Monday, June 30, 2014

The Second Creation (Kenneth S. Murray)

Title: The Second Creation

Author: Kenneth S. Murray

Released: 2013

Rating: 2.5/6

Basic Plot: The Second Creation weaves together two stories; a life ending comet strike on earth, and inter-galactic war within the Realm of the Galaxies.

Research by Sandia National Laboratories Comet Impact Simulations brings incredible reality, and biosphere life begins a new human story.

Dunge Katorsay, an Apostle of the Anti-Christ, leads his forces from the Draco Constellation to defeat the realm and become its chairman.

Brian Hudson and Charlotte Tennyson are introduced as earth embryos. Both are born years later on another planet.

The ending above the earth, as their forces collide, is a horrific battle between the Anti-Christ and the second coming of a God child.
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Mistreatment of the Bisexual
This part really pissed me off. If I hadn't been reading from a Kindle I might've thrown the book across the room. Now I may be too close to the issue, but I could give less than a shit. Charlotte Tennyson is a bisexual but at no point is she ever reassured by someone that she isn't abnormal. Hell, she never seems to come to peace with that part of herself. As a bisexual, it was beyond important to feel comfortable with myself. So to see someone struggling and not getting reassured...yeah, it wasn't nice. With a small re-write of this sub-plot, this could be a great part of the book. Last thing about this part: Charlotte seems to hint that bisexuals aren't part of this future and that people are either gay or straight. So that shows that she is broken by the standards of this society. We never get someone else talking about how bisexuality is looked at in this society so Charlotte's views are the only ones we get.

This Was His Debut Sci-Fi Novel
With that in mind, I tried to judge this novel less harshly than I wanted to. I know how complicated sci-fi is, being a huge sci-fi fan, and that newcomers to the genre can have trouble. With my alien species I like there to be differences in them. Not just skin color or scales instead of skin, but shapes. Look at Star Wars or Animorphs (books, not the tv show) for examples of some really well done alien species. However, world building for a sci-fi universe can be extremely hard. The novel is a good first step into the genre and improvements can be made in future sci-fi novels, if he chooses to write them.

Confusing Dialogue
The thing with the dialogue in this is that a character will start to explain something and then it would switch to the thing being described to you by the narrator. As I haven't read any of his books before this, I don't know if it was just this book or if it's a long running problem. If you're going to start having a character explain something, let the character continue to explain it. There are exceptions, but there were no exceptions in this novel. Also some of the book seemed to be moved along by long explanations instead of it being shown.

Final Thoughts
I met the author at a Dunkin Donuts so this is my second review where I'm scared I'll piss him off. Authors like Stephen King or Stephenie Meyer I have no problems writing about because I'll never meet them. This was a decent stab at sci-fi, though I think the pacing could've been better. Plus some editing of where to put quotation marks as that did become a problem as the novel went on. I will be reading more of this author's works later.

Shipping Confessions: Sherlock/Joan (Elementary)

There are some ships that make me glad I don't write for certain shows. Sometimes not having a ship I love canon can be the best thing. There are many different types of relationships and they should be shown. People need to know that no matter your gender/sex you always have the option to just be friends with someone.

The ship I will talk about today is from the show Elementary which is a modern adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories. It takes place in New York. One of the many changes the show made is that John is now a woman called Joan.

The ship for today is between Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson. It's a ship that is so canon that it should be canon.
Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective but he has problems working with people. It's like he understands the rules but doesn't know why he should have to follow them. For the longest time he kept on waking Joan up instead of staying out of her room until she woke up on her own.

Sherlock is also an ex-addict and has problems dealing with his addiction. That's why Joan got involved with him in the first place as she used to be a sober companion. At the end of the second season it seems likely that Sherlock will relapse.

Sherlock is not good with keeping and making friends, but he's great at what he does so he always gets back in the good graces of people. He also has a kind heart that is hard to see.
Joan Watson is a former surgeon who quit due to one of her patients dying. What she does after quitting is become a sober companion. So with her job alone you know she wants to help people and is able to deal with difficult people.

Joan ends up becoming Sherlock's protege and she seems to have quit being a sober companion for now. She proves herself to be brilliant and finds ways to deal with Sherlock. When she is captured near the end of Season 2, she is willing to help try and save one of her enemies.

She is kind, tough, and smart. She is a great combination of all three.
Sherlock and Joan work very well together. It helps that Joan doesn't take any shit from Sherlock. She is more than able to put her foot down when she has to. She likes him but that doesn't mean she has to bow down to everything he does. Sherlock, in turn, respects the boundaries Joan sets down. He is able to learn and grow from her guidance.

Sherlock has a deep respect for Joan. He knows there's something special about her. He knows that she is smart and intelligent as well as beautiful. And, really, it's only the first two that would make Sherlock take Joan under his wing.

