Fairy Tale Spotlight: God

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to the origins of God or a god. Among atheists, there seems to be a trend to say "How can we possibly know that a god exists?" and then leave the question there without bothering any further. Even if any amount of evidence is given, they will always fall back on "How do you know?"

It isn't easy to prove the existence of God because he exists outside of time and space. We often times point towards strange happenings as well as the advent of Jesus to provide evidence, but it is true that actually showing God himself can fall deeply into the realm of the extremely difficult if not impossible.

In order to explain God, we have to explain him in ways we are familiar with. I often times see him playing golf in a fashion more similar to polo. Does that mean he plays golf at all? No. It's more of my brain trying to process something that's presently inconceivable. Remember... we are trying to explain someone who created something that did not previously exist. He isn't here. He was never here. He's stuck in a room inconceivably larger than our universe.

Let's say you want to make a little creation for yourself. You take a box and fill it with all the things you think should be in that creation. The only problem is... you can't fit in the box. You can still change things as you wish. You can move things around... or destroy them. You can take a bucket of water and dump the contents into the box, creating your own Great Flood. None of these things will ultimately effect you though.

False gods are interesting too. God can place little animal figures within the box that the people inside there may choose to worship. These little gods can represent different things such as fertility, war, love, the color blue. It really doesn't matter what they represent, but the one thing they never seem to represent is anything having to do with God. They always represent things that already naturally exist within the box. For this reason, they are false because they exist within the box already. They are themselves created beings. Worshiping a false god is a bit like sending prayers to a pencil in the hopes that it will do the job of a pencil, and if it ever runs out of lead, it must be upset with you or something.

Since God is 100% removed from the box, he is technically in charge of everything to do with it. And since he is entirely uncontested in every decision he makes concerning the box, he is righteous for every action he takes. He creates every standard for all things that is... concerning the box and only the box. Everything outside the box has absolutely nothing to do with you, and so you don't really need to worry about that... at least right now.

Seems a little oppressive, yeah? Well, it's not as bad as it sounds. For one, it seems that there has been a hand extended out to us. I don't blame God for sending his Son to us. I've created a number of worlds myself that... I feel very close to. I've seen people and places that are dear to me. I know of characters that I want to be happy and succeed at their dreams. It's not difficult to understand an artist falling in love with his art. Sometimes you just want to just let them go and watch them do whatever it is they want to do.

Oh... and there is nothing wrong with trying to figure God out. In fact... you should. You should try to understand him. You may never completely get there, but there isn't anything wrong with looking up into that blue sky and wondering why it turned out so beautiful... and why we think it's beautiful at all.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Blood and Honey

I love being wrong. I really do. Although I was not entirely wrong in this case, but I was a bit, slightly wrong, I suppose. But let me explain myself. I have put forth that there is no good Christian entertainment out there. This is almost entirely true. It's a good 99% true. But there are exceptions, I am happy to say. And when something is done right, it deserves praise.

I'd like to get a small thing out of the way though. I do want to say that the animated children's film for Pilgrim's Progress (1978) is quite good. There are perhaps a few nitpicks I have with it. Some of the female voice actresses came across as remarkably flat, but all in all, it was a very good film and worth seeing.

Now on to the one I really want to talk about.

Blood and Honey is a Christian TV series from 1991. I watched it quite a bit as a child. It came on PBS at the time, and I remember going out of my way to watch it absolutely every chance I got. I recently reconnected with it and found myself having those same pangs of entertainment and joy as I went through each episode. My adrenalin couldn't keep up with what this show was throwing at me. What I mean to say was... my blood always feels like it's rushing while I watch it. I'm serious. The show gives me a thrill.

But what exactly is Blood and Honey? What is this masterful work of Christian art that captured the attention of someone who prefers Satanic films to Christian ones? It must be pretty impressive, right? Probably a top notch budget? Good acting? Authentic set design? None of those things, although the last one is debatable.

