Evolutionary Viewing Of The Internet Critic: Part V

I've said it many times and I mean it with every syllable, for a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic. Fun though it is to reference a Paramore song, because I'm turning to dust and bones with each passing moment, I truly mean that. If you know anything about me in real life I'm grumpy, bitter, and don't care much for people. So why exactly do I choose to look on the bright side when it comes to movies, and shows, and just media in general? Well I always consider it to be escapism first and foremost, I'm self aware enough to look at the big picture and even laugh at my own anger and frustration which more often than not is directed towards something that doesn't matter a lot. Not to say cinema and entertainment cannot be more than simply that, I know better, I know what the power of film and stories can do to the world but like I said I have enough disassociation to understand it's a movie. I wish more people had such ways of thinking, cause I'll be honest here man....it's gotten to the point where I don't give two fucks about hardly anyone's opinions anymore when it comes to movies. That really is something big for me to say here, I built my life from teenage years onward on film reviews, internet critics, and opinion pieces on all different kinds of media, but I'm just not that dude anymore. Which is odd because I've held the firm belief that you shouldn't care what other people think and to live your life your way for a good long while now, before I really got out of my teenage years when self doubt, paranoia, and teeming emotions are a constant. And I'm taking a positive stance on this, it's just another part of growing up. And you never really stop growing. But I hate to admit it came from a spiteful source, I'm just so over an abundance of negativity to where I'm receding further and further from social media. Because I see just so much ugliness over like a kid's show or a book and most certainly on movie series I greatly enjoy, even if I don't indulge in those individuals content and it grates. It grates like a son of a bitch and I can't stand it. That's pretty much my stance on my own reviews, why contribute to just badmouthing and hating on something when you can shed some positivity instead? I know it all comes down to emotions but I strongly feel not many folks take everything into account and just rage for the sake of views and don't acknowledge good things as well. You've probably seen that a good few times online. I have seen some not so great stuff in my life but I don't dwell. You know what I mean? So my opinions and my personality have changed and I just hope it's for the better. Having a high functioning autistic mind doesn't help much, ridiculous though it seems I feel very isolated if that's the right word in my own thoughts and likings because I simply don't see or hear anyone share them. Not all of them obviously, that would be impossible but just something....anything. Very counter culture though I am, never once have I wrote something just to be contrary. I fail to see the point and just tell it how I feel, even if certain opinions have changed since the initial review which they have! I've even flat out called bullshit on myself for certain ratings, but I'd rather grow and form new opinions than stagnate on a topic for nearly a decade not reflecting on anything. I've been a hopeless YouTube addict for nearly 20 years, delving into all kinds of stuff but I find myself more rewatching older stuff than pursuing new material, maybe you do the same but I feel that's something I need to come out of my shell more on. You never have to agree on everything, you just gotta find someone your speed and energy. But all that most certainly will not hinder my own views on the things I choose to review, it's been a very grand journey thus far and to know people stop by to read awhile means the world to me. And let me tell you something man, it's a better world to live in when you get up, walk away from the computer, and savor life a bit before coming back for a little while later. That's the goal. And as far as my writing I can only say this: It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done before, and it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. Less than a month to go now and I'll see you tomorrow.

