This is going to be my big long post about the future of my lifetime and beyond; who knows where this is going to go.
When it comes to the future of my current lifetime, I want to be hopeful. I want to hope that people will start caring about things that are affecting the planet, and that we can all work together to try and expand humanity's reach into the stars and beyond. I have a huge hope for expanding into the universe, at least just a little bit more beyond the moon in my lifetime, or even establishing some sort of contact or visual conformation of another living species in the universe. The thought of having that sort of thing happen in my lifetime is so thrilling, and it's something I desperately want to see! I can only hope that our world won't be horrifically torn apart by more strife and idiotic dealings between overgrown toddlers that don't want to play nice or bother to help one another through issues that are affecting both parties. In my own lifetime, I would also like people to be accepting of one another without resorting to violence or hurting one another, but I think that's probably a pipe dream.
With the future far beyond my lifetime, I can only hope that at that point we've established some sort of peaceful society that has a nice, reasonable form of living without being horribly destructive to both the planet and various cultures, and that we've extended our reach beyond just Earth, and even our own galaxy, and that we've embedded ourselves into other life-form's cultures, or even evolved to a point of having different types of humans for other planets. This is all just hypothetical, though, as I know that that would take hundreds, even thousands, of years before something like that would happen. The best I can hope for is that strife is dealt with in a less destructive manner, and that people can help settle their differences without killing one another or having hate marches-- I just want people to be able to exist and be who they are without fear of being killed out of the fear of someone being different.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Satire and Sci-Fi -- Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy
So for this week I listened to the original radio broadcast of Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I had never listened to it before, but I've heard lots of things from it (which, i learned from listening to it!) that were used in popular culture, and the infamous movie that came out (which I never saw..). I remember being really confused when playing the game Spore when the center of the universe told me that the answer to everything was 42, but now I understand.
When it comes to applying things that happen in the radio show that can be applied to our current future, it's very interesting. We've always had this one theory about how we're living in a simulation, or how our lives are run by a computer, but the notion of the Earth itself being a computer is a relatively interesting theory to think about! Also the theory of some big, super intelligent race of animal origin secretly running everything while humans scuttle about is also a hilarious side-note to a lot of these sorts of theories, which just sort of 'happen' while listening to the HHGTTG.
The other interesting thing to note about HHGTTG is the concept of a small little computer that can basically tell you anything and everything, because that's essentially what we have now! Smartphones and tablets are about the size of the theoretical Guide inside the radio series, and can virtually tell us anything we need to know, depending on our internet connection or access to 4G, that is. The other interesting thing is the concept of a race being boggled by wanting to know the answers of the universe and the reasons for life! Many a normal human has these sorts of thoughts after a while, I find.
There's a lot of interesting introspective things that sort of occur in this radio series, but the pure comedic humor is the best part about it, I think, and when it's paired with deep, introspective thoughts that sometimes get spoken about (I think of the analogy of people being not happy because of little green squares of paper!), it makes it a really invigorating and interesting set of stories to listen to!
When it comes to applying things that happen in the radio show that can be applied to our current future, it's very interesting. We've always had this one theory about how we're living in a simulation, or how our lives are run by a computer, but the notion of the Earth itself being a computer is a relatively interesting theory to think about! Also the theory of some big, super intelligent race of animal origin secretly running everything while humans scuttle about is also a hilarious side-note to a lot of these sorts of theories, which just sort of 'happen' while listening to the HHGTTG.
The other interesting thing to note about HHGTTG is the concept of a small little computer that can basically tell you anything and everything, because that's essentially what we have now! Smartphones and tablets are about the size of the theoretical Guide inside the radio series, and can virtually tell us anything we need to know, depending on our internet connection or access to 4G, that is. The other interesting thing is the concept of a race being boggled by wanting to know the answers of the universe and the reasons for life! Many a normal human has these sorts of thoughts after a while, I find.
There's a lot of interesting introspective things that sort of occur in this radio series, but the pure comedic humor is the best part about it, I think, and when it's paired with deep, introspective thoughts that sometimes get spoken about (I think of the analogy of people being not happy because of little green squares of paper!), it makes it a really invigorating and interesting set of stories to listen to!
