Things that I've been doing lately.

So when it comes to my recent activities, I have to say that lately - to my rather big surprise - I've managed to be relatively productive. I've managed to keep progressing with my tasks and projects, even though I wasn't sure that I would have enough time or energy to do them.

Indeed, ever since I started with my new job a year and a half ago, my thinking was that I wouldn't have it in me to do those artistic things that I had done before. I wouldn't be able to write anything bigger,  let alone try some other activities that have to do with music. 

Yet, over the last eight months or so, I have managed to prove myself wrong. It is possible to do all kinds of activities that have to do with writing and music, as long as you're motivated to do them and you're able to come up with ideas that have potential.

Music-wise, by far the biggest surprise has been that I managed to start playing piano again. I hadn't played the instrument for more than twenty years at all, so it was a huge surprise that I actually started practicing again and managed to progress rather fast too.

Indeed, if I'm able to do the math correctly and count all the songs that I've practiced, I've learned almost dozen songs already. These include themes and songs like 'La La Land', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Macgyver', 'La Vie en Rose', Chaplin melodies and Bond movie themes too.

Not surprisingly, the biggest requirement with progressing with the instrument has had to do with persistence. You absolutely have to practice pretty much every day and spend at least an hour (two preferably) learning the songs and working with your muscle memory.

When it comes to writing projects, I have to say that so far - against my expectations - I have been at least somewhat pleasantly surprised with the progress too. Even though I haven't put in that many hours, I've managed to be somewhat consistent here. 

Indeed, by that I mean is that I've tried to dedicate at least one day a week for my writing (gaming) project. I've usually spent my Sundays working on the 'World War 2 resistance story in France' and have managed to make some slow but steady progress here. 

Project-wise, an important factor has been that on a weekly basis I've had to present my progress to a writing group online. This has more or less forced my hand and I haven't felt like skipping writing because I'd just feel to embarrassed to not show them anything new. 

Progress-wise, at the same time, just because I've managed to go further here with the task, that doesn't mean that I'm guaranteed to finish it eventually. I've only reached the second act in the story (I think there will be five acts total) and have so much to do here.

Indeed, now that our protagonist has left the starting place (Paris) and has gone to countryside to look for clues about her family (joining the resistance), I have to come with solid story beats. It's not easy to keep the momentum going while introducing new stuff too.

In that sense, considering the project and its demands, it's pretty obvious that I have to keep my writing routine going. Just like with my piano practice routines, the only way to get better and to get further is to keep doing stuff diligently and not give up.

After all, when you think about the writing task as a whole, even though there are no guarantees, there are definitely no short cuts. Especially when you consider the creative nature of the process (not all about brute force), I have to keep going and hope for the best.

In that sense, in the end, I can only hope that I'll find the energy and the time to keep going. I hope I'll do that and will be able to finish the script in the next four to six months, because this is a long project and almost nothing about it can be taken for granted.

'Reacher' - season one review.

So when it comes to my tv watching habits, I haven't recently been watching almost anything on television. Especially when we're talking about drama shows, lately there hasn't been pretty much any shows that I have found to be worth my time. 

Indeed, most drama shows that you see on tv - as unfortunate as it is - are so badly written and so uninteresting that I'm just not able to stomach them. There's almost zero chance that watching them would make me feel better about myself or life in general.

At the same time, every now and then, if there's enough hype for a show, I might give the series a chance. This is what happened with the freshly released 'Reacher', a show that I felt it could be worth my time, since I had seen clips from the Tom Cruise 'Reacher' films.

So having now seen the first season of this Amazon Prime series, I have to say that I had a mostly positive experience watching 'Reacher'. The show was pretty well made and interesting, even though - not surprisingly - as a writer I had some issues with its story.

Premise-wise, what we're dealing here is that our protagonist is Jack Reacher, a massively built army major, who lives his life as a vagrant. He doesn't have a permanent place to live and instead goes where he feels his services might be needed (like Incredible Hulk).

Indeed, in this story he's on personal mission trying to figure out what happened to his brother and why he died in a small town in the state of Georgia. Something fairly big must have likely been happening there and he's determined to get to the bottom of it. 

