go back pls :3

Alterna Logs

This was written as part of 6 personal reading responses (not reviews) for my English class. Contains spoilers!

The Alterna Logs are a series of logs that are unlocked through playing the story mode of Splatoon 3. They detail the history of the game including the twelve thousand years before the first game’s canonical beginning.

Alterna is a product of humanity’s nostalgia. After a devastating mass-extinction flood on Earth, against all odds very few humans survived. They found a safe haven in a vast cavern created by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption. It provided shelter from the decimated world, as well as food in the source of marine life in accumulated seawater. A small group of scientists were appointed as the leaders of this land, the humans believing that “...science would provide a wiser path forward.” These scientists, humanity’s last hope, worked tirelessly to establish an entirely new sustainable ecosystem. Even through this dire event, humanity’s nostalgia shone through in the form of large-scale 3d printed statues reminiscent of the Easter Island Moai statues. Eventually the scientists discover mind-reading crystals in the body of squids. These crystals transposed the collective yearning of the last human population into real life- and accumulated into the Earth’s sky on the ceiling of the cavern. Once again, it is shown how nostalgic humanity is for Earth. I think this text might make the reader think more gratefully or more in-depth about appreciating the planet that we live on and how we should appreciate it more.

The end of the story mode campaign of Splatoon 3 comes with a surprise- that the main villain of the game is Mr Grizz. Mr Grizz runs a business in the game called Grizzco Industries, where workers take golden eggs from Salmonids and return them to Mr Grizz. The campaign explains that he has been using these golden eggs collected by unknowing workers to power a rocket that would transform every being on Earth into a mammal. His plan, though iniquitous (using innocent workers to collect golden eggs, stealing the main source of power of a large city to further fuel his rocket, dehydrating a person to use his brain, and hoping to effectively destroy the entirety of Earth) was fueled by loneliness. Mr Grizz had been one of the very few mammals to survive Earth’s first original apocalypse (the only other known surviving mammals being a cat and his clone) and yet was forced to return to Earth once again due to Earth’s gravitational pull of the rocket he was cryogenically frozen in. The Earth he once again arrived on had been transformed into a personal purgatory- most of the land flooded, and the only places still above water infested with evolved Squids, Octopi, and other sea creatures. No other mammals in sight. While what he was attempting to do was probably as genocidal as one can get in a PG game, it could be almost understandable in what he viewed as a deformed and incredibly unfamiliar Earth that was devoid of everything he previously loved and could identify with.

American Psycho- Bret Easton Ellis

This was written as part of 6 personal reading responses (not reviews) for my English class. Contains mild spoilers!

Bret Easton Ellis constructs a vivid world of a superficial, upper-class life in 1980s America through the lens of the abhorrent character Patrick Bateman.

American Psycho illustrates an extremely vapid, superficial, and consumerist lifestyle. Bateman is always analysing the clothing people wear, the furniture he owns, and the albums he has listened to. It serves no purpose to the plot but shows his incredibly surface-level thinking- and yet in the later parts of the novel he is sickened by this exact viewpoint- “Surface, surface, surface, was all that anyone found meaning in…” Bateman and his entire social circle are obsessed with material possessions, and there is one scene which encapsulates this sense of competition in the group perfectly- the cards scene. Bateman shows off his new business card during dinner but is then outshone by every other member of the group. He feels himself sweating and becoming dizzy, which is shown even clearer in the movie adaptation. He is so envious of his friends’ better possessions than him that he has physical symptoms of it. Everyone in Bateman’s life is constantly striving to own more impressive things than everyone else. Since the book is primarily told in first-person perspective, Bateman’s constant dialogue with himself about the exact suit pieces everyone is wearing, who owns the most expensive company, what new furniture he is getting, and ever more meaningless material possessions, is borderline exhausting to read.

