MCU Rank & Review: Part One: Iron Man (2008)

Run Time: 02:05:59

Total Run Time: 02:05:59

This is something I've been talking about doing since what feels like the dawn of time. This will also be the first review where I've taken notes on the movie. Not extensive notes, but still, I took notes!

"Iron Man" kicked off what has become, for better or worse, the biggest franchise in the history of film. The MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), to this point has collected twenty-three movies. Currently, ten more are set to come in the following phase(s). The series has managed to traverse various sub-genres within its main genre of "super-hero." Though for the most part, at least with the original first phase of films, they stick to the action genre. The series has also launched and re-launched, the careers of many of its stars. This film not excluded, re-launching the career of Robert Downey Jr. at a point when hiring him was still seen as problematic.

"Back in Black" by AC/DC blasts and we are thrown right into the opening of the film. A US Military convoy carries Tony Stark (Downey Jr.). Downey plays Stark with the bravado and confidence needed to properly portray the character from the comics. His wit and charm lifted straight from the page.

Before long the convoy is attacked and Stark, taken captive by the "Ten Rings" terrorist organization. This is the first of many hints to come at the future of the MCU, though at this point could have just been a nod to comic readers. "Ten Rings," of course, being a hint at the Mandarin - One of Iron Man's many antagonists.

Following his capture, we then enter a flashback that will bring us to the events of the opening. We are introduced at this point to two of our supporting characters, James Rhodes (Terrance Howard) and Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stane looks like an obvious villain, and will eventually become the central antagonist of the film. However, the opening scene with Starks' capture takes the viewer from this initial reaction to him. Because, in 2008 - and to some minor extent, still are - the world was in a very anti-terrorist - or to be completely honest, Muslim - mode. He isn't as obvious as the central villain when there are terrorists afoot.

As already stated, Downey is a pitch-perfect Tony Stark, perhaps due to his own struggles with alcoholism, something Tony will battle in the sequel and has battled in the comics many times before. Terrance Howard's portrayal of James Rhodes, however, is quite bland in comparison. He's written differently than his successor in all future films, being replaced by Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 2" and on. This Rhodes is more self-depreciative and has more wit to him than the future more confidant and self-assuring portrayal.

Stark presents to the military, and Rhodes, his fancy new weapon stating it only needs to be fired once. "That's how Dad does it, That's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far." Only, it won't work out for him.

The suit stark builds "in a cave! With a box of Scraps!" takes the early 70's design and puts a modern spin on it, improving slightly. The same can be said for Marks 2 and 3 of the suit.

Stark's ability to build the suit, in secret, while in captivity serves to show his genius and ingenuity. He's aided in his efforts by Dr. Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub). The doctor's purpose is primarily to show the divide between his genius - shown through the car-battery-powered magnet keeping Tony alive - and Tony himself, who creates an arc reactor small enough to fit in the aforementioned magnet's hole. The building of his initial suit and dialogue with Dr. Yinsen also serves to show us the beginning of Tony's character shift, from egotistical ass-hat to egotistical nice-guy. First notably shown by Tony's reaction to Yinsen stating he is "a man who has everything, yet nothing."

Stark escapes capture in his Mark I suit and returns home. He no longer wants to be the war-monger he was before, but don't worry, he's still American and wants a cheeseburger. Tony begins the conference by talking briefly about his father, and how he was wrong. He announces Stark Industries will no longer be a weapons company, much to the ire of Bridges' Stane. 

Following the conference, Stane tells Tony, "We're Iron Monger's." A line I honestly caught for the first time this viewing, likely because of how quiet it is spoken. Iron Monger, of course, being the Moniker of a key Iron Man villain and technically the one Stane takes on despite not actually being called that while in the suit. This is also the point where his inevitable villain turn becomes all too obvious.

It is at this point, with the help of Dum-E and U (his robot arms), Tony builds his Mark II and II suits. The comedic moments here are quite possibly responsible for the tone of most of the future MCU films to follow. 

