My Wildest Dreams

I had a crazy thought last night. I started thinking about who I would cast in "Return to Eternity" the movie. The main characters in "Return to Eternity" are, of course, Hero Lansing, Raenth "Rae" Galestrum, Dathon Wing, Mare Freestone, Fae Namir, and Jeana Lansing.

Hero Lansing is the main protagonist of "Return to Eternity". Hero is described as a scarlet haired girl with very pale eyes, almost clear or silvery. She is tall and willowy, and very beautiful. Hero and her mother are very similar in body structure and face, but Jeana has golden blond hair and brilliant green eyes. My choice for a Hero and Jeana pair is Megan Fox (Transformers) and Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider).
If I go with the Megan Fox-Angelina Jolie combo as mother and daughter, my choice for Mare Freestone would be Jessica Alba to finish off the Freestone royal family.

Now, in my story, Hero's adopted cousin is Mare Freestone. Mare is not only Hero's best friend but also her body double. So its important for Hero and Mare to appear very much a like. My second choice for a Hero and Mare combo would be Keira Knightly (Atonement) as Hero Lansing and Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) as Mare Freestone. I chose Keria and Natalie because they've worked as body doubles before on Stars Wars the Phantom Menace.

Raenth Galestrum, better known as Rae, is Hero's love interest throughout the story. Rae is described as an androgynous young man with an "angel's mask" face and mischievous sapphire eyes. His hair is an ebony shade and usually worn long. Rae is flirtatious and fiery, but very loyal and passionate about his friends. I've always pictured Rae as a handsome British young man, so it wasn't very hard to picture the actor I thought could be Raenth Galestrum, Hero's paramour.

My first choice for Rae was British actor Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian). I think his dark, smokey looks match Rae's almost perfectly, save for his dark brown eyes, while Rae was stormy blue eyes. Still, Ben is an amazing match for Rae. My second choice is one of my favorite actors, Tom Felton (Harry Potter's Draco Malfoy). I don't feel he is as strong a candidate as Ben Barnes, but I think he has Rae's boyish good looks and cheery nature.

I can't mention Rae Galestrum without mentioning his ever present comrade, Lord Dathon Wing. Dathon Wing is the son of an Eternity nobleman and the sister of the Sultan of Ravel. Dathon is described as be tall, about 6'5", and lanky. He is shy, intelligent, and solemn. His eyes are a deep, warm brown the color of mahagony and his hair is an unruly sandy blond crown.My original inspirations for Rae and Dathon was the Japanese singer Gackt Camui for Rae, and Gackt's bandmate and best friend, You, as Dathon. As my story grew, my idea of Dathon and Rae's images changed as well, but I kept the mysterious but strong bond between the young men that was inspired by Gackt and You.

My ideal actor would be Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as the solemn, shy, but very handsome Dathon Wing. As my second choice, or perhaps a young Dathon Wing, would be William Moseley (Chronicle of Narnia's Peter Pensive). I think he's a little bit more boyish and younger than I picture Dathon, but I feel he has a very strong, patient, and knightly manner that really stands out as very Dathon like traits.

My final character is the villian Fae Namir, the Witch of Kerge. I have two choices for Fae, but I do not favor one over the other because I haven't really settled on my total idea of an actress for Fae, since she is such a definitive role in the story.

Fae Namir is the bastard daughter of the Emperor of Kerge, Lordeous, and his mistress, a Shade named Olia. She is a vibrantly beautiful but dangerous woman. She is an accomplished general in the Kerge's army by the time she was twenty, a high ranking member of the Kerge's Inner Council, and a powerful mage. She is perhaps the most dangerous being in the world of Therra before the fall of Eternity. Fae has straight, long black hair, snowy white, flawless skin, and brilliant violet eyes. She is seen as unbelievably beautiful but horrible and terrifying.

My choices for Fae Namir's actress are Charlize Theron (Monster) or Kate Beckinsale (Underworld). I think Charlize has more of Fae's beauty, but Kate has her darker, dangerous appeal. I am truly on the fence about the better actress to play Fae.


This is really my wildest fantasy of who I'd want to play my beloved characters if the book was ever made into a movie. I hope you enjoyed checking out my blog and these pictures as much as I had making it!

As a final note, I found these pictures all over the internet and this blog was all in fun, no infringement intended. So please, don't sue... I am very, very poor.

A sneak preview of "Return to Eternity"

Chapter II : From Exile to Eternity

A nervous jolt rushed through Hero's body, her skin prickling with invisible barbs. In her ears, as they strained against the bonds of deaf dreaming, the whispers came to her. They were almost too soft for her to hear, laboring to break through the heavy veils of sleep that bound her. Still, the constant murmur, a choir of whispers, probed at her dreaming mind, thrusting through the layers of sleep to force through their message.
Wake up!

Hero Lansing's pale eyes burst open as she shot forward in her bed, her heart hammering to get out of her chest as her lungs screamed for air. Her vision blurred on the corners, darkening as if she would faint from the pressure of the furious blood shooting to her brain. All around her the other girls making the long voyage from Atticus to Eternity slept serenely. Not even one stirred in their innocent slumber. Hero brought a shaking hand to her brow, wiping away a cold sweat. She shook the wild crimson curls from her face, tucking the unruly strands of hair behind her ears. Only the creak of the ship's timbers and the soft huff of the girl's steady breathing could be heard around, and yet…

Hero shook her head again, rubbing at her eyes vigorously. It was silly to think she had heard anyone call to her, miles out to sea. And yet she could of sworn she'd heard a voice, a woman's voice calling to her, urging her to wake. The questions of who and what had stirred her so early in the morning and for what means sat heavily on Hero's young mind, unwilling to allow her to sink back into sleep. With a heavy sigh, the red haired teen tossed aside her bedding and started dressing as quietly as possible. The last thing she wanted this early in the day was to wake even one of her resting companions.

The upper decks of the Astolat were still fairly deserted as the first inklings of daybreak crept along the horizon. The upper crust of the sun hadn't even peeked over the horizon, but already Hero could see the crimson fringes of dawn. The teen smiled to herself, ambling across the deck on sea sturdy legs towards the forecastle.

"Ahoy!" a young sailor crowed, swing down a long line of rigging and dropping to the deck only feet from Hero. His feet touched down with boneless grace, a roughish grin plastered to his youthful face. Hero smiled sweetly to Sorley of Pearlscale. The copper headed youth ran a hand over his sparkling blue eyes, flicking the sweat from his brow.

"It will be a hot one aga'n," he drawled in the distinct tones of the Faerian, her father's tribe. Hero's own coppery locks and pale, pale eyes reflected the traits of her father's people, much like Sorley, but her ivory skin and slender, willowy form was that of her noble-blooded mother. Sorley's stocky, compact body and nutshell colored skin was all the set the two apart.

"Aye, I've heard Eternity's been under a hot spell for a month now," Hero replied easily in the twang common of the Faerian language. The Faerians were a sect outside of the Orion people that ruled Ends Land, Hero's homeland. It was uncommon for her to use the lower classed dialect, but it came to her as easily as her high-breed orations among her fellow noblewoman. Sorley's mischievous smile and faint nod seemed approving of the drop in formality. The young sailor looked eastward towards the white, glistening city the ship was sailing towards. Even in the near darkness it glowed with an inner luminescence reminiscent of a pearl. Eternity, the Pearl of Ends Land. A fitting name for the beautiful city.

Sorley jerked his chin towards Eternity as he gathered up a line of rope and coiled it aimlessly.

"A strange, foul mood been hov'ern over Eternity with the blast'd heat," Sorley murmured absently, his eyes glancing over Hero as if to see if she caught the coded message. Hero's red brows peaked slightly, her face remaining well masked as she leaned casually against the ship's rail.

"Oh? A bad heat tends to boil men's senses, makes them do funny things," Hero replied with the same undertone. Sorley snorted, shaking his coppery head.

"Watch your back, kid'ling," Sorley warned, using the Faerian's term of endearment to a child, "Many a feller's senses is corrupted on shore. Almost like the heat's a mag'iked evil." Sorley shot her a superstitious look from the corner of his cornflower blue eyes, but Hero ignored it.