Patrick Bateman has an extremely specific narrator voice throughout the book. He is dreadfully bigoted, spouting slurs and stereotypes constantly. As Bateman descends into madness and becomes more and more deranged, the writing style fluctuates. The point of view changes, there are large paragraphs of seemingly meaningless lists, and sometimes chapters are cut off mid-sentence. It is a unique and captivating way of illustrating his increasingly fervid mind and life. The experience of reading the book is interesting, especially considering how unreliable Bateman is as a narrator. Throughout all of the wild sequences that the novel details, the reader can never be sure whether he is lying or even hallucinating. Despite this, the murder scenes are brutal, disgusting, and grisly. The first assault occurs around one hundred pages into the book, and despite Bateman previously stating that he is an “evil psychopath” it is shockingly gross. After that point, the novel continues in sequences of exhaustingly boring social scenes starkly contrasted by foul murders and assaults which almost make you miss the tedious dinner parties.

Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media- Micheal Parenti (excerpt)

This was written as part of 6 personal reading responses (not reviews) for my English class. I got this excerpt from sad.grl! For reference: https://sadgrl.online/reading/consumer-ideology

This excerpt from Micheal Parenti’s book “Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media” is about the purpose of ads and the intense consumer ideology that has infected the modern world. Even though it is a short read, the excerpt is very passionate yet informative.

Something is sickening about seeing constant meaningless online hauls and blatantly consumeristic posts online. If you go onto social media, it is almost impossible to not be advertised to. This is through the form of paid advertisements, and worse still, unpaid users. There was an epidemic in 2020 of 500-dollar Shein hauls on Tiktok that permeated into the public consciousness, whether you were on the app or not. These mindlessly bloated clothing hauls were made by privileged young adults who had zero need for these enormous amounts of clothing and who could afford to support slow fashion and consume clothing mindfully and sustainably. But instead, they blindly purchased clothing that ended up unused and either in thrift stores or landfill. There was no motivation for these hauls (they weren’t being sponsored) other than the urge to consume ever more products. These consumeristic posts can very easily manipulate the viewer into believing that they need these products too- especially younger people. Micheal Parenti says “The consumer ideology, or consumerism, builds a mass psychology of “moreness” that knows no limit…” which has become even more relevant with the massive rise of social media. It is dangerously manipulative to have these advertisements be so easily and often framed as simply aesthetic videos, rather than what they truly are.

Advertisements are built to be persuasive, and they certainly fit the bill. They market themselves not as media trying to sell you something, but instead as solutions to your problems. The last half of this excerpt lists many examples in a very emotive way. “The reader of advertising copy and the viewer of commercials discover that they are not doing right for baby’s needs or hubby’s or wifey’s desires; that they are failing in their careers because of poor appearance or bad breath…” All of these examples of what the corporate system feeds to us are even more pertinent in today’s world with the rise of online spaces that are rife with advertising. Advertisements are no longer limited to newspapers or television, but now also live inside of apps most people use every day very often. Social media curates itself to be as addictive as possible, therefore meaning the user stays on the app longer, sees more advertisements, and makes more money for the corporations running these apps. The blunt wording of these last passages also makes us think about these issues from another perspective and serves as a healthy reminder to the reader to be critical of the ads that we see in day-to-day life and to be more aware of the unhealthy tactics corporations use to sell you more.

Tomcat Disposables- Will Wood

This was written as part of 6 personal reading responses (not reviews) for my English class.

Tomcat Disposables by Will Wood is a musical love letter to disregarded rodents based on a true story. The song was released as a single and was then put into his album In Case I Make It, with a live rendition of the song in his latest album, In Case I Die.

This song is heart-wrenching and the lyrics make the listener think more empathetically towards rodents. It makes us think about the implications of whether there is right and wrong in nature- “Do I belong in right and wrong? Nature, I guess”- a majority of society deems mice as annoying or disgusting health hazards that infest homes and steal food, but Tomcat Disposables asks us whether this is fair. These innocent animals are simply trying to survive in the harsh environments they are born in- living not as a threat but as a coexisting species. Yet they are almost always killed for trying to survive. This text could change a reader’s perception of rodents (especially in a house environment) because it illustrates more sympathetically what these animals go through day to day and how they dream of comfort, family, and safety.

