A Wild Creative Project Appeared!

 

After a bit of a break, I've been mulling over my next creative writing/time-killer project.

I've been a Pokémon fan since junior high, playing the games (even in school when it looked weird), watching the cartoons, and collecting the cards. At 35, I'm still a fan. Watching walkthroughs and fan videos about theories and other stuff on YouTube is kind of a guilty pleasure.

Recently, I watched a playlist where someone created their own Pokémon game. Not an actual playable game, but more of a story-based version, complete with originally-designed Pokémon, characters, and a fleshed out region (based on Canada, even!) It was pretty fun and inspired me to come up with my own game, on paper and just for fun, of course.

I'm calling it Pokémon: Eons, it'll have plenty of prehistoric/fossil-type things (naturally), and that's all I've got right now.

More fun times!

Cheers

New Shoes

 

Back in November, I had an appointment with a foot care clinic to look for some new shoes that would fit the inserts I use. 

The guy I saw examined the inserts and my feet, and listened to my laundry list worth of requirements:

• Something wide enough to fit my inserts
• High cut to support my ankles
• Velcro to get on/off easily and independently
• Something dark/nice enough to potentially wear to work

It was a tall order, but after trying some things on and looking online, we found a pair that looked suitable. Pictured above, they were from Mt. Emey, a company in the States and came with everything I was looking for. Satisfied, the shoes were ordered and I was told to check back in three to four months.

Skip ahead to a couple weeks ago, and I got the call to go back in and pick the shoes up. Immediately, they were everything I was looking for! My inserts fit great, they had zippers on the side of each shoe, so they were even easier to get on and off, and I had/still have no problems walking in them. Easiest shoe-shopping experience I've ever had, by far!

Cheers

The First Time I Truly Hated The Pandemic

 

Missing this

It's been one year this week since the city of Ottawa first went into lockdown because of COVID.

Overall, I've been pretty chill over the last twelve months, even enjoying things at times. Last night; however, was the first time I can say I truly hated this pandemic.

It wasn't Ottawa's current dip back into the "Red Zone" or the prospect of working from home for another year that rose my hackles. What set me off was a lot simpler: HBO Max isn't available to Canadians! That's right, I'm ticked about a streaming service. 

In the Fall, it was announced that, because of the pandemic, many Warner Bros movies, like Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat would stream on HBO Max at the same time as their theatrical releases. 

I haven't been to a movie theatre since New Years 2020, so this got me very excited. I was all set to purchase HBO Max yesterday, when I read about it's lack of availability in Canada. That itself didn't bother me. Canada has Crave, which streams HBO content. So, I looked at that, and that's when I read that Crave will not be streaming those aforementioned movies. Not going to lie, I was upset. 

It's the definition of First World Problems, and I'm also aware that those films will likely be released to greater audiences shortly after they premiere, so I'm okay with it. It was just that that announcement back in October filled me with such hope that the revelation was a punch to the gut.

Okay, done complaining. Now life can go on.

Cheers!

And This Is Why I Watch Cartoons...

 

Recently I've been scouring YouTube, looking for every retro, late eighties to mid-nineties-era cartoon over a certain number of episodes. I've found a dozen so far, most of which I fondly remembered, some I'd forgotten about, and one or two I didn't even know existed. 

Shows like Mummies Alive and Mighty Max were still really fun. Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa and My Pet Monster were dated, yet nostalgic. Then there were programs like Tales from the Cryptkeeper and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs that left me like "Why did I ever like this??"

All in all a great trip down memory lane, but also a rather necessary escape from reality. 

I can't be the only one thinking the world has gone mad now, right? Every time I see one bit of news lately( which is rare to begin with), it seems like it's something negative: violence, bullying, racism, people being defiant or, I'm sorry, stupid when it comes to COVID. Just no civility whatsoever!

I don't know. Maybe I'm focusing too much on the crazies. Or just maybe super-mummies and anthropomorphic cows are that much more entertaining than real people!

Cheers

The Significance of Sticky

 

My latest Netflix addiction is Sons of Anarchy. Highly recommend it, just not for the squeamish, and definitely not for the kids. I just started season seven, the series' final one, and in the very first episode, I saw something I thought was pretty awesome. 

His name was Sticky, he was a crook, and he was disabled.

I've seen tons of disabled villains before, but most of those conformed to the same bad gimmicks and tropes. Like the bitter cripple bent on revenge against someone or society at large because of something related to their disability, or the innocent whose severe disability is hiding some kind of uncontrollable, deadly power. Even worse, the villain with a weaponized wheelchair.

But not Sticky! Sticky was just a run-of-the-mill, barely named, loud-mouthed gangster, only difference was he was missing his legs and in a wheelchair. 

Like any other minor antagonist on Sons of Anarchy, Sticky and his crew mouth off to the Sons and some of their allies, there's some insults and gun violence (featuring brilliant lines like "Stumpy", and "Who else wants to use the ramp?!" after a member of Sticky's crew gets shot"). What happens next though, might just be one of the best things I've seen on the show, if not TV period.

Sticky still won't cooperate, so one of the Sons takes the chains off a swing set, ties one end around another club member's motorcycle and the other to Sticky's wheelchair, and they drag him through the street! The scene was filmed from every possible angle: wide shots, close ups, shots from the guy's bike, and even ones that looked like they were from a Go-pro strapped to Sticky's head. 

Some people may look at that and see a show using a disabled character for a cheap gag, but I prefer to see it as inclusion. These types of programs routinely poke fun at or stereotype every race, ethnicity, culture, and creed imaginable but very rarely, if at all, do you see the disabled. It's almost like some unwritten taboo or something. 

So, well done Sons of Anarchy for writing in a disabled crook! I kind of hope to see more characters like Sticky in the future.

Cheers