   If you were to follow the traditional story structure, when the main character is called to help, they must go through an initial refusal. So when it came for David to ask Lara and Biggs for their help, something strange happened. Biggs was excited by the proposal but Lara didn’t want to leave her town.

   My two main characters, two best friends I had thought would go through the entire story together were separated. Biggs left with David and Lara stayed behind.

   Being where I am now with the story I can’t imagine it going any other way. It’s helped to strengthen the balance of the different plots. One side is Biggs and on the other is Lara. One has their adventures and the other has theirs. Also their separation meant I couldn’t just use “Biggs grows in to a giant wolf” as a solution to every problem (He can only do that with Lara's help).

   Over the course of the book, the characters have taken the lead, reacting to each situation in a way I hope to be true to them. So even if you’re the type to plan out every single detail, just let your characters roam free once in a while. You never know what they might find.

What I Learned During Nanowrimo Part1

   Just before leaving University I attended one of those “Where are you going with your life after this?” interviews. I told my tutor about the novel I was writing and she told me about a competition where you write a novel in a month.

   Afterwards I researched it and discovered it wouldn’t be happening for another few months. The next few years I either seemed to miss it or it didn’t feel like the right time. Finally on November 3rd 2012 I ended up on Twitter and spotted that familiar name “#Nanowrimo”.

   I went on the website and started thinking. I was on a year out in Canada and hadn’t found my next job yet. We’d done most of the touristy stuff and I seemed to have more than enough free time. It was an utter luxury and something that would probably never happen again. If I couldn’t do it this November then I never would.

   Two days had already gone and I was at the end of number three but there was plenty of time to make up for that. The only problem was what to write? I was currently half way through another novel and looking back I probably could have used November to finish it (I wasn’t fully aware of the rules). It seemed more sporting and even challenging if I were to start afresh.

   As it happened I had an idea floating around in my brain, something that had poked its head in when I was trying to write something else (isn’t it always the way). It was to be an homage to the Saturday morning kids shows about kids and their monsters. The twist would be that they were supposed to save the world when they were kids but it never happened. Half of them never got the message.

   So it would be set in a post-apocalypse world. The bad guys had won and the world had been destroyed in the process. The main characters would be a young woman named Lara and her Monster friend Biggs. I had a couple of other characters too.

   There would be David, someone who had lost his Monster because of how badly things had failed. Elsewhere would be a man and Monster pairing. They wouldn’t be my usual likeable, charisma filled males. They would be selfish and tough, characters that couldn’t care less about saving the world (but I still fell in love with them).

   The hardest part by far was diving in to this without a plan. If Nanowrimo is something you want to try or even if you want to write a novel without doing Nanowrimo, then the best piece of advice I can give is “research, plan, think.”

   When I was younger I would plough head first in to stories only for them to dwindle to nothing because I had no idea where to take them. Now I wouldn’t even think of starting to write my first chapter without giving an idea long enough to grow.

   Lack of planning turned out to be my biggest issue during the month of writing. During Nano you’re encouraged to shut out the “inner editor” whereas I usually had someone asking “So what happens next? Huh, don’t know? Guess you’re not writing today!”

It begins

   My first bit of writing only came to 500 words or so. I had just decided then and there to do it and wanted to get something down. The next day saw my first attempt to sit down and write the darn thing. The enthusiasm for the competition was enough to give me one of my most productive days. I’m sure this is the same for a lot of people. You’re excited and still think “fuck yeah, this is an awesome idea!” It’s only later things get tricky.

Week 1: Prioritise.

   The first week saw some decent progress. It was a little annoying to never quite make it to the target because I started late but I was confident I could make it up. I ended up with a lot of other work that week. I had gone from having nothing to do to suddenly having a resume to work on, jobs to hunt and an article I had offered to do for a booklet.

   For the first time in a long while I had a bunch of stuff to do and I had to prioritise. Unfortunately my brain has this weird way of working. I stated to my boyfriend what I had to do and he suggested starting with the article as that was the only thing that would earn me money. What was the first thing I did? I went to the comic book store! (One of the things I will miss when I go back to the U.K.)

   I did come home obviously and put the resume and article aside for the day. I wrote up a list of what needed doing for when and for the most part got it all done.

  The strange thing about writing is that you really have to learn when to put other things aside. You might have to skip the odd yoga class or leave the dishes an extra day, all those things regular human beings manage to do. But sometimes you have to ignore that feeling of guilt and be selfish towards your writing otherwise you’ll never do it.

Check back again for what happened in Weeks 2, 3 and 4!

Taking a break

I'll be taking a break from my personal blog. I got offered a position over at MCM Buzz so most of my writing time will be for them.

On September 9th I leave my job at the shop for good and two weeks later I'll be heading to Canada. So it's going to take a while to reach a routine. It would be quite nice to carry on with this where I can write on a more personal level but we'll see how it goes.

Ciao for now!

S.H.I.E.L.Ds are up!

   Talks of a Marvel live action TV show have been going on for a couple of months now. I was intrigued obviously. Back in May it was announced a Hulk series was in the works and today it was announced that a series based around the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. would go in to production for ABC. Or at least a pilot anyway.

