For December:
http://ottilt.blogspot.com/2013/12/december.html
For all of 2013 (you'll have to do a bit of scrolling and clicking):
http://ottilt.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Pic a Day - 12/23 to 12/29
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| Mon. Dec 23, footed pajamas for the win! OTTILT: actively trying to NOT be a procrastinator |
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| Tues. Dec 24, watching It's a Wonderful Life OTTILT: weird Christmas movie traditions |
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| Wed. Dec 25, rocking a handmade candy-cane scarf OTTILT: the good, the bad, and the wonderful on Christmas |
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| Thurs. Dec 26, this little kid in the Pixar short "La Luna" looks so much like Gregory Alan Isakov with that little hat... seriously, look up "Gregory Alan Isakov" on Google Images, and you will see what I mean OTTILT: light & fluffy German chocolate |
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| Fri. Dec 27 OTTILT: "Eleanor & Park" |
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| Sat. Dec 28, all right, time for another screenplay OTTILT: lessons from a bad movie |
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| Sun. Dec 29, drawing family character profiles (sorry it's in really light pencil) OTTILT: seeing a plane fly into the clouds |
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Sharknado Review
All right, since I just spent an hour and a half of my life watching Sharknado, I will do everyone the service of telling you all why you shouldn't watch it. Trust me. You'll save an hour and twenty-seven minutes of your life. Unless you want to watch a movie about sharks in a tornado over L.A. (Exactly. It sounds ridiculous.)
"Anyway. Don't ask why, but a while after I got home... I watched Sharknado, just for the hell of it. Well, it was believable enough, because I felt that instinctive pull in my gut that you feel when you want to persuade characters to do the right thing and when you feel like you know what to do in that situation. However, beyond generic horror-movie gut instinct, it was not believable at all.
Cinematographically, it was very poorly put together. The clips were all filmed in different qualities and totally different times, and most were ridiculously shaky, and the beach & flood shots seemed like something from another world, another lifetime, a news report on Katrina or something. The actors weren't really awful, but they were either super-exaggerated or completely emotionless when they should have been angry or scared or something. Also, the background plot lines about the characters had little relevance to the shark epidemic except when necessary (like Nova telling about the sharks taking her grandfather... "so I really hate sharks"). And, if it was a water storm in the Pacific, wouldn't it be a tsunami? And hasn't the name David already been used [for a hurricane]? Since when does California get tornadoes, or any kind of water storm? Why would the sharks target people? Seriously, no animal in the wild targets humans just 'cause (except maybe lions or something). For CGI, that was horrible - plus, they constantly reused animated clips of CGI sharks swimming underwater when it didn't fit the scene (shallow water in street, swimming pool). People made dumb jokes at inappropriate times. The dialogue was really fake and forced.
The one good part? The super-cute Australian surfer guy, but stupid Fin [main character] didn't bother to shoot the shark that was eating his [Australian guy's] leg off, and Aussie blew into the tornado 'cause [Fin] took too long to notice him. Besides that, things worked out too perfectly - the opportunity to save a bunch of children from a sinking school bus threatened by sharks? The fact that Fin just had ammo in his car for some reason? Nova knowing how to shoot a gun? Being able to easily steal a car? Not getting caught by the cops while speeding - because they had stolen a car off a movie-set lot, so it had Nitro? Yeah, right. And the fact that all of Fin's family - and Nova, too, so Fin's son Matt would have a girlfriend - survived the attack made it too good to be true.
Well, I watched it, and even if it was bad for a [supposedly] horror flick, it taught me about film and how to make a good one."
excerpt taken from journal; December 28, 2013
"Anyway. Don't ask why, but a while after I got home... I watched Sharknado, just for the hell of it. Well, it was believable enough, because I felt that instinctive pull in my gut that you feel when you want to persuade characters to do the right thing and when you feel like you know what to do in that situation. However, beyond generic horror-movie gut instinct, it was not believable at all.
