Saturday, June 24, 2017

RANT: Why Are People So DERANGED Today? The Ridiculousness Of Publicly Shaming Others Online

How's it going my gumdrops? Similar to an old Xanga 1.0 blog that was published 4 years ago, this is a rant blog about the ridiculousness of publicly shaming others online. Publicly shaming people online has become ridiculously rampant, lately.

Years ago, I LOVED being on the Internet. Now, I find myself hating it more than anything these days. The Internet has turned into an online playground for cruel, inhumane, sadistic, vindictive, and malicious men, women, and children.

People like them have ALWAYS existed, but now there are more platforms for these narcissistic sociopaths and low-lives to spread their misanthropy like a fatal disease. 

Age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, non-religion, social class, political affiliation, sexuality, etc. all factor into this hatred.

Originally, I was going to say that all of the above do NOT  factor into this hatred. However, they really DO. People want to hate someone for the sake of hating.

Before anybody wants to use Donald Trump as a scapegoat, this hatred existed LONG before he became our president. 

This level of HATRED worsened since the year of 2000, which was before President Bill Clinton left the White House for George W. Bush and before the terrorist attacks had occurred on September 11, 2001.

By the 21st Century, more people with zero involvement in the entertainment industry became obsessed with filming and taking pictures of themselves ad nauseam. 

In addition, more of those from of that same ilk started filming and taking pictures of other people for exploitation and public humiliation purposes, as well as praise.

This may seem like slapstick humor for those depraved low-lives, but it's not for those who must endure it. 

Some, who have suffered from public shaming online lost their businesses, jobs, families, as well as their own lives, if they haven't already committed suicide over their reputations being ruined.

Within the last 1-3 years of so-called "political activist" groups provoking the genocide of law enforcement and white people, the hatred keeps getting worse.

This is also when they are NOT  exploiting women, children, murder, rape, suicide, natural disasters, charities, tragedies, violating our privacy, bullying, stalking, cyber stalking, and slandering others for the sake of being mean-spirited and malicious.

These are the same types of self-righteous low-lives and narcissistic sociopaths, who fail to understand WHY they have no real friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, etc.

Over the last week to 2 years, I have endured smear campaigns, cyber stalking, and public shaming NOT  by catty women, but by men suffering from overblown egos and Little Dick Syndrome. 

If you didn't already know, Little Dick Syndrome is basically when men in high positions abuse their power.

Some may be scoffing and rolling their eyes at me for publishing this blog, especially since I am not flaunting statistical data. 

Today's blog does NOT  require an infographic to demonstrate how incredibly abominable public shaming over the Internet has become.

Whether you're watching, reading, or listening to the news or not, publicly shaming other people online continues to increase. It is the female gender, that endures the most public shaming.

Belonging to a toxic forum such as Adult Swim and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc, etc. are enough to make ANYONE with some human decency want to delete his/her own account(s), if not abandon those sites.

Those toxic websites enable, pander to, and condone misogynists and misanthropes. 

I believe the administrators shut down Adult Swim's forum without giving the community any notice, last winter because they saw how atrocious the community became.

Over these last 3 years, some of my subscribers already knew just how horrible it was for some of us to belong to a male-dominated forum for a divisive and male-centric Cable TV network.

I never expected for everybody to personally like me on Adult Swim's forum. Although, I NEVER expected for so many posters to personally discriminate against me for being a newer poster, while personally harboring an irrational hatred for no reason.

I belong to MANY websites ranging from blogging communities, social media sites, to Anime forums. 

NONE of those communities have ever assumed the worst about me, as a human being or my good intentions. 

They especially do NOT  feel threatened or resent me for being a woman of color, who built her own website for free.

Over 2 years ago, I noticed that those posting on Adult Swim's forum are CLASSIST and generally begrudge successful people, especially successful women. 

The posters waste MOST  their time criticizing someone's diction, font size, font color, show ratings, politics, religion, favorite shows, etc, etc.

