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?
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!
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 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?
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!
How's it going my gumdrops? Can you believe that 2018 will be over in
4 more months? I can't believe how much time has gone passed.
This year
did not exactly go the way I planned, which is highly disappointing.
Realizing this makes me feel unaccomplished.
Throughout
every year, I always hope for the better but it seems like everything
keeps getting worse. Anyway...
Today is the 5th anniversary of It's Not All
Gumdrops & Unicorns. There are fewer questions this year. Here are
the following questions I have answered:
It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Q&A 2018:
Zombified: How do you think things with your website will evolve in the future?
Answer:
Honestly, I have no idea. Webs' engineers need to hurry with their
repairs. They are that 1 straw breaking every camel's back. In other
words, most of us, who use Webs as a platform for publishing content
like myself and/or business owners are suffering.
As I
explained to a Webs Customer Service Representative over the phone last
Friday, we have been losing customers, subscribers, traffic, etc. It
all depends on what that person is using Webs for.
I
personally use Webs.com's platform for blogging at least 2-3 days a week along with publishing and sharing excerpts of my
short stories for only members of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns
to read on my Horror/Thriller page.
Earlier this year (late
January to be more specific), I stopped blogging on It's Not All
Gumdrops & Unicorns and started experimenting again on Blogger.
After
building my 2nd Blogger page, OMG, Anna! What's Going On?! I noticed
there were less problems with publishing my blogs.
Also, the features
that us bloggers can use on Blogger like scheduling blogs to be
published and meta tagging WITHOUT any glitches are free.
Not having to pay for more artistic designs on Blogger is another bonus.
Countless
times over these last 5 years, I have said that WordPress is highly
overrated and overpriced for vapid designs and is user UNFRIENDLY. The preceding statement still holds true today. The ball is currently in everyone
else's court other than mine.
Only YOU can help
generate traffic to content by liking, sharing, and having discussions.
Discussions especially generate THE MOST traffic to a website.
Marquis DeBlood: What inspired you to start writing?
Answer:
This is a great question. Since elementary school, I learned how to
create my own short stories. My 1st and 2nd grade teachers in made us
draw our own pictures and write short stories.
By 3rd grade,
my English teacher gave us a monthly chart with ideas to create stories
with for assignments.
Once it reached October, we had to create our own
Halloween stories. You, as well as some other Horror fans would've
loved those assignments in school. That year in
October, I really had fun.
I wrote short stories about werewolves,
zombies, vampires, and Chucky from Child's Play. Looking back, I suppose
that would've been labeled as "Fan Fiction," before Fan Fiction was
ever a term or a website. Not that I support Fan Fiction, but you get my
point.
After becoming a teenager, that was when I really became interested in Creative Writing.
As
a form of personal catharsis, I wrote angry poetry, when I wasn't
creating my own characters and writing short stories.
During my high school
senior year, I had a disparaging teacher for Creative Writing Class. That
same teacher claimed, that all my stories and poems were "depressing."
Maybe some of my poems were but NOT my stories. You have read some of
the excerpts of my short stories on my Horror/Thriller page to know,
that they are NOT "depressing."
After minoring In
Creative Writing in college, my professors appreciated my work. Those
disparaging remarks from my Creative Writing teacher in high school did NOT stop me from graduating college with a
Creative Writing Minor.
In a nutshell, that
frumpy, red-headed, divorced cow (or pig) from high school, along with my
asshole study hall monitor, who labeled me as "The Next Columbine
Student" can go fuck themselves to Icy Hot.
BTW: I
added more excerpts to the Horror/Thriller page. Whenever you have the
chance, I highly encourage every member to sign in and read them.
Robert: What is your favorite album of all time?
