Should Be Dead

On Thursday, August 21, 2014, I got in a car accident.

I was going down the freeway at 70mph (right on the speed limit) and I was drinking water and singing to my cat. Well, when I tried putting the water bottle in the cup holder, the car listed to the left side of the freeway.
I hit a rumble strip. Oops. Better get back over to the right.
Nope. I swerved left and into grass.

I got both hands on the wheel and cranked it over to the right. I was going too far right, so I went left. I went off road and into the grassy median. I swerved back onto the freeway, heading headfirst into the right lane of the freeway. From my millisecond calculations, I could tell that I was going to be under the wheels of a dump truck in less than a second. So i cranked the wheel to the right and sideswiped the car.
The force of the blow sent me careening off the right side, down into the grassy median, then I went airborne. I flew right over the left freeway and hit the brakes, rolling to a stop just a millimeter from a massive tree and fence.
If I had gone over that freeway a second later, i would have plowed through the windshields of two semi trucks.

Due to the heavy traffic, I should not have cleared both freeways the way I did. We are talking I-90 next to Chicago. I also should not have managed to avoid that dump truck. I also should not have been able to go from 90 to 0 mph in under a second. I should have been crushed by the truck, flown through two semi truck wind shields, and smashed through the fence into the tree on the other side.

Suffice to say, I was completely unharmed except a slightly sore neck and a bruise on my right arm. Here are pictures of the car.

You can see the lovely dump truck wheel marks on the shotgun seat door. Both bumper and fender were torn apart. The whole right side is crushed in and the right rear window blew out. But the engine is fine and my seat and the shotgun seat were undamaged.

Note to self and others: don't take your eyes off that road. Don't take your hands off that wheel. One second is all it takes, and then it's all over.

Peace out minions and stay safe.

Wolf's Rain

I just finished the entire series of Wolf's Rain.
I can honestly say that it is one of my top three favorite anime, next to Phantom and Zetsuen no Tempest.
I have never cried so much during an anime before. Not even Evangelion. I cried through the last three episodes and then some. It was so heartbreaking to see them get so far only to fail.
And I won't give away any more than that.

Basically the world is ending. But humans stand no chance at all. The only ones who can access the next world to come are wolves. The main character is a white, lone wolf named Kiba. He is joined by Hige, Tsume, and Toboe. Eventually they meet Cheza, a being created from a Lunar Flower, who is the one who can guide them to Paradise (the next world). Along the way, they are hunted down by the Nobles who also want to get to Paradise, Quent the wolf hunter and his dog Blue, Cher who is a researcher that studied Cheza, and Hubb: Cher's ex who mostly just wants to find Cher, but ends up following the wolves to Paradise anyway.

I do have to point out the wonderful soundtrack. It's not gripping or super emotional, but it fits the scenes well. Surprisingly, most of the sung lyrics are English... yes, even the Japanese one.
I absolutely love the subbed! I always go subbed these days. But from the segments I saw in dubbed, it sounds like they made a really, really good one. I only heard the wolves, Cheza, Cher, some soldiers, and Darcia (a noble) talk, so I'm not sure how the rest of the cast sounded. Kudos to them for their great dubbing actors! They kept the emotion accurate to the original! (unlike many dubs I've heard *cough* Bleach *cough* Baccano *cough*)

What struck me as interesting about this show is how animal-like they make the wolves. At first it was odd, because you see these humans like... licking each other's injuries... but then you remember "Oh right... wolves. Gotcha." But after a few episodes of that, and I got so used to it.
Also, Cheza is so much like a plant. Like, really like a plant. Hmm.
I say this because typically in shows where they do stuff like this (having human robots or animal shifters and stuff), they always assign such human characteristics to the things. We do that naturally with our pets as pet owners, so writers wind up doing that with the animals or robots or whatever that they write about.
But this writer never did that. They just said, "They are wolves. That is it." And that was it. They walked and talked and ate and played and interacted like wolves.
I think it was really episode 3(or was it four) that kind of sealed the deal for me.
Toboe: I'm hungry.
*sees a rotting deer corpse*
Toboe: HEY! FOOD! *runs over and digs in*
Me: o.O ... but... but.... oh right, wolves. -.-


I give this anime a 100/100 for it's amazing character development, gripping action, beautiful imagery, animal accuracies in portrayal, the incredible plot development, and one of the best anime endings ever! Even though it was sad, it was happy. Bittersweet.



Alright, because I'm in a sad mood, I shall show yall nice/funny pictures of the characters!

Cheza! The Lunar Flower Maiden. Yes, she is a plant. Her eyes creeped me out at first, but she's so sweet and pretty once you start getting to know her.