Shortly after joining Adult Swim's community, my feelings about the network became worse than they were before joining. 

I already knew the assholes in charge of the network loved mocking their own viewers, disguising their insults as jokes, were patronizing, and were EXTREMELY sexist towards women. Belonging to Adult Swim's forum was a lot worse than imagined and expected.

Even though there were other women posting on Adult Swim's forum, the men over there barely have respect for women in general. 

The man-children have this great sense of entitlement. Not to generalize every Adult Swim poster, but certain posters within Adult Swim's community REALLY  believe that everyone owes them something.

The man-children from Adult Swim's forum compare themselves to Reddit and 4Chan trolls. 

Nearly 2 weeks ago, an Adult Swim friend said that she was trying to learn Japanese. In her thread, I let her know that I sent her links to Japanese books I used, throughout my years of studying.

Then, I listed 5 different styles of writing Japanese, which included Furigana. There was already an overbearing know-it-all in her thread. He claimed he was the "Go-To Guy" for studying the language because he automatically assumed that nobody knew Japanese except him. This was where it became ridiculous.

Because I said that Furigana was another way of writing Japanese, he derailed my friend's thread by discrediting me the ENTIRE time. Furigana is mostly used as a Japanese reading aid for those learning to write the language much like Romaji.

When I was learning Japanese as a teenager, that poster was ONLY  a toddler. There are actual Japanese books and worksheets with Furigana and I also had teachers that taught me how to write Furigana. Here's the kicker, that poster claims to be the "Go-To Guy" YET  he's not fluent in his own native language!

That poster made such a HUGE stink about what I said. Eventually, I told he and everyone else that I studied Japanese for YEARS and have a BA in Asian Studies.

This was along with letting him know that I was not some pretentious Weeaboo, who studied Japanese only for the purpose of wanting to understand what characters were saying in Japanese animation.

Mr. Know-It-All became SO offended by my statement that he implied that I was lying, then THREATENED to make "a laughingstock out of me on Reddit" simply because I said, that Furigana is a part of the Japanese writing system.

Were his antics even necessary?

Finally, I told the "Go-To Guy" that he was acting like a juvenile, pompous, self-righteous, know-it-all and I let him know, that most people will NOT  tolerate his antics.

Since he refused to stop derailing my friend's thread, I told him to go get bent and left. Certain Adult Swim posters have extremely overblown egos.

Typically, Adult Swim posters must turn EVERYTHING into a serious competition over who is right and who is wrong, must turn fun and innocent discussions into flame wars, if not intentionally take something that was said out of context to cause division, must have the last word, psychoanalyze, nitpick, minimize, and discredit everything and everyone.

In addition, some of the male posters seriously expect women to be submissive and weak to them and owe them an explanation for any and every little thing somebody says, does, likes, etc. This includes male Adult Swim posters being predators like the lowlife, who has been slandering AND purposely MISGENDERING me for the last 2 years.

That narcissistic sociopath expects for women to give him nude selfies, posts revenge porn, premeditates fights among minority female posters, loves violating our privacy by publicly posting copies of our e-mail messages, anonymous reports, posting death threats, sending threatening messages to women, hacking other posters' accounts and servers, and gossips about us like some high school gossip queen!

Our crooked, former head moderator from Adult Swim is mostly to blame for the never ending smear-campaign, which was launched against me 2 years ago. 

That lowlife, piece of shit sadistically violated my privacy by doxing my anonymous reports about someone, who only PRETENDED to be my friend to cause social division.

That "friend" was a manipulative, backstabbing liar, and a slanderer, who set me up to fight with 1 of his flunkies and got me banned on Memorial Day 2015. That was why I removed him from my website TWICE.

Seems spiteful to some, BUT would you want to be "friends" with someone who sets you up to fight a flunky of theirs on a holiday? 

Would you want to be friends with someone, who guilt trips you? 

Would you want to be friends with someone, who lets their other "friends" attack you, then be blamed for being attacked and insulted for it?