Eventually, in the narrative of the song, the mouse is poisoned. It contemplates death as much as a mouse can in a very emotional last chorus. Although this song is literally about a mouse that had to be killed in the songwriter’s house, I think the sentiments about death can also be easily translated to human grief and ethics. Death is a natural process, and yet there is constant contention in our society about whether it can be deserved. If you commit a crime horrific enough, should your penalty be death? Should pests be considered more worthy of life than real people if what they do is atrocious enough? There is an interesting parallel between killing pests and killing people- a common way that people rationalise killing others in their mind is viewing them as vermin, no longer as humans but rather as a pest needing to be eradicated. At the very end of the song, the phrase “Nature I guess” is repeated thrice alongside spoken news articles about diseases and finally a mouse trap snapping shut. In the narrative, the “Nature I guess” being repeated throughout the entire song but ending with a repetition could signify the mouse’s final acceptance of the inevitability of death in nature. The song culminates as an almost eulogy to this otherwise unrecognised mouse (as well as others like it- “Goodbye, so long, to mice in homes”) because of the empathy one man had for a creature deemed foul and other by most.

Drag Queen Storytimes - Formal Writing

This was written for a formal writing assessment in my English class. I got an excellence for it :3

Even though Drag Queen Storytimes were started in 2015, they have recently become a topic of much controversy and dispute. On the 19th of March 2023, the Attorney General of New York hosted a Drag Story Hour which attracted over a hundred protestors against the event, as well as police to contain them. There is an extremely out-of-proportion uproar against these storytimes, even though they were created to be a more inclusive and affirming experience of story hours for LGBTQ+ families and children. Religious groups, pro-life activism groups, far-right extremists, political figures, and even neo nazis violently oppose Drag Queen Story Hours, spouting that Drag Queens are grooming and exploiting children when in actuality they are the vastly more dangerous groups to children- in 2021, a report identified 2,458 priests involved in allegations of child sexual abuse just in the U.S. Even though Drag Queen Storytimes are an entirely positive and innocent event for kids and their families, they have turned into false ammunition for conservatives to berate, misrepresent, and vilify the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

Where protests against Drag Queen Story Time are about power and control of knowledge, the story hours themselves are all about education. Drag queens read generic children’s story books to kids about being themselves, being kind to others, and all manner of things. Often these books include educational content about LGBTQ+ communities, or simply just include representation of non-heteronormative characters and families. Jonathan Hamilt, who co-founded the New York chapter of Drag Story Hour as a nonprofit says that the program strives to "capture the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models”.

There are many problems that protestors have fabricated about these completely wholesome events. These people seem to be confused over the difference between Drag shows versus these story hours. Drag shows can often involve explicit, profane, and political material. What protestors seem not to understand is that these types of shows are always advertised as such. There are warnings from either the venue, performers, advertisements, or all that these shows are explicit and not safe for kids. Drag Queen Storytimes, on the other hand, are advertised and presented for children of all ages- Drag shows and Drag Queen Story Hours are completely separate events. Protestors claim that these storytimes- and Drag Queens as a whole- are exploiting or grooming children. One conservative website claims building positive relationships with young people when you are outwardly queer is “straight up” grooming. The same sentiment is not carried when you are outwardly heterosexual. Where drag performers are forming safe spaces for kids to see their family dynamics represented, explore their gender and presentation, and help them to deal with bullies, these protestors see exploitation.

The protests against Drag Queen Story Hours are uncalled for, irresponsible and often violent. There are countless news articles about these protests; new reports surface almost daily. Protestors that are against Drag Queen Story Hours are often arrested for their extreme acts of abuse towards both people simply going to the storytimes as well as counter-protestors. One Drag Queen Story Hour in Ohio ended in chaos due to the presence of many far-right extremist and religious groups, including the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, III Percenters, “White Lives Matter of Ohio,” Blood Tribe (a neo-Nazi movement led by former Marine Chris Pohlhaus, who was armed during the protest), as well as many unaffiliated conservatives. While local police had set up metal barriers before the event preceded, they did nothing to stop the protestors from terrorising and screaming racial and sexual slurs at the people attending (including many children). The far-right extremists at this Ohio event had derogatory signs against people of colour and the LGBTQ+ community, many chanted nazi rhetoric and performed nazi salutes, and yet many others carried weaponry. One protestor even pulled a gun out, pointed it at a group of supporters and tried to shoot it twice but failed. If these protestors were truly carrying out their message of protecting children, they would not be yelling slurs, performing nazi salutes and phrases, holding hateful signs, and firing guns at a children’s event, regardless of whether they thought the event was morally correct or not. These far-right extremists are not concerned with protecting children, despite constantly spouting it as their reasoning.

