Well, this year is finally coming to
a close. It’s hard to believe how
carefree I was at the start of the year, coming off such good experiences as
Godzilla; King of the Monsters in theaters, a live performance by BabyMetal and
so much music released by my favorite artists, protesting the injustice or just
having a good time. Right now, I’m a lot
more cautious with my optimism, to the point I may be turning completely pessimistic. For nine months, I’ve been in my apartment,
experiencing many levels of fear and stress from neighbors and the cultural
climate around me. And without in-person
worship with my friends at Garden Street United Methodist Church, it becomes
soul-crushingly lonely. I’ve overspent into
poverty (though thankfully, only got overdrawn once) trying to entertain myself,
only to sometimes forget I even have the songs or pictures I’ve downloaded and
the joy they give me.
There were good parts to the year,
hard as it may be to believe. Despite
the pandemic and the shortened season, the Mariners showed definite progress
from earlier years, with Kyle Lewis, J.P. Crawford, Ty France, Marco Gonzales,
Yohan Ramirez and Luis Torrens showcasing some great talent in a brief time
period, bringing the Mariners to third in the division and only a few wins shy
of entering the playoffs. And with
future superstar outfielder Jarred Kelenic almost major league-ready while
Mitch Haniger seems to have recovered, the team actually seems like it might
make it into the playoffs in a few years, maybe less.
I have spent a good portion of my
time playing video games and got immersed in the various worlds of
Nintendo. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is
my go-to casual game and I frequently enjoy playing as Bowser to free Spirits
or Zero Suit Samus or a Mii Fighter or the Edelgard color change of Byleth in
matches, usually creating a mini-story in my mind. These stories range from outsiders such as
Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail, Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII, Rise
Kujikawa from Persona 4 or Yang and Blake from RWBY giving their effort in
Super Smash Bros, wrestlers Roman Reigns and Bayley trying to prove they’re
better than Smash Bros. characters at fighting, Samus and Zelda as a
same-gender couple dealing with their nemeses Ridley, Ganondorf, Bayonetta and
now Sephiroth, to Byleth and Edelgard continuing to fight on the battlefield
after bringing freedom and equality to Fodlan, also as a same-gender couple. There is plenty of mutual respect among the
fighters (at least the heroines), and they also support each other emotionally
when they aren’t fighting.
Fire Emblem; Three Houses was easily
my favorite video game to play this year.
I practically fell in love with the character Edelgard, though Petra
remains a close second, and wanted to lift her from her hurtful past into a
brighter future. As the character Byleth,
I was able to do just that and I made my Byleth a woman because I had seen so
much cute fanart of the girl Byleth and Edelgard just enjoying each other’s
company. Beneath her ruthless,
calculating exterior, Edelgard seems to be a sad young girl who desperately
needs a supportive, compassionate friend to hear her out and indulge in the
silliness she only shows Byleth during their support conversations; such as
suggesting taking a day off to “gorge myself on sweets” or imitating her loyal to
the point of obsession friend Hubert.
After playing this route, I don’t want to play any of the others because
I know I’ll have to kill someone who brought me such joy and helped me deal
with the issues caused by the 45th President, the 700 Club and my
neighbor who plays far-right sermons on his iPad loudly with the door
open. It especially helped that we
overthrew a “Pope” figure who favors executions, much like Trump, and I was
able to create two lesbian marriages and possibly a gay man marriage (Hubert
and Ferdinand’s ending card suggests they more had a relationship akin to
Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in Washington’s Cabinet). If I were to go back, though, I would try to
recruit Annette and Ashe, I have heard Annette sings a silly song of gluttony
in one of their support conversations, and am actually considering going back
and trying it out.
Pokémon Shield was another game I
beat during the year and I loved the characterization in the game, from
Champion Leon always getting lost to Hop’s enthusiasm to Sonia rising from Professor’s
Assistant to Professor. My favorite gym
leader was easily Melony, she was adorable and had a personality as sweet as
her smile. Nessa and Piers were also fun
to interact with, Nessa having a close relationship with Sonia and Piers being
so rock and roll/heavy metal I like to imagine his voice sounds like Ozzy
Osbourne’s. It was also just fun to play
a Pokémon game for the first time since playing Pokémon Crystal almost 20 years
ago.