   Joss Whedon will be writing the pilot along with collaborators Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancheroen (known for their credits on Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog).

   Now this I am really excited about. Any Joss Whedon led series is something to look forward to. Of course with the amount of work he will have on the movie side of the Marvel Universe, there’s every chance his part to play will be minimal. But if it’s Jed and Maurissa taking the reigns I don’t think there’s much to worry about.

   There will always be people that will want to see Nick Fury and Maria Hill, maybe even Black Widow and Hawkeye but I’m not too bothered about whether they will be present or not. Joss is excellent at creating loveable characters and Agent Coulson was proof that good characters didn’t have to be stolen from the comics.

   A S.H.I.E.L.D. tv series has the potential to create a nice blend of new, old and even obscure characters. Super-heroes and Nick Fury can get their cameos but as long as the characters are strong and the plots interesting, I don’t really care.

In other news, Warner Bros are looking to the Wachowski’s for directing duties on Justice League. Like before nothing has been confirmed. But if they do agree, there’s a chance that the film could work. The Matrix trilogy was a box office success and from the look of Cloud Atlas, they can create some really amazing visuals. (Seriously, check out the trailer, it looks pretty darn cool.)

The Long Over-due Comic-con Report

   Saturday the 21^st of July was the day of the MCM expo, Manchester’s very own comic-con. It’s only in its second year but already attracts huge crowds, so much so that I was glad for our early entry tickets. We had to wait in line but it’s worth noting that there was still a large queue when we left for lunch. So it's just the lesser of two evils I guess.

   The most famous event of this type has to be the San Diego comic-con. It’s now the place to be for big films or TV studios to make announcements, preview footage and hold signings for cast and crew.

   It’s a place for fans of anime, comics, movies, manga and TV. This year the cast of the much-loved Firefly re-gathered for the show’s tenth anniversary. Marvel announced their plans for “phase 2” of their cinematic universe and Peter Jackson came along with some cast and crew from the Hobbit.

   Sadly the MCM expo in Manchester isn’t quite on that scale. There were a few signings, a voice actor, the cast of “Young Dracula” and some sports personalities. Warwick Davis was down as a guest but I didn’t spot him, so I can’t be sure if he was absent or simply due to arrive later in the day.

   There was plenty of film promoting going on, more specifically a screen for showing trailers but no big announcements or anything like that. So it’s nowhere near the scale seen in San Diego or a number of other places. But to be fair to it, it is only a baby still.

  Set to one side was a battle arena for a Robot Wars style show. Whilst stood near it I overheard one of those comments one could only hear at an event like this. "I'm so bored of fighting robots". Clearly it was time for her to move on to something else.

   There is no doubt that the other people there were extremely glad just to have an event like the expo to go to. I know I was. For many people it was a chance to dress up and surround themselves with like-minded people. It made me regret worrying about money and not buying that Ms Marvel outfit. Though I did walk away with a lovely set of steampunk style goggles. (I've always wanted a piar of them).

   For my friends and I most of the fun was in spotting costumes for various characters from the well known to the more obscure. We were still talking about them than evening. My personal favourites were a very sweet Ponyo and a double team of Black Widow and Tony Stark, complete with Black Sabbath t-shirt. Then were was Sucker Punch’s Babydoll, a whole host of Finn’s from Adventure Time and a flock of Pikachus.

   Set up around the venue were lots of stalls selling merchandise for films and anime as well as a Japanese food stall. At the centre were rows of comic artists, sitting amongst their hard work. Some were okay and others were utterly amazing. I think this was my favourite aspect by far, a chance to discover something completely new.

Click here to head to the home of Widdershins

   One comic artist gave me a very good pitch of her comic “Widdershins”, so good in fact that I soon returned with cash to purchase a copy, (in case you were wondering, it was brilliant). She even offered to sign it for me and I felt happy knowing that I was giving a little support to an independent artist.

   All in all this Manchester Comic-con may be a let down for those used to something bigger but I certainly had a lot of fun. I really believe it’s the fans that make these things great and with the people there that day MCM expo can only get better as the years go on.

Extra Note: Missed the Manchester, Birmingham and London MCM? Head to the MCM Buzz website  here to tide you over until next year.

Seeing red...hair

   I think it’s fair to say Brave has been by far my favourite film of the Summer. Of course it’s always a treat when a Pixar film is sitting comfortably in the cinemas. I was just a little disappointed that the last time it happened it was a Cars sequel.

   As usual Pixar didn’t give too much away with Brave before its release. The teaser for it was just a single scene that rather than telling you the plot, showed you all you needed to know about the main heroine. She was strong, confident and good with a bow.

   The nice thing about Pixar’s advertising tactics is that I went in not knowing what the main “trial” for the character would be. In fact I wish this were the case for more films. When Hunger Games came out I went against my usual “read the book first” rule and I think I enjoyed it all the more.

   I definitely had fun with this film and from the looks of it so did the filmmakers. Every character gets their moments and having them all together always leads to chaos. Even a simple family dinner has to end with all the food on the floor and the triplets stealing the desserts.

