Post 2 The War of Art

About Book:

I am still on the first book, or part, of The War of Art and I just have to say I am getting tired of hearing the word "Resistance". It is in every other line and it honestly just means procrastination. In one chapter it compares "Resistance" to Jaws, Alien, and Terminator because "they can't be reasoned with". No, they can't be reasoned with, but they are also things that kill people. "Resistance" doesn't kill people, it just keeps you from doing things you need, or want, to do. I feel "Resistance" every day but I never let it stop me, I never fail to do my work. I might forget it sometimes, but I will never not do it because of "Resistance". I know that this book is good, but I am having a hard time enjoying the first book because of all the bad analogies.

About Group:

Also, I have changed teams on which I am working to build a site because one classmate dropped the class. As a result I have been added to another group, but luckily we are all getting along great. So the people we are doing the website for own Valley Sole, a shoe store, and they need the help improving their website so that it flows more naturally and has better content. Let me tell you a little about the site; their home page logo doesn't match the logo on their store or on any of the other pages on the website, the have a podcast page but only have one podcast posted, people can't order the shoes online but instead have to call the store so the store can order them from the company, and they have an about page that gives a lot more information than was required. My group has divided up the work for the project and we have gotten together and worked on the thumbnail sketches done for our site. I am working on the Shoes and Accessories pages for the site because their layout was confusing and didn't allow a customer to choose a size or a different color. As of right now I have created a mock-up of the site in Illustrator and posted in in our group to see what comments my group members have. 

Post 1 on The War of Art

The book has very short chapters and a lot of it makes sense. We - artists, writers, singers, songwriters, etc. - struggle to keep doing what we do. Sometimes you sit in front of your computer,  or canvas, and lose interest in what you are doing so you never complete that task. I suffer from procrastination, which is what I believe the author in this book calls "resistance". The book is easy to follow and not hard to understand, but having the author say "You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I’ll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas" (pg 15) was a bit too much. Any artist has seen some of his paintings and though they aren't spectacular they weren't terrible. He got rejected and told that his work wasn't good. Resistance didn't "beat him", people killed his dream of becoming an artist. So for the author to say something to that extreme is an overstatement.

There will be an update on this book next week.

Real Post 1

  Hello again! I am back in action and will be writing about my experiences in my Senior Design management class instead of book and movie reviews. So let me explain a little about this college class.
  With a group of classmates we will be making a website for a company so we can learn what companies like and don't like. As a result we can get experience in both the Graphic Design aspect and the Web design part of our future. So far we have contacted our company to set up a meeting but unfortunately it was set for today (which was a snow day so classes were cancelled and the roads were icy) so it was cancelled. I was a pretty good group and hopefully we will be able to set up a meeting so we can start work on this website.
  I will be posting updates regularly as a mandatory thing and will keep you all up to date on out progress on the assignment and any other assignments that go on in class. I will also try to write some more book and movie stuff but my class schedule is hectic so no guarantees.

                                      (not my work unfortunately)

Pawn Review

Title: Pawn

Author: Aimee Carter

Book: (The Blackcoat Rebellion , #1)

Pages: 343

Rating: 4/5

Sorry I've been away so long. School has been kicking my butt, but now that I'm out for Summer I've decided to catch up on some overdue reading. So this book wasn't the first book I read but I finally got to it and I must tell you that I actually enjoyed it. It was fun in a weird way.
Before I get too into the book let me explain a little bit about the ranking system. When kids turn 17 they are required to take a test to see where they will be placed. There are VII's but they are born into it and those are the people who run the country. Only 2% get a VI and they are treated well because they are an asset to society. IV and V's live well enough. But II's and III's are the people who clean up the sewers and are treated like scum in society. I's aren't even permitted to exist. So now that that has been explained on with the story.
Kitty is brilliant and she just took her test but unfortunately for her she can't read...so she got a III. Her boyfriend, Benjy, is set to take the test in a month which is why she decided to stay in D.C. instead of moving to Denver to muck around in the sewers. To do so though she must go with Tabs to sell her virginity and make the money to stay. So she gets bought...but by someone she lest expects...Prime Minister Daxton. He makes a deal to turn her into a VII but didn't tell her what she had to do until it was too late.
When she woke up she was Lila Hart, the Minister's niece who Daxton had killed. She may look like her but she has to learn to act like her as well else risk her life and Benjy's as well. If she fails they'll be sent to Elsewhere were the rich hunt them down like animals. anyone who does wrong, even a little bit, is sent there to be hunted. So she plays along with Lila's mother Celia, her fiancé Knox, her cousin Grayson, and her grandmother Augusta. But there is a lot more to the real Lila than anyone is willing to tell so it's up to Kitty to learn the truth and stay alive long enough to escape.
When Kitty learns of the Blackcoats and who leads them will she resist or will she joint their cause and fight the evil the raking system created? Will Benjy be killed for her actions? When she learns what she must do to survive...will she do it?
Yes, the synopsis was kind of vague but trust me the book is worth checking out. I'll let everyone know how the 2nd book goes once I get my hands on it.

About The Author

Aimée Carter was born and raised in Michigan, where she currently resides. She is the author of several series, including The Goddess Test series, The Blackcoat Rebellion series, and the Simon Thorn series.

