Tag: junior literary

Everyone Has a Gem in Their Life, Right?

If you don’t know me, then babes come say hi! I promise I won’t bite. But… I want to warn you that if we are friends then you’ll hear a lot about a precious gem in my life. Her name is Ruby Sage and she is my sister. I literally love this girl to the moon and back. In my opinion there is no else on this living planet that is prettier than my sister. Sorry not sorry.

Okay, let’s be so for real now ya’ll. Everyone has a gem in their life. You know, that special someone you unconsciously. The one you involuntarily start looking for in a crowd, even if you don’t mean too. Or heck, it’s the person you turn to when you need a shoulder to lean on. The one you know will answer when you call and listen without judging, or at least if they do judge, it’s in a kind protective way, maybe. Except, my sissy is still learning how to answer my calls the first time (when she isn’t at work), but that’s not the point. 

We all have those people or that person. But… Now I have a question for you. Why did you choose them? What makes that person so special, that you place them in a secret category apart from everyone else? What did they do that made you put (almost) all your trust in them?

Actually to be honest I didn’t think I had someone that special to me. That was until someone ‘kindly’ pointed out that I talk about my sister constantly. Which I don’t. Only about 80% of the time, and only when it is relevant. I promise you, I’m not that obsessive. Wait no. I’m not obsessive at all. I just love her, y’all. We have a strong bond. At least I hope. 

Okay back to the point of this entire blog. Basically, I’m curious to know if you know who your gem is? Have you ever even thought about it? Or have you taken them for granted? Do you realize how much they mean to you, or how much trust you are allowing them to hold? 

Because in reality, I took for granted how much I loved and depended on my sister. I never knew how close I held her until she left for college and wasn’t by me 24/7 anymore. She wasn’t in her room next door able to hold me when I needed to cry or help me when I was stuck. Now I have to call and hope she answers the first darn time, but I wish it wasn’t like that. So, come on babes! Figure out who your gem is and let them know how crazy special they are. 

Cause everyone has a gem in their life, right? Or am I just a crazy little white girl? 

K, byeeeeeeee!

 

Adventure Time spin-offs, my very mediocre thoughts

Hey people, this is my first ever blog and I’m very excited to share my thoughts and opinions about whatever I may want to talk about, whether that be books, shows, movies, or poets/writers.

For my first blog, I’d like to talk about the new Adventure Time series, Adventure Time: Side Quests (along with other spin-offs and how I feel about them in comparison to Side Quests.) Now, I have a lot of strong opinions about this newly developing series. For one, I really, really don’t like the animation/art style. It feels too flat in a way, and Finn’s design feels even more simplified than the classic two dots and a mouth that he had before. I do recognize that I have some bias, as the original is my favorite show of all time and I feel quite protective of it, and I recognize that I am in the minority of opinions when it comes to Side Quests, but my opinion has not changed after acknowledging that.

Everyone knows that the creators of Adventure Time tended to experiment with different art styles, especially in the later seasons, and I applaud the courage it takes to change the art style of such an iconic and loved show. However, as a die-hard fan, I just really cannot get behind this new approach. There’s just something off about how Finn and Jake look. They’re so much more simplified and flat, it looks like a low-sensory show for babies. (This isn’t a dig at the animation team in any way.) It just feels lack luster and like it’s missing the heart it once had. The passion that made the show so lovable feels lost when just looking at the cover.

I will say, the creators have very good reasons for why they went with a no-line art style. Pendleton says that illustrating with no lines took very long but it’s worth it for the show to have a childlike, story book feel. He says the style is meant to convey the innocence of Finn and Jakes early years while keeping their chaos. I’m sure the original humor shines through in the show, and I love the thought put behind the art style, I just can’t get behind the art style itself.

Adventure Time: Side Quests Opening Is Something Pretty Special

(Example of the new art style)

Adventure Time HD Wallpaper Featuring Finn & Jake’s Epic Journey

(The original, goated art style that permeates my dreams)

There are some good aspects to it if I’m being honest. At first, I was scared that they’d be retconning the previous lore or using it as a continuation like they did with Fionna and Cake, but thankfully that’s not the case. This new show apparently centers around the early life of Finn and Jake. I do love the idea of this and plan on watching the show myself. I haven’t seen any yet so I can’t criticize it or praise it beyond shallow, trivial things. But I’m really not the biggest fan of yet another spin-off. 

How to watch Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake Season 2 outside the US ...

