Fairy Tale Spotlight: Cream [Short Film Review]

Anyone know a man by the name of David Firth? You may know him by his dark comedy series called Salad Fingers. But I am not here to talk about that. I recently viewed his 2016 film "Cream."

It's about 12 minutes long. I'll place a link to it below so you can watch it. I recommend you see it before you read further:

Cream by David Firth

The first half of this film feels more like a comedy. The utterly freakish way that the humans are animated and the silly wit of the writing leads one to believe that this is just a throw-away visually shocking film. I almost stopped watching part way through it. But by the end of the film, you'll be well-aware of the point. And I guess there's the rub: there is a point.

The film is a strange-looking allegory about a very real thing. The titular Cream represents all the potential of human beings. It's actually a very optimistic viewpoint. David Firth, who is more known for writing dark topic animations, actually placed a lot of optimism in the hands of a good portion of human beings. But the darkness was still there, and it was the worst thing imaginable.

The film shows a minority of humans who did not like the idea of humans advancing infinitely forward. They go out of their way to ruin it for everyone so that they could retain the paltry power that they have. This... actually... happens. The movie is just being honest about something that does really happen in the world.

I am sure that can be a very frustrating pill to swallow for an artist. Can you imagine being a creator that is forced to conform to a society that he never signed up for? I can't speak for David Firth personally. I'm unaware of his beliefs spiritually or politically, but that does not make this animation any less relevant. Regardless of his intentions, he made a work that is true.

Not every human being cares to create. Some like being in a rut, even if it makes them miserable. But those who want to go out and be somebody shouldn't be forced to dance the dance of the lukewarm. We creators need room to breath. If given enough room, there is no limit to how far we can go. At the end of the day, we need the Cream from that short film. It's the freedom to grow and prosper, which is what we were meant to be doing for all of our existence.

"Cream" by David Firth. Highly recommended.

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: Frank Martin and the Fairies [Story Review]

I recently came across an Irish folk tale called "Frank Martin and the Fairies," written by William Carleton. It's a bit too lengthy to post in its entirety, and I won't really be spoiling any of the main plot points. I do want to talk about Frank though.

Frank Martin is a man who lived with fairies. He had the ability to see and hear them. He could touch them and talked to them. He communicated with them, and they could talk back. Despite this report, they would still do fairy things in fairy ways. They would play their own music and go about their business. Apparently they would all sleep in bed with him as well.

Frank was apparently impervious to their mischievousness because he was baptized as a child in a particular way that was adverse to the influence of fairies. His parents specifically asked for this sort of baptism. It may have been because they had had fairy problems themselves and could do nothing about it.

My main concern with the presentation of Frank Martin was that he was the type of person who would talk and talk and never shut up. If you would go into a conversation, he would dominate it and never hush for long periods on end. And the topic he liked talking about the most were of the fairies he lived with. This out-rightly came across as a mental disorder.

I am not insinuating that he was making the fairy stuff up due to this disorder. I am saying that his prolonged exposure to the fairies is what caused the disorder. I could plainly see that he had been engulfed by their influence to a point where it was likely all he thought about. He still held a job though, it seemed. He was a weaver by trade. Imagine, though, trying to work your craft while little people are running all around. Just try and imagine what that would be like.

I am convinced that the baptism worked; however, the mere exposure to these creatures would have still messed with his mind. As I read the story, I felt real sorry for him.

The thing I see in a lot of these Irish fairy tales is a lot of people trying to live their lives while dealing with the ever-present influence of fairy creatures. They accept that they are real, sure. But they can't just live their lives without having to put up with it. I wonder how many Frank Martins have existed in history. I wonder how many exist today.

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: The Fairies

I found a rather upsetting poem by one William Allingham. It comes to us from a collection of Irish fairy stories. It rather sadly shows what sometimes happens to a culture that allows fairies to co-exist with them. I'll simply be letting you read through it. I think it speaks well for itself. However, I will say a few things first.

Many in Ireland believe their fairies to be fallen angels. I do too, although I also believe that their spawn are what we know as demons. These angels are every bit as powerful as they were when they were created by God, and they are a bit too much for a human to handle. The problem here is that they out rightly presented themselves to us and often for some very serious and self-serving reasons.

