⛤ June Q&A (Patreon)

Let's set the scene. It's 7:16 in the morning and I didn't get much sleep. Between watering the cat plant and good ol' stress hormones, I've been tossing and turning since about 3AM. But I'm feeling better now after half a cup of coffee and a fun adventure walking the cat. Patriotic adventure! I'm not sure anymore whether I should brace myself for fireworks later since that's all I've been hearing for two weeks straight. In my second year here, I've learned that Americans, and especially American kids, love to blow shit up for the sake of blowing shit up (no way you can actually see the fireworks at 11:22 in the morning). 

My goals for today are to finish rough cutting the voiceover for blood banquet liaison, finish writing the poem I've been working on and start filming on it and lastly - dye my hair blue. I've held off to finish the projects I've been meaning to work on with the red aesthetic, but starting my morning with some very American blues makes it seem appropriate that today is the day... I change my aesthetic for spiritual summer. I have one video in particular planned that requires me to have blue hair (vanity requires it), but I'm excited to see where the new look will take me creatively.  I love the spontaneity of getting inspired and going with the flow of the day. And as I settle into my intentions for the day, let's look at some of the questions yo have asked. 

Have you seen a movie called What’s eating Gilbert Grape? No, and from the title I can't even place the genre. 

Do you like maple syrup? Who doesn't like maple syrup? It's nectar from the forest gods. I always have some in my fridge just in case I someday decide to cook breakfast lol. 

Have you ever used a pottery wheel? No. I really want to get into pottery though, just because it looks like a lot of fun to mold and shape things I'll actually use. I also just love hand made ceramics and have bought several from Goodwill and garage sales. Cue flashbacks of 3rd or 4th grade art class which was my first experience with pottery. I really should have kept the shitty cauldron I made lol. It wasn't very good, kinda lopsided, poorly glazed and you could vaguely make out the cat and mouse figurines gracing the rim but I just love how the witch in me was showing way back when. Imagine what I could make if I had more than 45 minutes to work the clay! Haha.

Do you like crushed tomatoes? Yes, I use them whenever I make tomato soup. It's a lot cheaper than fresh tomatoes and very comparable in taste. I like to add tomato paste aswell, you know, more tomato for my tomato. 

Do you have any favorite kinds of crystals and healing stones? Since I work with crystals a lot, it's hard to really point out a favorite. In general, I feel very drawn to quartzes, jaspers and garnets - but my personal preferences are very much situational. Lately I find that iolite helps me to stay more focused and collected. Black moonstone is a new gem I have discovered - it has incredible energy and I love to meditate with it and feel it cleanse my system. 

How often do you go shopping for crystals? Not as often as you would think. Maybe a few times a year. I certainly have no shortage of crystals to start with but every once in a while I randomly think of one that I can't get out of my head and I have to go get it and work with it. It's like they're calling my name. 

Do you like Fanta? I've never really been a soda person to be honest. Most sodas are sickly sweet and the carbonation physically hurts. There used to be a limited edition Fanta that actually tasted quite good. It was less sweet and more tart and I really enjoyed the blood orange flavor. Apparently it wasn't diabetes-inducing enough to become popular though. Also, European Fanta is distinctly different than American Fanta. In America, we have a million different Fanta flavors that change seasonally. In Europe, before some imports started to come in, we had one generic citrus flavor. That was THE Fanta flavor, and by that I mean the ONLY Fanta flavor. And we called it orange, but it tasted very different from American orange flavor. It was crisper, like an orange-lemon infusion, whereas American orange flavor is just like dumping orange rinds into corn syrup and calling it a day. A lot of immigrants have the same issue with American strawberry flavor, too. It's just not... good. 

Does Jack like classic rock? Some of it's ok. 

Which one of your videos have been the most challenging and difficult to record so far? Out of the ones I've published, the more recent videos have definitely required the most work and time and skill. My dedication to artistry unfortunately comes with increasing difficulty with each new project. More screen time = more dubbing = more time recording and editing. More scenes = more set design = more work off camera. I think Ozark Tales have been some of the most difficult ones overall, but blood banquet liaison takes the cake for all of these factors. But also singing videos are fucking hard to make. Especially if I want to do them in one take. Because I always fuck up. You don't see any of the mistakes I make so it probably appears as though I just pull shit off perfectly the first time, but in reality, I need 10-20 attempts to get something right. I either blank, struggle to focus, my voice won't cooperate, etc. etc. It's such a blow to my self-esteem because I love to sing so much and all these stupid mistakes make me feel like I'm just really bad at it. I know it's just my ADHD and perfectionism messing with me but you can't not get frustrated if you do the same thing 20 times and still get it wrong.
Now, more difficult than that, I think, have been the videos I never got to make, because they were so difficult. Shiki 2 is among these unfortunate lost projects. I started working on it, but kept missing the deadline for the clips I needed to record outdoors. Anything that involves the unpredictable outdoors is instantly 1000x as difficult as indoor shoots. I was going to shoot both my meditation videos outdoors but couldn't focus to save my life on site and ended up running out of daylight. We will see if I end up picking up on Shiki 2 again - dubbing everything certainly gives me more flexibility as I don't have to worry about audio in the video shoot. In the cyberpunk bar storyline, the tricky part is incorporating ASMR triggers in the direction I was taking the story. Like blood banquet liaison, it requires an elaborate script so that's gonna be a very difficult and time consuming endeavor. 

