SO! As I chug along (slower then I would like) on the next game, I've started writing little side stories for some of the main characters from the first Accidental Demon Slayers game. Alternate Lives focuses on a whole different group of characters, and while I love writing for them, I have to admit, I missed the main cast from the first game.
All of this is to say, starting tomorrow I will be posting short, fun little serial stories featuring some of the main Accidental Demon Slayers characters. These are just a way of me continuing to delve into the game world, and explore the characters. It is also a way for you, the readers, to experience the characters in a less restrictive way. (While I love the visual novel style, I am limited due to using stock character and background art, so the stories tend to be a little more conservative then I would like them to be).
The first story will feature one character I thought didn't get enough attention in the first game. Clare. Her story, Clare and the Ghost Hunter, will be a four part story, with a new part being posted every Thursday morning.
So please, enjoy these stories while I continue to work away on Accidental Demon Slayers: Alternate Lives!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Little By Little...
Writing takes discipline. It can be an amazing experience, but it is one that sometimes forces you to kick yourself in the ass and make deadlines for yourself. It is a mixture of pleasure and pain. The joy of making progress can always be dulled by the pain of trying to figure out where to go next.
Alternate Lives is still happening. I'm inching along, working through the headaches and the story issues, but it is going slowly. Still, it is going, and that's what matters. Doing these projects alone can be a daunting task. When I look at what I want to get done, and what I want the game to be, and then look at all the work that I need to make that happen, it can make me sometimes give up hope. Luckily I have people in my life who push me forward. Without them I wouldn't have finished my first game. So, to them I say, thank you.
So, the latest updates to the game are on the Alternate Lives page. Obviously the game is still a ways out, and there is a lot that needs to be done on it, but it's getting closer. I'll have a better idea for the official release date once the actual writing gets done. The biggest challenge is getting the structure of the game in place. Once that happens, the rest is fairly easy, although tedious.
Right now I have the complete opening done, which is a Joanna path. I also have the Amanda path completed, and have gotten a chunk of the Marie path done as well. The hope is to get the Marie path done this week, and finally start on the final two paths, a light and dark path. I have no idea how many endings the game will have, but I'm aiming towards four full endings. (Right now there are also 4 quick death endings... but those may change as well.)
Alternate Lives is still happening. I'm inching along, working through the headaches and the story issues, but it is going slowly. Still, it is going, and that's what matters. Doing these projects alone can be a daunting task. When I look at what I want to get done, and what I want the game to be, and then look at all the work that I need to make that happen, it can make me sometimes give up hope. Luckily I have people in my life who push me forward. Without them I wouldn't have finished my first game. So, to them I say, thank you.
So, the latest updates to the game are on the Alternate Lives page. Obviously the game is still a ways out, and there is a lot that needs to be done on it, but it's getting closer. I'll have a better idea for the official release date once the actual writing gets done. The biggest challenge is getting the structure of the game in place. Once that happens, the rest is fairly easy, although tedious.
Right now I have the complete opening done, which is a Joanna path. I also have the Amanda path completed, and have gotten a chunk of the Marie path done as well. The hope is to get the Marie path done this week, and finally start on the final two paths, a light and dark path. I have no idea how many endings the game will have, but I'm aiming towards four full endings. (Right now there are also 4 quick death endings... but those may change as well.)
Monday, October 21, 2013
The Blog is Not Dead!
Yes, I have been absent for a while. Mainly it's because real life kind of took over, and as much as I would love to sit here and blog all about my recent experiences, sometimes you have to live it instead of reporting on it.
Big changes mean that some things end up falling away, or to the side. Work on my second game has been delayed (it is still happening though. Just a lot slower then I would like), and the job hunt has turned into me deciding to go back to school.
Life is never simple. That is something I keep learning over and over again. Just when things seem to be settling, everything suddenly gets turned on it's ear again, and there you are, wondering where the hell the road is leading. This isn't always a bad thing, though. Sometimes you need to get your world knocked around to see what's important.
So, enough about my personal stuff. On to the game updates.
Alternate Lives is still happening. The story is a lot larger then I had originally planned, and because of that more work is required to make all the different paths fit together nicely. It is very easy to let these types of things overwhelm you when you are working on something alone, but just like everything else, you need to power through and get it done. I just don't want to rush the game, and release something that I'm not happy with.
