Life of Pi Movie vs. Book

Spoiler Free:
Life of Pi is an amazing story with extraordinary detail, almost enough to make you believe the story is true. In fact, if I did not know that it was fiction, I would be tempted to believe it all. The movie does not compare well to the book and I would advise not to watch the movie shortly after reading the book. I made this mistake and could not convince myself to enjoy the movie. The movie takes on a more lighthearted approach and fails to delve into the more serious aspects. It also messed up one of my favorite parts. The book, however, it fantastic and you should read it.

Spoilers now:
This part is mostly me ranting about how the movie was not as good as the book.

I originally saw the movie before I read the book, but it had been a long time. I remembered that there was a romance and, of course, a tiger, that the hyena had killed the orangutan, a zebra had died, the tiger had popped out suddenly, there was a scene with a mirror-like ocean, a glowing whale, and an island with a tooth on it. The romance did not exist at all in the book and I honestly don't think it was necessary in the movie. I understand that they were using it as a way to pull in the audience and tie up the strings at the end with the whole "I wish I had gotten the chance to say good-bye" thing, but it simply subtracted from the plot and the writers hardly dealt with it at all after Pi left for Canada.
The mirror-like ocean does not happen and neither does the glowing whale. I guess those were just added for cool affects, but they were not even that great of effects. Ok, the mirror-like ocean was beautiful, but the whale didn't look as spectacular as it could have. In fact, everything was relatively poor animation for what they were trying to achieve. And he tiger growled way too much. In the book, every single sound Richard Parker (RP) made had some emotional significance which was carefully explained to the reader. In the movie, RP just growled a lot every chance he got. It completely destroyed the relationship between Pi and RP.
The movie has RP completely under Pi's control after RP bites down on a stick and doesn't like it, whereas the book takes the time to show Pi slowly training RP, but RP isn't trained liked a circus animal until the end of the book when they are on the island. In the movie, Pi uses a stick to tap where he wants RP to go way before a relationship like that should have been formed. The movie also displays RP as being more of a two dimensional character. He growls and obeys. In the book, RP goes through an emotional journey as much as Pi does.
I also feel like Pi's character was messed up in the movie. In the book, he is not nearly as emotional in the end. At least twice during the interview section, the following words are exchanged.
"I lost my whole family."
"We're sorry about that."
"Not as much as I am."

Whereas in the movie they say:
"I lost my whole family..."
"I'm sorry."

There is emotion where there should be none. In the movie, Pi is still upset and not at all hardened by his experience. At the very end they do state that no one survived in the ocean longer than Pi, but I do not remember them stating exactly how long. I may be wrong, but I still feel like that concept was simply glossed over rather than properly addressed. The movie was more of an adventure than an emotional journey.
Now for the part that made me angry: the movie completely screwed up the carnivorous island.
The island was my favorite part in the book because it was really cool and believable. The concept was simple. Something in the algae turned the water from salt to fresh and at night, without the sun's rays, the island became acidic and digested everything that touched the surface. The fish died in the little pools because they swam into fresh water. In the movie, Pi says that every single thing on the island became acidic, including the pools and that's what killed and digested the fish. Then they do one worse thing and zoom out to see the island glowing. Immediately this scene takes the island from believable to magical. It becomes mystical rather than real.
The movie also failed to explain the meerkats. All it would have taken was for Pi to briefly state, "decades of existing on that island had bread out the fight or flight instinct. The meerkats saw no threat in us even when we attacked them." It would have taken 30 seconds at the most and helped the audience understand the island so much better. I remember the first time I watched the movie and I didn't understand the meerkats. In fact, I hardly understood the island even when Pi explained it.

I will give the movie one thing, though, I did like that they gave us as small connection with the Buddhist sailor that the Zebra represented. It helped the audience connect more with the second story, and while it was not necessary in the book, it did not take away from he movie so I liked it. Well done, movie.

Ok, that's my rant. Please keep in mind that I understand a lot of the decisions the writers made when adapting the book into a movie. All in all, it is a good movie, but not nearly as good as the book. Show the movie to your children and read the book as an adult. I have nothing against watching the movie, but as I said before, I would advise not watching it soon after reading the book. They do not compare well. If you feel like watching someone else make fun of the movie, check out this video by CinemaSins.

