Name: Victor
Location: Shadow Moses
Likes: Science Fiction, Goth Music, Bats, Fun Stationery, Tea
Dislikes: Super Hot Weather, Tomatoes
Tuesday, November 28th - Life Update
Wednesday, October 11th - Favorite Pens Friday, June 16th - Music, Dance, and Simple Joy Sunday, March 5th - Favorite Sci-Fi Media Saturday, March 11th - Dead Cells: Castlevania DLC Thoughts Sunday, March 5th - Zombie Hunter Manga Thoughts
Diary
Lately, I’ve been so busy that my entire web presence has been on the back-burner. It’s a good kind of busy, but it is really weird when I think about how many main formative memories exist because of technology. I guess my dad raising me on Quake does that. I digress, this will be a life update + some other thoughts while I write actual reviews for things to post at a later date.
For starters, school has been going really well. College has been way easier than high school, even if I still find it challenging. Only having 4 classes, and them all being geared towards something I’m especially passionate about has definitely made this school experience more enjoyable to me. I’ve managed to make a few friends, which I’m honestly really proud of myself for, and I’m less anxious about if they secretly hate me, which I think shows a real step in the right direction. Overall, it’s been going fairly well.
I’ve been drinking a lot more tea varieties lately, which has been a fun experience. Normally, I would drink mostly green tea and only branch out when I was feeling ill, but lately I’ve been finding it fun to rotate between a few teas. I’ve got a bunch now, but so far my favorite has been a passion fruit tea I found that’s just the perfect amount of bitter for waking up in the morning to do homework. It helps me get energy for the day and tastes really good with breakfast.
Also, if you want a quick meal, put furikake rice seasoning on some frozen fries and chicken tenders, then drizzle in sriracha mayo after you’ve cooked them in the oven. It’s maybe my favorite of the quick and easy meals I’ve been making lately since I’m usually so tired when I get done with my classes. The rice seasoning is also really good on popcorn I’ve discovered.
That aside, I’ve gotten a lot better about not buying from larger corporate stores now that I’ve moved into a city. It’s a lot easier to find local businesses and family owned stores, and an Asian market nearby carries almost all the food I like, so I’ve been going there a lot to get groceries. The lady who runs the store even gave me some free lychee, which I owe her my life for. It is impossible to find that shit anywhere, and her giving it to me for free was so sweet. There is a bakery I go to every week to get challah for myself (I usually buy a loaf and it lasts me the entire week, it's great bread for making toast and grilled cheeses) (even though that’s not necessarily its intended purpose) and the baker is also really sweet. Every week he asks me how I’m doing and how school is going, he’s really sweet and caring. I’ve also been going to a 24-hour coffee shop a few blocks from my house, as I’ve found it's a great place to go study if I don’t feel like sitting at the dinner table at home. The only exception to this is things like skin care, because I know those work and I don’t really enjoy change, so I keep going to Target to buy those. If I can find them elsewhere that would be nice though.
I’ve spent a lot of my free time lately watching movies and reading. I recently watched Big Trouble in Little China again for the first time since I was 10 and it is SUCH a bad movie. It’s definitely silly, but not even my love for Kurt Russell could make me take that movie with an ounce of respect. It was still a fun watch though, especially since I got to watch it with my family during thanksgiving, and I get why I liked it so much as a kid. I’ve also been watching some One Piece and Dragon Ball movies with some friends, but I think I’ll actually review those, since I care more for those pieces of media! So expect that at some point in the future.
As for books, I’ve been rereading One Piece while also staying up to date with new chapter releases and God, I love that manga so fucking much. I’m halfway through Water 7 right now and it’s just so good. The One Piece hyperfixation is back in full swing, and I’ve been so annoying about it to literally anyone who will listen. I’ve also been caught up on Chainsaw Man, which continues to get more and more insane and evil. I can't say I’m particularly surprised though, considering Tatsuki Fujimoto also wrote Fire Punch. I reread Gilgamesh as well, which continues to be a favorite piece of writing. It’s a beautiful story with lots of meaning, and also has possibly the first ever written pornographic accounts, which I personally find absolutely hysterical. It’s also incredibly gay. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are the original queers. To Me.
I also found a manga at a second-hand store that really piqued my curiosity, called Levius. I managed to find a hardcover copy for not too much, so I’ll likely write a review of the whole thing when I’m finished. The reason I picked it up was because of the art style and the very cyberpunk look of the cover, and then I later learned that it was another boxing manga, so I’ve taken this to mean that I cannot ever escape the genre that is people punching each other. I’m very excited to read it though, and I expect it to be a lot of fun.
I’ve also started learning Japanese. There isn’t a particular reason for Japanese, aside from the fact one of my roommates was learning Japanese in high school and was willing to give me their books. I’m still memorizing hiragana, and it’s definitely been a slow process, but I’m getting better at it all the time. I’m also practicing writing it, which helps with memorization, but also because I personally just really enjoy writing when learning something. Overall it’s been a slow but fun process, and I’m excited to continue learning
I also recently attended a comic con in the area with a friend, which was super fun. I got a lot of stuff there for my family and friends as gifts, but also a good deal of things for myself. I purchased my first sword (Enma), and now that I have one I think I need at least six billion more. I also bought so many charms, which is honestly great. And a lot of earrings, because I’m a sucker for jewelry and I found some really really silly SS4 Goku earrings that I just couldn’t refuse. It was a fun time, and also reminded me that I really miss doing cosplay, and want to get back into it. I might see if I have access to sewing machines at my school, and if I do I’ll probably start working on cosplay again. I really want to cosplay Egghead Island arc Zoro, just for fun (and because it means I could get more swords. lol).
