I Am Ashamed =(

Well, it finally happened. I missed a post, and just as I knew would happen, I missed several after that. When I started blogging, I knew I had to be vigilant and post EVERY day because, if I missed even one post, I'd see no point in posting at all. I mean, I already missed ONE post. I've already ruined my perfect attendance record. What difference does it make if I miss a few more? *Sigh* Well, I suppose this is a good point to begin posting on and off, mostly on weekends. I had so hoped to reach that fantasized day, a year from the day I began, and see that I'd written exactly 365 posts. Well, oh, well. Maybe I'll get back to posting every day sometime. *Sigh again*

Music OR Lyrics?

Music or lyrics? Preferrably both. But which is more important? If song lyrics are very cruel or stupid or immoral, I'll hate the song no matter how fun or compelling the music is. However, if the lyrics are merely mundane, I can listen over and over to a song of catchy music (think Dynamite by Taio Cruz). Contrariwise, if the music is mundane, I adore a song of profound lyrics (think One Day by Matisyahu). In fact, I'll love a song of profound lyrics even if the music is downright awful. Therefore, lyrics are more important.

By the way, Music and Lyrics, the movie, is one of the few romantic comedies that are actually funny, and I enjoy it.

Factless

Once, sadly, again, I have nothing to say. No fact today.

Like Original Like Sequel?

I just saw the original Tron, and it didn't make a lot of sense, but it was okay, and I imagine the upcoming Tron will be just as okay.

31 Days - What Keeps my Motor Ticking...or Whatever

Well, this is my 31st post. That's as many posts as there are days of the month. I don't have any followers or comments. I recently got the "StatCounter," and I think it's trying to tell me something. That I've had 2 or 3 visitors that aren't me. Granted, that's not many, and they don't comment. What keeps me going, then? Pathetically posting day after day while I get no feedback?

Well, I know from experience that just because no one comments doesn't mean no one cares. I've been that person who reads blogs without Following or commenting. I usually don't have anything to say or don't feel it needs to be said. Even so, I enjoy new posts, and I wish more bloggers posted every day. I get bored, okay? And I NEED new things, and I NEED them every day. Who doesn't, really? Ah, if I could but count on new reading material from my favorite bloggers every day. If they started posting daily, though, I'd be disappointed if they ever missed a day. It is for this reason, for this reason, I keep writing. Because maybe someone somewhere would be disappointed to check my blog and find nothing new.

I blog also to practice writing every day, as it is said writers should. Blogging forces writing. If I am not forced to write, I actually fear it, avoid it. I hoped that blogging daily would give me the boost I need to write on other projects too. Unfortunately, that only works some days. Some days, it drains me just to write the post.

I blog, having previously dreamed of publishing my reviews of movies, books, and music. I haven't done that much, but I hope to do more of it.

I blog to fill the internet with benevolent posts of wisdom, fighting stupidity and hatred in the world by sharing my glorious insights.

I blog to ramble about stupid little matters that no one in real life has the patience to listen to me about even though I find them utterly engrossing. Such is the case with most of my posts.

I blog for I don't know how much longer. You see, although it doesn't necessarily mean no readers care because just as many comment, it quite possibly does. And I am collecting responsibilities like dust, dust that wasn't around when I started this blog. And I shouldn't waste time, even though it diverts me so.

Therefore, if anyone out there would like me to continue posting, please say so and I shall consider that in my calculations.

I blog.

Good Books

Good books are so hard to find. I often pick up books that look appealing and find them horrible. Contrariwise, I less-often pick up books that look unappealing and find them good. How do you know a good one from a bad one without reading them straight through? Sometimes you can tell from the first paragraph or page, but sometimes books get better the farther into them you get, and sometimes books with great openings go sour. Sometimes, a book is great until the very end, which ruins it utterly. Sometimes the end can redeem an otherwise dull book. I've tried reading books recommended by fans of books I like, but more often than not, I disliked their recommendations. It baffles me how people can have tastes so close and yet so far. I don't have a ton of time to read books, so I often just read the first paragraphs, and they're usually not up to snuff, so I let them be. Therefore, I go through life longing for good books and afraid that I'm missing out on them because I lack time and frustrated both at the lack of time and the lack of good books, books I both long for and miss out on. Tell me if you can make sense of that.

