NOTE: I am mainly gone from tumblr as of now. I'll pop in once a month mainly to post whatever art I have made, music reviews, and such. I probably have things queued up so there is that. Other places to find me are linked in my carrd. Remember to keep sharing the Palestine fundraisers in my tag as that would genuinely help a lot. Anyway, later y'all!
Hey! I'm Pierce and welcome to my main blog. I use this to reblog or talk about whatever I am interested in. So you’ll see a lot of rocks, various art I think are neat, some fandom stuff (most of it comes and goes to niche stuff I am into), political posts, and so forth. I try my best to tag everything as best as I can so if people want to blacklist/filter something they 100% can.
Art blog (I try to reblog from it so more people see what I work on)
Music Review blog (Me reviewing various music)
Danganronpa blog (This is my side blog for mainly Danganronpa but also other killing game adjacent series like Your Turn to Die and Blue Lock)
If you want to find me on other sites, check out my store, or see my commission sheet you can find all of it on my carrd.
Also, please look through the many Palestine fundraisers. I have reblogged so they can be shared and donated to. I try to share as many fundraisers as I can.
NOTE: I realized I get overwhelmed super easily being messaged a lot. I am just one person doing my best trying to share campaigns but also trying to balance my own life and health. I have to limit checking/responding to messages to slowly not really checking/responding to messages in general.
ALSO, if I happen to reblog a fundraiser that is a scam/came from a spambot PLEASE tell which which fundraiser/users are scammers and provide evidence so then I can avoid sharing scams.
Some thoughts and ramblings about the recent Blue Lock chapter. Spoilers for ch.289 of blue lock, the latest chapter of Episode Nagi and all that. This is gonna be long so like bare with me.
OKAY, so I knew that not everyone was going to make it. While this series is a sports shonen series so it is easy to forget that "Oh right, this has killing game genre elements" so people get super comfortable of like who is expected to stay. For me though, I have been in the mindset of everyone is fair game. Some will last longer than others but who does all depends.
Like yeah yeah Isagi, Rin, Shidou, Barou, Bachira, and Chigiri were gonna make it this far. They are in the "They are going to make it until near the end" category in my brain. Kunigami making it was like a bittersweet surprise in the sense of "The hell he went through did make him survive longer but how much further can he go before both his mind and body give out" ticking time bomb of a character but also that little hope that maybe...things could be okayish...but my boy has been through it so it is what it is. Characters like Otoya, Karasu, Aiku, and Yukimiya I kind of knew were gonna make it since they were already great players but now have just gotten so much better. Aryu, Gagamaru, Niko, Kurona, and Zantetsu were pleasant surprises of "Oh damn, you are really pulling through. Good for y'all" especially my little yugioh boy Niko. Characters like Sendou, Raichi, Hiori, and Kiyora making it were the more surprising in the sense of they could have gone either direction but because of Blue Lock or in Raichi and Hior (especially Hiori)'s case Isagi's influence really pushed them to make themselves better at the game. Genuinely the most surprising ones that made the cut were Fukaku and Nanase. For Fukaku it is because I legit forgot who the fuck he was (we have three U20 players who made the cut which hey that's neat) and I don't think we really know anything about him. We might learn more idk. But Nanase making it is like fascinating. He is this polite sweet boy who by all accounts would not have made it based on what Blue Lock pushes...if it wasn't for Rin. Rin's training really made him a much better player and therefore increased his chances of survival. I could say something about how Igurashi's training and Nanase's training are parallels of each other's where no matter how hard you trained on what you were good at you just couldn't cut it (Igurashi) vs your hard training made you learn something new about yourself and therefore got better at it (Nanase). But I'll save that for another time maybe.
Characters like Igurashi and Tokimitsu not making it isn't surprising but a bit sad. Well for me when it comes to Igurashi. I know I am probably one of the only fans of my scrappy little bastard Igurashi but I genuinely did like that he did get as far as he did. In that sense he does remind me of a DR character that in most killing game series would die early but makes it to the end. Well except for this he didn't but alas. Thank you for you pragmatist service Igurashi, you would have done amazing if you were in DR.
BUT most people are talking about everything with Reo and Nagi for like understandable reasons but I wanted to get my other character thoughts out of the way. THIS...was inevitable. Like as I read both Blue Lock and Episode Nagi I knew that they were not making it together, that one of them will be cut before the other one follow suits eventually. I just didn't know when, I assumed it would be much later, but I was wrong in that. I know for some it would be easy to say Reo would go before Nagi because of what he was like early on with his clingy behavior towards Nagi. But during his time away from Nagi and being on Shidou's team he had to learn how to crawl his way through hell to survive. As the recent events unfolded it made me think back to why Shidou chose Reo,
"Humans who can't destroy themselves...can never make explosions."
