Doctor Who: Ian Chesterton

One could argue that when the series began, he was not only the real star of the series, but also one of the single most useful companions on the physical scale, often knowing how to assemble basic tools to solve problems and not at all a bad fighter.  Ian was often the most vocal about challenging the Doctor's plans, and as a result, he clashed with the First Doctor more than any of his other companions.  This is in contrast to the more understanding Barbara, who generally didn't challenge the Doctor as much, but only because she didn't always see a need to, and would often challenge everybody equally on serious moral matters, one thinks of The Aztecs.

Ian was often one of the Doctor's snider companions, and the ultimate Captain Obvious, as though he was an intelligent person who seldom had intelligent things to say, frequently making immediately observable observations rather than coming up with many new observations of his own.  That was often Barbara's job, or the Doctor's. Despite this, he was also the most fiercely loyal when a decision was made and he accepted it, even if he often expressed concern over potential consequences of the whims of Barbara and the Doctor.

The actor who played the character, William Russel, has returned to this character every so often for specials, as can be seen here:

Gamera

Many daikaiju reflect something far greater.  For instance, Godzilla was a reflection of the horror of nuclear waste and its affects on humankind.

...Gamera, on the other hand, started out as a character who was mostly just competition to Godzilla.  Nothing a whole lot deeper.

Regardless, Gamera is not without his merits.  

Gamera begins is a surprisingly Western-style movie.

While the movie offers no point except that all problems have a safe solution, and science can be used for good, Gamera's first movie is still rich with decent ideas, starting with his cast, such as the first major "Kenny" of the Gamera franchise, Toshio.

The first "Kenny" of the Gamera franchise, the first boy to see good in him, Toshio developed an attachment to turtles because his biological mother died when he was very little, and her last gift to him was apparently a terrapin named Pee-Wee.  So he was attached to the turtle and took only the best care of Pee-Wee.

Ken inaccurately concludes that Pee-Wee changed into Gamera, perhaps hoping that Pee-Wee was still somewhere to be found.

When he learns that Gamera was globe-trotting, he reminds the adults that Gamera could be lonely, which may actually be true, given that Gamera is quite likely the last of his kind; we've never seen any other Gameras flying about.

Gamera could be treated as a metaphor for man's relationship with scientific advancements, powers we ourselves unleashed that are seemingly beyond our own control, but are ultimately not evil by themselves, only evil because we use them for evil, or at least don't find good uses for them.  Some discoveries are best treated perhaps with the faith and innocence of a child, to only use them in ways that would help people and make them happy, as Gamera would continue to do long after his first movie, regularly saving people and bringing them joy.

Also, no Gamera movies are without songs!

Doctor Who: Captain Jack Harkness

Few characters of this series have drawn more fan fascination than Captain Jack Harkness.

What is the actual explanation behind his popularity?

Was it his dashing good looks? Perhaps, but many companions looked good, including some who actually ended up tremendously unpopular, such as Mel.

Was it his flamboyant expression of LGBT inclinations? Perhaps, but some people who were actually LGBT actually found him slightly pandering and too stereotypically hypersexual, and thus not really their best representation, and frankly, I don't blame them either.

But the main secret to the character's success is probably not difficult to explain:

Comedy.  Captain Jack Harkness had to be one of the single funniest companions the Doctor ever had.  His blunt innuendos pushed all boundaries of decency to the point in which it was hard not to be amused by them.

But he was more than just a funny guy.  Jack Harkness' expression of comedy was often his coping mechanism for the variously dangerous situations he was in, and his means of breaking down tension with the often intense Ninth Doctor, meaning he was not only hilarious, but also a vital means of changing the story's tension, whilst making the story feel more alive and believable to fans watching the show.

But it's only natural.  Like most good characters, Jack Harkness had many sources and underwent lots of changes, which is usually how one creates characters that naturally fit and connect with many others as he did.  His origins lay in the Marvel Comics witch, Agatha Harkness, who was every bit as prone to character development and secret-keeping as he was.  Loosely based on her, Russel T. Davies constructed the character around the idea that he would begin as a cowardly character who would become extremely courageous towards the end, starting as somebody who hid in the shadows and exploited others, but grew into somebody who faced down the Daleks without any shred of fear.

Because of his very peculariar and highly specific function, Jack Harkness unsurprisingly ceased to be the companion when the Ninth Doctor got replaced by the more energetic Tenth.

Of course, this is the good Captain's story function.  What you probably came for was a tribute, and I will never fail to deliver in this area!

How Xehanort Stole Kingdom Hearts

Everybody in the Realm of Light liked the Light a lot.
But Xehanort! Who lived in the Keyblade Graveyard, did not.

Xehanort hated the Light, and all sunny seasons.
Now please don't ask why, no one knows quite the reasons.

It could be that his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be that his boots were just too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason to bark
Was that his heart, was two shades too dark.

But whatever the reason, his heart or his boots
He stood there, waiting, hating the coots.
Staring down from his ledge with a sour, X-Blade frown,
As the dwellers of light lit the lights of Disney Town.
For he know that every toon down beneath
Was busy hanging up a Wayfinder wreathe.

"And they're brandishing keyblades!" he said with a sneer,
"We're surrounded by Light! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, with his Heartless fingers mercilessly drumming,
"I must find a way to stop the Light from coming!"

For tomorrow, he knew...

All the toon girls and boys,
They'd wake bright and early.
They'd rush for their toys!

Oh, and all the noise, noise, noise!
That's one thing he'd hate.
All the noise noise noise!

And then, they'd sit down to a feast.

And they'd feast!
And they'd feast!
And they'd feast, feast, feast, feast!
They'd feast on vanilla pudding
And on animated beasts
Which was something Xehanort couldn't stand in the least.

Then!
They'd do something Xehanort liked least of all
Every toon, the tall and the small
Would stand together, with the town bells ringing
Every toon would join their hands
And start singing!

And they'd sing! And they'd sing!
And they'd sing, sing, sing!
And the more Xehanort thought of this toon Christmas sing
The more Xehanort thought, "I must stop this whole thing!"
Why, for seventy-five years, I've put up with it now!
I must stop this from coming...but how?"

The significance of appearances: Ansem and Xemnas

Many fans treat Ansem as though he was nothing more than a mere extension of Xehanort, and Xemnas as though he were Terra's Nobody.

I'm going to explain why this view is completely wrong.

First, there is physical appearance.

On a first glance, Ansem may more closely resemble Xehanort due to his similar fashion sensibilities, but upon a second inspection, his face has its similarities, but also its differences.  His hair and skin color is Xehanort enough, but many of his other facial features are a mix of Xehanort and Terra.  First there are the eyebrows, which have a shape halfway between that of Xehanort's and Terra's, and the same is true about his chin.  As for the nose, it's more prominent and pointy, like Terra's, and he has round Terra ears.

