Author: Cooper Brumfield

so for today’s blog I wanted to try something, something that I don’t usually do when it comes to this form of writing. i would say that for the most part these blogs have become something that i use as an outlet to even out the tone of my pieces. i think, at least usually, these blogs have a softer tone so that i can better equal them out with the relatively serious nature of the rest of my pieces, but i wanted this one to be different. 

i wanted it to be something that I could write down how I feel so I could reduce it to nothing more than just words on a page. most of these thoughts are about the end of the year, and luckily I have the privilege to not say that this is the end of the road for me, even though it feels like with the coming of summer that it will all suddenly come to an end, the people I have met, the way that I feel, all of it will turn into just something that once happened. but as I sit in my new seat that erin handed down to me I’m coming to realize that summer isn’t an end, just an intermission. 

i don’t think that this realization was something that suddenly came to me, instead it was something that came to me on the day that i read the senior’s last blog posts did i realize. another thing that i realized was that when i go back to me in august, go back to that version of me who would think about how monumentally important my last blog of junior year would be. i feel silly now. i thought it would be perfect, but now i am sitting here, my pants are dirty, i have a sty, the room is hot, and i am writing anyway. maybe that is what it means to be perfect, maybe I’ll never know, maybe I’m not supposed to.

Alright guys let’s see if I can do this blog in the miniscule amount of time in which I have given myself to write because I don’t know what is good for me. I am going to give one or two disclaimers before I do this, these people that I have been compared to have been through the span of several years, believe it or not I haven’t always had long hair and a beard so please keep that in mind, however with that in mind I will say that differences in some of these characters are notably different and you can tell when the comparisons become more modern.

Will Byers

When I was very very young I had a haircut that was very similar to season one will byers, like the bowlcut with the hair longer in the back, even though that hairstyle was from when I was a toddler and technically before will byers was even a character but somehow the comparison still managed to come my way.

Bling Bling Boy

I don’t want to talk about this one, I was fat in middle school, this one hurt my feelings. Is everyone going to laugh at it, absolutely, will I cry, absolutely.

Jack from the Magic Treehouse

This one always struck me as odd because I never wore glasses but I guess I can kinda understand the hair, my hair from when I was a kid was really rough if I’m being honest. But anyway, this one never offended me too much, though I think I was really young when the comparison was made

Klaus Baudelaire

AGAIN, I DONT WEAR GLASSES. WHY DO I KEEP GETTING COMPARED TO PEOPLE WITH GLASSES

Moist Cr1TiKaL 

This one was fairly recent and yk what, this one gave me the biggest confidence boost, just wait till next year I will make it a reality smh, my hair is on the way.

The rolling giant

Jesus

I think this one has been the most prominent one I have received in recent years, and yk what, according to most Modern American Christians I guess I am white enough to qualify for this man born and raised in Israel. 

i was sitting in Carter’s room last night, fiddling with the guitar that i was first starting to learn how to play when i heard his roommate say something that got me thinking. parker was never one to say many things with much subsistence, not that he didn’t have the capability to, but because he tended to stay on light topics.  However, he asked us something that got me thinking. He said “I’ve realized that some of the best artists that have ever walked the earth struggle with some kind of life changing issue, do you think that there is something connected to all of that?”

a question like that wasn’t something i had expected out of him, it kinda was, however in that moment it wasn’t what i was expecting. and it really did get me thinking, was the pain that you experienced something that could enhance the quality of your heart, or was the art you created a reflection of the pain in which you put into the work. there were so many prominent artists of every accord which experienced so much pain, whether it be authors such as hemingway or poe, or painters such as da vinci or hopper. though i think that the form of art in which this is the most prominent is music, elliot smith, kurt cobain, ian curtis, these are all names of people whose suffering was so prominent that it caused their demise, however the beauty of their music serves as something that is a world of a difference. It was a difference that was monumental beyond any accord, but was it because of the things they experienced that caused the influence of their music to be better than it might’ve been? That is, what I wonder about the most. I don’t think I have a finite answer because the art I create come from both premises.

