ZAK Entertainment: books

Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Solar Eclipse Aftermath in the Chamber of Secrets and Daredevil Knits

Well, we’re still here. The Solar Eclipse has come and gone and no cats and dogs rained from the sky so Bill Murray can rest easy. How did you all enjoy it? Me well I only got to see about 80% of the Eclipse but it was a sight to behold regardless, an eerie sight. Admittedly this was my first Solar Eclipse in my entirety of my life; sure I’ve seen Lunar Eclipses but never a Solar Eclipse. With our Solar Viewers we got from our Local Library my sister, my mum and myself all spent the day pretty much outdoors, despite the heat, watching the moon intrude it’s way over the Sun. Sadly I did not have the equipment to record it and I was not willing to risk my camera frying but Mum actually got a few photos by covering her iPhone camera with one of the lens of the glasses. This worked for the most part I’m not exactly sure if her camera ended up completely unscathed but she got a very few blurry photos.

Despite the solar viewers my eyes still felt a little bugged out after viewing this Eclipse but my eyesight isn’t perfect anyway so it’s probably no big deal. It took way over 20 years for me to finally see a Solar Eclipse so this will be an experience I’ll never forget. Funny enough it seems another one will be occurring in April 8th, 2024 but I’m not sure of the full details other than the fact it’s going to be in America again, are we going to be having more regular Solar Eclipses or is this just a rare round 2 happening?

After the Solar Eclipse had ended we wrapped the day up with what Mum is now dubbing the Solar Eclipse Chicken Pie.

I don't think we could of had a more perfect meal then this on the day of the Solar Eclipse and it was delicious to make it even better.

Now let’s dive into the next movie I watched recently, well actually it’s apart of 8 movies I’ve watched in the past few weeks, Harry Potter. A week ago, as it’s now the 20^th anniversary of the series, I dropped a nostalgia Harry Potter blog about the very first outing of Harry, Ron and Hermione in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (Or Philosopher’s Stone in countries outside America.) as they discover a friendship that would last them throughout their years at Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which you can read here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/08/harry-potter-and-sorcerers-stone.html. Spoilers ahead for the ending of the first Harry Potter movie and I say this with all blogs that discuss sequels there’s quite a few spoilers I just can’t avoid so please go read the first blog, watch the first movie or read the first book before trekking further but if you have already done so as I’m sure all of you have (We’re all Wizards on this blog) let’s dive into the next magical story by J.K. Rowling aka Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Directed once again by Christopher Columbus and of course written by J.K. Rowling the story takes place after the battle (And a game of Wizard’s Chest) to save the Sorcerer’s Stone from a weak Voldemort who had his influential claws in Professor Quirrell the former Defense of the Dark Arts teacher Harry returned home to the Dursleys to find them as Dursley as ever and just as abusive. Harry Potter isn’t the boy in the cupboard under the stairs now though he now sleeps in Dudley Dursley’s spare bedroom which might seem like a generous move by Vernon Dursley, Harry’s Uncle but you’ll find in the book the reasons behind this are not so nice after all. While in his new room Harry thinks over his memories from his first year at Hogwarts but also feels sad at the fact his friends haven’t been writing to him… Well they have been but a certain house-elf has been pinching them. This house elf is known as Dobby and he might be one of my favorite characters from the book hands down. Dobby is part of the house-elf enslavement despite most house-elfs being set free after the fall of He-who-should-not-be-named. Dobby doesn’t want Harry to go back to Hogwarts for his own protection which ends up causing quite a messy scene with the Dursleys.

Angry at what transpired Harry waits in his room until out of the blue a peculiar looking flying car (This is weird even by Wizard Standards) pulls up to his window. In this car are Harry’s Best Friend Ron Weasley and his older and twin brothers, the pranksters known as Fred and George Weasley, though I'm not sure any of these three were legal to drive but hey when you're a Wizard with a floating car I guess it doesn't matter. As a car fan and as someone who posts car blogs here on ZAK Entertainment this car is actually a Ford Anglia 105E Deluxe. As a kid I just thought of it as the Weasley’s flying car but this is a pretty cool fun fact.

Early on in the movie and book the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher makes an appearance, the infamous and conceited autobiographer Gilderoy Lockhart and oh boy this guy is a piece of work but might be one of funniest characters in the book/movie. I know these books and movies have been out for years but you have to watch/read it for yourself.

After a snide encounter with Draco Malfoy’s father Lucius Malfoy (That gets pretty rough in the book) Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley family including Ginny Weasley, Ron’s 1 year younger sister who’s starting her first year at Hogwarts. Ginny plays a major role in this story which involves a dark chapter of Hogwart’s history returning, the Chamber of Secrets is open and it’s looking to be a dark year at Hogwarts. Regardless of the dangers Harry and friends seem to get into some fun hijinks along the way.

Besides Gilderoy Lockhart, Dobby and Lucius some other new characters are introduced such as the mysterious Tom Riddle (Christian Coulson) (Don’t spoil anyone in the comments about who this is).

Professor Sprout the Herbology professor is also introduced and played by Miriam Margolyes, as well as teaching you to never neglect your earmuffs; seriously those Mandrakes will make you go deaf.

