Always carry a cellphone in the summer

I’ve decided to take a little break from my ramblings and tell a story. Seeing as how it’s almost Christmas, I thought (for some reason) it would be amusing to tell a story about something that happened to me this summer. This is the story of how I suffered the consequences of walking in the heat of June for almost an hour. There will be more stories after this one, hence the category. Now, I’m not quite as good at story telling as other people on the internet, and I don’t have any doodles to go along with it, but I’ll try to keep it interesting.

Wisconsin is an…unusual state when it comes to weather. Sometimes it can be pleasant one year, and horrible the next year. There was one summer where we had thunderstorms for weeks, and then they just stopped. This past  summer, there were very few thunderstorms. There wasn’t much rain, either. In fact, all throughout June and I believe about half way through July, this summer was blisteringly hot. I had resorted to living in the basement with a fan on the entire day just so I wouldn’t get sick from the near constant heat. Every time I ventured outside, it was like walking through a giant oven. To this day, I have no idea why I even wanted to go outside half the time, but I did. Only this particular time, I actually payed for my carelessness.

It was around the middle of June, and the temperature was somewhere in the nineties. My mind was on two things: Thor and Catching Fire. Someone had recommended Thor to me, and I had just finished reading the first Hunger Games book. I was trying to figure out how I could get my hands on these items, when I suddenly had a brilliant idea, one that would surely go down in history as one of the best ideas ever. The library! Of course! I could find Thor and Catching Fire there! Man, was I genius or what? I envisioned myself walking out of the library holding the book and movie above my head in a blaze of glory and triumph.

But then I got an even better idea. Instead of just asking one of my parents if they would drive me over there, I would walk. By myself. In ninety degree weather. With little to no shade. To a place that’s half a mile away from my house. Yeah, I’m not sure what was wrong with me that day. So when I went to my parents with this idea, they were a little apprehensive and asked if I wanted to take my Dad’s cellphone with me, in case I didn’t think I could make it all the way. But then it turned out said cellphone was dead. After a quick discussion, instead of just waiting for dad’s phone to charge, I went ahead and started walking to the library. I’m sure my parents were wondering what had happened to the mature, responsible daughter they had raised.

The first fifteen minutes were easy enough. I was confident I would find my treasures and head home with no worries. But then I started to sweat. A lot. And it felt like my skin was burning. The self assurance started to fizzle out as I grew hotter and hotter. By the time I reached the library, my the back of my shirt was completely soaked with sweat (I know, gross) and I was almost out of breath. My whole body felt like it was on fire. So as you can imagine, the library was heaven. Upon entering the building, I was blasted with a wave of cold air that filled my lungs, cooled my skin off, and made me never want to leave.

But of course, I wasn’t there to be pampered. I was on a mission. After taking a few deep breaths, and a drink from the water fountain, the hunt began. To make a long story short, I didn’t find what I was looking for. I found the second Iron Man movie, but no Thor and no Catching Fire. Obviously I wasn’t feeling very confident now. It wasn’t getting any colder outside, my parents were expecting me, and because of my own impatience, the only way I could get home was by walking. Angry and defeated, I decided to just go home now and get it over with. That was a bad move on my part. My body was still recovering from the heat, and going back outside so soon just made things worse.

That was the longest, most difficult walk of my life. The instant I stepped outside, those flames roared back to life and in just a few minutes, I was sweating like a pig. But that wasn’t the worst part. My head was foggy, I was starting to feel nauseous, and I was so dizzy it’s a miracle I didn’t fall over right there. The only thing that really kept me from passing out was the fact that I would stop every few minutes to catch my breath. Fainting right on the sidewalk was the last thing I wanted to do. Landing on concrete probably isn’t good for one’s head. But I sure did come close. Or at least, I’m assuming that I did, considering I kept swaying back and forth when I walked.

The worst part of it all was knowing that all of this was my fault. If I had just asked my parents to drive me to the library, none of this would have happened. That, above all is what made me keep going. Like I said, it was a long and difficult trip. But I made it, and after telling my parents that I had been unsuccessful, I poured myself a glass of ice cold water, walked down to the basement, and flopped to the ground like my legs were made of jelly. I’m not sure why I thought ice water was a good idea. It didn’t help me cool off very much and it made me even more nauseous. It took me over thirty minutes to get back to normal.

So, what’s the moral of this story? I guess…don’t walk outside when it’s hot if you don’t have a cellphone.

