::POSSIBLE SPOILERS::

One problem is that the characters are a bit too perfect:

This is addressed in the story. Some flaws include and are not limited to: Stasia being smart but she makes dumb decisions when she’s being rash(hence the plot) and Guy agreeing to said dumb decisions.

And with this I am DONE! 15 blog posts and I get a job-well-done aka no zeros. I could keep up the blog, and once I’m done with school I could actually talk about PG-13 comics, but I don’t know if I’m going to. Sorry to anyone who stumbles upon this but I’m pretty sure that this blog will fall into the pile of dropped blogs.

Sandra and Woo is also available in German if you prefer that.

Evil Diva is an adorable comic about angels, devils and highschool; a perfect post for a private school student. It’s not “happy hearts and sunshine” cute, but the main character wishes it were. It’s by Brinson Thieme, HAI, Joe Cashman, and Peter Menotti – together they are stronger, faster, smarter than an average man.

Diva’s a devil who just wants to be good but that’s very very bad. She goes to a high school for devils and angels but it’s hard because she never fits in with the devils and she’s enemies with the most popular angel Angela (it’s even harder since she has a huge crush on Angela’s brother Gabriel). It gets easier once she receives the magic wand.

Even though this comic’s description seems like a head-on collision for clichés: angels verses devils, highschool, an outcast heroine (who’s kinda a ditz) that chooses good over ‘evil’, a popular enemy, crush on boy who is related to enemy, a cute mascott/pet, and a magic wand that does magical transformations. Even with all of these cliches, the authors pull together and make an entertaining comic. They write it so well that . The characters are distinct, there is originality, and it’s very funny!!! Another plus is that there are so many different vote incentives, just click VOTE to see.

This post will be a movie I made (another project) about using common sense to find good comics. Have fun watching the obvious.

Okay, picture this: You have Cabbage Patch doll that your parents bought from ToyRUs and gave to you. You loooove this doll! You play with it and take it everywhere, never let it out of your sight. Now there’s another doll that your grandma passed down to you- old doll, really detailed – vintage lace and all; it’s so antique that you put it in a glass case. You don’t play with it, you don’t carry it around with you, but you look at it and love it. The rag doll is other comics and the old doll is HERO . I’m not saying that the Cabbage Patch doll is bad/lesser (you loooove it, remember?) it’s just that HERO is unique. And I sorta used tha example because I haven’t checked in on HERO for so long (but I remembered it) just like I’m sorta using this post so that I’ll remember to keep checking in on it.

HERO is surreal, like Rice Boy surreal, in the story telling and the art. It’s kinda hard to explain (made all the worse by me not checking in on it for so long). The summary is “HERO is a story about a perfectly ordinary boy with no memory of the past and no urgency for the future; who one day accepts a most extraordinary offer to travel to distant places and invisible cities,” but it’s so much more than that. You start at the beginning of the boy’s story but it’s the middle of everyone else’s; you use the stories people tell to piece together the past. It’s a patchwork of all the character’s stories and they twist together to creates a beautiful quilt mosaic (hah! look at me being poetic! what can I say – I’m a visual thinker). And have I mentioned the BEEEA-U-TI-FUL art!!

Three main characters are:
The boy who isn’t perfectly ordinary, hasn’t got a name, but he may have been the golem Eira. Valentine is a demon who takes the boy on a journey to see cities and used to know Eira (likes him but killed him complicated relationship), and there’s Duck who is the duck/motorcycle. There’s humor and drama, something for everyone!

Also, it’s not a silent comic. Move your mouse over the panels to see the script. Awes~ome!!

Neurotypical (NT) people are “the other” to Aspies/ASDs (I’ll stick with ASDs throughout the rest of the post). They are the majority and have a standard brain – their brain function/personality allows them to be best suited to fit into society. Have you ever gotten into an argument about relativity by asking “What is normal?” NTs are the answer to that question. NTs are who ASDs are compared to in order to see the differences of ASDs.

When people think about therapy animals usually the first species that comes to mind is dogs.Dogs offer companionship and have a calming effect; these help with depression and high blood pressure. They’re also used to help people in need – physically and mentally.

A therapy dogs job includes “visits to hospitals, special needs centers, schools, and nursing homes” . Some reasons why ASDs bond well with animals is because dogs do not care about eye contact, or speech, they offer comfort. A therapy dog’s presence helps calms autistic people down and helps them avoid tantrums. Their presence can even encourage social interaction and help the person be relaxed in new surroundings.

