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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy December 31!
And December 31 is important because…?
It’s important because it marks the last day in the calendar year for us.
Ah. You mean you’re celebrating a last phase made arbitrarily discrete, in what would otherwise be a continuous function?
…Huh?
Never mind.
If you insist.
But as I was saying. It’s the last day of 2013. A lot has happened this year, hasn’t it?
Such as…?
Well, I did first meet you and start this blog this year.
Oh, right. I forgot you’ve been annoying me that briefly.
Yeah, whatever.
So, I started this blog. I met you, Fluffy. I also started to learn how to spin, read some wonderful books, started painting banners, made a clay hippocampus (the mythological animal type), met Pip & Squeak (who is still missing *sadface*) and did so much more. I’m actually sad this year is practically over!
But, I’m looking forward to what next year will bring. I’m not entirely sure what it will bring, since there are definitely a few things up in the air for me right now, but I’m sure it will be good.
I’m especially looking forward to seeing what sort of Fluff I’ll be able to mention on this blog. After all, as life goes on, it’s going to bring more fluff and nonsense. That’s almost as guaranteed as death and taxes, don’t you agree?
Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of the year! See you (sort of) in 2014!HAPPY NEW YEAR! (almost.)
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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Monday!
Huh. It’s the last Monday of 2013. Odd, isn’t it? But that’s not important.
What is important is that I just finished another book. A book that I’m going to write a review on, for your reading pleasure!
Or lack thereof…
Hush. It’s not as though I’m forcing you to read my posts… But yeah.
Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Non-Spoiler Section
I really enjoyed this book. It’s written from the first-person perspective, is about 370 pages long, and is quite gripping. Even if it might take a chapter or two to set up the setting and plot. I think I would give it about a 9/10. (Ten being OMG BEST BOOK EVAH!1! of course. And 1, by extension, being BLECH! THAT’S HORRIBLEFYING!)
…”Horriblefying”?
…You already knew I invent words.
Still, “horriblefying” seems like a much more egregious word-crime than a non-word like “fluffster”.
At least it gets my point across, which is the purpose of language? True?
…I think I shall refrain from answering that particular question.
I shall therefore declare victory, and continue to the next section:
Spoiler Alert! Plot & Premise & Summary & Such.
This book is set in the year 2044, in a post-apocalyptic Earth era. What makes this particular plot unique, however, is the means of “escape” from real life. There is a virtual reality system, OASIS, which is completely immersive. It’s free to access. And it’s huge.
However, the creator of this system (who of course got a huge fortune from it by selling stuff in-game, or something like that) has created an Easter Egg for people to find after he died. The first person to find his Easter Egg will receive his entire fortune, and a controlling portion of his company.
Needless to say, this is a major competition.
The story starts abut 5 years after the competition is announced. (The competition was announced upon the inventor’s death. Just in case that wasn’t clear.) Our hero goes through and tries to solve the clues that lead to the Easter Egg. Throughout the plot, he also needs to deal with friends, potential romances, and evil corporations out to kill him. I’m not going to provide more info about the plot than that. If you really want spoilers, you can probably go to wikipedia. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they have info. You should really read the book, though.
Fun Things
One of the great parts of this book is the references. The inventor of the game was really into 1980s Geeky stuff. The main character, therefore, studies that piece of American history. There are references to all sorts of things from the 1980s. Star Wars, Monty Python, Last Starfighter, Star Trek… you name it, it’s probably there.
Another of the best parts of this book is the setting. OASIS makes me very technology-jealous. Seriously. It’s a virtual reality where, depending on how much participants can afford, all the senses can be immersed. The main character, for example, eventually gets to the point of getting a “hamster-ball” like system for moving around- he actually walks. Further, the graphics are apparently amazing, and, one of the best parts, there are touch sensors on a suit he can wear. The gloves that have touch sensors & emulators are a part of every kit- the players can actually feel items they interact with.
And, of course, the players can get cool items, including magic swords.
Downsides (end spoilers)
Basically, the only downsides are a couple of “not quite pg or pg-13 language” moments. In other words, there’s a touch of fowl language, and a few references. It’s nowhere near as bad as a lot of fiction- even some supposedly “young adult” fiction I’ve read recently. *cough*Graceling*cough*
If language doesn’t bother you, don’t worry about it. If it does, you might enjoy it less, but I’d still highly recommend giving it a try. It’s a lot tamer than any high school I’m aware of.
Concluding Remarks
As I said before, I really enjoyed the book. I definitely wish that the technology described actually existed- it sounds pretty darn cool. It’s also fun he number of references there were! I know I didn’t get them all, but any that I did get just added to the story. (It’s still a fun story without understanding the references.)