When Joan gets captured, Sherlock reacts very strongly. More strongly than if Joan was just a friend or just something he used to help him solve cases. It was like he was in love with her. At the end of the first season Sherlock names a new species of bees Watsonia after Joan.
At the end of the second season there is a sub-plot of Joan needing to move out of the apartment. Sherlock gives a very impassioned speech to her that seems very far from the viewpoint of just a friend.

Canonically Sherlock and Joan are just friends, but I see them as something much more.

What will I talk about next Shipping Confessions? We will stick in the realm of Elementary and look at a wise protege and a master criminal.
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Shipping Confessions Table of Contents

New Beginnings and Second Chances 8

I could finally breathe without Rachel by me. It wasn’t that I hated her now, it’s just that we had spent so much time together recently. Even normal couples needed breathing room so that they could both live their lives. It had taken awhile to convince Rachel to let me go to the mall alone. But once I had hinted that I’d get that dress she wanted since she got back, she had let me go.

“Dude, that color? She really wants that?” Marco asked beside me as we both looked at the dress.

I was in my usual human morph and had invited Marco along. I needed to see him again, but it pained me to be conflicted about what to do while he was with me. How was I supposed to look at him? Was I looking at him too long? How long could my touches linger?

“It’s probably some high end fashion thing.” I said, grimacing at the dress. “I mean…say what you like about her, she’s very into fashion.”

But I didn’t know what kind of fashion this thing was. I guess the design was good but the colors were all wrong somehow. There was a nice white color to it and the blue was great too. But there was this strange orange color that was wrong. I can’t explain how, but it was just ugly. It was like the orange was covering everything else up.

“Well, she’s your gir-“ Marco started and then stopped.

“Yeah,” I said as I felt guilty also.

Rachel was my girlfriend again so Marco was just a friend. When I looked at him I couldn’t help but remember our short time together. If we had both been more open with each other, we would have had more time together. But we hadn’t. We had wasted our time together. Or had we?

“Rachel wants it so I have to get it. Sort of promised her.” I said as I checked the price tag. “I’m glad I can actually get stuff for her now. Dead rats can only get you so far with a girl.”

“Xena Warrior Princess accepted dead animals from you?” Marco asked. “So I guess the dress isn’t the oddest thing she’s ever liked?”

“Well she liked you.” I said and Marco just stared at me. “I don’t know if she was messing with me or not, but she did bring it up a few times.”

“Probably messing with you. So are you really going to buy it?”

“If I want to not sleep on the roof I am.”

“Then don’t and you can sleep in my bed. You seemed to like cuddling even though hawks aren’t usually into that.”

As I had the dress halfway off the rack I thought about putting it back. If I put it back then Marco and I could go back to doing what we had before Rachel came back. We could be lovers again and everything would be right in the world.

But Rachel?

I couldn’t leave her. I had the chance to be with her again so why was I conflicted? I would always love Marco, but I should not have trouble deciding between the two. But I was having trouble.

“I can’t just leave her.” I said as I walked towards the check out register. “I’m finally able to be back with her again. I’m not messing that up.”

“But look how sad you are.” Marco replied. “You don’t want to be with her. Don’t you get worried that she’s keeping you away from me?”

“She’s keeping me away from you because she’s afraid I’ll choose you over her. Once she realizes that’s not true, we’ll see each other more often.”

“Don’t you ever get the feeling that there’s something suspicious about her?”

“Coming back from the dead?” I asked and then paused the conversation as I bought the dress.

“Yeah,” Marco said as we walked out of the store into the mall. “People just don’t come back from that kind of thing. Why didn’t Elfangor come back and say hi?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the Ellimist brought her back as a sort of ‘I was a dick, please forgive me’ thing?”

“You really think the Ellimist is that kind of guy?”

“I don’t know what kind of guy he is, but maybe he’s giving me a gift in her. I did help fight against the Yeerks so maybe he’s giving me a thank you.”

“Besides it being totally suspicious that she got back: don’t you ever think she’s acting odd?” Marco asked and looked at my blank face before continuing. “She’s keeping you away from me which is…not really Rachel. I don’t think she’d ever do that. And she is just…odd. Has she told you how she got back?”

“I don’t really question her. If she doesn’t want to talk about something so personal, she doesn’t have to. It was probably really traumatizing.”

Marco just shook his head and I sighed.

“We’ll find out soon, okay? I promise I’ll start asking her more about it in maybe a month or two. So she has time to calm down with the whole ‘I am alive’ thing.” I finally said.

“Okay.” Marco said, knowing that I wouldn’t budge on the issue. “So want to head over to the food court?”

“If you’re going to suggest fried…” I said and then stopped myself.

Why not ask him about it? He wouldn’t judge and maybe he’d be happy for it. What would I lose in just asking?

“Marco,” I said, gathering my courage. “I love you. I never thought I’d love someone after Rachel. At least in the sense that I’d care so deeply about a person. But I also love Rachel the same as before she died. I can’t leave her.”

“So is this leading anywhere?” Marco asked and I could tell he was more curious than annoyed.