Drag Queen Story Hours are constantly opposed, protested, and misrepresented by far-right extremists and everyday conservatives alike. Protestors misunderstand what these events are about and spread vitriol towards Drag Queens and, by extent, the LGBTQ+ community as a whole; falsely claiming they are grooming children when, in fact, the storytimes are completely wholesome and educational. The protests against Drag Queen Story Hours are entirely unreasonable and often result in violence in the presence of children, completely undermining the opposers’ supposed message of protecting kids. Despite what protestors claim, Drag Queen Story Hours are great events that support LGBTQ+ families and kids to feel accepted and included.

Garfield Fanfiction

I wrote this originally for my English class but it wasn't the right thing in the end. The teacher said it would be excellence worthy though xD! It is based on the 1989 Halloween Garfield comic- a great read!

The house was colder this morning. Garfield woke up shivering, clutching his blanket tightly. Something felt different about the house. As he stepped out of his bed, paws stepping on cold wooden floors, Garfield’s fur stood on end. The entire house seemed to be drenched in darkness as Garfield walked further, every piece of furniture looming high above him, contorting into strange figures. Garfield called out for Jon and Odie to no reply. He kept exploring the house, usual ambient noises dampened, thick tension hanging in the air. Jon wasn’t sitting in his usual armchair. Odie wasn’t scampering around.
“I’m alone,” thought Garfield.
Even with a pool of dread in his empty stomach, Garfield tried to rationalise with himself. There must be a good reason why the house was empty. Jon must be at the grocery. Garfield padded into the kitchen, pressing paws against the front window. The lawn was wildly overgrown, the concrete path corroded. Garfield blanched as he saw a for sale sign in the front yard. He could feel his spine against his skin as he stepped backward slowly. He looked around at the previously familiar, comforting objects, now items that signalled just how wrong everything was. Garfield picked up a framed photo of his family, Jon hugging him and Odie, happy. The glass was coated in dust.
“My home has been abandoned. No one has lived here for years!” Thought Garfield. He swallowed, feeling more aware of every bone in his body, every tiny noise around him. “But that means… I haven’t lived here for years!” Before he could work himself up any further about his realisation, before he could convince himself it was all a dream, he heard a noise from the kitchen. Garfield dashed toward the room and stood in the doorway. Relief flooded him.
“Jon! Odie! You’re home!” He thought.
“Hello Garfield. Have some food,” said Jon, smiling placidly. Him and Odie sat at the table motionlessly, staring at Garfield. Jon offered the bowl to Garfield, who ran up to him, ecstatic, grabbing the bowl-
Nothing. There was nothing there. Garfield felt like a bucket of freezing water had been dumped onto him. His arms still outstretched, he looked around at the barren kitchen. The chairs had been knocked down, mouldy food sitting on the table. Wind whistled through broken windows, yet none of the usual atmospheric sounds were there. The cold had returned once more, and Garfield was… alone. Entirely alone. He was locked fast within a time where he no longer existed, where nothing he knew existed. The house had the same structural skeleton but none of the people Garfield loved were inside- every single facet of his life he once knew, his family, his warm room, his daily routine- everything was gone. Emotions flooded Garfield as the room spun around him. He feverishly clawed at his face, at the floor, at anything around him, desperately trying to prove to himself it wasn’t real. After years of taking his life for granted, his entire soul shuddered at the horrifying vision of the inevitable process of time. Adrenaline rushed through him with nowhere to go, no one to tell, nobody, nothing.

Animal Cloning

This was an essay for my Biology class. It's kind of really mediocre and the questions were already on the doc so... yeah. Not a very interesting read because if you're interested in this stuff you'll probably know a lot more than this lol!

Question/Purpose
What is animal cloning and why is it an issue?