(My love and my light, Fionna and Cake)

The original show has enough spin-offs as it is. Some are in fact better than others, like Fionna and Cake which is known for its extension of lore and heavier themes. Distant Lands isn’t too bad either. I enjoy seeing BMO do their little thing, but it’s still not my favorite. There’s also another spin-off being created about Marceline and Bubblegum titled Adventure Time: Bubblegum and Marceline. Which isn’t the most creative to say the least, yet I’m still pretty excited for it. I feel like we as an audience deserve more Bubblegum and Marceline screen time. I am very excited for a show centering one of my favorite queer ships (which could be its own rant to be honest.) I myself I haven’t been able to find examples of the art style. I can only hope that it’s true to the original and not simplified with weird colors and shading like Side Quests seems to be. 

‘Adventure Time: Bubblegum and Marceline’

(Only picture I can find that is for sure from the show.)

I don’t have much to say about this show since information is sparce, but I am a sucker for sapphics (who are very misrepresented in media as a whole.) I just hope they stick to the dynamic the original characters have while also expanding on that dynamic and properly representing a good sapphic relationship.

And with that slightly unintelligible rant, I believe my first blog is done. 

As the great Wendigoon says, “and as always, thank you for watching. BYE-”

American Songwriter.

12 Notes Tour

Alec Benjamin has been one of my favorite music artists out there, once upon a time he was niche but I’m very happy he’s well known. He’s worked hard for it. 

Alec is the kind of guy I look at and get “Lover Boy” from. He’s very passionate in his writing about multiple feelings and how he may feel towards others and scenarios. Alec has various forms of singing as well. Most songs are slow, letting you hold on to every word, others are more rapid as he brings you into this scene of intense pressure or stimulation with his skills to rap. 

Alec’s most common genre, I would say, would be a more romantic/heartbreak genre. In some of his album’s descriptions, it’ll talk about his experiences and mor importantly, you’ll hear it from himself in his songs. 

Now, unfortunately, if you’re like me and listen more predominantly on Apple Music, you will be limited to four albums. 

Narrated for You – 2018 

These Two Windows- 2020

(Un)commentary- 2022

12 Notes- 2024 

And a few Singles, He’s released “The Knife in My Back “on Apple Music in 2025 after having been on YouTube for such a long time. He’s reprised the song from its original and it’s so hard to choose which ones better, but personally, I’m really liking the 2025 reprise more but I’m juggling right now. And his newest song, EMOTIONS with WENDY, a Korean artist. 

You can find more of his songs all on YouTube, which is where I first discovered him through one of those lyric videos. The kind that just end up on your YouTube playlists rather than the original video for some odd reason. His music videos are also really cool; some are of him others are more engaging. 

I personally feel like Alec has a little bit of something for everyone. He’s also great to listen to when studying or writing (Unless you’re like me when your favorite song comes on and you start dramatically singing it out). 

I do highly suggest giving him a listen if you haven’t heard of him before and if you have and it’s been forever given him another listen. 

 

If storytelling could be told in song form
With twists and turns and everything between
Each pluck of the string. 
A devotee
quiet
fast
slow
serene. 
                             -Lily Ross,
                                   A small poem on Alec Benjamin

sen·ti·men·tal·ism

sen·ti·men·tal·ism

[sɛntɪˈmɛntəlɪz(ə)m]
noun

sentimentalism (noun)
  1. excessively sentimental behaviour, writing, or speech:
"the author blends realism with surrealism, journalism with sentimentalism"

 

Sentimentalism, as a concept, was introduced to me with its theatrical meaning. Bascially, sentimentalism is the pattern of plays having an “evil” character who is reformed and redeemed, and becomes good. Every bad act they have ever committed is simply negated because the protagonist hit them with a beam of friendship, love, and understanding. They may have a slip or two back into evil, but usually those are for noble reasons, separating them from being “evil”, that the protagonists either don’t know or misunderstand, hence the miscommunication trope.

 

Everyone has already done their “last blog” blogs, or most of everyone, and I’m going to talk about this little thing called sentimentalism. It’s just a fancy way for me to talk about how I’ve gotten so sentimental over the last few weeks, since someone told me we only have 3 go-home weekends left. It actually freaked me out sooo badly.

 

I have my own reasons for not wanting to go home for the summer, like a whole list that just gets longer and longer the closer and closer the summer gets and…. One of the main reasons is I know that I wont see a lot of people again. People are leaving, not getting invited back, or coming back and they may be entirely different people. I myself have changed so so many times, over and over again, throughout this school year that if I were to meet myself in may 2025 he wouldn’t recognize me.

 

My entire life has flipped around a hundred times since coming here. I’m healthier, I have a better understanding of my style, im happier. I have more friends, ACTUAL, REAL friends that I made on my own. I have a whole new perception of myself and it’s honestly amazing. I have a group, and I’ve reconnected with old friends too. This year has been so eventful and I’m glad for every second of it.

