Showing posts with label Blogster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogster. Show all posts

Monday, September 23, 2019

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Q&A 2019

Wow! Can you believe it? Today is the day that marks It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' 6th anniversary. How's it going my gumdrops? 

Before I forget, Happy Birthday to Whiskey Brewer on MeWe!

While still working for my uncle, I self-built this website on September 23, 2013. In a way, I cannot help feeling somewhat disappointed that I still have not accomplished as much as I really wanted this year.

Since 2017, I have endured a plethora of issues ranging from dealing with my mother's eternal health issues to chores, editing, revising, and submitting my short stories for publishing, contacting publishers, voice actors, editors, job hunting, etc.

Earlier this year, I was sick at least twice. For the 4th time in 19 years, I had bronchitis and a cold. Long story short, this year has been brutal.

Since this year's Q&A blog has a few jargon-filled questions, I tried answering them as best as I could by giving them the so-called "college try." Anyway, let's begin!

[It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Q&A 2019:]

 Kersten's Questions:

1) What is the most difficult part about having kept a blog this long? 

2) Who is your favorite Horror artist?

My Answers: 

1) Creating a blog is nothing compared to self-building a website full of content. All the while, trying to generate exposure and attracting the right demographic. 

Also, spambots, site, and server glitches. Those have been my biggest problems.

In addition to self-building It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns, there is managing it, generating SEO, traffic, visitors, and loyal subscribers. 

At the same time, enduring social climbing opportunists, selfish and misanthropic "friends" pretending to care about me, indifference, jealousy, envy, the bitterness of others, and copycats.

2) When it comes to Horror artists (because they are more than just Metal vocalists and guitarists), I guess I would say Rob Zombie, Glenn Danzig, and Wes Borland. Even though Wes Borland is best known as Limp Bizkit's lead guitarist, he collaborates with other bands besides fronting his own.

Tard Tardnation: What's your favorite type of weather?

Answer: I love the hot summer weather. 

Then again, I was born ~1 week before Summer Solstice. Now that it's fall, I dread having to rake leaves and shovel snow again.

Meanwhile, rain and snow help set ominous tones to my short stories, since I mostly write Psychological Horror, Crime, and Psychological Thriller.

Jesse: Do you ever use Duolingo or Babbel to help learn a new language? I've just started using Duolingo recently because I am interested in learning German.

Answer: Yes, I have heard of both Duolingo and Babbel but have never used either. 

Even though it has been years since I last took German I highly recommend the book, Komm mit! You may want to visit the 50 Languages foreign language website and download their app, too.

Much like my family, I believe it is best to traditionally learn a foreign language with drills. Using apps make for great aids but it is best to have a quality foreign language book. My youngest aunt uses Duolingo to help her with learning Japanese.

According to her, Duolingo is not the best way to become fluent in a foreign language. 

Regardless of what foreign language you want to learn, you MUST have quality foreign language books with drills to help learn a foreign language.

DJ Scott: What's your fondest memory from blogging/blog responses?

Answer: My fondest memories actually predate building It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns.

For those, who didn't already know, I originally started blogging 13 years ago on Yahoo 360. This was months after graduating from Carthage College, while STILL battling a severe bleeding disorder at the time.

My English Literature Professor sometimes used my Yahoo 360 blog as an educational source for his classes. Compared to the last 6 years of blogging on here AND Blogster, more educational information was published on my Yahoo 360 blog.

Unfortunately, all good things always come to an end. This can most definitely be said about Yahoo 360. Yahoo always discontinues their best products.

Years later, I discovered the blogging community, Xanga. I regret not discovering Xanga years sooner.

Before The Xanga Team dumped their money problems into OUR laps by making it mandatory to pay to blog, which caused division within our community, I had both national AND international traffic, friends, and loyal subscribers. 

In addition, more readers genuinely cared about my content and I made top blogger AT LEAST  a few times, 6 years ago.

C. Afflerbach: Do you like crafting? Ancient aliens? Ghosts?

My Answers: 

1) The closest I will ever get to crafting is building this website. Otherwise, I always suck at crafting. As cool as crafts look, I never had that skill. 25 years later and I still suck at doing Origami.

2) I'm not a huge fan of ghosts and aliens. Blame it on Hollywood filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, for example and the media. 

They love spreading (as I use the cliche term) "misinformation" and stupid ass stereotypes about the paranormal and extraterrestrials.

The contrived and unrealistic scripts and special effects in Spielberg's movies only validate all those skeptics, who don't believe in ghosts and aliens. 

Even though I'm not a huge fan of either, I know that both DO exist, especially the paranormal.

Whiskey Brewer: Are there any cartoons you grew up watching, that you'd actually like to see remade for youngsters nowadays?

Answer: When it comes to movies and shows, including animation, you could say, that I am more of a "purist." Today's filmmakers, writers, and animators should leave Classics alone.

Continuously remaking and rebooting movies, shows, and cartoons because they want to stay relevant only proves, that all these filmmakers lack creativity and originality.

The incessant political activism and correctness, which mostly consists of CONTRIVED tokenism to pander to politically correct hipsters are biggest problems with today's writers, filmmakers, cartoonists, musicians, etc.

Why does Ariel from The Little Mermaid suddenly have to be black?

Why does a famous superhero suddenly have to be non-heterosexual or female? 

Speaking of, have you seen the commercials for CW's Batwoman?

Batwoman Trailer CW (2019)

If anything, more network programmers should introduce younger demographics to Classics. 

Yes, they may look dated but as they get older, they might have a better appreciation for said movies, shows, and especially cartoons. They should be able to imagine what life was like during an era(s) that was before their existence.

