This Video Gave Me Feels

I love Les Miserables, ever since I was a Middle School kid and went to a concert done at my sister's High School and they did a medley of the music.  As such, you would probably assume that I saw the movie when it came out in December, right.... right?

I mean, you say you love Les Mis, you HAD to have seen it in theaters, you just had to...

That's right folks, I actually did not go see Les Mis in theaters.  Same reasons I didn't go see The Hobbit originally... okay, so my truck getting towed wasn't the reason, but the "I feel awkward going to movies alone" irrationality I have did keep me from seeing what I have been told and read was an amazing movie, despite Russell not being able to crow.  My sister said she would go with me, but she and I never did find the time to run out and go.  So this time, I actually DO have to wait for it to come to DVD, unlike The Hobbit, which I saw on my amazing January date with Destiny (the person Destiny, the one I keep talking about, the Goddess of Awesome, and not the metaphysical concept also called destiny, just throwing that out there, since I know "date with destiny" is usually used to describe the metaphysical concept).

SO when I was on YouTube and found this!  Oh my, the feels, all these feels.  And I'm not even on Tumblr and I'm rambling about my feels.

Now if you excuse me, I have to go prepare for D&D tonight.  Oh yeah, tomorrow is Monday, my Gaming Day.  Tomorrow, Table Plan: Dungeons!

PBP #8: Eclecticism Pt.1

SPECIAL NOTICE:  There is a lead-in piece to Part 2 here.

WARNING: Some abrasiveness ahead.

We are all a part of the same universe, subject to the same laws, both physical and metaphysical.  As such, as the ancient civilizations like Greece, Egypt, Persia, India, and the like encountered each other, naturally, they realized that they had similar ideas and practices to one another.  The Interpretatio graeca, which compared the Greek gods to those of others is one version of the idea, whereas the acculturation of Buddhism into the nations it goes to is another.  Any differences were usually respected as a difference (or reviled as barbaric, let's be honest, the ancient world wasn't rainbows and butterflies).  Much like the ancient Axial Age, the modern Information Age is seeing a metting place of different ideas and cultures.  However, something is vastly different.  That difference is cultural imperialism mixed with a spiritual imperialism, with bits of anomie and rejection of Judeo-Christianity.

In my post "Yule and the Apocalypse", I lightly touched on this idea with the 2012 phenomena, and why it was basically New Age bullshit.  I say bullshit because I hate the term woo.  It feels like people who say woo are trying to make fun of it's practitioners, and reminds me too much of Randy Savage, no offence to Randy Savage (And now I must say, BONESAW IS READY).  Calling it bullshit means that one thing is bogus while not tarnishing the tradition, despite me not being a huge fan of New Age stuff.  I lightly covered how, without any training with Mayan elders or background knowledge of Mayan culture, New Agers just up and stole 2012 and combined it with the Judeo-Christian idea of Armageddon (and some mixed in the end of the Kali Yuga as well).  Too often do I find bullshitters out to make a cheap and easy buck off of people who are honestly looking for spirituality in their lives.  But, as P. T. Barnum once said, "this way to the egress."

Egress, for those who don't know, is a fancy word

for exit. (SOURCE)

Sadly, it's not just the charlatans that do this, normal everyday people do it as well.  People in the West  turn and appropriate the worship of Kali without aknowledging the darker aspects of her nature as well aspects of her worship that don't fit in with the "white light" and "fluffy bunny" worldview of the New Age.    Animal sacrifice is practiced en masse during Kali Puja, and Kali spends a lot of time on charnel (read: cremation) grounds, I don't see many New Agers doing that.  Hermeticism and Theosophy are also appropriated from.  For example, take the Archangel Metatron, who seems to be channeled as often as i flip the channel in the morning from FOX to BBCA to catch Doctor Who.  I'm sure these channelers don't realize that, according to Jewish tradition (and I apologize for the caps coming up, I know, bad internet form), Metatron is SECOND ONLY TO GOD HIMSELF!  That's right, a being so powerful that he is called the lesser YHWH supposedly takes time from what I'm sure is a very busy schedule to chat up some cult leader holing people up in a compound on it's way to the next Waco.  I'm sorry for the strong analogies, but come on people!

