Put Me Out

New song from The Used.

I think it's badass.

...

That is all.

The Prestige: Book Review

So, last marking period in my school I took a creative writing course with my current English teacher. I really liked the class, as it mostly consisted of watching movies and writing with those movies structures and themes. One movie stood out in particular to me and that was The Prestige. It was an incredible movie that made me wish I could have seventh period a few times in a row so I could watch the whole thing. At that point I figured out that there was a book that the movie was loosely based off of, and after a friend of mine had bought and read it, it was my turn to give it a read. (It just so happens that this assigned book review is part of a grade and I read the right book!)

To start off, the book is told from multiple perspective throughout. The first section explained a man named Andrew Wesley, who was investigating a news story and came across a young lady named Kate Angier. She asks him to stay, as she believes he is actually Nicholas Borden, who was believed to die when they were both young. She invites him to read the stories of their ancestors, Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden. And so they do, and the book really gets going with the tale of Alfred Borden. I think this was probably my second favorite part of this book, simply because I loved the way that Borden's character wrote. (It was recorded as a diary/journal/yaddayadda) Here was explained the feud that the book is all tied around. At a seance that Angier was doing, Borden attempts to expose him and starts this crazy fight that lasts both of their lives. This creates a crazy chain of events leading to a wild and fantastical story, which also includes revelations of Nicholas Borden's story, as well as Angier's side of the feud. Each of these perspectives unravel an absolutely insane plot that will always have you wanting more.

(Summary is kept brief! As I would not like to spoil this incredible work to those who have not read it.)

Overall I loved the book. It was honestly the best read I've had in a long time. I think it was the way it was told that really caught my attention. Borden's perspective was so interesting and it really caught your attention. You could really get a feel for the character, as if he really existed! Which I think in the end is what all writers want to entice the reader into thinking. Although I found the beginning parts of Andrew's story to be a bit dry, his parts of the story became equally as interesting. The funny part was, Christopher Priest(The author, oh yeah, did I forget to mention that?), was so good at making each character have their own personality. I felt like I was really reading Angier's side of the feud through his journals and not just a stupid interpretation, a ditto Borden's. Also, I found Angier's part of the story to be the most interesting by far. The parts of the book were recorded as journal entries and always had you wanting to turn the page to see what happened next. I give the book a 9/10. Simply because of my slight disinterest in Andrew's introduction. Though, I guess I can't really expect a book to grab me at the first paragraph.

Also. Go see the movie. A lot different, but it's so good it may influence you to read the book.

Tuesday

So, I woke up today thinking it was Wednesday and was unhappily surprised at the fact that it was Tuesday. It's hot. Like, I don't like when it's over 65 degrees, and although it may not be quite that, it is muggy as fuck. I hate when I have to sit in school and sweat all day. So over the weekend was Saint Patrick's day, which me and my friends appropriately named it Saint Rachet's day. If you don't know why you can look it up on urban dictionary or something. Perhaps we're just so hip that we're the only ones who say it. Needless to say, it was a good time. The purpose of today's blog is to simply ease back into the whole blogging business after the weekend of forgetting about it. So, sorry this isn't anything interesting. First period, can't exactly expect much to come from my brain here.

The title

So, as it would seem, 7th period has become the time for me to throw an entry down for this blog. I've considered pre-recording vlogs for days where I don't want to write. I do plan to write on this daily, or at least on weekdays. Once if not twice a day. Today, I will explain why this blog came into existence and what the subjects are I write about.

Why: Well the main reason why is that it is a grade for my English class. Then again, why the hell would I write for only the class? Well, I wouldn't, but I like writing and I like expressing my views and what better way to do it than a site that only my classmates can see and not the enormous amounts of people on facebook who would disagree with me, bitch, piss, and moan. So there, is my reason for keeping an active blog.


What:

Okay so clearly you can read at the top "Games, Metal, and shit I talk about." Or however I punctuated that. Here's what that means.

