ramble – Literary Arts Blogspace

Greek Mythology (again) and acceptable ways to get into it through different medias!!

Greek mythology is my special interest, and I’m okay to admit that now. I remember when I first heard about it, I was probably six or seven and had just watched that horrendous Percy Jackson movie with my mom. I then, somehow, got my grubby little paws on a device and googled the only name I really remembered: Athena.

This opened a whole world for me to explore, with things that happened over two thousand years ago that I never thought could exist! There were multiple gods that I was introduced to, hundred of stories and names and places and even animals to learn about and experience and I was excited. I then remember my teacher, Mrs. Young from East Flora, asking my pathways class “what do you want to learn about?”

I had the conscious thought, then. “I can’t teach this to myself.” I knew that I would need to have someone else guide me and tell me who, what, when, where, etc. So, I suggested we learn about Greek Mythology. She loved the idea, and so for the next two months we studied different (age appropriate) myths, built The Parthenon out of toilet paper rolls and masking tape, learned names and correlations, we even looked a little bit into the stars and constellations!

I’m extremely thankful to my teacher, then. I’m glad there was an adult who asked what I wanted to learn, instead of teaching me what she was told to. I had an amazing gateway to Greek Mythology, even if the original source wasn’t so good. So today I want to talk about good, acceptable sources for younger kids to get into Greek mythology, and a few good ways I’ve expanded my knowledge of it as I’ve gotten older.

First and foremost: Percy Jackson

When talking about Greek Mythology in media, Percy Jackson is the first place my brain goes to. It has wonderful modern adaptations of the Gods into an easy to digest, true-to-myth form. The intepretaions of each god that Rick portrays is almost always interesting, fun, and doesn’t take away from the original concept of each god. While in the first series Rick does make some.. choice mistakes, especially regarding the myth of Medusa, he manages to fix his mistakes in a way that doesn’t completely override any horrible storyline.

Percy Jackon, a young boy and the demigod son of Poseidon, is ~~being hunted by~~ called by Mount Olympus and the Olympian Gods, as Zeus’ weapon, the lightning bolt, is missing; They believe he is the thief, when he didn’t even know that he was a demigod until, like, a week before. This book, and the following books, explores Percy’s story in navigating familiar and unfamiliar myths (Some I hadn’t even heard of until I read the books when I was fourteen!)

Overall, the series is one of my favorites. As a gateway into further interest in Greek Mythology all one has to do is consider that his is a children’s book and has to be dumbed down or explained differently for entertainment purposes. 10/10.

Second: The Song of Achillies (And other works by Madeline Miller)

Madeline Miller is such a talented author, from her writing style to how well she captures the parts of myths that we don’t really see. It’s true that we have little, if any, information on Circe besides what is gathered within the Odyssey, even though she is a recurring figure throughout several myths. Consider Madeline Miller’s work as a sort of in-between, and an amazing one at that. Her storytelling with the upbringing of Patroclus is so beautifully told, especially since he is a figure often overlooked despite being so pivotal for Achillies’ story in the Iliad. With both of her books being a kind of in-between, it is entirely possible to read them and get into Greek Mythology that way, by exploring three characters deeply then going into the much broader myths.. even if the ending of Circe is quite odd. Her books are such a creative take on the Iliad and a telling of Circe’s story that I will always ALWAYS recommend these books to people. 10/10

Third: EPIC THE MUSICAL

Just like the last section, Epic the Musical is written and directed (? I’m not sure, I don’t know musicals or music in general) Jorge Rivera-Herrans, which released over two years, each song coming out one at a time from 2022 through to 2024. The musical follows Odysseus, using wonderful modern storytelling to re-tell the odyssey in way it’s meant to be told. I genuinely have no words for how good this musical is. The only complaint I have about it is that, well, Odysseus does cheat on his wife. Sorry not sorry. Greeks had much different standards than we do today.

That being said, I have NOT touched on some of the.. worse ways people have gotten into greek mythology cough Lore Olympus cough cough really bad webtoon cough cough ANYWAYS!!!!!

This is the end of the blog!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! If anyone else likes Greek mythology, how did you discover it? and let me know if you’d want to learn anything about Greek mythology because I know TOO much!!! Blog ideas are welcomed because I need them, lol.