The chemistry between Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow) and Tony, cannot be understated. It only works because of their respective actor's performances. Key moments in the movie that make it all work are her gift to him following the removal of his original arc reactor along with her line delivery as he's taking on more responsibility as Iron Man with "You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it."  

The villain's motive is money, as he is selling guns, and missiles to foreign parties under the table. Only wanting Stark's designs for the Iron Man suit to sell to the highest bidder. Willing to do anything, including murder to get what he wants.

There isn't much to the climactic final battle. It's bland when you look at it in comparison to the later films, but has notable story call-backs that make it work. There is also, the one thing that has become the most cliche thing in all of Super-hero film-dom. The sky-beam. Granted this isn't the thing they fight around or near. it's just a cool action shot of the arc reactor exploding in the form of a beam blasting into the sky.

The movie proper ends with another press conference, meant to explain away the action of the climax. Best guy Agent of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division) Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) gives Tony the script. He refuses, stating his iconic line, "I am Iron-Man" which cues the credits and Black Sabbath. The movie actually ends post-credits, now a staple of the MCU and seemingly every other blockbuster (thanks Marvel).

A perfect representation of Marvel's Ultimate Universe Nick Fury by Samuel L Jackson - he was the inspiration for the design, after all - appears in Tony's apartment, seen from behind. This scene announces two things, one slightly more subtle than the other. There will be a sequel - cause, obvious sequel bait is obvious - but also there will be an Avengers movie. Ultimately the movie ends with the line from fury referencing the "Avenger Initiative." The collective jaws of nerds everywhere dropped and everyone else said "cool, more movies."

Little did we know the behemoth the MCU would become. I'm not even sure we even know now.

"Iron Man" is one of my favorite movies in the MCU. It's also one of my favorite movies, in general, but that's a wide list. The CGI, while lacking, holds up for the most part despite the obvious flaws. The action leaves much to be desired as the set pieces don't do much more than what you could see anywhere else. The primary reason this movie works as well as it does is the character work across the board. Jeff Bridges manages to make an obvious villain interesting with his line delivery. Paltrow and Downey make you care about a potential relationship between the two of them with some very simple dialogue scenes. The only one lacking on the main cast is Terrance Howard, who may not be at fault due to the shift in the way the character is handled in the later films. 

All in all, it's a blast to watch every time I come around to it. I welcome my next viewing with open arms. And now, the Ranking below: 

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man (2008)

Next on the docket: "The Incredible Hulk" (2008)

More to Come

Happy spoopy day, everyone!

I've started writing again.

A few years ago I began writing a book, still untitled. A couple weeks back I finally finished the first chapter. A few days ago I finished the second. The third chapter is going along smoothly. This is without a doubt the best my writing has ever gone. Aside from when I was a kid writing horrible Digimon fanfiction picture books in the span of a day. Also, I don't know where those are, and if you find them, Mom (Since I know you're going to read this), I'd love to have them. I may already have them, so if you look and can't find them, don't worry about it. 

While it may not seem like much, currently being twenty-four pages into a work, albeit double spaced, is seriously uplifting for me. It's new, and it's honestly exciting. I'm averaging a page or two a day, which in word-count for me is anywhere from 250-500 words.

I'm currently putting out a pace of one chapter every week and a half, or so, depending on the length of the chapter. Based on what the third chapter is, a dream sequence, it'll likely be a quicker write simply because I don't have to worry about having it make sense with the narrative so far.

I'm not going to make my New Year's resolution of finishing the draft before the end of the year. But, if I keep up, it'll be done sometime in 2021 all things considered. Don't quote me on that.

In addition to how well that all is going, I've started with a podcast with a friend. It took us 10 years to do it, but we did it. It's in its infancy, so it's not mind-bogglingly amazing, but it is okay. Check it out, please (like and subscribe while you're at it). We just wrapped our second episode, on the 2020 election, not too long ago, it should be up either later today (Oct. 31) or tomorrow (Nov. 1).