Which did influence the dark path Kunigami went down but also...forced Reo to adapt. That he cannot rely on people, he has to be strong alone for himself. That even when things got better between him and Nagi...Reo has become more capable than before. He can do things on his own, with or without Nagi. He chooses to have Nagi in his life, to be part of his goal but he actually doesn't need him. However...Nagi relies on Reo.
In the beginning Nagi depended on Reo for motivation when it came to playing soccer. Reo is the reason Nagi began playing soccer, Reo is the reason he is in Blue Lock in the first place. When I look back on it all I see moments that seemed like Nagi would start becoming more independent and learn to play for himself and not have to rely on Reo. Like when he joined Isagi because he made him feel frustrated, an emotion he probably hasn't felt in a LONG time. Or how in the match between Rin and Isagi, Nagi told Bachira that his own reliance on Isagi (similar to his reliance on Reo) is holding him back. Gave these hints of Nagi growing and becoming stronger but now that I have looked back...it was just another relying on someone else. Nagi relied on his pure desire to beat Isagi that once he technically did...he had nothing else. He got what he wanted, what else was there left to do? What new goal did he have? And what did he do? Go back to Reo. Back to square one. He could not let go of his dependence on Reo, he never could. Karasu in Episode Nagi pointed out that Nagi's softness and nativity is going to plunge him into despair someday. I didn't think much of it at the time (clueless) until the recent chapter...it hit me like a brick to the face. Nagi's fatal flaw he just couldn't let go of completely clinging to Reo. Reo in a way was the death of him. His love for Reo did him in. That love and friendship dragged him down. By the time Nagi realized that he needed to fight and get stronger for himself it was too late. Bachira's harsh words called back to when Nagi did similar to him but Bachira, unlike Nagi, was able to let go of relying on Isagi. This recent chapter HURTS but a good kind of hurt in an odd way. The type of pain I WANT in a killing game. The unfairness, the tragedy, and despair of it all. These (ego) deaths are suppose to hurt and matter. This was a twisting of a knife that at this put could stop or keep going. Nagi is one of my many favorites in this series and his future is uncertain as I write this and whatever happens...happens.
I wanted to make a text post saying thank you to those who have liked my yugioh fanart.
The thing is as a kid my only exposure to yugioh was the 4kids dub of Duel monsters and GX...oh and the yugioh abridged series. My older brother played the card game and eventually I read the shadow games manga out of curiosity. but I never really got into the series until I met @siromany who talked a LOT about the series and started showing Cy and I the Japanese sub of GX (we are still watching it, beginning season 4). From there I watched shadow games/season 0, the first season of Vrains (rewatching Vrains again with siro and @kokorogensou so then I HAVE to watch the remaining second season and third because I was not having fun but hopefully having two other people with me will help. We watched DR3 and suffered so I think now I can complete it), watching all of 5Ds (as a palette cleanser from Vrains), Watching Go rush, pausing Go Rush to watch all of Sevens, going back to Go Rush, watching Arc-5 (on pause for now), watching Zexal, and now watching Duel Monsters. Oh and playing Duel Links. I am basically deep into yugioh and now I GET the whole franchise and the appeal of it all. Like I don't draw fanart much since I most doing oc stuff but drawing fanart of stuff I like has been a lot of fun.
Album Showcase: Three Days Grace -Three Days Grace
I may not remember exactly how I found out about Three Days Grace but I believe it was through two friends I knew in 8th grade. Well, I would say that BUT as I typed this I just remembered it was because I watched a Naruto AMV that used one of their biggest most well known songs in it. After that I would continue to listen to the band for years. Though I mainly stuck to the first two albums. Not because I dislike the later stuff, it was mainly because I stopped paying attention to what else they were doing and was looking at other bands. But regardless, even though I have changed a lot as a person and expanded on my music taste I still have a huge soft spot for early Three Days Grace. It will be nice retreading old ground here.
Content warnings for light discussions of mental illness (mainly depression), discussion on toxic to abusive relationships, and mentions of alcoholism.
The album cover art is simple but gets it across the moody tone for the album. I like the whole sketchy look of it. The imagery of three figures standing away from a burning home does catch my eye. I always interpreted the figures to be a family and the burning home to represent their dysfunction.