My fellow bloggers…

I wanted to make a brief announcement: From here on out, I’m cracking down on comments. From now on, if you want to comment on a post, your comment must be relevant to the post itself. No more of these “Oh, I love your blog, it’s so great!” If you want to say that, go to “About Aria Raven”. If you want to comment on “And another thing”, the comment must be about that particular issue. If you want to comment on “Top six scariest cartoon characters”, the comment must be about scary cartoon characters. I really should’ve done this a long time ago, because honestly, it’s really difficult to tell which comments are genuine and which ones are spam. Do you understand? From here on out, if you try to comment on a post, and your comment is not relevant to the post, I will not let your comment through. Like I said, comments about how awesome or terrible my blog is should go to “About Aria Raven”. Okay? That’s all. Thank you and goodnight.

And another thing…

There’s more that I wanted to say about/to Spoony, but I held back in my last post because that was directed at Spoony and Holly, and I didn’t want it to be all about him. But guess what? Now it can be all about him! Yay!

Spoony, I’ll get right to the point: I’m ashamed of you. And I’m not just saying that. I know this will probably change sometime in the near future, but right now I feel literally nothing towards you but shame. The only reason I’m still following you on Twitter at the moment is because I still have some hope that you’ll stop it with the negativity. I chewed out Holly for getting frustrated with you, but now I can understand why she said what she said. I still don’t agree with it, but I think I know how she felt. My patience with you is wearing thin. This trolling for sympathy is really getting wearisome and it just needs to stop.

What happened to you, Spoony? I know your heart condition gives you problems, but you weren’t acting this nasty to your fans when it got really bad. Your break-up was obviously painful, but you didn’t sponge for sympathy then. And even when you officially announced your depression, you were mature enough, and you didn’t act like you expected people to feel sorry for you. I don’t get why you’re doing this now. What’s going on? I get that you don’t want your life-story on the internet, but if you don’t tell us what’s going on, we assume you’re trolling for no reason.

Do you want us to feel sorry for you? Well, it’s not going to happen. If you carry on like this, you’re not going to get sympathy from anybody. Your fans (including myself) are starting to loose hope in you, Holly is probably still annoyed, and now Lupa’s mad at you. (We’ll get to that in a minute.) Heck, even some of your trolls seem to be giving up on you! And when you do get sympathy, you ignore it and go on trolling. So, what do you want? Do you want pity or not? It has to be one or the other. I’m not sure which one you really want, but I currently stand on the no pity side. And until you clean up your act, it’s going to stay that way.

Now, about Lupa. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t hate you, but I can tell she is not happy with you. I just got done reading through your little Twitter discussion, and I was far from impressed. You made a joke about chaining up Jesu Otaku and raping her? I…I just…what? I…no Spoony. Just…no. That is not funny. Oh, but what’s this? You apologized because you were “out of line”? Well, that fixes everything, doesn’t it? Oh wait, it doesn’t! I don’t think rape jokes are funny as a whole, but I can usually let them go. But that’s going way too far Spoony! I thought Jesu Otaku was your friend! What were you thinking?! Did you honestly think you could get away with making a joke like that? You’re lucky she didn’t accuse you of sexual harassment, even though that’s pretty much what it is.

If there’s one thing about this that really annoys me, it’s that I thought you were done with the trolling. You said after your spat with Holly that you rethought some things. I assumed that meant you weren’t going to do this anymore. This just shows me that you learned literally nothing from that incident, which also shows me that you have reached a point where you don’t even want to listen to your friends anymore. That’s especially frustrating. How do you expect people to be listen to your problems if you don’t want to listen to them? You tell us that you have a rough life, and yet you shut down anyone who tries to give you advice. It’s not going to get any easier for you if you keep pushing people away.

Now, I’ve never had depression, so I’m probably missing something here. I know that depression can really mess up your mind, and I get that’s what’s going on with Spoony. But what I don’t get is why everyone seems to think depression is a good excuse for saying the things Spoony has said. Depression may be affecting his thinking, but it’s no excuse for making a joke about raping someone you supposedly care about, among other things. Is depression like a demon that possess you so that you have literally no control over what you do and say? Because that’s kind of the vibe I’m getting from those who continue to justify Spoony’s actions.

The way they talk about it suggests that Spoony doesn’t want to act nasty to people, but he can’t control himself. That’s all well and good, but the thing is, he can control himself. He has a choice about what he puts on the internet and makes public. I know you can say things you don’t mean when you get caught up in the heat of the moment, but if he really feels bad about what he says, why doesn’t he delete those Tweets? He may not be able to control his feelings, but he can control how he deals with them. Nobody is forcing him to leave those Tweets up. If he can put them up, he can take them down. It’s as simple as that.