Literary Speculation ~ Response (The Distance of The Moon)
This week I read The Distance of The Moon by Italo Calvino. When it comes to trying to distinguish the genre of this story, it's very difficult. The first time I read through it, I figured it was mostly an exaggerated, somewhat realistic story, but as I read more, it quickly moved into full fantasy, to even being sci-fi in some spots, and then turning into a romantic tragedy at the end. I think this story in particular really gets the blurred genres down very, very well.
When it comes to the question if having a distinct difference between genres is important or not, I think it's relatively important, but shouldn't be a strict rule that applies to all writing. Sometimes stories are better when different genres are blurred together to make a mash of something cool and weird, so you get a nice new piece to experience. The experience of this text is affecting my answer, because I think this story wouldn't have been as good if it was just pure fantasy or pure sci-fi, or pure romance. Having a good blend between all of these helps it develop a more reasonable and appealing shell.
Overall, I would recommend this story to a friend, because nothing is more appealing than describing a fetid, fermented, garbage-ridden spoon full of moon cheese.
When it comes to the question if having a distinct difference between genres is important or not, I think it's relatively important, but shouldn't be a strict rule that applies to all writing. Sometimes stories are better when different genres are blurred together to make a mash of something cool and weird, so you get a nice new piece to experience. The experience of this text is affecting my answer, because I think this story wouldn't have been as good if it was just pure fantasy or pure sci-fi, or pure romance. Having a good blend between all of these helps it develop a more reasonable and appealing shell.
Overall, I would recommend this story to a friend, because nothing is more appealing than describing a fetid, fermented, garbage-ridden spoon full of moon cheese.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Assessment of: Bloodchild!
Here's the Questions!
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
A very interesting story, to be honest. I wasn't really able to get a clear mind picture on what the main creatures, like T'Gatoi, were supposed to look like. Later on I sort of imagined them like centipedes, but I'm still not entirely sure that's what it was. It was also interesting the take on how this species reproduces, and how the Terrans even arrived in this place, as I believed the planet to be just an invaded Earth earlier on in the story. The process of making more of the species for T'Gatoi was also very interesting, even though the description of what was happening was pretty graphic and hectic. It was also interesting how much T'Gatoi and her species "cares" for their property-- the Tarrens-- and the lengths they go to to try and protect what are essentially their incubators.
2. What connections did you make with the story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
The connections that I made with this story is that it's similar to the "preserves" that Native Americans are often corralled into. The whole preserve is sort of referred to as a cage by two of the characters, Gan and Qui. The other connection is the fact that the Terrans are refugees from what I assume to have been Earth. It was interesting, the elements of the preserve and the refugee aspect. I can't really emotionally connect with any of these two things, however, because I'm neither a refugee or Native American. The only thing I can really connect to on a mental level is the butchering of the achti midway through the story.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium. What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I think the best medium I could do for a story like this would be a graphic novel. The changes I would make to this story is something to nail down how the Tlic look, and more backstory on the conflict between the Tlic and the Terrans when they first interacted with one another, as well as backstory on whatever conflict happened in the first place to cause the Terran to flee their original homeworld, which I'm still assuming was Earth. Other than that, I don't feel like the story needs much more changing or adjustments, especially when moving to a graphic novel format.
The medium would be ink pen and paper, with very washed out colors but bold, thick, black lines. Something along the lines of Mike Mignola would be the artistic effect I would want for this.
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
A very interesting story, to be honest. I wasn't really able to get a clear mind picture on what the main creatures, like T'Gatoi, were supposed to look like. Later on I sort of imagined them like centipedes, but I'm still not entirely sure that's what it was. It was also interesting the take on how this species reproduces, and how the Terrans even arrived in this place, as I believed the planet to be just an invaded Earth earlier on in the story. The process of making more of the species for T'Gatoi was also very interesting, even though the description of what was happening was pretty graphic and hectic. It was also interesting how much T'Gatoi and her species "cares" for their property-- the Tarrens-- and the lengths they go to to try and protect what are essentially their incubators.
