Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus: The End is Here

The end it nigh! The end is nigh! There have been signs in the stars! War, famine, DEATH! Repent! Repent… are you bored yet?

If you haven’t heard something along these lines from street preachers, televangelists, or crappy magazines, then you have probably heard it from a crap ton of movies. The apocalypse, according to these people, is always happening. Every generation has said that the end was coming soon and that’s reflected in our movies, books, and TV shows.

There are all kinds of apocalypses. Environmental, zombie, and religious, just to name a few of the many different apocalypse motifs. Obviously, we are not going to be talking about the nonreligious ones for the purposes of this series. So if you were hoping I would talk about Wallie, The Day After Tomorrow, 28 Days Later, or Resident Evil: Apocalypse, then I apologize because I’m not.

What will I be talking about? Well, religious apocalypse stories are usually based on one thing, the Book of Revelation, found in the Christian Bible. In order to talk about the differences in how the Judeo-Christian apocalypse is portrayed, it needs to be broken down into certain elements that seem to appear in every apocalyptic story. There are certain characters and themes that always pop up.

So over the next couple of weeks I will explore the apocalypse and all it entails. So what’s up first…?

Next time on Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus: The Evil Woman or the Whore of Babylon.

Tune in next time and find some religion!

In Brightest Day: Ronald B. Weasley

Ron’s a ginger, just like the rest of his Muggle-loving family.

Now that that’s out of the way…

I Guess Whitewashing is Okay Again

There have been many issues around race and comic book movies over the years. Marvel I feel has been the most notable with casting black actors in typically white roles. Alicia in Fantastic Four was black instead of the usual blonde-haired, blue-eyed character she is in the comics. Nick Fury, now played by Samuel L. Jackson is black, and perhaps the most controversial, Idris Elba played the Norse god Heimdall in Thor.

Fanfiction Fridays: PTSD by raequiem

For the first time in, well, ever, I’m a member in a fandom before it completely dies out. In fact, I’m lucky that I’m a part of this fandom during its creative zenith. So welcome to my obsession, dear readers, and allow me to tell you about Homestuck. To try and explain this story is a joke in the fandom because it’s so fucking complicated that even a short explanation ends up being pages in MS word but I’ll do the series no justice what so ever and leave it at “four 13 year-old internet friends play a game together that destroys the universe and they have to make a new one”.

Our main characters for the majority of the story are John, Rose, Jade, and Dave. John is the resident regular kid. Rose is a psychologist in the making with a love of Lovecraft-ian lore. Jade is the sweet, but not stupid gunslinger. And Dave is the cool kid who isn’t actually all that cool (but that level of irony makes him cool despite that). Although they don’t seem like they have much in common, they’re great friends who care deeply for each other and hey, with a cast like this who wouldn’t want to make happy ending post-game fic? No one, that’s who. But with a title like PTSD, I’m sure you’re wondering what makes this happy at all. Although this fic does deal extensively with the issue of actual PTSD, in this case the author uses it to stand for Post-TimeShit Dave.

In this universe-destroying game, each character has a class that they must utilize to beat the game. Dave’s aspect was time. Whereas this means that he can travel to any timeline he wants, it also means that he has to be careful to not doom his original timeline by creating paradoxes. It also means that he has the utmost pleasure of watching his friends die over and over again in varying ways. You can see how this could be stressful.

Before I confuse you even more, I’ll just get to what I like about this fic. First off, the way the author deals with Dave’s alcoholism is not only realistic, but also very sensitive to the issue. And whereas it remains a hurdle Dave has to overcome, it doesn’t come to define him. I really appreciate how all the characters are still friends but have lives of their own. But what it comes down to is that I really love how all the characters are still in character.

Since the characters are explored only through dialogue, it can be all too easy to distill them down to a single panel. However, these characters manage to maintain their dimensions and remind the audience why we even care about them after the game. Dave is not only still obsessed with being cool, but he’s also vulnerable and defensive. Jade is still a kind, funny girl but she’s more than willing to knock some sense into her friends. The adolescent friendship is still there, but it has matured along with them.