For example, every time I watch a movie that was made before, during, and slightly after I was born, that film allows me to embrace and reflect on what life was like before we had cell phones, laptops, tablets, the Internet, social media, etc.

As a 37-year-old woman, I do miss the days of publicly socializing with friends and on my bedroom's phone line as a teenager, going to public places without someone staring at his cell phone, while playing video games on it, and being able to cherish memories WITHOUT some girl snapping selfies and recording the play by play of her vapid, daily life with poses on social media for instant praises by sycophants.

C.S. Michel's Questions:

1) Have you seen the trailer for the new Joker movie?

2) Have you seen Doom Patrol?

3) Do you like Erotic Anime?

My Answers:

1) Yes, I have and please reread my answer to Whiskey Brewer's question. The Batman franchise was meant to be campy. Since the time of the 21st Century, filmmakers have ruined Batman by dramatizing what was originally a campy franchise.

2) I had no idea what Doom Patrol was until Googling it, last week only to discover that it was ANOTHER DC Comic Flick.  

Batman, Blade, The Phantom, and The Crow are probably the only movies based on comic books that I liked. Otherwise, I was never a comic book fan. 

As as a teenage girl 20 years ago, I tried but reading comic books just don't resonate with me.

3) Erotic Anime or in other words, Hentai? Since I love Anime, I am not that fast to dismiss Hentai. It has been a long time, since I last watched any Hentai.

Over the last 13 years, I have watched more Ecchi, Seinen, and Josei Anime that somewhat border the lines of Hentai Anime than actual Hentai.

Donald's Questions:

1) Over the past year, what has been the best resource you have turned toward to promote your own growth, both personal and professional?

2) The notion of incremental improvement is a powerful one, compared to yourself a year ago how have you bettered yourself and in what ways?

3) What are the best books or lectures you have interacted with on the subject of personal development?

My Answers:

1) I would say... reading articles published by John Matthew Fox, Writer's Relief, Web Design Relief, and Authors Publish Magazine. Just last week, I read this enlightening article published by Thriller author, Joanna Penn about Comparisonitis.

2) While re-revising my short stories recently, I noticed that I am able to mentally re-edit certain lines as I type. I believe that spending HOURS editing AND revising all the blogs I've published over these last 6 years, from night to beyond sunrise made me a better writer.

Despite what pompous elitists (including a few delusional Fan Fiction writers) think, BLOGGING is a fantastic way to improve writing skills. Blogging is journaling for the most part.

3) Please reread Answer #1.

So, how did I do with answering all your questions?

By giving it the "good ol' college try," I answered each question to the best of my ability.

If I misunderstood your questions, I apologize. However, I will NOT apologize for MY opinions in regards to today's Hollywood entertainment and how political correctness is destroying it with contrived tokenism.

So, thank you my gumdrops! Please leave your feedback in the comments section below!

Saturday, September 23, 2017

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Q&A 2017 {Part 1}

 
How's it going my gumdrops? Today is the 4th anniversary of me building as well as launching It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. Throughout these last 4 years, It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns has been through numerous changes.

Last week, I had my friend, DJ Scott from Horror-Punks.net make some alterations to the home page design. There is now a bat laying dead next to the dead unicorn, while a crow is flying in the company of those hailing gumdrops.

Once again like last year, there have been lesser questions for me to answer. As I went through your questions, I noticed this year is also more like a so-called "Sausage Party." This really should not be a surprise to me.

Since the time of being a Radio DJ at WIPZ in 2002, my audience was ALWAYS male-dominated. 

It always felt as if my hobbies, interests, and views hardly ever resonated with most women. It has been this way for YEARS. 

Typically, I have more in common with men than with women. Most men were usually more loyal to me than women were, in the platonic sense. 

They still are today. If this does NOT say something, it really should.

Regarding the amount I questions I have answered from subscribers these last 2 years, just because I have less to answer now, doesn't necessarily mean other people don't have any questions. Quantity is not always quality.

Anyway, to celebrate the 4th anniversary of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns, here are the questions I answered:

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns 2017 Q&A [Part 1:]

Jesse: I have received new e-mail notifications about the new Song Saturday and Cartoon Sunday blogs, but they're invisible on this website. I can't find them and don't know why. Am I the only one with this problem?

Answer: No, Jesse you were NOT  the only person having these problems. As of 2 days ago, you should be able to see the newest blogs on the main page.

Whenever I send new e-mail notifications, I send shortened weblinks for you to copy and paste. Those same links send you directly to those blogs. Here are the latest blogs:

Cartoon Sunday: Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado [OMG! HE TALKS!] (2015)

Song Saturday: Tristania's My Lost Lenore (2017)

Donald's Questions:

1) In what way do you think you have grown as a content creator?

2) What would you do differently, if you were given the chance to go back and alter your course?

3) With the knowledge you have accumulated over the years, what would be your words of advice for other aspiring content creators?

My Answers:

1) During the '90s, only the "computer geeks" had their own websites. Now, it is important for us entrepreneurs and entertainers to have our own sites for gaining exposure.

Technology has advanced immensely, over the last 3 decades. It continues to do so. Today anyone can build his/her own site whether having a degree in Graphic Design, Computers, or not.

Over these last 4 years, I've learned so much as a content creator. Before ever building a site, I was not the most tech savvy. Had someone told me 20 years ago, that I would build my own website to blog on it in the future, I would've scoffed, rolled my eyes, and dismissed it.

I learned how to build It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns by watching Webs.com's YouTube tutorials. I continue to learn something new everyday.

2) Since the time The Xanga Team dumped their own money problems on us and caused division within the community in 2013, I have REALLY struggled to generate national and international traffic to my blogs these last 4 years.

After learning what I know now, I should've joined Xanga 10 YEARS or so before the original website shut down and relaunched on WordPress, years ago. Like most Xangans, I miss Xanga 1.0 as well.

