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.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
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.)
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.)
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
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.)
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.)
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