The Evil Professor Is In. (Anna's Scrapbook)

[Fubuki Kouri]

You know, Anna. I'm thinking this song perfectly describes Kouri's relationship with Anna. Especially since she see her as a mother and don't realize that Anna is gradually eroding what human innocence she had left, this is what her Vantha self would say to Anna. Also brushing at Anna's original self before she was marked by Rhysol. I found it... touching. Enjoy! The Lyric's translations are part of the video.

[Strange]

I know I'm a bit late to the party as far as the Law discussion goes but I just wanted to remark how extremely fascinating it is to see your opinions on this. Personally, I would have done the exact same as Anna did here. No doubt but I can tell you, without a doubt, that most of my friends and family would not have allowed them to search their car. In fact it's funny just how ignorant to the law some of my family are until they can call on it to protect their 'rights'. How would that end in Scotland? Well someone's getting a night in a cell for 'breach of the peace' (a blanket term over here for 'disagreed with a policeman') and it's not going to be the policeman.

I dunno if it's their working class background or the general 'petch the establishment' culture we have here in britain but no-one respects the Police and, in turn, the police respect no one. It's a sorry state of affairs. I remember doing a discursive essay on Arming the Police in High School and one of the 'Cons' of arming the police was that, and this was an answer straight from the curriculum, it would damage the 'friendly bobby' culture we have here in the UK. The entire class from people who'd grown up in tenements all the way to people with three cars and a holiday home snorted in derision simultaneously.

Another thing that's kind of odd. Everybody supports the military and the fireman and all of the other civil servants (except from those MPs at Westminister *shakes fist*) we just don't seem to like the police very much. So what was my original point? Yeah, it's just really interesting to see the difference in opinions here. Personally, and perhaps because I watch so much American TV I have become Full American, I've never quite shared this bad view toward the Police. I would have done exactly what Anna did without thinking twice... Until they realized I don't have a licence and have no idea how to drive.

[Annalisa Marin]

What the petch is happening in Dune? No, I'm not talking about sand dunes, those are pretty easy to understand. I am talking about the movie (which is based off of the book) Dune, which is an old Sci-Fi flick. Right so my dad occasionally likes to sit both me and my brother down and get us to watch older movies. The Usual Suspects, Goodfellas, movies from the 80's and 90's for the most part that we otherwise might have missed. Kind of like how we get him into the newer movies, though the Marvel movies recently have become favorites of all three of us. Anyway, so he sat us down to watch Dune a while back. A little over two hours later, my brother and I looked at each other as the credits rolled and asked if we knew what the movie was about. I have never actually been completely baffled and confused watching a movie, like so much so that the overall movie itself is remembered as a jumble of stuff all cut together. Unlike Star Wars, there is no rolling intro to give exposition to the plot and it just jumps you right in with nothing to hold on to. There are a lot of things Dune expects the audience to grasp onto immediately. We are just supposed to know who the Spacing Guild is and why they are important, we are just supposed to know that the Emperor is their bitch because he needs their space travel, we are just supposed to know the purpose of the struggle between House Atreides and House Harkonnen. I had to read an online summery after wards to actually know what was going on in the movie, yes it was that bad at losing me. The story does not end here though, just recently, yesterday actually, they aired Dune on TV so I opted to catch it again. The version they showed this time was an extended version that actually possessed exposition at the beginning to help you understand what the petch was going on. I was surprised this even existed so I opted to give it a second chance and watch it, thinking that maybe this version was a bit better. Well, objectively it was but it also possessed a runtime that was about as long if not longer than Das Boot (old german submarine flick). Which is over 3 hours if you are curious. I like some length to my movies, but when part of your plot is about the hero avenging the death of his father and the father is still alive going well into an hour in we have some problems. Was it a bad movie? Petch yes it was a bad movie, when the fans of the book itself are bitter towards the movie we have some problems. I myself did not opt to read the book, figured after watching the movie I'd gotten just enough out of the Dune universe. Its not so much that the plot itself is bad, its just that this movie was obviously another example of movies destroyed in editing. The extended version is not much better, but at least it gave the audience some idea what was going on. Gah, I'm lingering on the same things I suppose. If you can catch it on TV, the extended cut, it might be worth the over 3 hours. If you find yourself watching the regular version and did not read the book, prepare for confusion.

[Amolina]

You have good taste. Because you are right, that film is utterly, incredibly bad. One of the worst film adaptions ever. Crap. A pure turkey of a film. Warning !

