Monday, March 29, 2010
whoa
long time no post, and hey it was meee! anyways, lets get the other fun clubbers in on this. whaddya say gang?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
update
“B3AT 'EM UP: Hyper-Technical Brain-Trainer!”
General Details
The Fighting Game(FG) is a 2-d fighter that utilizes multiple planes on the y axis to be played on. FG would have health and special power bars. Would be sprites or similarly designed 3d models. Background music and graphics would be synched together, as would character movements. The game would play basically like a 2d fighter with a few additions.
Gameplay mechanics
“Frame-Rhythm” : All attacks would use certain amounts of frames to perform. Timing attacks to match the beat of the background music scores the player rhythm bonus points. Performing complex rhythm attacks will deal extra damage as the combo ends with a special finisher. Different characters have different attack durations depending on body-type, fighting style and special characteristics, meaning players will be using the same basic beat to time attacks, but will be embellishing it on different beats. For instance, a faster character might hit on 32nd beats, making a quick staccato rhythm, and her slower opponent has a pattern of 8th beats, making a steady marching beat. So you end up with crazy synth-soloing drum machine glitch-core techno, plus a pattering snare from a light character and a reluctant bass drum from heavy character. This added to character melody(which will be talked about shortly) makes the game very rhythm-based.
“Lagging” : By pressing a specific button, all moves can be lagged, or stall and charged, to allow for more powerful versions of the attack(Think mario's fireball attack charged to a fire column attack). Alternately, slower, more powerful moves can be performed, and quickly interrupted by a tap of the lag button to perform a faster, weaker version of the attack(think falcon punch turned to falcon jab.). Moves can be lagged to help sync them with the background music. For instance, a player whose moves take 3 frames in a fight with 12 beat-centric background music could lag that attack to be 4 times longer and receive rhythm bonus. The lag button requires use of some of your special bar. However, if the lagged attack is succesful, 1.5 of the amount of special bar you used is regained, meaning if you land lagged attacks in succession, you could theoretically continue a “lagged-moves-only” combo forever(since you would never run out of special bar.
“Character melody” : Besides the background music and character attacks, two other elements are added to the sound. Each character has a certain beat that accompanies them to battle. They are simple repetitive patterns usually on single instruments, for instance a quick punk beat on a small drum set, or a lingering scale on a marimba. When a character performs well in a fight, their melody becomes louder and quiets the opponents melody. The melody allows the player to sync up beats in his head between his move durations and the bg music, as each character's melody is representative of their “frame-rhythm”
“Background Music Manipulation” : Certain in-game events will change the background music. Some characters have slower attacks that can never be comboed at normal speed. Certain difficult moves will momentarily slow the bg music to the same pattern as the characters “frame-rhythm”, giving them a moment to perform a complex combos and rhythm combos they couldn't perform at normal speed. Also, when a character's timing and attacks perform extremely well, the background music speeds up. This way, as the character combo becomes more powerful, the player has to change how he is inputting the commands. As the beat increases he must speed up, and lag out of certain attacks to stay on rhythm. This keeps people from comboing forever, but allows you to get as far as your skill will take you(in a long combo).
“Limbs” : Certain characters can destroy the use of opponents limbs. Severing, breaking, poisoning or some other paralysis can be inflicting on a grabbed arm or leg. The character who has received such an injury will take a secondary defense stance. Losing two limbs puts you in a last resort stance with no defensive options, all you can do is flail. A broken limb will ruin rhythm, balance and luck factors, and a severed limb will do all this plus drain life bar.
“Stance” : Stance is incredibly important in FG, there are several sub-categories related to it.
-Stab, Sweep and Slice: Normal attacks come in three types. Stab attacks are attacks which move forward toward the opponent along the x axis. A straight punch or throw of a dagger is a Stab. A Sweep attack comes across the field on the z axis, out of or into the screen. A slash or hook is an example. A Slice moves along the y axis. An example is axe slicing down or
- Fighting Stance: Every character has a set fighting stance. The stance is comprised of the angle of the shoulders and hips, placement of feet, crouch level, and arm positions. The fighting stance impacts and reflects how attacks work. A “Narrow” stance places both feet in a line pointing at the opponent, with hips and shoulders along that line and neck twisted to face the opponent. An “Angled” stance places feet like opposite corners of a square, the legs, feet, hips and shoulders are all one closer and one farther from the opponent, with the neck hardly turned. A “Wide” stance places both feet on a line along the z axis, and the whole body is lined up this way, the neck is not twisted at all as the character is directly facing the opponent. A “Long” stance places the feet far apart, a “Medium” stance has them moderately spaced, and a “Short” stance has the feet practically touching.
-Lean: One of the control sticks would control how your character is leaning. Leaning in makes it easier to hit a distant opponent but makes you easier to hit. Leaning back can allow you to dodge an attack and possibly counter. Leaning back and then forward throws your momentum and can increase attack power if an attack (like a punch) is timed during this movement.
-Dodge: Each character can dodge on the x,y and z axis, depending on the tilt of the movement joystick, and you can still use the lean joystick while dodging. Different stances allow for better types of dodges: a character with a narrow stance would be very good at dodging stabs and fairly good at dodging sweeps, but bad at dodging slice attacks; a wide stance is good at dodging sweeps and fairly good at dodging slice attacks but bad at dodging stabs(besides very short ones); an angled stance is good at dodging slices and fairly good at dodging stabs, but bad at dodging sweeps
-Balance: Depending on size, stance, and a specific “balance”: trait, different characters are more or less likely to fall over. Narrow stances will be easy to trip with a sweep-kick or punch, or a sweep takedown move, however, they are strong against takedowns which push backwards. Wide stances are very well balanced and can only be taken down with takedown moves which push the character backwards. Angled stances are equally likely to fall after all takedowns. Character can end up on the ground for different reasons. Some moves require that you throw yourself off balance, like a narrow-stance character dodging a stab attack, some moves will induce a fall, like a grappling move that pushes the foe backwards and trips their legs from behind. All falls/trips can be canceled out of by timing a button-push properly, but trips which are induced by attacks require more precise timing to cancel out of.
Blocking: Blocking attacks will keep your character from taking as much damage and will result in no knockback. Depending on your character, you can even block all damage from coming through, though some characters may even receive all damage(but no knockback). Blocks can be held forever without consequence, unless they are receiving attacks, in which case the block level will decrease until eventually they are overcome. The time it takes to break blocks varies for characters, and after it breaks your character can not attack and only move slowly for a few moments before regaining abilities. Block level regenerates overtime.