 

My art has progressed greatly, too. At first I wasn’t noticing a change. I was trying something new, writing poetry seriously, for the first time and I hadn’t exactly found my voice in it yet. Now I’m comfortable enough to write things I couldn’t have imagined EYE (i) wrote. I, like I said in my last blog, hadn’t been writing, and writing at all was hard for me because of what all it means to me. I felt like it wasn’t enough.

 

Last night, though, I participated as a reader in Steph and Richie’s senior literary showcase. I always knew that writing and literature had a huge impact on the world around me, and I also knew that it wasn’t accurate to only assume that big, famous pieces like Moby Dick or whatever get the chance to impact culture. I genuinely think differently after that showcase, and I think that’s what literature is supposed to do. To make you think differently.

 

I think, without realizing, being a literary has made me think differently, too. Like I said, I’ve had my whole brain flipped around and blended and had transplants maybe a hundred times this semester, and I think it may be a part of maturing. I said me from may last year wouldn’t recognize me now, but I don’t recognize who I was in august, either, or October, or even December. Freak, February danny is an entirely different BEING from me now. And yet, I’m still me. Despite everything, it’s still me. IYKYK. I don’t know. I guess I’m just getting pretty sentimental, and I’d rather let everything go that has made me upset over the last few months. It’s not real anymore. None of it is real and everything is impossibly real at the same time. I mean, sure. I can be frustrated. I can be put off. But, at the end of the day, I have to move on to no choice of my own. Life’s gotta keep moving, and there are bigger things to worry about and worse things to happen. Everything is gonna get better, though. Everything’s gonna turn out all right, even if its only for a few years, months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes. If it so pleases you, everything only has to be all right for a few seconds, and if you notice that and cherish it, then it was real. It doesn’t matter how long it lasts. It’s that its there.

 

Idk. Danny’s getting emotional and I have no idea what he’s saying. Hate that guy. I want everyone, EVERYONE, in literary to know I love them so much and that they’re the best ever. Kiss kiss. Heart heart. Kind of regretting not ending this off with a Greek mythology blog, danny hates his feelings. BYE. I LOVE YOU. <3

 

Talking about writing instead of doing it

My struggles in writing that aren’t real problems but I want to talk about them anyways.

For reasons unknown, I barely wrote for an entire year, almost two entire years. My pieces I used to apply to MSA were the first things I had written in that whole time, all pieced together over the span of two-ish months. I actually have in a notebook, somewhere floating around my dorm right now, that had the single thing I wrote worth anything in that entire time.

Writing is pretty sentimental to me, and especially that piece and the subject its on—but I wont share what it is, due to how personal it is. It’s sort of the type of thing that I did love, then, and held very dear to me because it is literally the ONLY thing I could write for that entire portion of my life, even if I don’t care much for it now, or agree with it, or even resonate with it. I realized im a lot more personal than I previously thought, and I do overshare and infodump but its never really about the most deep, personal stuff to me and blah blah blah. I don’t like talking about stuff currently going on in my life, just stuff I did or that did happen in a somewhat comedic lense that cant currently effect me, and I really try to keep my personal thoughts and feelings out of things.

Really bad at explaining that, so I’m just going to jump into my point: I don’t write about my personal life.

Of all of my favorite, most memorable pieces, they were about something or someone else. My Polar Bear Haibun, Rose Oil, Metaphorical, 11:11, Tributaries, Constellations. They’re all great, and I love all of those stories and poems and whatever else so much, but they don’t really like reflect any of my inner beliefs. I think about so much, all the time, and none of it ever makes it into my work. Why is that?

A part of me is embarrassed. Like I’m scared of being wrong, like whatever I say could be taken the wrong way if I don’t over explain, but over explaining takes thought and impact away from other people. I think that’s why I love realism so much. You don’t ever look at someone scratching their nose and think they must think they have something on their face and they’re hiding it. You don’t think about it at all. You don’t think, are they embarrassed? Do they think they have food around their mouth and they’re hiding it?

You don’t ever think if someone’s worried that they’re accidentally flirting by twirling their hair, or if they look overly anxious by bouncing their leg, but these are always things people think about in themselves. You recognize it. It’s a way to hide. Or, maybe, forgetting to brush your teeth because you’re in a rush so you never stand to close to someone, or you’re worried if you missed a spot when brushing your hair and if you look a little crazy. If you’re like me, maybe your septum is crooked. Fix it. Oh, maybe your classes are lopsided. Are they too high? You get to say things, do things, that people never ever want or think of talking about. I think that’s because it’s so normal to you, but do you ever think about other people doing it? If you are, you’re incredibly vain, and probably judgmental. I know I’m judgmental.

But, in relation to that, I get too embarrassed to write about my personal life. I know that, realistically, there are probably entire communities full of people who think exactly how I do, or look at the world the same, or think about the same hyper-realistic things in art like I do, but who ever tells someone im terrified I have something in my teeth so I’ve been trying to look at my reflection in this one-sided glass window but the shade it too brown and I cant see and now im trying not to cry because that’s somehow worse.

