Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' 7th Anniversary Q&A

Today is that day! It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns has been around for the last 7 years. Wow! It's amazing how time flies.

Normally, I color code questions and answers in orange and green because I usually change the background scenery for Halloween. 

It goes without saying that 2020 has been an extremely shitty year for most of us.

The incessant Doomsday reports about the Coronavirus by the media and social media fucked up everything for all of us.

In celebration of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns'  7th anniversary, questions about rare Horror Anime, Carl Jung's Typologist Test, and more will be answered in today's Q&A blog. All questions are in bold red italics and my answers are simply bolded. So, let's begin!

1) DanniDarkness: Are there any rare Horror Anime that you would recommend?

Answer: Murder Princess OVA's, Another, Tokko, Shiki, and the Hell Girl franchise.

I don't know your exact definition of Horror Anime but... if you happen to like Horror Comedy, I highly recommend watching Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.   

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge was renamed "The Wallflower" in English.

Sunako Nakahara is the protagonist spoofed off the character from the J-Horror movie, Ringu, which soon became the Americanized remake called The Ring in 2002.

2) A. P. Fuchs: Do you write regardless of how you feel, whether you're tired or slightly sick or just plain unmotivated?

Answer: It really all depends on the situation. If I am extremely nauseated from something and have been barfing up my lungs for rounds, then no. 

If lethargic, I will take a nap. Then, finish writing.

Meanwhile, writing angry poetry was my personal catharsis during my adolescence.

Growing up, I always took a lot of shit from people ranging from my classmates to certain teachers intentionally making negative examples out of me.

Generally speaking, the preceding ALWAYS contributed to bullying and has especially led to more school shootings if not teen suicides within the last nearly 3 decades. I don't condone school shootings and teenagers committing suicide, but I understand why both happen.

Sometimes teachers ARE to blame for the bullying, school shootings, and suicides with their need to make negative examples out of their students.

It has been 15 years, since I last wrote any poetry. Whenever I did, it was usually angry poetry. Yeah, in some ways, I've been that weird, stereotypical, angry Goth Chick for 2-3 decades.

An estranged guy friend from college loved making snide remarks, mocking me and the Goth Sub-culture. 

Within the last few years or so, a longtime mutual friend of ours introduced him to some BDSM and fetish communities. Gotta love those bandwagoners always trying to "fit in." 

Most average people do NOT  know, that BDSM originated from the Goth Sub-culture.

BDSM is NOTHING like 50 Shades of B.S. Those novels are piss poor representations of BDSM.

3) Donald: Based on Carl Jung standards, what is your personality type?

Answer: For those who didn't already know, Carl Jung is usually discussed in both Psychology and Sociology classes. 

It has been many years, since the time of taking those classes.

If you are interested, you can learn more about Carl Jung's theory of personality types, RIGHT HERE.

According to the Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test I took last Friday, my type is ISTJ. 12% Introvert 25% Sensing 3% Thinking 56% Judging

4) DJ Scott Wilcox: It's so hard to get published nowadays. What is the status of your short story collection?

Answer: Please re-read the beginning of this Q&A blog. Also, ~2 weeks ago, I published a blog explaining more about my writing status.

"Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho" have all been converted into 1 novella.

"Across The Street," "The Horrors Of Womanhood," and "All Of Chastity's Men" still have yet to be published. The last 3 stories are much darker and grislier than my novella.

"Across The Street" is a Horror Flash Fiction piece and the shortest story I have ever written.

Because that story is different from the others, I don't know HOW it will be published. Maybe it will have to be published separately from the others.

Also, I still have yet to finish writing "All Of Chastity's Men." This particular story has been put on hiatus more times than any other story I have ever written. You may be wondering, "WHY?"

I think the hiatus is somewhat because I am writing "All Of Chastity's Men" more for my own personal catharsis.

Normally, I wrote poems for my catharsis. Writing THIS story for my own catharsis is a much bigger challenge.

Well, it appears that I answered everyone's questions for today's Q&A blog. It would've really been fantastic, if more readers and subscribers had questions to ask. Then again, less is more.

Thank you for asking your questions and reading today's Q&A blog in celebration of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns'  7th anniversary! I look forward to your feedback!

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!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Hey, Generation X! I'm Talking To You!



How's it going my POTENTIAL gumdrops? You may think that the name, "gumdrop" is insulting but as for someone like myself, who is between both Generations X and Y, I consider it to be cute. Most people would consider me to be a Millennial.