…You would. After all, it seems to have very little real content- it seems like exactly the type of “art” you would enjoy.
But, I digress. For you see, I have found a website that features art that makes Kinkade’s work worthwhile- a parody site that includes Star Wars figures in the original Kinkade pieces. Isn’t this amusing? My personal favorite is the one of the burning house.
Note: If this is your first time to TotalFluff, please visit this brief explanation. Thanks!
Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Saturday!
Do you know something? I love having this blog. It gives me the opportunity to procrastinate search for viable material for the daily post. That means that I have the opportunity to go back through all my old pictures and stuffs, and it’s because I’m looking for material for my posts!
For example, there was a period of my life a few years ago when I was really into simple animations. As in, hand-drawn animated gifs. I just found an old ninja pic I made!
Ninja I animated a while ago
(If you can see him, you might want to refresh the page. Or click the picture, and then press ctrl + f5 for a complete refresh. Once he comes up on the screen, he likes to stay there. A lot.)
Clearly he’s not the best ninja of all time, since he’s sortof, like, visible. But isn’t he still really cute?
But what about you, fluffsters? Did you have any favorite activities when you were younger? I’d love to read about it in the comment section below!
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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Friday!
So. The weekend is once again nearly upon us. As it is approaching, I am sure you’re wondering just how you are going to beat the possibility of… BOREDOME.
“BORDOME”? With an “e”? Are you sure you didn’t mean “boredom?”
Yes. You see, “BORDOME” is basically the same as “boredom”, but a little more mysterious. It’s pronounced “bore-DOME” instead of “BORED-’em.”
Oh. Are you certain it should not be pronounced “bored-‘o-me”?
Yes. Quite sure.
But that’s a tangent.
For you see, I have here a useful link to help vanquish both boredom andBORDOME! For, you see, I have recently discovered a (new to me) comic. The name is a bit… odd. But It’s quite cute.
The comic? “Heavenly Nostrils.” The name comes from one of the characters- a unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils.
The premise: A little girl somehow saves a unicorn from looking at its reflection by skipping a rock. The unicorn grants the girl a wish, and they end up becoming best friends.
The unicorn, though extremely egocentric, is surprisingly endearing. And sarcastic. But mostly endearing. The little girl, Phoebe, is also quite charming.
I highly recommend the comic.
Oh, and a bit of a not-quite-hack for easy navigability on the “goComics” site that I linked to: If you manually change the date in the url (the navigation bar) you mostly avoid advertisements that take over your screen.
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Hello, Fluffsters!
I got a wonderful new toy yesterday! Seriously, it’s fantastic.
It’s blue, sparkly, color-changing glow-in-the-dark silly putty. (It doesn’t glow as brilliantly as my other silly putty, but it definitely glows! It even glows BLUE!) The color-change aspect is also pretty cool. Literally. (It changes color based on the temperature.)
I got a picture of some of the different colors it can be:
Yes, it’s the same putty.
It starts out at a gorgeous dark blue. Then, as you play with it, it warms up to a lighter, equally pretty color. Finally, it ends at a lovely sparkly white. Seriously. Look at the picture- that shows the start and end colors.
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Hello, Fluffsters! Merry Christmas Eve!
One of my favorite things about holiday time is that I actually have time to craft! It’s wonderful.
Tonight, for the first time since summer, I actually had time to get my clay out and play with it!
I’m really pleased with the result so far.
Here’s what it looked like coming out of the oven:
Unpainted. Sort of. Well, just a base coat for part of it.
As you can tell, I decided to paint the pin. In shape it looks a bit peacockish, but I really wanted it to be a phoenix. That calls for colors and stuffs. So to start with, I put a light base coat of gold over the entire thing. (I put a much heavier coat on the circle part, since I do want that to be pure gold.)
Next (not shown) I mixed together some tan and gold, and sued that for a stronger base for the bird’s body.
After that I realized that the only “red” I had (which is sort of necessary for phoenix colors) was actually a bit more… pink. So I ended up mixing it with black and a bit of gold, for a very nice effect, if I do say so myself.
I then used that to cover (most of) the rest of the phoenix. Finally, I added some more watery sloshes of the gold, a hint of white in various places, a bit more of the red, and on.
Here’s the result for right now:
Painted! Yay! Isn’t the “red” nice looking?
I’m going to need to do a quick test before confirming what I’m going to do, but I’m thinking about putting some glow-in-the-dark paint on it. After all, it’s a fire-bird. It should glow, right?
