BloOoOgs bloOoOOogs they're better than bad, they're good!
Hello again y'all! Once more I am coming at you live from my place of employment because I like to be a rebel (and also because it's dead at the moment and I have nothing better to do). Anyhoo! Earlier this week I had been working on an assignment for one of my English classes, and in the process discovered and re-discovered a number of really fun Newspaper comics. Why am I spending time discussing a dying medium that is mostly enjoyed by geriatric comfort readers who enjoy the shambling zombies of ancient comic strips? because it's my blog, deal with it! some of the earliest memories I have of reading are of me devouring Calvin and Hobbes or Far Side collections. That, and it will allow me to experiment with fancy HTML features like embedded images!
Now that I have succesfully demonstrated the incredible powers of my basic shakey understanding of HTML, I can actually get more into the subject itself. Despite the rather... rough state of the medium in the modern day, it used to be a vibrant art form with a variety of wonderful and highly influential works. I am quite fond of some of the later works in the medium, particularly the previously mentioned (and shown!) Calvin and Hobbes and the Far Side- but in the course of my studies I have become enamoured with older works. Things like Frank King's Gasoline Alley, that experimented with long-form storytelling with a shifting status quo (something that hasn't often been replicated in that medium) as well as gorgeous full-page artwork, or even older works like Little Nemo by Winsor McCay or the hillariously titled Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Walt McDougall have an absolutely captivating aura to them.
On the opposite end of the timeline, we have the current state of the medium which on first glance appears to be essentially dead. Most comics are re-prints and new strips are very uncommon. The situation is admittedly quite bleak, with ever-decreasing readership, mostly because newspapers don't take the risk with new creators out of a fear of alienating the few elderly folks who still read the paper. It's a bit of a self-enforcing doom spiral. However, I would argue that the medium itself has evolved rather than died. Sure, the situation for comics that appear in print newspapers is bleak, but many would-be cartoonists have instead pivoted to webcomics which are far more vibrant and exciting. Many of the earliest webcomics were digitized comics from University newspapers (Where the Buffalo Roam by Hans Bjordahl being a prominent example), so the shared DNA is very visible. Especially since lots of popular (particularly older) webcomics have the same "gag-a-day" format.
Moving on, another area of recent interest for me has been TTRPGs, particularly those not made by Wizards of the Coast, and especially those that are very strange or unconventional. I had dabbled in some of these before, playing Powered by the Apocalpyse games such as Monster of the Week, Masks, and Apocalypse World (I have discovered that I am not the biggest fan of these for reasons that I may elaborate on in later posts), as well as Dread (a horror game that uses a jenga tower instead of dice that I am quite fond of), but beyond those my experience was quite limited. This all changed when one of my lovely friends re-introduced me to White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness series of games through a Werwolf: The Apocalypse campaign.
I had been vaguely familiar with the setting, as I had briefly attempted (and failed) to get into Vampire: the Masquerade as a youngin' after having seen folks talk about the old CRPG adaptation, Bloodlines on YouTube but this campaign revived my interest. Like some protagonist in an H.P. Lovecraft story studying an eldritch text that they likely oughtn't, I found myself obsessively reading every scrap I could find on the subject. I should note that this wasn't just reserved for the good games that everyone likes like Werewolf: the Apocalypse or Vampire: the Masquerade, I was reading the more obscure books like Changeling: the Dreaming, Demon: the Fallen, Mummy: the Resurrection, and most importantly for this writing's purposes: Wraith: the Oblivion.
See, something was different about Wraith- something was special. It wasn't the edginess, as all of the games in the series prominently feature their fair share of edge (it comes with the territory of being 1990s RPGs about playing horror monsters), it was something far more interesting than that. You see, Wraith: the Oblivion is sad. Intentionally so- which is something I have never seen before in an RPG (Changeling has some sad aspects as it is about the death of childhood dreams and creativity, but this is on a different level). Unlike the other games where you play cool spooky characters with fun superpowers, in Wraith you play ghosts meandering around the land of the dead trying to move on and avoid getting forged into a tool, weapon, or piece of machinery (which is as insane as it sounds) by a despotic regime. To make matters worse players are also saddled with something called a "shadow," which is the manifestation of their character's worst impulses and darkest desires. Their shadow is portrayed by a different player at the table and will do everything in its power to encourage the players to give in to those impulses. Admittedly, this system while very cool, has many opportunities to backfire if anyone at the table has even an ounce of "that guy™" in them, but if you have the right table, it sounds incredibly cool.
The shadow system is unfortunately emblematic of a lot of Wraith's problems, as it seems to be a game that is super cool and unique, but unless you have a very specific group of players it is downright unplayable. I myself have not played it, and I have yet to meet anyone who has (part of this may have to do with the fact that it is a game from the nineties and I am a wee baby Gen Z, but my point stands). I can only hope that one day I manage to find a group that wants to play it, as despite how depressing it is, it also seems to have the capacity for incredibly emotionally resonant storytelling (like literally conquering your demons, growing as a person, and refusing to give in to the gloom, not to mention how powerful moving on can be as a narrative device).