It’s easier to keep my thoughts to myself than it is to share them, but at the same time I know that I’m not putting my best work out, because I’m not being genuine. But, I also feel like if I were to get extremely personal in my work, especially if that work was for literary, I would have to explain everything behind it and how it makes me feel and I DON’T do how things make me feel. I’d feel like I was venting in explaining why I wrote something, even if the memory is really happy or whatever. I also feel like if my short stories were any more personal then I’d end up, like, going 1000 and 2000 words over the limit instead of my usual 300-400 (sorry Dr Alexis). Or something.

This is danny’s (poor) attempt at discussing his issues with writing, and yes, before anyone says it or thinks it, I know that writing doesn’t HAVE to be personal. I just would like mine to be more so, I guess, even if I don’t exactly know how to do that. Dats all. I feel like I haven’t even said anything omg.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

I have phases where I listen to a song, love it so much, and loop it over and over again until I learned the entire thing. For days. My spotify wrapped is always interesting because of this, because theres always a song at the top I never remember listening to. When I was 13 (ish) I looped “Strawberry Blonde” by Mitski for not one, not two, not three… but four weeks (in dr phil voice). The surprising part? That wasn’t even the top of my wrapped.

As of late, I’ve tried to expand my music taste less and more so tried to get more familiar with artists I already know and love. This was the case with the album I’m predicting to be my favorite, “Class Of Cardinal Sin” by Covey. I have a very, very deep interest in the concept of “sin” as a whole, but ESPECIALLY the seven deadly sins, and this album kind of just scratches that itch in my brain. This is also the case with Rainbow Kitten Surprise, my ABSOLUTE all-time favorite band. I love them so dearly.

It started with one song, which happens to be their most popular, “It’s Called: Freefall”. This song, often shorted to “freefall”, comes from the Album “How to: Friend, Love, Freefall” and is the 4th of 13 in the album. This is, of course, their most popular album BUT! The third they’d released.

I’ve been spending a few days (I say this like it hasn’t been two weeks(edit: It’s been a month and a half, almost two months)) looping their albums, and I’ve JUST finished looping that one, but if I had to name a favorite album it’s definitely “Seven + Mary”. (Still not tired of it, just starting Love Hate Music Box)

I think it may be because I’ve loved RKS’s (Shortened from Rainbow Kitten Surprise, I am NOT typing that out 100 times) music for so long, but I find their music very very easy to listen to on loop how I normally do. Sometimes, sadly, I can’t loop my favorite artists and bands because they tend to find a sound that works for them and… never ever EVER stray from it. This is why I can’t listen to Lana Del Ray (? I have her blocked on spotify) or Chase Atlantic, sometimes even The Neighborhood and Arctic Monkeys. They have lots of music, yes, and it’s all good music, but it has a sound that’s too similar to their other songs. My other favorite bands, like The Crane Wives, do have this problem (from time to time) but by GOD it is not as obvious. Sorry. Little hater rant there. I never have this “Sound too same” problem with them, so it feels like im looping a hundred different favorite songs rather than one album.

Currently, As I am typing this, I’m looping their album “Love Hate Music Box”, (edit: I didn’t like it then, i’m locking in now btw this is danny a month later) and I think it’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It has an entirely different sound from, say, RKS the album. And both of those albums sound entirely different from “Seven + Mary”, even if RKS the album and Seven + Mary definitely sound more similar. Love Hate Music Box brings a sound from them that I’m absolutely not used to, and I’m still working on actively listening to this album and becoming as familiar with it as I am the others.

Something I think is funny, in relation to their albums, is that this is about the 3rd time I’ve looped their albums like this , but never with this dedication. I was so sure that I knew only a few songs in seven + mary, but I can sing most of them and if not I can recognize them. So far, from each album (that I’m versed in, don’t ask me anything past love hate music box) my favorites are Mr. Redundant, Seven, Shameful company, and Black and White from Seven + Mary. In RKS, Counting Cards, Lady Lie, Goodnight Chicago (probably my fav on the album) and an even tie for All’s Well That Ends and The Countdown, the two last songs on the album. In the album How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, my favorites are definitely It’s called: Freefall, Mission to mars, Possum Queen, and When it lands!!!! (I love this entire album so much it’s devastating). After that…. I don’t know enough of the albums yet to have a favorite, and that’s okay!!! Otherwise, my #1 favorite song from the entire band is Drop Stop Roll, one of their singles. Their singles are a whole other ballpark, one that I do not care to talk about (no vacancy, work out, and our song are all MASTERPIECES deserving of their own blogs).

