Something Silly

A thought that hasn't come out of my brain. When I want to get some music I go to one of three places: Goodwill and other stores that people give their old musical tastes to the larger creature that is music lovers. I go to Itunes and other online stores and their simply fun times of online shopping and their circuitous routes of buy this and buy that. But there is the final place. The stores that sell music among other things. (Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Target, etc.) And this has bugged me for years. If I am searching for music- I know what I want. I don't need some person coming up to me and breaking my concentration with "What are you looking for?" I hate that. I don't like people. I am so introverted that talking to people and I almost start hyperventilating because of fear. I don't need to know what's hot in the charts. I like music from any decade except for now. There are some songs that I like but I don't like hearing the same songs over and over on the radio. Following the crowd tires me out. I don't shop during the holidays. Christmas music is too happy for me and I just look at the people's faces and think "what are they hiding?" People can't be happy all the time. If they were they would go insane. Halloween is my favorite time of year. Short explanation: People are taught since childhood ti keep away from strangers and don't take candy from strangers. Halloween flips it on its head. Halloween lets kids take candy from strangers and lets people scare people to death and lets them act as homicidal maniacs. Black Friday I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I hate being around people. It tires me out. Complete and total introvert. Black Friday I only like because I wonder how many people will be trampled nationwide because of- enter stupid mass produced product here- and it boggles the mind. I just want to figure out a shirt that I want for Christmas. I have no shirts I want here. Middle America shirt selection is nil.

Is Pacific Rim Hollywood's version of Evangelion?

Short answer: No. It takes lot of tropes and concepts from the mecha genre as a whole and tries to be as original as possible. (For a genre that was created in the 50's and 60's- true originality is difficult if not impossible to come by.)So I finally was able to watch Pacific Rim. It took me three weeks of begging my family to watch it. It was a movie I wanted to watch for months on end. Why? Two reasons: First of all- The Guillermo Del Toro films I have watched (the Hellboy films, parts of Pans' Labyrinth, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rise of the Guardians, plus a smattering of films that he just touched.) I have enjoyed readily. And then was this whole thing through the anime forums that I glance at every few weeks about how Pacific Rim was Hollywood's attempt at Neon Genesis Evangelion. And I was hooked from that. And also the movie was highly successful in the overseas markets. (Asian markets ate this up like CGI candy. Disclaimer: Any and all Evangelion links Pacific Rim shares seem to be highly coincidental and superfluous. The Evangelion connections are mostly from the first few episodes before most of the iconic deconstruction of said mecha anime takes place. Any mecha genre lover could, hypothetically, find things that are very similar to their personal favorite in Pacific Rim. By referencing nothing, they are referencing everything. Thank you and read on.

Now back story: When I was twelve the Toonami block was on its last hurrah (or just ended. . .my memory is off- and we didn't know that Toonami would be resurrected a few years later) so I had begun my love of anime with the usual: Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho etc.) and I was 12. So I was confused. Some of the animes I watched became normal. They began to dull with repeated watching. Formulaic Shonen beat the bad guy plots (boring- in all seriousness I like the romantic 'feminine' shows and magical girl animes- better stories in my opinion. Also other stories for another day.)

Now why have I not said anything about the mecha genre? Well because my overall view of it at 12 was giant robots with political intrigue. Example- the now 30ish years of Gundam. The gung ho- fight the bad guys show. (Which in all fairness is not a good stereotype. See Tegen Toppan Gurren Lagaan as why this as parody is ridiculous. And I really want to watch the entire Gundam canon sooner or later.) The main influences of Pacific Rim seem to be earlier robot animes like Gundam, Mazinger Z, etc. But there are too many similarities with Evangelion for people to not unconsciously have a lot of Eva. Weirdly, no one in the movie had seen NGE, so they claim, until almost finishing Pacific Rim. (Idea of common tropes goes here.)