Zebras Don't Change, and Stripes Don't Change, but I Do

These days, I like stripes. I used to possess a mild dislike towards them, which is a strange expression because how can I dislike TOWARDS something when dislike is a non-physical phenomenon and "towards" requires a direction, such as North. I wonder what direction stripes would be in. East? Yeah, East and West, since stripes go side to side. But then I suppose stripes can go up and down too, right?

ANYWAY, the point is that I used to find stripes generally unappealing, on clothing, curtains, and everything else. I liked a few kinds of stripes, like pinstripes, but not until a couple years ago did I like stripes in general. And I didn't change my opinion based on any merits of the stripes themselves. The stripes bring along an emotional association. For better or worse, they remind me of Shugo Chara (a gorgeous series in most aspects up till a point). The main character wore stripes and made them cute, postively anime adorable. More recently, stripes have reminded me of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which was darkly beautiful visually although it was only okay story-wise. I now have trouble remembering what I found so unsightly about stripes, although I probably could if I tried, and I understand immediately if anyone says they don't like them. I don't know how long stripes have been in style, or what type of appeal they had, gothic or what. I suspect they've been in since Tim Burton became popular, but I don't care if I'm late. The fact is they used to be tacky and now they're cool.

Factlets

How can anyone not love piglets? According to the highly acclaimed independent research group known as Minnie's Scale of Baby Animal Cuteness, piglets are cuter than puppies and almost as cute as kittens.

I'm Rethinking My Idea to Use "Facts" in Every Blog Title

This very generation, on this very day, at this very moment, on this very Earth, by a very unfortunate stroke of doom and irreversible fate, for no particular reason, I am not willing to put much work into a post. Not just now anyway. So, instead, I am going to give a short list of my favorite songs at the moment.

Dynamite - obviously fun.








The Other Father Song from the Coraline soundtrack - every track from Coraline is gorgeous actually.






Trust in Me - Selena did such a wonderful job covering this song from Disney's The Jungle Book that I actually like her version while I find the original version somewhat boring (it doesn't help that all the other Jungle Book songs are phenomenal). Selena sounds so hypnotic.







Bang a Drum - This song should have been a much bigger deal. It's just as good as, if not better than, Just Dance. Yeah, probably better. What a great drum beat!







Zoobi Doobi from the 3 Idiots soundtrack - Sooo fun!







Make History - Someone said this song was corny. No! I mean, it's optimistic, but not annoyingly so. It doesn't obsess itself with boys or dancing or needing the right couple song. THOSE subjects are corny and laughable (but enjoyable if set to good music). This song is about the big picture, history. It's encouraging people to, well, make history and change the big picture. It's about thinking BIG. I like that.

I Don't KNOW

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I don't know what to write!!!!!

Not Sure About Facts

I just don't know what to write today. I will say that I'm considering letting this blog be for a while. I have more ideas, but it has come to my attention that I have a few, well, a MILLION duties to perform to get my future more...set, I suppose, and to help my family out. This whole blogging thing takes quite a chunk out of my day, and I like that because it gives me a definite SOMETHING to do and a definite way to practice writing, but maybe it takes too much time. I'm not quitting today, but I dunno...

Remember Facts?

Remember I said that you should look at examples of emotional health to sustain your own emotional health? Well, I'd like to show a couple examples of emotional health I look at sometimes.

I enjoy watching ClevverTV and its two hosts, Dana and Joslyn, as they report on celebrity news. Dana and Joslyn are frank but never mean, even when talking about clearly despicable people or actions. They seem sincere, enthusiastic, and confident. When they interact with each other, on Girl Talk segments and such, they seem just as sincere, confident, comfortable, and secure in themselves. What I like best, though, is that they're on Youtube, so like all Youtube people, they must deal with the Mean Comments. Some people make mean comments about Dana and Joslyn, some make mean-horrible-vulgar comments about the subject matter or celebrity, some make mean comments to other commenters, and some make mean comments in general. But Dana and Joslyn just keep on truckin', video after video with smiles on their faces like it doesn't phase them. I am often told not to worry about the trolls or the Mean Commenters. They just want to cause trouble. Still, the mean comments hurt just to look at. But here are two women who really don't seem to care, and I know they read some comments because they reply sometimes. I was a bit scared of starting a blog because of the comments I might get. People are mean more openly and to greater degrees on the internet than in real life, and I don't want to be confronted with that. (I keep trying to stop reading Youtube comments, but it's harder than it sounds. I plan to do a post on that later.) It's disturbing. A couple years ago, before I saw ClevverTV or other healthy Youtube people, I only saw people who didn't respond to mean comments or people who were just as mean back. I couldn't exactly blame them. I didn't know how they could deal with it, or WHY they'd get on Youtube at all. I couldn't imagine anyone not caring about the mean comments until I saw Dana and Joslyn. It helped me to imagine myself not caring.