Moving on. Film reviews are going to be coming soon. I'll be starting with an MCU retrospective, analysis, and ranking. I'll be doing them in order of release, starting with 2008's Iron Man, and finishing up 23 movies later, with 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home. Pre-Pandemic, I was going start earlier in the year to have it wrap up by the release of Black Widow. That's no longer an option, for obvious reasons, the main one being Black Widow's delay to May 2021. I hope to get one of those out every week, time permitting with everything else I'm trying to do.

Last thing. I'm unemployed!

I've been sans a job for a little while now. Slightly over two months. I haven't had the courage to tell people, but there it is. I'm trying to pick up a freelance writing job, likely doing reviews of movies or television, but no luck yet. Luckily, with the pandemic, being unemployed isn't too much of a bad thing. It's also allowed me to start and do things I haven't been able to do in years. All in all, it's a positive, for now (there's that classic pessimism).

Until next time, stay positive, the world may end in a couple days. Depending, of course, on who wins the election.

2019: Movies; a Year in Review

It's that time of year again, only this time I'm posting to this blog rather than my film blog, which I have decided to end, thus re-merging back into this horrible blog that I also barely touch. 

However!

If I am able to, mentally, I will be back here regularly with film reviews and regular life updates as I am now in a state where I don't have crippling writer's block. 

Let's get into the nitty gritty of this here post. The real reason anyone is here, movie talk. This year, 2019 that is, I saw 84 movies (listed below). I did skip a lot that didn't interest me, which admittedly does make bottom 10 lists a tiny bit difficult. But I did see enough "bad" movies to excuse a bottom 10. Anywho, here are the movies:

Escape Room • Glass • Velvet Buzzsaw • The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part • Cold Pursuit • Happy Death Day 2U • Alita: Battle Angel • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World • Fighting with My Family • Triple Frontier • Captain Marvel • The Kid • The Aftermath • Us • Dragged Across Concrete • Shazam! • Pet Sematary • High Life • The Silence • Hellboy • Avengers: Endgame • Long Shot • Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile • Pokémon Detective Pikachu • Tolkien • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum • Aladdin • Brightburn • Booksmart • Always Be My Maybe • Parasite • Godzilla: King of the Monsters • Rocketman • Dark Phoenix • The Last Black Man in San Francisco • Men in Black: International • The Dead Don't Die • Murder Mystery • Toy Story 4 • Child's Play • Spider-Man: Far From Home • Midsommar • Stuber • Crawl • The Farewell • The Lion King • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood • Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw • The Peanut Butter Falcon • Good Boys • Ready or Not • Brittany Runs a Marathon • It Chapter Two • Hustlers • Ad Astra • Rambo: Last Blood • Joker • Dolemite Is My Name • The King • El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie • Zombieland: Double Tap • Jojo Rabbit • The Lighthouse • Terminator: Dark Fate • The Irishman • Marriage Story • Doctor Sleep • Honey Boy • Ford v Ferrari • Charlie's Angels • The Report • Waves • Frozen II • A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood • Dark Waters • Knives Out • Jumanji: The Next Level • 6 Underground • Uncut Gems • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker • Little Women • 1917 • Cats • Just Mercy

Now that that mess is out of the way I very briefly want to talk about the years slate in general. There was a lot of good to great this year. there was also a lot of nothing movies out there. Nearly half of what I watched were just average, which admittedly is average, but when you're making a list of movies you saw, and you honestly forgot that nearly 30 movies even happened that is a little disconcerting.

It's easy to remember the good and the bad, but the run of the mill, middle of the road stuff just kind of, sits there collecting dust in the back of your mind until you go to a Wikipedia page to look up all the movies that came out this year.

That being said, There were a lot of stand outs on both ends of the quality spectrum. Before I get into what I considered to be worst movies of the year, there are two notable high profile movies, that while they did not make my bottom 10 (though *spoilers* they are both honorable mentions) I feel the need to bring them up and explain myself. Only to reduce whatever minor backlash I get, if any, because I'm some nobody who writes a new blog post once every year and a half.