Arthur Weasley is introduced as Ron’s father and a man ever curious about the muggle life. (Seriously what is the function of a rubber duck?). He works at the Ministry of Magic. Mark Williams plays Arthur Weasley and recently starred as Father Brown in… Well Father Brown which is a BBC series that’s still airing, it’s on Netflix for those who want to check that out, it’s about a catholic priest who solves mysteries.

Speaking of the Ministry the late Robert Hardy (Who passed away at the age of 91 on August 3 a few weeks ago) appears as Cornelius Fudge. His appearance is brief and I think a lot more is said in the book. Robert Hardy was probably more famous for playing Siegfried Farnon in the 1978-1990 BBC series “All Creatures Great and Small.” He was 91 so he lived a long life but it got me thinking, a lot of people from the Harry Potter movies are no longer alive such as Richard Harris who played Albus Dumbledore. Robert Hardy also played one episode each of “Inspector Morse” and “Midsomer Murders” and Sir John Middleton in “Sense and Sensibility.”.

Oh yeah back onto Gilderoy Lockhart did you know Kenneth Branagh played Henry V in the 1989 King Henry V? I did not put the two and two together until now, for some reason. He’s also starring in the upcoming new version of Murder on the Orient Express which perhaps I should talk about more in a future blog. You can check out a trailer for that here: . I’m not too sure about the mustache he’s wearing but it could be a good movie. He’s been in quite a lot of popular roles.

Back onto the actual movie setting can I admit that I loved the actual Chamber of Secrets dungeon as a kid? Is that creepy? I don’t know why but it seemed so enticing for being a creepy underground dungeon. I think the Chamber of Secrets book and movie in general fueled a lot of my imagination more than any of the other movies in the series.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also dives into the lovable Hagrid's backstory which cemented him as an all time favorite Harry Potter and storybook character in general of mine. Seriously you tell me anyone else who's cool enough to keep a giant spider as a pet? I shouldn't of said that though. I should not have said that.

Like the previous movie this movie follows the book for I would say 80% of it. There’s a lot of detail in the books that wasn’t translated to the movie such as Peeves the Prankster Ghost (Who wasn’t in any of the movies, sadly), Professor Binns the History of Magic professor, as well as some scenes playing out differently. Regardless of the sometimes unnecessary changes this movie is just as magical now as it was back then and perhaps surpasses the first movie in some aspects. This movie and book introduces a lot of story elements that come into play in later books such as The Half Blood-Prince, which funny enough was a working title for Chamber of Secrets before J.K. Rowling changed it. The plot of this movie really sets up the rest of the series but also works well as a powerful, engaging and pure magical adventure.

I absolutely love this movie to the point I could possibly say it’s my favorite but it’s hard to choose… Yeah it’s my favorite who am I kidding? It takes the magic of the first film and amplifies it with a few new characters, a more engaging storyline with a premise that sets up the films to come and while I think the book surpasses it I recommend, as with all of the Harry Potter series, to read and watch both because they really do complement each other. If you don’t have it already you can buy the book from Amazon Kindle for $8.99 but don’t forget you can read this for free if you have kindleunlimited!

You can buy the movie from iTunes but if you’re interested there’s also an extended edition with a few deleted scenes, this is the version of the movie we have but I’m not sure if it’s any better than the normal edition other than being longer. If you’re wanting to upgrade from VHS (Which is what we did) this would be a perfect way to have the magic of The Chamber of Secrets on demand wherever you are while still watching it on TV. Both editions are the same prices so you can check them out below.

Normal Edition:

https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/movie/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/id272931585?mt=6&at=1001lsFH&ct=1001lsFH

Extended Edition:
https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/movie/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-extended-version/id397997690?mt=6&at=1001lsFH&ct=1001lsFH

This is blog 2 of an 8 part blog series for the Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary so hope you come back next time for the Prisoner of Azkaban! I hope these blogs get you younger viewers into the series that held a huge part of my childhood. All you have to do is follow the spiders.

So aside from Harry Potter I’ve finally began watching Marvel’s Defenders which just released its first season on Netflix.

Defenders stars Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage as they have to come together to protect New York City from “The Hand” a mystical organization of Ninjas. I probably should have watched Iron First before watching Defenders because I was a tad bit confused. Actually the only two I knew about were Daredevil and Luke Cake because of being a fan of their comics and show. I was pretty excited when they announced this despite not seeing Jessica Jones or Iron Fist; I mean Marvel was setting up yet another Superhero team up how could I resist that, especially when I believe this may be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie series. Marvel’s Defenders is more down to earth then the Avengers and doesn’t get as crazy which is a nice contrast to the Movies. So far I’ve warmed up to the series but I have to say it started off a little slow and due to my confusion with who The Hand was (Forgive me I’m not sure I ever read any comics featuring them for some reason). Regardless it’s now picking up and has been pretty thrilling so far. I have to say Marvel’s Defenders has prompted me to check out more of Jessica Jones and Iron Fist’s lore so that’s going to be a fun task, especially Jessica Jones with her dry sarcasm, for some reason I love her character for that. I’ll be talking more about this in its own blog when I finish watching the series.