BRB God, the New Agers need me (SOURCE)

Thankfully, the more this is called out, the more it diminishes, and the more legit syncretism takes place.  The more the charlatans are called out, the less money ends up in the pockets of the likes of Kiesha "Little Grandmother" Crowther, and the more people learn certain practices from the elders and masters that actually know them.

But what makes cultural appropriation, well, cultural appropriation.  Well, first, we need to remove the visceral component to it.  Cultural appropriation is uneducated and commonly ethnocentric eclecticism, no more, no less.  This is eclecticism gone wrong.  Most commonly, in the United States, we hear this when it comes to Native American cultures (yes, there are more than one, to those who didn't know), but it also happens to Celts (see my one previous PBP post on that), Hinduism, African Culture, Buddhism, Theosophy (as stated above), and oddly enough, our own community.  Yes, our own community has been appropriated from.  Granted, some traditions and cultures complain more about this than others, some don't complain at all.  Some only complain if legit syncretism (which I shall discuss in part II) isn't done.

I think I would like to put it this way.  I want the readers of this post to click on my two Table Plan posts discussing world building for fantasy games.  I then want you to report back here after aquainting yourself with Wintermoot.  Now, say that, with my DM, that becomes a more fleshed out place and is added to his world.  Say now that you are me, and your best friend is the DM, and you both were in the exact same situation as I in this thought experiment.  Now, say someone comes along the proper channels and asks to use Wintermoot, they took the time to respectfully learn about it to use it.  Now, suppose someone comes along, takes Wintermoot, claims that they were involved in its creation, and suddenly makes unauthorized changes and claims it to be the original.  Copyright aside, we must look back and think for a moment.  We are adults.  We can look at these things and laugh.  Cultural appropriation is like Laura l'immortelle or Sonichu.  Neither is original or official Highlander or Sonic the Hedgehog material (and with Laura l'immortelle, it was plagiarism of a fanfic, wrap your mind around that).  There is nothing wrong with both of them as fanfics, as long as they honor the source material, and yet they are pushed as something original.

How does this all relate to Eclecticism?  Modern Eclecticism tends to become this all to easily.  The Eclectic that becomes an appropriator  cherry picks from a whole bunch of traditions without understanding.  Buddhist meditation has underpinnings that, in reality, aren't THAT hard to learn about, yet meditation becomes a chic and "in" thing empty of true spirituality, much like yoga or those Teen Witch kits from a certain Wiccan author everyone has a love-hate relationship with.  The next thing you know, your house smells of cheap dollar store incense with names like Wild Passion, and you have more New Age knick-knacks and statues of Hindu and Buddhist Deities than you know what to do with.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Eclecticism.  I personally am not Eclectic, but there is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with you if you are.  I think I'm trying to show people that Eclecticism isn't really wrong, and there is nothing wrong if you are Eclectic, but there are ways of going about it that are wrong, disrespectful, and ethnocentric; and ways of going about it that are respectful, beautiful, and open-minded.  But how do we get to this state?  How do we stop appropriating?  Well, look out for Part 2 next week as I discuss Syncretism, how when cultures A and B meet that A becomes a bit B'ified and B becomes a bit A'ified, and how Truth being one, is called by many names (from the Rig Veda nonetheless).

How To Find a Comic Book you have Trouble Finding

STEP 1
One should bring me along to the comic book store.  This step isn't too hard, I am a very good passenger, I won't even change your music or anything.  You have rules about no drinking, eating, smoking, having sex, having ones head out the window like a dog, etc, I will obey them.

