Category: Senior Literary

for the last time ever…hello, blog. bittersweet, i know. attempting to not be overly sentimental in this post, i’ve decided to stick with my tradition of writing about media. in honor of this chapter of my life coming to a close, i’ve decided to write about some of my favorite endings in tv shows and movies. spoilers included and in no particular order.

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

i love that the ending of this movie is so ambiguous. to me, it’s a happy ending, but i’ve heard many say that it’s sad. ultimately, after their relationship is put through the wringer several times, joel and clementine decide to give it another try. i like the ending because it leaves us with the possibility of the two of them ending up together. personally, i think their love will definitely withstand the test of time. if you ask me, they’re together to this day, in an apartment full of potato people and at least one really creative kid.

wild things

this movie has several of the craziest plot twists of anything i’ve ever seen. there are twists and turns at every single corner. my favorite, though, has got to be the very end. just when we think the two sleezy guys have gotten away with it, suzy comes out of nowhere and reclaims the victory. wild things is a story of total corruption and scandal, and it’s hard to say who the good guys and bad guys are. however, i just can’t see an ending with neve campbell riding off into the sunset on a sailboat and not think that it’s perfectly fair and just.

scream 3

the original scream trilogy will always be my favorites of the franchise. it might be somewhat sappy, but i just love a happy ending, and i love that this was actually meant to be the closing of the franchise as a whole. as much as i’m grateful for the next three movies, i just adore the idea of things closing at the end of this one. the movie also features roman, who is the absolute best ghostface in the franchise in my (correct) opinion. it ends with dewey and gale (the best couple in the franchise) safe and happy, getting engaged. sidney is settled into a beautiful home with the perfect guy (played by patrick dempsey. it doesn’t get much better than that!). the only things that could make it better, for me, would be to have jennifer jolie survive and gale get rid of her horrifying bangs.

piggy

i just watched this movie for the first time, and, wow. the future for the horror genre is so bright, and i love to see it. i expected it to just be a typical revenge story, but it exceeded my expectations in every way. the twist at the end where she doesn’t actually harm the girls but frees them instead is just perfect. i was physically shocked by all the turns. i love the way she defended herself against the villain and how well it fit into the symbolism and tone that had been set up. she could’ve chosen to get revenge, but she chose peace and forgiveness, and what strength of character that took after the way she was treated to the very end. i especially love the twist on the whole “getting the guy” trope when she leaves with pedro (my personal favorite character. such a sweet person.)

titanic

i simply have to include this one because upon a rewatch, i noticed something i had never seen before. i’ve seen this movie more times than my paternal grandfather, and i thought i pretty much knew everything about it, but i was wrong. i went and watched it for the first time in years at the anniversary re-showing in theatres back in february. i noticed, for the first time ever, that the old lady dies at the end. i never knew that! genuinely thought she just fell asleep. i watched it with a friend who had never seen it before, and they pointed it out, saying how sad and sweet it was that she died close to jack, right above the water where she lost him. it hit me like a freight train. what gorgeous writing. it’s like she grew so old and just refused to leave until she was warm in bed with him right there, just like they said. i also love the pictures in her room of her doing all those amazing things and traveling the world. rose is one of my favorite fictional characters, and it’s amazing to know that she lived a beautiful life.

mulholland dr.

i just watched this movie for the first time the other day, and there aren’t even words for how i feel about it. i’m actually revisiting this post just to add it to the list. i’ve loved david lynch since i was a preteen and have always wanted to watch this movie but never got around to it. best decision ever. i loved every moment, but the way the ending ties everything together is just beyond anything i’ve ever seen. talk about elevating a trope. generally, i think it-was-all-a-dream is played out and lazy, but this does it masterfully and spins it on its head (i’d expect nothing less from david). betty/diana is such a well-written character that i still feel bad for her losing rita/camila, even if it was of her own doing. i immediately had to watch and read analyses of this movie, and if that’s not a sign that it’s something special, i don’t know what is.

so, for the very last time…goodbye, blog. special thanks to clinnesha sibley and dr. alexis for getting me into blogging and to my classmates for inspiring me with their work. so long!

So, at the beginning of my Junior year at MSA, I wrote a blog about, well, blogs. Specifically, I wanted to discuss what exactly a blog was. The answer that I had come across was that a blog was anything that the author decided it would be. I had decided on the answer spur of the moment, mostly due to the lack of desire to write a blog in the first place. 

Now, three weeks away from graduation, I want to revisit this topic… but with a twist! Instead of asking “What is a blog?”, I’m going to talk about “Why is a blog?”. Well, I specifically want to talk about my feelings towards the act of blogging during my time at MSA. 