What is really great about this show is what happened behind the scenes of filming this show. Daredevil won’t have to worry about suit damage because he can now just knit himself up one! Yes Krysten Ritter, who plays Jessica Jones, has taught Charlie Cox who plays Daredevil how to knit which is just completely awesome in every way. As a male knitter I proudly accept you into our ranks, Charlie Cox. Seriously though this is pretty awesome so thanks Krysten you’ve done a great deed. As proof you can check out the instagram photo below where you can see the two co-actors knitting together.

PROOF! I taught my friend, the already wildly-mind-blowingly talented Charlie Cox, a new skill set. #krystenknitter #knittersofinstagram #jessicajones #daredevil #defend

A post shared by Krysten Ritter (@therealkrystenritter) on Aug 20, 2017 at 9:26am PDT

I have to ask however, with his senses can Daredevil actually knit? I mean he can fight pretty well without sight maybe the art of knitting is a breeze to him.

For today’s FREE knitting pattern I’m featuring a pattern I bet Charlie Cox couldn’t resist. No need to worry about damaged suits anymore when you can just knit this “Daredevil Hooded Scarf” pattern from Alison Blakely.

I can’t believe I actually found this pattern. This may be one of the coolest patterns and coolest comic related pattern in general yet. This is actually a VERY creative pattern, it’s a hoodie and scarf hybrid and seems easy to knit too with only decreases and increases for the hoodie and the rest being straight knitting. She doesn’t specify which size needles are recommended but Alison used 6mm(US Size 10) needles to knit the test knits. Alison used two balls of Lion Brand Heartland in Redwood, this is a bulky weight yarn you can buy here: http://amzn.to/2g34Mi4 and Four Seasons Marvel in Red and Claret for contrast colors. You can also buy that here: http://www.4seasonsyarns.com.au/ but any similar colors in any yarn will work but I believe it must stay bulky yarn for the pattern to work.

You can download this awesome pattern and head out to kick super villain butt here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daredevil-hooded-scarf There’s three different downloads as the pattern is mostly in separate color charts so make sure you download all three. Hey if you ever read this Charlie Cox, keep up the knitting! It’s a great pass time and well you can knit up this awesome Daredevil hoodie for yourself.

For now however I’ll leave you guys for today but before then just a reminder that ZAK Entertainment is now on Redbubble! From this comes T-Shirts and all sorts of other merchandise with the ZAK Entertainment logo and my watercolor artwork (Well the non Dream Eclipse related Watercolor work) will all be available for you to purchase. You can check out the full selection at: https://www.redbubble.com/people/zakentertains . So happy to finally bring you guys merchandise as a love letter for viewing this blog for the past year.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Friday!

[Photo Credits: Didomum, Warner Brothers, Pottermore, J.K. Rowling, Krysten Ritter, Alison Blakely]

Friday, August 11, 2017

Reliving the Magical Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Once again before we dive into the blog be sure to vote for my talented photography of a sister during the "It's Amazing Out There" Photo contest by The Weather Channel. You can find her photo via this link: http://bit.ly/2u9B9yl if this doesn't work just search for "Butterfly and the Dandelion" you can vote everyday so go vote for my sister she deserves to win this!

“Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn’t explain when you were angry or scared?” These words were spoken by a half giant half hairy man known as Hagrid to a little boy who would soon learn he has the potential to be one of the greatest Wizards of all time, Harry Potter. If you’re a muggle and not interested in Harry Potter leave now but if you are interested, keep reading as I take you into the beginnings of this magical series.

Harry Potter is a fantasy novel series turned movie written by J.K. Rowling featuring the life of a young boy whose name is the namesake of the series. This book originally released in 1997 by the name of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” would soon release in America by the name of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” which has become a lifetime favorite series of me and my family. After years of work (And I mean years J.K. Rowling started work on this book in 1990) Harry Potter become a phenomenal success and spawned a just as phenomenal movie series by the same name. This movie adaptation released in 2001 and to my knowledge we experienced Harry Potter both the book and the movie around the same time. I mean Harry Potter was already widely popular with four books released but this movie prompted us to get both the movie and the book.

Funny story short we still actually have our original book, of course it’s a little tatted up but it’s been well loved, I think this might be a re-release specifically for the movie which released at the same time as the cover is not the original American cover.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was directed by Chris Columbus, who was famous for Directing Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire at the time as well as writing Gremlins and The Goonies. This movie really captured the magic the Wizarding World kept secret in the heart of England. Just a train ride away was a school where growing Wizards learn how to control their magic, cast spells and experience wonders beyond their imagination known as Hogwarts. At the same time hiding from the non magic folk known as muggles, but they seem to handle this muggle issue just fine however, without much of a fuss.

For the most part the book was translated faithfully into this movie without too much difference in detail. Some more minor characters were left out from the first book but the characters that really left an impact are in this movie and the actors who portrayed them are absolutely perfect, bringing the characters onto the big screen.

This story, just like the magical book, starts in a cubboard under the stairs in house on Privet Drive. Harry Potter (Played by Daniel Radcliffe is a 10 year old boy soon to turn 11; he lives with his Uncle Vernon Dursley (Played by the late Richard Griffiths), a big beefy man who is a the director of a successful drill-making firm, Grunnings. Harry also lived with Vernon’s wife Petunia Dursley (Played by Fiona Shaw), Harry’s Mother’s Sister. Finally Dudley Dursley, the only child of Vernon and Petunia and Harry’s Cousin, Dudley is spoiled rotten by his parents and usually gets away with anything, including bullying poor Harry. Harry has lived with this bunch of muggles since he was only an infant after his parents were killed by He Who Should Not Be Named, the central antagonist of the entire series making him the Boy Who Lived, this would also be just as vital to the story.