Not surprisingly, as a man who knows how to use his big physique when needed, it won't take long before he gets into action. The locals, cops, business elite and others are determined to stop him from unveiling the mystery of what's going on.

Luckily, as the story progresses, he doesn't have to do everything by himself. Together with the help of a local head of a police department (Malcolm Goodwin) and a female police officer (Will Fitzgerald), they team up, even though the odds seem to be heavily against them.

Quality-wise, there's no question that one of the best things about 'Reacher' is that Alan Ritchson genuinely fits the part. Unlike Tom Cruise in Lee Child's books, Ritchson, besides being a solid actor, is actually a big guy who feels intimidating size-wise.

Indeed, as he almost from the very first moment starts beating up bad guys, it feels rather enjoyable to watch the stuff. I was surprised how much I - as a person who in general is against violence - managed to find these fight scenes satisfying and even worth cheering for.

Production-wise, when it comes to the positive aspects of the series, it has to be said that 'Reacher' is well shot and looks good. It's clear that a lot of attention was paid to making sure that the production values would be high enough and that the series wouldn't look cheap.

Script- and story-wise, the few problems that I had with the first season was that it definitely took too long for the audience and for the characters to know what's going on. The conspiracy of a local / international counterfeit ring felt a bit lacking.

After all, drama-wise, when almost every episode (eight of them total) started with someone getting killed and we didn't really know what was going on, it was a bit frustrating. As a writer, I wasn't always feeling super confident that the story would actually go somewhere.  

Still, once we finally got to the conclusion of the season, I guess the story was explained 'almost' adequately. These flaws that were sometimes rather apparent with the narrative (from a professional viewpoint), didn't prevent me from enjoying the series too much. 

In that sense, in the end, when it comes to the question of whether you should the show a chance at some point, I think you should probably give 'Reacher' a go. You should watch it and not be discouraged by the original author's 'not quality fiction' reputation.

After all, even though the story could have been better and more believable, I would recommend the series as a whole. 'Reacher' is a watchable and immersive show, especially for those who want to be entertained and don't want to watch something that is 'too' serious.

'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' movie review.

Last week as me and my friend were looking for a movie to watch, we decided to give chance to a film that I had wanted to see. We're talking about 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife', a movie that was released late last year and had been received rather well by the fans of the franchise.

Indeed, unlike the rather awful 'all female' Ghostbusters from 2016 that wasn't received well by the fans, this one actually seemed promising. The original creators were behind this new one, so there was a solid chance that me and my friend would enjoy the movie. 

So having now seen the film with my friend, I have to say that 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' is a fairly solid movie. The film works rather well and manages to respect the original movies from the 80s, even though there are some minor issues in it that need to be addressed.

Premise-wise, the movie takes place in Oklahoma, where Callie, the daughter of one of the 'ghostbusters' (Egon Spengler) has relocated with her family. Her dad Egon has recently passed away and the family - in financial distress - is there to check what Egon had left for them.

Exposition-wise, as we're introduced to the characters trying to restart their life - as the story slowly unfolds - we get to know that things aren't going great for them. The farm that Egon left for her daughter / grandkids is in poor shape and more or less worthless.

When it comes to the film's catalyst, the movie starts to get going when granddaughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) finds that Egon's farm has all kinds of things going on in there. The place is inhabited by a seemingly friendly ghost and the farm has some freaky gadgets and stuff there. 

Indeed, as Phoebe introduces the 'ghost trap' to her summer school teacher (Paul Rudd), it becomes apparent that her grandpa was an infamous ghostbuster from the 80s. This is something that surprises our young protagonist who wasn't even alive back then.

Plot-wise, the big mystery in the story is what is causing the earthquakes in a place like Summerville. There's no real scientific reason for this occurrence in the heartland of America, so something weird has to be causing the phenomenom there.

Not that surprisingly, as the films goes further, it's revealed that these quakes happen because of ghosts that are residing in Summerville. They're about to come back to terrorize us and our 'new' ghostbusters need to find a way to stop them in order to save the world.

Quality-wise, when it comes to the overall quality of the film, there's no question that this movie, unlike the 2016 'abomination' is an honest effort. The emphasis was clearly on making sure that the story would feel real and 'believable' to the audience.