Counters(and Dance off Mode): Any attacks which hit each other on the same frames will both be canceled out, this is known as a Hit-Cancel and besides the attacks cancelling, nothing happens. Blocking an attack the moment is hits will also cancel, and gains a small amount of super and block level, this is known as a Block-Cancel . If an attack is blocked and then an attack is quickly used, it will result in a powerful attack known as a Counter. If three attacks are hit-cancelled, clock-canceled, or countered in succession(and dance off mode is turned on), then the two characters enter a scanning mini-game. The person who performed two or three of the three counters starts off and has the advantage(if neither character does this then they start off even and first player goes first). The characters take turn inputting commands DDR style, starting with 4 commands in 8 beats and moving up by 2 each turn. To win the dance off, you must have 2 more won turns than your opponent. The character with the advantage starts off with a turn already won, so if they mess up they go down to 0, and if the opponent wins their round the advantaged person will not have lost. After having 2 more wins then the opponent, they have one last chance for redemption, if they fail at this then the lose the dance off. Losing a dance off means a combo will be dealt to you and remove 1/3 of your life. Winning a dance off means you deal 1/3 of a health bar, gain a small amount of health ans super, and are put into rhythm bonus combo mode. A typical dance off would be like this: A counter's Bs attack, B then counters the first counter. Both characters walk around a bit without attacking, and the next attack is block-cancelled by A. The dance-off begins and A wins his turn(now 2-0), B has a chance to redeem and does so(2-1), A wins his round(3-1) and B messes up and loses redemption, recieiving 1/3 damage. If both players cannot win then turns twice in a row, the dance off is a draw.
Round Upgrade: A big part of BEUHTBT is the number 3, and a main reason for this is the round system. Each character has a chance to change to a different version of themselves after each round. For instance, if a character x doesnt get to half damage then they get a round upgrade of coming back as a slightly faster version next round. Some character's have move that involve their upgrade, for instance, the zombie character, whose round upgrade is based on damage taken, has a charge move that simply does damage to himself. This way the player can have more control over which version they play as(more damaged zombie character has higher chance of infection.)
Style Characters: Besides the normal playable characters, there are Style Powerups in the game's campaign mode. The powerups are characters whose movesets are based on what they are, for instance the ninja powerup is a ninja, the pirate powerup is a pirate. They are super stylized and typical so they are the true essence of what a “ninja” is , or what “ninja” means as a n adjective. When you beat the a style character in hard campaign mode, the player can choose the defeated character's “style”. This changes your characters outfit and modifies their moveset. They retain their original movements, but they will be sped up or slowed down, made more sloppy or precise, and increase and decrease in power(and may have other effect such as poison, knowckback etc). For instance, the zombie style weakens your character and loosens their balance, but give them infection rolls, or a probability that they will infect you with an attack the slowly drains health. You can also just play as the character(unlockable the first time you beat them in in hard campaign mode). They have round upgrades just like normal characters
Character Profiles
Sai (working name)
Sai is a narrow-stance , tall long character. Almost all attacks have little to no knockback. Has weak balance. All specials have bad lag. Weak direct hit defense. Bad blocked hit defense. Weak air attacks. Playing a round with out using special attacks upgrades you next round. Upgraded version has slightly more powerful attacks, special attacks work better, go farther and his super(hold them with psy, toss a flurry of daggers, and toss backwards) does more damage and is followed by a second flurry). If a small enough amount is used in the second round, the third version plays the third round. He has even more powerful attacks, his specials all work even better, and his super tosses 20 daggers and ends with a powerful sai punch and high knockback.
Up b: psy spear, warms up and shoots a psy spike in angled direction
Over b: psy strangle: warm up, throws arm and spy hand in angled direction, once grabbed, combo rack damage like a grab with more minimum damage
Down b: body is covered in psy, invincible but cant move
Neutral B: loads a dagger into a psy launcher on his arm, charge to minimum level for accurate, inescapable, no knockback, high damage hit. If it isnt chagred all the way, it sucks and is in accurate and dodgeable
Zombie
Zombie is a wide stance medium medium character. His attacks are mainly slashes and bites. His specials become more animalistic with less health. First level of damage has ¼ less health but twice as likely to infect, at half health, poisoned. All A attacks have lowly likelihood of infection, B attack more likely. Infection kills faster when more virus gets in, so the likelihood of not just an infection but how much virus infects which represent the chances of infection. Third level automatically attacks unless you control it, it has bony shards and glass and barb wire, and is 4 times more likely to infect. His health is poisoned and halved from start.
Up b: vomit, warm up, cool down, short distance but aimable, better when healthy very high chance of infection, higher likelihood but shorter distance
Over b: Rage, short dash attack, flailing with 1.5 higher chance of infection, cool down
Down b: deteriorate, stand still, puke slowly and lowers health, high likelood of infection near your head.
B: run, run super fast, flailing, can combo just by holding.
Ninja
Pirate
Cowboy
Indian
Soldier
Vampire
Werewolf
Pothead
Drunk
Crackhead
Dark
Light
Speed, offense, balance etc
General Details
The Fighting Game(FG) is a 2-d fighter that utilizes multiple planes on the y axis to be played on. FG would have health and special power bars. Would be sprites or similarly designed 3d models. Background music and graphics would be synched together, as would character movements. The game would play basically like a 2d fighter with a few additions.
Gameplay mechanics
“Frame-Rhythm” : All attacks would use certain amounts of frames to perform. Timing attacks to match the beat of the background music scores the player rhythm bonus points. Performing complex rhythm attacks will deal extra damage as the combo ends with a special finisher. Different characters have different attack durations depending on body-type, fighting style and special characteristics, meaning players will be using the same basic beat to time attacks, but will be embellishing it on different beats. For instance, a faster character might hit on 32nd beats, making a quick staccato rhythm, and her slower opponent has a pattern of 8th beats, making a steady marching beat. So you end up with crazy synth-soloing drum machine glitch-core techno, plus a pattering snare from a light character and a reluctant bass drum from heavy character. This added to character melody(which will be talked about shortly) makes the game very rhythm-based.
“Lagging” : By pressing a specific button, all moves can be lagged, or stall and charged, to allow for more powerful versions of the attack(Think mario's fireball attack charged to a fire column attack). Alternately, slower, more powerful moves can be performed, and quickly interrupted by a tap of the lag button to perform a faster, weaker version of the attack(think falcon punch turned to falcon jab.). Moves can be lagged to help sync them with the background music. For instance, a player whose moves take 3 frames in a fight with 12 beat-centric background music could lag that attack to be 4 times longer and receive rhythm bonus. The lag button requires use of some of your special bar. However, if the lagged attack is succesful, 1.5 of the amount of special bar you used is regained, meaning if you land lagged attacks in succession, you could theoretically continue a “lagged-moves-only” combo forever(since you would never run out of special bar.
“Character melody” : Besides the background music and character attacks, two other elements are added to the sound. Each character has a certain beat that accompanies them to battle. They are simple repetitive patterns usually on single instruments, for instance a quick punk beat on a small drum set, or a lingering scale on a marimba. When a character performs well in a fight, their melody becomes louder and quiets the opponents melody. The melody allows the player to sync up beats in his head between his move durations and the bg music, as each character's melody is representative of their “frame-rhythm”
“Background Music Manipulation” : Certain in-game events will change the background music. Some characters have slower attacks that can never be comboed at normal speed. Certain difficult moves will momentarily slow the bg music to the same pattern as the characters “frame-rhythm”, giving them a moment to perform a complex combos and rhythm combos they couldn't perform at normal speed. Also, when a character's timing and attacks perform extremely well, the background music speeds up. This way, as the character combo becomes more powerful, the player has to change how he is inputting the commands. As the beat increases he must speed up, and lag out of certain attacks to stay on rhythm. This keeps people from comboing forever, but allows you to get as far as your skill will take you(in a long combo).