Hero's eyes turned instead towards the thickening swath of bloody red light covering the eastern skyline. A dreadful feeling crept into her stomach as the crimson sun started to rise from the sea, painting everything it touched in shades of blood. Even the sparkling white spires of Eternity started to take on a bleeding sort of look as the first rays of dawn touched upon them. The city appeared to be showered in a battlefield's worth of gore and destruction. Sorley cursed quietly at her side and made a sign against evil over his chest. Hero felt her stomach sink lower as the wind stirred her bounty of scarlet locks, the whispering choiring in her ears again.

Danger…

The great thing about greedy friends....

Now, I'm not saying greedy, like miserly money grubbers, or stealing candy from a baby greedy friends. No, I'm talking about those "greedy" friends that are trying to get their hands on the first copy of your novel so they can be the first person to read your work. Yeah Nyx, talking about you.

I've been kicking around my novel "Return to Eternity" for awhile. I keep tweaking details and writing, re-writing, re-re-writing the opening so it's just right. This novel has been my baby since I had a nightmare about evil goo eating men and turning them into monsters three years ago. Of course the first person I told about my bad dream turned inspiration was my BFF, Nyx. Her words hit me hard the minute I told her I wanted to write this novel; "You better finish this one, Mysse!"

Ouch! That kinda stung like a verbal bitch slap. I mean, I've been writing stories since I was six and it's been my passion, but I tried to keep it on the underground. Mostly because my family really couldn't care less what crazy things I was writing about and because, well I never let anyone really read any of my work. I'm loud and boisterous around my friends, but deep down I'm just a shy, insecure girl that isn't always sure if she's ever been 'good enough'. But to hear from my best friend that I had to actually finish writing at least one of my wild stories? That was a wake up call.

So I've been pounding away at every detail of RtE. This is my epic, maybe not my master piece, but definitely my best saga. And after 3 years, and almost 2 of those 3 was spent battling writer's block, I have the final plot line for Return to Eternity.

Yeah, I know that's like a really dumb place to be. 3 years and all you have if a finished plot line? Hear me out. All the images, all the words and characters have been kicking around my head, some working, some crashing, but they've all been jumbled up in there waiting to get out. So I have over 200 pages of notes alone about things I want in the story, character designs, places, descriptions, and motivations. Let me tell you, sorting through 200 pages of garbled ideas about how a character's motivations that I wrote at 4 in the morning back in 2007 is like trying to figure out if the chicken came first, the egg, or the ameba that then evolved into the aquatic animal, which then became an amphibian, and that became the naked mole rat.

What I'm ranting about is that it's been a long evolution of ideas into a final package. This final plot line, which I keep in a special journal, is my final say on what stays and what goes, so I can finally write my rough draft of this baby that has taken me 3 long years to birth.

Which brings me to my greedy friends motives. Any one can plainly see my mind and hands run about as fast as my mouth, and just like my mouth, often screws up what I'm trying to say and I end up looking like an idiot. So whenever I have something really important I have to do, I go running to my beloved Nyx. Because I always cheated off of her in language arts. I mean, hell yes, I can use the English language like a whiz! I am a brilliant writer, but my grammar and spelling is that of a dense 12 year old... if that! So Nyx, my super speller, is my favorite little red pen wielding super hero to run to in times of need. And that's why I dropped in conversation the other day that I really needed an editor to look over RtE when I have the rough draft typed up, which should be about a month and a 1/2 time from now. (Keep your fingers crossed 'cause I'm still trying to get into college, so I might get distracted and not finish as soon as expected.) And my great, wonderful Nyx jumped at the chance to read my story because my greedy, greedy little editor wanted to be the first to read Return to Eternity, the story she inspired me to finish.

So here we are Nyx. I'm only a short time away from actually completing one of my novels, and you're the one that made it happen for me. Thanks for always believing in me!

The Pennsylvania Defense Against Zombie Invasion (PDAZI)

The Pennsylvania Defense Against Zombies

Greater Erie County Coalition Committee’s
First Edition of Departmental Infrastructures
As Presented By Chairperson MT. Frye
for Prewar Preparations Committees

The Greater Erie County Coalition of the PDAZ has created this strategic plan of resource and tactical deployment and management in case of a Phase One through Four Outbreak in preparation for a Z-Level Crisis. This plan is drafted and presented by Chairperson MT. Frye on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. This is the PDAZ’s initial intelligence and premeditated strategy in case of a Z-Level Outbreak and Crisis.

In order to reform and recuperate a modest lifestyle for survival through a Z-War or a Post Z-War, the PDAZ has taken these first steps in arranging a plan for management of community resources, goods, trades, tactical training, defense coordination, etc… in order to secure the safety and continuation of the human race.

The “Frye” Plan

Department of Tactical and Martial Resources

• Weaponry
• Ammunition
• Armor
• Defense Training
• Tactical Training
• Prewar Outfitting of Troops
• Prewar Defensible Area(s) Scouting
• Prewar Mock Training Missions
• Post War Policing and Punishments

Department of Natural Resources

• Food
• Water
• Crops
• Animals
• Environmental Resources
• Food and Water Management
• Food Storage and Stockpiling for Seasonal Recession
• Food and Water Distribution
• Environmental Resources Conservation
• Prewar Environmental Resource Scouting
• Prewar Education

Department of Human Resources

• Able Body Workforce
• Classification of Work Resourcefulness
• Reeducation of Untrained Non-trade Workforce
• Specialized Training Programs
• Duty Rosters
• Housing
• Personal Management and Distribution
• Populace Management

Department of Tools and Trades

• Farm Equipment
• Animal Tack
• Carpentry, Masonry, Blacksmithing Tools
• Equipment for Repairs
• Maintenance of Tools, Tack, and Repairs
• Small Farm Manufacturing
• Distribution of Tools and Trade
• Prewar Stockpiling

Department of Morale

• Distribution of Clothing
• Distribution of Blankets
• Organization of Meetings and Speeches
• Slogan Campaigns
• Distribution of Books and Downtime Resources

Department of Health and Hygiene

• Medical Staffing
• Medical Supplies
• Distribution of Drugs and First Aid
• Management of Medical Resources
• Distribution of Hygienic Materials
• Manufacturing of Hygienic Materials
• First Aid Education and Training to the Populace
• Hygienic Education and Training to Populace
• Waste Removal and Disposal System Management
• Prewar Training System
• Department of Education
• Reeducation of Untrained Non-trade workforce
• Education of Trade and Specialized Skills
• Education Programs for the Youth
• Historical Documentation
• Communications Development and Management
• Stockpiles of Educational and Historical Materials
• Education of General Populace on Laws and Community “Harmony” Programs

Prewar Preparations Committees

• Relocation
• Resources
• Education
• Public Relations
• Research and Study
• Tactical Training
• Phases of a Z-Level Crisis

Phase 1 : “The Mansion” Scenario

• Small outbreak area
• Localized to countywide containment area

Questions for the Coalition:

1. What is the first steps to be taken?
2. Are there Rules of Engagement between PDAZ’s and locals?
3. Do we fight or flee?
4. What’s the plan of attack?
5. How do we conduct a retreat/relocation and to what degree?
6. Do we work in groups, communities, or solo missions?

Phase 2: “Raccoon City” Scenario

• Mid-class Outbreak
• City, state, to territory sized containment area

Questions for the Coalition:

1. What is the initial duty of a PDAZ, to protect family or community?
2. What are the Rules of Engagement between PDAZ and local authorities as well as community members and/or refugees?
3. What is the plan of retreat, long distance or fortified location?
4. Do we work in small groups (5-10 people), or large parties of “Caravans” to evacuate refugees?
5. Is the duty of the PDAZ at this point to defend homes and communities or the refugees evacuating the area or our family‘s survival?

Phase 3: “28 Days Later” Scenario

• Large Outbreaks
• National to continental containment area(s)

Questions for the Coalition:

1. What is the plan for evacuation?
2. What is the Rules of Engagement with other evacuees and refugees?
3. Do we remain in small family units and groups (5-10 people) or go on solo survival missions?
4. Do we try to regroup in designated “Safe Zones” or remain in cells?

Phase 4: “Doomsday” Scenario

• Global Outbreaks
• Humanity on the edge of extinction
• No containment areas left

Questions for the Coalition:

1. Do we try to remain in groups or self survival?
2. Do we try to regroup?
3. Do we try to reestablish small areas of humanity?
4. Is it “Everyman For Himself” or is there still orders to follow?
5. What is the PDAZ’s final directives?