Really the Dursleys were the worst kinds of muggles imaginable but Harry struggled through.

Sure enough after a ton of letters was visited by Hagrid, the big, burly but friendly giant of a wizard Harry discovered the world of Wizards and attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With new friends in Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and a rival of sorts in Draco Malfoy the boy was in for the magical ride of his life.

The teachers of Hogwarts are just as important as the kids however with Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), one of the most famous and powerful wizards of all time and holding some deep secrets, as the headmaster. Students in Hogwarts are sorted into 4 houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Apparently according to Pottermore I am a true Ravenclaw, which is pretty awesome.

Three of the teachers featured prominently in this movie are Professor McGonagall (Played by Maggie Smith) the Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House as well as being the teacher of Transfiguration. (Also can turn into a cat)

Professor Snape, the hooked nose and long dark haired potion master (Played by the late Alan Rickman) also plays a role that becomes vital in the later movies/books. He is the head of Slytherin House and has something against Harry for some reason…

Finally Professor Quirrell, the twitchy Professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts. A brilliant Scholar but nerve wrecked Quirrell plays a big role in this first movie and apparently had an encounter with a vampire. He wears a turban for reasons unknown.

Another character that was memorable for me was Filch, the school caretaker who knows every nook and cranny, the inside and out of Hogwarts better than anyone who has ever stepped foot in the castle. He also has a cat named Mrs Noris who he is greatly attached too and also acts as a monitor/spy for Filch. Filch is played by David Bradley who’s more recently popular for his role on Game of Thrones and apparently I found out recently he’ll be playing as the First Doctor in the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special, which is pretty awesome. William Hartnell was the original actor to portray the Doctor but with him passing a long time ago David Bradley may have been a perfect pick to portray the man.

When digging into these films I sure do love to see what the actors who portray these characters have done in other roles so it’s a reoccurring thing for me to mention these other roles here and there. I mean I could go on and on about what the awesome Dame Maggie Smith has done in her life time, such as Jean Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I have come across a discovery that shocked me. While watching Midsummer Murders, a popular British murder mystery show and made popular over here by the means of Netflix (I think I’ve seen it enough to be a fan as well.)

I realized Elizabeth Spriggs who played the Fat Lady in Harry Potter who you must tell the secret password too before entering Gryffindor’s common room actually played two characters on Midsomer Murders but here’s the funny part.

[Credit: Midsomer Murders Facebook Page]

Iris Rainbird a suspect in the very first Episode of Midsomer Murders but comes back to play the sister of Iris Rainbird in a 2006 Episode which sort of connects with the original first episode, thought that was cool for some reason.

I don’t think I can express enough how great this story and movie is and how much it’s impacted my life. I can’t count how many times my family and I have watched this movie or read the books. It’s got a wonderful story that spans 7 books and 8 movies and I can’t name a single character that hasn’t made an impact. Even the supporting characters or one off characters have etched their way into my mind and they couldn’t have picked better actors to portray them. As a writer who is looking to soon publish his first book Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling I can say have been a magical inspiration that really can’t be described that easily.

Harry Potter hasn’t just impacted myself it has impacted a world of wizards, with one of the largest communities in the world Harry Potter, despite its main series having concluded, continues to be a huge topic in conversations regarding books and movies. For a book aimed at YA it seems to have impacted people of all ages. I can actually remember my sister and I playing make believe wizards when we were really young, pretending we were actually attending Hogwarts, using our school textbooks as spell books.

Oh yeah many years ago we ended up getting this Harry Potter bookmark set which came with some really cool, well bookmarks.

Apparently you could get this and a few others in a box set of sorts but I’m not sure if these exact ones I have here did or not, I do remember seeing the Snitch one though but couldn’t find it for this photo. The first bookmark here is a Broomstick, a Nimbus 2000, Harry's Broom in the books and movie the second the Golden Snitch and the 3rd I believe is the prophecy featured in the later movies. Pretty cool, huh?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is just an introduction to 6 more books and 8 more movies so in a way this will be part 1 of 7 blogs that I’ll be writing as I re-watch the Harry Potter movies and re-read the books, which trust me won’t take my family and I long to do so. While the movie is quite faithful to the book I highly recommend you read the book either first or after watching the movie, there’s a lot more detail the movie couldn’t capture so you’ll be able to experience the Harry Potter world in much more depth in you would just watching the movie, plus the book came first and is the original story so it’s only natural to read the book.

For those who don’t own this movie or used to on VHS or DVD and want to get an upgraded digital copy (Which we’ve had to do since we owned the first three movies on VHS) you can do so via iTunes!

Also for the book you can buy it via Amazon Kindle for all of your mobile and computer devices here:

Don't forget to check out http://pottermore.com for more Harry Potter! J.K. Rowling has released a lot of awesome tidbits and stories from within the Wizard World so you'll have even more to read once you finish the books!