Games: I'll be honest, I play a fuckton(for lack of a better term) of videogames and I often want to express how I feel about certain games, publishers, mechanics yadda yadda. Here it seems pretty open, and some of the people that play the games with me can see what I have been writing. Plus, I can rag on games that other gamers would drag me down to a ditch and beat my ass for.

Metal: Like I said in my previous post, my main music genre that I listen to/play is Metal. Be it metalcore, metal, death metal, it doesn't matter. I listen to it all and more. Here, i'm going to be sharing my thoughts on new metal albums and bands, updating you guys on my band personally, and so forth.

Shit I talk about: This is just generalizing any other posts I make on here. Because lets face it, although the two fields above are popular in my life, there are other things that go on in the world and i'd like to address my opinions on those as well. These will consist of either my life's events, politcal/media events, or even random shit I've observed in my day. (My English assignments will be classified under this category as well.)

And that's about it for this period's entry, here's a spinny thing to stare at.

Netherwind

So I'm sitting here in my 7th period study hall. Nothing to do, and no one to talk to besides the white box I can put words into. I think there's a class in here. Way more people than usual. The system here is so screwed up with how they go about their passes to the library. Regardless, anything is better than Drake's room. At least here I can go on a computer and do this.

So, it's time I explain the picture at the top of this blog. That is a picture of me and my band, Netherwind. I think it was about...tenth grade that a friend asked me if I wanted to be in his metal band with another one of my friends. I of course accepted and started playing guitar for it. Now here's the fun part, I suck at guitar, and  quite frankly we were all pretty bad at the time. But I can't explain how cool it was to say that I was in a band! A metal band! By the end of middleschool all I could listen to was metal. So the first arrangement, and I say arrangement because the band never happened, was Her Void. A fictional post-hardcore project me and two other friends had made with the discovery of our instruments. At the time I was with Aaron, my best friend and the guitarist of my current band, and Dan who later became the vocalist of my next endeavor. That, was of course, Aggro. A shoddy line-up of mulitple people that had either been in the fictional band or helped bring us together. Just with our luck, The Invasion was created the year we started. It was a school fundraiser to show off your band and help the school rake in a little cash. I'll explain a bit further on, but I will say that not once have we successfully (In any line-up) played The Invasion. We worked with a temporary drummer until the show, which I will post the video below. It was in every essence, a bombshell. But everyone in the crowd who liked us loved it, because I guess they couldn't understand a damn thing that was happening. Shortly after that, we lost our drummer and picked up a new one. Unfortunately as well, we lost our lead vocalist and I was bumped up to the lead. I had a lot of fun too. Although I was hardly any good at it and would often get extreme headaches from doing the screamed vocals improperly. A few month before the second Invasion, our drummer had a bit of a fallout with the rest of us and he left. We were luckily able to adopt a new one, Alex who is now the drummer of a pretty successful local band named Jonestown. It was then I made the suggestion that my friend Daulton be bumped to lead vocals and I go to bass guitar(which we had been lacking throughout our time together) However, due to various circumstances, the rhythm guitarist Kyle was put on lead and we were a four man act. After the drastic line-up change we had become, Look At You.

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy my time in Look At You. Because I learned a lot from it. But damn was it high-tension for the bandmates. Practice time and transportation was always a problem, we weren't very efficient with our writing regiment, amongst other things. But for a time, it was the most fun shit I had. We had a decent setlist, a few original songs, and The Invasion was right around the corner. The Invasion was less of a bombshell than the last, but a bombshell nonetheless. Which again is due to various reasons I'd rather not discuss. Then came our first real show at the local Youth center. And lemme tell you what, nothing felt cooler than being on that stage with the crowd in front of me jumping up and down. I had fun playing the bass, and doing back-up screaming. Everyone who went was proud, everyone who went thought we were cool (or at least it seemed it.) For a time I was on top of the world, happy that we had this going for us. Then prom came around. Which may I add, was the absolute WORST time of my life. Although I did get 300 dollars at the after-prom party haha, score. So we had a show the same day. And due to more of these unfortunate circumstances that kept happening for me, I couldn't go. Our vocalist was furious, and if I didn't already have a good bit of money spent on prom I wouldn't have gone. The other two were understanding, but that's where the wall between all of us started. Alex and Kyle didn't get along and for reasons I won't discuss nor go into high detail about, eventually that led to Alex leaving. With him gone, Look At You slowly died, even though some new drummer prospects came along, our guitarist was already long gone, and it was over.