Now, I do have a question dear readers. If I was going to release the game through a pay site, like DLSite, how much would you be willing to pay? If at all. Alternate Lives will be released as a free game, but the next game I have planned may not be. These games do cost some money, and I would like to try and cover some of the costs. Let me know what you!
Big changes mean that some things end up falling away, or to the side. Work on my second game has been delayed (it is still happening though. Just a lot slower then I would like), and the job hunt has turned into me deciding to go back to school.
Life is never simple. That is something I keep learning over and over again. Just when things seem to be settling, everything suddenly gets turned on it's ear again, and there you are, wondering where the hell the road is leading. This isn't always a bad thing, though. Sometimes you need to get your world knocked around to see what's important.
So, enough about my personal stuff. On to the game updates.
Alternate Lives is still happening. The story is a lot larger then I had originally planned, and because of that more work is required to make all the different paths fit together nicely. It is very easy to let these types of things overwhelm you when you are working on something alone, but just like everything else, you need to power through and get it done. I just don't want to rush the game, and release something that I'm not happy with.
Now, I do have a question dear readers. If I was going to release the game through a pay site, like DLSite, how much would you be willing to pay? If at all. Alternate Lives will be released as a free game, but the next game I have planned may not be. These games do cost some money, and I would like to try and cover some of the costs. Let me know what you!
Friday, September 13, 2013
A Blast from the Past: YA Horror Pt. 2
So, during the 90's all three major horror franchises had short lived young adult novel series. The one I'm going to talk about today is one of my favorites, and also probably one of the most insanely inappropriate book series ever marketed at young teens every.
THE TALES FROM CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE series.
The series consists of four books (Mother's Day, Jason's Curse, The Carnival and Road Trip), all written by Eric Morse. The first interesting thing about this series is that Jason never actually makes an appearance. His mask does, but Jason never actually shows up. No, instead his mask is the main star here, possessing people, and turning them into murderous behemoths tearing apart the local population.
And I do mean tearing apart.
These books are VIOLENT! The ending of The Carnival alone is probably one of the most graphically violent things I have ever read in a novel not written by Edward Lee. Basically the whole carnival goes nuts after being infected with the evil from Crystal Lake, and everything starts killing people. A tilt a whirl goes whirring into an electric fence, frying a girl's father in front of her very eyes (he was sitting with his cheap floozy of a mistress, so she didn't feel to bad). Two preteens get deep fried by that same electric fence when they try and sneak into the carnival. Heads are cleaved and chopped off. Bodies are dismembered. These books are the blood splattered gore fest that the films always wanted to be, but never could because of the MPAA.
The one frustrating thing about this series has nothing to do with the actual writing. The books are actually very entertaining, and one or two of them are shockingly effective in creating interesting characters (one of the men possessed by Jason's mask has a truly heart breaking story that includes a history of child abuse. I believe this was in Jason's Curse, but it has been a while). No, what is frustrating about these books is how hard they are to find. Unlike most YA series, these books are not cheap, with perfect copies going for $100+. Even used copies will set you back for $15 to $20.
I read these books years ago, long before Amazon was the place to go for used books, and I remember having to search far and wide for copies of Mother's Day and The Carnival. Back then, in my desperation, I made a good deal of money for those books. Today, the price hasn't dropped much.
Still, for hardcore Friday the 13th Fans these books are must haves. For anyone else, if you can find them cheap, grab them. You won't be disappointed.
Next up will be a series within a series! WOO HOO!
THE TALES FROM CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE series.
The series consists of four books (Mother's Day, Jason's Curse, The Carnival and Road Trip), all written by Eric Morse. The first interesting thing about this series is that Jason never actually makes an appearance. His mask does, but Jason never actually shows up. No, instead his mask is the main star here, possessing people, and turning them into murderous behemoths tearing apart the local population.
And I do mean tearing apart.