Blood and Honey is technically considered a Christian documentary series, but I never really feel like I'm watching a documentary. Let me explain: In every episode of Blood and Honey, a rather notable actor named Tony Robinson walks about the modern day Holy Lands and explains what exactly happened in the Bible as if it was happening right then and there. It sometimes feels as if the things that happened in Biblical history was happening right at this moment... or, at the very least, the 90's.

And I just cannot emphasize enough how wonderful Mister Robinson's telling of these stories is. He's so dang blasted into it! He moves about energetically, waving his arms, yelling out the lines of these Biblical characters as if he was borrowing their spirits. Every emotion is plastered on his face so vividly that I find myself rather enthralled by his performance.

By the end of an episode, I am almost surprised that all I saw was a guy walking around yelling at me for 15 minutes. That's all it is! Of course, they still do some interesting camera work. When he plays multiple people, the camera will cut around to him standing in different places. I can't help but think that this was meant to be both amusing and interesting at the same time. He does it so well. Tony was just amazing.

Blood and Honey is remarkably hard to find nowadays. There are a few episodes available on YouTube, but most of them are improperly titled. I stumbled over them by chance, and I am so happy to be able to soak these in again. I'll provide you with a link down below to make it easy on you. Well worth your time.

Blood and Honey is apparently owned by a big group called CTVC. The conglomerate owns a number of TV stations in the UK (such as BBC), a number of them with a focus on Christian entertainment. After researching them a bit, I do not recommend pursuing them at all. They have pretty much gone in the direction as every other company has. Blood and Honey is the only good thing to ever happen there, and you should stick with this. Watch them wherever you can find them.

Here is a YouTube link to a bunch that I found: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLamA8dtwR5WY7hrW1qMi20vQuQOMNyzHQ

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Our Divine Spinoff (The Book!)

I have finally gotten around to publishing my book "Our Divine Spinoff" which is, of course, the spinoff to "Our Divine Comedy." It is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. It, once again, includes countless illustrations by the great artist Chris Buffaloe.

I consider this to be my second Christian literature book. It is certainly a very strange one, as Christian books go. In this book, I make very weird claims. I talk about how Samson was an Angelic/Human hybrid, how Job was tortured because of a bet God made with Lucifer, and also a strange story about a talking dog named Christopher who actually met Jesus in person.

If you are a offended by these things, I really do not recommend reading it. In fact, I do not recommend books in general to people who are offended by anything. Books are full of potentially offensive things. Why even this blog might be offending you right now. In which case, you really should stop reading all together. You might try locking yourself in a room with no words. That should prove somewhat beneficial.

But if you are a person who is not easily offended, you are certainly welcome to pop over to Amazon and pick up a copy. It sells for $13.33 on paperback and for $3.33 on Kindle. Have a link on me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KR119MW

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: DuckTails: Remastered (Video Game Review)

In 1989, Capcom put out a video game adaptation of Disney's hit afternoon cartoon DuckTails onto the NES. This was a great show at the time and filled with the grand adventures of the richest duck in the world, Scrooge McDuck. The game itself borrowed heavily from the show in that it portrayed Scrooge McDuck searching throughout the globe for a number of treasures. Each level was very unique with its own surprisingly memorable musical soundtracks. It was a genuinely fun game.

Probably the most notable thing that Scrooge could do in this game was use his cane like a pogo stick. He used this trick to dispatch with enemies and to safely bounce over hazardous areas. It wasn't anything he was ever seen doing in the show, but it was a fun game mechanic. Nobody really complained.

It is safe to say that the this game went down as one of the all time most popular NES titles ever made. The Moon Level theme music in particular is widely known and popular to this very day. I remember renting it a number of times and enjoyed it immensely.

But you could only do so much with games back them. It was the 8-bit era after all. Much of the plot really came from the manual, and there was not a whole lot of text in the game to explain exactly why anything was happening. Fast forward to 2013, and a company by the name of WayForward Technologies ended up making DuckTales: Remastered, which was a complete remake of the original 1989 game.

