Seether Concert

***SEETHER CONCERT***

Sometimes I feel like whenever I post a blog announcing my attendance at a concert, all I’m doing is stroking myself. It doesn’t help matters that I pad the text with potential ways in which these concerts could affect my creative life…even though most of the time they don’t. The last time it really did was when I went to the Pain in the Grass festival in 2016 and I wrote a heavy metal song about a drunken fool that sat next to me. Most of the time my concert experiences end up as life events on my Face Book page (now THAT’S what I call stroking myself). To be fair, though, I only post them that way because I don’t have a smart phone to take pictures and I don’t want to bring my digital camera into the mosh pit lest it gets smashed to pieces.

But it’s true, ladies and gentlemen: it’s that time again. This coming Tuesday, Seether is heading to Seattle’s Showbox SoDo and the bands that will open for them are 10 Years and The Dead Deads. I didn’t start listening to Seether until 2012 when they opened for Nickelback at the Tacoma Dome alongside Bush and My Darkest Days. The first Seether album I bought was their greatest hits collection from 2002 to 2013. My favorite songs back then were “Driven Under”, “Fine Again”, and their cover of Wham’s “Careless Whisper”. I also listened to Seether’s duet with Amy Lee called “Broken” on repeat when I came home from the movie theater after seeing Obselidia. Anyone who’s heard me talk about that movie knows it ripped my heart to shreds, so “Broken” was a more than appropriate song to soothe my feels. Seether has a reputation for soothing sorrowful and angry emotions. My collection of their CD’s is now complete and I’m ready for Tuesday.

I don’t have much else to say except for…I’m Garrison Kelly and I’ll see you next time! My brain decided to be in zombie mode today, so I don’t feel like doing a great deal of writing. On the positive side, I did get some reading done today. It won’t be long before I write a passing grade review of “Fifty Shames of Earl Grey” by Fanny Merkin (real name Andrew Shaffer). One reviewer accurately described this author as the Weird Al Yankovich of erotica. Who am I to disagree with him?

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“Whoever said this pain would ever go away didn’t know what it meant to be here without you. Is everything you see reminding you of me? Does it hurt when you breathe too? ‘Cause it does when I do. I hate to feel this way. My days all feel the same. And yesterday was proof that tomorrow will too. No matter what they say, can’t drink it all away, ‘cause all that I do is think about you. When anybody says your name, I want to run away. I keep remembering I can’t forget you. It doesn’t matter what I try, it happens anyways. It’s been forever and I can’t forget you. With every single day, it won’t go away, the way I feel about you. And when it’s said and done, you’re the only one. And I can’t regret you, ‘cause I can’t forget you. Stop haunting my dreams. Please set me free.”

-My Darkest Days singing “Can’t Forget You”-

Fan Fiction Group Therapy

***FAN FICTION GROUP THERAPY***

I know this blog entry will sound ironic considering my last one was about how I don’t want to take time to decompress after a negative event. But just because I don’t want to, doesn’t mean others can’t benefit from it. I don’t project my insecurities on other people. I will say, however, that I’ve never been part of a group therapy session before, but I imagine it’s a lot like an AA meeting or a prayer clique. Since this is my group therapy session we’re talking about, there will obviously be some differences. For refreshments, there won’t be juice and cookies. Juice and cookies? What is this, kindergarten? How about some of the good stuff for a change? Hot wings! Pizza! Cheeseburgers! No, they’re not healthy for you, but then again, neither is a sugar-frosted cookie with a billion calories in one serving. The juice also probably contains high fructose corn syrup, which is worse than sugar in many ways.

Why am I writing a blog about group therapy? Because in all my time of taking in fictional stories, I’ve seen a lot of characters who clearly need it. They’re fucked up, they’re tearful, and for some of them it may be too late, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. So here it is, ladies and gentlemen: my fan fiction group therapy roster. We’ll all get together and talk about our feelings while dining on something other than sugar and corn syrup.

***MILLENIUM: LANDON BRYCE***

I’ve beaten this topic to death in a previous blog entry where I incorporate Otherwise’s music into the canon. But that doesn’t make Landon Bryce’s induction into this group any less important. Look at him, he’s a wreck! He was held hostage by a lovey-dovey demon named Lucy Butler and brainwashed into believing that he was mediocre instead of brilliant. He could have gone places. He could have skyrocketed past the glass ceiling. Unfortunately, we never got to see future episodes of Millennium where Landon gets to rise above his kidnapping scenario. More than likely, if he believes the bullshit he was fed while he was being cuddled and kissed by Lucy Butler, then he’ll have a hard time holding down a job because he doesn’t believe in himself. He’ll also want to remain single because every woman he goes out with looks like Lucy in the end. Eat the cheeseburger, Landon. Eat it! It’s soul food!