Hige! His name means "whiskers". He's like the... sort-of comedian of the group. None of the characters really have stereotypes. He's always hungry and stuff.

Later he develops into a really strong character who struggles with being dependable while trying to redeem himself for his actions.

Hige meets Kiba in Episode 1! Just kind of pokes fun at him. 

Sniffing is serious business, Hige!

Kiba. Kiba means "fang". This is... how he typically looks. He really needs to stop fighting so much.

He's the angst, more brooding type. He doesn't talk much, and he has trouble connecting with others since he lived his life as a loner.

Serious Kiba is serious.

Kiba: the quintessential mountain climber. Just look at him exert himself beyond measure as he ascends that super steep mountainside!

Kiba. 

Don't mess with him.

Toboe! It means "howl". Curious and cute little kid! ^^ Oh, he's so adorable! I wanna hug him SOOOOO bad!

Cranky Toboe.

Even cranky, he's still cute.

Eh, that's what happens when you eat shrooms.

Toboe!

Tsume.

Means claw.

I really don't need any more pictures of him. This is how he always looks.

Alright, here is Hubb!

Here is Cher. (probably looking at Hubb)

Here is Quent.

Looking at the guy who took his vodka from him.

This picture is of him getting his vodka back. 

It was removed for disturbing, violent content.

This is Blue.

Looking at a squirrel or something...

And then she got in the shrooms too. Bad Blue.

Kiba and Tsume first meet.

Can't you just FEEEL that friendship~

Funny how Tsume means "claw" and in human form he is always seen with his wicked knife.

This sums up Tsume and Toboe in a nutshell.

Tsume and Hige in a nutshell.

(I really don't know what happened here um... they found out Tsume is really a woman...)

I KID! I KID! *don't hurt me tsume~*

Hubb travelling with Quent.

Whee.

So, you're called the Hmong people eh?

Wear feathers and deerskin, live in teepees, hunt buffalo...

Seem legit.

Pretty much.

Ok. I saw the following picture and I COULD NOT resist!

That, or Toboe is still on shrooms.

In all honesty though, this series really has no funny moments, except the odd comment thrown here and there in the earlier episodes when all is 'ok'. The walrus battle was actually kind of sad. Hige suffers a lot, both mentally, physically, and emotionally. (well, they all do really). Tsume acts tough, but he's actually very lonely. Kiba faces nothing but oppositiona nd dead ends while he tries pursuing a Paradise he doesn't even know exists. Toboe just wants to be loved and accepted. Cher and Hubb are an adorable pair who never really get any time together before they're brutally torn apart. Quent is such a tortured soul without any reprieve. Blue is under-appreciated. Cheza is used and abused wherever she goes with absolutely no say about anything.

It is amazing though to watch these characters come from such pitiful beginnings, to endure some horrific things, and then come out stronger and better than before.

Only to have their dreams and hopes dashed to peices.

So give Wolf's Rain a try. No, actually, go watch it NOW! Unless you're in the middle of Phantom of course. Wolf's Rain is only 30 episodes, each are roughly 25 minutes long. So go watch it. And bring some kleenex along.

"They say there's no such place... as Paradise. Even if you search to the ends of the Earth, there's nothing there. No matter how far you walk, it's always the same road. It just goes on and on. But, in spite of that... Why am I so driven to find it? A voice calls to me... It says, "Search for Paradise."

~ Kiba

Peace off minions!

Let us meet in Paradise!

The Funny Thing About Characters And Why They Hate Us

The funny thing about characters is that they are people. Believe it or not, they live and breathe, hope and dream, interact and react, plan and plot, and think and feel, and on and on. Most people do not see them this way. They say that characters are just two-dimensional drawings or word conglomerates on paper. Well, they are wrong, and unfortunately, that is why they hate us authors.

We authors get stuck in that rut too. We forget that these beings we gave life to have a free will. We force our opinions and beliefs on them. We write their bios and think "There! That's my character!" But somewhere out there, your character is shaking his fist at you and screaming "No I'm not!"

