A friend was reminded of me...
Another friend thought of me and shared this. Hard to refute he excitement that arises during that time of year :)
For the Geeks...
And finally, one that reminded me of a friend
Do you have a favored animal you like to see in memes?

Oldboy (11/27/2013):

It's been about ten years since the original Oldboy, and possibly only six years since I experienced it. Only one viewing, but many of the scenes have stuck with me over time. When I saw they were remaking (or Americanizing it) the movie, I felt the sudden, reactive surge of disappointment. Some I know are angry. When you love an original version of something, it's easy to become emotional when it gets reworked. There is much potential for "ruining" a piece of work you've enjoyed and/or fallen in love with. I'm not too thrilled about this remake, just the same as I wasn't with the remake of Infernal Affairs (or rather, The Departed as it was called once Americanized). Those who have never seen the originals of remakes (especially the foreign ones) are generally indifferent. It's easy to understand why. I'm usually passionate about these types of remakes, but I will undoubtedly give this movie a shot, much as I did with The Departed. In the theater, though? To be determined... I'm interested in seeing how they handle some of the subject matter.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Sneak Peek) (12/13/2013):

I believe I’ve already stated about how excited I am to see this movie in a previous Trailer Tuesday posting. There isn’t much more to say beyond being unable to wait. This sneak peek was released last week, and while I wanted to share it right away, I’ve been bound to other (failed) duties as of late. I definitely wasn’t going to allow two weeks to lapse before sharing, though, and so here you are. Some more Hobbity goodness to wet your palate until the release a month away

Lone Survivor (12/27/2013):

I’ve a bad feeling the title says it all. This is supposedly based on a real life failed mission, and a newer trailer is touting it as the new Saving Private Ryan. This is the first trailer, chosen because I like the song cover, and while I think it looks good, I don’t feel it will be anywhere close to being of the same caliber as Saving Private Ryan. I would, however, be interested in seeing this movie, and reserve any final judgments until after having done so. I am pretty open to seeing most any movie Wahlberg stars in. Over the years, he has grown on me as an actor.

The Railway Man (1/1/2014):

Another war related movie. I’ve never been a huge fan of Colin Firth, but it may be due to the lack of knowledge/exposure to most of his movies. I think the main movie (that  know of) that he is known for is Pride and Prejudice. I may be wrong, but I’m not going to look it up right now. Beyond that, I’m pretty unfamiliar with any of his work. He probably has slipped into a handful of movies I really enjoy, but I’ve just never singled him out as an actor I follow. That is not to say this movie doesn’t look good, because it does, just thinking it falls into the RB/NFlic category for me.

*     *     *

Been some time since my last video game trailer posting, but I was really hoping both of these games would have had more in depth, fuller trailers available by now. Holding off on sharing them, has not yielded such luck, so thought I would share now, and highlight the fuller trailers once they are available. Mind you, these are months old now...

Halo 5 (2014):

I’ve stated before in my blog that Halo is one of my most beloved First Person Shooter series. Starting from the original Xbox, and through each title available on Xbox 360 (though I lapsed on the third installment and Halo Wars, I eventually caught up — at least with Halo 3).  For the entire run, Bungie had worked with Microsoft bringing this exclusive Xbox title to life. Halo 4 marked the departure of the series creator from the series, handing it over to 343 Industries. I feel they have proven themselves to be a worthy successor, and am highly anticipating Halo 5 of the universe I’ve grown so familiar with. I’m uncertain if this title will be exclusive to XBox One (Microsoft’s next generation system), but I’d imagine for sales sake it will be available on the XBox 360 too.

Destiny (Spring 2014):

This is Bungie’s next foray into the gaming world. Destiny is an epic semi-MMO open world FPS/RPG. A lot of the footage released of gameplay has looked solid, but it’s all been repetitive. No new footage, at least nothing that gets me more amped up. The thing is, though, they don’t need to. I’m already sold. Already have the game pre-ordered, and am set to be involved in the Beta testing this coming January 2014. I’ve sworn off MMOs (sometimes my delving into which I refer to as The Dark Ages), but I am twisting the rules on this one being it’s mainly open to solo play indefinitely if wanting to, which is similar to Defiance, and not the hardcore grinding that makes up a lot of the experiences with World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy Online. I’ve already warned my girlfriend that once this game comes out, I may be “dead” to the world. Should prove to be interesting, to say the least...

