The Day of the Doctor and Rose Novelization Review

Doctor Who is a long lasting british science fiction television show I’m a pretty big fan of (enough to have five different costumes of the Doctor) and in celebration of the fifty fifth year of the program and thirteenth year of the rebooted show on television we have been presented with two episodes of the reboot series written by Russell T. Davies (Rose) and Steven Moffat (The Day of the Doctor).

Spoilers from this point onwards, I think with psychic paper or Silence, or maybe a crack in the universe the memory of said spoilers can be taken care of.

The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat

The first of these two adventures I listened to was The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat; in comparison to the televised fiftieth anniversary special, the novelization gives a little more backstory to events happening and some clarification to questions some fans had been wondering. We get some more depth on just how dire the Time War really is/was with many species and entities blinking in and out of existence on a regular basis and a plethora of split timelines being created and destroyed in the battle between the time lords and the daleks.

While I did enjoy the novelization, I couldn’t help but get annoyed at the emphasis on the ‘timey wimey’ attitude of the narrator of the novel (The Curator), but this may be because I’ve moved on from the Eleventh Doctor, embraced and mourned the Twelfth Doctor and look forward to the Thirteenth Doctor.

What I did enjoy were the perspective of the Zygone characters and how they felt about the situation as victims of the Time War losing their home planet and being forced to go to earth as refugees of war and even though they would rather not invade the earth under such circumstances, they have no choice, so this allowed more sympathy for me to feel for the Zygone’s than I originally did.

There’s also an explanation for why the Osgoods are so close to each other, but I won’t go into that since I feel that was one of the stronger points of the novel. Speaking of strong points, oh my goodness chapter nine! I just couldn’t believe any of it! There was laughter, tears, and moments where i couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment of what I was reading and the intimacy printed (well in my case with the audiobook, being read out loud).

Also I was very satisfied to see what each incarnation of the Doctor was up to during the final battle between the daleks and the Time Lords and seeing each incarnation going off to save countless citizens of Galifrey in its moment of extreme crisis. We also see what the Twelfth Doctor was up to in all his badass glory during this time as well.

There is finally a small sneak peek to the Thirteenth Doctor that I’d rather readers (and listeners) go explore on their own rather than yap on about it.

Rose

Something I’ve talked about with friends lately is how much I enjoyed the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who (Ninth and Tenth Doctor). While I have nothing against Steven Moffat (Twelfth Doctor dethroned Tenth Doctor as my favorite Doctor), there was just something I liked more about the RTD era of Doctor Who, and listening to this novel allowed me to pinpoint it fairly well.

The background of Rose, her mother Jackie, and boyfriend Mickey are given more detail in this novel. We learn that it was Rose’s own fault that her life was mediocre rather than her mother’s influence and that Mickey wasn’t the pathetic person that the Doctor unintentionally made him out to be and is actually a very kind young man who finds ways to cope with his life despite some of the more depressing aspects of it. Jackie Tyler is essentially the same as she was in the tv series, but has a little more heart.

Rose, though shorter than The Day of the Doctor, was the story I found myself enjoying more. The expanded upon backstories of Rose, Mickey, and Jackie are just a portion of what made the book enjoyable. We also see characters that were unheard of and even more backstory to minor characters from the episode and their perspective of things like Clive (the man who was gathering data on the Doctor via the internet) lost his dad in Remembrance of the Daleks and desired to go on one adventure with the Doctor (even sacrificing his life for his family by gaining courage from the stories he had read about the Doctor).

What I really liked about the novelization of Rose and the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who was the humanity in it. The moments where the novel steps away from Rose and focuses on minor characters reminded me that despite the big bad things happening in the universe that the Doctor and his companions faced there was still the ordinary life of ordinary people.

There were good and innocent people who lost their lives in the chaos of the Auton attack along with people who weren’t good, or kind, and were just really bad people. There are also characters who weren’t even named, but filled with joy over surviving the impending doom of the situation and that when all the chaos was over and the day was saved got over their fear immediately and started aiding those injured in the attack.

It isn’t necessary to read these two novels to enjoy the episodes of Doctor Who, but I found myself really enjoying them and will probably buy and read the hard copy editions as soon as they are available.

I give The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat three out of five Fez’s (is that how you do the plural to fez?) and Rose by Russell T. Davies four out of five Tardises (Tardi?).

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Turtles all the Way Down Review

       

Turtles all the Way Down the long awaited novel by John Green after his heavy success with The Fault in Our Stars. If you follow his vlogs like I do you will know that until a few months ago he had stayed very quiet about his work post The Fault in Our Stars. Many fans of his (some known as Nerdfighters) were very excited to see the release of Turtles all the Way Down, and since I have read most of John Green’s books I figured I’d read Turtles all the Way Down too.

        Also fun fact, I had intended to grab the book at Target because Target dictates to me what is worth reading and what isn’t and to my surprise I got myself a signed copy of Turtles all the Way Down. It seems like something silly to gush over, but there’s just something nice about knowing a book you bought was in the same area as their ‘parent’.