As for his personality and motivations, they still lean most strongly towards that of Xehanort's, but not without Terra's distinctive streak of seeking out more wisdom in the process (not that gaining more wisdom ever seems to do Terra any good; his learning curve is flatter than Larxene's chest).

All in stark contrast to Xemnas.

Xemnas has prominent cheekbones and a straight, flat nose, his chin is very much the same as Xehanort's.

So if he's at least partially Terra's body, why does he look almost exactly like a 30-year-old Xehanort, and also act very much as his own person?

This boils down to what Nobodies are.

Nobodies are more than just reanimated bodies without hearts.  They are actually primarily the outlines, the impacts that hearts leave in this world, inhabiting the bodies left behind.  To understand this, try imagining making a footprint in the sand.  Then for some reason, your body loses your heart to darkness, and it triggers something in the sandy footprint.  The old body falls apart and rebuilds itself from scratch, but without the heart, in the footprint.

The result is that Nobodies won't always look identical to their complete counterparts if their complete counterparts were storing other hearts.  Case in point? Roxas.  Sora stored part of Ventus' heart inside of himself, and so when he became a Heartless, the imprint Ventus' heart made on the multiverse took over the fading body, giving it a new life and personality of its own, resulting in an individual easily distuishable from both Sora and Ventus.

Xemnas is no different.

Terra-Xehanort, or as he's more popularly known, "Terranort", had elements of the hearts of both Xehanort, and Terra.  As a direct result, the Heartless is both Xehanort and Terra, but Xemnas is different.  Xemnas may be Terra's body, but the imprint of his heart animating him is Xehanort's, resulting in an almost wholly Xehanortian appearance, and yet, because he was just a heart outline that filled itself with its own experiences and connections, Xemnas has come to assume much of his own identity apart from those of both Xehanort and Terra.

Whosday: Susan Foreman

Because the show Doctor Who was never meant to be exclusively about the Doctor, it naturally meant that his earliest companions were all fleshed out, and who better to talk about than the very first onscreen companion, Susan Foreman?

Susan was the pseudonym of the Doctor's granddaughter, back when the Doctor was basically meant to look even more elderly than the actor playing him was, and not the reverse (to the point where William Hartnell always wore a wig and sometimes a cap to conceal his hairline in order to make his Doctor look old), and so it would not have seemed strange at all that the Doctor had a granddaughter.

The 1960s was also probably the most emotionally mature decade of the show (in a similar fashion to how the 1970s was perhaps the most intellectually mature decade of the show, but that's a whole other article) until the revival in the 21st century, and thus that meant that there was sometimes interpersonal conflict, and there was sometimes strong sentiments towards other characters.  Susan often expressed this the most, seeing the world with young, innocent eyes in contrast to the more paranoid and cynical worldview of her grandfather, the Doctor, and so they often clashed, such as when she did whatever she could to defend the innocence of her Earth teachers, and later the Sensorites.  

She was also, being essentially the youngest of the TARDIS team, was often depicted as the most vulnerable both physically and emotionally, often needing rescuing by both of the Doctor's other companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.  However, unlike Ian and Barbara, Susan's personality was not always too terribly fleshed out, depite how emotionally mature the show was and how much effort there was into making Ian and Barbara multidimensional.  However, given that Barbara was a highly complex character, this probably has almost nothing to do with Susan being a girl, and everything to do with how young her character was, especially when one takes into account that the most clearly defined personality traits of Susan were her insatiable curiosity (a trait she may have gained from her equally inquisitive Grandfather), general lack of guile, stubbornness (a trait she also shared with her grandfather), strong sense of justice towards the innocent, and her morbid sense of humor (also a trait of the First Doctor's).

However, this article desribed Susan's personality and her role in the show, not her history.  To learn Susan's history, I suggest you watch this video:

Musical Monday: So This is Love

Cinderella may not have the same dark panache as other Princess movies, but it undoubtedly had one of the more likeable leading characters.  It is therefore hard to believe that Cinderella was subject to a particularly troubled production by Disney standards, having at least eight people heavily involved in the development of the story.  While these numerous writers played a valuable role in developing the Cinderella character, Cinderella's likeability can also be attributed to her voice actress, Ilene Woods.

Of course, Ilene Woods is a stage name.  Her real name was Jaqueline Ruth Woods.  She was born in 1929, and her mother worked behind the scenes of film sets.  Jaqueline herself had dreams of becoming a schoolteacher, but had eventually followed her mother's footsteps and pursued a career in cinema.

Whoever deserves the most credit for Cinderella's likeability, in the end, she became Walt Disney's favorite Princess, because her work and her efforts to get somewhere struck a chord with Walt, who had to deal with an unpredictable father and had struggled with being recognized in his early days as an artist.

She sang multiple songs for Cinderella, such as this one, So This Is Love, a romantic ballad between Cinderella and Prince Charming.

This would be the first duet between a Disney Princess and a Prince (though sadly not the first Prince with personality of his own; that wouldn't be a thing until Sleeping Beauty's release around 1959, nine years after the release of Cinderella).  It was originally meant to show her dancing on a cloud to symbolize how she felt from looking into his eyes, but this was changed because, barring the talking mice and the fairy Godmother, Cinderella has fairly few fantasy elements and Disney wanted to keep it that way.

Her life leading up to her death was truly a sad story: She developed Alzheimer's Disease, and not only forgot that she sang this song, but forgot that she ever voiced Cinderella in the first place.  However, she liked another Cinderella song, A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes, and would take comfort every time she heard it play in the nursing home, and it was played as often as possible until her death in July 1, 2010.

The Science of the Heart

Tired of the fake hearts and the sugary candy? Want to talk about the bleeding human heart instead?

Gladly!

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the heart is that it keeps beating on its own, without us ever having to conciously think about it.  This is because the heart actually has ganglia surrounding it, sometimes called the heart-brain.  That means that basically, the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain does to the heart, and the heart doesn't merely keep beating because of signals from the brain, but also because of the very nervous system it is tied to.

Seuss Saturday: The 500 Lives of John Snow

In the beginning, John Snow didn't have 500 lives.  He had only one life.  It was a normal life that came from his parents.  It was the simplest life in all of Westeros,  but Jon liked it well enough.

Part of Westeros was ruled by King Jophery.  His palace stood high on the top ofive the mountain.   From his balcony, he looked down over the houses of all of his subjects.  First, over the spires of the nobleman'so castles,  across the broad roofs of the rich men'should mansions, then over the little houses of the townsfolk, to the huts of the farmers far off in the fields.