   Pixar have certainly done their job to make the whole thing feel very “Scottish”. Opting for a (partially) Scottish cast rather than going for the crummy America style Shrek accent was definitely a good move. They want a king of Scotland? Well who better than Billy Connolly? And hopefully Scottish folks won’t bemoan the presence of a few English thesps.

   The look of the film is as lovely as you would expect from Pixar. And I would recommend going for the 2D option. I ended up seeing it in a screen where it wasn’t calibrated properly and it really ruined what were obviously nice visuals. Of course this won’t be the case for every screening but there wasn’t much good use of the 3D anyway.

   So the voices are in place, the humour hits the spot so what about heart? Yep it’s got that too. Brave puts its heroine in a spot that borders on the cliché (being faced with a marriage she doesn’t want) but ends up actually being about something else. Sort of.

   Okay so in order to talk about the story in more detail I’ll have to put up a flaming great “spoiler” sign. But I should probably offer up my final opinion first.

   Brave is funny, a little bit emotional and most of all a good, decent story. Forget Ice Age 4, show your kids what a good film is and take them to this instead.

Spoilers

   Here we go, spoiler territory. Where was I? Merida was faced with a marriage to promote peace between the different families of the kingdom. She makes a stand and enters a competition to win back her own hand. The mother, angry that she would show up their honoured guests and spit in the face of tradition, tells Merida to grow up and face her responsibilities.

   So far, so typical. But as supernatural elements start to enter the story we slowly learn what the film is actually about. This isn’t about a girl proving she’s too strong to be tied down by a man or a girl who’s fallen for the pauper. Men have nothing to do with this particular tale.

   Instead the tension comes from the relationship between mother and daughter. Merida is so angered with the way her mother treats her that she wishes for a way to change her. And with the help of a spell Queen Elinor is literally changed… in to a bear.

   I had seen hints at the whole bear thing but had never guessed that it would be the mother that would turn in to one. It’s quite unusual really when it’s typically the main character that this happens to.

   The whole idea really struck a chord with me and I think it will to kids and teens especially. Just think of how many fourteen year olds would want their mum turned in to a bear rather than be told yet again they're not allowed out Saturday night.

   I find it really interesting too that Merida instinctively asks for her mother to change rather than looking to herself to see if maybe she should be the one to make some changes. It's a very typical teenage reaction to a problem and obviously not the ideal way to look at something.

   There is so much about Brave that feels familiar, a spell with a time limit, a character turning in to an animal, a princess. And yet, there were things that genuinely felt fresh and new. It isn’t just Merida’s story it is Queen Elinor’s too as both learn their lesson.

   If Pixar make a sideline in Disney-esque fairy tales then I’m all for it. And by the look of Wreck-it Ralph it seems Disney have borrowed a few sensibilities from Pixar too. It’s a cultural exchange!

Apologies

Wow, has it been more than a week since my last post? I didn't mean for it to be that long, so sorry about that guys. Last week was a really busy one involving a hen night and then of course a wedding a couple of days later. Crazy work hours haven't helped either but I'm off today so hopefully I'll have things on the go again.

Later!

Durarara!! Beware the headless rider!!

  I remember reading the description for Durarara!! When it first came out and the description sadly didn’t grab me at the time. Which is a shame seeing as I’ve missed out on that awesome “I discovered this” feeling.

 At some point while watching Baccano! I found out that Durarara!! came from the same people. Then when a friend recommended it I couldn’t say no and began watching.

In similar style to Baccano!, it follows the stories of multiple characters, though in a more linear fashion. It’s one of those shows where to start explaining the plot would give too much away but here goes…

  Durarara!! is set in modern day Japan where Mikado has just arrived from the country. Bored of his life out there he’s decided to move somewhere a little more interesting and Ikebukuro certainly is that. There are stories about colour gangs, a supposed headless rider and a man that likes to throw vending machines.

  My favourite thing about Durarara!! is its originality. It never did anything that felt old or over done and it always went in unexpected directions. Up until episode 12 at least but I’ll come back to that. I had expected the headless rider to haunt the main characters throughout the show only for the character to end up being something else entirely.

  Tonally Durarara!! felt very different to Baccano! It has its fun moments too but isn’t afraid to let its characters stop and think. In fact rather unusually the show changes “narrator” every episode. Each character brings their own unique voice to either their own story or someone else’s.

  Then there are the tiny moments that feel closer to some of Miyazaki’s work than anyone else’s. In particular the girl with the "lost board". Through it we catch glimpses of what the people of Ikebukuro are looking for. From the simple to the almost philosophical.

  To top it all off there are the dashes of horror and the supernatural as well. The shadows created by the headless rider are pretty to look at and the glowing red eyes of the Slasher are adequately spooky.

  For a show that heavily features stories about “colour gangs” (that’s gangs that wear a particular colour like yellow or blue) it’s fitting that they know how to use their colour pallet. Watchers of anime may be familiar to the technique of colouring background characters in a washed out grey to save on time and money. Well Durarara!! is the first show I’ve seen use this technique as a part of the storytelling, as an entire crowd of unidentifiable grey people suddenly find their colour.