Before we wrap up for the day I have some more magical items to discuss, knitting.

I’m still working on my little knitted pouch from earlier and I’m just about finished. I’ve finished the main body and now I’m working on this little flap that will go over top, closing up the pouch. This pouch will be used for my video camera’s remote which will hopefully stop me from losing this now that I actually got the remote working finally. When I’ve finished this flap I’ll be attempting something I haven’t before, it’s been awhile since I’ve dove into a new technique but I’ll be doing a three stitch attached icord on the edge of this flap, which will include a loop that will go over a button I’ll be sewing on. This kind of icord is a bind off that is usually used to finish off sleeves or armholes in general but you can use it to add loops as well. I’ll let you guys know more about that when I get there.

Until then before I leave I have the FREE knitting pattern of the day to share. If you own the physical copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Which you can get also from the Amazon link above) you’ll want a bookmark, right? Well get ready for the “Harry Potter Bookscarf” by Laura K. Miller.

This is an awesome looking bookmark, actually I had never considered making a knitted bookmark but this is actually a great idea. You’ll need some US 0 – 2.0 MM knitting needles and some lace weight yarn in the Hogwarts house choice of color. Other than that this seems like an easy knit though I’ve never added tassel to something before other then my little brother’s blanket. You can check out this pattern here: http://web.archive.org/web/20090318160523/http://knittingwithlaura.blog-city.com/harry_potter_bookscarf_pattern.htm

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Monday.

Ten points for Gryffindor!

[Photo Credits: ZAK Entertainment, Warner Brothers, J.K. Rowling, Laura K. Miller.]

Friday, July 21, 2017

Luna the Moonlight Girl, Unlocked Movie Trailer and Legends Invade Pokemon GO

Storytelling and art, to me these two are one and the same. Whether it’s a watercolor painting or a pair of knitted socks each piece of art has a story to tell. Perhaps it's to do with my passion for writing and being a writer at the core of my soul but my art comes from stories. My story writing is the sole reason I began my journey as an artist, to visualize my stories and characters. Dream Eclipse is a novel I’ve been brewing in my head for a long time and while I’ve not had the utmost confidence in revealing much regarding the novel with my art and this blog it has really allowed me to open myself up more and in turn improve my story writing. That said I have a brand new watercolor character art piece finished. No, no it’s not Aeris Eclipse this time. The character this time is more on the pink side. This isn't a big reveal you’ve seen her before but I have finalized her design. For #WorldWatercolorMonth here’s Luna!

Ironically I came up with this idea in a dream during the night a week ago and I'm dubbing this piece “Luna and the Moonlight Skyline” because well it has Luna in it, it's night time and there’s a skyline in the background. I really wanted to try my best at illustrating a scene at night. Dark blues and purples are among my favorite colors so I wanted to incorporate that into this. Getting my watercolors dark enough wasn't actually that difficult and the city skyline is actually made up from my white gelly roll pen believe it or not. Luna was the character of choice because of her connection to the moon and the significance to the story and world of Dream Eclipse.

That specific skyline is none other than the city of Bruadair which I slightly introduced in my last illustration blog featuring Aeris. Bruadair is the center of a technological revolution in the world of Dream Eclipse, the city where dreamers come to make their dreams come true. Aeris and Luna live on the outskirts of Bruadair in a country village. Luna as you can probably tell is not your average lady, that pink hair isn't actually hair dye.

My first real drawing of Luna from Months ago. This really isn't good by any means and I'm not sure what's up with her stomach, maybe she ate too much who knows.

Luna is a special being connected directly to the Dream World and its energy. This energy is sought after by scientists, leading to corruption and people who will break boundaries to do so. Luna is targeted by a shadow organization and chased into a forest. Pleading for help her calls are soon hearted by a young lady asleep in her bed, Aeris Eclipse. Shockingly Luna turns out to have no memories of her past or who she is but instead of being completely amnesiac Luna has an incredible and vast knowledge of the Dream powers as well as intelligence regarding how certain things work. Luna’s power soon connects with Aeris leaving the blonde lady to discover she too is connected with the Dream World. Dream Eclipse’s story begins here and is going to be quite the ride so hope you guys are interested for what’s to come.

A digital art piece I did of Luna a few months ago, haven't really done any digital art since.

As far as Luna’s personality due to her loss of memories Luna is quite innocent to the world around her despite her intelligence and is extremely shy around strangers. Aside from that she’s quite bubbly and has a heart filled with kindness and love for everything around her. Luna isn’t into fighting and can be viewed as a pacifist at times but helps Aeris with her powers. Aeris tends to a bit of an influence on Luna with Luna soon becoming more bubbly and fun loving as the story goes on. Luna tends to look up to Aeris and shadows her often, which Aeris quotes is similar to how she was when she was a kid with her best friend Rachael Scarlett.

A much more recent illustration of Luna done when I really kicked myself in the butt and improved on my art style. I have just realized how on my newest art piece the flowers on the shirt are in a completely different position, continuity error folks.

There’s a lot about Luna I’ve yet to disclose, she may be one of the most important characters in Dream Eclipse so stay tuned for more! Don’t worry I’m going to try and get Book 1 finished as soon as I can, no more holding back.

