Movie Review – Annihilation (2018)

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IMDb Summary

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don’t apply.

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Annihilation is a science fiction horror film written and directed by Alex Garland, based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. The film stars Natalie Portman as biologist and former soldier Lena. Her Army Special Forces husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) mysteriously returns home after having gone missing during a mission nearly a year before. Soon afterwards he becomes violently ill and slips into a coma. They are taken by government forces to the secretive Area X, which studies a shimmering electromagnetic field that has engulfed a wide area of land after an object from outer-space struck land. Lena finds out that this is where Kane disappeared and joins an expedition team led by psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), along with paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson), and anthropologist Cass Sheppard (Tuba Novotny), into “the Shimmer” to find answers.Read More »

Movie Review – The Ritual (2017)

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IMDb Summary

A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that’s stalking them.

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The Ritual is a 2017 horror film directed by David Bruckner and based on a novel of the same name by Adam Nevill. The film stars Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton. Originally released in the UK in October 2017, it was widely released on Netflix on February 9, 2018. Though I knew little about the novel other than a passing awareness, I did pick up on some buzz for this film that got me very curious. A group of friends getting lost while hiking in a spooky forest is hardly a new idea for a horror film, but I’m always up for a familiar premise executed well or uniquely. This was something the film looked like it had the potential to deliver upon.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – 2018/03/07

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WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

TheLordoftheRingsI’ve still got a lot to go of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, but I’m making my way favourably enough through The Fellowship of the Ring portion. I will hopefully have that done by next week. The fellowship has formed and they are all making there way out of Rivendell, and that couldn’t come soon enough. I can appreciate the lore and backstory built out to a point, but the Council of Elrond went on for quite a long time. I have a feeling my experience is going to fluctuate like this throughout my reading; from enjoying the plot movement and progression to growing weary with the restful periods, unless the pacing changes as their quest goes further along.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week!

Reading Next

FragmentsOfHorrorProbably going to start reading Skeleton Crew by Stephen King soon after all, though its stories are not as consistently brief as I would have liked. At the onset is “The Mist” which is over 180 pages long, so it’s a novella in its own right. Some are pretty short, however, so I do want to start it as a supplemental read. I’ll try my best not to have it usurp my priorities. Other than that, I’m likely going to start reading Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito soon. It’s another collection of short stories, about half the length of Shiver, so it should make for a good light reprieve from Lord of the Rings.

Book Review – Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

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Summary

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”)-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

MansSearchForMeaning

After watching a short biography on Viktor Frankl I was fascinated by his life story and sought out Man’s Search for Meaning to learn more about his experiences and his theories on psychology. I was particularly drawn to the notion of meaningful suffering and understanding suffering as something as much a part of life as the positive things. It’s also hard not to be compelled by the question of how someone could find meaning to their life in a situation as dire as a Nazi concentration camp. I saw the book not just as an opportunity to learn, but also gain a new perspective on life for myself.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – 2018/02/28

Ryan13 Comments

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WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

TheLordoftheRingsI’m currently a chapter away from finishing Book One of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (or the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring). My attention has been a little more divided than I’d like, but regardless reading this book is slow-going. I can see why so much of what happens in the beginning of this story didn’t make it into Peter Jackson’s film. So many meals at different peoples’ houses. The story just plods along at its own pace, and while I do like a lot of what I’m reading it also gets tiresome. I’ve also found I’m a lot more prone to being distracted from reading by stray thoughts than usual. The novel is quite rich in lore, though, which I do like for what its worth.

Recently Finished

MansSearchForMeaningI finished reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl over the weekend. I will hopefully have a review written and posted within the next few days. Frankl’s account of his time within concentration camps was harrowing and compelling enough, but the exploration/explanation of logotherapy afterwards gave the whole book an extra punch. It has framed things about life and human psychology in a new way for me that I hope I can apply to my own life when needed. I feel a little awkward at the prospect of reviewing it, as it’s a rather significant text. I hope I can do it justice.