2. What connections did you make with the story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
The connections that I made with this story is that it's similar to the "preserves" that Native Americans are often corralled into. The whole preserve is sort of referred to as a cage by two of the characters, Gan and Qui. The other connection is the fact that the Terrans are refugees from what I assume to have been Earth. It was interesting, the elements of the preserve and the refugee aspect. I can't really emotionally connect with any of these two things, however, because I'm neither a refugee or Native American. The only thing I can really connect to on a mental level is the butchering of the achti midway through the story.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium. What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I think the best medium I could do for a story like this would be a graphic novel. The changes I would make to this story is something to nail down how the Tlic look, and more backstory on the conflict between the Tlic and the Terrans when they first interacted with one another, as well as backstory on whatever conflict happened in the first place to cause the Terran to flee their original homeworld, which I'm still assuming was Earth. Other than that, I don't feel like the story needs much more changing or adjustments, especially when moving to a graphic novel format.
The medium would be ink pen and paper, with very washed out colors but bold, thick, black lines. Something along the lines of Mike Mignola would be the artistic effect I would want for this.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Cyberpunk/SteamPunk Response
For this week I read Fragments of a Hologram Rose; A short story. The reality that was supposed in this short story is one that has ARS machines, that can help with multiple things such as sleep issues, holograms, and the ability to destroy the holograms because somehow they're 'real' and tangible.
One of the interesting things about the ARS machines is the implied super futuristic use for them but also being incredibly 'dated' in what is used in them; the main character talks about 'cassettes' which I assume is cassette tapes that are used in these machines and for looking at events and objects.
Admittedly, even though I read this story two times very carefully, I found it incredibly difficult to retain or even really understand what was happening in the story. The most I could understand is that the main character had issues sleeping because of him being dumped by his ex-girlfriend during what I assume was the collapse of the modern world, due to the slum-like circumstances he explains himself to be in, and the constant power fluxes that are happening during the story. He uses the ARS machines to help himself sleep by what I assume is him remembering good things about his ex girlfriend.
Overall, an interesting story, but I had a lot of trouble trying to understand it-- I wouldn't likely recommend this one to another person, due to this hard to grasp narrative.
One of the interesting things about the ARS machines is the implied super futuristic use for them but also being incredibly 'dated' in what is used in them; the main character talks about 'cassettes' which I assume is cassette tapes that are used in these machines and for looking at events and objects.
Admittedly, even though I read this story two times very carefully, I found it incredibly difficult to retain or even really understand what was happening in the story. The most I could understand is that the main character had issues sleeping because of him being dumped by his ex-girlfriend during what I assume was the collapse of the modern world, due to the slum-like circumstances he explains himself to be in, and the constant power fluxes that are happening during the story. He uses the ARS machines to help himself sleep by what I assume is him remembering good things about his ex girlfriend.
Overall, an interesting story, but I had a lot of trouble trying to understand it-- I wouldn't likely recommend this one to another person, due to this hard to grasp narrative.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Multiverse/Beyond Scifi - Reading/Writing for this week.
For this week, I read through The Drowned Giant, and the first chunk of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
The sort of 'mind experiments' done in these two stories were pretty interesting to me especially the Drowned Giant's take on things.
The Drowned Giant sort of challenges the reader's perspective on the way they view certain creatures and objects in their every-day environment. Despite the fact that something as bizarre as a dead giant washing on shore would be a huge deal, it was only momentarily a huge deal in the story. It's baffling how quickly the thing turns into something that both side-shows and the government picks apart to either sell for money, or to be donated to a museum, or to be possibly used for building supplies.
The other story that had a good sort of mind story was I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. This story really dealt with the fact that people had a large fear of AI and computer technology, and the inspirations for deadly, self learning AI are really evident in this story, and I can see where characters like Glados and HAL get their scary touches to their dialogue. The biggest mindgame that happens in No Mouth is the changes that AM does to the four inhabitants, and only really giving them things when they need to 'survive' so it can continue torturing them, plus the whole explanation on how/where AM came from as a result of the Cold War turning into World War 3 was very interesting.