I’d actually appreciate suggestions from you. Glow-in-the-dark paint? No? Eye? If so, what color should the eye be? (Blue, gold, silver, and white are all options.) In theory, I might be able to attach a crystal eye. The color options there would be “clear” (/white) or blue.If s/he does get a painted eye, should it glow?
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Hello, Fluffsters!
Happy Monday! Guess what? It’s Christmas Week!
Anywho. So yesterday, for my Christmas present, my sister took me to see Disney’s Frozen. So, (SPOILER ALERT!) here’s a:
Review: Disney’s Frozen.
First of all, I loved it. I found it significantly better than Disney’s Tangled; it was amazing. Especially as I was watching it with my sister. Which brings me to the first part of the review:
Basic Summary
This is very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen. Very loosely. Very. As in, it had a couple of elements, such as slivers of “something” entering one of the main character’s heart, and there being a queen of the snow & ice and stuff. And it’s based in roughly the right location.
The basic premise is that there are two princess sisters. The older one (Elsa) has a power to control and create snow and ice. Way towards the beginning, she accidentally hurts her little sister (Anna). This shapes the entire rest of the movie. Anna’s memories of Elsa’s powers are removed, and Elsa needs to try to control her powers, in order to not hurt people. This basically means that Elsa blocks Anna out, in order to protect her.
Fast-forward a few years. The parents die. (It’s Disney- what did you expect?) Fast-forward a few more years. Elsa is of age, and is to be crowned queen. It’s an eventful day for her. Not only is she coronated, but she also actually talks with her sister, “interacts” with people, and accidentally unleashes a big winter storm over her land, mid-summer.
Woops.
Yup. And she runs away.
The rest of the movie goes on from there, as Anna goes to find Elsa, and hopefully “bring back summer.”
It’s a very character and situation driven story, as opposed to plot. The plot itself is very simple, but the situation gives tension, and the characters give depth to the “plot.”
The methods Disney used to bring the depth and tension, though, are amazing.
Sound & Visual
Ok. So as I’m sure you’re aware, Disney got an excellent acting cast, including Idina Menzel (Elphaba from Wicked) as Elsa. Disney also made stunning graphics and sound effects / music.
Seriously.
The opening songs and sounds are fantastic. It starts with Scandinavian choral music. Then it goes to a song from ice-cutters about nothing more dangerous than “a frozen heart.” The sounds is beautifully open, somewhat minor, and very folksongish. This, of course, sets the context for Elsa’s powers. “Beauty and Danger” are found in ice, and, again, nothing is more dangerous.
The opening scene also lays the expectations for the animation. It is beautiful. The artists truly captured the treacherous beauty of ice. This shows up throughout the entire movie. The ice reflects, it looks cold, and (even in 2D), it has so much depth and detail. Seriously, it is stunning.
The opening scene was great. It wasn’t the best of the movie, though.
The songs keep going on. So much character depth is given through the songs. Anna’s loneliness and Elsa’s fear and trapped feeling all shine through with the music. The two princesses have a couple of duets, which are very wonderfully orchestrated. (The background is full, and the harmonies the two girls form is gorgeous.)
The most iconic scene, and the one that actually truly got me interested in the movie, is one that Disney itself released to YouTube. (I personally think this was brilliant marketing on their part- it did get me and my sister into the theater…) This scene comes shortly after Elsa accidentally loses control and reveals her powers to the world, and therefore runs off. This is one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie, both visually and musically.
Wait… Did the lyrics actually just include a reference to fractals?
Yup. Isn’t it amazing? It, like, actually treats the audience as intelligent!
In case you couldn’t figure it out, that’s one of my absolute favorite scenes. Ever. Seriously, I have watched that scene way too many times.
Ah. So you’re saying that this song, well, you can’t “let it go?”
…Very funny.
The Foley artists in that are also amazing to, don’t you think? The snow sounds like its freezing as Elsa creates it. The palace audibly shimmers. And aren’t those graphics stunning? I totally want to visit that palace.
In all, I was very satisfied with the movie. I went into the theater expecting to like a scene from the movie- the one I found on YouTube. Instead, I was drawn in from the very beginning. Disney captures a true sister relationship amazingly, and presents a wonderfully compelling story. Both my sister and I were impressed by the movie.
Personally, and I know I’m going to ruffle some feathers with this one, I think it was unequivocally better than Tangled. The characters were believable, the sister interactions were so good, the graphics and setting were beautiful, and the music was fantastic. I think I would probably give this a full five-star review for a kids movie. (It wasn’t “OMG THE BEST MOVIE EVA!!1!”, but it was really good.)