To begin with, I would like to say that I still mostly agree with the answer I had to what a blog is. It is, indeed, whatever the author intends it to be. However, there is one thing that a blog has to be, no matter what. A blog absolutely must deliver a message of some kind. Not towards its readers, but towards the writers future self. It is a time capsule, a frozen piece of the author’s voice, their ideas, their likes and dislikes. So, anything, in theory, could technically qualify as a blog. A blog could be considered an important historical record, a glimpse into the past. So, my final answer to the question of what a blog is: history. It’s history, plain and simple.

Anyway, let’s move on to the main question. Why is a blog? Blogs are often thought of as public digi-diaries and can often be just that. Now, I’m not going to discuss anything like “author intent” while trying to answer this question. I want to talk specifically about my experience with the form. 

So, I don’t like blogging. I think it’s a waste of time, especially when limited to the type of blogs that I was during my senior year. What was once absolute freedom became confining, and frankly quite exhausting. The importance of blogs is the freedom that they can give to people to simply write whatever is on their mind. So, when you take that away, the blog loses its value. 

I do not speak for everyone when I say that, of course. This is more so my own unique perspective on it. I don’t think that I’ll be writing more blogs in the future once I’ve graduated, but you never know for sure. If I do, be sure to expect any imaginable absurdity. That way you’ll be prepared when I write about something even more absurd than that. 

So here’s the climactic finale that you’ve been waiting for. Here’s the answer to the question. Here it is!

 

Q: Why is a blog?

A: I have absolutely no idea.

I think I have a new favorite book. 

Yeah, It may be too early in the novel to say that, but when you know you know lol.  Everything about this book has completely captured my full attention. The characters, setting, and plot are exactly what I look for in a book. Each aspect of this story has brought me so much comfort, and I can’t seem to put it down. 

Usually, I’d read only the first chapter of a book before doing a first impressions blog like this, but I couldn’t just stop at one chapter while reading this book. I am around halfway done with the story, though I’ll try to keep this analysis focused around my ideas and feelings at the beginning of the book. 

Synopsis: 

Lori Seltzer is a seventeen year old girl who lives with her Grandmother and is an avid writer. Her grandmother, and avid reader, is her biggest supporter. 

When Lori’s grandmother suddenly passes away, she is faced with the aftermath of her complicated family. Her mother comes back to town and gives her the news that Lori will have to move in with her and her boyfriend, away from Lori’s Hometown and her best friend, Chris. 

Desperate to stay as long as she can, Lori decides to follow her grandmother’s will and plan a series of road trips to spread her ashes along the most beautiful garden in the state. Along the way, Lori and her family encounter obstacles and try to navigate grieving while honoring the monarch of the family. 

First Impressions: 

I have to admit that I read more than a few chapters of this book before sitting down to write a blog. But every chapter I have read so far has been amazing. 

In the first few chapters, I knew I would enjoy reading this book just by the POV and main character’s thoughts. It was really easy for me to connect myself to this character and her feelings. It is one of those books that you find yourself so lost in that you have to step away from for a while to detach from. 

The characters are all so lovable, and Lori’s grandmother, although not alive, is such a big piece of this story. She is a huge part of the memories mentioned in the story, and you get to know her well in the very first chapters. 

Lori’s best friend, Chris, is also a character that ends up playing a major role later in the book, but at the very beginning you follow Lori on her new journey with grief. 

This book really has everything that a teen really wants. Its not completely superficial or only a romance story. This book deals with things heavier and so real to many that will read it. 

Meredith Goldstein really went above and beyond with this story. She managed to make a story around grief that is not simply about the pain of it all, but about the journey and happiness that you can find amongst the pain. 

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! This is not a surprising entry on the site, yet you know I had to come out and update the list since the new Scream (6) came out. I just watched it yesterday, so my opinions are all fresh in my mind. So, in this blog, we will be ranking the Ghostface killers based on intelligence, motive, kill count, and brutality.

10. Quinn, Detective Bailey, Ethan (Scream 6)

I hate to put them in last place, but frankly, I just can’t bring myself to put them over any other Ghostface killer. I find it very disappointing that there were only 5 kills in the movie despite having the biggest team. I thought the brutality in this film was one of the more intense ones, which I do love to see in Scream movies. I thought the twist of Quinn faking her death was interesting, but that is not enough to make me go crazy on this ranking. I also thought their motive was reused from Mrs. Loomis, which was also a little disappointing. The movie was spectacular and one of my favorites, but these guys hardly make the list.

