Project Updates

Hello blog readers! I hope that you have been well. I know it's been a while since I posted on here, but I really do just keep forgetting this exists.

I wanted to give some project updates today.

Masksverse

I've been hard at work on Masks II. The episode is mostly casted, there's like one or two roles I still have to fill.

The episode will premiere either in the late summer or early fall, depending on how things go.

Epic: The Plush Musical

Yep, it's back. I announced it in my discord but we've got most of the songs recorded and the rest to be finished soon. Me and Travis will begin filming (hopefully - fingers crossed!) in June.

Plush Channel

I've got two videos in development that'll be coming out soon.

Puppet Channel

Kinda stuck in development hell due to lack of people, but hopefully will come back soon.

Main Channel

Another brickfilm is in development. It will be a Batman video.

Plush Records

Following the deactivation of the Instagram, I will no longer be trying to collaborate with other plushtubers on music. It's not an interest of most of them, myself included outside of musicals. This doesn't mean that I will not upload on this channel anymore, just it'll be mostly covers and parody songs.

ZaxiCraft Creations

Idk about this channel anymore. I don't find Minecraft videos to be the best of my creativity anymore. I'm still gonna stream but idk about videos.

That's about it. See you guys on the next post.

Movies I've Seen Recently

Hello everyone! Been a little while since I posted again, so i figured I'd talk about some movies I've seen recently.

The Princess Bride

I had not seen the film The Princess Bride before last Sunday. I did enjoy it when I watched it though. I understand some of the references from other media to this film now. For example, in the show The Big Bang Theory, there's an episode where the guys learn fencing. Howard and Raj keep repeating the line "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." and variations of it multiple times.

I liked this movie. 9/10, because nothing's perfect.

Muppet Treasure Island

Now, this movie isn't as good as the other Muppets literary adaptation, and coming from someone who hasn't read Treasure Island or seen any other adaptations of it, that's probably not saying much, but it certainly is a fun movie. I enjoyed it and its soundtrack and Tim Curry. What I didn't enjoy was the kid who played Jim Hawkins. I mean, come on, if you're gonna cast a kid, make sure he can at least sing a little bit. This kid couldn't. I honestly like the original draft's idea of Gonzo and Rizzo playing two separate characters named Jim and Hawkins better, why didn't they go with that?

Also the Star Trek reference at the beginning was funny. 9/10 again, I know I rated it 3 stars on Letterboxd but now that I've sat on it it's better than that.

Remember Ultimate SMP?

Hey guys, anyone remember Ultimate SMP?

It was this Minecraft server from a few years ago. It was a public lore SMP run by the now-semi-retired YouTuber EvanTube. (aka my childhood hero who followed me on Twitter for a while (this was before I quit Twitter)) Anyway, the server's plot followed the Glitch and how it infected people and how it came into conflict with Evan and his friends AK, Polly, and Pig if I remember correctly.

The server was cool because, really, it was the first of its kind to have a major limelight I believe. A Minecraft server, run by a YouTuber, who did lore on the server, and it was public? It seems like a new concept even today, I've certainly never heard of someone else doing it.

It was fun to play for its first season, but once less people started to play on it, it wasn't as fun anymore. The server was discontinued around a year after it launched I believe. Anyway, I was just wondering if any of my readers remembered the server, and if they remember a player named TheZaxiom at all. (that was me)

A New Project

Hello everyone!

I'm excited to announce that I have a new project in the works. I can't reveal too many details yet, but I can say that it's a live-action epic musical film adaptation split into four or five parts, or acts. Do with that information what you will.

Me and my friends are working hard to bring this project to life and we can't wait for you to see it. Pre-production is in its beginnings still, but we expect to start production within the next couple weeks. Once the prologue and first part are decently through production, I will officially announce the title and what exactly we're adapting.

For legal reasons, yes, we have the rights to adapt this musical because the creators said that anyone can adapt it.

That's all, just wanted to send an update to the two readers of this blog.

Life Lately

Hey everyone. Been a while since I updated.

So my last post was about how I got my wisdom teeth out. I have since fully recovered. I also believe I mentioned a weekly update, but of course that never happened. I'm working on getting in a routine of this but I keep forgetting.