I also enjoy watching Xsparkage because, not only does she come up with fun makeup looks, but she also seems so sweet and genuine. She, too, has to deal with mean comments, but she always seems profoundly nice, even for a makeup artist. (All makeup artists seem so nice, friendly, outgoing, and well-adjusted. Why is that? It's awesome. I'd choose a career as a makeup artist just to get that personality, but I'm not sure it works that way.) In this video, she responds beforehand to negative comments she might receive about the makeup look. Now, this is tricky, because the kind of comment she responds to is not the kind of comment that would come from someone just trying to make her mad. It's the kind from someone who actually cares about the video, the look, and the character. Xsparkage responds to it with a sense of humor AND respectfulness. She ALSO addresses people who merely comment to hate on a book and its fans, and she addresses them respectfully too. Bravo, Xsparkage! She also seems smart, as she says in another video that she realizes Twilight isn't the greatest literary work, but she likes it anyway. This is brilliant for someone who's not me! She likes something but also sees its faults. I'm not a big fan of Twilight. It's alright, and that's a balanced opinion. It's nice to find someone else with a balanced opinion, who knows it has problems but can like it anyway.

Facts on a Music Video

Well, I've written two, long, personal posts in a row now, and I'm a bit tired. It takes a long time to write posts, edit them, and make them the best they can be. (My posts could still have used some work.) So, today, I'll post a music video I came across a month or two ago.

I'd never heard of Sky Sweetnam before, and even now, I've not had time to listen to her other songs. But this song is inspirational. "We're only human, seperated by our thoughts." How true. We go around complaining about having to deal with other people and generally treating them not only as strangers but also as a completely different species. We don't know them, so we think they must be scary or weird and we avoid them or dislike them. Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, and so on. We're very similar, very human, God's children, descendants of the first two people. We should treat each other like family, but because we THINK we're so different, every second of every day, other people seem unpredictable, unknown, and dangerous. We can't imagine what's going on in their heads, if anything. It's like they're robots or giant walking carnivorous plants or empty corn husks. It's like, "They don't have feelings like me, so who knows if they have any feelings at all?" Because of this, we treat each other with distance and coldness. Our thoughts separate us. The rest of the lyrics are meaningful too, about how media and marketing and such influence us. The music is enjoyable.

The video is delightfully dark. I like the futuristic, dystopian, time-machine, people-turned-animals feel of it. I like Sky Sweetnam's outfits too, except for the word A$$ on her pants. This is the only version I could get the Embed off of, so you have to wait through a short intro.

Looking to Cure or Prevent Emotional Sickness? Get the Facts Here!

but

The following documents provide evidence against psychiatrist Dr. Infectious in memos to his secretary, Mr. Communicable, conspiring to infect the public using his patients:


Mr. C,
Please call Sarah and confirm she made that Youtube channel I recommended to let out, in fun ways, her frustration at being bespectacled, freckled, a citizen of the United States, and so much less charming than everyone else. Remind her I said making fun of herself will help her overcome life's misfortunes. With luck, bespectacled, freckled U.S. Citizens will see her videos and begin down the path of self-hate, and we'll have scores of new customers.


Mr. C,
Please call my friends at the station and secure the prime time slot for our up-and-coming rock star friend to tell the world what he looks for in a girl: beauty as great as his. His fans should get the hint, and before you know it, they'll come crying to us about how they're not pretty enough or how they obsess over beauty only to tire themselves out, never feeling beautiful INSIDE.


