Zera was worried about her dad he just left the house, and he was angry than she’s ever seen him, and she just couldn’t help the teras the flowed down her face. She wrapped her arms around her body. She looked to her brother hoping someone would comfort her, but the twins just looked at the ground and Sebastian looked at her with a hard stare. She doesn’t know what to do, she’s so scared.  

“Where is he?” Sebastian asked, his voice was cold. 

“S-Sebastian please calm down.” Zera’s voice was shaky.  

“Calm down.”  

“CALM DOWN!” Sebastian yelled.  

“How can I calm down when my little sister just told us she basically just threw away her life!” 

“Sebastian please w-we didn’t want this I promise.” Zera tried to tell him. 

“Where… Is… He?”  

“Please you can’t hurt him please!”  

“ME hurt HIM!” Sebastian’s voice was getting louder, and the house was almost shaking with how loud he was being. 

“He should be grateful I don’t go to his house right now and sho-” Sebastian is cut off by one of the twins grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out the room. As they walk away Sebastian was shouting ever curse, he knows in Greek. Zera looks to the only person still in the room with her. 

“Lucas Please say something for the love of the Gods.” Zera’s voice was so broken. Lucas just looked at her he didn’t really know what to say. 

“Does he know?” Lucas asked. If the bastard knows and is choosing to just ignore what is happening he wouldn’t stop his brother and father from killing him. 

“Yes, we found out four weeks ago.” Zera looked away from him. She knew that her brothers would probably kill her boyfriend, but she just couldn’t let that happen. She loved him too much to let anything happen to him. 

“Zera, you have to understand your on 17.” Lucas says. He pulls her into a hug 

“You have a year left of school how are you going to do this?” He looked at her, his grey eyes filled with sadness.  

“I promise we have a plan.” Zera said  

“I’ll get dad and Sebastian to calm down to hear you out, but I think it would be best if you get James down here, ok?” Lucas got off the couch and walked out of the room. 

Zera nodded as he was walking out the room. She called James and told him to come over so they could talk to her father and brothers. 

Local libraries are an incredibly important aspect to our communities and access to public information while also becoming an increasingly endangered species. And it makes sense! Why would we use libraries when compared to computers and smartphones, they do comparatively less?

Why, when I have my information right at home?

Problem solved, libraries already have computers, but that doesn’t really answer our question, the question why should we use libraries? Free things.

Honest to God, best answer. Public access to books, computers, and records is so important, something the library not just supports but is. It’s built on giving those without access, access to resources. The poor, uneducated, ostracized, anyone who needs it. The library is what the foundation of the internet is. But rocking the boat is gonna be the easiest wrench for people to get in and start restricting that kind of knowledge.

But that’s a case for why we need libraries to exist and how important they are. But why would we use them?

And honestly, I’m not gonna hide it, I’m an avid library enjoyer. Have been since childhood. And man, the library has been like such a positive experience in my life? It just fosters such a friendly environment, with librarians who make polite conversation with you, finding quiet space, and depending on what your experience looks like, making friends.

I can’t tell you how many days I’ve bonded with people at the library even if I never saw them again. Strangers of all kinds, the library is a hub for those types of people, whether they just be passersbys or regulars you’ve come to recognize.

And hey, closing statement: my opinion is not yours. Do whatever you want. Libraries are just a quiet space for people to hang out, and I’m entirely biased. But I’d recommend visiting once or twice. Keep the library system alive and all that. It can do wonders.

Hello, hello, welcome back to another one of my posts.  

Let me start off by saying: if you get my title reference, I love you and comment if you did. 

As we all know Spooky Season is approaching and this is the time of the year when almost everyone summons their inner child and gets accompanied with the tricks and treats. There are other ways for us to celebrate the Fall weather that has the scent of pumpkin spice and background noise of Scary Halloween audio playlists; whether it’s going to haunted houses, or reading horror books (my personal favorite), or just cuddling up with your favorite snacks during this time; we do it our own ways.   Well, one of my ways to spend this time is by rewatching scary childhood movies. 