STEP 2
Now at the comic book store, let me wonder around and look at interesting things.  Maybe the store also sells games like Talisman or Catan (though I'm really not that interested in Catan).  Maybe they have models or Marvel heroes or mutants from the X-Men, or even Batman (my favorite DC superhero btw).  Now, the important thing with this step is to let me look at said interesting thing.  Let me hold it in my hand, check the price tag, or whatever.

STEP 3
Now this is the hard step, since it has the possibility of making you look bad for bringing me in, or maybe getting us kicked out, but let me make an accidental mess with said item.  I am usually careful, but accidents happen.  I'm not the kind of guy who gets overly excited and plays with something randomly making the mess like that, sometimes I put it back in an awkward way.  What?  I'm no Engineering major!  I don't know how to put something together to be structurally sound.  I only know how to put things together that look good.

Worst.  Customer.  Ever.

 

So, you're probably thinking, so you make a mess, so what?

 

Well...

STEP 4

Look into said mess.  Whatever comic book you were looking for SHOULD BE RIGHT THERE.  By right there, I mean pretty much on top of the pile.  Its a guaranteed method proven scientifically in a comic book store near where I live.  My friend who was looking for said book since Christmas.  Anyway, feel free to hold the book over your head and do the Zelda Item Get sound.

And that, that is how you find a comic book you have trouble finding!

D&D Stories: Poke the Hydra With a Dagger

THAT!  That, my friends, is a Hydra.  The Hydra is a multi-headed magical beast that, when one head is sliced off, two more grow back in its place.  The Hydra comes from Greco-Roman Mythos (as a Pagan, I prefer the term mythos to mythology for some reason), where it is called the Lernaean Hydra and was slain by Heracles (Roman: Hercules).  When Heracles chopped off one head, while Iolaus, his nephew, used a firebrand to cauterize the wound, so no heads could grow back.  Using a golden sword entrusted by Athena (Roman: Minerva), Heracles chopped the last head and buried it under a rock.

The point of the brief retelling of the Myth of the Hydra is that, basically, Hydras are fucking scary!  They are supposed to be a huge challenge to slay, utilizing teamwork, much like in the myth.  Your fighter Cleaves his way through the heads faster than the others can apply fire or acid damage, say hi to a higher CR monster!  Granted, in the rules I do believe it states that a Hydra cannot have more than twice the number of heads it started out with, but still, your party of level 4 PCs can suddenly bite off more than it can chew when suddenly they are faced with a CR 6 monster, and still more heads need to grow back.  You could also attack the body, but the heads get to attack.  There is just no easy way to go about it.  Hydras are like boss monsters...

...unless the DM forgets that they are playing with the insta-kill rule (rolling three 20's on a d20, once for Crit, once for confirming the Crit, and the final one to see if you get lucky and can kill it in one shot)...

Let me give you a quick intro to Ceilos the Half-Elf Ranger.  Scout, great with two-weapon fighting, not so much with a bow, has either a hawk named Soar or a panther named the Ace of Spades (depending on the campaign), and is somewhat of a metaphysical biologist (though I am definitely not a biologist IRL).  He is the one character that I made that acts the most like me, but I am always vigilant to make sure that when I do play him or write about him that I don't slip into Mary Sue-dom.  Remember that info, there may be a test later :P.

And then later in the same campaign with this story, he took classes

in Duskblade from the Player's Handbook 2

So, I successfully track a demon to this island that we sail to in hope to save this nobleman or mage, I forget exactly the occupation of the guy, only that he was important.  The very first combat on the island was a disaster for my ranger, whom, when not fighting with a Khopesh and a Kukri (I think it was this same campaign that I fell into the calling card/vice of my characters using unusual weaponry in combat), had only his longbow.  For some reason that I do not know, the Random Number God seems to hate the concept of my ranger using a bow.  The potion salesman who happened to be on this island and attacked by a Chimera was killed off by an arrow when I rolled two 1's in a roll.  Let me also state that the potion salesman was behind me.

