Merry Christmas 2022!

It's time for my annual tradition of taking photos of all the Christmas trees around me.

Aeon Mall Hinode

Kanazawa Tokyu Stay

Welcome to Santa Forest 2022

Outdoor Village Akishima 1

Outdoor Village Akishima 2

Mori Town Akishima

Aeon Mall Musashimurayama

Sunvalley Center Concord

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

No point for number four. Meaningless plot line to resurrect Neo and Trinity. No original ideas. I guess it's difficult when they created a cultural phenomenon. I mean, where do you go when you've peaked?

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

Too much talking, not enough shooting. They tried to create a plot line, but John Wick didn’t need a story. Just shoot them all!

Lightyear (2022)

Disney movie moral lesson was too on the nose. Five minutes into this movie I knew it wanted to teach teamwork to children. I don't remember previous Pixar movies were this obvious.

Alien (1979)

Finally watched this movie. So many plot holes, like when they said to partner up but the next minute everyone went their own ways.

Math Teacher raved how Ripley was a badass warrior. I admit she was the smartest one in the crew, but I think she got lucky. Nothing badass about her.

At least I didn’t fall asleep watching this movie while jet lagged.

Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007)

I fell asleep watching all three movies. Granted I was having jet lag, but oh wow, all three movies were not enjoyable.  It was as if I was having seizures by watching these movies.

Violent Night (2022)

Fun and entertaining, but did it have to be this bloody and gory?  I know, I know, it was "Violent" Night, but I thought since it was a Christmas movie, they wouldn't show much.  Boy was I wrong.

Basically he was an alcoholic Santa that had given up on Christmas.  A little girl gave him hope.  So, there were the obligatory cheesy uplifting feel-happy tropes.

Then came the fightings.  Math Teacher thought it was Home Alone + John Wick.  I thought it was Home Alone + Die Hard.  Either way, the violence was graphic.

They tried to give Santa a back story.  He was a Viking that killed a lot of people.  That was it.  No explanation of how he turned into Santa.  I was disappointed in this.

The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (1903)

Wow, what a different time.  In 1900s it was completely normal for British people to raid Egyptian tombs, take all the treasure, and unwrap mummies as they pleased.  British people called others doing exactly the same thing grave robbers while called themselves scientists.

In 21st century, I thought what galls!  What cajones!  How dared they!  Had they no shame!

Then they lived happily ever after!  I almost threw the book away!

Then I found out that was the revised 1912 ending.  Bram Stoker had a different ending in the 1903 edition.  Readers can find both endings in Bram Stoker website.

In the 1903 edition everyone that did horrible things died.  Whew!  What a relief.

The Jewel of Seven Stars is not as good as Dracula.  One character in the story was a lovesick boy that lusted after a girl.  One character talked on and on about whale oil and steam engine for an entire chapter, then he finally got to the point of stealing a mummy.  Oh no, not stealing.  He took the mummy in the name of science.

Bram Stoker changed the ending because back then, readers were horrified that everyone died.  Apparently they were completely fine with stealing Egyptian national treasures.  Bram Stoker should've stuck to his guns.  Before the main characters showed up, everyone that had touched the mummy died.  So of course by story logic, all the main characters that touched the mummy must also die.  No happily ever after for them.

⭐⭐⭐

Horror short story, #1

My very first Sci-Fi Space Horror short story!

I don't write sci-fi.  I don't like horror.  I don't know what I was smoking when I had this dream/nightmare.  It was so vivid that I had to write it down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guy A invited Guy B to his place.  Guy B was a homeless bum and thought he had nothing to lose by following a strange man home.

They arrived at Guy A's place.  Guy A gave Guy B a tour.  It was pitch dark.  Couldn't see anything.

Then Guy A said to Guy B, "The tour is over.  I'm going to eat you now."  Guy A held onto Guy B tightly and tried to take a bite.  Guy B struggled and fought hard; he managed to snap Guy A's neck.

Guy A died.  Guy B wanted to leave.  At this time, a robotic velociraptor appeared.  The Raptor told Guy B, "You killed my master.  I am going to eat you now."  They fought and struggled.  The velociraptor was stronger than Guy B; somehow he managed to flip onto the Raptor's back and rode it like a horse.

Guy B made the Raptor take him to the front door.  That was when he realized he was in a space ship/shuttle/station of some sort.  That was why everything was in complete darkness.

The velociraptor told Guy B, "There's nowhere to go.  I am going to eat you now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fin ~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Seriously, was I high or something?  I would have never thought of this idea in a million years if I were sober.

On the other hand, I do my best writing while sleeping.

COPYRIGHT!

Contact me at NaNaKo Sai Gwin's Dreamscape if you want to turn this into a complete story!

Arctic (2018)

I don't watch much European movies, but wow, how different it was from American disaster/rescue movie.

This movie clocked in at one hour and 38 minutes because it explained nothing.

Why did he crash?

How long was he out there?

Was nobody looking for him?

American movies would show a whole back story of the main character, his family and friends worried about him, and a bunch of scenes of the search and rescue crew.  Not in this movie.  It dropped us smack dead in the Arctic, how he survived with no heat source and ate only sashimi.  He had lost several toes from frost bite.  Did the movie assume me, a stupid American audience, understand how long it would take to lose a toe from frost bite?

At the end; when he passed out from the cold, a helicopter arrived.  It ended right there.  It implied he was rescued, but it didn't explicit say he survived.  He could've already been dead.  Again, different from the typical American happy ending.

I was getting colder and colder watching this movie.  I couldn't breathe.  At one point I couldn't watch when he was trying to break his trapped leg to get out.  This was so painful to watch.