Answer:
That is a tough question to answer. After being exposed to numerous
music genres, sub-genres, and albums by so many mainstream and
underground bands and singers, I cannot name only 1 album. The following
is a list of my favorite albums:
Gravity Kills' Gravity Kills and Perversion
Stabbing Westward's Wither, Blister, Burn, & Peel and Darkest Days
Lords Of Acid's Lust, Voodoo-U, and Our Little Secret
Stone Temple Pilots' Core, Purple, and No. 4
Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses and October Rust
KoRn's KoRn, Life Is Peachy, Follow The Leader, and Untouchables
Dokken's Breaking The Chains and Back For The Attack
London After Midnight's Psycho Magnet
Lacuna Coil's In a Reverie, Unleashed Memories, and Comalies
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult's A Crime For All Seasons
The preceding list only names a few of my favorite albums.
With all that has been answered, did you enjoy learning anything new from today's Q&A blog? What are your thoughts?
In
the near future, I always look forward to seeing more of you on It's
Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns and on OMG, Anna! What's Going On?!
Thank you!
How's it going my gumdrops? Looks like more readers were interested
in yesterday's Q&A blog. This is fantastic. I spent all last week
working on these Q&A blogs mainly yesterday's. Hopefully, new
readers learned something informative.
In case you missed yesterday's Q&A, you can read itHERE.
Song
Saturday will resume on September 30th and Cartoon Sunday on October
1st.
Speaking of cartoons, I think about how younger Millennials and
Generation Z got shafted as children sometimes.
Younger Millennials and Generation Z don't necessarily know what it was like as children to watch all their favorite cartoons on local networks in a block before going to school in the
morning, racing home to watch all their favorite cartoons after school, and
watching more of them on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
By the time I
attended high school during the late '90s, most local channels removed
cartoons and other programming for minors.
More
families began paying for cable and local programming for children and
teenagers was replaced with Court and Daytime Talk Shows.
In
1996, Cartoon Network became nationwide on cable, as opposed to remaining in only
SELECT cities in certain states. Then, 1 year later, the network
launched Toonami.
Local networks stopped caring about their younger
viewers because all their programming was sent to cable. Basically,
children's local programming became obsolete.
Those same local
networks assumed that everybody had cable 20 years ago, just like most
people today assume that everyone has Internet access and want to watch
online streams of shows rather than watching TV.
It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns Q&A 2017 [Part 2]
Today
is Part 2 of my Q&A blog. Because there was only 1 last person to
ask me a question, today's Q&A is all about answering Victor's
question. He asks:
I have found a recent rare
interview with Stuart Snyder from 2017. I have been listening to the
podcast and it's a very interesting insect on the man himself.
What are
your thoughts about this podcast? Here's a link to it:
Victor,
I listened to this podcast last Sunday night. From the sounds of the
podcaster, she seemed to be gushing over her interview with Stuart
Snyder.
It is understandable why she would be because he is best known
for running Cartoon Network.
However, this is the
SAME man, who is notorious for DESTROYING Cartoon Network by launching
boy-centric Reality TV Shows and sexist programming in general as
Toonami'sreplacement, 9 years ago.
For Snyder
to say, that Toonami tanked in the ratings, it was mostly due to airing
some of the WORST Action Anime, the network could find.
Last
I remembered, Stuart Snyder was and still is the most hated president
of Cartoon Network.
Who in their right mind wanted to sit through
watching something as low brow asBobobo-bo Bo-bobo?
I mean, really?
C'mon! Even One Piece isn't that dumb.
Not that I
was severely heartbroken over Toonami's cancellation like most fans were.
I always cherry picked, which cartoons I watched from both Cartoon
Network and Adult Swim.
The podcaster and Stuart
Snyder did make some valid points about Cartoon Network needing to air
more child friendly cartoons.
You may
be rolling your eyes, scoffing, and thinking, "This is coming from the
same lady, who still thinks Beavis and Butt-Head is hilarious."
See,
there's the whole "so stupid, that it is hilarious." Then, there is mind
numbingly stupid, that you can feel your IQ dropping kind of stupid.
It
also did not help that by 2005, Cartoon Network started airing more
live action movies. It was named "Cartoon Network" for a reason. Cartoon
Network and Adult Swim should return to airing animation ONLY.
Both
networks are mostly garbage programming. Therefore, more people both
young and old are forced to watch online streams of shows. If Cartoon
Network, Adult Swim, and all cable/satellite networks still had some
level of integrity left, they would stop patronizing, insulting, dumbing
down, politicizing, and dictating what viewers want to watch.