I really should've learned how to build my own website MUCH sooner in 2013, while gaining more subscribers for an e-mail list, after the original announcement about Xanga shutting down. It would've been so much better than joining a highly divisive, flaky, and temperamental blogging community like Blogster.

Song Saturday was the best quality about Blogster. Otherwise, that community is a standoffish, Baby Boomer dominated community with a high turnover of bloggers.

3) Like I have said countless times in the past, you have to really love what you do. This is similar to being that so-called "starving artist." If you are PASSIONATE about building your own website and publishing your content, it takes a LOT  of time, energy, patience, and usually money.

If you are only building your own website for the sake of status and vanity, DON'T waste yours and OTHER people's time social climbing, copycatting, and acting like a pretentious, attention whore because you saw someone like yours truly with a site.

Yes, somebody else can always build your website or whatever it is, that you want for you. 

However, once I learned how to build It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns by watching tutorials on YouTube, I have a much greater pride, appreciation, and respect for the professionals, that get paid to build websites. Also, I find it fun learning as I go with managing this website because I discover something new everyday.

DJ Scott's Questions:

1) What is your favorite Beavis and Butt-Head episode and why

2) What is your favorite new animation and why?

My Answers:

1) You asked 2 hard questions. Even as a woman in my mid-30's, I still laugh my ass off watching Beavis and Butt-Head.

There was 1 particular episode of Beavis and Butt-Head, which showed Butt-Head throwing the trash can at Beavis and knocking him unconscious. My other favorite episode is "Take A Number."

"Take A Number" featured Beavis and Butt-Head at a Rock concert. It had 2 female characters with the same traits as them. Although, this is my favorite scene:

{My Favorite Scene}: Beavis and Butt-Head "Take A Number" (1995)

That scene NEVER gets old!

2) Honestly, I don't have any right now, UNLESS American Dad counts on TBS. Most of my time is spent hunting for animation to share for Cartoon Sunday blogs, that I find on YouTube, if not something from Japan like an Anime. Adult Swim does not air too many cartoons I want to watch, unless they are cartoons on the weekends.

Marquis DeBlood: What started your obsession with Anime?

Answer: I am not nearly as obsessed with Japanese animation as I used to be. When I did marathon Anime years ago, I still watched a wide variety of animation and I love sharing some of that variety in Cartoon Sunday blogs.

During the mid-80's as a toddler, I was already exposed to Japanese animation. It started with the Mecha Anime, Robotech. This was YEARS before Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, the Toonami block, Chiller TV, Syfy, and other cable/satellite networks were launched.

It was not until the early 21st Century, that Anime (also known as "Japanimation" during the '90s), reached its pinnacle.

Originally, Anime was scarce on TV, at video stores, and the Internet. That was until more cable networks took an interest in them. It wasn't until 11-12 years ago, that I discovered other types of Anime genres and sub-genres existed for different sexual orientations, age, and gender demographics.

Shonen Jump Action Anime have been the most popular for the last 20-30 + years in The West. That's what is normally shown on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. They ignore other genres, sub-genres, female, and age demographics.

At Carthage College, I wrote my Junior Symposium on Shojo Anime and Manga. 

Creative Writing, Sociology, Japanese Culture, Language, History, and Religion were all covered in my symposium.

Most of my favorite primetime shows were canceled and had series finales, 10-11 years ago. This was especially when shows I really invested in were constantly being canceled. After graduating in 2006, I discovered there was a plethora of Anime online for fans to watch.

Between 2006 to 2010, I took a so-called "pause" from most primetime shows and marathoned online streams of Anime. In addition, I started watching more of it on Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Fuse TV, Colours TV, IFC, SciFi, Starz, and wait for it... Chiller TV. 

After those networks stopped airing Anime except for Adult Swim, I continued to stream it online. 

Over these last 5 years, I am far behind on the latest Anime titles which released in Japan. 

Because you are a Horror fan like yours truly, I believe you would really enjoy the Horror Anime genre.

This concludes Part 1 of this Q&A blog. I am really surprised to see there were no Horror or music questions asked. Tomorrow, I will continue with Victor's question.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Why You Should NOT Join Adult Swim's Message Board



How's it going my gumdrops? I meant to post another blog on Blogger much sooner, but I have been extremely busy with my own website, It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. This is along with juggling my online presence on several other sites. Adult Swim is only naming 1 example.

Most of my friends/subscribers on facebook, Blogster, and Horror-Punks already know, that I have been a poster on Adult Swim, since last August. Some have considered joining and I said, "No! You will regret it." You may be sitting down, scratching your head, and asking "Why not?" Here are some questions you should ask yourself before considering Adult Swim:

Do you like...

  • walking on eggshells?
  • being treated like a criminal? 
  • being accused of being a troll? 
  • being psychoanalyzed to pieces?
  • being treated like a verbal punching bag?
  • being politically correct every nano second? 
  • getting rape and death threats? 
  • constantly looking over your shoulder?
  • people insulting every show or movie you enjoy?
  • political oppression, oppression in general, and censorship?
  • whenever people always feel the need to put you in your place?
  • the thought of always being banned every time you defend yourself against assholes and trolls? 
  • Did you enjoy being an outcast in high school?

If you answered no to at least 1 of these questions, you should not join Adult Swim's message board. There are SOME nice posters. However, there are also shitty posters. These are the following reasons why you should not join Adult Swim:


Reasons Why You Should NOT Join Adult Swim's Message Board:

* No Blocking- Adult Swim doesn't have a block feature. Most blogging and social media sites have a "Block" button, which makes it easier for assholes and trolls to appear as "invisible" on your screen. Adult Swim does have an "Ignore" button. Too bad it no longer works because there are assholes I would personally LOVE to block.

