West Coast Vacation- Part Two: Northern California

 So to start off this second and second portion of my vacation blog, here are some more thought worthy sea side pictures. Now I can't remember which of these were still in Oregon and which where California, so just picture these somewhere near the border.

- This one I know was in Oregon because I'd been there before when I was twelve. Unfortunately, we didn't get out and swim around there like we did before, but it was cool seeing those rocks again.




- This one I liked because it felt very Scottish; with the misty rocks and the wavy pale grass against the ocean.




- Once we got to Northern Cali, we had to take an in-depth look at the mighty redwoods. We found a nice trail through the woods which came out to the ocean.

 - The rest of my family walked the three miles, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and try riding my bike across it. (note: that is not a mountain bike.) It was a relatively nice ride except for wiping out on a downhill slope and scuffed up my arm. I didn't even get that good of a scar out of it so it's really not even worthy of mentioning.

- These flowers were covered all
over these giant boulders by the shore.













- My brother, Christopher goofing off with the flora.

My new friend, the banana slug

 - There was something on top on that isle out there. I'm guessing it was a lighthouse of some sort but I all of my zoomed in pics were too fuzzy to tell.






Well that concludes the coastal views and redwood forest. My next and last post will be a little closer to civilization, of sorts...San Francisco.

West Coast Vacation- Part One: Oregon

   You know, I was originally going to write this big ol' blog entry detailing every aspect in my west coast vacation that my family and I took a couple of weeks ago, but then I thought: who would really care about all of that? I personally like travel stories, but I'm willing to bet that the majority out there wouldn't give a rat's bottom to hear a long winded story about someone else's vacation. So, in short here's a bunch of pictures I took while out and about with some descriptions below every once and a while.

 So the first place we visited was Pendleton, Oregon. It was more of prolonged stop while on the road. Since we weren't going to be going anywhere for a few hours. I decided to take a short fifteen mile bike ride through the countryside.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Pendleton

Above are a couple of pics taken of the Columbia River. First one in the more desert-ish east and then the much greener and mountainous west.

 The left pic is the Bonneville Dam while the one with the train and mountain was right before the dam where they have a fish hatchery.

 When we got to the Portland area, my brother and I rode our bikes a good eighteen miles or so from where we were staying to downtown Portland. As we were going through the suburbs, we came across some awesome street art that we had to take pictures of.

This was just too awesome! While
visiting Powell Bookstore I found
this little tribute to H.P. Lovecraft
and had to snap a pic of it.

Portland, Oregon

 Tillamook Cheese factory. My mom really wanted to visit it before heading south which turned out to be an awesome drive through forested mountains and our first taste of the sea breeze. I am very tempted to move there because it's such a beautiful place. I wish I took more pictures of the area.

 Got to go out and play in the surf a bit before nightfall. It was my second time seeing the ocean.

     Still in Oregon, just a very scenic view of the ocean and northwest coast.  

So then we had a party on the beach... haha! Just kidding. I found this bottle (already empty-why's the rum always gone?) at a view point and wanted to take a picture of it.

Well this got a little bigger than I thought it was going to be. I've still got some more pics and the rest of California to share when I get some more time to write again. 

The Hobbit Trilogy

Earlier today I found out that Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings and the upcoming Hobbit double feature, is going to be extending The Hobbit duel movies into a trilogy, which of course sent me into a fit of nerd hysteria! I've been an amateur Tolkienite since I first stepped into Middle-Earth when I was twelve years old and have since read the whole collection twice and soon to be thrice. So when I heard that Jackson was finally given the green light to start work on a Hobbit movie, I was overjoyed; even more so when I found out that it was going to be a two part series. However, even with two movies based on one book, I was already calculating in my mind how much was going to be left out or squeezed to fit it all in. For instance, trying to envision the mid-point where the first movie would end and the second would begin was difficult to picture. Would it be at the house of Beorn, or the escape from the elf-kings' hall?

 Now that we know there will be a third installment, here's how I believe the trilogy will flow: The first movie will end when the eagles save Bilbo and the crew from the worgs & goblins and deliver them to the Carrock. The second will pick up with the introduction of Beorn and with the departure of Gandalf from the company. Now Peter Jackson has said that there is going to be more emphasis on Gandalf & the White Council's battle against the Necromancer, so a good chunk of the second show will revolve, not just on Bilbo and the dwarves marching through the dusky veils of Mirkwood, but also on the former, less mentioned, yet just as important event Gandalf takes part in. The end of the second will be when Bilbo busts the dwarves out of the fortress of the elf-king via barrels. Then finally the third and final movie will pick up outside Esgaroth, the Lake-Town.