“Maybe. But I want to ask you first before I bring it up to Rachel.” I said.
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Sayings Sundays (June 29, 2014)

How To Train Your Dragon 2 was an awesome film. It greatly expanded the mythology from the first movie and gave us a more epic story. There were even moments where I, person who does not cry during movies, started to tear up. If I was watching the movie alone I might've screamed and yelled in pain during a certain part.

For this week I decided on this quote from the movie since the mother does play a large role in the movie. Besides other things, it is through her that Hiccup learns more about dragons than he did in the first movie.


The lyrics of the song "All Fall Down" by OneRepublic gave me a little headache trying to figure out who they should be about. I also had to decide knowing I am crap at graphics so I couldn't have the whole group of Animorphs.

So I chose Jake and these specific lyrics for him.

"Love till you hate" refers to his failed relationship with Cassie. It shows that he changed too much during the war even though he did, and still does, love Cassie.

"Strong till you break" refers to him feeling too burdened by the war. Near the end he even stopped being the leader for a short time.

"Know that we all fall down" refers to the fact that Jake knows he isn't the only one with crushing weaknesses.

I hope the graphic appears scary and/or disturbing to you.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Jash Talks: Panem Forever

Omar and myself talk about the Mockingjay (Part 1) Teaser Trailer and fangasm about the Hulk among other things.

If you would like to send questions/topics for the next live show just comment below and they will be answered!

Also go to my twitter (@jashykins) to look for updates about the next live show!

Menage a Morph

-This is a Mature Story (if in content if not plot)
-It's an Animorphs fanfic
-It's a Tobias/Marco/Ax fanfic

You can read it HERE

Friday, June 27, 2014

Inbetween: The Works of Crayak 5

I didn’t like to drink while on a case, I felt it messed me up too much to think clearly. And I was already too messed up as it was. I was always worrying about if I made the right call with Rachel, if I could ever get back with Cassie, why the Hell Marco still talked with me, and a bunch of other shit that followed me around in my head. Even though I knew it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do, I drank some cheap beer with Ryan in his apartment.

I paused our conversation and looked around. If you looked at Ryan’s apartment you would think there was no way he was originally an Andalite. No way could an alien have fishing photos or a photo of him just having one slice of pizza in his mouth. Andalites don’t have mouths and Ax had showed me how excited one of his species can get with one.

“Too human?” Ryan asked, a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, just…creepy.” I replied, taking another sip of beer.

“I’ve had a long time to adapt to this world. I’ve been here for so long that it is home. Wasn’t easy, I can tell you that.”

“Don’t think it would be.” I said, taking a big chug of the beer. “I mean…I know Ax was always complaining about the two legs thing and being surprised us humans could get anything done with them. Oh, and then there was having a mouth. If he wasn’t playing around with sounds he was sticking something in his mouth that was dangerous.”

“I can imagine.” Ryan said and shook his head. “Mouths are amazing things and I didn’t really know how to deal with mine at first. I wish I had someone who knew what I was when I first arrived.”

“I wonder if you were more easy to manage than Ax. If so, I would’ve been happy to help. If not…one more crazed Andalite is not worth it.”

“I’d like to think that I was more controlled than an Aristh would be.”

“Ax was very brave and kept things together when he was away from his people. I don’t know if I’d call him a normal Aristh or not. I don’t have much experience with them.”

“Do you want more experience with them?”

“I don’t want to lead. It might be nice and peaceful right now, but if there’s a war I’m not leading ever again.”

“I can understand,” Ryan said with a sigh and I grimaced. “Being a leader is hard work. Everyone expects so much of you and when you can’t deliver…horrible. They just don’t understand how hard things can be.”

“I’m sorr-“ I started.

“Don’t be. I did a bad thing when I left my own men to fight in the war while I ran away like a scared little Aristh. Hell, the Aristh who did land on Earth did a better job than me. If I ever get the ability to contact him I’ll tell him that. Or maybe not.”

“Don’t worry, Ax won’t mind.”

Ryan was silent for a few minutes and seemed to gather himself. I let him wait until he felt like the time was right to ask whatever he was going to ask.

“What do you know about Crayak?” He finally asked. “Nothing much has been written about him. None of you Animorphs ever really said anything about him. And your book basically skipped over him for the most part.”

“Crayak.” I said and decided to tell Ryan more than I had told anyone before. “As long as you give this information on a need to know basis I don’t mind telling you.”

Ryan nodded, eager to learn.

“You know of the Ellimist?” I started and Ryan nodded. “Well Crayak is his enemy. He’s the thing that the Ellimist fights against. They’ve been fighting a war for a very long time. Crayak destroyed the Pemalites which were a species of peace that the Ellimist created to fight Crayak’s violence. Crayak defeated the Pemalites, and many other species, with his own troops called the Howlers. But…that’s a story for another time.”

