Peter Pan is a dead horse that really needs to be laid to rest

This wonderful painting of Peter Pan is done by creator, illustrator, and designer
Nicholas Jackson. You can find his website HERE to see more of his work. I
love Nicholas' art, but I'm getting tired of this story.

First off, I apologize to all the Peter Pan lovers out there. But this "little" rant of mine has to do with the fact that I'm actually sick of all things Peter Pan. I'm sick of Neverland. I'm sick of the Lost Boys. I'm sick of Captain Hook. The story has just been beaten to death.

We've had the original story by J.M. Barrie of course. And we've had a plethora of Peter Pan-ish adaptations and reboots. There was the awful Robin Williams/Dustin Hoffman matchup called Hook. And then there's the fact that Once Upon A Time is now doing an entire season on Peter Pan with Once Upon A Time in Neverland. This season is a real draaaagg, and it may just be the season that convinces me to stop watching Once Upon A Time completely. Oh and Peter Pan in the Once Upon A Time version is a real jerkface not to mention that the show completely rips off every bit of fiction there is. Nothing is sacred. This week's show had a whole bunch of the shadows flying around, and I swear that they looked just like the Dementors did in Harry Potter.

Yawn. Anyway, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I hear Hollywood is doing three Peter Pan movies. Seriously? I'm afraid so.

1) Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) is making a Peter Pan origins movie.

2) Columbia is developing a Peter Pan movie.

3) And Disney (not to be outdone) is adapting Peter and the Starcatchers.

I really don't care for any of these. Can we just vote in a Peter Pan moratorium for the next four decades? Are there really that many people out there that, upon finishing one Peter Pan tale, turn around and go "Oh I wish we could see this again with different actors and maybe an origin or what happens after story!?"

Peter Pan is a dead horse that really needs to be laid to rest. And that, my friends, is something you can take to the bank.

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Hollywood's leading ladies dripping blood and just in time for Halloween

The artist who drew these is really good, but they definitely have a dark side. Want to play a game? You get 100 nerd points if you can name them all in the comments. Have a blood-tastic Wednesday.

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These Batman Sengoku era images could belong in any home right next to the fine China

Artist Scott Wade is selling prints of some fabulous Sengoku Batman images. For those of you not in the know, "Sengoku" refers to a period in Japanese history referred to as the "Warring States Period." As its name implies, during this time Japan was embroiled in nearly constant social upheaval, political intrigue, and constant military conflict. It lasted for two-hundred years (between the 15th and 17th centuries) and eventually led to the unification of political power under the Tokugawa Shogunate. A lot of beautiful silk screen art pieces such as the one below are typical of this era:

Being half-Japanese, I love Japanese artwork and have a few prints and silk screens in my home. However, I'd love to get some of the following Batman prints simply because they're both beautiful and show that special geekiness that is "oh so me."

In a gist, these Batman Sengoku era images could belong in any home right next to the fine China. Wouldn't that be a cool dinner conversation? Have a great weekend.

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This bittersweet gallery of concept art for the failed Akira movie is pretty damn cool

I loved Akira, so it may seem odd to hear me say I'm glad that Warner Brothers pulled the plug on the full-scale movie adaptation of Akira. I had my reasons though, mostly attributed to the fact that it was taking place in America and they were going to cast American actors in the roles. I spoke about that on a blog post located HERE.

Anyway, I present you with a bittersweet gallery of conceptual art I found online courtesy of Screen Crush. When I see this kind of stuff, I want the project to be alive again, only under the helm of a director that understands the importance of the incredible source material. I also wish that cyberpunk was a more popular genre, because these pictures are very exciting in much the same way Tron or Neuromancer excites me.

I know what you're thinking. This bittersweet gallery of concept art for the failed Akira movie is pretty damn cool, right? And if you're not thinking that, well...I never said I was psychic. But answer me this: why can't we get a genuinely awesome Akira movie instead of rebooting the Terminator franchise? And yes, in case you haven't heard, all new Terminator movies have been scrapped. Hollywood is returning to square one and rebooting Terminator and starting anew with a trilogy. This is my "grrr" face ==>

"GRRRR. WE DON'T NEED A TERMINATOR REBOOT!"

Speaking of art (shameless self plug for attention) I finished a new painting. If you want to view it, click on the "My Artwork" tab above. It's the very top two pictures on the page. If you do take the time to go and look, be sure to shower me with compliments. I love compliments :)

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A picture may be worth a thousand words but it pales in comparison to a diorama

As a writer myself (and speaking to all of you writers out there who read my blog) I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words." I first heard it uttered by my father in reference to a Charles Russell print that he had framed and hung on the wall of our home. Called "When Shadows Hint Death," it shows two men struggling to quiet their horses because the shadow on the ridge behind them shows a contingent of native american warriors who would kill and scalp them if they knew they were there.