____________________________________________________________________

Yeah, I just made this up for fun after reading Max Brook's Zombie Survival Guide. I hope you enjoyed my undead paranoia.

Love Letters to No One: Special Edition

SO, I thought it would brilliant if I stopped hiding all my poetry away in a dusty little journal and actually posted some of my favorite poems on the 'net. I was sort of hoping for some constructive criticism, but please understand that these are my deepest, most intimate feelings put to words that might be weaker and more brittle than the actually emotion I harbor in my soul. So please, be cruel to kind, just in the right measure. ____________________________________________________________________
Building Bridges to Nowhere
(The Feeling of War):

Afloat on a desert sea of shadow
The fragile hope glistens in pale light
The gentle heart beats carefully
Dare something foolish touches it’s gossamer strands
And shreds it’s delicate bands
In these shadowed lands of memory
Fragile hope drifts on waves of melancholy
A reminder of why it waits in depression
Somewhere between love and hate
A haughty indifference settles upon the eyes of the shadow land
A storm grows in the pit of frustration
A turbulence of emotional drain
And fear’s dogs set upon the scent
Bawling and thrashing for a shred of the tender hope skin
Nowhere to run, no place to hide
A withered rose under fear’s gnawing teeth
Under the turbulent gnashing of rage
Hope is washed away
Torn. Tangled. Tainted. Ruined.
Because a fool built bridges to nowhere in his mind
And now no one is safe from his sea of awakened sorrow.
No bridges to peace…
____________________________________________________________________
Sakura Blossoms:

You were my favorite secret
Always the mystery to me
Lies were the truth in your eyes, on your lips
You gave me one last kiss
To taste that bittersweet torture
As we danced on the knife blade of time’s sweet ecstasy
And now I think of you, my sakura blossom

Always dancing on the winds of destiny
Living for Moon filled nights
How I loved you
My sakura blossom
So bold and beautiful
But dieing too soon
It was all over far too soon

We were childhood lovers
Wanting nothing more then each others tenderness
But as the sun rose over the edges of your dreams
You were burnt by the veracity
Leaving you dazed and confused
You thought you were smarter than the rest
But you were too young

You turned us away
Trying to carry a burden to heavy for you to bear
With no friend to aid you
And all your foes armed with your fears
You abandoned us even as we fought to save you

Time was cruel to us
Taking you to the edge of the unknown
And leaving me alone with your legacy to bear
My little angel, how do I explain what happened?
How do I even begin to understand?

Has the spring bled away from our lives?
Baring the branches of our thorny friendship?
If I prick myself on the barbs of fear we’ve born,
Will the blood be the color of our bitter bloom?
Or has the winds of time torn away every last flower?
We may never know, but I’ll tend our savage garden
I’ll water this unhealthy land until I understand
What happened to my sakura blossom?
Even if all time wilts away,
I’ll shelter this bloom, this last sakura blossom.

For you alone, so bold and beautiful
In this solitary place I watch for my sakura blossom
You died out too soon
It was all over far to soon….
____________________________________________________________________
Summer Romance:

I carry your memory in me
Like a scar upon my skin
Your stain bleeds within me
Tainting my very existence

I reach out to the vanishing dream
To touch your wavering face
But it slips past my fingertips
Just like our romance together

We walked the beach
Basking in the final moments of peace
Before the autumn tore us apart

Each grain of sand was a promise
That slipped away from us
And was washed away by the sea
We touched but never loved at all
Like two strangers in the night
Fumbling towards ecstasy
Yet I knew you well
Once upon that summer night

I knew you so well
Once upon a summer night
___________________________________________________________________
Another Lost Soul:

I stumbled upon a fallen angel today, weeping in the gutter
I kneeled beside him in the rainwater and muck, silently waiting
He raised red-rimmed eyes of lament, his cold lips trembling in a perfect smile
Sadness etched his beautiful face, and even as his tears wiped away his sacred grace
I smiled, cold and wet in the rain and gutter and muck
Kneeling before a banished being of neither Hell nor Heaven
An Earth bound soul as lost as I am
And I wonder, if perhaps we are the same
I wiped away the traces of tears and helped him rise to he's feet
This will be the only kindness he receives in this cold place
With Heaven bending above us
And Hell burning below us
We are caught in a perilous struggle that we cannot defend ourselves from
My poor angel doesn't know what he's fallen into
God have mercy on us….
____________________________________________________________________
Love Letters to No One:

Alone in an unbroken silence
No consolation to this painful love
My only sanctuary exist in this ink
As I pour my shattered heart out

I would cry tears of blood
If only to get your precious attention
But even then I couldn’t face you
How can I prove my love forever
When I can’t even look in your eyes?

So here I am, my unknowing lover
Dreaming every dream of you
Embracing close this suffering desire
As I scream out this ballad of unrequited love
My love letters to no one
___________________________________________________________________
Gabriel--A Quiet Moment’s Reflection:

The rain trickles down the window panes like tear drops
Tears I know your confused gray eyes haven’t shed in years
Too proud and too strong to even let them see a crack in the façade
My beautiful one, so distant and lonely in the reflection of the moment
Even with me at your side your eyes are distant and don’t move to me
Instead they search the stormy skies for unanswered prayers
All alone in your head, can you hear the screaming in mine?

I can see the man you could have been in those distant eyes
And in the blurry uncertain moment I grasp your hand
But you don’t even realize I’m there
So I speak with my heart and eyes and presence
To speak with my voice is sacrilegious in this holy instant

I am here my love, forever and nevermore
I love the man you are, the man you want to be, and the man you will be
I love the way you mumble in your sleep and laugh and comfort me
I love the way you touch me and look at me like no other
I love you, the dreamer, the sage, the scholar, the judge, the poet
I love you, the lost boy, the broken hearted, the fallen angel, the lonely solider
I love you, my protector, my lover, my companion, my stone, my immortal

Let me be the mirror to reflect your simple perfection back at you
Let the rain be damned and hold me close to you
We’ll cry the songs yet unsung together
We’ll dream the dreams no man dares dream alone
And I’ll be at your side always even if you never hear me
Just touch my hand and hold me close to your heart
I love you my wandering angel…..I’ll be here eternally
____________________________________________________________________
Good Morning - Goodbye:

The night bleeds out into the amber skyline
Devouring the glimmering dewy stars
But your obsidian eyes no longer flutter-
No lashes tickles the soft fleshed cheek-
No longer do your eyes stir - and perceive the perfect dawn.

Grave in the silence and the heart-
The air lingers in the sky but no longer on your lips
Yet my arms embrace the crumbling dream once more-
“Close to me will always be you”-
I whisper my Good morning- goodbye
And kiss the last time your mangled brow.
____________________________________________________________________
Lack Luster:

Those eyes once dreamed.
For me they would smile and sing,
Laughter would give them lines.
But now not even their memory stirs.

Those eyes once gleamed ,
Burning emerald lights fixed on Paradise.
With lips forming the words,
Of a poem written by the broken.

Those eyes once saw,
A world that was not perfect,
But could be taught to heal.
And you once dreamed of guiding them.

Those eyes once lived.
And your body was once warm,
And your lungs once breathed,
But now you lay collecting dust.
The fragment of a lonesome memory.
Broken man on the floor.

Your eyes once beheld the sky-
Yet you never saw beyond the clouds.