I know that I really like music blogs, and that it teaches me a lot about bands I already know or bands ive never heard of, and I figured it’s about my turn to share some of my favorites. Don’t know if I’ll be continuing this blog…. But know I do love RKS and also a few other bands that DEFINITELY deserve more recognition. Kiss kiss, literaries!! See you whenever 🙂

This is me from a few weeks later, coming back and reflecting on this blog: I’m now going to properly rank them based on my favorites.

1 It’s Called: Freefall; 2 Drop Stop Roll; 3 The Countdown; 4 Mission to Mars; 5 Black and White; 6 Goodnight Chicago; 7 Shameful Company; 8 When it Lands; 9 Cold Love; 10 Fever Pitch or Holy War (these are the same song to me)

Honorable Mentions for: Polite Company, Painkillers, Possum Queen, and Devil like me plus every other song they’ve ever made (our song, dang, and SVO also belong here)

My book, because i wanna talk about it.

This weeks blog is about something a little different, though it’s in the same vein as basically everything I’ve ever talked about. Passion projects, or, specifically, MY passion projects. I realized I don’t really talk about myself on my blogs, or I don’t think I do (?) and I’d like to share, like, the biggest thing in my life.

Since I was 12, I’ve been writing a story about a teenager who can see ghosts, and delivered the prophecy about their own death, which will reinstate order for the world. Kind of like trading one valuable human life for the greater good. I’ve had huge plans for this story for years, and it comes with characters you all are familiar with if you read my short story, Constellations, back at the beginning of the year! This story has probably been the single most important thing to me since its conception, and there has been an occasional stray from it, but I always go back. I love this story so much.

It explores messages of grief, specifically grief within people who are terminally ill, found family, and the concept of fatalism and discussions of free-will in a world where everything is “predestined”. The story even includes its own pantheon, entirely made up by me! I write a lot about grief, choices, sins, ect., and during the “heart of the story” assignment I realized that my struggle to find a message for my story was pointless. I already knew it!

Basically, I’ll be talking about my pantheon today, and the ways in which it is corrupt. The reason I’m doing this is because I’ve been reworking the entire thing, since I realized it wasn’t an entirely expansive, fleshed out, or realistic pantheon based on the fundamentals of religion and the world I wanted them to live in. Talking about it will help me understand it better, and I can’t exactly express over 43 gods who have been scrapped in a poem instead.

We have a few laws on how the gods themselves work , and these are examples that have kept me on track since I was 12, so they’re pretty easy to understand I think. The laws of succession, contradictions/opposites, connectivity, and dispersal. The easiest to understand is the law of opposites, but I do have to explain some smaller bit for that one to make sense.

You can’t have a god of fast food, or cellphones. There is not a technology god, entirely because I don’t feel like making that some sort of plot point and, if I include it, it will be. Gods don’t get so specific, or small in concept. We have gods of War, Violence, Conflict, and we have gods of sculpture and bigger concepts like that. Generally, once concepts get so small they’ve already been dispersed between demigods or godlings.

You also can’t have a god of two things, unless the other thing they’re the god of is the flip opposite of their other thing. Law of opposites! Like, for example, the god of health and injury is the same dude (in a gender neutral way), and just has two faces. The gods of truth and lies? Same dude. Death is also life. The god of order is also the god of chaos! Stuff like that. Then, with the law of opposites, sometimes it presents itself like the god of violence swearing to never hurt someone again, and being a pacifist—and eventually becoming the god of pacificity. In a greater sense, the god of war also governs peace. The god of purity is disgusting (nod to how purity culture is disgusting and exploitive). Memory and amnesia are the same guy.

Which, of course, brings the next law: connectivity. This is my favorite, because I just eehhehe I love it. There is a god, Riah, who is over both memory and amnesia, aka forgetting, is the sibling to the god, Cas (name changing soon I swear) who is forgiveness! Like.. like… ehehe, forgive and forget. There were also some others, which I genuinely don’t care to remember, but siblings come in pairs. Twins are REALLY common among gods, like two of the most prominent gods in the art world are twins, and they’re visual and performance art.

Finally, to sum up all of those rules, we have the law of dispersal. Every pantheon has some “start” god, for example Chaos (Khaos) for the greeks. This is that, and my version of that is Idyll. Kind of the big guy for all of the gods. Idyll split into four different gods, ceasing to exist by choosing to exist in them, and then those gods split up to make more gods. Like mitosis. The law of dispersal is all basically mitosis. You have greater gods, like the Ancients who represent some sort of element, and then lesser gods. Lesser gods can disperse into huge concepts still, like Humanity and the Sciences (who are two separate dudes) who dispersed into separate subjects like art, then literature, then poetry. Eventually, though, the amount of idyll in a god’s soul is so little that they don’t exactly get domain over anything, or nothing big, and those guys are known as godlings. And, if anyone from any of these groups has a child with a human, that child would be a demigod. Demigods aren’t really “over” anything, but they have a more concentrated amount of power than godlings in a specific subject. Take my books protagonist, Halo, for example. His mom is the earth, so he can like earthbend and stuff (not really). There is a character, Sol, whom he gets in a fight with who is directly descended from gods and not human in any way, and he lowkey mops the floor with sol, because Sol is so far removed from Idyll.