DuckTales: Remastered was a retelling of the original game with virtually the same gameplay; however, all of the graphics were redone with hand-drawn artwork and animation. The entire cast of the original show was brought back to voice their characters for the first time in almost 30 years. The soundtrack was also redone, and wonderfully so. Much love and attention and respect was paid to almost every aspect of the original game while making the new one.

The developers also bothered to give the game a much more cohesive story with cutscenes to help the player a long. There were also two new levels that fit right into the original story and helped tell it in a much more efficient way. And to wrap it all up, the end credits not only gave you an ultra version of the iconic DuckTales theme song, but also a masterful piano version of the famous Moon Level theme.

I have played this game twice so far. It is a charming adventure that pays very close attention to what the show was like when the show was originally out. It doesn't try anything new or weird. It was simply a love letter to one of the greatest children's cartoons of yesteryear.

If nothing I have said has been very convincing, there was yet one more addition to this new version of the game which was the final icing on the cake for me. Back at Scrooge McDuck's vault in the game, you are allowed to jump, dive, and swim around in a pool of gold coins. There's no reason that you should do this, but the fact that you can shows how much the creators of this game really loved what they were doing. This game is an act of love, and I do heavily recommend it.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Three Times Before the Cock Crows

Fairy Tales love numbers. The number 3 is particularly overused in the old stories. You see them a lot in Grimm tales. Numbers are important when it comes to the meaning of things. Repetition in threes can often be the sign of spiritual relevance or the action of a rite.

There was a particular incident in the Holy Bible where the apostle Peter declared that he would would never betray Jesus and deny that he knew him. But Jesus politely disagreed and predicted that he would do exactly that a whopping 3 times before the cock would crow. Now, I am sure this must have greatly upset Peter to hear. He may have even wept to hear it, but I cannot confirm that.

I am sure that Peter certainly must have believed that he could not do this at the time. The fact of the matter is that when he was asked if he knew Jesus later on, he did deny him three different time. He did that because he was afraid that he would be likewise arrested or punished for associating with someone who was presently being persecuted.

You may have personally been in a similar situation. Society often forms it's own dogma which can lead to the persecution of certain people or groups. Even if that group is perfectly fine, you could still get into trouble if found to be associated with it. There may come a time when someone may suspect you and challenge you to see if you either claim complicity or deny that person or group out right.

Out of fear of personal persecution and the hope to live a safe life, you may be tempted to lie and deny that you are associated. But if you do this, I guarantee you that it will not truly benefit you to do this in the long run. For one, those people will not really be quelled by it. They will demand that you renew these claims constantly, and you shall never find true peace. Also... to deny the truth will be to your eternal shame. Unless divinely inspired, you will never overcome the betrayal of your own conscience.

Peter messed up. He got scared, and he did betray Jesus, and Jesus had correctly predicted that outcome. Peter was shamed by what he did. He did not have the courage to stand his ground against the mob. And once he had denied his association with Jesus 3 times, he heard the cock crow. It was his reminder that he had fallen to his own fear, and here he really did weep. That's not something he ever recovered from, I assure you.

Remember this story, and apply it to your life. If you have a friend who is being wrongfully persecuted, you should stand up for that friend. Claiming association could bring a lot of hate and even hurt your way, but this is the only life you got. Make the right call. Don't sell your soul for the one that you love or care about. If you do, you will never gain anything for it, and your friend's fate shall be removed from you by your own choice. You gave him up. It would be a wonder why you ever called him a friend in the first place.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Okami (Game Review)

Where do I even begin? I just finished playing Okami HD (on Steam), and I am simply without words. I mean... I do have some words, obviously.

Okami is a video game that came out for Playstation 2 in 2006 developed by the now defunct Clover Studio. It has been re-released for many later systems with upgraded quality. And I must say... I cannot, for the life of me, give this game any bad marks. Just playing through it for the third time has made me question what a perfect game really is.

