Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 15 —[Dr Horrilble’s Sing-Along Blog]–

Arrrrrrrr! It be VJM!

Today, I will be talking about Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Now, hear me out, faithful readers. Didn’t you learn anything about judging a book by it’s cover from any of my stories? Or have I not released that one yet? Anyway, DHSAB (as I will abbreviate it because I’m typing on an iPod), despite it’s name is neither a blog nor a sing-along. It does, however, involve someone named Dr Horrible. It is a mini Internet miniseries created over the writer’s strike and released for free over the Internet (and for a minor fee on iTunes). It was made by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dollhouse, and probably others), and stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D., How I Met Your Mother), Nathon Fillion (Firefly, Buffy, Castle) and Felicia Day (Buffy, Dollhouse, and appearances on House and Monk).

Dr Horrible (played by NPH) is a minor super villain with dreams of becoming more recognized, and also the main character.
Penny (Felicia Day) is Dr Horrible’s love interest.
And Captain Hammer (Nathon Filion) is the city’s hero and, obviously, Dr Horrible’s nemesis.

The entire thing is made up of three fifteen-minute acts, the sum total of which is about one single episode of Doctor Who (beyond that, they are unrelated).

It’s a funny, well made, and the songs are great. In fact, I still watch it from time to time.

Here’s question one of the FAQ made by creator Joss Whedon to himself explaining the reason behind it.
—-

1) Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?

Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.

Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.

—-

I implore you (apparently with enough gusto to use the words ‘implore’ and ‘gusto’) to watch at least the first act.

The movie is available online at:
DrHorrible.com or for $5.oo on iTunes.

Or on my iPod.

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
Name

Fifteen is done / Here comes the sun (do do do doot doo)

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 14 —[Movies You Need To See]–

Batten down the hatches, it’s VJM!

Faithful readers, today, I will be talking about three movies that you need to watch (eventually).

The first movie is the recent Pixar release, Up. Fantastic movie, fantastic story. Not only was the movie great, but the little pre-movie short was amazing as well. And, since it’s already come out on DVD, you have no excuse not to see it.

On the other end of the spectrum (in regards to tone, not quality), is the movie District 9. Although it’s a much darker movie, it’s just as well done. However, it is R rated, sorta graphic, and also throws the F-word around like candy. But, if you can get over that, it is a great movie that most people should see… eventually.

Lastly, running down the middle in regards to tone, is the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. This classic was made over a decade ago, and throws Halloween and Christmas together. I admit that it gets a little slow in the middle, but all movies of that era did, so that’s not something to hold against it. Plus, it’s a musical!

Also, two weeks! Yay!

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Tomorrow’s Topic:
Dr Horrilble’s Sing-Along Blog

Fourteen is good / Sock glove hood

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 13 —[My Awesome Photography]–

Inside The Hatch, VJM!

Faithful readers, this is a photo I took while in Chilliwack on F.E.C.’s Charis Camp retreat thing back in August. According to the data tag, I took this picture on August 2, 2009, at 12:04 pm.

I remember it clearly. The lunch bell had just been rung and everyone was sitting at their tables, waiting for their turn at line up. My table had yet to even think about getting up, so I decided to snap a few pictures here and there.

I went out the side door onto the balcony. The rafter sprinklers were on, releasing a fine mist onto the planters below. The mist was so fine, and fell so lightly, that… well, the flowers looked like that. I stood there for a moment, breathing in the cool fresh air.

I pulled out my camera…

Now, faithful readers, I’m not taking credit for this picture. No, if I had set up the flowers, set the sprinklers, arranged the leaves, did some post production, then, sure yeah, I’d be awesome. But I didn’t do anything. I was just in the right place at the right time.

I’m not saying this isn’t a good photo; it’s an amazing photo. The best picture I’ve ever taken.

But, I don’t want people saying I’m a good photographer.

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
Movies You Need To See

Thirteen is done / it’s twelve more than one

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 12 —[The Five Faces of Me]–

You all everybody, it’s VJM!

*Scottish* Hello, faithful viewer! */Scottish* I mean… Howdy, faithful reader! Isn’t that such a cool title? Sounds all deep, and junk? Something that I’ve noticed is that I have about five different personality sets used in different settings. They are (in a very specific order) as follows:

1) Me at home
2) Me at school
3) Me at work
4) Me at church

We’ll get to the fifth one later.