 Now on to Neon Genesis Evangelion. It is a mecha anime but it isn't. First of all it is a pre apocalyptic Earth in 2015. The world is being attacked by Angels, giant Lovecraftian entities which are about as angelic as demons. It is also a story of teen angst and terrible depression. (It hit home for me. Being a teenager and, well. . .) Is it all 'gung ho, fight the bad guy?' Nope. When you first see the Angels in Episode One, it's acting on almost pure instinct. By the time the Final Angel in the television series, the 17th, hits there have been at least five times an Angel has tried to interface and have either almost absorbed the mech pilots, psychologically analyzed them and overall learned how to better fight against the humans.

 And every human has some kind of psychological issue. From the main character's issues with his father, constantly running away, and thinking every mess up was directly caused by him. One of the girls has little to personality- becoming a sort of living doll, and the third main character having an inferiority complex that shows itself as a superiority complex. (And every main character has issues like this, even the happy ones.) 

Now there's the religious symbolism From the Angels names (Sandalphon the Angel of the Unborn being discovered as a fetus like creature before it awakes, cross explosions, the sephiroth in End of Evangelion, Adam, Lilith, the Magi computer system, etc.) Now Hideaki Anno says that he just made NGE have these thoughts to make it 'cool' and it is still debated hotly almost two decades after the original series.

 Altogether it is a very convoluted series that is very hard to explain without spoiling literally everything and even after yearly watchings (currently 7 full run throughs) I still don't know everything about it. It is highly recommended by me. (Just a warning- it is a mature series- gore, nudity, language- so it is not for those people who are either too young to watch it comfortably or for the weak of heart. It is dark, deep, and horribly convoluted.

 Now finally I have to say that I would have said that Pacific Rim is not completely a homage to NGE. I would say that there have been times that that is more true. The Matrix being influenced by Ghost in the Shell (which is still a great graphical movie), I've seen comparisons between Kimba the White Lion and Lion King, The Speed Racer movie which was the West's attempt at a Speed Racer movie. And- my personal- sarcastic- favorite was The Hunger Games and the much better and darker, in my opinion, Battle Royale.

 But Guillermo Del Toro said: I haven't seen Evangelion. I accept you Patlabor, [as an influence] from anime industry, or, Tetsujin-28, I don't have any problem saying 'I love them', 'they're an influence for me'. Regarding Evangelion, I have the DVDs, I haven't opened them, I haven't seen it. Yeah, there is anime influence [in Pacific Rim], but not from that anime in particular.

This means we have to get Inception up in here.

 Actually the stylings of the 'Kaiju' (Japanese: Strange Creature) made me think of the Giant Monster craze that the world first really took off with in the 1950's. (See any Weirdly titled American film- completely made up example: Giant Mechanical Ants From Mars) or the classic Godzilla series (Side Note: After researching that studio, I have found out that they've done quite a few Miyazaki films and, if not all, most of the Pokemon movies. Weird.)Another more recent and more known example is the tokusatsu genre. (example: Power Rangers/ Super Sentai series) The monsters in Pacific Rim are amalgamations. The creatures are (after a scene that I will get into later)that they are clones of each other. Imperfect clones that have different powers and power levels. But this is very Evangelion. In Evangelion, the Evangelions (short explanation- the human creations- cyborgs- that 14 year old pilot to fight the Angels) are themselves created from the DNA of Angels. The imagery of giant monsters that look like Earth creatures is very Toho (Godzilla series) with the creation of those monsters being from atomic energy, robots, or mythical monsters. The Rift in Pacific Rim reminds me of Lovecraftian mythos (the Elder Gods are found out to be aliens in The Mountains of Madness and other later works by Lovecraft. And the Level system is very reminiscent of Hurricane numbering systems (Levels 3-5 seen in the actual movie; Level 1-2 Kaiju probably happened earlier in the timeline but are unseen.)