I would post a video of one of Look At You's shows, but unfortunately they all have been taken off the web and erased from existence shortly after Netherwind was created.

And so I went along with my life, bummed, remembering the cool times of the band. Wishing things would've gone a little better. Especially after I saw Alex's new band and the headway they were making around our town. (We didn't get along for a long time after L@Y's breakup) It wasn't until one day, Aaron had talked to me about a band idea. I thought it was highly far-fetched, but he asked me to be the vocalist. Me, missing the role I once had, was more than happy to take the offer. We started out with several original songs, just me him and our drummer, Dale. And eventually got our second guitarist and bassist.

Our first show was a little rough, to say the least. But overall everyone who went had a great time. I mean even with all the mistakes, it was just fun. Definitely cool to be on the same stage Look At You had once played on again.

 We started making, no, cranking out originals one by one. It was incredible! Everyone was so much more fit to be in a metal band. I can honestly say i'm more proud of my band today than any other accomplishment I may have made haha. Today, we are rather successful, making new songs, finding sources to record an EP. And often have shows locally (If you're reading this you should attend one, they're a great time!) We've even played with Jonestown and me and Alex talk frequently about the bands. Regardless. My time in bands have helped me become better as a vocalist and guitarist as well as increased my understanding of music. I'm all too grateful for that.

My morning

Oh, a Dream

So it's nearing 11:30 on this fine Tuesday night. I'm on Skype talking to a few friends. The window across the room is open and my arms are freezing, for whatever reason I lack the motivation to go over there and close it. I mean it's half way closed already. Maybe if I leave it the wind can do the rest. Just watched Chaos Theory with Ryan Reynolds. It was okay. Pretty much like any comedy/drama type deal you'd see nowadays. Pretty quiet day at school, mad boring with my first two classes being garbage and I can't even look forward to my English class with my teacher sick as a dog. So i'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. Even though I have study hall first and it'll be easy to get second period's homework done.

Picture unrelated.

I'm not exactly looking forward to sleeping either. Last night I had a nightmare, and I honestly couldn't tell you what it was about in the slightest (Which is strange because I usually remember) but it sucked hardcore. The kind of morning where you wake up and your eyes feel like someone put gorilla glue on eyelids, lights are hotter than the sun, and standing is as if your a few drinks in. Not exactly looking forward to that again, but I may be surprised by a good nights sleep, which would be nice for once. Considering sleep usually doesn't happen till the early morning. I remember this one time, I had a nightmare. It was some freaky shit, like one of those things where you have to feel yourself to make sure you're all still there. I'm not a frequent nightmare kinda guy either, like I have them once and a blue moon and they're always gruesome and horrible. Anyway, it started out with me floating, and I use that term loosely. It felt like all I could do was see. I didn't have a body. I didn't have eyes. Just vision. Haha, like that even makes sense. So my "vision" starts focused on a house. Middle of a valley, dead of winter, you can hear  a piano being played from inside. Promptly, the vision goes inside the house to reveal a young woman (To who I have no idea who it is.) playing the piano. Completely normal. I see another girl up on a balcony overlooking a huge room. A bunch of paper and playing cards are spinning in an orb-like formation in the middle. The girl starts to sing. Okay, at this point my brain was telling me "Wake up Schuyler, you aren't going to like this part!" but I of course had no idea. The music quiets down and shows a little boy, dead blank stare, his eyes completely white and glazed over. Right over his shoulder behind a pillow is this fucking wraith, like I mean a witch, a tiny shrunken head and body of a girl screaming its ass off at me but I couldn't hear the scream. Almost the same instant that happened everything went completely black, it felt like my ears were ringing, it felt like my whole body was vibrating. And almost the exact same time I awoke covered in sweat and panting. Ain't that some crazy shit? I mean it ranges from me melting, to my teeth and fingers falling out/off one by one, to this kind of stuff. Nightmares are horrible things and I hate that I can remember them so vividly. I wish it wasn't so seldom that I had a great dream that I remembered to the dot. It was kind of a random thing to post about, but I felt like throwing another entry down for the 13th considering the previous one was just a music video. So at this point I think i'll retreat to my room and attempt sleep for awhile and hope I wake up with some better results. Today was far too long, and I feel like the week will be the same way. But hell, we'll see.