There’s been a lot more going on as well, but that’s the big stuff that’s been really fun and exciting! I’ll definitely have some reviews out soon (hopefully)! I’ll also be playing Monster Hunter World frequently with two of my friends, so expect some content from that to come out at some point :)! See you on the flip side!
Hi there! While I've been working on the site itself continuously, I aven't updated here since June. Yeesh. Sorry for the apparent radio silence, I ad moved across the country and am now in college, so it's been a bit busy. Still, that's a lot of months without so much as a word! I don't have a ton to write about, though there are things in the works for this website. There's little right now for me to write about specificaly, so instead I thought it would be fun to write about... pens. That's rigt, I'm going to quickly talk about my favorite pens to use. lol. Consider it a teaser for when I add a stationary tab to my collection page. So, here are some of my all-time favorites!
It's currently 1:52 in the morning, I have felt excessively miserable about a lot of things outside of my control. and it is late (or early, I guess), which means I am ruminating. Instead of sleeping like a normal person (tried that already. could not slow my thoughts down enough) I feel the need to talk about something I've been struggling to put words to lately. That is, I'm a very emotional person, and a lot of that is expressed through music for me.
I feel the need to start this by saying I'm not qualified to talk about music. I enjoy it, I can play by ear if I want. But I don't understand the nuance or the reasons that things work. I just know some songs make me want to sob my eyes out and some songs make me want to do a little dance. This is a really personal piece as of right now. There will be no fact checking, no sources cited. This will be me just talking about music, the family I grew up in, and a certain kind of love for the world I've only learned to experience in the past few years.
I come from a family of dancers. Not people who go out and do dance competitions or musical numbers or whatever, but a family of people who went to the dance hall every weekend and spent all night having the time of their lives. That being said, I was never the best dancer. I don't really have the coordination for ballroom dancing, and I've never been able to pick up on dances I've been shown as easily as everyone else in my family. I can barely two-step, and for the love of all things holy don't ask me about swing. I felt so clumsy and uncoordinated that I hated the formalities, and just wanted to swing and spin around in vague rhythm to the music. I was lucky to be in a family where I could indulge like that, where my weird jerky movements were celebrated, even if I couldn't square dance for shit.
It's created a lot of very weird struggle for me. I've always wanted to dance like my family, but after gatherings and nights became more sparse and I couldn't ever find someone to practice, those uncoordinated movements became what I knew best. I can two-step, in theory. And when middle school hit, and with it the absolute fear that came with being at all different, I stopped dancing all-together. That's not really changed, I don't dance in public, I barely danced at prom (although that was in part because the DJ at my senior prom was kinda bad.) minus Wobble Baby, which I will gladyly admit to throwing it back to, because that song is fun if you don't take yourself seriously. And ultimately, I think that has been my problem.
It's exhausting to take yourself so seriously. For the past 2 or 3 years I've made an effort to stop caring about what others think of me, but that has only gone so far. I feel silly whenever I think about inviting my friends to a goth bands concert or to a rare 18+ (instead of 21+) goth night. And honestly that's pretty silly. I'm friends with people who listen to ska and will skank in public just because they can. Why am I so worried about doing some fun little hand gestures and having fun. I have been entirely too hard on myself over music for far too long.
I'm not expecting change overnight. That would be silly. But I dance around my room, pretending I have the grace of Morticia Addams even with the jerky motions closer in resemblence to Frankenstein's Monster. I'll dance a bit in the car too, when I'm at a stop light and one of my favorite songs is playing. Even smaller movements when I'm in public or with a friend and hear a song I like. I'm taking it in small steps, but I'm remembering that sometimes all you can do is dance, and thats okay. People have been dancing for centuries.
It's a slow process, but I'm learning to appreciate the simple joys through taking breaks and allowing myself to dance, and I think thats what my family would want.
Hi!! Today isn't the usual me talking about whatever catches my fancy, but more of a general life update! I've been crazy busy the past 2 monts, so it's only fair that I talk about it mindlessly on the internet lmao.
I'll start with April since that makes the most sennse chronologically to me :3
In hindsight it doesn't seem that busy but I was also taking a lot of time to spend with friends irl and work on my photography a bit! We had an architecture unit in my photography 3 class during April, and that's my favorite kind of photography so I spent a LOT of time on that! As for May:
This past few months has been crazy busy but I don't regret it at all! Unrelated to all of this though, I've been slow to update because I've been playing truly just a stupid amount of video games. Like it's so unreal how much I've been playing lol. Currently its been Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Citizen Sleeper, Dorfromantik, and recently, Tears of the Kingdom! I'm actually close to finished with FE:3H, and I plan to devote most of my time to Citizen Sleeper soon! I'm slowly (so fucking slowly) making my way through my backlog. All of these games have been super fun so far, even though they're all totally unrelated genres (on a related note, if you're looking for a pretty chill mindless game with pretty graphics and a really relaxed city-builder/puzzle game, I totally recommend Dorfromantik. I played it a ton during finals week to destress!). Once I finish u FE:3H and Citizen Sleeper I plan on cleaning out my backlog a bit! I know it will take me like 300 hours to get through TotK, so that's going to be the long-tem game, since I like to play 3-4 games at a time :)!
