It Runs in the Family

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession to make. I am a coaster junkie aka a lover of thrill rides, namely roller coasters.

When I was a child, my father introduced me to my first roller coaster which was basically a knock off version of Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain. We were staying at a hotel in Wildwood, New Jersey for the weekend when he took me aboard the attraction. The wheels clicked in perfect time as they carried us past cowboys having shoot outs, a mine filled with shady prospects, and donkeys roaming about. As we reached the top the car took us around a corner, before dropping us into an exploding mine. A week later I went back with my friends only to find that the coaster had been taken down for unknown reasons.

As I grew up, I began to tackle more challenging coasters, including the famous King da Ka. King da Ka holds the record for the world’s tallest coaster and is situated in Six Flags Jacksonville, New Jersey. It’s powered by a hydraulic system that launches riders up a top hat tower of 456 feet.  If the hydraulic system fails to propel the riders forward or crest them over the top of the tower, they come falling back down.

Sounds insane, right?

Let me explain to you how much crazier this ride became.

King da Ka looks something like this:

nj.com

It’s a lean, green thrill machine waiting to hear you scream.  Now look in particular at its support structure holding the main tower up. You will notice that yes, in that extremely important frame, there is another ride.

This new attraction is entitled Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom and drops you 415 feet . This attraction will claim the title for being the world’s fastest and tallest drop ride. There are three drop towers that riders board and ascend, while hearing the shrieks of King da Ka literally over their heads.

Basically, we’re dealing with ride-ception to the extreme and since Father’s Day happens to be this Sunday, I’d like to thank my dad for introducing me to something I love. He’s been keeping up with the crazy coasters I go on, watching me board them, and praying that none of them malfunction during my ride.

So, are you a coaster junkie? What’s your favorite attraction and what influenced into being a thrill seeker?

I Choose You! Pokemon Alpha and Omega!

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

With Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby releasing in November, we have received an explosion of news.

First off, Swampert, Sceptile, and Diancie will be receiving Mega Evolutions by means of their Mega Evolution stones and the new Mega Evolution bangle. Swampert will gain the ability Swift Swim and Sceptile will be the first ever Grass/Dragon Pokemon with the Lightening Rod ability. Diancie’s Mega Evolution will turn the floating gem Pokemon into a regal jewel.

Secondly, the heroes of the story, Brendan and May have received a new look. Their outfits seem to be made out of a swimsuit like quality, which may hint at the revival of Dive. However, as attractive as their new outfits are, I hope we can change them throughout the game like we do in Pokemon X and Y.

Lastly, there’s Groudon and Kyogre’s new looks. Everyone has seen them by now, the glowing symbols, the appearance of dominance over their respective elements, and their potential power. The legends’ new forms are a part of something called Ancient Devolution and are referred to as their primal forms. To help us figure out the mystery behind their new stages, Stephen Stone will be featured in the games. According to the main Coro Coro leak, it seems he has a Mega Charizard on his team, which means you’ll probably fight him.

So what are you excited for in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby?

Kingdom Hearts III: The Next Act

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

E3 is getting closer and closer with every passing day, which means right now there is one thing on many video gamers minds:

Kingdom Hearts III.

So far we have received brief clips of the future game that is supposed to end the classic series of a boy who wields a keyblade saving Disney movie worlds. While we don’t know the release date (hopefully which will be revealed at E3), we do know a few things about it:

• The graphics will be far different from the last games, giving us a more clean and crisp look of the characters. The scenery will also look brighter, but with more depth.
  
• It will be available for the PS4.

• One of the worlds we will be returning to is Twilight Town.  There may be a return to Hercules’ world, based on the notion that one of the gameplay demos reveal Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting the rock titan.
  
• From what it appears, the Disney character summons (Ex.:Genie, Stitch, Dumbo, Tinkerbell) have been replaced with Disney rides. In this clip we see Sora using classic Disney rides (Big Thunder Mountain (Big Magic Mountain) and Pirates of the Caribbean or Peter Pan’s Flight (Pirate Ship) to fight heartless and the rock titan. We also see him using a pair of guns to fight off the heartless; those guns could symbolize Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Toy Story Midway Mania, or another Disney shoot ‘em up ride.

• Kairi and Axel now wield keyblades. I highly doubt those two will be left out, especially being keyblade wielders.

• In one of the earlier clips, we saw Sora pick up Master Eraqus’ keyblade on the shores of Destiny Island. In the most recent clip, we see two people talking to each other. These two characters are theorized to be Xehanort and Eraqus as teenagers, based on their silhouettes. However, the one silhouette could be Zexion because he also wore his hair to the side.

• Kingdom Hearts III is supposedly the game to end the franchise. But is it really the final game? In the recent clip we see the words ‘the next act opens’ appear. If this is supposedly the last game, wouldn’t it say ‘the final act’? However, it’s been rumored that this game will tie everything together. We even see Sora from Dream Drop Distance staring at Vanitas and Xehanort. Or is that a dream sequence from that game?