A little while ago, I learned that I am actually considered Generation Flux. I was born in 1982 and my mother was born in 1962. We have a 20-year age gap. Because my mother was born in between 1961-1981, she is considered a Gen Xer. Also, because my parents are Gen Xers and I was born in 1982, I am technically considered to be a "Fluxer." If my parents were Baby Boomers during the early '80s, I would be a Millennial.

With me being a Fluxer, I was both a child of the '80s and '90s and became an adult in 2000. It's amazing how time flies! Don't you miss the 1980s and '90s? You know, before entertainment turned into the Shit Sandwich it is today?

This is where YOUR generation comes in:

On September 23, 2013, I created my own website, It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns for free. Originally, it was only meant to be my personal author website. In a way, it still is. However, I spend more time posting entertaining and informative blogs than anything.

Song Saturday and Cartoon Sunday blogs are the main blogs I post, during the weekends. Sometimes, I will post an extra blog throughout the week. It really depends on how I am feeling and what else I'm doing at the time. I have posted nearly 300 blogs on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. Therefore, you're not extremely limited to content. Although, the only major restriction I have is my Horror page.

The Horror page on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns has samples of some of the short stories I have posted. Only members can view this page and FOR FREE. Otherwise, everything else is fair game.

If you want to learn more about me, check out It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. Last but not least, I would really LOVE to have your feedback. What do you want me to share, in order to keep you as a part of my target audience, that does NOT center around politics?

Thank you and I look forward to your replies!

http://itsnotallgumdropsandunicorns.webs.com/

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, April 28, 2014

It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns: Q&A #1

How's it going my gumdrops? I have been in the middle of updating 2 of my previously published Q&A blogs on my website, It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. 
 
Since I have been experiencing glitches and because the original version had a large amount of content, the Q&A blogs are being transferred to Blogger.

This Q&A blog was originally published on April 28th, 2014.

How's it going my gumdrops? As you already know, I mentioned last week, that I would publish my Q&A blog today on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. Here are the questions, that I've answered:

Mimikoko's Question: I was always curious about your Asian Studies. I fell head over heals in love with girlie J pop a few years ago and, a while later, with K pop. I was wondering how it was you came into Asian Studies and if you have managed to use any part of that in your daily activities or making a living.

Answer: I was exposed to Japanese in 6th grade. My middle school teachers taught 6th graders different languages each quarter. 

Once I started taking Japanese, I loved it. Japanese is a great challenge and a unique language. 

I took my 1st entire year of Japanese in 7th grade and I continued all throughout high school. Some of my high school classmates labeled me "The Curve Breaker" because I almost always broke our classroom's curve. 

Not that my peers couldn't learn Japanese. They reveled in being self-entitled, juvenile delinquents and making our teachers cry. 

They were such terrors, that our teachers annually quit. My classmates did this non-stop for 5 years (7th-11th grade). By the time of my senior year, Japanese was removed from my high school. However, I took the initiative to contact 1 of our Japanese teachers and I took Japanese as an Independent Study. 

During my adolescence, I wanted to become a Japanese Consecutive Translator/Creative Writer.

I took Spanish, German, and Japanese, during my college years. However, I always excelled in Japanese. I attended 3 colleges by the time I was 20 years old. At 20, I became a Radio DJ and hosted my own college radio show (All Things Frightening), while attending UW-Parkside full-time and Carthage College part-time, simultaneously.

Then, I completely transferred to Carthage College for the Japanese Major. At the last minute, I was forced to change my major to Asian Studies because the Japanese Major required students to study abroad for 6-12 months. I could not afford to study abroad. 

During that time, we had 2 deaths in my immediate family, my grandmother had a Triple Heart Bypass Surgery, and I acquired a severe bleeding disorder, which I have been cured of these last 3 years.

Anyway, having an Asian Studies Degree, I can become an Academic Advisor, Journalist, Writer, Teacher, Translator, work in Sociology, Politics, and even Media. It really depends on what he/she wants to do with a degree in Asian Studies.

In addition to learning the Japanese language, I learned about Japanese and Asian cultures and religions. IL has more Japanese people and companies than here in WI, which puts me at a disadvantage. 

Regardless, I can still use my Asian Studies Degree, since I learned about other Asians, their histories, cultures, religions, architectures, and art.

