Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I've often said, and almost constantly thought, that my life is plagued by a lack of goals. That's undeniably true. There is another aspect entwined with that, though. Depending on how you look at it, I'm very lazy or very tenacious. That seems a bit contradictory, but most of it boils down to how I analyze things coupled with a desire to not half-ass something. It sounds like an odd mix, but when I do something, I really want to do it right. Theoretically, that should put me on a track to accomplish great things, but... I look at such paths and ask myself "where does this go, and do I really care?" That's where it often falls apart. Because my thought processes go right to that end point, I see no reason to event start. Do I want to be married and have children? Well... not really. So why date? Do I want to be physically fit? It might be nice, but it's not like I have anyone to impress or keep up with. Do I want a better-paying job? Nice in th

The third (and I presume final) book in the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (previous one commented upon here ) is a gloriously epic story of a catastrophic mess. One of the big things that struck me in the previous novel was the unreliable narration - human characters are stuck dealing with immortals who may be truthful, lying, or just biased. That certainly keeps up in this installment to the point of questioning whether the gods that were introduced to the story are really gods. The intro chapter sort of blunts that, though, providing some heavy support for that "truth." Kaden's storyline is perhaps the most central to the core (and sometimes hidden) conflict that's going on, as he's wrapped up with the gods-inhabiting-people. It's... story-crucial, but not as interesting to read. There's a little too much uncertainty and floundering along the way as the characters are largely driven by circumstance. Adare's story is agonizing to read because she

While I still pondering if there's any interesting directions to go with existing characters, I found myself creating a new one of late that's been rather interesting to think about. Pull an existing character into a new group of people to play with? Possible, but... risks being pulled in too many directions at once, and that's not particularly good. Make a new character? Maaaybe, but what? Plenty of possible family members as characters, though that might be overdone. Hmm. One of the other players is a big anime fan. Hmm. So the idea that came to mind was an alternate-timeline characters. Chiaruscuro Kala S'yalin was born to Dove and Kyn'Elwynn in a world where they got together. She's a family member, but the rosters of her family and the existing S'yalin clan are very, very different. The heritage gives her an affinity for life, light, and shadow. A tiger-striped white vixen is fairly striking in appearance. Add on Tyrael-style "wings" of s

The Cosmere/Mistborn adventures continue! We're given a central treasure hunt adventure involving the metalminds of the Lord Ruler, containing everything he stored within them. Then you throw in the political strife of a society in which a central hub city is controlling everything and the outlying territories are chafing under that situation. Add in a dash of the conspiracy faction that seems to be following some old god toward destroying everything (reasons still unknown) and the new revelation of a society beyond the bound of the "known" part of the world that has Allomantically-drive technology. It's a pretty wild ride for Wax and Wayne and Co. And the characters progress too, several moving beyond their crushes and lingering lost loves. MeLaan the kandra provides a neat perspective on things. Even the paperwork-loving Steris gets in on the adventure and sort of likes it. Harmony remains a sensible representation of mortal raised to godhood trying to do the ri

I occasionally poke around the web for translated manga to read in down time. Sometimes, this leads to something like Mahou Tsukai no Yome , which I find to be rather touching and with enough fantastical elements to be interesting. Other times... I finally took a look at Terra Formars , a reasonably long-running manga that's had some measure of anime adaption and all. I've been aware of it in a general sense - scifi humans trying to claim Mars from insect-humanoids. I finally sat down to go through a couple issues and... uhh... wow... I think it's technically possible to read without any racist overtones, but... I just can't do it. And I don't know if that speaks well or poorly of me, but evolved cockroach enemies look to me like a horribly blatant and extreme caricature of "black" people. I look at the image and think "how is this not offensive?" Of course, then I wonder if maybe I'm taking it too seriously, but I just cannot shake that

Part of the problem with my reflections on movies is: I can point to a lot of things I dislike and if it spoils anything it is a "warning," but things I like are things I don't want to spoil so I don't get to discuss them until afterward. On that note... The movie is unusual and impressive for a number of reasons. It isn't quite the amazing "How did they make this work so well?" that the first Avengers movie was, but it's also better in a lot of ways. On its own, the movie has a passable arc in which a villain manipulates heroes into fighting one another over a backdrop of political messiness. When you're familiar with what's gone before, though, it really blossoms because so much of who the characters are and where they stand in the movie comes from what has happened in the preceeding movies. And the most impressive part of it all to me is how much of that detail is really present in the movie for those characters. Captain America, shi

Entertaining and solid movie in general. The movie does a good job of laying groundwork for and playing out hero vs. hero fighting. There's no Loki mind control this time, just people with strong beliefs that conflict being pushed around the board against one another, in a sense. There's not much of a "bigger villain" for them to face, which arguably makes the villain in play one of the best, or at least smartest. Now that we have a Spider-Man in the MCU, I think they found a good one - young, intelligent, talkative, star-struck, and fun. My only real technical gripe in the movie is that he, in costume, looks... too CGI-y compared to Iron Man or Black Panther or really anyone else in the film. I wonder if things were written to include him in such a way that his costume didn't get as much special effects treatment somehow.

I take my first "vacation day" off in over two months in order to take a long weekend and try to feel rested, and what happens? A terrible night of sleep, to start with... My brain kept me up with some rant about the X-Men character Psylocke for some reason that still escapes me. Then I wake up around five in the morning, ending up tossing and turning since then trying to get back solidly to sleep. I recall bits and pieces of a few dreams - some sort of academy, parents leaving their previous house to me for an extended period - but nothing particularly good or bad in the mix. Ugh. At least I can take a nap later.