I've had so many failed projects that Idk what to do with them. I think the problem is I have so many ideas but not enough time to do them all, and that causes months to go by without any progress made. It's what happened with Unnatural. That project fell through pretty fast, because I just couldn't figure out how to fix the story. To be fair, I wrote the stories that the Wattpad books were based on when I was in like fourth grade until like sixth grade, so my writing wasn't exactly good then. It's much better now, but Idk how to fix the story so that it isn't laughably bad. I need someone to help me write it.

The Les Mis Plush movie will likely never happen. Either that, or it won't for a while. This is because I don't really have anyone who wants to do it with me. I've got some other ideas to do instead, but I'd rather not announce any of them until they are well into production as to not disappoint anyone who might look forward to it just for the project to get canned. I've got two that I'm really passionate about right now, but that might change later. I'm having a hard time finding a cast for one of those ideas though, so it may or may not happen.

I don't want it to sound like I don't want to do this projects. I do. I am just having a hard time with them. Nothing about this is easy, especially with stuff like theater and just life in general getting in the way.

What else? I started Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man last night. It was pretty good so far. Invincible season 3 starts soon. I'm so excited about it. Idk what else. There's just so much coming out that I'm excited for. My most anticipated movies this year are Fantastic Four and Superman.

I'm gonna make another post soon about my goals for this year. I'm extremely late on it, but I feel like I need to.

That's pretty much it.

Something I Can Live Without

So it's been a while since I've written in this blog.

I'm currently sitting on my living room couch, with my dog, King, writing on my laptop while watching The Big Bang Theory. Why am I doing this instead of being at school as a seventeen-year-old young man? Well, today, I had my wisdom teeth out.

It's not like the stories you hear where you get laughing gas, say stupid things, admit embarrassing secrets, and your family records you. No. I was in the operating room for what felt like five or ten minutes, but was really more like an hour or two. The anesthesia they gave me was through an IV, which unlike my previous surgery to remove my appendix in the fourth grade, which was through a mask and took seconds, took minutes. It also felt like I had not even gone unconscious at all, while with the previous anesthesia, I slowly went to sleep, saw black for a few seconds, and then slowly woke up. This time, I was talking to the doctors about the surgery, and then I was talking to them about the surgery ending.

Anyway, that's a little update from Zach Westhaver. I hope you've enjoyed this short entry to the blog, I hope to start blogging at least once a week from now on. I don't know what day yet, but I'll figure it out.

Zaxiom Productions Update

So my last post was about Unnatural: The Movie and what's gonna happen with that. Well I'm here to say: screw that, I'm working on other things.

In all honesty, I got so kept up in other projects that Unnatural just kind of fell behind. I might continue it. Maybe not. I want to, but I'm not sure how.

Anyway, if you follow my Instagram or the Zaxiom Prod. Instagram, you'd probably know that I recently announced SMZ Presents: Les Miserables Plush, or simply Les Mis Plush. It's a Mario plush comedic retelling of the musical Les Miserables, itself based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. I am currently in the process of casting it, so I'd probably expect it later this year to early next year.

I am also working on another project which I haven't announced yet. Nobody really reads this blog, so I'm not gonna bother announcing it here. I'll announce it later on when it's ready. 

But that's why I haven't been working on Unnatural lately. I really do want to get back into it though. I might bring it up to my friends at the next meeting of film club at my school, but idk, I'll have to figure something out if it's ever gonna get made.

Enjoy your day/night I guess.

Unnatural: The Movie - A Couple of Details

Why haven't I posted here since April? Well, its because I have nothing to post. I can't exactly reveal project details here yet because none of them are at that stage yet. I can't post short stories because I haven't written anything. And I can't post movie reviews because nobody reads them. To sum it up, I've got nothing to post. So I don't post. Maybe one day, I'll post more. But not today.

That being said, I do have one project being worked on that I can share a little bit about. That being Unnatural: The Movie.