Did any of the highlighted trailers interest you? Have you seen the original Oldboy. If so, what are your thoughts about the remake? Are you getting excited the sequel to The Hobbit is almost here? Are you a Halo fan? If so, have you kept up with the series after Bungie passed the torch to 343 Industries? Are you excited for Bungie’s next epic endeavor Destiny?
-NaNoWriMo Hiatus-
http://nanowrimo.org
Main logo.
June was the last time I posted an Interlude, and this seems as fitting a place as any. Over the course of a year, I’ve written many blog posts and a smidgen of fiction. I have done more writing this past year than I have in the twelve previous. This was all thanks, in part, to NaNoWriMo — a nationally sponsored event that encourages writers, old and new, to take up arms together and face the challenge of writing 50k words (novel) over the course of 30 days every November. I gave thanks to this challenge many times, especially throughout my earlier posts, and I will forever be grateful.

Well, it's November and NaNoWriMo is upon us (me?) again...


NaNoWriMo was more than just a writing experience — though a major one it was — acting as an outlet for me to meet other individuals who loved to write, create, and share similar interests. Over time, I made some really great friends, the contact with which extended beyond November and hopefully are maintained on a lifetime basis. I understand sometimes these relationships are short-lived and sputter — some already have — but the overall experience of those people was (and is) a very real and very important one.

I thought this year I would be better prepared, and have repeat luck in the connections with new friends. I don’t see my original NaNo group nearly a much as in those first months after the challenge ended, but I know they are out there, and I’ll likely see them again during this year's events/write-ins. As it is, I’m at a different place [in life] than I was last year. Having no car is going to make traveling to events a lot harder. I’m not yet comfortable with public transportation, so I will have to rely on others for rides, which I dislike asking for. I will try, though.

I’ve already missed the Kick-Off event, though I had a ride, due to a mixture of other factors. The venue being the biggest. It was sad to miss out on meeting so many new people, but having to spend X amount of money to attend the event after having already spent an evening out with the Ladyfolk wasn’t very appealing to me. I’m a starving artist!

Logo/promo from days of yore...
There was the belief that I would have a sound writing plan for this year’s novel selection, but that plan never developed. I was left stressing over what exactly I would write. I still am, but at least I now have a gentle grasp on various options. In fact, I think I am straying from the standard “novel” goal and dabbling in multiple projects. These include Blog Entries, Movie Reviews, Short Stories, and even some Novel Projects. This is because NaNoWriMo has always been more about writing for me than it has been about finishing a novel.

If I can get the words to flow, I will be happy. Whether I hit the 50k mark again or not.

I’m hoping by focusing on writing Blog Entries I can finally get back to my “roots” so to speak, focusing on topics of a more personal nature. This was the original intent for The Cryton Chronicles, and while I understand things change, it’s an aspect that is important to me that I want to maintain. Some heart-pounding, mind-altering future blog titles include: “Every Day is Exactly the Same”, “Of Friends and Lovers”, “Buried by the Sound”, and the most notoriously avoided blog post — deftly escaping creation since the A to Z challenge — “The Wolf”. Aren’t you just amped up with excitement and anticipation?! I bet…
 
This years logo/promo... I can dig it.
So, tonight is the Count Down to Midnight event, and I’ve been internally struggling whether I should attend or not. If I should bother attending any write-ins this year, or if I should attempt to just focus doing it all from home. These are emotional insecurities influencing in a negative fashion, but sometimes I feel there is some stock to even those… or maybe that is what they want you to believe? I should probably give it a go, because I already skipped the Kick-Off, which I was originally excited for up until ten minutes prior.

Oh fickle emotions… Better buck up. As I said, November is here and once more into the fray we go…

A poem from The Grey.
This means my weekly entries may be put on hold, as I focus the majority of my attention towards those elusive 50k words. This includes the lovely 10 Things of Thankful blog hop. We will see what I can muster in the following weeks. It’s bound to get a bit neurotic. In the meantime my biggest worry will be whether to nap or not before Midnight chimes in the chaos.

Until NaNoWriMo concludes, I will do my best to keep this in the back of my mind:

I'll try... I'll try...
Have you heard of and/or participated in NaNoWriMo? Are you participating in the 2013 Challenge/Event? If so, and you use their site, feel free to friend me: Jak Cryton. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?

[MOSTLY] WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - THE CAKE IS NOT A LIE

Three layers of awesome sugary death. I'm honestly shocked I am still functioning...
As promised, somewhere in my XXI | 10 Things of Thankful | XXI post this weekend, here is a picture of the cake that got not one, not two, but three well deserved slots on my list! I’m telling you it was amazing!

