The X Factor - It's not about singing

I don't hate the X Factor, I'll watch it if my friends are watching it, but I don't really make an effort myself. It's interesting to watch, and most of the people are decent singers. One thing I realised early on, however, is that singing voice dosen't really matter that much. The X Factor is a popularity contest, and a poweful voice obviously dosen't matter to other people as much as it does to me. But then again, you could say that if I'm not going to vote in the competition that I can't really complain, but I don't care enough to spend my money voting, especially since I have little to no interest in anything the contestants do after the competition. Anything I've come across from former X Factor contestants has been generic pop songs, so even if that person does have a good voice, and can pull off a big song, they won't after the competition. I dunno, it makes the whole thing seem kinda pointless. I'll probably keep watching it as long as I have friends who want to, I'll just forget who everyone is as soon as the competition ends.

English Snow

One thing that the English get made fun of for (besides our accent, our love of tea and our apparantly bad teeth) is how we handle snow. It really is true; one snowflake and the whole country comes to a standstill. I guess though that there is a reason for this; until a few years ago it hadn't properly snowed in the south of England since I was about four. Countries that get snow on a regular basis are better prepared for it than England is. Maybe in a few years time, if January snow becomes a regular thing, we will be able to handle it without shutting down everything, and the rest of the world will stop making fun of us for it. Or maybe we will always handle it like this, and I should be grateful that I'll get some days off work out of it.

Remaking a series

If I had to name my two favourite anime series, they would have to be Fullmetal Alchemitst and Dragonball Z. I absolutely love both these series, so it's funny to think how little I felt when I heard that both studios were releasing a new version that would follow the manga more closely. When they were first announced I really didn't care for either series. My thoughts on the matter were these; Dragonball Kai (or Dragonball Z Kai in the states) was announced as part of the series' 20th anniversary, so enough time has passed to justify a remake. To be honest though, the premise just seems kinda lazy; cut out the filler, redraw (badly) a few frames, and you've got yourself a 'true to the manga' version. It also dosen't help that I'm not a fan of the new score for the most part, and the Japanese actors just don't have the same energy they had back then. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a completely reanimated version that follows the story of the original manga (the first anime actually went in its own direction). This sounds good, but in my opinion, Fullmetal Alchemist is still too recent a show to justify a remake. It just seems disrespectful to the original series to make a new one after only five or so years.

But not everyone feels the same way; both remakes seem to be very popular, so the companies are doing something right. It's not like I hate them or anything, I just have no desire to buy either series right now. I've seen a few trailers for Brotherhood, and I think I would like to check it out at some point, but not for a while. I also think I would like to watch Dragonball Kai, mostly because it would be nice to have a way of watching the series in English that dosen't make me cringe, and I really like what I've heard of the dubbing so far.

So I guess you can just slap a famous title on something and expect it to sell, but until the price of the DVDs drops, I can't justify buying the same series twice

Out of Our Control

Another interesting point on story writing, and I know I'm not the only person who has found that this happens. Sometimes, when writing a part of a story, you can have a synopsis planned out, you can know what you planned to happen at that point, but there's a part of your mind that has other ideas. Sometimes you can surprise yourself by writing something that was nowhere in the synopisis, or by completely changing events. I guess in some ways it comes down to theory and practice; the new way just works better. It's funny, because you would think, as the author, that you would have complete creative control over your work. Since I have started writing, I have come to learn that stories have a mind of their own, to the point where I have actually said, "I hope I get a chance to use this character again", because I honestly don't know if the story will allow them a second appearance.

Book to Film Adaptation

There are a lot of films out there that were originally adapted from books. When I was younger I used to get really annoyed about my favourite books being made into films, because they would always change things. As I got older though, I began to think differently. For one thing, literature and film are two completely different mediums; I think a lot of the time changes are made to better suit the film. Of course, it really annoyed me in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when they decided to drag out certain scenes, and add pointless ones in, but then drastically cut down on plot essential material. I think directors need to find a balance; they need to take what made the book great, but add something else to make the film its own. After all, if the film and the book are identical, what's the point of checking them both out?