However, we will have to wait for Kingdom Hearts III. It has just been announced that Shinji Hashimoto, the execute producer of Square Enix, claimed that Kingdom Hearts III will not be featured at E3. Until more news about Kingdom Hearts III emerges, we will have to wait with excited hearts, and tons of fan theories.

What would you like to see in Kingdom Hearts III?

A Cocktail for Murder: Narcissism and Misogyny

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

So apparently Rodgers was diagnosed for Aspergers and the media wasn’t making it up. However, I still stand by my following points:

• Aspergers is a form of Autism, which has no correlation with violence.

• Because of said correlation, the Aspergers is not to blame for his crime.

• The media using his Aspergers as a scapegoat for his murders is sickening. Rather they should focus on the real issue at hand: misogyny.  By blaming killers for their mental illness (if they have one), it gives a negative perspective to those who suffer from the disease(s), and are trying to live normal lives.

Yet the Aspergers could explain why he had very few to no friends. One of the symptoms of this mental illness is awkward social interaction.  This obviously led to his loneliness and depression, but where did the narcissism and misogyny come from? According to his manifesto, his father influenced him with the concept of ‘if you’re attractive, women will come to you’. This was sparked in Rodgers mind when his father got a girlfriend no sooner he divorced his wife. Rodgers held his father in a higher regard for being such a handsome man to immediately attract women.  He also believed that once a young man hit puberty, opportunities of sex and pleasure would appear before him.

Rodgers was also brought up with the rich life: Hollywood red carpet premieres, the latest fashions, trendy hair styles, the newest gaming consoles, and many other luxuries.  He became dependent on this particular lifestyle for the best experiences of life and to mold him into a handsome man who could easily attract women, just like his father.  

He was determined to look the best, have the best of things, and be the best; thus resulting in narcissism. Narcissism includes a lack of empathy for anyone and an extreme sense of self importance. Those afflicted with narcissism are angered when they aren’t given any form of gratification (ex.: social status, sex, having a partner, having something, etc.). They also tend to hold offensive ideas of women, believing they are gold diggers, temptresses of sex who don’t deliver, and pranksters who like to get men under their thumb. This illness combined with his already negative view of women, caused Rodgers to evolve into a narcissistic misogynist; believing that he was entitled to women and intercourse.

Rodgers is an example of what men should not be, nor root for. He was a man who not only disrespected women, but brought to light the horrific misogyny in this world. I hope there will be a day when misogyny is tossed like an old shoe into a flaming garbage pile, never to surface humanity again. 

Autism and Aspergers =/= Violence or Misogyny

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Last Saturday I reflected on the tragedy of the Santa Barbara shootings. Within my entry, I have claimed that some sites are labeling Elliot Rodgers, the gunman behind the atrocity, as being written off as mentally ill. More specifically, Rodgers was supposedly suffering from Aspergers.

Aspergers is a high functioning form of Autism. It can often lead to awkward social interaction, repeat behavior, and clumsiness. These symptoms often start in the early normal language and cognitive development. Notice that nowhere in that definition is the word ‘violence’ included, but look at stories of Rodgers and you will notice that ‘Aspergers’ is splattered throughout the articles.

I find it sickening that the media would use such a scapegoat for something that they refuse to acknowledge. Instead of noting that what Rodgers did was out of hatred and misogyny, they choose to pinpoint it to a mental illness he doesn’t even have. While in other stories it was stated that Rodgers went to multiple therapists, we don’t know what exactly for. He could have possibly gone for the loneliness that he claimed he had, which was caused from his lack of friends and many rejections. However, his loneliness doesn’t connect to Aspergers, especially for the definition I just said. Plus wouldn’t the therapists have diagnosed him with Aspergers prior to the event, if not the first few visitations? And would the therapy and possible medication have stopped the shooting? We will never know.

Even some articles claim that Aspergers and violence have no connection whatsoever and they’re at the complete opposites of the spectrum. Instead, children who have Aspergers are often targets for violence as opposed to committing it. So rather than acknowledging misogyny and that it is incredibly wrong and flawed, the media chooses to use a mental disorder as a scapegoat. Not only does this make Rodgers and Lanza seem like tragic characters who were acting under the influence of an illness, but it gives a bad name to those who actually have this specific disorder. The media is damaging thousands of people who unfortunately have Aspergers, leading them to be attacked and discriminated against because of the “terrible things” their disorder can cause them to perform.

I’ve known people with Autism and Aspergers and to be honest, they’re no different from you and me. They’re just trying to get through life, if not with a little more difficulty. For them to be labeled as a part of a group where someone who couldn’t handle rejection well or felt like shooting up a school is just disgraceful. Those killers don’t belong in that group, especially Rodgers; who should be in a separate, acknowledged group of misogyny crime and not crime caused by a mental illness he didn’t even have.