Spoilers from this point Onward, can’t jedi mind trick this out of you. Hehe Star Wars reference in a book that has NOTHING to do with Star Wars. And maybe some discussion about John Green’s vlogs over the past few years.

        Turtles all the Way Down follows a girl named Aza Holmsey, a girl who suffers from a form of OCD that involves the fear of Clostridium Difficile (C.diff) and other bacterias to the point where she’s always applying hand sanitizer to one of her fingers that has a perpetual cut due to always pushing her thumbnail into her middlefinger. Aza has only her mother due to her father dying when she was a child.

        Aza also has her best friend Daisy who is a big Star Wars fan having knowledge of the current expanded universe, the Legends universe, and even writing her own Star Wars fanfiction. The story kicks off with Daisy taking interest in the disappearance Russell Pickett wanted by the police for a white collar crime due to a large reward being offered for the knowledge of the whereabouts of Russell Pickett. Because of this Aza runs into Davis a childhood friend of hers and son of Russell Pickett.  

        In all honesty I was a little worried reading the first quarter of the book; worried that this was another flavor of Looking for Alaska in the same way that Paper Towns was due to the mystery of the disappearance of Russell Pickett that our protagonists want to solve. After some bribe is involved the mystery is dropped down to mainly background noise in the novel with the bulk of the story involving Aza’s OCD and how it affects not only her, but her relationships and prevents her from experiencing life in the same way a normal person would.

        I don’t have OCD, I’ve made jokes at the expense of individuals of OCD (mainly out of my lack of education on the disorder and inability to organize my living space), but TatWD gave what has been described by fans on the Facebook Nerdfighters page as a very accurate internal description of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It probably helps that John Green as admitted to having OCD and knowing the experience for it.

        The way it affects Aza outside of the fear of C.diff is a constant fear of not being clean enough and losing the ability to do things that some people would enjoy doing and have no problem doing (such as French kissing) where the thoughts of another person’s bacteria inside of her make her unable to enjoy the sensation and her thoughts focusing primarily on the fact that something that isn’t hers is inside of her.

        Aza also struggles with her relationship with Davis, who she does have feelings for, but the above side effects of her OCD prevent her from enjoying the more physical parts of their relationship. While both of them do have a unique form of communication via text message. Even though Davis does return the feelings towards Aza he does have physical desires (not sexual, but atleast some form of physical intimacy.

Aza does feel guilt for her choice t date Davis despite his dad missing because it distracts Davis from taking care of his little brother Noah who isn’t taking the disappearance of their father in the same way that Davis is.

There is some strong emphasis on parents in this novel, even stronger than Green’s previous work where parents are far from a obstacle in their stories as seen in some other YA books. Aza has only her mother who worries about Aza frequently because of her mental health and just because she’s a good mother. Davis’ father on the other hand abandoned both his sons, was never too close to them, had arguments with his wife before she passed away, had the staff of his house raise his sons, and left all his money to a tuatara named Tua in hopes that the research to discover the secrets to the long life of tuataras can be found and he’d get the credit for funding it. Daisy’s parents are mentioned, but never seen due to Aza never asking about them or ever going over to Daisy’s house.

        My favorite character in the novel is Daisy, as I mentioned before she’s a huge Star Wars fan, but she was fun. There were moments of her being shallow and using Aza a bit (she did kick off the whole plot by making Aza not only trespass on Russell Pickett’s property but start a relationship with Davis Pickett for the sake of information on the whereabouts of Russell Pickett. Daisy also makes some points that Aza’s life isn’t as bad as she feels it is due to Daisy only having a smartphone as her only form of online entertainment which becomes very shocking and impressive when people remember that she has written lengthy Star Wars fanfiction on her smartphone. I felt myself siding with Daisy in one argument when Aza is concerned about her spending habits after they receive their hush money through buying not only a new car, but a new laptop. Daisy argues that Aza has a laptop and a car and lives in a house with her own room despite having only one working parent while she only has her smartphone, shares her room with her eight year old sister, and lives in an apartment complex even though she has both her parents and both of them being employed. Minor fun fact, but the paper BB-8 seen in the photo above was used as a bookmarker because I couldn’t find a bookmark that wasn’t currently being used, you can imagine how delightfully surprised I was discovering that Star Wars was mentioned frequently in this book and how appropriate it is.

        As I mentioned before I don’t have OCD, but anxiety issues; there were parts of the book where I could relate to Aza’s mental health and constant moments of being a prisoner in her own mind and having internal conversations with herself. Some parts of the book were very eye opening at how OCD isn’t “a need to have everything perfectly tidy” as I’ve joked around about in the past, but something more that really does control how a person functions and can prevent them from having a normal life and in some cases making horrible decisions based on the mental argument they have with themselves.