Technology's Toll

When I first began trying to cut back on technology, I only stopped using it in public. I thought that this would be enough and that I would have more stories to tell this way, and while I do have more stories, it did not really have the effect I was hoping. I was still addicted to my computer and everything it brought me. I'd get home and start it up right away to make sure I hadn't missed anything in the little time I was gone. Then a few weeks ago my access to the computer was limited simply because I was really busy. This week I have had less to do, but I actually have not been on my computer. After realizing all the things I was missing by spending my days with my nose to the screen, I no longer craved the mindless enjoyment it could produce. 

As a child, I loved to read. My parents had to come in and tell me to go to sleep almost every night. At one point they even put a special lock on my lights so that I was unable to turn them on when the time came for sleep. Of course, I found ways around all this and the reading continued. But when I got my computer, the reading stopped and changed all together. For a long time, I stopped reading books and started reading Wikipedia articles or other things. I made friends online and spent hours every night talking to them through gmail chat. Eventually, one of my in person friends introduced me to the gaming videos on YouTube which eventually led to many subscriptions to gamers and various vloggers. At one point, I didn't even like most of the videos I was watching. I just needed something to do. 

My book collection suffered. I went from having advanced books for my age to only books from my childhood, far below my rising reading level. Why would I read and imagine the images when I could just find  video in which they are created for me? It's far less work. I stopped writing. Without reading to inspire me to create my own story, I didn't see a reason to. Not to mention that the short, 3-15 minute videos I had been watching had lowered my attention span immensely. I no longer had the capacity to write even when I was inspired. It was too hard. So I stopped. 

Last week, I read. I finished a book called Ready Player One for my college summer reading. Without that assignment, I may not be reading today. It was an amazing book and brought back all of the wonderful memories from when I used to read. When I finish a great book, I get a rush. I can't stop smiling for the next ten minutes and I walk around in a happy daze. If I finish a book right before I try to go to sleep... well I won't be sleeping for a while. This week I am reading Life of Pi. I had been meaning to read this book for a long time after seeing the movie, but never got around to it because I stopped reading. So far, I'm really enjoying it. 

Anyways, I know most people do not have the passion for reading I do. I do not by any means intend to say that technology has taken everyone away from books. Maybe there are some people who have mastered balancing books and technology like I am learning to do. However, I do think that technology has taken something more concrete away from all of us. Whatever it is will differ from person to person, but we all have something that we simply cannot do or achieve online; we need the real world. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go back to my reading. 

How To: Write a Good Ending

I cannot tell you how many times I have read something I absolutely adored only to be left with a bad taste in my mouth afterwards. Every single good quality of the book gets shoved to the back of my mind thanks to the terrible ending the story had. Of course, ending a story is one of the hardest parts. You want to leave your audience happy they read, watched, or listened to your story. Follow these 5 rules and you are guaranteed to have a good ending.

Side Note: These rules do not necessarily apply to ending a book in the middle or beginning of a series. These apply to the ultimate ending of the story.

1. Always leave the audience wanting more.
Despite the fact your story is over, if you tie up every loose end, your audience will move on with their life instead of continuing to think about your story long after it ended. This is not to say that you should end with your character dangling over a cliff or some nonsense, but the story should end before every single problem is solved. All major plot points should be tied up, but the character should still have some challenges awaiting them after the story. For example, you might finish a distopian novel by toppling the corrupt government, but not discussing how they rebuild their world or you could end a romance novel with the new couple preparing themselves to meet the parents but not showing them meeting the parents. In other words, leave a little mystery in your wake.

2. Do not leave the audience confused.
If you need to take a couple paragraphs more to explain a plot point, go ahead and do it. One of the worst types of endings is the kind that leaves you going, "wait what?" Make sure you settle all major plot points. The audience should be completely aware of what has happened to the character throughout the story. Like I said before, don't end with your character dangling off a cliff. Show how they get back onto the cliff. And unless your story calls for it, do not quickly sum it up because you do not feel like typing out the actions. By that I mean, don't say something like "Then Kristy climbed back up and everyone was ok."

3. Don't force a happy ending where one does not belong.
It's true that if given the choice between a happy or sad ending, most people would choose happy, but as seen in every book you read in high school, sad endings sell. Your goal is to make your audience feel something. The emotion you choose doesn't matter as long as it is directed at the story and not at you. You want your audience mad that Chelsea chose Scott over Brody, not mad that you screwed up the ending. I cannot tell you how many books I've read and movies I've watched whose endings left me underwhelmed because they had been completely forced. It's not always logical for the two characters to end up happy together and that's ok. That being said, don't force a sad ending either. Let your story decide.