I used to stare at it every day whilst I toiled to complete my homework. And I definitely understood how a painting could capture an entire story. Charles Russell really did do just that, even though his artwork is a little too "folksy and western" for my taste. However, I can't deny that the man had incredible talent with a brush. But whereas a picture is worth a thousand words, I have to say it pales in comparison to a diorama. Here's one that's in the American Museum of Natural History. It depicts an epic encounter between a giant squid (which we now know definitively exist) and a sperm whale.

The diorama is huge and brings to life a scene that scientists know probably occurs on a day-to day basis. In this dramatic diorama, a giant squid is caught in the sperm whale's mouth, its tentacles grasping at the whale's head. And if you think that's impressive, wait until you get a load of the diorama called Titanoboa, King of the Snakes.

This thing was totally real. It's skeleton was found in a mining area in Columbia and this diorama faithfully constructed from foam by an artist using the scientific measurements provided by the many archaeologists studying this thing. It's freakishly huge...like bigger than that snake in the terrible Anaconda movies with Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube. It could squeeze its prey with 400 pounds of pressure per square inch.

Dioramas are everywhere if you bother to look for them. You see them in theme parks like the Jurassic Park ride or in Haunted Houses. You can see them in Lego constructions (the kind that take thousands upon thousands of lego sets) or in Christmas decorations. Take for example this incredibly detailed High Elf Sea Port from a Warhammer Fantasy golden demon competition. It seems so real, if I were a tiny human, I could live there.

I suppose dioramas are a way we can bring something to life. All that's needed is a desire strong enough to want to go to the trouble to create something in the first place. Have you ever wanted to create a diorama? Perhaps a three-dimensional sculpture of your main protagonist with paint so lifelike they look alive? I'd be interested to hear your thought on whether or not you agree that a diorama is better than a picture when it comes to realizing one's imagination, or even if you're a fan of sculpture versus illustration.

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If you hate King Joffrey in HBO's A Game of Thrones you really should blame the Batman

And just because last night's episode of A Game of Thrones featured the "red wedding" event that most fans dreaded was coming, I give you a picture of the Iron Throne that's so epic, it just might all be worth it. Image courtesy of Random House Mexico. On second thought, I guess if you're a Stark, maybe not....

Click to Embiggen. That's definitely a throne room big enough to hold
huge dragon skulls!

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An older sexier Hiccup flies in on the back of Toothless in 2014 and brings us the coming of age dragon story we've always wanted

Coming in 2014, here is what you'll see...

Hiccup is growing up. I think he looks quite dashing on the back of Toothless here. Looks
maybe around sixteen or seventeen years old and the flaming sword is a nice touch. This is
a leaked photo taken by someone touring Dreamworks Studios, and I first saw it on Perez Hilton.
This image isn't from Perez Hilton's blog though. It's from HTTYD Tumblr. And the image is
all over the internet now so I doubt Dreamworks Studios can do any damage control at this
point. They're probably just going to count it as viral marketing.

This is a coloring pencil sketch that shows Hiccup's face better in the upcoming movie
"How To Train Your Dragon 2." It's done by artist Aty S. Behsam and you can find her
Deviant Art page HERE. HTTYD has "LEGIONS" of fans. Seriously. Not underestimating
this at all. It could quite possibly have an opening that joins Iron Man 3 or The Avengers.

Astrid has become a young Viking woman. I like the way her hair is done. Her dragon looks
pretty too with all of the vibrant colors. Image taken from HTTYD Tumblr. Has anyone read
the books that How To Train Your Dragon is based from? I've been told they have no
resemblance at all to the movie adaptation. Usually there's a "little" resemblance. But a
trusted source told me that the movies are 100% better than the books and that she wouldn't
recommend them at all. Interesting, eh?

Story and images courtesy of inhonoredglory's DeviantArt page located HERE.

Is it just me, or does the older Hiccup look like he could be the brother of Dreamworks'
"Jack Frost" from the movie Rise of the Guardians before he became the "cool" kid with the
white and silver looking hair? Maybe Dreamworks just knows what kind of guy white
 teen-aged girls will go "squee" over and aims at the models that could sing for "One Direction."
For the record, I own Dreamworks stock so I'm part of the problem. You white people
out there with your white kids need to go see more Dreamworks movies so my stock goes up!