Yes!  The movies my ten-year-old self would cry while watching it in the morning daylight and with all my family in the house with me (I couldn’t help it; it was too scary.)  It’s better now though because I can watch these in a thunderstorm with all the power out, alone like a breeze (I don’t know why I’m lying to myself) and I enjoy it.                                                                        With that being said, for this post I’m going to rate my top three scary movies from my childhood that I think you should watch.  

# 3   Tim Burton’s, The Corpse Bride 

 

 I was about a 6 -7-year-old child when I cried watching the ending of this movie at my grandma’s house.  It was so sad which was kind of a relief to me then because it was really scary. The movie itself though was deep and now that I’m older I realize, the man had to make some sacrifices.  Now, for those who hasn’t watched the movie here’s the rundown: 

The movie is a stop-animated film that’s romance and fantasy (also horror to people like me) starring Johnny Depp playing the main male lead; Victor Van Dort and Helena Bonham Carter playing the female lead; Emily a.k.a. The Corpse Bride, in the Victorian Gothic era. Victor Van Dort is a man whose parents have betrothed him to Victoria Everglot because the Everglots need the money from the Van Dorts and the Van Dorts want their entry into high society. 

Personally, I really loved Victoria. She was so sweet, Victor also loved her, he just didn’t love the situation.  Since Victor didn’t like the idea of being married for influence, he got cold feet during wedding rehearsals and decided to leave to practice for his wedding vows (thinking about what he truly wants).  He didn’t know where he was running to, he just kept running until he had gotten to the forest.  Which was all blue and gray and looked whimsical but scary in a good way.                                                                                                                                                  While he’s practicing his wedding vows there’s a strange presence there, like someone is listening to him, Victor still practicing what he’s going to say to Victoria he puts her wedding ring on a “branch.”   He plans to continue his own personal wedding rehearsal when the tree wakes up and the scene with Victor getting scared happens.  Once all of that has passed it is revealed that the tree was actually a dead woman’s corpse, and she claims that she’s now married to Victor.  Sadly, Victor has to decide if he wants to stay married to her for eternity.                                                                                                                                         There are more details, like the fact that Emily is cursed because she was wrongly killed, and she won’t rest until she either gets married or finds peace.  Another thing is that a rich snotty dude is trying to marry Victoria while Victor starts falling for Emily and can’t decide which bride he truly wants.    Does he want Emily, the dead bride who vowed to be set free by her true love, or does he want Victoria, the one he’s supposed to marry?    Love and sacrifice are the theme of this movie, especially if it’s worth someone whose heart doesn’t even beat.  I loved this movie so much as a child, I don’t really watch it anymore because of personal reasons.                                                                                                    For the people who do love gothic animation films and are huge fans of Tim Burton I think you should go and watch it.   The graphics in the movie were cry worthy.  It brought the aesthetic it needed to the table.   Also, it has potential to be a classic.  I rate it a 7/10. 

                                                                 

                        

# 2 Monster House 

                                                             

I have a question for those who haven’t watched this?   What did you do in your childhood?   Like genuinely, okay, okay kidding. I’m only kidding, I’m just wondering who hasn’t gotten the time to watch this.  This is the literal movie that I played day in and day out during the Fall season.  Even after Halloween and Netflix made a mistake by adding it on there because I would ride the bus to school in the morning watching this.  Go to sleep with this playing in the background, I had two DVDs of this during quarantine and this is what I would watch back-to-back.   I know it sounds obsessive but it’s a part of the tradition once you watch it at your very first sleepover.                                                              Also, it’s okay if you don’t get my reasoning for the love of this movie if you never watched this, I’m going to tell you what’s it all about. 