While we lost directions to the place where the important guy was brought to (my spot/survival checks were only for reaching the island), we did get a whole bunch of free loot with potions.  Eventually, after camping for the night, we did find a castle on the island.  It has a natural landbridge over a deep chasm, and the bridge was guarded by a Hydra, meant to be a sub-boss of sorts before entering the castle.  So the DM played it up, making sound huge and scary.  Roll for initiative, and my ranger fails to disappoint!  I run up, get attacked with AoO's, and then I roll!

20!

Confirm Crit!

20!

Um... oh shit oh shit oh shit, please don't roll another.........

20!

Ceilos the Ranger walks up to the Hydra and pokes it with his kukri.  Somehow, the poke hits the Hydra in a pressure point that immediately makes its heart explode.  Also, the poke made it trip and it fell down the chasm, taking max damage from the huge fall.  It also landed on a stalagmite spike on the bottom and was subsequently eaten by a grue in the darkness.  I d20'd it to death!

I don't think the DM expected his epic encounter to be ended by the ranger in one attack, but hey, I take it that the Random Number God was apologizing.  But thus continues the love-hate relationship both Gamers and DM/GMs have with the rules.  Conga Lines of Death, of both the bottleneck and flanking varieties?  Area of Effect spells?  The joy of summoning?  These are things us Gamers love that our GM/DMs hate, and how!

I must say that the Hydra Slaying story is a favorite D&D story to tell others when I talk D&D.  It was built up to be this epic encounter before the castle proper that by sheer luck I end without breaking a sweat.  I guess, after fighting a mind flayer in the castle, helping the Drow in the party solve a racial test and getting the upper hand of a Deck of Many Things like a boss, there is only one quote that can describe Ceilos in that campaign, if he was missing one artifact of clothing...

Originally I had an image of:

"Belkar from Order of the Stick, the sexy shoeless god of war"
I recently read on the Giant In The Playground FAQ's that
the author of OotS, basically, doesn't really like that his images get used
w/o permission.  Out of honor and a love for his work, I decided to remove
the image.  But, honestly, Ceilos is Belkar except Neutral Good and with shoes.

ADDENDUM: As soon as I posted this post the only thing I could think of, thanks to the title was Ceilos being held at the bottom of a well by a crazed fan who tosses him down a Hydra doll and a rusty kukri and says "It pokes the Hydra with the kukri.... It pokes the Hydra with the kukri or else it gets the hose again...."  Thought I would inject one last funny bit.

Of Home Made Pizza and Tiesto

So this past weekend was my monthly trip to hang out with Destiny, which was looked forward to so much more than every little kid that looks forward to presents on Christmas.  Not only was I able to spend time with the most amazing woman, nay, person that I know, but I was also able to be in Philadelphia, this city I have come to love so much, in all its little quirks, despite all the dark and festering sins and crimes (and now I am thinking of the song Graveyard Shift from the never-finished Batman musical, lyrics by Jim Steinman).  I guess, despite being born and raised in the country, I think I might be a city boy at heart, then again I am a reviving pool of Greco-Roman faith and the coolness of the the Roaring 20's.

So after parking and walking to where she stays, all the little anxieties (i.e. idiotic and aggressive drivers, if I left my incense burning or my space heater on lol) just melted away.  Friday began for me at that moment, despite waking up earlier and watching Boston Legal with mom.  So we hung out, watched more Sherlock (we polished off the whole series so far.  Steve Moffat, you did it.... again)

Cumberbatch, Moffat, and Smith.  And by again, I mean 
work on a well done series.

 Saturday we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel so she could finish up some work for her one class and to just spend the day walking around especially to see the butterflies.  Was hard to get a picture of them, especially the Blue Morpho, which was her favorite.  The red one flew away right when the picture was taken, but then again, we got a nice picture of a butterfly in flight.  Afterwards we went to the Tiesto concert.  Keep in mind that my usual music is the likes of rock and metal, with maybe spatterings of other genres thrown in.  Do I like techno and EDM (electronic dance music)?  Yeah, I've listened to a bit before, like Deadmau5, but nothing major.  I was once going to go to an EDM/Techno festival with a few friends, including Wallet Girl, but the plans fell through.  So Saturday was my first major introduction to the genre you can say.  I went with an open mind, and I really did enjoy myself.  I danced for almost five hours straight, and the Liacouras Center had a place to get my boneless wings.  By Jove, I got to have my boneless wings!