* Hijacking- The topic of the thread doesn't matter. Regardless if it's a positive or negative thread, assholes and trolls love hijacking another poster's thread. The hijacking is usually done to create arguments and sometimes to spout death threats. I've gotten a few death threats by a skanky, narcissistic sociopath.

* Terrible Communications/Social Skills- The remaining veteran Adult Swim posters highly lack social skills; They don't know how to socialize or communicate. Their idea of socializing is being verbally abusive towards other posters.

* Begrudgment- Some posters are quick to begrudge other posters for their success. Some have an inferiority complex and are close-minded to anyone the moment they assume that other poster(s) believes he/she is superior to everyone else because of his/her accomplishments. This most definitely applies towards website and business owners. 

Rather than taking action and improving their own lives, some posters would rather demonize and ostracize another poster. In a nutshell, they are "haters." Most Adult Swim posters dislike business owners and love demonizing them because they were brainwashed to hate businesses in general by the media. 

Then again, Adult Swim is a brother network of CNN.

* Game Of Cliques/Alliances- Some veteran posters play both sides of cliques. I always love whenever a friend is in the center of 2 friends, who dislike each other. The friend in the middle will pretend to be "neutral," even though he/she already decided who's side to be on. This usually leads to ostracizing the other so-called "friend."

* The Blame Game- Some remaining veteran posters are quick to play The Blame Game. Rather than accepting their own faults, Adult Swim posters only want to blame 1 or a few other posters for their own problems, that they helped create. Most of them are their own worst enemies yet they still love finger pointing.

* Pissing Contests- The remaining veteran posters regularly hold pissing contests over politics and cartoon ratings in the most active sections of the site. 2 of the most active sections are Babbling and Toonami. Adult Swim's message board mostly consists of grown men fighting over politics like they are on CNN. Otherwise, there are Toonami Tards fighting over Shonen Jump Action Anime ratings rather than sitting down and enjoying their favorite Anime. Some of them have severe mental and behavioral problems and love wreaking havoc for other posters.

* Persecution- Veteran posters are usually quick to persecute new posters and assume they are recurring male trolls. I joined Adult Swim last August. In all my years of being an Internet user, I have never felt so unwelcome to ANY site. That was until I joined Adult Swim. 

I currently belong to several other websites. As toxic as some of those sites can be, at least new posters aren't treated like an inconvenience, if not a criminal.  

Adult Swim's message board makes other websites look like a trip to Disneyland. 

* Crooked Moderation- The moderators treat posters like an inconvenience rather than solving the problems. In order to cope with racism, misogyny, rape/death threats, and trolling in general, posters have to either ignore it, or jump ship. Adult Swim's moderators are the equivalent of cops, that turn blind eyes to the corruption. Instead of moderators enforcing Adult Swim's board rules, posters get a slap on the wrist for bad behavior by only getting temporary bans. Otherwise, there is a double standard and the moderators will justify it. 

* Multiple Identities- The remaining veteran posters create different poster names out of sheer boredom. I still don't understand the point of randomly creating multiple accounts, when they haven't been banned UNLESS it is to only rig polls and troll other posters. They really do rig polls and troll in aliases.

* Censorship- Adult Swim is a HIGHLY censored message board. Even though the network has "Adult" in its title and posters literally have their own dick pics floating around in cyber space, the message board and its programming are highly censored. People only preach about Freedom Of Speech, whenever it's convenient. 

All the while, those same Adult Swim posters are oppressive of others. Most posters can dish it out, but can't take it. They'll be quick to lecture someone about not being "politically correct," when they're not exactly the most respectful of anybody. I spend more time walking on eggshells for Adult Swim posters than anywhere on and offline. 

There are business meetings and sports bras, that are more comfortable and entertaining than posting on Adult Swim. I can only imagine some Adult Swim posters going on dates and being as boring as watching paint dry. Or as uptight and uncomfortable as a Super Wedgy.

* Turnover Rate- Adult Swim has a high turnover rate with posters. Most veterans grew tired of the negativity on the site and left. This is especially when it is impossible to have a fun thread meant for everyone. At least 1 asshole hijacks it only to start fights with another poster(s). This depends on whether the fight is with the creator of the thread, or someone else in it.

* Suicide Rate- Adult Swim has a suicide rate among posters. Before and during the time I joined the forum, there was already a history of some veteran posters being suicidal and committing suicide.  

I don't have an actual percentage. However, there were at least a handful. 

Some of those same suicidal posters threaten to commit suicide today.

* Social Networking Abuse- Some veteran posters treat Adult Swim's forum like it's their personal facebook status update. There is at least 1 morally corrupt/narcissistic sociopathic poster, who uses Adult Swim's forum like she's on facebook.  

She brags about all the Johns she's met and had sex with via Tinder.

* Limited & Opportunistic Humor- Some remaining veteran posters lack a sense of humor UNLESS they're trolling other posters. Adult Swim posters mostly revel in acting like rude, belligerent, chastising, and self-righteous trolls. Putting each other in their places mostly amuses them and their colluding friends. 1/2 remaining posters no longer watch shows on Adult Swim. Although, they will nit pick and psychoanalyze plots and characters to pieces.

* Cyber Ghost Town- Adult Swim's forum is on life support. Sane people should NOT join the site because the remaining posters already want to leave it or witness the shutdown. Most sane people don't have the time, energy, and patience to deal with grown men and their childish antics, while simultaneously lecturing other posters about being "politically correct" and arguing over shows. 

Ask yourself, "Why is the divorce rate constantly soaring?" If you say, "It's because people don't have time for bullshit," apply that same answer to Adult Swim's message board.