The History of Animation: Richard Williams

Richard Williams is probably one of the single most talented animators that there ever was.

He had a long history animating that began with The Little Island, a highly philosophical cartoon that explores tons of different ideas.

When one observes The Little Island, it is difficult to believe that this would be the same man who'd animated Raggedy Anne and Andy's Musical Adventure and Who Framed Rodger Rabbit.

Oh yeah, he did that one!

One cannot discuss this man's work without mentioning The Thief and the Cobbler.

It was his passion project for years and years of his life, and really, everything he did, such as Raggedy Anne and Andy's Musical Adventure, were merely for-hire jobs he took so that he could fund his passion project.  However, over the nearly twenty years he worked on it, all on his own, he made only about twenty minutes.  Eventually, there was no choice but to unveil compromised versions of the story, which is really sad, because try to watch any version of this story, and try to remind yourself that it involved almost no computers at all.  I dare you.

• The Recobbled Cut can, in various editions, be found online. 

What if Anakin Loved Sand?

Isn't sand marvelous?

Oh sure, it's not as soothing as the tides of the beach, but sand is still marvelous; you can make it into sand castles, and it can warm you up when you're cold after a nice awkward walk through the waves getting your nuts ice-cold.  But not everybody sees it that way.  Anakin Skywalker certainly didn't.  But what if he did? Here, Star Wars Theory provides a highly insightful answer to the raging question: What if Anakin loved sand?

There is no soft, there is only the COURSE
With smooth, there must come the ROUGH
Through will, I plow through the IRRITATING
Through perseverance, my will shall go EVERYWHERE
The SAND shall make me strong.

Love in Godzilla: 1954

Godzilla has tons of these, the love triangle.  Almost every Godzilla movie has one.  While the execution is generally unexciting, the idea behind it is generally interesting.  Here, the general idea involves this:

Love triangle.  A guy almost 40 named Daisuke Serizawa.  Emiko Yamane, daughter of a paleo-biologist.  Hideo Ogata, the handsome, dashing sea captain.

Emiko was betrothed to Serizawa.  However, Ogata is in the way.  She prefers Ogata.

However, Serizawa has to reveal his greatest secret, the Oxygen Destroyer, which, how it works? A fascinating discussion by itself! However, that is not currently important.  What is important? Serizawa is afraid that if his invention is used as a weapon, it will be a weapon of Mass Destruction more powerful than any nuclear weapon.

When he activates the Oxygen Destroyer, to preserve his weapon's secrets, he ultimately ends himself, telling Emiko and Ogata to be happy together.  Thus, he sacrifices himself twofold by doing so.

Yeah, maybe not the most well-thought love triangle.  No, real love is not really often explored deeply in the media.

However, the ideas behind the connections we have are often executed and explained in interesting ways in these stories, and Godzilla is seldom  different.

Whosday: Nine and Rose

Doctor Who has provided many interesting ships throughout its duration, and few draw as many questions as the Ninth Doctor and Rose.

However, there have been clear explanations about it, some throughout the show itself.

Cheem can't comprehend the Doctor and Rose having anything other than a relationship, suggesting that she was a wife, concubine, or prostitute.  From the start of the series, the potential ship is teased.  Not love at all, just unsubtle shipping, but something was intended to be there.

But a kind of chemistry comes into play in the following episodes.  We learn just how defined the Ninth Doctor is be his own pain over the Time War.  Rose is tremendously understanding towards him, despite his sometimes harsh self-expression that can be observed in Dalek.

However, the Ninth Doctor's ultimate demonstration of his love for Rose is his sacrifices to save her life, first risking his own death in the hands of the Daleks by sending her home, and then drawing the energy from her when she became the Bad Wolf, triggering his regeneration.  This reflects the time the Fifth Doctor sacrificed himself to save his companion, Peri.

There's a whole fascinating Tumblr blog that is partly dedicated to specifically this ship, and I'll directly link to the part that focus on 9/Rose.

Musical Monday: I won't say I'm in Love

This is February, the month of, in theory, love.

In practice, it's the month of chocolate candies (which I like) and a nauseating, unappealing shade of pastel pink (which I, obviously, don't like).

However, it doesn't hurt to talk love during a time such as this.

Most of the good songs are about this kind of thing.  As I cannot stress enough, I don't have anybody in my life right now.

Real love is putting somebody else before yourself, and it's every bit as difficult as it sounds.  Sometimes, the selfless thing is truly painful for you, and sometimes, I was the one who caused hurt, and have honestly felt guilty about it, and would really like a chance to make it right somehow.  This can make relationships choices difficult, if these stay on your mind, which is Megara's problem here:

It's amazing how many genres this one song covers, like most other Hercules songs: It's a 1950s-style ballad primarily composed of the musical elements you typically find in R&B and the doo-wop ballads, overall capturing a strong MoTown feel to it.

As for the lyrics, they make it all too clear that Megara knows what it's like to be hurt.  I can't say I know it on the same scale that she does, and I thank God for that, but I know tons of people who sadly do, and it's all to painfully clear to me just how much this affects them.

Who knows? Maybe in the future, I'll say this over some woman.  Maybe she'll be new, maybe she'll be somebody I knew previously.  I don't know.  I am open to all possibilities.  I only know this much:

It most likely won't be easy for me to say!

Science Sunday: The Science of Animals and Weather Prediction

Today may be groundhog day, but it's well known that groundhogs are less accurate at predicting the weather than a coin flip.

However, the same isn't necessarily true about other animals.

Birds in particular are very good at predicting the weather.  Some birds can hear the infrasounds produced by the weather that eventually causes tornadoes, even though humans cannot hear these sounds.   Birds also likely can detect changes in air pressure to indicate when they should eat more, and thus store fat.  In general, it makes sense that our fine feathered friends can detect the changes in weather due to their generally smaller sizes and the fact that they travel by means of flight.

So in general, I wouldn't pay attention to Punxsutawney Phil.  He's a convicted criminal with a serious charge of weather fraudulance, punishable by the death penalty.  Instead, I'd pay more attention to the birds.

And to Think That I Saw It on Baker Street

When I leave home to walk to work,
The wife always says to me,
"Watson, keep your eyelids up
And see what you can see."

But when I tell her where I've been
And what I've seen.
She looks at me sternly,
And says "your eyesight's much too keen."

"Stop telling such outlandish tales
Stop turning minnows into whales."
Now what I can say
When I get home from work today?

On my way to work
And all the long way back
I've looked and I've looked
And I've kept careful track

But all that I've noticed, except my own feet
Was an funny-looking detective on Baker Street
That's nothing to tell of.
It won't do, of course.
Just a detective who looks like a horse.

Theory on Deadpool

Hey readers! Deadpool here! Now you chumps have been told that I used to be Wade Wilson, a former special forces operative turned mercenary.

