Poem

not where i want to be

this is not where I want to be,

and most anyone can see

that I’m not happy here,

in this dark prison of melancholy.

this is not where I belong.

everything just feels wrong.

I just want to go home,

and I just want to be gone.

but there’s nothing I can do,

as I’m forced to be clad in blue,

I want nothing more than to go back,

and be rid of this feeling of black.

this is not where I want to be.

this is not the life I want to lead.

all I want is to return back to where I came from,

and from this prison, finally be freed.

Review - Sorry not Sorry

This is a review of a story written by one of my classmates based on the song “Sorry not sorry” by Bryson Tiller. She also runs her own blog here about memes, and it’s great.

Sorry not Sorry is a short story about the scariness and nuisance of a clingy ex. It tells of a man who must take extra precautions doing anything, even simply returning home, to make sure that his ex girlfriend isn't watching from a short distance away. From constantly looking out the window, to making sure he isn't bombarded with texts from her, you can tell that this girl has established a precedent for stalking.
Nothing much happens in the present setting of the story, except for the main character checking around to see if his ex girlfriend is watching him, but we get some insight into their past relationship through a flashback. Things went well at first between them, but started to go south when the girlfriends started to show her true colors of clinginess. Events lead them to break up, but leaves his ex to adamantly persist on watching him, even though he obviously doesn’t like it.

One Punch Man - Satire

*obligatory spoiler warning*

This week we’ll be talking about satire, since that’s the dumb assignment Mr. Ravenda decided to give us this week.

Satire is the use of irony, humor, exaggeration, etc., to make fun of something, but also to make some kind of point. So, I thought it would be fitting to talk about the hilarious shounen anime, One Punch Man.

One Punch Man is about Saitama, a superhero who can take out any monster or villain with just one punch.

Saitama is really just a regular person. He worries about things like when the next sale at the supermarket is gonna be, and is just really blase overall. To him, being a superhero is just a hobby he does for fun, but is getting bored with because of his immense strength. Saitama is like a shounen protagonist after they’ve finished their big journey or whatever. He’s already the strongest, and doesn’t have to worry about big things anymore.

Things start to change when he saves Genos, a cyborg and aspiring hero, from a mosquito monster lady.

Genos decides that he should start following Saitama, in order to learn how to be stronger as a hero. Saitama pretty much becomes Genos’ senpai.

Genos is a takes everything very seriously, much like an archetypal shounen protagonist, but Saitama usually just tells him to like chill.   

After following Saitama around for awhile, Genos suggests that they join the Hero Association (which exists since the world they live in is pretty much townsville from the powerpuff girls). The Hero Association is an organization where local heroes can earn money from the government depending on their rank, and how many monsters and/or villains they defeat. Really strong and high ranking heroes are treated as celebrities.To join, people must take an exam to determine whether they can be a hero, and if so, it determines their rank as a hero. Genos immediately joins at S class (the highest class), but Saitama joins the C class (the lowest) due to his low intelligence.

Eventually, Saitama makes it to B Class, and starts to gain public recognition, and more importantly, profit.

This show is absolutely hilarious. I was constantly hysterically laughing from the jokes and how much it made fun of typical shounen anime. There was one part where they got to a building where one villain dwelled. It was most likely a giant maze inside, which would usually be an entire arc in a regular shounen, but they just blow up the entire building, and go to the basement, where they needed to be.

This show just takes typical shounen tropes and just destroys them in a hilarious manner. It’s really funny and makes its point clear: Shounen anime take themselves too seriously sometimes. The genre is great but usually very ridiculous. They make their arcs way too long, resulting in forever running series’ like Dragonball, Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, etc. This show contrasts that by making each episode feel like an entire arc.

It makes fun of all these anime in while also being great by itself.

Over The Garden Wall - Life Lesson

*SPOILER WARNING*

Life lessons are messages that convey useful knowledge or principles. Where better to put life lessons than in cartoons? Children will see them, and learn important values while being entertained at the same time. Today, I’ll be talking about one cartoon in particular, Cartoon Network’s first mini series, Over The Garden Wall.

This short format, 10 episode show is littered with subtext and is very emotional. Over The Garden Wall teaches a simple lesson: as easy as it is to give up, you should always keep trying. The show conveys this message many times throughout the story through the characters Wirt and Greg.