I already knew this had happened in the past. I knew about some demons from Japanese lore that were known to do this. It's horrible. Most people just don't want to deal with it, and I don't blame them. The incident explained in this poem is something we see in fairy tales across the world, and if we are to be wise, we should take it seriously.

I now present to you... "The Fairies" by William Allingham.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We daren’t go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl’s feather!

Down along the rocky shore

Some make their home,

They live on crispy pancakes

Of yellow tide-foam;

Some in the reeds

Of the black mountain-lake,

With frogs for their watchdogs,

All night awake.

High on the hill-top

The old King sits;

He is now so old and grey

He’s nigh lost his wits.

With a bridge of white mist

Columbkill he crosses,

On his stately journeys

From Slieveleague to Rosses;

Or going up with the music

On cold starry nights,

To sup with the Queen

Of the gay Northern Lights.

They stole little Bridget

For seven years long;

When she came down again

Her friends were all gone.

They took her lightly back,

Between the night and morrow,

They thought that she was fast asleep,

But she was dead with sorrow.

They have kept her ever since

Deep within the lake,

On a bed of fig-leaves,

Watching till she wake.

By the craggy hillside,

Through the mosses bare,

They have planted thorn trees

For my pleasure, here and there.

Is any man so daring

As dig them up in spite,

He shall find their sharpest thorns

In his bed at night.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We daren’t go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl’s feather!

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: Alien: Isolation [Video Game Review]

I am personally a fan of the Alien movie series along with its many sequels and spinoffs. Although I somewhat ignore the Predator series. I don't have anything against them. My love of the Alien universe extends mainly through the main series of films which includes Prometheus and aspects of the Blade Runner series. I love them for their prominent portrayal of the human condition, showing both where we shine and where we ultimately fall short. I also like them for their dive into secondary and tertiary creation tiers which happens in the following way: God > Engineers > Humans > Androids.

In 2014, developer Creative Assembly and publisher Sega gave us another chapter of the Alien series in the form of Alien: Isolation. It followed the path of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley, in her mission to find out what happened to her mother. During the 15+ hour campaign, I was subjected to not only an authentic Alien experience, but also one of the most polished games I have ever played in all of my life.

Love is something that can be either good or bad. It's basically a passion one has for a particular thing, or, in this case, a property. The developers of this game had a real and sincere love for the Alien franchise, especially for the first movie. They put absolutely everything they possibly could into making this the defining interactive Alien experience that outmatched every previous attempt made. And there have been some bold attempts made in the past. Despite its reasonable criticism, Alien: Colonial Marines was a fine game that did its best to capture the feel of the second movie (Aliens), and I enjoyed playing it. But it pales in comparison to the glory that is Alien: Isolation. The latter had what the former lacked, true love.

Every aspect of this game went out of their way to copy the style of a movie made in 1979. No effort was spared. Nothing was updated. You honestly feel like you are stuck in the world of the original Alien and constantly on the run from the Xenomorph itself. The developers used a lot of very interesting tactics to make the experience extremely nerve-wracking.

Firstly, there are a lot of actions in the game that takes time. Even saving your game takes about 5 seconds. During these 5 seconds, you can be killed, which rids you of the save. Secondly, various tasks you have to perform on the station puts you into an "animation lock" as some people call it. This means, when you choose to begin working at a station, you get locked into it for a time. During this time, as with the save stations, you can be attacked. Lastly, your best defense against the alien is your flamethrower. Aside from having very little fuel for it, the pilot light takes about 5 seconds to reignite after a reload. During this time, you can be attacked. Also... about these attacks: it's instant death.

Throughout the game you are constantly managing your ammo and resources. A lot of the time it is just better to hide, but towards the end of the game it makes it a bit easier to fight the things off. The game's intensity is well balanced, giving you lulls where you can breath. These are very important. Without them, the player might just give up.

The aliens were not the only problem. You also have to deal with killer androids throughout the game, and sometimes they are paired with the aliens. Although the androids cannot instantly kill you, they themselves are very hard to kill, and shooting them will alert the alien most times.

There is also the problem of other humans. Most of these humans are just scared. They are only trying to kill you because they don't understand what you're trying to do. The game will let you defend yourself, but if you kill an unarmed civilian, the game will end.