4. Give your audience some closure.
If a dear character died at some point in the story, make sure to address that and let the other characters move on so the audience can do the same. Do not simply assume that the audience knows a funeral happened. Mention it and say how the character felt better having attended or whatever needs to be said. Your audience cannot be left still grieving or your story will automatically become disliked. Sad is ok, depressing is not. Also make sure any terrible jerks that need to be dealt with are handled. You don't want to leave your audience wondering "what about that jerk form the beginning that did something bad and vanished forever?" All characters need closure.

5. Do whatever your story needs.
Every story is different. Maybe you want your audience to go away knowing exactly how your characters ended up. Maybe you want your story to end with explicit narration. Maybe you don't want some sub plots to get tied up because that's the magic your story needs. Do whatever you need to do to end your story with the same quality, if not better quality, work that you used in the rest of the story.

I have never met anyone that told me endings were the easiest parts for them to write. I know that when I write I cycle through multiple ending options before I get there as my story evolves and my characters change. Some people go into writing with an ending already in mind and it never changes. But whether you write your ending at the end or the beginning, make sure it's something to remember.

Beauty and the Beast: The Moral of the Story

Beauty and the Beast is one of those timeless tales that everyone at least knows the premise of: beautiful girl meets ugly beast, they fall in love, he becomes a handsome prince, and they all live happily ever after. People will usually tell you that the moral of the story is that beauty is on the inside or that it's what's on the inside that counts. And while both those statements are true, they may not be the actual moral to the story. Let's think about the original Beauty and the Beast for a moment.
Belle's father, whose name is not mentioned, goes off to salvage a ship that could bring him out of bankruptcy after he lost a whole fleet of ships and their merchandise. Believing that he will return a rich man, he offers to bring his three daughters any gifts they desire. Belle's two sisters ask for jewels and gowns, but Belle asks for a single rose because they do not grow where she lives.
The father becomes lost and finds himself at the Beast's castle. There is no talking furniture. There is, however, a feast set out seemingly for him and everything else he needed to be refreshed and continue on the road. As he left the castle, he found a beautiful rose bush and took a rose for Belle. The Beast saw this and appears in front of the man, enraged that Belle's father had taken advantage of the Beasts hospitality and then tried to steal from him.
The Beast says that he must kill Belle's father, but Belle's father begs for the Beast to at least let him go say good bye to his daughters. The Beast agrees and lets the man take the rose for Belle too and gives the father jewels and gowns for his other two daughters. However, once he gets home, Belle finds out what happened and runs away to beg the Beast to let her take his place. The Beast agrees, but lets her live in the castle rather than killing her.
The Beast and Belle get along swimmingly. In fact, the Beast proposes to Belle every night, but she always declines saying she only thinks of him as a friend. Eventually Belle becomes extremely homesick and begs the Beast for a chance to see her family again. The Beast, being in love with her, agrees and gives her a ring and a mirror. The ring has the power to take her back to the castle once she turns it around her finger three times. The mirror gives her the ability to see anything she desires. However, she must return within the week or else unspecified bad things will happen.
Belle visits her family and her sisters are enraged to see her so happy and healthy. They find out that Belle must return by a certain date and convince her to stay one more day by secretly cutting onions to make themselves cry.  Belle agrees to stay another day, but feels guilty when she misses her deadline and looks through the mirror to the beast. The mirror shows the Beast lying dying by the rose bush. Belle immediately uses the ring to return to him and professes her love which, we all know, turns him human. Then they get married.
The part that throws me off here is that Belle rejected the Beast every time until he was either dead or no longer ugly. She may have been able to love him, but she was unable to see past all the bad parts. So, the moral I take from this story is: "If you love someone hard enough, they will become physically attractive."
Maybe Belle just didn't want to marry the Beast because, well, imagine the children that would result. Still, she didn't have to add the "we're just friends" part. Surely she could have explained any concerns instead of rejecting him?
There it is. The moral of Beauty and the Beast. Next time you are around someone that you are not physically attracted to, just love them and they will completely transform. It's almost like magic.