Before I wrap this up I did this art piece using my Sakura Koi Watercolors I got for my birthday, a Sakura Gelly Roll white pen and some 140lb Canson Watercolor paper. This was kind of an experiment and my first time doing an illustration set at nighttime so my light is probably not spot on, making this surreal I guess in a sense but I prefer my art to be surreal anyway.

As I said my art always incorporates a story and as well as this featuring a character and setting from my story this is actually based a scene I have planned for my book. Aeris with her friends take Luna, innocent to the world, to the Bruadair Riverfront for the first time. Luna is mesmerized by the scenery and is looking back to her friends. This happens quite early on in Book 1 after Luna meets Aeris’s group of friends who I’ll be introducing in later blogs.

You can read about Aeris by going to this blog right here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/07/aeris-eclipse-kicks-off-world-watercolor-month.html

To view my art in a more gallery like setting visit my DeviantArt: http://zak-art.deviantart.com/

Before we move on from art my sister has an awesome new blog up on her blog Lady AnnaVintage. It's called "The Forest Dream Part Two of Two" and features a large ish scale illustration and some awesome bird watercolor illustrations coupled with a awesome photograph of a wild rabbit we have hanging around our backyard. You can read that here: http://ladyannavintage.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-forest-dream-part-two-of-two.html

Until next time let’s move on to some movie news! Yes there’s a new movie trailer released for a movie that’s caught my eye. Remember my two RED blogs? (RED 1: http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/05/painting-town-red-movie.html RED 2: http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-best-never-rest-in-red-2-plus-new.html I’m a big fan of the RED franchise and while this reveal is not RED 3 sadly it is coming from Lionsgate and the producers of RED as well as stars John Malkovich from RED and RED 2. This movie is called Unlocked and stars Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Carribbean), Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Michael Douglas (A whole bunch of good movies including the recent Ant-Man.) and more. This movie seems to be based in the UK with Rapace playing a CIA interrogator by the name of Alice Racine. After a major ruse it seems London is now at the risk of a major biological terrorist attack. Seems like a pretty cool action movie, not as comedic as RED but cool nonetheless. You can check out the trailer below.

This movie releases in the US September 1^st but apparently has already been released in the UK since May the 5^th, which I apologize for not mentioning this movie before but I’ve only just discovered the movie myself. It looks pretty awesome so it’ll be cool to see when it releases.

One last announcement I want to discuss is one that will please you Pokemon GO fans out there. The game isn’t as highly popular and mainstream as it was last year but it seems to still be holding a player base and this update might bring in more people again. A new update was recently released and it’s building up to what might be the biggest addition and most anticipated since Gen 2 Pokemon, Legendaries. It begins with the addition of Raid Battles. Raid Battles occur at Gyms randomly and allow for players no matter what team you’re on to team up and take on a boss Pokemon. If you win you receive Premier Balls and the chance to capture the boss Pokemon, only using the Premier Balls apparently. (Nice to see the Premier Balls have a purpose other than looking cool finally.) There are different ranks of Raid Pokemon Bosses with there even being a Magikarp Boss, which will probably be tougher than any legendary. These boss battles can be fought like any Gym Battle, where you can bring up to 6 Pokemon. To make things easier Raid Battles will start with an egg on top of the Gym with a timer and if you’re in the area of the gym you’ll get a notification.

As announced yesterday Niantic will be adding Legendaries to the lineup of Bosses for these Raids. Which brings everything full circle as this entire method of battling legendaries with a group of people in a raid takes us back to the first trailer dropped for Pokemon Go picturing everyone fighting against Mewtwo, remember that? Yes it seems this raid battles have been planned from the start and it’s awesome to see this feature finally added. (Niantic is slow.) You can check out the trailer below it’s pretty awesome.

Whoever put this video together this was so engaging it makes me wish Pokemon GO actually was like this in real life but then again if Pokemon was real then this would be pretty dangerous wouldn’t it? (WANT IT TO BE REAL REGARDLESS OF DANGER) You will not be able to place these Pokemon on Gyms unlike normal Pokemon but you can use them in Gyms and future raids so that’s cool, seems to be balanced for the most part.

The first of these Legendary Raids will begin during the Pokemon GO Fest at Grant Park, Chicago USA. This is happening tomorrow July 22^nd so if you’re in the area check it out! Apparently it’s going to be $20 per ticket (They’re already sold out, go figure.) and there’s going to be a mass of events happen. From 6pm to 7pm Chicago time it’ll be Legendary Raid time in a big kick off event. Players not in Chicago will have the chance to take on Legendaries beginning the next day, July 23^rd as Legendary Raids begin to appear, of course this will only happen if the Pokemon GO Fest is a success so get out there and team up Trainers! You can read more here: http://pokemongolive.com/en/post/legendarypokemon

That’s about it for today everyone, no news regarding Ultra Sun and Moon other than a few fake leaks so I guess we just have to be a bit more patient. There was that strange lore filled Pokemon movie posted by the Japanese Youtube channel (Link here: ) and it really seemed to dive deep into the Pokemon Lore but sadly it's only an event in Japan that won’t see the day of light outside of Japan. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day! I’m going to finally be filming a new video tomorrow that you artists might enjoy so be prepared for that next week!