I
believe more viewers would spend less time watching shows online and
more time watching TV again, if creators tried being original. When I
say original, I mean stop remaking/rebooting classic shows ad nauseam
and come up with their own ideas.
How about TV networks and Hollywood entertainers make entertainment FUN, again?
Victor, I hope I answered your question.
This concludes It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' 2017 Q&A blog. Let me know what you think!
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:
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.
How's it going my gumdrops? Today I am answering more questions. Like
I have said in the past, I normally reserve Q&A blogs for September
23rd. Next month, on the 23rd will be the 4th anniversary of It's
Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns.
Since a number of
my subscribers typically have a lot of questions to ask, I have been
trying to decide if I should do Q&A blogs more routinely.
Here are 3 questions from Victor. Victor asks the following:
1)
Have you ever listened to a song, that you liked but you can't remember
the artist or name of said song and would get it stuck in your head for
hours hoping to remember the artist's name?
2) What brand of anime do you like that are of your taste buds? (Dark Comedy, Horror, Gritty Grindhouse, mature shows, etc.)
3) Did you ever have pets when you were younger and wish you had seen them one last time?
These
are excellent and fun questions to answer, Victor! I am actually glad
that you asked them. To answer the following questions you asked:
1)
Yes! This has happened, since childhood. You would be amazed at the many times throughout my life, that I have heard songs but didn't
know, who sang them. This is something most of us listeners face at
least once in our lifetime, I'm sure.
After
watching commercials that advertise music compilations, if not watching
a classic music video on MTV Classic (nowadays), I'll usually say either, "Oh! So that's who sang this song! I always thought it was ___,"
or something similar.
In fact, I was in
the middle of watching MTV Classic the other night and saw the music
video for the song "Broken Wings." I always thought it was Don Henley's
growing up. It turns out it was Mr. Mister, who sang "Broken Wings."
Interesting enough, Mr. Mister DID actually go on tour with Don Henley, The Bangles, The Eurythmics, etc. during the 1980's.
Also,
the Indie Grebo Industrial Rock band, Pop Will Eat Itself. For the last
2 decades, I never knew who sang the song, "Ich Bin Ein Ausländer," meaning "I am a foreigner" in German.
When 102.1's Radio DJ, Raven hosted her radio show, Industrial Nation on late Saturday nights, she
played Industrial Metal and Electronica remixes of Rock songs.
It wasn't
until a year or 2 ago, that I learned the name of this band. To
be more specific, Raven used to host her Saturday night show,
Industrial Nation, in my hometown at New Rock 102.1, during the mid to
late 1990's.
2) When it comes to Anime, I
try not to limit genres and sub-genres. I watch a wide variety of
Japanese animation meant for both genders, different age groups, sexual
orientations, etc. both English subtitled and dubbed.
Lately,
I haven't had as much time to watch as many as I used to because I'm
busy both on and offline. I still have yet to stream xxxHolic in its
entirety. However, I am currently watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
Stardust Crusaders, Tokyo Ghoul, and re-watching Naruto Shippuden
dubbed in English on Adult Swim's Toonami block.
If I
had more time, I would stream Anime again. My biggest complaint about
both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim these last 5-9 years has been, that
both only care about Shonen Jump Action Anime.
Because of these restrictions, both networks have bred a lot of ignorant, entitled, and highly misinformed sycophants and zealots for fans in America.
Toonami
only represents Action Animation specifically meant for teenage boys. It does
not represent the female demographics.
Those currently running Cartoon Network AND Adult Swim intentionally alienate most of their viewers regardless
of their age and gender.
Colours TV was the only
network that represented a wide variety of Anime genres for both
genders.
Even though Colours TV was a highly syndicated multi-cultural
network, it STILL aired Shonen, Shojo, Comedy, Romance, Action, Mystery,
etc.
Cartoon Network and Adult Swim could afford to
tear a page out of Colours TV's book. Colours was EXTREMELY
lowly-funded. Although, those running it were still able and willing to
air something for most types of Anime fans.