All in all, it's much better to remain an Adult Swim viewer than being a poster. Most of the regulars waste time nit picking and finger pointing at everything and everyone. Do NOT join Adult Swim. If you do, you will regret it even more because you CANNOT delete your account.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Giving Blogger Another Chance

How's it going? I originally created my Blogger account 2 summers ago. During that time, Xanga 1.0 was shutting down and re-launching as 2.0 on WordPress. Within these last 2 years, I have dabbled with many blogging communities and sites.

Since last November, I have been revising and archiving my old Xanga 1.0 and Blogster entries on JournalHome.com. I currently have only 12 more blogs to revise and archive. After I'm done revising and archiving, I will leave Blogster next month. If you would like to read most of my older Xanga and Blogster entries, I encourage you to visit my archives page on JournalHome.


http://www.journalhome.com/RealistMe/archive/

The majority of my blogs are on my website, It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns

http://itsnotallgumdropsandunicorns.webs.com/

When you have the chance, please let me know what you think!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

What's So Funny? Rory The Guinea Pig Makes Me Laugh!

How's it going my gumdrops? Are you in need of some laughs, during this stressful time of the year? 

I'm not a huge, self-righteous, political activist about loving animals like many people are today, however I do love most animals. This especially includes reptiles.

Over the last several years of being on social media sites, many have annoyed the hell out of me with their cats. Today's cat lovers tend to regularly act like they gave birth to Jesus. 

This may sound harsh to say, but some cat owners can be just as annoying as those proud parents, who think their children can walk on water and turn water into wine. 

Apparently, some of these cat lovers feel like acting self-righteous and morally superior to others because giving birth to children is somehow BENEATH them. Ugh! Enough is enough already! Give it a friggin' rest!

Aside from the preceding rant, I have chosen to share something cute and furry for laughs. Today's blog is more of a tribute to a friend/subscriber from Blogster. 

Scottster has been having a rough time on Blogster. Surely, most of my Xangan and Blogsterian friends/subscribers are familiar with that problem, which is all the more reason why I only comment on their pages compared to blogging on Blogster, now.

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon this cute and funny YouTube vlog last week by Rory The Guinea Pig. 

Briefly voiced by Ricky Gervais, Rory read some of the hilarious insults about his physical appearance from his Twitter account.

Before watching that video, here's an informative Animal Planet segment about guinea pigs.

Animal Planet's Pets 101: Guinea Pigs

At the age of 7, my mother bought my original guinea pig, Christopher. Christopher lived for 5 years. 

After acquiring mite, he started having scratching seizures and had to be euthanized. 

For my 13th birthday, my mother bought my 2nd guinea pig, Fantastical. He was the craziest guinea pig I ever owned!

Fantastical seemed more like a human trapped inside a guinea pig's body. He constantly strategized ways of climbing outside his tank. 

As I was leaving my bedroom years ago, Fantastical literally climbed on top of his water bottle and hung from the rim of his tank. With good timing, I luckily bolted over to catch him from falling.

The next incident involved my youngest aunt and I eating breakfast, in our living room. We sat on our living room floor at the table, while watching MTV and monitoring Fantastical in his cardboard box that we carted him in for babysitting purposes.

Once I let Fantastical outside his box, he strolled across our living room floor and BIT  my aunt's bacon. 

Had she actually set her plate on the living room table, he would've been unable to reach it. 

Fantastical biting my aunt's bacon was hilarious! He almost lived an entire year. He would have lived at least 3-4 years longer had my great-grandmother's evil friend not put some Juju on him.

At 16, I bought my last 2 guinea pigs. Altivo (meaning "superior" and "haughty" in Spanish) lived for only 3 years. Ookii (meaning "big" in Japanese) lived for 4 years. Between the 2, Altivo was my favorite.

I believe I favored Altivo more because of the way the other guinea pigs mistreated him at Pet World. I saw another guinea pig bite his face and he started whining. I REALLY wanted to reach over that cage and smack his bully on the butt!

A month later, I bought Ookii and he became Altivo's next bully. The bullying was to the extent that I had to buy 1 extra cage to separate them from each other. 

Altivo and Ookii only shared a cage together, whenever I had to clean their cages every so many days. Had they always shared a cage, I believe Ookii would've killed Altivo.

Even though Altivo was my favorite next to Fantastical, Altivo would sometimes get an attitude with me. I made a joke about using his body heat to keep me warm and he got angry. Altivo's cheeks looked inflated and he started grinding his teeth.

I didn't say I was going to kill him for his fur or anything! I only joked about using his body heat to keep me warm and he took offense to it!

Psychologists claim that animals don't have feelings. I don't believe that for a second! I know when animals are happy, sad, angry, etc. 

After joking about using Altivo's body heat to keep me warm, he snubbed me! The next day, I went to take him out his cage and he literally did his paw at me!

Altivo looked like he told me, "Talk to the paw cuz I ain't listenin'!" 

I had a Michael Kelso moment from That '70s Show. You know those scenes of Kelso shrieking, "Oh!"? 

Yup! That was my reaction to Altivo giving me "The Paw." Talk about rude!

After giving me that attitude, I snuck up to his cage and flashed him! Within seconds, Altivo literally did a 360 bolt around his cage.

His 360 bolt around the cage was a slapstick moment. It was hilarious much like Fantastical sneaking and biting my youngest aunt's bacon.

Years later, Altivo and Ookii for some reason died days before Christmas. Their deaths were 1 year apart from each other. I was devastated when 3 of my 4 guinea pigs died. 

I was a little sad, although I wasn't heartbroken over Ookii's death. He always loved biting me.

During 10th grade, Ookii bit my ear once and I had to wear a band aid on it. 

My college sophomore year, he died, which was shortly after coming home from UW-Parkside for Christmas Break.

