A Year Changes A Lot

Wow has it already been a year since I've began this crazy path known as college. I guess I can remember all the times I've worried about many things last year, meeting new people and dealing with my own personal issues. I used to be so bitter in my senior year of high school and so with that bitterness I kinda felt a conviction in my heart that I've been shaped too much by the world. In a way The world really did make me bitter, but it was only because I let it. However with the events last year and the people that I've met, I feel that it's safe to say that I can finally let go of the bitter past that haunted me so. I wanted to write this because just last week I opened up my 06-07 high school year book. Right when I opened it and saw the pictures of my high school days (with very little pictures of myself, honestly I buy a thing that costs the same as a text book and I get only one picture of me in the class listing), a torrent of good, but mostly bad memories came back to me. I saw all the people who betrayed and tormented me, thier smiling faces looking back at me and mocking me. In an instant all the bitterness came rushing back. What stabilized me was seeing myself with my fellow Christian Club officers.

It just amazed me, a year ago I had nothing and I looked to no one for anything since I convinced myself that I'm the last honest person on earth. To tell the truth I didn't know how I was going to handle the whole college life alone, I always thought I'd never meet anyone like myself or cared about what I thought. I thought I would live on campus for all four years and graduate and really have no good memories whatsoever.

It's interesting now though, I would have never guessed I would meet so many people in AACF and live in an apartment with other members who I can call friends (or that they would get me back into playing starcraft I hate you guys jk). I guess to those who were there (from AACF), I kinda spoke about all this when I shared my testimony during Thanksgiving. I never would have thought the things I said would have touched the lives of the AACF community, I was just plain being honest with myself and to others. Since last year I was really shy and didn't talk that much, I wanted to let people know what was going on with my mind and heart last year that held me back from opening up more. At that moment, I realized I can let go of my bitterness, even though it still comes back from time to time I know that there are people who care about me, shed tears for me and encourage me to be me. And this all happened in a year, it's so hard for me to believe at times. To be blessed like this is way beyond my comprehension sometimes.

So once again to my friends in AACF, the AACF community and my roomates (you guys rock!!) thanks for everything you've done. You guys have given me a reason to smile despite the pains in my heart and have really changed me in ways I could have never imagined.

Here's an Interesting Thought...

Well here's the promised deep post I mentioned. Sex and media, the two go hand in hand. We see it everywhere from ads to even anime. The problem with it all today is the fact that we haven't changed from viewing women as objects. I can name one example, the TAG antipersprent commercials. I don't understand why any girl would find a guy sexy if he applies said product and immediately want to have sex or try to arouse him. Now to my female readers I doubt any of you find the TAG products nice smelling in any way (I don't even think they smell all that special and I'm a guy) and I doubt if a guy did wear it and tried to hit on you you'd probably mace him.

Now the whole point I'm trying to get at is for a country that says we respect the opposite sex and showing commercials and portraying women like this makes me want to punch myself in the face. I tell this to some of my friends, being a History major just makes you hate America a whole lot more than usual. Last year in my spring semester I took an American History class and the professor (although requiring a lot of essays) did an excellent job of portraying American past. We're a country that opressed entire races and sexes. When it came to the topic of women, it seems like society doesn't want to stress equality. We have television shows that show the "proper" role of women as housewives as to keep women in thier place. Of course this was the time of when the womens' movement was starting up. From there women would struggle for equality and the right to vote. Well from that part of what seems like something ripped straight out of a research paper, I'm basically trying to say "good job America" sarcastically.

I'm being sarcastic because now people don't really respect women anymore. It shames me to think that a girl wouldn't trust guys anymore. I think that it stems from the fact that women don't think guys respect them as women. Since most guys views on women stem from media, which causes them to see them as sex objects. I can understand this because once again I'm a History major and I'm required to think critically and support my views with evidence. To my male readers (you know who you are), women want to be treated with respect; they didn't struggle to get the right to vote, to work outside of home and to be independent for nothing. So lets get it into our thick man skulls that women want to be treated with respect. So lets all try to be gentlemen for once in our lives.

However, don't go overboard with being a gentleman and all. It's kind of like with what happened to me a while back. My roomate and I offered to walk a girl back to her apartment, I know she didn't want to trouble us and all, my roomate and I tried to let her know it was no trouble, but in the end she ended up going back alone. I didn't feel bad that I didn't walk her back, because her stressing her independence was noble. I respect that in any girl, since once again women gained that independence much harder than men did. But really I look at media and people today and see that people are not going forward but backwards. We are once again treating women as objects, which strips them of what they struggled to gain independence and equality. So lets not fall for the tricks shown to us by the garbage I call American television.

After Thoughts: Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino Episode 1

Now a first for my blog, an anime review. However this one is not for an entire series, but just my thoughts on a first episode. For this post I'll be looking into the first episode of the second season of Gunslinger Girl. So if your one of my friends looking for some good reading, I promise something deep later this week. So skip this post entirely or just keep reading your choice. Just another example of how nerdy I am when it comes to anime. So without further adue here are my impressions.

