Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Busy Busy

...So for anybody who cares, which I don't think anybody does, I made a Twitter and a Facebook under my newer e-mail address/internet name (InsomniacPrince). I've never really been into social networking but I figure it might come in handy. Don't expect updates though.

Onto the rest of the entry. More life stuff again, Jake? Yes. Sorry, but I have nothing interesting to blog about lately - no cool creepypastas I've read, and I haven't been able to catch up on my ordinary-book reading. I considered doing a music review to add some variety but... whatever. Maybe later.
So I have all these projects for school due this week - an essay and presentation for history, a paper for English, a crapload of projects for Studio Art... let's just say that with babysitting for Adele while my parents are out I have NO. SPARE. TIME. Blah. I hope I'll have a break to work on my "project" around Christmas.
...Speaking of Adele, in case anybody (nobody) was wondering about her, she's okay. Missing sleep, though, because for some reason I don't know I let her watch the end of A Nightmare on Elm Street with me before she went to bed. She claims she's seen it a million times before, but she's terrified. Jumping at shadows and such. Oh, Jake, why must you be so awful with children?

http://twitter.com/insomniacprince

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Back Home at Last / Birthday Wishes / Hello Adele

Wow... so much that happened, and so little time to blog about it. I wish I got to make a "farewell" post before I left for Thanksgiving out of town, but, alas, there was no time to. So I'll summarize all that happened.

First off, the day we set off it was my birthday. I didn't get to see friends or anything, but I had a party-ish thing with my parents and James (my same-age cousin) before we left for the plane, which was a bit of a surprise (considering nobody else remembered and the family didn't say anything until then). My folks also gave me two CDs and a book - Danger Days by My Chemical Romance, You'll Rebel to Anything by Mindless Self Indulgence, and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski - all of which to occupy myself on the plane ride. I've been wanting to read HoL for quite some time now, after all its mentions in EverymanHYBRID and all over the Unforums. I suppose I'll get around to reading more of it soon, but it's quite a chore to make sense of it on the plane. I did get a great idea while listening to "Planetary (GO!)" from Danger Days, though, and if I'm able to carry it out I'll post it when possible.

Well, I'm blogging a bit late now and that's because my parents and I went to pick up Adele the minute we got back. She's gotten taller since I last saw her... much taller than I expected a kid her age to be. I took her out for a hot chocolate for a while, and she seems happy as ever. Making lots of pop culture references she shouldn't understand and such.

That's about all that's going on here. I might tell y'all how Thanksgiving in the south was but that would be boring, considering the fact all I really did was sit around. I might elaborate later but this entry is running long. So until next entry, ciao.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

So You Want to Hear the Story

Miss Daggertooth visits children in their sleep. Her mouth is her whole head, and she devours children who have misbehaved. Her head, it's just round, like some fucked up Jack the Pumpkin King from hell, with two black beads for eyes and no nose. Her body is just black reaper's cloth, it's a torn dress, with no legs, she just floats in place, and her arms are long like the branches of a tree.

My dad told me the story once. I asked him about it today but I guess he didn't remember. He said, many years ago, that it was the Brothers Grimm. No way in hell. He made up the story, and it was more terrifying than anything I'd ever heard. Nightmares followed. My imagination was overactive, and because of that I sought out more. I liked terrifying myself, making up stories about Miss Daggertooth. I wrote in notebooks about her. Drew her everywhere. The more I dreamed her up, the more terrifying my nightmares became.

This is what we, as humans, fear the most. We fear not the things that can touch us, but the things that can't. We're afraid of the things we think up ourselves. You're not afraid of the bogeyman, or of the ghost, or the killer, or of Slender Man or Miss Daggertooth. You're afraid of all the things you imagine them doing when your eyes are closed at night.

***

I'm starting my... project soon. I don't know what the medium is yet. I liked to fancy myself a photographer but I don't even have a good camera. Drawings and paintings are too fake. Film would be nice but I've got the whole camera issue.
Any suggestions? I noticed one follower (Liam, I think you were called? And a Slender fan, too), so I know I can't be just talking to nobody here.
It's hard to talk about the project, though, without giving stuff away. Let's just say I'm really going to put myself into it... and you'll all be shaking in fear.

Bad News...

Well, my family isn't taking Adele on the trip with us. So I'll be alone with my parents and my grandparents for a week. Ah well, an eight-year-old niece would have been company, but no less pathetic than me seeking company from other relatives of mine though.
I'm going to try and see if I can get my cousin to come with, though. There's a slight chance that he can come, but since his parents want to stay home he wouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving with them.
Useless holiday, Thanksgiving is.

To make this entry less than useless drivel to those who couldn't give a crap about my personal life, I'll make it worthwhile by posting a song by a band I sorta like. Keep an eye out for Danger Days by My Chemical Romance, which we'll probably hear a lot more of on the radio and stuff when it's out tomorrow.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Long-Forgotten Fairy Tales

I had to get some sleep early today, because I'm planning on going to a film release at midnight with some people. So, knowing how much trouble I have sleeping even when I am tired, tried to force it around 8:00. I think it was around 9:00 when I managed to actually fall into a light sleep, in a sweaty-and-feeling-gross way more than anything else. I woke up at the last track of the CD I'd been listening to in order to lull myself to sleep, knowing nothing about what I'd just dreamt other than that it wasn't a dream, per se. It was more just... thoughts. A weird, crazy rush of nonsensical thoughts. And being pulled out of that world and into a half-wakened state scared the hell out of me. Since I was still half-asleep though, I managed to pull myself back under again. Haha, bad idea. Being a zombie tomorrow would be better than deciding to get that last bit of dream.
I don't remember much. I was in bed, I think. Trying to cover my head with the sheets, but they were always being pulled away. There was some unholy light piercing through the curtains.
And then there was Miss Daggertooth just as I had seen her as a child, in all my nightmares when I was six years old. Her tiny, beady eyes and her rows and rows of teeth in that mouth that just hinges open on the neck...
Oh jeez, I'm scaring myself again.
Maybe I'll explain later. Maybe not.
But there's little hope of me getting any sleep, good or bad, for the next few days.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Surrealism at its Finest