But, what if this isn't true?

Consider the following: I'm not exactly the most reliable narrator that there ever was.  In fact, I've been known to be a fairly...unreliable narrator.  So, what if the backstory I've been telling you is something he feels obligated to concoct because he knows he's a fictional character?

If that's so, then what is my true story?

Perhaps I was never Wade Wilson at all.  Perhaps I was actually a test-tube baby grown from tissue samples of various individuals, such as Wolverine.

Maybe, born without my own identity, part of my mind made a new one, from scratch, and maybe my mental state resulted from having to essentially create parts of my mind from scratch, but living without limits such as "a grasp on reality", I was also able to figure out that I was just a fictional character.

As for my cancer?

Dolly the sheep fell victim to cancer, because she was grown in such a way that cell multiplication continued long after maturation, which is basically the same as getting cancer.  Being a test-tube baby, I was probably grown in a similar way and has thus developed a similar condition, but thanks to my healing factor, I'm not going to die from it.

Or maybe I'm just fucking with you, and everything I told you was absolute bullshit.

Or maybe not.

You'll never know.  I'll never tell.

But I'll say this much:

CAN I HAVE SOME OF THAT COFFEE YOU'RE DRINKING! I'M DEAD FUCKING TIRED MAN!!

The History of Animation: Etienne Gaspard Robert

Etienne Gaspard Robert, though often known under the stage name "Robertson", was a true Dutch polymath, skilled in many things, namely physics.  However, one of the things he's most famous for, by his own design, is revolutionizing the stage art of phantasmagoria in Paris, a form of horror theater that used "magic lanterns" (early slide projectors similar to Kirscher's).

Indeed, his Phantasmagoria exhibition that began by 1794 was so successful that, three years later, he moved his displays to an abandoned Capuchin monastary to fit the gothic flair of his phantasmagoria, and to adhere to the fascination with ruins that was commonplace at the time.  Capuchin monastaries were especially fitting due to the presence of decorative skulls the monks used to remind themselves of their own mortality.

Robert, or rather, "Robertson", would gather the audience into a skull ridden room with spooky images of fallen heroes of the French Revolution, closing with a spooky final image: An image of the Grim Reaper, saying "the fate that awaits us all."

Angry letters were submitted to magazines from mothers complaining about their children stealing coins to see the show late at night.  Phantasmagoria was a huge hit throughout France, and it became the model of other phantasmagorias to come, even coining the term, "Phantasmagoria".

Planning a Career

Planning a career can be a difficult prospect these days.  So much to choose from, and what's worse, these days, you can't just be underqualified, but now you can somehow be overqualified too.

So what can you do?

1. Identify your career options.

2. Prioritize

3. Make comparisons.

4. Consider other factors

5. Make a choice.

6. Set "smart" goals.

And if nothing else works, you can always join the Ministry of Silly Walks.

Whosday: Spoilers!

I must be the first to confess that I haven't really been paying much attention to the current direction of Doctor Who.  I so greally admire the Fourth Doctor from an emotional standpoint and the Tenth Doctor from a tethnical standpoint that it's altogether too easy for me to just go through newer episodes slowly or to even skip new episodes entirely.  Furthermore, I'm not the biggest fan of the current direcRion of the show, so I just generally didn’t keep particularly good track of current episodes.

However, there was news that couldn't escape even my notice.

A brand-new Doctor has been introduced, and she's not the Fourteenth Doctor.  She apparently exists before the First Doctor.  But that can't be right!

Or can it?

Consider the Morbius Doctors.  Briefly shown in The Brain of Morbius, these apocryphal incarnations existed before the First.

Musical Monday: Breaking Benjamin - Rain

Rain by Breaking Benjamin is a fairly mysterious song at a first listen.  Why is it so sad? What is it about? Listening to the song and paying attention to the lyrics may help:

The opening lyrics might provide a clue as to what the actual meaning of the song is.

"Not a dollar or a crowd could ever keep me here"

These lyrics likely refer to what it's actually like to be a rock star.  It's actually a prison of fame, and you don't get to see your loved ones for long stretches at a time.

Why Do Dogs Sleep So Much?

Really, it depends on the breed, but on average? They do sleep more than humans do,

On average, dogs have been known to sleep 12 to 14 hours a day, though puppies might sleep for up to 19 hours.

Like with humans, older dogs sleep more because life becomes more difficult to live, and puppies sleep so much because like human children, they expend a ton of energy when playing and exploring.

None of this is surprising; statistically, carnivores need to sleep more than omnivores such as humans, because carnivores don't need to spend as much time eating to gain energy from their food.

However, dogs can sleep too much.  If your pooch is sleeping all day, and not just for roughly 14 hours it's possible that your dog has canine depression, and it is advised that you contact your vet.

Seuss Saturday: The Monkey King

In honor of the Chinese New Year!

Born from a rock,
And fertilized by Heaven and Earth
The Monkey King
Knew all of his worth.

Taught magicks by
A Taoist monk, he could change into
Anything, so The Monkey thought
"There's nothing I can't do!"

So he challegged the Heavens,
And declared a great War
To claim all the power
He never had before.

But when he thought
He won his war
But then a Buddha came down
And shook Monkey's core

Kingdom Hearts DLC Thoughts

I haven't played Kingdom Hearts 3, but I can immediately say that it was not perfect.  Its Plot was wholly contrived, everybody was found first and all villains were defeated in the end.  There were no Final Fantasy Characters, Xehanort's new voice had room for improvement, and we got so little SoKai.

However, the DLC fixes all of these problems.

First, it offers data battles against the entire Organization.

Secondly, it uses Final Fantasyear chracters.

Thirdly, we have a new Xehanort's voice.

And fourthly, we have more SoKai!

National Pi Day

In honor of this nobletter holiday, and our favorite Vulcan, Mr. Spock!

The Power of Habits

Habits define our daily lives, but what are they for?

Every day we make seemingly rational choices, but often they're not, they're decisions made from habit.  Habits can even lead us to behave irrationally.

So what do we do?

Why, make new habits of course!

But that's easier said than done, right?

Well, maybe not!

Read this, and this.

Whosday: How Regeneration Works

One of the single greatest mysteries of Doctor Who is the process of regeneration.

generation is most likely a similar process to that of the immortal jellyfish.  It entails a complex RNA process that would usually resultry in age-reversal, but sincertainly it wound entail unlocking umused genes and supplanting used ones, the result would be changes of appearance and personality.

Time Lords are mildly radiotrophic and have limited internal capaciters, preventing the Doctor from switching around his or her own genes to renew more lives, but the Time Lords have since recharged the Doctor,

Musical Monday: Pride (In the Name of Love)

In honor of Martin Luther King, I present to you, this song by U2:

Pride was originally going to be written about America's military power, but after reading the history of MLK, it was changed to the more inspiring song it is today.