The sort of 'mind experiments' done in these two stories were pretty interesting to me especially the Drowned Giant's take on things.
The Drowned Giant sort of challenges the reader's perspective on the way they view certain creatures and objects in their every-day environment. Despite the fact that something as bizarre as a dead giant washing on shore would be a huge deal, it was only momentarily a huge deal in the story. It's baffling how quickly the thing turns into something that both side-shows and the government picks apart to either sell for money, or to be donated to a museum, or to be possibly used for building supplies.
The other story that had a good sort of mind story was I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. This story really dealt with the fact that people had a large fear of AI and computer technology, and the inspirations for deadly, self learning AI are really evident in this story, and I can see where characters like Glados and HAL get their scary touches to their dialogue. The biggest mindgame that happens in No Mouth is the changes that AM does to the four inhabitants, and only really giving them things when they need to 'survive' so it can continue torturing them, plus the whole explanation on how/where AM came from as a result of the Cold War turning into World War 3 was very interesting.
Space Opera ~ Vintage Season
For this week's topic, I decided to read the short story called Vintage Season, because the title of it really intrigued me. When it comes to things that this story has done that has been re-done in newer versions of 'space opera', I can name a few-- I'm not really great at listing my thoughts out in a coherent manner, so I'm going to use bullet points.
- Time Travel: The antagonistic characters in this short story are from different periods of time in the world.
- Mysterious Disease: The blue death, which the main antagonistic characters have been inoculated with, appears as an actual threat at the end of the story when the meteor strikes the town. The main character, presumably, dies from it.
- Cross-time/Interspecies love: The main character and one of the younger time-traveling ladies sort of fall in love for a brief fling.
- Nobody Says Anything: The main antagonistic characters are extremely cryptic and won't tell anybody what, who, or where they're from.
- Advanced technology: The main antagonistic characters have a huge variety of advanced technology, like the symphony machine that shows music. The other being the EMP-like device that is used to hurt the antagonistic characters staying inside the house.
That's about all I can think of at the moment to list off for this.
- Time Travel: The antagonistic characters in this short story are from different periods of time in the world.
- Mysterious Disease: The blue death, which the main antagonistic characters have been inoculated with, appears as an actual threat at the end of the story when the meteor strikes the town. The main character, presumably, dies from it.
- Cross-time/Interspecies love: The main character and one of the younger time-traveling ladies sort of fall in love for a brief fling.
- Nobody Says Anything: The main antagonistic characters are extremely cryptic and won't tell anybody what, who, or where they're from.
- Advanced technology: The main antagonistic characters have a huge variety of advanced technology, like the symphony machine that shows music. The other being the EMP-like device that is used to hurt the antagonistic characters staying inside the house.
That's about all I can think of at the moment to list off for this.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Anansi Boys - Writing Response ~
So I read through Anansi Boys, and I actually found it pretty interesting and a fun book to read, despite the first small chunk seeming a little tedious with details. The humor of the book definitely sold me over into wanting to continue reading! I really enjoyed how the myths were occasionally linked back into the ancient, old world (like when spider first tricked tiger), and then brought back into the modern world when it came to dealing with the problems again.
Another thing I really enjoyed with this book is how 'casual' the myths/mythological creatures were sort of weaved into society. Fat Charlie didn't freak out nearly hard enough at him and his "brother" basically being gods, or the ghost of Maeve just sort of casually flitting about doing her business in order to get back at that one boss that I don't remember the name of. All of these things combined sort of made the myths more believable, in a sense, to me, because they were so easily related to the modern world and were just sort of casual in their existence, not like some grand pedestal thing that was rare for mortals to ever even see.
Another thing I really enjoyed with this book is how 'casual' the myths/mythological creatures were sort of weaved into society. Fat Charlie didn't freak out nearly hard enough at him and his "brother" basically being gods, or the ghost of Maeve just sort of casually flitting about doing her business in order to get back at that one boss that I don't remember the name of. All of these things combined sort of made the myths more believable, in a sense, to me, because they were so easily related to the modern world and were just sort of casual in their existence, not like some grand pedestal thing that was rare for mortals to ever even see.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Harry Potter ~ Reading Response~
So for this week, I decided to read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I had seen a lot of the Harry Potter movies, and I attempted to read the first book a long time ago, but I didn't really enjoy the first one because it was a lot of world building and sort of drudgery that I didn't particularly like reading. So, since I had already seen Chamber of Secrets an obnoxious amount of times, I skipped forward to Prisoner of Azkaban.