Anime Landscape: Now And Then

Another editorial for you this time, I was in a severe rumination mood after I drank heavily from the last review, so I decided to do a somewhat EVOTIC style piece on one of my favorite things to watch, anime. What really kickstarted this for me is I was watching a reviewer unpack literal memories of different memorabilia and items of interest, and it did nothing but spark memories of a very specific niche genre. My utter love and fascination with anime stemmed from a very early age, I can't have been older than 4 or 5 when I started watching anime on this thing called Toonami on Cartoon Network, still my favorite channel ever. I watched that channel religiously every single day, and my cousins who were like 16 or 17 used to come down to my grandparents house and watch Dragonball Z with me. They explained basic plot because when I got into that we were into the Cell saga, but they also told me that these cartoons were not from America but from a place called Japan. And to a 4 year old the concept of a place bigger than my hometown was beyond my comprehension, but I never took the animation style or voice acting differently than I would with shows like Powerpuff Girls or Scooby-Doo. I used to run as fast as I could to my bedroom, tell my Nan and Papa hi, throw my backpack down and turn on this giant television set incased in wood to watch Toonami after school everyday. If I was really lucky I could see the intro which I thought was the coolest intro to anything ever, and Tom was the coolest host ever. And boooooy did that start something for my life. As I grew up I found likeminded friends who also watched anime in the early 2000s, a true golden age for such content. Staying up as late as I could to see Adult Swim, having sleepovers and watching all our favorite series was the highlight of the day. Watching Ghost In The Shell, Case Closed, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, The Big O, Trigun, and easily the one me and my friends were most involved with, Inuyasha. It was the show for us and when I found out there were feature length films of the show like Pokemon I lost my mind. Cause you have to fully grasp, anime has come lightyears since my youth. The internet was still in it's infancy, if you wanted to delve deep into anime culture or see more examples of the genre, whether it be films, or shows, or games (hell I didn't even know about manga until high school) you either had to know places that selled episodes and merchandise, or know people who knew people where you could get different anime stuff. Nowadays I can walk into a Walmart and pick up shows as current as My Hero Academia or as old as Cowboy Bebop with ease. I knew two places that sold anime DVD's, a local video store and Fry's Electronics. And that shit was expensive. I can pick up the first season of a show or an entire show for about twenty dollars now, but if you wanted the first whole season of say Chobits you better be ready to cough up 50 or 60 bucks. Or you had to do it like me and spend roughly twenty dollars for 4 episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist and do that for volume after volume to get the whole show. No joke that was the first anime show I not only owned but saw all the way through, cause the only way you could watch it is if it was on TV or you spent a pretty penny for it on video. And merchandise was nonexistent. Regardless of what it was, posters, statues, plushies, action figures, cosplay items, you had to either have the good grace and knowledge of having a website where you could buy stuff which was an absurd notion to me back then, or you pick up an anime magazine with a little luck from the gods at your local supermarket and they would have extensive lists, pages upon pages, of different items to order through the mail. I cut up a magazine like mad to keep the pictures inside or to give them to friends who saw it and thought it was cool during school. The landscape of being a fan of this genre has changed to the point of being unrecognizable now, I had bookmarks on the family computer of places that sold anime merchandise in middle school, and now I can get an entire show and cosplay apparel and find 20 websites where I can marathon Bleach without even getting off the couch. It has changed for the better but you really had to have been alive and interested in that stuff at that moment in time to fully get what I'm saying. Unless it was Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh, there was no way in hell you were getting anything in stores, and televison blocks were the only way to watch your favorites. All the premium movie channels like Encore and Starz were godsends to pre-teen Dude, to be able to watch Howl's Moving Castle and the second Inuyasha movie. Hell when Cartoon Network held a special month of Miyazaki's films that was a big deal back then, I think they possibly even showed it both subbed and dubbed. You had to dig in the right place, but if you fell asleep late at night before your show came on, totally me by the by, you were screwed. I had to rely on friends to fill me in on what happened last time on Dragonball Z (literally), or some other slew of shows at sleepovers, and had to wait sometimes a day sometimes until next week for the next episode. In a way it's all sort of lost it's sense of adventure, you had to bust your ass to find anyway to watch and enjoy this very niche market in America before it grew into an industry that is just as prolific and strong as any movie studio, but those experiences would last forever if only in memory. Funimation man, Funimation damn near single-handedly presented so many shows to me on a silver platter, captivating my imagination and made me always wanting more. I truly couldn't have been born at a better time for that culture, that fanbase, it crafted many good memories and I truly would not trade or change one bit of it. The fact that watching Toonami lasted well into my teens, that I would still be at my grandparent's house in my room and that I could turn my TV on Saturday night and digest show after show and wrap up by the time the sun slowly starts to rise, is incredible beyond words. How fitting is it, that you spend an entire night watching animation from Japan to wrap up by the time of the rising sun. Britain might have a strong place in my heart, but never forget who stole your heart first.

Evolutionary Viewing Of The Internet Critic Part III

And here we are again, thinking of days and friends long gone.

The first thing I have to say before we head into more somber territory is how much YouTube has changed. May be for better, may be for worse but I was there...almost in the beginning. As I have said YouTube did not hit my radar until about 2007 or 2008. I don't think I got an account until 2009 (still no videos to this day), but I really loved it. It just seemed like a fun neat little place to just share ideas and fun things. I remember a time when YouTube was made for either fun videos or media from past decades. I listened to a ton of 80s music and viewed music videos regularly, and loved it to death. But what I more fondly remember are just fun silly videos. Numa Numa, Star Wars Kid, The friggin' Dramatic Chipmunk, videos of legend now but while popular back then were viewed as fun. I think of YouTube as that place where you could literally make a video of you talking or doing stuff with your friends like in your neighborhood and you could get views. Whether you were doing some idea you cooked up or were just chilling out and talking. One of my best friends in middle school had a channel, and it was literally her and her cousin I think, jumping on a trampoline and talking the most random nonsense you ever heard in her room. I thought it was the coolest thing, I've always wanted to do YouTube videos! Just that small scale, fun, and intimate way that people made videos. I remember one of the channels I watched, it was just various let's plays of various games and I grew a strong relationship with the creator of that channel, we could talk about anything and have a blast, I loved her work to the moon and back. And even more large scale people like Miss Hannah Minx still had that small scale video environment. I especially loved her older videos because it seeped into her regular life when she was in Tokyo. I'm not sure you can find all of them now, but some of them were just nice fun videos. Not to say the YouTube of today is not fun but it lost a lot of it's basic, yet fun loving charm. There were no corporations or big budget YouTube personalities. It was just people putting love and passion into their work and uploaded it for all the world to see. Watch The Legend Of Zelda A Pain In My Ass, that sums it up perfectly, pet project, lot of creativity, very funny, for no other reason than just to do it. And most of these people are gone and I miss them very dearly because they were such great people, which leads to one of the saddest days of my life. On this day, one of my reviewers passed away. I was barely a fan of him for....maybe a month. I just decided on a whim to watch, Jewwario. Watched his reviews of japanese video games and instantly loved him. Without a shadow of a doubt he was one of the most kind, loving, caring, and wonderful human beings ever. And I weeped when I heard the news. I crumbled and broke down. I barely knew his work for even a month and I broke and cried over his passing. That should give you some indication of how truly wonderful he was. He is one of my heroes until the end of time itself. I miss him with all of my being and I wish him and many others were still with us today. To all of my Youtube friends, old and new, to all of my few fans, I want to say I love you all, I wish for nothing but the absolute best for you in life, and I hope to keep seeing you somewhere in time and space. I love, and admire, and above all so thankful to have you with me. Thank you for reading, goodnight.