While it, and the other World of Darkness games, are what have consumed most of my attention, Wraith is not the only game that has caught my interest as of late, as I have been on a bit of a research hole. I have been particularly fond of the extremely weird, niche games found on the depths of itch.io such as the absolutely hillarious Jonathan Frakes Wants Your Attention, And You Must Not Give It To Him by Jeff Stormer or the bizarre adaptation of internet urban legend Saki Sonabashi. Many of these games are not particularly functional, but they often have a surreal abusrdism and raw (frankly traditionally unpublishible) artistic creativity that makes them fascinating. These kinds of games are almost a form of outsider art, and some of them are incredibly personal such as My Brain is a Stick of Butter by Adam Bell, which is about struggling with ADHD (something I myself am intimately familiar with).
All of these games are quite inspiring, perhaps if I ever have the time I'll make my own...
Hello once again! Despite the bitter cold and last week's ice, I have yet to perish! As such, I have returned to ramble more about stuff and things. Unfortunately I underestimated the amount of effort setting up various parts of this website would take, so that is still incomplete for now. That being said, I have been soldiering away at it in my brief windows of free time in-between readings for my classes. I won't be foolish enough to give an estimation for when the other parts are done so I'll go with the age old method and say soon™. Likewise with various writings, which have funnily enough been delayed to make way for other, more academic writings. I am quite excited about them though, and if I can get permission from my professors (don't want to be accused of academic dishonesty or self-plagiarism) I will probably post them here.
Moving on from the more granular update stuff, I have recently become absolutely fascinated by the subject of children's horror games. That is to say, video games that while being horror, are targeted towards a younger audience or at the very least are tame enough that they can be enjoyed by younger people. This genre used to be quite uncommon, but due to the rise of games like Five Nights at Freddy's, Baldi's Basics, Poppy Playtime, and other "mascot horror" (which is itself a wild rabbit hole), the genre has been dragged from obscurity into the mainstream.
The first time I came across something in the genre was when I watched Markiplier's 2014 playthrough of Among the Sleep, which for the sake of my own sanity, I will be choosing to ignore is now nearly twelve years old. I was eleven years old at the time, and was not the biggest fan of horror, but something about curling up under my blankets with my iPod touch far past my bedtime (sorry, Mom and Dad) and watching Mark's humorous and exaggerated reactions to the the dangerous colorful and dreamy toybox-like world of the game was captivating. Thinking back on it, I assume that my interest in the horror genre was sparked by this game (as well as the darker parts of Invader Zim and Tim Burton's works). It was able to provide a safe and tame way for me to engage with a genre that I had previously shied away from, being a sort of "baby's first horror" if you will, and for this, I am eternally grateful as horror is one of my most favored mediums to engage with creatively.
As I had previously mentioned, this genre while once niche (in gaming, at least- it was far more common in books, tv and film) has since become mainstream. All one has to do is look at any children's or toy sections of pretty much any store to find FNaF merch, and other games (particularly Poppy Playtime) have reached similar heights. While part of me is thrilled that such a previously niche genre has finally recieved its flowers, I am also lightly miffed with the quality of some of these games, particularly in the narrative department. Some are better than others, but buy-and-large most of these games can only be described as "slop" (a term I generally dislike, but I feel like it's apt in this scenario). They are often poorly constructed, focusing almost entirely on clickbait-y jumpscares, while having poor gameplay and often downright infantile writing.
This may seem counter-intuitive, as these are works designed for children, but I feel that we ought to have more respect for them. Kids may not know as much as adults, but they aren't stupid, and if everything we make for them is low quality slop, we will be doing them a disservice. Children deserve high quality content, especially in the horror genre, as it is a safe space for them to explore the darker side of the world. Video games are wonderful for this exploration, as they put children in the shoes of the characters in dangerous/dark situations, and beyond that, horror can be an absolutely wonderful vehicle for metaphor and symbolism. The previously mentioned Among the Sleep is a fantastic example of one such game, as it explores themes that are dark, but familiar/understandable to younger audiences through the lense of childhood abstraction. The twisted wonderland of the game's world is highly symbolic, with everything from the anthropomorphic talking teddy bear that accompanies you, to the aesthetics and puzzles often having a secondary meaning. Contrast this with Baldi's Basics, a game that seems to not have much of a narrative and instead rely on provoking overly-jumpy YouTubers and easily frightened children. One could argue that perhaps it is some form of commentary on the spotty American public education system, but not much effort is made to create anything particularly engaging.
I suppose this can all be explained by the simple fact that where there is money, there will be low-effort slop chasing that success, but I implore game devs to put more effort into these things.
In entirely unrelated news, I have begun the process of setting up this year's garden! I am often late to start and I wanted to avoid that this year, so I have begun starting the plants indoors that need to be started, particularly the onions, herbs like parsely and thyme, and the peppers (this year I'm going with Bell Peppers and Jalapeño). Next week I hope to start the tomatoes, lettuce, and possibly Maypops (although that plant supposedly spreads at an insane rate and has been known to burrow under concrete so if I grow that fruit, it will be strictly in containers).
