Making MLP:FiM Mixes

Today, I decided to give MLP:FiM mixes a go.

MLP:FiM mixes are (you guessed it!) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic remixes or original mixes relating to the show. They are usually based on a character. Character mixes try to relate to or give the mood of the character's personality. That's what I did. I think I did a pretty good job.

I decided to do Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. I am currently basking in self pride. I absolutely love the final results of these and am definitely going to make more. To make these, I used both Audacity and Aviary Music Creator. Since Aviary only records approximately 16 seconds of music, I decided to use it, but make it longer using Audacity.

Fluttershy (Butterfly Reveries):

Rarity (Cordial Invitation):

Rainbow Dash (Weather Patrol):

-Dom

I'm DIFFERENT

Hello world. My name is Dominique, and I wrote a 100-page script in less than a month.


I can just hear myself telling that to people. They'd probably look at me like I was nuts, because a. I'm eleven years old and b. most people my age and gender prefer going to the mall and whatnot over sitting at their computer and writing an endless story.

But I'm different!

I'm not proud to say that I accomplished this because I had nothing else to do at 5:20 in the morning. I knew that if I went back to sleep, I would stay asleep until it was time to head to school. I also knew that if I stayed awake, I would eventually give in. Thus, I decided to do something productive!

I headed down to my basement, hit the "on" button of my laptop, and started writing.

Although scripts aren't my thing, I decided in late March that I would write one during Script Frenzy anyway. Even though it isn't the same as NaNoWriMo, it was still a writing experience. I was originally going to write the script with my friend, but she was too busy at school to be able to help me.

I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote...and I was there. Sitting in front of me was a 100-page PDF that I'd been working on for over three weeks.

I was basking in glory when I spotted the number 100 at the top of the program, Celtx, I was using to write my script. I saved the PDF to my computer and verified my word count on the Script Frenzy website.

If you could look for another girl in my class who had written this much in a month, you'd fail. Miserably. And you know why?

Because I'm different.

-Dom

The Hunger Games: Movie Review

***WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!***

I went to watch The Hunger Games with my two best friends, my sister and my dad the other day. (So, Mom, don't read this.) I think it was truly astonishing and worth a round of applause, believe me on that.

I just think they didn't stress out the emotions and the cruelty that was in the book enough. I mean, if your little sister was chosen for a fight to the death on live television, I bet you wouldn't sit there with a blank expression. (If my little sister was put in the Hunger Games, I'd be falling apart with the snap of a finger.)

Overall, though, I think the movie was amazing. The characters were easy to distinguish for me easily; Effie Trinket made me snicker the first time I saw her. I've seen her in the trailers and everything, but her bright mood and overuse of makeup put me over the edge. She was always a treat to read about in the books.

Haymitch = Best. Mentor. Ever. In my opinion, his character was portrayed perfectly; a drunk, shaggy-haired man with a crude sense of humor that drove Katniss absolutely nuts. (I really liked the scene where Katniss almost cut Haymitch with a butter knife but let it hit the table instead. It pretty much sums up the relationship between Katniss and her mentor. Also, "THAT IS MAHOGANY!")

Cinna could have been more thought out. His personality wasn't as clear as Effie's or Haymitch's. I feel that Cinna is a very important character and could have been stressed out more. I mean, he gave Katniss the courage to get in there and show the Capitol that they can't push her around. He's part of the reason Katniss lived through the Games.

Cato scared the Nutella out of me. That's all I have to say about him.

RUE. During her death scene, I was just crying and trying to see through the blur of my tears. She was played very well; an innocent, harmless girl who just wanted to stay alive. I didn't look when the spear went through her stomach, though. My classmates told me it was "very disturbing" (they were exaggerating to great limits), so my friend who had already watched the movie told me when to look away. So much for "very disturbing".

Prim was adorable, but I think she would have reacted a little more to Katniss volunteering. You know; like, screaming and kicking at Gale and everything. Her father had already died, and I bet she didn't want her only sister to leave her as well. I think Gale was nice, too, but could have been better. In the movie, he just seems to be this hunter guy that's friends with Katniss. That's just my opinion, though. It could have been more thorough.

Peeta, you say? I have no comment. (I can't really say anything about him because my classmates have exposed me to their daily lectures about Josh Hutcherson being "cute" and Team Peeta. I'm sort of sick of hearing about him.) He was pretty epic in the movie, though.

I think the ending could have been better. I would have liked it if we had the berry scene from President Snow's point of view. And also, Seneca Crane didn't die of eating nightlock berries. He was hung. I know this is a PG-13 movie and everything, but why would they lock him in a room and starve him like that? I didn't get this at all.

I like that we saw the Hunger Games from the Gamemaker's point of view as well. We could see them planting the muttations and talking to the viewers. (Also, I don't think the muttations are nearly as scary as I pictured them to be. They looked like really, really big pugs to me.) I really enjoyed that.

The tracker jackers gave me the shivers. I have this mini-phobia of bugs because of a house centipede incident...(ew.)

