Category: Senior Literary

Frogbloginning (Frog-blog-beginning) 

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Yet the frog blog still returns! I’ve been looking forward to writing one all senior year, but I haven’t actually gotten on it until now. I just can’t go into May without a frog blog. It’s mandatory to my heart. I love frogs. And information. And sharing information. Basically, I really wanted to do a frog blog before senior year gets out. 

I really do feel like there should be more to say here, though. I mean, graduation is approaching faster than I ever want it to be. We’re getting a class for personal projects. Senior showcases are looming. But I guess part of frog blogging joy is that we don’t have to discuss all that. We just need to discuss frogs! And boy, do I have some frogs to share. Course the hype through your veins. Away we frog! 

Grey Foam-Nest Tree Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina) 

(Source 1) (Source 2) 

I first found out about these frogs through a friend! They sent me a video of this species making a foam nest, and it was immediately insane. However normal they may look, they aren’t! They’re an arboreal species, meaning they live in trees. Though you could spot them visiting some water source to rehydrate, you probably wouldn’t see them swimming or even just sitting in a lake. To survive dry spells, their skin isn’t as permeable as other frogs, and they change color according to temperature! Dark to light are the colors they can go through. Darkening their color allows them to absorb more heat from the sun, while lightening their color allows them to reflect heat. There’re even more adaptations they have which you can check out if you click the sources. I just know what you’re mainly wondering about: their name. These frogs build nests of foam to hold their eggs! Female foam-nest frogs, which are bigger than the males, secrete a kind of mucus from their cloaca, which they churn into foam using their back legs. The foam will then harden a bit on the outer later, all in all protecting the eggs and keeping them moist. Female foam nesting frogs do this with a lot of males present to fertilize the eggs. They also build their nests above water sources, so once the eggs turn to tadpoles, they can eventually wriggle out of the foam and into the water below. Keeping the eggs out of the water until then increases the chances of survival. Developing into a tadpole only takes about six days for a grey foam-nest tree frog! 

Water-Holding Frog (Cyclorana platycephala) 

 

(Source 1) (Source 2) 

The water holding frog! Like the foam-nest frog, this frog is pretty much its name, too! They live in areas with dry periods, meaning they’re on their own when it comes to water a lot of the time. For frogs, that sounds pretty impossible, but its actually really interesting how species adapt to live without the things they need. Water-holding frogs go about this by aestivating and burrowing! Aestivation is basically hibernation but in the hot, dry season of summer instead of winter. During aestivation, deep inside their muddy burrows, water-holding frogs shed layers and layers of their skin, all the while secreting a watertight mucus. The shed and mucus lines their burrow, allowing them to maintain their water with more efficiency. And, while they survive off all the nutrition they stored while awake, they may eat their den lining if they need to. It doesn’t end here, either! All of this would constitute the name ‘water-holding’, but the name is from the fact they absorb up to half their body weight in water. They store all of that water in their bladder in skin pockets to survive aestivation. Even if it takes years, the water-holding frog can arise from its burrow again, froggy as always. On the surface, they feed, breed, then fill up on water again to hit the burrow.  

Fringed Leaf Frog (Cruziohyla craspedopus) 

(Source 1) (Source 2) 

Also called the fringed tree frog, and most definitely one of the most colorful guys to ever color. (Not really, but you know what I mean.) You’d think the hues they flaunt would mean danger- toxins, poisons-!- but you’d be wrong! Fringed leaf frogs are safe to handle. For you, at least. Don’t go picking up frogs willy-nilly. These frogs do, however, change color! They rapidly switch into brown hues during the night, then return to vibrancy in the day. They also hide their yellow underbellies when adhering to a surface for camouflage. As for where they live, it’s high up in the treetops. Their eggs can be found on ground level, as they only descend to breed! 

Red-Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) 

(Source 1) (Source 2) 

And lastly, I thought it would be neat to close with a classic frog! The kind you see in cartoons and logos and whatnot. We all know the red-eyed tree frog, but what do we actually know about it? For starters, they’re nocturnal, like a lot of other frogs. They can also change their color to brownish or dark green! They lay eggs on the undersides of leaves (over a pond) or on the shores of ponds, then leave the eggs soon after. One of the biggest things to me was finding out the purpose of their eyes. Why red? It turns out the red is for a thing called startle coloration! Imagine one moment you’re about to eat a little green morsel, then suddenly it looks up with gigantic, burning red peepers. They’re meant to spook predators out of eating them. Pretty neat! 