I was suddenly brought back to the moment I had learned the truth about the Howlers. I, and the others, had heard Erek King talk about the species like they were demons. Like they were devils. But the Howlers were just children who had been fooled into killing people they didn’t know were alive.

“Crayak has a creature called Drode which is his right hand man.” I continued. “I don’t know how he came into being involved with Crayak, but that’s where he is now. If things haven’t changed. When a Yeerk dies they can see a glimpse of Crayak which is how I first saw him though I didn’t know what he was that first time.”

“So the stories are true?” Ryan asked.

“That I was a Controller, yes.” I said and got another bottle of beer. “But all the stories about how Temrash was able to fool the others into nearly letting him get to Visser One was all a lie. They had trouble stopping him from escaping, but it wasn’t like he was about to feed from the Yeerk pool or anything.”

“And Marco didn’t dramatically save the group, I take it?”

“Nah, he decided to make a summer blockbuster about the event and I allowed him. If I don’t allow him to make his films every now and again, I don’t want to know what ideas he’ll come up with and how he'll find ways around me so that he can do them.”

We laughed a little at that and clanged our beer bottles together. Then we were silent. What if Esplin was really in league with Crayak? I had told Ryan about how dangerous Crayak was and now he must be feeling my fear.

I then chugged the beer down in one gulp.
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Let's Play Dead Space: Extraction (Parts 30 & 31)

I finish the day's session with killing endless waves of Necromorphs!


Let's Play Dead Space: Extraction (Parts 27-29)

I continue on in the PEACEFUL Ishimura.



Let's Play Dead Space: Extraction (Parts 24-26)

I arrive on the Ishimura.



Meatslab is a New Challenger

Info From HERE
You can unlock this nasty challenger with the item Bloody Summoning Altar which can be found in the Cash Shop. He is a three tiered challenger. If you conquer his resting form ten times you'll be in store for a greater challenge!

I just love the artwork on Meatslab. While I'm not a big battler, I only do Battle Quests for the most part, I am in love with this guy. The artwork is very bloody and shows a great difference between Subeta and other pet sites.

Subeta isn't afraid to up the gore a little and so we get gems like this from the site.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Animorphs Re-Read: #6 The Capture (Chapters 13-16)

 Chapter 13
As Jake and Cassie demorph they see that Ax had knocked the human out. Ax says he did that since he was afraid the Controller had been Jake's brother. Jake says it's not Tom but it's good for the Andalite to think like that. So Ax didn't kill because of his honor code of serving his 'Prince'?

Jake looks at the jacuzzi and now realizes what it is since he can seem normally. He wonders why there's a jacuzzi in a hospital. Cassie replies that it's probably for physical therapy.

But when Jake opens up the jacuzzi the three see what it's really for. It's a little Yeerk pool. The description Jake gives of the Yeerks are icky. Ax, of course, reacts as far removed from happy as possible.

Recap of information of the Yeerks is given and Jake asks Ax if they can see him. Well this won't get dark or creepy I'm sure...
Ax reassures Jake that they are blind without a host. Jake then asks what would happen if they turned the heat up and nope nope nope. I'm going on the nope train to fuckitville. Well I would if I wasn't doing this re-read or that I am sickly drawn towards this. What Jake has just hinted at, if you don't know, is that he's willing to boil the Yeerks alive while they're defenseless.

In his defense, he doesn't yet know that the Yeerks aren't all evil. They haven't met up with Aftran yet.

Jake says for Cassie to morph wolf and guard the door alongside Ax. Jake tells Cassie he is going to destroy all the Yeerks in the jacuzzi. I can imagine Cassie debating with herself whether to argue with Jake or not as she finishes her wolf morph.

Jake sets out to 'boil some Yeerks' and I'm both seeing the immorality and necessity of the leader's decision. As he finishes two Controllers walk in.

Cassie is to attack first and Ax follows soon after. Suddenly more Controllers appear as Jake is trying to concentrate on morphing a tiger. As chaos erupts, Jake is hit by a ricochet shot that knocks him into the jacuzzi and he gets knocked out.



Chapter 14
Jake spends an unknown amount of time in the jacuzzi Yeerk pool. This is just...ah! When he finally wakes up he gasps for air as he had breathed in a bunch of liquid from the Yeerk pool. Then another feeling comes to him: he has the worst migraine in existence.

As someone who has lots of migraines: I really pity Jake here. They are far from pleasant. Just imagine an ice pick digging in your head and you got the basic gist of one. So with Jake having head pain...that's bad even without the whole Yeerk invasion.

Jake isn't able to fight but watches Ax and Cassie put up a good one.

Jake hears a random Controller saying to stop firing as the jacuzzi Yeerk pool is in there and Visser Three won't be happy if anything happens to it. And when Visser Three gets angry people die.

Jake tries to join the fight but finds himself unable to because of all the pain he is in. Suddenly Marco and Rachel come in and hold back the Controllers for just a little bit. Marco and Rachel are alerted to Jake's condition so Marco picks him up while Rachel switches morphs to get something with a little more firepower.