The last thing I want to mention is the alien itself. The loving programmers of this game provided it with a special AI that makes it so that the alien has to earn its kill. It is blind as to where the player is and has to use its senses to find you. It is also very intelligent and will change its tactics when it becomes aware of a common tactic used by the player. It will even become less frightened of the flamethrower if you overuse it, but it won't bum rush you if you hold that pilot light at it. Little details like this make it feel like you are actually going up against an intelligent being. It honestly feels like it's thinking, and you have to stay one step ahead of it for the entire experience.

Alien: Isolation is wonderful. It is one of the best games ever made. It is one of the very best experiences ever made as well. Imagine a world where every game was made with this sort of love. It almost seems surreal to think of what would happen if suddenly every creative entity out there was 100% a love affair between its creators and the final product. This game is a must play. I extend to it my highest recommendation. Play 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: Finding Things Out for Yourself

I suppose everyone is looking for someone to tell them what the truth is. This often devolves into just believing the person who you agree with the most. However, when you do this, you are merely letting that person, of whom you have chosen, think for you. By your choice, they have chosen what you believe for you. I don't recommend doing this ever.

Unless you have a massive disorder that prevents you from thinking and learning on your own, you should have the mental capacity to make a surprising amount of discoveries on your own. It does take effort, but you will not regret the work you put into it.

This is not to say that listening to other people and what they have to say is wrong. You should listen to others. In fact, you should go a bit deeper. You should listen to them and try to understand where they are coming from. Try and figure out why they say the things they say. People are not just word and sentence factories. They speak from a point of view based on their own choices and experiences. (Mostly choices.)

The point here is that, at the end of the day, your choices are your own, and choosing simply to believe someone you like is foolhardy. The choice has to be made entirely by you for your own reasons that came from you and only you. Listening to others merely spark ideals and create bits of knowledge which you can use... but you should not own them in the same way as the people you were listening to. Even my own advice in this blog is not to be out rightly believed. You merely need to just hear what I have to say and go on your own personal journey to see if I am right. (Yes, this is a conundrum, but there is no way around it.)

I do meet a lot of "Yes, I agree with you!" from others, especially my friends. Certainly from the people who regularly reply to my blogs, who like my blogs, have been agreeing with me. I still extend to them the responsibility of making sure that their thoughts are their own. Now... don't be paranoid about it. People do line up from time to time. And if you consider me a good source of information and advice, then fine. But just make sure that you are agreeing with me for more than just the fact that you like me or my blog.

The thing is that I do this personally. I do have a personal belief that a lot of fairy tales are based on ancient accounts of humans coming into contact with real fairies. The stories may either be a direct re-telling of the events or merely inspired by them in general. Either way, I believe that fairies were and are real and are likely encounters with what we know as Angels (fallen or otherwise) and demons. That is what I believe, but that doesn't mean you have to. But whatever you decide on, let it be based on your own personal research and not just because you either liked or disliked what I say here.

I have spent years of research and moments of deep thought trying to put a lot of things together before I started publishing my findings. I work most of my beliefs into my works of fiction. My Christian beliefs are published in "Our Divine Comedy" and "Our Divine Spinoff." Those works of literature are all mine. They are not based on anything anyone has told me. I vetted everything anyone ever suggested to me. So even if what I published is wrong [And they could be!] absolutely everything came from my own independent thought. They are mine, and I own license to every word I deliver to you.

In any case, I do hope you have been enjoying my blogs. I intend to continue writing them as well as my books. They come out a lot slower now, as I have a number of other projects I have been working on, but there are more still to come. Thank you all for reading my stuff. And remember, be wholly yourself in all things! You are the way you are for a reason. Never take that lightly!

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: The Absolute Temptation of Jesus Christ

I've talked about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness before, but I want to be a bit more clear about it. People don't seem to understand its ultimate relevance. The way most people perceive the Temptation comes across as more of a "Jesus Lite." Jesus is more than just a wishy washy person in our history. He is God, and the triumph he made in the wilderness is not only a singular victory, it is the very cornerstone of spiritual reality itself. If Jesus had not passed that test, nothing would have mattered, including the Crucifixion.