Book to film adaptaion is an area that really interests me, and it's something I would like to look at more in the future. I've considered starting up a video review series, and might follow through with it, but for now, you'll just get these vague ponderings

Rose Tinted Glasses

There are two ways we can look back to the things we loved as a child; one is to say "Oh, that toy/game/tv series/film is brilliant. I grew up with it". The other way is to say "I can't believe I actually used to like that". Different people will have a different proportion of these two views, but I find that there is very little in my childhood that I am ashamed of watching. The only one that comes to my head is Beyblade (seriously, what was I thinking?) Revisiting the things from our childhood can give us a new appreciation for them, as we realise it's just as good as ever, or it can make us feel silly for ever liking it. I find that I still love a lot of things from my childhood, because they were actually really good. I suppose it all comes down to whether or not we are willing to remove the nostalgia goggles and revisist something we once loved.

The Most Important Meal

It's interesting how everyone has different priorities in the morning. I quite frequently find that people complain about being hungry, but they've not eaten breakfast. For me personally, having breakfast in the morning is one of my top priorities. If I ever skip a meal during the day, it's usually lunch. Some people say they don't have time, or they would prefer the extra time in bed. Others say that that they just don't have an appetite in the morning. I don't think I could cope if I had to wait until lunchtime to eat anything, but there are a lot of people out there who can, so it's interesting to see how differently we all think.

Be the best, or just have fun?

I would consider myself a gamer. I own a PS2 and a Nintendo DS, and enjoy playing them from time to time. What I would say though is that I'm not very good at games, something that has become a lot more obvious recently. I've been playing a lot of Crash Bandicoot for the PSOne (play it, it's awesome!) with some of my friends, and I think I'm responsible for most of our lost lives. It's funny, because I think I'm a bigger gamer than a lot of my friends (there are a few exeptions, of course), but that dosen't make me better. At the end of the day though, it's a game, it's not about being good, it's about having fun.

And if I actually have anyone reading this at the moment, I didn't mention that Sunday and Monday posts will be later on in the morning, since I don't have to be up for work. And I realise that at 11:30 I'm seriously pushing it.

From Overwhelming to Routine

I've been thinking a lot about jobs recently, and how I plan at some point to leave the retail industry to try something different. I was thinking that if I get another job, say, in an office, it's going to be a completely unknown environment and in my first few days, I would probably find the tasks overwhelming. I say this because this is exactly how I felt when I started my first shop job. Now I can't believe I was ever scared by the prospect of operating a till; I can do it in my sleep. So I know that if I got a new job the things I find overwhelming would soon become routine tasks. This is all pretty obvious but it's still interesting to think back to your first day at work, and compare it to the present.

Character Empathy

Jeph Jaques, author of the webcomic Questionable Content recently said that he hates writing arguments in his comic, because it's like watching his best friends having a fight. I think there's a lot of truth in that. I remember a couples of years back I was working on the first draft of one of my stories, and I was writing an arc where the bonds of trust between the four protagonists is badly shaken, and it honestly really depressed me to write it. J. K. Rowling has also admitted that she's cried while writing certain parts of the Harry Potter books, so I can't be the only one. It's strange, because the writer has usually planned what happens next, so knows that everything will turn out okay. I think when you create a character, they become more than words on the page, or drawings in a comic. They become people themselves, people created from a part of you, and their journey is your journey. You're sad when they're sad, and you're happy when they're happy. It's one of the reasons I would encourage everyone to try writing a story, even if you never plan to get published. It's an amazing experience.

The Morning Muse Challenge

In an effort to improve my writing, I am setting myself a challenge to write a short blog post every morning. They will vary in quality depending on inspiration and time constraints. While I will mostly write thoughts I have had, if I am feeling particuarly creative I may put up some prose writing. I will not be writing in-depth reviews or analyses here; for these I direct you to my other blog, The Critical Angle.

With that said, we'll see how this plays out, and I hope you get some amusement from it.