(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.~~

Greek Myths!!

I’mmmmm gonna talk about Greek mythology.

(TRIGGER WARNING: a VERY brief mention of abuse, Everything that goes along with the Medusa Myth (Sexual Assault), and generally just stuff that happens in Greek mythology. Please read at your own risk.)

This is going to be a very very unorganized post about how to properly interpret myths, or at least the way EYE interpret myths because that is the only possible correct way because I am always right and everyone should listen to me!

READ THE OLDEST VERSION OF THE MYTH.

A LOT of myths have lost their meanings over time, including figures throughout the story, meanings, details that change the ENTIRETY of the myth, they’ve been romanized (heracles/Hercules, and MEDUSA, for example), or they’ve been changed to fit perspectives for modern retellings (Icarus, Hades and Persephone, the Minotaur… ect, ect.) A good rule of thumb (not-so-fun fact: the term ‘rule of thumb’ comes from either an old law or just a general rule from the olden days, when women were more objects than people, that a husband could not beat his wife with a switch thicker than his thumb, lest it be unlawful/cruel (more cruel than unlawful)) is to just look for the oldest version you can find, because that’s. like. The source material, and you can do whatever you want with that.

I’m going to go over a few (ish) myths and MY interpretations of them, vs. what people get wrong in general.

My personal favorite: The Myth of Icarus

(I had to give my girl a shirt, but this is my FAVORITE piece of icarus. it’s called Icarus’ lament, or the lament of icarus or something like that. It’s so good. Please look it up.)

People LOVE to throw my boy’s good name around when talking about a fall from greatness, or your ‘pride getting the best of you’. I hate this. I actually despise this.

The myth of Icarus (Ἴκαρος (Ikaros) is his original name. Fun Fact: Greeks did not have a letter for C. they used S or K. Be more like the greeks.) follows a young boy, who people depict being from literally age 8 to 17. The only source I could find that could possibly talk about his age said he was 7, but it was also a deepdive into how the myth of Icarus relates to gaming and how we should all play valorant because of it. I’ll pass.0

Icarus’ father, Deadalus, was a great inventor trapped in a tower by king Minos, ruler of Crete, because something something labyrinth, something something Minotaur. Don’t care. Irrelevant (extremely relevant). Long story short, Daedalus fashions wings of feathers and wax, a pair for both him and icarus, and he and Icarus jump from the top of the tower to escape. They manage to fly with the wings. it’s more like gliding but I digress. He tells icarus not to fly too close to the sun or too close to the sea, because the wax would melt or the wings would get too heavy to fly with.

This, of course, is where the myth splits off. Most Greek myths are cautionary tales, yes, to warn of the Gods’ wrath. Fire. Love to see it. The most common telling of this myth is that, when Icarus gets out there, he gets so excited and overcome with joy for being free that he feels like a god. He looks at the sun and flies to it, believing that he is better than the gods. He scorns them. But as he flies to the sun the wax begins to melt and he falls, laughing the whole time. He dies, and Daedalus had to keep flying knowing that his son has died. This is a cautionary tale to warn against believing you are better than the gods, “flying too close to the sun” aka aiming too high and falling hard. It warns against hubris and unchecked ambition.

That’s literally not what happens. That’s the ROMAN version of the myth. Ancient Romans ruin everything.

What REALLY happened (Homer told me guys, trust) is that, while Icarus was flying, he was so overcome with joy that he felt the best he ever had. That’s, like, it. However, while Daedalus warns him not to fly too high or too low, he also warns Icarus not to fly too slow. The sky is like the gods’ airspace. They’ll be really mad. Daedalus was right, of course, because Zeus sees them flying and gets REALLY mad. He sees Icarus being happy, sure, but it’s Daedalus who has violated him and the gods by fashioning those wings. Zeus, set out to punish Daedalus, either gets Aphrodite to curse Icarus or Zeus does it himself.

They curse him to fall in love with the sun.