To be honest I wasn’t sure if I was going to do this, mainly because I thought that I had done it before but after review I don’t think that I have, I think it might have just had something to do with how many similar music blogs I read but I digress. I also want to say that these are in no particular ranking or order. 

So, first off, I want to talk about how much I love this band as a whole, late night drive home is one of my favorite bands of all time and I don’t see them leaving that ranking anytime soon, the most unique aspect of this band for me is that I think that it is going to be the only upbeat album on this list. I have never been one to be crazy for upbeat music, I used to be but as I have gotten older it has started to deplete a bit.

Memo boy is an anomaly to me, it is one of those things where I am pretty sure most people know about their music however no one really knows that it is their band, it is one of those things where if you were to hear songs such as insomnia or facebook.com and you realize you’ve heard it online but I would strongly recommend you listen to more of their music.\

I cannot emphasize how this artist has simultaneously put me through horrible things and got me through everything all at the same time. It is honest to God more like an acquired taste than anything. Which I know is an odd description for music, but it is great, nevertheless. I am quite literally in the top 0.01 percent of their listeners and I know that say a lot about me but I DONT CARE.

This is one of the artist groups that I recommend to everyone that asks me for recommendations, their vibe, their music, their collaboration quality is just EVERYTHING. I am a die-hard lowertown fan and even though their audience is on the smaller side the quality of their music is still just as incredible as any popular indie bands. My favorite songs of theirs have to be gaping mouths, it is like a weird combination of a song and a manifesto, and I love it.

i am pretty sure everyone here knows what pokemon is, if you dont, im sorry, im not going to take the time to explain it to you so yea, i dont want to fill this blog up with too much exposition so here you:

Honorable mention- so for today’s honorable mention I am going to give it to two pokemon, Ditto and Ninetails. Ditto to be honest is one of my favorite pokemon but tbh their whole thing is being other pokemon so I am not exactly sure how that would have applied on my list but I love ditto too much not to mention it so. The second honorable mention today is going to go to ninetails, I think aesthetically ninetails is a really  beautiful pokemon and was really really close to being on this list.

Number 10-Arbok

As someone who is very on the nose about snakes in general and also someone who doesn’t enjoy playing with poison types I have to admit that this is an incredible design, I don’t really have too many things to say about this pokemon when it comes to its looks besides that it looks cool. Tbh out of all of team rocket’s pokemon this one is my favorite. 

Number 9- Vulpix

This in my opinion is everything that ninetails didn’t get to be, I think that this without pokemon is almost without a doubt one of the cutest pokemon of all time, he is at least cuter than pikachu, which I will stand by. Looking through my list I am pretty sure that this is the only fire type pokemon which I have on it which I guess is fair because it is the best gen 1 fire type

Number 8-Farfetch’d

So for Farfetch’d I will have to say that out of all the ones on the list, this one is for sure the most underrated, I think that this is mostly because of its relatively simple color scheme, HOWEVER, I think that it works much better than other pokemon with this color scheme, plus his little accessory is cool.

Number 7-Alakazam

I am going to warn you all now, I am pretty sure that there are more psychic pokemon on this list than any other kind, what I like about this guy specifically is that I think he is the only pokemon who uses silverware which tbh is a pretty confident play on Alakazam’s part.

Number 6-Psyduck 

I am sorry, even though I love Farfetch’d with all my heart, this is the est duck pokemon, not even in this gen, but just in general. Literally what he is known for is having a headache, HIS POWER IS HAVING A HEADACHE. Anyway he’s just a little guy and I love him.

Number 5- JigglyPuff

This to my knowledge is one of the only fairy types on this list, not because I don’t like fairy types, but because first gen was severely lacking when it came to making more than just a very few fairy pokemon. I have been a jigglypuff enthusiast since I was a kid so (that actually explains a lot now that I think explains a lot)

Number 4- Snorlax

This is one of my favorite pokemon of all time, when it comes to type class it is my favorite normal pokemon ever, period. If anyone here wouldn’t wish to just be a snorlax than I don’t trust your judgment. 

Number 3-Muk

Bro I love this pokemon so much, there are so many that have tried to be what this fine gentleman is and literally no one has succeeded. I swear I love Muk so much. He just looks so cool, the texture the face, THE COLOR SCHEME. Oh my god I love Muk.