Intelligence: 3.5/5

Motive: 2/5

Kill count: 5 total

Brutality: 4.5/5

Plan Execution: 1.5/5

9. Amber (Scream 5)

A lot of people really liked Amber in Scream 5… I did not. I thought she was a very obvious killer and very annoying. Some people speculate that she was the mastermind that was pulling the strings on Richie, but they are very much portrayed as equals and are the only Ghostface killers to not turn on each other at the end. Amber also was able to kill off a legacy character (rest his soul) which is a very rare occurrence, and I do give her props for that. It is the reason she is not last. 

Intelligence: 3/5

Motive: 2/5

Kill count: 3 (Dewey, Liv, Judy)

Brutality: 3.5/5

Plan Execution: 3.5/5

8. Richie (Scream 5)

This shouldn’t be very surprising. He isn’t very great and is also very obnoxious. I feel like they tried to mix Charlie and Stu and came out with the son of Dennis Quaid. He has an equal amount of kills with Amber, yet somehow he seems like he was just better. He was able to infiltrate Sam’s life on his own without the history that was provided to Amber. He was also not very smart to think a lot of the things he planned would actually end up that way. 

Intelligence: 3/5

Motive: 2/5

Kill count: 3 (Vince, Wes, officer)

Brutality: 3.5/5

Plan execution: 3.5/5

7. Charlie (Scream 4)

Charlie had some of the most brutal kills, phone calls, and one of the highest total kill counts of the entire franchise, which is the only thing that I really like about him. Jill was the mastermind behind the two, and somehow he did not predict her turning on him despite the fact that all the Ghostface’s prior had had that happen to them… and he called himself a Stab expert. I also take off points for not successfully killing off Kirby. He seemed like a very average Ghostface.

Intelligence: 3/5

Motive: 2/5

Kill count: 7 (Marnie, Jenny, Rebecca, Hoss, Perkins, Kate, Robbie)

Brutality: 5/5

Plan execution: 1/5

6. Mrs. Loomis (Scream 2)

Mrs. Loomis’s reveal went down as one of the biggest plot twists of the century, but that doesn’t mean that she was a great Ghostface. She was the mastermind behind Mickey and had him do most of the heavy lifting before offing him. Her motive was solid, but what was really special about her? Nothing other than killing Randy, one of the most loved characters in the franchise. Her motive, however, was pretty good. The only issue I have with it is that she had deserted her son in the years before this, so I was a little confused as to why she was so hellbent on getting revenge. 

Intelligence: 5/5

Motive: 4/5

Kill count: 2 (Randy, Mickey)

Brutality: 1/5

Plan execution: 3/5

5. Mickey (Scream 2)

Mickey is probably one of the most underrated Ghostface killers. Yes, he was almost as obvious as Amber, but he had the motive to go with it. He wanted it to be obvious so that he could go to court and blame the movies. He was the first Ghostface to incorporate the movies in his motive, which set a precedent for all future killers. He was sneaky, sociopathic, and creative, which are all great traits for a Ghostface. He also has the third-highest kill count of them all.

Intelligence: 2/5

Motive: 4.5/5

Kill count: 6 (Phil, Derek, Maureen Evans, Cece, Halle) 

Brutality: 4/5

Plan execution: 2/5

4. Jill (Scream 4)

Jill is just the way better version of Amber. She had a better motive, was more intelligent, and was the only Ghostfave EVER to get passed the 3rd act. She had everyone fooled, even the audience. I am not a huge Jill fan, but I can give respect when respect is deserved. She was smart, savvy, and bloodthirsty for fame. She herself had a low kill count but somehow made up for it in every other aspect. 

Intelligence: 5/5

Motive: 4.5/5

Kill count: 2 (Charlie, Trevor)

Brutality: 4/5

Plan execution: 4.5/5

3. Stu (Scream)

You can never go wrong with the original. Stu was the sidekick to Billy’s plans and had one of my favorite motives: none. In the movie, he blames it on peer pressure, but he obviously has a lack of empathy for human life and tends to have a liking for the “slice and dice,” if you know what I mean. Some watchers did not enjoy his presence, but the overwhelming amount of fans he has says otherwise. He brings in a lot of the comedy for the franchise and really sparked a lot of ideas for future killers. 

Intelligence: 1/5

Motive: 4.5/5

Kill count: 2 (Kenny, Steve)

Brutality: 4/5

Plan execution: 1.5/5

2. Billy (Scream)

Now here come the heavy hitters… literally. Billy is by far the best Ghostface on the playing field of history and almost every other aspect than the ones I am focused on. He had some super creative kills, sick lines, and all-around great motive because it is the only one that stems from his own experience and is created without the influence of prior Ghostfaces. 