The Science of Octopus Intelligence

The octopus is a fascinating animal, and it will be frequently subject to a meriad of scientific discussions.  Before we begin, it must be noted that the exact intelligence of an octopus is sometimes put under mild exaggeration, because the octopus has types of intelligence that are more akin to the types of intelligence humans have, therefore, unlike horses, who have an intelligence around reading the facial expressions and body language of almost any given animal, the octopus has an intelligence that is more readily observable to human beings.

That being said, the octopus is not deferred by containers.  They easily solve problems, unscrewing lids and unlatching cages.

The most curious thing about them is just how much of their nervous systems are distributed into their arms, resulting in their arms almost having brains of their own, to the point in which the arms seek out food on their own.

Seuss Saturday: Frankie the Crank, a Bioshock parody of Yertle the Turtle

In the far away city of Rapture,
Frank the Crank was the king of kill and capture.
It was a nice little town, despite its few people,
Its numerous mutants, and empty steeples,
The freaks had everything freaks might need.
And they were all quite happy, quite happy indeed.

They were...until Frank, the king of them all
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.

The True Meaning of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts is a game series with a reputation for being emotionally riveting, but what is it actually about?

The first Kingdom Hearts is probably just a bit more than a story about light against darkness.  It’s a story about what these things are in the human heart, and what people are already saying about them.

Let’s take time period into context, shall we?

2002, the year of the first Kingdom Hearts’ release date, was in development during 2000 and 2001, which was when a series of socio-political controversies were on the rise, particularly ones related to Japanese nationalism.  As Kingdom Hearts was probably primarily in development around 2000 and 2001, these were probably fresh in Nomura’s mind as he worked on the game.

Around 2000 and 2001, the Tsukuru-kai were on the rise, pushing for textbook reform to include a more nationalistic narrative denying Nanking.

What does this have to do with Kingdom Hearts?

How about “everything”?

Let’s start with the Hearts: In Japanese, “heart” is something that means “inner spirit”, and to have this corrupted would be to live as a monster.  The Heartless are not merely malevolent, but live a zombie-like existence of constant assimilation, similar to the authoritarian ideology of the Tsukuru-kai.  To be Heartless is to be without free will.

Even the name “Ansem” sounds a bit like a Japanese mispronounciation of “anthem”, which neatly fits this story about how authoritarian ideologies are used to push people in dangerous directions.

“Darkness is the heart’s true essence” is Ansem’s argument, and it’s a common argument used by authoritarian philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes to justify totalitarian rule, the argument often being that humanity is so irredeemably evil that it needs a total rule, or that it’s acceptable when a ruler does evil things because that’s just what all people are supposed to be like.

Sora, however, counters this, saying that all hearts have a tiny bit of a light that “never goes out”.  Basically, this is to suggest that Sora believes that it's not pointless to think freely and live independently.

It’s probably no coincidence that it seemingly learns more from Pinocchio than really almost any other Disney movie; the Heartless were people, many of them likely children, turned into abominations by giving into their primal darknesses, just as the Pleasure Island victims were boys turned into donkeys after giving into their ids.  They are thus rendered in a hyperemotional state that makes them far more easy to control from vile forces such as Ansem.  Dr. Jordan Peterson even emphasizes, in his lectures on Pinocchio, that tyrants like to keep people in emotionally juvenile states, because it makes them easier to control, one thinks of the high emphasis on excessively negative emotions in Nazi Germany.

Then, after KH II, the Kingdom Hearts games became everyday psychological thrillers.

Then, after Birth by Sleep, it because “friendship lessons”.

But hey, even these "friendship lessons" became filled with good material!

What Color is the Dress?

Back in  2015, we all asked this question:

"What color is the dress?"

Now, I think I have the answer:

Ugly.  The dress's color is ugly.

Theory on the Land Before Time:

Does anybody remember The Land Before Time? The movie with the anthropomorphic dinosaur hatchlings? One of Steven Speilberg’s efforts to get Don Bluth to make animated movies akin to the Disney movies of the 1940s? The really good animated movie that got a ton of “so-so” sequels (though I really liked the ones with Chomper in them; Chomper adequately challenges the status quo, and he’s just loveable in general)?

As an adult, I probably should have forgotten about it.

But as a student of animation, I can't.

This is a movie, more than almost any other, that is subject to internet theories, a most especially common one being that the earthquake killed them all and they are all in Heaven.

However, this is not the theory I’m going to present.  This one, and so many other “death” theories and “alternate take” theories have been done so many times.  It’s time to do something completely different.

My theory is that Littlefoot, the soft-spoken sauropod main protagonist, is actually adopted.

Yep, I said it.

Hear me out:

In the very beginning, we see a sauropod herd in a swamp.  There is a nest, with a lot of broken eggs; perhaps some hatched, perhaps others were poached (sadly, most look poached).  There is one whole one left, trying to hatch. 

But it’s not safe for him: A nearby ornithomimd (the script labels it Ornithomimus, but the design is the same used for Struthiomimus in later sequels, so I’m just labeling it as an “ornithomimid”) has other plans.  Ornithomimids were believed to be egg-eaters back then, and their diet is something of a mystery, though most of them were probably primarily herbivorous. 

Given that the dinosaurs in this movie have eyelashes, a feature I can assure you that most dinosaurs most probably did not have, and the movie admitted that most of them were starving anyway (herbivores such as deer and horses have been known to make drastic dietary decisions during famines), total accuracy is probably irrelevant here. 

What is relevant is that as soon as the Ornithomimid tries, the sauropod mother shows him how it feels to be a baseball with her neck, but in the process, the Ornithomimid drops the egg over a parasaurolophus skeleton (given that the dinosaurs in this movie are sapient, this is kind of a morbid sight, like seeing a human skeleton), then falls into brambles, plunks into a river, and over a waterfall…how could his biological mother trace this egg after this point?

Nevertheless, he is soon found by a group of sauropods, who claim him as their own, and dub him Littlefoot, likely after his foot bursting out of his egg, leading to a ridiculously adorable and heartwarming scene.  But how on earth did they know where to find him?

…Unless, perhaps, they actually didn’t know where to find him, that the mother we see wasn’t the same mother, and happened upon him by mistake and miracle, subsequently adopting him into their family.  Perhaps they are not related at all outside of being similar Sauropods, and seeing his egg showing up by mistake as a beautiful miracle, they adopt him into the family.