Like I said, I’m no expert in depression, seeing as how I’ve never had it, but I just don’t think people should be using it to justify Spoony’s actions. He’s losing fans, followers, and possibly friends because he doesn’t think before he says stuff. I admit, I used to blame everything Spoony did on the depression, but there’s only so much I can take, and now I’m not sure what or who to blame. It’s honestly becoming hard to tell if it’s Spoony or the depression talking nowadays.

Spoony, I like you. Okay? My brother introduced me to your videos, and I’ve been a fan ever since. You were the first TGWTG contributor I ever watched, and it’s thanks to you that I watch The Nostalgia Critic and Linkara, as well as others. You are my favorite contributor, and you always will be. I don’t think I’ll ever not like you. There will always be a special place in my heart for you. That’s why it hurts to see you do this. I want you to get better, and I want you to be happy, but sometimes I wonder if that’s what you want too. You need to get help, and so far you haven’t made much of an effort. It’s obvious you need help of the professional kind. We’re trying to be supportive of you, but you don’t really seem to care. If we can’t help you, find somebody who can. I don’t know what more we can do.

That about wraps it up. Does anyone disagree with what I’ve said here? Let’s talk about it. Go ahead and leave a comment if you have another opinion. I’m actually very interested in hearing what people have to say. Yes Spoony, that includes you. And before you accuse me of anything, just remember that I don’t hate Spoony, and I never will. It’s just that the self-pity, trolling, and negativity is getting hard to deal with. That is all.

Disappointed

This post serves pretty much no purpose. It’s just me expressing my feelings. I won’t be surprised if nobody reads this, because like I said, there’s no point. But all I ask from you is this: If you have anything negative to say, please, just this once, keep it to yourself. Okay? Can you do that? I’m really not in a good mood right now, because two people I admire made some bad choices, and as a result, I lost a bit of respect for them.

I follow many TGWTG people on Twitter. Among those people are Spoony and Holly, an administrator for the website. I’ve always admired them, Spoony for his determination and loyalty to his fans, and Holly for her strength and wisdom. But recently there was a bit of an uproar on Twitter, because Holly and Spoony got into a bit of an argument over Spoony’s attitude as of late. If I had to choose, I’d say Holly won the argument, although the way she “won” it is part of why I’m all upset.

People have been taking sides about this. Some say Spoony is the victim of bullying by Holly, some say Holly was just using tough love on Spoony to get him to grow up. Where do I stand on this? Nowhere. I don’t think either of them were right, and I’m disappointed in both of them. More disappointed than I can put into words. I mean, I admire these people so much! I care about them deeply, even though we’ve never met, and I even told off a guy that I don’t know who was being nasty to Holly over Twitter. I also can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve mentioned how much I hate seeing Spoony get picked on. I guess that’s part of the reason why I’m so upset: I feel betrayed. I don’t know, I think it’s sort of a “I do this for you, and this is how you repay me?” feeling. I don’t even know how to describe my angtsy feelings. Being a teenager can really suck sometimes.

Spoony, I now speak directly to you: Your attitude has been pretty bad lately. I know you’ve got depression, and I know you’ve got all these health issues, and I know your break-up was hard, but you’re handling it the wrong way. Cussing people out and yelling at them when they call you out on it will get you nowhere. You’re making yourself look really bad, and if you continue to do this, it’s only going to get worse. I also found it appalling that you refused to take Holly seriously until she basically yelled at you. I could tell that she was trying to have a serious discussion with you about your behavior, and until that particular moment, you just shut her down. Is that what you do with everyone who tries to talk to you on a serious level? If that’s the case, then you can forget about your colleges confiding in you with personal problems. Spoony, you can’t make a joke out of everything. I know it’s your job to make jokes, but comedians have to be serious when it’s appropriate.

You know what I think you need to do? Just get off Twitter for a while. It doesn’t have to be long, maybe three or four days. I just think you should take some time to gloss over your behavior. Or maybe you already have, in which case, good for you. It’s just that I would like to be sure you understand why people are upset by your actions.

Okay Holly, now it’s your turn: While I admire what you were trying to do, I don’t agree at all with the way you went about doing it. People say it was tough love. I say it was bullying. You wanted Spoony to stop criticizing people. Fine.  So you cuss at him, then tell him people are laughing at him. Um, what? Why couldn’t you have just told him “People don’t think what you’re saying is funny.”? That “crash and burn” comment really was not necessary. Admittedly, it did get him to back off, but really, what was accomplished there? There were no apologizes, no promises, nothing! It just kinda fizzled out. Holly, if you want him to be nicer to people, don’t sink down to that level. The comments you made to him teetered on public humiliation.  If you were trying to act more mature than him, it didn’t work. You made yourself look just as bad, with just a few comments.