Now, perhaps this may not seem like the “happy post-game” fic that I was talking about earlier, but in a webcomic where characters die every other page, just seeing everyone alive and adjusting is happy enough. They are together, and so the audience knows they can overcome the hardships in their lives. This is what makes this series so great as a whole: that is recognizes internet friendships as legitimate friendships and how they can impact people so deeply. Now, I have a ton more Homestuck fics for this segment, so I’ll leave this point for one that exemplifies it more.

But, if you like friendship fics with a little bit of romance and a heavy dose of reality, I would highly recommend giving this fic a shot. Click here if you’re interested.

Theatre Thursdays: Introduction

That’s right, we’re starting a new weekly theme and it’s Theatre Thursday! Now every day of the week has a theme and I think we deserve a round of applause!

Anybody?

Nobody?

Okay.

Well, anyway, Theatre Thursday will consist of various articles related to the world of theatre, including reviews, previews of new shows, general thoughts on the importance and relevance of theatre, fanning over various people involved with theatre, and anything else we can think of related to the topic! I must be honest though, for my part my posts will be related almost entirely to musical theatre and at that, primarily American musical theatre. I don’t mean to imply that musical theatre is more important or relevant than legitimate theatre; it’s just that it’s my preference and American musicals are the ones I’m most familiar with and exposed to.

Before I launch into my first post I’ll cover some terms I may throw around in the future (NOTE: Some of these are official definitions, some are just my working definitions):

Broadway: The pinnacle of live theatre, particularly musical theatre, located in New York City.

Off-Broadway: Also located in New York City, smaller theaters in which it is cheaper to run a show, shows here tend to be more experimental than Broadway shows as the expense (and therefore risk) in producing is less great.

West End: The English version of Broadway, located in London.

National Tour/Touring Production: Productions of musicals whose casts and sets travel from city to city, performing limited runs in local theaters.

Non-Eq Tour: Non-Equity tours are the same as the above productions except the performers are not members of Actors Equity, the Union for working actors in the US, and are typically less experienced and cheaper.

Sit-Down Production: Open-ended run of a show performed continuously in one location for as long as ticket sales hold up.

Regional Production: Professional production of a show in a particular city, not related to any other production, often performed mostly by local actors, but frequently employs Equity performers.

Out-of-Town Tryout: A production of a show which runs in a smaller city to gauge audience and critical response before attempting a New York run.

Community Theatre Production: Local cast and crew putting on a show without pay.

Revival: A new production of a piece of theatre which has already had an official opening and closing.

Replica Production: A production using the original creative team’s work including costumes, lighting, sets, wigs, etc. with few to no significant changes. Most tours, international transfers, and sit-downs are replica productions.

Non-Replica Production: A production which uses new creative direction either from the same creative team revisiting their work or a new creative team tackling the piece. Most revivals, regional, and community theatre productions are non-replica productions.

Stage-Dooring: Fans like me waiting at the Stage Door of a theater to congratulate the cast and/or get their autographs. Kind of awkward but so thrilling.

Theatre: The abstract concept of performing arts, most often referring to plays and musicals, but as with any term related to art the meaning is flexible.

Theater: The physical building in which theatre typically occurs.

Tonys: The Antoinette Perry Awards. The equivalent of the Oscars for Broadway theatre.

Olivier Awards: The equivalent of the Tonys for West End.

I think I’ll leave it at that for today. I wrote a bit of a post about the new Broadway Revival of Evita but this intro ended up being longer than I originally intended so I’ll save it for next week!

Web Crush Wednesdays: Asexuality Visibility an Education Network (AVEN)

Hello! Well, this is my first Web Crush, so I’m going to talk about one of my all-time favorite websites, AVEN.