Cinematographically, it was very poorly put together. The clips were all filmed in different qualities and totally different times, and most were ridiculously shaky, and the beach & flood shots seemed like something from another world, another lifetime, a news report on Katrina or something. The actors weren't really awful, but they were either super-exaggerated or completely emotionless when they should have been angry or scared or something. Also, the background plot lines about the characters had little relevance to the shark epidemic except when necessary (like Nova telling about the sharks taking her grandfather... "so I really hate sharks"). And, if it was a water storm in the Pacific, wouldn't it be a tsunami? And hasn't the name David already been used [for a hurricane]? Since when does California get tornadoes, or any kind of water storm? Why would the sharks target people? Seriously, no animal in the wild targets humans just 'cause (except maybe lions or something). For CGI, that was horrible - plus, they constantly reused animated clips of CGI sharks swimming underwater when it didn't fit the scene (shallow water in street, swimming pool). People made dumb jokes at inappropriate times. The dialogue was really fake and forced.
The one good part? The super-cute Australian surfer guy, but stupid Fin [main character] didn't bother to shoot the shark that was eating his [Australian guy's] leg off, and Aussie blew into the tornado 'cause [Fin] took too long to notice him. Besides that, things worked out too perfectly - the opportunity to save a bunch of children from a sinking school bus threatened by sharks? The fact that Fin just had ammo in his car for some reason? Nova knowing how to shoot a gun? Being able to easily steal a car? Not getting caught by the cops while speeding - because they had stolen a car off a movie-set lot, so it had Nitro? Yeah, right. And the fact that all of Fin's family - and Nova, too, so Fin's son Matt would have a girlfriend - survived the attack made it too good to be true.
Well, I watched it, and even if it was bad for a [supposedly] horror flick, it taught me about film and how to make a good one."
excerpt taken from journal; December 28, 2013
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Pic a Day - 12/16 to 12/22
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| Mon. Dec 16, this picture is hilarious and weird because I was just hurling a tennis ball in the air and quickly hitting the shutter button to try and get a picture, because my Samsung Galaxy (player) takes the slowest pictures OTTILT: last-minute creativity |
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| Tues. Dec 17, yep. OTTILT: being everyone's Secret Santa |
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| Wed. Dec 18, my little stuffed-animal class is also taking finals :( OTTILT: studying with the smart kids |
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| Thurs. Dec 19 OTTILT: crocheting craze |
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| Fri. Dec 20, my first crochet project ever! I'm giving them to myself as a Christmas present! OTTILT: my Hermes/aviator slippers |
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| Sat. Dec 21, solstice festivity OTTILT: setting up luminaria |
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| Sun. Dec 22, Maria being hilarious, begging me to take photos for my blog and then totally, awesomely photo-bombing them (it's actually Molly's party; she's second from the right, opening presents) OTTILT: chill, bowling-alley parties |
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Pic a Day - 12/9 to 12/15
(My excuse for this week's pictures being less-than-totally awesome is because I was sort of studying for finals. Sort of. And starting tomorrow will be more studying, and Wednesday through Friday will be the actual midterms and Saturday and Sunday I will be brain-dead and watching YouTube and Netflix. But, week after next I will get to you some more predictably awesome photos for this blog. Thanks for keeping up, even through the hard and boring weeks, everybody. It's crazy that you would look at pictures of writing for fun, but if you like it, I like it, and I like you. Not to be creepy or anything. Okay, on to pictures now.)