Frogblogending (Frog-blog-ending) 

You’d be surprised how difficult it is to get a conclusive call on a frog’s scientific name. Research takes time, but it’s fun, and it only gets better with frogs. Don’t feel afraid to share your own frog facts in the comments below, if you so wish! Or just share what your favorite frog is, on the list or not. There’s so much out there! Until next time, frog blog out. The frogs are never ending! 

Part 2 of 2: Black Friday 

We left off with Uncle Wiley aka Wilbur Cross feeding into our main antagonist Linda Monroe’s want to be adored in order to have her help him bring along the birth of a god aka “Wiggly”. 

Immediate cut to the white house where we find out that Hatchetfield isn’t the only place dealing with this extreme shopper mania. Its all over America at this point and even threatening other countries. The president is wracking his brain for an answer but the search is cut short when a doll is revealed in the white house and they all nearly turn on eachother before a the doll is shot by none other than General Macnamara from TGWDLM. He informs President Goodman that to defeat Wiggly they must step into the black. 

Another cut Becky and Tom are in an empty movie theatre while Becky nurses Toms stab wound. The two begin to share about their lives since high school, Tom expresses guilt for Jane’s death, stating that if Jane were driving the accident wouldn’t have ever happened and that he killed his family. Becky then begins to share her story, meeting Stanely and the beginning of his violent behavior dating back to high school. It is then we find out Stanley never left Becky. Becky found out about Jane’s death and wanted to attend the funeral much to Stanley dismay. But she fought back, he chased her into the woods where she stabbed him in his femoral artery, a blood vessel she only knew about because Stanley encouraged her to be a nurse. After both revelations the two share a song and a passionate kiss. 

Cut back to Macnamara and Goodman, here we learn that there’s another dimension referred to as the black and white, this dimension is led by Wiggly as he is also the dolls and Wilbur Cross(Uncle Wiley) was a man who pledged his loyalty to Wiggly and disappeared not long after and that his goal is to have a birth canal built so he can enter their dimension. 

We cut toy Sherman Young pledging his loyalty to Wiggly to the other residents at the mall, goons bring in Frank and Lex who are bound. After that it is then they introduce their “mother” Linda. Linda slits Frank’s throat after he fails to tell her where to find a Wiggly. She heads over to Lex who denies knowing anything about a Wiggly before a mall cop turned crazed cult follower reveals security tapes from earlier announcing that Lex gave the doll to a little girl with pigtails and a baseball cap, Hannah. Linda sends goons after Hannah as others drag Lex away who’s pleading with them to not hurt her. 

Cut to Hannah, hiding away frightened it is then a spirit who resembles Ethan steps forward and tries to lead Hannah astray, telling her to give the doll to Linda. Wiggly then speaks to Hannah himself but his magic seems to not affect her at all. The come Tom and Becky also turned crazed by Wiggly’s magic they chase Hannah down, Becky wielding a large needle. When they catch her Becky goes to jab her but ends up getting herself instead knocking her unconscious on top of Hannah, who can’t move her while Tom grabs the doll and flees. The crazed shoppers find Hannah and an unconscious Becky and bring them to Linda.   

Cut to Goodman who’s in the black and white being coached by John. After a failed attempt at reasoning with Wilbur and Wiggly John sacrifices himself to allow President Goodman to leave the black and white. 

In the Toy Store Sherman is holding Lex hostage with the same box cutter used to kill Frank to her neck. She gets him to untie her with a promise of mispaint pony toys. She then knees him in the groin once she’s free, this doesn’t work too as in no time Sherman is back on top of her with his hands around her neck. It is then she sees General Macnamara, he informs her that Hannah isn’t only one connected to the black and white. He encourages her to reach in as he holds out his gun, she is able to reach in and take the gun shooting Sherman and saving her own life. Lex then finds Tom who is just about to leave, she manages to break through Wiggly’s trance and reason with him. It is then he realizes that Tim never even asked for the stupid doll he just wanted to spend time with him. 