“IT’S GAY!!” I scream as they drag me to the padded room. “IT’S ALWAYS GAY!!” I scream as they put me in the straight jacket.

Not only is the sun, like, a male god (Both Apollo, the god of the sun, and Helios, the embodiment of the sun, are male) but that has NOTHING to do with pride. Icarus flies up to the sun, because he’s enchanted by it’s beauty and in love or whatever, and eventually crashes and burns and dies. The end!! Proper punishment for his father, because he, like, still has to live with knowing his son’s death is his fault AND fly back alone. This is me paraphrasing like crazy, the actual myth is incredibly beautiful, but this is a LOT of words as is.

Next myth, actual most popular: Medusa.

(I cannot find a picture of a statue of her that isn’t her beheaded, naked, being attacked, or AI. I am so sorry. However, the most popular statue of her is one where she’s been beheaded by perseus, and it’s SO beautiful. one of the pieces i’d love to see in real life one day. An artist made a parody of it where Medusa is holding perseus’ head as well and it’s just beautiful art. Beautiful art. oh em gosh.)

She was a gorgon. She was. Like. Born a gorgon.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Medusa myth. I love how we have, in modern times, changed it to make it better and more heartwarming. Pretty sure everyone knows the Medusa Myth. Poseidon, in his anger towards Athena and in some tellings after rejection of his advancements by the virgin priestess of athena, medusa, begins chasing after the priestess. Medusa, in fear, runs to temple of Athena and begins praying for protection, but Poseidon enters and sexually assaults her anyways. Athena, having been prayed to, sees this and curses Medusa to be a gorgon who turns anyone who looks at her to stone.

That’s a really horrible myth, and Medusa has become a symbol of sexual assault survivors worldwide. That, however, is the ROMAN version of the myth. Again. The writer of that myth was a man, who I’m pretty sure was post cathlioc takeover of rome, who wanted to scorn paganism in all forms by depicting all of the Greek gods in horrible ways. Like Athena punishing one of her own priestesses for being assaulted. Or Poseidon raping a woman. Though, I personally enjoy the modern telling of the myth as well, In which Athena sees what man does to woman uses the “Curse” more like a blessing, allowing Medusa to protect herself. And, in the original telling either way, Medusa’s ability only worked on men or whatever.

The GREEK version, though, she was just born a gorgon. And could turn people to stone. She had, like, two gorgon sisters. Perseus really killed her for points. The ability still worked only on men, though.

That’s two myths of, like, four that I mentioned? You get the rest next week. Bye bye!!! PLEASE ask me questions, literally ANY question!!!! I HEART INFODUMPING!!!!

The Path, Wicther Lore part 1. The life of a Witcher.

If you remember in my first blog that I said I was currently collecting all the books, well I still am. So since the books slowly ease into the Witcher Three, the best “lore” I can give you is background knowledge on who he is, what he is, what he does, and all other characters related to him.

Who and What is Geralt of Rivia?

As you have heard me explain time and time again, Geralt is a hunter monster/humans. Taking on various contracts from his travels or also known as The Path. Where young witchers graduate from their selected schools and finally fly solo after gruesome years of rigorous and very deadly training. Often times a lot of people ask how they first become a Witcher or how they arrive to the schools in the first place.

Geralt, like many other young boys, were either taken or GIVEN to the passing Witchers masters who had graduated their latest trained Witchers to find the new generation train. Before Geralt’s time, the Witcher recruitment was not ideal. On many occasions it wasn’t up to the families whether or not they get to keep their son, they simply would take him and if the boys parents got in the way they’d not hesitate homicide and take the boy.

This is what lead to the ruining of the Witcher brand. Anyone who was Witcher was seen as an immediate killer and shunned by the populace of city’s and small towns but are smiled upon if they’re really doing their jobs and not lying for coin..sadly there were some who did this…. What’s even worse, is that those families who were murdered, and if their son became a Witcher, it was more likely for that boy to do the same to another family.

