October 6 - Trying to write more

 I keep telling myself I need to write more, every time I write in this blog I feel as if some weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I guess it helps to get what's in my head out. Today I had Co-op which is like this homeschool thing where you meet at a church once a week for a few classes. I also read Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek.

For Co-op I have in order Art, Choir, and Psychology.

 Art is fun, nothing too much, the table of people I'm with is nice. Last year it felt awkward to talk to the people at my table but this year I actually want to talk to them. What we're doing in art right now is clay sculptures, specifically whatever the heck you want, so me in all my awe-inspiring wisdom decided to make an egg. The teacher thought it was funny, so the egg did its job. 

In Choir I have been placed as a tenor and it is alright, Now I know I'll never be a Bass, heck, no one in our group is an actual Bass. I don't talk to people there often, I try, but I struggle. I am working on socialization; I will be everyone's friend someday. 

Psychology is my favorite class, no offense to the others they are good too, just Psychology is better. At the start of the class the teacher uses cards from the Ungame as an icebreaker, she says it will get harder every week, and she isn't lying, today's question was "What was your most embarrassing moment as a child" So I told people about my long hair phase. 

That's all I want to say for the classes, but what I want to mention is the fact that I have a three-hour gap between Choir and Psychology. I usually do math class on my computer, but I forgot my headphones, so I review Psycho for the weekly quiz and did English homework. Everything was all fine and dandy until some kindergarteners from my Sunday School class that also go there came up to me. Nothing against them it's just when you're trying to eat lunch and there's a group of five-year-olds under the table hitting you it gets annoying. Plus, when I walked away, they just followed me all the way to the bathroom!

Besides Co-op I read Secret Identity and man I just love the story. It's so fascinating and different of an idea. On top of that I love how it gives layers to the reason why Clark hides him being Superman, on top of it being set in the real world. I have more words for it but I'm getting tired.

I'll end here, that was the main parts of my day, more happened but I don't feel like writing about it.

-Levi     

October 4 Update

 Haven't posted in a month, but here I am now. Not much has happened since the last post. Life has just been going through the motions, and I don't know how to break the cycle, nor do I feel the need to. In terms of comics, It's just been Fantastic Four, Transformers, and an attempt to read Spawn. School stuff happens and that's about it.

Comics:

    DWJ's run of Transformers ended semi-recently and I don't know how I feel; I liked his run and everything it's just I can't handle monthly comics. So, I've dropped Transformers from monthly series because now Kirkman is on it and Kirkman is a perv. 

    Fantastic Four by Ryan North is good just like the first run he did I just think after I get all the Skottie Young covers I'll stop buying it. Lastly, 

    I tried to get through Spawn, made it through one compendium. I just don't really care about it, it's not to edgy it's just meh. 

    The only other thing I can think of with comics is I tried the Japanese comic One Piece, but it didn't seem to be interesting after three chapters, so I stopped reading it, but that's all Japanese comics: Boring and Weird. 

    I should probably talk why I don't like buying comics monthly. First off is just the stress, I don't have a LCS at all, so I have to use eBay. Shipping prices hurt and things sell out fast, so when comics are weeks apart it is a stress just finding one seller that has the ones I want and the covers I want. So after #5 of FF, I will probably drop monthlies and switch to back issues and trades. I still have yet to try out DC Compacts.

Life:

    With School most of it has been okay, most notable is Psychology and the amount of work it has, I chose to do extra work because it will allow me to clep out of a college psychology class. I have pre-Calc for Math and it's alright.

    Besides school I'm on the upswing with socialization. I'm slowly learning how to deal with social anxiety, quitting most if not all forms of internet activity have helped and just realizing what I think is weird isn't weird.

    I've been an assistant teacher for my church's Sunday school for kindergarten, technically the role I am is called a shepherd, but assistant teacher sounds better. I'm reaching the point of doing it for nearly a year and a half. Hopefully soon I'll be able to actually teach the class one day.

Other:

    One last thing I want to say is that I have quit most toy collecting, the appeal in it is just gone. Especially with the prices of stuff these days it just doesn't work for me so most things I had on a shelf have been packed away.

And that is basically what life has been, I'll see you whenever. 

-Levi            

August 31 - Tron

TRON 

With Tron: Ares coming out I figured I should watch the original as I hadn't done that yet, my knowledge about Tron extended to the bikes and nothing more. After watching it I was perplexed. As my dad described it, "It's an odd movie that takes a couple watches to understand" which is completely right. Tron tries to make the average person understand how a computer works using an adventure tale, but unless you're a nerd like me, it's just bad CGI with weird gray people. I'll start with the plot.

Plot:

Tron centers around a guy whose name I forgot that owns an arcade, he made some games, but they were stolen by the evil businessman. This evil businessman works for Mastercontrol or MC the computer program that wants to control all computer programs. In an effort to get credit for his work the main character gets sent into the computer world where MC is an evil Darth Vader style emperor with powers. The main character then teams up with two computer programs, one is named RAM, and the other is Tron who is the hero/savior whatever. They then traverse the CGI land and eventually stop Mastercontrol I think.