Intelligence: 4/5

Motive: 5/5

Kill count: 4 (Tatum, Casey, Principal Himbry, Maureen Prescott)

Brutality: 4/5

Plan execution: 2/5

1. Roman (Scream 3)

While Scream 3 is not one of the fan favorites of the franchise, we all agree that Roman is by far the most impressive Ghostface. He has the biggest kill count of the entire list at a whopping 9. Not to mention he was the only lone killer. He did not have any partners in his film and was the mastermind behind the first movie. He is far too great of a character to deserve anything other than the number-one spot. I guess it runs in the family. 

Intelligence: 5/5

Motive: 5/5

Kill count: 9 (Cotton, Christine, Sarah, Steven Stone, Tom, Angelina, Tyson, Jennifer, John)

Brutality: 4/5

Plan execution: 4.5/5

 

Thank you all for reading this month. I hope you enjoyed everything and I will see you next time! <3

hey, blog. this is a flash memoir that i wrote on a whim, and i decided to use it as my blog for the month. warning–it is melodramatic and somewhat boring. i should be back to the regularly scheduled programming next month.

dear writing,

i’m sick of you. you’ve sucked the life out of me for years now. i’ve devoted everything to you without even realizing it. become a hollow shell of a human for the sake of you; and you don’t even care. why would you? you’re not real. you’re not my friend, not my confidante, and certainly not my therapist. just typing words right now makes me physically sick. i don’t know when that started, and i don’t care enough to figure it out.

my aunt asked me a few weeks ago what i planned to do with my writing after graduation, and i told her nothing. absolutely nothing. no novel, no poetry book, no play. nothing. the furthest my writing will go is what i’m doing right now–just scratching down how i feel. i’ll never submit anything again, never participate in an open mic, never share my writing. i don’t want to. i don’t need to.

she was disturbed. she said it would be a shame. we dropped the subject. a few days later, we were at a gathering with basically my whole family. while we were all sitting at the table, she made me say it in front of everyone. how sick i am of you. how apathetic and numb. they thought it strange. i smiled. writing is great–freedom is better.

i’ll always be a writer, really. just not one who writes. i’ll always have a mind full of ideas and visions and i’ll always record some of them. maybe eventually i’ll decide to make something of them. but writing in the traditional sense or with the goal of success just isn’t right for me. never was. i still love words and stories and creating characters–i just never want to sell myself out again.

so, i say goodbye to writing. not to words or my love for them. just to a rigid practice that has become too much for me. i say goodbye to deadlines and wordcounts and journals and submissions.

i say hello to a new way of being a literary artist. to healthy habits. to building my own worlds. to learning new tricks. to my own way.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. Today we will be covering the cousin of last month’s blog. Instead of music, we will be covering movies. Now, these movies might be some of my favorites but not all of them. There are way too many movies to even consider. Finally, these are not in any particular order. Let’s begin.

1. Practical Magic

“Of course, you’re going to see me again. We’ll grow old together. It’s going to be you and me living in a big house… these two old biddies with all these cats. I bet we even die on the same day.” – Gillian Owens

I feel as if I should have mentioned that these lines are my favorite due to the context of the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie you won’t understand the heart-wrenching ache of happiness that this line brings me.  This movie is about two sisters who are witches. This quote comes from my favorite moment between them. They have some troubles with a very special man, and things go down. Through all of the trials and tribulations, one thing comes of it: the importance and resilience of sisterhood. 

2. Girl, Interrupted

“Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60s. Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted.” – Susanna Kaysen

This might seem like a very basic choice for this movie considering the title is in the quote, but there is something about it that speaks volumes to the feeling I get while watching this movie. Susanna Kaysen is incredibly insightful.

3. The Virgin Suicides

“So much has been said about the girls over the years, but we have never found an answer. It didn’t matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them” – Narrators 

This is a great quote from the movie, but not for a good reason. The whole premise of the narrator being a group of boys on the outside watching the Lisbon sisters suffer means so much because of how they see them. They are no different from Trip or any other boy that hurt the girls. They do not love them like they say. They cannot even fathom them and the complexities of their individual aches.  

4. Almost Famous

“It’s all happening” – Penny Lane

You know I had to choose a quote from my girl Penny Lane. This is her mantra for essentially living in the moment and taking it all in because her words are true. It is all happening all of the time. 

5. Empire Records

“Damn the man, Save the empire” – Lucas

The infamous ‘man’ has not only been mentioned in this film but also in School of Rock in the form of “stick it to the man”. ‘The Man’ is who runs the world. It is whoever is in charge or whatever group or person is above you. Tyrants, bosses, governments, and all of the above. This means too much to the movie and the characters in it, not because they are struggling financially to save Empire Records from being bought by a bigger franchise, but because of each character’s troubles as mentioned in the film prior. 