 The Jaegers (German: Hunters) are the robots that are created to fight the Kaiju. Their styling reminds more of the stocky Gundam models rather than the more sleek Evas or even the Code Geass models. The Jaegers we see in the movie are the American Mark 3 Gipsy model, the Russian Mark 1 Cherno Alpha, the Chinese Mark 4 Crimson Typhoon, and a few others. Altogether this isn not rare for mecha genres: there has been national mechs in anime for a long while. Gundam had its boatload of Gundams, Evangelion had different branches of Nerv working on different Evas, and Code Geass had Britannian, Chinese Fenderation, and Area 11/Japanese mechs. Just to name a few series off the top of my head that I can easily list off. The pilots act like rock stars (much like the gung ho fight the bad guys mecha shows if turned up to eleven.) The suits of the pilots reminded me a lot of the plug suits of NGE. (At one point, the masks of the characters are filled with some viscous yellow goop maybe like Evangelion's LCL. Or just another showing of the increasing robotics idealized in movies- possible because out side it never is shown again- though the cahracters are never really shown suiting up again in that level of detail.) The two pilot system is unlike the original Evangelion series. But if we add the Rebuild of Evangelion movies especially Rebuild 3.0, we do see an Evangelion with two pilot. (Evangelion Unit 13) Now the Japanese version of the movie came out a year ago and hasn't been dubbed to English yet- so it is only a tentative link and coincidence. And finally the Neural Handshake that is the way to link with a Jaeger and the other pilot is very similar to the synchronization ratios in Evangelion.

 Now for character similarities. Now there isn't many and the ones that are there are just similar- not perfect. The two that come to mind are the Major in Pacific Rim and Gendo Ikari in Evangelion. Both are older and are seen as pillars in their respective organizations. (Both are controlled by outside organizations that give them money. The U.N. in the case of Pacific Rim and Seele in Evangelion. Both are seen as tough in their stories but have a soft spot in a younger female 'daughter' that they take care of and control in some way. In Pacific Rim, he saved the female lead from being killed by a Kaiju. And the connection the scientist makes in Pacific Rim reminded me of the psychological Angel connections.

 Now Pacific Rim is its own beast altogether. First and largest of all- it is at opposition of Hideaki Anno's view of Evangelion. Eva was highly highly pessimistic, psychological, depressing and individualistic. Pacific Rim is optimistic and more similar to the original mecha genre in in view of good guys vs. giant monsters. At one point, the Major states that they 'will cancel the Apocalypse.' Its human quality of neural handshakes is much more of a relationship and more we are all in this together kind of vibe. Altogether I give it a 8.9/10 with a Recommendation of Watch it and relive your Saturday morning anime binges.

R.I.P.D Movie Review

Watched R.I.P.D finally today. I have to say it was a great movie. While- from pretty quick research, I admit, through the internet afterwards to see how people took it. (Overall critics and audiences didn't like it.) Well? So what? Movies don't always have to be epic journeys that define characters. Sometimes people forget that.

Sometimes they can just be good fun comedies. And when you have Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, and Kevin Bacon in a film. . .I think good job.

Now onto the finer points: First of all is the parallels between R.I.P.D and MIB. Yeah. So they both have settings where a "government" organization is protecting normal people from outside and cleaning up the mess that ultimately happens.

Then there's the whole younger rookie thing and their older, more experienced partner. (Think Agent J and K from MIB) They even had one scene that made me think automatically of a scene from MIB. (I even said how similar it looked.)

The idea is based around a comic book series. (As in all seemingly "original ideas" nowadays. . .maybe I'm just a little jaded. (Side note: I REALLY Really really want to see Pacific Rim. Guillermo Del Toro hasn't disappointed me yet- plus I've seen enough Japanese mecha anime {Personal fave: Neon Genesis Evangelion, its End of Evangelion movie, and the current Rebuild films that Studio Gainax are doing} that seeing Hollywood even attempt it is- well- like letting your inner eight year old out and waiting for Saturday morning cartoons.) List of movies that I love that are based around comic books/ graphic novels- Avengers, 300, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Batman Trilogy, and (my personal favorite) the Hellboy movies.