How Geralt became a Witcher starts as a boy. Actually, he wasn’t taken as boy but given to the Witchers within the mountain fortress Kaer Morhen (care-more-hen) The witchers home to the School of the Wolf where he would train along side many other boys under the teachings of the great Witcher Vesemir. Vesemir wasn’t the typical, stoic Witcher, but a more humorous one at that. He had his moments though.

Vesemir taught these boys traditionally and in his own way. The two “brothers” Geralt trained beside were Lambert and Eskel. (I’d put pictures but my laptops acting up rn-)

Vesemir would become a well respected father figure to those who’ve read the Witcher books and definitely played the games. The relationship he has with these three boys was as deep as it emotionally could get. And I mean that literally.

The process in which takes place from boy to Witcher is an extremely dangerous one if not done correctly or if the boy is too weak enough. The brutal and very life threatening training these boys go through is not for nothing. The mutation completely alters the anatomy and biology of the young kids as well as emotionally.

Witchers loose their emotions almost entirely. Or so some thought. Geralt’s really a compassionate guy, he is a step-father after all. (That’s for part 2 tho.)

Witchers are also STERILE meaning they cant have biological children and uhm…for Geralt’s case that’s a good thing…

Geralt’s overall past is pretty well hidden behind closed doors for me right now because I am DYING to read the books so bad but I don’t have them all yet!!!!

Its sad times ladies and gentlemen…sad times…

Welcome Back to the show

Hello again literary, blog readers, aliens or whatever you are I’m Quentin or Que you may remember me from a variety of blogs where I either review shows/ anime or give book reviews or my favorite thing which is telling all you lovely people my favorite characters and why i like them so much and I thought for my first senior blog I would reintroduce show reviews and the crowd goes wild! HAAAA.

Yes, you’re very excited and ready to start but first I just want to thank everyone that comments under my blog post and if you all have any suggestions, please feel free to recommend them below. For the first blog i will Be doing it on “This Is Us”

Now I know most of you have probably seen this or seen clips of it from Tik Tok, but I wouldn’t be a good umm what am I actually i guess I’m a blogger… any who this story is about 3 siblings “Kate”, “Randell”, and “Kevin” and their messed up adulthood and childhood and how their childhood influenced their adulthood. Each episode is dedicated to a member of the family and their family/relationships and a memory from their childhood that explains why their like that. Now I decided to make this a little bit different from how I things before did first of for this blog i will be explain the premise of the first episodes then I will be explaining each character and how I feel about them Blah Blah Blah.

1×1 “Pilot”

So, we start the showoff at a very wild point I can’t really say more about it all I can say is that

it was his birthday “the father” and she was dancing for him “mother” until suddenly her water breaks during the dancing and of course they are rushed to the hospital but the doctor that they were werking with during the pregnacy appendix burst so they switched doctors to this guy.

i forgot his name so we will just call him dr that seems appropriate but anyway they send her to surgery and extracted the babies there are 3 but one of them got subtracted if u catch my drift. Now the couple were planning for 3 babies not two but 3 and the father said he was going to get that third baby and he decided to go baby shopping at the Nicu and low and behold there it was a baby that was left at a fire station.

i will give you 50$ if you can guess who’s adopted but no cheating.

if u guessed the middle, you are so very wrong of course it’s the black baby

but this is how we are introduced to the Big three

Randall the black one Kate the girl Kevin the words I’m not allowed to say

I’m not goanna explain everything because I don’t wanna but I will explain everyone’s conflict but before that on the first episode it is everyone birthday since their twins plus Randall.