3)Yes,
I've had 3 dogs and 4 guinea pigs, during my youth. I haven't owned any
pets for the last 13 years.
Pets require a lot of time, money, energy,
and care. I always took care of my guinea pigs and they normally lived
for at least 5 years.
After my last dog, Alexis had
to be euthanized in 2004, I stopped wanting pets. I hate the fact, that
my pets normally died around Christmas.
Who wants to wake up to dead pets on Christmas Day?
I
sure as hell don't. I don't want to be in tears on Christmas Day
because my pet died naturally or was euthanized without being told about
it, until the very last minute.
I REALLY wish I
could've seen my dog, Mendy 1 last time before doing my high school
final exams before Christmas Break, almost 2 decades ago. After coming
home from school and learning, that he was euthanized, I cried my eyes
out.
Hopefully, all 3 questions have been answered
Victor. Since I mentioned Pop Will Eat Itself, here is
their music video for "Ich Bin Ein Ausländer."
Pop Will Eat Itself "Ich Bin Ein Ausländer" Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994)
How's it going my gumdrops? Today is the day! It's Not All Gumdrops
& Unicorns turns 3, this year!
After announcing that I would be
publishing another Q&A blog for It's Not All Gumdrops
& Unicorns' 3rd anniversary, I seriously expected more questions from everyone on here and social media.
Were you scared? Unsure where to submit your questions? Had no
questions to ask? Do you believe you know everything about me (Trust me, you
don't!)? OR Do some of you feel extremely indifferent/apathetic
about me publishing another Q&A blog?
Lately, I have
considered publishing Q&A blogs once a week besides publishing Song
Saturday and Cartoon Sunday blogs.
However, I try keeping Q&A blogs
for It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' anniversaries like today. I
consider these Q&A's as "intimate fall treats."
Some
friends think they know EVERYTHING about me, when they really don't. I
have always been a very complex and multi-passionate person. Sometimes
it can be really difficult to decide if I should publish blogs about
more different topics on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns, or stay
with the current topics.
Before this turns into a
long-winded blog of my digressions, here is the Q&A for It's Not All
Gumdrops & Unicorns' 3rd anniversary.
Donald Clements' Questions:
1)
Within the blogosphere, who are the people you look up to and why?
2)
How big is your current following, and how has it evolved over the
years?
My Answers:
Donald, these are fantastic
questions to have asked me.
Watching,
reading, and listening to Marie and Tim will be beneficial to you, if
you need self-help, want to become a better writer, blogger, etc. Both are really multi-passionate (like MOI except they are more
informative, useful, less moody, and snarky).
You
can learn so much from them both, especially Marie Forleo. Marie is
motivational and entertaining to watch on Marie TV. I always look
forward to a good laugh.
Meanwhile, I believe I have a little more in
common with Tim on different levels. The man is an
Anime and Metal fan, which makes him awesome when you are a fan of both.
Tim Ferriss also has personal experience with overcoming adversity such as
dealing with being suicidal, years ago. He turned his life into
something positive.
This is all the more reason to commend Tim Ferriss.
2) My current following is
gradually regrowing but it is much like a revolving door.
Having false support from social climbers, open and closet "haters," and
opportunistic friends hurts me and my traffic.
If followers TRIED being more interactive, this would definitely help. I ALWAYS respond to comments day and night.
It
has been a major struggle these last 3 years.
The fact that The Xanga
Team was divisive by dumping their money issues into our laps at Xanga 1.0 definitely hurt Xangans, including yours truly.
The Xanga Team REALLY should've taken
out a business loan or so rather than beg us for donations, relocate to
WordPress as a platform, THEN make it mandatory to pay to blog.
I
cannot count, much less remember all the sites I have joined to
generate blog traffic and to rebuild my following over these last 3 years. With that being said, my current following is extremely niche and can be
temperamental.
The moment I share my opposing views
about something, they leave. If I shared my political views, they would
NOT be able to handle it. That's why I stay apolitical.
Danni Darkness Questions:
1) What are the logistics of your website?