You consider yourself the Mother of the Channel Awesome crew, right? Well, most mom’s that I know don’t swear at their children and tell them that people are laughing at them. I’m not saying you should treat Spoony like a child, I’m just saying your actions contradicted what I used to think of you. I thought of you as being a protective, advice-giving, loving person. I didn’t see any of that in your little Twitter battle. Please Holly, think about what you’re going to say before you say it. It’ll help you a lot in life.

Okay, that about wraps it up. I seriously doubt Spoony or Holly will actually read this, and if they do…fine. That’s all I have to say. Fine. I’m not angry, I don’t want to yell, and I don’t even feel like crying. I’m just ashamed. I look to these people because I admire them, and got to watch them act, well, for lack of a better term, like children. I’m sorry for all the angst on my part, it’s just that I hate feeling this way about people, especially people I look up to. Will I take this down at some point? Maybe. For now, I just need some time to think and be alone. Goodbye.

Chris Brown’s fans are the worst…

“I’d let Chris Brown punch me in the face.” “I don’t know why Rihanna complained, Chris Brown could beat me anytime he wanted to.” “Not gonna lie, I think I’d let Chris Brown beat me.” Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re just looking for an excuse to gush about the guy you like. Stop blabbering nonsense and be honest with yourselves. You can’t say stuff like that until you experience it firsthand. If Chris Brown actually did beat you up, I’m more than willing to bet you wouldn’t be so starry-eyed over him. I might be a bit more forgiving if you were all my age, but most of you seem to be closer to Chris Brown’s age. What I’m trying to say is that you’re being immature. And it’s getting on my nerves.

I am sick of Chris Brown. I’m sick of his music, I’m sick of seeing his face everywhere, I’m sick of how he’s constantly being fawned over, I’m sick of hearing about how he won a Grammy, and above all, I’m sick of his fans half-witted behavior. The quotes I mentioned above are actual Tweets from female members of “Team Breezy”. When I first saw those Tweets, I actually laughed. And it wasn’t a laugh that indicated I found them funny. It was a bitter, “I give up” laugh. I’ve never been more annoyed with the human race. People like this both irritate and disgust me. Those aren’t even the worst ones I’ve seen. No, there are people who accuse Rihanna of lying, (When there’s a picture of Rihanna’s face floating about the internet.) say that she pushed him into doing it, and worst of all, claim that Rihanna deserved it for going out with him in the first place.

If you’ve ever said anything even close to what I mentioned above, then let me say this: Your logic confuses me. You wanna listen to Chris Brown’s music? Fine, but would it kill you to stop acting like he’s perfect? For one thing, he’s not perfect. Nobody is. Chris Brown is one of the least perfect people I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing. He didn’t just punch Rihanna in the face. He beat her to the point where she was unrecognizable. Do you want me to list all the details for you? He bit her and threatened to kill her like some crazy person. Perfect? I think not.

And I just love how even though they’ll acknowledge what he did to Rihanna, Team Breezy totally ignores the little temper tantrum he had on Good Morning America. You know what I’m talking about. When he cussed out several people, threw a chair out a window, took his shirt off, and stormed out of the building. What about that particular incident is so taboo to Team Breezy? They’re completely willing to talk about how he used his girlfriend’s face as a punching bag, but not about what he did on one of the days afterward. So tell me, Team Breezy. Why do you refuse to talk about his tantrum, but openly talk about the event that caused the tantrum?  Like I said, your logic confuses me.

I realize that there wasn’t a proper introduction to this post, so let me explain what this is all about. This was originally going to be about Chris Brown, and what I really think of him. But then I realized that people complain about Chris Brown all the time, and I do mean all the time. But people don’t ever seem to talk about his fans, and in my opinion, they’re just as bad as he is. And ever since Brown won a Grammy, it seems like they’ve gotten worse. I do not feel sorry for that man for all the negative attention he’s gotten. And remember, I’m the one who pities Rebecca Black. So the purpose of this blog post is to take a stand for the Anti Team Breezy people by showing everyone else what it’s like to see ridiculous stuff like what I mentioned above.

Anyways, let’s talk about the comment in Brown’s defense that irritates me the most: “Everyone makes mistakes”. Yes, everyone makes mistakes. Heaven knows I have. But here’s the thing: People are supposed to learn from their mistakes. And if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that Chris Brown has not learned one thing from this incident. To be honest, I don’t think you have either, Team Breezy. Or maybe you have, and you just decide to ignore it because you’re so blinded by your admiration for Brown.