Now, I said that they were in a very specific order, right? Well, they are ordered as a scale. They are ordered from Boring (1) to Energetic (4). But, more accurately, they are ordered from what I enjoy the least, to what I enjoy the most.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy being at home (1). That’s where my stuff is, it’s where I sleep, and it’s where I get food. But, if I were to take a step back, away out of my body, and look at that life? It would stand in stark contrast with (4). I spend most of the day in my room, messing around with video games and watching tv. There are times I’ll spend hours on end siting in that chair. Hours just flying spaceships, shooting monsters, sweeping mines, and basically just turning my brain off and shutting out the world. No one in my family has conversations, no one eats together, and everyone is possessive of their little corner of the fridge. The closest thing to a conversation recently was when my grandma was arguing with my uncle as to who finished the jug of milk, and whose job it was to buy a new one. It also doesn’t help that I don’t really have my own room. My room at my grandparents house is actually my aunts room (she lives in Vancouver now), and my room at my parents house is now my mom’s office. The former is full of shiny sequined gowns, shelves of European music books, and old sound equipment. The latter is an office because “it’s the only room with a free phone jack”. As I have two half-rooms, my stuff is spread out more or less evenly (but not equaly) between them. Also, my grandparents house doesn’t have an Internet, so I’m basically cut off from the outside world. In short, it doesn’t have the social aspect or the energy I look for.

At school it’s a little better. Being around people my age, talking to people I know, expanding my mind; it’s stuff to do. But I spend most of my time there sitting on a bench, typing away on my iPod. Checking my email, reading blogs, checking my email again. The fact that it has Internet is tempered by the hour long commute time. It has a bit more people, and I’m out of the house, but it all seems a bit shallow.

Work kicks thing up a notch. There are coworkers and customers and I need to keep supplies stocked. It’s almost like a game. Keep the customers happy, refil the strawberry, make a burger, make sure the boss doesn’t see you eat the food… Highscore! I make cones that look just like in the picture, I spin from grill to microwave and back in time with the radio; I get to vent my high-energy, and the customers see it as me being into my job. And I get paid! But, ay, there’s the rub. I’ve hardly ever seen my paycheck. Because, the thing is, my mom takes it and puts it into my bank account. Always. My bank account to which she keeps the card, and I can’t touch. Basically, it’s the opposite of an allowance; I’m volunteering at my job. Plus, working in fast food isn’t really that exciting or limit pushing. So, bottom line is, I’m under motivated and I’m not learning anything.

Ah, number 4. I live for Friday nights (and Sunday, but mostly Friday). Church! Youth group! The place I run and jump and sprint and learn and talk and laugh. The place where I have a bit authority. The place where my friends are. The place where I know mostly everyone. The place where I can run for no reason. The place where I have some residual power from my term in SLC. The place where I don’t run the risk of making someone angry, getting kicked out of school, or losing my job. The place where I know the rules and how to play the game. And, be honest, it was weird that week I sat comatose on the floor for an hour, right? Exactly.

I remember this one time, back in Kairos, we had just taken a Spiritual Gifts test and were putting a dash on the board beside the one we had the highest to see which had the most. One person would get one of the two markers, go up, put the dash down, walk back to their seat, hand the marker over, and so on. After about three minutes of this and having barely finished a quarter of the people, one of the advisors asked people to pick up the pace. I leaped into action. Standing up out of my chair, I said to the kids “Alright, let’s all go up to the board [and line up so this’ll go faster]”. I went up to the board and stood a few feet away. No one had followed me. I simply looked over my shoulder and said in my most The Doctor-ish voice “Well, come on!” Right away, the remaining people all got up and fell into step. I never knew I had that much clout to throw around. That wouldn’t happen at home.

Or this other time when Kairos was supposed to be practicing for Parent Appreciation Night, no one knew how to form groups because it was the same night as the RCS Wizard of Oz play and no one was sure who would be attending. After twenty (20!!) minutes of people screwing around, I decided to take charge. I pulled out my whistle, stood at a music stand, pointed at corners, and with much shouting, organized three presentations that, when you think about it, went pretty well.

Basically, lots of people, lots of talking, lots of energy.

And that brings me to number 5.

5) Psychiatrist Justin

If you’re reading this, I’ve probably gone all Psychiatrist Justin on you before. It’s when I stop jumping around, stop shouting and running, and give you advice (with a disclaimer that I have no idea what I’m doing). It’s when you ask me a deep or serious question, and I try and help. Whether it’s analysing a dream, unlocking secrets of the universe, or, just verbalizing motivation. I admit it’s rarely high energy, and always one-on-one (I almost refuse doing it over the web), but it does have another aspect.
I’m being helpful.

And I like that.

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
My Awesome Photography

Done day twelve / Five short elves

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 11 —[How I Write]–

Watching out, here comes the VJM!

Faithful readers, today I will be talking about how I write stuff. I will be explaining how I compose the stories and paragraphs that make up the majority of this blog.