Every time I reported the attacks on Adult Swim, our former crooked head moderator would purposely ignore my reports with malicious intent. 

OTHERWISE, he singled me out by making indirect call out threads, publicly threatening to ban me THRICE for anonymously reporting assholes, who attacked me and OTHER posters, as well as doxing my anonymous reports while COLLUDING with them!

I could list a number of atrocities our former head moderator committed on Adult Swim within these last 2 years. He panders, enables, condones, and sometimes PARTICIPATES in these atrocities.

For example, a few divisive Adult Swim posters wanted our sub-forum to play a game called Turkey Shoot for Thanksgiving 2015. 

Turkey Shoot was a divisive game our sub-forum wanted to play, which consisted of PUBLIC SHAMING.

The objective was to find the WORST  threads they could by other posters. 

After finding those threads, posters necrobumped them to the front page saying that they "bagged a turkey."

***Whoever bagged the worst threads for PUBLICLY SHAMING POSTERS, won prizes!

Some of us did NOT  participate in Turkey Shoot because it was a divisive and mean-spirited game in disguise to play for Thanksgiving. 

All the while, our former crooked head moderator always loves patronizing us with his self-righteous hypocrisy about not flame baiting, necrobumping threads with malicious intent, and some other self-righteous lectures.

Originally, he was hesitant to play this game. Then, my former "friend," who has been cyber stalking, misgendering, and smearing my reputation for the last 2 years, guilt tripped our moderator into playing that public shaming game.

Honestly, it would not surprise me, if he blackmailed our head moderator because he is just that deplorable of a human being. 

I still have his harassing messages that he sent to me on my website. They are still in the Contact form submissions, that I receive from people who want to send a message to me.

Since that narcissistic sociopath wants to keep cyber stalking, misgendering, slandering doxing, and publicly shaming me online, I have contemplated reporting to somebody in a much higher power, who CAN make him disappear from the web. 

The man's a narcissistic sociopath with mental, behavioral, and substance abuse problems excluding the fact, he's an unfit father and had a hand in his friend being murdered, when he was a teenager. 

I only know about this BECAUSE he posted about it on our former crooked head moderator's PUBLIC forum, earlier this year.

Some of you may be reading my blogs and assuming, that I am some militant feminazi who hates men. 

For the record, I do NOT  hate men. My audience has ALWAYS been male-dominated because of the music I played on my radio show, years ago and my interests. 

Egomaniacs have been taking me to task these last 3 years. Obviously, they see me as a threat to their manhood, when I'm NOT.

Today's blog is longer than my usual blogs because publicly shaming people online is much worse than a terminal disease and is barely discussed. 

In the meantime, here is a video explaining more in detail about social media shaming.

The National: "Social Media Shaming" (2015)

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Cartoon Sunday: Christopher Christensen's The Stone Wall

How's it going my gumdrops? Since so many of you enjoyed those Animated Horror Shorts that I shared 2 weeks ago from Axeman Cartoons, I have another creepy short to share with you all. 

In case you missed 10 Two Sentence Horror Stories for Cartoon Sunday, you can check it out right HERE.

Today we have Christopher Christensen's poem, "The Stone Wall." "The Stone Wall" was illustrated by YeahManTV, while Let's Read narrated this creepy piece.

If you have an appreciation for Textured Art with abstract spirals, Dr. Seuss, and Edgar Allan Poe, "The Stone Wall" may be right up your alley. I'll admit to being automatically biased, when it comes to abstract spirals in the animation.

The spirals remind me of some of the work I did in high school for Art Class. Also, I did something similar to this type of Textured Art, when the band, KoRn held their album cover contest before releasing their 4th album, Issues in 1999. 

It sucks that I didn't win the the album cover contest. Then again, Issues wasn't that great of a KoRn album. The first 3 will always be their best albums as well as their 5th album, Untouchables. Well, I digress.