Steeeeee-rike!
 Whether or not you like Japanese animation, Paranoia Agent is really worth watching, especially if you're interested in mystery, surrealism, intrigue, or suspense. Satoshi Kon, the late creator and visionary who dreamed up and directed this series, did a good job at setting it apart from everything else on the market. It's not filled with anime cliches, but it's also distinguishably anime style. It's too short to be considered a full series, but too long to be considered a miniseries or a movie divided into segments (much like how I see things like FLCL).

Cute, in a demented, trippy sort of way
 I don't want to give too much away for those interested, but I'll tell you this - social phenomena are a big part of the series, and it can be roughly, roughly described as the accounts of the victims of a boy who rides around on inline skates and attacks them with a bent baseball bat. It's got suspense to rival King and Hitchcock and more freakishly surreal and abstract ideas than a Lynch film can hold (er-maybe).
Don't let the premise turn you away from the series. As far as abstract art goes, you're not supposed to get it. Just follow along... it's several hours well-spent.

We all... fall... down!
On an unrelated note, I'm going to be leaving to go down south for the Thanksgiving holiday, most likely a few days starting next Tuesday. Whether or not Adele will be coming with or if David and Evelyn will put her in somebody else's care for a few days still isn't decided. Fingers crossed that Adele is coming with though.
As you might expect, my new blog that's just starting to get off its feet will be less active. I'll still try to update every day, but no promises.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

All We Can Hope for in Life is a Happy Ending

...Because that's the best we can get.

There is no immortality. The best we can hope for is to be happy as we die. Because what is life but dying slowly?

I had a weird-ass dream last night. No, there was no Slender Man in my dream, trolls. But I think it might help me with my upcoming art series. I might consider trying to get more sleep, too... four hours a night doesn't really help make your dreams feel pleasant.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Just got a call from David...

David is my older brother.
Well, apparently, David and Evelyn (that's his wife) are taking a month-long trip to Germany to see the sights and such. They'll be staying in Munich, and then to Stuttgart to meet with some of Evelyn's family members who live there. While I do wish I could go on such a trip, there is a plus side to them going. My niece, Adele, who's a really cool kid, is going to be staying with my family for the month that they're gone. The trip is planned for next week, so starting next Wednesday I'll be able to hang out with her for a while.
I've always wanted a younger sibling, really, but I've just had David who's ten years older than I am. So I guess I'll get the whole experience while Adele is staying with my family.

Until then, I'll keep my blog posted with the regular creepy stuff - I hope to start my new photography project sometime this week!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

In Which I Examine the Enigma Itself

Sorry about the little-more-of-Hamlet and less-than-Holden post last night - however, since I have no blog followers and this is more of a place to vent and write down my ideas, I won't bother removing it.

Now there is something that has been bothering me. For all you ARGers, all you internet junkies and horror fanatics, you'll know what I'm talking about. The Slender Man.

"We didn't want to go, we didn't want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time..."
What is it that makes us all fear this being?

Slender Man first appeared on the Something Awful forums, for a "create a paranormal image" thread.
But what can turn a tall, eldrich horror from a kidnapper and an arsonist into something strange and unknown, something usually nonviolent but surrounded by AV distortion, operator symbols, and health issues as seen in alternate reality games like Marble Hornets and EverymanHYBRID? Very seldom is Slender Man seen as a violent being, with the exception of places like Just Another Fool where it's hinted that he has actually killed and kidnapped people.
Yet this abomination still strikes fear into all of our hearts. Sleepless nights are spent thinking of what he is, not that he'll come after you. A man burning down buildings, stealing your children, murdering you. That's scary. But what's wrong about some cosmic stalker? At his worst, he's creeping in your room like Entry 14 of MH or episode 6 of EmH. Maybe there's the occasional blog where he's portrayed as some malevolent evil, but those aren't the ones that gain fame. Infamy, maybe, but what people want is the mystery that he is.
And why do we fear him? We all know he doesn't exist. He's no serial killer or sex offender. He's not a great white shark, or a coyote, or a wildfire, or a flood. He isn't bankruptcy or failure or death of a loved one.
All us ARG-writers, we play along, knowing that what we write and read isn't real. But yet we're more shaken than any horror film could shake us, more disturbed than any dream could disturb us.
Why do we fear him? Because he is fear itself. We fear what we cannot see. What we do not know. Could he be an arsonist? A killer? Sure. But what if he was something worse?
What if the worst he could do wasn't drive you mad... what if he was nothing? Everything?

That's my question to the world. What is Slender Man?

I'm sure that if we knew the answer we'd all get a lot more sleep at night.

Friday, November 12, 2010

To die; To sleep; To sleep perchance to dream

It's too late now to think of anything worthwhile.
...Nobody understands my art. It's been slammed, and my honor crushed. I've deactivated my old account on that site.
I need something real. Something that strikes emotion into people's hearts.

Fear; nightmares.

As the great writer H.P. Lovecraft said, in other words of course, fear is the oldest and most profound of all human emotions. If I can't create paranoia in terror...
I will strike fear into their hearts.
Burn.