“Limbs” : Certain characters can destroy the use of opponents limbs. Severing, breaking, poisoning or some other paralysis can be inflicting on a grabbed arm or leg. The character who has received such an injury will take a secondary defense stance. Losing two limbs puts you in a last resort stance with no defensive options, all you can do is flail. A broken limb will ruin rhythm, balance and luck factors, and a severed limb will do all this plus drain life bar.
“Stance” : Stance is incredibly important in FG, there are several sub-categories related to it.
-Stab, Sweep and Slice: Normal attacks come in three types. Stab attacks are attacks which move forward toward the opponent along the x axis. A straight punch or throw of a dagger is a Stab. A Sweep attack comes across the field on the z axis, out of or into the screen. A slash or hook is an example. A Slice moves along the y axis. An example is axe slicing down or
- Fighting Stance: Every character has a set fighting stance. The stance is comprised of the angle of the shoulders and hips, placement of feet, crouch level, and arm positions. The fighting stance impacts and reflects how attacks work. A “Narrow” stance places both feet in a line pointing at the opponent, with hips and shoulders along that line and neck twisted to face the opponent. An “Angled” stance places feet like opposite corners of a square, the legs, feet, hips and shoulders are all one closer and one farther from the opponent, with the neck hardly turned. A “Wide” stance places both feet on a line along the z axis, and the whole body is lined up this way, the neck is not twisted at all as the character is directly facing the opponent. A “Long” stance places the feet far apart, a “Medium” stance has them moderately spaced, and a “Short” stance has the feet practically touching.
-Lean: One of the control sticks would control how your character is leaning. Leaning in makes it easier to hit a distant opponent but makes you easier to hit. Leaning back can allow you to dodge an attack and possibly counter. Leaning back and then forward throws your momentum and can increase attack power if an attack (like a punch) is timed during this movement.
-Dodge: Each character can dodge on the x,y and z axis, depending on the tilt of the movement joystick, and you can still use the lean joystick while dodging. Different stances allow for better types of dodges: a character with a narrow stance would be very good at dodging stabs and fairly good at dodging sweeps, but bad at dodging slice attacks; a wide stance is good at dodging sweeps and fairly good at dodging slice attacks but bad at dodging stabs(besides very short ones); an angled stance is good at dodging slices and fairly good at dodging stabs, but bad at dodging sweeps
-Balance: Depending on size, stance, and a specific “balance”: trait, different characters are more or less likely to fall over. Narrow stances will be easy to trip with a sweep-kick or punch, or a sweep takedown move, however, they are strong against takedowns which push backwards. Wide stances are very well balanced and can only be taken down with takedown moves which push the character backwards. Angled stances are equally likely to fall after all takedowns. Character can end up on the ground for different reasons. Some moves require that you throw yourself off balance, like a narrow-stance character dodging a stab attack, some moves will induce a fall, like a grappling move that pushes the foe backwards and trips their legs from behind. All falls/trips can be canceled out of by timing a button-push properly, but trips which are induced by attacks require more precise timing to cancel out of.
Blocking: Blocking attacks will keep your character from taking as much damage and will result in no knockback. Depending on your character, you can even block all damage from coming through, though some characters may even receive all damage(but no knockback). Blocks can be held forever without consequence, unless they are receiving attacks, in which case the block level will decrease until eventually they are overcome. The time it takes to break blocks varies for characters, and after it breaks your character can not attack and only move slowly for a few moments before regaining abilities. Block level regenerates overtime.
Counters(and Dance off Mode): Any attacks which hit each other on the same frames will both be canceled out, this is known as a Hit-Cancel and besides the attacks cancelling, nothing happens. Blocking an attack the moment is hits will also cancel, and gains a small amount of super and block level, this is known as a Block-Cancel . If an attack is blocked and then an attack is quickly used, it will result in a powerful attack known as a Counter. If three attacks are hit-cancelled, clock-canceled, or countered in succession(and dance off mode is turned on), then the two characters enter a scanning mini-game. The person who performed two or three of the three counters starts off and has the advantage(if neither character does this then they start off even and first player goes first). The characters take turn inputting commands DDR style, starting with 4 commands in 8 beats and moving up by 2 each turn. To win the dance off, you must have 2 more won turns than your opponent. The character with the advantage starts off with a turn already won, so if they mess up they go down to 0, and if the opponent wins their round the advantaged person will not have lost. After having 2 more wins then the opponent, they have one last chance for redemption, if they fail at this then the lose the dance off. Losing a dance off means a combo will be dealt to you and remove 1/3 of your life. Winning a dance off means you deal 1/3 of a health bar, gain a small amount of health ans super, and are put into rhythm bonus combo mode. A typical dance off would be like this: A counter's Bs attack, B then counters the first counter. Both characters walk around a bit without attacking, and the next attack is block-cancelled by A. The dance-off begins and A wins his turn(now 2-0), B has a chance to redeem and does so(2-1), A wins his round(3-1) and B messes up and loses redemption, recieiving 1/3 damage. If both players cannot win then turns twice in a row, the dance off is a draw.
Round Upgrade: A big part of BEUHTBT is the number 3, and a main reason for this is the round system. Each character has a chance to change to a different version of themselves after each round. For instance, if a character x doesnt get to half damage then they get a round upgrade of coming back as a slightly faster version next round. Some character's have move that involve their upgrade, for instance, the zombie character, whose round upgrade is based on damage taken, has a charge move that simply does damage to himself. This way the player can have more control over which version they play as(more damaged zombie character has higher chance of infection.)
Style Characters: Besides the normal playable characters, there are Style Powerups in the game's campaign mode. The powerups are characters whose movesets are based on what they are, for instance the ninja powerup is a ninja, the pirate powerup is a pirate. They are super stylized and typical so they are the true essence of what a “ninja” is , or what “ninja” means as a n adjective. When you beat the a style character in hard campaign mode, the player can choose the defeated character's “style”. This changes your characters outfit and modifies their moveset. They retain their original movements, but they will be sped up or slowed down, made more sloppy or precise, and increase and decrease in power(and may have other effect such as poison, knowckback etc). For instance, the zombie style weakens your character and loosens their balance, but give them infection rolls, or a probability that they will infect you with an attack the slowly drains health. You can also just play as the character(unlockable the first time you beat them in in hard campaign mode). They have round upgrades just like normal characters
Character Profiles
Sai (working name)
Sai is a narrow-stance , tall long character. Almost all attacks have little to no knockback. Has weak balance. All specials have bad lag. Weak direct hit defense. Bad blocked hit defense. Weak air attacks. Playing a round with out using special attacks upgrades you next round. Upgraded version has slightly more powerful attacks, special attacks work better, go farther and his super(hold them with psy, toss a flurry of daggers, and toss backwards) does more damage and is followed by a second flurry). If a small enough amount is used in the second round, the third version plays the third round. He has even more powerful attacks, his specials all work even better, and his super tosses 20 daggers and ends with a powerful sai punch and high knockback.