Victor Da Silva's Questions:

1) What are your thoughts on the actor, who plays TOM (Steve Blum) from the animation block, Toonami? Had you ever heard of him outside of shows you like? If so, do you have a personal agenda against him or had you not seen the shows he was on, aside from the elephant in the room, Cowboy Bebop? Have you ever met him at an Anime convention in your area or were you too busy with other things?

Answer: I have nothing against Steven Jay Blum. I like and respect him as a voice actor. No, I have never met him or attended any conventions. 

I didn't know, who Blum was until Scryed aired on Adult Swim, 10 years ago. Back then, I was in college and barely had time, much less privacy. 

I never liked Cowboy Bebop and I still cannot understand the hype. Steven Jay Blum has voiced many characters over the years. I miss him as Orochimaru on Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.

2) If you were to unintentionally meet Jason DeMarco in real life and had one thing to say, what would you tell him and why do you need to see him face to face?

Answer: I don't need to see Jason DeMarco in person. I can take or leave him. However, if I bumped into him, I would ask, "Will you ever acknowledge your female audience again, or are you going to keep ignoring as being a part of your viewer ratings?"

Marie Moore's Question: Why don't you put up any pictures of yourself?

Answer: This has been a common question over these last 3 years. I have endured trolls, cyber stalkers, opportunists, and creeps on social networking sites and forums within the last 2-4 years.

In fact, 4 years ago, I belonged to SOAPnet's General Hospital sub-forum. A troll, who has Fibromyalgia, had the audacity to make a mock prayer thread about my disabled mother. This was literally 1 day after my mother was released from the hospital.

My mother collapsed from strong medication, that her quack doctor prescribed and had a seizure. Not only that, but the poster also accused me of having a Facebook account. 

Her friend IMPERSONATED me on Facebook and claimed, that I insulted that troll with Fibromyalgia behind her back.

4 years ago, I didn't have a Facebook account. I did NOT  make my account, until 3 years ago. It was originally to reconnect with high school friends and classmates, since our 10-year class reunion was approaching. I purposely use my high school pseudonym and pre-blocked past trolls, stalkers, slanderers, high school bullies, frenemies, opportunists, cat callers, womanizers, exes, and simply people I can't stand. 

I bet I have 1,000 people on my block list.

I especially endure cat callers and random creeps inboxing me for nudie pics, cyber sex, etc. Besides, I am not somebody, who requires a gajillion selfies, and I'm surely not desperately seeking validation about my sexiness like most people (typically women) today.

Since the time I was a teenager, I always hid from cameras. My birth name is on my Horror-Punks URL. Yesterday, some creep on Vivaldi.net cat called my old Yahoo avatar.

Jesse Steele's Question: Have you ever met any famous people in real life? If so, who are they?

Answer: Yes, I've met Elaine Browne (a former Black Panther) and Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy's brother). 

The Dave Chappelle cast was at Carthage College doing their stand-up comedian tour, 10 years ago. 

Also, Def Comedy Jam's Tony Tone did a skit about me 8 years ago, in his stand-up.

He joked about my Demonia boots. My boots have a Steampunk/Fetish Goth appearance. Tone called me "Bigfoot from Wauwatosa" and claimed, that me and my college female friend could supposedly end the war in Iraq with her hat and my boots.

The month after we met Tony Tone, we met Eric Nieves. Because his show was just before Valentine's Day my college senior year, he asked us women in the audience what qualities we looked for in men. I shouted, "HE'S GOTTA HAVE ALL HIS TEETH!!!"  Eric did a spit take of his water on stage, while laughing at me.

I have met several comedians, political, and public figures in person. I almost met Jamie Kennedy my college senior year but my guy friend made me late.

I waited for my friend to return to campus, before Jamie did his stand-up. I was early for the stand-up but it was too late to meet him, before his show.

Thepowerman187's Question: In less than 700 words or so, tell us why you write the stories you do?

Answer: I write short stories that I believe other readers would be interested in reading. Some stories are about my past experiences, as well as other people's. I even add some twists to my stories to make them more appealing. 

The more I think about it, my work is mostly for the young adult audience, who enjoy reading Semi-Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Horror, and Thriller.

My grandmother nitpicks about my non-"Christian" short stories because she's more of a Legalistic Christian. Meanwhile, my mother doesn't really care about what I write, as long as it's entertaining.

isolateX's Question: I notice you have more than one account to put out your work and recruit followers. What is your goal concerning all these accounts (not sure how many you have)? Is it to get your writing recognized? Will you be making another account like It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns or are you just satisfied with that one? Also, do you have any books written?