What I think:

Tron is just odd, it puts me in a fickle mood, I think the best definition of it would be the ultimate 5/10 not terrible but nothing special. It feels so empty, I see effort but the acting and overall, poorly explained world left me wondering "What did I just watch". But in this feeling of being lost there's a certain beauty to it, the way it displays basic computer functions as a civilization and the person using the computer/user are treated as Gods. It just fascinates me. 

All seriousness was lost with this thing

To put it in the simplest way, Tron is a mesmerizing mess.

-Levi, the SnoreMan

August 28 Update - I'm Barack

I say I'll post more and yet I don't, mainly because I didn't feel the need to write on here. But anyways it's August and things are happening, I'm going crazy, and they reset Fantastic Four's numbers. So, I'll just give you a run-down of what has happened in my week/month/whatever.

The main thing that has happened is that school started this week and I mean, it's not the worst thing. I'm homeschooled and it doesn't get bad till the co-op I'm in starts. For classes at home, I have Pre-Calc, Chemistry, World History, and English. None of them are that bad though it's only the first week. With the Co-op I'm not that excited. I have Choir, Art, and Psychology, and between all of them Psych is the only one I want to do the rest are just for credits I need, God Bless the American school system for requiring a music credit *bald eagle screech*

Outside of School my churches youth group has started, that's always pretty chill. Though we have a new youth pastor and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with him it's just that he is definitely not from the Midwest. While I was there Wednesday night a girl, who is friends with a guy I know asked me where he was though it was awkward because I hadn't talked to him in a few months. I should probably message him.

I also hopped onto Ryan North's Fantastic Four with the re-number mainly due to the Skottie Young covers. I enjoy it a lot. What I don't enjoy is Kirkman taking over Transformers I'm definitely dropping the series after issue 24. Kirkman is one of the most overrated writers of all time. Both Walking Dead and Invincible always interrupt great stories with BOOBIES and SEX it's just a bunch of perverted nonsense.

This is the definition of art.

That's all I got to say for now I'll see you whenever.

-Levi 

Random Rant - Absolute Martian Manhunter

     I haven't done anything on this blog in a while, that's because I didn't feel the need to write. Stuff still happened in my life, a lot actually I just didn't feel like "blogging" but now I'm back and I really want to talk about Absolute Martian Manhunter.

    I got this during FCBD, and it was the last one at the store. I was surprised to actually find it though unfortunately I couldn't find issue two, though there was a pretty good reason why. It had been manhandled and obviously read through multiple times by idiots. Please to everyone reading this, A COMIC SHOP IS NOT A LIBRARY! DONT READ THE BOOKS TILL YOU BUY THEM! But I'm content with a beater I at least was still able to read it.

    I'll start with a summary, so you actually know what I'm talking about. The story has you follow John Jones, an FBI agent that investigates terrorism, after being caught in an attack. Though the explosion has barely any effect on him, but instead of being happy John is just apathetic. He then is offered paid time off but refuses it. Once he's home he lies to his wife about being forced to work, his son who is making clay sculptures, the ones of him and his mom are normal but the one of John, his dad, is a green cyclops like thing. John the next day proceeds to interview people who knew the terrorist and the Martian powers start setting in. John is given random bits of information, and he doesn't know why, on top of that he believes he is hallucinating a green smoke. When looked over by the doctor he appears to be fine. But when John is talking to the terrorists Mom he decides to breath in the smoke. It overtakes him and he rushes out of the apartment; out in the City of Middletown there is tons of smoke, and it overtakes John until he falls to the ground of what he sees as an unrecognizable city. We then see it, the Martian, Mindhunter.

    Now that were on the same page, I want to discuss three things: the protagonist, where this is going, and the ideas, as these are usually the selling points for me in a comic.

Protagonist:

    John Jones is honestly a very unlikeable protagonist. He is a workaholic with no cares for others. You see this when he is offered paid time off. The average person would take paid time off no matter what, its literally free money, and he might just have good work ethic. Though if he has to fight to work when his boss is concerned and feels that John deserves and needs time off something is clearly wrong with him. Plus, this leads to him neglecting his family altogether. When his wife is in tears because she thought he was dead, he doesn't care! He just proceeds to continue smoking. His neglect is so much that his coworkers call him the "Martian" of his family. His son also sees him as that when the figure of him is a green cyclops that looms over everyone. John Jones is someone with no redeemable qualities, hopefully later the Martian will make him better.

Where is the story going:

    Issue One gives no breathing room as to where the story could go you get a well set up character and a glimpse of powers but no real direction, this here is the stories main weak point. I'm guessing later issues will lead to something more interesting but currently anything can happen. Let's pray I find issue two somewhere.ng:

Ideas:

    This is Absolute Martian Manhunters strongest part. It is the most fun part. An FBI agent with now gained telepathy could create the ultimate detective, on top of that having the Martian be completely separate creates what I hope for as a dynamic duo. And the form of telepathy is very odd, but still cool. Seeing it be a smoke where everyone's thoughts are some sort of stink that comes off of them. Though the scene with multiple people with it makes me think of Pig Pen from Charlie Brown.

