Some things I haven't been able to say

     I've been using other websites to try to express my views on pop culture, like video games, movies, TV shows and comic books, but I'm finding they don't want to hear any viewpoint that isn't their own, so you have to disguise it in fan fiction and say it through characters.  I'm feeling restrained and unable to fully express myself on those websites, so I'm going to say some opinions on Pop Culture here.

 

-My favorite American movie is Godzilla; King of the Monsters (2019).  My favorite Japanese movie is Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964), but I prefer the American edit since it has an extra Godzilla vs. the military scene not in the Japanese cut.

 

-Top 8 Superhero Movies: Wonder Woman (2017), Birds of Prey (2020), Aquaman (2018)/Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Justice League (2017), Avengers (2012), Deadpool (2016)

 

-My personal Permanent Fire Emblem Heroes Teams are:

Beau:

Effie, Oboro, Shanna, Bridal Shanna

 

Critical:

Chrom, Horseback Chrom, Effie, Oboro

 

Power/Special:

Empress Edelgard, Spear Lucina, Pre-Time-Skip Edelgard, Fjorm

 

Good Friends:

Empress Edelgard, Caeda, Lilina, Azura

 

Houses:

Empress Edelgard, Byleth, Mercedes (may be replaced with Annette if I get her), Leonie

 

Smash Sister:

Empress Edelgard, Spear Lucina, Byleth + Rhea, Pre-time-skip Edelgard

 

My favorite Switch games thus far are Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Persona 5 Strikers, Fairy Tail and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore because of the diverse characters, personality and the fact you get to improve character's lives by interacting with them.

I really want to finish Persona Q for the 3DS if only to hear Mitsuru (Tara Platt) and Rise (Laura Bailey) talk to each other, but it's a pretty tough game.

I've become a little obsessed with Tara Platt because Edelgard and her Twitter helped me through the COVID and Idiot "President" nightmare of 2020-January 20th, 2021.  Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4 and Makoto Niijima from Persona 5 are the only other video game characters that have provoked such a reaction, but not to this degree.  I feel this is good game development, making effectively a 3D character in a video game, though Kiria Kurono and Erza Scarlet are similar, which is why I love Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Fairy Tail.

I tend to overspend on music because I feel obligated to financially support artists who give me joy.

Music Update 7/9/2021

     Last week brought a pair of singles from Brandi Carlile, a song called "Speak Your Mind" for the new Netflix Series "We The People" and a live version of her singing "Beware of Darkness" with Sheryl Crow.  She had previously sung the song with her on Crow's "Threads" album with Sting and Eric Clapton also on the song.  Fleetwood Mac also released the demos of "Fireflies" and "One More Night," written by Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, respectively, showing their women power.  And speaking of women power, British Hard Rock band Inglorious has decided to release an album featuring covers of women-sung songs such as "Barracuda," "I Hate Myself For Loving You" and "Bring Me To Life" (the "Wake Me Up" song by Evanescence).  The first single from the album was a cover of last year's "Midnight Sky" by Miley Cyrus, which was very impressive.

 

    This week has two interesting releases I'm looking forward to that I know of right now.

 

Almost Famous (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition): Cameron Crowe's autobiographical film about being a rock journalist in the 1970s turns 20 this year and features music from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Nancy Wilson, who was at one point his wife.  You also get songs from David Bowie, Elton John, The Guess Who, Deep Purple Mark III and The Allman Brothers Band, so there's a lot of 1970s Classic Rock in this.

 

Heart in Motion (30th Anniversary Edition): A deluxe re-release of an Amy Grant album, Amy Grant being a powerful CCM singer-songwriter who crossed over into mainstream Pop with this album.  This re-release features remixes, 7-inch versions and songs which may have been B-sides that weren't released on the original album.  There appears to be a cover of "Stand By Me," which one of my Churches used for Gospel once in the tradition of Martin Luther to take popular songs and tweak the lyrics to be about God.  I am looking forward to this.

Tribute to Philece Sampler

                I was made aware that Philece Sampler, one of my earliest favorite voice actresses, passed away on July 1^st from a heart attack.  Like a lot of mourners of hers on DeviantArt, I’m mostly familiar with her as Mimi from Digimon, but I also watched Bobobo-bo-bobobo (I have no idea if I spelled that right) and remember her as Beauty in that series.  Both roles really showcased her ability to get really manic with her voice.