These books are VIOLENT! The ending of The Carnival alone is probably one of the most graphically violent things I have ever read in a novel not written by Edward Lee. Basically the whole carnival goes nuts after being infected with the evil from Crystal Lake, and everything starts killing people. A tilt a whirl goes whirring into an electric fence, frying a girl's father in front of her very eyes (he was sitting with his cheap floozy of a mistress, so she didn't feel to bad). Two preteens get deep fried by that same electric fence when they try and sneak into the carnival. Heads are cleaved and chopped off. Bodies are dismembered. These books are the blood splattered gore fest that the films always wanted to be, but never could because of the MPAA.
The one frustrating thing about this series has nothing to do with the actual writing. The books are actually very entertaining, and one or two of them are shockingly effective in creating interesting characters (one of the men possessed by Jason's mask has a truly heart breaking story that includes a history of child abuse. I believe this was in Jason's Curse, but it has been a while). No, what is frustrating about these books is how hard they are to find. Unlike most YA series, these books are not cheap, with perfect copies going for $100+. Even used copies will set you back for $15 to $20.
I read these books years ago, long before Amazon was the place to go for used books, and I remember having to search far and wide for copies of Mother's Day and The Carnival. Back then, in my desperation, I made a good deal of money for those books. Today, the price hasn't dropped much.
Still, for hardcore Friday the 13th Fans these books are must haves. For anyone else, if you can find them cheap, grab them. You won't be disappointed.
Next up will be a series within a series! WOO HOO!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
A Blast from the Past: YA Horror Pt. 1
Lately I have found a new addiction. I have been devouring young adult horror novels from the late 80's and early 90's. Any child who grew up in the 90's knows exactly what books I'm talking about. They had flashy covers and generic names like "Summer School" or Sleepwalker" with cheesy tag lines attached. They also had amazingly cool painted covers featuring "teens" in peril, or looking scared. The titles were usually written in some brightly colored, jagged font.
Growing up the bookstores were filled with these "novels" (usually they clocked in at just around 200 pages). When I was in grade school and junior high I devoured them. Fear Street, Christopher Pike... I couldn't get enough. Then I got older, and the books allure started to fade. Then they started to vanish off of store shelves, quickly being replaced with giant, fantasy epics, or romantic horror stories. These short, quick bits of horror goodness were being replaced with books which were much more sophisticated, well written and intelligent.
Now that I edge closer to 30 I find myself drawn to stuff that I enjoyed when I was a kid, and to the stuff that I never got the chance to enjoy. Thanks to Amazon used copies of all these books can be found for pennies, and I've been snatching them up like nobody's business.
So, I thought I would talk about a few of the long lost series that most people probably don't remember. Fear Street was probably the most popular, and there are whole blogs devoted to those books. This is for those series that people may have enjoyed when they were growing up, but probably don't even remember now.
SO! Let's kick things off with one of the more shocking series from that era.
TERROR ACADEMY
Terror Academy was a series written by Nicholas Pine (although it is unknown if every book was written by this author. Ghost writers were used for a lot of long running series). The series lasted sixteen books, and most, if not all, tended to follow a basic slasher film plot (a few had fantasy or sci-fi elements). As was the style at the time, most of the books feature a female lead, and are told in the third person (unlike today, where most YA books are written in first person).
What makes these books shocking is just how inappropriate they are. Wonderfully inappropriate.
The most noticeable thing is the sheer amount of sexual assault in these books. Yes, you read that right. Sexual assault. I have read five of these books in the past couple weeks, and all but one of them has had the lead character (always female) nearly get sexually assaulted by her boyfriend or the bad guy... or someone. One of the books, The Prom, actually has an implied rape as the major catalyst behind why the local teens are getting killed off. Yep, a young adult rape revenge novel.
I guess to offset the sheer horror at the regular near sexual assault in all these books Mr. Pine decided to make his female leads as strong as possible. The females in this series do not just scream and wait for a man to save them. Oh no! They beat the ever living hell out of their attackers. Using their teeth, hands, cars and in one case a flock of hungry birds to deal with their over aggressive male counterparts. In the book School Spirit our lead (named Cindy Prescott no less) deals with her attacker by driving off with him hanging out of the passenger's side door of her mini van, then proceeds to drive up onto a lawn, and run him into a metal pole. The women of Terror Academy are fighters, that's for sure, and the men... are idiots.