Greek vs. Roman Mythology

Okay, I lied. I said in my last blog post that I was going to continue my incoherent ramblings about Katara and Avatar: The Last Airbender as a whole, but I’ve decided that i need to get something out of the way instead, which is how i feel about Greek Mythology and Roman Mythology.

Anyone who’s had more than one conversation with me might be aware of how passionate I get over a certain empire, which starts with R and ends with oman. I’ve been known to yell, hit things, stand in chairs, and leave groupchats in the past. Is it that serious? No. Do i care? Also no!!

(There is, quite literally, a running gag between my friends to randomly text me “The Romans” and watch to see how mad I get — it has been described as a trigger word of mine multiple times)

Roman Mythology and Greek Mythology are often used interchangeably, like they are counterparts or equals. Now, do not get me wrong. Roman mythology (though i know nothing about it besides the creation myth) is just as complex, but in the end, they ARE separate things. This is just information off of the top of my head, mostly from my understanding of greek mythology and how it differs from roman mythology in those big ways that MEAN something. Even though they were adjacent (watch me make myself mad) they are NOT the same, most importantly in how they portray certain gods.

Am i going to start talking about myths? No! I dont know anything about them, and if i refuse to learn more than what is absolutely necessary (Read: I’m too lazy.) I do, however, know about the pantheon itself.

The Greek pantheon was very heavily focused on “Hey, you guys are messed up, but we’re MORE messed up, so be scared of us.” The Greeks, with what their pantheon represented, was very arts and emotions focused. They interpret things like hubris, defiance against the gods, lust, ect. Hubris is a big one, most commonly portrayed with Achillies. He believed that he could live, and deny the fate which was set out for him, if he avoided following his whole prophecy “ur gonna die bro” thing. The gods didn’t like that!!

The greeks were very insistent on their idea of fate, which is what most myths follow. Gods deliver a prophecy, the guy who’s the butt of the joke in the prophecy tries to avoid prophecy, ends up butt of the joke. (Seriously, you think they’d stop warning them, right?)

The romans are different. Extremely different. Again, this is my throwaway “here’s what i think 🤓☝️!!!” because i admit that i do not know that much about roman mythology, entirely because it makes me so upset. Many myths from Greek times are so Romanized we get left with our current version of Medusa, who, in the original myth, was born a gorgon. Or Achillies, who, in his original myth, never had invulnerability. He was just quick yall..

The romans were very victory, war, order and rule-based, rather than the emotional and theatrical Greeks. This is best portrayed by their goddess of love, Venus. She represented, obviously, love; beauty; prosperity; fertility; and VICTORY. She also mothered Aeneas, who is a direct ancestor of the founders of rome. Romans held her in such a high regard because of this. They had a goddess literally named victory and they still worshiped her and prayed to her in hopes of a victory in battle. Her greek counterpart(??? cousin. They’re cousins now.) Her greek cousin, Aphrodite, more so represents Beauty, (beauty over love, that’s important) Love, PLEASURE, and procreation. See how those differ? Similar, but important differences.

None of this is even mentioning MYCENEAN Greece (dear gods, Mycenean Greece :/) which had nearly *checks notes* 600 years of a nearly entirely different pantheon that the Classical greek pantheon is based on, plus those 200 or so years of the greek dark ages? There’s just so much more rich, complex history behind the greek pantheon. And, yes, the romans were heavily influenced; And, yes, they carry a lot of similarities. However, the romans were after, with influence from more places than the greeks had. It’s kind of like when you take a character from a show and change him so much that he’s pretty much an OC now and you could write your own story with it and no one would ever notice.

Okay, this is getting long but i am also talking about my special interest (greek mythology) and my special dislike (roman mythology) and i haven’t gotten up and screamed from the rooftops yet, so i’m doing better than i normally would. She’s getting long, so i’ll see you next week!!!! I will (likely) either be speaking on the same topic or going back to Avatar.. undecided. Kiss kiss!! Byee!!

Disability and Media

Here today we talk about disability, how it is portrayed in the media, and why we should care.

While July is the official Disability Awareness Month, disabilities affect people all months of year, and we need to talk about it. Especially the representation in the media of people with different disabilities. Or shall I say, the lack thereof.