The year before, I cried tears and mourned Altivo's death because I watched him die, when I was in the middle of working on my Advanced Composition research paper. 

Our last dog, Alexis also seemed depressed because she viewed Altivo and Ookii as her puppies. That sounds strange, but it's true.

Anyway, I've talked enough about my guinea pigs. With that being said, here are 3 YouTube vlogs featuring Rory The Guinea Pig.

1) Rory The Guinea Pig [Voiced By Ricky Gervais] Promotes Just Sayin' App (2012)

2) Rory The Guinea Pig's Pets Add Life Interview (2012)
3) Rory The Guinea Pig Wishes You A Happy Holidays From Pets Add Life & The Talking Animals Channel (2013)

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns: Q&A #2

How's it going my gumdrops? Today is officially 1 year, since I launched It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. 

I built this website, when I was still helping my uncle with his website's content. The content I wrote for him was never used. So typical of him.

Anyway, I have my 2nd Q&A blog ready for you all to read. Pay attention to bold answers. I hope you're pleased with my responses!

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Questions & Answers:

Richard: Are you a cat or a dog person?

Answer: I'm a dog person. My last dog (Lexi) was a Doberman/Rottweiler Mutt. 

She had to be euthanized 10 years ago because she was becoming vicious. In fact, the last time I went to pet Lexi, she grazed my left temple. 

My grandfather also returned for an in-home hospice my college junior year. Lexi's vicious temperament would've exacerbated problems.

Mimikoko: With your love of music, did you ever try to learn a musical instrument(s) or sing?

Answer: Growing up, I was ALWAYS required to sing in school concerts. By the time I was in middle and high school, I always ended up taking choir. In middle school, it was required to either take choir, or band.

I wanted to take guitar lessons but there weren't enough students for the sign up. Therefore, the class was dropped.

I never had a chance to practice playing my old electric guitar. It was bought for my 6th Christmas and had '80s Metal written all over it. My electric guitar was black, shiny, and V-shaped. ~16-17 years ago, it was ruined in a basement flood at our last house.

DJ Scott: Do you have any archives of past DJ work?

Answer: Unfortunately, no. 11-12 years ago, I never had a chance to do an on-air promo for All Things Frightening, either. 

There was so much chaos happening in my life, 10-12 years ago. I juggled UW-Parkside's classes full-time, a radio show, being a part-time student at Carthage College, and other people's issues. This was along with post 9/11 racism. 

Post 9/11 racism was a major contributor to my own problems so much so that it hurt my campus housing at Parkside. 

I was just lucky if I could sleep in peace WITHOUT  having a roommate and her obnoxious friends literally hovering over me to watch me sleep.

Anyway, had my original boss stayed, I believe my promos would've been recorded. We already bonded over some Type O Negative.

DanniDarkness: Will you keep the Halloween colors? I really like them!

Answer: Thank you, Danni! I am glad you enjoy my latest scenery! I actually changed it on September 1st rather than October 1st. 

I have It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns decorated for Halloween. This current scenery will stay, until November.

I love changing my template designs and font colors with the seasons and holidays. Thanksgiving will be coming up next!

Jesse Steele: Which states have you visited in the USA? Also which states did you like visiting the most? Are there any states in the USA you would like to visit? If so why?

Answers: Since my family used to always take road trips, I have visited quite a few states.

Illinois is next to Wisconsin (my state). I have also visited Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (we had to drive through New York to get to Canada).

Most of my relatives live in Detroit, Michigan. I am amazed the entire city of Detroit is not my family because so many of our relatives live there.

I really enjoyed traveling to Arlington Heights, IL because it has a lot of Japanese companies and stores.

I haven't been on a Japanese field trip in 11 years. I started going on those field trips, when I was in 7th grade because my Japanese classes always went. 

By the time I was a college junior, I still went on Japanese field trips to Arlington Heights with my classmates, and we always rode in coach buses.

Reaper69: Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical of those, who forbid Metal for it's horror and gore, but don't think there is any problem with the most grotesque of films. Art is art, or is it not?

Answer: Yes, that is hypocritical.

We watch violence on the news, TV shows, and movies daily yet angry soccer moms and media watchdog groups are quick to condemn Metal. I've noticed over the last decade, that most Horror movies have Metal soundtracks. Horror and Metal go together like PB&J, salt and pepper, etc. You want to know something even more hypocritical?

Last year, I bought a Halloween decoration for my office desk. My decoration is a witch house in the woods with pumpkins, skulls, crosses, bats, and a witch. She resembles the witch from The Wizard of Oz and she is brewing with her cauldron. My uncle did NOT  have a problem with me having it as a desk decoration.

Then, literally 3 days before Halloween, he stormed into the building claiming, that his shrew flipped her shit over my Halloween decoration. They supposedly don't celebrate Halloween. I told him to his face, that Medusa was a hypocrite. 

This is the same pretentious, gold-digging shrew, who reads all those STEPHEN KING NOVELS and watches MORE Horror than me.

Meanwhile, she goes to church and wears this HUGE, self-righteous facade as a Christian woman. I told my uncle and the rest of my family, that Medusa only had a problem with my decoration because she saw HER OWN reflection in that witch. 

I'm just calling a spade a "spade." You know what I mean?

Marquis DeBlood: Glad to have you aboard! And congrats on your anniversary!! You seem to enjoy your Anime and are very particular about certain shows and what naught... What would you consider to be the best Anime series out there and why?

Answer: Thank you very much! I'm glad to have support from the Horror-Punks Community.

There's no simple answer because Anime has such a broad range of genres and sub-genres. 

I enjoy Comedy, Action, Mecha (Mecha is still a part of the Action genre but mostly military and war themed), Mystery, Romance, Horror, etc. 

