C.K. Burch's Blog, page 321
December 20, 2013
southernsparkleandshine:
Dreamworks really needs to make a movie about the story of the little boy...
Dreamworks really needs to make a movie about the story of the little boy fishing on the moon, like who is he? Why is he on the moon? Did he ever catch a fish? There are the questions that have haunted me at the theaters since 1994.
I’m going out on a limb but I’m like 1000% sure it was 1996 when the first DreamWorks film, being The Peacemaker, was released, so if this has haunted you since two years before that film then buddy you’ve got a way bigger problem than a fishing moonkid on your hands
2014: Goals for Life, and How to Get Over Anxiety.
Don’t let the title mislead you into thinking I know how to get over anxiety, because I don’t. Really what I’m trying to do is figure out how to do that. Because what I’m doing is I’m trying to get myself out there as a writer, as an independent artist, and I keep stabbing myself in the foot by closing off my doors and walls and sequestering myself instead of finding ways to get out there.
This applies to life in general.
I’ve been depressed since April of this year. Only within the last couple of months have I really started to pull myself out of it. I drank everyday, I kept myself indoors as much as possible, I didn’t go out with friends and I hardly did anything nice for myself. I wrote, I went to work, I came home. Every other weekend I have my children and we sit around and play video games for three days straight until they go back to their mom, and I return to my shadow. It hasn’t been easy, or recognizable. It wasn’t as though I was aware of the fact that I was depressed; when you’re there, you don’t really know. Or maybe you do, and you just don’t know how to get over or out of it. My choice was drinking away the knowledge. I got drunk every single night from April to September, about which time I drastically decreased my alcohol intake. Literally every single night I was getting drunk. On the weekends I would clear through a 12 pack of Corona or Rolling Rock without question. So in September, sometime around my birthday on the 26th, after going a week without drinking, my body basically shut down while I was at work and I had a massive panic attack. I had another one recently. It wasn’t as bad, but that’s because I knew what it was as it came. The first one, I didn’t know. I freaked out. That made it worse. But the combination of depression, my mother’s death, a recent breakup, and the lack of alcohol all collided together and thus my whole body just gave up.
I have anxiety. Working in public service, or rather customer service, has lessened it to a degree over the years, but every time I approach someone new there’s a new tinge of sweat running down my sides, a flutter in my chest, a tearing noise in my head. I’ve learned how to introduce myself when I serve tables, how to talk to people, how to mask it. Every now and again I come across a situation where I don’t know what to do, and then everything freezes. It’s like running, but then there’s a concrete wall going high into the sky and pushing outward in all directions. How do you get over that?
Part of me hiding myself in my apartment is anxiety. Part of it is wanting relief from feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing. That’s really the root of anxiety for me: that I don’t know what I’m doing, and that whoever is watching me will judge me on my performance. As such, I’ve become a really hard worker in whatever job I’m doing, but I’m at the point where I don’t want to go to a daily job anymore. I’ve published three books, I’m editing my fourth, and I’m writing my fifth. Writers, like any artists, need to put time and effort into their craft to get noticed and to make money off of what they do. It’s just how it works. And I want to do that. Except then it happens: anxiety. Which, when one thinks about it logically, shouldn’t be a problem. After all, who’s watching me try and put myself out there in the field of novelists? No one. So no one can judge how I go about getting myself out there. And yet, there it is. Anxiety.
What I know about myself is that I do well when I know what do to. And I don’t know what to do, or how to go about it. And I also hate asking for help. It makes me feel small. I’ve learned how to do it, but I hate doing it. All I want to do is make it on my own, to show others that I can, and to make people who know me proud. But then I hide.
2014 is going to be about learning how to ask for help, and putting myself out on stage, and being more active. Online, offline, whatever. I need to be active. I’ve been hiding myself. I want to get out of this job and have the job I want to have: writing. I want to not have to go to a job so often that it denies me having time with my kids. I get them every other weekend simply because I need to work as often as I do. I’m certainly in a better paying job than I used to be, but I still have to work five to six days a week to be sure I can cover everything I need for me and for when my kids are here.
I don’t know shit about marketing. I don’t know how to get myself out there. But I’m going to learn. And I’m going to take care of myself better. I never really thought about my anxiety; I always figured I just get nervous sometimes and that’s all there is to it. But after being depressed for three quarters of the year and having two panic attacks, I’m starting to see it as something else entirely. Mental illnesses are still illnesses. You don’t get to just get over it because it’s in your head. That’s the hardest spot to reach: your head. Surgery won’t do it. Medicine sometimes will. But time helps and friends help. At least, that’s what I think. So I’m working on it.
Anyways, this is my little writing thoughts for the day, for the end of the year. If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and for those of you who’ve asked, sorry I haven’t done much more than reblog stuff in the last few months. Now you know why. I’d like to be more of a presence. So expect to hear a little bit more out of me.
Me on my way to steal yo woman
Me on my way to steal yo woman
Indiana Jones. Professor of archeology, expert on the occult,...
Indiana Jones. Professor of archeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it? Obtainer of rare antiquities.
December 19, 2013
thirddeadlysin:
rubyvroom:
romance-isnt-romantic:
mybygonevexa...
Gamespot’s response to the backlash that they, and the game’s reviewer Carolyn Petit, got for their review of GTAV
This is just perfect.