There are three main characters:  a young boy, who is about 12-13 named DJ, his best friend an adorable boy named Chowder, and DJ’s crush and everyone’s favorite character, a girl named Jenny.                                                                               The movie introduces us to DJ’s life.   DJ is a boy who really loves all things science fiction and supernatural which at his age is understandable, but DJ just doesn’t want to be seen as a little kid who enjoys sci-fi, he wants to be a grown teenager.    He aims for being seen as an adult, but his parents get him a babysitter as they travel away on Halloween’s eve.                                                     Later in the movie we get introduced to Chowder, he’s DJ’s best friend.  Chowder wants to go play basketball and discuss plans for Halloween.  They go to play basketball in DJ’s yard when the ball falls in Nebbercracker’s yard. NebberCracker is an old house where this sad old man lives.  He hates when children or anyone steps onto his yard.  The reason why; well, his house is alive, and the boys find that out when the house eats their ball.                                         The boys are scared to go after that, but they really need their ball back.  The retreat of the ball is the piece that pushes all of the dominoes.                 Nebbercrakcer sees them and has a heart attack while screaming at DJ to get off the yard.  DJ starts to feel guilty thinking he killed a man.  The boys stay in the house scared with the evil babysitter Vee.    They meet Jenny when she’s trying to sell at the Nebbercracker house, and the boys decide they need to save her before the house eats her too.   They run to get her right as the house is going to take her in.  After the experience of what they all saw the boys and the girl become a trio.   Then we see the plot and the endgame of the movie; to disclose the secret of the Haunted House and put an end to the Nebbercracker curse. 

I am so obsessed with the ending of this movie.  It is literally a 9/10 (one point away because of the sad storyline of Mrs. Nebbercracker ).    All of the characters are funny and love how the house has the parts of a human.   Just really enjoyed how each secret played out and how the characters fought at the end.  I know most of us watched it so please go rewatch it to start off your spooky season. 

         

# 1   ParaNorman 

       

I’m being so real when I say this movie is ELITE (to me it is, you are welcome to disagree).                                                                                                                                         This movie is the movie I’m still sometimes scared to watch alone.   I mean there are a lot of scenes that make my skin crawl (the old cottage scene for sure with the dude that has the book) and make me cover my eyes because I would panic if I was in that situation.   This is the movie that my older sister picked out for herself and fell asleep on, leaving me wide awake to watch the horrors.  The animation on this movie is so life-like that the water they drank made me thirsty and it was fake.   Just know, this movie is nostalgic for me. 

The 2012   stop-motion animated comedy horror film centers its story in the town Blithe Hollow where 11-year-old Norman Babock lives.   Norman Babock is perceived to be a normal boy who just does his daily routine of talking to his grandmother, you know even though she’s dead.                                                          Yes, Norman can speak to the dead, no one believes him though.  No one except for his best-friend Neil.                                                                                                           Norman doesn’t seem to mind that no one believes him (he actually kind of understands) the only thing he doesn’t understand is why he has the ability.  He’s not special or anything, or so he thinks. 

Norman wants this to be a regular day when he just rehearses for his school play that’s based on the Salem trials, but no,  he has to have his dead ghost uncle show up and tell him he has a special ritual to do or the whole town will feel the fury of a curse cast by a witch who was wronged by Blithe Hollow way back in time.  Norman thinks this is crazy, but he also realizes this could be his purpose in this world, so he agrees to do it.                                                              Norman and unlikely companions go through obstacles fighting the undead and going through what seems like the end of the world to break the curse.  In the midst of it all Norman discovers the horrid truth behind the curse which also helps him find a piece of himself.                                                                                         Now the only thing standing between the town, and which is the decision of what Norman believes is the right thing to do.   

I love this movie so much; I rate it a 11/10.  The animation was beautiful and the lesson the story tells is so unique and something everyone should learn.  Also, it’s a fun movie for the kids and the parents, there’s a good number of jokes in there for everyone.  

                                                   

Thank you for reading my rant on more horror topics and have a good day 🙂  

I’m going to jump straight to the point. 
A band I’ve been listening to for the past two or three years, called Origami Angel doesn’t get enough credit. 
Origami Angel is a two-person band.
Ryland Heagy As the Singer/Guitarist, 
And Pat Doherty as the drummer. Origami angel is a Washington DC band, and they have a total of 3 albums out right now. 
Which are… Somewhere City, Brightest Days, and Gami Gang. 
My personal favorite is Somewhere city, and my favorite song from that album is The Air Up Here. But that’s not to say that I like their other albums any less. 
This band has a somewhat consistent genre which is indie rock.
Which is one of my favorite genres of music. 

Somewhere city is what might call a world building album. It was released on November 15th, 2019. This song has a total of 10 songs that span over the course of 30 minutes. What I mentioned earlier about a “world building album.”
What I mean is, this song builds an entire world from only 10 songs. Some talk about amusement parks, some talk about nostalgia, and childhood homes. 
and others talk about the special people in the lives of the artists. By far this has to be one of my favorite albums. 