The disabled Flag represents the different types of disabilities and shows pride and support for those with disabilities.

Disabilities are varied and wide spectrum. We have broad categories for them, being physical, sensory, developmental, and psychiatric. Physical disabilities affect your mobility or motor functions. Cerebral Palsy, spinal injuries, and arthritis are common examples of physical disabilities. Developmental disabilities, like intellectual disability or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, affect cognitive functions, especially at a younger age. Psychiatric disorders are psychological conditions, like PTSD or bipolar or OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). Though these can get tricky, as the way they debilitate a person is not very well documented or taken seriously. Neurological disabilities affect the brain and nervous system, like a traumatic brain injury. Neurodevelopmental disabilities are commonly represented by ADHD and ADD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit disorder). Finally, we have sensory and learning disabilities. Sensory disorders consist of a disability that affects some sort of sense, such as blindness or deafness. Learning disorders, like dyslexia (reading difficulties) and dyscalculia (math difficulties) affect your learning process.

We’d think that, if we have so many different types of disabilities and disorders, we would have a better understanding of and acceptance towards disabled people. Unfortunately, due to negative stereotypes and ableist history, we still have so many misconceptions about those who are disabled. For example, not everyone who uses a wheelchair is paraplegic. While the statistics are inconclusive currently, it has been reported that up to 1/3 of wheelchair users are ambulatory. This means they still can move and walk with less assistance. Another misconception is that people who use canes or walkers are old, or that you can only develop physical disabilities later in life. Disabilities can be developed at any time in one’s life, and mobility aids can be needed at any point. So why do we depict disabilities as this rare, scary, and sad thing?

That’s another thing. The extreme depictions of disabilities. Either people who are disabled are depicted as hopeless and wish they weren’t disabled, or they’re a superhero and an inspiration. We are normal people. We have our good days, and our bad ones. We shouldn’t be reduced to one emotion because we are people with a wide and diverse variety of emotions. Or the extremities of psychiatric disorders. People with schizophrenia are considered dangerous and “insane”, people with bipolar disorder are “unstable and something you should fear”, or OCD is being the “neat freak”. These depictions are useless at best and harmful at worst because these disorders are a spectrum. We do not all depict disabilities the same way, just as no two people are alike. We need to start depicting disabled people and characters as what they are: people.

It also sucks, as someone who uses mobility aids, to have little to no accessibility in your daily life. Schools have barely any accommodation, and if they do have the occasional wheelchair ramp, it’s on the other side of the school. So, it gets to a point where it feels like the 1950s, where folks with mobility issues need to be “hidden from public view”. But with all systemic issues, the rights and support for people with disabilities are still new. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed in 1990 by President Bush. That’s only 34 years ago. So, architecture and medical information are still outdated and unavailable to people with disabilities. That’s also not to mention the discrimination against queer, afab, and people of color in disability spaces.

Disability affects about 1 in 6 people. Whether it be in the mind, body, or both, we all deserve respect and accommodation for our disabilities. We deserve to feel safe and comfortable in our bodies and shouldn’t be treated like we’re incompetent or a burden. Disabled people are still people and deserve to access quality medical care. So what could you do to help people around you with disabilities? The best thing you can do is ask what help they need. It can be nice to help them put something away or offer advice, but you need to always ask what would make the disabled person feel most welcome. If you’re holding events, please try to make them accessible. If someone has sensory disorders, make sure to add accommodations so they can experience everything too. I think people often think we want “special treatment”, but in reality, we want what everyone else wants: to be able to function and enjoy life.

Just remember that, if someone around you is disabled, treat them with respect and kindness. Treat others how you want to be treated, and please, for the love of God, do not push wheelchairs without asking.

New Deltarune Chapters Sent Me 10 Years Back

It’s only like me to start my senior year off with a Deltarune/Undertale blog. I have those two games to thank for my personality, passion for art, and my love for storytelling – and on a deeper note: for keeping me here and encouraging me to push through the toughest times in my life.

Deltarune chapters three and four were released on June 5th. I wasn’t able to play them for about two weeks since I had a writer’s workshop, vacation, and my first Comic-Con all in a row. But when I did finally play them, I went through something really strange.