  Durarara!! is an anime that will capture you from episode 1 and you will soon be promising yourself “just one more episode”. The characters are a mixed bunch and you’re bound to find a few in there you like. Each character carries their own little surprises as the story unfolds and back stories are revealed,  offering a new perspective on their personalities.

  Sadly for me at least Durarara!! missed out on perfection. The series is split in to two, twelve episode arcs (with a couple of filler episodes to reach 26). The first arc is incredibly solid and I certainly enjoyed every second of it. However as of episode 13 the show takes a large step down story wise.
  Where the first arc felt so original and new the second arc feels like something I’ve seen somewhere else. A ghost/ demon sword story and a gang fight with friendship drama. It just wasn’t what I signed up for. Not to mention a plot line that never really finds an ending despite the hints that it was heading that way. 

  For fans of the show it might seem as if I’m being a little harsh. But let’s put it this way, if the arcs were switched I think I probably would have given up on the show. Which is unfortunate considering its incredible start.

  I highly recommend giving Durarara!! a watch if only for the first 12 episodes. And Baccano! fans, be sure to be on the look out for all sorts of nods to your favourite show.

Additional note: Durarara!! is based off of a light novel, the story of which extends past the events of the anime so of course there is the chance that loose thread could be tied together. However I still really hate it when shows dangle a plot thread to get you watching only to have no pay off.

New Justice

  It’s been a while since I’ve written anything comic related so I thought I’d offer up some thoughts on Warner Brothers attempts at making a Justice League movie.

  It was reported yesterday that Ben Affleck had been approached for a directing role. However after doing some research today it’s looking rather unlikely and probably a good thing too. You see apparently Mr Affleck likes to be in the films he directs and with the scale a Justice League film would require I just don’t see that working. (There was a reason John Favreau was Happy and not Tony Stark… other than his waist size… sorry John)

  Annoyingly Justice League is at that point in pre-production where everyone likes to speculate but really there’s nothing solid to report. Other than a deadline. Which is pretty worrying. “Hey guys we’re so going to have that Justice League movie done for 2015, no idea who’s directing or who’s going to be in it but yeah should be fun.”

  It’s also quite strange that by the sound of things, or at least from Zack Snyder’s point of view, that neither Dark Knight Rises nor Man of Steel will be lead ins to the Justice League. The Justice League movie won’t be using other films as a means to introduce new characters either. They’re just going to go ahead and make the thing. Obviously if things go well they might then give the more popular characters their spin off films afterwards.

  It might just be the cynic in me but all of this smells like Warner Brothers are just doing a rush job in an attempt to cash in on overflow from Avengers 2. It’s not exactly a stupid move, money wise. After all I’m not a big DC fan but I am a fan of big ensemble movies especially ones with super-heroes so they’ve got a ticket sale right there.

  Sadly a movie that makes money isn’t the same as a movie that is good. It’s always great when these things overlap but it’s pretty rare. And from what I’m reading at the moment it just feels like this film could fall apart. People will watch and say “It was okay, but it’s no Dark Knight.” Or even worse “Where the hell was the Hulk?”

  The ghosts of past DC films could haunt this film and confuse audiences (especially those not clued up on the differences between DC and Marvel). The three-year gap might help to fix that a little but then again Spider-man had 5 years to shake off the memories of Tobey Maguire and still it was too soon for most people.

  The thing is a Justice League film has the potential to be amazing. Warner Brothers doesn’t have the same issues over character rights as Marvel does and they’re even free to do cartoon or TV tie-ins if they wanted. What it all depends on is whether or not the studio can find a good Director.

  There was a reason the entire geek community heaved a huge sigh of relief when Joss Whedon had agreed to do Avengers. He might have only had one film under his belt, one that didn’t really make a lot of money, but it was one hell of a film. He not only knew his comics but wrote for them. He could create great characters and was especially talented with ensemble pieces. But most of all he was and still is passionate about these characters and their stories.

  If Warner Brothers can find that right person, then all fears will dissipate. If the studios can learn to take a step back and let a true creative get to work then this film could be great.

  Like I said it’s all ifs and buts at this stage. So it’ll be an interesting day when a director is announced. Cross those fingers DC fans.

Ice Age 4: attack of the colons

  It was more out of a wish to just go to the cinema that brought my friend and I to see Ice Age 4. It helps that with our unlimited cards it didn’t cost us anything. So it’s fair to say that had it not been for good timing and (pretty much) free entry I wouldn’t have seen it at all.

  We were pleasantly surprised by a Simpson’s short before the main film which neither of us had known about prior to coming. It centred around Maggie and was a story told without words, something I always have immense respect for. I won’t go in to more detail but I felt it worth giving a brief mention.

  Ice Age 4 is pretty much the film you expect it to be. Nothing overly clever and something just thrown together to get a bit more cash. It had its moments but in the end was pretty mediocre.

I kind of appreciate their efforts to put the main trio back together, separating them from Queen Latifah mammoth, Teenage mammoth and the two hyper-active possums.