The movie, based on some Wattpad stories I wrote years ago, which in turn are based on stories that I attempted to write in my youth, is a multiverse war film that tells the story of Daylon and Zach, named after my old friend and myself, respectively, who get caught up in a war with alternate-universe humans who are intent on conquering our Earth. The story's details have been lengthened, however, and the two, intended to be three, books have been condensed into one film. Because, they are too short for a trilogy.

You see, this isn't a typical, crappy multiverse story, because its also a war movie. I'm going to work on it for a while, but the film is still in early stages of development. I'm ready to start the script, I just haven't yet. But I do want to return to this world, one last time.

You heard me, one last time. From here on out, I am no longer working on the third Unnatural book, in favor of the film. The film will cover the events of the two books, albeit edited. For one thing, the stupid Hunter storyline from the second book will be trimmed down immensely. For another, Reverse Daylon will be portrayed as a much more evil villain. I did not know how to write when I wrote these books, which is probably a good thing because they ended up on Wattpad.

The last thing I will reveal is kind of obvious. The film won't end on a cliffhanger because I ran out of book material. It will have its own ending. This is because the film will, effectively, be the canon version of the story in my head. Believe what you want to believe, but don't come crying to me because your canon version of Unnatural doesn't have an ending.

That's all I wanted to say. So if you want more blogs, I guess just let me know and I'll come up with something.

I Learned How To Be A Billionaire (TommyInnit Show Review)

Hey guys! So last night I kinda, maybe, mighta learned how to become a billionaire from someone who… isn’t even a billionaire. But regardless, I learned how to do it. So today, I’m gonna give a spoiler-free review of the show, because, well, due to the fact that Tommy couldn’t talk about everything that happened on YouTube, I doubt I can. But I’ll try to do it justice.

So the show in question that I am reviewing today is TommyInnit: How To Be A Billionaire, as the title of this video tells you. God, where do I even begin? As a fan of Tommy since like… I wanna say late 2020, early 2021 maybe? Point is, I’ve been a fan of Tommy since a while ago, and seeing him come from being an annoying-at-first kid in his bedroom playing Minecraft, to a comedian going on a tour around America feels kind of unreal. I can’t imagine how unreal it feels for him.

I’ve got to say, he’s even funnier in person than he is behind a camera. I remember I used to laugh hysterically when he swore at BadBoyHalo, when he convinced Ph1lza his wife wasn’t real, when he spoke to Tubbo’s sister, god those videos were funny. But I was laughing every few minutes, no, every thirty SECONDS last night.

I mean, I don’t really have that many complaints about the show. What I do have complaints about was the audience watching the show.

Okay, I’m gonna be honest. The audience was loud. If you were in the Shubert theater last night, you’d know that for sure. I’m confident that at the bigger theaters that Tommy’s performing at, it’s worse. But the theater was PACKED, the line to get in was DOWN THE STREET. And you know who most of the people watching the show were? Teenaged-or-younger, MCYT-watching nerds.

I’m sorry if anyone from the Boston area who watched the show is offended by me saying that, but it’s true. I mean, I’m one myself, I’m the same age as Tommy was when he got big, I watch MCYTs, at least the non-problematic ones, and I am a huge nerd. But, the point is… you guys don’t know how to behave at a theater, like seriously.

My favorite character in the show was Binda the Dog, played by Freddy Badlinu. He was great at what he was doing, and he clearly loved doing it. And Jack Manifold… well, no one cares about Jack Manifold.

I’m kidding, I’m kidding, that’s a line from the show. Jack does a great old man voice, and his jokes all landed.

Tommy himself is a great comedian, and I’m sure he’ll do well in the future. I actually really hope if he does another

tour he comes back to Boston, because I’d love to see him again. In fact, this show might or might not have inspired

a new project. (foreshadows the future)

Young Adult Reading Starter Kit

So, you want to start reading books but don't know what to read or get into? Well, today I felt that I owed my dear readers a post after not posting here for like more than a week, so today I'm going to be going over my picks for what you should be reading as a teenager/young adult (because that's what I am)

So let's get started.

The Hunger Games trilogy

The first book(s) that I'm going to suggest is the Hunger Games trilogy. These are some really good pieces of apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction that I highly recommend. Seeing as most people have probably seen the movies since the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes prequel came out, (both the book and the more recent movie) I'm not going to bother explaining a synopsis. Just read the back cover of the first book, and you'll understand why I like it.