As I was fully submerged in a self-established “Deltarune summer”, I felt something very familiar in my soul. I remember: I was listening to the new music, looking at and making fan art, reading people’s theories, and talking about it to friends. Suddenly, I felt like I was seven years old again in my Undertale phase. It was so strange. I had to check the date, look in the mirror, anything to make sure I hadn’t somehow slipped into 2015. Then I was so overwhelmed I threw up.

Yeah, not my best moment at all. But this feeling hit me like nothing else had in ten years. I’m not seven years old anymore watching Undertale animations, reading fan comics, or listening to the music preparing to enter middle school. I’m seventeen, graduating high school soon. Except I’m still doing everything I did with Undertale, just with Deltarune.

Everything is so different but at the same time, it’s not at all.

I’m aware most of my peers aren’t familiar with Deltarune or Undertale, I can only advise whoever hasn’t played either to play them. It’s just like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. And I’m no outlier, there’s an entire fanbase of at least one-hundred-thousand people that would say the same thing.

So why does Deltarune mean so much to me? Well the same reasons that Undertale does – but that’ll be covered in September’s blog since Undertale’s ten-year anniversary will be September 15th. Deltarune has incredible characters, one-of-a-kind music, and- …I’m realizing I’ve already written about this. It’s so interesting re-reading that blog – chapters three and four didn’t even have a release date and I had no idea what was coming.

I like Deltarune for all the reasons everyone else does, and October 2024 Stephanie did. But now, I’ve attached my entire being to that game. This is a pretty common thing I do when I really like something. Not only does it help me express myself, since all the media I love is a reflection of myself, but it also helps me feel like I’m appreciating the media for all of its worth. I’m actually really possessive in this way: my favorite color is pink, my favorite bug is a ladybug, my favorite show (that I even refer to as “my show”) is Common Side Effects, and my favorite game is Deltarune. I’m known for all of these things because I tie them so closely to my being. I may be possessive over Deltarune but I’m certainly not selfish over it. I’m constantly trying to get my friends to play it so I’m probably really annoying.

I’ve also been on a mission to heal my inner child before I graduate high school. So, like an extremely normal and mentally well seventeen-year-old does, I’ve been watching My Little Pony. And, in a really funny way, Deltarune shares a lot of similarities to My Little Pony. It’s kind of like my own teenage version of My Little Pony. Deltarune has huge themes of friendship, redemption, and conflict resolution through communication. Things also happen really quickly in the same way they do in the episodic form of My Little Pony. Kris and Susie, the two main characters, went from being enemies (?) to best friends in, at most, two days. Over the span of chapter one, Susie became open to talking problems out rather than immediately resorting to violence. And Ralsei, another one of the main characters, went from wanting to resolve everything through kindness to understanding when fighting is necessary over the span of four chapters, which was three in-game days. These are some extreme character developments over really short periods of time, kind of like how My Little Pony characters change so drastically in one episode while learning a sweet little message. And finally, the biggest reason I love Deltarune so much: Deltarune just has a lot of elements that I genuinely really enjoy.

Kris, the character we play as and/or (depending on who you ask) the protagonist, fits the description of my favorite kind of protagonists perfectly. Back in 2015, Frisk from Undertale was my favorite protagonist and they use they/them pronouns. Later in 2016, Sal Fisher from Sally Face was my favorite protagonist, mostly known for his bright blue hair. Kris fits both of these descriptions as they canonically use they/them pronouns and in the dark worlds, they have blue hair.

Deltarune also has huge themes of escapism, darkness (yes, the state of lighting), and alternate/parallel universes. As someone who used to chronically daydream, was deathly afraid of the dark, and is extremely interested in the idea of other universes, all of these are right up my alley.

And, finally, Deltarune uses the plot device of prophecies. This is my favorite thing ever, I’m so surprised I haven’t used prophecies in every single piece of my writing. For one, a prophecy can be used in so many different ways. It can be a simple statement that starts the story or even a title (for example, the book They Both Die at the End). It can be an actual fantastical prophecy (such as in the book The Song of Achilles). It can even be told in the way of generational trauma. It is so much fun to know how something will happen or end. The optimistic, hopeful side of you tries to believe it won’t happen, if it’s something terrible, or it will happen in a different way and then the truly human side of you just wants to see how it will happen.