And for Dyanne and others who maybe have asked, but I conveniently forgot…
Dabble Jak with a professional "escort" he met while attending a masquerade ball... The Sign IS a lie!
Very rarely do I take any pictures. They mostly occur during the holidays and even then I try to avoid them like the plague. This is one of four pictures taken on the photo strip, but I couldn’t get a good picture of the entire thing. I’m still an amateur at photography. It’s a shame some of the “preview” pictures that the booth was showing us never were actually taken, because some of them were hilarious. They must have a delay to show you how you are currently being viewed in case you want to change it up? Either way, it is what it is.

Are you jealous of the Cake? Good. You should be! When was the last time you used a photobooth?

XVI | TRAILER TUESDAY | XVI


Free Birds (11/1/2013):

Starting out with the first of three movies opening this week is Free Birds. Just in time for Thanksgiving is this animated feature about a turkey recruited to save the future of all turkey-kind! It looks pretty funny, especially those yellow suited men, which remind me of minions from Despicable Me. Maybe it’s the color? That laughing? I’m not sure. I haven’t seen this trailer much, though I only watch TV on Mondays, but it was released a few months ago. I had completely forgotten about it, and saw it was slotted to come out this week. Thought I best share. Hopefully a good handful of families will get out and see this for the upcoming holiday season. This makes me ponder if I missed some Halloween themed animated movies...

Last Vegas (11/1/2013):

This is a trailer I attempted to post up weeks ago. For some reason when it was released online, it was pulled? Youtube was even devoid of it with the exception of interviews and/or snippets. Since this is coming out Friday I wanted to get it up, as again, I forgot about the movie. I really like the ensemble of lead actors. The only one I’m not too familiar with is Kevin Kline. I’ve seen a small handful of his movies, but I guess I never came to be overly impressed with any of them? The others, however, have quite the list of movies I thoroughly enjoy and love. Morgan Freeman being the frontrunner. My hope is that this isn’t a Grown Ups movie where I had the feeling they just got together X amount of big-name (or were once upon a time) actors and threw them in a movie together. Then made a sequel… Even if it is, the one scene with a “drunk” Morgan Freeman would make it worthwhile I’d imagine. At least for a one-time viewing. On RB/Netflix.

Mr. Nobody (11/1/2013):

Lastly, for this week’s releases is Mr. Nobody. Can’t say I heard of this one before today. I am a fan of Leto’s band 30 Seconds To Mars, and some of the movies he’s previously had roles in, but this was definitely under the radar. Looks to be a foreign release, and more independent, so I’m not sure how wide a release it will have. Looks to be centered around the possibility of alternate timelines based on choices made (or rather not made?). It looks interesting, but I will definitely be waiting for it to hit Redbox and/or Netflix. Side note: doesn't that doctor look like a character from Ender's Game?

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (12/20/2013):

So it continues… the Legend of Ron Burgundy. I swear I avoided the first movie like the plague for months, if not years. I can’t even recall when I broke down and actually watched it. I was strongly opposed to Will Ferrell and watching any of his movies, because they looked so stupid. Then I eventually watched it, and loved it. It was stupid, but a good stupid. Kind of like Dumb and Dumber (not the sequel, which I haven’t seen, so maybe it’s unfair to say it’s not?), but with a Spanish-speaking dog… Anyhow, I was really hoping that would remain a standalone. Hopefully the sequel is as good as the first, for what it was, and just isn’t Hollywood filler. I really like many of the actors involved, and I literally almost stopped the trailer after about 10 seconds in, when Brick was mentioned. Glad I gave it a full watch. I may be open to seeing this in theaters, but it comes out during a busy time against some potential blockbusters.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4/4/2014):

I wasn’t a fan of the original movie, despite what I believed would be the case. Thor won out between which of the two I’d enjoy the most, much to my surprise. My hope is that after the success of The Avengers that more stock will be placed into these individual storylines and not just be filler for the upcoming ensemble movie. 2015 is a long way out, and if not handled right, could potentially ruin a great franchise. I instantly had issue with the beginning of the trailer: jumping with no parachute. I never read many Captain America comics, and I know he is more superhuman/supersoldier, but yeah… maybe I am just way too unfamiliar. The issue was knocked to the sideline as I noticed Frank Grillo, who was a part of the cast of The Grey (and I was just asking myself if he has been in anything else), and Robert Redford were among the cast. Sweet! The trailer gets better as it goes along and I feel I will definitely enjoy this movie vastly more than the first. This is one I’m interested in seeing on the big screen.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (5/23/2014):

