Yeah. Let’s not look at the goals I set for this past week. Homework with son, puzzles, and tax stuff were the only accomplishments. It took me all week to write one chapter section because of what I’m going to get into in a bit. Biking happened once and I paid for it in spades later. Everything just kind of fell apart . . . Those who pay attention to me on Facebook probably know why.
Even now, I’m exhausted and struggling to stay awake. It’s only 8:30 PM on Friday night too. Didn’t take Zzzquil or these Ashwagandha gummies either. This is all physical and mental exhaustion from a long week. I’m hoping to still be asleep when this post goes live, especially since it’s single digits around here. No desire to get out of bed when it’s so cold out. Now, what went wrong?
Last weekend wasn’t as relaxing as I’d hoped. An encounter on Saturday stressed me out and then I got news about a schedule change on Sunday. My nerves were already at their peak, but this may have caused another odd snap. It’s clear that I’ve got insomnia because I can’t stay asleep for longer than 4-4.5 hours. Even with Zzzquil, I’m waking around 2 or 3 AM and not falling asleep again. The problem is that my mind starts racing and I have a weird anxiety issue. It’s not even panic attacks right now. All I can say is that I can’t tone my mind down enough to go back to bed. Five nights in a row and I’m hitting Friday night like a zombie.
I couldn’t get an appointment with my doctor, but I think I know what’s going on. The anxiety is only happening at night when I wake up. This makes me think it’s a cortisol level issue. Cortisol is a hormone that comes from the adrenal gland and it increases with stress. It also rises as you sleep and is supposed to be what gently wakes you up. If you go to bed with high levels then you can get panicked awake, which seems to be what is happening to me. Within an hour or two of being awake, I’m no longer anxious, but I’m physically drained. I’m hoping the Zzzquil and Ashawa . . . Winter Cherry gummies help me here. Probably see the results in the comments.
Thanks to the sleeping issues, I didn’t do much beyond work and parenting. I did show my son ‘Blazing Saddles’ and ‘The Fifth Element’ last weekend. That was before the chaos started. Once the week began, I focused on getting through the important things like work and helping my son. Television was watched as I fell asleep. I tried to relax by finishing a puzzle, which you’ll see in the collection tomorrow. Don’t think my body and mind needed much of an urge to get into bed. There was one night where I mustered the energy to finish a chapter section I attempted last weekend. It was driving me nuts for a while, so I felt like I had to. Unfortunately, all of that is what I have to report as far as my week.
This week is looking to be just as busy too. My goal is to finish chapters 6 and 7 of Darwin & the Demon Game this weekend. We’ll see if I can because a lot will depend on my sleeping ability and what I’m taking. It’s only 5 sections though, so it should be doable. For some reason, writing seems to drain me more than anything else, so I’m going slow. It might be that I can only write one book per school year. Not a great concept, but it isn’t like I’m looking to publish any year . . . decade . . . This issue really does sting lately.
The wind is howling right now, so I don’t see much of a reason to go outside. That means more writing time though. Another thing that keeps killing me is the weather. I don’t know why bad weather is now making me feel like I’m about to die. It was never like this before. Breathing becomes labored and my sinuses ache every time it rains or gets really cold. I can’t figure it out. Keep wondering if my bout of covid in the summer did more damage than I realized. The symptoms do mimic the long covid I was limping through for a few months. It’s possible that I still have it, but it doesn’t show up unless I push myself too far for too long. No way to really figure that out from what I can tell.
Well, that’s really it. Anxiety and sleeping issues were the major events of the week. I hope next week is better. Only time will tell. So, what are the goals?
- Get a few good night’s sleep.
- Help my son study for two tests.
- Write more Darwin & the Demon Game.
- Finish the April posts.
- Order those books from the library.
- Start the Bowser Lego Set.
- Watch more ‘Fruits Basket’.
- Find a way to be more interesting next weekend.