  The trio end up floating away on a piece of ice, quickly finding that Sid’s granny has somehow ended up on board. And yes, she stays with them for the remainder of the movie. She’s incredibly shoehorned in. (Sid’s family literally appears out of nowhere and seeing an opportunity to abandon her with Sid, they run off again.) And yet surprisingly she’s not as horrible as she could have been, probably thanks to the distinctive voice work of Wanda Sykes.

  Shortly after we’re greeted by the deep tones of Peter Dinklage on his turn at an Ice Age character, along with a pirate ship full of animals. Now here is my issue with Ice Age at this point. The cast is constantly growing and no one is ever let go, just simply squeezed to the side. Crash and Eddie barely get a line between them the poor guys. Ice Age is getting bloated by its overly large cast. So large that I probably won’t even touch on most of the characters.

  The thing is I thought Ice age 3 actually balanced the characters pretty well. For a number 3 film it did a surprisingly good job and brought to it probably my favourite character of the entire series with Buck. The jokes worked whilst still having a good heart. News of a baby turns the cold Manny in to an overly protective worrier and threatens to split the group as Diego feels it’s time to move on. But at the end they all make up and remember they’re all family.

  Number 4 is pretty lacking in this area, trading it in for a very simple “Manny wants to get home” story. Kids and young teens might appreciate the B-story of Peaches learning lessons about boys and friendship and all that, but in the end it’s pretty dull.

  There's also a very tired "animal meets female version of themselves and falls in love". They essentially give her Diego's arc from the first film except it's much less meaningful because it never really feels like she gets there on her own. You see this is the issue of having so many characters. A film loses focus and writing for individual characters just becomes tricky when they only have a few lines in the entire film.

  Then there are the plot holes. Oooh the plot holes. Let’s look at those shall we? Number one. Captain Gut spots the trio’s lump of ice and decides to attack, claiming that their “ship” will be his. Seriously? So you’re just going to pull along this random lump of ice? It would make more sense if they had some sort of treasure, or even if he wanted to eat them but he doesn’t even want to do that.

  Number two: Upon reaching the jumping on point for the current that will take them home, they spot Gut and his brand new ship. Their reaction? “We must steal this for ourselves!” Right. So you don’t think you could just, I don’t know, break off another piece of ice for yourselves?

  Number three: You’re a fucking mammoth! This was pretty much my reaction to most things in this film. There’s even a scene where Gut, a chimp, stops Manny in his tracks by holding his tusks. And this can’t even be blamed on cartoon logic. The first film made it very clear that as a mammoth, Manny was usually unbeatable. Yet here, a team including a mammoth and a sabre tooth tiger barely manages to make an impact.

  Ice Age 4 wasn’t all bad and clearly its “Looney Toons” style slapstick still entertains the kids. There were a few children sat at the very front and all of them were laughing their heads off. And you know what? So was I. Okay it wasn’t amazing, but it at least gets points for giving me a few chuckles.

  The final opinion? It was okay and if you have the task of taking a youngster to see a film you could do a lot worse. It lacks the heart of the first film and the entertainment value of the third. A few laughs here and there but ultimately it’s only there for your money.

Extra note: They also seem to forget that good music exists. Seriously, how did it go from this to this?

It's Un-freakin'-believable!

  I feel like I’ve been a little negative lately. Spider-man and Batman both came out of my reviews and articles a little worse for wear. So maybe it’s time I moved on to talking about something I really loved in recent days. And that would be Baccano!

   Baccano! has been on my Netflix “to watch” list for some time now and last week I finally sat down to watch some. And boy was I pleasantly surprised. I had heard good things and expected something high quality. This wasn’t just good, it had shot straight to the top of my “Favourite Animes” list.

   So I feel a little background is in order. Baccano! Takes place in three different years, 1930, ’31 and ’32 respectively. Then it follows the lives of a huge number of characters from gangsters to robbers and bomb makers. It sounds confusing and it is a little at first. This is not one to watch when you’re tired. In fact I had to stop watching not because I was bored but because I wanted to watch when I felt a little more awake so I didn’t miss anything.

   Baccano! is a series that lends itself to watching in batches or one long marathon. The opening credits work in little snippets of past episodes as a reminder but it still helps if you don’t leave much of a gap between each episode. And trust me, as things start to come together, you won’t want to stop watching.

   A lot of the anime released over the last few years has suffered from several anime trappings. girly dudes, panty shots and a whole host of other things one would class as “fan service”. Baccano! on the other hand, is the least anime anime I’ve seen for a while. Like the classics such as Cowboy Bebop and Trigun it’s just there to tell a good story and to introduce you to some amazing characters.

   As mentioned the list of characters is long and the only downside to this is that as a 16 episode series you might not get to spend as much time with your favourites as you might like. I feel like I would have liked to see more of Firo, a charming gangster that kicks all kinds of ass. But with that one exception I feel that the show found a nice balance between the various people.

   Among the cast there were a few stand-out characters, which probably stood out for their pure insanity more than anything. Lad Russo and Vino are both men equally matched for their insanity and crazy qualities. Which is good, because for some reason these kinds of characters really appeal to me (which is rather worrying really).