        I really enjoyed Turtles all the Way Down; it was a nice alternative to the usual John Green protagonist of teenage boys feeling the need to prove something about themselves, or being fixated on ‘the girl’. Aza and her friends were really fun and even the main conflict of Aza’s OCD causing problems in her life her friends and family still love and care for her.

        I give Turtles all the Way Down by John Green four Star Wars fanfics out of five.

Beauty and the Beast 2017 Review

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, or rather twenty-five(ish) years old. In continuation with live action adaptions to their classic movies Disney adapted their animated classic Beauty and the Beast to live action film staring Emma Watson as Belle, because let’s be honest we all secretly wanted it that way and didn’t know it, I didn’t even know I wanted it that way.

Unless you’re just barely born, or just escaped North Korea or some other communist regime there aren’t really any spoilers beyond these bold texts. Okay fine there are SOME spoilers.

For the past few weeks I had been teasing my dad that if I ever had kids I would make him watch this new Beauty and the Beast with them countless times since I made him sit through the animated Beauty and the Beast countless times growing up. Yes I apologized to him for doing that and thanked him for being such a patient parent with me growing up.

This morning my dad got back at me by sarcastically saying “how different could the story be this time?” And he was right. This new live action Beauty and the Beast is nearly an exact live action remake of the animated film. There are some differences though.

In the beginning of the film rather than having stained glass windows and narration tell the prologue, we see the Enchantress do the deed of placing the spell on Prince Adam (Dan Stevens) with narration and the same score from the animated film. From there with some tweaking it is more or less the same movie.

Plot holes were addressed (such as the timing and pacing of events seen in the animated film) and corrected in this version. Characters are fleshed out, Belle is not a victim of Stockholm Syndrome (Emma Watson made damn sure of it).

I like that Belle was upgraded from just being a bookworm who longed for more. I know Belle was unintentionally the entry drug for little girls in the nineties to get into feminism. But to me growing up her ‘longing for more’ didn’t exactly scream ‘strong independent woman’ since she was living off her dad still. Now Belle is a book worm, one of the few literate people in the village, and a bit of a engineer since her dad makes music boxes. During the movie though part of me was searching more for Hermione in Watson’s performance as Belle. I then sighed and told myself that Emma Watson is not Hermione and that Hermione is not Belle.

Speaking of Belle’s dad, he too is upgraded from strange elderly person who is an adult child to balance the MAN the Beast is in Belle’s life. He has been downgraded from wacky inventor to heavily respected music box maker. His decisions in his and Belle’s life stem from the fate of Belle’s mother (I honestly don’t know why so many parents were killed in Disney movies up until recently).

The Beast is more or less the same, except he too is literate, so in this version when he gave Belle a library it really did mean something. It’s because of their love of books, his distaste for Romeo and Juliet, and bonding with Belle over stories that they do fall in love.

Our awesome household appliances also get screen-time, but not much of an increased role. The stakes are raised that if the spell cannot be broken they will literally turn into plain objects. What was interesting was that this time around there were family and loved ones of the castle staff who were unaware of what became of them due to the Enchantress’ spell.

Gaston (Luke Evans)  and LeFou (Josh Gad) also have extended roles. Gaston has a backstory of being a war hero and LeFou is confirmed to being in love with Gaston. Other than that they’re just the same, I won’t spoil what becomes of LeFou’s ‘gay old time’. Yes there was the gay controversy concerning LeFou, but let’s be honest you all don’t want to read ANOTHER blog post about that. And if you do, go google it somewhere else then.

Finally, there’s the Enchantress herself. She is actually present in the now unlike the animated film where she’s just illustrated on a window (we don’t speak of Enchanted Christmas here). Part of me was hoping it would be Helena Bonham Carter from the 2015 Cinderella film continuing her work as a fairy who gives a test of character to the people she’s watching and connect the two movies, but Hattie Morahan does a lovely performance as the Enchantress though, even if she doesn’t say a damn thing.

Artistically the film is beautiful, and the costumes are amazing to look at. Of course the music is a wonderful experience too, yes some of the original score from the animated film was kept in and there is nothing wrong with that at all.

Beauty and the Beast was a huge part of my childhood, it made me interested in becoming an artist (how many three year olds do you know have the ability to stick to a dream to their early twenties and sort of accomplish it?) Seeing it on the big screen adapted to live action was great and I intend to watch it again and maybe buy the Beast at build a bear workshop, unless a wonderful (mentally healthy, book obsessed) man on the internet wants to propose to me with said Beast doll.

I give Beauty and the Beast 2017 three and a half places of The Grey Stuff out of five. (it’s caviar?????)

Legend of Zelda Breath of Wild Review

Last Friday after realizing what day it was and doing some quick calculations I got myself The Legend of Zelda Breath of Wild for the Wii U (I traded in a few games. Kind of on a budget.) I had been happily waiting for this game since it was announced in 2014 and after one week of exploring Hyrule, going through dungeons, and creating a drinking game out of dying (essentially it was a shot each time a died, two shots if it was a boss fight, down a cup if I was doing something really stupid), I have finished the game. Also BEHOLD THE FIRST (and probably only) GAME REVIEW ON THIS BLOG!