Legends of Windemere 
Take care and stay warm. News seems to think it will warm back up over the weekend.
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Thanks. It’s going to stay cold here for a while. I have to go out in it to get to my doctor. Not doing too hot right now.
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Nasty cold weather always makes me want to take a nap!
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Thankfully, it’s not nasty. Just really cold.
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Hope the sleep issues get better, Charles. That really makes everything else harder.
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Thanks. I might have to go on anxiety meds at this point.
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Glad you are going to the doctor. Maybe there is an answer there.
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Apparently, the answer is medication. Not too happy with this.
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I’m a product of big pharma and the only reason I’m still here.
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It’s anxiety meds though. Those feel like a different kettle of cows than other meds.
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I like that statement “Kettle of Cows” Yes they are.
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I have two weeks before I’m supposed to start, so maybe I can fix things before that.
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Best wishes for that.
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Thanks.
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I’m sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with anxiety recently. Trust me, I’ve had bouts of that which lasted for a few days at times.
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This has been going on since January 4th. Doctor wants to put me on Lexapro soon. I’m not sure about it because mind meds and I tend to have issues.
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I didn’t realize it went on that long. I haven’t been as active with blogging this year so far given how busy I’ve been and dealing with other priorities, so I’m not aware of all the blogs I’ve been following. Hopefully, you can make a good recovery.
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I haven’t been that clear on the issue until recently. I’ve always had anxiety issues. Things just got amped up right after the new year. Thanks for hope.
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Okay. Thanks for clarifying. I didn’t know you had anxiety issues that were this frequent. While I was never officially diagnosed, I do wonder if I had it at times. Sometimes, I had to vent online (sadly, you’ve seen that in some posts and in previous comment conversations) like how I recently ranted about the shallowness and hypocrisy of this idiotic Sky High/MHA plagiarism controversy for example. No problem. I don’t want to be guilty of toxic positivity (not that it’s an issue with my personality), but I still wanted to encourage you in some way.
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You might. Just looked at the Sky High/MHA thing. Being someone who enjoys both, I think those claiming plagiarism are stretching. A powerless hero isn’t anything new either. Heck, just look at Batman and earlier versions of Captain America. Will technically isn’t even powerless since his powers just appeared later in life. Midoriya was given power and part of the story was that his body wasn’t ready to handle it. People really don’t think things entirely through here.
Frustrating thing aside from that is the thought of going on meds is making my anxiety worse. Figures.
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That could be a possibility with the whole anxiety thing.
I knew you liked MHA, but I didn’t know if you saw Sky High or not. Good observation about powerless heroes and I do agree. Same with superhero schools because that’s been done before with an 80s cartoon called Hero High or most obviously X-Men for example. I was shocked that there wasn’t much pushback and it just proved me write that if something were to exist after a Disney IP, then it will be called a rip-off with no questions asked. I called out the hypocrisy from that fandom, mention how those similarities aren’t enough to warrant plagiarism, used counter-examples to show the double standards of how certain stories are treated, and even used some of their own talking points against them. I swear people were overreacting when that live-action movie was announced, and there are worse things to complain about in this world. Can’t you tell I’m so jaded with so many fandoms?
That makes sense and I can only imagine that kind of frustration with that being a possibility with the meds.
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X-Men have been rocking the school setting since the 1960’s. You’ve also got the Umbrella Academy and DC Superhero girls. The school setting for superheroes didn’t start with Sky High, which means the people arguing are limited in their exposure. I think a big part of it is that people like to bash the MHA fandom, which has a good amount of toxicity at times. So, there’s an odd ‘dog pile’ on the series that goes on the last couple of years.