   I don’t feel I can really talk about the plot too much without spoiling anything. What I can say is that there’s a lot happening on a train called “The Flying Pussyfoot” and there’s a plotline surrounding various immortals.

   The element of the immortals was really quite interesting. As opposed to other anime with supernatural elements where they are fleshed out to the extreme, the supernatural stuff here is actually rather understated. It created an interesting aspect to most of the plots without forcing itself to be the main focus every time.

   Since this is an anime I must give mention to the pretty nice looking animation but mostly to the voice acting. Seeing as this has an American setting it makes sense to watch the American dub, a dub that thankfully has some fantastic voice acting. My favourite example being Dallas shouting “It’s un freakin’ believable!” after a particularly successful gunfight. On rare occasions the accents might grate a little but this is a really minor issue.

   Baccano! is an anime that can at times be frightening. I don’t think anything had quite freaked me out as much as the infamous “Rail Tracer” a monster who only gets more terrifying the more you see its true nature. There are also the occasional sad moments but what Baccano! is best at, is being good sheer fun. I haven’t quite enjoyed an anime like this in a long time.

   And it’s not just the big gangster shoot-outs or fight scenes on top of a moving train. There’s fun to be had in the little moments, a slight movement or expression.

   Baccano! is a show I really can’t recommend enough. It’s one of those rare animes that will appeal to people who don’t typically watch them. There’s nothing worse than arguing “Well you’d get it if you watched anime, it’s just what happens.” And if you’ve already signed up for Netflix you have no excuse not to give it a go.

Batman is rising again and again.

  Okay so I woke up this morning and knew that I had to write something about this. I’ve put it off a little, written over a thousand words for my novel (in less than an hour thank you very much) and even written some of my “novel diary”. Hell I even glanced over some IMDB reviews and forum entries for DKR and as always instantly regretted it.

  The thing is Batman is one of those things where I’m really in the minority. The idea of a Batman movie doesn’t get me excited and I wasn’t a huge fan of Begins when it came out. It’s grown on me a little on repeat viewings and I do appreciate that it’s an excellent film.

  Then there was Dark Knight, which I thought was a better film but again it had to grow on me and eventually became something I really liked. I think this is mostly down to the Joker, a character I find really captivating and Harvey Dent too actually. I found it intriguing to have another good guy enter the inner sanctum of Gordon and Batman’s weird partnership.

  So in spite of my feeling towards a Batman movie I knew I had to see DKR. And actually I was getting excited for it. We had just re-watched the first two films and both movie magazines had given DKR 5 stars. Things were looking good.

  Unfortunately my excitement waned (wayned har har) as time passed, it took me a further week to see it after the release date. (In which time everyone I knew went to see it, some of them twice). But finally I got to go see it.

  And my ultimate opinion? Okay. Not the “best film ever” and certainly not the best Chris Nolan Batman, not by a long way. Don’t get me wrong; the film has a lot to be proud of. As always the casting is perfect and I took some joy in seeing a familiar face (or two) missing from the last film. It has its usual understated sense of humour, it’s excellent action, great scoring etc etc.

  My biggest problem? The pacing. This was a film with a great beginning and great ending but an overly long middle. After thinking on it and discussing it with someone I managed to pin down the main issue.

  At the start of the film Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman, he’s in retirement and his body has clearly seen better days. The film really takes its time (and rightly so) before finally giving us Batman. It’s roughly a 45 minute wait before we get to see the caped crusader.

But then a little way down the road Batman vanishes again and we have yet another wait before he finally “rises” and gets to be batman again. This clearly should have been “The Dark Knight Rises... Twice.”

  It’s a real fault to the structure and it kind of leaves the film feeling a little muddled. Perhaps it would help if he had never retired? Then bring his fight with Bane nearer to the start and make more of a story out of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman again.

  Which brings me back around to Bane and the other characters. I’m sure that when tackling characters like Catwoman and Bane  Nolan couldn’t have done them better. Anne Hathaway found a nice balance to her character that meant it never felt over the top or like it was pandering to teenage boys’ fantasies.

  Bane on the other hand… I get it, I really do, the posh but mutated voice coming from this huge guy. You really do feel like here is a man that can beat the Batman. But the thing is he didn’t really leave much of an impression on me. Of course there was no topping the Joker and even the Scarecrow proved an interesting character. Bane was just average.

  Although I have to admit that my favourite aspect of the film was the Bane back-story, in fact the telling of this tale (or re-telling rather) near the end of the film was the most captivated I had felt at any time.

  I also rather liked the progression of John Blake. I particularly liked a scene with him and Gordon where Blake clearly feels cheated by him and judges him a little harshly. It made me stop and wonder how I would re-act. John Blake was the good guy that got up everyone’s nose and was someone I really related to.

  For me it is the moral questions like this, the ones that almost force you to turn them on yourself, that really make these films stand out for me. Unfortunately I thought they were a little lacking here.

I also feel a need to give special mention to Michael Cane, whose performance had me to tears. It was  his sorrow, more than anyone else’s that got my sympathy.

  This is getting rather long so I’ll try to wrap this up. DKR is excellent in parts but I do think it has its flaws. It’s slow pacing in the middle and re-treading of old ground let it down a little and it felt absent of characters that left much of an impression. To its credit, it at least knows how to put a line under the end of a trilogy whilst leaving certain threads open.