Feel free to reblog, comment, and as always, feedback and followers are welcomed. So, what are your thoughts on Rodgers? Do you think he had Aspergers and why?

Elliot Rodger: The Misogynistic Murderer

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

There are times when I honestly give up on society and humanity because of how some people are. Some people can be so idiotic you don’t know how they function. Others sympathize with killers because they are ‘mentally ill’ when in truth they are nothing more than misogynistic loners.

Today, six victims were killed in a drive by shooting in Isla Vista, in Santa Barbara, a California college town. The murderer has been identified as Elliot Rodger, a twenty two year old who wanted retribution for no woman having relations with him.

Just before the killing spree, Rodger posted a video on Youtube. In the segment, Rodger claimed that college was a time for sex and pleasure, none of which any female would give him. None of them were ever attracted to him and he has felt loneliness since puberty. He also declared himself a God and the superior gentleman, thus flexing his masculinity. His beliefs of women owing him sex and that he was entitled to intercourse can be seen as misogynistic.  Rodger also had other videos on his Youtube account, discussing about why girls don’t want to be with him, his reaction to other couples, and many other videos. He even wrote a manifesto ‘My Twisted World’ chronicling his life and his many rejections up until the time of the murder.

As opposed to coping with his loneliness and understanding that women aren't alive to bow down to men or be their toys, he decided to go on a murdering rampage. He first killed three of his apartment tenants, gunned down some young ladies outside the campus’ sorority, stabbed a man in a deli, had a shoot out with some police officers and injured thirteen, and then proceeded to take his own life after wrecking his vehicle.

Some news sites have written Rodger off as having a ‘mental illness’, even though the boy has not properly been diagnosed or treated for being mentally ill. While he has been supposedly seeing multiple therapists, his mentality does not excuse the crime for which he has committed. His misogynistic beliefs and enforcement of male dominance, do not pardon him from the crimes either. Rather, they show that misogyny is still running amok in this world, leading men to murder, harass, and rape women for no reason at all. It also depicts that as a society, we would rather label a murderer’s intent as a mental illness as opposed to misogyny.

This is what makes me lose hope in humanity. That there are men out there like Rodger who are not only getting played off as a tragic victim to a mental illness, but also being treated as a hero to other men who share his views. That is another factor that makes me lose faith in this world: misogynistic, chauvinistic, and ruthless men who believe that they are God’s gift to the world, that women only exist for their pleasure, and the actions they commit because of these beliefs.

Women are entitled to their own bodies and have the right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and choose who they want to be with.  Yet there are some men who believe otherwise. We women have come so far as inspirational icons, leaders, discoverers, artists, rebels, protesters, and many other aspiring positions. We are tigers with burning eyes and lipstick, we are heel clad warriors with Einstein like intelligence, we are delicate cherry blossoms with thorny wit, and we are beautiful. We are no sex toys to any man and if they don’t like that we say ‘no’ to their sexual advances, then tough bananas. We are no inferior gender, we are just as strong, if not stronger, and if this world can’t see that, then there’s clearly something wrong with it.

Misogyny is real and it’s men like Elliot Rodger who enforce it. Regretfully there are other men in this world who enforce Rodger’s beliefs and exercise them on a daily basis. I believe it’s time for the world to wake up and see that this is a serious issue. Don’t you agree?

May those who lost their lives in this horrific tragedy by Rodgers’ hands rest in peace. As for Rodger, well, there’s a special place in Hell for men like him, and I hope the Devil gives him his due. 

Tolkien Tries His Hand at Beowulf

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Show of hands, who likes J.R.R.Tolkien? For those of you who raised their hands, fantastic. For those of you didn’t, dear Hell what is wrong with you? Go out and read his books, your brain will thank you (and so will I).

The famous writer of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” is long gone, but in his place we have his legacy: his literary works. His books have entered our culture, creating whimsical worlds to entertain us. However, there is another piece of Tolkien literature that very few know of that was just recently published.

Tolkien was an Oxford English professor who often dappled in Old Norse and Old English languages. From these topics, arose “Beowulf” the classic Norse tale that was not only Tolkien’s early love, but was also touched by his hand.

“Beowulf” is a famed Norse epic in which Grendel, a monster, raids Beowulf’s dining hall. Beowulf, one of the strongest men in existence easily smites Grendel and his mother, an evil dragon. This piece attracted the eye of Tolkien as he attempted to translate it from such an ancient language, to a more modern, understandable read. The translation was abandoned for many years so he could pursue “The Lord of the Rings” series. However, he would go back to it every now and then. Picking away a section or a sentence and translating it, as many scholars have done before.

Now Tolkien’s translation of “Beowulf” has been published to the public. People will be able to see how the master of literary language tried his hand at translating a classic epic.

So what are you waiting for? Go out there and enjoy a good read.