In regards to the reading response assignment portion; I think Prisoner of Azkaban definitely tackles a moral issue of killing someone, the judicial system, betrayals, stereotyping someone based on something physical that they might be ailed with or even born with, and the aspects of heroism and cowardice. All of these themes pop up in Prisoner of Azkaban, especially between Buckbeak and Sirius. When it comes to the spiritual part, it ESPECIALLY pops up in this book with the whole Patronus spell.
I found this book incredibly enjoyable to read, as it provided some of that world building that the first book has, but with a little more action and exploration into the world that we didn't really get in the first book. I should probably finish the rest of the series, but I probably won't, due to time constraints.
In regards to the reading response assignment portion; I think Prisoner of Azkaban definitely tackles a moral issue of killing someone, the judicial system, betrayals, stereotyping someone based on something physical that they might be ailed with or even born with, and the aspects of heroism and cowardice. All of these themes pop up in Prisoner of Azkaban, especially between Buckbeak and Sirius. When it comes to the spiritual part, it ESPECIALLY pops up in this book with the whole Patronus spell.
I found this book incredibly enjoyable to read, as it provided some of that world building that the first book has, but with a little more action and exploration into the world that we didn't really get in the first book. I should probably finish the rest of the series, but I probably won't, due to time constraints.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Heroics Journeys
For this week, I read Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice. The book's title definitely caught my attention, and the content is definitely something that I'm into when it comes to the genre of fantasy that I really enjoy. The first part of the book, the preamble to the first chapter, was probably the best chunk of literature that I've ever read in my life. The way the tumblebug argues for what it views as obscene, lewd, etc, is something that I see ALL OVER the internet and media today, especially on certain blogging platforms. I also found out that this book apparently influenced Terry Pratchett, which is a plus.
This book sort of falls into the general types of 'heroic journey' that is in most, if not all, types of fantasy, but something that felt a little more different that most heroic journeys, was the main character not being something entirely helpless. He was a pawnbroker, and wasn't really in love with his wife, but he wasn't like a poor, dirt urchin that was scrounging for fortune and glory. He was just sort of a regular man, doing The Manly Thing, and got pulled into a huge adventure that may (or may not have..) actually happened. I also appreciated his talk that he had with Dorothy, and just how he's generally a very likable character that, surprisingly, is very relatable.
Unfortunately, I didn't read the Hobbit, because the over abundance of both The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit Movies in my life (my father LOVES these series), I didn't really have an interest in them. I will say though --
This is the only good reason of Smaug.
This book sort of falls into the general types of 'heroic journey' that is in most, if not all, types of fantasy, but something that felt a little more different that most heroic journeys, was the main character not being something entirely helpless. He was a pawnbroker, and wasn't really in love with his wife, but he wasn't like a poor, dirt urchin that was scrounging for fortune and glory. He was just sort of a regular man, doing The Manly Thing, and got pulled into a huge adventure that may (or may not have..) actually happened. I also appreciated his talk that he had with Dorothy, and just how he's generally a very likable character that, surprisingly, is very relatable.
Unfortunately, I didn't read the Hobbit, because the over abundance of both The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit Movies in my life (my father LOVES these series), I didn't really have an interest in them. I will say though --
This is the only good reason of Smaug.
Witches 'n' Stuff (slightly late)
So, for this week, I only really read the first couple of chapters for the Aunt Maria; I plan on reading the entire book later because of the responses in class saying that the book DOES get better, despite the really dull and drawn out beginning to the book. The first part of the book was just dull to me because it felt like every other 'coming of age' book aimed at young adults, but if the later parts of the book get interesting and start pulling in witchcraft and other fantasy elements, I'll be more attracted to finishing it!