Wirt is a cynical, pessimistic high schooler.

 After getting lost in the woods with his little brother, Greg, Wirt desperately wants to go home, but he gives up hope many  times along the way. But, in the woods of the unknown, giving up means you turn into an edelwood tree, to eventually be harvested by The Beast, never to return home.

Then, there’s his goofy, optimistic, and adorable half-brother Greg. Greg never gives up hope of returning home, and believes that Wirt can lead him.

Greg is incredibly brave, if not just oblivious to all around him. He doesn’t flinch at the sight of danger, but instead faces it head on.

      When Wirt finally decides that there’s no way of getting home, and starts to turn into a tree, Greg makes a deal with the Beast, sacrificing himself in order to save his brother, believing that Wirt will find his way home, and out of the unknown.

Wirt eventually musters up some courage, and saves Greg from the Beast’s clutches. Learning from Greg’s optimistic attitude, and deciding not to surrender to despair, they defeat the Beast in the end, and end up getting to leave the forest of the unknown. 

The overall lesson of Over The Garden Wall is very clear in the end. With growing up, you gain a certain cynicism and negativity, but this show is trying to say that you shouldn’t let that overtake your goals. You should remain hopeful no matter the situation.

Myth - Spongebob and The Seven Deadly Sins

Everybody loves and remembers Spongebob Squarepants. He’s a hilarious sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. But, what if that beloved children’s show represented something darker than we thought? What if each main character of Spongebob was supposed to represent The Seven Deadly Sins?
The Seven Deadly Sins are the sins of Envy, Wrath, Greed, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony and Lust.

As mentioned before, all these things relate to each of the main characters. And I’ll go down the list one by one.

Envy is wanting what someone else has, and this perfectly describes Plankton. He will stop at nothing to get the Krabby Patty formula, because he wants a successful restaurant just like the Krusty Krab. He’s even gone as far as winning Spongebob at a bet with Mr. Krabs, and mind controlling the entire city.

Wrath is the undying and extreme anger from a person. This sums up Squidward pretty well. Squidward hates his life. Nothing good ever happens to him. He tries so hard to have a good cultured life by playing clarinet, and painting, but his horrible neighbors and low-paying job always ruins his mood. He copes with this by showing outwards hate to the ones around him, and being overall bitter all the time.

Greed is the never ending want for wealth, and power. Mr. Krabs is the greediest character, no doubt. He even sings a song about how greedy he is in the episode “Selling Out”. He is always looking for any kind of money he can find. He got his hand stuck in a sink drain once, for a dime, and even fired Squidward once because he thought Squidward stole a dime out of the cash register, and got eaten by a clam for a dollar.

Pride is the feeling that you’re more important than other people. Sandy is very prideful. She makes sure everyone knows she’s from Texas, and will DESTROY anyone who thinks Texas is dumb,

and is very smart because she’s a scientist. She is also very stubborn, and thinks she’s right all the time.

Sloth is being emotionally or physically inactive. Patrick takes this one, hands down. He usually spends his time doing nothing, or eating. There was even an episode where he won an award for doing absolutely nothing longer than anyone else. He’s also very stupid. He would be completely useless to anyone except for Spongebob.

 

Gluttony is the over indulgence and over consumption of food. This is best represented by Gary. Gary doesn’t do much else than eat. But that’s usually normal, since he’s a pet. But, Gary will take some extreme measures to get at some food. Like once, he stayed with Patrick for days, because he wanted the cookie in Patrick’s pocket.

And, when Spongebob left too much food out for him, he ate it all, without a second thought. He even ran away when Spongebob forgot to feed him.

This last one is a bit of a stretch, but Lust is very strong sexual desire. Although there’s clearly nothing sexual about him (especially since seas sponges reproduce asexually), Spongebob is the best one to fit this sin. He always has unconditional love for everyone around him, even those who’ve outward hate or disdain toward him. There was even an episode where he fell in love with a Krabby

Patty, but he’s not the first to do that.

I think this myth is pretty solid, aside from a few minor holes, and even gives Spongebob some type of educational purpose, It was confirmed to be a complete afterthought. The creator of Spongebob, Stephen Hillenburg has said that he didn’t intend for the characters to end up representing the seven deadly sins.