Indeed, had this film not been so well cast (everyone seems to like the kid actors), so beautifully shot and so respectful to the original films, it wouldn't have worked. In that case we would have been delivered a disappointing movie like the 'non-canon' 2016 version was.

Story-wise, the only real problem in the film is that the script in 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' is a bit weak in places. It takes almost too long for the story to unfold and some of the (lack of) exposition in the film, like Egon's ghost is a bit questionable story-wise.

Still, when it all is said and done, despite these certain flaws, these pacing issues weren't at least in my opinion too serious and didn't hurt the movie too much. They weren't too serious and didn't prevent me and my friend from enjoying the story that much.

In that sense, if you haven't managed to see 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' yet and are thinking about giving it a go, you should do it. You should watch the movie, because even though the film could have been better, it still managed to be surprisingly well made and entertaining as a whole.

Disney's 'Encanto' movie review.

A couple of weeks ago me and my friend started looking for new and recently released animated films that we could watch. We hadn't lately found time to watch stuff together, so we thought that it would be fun to watch some movies that would probably entertain us. 

Indeed, especially when it comes to watching animated films, over the years they have been a fairly safe choice. As long as these films have enough redeeming qualities in them, watching them has been worth our time and has managed to put us on a good mood.

So this time we watched together Disney's animated film 'Encanto', a movie about a Colombian family with magical powers residing in a distant village. Together the family, living in a 'casita' is able to help others in their community and live good lives.

Plot-wise, the catalyst in the story happens when a daughter of the family, a 15 year old girl Mirabel (protagonist) is about to go through a rite that gives her magical powers. Like every other family member before her, her ceremony is going to unveil her special gift.

However, as the ceremony for her happens, she and her family find out that she doesn't have a special magical gift. As she goes through the rite involving her grandma burning a magical candle, nothing happens as Mirabel and the family is more or less in shock.

Not that much later, as she rather understandably feels disappointed and even rejected as a family member, things get worse. Mirabel notices that something's wrong with their house, as it keeps cracking for some reason and seems to be falling apart at any moment.

For our protagonist, the problem with this is that since Mirabel is the only one who sees this unraveling happening, the rest think she's crazy. This 'rejection' from the family leads her to to a journey in which she will do her best to find out what is happening and why. 

So when it comes to the overall quality of the film, I have to say that both me and my friend managed to more or less enjoy the movie for what it was. 'Encanto', despite having a premise that isn't particularly organic or natural, is a fairly watchable movie. 

Indeed, there's no question that as usual (a Disney movie) production-wise, a lot of effort went to making sure that the film looks and sounds great. You have the best animators and the musical talents that worked their butts off (like Lin Manuel Miranda), which shows. 

At the same time, when it comes to film's quality, there's no question that the story is a bit lackluster and doesn't make that much sense. You have elements in the story that are pretty muddled and the movie also suffers from messaging issues that are questionable.

After all, especially when it comes to the matriarch who is outraged that her granddaughter doesn't have special skills, that was pretty bad. This felt to me that the movie sends a wrong message to kids who might think that they're not worth being loved unless they are 'special'.

Still, when it comes to the film as a whole, if you don't pay too much attention to issues like these, there's a good chance that you'll be able to like it quite a bit. The positives aspects in that case manage to outweigh the negative ones, which aren't necessarily that serious.

After all, especially when it comes to the film's vibrant colours and catchy songs, these are what the kids (and adults) will likely appreciate. These are the things that work, so if you're able to ignore the issues with 'Encanto's' script, you'll probably end up enjoying the movie.

'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania' review.

So when it comes to animated films, it's not exactly a secret that I'm a rather big fan of the genre in general. Whenever an animated movie gets released, there's more than a good chance that I'm going to watch the film and give it a go.

After all, very likely the best thing about animated films is that more often that not, they're going to put you in a good mood. These films are made so that you could forget your worries in life and feel better about yourself during the runtime of the film.

In any case, this time me and my friend managed to watch the fourth entry in the 'Hotel Transylvania' series. We decided to watch 'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania', which was released a month ago on Amazon prime and was now available for us to see. 

