davetheanalyzer | Writing and Other Stuff

I went to that writer group like I said I would. There were three other people beside me and we went over Horror and its do’s and don’ts. There was an issue about covering a certain subject I disputed but the meeting in general was fine and I plan to clarify the issue at the next meeting. I often raised my hand to speak up on my views and writing advice. It was a bit of a challenge not to talk too much, an issue I have with a lot of in-person meetings. I want to say all my observations and ideas. I read a bit of my small chapter of We Will Hold On Forever, since I was already doing original fiction for classes (Yes, I know another perspective is valuable but I wasn’t interested in that at the moment). I explained a bit of The Land Before Time context before going in. It is writing that is two years old and I have developed a bit since then, so I was unsure about it, but though there were a few quibbles, the reception was good. One woman said the dialogue was realistic, which was wild to me, since I was merely imitating the talking style of these cartoon antagonists as best as I could. That was flattering to hear. I’ll continue going, to see if it will help in being social and being in contact with more people.

In other news, I found using a private window to prevent distraction while writing fanfiction wasn’t working. I mainly keep it open so as to listen to calming music but since that leaves me vulnerable to browse around to avoid writing, I decided to download the videos with calming music, close out the browser, and put the computer in airplane mode. I did begin to look around on my phone while I wrote the first day but that has barely popped up since. I’m making a page or two more progress than I did before. Not as much as I’d like but its progress. I don’t know if I will make posting the next chapters of We Will Hold On Forever before the end of December but we will shall see.

In education news, it’s soon time for me to write and post yet another short essay. This is about memoirs and about how accurate to be to reality. It’s a bit of a shorter timeframe than I remember with the first essay but I believe I can make it. I believe in being true, but memory is unreliable and subjective views can be useful for historical and group perspectives. Tracking down objective truth can be a challenge, since societal norms can make certain things “objective truth,” only later to be proven wrong. Ah well, I’ll see how that goes when I do the essay. I also have another book with a ton of pages to read. Don’t quote me on it, but I might skip some tumblr sessions in the days to come to make room for reading them.

I have seen Abominable earlier in the month. I have heard about it for a bit and enjoyed the trailer. I didn’t hear until a week or so later though about the map controversy, how a map Yi used displayed Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries’ territorial waters as China’s, along with erasing the predominantly Muslim Philippine island of Mindanao. With China’s ethnic cleansing of Muslims, that is disturbing. Even with China’s awful actions, I thought I could watch this film, since I didn’t think there would be that much connection but welp. Before all that came in, I did like the movie. It felt very familiar but there was such heart that I liked following the characters. It’s basically a journey that makes many involved better people. Yi kept herself busy taking jobs so she could earn money to go on a travel trip planned with her now deceased father and uses this busyness to try not to think about him. Her mother and Nai Nai rarely see her as a result. I do like that though Yi values this trip greatly, when she sees Everest, she didn’t much hesitate to get food and other essentials for him. I also like she realized she needed to value the rest of her surviving family, to the point she could grieve with them and take that trip with them in the end.

This journey also led her to mending her childhood friendship with Jin and Peng. Jin appears to have drifted from Yi, focused on getting popular and liked by girls. He still had a decent soul, as seen when he tries to “save” Yi from Everest and goes with her despite much grumbling. It’s only when he temporarily gets captured and bonds a bit with Mr. Burnish and comically tries to find his way back to Yi’s group that he had a change of heart, to the point he talks with Yi when her violin is broken. Peng is all ready to become closer to Yi again, wanting a playmate but Yi was too busy working. He was all too ready to go on an adventure and is nice to her, becoming instant friends with Everest. Speaking of Everest, he is a big yeti child, goofy and playful and not above getting distracted, but good-natured all the same. He roughhouses with Peng, laughs at Jin a bit, but is closest to Yi who first showed him kindness. When he breaks her violin by accident, he repaired it with his hair and protected them when Mr. Burnish and Dr. Zara threaten them. An overall big-hearted yeti who used his magic for good or at worst some mischief.

Speaking of the antagonists, Mr. Burnish and Dr. Zara are bait-and-switch in terms of their maliciousness. An old and wealthy explorer who collects rare animals and who was willing to consider offing some of the whooping snakes, you would think Mr. Burnish would be he true villain. But as he pursued Everest through nature, he seemed to soften and remember why he loved exploring in the first place. In contrast, the seemingly compassionate Dr. Zara is revealed to be someone who loves money so much, she would kill children in order to get it. The greed of this smuggler leads to her and the captain she works with to defy Mr. Burnish upon his own realization the yeti he encountered in the past was trying to protect its children. Of course, this leads her and the captain to be sent falling to their deaths when Everest breaks free. Since we didn’t see any bodies, they could come back but for now, I assume they are dead. I did like Yi and company’s goodbye with Everest and seeing his parents and the other yetis. With Mr. Burnish redeemed, they got some articles and other items about travel from him, so who knows, they might even visit Everest again. I liked the characters but unfortunately with the imperialism and racism shown in that map moment, I highly recommend not to see this film.

That’s all for now. I’m taking the day off from some of my usual habits because it’s Halloween, though because of weather and other matters, trick or treating won’t happen until a day or two later. Until the end of November, see you!