Jake continues to cough but says he's able to breathe better. The pain in his head is going away but something is off about it. He's feeling more confused.
As Rachel, in elephant morph, makes a bigger doorway a voice inside Jake's head is surprised that Rachel is a human. It is shortly after that that the Animorphs make their escape from the hospital building.

As the other Animorphs decide to have Cassie morph horse and put Jake on her, Jake tries to tell Marco that he has a weird headache. Marco laughs it off saying to not worry about it. The voice in Jake's head is again surprised that the Animorphs are humans.

The voice in Jake's head talks more and even moves his hand. Shit shit shit!
Jake is wondering what's happening? Really, Jake? Really? There is a voice in your head, you're not in control of your body, and it's surprised that your fellow Animorphs are humans? I fucking wonder what it could POSSIBLY be!

Suddenly it starts to dawn on Jake. Especially when the Yeerk tells him not to resist and to put that 'primitive human brain' to work.

To tell you this was shocking, even now, is an understatement. Only six books in and one of the leads gets a Yeerk in his head. Mind you this is a book for kids where shit like this isn't supposed to happen. The good guys are safe while the bad guys can get hurt.

But this book, as others have pointed out, is where the series starts to get dark. Don't worry, though, Jake being a Controller will look like butterflies and sunshine long before the series is through.


Chapter 15
The Yeerk inside Jake's head seems amused when the Animorph finally figures out what's going on. For a moment he thinks Cassie heard him cry out, but soon figures out that is not the case. How Jake describes being trapped inside his own body is beyond terrifying. And this book series was for kids!

The Yeerk taunts Jake by saying he's in control and can read every part of Jake's mind. Holy shit is that terrifying and awesome at the same time!

Jake is surprised once the Yeerk uses a nickname that Tom called him. Jake doesn't think about what that means as Cassie looks him over to make sure he's okay. Don't worry, Cassie, Jake is fine and just has the minor problem OF HAVING A YEERK IN HIS HEAD! OMG!
The Yeerk gives his name, I'll just say Temrash to keep things simple, and says that he had gotten a promotion prior to getting inside Jake's head.

As Jake yells at the Yeerk to leave his head, Temrash has Jake guess who his last host was. When Temrash says his last host was Tom, Jake thinks that his older brother is free now. Temrash quickly dashes that hope by saying that Tom has a new Yeerk and that he, Temrash, was to be the governor's Yeerk.

Temrash is highly pleased that Jake, leader of the 'Andalite bandits', ended up being his host. That Visser Three will be more than impressed. Jake says he'll never tell the Yeerk anything but the fearless leader forgot that Yeerks can read every little part of their host's mind. So Temrash gleefully says every one of the Animorph's name.

Cassie is concerned, of course, and suggests for Jake to see a doctor. The Yeerk, with Jake's mouth, says he's fine. That is just...this is a kid's series! How was I not put into a mental institution because of this!
To convince the others it's not safe to see a doctor, Temrash says that the doctor might be able to tell he's an Animorph. And here comes a plot point I don't agree with...Temrash mentions that there might be 'leftover roach DNA'. I believe this becomes a plot point later on in the series and I just want to facepalm. But, hey, maybe I'm wrong and such a thing makes sense as there would need to be a way in a creature's body to store the DNA of morphs.

Temrash says that they need to make sure everyone is okay and then they should go their separate ways. And then Temrash will become a Visser. Yeah!

Jake says he can't hear Temrash's thoughts but that he can feel the Yeerk going through his brain. Jake tries to think of something he can do to warn the others. To alert them to the fact that he's not really him anymore.

Marco points out that they're in the national forest so it will take a little while for the Yeerks to find them and the fact that the Yeerks are under the mistaken assumption that the Animorphs are all Andalites.

Temrash continues to imitate Jake and I am getting even more creeped out.
Temrash says that Jake should stop trying to resist since resistance is futile. As I know Applegate is a Trekkie...Borg? Or am I getting my references all mixed up?

Jake feels helpless as he thinks that the Yeerk will fool his friends and even if Temrash goes to another host, that he will never be free. He will become a slave to the Yeerks until he dies.

Suddenly Ax touches Jake's body and looks him in the eye. Temrash says, only to Jake, the word Andalite with as much hatred as Ax says the word Yeerk. Temrash curls Jake's lip in revulsion but quickly goes back to the act of pretending to be Jake.

But somehow Ax knows about Jake's situation as he puts his tail-blade close to Jake's neck. How closely were you looking at your Prince, Ax?


Chapter 16
Everyone starts yelling at Ax like he is crazy. Ax starts to explain, logically, why it is obvious that Jake is now a Controller. I like that they didn't dumb Ax down so that Temrash could infiltrate the group. I really loathe when characters have to be made dumb so certain plot lines will work.

Temrash tries to pretend he's innocent but it seems like Marco agrees something might be up. They didn't make Marco stupid either! Yes!