Now those eyes lack luster.
____________________________________________________________________
So Saith A Fool:

I walked down to the ocean
And stood in the breaking crest
To write my name in the waters
For I am a forgone forgotten fool
Dreaming of eternity in my soul
While making sand castles to mark my legacy
Whispering my prayers to flame
To burn them away so not to be heard
And at night I dream endlessly
Of ecstasy from a longing lover
Who’s eyes have not seen me
And who’s lips have yet tasted my name
Who perhaps doesn’t even think of me
As I mourn my miserable heart
Set upon his simple graces
A painted fool am I
So let me dream alone
While he smiles upon another
____________________________________________________________________
Perfect Time:

Random objects trigger my lonely memory
Each one flashing an image of you
Smiling against the wind swept sun
Swirling dreams of the past life together
Fleeting and blurry but still tangible
Always of you standing so still
As the world moves about you blindingly
All in perfect time melody--

But always your smiling despondent face
Turned unblinking up to the burning sky
With those searching eyes of misty blue

Have you found the answers? I wonder
Or are you still dreaming in the past
Of the lost song falling from frozen lips
So you can finally capture the glory
Of the mastery of the perfect time
Your heart to mine melody
____________________________________________________________________
Another World:

I am always chasing that dream
Racing towards the horizon
And losing myself in that sinking blue sky
But when I turn around you’ll be there always
Ready to hold me high again if I stumble
So we can reach another world

Together again my wayward friend
Hitchhiking through the deserted highway
We’re getting nowhere fast
But you stay by my side
Helping me find my way when I’m lost
Sometimes I think you know me better then I know myself
So I’m not surprised when you say
“Come with me to another world”

Side by side we’ll always be together
Chasing down that precious dream
So we can share our lives
With all the laughter and tears
I have to smile every time I see your beautiful face
I think I’ve found another world

How can you stay so calm when all I want to do is scream?
It has to be frustrating calling me a friend sometimes
But even when I’m losing control
You seem to be smiling
Waiting to help me pick up the pieces
And when I runaway, you hold my hand
We can escape to another world

When I’m dreaming by your side
I think we could almost break free
Defying gravity as we fall into the sky
Like an upturned ocean view
We’ll swim right through the air
Always flying higher towards the star
We can almost reach another world

So wipe always those last sad tears
Our summer night is still blooming
There’s still a few more miles to go
Take a hold of my hand and you’ll understand
We’re on the verge of something great
For just a little longer hold on to your faith in me
We’re in another world.
____________________________________________________________________
What If This Is?:

What if the rain never stopped falling?
It would just keep pouring on you and me
What if the sun never shines again?
And what if I never smiled again?
Would you still keep promising me your forever
But how many more promises do I need?
Cause what good is your forever without you with me now?

So please stay with me a little longer
Ignore the lonely world outside that door
Even for just an instant in the blink of my tired eye
Stay with me to watch the dawn one more time

I never want to forget you in this scene
Every breath is a blessing when you’re beside me
And even if the eternal rain washes away everything
My loving memory of your simplistic beauty will forever linger
For no rain, flood, wind, or sky could steal that away
Please just say you’ll stay

Forget the tired world behind you
Lock the door and shut out the new day
All I need to survive is you, just like this
Your eyes still sleep stained but smiling
While shadows of raindrops freckle your soft skin

What if this is heaven?
____________________________________________________________________
The Floating World:

You open those reaching blue eyes
Turning your face up to the mellow sky
To take in the Heaven’s tears upon your skin
The light drifting over the golden landscape
Setting the earth afire in the bronze twilight

You’re hands and heart are wavering
Like an image in a pond’s water
Rippled and distorted but glistening still
Gathered tight at the back of your brain
That fleeting memory of a better time

When did the stars stop whispering secrets?
Their endless eyes never winking out
Even when you open your arms to gather it all in
Always reacting while I stand by perceiving
This moment of solemn understanding stretching out between us

We stand aloof from the motion of time
Our eyes turned towards the sky and our feet stumbling through the dance
Caught between this life and the next
Swayed to calamity by the music of the spheres
We are trapped by enchantment drawn hues
Your shattered soul ebbs and flows over the night
My eyes tracing your steps from wax to wane
While our painted companion’s smiles flake away
Leaving the rotting flesh revealed to the gruesome light
As we waltz around foolish Prospero’s ebony clock

So take this fading, cold hand more of marble then flesh
And spin, spin me as my body unwinds
The final threads of discontent fraying
Watch as I pull apart at the seams
Against the gilded beauty of our lonesome backdrop

Butterfly wings beating against the upturned glass
Frantic and mindless, bruising and shredding
Until the whimpering heart gives out to inevitability
But the vivid colors still linger on the gossamer skin

Such is the beauty of our shattered lives
Your blind fingers searching for redemption in the falling rain
With my heart standing beside you in pity
While the dancers carry on to the song
Trapped in our floating world
Mysterious and shallow with scorn of men
Enchanted and tiresome like ancient gods
Decadent and irrevocably decayed like our decorated faces

But still I lock you away here to ease my faltering guilt
So steady me with your jaded laughter
The tears of despair glistening at the edges of your voice
Hold me tightly in ecstasy while screaming in horror
All your rights gone wrong in a single sigh
Until the breath of life fails us both
We’ll stay frozen in this malicious wheel
Beckoned into the gilded gates of the floating world we’ve created in the silence of the true love lost upon each other
____________________________________________________________________
Harlequin:

Your eyes don’t always see me
But it doesn’t bother me much
As long as I can keep your glowing smile
I don’t need to be your only vision
Just as long as I remain in your heart
Hold on tight to that flickering memory
Of a simpler time when we could laugh freely
That’s when I could still be your harlequin
All my emotions locked behind a mask
But even then the smiles I didn’t fake

Your sincerity makes my heart flutter
The gentleness of your touch moves me
Your soft voice swaying me more then any sonata
So even when you just glance at me I fall in love
And perhaps you don’t feel the same all the time
This is all I truly need to go on

So I dance on this thin line for you
The one between your love and misery
We’ll share our wonderful laughter
The smile painted firmly on my sad face
The one I keep in a box just for you
A harlequin game all set to play
So I may steal away all your poignant tears
And renew that honest love in your eyes
Smile, baby love
Just smile for your clown
____________________________________________________________________
A Dirge for True Friends:

All the world is falling apart, like the shattered glass mirror I put my fist through while we were fighting. My life lays in shambles, an inferno without the spark, and all the lights burn my tear stained eyes. I look to the skies for some answer to the question I can never voice. In a life so miserable and lonely, what have I left to cling to?

And then I turn around and there you are. Smiling gently with a laugh and a shoulder to ease my impossible burdens and broken dreams. Thank you for being a true friend.

WYLFRE GAZETTE

TOP STORY: STARBLADES REUNITE

The Starblades were once the most powerful family in the Wlyfre Realms. Then five years ago they simply disappeared. The empty, crumbling Temple of the Dragon seems to stand as the only reminder of the Starblades legacy. Since their mysterious disappearance, the Realms have be filled with fantastical rumors about the Starblade Clan. Most residents of Wylfre simply believe the entire family of demi-god elves had ascended to the Celestial Realm to join their queen, Mononaka.


Those rumors were put to rest this past month when Starblade representative Noa Reiner announced the Starblade Legacy. Ms. Reiner explained that the Starblade Legacy would be a multi-character reunion that was to take place at the end of the year. Fan favorites such as founder Hope Starblade, Dream Starblade, Cyrus Starblade, and Sage Lightkiller will all be joining together once more for a final quest of epic portions. Noa Reiner promises that the Starblades will be making public appearances late in the faire season to explain their newest project as well as their five year vanishing act. Though an air of mystery still hangs around the sudden reunion tour but two official website have been opened to the public:

http://thestarbladechronicles.bravehost.com/

http://morbidfancy.greatestjournal.com/

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Wylfre Author Announces Birth of Daughter

The Starblade biography’s author Jamie G. has finally announce the birth of her first daughter Jadalynn. Even though reports place the baby’s birth around February 5th of this year, Jamie has held back the official announcement until recently. The Wylfre Group’s spokeswoman, Nyx Moonshade, says “They [the Wylfre Group] wanted to hold off the official announcement until the baby was a little older to save her from some of the stresses of the press and paparazzi. The family is simply looking out for their daughter’s well-being.” The birth announcement was met with celebration throughout the Wylfre Realms, along with a lot of questions. Was the announcement actually held back for the protection of the baby or to boost the hype surrounding the Starblade Legacy Project?
_________________________

Noa Reiner Reveals New Series

Noa Reiner, also know as “Mysse”, revealed her first solo project this week. Ms. Reiner spoke with the Wylfre Gazette personally about her new novel, tentatively being called Return to Eternity. Ms. Reiner mentioned “I am happy to be able to explore a new world of my own making without having to compromise my own ideas like I have to do with the Wylfre Group. I do miss working with them [the Wylfre Group] but it is nice to expand my own literary style.” Ms. Reiner assures the new novel will sill have her unique blend of action and angst that she’s become legendary for, but she hopes to explore new venues of writing with this project. Though it is not Noa Reiner’s very first novel, it is her first since her success with the beginning of the Wylfre Group. Ms. Reiner has achieved mild success from several short novelettes she’s published in literary journals. Some of her most popular titles included Shallow Sleep, Mercury Heaven, Love Lessons, Sphere of the Night, and the collection of short stories first printed in Technicolour Raindrops on Concrete. Under a second, secret nom de plume, “Morbid/Fancy”, Ms. Reiner self published two books of poetry called Love Letters to No One and Love Letters to No One : Full bloom. Though none of her earlier works received as much recognition as her Wylfre works, she has been honored by several literary council for her extensive collection of works. Anyone interested in reading Reiner’s first solo book shouldn’t hold their breath. Return to Eternity won’t released until late in 2009.
_______________

Everyone is waiting ….
Where are you?