There are also groups and concepts like “False” Gods, then theres the whole reason people hate demigods, theres zombies and vampires and like the cult and also bird people…. And the whole blessing system and the tattoos, but I don’t!!! care about explaining!!! Those!!! Maybe next week (year?)

(if anyone has any ideas on what to call the gods besides gods… hmu. I saw someone call the pieces of their pantheon Totems and thats so cool but stealing is wrong or wtv. I had a friend suggest Mantle, but that feels too clunky + and also military (scary). Send help. Love you. kiss Kiss. Bye.)

Favorite Characters and my problem with having them (JJK)

(Few vague spoilers for JJK)

I’m a really like anime. I’m not claiming to be the biggest anime fan ever, I’m definitely not (I vowed when I was like 12 to never ever watch attack on titan, I fully intend to never ever watch it), but I have seen like the main few shonen (Shonen defined as Anime geared towards younger male audiences, usually some kind of action or adventure anime) Animes and if not I plan on watching them. Am I the most versed? No. Yeah, that’s it. I’m not the most well versed.

BUT, in the shows I have seen, I find it weirdly hard to find a favorite character. Not that you HAVE to have one, not at all. I actually prefer not having one sometimes, or having multiple. This weirds some people out, especially when I say something like “Oh, I really like Mahito from JJK.” And they look at me like I’m going to burn their house down. Which, I get it. Don’t get me wrong. I DO hate Mahito and he got what was coming. He was also one my favorite characters. I liked his character, not ANY of his actions, nor did I root for the bad guys (Kenjaku, Geto is a different story). Do I instantly assume people who say Mahito is their favorite are actually insane and should be put on an island away from everyone else? Yes. JJK fans are crazy. I don’t trust them.

Anyways, I do find it particularly difficult to have a favorite character, especially in shows like Jujitsu Kaisen, because I love most if not all of the characters on screen. Something something good writing and fleshed out characters. Then I feel WORSE because I can tell that the characters are well written and well loves, and I STILL cant pick a favorite.

When it comes to JJK, I have a handful of characters that I may call my favorite on any given day. Previously, those characters included Mahito and Junpei… which feels really contradictory in retrospect. Super ironic. Still devastated. Still cry periodically… I digress. Now, if I were to be asked, my favorite character is in order (as of 2:48pm) Geto, Itadori, Fushiguro, Inumaki, Yuuta, and then like jogo or something. Do you know who these people are if you haven’t seen the show? No. You will have no clue. But lily will, and that’s all that matters a little bit.

I like each of them for different reasons, Geto as an all-rounder, I love EVERY aspect of his character, but Yuuji trumps him in the sense that I like Itadori’s characterization with compassion more. Fushiguro is an amazing representation of depression. Inumaki has the coolest technique ever.

That’s it. I’m running out of time, lol, so that’s my blog. I don’t know who my favorite character is.

Poseidon…. That freaky water dude

poseidon sculpture | Aongking Sculpture Poseidon sculptureSo. Like, basically. Yeah, we’re jumping straight in btw. So, basically, it is very VERY important to understand the history of not only your religion but also other religions. You should actually know the history of anything you’re interested in. I’m not saying like exact dates, time stamps, comprehensive notes, ect. I’m talking being able to verbally give out a basic history of whatever it is you like as background, and to better understand it yourself. Please, never talk about something if you have no clue what you’re talking about. Thank you. 

In relation to this, Poseidon. The water guy. The whole, like, king of the ocean and father of like cyclopses and stuff like that. He’s done a couple things. Had a very brief cameo in Epic: The Musical (if anyone mentions Epic in the comments i will actually throw chairs i do NOT wanna hear about epic the musical). Most people do, however, know Poseidon through the medusa myth. I genuinely think i’ve explained that myth at least three times already on blogs and how its wrong btw, so im not gonna expand on it. 

What i’m getting at is, when people think Poseidon they thing A) That water dude, B) Percy Jackson’s dad, or C) Epic: The Musical (as of late). Poseidon is actually a LOT more than that, in a modern Lense and in a ancient one, too. This would come from understanding his history and roots, so we’re going to do that today!