As I watched "The Stone Wall," it reminded me of Dr. Seuss meets Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask Of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." This is along with a SMIDGE of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."

If you never had the opportunities to read any of these short stories in high school or in college, you should read them now.

Listening to Christensen's "The Stone Wall" made me notice, that the protagonist in this creepy poem has a serious drinking problem. 

He drank an entire bottle of wine and is probably using some kind of a hallucinogenic drug.

If mixing hallucinogenic drugs with wine is NOT  the problem, the protagonist must be drunk from trying to drink away his guilty conscience about something. 

The Goat Man must represent his guilty conscience, possibly about his alcoholism, which he chooses to deny.

As far as the stone wall goes, it could POSSIBLY represent the protagonist's alcoholism which is acting as a barrier between issues he has and the fact that he chooses not to acknowledge them. Anything is possible at this rate with this poem.

"The Stone Wall" is the type of creepy poem, that really makes you think hard. The animation, illustration, and narraton for this poem, helped to add character to the protagonist, The Goat Man, and the overall story being told in the poem.

Some of you might be irritated by my psychoanalysis of Christopher Christensen's "The Stone Wall." I can't help paying attention to both the narration and illustrations for this poem. Both have this ability to make us really think.

Rather than explaining my perception of this creepy poem, I highly recommend watching "The Stone Wall" for yourself and judging with your own conclusions. 

Anyway, here is Christopher Christensen's "The Stone Wall" for today's Cartoon Sunday.

Christopher Christensen's "The Stone Wall" (2016)

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Song Saturday: Chris Cornell Tribute Block

How's it going my gumdrops? Wow! Like many other fans of Grunge Rock, I was in complete shock and disbelief about Chris Cornell's death. Right now, I am still reeling. Honestly, I did NOT see his death coming. 

The death of a talented Grunge Rock vocalist like Chris Cornell was something TOO unexpected and sudden.

Most Gen Xers, who were familiar with Grunge Rock, during the early to mid-1990's already knew that Chris Cornell was the frontman of Soundgarden. Not only was Cornell the lead singer of Soundgarden, but also the frontman for Temple Of The Dog and Audioslave.

Temple Of The Dog, which formed in 1990, was a Grunge Rock Supergroup, in tribute to his dead friend, Andrew Wood. Wood was the frontman of Mother Love Bone, who died from a heroin overdose.

Temple Of The Dog consisted of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, and Mother Love Bone's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.

Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam's frontman) was also featured as the background vocalist on the song, "Hunger Strike."

Meanwhile, Audioslave formed in 2001, which was shortly after Rage Against The Machine (a politically divisive band I STILL hate over 2 decades later) disbanded. 

Audioslave was a Hard Rock Supergroup comprised of Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford, and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell.

On Thursday, MTV Classic aired a tribute block of the late Chris Cornell's music videos. It's very strange that he is NOW having tributes done for him.

Cornell was the frontman, who usually performed tributes, after singers ranging from Pop to Rock died. He did Whitney Houston, Scott Weiland, and Prince tributes soon after they died.

Now, the situation is unexpectedly reversed. I may have never been a diehard fan of Chris Cornell's, however it is shocking as well as heartbreaking learning, that another talented Rock singer has suddenly died.

Cornell is another talented lead singer from the Grunge Era, who is now dead. There are NOT  very many of those frontmen left, when it comes to Grunge. 

Candlebox's Kevin Martin and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder are most likely the final 2 vocalists, that are still alive from Seattle, WA's Grunge era.

Most Millennials 30 years old and younger never had the chance to experience growing up, saving an allowance to buy their favorite singers or groups' songs on vinyl, tape, and CD's. That's not including having to rush to hear their favorite songs being played on the radio.

Younger Millennials and Generation Z especially don't have the experience of watching music centric channels that genuinely care about airing music videos 24/7. 

Generally speaking, if you do NOT  have a cable or satellite provider, you are definitely unable to watch music videos 24/7 on MTV Classic.

