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corviddays · 2 years

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I was watching a documentary on women in the film industry and learned Marilyn Monroe wanted roles that didn’t just focus on her beauty and the chance to play important and dynamic characters in film. Often she is honored and remembered for being a beauty icon, when that wasn’t all she wanted to be remembered for.

To honor her memory I wanted to imagine her in a role of a strong female character and I thought it would be amazing to see her in star trek TNG. Star Trek is notorious for making media history and making waves. So here is our new Senior Science Officer and Lieutenant.

**I wanted to draw her as many other strong female characters that I like Ellen Ripley from Alien or Harely Quinn or Clarice Starling from Silence of the lambs, but I could literally only draw her once. This is a miracle.**

#marilyn monroe #actress #acting #actor #star trek #TNG #science officer #lieutenant #woman's history

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corviddays · 2 years

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I’ve been really obsessed with redesigns lately. It’s mostly just because I like seeing the different ways characters can look and move in their worlds. I did a redesign of Draculara, if her fashion style was more inspired by Romanian fashion. It’s not traditional, but it has those elements, and I imagine her making it her own. It’s not fixing in anyway I love monster high. I don’t think I would wear half the things they do, but they’ve still got really cool designs and in reality its iconic.

#draculara #dracula #monster high #vampire #redesign #pink

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corviddays · 2 years

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Audition Review — International Book Challenge (Japan) ~ 3.5/5 stars

If you were widowed would you hold an audition to find a new partner?

If you said yes. you would have something in common with Aoyama from Audition by Ryu Murakami. Aoyama is encouraged to run an audition for a new wife by his friend under the guise of a film production. Aoyama only has his eye for one applicant out of 4000: Yamaski Asami. She is 20 years younger, beautiful and odd. However Aoyama is so infatuated by her very presence that he doesn’t seem to notice the red flags until he loses something close to him.

Spoiler Free Review:

Overall I would say the book is good, but feels lacking in some areas.

The Story and Concept:

The story and concept was phenomenal, at first. The concept of an Audition being held and the “winner” being not what you expect or get from the Audition is interesting and exciting. The way Yamaski Asami conceals her true nature is interesting and keeps you wondering.

However, while this book did well to spark my imagination, the execution did not meet my expectations. It’s likely this is my fault. I chose to read this book expecting violence and cruelty and the book wasn’t elevated to my standards. If I would have went in blind, I may have been more surprised and had a different experience. I also felt that the beginning and ending were the weakest parts of the book, which is unfortunate. The excitement of the concept is what initially propelled me forward.

The Characters:

The characters are my favorite part of the story. Everyone was unique and had their own personalities and were well described. I could picture them in their environments and they felt an active part of it. The perspectives of each character added to the story and carried in a great way. I have no complaints about the characters as far as I know.

The Prose:

As I mentioned before I felt the writing in the beginning and ending were the weakest parts of the story. While it doesn’t not make up the majority of the prose they should be the most impactful to a certain point. I was particularly disappointed with the ending. There is a lot of anticipation built to the ending, which acts as the climax, but there is no true conclusion. Now this is a short book, so at only 190 pages it does well getting a lot of info across, but the ending felt a bit stilted. To counteract that statement I do think the ending is reflective of Aoyama and his perspective, which has been stilted, filtered and unreliable. Depending on your perspective, it’s either ok, lacking, or a bit humorous.

Spoiler Review:

The Story and Concept:

When I say the story has something to be desired, I largely form this opinion from the conclusion. When Yamaski reveals her violent affinity with cutting off feet it’s surprising, but not jarring as there is foreshadowing in the writing. It connects well with the rest of the prose, but doesn’t feel as much of a twist than a build up that concluded too fast. Once again I blame myself partly here, because of my high expectations going in.

The Characters:

Overall I would say I have no favorite characters, but I also have no complaints. Yamaski Asami’s character was interesting and dynamic. There were unanswered questions such as what about her backstory was true or exaggerated. While we did hear allusions to her past and her direct telling of it, there are too issues. One, it’s demonstrated already that Yamaski Asami is not a trustworthy character, seeing as she will plan to cut off your feet if she feels slighted and won’t even give you a heads up. Kinda Rude. Two, Aoyama is not a trustworthy narrator. Throughout the book the perspective is in 3rd person, but its limited to the perspective of Aoyama and the world is shaped that way. His infatuation actively gets in the way throughout the story so it’s hard to tell sometimes what is and isn’t deception on Yamasaki’s part. I actually really liked this. I left the book with answers, but no true confidence and still I find myself satisfied.