The scene on top of the Cornucopia was pretty epic. Cato, again, scared me in great amounts; choking Katniss and threatening to kill Peeta and stuff. When he fell off and the muttations, like, devoured him and stuff, I was suddenly very grateful that the movie was rated PG-13.

That's all I really have to say about it. I give this movie four stars. I would definitely watch it again sometime.

-Dom

Things to do with April!

April is going to be a fantastic month for me. I'm going to participate in YWP Script Frenzy with one of my good friends. Avatar: The Legend of Korra is supposed to premiere on the 14th. I may or may not be participating in BEDA (Blog Every Day in April). My school will be holding the annual science fair on the 23rd (I've been working seriously hard on my project). My best friend from Germany will be coming to visit. My personal goal is to get to the climax of my newest fanfiction.

YWP Script Frenzy something I'm definitely looking forward to. However, I don't know if I can write three and a half pages of a script plus a detail-oozing blog post daily for an entire 30 days. I also have to consider that the time I'm writing will get in the way of my science project. If I get a bad grade on my project, it will not benefit me for third trimester.

My fanfiction can be put off, but I'm trying my best to write at least one chapter every week. Each chapter is around 1,000 words long. I try not to make them to long so I don't bore the audience. I'm hoping the word count for the chapters will go up soon, though. I want to get in the habit of writing chapters as long as 2,000 words now.

Also, I can not afford missing the world premiere of the new Avatar series. If I miss it I WILL DIE.

-Dom

Let the Hunger Games Begin!

After four months of waiting impatiently for the movie to come out, the movie finally came out today.

I've been waiting for so long for this movie to come out! I got so excited this morning about the possibility of going over spring break. Of course, I asked my parents if I could go earlier (being the obnoxious HG-lover I am) but I wasn't able to convince them. I was originally going to go with my friends Tyler and Garrett to see the movie for the first time with them over the break, but they couldn't wait any longer and went today. We may still be going together, but we're not too sure.

After waiting months and months for this movie to open in theaters, it's finally here! Whenever I'm going to watch it, I can't wait. I'm planning on wearing my hair in a braid and getting an HG t-shirt from Hot Topic. (Maybe I can get my hands on a mockingjay pin before we watch it if I'm lucky!)

I'm psyched to see this movie. I'm definitely going to write a review about it later, as I did to "Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2".

-Dom

PLANTS!

Two days ago, I started working on my school science fair project. We have to make a display board and a research paper. It took me a while to decide, but I finally decided on what to do the project about. I'm doing the project to determine whether plants grow best naturally (with only water) or with plant food/fertilizer.

The hardest part, of course, was setting up for it. We bought a cart to display the pots and whatnot on. We had to get the pots, plant food, seeds, soil, etc. We bought special Brassica rapa seeds from Wisconsin Fast Plants online. They go through the entire life cycle in 35-40 days, which my dad and I thought was perfect for the project since we didn't have much time. We got Schultz Plant Food Plus, soil and whatnot from Home Depot, and two fluorescent light-bulbs (Fast Plants seeds, rather than requiring sunlight, need fluorescent lights in order to grow). I am growing four plants; two grown naturally and the other two grown with plant food.

We also got these things called HydroSpikes which automatically water your plants for you. They are similar to AquaGlobes, but you need a reservoir at hand rather than just filling it up in order for it to work. We put them in the soil and they work wonderfully. They stopped lots of likely scenarios from happening. If I had watered my plants manually every single day, I could water too much or too little. This would make my project inconclusive, which would not be very good for my grade or for my presentation.

My dad also set up a camera to take a picture of the plants every half-hour. This way, we could put together a stop-motion video of the plants growing. Later, we also decided that I would wake up at 6:30am to turn off the lights so that they could cool down, then turn them back on at 7:00. The same thing at night; I would turn the lights off before dinner, then turn them back on after we were done eating.

Today, the plants finally started to bloom. Buds have appeared and I'm very excited about it! I can't wait to see beautiful flowers blossoming. It will look wonderful. My hypothesis is that the plant food supported plants will grow best because of the nutrients that come with it. I hope that my plants will grow smoothly and that my project is a success. Let's just wait and see!

-Dom

Script Frenzy

More countless hours spent on the computer trying to write a story, but in a different format? BRING. IT. ON.


As most of you know, I participated in YWP NaNoWriMo 2011 (and won!). Earlier this year, I registered for YWP Script Frenzy, which is a challenge similar to NaNoWriMo. During Script Frenzy, you (and maybe a partner) write an entire 100-page script in a month. You can write screen plays, TV scripts, and things of the like. Like NaNoWriMo, I'm going to aim for the same goal as the adult challenge.

Unlike NaNoWriMo, I'm going to have A. experience and B. a plan. I found out earlier that Script Frenzy is hosting elementary, middle, and high school boot camps to prep up for the event. I haven't decided what kind of script I'm going to write yet, but I'm definitely going to find out soon (and if not, I'm going to have to wing it like last time. And that isn't going to turn out very well),

-Zoe