Like the way I grew up watching MTV during the 1980's and '90s, I am spending MORE time offline watching MTV Classic as an escape from the Internet, Reality TV Shows, and politics.

Sometimes retreating to my old ways of enjoying music television makes me feel a little depressed. Because I am older now, I am watching blocks of old music videos with a hefty portion of dead celebrities within those music blocks.

MTV Classic will do a block of music videos of dead Pop and R&B singers, Rappers, Rock Stars, etc. I cannot speak for others watching, although it does make me say:

"There goes another talented singer, who is dead or has a dead member from the group."

This Song Saturday, some of you will be in for a grim treat. I am sharing a few music videos featuring Chris Cornell in Soundgarden and Temple Of The Dog. 

Some of you should really enjoy a more recent Soundgarden music video ("Black Rain").

The music video for Soundgarden's "Black Rain" was directed by the creator of Metalocalypse's Brendon Small. 

In addition, the animated Death Metal band, Dethklok was featured in this Soundgarden music video.

Watching some of these Soundgarden music videos feels nostalgic. This can especially be said about "Black Hole Sun." Listening to the song instantly makes me think about an old high school crush/secret admirer. 

Anyway, let's all set aside a moment to remember another talented Grunge Rock lead singer for today's Song Saturday.

1) Soundgarden "Loud Love" Louder Than Love (1989)

2) Soundgarden "Jesus Christ Pose" Badmotorfinger (1991)

3) Temple Of The Dog "Say Hello 2 Heaven" Temple Of The Dog (1991)
4) Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun" Superunknown (1994)

5) Soundgarden "Spoonman" Superunknown (1994)
6) Soundgarden "Blow Up The Outside World" Down On The Upside (1996)
7) Soundgarden "Black Rain" Telephantasm (2010) 
 
[BONUS: Chris Cornell's Prince & Whitney Houston Tributes]

1) Chris Cornell [Prince Cover] "Nothing Compares 2 U" Sirius XM Live (2010)

2) Chris Cornell [Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston Cover] "I Will Always Love You" Live (2012)

Do you have a favorite song(s) by the late great Chris Cornell?

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Early Cartoon Sunday: Axeman Cartoons' 10 Two Sentence Horror Stories

How's it going my gumdrops? Like yesterday's Song Saturday, this is an early Cartoon Sunday blog. 

Considering that next Sunday is Mother's Day, I will probably do next weekend's blogs early, too.

Don't forget to watch Tokyo Ghoul at midnight on Adult Swim's Toonami block. That's if you are a Tokyo Ghoul fan, as well as a Horror Anime fan. 

Today I am taking a break from Supernatural and Horror Anime for today's Cartoon Sunday blog. Things have to be shaken up a little bit.

In fact, it has been a while since I last shared any Horror Shorts for Cartoon Sunday. Today's short is brought to you by Axeman Cartoons. 

Yes, I know. I could not pass up the opportunity of sounding like an announcer, since I used to read PSA's on the air at WIPZ, years ago.

As I was saying, today's short is quite freaky. Axeman Cartoons has a series of Horror Animated Shorts. 

Let's Read, Axeman Cartoons, and Eden collaborated together for the short, 10 Two Sentence Horror Stories.

10 Two Sentence Horror Stories is a compilation of 10 Short Horror Stories, which are supposedly 2 sentences long with creepy narration. The animation for these 10 short stories is scarier than the narration to them.

Eden featuring Let's Read narrated the final short, "I Heard It, Too." 

Maternal Wraith and Sarah and Elizabeth Mahoney voiced Sarah, her mother, and that creepy-looking, shapeshifting monster.

"I Heard It, Too" is without a doubt, the best short out of this compilation of Horror Animated Short Stories by Axeman Cartoons. 

I may go as far as saying this short is probably 1 of the best shorts I have seen, since Stalker From The Cornfield.

"I Heard It, Too" actually feels like you are watching a Horror movie except it is an animated short. In this Horror Animated Short, Sarah hears her mother calling her from downstairs.