  I’m sure it will grow on me a little more as the others did but it’s not enough to make me want to return to the cinema. DKR definitely deserves an award for best “number 3 of a franchise” but I don’t think it’s the 2 and a half hours of perfection a lot of critics are claiming it to be.

Game Changing Part 2 or Where did Ratha go?

spoiler warning

   The Amazing Spider-man came out almost 2 weeks ago, on a Tuesday, which is a little weird but okay. And ever since watching it I feel like I’ve soaked up every online critique, review and podcast. You see, there is something about this film that fascinates me.

   I think the biggest problem this film has is its close proximity, time wise, to the Sam Raimi films. When the first one came out I was 14 and I was blown away. It was probably my first taste of a superhero movie and it was my first crush. Probably the weirdest crush ever but I digress…

   Essentially what I’m saying is that this film never really had a chance when compared to my first film love. It’s probably why I didn’t get too hyped up by its release, despite the ever-improving trailers. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I don’t ever remember feeling bored or annoyed or anything whilst watching it and I had more than a few laughs. But since leaving that theatre, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

   Now is the part where I explain the title. You might want to read my previous article, “The game change of The Avengers” where I rejoiced in Maria Hill’s presence for the Avengers (purely so she was ready and waiting for the sequels). The makers of The Amazing Spider-man tried to do the same thing. Months before the film’s completion the writers and producers explained how essentially they could slow down the story because they had the luxury of knowing they’d be making more.

   That might sound kind of cocky but they weren’t wrong. The name of Spider-man alone is enough to keep bringing people back and after the first film’s release they know they can make at least two more.

Unfortunately I think this led to them mishandling the story a little. In an interview with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach by Empire they seemed to hint that the reason Peter Parker doesn’t find Uncle Ben’s killer is because it is a storyline that will be picked up again in the future.

   And even stranger still, in a film that was advertised as telling you the “secrets behind Spider-man” you don’t really learn that much about his parents. In fact the post credit sequence pretty much tells you that there is waaay more to learn on the subject.

   Perhaps when the trilogy is complete we will look back at this film and say “ah it all makes sense now” but the issue is that a film shouldn’t do that. By all means weave a long running story but a single film has to stand up on its own as well and I’m not sure it does.

   There was certainly a lot to enjoy about The Amazing Spider-man. The casting is perfect, I just loved Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. And after reading a lot more of the comics I did feel that this was a Spider-man much closer to how he should have been.

   Unfortunately the unfinished nature of the story and a few other flaws here and there did stop this from being a film I could get really enthusiastic about. Don’t let this put you off too much. As I said there’s still much to enjoy about The Amazing Spider-man.

Extra Note: After writing the above article I made some discoveries. According to a couple of online sources, the reason why some story elements and characters are dropped without another word are down to re-edits and last minute changes.

  Apparently there should have been a whole scene where Ratha confronts the Lizard and Spider-man shows up. From the sounds of things it seems as if we should have learnt more about Peter Parker’s parents but something changed. Perhaps the director and producers decided half way through to move certain elements to the sequel.

  And so any scenes that included the parent storyline had to either be re-cut or dropped all together. I think this is why, story wise, the film does come across as a bit lacking in closure.

The game change of "Avengers Assemble"

   Seeing as Avengers managed to reach 3^rd position at the world wide box office and the fact that you are reading an article with “Avengers” in the title, I can be safe in presuming that you have seen this particular superhero movie. If you also happen to be a fan of “How I Met Your Mother” then you will also be aware that the shows very own Robin Sherbatsky jumped ship to play the part of Maria Hill.

   Depending on how clued up you are on the Marvel universe and its characters you may or may not be aware of how important a character Maria Hill is. Important enough in fact that when Nick Fury disappears, she takes over the running of SHIELD. Now what I want you to do is play a little game called, “How important was Maria Hill to the Avengers movie?”

   The answer is, not very much. Anything she did or said could easily have been placed on to another character or removed all together without damaging the movie in any way. If you know anything about writing, you’ll know that often, unnecessary characters and plot lines usually end up left behind in an earlier draft. And that goes double for a big ensemble piece. Why bother giving any time at all to an unimportant character when Iron Man and the Hulk are in the next room fighting for screen time?

   The reason for this is simple. Because she becomes important later. At some point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Maria Hill will most likely follow in the footsteps of her comic sister and become head of SHIELD. Now think about that for a second. A big budget, big ensemble movie has put time aside to introduce you to someone because they will be important later. It’s all so that when it does happen you don’t ask “Well who the f&*$ is this?” You will know her and you will understand her a little more.

   That in a nutshell, is why The Avengers is a game changer. The writers and producers at Marvel, Kevin Feige in particular, have a much bigger picture in their heads. In the way comics have long running stories and interweaving arcs, they plan to have their films do the same thing. This is impressive. This is a whole new game. And Avengers proved it can work and work well (to the tune of $1.4bn thank you very much).