Each Anime genre and sub-genre caters to both genders, sexual orientations, and age demographics. I enjoy the darker and lighter themed Anime titles.

I really love the NANA franchise. NANA is like a Japanese animated soap opera, which mostly focuses music, rival bands, and romance.  

NANA has Music, Romance, and Dramedy. There's even a love triangle/paternity test arc. 

Josei Anime are completely different from the stereotypical Shonen Jump Anime, which are mostly meant for teenage boys. NANA is mostly meant for young women, who love music and romance. 

To give you a better picture, imagine Lifetime, WE TV, and The Oxygen Channel but in the form of Japanese animation.

Speaking of, there is another Anime about music and romance, which is mostly meant for men. It's called Detroit Metal City. It is similar to Adult Swim's Metalocalypse. However it is mostly about this guy, who lives a double life as a musician.

He fronts this Death Metal band and is forced to live a notorious facade of supposedly killing and raping his parents. In reality, he is a nerdy Japanese guy, who loves writing Swedish Pop Music. 

I really enjoy NANA and Detroit Metal City because they are both romance and music oriented, which is rare in Anime compared to the stereotypical Shonen Jump Anime.

Amanda's Questions:

1) I know you have a minor in Creative Writing but what brought you to writing Horror? 

Was it derived from your interest in Japanese culture and the language or is that a stereotypical cliché of Japan?

2) When, you joined the Adult Swim group, you wrote on it being 'fascist' (my interpretation) and chauvinistic. I am NOT asking you your political views (LOL) but I'd be interested in what your perception is of the politics surrounding the shows on Adult swim.

3) You were also a Radio DJ, would you do it again if you could?

My Answers:

1) Actually, I started writing my own Short Horror Stories in 3rd grade.

Throughout each month, my 3rd grade teacher gave our class subjects to select.

When it was October, we had to select a topic everyday and write Short Halloween Stories using that specific topic.

My elementary school teachers in general always loved that I could take a simple topic and write a story about it. 

The more I think about it, I have been a Creative Writer for most of my life.

2) Adult Swim appears to be in a bigger rut than I realized.

I always knew the network had problems pleasing their main audience (men). It is mostly spin. 

For example, the Toonami block is mostly Shonen Jump Anime and dubbed Anime from Funimation Entertainment monopolizes the block.

There are several other Anime companies, genres, and sub-genres that Adult Swim purposely overlooks.

I'm glad there have been more Seinen Anime with leading female characters. 

All the while, the network still fails to acknowledge its female audience by not airing Shojo and Josei Anime.

I have read some of the female YouTubers' complaints about Toonami not airing any Shojo Anime. 

Adult Swim only wants to air Sailor Moon's reboot, which is the most irksome. I don't hate Sailor Moon. Although, it's not the only Shojo Anime to ever be released from Japan.

I think the main reason why the male audience wants to watch Sailor Moon so badly is because it has lesbian characters in it. 

Also, it pisses me off that Toonami only would air a Shojo Anime for men that fantasize and fetishize 2D lesbian characters. 

I'm not opposed to watching GLBT shows. It's just that most of us know there's a perverted double standard, when it comes to accepting lesbians.

Meanwhile, the social atmosphere of Adult Swim's forum is mostly cold, territorial, misanthropic, and unwelcoming. There are some nice posters on the forum but the atmosphere rivals YouTube.

It's almost impossible to have a civil conversation without someone instigating a fight. Also, some veteran posters will treat new posters like criminals. Rather than trying to learn more about a new Adult Swim poster, they assume the worst because the site is already swarming with trolls.

New posters must prove themselves much harder, in order to be liked and/or accepted. The constant psychoanalysis, negativity, arguments, animosity, inferiority complex, hatred, and territorial behavior drove away their newer and older posters. Mind you, this doesn't even include degrading and dehumanizing other posters.

3) Yes, I would love to be a Radio DJ/Hostess, again.

Throughout my 20's, I have applied to local radio stations and they never called back. In regards to local radio stations today, they only want to air dated and highly overplayed songs. 

Otherwise, they are airing the worst American Top 40 mainstream songs in existence. With the way technology is constantly advancing, more people will continue to podcast.

When hosting All Things Frightening 11-12 years ago, I never heard of podcasting. Our college radio shows were heard both locally and online. I predict that traditional radio stations will become obsolete, sooner or later.

This concludes my Q&A on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. I want to thank my loyal friends/subscribers from Xanga 1.0, Blogster, and Horror-Punks.com for always Liking, commenting, and sharing my content! You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Since I mentioned Detroit Metal City, I'll leave you with the live action music video/theme song. Once again, thank you!

Detroit Metal City "Satsugai" [Murder] (2008)

Monday, September 16, 2013

What Are My Thoughts About The 10 Things I Hate About You Sitcom?

This blog was originally published on Blogster September 16, 2013.

 

How's it going my hybrid Blogsterians? Before helping my uncle with his company yesterday, I scrolled down my TV Guide on Dish Network and recently discovered a Teen Sitcom, that I never knew existed. Apparently, ABC Family created 10 Things I Hate About You in the form of a Teen Angst Sitcom, 4 years ago.

I don't know why ABC Family created a sitcom for 10 Things I Hate About You, a decade later. During the movie's original release in 1999, I was ~17 years old.  

Much like ABC did with their sitcom adaptation of Clueless, it would've been more logical to have made a sitcom 1 year after the movie released. This is absolutely a sign, that Hollywood has been in trouble with ideas anytime they've regressed to a decade old movie and made a sitcom out of it, 4 years ago. I mean, c'mon! 