***FINAL FANTASY VIII: SQUALL LEONHART***

If you’ve played this videogame before, you might admire Squall’s ability to give absolutely zero fucks about the people around him. No emotional attachments, no love interests, no friendships, just Squall Leonhart and a Linkin Park CD, though Linkin Park’s first album wouldn’t come out until a few years after Final Fantasy VIII. But really, can you blame Squall? He grew up in an orphanage and was left behind by the one person he thought he could trust: his older sister. He doesn’t want to get his heart broken again, so he tells the world to fuck off. Is anybody really that independent? Human beings are social animals by nature, so all of this wall-building has to make Squall lonely and depressed deep inside. He can fantasize about isolation all he wants, but even he wouldn’t be able to survive such an environment. Have a slice of pizza, Squall, and think about your future.

***FINAL FANTASY VII: CLOUD STRIFE***

He couldn’t save Aerith, he couldn’t save himself, and he still has no fucking clue what “Dilly Dally Shilly Shally” means. Not even the love of Tifa Lockhart can snap him out of his depressive funk. In fact, the two might be having marital issues that they can’t work out on their own, so perhaps group therapy will be Cloud’s saving grace. He’s got a lot to talk about whether it’s his past battles, his love triangle, or being washed up in a river full of toxic waste. And when he holds a chicken wing in his hand and tries to take a bite, the other group members will notice how aggressively his hand is shaking. It could be PTSD. It could be depression. Or it could be a case of not having anymore fucks to give.

***PINK FLOYD THE WALL: PINK FLOYD***

I’m talking strictly about the adult character in the movie, not the actual band members, although Roger Waters in particular could use some group therapy. But it’s true, the adult version of Pink just needs someone to talk to about his lost father or his abusive teacher or his cheating wife or his smothering mother. But instead, he builds a wall around himself and lets nobody in, not unlike Squall Leonhart. Within the confines of this wall, he goes bat shit insane and smashes his hotel room to pieces. How do you convince a guy with this much insanity to join a group therapy session? It’s not easy, but I hear the Sparkling Ices taste quite lovely, especially the out-of-stock green apple flavor.

***STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3: CODY TRAVERS***

Everything seemed to be going Cody’s way, especially in his original videogame Final Fight where he rescued his girlfriend Jessica and freed Metro City from the Mad Gear gang’s clutches. But then Cody was locked up in prison and transformed into a monster of a human being by the harsh system. He escaped twice as muscled and half as emotional. He doesn’t want his old girlfriend back. He doesn’t even want to rekindle his friendships with Guy and Haggar. All he wants in this world is the thrill of combat and then he’ll kindly step back behind the jail bars. If he does join group therapy, it’ll most likely be the judge’s order, though it’s hard to say no when a plate of steamed spinach is waiting for you.

***OBSELIDIA: GEORGE***

I’ve also talked about George in another blog entry, but to bring you up to speed, he starts out in the movie thinking love is obsolete since it’s just chemicals in the brain fucking with you. He worked in a library and a female customer flirted with him only to be turned down for that specific reason. And then George meets his philosophical equal in Sophie and the anti-love myth is dispelled forever…at least until Sophie is revealed to already have a boyfriend by the movie’s end. Poor George. Poor, poor George. Have a seat next to Cody and enjoy a chicken wing. The chicken wing doesn’t mind that your heart is shattered into a million pieces. In fact, the worse condition your heart is in, the better it is for the chicken companies!

***THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER: CHARLIE***

All this high schooler wanted was a circle of friends he could share is life with. He gets everything he wants and more when he meets step-siblings Patrick and Sam. Charlie falls head-over-heels for the lovely lady Sam, but is careful to keep his distance because he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. He almost gets kicked out of the group permanently and that alone would have warranted group therapy. But then he regains the keys to the kingdom and is dragged out of the shadows by Sam. The two begin to have sex, but then Charlie has repressed flashbacks of being molested by his aunt and is rushed to a hospital. By the time he recovers, Sam and Patrick are off to college and Charlie still has more high school to complete. He’s both “happy and sad at the same time”. Pull up a chair, Charlie. It’s going to be along road.