JOIN MYSPACE.COM AND START THE QUEST

There’s always someone waiting to meet you online so join today. Must be 18 years or older to sign up. Myspace.com is not responsible for dragon attacks. RPG at your own risk.
________________________

Letters to the Editor

Greetings once again my wayward friends. Obviously, we don't see each other as much as we use to anymore, (that's if we see each other at all, of course). After Jamie and I dropped Nyx off on Monday, we got to talking about the Starblades. Total blast from the past, wouldn't you say? It turns out Jamie's been saving our old chats and sticking with the Starblade's timeline. As a factor of this a whole wealth of knowledge we thought perhaps lost is now carefully documented and saved. And if it's not, who gives a SH*T! It was fun to write all those wild and crazy tales about Hope, the Temple of the Dragon, and the entire Starblade Universe. That's why I'm suggesting we use this online journal as a way to communicate our stories once more. I'm suggesting we band together once more and finally write out the Starblade Saga once and for all. I for one would love to step back into Hope Starblade's head and finish the tales of the dragon priestess. And I'm more then certain Jamie is dieing to finally put together the travels of Dream Starblade, the lost princess of the Starblades. And does anyone remember Silence, Shadow, Saylee, Windsong, Zomi Silverthorne, Sage, and Noak?

Anyways what I'm trying to get out is that I think it's important we put our heads together again and write these stories. I know a lot of bad blood has come between all of us, and TONS! of backstabbing. But I can forgive that, maybe not forget, but forgive if there is a chance we could put aside our differences to finish this story. This is OUR legacy, OUR story! It brought so many of us friendships, laughter, and a small relief from the horrible times we've suffered in. If it could do that for us, then why should we hold it back from others?! We could give that joy, that light, to others. This is our gift and we should not hold it back!

So I ask all of you once more to join together as one and finish our story. Let this be how we remember our times together and not one of sadness and defeat.

With love, compassion, and hope,
Noa Reiner~


TOWN BULLETIN BOARD

One Day, All-You-Can-Eat Maiden Buffet! Sunday from 5-7 pm.
___________________________
Dwarf Crafted Swords and Sabers. Forged from only the finest steels. Why go to a human when you can have your next sword made by a dwarf with a 100 years experience. Come check out our selection at Frostbite and Sons. 332 Munchkin Lane. 
_________________________

Sports Column

Knights vs. Dragons

The St. George Knights and the Hades Dragons faced off again this Saturday in a heated rivalry. Knight’s footmen were flame broiled in the first quarter while Dragon’s wings were minutely clipped. But the knights came back strong in the second period, taking down the Dragon’s head flyer, Brimstone, and looked to be winning until the Knight’s Sir Liechtenstein was thrown from his stead then barbequed by Clobber -Breath the Red. The Knights limped through the finally quarter for a tied game, 6 Slain Dragons to 6 Roasted Knights. The teams will meet another time this Monday to decide who will go on to the semi-finals against the Tolken Orcs.
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Horoscopes

Aries (March 21- April 20)
BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! Heed this advice or end up like Caesar. Et tu….?

Taurus (April 20- May 21)
Those roving bands of goblins will be heading your way soon, so don’t be surprised if you’re rob this week on the trade roads.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)
You’re better half will be stopping in to chat this week so spruce up the castle and put out some new tapestries. You never know when a party might roll up to your gates!

Cancer (June 22- July 22)
The Moon is in your celestial house this week, so look forward to some fond memories and musing. Don’t be surprised if a real Muse stops by to inspire you.


Leo (July 23- Aug 21)
No need to be a lion this week, play it like a lamb. You’re docile ways will win over your foes.

Virgo (Aug 22-Sept 23)
Avoid the All-You-Can-Eat buffet this week or you might find yourself on the menu!

Libra (Sept 24- Oct 23)
You’ll be asked to do a balancing act this week but don’t worry, the scales will tip in your favor in the end.

Scorpio (Oct 24- Nov 22)
The dogs bark might be worse then his bite, but your stinging comments might kill if taken too seriously. Watch what you say.

Sagittarius (Nov 23- Dec 22)
Don’t let the holidays run away with you! Take some time to rest those aching hooves before starting out on the quest for the ultimate gift.

Capricorn (Dec 23- Jan 20)
Stop butting heads with your family. It times you all sat down and discussed who let the lawn gnome escape from the garden.

Aquarius (Jan 21- Feb 19)
You may be drowning in holiday debt, but it’s time for you to take a spa day. Try drowning yourself in luxury this week instead of worry.

Pisces (Feb 20- March 20)
Fishing around for answers isn’t getting you anywhere, so cast out your nets and go right for the heart of the truth. Your keen instincts will do the rest.
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Advertisements

This week only, the Battle of the Sexes! Thor the Magnificent faces off against Mauve the Valiant! One night only at the Wlyfre Faire Grounds. 7:30- Main Event.

Escape to Atlantis
Get away from the drudgery of peasantry and live like kings on a five day and four nights, all expenses paid trip to Atlantis.
________________________


Tired of those sleepless nights, chasing down poor villagers? Want to give up the urge to howl at the full moon? Then try our new formulated WERE-BE-GONE!

You’ll never have to worry about fur balls again!

________________________

The Wylfre Group would like to thank all of their subscribers for their support and fellowship. Thank you.

Japan-O-Vasion

Third Edition : The Muses of J-Pop Invade! (run for your lives!!)