Now I will say that the weakest book in the trilogy is the finale, Mockingjay. I say this for multiple reasons. One is because of its length. It is about double the size of the other two books. Another is because it feels like a terrible ending to an otherwise-great trilogy. I didn't understand what was going on in the last few chapters, and by the epilogue nothing made any sense. But other than those last few chapters, the trilogy is very good.

Ashfall

I read this book when I was in eighth grade. Keep in mind, my reading level has always been higher than my peers. I very much enjoyed it. It wasn't for an English class unit or anything, it was for independent reading. When I read the inside cover, I knew that I wanted to read it. Ashfall deals with the aftermath of the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. So obviously, apocalypse again. This is kind of a theme in what I recommend to people, because this is what interests me.

Ready Player One

This is the last book I will recommend. Ready Player One is also my favorite book of all time. I recently re-read it, and I enjoyed it very much. It takes place in a world that is neglected due to the usage of the OASIS, a virtual reality world in which most people spend their time. The book takes place five years after the OASIS's creator, James Halliday, dies and leaves the fate of his company (and control of the OASIS) to a contest. Five years pass and nobody finds anything, until Wade Watts cracks the first clue. The story follows Wade as he continues through the contest and conflicts with the opposing Innovative Online Industries (IOI), who want to control the OASIS for monetary purposes.

Conclusion

These are just a few recommendations. I might revisit this list eventually after I've read more books, but for now, I'm gonna sign off.

Little Shop of Horrors (musical) Review

Last night, as of writing this, I watched the musical Little Shop of Horrors at a high school in a nearby town. I am a huge fan of Little Shop, but had only seen the 1986 film, and even then, only the theatrical cut. So obviously, it was a little different from the source material. But, I enjoyed the play all the same.

Spoilers ahead, this is a review post.

So if you don't know what Little Shop is about, I'll go over a brief plot synopsis. The play follows Seymour Krelborn, a young florist who works for Mr. Mushnik in Skid Row. He discovers a new type of plant, the Audrey II (named after his coworker and love interest Audrey), which depends on human blood and flesh to survive. The plant eventually begins to speak, and it convinces Seymour in a really awesome song to kill people to feed it. So he goes after Audrey's abusive boyfriend, the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. After Orin suffocates from taking in too much nitrous oxide, Seymour feeds him to Audrey II. After Orin "mysteriously disappears", Mushnik wants Seymour to make a statement to the police. So Seymour feeds Mushnik to the plant, blaming his disappearance on him visiting his "sick sister in Czechoslovakia" for "a very long time". By the way, Seymour has been getting famous locally off Audrey II. Audrey (Seymour's now-girlfriend, not the plant) begins getting worried for Seymour, who looks stressed out and worried from what's going on (because he killed two people). Seymour leaves to get the plant some real food, and Audrey goes back to the shop, where the plant tricks her into getting close and attacks her. Seymour comes back just in time, but she is mortally wounded, and he fulfills her dying wish to be fed to the plant. Soon after, Seymour learns that a corporate executive wants to sell Audrey II's all over the country, making them "bigger than hula hoops". Seymour realizes that Audrey II wants to conquer the world, and attempts to hack it up from the inside, but gets eaten. The greek chorus of street urchins who have been telling the story from the background reveal that Audrey II's did, in fact, become bigger than hula hoops and did, in fact, take over the world, and it is implied through vines being dropped onto the audience that everyone in the theater was eaten, as well.

So as you can see, it can go from being really weird to really good to it only makes sense if you watch it. Now, the ending of Audrey II winning wasn't the one I was used to. In fact, the ending as a whole wasn't what I was used to, because in the film, there was a final solo from the Audrey II before Seymour kills it, and goes back out to an alive Audrey, marrying her, and moving to the suburbs with a small Audrey II bud in their front yard, smiling. But in the play, this ending is non-existent. Frank Oz, who directed the film, once said the reason for this: you can kill of characters in a play and they come out for a final bow. In a film, that doesn't happen. So when it was shown to test audiences, who hated the ending but otherwise loved the film, they made a large (and expensive) change to the ending, tricking people like me into thinking that this was always the plan. They eventually released the film with the original ending as a directors cut years later, but still.