Instead, I re-watched both Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle, with Kiki's being one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. It was interesting re-watching Kiki's, because I am also taking the Children's Literature class along side this one, and spotting all of the old tropes that are in old children's media and seeing it in movies like Kiki's or even Howl's Moving Castle was really fun. It was mentioned in class, but the red bow on Kiki was a big one, as well as her specific time of year and night to leave her home to essentially become a woman.
When it comes to the witches in Aunt Maria, based on the witches that I got to in the first chapters of the book, I would say the stern, 'police lady' witch probably stands out the most as the most non-stereotypical witch, but she does fall into archetype of 'powerful bitch' character-- which I don't personally think is a bad thing, but it definitely plays into how the main characters treat her and how she acts in the first few chapters.
Instead, I re-watched both Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle, with Kiki's being one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. It was interesting re-watching Kiki's, because I am also taking the Children's Literature class along side this one, and spotting all of the old tropes that are in old children's media and seeing it in movies like Kiki's or even Howl's Moving Castle was really fun. It was mentioned in class, but the red bow on Kiki was a big one, as well as her specific time of year and night to leave her home to essentially become a woman.
When it comes to the witches in Aunt Maria, based on the witches that I got to in the first chapters of the book, I would say the stern, 'police lady' witch probably stands out the most as the most non-stereotypical witch, but she does fall into archetype of 'powerful bitch' character-- which I don't personally think is a bad thing, but it definitely plays into how the main characters treat her and how she acts in the first few chapters.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
"The New Weird" - Reading response stuff!
This is one of those subjects where I'm really interested in the 'weird' aspects of parts of horror! I'm a huge fan of horror that is also humorous, because I feel like the humor really helps balance out the horror-- I'm the same way when it comes to heavy fantasy elements editing horror. It's one of the few reasons I enjoy watching things like Cabin in the Woods, because of the humor that just happens naturally in the film.
For the reading, I read some of the short stories in Three Moments of an Explosion! My favorite being, Polynia. The main story mechanic being the mysterious icebergs that just appear over London and somewhat become the new 'norm' after a period of time is really interesting to me, because it adds some excitement to the aspects of normal life, just giant icebergs flying around that nobody really knows why they exist, but they're just part of life now.
The other short story that I enjoyed was the one about the mock 'trailer', because a dynamic between two different types of undead was really cool and interesting to think about; especially with the fight being between undead that choose to not evolve, and the ones who do 'evolve'. It's one of those things that I'd actually like as a real movie!
For the reading, I read some of the short stories in Three Moments of an Explosion! My favorite being, Polynia. The main story mechanic being the mysterious icebergs that just appear over London and somewhat become the new 'norm' after a period of time is really interesting to me, because it adds some excitement to the aspects of normal life, just giant icebergs flying around that nobody really knows why they exist, but they're just part of life now.
The other short story that I enjoyed was the one about the mock 'trailer', because a dynamic between two different types of undead was really cool and interesting to think about; especially with the fight being between undead that choose to not evolve, and the ones who do 'evolve'. It's one of those things that I'd actually like as a real movie!
Thursday, January 25, 2018
J-Horror Reading Collections ~ Reading Response Stuff
So for this week I revisited some of the Junji Ito stories that I used to read in the past, as well as re-reading some of the Fuan no Tane collection again. As much as horror scares the shit out of me, I do enjoy these visual novels a lot.
So, for starters, I went back and re-read The Enigma of Amigara Fault, which at this point is a well known 'classic' amongst most people who have even been on the internet in general, due to its strange nature in the manga. It's your bog-standard style of manga, and looks harmless enough from the outside. The plot is pretty simple, stating that a large fault has created this huge rift that exposed a giant mountain filled with human shaped holes.
From there, the horror aspect comes from the fact that people are coming from all over the world to go into these holes, as they believe they were 'made for them'. The main character ends up going into them at one point, slowly contorting into a strange, deformed monster that is seen through the smaller version of the holes on the other side of the fault.
What makes this scary, for me at least, is the visual effect of the distorted humans that you see at the end, because they're still just human enough to be seen as people, but still morphed in horrible ways. The use of onomonopea is also very good in this manga, with the unsettling 'drr drr drr' made by the 'humans' as they approach the end of the tunnel in Amigara Fault.