AVEN was founded in 2001 by a David Jay after he came to the conclusion that he was different from everyone else. He has said that he realized that he wasn’t the same as all his friends and began looking into things a little more. Growing up in a world where very few people even know about asexuality, yeah, I’m going to say that it’s really confusing, so I wanted to share this site with everyone because of how much it’s done for me. Like many people, I would still be inaccurately calling myself heterosexual without the help of AVEN. The purpose of AVEN, according to Wikipedia, is: “creating public acceptance and discussion of asexuality and facilitating the growth of an asexual community.”

Though I personally haven’t joined AVEN—as I’m pretty sure I’m not the only MadameAce out there—it is a relatively safe place to read and discuss asexuality and how that affects our lives. Furthermore, not only does it create a safe environment to come out it, it is also educational in helping other people understand what asexuality is and how that changes relationships, such as this Q&A section here. And because it’s such a widely unheard of and unaccepted thing, it also has a Q&A section for family and friends here.

Within the forums, not only does it have discussions where asexuals can talk to each other, it also has places for us to talk to sexuals as well. In a confusing world, this site really cleared up a lot of things for me, and it was also really nice to find out that I’m not alone.

Trailer Tuesdays: The Avengers… again.

Yeah, I’m doing The Avengers once again, but this time is a little different. I’m sure this news is pretty late and anyone who’s been watching the hype will know it already. But, anyways, the trailer for Japan gives us some new footage, such as the Helicarrier. Check it out:

Also check out the Russian trailer, which has a couple new clips:

Basically, at this point, I think every country is going to get some kind of new footage, and thank goodness too. Feel free to go check out the trailers in other languages.

Oh, and this is the poster for Japan. I actually like this setup better than the posters here in America:

Awesome!

Manga Mondays: Doubt

Although the Ides have passed and March is almost over, I’m still on my horror manga kick. Luckily, my friends and the internet are only too happy to oblige me in my search. As opposed to Ibitsu this manga doesn’t rely on urban legends for their scares. No, Yoshiki Tonogai’s Doubt (also known as Rabbit Doubt) relies much more on violating basic human trust between other humans. It’s a much more real, tangible fear in my opinion, and makes the story that much better because not only is it horror, it’s also a murder mystery. A little Are You Afraid of the Dark in my Agatha Christie? Please and thank you.

Quickly we’re introduced to Yuu Aikawa and his friend from school, Mitsuki Houyama who talk about Yuu’s current obsession: a strange little cell phone game called “Rabbit Doubt”. In the game, each player is represented by a rabbit avatar but one rabbit is actually a wolf. In other words,  one player is killing the other players off and the ‘rabbits’ have to figure out who the wolf is before they all get taken out of the game. Yuu is so into the game that he’s actually outside waiting for the other rabbits in his group so they can all hang out and chat about the game. The first two to arrive are Eiji Hoshi (a high school punk) and Haruka Akechi. The two seem to know each other very well and are excited to meet the other players. The last one to arrive to this little shindig is a young-looking girl named Rei Hazama. Although Mitsuki doesn’t play the game, she’s still invited to the party and they all go out to a karaoke bar.

During this outing, it’s revealed that previously, Rei was a television idol—a hypnotist, to be exact—who was forced to retire due to a scandal. And although this was a painful experience for her, she doesn’t seem to hold a grudge and is pleased to see that both Mitsuki and Yuu enjoyed her show when they were younger. This trip also reveals that Eiji is just one of those types that doesn’t understand the meaning of ‘no’. He takes an interest in Rei and pursues her but she wants nothing to do with him in that way: they just met, after all. After being told off by Yuu in the hallway, he goes to the bathroom to cool his head. While heading back to the three girls in the room, Yuu is attacked by an unknown figure and wakes up in a dark storehouse, alone and unsure of how he got there.