Now, Let me be clear. I did NOT hate Joker. However, I do feel as though this movies accolades, aside from anything relating to Joaquin Phoenix's performance (the only good thing about this movie), are completely undeserved. A lot of what Joker tries to do, is similar to what Scorsese did in a few notable films of his, those being The King of Comedy and to a lesser extent Taxi Driver. Others have already gone into detail of the similarities, and me droning on about them won't do much good. My issue here is I've seen everything this film tries to offer done better, way better.

The other main issue I have with this film is the way it handles Fleck's (Phoenix) mental Illness. It's used for sympathy initially. He's beaten down constantly until he turns the table on those that beat him down, then we're just watching a mentally unstable individual kill people for no reason other than he's mentally unstable. Because of this there is no motive behind his actions. He acts on impulse because his illness demands it until he suddenly doesn't act impulsively and starts planning his actions. There's no real consistency in the portrayal of Fleck's illness other than it's use of PBA to explain his laughter, which admittedly is brilliant, though inconsistent with the comic character (which this movie was not trying to adapt).

My issues here, are quite more severe than they were with Joker. Again I have to state up front that I didn't hate this movie, however I did not like it either. It without a doubt is the worst of the sequel trilogy. This is an absolute mess of a movie. Essentially consisting of enough plot to fit two or even three films is the main reason for my distaste of it. It, nearly, completely retcons The Last Jedi one of the better and more interesting movies in the entirety of Star Wars (anyone who says otherwise can fight me). Ignoring all character developments, and even some plot points (*cough* Anakin's lightsaber *cough*) Johnson made in VIII, seemingly in order to make up for the backlash that film had with a very vocal minority of "fans."

I'm not sure who is to blame for the decision made here to cram everything done in this movie into one movie. Likely Disney or LucasFilm, or most likely a combination of the two. I don't for a second think, Abrams is to blame here. Especially considering the films original director Colin Trevorrow was taken off the project over "creative differences." His original script, which leaked (and had a much better title: Dual of the Fates) would have been in my opinion a far superior film as it was a continuation of the two previous films in the trilogy. Rather than what we got, a movie trying to do two things at once. Take back most of what The Last Jedi did and wrap up the franchise in a passable non obstructive manner.

The largest issue I had with the film was it's inability to take any risks. There are a few instances. But to keep this as brief as possible I'll mention the main one I have a problem with, Chewbacca's apparent death. Early in the film, Chewbacca is seemingly killed,admittedly in a manner that would have been weird if he had actually been killed this way. Only for mere minutes later have him reappear alive and well. This took me out of the film completely. All tension was removed, I no longer cared about the outcome of the movie because I knew at this moment it would not be interesting in any manner.

Now onward to the real reason people are here the lists. Rest assured blurbs on why movies are ranked where they are will not be as lengthy as the two films above. Starting with the bottom of the barrel. here are those (dis)honorable mentions followed immediately by rank 10:

Joker • The Lion King • Men in Black: International • Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker • Velvet Buzzsaw 

 ~ten~

My primary issues with Tolkien weren't that it was bad per se, more in that it was bland and boring. For some reason choosing to focus on the less interesting aspects of his life, while also making those less interesting aspects less interesting. The film also shamelessly removes a notable central figure from Tolkien's life in fellow writer C.S. Lewis, despite the two being close friends, even though it includes the other members of "The Inklings."

~nine~

 

Another movie that I found bland more than anything else. While the movie looked, good, in it's art design, that's all it has going for it. The action sequences were no better than those in any other action movie pumped out in the last twenty years. No performances stand out as anything above "phoning it in" either.

~eight~

 

While an entertaining watch I'll admit, there is absolutely nothing of substance here. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting. But with the subtitle Last Blood, I figured it would take an approach closer to that of First Blood. This is the opposite.

~seven~

I feel like a bit of a broken record at this point. All action, no substance. Sue me, I want a bit more than mindless schlock. Fun to watch, just not a worth while experience.