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Clementine: …Show me which constellations you know.

Joel: Um…oh…I don’t know any.

Clementine: Show me which ones you know!

Joel: Okay…okay

There are so many lines in this movie that deserve to be in this spot, but there is something about this interaction between Joel and Clementine that stabs me directly in the heart.  He obviously doesn’t know any constellations, so he makes one up and I think that is so beautiful. 

7. Dazed and Confused

“Let me tell you this: The older you do get, the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’, man, L-I-V-I-N.” – Wooderson

This is a really cool quote from a not-so-cool character. It’s iconic, therefore I have to include it. However, he didn’t lie. You just gotta keep living man. 

8. 10 Things I Hate About You

“But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.” – Kat Stratford

This might also seem like a basic pick but the delivery made by Kat was absolutely magnificent, not to mention the cut to Patrick’s face as he watches her from his own seat. It is such an impactful moment. 

9. The Lost Boys

“Initiation’s Over, Michael, It’s Time To Join The Club.” – David

The Lost Boys is an 80s cult classic vampire movie and one of my favorite films. This is a really interesting line because of the situation that Michael is in. He is hanging underneath a bridge with a bunch of leather-wearing vampires that want to turn him into one of them. They suddenly drop one by one into the abyss. 

10. Pretty Woman

“Do You Have Anything In This Shop As Beautiful As She Is?” – Edward

To most people, this line might fly right over their heads, but for me, it stood out like a sore thumb considering Edward’s usual demeanor. He is consistently cold and sarcastic with his comments, but this one is sweet. It is foreshadowing for the later events and one of my favorite lines from Richard Gere.

 

Thank you all for reading this month and I hope to see you all back next month.

hello and welcome! for this blog, i’ll be discussing different characters that represent obsessive compulsive disorder in media. first of all, i’d like to note that these aren’t all of the characters who have it–i’ll only be talking about the ones who i’ve personally seen on screen and know about.

(Content Warning: Mental Illness, Suicide)

 

monica geller from friends

this is a show that i grew up watching, and monica was always my favorite character because i thought she was strong, smart, and funny in her own way. then, when i grew up, i found that a lot of people didn’t feel the same at all. they found her uptight, obnoxious, and controlling. they would say: i can’t stand monica–she’s so ocd. that was probably the first time i ever heard ocd used as an adjective and in a derogatory way. two birds with one stone, right?

now, let’s dissect how effective she is as a representative of the disorder. while it is positive that monica’s character was able to stir up conversation and build awareness, there’s no denying the negative impact it had. because the form her disorder took mostly revolved around cleanliness and order, people often took that at face value and assumed that was all there is to ocd. that couldn’t be further from the truth. it’s a diverse spectrum of symptoms and coping mechanisms that simply couldn’t be encompassed by a 90s sitcom; and the sad part is, that’s about as mainstream as it gets, so that’s what frames the narrative of how people view the disorder.

 

daisy randone from girl, interrupted

Girl, Interrupted is one of the most life-changing pieces of media i’ve ever consumed, both the book and the film. it presents mental illness in a jarringly accurate way, particularly with the character of daisy. her diagnosis in the book and film is ocd, and that’s about the only reason you recognize that she has it. that may sound like a negative thing as far as representation goes, but i’d argue that it’s extremely smart and well-done. 

i think that daisy is an excellent example of how ocd can manifest when mixed with other mental illnesses, which it commonly does. daisy also suffers from addiction, eating disorders, and severe depression. she doesn’t wash her hands often, keep everything tidy, or have everything in perfect order. she’s just a smart, pretty, antisocial young woman who happens to suffer from the disorder. ocd often stems from trauma or extreme stress, both of which daisy suffers from, and it ultimately leads to her taking her own life. i consider her to be strong, accurate representation, even though she meets a tragic end.