Before we go further I do want to say that I tend to get easily amused if an album or song is named after a band. Such as here though I wish they had a song called Three Days Grace so then it would be Three Days Grace by Three Days Grace on the album Three Days Grace. A missed opportunity but oh well. Though speaking of their name I found out that originally the band was called Groundswell and around 1997 the name was changed into what it is now. From what Gointer said in an interview with Florida Entertainment Scene in 2004, “ No, we sort of look at Three Days Grace, as it sort of stands for sense of urgency. Time to pay a debt. if you had three days to change something in your life or if wanted to changed something in your life could you do it in three days. That sort of urgency, I guess.”
That is a pretty heavy meaning for the name and the more I think about the more I get it with what I know about the original lead singer. Anyway, this album was released on July 22nd, 2003 and the genre it leans more towards are alternative metal, nu-metal, and post-grunge. I think this was one of my earliest exposure to nu-metal in general before I would listen to bands such as Disturbed, Linkin Park, Dope, etc. It is hard for me to fully define what exactly alternative metal is without just saying “If you know what alternative rock, then you can put together what this genre would entail” since a variety of bands have been labeled as such from System of a Down, 3Teeth, Bullet for my Valentine, Alter Bridge, etc which all have a distinct sound from one another. Though the term isn’t used much anymore. Post-Grunge I don’t know much about unfortunately but I guess better late than never to look more into it. I am genuinely looking forward to revisiting this album and seeing if it still holds up after all these years.
Track 1: Burn
This is a strong start for the album. The ambient build up before the guitar kicks in continuing the buildup until the lyrics come in. The song is about the narrator going up against someone. Making it clear this person isn’t going to win and they aren’t going to hide. They aren’t going to burn, but the other person will. Very simple concept and the lyrics are not subtle at all. Though despite this I still have a huge soft spot for it. I think mainly because as a teen I would just imagine various ocs of mine fighting against their rivals or something and triumphing over them. Though as much as I wish Burn got more attention I also understand why it didn’t.
Track 2: Just Like You
This was one of their big hits from the album and yeah I get why. As a teenager I felt like the song was about a child telling their parents they are not going to follow in their footsteps. They aren’t going to be mean or cruel, they are going to be better. They are going to go down their own path. This is a song I know a lot of teens related to, I know I did. I was not the only one who thought the song was about such. In an interview Adam said,
"It's about being told how to live your life. When we were growing up, we saw it sort of first hand. A lot of our friends were pushed into doing jobs their parents were telling them to do. It's about being pushed around and told how to live your life and standing up for yourself."
One has to keep in mind that Adam was around 25 when this album was recorded which sure that isn’t that young (not compared to when he made Groundswell around 14) but that does explain a lot not just about this song but also the album in general. I don’t have much to say about the music video besides liking the aesthetics of it. However, I want to bring up something interesting about this song. So, when I would go on itunes as a teenager and looked through Three Days Grace’s discography at the time I saw this track was on the soundtrack for the film XXX: State of the Union. Now, I didn’t nor do I still know what this movie is about. But what caught my eye was the title of the song on the soundtrack was instead called Just Like Wylin featuring American rapper Bone Crusher. I took a listen and...I could not anticipated for what I was going to hear. I know teen me didn’t like it but now as and adult I am just HIGHLY amused. This type of mashup is so bizarre but I weirdly love it just for whiplash of it. I HAD to mention it before moving on.
Track 3: I Hate Everything About you
This was the first song I ever heard by the band. Of course I heard it through an edgy Naruto AMV as a middle schooler. This song is one of the band’s most well known songs. Hell, they made this song before the album. It was on their demo when they were still Groundswell and the track got them attention from many record labels. I fully understand why. The song is very in your face about it’s subject matter. A toxic relationship and all the messy feelings that come along with it. Adam has said,
“The song is pretty blunt you know? It's to the point. It's about realizing there's something in your life you're wasting time on. I think everybody, even in this band and a lot of other people have felt that way before at one point or another in their life. Whether it's a person, a relationship whatever it is, you're just wasting time on it. The song is a realization of that.”
While I get the song being blunt and to an extent, whiny, can be seen as a detraction on top of it being not the most polished song. In my opinion, that is what gravitates me towards it. I think that unfiltered emotion from it really makes it stand out on this album. It’s no wonder this song is used for edgy AMVs to playlists for oc stuff. The fact this song was from their demo genuinely amazes me because it is really well done. They got really lucky with this track. I found a review by Heather Phares of AllMusic who said,
"At first, the song seems almost stupidly simple, both lyrically and musically. However, the controlled fury of the choruses and the ambivalent verses make the song a surprisingly smart and concise anthem for anyone stuck in a baffling relationship."
The review gets it. I feel like this song could have easily been fumbled lyrically like many other bands who made similar relationship songs like this. But I think what made this work is that Adam was not trying to write this from the perspective of a teenager for teenagers. But from someone who knows what this type of relationship is like for others who have gone through it.