Kate

So, when we first see Kate when can see Shes insecure about her weight which is obvious for the sticky notes around the house that tells her not to eat her birthday cake or something else that i can quite make out but it’s there. We then see her go to a weight loss meeting where she basically disregards everyone else’s problems which you will be seeing a lot of like a lot but at least we get to meet Toby

who is the most obvious person ever and he is head over heels over that she devils. The start talking and get into the talking stage of any romance they even go on a date, but Kate is pulled away from the date and starts to berate toby with her problems in which he offers a solution, but she doesn’t take it instead her brother makes the decision for her and fires her. and that’s really it for her.

Kevin

the most spoiled person ever Kevin. We start off the story to him sleeping with two women at the same time which follows him going through a Mid-life Crisis in which he goes to the tv show set he is in and have a breakdown curing the director and the audience in the break down. oh, I forgot to mention he is an actor on the show Mananny. Obviously, he gets fired and when he realized that he got fired he goes to Kate, they talk it out blah blah he decides to go to the company that hired him so he can get out of his contract but that’s next episode. the episode ends in him firing Kate so she can finally live her life and not be so dependent on him. I hate this guy

Randall

We start off with him selling weather which is confusing but go off. While he is working, he tracks down his birthfather and contemplates confronting him, so he tells his wife at their daughter’s soccer game

she says he should do it, and he goes and does it but I will say that Randall doesn’t contact his siblings at all this episode. i love this family and their dynamics especially Beth the wife and i would like Randall to but the actor is homophobic… so yeah.

Ok that’s the first episode in a nutshell i will catch you all on the next one peace.

Nirvana Deep Dive: Bleach

This series of blog posts is about the instrumentation behind All four of Nirvanas albums the three studio albums in Bleach, Nevermind and In Utero and the compilation album Incestiscide and depending on the reception of the series Unplugged will get a nod.

The Bleach era (1988-1989) featured Guitarist Jason Everman, Drummer Chad Channing (and occasionally Dale Crover of The Melvins), Bassist Krist Novoselic, lead guitarist and Singer Kurt Cobain. Oddly Jason Everman doesn’t appear once on Bleach recording. He paid to produce the album thus getting him a writer’s credit. The trio of Kurt Krist and Dale Crover would hit the studio in late 1988 to start work on Bleach with producer Jack Endino the songs Downer, Papercuts and Floyd The Barber would be completed and though an attempt to rerecord with Chad Channing came about the three ultimately decided to leave Dales original tracks as is. Every other song has Chad Channing in full force playing away.

The odd sound of Bleach comes from the cheap recording equipment used. The band was taped on a eight track and played every song live overdubbing in the post stages (which Kurt hated with passion). The setup for Bleach’s studio recording is as follows: Track one Chads Kick Drum Track two his snare and hi-hat recorded on an overhead place on a boom arm about 5-10 feet above the actual drumkit. Track Three has his floor tom with the microphone passing under the drum’s resonator head on the bottom. Track Four a mic for his tom 1 drum directly attached. Track Five was Krist’s bass and mic up of his amp placed in the same room as the other instruments and at times you can hear blead through from other things happening in the room. Track Six was Kurt’s vocal then track seven was Kurt’s guitar and Track Eight was free for either one vocal or guitar overdub which most times would be a rhythm guitar part that Jason Everman would play live. This in turn is also due to Nirvanas style being very noise rock adjacent at the time.

Bleach had a troubling process to begin the record label Nirvana was signed to at the time Sub-Pop was trying hard to stay afloat and thus couldn’t afford to pay the studio time necessary to record Bleach. So, Jason Everman the newest member of the band after Chad paid the entirety of the money necessary to produce and publish the Album. Granted he would tour with the band for the duration of their North American tour before being fired and joining Soundgarden.

“Blew” A more sludge metal take with the growly low distorted bass and aggressive guitar dives creates a song that invokes a sense of violence almost. Plus, Chad Channing delivers a impressive triplet groove that slides around the kit and makes it poppy. The bass growls on the opening track as well creating a heavy mosh sound.