“What about Bron?” some might ask in reference to Littlefoot’s father, who was introduced in one of the later sequels (The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, to be exact; like the Chomper entries, this too adequately challenged the status quo).  They might further ask, “Isn’t Bron all the proof that we need that Littlefoot’s mother is biologically related to him, and the real source of Littlefoot’s name??”

Well, first of all, we’re not actually entirely taking the sequels into account, and secondly, even if we were to take all of the sequels into account, why can’t Littlefoot count his mother’s mate as his father anyway? Again, biological relations don’t dictate familial ones.  The husband of your adopted mother can still be your father.  His mother wasn’t the one who gave birth to him, but rather who raised him; likewise, his father doesn’t need to sire him to be his father, he was with Littlefoot’s mother and was willing to have a familial relationship when Littlefoot approached him.  That’s father enough for me.

If Universal’s staff want a good sequel idea, the story could be about Littlefoot approaching his biological family, finding them again, perhaps even encountering his biological siblings, and realizing that his biological mother was hardly qualified to be a parent, leaving her prior eggs to be devoured by ornithomimds.  This irresponsible, useless mother might even be negligent to Littlefoot’s currently living biological siblings to this day.  Upon realizing this, and realizing what a real family is, he returns to his adopted family, to his grandparents, and to Bron (so a bit like Shazam!, but with animated dinosaurs.  With eyelashes). 

See? Things can go back to exactly being the same as before, and still the formula and status quo are adequately challenged, just like with the few good sequels.  Heck, such a premise would somewhat justify why things keep going back the way they were before: Because changing them isn’t guaranteed to work.

Also, the songs should either not be present (since the first movie didn’t have any, and it was just fine without them) or have less of an “Irish trabadour band” vibe like some of the sequel songs did, and should have more of a “Disney” vibe.  That way, they would be slightly less embarrassing when your dad spontaneously sings them (with changed lyrics) during unusual times.

Trust me on this one.  It’s absolute fact.  It’s happened a lot of times at home.  I’ve heard far more variations of “Friends for Dinner” from my dad than any human being ever needs to be subjected to.  He also says “eggs, dear boy” whenever he makes anything involving eggs.  If you want him to always talk normally, never allow your father near any of The Land Before Time sequels.

Whosday: "Would You Like a Jelly Baby?"

The famous greeting of the Fourth Doctor has a long history of curious origins.  It is best to start with the origin of Jelly Babies themselves.

Jelly Babies were actually not meant to resemble babies, but rather, were meant to be bears, but didn't grow correctly in their molds.

Jelly Babies were initially called Unclaimed Babies when they were first introduced.  This is because during the Victorian era, there were many Unclaimed infants left on church steps, to the point in which unfortunately, nobody thought anything of it, and if anything, found it amusing.

• However, WWI guaranteed a nicer name for them: Victory Babies, before they went back to the name Jelly Babies,

Musical Monday: I'm Not Cool

It's no longer Christmas, so now it's time to talk of something relevant, and what can sadly be more relevant for some people than the fear of missing out, a phenomenon known as FOMO?

We might feel left out, not doing the same things or having the same things as everyone else, as a result of humans being social animals that need a place to fit in, and that can feel very lonely.  However, this can pose problems, because in a modern world with cults and bad fashion trends, these concerns are not always reasonable.  When you are feeling this pathologically, there are steps to help you.

The Science of Snow

Where I live, it's only a matter of time until it's time to snow.

So how does snow form?

Sleet is frozen rain, but snow is made when particles of ice suspended in the atmosphere stick together until theyes gain enough density to fall to the ground.

Few snowflakes are alike, but givenot that they often come in hexagonal shapes due to the nature of water molecules the idea that snowflakes can't occasionally have their duplicates is almost a mathematical impossibility.

Seuss Saturday: Deadpool's Ass-Whoppin' ABC's

Big A
Little a
What begins with a?

Antman's asinine axes

A a A-hole!

Big B
Little b

What begins with B?

Bucky
Barnes'
Balls
And a
Black Widow too!

Big C
Little c
What begins with c?

Cheerfully Chewing Chimichangas
Chomp-chomp-chomp!

Big D,
Little d,
What begins with d?

Daring do of dickweeds,
Dangling dopey douche!

ABCDE...e...e
What begins with E?

Egomaniacl Electro
Shooting electricity

Big F
Little f
F...f...F

Four flying fuckers
On a flying fuck tree!

ABCDEF...G

Gloating
Gable's
Goo-Goo Goggles
G...g...G

Big H
Little h

Hammer's horrid
Hackers
Hideously
Harm
Home computers!
H...h...H!

Big I
Little i
i...i...i

Iron Man is itchy
In his wedgie suit.

So am I.

Big J
Little j
What beings with J?

J.
Jonah
Jameson
is a name that begins that way.

O is very useful
When you use it to say
Oh shit, I just oiled
Somebody's owl
Today.

Zillion Zany Zuckerbergs

Christmas: The Grand Finale

I have tons of favorite Christmas movies and specials: The Muppet Christmas Carol, Die-Hard, The Santa Clause, Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, Elf, Home Alone, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (all versions), A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, the Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (all versions) the Christmas Invasion, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Runaway Bride, and The Unquiet Dead, Voyage of the Damned, and roughly in that order.

But what if elements of many of them were combined?

Frosty the Time Lord heard a prophecy that he would perish and be reborn again, implying regeneration, very soon.  Accepting his impending regeneration, he now simply wants to acquire, and use, a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Air Rifle, before he finally melts and regenerates.

In order to get his Red Ryder Air Rifle, Frosty goes to the Polar Express to go to the North Pole.

However, the Polar Express is taken over by armed terrorists/bank robbers.   The terrorists are led by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Grinch, played by Rowan Atkinson, probably the only non-muppet character in the entire movie not played by Tom Hanks, assisted by fellow terrorists, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (played by Tom Hanks) and Beaker (played by Tom Hanks).   He is also a Time Lord, but his body is decaying.

He has been assigned by the Daleks to go to the North Pole and destroy Christmas and thus make the galaxy easier to purge and fill only with Daleks.  Altogether too happy to oblige, because he was made fun of for his red nose, he has taken over the Polar Express to sneak into the North Pole and steal Santa's gifts before they get delivered.

Frosty hides from the Grinch and wages a guerilla warfare on the train against the Muppet terrorists.

The train then crashes with a screeching halt into its station in the North Pole, but the Grinch makes it out and proceeds with the next phase of his plan.

Luckily, the Elves have prepared accordingly.

As soon as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Grinch lays foot in the workshop, he is subject to a series of hilarious traps that gradually slow his advance until he has no choice left but to give up.

Worn down to his hands and knees, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Grinch is powerless as Santa Claus approaches him...

...And takes pity on him.

Santa offers to make him lead the sleigh, as it's too foggy to navigate the skies, and Santa senses that Rudolph had it rough.