Having now seen the film, I have to say that I think we were both fairly entertained by the fourth entry in the series. Even though 'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania' isn't that great of a movie, it still managed to be pretty watchable despite its flaws.

Premise-wise, this time we're dealing with a situation in which the patriarch of the family, 'Dracula' is ready to leave his hotel to his son-in-law. It's time for Johnny to take charge of the family business so that 'dad' could finally do some other things in life.

Yet, as the announcement of this transition is about to happen, 'Dracula' gets cold feet and thinks that Johnny's too immature and not up for the job. He comes up with a phony excuse, which is that only monsters are legally allowed to run the business. 

Not that surprisingly, Johnny thinks that this is the real reason that he doesn't get the business and decides to become a monster himself. He gets help from the crazy scientist in the hotel, who manages to turn Johnny into a monster with his staff that has a magic crystal in it.  

Not that much later, things get complicated when an accident happens. Once Dracula finds about the transformation, he accidentally turns himself and others into humans, breaks the crystal and has to go on a journey to find another one to reverse the spell.  

So quality-wise, when you have a premise and a catalyst like this - not necessarily organic or natural - I felt a bit hesitant about the story and what would follow. There are a lot of reasons why the film would more or less fall apart later in the movie and not make enough sense.

Indeed, if you don't manage to come up with a premise that is organic enough, by definition there are going to be roadblocks ahead. This is true - in most cases - especially when it comes to live action movies, that we in the audience judge more harshly.

Fortunately though, in this case, thanks to the movie being an animated film and the writers being professional enough about the story beats / structure, the film does kinda manage to work. The story beats are almost good enough and occur when they should.

Indeed, even though the climax is a bit too hokey and perhaps illogical (Johnny's emotional 'cure' from being a big monster villain), flaws like these didn't feel that awful. They're almost acceptable considering the genre that we're talking about. 

In that sense, when it comes to the quality of the film as a whole and whether I would actually recommend it, I think it's safe to say that it depends. It depends on what kind of films you like to watch and what kind of stuff you expect from them.

After all, if you enjoy watching films that do their best to put you on a good mood and that aren't judgmental, in that case this movie might be for you. 'Hotel Transylvania 4', despite its flaws is something that you should probably give a shot at some point.

On the other hand, if you're not a particular fan of animated movies and 'good mood' stuff, in that case this movie honestly might not be for you. 'Hotel Transylvania: Transformation' probably isn't your cup of tea and you should probably avoid watching it. 

2021 recap and things I'm hoping to do this year.

So when it comes to last year, it can now be said rather safely that I had a surprisingly good year as a whole in 2021. Even though I didn't manage to be particularly productive as a writer, there were other things where I managed to excel surprisingly well.

Indeed, among other things, last year I got a steady job that - even though doesn't make me rich - allows to make me financially a bit more secure. It makes me feel that I'm actually contributing to society and that I can make a difference in this world.

When it comes to my social life, I've made new friends at my work and this has also contributed to my overall well being. I've shown to myself that I get along with people more than well and that it seems that others like my company as well.

Artistically speaking, there's no question that me starting to play piano again after a 20+ year break was a big positive surprise for myself. I managed to start playing the instrument again and have kept my practice routine pretty strong ever since.

Indeed, especially when I started learning the main theme from 'The Monkey Island' a couple weeks ago, I felt really good about my progress. I kept practicing diligently, even though this song was probably the most difficult so far that I've tried to learn.

So when it comes to this year, it's pretty clear that if I want to be as productive that I managed to be last year, I have to keep myself active and take some chances again. I need to keep my practice routines going and also get lucky in the process.

Artistically speaking - piano that is - the most obvious thing is that I need to keep improving my skills as a musician. This is a thing that I absolutely need to pay attention to and not start resting on my laurels, even though there's a chance that it might happen.

After all, during my 'theory learning' break that I had during the holidays, I got a bit lazy and didn't challenge myself enough. Even though I did practice those old songs that I had learned, the best way to improve is by learning new songs on a consistent basis.

Writings-wise, the most realistic thing that might happen is that I'll able to establish a writing routine that has to do with my 'gaming' project. This is a project that I've been working on lately and have been doing some historical background research too.