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Absolutely and I’m aware the comics have been around since that time period. I haven’t thought about Umbrella Academy or DC Superhero Girls, but I get your point. I was baffled by the people who treat it like Sky High invented those tropes, especially since the X-Men movies were still happening when that movie came out or assuming MHA has the same story, characters, or plot points. I wasn’t aware that the MHA fandom had toxicity to it. What does frustrate me is that this Sky High fandom is doing this unchecked just because of what Netflix is going to do. To be fair, they need to stop the live-action remake madness, but the Disney fandom are living in glass houses because it’s not hard for me to counter those arguments. Alas, they will say “But that’s different!”, “Sky High existed first, so it’s automatically better!”, or “They don’t steal from anyone.” as some kind of flimsy defense. They really need to touch grass or at the very least read a book or do something constructive. There are more important issues to talk about much like how you talked about anxiety and mental health.
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I didn’t hear about what Netflix is doing. It’s funny how Americans are so upset about the live-action stuff too. In Japan, they do live-action, stage versions, and other stuff with no complaints. True, it tends to be bad here. Still, the Kenshin and FMA live-action movies were great. Maybe Netflix should just get the Japanese to do it.
I’m surprised there’s a big Sky High fandom too. It was only one movie from a while back.
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I first heard about the controversy because of that announcement where people made a ton of comments about Sky High which caused it to be a top 5 trending topic a couple of months ago on Twitter. No, I don’t have an account, but I saw it after looking at someone else’s tweets. I do understand the frustration especially after the announcements of Yu Yu Hakusho and One Piece getting the live-action treatment on Netflix. The Kenshin example is something I’ve been avoiding because Nobuhiro Watsuki (the creator) is canceled to me after I found out he did something despicable and got a soft punishment for it, but that conversation is for another day. The Japanese creators and filmmakers should handle this as a partnership if Netflix is interested since they know what they are doing most of the time with their stories and we don’t need any clueless Americans who only see them as a way to get a quick buck.
Same here. When I saw it trend, I wondered if it became some random cult hit all of a sudden and they treated it like it was some obscure indie film that was more influential than people give it credit for. Also, am I the only person who notices that when a foreign work comes out after some American movie, people thrash and stab it to no end, but when it predates an American movie or series, then those same people become armchair copyright legal experts while making millions of justifications of what they like isn’t a work of theft or say that said older work shouldn’t be “weaponized” against the succeeding IP?
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I remember seeing Sky High trending, but never looked into it. At least, I don’t think I did. I might have checked, rolled my eyes, and gone about my business.
Yeah, I know about the Nobuhiro Watsuki. I read the manga and watched the shows and movies. I also read that the stuff he owned was bought before it became illegal, which is why he got the soft punishment. It’s still messed up. I tend to divide the artist from the art too after a certain amount of time has passed. I loved the Kenshin story and even have a reverse-blade sword. I see lessons in there about not killing and finding redemption, which I use in my own stories at times. I just won’t buy any new stuff though.
I’m torn on ‘One Piece’ since it’s one of my favorites. Oda is involved in it as an advisor, which is different from ‘Death Note’ and ‘Bebop’. So, I’m not sure if it will be as bad as those two. I can already see that they went with the nationalities of the characters that he mentioned in one of his Q&A sections. The guy heading the live-action has even said that he’s constantly communicating with Oda in Japan to make sure they aren’t making mistakes. This could change once Netflix execs get involved, but I going to take a little hope from that.
I’ve noticed the copyright thing too. The thing is that copyrights aren’t international. A person in another country can copy a foreign work. It becomes a gray area when they claim inspiration from it too. The reality is that everything is inspired and based on something beforehand. There has never been anything truly original in hundreds of years and I’m being generous there.
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I see. I don’t blame you if you rolled your eyes because the tweets got ridiculous as they were thrashing MHA and praising Sky High like it was the most original movie in the world.
I didn’t know if you knew about Watsuki’s crimes. It was very messed up because I used to be a big fan of Kenshin and I even had the Samurai X prequel OVAs on DVD back then. There were some good lessons in the anime, but it is tough for me to separate the art from the artist at that level. At least it’s good that you’re not buying the new stuff and Viz even dropped the license for the Hokkaido Arc once the news broke out.