It still was a good buddy cop movie with supernatural elements. I'm not going to say that the models for the Deados didn't look a little silly. (And the thing that actually makes them reveal themselves as the escaped souls is, I admit, just a little bit ridiculous. (And there is that whole camp of people that hate CGI and bring up the whole "look at Jurassic Park- it's 20 years old and it still looks better than anything now. The thing I have to say about such a mindset is that Jurassic Park didn't have CGI humans. Any CGI  humans that we have now still sometimes look a little wonky. But its way better than a lot of video games and way better than any attempt at CGI humans 20 years ago.)

The thing that made the movie for me: Jeff Bridges. I love Ryan Reynolds. But Jeff Bridges sold the movie. The banter between the leads was absolutely golden. It didn't seem forced (and the whole joke about them having different bodies because of universe safety reasons was hilarious when it was introduced to, in my opinion, the ind of the movie. Now if only Ryan Reynolds made me laugh a little bit more (at least the romantic subplot didn't seem shoehorned in. I hate me action movies that do that. It rustles my moviegoer jimmies. There was one point that made me furious at the romantic interest  but it makes sense in context)

And Kevin Bacon. Good job.

I just think the timing was just off. Summer season was a big blockbuster season and R.I.P.D was a smaller fish in a bigger pond. Plus outside of maybe a few ads I remember, the marketing for this movie was very subdued. So it fell off my personal radar until now/

Now there's whole spiritual kinda thing with the good guys being dead cops in a "heaven?" police department. And the Deados are lost souls that want to stay on Earth permanently and not go to hell. Fine and dandy. I've seen weirder uses for spirituality. (Evangelion which I seem to bring up in every blog post so far is my personal favorite. And I'm not saying this for nostalgia's sake since I have just rewatched the series for the seventh time and it was my first foray into the psychological/ giant robot genres in anime. Now that had a weird message. A good one but it was weird)

Overall, adding the scores of movie stars, plot, visuals, and enjoyment and stirring them all together into a big number, I give R.I.P.D. 8.8/ 10 because of the reasons of sometimes ridiculous deados, some MIB moments (originality has been dead for quite a while in movies.) and a short runtime for a summer flick. (only 96 minutes.)

So I give it a "You should at least watch it once and grab a bag of popcorn" - cause its that kind of movie.

Podcast Review: Welcome To Night Vale

Wow haven't done a blog in a while. Oops.

Well I've been on an anime kick lately so I might blog about that sometime. But I've found a podcast that is written with my sense of humor and love of the supernatural in mind. And when I mean I love the thing, I mean I marathoned from the pilot episode to the currently most recent one. 31st? episode I believe. Warning: the podcast can  be explicit so the younger readers of this blog should realize that the subject material and/ or the weather reports that are not actually weather reports can be explicit in descriptions in gore and more often than not the musical "Weather Report"  can have some language. So I warned you.

I am talking about Welcome To Night Vale where such mundane things as hooded figures, portals that release dinosaurs, and glowing clouds are a common enough appearance that the radio personality talks about the events in such a way as to make you question your normal life. Oh and a dog park that is EXPRESSLY forbidden by the all powerful town council that it should never be entered at any cost ever. Alternate reality episode, time travel, etc.

And never ask about the station management. The weather reports and the sponsor messages are hilarious and creepy at the same time. At listen at night for the full effect. Awesome.

It's if H.P. Lovecraft's worldview of cosmic horror got hit with a dose of modern life. E.g. The world has gotten smaller and more connected and so the unknown has become boring. Or think of a parody newscast being attacked by constant cosmic horror entities so often that most of the characters are so used to it that the mundane becomes more noticeable. Kinda the whole forest for the trees bit . . . or something.

Night Vale is like a small town that got hit by the weird bug. Reminds me of those old time radio dramas that used to be so prevalent in the 50's.

The narrator and the only way we know of this strange burg in the middle of wherever is Cecil Baldwin, the radio host in this Lovecraftian NPR radio show: a usually mild mannered and supposedly well dressed, not tall, not short, not thin, not fat, handsome character who is also very much attracted to the new man in the town. And his whole coming to terms if the scientist falls for the radio host.