Therapy dogs are not a sure thing. Some people may not bond with the dogs and can even reject them. The dogs must also go through training and have a good temperament. Therapy dogs are not the only kind of pet used for therapy: fish, cats, rabbits, any kind of pet can have a calming effect. I know some people use horses for horse back riding therapy because there is one in my area.

Horse back riding is used as therapy because people feel a connection with the horse when they’re riding. It boosts self-esteem, builds independence, has a calming effect, and builds skills. Horse back riding therapy is not only for people with autism; it is can be used for anyone with physical or mental disabilities. Not only does it help mentally but it also helps physically with building muscles and improving balance.

Mozart and the Whale is a movie focusing on the relationship between Donald Morton and Isabelle Sorenson (both Aspies). Donald “Duck” is a savant with numbers, drives a taxi cab, and is the leader of an autism support group. At group he meets Isabelle, a very loud, direct flamboyant woman. Once again: outgoing girl and withdrawn guy.

A wonderful things about this movie is the humor. There is a lot of it and it’s very cute. What makes it even funnier is that the characters don’t even realize how funny they’re being. If anyone else would have responded like they do then people would be think that they were being sarcastic, but they’re being serious. Everyone can be so clueless that it’s adorable!

Plus points for Donald: his inner self is a WHALE!! =3 Donald’s love for whales is a repeated punch-line in the movie. Also, after Isabelle decides to do something nice and clean up his hoarder messy apartment Donald, like any other guy whose girlfriend rearranged his apartment, freaks out. However, with the Aspergers, Donald freaks out a bit more but he did not cry!! +10

Even though the film has fluffy parts with humor it isn’t for kids. There’s adult language, sex, and dark topics. Isabelle was raped when she was younger and this continues to affect her, she’s pushy/open with sex but has difficulty having a deeper relationship with Donald. This film also deals with suicide. And it’s a romance film so, of course, DRAAAMMA!! Not only do both have aspergers which makes them very awkward around each other but they also have to deal with Donald pushing for a deeper relationship and wanting to fit in so badly that he would stifle Isabelle.

Criticism I have of the film:
It seems like the director (Ron Bass) laid the Asperger angle on a bit too thick. Isabelle screams “Can you tell the difference between confusion and a fight?” She’s talking about how Aspies have trouble figuring out people’s emotions but it just seems a bit too superfluous. Then there’s the part where Donald walks away from his car accident because he was late to group – I know that even normal people could do that when they’re in a rush but I don’t think a taxi driver would just abandon his livelihood! They could have made a better point about him sticking to schedules. I prefer the more subtle parts where Donald doesn’t meet people’s eyes (and it’s impossible to miss), Wallace didn’t care to ask about Isabelle’s costume, or when they talk about taking things seriously. The part where Isabelle talks about the presidents who had illegitimate children was a bit much. However, I loved the part about her breaking music records because everyone was happy about a man at the Olympics breaking a record. I personally like this because while watching the Olympics I had an episode: Mom was wondering if the women skiers used pads (for cushioning), for a second I thought she meant sanitary napkins. The Olympics tie people together!!! But my favorite “taking things literally” part is when Donald talks about his job interview: “At my interview with IBM after I graduated college, they asked me what my plans were, and I said, ‘Probably go to McDonalds for a 12-piece McNugget and two cheeseburgers, and then do my laundry.’” Poor guy never got that job.

Graphics are used to try to explain how Donald’s mind works with numbers, I don’t mind it but it seems a bit out-of-place so others might not like it. I don’t like that everyone in the autism support group is a savant in some way (except for the guy who steals everything he sees but he doesn’t really talk). It doesn’t work like that, not everyone on the autism spectrum is a savant. There ARE Autistic savants and about 10% of ASDs are a genius in some way; however, while they are the majority, they are not the only ones who are savants.

The reason why I’m mentioning this is in Mozart and the Whale, while the two main characters have Aspergers, there are a bunch of people in the support group that fall within Autism range. And I wanted to do a post later on Temple Grandin (she rocks!) due to the movie coming out and her books.

Symptoms of Aspergers may include: taking things literally, not understanding social ques or body language, avoidance of eye contact, obsessing on a certain subject, having an odd way of speaking, adhering to a schedule, prone to long-winded speeches and internal monologue, and being hypersensitive.