***CONCLUSION***

There will be tears. There will be shakes. There will be pain. But most importantly, there will be recovery. That’s what I want for all of these fictional characters. But I refuse to end our sessions with the famous speech about “the wisdom to know the difference”. They already know what they can and can’t change and what they can and can’t accept. If they want a bright future, they have to fight for it. If you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you, as said by Daniel Bryan on an episode of Smackdown when he was medically cleared for in-ring competition again. Part of this fight for the future includes unleashing a shit ton of pent-up rage. So after every meeting, we’ll stand up and let the growling sounds of Max Cavalera’s voice wash over us as he sings “Blood Fire War Hate” by Soulfly. Say it with me! “Blood! Fire! War! Hate! Blood! Fire! War! Hate!” Feels good, doesn’t it? Hell, some of these characters might end up joining a metal band, so they might as well get used to saying it. I’m Garrison Kelly and I’ll see you next time!

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“Someday, somehow, I’m gonna make it alright, but not right now. I know you’re wondering when. You’re the only one who knows that.”

-Nickelback singing “Someday”-

Unrequited Love Stereotype, or "That Guy"

***UNREQUITED LOVE STEREOTYPE, OR “THAT GUY”***

In all my time of surfing the internet, I never knew the Urban Dictionary could actually be educational on some occasions. I thought it was just a safe haven for swear words and sex terms like “See You Next Tuesday”, or the clearly made-up “Quaker Cum Meal” (if you don’t know what that is, I’m not going to tell you). The other day when I surfed the Urban Dictionary, I typed in the words “Unrequited Love” and the results were mildly depressing. It’s basically when you love someone (or have a crush on them) and they don’t love you back (either because they don’t know you or don’t give a damn). Every celebrity crush in the world is an example of unrequited love. Every damn one.

When I was going to Western Washington University from 2007 to 2009, my source of unrequited love was Tarja Turunen, the former lead singer from Nightwish. I set the bar pretty high for myself and was let down when my stubby arms couldn’t reach it. So naturally I assumed every local crush was just as high on the bar as well. I wrote tons of essays and poems dedicating my love to this opera metal diva, but I tiptoed around the language used to write them because I didn’t want to be...that guy. I didn’t want to be the stereotypical 300 pounder with a Princess Leia poster on my wall, a Tifa Lockhart photo for a desktop screen, and a sorrowful attitude towards romance. I tried hard not to be an embarrassing version of…that guy. So I kept it all on the inside most of the time.

You know what happens to people who are…that guy, right? Well, the minute they bear their feelings to the world, some yo-yo will sit them down, pat them condescendingly on the shoulder, and give them a familiar speech we’ve all grown tired of. “You know, Garrison…Japan had an earthquake, Haiti had an earthquake, there’s mass starvation in Africa, there’re wars going on in Afghanistan and Iraq…and you’re crying over chicks?” Granted, some of those travesties are dated in today’s world, but you’ve heard that speech, I’m sure. Folks, not one time has anybody thought of worldwide earthquakes and immediately felt like a million bucks about their own problems. The author of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” makes this clear in his novel (read it, damn you!).

If someone who has been labeled…that guy gets any kind of reward for his awkward and depressing behavior, it will be because of sympathy and no other reason. I didn’t want that for myself either. If I ever decide to date again, I want it to be with someone who genuinely thinks I’m a cool person, not because they feel like they have to. When a girl feels like she has to, it’s not a sign of a healthy relationship. Nobody is obligated to date anybody for any reason, and that’s the way it should be, quite honestly.

Even now, I don’t talk about unrequited love these days because I’m still fighting the urge to be…that guy. I used to talk about it a lot whenever I’d blog about dreams I’ve had or music I’ve listened to. Not anymore. It got old after a while and I had successfully become…that guy. So what happens to people when they refuse to become…that guy and they still don’t have it in them to approach their love interests? They become indifferent to romance. Every once a while the urge will come back, but ultimately, indifference takes over.

If you’d like to know how hard someone has to work to not be…that guy, do me a favor. Get on your computer, smart phone, or smart TV and type in Netflix (or some other movie streaming service). In the search engine, type in the movie “Obselidia” and you’ll find out all about your precious unrequited love. I did a review on this movie once, but I didn’t give away any spoilers. Well, just for this journal, I’m going to spoil the movie for you, so if you enjoy surprises, skip this part of the blog.