I did hear that Oda was going to be involved. One Piece seems like a bizarre choice given the art style and how it’s been going on for decades with both the anime and manga. It makes me wonder that they would be forced to make an original ending if it’s going to be a long-running live-action series or movie project because you have the need for a massive budget given the powers involved and to potentially use makeup or effects to minimize aging for the actors. I’m not sure how this is going to work and how it could be just as bad as the butchered 4Kids dub of that series. [Shudders]
Okay. It’s a huge double standard when Disney can copy from someone else, but apparently no one else can if the situation was reversed. I’m trying not to repeat myself with a painfully obvious example I’ve brought up before which puts the hypocrisy in sharp relief, but I will say that some people to overestimate how original something is. Even Hamlet (yes, I’m obviously sidestepping said obvious example) didn’t invent fratricidal uncles taking over kingdoms since Shakespeare “remade” the Scandinavian story Amleth to make that famous play or you can go back to the Osirian epic for some of those plot points. I guess it only counts when certain people get to be “original” or get all the credit and inspiration.
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I tend to find it fairly easy to separate most authors from the art. My take on it was summed up pretty nicely in a Reddit response I saw on Watsuki. My bond with stories tend to be with the characters and their adventure. Most times, I don’t even remember the author’s name and they’re not a factor in my love of the series. If I didn’t know we were talking about Kenshin, I wouldn’t have recognized the guy’s name. So, I have no problem introducing my son to the anime and manga because I think he’ll enjoy the characters and lessons that they will teach him.
Oda does seem to be heavily involved. I think ‘One Piece’ is an obvious choice due to its longevity. Netflix is banking on it being a juggernaut in the anime industry, which is probably why they’re being more careful than with Death Note and Bebop. I don’t think they’re going to make a fake ending though. Then again, if they only do one season per year, the manga might end first. It’s in the final saga from what I’ve read. This season is East Blue. I’m guessing they’ll have plenty more after that to get through. Dressrosa, Whole Cake, and Wano would each be a single season.
We really do keep coming back to Lion King and Kimba. Every time. You do point out a problem though. Disney copies others or at least takes inspiration, but then they get angry when someone does the same to them. It’s corporate hypocrisy when the reality is that people should be allowed to draw from any inspiration within reason. Of course, the fans of one story will immediately see the others as a threat. Disney is particularly bad about this because they get their fans to attack any ‘threats’. I’m half-expecting them to get their fans to call ‘One Piece’ a copy of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.
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Is that so? I feel I have to separate them if the situation is bad enough, not just because of some moral things, but also to shield myself from any fandom shaming if it happens. That’s just how I see it after being fandom shamed in the past before and not having a counter-attack for any of those arguments. it was tough because I remember watching Kenshin on Toonami at my grandmother’s house or at a friend’s place since I didn’t have cable then.
Yeah, I heard he has a decent amount of creative control or at the very least some consulting sway over the project. That is a plus, so don’t get me wrong, but I wonder if his massive anime series is going to translate well in a live-action form. They are on the final stretch in the manga? Oh, wow! Sometimes I get a bit skeptical, but if it’s true, then I hope the ending goes well. I’m sure you heard that “One Piece is halfway done” meme for years now if you’ve been following it for a long time. Haha!