Heath Ledger just died at the time, 5 years ago and 1 year later, ABC Family chose to make a 10 Things I Hate About You sitcom. A decade after the movie? I wonder how Julia Stiles and the rest of the original cast from the movie felt about this sitcom.

I never knew this show existed, until yesterday. When I watched it, I felt as if ABC Family was trying to re-create a combination of the movies Clueless, Bring It On, and 10 Things I Hate About You, in a sitcom form. 

Like I said earlier, the sitcom for 10 Things I Hate About You was an interesting concept. I even saw that hot blonde guy, Chris Zylka. Zylka played the character, "Jake" on The Secret Circle. I think it will take time for me to adjust to watching Chris Zylka on 10 Things I Hate About You. 

I have never watched Zylka in this sitcom. I'm more used to always watching him play this dark and brooding, bad boy, warlock. Watching Chris Zylka play as some dumb jock feels weird to me. 

The actor would've been better suited to play "Patrick Verona," which was the bad boy character, that Heath Ledger originated in the movie. Chris Zylka played the bad boy character really well on The Secret Circle. Meanwhile...

I really disliked that the writers for 10 Things I Hate About You's sitcom changed Kat Stratford from being this rough, ballsy, blonde, alpha female character, that most of her peers labeled as a "heinous bitch," to a brunette. 

Don't get me wrong. I love and will ALWAYS love my fellow brunettes. However, I enjoyed Kat as a blonde. She wasn't the stereotypical, ditzy blonde, who needed to be liked by everybody throughout her high school.

The writers did not physically change Kat's sister, Bianca too much. The character was still a blonde. Although, they made Bianca seem too desperate to be popular in the series. 

In the movie, Bianca wanted to be popular but she was not so desperate to be popular, that she would've resorted to being their high school's mascot. That in itself is highly laughable for Bianca's storyline. 

Based on some of what I read on Wikipedia for the 10 Things I Hate About You sitcom, I'm amazed the show made it through 1 entire season. 

Then again, by it airing on a cable network, the sitcom had a better chance of lasting longer. I have seen ABC literally remove a series from its local network within 1 episode.

ABC's 10 Things I Hate About You's sitcom was not terrible but the writers didn't stay true to the main characters. By the sitcom's writers not staying true to the main characters, I am willing to bet most viewers 3-4 years ago were disgusted with the sitcom. 

10 Things I Hate About You has become another Teen Angst Cult Classic Film. This especially applies, when it comes to my generation. 

Hollywood really needs to leave cult classic movies and shows alone. JUST  because they can be rebooted and remade, does NOT always mean they should be. PLEASE Hollywood, leave good movies and shows alone and start being more original with your own writing.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Song Saturday: Justin Timberlake's MTV VMA Performances

This blog was originally published on Blogster August 31, 2013.




How's it going my hybrid Blogsterians? I briefly want to say thank you for your concern about my recent condition. 

Last night, I had to go lie down for a bit because my neck started spasming. I know it has been 4 days, since the time I was rear-ended on Tuesday. It seems like I have a new pain almost everyday. My back has not been hurting AS much as both my neck and right side of my waist have been hurting yesterday. My mother was talking about having me return for another doctor's appointment. 

Honestly, I don't want to leave my house to see another doctor. He/she's not going to do or tell me anything different from Tuesday evening. Besides, I don't want to be on the road again. I am STILL trying to adjust from the trauma of being hit. 

My family does NOT understand what I am going through physically, emotionally, and mentally. Anyway, that's not what I meant to discuss today. 

Since it is Song Saturday and the media will NOT shut up about Miley Cyrus' 2013 MTV VMA performance, it has completely overshadowed Justin Timberlake's. 

Considering this year's MTV VMA's ratings rose by 66% compared to last year's (mostly for Justin Timberlake and N'Sync ), I think it is only fair to give their (mostly his) performance more acknowledgment. 

After all, most watched the VMA's because Justin was receiving the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and N'Sync fans wanted to see a reunion. 

Even though N'Sync did take the stage for at least 1 minute, it really was not much of a reunion. Earlier, I tried to find the 2001 MTV VMA performance on YouTube, that N'Sync did with the late Michael Jackson in its entirety for their song, "Dirty Pop." 

N'Sync Featuring Michael Jackson "Dirty Pop" 2001 MTV VMA's.

 
 
For those who don't know much about Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson has always been a major influence on him. In fact, Timberlake always idolized MJ.

Michael Jackson's influence is reflected throughout most of Justin Timberlake's singing and dancing. In addition, I DID find N'Sync's 2000 MTV VMA performance.

By 2002, Justin Timberlake debuted his solo career and has been successful ever since 11 years ago. He is highly fortunate to still be this successful all these years later. 

Most Boy Band members, that become soloists, are cursed because Boy Bands have at least a 5-year shelf life. I think Justin Timberlake broke that curse (at least for himself) because he collaborated with Michael and Janet Jackson, as well as many Rappers over the last decade. 

Anyway, here's a look at Justin Timberlake before and after his days of being an N'Sync member:

1) N'Sync "This I Promise You"/"Bye Bye Bye"/"It's Gonna Be Me" Medley 2000 MTV VMA's

2) Justin Timberlake Medley 2013 MTV VMA's


Songs Featured In 2013 MTV VMA's Medley:

A. "Take Back The Night"

B. "SexyBack"

C. "Like I Love You"

D. "My Love"

E. "Cry Me A River"

F. "Señorita"

G. "Rock Your Body"

H. "Pusher Love Girl"/"Gone" Samples

I. "Girlfriend" Featuring N'Sync

J. "Bye Bye Bye" Featuring N'Sync

K. "Suit & Tie"

L. "Mirrors"

I can tell that Justin was somewhat struggling with his performance because he has been touring, since earlier this year to promote his latest album.

I wish to talk to you all very soon!