Okami follows the adventures of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu represented in a wolf form. She is very likely the most beloved goddess in Japanese lore. The game itself presents itself in the form of ancient Japanese artwork. The design of it fits the narrative as the protagonist is collecting special brush techniques from all the other gods as she travels through Japan.

The game's main mechanic is that, at any moment you choose, you can freeze the game into the form of a painting and then use something called the Celestial Brush to paint symbols and images over the screen to create various effects or objects that will appear once the game has been unfrozen. Two examples of this: A circle with a line coming out of the top produces a bomb at that location. A long curved line with a loop in the middle drawn from left to right (or visa versa) will cause wind to blow in its respective direction.

Beyond that, I don't really wanna spoil anything else. The problem here (but not really a problem) is that the game is about 40 hours long, and every single second of those 40 hours were filled with an abundance of beautiful lore all told through this wonderful art style. Creating this game with this painting style in mind has actually served to make the game timeless. It will always look good. A hundred years could go by and this game will still look wonderful. The entire game is a work of art, and though a video game, it deserves the right to sit aside great paintings of the old masters.

Musically this game is phenomenal. The entire soundtrack is based around traditional Japanese music using the traditional instruments. None of it is synthetic. They bothered to get the music correct, and there is not one track in the game that I dislike.

The story is also filled to the brim with Japanese folklore of every kind you can imagine. As a fairy tale enthusiast, I soaked every moment of this game up with a passion. Many times I laughed. Many times I cried. Sometimes I did both. And in 40 hours, you get plenty of lore. This game has no padding or fluff. It is absolutely solid in its design, writing, and direction.

I also want to point out that this game, at the very heart, is a 40 hour long prayer to the glory of the sun goddess Amaterasu. This does not bother me in the least. The writers of Clover Studios clearly adored her story and chose to write a beautiful love letter to her in the form of a painting, a musical score, and a game. Every single aspect of this game was intended for her. I'm not even involved with this religion, and I was brought to tears by the love showing through in this game, all of it directed at the goddess herself.

I cannot believe the amount of love that was so wonderfully poured into this game. I have never played a game that was so complete in all my life. If you can get ahold of this game, I highly recommend you get it. I'm not saying it is for everybody, but I know in my heart that this entire thing was a labor of pure, untethered love, and there is no game like it out there. It very well may be the most perfect game ever made in history. If only people bothered today like they did way back in 2006.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Monsters of Doom, Part 6 (Final)

-Arch-vile-

Some days are good, and some days are bad. If you happen to spot a creature called an Arch-vile, then there's a chance that it will end up a bad day. Don't get me wrong. I love what the Arch-vile is. I still think that the Pain Elemental is the worst. But it's only the worst because it makes the run more annoying. The Arch-vile is not annoying as much as it's flat evil.

The Arch-vile looks like a shrived up imp. He has a sort of pyro-kinesis that is extremely infuriating and can be fantastically confusing when it first happens. Basically, he can set you on fire at a distance. The whole screen just flames up making it difficult to see anything. First time players tend to think they are being damaged while this it happening, but the truth is that the fire does absolutely no damage. The fire is more of a warning that the actual attack, a massive explosion, is about to occur right where you are standing. This explosion cannot be dodged. The only way to avoid it is to block line of sight. It doesn't matter how thin the cover is, there just has to be a momentary block, and the spell is interrupted. Just don't panic!

Arch-viles can also resurrect enemies you have already killed. This is probably the primary reason why running into one of them makes for such a bad day. Any dead enemy that leaves a body can be resurrected and will have to be re-killed by the unfortunate Doom Guy. For this reason, the Arch-vile ALWAYS gets the kill priority. If you don't kill him, he will make your life a living hell until you do.

If it's only one Arch-vile, then take out your rockets or plasma gun and pound into him as fast as you can. If more than one... BFG9000. Wipe them out. Get them the hell off of the map. Threat Level : 9 of 10.