Mr. C,
Please write the military base and tell them I recommend Mr. Jonson for a promotion. The more people that come under his authority, the more will come to us to "fix" their own abusive tendencies, which they acquired after meeting the superior that abused them.


Mr. C,
Please call Rich and remind him how important it is that he join the debate team, no matter how uncool he thinks it is. He'll confront even more people with his stubbornness, opinionatedness, and constant interruptions and insults. Once that happens, we'll be swamped with people just like him who complain that they're angry, unheard, and overly opinionated, wishing they didn't blow up over every little opinion.


Mr. C,
Please move up my appointment with Larry. I plan to emphasize that he must cope with his impatience by letting out his emotions, letting others know how he feels. By which I mean it's altogether fitting and proper that he should purposely knock over display stands while in line at Walmart because that will make his parents just as antsy to get out of line. They'll come to us about their nervous impatience.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Script for Emotional Illness Insurance commercial:

*Man in park runs from sneezing man to scowling old woman, from angry woman to man flashing ultra-violet-white smile at himself in anything shiny, from vain man to boy hiding acne-ridden face behind hands, from self-hating boy to pole, INTO pole.*

Announcer: Hello. I'm here to talk about emotional illness. Emotional illness is a serious malady, costing the sick thousands each year in therapist bills. It can affect even the healthy with self-inflicted face-palms, running into poles, and of course the worst aspect of emotional illness - its contagiousness.

But. You can be prepared. The irrefutable fact is this: you are what you choose to be. You must build up your emotional immune system. You can do this by looking at examples of emotional health and by familiarizing yourself with types of emotional illness, seeing them in small doses from a distance. This vaccination will allow your system to distinguish the truth from the pathogens and exterminate them from within you, without needing to wonder if your physical looks are more important than who you are, if you should be ashamed of your looks, if abusive behavior is necessary, or if it's best to be stubborn and opinionated. It can still be difficult to ensure your system is not overwhelmed. It can be extremely difficult to CURE emotional illness when you already have it, but never panic. Once you recognize your sickness, you can do something about it, at least attempting to control your actions. Keep in mind that it's slightly easier to control your actions than feelings. However, you can control both your actions and your emotions best with a healthy helping God's influence in your heart, soul, and mind.

Or you could soften face-palms by gluing oven mitts to your hands and stay out of parks with poles.

That's EII's stand. Are you in good oven mitts?

Facts about People

I'm tired of people saying people don't change. They do. I know from experience. I've changed countless times, in both great and miniscule ways, and sometimes in a cycle that takes me away from what I was and back to it. One post cannot hold all these changes, and perhaps I'll do more posts on this. For now, however, I present one example: tolerance.

I used to be incredibly tolerant of – even starving for – opinions different than mine. I used to immerse myself in IMDb reviews. "Ooh, that person thinks so and so. Isn't that fascinating? It's AMAZING!" said I to myself. True, I always knew when the reviewers were wrong or when I disagreed, but even then, I loved it. Those reviews made my life interesting, with all the different voices, the freedom to speak, the freedom to argue and disagree. Each reviewer was totally unique at every level. They would never exist anywhere or anytime else, and I'd probably never hear from them anywhere but in those reviews. Maybe it wasn't so much the opinions I liked, but the insight into the minds of God's most complicated creations. (I have always had an interest in psychology.) It was so colorful and varied, and variety is the spice of life. At least it was back then.

See, now, if someone has a different opinion than me, I'm react like this, "DIE! MORON! YOU HEARD ME, DROP OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH! WHO DIED AND LEFT YOU LICENSE TO BE IDIOT OF THE UNIVERSE??" even when it's about something I don't particularly care about.

I have little idea what caused this change. I do know I used to be far more easygoing, and my attitude used to be: "Well, sure, if you look at it that way. I look at it a different way. To each her own, eh, amiga?" *Swings on hammock drinking pink lemonade with tiny umbrella in glass* For example, in one review of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, someone said the movie spent an hour lecturing on the unimportance of physical beauty and, at the end, rewarded the characters and audience by turning Beast beautiful. To that review, I smiled and thought, "Well, you could see it that way or you could see it as the movie's way of showing that, when you love someone, they turn beautiful." However, somehow I changed.