Meanwhile, Hannah and an unconscious Becky are being taunted by Linda. Her smile quickly dissipates when she sees that Hannah doesn’t have a doll. Right before Linda has the chance to hurt Hannah in her rage Lex walks in holding the doll. Tom comes from another entrance and holds Linda at gunpoint. She seems to be defeated until Lex holds a lighter up to Wiggly and somehow Linda is able to get away and get her hands back on Wiggly. But she doesn’t celebrate for long before Becky appears holding a gun and shoots Linda in the dead center of her forehead, killing her on the spot. 

Lex sets fire to Wiggly leaving him, the shoppers, and the mall to all go up in flames. 

Becky, Lex, Tom, and Hannah watch the mall burn when Paul and Emma come up to him, relieved he is alive and informing him they are just about to leave but Tim refuses to go anywhere without him. When questioned where to go Emma informs them of her cooky reclusive biology professor.

The final song of the musical poses a question ‘What if tomorrow comes” Our final surviving characters including a few characters from TGWDLM circle around and Tom begins a 15-second countdown at one they all look into the sky and the screens fades to black. 

This video has 3.9 million views on YouTube and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter in order to get created.

I have to be honest I favor this one over TGWDLM. The amount of world-building present within this musical, the lore that revealed the interpersonal relationships we learn about is unmatched compared to the Jazzy rendezvous TGWDLM was, though I also love that one there really is no competition here.

I definitely recommend checking both out.

hey everyone, for this month’s blog i have decided to continue on with the story that i began in last month’s blog, but as the year begins to close, and knowing that i only have two blogs remaining i want this part to be my last, becuase i am hoping to make my last two blogs more of a reflection on my time at msa, but anyway-

But as days passed, so did the inches between him and the men in the park. It was only until one of the later days did, they begin to notice him as well, however Dmitri was not sure if it was in a positive or negative connotation. As he had once again found himself entranced with the way that each man would slowly drift their hands across the board as they continued their game. But before he was able to look more into the way the men’s hands would begin to move, he felt something brisk, yet firm grasp his back collar and pick him up into the air. “The fuck do you think that you are doing” a man said to him, the contents of whatever he had eaten that morning spewing on to Dmitri’s face. His teeth were stained a deep yellow and the smell of his breath was something that Dmitri remembered very strongly but did not know how one would even attempt to try to describe it. 

“Let the boy go” he heard boom from throughout the park, or at least it felt as if that was what was happening. Though he was almost certain that whether or not the voice was booming, it caused the man who still had Dmitri’s collar in his grasp to take a step back and quickly drop him to the hard concrete of the park’s path. ” If the boy wants to watch us play than there is no reason why he cannot, and no reason why your fucking disgusting hands should be on the collar of a boy that you do not know,” he said, “Do you understand?” He asked the man; however, he was only met with a fearful studder. “Come get a little closer boy” the man said, getting closer he realized that it was the very same man who he would love to watch. He had slicked back black hair and a nose that would protrude out the front of his face like a plant attempting to escape the confine so of the soil, but most of all he found himself once looking again at the man’s silver tooth, shining in the reflection of the marble board.  As the game continued on, and each man would periodically make moves that had only begun to make the smallest bit of sense to him. He did not know the name of the pieces; however, he knew what each of them did, or at least he thought that he did. “Checkmate” the silver toothed man exclaimed as he slowly placed down his large piece that sat next to the piece with the cross on its head. “Son of a bitch” the other man exclaimed, standing up and angrily throwing his hat on the ground, soon after he began too reluctantly pull money out of his back pocket and placed them in the silver toothed man’s hand. 

Walking away that afternoon he felt as if there was something different, as if getting to see more than just the periodic movements of the pieces themselves changed the way that they themselves would move. Seeing the way that the man would angrily fork over the confines of his wallet just because he moved his pieces the wrong way. Even as Dmitri lied back in one of the alleyways that he frequented it was all that he could think about, even though it had been months of watching the men play, tonight he felt as if he needed to make his way there again. So, the moment that the streetlights turned dark, Dmitri found his legs moving faster than he knew they had the capability of moving. Getting to the park he found himself walking slower and slower, as if something was going to happen if he got too close to boards, but the closer and the closer he found himself getting, the more it felt as if it was calling to him, not in the literal sense, but in the way that he continued to walk, regardless of the fact that he was afraid. Sitting down on one of the chairs that sat behind the board was a surreal feeling. One that he could never imagine until it happened to him. There were no pieces, only the black and white board that was intertwined with the concrete of the table. But this would not be the first time that he snuck to sit by the board, however the last time wouldn’t be too far away either.