(This paragraph will contain spoilers for Deltarune’s fourth chapter.) The way Deltarune uses prophecies as a plot device is, by far, my favorite. In chapter one, Ralsei, a fantastical mage-like character that only resides in the magical dark worlds, establishes a prophecy that him, Kris, and Susie will save the world from “The Roaring” – a catastrophe similar to the Rapture in the Bible. Specifically, he states the prophecy needs a human (Kris), a monster (Susie), and a prince from the dark (Ralsei). But in chapter four, released six real-life years later (!!!), the true prophecy is revealed straight from the source, which is the church since the prophecy is part of the religion of the town Deltarune takes place in. The prophecy needs a “cage with human soul and parts”, a “girl with hope crossed on her heart”, a “prince alone in deepest dark”, and a girl that “love finds its way to”. This version is, very clearly, a lot broader than the original we were introduced to in chapter one and it adds a completely new character (in my opinion)! And the final part of the prophecy that’s been tearing me apart since chapter four came out in June: the mysterious “final tragedy” that the main characters know about but us as players do not. This is such a unique way to use prophecies as a plot device and it inspires me so much in my own work.

There’s plenty of other smaller reasons I love Deltarune (like Noelle, who is a Christmas themed reindeer – I love Christmas themed anything) but those are the biggest ones and what truly keeps Deltarune so close to my heart. I really enjoyed writing this blog and dissecting my favorite parts of my favorite game. It helped me realize a lot of new things about myself and it helped me understand the writing of Deltarune on a higher level.

Thanks so much for reading if you did. Last year, my blogs were really fun and spilling with my own personality. I want to take a different approach now – you know, since I’m old and that means I’m a pretentious art student now and I have to be dramatic about all of my pieces. I’m kidding. Kind of.

Don’t read the old Deltarune blog too closely, there’s at least one typo that I somehow missed that’s eating me alive. Also paragraph three of this blog is a little dramatized, I knew I didn’t slip into 2015 but it absolutely felt that way. And I did unfortunately vomit… And when I briefly explained what “The Roaring” is (“a catastrophe similar to the Rapture in the Bible”), it reminded me of that one part from Snapcube’s Shadow the Hedgehog fandub with “the Devil from the Bible” and it made me giggle. Does my nicheness (that’s not even that niche) make you want to read more of my blogs? I hope so. Also do you like all of my links? I spent a lot of time on them.

Anyway, this blog was actually really emotional for me. I love Deltarune and I think I made that pretty clear. Remember to play or replay Undertale for its ten-year anniversary next month.

My Love-Hate Relationship With “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (The Movie) Part One

As many of you are familiar with, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” was a series of scary short stories written by Alvin Schwartz and released in various forms over the years. You’ve probably heard a story from these books, whether you know it or not. These were the type of scary stories that got passed around through elementary schools, all slightly different retellings and all under the pretense that the stories were true. These stories have always held a special place in my heart, so imagine my surprise when, in 2021, I discovered a movie adaptation of the books already existed.

In 2019, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released. André Øverdal, probably best known for his movie The Autopsy of Jane Doe, directed this film. Guillermo del Toro helped produce this movie, one of my personal favorite filmmakers of all time. His more popular works include Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, as well as his work on The Hobbit films. Two extremely talented horror and sci-fi artists got together to produce an adaptation of the popular scary stories book trilogy and what they created was… definitely something.

I want to start off this movie review by saying that I absolutely love this movie, probably more than most people did. I’ve been obsessed with it for the past four years. I’ve been obsessed with the actors and their other works as well. I’ve put a lot of mental space into thinking about this film. That is why I feel entitled to criticize the plot holes, concerning age gap relationships, misused politicism, and missed opportunity for an amazing sequel. I have an entire script in mind for a second movie so if anyone knows how to get in touch with Andre Overdal, that would be much appreciated.

The movie starts out with a short introduction of sorts from our main character, Stella. She makes a point to mention the importance of stories and how they can change your life. In the grand scheme of things, this introduction isn’t needed. It feels really cliche and also makes it feel that you’re about to watch a kids version of a horror movie, despite the PG-13 rating. I personally think they should’ve committed to an R rated horror movie, because then they wouldn’t have felt the need to have moments like this that cater to a younger audience.