The Brightest Days album is also one of my favorite albums. It was released June 16th, 2023, and has a total of 8 songs. This album isn’t like the previous, I wouldn’t call it a world building album, but nonetheless It still packs a punch. This song mainly has to do with summer, and Childhood memories. Cloudy days, and sunny days. 
In order of popularity, I think this one reigns second.  Right under Somewhere city. I forgot to mention but my favorite song from this album has to be My PG County Summer.

 

And last but not least, The Gami Gang Album. This Album was released April 30th, 2021. Also, one of their biggest albums, with a total of 20 songs, the take course over the span of 50 minutes. This song is nothing like the previous two. This album hits hard. The genre is heavily rock i would say. But still one of their best. I would have to say that my favorite song from this album has to be, Noah Fence. 
And with this final album this concludes my thoughts on this band. 
I heavily recommend checking them out if you’re a fan of indie rock. 
Thanks for reading.

So, for this week’s blog I wanted to talk about another show that has been sticking to the confines of my brain like glue. A show that I think I can really relate to in ways that other people my age might not be able to. The show I am talking about Fx’s The Bear. The Bear surrounds our protagonist, Carmen Berzado, Carmen is a world-renowned chef, known for working around the world in some of the most prestigious restaurants. But after the sudden suicide of his brother Micheal, he finds himself back in Chicago, attempting to run his now late brother’s restaurant. 

I personally really enjoyed this series for a number of reasons, one of the most prominent being that I was able to appeal to some of the situations that were provided. This is because I have always had a very close and intimate relationship with the restaurant industry. Whether it was as a member of the wait staff, or member of the kitchen crew, I have seen both worlds of the restaurant industry and I would say that it really deepened my connection with the characters and the plotline. 

 

A very interesting plot point that is explored in this show that I don’t think any other show has taken the liberty of ever trying to tackle is the collision of ethics throughout the advanced and the less experienced aspect of the restaurant community.  Carmen, once being known as one of the most prominent chefs in the world, now finds himself trying to implement values and systems that are almost exclusively used in high class kitchens. This does not go over well with the staff and a large portion of the conflict of the first season is Carmen trying to find a balance of holding authority over his staff while also trying to understand the many perspectives that he is provided with.

 

Some staff members become more accustomed to these strict ideologies faster than others, such as Marcus. Marcus is easily convinced that it would be in his best interest to listen to what Carmen has to say after being given advice from him that proves to be correct almost instantly.

However, there are examples of characters that did not react well to these new changes, however it was not from a place of laziness, or from a place of distance from these new tendencies. But from an emotional standpoint, Richie is one of the main victims to this ideology. Richie, being very close with Micheal, now sees the integration of Carmen’s new system as just another aspect of him losing his friend. “This is your brother’s house” is a line that is said as early as the first episode and I think that it is the perfect reflection of Richie’s inability to change through the entire first season as well as a small section of the second. Another really important aspect to look into when it comes to trying to interpret the differentiations between both styles of cooking is when you compare and contrast the first and second season. The first season is essentially Carmen trying to find his way around the chaos and finding a way to fix it. While the second season surrounds the different characters slowly growing their passion for cooking and watching the restaurant slowly morph the establishment that it is now. 

In conclusion I think that I am going to try to talk about this show more, I think that just giving a brief description of the main problem without going into the true problems that each character faces is an injustice to what the entire show stands for. I love so many of the characters created, and I think expanding on what makes them so interesting and well written would be in my best interest. 