Answer: Please read It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' main page. I explain more about myself and my chapbook. 

I have multiple accounts and It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns is mostly for writing exposure. I don't have all my stories shared on here. Although, I do have "Across The Street" posted on my "Horror/Thriller" page.

Only members can read it. My blogs are mostly public. Meanwhile, I don't plan on making another website, right now. I spend 8 HOURS managing It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns alone.

Anonymous Questions:

1) If you were dating someone, and one of your former friends was harassing them, would you tell them to back off, even if your partner had already blocked them? Would you still tell them to back off just to basically show your support to your partner?

Answer: Yes, I would. I would also block the frenemy afterward. 

The block list is my biggest Cyber BFF. It's also what I like to call my Cyber Shit List. I have more people on my block list than I do "friends." I don't care to be everyone's friend. This is especially when there are so many crybabies and temperamental flakes online.

2) Would you continue to date someone even if you loved them but your personalities constantly clashed and you felt unfulfilled at times?

Answer: No, I have done the toxic relationships too many times, when I was in my 20's. 

The constant fighting and dating somebody with jealousy issues is exhausting. That's not including dating someone, who's lifestyle, views, and interests are completely incompatible. The whole "opposites attract" is a myth.

If opposites really attract, why are there so many people, who are divorced and/broken up today?

People DON'T  have to date someone, who is exactly like them but if their lifestyles, views, personalities, and interests always clash, it's exceedingly rare, that those relationships will be long lasting.

3) What are your biggest pet peeves?

Answer: I could make a laundry list of my pet peeves. I am notorious for my complaints around family and old college friends. What's been annoying me most recently are a few things:

1. I'm tired of dealing with people, who are my friends on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, they're not only because I said something they dislike.

2. This somewhat applies to people, who get defensive about something incredibly petty and

3. people, who love being in denial about their own pasts or what their asshole friends have said and/done. 

Regardless if it has nothing to do with me, people really need to stop sweeping everything under the rug and acknowledge their faults. NOBODY is perfect, but it does not mean we should NOT acknowledge our own faults.

4. Pretending to support me and my website. If readers choose NOT  to join my website, that's their personal right. They're always welcome to visit the Guestbook on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns.

At the same time, false supporters should NOT  be surprised, when I do NOT support their views, hobbies, lifestyles, attend their events, "Like" every selfie (whether they are drunk or sober in it) they post online, and whatever else they say or do.

5. People drunk dialing and/or inboxing me and expect me to not be aggravated. I hated whenever boozehounds drunk dialed me in college, when I was in the middle of sleeping. 

It is even more obnoxious now, that I am in my 30's and there are boozehounds (usually men) inboxing and arguing with me online, while I am in the middle of doing something and have already been warned.

I don't care how drunk they are. It only shows me and other people, that they can't handle their own liquor and/or lives. 

Then, after their family, friends, co-workers, bosses, etc. lose respect for them, they want to whine.

Whenever I drank, I was NEVER drunk. At the most, I was buzzed. Most people today only drink just to have an excuse to get drunk and rely on their liquid courage to say what they really feel about something or someone. I don't waste time dealing with drunken, cowardly, zombies.

This is it for Q&A blog #1. Stay tuned for the next Q&A!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Whatever Happened To That 2001 Valentine's Day Slasher Horror Film, Valentine? {Horror Movie Review}

This blog was previously published on Xanga February 13, 2013.

 


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'Tis that time of season for eternal bachelors and bachelorettes like myself to dread the most. You guessed it, Valentine's Day. I hate Valentine's Day.

In fact, why haven't there been MORE  Slasher Horror films made about this particular holiday over the last 1/2 century?

Since I am currently in the middle of writing a Valentine's Day Revenge Horror Story, I handwrote a few side notes for it yesterday.

Speaking of that holiday about LOVE, I managed to YouTube a review about the Slasher Horror film, Valentine. Valentine was a Valentine's Day Slasher, which released 4 months  before my high school graduation in 2001. 

I remember hearing a few radio advertisements for Valentine compared to commercials for it on TV; Most channels barely advertised this Slasher. 

                                                   Valentine Trailer (2001) 


  

Before watching Valentine earlier this morning, I watched a YouTube vlogger's review for it. The review was a nearly 50-minute rant by some angry man-child. He wasted more time ranting about how the beginning spoiled the entire plot of the Slasher than reviewing it.