Spoilers from this point on

It was a fun game and very unique in comparison to other Zelda games starting with the fact that there is voice acting and you can’t change Link’s name. Another major change is that the game functions mostly as an open world environment meaning little to no loading screens unless you’re doing a special challenge or decided to warp to a different area in the game.

Gameplay

I was a little disappointed to see that Nintendo wouldn’t continue using motion controls with Breath of Wild after having so much fun with them in Skyward Sword. Using the Wii U gamepad wasn’t a bad experience, however as soon as muscle memory kicked in things went along more smoothly. There was still parts of the game that involved using the gamepad as a motion control that didn’t quite go as smoothly and almost resulted in me throwing the darn thing out of a window.

Having this game be an openworld game was an interesting experience since I never had played one before and didn’t fully get the concept. There were a few times I was lost in the game and had to backtrack some steps and take things more slowly rather than running around gliding from place to place for the sake of doing things the fast way.

The dungeons in this game are Divine Beasts you have to purify from Calamity Ganon’s control. My only complaint is that at times going through the dungeons themselves seemed too short with boss fights essentially being “stab it until it dies” rather than using strategy the whole time to fight the boss. Fighting bosses at times could be breezy so long as you timed dodging an attack perfect to unleash fury on the boss, or just came fully prepared. The lack of finding hearts and rupees in grass was a very welcomed change in Breath of Wild bringing in a new challenge of how to prepare for boss fights by cooking specific food dishes out of the ingredients you find around Hyrule and creating very useful potions out of the remains of monsters you kill in battle.

The game also takes a step away from other Zelda games by not having specific items and weapons needed for dungeons. Weapons could also be broken with the sole exception of The Master Sword, and even then it would need recharging at times. This got annoying at times since very useful weapons got destroyed out of sheer anger with minor enemies.

One item of importance is the Sheikah slate; it’s Link’s smartphone. It can be used to download maps from various areas, take photos, become a makeshift pokedex for enemies, wild animals, and other things, set reminders on quests, and everything but make a phonecall.

Another nice twist is that the start of the game involves you avoiding most of the monsters in the game similar to one would do in the first Legend of Zelda game (well that’s how I played it anyways). You couldn’t just barge into a room killing all the enemies without some serious consequences of either nearly being dead, losing a valuable weapon, or just plain dying.

I also liked the inclusion of the environment affecting Link in the game; you had to change Link into different clothes to suit the condition he was in. Hot volcano area? Special Goron armor. Wanna swim faster? Zora armor. Wanna sneak around? Use the Sheikah clothing (which was THE BOMB to use when exploring while wanting to avoid enemies).

Finally a love and hate thing I had with the game was the fact that the game didn’t hold your hand while you were playing it. Unlike in Orcarina of Time and Skyward Sword, Breath of Wild gives you little to no hint of what to do outside of “go to these places” which was kind of bad for me since I would rush to marked areas, die, and start over. It was when I slowed down and took the rout to areas marked on the map that the game became easier to play.

The Story

I’m still having trouble trying to figure out where Breath of Wild takes places in the timeline of The Legend of Zelda. The only clue given is that there is still reference to the goddess Hylia still being worshipped, but in the stages of being overlooked by the citizens of Hyrule. There is no ill will to the Gerudo tribe and the royal family, oddly both the Zora and Rito tribes coexist, the Kokiri have become the Koroks, there is still a Sheikah population beyond Impa, and the royal family is all but dead.

The game starts with Link awakening from a hundred year slumber to Zelda calling out to him. From that point on Link is placed on his quest by the spirit of the King of Hyrule (who now slightly resembles the late Robin Williams) to save the land. Link is giving the Sheikah slate instructing him to go to Impa to figure out how to save Hyrule.

The story concentrates mainly on Link and Zelda’s relationships with the citizens of Hyrule in the past and their fallen comrades at the hands of Calamity Ganon. In this version of Hyrule things are not going good at all with the castle destroyed and Zelda being the sole survivor of the royal family.

The background of the story is that Hyrule has gone to shit with Calamity Ganon corrupting ancient technology the Hyrulians and other species were using to banish him once and for all leading to not only Link being mortally wounded, but all of Link and Zelda’s allies being killed. As mentioned in gameplay Link is required to purify the Divine Beasts and free the spirits of his fallen friends in order to bring peace back to Hyrule.

A major theme in the story is doubt and having the ability to overcome doubt and what others think is destined for you. During game flashbacks Zelda heavily questions if she, Link, and their allies can defeat Calamity Ganon constantly thinking Link isn’t skilled enough to win against Calamity Ganon and hating herself for not having the power of the goddess Hylia despite Hylia’s divinity flowing through her blood. Another key point is that Zelda is more interested in doing research and studying the past rather than her role as princess and relying on prayer and meditation to use her powers.