And that’s why I wasn’t going to name names even if it was such a frusratingly obvious counterpoint to the MHA/Sky High controversy. However since you brought it up, you can even add the movie Ringing Bell to that list because that anime movie involves no human characters and the main character’s parent is murdered by a dark-furred scarred animal 16 years before Disney made it cool. Hahahaha! Nobody should be telling me that Midoriya is an anime clone of Will from Sky High when they wouldn’t dare call characters like Scar or Kida from Atlantis copies of Claw and Nadia respectively. Also, people who think TLK plays out even remotely like Hamlet clearly haven’t seen or read that Shakespearean work which I’ve noticed from more people than I thought. With that said, I’m glad you see my point about that problem with IPs and when they are released. Thanks for noticing that hypocrisy from the corporation and the fanbase. That’s a good way of wording it by seeing these other works (whether preceding or coming after) whatever Disney makes as “threats”. I see their silence on fans ripping apart whatever as low-key encouraging them to troll others. Yes, I know Makoto Tezuka (Kimba’s creator’s son) said that people shouldn’t weaponize Kimba (I hope he wasn’t pressured into saying that), but that argument should apply to Sky High although I have never seen any American make a statement like that to ANYONE. Wow, I hope that’s not the case of people thinking One Piece stole from Pirates of the Caribbean even though Luffy could take Jack Sparrow down. It’s no wonder I don’t consider myself a fan of several things even if I like them because that only adds to my anxiety or anger at times.
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I don’t interact with fandoms. So it isn’t a concern. I find those types of sites to always be toxic and filled with fighting more than worthwhile discussion. I only talk to friends about the things I like.
There are going to be translation issues. Things will have to be cropped and altered. That’s the nature of book to film adaptations. Even the other way around changes thing with more character thoughts and extra scenes. I’ll be watching it with my son, so that might be the thing that keeps me into it. He’s happy with anything One Piece.
I don’t put anything passed fans. I’ve seen Twilight fans call Bram Stoker a copycat. I’ve heard Potterheads accuse Tolkien of copying Dumbledor. Fandoms tend to be have a loud contingent of sheltered idiots.
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Good on you for not interacting with fandoms. That will definitely help your mental health in the long run. I’ve seen the pettiness and bickering from a lot of those forums, sites, reviewer videos, etc. It’s hard to like things and I do that with things I like even if they aren’t obvious unless one knows me.
Of course, and that’s going to be inevitable. Not everything can or will be 100% in line with the source material and it’s not the director’s fault all the time. Do I and others still have suspicions about a live action One Piece? Absolutely, but all we can do is hope for the best even if I lost track of Oda’s work a long time ago. At least I have the reviews of quality anibloggers to go off of with the recent arcs and movies.
Oh my god, I can’t handle the stupidity of these comments like those examples you brought up! How can people say stuff like this and not get questioned about it? It’s no wonder I went off when I reviewed Gasaraki and the 1996 Hamlet film adaptation because of stupid Evangelion rip-off accusations with the former and that brief aforementioned example in the latter. Maybe I should make my blogging hiatus longer just for my own mental health. To be fair, I have been reading a lot and doing my best to learn languages which has helped because I’m not some person who spends all day on the internet looking at movies or anime. Side note: Ringing Bell is such an underrated animated tragedy work that does a great job using elements of trauma bonding and the cycle of vengeance as major motifs. It also doesn’t help getting accused of being pretentious just because I know about obscure international works or I show my work that I read some academic articles or serious nonfiction books with some posts.
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I’ve found that it’s better to interact with fans I’m already friends with. There’s a better understanding and less chance of drama.
Oh, I’m still suspicious of the One Piece thing. I also know it won’t be as good as the anime and manga. That’s not going to be possible due to the medium and time frame. I’m assuming 10-13 episodes to cover East Blue Arc, which is Alvida through Loguetown. I’m ask cautious ever since Bebop had a decent first episode and then went off the rails at the second one. Felt like they set a trap there.
Never did see Gasaraki. I have noticed that mecha fandoms tend to accuse each other of copying. They’re definitely high on the weird scale at times b
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That’s true and I’ve noticed that with real-life friends who are fans of the same things I am or at the very least some bloggers I respect.
Same here and I understand your suspicions of this upcoming live-action One Piece project. I don’t expect it to be as good as either version. I haven’t seen the Bebop remake, but I heard it derailed quickly.