Gamespot just earned a shit ton of respect from me.
I don’t think I’ve seen a site as large as Gamespot actually say “Fuck you” to one of its users before. It was kind of appropriate here.
It’s disturbing the amount of video game critics I’ve recently seen retire or publicly distance themselves from the artform purely because of the awful elements amongst the fanbase.
Of course, this isn’t completely exclusive to the video game world. Take, for example, the movie reviewer who got death threats because he “ruined” Toy Story 3's Rotten Tomatoes score.
Once again, this all goes back to our On Demand culture. With news media programmed not to inform but rather to tell people what they want to hear and niche online communities designed to insulate people from ever hearing opinions different than their own, is it any wonder why folks no longer understand the actual definition of what a “critic” does?
Audiences ruin entertainment.
Holy shit. This is damn near masterful.
On top of the problem detailed above, about people getting used to being told what they already think (and responding to those holding different views with intense vitriol), is the one of many Media Makers coddling, ignoring or currying favor with the portion of their audience that does this. They might have a sense it’s their largest demographic, or because of their loud voice think they’re the bulk of their audience, or just feel unequipped to deal. The reasons are many, complex.
But the problem with supporting–possibly through inaction–that portion of an audience is that it makes the space you’re creating around your media unsafe for others with less severe opinions, less violent reactions, or those who are simply interested in looking at media/the world critically.
It’s great to see an arm of an entity as large as GameSpot directly confront what’s widely considered the standard attitude of “gamer culture” (which, yeah, reductive): angry, entitled, reactive. And it’s great to see them trying to clear a path so the community–and by their hopeful prediction, the industry–can grow. It’s a clear statement of critical intent, of what this part of GameSpot, at least, thinks games are for, and takes a good first step towards creating a safe space for people who want to engage with games as a medium of massive cultural impact (which is a group I’d like to think, though maybe I’m totally off on this, is larger than the group of loudmouth bloatbags).
Moral: it’s ok to not want shit heads in your audience.
Bravo.
Don’t even play video games, but this is an amazing call-out to the industry that actively dissuades me from even bothering with video games.
Completely warranted response.
I have to say that 9 out of 10 is really generous though, but it IS my pleasantly modulated opinion, and not vitriol.
Beautifully crafted response to what is a rampant problem in the community. I’m 100% on board with Rockstar having lost their grip on writing female characters. They can do it. I know they can. It is actually pretty damn lazy of them not to.
Also, the game is hardly 9/10.
It’s a 7 or an 8. Very well done, but with glaring issues that are swept under the rug because it is a well known game. I love V, but I also have come to expect quality from Rockstar. Were this a piece a student handed in to me for class I would have written at the top, “Talent does not equal results. Sweat a little next time.”
Good for you, Gamespot.
Also: this game came out this year? It already looks outdated. The character graphics in particular look like ass. 9 out of 10 was too generous.
In-game might look better but none of the graphics I’ve seen look like they came out of a more advanced engine than Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb in 2003. (STILL MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME AND I’M GONNA FUCKING BEAT IT SOME DAY. That goddamn kraken >:()
December 18, 2013
December 17, 2013
dduane:
pizzoner:
mayra-quijotesca:
trustisforfools:
mrspirit...
why aren’t these being reblogged more often?
i rather see these than “keys in hand”
Fatality
Umm so since I’m stupid could someone kindly explain each step for me like step 3 am i head butting him in the face or the chest?
I think it depends on the height of the person, but I suppose the head is a more effective target. I hope this helps :)
Step 1: Step back the moment he reaches for you.
Step 2: Duck!
Step 3: Head butt him in the chin. It’s very important that it is the chin and not the chest because it is much more uncomfortable and disorienting to have your teeth bang together especially if it cuts his tongue (which it will if it is in the way). More than likely height won’t matter. He will be leaning forward from the missed attempt at grabbing you.
Step 4: Knee him in the balls.
Step 5: When he doubles over, jab him on his back. I believe at the base of the neck just above the shoulder blades would be best. I’m not an expert, but this seems like the best place, imo.
Step 6: Don’t lose contact. Bring your other hand over and slam your hands against the sides of his heads as hard as possible. Right on the ears is the best place; it is extremely disorienting if done correctly. Then take his head and bring it down on your knee as you bring your knee up. It’s very important that you avoid the nose because if you knee his nose it will definitely break and more than likely the bones will stab his brain killing him, so aim for his mouth instead.
Step 7: Keep your knee up and bring your foot out to kick him over. Personally, I don’t like the image because it looks like she kicked him with her toes. You do not want to do that. Instead kick him with the ball or heel of your foot and put power behind it with a push.
Step 8: He is on the ground. You could probably stop here and he would get the picture, but if you really want to…Your leg is still in the air from the kick. With all your force slam the edge of your your heel on his side. It will be more effective if you lower your body first by bending at the knee of the leg your weight is on. Done right, you can break a rib or two.
reblogging again for that^
Reblogging for the steps in the image and the explanation in the comments. I don’t so much like the explanation on the image proper, but I appreciate the thought behind it (here, have a self-defense thing, it could save you) and so I’m passing it on.
yes
One other note here: the ear smash should be done with cupped hands. You want to maximize the difference in air pressure between the outer and inner ears. Popping both the attacker’s eardrums will give him/her something else to think about, believe me.