We are introduced to Stella as she bikes around her small town on a random day in the fall. The movie is set in the 1960s, and we are shown that through the characters’ wardrobe, appearance of cars and building, but most importantly, political propaganda. This leads to my second issue; politics are thrown around as a sort of C-plot in this movie and it comes off very weak. I would’ve loved if they dwelled more on the politics of the era at the time, but it almost feels like the political topics were included as an afterthought, and in a very lazy manner. For example, the next character we’re introduced to is Ramon. Ramon is a Mexican American who is fleeing the draft after his brother died in battle. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the horrible reality that was the Vietnam war, and how many young people lost their lives during battle. However, this whole aspect of his character is pushed to the side as the supernatural aspects of the movie come into play.

Ramon’s character is extremely difficult for me to decide my feelings on. For one, he is obviously eighteen or older if he is being drafted by the military, yet he is supposed to be Stella’s love interest despite the fact that Stella is, at most, 16. I know that’s only a two year hypothetical age gap, but there’s a lot more about their relationship that bothers me. For one, he owns a car, is actively on the run and living on his own, and is extremely vague and secretive about his past. There’s a scene where Stella talks about how she dreams of leaving her small town and going to the big city to pursue writing. Ramon immediately shuts that down and says the city is bad. Later on in the movie he also snoops through her things and starts reading her journals?? On top of that, he is very controlling throughout the movie, despite having just met all of the characters. I want to root for Ramon, especially given that he’s the only person of color in this movie, but he is a weirdo the entire movie and it irks me to my core.

Back on the timeline, we get to meet Stella’s two closest friends, Chuck and Auggie. These two are the epitome of the black cat and golden retriever duo. Chuck is a prankster, a jokester, a class clown if you will. Auggie is extremely serious, stone-faced, and pessimistic. At this point in the movie, we also get to see into their homes and we are shown how different all of the characters’ lives are. Chuck lives in a cramped, messier home with his mom and older sister, Ruth. His palette throughout the movie includes a range of colors, patterns and textures; his house, on the other hand, is very darkly lit and decorated. Auggie’s home is large and spacious, with brighter colors and symmetrical decoration. He lives with his mother and step father, who he has a strained relationship with. Stella lives in a small and cramped home with her father, though her home seems much more comfortable than Chuck’s. The rooms are lit with warm lights and warm colors, a contrast to the dark lighting and muted colors of Chuck’s house. I could go on and on about the fantastic set design and wardrobe of this movie as well as the implications of those things, but that is for another time.

Stella, Auggie, and Chuck are all getting ready for Halloween, despite being highschoolers. It’s not clear how old they are exactly, but they’re not seniors. I know that because Ruth, Chuck’s older sister, is a senior and her football boyfriend, Tommy, is also a senior. Tommy is one of this movie’s non-monster antagonists. He’s super racist towards Ramon, abusive to his girlfriend, and just a cartoonishly evil high school bully to everyone else. On top of that, he’s played by Austin Abrams (one of my favorite actors of my generation), who does an amazing job with whatever role he’s given. The acting in this movie ranges from really amazing to mediocre at best. For example, the racist cop is a very one dimensional character and it’s clear that the actor did the best he could with what he had. There are also a lot of tense scenes throughout the movie that certain actors and actresses had a difficult time with. There are plenty of reasons that might explain why the acting wasn’t top tier, but at the end of the day, it’s still extremely confusing (and pretty hilarious) to see a character remain pretty stone faced after their best friends just died.

Anyways, back to the timeline, the three main characters get dressed up for halloween and go trick-or-treating. The whole reason they’re doing this is so they can prank the school bully, Tommy (Ruth’s boyfriend. Keep up, guys), by throwing a bag of flaming shit into his car. They end up getting chased by Tommy and his goons into a drive-in theater where they have to hide behind rows of cars. They end up seeing Ramon in his car and, for some reason, Stella open’s Ramon’s passenger side door and hops in. Does she know him? Nope. Do Chuck and Auggie follow right behind her? Yup. If I was Ramon, I would’ve lost my mind. To be fair, he is upset about Chuck and Auggie being there, but he was happy that Stella was there. He started blushing and got all nervous- like what?? I don’t care how hot someone is- if they break into my car, I’m losing my mind on them.