The idea of Team Breezy brushing off the incident as a mere “mistake” disturbs me greatly. I have sort of a guideline when it comes to celebrity admiration, and that’s that you shouldn’t let yourself become too dazzled by that celebrities accomplishments or talents, or you’ll become so blinded by your admiration that you’ll stop looking at what kind of person they are, and focus solely on what you admire about them. So in other words, you’re not looking at who they are, you’re looking at what they’re known for. I think this is exactly what’s happening to a majority of Team Breezy. For whatever reason, they love Brown so much that they cannot see the severity of his actions. They genuinely think that it was a mere “mistake”.

Well, let me tell you right now, what Brown did was not a mistake. See, a mistake is something you do unintentionally. I don’t see how you can unintentionally punch somebody, or bite them, or threaten to kill them. When you do stuff like that, you are trying to hurt somebody. Brown was trying to hurt Rihanna, and I’d say he did a pretty good job at it. Now, if Brown accidentally bumped into Rihanna and she fell over, this would be a different story. If that happened, then yes, it would be a mistake, because he wouldn’t have meant to hurt her. But that’s not the case here. I don’t know what his intentions were if not to hurt her.

This will probably upset people, but I’m not trying to make waves. I really do want you all to think about this. If Rihanna was white, would this all have ended differently? Would people love Brown as much as they do? Would Team Breezy even exist? Now, before you go calling me a racist, think about this. I was looking at a tumblr blog, and I saw a post that left me asking these questions. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but the basic message was “Kayne West insults a white girl, he’s a tool for the rest of his life. Chris Brown beats up a black girl, he gets a Grammy.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. When Kayne West insulted Taylor Swift, people were pretty upset, and they had good reason to be. But sometimes it really does seem like he gets picked on for what he did more than Brown does. And really, the only explanation I have for this is that Taylor Swift is white, therefore, it offends people more.

That’s…really stupid. A person’s race shouldn’t matter in cases like this. It doesn’t matter that Rihanna’s black, it wouldn’t matter if she were white, it wouldn’t matter if she were Asian, Hispanic, or any other race you can conjure up. The fact of the matter is that she was the victim of a horrific crime, and there’s evidence to prove it. I don’t see why her race should play any part, but apparently it does, seeing as how people are STILL concerned about Taylor Swift’s well-being, while Rihanna is basically getting swept under the rug. People, just admit it. Rihanna is the real victim here. Not Brown, Rihanna.

I believe I’ve blabbered enough for one day, so let me conclude by saying this: What would you do, Team Breezy, if Brown beat another girl? I’m not saying he will, I’m just saying it’s possible. Would you continue to worship him, or would you finally admit that maybe he’s not so great? Think about it. At the very least, think about one thing I’ve said here. Can you do that for me?

I’ve given up on Sakura…

And when I say I’ve given up on her, I mean I’ve given up on her ever being a decent character. Many Naruto fans have conflicting views on characters, future pairings, and how the series will end. But quite a few have agreed on one thing: Sakura. For everyone that likes her, there’s somebody that hates her. I don’t hate her, but I can’t honestly say that I like her. If she died, would I cry? Maybe. But I just can’t bring myself to be able to relate to her.

After what I saw her do in Shippuden, I have officially decided to throw in the towel and quit giving her second chances. Before I talk about what exactly she did in Shippuden that made me give up on her, let me tell you about the relationship between Sakura and I. It’s not a good one. This is basically how it all goes down: Sakura does something stupid and I rage at her. Then she does something that I like, and I forgive her. Then she does something kinda smart and kinda stupid, and I feel confused. Then she does something stupid again, and the cycle begins all over again. Well, I’ve decided that enough is enough, and frankly, I’m done trying to convince myself “Oh she’s not that bad.” “She’s just confused.” “Everyone makes mistakes.”

Now we shall talk about the downward cycle Sakura has taken as a character, in my opinion. Who was she when she started out? A Sasuke fangirl. That’s all. This trend continued until the Chunin Exams arc when they were in the forest. Orochimaru had given Sasuke the mark, Naruto was knocked out cold, and Sakura was looking after them. Suddenly, three sound ninja appear, ready to move in for the kill. Sakura sets up some traps, hoping it’ll get them out of the way. The sound ninja easily uncover the traps, but Rock Lee appears to help her out. Unfortunately for Sakura, the sound ninja overpower him, leaving her vulnerable. And here is where I started to have a bit of faith in her.