You can’t even imagine the shock people feel if they have read the book first. It was one of the really huge film disappointments of my life. I know exactly what you mean. And the end ... my god, the end was the worst of it all. I saw this with my best friend and afterwards we just stared at each other, then laughed out loud.

Nothing can make me watch that abomination of a film again. Not even people who have read the books understand the film, you see. Gah ! You have reminded me of an old grudge against this film I thought I had managed to put to rest.

The book Dune is a complex, deep, mysterious and interesting Science Fiction story that won awards in its time. The idiotic, stupid and shallow film has next to nothing to do with it. My advice: try your best to forget the horrid film and read the book(s) instead.

[Gossamer]

Thats odd. As a child I read the Dune Books through Children of Dune then in college I read the rest of them. I loved them. In fact I read them so many times my copies are trashed. I recently watched the original movie on tv again last week or so while I was painting and was thinking to myself that it's too bad they don't make epics like this anymore. I loved the movie and still do. For a mid 80s film it was stellar. It won a Saturn Award and was nominated for an Oscar and a few more Saturns and I believe a Hugo.

[Amolina]

It's a movie all people have their own opinion of - it's not odd at all, it's just like it always use to be with people. We all see different things in all sorts of art, the experience is personal and can't be questioned

But I must admit I felt interested when I saw the film had maybe been nominated to so many great awards. I'm one of those roleplayer people who like to check up details so I googled it up. It was the sound, makeup, costume, and the special effects the film was nominated for. But the film as a total is the result of a cut ordered by a producer who found Lynch's original too long. Big chunks of story were cut away as the film was made shorter and more shallow. Lynch distanced himself from the result.

Perhaps it's a destroyed could-have-been-masterpiece.

Awards
Wikipedia

It won the following awards
The Saturn Award for best costumes
The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture

It was nominated to the following
Oscar for best sound 1985.
Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing 1985
Saturn Award for best makeup 1985
Saturn Award for best special effects 1985
Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation 1985

[Annalisa Marin]

Over a year and still counting I had a realization when I posted up on a thread today, a little delayed perhaps but a realization nonetheless. I realized that it had been over a year since I started Anna up, which excited me at first really but then, me being me, I started drawing inwards and pondering everything I'd done with her, everything I as a player have done on the site, and my plans for the future. Maybe I'm just a little weird like that, after all I suppose a year isn't even that long of a time but I figured I might share what ran through my mind. First on Anna, the means by which most of you know me by though I'm not sure what impressions that might have given you of me lol. I've oft looked back at my first threads as Anna and cringed a bit I guess, I mean it would be kind of hard for me to get in the mindset she was in at that point. Anna was fresh, newborn I suppose in someway and it showed. I looked at my writing then I got a sense that she as a character at first kind of lacked much substance. Her direction in particular was all over the place really, like she was adrift and didn't know what she wanted to be. A powerful wizard, a Chaon, a professor? All three seemed like they were clashing rather than melding, grinding against each other to fight for dominance. However I do notice a point in time where her development started to move towards finding what she was and is today. I'll never forget this, it was when she started privately educating Tsaba, a young Sahovan Nuit Aurist. She was probably the first player she really clicked with, and when I threaded with Tsaba I could feel her coming alive at my fingertips. Suddenly each word flowed more naturally from the keys, a flare of passion was lit in her towards Tsaba. I guess you could say Tsaba was Anna's first and currently only Apprentice type character, the only one she ever initiated in reimancy to boot. She went inactive but I don't begrudge her for it, I had fun for those threads and she even gave Anna the direction to go somewhere. You see Tsaba's connection to Sahova was important, it was the first real time Anna was introduced to the idea of 'Sahova' whatever that was for her at the time. Honestly, believe it or not, before Tsaba I NEVER would have imagined Anna ending up on Sahova. Like ever, to be honest looking at it as an outsider looking in it looked painfully under populated and while Mirage was nice enough to talk to in chat (lol, I think before going there I had talked to him like three times and all were in chat, now its like he can't get rid of me haha) it just didn't seem like where I envisioned Anna going. But, through Tsaba I opted to give it a chance. I figured, if nothing else, she could just use the visitor policy recently implemented and leave if it was everything I feared. Nowadays I can't imagine Anna without Sahova, it was really the perfect domain in ever single possible way, from my experience at least. Mirage jumped at the chance to get Anna involved in the twisted realm of the Citadel, God every single thread felt just filled with character development. So she started down the twisted path of Sahova, the power there her lure and the trap of commitment to a centuries old cause closed in to ensnare her. In her time there something happen, I'm not quite sure when it did but it did. Before that point I thought she was pretty inhuman, but Sahova ironically awakened some human elements in her. Ambition, fear, hatred, passion, faith, even some twisted form of love to some degree. At times when I wrote her here I could help but pity her, a twisted wretch of a human being, despicable in almost every sense of the word but there was something fundamentally broken about her on the inside. Like a piece of shattered pottery hastily glued back together, brittle, ugly looking, but bearing the shape of what it had once been and evoking some bit of sorrow. I consider her perhaps my most twisted piece of art, my darkest delving into the depths of a villainous character. She has most certainly helped me make writing my villains in my writing outside Miz much more interesting I think. Now a quick bit on me, I look back on my year on Miz and I see a number of mistakes I made along the path. I don't exactly hate myself for the mistakes, I don't continuously beat myself over them. That is self defeating in and of itself. It is not the mistakes you make that define you, it is how you learn from those mistakes that define you. One of my favorite quotes of all time, something I firmly believe, comes from Confucius: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Experience can be a bitter thing, you are going to have good experiences and you are going to have bad ones. Its part of life however if you learn from that experience then it was not wasted. I like to think a single year here has taught me that lesson better than most other things would have. I've enjoyed my time here, its been a wild ride. I hope to continue to be around for as long as I am able, telling the story of a character I've come to enjoy writing. Back to Anna. I'm not sure what the future will bring, no one really can be sure of that. I hope to tell a good story with her at the end of the day, that's all I really want. I'm content to have her stay on Sahova for the foreseeable future, its where I feel she belongs in the grander scheme of things. Maybe Ravok might happen much later down the road, but it would feel odd to leave when Anna has just started to make ripples on the Island. I have found a number of wonderful partners I've enjoyed threading with, those who have helped mold Anna to what she is today. Tsaba, Celeste, Kouri, Edreina, Zandelia, Clyde and of course Mirage, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart even if some of you are inactive. Anna wouldn't be the same without you all throwing in your awesome creativity with me. I hope to have the same impact on your PC's that your PC's had upon mine.