It was only when March had turned to April did, he learn the name of the game which met his fascination for the past few months: chess. And it was only when the summer winds began to hit the nights of Moscow did his jacket that was now too tattered to call clothing in, the first place, finally fell apart. It had been a long time since Dmitri had taken off his jacket. But as the first few days of June knocked upon his door Dmitri was left to stare at his arms which were now caked in a deep black dirt. 

 

 

i know this isn’t a completed work but i hope everyone enjoyed what they read 🙂

Have I done a blog on this before? Yes. I have. But I’m also still building aliens and discovering new things about it. I’ve also been sharing my progress with friends, and that’s naturally brought up a lot of questions, which has provided a lot of answers, so… yeah. I’ve figured all these tips I’ve given might help someone out there, so why not share them? Some might be old, but they’re good. At least to me. These are only tips from my personal experience and methods- what works for me won’t work for everyone, and that’s good! Expand and explore and create. It’s fun. But onto the notes:

The hardest part about creating aliens is consistency. See what I mean in an obvious example. I created a sit and wait predator at one point, then proceeded to make them incredibly agile- but that doesn’t make sense. Why would a sit and wait predator need agility? It’s evolutionary niche is to sit and wait. So I had to go back and revise that to make it all coherent. I went about removing the agility. This applies to pretty much everything in alien creation. The biggest question to ask yourself with every feature is “Why?”, social, biological, psychological, and everything else.

Don’t be afraid to make your aliens utterly alien in shape. You could make an alien a sphere if you wanted to. Or a two dimensional circle. Honestly the more unearthly you make their biology, the more fun it can get. They’re aliens. I have an alien species that is made of fumes. Different materials work as long as you can convince your reader. Not everything needs to be flesh, or even plant matter!

Pronouns. Do your aliens even have pronouns? Does their language only account for name? Do they only speak in third person? What if their pronouns weren’t even based on self expression, but based on some kind of emotion? Like a language with an “i’m busy” pronoun, and a “I’m happy” pronoun? There’s so many things you can do with language. They can affect the dialects your aliens have when they speak in another language, too, like a common language.

Reproductive cycles. A lot of media marks alien reproduction as something within human perception, like egg laying, live birth, or even parasitic stuff- but they’re aliens. You can go so much further. You can have your aliens be born as microorganisms from the teardrops of their parents and grow as they’re stewed together in a vat. Throw in food and mix until you have baby. You can make them have entirely different forms depending on their life stage. They’re aliens.

What technology they don’t create. There’s a lot to say in what a species does create, but there’s also a lot in what they don’t create. Think of it like this: if a species doesn’t have computers, maybe they just don’t have the tech. But they could also have photographic memory and lightning quick thoughts, or maybe they’re connected by a hivemind. Maybe they don’t need computers. Anything a species doesn’t have speaks easy exposition. A lot of media will use this in a way that’s like… they use what the aliens don’t have to highlight what they aren’t, but to me it’s super fun to use what aliens don’t have to highlight what they are.

Evolution is incredibly important to species building in my mind. It makes it easier to figure out anatomical traits and behaviors, all the while fleshing out the world. Then, when you have traits and behaviors, you get a better idea of what that species’ society looks like. How would hibernation effect a government? Does family structure matter? There’s a lot more I could put to this, but I struggle to word it. How a species acts defines their customs. 

 

Part 1 of Part 2: Black Friday 

 

Ok, so my last blog was a review/non-sensical babble about the first part of Team Starkid’s Hatchetfield Trilogy, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. So, it’s only natural that I cover the second part. I’ll try to make this one not so long.  

 

Black Friday, the second part of the Hatchetfield Trilogy created by Team Starkid, opens up with a bunch of people, not named, adorned in green costumes singing a song about the new toy that’s all the rage and will be hitting the shelves at the Hatchetfield Mall this Black Friday, the Tiggle-Me-Wiggly. The song ends opening credits roll and then boom, Emma and Paul(yes from the last show, I know they died but…moving on) Paul makes his disdain for the musical commercial known Emma hushes him, while dropping to the audience that she’s heading to Tom Houston’s the widowed husband of her deceased sister Jane, where she imagines they’ll be having family time. 