In order for someone to be tempted, they have to want the thing they are being tempted with. A person tempted with chocolate who does not like chocolate will easily pass the test.... but then he was never really tempted with anything. Many people I know, including family, believe that Jesus was incapable of wanting anything offered by the demons in the wilderness. If that is true, then he did NOTHING. All he did was go out into the wilderness and, like a robot, simply say no to everything offered. This alternate version of events makes Jesus out to be more of an automaton who can only do what God programmed him to do. This would not have been a victory for anybody.

These demons were offering Jesus a bounty of worldly things. Power. Money. Sex. As for the latter, the kinks and fetishes offered would have been extraordinary. I won't go into the specific details, but I'll simply hint that no perversion would have been off the table. The reason for the extreme nature of these temptations was because it was important that Jesus be tempted, not lightly, but absolutely. Every worldly vice would have been offered to him... and Jesus would have to desire those things in order for the temptation to be real. His ability to deny himself these sinful things that his human nature wanted so dearly would become his own personal and absolute triumph. Every sinful thing, big and small, he denied himself, and he did so of his own free will and despite a sincere yearning to indulge.

If Jesus had merely been a mindless automaton that could not be tempted by anything, then his choice to carry that cross and be crucified would have also been simply an act of mere programming and not based on a personal choice. The fact that Jesus chose to do these things through a sheer act of inner strength is paramount to my argument. Jesus did not just desire to sin a little... he wanted every type of sin, and he was tempted with that very thing... and he denied himself all of it for us. And his very act of denying himself those worldly things became the very standard by which we are expected to live... and will ultimately fail at... by varying degrees.

Jesus lived a completely sinless life... and then he chose to die for all us selfish ungrateful people who often don't accomplish 1% of what he did in his short life. We are constantly bombarded with the sinful things of this world, and we fall for those things over and over and over. And worst of all... we have the same choice he did. We could have all been like him... if we chose to be. But we never do. We never will. The only vestige of hope we have left is to look to the one man who passed every test with flying colors. We join him at the throne and stand with him. We do this because the Man deserves it. No one else does.

The temptation of Jesus Christ was absolute. Every sin imaginable was laid at his feet... and in the same way he chose to deny himself those sins... he also chose to give up his life. Wake up... and look to this Man... and know exactly who he is and what he has done. Amen.

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: Do You Know Who God Is?

I'm going to go ahead and answer the question asked in the title of this blog: "No, you probably don't." Most people don't. Most people have never been properly told who he is or what he is like. They speak of this great being that can neither be reached, seen, or understood. They will tell you what he means and how we should behave when dealing with him, but aside from those things, they tell us nothing of this mysterious spook who apparently created the world.

God is real, but unless you actually bother to understand him, I really recommend you just stop. Seriously, don't even pray or anything. Most of the Christians of this world know the spiel about God the Father who gave his only Son to die for our sins. But just saying that sounds so vacant of anything meaningful.

Who even was God the Father? Do you even know? Have you bothered to seek him out outside of the do's and don'ts handed down by the local church? People today are so trapped by routines and dogma that they can't properly even understand who these two beings really were and are to this day.

Everybody who is bothering to be a Christian has to actually bother. They have to do more than to make the sign of the cross and say shockingly similar prays over and over again just to maintain what they believe is a faith. If Jesus is the Way, then you need to find out what that way is and why it was Him who became that Standard. Actually bother. Being a Christian is more than just joining a club, it's actually incorporating yourself into a real part of history. Not only history but the very fabric of creation itself.

Somewhere out there there is a real person with real feelings to whom we call God. He handed down a real person with real feelings in the form we call Jesus. Jesus was baptized by a third entity who was a real person with real feelings called the Holy Spirit. All this happened and is still happening. If all you can do is just play these little games, pray, go to church, and signal to one another that you are good, little Christians, then you know nothing. You never knew anything. You never bothered to know anything.

The answers are out there. They are clear for those who bother to look for them. If they had not been clear, Christianity would have died a long time ago. All these people are real, and you should seek them out. If you don't have enough gumption to bother, then I highly recommend you stop claiming to be a Christian. Christ died for you. If you can't even take five minutes to find out who He and his Father was and are, then you're just going in for the free ride to Heaven. News Flash: you aren't welcome there!

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!