Most of Junji Ito's works are like this, which makes them pretty good for people who can be easily spooked by horror mangas, because at least his look really pretty, even with the gore or deformations.
Fuan no Tane is the same way with Junji's horror stories, but to me rely much more on the visual horror as well as unsettling nature of the way the characters or horror things in the series look. It's a collection of small horror manga's that are usually only a few pages long, and don't really have a huge, cohesive relation to each other. The short size of them make them really easy to binge on, despite how scary they can be because of their visual horror. Most of the visual horror includes huge, deformed, shine-less eyes that stare without a reason, and large smiling mouths that don't really have any teeth but are nonetheless unsettling.
The short-story horror mangas also tend to focus more on some serious topics like suicide, murders, etc, while Junji Ito's tend to be more of the fantasy-horror route. It's got its own fair share of weird horror, but not in the way where it's the typical western way of being very exaggerated and over the top.
Here's a link to read Fuan no Tane also!
https://mangarock.com/manga/mrs-serie-100084031/chapter/mrs-chapter-100084043
So, for starters, I went back and re-read The Enigma of Amigara Fault, which at this point is a well known 'classic' amongst most people who have even been on the internet in general, due to its strange nature in the manga. It's your bog-standard style of manga, and looks harmless enough from the outside. The plot is pretty simple, stating that a large fault has created this huge rift that exposed a giant mountain filled with human shaped holes.
From there, the horror aspect comes from the fact that people are coming from all over the world to go into these holes, as they believe they were 'made for them'. The main character ends up going into them at one point, slowly contorting into a strange, deformed monster that is seen through the smaller version of the holes on the other side of the fault.
What makes this scary, for me at least, is the visual effect of the distorted humans that you see at the end, because they're still just human enough to be seen as people, but still morphed in horrible ways. The use of onomonopea is also very good in this manga, with the unsettling 'drr drr drr' made by the 'humans' as they approach the end of the tunnel in Amigara Fault.
Most of Junji Ito's works are like this, which makes them pretty good for people who can be easily spooked by horror mangas, because at least his look really pretty, even with the gore or deformations.
Fuan no Tane is the same way with Junji's horror stories, but to me rely much more on the visual horror as well as unsettling nature of the way the characters or horror things in the series look. It's a collection of small horror manga's that are usually only a few pages long, and don't really have a huge, cohesive relation to each other. The short size of them make them really easy to binge on, despite how scary they can be because of their visual horror. Most of the visual horror includes huge, deformed, shine-less eyes that stare without a reason, and large smiling mouths that don't really have any teeth but are nonetheless unsettling.
The short-story horror mangas also tend to focus more on some serious topics like suicide, murders, etc, while Junji Ito's tend to be more of the fantasy-horror route. It's got its own fair share of weird horror, but not in the way where it's the typical western way of being very exaggerated and over the top.
Here's a link to read Fuan no Tane also!
https://mangarock.com/manga/mrs-serie-100084031/chapter/mrs-chapter-100084043
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Interview With the Vampire ~ Reading Response
An interesting read, for sure. I hadn't previously read or seen anything really for this title or what it enclosed, other than the vague memory of Tom Cruise playing some blonde vampire in some random movie that I wasn't too interested in seeing. I think I had also confused it with another vampire movie, that was incredibly funny and involved 'The Office' style of filming and content.
While reading this book, I had a weird sense of joy in seeing vampires act a little more abnormal than the typical faire of vampires, and the ability to poison them with absinthe was especially interesting to me, given the properties of absinthe on just regular people as well. The different moral politics between Louis and Lestat were also very interesting, as Lestat mostly just read to me as sort of a brat given immortality, but at least he was having fun with it. Louis was considerably more whiny to me, but I suppose he had good reason.