I have put a lot of thought into my blog for this week. I have written it, and re-written it, and re-written it again. However, for some reason, nothing seemed to make sense to me. I like to explore big perspectives in mundane things, but recently, my brain has felt cloudy and dark, and it has been difficult for me to observe things outside of what lies in the depths of my own head. This is why, this week, I decided to take a different approach. The idea began in the form of a poem:

 

twisted ivory casts crisp white shadows onto the palms of your eyes.

i hold them in your twisted vision, reading irises like bones, like lines, like future,

glimpsing into the present pool of your pupils, grasping, ghastly,

onto the reflection of any beautiful hue.

it doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

thighs like skyscrapers turn into mummies as i look;

i wrap them gently and take your femurs to my flesh,

and i cut out my liver and feed it to your dead teeth

so that you might not be hungry in the afterlife.

it doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

your neck cracks in symphonies, knuckles cracking heavy down,

cracking my brittle bones, cracking heart, cracking up

because this is all so ridiculous, isn’t it? cracking eggs to make

breakfast in the morning before I crack your skull –

it doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

if i let you take my neck to your tongue, to your teeth,

and you pulled the blood from my arteries, it would

make up for the time i spent cremating your

flammable soul—dust particles from dead skin.

it doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

if you let me take your organs out and bleach them white

and dye them the colors of the funeral flowers,

i would grow a garden and bake you cookies in return, and we could be

all sweet and colorful again because that’s how life works, isn’t it?

it doesn’t make sense, does it?

 

my brain is bargaining, recoiling from the void that

time sucks from my stomach, stretch marks turning scars back to open gashes –

i make a body from my trauma, a separate person out of the shards of my mirror –

i know i am seeing things, making everything up as i go, but

that doesn’t make sense to you, either,

does it?

 

This poem was a surreal and dramatic expression of things I have been struggling with lately: concept of time, issues with body image, resurfacing memories, and utter disconnection from reality… the list goes on. I usually process this by looking for metaphors in the things around me, but I’ve been stuck in this terrible haze that diminishes my capacity for philosophical thought. It confused me, and this uncertainty was terrifying. Therefore, instead of searching for meaning in analogies of objects/creatures around me to help me deal with a problem, I deduced that in this situation, the clarity lied in the problem itself.

My negative emotions have been obstructing my creativity and damaging my confidence and faith in myself. However, in the end, I wrote that poem, didn’t I? I’ve written this blog, haven’t I? I have gotten out of bed every morning, brushed my teeth, eaten, gone to class… so really, I have not failed at anything. In fact, I’ve turned this cloud of darkness into something that I think is beautiful: growth.

Every single person in the entire world will inevitably experience a darkness. You will, too, if you haven’t already. If you can’t seem to look at anything else – whether it be cricket, cat, beetle, or bench – then I advise you to stare straight into your darkness. Face it with all the audacity you can muster, and realize that you are not only separate from it, but you also have power over it. You can turn it into whatever you want to turn it into. It is not inescapable, and it will not destroy you – not if you don’t let it. So use your darkness as an opportunity to grow, and know that you have the capability to still be and create beauty.

I remember it just like it was yesterday. October 19, 2019, the day I got my puppy. I was in seventh grade at an all girls Roman Catholic Christian Private School called Our Lady Academy, located in Bay St. Louis. My mom had to pick me up late so I walked down the street to the Mockingbird Cafe for some coffee and to work on my homework. I often ended up walking to the Mockingbird cafe because my mom is a realtor and had to show houses after work a lot and I didn’t want to come with her. These houses tended to be vacant meaning the power and water would be turned off so there was no air conditioning in the houses making it really hot and you couldn’t go to the bathroom. She would also show houses for a couple of hours straight so it was very boring. While you may be thinking, “Georgia, why didn’t you use your phone?” My dad paid my phone bill and only gave me two gigs of data a month. Earlier that school year I had unlimited but he made some excuse which I’m not going to share unless we’re close so I definitely won’t be sharing it online. All you need to know is that I was swapped from unlimited data to like one or two gigs a month. Anyway, while waiting at the Mockingbird, I was beginning to grow impatient because school ended at 3:30 and it was now around 5:15. I had texted my mom and she said she was on her way to come get me. Around 15 minutes later she walked through the doors and came to where I was sitting in another room. After she came in, my older brother, Thomas, walked in with a little brown puppy who had a white chin. My immediate reaction was “What’s that?” My mom replied by saying, “It’s Clarence! He shrunk!” (We had another dog, different breed, different gender, different shade of brown, named Clarence.) and I said to her again, “What’s that?” and she said, “Our neighbor, Ms. GeorgiaAnn found a puppy on the streets and took her in for  three days and couldn’t keep her anymore and asked if we wanted her because you’ve wanted a puppy since you were little.” I immediately started smiling and grabbed her and said, “She’s mine now” and my brother was like “What? No! I want her! You already have a dog. I had to get rid of my last dog!” and I replied to him by saying, “Thomas you had to get rid of your last dog because you didn’t take care of him properly and didn’t train him. Besides, you’ve already had two dogs, I’ve only had one dog. She’s mine!” It’s safe to say I won that argument and I got to keep her.