For those who believe that turning it into a trilogy was all about the money, you are probably only half right. Of course the film corps that are funding the movies are in it mostly for the money, but it was Peter Jackson himself who asked Newline Cinema, MGM Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios if he could extend and make a third. According to a couple of different articles I read on the subject, Peter Jackson wants to add Hobbit lore written by Tolkien that wasn't added into the published book, such as added lore concerning the dwarves of Erebor, not only the fall but the rise of the Necromancer in Mirkwood, the battle of Dol Guldur and more.

No matter which way you look at it, a Hobbit trilogy is a good thing. If it was Peter Jackson who came up with the idea, is basing completely on Tolkien's writings and enlarges the mythos of Middle-earth, the only thing that could possibly surpass this in sheer awesomeness would be. . . A SIX PART SILMARILLION SERIES! OH YEAH!!!!

Is Amon who I think it is?

The first season of The Legend of Korra culminates in less than twelve hours with the possibility that Amon, the main antagonist in the story, will have his true identity revealed. If so, I wanted to quickly put up my theory on who he is and how he can do what he does without being a bender.

As for my theory on who Amon is, I am about 85% sure that it is Bumi. No, not the King of Omashu in the first series. I'm referring to the eldest, non-bending son of Avatar Aang. Both his mother (Katara) and older sister (Kya) are water-benders while his younger brother (Tenzin) and father are both air-benders (of course with his father also being the Avatar). Growing up in such a situation could have caused feelings of jealousy and eventual hatred for benders in general. One thing that supports my theory is the way Amon moves when fighting benders. He dodges and flows with the attacks, just like an air-bender; my guess is that Aang taught Bumi the forms while he was alive. Another point is that, in the last episode, Amon takes over air temple island and seems to make it his base of operations in the finale preview.
Moving along now. Amon has two very strange abilities that have thus far been revealed. First off, he can take a bender's power away. Second, he can withstand blood-bending, something that even Aang couldn't do without some help. Assuming that Amon is truly Bumi, one could reason that it was Aang himself who taught Bumi to take bending away, since Aang is the only other person known who was able to do it. While that may be the case, it still doesn't explain how Amon was able to resist blood-bending.
In the episode where Korra witnesses Aang's battle against the blood-bender, Yukone, we see that Aang was at his mercy until the Avatar spirit took control. Where I'm getting at with this is that amon would not be able to escape blood-bending by himself alone. Someone, or something had to have been helping him. During his revelation to the equalists, Amon tells his followers that he was chosed my the spirit guardians of the world to do away with benders. What if that was only a half truth? What if a powerful, ancient spirit made contact with an angry boy and promised him his strength to equalize the world. It would have to be a malevolent spirit who has an issue with the Avatar and wants his revenge. The spirit that I'm referring to is Koh the face-stealer from the first season of ATLA.
We know that Aang went to him to learn of the ocean and moon spirits, that few knew of except the most ancient of spirits. When Aang confronts Koh, he reveals to him that a previous incarnation of the avatar tried to kill him for stealing the face of his beloved. When Aang leaves, Koh tells "the avatar" that they would meet again. Later in the last season, we find out that the Avatar who fought Koh was the previous water-tribe Avatar, Korin, so how sweet would it be for Koh, to wait and take his vengeance on the next water-bender.
So there's my theory in a nutshell. Amon is Bumi with Koh the face-stealer backing him up.
Now many of you might think it's a waste of time pondering on things like this. I'll agree, it is. But so are video games, movies and books in a sense. It's all just good fun trying to figure things out like this before they happen. If you can go an entire mystery novel or Christopher Nolan film without trying to guess who's behind it all, then you don't know how to enjoy it!

New Art for Monster Mash

Here's some new stuff I've been working on in relation to my Monster Mash idea. Once again these are the main four characters that I wrote about in my previous post, but now in full color and much closer to my final concept.

Dragon Dragging

Another year older, another year of realizing just how foolish I am. It was my birthday last week and I thought, now would be a good time to evaluate myself on the goals I set back in January. So here’s the reader’s digest summery of my objectives and how I’m doing on each one.

1. Get my EMT- This one, unfortunately, hasn’t gotten off the ground yet. I was trying to get into a local program but the class was already in session for a couple of weeks when I called about it. I still want to get it though. Not so much to get a job with it, more so because I want know what to do if a situation were to arise, instead of standing around with a dumb look with my finger up my nose.

2. Begin learning to play the violin- I have purchased a violin, or “renting” one, but will eventually be paying it off. I’ve learned the proper hand and chin positions and can play a shaky ‘three blind mice’. I found a good site on-line that offers in-depth instructional videos and I’m planning on starting on that soon.