It’s a more obscure work, so I don’t expect a lot of people to have seen Gasaraki. yes, there were EVA clones in the 90s and 00s, but Gasaraki wasn’t one of them. I’m not some person who thinks everything is a ripoff and I made that clear by pointing out several differences when I made that post as a way to destroy a potential perception I got as a reviewer on one of my blogs.
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I watched all of ‘Bebop’. The first episode gave me hope, but the end should have made me suspicious. They did a TON with Vicious, but in a way that made him rather pathetic. Things felt like they were everywhere and there wasn’t a tonal consistency. Then . . . They showed a HORRIFYING Radical Edward at the end of the final episode and I cried.
The funny thing with ‘EVA Clones’ (aside from how cloning is a big part of that series) is that such a thing doesn’t really exist. Neither does any kind of clone because ‘Mecha’ is a manga/anime genre. That would be like saying any fantasy story is a clone of LOTR or every Western is a clone of ‘Tombstone’. Genres share things, especially in some cultures.
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Yikes! I didn’t realize it got that bad with the Bebop remake. Yeah…that’s going to be more of a hard pass even though I haven’t been on Netflix in a while.
Thanks for adding to the humor of the EVA clone and shows how you know about the show. EVA was influential which I won’t deny, but it can be annoying when some people think it invented existentialism in a mecha context, synchronization, or dark themes. Even some of the old-school Gundam stuff did that for example. Gasaraki doesn’t even remotely copy EVA and I had a little rant section as a massive counterpoint. Does it have it’s flaws? Yes, and I won’t deny that, but that accusation is so baseless. That claim happened years ago and it just bothered me even if there were worse things going on. There are times where I want to find the origin of so many things that don’t get acknowledged, but at the same time I have this disdain for fandoms who don’t care about far more pressing issues or use escapism as an escape. Oh, if only it was that easy to ignore reality…
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I definitely think EVA was a pioneer in the major mind fuck mecha. I haven’t found any others that reach its level of bizarre symbolism. The parent/child thing was always strange and my thoughts on it changed when I became a parent. Haven’t watched it in over a decade though.
Looks like Tetsujin 28-Go was the first mecha manga from the 1950’s. Was released here in the 1960’s as Gigantor.
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I’ve seen series and movies with weird symbolism that came before and after, but not so much in mecha with EVA. I could only imagine how you would react especially with the Gendo/Shinji dynamic being more disturbing in hindsight since you’re a father. Some people overhype that series so much, so it did turn me off a bit even though I don’t hate that anime. It also annoyed me by people saying how fully original it is when I think the originality is overblown.
Sounds about right. I saw some Gigantor reruns on Giant Robot Week on Toonami when I was in my early teens. It even got a few remakes after the fact. I’ve also seen Giant Robo (the anime OVA version) which is from the same creator.
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I always thought Gendo was an asshole, so not much change. I remember Big O having odd symbolism, but not as dark. You really can’t go full EVA without being a copy though. So no riding the human-made Angel mecha with the spirit of your dead mother inside. I saw it way back in 2000 and only knew Gundam as far as mecha goes. I do think EVA is original in how it presents its themes, characters, and the overall setting. Humanity nearly wiped out by large creatures who come back to finish the job wasn’t as common back then.
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Same here. It’s been a while since I saw Big O, but I do remember some weird stuff there. I don’t think some people will go that far with how the EVA units operate except for maybe neurological synchronization (one of the reasons people think Pacific Rim stol from that anime and even I wouldn’t go that far). Fair enough, but there were some influences that were a bit more obvious in hindsight like from Yoshiyuki Tomino’s old-school Gundam stuff and non-Gundam works from the 80s.
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Big O seems to not be on any streaming service or affordable on dvd. Guess it’s a lost anime for now.
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Really? That’s strange. I know Bandai used to have the rights until they shut down, but it looks like Sentai had the rights afterwards.
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Guess it’s on something called HiDive.
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Makes sense since that’s Sentai’s in-house streaming service.
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