It is interesting to note how old fashioned the view of sex is in these novels. The guys always want it, the girls never want, and the guys will use force if necessary to get it. The one time I believe a character does have sex, in the hilariously offensive Science Project, the girl ends up knocked up, then knocked off by her psychotic baby daddy.
What isn't old fashioned is the confused sexual politics on these novels. The leads, who are always female, never have the expectation of being a stay at home mom, or a dutiful wife. No, these women are striving for college and careers. If they aren't, they are expected to. Never in any of these books do these women talk about "settling down". Pair that with the oddly brutish view of sex and gender roles from the male characters, and you get... a headache.
The second thing is how extremely gory these books are. People are decapitated, eviscerated, mauled, chopped, smashed, shot, impaled, electrocuted, crushed, sliced, diced and minced. This is not one of those series where someone looks dead and then it turns out they are a messy eater and are covered in ketchup. No, in this series the bad guys (and good guys) die, and die horribly. One book, Spring Break even takes it's plot from The Hills Have Eyes, having a family face off against a gang of blood thirsty, psychotic mountain men.
Yet as horribly inappropriate as the violence and attempted rape are, these books are VERY tame in one regard. Language. While most young adult books from the era kept their language fairly tame, they would still occasionally use words such as bitch, damn, hell or ass. They would use appropriate strong language when needed. Not these books. Nicholas Pine writes these characters as if they were straight out of a 1950's teenage delinquent film, and this causes some very awkward, and hilarious insults, such as people calling each other trash boy or ridiculous names like "Sand Face" for a character named Sandy.
Still, all that aside, the books are impossible to put down. They aren't horribly written, and they move quickly. Top it all off with a real flare for the over the top and tasteless, and the books are pure winners... just not for their intended audiences.
For the sheer level of insanity on display in this series, I have to declare this probably one of my favorites from the long lost and forgotten 90's YA horror craze.
Still, these weren't the most inappropriate or violent books to grace the YA bookshelves back in the 90's. In the next Blast from the Past entry I'll be talking about one very awesome, very short lived, and very hard to find series that any and every horror fan should check out.
Growing up the bookstores were filled with these "novels" (usually they clocked in at just around 200 pages). When I was in grade school and junior high I devoured them. Fear Street, Christopher Pike... I couldn't get enough. Then I got older, and the books allure started to fade. Then they started to vanish off of store shelves, quickly being replaced with giant, fantasy epics, or romantic horror stories. These short, quick bits of horror goodness were being replaced with books which were much more sophisticated, well written and intelligent.
Now that I edge closer to 30 I find myself drawn to stuff that I enjoyed when I was a kid, and to the stuff that I never got the chance to enjoy. Thanks to Amazon used copies of all these books can be found for pennies, and I've been snatching them up like nobody's business.
So, I thought I would talk about a few of the long lost series that most people probably don't remember. Fear Street was probably the most popular, and there are whole blogs devoted to those books. This is for those series that people may have enjoyed when they were growing up, but probably don't even remember now.
SO! Let's kick things off with one of the more shocking series from that era.
TERROR ACADEMY
Terror Academy was a series written by Nicholas Pine (although it is unknown if every book was written by this author. Ghost writers were used for a lot of long running series). The series lasted sixteen books, and most, if not all, tended to follow a basic slasher film plot (a few had fantasy or sci-fi elements). As was the style at the time, most of the books feature a female lead, and are told in the third person (unlike today, where most YA books are written in first person).
What makes these books shocking is just how inappropriate they are. Wonderfully inappropriate.
The most noticeable thing is the sheer amount of sexual assault in these books. Yes, you read that right. Sexual assault. I have read five of these books in the past couple weeks, and all but one of them has had the lead character (always female) nearly get sexually assaulted by her boyfriend or the bad guy... or someone. One of the books, The Prom, actually has an implied rape as the major catalyst behind why the local teens are getting killed off. Yep, a young adult rape revenge novel.