Up b: psy spear, warms up and shoots a psy spike in angled direction
Over b: psy strangle: warm up, throws arm and spy hand in angled direction, once grabbed, combo rack damage like a grab with more minimum damage
Down b: body is covered in psy, invincible but cant move
Neutral B: loads a dagger into a psy launcher on his arm, charge to minimum level for accurate, inescapable, no knockback, high damage hit. If it isnt chagred all the way, it sucks and is in accurate and dodgeable
Zombie
Zombie is a wide stance medium medium character. His attacks are mainly slashes and bites. His specials become more animalistic with less health. First level of damage has ¼ less health but twice as likely to infect, at half health, poisoned. All A attacks have lowly likelihood of infection, B attack more likely. Infection kills faster when more virus gets in, so the likelihood of not just an infection but how much virus infects which represent the chances of infection. Third level automatically attacks unless you control it, it has bony shards and glass and barb wire, and is 4 times more likely to infect. His health is poisoned and halved from start.
Up b: vomit, warm up, cool down, short distance but aimable, better when healthy very high chance of infection, higher likelihood but shorter distance
Over b: Rage, short dash attack, flailing with 1.5 higher chance of infection, cool down
Down b: deteriorate, stand still, puke slowly and lowers health, high likelood of infection near your head.
B: run, run super fast, flailing, can combo just by holding.
Ninja
Pirate
Cowboy
Indian
Soldier
Vampire
Werewolf
Pothead
Drunk
Crackhead
Dark
Light
Speed, offense, balance etc
Friday, April 17, 2009
wip
“Zero and One”
There are two gods in the universe
One of light,
One of dark
Between their thrones lie two large bows filled with sand
One all white
One all black
They view the world from high and influence it when they see fit
Tossing the dust toward the planet
The light god sees good deeds and sprinkles white upon the doer
Granting the anointed with fortune
The dark god views evil acts and tosses black upon the committer
And tragedy follows the soiled one
A man holds open a door for an elderly woman and is granted a grain of light
A week later he finds a gold coin in his lawn
A woman lies and sends a stranger to the gallows and a palm full of dark is dumped upon her head
The next day her sister has a miscarriage
When a handful is dug from the bowl of light, the bowl of dark is filled with the same
And a pinch of dark adds a pinch to the light
This manifests itself as the ebb and flow of disaster and peace
The dark god prefers to tip his bowl all at once in one area
Then the light god will deliver a bowlful, grain by grain, to the whole world
When the light god isn't looking, the dark god grants wicked men good fortune
And one occasion the bowls will malfunction, and a black speck may end up in the white bowl
And those who see themselves as wicked but are granted with good luck forget:
There's is a myopic view of morality, the are granted light for things they wouldn't think
When they ask “Why did this happen to me?!” or say “They don't deserve that!”
They do no realize how limited their minds are
Growing on Gaia, an inherently light planet, their morality is biased toward earthly good
And good and evil are not the only things affected
Hot and cold, high and low, all extremes of every spectrum are influenced
The minute winds created by electrons, the moods of animals
But there are things beyond the gods' powers
There are rules that must be followed
“The Rules”
The universe is a collection of data
Or rather, an instance of data, as it was not collected
Data, as we know it, is details, information about matter
When written, it too is matter, bumpy graphite or thin ink or almost invisible dots on a disc
The matter itself is information, the universe, when viewed from afar is a medium on which data is written
The data acts and arranges itself according to rules
Like oil sprayed on top of water, pieces of data are drawn to each other
They pull equally in all directions, resulting in orbs which revolve around larger orbs
On their surfaces, mounds of matter always form
An energy known as heat lives within the data
when crowded, the energy migrates to less populated areas
Certain communities of data emigrate an energy which mutates biological data
There are two gods in the universe
One of light,
One of dark
Between their thrones lie two large bows filled with sand
One all white
One all black
They view the world from high and influence it when they see fit
Tossing the dust toward the planet
The light god sees good deeds and sprinkles white upon the doer
Granting the anointed with fortune
The dark god views evil acts and tosses black upon the committer
And tragedy follows the soiled one
A man holds open a door for an elderly woman and is granted a grain of light
A week later he finds a gold coin in his lawn
A woman lies and sends a stranger to the gallows and a palm full of dark is dumped upon her head
The next day her sister has a miscarriage
When a handful is dug from the bowl of light, the bowl of dark is filled with the same
And a pinch of dark adds a pinch to the light
This manifests itself as the ebb and flow of disaster and peace
The dark god prefers to tip his bowl all at once in one area
Then the light god will deliver a bowlful, grain by grain, to the whole world
When the light god isn't looking, the dark god grants wicked men good fortune
And one occasion the bowls will malfunction, and a black speck may end up in the white bowl
And those who see themselves as wicked but are granted with good luck forget:
There's is a myopic view of morality, the are granted light for things they wouldn't think
When they ask “Why did this happen to me?!” or say “They don't deserve that!”
They do no realize how limited their minds are
Growing on Gaia, an inherently light planet, their morality is biased toward earthly good
And good and evil are not the only things affected
Hot and cold, high and low, all extremes of every spectrum are influenced
The minute winds created by electrons, the moods of animals
But there are things beyond the gods' powers
There are rules that must be followed
“The Rules”
The universe is a collection of data
Or rather, an instance of data, as it was not collected
Data, as we know it, is details, information about matter
When written, it too is matter, bumpy graphite or thin ink or almost invisible dots on a disc
The matter itself is information, the universe, when viewed from afar is a medium on which data is written
The data acts and arranges itself according to rules
Like oil sprayed on top of water, pieces of data are drawn to each other
They pull equally in all directions, resulting in orbs which revolve around larger orbs
On their surfaces, mounds of matter always form
An energy known as heat lives within the data
when crowded, the energy migrates to less populated areas
Certain communities of data emigrate an energy which mutates biological data
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
New Song - Taken By The Sea
Hey, I recorded and wrote a new song. I have been playing around with the riff for some time until my friend wanted me to write the whole thing and play with him last Saturday. So! I recorded it with a little intro of another riff I'm working with. Hope you like it!
I was taken by, by the sea
It's over me
and I don't know, where to go
Or who to see
It's under me
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that new style
And we set sail, from the land
From our hands
and we saw the shore, oh what a bore
oh what a bore
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that crazy style
I was taken by, by the sea
It's over me
and I don't know, where to go
Or who to see
It's over me
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that crazy style
ba ba da ba.
Taken By The Sea - Kelly
I was taken by, by the sea
It's over me
and I don't know, where to go
Or who to see
It's under me
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that new style
And we set sail, from the land
From our hands
and we saw the shore, oh what a bore
oh what a bore
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that crazy style
I was taken by, by the sea
It's over me
and I don't know, where to go
Or who to see
It's over me
and please could you hang with me a while?
We'll take turns learning about that crazy style
ba ba da ba.
Taken By The Sea - Kelly
Monday, March 30, 2009
Bear Arms sing a long
Hey, I just got around to mastering "Hey Baby/ That Ain't My Baby" demo live thing we did a few weeks ago. Sorry for the muffled singing, but eh, whatcha gonna do?