 

As I’m writing this I’m texting my mom trying to convince her that Canada is a fake place made up by the government and she isn’t actually from Canada, she’s from New Zealand and her family survived off of canned peanuts. No wonder she was so enthusiastic to send me to boarding school. Also, For those of you who are reading this, if you’ve made it passed canned peanuts (hopefully) you should know to always be patient and wait for your mothers to be done with their work even if you don’t want to and to not make a stink about it because who knows, you might be rewarded with a puppy. But when it comes to waiting for your dad, do whatever, idk man.

 

Recently, my friend introduced me to a game called Identity V. It looked interesting, especially because at the time it was having a crossover with a series we both enjoyed, but I was extremely hesitant to try it. It’s a horror game, for starters, and though I love watching horror games, the moment I’m playing one I start quaking in my shoes. Secondly, it looked like there was a lot of content, and I get overwhelmed extremely easily with that type of stuff. Even with games I really enjoy, big updates- or simply a bunch of new dialogue to discover- can frighten me to the point of not picking up the game for months on end.  Even though I was fearful, I still wanted to play. Eventually, I went to the app store and downloaded it before my mind’s screams of “NO,” could stop me. The crossover event had added two big comfort characters of mine to the game, so I used that to calm myself.  

The game is actually really fun! I’ve been playing for a while, and I like it. There were a lot of things to learn about navigating the home page (Is… Is that what it’s called? Uh… Lobby?) such as where shops are, is there more of that introduction story available, how to flip through all the characters, and more, but I got the hang of it. It took me like two weeks to figure out I could just flip the pages of the character journal to see all of them instead of sorting by type.

The characters also have lore surrounding them, but I have yet to unlock any of it. It requires doing a game mode that I’m still building up the courage for.

The gameplay and aesthetic itself is nice. It’s kind of based off old time periods- I don’t know which- and the main story, though uncomplete, is in the mystery genre! I suspect the main story has something to do with why the characters look like sewn dolls, but I don’t know.  There’s a different match types you can do such as rank matches, multiple different modes like minigames, and double hunters, but I haven’t played double hunters or rank yet. The main type of matches are quick matches, which are what I play the most nowadays. Four players, called survivors, are put into different spooky maps with another player called a hunter. The survivors are all humans, whilst the hunters are either monsters or taller/bigger humans/humanoids that carry weapons. The survivors’ jobs are to decode machines placed around the map, while the hunter’s job is to knock down the survivors and put them in rocket chairs to be blasted into the sky and disqualified. Decoding is done through a series of quick time events, and the hunter must hit someone two times to knock them down. Once five machines have been decoded, the exit gates can be opened, and survivors leave through there to win! The hunter must eliminate at least three survivors to win. There’s other mechanics as well, but I don’t want to make this post too long.  

 There’s a ton of different abilities for different characters. Some survivors can electrocute the hunter to stun them, others can turn invisible for a few seconds, and there’s so many more. My favorite survivor characters to play are The Mind’s Eye and The Novelist, granted I mainly play The Novelist because I got the costume that turns them into one of my comfort characters from the crossover… but his ability is still fun!

The Novelist can swap controls with other survivors, if given permission, and you both get a speed boost when swapped. The Novelist can also swap controls with the hunter without permission, but neither of them get the speed boost, they can’t use abilities or interact, and The Novelist must be close to the hunter for a while before the ability activates. A lot of the time swapping with the hunter merely delays getting hit, but there’s also times where the hunter has no idea what’s going on, walking further away from their body, and thus helping you escape when you switch back. It’s also really helpful when saving survivors from rocket chairs. Some hunters camp chairs to stop survivors from rescuing each other, but with The Novelist and another survivor, you can swap controls and give the other survivor enough time to complete the rescue.