Anyways, Ramon doesn’t have any survival instincts and that becomes more and more clear throughout the film. He ends up defending the three from Tommy, and they all decide to leave the drive-in theater and drive to a spooky old house in the middle of nowhere. This is when we’re introduced to the main supernatural elements of this movie. This old house was owned by the Bellows family, a wealthy family who helped put their town on the map. However, legend says that the Bellows had a secret daughter, named Sarah, that they hid away because she was so… ugly? It’s not exactly clear what about her was so off putting- I believe she had albinism, but that is never directly said in the movie. It is how she is portrayed, though. Anyways, legend says that Sarah Bellows would write these stories that she would read the kids in the town through a pipe or hole in the wall that led out of the house. It’s also kinda unclear how she was able to read to these kids if she was locked away… but she’s magic so who cares. Anyways, the Bellows family found out she was reading to kids and they got super mad and tried to punish her, but legend says she ended up massacring her family. Good for her, they all sucked.

Like any teenagers in a horror movie, the main four decide to break into the old haunted house. Almost immediately, Chuck and Auggie run off together. Considering it was the sixties, they never made it canon that the two of them were in love, but they were. This is another detail of this movie I could go on and on about, but I’ll save that for another time. Anyways, Stella and Ramon explore the house together and end up finding the secret room where the Bellows family kept Sarah Bellows hostage. Auggie and Chuck are upstairs at this point, playing hide and seek. Chuck hides in a closet (like come on…) but he suddenly sees light coming from the other side. He opens in slowly and finds that the old room he once was in was now restored to its original form. There is a large bed in the middle of the room, and an old woman sits on it with her giant dog. They stare at him- he gets scared and slams the closet doors. Auggie eventually finds him and teases him about freaking out, but Chuck is ready to get the hell out of there- and I don’t blame him. However, he and Auggie end up joining Stella and Ramon in the secret basement room.

Okay, considering I’m barely a fourth into the movie recap and I’m already nearing 2000 words, I’m gonna call it here. Next week will be part two- Hopefully I can be more productive in that part and less ramble-y. Anyways, thank you for joining me on this ride. If you are at all interested in this movie and have never seen it, PLEASE watch it. The only reason I like picking this movie apart so much is because of how much I love it. Also, if you’re interested in any of the mini tangents I went on in here and want me to expand on them, feel free to let me know! I could talk about this movie for literal years.

Halloween from a Cosplayer’s Perspective

Halloween is the one night a year a cosplayer can cosplay in public and not be stared at, laughed at, or generally ridiculed. Cosplay has definitely become more mainstream over the last few years, but as someone who’s been in cosplay communities since the early 2010s, it has not alway been this peachy. There has always been confusion in where the line is drawn between cosplay and simply dressing up, but I’m here to explain it (at least from my own opinion and experiences).

I’ve seen a lot of people using the term “cosplay” to refer to basically any form of acting like or dressing up as something. For instance, when Carhartt clothes grew popular amongst more wealthy people, many used the phrase “cosplaying blue collar” to describe their style. Another example is when “underconsumption core” became a popular idea on Tik Tok, many wealthy creators were called out for “cosplaying poverty” because they were taking many things that lower class families have to do to get by and reframing them as aesthetic.

I hate that cosplay is being thrown around like this. First of all, it’s not the correct use of the word. I suggest using “roleplaying as ___” or simply “pretending to be ___”. Secondly, the term cosplay was created with the Japanese word “kosupure” in mind, which means “costume play” in English. Kosupure refers to a specific performance art of dressing up as characters from media. It’s not “costume play” if someone isn’t dressing as a character… I could go on this rant forever. Stop using “cosplay” when you mean something entirely different.

