Personal Blog 13

 It's Friday night of the second  week of school. I meant to post last week but I didn't. It's going well so far, I'm excited for this year.

- Basil 

Personal Blog 12

A lot happened today. I'm so happy I have the friends that I do. There's no one I'd rather be than me. No matter what you do the end is always the same, we all will die. That's why your choices matter so much. What's happening now and what you do with your now is all that will ever matter. It makes no difference if you are remembered or make a difference. You did something only you could ever do, you lived as you.

You can't control what has been or what will be, but you can control what is, because when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. You are the most wonderful, unique thing to ever exist because you are YOU. You define your reality. Nobody else. Release your inhibitions. Turn your head and change your point of view. Every moment is a choice. Everything you do is you deciding. It would be easy if we really had no choice but to keep chugging along, or if our worst moments didn't define us, but we do have a choice to give up, and our worst moments do define us, but so does every other waking living breathing moment! I despise the notion of perfection, I refuse to believe that Life Sucks and then You Die, I refuse to believe in a wicked God. There is something wonderfully beautiful about imperfection. About flaws. And everyone is just like you, but will never be anything like you. Life is so beautiful. Even in war and injustice, people fight and live and are beautiful and raise flags with a straw hat or an s on them and choose to hope and believe, not because of any special magical power in hope, but because they chose to.

Don't waste time regretting the choices you made, they're the only ones you could have made. It never could have gone differently because then it wouldn't have been YOU. Please choose to love life. It's your last chance, anyhow. Heaven is found right here on the earth.

Tonight I am hopeful.

- Basil

Personal Blog 11

V + K watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower without me. I had read that book at the end of the school year in my AP Lit class and the three of us were waiting to watch it with V when they finished the book. They finished the book at camp. The two of them watched Wallflower without me. I found out through them both putting their notes on Instagram as "at that moment, I felt infinite" and "we are infinite." I asked V if they watched it without me. Apparently they both assumed I had already watched it. They never even asked. V didn't even apologize when I said I hadn't seen it. It made me feel like shit.

I don't think I ever want to watch Wallflower now.

- Basil

Personal Blog 10

Thinking about the national anthem. The lyrics are good, the music writing is terrible, it is a genuinely boring composition. But the reason I'm thinking about it is because the last line of the song is a question.

"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Do we still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave? I know the original question is asking if the flag is still flying high after a battle, but in the context of the country we live in now, are we living up to that? I wanted to try changing around the lyrics of the national anthem, to make the entire song a question.

"
Oh, say, could you see
by the dawn's burning light,
in which proudly I hoped,
at my childhood's beginning-
whose red stripes and pale stars,
in the blinding dim night,
through the ceiling we watched;
were they gallantly streaming?

Did the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
give proof through the night
that our flag was still fair?
Oh, say, did that
star-spangled banner ever wave
o'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?
"

That was probably very cringe but I don't really care. Anyway band camp was really fun. I spent a lot of time with Gavin making a gross blue concoction meant to mimic blue juice valve oil.

Next time.

- Basil

Personal Blog 9

K came over to my house today (when I say today I mean the 27th, it is 1:00 AM right now), my family is in New Hampshire now, I'll be meeting them in New Jersey this Friday since I had to stay for the rest of band camp. Band camp has been fun but stressful because of my leadership duties. I watched Lesbian Vampire Hunters with K, it was a really fun and stupid movie, and I played some more of Sally Face with him. G is going to stay over Wednesday because my sister will be out with her boyfriend so I'll be home alone.

Talk later.

- Basil

Personal Blog 8

 Went on a rant in the comment section of a rather single minded video on societies relationship with close male friendships and homosexuality. Here is the unadulterated copy and paste.

"

Friendship is not lesser than romance 

Edit: I would also like to say that this whole deal is a two sided coin. Because of the desire to have more representation or with malicious intention, people will project queerness onto characters/people, and in defensiveness or in malice people will deny any existence of gayness in a piece of media. It's a cycle like most things in life. 