As Sarah leaves her bedroom to go see what her mother wants, Sarah's mother pulls Sarah into her room, saying, "I heard it, too." 

They are soon attacked by this creepy-looking, shapeshifting monster. I have no exact idea what the monster is, however it looks like some type of an insect, that resembles Sarah's mother.

Be prepared to be disturbed, if not creeped the fuck out for this Cartoon Sunday, 1 day in advance.

Axeman Cartoons' 10 Two Sentence Horror Stories (2016)

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Cartoon Sunday: Goth Chicks In Animation

Yuuko Ichihara (xxxHolic)

How's it going my gumdrops? Did you enjoy yesterday's Song Saturday blog about The Cure and the Goth Sub-culture in general?

Yesterday, you may recall, that I explained about Goths and the sub-culture on here and on Anime League. For today's Cartoon Sunday, let's revisit the topic of being Goth.

Allow me to acknowledge some Goth female characters in animation. There appears to be more Goth female characters in animation than we have realized. So, with that being said, it's only fair to acknowledge a few of them.

In the illustration above, we have Yuuko Ichihara. The characters in the Seinen Supernatural Horror Comedy Anime, xxxHolic have freaky illustrations.

The characters normally have long, spaghetti legs like Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Like I explained last year, Yuuko Ichihara is a powerful witch, who owns a shop and grants people their wishes. I believe Yuuko is more like a cunning and opportunistic genie.

Most of her jobs consist of dealing with supernatural beings. In case you haven't already, I suggest clicking on the link above Yuuko's picture.

Next, we have Creepy Susie.

Creepy Susie (The Oblongs)


Some of you may remember Angus Oblong's shortly lived cartoon, The Oblongs from The WB. Creepy Susie is supposedly a 10-year-old character from the series.

Most people don't know that The Oblongs was based on Creepy Susie And 13 Other Tragic Tales For Troubled Children. This was a 1999 collection of illustrated short stories written by Angus Oblong.

This young, creepy, Goth Valley Girl is obsessed with death, was born on Halloween, and can tell an animal's gender by the taste of its blood.

Otherwise, there is Germaine Endez.

Germaine Endez (Neurotically Yours)

If you have been subscribed to It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns for the last 3 1/2 years, you KNOW how much I enjoy watching Goth webisodes featuring the slutty Goth-Punk protagonist, Germaine and her pet, squirrel Foamy. 

Who doesn't love Foamy?! That pet squirrel speaks THE TRUTH!

As for Germaine, she has been restyled a plethora of times throughout the decade. This character has been illustrated as fat, skinny, busty, flat-chested, constantly changes hair styles, etc.

The protagonist is a struggling poet/author desperately seeking to be published and works unstable jobs. At the same time, she has an identity crisis and Foamy The Squirrel helps to keep her grounded.

Meanwhile, here are some other Goth female characters, which have been shown in other Anime besides xxxHolic. There is my long-time favorite, Sunako Nakahara.

Sunako Nakahara (The Wallflower)

Despite the fact this homely recluse fears "beautiful people" (mostly attracive men), I love Sunako Nakahara. Sunako is a creepy Goth protagonist that resonates with me on MANY levels. She loves sitting in her bedroom and watching Horror movies ALONE. Sunako's also self-sufficient around the house.
 
I wanted to at least share a gif of The "Goth-Loli Sisters" from The Wallflower, but had no such luck. However, The Goth-Loli Sisters from this Shojo Horror Comedy are NOT  the only Gothic Lolita Anime characters in existence.

In substitution of The Goth-Loli Sisters from The Wallflower, there is Hildegarde from the Shonen Supernatural Action Comedy Anime, Beelzebub.

Hildegarde a.k.a. "Hilda" (Beelzebub)

Hildegarde is the main female protagonist in Beelzebub. She is a Demon Maid, who acts as the "adoptive" mother and nurse of Beelzebub IV. "Baby Beel" is the son of Beelzebub III and Iris and was sent to the Human World.