That was ZAK Entertainment.

See you on Monday!

Friday, May 5, 2017

Unlock A FREE Online Book Library with Hoopla!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Today’s holiday marks the celebration of the day the Mexican Army won over France at the Battle of Puebla In 1862 during the Franco-Mexican War. Truth be told this holiday isn’t that majorly celebrated in Mexico itself but in the United States this day has become a celebration of Mexican Culture and Heritage. States such as California, New Mexico and Texas are having celebrations all over so join in if you have any nearby!

This weekend also marks another celebration though a much newer and perhaps geekier day... Free Comic Book Day.

Yes this Saturday, which is tomorrow if you’re reading this today, if you’re reading this after Friday the 5^th then hello from the past, marks Free Comic Book Day. Comic Books have been an absolutely favorite of mine ever since I was a kid and has served as some of my story writing inspiration and lately the inspiration for my recent dive into drawing and art. I actually used to make these silly comic books as a kid because of this and I actually want to get back into that. (Just you know, draw them a lot better then I did as a kid.)

FCBD is an annual event that occurs once a year all across the country at local comic book stores in attempt to get people into comics and drive traffic towards these comic book stores by giving out free comics to everyone who comes in. What kind of comics are they giving out? While this may depend on the store major publishers such as DC, Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, BOOM! Studios and Image Comics will be some of the many giving out these free comics and even some manga from companies such as VIZ.

I’ll be visiting my local bookstore and covering it all of you guys to enjoy on Monday so be sure to come back to ZAK Entertainment on Monday! To experience this event yourself head to comicshoplocator.com to find where Free Comic Book Day is happening in your area! For the list of what comics these stores will be offering go to: http://www.freecomicbookday.com/catalog.

I’m quite excited and in anticipation of this event we’ll be discussing something not so unrelated from comics. Ever wanted to read some free books but are not able to get to the library all the time or just don’t like heading to the library in general? How about Comic Books but you’re not able to pay and keep up with all the new releases? Well what if I told you that there was a way of visiting the library on your iPhone, iPad or Android Device? Introducing to all of you is a really awesome app/website called Hoopla!

In short Hoopla is an online library but I’ve discovered it may be more jam-packed then any local library I’ve ever been to. With thousands of audio books, ebooks, comic books even movies and music Hoopla is a godsend. As I said a couple of sentences ago this is an actual online library and it’s powered by your local public library so before we get started you will need a library card. You can head to your local library to get yourself issued one if you don’t have one. Some libraries won’t offer Hoopla and if your local library doesn’t let them know! They probably don’t know of the benefits of Hoopla or Hoopla in general. Once you have your library card signing up Is easy, created a username, password then enter your library card and choose your nearest library, or the one you like visiting often.

Once you have access you can borrow books, audiobooks, movies and music similar to a real library only it’s all downloaded on your iPad from the comfort of your own home. There is a limit of how many books or other entertainment items you can borrow a month but the amount you can borrow depends on your library, my library offers up to 20 borrows a month. Another plus of Hoopla over a normal library is.. No late fees! Nope instead of getting slapped with a late fee your borrowed items simply disappear after a short amount of time. This short amount of time I believe also depends on your library but my downloaded items last for three weeks before being automatically returned. If your books are returned before you’re done reading them you can simply redownload your books and pick up where you left off! Yeah Hoopla stores your progress even after your borrowed time is up, pretty awesome. These downloads can all be read or watched offline as well! You’ll still have to consider data rates when downloading but won’t have to worry about running up your internet or data once they’re downloaded.

The Hoopla App is easy to navigate and has a nice streamlined design. You can look up recommended, featured and popular items in any of the items Hoopla offers such as books, comics, audio books, movies and so on but if you want to look for a specific book searching for what you want is even easier, you can search via book name (Or movie/music name but you get my drift.), publisher or author. Take Rick Riordan for example, he’s been one of my favorite authors for years now with his popular Percy Jackson series and his new series Magnus Chase which the first book in this series has been on my borrowed list this month. If you love Rick’s Young Adult books with a twist of Norse Mythology and Loki instead of Greek Gods then you might want to give this series a chance! I’m enjoying it thoroughly so far and I’ll be discussing the book once I finish reading it.

You can be pretty vague with what you put in the search, say if you’re looking for mystery novels in general. At first it’ll come up with no filter but with a simple tap you can filter your search by eBook, audio book, movies, tv, or comic books.

Oh yeah parent’s letting their kids use Hoopla can be at ease with Hoopla’s Kid Mode! This’ll block out any adult stuff you don’t want your kids seeing or downloading. Just make sure you make sure your kids don’t run their borrowed books limit up by downloading too many.

Speaking of Comic Books… Hoopla is literally Comic Book heaven. Aside from a lack of Marvel (I’ve heard they are planning on adding Marvel though at a later date.) Hoopla has a plethora of comics, too many for me to read off on this blog but some of my favorites such as DC Comics are on here. The brand new DC Rebirth which I discussed in an earlier blog is all on here in full length volumes. Even older comics such as Batman: Hush or the Silver Age Flash Comics are just a click away.

It’s almost overwhelming in a way, a lot of these comics I’ve never read before for some reason or another. It’s hard to choose which to read first and what to read later but Hoopla does have a feature called favorites which allow you to favorite books you want to borrow later without using up one of your monthly borrows.