And yes it actually feels genuine and touching for a show that can go from making you laugh from how absurd it is or almost shiver in fear from the descriptions alone. (And Cecil's voice is haunting enough in its calm dulcet tones that lull you into believing that the strange occurrences that you are hearing could happen in another universe parallel to ours on another plane of reality.)

Or I am totally in love with his voice.

Other characters are also Carlos the "sane man" scientist, Old Lady Josie who's friends with angels (which the City Council refuses to acknowledge the existence of), the Sheriff and his Secret Police, the numerous red shirt station interns and others in the town that exists somewhere.

Writing style shifts from third person for most of the narration, to second person during most of the "Word From Our Sponsors Bit"- and a strange episode that entirely narrated like that, to Cecil's strange tangential stories that he goes off on every once in a while to hilarious effect.

Fan of a podcast? Yes. Enough to join a fandom? Well, yeah, of course it like I totally want to hear more of this well thought out world that is Night Vale.

My fandoms (Pretty Much Anything I Like)

As I said, I shall now go through a list of what I enjoy. I  will now take you through the fanverse of my mind- A mental view of things from books and tv shows to musical genres.

Pretty much I list it then I will explain why because to me that's always the fun part.

First that comes to mind is the horror genre. The weird and unusual, the crazy and insane stuff, pretty much anything. First off are two authors that if you've been following me for a while is Lovecraft and Stephen King. There is and probably will be one book that I shall always keep on my end table: The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. That omnibus is an 1100 page masterwork. (Don't blame him for not rivaling King's output, the times were different back then and he wrote only three novellas and sixty short stories before dying in his early forties from untreated cancer.)

And as for King I am a collector of his works as well. I've tried to find everything that could be found in Goodwills, libraries and other sources to read/ own most of his works. If you wanted just test me by reading off his bibliography and I could probably explain how I felt about the book.

Really.

Then there is this dichotomy in my head where I love the cute and I love the horror. Some people love zombies- I don't completely. What I love and wish there was more of were vampires. And not the badly written stuff that Stephanie Meyer writes. And those weren't vampires they were more sparkly and not naturally what I call the vampire. Sure there are the 30 Days of Night vampires but I can't take those seriously not after the final episode of Deadliest Warrior (Zombies vs. Vampires- they knew they were being cancelled I guess cause it was just the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen.) Addendum: Stephanie Meyer can't write cause I watched the Host which I found out is just Twilight if gender flipped and full of voice overs. (Like half the movie was voice over. It was boring.)

What I love is the Bram Stoker version. The original, the alpha version. What I also like is the anime portrayals- the violent ones. Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate (Ultimate follows the manga more closely.) I would recommend that version cause it was awesome. Just that portrayal of vampires is my favorite in anime.

Another thing I have learned to enjoy is the youtube series marble hornets/ totheark (since both are interrelated and totheark's channel is much more creepy because of the atmosphere. True, the whole thing was found out to be fake but I don't care it grew on me slowly. And yes this is where Slenderman came from. Thanks to that there is the game Slender (Which I won't play in fear of breaking my computer in terror.) Actually the name of Slendy is The Operator. I eagerly await each new video because it explains parts of the mystery slowly while bringing up others just by the use of tapes. Oh and whenever the Operator appears- stuff happens.

Overall it is beautiful.