Introduction
The very first cloning of an animal happened in 1885, but since Hans Driesch cloned a sea urchin, the process of animal cloning has evolved an immense amount. There are many ways the process could evolve and could be implemented into our daily lives with cloning being considered to advance meat and dairy production, bring back extinct species and help endangered ones thrive, and to help with the grief of losing pets. But there are many complicated issues regarding animal cloning and the ethics of cloning in general which cause many discussions and different perspectives on the issue.

Bio concept/What it is
Animal cloning is the process of copying one animal to produce a genetic replica. This is most often seen in producing livestock but can also be for pets, medical uses, as well as endangered and extinct animals. According to Learn.Genetics, the first ever cloned animal (through artificial embryo twinning) was a sea urchin in 1885 by Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch. Then, two salamanders were cloned by Hans Spemann. The first was through artificial embryo twinning- the first time it was done to a vertebrate- and the second demonstrated that the cell nucleus controls embryonic development. There was then a frog cloned which was the first successful nuclear transfer, another frog which was the first successful nuclear transfer from a differentiated cell, and then a rabbit embryo was created by nuclear transfer, which was the first mammal cell to be cloned. After many more years of experiments, the first mammal was created by somatic cell nuclear transfer- a sheep named Dolly. This sheep’s arrival sparked conversations all around the globe about the implications of cloning and stem cell research. Scientists have now successfully cloned cattle, swine, sheep, goats, mice, rats, rabbits, cats, mules, horses, and dogs through Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.

Bioprocesses/How it works
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, most cloning today uses the process of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT)- Dolly being the first animal cloned this specific way. In SCNT for animal cloning, scientists take an immature egg or oocyte from a female animal and remove the nucleus (which contains the genetic material). They then take a somatic cell (cells that make up tissue, skin, blood, bones and internal organs- for example, blood cells) from the animal desired to be cloned and fuse it into the enucleated egg cell. This merge of the egg cell and the somatic cell is then stimulated by an electric shock and, if all goes well, begins to divide, and an embryo will form. The embryo is then implanted in the uterus of a surrogate animal, which carries it to term. The animal born from the surrogate is a genetic clone of the donor animal.

Why it is an issue
Cloning animals has a lot of risks to the health of the animal. According to UC Davis, the majority of losses are due to embryonic death, a failure during the implantation process, or the development of a defective placenta. There are also many adverse side effects that some researchers have observed in cloned animals such as an increase in birth size, premature ageing, problems with the immune system, Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS), as well as a variety of defects in vital organs. There is also an increase in interest in the cloning of household pets, especially dogs. There have been successfully cloned cats and dogs, but aside from health risks for the animal there are a lot of ethical issues with cloning new animals when there are already so many alive that are without homes.

What the people who agree think
Some benefits of animal cloning from the Biotechnology Industry Organization include: farmers being able to reproduce their best livestock in order to produce healthy and safe food; being able to clone very healthy animals which reduces the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and other chemicals; food and dairy products from cloned animals and their offspring will be more healthful, consistent, and safe; and also the fact that cloning can be used to protect endangered species and could eventually provide humans with the means to bring extinct species back. Animal cloning could also be very beneficial to research. The positive of animal cloning for research would be that scientists are able to clone certain organs, tissues, or cells which could facilitate medical or pharmaceutical research. Cloning just certain parts of an animal would mean eliminating the need to place an animal’s life at risk, as well as being a way to stabilise the variables of these parts since they all have the same genetic makeup. The commercial cloning of pets could also be a way of easing people’s grief over losing a pet.

What the people who disagree think
Cloning attempts are unsuccessful a vast majority of the time. For animal cloning, this often means that failed attempts will require extensive veterinarian interventions to provide a measure of comfort to the affected animal. There also seems to be a higher susceptibility to birth defects, impairments, or susceptibility to illness. According to Vittana.org, one of these defects include Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS)- an overgrowth disorder that occurs in regular bovines about 6% of the time. This condition is usually fatal to the calf and can also affect the mother. This condition has occurred in over half of the total cloning attempts in cloned bovines. The possibility of using cloning to either protect endangered species or bring back extinct ones is also contentious. Since cloning means creating exact genetic replicas, cloning endangered species could mean the loss of diversity in these species. Since they would have a lack of genetic variation, these species could be less resilient to different diseases, as well as disrupting natural selection. The issue of cloning pets- aside from the enormous cost, there is debate on whether it should be done at all since there are already so many animals in shelters without homes. According to the ASPCA, approximately 6.3 animals enter U.S. animal shelters each year- of which approximately 920,000 are euthanized.