Evolutionary Viewing Of The Internet Critic Part II

And here we are again, reminiscing about days gone by and what made me start this show. A few days ago, I was seriously just going on a long walk down memory lane, and I started remembering more stuff about what I used to watch, specifically on YouTube. They weren't always reviews but just ordinary people making these little videos that they loved to do and I loved watching them. Many of them were just let's players which is a subgenre of online videos specifically to film in real time a playthrough of a video game, and I just loved hearing their commentary on it and seeing them play these games that I have never seen before and it was this new thing to me, now it's pretty standard. Hell, I remember going to the library in high school, sitting in these really comfy chairs and watching those kinds of videos during lunch. I love seeing new video games and just hear people have a good time playing them! I also had a huge revelation that I actually forgot to add in the last Evolutionary Viewing Of The Internet Critic ( Or EVOTIC for short. Sounds like a mix between erotic and evocative. Eww.) and it was that on channelawesome.com they had these specials every year commemorating their anniversary, and this is where I witnessed just how massive the scale was when it came to all the reviewers on that site. That's really how they were introduced to me! If they looked interesting, I watched them. But you didn't have to be a fan of every single one of them to enjoy the specials, but if you watch enough of them you get their sense of humor which thus makes the specials more entertaining. They still do them, but they made feature length films of this stuff. Like okay, the very first one was like a 30 minute brawl between the film critics and the video game critics, it was brother against brother, civil war amongst the critics! Then they started making these, pretty much feature films with run times going over 2 hours everytime, with each one getting longer and longer culminating in over a 4 HOUR movie that was the big finale to all the films. And after that, they stated the specials would stay on a more independent style with shorter run times and less of a grand epic scale to it all. And they are pretty damn good, I'd check them out if you are interested. I think they have a list of them on the site but just to save you some time they are called, The 1st Anniversary TGWTG Brawl, Kickassia, Suburban Knights, and To Boldly Flee. But uh...back to our show. Christ that was a long tangent. But anyway, that was part of the reason why I am here today and the really sad part is, some of my friends from way back when....they're not on there anymore. Several of them completely took their channels down while others just sadly aren't making videos anymore. It's very depressing because, they gave me such joy and interest and made me want to do what they did. And I just miss them. It was fun, and I made good friends who I still haven't forgot about. And I pray that they come back one day, because they always have a fan and a friend when it comes to me. Confession time now, way back in I'd say maybe 2008 I wanted to make a video. I wanted to make a music video tribute to Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight. This was a little bit before the movie came out, and I took various still images and video clips from his performance and tried to edit them all together set to Puddle Of Mudd's Psycho. It was a good idea at the time. But son of a nutcracker I could not for the life of me get the music onto the already edited video I made, and how I made it I have no idea. That was luck! That was going to be my first video on my YouTube channel which I made a little bit before that idea popped into my head. I cannot edit worth a damn, I have no idea how these guys do it and I applaud them. If I was going to make videos...Christ it would be uncut, uncensored, just one long take with no cuts or any sort of editing. Just turn the camera on, have at it, and then switch it off at the end and then upload it. So if like something fell, or if someone came in the room there would be nothing I could do about it. I sure as hell ain't starting all over again, so I guess you would be witness to the madness. Oh, and you know that would be the most rambling, rage induced rant you would ever see in your life. It sounds fun actually! I might attempt that one day, maybe even commit my reviews to video cause somethings get lost in translation ( Ha ha.) so maybe reading it would make the reviews much better. Alright I think I'm done with this. Another day, another rant. Thank you so much for reading, goodnight everybody!