I Was Thinking...

...once again about monetizing this blog.  (Hang with me, guys and gals - read it through to the end.)  I check the stats about once a week - I'm getting enough hits to make it worth my while, which is something that I never expected to happen.  I could make easy money just by writing whatever I feel like.  As an unemployed college student living at home, that actually sounds rather appealing.

But then I realized that it would be selling out.

I refuse to sell out.

By making it so that I make money off this blog, I am letting marketers control what I do.  I am telling you, the readers, that I do not value you enough to keep the ads away.  And while the blog may still be mine, I can assure you that it's only a few steps away from giving up my creative license.

I refuse to do that.

It's the same concept with the story I'm writing.  I'm at nearly 3000 words, which is a personal best for me, and I'm still trying to figure out the characters.  I like the flaws I'm seeing with them.  I like the way the story line is moving.  I want to try to get it published by the end of the summer.  But if an editor tries to get me to change the fundamental characteristics of each person, forget it.

I don't want to lose the integrity of what I'm doing.

I feel a good example of selling out is Stephanie Meyer.  Now, before everyone starts slamming me or getting defensive, I have nothing against Ms. Meyer.  In fact, I own all four books - in hardback - of her Twilight Saga.  I was 17 when I first read 'Twilight' and I fell in love with it.  My tastes have changed tremendously since then (reading 'Salem's Lot' did a lot for me in that respect), but I still remember the feeling of loving her books.

I was fairly excited when the first movie came out, too.  What appealed to me was that she, the author, was going to be taking a fairly active role in the production of the movie.  To me, that meant that she was going to keep it true to her characters and to her story.

I was so wrong.

The movie killed the Twilight Saga for me.  I was horrified.  They cut some of my favorite - and what I felt to be crucial - scenes.  They had poor dialogue.  The film had major stars for all the roles, and they didn't even really act that well.  And it felt all wrong; everything about it did not feel like the "Twilight" I read as a teenager.

(I have been told the rest are much better done, but I haven't seen them.  Shortly after seeing the movie, I moved on to other things.)

My goal in life is to be a professional writer.  I have already given thought to it, probably more thought than I should.  And I've come up with several principle rules I intend to never break.

1. I will never write something just because I can make money off of it.  In other words, I intend to write the stories that I have always written, exploring the characters the way that they want.  I have no intention of writing something just because there's a market for that particular genre or story.  It's not fair to me or to the characters.

2. I will never give up my creative license or power.  If I do in fact become a best selling author down the road and someone decides to make a film adapation of my book, then I want it to be right.  I want to be part of every step along the way.  I want the characters to have justice done for them.  Truthfully, if we ever get to this point, I want a film producer like Wes Anderson or Peter Jackson to do it.  Not someone like who did the first 'Twilight' movie.

3. I will not produce anything that I would not read myself.  If I don't like how it's turned out and I'm not entirely thrilled with it, then I plan on making it better before I publish it. 

So, in other words, I'm going to be broke for the rest of my life because I'm not going to conform.  Oh well.  At least I'll be happy, right?

Anyway.

In other news, I watched film numer 2 of 7 yesterday with my family.  It was "Fantastic Mr. Fox".  It was fantastic.  It truly was.  I laughed at the humor throughout and the stop motion film style was fascinating to me.  Wes Anderson directed it (the guy who did the "Darjeeling Limited"; gotta say, that one grew on me between blog posts - but that's a story for a different time...) and it was based on the book by Ronald Dahl. 

I need to read the book.  Ronald Dahl wrote "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" as well as "James and the Giant Peach", both of which I've read and loved.  He's a brilliant author for young people.  He really is.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" had a great cast, too.  George Clooney, who I respect as an actor, was Mr. Fox and was brilliant.  Brilliant I say.  Meryl Streep was his wife, Jason Schwartzman (I remembered his name this time!) was his son, Ash.  I mean, it was great.  The voice acting (which I've heard is actually harder than live acting) was spot on.  My sister and I got such a kick from the movie.  We were still quoting it today, which is awesome.

Go watch it.  It is a great family movie.  Seriously.  There is plenty of humor for everyone in it as well as a meaningful story plot.

I feel like there was something else I was going to blog about, but I can't remember.  Huh.  School starts on Tuesday.  I'm nervous as all get out.  I'm taking more classes this semester than I've taken before and I'm a little intimidated by the potential work load.  But hey, I can handle it.  I know I can.

Also, I typed this whole blog post with wet finger nails.  I get bonus points for that.  Just so you know.

Until we meet again, dear readers,

~Meaghan

Rick Astley...

...is never gonna give me up.

Or get out of my head, apparently.

