Cinderella Project: File 1

After working on projects, papers, and book readings all month, I decided that whoever depicted college life as an experience filled only with sorority houses, parties, booze, boyfriends, and cat fights should be sent somewhere nice and hot.  Hollywood fails to mention the large loads of homework that comes along with college in the many movies depicting "university" life .  But then again, that's boring - who wants to watch the main character struggle over writing a thesis?

There. Rant done.

On another note,  one reason that I've been neglecting my blog is because I'm trying to write and draw my own children's story for a class.  I must have been on something when I decided to do this; either that, or I just didn't want to analyze a bunch of picture books. I have ten times more respect for children's authors and illustrators now. I go to Barnes and Noble and marvel at the incredible dedication it takes to write in a limited vocabulary and create pictures from the few words on the page.

James the ASB president, and Cindy Reynolds

My picture book is "Cinderella" meets "High School Musical" in a hybrid-anime style, minus talking mice, people bursting into songs, and strange facial expressions. Thank goodness the teacher is willing to accept rough drawings - otherwise I would never get this done before I graduate. 

This project also made me realize how much I need to grow as an artist. As I sat hunched over my desk, trying to draw the profile views of heads, I was humbled by my limited knowledge and experience.  I had to search for models that showed me how to do basic things (like drawing hands). And even when I spend four hours on one drawing, I still make huge mistakes, like drawing the locker doors on the wrong side (those are locker doors, trust me).

I've often felt like giving up. But getting a good grade and the knowledge that I'll laugh at this later help to keep me going. More updates coming soon! :)

Will the Real Shinichi Please Stand Up?

Last weekend around eleven-thirty pm, screams were heard coming from my dorm room. No, it wasn’t due to anyone in scary costumes tramping through the hallway or creepy spiders crawling up the windows (although both options are possible); my roommate and I just finished watching The Lost Ship in the Sky the fourteenth movie in the Japanese anime Detective Conan series.

The movie’s plot is complicated, so I’ll briefly summarize the relevant part of the storyline: A jewel-stealing magician named Kaito Kid sneaks onto a blimp to steal a ring, but before he can snatch it, he gets caught by Rachel, a passenger. In order to evade the police waiting to ambush him, he tells her that he is actually her long-absent friend, Shinichi, a famous high-school detective.

Kaito Kid’s Shinichi-like features convince her as well as an allusion to a memory that only Shinichi would know (Kaito Kid overheard the real Shinichi

Kaito Kid (left) and Shinichi (right)

telling a friend about it). Confused, Rachel helps Kaito Kid escape the police; at the end of the movie, she finds Kaito Kid alone and when he asks her for a kiss, she consents (since it’s “Shinichi” after all) while the true Shinichi rushes to reach them in time.

So why was I shrieking about this encounter and fantasizing about pushing Kaito Kid out of the window?
 

Since Detective Conan began 13+ years ago, Rachel has been waiting for Shinichi; it’s the show’s main romance.  Kind, sweet, and a little dumb, she never wavers in her love for him even when he seems to drop off the face of the earth for months at a time. But she’s not a patsy; as captain of the high school karate team, she’s entertained a few thoughts about severely injuring Shinichi for making her wait so long (On a side note, I would have dumped Shinichi a long time ago). 

But what she doesn’t know is that he can’t tell her his location because an evil organization would use her to capture him. He wants to tell her; he’s even starts to reveal himself a few times, but then something always gets in the way, whether it’s a dead body or someone shooting at them.

Which is why I want to push Kaito Kid off of the blimp; how dare he try to deceive Rachel that way! Why can’t she see that he’s a fake, that he’s not really Shinichi?  (It also doesn’t help that they sound alike since the same voice actor plays both Shinichi and Kaito Kid). 

However, how many times do we choose flashy counterfeits that steal joy, happiness, and contentment instead of jewels and kisses?  How many times do we become content with something that ends up being worthless because it’s convenient at the time? 

As a child, I remember choosing shiny fool’s gold over real gold because the fake rock was shinier, only to find out that it wasn’t worth anything. How about you? Have you ever chosen a Kaito Kid or fool’s gold in your life? 

I do not own any of these pictures; Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky belongs to Gosho Aoyama and TMS entertainment.