Beyond Redemption

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

I hope you’re with the ones you love, and if there is no significant other, I hope there’s plenty of chocolate, comfort food, and DVDs! 😀

From me to you: Godiva Chocolate! ^_^

I’ve been MIA a little, but you guys know about the recent turmoil. Well, here’s a quick update before we get on to other stuffs! That punk is still in her classes and I’m not sure what the status is with his parents, or rather, mother. We’ve made it pretty plain that we do intent to press charges against him if this continues. We also let the school know that we will make a BIG FUCKING DEAL if they attempt to change her class because of him. That, to me, makes zero fucking sense. You don’t remove the victim when there’s a complaint. That’s the most asinine shit ever. You remove the fucking problem, you know? That’s like punishing the victim a second time. Is she supposed to have her school life turned upside down because he’s a lunatic? How about kicking him out? That’s the issue with schools today. Too much coddling goes on with the bad kids at the expense of the good ones.

Anyway, school is out for a week and she’s spending time over here, so that’s why I’ve been MIA. I’ve been doing a lot of talking with her and making sure she understands that we will never be mad at her in this kind of situation. She’s 18, but a very, very sheltered 18. This is extremely scary and weird for her, so being here (a good distance from home) makes her feel like her old self. So, there ya have it. Hence why I’m not around, and won’t be around all that much in the next few days.

On to the writing!

Hikari is giving me grief. I don’t know why this happens, but it does, lol. I’ll be on a roll for 3-4 chaps, then BAM! It starts stalling and not wanting to come to me. Urgh. I’ve been forcing it a little and I’m trying not to. It’s like I know what I need to write, but getting it out is just not happening the way it should. Sigh.

I also tried updating Danga’s fic (Last Exit to Eden). Another no go. That story hates me, it really does. I think I know the reason why there have been just 3 updates in about 3 years. >.> It doesn’t come to me AT ALL and every chapter has been forced. And sometimes, when I look back at old chaps I hated, I can find something about them I liked, or at least find a way to improve it, but not that one. That story doesn’t like me <.< and the feeling is getting mutual! I also looked at Everything You Want and I dunno where my plot for that story went, lol. Okay, I admit I didn’t really have one. It was a “break up to makeup” fic that should have been done in 3 chapters. Of course, it wasn’t, so now I’m trying to think of where I want to go with it. Fuck. LOL.

I haven’t started anything else, except With Honor, which I put down when the Hikari bug struck, so I may be picking that up again to try and get back into it. It’s an interesting story for me because it’s told in Yasha’s POV, so that’s always hard. Don’t be shocked if chapters are a bit slow in coming. Also, each chap will be under 3500 words. I want to start keeping my word on short chapters. It’s better for my hands (Hikari got 25,000 words in about a week. I won’t discuss what that means for my hands, lol.)

I almost started a new oneshot. I wanted it for V-day (it’s not V-day themed, though. I think fics themed for holidays are corny, and I’ll NEVER understand what possessed me to do the Xmas parties!), but it was smutty and cute. Alas, it’s not written, but it will be at some point. 😀

Movie Review Time!

The Masters of Horror Present: John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns

I’ve gotten my hands on about 17 horror movies I haven’t seen yet, so me and the kid will be checking those out over her winter recess. Last night, though, I watched “Cigarette Burns”, which is part of the Masters of Horror collection and directed by the one and only, John Carpenter. Needless to say, it freaked me out.

Now, I haven’t seen all of his work, but he made Halloween, so I’ll always watch his horror stuffs. It’s only an hour long, but he used more gore in this short than everything he put in Halloween. Though, that scene in Last House on the Left is somewhat comparable –somewhat.

The premise is that a guy who hunts down rare films is hired by this old rich guy (I forget his name, but he was in Blade -the vampire elder that Stephen Dorf stuck out in the sun) to find this infamous French film that’s been banned and supposedly taken underground. They say it no longer exists, but the old guy is sure that it does.

The thing with the film is that it was only shown in theaters once and some killing riot went on, so the movie was seized by the gov’t and now it’s infamous and sought after. You never see the complete film at any point, but you see parts of it, and it’s creepy, and once you find out the film’s origins it’s even more creepy, especially when you figure out what the old man has chained in his hidden room. ::shudders::

The guy who’s looking for the film is also from the Blade saga (Part 2), and he has his own demons. Apparently, at some point, he and his girl were junkies and a few bad things happened. He also owns an “Angelika Film Center” type of movie house that he was able to purchase with money from her father, who won’t leave him alone. But that’s really background stuff, more or less, that will have a bit of closure by the end.

I don’t want to give away anything else, but it’s worth an hour of your time and available upon request. 0.~

Out of a possible 5 Yashas, I give Cigarette Burns a 3.5. If you want a good, horror quickie, I say, give it a shot.

The Emerald Forest

This movie is old and I stumbled on it by accident on Encore, or something. The premise is that a man (Powers Boothe -I think that’s the coolest name, lol.) moves his family ( a wife and young son) to the rain forest of Brazil where his company is building a massive dam to encourage development. While they weren’t paying attention, the kid is playing in the forest and wanders away and is kidnapped by the leader of a tribe who ends up raising him. For 10 years after that, the father keeps going back into the forest to find him and every year he comes up empty. Then, Eureka! He finds him, though he nearly dies doing so.

Okay, this is based on a true story, and in both instances, it’s just not happy. The thought of having your child stolen, and then having him choose to stay with the people that stole him is horrible. And yeah, you also start getting beat over the head with environmental messages, but for me, the heart of the story is that these people stole his son and turned him into one of them to the point that he doesn’t understand or accept his true culture in any way. (This won’t sound PC at all, but I don’t think there’s anything mystical and aw-inspiring about being raised by a bunch of naked people with mating rituals that involve bashing your intended in the head with a stick.)

But it’s fairly obvious that the message of the movie is this:

Modern Man: Bad.

Indigenous People: Good (despite the fact that they stole and brainwashed someone’s child).

And admittedly, killing off entire sections of rain forest is bad. They also show where a bunch of the women from the son’s tribe (including his wife) are stolen and forced into prostitution -also bad- but I’m glad they pointed out that it was done by a rival tribe that was working for the bad, modern Brazilians, not just making the Americans look awful.

All in all, the movie is sad and I walked away feeling only slightly okay with it because of the ending. It proves, once again, about a parent’s love and the lengths they’ll go to for their children. Otherwise, I wouldn’t watch this again.

Out of a possible 5 Yashas, I give The Emerald Forest 2.5. mainly because the guy that plays his son is adorable with the biggest, bluest eyes I’ve ever seen and because a parent’s love conquers all!

I’ll be back with more reviews as soon as I soak up some films! ^_^

Okie dokes, I’m gonna skidaddle, and hopefully, I’ll have an update of some-damn-thing for y’all soon. Oh! And many, many thanks to everyone who has been coming to the house lately and dropping reviews! I feel special, especially since some of them are from people I hadn’t met before. Thank you! 😀 I appreciate the support for the fics/writing. It always motivates me when I know people are reading and want to see more!

And if you’re in the Goodie Squad, it’s been updated!

Ciao, Bellas!

EDIT: Happy Birthday to my kid brother, Danga! He was born on my Mama’s birthday, Feb. 15th, but since I only post one birthday on that day, I had to stick him in here! 😀