Challenge-wise, a caveat here is how well I manage to find energy and time to both write and play piano without getting exhausted in the process. Once I come back from work it's hard to do both and is something that I need to take into consideration.

Still, in the end, considering that I have some fairly clear plans for this year, that should give me confidence that it's going to be a good year too. I should be thinking that I'll be able to pull off these projects and not give up on them that easily.

After all, as long as I manage to play piano & write stuff on a basis that is consistent enough, I have a chance of making it. I have a chance of making these projects work, even though especially with the writing project I need to get lucky and work really hard. 

'Detroit: Become Human' isn't very good.

So when it comes to me checking story based interactive games, lately I've been trying to go through as many of them as possible. I've done my best to either play through them myself or watch long play versions of these games on Youtube.

Indeed, as a writer who is currently dabbling with a project that has to do with interactive story based gaming, reviewing these games has been a crash course to learn about the genre. It has been a great learning tool in figuring out how to write a similar project myself.

So this time I decided to check and review 'Detroit: Become Human', a story based game that I had in my Playstation 4 library. I had added it when it was free on Ps plus store, but hadn't for some reason tried it, even though the game kinda seemed interesting.

Premise-wise, what we're dealing with here is a futuristic world in the United States that has androids in it. In a not so near future (2038) technology has advanced so rapidly that these human like robots are now assisting humans in our everyday life.

Game-wise, the story consists of three characters / storylines that has androids as our protagonists. We have an investigative android cop "Connor", a housemaid 'Kara' (looks like Jennifer Lawrence) and a servant 'Markus', that we get to control as players during the story.

Catalyst-wise, the story starts when Connor is assigned to investigate why some androids seem to get deviant and stop obeying their masters. These formerly obedient androids have started acting like human beings and are getting in trouble with the law.

Indeed, as we get introduced soon to our other protagonists, 'Kara' is wanted for kidnapping a girl whereas 'Markus' gets caught by the cops for killing a person. Clearly something is going on and we need to figure out what is going on and why.

Story-wise, as we experience things unfolding, the biggest gimmick in the game is that your decisions have an effect on how the story unfolds. The way you choose to react (shoot/not kill etc.) to different situations changes the way the game progresses.

Not surprisingly, the challenge with a genre that has 'story trees' and a huge script is that it's difficult to write a story that makes sense and that can take different directions. It's really challenging to come up with a plausible story that doesn't get ridiculous at some point.

Indeed, especially in a game like this, when you have a script with three storylines that reportedly ran for 6000 pages, that means that you need to know what you're doing. Your premise and structure better be bulletproof and thematically solid in order to work well. 

Unfortunately, In 'Detroit: Become Human', even though at first the 'androids as humans' story seems intriguing, later on things more or less fall apart. It becomes obvious that the premise isn't well thought out and that the questions raised in the first act won't be answered.

Indeed, when you reach like 40% in the game, you'll notice that almost nothing makes sense. Things aren't explained, the plot holes are big, the story has no momentum, deus exes happen and there's no emotional pay-off (Markus's storyline is especially boring) at the end.

In that sense, when I think about 'Detroit: Become Human' and the genre in general, I think it's obvious that it's not easy to come up with a multi-threaded story that works. It's not easy to come up with a story that feels rewarding and keeps you interested from start to finish.

After all, in a game like this, when you give the audience that many decisions to make during the gameplay (it's mostly an interactive movie), it creates so many hurdles. It's challenging to write a coherent story without making serious mistakes in the process.

In that sense, in the end, when it comes to this particular game, even though 'Detroit: Become Human' certainly doesn't have the worst story I've ever seen, that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it that much. I can't say that I was particularly entertained by what I saw.

After all, when you exclude the first act that worked, considering all the problems that followed (heavy handed themes, plot holes, lack of direction, too many bland protagonists etc.) those were bad. You shouldn't get too excited about the game and its story.

On the contrary, unless you're really a fan of 'interactive movies' that have a lot of 'quick time events' and tons of decisions to make, this is not a game for you. 'Detroit: Become Human' isn't a game for you and will likely not entertain you the way it should.