The end of 2011.

I wanted to write something about 2011, summing up my year and expressing my feelings about the coming 2012. I did that last year. I called it"goodbye Two Thousand and Tenacious, hello Two Thousand and Elevated". I was so clever. Anyway, I just read it and realized I was way off.
I made the predictions about 2011 being my year when everything happens. I get an agent, I book awesome gigs, I travel all over, and I get all those video games I wanted. After reading it I was disappointed. Or at least the disappointment that was on my mind came to surface. What I was hoping for in 2012 was to finally get the agent and to finally move up to the next level. Whatever that means. But I already planned for that last year. And what's to say this year won't be different. Next New Year's Eve I could be writing a blog about the same disappointment I'm feeling now all over again.
But I won't.
This year was a pretty happening year. I did get to travel. I didn't make it to Orlando to visit everyone, but I traveled all around California some, I went to visit Virginia and the DC area, and I flew all the way to Alaska! I've been wanting to do that for a decade! This year, I did it! I met my pen pal, I roamed around at a State Fair and played pirate all day, I saw the Northern Lights and had adventures! I did a lot of pirating elsewhere, I hung out with butterflies, and I became a Jedi! I also got to do a good amount of fairs and a few conventions, just like I said I would. I also ended up with the video games I wanted (Epic Mickey excluded) and money left over at the end of the year. I got to play the Grinch again, just like I said I would. And it was noticed by plenty. And finally, I did take the first and hardest step toward entrepreneurship. So, to a degree, I did what I set out to do.
All that's left is the career stuff. I met some agencies in 2011. This year I will get one. My website will be done. The entrepreneurship will take it's next next step. I will take the next steps toward the career that I am aiming for, gain success, yada yada. I will be happy.
It's not like 2011 was a great year in general anyway. If anything it was horrible. It will forever be associated with mass protests, oppression, class warfare, and struggle. 2011 was a powder keg. If there was gonna be an end of the world I would've expected it to have come in 2011.
2012 should be different. At least for me. It will be a lot of fun. I will make it happen.

Hugo

This one might have spoilers. I try not to, but I didn't know what else to write about.
Someone needs to revamp the advertising spots for Martin Scorsese's latest picture, Hugo Cabret, because they make it look like a tritely enchanting story of a boy who befriends a robot who magically comes to life on goes on a CGI filled adventure. And that is not at all what this movie is. Hugo Cabret is the story of a gifted orphan who searches for his place in the grand mechanism of the world. Hugo Cabret is the story of a wound down man trying to escape a past which is being resurfaced. It's the story of a girl who finally has the adventure she's read about, a broken man becoming whole again and a couple coming together through the romance. But with all the stories that leisurely move along within the film, Hugo Cabret is above all a celebration of film.
As I watched the film, and became enveloped in the mystery of the mechanical man which Hugo devotes everything he has left in order to repair, I couldn't help feel a sense of magic. Perhaps it was simply Scorsese's direction, the winding shots which follow our orphan hero throughout the clock tower's he calls his home, or Howard Shore's lovely scores set to snowfall, but there certainly was magic in the air. Still, I couldn't figure it out. The film is set in a train station in France. The characters are not wizards, elves, or fairy tale heroes. The mechanical automaton which Hugo is repairing is a machine, and while extraordinary, it is not one which runs on anything supernatural. So where was the magic coming from? It's funny to think that the answer was in front of me the whole time. I was looking right at it. The magic was the magic film-making.
Toward the middle of the movie, Hugo takes his new friend to see her very first movie, Safety Last, the film famous for Harold Lloyd's death-defying clock stunt. You the viewer get a chance to see the film on the big screen, and feel just as audiences of it's day did, both wowed and terrified over the still impressive stunt work. The movie continues to mention how the early days of moving pictures frightened audiences into thinking a real train was heading for them. It showcases in glorious montage some of the most famous films of the early era ever. I for one was delighted at seeing images of Charlie Chaplin, Cesar the Somnambulist, and the moon from my personal favorite, Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon). I was delighted to see the film continued to share the magnificent imagery from the man who produced, directed, wrote, and starred in the iconic silent film, Georges Méliès. Scorsese paid a loving tribute to silent film and Méliès' work, showcasing clips from his imaginative masterpieces, and even going so far as to let us in one one being made. In that moment I realized where the magic was coming from.
We saw the hand painted sets move back and forth to allow actors dressed in bright costumes dance around live pyrotechnics and theatrical rigging to create the illusion of floating mermaids, flying spacemen, and dancing monsters. All the special effects and wizardy that made film so popular in the first place were put displayed in all their awesomeness, without aid of CGI filler to make it pop or sparkle. Watching as the images being recreated, you could see how it was imagination that inspired such awe and wonder. And it was pure love for film and all its potential that made it so beautiful and fun. It was the stuff that dreams are made of, pure and simple.
Scorsese paid tribute to a true artist and an time of true brilliance in film. And I believe he did so when we needed it most. We are currently in an era where movies are compelled by franchise profiting and tent pole films are given the most attention. Scorsese reminded us of when films drew in audiences because they reacted to them, and inspired those to make them so they could share visions and stories that before could only be found in dreams. Hugo was released in the same year studios released 27 sequels to previous movies, and within of month of when 6 movie reboots were announced in the same week. If there was ever a time when the film industry seemed to be out of imagination and creativity, it is now. And while I know Hugo was based of a book that somebody else wrote, it still reminds us of a time when film inspired new ideas, rather than repacked old ones.
Even so, Hugo Cabret is a wonderful movie filled with touching stories, lovable performances, and plenty of emotion. It doesn't have any supernatural elements or blockbuster action sequences to curl you up onto the edge of your seat, but you'll find yourself there anyway. You'll find yourself in awe, wonder, delight, love, awkwardness, tension, suspense, and triumph as the characters go about their lives and try to find their place within each others'. And when watching the timeless works of classic filmmakers, as well as the tributes of the current ones, you'll find yourself in believing in its magic again.
You'll also find yourself wanting to find an old theater somewhere that still shows black and white movies.

It's Peter Pan night!!

I'm about to lose my mind. I've been anxiously awaiting today for months. Months! Tonight is the premiere of Sky Movies' Neverland, and the big reveal from the "East of Kensington".
When I first heard of Neverland, I was cautious, but after seeing the epic trailer, I've been biting my nails anxiously awaiting the premiere. And that was in May! In July I scoured the internet thinking it had premiered in the UK and I could get my hands on it, but alas, I had to practice strict patience for half a year.
And with "East of Kensington", I stumbled across them in September and fell in love after reading every single post they made on Tumblr. And if you're not familiar with this grass roots short film, then you're clearly not following my Tumblr. The point is, I've been following the film just shy of stalker distance ever since I heard about it. As if that wasn't bad enough they had to add a countdown to some sort of revelation about the film that ends tonight. Which makes the excitement to see this film come together even greater. Though I will say, I'm pretty sure I know what's going on already (brushes shoulder).
I'm already excited so see both these films, and the fact that something significant with each of them is falling on the same evening makes it feel like a holiday. And I wanna celebrate! I'm wearing my favorite Peter Pan shirt and making announcements all over my social media networks. I truly am treating this like a festive occasion. I should decorate the apartment with even more of my memorabilia.

The trouble is, just a minute ago I discovered I have a SyFy channel that's running on east coast time. Which means I can see the movie three hours earlier than I thought I'd get to! 20 MORE MINUTES!! I'M SO EXCITED!!