2) What was it like working at a radio station?
My Answers:
Danni, these are 2 more excellent questions!
1) Readers/visitors must create
an account, read my blogs and excerpts to my short stories, comment,
and share them on social media or e-mail to friends.
Meanwhile, I am a 1-woman show. In case you have NOT already done
so, you should read last week's Cartoon Sunday blog.
In the preceding blog, I explained the
discussions I had with Jonathan Ian Mathers, last week via Facebook.
Whenever
I am working on these blogs, most of my time lately is spent on finding
the right picture to upload to this site, in order to capture the topic
or theme of my blogs.
Then, I must decide which links, songs, and
videos to share. Afterward, I start blogging.
I work
on these blogs, while everyone is asleep in bed throughout the night
and early morning. Editing anything always takes the most time. Once I
am finished editing, I publish these blogs, type and send out e-mail blasts
to all my subscribers, share on Facebook and around the Google Plus
communities I have joined.
Sharing around Google
Plus takes more effort because I must share my blogs to every social
circle to generate page views, traffic, feedback, and followers. It
would be so much easier and better, if all my subscribers actually
commented on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns and shared these
blogs around social media. It's not like Xanga and Blogster where
everyone is guaranteed to see these blogs.
2)Since 2002, I have always been a 1-woman show. During Fridays
at 4-6pm Central, I hosted All Things Frightening.
This was while
attending and living on campus at UW-Parkside and commuting to Carthage
College part-time for Japanese. My show originally broadcasted locally
in Kenosha, WI and online.
Due to FCC regulations,
everyone at UW-Parkside's 101.7 WIPZ had to censor music live UNLESS
they had a pre-censored CD.
I usually carried my own CD collections to
our campus radio station and played extra albums, that were already on
campus.
Sometimes I seriously miss hosting my own
radio show. I was able to discover other bands and expose listeners to
music, that wasn't always played on traditional radio stations.
Hunter Gibson: Do you have a favorite movie and band?
Answer:
Yes, I do and my favorites have always been very broad.
If only I could
narrow them down. As everyone knows, I am a Horror fan hence the Horror
page I built with excerpts of my latest short stories.
Re-Animator,
the original Carrie, The Crow, The Craft, Child's Play, Beetlejuice,
and The Omen instantly come to mind.
I enjoy movies from several other
genres and sub-genres, but I always look forward to watching Horror
movies from the 1970's to '90s.
During those decades, Hollywood filmmakers were actually more original and did NOT remake every movie.
Lately,
as for bands, I enjoy...
Alien Vampires (they are actually an EBM duo), Lacuna Coil
circa 1999-2002, Type O Negative, other Goth Rock bands like
Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees.
Stone Temple Pilots and KoRn from
the 1990's were 2 of my favorite bands. So are White
Zombie, Stabbing Westward, Gravity Kills, Fear Factory, Arch Enemy,
Slipknot, and lots more.
Growing up, music especially Metal was my entertainment
and my catharsis. Most people young and
old do NOT realize, that the 1990's had the most music genres and
sub-genres compared to now. Today it seems as if Pop and Rap Music have
merged and ONLY 1 music genre exists.
There are too
WAY many bands to think of from the top of my head. I was already drawing
blanks with your questions because I really had to think much HARDER.
Great questions! Even though there were not as
many questions from most subscribers this year, the few I did receive
were excellent questions.
Hopefully, there will be more questions
similar to these next year for It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns' 4th
anniversary!
What are your thoughts? Did you like this year's Q&A blog? If so, let me know in the comments section below!
How's it going my gumdrops? Sorry about not publishing any blogs last weekend or earlier this week. These last 2 weeks have
been rough with sudden changes both on and offline.
In
case you did NOT get the last e-mail notification, Horror-Punks.com has
now been changed to Horror-Punks.net. Even though I mostly publish
blogs here on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns, there were several
blogs I published on Horror-Punks as well. Therefore, I will be
transferring my better blogs from Horror-Punks.com to Blogger.
Meanwhile, I
was forced to postpone Song Saturday, Cartoon Sunday, and 1 of my
Q&A blogs on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns.