I remember another IMDb review. It may have been the first that bothered me. It called Beast a hostage-taker. It bothered me because I knew that was true, and it made me feel blind for not seeing it (I usually see that stuff) and guilty for liking Beast. The review also called Belle's love for Beast Stockholm Syndrome. This seemed true, but - although I'm no expert - I thought it probably wasn't since Belle fell in love with Beast after he turned good and let her go, so technically she was no longer a hostage and he was no longer a captor. I wanted to tell the reviewer that. I also wanted to tell the reviewer that it didn't bother me that Beast was so evil, because he was PRESENTED that way, in full honesty and without guile, and he CHANGED. What really bothers me is when a character is evil but is never called on his actions. Beauty and the Beast is a redemption story of "the change love can bring." You can't have a story like that if the character being redeemed isn't evil. Beast had to be evil, or he would have had no changes to make. That negative review may not have made me hate different opinions, but it made me want to discuss them. After that review, I think I started imagining what I'd say of my opinions to every reviewer I came across.

I think I began to hate different opinions when I actually did start discussing them, on the internet and in real life, defending what I found right against what I found wrong. People are wrong sometimes, okay? That will probably be a Fact of the Day around here sometime. Not everything is matter of opinion or preference. Anyway, once I started debating, I found people exceedingly stubborn and opinionated. Some were vocal. Others didn’t have the guts to defend their opinions out loud but also wouldn’t change them no matter what I said. (Alternatively, they would change opinions at anything, so they didn’t contribute anything to change my understanding and would forget anything I said if someone else said something different.) I was willing to be influenced by their opinions, but they were not willing to be influenced by mine. Nine out of ten wouldn't even give my opinions a chance. I think that rubbed off on me. I became angry and lost willingness to give their opinions a chance.

I lost respect for them because I thought anyone who clings to their opinions so desperately must have a tiny IQ. They refused to imagine that someone else might be right, and like Einstein said, imagination indicates intelligence.

Furthermore, after some experience debating people, I learned that a little stupidity was just the tip of the iceberg. If someone thought everyone should use recycled paper (which is not so bad), they almost definitely cried when trees were cut down (still not so bad), and they almost definitely supported abortion. Abortion is wrong. Not a matter of preference. Wrong. That's just one example of how what seems like a little Stupid can indicate a lot of Stupid. This phenomenon caused me to hate when people disagreed with me even on tiny matters, because their stupidity probably extended far beyond that.

I no longer go around thinking "each person just has their own magical contact lenses to see stuff with." Excepting a few things that really are just opinion matters, people come to different conclusions than me out of faulty reasoning. Let's face it. I am always right. Always...Except once or twice.

When I come across different opinions, I react by wishing them off the face of the Earth, as I said before, because the Earth does not need any more stupid people. It could use a few less. A lot less. And stupid people are probably spreading their stupidity to their children, students, staff, etc. Every day. Making the world a dumber place. The world could use less people who disagree with me. I know, I know, this is really harsh, and people who disagree with me are generally not so bad. But this is how I feel, and it’s quite a change from when I was younger.

Facts about Tentative Resolutions

Well, I've resolved to spend a whole lot less time surfing the web and a whole lot more time writing. You see, I wrote a proper post for today but didn't have time to edit it, and I am not posting it in that state. It's quite horrible at the moment. This is just another in a long line of signs, signs with meanings, signs that indicate I spend too much time doing nothing for no reason. I only have a month of summer left. I'd better start doing activities I CARE about, like writing. So, for my last month of summer resolution, I resolve to spend HOURS writing. Of course, this resolution depends on how well I can stick to it. And the internet is mighty siren-like.

Yes, I Do Run out of Titles Containing the Word "Facts"

I spent hours today on Derek Landy's blog, bringing the comments up to 200 so that his friend, Laura, would agree to be interviewed. Now I find myself lacking energy and resolve to write a serious post (or a funny one, which is just as hard and often turns out worse as I'm not terribly funny).

I'll merely take a moment to comment on Bristol and Johston's split. While I sympathize deeply with Bristol, I'm glad this new split came, again, before she married him. Now she's seen his True Self again and can find someone better.

And now, on a lighter note, put your hands together for the greatest theme song of all time!

Swear Facts

Fustard trats!