That's all for now! See you next time!!
Hi there! It's been a while! That wasn't really intentional, I've just been super busy lately! I don't really have much in the way of post ideas, but I thought I'd make a list of my favorite Science Fiction media, from games to books to movies! As much as I love gothic literature, science fiction is what really got me to love reading, and my favorite movies and games also tend to be science fiction :)! These aren't in any particular order, but my favorites will be close to the top
Books + Short Stories
It has been a bit since the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC came out, and while I am by no means a game journalist (thank god, yknow?) I thought it best to give my 2 cents as a Dead Cells AND Castlevania enjoyer.
I've seen a lot of Castlevania fans complaining about this DLC, which I think is unfair, admittedly. While not a perfect DLC, I think it beautifully crosses over the feel of something uniquely Dead Cells while also being faithful to many aspects of the Castlevania games. If you haven't played Dead Cells before and weren't aware of the style of game + story beats of Dead Cells, I could understand how this could be offputting, but I think overall it works really well.
Dead Cells is not really a game you are playing for story. There's definitely story elements to it, but the story itself is not the main focus, and I appreciate the effort they put into some worldbuilding as to what's going on, even if it's only a few lines of dialogue from Richter and Alucard. I wouldn't expect much lore or worldbuilding from a DLC like this anyway, but I'm glad to see little bits and pieces here and there.
Furthermore, Dead Cells has always been a beautifully pixelated game, and the Castlevania DLC is no different. The scenes are beautifully evocative of the Castlevania Games, and the characters are translated into Dead Cells' art style spectacularly. I felt the same dread as I always do when I saw the harpies in the DLC, and Death was an especially stunning boss fight visually.
The most important part was that I enjoyed myself. Playing through each level felt exciting and like a fresh take on the Castlevania series that wasn't a shitty Netflix series, it was a breath of fresh air to play. I'd say it made me want to replay SotN or PoR, but in truth it really just made me want to play even more Dead Cells. And while I don't think I've seen everything this DLC has to offer, I'm definitely content with it so far, even the different Dracula and Death costumes felt like a great reward for defeating them.
I think overall I'd give this a 9/10, while not perfect (I cannot be Maxim which is a tragedy), I think it did really well at being decidedly Dead Cells in its approach to a Castlevania DLC, I really loved it overall!
Until Next time!
A few weeks back, I read an unfinished manga that ended after only 4 volumes. It wasn't intentional, and had I known this I would not have read it. Yet, when I stumbled across a scanlation of "Zombie Hunter" online, I couldn't help but read all 4 volumes in one sitting.
"Zombie Hunter" was first a dark novel series written by author Kazuma Hirai. I've been unable to find any translations of this 1970's series, but I will continue my search. It was later drawn by Korean mangaka Yang Kyung-il in the late 1990's and serialized through Comic Beam for the seinen demographic.
The plot follows Toshio Tamura, an ex-racecar driver who's forced to become, as the title suggests, a zombie hunter. He finds himself on a jungle island, where he and many others endure extreme training to find people suitable for the role. After a series of disturbing tests, one of which involving the loss of his arm, Toshio is selected. This means he is "hired" by a secret government agency.
The "zombies" in this series are actually an alien race which either kills or takes over the host body and tries to kill as many other people as it can. It does so through various means, such as pretending to be a teacher. As an aside, I will say that it is very refreshing to have a series that doesn't shy away from the term "zombie." I also think that zombies being an alien species is an interesting twist on the usual zombie tropes.
Toshio at first tries to back out of being a zombie hunter, believing his boss to be a horrible person. For a time, he's able to leave and go back home to his family, leading a normal life. He races cars and spends time with his loved ones. Unfortunately, after a zombie kills his sister and his girlfriend, he has to grapple with the fact that zombies seek him out now. His boss only let him go because he expected this to happen. Toshio finds himself cornered and can do nothing but join this group, and so he starts hunting zombies.
This manga fascinates me--I'm sad it won't ever get continued. Considering how much happens in only 4 volumes, I'm sad I won't get to see more of it.
So, Here are my thoughts:
Overall a very good read! I wish it was finished, but I guess instead I'll just have to make up my own ending to satisfy myself!
Thanks for reading! Till next time!
Hello all! This is my first blog post :)! This is all very new to me so apologies for not really knowing what I am doing
I don't have much to say yet, I just wanted to make sure this format would work! I hope you all enjoy your stay here, I'll be making a proper blog post once I have this site figured out a bit more and am more comfortable with the format overall! This is very exciting to work on though :D!
Plans For This Site: