A wonderful and Wintery Merry Christmas and New Year's to you all! Yes, it's me, I'm alive, don't count me out yet! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving in America, as well as in Canada back in October (Thanksgiving for Canada is October). I had a nice time visiting family...well, the little that's here in Pennsylvania, as most of my family is in New York, my country, and Canada, and it was nice catching up on some news on how everyone's been doing. My youngest brother has finally settled down from his "wild" way and living comfortably in New York City (damn lucky dog! XD ) and my middle brother has gotten engaged to his long-time girlfriend. I'm very happy for them. Seems like most of my other family members are getting married or enagaged...my cousin in Canada got married less than a year ago. Will it be my turn next? Who knows?

Anyway, other than that, nothing really much going on. I'm still working, saving up, and trying to keep myself from going insane with boredom. Okay, let's see....I just finished overhauling and re-editing ALL of my writings....again. From my old Sailor Sirius fanfictions to my original novels, The Dark Fires Of Cyphyrus and Osiris Rising, even An Angel's Prayer. It took me about 5 months, but it's done. This is about the 5th time I've completely overhauled my writings, and hopefully they are a MUCH better read now. I went back and restructured sentences, deleted some sentences, and even added more sentences to give more detail and elocution. I've noticed how much my style writing style has changed over the years, and I thought it would be fun to go back and improve on my descriptions, my dialogue, and character portrayals. Years and years ago when I was a kid and writing the Sailor Sirius stories, I didn't think I wrote that much, that I needed more. Now, I look back, and I just can't believe how much I wrote! It was SO much more than I thought. I also noticed how much I reuse words and keep "repeating" sentences, as someone else told me. I didn't believe, but yes, I did do it, and hopefully I've found and corrected those mistakes. I've seen how much I've grown, how much I've improved on my writing, and I hope my corrections portrayed that well. Oh, and I also wanted to thank the readers of the Sailor Sirius fanfiction, from the past years ago and the few today. There were many, many times I wanted to give up on writing Sailor Sirius's story, simply for the fact that I wasn't getting any feedback or much readers.......but the little encouragment I got, the few supporters really turned it around for me, because I then knew that even though it's not a lot, people WERE reading, and they appreciate it and my efforts in bringing Sailor Sirius's story to life. I also learned that I should not be writing Sailor Sirius's story not just to get readers, but for my own enjoyment, for how much I used to love Sailor Moon back then, and yes....for myself. Thank you all for that...you know how you are. The improvements I did are for you as well as for myself.

Alright, before I burst out of tears of happiness, I wanted to do reviews of a couple of movies I've seen. The first one is Tron: Legacy. When I was much younger and Tron first came out, it was hailed as a milestone in movie-making and CG. But alas........it was considered a big-budget flop at that time, and Disney quickly wanted it to be forgotten. The thing is...it wasn't forgotten, and even though it didn't do very well, it gathered a cult following. This new one....honestly, it was enjoyable, but like its predecessor, while it didn't get very favorable reviews, it's sure  to have a following. The storyline was a little weak, and the character could have used a little more depth, but it was still something to enjoy two hours with, mostly because of the graphics. Personally I think the 3D kind of distracted from what's going on behind the scenes....what the movie was supposed to be about. I think it would have been perfect in 2D as well, but with most studios switching to 3D, I'm sure more 3D movies are coming.

The next is Rapunzel. You know, I honestly thought I was going to hate this movie, that I was going to hate Disney for "selling out" and going along the "popular" route everyone else was going with CGI animation. But honestly, I didn't hate it. I thought Rapunzel was a wonderful, and while didn't really live up to the Golden Age of Disney 2D animation back in the early to late 1990's (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty And The Beast), it was still a very adorable, cute story, filled with heart and warmth. What got me really laughing was the part Rapunzel had a "bi-polar" episode, but I can kind of understand, what with being locked up in a tower for 18 years. A bit predictable, but still enjoyable. Again, I didn't see the point of 3D, but hey...


Last but not least is The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. Thankfully I was able to choose between 2D and 3D, and I'm sure it was enjoyable in both. I admit that I have not read the book, but I did see the live-action 1990 BBC production of it, and it was a very compelling story indeed. I'm pretty sure some liberties were taken that were different from the book, but it was still a great story that did feel a bit rushed at times. Things happened too quickly, and I'm sure you might have to watch it two or three times to really get it. The acting was much better though, and Ben Barnes has thankfully dropped that dreadful fake accent he had in Prince Caspian. I won't go so far as to say it was the best of the 3 movies, but it was an improvement from Prince Caspian. I truly hope they do at least 2 more...the Silver Chair and The Last Battle.

So that's about it with the reviews. Oh, and speaking of Chronicles Of Narnia, some years ago, right after I finished reading The Last Battle...and wiping away the tears as I had burst into tears at the end, I decided that the ending left me unsatisfied, that I wanted to know how Narnia lived on and how it may have impacted other people's lives besides the Pevensie children, Eustace, and Jill, his friend. So I decided to write a very short fanfic of it called Narnia Awakens. It's not very long, and I never expected anyone to really read it, but with The Dawn Treader coming out, I thought....why not? You can check it out here:

Narnia Awakens - [link]

A good friend of mine, Ken, liked the story, and decided to make a sequel of it, as I told him I wasn't likely to write more on it, since I was concentrating on my own original novels. If you are curious and would like to read the sequel to my story, Narnia Awakens, written by Ken, please drop by his gallery and read it there:

Kenliano: Narnia Isle - [link]
Part II - [link]

Please let him know what you think, it's an amazing story.

As before, please continue to visit my gallery, check out my stuff, and PLEASE let me know what you think. Thank you all so much for visiting so far, and Merry Christmas to you all. And no, it's not a typo. I don't mean "Happy Holidays", or "Seasons Greetings" or anything generic and "politically correct" as that. I know I'm not that religious, but I at least acknowledge and appreciate what this time of the year...Christmas, is really about, and I won't forget that, especially in this world where it's "cool" to go along with that's popular, whether it's right or wrong. So yes, Merry Christmas to you all.