Holy pop stars otaku! Japanese musicians are just cropping up everywhere these days. You can’t crack open your favorite manga with out catching some artist making a sneaky little cameo, or watch your newest anime without hearing some J-Rocker (or Popper) crooning the background. And have you ever had the sneaking suspicion you’ve seen your video game character in a J-Pop fansite gallery before? No you’re no imagining it, Japanese artists are everywhere, even on that milk carton you’re drinking directly out of. Gross dude, you can make people sick doing that. Didn’t anyone teach you manners?
Okay so maybe Hyde and Yoshiki aren’t on the missing photo of your milk carton, but they might as well be! (And no it’s not because they were kidnapped by crazed fan girls you silly nave!) But Japanese pop and rock stars seem to be everywhere you look now and days. I’ve noticed recently how saturated my mangas, animes, and video games are with Japanese singers. I don’t know if anyone else has notice this interesting (and cute!) trend but if you haven’t I have one question: WHAT ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER FOR THE PAST YEAR?!
Let me give you all just a brief description of the artists I’ve noticed cameo in my favorite mangas. We’ll start out with the most blatant use of a J-Rock in a manga, Ko Ya-Seong’s Under the Glass Moon. Anyone who’s even peeked at the book and has any working knowledge of Malice Mizer (shame on you if you don’t!) can quickly guess who I’m talking about. Madame Batolli is clearly, undeniably, and unmistakably modeled exclusively after our loveable (*cough* and frightening *cough*) Mana-sama. (I dare not use “Mana-chan” lest he hunt me down and whip me. I’ve seen the Illuminati PV people and I know he won’t cringe from a little bloody work!). Ko Ya-Seong confessed that the Madame was definitely Mana, the former guitarist of Malice Mizer and more recently Moi Dix Mon. When I first saw Madame B. I totally cracked up. I thought it was awesome to see that even in a Korean manga, or mangwa, there was so clearly a J-Rock influence. But as I went on in the series (sadly only two books L ) that J-Rock artists were popping up like daisies all over the place! In the first book on page 32, the Christmas party, check out the hotdog vender and hum this little ditty to yourself, Les Mizerables. BINGO! We have a confirmed Gackt sighting! That’s right my Camui fanatics, it’s your musical god all decked out in his ‘Dark Prince’ outfit from the Mizerable PV. And if you scan page 32 again you’ll catch the elusive Izam, heart inscribed with name included, chatting it up with Madame Batolli. Oh my little lovelies, it doesn’t conclude there. Hohoho, oh no! We still have book two! Unfortunately, with all my J-Pop stalking I could only find you one obvious J-Rocker. Madame Batolli’s forbidden love, Hakuei from Penicillin. On page 68 of volume two, Madame confides in Leila Franks that if a love potion really existed, Hakuei would be her’s already. Aww, poor Hakuei! But Ko Ya-Seong isn’t the only manga-ka spicing up the manga scenes with cameos from J-Pop looking doppelgangers.
Check out The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa sometimes. In her authors blurts she writes she model her four bishonen characters after several Japanese musicians, a couple of which are from the indie band Risk. Granted none of the characters personalities are based on these musicians, just some of their looks. And if you like awkward hijinks, macabre humor, and enough bishonen to give you a nosebleed I suggest a box of tissues and The Wallflower for anyone!
Wait, wait, wait you say? There’s still someone in The Wallflower I’m forgetting? No way I’m forgetting that classic cameo baby! Once more the God of Music, aka Gackt, appears in Wallflower. He appears in volume two during the school festival. First on page 15 where he’s teasing poor Kyohei for causing an explosion. It’s not Kyohei’s fault disaster follows him around constantly! Bad Gackt! Stop picking on Kyohei! But Gackt couldn’t just pop in once and be done with it, no way. Try page 39. He flexes his history muscles and gives us all a quick and creepy fact about the school once being the sight of Edo executions. (It’s because you see dead people isn’t it Gackt? Stop it, you’re creeping me out!)
And while we’re on the subject of Gackt, and because I sold my soul to him for a bag of gummy bears, I have to mention Absolute Boyfriend by Yuu Watase. And I also have to admit that I think Absolute Boyfriend is incredibly adorable! But anyways, back to Gackt, if you’ve ever read Absolute Boyfriend you all know who Night is. And for you who haven’t (first you didn’t know Malice Mizer and now you don’t know about Night?! Shame upon you and your family! Shame, shame, shame, shame! The Gackt Goddess will smite you for your blasphemy against the Camui!) Even though you’ve all probably already figured it out I still have to say it: Night is modeled after Camui Gackt. And isn’t he so hot? I think Night is totally kawaii! And the fact he’s always undressing suddenly is hilarious! I couldn’t stop laughing the first time I read Absolute Boyfriend in Shojo Beat Magazine. I’m addicted now and my sides hurt real bad from all the giggling.
Let me apologize and warn those of you reading on from this point who aren’t Gackt fans. I realize a lot of people out there can’t stand Camui Gackt’s music, voice, movies, face, whatever and I don’t hold it against you. You’re decision, your life, I won’t try and convince you otherwise. Personally I think Camui Gackt is a great singer and I feel inspired by his music. Please just stop reading this right now if you can’t stand another minute of Gackt cause there’s going to be about a gazillion more mentions of him from here on out. For the rest of you who are intrigued or are Gackt fans I encourage you to continue reading this article and join this group started by the Gackt Goddess, Nora-san: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/gacktnights/ . Okay that was my warning / plug for Gackt Nights. Back to my intensive stalking, err, I mean J-Rock spotting.
I haven’t actually seen Gackt or a Gackt look alike in any animes, and if there is go ahead and give me a shout out! But I know of two animes that have Gackt openings and closing. The opening for the Fist of the North Star series is and the closing is Oasis, both by Gackt. As well the closing of Texyholica is Uta no Tsuki, or “Song of the Moon” by Camui Gackt. If I’m missing any just drop me a line and remind me.
Finally we come to video games, one of my favorite topics! I know you guys probably don’t believe me but I am a huge girl gamer. If I had the chance I would so join the Frag Dolls, though I doubt I’d be on par with most of them. I love gaming but I’ll be the first to admit I’m not always the best gamer. But still here’s my record is Bujingai: Forsaken City beaten in four days (most likely something like 26 or 28 hours but I had to take time to go to work, eat, sleep, and go to school so it had to be broken up into four days) without cheats or strategy guide. And wanna know the coolest part? Yep, it had Gackt! The main character of the game, Lau, is not only modeled after Gackt but Gackt did all of Lau’s voice acting and motion capturing. As an added bonus you can collect gold coins throughout the game to unlock certain goodies like an interview with Gackt, the press conference to announce the game’s release, Gackt’s motion capture session, and a clothing change from Lau to Gackt. That’s right Dears, you can play as Gackt! I did and it was so hilarious. I found it very amusing, and a tad bit ridiculous, to be running around defeating Ice Dragons and zombie demons dressed in leather pants, a snake skin shirt (isn‘t it snake skin?), and sunglasses. (Personally I thought it would be really great if they had a second wardrobe change to Gackt’s character Sho from Moon Child. Running around in a white trench coat would have been much more convincing then the actually wardrobe change in the game.)
But I can’t mention video games and Gackt without the obvious gamer double that’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Final Fantasy 8’s Squall Leonheart. Even Gackt thinks he got ripped off. When Gackt calls a game character ‘Gackt Two’ you know it look like him!
So there it is, your quick education in Japanese musician cameos in mangas, animes, and video games. So the next time you think someone looks a lot like your favorite singer it could just be a possibility that it is. So keep your eyes open and your ears. Good luck and good night from your favorite Voodoo Doll, Mysse.
Ps: BTW- I realize that I didn’t Gackt’s name a gazillion times in case you were counting but I mentioned it enough to give me a hand cramp! So nya!

Japan-O-Vasion

Second Edition : Vanilla, the Finest of the Flavors

Turn it up! I wanna hear that funky beat blazing out the windows when I cruise main street! Sing along with me “kimi no boku wa Vanilla” or for those who don’t know Gackt’s “Vanilla” (oh the horror!) let me translate, “ I am your Vanilla” . Yes it’s a very dirty, dirty (did I mention tasty?) song. I was once told that art is the barometer of a time period in history, the emotional map to an era. And I have also been told that music, with it’s primal origins and significance, is the art of overcoming differences and appealing to people on the deepest emotional level possible. Music carries a message, if you get it or not it leaves you with some sort of response. There’s no escaping music, it’s all around you. Pounding on your cranium and doing a salsa through your eardrums. Try and deny that the earworm doesn’t bite you and leave you humming the most annoying, tedious song all day. Yah, you know it does!! Sugar pop sticky goodness melting into ever fissure of your brain. Music connects us even when we disagree and have nothing else in common. To quote Deep Blue Something “and I said what about Breakfast at Tiffany’s and you said yah I think we both kind of liked that.” We even write songs about connecting to each other! You don’t always have to understand every word, hell you don’t even have to speak to language to know a good song when you hear it. You just have to listen and take it in, let it move you. Don’t concentrate on the words, they’re just a gurgling of syllables assembled together to represent something we like to chit chat about. It’s what underneath the words, in the voice, in the soul, in the music. It’s the raw surging emotion. That tingle you feel in your finger tips that makes them itch, the tapping in your foot, the chills down your spine as all the little hairs stand up in unison. Yah lovelies, that’s the feeling, that’s the music.
I learned this lesson one day while dredging through my routines at school. I was at a bad place in my life, dark and alone and frightened of my own existence. Yet somehow, but some saving grace, I was found by someone who cared. She gave to me a gift that teenagers had been sharing in homes, schools, dark alleyways, and high rises for years. She gave me music, music that moved me to tears. I had no clue what he was saying, no clue what it all meant, but it hit me somewhere deep inside and knocked the air out of me. A dark, beautiful voice dripping with melancholy whispering to me miserable. It was the word that described my very soul, lost in some dark shattered place. I was all alone in my suffering when everyone was waiting to me to step outside my own self loathing and return to them. Gackt, with his simple words in Japanese, ripe with longing and sentiment, broke me out of a depression that could have easily claimed my life forever and looked ready to. I took in that sensation I felt course through my body, that chilly fingers down the spine, the fuzzy electrical shock through my spirit. Deep in the core of it’s essence that’s the fundamental nature of music, a tool to help us see past our own blinded soul and into a world where our eyes burn with consciousness and revelation. Peer past the gossamer webs that bind us to our selfishness and shortsightedness. Crack down the windows, turn up that radio, strum that guitar and rub your fingers lovingly over those ivory keys. Spread the word, carry extra copies of your favorite song or artist next t you when you go for a drive. Be ready for someone to reach out with questing minds and ask for you to point to them where the path begins. Be gracious my darlings, and remember it is all in charity you open the blind man’s eyes to the world he never knew. Give us music because it is our liberty, lest we are given death before we know what sweet bliss there is for us. Sweet, sweet Vanilla….I gave my love to you. Your Voodoo doll, Mysse

Japan-o-Vasion

First Edition- Japan For Sale!