[Fubuki Kouri]

*Hugs Mommy* Congratulations, Mama! Kouri is really happy to see you and it honors me greatly to be a significant part in Anna's life. Thank you.

[Inoadar]

My envious congratulations on the eye, sister in devotion to He Who is Lord Above All.

We shall call you "Anna, Half-Druvin".

When you wink, which eye do you close?

[Mirage]

I'm really not sure why I have not posted here yet lol. But here I am!

Let me just say when you came to Sahova I had NO idea how important you would become for the overall plot of the city. You have developed a lot as a player and a character, but whether you know it or not you have also helped me shape Sahova as a domain. Your nudges here and your pointing out areas that needed improving helped me to make Sahova what it is today, and I am really appreciative of that. It is difficult to make a city fun and interactive for players when no one will talk to you about some of the base issues with it. When you arrived Sahova was very much bare bones, not much was developed and there was especially very little as far as an infrastructure established in the city. Because I had to run all of those threads with you it helped me to figure out a lot of Sahova's inner workings, how certain NPC's interacted with one another, etc etc. You have also been a fantastic player because you fully embraced what Sahova was all about. Hardships and struggles that lead to overall character development. You said it before, but Anna has not won many fights on Sahova and some players would get very frustrated with that. You haven't, however, and it has made you into an amazing writer AND it has developed Anna and given her as a character a sense of her own abilities and her own limits, and shown her ways she can break those limits completely .

Sahova is a trial by fire, a crucible that every player has to face and very few actually make it through it. The Citadel is not meant to be inviting for people, and as it's DS it is my responsibility to make the challenge there equal to what the lore says it is, and to equal what players expect. I have always felt that while I do not get many players in Sahova, the players I have are some of the best in all of Mizahar because they develop patience, determination, ambition and perseverance. Anna has definitely earned all of those on Sahova, and now I know wherever she goes no matter the city she will be prepared to face any trials or hardships that come her way. Sahova tested Anna's limits and made her face life and death situations every day. It tore her apart mentally, emotionally and physically. After all that, I think the rest of the world better be worried because Anna may very well be one of the biggest threats because she survived the harshest trials Sahova has to offer