When I first finished the first season, I felt that somethings just didn't click into place. I was kinda expecting that big bang kind of ending that would have summed up the entire series. However like most animes it leaves you with a sense of "make up your own interpretation of the ending". So some spoilers here so either skip down or cover your eyes until then. To me I felt that even though these girls were going to die eventually, but they wouldn't die empty and alone. That's how I felt end of story. However come this past fall, the announcement of the second season was a shock to me. I knew that the manga continued on the story, but I never expected it. Lots of questions came to my mind like will it continue the story, would the original voice actors return, would we get the same feel and experience the first season showed?

The answer yes, no and it shows promise. I'm going to get a bit nerdy here for a bit but here's my first gripe for the second season. This season has an entirely new voice actors for the characters. Thats a big thing for me, the actors that I loved didn't return. To put it into context for those of you who don't understand, its like this imagine if in the next new season of Heroes (or insert your favorite piece of American television garbage) didn't have the original actors from the previous season or who were originally casted. You get an entirely new feel that's the thing. I'm not mad, but it really makes me scratch my head.

Next up, character designs. I'm disappointed that Madhouse didn't return to do the character designs. The girls look more moe than usual. Which seems out of place if you've watched the first season. The character designs I think are decent are for Triela and Claes, thier designs closely mirror the first season. However I do like the improvements to thier handlers' design. The one thing I miss is the detail on the guns. That's what brought me into the series in the first place. The shine on Henrietta's P90 and Sig looked frighteningly realistic in the first season. This season however its been toned down to a dull sheen or looks like a deadly toy. Overall from what I've read the designs closely resemble the manga, and ultimately thats what I think designers want. People want to see the characters ripped right off the pages and put into full motion, and thats what I want to see as well.

In the end however from what I've seen this season of Gunslinger Girl seems to promise more missions with the girls and thier handlers and I'm happy to see this series back again. So hopefully it'll be another 13 episodes of shooting, relationship developments with the different Fratellos and continuing the story.

A Look Into A Pitch III

Time for another round of a look into a pitch III series. So without further adue here's another character for the future demon savior series and a weapon wielded by both Ryo and Marc.

Seal warriors are a dying class of warrior since the death of the Nightmare Emperor. Descendants of Seal Warriors have long given up their powers in exchange for the peace that was fought so valiantly for. However so long as there are other demonic realms vying to take over other territories one must make his decisions for the ten seals he must take. Considered a child prodigy of seal circles, since the creators of the seal circles and blood spells. Shinn Cron, the son of Shen and Rin. A quiet and studious young man who like his father has a strong sense of honor and justice. He is the creator of a new seal circle: the armor circle. Taking inspiration from his mother's armor technology and combining it with his father's seal circle elements, he creates devastatingly powerful defensive armors. He has immense control over the armor circle that its power is not contained within his pinky. For seal warriors their most powerful circles are sealed within their pinkies. He is close friends with Rei, they study together and grew up together. However they're not boy friend and girl friend (Rei's boyfriend is going to be in the next post).

A standard 50 caliber bullet is designed for anti-armor rifles. The bullet itself punches holes through layers of armor. The most powerful bullet for a hand gun presently is .44, used in Magnums. However with the growing technology of 2018, the destructive force of a 50 caliber rifle bullet has been shrunk down to a handgun bullet. Not many handguns can withstand the shear force and recoil of this new bullet so military use has been difficult. It did not stop black market dealers from acquiring these rounds and gunsmiths have been customizing .44 magnums to become compadible with the destructive force. Enter the 50 caliber "Handcannon" custom colt magnum. The classic design of the Colt magnum has not changed. It has a six round chamber to house the 50 caliber round. the barrel is a bit wider in diameter and weights have been added to the bottom of the barrel to reduce recoil, but only by a bit. Handcannons are hard to come by, as well as the rounds they use. Not many people favor using these guns because of thier recoil and small number of rounds. However to a select few this gun is the ultimate killing machine. Wielded first by Marc Huang, he keeps it in a sealed case attached to his leg, the case requires a numeric key code to access. Marc prefers to use his fists instead of guns, but when push comes to shove, he pulls his handcannon out and fires it with little affect from recoil. Marc wields a silver handcannon with the Chinese symbol for tiger and a tiger engraved on its handle. Marc gives Ryo his own handcannon for his birthday. Ryo's is a polished death black with the symbol for rabbit and a cute rabbit with a carrot engraved on its handle. For those of you who don't get the animal designs, it reflects my brother and my chinese zodiac animal. I like Ryo's handcannon design since it complements his tough exterior with a cute touch. Also it embarasses bad guys as they fall when this 50 caliber bad boy is ripping through them.

Well thats another look into a pitch III next time Rei's boyfriend and his demonic weapon.