There is a better explanation on some background events seen in Orcarina of Time and other games when it looked like there was friction between the Sheikah and the royal family by introducing the Yiga who are Sheikah who broke away from the clan and seek to kill Link.

There is no mention of the Triforce, it is there, but I’d rather not say what happens for the sake of a lovely twist in the Legend of Zelda series.

Artwork

Breath of Wild is beautiful; the game continues using the same cellshaded artstyle seen in both Wind Waker and Skyward Sword leaning more towards the later. The game also seems to lean more towards Wind Waker HD with a beautiful combination of cellshading and HD. I will admit I was hoping the game would be like a watercolor painting the same way Skyward Sword tended to be at times, but I got over this desire pretty fast.

I played the Wii U version so I think I got the less fancy one. If I ever get a Switch I’ll do a comparison of both games to see which system brought out the full beauty of the game.

The music also compliments the artstyle of the game very much with music increasing in tension at times of danger and turning light and soft in times of normality in the game.

Final Thoughts

Waiting two and a half years for the game was worth it, trading in Pokken, Professor Layton, and Animal Crossing was worth it, literally spending all of last Friday playing the game and making some friends think I’d been kidnapped may have been going a little overboard.

But the game brings out the best of the Wii U and possibly the best of the Switch (I’ll probably have to buy one if Nintendo kills off the 3ds). There is so much to do in the game both in the main story and side quests and even just screwing around and exploring Hyrule is worth playing the games at times considering how huge it is now.

I give The Legend of Zelda Breath of Wild for the Wii U and the new Nintendo Switch five out of five Sheikah Slates.

Wires and Nerve Review

Just when you thought you were done with The Lunar Chronicles, you were wrong. Granted I don’t think anyone thought things were done with The Lunar Chronicles, but things seemed to be fairly wrapped up. With the announcement of the graphic novel Wires and Nerve surrounding the character Iko I was under the impression it was a retelling through Iko’s perspective, I was slightly wrong.

Minor spoilers from this point onward.

Wires and Nerve functions as a continuation to The Lunar Chronicles showing the current lives of Cinder and her friends and aside from Cinder and company trying to tie up loose ends, things are more or less happy. We have Cress and Thorne travelling the world providing vaccinations for Letumosis and sight seeing, Scarlet and Wolfe living a happy quiet life in France, Winter acting as ambassador for Luna, Kai is working on convincing citizens to consider an operation to help resist the influences of The Lunar Gift, and Cinder is trying to convince the citizens of Luna that they do not need a monarchy to continue functioning.

The book’s main focus is Iko and her mission to hunt down the remaining Lunar soldiers on Earth to bring them to justice. However things are more complicated as they appear; with the army of Lunar soldiers on earth feeling Cinder is the same of Levana and would just have them return to their previous way of life.

The graphic novel is well paced and the story is very good, however the artwork of Doug Holgate did put me off at first. As I continued the story along I accepted this was the artstyle chosen for the graphic novel and decided to just go along with it since the story was really good anyways.

My only complaint is, it’s to be continued, like what the hell? I give Wires and Nerve four out of five fancy crowns.

Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Nine years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling (and two other muggles) bring us one new and last story for Harry and his family in the form of theatrical play…but not everyone has the money to go to England to see a play. So for the rest of the fans we have the script of the play to enjoy.

Spoilers from this point on, if you or someone you know can perform a memory charm you’re welcomed to read them.

We have the adventures of Albus Potter after nine years of open ended thinking our canon is changed. I never gave it any thought what did happen outside of “Albus is probably in Slytherin and will be the new Molfoy’s BFF” and that’s what happened.

We see something not everyone probably thought of, the struggle of this friendship and how the actions of their fathers affected their current life. In Albus’ case, being sorted into Slytherin has made Albus the blacksheep of the family. Meanwhile Scorpius is hated by his peers because of how much of a jerk his father was to everyone growing up.

While reading the book I was led to believe that Scorpius is gay and in love with Albus. No it’s not me caving into the Harry/Draco ship, but there are passages that to me showed Scorpius cared more for Albus beyond friendship. Yes Scorpius asks Rose out near the end of the book, but she’s probably just a beard. I don’t think Albus is gay, but there is one passae showing Albus longing for Scorpius.

That’s enough about relationships though, I need to talk about the actual story itself. I felt like I was reading a Doctor Who story with all the time traveling and future changing present. To the point where the suggestion that bringing Cedric Diggory back to life resulted in me yelling “it’s a fixed point in time!”

It was interesting to see what affects a time turner could have on the future when used for the wrong reason. We also see something no one expected; the child of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lesrange. She’s just as nutty as you would expect.