 

Bob wiley from “what about bob?”

i absolutely despise this movie. it was one of my mom’s favorites, and we used to watch it together when i was little. i just never liked it. in the film, the main character, bob, is trying to overcome crippling ocd and becomes obsessed with his therapist, eventually going on vacation with his family. the movie is a kind of buddy comedy, starring bill murray. the main reason i never liked it is because it simply isn’t funny. that, however, doesn’t mean that the character is bad.

i do honestly think there is some merit to the movie’s portrayal of ocd. murray’s character shows diverse symptoms, such as doing things in particular orders, repeating mantras, and obsessing over thoughts, or rumination. i appreciate that the writers seem to have put in at least a bit of research rather than just making him super clean or something. the problem, though, is that bob’s disorder is played for laughs more than anything, or to infantilize him. it sort of feeds into the narrative of the disorder just consisting of “little quirks”.

emma pillsbury from glee

i grew up with this show and am ashamed (kinda) to say that it holds a special place in my heart and always will. one of my favorite side characters, emma, is known to suffer from ocd. it’s talked about frequently throughout the show, sometimes as a punchline, and sometimes as a serious issue.

what i love about emma is that she made me feel so seen as a kid, when i saw her doing things like wearing gloves to eat or wiping down her grapes. these were things that i did, and seeing a grown-up do them on tv made me feel like maybe i wasn’t so weird after all. while the show is infamous for dealing with serious issues poorly, i think ocd is an exception. yes, people occasionally poke fun at emma, but no character is safe on this show. i love that other characters who care for her push her to seek treatment and are patient with her. those who want to be an ally to people with ocd, or any mental disorder, really, could take notes from how john stamos’s character treats her in particular.

 

well, that’s all i’ve got for this post. if you stuck around until the end, thank you, and see you next time!

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog, it feels like it has been forever since I have written one of these bad boys. As the title says, I will be picking a line of lyrics from ONE song per artist on my Spotify’s current top ten artists and talking about them a little bit. 

10. The Smashing Pumpkins

“and I stumbled onto you as you stumbled over me, and you say the fates were cruel for throwing us together. I always loved you so, especially when you’d go ‘all the world must know. all the world must know That I loved you so” – Pennies

The Smashing Pumpkins always seem to know the greatest way to say what they want to say. Pennies is one of my favorite songs by them. 

9. Third Eye Blind

“And I’m hanging on your words like I always used to do, the words they use so lightly, I only feel for you, I only know this because I carry you around,
In the background.” – The Background 

This is probably my favorite Third Eye Blind song. The way that it is performed just makes the listener feel like they’re the ones in the background. I find the lyrics so sweet and sad, almost like sweet-sad. 

8. The Smiths

“There were times when I could have murdered her. But you know, I would hate
for anything to happen to her”

Okay, these lyrics are a little more silly than the others seen on this list, but that’s why they are my favorite. Girlfriend in a coma is my favorite song by the Smiths, so it’s only fair that these lyrics also happen to be my favorite. 

7. The Beatles

“Why she had to go, I don’t know. She wouldn’t say, I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.”

The Beatles will always be classic, but somehow whenever I listen to this song I just seem to feel something new every time. It’s even more special considering the fact that the Beatles have so many different songs with such powerful lyrics. 

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers

“I liked your whiskers, and I liked the dimple in your chin, your pale blue eyes. You painted pictures ‘Cause the one who hurts can give so much you gave me such.” – Tearjerker

Although this isn’t my favorite Chili Peppers song, I always loved these lyrics because of how unconditional they seem. I definitely don’t have pale blue eyes, but the dimple in my chin feels very appreciated. 

5. Alice in Chains

“Am I wrong? Have I run too far to get home? Have I gone and left you here alone?” – Would?

Again, this isn’t my favorite Alice in Chains song, but it is one whose lyrics really show out to me. An honorable mention is Nutshell (my favorite) because of how those lyrics apply to Layne Staley. These are both so good.

4. Jeff Buckley

“Her love is a rose, pale and dying. Dropping her petals in land unknown, all full of wine, the world before her was sober with no place to go.” – Forget Her

I bet you guys didn’t think I would pick this song because of another super popular song of his. Jeff Buckley is probably one of my favorite lyricists of all time. It was so hard to just pick one line and this isn’t even the best one, it is simply my favorite. 

3. Pink Floyd

“We’re just two lost souls, swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. Wish you were here” – Wish You Were Here

This one’s pretty basic as far as Pink Floyd songs go, but there is something about it that simply just scratches my brain. The poetry complemented by  David Gilmore’s passionate vocals and killer 12-string guitar just creates a perfect image in my head and a memorable experience.

2. Ghost

“She said, ‘if you had life eternal… Can you hear me say your name forever?
Can you see me longing for you forever? Would you let me touch your soul forever? Can you feel me longing for you forever, forever?” – Life Eternal

Everyone should know by now that Ghost is one of my favorite bands. This is one of their more ballad-like songs, and gosh it just makes me curl my toes. I feel like I’m ascending when I listen to this song. It is so passionate and corresponds to the band’s lore so well. 