Whether intentioned or not the perspective of Aoyama brings an air of humor to the whole story. It is through this lens I believe the book can be viewed in a few ways, that I will talk about more in the prose section. While the red flags surrounding Yamaski Asami are at times obvious, because the story is viewed through the Rose-colored glasses of Aoyama it’s hard to discern what exactly is the problem. The ending when her true nature was revealed and the glasses broken, was interesting. Aoyama’s perspective is also very funny, and made me laugh a couple of times.

The Prose:

As mentioned a few times the ending left some things to be desired. I felt the perspective of Aoyama being elevated and semi-separate from story worked until we got to the end. When the weight of the situation is realized Aoyama doesn’t feel like he comes down to earth with the narrative. When the dog, Gangsta’s, legs are being cut off the separation is described well. There is fear and worry and sadness as he watches his son’s dog bleed out on to the floor. He can see it and hear it, but he can’t feel it, not yet. However when he gets his own foot cut off, the heaviness never feels like it arrives. I can say from the perspective of this book being funny I actually quite enjoy the ending. So I’m conflicted.

Conclusion(Contains mild spoilers)

One part in particular in Audition caught my eye and this is when Aoyama is talking to Yamasaki about food of all things. “[…]My theory is that sushi and kaiseki are dishes that evolved in peaceful, prosperous times, when eating well was the normal state of affairs. In his country[Japan] we have the illusion that there’s always this warm, loving community we belong to, but the other side of that is a sort of exclusiveness and xenophobia, and our food reflects this. Japanese cuisine isn’t inclusive at all — in fact it’s extremely inhospitable to outsiders, to people who don’t fit into the community.”

I like this quote a lot because I am a firm believer that horror and food is reflective of a societies thoughts, stresses, and culture of the time. Particularly when I look at my cultural food stuffs, soul food, there is a high number of fats, oils, and “unsavory” animal parts which is reflective of slavery. When it comes to overall US culture the popularity of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” has parallels to the Red Scare of the time.

Overall my thoughts on the book is that it is a good read if you are looking for some suspense and some humor. Take this with a grain of salt however, as this may not be the type of humor that appeals to everyone and it’s possible it wasn’t intentioned.

Overall I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

#Japan #international book challenge #audition #Ryu Murakami #book review #quote #reading #bookblr

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corviddays · 2 years

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Currently Reading “A Man Called Ove”

This is my choice for Sweden on my “reading a book from every country challenge.” A Man called Ove is a sweet book, I really like it so far, but for those who are interested in reading it, if you are sensitive to depictions of suicide or suicide attempts, I would wait to read this one.

#suicide #trigger warning #a man called ove #sweden #international book challenge #book #book review #death

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corviddays · 2 years

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International Book Challenge Selection, So far...

Some of these might change as I look for more books

Bangladesh - The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam

Brazil - If I Close My Eyes Now by Edney Silvestre

Canada - Room by Emma Donoghue

China - Red Sorghum by Mo Yan

Denmark - The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

Egypt - Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

France - No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre

Germany - The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Haiti - Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat

India - Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

Iran - A Door Between Us by Ehsaneh Sadr

Iraq - Frankenstein in Bhagdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Ireland - Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift

Japan - Audition by Ryu Murakami

Kenya - Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Madagascar - Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo

Nigeria - The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

Poland - Drive your plow over the bones of the dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Russia - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

South Korea - Kim Jiyourn, Born 1982 by Nam-Joo Cho

Sweden - A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

United States - The Deep by Rivers Solomon

#international book challenge #bookblr #reading #book club #book review

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corviddays · 2 years

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Favorite Quotes from Books I Read #1