To provide actual examples; for the former, you already showed Lord of the Rings and Frog and Toad as examples. I believe Arnold Lobel explicitly stated that Frog and Toad were good friends and not romantic when asked. While the idea of death of the author makes this point irrelevant, the books themselves only ever show them being good friends and not in a romantic relationship. Sam and Frodo have a close bond that is only ever described as friendship. 

For the latter, The Picture of Dorian Gray features the character Basil Hallward who explicitly has romantic and possibly sexual feelings for Dorian even after the edits that were made to the book in an attempt to censor any homosexuality involved in the book. There are copies available that show the differences between Oscar Wilde's original text and the edited version, and the intent of censorship becomes obvious. Another example of this is how the story of Jekyll and Hyde as evolved from it's original novella, A Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this book very hurriedly after legislation was passed in England that effectively criminalized homosexuality. In the original text Hyde is meant to be a version of Jekyll that lives without guilt or shame, which allows Jekyll to act on things he has always wanted to but repressed due to Victorian societal pressures. This version of him quickly becomes dangerous, though, as it shows how this version of Jekyll can lash out in anger and do things on a whim like murder, because he feels no guilt or shame in doing it. The only person Hyde murders in the book, though, is Sir Danvers Carew, a member of parliament, seemingly unprovoked at first, but in the context of why Stevenson wrote the book, it's clear why Hyde was suddenly struck by the fit of rage. The book is very clearly a criticism of what Victorian society considered right and moral, but later adaptations of Jekyll and Hyde alter the story, turning Hyde into a serial killer and the embodiment of evil, while Jekyll is the poor doctor who went too far, and many of these adaptations, such as the Jekyll and Hyde musical, fabricate multiple female love interests for Jekyll, when in the original text, the only person he ever shows affection towards is his partner Robert Lanyon. This affection is often argued over whether it is romantic or simply deep friendship, and that is up to interpretation, but ultimately the book was a criticism of the passing of the Labouchere Amendment, and that is what really mattered about the book, and later interpretations hide the original intent behind the book (pun not intended). 

I went into more detail with the second point because I believe that many people in this comment section already understand the first. 

For an actual critique of the video, I think what is being discussed is very important and your points are very good and I believe the intent behind the video is good. My one issue is the constant reference to, "them." Who is, "they?" A generalization of society? I think ultimately people have their own motivations for things, and I think that most people are not maliciously trying to erase male friendship. Any person can have an interpretation of a piece of media whether right or wrong, and most people will try to push their interpretation as the truth a great majority of the time, from my experience. I think making everything, "us versus them," is a dangerous thing that only worsens any problem. people are people. Each person is unique with their own motivations. Anyone can take anything they want out of a book and it's what that book meant to them, regardless of what the author intended. I think the issue is people seeking to push what they think as the truth. Getting mad about things deepens issues, living by example and ignoring what people say heals divides. 

(as an extra note, C.S. Lewis' words here do not hold weight because they are coming from his mouth, it's because what he is saying is true. I don't think that anyone should value his words more than anyone else's. Point is, C.S. Lewis' arguments about the invisible cat here hold a level of hypocrisy when you take into account his arguments for Christianity, "Liar, lunatic, or lord," so using his name as a way of supporting what he is saying is iffy at best.)

"

Not a very personal one today.

- Basil

Personal Blog 7

 Today was the first day of band camp. I'm the low brass section leader so it was a bit stressful, but everyone had a pretty good attitude about everything. This one freshman named A had never played an instrument before and picked up baritone amazingly fast. Yesterday I got K to continue with OMORI and he actually got really into it. He was really quiet during the barn scene and then started crying at the part where you open the door to Kel. I really hope he enjoys the rest of the game.

Goodnight.

- Basil

Edit: I also have been having late night calls with my friends and it's been really fun.