 

               I still remember her shouting “Girl power!” and “We have over 100 years of summer vacation left!” in Digimon and pointing out how illogical Bobobo-bo-bobobo was with its random fusions and my personal favorite, the “Fist of the nose hair!”  Beauty almost seemed like a precursor to Lucy Heartfilia with how she was the cheesecake lady, yet also leagues smarter than the men (and some of the women) around her, realizing how little sense things made when you stopped for a few seconds.

 

               It was this exuberance and slight mania that made me easily able to mentally hear her voicing a role she played in a series I didn’t watch, Kelly in Transformers; Robots in Disguise.  I found out she voiced that role on the Transformers Wiki and found out Kelly was the “hard luck comic relief” of the series, a woman trying to avoid the Autobot-Predacon war and always ending up in the middle of it with numerous vehicles destroyed and/or scanned.  Her dialogue, written down, just sounded right in Mimi/Beauty’s excited/distressed voice and while I still haven’t seen any episodes, I know Philece would’ve been a highlight of that show.

 

               Her voice will be deeply missed, not many Voice Actresses have achieved quite the voice she did, that “Whaaa!” type mania/distress/exuberance in their delivery.  R.I.P., Philece Sampler, you were one of the best.

July Political Release

 

               It’s hard these days to write.  Sportspeople undervalue your local baseball team to the point they would need to get into first and win the World Series in consecutive years for half a decade before they said “they’re a decent baseball town,” while San Diego gets it for having an electrifying shortstop and killer rotation and Toronto having an impressive lineup earns them golden boy honors.  I don’t feel they have anything better than we do other than luck and less injuries, yet they’ll have more starters and be more loved and respected around the sports community nationwide for years to come while we’ll be forgotten and selected for trade and relocation rumors.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, the country’s political system is an unfunny joke that makes me want to hang myself.  We are so divided along the two-party system that one of the two parties could declare two and two are five and we’ve always been at war with Japan and they didn’t surrender at the end of World War II and half the country would destroy all its history and math books that dared counter its holy politicians.  Trump is a cult leader who has made millions of Christians embrace rape, racism and homophobia to the point of genocide.  If he had gotten re-elected, he would’ve expanded his concentration camps from Latin Americans to Muslims, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and the LGBTQ+ community and its allies all as blame for America’s shortcomings in the war on terror and the COVID pandemic.  His minions, who worship him, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and Rick Santorum, are continuing his Satanic work by denying the right to vote or work or anything ordinary to these people and African Americans through violence, legislation and nationwide law.  You can’t even be honest about your perspective on these things online, either, some Republicanazi will see what you said and try to shame you by saying “you don’t understand how God works” or “I will pray for you” or inviting you to some ultra-rigid conservative Facebook group that stifles thought and demands the entire LGBTQ+ community in the United States be offered up as a blood offering to appease God’s wrath.  You’ve seen firsthand the evil, the racism, misogyny and homophobia of the Republican party and how it has sank to be equal with the war crimes of the Nazi empire and Stalinist Russia, but you dare call them on it, they just shut their ears and reply that they are the very incarnation of God’s Word, the perfect fulfillment of scripture and as such, above any and every criticism towards their spirituality.  Point to me the Biblical verse where God and Jesus are White Supremacists.  Point to me where that is, and Ham, Noah’s son, doesn’t count.  On top of that, I’m seeing a blatant double-standard between men and women.  A woman dares to say “I like sex,” she’s instantly a whore.  A man, meanwhile, can get away with outright RAPING multiple women, FORCING HIMSELF ON THEM WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT AND GET TO BE THE PRESIDENT!  AND TOO FEW PEOPLE THINK THAT IS WRONG! 

 

               We need a Political cleanse through voting, we need to reject the current Republican party and churn in a better one.  I don’t care if you disagree with Biden and Harris, but stop using Sexism, Racism and Homophobia as the basis for it and especially, STOP CALLING IT GOD’S WORK.  You’re making it impossible for God to thrive in this country and driving Him out.  You are crucifying Jesus again by denying Him access to those who need Him most.  You should be ashamed of yourselves and honestly, I’m done trying to get through your thick skulls and shitposting memes to make a point about compassion, because it’s obvious after all these years of being online you aren’t going to listen to the crazy, respectful, liberal from the Pacific Northwest.  I hope someday you get to see the hurt you’ve caused and it horrifies you, rather than makes you proud.