Now for some cuter things. If you don't know I am a Brony. I have seen all of Gen4. (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) But I'm not one of those that hates on previous generations because I see the use of everyone into the present. Gen 1 had the only humans in any generation. Plus dont let the 80's opening to fool you, from what I have watched it can be pretty dark for a kid's show. Especially for a show with the stigma of being a girl's show. Dream Valley, Flutterponies, and Seaponies, and the Princess Ponies are just a few types of ponies besides the Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasus ponies. Not to mention all the villains and other things. I plan on watching all the generations of MLP (even the ones that were definitely marketed towards five year olds. (Here's looking at  you gens 3 and 3.5)

The Powerpuff Girls are also a favorite of mine. Actually a whole lot of Cartoon Network shows in the 90's and 2000's I liked. (Camp Lazlo, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Foster;s Home For Imaginary Friends.) But it is the Powerpuff Girls that I enjoy the most. Even though the girls are literally in kindergarten (or first grade or something- I never payed much attention to the school setting.) It got away with a lot. (The Girls wanted to race back home and went 88 mph and went to the dystopian future of 50 years hence where Him (pretty much the Devil- they never come out and say it but yeah they fight the Devil who dresses up in feminine clothes and sounds like a man with a creepy echo male voice. It was weird.) Another favorite is the mime episode (I don't know the names of most of the episodes- sue me,) They fight a mime that sucks the color out of Townsville with music. (Love Makes the World Go Round) and then beat up the reformed mime/ clown.

Then there's the magical girl genre of anime. From Sailor Moon, Magical Knight Rayearth, Cardcaptor Sakura, Powerpuff Girls Z, ( yes they made an anime version of the PPG and it isn't terrible) And Puella Magi Madoka Magica (which is a deconstruction of the entire genre, Really episode 1 is creepy, by episode 3 it gets real and just snowballs into complete insanity by the end. And it is really, really weird.)

List of other animes I like: Death Note (especially the last half when stuff that has been set up for a while starts happening.)   Then there's Rosario Vampire (which I read the manga because it actually has a plot and isn't completely fanservice. Oh how I hate fanservice.) And for some reason I like Ouran High School Host Club (which I think is completely aimed at females but hey I'd watch anything when bored enough- and then I learn to like it. It takes a long while and multiple viewings. Then there's Negima! (which read the manga because it doesn't devolve into fanservice like the anime does and by the end it gets pretty epic even though the whole plot of the series is weird.)

Neon Genesis Evangelion needs its own section with the sheer idea of a "giant robot" deconstruction. And the funny thing is that I prefer the english dubbed version. (for the uninitiated, there is this split in the anime loving community where either they hate the dubbed version because they think it needs to be all original (or the dubbing is terrible in their opinion.) or the people who don't want to read the translated words underneath the action.

I'm usually in the second camp because I want to see the action and not have to read all the time. And for Neon Genesis Evangelion I put it up there in one of the best dubbed versions of anime ever. Plus its so visual I don't have time to read. Especially when there's the giant robots fighting "Angels" aliens that came to Earth to end life of the planet. Or something like that. It's so convoluted that it is difficult to understand without watching especially when it is so psychologically based  And then there's the four movies planned that retells the story in an even more dark and twisted way that I was giggling like a little girl. (The first two movies are dubbed, the third I could only find subbed, and the fourth isn't even out yet.)

And even though the first movie is mostly a recap of half of the original anime- they change enough to make it new plus with the new cgi capabilities of computers the Angels are cooler. Then it gets into the new stuff and it gets completely insane. Altogther on my anime watching habits its like this: If you recommend anything I would watch it. Same thing wit music as well.

Oh and I'm a total Trekkie as well. Especially TNG because of the cast. They played off each other so well that it was a ride from beginning to end. Plus I love Patrick Stewart's interactions with John De Lancie. Anything with Q or the Borg was a thing in writing subtlety. The firat two episodes (Encounter at Farpoint) set up the feel of the series. Plus the series had LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow. (Dang that theme song brings back memories.)

On the music side of things I really like pretty much anything. From classical to rock to metal to electronica so it is hard to actually pin down what I actually enjoy. I might say I like Tool or Metallica. I also seem to like dubstep remixes of pretty much every song ever. As in when I get bored I listen to dubstep. Though I have seemed to get into chillstep and I love mashups as well. I also like old country, jazz, and ska as well.