How often do you make your own pasta? Not very often. Pasta is affordable enough that it usually isn't worth the trouble. I will put in the work for some homemade pumpkin gnocchi, though.

Do you ever have dreams where everything is happenings so fast and consecutively? Yes? I thought that's how dreams work. Just a bunch of random things that somehow make perfect sense at the time, happening simultaneously and fucking with your brain when you finally wake up and try to make sense of what you saw. 

Do you have any favorite movies? No, I've never been so impressed with a movie that I'd call it a favorite to be honest. At best, they are okay. Most movies are way too long and thus bore me. I feel like the vast majority of movies could have told the same story in an hour that they felt the need to stretch out into two and a half hours of barely relevant bullshit. Maybe that's just me but I need way more plot development in way less time to stay interested. That's why I prefer shows over movies in general. 

Do you play any other sports besides badminton? I'm not really a sports person. Though I enjoy the occasional badminton game or swim or hike, I'm more in it for the activity than the athleticism. As long as it keeps me moving, I'm happy. 

Did you know that Starbucks has Dark Chocolate Covered Salted Almonds that tastes nearly exactly like the outer coating of the classic Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar? No, and I've never had either. You make it sound delicious. I can't even remember the last time I've been to a Starbucks... probably in tandem with the last time I've been to a Target lol. 

Have you watched the new season of Stranger Things? If so, what did you think? Oh boy, Stranger Things. We just watched Ep 8 last night and so far I don't know what to think about the direction they took the story in. If you are still watching, feel free to skip to the end because this one is gonna contain some massive spoilers.
In the first couple of episodes of S4, it seemed as though the theme would be real paranormal activity and hauntings, which I was fully on board with. The concept had a lot of potential and as you all know, I'm into that shit. The first murder was eerie as hell, but after two more victims died in the exact same way (wouldn't surprise me if they just reused the exact animation), it got kinda samey and took away from the mystery. The plot very quickly went from haunted town to haunted house which was a little weird, and then to psychic kid which was plain confusing. I like the storyline of Eleven/Jane and 001/Henry, but struggle to comprehend the significance of the mansion? Feels like that bit was just thrown in there for no real reason. Especially with how they painted Henry as this psychopathic murderer who spent more time in the spiritual realm than the physical, it's kind of a stretch that he would be so attached to this physical home. I do think the USSR sideplot is funny, kinda wish the main actors were native speakers, however. Especially the role of Yuri could have been sold better with a native speaker. Joyce, Murray and Yuri provide comic relief to this otherwise tense and dramatic story. Whatever is brewing between Steve and Nancy is a cheap cash grab and there's no way to put this nicely. And they made Robin autistic for no reason. It wasn't enough that she's a lesbian, which is a big enough deal in 1985, now she has to be a socially awkward, high functioning autistic lesbian? It honestly puts me off because there wasn't so much as a hint to her having autism/aspergers in the first three seasons and all of a sudden she comes back a walking, talking stereotype? They shot for inclusivity and missed, miserably. Robin's example clearly showcases why you should not throw too many diversity points on one character just to fill your inclusivity quota. The real stars of this season are Dustin and Jane. They are the badass heroes and I'm excited to see how they will live up to their image in the remainder of the season. I also quite like the character of Argyle for comic relief, though his soundtrack is obnoxious. I like the character of Eddie, I think his eccentric appeal adds something to the group, even though most people I know do not care for him. He was somewhat thrown in to fill the satanic panic side plot, but I think he has enough charisma to become a recurring character. I think Will being in love with Mike makes perfect sense, but he can do so, so, so much better. I hope he finds a good guy who treats him right and isn't obsessed with one of his closest friends. And for a minute I was very worried for Lucas ending up on the wrong side of history - glad he came around. One thing in particular they did really well is the character of Dr. Brenner. His questionable ethics have been apparent from the very start, but all this time, all three and a half seasons, they zigzagged between showing his detached scientist and caring father persona, making you wonder which side you're seeing is more representative of him as a character. The last scene with him (thus far) was particularly heartbreaking when his true feelings and intentions were revealed. A dying man does not feign concern. The fact that he used his last iota of strength to release Jane really hammered in his real feelings when, until that point, it was particularly difficult to tell what his motives were. Touching on that, they did a fantastic job portraying Jane's confusion throughout the entire show. Every scene and flashback they showed made me feel exactly what the girl is feeling - not knowing whom to trust, not knowing who is trustworthy and constantly being met with consequences that make you question the very decisions that seemed so very right at one point. This poor girl can't catch a break. Seeing the bullying she went through was a punch in the gut and I don't know if it's because I was bullied growing up or because she's such a sweet, well intentioned character who gets picked on just for being a little different. All I know is this Angela character deserves to get shot in the face. But I will content myself with her taking a roller skate to the face for now. The name is apt - at least I've never known a genuinely decent person named Angela lmao. We'll be watching more of S4 tonight with a drink and a big plate of homemade nachos. Who's your favorite character? 

I must get on now if I want to complete my goals for the day. I hope your questions have been extensively answered and you can submit more questions here shortly. Remember to stay hydrated in this unbearable summer heat (and use your sunscreen!) Have a wonderful July, wherever you are.