Fairy Tail was another game I sank a
lot of time and effort into and it was fun to do so. For years, I’d heard of it online and even
bought the spinoff manga Fairy Girls, which focuses on Lucy, Erza, Juvia and
Wendy. The series is captivating with
how it blends blatant cheesecake, heartwarming moments, outrageous comedy and adorability
in design. Erza and Wendy ended up being
my favorite characters, with Mirajane not far behind, followed by Erza’s old
friend Kagura. These created some of the
sweeter moments, with Erza being a big sister/Mom to Wendy, the old friendship
that may be something more between Erza and Mirajane (at one point, Mirajane
hugs Erza, creating a heart, then backs away as if she didn’t do anything while
Erza turns to look) and Kagura calling Erza her big sister. Erza and Lucy’s mentor-student relationship
was also fun, and Lucy shares a similarly sweet relationship with Wendy,
offering her books when she wants to read more.
Most may criticize the game due to its similarities to pre-existing
games like the support conversations from Persona and Fire Emblem, but it was a
fun game that I recently got to revisit to take advantage of some DLC costumes.
I only started Hyrule Warriors; Age
of Calamity last month, but I feel it deserves to be mentioned along these big
guns of the Switch. It’s fun to see this
story unfold as Zelda struggles with her inability to wake her sealing power,
while Link provides the calm, silent protagonist with a strong sense of duty
and protecting Zelda. Zelda actually
feels like the real main character, the plot seems to revolve around her and
how she can stop the evil of Calamity Ganon, and Impa and Urbosa provide moral
and emotional support for the Princess.
Purah, Impa’s sister, is also a delight, acting like a rock star while
studying technology to help Zelda and the others fight Ganon’s minions. My favorites are easily Zelda, Urbosa, Riju,
Impa and Purah, though Mipha seems like a good girlfriend for Link, as well.
This was the busiest year for music
in my life, buying a great number of songs to quell boredom and anxiety (as
well as deal with the inability to go to concerts). Bon Jovi, Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osbourne and
Carrie Underwood all released great albums, with Demi Lovato releasing some
great singles. K.Flay also had some good
songs, “Bad Memory” in the Birds of Prey movie, “Zen” which adequately
described the feelings brought on by isolation in May and “Don’t Judge A Song
By Its Cover,” where she covered 3 1990s bands.
Chris Cornell had an amazing posthumous covers album, with great covers
of Prince, John Lennon and Guns N Roses.
The new band BPMD also declared their appearance with a 1970s covers
album that paid homage to famous acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen and Grand
Funk Railroad, as well as lesser-known bands like Cactus and James Gang. There was also a great cover of “We Will Rock
You” by heavy metal band In This Moment, with guest appearances by Lzzy Hale
and Taylor Momsen. Anthony Ramos, who
appeared in Hamilton and Godzilla; King of the Monsters, also released a great
pop single called “Stop,” Brandi Carlile collaborated with Brandy Clark and
Alicia Keys on a pair of good songs and Ariana Grande also had a good pop
album.
I only saw two movies that were
released this year, both superheroine movies from DC. And both probably receive a lot of flack for
the first one being like Deadpool and the second having an unrealistic plot. However, these criticisms don’t mean as much
when I’ve read Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman comics that were much like these
films. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Connor
revamped Harley Quinn into the fourth-wall breaking, mallet-wielding, lovable
crazy lady she is today. The other
characters are reminiscent to their writing when they bring “more serious” DC
characters into a Harley comic, like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern or Superman. Wonder Woman 1984 reminds me of arcs penned
by Greg Rucka and G. Willow Wilson, with the character of Wonder Woman being a
good reflection of her “never give up, never say die” attitude Geoff Johns (former
writer of Justice League, co-author of the script) gave her in his Justice
League comics. Also, much like the first
one, it shows that heroism doesn’t mean aggressively beating your enemies, it
shows being a hero means choosing what truly benefits other people, not just
yourself. Trust me, it feels a lot
better to hold open the door for someone you don’t know or don’t trust as a friend
in your apartment building than just let the elevator door close. Someday, they may do the same for you.
If there’s a lesson to be learned
from this year, it is to practice kindness and compassion first. We have an interpersonal responsibility to
the people around us, and treating them as hostilely as we have been will only
lead to our demise, either physically or spiritually. I have posted on the internet for many years
on many websites, and I have tried to present that message against the racism,
homophobia and selfish and childish attitudes there. I hope I have done enough to make some kind
of difference, because the hardest thing for me is to see people’s attitudes
become more cynical and self-centered and childish while I’m trying to spread
this message. I obviously plan on
continuing to say these things, but it has definitely taken a toll on my
patience and joy. Hopefully, we can
change our attitudes from being bitter, cynical and childish before we end up
destroying ourselves.
Here’s to 2021.