Yeah, I have Rick Astley stuck in my head.  You know, I really don't have a lot against the 1980's.  After all, it made tacky clothing acceptable.  It was the era of punk/goth music, bringing one of my favorite groups - the Cure - into existance.  It gave us Blondie and U2 and the Go-Go's and Tom Petty. 

The '80's brought around Pac-Man and Predators, for crying out loud.  MTV.  White-Out.  That song "Tainted Love", which I love.

But I am not sure I can ever forgive the '80's for giving us Rick Astley.

I have been "Rick Rolled" so many times it's not even funny anymore.  The song "Never Gonna Give You Up" is such a freaking earworm.  I even remotely think about it and it gets stuck in my head.

It is a change of pace from what I did have stuck in my head for two days straight this week: "Claire de Lune".

Don't get me wrong, I love Debussy.  I think he was a great composer; I find his music relaxing, and I love "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair".  But having "Claire de Lune" stuck in my head for two days straight was starting to get on my nerves. 

I love classical music, but after a while you just need space from it.

I would listen to Ben Folds; five minutes after the last line of "Late" and the moonlight (that's what it translates into) would be back.  I tried singing with Pink's "Glitter in the Air" multiple times; as soon as my mind drifted, it was back.

I watched the 'Darjeeling Limited' yesterday, and ended up pausing it so I could get up to get something.  As soon as I came back and pushed play, a scene where Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason whatshisname (I can't pronounce nor spell it - I apologize if I offend) are sitting around a campfire in the middle of India.  What's playing in the background?

"Claire de Lune".

I can't escape it.

Speaking of the 'Darjeeling Limited', it was ok.  I loved the trailer.  It looked like it had such potential, it really did.  And Wes Anderson, the guy who wrote and directed it, is a pretty good director.  (He did the 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', which I just put on hold at the library.  I haven't seen it, but I've heard massively good things about it...)

I felt the film fell flat.  It didn't have the movement that I was expecting, and the ending felt unresolved to me.  Owen Wilson's character (Francis) bothered me throughout because of how he kept trying to play the parent (maybe because I could almost-not-quite-relate as I too have the older child syndrom, as I've heard it called), Adrien Brody's character (Peter) annoyed me towards the beginning because he left his pregnant wife to go on this trip, and Jason Whatshisname's character (Jack, I think?) bothered me because he was such a freaking indecisive push over.  Granted, I eventually became ok with both Peter and Jack; I never really warmed up to Francis.

I will give the film some credit.  It had it's moments where it was very good.  I liked when they are at the Indian village after saving two of three children in the nearby river.  (Peter's didn't make it; I cried.)  I felt like it was a turning point in the movie where the characters were finally starting to come into their own.  I like where they met up with their mom and realized that nothing was going to change; you could see the characters grow in themselves, which is exciting to me (because I'm a writer).  Also, they are always running to catch a train.  I feel like this is a great metaphor for life and for the characters, whether Anderson meant it that way or not.

So all in all, it was ok.  I wouldn't pay money to see it.  I probably won't buy a copy of it to watch over and over again (unlike the 'Pianist' or 'Whip It', which are movies I feel like I'll never get tired of), and I may or may not watch it again before I return it to the library. 

But for a film that didn't cost me a dime to watch, it was pretty good.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, so that could be either a good thing or a bad thing.  Maybe I should watch it again; it could be one of those movies that grows on me.  I don't know.

Or maybe I just don't get it.  That's been known to happen to me.  Everyone said the 'Hangover' was brilliant, but when one of my friends made me watch it, I was bored out of my skull. 

In other words, don't listen to my movie reviews, dear readers.  I have no idea what I'm talking about 90% of the time.

I put 'Splice' on hold at the library.  I'm not exactly sure why I did it.  It was one of those films that I saw the trailer when I went to see a movie last year (I don't remember which movie I was seeing, which is kind of sad) and got so freaked out that I had my eyes closed through a good chunk of it.  I like horror films, I like films about experiments gone wrong (the whole principle behind zombie films, which I love), and I like sci-fi to a degree.  But I'm not sure about this one.

I've heard weird reviews about it.  Roeper gave it a D+, but he's been known to miss from time to time.  I think I may be influenced by Jimmy Kimmel on this.  (Long story there best for another blog.)

Oh well.  I'm in postion like 85 for it at the library, so I have time to think about it.  That's what happened with 'Dorien Gray' when it came in.  I just decided I didn't want to see it anymore and cancelled the hold.

That may be how this goes.  We shall see.

School starts in less than a week.  Last night I had this nightmare about forgetting my backpack and not having notebooks (I still need to buy them).  It was awful.  I think it's my equivalent of having dreams where you appear someplace without clothes; I've never had one of those but I have these kind of dreams all the time when I'm anxious, stressed, or nervous.  Go figure.

Man, I've got "Claire de Lune" back in my head.  I need to go get that out.

Until we meet again, dear readers.

~Meaghan