Even though Denise Richards and the rest of the actresses played as villains in Valentine, the YouTube vlogger kept calling them misogynistic slurs as if they personally hurt him, ranted about there not being enough sex and nudity in it, and just kept ranting. 

The Youtube vlogger seriously annoyed me yet he did make SOME valid points about Valentine being a bad Slasher Horror film. Because he threw a royal temper tantrum about Valentine, I chose to YouTube it for myself out of curiosity.

Yes, it was indeed a total failbag for what was supposed to have been a Slasher Horror but it did have the potential to be decent. Valentine was definitely more like a Valentine's Day Slasher Horror gone wrong. 

For what was supposed to have been a Valentine's Day Slasher Horror, it appeared more like a Slasher Horror Spoof. There was nothing terrifying about the movie. 

Gremlins was more horrifying than Valentine. The contrived acting from the actresses' was hilarious. Their acting for Valentine was just as contrived as a CBS Soap Opera. 

Every time there was a murder scene, I couldn't help laughing my ass off. If I had any stitches, I would've popped every stitch from laughing so hard at that movie.

Valentine was a joke. Well, at least the bad acting provided me with lots of laughter. I mean, Twilight couldn't even do that for me. Now, that movie put me to sleep. Hmm... Maybe I should buy Twilight and use it as a sleeping aid. Well, I digress.

As I was saying, it was very hard to sympathize and empathize with the most of the characters in Valentine, which was understandable. It's a Slasher about a former nerd seeking vengeance on evil girls. That's something the vlogger didn't seem to grasp. 

He kept ranting about how horrible the female characters were in Valentine. That was the entire purpose. The girls were childhood bullies.

The girls attended their 6th grade Valentine's Day Dance and treated the former nerd (mostly played by David Boreanaz) horribly. The girl, who was originally fat (Dorothy), gave Jeremy a pity kiss under the bleachers. Then, the bullies began spying on them. 

Once the bullies saw Dorothy and Jeremy kissing, they started taunting them. This led to Dorothy slandering Jeremy by accusing him of sexual assault. Because of her allegations, he was beaten by the bullies. Jeremy was later placed into a reform school.

There were foreshadowings of comeuppance; All the evil girls, who rejected Jeremy at the Valentine's Day Dance, would receive horrible Valentine's Day gifts and brutal deaths. 

13 years later in Valentine, Jeremy didn't resemble the same boy from 6th grade. He even changed his name. Therefore, neither of those girls recognized him as adults. Once Jeremy swore vengeance, most of their deaths were highly significant.

All of the bullies were sent Valentine's Day Cards with disturbing messages in them and their deaths reflected what they said to Jeremy in the past. 

1) Katherine Heigl's character was a coroner. She said to Jeremy years ago, "In your dreams." He slit her throat and she died, while hiding in a body bag. 

2) The girl, who said "Eeew!" to Jeremy received a box of Chocolates with maggots crawling out. Her corpse was later thrown into a dumpster. 

3) The slutty friend (played by Denise Richards) told him in the past, that she "would rather be boiled alive." This resulted in her being electrocuted in a hot tub.

4) Dorothy (she lost weight years after slandering Jeremy for supposedly "sexually assaulting" her) was later framed near the end of Valentine.

While serial killing his bullies, Jeremy slandered Dorothy. He made another friend of hers, who he was currently dating, believe that Dorothy was behind all their friends' murders. 

This was after Jeremy killed Dorothy. The last girl's life was spared because she was the ONLY girl out their entire clique, who was never cruel to him in 6th grade. 

Little did she and all her evil friends know, that Jeremy was her recovering alcoholic boyfriend, at the second. Jeremy posed under the name, "Adam."

David Boreanaz and the Valentine Soundtrack were the best parts about this Valentine's Day Slasher Horror. 

Like I already said, Valentine had the potential to be a decent Valentine's Day Slasher. Had Valentine been a novel, novella, or a short story, it could've been a lot better

Valentine probably would've been much better on paper and bound to a book rather than acted out on a TV show or a movie.

I reiterate, watching Valentine felt too much like a Slasher Horror Spoof, if not a contrived Soap Opera with horrible acting.

Anyway, if you want to watch Valentine, don't waste your money renting it. You can easily YouTube it for free. 

In the meantime, I might watch the original version of My Bloody Valentine for Valentine's Day.  Since I'm not in a relationship with a hunk, what do I have to lose on Valentine's Day? Besides, I already have Valentine's Day cupcakes to enjoy.