Last Post of 2022

     Well, there's only 3 days left in 2022 and this year felt longer than most somehow.  It was probably the Political Drama of extremists threatening to override the voting process in the name of false messiahs, something we all thought the human race would've left in the past by this point, but cult-like worship of men, very evil men at that, is sadly very much alive and well, and some people will go to psychotic depths to praise these men online.  It is incredibly disheartening to see such imagery and language, to see men legitimately accused of psychotically evil deeds get "fan art" where they grotesquely murder and mutilate their enemies in body and soul.  It is depressing to see people sink to lows in the names of power and sex where they will depict the deaths of both real people like Miley Cyrus, Kamala Harris and Arryn Zech and fictional characters like Edelgard and Erza Scarlet, as well as replace Melony's kind, motherly personality with one of an aggressive, single-minded sex fiend solely because of her curves.  It is more likely she'd hug you in congratulations and not realize how you find the sensation than offer a time of carnal pleasure.

 

    Music, as always, was great this year, with many artists releasing incredible songs and albums.  The Dead Daisies' version of "Burn" and original "Born to Fly" were standouts, Glenn Hughes and Doug Aldrich leading a rock and roll charge there.  Carrie Underwood's "Denim and Rhinestones" album was fantastic and I bought a ticket to see her in March.  I saw Brandi Carlile live with Lucius and Sarah McLachlan at the Gorge, Brandi being a great entertainer and showcasing tracks from her 2021 album "In These Silent Days" alongside classics of hers "The Story" and "Raise Hell," which was among the tracks personally picked by Laura Bailey to represent her character Imogen in Critical Role.  The Stadium Tour featuring Joan Jett, Poison, Motley Crue and Def Leppard finally happened, with Joan Jett and Def Leppard being my personal highlights for the show, though everyone had good music.  About a month after the show, one of my favorite singers, Miley Cyrus, joined Def Leppard and Dave Grohl onstage at the Los Angeles Taylor Hawkins tribute.

 

    We lost quite a number of entertainers this year, but the two that hit the worst for me were Taylor Hawkins and Jason David Frank.  Hawkins was well-known as the drummer for the Foo Fighters, and spread his talent to Miley Cyrus' collaboration with Billy Idol, "Night Crawling," Nancy Wilson's song with Duff McKagan, "Party at the Angel Ballroom" and several tracks on Ozzy Osbourne's "Patient Number 9" album.  He was a generous man beloved by the rock community.  Jason David Frank was known as Tommy Oliver in the Power Rangers series, the Green Ranger, then the White Ranger, then the Red Zeo Ranger, then, after quite a few years, the Black Dino Thunder Ranger.  He presented his character with enthusiasm and integrity, making you enjoy his performance, even when it got cheesy.  I enjoyed seeing him onscreen through my teenage years and honestly wish things had been better after Dino Thunder for him.

 

    Back in music, Alex Lifeson teamed with Maiah Wynne to create the Envy of None album, Ozzy Osbourne's "Patient Number 9" was a good send-off to his career, Def Leppard and Brandi Carlile released good studio albums, Miley Cyrus released her first live album, which was great, and several Naruto voice actors, prominently Yuri Lowenthal, teamed with rapper Big Lugg to create the "Fire Style" album.

 

    I finally returned to T-Mobile Park for the first time since 2019 to see the Mariners win 2-1 against the Toronto Blue Jays, on their way to a playoff run that unfortunately ended against the going-to-be World Champion Houston Astros.  However, this has re-energized interest in the MLB in this area and I have tickets to see the Mariners play the Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres (who are having quite a busy Winter) next year.

 

    I can sum up my personal gaming highlights of this year in 6 screenshots.