1. Slipknot

“So, break yourself against my stones, and spit your pity in my soul” – Snuff

Snuff is, in my opinion, the best Slipknot song on the scale of lyricism. Corey Taylor wrote this song about how the protagonist’s soul is too dark to let love in and is telling somebody that they care about to get away from them for their own well-being. I found the concept easily understandable but also profound in a way that I never get tired of. 

Thank you for reading this month! I will see you all next time. <3

 

(Trigger warning for death, mass killing, and visceral descriptions.)

I know this is the first time I’ve broken my chain of world-building blogs in a while, but I don’t care. This topic has been boring a hole in my brain and I need to say something about it or else my appendix is gonna combust by the end of the month.

Now, if you don’t know much about Elden Ring or its lore, then this post probably isnt for you. 

 

Anyway, more specifically the topic I wanted to talk about is one of the six possible endings in Elden Ring: the Frenzied Flame Ending.

To sum it up, the ending essentially brings the destruction of the world. Your character inherits the Frenzied Flame, burns down the Erd Tree, and kills almost everyone and everything. It’s implied that nothing will ever exist again, and the world is made eternally sterile. 

Obviously, this ending is considered among the worst of the six, and it’s no wonder. Not only due to the blatantly evil outcome, but also its build-up. In order to achieve the ending you need to steal people’s eyes, feed them to an innocent blind girl (who eventually dies as a result), take orders from an insane ghost named Shabriri who is obsessed with destroying the world- who has also possessed the dead body of your friend, and you then need to strip naked and have a giant 3 fingered hand that’s also on fire hug you. If that sounded absolutely nonsensical, then that’s a good sign you’re a sane person.

However, it’s my personal favorite ending. With further context, it becomes the most thought-provoking question a game has ever asked me, and I think it’s criminal that people only see it at its surface level. 

This all leads back to the in-game origin of the Frenzied Flame, which is a haunting story both due to its subject matter and how realistic it is. 

A religious minority (the Merchants) was wrongfully accused of committing heresy by the standards of the people in power. As a result, they were all rounded up and systematically killed in a mass holocaust. When the people in power realized their mistake, they quietly swept their sins under the rug and sealed whatever was left of the Merchant people in the Catacombs, where the Merchants starved, fell into despair, and eventually went mad. Only a few individuals were able to avoid the wretched fate that befell their kin, and they were thrown to the wind— grasping at the few fragments of their lost culture and eventually piecing together the story I’m telling you now. 

What does this have to do with the Frenzied Flame? Well, while the Merchants were locked away in the Catacombs they pleaded for something— anything to save them. They screamed for their suffering to end. And when their brothers and sisters began to die around them, and their vocal cords became too shot to scream they did the only thing left they could, they played their violins. With emaciated fingers, they orchestrated a melancholic tune that told of better days when their race wasn’t doomed to extinction. Their voices of anguish and miserable melodies congealed together and formed something new to end it all. Something to burn away all the suffering and pain of the world so it could never spring forth again, the Frenzied Flame. 

The people that follow the Frenzied Flame for little more than chaos and evil like Shabrirri are missing the point. The Frenzied Flame isnt a malevolent force hellbent on killing for the sake of killing, it is a merciful hand turning the final page of a harrowing story that has run its course. It lulls the sick and demented world of Elden Ring into a silent peaceful slumber in the same way we put down an ill dog so as to not extend its suffering. 

The question it poses, at least to me is “Does this world where so much untold suffering is able to form justify its own existence? Does the good of it all outway the bad, or is that just what the few comfortable people think so we can sleep at night? What about the children bleeding out in the ditches of a war-torn country? What about the leprose whose wounds are rotting as we speak? what about all the people to have ever died a slow and painful death throughout all of history? Would it not have been better for them to have never lived than to have lived and suffered?”

To conclude this little rant, I want to say I’ve always considered myself an optimist. And while I don’t agree with the Frenzied Flame, I still find it valuable to answer these questions it poses in a way that doesn’t paint the world in black-and-white ink. Because by all means, I  don’t think the Frenzied Flame is “evil” just a misconstrued view of morality that is concrete enough to warrant further inspection.

I’ll also leave two links to both the in-game violin song and a rendition of it, as I think it adds to the heightened emotion of this subject.