After finding herself trapped, she decides that she’s sick of being useless, and decides that she’ll start stepping up to be better as a ninja and a person. This was one of her finer moments. It actually looked like she would be a character of her own, as opposed to the five million Sasuke fangirls. (What’s so great about him, anyways?) And to be completely honest, she didn’t do half bad. She didn’t exactly beat the sound ninjas, but she was able to hold her own against them until Team 10 gave her a hand. After that particular episode was over, I thought “Yes! She’s gonna learn some cool jutsus and get strong! It’s gonna be awesome!”

And then she completely drops the “Make myself stronger” act, and goes right back to where she started: A Sasuke fangirl. Nothing changed. Oh wait, she had shorter hair. You’d think she could at least try to learn some jutsus. I mean come on! The most we ever see out of her for that time are basic jutsus. And…wait for it…she can throw things! Ain’t it amazing, folks? The main heroine doesn’t have anything going for her! She doesn’t even try to change herself! (Sigh.) And people wonder why I like Hinata so much…

And now comes a moment where I actually felt sorry for her. It was when Sasuke left the Leaf, and Sakura chased after him, confessing her love for him, and begging him to stay there. It was a rather heartbreaking moment…almost immediately followed by one of her biggest screw-ups ever. Lady Tsunade puts together a team to bring Sasuke back. Before they depart, Sakura tells Naruto that her only wish is for Sasuke to come back. Naruto, who wants nothing more than to make Sakura happy, makes a vow to her that he will definitely bring Sasuke back to the Leaf. This vow would haunt Naruto throughout the whole mission, throughout the two and a half years he trained with Jiraya, and still haunts him in Shippuden.

Do you see what I’m getting at? Sakura basically created a demon for Naruto, purely for her own selfish reasons. Okay, that might be going a bit too far, but you cannot tell me that Naruto was unhealthily committed to that vow. I mean, did you see the look on his face when he failed to bring back Sasuke? He’s been tearing himself up in order to make Sakura, who doesn’t even like him the way he likes her, happy. Sakura doesn’t even act all that grateful for it. I honestly don’t think she ever thanks Naruto for at least attempting to return Sasuke to her. If that’s not messed up, I don’t know what is.

But luckily, she gets a lot stronger and learns medical jutsu to boot while Naruto was training with Jiraya. Her character does a complete one eighty and actually becomes a competent ninja. Her fight with Sasori is considered to be one of the best battles in the entire show, both pre-Shippuden and during Shippuden. However, things went a little, shall we say, sour when Sai actually told her how much of a burden Naruto has placed on himself because of his vow to her. So she decides to relieve him of that burden…in probably the worst way imaginable.

This is it folks. This is the moment I’ve been building up to. The moment where I gave up. The moment where I decided that she doesn’t get anymore second chances. The moment where I realized that unless something truly amazing happens, she’ll probably never be a decent character. How does she relieve Naruto of his burden? She tells him that she loves him. But not just that. She tells Naruto that she doesn’t need him to bring back Sasuke for her, that she has no more feelings for him, now that he’s a criminal. All she wants now is for Naruto to be with her.

Naruto, (understandably) does not believe her and tells her “I hate people who lie to themselves.” In other words, “I hate you.” Okay, I know for a fact that wasn’t what Kishimoto was going for, but it sure seemed like it. I mean, just try and tell me Naruto didn’t look pretty ticked off. And he has a good reason to be ticked off, as I will explain in a bit. He and Sakura have an argument, and she storms away, but starts crying and silently asks Naruto to forgive her while her back is turned.

Do you get why this scene made me loose hope for Sakura? Sakura knows that Naruto has feelings for her. She knows that he’s trying to rescue Sasuke for her sake. And she feels incredibly guilty about this. That’s all fine and dandy, but she then proceeds to attempt to manipulate Naruto and his feelings for her as a means to an end. It’s pretty obvious she was lying by the seat of her pants, and Naruto, who is basically the village idiot, knew this. Why do you think he was so mad? He figured out right away that Sakura was messing with his head and his feelings, and called her out on it. And when he did, she tried to backpedal, and when that didn’t work, she marched off in a huff like a ten year old.

Sakura is not a heroine anymore. She is an anti-hero. What kind of heroine would try to manipulate somebody who likes her, by pretending to like them back? True, she had good intentions, but the way she went about doing it was completely wrong. What was so illogical about simply going up to Naruto and just telling him “I feel awful about making you promise to bring back Sasuke, so I’m going to relieve you of your burden. You don’t have to keep trying to find him for my sake anymore. I don’t want to see you get hurt for me anymore.”