I guess to offset the sheer horror at the regular near sexual assault in all these books Mr. Pine decided to make his female leads as strong as possible. The females in this series do not just scream and wait for a man to save them. Oh no! They beat the ever living hell out of their attackers. Using their teeth, hands, cars and in one case a flock of hungry birds to deal with their over aggressive male counterparts. In the book School Spirit our lead (named Cindy Prescott no less) deals with her attacker by driving off with him hanging out of the passenger's side door of her mini van, then proceeds to drive up onto a lawn, and run him into a metal pole. The women of Terror Academy are fighters, that's for sure, and the men... are idiots.
It is interesting to note how old fashioned the view of sex is in these novels. The guys always want it, the girls never want, and the guys will use force if necessary to get it. The one time I believe a character does have sex, in the hilariously offensive Science Project, the girl ends up knocked up, then knocked off by her psychotic baby daddy.
What isn't old fashioned is the confused sexual politics on these novels. The leads, who are always female, never have the expectation of being a stay at home mom, or a dutiful wife. No, these women are striving for college and careers. If they aren't, they are expected to. Never in any of these books do these women talk about "settling down". Pair that with the oddly brutish view of sex and gender roles from the male characters, and you get... a headache.
The second thing is how extremely gory these books are. People are decapitated, eviscerated, mauled, chopped, smashed, shot, impaled, electrocuted, crushed, sliced, diced and minced. This is not one of those series where someone looks dead and then it turns out they are a messy eater and are covered in ketchup. No, in this series the bad guys (and good guys) die, and die horribly. One book, Spring Break even takes it's plot from The Hills Have Eyes, having a family face off against a gang of blood thirsty, psychotic mountain men.
Yet as horribly inappropriate as the violence and attempted rape are, these books are VERY tame in one regard. Language. While most young adult books from the era kept their language fairly tame, they would still occasionally use words such as bitch, damn, hell or ass. They would use appropriate strong language when needed. Not these books. Nicholas Pine writes these characters as if they were straight out of a 1950's teenage delinquent film, and this causes some very awkward, and hilarious insults, such as people calling each other trash boy or ridiculous names like "Sand Face" for a character named Sandy.
Still, all that aside, the books are impossible to put down. They aren't horribly written, and they move quickly. Top it all off with a real flare for the over the top and tasteless, and the books are pure winners... just not for their intended audiences.
For the sheer level of insanity on display in this series, I have to declare this probably one of my favorites from the long lost and forgotten 90's YA horror craze.
Still, these weren't the most inappropriate or violent books to grace the YA bookshelves back in the 90's. In the next Blast from the Past entry I'll be talking about one very awesome, very short lived, and very hard to find series that any and every horror fan should check out.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Movie Review: No One Lives
I went into No One Lives with mixed to low expectations. Most reviews ripped the movie to shreds, although a few had made it sound like an over the top, blood soaked fun ride. So, I settled in for what I believed was going to be a non-stop, action packed stalk and slash movie.
What I got was something completely different, and honestly, not all that enjoyable.
The basic plot is this: "Driver" (Luke Evans) and his lady love Betty (Laura Ramsey) are on the road together. They seem like a normal, albeit very serious, couple. They stop to grab a bite to eat, and find themselves being harassed by a biker gang, lead by Hoag (Lee Tergesen). It isn't until after the group has kidnapped Driver and Betty that they find out that Driver isn't all he seems to be. In fact (and the previews give this away) Driver is a very talented serial killer/psychopath who has a young woman (Silent Hill Revelations Adelaide Clemens) locked up in his trunk, and a small arsenal hidden away in the trailer he has hitched to his car.
No One Lives is an odd duck. The first twenty minutes of the film are loaded to the brim with stiff, too serious dialogue and borderline ridiculous attempts at character work. All of the scenes between Driver and Betty are painful to watch, with both actors delivering their lines in dull, deadpan seriousness. The dialogue is so unnatural and theatrical that it draws the audience right out of the film.
I am going to be completely honest. The beginning of this movie is painful. Even a very brutal scene involving a whole family being offed feels off kilter with some of the characters throwing out dialogue that can only be described as low rent Shakespeare.
Once Driver and his girlfriend are kidnapped things pick up, and yet... they don't.
For as violent and bombastic as the film is, it never really seems to kick into high gear. There is no tension, no urgency. The majority of the characters are so unlikeable that most won't care if they live or die. It is also obvious who is going to die, and when. There is no surprises. The whole thing is just on autopilot.