The Mind’s Eye ability ties to the cane she uses as a guide. Other items can’t be picked up due to The Mind’s Eye needing the cane, as she’s blind (yay for disability rep!) but you can hit the cane on the ground and reveal the hunter’s location to everyone, including yourself, for a few seconds. In that time frame you can see other survivors, machines, and it’s extremely helpful.

I usually use the ability when the match starts so I can see where the hunter is and stay away from them, because man am I terrible at escaping. The Mind’s Eye is also faster at decoding machines, which is not only super lit and fits my playstyle a lot, but I also enjoy how it subverts the expectation of “Oh, she’s blind, she wouldn’t be able to get it right.” Like no, she’s gonna solve these things at the speed of light and it rules. The downside is that she’s fragile and thus can’t vault over objects and knock things over as fast, but that works for me. The screen also does this really cool thing when playing as her! It gets shadowy and grayscale, which can give areas different vibes. Meanwhile, when playing as a hunter, my main character is the Soul Weaver.

Basically, the Soul Weaver a spider woman that can set up web traps to slow survivors and reveal their location. She can also put survivors in cocoons, which means you don’t have to carry survivors to rocket chairs and risk them struggling free from your grasp. I actually used to only play as a hunter (you can pick which team you’re on, thank goodness) but once I adjusted to the horror enough, I started playing as survivor. Ironically, now I usually play as a survivor! 

Moving on to the community! It’s.. Uh.. The community in the English chats are horrid, but there’s one channel where people say “flesh,” and add “flesh,” to the end of their sentences. The people there are nice, and to my surprise the flesh thing has been going on for years now. The ‘Flesh chat’ as its called also runs a lot slower than the English channels, so it’s less overwhelming. Despite the horribleness in the English channels, I’ve personally run into a ton more nice people than not! People who will do little dances with you, survivors who wait for each other at the exit gate, people who tell everyone good luck, etc. There’s even been a lot of times where everyone tries to save someone at once. If there is someone who’s being whack, they can only talk before and after the game, in which you can just exit the ‘after-match’ channel and probably not see them again. Hopefully. 

 Overall, IDV is pretty neat from what I’ve seen. The game modes are fun, the aesthetic is neat, and people can be nice! There’s a lot more I could go into further detail on, but this is just the basics. It’s playable for free and available on both PCs and phones, so if you want to check it out, you can! I’m glad I battled my fear and went for it. Fear can be valid, but it can also stop people from enjoying things, and unfortunately its difficult to tell which it is. If you think fear’s holding you back from doing something fun, try going for it!

Ok, I know I keep writing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I can’t apologize, and I also can’t promise that this is going to stop anytime soon. 

TRIGGER WARNING: mention of self harm, and sexual assault. 

Also Spoilers!!! Duh.

Now this article is going to be discussing another one of my favorite character archetypes, “The Broken Man.” But this doesn’t just mean any broken man, well to me. I also want to specify that a broken man can also be a woman. 

What I personally mean when I say broken man as my favorite archetype is a character that is initially introduced as having this power (usually a villain) or meant to instill fear in the audience. I love seeing this character being put through the RINGER, and I mean RINGER. First, we see this character all high and mighty but over the course of the story we see them being tested or elements of their power stripped away until they become a shell of their former self. 

A perfect example of this is Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also, Birthname William Platt, also referred to as William the Bloody(his poet name from human time). I’m not going to in-depth cover Human-Spike, because we’ll be here all day. 

Spike was a greatly renown vampire from the late 1800’s only being passed up by his frenemy (their relationship is complicated) Angelus (Angel, which is another long story). He is known to be cruel; he is especially recognized for successfully killing two slayers. We’re introduced to Spike as such, even without full backstory it’s clear that he’s a villain (we’re also introduced to him when he was with Drusilla, and his love for her is also something I greatly appreciate about his character.).  His relationship with Drusilla is definitely where we see glimpses of his vulnerability for the first time, even seeing him fall into a depression after their breakup. 