Did those bisting words add awrking anything to my wilicing post? Not yashing at all. They nitting may have sounded absurd as qap and therefore raclat funny, but piving only because they're dassing nonsense words that ening mean leling nothing. (I hope.) If they tanding meant something, something panring dirty or reewing dreadful, they twering wouldn't have been so jat funny.

I oppose swearing, but it doesn't bother me as much as other offenses. For example, I enjoyed the movie Phone Booth even though some people I know hated it for its language. For such a movie, though, it kept the violence and suggestive content, which I can't stand, to a minimum, and I didn't mind the language that much. I hated the reference to THINKING about adultery more, and even that added to the movie when the main character realized it was wrong. All the same, I oppose swearing.

They say that words only have the power you give them. This is true. Even swear words are essentially just words, not worth worrying over most of the time. They're still unsavory though. Why? Well, why do people swear?

When used for their actual meanings, swear words are meant to shock people by sounding extra vulgar, mean, or angry. How unpleasant. You shouldn't try to shock people or make the world any angrier, meaner, or more vulgar than it is.

When not used for their actual meanings, swear words are meant to add emphasis. You shouldn't need extra emphasis, though, if your statement is strong enough to be said at all. The statement should stand on its own. Swearing only adds unnecessary words, defying the first rule of quality writing.

When used for acquired meanings, swear words are often at their worst. Dick, cock, and prick take harmless words and turn them into vulgarities, opening the door for tormenting people named Dick and poking fun at harmless uses of "cock" and "prick." "Bitch" is likely my most hated word. When someone calls one woman (or man) by that word, it seems to spew insult and hate at all women. That word says women must be docile or risk being called a hateful name that compares them to dogs. It's a way of oppressing all women, discouraging them from being spunky, fierce, strong, independent, grumpy. Discouraging them from arguing and generally from having any emotion or acting HUMAN. It's a way of making feisty girls look horrendous. It's a horrendous word.

Some people swear just to sound cool, which is just stupid. Nothing is cool about intentional conformity.

Sometimes, swear words are meant to let out pain, anger, or frustration. But why must you use words that stand for vulgarities? What's wrong with "ouch?" Or even just "My toe hurts. I stubbed my toe?" Why use words at all? Why not scream or let out gibberish groans, as seems to be the most natural response? How about "arrgghh?"

Swear words sound ugly and denote ugly. Each one literally means something repulsive. People say them all the time. There's no need to talk of repulsive subjects every sentence of the day, and when there is a need, there's no need to use words any more vulgar than the technical ones. There's no need to punctuate statements with vulgarities if you have anything worth saying. If you must use expletives to give your words oomph, you're probably not saying anything worth saying. Swear words are also used to oppress and hurt, as if we need any more oppression or pain in this world. This renders swearing pointless and cruel.

Facts' Fears Three

Greetings, traveler, on this, the first of August. All hail August, Monthiest Month of the Year, as voted on by readers of Year Magazine. Congrats, August, on winning the honor!

Well, I've made it through one (partial) month of blogging. Here's to month number two.

Remember when I said I was afraid of everything and nothing? I said I'd explain in a later post. Well, I'm actually not sure what I meant. I guess it had something to do with my knowledge that every morning I get up, every person I meet, every action I take presents a window for danger, for pain, humiliation, or death. I know this too well, and it scares me. Sometimes, though, I can forget it and enjoy myself. Sometimes, I can push it back in my mind, not all the way, but at least halfway, and it sticks in the thick of that forest of twisty grey matter. I try not to be paranoid, but I can't help it sometimes. My life is good. I shouldn't expect danger everywhere, but because of stories I've heard and unpleasant memories I have, I do.

I'm even scared of this blog, in a way. I'm scared of getting too personal in my writing, of caring too much, of being attacked for my beliefs, of being stalked. I hope to do a longer post on this.

Anyway, I'll now give more concrete examples of fears. I'm afraid of frying bacon, a.k.a. Hot Oil Splatters of Death. That's all bacon is essentially. I'm afraid of parasites or other types of nasty creatures that get INSIDE you and cause damage. I saw a video of a parasite thing that could take over grasshopper bodies and cause the poor grasshoppers to go insane. I'm deathly afraid of haters/mean people (very scary, and they're all over the place too). Who ISN'T scared of them? They probably scare themselves.