Cinema.

Merhghehrhhgheghhgehghge blogging. Hey blog. It's been some days, I'd say. But to be honest, I haven't blogged for reasons; one of them being that I don't have any more of my pirate story to put in and it feels weird to post without it. Helena, Vincent and Benjamin became such a crucial part of my blog and though I was worried about disappointing people, I liked sharing it with you. They were a pretty complex trio considering they were characters made by me and I was proud of them; they had dimensions and all that lovely stuff that is good with fictional characters.

But I've seen True Grit and Never Let Me Go in just the last day or so and so I should talk about that, I guess. What the two films made me notice in particular is how opinions differ; I personally really, really loved Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, whereas she annoyed Lauren. I mean, she was really baddass; she was only fourteen but she really got stuff done and was more assertive than anyone I'd ever seen. And yet she still conveyed that childishness about her; you could see she was scared sometimes and doubted what she was doing as right. I mean, yeah, she could have plucked her eyebrows but it didn't bother me that much because it kind of made sense for the time, in my mind anyway.

Jeff Bridges, though his accent was hard to understand at times, said every line with such perfect timing, particularly on his funny lines; Matt Damon's character was almost nerdy with how proud he was about being a Texas Ranger; and as I said, Hailee Steinfeld was superb, especially for how young she is. I really wish she isn't one of those child actors who either get so drugged up they ruin their career, or just simply disappear by either a bad role in a next film or whatever.

And in regards to Never Let Me Go, I really liked that too. I didn't really love either films; they were good but not mindblowing. The performance that stood out in NLMG was Andrew Garfield's; I was surprised but how very talented he is. From The Social Network, I knew he could act. I knew he could act well; I wasn't quite aware of the extent of that 'well'. The way he manages to portray so much with such ingenuity and real naivety. Don't ask me about how my heart feels in the scene where he gets out the car and screams; it just... I can't. Carey Mulligan didn't because I knew how much she could say with just her eyes; there was no surprise there but she was still fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it's just that she always is.

I'd recommend True Grit over Never Let Me Go just because I was more surprised about how much I liked True Grit; I usually don't go for Westerns but I really enjoyed it thoroughly due to the way it flowed. Thinking over it now, it's hard to pinpoint why I liked it exactly; I just did.

I also saw I Am Number Four and the only thing that impressed with from that were the pretty decent actions scenes; there could have been more of them but I'm interested enough for the sequel. I just hope they focus more on the action because the world needs a teen film which doesn't try to act all angsty about love or whatever and has solid fantasy/sci-fi. It shows promise. Did I prefer NLMG? Yes. True Grit? Yes. But was it really that bad? No, not at all; especially for the target audience it has.

I think I'll add some Treasure Planet fanfiction because it has pirates; Space pirates, but pirates nonetheless; and because to not have some creative writing in a post feels weird.

Jim jerked awake with the frantic but sleepy mumblings of the crewman above him. His immediate instinct was to ask if everything was okay but he realised that if he did that he’d wake up a grumpy, violent pirate who would trigger the consciousness of the rest of the grumpy, violent pirates and Jim didn’t really feel like dying just yet. Closing his eyes, he tried to fall back asleep he was in, where he was dreaming about his mother’s face when he returned and presented with a bag of gold to set her for life; but instead he keeps getting interrupted by the loud though strangely in sync snores of the mean around him, and so goes out for some fresh air as quietly as he could.

He tiptoed out and saw Lillian, the girl he saw briefly when in the Captain’s stateroom as she was in the adjacent room. She looked different. Perhaps it was because her hair was down or the fact she was in her pijamas or maybe it was just the pensive look she had on her face; it was almost melancholy with how serene it was. Either way, she didn’t seem like the snobby bookworm he was introduced to. He walked over to her.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” he guessed, keeping his voice light and casual.

“I never can,” she replied; the first works she’d said properly to him.

“On the ship?”

“Just in general. At all. Ever.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t really one for conversation. “That’s unfortunate.”

“You get used to it,” she said, “after a while. I’ve been more a night person.” She looked at him and sighed. “Look, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sorry.”

“No –” She held up a hand to stop him.

“No really,” she said earnestly. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault for being rude. In my defence though, I was woken up from my nap to meet you, so.” She extended her hand to him. “I’m Lily.”

“Jim.” He smiled.

“I know,” she laughed. Jim noted her laugh was oddly pleasant and had the same rich, warm tone to it as his mother’s; back when she used to laugh all the time. “Don’t worry about Auntie Amelia either; she’s stern but she means well. And ignore her if she keeps telling you to call me ‘Miss Lillian’.”

“‘Auntie Amelia’?” asked Jim skeptically.

She laughed again, “Yeah, godmother, didn’t she say? She and my dad have been friends for years now, since before I was ever born I think.” She paused and rubbed her hands together slowly and gently. “It gets kind of hard at home with just me and my dad, so I’m glad to have her. As much as I love him, he is a bit intense sometimes.”

Jim faught and lost against the urge to say, “Well as least you’ve got a dad.” His voice didn’t come out as resentful as he thought it would, but was a little bitter all the same.

“I’m sorry,” said Lily as she smiled apologetically at him. He was well-acquainted with the expression she was wearing; he’d seen it ever since his father left and it followed him around. Not so much nowadays, with him becoming an infamous delinquent and all; yet there were still those who remained faithful to the idea that it was because the poor boy didn’t have a father and that we mustn’t treat him too harshly, is that clear? Whether it was true, Jim didn’t know; how could you guarantee all the ‘what ifs’ you encounter? What if his father hadn’t left? What if he’d been raised like every other kid he knew? All he knew was that he did what he wanted most of the time and whether his father not being there contributed to that or not, he would never know. “I guess shouldn’t complain.”

“It’s fine,” he said quietly. “I don’t really remember him,” Yes he did, “and if he thought he was too good for me and my mom then that’s his problem. Not that just having a mother is a picnic but...”

“At least you’ve got a mom,” she mimicked but they both laughed, oddly bonding over the fact that neither of them had a full set of parents.

“Did she leave too?”

“No, she died when I was young. I don’t remember her either.”

“I’m sorry.” He knew how to say the words: he’d been told them so many times; but this time he wanted his sincerity to be clear in his voice because being abandoned by choice was hard; but to know that neither parties want it to happen made it more unfair somehow.

“It’s not your fault,” she said gently. Lily inhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she did so and Jim watched her hair swirl around her in the wind.

“I think I’m going to read and try to sleep,” she said. “Goodnight.”

Giving her a small smile, Jim nodded; unable to form words because he’d seen pretty girls and even met a few, but never had he encountered any that were actually interesting.