But I think a key moment of his vulnerability is when he was microchipped by the military. As a result of the chip, he was unable to harm humans. Watching him struggle with being essentially nurtured is definitely what I would deem as the first instance of him having his power or status stripped away in any meaningful way. Even going as far to attempt to stake himself. He becomes a sort of bittersweet ally the Scoobies (Buffy’s gang of demon fighting friends) once he realizes he can in fact kill demons, even though he only really did it so he could kill something lol. 

As we their relationship continue, we can see hints that Spike is definitely falling for Buffy. After confessing his love for Buffy (which he was abruptly rejected afterwards) he continues to help her and even save her sister Dawn multiple times one of which almost took his life. His love for a slayer was something he struggled with greatly even attempting to kill Buffy after she had humiliated him but being unable to because he wanted to comfort her cause she was sad. 

Even though Buffy’s trust in Spike grew greatly after she saw how he behaved with her little sister even rewarding him with a kiss after he risked his life for her. His love remained one sided until Buffy was resurrected, yes from the dead. Buffy’s death hit Spike hard, he even counted the days she was gone before she had been resurrected, “148”. Buffy began opening up to Spike about how her friends ripped her out of what she thought was heaven, something that was later revealed to the whole group during the musical episode. Which also ended in Buffy and Spike kissing. 

Their relationship coming to a head when Spike realized that his chip allowed him to harm the resurrected Buffy. Once realizing this a brawl began which incased them fighting while also beginning their physical relationship, if you know what I mean. The morning after this Spike is over the moon meanwhile Buffy is repulse with herself (and him). As this dynamic continued it became clear that Buffy was using relations with Spike as a form of self-harm, which seemed fine with at first but soon began wanting the emotional aspects of a relationship which Buffy denied him. Their physical relationship ended after a visit from her ex Riley, after which Buffy admitted she had been using Spike. 

After attempts to make Buffy jealous Spike cornered her in the bathroom and attempted to force himself on her. In regard to this I want to provide the disclaimer that I detest the decision of writers using sexual assault as a device to move a plot further instead of treating the topic with the gravity it deserves. I however find myself fascinated with the writers, Joss Wheadon’s decision to do this. Joss Wheadon was very adamant about portraying vampires as the monsters they were instead of these teeny-bopper heart throbs, one of the only exceptions I’d say being Angel, who we do see sick twisted glimpses of as Angelus, but that’s more nuanced I’d say. But this is why he showed vampires in the show the makeup that he did instead of them just appearing human. I think I remember this being said by an actor in an interview, but I could be wrong, but Joss Wheadon didn’t like how people were beginning to root for Spike as Buffy’s love interest he felt they forgot the origin of his character, so he wanted to reestablish Spike’s roots.

I also want to take a break a preface this by saying that though Spike has one of my favorite character arks this is the reason why I can’t deem him my favorite character, even though I worship the way he was written. Buffy and Spike were a trainwreck as a couple that relationship was essential for his development. He loved Buffy dearly, but his actions were inexcusable which I think lead to him reaching rock-bottom, I’d actually consider this his rock-bottom in a way but I also think he had another, I’ll explain that.  

After this Spike is horrified with himself and this is the reason why I believe Spike chose to go fight for his soul. In this series demons have the ability to fight for their souls back. Angel didn’t fight for it he was merely cursed with it. Angel was a vamp, famously called the vampire with a soul, he also had a relationship with Buffy, she was madly in love with him. I think this also played a role in Spike wanting his soul back. After retrieving his soul spike is riddled with guilt, constantly being haunted by the voices of those he killed in the past. 

He reveals this to Buffy in what I consider to be one of the most beautiful scenes in television history. The writing, the line delivery, the acting it’s all truly phenomenal. James Masters, the actor who plays Spike ends his monologue by laying his body on a cross. I could do a whole-nother post about this episode alone. I consider the episode not only Spike’s “rock-bottom” as it showed him as a shell of his former bad cool guy self, but the beginning of his redemption. 

Spike is able to get past this, help Buffy train potential slayers when “the first evil” threatens to end the world. Spike’s final act of retribution I’d say was him sacrificing his life to save the world in the very last episode.

I believe Spike to be overall considered redeemed villain, him in the beginning versus the end is such a contrast. I believe he got the perfect redemption.

Spike:Non-Vamp face

 

Spike:Vamp face