Hey Baby/ That Ain't My Baby - Bear Arms
Hey Baby/ That Ain't My Baby - Bear Arms
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
me an josh are working on something
an idea he had plus watching 28 days later made me decide to make my blog about a zombie apocalypse. like, if Old J was just writing poetry, and then it happened, and he wrote about it. josh read what i have and is gonna write what his perspective of the outbreak is like. i only have 2 entries but ill start more tomorrow, i have a free day.
heres some stuff
their not likely to react
when you're shot upon the track
'cuz their use to sounds of guns
and runners falling to their backs
dogs were the chosen ones
the apes would end up jealous
but the wolves were loyal and loving and just dumb enough to stay content
now they live in house
prowling halls
stalking ankles
eyeing bags
searching for crinkles of plastic and paper
no longer hunting to eat
they bring us the squeakers from their toys,
the way a wolf would bring us a rabbit's heart
"no, you take it, i appreciate it though. ill have one bite"
they have earned their place among the thinking
they have earned the petting and the pampering
those who find pets deplorable can not see the past
we owe it to them, the deserve the life of man
we had the ideas, they had the skills
we conquered the wild, together
and now they claim their stake in the tamed.
heres some stuff
their not likely to react
when you're shot upon the track
'cuz their use to sounds of guns
and runners falling to their backs
dogs were the chosen ones
the apes would end up jealous
but the wolves were loyal and loving and just dumb enough to stay content
now they live in house
prowling halls
stalking ankles
eyeing bags
searching for crinkles of plastic and paper
no longer hunting to eat
they bring us the squeakers from their toys,
the way a wolf would bring us a rabbit's heart
"no, you take it, i appreciate it though. ill have one bite"
they have earned their place among the thinking
they have earned the petting and the pampering
those who find pets deplorable can not see the past
we owe it to them, the deserve the life of man
we had the ideas, they had the skills
we conquered the wild, together
and now they claim their stake in the tamed.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
new stuff
1. SPRINKLER
somewhere
behind the treeline
applause
of one million
but it is so far away
that is sounds
like rain
different people
applauding for
different things
each one of them
sounds
like rain
2. BUG
small brown
paper packet
sugar in the
raw
left out on the
counter in the
kitchen after
dark
using little wings
growing hard
on your back
going and searching for a
nice sweet snack
so you can tell all your friends
where the party is at
and bring 'em for a visit
if they wanna relax
i'm gonna kill 'em with my super attack
put holes in their stomachs with a baseball bat
stomp on their faces like a cigarette
remove them from the skeletons that they tenderly packed
and play with the jello making up their soul
and more
i'll do it clean
i won't even stain the carpet
that's not ice cream
i won't let it stain the carpet
nothing in my brain
ever meant to stain the carpet
3. SNACK
carrying
cereal
kitchen is closed
dark
stairs
lights are low
you're hungry
and you did not sign up for this
balancing act
i need a doctor who can specialize
in a strange condition
i need a girl with sideways eyes
who'll wanna take me fishing
i wanna touch her eyeballs to mine
lids fit
like
lipstick
that
tastes
like
chalk
and i'll see
the bullshit
that spins
her
clock
4. MOTOWN
little bombs of
rhythm explode
in my hungry stomach
and purple
and brown
voices
sadly reply
5. LIPS
keep them dry
to make it seem
to hurt
to smile
but smile
all the time
raw lips in winter
take home no pleasant surprise
and your eyes
didn't help
much
6.
I CAN HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT.
I CAN HAVE,
AT LEAST,
WHAT I CAN HAVE.
IF NOT EVERYTHING,
EVERYTHING I CAN.
somewhere
behind the treeline
applause
of one million
but it is so far away
that is sounds
like rain
different people
applauding for
different things
each one of them
sounds
like rain
2. BUG
small brown
paper packet
sugar in the
raw
left out on the
counter in the
kitchen after
dark
using little wings
growing hard
on your back
going and searching for a
nice sweet snack
so you can tell all your friends
where the party is at
and bring 'em for a visit
if they wanna relax
i'm gonna kill 'em with my super attack
put holes in their stomachs with a baseball bat
stomp on their faces like a cigarette
remove them from the skeletons that they tenderly packed
and play with the jello making up their soul
and more
i'll do it clean
i won't even stain the carpet
that's not ice cream
i won't let it stain the carpet
nothing in my brain
ever meant to stain the carpet
3. SNACK
carrying
cereal
kitchen is closed
dark
stairs
lights are low
you're hungry
and you did not sign up for this
balancing act
i need a doctor who can specialize
in a strange condition
i need a girl with sideways eyes
who'll wanna take me fishing
i wanna touch her eyeballs to mine
lids fit
like
lipstick
that
tastes
like
chalk
and i'll see
the bullshit
that spins
her
clock
4. MOTOWN
little bombs of
rhythm explode
in my hungry stomach
and purple
and brown
voices
sadly reply
5. LIPS
keep them dry
to make it seem
to hurt
to smile
but smile
all the time
raw lips in winter
take home no pleasant surprise
and your eyes
didn't help
much
6.
I CAN HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT.
I CAN HAVE,
AT LEAST,
WHAT I CAN HAVE.
IF NOT EVERYTHING,
EVERYTHING I CAN.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Welcoming Clark to FCP
Welcome Clark! also, be prepared for a casting call, i have like 9 movie ideas floating around and will get an HD camera soon enough(by the end of summer at the latest,)
EDIT: also, i am now "following" this blog, which means im subscribed to it. Its a little link on the right side of the page, we should all subscribe so we know when others have posted.
also...feel free to follow me!
EDIT: also, i am now "following" this blog, which means im subscribed to it. Its a little link on the right side of the page, we should all subscribe so we know when others have posted.
also...feel free to follow me!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
On Turning Ten
By myself
Sitting
Swinging
Thinking
I pump my legs
the swing moves
People walk by
…Not a friend
…Not my friends
…Not my friend
There’s one, there
He’s getting very high
I am not that good
at swinging
But there are other things
Now at home
Sitting
Swinging
Thinking
The swing moves
I pump my legs
People prance by
…A friend
…My friends
…My friend
There's many, here
I want to jump
Too afraid
Some girl jumps
She gets hurt
So I will wait
till the swing slows
Slows more
More still
Stops.
By myself
Sitting
Swinging
Thinking
I pump my legs
the swing moves
People walk by
…Not a friend
…Not my friends
…Not my friend
There’s one, there
He’s getting very high
I am not that good
at swinging
But there are other things
Now at home
Sitting
Swinging
Thinking
The swing moves
I pump my legs
People prance by
…A friend
…My friends
…My friend
There's many, here
I want to jump
Too afraid
Some girl jumps
She gets hurt
So I will wait
till the swing slows
Slows more
More still
Stops.
Airplane Performance @ UCF
I got some of my friends together here and forced them to play with me! Here is 2 minutes of the song (I'll have the whole thing posted later once I get it)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
crick crock
on a nail in the wall
a lonely cricket hangs
keeping time
and counting the seconds
as they pass and i remain awake
each one a second of
precious time
passing in vain
so i grab that cricket
and hold him
looking at the hands
on his face
then i turn him over
and tear out his
tiny
shiny
heart
the chirping ceases
and with no one reminding me
of the time i'm wasting
i sleep
a lonely cricket hangs
keeping time
and counting the seconds
as they pass and i remain awake
each one a second of
precious time
passing in vain
so i grab that cricket
and hold him
looking at the hands
on his face
then i turn him over
and tear out his
tiny
shiny
heart
the chirping ceases
and with no one reminding me
of the time i'm wasting
i sleep
nurse
with your hands
you removed
half-chewed
food
from the mouth
of an old man
with a beard
keep your hands away from me
and out of my mouth
we broke our beds
and disconnected shit
now he's probably dead
and i still feel sick
you removed
half-chewed
food
from the mouth
of an old man
with a beard
keep your hands away from me
and out of my mouth
we broke our beds
and disconnected shit
now he's probably dead
and i still feel sick
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Top songs to listen to while outta your mind high
Last night, I attended a NORML UCF party. Holy. Shit. Biggest party I've ever been to and one of the biggest I'm sure at a back yard. Incredible and I'm excited for the next one. Anyway, back on topic, I got pretty high and was driving back from the party with friends. They wondered what to listen to in the car and picked Pink Floyd. Now, don't get me wrong, Pink Floyd is fine high, but what about today's music? The pot smoking society chooses to listen to 70's classic rock, Bob Marley, or today's reggae music. What gives? Why isn't Death Cab For Cutie good high? Or Sufjan Stevens? Kasabian? The New Pornographers? Or even my beloved Vines?