And I suppose I should talk about the scene where she tries to kill Sasuke. She figured out where Sasuke was, and told him, (telling another lie) that she wanted to join him. He tells her that she has to prove it, and that if she kills the already almost dead Karin, she can join him. Sakura’s plan was to stab Sasuke and end the nightmare, but when it actually came time for her to do it, she couldn’t. A lot of people were frustrated with that scene and mocked Sakura for being weak. While it was a little frustrating that they built up that scene, only for it to not happen, I can sorta see why they did it. I just wish they had done it differently, like having Sakura actually try to stab him and miss, as opposed to actively not stab him.

Sakura was probably doomed to fail as a main character from the start. When your main character doesn’t have anything really spectacular going for her, it’s not likely that people will relate to her easily. It’s really saying something when central characters (cough cough Hinata cough cough) beat her in terms of popularity by a long shot. Kishimoto said in an interview that he’s tired of how it’s always “Hinata, Hinata,  Hinata”. Well, sorry Kishimoto, but Hinata truly is a more interesting character than Sakura. People aren’t going to talk about somebody who doesn’t interest them. And it’s not just Hinata. Temari is a more interesting character, as well as Anko, Tsunade, and Konan.

It’s truly disappointing to see a main character fall flat on their face. If there had been some changes to her overall character, (not being a Sasuke fangirl, having some jutsus of her own) she could’ve been far more interesting. That is why I’ve decided that unless Sakura actually gets off her butt and does something really amazing, I’m done with her. If she wants to keep going the way she’s going, fine. I’m sorry Kishimoto, but you’re going to have to work hard to make me truly appreciate her as a character again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to Deviantart to look at some nice Naruto/Hinata pictures.

Kidz Bop

There are few words in this world that can make music lovers cringe as much as the words “Kidz Bop”. Why? Because for many people, they are the very reason songs shouldn’t be covered by anybody except for the original artist.  Many believe that they completely, utterly destroy the songs they cover. And while I try to keep a positive opinion of people, I am inclined to agree with them. I’m sorry people, but once again, I gotta be frank: When I first heard a Kidz Bop song, my thoughts were “Someone please tell me this is a joke. There’s no way people are actually supposed to enjoy this.” But unfortunately, we are in fact supposed to not only enjoy it, but buy their albums and give them money to continue doing what they do.

For those of you who don’t know, Kidz Bop is what happens when you get a bunch of kids who are prepubescent to early teens, and have them sing Top 40 songs. But that’s not all they do, oh no. They want to make the songs appropriate for young children, so they change any lyrics that have curse words, sexual references or references to drug use. Sometimes this actually works out okay. Other times…not so much. We’ll get back to this, but first let’s talk about my main problem with them.

I’ll just come right out and say it: These kids can’t sing. I know, it sounds harsh, but they honestly can’t. Some of them aren’t sure about what kind of tone they should be using, some of them are tone deaf, and the biggest problem is the lack of emotion in their voices. In a majority of the songs, they sound just plain bored. The biggest offender, in my opinion, is their cover of “Break Your Heart”, which was originally sung by Taio Cruz. Listen to it, and tell me they don’t sound like they’re about to fall asleep.  No, seriously, go listen. I’ll wait.

See what I mean? There is no emotion in their voices, and that makes it uninteresting. I wouldn’t mind if this was one of their earlier covers, but this is featured on the eighteenth album. This means that this problem has yet to be corrected, and at this rate, it probably never will be. They can keep singing in those screechy voices for all I care, but someone please teach them to sing with feeling. And speaking of screechy voices, their voices are not at all ready for the songs they sing. Half the time they can’t even hit the right notes, and the other half of the time, they sound like they’re not even trying.

I really do wonder if these kids actually know what they’re getting into when they cover these songs. If you wanna just sing a song for the heck of it, fine. But if you want to make a cover and have people take it seriously, then you really do need to think about the song, and what it means. I’m sorry, but I really don’t think these kids know what half these songs are about. I mean, these kids sound more like they should be doing sing-along songs for Disney, not covering songs like “Paparazzi”, “Hot ‘n’ Cold”, and “Tik Tok”. Heck, they actually sound a little creeped out when they sing the chorus in “Paparazzi”.