George is an introverted librarian who has tasked himself with keeping an encyclopedia of all things obsolete (hence the title “Obselidia”). He even believes romance is obsolete as evidenced by the way he turns down a date from a customer at the library. He’s lonely, but doesn’t want to admit it. And then as part of his research for his encyclopedia, he meets a projectionist named Sophie, who is all bubbles and smiles when it comes to the world. The two of them go on a trip to Death Valley together and get an earful from an environmentalist who believes climate change will destroy our world sooner than later (it actually might, I’m not doubting him).

George is ready to include the whole planet in his encyclopedia, but spending more and more time with Sophie brings the positivity out of him that he needed. They get back to the city and George finally musters up the courage to bring Sophie flowers and confess his love. But when he arrives at her apartment, some guy in the background says, “Who is it, sweetie?” George barricades himself in his own home and refuses to answer Sophie’s pleading messages on his machine. In this one moment of unrequited love, Sophie has managed to squeeze George’s eyeballs dry of tears like she was making the most sorrowful pitcher of orange juice.

Unrequited love is basically a catch 22. If you don’t talk about it, you get hurt. If you do talk about it, you get hurt. Nobody would have blamed George if he sheltered himself forever, yet he manages to keep the positive attitude he gained from his experiences with Sophie. It makes perfect sense as a movie ending, but brain chemistry doesn’t always work like that in the real world. And that’s really all romance is: brain chemistry with an addictive reward system. When you get one kiss from a pretty girl, you want more. And when you don’t get more, you get withdrawal. And when you get withdrawal, you try your hardest not to become…that guy.

***WEEKLY SHORT STORY CONTESTS AND COMPANY***

I’ve been waiting forever for an excuse to write the following short story. Now that the prompt is “butterfly”, I’ve got to strike while the iron is hot. This story is a combination of the WWE Divas Revolution in 2015 and life with cats that I currently have or have taken care of in the past. My mom calls our cats divas all the time (because of how often they want attention), so this short story will be called “Divas”. It goes like this:

CHARACTERS:

1. Piper, Divas Champion
2. Tori, Leader of the Supermodel Kitties
3. Stitches, Enforcer for the Supermodel Kitties
4. Calypso, Rookie from the Supermodel Kitties
5. Willem, Schipperke Referee

PROMPT CONFORMITY: The Divas Championship belt has a butterfly design on it.

SYNOPSIS: In a pro-wrestling organization where the female wrestlers are humanoid cats, Piper is defending her Divas Championship against Tori at a pay-per-view main event. Piper has held the championship for over a year on the platform of making her dreams come true and being a role model for young cats. During their rivalry, the Supermodel Kitties have made Piper’s life miserable by calling her “Piper-Diaper” and other childish middle school names. With Stitches and Calypso to serve as ringside distractions, Piper could very well lose her championship to Tori and disprove the idea that all dreams come true.

***FACE BOOK POST OF THE DAY***

(Here’s an interaction I’d like to see happen on WWE Monday Night Raw.)

MICHAEL COLE: And here comes Bayley for her one-on-one match!

COREY GRAVES: Keep your hands above the table, Saxton!

BYRON SAXTON: That’s not PG.

Obselidia

MOVIE TITLE: Obselidia
DIRECTOR: Diane Bell
YEAR: 2010
GENRE: Drama
RATING: PG-13 for language
GRADE: Pass

George is a librarian who moonlights as a cataloguist for obsolete and nostalgic items, all of which he hopes to document for a book he’s putting together. He even goes so far as to believe love is obsolete and therefore leads the lonely life of being single. When he meets a beautiful projectionist named Sophie, she tries to get him to come out of his shell as the two of them venture to Death Valley to interview a climate change scientist for George’s book. The ideas of love and the apocalypse collide in a debate about how we should spend our last minutes on earth if they truly are that. Will George live the rest of his life in isolation or will he believe in the power of love humans can give each other? Does he have anything in his heart for Sophie?

The three major themes of this movie (living life to the fullest, romance, and nostalgia) intertwine perfectly with each other as they try to bring George and Sophie together as a romantic couple. With nostalgia, they bond over how the past used to be a happy and simpler time, when technology wasn’t going berserk and people paid attention to each other. With living life to the fullest, they get hard hitting cynicism from the climate change scientist who believes all happy experiences will be erased because of humankind’s sins against the earth. With romance, it’s the classic tale of a socially awkward guy like George shying away from a flirtatious girl like Sophie. With the scientist feeding him all of this negativity, George has to struggle to believe in the power of love when Sophie tries to get in his social bubble.