So I've decided to make a countdown to my favorite music to listen to while "outta your mind" high. I'll upload the songs so you can listen to them and see what I mean.
So I've decided to make a countdown to my favorite music to listen to while "outta your mind" high. I'll upload the songs so you can listen to them and see what I mean.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Timucuan Blood Orgy Soundtrack
I recently watched TBO with people last weekend, I remember a few of you talking about the title/credits song. It is a Vines' B-sides called "Don't Go." The part when the video cuts to buzzards is "Micro Cuts" by Muse. I chose that due to its epic appeal. I chose the Vines song due to its lo-fi feel that I thought matched that video/trip well. I think we can agree that even though these are a couple of my favorite bands that they were good choices. Boo-yah.
The Vines - Don't Go
Muse - Micro Cuts
(Unfortunately for some, Micro Cuts is .m4a so it's only on iTunes you can play it I think. Don't Go is .mp3)
The Vines - Don't Go
Muse - Micro Cuts
(Unfortunately for some, Micro Cuts is .m4a so it's only on iTunes you can play it I think. Don't Go is .mp3)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A note to my fellow bloggers, and a bit of insight of me presently
Hey guys, unlike DJ, anything personal I guess will be on here as well? I'm not going to post about my feelings and nonsense, but more about thing I may be inspired by or things that interest my brain. And maybe, a little venting.
Over the break I made a drum. Yeah I know it's totally lame but it sounds pretty decent when recorded.
Yes for homemade!
I am proud of it because I'm not really all that handy.
Last night I went to a democrats party because of Obama. I had some blue and red jello shots. I felt awkward and out of place, so talked to the president of NORML UCF chapter.
I downloaded a program called VLC media player...I like it because I can make screencaps of my dvds.
Example:
So yeah. Please try to listen to Joseph Arthur if you can get the chance, his greatest song is "In the Sun" and I'm totally obsessed with it.
And if I had a band, and if there weren't already bands in Orlando and Jacksonville with this name, I would name it Pizza Party.
Over the break I made a drum. Yeah I know it's totally lame but it sounds pretty decent when recorded.
Yes for homemade!
I am proud of it because I'm not really all that handy.
Last night I went to a democrats party because of Obama. I had some blue and red jello shots. I felt awkward and out of place, so talked to the president of NORML UCF chapter.
I downloaded a program called VLC media player...I like it because I can make screencaps of my dvds.
Example:
So yeah. Please try to listen to Joseph Arthur if you can get the chance, his greatest song is "In the Sun" and I'm totally obsessed with it.
And if I had a band, and if there weren't already bands in Orlando and Jacksonville with this name, I would name it Pizza Party.
Friday, January 2, 2009
A message to other fun clubbers
Hey guys, just getting something straight.
as far as most of my blogging goes, it'll usually be over at oldj.blogspot.com .
thatll be for personal stuff, drug stuff religion stuff etc
Stuff pertaining to fun club (movie ideas, music) will go here.
okey dokey!
as far as most of my blogging goes, it'll usually be over at oldj.blogspot.com .
thatll be for personal stuff, drug stuff religion stuff etc
Stuff pertaining to fun club (movie ideas, music) will go here.
okey dokey!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
new year's eve
rearrange the room
move the furniture
hear you yelling into the phone
"liar"
i'm on the phone
at night
with my mother
shakey speech maker
stupid risk taker
but i think that girl thought i was cool
and those guys at waffle house too
getting scared is all i've ever known how to do
i didn't kiss her
and i didn't call you
move the furniture
hear you yelling into the phone
"liar"
i'm on the phone
at night
with my mother
shakey speech maker
stupid risk taker
but i think that girl thought i was cool
and those guys at waffle house too
getting scared is all i've ever known how to do
i didn't kiss her
and i didn't call you
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
My Poem for the Solstice
We come together here tonight
To celebrate the new found light
Our sun returns to scorch the sky
And warm the crops from up on high
This merriment was made to last
By ancestors of winter's past
So gather now, let howls unite
To celebrate this solstice night!
shit? maybe, but if you were tripping on DXM and dancing around a fire i doubt youd care.
To celebrate the new found light
Our sun returns to scorch the sky
And warm the crops from up on high
This merriment was made to last
By ancestors of winter's past
So gather now, let howls unite
To celebrate this solstice night!
shit? maybe, but if you were tripping on DXM and dancing around a fire i doubt youd care.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Word is the Only Thing that Matters (or: Taking Advantage of an Open Essay)
In order for the single effect of this essay to be, well...effective, the reader must first assume that all information, ideas, theories and other such nonsense contained within are fact. Indeed, with the same faith and fervor as the misguided, hate-spewing, bible-thumping radical Christian, this is how you must approach this essay. Throughout this course, this year, and dare I say my life, it has become increasingly obvious what the purpose of words is and how important they are to our existence.
In the beginning, there was a big bang. Nothing too big, just big enough to create our entire universe. Vast quantities of matter and energy were expelled in all directions, and due to a force called gravity, some of this matter came together. The hunks of matter grew like rolling snowballs and the lucky ones ended up orbiting around stars. One such hunk was extremely lucky, on it's surface water formed, for the star was neither to hot to vaporize it nor too cold to freeze it. One day something spectacular happened, proteins which were floating in the water were shocked by a bolt of lighting, and the result was a single cell organism. Through a long and strenuous trial and error, the cell began to grow throughout generations, some cells broke off and went on land, and others took to the sky. Soon the organisms were made of much more than one cell, and with the structure of the organisms grew the structure of their societies. And growing with the society grew language.
Language, as it is currently defined, is “A form of communication using words either spoken or symbolized with a writing system, usually structured with grammar.” The different organisms, which were now called animals, went about forming language in different ways. The bird's beaks whistled, and thus they developed “calling”. The insects had many talented legs and thus developed “dancing”. The dogs had long narrow noses and thus developed “scenting.” The primates were not particularly stinky nor well coordinated, and thus chose the route of the bird and developed “speaking”. The first words were short and simple: “Ungh”meant food, “Nunga” meant water and “Eengh” meant danger. But it wasn't long before the primates evolved. Those who could more readily verbalize made more elaborate languages, and their enhanced ability to give and receive commands grew within them a stronger bond which lead to their victory over the other animals on the planet.