The Great Diamond Authority - Conspiracy Theory

  

*WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS*

You should watch Steven Universe before reading this. Or don’t. I don’t care what you do.

Today, we’ll be exploring The Great Diamond Authority Theory from Steven Universe. This theory pretty much states that Ronaldo Fryman’s theory was correct at the end of episode 31, “Keep Beach City Weird”, and he began to discover how The Gem Homeworld works.

After learning that Steven and the Gems were the center of everything weird going on in the city, Ronaldo formed a new theory, that he called, The Great Diamond Authority.

Once the epiphany of polymorphic sentient rocks (pretty much what gems are) he thought that maybe these rocks are trying to “hollow out the earth”, which we later learn is what Homeworld was trying to do, in order to create more gems, thousands of years ago, until Rose Quartz and the rebellion stopped them.

The theory goes along with the Multiple Gems Theory, and the Gem Caste System Theory. These theories state that there are more than one of each gem, and that each type of gem are placed into some kind of class on Homeworld. For example, Pearls are servants, Peridots are technicians, Quartz are warriors, etc. These theories were confirmed in the episodes “Back to the Barn”, and “Too Far”.

Going by the Diamond Authority Theory, that means that Diamonds are the rulers of Homeworld. The theory states that there are four diamonds, Yellow, Blue, White, and Pink. We don’t know much about the first three, but according to the theory, Pink Diamond was Rose.  

Each Gem holds allegiance to one of the four diamonds. For example, Peridot and Jasper follow Yellow Diamond, shown by the yellow diamond symbol on their uniforms,

and The Crystal Gems follow Pink Diamond shown by the star symbol they wear. But, they also might’ve used to wear a pink diamond on their uniforms as shown by Pearl’s Space Suit, and Holo Pearl's uniform.

This theory is greatly hinted at and supported by the show in many episodes. Like, in one of the earlier episodes, “Serious Steven”, a mural is shown that depicts Rose Quartz fighting three gems that look like yellow diamond, white diamond, and blue diamond.

Or in “The Return”, when Jasper directly mentions Yellow Diamond. And, the numerous times that we see the Diamond Authority symbol throughout the show

  This theory has been all but confirmed by the Crewniverse, but we may get more answers in the upcoming Steven Bomb airing next month, that seems to promise more background on Homeworld through Ruby and Sapphire’s backstory.

In Memory of Birdperson - Rick and Morty

*WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS*

You should probably watch Rick and Morty before reading this.

Rick and Morty is a hilarious and great show that focuses on the titular characters, Rick his grandson Morty, and the sci-fi adventures they go on. But, today I’ll be talking about a particular side character who unfortunately died in the season two finale, Birdperson, who is voiced by co-creator of the show, Dan Harmon.

Birdperson was a comically serious character, who made his first appearance in the season one finale, “Ricksy Business”. He is introduced when he arrives to the party, after he got an emergency message from Rick. Rick then greets him at the door and invites him in, to join the party. Later, he is seen talking to one of Summer’s friends, Tammy, who is very drunk. Toward the end of the episode, he gives Morty some good advice on whether he wants to keep adventuring with Rick or not, and then leaves with Tammy.
He appears again in “Get Shwifty”, when he saves Morty, after he’s been traveling through dimensions trying to get home. It is then revealed that Tammy now lives with Birdperson, and they’re dating. Birdperson once again gives Morty some great advice on his Rick situation. He also provides a little bit of vague exposition on his and Rick’s past. He then helps Morty get back to Rick.

In the episode “The Wedding Squanchers”, Birdperson makes his final appearance. In this season finale, Birdperson and Tammy get married on Planet Squanch. At the wedding, Birdperson gets intoxicated, and reveals to Beth, that He, Rick, and many of the people attending, are intergalactic criminals.

The ceremony and the beginning of the reception are very cute, like most weddings, but after Rick gives a speech, Tammy comes out as an undercover intergalactic cop, and then kills Birdperson. This moment was very shocking to many fans, as Birdperson was a beloved character among the fandom. His death was so devastating, it drove Rick to turn himself into the police.

Birdperson was a great character that brought a lot to the show, even though he only showed up in three episodes. He shall be dearly missed.

R.I.P. BIRDPERSON