Still confused? Allow me to redirect you to this:

Have you ever sat down to write a character bio or type out a good little roleplay, when suddenly you get this nagging voice in your brain, nearly audible, telling you to go do something differently?
You wanted your character to pick chocolate ice cream when they really want rainbow sherbert.
You wanted them to be a Democrat, when really they are a Fascist.
You say they like the color red when really they think it is ugly.
Simple things like that.
Or maybe it is something more out there and in your face. They want to completely take over the wheel and drive your writing off by themselves, like some sixteen year old stealing Dad's keys.
It has distinctly happened to me twice in the past few months.
My Aisthesis character Gwaine Scrivener was just going about his rp business guarding the door. I randomly made him to be a guard/chauffer/etc sort of person.
But then Mania had Anat enter the scene as she was supposed to.
And I heard this audible voice in my head.
"She's the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on! Can I marry her? Please?"
I really had no intentions of Gwaine loving anybody. Maybe down the road, but certainly not Anat.
However, I had learned to listen to my characters' voices, so I'm rolling with his punches.
Then there's Nachi Ateli, another Aisthesis character. Brand new, not finished, never rped.
I was writing his bio and occasionally looking at his picture, which is from yuumei on deviantart. In the picture, the character holds a camera.
"Oh, so Nachi likes taking pictures." ^^
And then I heard that audible voice in my head, as if Nachi himself were leaning over my shoulder to whisper in my ear.
"Yes, I like taking pictures of you when I follow you home."
Sounds creepy? Yes. Well, that's when I realized Nachi is an obsessive stalker who learns every single detail he can about a person from a distance before moving on to the next.

So what is there to take away from this?
Sometimes we have to let our characters steal our keys and drive off on their own while we take the backseat. It can be a bumpy ride, but it is always so interesting. Only then do they really take on lives of their own.

I have also come to believe that writing bios before writing the characters themselves is not always a good idea. The more detailed the bio, the more limited the characters become. It is far better to write a short bio at first just for the sake of joining a site, then once you have had them face challenges, interact with people, and have asked yourself a million questions about them, then maybe go back and lengthen it out.
Not everyone has a problem with bio writing, and I am not saying that there is any problem to begin with. I just want to share the idea of no longer stifling our characters and letting them run loose and free.
This goes a bit along with the post I made about taking character risks. If you let your characters go, they will take risks. They will make mistakes. But through them, we learn how characters adapt, grow, and change.
JUST LIKE REAL PEOPLE!

I think that is why, sometimes, our characters hate us. They get frustrated when we try to fashion them to our neat and trim design rather than the way they really are. I know there have been many times when my characters have banged their heads against the wall going, "WHY!?"

And then we also abuse them, but that point was better made in my poem post You Must Be Unmade.


That is today's contribution everyone. Peace off minions.

Korra: The Issue

This is it: a rant I have been meaning to make for a LONG time.
Avatar: The Legend of Korra


I watched the first episode, and that was enough for me to realize that this was not good at all. In fact, it made me depressed. It was almost as bad as seeing The Last Airbender by M. N. Shyamalan. Because at least Korra would be good as a stand alone project while the movie just sucked big, hairy lollipops.

Now, if I had never seen Avatar The Last Airbender, I would have probably enjoyed the show since it has a decent cast, cool fight scenes, and some very intense plots. However, because I was graced with the greatest thing to hit Western animation since the Miyazaki releases and Bambi, I was severely disappointed at Korra's flop.

Why did it flop? Well sit back, because this may take a while and perhaps suck the life out of you like a demonic, vampire, leech.



CHAPTER ONE
REPUBLIC CITY

This will be long because I am going over not just the city itself but the horrible crap they shoved into it too.
Republic City is supposed to be every Race Rights Activists' dream: a place where all four nations and humans alike can co-exist in harmony and skyscrapers.
WTF?
Skyscrapers?
I'll get back to that.

PART ONE: the War
The world was at war!
Doesn't anyone remember the 100 year war that had been happening? Does anyone remember the awful brutality that happened off-screen during the three seasons of Avatar?
The whole world was at war for a hundred years. The people wouldn't suddenly decide to become friends just because the Avatar and the brand new Fire lord are buddy-buddies. In fact, they would just be more suspicious. The world knows Zuko as the spoiled brat of the world's worst dictator who was banished and then spent oh-so-many years hunting down the Avatar to KILL him! Now suddenly they're friends? There should have been at least one WTF scene. Wouldn't someone have speculated that maybe this was a Fire Nation plot? That maybe they were being tricked to all come to one area at a certain time to "build a new city" just so the firebenders could go "psyche" and just burn them to a crisp? I mean, I at least would be suspicious. If I was a leader of a nation or other person in power, I would say, "Hell no! I am not going to be pulled into your game! I know you're up to something!"
At the end of a war, there are at least a few light skirmishes between countries before they dwindle and die out. Either because of power, money, or opportunity to seize more territory.
We also have something important to remember: the economic state of the world.