Cassie starts to side with Ax and the Andalite starts to explain more about Yeerks. He says that it takes awhile for a Yeerk to gain full control of the host so that the host sometimes looks like he/she is in a coma. I think this is really good Yeerk biology. Since this allows the host not to be able to kill themselves as the Yeerk is taking control of them.

Jake is more than excited about Ax figuring stuff out. He thinks of wanting to kiss the Andalite. Yeah, bet you do, Jake. Ax is beyond adorable and amazing!
Temrash tries to argue but Rachel points out that the 'real Jake' would understand them taking a moment to decide what to do. Tobias quickly deduces the fact that if they hold Jake for three days that they will know for certain if he's a Controller or not.

Cassie points out that Jake has to be places or else it will seem suspicious. Temrash again says that he's Jake so there's nothing to worry about.

The rest of the group agrees that they need to hold Jake for three days to make sure that he isn't a Controller. Good! You're going in the right direction!

Temrash continues to try and argue about how people, his family, will become suspicious if they don't hear back from Jake. Cassie says that there's a way to make sure that people don't start wondering where Jake went.

This is just beyond awesome! Know why? How many plots like these have you seen/read where there's a traitor in the group and no one thinks there's a traitor until shit has started hitting the fan? Do you know how rare this moment is? And this is a kid's book where people usually don't put that kind of effort in!

Cassie says that Ax can acquire Jake and then morph him to fool Jake's family.

Temrash is worried and Jake taunts the Yeerk.

When Ax touches Jake, Temrash says 'Andalite filth'. Good going, high ranking Yeerk. I would say the Yeerk isn't acting as smart as he should but this is the Yeerk that decided Tom quitting basketball would help his cover.

I also want to point out that I believe Cassie was having Ax 'acquire' Jake not to get his DNA, but to have an excuse to touch him. Cassie knew that the Yeerk would most likely have a big reaction to an Andalite touching him so she decided to do that. Notice how Jake doesn't show any reaction of how you'd normally be acquired? So I don't think a Frolis maneuver makes morphing one of the DNA of a species not doable.

Temrash quickly says he didn't mean to say 'Andalite filth' but he had a hard day so he snapped. Tobias points out how bullshit that is. Yeah, nothing gets past his hawk eyes!
Cassie reassures Jake that this living Hell will be over soon. The gang then starts debating where they should hide Jake. Tobias suggests a shack.

As they start to move Jake, Temrash squeezes Cassie's hand like Jake would do and does a rundown of everyone in the group. I like how Temrash calls Cassie weak even though she is deadly. Kindness is not a weakness, after all.

Cassie tries to talk to Jake, but Temrash tries to say he's not a Yeerk. Ax replies by pointing out how many Yeerks Jake had killed and that Temrash only survived because Jake fell into the Yeerk pool. Temrash becomes a little more than angry at the Andalite.

Temrash replies in a way that Jake would and Temrash points out that Cassie is having some doubts.

Jake talks about how odd having a Yeerk in your head is. He points out that he is numbed to what his body is feeling.

Temrash tries to convince both Cassie and Rachel that their plan is going to fail. Temrash even uses Rachel's out violent nature against her. Ax, in Jake morph, says that humans believe what they see without playing with sounds!
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Animorphs Re-Read

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)


Title: How To Train Your Dragon 2

Series: How to Train Your Dragon

Based on the Books By: Cressida Cowell

Director: Dean DeBlois

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, and Gerard Butler

Rated: PG

Released: 2014

Personal Rating: 5/6

Oscars: N/A

Plot: When Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.
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Battle Scene
Now there are two real battle scenes in the movie but I'm talking about the first because it's more grand than the second one. Well...more grand because of the visuals as it was less emotional than the final battle. What happened in the first one may take a second viewing to fully take in. There was so much happening in the fore and background. It reminded me of a grand sci-fi battle at different points. One of the best visual parts in the movie.

The Visuals
The visuals of this movie were to die for. I saw the movie in 3D and I don't know if that helped my viewing experience or not. The flying sequences were beautiful. Especially shortly after Hiccup is reconnected with his mother. In the credits there were drawings, possibly concept art, which were beautiful to look at too.

Family
This movie has a very touching story. It is both a movie with epic battles and continues on the story of Hiccup understanding his father. Near the beginning it's revealed that Stoick is thinking of retiring and will make Hiccup the new chief. Besides the father issues, Hiccup discovers his mother. With his mother the mythology of this series is greatly expanded.

Final Thoughts
I adore this movie as much as I did the first one. It expands on the mythology of the universe as well as giving audiences something more epic than the first one. If you have never seen the first movie I suggest you do so. Not just because you'll understand this one better, but because it's a great movie in its own right. As I stated before, I saw this in 3D so I don't know how it'll look in 2D. I doubt it would look horrible in that format.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Gary Oldman and Political Correctness

Before I start on the meat of this post: I'm talking about this more because of Gary Oldman's influence and very likely confusion about the term than hating on the actor himself.