Your opinion/what do you think
As a whole, I think that animal cloning is a mostly positive thing. There are definitely many complications, as well as the fact that it is only just starting to develop- who knows where animal cloning could be in the future? But overall animal cloning lends itself to scientific research, developing endangered species, and advancing the animal product industry to become safer. The one thing about animal cloning which I do not agree with is the process of cloning household pets.

Your justification - why (based on the evidence you have presented beforehand)
Animal cloning would be beneficial to animal farming as a whole because the meat and dairy products procured from cloned animals’ offspring would be assured to be healthier and safer as a whole. In the same environment of farming, cloning animals would also ensure more healthy animals which means less suffering. Animal cloning is also a great resource for research into animals which reduces animal cruelty. Though developing endangered species from cloning could become a negative thing if there was not enough variety in the cloned animals, if it is done responsibly and carefully it would be an incredible new resource to help endangered species. I do not agree with cloning household pets because there are already so many animals euthanized worldwide every year, as well as a ton of unethical breeding practices of household pets that should be tackled before animal cloning for pets is even considered. I think it is significantly more likely that animal cloning of household pets would be used for aesthetic and irresponsible purposes rather than as a way to cope with the loss of pets.

Recommendation (with reasons, for action in the future to solve or address the issue)
Animal cloning should continue to be developed responsibly. It has definitely not evolved fully and requires a lot more experimentation and research, but once it has become more stable it will be a great new resource to develop animal products, provide safer ways to research animals, and assist endangered animals to become more populated. Before any of this happens, however, there should absolutely be a lot more research done in the field. Animal cloning should not be implemented into the mainstream before there is a higher guarantee that animals are not harmed in the process, especially with the high levels of deformities in cloned animals. Once these issues are sorted, however, animal cloning could significantly improve a lot of facets of the way we tackle animal products, animal research, and endangered species.

Evaluation of sources of information
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/clonezone
The information that is contained in this article is very useful. It provides specific years of milestones for animal cloning which is relevant to my topic. The article does contain accurate information. It was also created by the University of Utah which is a reputable source. I am unsure when the page was last updated, but the latest information included is from 2013. I think that the information needed has no reason to have been updated in recent years as it is recording events that have happened in the past. The information is factual. The source is not biassed as it is only recording past events.
https://archive.bio.org/articles/frequently-asked-questions-about-animal-cloning
The information from this article is very useful. It has a lot of information regarding common questions about cloning. This article contains accurate information. A small amount of information is contested from other sources I’ve seen, but I don’t think that these issues affect my writing or research. It also cites its sources. While I can’t see anywhere saying when the article was published, the sources at the bottom are all from around the 2000s, so this information may be slightly outdated. The information is factual. The article may be slightly biassed towards cloning, as it tended to veer towards only positive points.
https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/legacy/bioorg/docs/files/Cloning_onepager.pdf
The information in this infographic is very useful. This infographic contains accurate information. It has factual information which is written very clearly. It cites the FDA throughout. This infographic was published in September 2010, so it may be slightly outdated. The information in this infographic is factual. The information may be slightly biassed because it only lists benefits to cloning but no negatives. It still has a lot of accurate information which is useful to know and learn.

Summary/ending
There are many advantages and disadvantages to animal cloning which can show us a lot about both science and human nature. There are many possibilities as to where animal cloning could go in the future- with careful study and implementation, animal cloning could eventually be an essential part of our lives in many different facets.

The Macbattle of the Bands

This was an outline for my group's performance in drama class in school. The task was to create a modern rewrite of Macbeth and so we created this. Maybe I'll link the performance... p.s. the formatting gets worse over time lol

Macbeth, Banquo, and others are in a band. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s girlfriend who kinda manages and wishes she could be in the band but Macbeth is a misogynist.