It has been a few years, since I last streamed this series. Too bad there wasn't another season of Beelzebub. Maybe someday it will get a decent English dub.

Last, but SURELY not the least of an acknowledgement is Saki Hanajima.

Saki Hanajima (Fruits Basket)

 

I have always loved this Fruits Basket character. I can't decide which character is creepier, Saki or her younger brother, Megumi. Both characters have psychic abilities.

When Saki Hanajima is not wearing her high school uniform, she normally wears a black cloak or a veil with her black dresses. I will NEVER forget that scene of her gothing up The Sohmas urinal for New Year's Eve.

Staring at the appalled expression on Shigure Sohma's face was hilarious. Anyway, if you would like to learn more about Goth chicks in animation, check out WatchMojo's choices for Top 10 Animated Goth Girls below.

WatchMojo's Top 10 Animated Goth Girls (2016)

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Song Saturday: The Cure Block

How's it going my gumdrops? Sorry for my lack of presence. These last 3 weeks have been brutal. As you already know, I have been recovering from a minor head injury. In addition to my head injury, my right hand is swollen.

Let's all hope and pray that I don't spend this entire year enduring injuries. I'm already hating this new year. Hopefully, 2017 will be better than 2016.

Aside from my injuries, I joined another forum earlier this month. Tomorrow I will explain more about this forum for Cartoon Sunday. However, I will say that this particular forum has sub-forums for general topics outside of Anime.

Someone posted a thread on that exact message board about being Goth. Apparently, some of the posters have very little knowledge about what it is like being a Goth. For people, who knew and still know very little about me, I have always been Goth.

There is more to being Goth than wearing all black clothes and liking certain bands. If you are somebody with a dark, morbid, and creepy personality and interests, you may be Goth. Although, you're NOT  required to only like something with the "Goth" label attached to it.

Something everyone should understand is that being Goth is NOT easy. Since the time of the Columbine High School Massacre on April 20, 1999, the mainstream media has been demonizing and condemning Goths and the Goth Sub-culture.

Everyone should take most the negative stereotypes and depictions of being Goth in the media worth a grain of salt. Not all Goths are depressed, suicidal, and homicidal maniacs worshiping Satan, sacrificing anything and everyone, while ONLY dressed in black attire.

Yes, even though some Goths are Satanists, they do NOT  purposely go out their way to hurt innocent humans and animals like sociopaths. The same most definitely applies for Wiccans, who are Goths.

Yes, there are some of us Goths who generally have serious baggage. We are not any different from the average person with baggage. Also, Goths are NOT  required to be Pagans. 

We can be Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Muslim, Pagan (Wiccan or Satanist), etc.

Because we may look and act differently and don't always share the same interests and views as most "normal people" do, we're automatically ostracized and condemned for not conforming to everything in society.

As I was saying earlier, we can like whatever we like whenever we like without having the "Goth" label. Goths are normally the most well-rounded, open-minded, accepting, and nicest people you will ever encounter in public. This cannot always be said about "normal" people.

If you would like to learn more about the Goth Sub-culture and its community, you may want to visit the website, What Is Goth?  This will give you a better explanation about what it's like to be Goth.

Last year, I published a blog about me being morbid, since childhood. If you would like to learn more about my "dark and morbid history," you can read it right HERE.

Speaking of being Goth on the latest forum I joined, I introduced that same group of posters to the pioneers of Goth Rock. 

It's amazing. Over the last 3 years, I already published Song Saturday blogs about bands such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees, and other Goth Rock bands.

All the while, I have never published a Song Saturday blog about The Cure. All this time and not a single Song Saturday blog about this Classic Goth Rock band!

For The Cure fans, today is your lucky day. This band has been around for nearly 4 decades and their sound has changed a lot over the years. Between 1980-82, they were more of a Goth Rock band in the sense that their music sounded darker and more ominous.