I like Absolute Martian Manhunter, it is a very interesting idea that needs direction, I assume this problem is fixed in Issue two because that is modern comic writing, "Why do a full story in twelve pages so we can make the comic and anthology when we can spread the story into six issues!!!"

March 2025 - Deers, Drivers Ed, and Dog Man

     It's March now and I can't stop coughing. February was pretty busy for me compared to what I normally do.

    To start off I had Driver's Ed which was very long and boring. Though it was necessary if I ever want to drive around town, BEEP BEEP!!!
     I also went to a parade of sorts downtown. I call it a parade of sorts because it was mostly just trucks with hot air ballon engines (or whatever you call them) on the back, and after that there was fireworks, BOOM! 

    I found a deer antler in my backyard.
    Last thing I want to talk about is this Gameshow I did with people from my church's youth group. It was at the Game Show Studio in the Roseville Mall (Oh you betcha I'm from Minnesota) and we had 2 teams. I was on Team Good which consisted of ever sophomore dude, their group leader, my group leaders, and me. The other team was Team Rizzlers which was the freshWOmen and sophomore girls. We did three games, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, and Price is Right. Team Good won of course. That's what my month consisted of schools been alright. Nothing too bad, now onto the fun stuff.

    I'll start off with the sad stuff, the Blokees Nemesis Prime I got in my previous post broke at the right leg AND the right arm, I'm never buying a Blokees again. >:[

MY LEGS!!!

    I did go to the same local shop I did last month and picked up an ARAH Scrap-Iron. When I got him, his whole back section was broken so I had to fix it. Once I got that done I could finally enjoy how good of a figure he is. Super7 made me forget how much loving detail can be put into one G.I. Joe and on top of that he has one of the best accessories ever made, a giant missile launcher!

    In terms of comics, I only got one thing because I don't like spending a lot, this month's Transformers. This issue wasn't the best, but it still had some great additions. For starters bringing back Ultra Magnus and showing just how broken he is, creates an amazing character dynamic, second, the endless fight between Devastator and Bruticus is phenomenal, and last, SHREDHEAD!!!!!

    Furthermore, with just books in general, I've read Frankenstein and half of Princess Bride. Frankenstein was honestly one of the worst books I've ever read, it is just some melodramatic dumpster fire that I just loathed reading. Princes Bride on the other hand is amazing, fun, funny, and one of the best books I have ever read.

    With movies I saw the Dog Man Movie and it was alright. Now I've read most of the books and have been very fond of Dog Man though I feel the movie was too ambitious. It included way too much thing in the movie that made it very messy and on top of the Chief doesn't like the reporter he likes nurse, get your thing right Dreamworks!

    I think that just about wraps up this month, so I'll see you next month. Bye!!!

February 2025 - Comics, Blocks, and Hulk

     It is now February, and you know what that means! If you don't, I'll tell you later. But enough with this menial and possibly cringe introduction. Time to talk about what's been going on in life.

    School has been school as it always will be. A positive note is that in science I've gotten to dissect a worm and a crayfish. This year was my first worm dissection, and his innards were neat. I dissected a crayfish in 7th grade if I'm remembering correctly but it is still fun to cut things open (I'm not crazy). I should mention the worm was Sherman and the crayfish was Peabody. Now a negative note with school is ever since I finished my public speaking class, I've had a lot more essays to write (pain).
    Like I said at the start, it's February. That means Valentines Day. Now I have no plans to well, go on a date. I'm fourteen there are more important things in my life like, uhh, Transformers! Hulk! Depression!

Here's two of them because I forgot to put
 the other in the picture

    Now onto the fun stuff, comics! The current ongoing series of Transformers remains to be amazing! The combiners fighting is just fun (Pew Pew Bang Bang. My one gripe is the whole evil Optimus, I feel it is just overused, and I feel the body horror with Sparky's memories are unnecessary. Also, this month I got Issue 31 of the original Marvel TF, I'm not that into the run but I couldn't resist the CARWASH OF DOOM!1!1! The last comic I got this month was Issue 8 of Dreamwave's G1 TF just because of the art (I identify as a Figueroa Fanboy).
    Now something I didn't buy but instead found at the library was Immortal Hulk. The series really lives up to the hype, most of it comes out of my love for Joe Fixit, though for me I don't care for the body horror but it's not as bad as the current run of Hulk (If you can't tell already, I don't like body horror.

    With toys I got one thing this month, Blokees Nemesis Prime, while at the same store (Won't specify for reasons) I got the two comics in the picture I found they had the Blokees mystery box things and bought one inside was this guy. I now see the whole hype surrounding Blokees, they're just fun figures to mess around with. Also, BIG GUNS!!!

    I could probably go on longer but there wouldn't be anything worth reading so I'm going to just stop here, Happy Groundhog's, Valentines, and whatever other day. Bye!