~six~

 

The first one on the list that is simply bad. Derivative of better movies, such as  A Quiet Place. There's not really anything that takes this movie to where it could have gone with the cast it had.

~five~

Perhaps my biggest disappointment of the year because I wanted this to be good, so badly. Just bring back Perlman and Del Toro at this point. That's the only Hellboy franchise that matters.

~four~

This movie is insulting. The script treats its audience like absolute morons. Aside from Shyamalon managed to somehow take the most interesting thing he's done in years and ruin it. Nicely done, man, I don't care about your work again.

~three~

I'm glad Fox can't make a third attempt at the Dark Phoenix saga cause they've proven, they just don't know what to do with it. I cannot understand why they even tried to do it again nor can I understand how they did it worse this go around.

~two~

 

It wouldn't be a proper bottom 10 without a Happy Madison production.

~one~

Bad for all the right reasons. Also, all the wrong one's too. Except the singing and dancing, those were good.  

Okay, all the bad stuff is taken care of.

 Now onto the good stuff, first the honorable many:

Avengers: Endgame • Dragged Across Concrete • Good Boys • High Life • Honey Boy • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum • Last Black Man in San Francisco • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood • Portrait of a Lady on Fire • Ready or Not • Spider-Man: Far From Home • Waves 

~ten~

A worthy follow up to Aster's film from 2018, Hereditary. Visually stunning and telling. This film manages to tell two simultaneous stories while only telling one.

~nine~

 

Everything Bohemian Rhapsody wishes it could have been and then some. Rocketman is an absolute blast to watch from start to finish.

~eight~

Sandler got robbed of a best actor nomination. This movie is an absolute tour de force of his acting abilities which sadly he very rarely chooses to put on display.

~seven~

Another major notable Oscar snub, this time on two fronts: Best Picture and Lead Actress for Awkwafina. A powerful and emotional film about family and what family means.

~six~

The quintessential high school comedy. A master class in comedy film making from first time director Olivia Wilde. A joyous ride from start to finish.

~five~

The most fun movie of the year. Despite my being able to predict the culprit early on, the dialogue and atmosphere of the film kept me engrossed and loving every minute.

~four~

An emotional roller-coaster master work. Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, comedic genius Taika Waititi directs this movie with absolute grace and class. The stakes are there and Waititi, as he should, pulls no punches. 

~three~

The most striking visuals of any film this year. Robert Eggers' proves himself again in his follow up to The Witch. With masterful performances by Pattinson and Dafoe, The Lighthouse is a horrifying look at solitude and madness.  

~two~

A gripping look at class differences and the conflicts that come between them. Bong Joon Ho's best film yet.

~one~

I don't recall the last time a movie made me feel so happy before. An absolutely wonderful film about companionship and following one's heart no matter what that may bring.

There you have it, the best movies of 2019 (to me). 

Feel free to disagree, just know that I am right, and you are wrong. Now here are ten more movies just for fun; my most anticipated of 2020. I'm not gonna bother explaining why, I'm just going to drop them and run.

~ten~

~nine~

~eight~

~seven~

~six~

~five~

~four~

~three~

~two~

~one~

That's it. I'm done. It's late. Goodnight.

I'm Tired.

Before I start, and really get into the meat of this. I just have to state how stressful my life has been the past few months. Currently I owe my bank roughly 230 dollars. I've missed the past few months rents on time, totaling $100 (50 for my half, so not as bad) in late fees. I have under 10 dollars in my bank account right now. But, next month, since I get paid thrice, I may not be in this hole and will at least not have that stress on me. God damn it though, this election. This God forsaken election has just been the absolute worst. I'm not about to drivel on about how we made the wrong choice, or how it should have been Bernie (which it should have! #StillFeelingtheBern), but I am going to talk - Just talk - About how terrible we are as people. Buckle up. This may be a long one.