Guys! An older sexier Hiccup flies in on the back of Toothless in 2014 and brings us the coming of age dragon story we've always wanted. I think as far as animated stories goes, How To Train Your Dragon was a home run for Dreamworks Animation Studios. I enjoyed it more than Shrek, The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, and Despicable Me, and a few other titles that are quite frankly...pretty forgettable. I think that's why I watch the television series on Cartoon Network, and I wonder if they are going to incorporate any of the stuff from the series into the sequel. For example, Gobber is now a dentist for the dragons, Hiccup is a dragon trainer at the newly opened "Dragon Academy" and there's a section of bad guy vikings that live on their own island exiled from the main tribe, and they are pretty horrible.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see as many Dreamworks
films as possible thereby increasing the stock so I get a payout. See how
that works? Disclaimer: Any raving I do about Dreamworks' projects is
not selfishly motivated in any way :).

I hope that there will be a seamless transition from the first movie to the second using stuff from the television series, but also striking out on its own with a plot that's even better than the first. They also need to hire the right musical composer to give us the soaring scores that have made How To Train Your Dragon iconic. I also would like to see some intense romance between Astrid and Hiccup that's clearly foreshadowed. If they do it right, this could be the next "billion dollar" franchise because the romance will appeal to all the YA addicted readers out there who might embrace Hiccup and Astrid in the same way that audiences hungered for Bella and Edward (sans vampires, werewolves, and a female protagonist) while appealing to boys who think dragons are cool and who identify with Hiccup's awkwardness (not to mention disability).

Maybe Hiccup will be the "boy band" equivalent in animation, culling the legions of fans that make One Direction such a huge hit.

MY OTHER POSTS ON HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:

HTTYD in Gifs! How can you not like Gif stories?

How To Train Your Dragon

Dragons: Riders of Berk

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Today is the Writers 4 Writers monthly marketing blitz for authors who have signed up on the list featured on the W4WS Facebook Page located HERE.

Please visit the following author blogs and send out the pre-fabricated sentences they have constructed and copy/paste and then tweet them to your following on twitter. I used to have the W4W's button in my sidebar linked to Stephen Tremp's blog, but that link is broken. I need to hunt down a new one for Stephen.

Anyway, it's as simple as that. Perhaps we can get them some viral marketing and witness sales soar through the roof! Wouldn't that be cool? Unrelated to W4WS, my friend Mimi Strong is experiencing stratospheric sales on her erotic book For You. I think she's probably nearing the 100,000 mark, but haven't spoken to her in a while (her real name is Tamara Paulin, but she also goes by Dalya Moon). I featured one of her YA novels called Practice Cake on my blog way back when (some of you old timers may remember it). Anyway, Mimi is kickin' some ass and may sell a million books before the end of the year. She's already been picked up by USA Today and raved about (another self-publishing success story, and this time from someone I knew when she was in the trenches!) For what it's worth to you, Mimi was ignored/brushed off by agents everywhere. She tried and tried. I know cause I was there comforting her on one of  her fourteen blogs (she has more blogs and more identities than Briane Pagel).

Lesson: It could happen to you!

You can also retweet other people's tweets by visiting #W4WS on twitter.

LAURA ENO

MARIAN ALLEN

Let's take over the internet fellow Writers 4 Writers!

Have a great Monday.

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Eleven science-fiction men troubled by their throne and one queen who needs saving

Elric of Menibone by Michael Moorcock sitting on the ruby throne. The albino emperor loses
everything to the dastardly demon sword Stormbringer. In the end, it even destroys the world.

Batman is one troubled dude. I think it's the chair that did it to him. Art by
LoHanNinja. Visit her at DeviantArt

If you don't know who this is, you should slap yourself.

King Conan. This is the only time we'll ever see "Ahnold" as King. It lasts
for about 10 seconds so don't blink or you'll miss it.

Odin in the movie Thor. Aside from the chair being way overdone, those
ravens are well-behaved. I'd a thought they'd shit all over it.

Again, if you don't know where this scene comes from, you should just
hand over your nerd card right now.

The Captain's Chair People! It's the throne of the Enterprise! Are you
seeing Star Trek tonight? *NODS HEAD. OMIGAWDICANTWAIT
*Passes out <<Thud>>

Robb Stark on the Iron Throne. Yeah he's a troubled troubled man.

RIDDICK! THE MOVIE IS COMING CHECK OUT THE TRAILER BELOWS!

Harry Seldon saw the future and it wasn't pretty for the Empire. Nope.
Cover Art for "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov done by Michael Whelan.

Thanos. If he isn't trouble, I don't know what is.

Here's the only woman I could find on a throne in science-fiction/fantasy. But
don't worry. I read this book and she has to be rescued by a man. And while
she's on the throne, all she does is sleep anyway. Lazy wimmenz.
Cover art by Keith Parkinson.