While the original ending was good, I don't know if the changed ending was better or not. I genuinely can't decide. The darkness of the play's ending makes it live up to its name, but the film's ending is way more satisfying. I genuinely can't make up my mind. But whatever.

Another thing that was different was the fact that the characters actually did interact with the chorus girls Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon, who provide back-up to some songs in both versions. The characters in the play talk to these girls and refer to them by name, but in the film only Mushnik interacts with them, and even then, only once. I like the interacting with them more, as it makes them feel like actual characters and not just a Greek chorus.

Overall, this play is one of my favorites. I love the story, I love the characters, I love the songs. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into musical theater.

The Marvels

I saw The Marvels last night.

I'd rate the movie a solid 8/10. After sitting on it for a day, I think it definitely had some flaws, but it was still a very good movie.

Spoilers ahead, because this is a review post.

Firstly, I'd like to point out the obvious: this movie is a sequel to Captain Marvel. Which was a movie meant to set up a character that was supposed to play a big part in Avengers: Endgame. She was underutilized in that movie and was in it for about five minutes. I'm also pretty confident in saying that, excluding the Ms. Marvel end credits scene, this is the first time we've seen Carol Danvers since Endgame. That movie came out almost five years ago. The Marvels came out last week.

Next point: Kamala Khan carried the film. I'm one of the few people who loved her show, mostly due to her. The actress, Iman Vellani, is amazing and I absolutely love her performance. It's clear that she cares about her character, and making her amazing. She's just as much of a Marvel nerd as me.

Next point is my favorite part of the movie: the musical sequence. As some of you might know, I am a HUGE fan of musicals. So when Carol, Monica, and Kamala went to a planet where their language is song, and had to go through a musical number to get to the prince, (WHO CAROL WAS SECRETLY MARRIED TO) I loved it. But once again, Kamala comes in clutch with carrying the scene, as while Carol was unamazed and Monica was frantically trying to figure out what was going on, Kamala accepted the situation and went along with it, clearly enjoying herself and dancing along with everyone else.

Final good point would be the end credits scene. So after the final fight where Monica repairs the tear in spacetime, she travels to another universe. In that universe, she meets an alternate version of her dead mother, and FRIGGIN BEAST. Like, the X-man Beast. I haven't finished all the X-Men movies, but this is a great way to bring them in, through alternate universes. The Multiverse is really cool, in my opinion, and I would love to see more of it in the MCU.

Okay, now time for bad points. I only really have a few.

First off, Carol destroying the Supreme Intelligence seems kind of out of character. Idk, it just feels that way. I get that the Kree kind of destroyed her life, but destroying their world, although unintentional, just seems like its not something Captain Marvel would do.

Secondly, the villain. Dar-Benn wasn't a very interesting character. Although her motives were clear, it just didn't peak my interest. When she died, I didn't really feel anything. She destroyed a whole Skrull civilization for air, and caused the musical planet's probable downfall for their water, and then attempted to destroy the Sun to reignite Hala's, which they explained that Carol could have done easily. (and then she proceeded to do exactly that)

Overall, I liked The Marvels, but it did have its flaws. I can't wait for next year's content, with Echo and Deadpool 3, and then 2025, which will be THE year for superhero content, both Marvel and DC.

Hello Everyone

This is the first post on The ZaxiBlog. My name is Zach, but if you're reading this first post then you probably already knew that because you probably know me from YouTube or another platform. I made this blog because my main passion is not what you would think it is. It's not YouTube. It's not Minecraft. It's not even doing nothing. No, its writing.

Writing is something I've always enjoyed. From the time I learned how to hold a pencil, I loved it. As soon as I learned how to type, I started writing on the computer. My first story that I ever wrote by myself was a play. If I remember correctly, it started off as some kind of fanfiction of a TV show I really liked at the time. Keep in mind, I was like five so it probably wasn't a good show. It then evolved into a more original story, but it had some kind of knock-off Power Rangers in it and it just didn't make any sense.

