Nanowrimo...does that stand for something?

November is here folks, and it brings with it several traditions and holidays. Cooler weather, multi-colored trees, thanksgiving, day after thanksgiving sales, and of course...NaNoWriMo.

-clears throat- Um, excuse me? Kayla? What was that last one?

NaNoWriMo...don't tell me you've never heard of NaNoWriMo, imaginary person I'm using as a tool to launch into an explanation!



NaNoWriMo stands, quiet clearly, for National Writing Month. And November is the month that gets this title. November is the month that all writers everywhere will love and dread all at the same time. You see, in honor of this month, a tradition has been created. Ambitious and crazy writers everywhere lock themselves in there room from November 1st to November 30Th, and attempt to write a 50,000 word novel. That's right, a novel. Not a short story, not an essay. A novel. With character development, a plot, a climax, and maybe even a twist ending.

The point is, you're writing something. Something that has come from your brain. Something that you created and thought about and made happen. Now, I know what you're thinking. "A good novel can not be written in a month!" And you're right, probably not. But that's not the point. The point isn't to write a perfect novel, something that can be published right after. The point is to motivate you to actually DO it. If you've ever, even remotely, thought about writing a novel then you know how easy it is to talk yourself out of it.
Oh, I'm too busy.
I have a job.
Lost is REALLY good this season, I wouldn't want to miss that.

But with this, you have inspiration. From where? The thousands of other people who are doing this right a long with you. You've got support from fellow writers, and you can even look up writers that are in your area. Grab your pom poms, get together, and cheer each other on. If that's not appealing to you, I don't really know what would be.

It's about quantity, not quality. Because...quality can come out of quantity. Save the editing and re-writing for December. Just go for it. Hunker down, turn your stereo all the way up and start writing. Ready. Set. CREATE!

Where can I sign up/learn more?
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

Cures for the common Plague

I woke up two Saturday's ago with the sniffles and a scratchy throat. Almost two weeks later and I'm just now feeling like my old self. This kind of flu makes me think Howie Mandel might have it right. From now on this girl is bumping firsts. Forget palm on palm contact. Man, I haven't been that sick in a long time. And during my week and a half of death, I realized something. Being inside all day is boring. Remember the day's when you were semi-excited that you were sick enough to stay home from school? You laid around, watched TV, slept and general didn't worry about anything at all the entire time. Well, I miss those days. Mainly because there is absolutely nothing on TV! How is this possible?! I thought I was gonna kill myself after two days of daytime television. Thankfully, God created the DVD player. And Netflix. So for the first two days I tried suffering through regular TV. Flipping aimlessly for hours. I even watched Wife swap. WHY? I guess I wanted to feel like I did when I was younger. For some reason, getting older means sick days aren't as fun.

After wising up, I discovered something. A continues dose of Neil Patrick Harris cures the flu. True Story. While I was stranded on the couch, alone with my tea and tissues, I watched nothing but How I Met Your Mother and Dr.Horrible's Sing-a-long-blog. Well, to be honest, there was multiple viewings of Dr.Horrible. It was around the third time of watching it that I decided once I feel better I'll write a blog about it. One of many blogs that I'm sure have been written in dedication to this little piece of gold. WARNING: the follow will contain major spoilers and lots of fan girl gushing. If you haven't seen this movie yet or get annoyed by nerdy fan girls...please stop reading now.

If you've spoken to me at all. If we've had a conversation that's lasted longer than two seconds, I'm sure that you know the love I have for Neil Patrick Harris. It's a forbidden love of sorts. One that can never be returned. Yet, I still love him. He's adorable, funny, and way to friggin talented. And it just so happens that he is the star of this wonderful Internet musical. The movie follows Dr. Horrible(NPH), or Billy, as he tries desperately to get into the Evil League of Evil, and woo the girl at the laundry mat Penny(Felicia Day). Captain Hammer(Nathan Fillion), Horrible's nemesis, managing to foil his plans on both ends. The opening scene is of Dr.Horrible video blogging about working with a vocal coach to improve his evil laugh, his application to the ELE(Evil League of Evil), the status of his freeze ray, and the answering of emails that were sent in by readers. This scene, which lasted about 7 minutes, is the clue to the viewer of the amazing adventure they were going to take. And they hadn't even sang a song yet!!! The songs are not only catchy, but flow well into the plot and doesn't seem too cheesy...except when it was meant to be. The Wheadon's dialogue and music are so quotable. Few writers a so talented that there is a writ ting style named after them. Yet when you watch this you can't help but think that this was very "wheadonesque". And, of course, true to the Wheadon style...the end is sort of devistating and the final song is haunting. DARN YOU, JOSS! WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US? -shakes fist-

Okay, now you've read my rant. Go forth, and watch. You won't regret it!

"See you at the after math. Peace! ...but not literally"

Mulholland Drive, a mystery that might never be solved

I'm here today to talk about a movie. A movie that I had lived my 21 years of life without ever seeing. Not even coming across an opportunity to see. Mulholland Drive. Now, those of you who are an avid movie watcher just gasped in shock and tried desperately to convey a dirty look via computer. Well, wipe that look off your face cause I've just sat down and watched this David Lynch classic. I'm not writing this blog just to get you all off my back, however. You see, after I watched it I proceeded to tell my YouTube, and fellow movie nerd, friends that I had finally seen this movie and they could all stop judging me! What I didn't do before posting that tweet was consider my thoughts on the film. So, naturally, I was asked what I thought and had no real answer. Which is strange because I'm an opinionated person when it comes to the movies that I watch, especially when it was someone elses idea for me to watch it. Before I go any further I'm just gonna give you a little summary. If you haven't seen the film, I'm not giving it away any. Although, I'm not even sure I'd be able to if I tried.

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 David Lynch film starring Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring and Justin Theroux. The film tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty Elms, newly arrived in LA, who meets and befriends an amnesiac named Rita, who she found hiding in her aunts apartment. They go on an "adventure" in search of Rita's true identity, and what started out as an exciting mystery leads them down and dark and scary road.

Now, that is the best I can do. The reason being, I'm not 100% clear on what went down...more like 80%. There are so many things that are happen that at first seem completely unrelated to one another. And even when they are intertwined, you still don't quiet understand how or what you are seeing. The performances were amazing. Naomi Watts as a bubbly, naive girl who's vision is glazed over by the dream of being an actress was very believable. Laura Harring was very good as well. I don't really recognize her, but she plays two different people (or personalities, I 'm not sure. Cut me some slack) and she does it very well. The movie seemed to have taken place in two different realities. In the end, I wasn't quiet sure what had happen to the characters but the movie was compelling. It's hard to form opinions on something you don't fully understand, and I've been told several times that this isn't the type of movie you watch once and automatically get. But it was good enough for me to want to buy it and watch it several more times. Maybe when I do I'll post my different theories on what actually happened...for those of you who've seen it, of course.

All in all, i liked it a lot. It was intriguing, the characters were compelling, and being "mind fucked", not my words but that's the best way to describe it, is always something a movie watcher enjoys. I do recommend that you watch it. It's not for everyone, but at least you can say that you've seen and attempted to understand the wonder that is Mulholland Drive.

Expanding on the internet

Welcome to my very fist blog! It's the first time I've ever done anything like this, and I can't tell you whether or not I'll keep it up. I'm pretty flighty(you might know that). I plan to talk about movies and tv, and probably just things that are going on in my life. So ends my first blog. Below are places you can reach me

http://twitter.com/KaylaJ24

http://www.myspace.com/thatsrightitskayla

http://www.youtube.com/user/cinematicadventures1