In short, I use an iPod.

A little longer, I use the WordPress Application on my iPod.

And now the whole story…

While living my life, I will sometimes be struck by an idea. Sometimes is an ending, sometimes it’s a concept, sometimes it’s a way of telling a story, while other times it’s wanting to make the reader feel a certain way. Then, when I have time, I will tip tap way on my iPod keyboard and record down my idea. If I’m not in the middle of doing something, I may even get a chance to start the story while it’s fresh in my brain pan.

I have noticed that my stories tend to have some sort of shift halfway through (ie Isolaion, Utopia). This usualy results from the ‘tying up loose ends’ bit taking longer than I thought. Also, my stories always seem to have about two twists. One that gets mentioned and then glossed over, and another that has a more noticable effect on the story.

The stories which I write on nothing more than a whim tend not to go very far. On the other hand, stories I write with a specific twist or feeling involved seem to go pretty well.

For example, I wrote Isolation with the intent of misleading the reader. I set up the perspective character to be a seemingly competent and capable team leader who had fears and emotions. Then I revealed him to be a *SPOILER!!!* horrible gun wielding mercenary who killed a building full of scientists,*/SPOLER!!!* with the goal being having the reader say “Wow, I can’t believe I felt sympathy for this guy.”

The reason I use the Application on my iPod (almost exclusively) us out of convenience. Carrying around an iPod is much easier than carrying around some paper and a pencil. Also, it allows me to write stories from the comfort of my bed instead of an uncomfortable chair at a desk.

When I’m done writing on my iPod I push it out to WordPress proper. If it’s a regular blog post, I turn it from a Local Draft (a draft on my iPod) to a piece that it Published. If it’s a story or a longer blog post, I set it from a Local Draft to a Draft (a draft on the site rather than my iPod). After it is on the site as a Draft, I go onto a computer and cut and paste a bit into the preview box and make a Continue Reading link. Also, since the spell check function on the iPod is awful, I also run it through a spell checker on my browser. After it’s all cleaned and polished, I Publish it onto my blog.

And that’s how I write.

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
The Five Faces of Me

Done day eleven / Rhymes with ‘seven’

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day 1o —[What should i write?]–

Watching out for Shredder, it’s VJM!

Faithful readers, I’ve run into a problem. I have several pieces of writing rolling around, but I’m not sure which to work on. So, to help me decide, I’m putting it up to a vote.

The choices are:

o1) NaNoWriMo Story – (I’ve got about 4,000 words down)
o2) Superhero Story
o3) “The Passenger” – (its gonna be really sad. Only a couple of paragraphs into it though. I think it’s gonna be similar to Utopia or Isolation in length, so…)
o4) “Broken Genie” – (Concept only)
o5) “Seconds to Live” – (I have exactly two words down)
o6) “Home Sweet Home” – (just a couple more paragraphs till I’m done)
o7) Story I started on a plane – (two paragraphs done +one joke)
o8) “Itinerary” – (mostly done, but I’m not sure how I want it to end)
o9) “Future Freedom” – (Concept only)
10) “A Novel Idea” – (no words, no decided ending. Loose concept only)
11) “Locked Room” – (I have half an idea on what I want it to be about)
12) “Hats of Green”

So, based on my titles and vague descriptions, which should I focus on?

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
How I Write

Done day ten / A long quill pen

View J’s Messages

I replied to a bunch of recent comments.

Y’know, just saying.

Vague JMMPOP Mission: Day o9 —[What’s in my pocket]–

Standing on a turtle shell with turtles all the way down, it’s VJM!

Today I will be talking about the contents of my pants pockets. Here, some people might make a joke about “Being in my pants,” but I’m above that, faithful readers.
In my front right pocket, is my iPod and it’s case. It is a 32 gigabyte iPod Touch, which is an upgrade from my previous iPod Touch, which was an upgrade from my iPod Nano. A few months ago, my sister managed to convince my parents that she needed an iPod. I disagreed, (because they always complain about money and because a seven-year-old DOESN’T NEED an iPod) but they decided to get one and share it amongst the three of them. I, in turn, convinced them that since they were going to spend money anyway, they might as well get me the 32 gigabytes, and take my 16. Everyone wins! I get more space, and they get more space than they’ll ever need. I saw my sister use it for two weeks, and I haven’t seen it since.

The 32 gigabytes is nearly enough to hold all my music and the entirety of Doctor Who (more on that in a later post).

The case is a real keeper. It’s made of silicone, I think, and has amazing grip. So much so, in fact, that I feel weird holding an iPod without it. It’s made by a company called Früwt, and I highly recommend it. It doesn’t have the indestructibility or the ‘generic-futuristic-device’ look of my Nano case, but I think the grip is an even trade-off.