Number 2- Tangela 

This is the only grass type on this list, which I am kinda upset about but yea I digress, I think this is the one people are going to disagree with the most. And yea, I can kinda understand it, even though this is a relatively hated pokemon I have to say that tangela is one of my favorite like, he’s a bundle of vines with shoes on, what is there not to love.

Number 1-Gengar

I love Gengar so much, his design, his color, his cool smile that he has, idek, I just love the way he conducts movement and I think there should be so many more ghost type pokemon. I even have a gengar sticker on the bottom part of my laptop. Even thought that is like, the only piece of pokemon merch I own (besides the cards) so.

So, for today’s blog I really wanted to talk about something that has been bugging me lately. And yes, I am aware that I am a little late to this whole thing, but I really have ben itching to talk about it so. 

I do want to give a quick disclaimer though, a lot of the topics that I am about to touch on I cannot completely understand, ideas of being MTF, or even what it means to be a woman is something that I cannot really give too much of an insight on because, yk. But anyway, I digress.

So, about a month ago a popular influencer named Dylan Mulvaney came out with a song called “Days of Girlhood” this song was to commemorate her two-year anniversary of when she came out as trans and when she began to document her journey through her transition digitally. The song has had a relatively negative view by most, when it comes to my personal experience with it, when it comes to the music itself, it isn’t exactly my style, and while a lot of people agree, this isn’t the issue. Instead of critiquing the song itself, hundreds of people online have used this song as an excuse to spread misinformed and transphobic hate speech. 

The largest percentage of people who are making these videos and supplying hateful comments such as these are what most people have deemed as “TERFS”

If some of you aren’t familiar with this term I will explain, terf is an acronym for “trans exclusive radical feminist” this to be put simply is someone who agrees with most feminist ideologies but does not acknowledge trans women to be actual women. The main argument that they provide is that Dylan gives the song a marginalized “dumb girl” side that most women fight hard against, however this is not really the case, from my experience listening I don’t think that in any way does she say that this is what girlhood is, instead all she is doing is providing her individual experience. (She also gives some really valuable insight on the trans experience in her song so for that alone I recommend that you check it out.)

Dylan contributed a song deemed just another “white girl song” WHICH IS COMPLETELY FINE. For the most part, I don’t even really like the song but to use it as an excuse to try to say that all it does is prove that “Dylan isn’t a real girl” or “what she is doing is harming other women” is unacceptable. The way you orientate yourself with the music you choose to create is never an issue unless it causes pain to others, there have been so many songs that have been similar to what Dylan has made, songs such as “I’m just a girl” by Gwen Stefani or “Girls just want to have fun” by Cyndi Lauper have proven to be staples in millions’ playlists and music tastes, they were created and no one had a problem with them, but the moment a trans woman makes one it is as if suddenly they become harmful. Even though I have a lot more to say about the situation I will leave it at this final statement: Just because a song doesn’t sound good doesn’t mean that gives you an excuse to be transphobic.

Here are a couple of people who put in some really good opinions if you want to check them out. Also, if you want to stream the song here is the link, Days of Girlhood – Single by Dylan Mulvaney | Spotify

My Top Five Timothee Chalamet Movies

Ok so I think there has been a weird coincidence, or maybe I just like Timothee Chalamet’s choices for casting calls but some of my favorite movies of all time either star or include Timothee even though I think only one or two of these movies would make it to my top ten list, but I thought that it was about time I probably make my own list so. Here we go.

(Quick PSA) this is not me ranking his performance, even though they’re all pretty good, but instead I am ranking the movie as a whole. Also, I have not seen Wonka or Dune Part two yet so those will be omitted for now. Also, I think I am just going to say TC instead of his full name because I think I am going to be saying it so much.

Honorable Mention- Interstellar

Even though Interstellar is a great movie, because TC was so young and his performance hadn’t grown into what it is today, I don’t think it makes a spot on my top five.

Number 5- Little Women

I think that for the most part, even though he doesn’t have a giant role in this movie, the small parts in which he is in it, his performance is so incredible. One of my favorite instances of his work in this film was his monologue when he was professing his love to Jo.