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| Mon. Dec 9, drawing awesome rainbow bar graphs for a biology lab OTTILT: way too much awesomeness for the public to handle |
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| Tues. Dec 10, browsing through the fiction section in this month's issue of TeenInk OTTILT: "Troika" |
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| Wed. Dec 11, fall-ish winter OTTILT: taste-test reviewing |
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| Thurs. Dec 12, my new and cool way to study for history OTTILT: Gene Wilder in "The Young Frankenstein" |
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| Fri. Dec 13, Spanish vocabulary on Quizlet OTTILT: drawing a little Jason Voorhees mask next to the date on Friday the 13th |
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| Sat. Dec 14, I found a nice collection of used treasures at the book sale OTTILT: rereading books from your childhood |
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| Sun. Dec 15, when I go to the grocery store, I practice juggling in the baby food/OTC medication aisle OTTILT: young trees that tower over you |
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Pic a Day - 12/2 to 12/8
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| Mon. Dec 2, my friend and his art contribution to our English class OTTILT: NaNo withdrawal symptoms |
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| Tues. Dec 3, library jungle OTTILT: cool banjo/folk mixes |
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| Wed. Dec 4, weird eagle clouds OTTILT: being able to prove a teacher wrong |
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| Thurs. Dec 5, spooky snow tree OTTILT: when only five kids show up to class, so you get to watch Hulu |
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| Fri. Dec 6, a text conversation between Romeo and Mercutio OTTILT: the parody songs in the Rutles movie |
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| Sat. Dec 7, I love the layout of my 8tracks homepage OTTILT: dramatic History Channel specials |
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| Sun. Dec 8, with crocheted facial hair I can become a small, bearded man OTTILT: The Iron Giant |
Sunday, December 1, 2013
OTTILT November
The full month of November! (You'll be surprised that I didn't just put "NaNo" for every single day):
http://ottilt.blogspot.com/2013/12/november.html
http://ottilt.blogspot.com/2013/12/november.html
Pic a Day - 11/25 to 12/1
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| Mon. Nov 25, we had just enough snow for a snowman OTTILT: friendly, generic counselor-student talks |
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| Tues. Nov 26, fourth week of NaNo OTTILT: spy missions |
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| Wed. Nov 27, some poetry on a hot chocolate box OTTILT: things to make you smile |
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| Thurs. Nov 28 OTTILT: moms that make awesome Thanksgiving food |
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| Fri. Nov 29, counting words OTTILT: overdosing on cuteness |
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| Sat. Nov 30, checking out Christmas lights across the way (the red line is from the lights in my room) OTTILT: conversation days |
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| Sun. Dec 1, my brother's Lego neighborhood OTTILT: Matthew Hussey videos |
Okay, so the foods I had for Thanksgiving:
mashed potatoes with rosemary-mushroom gravy, Boston baked beans (Ingalls Wilder-style), garlic green beans (from my Single-Serving Vegan recipe), biscuits with cranberry butter, maple-orange cranberry sauce
Don't forget the sweet potato pie with cranberry mousse!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Pic a Day - 11/18 to 11/24
Mon. Nov 18
OTTILT: fitting yourself into artwork
Tues. Nov 19, when teachers say one-sided study sheets...
OTTILT: teachers letting you work alone
Wed. Nov 20
OTTILT: hand binoculars
Thurs. Nov 21, this time I get a letter from Pierce Brosnan
OTTILT: Eric Whitacre's virtual choir
Fri. Nov 22
OTTILT: clever Pictionary interpretations
Sat. Nov 23, holiday-themed Wheat Thins
OTTILT: your half birthday
Sun. Nov 24, climate change in action (seriously, this time last year it was just barely getting cold)
OTTILT: snow melting
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Pic a Day - 11/11 to 11/17
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| Mon. Nov 11, my homework policy (I'm not even kidding) OTTILT: getting away with being a (stylish) rebel |
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| Tues. Nov 12, if you can't actually get the problem right, at least be artistic about it OTTILT: friends interested in your private writing projects |
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| Wed. Nov 13, Jelelah's off to Japan! (Unagi Travel) OTTILT: being called "sweet" (especially if you're a little demon) |
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| Thurs. Nov 14, probably sleep-deprived OTTILT: a bat sock-puppet |
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| Fri. Nov 15, and here's photographic proof of the bat sock-puppet! OTTILT: being able to have both opinions |
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| Sat. Nov 16, my great-grandmother's sewing machine OTTILT: skills passed down for generations |
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| Sun. Nov 17, a sweet new hoodie OTTILT: NaNo plot advice |