Justin Cecil's Blog

Just a few days ago the legendary animator Richard Williams died. He's not nearly as well known as animation pioneers like Walt Disney or Hayao Miyazaki, but you've probably seen at least some of his work. One of his most famous projects was his involvement in the animation of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Throughout history there have been people with passion projects that, for one reason or another, didn't quit make it off the ground, or at least didn't finish in the way attended. The inventor Buckminster Fuller had a host of inventions that he worked on but didn't get enough funding for, and Orson Welles didn't get his passion project "The Other Side of the Wind" finished until years after his death (thanks to Netflix). Richard Williams was no exception. His most famous passion project was the film "The Thief and the Cobbler," an animated take upon "The Arabian Nights" (begun years before Disney's "Aladdin...

Hey everyone! Hope all of my readers are doing great. I haven't been writing as much on this particular blog partially because I have also started a new blog, where I am serializing my novel-in-progress "The Princess of Infinite Tomorrows." If you're interested in an epic fantasy-in-progress involving magical princesses, giant hummingbirds, extremely evil villains, and much more, then check it out at  https://princessofinfinitetomorrows.blogspot.com . In addition I have been working at my day job, looking for new jobs and opportunities, and all of the other endeavors and things that go on throughout my day. Anyway, today I would like to talk about the state of Washington. From the year 2000 until about 2012, I lived in Florida, having gone through middle school, high school, and college there. I then spent nearly two years living abroad in Israel, where I volunteered as a gardener; honestly one of the most transformative times of my life. Rather than go back to Flor...

As I write this it is July 20th, 2019. Fifty years ago to this day, Neil Armstrong set his footprints upon the Moon, soon followed by Buzz Aldrin. It was the first time that a human being had ever set foot upon a world beyond the Earth, and so far only a total of a dozen different people have done this. Now, in honor of this anniversary of what is perhaps one of the greatest achievements in exploration and technology of humankind, there's a lot of different territory that I could cover. I could talk about the time my family and I actually got to meet Buzz Aldrin (I got an autographed copy of one of his memoirs at a bookstore in Florida). I could talk about the fact that I truly think we should go back to the Moon (which we haven't done since the early 1970s) and beyond (although it looks like we might actually be going back soon ). But instead, I want to compare and contrast (mostly the latter) Neil Armstrong and Kanye West. The late Neil Armstrong was an accomplished ...

Ever encounter someone, even from a distance, who will probably never leave your mind? There's someone I saw from a sidewalk once that may never leave my mind, someone who every now and then comes into my memory. She's someone I saw for only a couple of minutes, but she left an impression on me. A few years ago I was in downtown Redmond, Washington, walking towards the outdoor mall there while on the sidewalk. A car stops at the intersection and jumping out of the vehicle was a young woman, no later than her twenties I believe, dressed all in black with black hair and glasses. She didn't quite look like a Goth girl but was a couple of steps down. She stood for a long moment on the other side of the street, sobbing and crying loudly, loud enough for everyone across the street, myself included, to hear. Many questions went through my head. What happened to her? Death of a relative? Financial troubles? Mental illness? Drug problems? What was going through this woman's ...

In 2013, after spending nearly two years living and volunteering abroad in Israel, I moved back to the United States, settling into the state of Washington. About a week or so after settling in and getting used to the time zone, I got a job at my local McDonald's. While it wasn't a job I necessarily wanted to spend the rest of my life doing, I did enjoy aspects of it (plus it was the first job I could get, I needed to replenish my bank account, and would work there for a total of six months until I started working at Home Depot) and people praised my customer service skills. In fact, I even earned an Employee of the Month award; it would have been nice if my managers had actually told me that I had earned it, instead of me finding out during my break by seeing my name plainly on a print-out in the break-room, but I digress. Anyway, I mostly worked as a cashier, barely doing any actually cooking aside from heating up French fries and hash browns, along with making coffee....

I can't believe that it's almost been a full month since I wrote my last blog post. When I originally began this blog I had originally planned on writing at least a post per week, although to be fair, I have been pretty busy. Along with working at my current day job I've been taking classes to add to my education and resume, working on other writing projects, and most recently, I took a quick trip to Canada. I took a couple of days off and spent some time in Vancouver, British Columbia, exploring and just having a good time. Rather than taking a plane I took the Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver (usually a little bit cheaper that way when going that distance). Overall I prefer taking aircraft over trains, although I do like taking trains every now and then; it's a different experience. The views from a train window can be beautiful, like that of an airplane. Seeing the lakes and hills of Bellingham while on a train in the evening seemed particular beautiful. Also, ...

The 2006 film "Eight Below" is a story based very loosely on real events, about a team of scientists living in Antarctica who, in an emergency, end up having to leave their dogs behind, and come back to rescue them. Overall it's a pretty good movie, filled with good characters, great cinematography, and moments that are oftentimes either thrilling or heartfelt (and of course there are the dogs, which let's be honest, is the main draw of the film). However, there is one thing that I'm baffled by every time I've seen this movie. Before the main characters end up having to leave their dogs behind in the cold, unforgiving wilderness of the South Pole, a scientist named Dr. Davis McClaren shows up in order to study a meteorite that has landed nearby. While settling into bed for the night at the Arctic base, one of the characters states that he's a cartographer. The intelligent scientist who has just travelled to the bottom of the world to study a meteorit...