Track 4: Home
This was apparently another big track from their album which surprises me. Mainly because I never really expected it to be a hit. Though it did not get as big as “Just Like You” and “I Hate Everything About You”. I would listen to this song a decent amount as a teen mainly because I grew up in a not great environment. So at the time it resonated with me but not so much now. It is a decent song, not my favorite track, but all right. Apparently this was Adam Gointer’s favorite track from the album mainly because it was fun to play it live. Though drummer Neil Sanderson talked about the meaning of the song saying,
"It's about being pushed around and neglected and feeling like even though you're in the company of other people, they're not really there at all."
Obvious by anyway, further reading I found this odd trivia about the song. This track along with an interview with the band was included as a bonus with the Prima Games strategy guide for Lords of EverQuest. Huh? That is random. Why was this song chosen for it? Who knows.
Track 5: Scared
I always forget this track exists. It’s not a bad song but it doesn’t stand out compared to the other tracks on the album. I could say what the song is about but I think Genius said it best with and I quote, “This song is about someone is scared and lonely” Thank you random person for saying the obvious. I cannot saying anything else about the song. Narrator is paranoid and is clearly not having a good time in this house because the other person there told him shit he cannot unhear. So far this is one of the weaker tracks on the album. The lyrics are simple and the track feels more like a filler song more than anything. Again, it isn’t like a terrible song but it also doesn’t do much for me. Actually, while I went to listen to it this is a fucking bop. If someone made an AMV of this song with like Scooby Doo on Zombie Island or something it would be perfect. Fuck what I said earlier that this is a weak track.
Track 6: Let You Down
This is an interesting track. It is about the narrator urging the other to trust them and they are safe with this person. But shortly reveals that once you give said trust to them, they will disappoint you. I know some could read this as Adam is the narrator in the situation but I don’t personally see it like that. How I saw it was this was akin to a villain song. Which I think works in the song’s favor. Well I know what ocs I’ll be using this song for.
Track 7: Now or Never
I always assumed this track was about the state of the world and we have the decision of either doing something or not at all. Though that was my perspective as a teen. Now as an adult I could see this song on a more personal level of a person having to choose whether to act upon a decision or never getting that chance again. It’s an all right song. Not one of my favorites but it is a nice track regardless.
Track 8: Born Like This
You know, I struggled trying to pin down the exact meaning behind the song. Before relistening to it I assumed it was about like being born a certain way. Like a certain nature be it selfishness to cruelty. Especially from my memory of the song. When I began to listen with lyrics “It’s not what I took from you, It’s not what I stole, we are born like this” I thought it would lean towards that or something but as the track went on it just became more vague. Well to me anyway. I would replay it to see if maybe I’ll get it. I know this verse,
“Somewhere you're floating high
You're not living, we are
Somewhere, someone's god, someone's god is laughing”
Stood out to me even as a teen. I always liked it but I don’t really know why. I asked one of my friends who listened to a lot of Three Days Grace as a teen and asked what they thought the song was trying to say. What they told me was,”my best guess is about reclaiming agency over one's life, like a "you can't change the person i intrinsically am" kind of thing.” This was after them even admitting they didn’t fully know what the song meant either. Though if lets say that is the message of reclaiming one’s agency then that is genuinely neat.
Track 9: Drown
An obvious about depression and that the narrator will get out of the slump before it overtakes them. I like the whispers that appear in and out of the song especially in the end. It is eerie and gives off an implication of the narrator doing a mantra to encourage themselves to get through this. How I feel about this song is similar to Now or Never, I like it all right but it isn’t my top song on this album.
Track 10: Wake Up
Before I re-listened to this song I was like “I don’t remember this track. This was their fourth hit?” Then when the instrumentals kicked in then I remembered it. The instrumentals are genuinely very nice and oddly relaxing. However the lyrics of it is...a LOT. I am going to be blunt, this is about a couple in an abusive relationship where the narrator is struggling with addiction however he is taking out his frustrations on his partner. He tries to plead to her that he needs her even though this relationship is terrible for both of them. Especially since the girl is the one who has to be in a position to try to calm him down to sober him up. That and he is using her for drunken sex as well which uhh...
Adam in an interview said,
“ We kind of wrote that song together as a band. The other guys in the band have gone through quite a few relationships, and I've been through a couple. Really that song's just about wanting to get a second chance at a relationship that has gone pretty bad."