   You could argue that planned trilogies or planned last two thirds of trilogies have done similar things. Taken small characters and turned them in to something special later on but it’s not quite the same. We’re talking multiple characters and multiple “franchises”. Maria Hill doesn’t even have to wait for the next Avengers. She might turn up to cause trouble for Captain America in his sequel or she might just have one line in a Black Panther movie. The Marvel Universe is huge and anything is possible.

   You could also argue that television got their first. Characters have occasionally crossed over in to another show, particularly if they are already part of a spin off such as Spike making an appearance in Angel. The Syfy channel have also had their go at making a shared universe. Two of their shows “Eureka” and “Warehouse 13” performed a bit of a character swap. Though crossover seems a better phrase, since “Shared Universe” sounds a tad too epic considering what it actually boiled down to.

   I’m a huge fan of character crossovers whether in a mention or an appearance so I’m more than excited by what the future of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe holds. And if this little article is anything to go by, http://www.totalfilm.com/news/avengers-amazing-spider-man-reference-revealed, we might get even more characters than we originally bargained for.

A path to Marvel fandom or A guide to getting in to comics

Recently a certain super hero movie made big news and big box office bucks. The Avengers has led people to ask the same question that always crops up during a superhero movie release. “How do I get in to comics?”

Comics have so many interconnecting stories and are very much like soap operas in the way that each comic is simply an episode in one long, never-ending story. I was put off comics for years because I just had no idea where to begin. I was worried I’d get confused and things wouldn’t make sense.

However I’m in to comics now. It’s been a slowly building monster and I still wouldn’t call myself an expert but I thought I could offer fellow Marvel movie fans some advice. If you think you might be a DC person I apologise in advance for the lack of references to their comics. However I’m sure you’ll be able to apply the pointers to their comic universe too.

I think the best way to do this would be to tell you how I personally made my way through the murky waters of comic books. I was a fan of several Marvel cartoons and movies. There were the X-men movies and X-men evolution, Spider-man and somewhere hidden in my memories, the 90’s Spider-man cartoon. And more recently Iron Man and the Marvel movies that followed.

This might sound like odd advice but if you love the films and TV shows you’re half way there. They help by already offering to you an origin story or at least a version of that character and world that you can keep in mind when reading the comics.

Some might argue that the movies and comics are two very different things and they are but I do believe that it helps to have some form of basis. For example you can open up a page of New Avengers and if someone mentions Tony Stark, then hey, you already know who that is!

Your next step (or first depending on how you look at it) is to seek out a comic volume. First look for one that has characters you already like in it. If possible look for something that at least covers one story arch. Or failing that something that has No.1 printed on the spine.

My first purchase was the collected “Civil War” volume. A complex monster of a story line, condensed in to one volume and looking back there were probably references to people and events I didn’t know about. This will happen a lot. Unless you reach a point of reading absolutely everything ever, there will always be something you can’t quite “get”. Just try not to be put off by it.

Another purchase was X-men first class volume 1. It might not feature the team you would recognise from the Bryan Singer films but it’s a great starting point and it’s pretty funny too.

One of my more recent purchases was The Ultimates. It’s a great read for anyone wanting to get more of the Avengers. This isn’t technically the Avengers, more of an alternative version of that. It’s brilliantly written and the artwork is amazing. It’s definitely one of, if not, the best Marvel comic I’ve read.

Another thing to note is that both DC and Marvel have several different alternate versions of things. No character has one definitive origin (although Peter Parker always has problems with a spider) and you might wonder why some things are different across different versions. Again, don’t let it bother you, in fact try to embrace it. (I should point out however that both companies do have a main version of reality and in Marvel the original world is labelled 616…don’t ask.)

So by now you will hopefully have a couple of books you like and have an idea of what characters or series you want to see more of. I started on New Avengers issue 1 and went from there. This then became Civil War and then split in to two versions, New Avengers and Mighty Avengers.

Even after reading nearly a hundred different issues (well okay hundreds I’ve still been caught out by jumps in the story but it’s nothing a quick Google search can’t help you with. For example I was wondering why the two Avengers series seemed to skip an ending, only to find out I should also have been reading the stand alone “Secret Invasion” issues.

The best way I can help this make sense is that a selection of the different titles will go through one over arching story. This story will then spawn a short run of 8 issues(ish) of the main stuff that will tie all of it together.

Yes, it sounds complex and yes, it might make you go cross eyed and the truth is, if you can’t be bothered with it all then maybe your interests lie elsewhere. But please do give them a try, and who knows, in a few months time, it’ll be you cheering at the Iron Man 3 post credit sequence (or Dark Knight Rises if you swing that way).

Extra advice-

If you’re on Netflix or fancy giving the free trial a go, Marvel have some motion comics on there. There’s the Iron Man Extremis series (inspiration for the next Iron Man movie), Astonishing X-men (the one Joss Whedon wrote) and a couple of others. These are especially great for beginners as they’re relatively contained stories

I'm Back Babeh!

Soo the new website has fallen through a gap in the internet when it came time for rehosting. So instead  I've decided to spruce this one up a little just to have somewhere to put all of those unpublished article.

Nice to see you all again, you're looking lovely.