“Floyd the Barber” is a heavier sludgy song through and through. Aggressive distortion meets bad production equipment. A lot of bleach is punk rock and the lead off track starts us right, Kurt uses a mixture of guitars most importantly a Mosrite guitar with two large humbuckers in the neck and bridge position. Which creates loud and almost oscillating tones.

“About a girl” Kurts Beatles song. Growing up Kurt Cobain was quite a Beatles friend and even as he got older and rowdier he found solace in Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper even so much as so constantly playing the song in Tracy Marander’s apartment to whom the song is about. The song is played with a very clean Strat sounding guitar with distortion on the solo. Alternatively, Chad Channing’s drum part is very rhythmic and matches the bass line.

“School” is a noise rock song and seemingly uses a fuzz effect as when I attempt to recreate the sound whenever I play my fuzz pedal does better than my distortion box. Also, the rhythm guitar part fills out the main chord progression of the song under the lead part a clever and very subtle use of that elusive Eighth track available to record with.

“Love Buzz” is well a burst of sound the guitars are tuned up a half step higher than normal and for a band that typically drop tunes a weird, distorted sound comes out. Kurt’s guitar almost sounds metallic clanking together, while the Bass seems uncharacteristically low and eerie. The drumming is fantastic as the pace of the song is fast and hard to miss. The guitar solo features the rhythmic strums of a A major chord.

“Paper Cuts” this track is heavy dark gloomy and scratchy it fits a certain aura that is just the right amount of painful noisy rock mixed with a slight cleanliness of production plus Dale Crover leads a hard and powerful drum track for the ages. Kurt did overdub with a feedback noise with his guitar close to his amp.

“Negative Creep” is a song mostly composed of power slides, a technique where one strums an open string grab said string and slides up or down the fret board. This technique creates slight dissonance and harmonic screeches. Which happens whether accidentally or attentionally.

My top listens are.

Downer

Negative Creep

Love Buzz

Blew

Please leave music recommendations in the comments.

Nirvana series: Bleach Deep Dive.

This series of blog posts is about the instrumentation behind All four of Nirvanas albums the three studio albums in Bleach, Never mind and In Utero and the compilation album Incestiscide and depending on the reception of the series Unplugged will get a nod.

So starting off with Bleach (1988-1990) the Lineup of this era of Nirvana featured Guitarist Jason Everman and Backup singer Drummer Chad Channing ( and ocassionally Dale Crover of The Melvins) Bassist Krist Novosleic and Frontmand lead guitarist and Singer Kurt Cobain. Oddly Jason Everman doesn’t actually appear once on Bleach he paid for the production of the album thus getting him a writers credit. The trio of Kurt Krist and Dale Crover would hit the studio in late 1988 to start work on Bleach with producer Jack Endino the songs Downer, Papercuts and Floyd The Barber would be completed and though a attempt to rerecord with Chad came about the three ultimately decided to leave Dales original tracks as is. Every other song has Chad Channing in full force playing away. The odd sound of Bleach comes from the cheap recording style. The band was taped on a eight track and played every song live overdubbing in the post stages (which Kurt hated with a passion). The setup for Bleach’s studio recording is as follows: Track one Chads Kick Drum Track two his snare and hi hat recorded on a overhead mic track three his floor tom track four a mic for his tom 1 drum. Track five was Krists bass and mic up of his bass. Track Six was Kurts vocal then track seven was Kurts guitar and track eight was free for either one vocal or guitar overdub.