As he looks around the room he finds two things. 1) He finds the whereabouts of Hajime: another player of Rabbit Doubt who was supposed to come to their meeting, but was busy. And 2) the mangled body of Rei dangling against the wall. Quickly, the two boys find that they cannot exit the room by normal means and almost give up before Haruka and Mitsuki come in from the other side. Trying to distract the girls from Rei’s situation, Yuu asks how they got it when they obviously could not. Shuffling some of their clothes aside, both of the girls end up revealing that they have been branded with a barcode. It appears that next to the door is a scanner where each player is able to put their barcode against to open the door. However, as they go to find the whereabouts of Eiji they find out that each barcode can only be used once.

Quickly after finding Eiji, the players begin dropping like rabbits and the survivors realize that they must find the wolf among them before they all end up dead.

From this point is where the real intrigue is. Even if you figure it out early on, it’s really the details and the twists that make the series interesting. Even the art style struck me with its use of shadows—well done shadows in a horror anything just gives me the best kinds of chills. What I don’t really like is how bland Yuu is. I know this is necessary so that all the other characters have a chance to become just that much more weird and suspicious but there’s nothing to him. He says the right things all the time. He’s nice. He’s just…I wish he died first. Too bad that would have ruined the plot! But, if you like series that will keep you guessing, secrets out the wazoo, and a type of horror that comes close to Silent Hill in aesthetics, I highly recommend you try out Doubt.

The Walking Dead: Seasons 1 and 2 Review

Spoiler alert!

Well, I’d say waiting two seasons to watch Shane die was certainly worth it, but that might imply wanting him dead to be my only reason to follow this show. The Walking Dead certainly differs from other mainstream zombie shows and movies, probably due to its focus. Most zombie things tend to concentrate on showing, you know, zombies. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, will go almost entire episodes without bloodthirsty carcasses stumbling across the screen to eat the random extras.

The lack of zombies—or walkers, in this case—has caused a bit of an outrage among some of the fans. This is probably in part due to the comics the show is based off, where the writers stated that they wanted the story to follow the character Rick around and chronicle his life during this tragedy. I cannot quote that exactly, as most of my comics are being borrowed at the moment, but you get the picture.

If there’s one thing I have to give The Walking Dead credit for it would be that, first and foremost, it’s one of the few things I’ve seen that’s portrayed people with real human reactions. I always find myself comparing it to something like the Resident Evil films, where Alice will meet an unimportant extra and watch that person get eaten with little to no emotional reaction to it. Like, it’s just a person, who cares, right? On top of that, not everyone in The Walking Dead is some badass with super fighting skills. They’re real relatable people having real relatable reactions.

My Little Pony Double Issue: Does this “friendship” you speak of have a Tardis?

Hello, everypony! Spring Break got in the way of my watching the two latest pony episodes, but now that all the beach is out of the way let’s get down to business!

First, the time travel episode. Twilight gets a visit from future Twilight informing her not to do… something. Because of this, Twilight flips out worrying about next Tuesday, eventually trying to break into the Canterlot library to stop time. That’s where Twilight realizes that she shouldn’t worry about the future, and goes to tell her past self not do… something. This was a good episode. It would have been excellent if Doctor Hooves had a Tardis…. Anyway, my favorite part was when Fluttershy came and played with the Cerberus and then Pinkie Pie pulled a ball out of nowhere.

Quote of the episode:

Aww, he’s just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that’s all. Right, Cerberus? Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?
—Fluttershy

Second, the dragon migration episode. Spike gets teased for not being a very dragony dragon and joins the dragon migration to learn how to be a dragon. (He’s followed by Rainbow, Rarity, and Twilight in a very fabulous dragon costume). After some effort, he learns to fit in with all of the teenage male dragons. (Notice how there are no girl dragons?) When Spike is asked to destroy a phoenix egg, he says no and gets saved by the ponies and realizes that the mane six are his real friends. My problem with this episode? Spike keeps the phoenix. You just kidnapped someone’s baby and now you are going to keep it?! Incorrect! Did anypony else notice that? Or is it just me?