Then there is Luke Evans' performance. He isn't bad, but holy crap is he dull. He has a few moments where he shines through, giving the character a little evil, playful glint in his eye, but for the majority of the film he comes off as stiff, and even worse, bored.
Also, as violent as this movie is, it never seems to go far enough. Don't get me wrong, there is blood, but after watching films like the Evil Dead remake, this movie seems almost tame. Most of the kills are pretty straight forward, and the few over the top set pieces are actually fairly restrained with the nastiest bits happening off screen. Gore hounds might find themselves disappointed with this one.
The film isn't all bad. Adelaide Clemens actually turns in a pretty entertaining performance. While she plays her character detached and shell shocked, she always has a look of mild amusement about her. She's the audiences' eyes through most of the film, and she handles the role of heroin wonderfully, creating a strong and interesting character.
America Olivio and Lindsey Shaw also turn in two very fun performances, with Olivio playing the hard ass biker mama, and Shaw playing Hoag's daughter. Both women get to participate in one of the most random, hilarious, and truly awesome cat fights I have ever seen since Charlize Theron and Terri Hatcher threw down in 2 Days in the Valley. That scene alone almost makes the movie worth seeing. Almost.
Still, No One Lives feels like a total missed opportunity. Too much of the film plays it safe, and even when it does start to go over the top, it ends up pulling it's punches. Skip this one.
Instead of No One Lives check out:
The Collection
Versus
Evil Dead (2013)
What I got was something completely different, and honestly, not all that enjoyable.
The basic plot is this: "Driver" (Luke Evans) and his lady love Betty (Laura Ramsey) are on the road together. They seem like a normal, albeit very serious, couple. They stop to grab a bite to eat, and find themselves being harassed by a biker gang, lead by Hoag (Lee Tergesen). It isn't until after the group has kidnapped Driver and Betty that they find out that Driver isn't all he seems to be. In fact (and the previews give this away) Driver is a very talented serial killer/psychopath who has a young woman (Silent Hill Revelations Adelaide Clemens) locked up in his trunk, and a small arsenal hidden away in the trailer he has hitched to his car.
No One Lives is an odd duck. The first twenty minutes of the film are loaded to the brim with stiff, too serious dialogue and borderline ridiculous attempts at character work. All of the scenes between Driver and Betty are painful to watch, with both actors delivering their lines in dull, deadpan seriousness. The dialogue is so unnatural and theatrical that it draws the audience right out of the film.
I am going to be completely honest. The beginning of this movie is painful. Even a very brutal scene involving a whole family being offed feels off kilter with some of the characters throwing out dialogue that can only be described as low rent Shakespeare.
Once Driver and his girlfriend are kidnapped things pick up, and yet... they don't.
For as violent and bombastic as the film is, it never really seems to kick into high gear. There is no tension, no urgency. The majority of the characters are so unlikeable that most won't care if they live or die. It is also obvious who is going to die, and when. There is no surprises. The whole thing is just on autopilot.
Then there is Luke Evans' performance. He isn't bad, but holy crap is he dull. He has a few moments where he shines through, giving the character a little evil, playful glint in his eye, but for the majority of the film he comes off as stiff, and even worse, bored.
Also, as violent as this movie is, it never seems to go far enough. Don't get me wrong, there is blood, but after watching films like the Evil Dead remake, this movie seems almost tame. Most of the kills are pretty straight forward, and the few over the top set pieces are actually fairly restrained with the nastiest bits happening off screen. Gore hounds might find themselves disappointed with this one.
The film isn't all bad. Adelaide Clemens actually turns in a pretty entertaining performance. While she plays her character detached and shell shocked, she always has a look of mild amusement about her. She's the audiences' eyes through most of the film, and she handles the role of heroin wonderfully, creating a strong and interesting character.
America Olivio and Lindsey Shaw also turn in two very fun performances, with Olivio playing the hard ass biker mama, and Shaw playing Hoag's daughter. Both women get to participate in one of the most random, hilarious, and truly awesome cat fights I have ever seen since Charlize Theron and Terri Hatcher threw down in 2 Days in the Valley. That scene alone almost makes the movie worth seeing. Almost.