TheVisitorCoverI also finished reading The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed by Mike Mignola et al. It’s a book that answers the question that’s probably crossed the mind of most Hellboy fans: “What’s the deal with that alien guy in Conqueror Worm?” This book quite completely answers that question, as well as a little about his species and where he comes from. The story maintains a respectable amount of mystery on that latter part, however, which I think was for the best. It tells a good, bittersweet story that ties in with the original story he appeared in quite seamlessly.

Reading Next

SkeletonCrewDespite my previous desires to keep my prose reading restricted to The Lord of the Rings, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about starting Skeleton Crew by Stephen King. I’ve gotten a hold of a few of his short story collections lately and it’s high time I at least started one of them. Perhaps it will help with when LOTR makes me a little stir-crazy too. My decision hinges on the average length of each story. I would prefer something that I can pick up and finish a story relatively quickly.

New Books & Novel Discoveries (Feb. 2018)

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Well here we are a month later, and honestly I’m a little disappointed in myself for not having written any other blog posts since the last one. I did promise another one of these however, so here we are!

Speaking of my last post, I cannot believe I forgot to mention Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett. Shame on me! It was right there in the photo, at any rate. It’s the next book I need to get to in my read-through of the entire Discworld series; I just hope I can enjoy it in its own right because right now I only see it as a stepping stone to reaching Reaper Man.

I’ll soon start an [ir]regular series of blog posts I’m thinking of calling “Writing Reports.” As I mentioned in the last “New Books etc” I want to start using blogging as a way to hold myself more accountable to fiction writing, since it’s something I have a hard time motivating myself to do. It’ll also be a way to share my thoughts and maybe organize ideas better as they’re laid out before me in writing. So, you can expect that in the near future if you’re interested.

Anyway, onto the books!Read More »

Movie Review – Black Panther

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IMDb Summary

T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T’Challa’s father’s mistake.

BlackPantherPoster

Black Panther is the eighteenth film released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the second film featuring the character since his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War back in 2016. The film is directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther. Going in I found it interesting to consider it as a follow-up to Civil War in the same way that Spider-Man: Homecoming was; the respective characters both debuted in that film and the events of it directly affect their first feature. Black Panther was in a unique situation, however, as his origin has not been explored in depth on screen before. To many movie-goes he’s a rather new character. Though excited regardless, I was curious to see how they would craft an accessible first film while building off of the character’s first appearance.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – 2018/02/21

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WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

MansSearchForMeaningThough I have yet to finish Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, I made a lot more progress on it since last week. I finished reading the entire first section “Experiences in a Concentration Camp,” which was fascinating as a personal account by a victim of those circumstances. More than that, however, it is an examination of the psychology of such a prisoner, how they react to these harsh conditions, and what they cling to in order to persevere (when they can). I should have this finished any day now, it’s just by chance I didn’t wrap up reading it before today.

TheLordoftheRingsI’ve also been reading a fair amount of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m nearly 100 pages into it now, and while that feels like a lot to me without thinking about it, it’s a little scary how much that isn’t. Frodo has yet to even leave the Shire yet (though he, Sam, and Pippin are on their way to Buckland) and it looks like there are some more encounters in store before he finally does. Despite my apprehensions I’m pleased to find I’m liking it so far. The Prologue dragged in some unfortunate ways, but once I got to the story itself I’ve actively enjoyed it. It’s certainly slow paced, but not in a way that I’m having a problem with.

Recently Finished

45MasterCharactersI finally finished reading 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, which you can check out my review for here. It’s given me a lot more focus when it comes to plotting a particular story of mine, as well as a better understanding who my characters are. I haven’t worked out all the kinks yet, but it’s noteworthy that just by reading through it I’ve been able to better form things in my mind. The frameworks for different heroic journeys were a lot more detailed than I expected, but I feel that ultimately the archetypes will be the most valuable. I don’t want to refer back to a laid out structure too much for fear I will adhere to it rigidly.

GodzillaInHellI also finished reading Godzilla in Hell by James Stokoe et al. It was possessed of some surprisingly beautiful and effective visual storytelling, the opening and closing stories especially. The art varied between chapters, but was pretty fantastic throughout as well. The only thing that disappointed me is that the chapters were far too disjointed. It seemed to be different artists/writers interpreting a theme (see title) rather than a collaborative effort to tell a more connected, episodic story.