Harry Potter and the cursed was a nice return to the world of Harry Potter, however some fans will be disjointed at the lack of magic, younger fans may be turned off with themes of depression being present in the book . The book being in the format of a play may be a turn off to some fans.

I give Harry Potter and the Cursed Child four exploding pumpkin pastries out of five.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I’m not as big a gamer as I use to be, but I’ve always loved The Legend of Zelda games since my first time dipping into the universe through The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask back in 2000 on the Nintendo 64. Since then I have tried my best and hardest to explore the land of Hyrule and other words (and timelines) to restore peace to the land.

I love the Legend of Zelda games, to the point where when I dropped 300$ for a Nintendo 3ds without a second thought just for the special Triforce edition. I love the art from each game, I love the lands created, I love the characters created for each world and era. I even think Hyrule Warriars is okay to play. Two years ago we were given a small glimpse into the Legend of Zelda title for the Wii U and for two years that was all we had (we even plainly called it Zelda U). And no the constant postponing of the game didn’t shock me, I went through it twice with Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.

Once again because of priorities towards higher education I put my passions on a backseat so my gaming habits were also in the backseat (except for shockingly Disney Infinity). Yesterday at E3 Nintendo released news concerning their Zelda game for the Wii U called Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. It looks AMAZING!

Gamers were shown previews and clips from the game and new abilities Link has in this new journey. Then there’s the actual trailer to the game itself; I can’t fully describe the feeling I get from the game. It makes me want to grab all my art supplies and try to recreate the universe presented to those who play the game.

It also reminds me of things I’ve longed for and have heard my dad long for. A world primarily ran by nature with countless areas of unknown to explore and see. And more than likely that’s what I’ll be doing in this new Zelda game is looking around and exploring the world since that’s my favorite thing to do in video games. To finish things off here is the trailer to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Gay and Christian

Trey Pearson, Christian rock singer for the band Every Day Sunday recently came out as gay. I haven’t ever listened to the band and probably won’t care to (I think my Jesus freak days are done,) but hearing the news that a member of a successful group was gay just caught my attention.

We’re a minority, lgbt christians, I can’t speak for all the other stories because I didn’t experience them first hand and I have no right to say what others have gone through. I don’t know what Trey Pearson went through growing up, I only have my own experiences.

These are also personal experiences that I have mostly chosen to keep off the internet, but I will post a little blog about it. I won’t talk about my actual upbringing or how my parents reacted concerning it and my religion (shockingly nothing negative though), I won’t talk about any actual religious stuff. If you want a blog post about homosexuality and the Bible you can go google another blog with that topic. My own spiritual experiences are also off limits.

Wait, Gay and Christian?

These are the usual questions that arose when I revealed I was gay and catholic; wait, aren’t you scared you’re going to hell for being gay? Are you ever going to get married? Are you ever going to have sex? Don’t you know you’ll be happier if you just leave the church? My usual answers are no, not sure (as of June 2015 I hope to though), that’s none of your business, and you don’t seem to be thrilled with life either.

In real life I choose to be fairly subtle about my sexuality because 1. I desire to be judged based on the kind of person I am and 2. It’s kind of fun to screw with the heads of people who don’t realize it off the bat. However in the days that I was more religious I chose not to speak of my sexuality too much because I wanted to keep my love life private, a right every person has. It wasn’t out of shame, but because I feel some things in life should be private.

Concerning that period of time and when I think about it it’s pretty obvious who would have stayed my friend had I been open about what I am and who would have been ready to throw stones at me. I keep in contact with the former and prefer not to be in contact with the later.

I also never chose to come out to any religious group because I never wanted to be the token gay, or the face of Christians who happen to be gay. I wanted to be treated as equally as everyone else. The thought of being the face of something terrifies the shit out of me; it means I have to constantly be on good behavior, constantly be the bigger person,  and any time I fucked up it looks bad on a whole group of people. It’s a cowardly decision I’m aware, but becoming the face of something would have meant losing something I very much desire to keep private in my life.

As of this current time (2016) my religious beliefs have been moved over to my private life too. Also not out of shame (yes there has been struggle the past few years because life is never easy), but out of the same reason I keep my love life private, because I want it to be private and I have the right to that privacy. Yes there are alot of things I don’t agree with the church about and many people will say I don’t deserve to say I’m catholic based on it. My usual response to that is “k thanks, bye.”

The C and A

The  first and sole relationship I’ve ever had was with an atheist. I’m still friends with him, I still love him. I’ve looked up to him since I was sixteen hoping I would grow up to be like him as an adult as someone as confident and comfortable with his sexuality as he was. He is also a very loving individual, very stressed, but very loving.

I chose to keep my relationship with him private because it was long distance and based of that readers should be able to gather enough. There were a few friends I told of it, some of them were shocked that I talked to atheists and were convinced I’d be led away from God. Other said I needed to convert him to the love of God so he wouldn’t go to hell.