Oh snap, Bryan Singer is back! I’m a bit behind on all the newer movies associated with the X-Men franchise. I loved the first two movies, which Singer directed, but after that I felt it all kind of fell apart. The third installment almost had me walking out of the theater. While that is a bit more common, nowadays, at the time it was a rarity to have that feeling wash over me. I’ve heard X-Men: First Class was good, so I will definitely need to watch it before seeing this one. The movies based on Wolverine’s solo acts, however, I remain skeptical of. This looks like it actually brings together the cast of both the original movies and the newer, which is a grand undertaking. I feel comfortable with the knowledge that Singer is back at the helm, and that attempts will be made to rectify what has occurred over the last half-decade with the X-Men films. I won’t even hold it against him that he left the third X-Men movie to film Superman Returns, which I actually liked unlike most. He really wanted to do the third movie, but the movie industry waits for no one, especially when they cross franchise superhero movies! I’m really excited to see this movie and plan to see it once released!

Did any of the highlighted trailers interest you? Were there any Halloween themed animated movies released this Fall? Are you a fan of any members in the leading cast (De Niro, Douglas, Freeman, Kline) of Last Vegas? Any thoughts on Anchorman 2? Excited for the sequel to Captain America and/or X-Men?

recent CHRONICLES

Featured In I, Jak
Hello, Friend
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Hello, Friend
2 Comments

It’s been a long while. I briefly discuss some of this year’s shortcomings, and in doing so, find it’s just more of the same.

Then I attempt to give a more positive spin…

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Extra Life Game Day 2021
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Extra Life Game Day 2021
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Extra Life Game Day 2021 has arrived! It’s Year 8 for myself and I am looking forward to once again raise money for Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Team Cryton Crusaders is ready (kind of) for the annual fundraising event involving a 24-Hour Gaming Marathon! I kept last year’s fun, but likely impossible Milestone to reach!

Learn more about the challenge where my team and I play games and heal kids!

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recent ENTERTAINMENT

Featured
102 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 102
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102 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 102
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Welcome to Trailer Tuesday, a weekly Generation Jak blog series where a multitude of movie, video game, and sometimes even book trailers are highlighted for your viewing pleasure!

This week's Featured Trailers:
Jessica Jones Season 2 - Teaser Trailer | Ready Player One | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Alita: Battle Angel | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Teaser Trailer

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101 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 101
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101 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 101
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Welcome to Trailer Tuesday, a weekly Generation Jak blog series where a multitude of movie, video game, and sometimes even book trailers are highlighted for your viewing pleasure!

This week's Featured Trailers:
The Shape of Water | Wormwood | All the Money in the World | Avengers: Infinity War | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Trailer Teaser | Batman Ninja

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recent DREAMSCAPES

Featured
A to Z 2017 [FLASH FICTION]: REFLECTIONS
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A to Z 2017 [FLASH FICTION]: REFLECTIONS
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This year's A to Z Challenge is over, but how did I fare with another attempt at producing Flash Fiction and Poetry throughout it all? Did I run into the same complications as last year?

Join me as I reflect on the challenge and the thoughts about my continued participation on Dreams in the Shade of Ink.

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A to Z 2017: ZACHARIAH
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A to Z 2017: ZACHARIAH
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Dreams in the Shade of Ink is back with more Flash Fiction for the A to Z Challenge 2017! Last year my segments throughout April painted a puzzled tapestry of prose and I hope to provide some new, entertaining stories that you'll enjoy!

Come share in my inky dreams full of fiction, sprinkled with poetry!

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recent META

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A to Z 2017 [MAGIC MIXER]: REFLECTIONS
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A to Z 2017 [MAGIC MIXER]: REFLECTIONS
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The A to Z Challenge 2017 is over and it's time to reflect on how the event went! There were booster pack openings, there were storylines and mechanics to observe within the world of Magic: The Gathering!

Join me as I discuss the ups and downs of this year's Magic Mixer theme.

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A to Z 2017: ZENDIKAR
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A to Z 2017: ZENDIKAR
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This year for the A to Z Challenge 2017 Meta MTG presents the Magic Mixer! What's that mean? Your guess is as good as mine... What I do know, however, is that this year's theme is obviously still all about Magic: The Gathering!

Join me as I attempt to highlight a different Magic set each day of the challenge in different ways, from pack openings to discussions about a set's storyline and/or mechanics!

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