Oh and I forgot that I love mythology. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse. But it is the Norse Eddas that I love. (The Prose Edda or the Poetic one.) Those gods had some fun and they had a stranger family relation then the Grecian ones. Especially after the Aesir and Vanir war that could just have been an explanation by Scandinavia as to why there had been older gods. And then there's Loki who might be of an even older oral tradition. Yggdrasil and the Nine Worlds (Tolkien borrowed a lot from the Norse.) And yes it is some dry writing but hey what can you do. At least they got Ragnarok. My favorite part are the horses of the gods. Hrimfaxi (Frost Mane) and Skinfaxi (Shining Mane) Not to mention the eight legged horse Sleipnir.

Skyrim versus Oblivion

Ever since I got the complete version of Skyrim I have had so much nerd time to myself to think about nostalgia when it compares to The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion.

For your information I have only played 40 hours so I have almost no experience in the game (even though I almost am level 18) So take these things with a grain of salt.

First, the install. Compared to Oblivion- Skyrim is both more difficult and easier to install. First of all I only had to install Steam and use the installation disc once (though it took me a while to figure that out) and pretty much everything necessary for initial login was with the box.

With Oblivion, the game was stored on a disc that I always had to have in my disc drive. It was a hassle and it caused messy issues with dirt and grime to collect on the disc. I now can't play the game because of this issue because of the whole issue of it being five years old.

Storyline in Oblivion was worse looking back because I had to run around closing Oblivion Gates that were completely related to the main quest. The cult of Mehrunes Dagon was also a pain to deal with and the good Emperor of Cyrodiil (voiced by Patrick Stewart) gets killed in the first five minutes of gameplay. Then I have to deal with all that "Empire building" stuff. I quit the game in nerd rage since I hated the end quest when the unkillable NPC that was annoying finally could die and I had to complete a Super Gate in thirteen minutes or I would lose.

So I stopped playing in anger.Oh and vampirism is that game was terrible. Plus the leveling sysem in caves was arbitrary and ridiculously difficult.

Now for Skyrim. Let's just say that the quest to explain about gameplay scared me half to death with the first dragon attack that gave me a panic attack with dragon roars and explosions and actual shellshock. It was the manliest thing I have ever seen.

The Dragon language is awesome. The work the development team did with the scratchy look of the language is great. Plus stabbing dragons in the face is awesome. The slowdown attacks that the game sometime lets you do is a great feeling when you are almost dead and then you stab the enemy in the back is an art.

Plus you can turn into a werewolf in the game. That is awesome. I haven't tried the extra stuff like Dawnguard, Hearthfire or Dragonborn add ons but I will.

The Thu'um or shout system is really the only magic I use. Running around shouting at things is awesome. It is hilarious killing things by yelling. All those joke videos about it have grains of truth.  And I haven't turned into a vampire yet.

Only complaints are that the map is massive and there are mountains that I have to climb up the wazoo. And I hate mountains. And trolls. And giants.

Overall a 9/10 from me.

Next topic for my blog will be: fandom and the things that go with them (plus a list of fandoms that I personally enjoy.)

Supernatural Horror: a comparison of H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King

I love the supernatural. From zombies to ESP and everything in between I eat up that stuff like candy. So it is natural to see a post about my two favorite authors in terms of comparison. Even though Lovecraft died in general obscurity and Stephen King is one of the greats of horror fiction- they are very similar. This is going to be a "short piece" so I will try to direct you to different books if you are interested. Cause I could talk about these things for a really long time but I am trying to be brief. (As brief as I can be. It also helps that a lot of Lovecraft's work is free of copyright and is pretty easily found through internet search.)

First of all is the choice of locations. Both Lovecraft and King write what they know. Be it locations or characterizations. Most of King's works are in a Maine landscape scattered with small locations with characters that are using some sort of dialect that is set around the Northeast U.S. Be it Derry, Castle Rock, or any other small town he makes us feel a connection to the characters. His worldview is much less bleak with mentions of a higher power in the Dark Tower series and Insomnia.