Ah the mall, America’s home away from home. Everything seems familiar and friendly at the mall. No matter if it’s Rhode Island or Alaska, the same stores, the same names, the same great prices…hey I paid 30 dollars for that shirt! What do you mean they have it half off here?! Anyways a new commodity has appeared in our happy money munching malls. Japan. Straight up people you can buy Japan at your local shopping hubs. Personally I am from Erie Pennsylvania. I live only moments from my local mall, called the Millcreek Mall and wonder at how we can even call it a mall when we don’t even have a food court. Ponder that one awhile! But as I cruise my showcase lined boulevards of commerce I notice a new trend. Trigun and Inuyasha at Hot Topic, Pokemon and Duel Masters at KB Toys, Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and more manga then you can shake a stick at has somehow managed to integrate itself into our favorite pastime of shopping! My head spins at the possibilities and I love it! The game stores are crowded with fan boys (and girls! I like video games as much as the next button punching player! Girls can play video games too!!) sporting DBZ and Cowboy Bebop tees while waving about their newest copy of Final Fantasy (add in your favorite number here….isn’t it suppose to be the final fantasy, not the franchise fantasy?) In my local bookstores there’s Anime Club, discussions, and even manga dates. Yes people my friend met her boyfriend at the manga section of our local Media Play and some of their dates do consist of manga shopping. And even our punks, yes are beautiful spiky haired black clad punks and Goths, are sucked in to the maelstrom of the Japan Invasion. I look around Hot Topic and watch the very punk rock manager squeeze and cuddle an Inuyasha plushy while one of her employees folds a Trigun tee. I even fell in love with a baby blue Inuyasha tee and bought it on the spot. I drooled over the Inuyasha patches and key chains, cried when I couldn’t afford the Sesshomaru action figure (oh my beautiful Fluffy-kun!). I wander into Waldens books and find my fellow otaku wander among the five bookcase of manga. We strike up conversations, exchange e-mails, show each other our anime bling (my happens to be a human form Inuyasha key chain) and then one asks me what I have playing on my CD player. I smile brightly and chirp “Gackt of course!” I lent them my headphones and they bobbed their head grooving out with Gackt. One boy even asks me if I can tell him where to find more Jpop and Jrock music. Another fan is born. Anime’s theme songs are just as big a buy as the anime itself, making it an influential element to the packaging equation. It’s a wonderful feeling to see this new tide of integration in our society, even if it is at a base market level but that’s still amazing. Look around the world with burning, wide eyes and you’ll see Japan for sale all around yourself. In art, entertainment, architecture, business, and all aspects of life that we wouldn’t even recognize. Finally, after years of imperialism isn’t it nice to see another exquisite culture being accepted with open arms? Look around lovelies, enjoy your little taste of Tokyo in your favorite shopping mall and bookstore. Until later, your favorite Voodoo doll, Mysse.

The Bench effort 

Asleep at the piano...pesky key marks! 

The Effects of Gacktism

The Effects of Gacktism
The square outside Yokohama Arena is packed as wave after wave of excitement washes over the crowd like the late afternoon sun. Men and women of all races and ages mill about, chatting and laughing in multitudes of languages. Some people have traveled half way around the globe to be there while others have saved up all year just to buy a single ticket. What could draw so many people to one place and then whip them into frenzy with a single name? Camui Gackt (pronounced Gakuto). Today is Gackt’s final concert of his Sixth Day-Seventh Night tour, and it also happens to be his birthday as well. The fact that it is Gackt’s birthday only seems to stoke the excitement to a feverish pitch. As one observes the crowd, he must begin to wonder why Gackt’s fans, whom the artist calls his “Dears”, have such great love and respect for the man. Some have even gone as far as to dress up like Gackt for the concert. How could this single man have influenced these people and Japanese society so greatly? But to truly grasp how Camui Gackt’s influences have spread throughout many aspects of Japanese culture, one must know who Camui Gackt is. Camui Gackt is a vocalist, perhaps the most famous vocalist in Japan today, and a composer. Gackt writes, composes, and produces all his own music. He is also a talent musician having learned to play the violin, trumpet, tuba, drums, bass, guitar, and many other instruments but his masterful piano skills are his most showcased of instrumental talents. Camui started out humbly working as a drum technician at a studio before he started his own band, Cains:Feel, but the band broke apart when Gackt felt that his deep voice wasn’t appropriate for the musical trends of the time. Then in October of 1995 he joined the Goth rock band Malice Mizer and skyrocketed to fame. At the height of Malice Mizer’s success, Gackt announced he was leaving the band, and with him went a large amount of Malice Mizer’s fan base. The band disbanded two years later. Gackt’s departure from Malice Mizer was unexpected, but with his 1999 release of his first solo project Mizerable, Camui Gackt was spring boarded into superstardom. He has gone on to appear in many commercials, TV dramas, and the movie Moon Child, which he co-wrote the script for. As well, Gackt has released seven albums to date, a video game, and has even started voice acting in various animes (Encyclopedia:Gackt). Camui Gackt’s success can be seen throughout Japan and even various parts of Asia, which makes it easy to see that Gackt is influencing Japanese society, but how? Camui Gackt has influenced Japanese culture by tearing down international and Japanese stereotypes, ambitiously striving to redirect the lives of others, and attempting to create an Asian Union.

Camui Gackt defies Japanese stereotypes and worldwide stereotypes of Japanese men and fashion. With Gackt’s prominence in Japanese media, it is not hard for an observer to see the man’s ever-changing appearance and blue colored contacts and think that his is emulating a “white” or “western” fashion trends. In truth Gackt is not emulating western fashion or Japanese fashion. Camui’s constantly morphing appearance is not an emulation of white-western fashion but purely based upon Japan’s own popular media figures found in anime and video games. Not only has Gackt been modeled as the main character for the video game Bujingai, but also he has even been linked to being the model for Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy 8. As well, he has also patterned himself after the popular comic book character Ruroni Kenshin on various occasions. Laura Miller of Loyola University writes, My suspicion is that they are not looking to Hollywood or Madison Avenue when they change their appearance, but are drawing on Japanese fashion and media for their inspiration. Perhaps sources for their altered looks are the characters found in Japanese comic books, anime and computer games. Indeed, fans of Gackt love to hunt for his look-alikes in domestically produced media (Miller 21) Miller’s observations prove that Gackt is not conforming himself to Western/White ideals, but drawing his models from the unique Japanese art forms found in manga and anime.