I See Stars

    Opinions? It's a lot better than their old shit as far as I know. AND naming the song after the drug from limitless is badass.

R.I.P

So, this post is a quick one. Dedicated to a young man named Pat who killed himself this evening. Let me give you a brief view of my thoughts on suicide. For the longest time, I have had no pity for those who kill themselves. I thought they were cowards, stupid, unworthy of the life they took. Today, made me realize something, no matter how cowardly the act, or how stupid the idea. Suicide hurts, and it hurts everyone around. I didn't know Pat Young like everyone else did. Hell, I gave him lunch money and that's about all she wrote. But I know he touched more lives than many could imagine. He meant a lot to a lot of people. I knew him as a happy kid who loved everything. And that his presence in Homer will not leave us. Regardless of my views of the action itself, the action happening to a person I know personally. Words can't describe that shit. This is heavy. Death always is. We should remember what has happened today. And take it to heart, who knows when the next person you love gets the motive to end their life. Take care of those you hold dear, they need you the most.




ALSO: Let me throw this nugget of info at you. If a person kills themselves, there are family who really cared about them. And I know for a FACT that if you try to show your condolences by sparking up bullshit about it happen and try to rally the masses into a memorial service, they feel major disrespect. Bow your head for these people. They deserve it. Not a bunch of  random ass people who make death something to be celebrated or an excuse to wear your favorite color. A teacher I know respectfully wore a ribbon and band for the death of Ridge earlier this year. That's paying your silent respect. Get your shit straight.

5:30

So it's about 5:30. I woke up pretty early because for one thing I didn't sleep on Friday or Saturday night, and not to mention I went to bed last night around...eh 6 or 7 o'clock. Listening to a Foo Fighters song that my friends and I plan to cover for our school concert that they have annually. Which normally I'd be playing with my metal band, but the plans conflict. So there's my summary of the weekend. Nothing pressing is happening this week, I mean I do have a test today that I'm so unprepared for that I just want to skip the class. Other than that though, pretty boring week ahead of me. Probably going to play a lot of videogames...

"Fury itself supplies arms."                           

Specifically, World of Warcraft, which I still have a subscription for and haven't played with the release of games I could much rather be playing. It seems to me that WoW has set the equation for all MMOs. Mostly because you can't really be a successful MMO these days without being, or trying to be WoW.  Which would make a person think, "Why doesn't everyone play WoW if it is the best MMO?" Well, mechanically, I'd say it is the best, right next to Star Wars: The Old Republic. As far as content and community goes, I think that it's gone way down the drain after killing off all of the main villians from the RTS series of Warcraft and letting the game be more accessible to a younger audience. Nothing will feel the same as raiding Black Temple in the first expansion pack back in middle school. Now the health and mana scores are in the hundred-thousands, the villians and mosters are less entertaining and you can't really establish a connection to them like you could the old stuff. Deathwing, the main villian in the latest expansion, wasn't even heard of by the majority of the Warcraft audience until its release. However, I plan on playing it this week, mostly because I believe there is still hope for this MMO with content. The next expansion pack (Although it SOUNDS absolutely retarted) actually is going back to the things that made the game good, and that's the struggle between the two factions. So I have that to look forward to. Plus a PvP expansion means I finally get to go arms. I'm fucking sick of fury.