 

Once they arrive, Tom “greets” them at the door and drops that he just needs them to watch Tim, Jane and Tom’s son, her nephew. While he goes to the hardware store. Much to Tim’s dismay, this news causes him to storm off once he’s out of earshot. Tom reveals to an irate Emma that he’s actually going to the mall to get Tim a Tiggle Me Wiggly Doll. He is then struck with the harsh reality that given the high demand of those dolls it’s unlikely that he’ll get that doll after only getting there an hour before opening, but regardless of Emma and Paul’s logic, he’s determined to get this for Tim. 

 

Once he arrives at the mall, he sees an old student of his, Lex Foster, out back smoking. He expresses his disappointment towards her quitting high school, to which she responds by doing the same, as Tom quit teaching after Jane’s passing. Their conversation is halted when he runs to get into the lengthy line in front of the toy store. 

 

We then follow Lex, meeting her cranky, greedy boss Frank as she enters her job, the very toy store Tom was rushing to. Frank is just getting a new shipment of the dolls,, and is ecstatic it is here We see the delivery guy for the first time, identical to the main guy from the commercial, Uncle Wiley. After he leaves, Frank degrades Lex, giving the audience some information about her: she lives in a trailer with her drunk mom and her little sister, who is referred to as “crazy” in the musical. Once Frank leaves, Lex opens the box to begin shelfing but quickly shoves one in her bag, We learn here that she intends to steal and sell the Wiggly-Doll to run away to California with her boyfriend Ethan and her little sister Hannah. Ethan was mentioned far before cluing us in on the fact that he’s a troublemaker, henceforth not really allowed around the mall. He’s watching over Hannah, who is in a tizzy saying a whole bunch of things about “Good-Blood and Bad-Blood” and “The black and white.” We learn a lot of what Hannah can see is shown to her by Webby, an “imaginary” spider who lives in her head. Ethan manages to calm her down and get her to wear Lex’s backpack by giving her a hat, swearing that it could protect her from anything.

 

After this, we are taken to the toy store line, where citizens are currently waiting to purchase a Wiggly-Doll. A blonde woman, who reveals herself to be Linda Monroe, is a highly wealthy Hatchetfield Boating Society member and wife to the most well-renowned plastic surgeon in Hatchetfield. She doesn’t wait in lines, so she writes a check to a man to get him to trade with her. Catching the attention of Becky Barnes, a nurse at the Hatchetfield Hospital’s pediatric wing. She catches the attention of the rest of the line, who mutter to themselves in annoyance, but no one takes a stance. It is here that we are revealed the truly sadistic, evil personality of Linda Monroe. Not only does she tear down Becky’s hunger for justice, but she twists the knife about the situation surrounding her abusive husband, Stanley, and his recent disappearance, which has been believed by many as him leaving Becky for a younger woman in Clivesdale.

 

All of a sudden, Tom Houston comes rushing in front of the people behind him, about to ask Becky for her spot before he notices who she is. The two of them were high school sweethearts back in the day, before Becky met Stanley and before Tom got enlisted. We can tell by the interaction that they are far from over each other. 

 

The doors finally open at the toy store, and Sherman Young, the first man in line, immediately requests to buy every Wiggly they have in stock. The line groans and whines about the price; the idea of limiting the purchase amount to one is not on board for Linda as her four little perfect blonde boys all deserve their own Wiggly. This crowd soon gets violent, physical altercations take place. We move on over to the CineaPlex, where Ethan and Hannah are trying to see a movie. We get a true peek into how much Ethan cares for Lex, and Hannah expresses her fear about an upcoming disaster that’s emerging. The sweet moment is soon cut short when shoppers, deluded by the idea that Ethan has a doll, beat him to death. Leaving Hannah to fend for herself. 

 

Tom and Becky come across Ethan, but it’s too late. Ethan is dead, and the brief act of kindness gets Tom stabbed by another crazed shopper. Becky takes him away to bandage his wound.

 

Cut again, we are now following Linda, distressed on the phone with Gerald. Soon, she is approached by Wilbur Cross, who we have seen as Uncle Wiley. He reveals that though Linda doesn’t know him, he knows her; he knows enough about her to know that only two of her four children actually belong to her husband. He preys on her only want in life, which is to be adored. He tells her that she needs to help bring about the birth of a “god”.