Riddick is back. I'm glad they didn't cast "The Rock" in this one.

Dwayne Johnson makes Vin look small. LOL.

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A gold dragon with all the moxen is Dan Frazier calling magic players a bunch of hoarders

Art by Dan Frazier. Does it make you want to be a hoarder?
Magic 8 Ball says: "Signs point to yes"

This picture by artist Dan Frazier is the nerdiest Magic: The Gathering tribute I've seen in a while. And within it's beautiful details is a statement that in my opinion is far from complimentary. But it's OH SO TRUE!

For those of you who don't know, this is Magic: The Gathering's 20th anniversary and to celebrate it, all of the original artists (people like Dan Frazier and more importantly Kaja and Phil Foglio!) have all put up some new art that's available in a book with oversight from parent company Wizards of the Coast.

It's pretty obvious that Richard Garfield (the creator) probably had no idea of the immense goldmine that would explode two decades ago from his creation. I can summarize Magic as thus: it's a strategy game kinda similar to chess, but not really, that involves micro-management of resources to the nth degree to defeat the person across from you. Catch all that? Shaking your head no? Well I'll try to explain further.

These pretty cards are very rare and very expensive. In my opinion,
any child molester could drop 10K or more on these bad babies, park
outside a huge tournament with his white van, and probably lure all
kinds of kiddos to the "park" (if ya know what I mean) by simply saying,
wanna see my moxen? It sounds really sad, doesn't it? That's because it is sad.
Parents, pay attention to your sons. Tell them a mox sapphire offered from the
door of a white van is just NOT WORTH IT. And yes I said "sons" and not
"daughters" because let's face it, Magic is a total sausage hang.

Deck design is based upon sets that are released upon a proven "money making" formula and old cards are phased out so that there's always incentive to buy the new stuff (capitalism people! Chop! Chop!). The huge tournaments offer a very comfortable living wage to anyone that has the genius to wield and overcome all those who stand in their path (like maybe buy a Mercedes wage but not necessarily a permanent niche among the 1%).

The game has excellent mechanics, is easy to learn, and fun to play. And just like any game that millions of people play, it has its share of douchebags that (if they lose) they're really sore losers and just don't make it fun to play at all. And if you get into any level of competition, you really have to be perfect, and because there are only ever really like three to four solid decks to play that someone with an IQ of 200 creates even before the new cards are made, everyone else copies those decks and that's what you end up facing all day long.

And when I mean you have to be perfect to even be remotely competitive...I'm serious. You play a card a second too soon or tap a land or an artifact out of order, and it's game over because your opponents are THAT good. And that's just in small tournaments. I've no idea what the competition is like in the Big Boy stuff. I'm pretty sure that everyone that plays at that level probably can do advanced calculus in their head.

Anyway, the one yucky phenomenon of Magic: The Gathering is that it inspires "hoarding." And yes, I totally mean that in the negatory like a picture from a home in "Hoarders" or a screenshot from the meme Skyrim hoarding. Boys are especially susceptible because boys like fantasy stuff, and jewels, and swords, and they buy all these cards and put them in order alphabetically. It starts as a small box, grows to a bigger box, and then grows to multiple boxes. Pretty soon your house is overrun with boxes of worthless magic cards with essentially cartoony art and coffee stains from having smelly teenagers over at all hours of the night to play Magic around your kitchen table. Your friends come over and wonder why there's a card with weeds on it laying on the couch and you try to explain to them that it's a plains and if you can just tap it, you'll get one white mana, but usually that starts the eye-glazing effect.

Greeted at the door: Come in, come in...I'll grab my deck of Magic cards to
play ya. I know it's around here somewhere. I think I left my boxes on that
there couch over yonder. Just gotta clear a spot so we can play...
My reply: "Yeah um...f*ck that."

So yeah...hoarding is bad...and the only way to play Magic in my opinion is digitally because it keeps the hoarding in check and nice and tidy. But don't say that to the die-hard hoarders collectors BECAUSE THAT'S JUST NOT HOW IT IS!!!

Anyway, thank you Dan Frazier for providing this awesomesauce art. That's a gold dragon hoarding all of those moxes. And the moxes (the shiny jeweled necklaces) are worth a HUGE amount of money in real life because the hoarders collectors all want them for their epeen enlargement capabilities among the nerd elite.

And yes...epeen means what you think it means.

So yeah, a gold dragon with all the moxen is Dan Frazier calling magic players a bunch of hoarders...and that's why I like it. :))

Disclaimer: I may have spent years of my life buying magic cards and experiencing all of the above things, but you will never know

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