Buddy the Elf fixes the sleigh, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Grinch gets to lead in front, guiding them through the night, to deliver all of the presents in time.

Thus, the plan of the Daleks has failed, and Frosty the Time Lord gets to use his Red Ryder BB-gun...only for it to, in a bitterly ironic twist, ricochet and put his eye out, triggering his regeneration into the Eleventh Frosty...

...Played by Tom Hanks.

Closing Thoughts of the Holidays

This will be one of the last posts about the Christmas season until November this year.

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer began surprisingly enough as a book, written by Robert L. May.  Written in the form of rhyme, much like The Night Before Christmas, the story establishes that Rudolph has a large, red nose that is not merely considered comical, but actually stated in-story to be generally considered unattractive by the standards of the other reindeer (probably their equivalent of having a prominently large aquiline nose), but as we all know, the sky is too foggy, and Santa requests Rudolph's help.  Rudolph obliges, and he saves the day.

Admittedly, as of the 2020s, one's physical appearance is actually of less social significance than it was over 80 years ago.  This can be a difficult fact to face for those of us who lived during the 2000s, when there was literally a show called Extreme Makeover, a show dedicated to plastic surgery (ironically, the spinoff called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has since become more famous), but society has since seen how ludicrous this kind of thing was.  However, that doesn't mean that there aren't any more forms of  superficial judgement.  There are all kinds of people with all kinds of conditions of neurological and physical nature who often get unfairly judged, and yet, like Rudolph, many of them have things to offer that go unappreciated until dire need.

The lesson from this is that we have something going to offer to everybody.  You might have something that makes you different.   Don't be discouraged.  You have worth of your own!

What makes Christmas one of my favorite Holidays is that it has something to offer for everybody, just as well all have something to offer for everybody else as well.

Christmas Around the World: Christmas in Russia

In America, you stop Christmas by the Epiphany if you're a die-hard, and by New Year's if you're a wuss...

...But in Glorious Mother Russia, Christmas stops YOU!

The Russians celebrate Christmas around January 7, after a 40-day long period of Advent beforehand, one of the longer Christmas celebrations in the world.

Given that it closes such a long holiday period for them, it is wholly surprising that the Holiday is so unimportant to them.  For them, the truly big holidays are actually both New Year's Day and the Epiphany.

Christmas actually used to be a much larger holiday in Russia, but after the Boshevik Revolution, Christmas was effectively banned in the country.  It was celebrated in secret, and so now that it's celebrated openly, it's now celebrated more quietly because the Russians are still not accustomed to a lot of attention to Christmas.

Still, they left their mark on the Holidays in a particularly potent form: The Nutcracker.

Whosday: How to Watch Classic Doctor Who

As time progresses, watching Classic Doctor Who probably gets progressively more complicated for most Whovians.  Not only are the various tones, story tropes, and subject materials all wildly different from the Revived Series, especially the Moffat era, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to find decent prices for Classic Who stories.

Fortunately, there is a way to get them, and there is also a method to watching them properly.

First of all, one can watch them all on Amazon, as long as one applies for Britbox.  While Britbox sadly costs $8.99 a month, the fact it gives you access to a myriad of Doctor Who stories in the process, on top of other good shows like Blackadder, ensures that it is your money's worth.

Secondly, now that you have access to tons of BBC shows, you should think about where to start.  If you are used to the Moffat era in particular, you're probably going to find watching the show from the beginning a rather strenuous task.  Therefore, the solution is to perhaps watch from the beginning of the Fourth Doctor's run.  After all, for most of us, that is the main point of watching Classic Who, right?

His first serial is Robot, but I have to warn you, that even this serial will feel more like something from the Russel T. Davies era than anything from the Moffat era and the Chibnall era, which might be uncomfortable if you're an RTD-hater.  Fortunately, I wasn't when I got into the show, so I rather liked Robot.  The best part is, Robot is not even the best Fourth Doctor story by a longshot, so you only have things to look forward to.

Now that you know where to start, you have to understand something: Unlike the Revived Series, Classic Who seldom ever follows the 45-minute format.  Rather, they are serials often 4 to 6 episodes long.  Some stories are hard to sit through in one go.

So what do you do?

Not only is each episode filled with tons of information, but each episode also ends on a cliffhanger.   You ideally should probably watch them by two to four episodes every day until you have finished the story.  Let the cliffhanger "hang" in your mind until you watch the next episode.  It's actually far easier to keep track of all of the information established in the episodes that way.

A final warning is that during the 1970s, Doctor Who was not designed to catch the viewer's attention by means of raw emotional weight like the 1960s episodes or the Revived Series, but rather, through the plots and the ideas they convey.

Enjoy!

Note: Despite being completed and apparently published by the 7th, an issue involving multiple open tabs has caused Blogger to register this post as only being completed by Wednesday.  I'm sorry for the confusion.

Musical Monday: Epiphany Special

Today is the Epiphany, the final day of most traditional Christmas seasons across the West (people from countries like Mexico would recognize this day as Three Kings' Day), and the day dedicated to the Magi, so this is today's post:

By acknowleding the Magi, the Epiphany is the day that acknowledges the Deity in Christ and his status as Head of the Church, all churches, for the Magi were most likely Persian Kingmakers, and through their gifts, treated him as a King in the making.  The Frankincense and Mryhh were also used for preserving the deceased and covering their scent, gifts that were likely used for the death of Christ.

As for the song itself, it is, as Christmas carols go, particularly easy to trace, because both the melody and lyrics were written by an American Episcopalian Priest, John Henry Hopkins, of Pennsylvania, in 1857.  Note that he says "kings" rather than the more broadly religious and broadly political roles that the actual Persian Magi probably had, greatly dating this as a song written before the 20th century.

Regardless, it still captures their determination to go through a grueling journey in order to meet our Lord and Savior, with only a star as their guide...

Parrots, and the Science of their Copying

For National Bird Day, this will be the post!

One has to wonder, why do parrots copy the sounds other animals make?

As it turns out, it is likely a result of being wired to be taught how to "speak" by parrot parents, and not having their vocalizations instinctively wired like many other birds do.  Indeed, a comparison of "parroting" can be made to human speech.  Parrots are not the only birds that do this, as I once whistled the Cantina theme from Star Wars and got multiple wild Mockingbirds to join in the chorus.

What gets parrots to do this is that like Mockingbirds but unlike many birds, the region that controls speech is generally the same one that controls motor movements.  Thus, for them, vocalizations are a very deliberate action, just like with humans, but this also means that baby parrots have to learn how to talk, just like humans do.