Sunday we polished off the rest of Sherlock, and she made pasta for dinner, after which I had to leave.  She had plans for that night and I wanted to get home before the special on the Second Doctor came on (made it just in time).  This is, of course, a cursory overview of the weekend.  There are always personal moments that one treasures, and become selfish and not want to share them with others, even if its just words on a web page.  Those written memories are saved for just me and her in our own version of the River Song Journal.

And I'm sure this is what it will look like within a few years

She got me the journal on my birthday and wrote down the memories of the past few times we hung out, and a few other things as well, and I do the same.  Each visit we pass off the journal to the other, having it be their turn to have to read and write in.  This is my turn now and I have begun to write in it.  It is an amazing work this journal, and a birthday gift that I treasure a lot.  And yes, Destiny and I are very close indeed. :-)

One last thing.  I decided to add an awesome page on the side bar there.  Another blog, which should be an answer to just how well done I think Sherlock is.

PBP #7: Dungeons and Dragons (plus some heavy philosophy).

My blog has a few major themes to it, excluding Pagan Blog Project for a moment, since my blog really isn't about my religion.  These major themes include: Me Musing About Shit, My Adventures With Destiny, Gaming, Doctor Who, and the biggest theme, Dungeons and Dragons.  Yes, I fit one of Faux News' stereotypes about Pagans, I love playing D&D.  So much so, I play video games based on D&D, I have two editions of the game, Pathfinder, the board game Talisman, and have recently installed Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn on my laptop, a game i havent played since 2009, or maybe 2010, I forget exactly when the last time I played it was.  Either way, I love D&D so much, I'm sure I will name my hamster Boo if I ever get one, and tell everyone he is a miniature giant space hamster!

Okay, all facetiousness aside, there is a reason I am talking about D&D and letting worlds collide this PBP post.  That is, when deities from our own pantheons appear in a game.  How exactly do we react?  Is it odd for us to play a character that worships Zeus in game, to then turn around and give thanks to Zeus for a blessing in real life?  Or maybe you play a cleric of Thor, whom later that month you toast at a symbel in real life, or maybe you are a Gothi of Thor?  Maybe the campaign has you exploring Mulhorand within the Forgotten Realms, and its a well known fact that the Mulhorandi Pantheon and the Kemetic Pantheon are one and the same, and you just happen to be a Tameran Wiccan or a Kemetic Polytheist.

I know my personal thoughts on the matter lead to an interesting point on theology.  Actually, before we begin with that, let us first repeat the MST3k Mantra.  "It's just a show, I should breathe and just relax."  Repeat that a few times with me, maybe pull out a mala and repeat it 108 times.  "It's just a show, I should breathe and just relax."

An image of Zeus/Jupiter from the Third Edition Deities and Demigods

Now that we reminded ourselves that this is just a fun game and not a lesson at a seminary, let us go into the philosophical aspect of this.  Much like the Welsh/Druidic Awen, the Greek had an idea of divine inspiration known as theia mania, or "divine madness."  The poets would be struck with theia mania and would write about the Deities, about their exploits and the like.  It was also believed that the best interpretations of such writings were from the philosophers, who understood the nature of the Gods.  Many cultures have ideas about Divine Beings coming down, and talking to men, walking amongst them, even possessing them.  Vishnu came down in various forms like Rama and Krishna, and in Voudou, the Lwa possess initiates and priests.