 

hello, blog, and hello, 2023! this month’s blog is something kind of silly, but inspiration struck me for it, and i knew it’d be fun to write! i’m going to be discussing the latest horror sensation, m3gan, and what other villains i think she could defeat. 

yesterday, i watched m3gan for the first time in a theatre, and it was one of the best movie experiences i’ve had in a while. i won’t spoil anything here, but i’ll say that even though it was undeniably unsettling and creepy, i haven’t laughed as hard as i did watching that in a long, long time. i mean, you know a movie is good if your friend has to get up and leave the room because they’re laughing so hard.

despite the comedic moments, at the end of the day, m3gan is no doubt a stone-cold killer. she’s extremely durable and strong and is equipped with limitless intelligence. this led me to think about what makes a horror villain truly effective like she is. eventually, the formula for this blog came together–i thought of my favorite horror villains and chose to decide if i think they could defeat her in a hypothetical fight! of course, this is in no particular order.

michael myers from halloween

one of my favorite horror movies is halloween, and there’s no denying that michael myers is one of the coolest, most dangerous villains ever. he’s very large and incredibly strong. once you’re in his grasp, there’s really no chance of survival. he’s essentially a killing machine with no compassion. so, why do i think that a 4 foot robot doll could take him down?

one word–intelligence. admittedly, if michael surprise-attacked m3gan, he could likely give her a run for her money, but the likelihood of that happening is really slim. because of her artificial intelligence, nothing really gets past her. she could even use her short stature to her own advantage and knock michael down. once she does that, it’s over for him. those robotic hands can move like lightning–and if she has a weapon, michael stands no chance at all.

turns out, what haddonfield police really needed to take down michael myers was a children’s toy.

m3gan’s chance of success: 8/10

pennywise from it

this classic horror clown has terrified readers and audiences for years with his creepy looks and affinity for violence. he mainly targets the kids of derry, which makes it easy for him to overpower his victims. in this case, however, that’s exactly what would lead to his demise.

m3gan dolls are designed to be a friend and protector for whatever child they belong to, and they have been known to take out anyone who harms that child. so, if pennywise ever decided to set his sights on a kid with a m3gan doll…his career and life would be swiftly ended, i believe.

in this case, i think the main weapon m3gan would be able to use wouldn’t necessarily be her physical strength or intelligence. i think she’d rely more on her ability to communicate and her lack of fear.

as the losers club learns later in life, pennywise’s most primal need is fear, and his most vulnerable weakness is ridicule. the less you fear him, and the more you mock him, the less power he has, until he eventually crumbles. m3gan is gifted with the ability to absolutely verbally drag people that she doesn’t like. give her five minutes alone with pennywise, and he’ll be nothing more than a puddle of watery clown makeup.

m3gan’s chance of success: 9/10

annie wilkes from misery

my favorite stephen king novel, and one of my favorite movies of his! i think that annie is a brilliantly written villain, and she’s horrifying in her own special way. however, much of her evil doings do depend on the vulnerability of her victims. as a nurse, she had access to sick and injured patients, and with paul sheldon, he was bedridden. if she had an active…lively opponent like m3gan, i think she’d be easily defeated.

honestly, i could see annie having a m3gan doll purely for her own entertainment. she’s a lonely person, and i think having someone to always listen and obey her orders would be right up her alley. if anything ever went sideways, though, getting rid of annie would be child’s play for m3gan. (yes, i did that on purpose.)

she could pretty much just use her physical strength and durability to fight annie. i doubt annie would be able to do much damage to m3gan or defend herself well.

m3gan’s chance of success: 10/10

norman bates from psycho

there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind that miss m3gan could obliterate norman bates in any context. now, norman is definitely creepy, and i’d never want to meet him in a dark alley; but i definitely don’t consider him to be a particularly brilliant or effective villain in the practical sense. he did some horrible things, but he is just so very vulnerable and weak. his ego hangs by a string on the verge of tearing, and his track record with women is so dismal that it causes him to resent them to the point of dreadful awkwardness.

m3gan could do no more than make one of her passive aggressive comments, and he’d probably perish on the spot. however, all the rest of her attributes would also guarantee her victory. she’s capable of overpowering him intellectually, physically, emotionally, and probably even spiritually if it came to that. he does not have a singular chance, in this life or the next, of escaping or surviving m3gan’s wrath.

m3gan’s chance of success: 10/10

esther from orphan

i just recently saw orphan and its sequel for the first time, and i’m obsessed. esther is one of the most interesting villains to me, and upon seeing m3gan for the first time, i couldn’t help but wonder who would win in a brawl. this presents an interesting scenario because the chances of esther and m3gan being paired together are actually pretty high. i can definitely see a situation where a family gets a m3gan doll for esther. i think that they’d be onto each other’s bad behavior, and it would lead to an epic showdown.

though, esther is extremely intelligent, m3gan’s intelligence is literally unlimited. she can outsmart her easily. they’re about the same size, but m3gan’s machinery would do a number on esther. once again, m3gan’s got it in the bag.

m3gan’s chance of success: 8.5/10

thanks for reading this silly blog, and have a good new year!