Going back to the changing the lyrics thing, like I said, there are times when it would make sense. (For example, changing “drink a little more” to “dance a little more” and “sippin’ gin and juice” to “sippin apple juice”.) But there are times when it just doesn’t work. For example, in their cover of “Evacuate the Dance Floor” they change the line “It feels like an overdose” to “It feels like it’s really close.” That…makes no sense at all. If anything, it just makes it worse, because it sort of sounds like a sexual reference.

Other times they’ll just remove part of a song entirely. In their cover of “California Gurls”, they completely remove the second verse because of the sexual references, and they remove Snoop Dog’s part. Which, now that I think about it, was probably for the best, because while I’ve never cared to check, I’m pretty sure they’re no better at rapping than they are at singing. Although, considering how many rappers are out there, one can’t help but wonder…

And now, to finish off this rant, I’ll talk about what I consider to be their worst covers of all time. To start us off, there’s their cover of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. What is “Born This Way” about? Simple. It celebrates the joy of being your own person. So what does Kidz Bop do with it? Besides singing off key, they remove the “No matter gay, straight, or bi…” line, the “Whether you’re broke or evergreen…” line, and just about every lyric that relates to being different. Wow. Way to completely defeat the purpose of the song, Kidz Bop. I mean really, what’s the point of covering the song if that’s what you’re going to do with it?

Next is their cover of “Fireflies” by Owl City. The lack of emotion is a huge problem with this cover, as not only do they sound bored, but they sound somewhat confused as to how much emotion they should have in their voices. Sometimes they’ll put some feeling in there, other times they’ll sound totally monotonous, almost to the point of sounding robot-like. This is definitely a case of them not getting what the song means. There’s supposed to be a sense of awe and disbelief with a slightly melancholy tone. With this cover, the kids seem to be thinking “Okay, am I supposed to sound sad or happy? And when do I change my tone? Eh, I guess I’ll just wing it. Who’s going to notice it, anyways?”

After that comes their cover of “Fire Burning” by Sean Kingston. Now, I’m not really a big Sean Kingston fan, but “Fire Burning” is a pretty awesome song. It’s basically about a guy who goes to a club and sees a hot girl who just happens to be a great dancer. This cover however…it completely fails. For one thing, their voices don’t just sound flat, they sound nasally. I actually couldn’t help but wonder if some of them had colds. There’s also the teeny tiny fact that we’re listening to young children who have probably never had their first kiss use slang terms like “Shawty” and “Little Mama”. And then there’s the fact that they change a lot of lyrics so that it’s not about how she’s hot and a good dancer, it’s just about how she’s a good dancer. It doesn’t sound at all natural, it sounds forced and awkward. Bottom line, the voices on these kids are not fit for this song. At all.

And now we come to the bottom two. Both are Evanescence songs, and both are prime examples of why nine year olds shouldn’t be trying to sound “serious”. First, there’s “My Immortal”, a classic Evanescence song. So naturally, Kidz Bop went and covered. And even more naturally, they ruined it. And I don’t use the term “ruined” lightly. Their voices are just about unbearable in this cover. They try oh so hard to sound solemn and sad, but that’s the thing. You can tell they’re trying, and when you cover a song like this, you can’t just try, you have to actually get in the mood. It’s painfully obvious they have no idea what they’re doing. And on top of that, at the “I’ve been alone all along.” line, you’re supposed to raise your voice. The kid doing the solo raises his voice, then lowers it, then raises it again at the last moment. Confused much?

Finally, there’s the cover of “Bring Me To Life.” All I can say is, congratulations Kidz Bop, for you have accomplished the impossible and silenced Aria Raven. I mean…good Heavens, what did they do to you “Bring Me To Life”? Not only did they use probably their flattest, most monotonous, worst singers, they utterly destroyed the meaning of the song. This is supposed to be a song about feeling cold and empty inside from all the problems in one’s life. It’s a song about begging for help, pleading to be released from their mental prison. Here, it just sounds like the whining of a kid who’s not getting their way.

On top of that, they actually brought in a grown man to do the growling voice that’s used throughout “Bring Me To Life”.  And boy oh boy, does he sound pathetic. It sounds nothing like the demonic, growling voice. It just sounds, well, like a guy singing in a deep voice. His voice isn’t that much better than the kid’s either. When it’s his turn, he just sounds weak, like he’s about to pass out at any moment. Kidz Bop, this is supposed to be an emotional song. So have some emotion, why don’t you?! Please!

Okay, I’ve ranted enough for today. Let me just finish by saying this: Thank you Kidz Bop, for reminding us that just about anybody can become well-known, simply by doing the most unoriginal things, like singing songs that aren’t even ours. Thank you so very much. I do hope you enjoy your paycheck. It’s all you’re getting from us.