Rant over, let’s talk about Halloween. So what’s the difference between cosplay and dressing up on halloween? Ultimately, not much. In my opinion, the key difference is the motivation for dressing up. Cosplay is tied to 80s-90s nerd/geek culture and began as a form of self expression and a way to show one’s dedication to a character/piece of media. For many years, cosplayers crafted their own cosplays and props and many still do today. You can still be a cosplayer if you don’t make your entire piece on your own, but cosplay’s origins almost always portray cosplay as just as much of a craft as it is a hobby. On Halloween, you might build your entire costume and dress up as that specific character because you love them dearly, but this is when you need to ask yourself an important question: Would you be doing this if it wasn’t Halloween? If the answer is no, I believe that is the key factor separating cosplay and Halloween costumes. If the answer is yes, then you should! You don’t have to post about it or anything, just have fun as your favorite character. I hope to see you at the next local cosplay convention.

Surprises in Unlikely Places

Last weekend my family and I were deep cleaning our house in preparation for a party. My grandfather’s birthday is October 27th and we’ve agreed to host his birthday dinner at our house. We aren’t necessarily messy people, but we’re a family of four creatives who also have issues with hoarding sentimental objects so our main issue is organization. My dad and I were focused on moving things to storage that no longer needed to be at our house while my sibling and mom focused on cleaning the inside and fixing up some broken appliances.

My dad and I spent most of our time outside on the side porch. There were two large boxes full of cleaning supplies, caked in dust and grime. After going through them, most were things my mom had been looking for and they were quickly re-organized inside where they belong. There were also two medium sized containers of pet treatments, all of which were 10 or more years old. To my dad’s disappointment, we had to throw away at least one full bottle of flea treatment.

Once the side porch was cleared of all unnecessary things, my dad swept and dusted as best he could. Later, my sibling and I helped my dad move an outside table from the front porch to the newly cleaned side porch. While we were moving the table, we decided to finally open the large, industrial freezer-shaped box that sits in the corner of the porch. We hadn’t opened it because we assumed it was more outside items that needed to be there, but our curiosity got the best of us. There were a load of unlabeled boxes and bags, none of which needed to sit outside any longer. My dad started rifling through one of the boxes and found a bunch of plates, napkins, utensils, and decorations for a birthday party. We immediately decided to store them for my grandad’s upcoming party.

My dad pulled out a drawstring bag that had my deadname written on it and handed it to me as he continued to rifle through the trunk. I opened the bag and found at least half of a collection that I had convinced myself I’d lost years ago. Deep in this dirty bag, buried in a trunk out on my porch for the past however many years- my Monster High dolls. There were a few Ever After High dolls and even one My Little Pony doll as well. I was hit with immediate excitement, nostalgia, and indescribable joy. I took the bag inside to begin sorting through what all was in there. It was not my complete collection, but it gave me the confidence that I would find the rest of them.

First

This is my first post on this blog. There’s a lot of expectations for doing something the “first time,” whether by someone else or yourself.

Part of me is worried; I feel like I’ll start thinking too much and then I’ll never have this post done.

But another part of me is just telling me to go for it- to cast all my worries and doubts and anxiety aside and just do what I need to do.

Every day can be a struggle for someone like me. I care too much, yet I care too little as well. Does that make any sort of sense? I don’t really know.

But I’ve gotten off track. Like I always do with these kinds of things. I end up getting sidetracked by a tangent, and then I don’t remember what I was talking about in the first place. Right now is a prime example, really. I started off by voicing my concerns for having too much expectations for myself.

I feel like I think myself in circles. If I start thinking about my anxiety, I start focusing on it, and that just makes me more anxious. My expectations are too high for myself, I suppose. Or maybe they’re not high enough.

I could talk about all the times that I’ve had to things for the first time, or talk about all the times I’ve had too high expectations for myself; but I would just be distracting myself, and those who are reading this.

I don’t know.

I just want to remind myself that it’s okay to be anxious about doing something for the first time. That everyone feels this kind of anxiety at one point or another- that every person on the earth has had expectations put on themselves by others, or even themselves, like I do so often. I tell myself these things all the time, but I have a hard time listening to myself, even on my “good” days when my anxiety has thankfully left me alone for a little while.

I feel like I don’t listen to myself way too much for my own good. I tell myself, “Hey, you need to get up and go do things that are important,” but I usually end up ignoring it and then I’m rushing to go out the door in the morning. Maybe that’s the root of my anxiety. Maybe it’s just because I have a hard time doing things that are healthy for me to do. Maybe it’s all because I can’t just tell myself to not worry so much.

Or maybe it’s something I couldn’t escape, even if I tried.