Big Hero 6 Movie Review

 

Title: Big Hero 6

Year: 2014

Time: 1hr 45min

Rating: 5/5

I know how some cartoon movies are said to have all their best scenes in the previews. This isn't the case for this movie. The clips on the preview, albeit very funny, were nothing compared to the scenes in the movie. I absolutely love Baymax! "Hairy Baby!" Ohmygosh this has to be the best Marvel movie I've seen all year!
Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a genious 14 year old boy who botfights in San Fransokyo until his brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) takes him to the labs at his college. He meets GoGo Tomago (Jamie Chung), Fred (T.J. Miller), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), and Professpr Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell).There he also meets Baymax (Scott Adsit), his brother's project, and realizes that he could actually use his brain the way he had always wanted to. To get in he has to compete against the best and brightest in a competition to come up with the best design to be able to get into the school.
Hiro creates microbots and wins the competition but when he and his brother are alone the university catches fire and Tadashi goes inside to try and save his professor. The building explodes and Hiro looses his brother.
Lost in a depression he almost reverts back to botfighting until he realizes that Baymax was in his home and hadn't gotten destroyed in the fire. Baymax finds a microbot and follows it to a warehouse while Hiro tries to talk him into coming back home. They are attacked by a man in a Kabuki who is controlling Hiro's microbots and so the battle begins. He and his band of scientists must come together and become heroes. Using their new "powers" they go after the man and Baymax is turned into a thoughtless killing machine when Hiro finds out who the masked man really is and changes his programming.
Needless to say, the bad guy got away but Hiro is shown what he needed to see by Baymax when they are alone. Then he and his team go after the man in the Kabuki mask.
Will they defeat the man in the Kabuki mask? What is the villain really after? Does Baymax make it out of this battle alive?
I absolutely loved this movie and am so sorry it took me so long to write this review...especially since I went to see it the day it came out. School has been busy and work isn't helping me get any writing done. Oh well! Go see this movie! You will not regret it! Oh and stay until after the credits because Stan Lee comes into play! I didn't expect there to be anything at the end but I was so wrong.

The Maze Runner Movie Review

Title: The Maze Runner

Year: 2014

Time: 1hr & 53min

Rating: 4/5

So I read the book that this movie is based on a long time ago and am pretty sure they changed a lot in the movie, some of which shouldn't have been changed.
Thomas (Dylan O'Brian) wakes up in the lift to find he has no recollection of anything but his name which comes back after a while. When he is pulled out he finds himself in the Glade surrounded by a bunch of other boys. Like him they know nothing about themselves other than their names. Every thirty days a new boy appears but Thomas is the beginning of something else. Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Chuck (Blake Cooper), Albi (Aml Ameen), and Minho (Ki-Hong Lee) all become his friends after he spends the night in the Maze, saving Minho and Albi by killing a Griever with Minho's help.
The very next day a girl, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), appears in the shaft and doesn't know who she is or why she was sent there. Gally (Will Poulter) believes that she and Thomas are the beginning of the end of their lives and tries to get them banished into the Maze. The truth is that if they don't find a way out of the maze they will be killed by the Grievers who begin attacking when the Maze doesn't close like it is supposed to at night.
Thomas and a few others find out that the Grievers are machines that can be used to escape the maze and he could've at the time if the Maze hadn't reacted the way it had. Though the Maze is unsolvable Thomas is pretty sure he has figured a way out. After injecting himself with Griever venom he remembers some of his past the more he stays there the more he remembers. He knows he has seen the girl before. In fact it was with her help that he was able to build the maze for the people who sent them there. They were sent there to be tested!
Will Thomas be able to convince them to all escape the maze with him? Are they headed into a trap? What will they find if they make it out alive?
I honestly can't wait for the next movie to come out...if there is going to be another movie in the series. I still need to read the second book anyway. It is a really good movie and I hope you all agree once you see it.

Dracula Untold Movie Review

Title: Dracula Untold

Year: 2014

Time: 1hr & 32min

Rating: 5/5

After seeing the previews on TV and in the theatre I practically begged my father to take me to see the movie and he complied on the day it came out. I must say that I wasn't at all disappointed with the movie and desperately need to watch the original Bram Stoker's Dracula.
When I got home after this movie I was able to finish a book I had been writing fore months that is based on Dracula. There might be some spoilers in this post so if you want to see the movie with an open mind you might want to skip this. If you want to know, like I would, then read on by all means.
Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) lives in peace with his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and his son Ingeras (Art Parkinson). Unfortunately his time for peace and quiet are over when the Turks demand all the boys in the area for yet another war. Vlad refuses and kills the men who come to take his son. To protect his family he goes up into the mountains and into a cave where a true monster lurks. The monster Simion (Ronan Vibert) gives Vlad a choice...protect his family or die. Vlad obviously chose to protect his people and family so he drinks the vampires blood and has three days until the powers wane. There was a catch though, should he drink blood from a human he would remain a vampire forever.
His friend from the war Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) sends thousands of men to get the boys for the war and Vlad kills them all singlehandedly. Realizing that it wasn't safe in the castle anymore they go to the monastery up in the mountains. While his family and people traveled in the day he was forced to travel at night which almost led to his family being killed by some Turks who'd come after them.
Once they make it to the monastery everyone turns on Vlad when they realize what he was. His wife stood up for him and he prepared for the 100,000 troops, including Mehmed, that came after him. He killed many but while he was distracted the Turks threw his wife off of the balcony and he flew after her in a panic. Not being fast enough she lay dying only to tell him to drink her blood. Against his better judgment he does and creates an army out of his fallen comrades. He and his army go after Mehmed, who has Ingeras, and wreak havoc on the army.
Do he and his army of vampires win? What does he do with the uncontrollable vampires afterwards? Does his son make it out alive?
I honestly loved the ending because I wasn't expecting it. This is a tragic love story, which appeals to women, and has great battle scenes for the men. It was a great ending though and I hope you all go and see it. You will love it! :D