-Spiderdemon-

Here is another monster that tends to go by a different name than its official one. Most people I know call these creatures the Spider Mastermind. I kind of like that one more to be honest. The Spiderdemon is a final boss found in the third episode of the original Doom. It is a giant version of the Arachnotron, but instead of a plasma gun, it is equipped with a very large chaingun. And like with the Chaingunner monster, it is a big, giant hit-scanner. Every one of its many shots are dice-rolled and will tear you to shreds if you aren't behind some sort of cover.

Since there is no real dodging involved with the Spiderdemon, the only thing you can really do is try and blast it away as fast as possible. Take out your BFG9000 and pump four to five shots into him. Gone. Dead. And honestly, not that hard if you show up prepared like I do. Threat Level: 8 of 10.

-Cyberdemon-

And here we have come to the final monster of Doom. I won't be covering the Icon of Sin because... Come on, man. It's a freaking wall texture.

The Cyberdemon is the biggest baddest son of a bitch in the game. He's made more butts clench than most bosses found in games since that day. He's a big, technologically enhanced, hulking satyr with one absolutely mean rocket launcher. He always fires three rockets at a time, and holy crap, do they fly out fast. Thank god they don't home. That would be a deal breaker, if they did.

These rockets fly out so fast that I have a little trouble zig-zagging around them. It takes a lot of concentration, but it can be done. If you have to fight them in a narrow corridor, you're gonna have to have your wits about you. That's pretty rough.

The Cyberdemon is best fought with a BFG9000 and it will take a good number of shots as well. A see a lot of people using rockets on them too, which is okay in a pinch. Just take note that the Cyberdemon is immune to splash damage. That means they are only taking damage from the rocket's initial explosion and nothing else. Once you kill this mighty beast, he will explode in a fireworks display of blood and guts. It's quite nice really. Never gets old. But seriously, don't underestimate him. He's a badass. Threat Level: 10 of 10.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Monsters of Doom, Part 5

-Wolfenstein SS-

These guys aren't so bad. They are basically the original nazi soldiers found in the game Wolfenstein 3D, but they are surprisingly only in two levels found in Doom II. Honestly, these guys are more of a call-back to the game that is accredited with popularizing the FPS genre, but it was still cool that Doom Guy got to fight them.

They are a bit more dangerous than the Zombiemen. Instead of an intermittent shot, they shoot in two round bursts constantly until they lose sight of you. They are incredibly weak, and can be easily taken down with one blast from the regular shotgun. Please, don't panic when you see them, but do try and remove them as fast as you can. They are nasty, little hit-scanners that need to die. Threat Level: 2 of 10.

-Mancubus-

Mancubi are giant, fat, hulking monsters with a fireball cannon strapped to each of its big arms. These fireballs are very large and are fired in multiples at very unpredictable angles. A lot of people tend to dodge right into them by accident. They are also really strong and cannot be stun-locked.

The biggest problem with these guys is that they tend to block passages with their giant bulk. And if there are a lot of them, it is rather hard to dance around their shots without paying really close attention to exactly where they are shooting. Basically, my point is that they tend to require your brain to overclock a little whenever they show up.

Personally, I prefer to pound rockets into them which will dispense with them pretty quickly, but since they tend to get a little confused when you get close to them, the super shotgun can be pretty useful on them in a pinch. I recommend getting rid of them first since their shots tend to fly out so unpredictably, and for the love of god, don't get hit by them. It really freaking hurts. Threat Level: 8 of 10.

-Arachnotron-

The Arachnotron are small spider-type demons that walk around and fire plasma shots at you whenever they can get a clear shot on you. They look really intimidating, but they are not so bad. The shots are slow enough for you to just dodge around or right in between them (tougher but I've done it many times). Sadly, this demon is a bit limited in what it can do and tend to only really be a problem in large groups. Even then, it's nothing like running into a room full of Hell Knights and Barons.

If you are having a hard time getting to them, throw out a few rockets. But if you can get close, just use the super shotgun on it while strafing around it. Its hard to miss. The Arachnotrons are pretty wide. Treat Level: 6 of 10.

 Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!