Take it from our own world wars or better yet, the 100 years war (that was in France). At the end of them, everyone was plunged into economic depression. People could barely feed themselves, and the governments had to dish out to keep their whole city from dying off. They have barely enough money to keep the town going let alone build a new city with SKYSCRAPERS! (seriously, wtf?)

I would also imagine that with the end of their war, like any other country, they would have disbanded their excess soldiers. So now you have a poverty stricken country in absolute ruins with hundreds of men all clamoring for nonexistent jobs. Programs would have to be put in place to get them back on their feet again, either by getting them land to have a house or learning a trade to get them better equipped for jobs.

So we have suspicions over SUDDEN (and it was sudden) peace treaty and economic depression. What's next? Oh right, population!

Have you seen the death count in wars? The American Civil War alone generated anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. Now imagine that sort of thing going on for hundreds of years. The numbers go up don't they? Now add on all the people that died of diseases, stillborns, accidents, non-combat deaths, old age, suicide, etc. Got a rough number in your head? Good. 

Now consider that pretty much EVERY ABLE BODIED MAN is OUT fighting! So that leaves some women at home to do... what? Well, they manage the household. That's nice. But since their husbands are all off fighting in the war, they have no one to procreate with. Notice that in Avatar, the majority of people they meet are old people, unless they go to shady villages in the middle of nowhere or untouched cities. 

So you have hundreds of thousands of people dying every few years and not enough people left behind to make more people. The total number worldwide begins to diminish.

Before I wrap up that point, let me add this one because it does tie in: people desire a normal life. It's in every apocalypse/horror/zombie film out there and it's true of real people in real life. When World War Two ended, the Italians didn't all sing kumbaya and build a new city with the Greeks and Germans, did they. NO! They headed for home to rebuild what they had lost because they wanted their old lives again. You can bet your butts that the benders felt the same way.

And who would even fill a new city of that scale? Maybe a hundred thousand people, but that is pretty much the total number of people left on the planet (give or take).

I know why the writers made Republic City. They were saying how the refugees of other countries had all kind of mingled together and grew lives with each other. Some had even married. So where do the earthbender and his waterbender wife go? Or the firebender and his waterbender wife?

They go where the husband goes. Have none of you read about Asian group psychology? *facepalm*

Especially in those time periods (middle ages-ish) the wife left her whole family behind to follow her husband. So even though she would feel kind of awkward, the waterbender wife would be just fine living in Ba Sing Se with her earthbending husband and his rock lifting family. Because in Asian group psychology the group comes before the individual. That's why family honor is such a big thing. You dishonor yourself, you dishonor the family, because you are not a true individual, you are part of a greater whole. So therefore, the waterbender wife would have understood herself to have become part of a different whole (something she would have realized when she agreed to marry the guy) and she would go with him to Ba Sing Se.

So the point is that people desire normalcy and they would go wherever they were originally from/wherever their new family head is from.

PART TWO: Development

70 years.

You can NOT build that many skyscrapers in 70 years.

Unless you already had the technology to build them in the first place. Which they didn't. The rest of the world looked like typical middle ages Asia. I did not see any skyscrapers in A:TLA, therefore there cannot be skyscrapers now.

Everyone says "Oh, but they had earthbenders that could just make them out of earth." 

Ahem.

No.

There is a reason why our skyscrapers are built from iron, steel, and other metals. It is because things at that height are constantly buffeted by the strongest winds you ever did feel. rock and stone cannot withstand that. Unless it is as wide as a mountain. Notice how Omashu was super tall and looked like a big fat hill. That is because it was made of stone, and the only way for stone to stand that high is because it needs a large, solid base. 

Physics.

CHAPTER TWO

70 YEARS

All the things that cannot happen in 70 years.

You cannot tell me that the world jumped from Middle Ages war-ridden destitute Asia to 1930s America in 70 years. You just can't!

Motorcars? Maaaaybe. Especially since the firebenders were top of the line when it came to vehicle transports, motor cars are expected.

But the fashions? The gramophones? The skyscrapers?

No.

You still have fighters. You still have benders! They would never go around prancing in corsets, tight button shoes, with buttresses under their skirts. They WOULD NOT!

Fashion does not go like that. Fashion develops based on how society changes. If anything, I would expect much of the same as A:TLA with maybe minor modifications. Not freaking 1930s America.

A city of metalbenders. Cannot happen.

Take Toph, alright. She discovered it after how many years of earthbenders before her trying and failing? You think everyone else is going to pick up on it super fast too? No. 

They will try and fail. Metalbending is about digging deep inside the metal and maneuvering the earth particles. 

