The Sonny Tuft's one was going to be a stunning defense of the man's work in the hopes of re-igniting his long-lost legacy. That will be postponed indefinitely.
The Dragon Ball Z one would have been a two-topic post. Many people, I've noticed, wonder if Goku could beat up Superman if their universes ever collided. That's a very silly question... of course Goku would whup Superman's lame-ass... and I will even go as far as to prove that Superman is a bad person in this essay. The other topic was going to question why TienShinHan is so unpopular in Japan yet stunningly popular outside of Japan. Tien is one of the most liked characters on Dragon Ball Z, yet only outside of Japan. In Japan he is not a popular character. My essay would explain why he's not popular in Japan. This article will probably be written next month.
This month's topic is Loneliness and Stayin' Home.... and is perfectly suited for our current "Social Distancing" phenomenon currently in our society.
Loneliness
That photo is from 1995's Suikoden 1, which to this day I rank as one of the greatest video games ever made.
It's a short RPG that manages to cram a lot of story into itself. That line comes early in the game, if you take the time to read the headstones in Rockland. That troubled man wanted that as his last will and testament to the earth for posterity. He wanted the world to know that loneliness is akin to a poison that will one day prove fatal.
As a writer on subjects, I would say the art of Writing is in itself a lonely art form. A musical band will preform for many fans who rock-out, and show their boobs to them. A sports star receives the accolades of tens of thousands of screaming fans when he scores or does good. A stand up comic gets to see the smiles and hear the laughter of a club full of people who like their art. A writer? Not so much...
In fact, I regard writing as the most posterity-oriented of the arts. As readers we will still read things written over a hundred years ago from writers who are long-gone. Writing is a sort of encapsulation of the times ... or more so one person's opinion of their time and place in ever-on-going human society.
The writer, while writing, is recording things for the future in many ways. A way to linger on after he or she is long gone. Melancholy angles tend to weave themselves into writing. One of the most well-known writers is Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849 yet is still popular in today's age, called "melancholy" the most suited tone for writing in his "Philosophy of Composition" essay,
"Regarding, then, Beauty as my province, my next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation—and all experience has shown that this tone is one of sadness. Beauty of whatever kind in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones." -Poe, E.A.
He believed it is almost a fact that this form was the most suited form for a writer to use. Personally, this blog which has experimented in many different "tones" of writing over the years tries very hard not to use melancholy as a "tone" ... I don't think writing has to be of that nature.
Even though I go to great lengths to not use this tone it is true that writing as an art form still remains a lonely-based one.
Fame and writing is not of the same nature as fame in other arts, either. If you were to throw a party and invite society's greatest writers to it... like a big bash in some Aspen cabin for the weekend... good luck knowing who they are when they all show up. The writer is not a person who is recognizable to any great degree. Their writing and their writing style is... but not the person themselves.
Another fascinating thing about fame for writers is the reader often thinks the writer bases all his writing on actual experiences they had. That's not true at all. A writer bases his writing on his or her imagination and creative faculties more than anything. A person will think a guy who writes mystery novels must have for sure been a detective in real life or something ... no. A person may think a horror writer like Stephen King must be a depraved crazy person in real life... no, he's not.
It's an imaginative field, a rewarding one, especially in a posterity sense of something being here after you're not.... but it is, as far as fame goes, a lonely field, for sure. Loneliness is relatable to, though.
What do you do when you're alone? Many many many people can't handle it. In times of advanced isolation the brain will start to go crazy. People who have self-tested on isolation on themselves in caves and stuff... notice that the first thing the brain loses is a sense of Time, and at that point, especially if you're in a cave... things like "night" and "day" have absolutely no meaning anymore. The lonely brain can be a hot one.
To some extent loneliness is a skill... or coping with it I should say is a skill... and it is heavily dependent on your brain's ability to imagine other worlds. In that sense, loneliness is actually a benefit to a writer because you are constantly tasked with inventing alternate worlds. The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, and works like this still persist over the years because they created alternate worlds that are rich and interesting to dive into.
Some people are better at loneliness than others. It's sad if a person is unwillingly lonely. That Suikoden quote is right... it is a poison and it can be fatal. In our current society, the elderly are the most prone to unwanted loneliness.
I read an article where in Japan, old ladies with low-incomes will preform petty crimes (like theft of small goods) to get arrested, admit to the crime.... just to go to jail for a few months to be with other old ladies in Japan's old lady jails.
Personally, I think video games are going to be a saving grace to Millennials in their old lonely age. I think that is the first generation where video games acquired mass acceptance and were never scorned as being for lazy people or only for kids. I can picture the loneliest of old Mellenial geezer like 40+ years from now just playing video games in some old folks home...with very little dementia due to constant brain stimulation, just eating Cream of Wheat all day and leveling up to beat the last boss of the game. Totally can see that. I think dementia might be much lower for the elderly people of the future.
I would even think motor functions may be better in elderly people who play video games. It is a constant dopamine stimuli to the noodle these games... and dopamine is needed in old age to keep the body functioning.
A video game is a created world, but unlike in writing or in movies, you actually engage and interact with this world that does not exist. I think there are people who get addicted to them, and that's bad, but I also don't agree with people who knock it as an art form.