After Macbeth and Banquo have been stapling posters up at night for their band, they come across a rogue pack of furries. The furries are having a break from the convention and relaxing outside in the cool air. Macbeth and Banquo end up chatting to the furries and having a nice conversation. The furries have a magic 8 ball, and Macbeth, a bit worried about the battle of the bands, asks them the results. The magic 8 ball says that their band will definitely win, and that Macbeth will be famous beyond even Will Wood, and Passenger, the lead music producer, will notice him. Banquo asks about his kid’s band (they’re young teenagers) and the 8 ball says that their band will also be super famous and also surpass Will Wood… Macbeth isn’t happy. Macbeth sends a text to Lady Macbeth saying he’s on his way home.

Lady Macbeth (Lady (her parents really wanted a dog but instead had a child and so they gave her a dog name)) reads the text and learns of what was prophesied about by the furry. She talks to herself a bit about how useless Macbeth is and how she wishes she could be in the Macband. Soon, Macbeth comes home and Lady tells him that he needs to rig the Macbattle of the bands ballot. Macbeth wonders about the ethics of this and tells her that he’s going to win no matter what and they don’t need to cheat. Lady reminds him of the previous 2 years that he and his band had lost to Will Wood. Macbeth tells her to cook dinner but Lady gets a text message saying that there will be a small, casual dinner with some other participants of the Macbattle of the bands at a bar. Lady tells Macbeth to just act normally about the cheating and let her do the talking otherwise he’d give them up. Macbeth tells her that he hasn’t said anything yet and hasn’t said he’ll cheat and then goes to get ready for the dinner.

Later on in the dinner, Macbeth excuses himself to go outside/go to the bathroom. He talks to himself about the pros and cons of cheating and the legacy that he would leave behind, the grand prize, possibly being noticed by Passenger… Lady Macbeth comes to check on him and he discusses it with her as well. Macbeth seems to want to chicken out and Lady doubts his manhood. Macbeth is extremely insulted (he’s not a weak female) and decides he will do it, but they should frame some of the other contestants (maybe give them voting ballots in their pockets or something?) and since they will be so drunk from the afterparty (after the Macbattle of the bands) it will be easy.

The big day/night. The Macbattle of the bands. Macbeth performs averagely, his band is fine. Will Wood obviously has the best show, but there are some other really good performances too (including Glass Animals, Chloe Moriondo, Ed Sheeran, MCR, Lemon Demon, etc. (it’s a very varied Macbattle of the Bands). After the Macbattle, drinks are provided by the service and there is a fun afterparty for all of the contestants. The ballot box is at the front of the venue for all of the viewers to vote in as they leave- Lady and Macbeth sneak over when everyone is very drunk and rig it very extremely. They give some of the contestants (maybe people close to Passenger?) voting slips and pens and other incriminating items.

Back at Lady’s house, Macbeth and Lady discuss what they have done. Macbeth feels extremely guilty but Lady tells him it’s fine. Macbeth monologues on his feelings and imagines what Passenger would think if he knew (no imaginary friend- yet).

Banquo is watching his kid (young teen?) perform with his band in their garage. While they play, he monologues about how the furry’s prophecy for Macbeth came true with him winning the Macbattle of the bands. He then wonders if his son’s band’s prophecy will come true- they didn’t win this Macbattle but there is a rematch happening soon. He talks to Fleance and his friends and tells them to practise for the Macbattle rematch, and congratulates them on their epic performance.

Macbeth’s imaginary friend Passenger is chatting to Macbeth about the other members of the band (there is no actual ghost at this point- it’s just Macbeth pretending). He suggests that Macbeth should become a solo singer-songwriter (like himself), and that the other band members are no good and are only dragging him down. Macbeth agrees with his imaginary friend Passenger and suddenly he gets a call from Banquo. Banquo tells Macbeth that he’s going out for a quick bike ride for fun but he would be back for the celebratory dinner. After this, they hang up. Macbeth decides to text Banquo, breaking the news and tells him that he can’t be part of the band anymore (and that he can’t come to the celebratory dinner)- and neither can Macduff and the other members. He then blocks Banquo because he’s scared of his response. Macbeth talks about his guilt but must get ready for the dinner.