So as you can see Bleach had a troubling process to begin with but that didn’t deture the artistry of the group. The opening track “Blew” A more sludge Sludge metal take with the growly low distorted bass and aggressive guitar dives creates a song that invokes a sense of violence almost. Plus Chad Channing delivers a impressive triplet groove that slides around the kit and makes it really poppy. Eventually when Dave Grohl took over his power filled this song out live. The second song on the album is “Floyd the Barber” based on Floyd Lawton from the extremely popular Andy Grififth Show giving a darker take on the character. The song details Kurt walking into a barbershop expecting a haircut only to be subsequently tortured and murdered. “Floyd The Barber” instrumentally is dark and gritty Dale Crover of The Melvins recorded this song and gives a strong almost tribal beat paired with the harsh distortion and harmonic breaks mostly added and fixed in post by producer Jack Endino. Krists bass takes a lower seat holding a more funk inspired groove that Jack Endino would spruce up on the back end. “About a girl” Kurts beattle song was slower cleaner song about Kurts current long time girlfriend Tracy Mirander the song uses a true less is more approach. The lyrics are memorable digestable and feature a couple of recording quirks Kurt used a vocal overdub that usaully would have been a double track of his main guitar. “ School” is a noise rock song through and through the guitar over dub is strong on this one and pops out over the main track at times.

“Love Buzz” is the best noisy song on this album it has a explosion on sound at points with Kurt and Krists tuned up a half step the guitar scratches and yells at you with the nice instrumental pause to let the frantic low baritone vocals of Kurt Cobain just creep at you before a long scream of pure pleasure. A BUZZING sound is heard on the main guitar track as Kurt uses his boss ds-1 one a distortion sound box that creates a fuzzy banshee effect when turned up to the proper settings. Overall I’m buzzing with love over this track its quintessential Nirvana. You ever like hurt your hand on a piece of printer paper that weirdly shallow yet deep cut that stings even longer. Well if not you can listen to “Paper Cuts” this track is heavy dark gloomy and scratchy it fits a certain aura that is just the right amount of painful noisy rock mixed with a slight cleanliness of production plus Dale Crover leads a hard and powerful drum track for the ages. Kurt did overdub with a feedback noise with his guitar close to his amp. Its on to the B side of the album.

“Negative Creep” is sliding friendly full of powerful bass line Krist layed down fits the groove and pocket of Chad Channing plus a vocal overdub was instituted to help flesh out the singing. “Scoff” is just that a scoff in your face as it isn’t my favorite song yes it is a deep cut but its not my favorite. I do enjoy the snare floor tom eigth note grove but beyond that it loses flavor. “Swap Meet” is loud and noisy and required a few reruns to get it right but I love it and the few live versions were pretty good. The next song on the list is “Mr. Moustache” which is very very difficult to play as a guitarist. The song is captivatingly confusing and the drum part is winding the the count on the ride seemingly switches with the snare at points. “Sifting” is slow and sludgey and possibly the most sludge metal song on the album. The drop tuned guitars and high tom centered groove on the drums add a large amount of punch and the bass line is amazingly good it is five minutes though so it runs kind of long eith some repitition. “Big Cheese” is a pop metal song at its heart the faster jumpy fill based drums and long ride cymbal bell taps add a lot to the song. The final song from the original 1989 Bleach release is downer and last is definetely not least. By far the shortes song is a pretty good representation of future Nirvana ( so is “About a girl”) which leads it to be a good listen and this song was only recorded in three takes with Dale Crover drumming.

Overall Bleach is good my top listens are.

Floyd The Barbar

About A Girl

Downer

Negative creep.

Why Viva Pinata was Revolutionary

Viva Piñata. You don’t know em, but you’ll probably love em! Viva Piñata is a video game (and a TV franchise, fun fact!) that was created by Microsoft and Rare. Its universe is full of living piñata animals, with various personalities, that you can collect and care for! They interact with each other, some getting into fights and even eating each other in a hunter-prey dynamic. You grow different plants to attract different pinatas, and even build houses for them!