I like to say that I'm not politically correct. The term, to me, is more about being worried about what might offend people rather than what does offend people. Of course you should worry that you might insult people, but you shouldn't be so concerned that you are worried about every little thing. Because sometimes you'll find that people aren't as easily offended as you thought.
There's a difference between not like hearing the "n word" from a white person and a totally different thing to edit Huckleberry Finn (by Mark Twain) so it doesn't have the "n word".

The first example you're just having empathy. You're realizing that the word does have a big negative impact on people. You're caring for people in a good manner by not saying the word.

The second example is what I mean by Political Correctness. If you agree with the second example you are entirely forgetting why that word is used in the novel. Mark Twain was an author that liked to use the vernacular, aka how people actually speak, in his writings. And guess what? Back in the day, that Twain wrote the novel, that is how people spoke in that area. Be angry at the people who used the word, but don't censor Mark Twain to put a modern sensibility on the novel.
Recently Gary Oldman seemed to get confused on what Political Correctness means and seemed to state that you can say anything. If you disagree with that, you're just being Politically Correct.

He stated opinions like not voting for 12 Years a Slave during the Oscars makes people call you a racist. Maybe to some people, but I'm not going to call someone racist for not liking the movie. Just because you like different movies doesn't make you a "racist" or a "sick puppy".

One of the worse things that Oldman stated was his defense of Mel Gibson. Now Gibson made some good films, but he has stated anti-semantic remarks. There's nothing Politically Correct about being offended when someone insults a whole group of people. It's just common sense to recognize an asshole.

Of course Gary Oldman had to apologize. The backlash from his comments was huge. In his apology, though, he didn't address every group he insulted.

I really hope that people don't take Gary Oldman's view of Political Correctness to heart. That people who feel Political Correctness is the way to go don't use Oldman as showing why they're right. And that people who don't feel Political Correctness is right don't use Oldman as an excuse to say hate and then blame you for being Politically Correct if you're insulted.

A Death in How To Train Your Dragon 2

I have a spoilery video about a scene from How To Train Your Dragon 2.

Monday, June 23, 2014

New Beginnings and Second Chances 7

One of the things that being a hawk had taken away from me was the want to sit in a movie theater. It was no place for a hawk and if I saw a movie while in human morph...the movie’s running time had to be under two hours. At least that was the way before the war ended. After the war I could go anywhere I wanted to as a hawk. Marco was one of the few people that didn’t mind that I tended to stay in hawk morph after the war unless an activity, sexual or not, needed me to have a human body.

So the fact that I was now in a movie theater was something out of the norm. Every now and again a person would stare at me, point, and whisper ‘Tobias’. Rachel kept stroking me to keep me calm. She knew that I didn’t like to be the center of attention. But if you win a secret war against an invading alien army, you have to expect attention.

“You could always morph,” Rachel complained. “It’s not like you have to live your life as a hawk.”

The movie is over two hours long. I replied just as a gunfight broke out between the good and bad guys.

“You could always stay over your two hour limit.”

I can’t just become a nothlit again.

“Why not?”

Why didn’t I just morph my regular human form and then grow old like one? Why did I continue to live life as a hawk?

There was no reason, really. I didn’t have to fight a war and so I guess the reason would be was that I was most comfortable as a hawk. Whatever else happened, I was a hawk. If Rachel had never returned I could have waited until Marco had reached a certain age, became trapped in my Mark Ruffalo morph, and then aged with my boyfriend.

Former boyfriend.

I guess it’s just the fear of becoming a nothlit again. I said, trying to find the flimsiest of reasons. I feel that if I become trapped that I’ll regret not being able to morph again. And I don’t think the almighty Ellimist will grant me my morphing powers back a second time.

“You’re a bad liar.” Rachel said, but gave me a nice little scratch on the back of my neck. “Maybe with my help you’ll find that you can live life just fine as a human.”

I wanted to yell at Rachel and ask why she cared. But that wouldn’t be good since I did love her. I would never stop loving her. I knew that she hated seeing me as a hawk and always wanted for me to accept the fact that I’m human. No matter what body I’m in.

I don’t know. I finally replied. Humans have weak eyesight and they can’t fly.

This got a little chuckle out of Rachel.

“I’m back, I promise I’ll help.” Rachel said, with a little touch of hope in her voice.

A lot has changed, I like being accepted for being me now. I replied.

“You mean Marco.” Rachel said and sighed as the predictable love interest finally fell for the hero. “You know, you’ve acted a lot sadder since I came back.”

I still love you.

“But you love Marco more. I get it, you think you’ve fallen in love again even when I returned.”

So you hate Marco?

“I like Marco, but it’s maddening when I come back and my boyfriend is with another man.”

I had been feeling sadder since Rachel had come back and I had seen much less of Marco. Hell, from the little amount of time I had met up with him he had had a depressing demeanor. If Rachel only allowed me chances to see him more often I’d be happier.