Eyes Wide Open

For some reason it has taken me ages to getting to write this blog. My plan originally was to post things like this every few weeks, but so far the idea has only been residing in my mind. Until now. Remember the blog I wrote about looking up for your electronics and connecting with the world around you? If not, you can read it here. Well I've been doing my very very best not to be a hypocrite and I thought I'd share two of the experiences I had as a result.
The first one happened only a few days after I posted the blog. I was still working on detaching myself from my phone and getting comfortable with actually looking at my surroundings openly. I don't mean staring at people, of course, but looking around and taking it in slowly and carefully and politely. So, like all people do at some point, I had a doctor's appointment. I'm sure most of us can agree that one of the worst things about all doctor's appointments is the whole waiting forever part. This appointment was no exception.
I finished filling out the countless forms and signing things saying I wouldn't sue them if they accidentally killed me, standard stuff, and instinctively started playing my go to game: minesweeper. Great game, by the way. It requires logic, but does not take your whole brain away from the world. Anyways, I was half way done with plugging in my ear buds to listen to some music when I realized that I was totally not doing what I had told myself I would. Here I was at my first chance to deny technology and live and I was going to immediately give up? I don't think so.
I took out my ear buds, closed out of minesweeper, locked my phone, and put it securely in my purse. Then came the awkward part, looking at something other than my hands in my lap. I considered reading a magazine, but none of them interested me. I now realize that probably would have been my best option anyways, but at the time I was not exactly sure what to do. Unfortunately, nothing super entertaining happened. All of the other people in there were on smart phones or tablets/IPads except one woman who went into a corner and started talking angrily into the phone. I can't remember what about anymore.
The second experience occurred a few weeks later when I was waiting for my coffee at the mall. The woman in front of me had been sent by her co-workers to get all of their coffee orders. She was struggling to figure out which emerging coffee beverage was for which of her friends when she said to everyone around her, "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with coffee." I saw my chance and truthfully replied, "Oh, me neither."
She smiled at me and said, "Ask me to fix a computer and I can do it, but ask me about what any of these drinks are and I'd have no idea."
I laughed and agreed.
We talked a little bit more about our incompetence with coffee beverages and how we basically just try what our friends have until we figure out how to pronounce the name of what we like. I didn't get her name or come away with a new friend, but I did get the chance to talk to someone nice and hopefully brighten their day a bit. I know she brightened mine.
So far the non-technology thing is a success for me. I do feel like I have been experiencing the world more. Still, I find it difficult to tear myself away from my computer at home, but I am proud to say I am more likely to pull out a book when bored in public than my phone. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Shoes

My friend Joseph has some seriously old ratty white sneakers. Ok, so they're only 4 years old. That's still very old for a pair of shoes that get worn every chance possible. Joseph loves his shoes because they're practical and comfortable. At one point they were completely white, but as the years went by, they picked up various bits of color. There's a green and blue stain on the side of one of them. I think it came from when we were painting the stage in preparation of our performance of A Year with Frog and Toad in which he played Frog. Great show. So great, in fact, that Joseph likes to carrying it around on his shoes it seems.
If you happen to be around him when he takes them off you might notice that the inside back is almost completely gone. In fact, it's so bad that it's actually worn a hole in one of his socks. Yet, he still claims his shoes are comfortable. They're plain enough for him to wear to nice occasions like Church and then anywhere else he needs to go afterwards. "People don't look at my feet that much," he says.
A couple years ago, I too had some shoes I adored. Mine were white, grey, and light purple sneakers (no picture, sorry).  Any time I couldn't wear my flip flops (which are still my favorite), I wore those sneakers. Eventually they became worn out, but not nearly as worn out as Joseph's. They just lost all traction and stopped being comfortable. I think I had them about three years. I'm sure mine would have fallen apart like Joseph's in another year or so. Anyways, I managed to convince my parents that I needed new sneakers and got some awesome shoes.

You see, the moment I stepped into those overprices sneakers, my feet felt heaven. The sensation has sense worn off, but it was amazing how different those new shoes felt from the old. I had actually forgotten that shoes do more than simply protect your feet. They can actually offer support for your back and make walking easier. Who knew?!
So now it is my goal to get Joseph some new shoes. He insists with sticking with plain white, and that's fine. We even did some research today to figure out his current type of shoes and what the newest version is and where we could look for it. Hopefully in this coming weekend we will go out shoe hunting and he will have the same marvelous comfortable experience that I had.