When the subject of God came up, they weren’t always pleasant and I was defensive about the situation and said things I really regret now as an older adult. However, from this man that I probably admire a little too much I feel I learned to be a more loving person and gained the ability to love a little more unconditionally (ok maybe not completely unconditionally, there’s alot of idiots in my life).

The reason he’s my sole relationship so far is because a relationship just isn’t on my priority list right now. I also date based off intuition and chemistry and I don’t have much of my type available at this time.

Other lgbtq Christians?

I haven’t met too many, I’ve met a few, they’re nice people, but there’s never a balance I feel comfortable with concerning religious life and sexuality. My gaydar detects who’s gay in a group fairly accurately. I never act on it because in most of those situations the individual has/is in the closet. There is nothing wrong with being in the closet if you are scared/desire not to come out (so long as you don’t bash anyone out of the closet).

I’ve gone to gay christian dating sites, I had a good laugh after thirty minutes of going through profiles and deleted mine. Nothing against those gentlemen, but I can’t see myself with any of them.

Has it Ever Been a Problem? (Just End the Damn Blog Post Already)

I can understand if someone were concerned for my mental health concerning this topic. As I said before I can’t speak for anyone else’s experiences, but I can understand resentment or a dislike of the religion. Even for those who are open about their religion and sexuality there are still some delicate places. For one thing it’s a little hard to date and be abstinent since it’s nearly always a deal breaker from my own experience. No idea why straight couples don’t get shamed as much concerning the topic (unless one of them ends up pregnant…).

I never really did ever think I was going to hell or feared what God would think of me since God is omnipresent. I was raised in a very loving family and I’m grateful for it. Do I feel like I’m getting the short end of alot of sticks? HELL YEAH! But I can be very hopeful for a nice future. To finish things up, here’s a song I could always relate to and always shared without revealing that it’s a christian song (seriously why do we always have to label things these days?)

 

 

 

Queer 26

If you had told me in my first instances of attraction to someone of the same gender that I would be fully comfortable with me orientation by my midtwenties I would have given a very confused look since I was three and I had just discovered David Yost as Billy the blue power ranger.

I should backtrack though; I have an internet friend who’s and artist that I chat/have spats with on a regular basis. The sources of spats being him thinking that I should stay single because God wants me to, and me saying he and the church is full of shit in that aspect, but that’s a blog post for another day. We talk about writing and one day he asked “why are so many of your characters LGBT?” I shrugged and said it just comes natural and that I’m not just throwing it out there to be out there. I don’t think he believes me, and I’m convinced there is a voice in my subconscious that doesn’t believe me either.

My Mundane Bitching

There was an instance shortly after gay marriage became legal where he was at an art show not too far from a gay pride parade and how he felt uncomfortable looking at paintings next to a shirtless man wearing a kilt with pierced nipples. He told me that with the legalization of gay marriage that he hoped the “pride parade fad” would die down. Even though I’m not fond of the gay stereotype it was at that moment I prayed to God that the pride parade would go on forever.

Despite all these happy things I’m not a happy person under the LGBT population; aside from typical life issues there are still things that bother me. Why is there still a LGBT genre on Netflix and Hulu? Why is the  token gay person still usually a stereotype with fancy clothing, feminine voice, and obsessed with musicals (on US television anyways)? Why do all coming out stories that are successful and more sympathetic about lesbians rather than gay men? Why are most gay stories instantly associated with coming out and gayngst? WHy were most of the badass gay characters lesbians? Why do gay shows/movies have to be so damn raunchy? When will I get Will & Grace on Netflix? There is an argument that not all gay shows are raunchy such as Glee and The New Normal. I can accept that, but both shows still have stereotypical gay men as the primary cast. I will give credit to Modern Family about having a gay couple that isn’t stereotypical though. I will also give special mention to Joey Gutierrez from Agents of SHIELD for being a very normal person who happens to be gay.

I can’t speak for shows like Sens8 because I don’t watch it and I’d like to go into the topic of bisexuality, except there are many other blogs out there that will cover the topic.

You’re probably thinking “what are you bitching about? Society has taken huge leaps to be normal with you and you’re still not happy? Why can’t you be happy with the gay characters out there? You’re sounding like GLAAD!” And my reason for bitching is because I’m not the gay stereotype. One of the reasons why I was uncomfortable with my sexuality when I realized what I was was because I couldn’t relate to the gay stereotype I saw on tv from age ten to thirteen. At the time my primary source of entertainment was anime though and although homosexuality was still toned down to “close friendship” ( and in some cases ‘cousins’) in the US adaptions, I realized what those relations were. I couldn’t become fully okay with myself until I met an adult gay male who didn’t have anything stereotypical about him aside from his voice. No flashy clothing, no sassy attitude, no desire to go clubbing, no abs or muscles to look at (not all stereotypes are bad things), just a regular plain adult who happened to be gay.