I try my best to avoid being cynical, but it's seemingly in my nature and I can't help it. Now and then it's best to be positive, and now is certainly a time to be so. But fuck it's so hard right now. Say what you will about our President elect. It's all been said before, but I just don't understand what the hell is going on, and how we got here. I get the logistics of the how, swing states, electoral college, voter turn-out, people genuinely not giving a shit. I just don't understand the following Trump has. I don't get his appeal.

Putting everything aside to not get into a deep pit of despair I really do not want to get into. This whole election has seemingly opened up the biggest damn can of worms I've ever seen. Fear. Justifiable fear.

I posted this as my status following the decision: "Personally, I'm not afraid of a Trump presidency, yet. But I am concerned for those who are now. this isn't the end of the world. It's four years, or less if we impeach him. We've had bad Presidents before, we'll have them again. Take each day as it comes and breathe. Or, if you truly don't feel safe, once you're financially secure, and able, get to somewhere you will."

As a privileged (apparently) white male, I stand by my own lack of fear. But God damn, some of the shit I've seen is out of hand. Yes, I understand the majority of Trump supporters are not the "racist, misogynistic bigots" they've seemingly been labeled just for supporting him, but there certainly is no denying that at least a few of you are, and the rest of you need to acknowledge it. This isn't a time to deny anything. We need to be coming together as a country, Trump said so himself in his (better than anything he's said this entire election) acceptance speech. Some of his supporters, however, are doing the opposite.

<read some tweets>

Please, take the time to look through as many of them as you can handle if you haven't already. Chalk it up how you want. Whether they are legitimate followers of Trump or not, his election brought this out of people. I'm not saying people became racist, because of it, or that this shit wouldn't have happened otherwise. I'm also not stating that all of these are 100% legitimate, some are likely fake, but certainly not all of them. It is impossible to deny that his election didn't in some way validate so to speak some peoples thoughts and opinions of others. It's all he's been toting for months, hell, years.

It can't be said with absolute certainty that if the opposition were elected that this wouldn't be happening. Personally, I'd like rather have the possibility of that other United States, one that isn't this. Because if this is Trump's America, I want nothing to do with it.

<have another video>

"Diet Zenophobia" being the best case, isn't something we should settle for in a President. The Presidency isn't a play thing we should just be tossing around to any Shmoe who says they want it. No matter how much they promise you that they will "Make America Great Again" (Whatever that means).

After a few years, once his term is done, we may all look back on this and say, "that wasn't so bad." But that fact that right now, months before he's even been sworn in; the fact that I can't tell you with absolute certainty (any you can't either) that some serious shit won't go down and soon, should terrify you just as much as it terrifies me.

I'm hoping we haven't done something irreversible here. Hopefully it won't have to come to any reversable measures.

If you voted for Trump, I don't hate you. I don't understand you, but I don't hate you. I just hope that this, in some way, helps you to understand the fear surrounding Trump's impending Presidency.

Hopefully, as a Nation. We won't have to regret what we've done.

Have some cute animals to lighten the mood:

My Life as a Post College Individual

For those uninformed, life for some, likely most, post college isn't a great life. Yet, everyone, including people about to join that post college life believe the exact opposite. I'm twenty five, I've been out of college for two years now and cannot find a better job than the retail position I seem to be stuck in. I don't entirely hate my job, it has its rewards, but the negatives - the overwhelmingly vast negatives - are starting to outweigh those rewards. Yet I have nowhere to go.

Most people, like myself, thought the options would be a plenty. In previous posts I talked about my early job hunts, and how it took me six months to land a job pushing carts for Walmart. Now I sell electronics and electronics accessories at Walmart. But now I have more bills, thanks old car for breaking down causing me to get a new one, and I don't make nearly enough money to pay them all. I'm quite literally hemorrhaging money, trying to make ends meet. However the 50k in various debts I'm in make that nigh impossible.

My other writings have ground to an absolute halt, and I'm only writing this so people know what my life now is like if they are interested. So, lately I've been trying to get full time, or looking for a full-time/ higher-paying part time job. Which, since I've gone through college, is going fantastically. This is how the world works.