Tara Platt is well-known for her angry "I will crush you" side of voice acting, shown in fighting games and Tiger and Bunny.  But when she goes soft and gentle with her voice, mostly done with Edelgard (Mitsuru gets some instances like this, and this is Kali Belladonna's personality to Blake), she shows a very relatable human side that makes her characters endearing and strikes a chord in me, like I've found a confidant I can also open up to.  It helps that her Twitter account expresses this "human-ness" to her fans, making her and Yuri Lowenthal the only voice actors I'd feel okay hugging and weeping to.

Abby Trott gives Annette a boundless joy and enthusiasm, making you want to fight harder to see your dreams become real.  Her Twitter account also has hilarious pictures that brighten my day, much like Annette.
 

This is hilarious when you realize Yosuke is played by Yuri Lowenthal and Mitsuru is played by Tara Platt, so Yosuke's complimenting his wife.  With the announcements of Marth as an "Emblem character" in Fire Emblem Engage and Edelgard being the same alongside Dimitri and Claude as DLC in that game, it makes me wonder if we'll get another moment like this in a Support Rank.

 

This scene is where Laura Bailey really shines as Rise Kujikawa, and this line is delivered with a great sense of determination.  This whole scene is superb, voice-acting-wise, with Laura Bailey and Tara Platt having a well-scripted conversation as Elizabeth brings Rise's Persona's offensive capabilities to the surface.  This doesn't count as a separate moment, being part of the same scene, but Tara's best line in this scene is easily this:
 

This is Monica, and she is my favorite new character of 2022.  With her optimism and devotion to Edelgard, she comes across as both a Black Eagles version of Annette and an Edeleth player insert-character.  I honestly wish Three Hopes had ended in-game saying Edelgard and Monica got married, because I put them together so much.  At least there's fan art and fan fiction.  A fun note is Edelgard is played by Tara Platt and Monica is played by Colleen O'Shaughnessey.  The two were also Temari and Ino, respectively, in Naruto.

Due to the above, my team in the Naruto Switch game, which I bought a year ago, now regularly features Temari and Ino.  Here, Sasuke is on the team because Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt are married.  Tenten is a usual opponent because of something that happened in Naruto Shippuden; Clash of Ninja Revolution 3, maybe my cousin told me they don't like each other, it was 10 years ago.  This screenshot, I would honestly describe as perfect.  It looks like something I'd see on box art or in an instruction manual promoting the game.  I have no idea how I got so lucky to capture a John Woo frame by pressing a button.

    Looking ahead, I have some personal goals for 2023;

-See the Mariners games I have tickets for
-Post more fan fiction
-Stay in budget
-See at least Carrie Underwood and Paramore
-Keep the apartment clean
-Get a job
-Get Fire Emblem Engage and RWBY Arrowfell (got the second last night)

I have added one since posting this:

-Prioritize taking care of yourself.

I do a lot of things idly that ultimately are more life-taking than life-giving, and that needs to stop so I can focus on improving my mental health.  I will no longer be post eery Thursday until Amazon's Digital Music's pre-orders return to their old state, because I can't see what's upcoming as well as I did before, so posts will now likely be on Friday.  While I said I was going to leave Twitter last post, it is a connection with people more than Hive is right now, so it's more that, as Sarah McKnight, Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt said, Hive will be our parachute in case the insanity is too much.

There are some upcoming music projects I'm looking forward to in the New Year, Iggy Pop is teaming with producer Andrew Watt (California Breed, Ozzy Osbourne's "Ordinary Man" and "Patient Number 9," Miley Cyrus' "Plastic Hearts" and Elton John's "The Lockdown Sessions"), who brought Duff McKagan and Chad Smith along, Miley has a new album due out January 13th, Paramore has one coming February 10th and there will also be albums from Revolution Saints (now with Joel Hoekstra on guitar and Jeff Pilson on bass) and the Kings of Chaos, who have Matt Sorum on drums and guests in their shows ranging from Slash to Glenn Hughes to Duff McKagan to Sammy Hagar to Doug Aldrich to Billy Gibbons to Billy Ray Cyrus.  Let's hope it's a good year.