In my front left pocket, is my cellphone, my cellphone case, my marble, the box of mints I use as a marble case, my U-Pass and my set of keys.

I acquired my phone on August 24, 2005, and considering that I’ve had it for four years, I’d say that it’s in extremely good condition. It’s a black and grey Nokia flip phone (flip phones are awesome), who’s model number I have forgotten (I mean, seriously, come on). The shiny black plastic is free of major scratches and the silver ‘spray paint’ parts have yet to wear away. The only damage that it has sustained is that the black plastic on it’s antenna (because phones had antennas back then) is slightly chipped. Other than that, it looks almost like it did when I bought it. My uncle, when he saw it, even asked if it was a new phone (which I sort of thing is unusual seeing as he works at Shaw). The reason it is in such good condition, faithful readers, is because I use the case. By using the case that the phone came with, the phone is protected from the thing that tends to do the most damage: keys. Or maybe it’s because no one ever calls me. Either or.

Currently, the background pic is of a shed being reflected in a pond, taken by ( I had written ‘by’ as ‘wo’ for some reason) me, and is from that one time I went fishing. If anyone knows how to move pictures from my phone to, let’s say, a computer, I would appreciate it.

Let’s see, next we have my cellphone case. Wait, no, I just talked about that. Then that means that next up is my marble. I’m sure you’ve all heard me talk about my marble, but if you haven’t, here’s the skinny: It is a blue glass marble that I got from the girl I like while we were in the same class in grade five. Since then, I have carried it around as sort of a lucky charm (although I’m ‘not sure how lucky or charming it makes me’). To be honest, I don’t remember the exact circumstances of how or why I GOT the marble, but I do remember that I didn’t, like, steal it or anything. I DO remember though, that that blue Sticky-Tack was VERY popular that year. As a toy for most, and (I distinctly remember this) as chewing gum for at least one person. I’m not sure how long that phase lasted for that kid…

However, seeing as a small blue marble is very… small, I realized that it would be very easy for it to fall out of my pocket. So to solve this problem, I eventually looked to breath mints. Unusual connection, but hear me out. The thing I had used to carry it around was breaking, so I needed to find a replacement. My family at the time had purchased several small boxes of Certs, a brand of breath mints. The boxes were made of the same cardboard as the fun sized Smarties boxes (which, now that I think about it, could have also worked), and were about 3/4ths the size of a small matchbox. I would put the marble into one of the empty boxes, and then put the box in my pocket. However, since it was made of cheap cardboard and as well as the fact that pockets aren’t exactly roomy or stable, I tend to need to replace the box after a year or so. With my current box however, followed someone’s suggestion and reinforced it with bits of tape.

Next up, is my U-Pass. I’m not sure if there’s supposed to be a hyphen there, but I’m gonna put it there anyway because otherwise it might look like an ENTIRELY different word. Anyway, it’s a small slip of plastic with my picture on it that let’s me get on buses for free. The writing on the back has been rubbed away from being in my pocket, and that’s about all I have to say about that.

The last thing in my front right pocket is my set of keys. On my key chain are a black whistle, a small red flashlight, the key to my grandparents house, the key to my parents house, a key that opens the door into the house from the garage at my parents house, a key to my room, a key to my grandpa’s room, a small key that opens a lockbox I have in my parents house, and a mysterious seventh key that opens exactly one door somewhere… probably.

In my back left pocket are my headphones. They are blue Skull Candy noise canceling headphones which were the backup for my purple six-dollar headphones (which I now use as the backups). The in-ear sound canceling is accomplished by a sort of silicone ‘mushroom’ ear bud that pops into one’s ear. This is a much better design than a previous set of noise canceling headphones which used foam ‘ear plug’ style buds which would eventually loose their shape. I prefer noise canceling earbuds as it better allows me to tune out my crazy family (one of my hobbies) while still fitting into my back pocket.

Lastly, we come to my back right pocket. My back right pocket is empty.

___
Tomorrow’s Topic:
What should I write?

Done day nine / I’m feelin’ fine

Saving A Life

I’m hoping I might have just saved someone’s life. Nothing exciting, really but more on this later maybe.

Visiting Jee-ography Mound

On Thursday (tomorrow) morning, I will be embarking on an adventure (ie field trip) to Lynn Canyon in North Van with my Geography class. Therefore, I have pre-scheduled tomorrow’s post to come out at the regular time of 11am. As this is how I usualy post these, you the reader likely won’t notice a difference. I, however, will have to wake up at the crack of seven in the morning to catch a bus. In short it won’t have any effect on you.

Bonus post!