Twenty or so jobs, give or take a few, have received an application from me in the past month. All but a few have emailed back stating they are either no longer hiring, or I'm not one of the droids they're looking for. The others I assume just tossed me aside laughing at my optimism.

I'm not sure what some places want, really. I've seen others with similar qualifications get interviews left and right. I've seen people who are far less qualified get opportunity after opportunity. Hell, I've work with people whom I'm not even sure how they were qualified to work at Walmart.

But here I am, trying to expand my horizons, start a career and write on the side til I can hopefully live off of my writing. But instead, I'm drowning in a pit that this supposed beneficial education has seemingly caused. Maybe I just went to college for the wrong shit. Maybe I should have went for something other than what I want to do with my life. Something less, artsy.

Maybe I'm looking at the glass half empty. I suppose some people would try and seize some sort of opportunity here. Do whatever they can with what they have to advance their place in the world. So from now on, I'm writing at least a page, a blog, or something every day. I'm still going to push for that full time position. But I really need this. I need something to validate those four years of my life, which two years removed seem wasted - on the educational side of things.

That and I definitely need something other than these horrendous Presidential candidates to think about.

Quasi Return to Form

If you asked me a few months back how my writing was coming along lately, my response would likely have been a lie. "It's going smoothly," or "I'm taking my time." But honestly, that's not the case, it isn't nearly as smooth as one would want it to be, especially if they want to be a writer like me.

Despite my recent shortcomings, I returned to my writing today. Did a few pages in a new project. Something I've been milling around in my head, rather than trying to get back at an old project like I have been doing my last few attempts at returning to the page. Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling so to speak with this project, and write... something... every day. Be that a blog post or more of this story I'm working on.

It's not some mind blowing story with a premise that will change the storytelling world. But it is something that I care about that I hope will turn into something that other people will care about too. Just hopefully not enough to fan fiction. I hate that crap. But that's another story. To put it short it has to do with a lack of creativity so to speak. You can't create your own characters, or your own world so you steal other writers creations and bastardize it. So yeah, I dislike fan fiction.

I can't really lie, and say I haven't dabbled in borrowing ideas or concepts. Hell, a lot of my early writing, when I was a young'n I wrote a lot of Digimon (topical I know) stories. They were also picture books, existed in worlds I created, with characters I created. The only thing I used that already existed was the concept of Digimon. For those unfamiliar with Digimon it's on the internet somewhere, but here is the original intro for your nostalgic viewing pleasure:

In more personal news, my two year anniversary is right around the corner. November 20th to be exact. I made a reservation at the Bad Apples Bistro nearby in Spencerport, I hear it's amazing, so I hope people weren't lying. My love life depends on it you potential liars! Not really, but you're still potential liars.

In other, other news, I still work at Walmart, but now I'm an Electronics Sales Associate. So I don't dislike going to work as much as I used to.

In other, other, other news TV has been GREAT, especially Netflix, HBO, and Showtime. But you can read more on that on my film review blog soon. Probably within a week or so. Movies have been... movies... I haven't seen any phenomenally great one's this year, yet. Being that it's the end of the year though, I'm kind of disappointed in that. But hey, Star Wars is like a month away right?

I also got like three new games lately, well, one collection of old games and two new games, and I have no time to play them. Not that that's really a bad thing, it's more of a, sad thing, for me. But yeah, the Nathan Drake Collection, Battlefront, and Fallout 4. Then Uncharted 4 comes out early next year, so I at least have to finish off the collection before then, but that would mean not touching the other two for ages. My days off consist of catching up on the shows I'm back logged on, I'm genuinely lucky if I get any time to game. Especially considering that my girlfriend doesn't let me!

Well, she does, but she doesn't like it when I do. I plowed through Assassin's Creed Syndicate's main campaign in a few days and she complained every second of it. All in all, worth it.

That's it for today I think, there'll be more in the future, so stay tuned.

TL;DR I'm writing again and other stuff happened.