The development of Claudia as she got 'older' was also very interesting, and it was a little terrifying the way she would attack and kill people, and the way she handled Lestat was especially scary for what was essentially a little girl. Towards the end of her life span, I actually got Baby Doll (the batman villain) vibes from her. It was slightly sad to see her killed in such a grisly manner, especially with Madeline near her. Also, reading all of the ways Louis sort of seperate himself from everyone he could be close to due to his griefs with the death of Claudia, was really interesting. Especially since at the end of his story, he seemed to think himself a pariah of being a vampire; some sort of miserable existence that can only be unhappy.
Either way, the weird 'family discourse' sort of vibe that the book gave was really fun, and I was happy to read this! Definitely a really good read, and I might give the actual movie a watch too, though I can't imagine it's as interesting as the book was.
While reading this book, I had a weird sense of joy in seeing vampires act a little more abnormal than the typical faire of vampires, and the ability to poison them with absinthe was especially interesting to me, given the properties of absinthe on just regular people as well. The different moral politics between Louis and Lestat were also very interesting, as Lestat mostly just read to me as sort of a brat given immortality, but at least he was having fun with it. Louis was considerably more whiny to me, but I suppose he had good reason.
The development of Claudia as she got 'older' was also very interesting, and it was a little terrifying the way she would attack and kill people, and the way she handled Lestat was especially scary for what was essentially a little girl. Towards the end of her life span, I actually got Baby Doll (the batman villain) vibes from her. It was slightly sad to see her killed in such a grisly manner, especially with Madeline near her. Also, reading all of the ways Louis sort of seperate himself from everyone he could be close to due to his griefs with the death of Claudia, was really interesting. Especially since at the end of his story, he seemed to think himself a pariah of being a vampire; some sort of miserable existence that can only be unhappy.
Either way, the weird 'family discourse' sort of vibe that the book gave was really fun, and I was happy to read this! Definitely a really good read, and I might give the actual movie a watch too, though I can't imagine it's as interesting as the book was.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Frankenstein ~ Reading Response
Heehoo.
I'm writing about Frankenstein, because this is honestly the first time I've ever read this book! I'd heard about Frankenstein for many years, and seen the various iterations that have been in media for many, many years. So, when reading this, I had a general gist of what the story was going to be about!
WRONG!! I only really knew the fact of Frankenstein creating the monster, but everything else I had assumed about the book and story was completely wrong! One of the first things being of course the fact there wasn't a flaming, pick-wielding angry mob that lights a weird stone lighthouse on fire in order to kill the monster at the end.
So, going into the gothic elements..
I would say one of the gothic elements is the damsel, or oppressed female character, which is Elizabeth, and even Justine to some extent. Elizabeth and Justine are both prone to being overtaken by their emotions, and swooning/fainting in response to things like the sight of the Monster. It's overdone and expected, but that's what it is.
Also, the moral dilemma with Frankenstein and refusing the monster, is in a way 'saving' the world without the expectation of a reward, though it's a little strange with Frankenstein's reasoning for it.
Overall, I had such a good experience reading this novel for the first time, and I really really enjoyed it. I felt really bad for the monster, and sort of wished he wasn't as evil as the circumstances made him be.
I'm writing about Frankenstein, because this is honestly the first time I've ever read this book! I'd heard about Frankenstein for many years, and seen the various iterations that have been in media for many, many years. So, when reading this, I had a general gist of what the story was going to be about!
WRONG!! I only really knew the fact of Frankenstein creating the monster, but everything else I had assumed about the book and story was completely wrong! One of the first things being of course the fact there wasn't a flaming, pick-wielding angry mob that lights a weird stone lighthouse on fire in order to kill the monster at the end.
So, going into the gothic elements..
I would say one of the gothic elements is the damsel, or oppressed female character, which is Elizabeth, and even Justine to some extent. Elizabeth and Justine are both prone to being overtaken by their emotions, and swooning/fainting in response to things like the sight of the Monster. It's overdone and expected, but that's what it is.
Also, the moral dilemma with Frankenstein and refusing the monster, is in a way 'saving' the world without the expectation of a reward, though it's a little strange with Frankenstein's reasoning for it.
Overall, I had such a good experience reading this novel for the first time, and I really really enjoyed it. I felt really bad for the monster, and sort of wished he wasn't as evil as the circumstances made him be.
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