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[powderkiwi]

Took myself to Auckland Museum today, they have some great displays at the museum, including Mr and Mrs tree

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I’ve just had this Gus bobble head made for me in China, I think it’s pretty cool 9 inches tall what’s your thoughts? I think they’ve done a fine job.

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I don’t write a lot of articles, however, I am in the process of writing a novel about 2 young boys, a ships boy who serves on HMS Victory and a cadet at a Naval Academy in Portsmouth, due to both of them going through a traumatic event and being connected through time by an old naval dirk, their consciousness’s pass to one another leading to them both ending up out of their time. The story revolves around how they as individuals adapt too their surroundings, how their friends, teachers, officers and family cope with the sudden changes in these two characters, who remain unchanged physically. The knowledge that both of them carry and how it directly affects the people they know or interact with over the coming months and the peril it places them both in.

Now I’m in a bit of a dilemma at the moment, I have stuck to the physical characteristics and personality traits of the people I know and upon whom i’ve based my characters on, however, with the exception of the crew of the Victory, which was multi cultural and consisted of men and boys of many different nationalities, i haven’t included any people of a different skin tone then me. It wasn’t a conscious decision, it was just based around the people i have met over time and I thought might bring colour of a different kind because of their character.

Here’s my concern, I have had to really focus on events of the Victory’s Log’s, News Paper reports from the time, Relevant historical records and research, to ensure the book isn’t criticised for being factual incorrect by the people who love historic naval novels which are based on actual events, hence in many ways my characters choose themselves. In saying that, in the modern character’s path as a cadet in Portsmouth, I have not defined many of the physical characteristic’s of the adults he interacts with, with the exception of their gender (Male/Female) they are not defined, so if this gets published, there is room for people to assign there own thoughts to them. They are by no means bland, but it is their actions that define them, not the colour of their skin, hence to me this is the focal point. His friends are described in detail, however, one of whom I’ve based on Squirrel from Cursed and all his nuances, he just fits.

I’m concerned I may be criticised, because i have not been inclusive enough, not addressed gender issues..etc, however, this is my story, my novel, should I be governed by the need to conform, or should I just keep the characters as they are? Historically relevant to the period and the location and let their personal attributes, traits, character and how they speak and treat others lead you to your own conclusions about them?

I’d really like to know your thoughts.. stick to my guns.. or not?

[powderkiwi]

I re watched Avatar The last Airbender today, yes the much maligned movie and tbh I still kind of like it. I know and understand that it does not meet the very high standards that ATLA fans of the original animated series have, it’s bitty, disjointed and rather all over the place, but I still like the performances given by some of the young cast. Ok I can hear the tufts of hair being pulled out at the roots by the fans as I’m typing this, but young actors generally are guided and steered by the director. They generally don’t feel they have the right to challenge directors or script writers, in this case the same person when they think something is dumb, they just try and meet the expectations of their elders.

The young boy who plays Aang, Noah Ringer.. he’s was and still is an amazing athlete, but he seemed to get allot of unwarranted flack for just not being, well ethnic enough and that he was too serious, even wooden. I think if we look carefully at the narrative from even the animated series and examine the things he’s gone through, i think he would be pretty serious, confused, distraught and angry. In this respect I think Noah does this really well.

So what’s happened to the wee laddie then?

You run away when you’re told your the Avatar and that you are responsible for keeping balance in the world, between the four nations. Hmm Not much pressure there for a 12 year old.

When you wake up you find out you’ve been asleep for a 100 years and then get captured by the Fire Nation.

You next found out that your entire nation has been wiped from the face of the earth, just because you feel you didn’t want the responsibility and that you could never have a family.

Yeah… he’s not really going to be in a great head space, Guilt, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, along with Shame, Anger and fear would be coursing through this young boys body and mind.

But as the Joker would say “why so serious?”

I also thought Dev Patel was very good in his role, as Zuko, he showed the anarchic, panicked son under pressure to find the Avatar for the Fire Nation to regain his honour.

Yes he had some really bad dialogue.. but again he didn’t write the script…

I thought the CG Effects were pretty good, I’m not so sure about the choreographed bending moves tbh in some of the scenes, especially with the Earth Benders, but all in all I thought it was ok.

M.Night Shyamalan needs to wear the way this was received, he was really taking on a poison chalice and was never going to be able to meet the expectations of the Fan base.

In the end he seemed to disappear into his own world and tried to make something that was beautiful to look at,but lacked the depth of story and also lost a lot of the charm that the series possessed.

I said I enjoyed the film, perhaps because I can fill in the blanks a bit because I’ve watched the animated series and can fill in the blanks myself.. or gaps.. well cazems in some cases.

One thing I will say is we can’t blame the cast, especially the young actors for not matching the expectations of the fans or the characters in the animated series, for their lack of ethnicity or the emotional tack that the live action film tried to take. We should remember that side of the animated series is pretty surface deep at best, with a lot of tragedy just laughed off, or immediately forgotten.

The Last Airbender’s narrative deals with a lot of very serious issues, that placed within the human world ie live action would be seen as tragic, testing and difficult… Genocide, being the chosen one…(Sorry Starwars, Harry Potter and of course the Bible) Personal loss and huge unfathononable responsibilities. The New Netflix series will need to address these as well, although they will hopefully have allot more time to dig into these characters during the series, to provide them with depth and personality, that was lacking from the film,

After all if we don’t care about the characters in any book, film, tv or animated series, you won’t become emotionally invested in them. We need to care about what happens to them, why they behave the way they do, what decisions they make, who their friends and indeed enemy’s are..what happens next?

I guess this is why so many people were disappointed with the film, because they were exactly that with the animated series.. if you love something that much, you will always feel some sort of disappointment when you compare it to any other version of the same thing.

[powderkiwi]

I was watching the video Lonely by Justin Bieber the other day on YouTube, Jacob Tremblay plays Justin’s younger self in the video.

Whilst I understand this song is very personal to Justin, I wonder if Jacob may identify with a lot of the lyrics too.

I was watching Jacob working on Luca in one of those behind the camera docos, he was constantly looking for direction and more over approval of his performance from the director.

When he was younger Jacob in many ways could rely on his cuteness and marketable voice to assist him in getting a role, that with his exceptional acting ability was a trifecta. As he’s growing up, the first two factors which made him so appealing are slowly becoming a memory, he now has to rely on his acting ability alone and there are heaps of good teen actors out there he has to compete with.

He must feel under a considerable amount of pressure, there are echos of the Bobby Driscoll saga here in its earliest days, I hope for Jacob’s sake he has the right people around him…having a yes crowd around you is never good, something Justin realised was a significant factor in some of the more torrid moments in his career.

Jacob seems like a great person, but don’t forget most things we see on screen and in interviews are a persona created to meet our expectations (fans) and those of possible future employers. (Producers) I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, it’s his job… every actor, writer, director.. sod it human being, does the same thing. We very rarely show people who we truly are..it keeps us safe, a barrier between the sometimes beautiful, but more often than not ugly world within which we live.

Jacob is after all a working tween as he says in #Goodboys, who earns a significant amount of income. His family, agents, all benefit financially from his success. He therefore carries a huge load on his young shoulders and I hope that he remembers that he’s first and foremost still a kid, When he’s older, will he look back at this period of his life as an opportunity lost. So many former child actors have shared how they really regret missing their childhood because they were always working. Money isn’t everything, happiness cannot be purchased, it comes from the environment you live in and the people that surround and influence your choices. Honesty, integrity and love are the values we should all look for in our friends and partners, as an ancient knight once said” Choose wisely”,