So what’s so special about this game? Well, it’s an XBOX 360 classic from 2006, meaning it was competing with titles like the Spyro the Dragon franchise and the first LEGO Star Wars games. Big and exciting things were coming out in 2006 for the 360, and Viva Piñata was no different. It contained over 60 different animals, each with unique models, with some even having variants. You also have several systems, like hatching eggs and watering, and fertilizing plants. You can interact with multiple different townsfolk with different shops and dialogue. Now, in the big age of 2025, with games like GTA and Monster Hunter, and Minecraft, these don’t seem impressive. But when we look at how this game was only 10 years after the shift to 3d graphics, it is absolutely beautiful. Many of the models still hold up today. Take the Preztail, while made of paper, you still see the fox-like shape and a soft look to the animal. Or the Horstachio, a horse piñata that is colorful and looks very charismatic. Each piñata has so much love and character put behind it. Having 60 diverse models for the pinatas alone is a huge feat for 2006 3D games.

^{Left: Horstachio}

^{Right: Preztail}

Viva Piñata is so relaxing and has so many elements that inspired the game genre of “cozy games”, like Slime Rancher or Stardew Valley. While the graphics might be outdated and dialogue a bit janky, we have to admit that, for it being made in 4 years (concept was 2002, and release was 2006), this is a wonderful feat. They even had sequel games, a TV show, and (my favorite game), Viva Piñata: Party Animals. It has so many mini-games, each having unique mechanics and advantages for some animals! The game also has races like Mario Kart. For 2007, a game with such a diverse animal cast and franchise is amazing. Party Animals is amazing if you want some XBOX 360 nostalgia, and a fun game that still holds up amazingly today. What’s also great is they both have backwards compatibility, meaning the newer XBOX consoles still run them beautifully!

If there’s anything I want you to truly take away from this rambling, Viva Piñata and its franchise is a feat for its time, and I would highly recommend trying them out. They’re classics that have been in my heart for over a decade, and I want more people to experience the classic, nostalgic feel of these games. I wish there were a larger community for it, and I really hope that at least this gave you some inspiration to seek out this game, or even games from your childhood that are now dusty relics of the past.

^{Some of my own art of Viva Piñata!}

Remembrance: Packing Up

The day that I’m writing this, May 1st, marks the last go-home weekend of the year, meaning that I don’t have much time left to move out of my dorm room here at MSA. I hate packing. Like hate, hate it. For multiple reasons, I think. I’ve only had to pack up and move 4 times in my life before coming to MSA. Mostly, I hate it because it lifts up dust, which in turn aggravates my allergies, but also, I hate packing because it symbolizes things ending. Some people think of it as peaceful, a methodical collecting of things and appreciating them, but I don’t and I’m not sure I ever will. For me it’s always a hectic and depressing game of Tetris, which items will fit where and how many can I shove in boxes without breaking anything, while also thinking about leaving the space. It’s sad for me because I have to wash a space that has been mine for so long of me. I have to put everything away, wipe off all the dust, and turn out the lights at the end, which scares me a little, I’ll be honest. It also comes from a fear of change. If nothing changes then nothing can ever end. But one piece of advice that actually helped, although it almost made me cry, came from one of my seniors, Cooper Brumfield. He came in my room trying to trade food, even though I didn’t have anything. I had almost cried twice packing up my stuff a few moments earlier, and I told him that, but he asked if he could give me a piece of advice. I said sure, and to my surprise, Cooper quite literally closed the door. For a second, I’d thought he left, but he opened the door again and said “I’ll never see that exact version of you again. That’s the beauty of being alive is we’re always changing.” Spoken like a true literary, right? I’m not going to pretend that I’m not what people would call a crybaby, because I am, but I also have a problem with that term. Why should those who feel their emotions readily and in the fullest be shamed for it? So I guess I’m happy to be a crybaby, and boy did that make me cry a little. I know I’m most likely coming back next year, but I can’t help but mourn how it is now, and I know it’ll never be the same. The seniors that I’ve lived with and that have come to matter so much to me are leaving. But this isn’t all bad. They’re going off to do great things, and by this time next year I hope I will be too. I know it’s always going to end, but it never makes it any less sad. The fact that I feel like I’ve finally found a place I belong definitely makes this harder, because that place is changing and won’t ever be the same. Of course it’ll still look the same, but the energy is changing. Anyways, enough of my pouting. If any seniors are reading this, thank you for being here, and I’m going to miss you.