Still, No One Lives feels like a total missed opportunity. Too much of the film plays it safe, and even when it does start to go over the top, it ends up pulling it's punches. Skip this one.
Instead of No One Lives check out:
The Collection
Versus
Evil Dead (2013)
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
The Darkness
I jokingly say I should stop reading the news. Every day it's a different story about people being killed, political unrest. The news has turned into a stream of uncontrollable hate seems to be overtaking our world. I spend most of my time looking for a human interest story. Something that makes me smile, or restores my faith in humanity.
When we live in a world where three teenagers gun down a young man because they just wanted to kill someone, you need something to make you smile, to give you hope, to make you realize that the world is not full of hate and anger and pain. That, while we focus on the suffering and the violence, there are still good people out there.
Recently I read a blog called Single Dad Laughing. I had been directed there because of this post. I have to tell you, I have never felt so moved in my life. Seriously, go there, read that post, and just let it sink in. Let his message just settle into your brain, and then go over it again.
If you are too busy to read the article, then let me sum up the general idea. Love people. Love everyone. Love them because they are who they are, and they have struggled, and they have made mistakes, and they may not be your idea of what a person should be. Love them.
Don't just love them, but give a damn about them. Give a damn about how your words effect them. Give a damn about how shutting someone out, ignoring someone because they are that ever present, ever feared and loathed "other", can crush that person.
The post on his blog touched me enough that I felt like I had to share it. Seriously, check out his blog. There are other amazing posts in there. There are other amazing stories.
So, now it's time for my own little moment here. My message for you. A message we can all strive to live by. Do not just try to be good. Try to do good. Do not just try to do good. Do good. Be a light in a world that seems to grow darker every day. Be the hope for someone else. Do not do it to be looked up to. Do not do it to be respected, or well liked. Do it because you want to. Do it because you strive to make this world a better place not just for yourself, or those you love, but for everyone. We will not always succeed. I will not always succeed. Still, even if the goal cannot be reached, it should be in the back of your mind at all times.
If you fail, and you will fail, just as I will fail, do not give up. We are human. We have emotions that we don't always have control over. The best thing you can do is to see a failure as something to push you forward. A failure should not stop you. It should motivate you. It should light a fire under you, or inside of you.
Instead of letting the darkness stop you, you should strive to stop the darkness. We won't win the war, but dammit, in this one situation the battle is more important then the war.
When we live in a world where three teenagers gun down a young man because they just wanted to kill someone, you need something to make you smile, to give you hope, to make you realize that the world is not full of hate and anger and pain. That, while we focus on the suffering and the violence, there are still good people out there.
Recently I read a blog called Single Dad Laughing. I had been directed there because of this post. I have to tell you, I have never felt so moved in my life. Seriously, go there, read that post, and just let it sink in. Let his message just settle into your brain, and then go over it again.
If you are too busy to read the article, then let me sum up the general idea. Love people. Love everyone. Love them because they are who they are, and they have struggled, and they have made mistakes, and they may not be your idea of what a person should be. Love them.
Don't just love them, but give a damn about them. Give a damn about how your words effect them. Give a damn about how shutting someone out, ignoring someone because they are that ever present, ever feared and loathed "other", can crush that person.
The post on his blog touched me enough that I felt like I had to share it. Seriously, check out his blog. There are other amazing posts in there. There are other amazing stories.
So, now it's time for my own little moment here. My message for you. A message we can all strive to live by. Do not just try to be good. Try to do good. Do not just try to do good. Do good. Be a light in a world that seems to grow darker every day. Be the hope for someone else. Do not do it to be looked up to. Do not do it to be respected, or well liked. Do it because you want to. Do it because you strive to make this world a better place not just for yourself, or those you love, but for everyone. We will not always succeed. I will not always succeed. Still, even if the goal cannot be reached, it should be in the back of your mind at all times.
If you fail, and you will fail, just as I will fail, do not give up. We are human. We have emotions that we don't always have control over. The best thing you can do is to see a failure as something to push you forward. A failure should not stop you. It should motivate you. It should light a fire under you, or inside of you.
Instead of letting the darkness stop you, you should strive to stop the darkness. We won't win the war, but dammit, in this one situation the battle is more important then the war.
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