Now it goes without saying that soon thereafter the primates(who in this case were humans) learned to record their languages with symbols which represent noises. In this way the word was made immortal, all who spoke it could die but the tablet on which it was scrawled would always remain. The written word was the completion of the semantic circle: the spoken word represented the physical object, and now the physical word represented the spoken word. The word was now captured on a surface, not enslaved but rather gifted with the chance to live forever. No longer was the word subjected to the faulty tongue of the speaker, the harsh, turbulent air of the surroundings, the impaired ear of the messenger nor the bias of the listener. No, now the word was written, free of spin or interpretation, a literal thing representing a single idea. But this wouldn't last for long.
The word suffered many hardships in it's evolution. It was tied to the humans who spoke it, and as they separated from one another so did the way in which words were spoken. Slang, pronunciation, dialects, and even different languages all tore the word apart from itself. Certain words were existent in only some languages, certain sounds in fact. The word was abused by foreigners who tortured it with pidgin and kept healthy only it's gut while letting it's limbs rot and waste away. The word lost many cousins and sometimes brothers when the culture who spoke it died off from famine, disaster or simple stupidity. The word was made to change as the humans liked, and they wielded it as an ever more powerful weapon. The humans forged new words from the womb of the old, hammering and torching in putrid black fires, tossing in dashes of garish green hex, the humans made the Curse word. And the word's trouble did not end there.
The word had been squeezed through every narrow hole and worked for Man when ever he saw fit. But it's worst tribulation would come in a much less upfront way. Just as the humans were powerful beings strung together by culture, the word was made of many powerful beings held tightly by grammar. The art of grammar became a science and the word began to mean more than one thing. “What's the latest dope?” and “What's the latest, dope?” will have two very different reactions for the subject. The written word suffered from this development more so than the spoken, but he was not without snags. Soon the word was used to mean many things, Run was no longer only to move by foot quickly, but to let water flow, to operate, and to move between to places, to name a few. And with the multiple meanings of words came the multiple interpretations of sentences. Messages were no longer clear, and apparent hidden meanings drilled paranoia into the humans. The word was now thought of as a tool to manipulate, deceive, misdirect and flat out lie. Many men took advantage of the word to swindle and weasel their way out of things, and some looked to the words new weaknesses to falsely prove points which otherwise would be left to debate.
But the word was not without hope. Soon man saw the error of his ways, or at least some men. The word was there for the Renaissance, and many words were taken in by loving arms. The word was nurtured by the poet, the novelist, the essayist, all the writers and language scholars of the time saw the important of the word in man's past. And so is the story of the word, a journey throughout time and space partnered with a group of animals who in the word's lifetime change species, color and ideology.
But this is not the end of the story. For a long, long time the word persisted with the humans. The word made up the very essence of their consciousness, for without the word the mind could not think nor formulate nor ponder. The word was the medium through which human ideals, emotions and inventions were created. The human mind could think only in sentences, and the human experience was to be described and recorded through the word. Indeed, the word made up what it meant to be human: to not merely exist in the world, as the flies and the fish, to not merely experience the world, as the monkeys and the dolphins, but to take in the world, to swish it like expensive wine and to be able to tell others of our experience. Human interaction made the animals human, gave them leverage in the animal world and was what led them to the top of the food chain.
However, the story takes another sad turn for the word. In the future, the word is once again in grave danger. It was once the link between two minds, while sometimes inferior for conveying thought in a singular form, when combined with others words it's descriptive possibilities were limitless. It once was the canvas for the man living behind the window to the soul. Once it was the visible representation of invisible meanings, growing symbiotically with those who spoke it through interpretation and stigma. But soon the word would result in it's own down fall.
The word allowed man to achieve great things, he spoke on the poles, he spoke on the moon, he spoke on the red planet. And as he spoke others listened, and collectively the humans became the most advanced animals for many galaxies. Soon man longed for more technology, more reasoning, more understanding, and he knew that the human mind was to vast to match every idea to a word. Instead man chose to discover how to directly link two minds. The process was lengthy and not foolproof, the mapping and recording of the mind was arduous, for every mind worked slightly differently from the others. Soon, however, man had achieved his goal, and two brains could be remotely linked when each user so pleased. The word was still prevalent, but along with it were ideas. Man would speak to another man in a psychic sentence, and all seemed well for the word, until ideas for which no words had be created began to appear. The humans soon found themselves thinking to one another “” and “”, ideas for which no written nor spoken word exists. Man would say “The movie was great, it made me feel [specific feeling], and halfway through I felt [unique subphysical experience].” It wasn't long before man began using these idea-words in place of the words that once represented them, and soon an entire mind-conversation would consists of no words at all. The conversational spoken and written word died out. But this was not the final injustice the word would suffer. Now that the word was not used from human to human, it was used from corporation to the masses. Billboards with the word read “Beauty is a squirt away” and the television announcer still spoke “Today the final cancer has been cured.” The word remained, for man would not allow others inside his head unless he allowed it. This meant the corporations had to rely on an outdated system that few still understood completely. Those gifted in verbal speaking were instantly set for life as a spokesperson or announcer, and those who could write(although these were more common, as some people did not trust mind-linking on the internet.) were doomed to the same sold out fate. Very few felt the word was still useful, and soon those who could not hear the word would listen through the mind of an older man who still could. The invention of the Word-to-Mind allowed those with little word education to hold it up to a speaker or printed word and have the ideas beamed to their brains. The word was still taught in schools, of course, but only as an elective course similar to Latin in the 21st century.
Fringe groups continued to use the written and spoken word, and the artist, though aware of the thought's more adequate ability to convey, regarded the encryption of ideas to words as the point of art. The word would continue to exist as those whose vocals chords remained active became fewer but more adamant, and of course once man gave the monkeys vocal chords the word began a whole new evolution.
But the word felt betrayed. “I made you who you are, I brought you to the top!” cried the word. “I don't want to live amongst the apes, I did that with you when you were still young! I want to continue with you on your journey towards the great truth!”. But man left the word with the apes. “[The great truth will never be reached if we rely on your powers.]” man thought back. “Please, I want to be there when it happens!” the word pleaded. “[Perhaps the apes will bring you with them.]”.
The word was crushed, and accepted that the humans had left it to repeat the cycle over again, a tool of the new humans likely to be tossed aside once they found it no longer necessary.
I love the word, and I love living in the middle of the story I have just told. The word is the meta-everything. It is the intangible line between the physical extrinsic world and the physical intrinsic mind. The word is who we are, the word is all that matters.
This was my final paper for my LIT2020 class. It was an open topic.
In the beginning, there was a big bang. Nothing too big, just big enough to create our entire universe. Vast quantities of matter and energy were expelled in all directions, and due to a force called gravity, some of this matter came together. The hunks of matter grew like rolling snowballs and the lucky ones ended up orbiting around stars. One such hunk was extremely lucky, on it's surface water formed, for the star was neither to hot to vaporize it nor too cold to freeze it. One day something spectacular happened, proteins which were floating in the water were shocked by a bolt of lighting, and the result was a single cell organism. Through a long and strenuous trial and error, the cell began to grow throughout generations, some cells broke off and went on land, and others took to the sky. Soon the organisms were made of much more than one cell, and with the structure of the organisms grew the structure of their societies. And growing with the society grew language.