The Current Garden Plan:
I am very excited, as gardening is one of my favorite pasttimes. Something about being out there in the sun, putting effort into growing my own food is highly appealing to me. The whole process scratches my brain in the best of ways, because it is a process that results in you being able to literally eat the fruits of your labor, not to mention I quite like the smell of soil. My only problem with the whole experience is that I often get too excited and go overboard (case in point: I currently have run out of window sill space for my starter plants and am considering converting a closet into a grow room with my UV grow lamp). Regardless, the whole shebang is incredibly rewarding and I will probably update y'all fairly frequently on the subject.
While logging in the other day I noticed that this website officially has two, that's right two followers! A fact that I find unreasonably exciting. To the two of you that are choosing to read my semi-coherent ramblings on this poorly programmed website, I am immensely grateful. Y'all have given me more motivation to continue to write and to learn CSS and HTML.
Hello again, y'all! Guess I have enough motivation to keep up with this blog thing after all! Well, that and I am currently sitting at my place of employment twiddling my thumbs because the poor weather conditions have deterred most of our would-be patrons from scheduling for today. This isn't exactly suprising, after all, most institutions in town have closed for the day. Keyword being most. For reasons I can't begin to fathom, the only, and I mean only university in town that remains open happens to be the one I attend and find myself employed by. As I implied earlier, this morning the roads were not really in a state to support this. Most of the side-roads (including the street I live on) and roads outside of town were still in a rough condition. Understandably, the reaction from the student body was... negative. Hillariously, even the university newspaper featured an opinion article bashing the decision.
It isn't all bad, the relatively quiet campus is nice and missing today's shift would have been rough on my coffers. Not to mention, I have the time to sit down and procrastinate write for this here blog!
Moving on from whinging about personal inconveniences, I have also been recently attempting to scale the increasingly mountainous pile that is my backlog. As any astute reader could guess from both the title of this very website, as well as my general disposition (that being an ADHD-riddled mess) this will be no easy task. It is, however, a task that I am determined to complete.
Perhaps writing about my attempts will help me better organize my efforts. Maybe I'll make it an ongoing segment of these blog posts... Regardless, there have been a few new entries to my backlog courtesy of my professors:
Oh the joys of studying English and Anthropology simultaneously. Lots and lots of reading, which can be a little overwhelming if you're a slow reader such as myself. Luckily, I am somewhat spared from the onslaught by the fact that many of these are for children (I am taking a class about writing for children and young adults) and as a result will be a breeze to read, and I have read a few of these before, particularly Maus, Nimona, Barefoot Gen, and Howl's Moving Castle so those will be more review than anything else. I am also excited to finally patch some holes in my cultural knowledge, as despite being a member of Generation Z, I have somehow managed to avoid reading The Hunger Games. This will sadly put some of my currently in-progress readings on hold (sorry Miss Peregrine and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell among many others), but needs must when attempting to preserve one's adequate GPA. It will also likely put my gaming backlog on hold, alas. Thankfully Sandfall Interactive was so kind as to include a built-in "what was I doing again?" button so I shan't be too lost when I finally have enough time to return to Expedition 33.
On top of trying to wrangle my backlog, I have also been slowly chipping away at different parts of this site, I expect by the end of the week or early next I should have a semi-functional "favorites" page which will be pretty much what it says on the tin, a place for me to document my favorite books, shows, movies, games, etc. I will also hopefully have some of my writing ready for the writing page.
That's all for today, catch you again soon!
Hello? Is this thing on? Oh good, it looks like things are functioning and I haven't yet completely broken things with my extremely limited knowledge of HTML and my complete lack of anything resembling competence with CSS.
Anyway, I suppose I ought to start with some sort of introduction. Hello! My name is Jacob and as this rather uncreatively titled page suggests, this is my blog! This, alongside the website in general, is a bit of a personal project of mine. The state of social media and the internet at-large has been downright dreadful. Things like the sea of AI slop proliferating in recent years and algorithims that discourage thoughtful discussion and encourage rage-bait have ruined the experience. I am hoping that this website can be my little way of rebelling against the current state of online spaces. A small slice of the internet that I can call my own and use to document my life free from the corporate web.
As I've already stated, my name is Jacob. I am an anthropology student in my seventh year of undergrad, a feat possible due to academic shenanigans and chronic lack of decisiveness (you know how it is). Apart from anthropology, I am also studying English. Speaking of which, one of the goals of this website is to have a single place to document all of my writing so expect some of that down the line as well. I will also likely rant about my interests, as one does on a blog, so if you're interested in literature, horror, gardening, cooking, science fiction, fantasy, folklore, and much more™ you're in luck!
So yeah, that's about it for this first post. If I don't manage to spectacularly break anything with my terrible programming, I will see y'all in the next post!