Dead People

Okay, so recently I've come across the Mass Effect series. Which is a popular RPG/Third-Person shooter that has been out for a hell of a long time but for whatever reason i've neglected it as a popular title since I even got an xbox. That's beside the point. My point being is that I really really like these games. Like, I don't understand how they never stood out to me. They're based around the idea that every decision you make influences events in the next game, meaning you can import whatever the hell you want from the first game, live up to the consequences in the second and inevitably do the same in the third. You take the role of John Shepard, or in my case, Schuyler Shepard and your goal is to purge the galaxy of the sentian robot race known as the Reapers. Perhaps it's a good thing that I have just recently gotten into the games because the third and final installment of the game has been released...three days ago, yes. I geniunely got close to the characters and actually was on the brink of tears at some parts. For example; The Quarian engineer Tali (The one with the hearts around her head in the above picture) wanted me to stop a race of robotic people who her people had created from becoming self-reliant again. And of course, I went against her people as I thought them to be a bunch of assholes. Now, keep in mind Tali had been around since the first game for me, and I actually knew a lot about her. As the robots shot down her people's ships at my decision, she took off her mask and killed herself by jumping off a nearby cliff. What the FUCK kind of game does that? I'll tell you what, a game with balls. I think that many games these days just don't have the stones to kill off main characters. It's become some sort of taboo, as if fans will get really angry if that were to happen. Let me tell you what, I would've been perfectly happy with the death of Master Chief in Halo or Marcus in Gears of War. Assassin's Creed knew how to do it, rather than actually showing the death, they simply alluded to the idea that the characters died at some point. For the most part, especially in games focused around a war or combat setting; The death of the main characters is a good source of closure. Not to say it's the only one, but it's the most effective, seeing as there is no possible way to continue a story to a character who is already dead. Isn't death the end for everything anyway? So who knows, perhaps there will be more games like mass effect in the future where you can make your own decisions and do whatever the fuck you want and your actions really will have dire consequences. Props to Bioware for making such an awesome series. Can't wait to see what comes next. 

An Introduction

Okay, so. In finding this page I assume you are either a friend of mine or a complete stranger. Pretty vague assumption, right? Most people call me Sky but you can refer to me as you please. The purpose for this blog is still in the works as far as i'm concerned. I'm not a politics enthusiast, sports jocky, or movie critic. However, if it's one thing I do, it's observe. The people around me, in particular my school, provide me with plenty of interesting prospects for blogging posts. I will not give any light to a subject to this first post, for as you can see it doesn't have one other than the fact that it's the first.

Today, rather, yesterday I heard of a video going viral exceedingly fast. Something about a man named Joesph Kony. Now, let's be honest, I only watched about half of the 30-minute video and I don't feel the least bit deprived of its contents. It describes a young man who spent time in Africa and met a young boy named Jacob, whose brother was killed by rebels. Sad story right? Let's continue. The video constantly weaves in and out of this facebook talk. As if it holds any relevance to this african child that seems like the meat of the video. Call me misinformed, ignorant or even stupid but this doesn't seem like the sort of thing that should be sparking our attention as much as it is. Just a few years ago I remember people wearing shirts in support of Darfur, which is an African country, state, province fuck if I know. Now I doubt there is a person in my class who care/remember this event at all. Africa has some problems, we all know it does. Perhaps it doesn't really need the intervention of big countries. Some people forget that we have problems of our own back here, the trillions of dollars of debt, and we shouldn't be wasting resources on problems we already knew were there. The fact of the matter is, people are using events such as this to think they are "hip" or "caring" and then looking down on people like me who don't give two shits when in reality they're no better. A highschool student is not going to give money to a random charity for people in a different country, as much as they say they support it. Again, this is just a thought and I do not intend to offend anyone. I understand that what is happening over there is some gruesome shit. But look at it this way, it ain't happening to us. Everything in this world is only as big a deal as you make it.