There is just a lot to unpack here and in this song that I don’t really know if I am equip to actually discuss more. Like yeah, I could bring up that the narrator is probably an alcoholic which explains his anger and behavior towards this woman. But that is obvious. I guess I am just shocked because as a teen I never really paid attention to the lyrics so listening to this as an adult I am just sitting here. I am not sure how I feel about this song at all. Do I hate it? No. Do I love it? No. Does the song make me uncomfortable? Yeah actually. Not because the subject matter is there but more me trying to figure out how am I, the listener, meant to feel towards the narrator? Sympathy? Pity? Disgust? I guess that is up to the listener. I do have some respect for the song being like up front about a bad relationship like this.
Track 11: Take Me Under
I have always felt this track was fatalistic since the whole “Push me under, pull me further, take me all the way” does make it sound like he is asking death to just get it over with. However, reading more into the lyrics I could if I really squinted it COULD be about a relationship based on the lyric,
“ Seems you're wanting me to stay
But my dreams would surely waste away
And I still have nowhere else to go”
But I think either interpretation works. It is an all right song, got nothing more to say on it.
Track 12: Overrated
Okay, I remember this track and it was my least favorite on the album for years. Mainly how slow and dull it sounded to me. On top of the energy on the track being low. As a teen I thought this was like about overrated music but going back to the first verse this is about generational divide. That the previous generation screwed up the current and future generation with all the issues they created. Which I only found that out now of the song’s message. While I understand the message I feel like there are better songs that do this. The song doesn’t go deeper into what these issues are besides vague things such as “answers to questions they don’t even know” to “the system moves too slow”. I get that maybe the band didn’t want to get too political on their debut album but as it is, it is a weak end to the album. I will say it is not a bad song but it is a very meh song.
Bonus Track: Are You Ready?
So on the deluxe edition of the album they added this track and I think this song is a weirdly fitting end to the album. Which yes it sounds a lot different than all the other tracks which have more depressing subject matter. But the energy of it I feel like is on par of bring the mood up. Not gonna lie, it sounds like a song perfect for concert audience participation. Not a bad thing but it is something I noticed.
I was pleasantly surprised that I still enjoyed this album as I am getting slowly closer to 30 and farther away from who I was as a middle schooler. I enjoyed most of the songs on this with my top favorites being Burn, I Hate Everything About You, Born Like This, and Scared. The band got super lucky with this album being the success it was. Not every bands first album is solid.Oh, and before I forget this is a Canadian band. I don’t know why I always forget the band came from there but I do. I should have mentioned that a lot earlier but oh well. I actually recommend this album if you like more alternative metal to rock stuff. As I am writing this I have and had worked on Bullet for My Valentine’s The Poison review. Switching back between the two so I hopefully get my review of The Poison out soon.
Do you ever start talking about something that you really enjoy, then just freeze and hate yourself so much that you apologize for being a nuisance to whomever you were speaking to?
Hey there, it has been awhile since I made a text post. Currently my laptop has been in repair since last week or so. During that time I was away from tumblr and by now using mobile (which mobile sucks tbh) it made me realize something, I was much happier off of tumblr. I was doing more things like making jewelry and just overall my mood felt better. I have been on this site since 2014 and over the years things on here have just gotten worse. Which then of course in time started slowly affecting me. Like of course I have seen both the best and worst this site has had to offer over the years but it gets so exhausting.
I have sat on this for awhile but I am going to be trying to get my neocities better set up so I can move my music reviews on there, find where other people post (be it blusky, FA, etc), and just slowly break off from tumblr until I just don’t really use it anymore.
It’ll take some time to do all of that but it is something I have to accept that I am at a point in my life that I don’t really need this site. Like it did me a lot of good for years and I met a lot of cool people but hey nothing lasts forever.
Just wanted to make this announcement now as those days I was just off of tumblr with my laptop being repaired really just made me take a step back.
Once I get my laptop back I’m going to organize some things before making a final big intro post update. But I did want to give a heads up with this post.
I am going through the gazavetters list more throughly today since I have time not at work to double check everything. Mainly to organize my own fundraiser tags and such.
Hey there, long time no see. I am back on tumblr and I updated my pinned post again.
I was not doing well mentally early December for very personal reasons. I won't go into much detail but one of the factors has been not having a job. I lost the one I had because my former boss basically screwed me and my old coworkers over as I found out around that time. That genuinely hurt. I have been looking for work which has not had much results because January and February are terrible months job search wise. But I am still looking. I have been trying to make and sell jewelry as a means to not just make some money but also to keep my mind well.
One of the rules I decided to put myself to is limiting my tumblr usage which to be honest would be good for me. Also, I won't really be checking messages much to at all just for my mental health's sake since I found out I get overwhelmed super easily if messaged by a lot of people. I am trying to take better care of myself and not over extend myself like I did in the past. So please be patient and understanding with me, thank you.