A Small Snippet of my Teens/YA Life

This adult is my first love and former boyfriend who is still a very dear person to me (I’m not entirely over him). He opened my eyes to more issues and in a sense agreed with what I hoped for in the future where being gay didn’t instantly define what I am and completely change who I am to someone as soon as they found out. First he showed me what Yaoi was, I freaked out significantly because I had presumed that because I was gay there was no way I could have sex and would die a virgin. He also told me there’s such a thing as Gay Day at Disney parks where gay couples and families could go and be normal. I liked the idea, but me being an idealist hoped that one day Gay Day wouldn’t be needed anymore and I could go to a Disney park with my partner on any regular old day.

He also eventually showed me Battlestar Galactica and Caprica that had what I had wanted in US television; gays doing cool stuff without being a stereotype. It did kind of suck that in BSG the gay character became a villain and the gay character on Caprica was a trained mobster assassin who killed in very bloody ways. Prior to being exposed to Battlestar Galactica though and through the exposure to Yaoi I did start reading more manga with more LGBT couples and gay men who weren’t stereotypes. I really liked it! It made me dream of moving to Japan just so I can be seen as a normal person (in a sense).

I was also exposed to the television show Queer as Folk, and although it was interesting, I’m not really one for raunchy stuff on tv.

Writing

When I graduated highschool I wanted to write YA, to this day I only have two completed books. They’re awful and should not be read by anyone because so much of it makes me want to cringe. I am in the process of rewriting said stories though. It wasn’t intentional, but I made two characters that were gay when I was doing a fanfic of Dead Like Me. The story eventually evolved into something completely different and even now as I’m rewriting it it has evolved into it’s own universe. The generally story is a Christian gay boy hoping and praying for his atheist boyfriend to wake up from his coma.

I’m still working on this story and many others, but there’s a multitude of gay and straight characters in them.

To finish this blog I’ll leave a song and the fictional lgbt character I relate to most; Pearl from Steven Universe.

 

Let’s Talk About Ahsoka Tano

Let’s try something a little different, I’m going to talk about an animated character I’ve recently found to be pretty interesting, and yes it’s because an important matter that needed to be addressed concerning her existence will finally be addressed; I’m talking about the fate of Ahsoka Tano.

Spoilers from this point on concerning Star Wars Clone wars and Star Wars Rebels. 

Before I continue I will say I’m sorry to Star Wars fans, I’m going based off the new canon, yes I know you all still aren’t happy about your entire expanded universe being set on fire, I understand it’s not easy to overcome. Please don’t get pissy on this blog, there are other parts of the internet for you to express your anger and grief over with other fans with the same feelings.

When the world was first introduced to Ahsoka Tano, she didn’t have too many fans, it’s not hard to see why. She was introduced in a Star Wars movie that probably should have been a tv special than theatrical release and she was obviously the mandatory kid character for the kids watching The Clone Wars to relate to. Oh and she was Anakin Skywalker’s padawan.

When I first saw Ahsoka my thoughts were ‘when this series ends…it’s not going to be pleasant for her.’ There were many possibilities to her fate; she was killed offscreen during the events of Revenge of the Sith, or she died at some point late in the clone wars helping in the fall of Anakin Skywalker to the darkside.

By season five we were all pleasantly surprised by the character, yes she was the typical token kid and had typical token kid episodes, but she got better as the series went on. She did missions on her own, held her own in a fight, was reckless and sensable as a jedi and saved the day her fair share of times.

Then came the season five finale; Ahsoka was framed by her friend Barriss Offee for a terrorist attack and was being held on trial. It was then that Ahsoka truly grew up, through this trial she discovered she had more in common with the bounty hunter Asajj Ventress than she believed and through Bariss’ betrayal and confession questioned the jedi order and through many realizations left the order.

For three years no news came from the character, until March 2nd 2015 where Ahsoka’s importance to the Star Wars universe was revealed. Up until four years before the events of A New Hope the rebels had been functioning through multiple cells with only one member of each rebel cell being given need to know information so that incase one member of the crew was caught, no rebel secrets would be lost.

Until the Ghost crew performed a rescue mission for one of it’s members. It was then the mysterious Fulcrum made a decision to change rebel cell protocal and unite all the cells as a full rebellion and the identity of Fulcrim was revealed to be Ahsoka Tano. That’s right, the kid created to appeal to younger characters became the woman who had united the rebels against the Empire.

Throughout season 2 of Rebels Ahsoka has been keeping an eye on bigger events trying to piece things together and find the fate of Anakin. Things have been hard on her and many fans are convinced she will be killed in her fight against Darth Vader at the end of the season. Some new revelations have been presented though; what if Ahsoka hadn’t left the jedi order? Could she have reasoned with Anakin and the Jedi masters to not punish Anakin for his secret life with Padme? Could she have kept Anakin on the light side and prevented the horrors that would have happened at Revenge of the Sith?

It’s all so interesting to see how someone so minor became so important. I’m convinced she will not live past the events of Rebels season 2, but we’ll wait and see.