Nowadays, I actually have published several stories on my Wattpad, and written a series for YouTube called The Baby Bros Zombie Survival Guide, which in my eyes was a success. The Wattpad stuff, not so much. The first two stories did relatively well, but that's because they were fanfics for yet another terrible show. Albeit, a terrible show that I loved at the time and still go back to every now and then, but still, terrible. The other two, better, original stories didn't do very well. I planned it to be a trilogy, but I haven't even started on the third book's first draft and with the open-ended ending of the second, I don't even know if I need to continue. I probably will eventually, but as of right now I'm focusing on other projects.

Regardless, I absolutely love writing, and as such I will be posting on here about that mostly. I will also be posting reviews of movies and shows that I watch, video games that I play, and books that I read. I am currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire book series. I have been watching the series' TV adaptation, Game of Thrones, for a while now. I am currently on Season 3, Episode 3. The first season of the show adapts material from the first book, which as I stated, I am currently reading.

The thing about GoT is that I don't what to have a favorite character. The reason for that is because the show (and I assume the books) tend to kill off major characters every couple of episodes to make room for new ones. I don't want to have a favorite character out of fear that I pick that character as my favorite, and they die in the very next episode.

I have watched many TV shows since the start of the pandemic. The most major one that I watched over those long years that I only just finished back in August was The Walking Dead. That one was so long, it took me two and a half years to watch. I know that some people can finish it in a couple of weeks, but I don't binge shows like most people. I watch an episode every day, if I'm in the mood for it. TWD was one of the best shows that I have ever watched. Key word is "was", because it absolutely sucked for the last three seasons. I have read the whole comic series, and I'll tell you, its way better than the show. Rick is a better character in the show, but he left in Season 9, Episode 5. This, along with Carl's and Glenn's deaths in Seasons 8 and 7 respectively, was the start of the show's downfall. Then along came the Whisperers, and their leader with the obviously-fake Southern accent, as well as her country-singing second-in command. After that, the worst story arc the show ever had, even worse than the Whisperers: the Commonwealth.

Oh Jesus, the Commonwealth. That part of the show sucked so bad that I wanted to quit so. Many. Times. When they were initially introduced, it seemed to just be one person, but then when they arrived where they would meet that one person, the Commonwealth showed its true nature: a whole army of freakin' Stormtroopers. Then it continued on and on and on. For twenty. Four. Episodes. More than that, because part of it happened during Seasons 9 and 10, but it took full force in the final season. The whole world had fallen apart, and this network of communities with a central government is still functional? And they haven't had a war or anything? I don't understand how Robert Kirkman thought that was a good idea to put in the comics, and why the show's writers thought it would be a good idea to adapt it. At least Kirkman did a better job with it in the comics. The show's version sucked.

Speaking of Kirkman, I've recently been watching the show based on one of his other comic series, Invincible. It's a really good superhero show and I enjoy it a lot. I'm only on Episode 3 of Season 1, so no spoilers, but it's really good so far. I've also been playing the game Spider-Man 2. That game is very good so far, but I am stuck at the first Kraven base, so no spoilers there either. I will say though, it is SO obvious that Harry is going to be Venom. I know the game has been out for a month, and its kind of on me for not finishing the story yet, but still, it's been obvious since the end-credits of the first game. I've also been playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but not as much.

A game that I couldn't really get into was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This was incredibly shocking to me because I loved Breath of the Wild, but couldn't get past the tutorial for its sequel. I think the reason might have something to do with the fact that I spent years getting super close to 100%ing BOTW (not the DLC but the main game), but since I was starting fresh with similar gameplay and graphics, it just felt like incredibly long DLC that I didn't need to play. It really wasn't good that I had to spend $70 on TOTK. There's a chance it could win Game of the Year. I might pick it back up and try to beat it if it does. But I don't know.

That's pretty much all that I wanted to write about for this post. I'm not sure how long it will be before I post again; could be a few days or a week or a month or longer. I'm not very good with posting schedules. But that's all for this post. Have a nice day, I guess? I don't know how to end a blog.