Number 4- Lady Bird

I really like it when TC has to be a jerk for one of his roles. I think his role in this film as Kyle was one that fit him really well. Kind of like the “pretentious piece of garbage” to put it bluntly, however he does it well, nevertheless.

Number 3-Dune

TC’s role as Paul in this film is indefinitely one of the biggest 180’s when it comes to his career in acting. When you think of action sci-fi movies, TC is never someone that comes to mind as a good protagonist, he has always come off as someone who is good in exclusively dramas, but he really surprised me with this, I implore you to watch it if you haven’t.

Number 2- Call me by your name.

I think that personally this movie as a whole paired with TC’s performance makes this one of my favorite movies of all time. The setting “northern Italy” and just the overall incredible scenery that the movie provides just makes these hands down one of the most beautiful films I have ever had the privilege of watching. To be honest this is pretty much on par with my number 1 choice, the only reason I put this one at second is that even though the movie is incredible I personally think that the book it is based off of is a bit better sooooo, yea. Nevertheless, I think that it is a movie you should watch, plus I need someone to talk to me about it so.

Number 1- Beautiful Boy

There aren’t many things that I can say when trying to talk about how incredible this film is. I think that it is one of the most incredible and accurate representations of drug addiction ever portrayed in media. It stars Steve Carrel and TC, the use of the passage of time in the film is incredible, and the fact it is based off of a true story never fails to amaze me.

My experience with Sci-fi has always been one of an interesting accord. When I was younger it was always something that I never took much time to realize I was consuming, even though I think in elementary school I lived and breathed for star wars. However, as I entered middle school I started to move away from it, and I haven’t really taken much time to absorb any kind of science fiction until the past few months. That was with Dune.

I also need everyone here to take this with a grain of salt because, for one I have not read the actual book, and two this comes from someone who really has not liked many mainstream produced movies from the last ten years. This is mainly due to the fact that I believe that the monetization of movies within the confines of these big production companies has heavily infringed upon the quality of the movies in which they  have put out, especially with animated films, however I digress, this is a topic for another day. 

At first I didn’t really even believe that Dune was going to be anywhere as good as star wars, mostly because of star wars’ previously acclaimed fame, however, I think that is what the main issue is with modern star wars is in the first place. I would go as far as to say that only movies that stray away from the original story line is what I truly enjoyed within the confines of the modern age of the star wars saga. The main example of  this it seems is rouge one, which is in my opinion the best piece of media to go out of lucasfilm production in the last thirty years. Sorry for the tangent, back to the main topic.

After watching the first Dune, without even seeing the second one I can confidently say that this story is immensely better than that of star wars, whether it be the quality, or the characters, or the system of weapons and powers within the cinematic universe, Dune just comes out on top every single time. I think if the Dune franchise had the opportunity to grow in the same way that star wars did than I am almost certain that star wars wouldn’t remotely come close.  Another important aspect of why I think that Dune is the better of the two is that without Dune Star Wars would not be what it is today, it might not have even been a thing at all. The sand plant, the giant worm, the other worldly powers and an inept storyline about a protagonist that turns from good to evil and the story turns to his son and daughter. There is just so much that is taken from Dune that I find it so incredible that it has not become a mainstream fact that most know about. I apologize, this was more of a rant than anything but, thank you for listening. I might make a part two once I watch the second movie soooo, look out for that.

The process of creating a poem is one that I wish that I even had close to down. It’s one of those things that are pretty much as sporadic as the mood swings that I wish I could overcome. Anyway, I didn’t mean to go that deep into a tangent in such a short amount of time. When it comes to my own personal development of artistic literary pieces it is always usually dictated off of one factor, that being the title, and whether I think of the idea for the poem itself first, or whether I think of the title first. For this specific piece that I am going to be sharing today I decided on the title first. This wasn’t because I couldn’t think of what to write (it was) but because I thought of it and how many metaphorical vises I could attach to it. But anyway here is the poem itself, I want to hear all of your opinions and process though too. I will touch on that in a second.

Pomegranate seed 

Love me like a pomegranate seed

An aperture of translucence.

A reddish glow.