I guess she was making me stay away from Marco, in little subtle ways like seeing this movie, so I would remember how much I loved her. But I did love her. I loved her dearly, deeply, and completely. But I didn’t just want to give up on a friend who had really helped me.

You know you were sort of dead when I started dating Marco. I finally replied.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t feel disturbed.” Rachel said and sighed. “I love you, Tobias, but things have gotten a lot more confusing. I figured I’d just be back on Earth and then be with you. We could lean on each other and everything would be easy.”

Rachel, just because it isn’t as easy as you thought doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it. I don’t want to lose you again. I told her and she lightly kissed me on the head.

“You won’t.” She promised and we watched the rest of the movie in peace.

As the credits began to roll I jumped off the seat and landed on the floor. After a minute or two I was back in my usual human morph that wasn’t naked due to the morphing suit. I had morphed Ruffalo with Rachel before and she didn’t mind, but I didn’t want to cause a commotion today.

I took her hand as we left the movie theater.

We started chatting about the parts of the movie that we had actually paid attention to. When I let her go to use the restroom I was able to think about who I wanted to be with. I realized that I didn’t love either more than the other. I loved them both the same.

I put on a smile when Rachel came out and we went to do some shopping at the mall.
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Liam Neeson Makes Everything Better

Last night I finally got to watching Non-Stop. In the movie a person threatens Liam Neeson's character by saying he is going to kill of passengers every twenty minutes until Neeson gives him some money.

The movie, by itself, is decent. Of course I am scared of flying already so when shit starts to go down in a plane...yeah, I easily get into a terrified mood. I liked seeing people die and Neeson trying desperately to figure out what is going on. You see him get paranoid and not trust anybody.

But I think the thing that really sold me on the movie was Liam Neeson. Out of all the actors/actresses I like, Neeson ranks Number 1 on that long list. I have been sexually attracted to him since age thirteen and he is a good actor.
For such an old man, he can really deliver good action movies. I will pick up any movie if I know Liam Neeson is kicking ass. The rest of the plot doesn't matter: I just want to see Neeson acting badass.

So an average movie can be turned up with Liam Neeson starring as a kick ass guy.

Do I like older Neeson films? When the Dirty Harry movie The Dead Pool comes on you will not be able to draw me away from the tv.

The Horny Heart 1

-This is a Mature Story (if in content if not plot)
-It's a The Normal Heart fanfic
-It's a Ned Weeks fanfic

You can read it HERE

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Sayings Sundays (June 22, 2014)

Recently another Godzilla movie was made. It advertised Bryan Cranston heavily while the actor doesn't appear that much in the movie.

One of the problems I have about the movie is that it's too artistic for its own good. Instead of giving us a lot of monster on monster action, some of the fight scenes are cut short.

I chose this quote because it both talks about a main point in the movie as well as one of my favorite things in sci-fi: the fact that people think they can control things they really can't and so things go to Hell very quickly.


Firefly is a great series that was cancelled early. And the theme song is one I can put on repeat for hours and hours and hours. While listening to the theme song I noticed that it would be perfect for a certain character's theme song.

Which character? Tobias Fangor!

Just the line "you can't take the sky from me" just seems like a very Tobias thing to say. Flying is one of the things that he takes joy in even though he's trapped as a hawk. You can take everything away from him, but he can still fly.

I might do something more with this idea at a later time.

The Dangers of Self-Diagnosis

I talk about how some people think that Self-Diagnosis is the best thing ever.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Ubisoft and Women

In the different forms of media there is a problem with representation. Sometimes people do things right and they give us good views on women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other oppressed group. While what you see and read won't take total control of you, as in if you play violent games you won't become a killer because of them, it does give you a sense of what is in the wider world.

What kind of things do I mean? For example: you think that certain wounds are less severe than they actually are because of movies.

During E3 this year, Ubisoft encountered some harsh reactions due to them saying there wouldn't be a female assassin. What made people even madder was the fact that Ubisoft said that animating females was too hard to get the game out on time.
One of the excuses I loathe is "my job is too hard" when said by people that work in major companies. If you find your job too hard you can always leave. You can go work for The Asylum if you find your job too hard. I have nothing against the company as it makes awesome b-movies, but they don't spend that much effort on special effects.

And about the difficulty of animating women?

The thing is that animating women has been done in the past. Hell, with Assassin's Creed III: Liberation there was a female assassin. And other companies have animated women in the past. So it's not like animating women hasn't been done before. If no one had ever animated a woman prior to Assassin's Creed then I would understand.

I'd still be annoyed, but I'd understand that passing old boundaries can be hard.

Ubisoft can brag about the graphics on Skyrim being awesome, but they won't spend time and effort on women in Assassin's Creed?
Whatever you want to say about Ubisoft not wanting to put women assassins in Assassin's Creed: They really have no excuse to stand behind.