Poseidon, whos name oddly (as far as we know) means actually nothing relating to the Sea, which he is the god of. His name most nearly, in current theories, can mean “husband,” “Earth Husband”, or “Earth Shaker” and any varieties of the name. This could come from his Mycenean roots, which that’s basically the guys right before the greek dark ages when everything changed, in which our dearly beloved Poseidon was actually the KING of the gods, rather than the throw-away brother who often had non-consensual encounters with women and was like kinda in the ocean or sum. It is believed that, somehow someway during those dark ages, Poseidon and Zeus did a whole personality swap.. which may be the reason that some greek heroes have very unclear family lines, because are they zeus’ or poseidon’s? like whats going on? 

Basically, Poseidon used to be, like…. that guy. He was the king of the gods, and not only that, but he was the king of the skies, seas, and underworld as well! This leaves entities like Hades and Zeus, one of which ive talked about before, without the whole things they’re known for (Which, if i knew anything about that, i would definitely make blogs on them). It’s actually pretty hard to research them, since the greeks were only really writing stuff down AFTER the dark ages anyways… but whatever. Poseidon used to be the king of the gods, still mostly relating to the sea, earth quakes, and… horses? Whats a guy like him, like the sea, doing being the god of horses????

He had a baby with his sister and it was a horse.

That’s it, That’s the myth. He had a baby with demeter and it was a horse. The fastest horse ever, or something, and it ate gold and other precious metals. Technically, the horse has a twin sister, who is NOT a horse. Sister of Persephone. Oh, persephone’s brother is also a horse. btw. yeah. Arion. His name is Arion. Kind of how Loki turned into a horse and got pregnant by a horse and had a horse². Actually, the myth is pretty similar.

While demeter was looking for her daughter, Persephone, after Hades had abducted her, she managed to travel great distances looking for her. She went to helios, some random son of zeus (so… technically Persephone’s half-brother/cousin) whom she fell in love with, a few places regarding giants and titans and whatever… along the way, Poseidon had begun persuing her. To evade his advances, he changed into a horse…. then he changed into a horse. This was okay to her, but not normal Poseidon, and, well.. when a mommy horse and a daddy horse love each other very much, they end up popping out two other horses- nope. One human girl and a horse. That horse, Arion, is the fastest horse to ever horse. and also, like, sometimes can walk on wind (not in a pegasus way) and may or may not be the father of all horses. 

Yeah. That is, as far as I know, the ONLY reason Poseidon is considered the god of horses, aside from the fact he also like… invented horses. It’s kind of confusing and useless, if you consider ancient greece instead of mycenean greece, where horses and water were like the best thing before sliced bread. Still, that aspect of him carried over yearrrsssss and some of his most prominent children in myth, demigods by all means, just…. happen to really like horses. I think that was the founder of thebes’ whole thing. Just a demigod of poseidon’s who liked horses but also did like every cool thing ever. Hate that guy, by the way, and WAY too many people like him recently for him to have been, like….. one of the earliest myths and arguably most boring. But, i digress. 

As for him being the earthshaker, aside from it being what his name (probably) means… he has, like, four kids with earth-related dieties. One of them being with GAIA herself. like. dude. weirdo. Other than that, they just geld the general belief that he was so powerful (or something) that he could shake the very earth. It’s fun, he’s fun, and i love him. 

 

(Someone… someone give me gods to talk about next week. I like doing this. I’ll do (Almost) anyone.)

(Ancient Greek) men suck. Here’s who doesn’t!

I don’t know if you guys know this about me but. I like Greek mythology. Surprise!! Shocking, right? No one knew this! Anyways, this is another Greek Mythology blog except it’s just going to be me bashing the same two guys over and over because they’re everyones favorites and then I’m going to tell you the ONLY correct answer for who your favorite (male) Greek god should be, out of the main 7~ ish.

Most of the time, when people hear “evil death guy, god of the underworld” they get scared. And, don’t let me lie to you, my dude Hades gets a bad name most of the time. He is actually NOT death, that is a separate entity known as Thanatos. Hades isn’t even the god of the dead. He’s the god of the underworld. Not just the bad parts but the ENTIRE underworld, including the Greek equivalent of heaven, Elysium. This makes Hades the god of not only the scary fire torture place, but the place where they feast and party and have fun for the rest of forever and literally everything good ever happens. He, in his roman form of Pluto, actually receives a lot more credit regarding this aspect of him because of how militarized the romans were. They didn’t want to fear death, not how the greeks did, so he morphed into a GOOD guy who… kinda also was super duper death or whatever. And also riches. Shouts out to Pluto, by far my favorite Roman God (somewhere near hygiea)

On the flip side of the same coin, hehe get it because riches, Hades is absolutely NOT a “good” guy by moral standards. It’s impossible to hold a god, if you believe they are real, or metaphorical beings, if you don’t, to OUR mortal standards. However, people do. People LOVE to bash on deities like Poseidon and Zeus for their actions, and then don’t extend the same ideas over to HADES. Who’s most known myth is HADES and PERSEPHONE. Like. THE myth Greek mythology was so popularized by.