Near the end of the movie, we ask ourselves if George’s struggle to suppress his inner negativity is worth it. While he does realize how the power of love can make someone happy, he also realizes how it can break his heart. While I won’t give away any spoilers, I will say that Sophie does break George’s heart in the end and he’s sobbing to himself in the comfort of his own home looking at pictures of their vacation together in Death Valley. That is such a powerful image that the audience watching has no choice but to question their own capacity for romantic love. This may not have been the message the movie was trying to send, but to my way of thinking, in this 50-50 bet between happiness and heartache, I was leaning towards heartache. I was so heartbroken and touched by the movie’s end that I spent the rest of the night listening to Seether’s cover of Wham’s “Careless Whisper”.

The best part about this movie is that it encourages the audience to ask questions instead of mindlessly conforming to a singular principal. If the world ends tomorrow, how will we spend our last hours on earth? Is romantic love worth all the struggles or does it lead to easy cynicism? Should we all love each other before it truly is indeed too late? Should we have as many experiences as we can despite the huge risk attached to them? Finding the answers to these questions takes a lot of courage and living with the answers is even scarier than that. Some people become so saddened by the answers that they resort to isolation or even worse, suicide. In the end, positivity will save us. It will get us through the hardships whether they’re in a personal relationship or part of a global crisis. If you’re going to attempt to answer these questions, make sure you do it without regret. Otherwise, temporary heartache will feel like permanent torture.

　

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“I love the way that your heart breaks with every injustice and deadly fate.”

-Flyleaf singing “Again”-

Love Stories

Being lonely sucks. Being in a dysfunctional relationship sucks. Breaking up sucks. And yet despite all of these aspects of relationships sucking, we continue to seek love in the strangest places. For me, I look for them in the stories I soak in whether they’re from books, movies, or songs. But when I choose a romantic medium to hold near and dear to my heart, I don’t want it to be cheesier than a Domino’s Pizza. Step down and shake it off, Harlequin, you don’t belong here. I hate to say this, but Fifty Shades of Grey and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty don’t belong here either despite having their own posts on this blog. To my way of thinking, stories where two star-crossed lovers run in each other’s arms and fuck passionately in a perfect agreement is fake romance. I can’t relate to anything that’s perfect because I am not a perfect person. On the contrary, I’m a shy recluse who wants a relationship with a woman, but can’t ask for one because of my social barriers. Those are the stories I want to involve myself with: the shy guy or shy girl being wooed by someone who sees through their social awkwardness. Pretty much every movie I’ve seen at the art theater in Tacoma called The Grand Cinema has this premise from Safety Not Guaranteed to Mud to The Silver Linings Playbook to my absolute favorite so far, Obselidia. The latter of these four movies really yanked at my heart strings. In case you’re not familiar with this independent masterpiece, it’s about a lonely librarian named George who thinks love is obsolete since babies can be made artificially and sex is disposable. And then he meets a cinema projectionist named Sophie, who shows him that loving each other is what makes the world work. Sounds like a perfect premise, right? Not so fast, pacho. By the movie’s end, George visits Sophie’s house to deliver flowers and there’s a male voice in the background that says, “Who is it, sweetie?” Needless to say, George was heartbroken. I’d even dare say that he cried relentlessly over this turn of events. Mere moments after walking out of that movie theater with my parents, I got in the car and started listening to a cover of “Careless Whisper” by Seether on my MP3 player. When you combine Obselidia with Seether, your heartstrings will not only be tugged at, but it’ll be done with the force of a tow truck. Want some other combinations? How about The Sessions and Toto? A Late Quartet and The Moody Blues? The possibilities are endless when it comes to looking for ways to break your own heart. Even Harry Potter has elements of realistic romance, which is more than anybody can say about the Twilight series, as long as we’re continuing the war between those two canons. Hehe! War and cannons. I swear that was an accident. The point I’m trying to make is that if you’re looking for cheese, go to an Italian restaurant and order a pizza. If you want real romance that actually inspires and saddens at the same time, look for media that doesn’t have a Mary-Sue identity. To close this out with a bang, even Five Finger Death Punch is capable of realistic romance with the song “Walk Away”. Suck on that, Harlequin! Actually, don’t do that, it’ll just turn into a cheesy sex scene if you do.

　

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“I feel so unsure as I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor. As the music dies, something in your eyes calls to mind the silver screen and all its sad goodbyes. I’m never gonna dance again, ‘cause guilty feet have got no rhythm. Though it’s easy to pretend, I know you’re not a fool. I should have known better than the cheat a friend and waste the chance that I’ve been given. So I’m never gonna dance again the way I danced with you.”

-Seether singing “Careless Whisper” by Wham!-