As for why they specifically choose to imitate us, try to imagine yourself as a creature surrounded by parrots.  Wouldn't you eventually be going "BAWAWWK!!"? You would do as they do, but parrots are as prone to copying as humans are because their brains make this a necessacity.

Parrots are worth studying for this, because this teaches us about our own complex social communication, and could provide answers to how our brains work.

Seuss Saturday: Chop up Pop, a Seussian Take on Greek Mythology

I have to warn you that this has violent content, due to the particularly violent nature of Greek Mythology.

On the birth of Zeus' siblings:

BONUS CRONUS

Zeus gives Cronus,
A potion bonus!

BUCKS UPCHUCK

Cronus upchucks
All his young bucks!

On Atlas:

SKY GUY

Guy on Sky

GUY SKY

Sky on Guy!


On Giants and Satyrs

ALL TALL

We all are tall!

ALL SMALL

We all are small!

ALL BALL

We all play ball!

BALL WALL

Up on the wall.

ALL FALL

Fall off the wall.


Hector and Achilles

DAY PLAY
We play all day!

NIGHT FIGHT
We fight all night!

Daphne

SEE BEE
We see a bee!

SEE THREE BEE
Now we see three!

DAPHE TREE
Daphne in a tree.
Daphne in a tree? How can that be?


The Twelve Labors of Hercules: The Nemian Lion

HE ME
He is after me!

JERK HERC
Herc's after the jerk!


Cronus and Uranus


CHOP POP
We like to chop!
We like to chop!
Up our dear pop!
STOP!
You must not chop up pop!

Christmas Around the World: Christmas (and New Year) in Japan

In Japan, Christmas is a legal Holiday, not a national Holiday, and it is not treated as such, other than that many schools will be closed that day.  In Japan, the actual big national Holiday in Japan is none other than New Year's Day.  The New Year is so big in Japan, that the celebration of it will continue well into January.

Also, while Christmas is associated with pretty much everybody in the United States, Christmas has only two associations in Japan: Children and couples.

The emphasis on couples is particularly strange to Americans, and the Japanese dating habits are even stranger: A highly successful KFC promotion in the 1970s has made it a mainstay in Japanese Christmas dinner, and because KFCs aren't always much bigger in Japan than they are here, they can get really crowded really quickly.  Thus, couples will book out KFCs long before it's time for the Holidays.

As for the children, because it's just a legal Holiday and not a national Holiday, what happens is that children just go to the houses of other children for little parties, with strawberry flavored Christmas Cakes, often decorated with plastic Santas, though also sometimes associated with the Holiday is Hoteisho, a Buddha associated with generosity.

The music most associated with Japanese Christmas is Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which was allegedly first sung in Japan by Germany prisoners during WWI:

However, for good measure, I'm going to share a song by Utada Hikaru, who performed a favorite song of mine, Hikari.  Now you get to hear her sing "Can't Wait 'Till Christmas":

It is often treated as a kind of prelude to the New Year, which is more like a Western Christmas in Japan, as this is the day when families get together and send out special greeting cards.

For the New Year, Japanese have a selection of various dishes combined together, the combination called "osechi-ryori", or "osechi" for short.  It consists of things like daidai, bitter oranges that symbolize wishes for children in the New Year, Datemaki, sweet omlettes which symbolize a wish for auspicious days, Kamaboko, a fried fish cake that symbolizes the rising sun, and Kanzunoko, a herring roe that symbolizes a wish for many children for the New Year.  Mochi is also a popular snack for the Japanese New Year.

Around December 31, the Buddhist temples will ring their bells around 108 times, to represent the 108 human sins of this Earth, in a kind of cleansing ritual.

There is no time busier for a postman in Japan than the transition from December to January, because this is when the postcards are sent to everybody, just like Christmas season in the United States.  Some of the things mailed include money, because of a custom called Otoshidama.

Now you know how to celebrate Christmas like the Japanise do!

The Rules to Be the Best You

Most New Year's Resolutions these days are about physical health, or the occasional personal improvement of character.

But remarkably few are about taking better care of other people, and making them feel better.

However, how can we do better with others without looking into ourselves first, and learning from our mistakes?

Exactly.  We can't.

Therefore, the best we can do is self-reflect, see where we went wrong, accept responsibility instead of blame others, accept our shortcomings, and try to overcome these shortcomings.

Therefore, for myself, I have this list of 42 (because that's the number of life, the universe, and everything) rules of self-improvement, many of them derived from mistakes I made, and have to learn from.

Rules on how to be the best Grant possible:

1. If God tells you to do something, you should do it, and don’t doubt him.
2. Everything you do should be respectful to those who are present
3. No raging at others.
4. Don’t put your hands inside your pants’ crotch.  That’s just gross (I never do this, but still, good rule)
5. No showing up late.
6. Don’t show anything that might frighten others until they know your sick sense of humor better.
7. No emotionally manipulative melodrama (not that this is my default, but it's a good rule).
8. Don’t hum in the presence of others, that’s just annoying.
9. If I'm nothing without a crush, you shouldn't have one (Luckily, I'm getting my shit together!)
10. Do your best to cover when coughing, sneezing, or yawning.
11. If you’re addicted to something, get rid of it.
12. Don’t sit when others stand.
13. Keep smiling!
14. Don’t change your clothes in the presence of others.
15. Be willing to do things you don’t want to do.
16. Do your best to not speak louder than is usual.
17. Listen to others.
18. Don’t do anything with food that others won't like.
19. Pay compliments to others.
20. When sitting down, keep your feet firm and even.
21. Take the feelings of others into account
22. Don’t do any of that over shifting or hand gnawing in the presence of others.
23. Be bold, ignore or face your fears.
24. Don’t roll the eyes or any of that rude shit.
25. It doesn’t always hurt to validate the weird shit of other people.
26. Don’t kill bugs in the sight of others. A lot of bugs are better than some people anyway.
27. It never hurts to put aside some pride.
28. Face others when speaking to them.
29. Helping others is the best!
30. Always clip your nails.
31. It’s okay to fucking swear like a shithead, it humanizes you to your fellow motherfuckers.
32. Don’t puff your cheeks in frustration.
33. Always be pleasant, even when annoyed.
34. Compliments are nice, but don’t overpitch the flattery.
35. Watch your tone!
36. Don’t read in the presence of others when speaking to you.
37. Don’t overstay your welcome.
38. While being pleasant is generally nice, you should be grave when it’s more serious.
39. Speaking of which, when others cry, you don’t have to smile to be encouraging.
40. Any gestures of the body should be aimed at who you’re speaking to.
41. You should often try to make others laugh!
42. Don’t reproach others for their natural infirmities (not that I do, but it’s nice to put in)

This is my list of personal rules, and it's still growing! So what rules would you like to live by for this new year? Let me know in the comments below!