(Hades, Persephone, and little tiny cerberus)

Y’know, the general myth in which Hades sees the beautiful Persephone in demeter’s garden, decides he wants her for a wife and opens up the ground to catch her, brings her down to the underworld refuses to let her leave. She gets super hungry, goes out and finds a pomegranate and eats like six seeds, leads to us and the changing of our seasons because something something deal with Zeus. Kind of the blueprint for most “Dark” (read: kidnapping) romance these days. Bad boy who really wants you but you cant have him because of some external force (usually the law).

Yeah, shut up. Hades Kidnapped and, LITERALLY, assaulted Persephone. In ALL tellings of the myth. He literally snatches my girl out of her garden. The OG myth was actually more focused on Demeter, and her journey in finding her daughter and how different seasons were divided into where, blah  blah. But, no. It’s all about hades and Persephone. People like to call them some big metaphor for devotion and unconditional love, rebelling for what you want, but no one has been able to explain to me how they are a metaphor for that.  Because they aren’t. Most tellings of the myth have Hades putting the pomegranate tree out there to entice Persephone because she was refusing to eat for him, because he was trying to trap her down there, and some have him plain deceiving her because she’s, get this, young and doesn’t know. People tend to villainize every other male deiety for the exact same thing, but somehow hades gets a pass?? Somehow?? Also somehow theres a telling of the myth ive heard in which he was DEVASTATED that Persephone ate the seeds and was now forced to be with him, as he wanted her to “choose” him. That telling was GREATLY popularized my Dark Romance today. That literally would not ever happen ever. Where are you guys getting your information.

I’m sick of the hades glazing. Theres a few other bad things here and there, though most of those were “but zeus told me to!!” and not of his own free will, so whatever. A god that is NOT bound by anothers free will but is still so deeply loved and adored by all is APOLLO.

(Apollo and Daphne)

Apollo is a JERK. He’s an INCEL. He’s TERRIBLE (not really ily apollo). Most of his myths, if not pertaining to prophecy in some way, is him screwing up so bad with the ladies (and men, on occasion) that they beg to be turned into trees, throw themselves off cliffs, turn themselves into plants (happens like 3 times) and genuinely so much more. The amount of minor myths that are just “apollo wants girl. Girl says no. Apollo then chases girl. Girl then finds some new insane way to die just to get away from him.” I actually cant believe I just called a god an incel im giggling. Apollo in most media is perceived as this “great happy sunny poetry and music” guy. He was initially the god of PLAGE. And DEATH. And TERROR. The music and poetry and all that other good stuff, like medicine, came WAY after his origins.

You know who you SHOULD like though? Who your favorite male god SHOULD be, if you want to hold ANY of them to mortal standards? Not Hades. Not apollo. Not Poseidon, or Hermes. DEFINITELY not zeus.

(My goat Ares bowing to his girlfriend Aphrodite)

Ares. ARES is one of the only gods who, as far as im aware, has NOT greatly wronged a woman. Googled it just now. He’s like an angel. Also, he is younger than Athena and not a technical biological child of Zeus (or something, probably a Romanized myth). Which makes sense, weirdly. Anyways. Just a few points on why Ares should be your favorite.

  • Is the father of the first amazonian queen and patron god of the amazon warriors
  • Had it out for Heracles for years after he killed said amazonian queen, and when a later amazonian queen died in battle (some time during the iliad im pretty sure) he came down and actually just. Killed an entire army. Love you Ares.
  • One of his daughters, alcippe, was bathing by a river when a son of Poseidon came and tried to assault her. Literally took that guy out on sight. No hesitation.
  • He, as far as im aware, has a VERY clean record of ONLY consensual relationships with EVERYONE.
  • In reference to the last point, Aphrodite is his most known lover, and in almost all tellings of it he is referred to as “Aphrodite’s Lover”, instead of the other way around, which absolutely flips Greek gender and intimacy roles.
  • The entire cult of Ares Gynaecothoenas
  • Actually never read this one, one of his daugthers died during childbirth and he saved her baby by allowing him to breastfeed from her, uh, body, which is kinda gross and dark but he didn’t want his daughter to die AND for it to be in vain
  • Yeah no EVERY relationship he’s had is consensual. Shouts out ares for the bare minimum among modern men, above and beyond for Greek men.

This is really long.. I’ve been cutting it up for like 10 minutes.. guys… I love ares… he isn’t even my favorite god… the god of medicine is. Oh, that guys really cool too. Sigh. Someone buy me a “I ❤️ Ares” t-shirt for my birthday. July 19th. I want it in the style of those “I ❤️ my girlfriend” t-shirts. Ares is my girlfriend.