Language, as it is currently defined, is “A form of communication using words either spoken or symbolized with a writing system, usually structured with grammar.” The different organisms, which were now called animals, went about forming language in different ways. The bird's beaks whistled, and thus they developed “calling”. The insects had many talented legs and thus developed “dancing”. The dogs had long narrow noses and thus developed “scenting.” The primates were not particularly stinky nor well coordinated, and thus chose the route of the bird and developed “speaking”. The first words were short and simple: “Ungh”meant food, “Nunga” meant water and “Eengh” meant danger. But it wasn't long before the primates evolved. Those who could more readily verbalize made more elaborate languages, and their enhanced ability to give and receive commands grew within them a stronger bond which lead to their victory over the other animals on the planet.
Now it goes without saying that soon thereafter the primates(who in this case were humans) learned to record their languages with symbols which represent noises. In this way the word was made immortal, all who spoke it could die but the tablet on which it was scrawled would always remain. The written word was the completion of the semantic circle: the spoken word represented the physical object, and now the physical word represented the spoken word. The word was now captured on a surface, not enslaved but rather gifted with the chance to live forever. No longer was the word subjected to the faulty tongue of the speaker, the harsh, turbulent air of the surroundings, the impaired ear of the messenger nor the bias of the listener. No, now the word was written, free of spin or interpretation, a literal thing representing a single idea. But this wouldn't last for long.
The word suffered many hardships in it's evolution. It was tied to the humans who spoke it, and as they separated from one another so did the way in which words were spoken. Slang, pronunciation, dialects, and even different languages all tore the word apart from itself. Certain words were existent in only some languages, certain sounds in fact. The word was abused by foreigners who tortured it with pidgin and kept healthy only it's gut while letting it's limbs rot and waste away. The word lost many cousins and sometimes brothers when the culture who spoke it died off from famine, disaster or simple stupidity. The word was made to change as the humans liked, and they wielded it as an ever more powerful weapon. The humans forged new words from the womb of the old, hammering and torching in putrid black fires, tossing in dashes of garish green hex, the humans made the Curse word. And the word's trouble did not end there.
The word had been squeezed through every narrow hole and worked for Man when ever he saw fit. But it's worst tribulation would come in a much less upfront way. Just as the humans were powerful beings strung together by culture, the word was made of many powerful beings held tightly by grammar. The art of grammar became a science and the word began to mean more than one thing. “What's the latest dope?” and “What's the latest, dope?” will have two very different reactions for the subject. The written word suffered from this development more so than the spoken, but he was not without snags. Soon the word was used to mean many things, Run was no longer only to move by foot quickly, but to let water flow, to operate, and to move between to places, to name a few. And with the multiple meanings of words came the multiple interpretations of sentences. Messages were no longer clear, and apparent hidden meanings drilled paranoia into the humans. The word was now thought of as a tool to manipulate, deceive, misdirect and flat out lie. Many men took advantage of the word to swindle and weasel their way out of things, and some looked to the words new weaknesses to falsely prove points which otherwise would be left to debate.
But the word was not without hope. Soon man saw the error of his ways, or at least some men. The word was there for the Renaissance, and many words were taken in by loving arms. The word was nurtured by the poet, the novelist, the essayist, all the writers and language scholars of the time saw the important of the word in man's past. And so is the story of the word, a journey throughout time and space partnered with a group of animals who in the word's lifetime change species, color and ideology.
But this is not the end of the story. For a long, long time the word persisted with the humans. The word made up the very essence of their consciousness, for without the word the mind could not think nor formulate nor ponder. The word was the medium through which human ideals, emotions and inventions were created. The human mind could think only in sentences, and the human experience was to be described and recorded through the word. Indeed, the word made up what it meant to be human: to not merely exist in the world, as the flies and the fish, to not merely experience the world, as the monkeys and the dolphins, but to take in the world, to swish it like expensive wine and to be able to tell others of our experience. Human interaction made the animals human, gave them leverage in the animal world and was what led them to the top of the food chain.
However, the story takes another sad turn for the word. In the future, the word is once again in grave danger. It was once the link between two minds, while sometimes inferior for conveying thought in a singular form, when combined with others words it's descriptive possibilities were limitless. It once was the canvas for the man living behind the window to the soul. Once it was the visible representation of invisible meanings, growing symbiotically with those who spoke it through interpretation and stigma. But soon the word would result in it's own down fall.
The word allowed man to achieve great things, he spoke on the poles, he spoke on the moon, he spoke on the red planet. And as he spoke others listened, and collectively the humans became the most advanced animals for many galaxies. Soon man longed for more technology, more reasoning, more understanding, and he knew that the human mind was to vast to match every idea to a word. Instead man chose to discover how to directly link two minds. The process was lengthy and not foolproof, the mapping and recording of the mind was arduous, for every mind worked slightly differently from the others. Soon, however, man had achieved his goal, and two brains could be remotely linked when each user so pleased. The word was still prevalent, but along with it were ideas. Man would speak to another man in a psychic sentence, and all seemed well for the word, until ideas for which no words had be created began to appear. The humans soon found themselves thinking to one another “” and “”, ideas for which no written nor spoken word exists. Man would say “The movie was great, it made me feel [specific feeling], and halfway through I felt [unique subphysical experience].” It wasn't long before man began using these idea-words in place of the words that once represented them, and soon an entire mind-conversation would consists of no words at all. The conversational spoken and written word died out. But this was not the final injustice the word would suffer. Now that the word was not used from human to human, it was used from corporation to the masses. Billboards with the word read “Beauty is a squirt away” and the television announcer still spoke “Today the final cancer has been cured.” The word remained, for man would not allow others inside his head unless he allowed it. This meant the corporations had to rely on an outdated system that few still understood completely. Those gifted in verbal speaking were instantly set for life as a spokesperson or announcer, and those who could write(although these were more common, as some people did not trust mind-linking on the internet.) were doomed to the same sold out fate. Very few felt the word was still useful, and soon those who could not hear the word would listen through the mind of an older man who still could. The invention of the Word-to-Mind allowed those with little word education to hold it up to a speaker or printed word and have the ideas beamed to their brains. The word was still taught in schools, of course, but only as an elective course similar to Latin in the 21st century.
Fringe groups continued to use the written and spoken word, and the artist, though aware of the thought's more adequate ability to convey, regarded the encryption of ideas to words as the point of art. The word would continue to exist as those whose vocals chords remained active became fewer but more adamant, and of course once man gave the monkeys vocal chords the word began a whole new evolution.
But the word felt betrayed. “I made you who you are, I brought you to the top!” cried the word. “I don't want to live amongst the apes, I did that with you when you were still young! I want to continue with you on your journey towards the great truth!”. But man left the word with the apes. “[The great truth will never be reached if we rely on your powers.]” man thought back. “Please, I want to be there when it happens!” the word pleaded. “[Perhaps the apes will bring you with them.]”.
The word was crushed, and accepted that the humans had left it to repeat the cycle over again, a tool of the new humans likely to be tossed aside once they found it no longer necessary.
I love the word, and I love living in the middle of the story I have just told. The word is the meta-everything. It is the intangible line between the physical extrinsic world and the physical intrinsic mind. The word is who we are, the word is all that matters.
This was my final paper for my LIT2020 class. It was an open topic.
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