Last Friday, I
was in the middle of going to 1 of my 2 doctor's appointments and my
mother had to be rushed to the ER. She is feeling better, now.
However, my mother has been to the hospital at least
several times, since September 9th.
Over these last 2 weeks, I almost had to cancel 2 of my
appointments because there is ALWAYS something
wrong. Hopefully, today and the rest of this next week will be much
better.
Aside from those issues, today is not only Song Saturday, but also Batman Day.
I
won't sit here and act like I am a HUGEBatman fan, but I did enjoy
watching the original TV series based on the comic book superhero.
This makes me
wonder how many people know, that the original actor, who plays Mayor West on Family Guy is voiced by Batman'sAdam West. If you did not already know this, you know now.
While
growing up during the late 1980's and 1990's, it seemed like Batman
became more popular than it was during the 1960's and earlier. Tim
Burton directed the first 2 Batman films.
After Tim
Burton directed Batman in 1989, there was a ton of Batman merchandise.
The Batman bank and earrings, that I got as a little girl are somewhere.
That same year was the year when Prince did the entire soundtrack for
the movie.
You may recall, that I mentioned this in my Prince Tribute
blog this past spring.
Growing up, I was entertained
watching Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Joel Schumacher's
Batman Forever was the LASTBatman film I had watched.
In
fact, I went to see Batman Forever at the theater with a middle school
friend for my 13th birthday and it was the last Batman film I liked
watching. George Clooney replacing his predecessors (Michael Keaton and
Val Kilmer) was reason enough to make me NOT want to go see Batman &
Robin.
I REFUSED to watch the other movies because I
despise George Clooney with the passion and the reboots seemed too
serious. I had no problem watching Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer as
Bruce Wayne/Batman because I like both actors.
Both Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer played quirky and
eccentric roles in other films outside of the Batman franchise.
Batman,
Batman Returns, and Batman Forever had campy yet brooding tones. The
first 2 Burton movies were campy much like the original TV series from
the mid-60's. That was what Michael Keaton appreciated about Batman and
Batman Returns.
After Warner Bros forced Tim Burton
as the film director to step down for Batman Forever, Michael Keaton chose to leave the franchise.
Then, Burton chose Joel
Schumacher as his replacement for directing it.
I remember the
original being an R-rated film. Batman Returns was rated PG-13 yet
parents complained about it not being "family friendly."
Michael
Keaton declined and left the Batman franchise because he felt that the
script for Batman Forever was too lighthearted in tone. When you watch
the first 3 movies, you can tell the differences in tone. Batman Forever
was not a terrible movie. I have yet to see the Batman reboots, which are dramatized origin stories about Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The thought of Christian Bale playing Bruce Wayne/Batman frightens me. Watching Bale play Patrick Bateman in American
Psycho made me shudder.
I still say the man played the role of a misogynistic psychopath/serial killer a LITTLE too well.
Yes,
I know Patrick Bateman was only a character in a novel and movie. The
fact that there are actually men like Patrick Bateman existing in the
real world makes it more terrifying.
Since this is
mostly about the Batman franchise and today is Song Saturday, it would
be fitting to revisit Siouxsie And The Banshees. A little over 2 years
ago, I published a Song Saturday blog featuring this kooky Goth Rock band.
Rereading
that blog, reminds me of how much I have gone through over these last 3
years with toxic and indifferent people. Don't forget that September
23rd is the 3rd anniversary of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. I
will be publishing my Q&A blog.
As I was saying,
I published a Song Saturday blog featuring Siouxsie And The Banshees
over 2 years ago.
I also forgot to mention that they were featured on the
Batman Returns Soundtrack in 1992. Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Face To
Face" was featured in the film as well.
Their song played while Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Selina Kyle (Catwoman) danced, during the masquerade ball scene.
Batman Returns "Batman & Catwoman Come Face To Face" Scene (1992)
Anyway, here is Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Face To Face" for today's mostly Batman themed Song Saturday.
Siouxsie And The Banshees "Face To Face" Batman Returns Soundtrack (1992)