Also remember that people are lazy. Especially people in post-war A:TLA who are busy trying to find their lost family, bury their loved ones, and fix up their ransacked home. Only a few would have bothered to try and learn metalbending and fewer would have mastered it to Toph's level. That's way too few to start a whole city of them.

Perhaps that is a personal opinion, but there you have it.

CHAPTER THREE

THE PLOT

The plot, the plot, the plot.

Antibenders! Whoo!

NO!

It makes LITERALLY NO SENSE!

It's the equivalent of saying "Death to all people with black hair!"

Honestly? You are friends with blackhaired people. Your relatives have black hair. Your dog has black hair. But now all the black haired people are suddenly unnatural and can't coexist with the rest of us and should all... what exactly? Die? I never understood what they wanted those people to do. Like... stop bending or something.

"DAMN IT! Treat yourself to chemo and wear a wig! Get rid of your natural black hair that you were born with and cannot do a thing about that we have been living with since the dawn of time!"

I mean X-Men made sense. It did because mutants were fairly new, gaining in numbers as time went on because humans were "evolving". So the uproar made sense. They were weird and unknown (which all humans fear) and the humans wanted something done to them.

But benders? Really? Your planet was built by muthafreaking benders! You can't possibly say no to them.

Dumbest. Plot. Ever.

And then they were blaming benders for the war.

What was that? Sorry, couldn't hear you over the sound of how much you need the Avatar who bends all four elements.

CHAPTER FOUR

KORRA.

*sigh*

She bends three elements off the bat at 3 years old (one for each year I guess).

What?

Aang couldn't do that. Hell, NONE of the Avatars could do that. Aang had to learn how to master air since he was a little bitty one. At twelve he was pretty darn good. But Korra just struts up there like a Mary Sue with her noise in the air and in a tinny voice like nails on a chalkboard, states, "Well I can bend ALL THREE!"

Mmhmm.

"But, but, but... she cannot control them properly and she needs to master air because she's all hotheaded and stuff!"

So that means she's really Zuko and Katara's lovechild. She's a firebender who was sent to the North Pole. Fanfic has been made.

Why did I say that? Because that could be the only explanation. 

What is water? Water is changing, shifting, cool, adaptable. It can be rough and and all tempest-tossed about, but it is not raging inferno and backlashing hotheaded!

If she cannot be that, then she cannot be a waterbender.

And you're saying air is the problem?

I do not care that she has not "mastered" the three elements. She is WAY too overpowered for her age. And she seemed to have a pretty damn good mastery of it when the White Lotus came to get a look at her.

I seriously believe Korra should have been a firebender. Then they could have decided to make this show set 200 years after Aang, and then all the changes to the world, society, etc as we know it would have made sense.

So this is my first draft of my issues with Korra. Stay tuned for the remake when I get responses on it.

Peace off minions.

You Must Be Unmade

Thanks to the addition of a shipping page on Aisthesis, the topic of child cruelty and me came up again.
You may have read about that in my previous post on the Shipping War.

Well, I have been thinking a lot about all the cruelty I dish out to my characters, whether they deserve it or not. And usually, I cause them these traumas when they are still young and innocent and naive and malleable.

I wrote this poem some months ago addressing this plight, which I now present in full, featurring a picture that I like to think is Loki and his son Tai before they were so horribly ripped apart from each other, or perhaps it is a good memory they both dream of, like some wishful hope that will never be again.
I give you, "You Must Be Unmade", a free-form by AJT.

Au revoir, minions.

Shipping War

So thanks to some badly taken jokes on Aisthesis, war has been declared.

It started with me telling Mania that since her character Antebellum had been neglecting her son Sinclaire (played by moi) he ate nightshade berries.


Dreadknightmare: D: yall left sinclaire behind
ManiaLFC:  noooo he's with them
ManiaLFC:  Cazper dragged him along too
Dreadknightmare: well then he's probably... mmmmeatingallthenightshadeberries
Dreadknightmare: it's why he's so quiet
ManiaLFC:  y must u kill all the babies
Dreadknightmare: cuz that's what happens when you leave your children unattended


There was some other dialogue around it buuuuuutttt, you get the gist.

Admittedly, it was my darker side that came up with that bad joke. I typically never joke like that, especially not about children (Sinclare is four).

So even though I promised never to harm wittle itty bitty Sinclaire till he's sixteen, Mania is still set on punishing me by shipping her characters with other characters that aren't mine. >.< curses.

Especially the lovely Anat, who I ship SO HARD with Gwaine D:


So yah, and everyone's encouraging her to not give in to my pleas and go off shipping her characters elsewhere. (Yah, I'm looking at you... EVERYONE!)

Curses.

Well anyway, that's all for now minions.