Now I'm not claiming that a Deity is gonna up and hijack your game to deliver a message, we must remember the difference between fantasy and reality, and discern revelation from just your DM's plot in the campaign.  After all, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.  The more important thing, is how such things inspire us.  Inspiration is a powerful thing, a divine thing, something that I think is not revered enough.  If inspiration were more revered in our culture, I'm sure we would be more scientifically and spiritually advanced, and I'm sure there would be more equality and a lot less violence and a lot more art and recreation of all sorts.  Yes, inspiration is what is important.  Our DM's are most likely not Pagan, in the US, they a more probably Christian or Atheist or Agnostic than anything else.  However, they look at the mythos of our ancestors, and then the mythos of these fictional worlds, and become inspired to write.  They write about the dark and evil things, so that the heroes can rise up and stand against and bring light back to the world.  The DM is the author, the poet, and the PC is the philosopher, making sense of the chaos (and sometimes causing the chaos, Kenders especially).

Is that not what we all do everyday, make sense of the chaos?  We are born into a 14 billion year old world, into a world, to quote Thales, full of Gods.  Everyday we encounter things that puzzle us and confuse us and disgust us, we encounter things that bring us joy and happiness and pleasure.  Everyday we are bombarded with inspiration, whether you believe its from one God or many Gods or no Gods at all.  We are inspired by stories and games.  Is the Amaterasu of Okami the same as the Sun Goddess of Japan?  Who knows?  Maybe she inspired the game's creation?  What's important is that the retelling of the myths surrounding her and other Kami are retold to inspire future generations.

And I'm sure the Gods do not mind being in these stories.  After all, to quote the Doctor Who character River Song, aren't we all?

I leave you with that thought to ponder.  You (the reader), me, musings (or handcuffs), must it always end like this?

Fear

So I'm sure it's no surprise that I am a fan of kurtjmac's Far Lands or Bust.  In a recent video, Kurt discussed the concept of fear, both as a personal experience and as a scientific idea.  At the end of his video he stated that we should discuss our own fears in the comment section.  So, obviously, I am going to make a whole blog about FEAR!

Fear effects us all.  For example, this Koopa just saw Mario using 

another Koopa to get 99 Lives

 

 My first and biggest and omnipresent fear is a fear of bees and wasps.  Yes, those black and yellow stingy things, that fly around, make nests, make terrific honey, and terrify the living shit out of me.  Honestly, ever since I was four and stung for the very first time!  It was at a pumpkin patch, and I found this amazing pumpkin.  However, a wasp claimed it as his own and didn't take kindly to a human like me coming by and claiming it in the name of Kyleland (it's totally a real place yo).  Unfortunately, the patch was run by idiots who, in an attempt not to be sued, freaked out, freaking me out, and giving me medicines and such that I don't even remember.  I don't even know if they injected me with an epi-pen or not.  Since my dad was at work and mom was unable to get me, I had to be picked up by my grandparents on my father's side.  While they are really nice folk, they aren't the most loving in general, so I spent the next hour or so curled up in the fetal position with only my pumpkin to calm me.  Ever since then, nope, can't even be within a close proximity.

In fact, my melissophobia is so strong, even a picture of a wasp gets me paranoid.

So instead, he is a picture of a heavy metal band which is called W.A.S.P.

 

A secondary fear that I have is a fear of, I wouldn't say abandonment, but more loneliness in general.  This sucks because I generally don't spend a lot of time with others.  I mean, I hang out with friends every once in a while, play D&D every other Sunday, and every so often go see the Goddess of Awesomeness (aka Destiny, for those who don't remember me calling her that before).  However, when I'm alone sometimes my thoughts just run and run like Lance Armstrong on steroids.  Sometimes these are not so nice thoughts., let's leave it at that  Thankfully, keeping myself occupied keeps this at bay.  So I make campaign adventures, blog here, play video games, read, go out for walks, etc.  Actually I wouldn't even call this a fear per say either, I guess it's more along the lines of "I really don't want to confront the dark shadows of my mind on my own" kind of thing.

Well all of this talk of fear and shit like that calls for something better and brighter, so let's talk about something I enjoy.  Interesting and funny pictures, like....