3. Publish two short stories or a book- I have a couple of short stories written, but haven’t finished editing them yet. Just need to push myself a little harder on that.

4. Read through the Standard Works- I’m half way through the Old Testament right now and after that my goal will be completed.

5. Overcome social anxiety/ make some friends- Honestly, I’ve sort of neglected this one. I do have the desire to hang out with friends and such every once in a while, it’s just I like my alone time even more. I’m going to get back into church institute this summer, as soon as I find out when registration is, and hopefully things will start moving then.  

6. Become at least conversant in Japanese- I am happy to say I am improving steadily in this goal. I ordered the Pimsleur Approach program back in February and I’ve been working through the CDs with consistency. However, it’s only focusing on the spoken language. So later I’ll need to find something that’ll teach me to read and write it.

7. Go to Japan- Last November, I heard that the Japanese government were giving away free round-trip tickets in April to a number of people who would be willing to visit Japan and blog about the time they spent there. They were doing this because tourism took a harsh drop in Japan during the aftermath of the Tsunami and Fukushima power plant incident. However, I haven’t found anything on that since. If anyone knows any details about that, let me know, please!

8. Go back to school in the Fall- I have the money saved up, now I just need to study up so I can pass that #$@! Math exam so I can make it to a class that actually gives me credit this time!

9. Read fifty books- I’m going a little slow right now; mostly because of this new job I’m working that’s making me work 10 hour days. Since January I’ve read only five books, so I need to step up on that as well.

 10. Have a fully written journal- This one has been suffering big time also. I think the reason I find it hard to keep a journal is because my life is exasperatingly boring. I’d might as well write about a day in the life of a blade of grass, that’s how dull it is.

Well, I’ve definitely got some work ahead of me. Hopefully things will start progressing a little faster here in a bit. In the mean time, I’ll just keep chugging along. I’ve got new ideas and projects I’m working on to keep me busy. Like my Monster Mash idea, that it blooming nicely in my head and on paper. More on that and other things that really don’t carry any significance whatsoever to you, after these short messages… :P

Blast from the Past: Pokémon!

This is for all those ten year olds back in the late ‘90s who were addicted, and maybe still are, to the Japanese phenomenon that took America and the world by storm, Pokémon. I remember when I was in fifth grade, and we used to trade those little pocket monster cards like they were currency. If Pokémon cards were currency, many of us would have been some of the greatest entrepreneurs in existence! But as with most things from childhood, the cards and video games get thrown away, lost, or packed away in some shoe box in the attic. However, my cards from over a decade now, have remained on the bottom level of my bookshelf that my little brothers like to look at occasionally.

While on a trip to St. George, Utah, my brother and I were arguing over the finer points of Avatar: The Last Airbender compared to Naruto. . . In other words it was a geek brawl, which is always a good way to spend an evening. Anyways, we were going on with that when we got onto the subject of Pokémon. We began talking about how the critters “could” be real and what a movie would be like with “realistic” Pocket monsters. We got talking about it again last night and I decided I wanted to draw some sketches of a few Pokémon with realistic characteristics. Below are five Pokémon that I drew up combining animal concepts and draping them over the basis set up by the Nintendo creators, along with card comparisons of each one. 

 The first I drew was Bulbasaur because he is the first on the list of Pokemon. When making Bulbasaur I used frog, lizard and even elephant concepts to make something as close to the card as I could.

 When I finished Bulbasaur, I realized I needed more of a challange, which is why I decided to try Diglett out. In the cards, video games and cartoon, all you ever see of Diglett is his head popping out of the ground. So here's my interpretation of Diglett in his entirety. I based him off ground hogs and prairie dogs with a more canine nose.

 Of course Pikachu had to be in the mix somewhere. Even though the card depicts him as a 'mouse' Pokémon, I had always seen him more as a cross between a rabbit and a ferret. His tail was dificult to create a realistic version of so I came up wit hthe idea that his tail is normally soft and fox-like unless electricity is surging through his fur, then it takes on that more lightning bolt look.

My first Pokémon card was Charmander and he has always had a place in my heart ever since. The reptilian features was a no brainer but I also based his build on the pachycephalosaurus, or in other words, those head butting dinosaurs.

 Now here was a challenge! Humanoid Pokémon like Mr. Mime I knew would be a problem since Pokémon are animals, not people. So I based him off a chimpanzee and a baboon. I put color to this one so that I could better picture what he'd look like.

So that's all the pics for now. I'm going to try and draw a more complete version of the three starter Pokémon in the first games, Charmander, Bulbasuar and Squirtle. Until then, give me some feed back if you'd like. Critiques are always welcome!