My current comic book i'm reading on here are actually the Archie comics. You guys know Archie, right? Well I’ve never been a consistent reader of them but I’ve always known about them and I can vaguely remember a cartoon of the characters from back in the 90s, which I believe was Archie’s Weird Mysteries. I’ve also taken a peek into the comics over the years but never really dove into them until now. Apparently I’ve gotten hooked on these comics. For those not aware Archie is about… Well Archie, Archie Andrews and his friends from Riverdale High School. In these friends are two ladies named Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge who serve as Archie Andrews’s love interests… As well as his kryptonite. Archie tends to accidentally make dates with these two for the same day and time which causes some high jinks between the three. I’ll talk more about these comics as I read more into them but I really seem to have fallen in love with these Riverdale folks.

I’ve talked about books and comic books on Hoopla but I haven’t really discussed Audio Books, TV, Movies and Film which Hoopla has a LOT of. I’m new to Audio Books and I haven’t listened to them often but Hoopla has made me discover one thing… Audio Books are perfectly for listening to while you knit. As a long time rabbit lover I recommend checking out the audio book version of Watership Down! I borrowed this a couple of months ago and it’s a pretty awesome listen as well as being a classic novel.

Speaking of knitting… Hoopla has a good amount of Non-Fiction books and these include but are not limited to How To Books on subjects such as knitting! Yeah there are quite a few knitting books on here including a fiction audio book called Knit Your Own Murder which involves a group of local knitters participating in a fundraiser who get involved in a murder… Huh that actually sounds like a pretty cool story, how come I’ve never heard of this book before? See I found something new just writing this blog.

I don’t use Hoopla for movies so I had to go searching to see what Hoopla does offer and while I don’t recognize a lot of these movies there’s quite a few on here so put in some words and see what you can find!

Hoopla is a pretty incredible app with a lot to offer and it’s almost hard to decide what to read next, but that might just be me being weird. You can download Hoopla for free (Hoopla in general is absolutely free, did I mention that already?) from the App Store on iTunes, the Google Play store, the Amazon App Store and you can even hookup Hoopla to Apple TV or Google Chromecast for movies. Hoopla is definitely an app everyone should download if you’re an avid book reader, a comic book lover, or even a audio book lover. Check out more about Hoopla at https://www.hoopladigital.com/!

Well I’ll be leaving you guys shortly and heading out for Free Comic Book Day but before then, it’s still Friday and Cinco de Mayo so per blog tradition I went digging through some knitting patterns to find a Mexican themed knitting pattern. I was originally going to feature an actual Cinco De Mayo pattern but after discovering it led to a email spam. I have found a Mexican themed pattern though that is just as exciting. This is the “Mexican Sunset” sock pattern By DROPS Design!

Yeah, yeah I know I featured a DROPS Design pattern on the last blog but this pattern is awesome. It’s a beautiful Fair Isle pattern with pinks, oranges and yellows and a wonderful almost floral diamond pattern. These are designed I believe to be female socks and you can find the pattern and full sizes on DROPS’s website: http://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=7364&cid=17#pattern_content. It seems like a normal colorworks pattern just there’s a lot to it. These are actually quite gorgeous and would make a wonderful gift. I’ve done a colorworks pattern before in the form of my first beanie/slouch so I’ve been eager to find a new colorworks pattern. To get these same sunset colors you can find yarn skeins with these colors around quite easily just make sure it’s Fingering weight sock yarn but if you want this specific yarn it’s called DROPS Fabel and will cost you 1.90$ USD per 1.8 from DROPS Design’s website. You’ll need 672 yards of this yarn (614 M) You’ll also need Size US 1 1/2/ 2.5 MM needles and US 0 – 2.0 MM needles… I’ve never used needles that small before.

Check out this cool pattern on Ravelry!

I know, I know the blog is getting long but a lot is happening and I have to tell you all about this. You know The National Museum of Play right? It was created in 1969 and holds all sorts of exhibits related to Toys, Video Games and even Comics. It's had a toy hall of fame since the late 90s but recently in 2015 the Museum introduced the Video Game Hall of Fame. Well the inductees have just been announced and it's pretty exciting to announce that after two years of nomination Pokemon Red and Blue finally have entered the Hall of Fame alongside Donkey Kong, Street Fighter 2 and Halo Combat Evolved. (The first Halo.). Final Fantasy 7 was nominated but didn't make it in so let's try and get it in for next year! You can read more at http://www.worldvideogamehalloffame.org/

Also bringing back up the subject of comics, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 just released in Theatres! It looks like a pretty incredible space super hero movie and everybody loves Groot, right? So go check it out if you can!

With that all said and done we’ve come to the end of the blog for today. Hope you all enjoy your Cinco de Mayo and Free Comic Book Day! I’ll be posting some stuff here and there on my Instagram but check out my full coverage here on ZAK Entertainment on Monday!

That’s a wrap folks!

Oh yeah… Yesterday was actually May the 4^th but as I don’t post a blog on Thursdays I kind of missed out on doing a Star Wars blog… Ohh well apparently the 4^th lands on Friday next year… Hmmmm.

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