As well as a nonconformist to Western beauty principles, Gackt is not the stereotypical Japanese male either. The international view of the common Japanese man is a homogeneous black haired, browned eyed man of short stature in a business suite. In a rebellion to this stereotype, a new fashion has become popular with Japanese youth and Gackt has become the poster child of this movement. The movement is called “mukokuseki“, or non-nation. The trend is meant to blend aspects of Japanese culture with western fashion until the two are so intertwined they are of neither culture and have no definable nationality. Miller writes about the trend, stating, Unlike past generations, young people exuberantly combine beauty ideals from different cultures or historical periods. Japanese fashion innovations are not the emulation of any specific foreign trend, but are based on a combination or juxtaposition of items from different eras, places and cultures. This practice even has a name: mukokuseki, lacking nationality. The aim of the mukokuseki style is not to look Western, or Japanese, but rather like something that cannot be categorized. (Miller 21). Gackt and several other Japanese singers have adopted this trend and have become spokespeople for the movement due to their popularity and wide range of visual attention. This navigability has also gained Gackt support for the movement in the States. Mary Meehan of the Knight Rider Newspapers wrote in her article entitled “American Teens Latch On to Japanese Pop Culture” It is probably the first time that a large number of Americans are truly embracing cultural influences from abroad. After decades of exporting American culture all over the world, the country is now finally mature enough to welcome and accept culture that is not homegrown. After only seeing geisha and woodblock prints, culture-savvy Americans are finally seeing the value in the modern creations coming out of Japan."(Meehan). This goes to show that Camui Gackt is not emulating white society or Japanese fashion but is defying both stereotypes to create his own unique image. As Camui Gackt’s influences spread globally, he feels the need to touch the lives of others with his music. Camui Gackt is passionately driven to change the lives of all those he encounters so they will live a more fulfilled life. Gackt felt his life was irreparably changed on a visit to Madagascar one year. He was shocked to find that people in the world today could live in such poor, unhappy conditions and yet be so friendly. He wrote in his autobiography that, “Madagascar is a very poor country. There is only about 2-3 percent of the country's population which can afford education. But the people there are overflowing with smiles. At that time, I happened to think, ‘I wonder if I can smile like that.’” (Tarrant). After this moment, he decided that if such unfortunate people could change his life, then he should reach out and change other’s lives as well so everyone could be living a more fulfilled, happier life. As well, Gackt is inspired to one day buy his own island where he can build an amusement park for all the world’s children, but not in a creepy Michael Jackson sort of way. He personally feels that if he inspires the children to come to the park and understand that he is trying to give them a better life, that they will create a better future for themselves and the world. Gackt writes in his autobiography Jihaku, Even if I call to 1,000 people and only one responds, that's fine. If there is that one child who feels me calling, that child will, with his own strength, change the environment around him. My dream isn't restricted to just saying big things about giving dreams to children. It's more concrete than that. The child who wonders, ‘Why exactly were we called?’ has had his future and his possibilities opened. I want to create that opportunity. To say it straight up, it's just untimely interference. I'm someone who, from the beginning, has interfered in a lot of people's lives. I don't want people to exist in vain. I want people to live their lives to the fullest. I don't want them to throw away any possibilities they may have. (Tarrant) Since then Gackt has endeavored to show people what he feels is the correct way to live through his music. When he performs a live show, he hopes that people will see his intentions through his music and self-expressions on stage and walk away thinking of how they can affect others and help them. Gackt writes, Even though I perform lives, it's not enough to just say "I want to have a live," and "We'll have a happy live." That is something that I could do if I weren't myself. I wonder, if I wasn't me, what things would I be able to do? I think about that constantly. In order to send my feelings out, in order to live as myself, I will continue until the end to run towards the possibilities of me being a man who expresses himself. And in order to keep doing that, I will continue to keep doing what I have been doing all along. (Tarrant) He feels that once his listeners acknowledge and accept change into their lives they will live full, satisfied lives. This will in turn make them change the lives of all those they encounter, and through a “pass it on” chain of being, the entire world will change into a better, more perfect union. Another way Camui redirects others lives is he sees himself as ?Moon? to his listeners. Camui defines a “Moon” as anyone or anything that guides someone else and illuminates his or her path towards change. Camui writes in his biography on his ?Moon? theory, There are many people who do not know the meaning of their own existences. People appear who illuminate the road in front of them, and they then find the road upon which they are supposed to advance. That road might lead to their downfall. However, even if it is the path to destruction, they are still living just a little bit with their own power. They are not being revived by someone, but with their own feet, while feeling the life within them, they are struggling to live. I think that this is how all human beings should be living. I also wish that every one of you will want to be like the moons and the light of the moons in your own lives. The moon does not only shine during the nighttime. At night, if you do not create something and decide to start walking on your own, you can't be shown the way. This is because you can't see anything around you, and you're afraid of being shown what lies ahead. If you stop, that becomes your safety zone. Even so, the act of picking up one foot and taking a step forward requires an insane amount of courage. However, if you want to leave this darkness that much, it is possible for your feet to take a step onto the path illuminated by the moon. In short, the one who advances forward is, in the end, you. It is you! In the people who watch my concerts and listen to my music, it is all right if even a single person understands that. I will be happy if that person starts walking forward with his or her own courage. I am the moon. I dimly light the road, and the only thing I can do is point it out to you. But when you all take that one step forward, I will gently, quietly watch over you. (Tarrant) Just as the Moon lights our nights, a person who is a “Moon” shows us the path of change in this chaotic world, but they can only show someone the path, they cannot make the person walk the path. Gackt feels through his music he can show his fans the path and coax them towards that better life. With his abilities to subdue stereotypes and his will to change other people’s lives, Camui Gackt is set upon one globally advantageous purpose. Camui is determined to help create and promote an Asian Union for the benefit of all of Asia, and set the example of a harmonized society for the rest of the world to follow. Camui Gackt feels that Asia should not be a multitude of nations, but one cohesive ?Asian Union? due to the fact that Asians are the largest ethnic group in the world. He states that Asia should be one complete nation instead of a jigsaw of smaller countries. All he feels he needs to do is make all of Asia aware of their brotherhood so all of Asia can unite as one peaceful nation. Camui Gackt supports his push for this Asian Union but living his life by his theories. Camui wrote in his autobiography, To me, Asia isn't a place for me to promote myself. Asia is my country, the place where I come from, my hometown. I have always wanted to come to the point where I could feel “I am Asian.” Through my music, through my movie, I want to make people conscious of the thought of an Asian brotherhood. I want to feel that people are not just Japanese, Chinese, Korean, but have a brotherhood among them as all being Asian. I want my life to bring people closer to this realization. One Asian people. The pivotal point is the people of Asia having this revolution of thought together. (Tarrant) When asked what he is, he does not reply, “I am Japanese” Or “I am Chinese” but instead tells people that he is Asian. He does not look at Asia and see a wide fan base or a someplace to promote his newest album but his home and the homes of his Asian brothers. This shows that Camui doesn’t fight for record sales, but to create a peaceful, untied Asia by accepting that all Asians are uniquely linked by they’re ethnicity. He feels through his music, his very lifestyle, and additional works that he can create a revolution of thought amongst all Asians. After he has created this new way of thinking, all the pieces will fall together and all of Asia will untied into one perfect union, Camui’s ideal “Asian Union“. Camui Gackt states, But even if the country is formed into a single entity and bound together by friendly relations, it means nothing if the people don't feel it. If the people of that country individually could have the walls before their eyes torn down, becoming closer to one another, if they could feel their same customs together, then the country's policies would advance, wouldn't they? I want it to become like this. Doesn't that sound interesting? One musician, finally tying country by country together, taking them to one place. I am only a musician. But nevertheless I am a musician. That is the possibility that I have as a person of expression. (Tarrant) This shows Gackt’s eagerness and longing to help create an Asian Union by using his musical influences and popularity. In conclusion, as one deliberates over the matter of Camui Gackt being a free thinking artist or a carbon copy pop star, one cannot dispute the facts that he has greatly altered the Japanese society. He has created perhaps a better Japan by his refusal to submit to stereotypes, his passion in trying to create a better life for himself and others, and his mission of founding a unified Asia.

My First Blog....how cheesy is this??!!!

So this is my first blog ever. Well I kinda feel like a reject now! Anyways, I guess I'll throw out the basics just to get a start. My name is Mysse, and that's pronounced "Missy" but I'm special ed so I spell it like my heads been bounced off one to many curbs. I'm currently 18 years old and single. I like my computer but he's dating my printer so...I'm heartbroken. I like to draw, usually anime and manga but I'm working on a scrap book of the human form. I love to read mostly Christopher Rice and Anne Rice but right now I'm reading Silence of the Lambs. I sing, a lot, and I'm trying to get discovered and sing my own songs I've written. I write lyrics for songs, like so meantioned, and I'm writing a couple of novelettes and a books of poetry called Love Letters to No One. Keep an eye for it. I love listening to music bu I mostly listen to Japanese music. I love J-Rock. My favorite singers/bands are GACKT!!!, Hyde, Dir en Grey, Malice Mizer, L'arc-en-ciel, MIYAVI!!!, Pierrot, ect... Oh yah, my favorite color is aqua (can yah tell?). I guess i wanted to try this whole blog thing to get out there and say something (though this hasn't said much has it?) and I wanted to meet new people and see what they had to say. So say something already!!!