Reading Next

TheVisitorCoverIt’s hard to say what book I’ll read next, since I’m aiming to really buckle down soon to at the very least finish The Fellowship of the Ring in a timely manner. If I can do that fast enough I’m going to try to finish all three volumes of LOTR without any breaks. I’m definitely going to be reading more comic book volumes as I go along though. I’m thinking I will either finally get through The Visitor by Mike Mignola (I think I’ve listed it here once before), or continue along with some of the new Star Wars volumes that I’ve been neglecting. I haven’t really decided yet.

Book Review – 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

Ryan1 Comment

Summary

45 Master Characters will make your characters and their stories more compelling, complex and original than ever before.

You’ll explore the most common male and female archetypes–the mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate–and learn how to use them as foundations for your own unique characters. Examples culled from literature, television and film illustrate how memorable and effective these archetypes can be–from “Gladiators” and “Kings” like Rocky Balboa and Captain Ahab to “Amazons” and “Maidens” like Xena and Guinevere.

The mythic journeys of heroes and heroines–the progression of events upon which each archetype’s character arc develops–are also examined. Building such a “journey” into your character’s story will enable you to stop worrying about what happens next and get on with telling your tale.

45MasterCharacters

Like many other books, I’ve been meaning to 45 Master Characters for quite some time. I’ve owned it for a number of years, but my current drive to push my story ideas beyond my thoughts and into words (still slow going) inspired me to finally read it cover to cover. The book largely explores character archetypes, which it defines as the foundation that characters stand upon; a blueprint for the writer to build from that preserves their creative spark. The idea of discovering my characters within this book’s frameworks always seemed like a great way to understand them even more, as well as maybe point out contradictions that I hadn’t noticed to correct flaws in design.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – 2018/02/14

Ryan9 Comments

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WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

45MasterCharactersDespite my efforts, I still have not finished reading 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, though I have made significant progress since last week. I’ve gotten through all of the male archetypes, which gave me a wealth of further ideas, and I’m nearly finished the section on plotting the feminine journey. One thing that has slowed me down, funnily enough, is the influx of information has had me putting down the book a lot to think about my own characters. So, it’s been great in terms of getting me thinking, but not so much if I want to get through books quickly. I suppose I shouldn’t complain, but I do want to wrap up reading it all the same.

Sadly haven’t made any progress on Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl yet, but it’s rather short so I’m gonna set aside a session or two soon to get through it.

GodzillaInHellI also started reading Godzilla in Hell by James Stokoe et al. I really could have had this finished by now too, but I’ve elected to take my time with it so I could focus on other books and get some writing done. The art direction for this book is really good so far. I’m especially happy that for the most part the book is playing it straight with the premise, instead of tongue-in-cheek. The first issue especially stuck out to me because dialogue and narration were completely absent. It was just this gargantuan, semi-intelligent monster arriving in Hell and scoping out its surroundings. I admire the book’s simplicity so far.

TheLordoftheRingsLastly, I made certain I started The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien this week so that I’m not saying I’ll read it next for a third time in a row. So far I’ve only read the front matter and the Prologue, which have not started things off all that energetically for me. It’s interesting, but Tolkien’s writing is dense and a little dry. The Prologue read a lot more like a history book than a novel. It was good to get a little refresher on some details leading into the story though, for what it’s worth. I’m hoping things will change now that I can properly start The Fellowship of the Ring when I pick it up next.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week, sadly, but I plan to clean out the above heading over the next week to make reading time for LOTR.

Reading Next

I’m honestly not sure what I’ll read next. I have accumulated a number of digital and physical comic book volumes that I need to be getting to, so maybe some of those. I’m thinking that while I am getting through the massive tome above I will use them as supplemental reading material so I don’t lose focus. Now I just have to decide which series I actually want to dive into. There are a number I’ve neglected progress on or need to start and get through. We’ll see!