The Cure's albums, Seventeen Seconds and Pornography sounded much better than Faith, in regards to the the band's darker sound. Faith wasn't that enjoyable. I feel the best song on that album is "Carnage Visors."

To warn you in advance, "Carnage Visors" is literally close to a 30-minute song. It sounds like a really long Horror film score. If you'd like to listen to "Carnage Visors," go for it!

After 1982, The Cure evolved and crossed over as being Alternative and Pop-Rock. Most people don't hear the band's older and more obscure songs from the late '70s and early '80s. 

Therefore, I am sharing some of The Cure's older and more obscure songs with you for today's Song Saturday, including their song, which was originally featured on The Crow Soundtrack in 1994.

1) The Cure "The Final Sound" Seventeen Seconds (1980)

2) The Cure "A Forest" Seventeen Seconds (1980)

3) The Cure "Carnage Visors" Faith (1981)

 
4) The Cure "One Hundred Years" Pornography (1982)

5) The Cure "The Figurehead" Pornography (1982)

6) The Cure "A Strange Day" Pornography (1982)


[BONUS SONG:]

The Cure "Burn" The Crow Soundtrack (1994)

Friday, December 30, 2016

Let's Take A Somewhat Grim Look Back, Then Say Goobye To 2016!

So, how was your YuleChristmaHanukkah? Hanukkah's still being celebrated (if memory serves me right), in addition to Christmas. 

Don't forget that Orthodox Christians don't celebrate Christmas Day, until January 7th.

The Orthodox Christians are somewhat lucky because all their presents will be on clearance! 

You may be wondering, "Anna, what did you get for Christmas?"

Shoes, candy, clothes, jewelry, a snow suit and rain boots like I wanted for having to shovel up all our snow, 4 pairs of ear buds and head phones, an Abstract Art painting by Kersten Hackney (college best friend of nearly 15 years), glycerin bar soaps, another cordless mouse for my other laptop, and another winter coat for this Christmas.

Hopefully, you were able to enjoy the holidays despite all the tragedies we keep learning about in the news. 

Lately, I dread turning on my TV and laptops because it feels like there is a celebrity death toll almost everyday.

This most definitely applies to legendary actors, actresses, and talented music icons.

I am sure many of you will probably roll your eyes at me for continuously mentioning Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland. 

Even though Scott died last December, I believe his demise triggered a domino effect because mostly iconic musicians died, throughout this year.

Speaking of dead music icons and legends, the death of Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister on December 28, 2015 was a brutal segue into this year. 

At the very beginning of 2016, we all lost David Bowie, who was mostly a HUGE musical influence on the late Scott Weiland and so many others.

Very much like Lemmy Kilmister died 4 days after his birthday from Prostate Cancer, Congestive Heart Failure, and Cardiac Arrhythmia, David Bowie privately died from Liver Cancer 2 days after his birthday.

Then, the day after Valentine's Day, Prince's protegee Vanity died from Renal Failure. Literally 2 months later, HE died!

Everyone knows that people die everyday by the seconds. However, I have NEVER in all my life ever heard about so many LEGENDARY entertainers dropping like flies literally by the nano second the way they have in 2016.

2016 has been a really cruel and shitty year for so many of us, that we can't wait for it to be over. Without a doubt, 2016 EXCEEDED my expectations of being a horrible year. 

So many lives have been taken, during this year. Lately, I have even cried about it.

Whether it was just the average man, woman, child, or an iconic celebrity, loved ones have been in mourning. 

All these deaths will surely make grief counselors and funeral homes richer, if not already.

Let's all hope and pray that we can survive 2017 without there being so many deaths in general. 

To end this year, I was going to publish 1 Song Saturday and 1 Cartoon Sunday blog but I changed my mind. These last 2 weeks have been extremely exhausting. If I have ENOUGH time and energy, I will publish more blogs at the start of 2017. 

With that being said, RIP George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and to all those who lost their lives in 2016! 

I wish EVERYONE a very happy, safe, and more prosperous new year!