If I live to be 75, I bet I will still play Suikoden One every now and then.... but every ten years I play it that Troubled Man's headstone seems to have a deeper meaning each time. When I'm a lonely old troubled man at age 75...I wonder how I will read that headstone... I wonder if I will leave it on the screen longer before clicking it away.... and in a sense, it'll make me happy even though it is a melancholy line... it'll probably make me happy because I can relate to it... and I'd be happy that this Troubled Man felt the same way I do.
Stayin' Home
Stayin' home is the worst, it can be something more bad than lonely...it can be boring. Boring is bad. Lonely people in today's society can still find an abundance of stimulation through various stimulii yet if available stimulus to the lonely soul becomes boring... forget it... your life is gonna suck hard.
You gotta mix it up. The human imagination can turn anything that sucks into anything that's good...
I remember writing one of the first articles in my blog about this...
This Article: https://writingsonsubjects.blogspot.com/2011/05/turning-horribly-mundane-into-something_49.html
That article explored how to make seemingly mundane activities like cooking battles, mini-putt, and other things into larger-than-life extravaganzas. I have the Suikoden quote in there too, but back then I said it was an old Chinese proverb, even ten years ago I think video games were seen as a low-form of art. The Tao part of how nothing would be cool if nothing was ever boring is pretty relevant to today's times, I find.
When this boring session of "social distancing" is over will we take greater knowledge in how cool all this cool stuff we can do in life actually is? Will things be More Awesome after we fully accepted and understood how Boring life can be? Maybe.
If this or any other pandemic ever makes people stay home a while... I really suggest training your brain to be imaginative is the best coping skill available to you. Anything can be Something... a cooking contest can be the most important thing in the world if you convince yourself it is. A book can be more than paper and ink... it can be an entire new plane of existence.
I think it is too late for most elderly people 70+ to learn to enjoy video games, which I believe in many cases can be the most immersive "world" to engage in while just sitting at home. I mean, people under 40 have no stigma on video games as an art or view them as only for kids... and I can't stress enough that I know that this will help them in their old age.
I think that gravestone in Suikoden One is one of the deepest things I've ever read, so I can't say this art form is just for children.... and I don't think other people should either. I truly believe we shall see reduced amounts of dementia and parkinsons (the two most debilitating diseases to the elderly, one mental and one physical) in people who are now under 40 when they become over 70....simply due to their acceptance socially for video games. I 100% believe that.
Video games are loaded with dopamine, and to get it to the brain does not take much hand-eye coordination. Many physically debilitated elderly people cannot do activities that would get them dopamine... yet video games are a click and button push away from it almost at all times.... endless amounts of dopamine are created by the brain when playing video games.
Video games when you take away all the glitz and glam and graphics are mainly puzzle solving activities. We spend much of our free time outside of work, and socializing, solving a myriad of puzzles in varying difficulties. I believe this will stave off the mental debilitating portion of being elderly.
I think Stayin' Home for this short time will not effect the young people very much as they have better coping mechanisms than previous generations in terms of entertainment whilst at home. As for elderly people? Many elderly people are too mentally and physically debilitated to leave their homes or residences every day of every year. It's sad, if you visit an old folks home you may notice some of them are too debilitated to do anything but sit in a chair motionless for hours upon hours at a time.
I think young people will learn to appreciate the freedom they have, many old people, not only old people but disabled people of any kind, do not have the freedom of mobility. The freedom to walk and even basic things like that.
You shouldn't take that stuff for granted, you know?
What else? Watch out for cabin fever too. You can go stir crazy if you are not used to being away from social events. I think more people should learn to write, honestly. All that stir crazy crap that spews around your brain like hot vomit all day can be harnessed and brought out of you... to form powerfully interesting worlds of fiction.
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| Forgotten Man..... |
You can either be a Troubled Man or a Forgotten Man, I guess. The picture to the left is the "Forgotten Man" from the 1989 video game "Mother" or "Earthbound."
Forgotten Man is the most melancholy guy I ever met in a video game's world... he lived in the very mind of the protagonist, a silent protagonist who represented the player in the game's world... thus... I guess, in one sense the Forgotten Man was actually my own compound form of loneliness talking right to me... in a video game.
The following is what the Forgotten Man tells you (in the English translation that is):
- "I am a forgotten man. I'm not really here. You didn't have to notice me.... Please ignore me. I am a man who does not exist. You talk so kindly, I don't know what to do. If I miss people, I cannot live alone anymore. My conversation is always a monologue. I've been alone from the moment I was born... Lucky, unlucky... It makes no difference to me. Sometimes, even breathing becomes too much. Why do you insist on talking to me? Are you a forgotten man, too?"
-Forgotten Man
Conclusion
I wasn't really sure how this one was going to go... I think starting with the Suikoden quote made it very video game centric... but I do believe that in the end video games are good.
My theory that Mellenials, or current people under 40 in general, shall have lower cases of mental and physical debilitation in their future old age due to their acceptance of video games. I think that is true.
Anyone not used to being lonely should look at it as a more of a skill than anything. If you are interested in trying the true lonely person's art form...you should try Writing. Out of all the art forms, Writing is the Lonely, Troubled, Forgotten Person's best venue for expression, I think.
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