Shapes crafted ever so

meticulously that it’s

as if it was molded

at the fingertips of

Gaea herself.

Love me even though none of that matters.

For the beauty of

an individual seed does

not span beyond the 

confines of the fruit’s rind.

As does the beauty

of any physical being,

when left in a room

full of people.

500 seeds to a single fruit.

My beauty is not my own.

Yet it is I who is awarded with the privilege of your love.

Whether you like or hate this poem is one thing, I don’t even know if I like it but I hope the publication I submitted to likes it enough.  But anyway there are a couple things that I wanted to touch on when it comes to the process of writing poems. For the most part I think that majority of the things in which I have written have originated not from a title but from an overall idea of the piece. However this one does not specifically possess that same background, and to be honest I am not exactly sure if I need to do any other poems like this, I know it is important to have a strong basis however I don’t think that there was for this piece, it was only the two words that created the title. So I just want to hear everyones opinion on itt. :))))

So for next week’s blog I am thinking that I really want to implement something on the informational/political side, which I think is going to take a lot of work/ research/ and finally the observation that that is a very serious topic. So for this week’s topic I am going to do something on the opposite end of the spectrum. So for this week I am going to be talking about my top ten foods that I have ever kept in my dorm.

Number 10- Acaci Bowls

While I do not get these as much as I want just because of the main fact of how expensive they are I really really enjoy them. I am aware that I botched the name, however I am struggling to remember how to incorporate accent marks on a keyboard so we will work with what we have I guess. They are an iced smoothie type bowl made up of a special kind of berry as well as optionally granola and a number of possible toppings like avocado, berries, and yogurt.

Number 9-Cashews

I am aware that this is an odd choice, but I swear I will destroy some cashews anytime that I get the chance. Cashews, like most stand-alone nuts, are one of those foods that I grew into overtime but now that I actually have started to like them, I don’t think that my opinion will change anytime soon.

Number 8-Chiobani Mixed Fruit Greek Yogurt

So, on my journey to try to slightly improve my diet I have started consuming these things, and while at first it took me a minute to like the taste of Greek yogurt it, as well as cashews, is beginning to grow on me. These cups are really convenient in the fact that I get to eat them whenever I wake up really late some mornings when I actually feel like eating breakfast. 

Number 7-Cheesecake

I know what you’re thinking, this seems really inconvenient to have in your dorm room, and you’re right. However the only time that I have ever had it in my dorm is when my parents got me one to have for my birthday, which I’m not sure if I even needed to say that but, anyway, cheesecake. 

Number 6-Yogurt Covered Raisins

I stand by these things. I have stood by them since I was a kid and I will continue to do so, if you disagree, we will have it out in the comment section of this blog, I guess.

Number 5- Strawberries

When you live in a dorm room sometimes it can be hard to keep fresh fruit for a long time, however this is not a problem for me when it comes to strawberries, that is in part because I eat them too fast for them to even kinda start going bad. Even though I wouldn’t say that they are my favorite fruit I would say that they are up there for sure.

Number 4- uveggie ramen

So now is where we start to get to the list of my favorite foods that I know I am going to continue eating even when I leave MSA, because oh my god they are so good. I have found that there are a number of really good ramens that I have discovered this year but I have to say that this one is my favorite. It originally was supposed to just be a ramen that me and my gf who doesn’t eat meat could enjoy together but it slowly has become one of my favorite ramens of all time.

Number 3- Brown Sugar Mochi

I found it surprising that this one was so high on the list, this is mainly because I absolutely despise ice cream mochi, however as someone who really likes boba this I was conflicted, but being it is both brown sugar and just normal mochi, I found that I really enjoyed it.

Number 2-Brown Sugar Boba

These are so incredible, I found them at 5 below in Mccomb a few weeks ago and I need to go back, the ones at walmart are so bad, I NEED THE 5 BELOW ONES

Number 1-Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken

This will forever and always be my favorite dorm food as well as frozen food as a whole. I really enjoy trader joes for a number of reasons, however my only gripe with them is that they aren’t in MS. Which even though it makes me sad I guess I can kinda understand. And even though this is the hardest out of the ten to prepare I still stand by the fact that it is by far the best.