“[…]My theory is that sushi and kaiseki are dishes that evolved in peaceful, prosperous times, when eating well was the normal state of affairs. In his country[Japan] we have the illusion that there’s always this warm, loving community we belong to, but the other side of that is a sort of exclusiveness and xenophobia, and our food reflects this. Japanese cuisine isn’t inclusive at all — in fact it’s extremely inhospitable to outsiders, to people who don’t fit into the community.” - Aoyama from Audition by Ryu Murakami

#Audition #ryu murakami #japan #book worm #booklr #quotes

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corviddays · 2 years

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Trying to Read a Book from Every Country

According to Worldometers.info, there are currently 195 countries on earth…

I want to challenge myself to read a book every single one of these countries and maybe more. 195 books would be my total if I didn’t want to make things harder for myself, but what is the fun in that? In this count, some places were not included, such as Taiwan and other countries not recognized as self-governing according to the United Nations. However, I choose not to exclude these locations. This is because of the main motivations for this challenge. Some areas I will be reading books from I’ve chosen, because of their distinctness from the main culture. For example, I plan to read books from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. All are different and culturally unique enough to be added to the list separately.

Here are the Rules:

The Book must be either published in the country or written by someone who grew up in/lived a large amount of time in said country

The topic of the book does not have to be about said country (Fiction is welcome and encouraged!)

Not every book has to be a novel (Short Stories & Novellas are ok)

I have to write about my thoughts on each book and post it

If a book cannot be found, I would report my effort in finding it and where I may have failed (exceptions may be made for small territories /cultural groups).

One thing I am worried about is being isolated because I only speak English. However, speaking English is good, because of it’s popularity it’s likely I could find a translation for most countries.

As of right now, the total number of books is 215. The 195 countries plus some territories/unique cultural groups. These numbers may fluctuate based on how successful I am at finding a book and finishing each piece.

I don’t know if I will finish this challenge and when. I don’t plan to give myself a timeline, since this is just for fun, but I hope to at least get a couple of these books done each month.

Finding these books will take a lot of research on my part, so it might take time. Some will be harder to choose from than others, based on my familiarity, and lack of accessibility. So far though I do have some chosen works I will be reading:

Japan — “Audition” by Ryu Murakami

United States — “The Deep” by Rivers Solomon

South Korea — “Kim Jiyourn, Born 1982” by Nam-Joo Cho

Ireland — “Gulliver’s Travels” by Johnathan Swift

Brazil — “If I Close My Eyes Now” by Edney Silvestre

Kenya —“ Land without Thunder” by Grace Ogot

I will also be posting a complete list of all the books I will be reading and updating as I go. I will also add a key as an indicator of what I have and haven’t read. I will not read in any particular order, and just with what I feel. Some book titles may even change as I go. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear people’s favorite books from around the world.

Currently reading

- The Deep by Rivers Solomon (United States)

- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (England)

- The Road by Cormac McCarthy (United States)

- A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman (Sweden)

#challenge #book #novels #international #around the world #audition #ryu murakami #japan #ireland #south korea #kenya #brazil #united states #bookworm

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corviddays · 2 years

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I wanted to highlight the eye, because I was very proud of this one

#trex #eye #dinosaur #hornbill #paleoart

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corviddays · 2 years

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SO I’ve always wanted to do paleo art, but never felt confident enough. I was always worried that my piece would be behind the times on what is or is not scientifically proven in the appearances of dinosaurs of the past. This year will be different, I will try to just jump in from now on, so here is my rendition of a T-Rex. I only based this on the skeleton of T-Rex. It started with the idea the holes in the skull of T-Rex is there for a reason. I’m thinking Beluga Whale.

This is my idea of a male T-Rex. From what I know they live in swampy areas, so a kind of mossy grey seemed legit for a predatory, possibly ambush hunter. His head feathers are inspired by pheasants and his eyes Hornbills. What started this all, the red inflatable membrane, is inspired by a sage grouse. I love the idea that a male would utilize sound and vibrate the membrane to attract females. Maybe even bed low to expose and flash their head feathers?

Anyway, I’m curious what other people think

#Trex #paleoart #digitalart #sage grouse

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corviddays · 2 years

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How do artists post all the time on social media!? I swear I draw like once every full moon. I tried the drawing everyday thing, but I can’t. My attention span just can’t.

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corviddays · 3 years

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