Lovecraft is in a similar vein. He populates his vision of the northeast (mainly Massachusetts) with places like Innsmouth, Arkham, Kingsport, and Dunwich. Not to mention countless others. His characters were scientists and intellectuals who faced down horrors that made them go crazy. Most of his stories end with the death or insanity of his characters.

Now for the monsters. Stephen King's most well known monster it seems is It. (Pennywise or Mr. Bob Gray the Dancing Clown) It takes a lot of cues from the most prominent part of the Lovecraftian worldview. Not a bleak end of the protagonists or insanity, but the idea of aliens that our human brains cannot comprehend: the Great Old Ones.

Now for an explanation of what the "Great Old Ones" are. There are a few different pantheons in the Lovecraftian worldview. The Great Old Ones, the Outer Gods, the Elder Gods, and the Great Ones. The problem about the Elder Gods is that they were mostly added to by other authors and introduced a good vs. evil idea into the Cthulhu Mythos. In the actual Lovecraftian canon there is no real good or evil in the alien beings because they are too far removed from humans that human morals are not enough to understand their minds.

And out of the three types of alien beings left that I will be talking about there is little that Lovecraft actually said in his writings to actually split them into well defined categories. The Great Ones are the next easiest to split off into their own category because they are the gods of the Dreamlands- a very surreal place because it is controlled by the dreams of the sleeping. They aren't that smart and are protected by the other Gods. (For more on the Dreamlands; see the multiple stories with Randolph Carter in them.)

Lovecraftian scholars have issues with the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods. They really only differ in terms of influence. The Great Old Ones (like Cthulhu) are stuck on many different worlds and they worship the Outer Gods. (Because, to them, they are Godlike.) The Outer Gods are able to affect the world on a cosmic scale.

And there are a whole lot of other alien races that I haven't even brought up. (My personal favorites: the Elder Things, the Flying Polyps, and The Great Race of Yith) Other things he used were psychic vampires, witches, warlocks, fish-people, and cults.

King himself used similar things as well. The vampires of 'Salem's Lot, the pyrokinetics of Firestarter, Randall Flagg of The Stand (still my favorite miniseries of King's work and not just because it was directed in 1994.) the future visions of his Richard Bachman phase. (The Long Walk and The Running Man- both about some form of game shows.)

Even some of their plots are similar (which makes sense since Lovecraft was writing from the c.1920-1936. He died in 1937 from cancer.) Aliens are prominent in both of their works Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space, At the Mountains of Madness, etc.; King's Tommyknockers, It, Under the Dome,etc.)

Lovecraft's work has tinges of racism as well. This was caused by his upbringing in a well off family. (His family could trace their ancestry back to the Middle Ages- 1600's thereabouts.) He also had a strong dislike for foreigners (see The Street or The Terrible Old Man for reference among others.) His racism and xenophobia was lessened as time went on (around 1928) and he leaned more towards the Cthulhu Mythos. It was just the times.

I'm signing off for now cause its 10:30 and I'm tired but I'd reply to any comments, if you need clarifications, longer explanations, or any questions that you guys have. (Just give me a while to reply back.)

Hello and Welcome

You might be wondering why I named this blog the way I did. And if so, I will explain my logic.

First of all, Mental. Mental is this case refers to the mind and all the wonderful things that it gives. From the personality quirks of your friends to your hopes and dreams, These two examples show the wide variety of things that can be controlled by your mind. Since this is a blog, this idea comes into play because of the idea that ideas have to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the mind.

Next up, receptacles. As in boxes that you cram all your belongings into and throw in your closet and forget about until you start digging through the detritus and filth that has built up in there, Think of this as a place for me to share all sorts of crazy thoughts, actions, and things that I enjoy or I have little thoughts of pretty deep stuff.

And finally comes the Other Passages part of the title. I might comment on things I saw in the news, or what I watched years ago, what I currently feel like or what I'm doing. Really this part of the title is just there to make it sound important when I start throwing random things at you.

Overall I hope this journey will be as fun for you as it is for me.