Much love,
Jude ♡♡♡

Garfield Logan / Beast Boy (2nd fav character)

Backstory

When beast boy was a child, he contracted a very rare disease called Sakutia. His birth parents got the DNA from animals that were resistant to this disease and injected a serum into him. He was cured of this disease, but it turned his skin green and made him able to transform into any animal he wants. His first time transforming was when his family was cornered by a Black Mamba snake. he transformed into the snake to protect his family that is also the time they found out that any animal he turns will be green.

After both of his parents died, he was taken in by the local tribe leader. though he found a new family the witch family in the family hated him and tasked to Americans to kill Garfield for the location of a temple they were seeking but the temple collapsed and as revenge they took Garfield back to the states so they could use him to commit crimes for them. when the got back to the states they betrayed one another in which they both ended up killing one another which left Garfield all Alone.

Gar soon met Elasti-Girl and Mento the leader and member of the doom patrol and adopted him

Teams

I couldn’t find a lot of information on his time in the doom patrol, but he was in doom patrol. He was also in titan’s west which also didn’t provide a lot of information.

the team that if you haven’t been hiding under a rock you should know about. The Teen Titans a group comprised of superhero teens with Robin being the leader, Ravin being the witch or the most powerful, Starfire being the kind alien with no sense of the world, Cyborg the person that dc can’t decide to either be on the justice league or the teen Titians, and Beast boy the funny slash comedy relief. I’m not going to speak to much on beast boy in the teen titans because there are way too many iteration and ways he3s been changed regarding the teen titian but what I do recommend you watching is Young Justice season 3 and the rest soon after because you can see his progression as a character in full in a way that my explaining may not do it justice get it Justice.

Feats

Beast boy once turned into Barro a Galaxy level threat

in the comic where everyone in the dc universe is in the Middle Ages and Batman is Superman half-brother beast boy her can transform into a dragon.

This is part 4 of the Luffy series

Arlong Park Arc

Okay so in the previous arc Nami left the crew and went to Arlong who’s basically her boss even though she’s treated as a slave. The crew are now left stranded on the Baratie until they see a rowboat but since Zoro is still recovering Luffy and Sanji leave to Arlong park to find Nami and get their ship back along with their navigator. As they are sailing, they encounter a sea cow which both Luffy and Sanji fight it, and they end up making it take them to the island. when they finally get to the island Zoro and johnny and Johnny tells them that Usopp had been stabbed by Nami but what had actually happened was that she stabbed her hand instead of stabbing her and she just pushed him into the ocean. Luffy shouts at Nami to come back but she chooses not to listen. The villagers start telling the group about namis past but Zoro and Luffy does not listen. A little while later we see that Nami is trying to stop the villagers from attacking arlong to the point where she starts stabbing herself with a knife trying to carve out the arlong symbol, but Luffy stops her.

He then gives her his straw-hat hat and leaves with the group to fight Arlong

in the end Luffy wins the fight between Arlong and the fishmen Pirates and Nami finally joins the Straw-hat Pirates

Lounge Town Arc

after the Battle between Luff and the Arlong pirates the crew heads to the last town before the grand line Lounge Town this is also where Roger the king of pirates was executed. As they are traveling there, we get to see Luffy first Bounty

The crew decides to stop there for supplies. the crew splits up and Luffy goes to the place where the former king of pirates was beheaded where he is then met by Buggy the Clown and Alvida (first pirate he beat) the put him in the execution alter to behead him but lighting strikes his sword and the pirates see it as a sign but all this fighting draws the attention of smoker and the marines who try to capture Luffy. Just as Luffy is beaten by Smoker since he had a sea stone pick which deactivates Devil fruit users Abilities and makes them weak a mysterious man grabs Smoker and lets Luffy get away

the crew gets back together and escape Lounge town and head towards the grand line