At the dinner (a small diner), Macbeth and Lady sit together. Turns out without the other members of the band there’s not much of a dinner party. Lady tells him her grand schemes about international singer songwriter fame, being produced by hit musician Passenger, and congratulates him about kicking out the other members. She tries to start suggesting she join the band instead of just being a manager, but suddenly Macbeth sees his imaginary friend Passenger (the first time we actually see him as a physical being). Passenger tells Macbeth that he is a terrible person and that he shouldn’t have kicked out Banquo and the others (Macbeth points out that it was Passenger’s idea and then Passenger points out that he is Macbeth’s guilty conscience). Lady Macbeth is extremely confused and asks who Macbeth is talking to- Macbeth continues being haunted by Passenger (perhaps a Banquo imaginary friend comes in?) until Lady tells him he’s acting crazy and that she would wait in the car.

The fortune telling furry sits with the 8ball and ponders. Soon, another furry from a nearby con comes to tell that the magical rabbit is doing very well and to continue with the 8ball stuff. The other furry leaves. The magical rabbit hears Macbeth coming. Macbeth asks the furry what it does, and it tells him that it is beyond his comprehension. Macbeth asks if he can ask something else again, and the furry obliges. The furry first asks whether he wants to hear more info from him, or from his furry friends who have been fortune telling for longer. Macbeth says to call the friends, and the furry facetimes them. The first furry friend answers and the rabbit tells Macbeth to shut up. The first friend tells Macbeth to beware of Macduff, or his stage name- Gerard Way. He hangs up. The second friend picks up and tells Macbeth that no one from actual law enforcement will arrest him for his crimes. Macbeth scoffs because that can’t happen and then he threatens the furry to tell him more otherwise he would beat it up. The furry sighs and then Macbeth’s imaginary friend Passenger comes and walks around a bit. Then Banquo, as an imaginary friend, comes and walks around a bit too. Macbeth is super confused and monologues a bit. The furry tells him bye and then leaves. Macbeth is still super confused, but soon Lucy from Rock Band comes along and spots Macbeth. Macbeth asks if Lucy saw the furry or Banquo’s “ghost

He sends murderer rappers to Macduff’s house but he’s already run away hehe and then macbeths murderer rappers make a diss track on his whole band who is left in Gerard’s house which makes them leave the country in fear.

Lady macbeth going crazy. She is on call on discord with two friends. One of them talks about how in their private calls she has been sleep talking and sleep walking and sleep texting but the other one doesn’t believe them. They are in different time zones so she’s sleeping but suddenly she does start sleep texting the server. She seems awake but not properly. She starts rambling about Macbeth and how similar the voting box looked to her father and etc. more guilt about it (maybe she has an aspirational singer like passenger who she thinks about?) The discord friends are like “damn that’s weird!” “wow is she saying she rigged that battle of the bands? It's pretty big”. Then they leave the call because its too weird for them. She runs away

Gerard way/macduff makes a cancelation/drama video on Macbeth and outs him for rigging the battle of the bands vote. Macbeth sees it and is like oh my god my life is over! And then they drag him away and say we’re the music police you’re going to music jail!

AI Art - Formal Writing

I wrote this for English class as a practise formal writing (see the final one under Drag Queen Storytimes).

A.I. art is a fairly new development and is evolving every day. While it is an exciting new creation with many opportunities, does that warrant all of the negative possibilities it holds? A.I. art is already threatening to overtake several creative jobs, abusing copyright, and making people devalue real creators’ work. Some may say that continuing to develop A.I. art generators is worth the risk it poses to art as a medium, but with artists as a whole being continually underappreciated, A.I. may be the biggest detriment to the community and career yet.

There has already been a class-action lawsuit against A.I. art generators for stealing artists’ work. A.I. art indexes art posted online to produce different styles- essentially stealing from real artists to create cheap copies and profit off of their work. This is extremely harmful because almost none of the art indexed was consensually used, the artists are not compensated in any way, not even credit, and in some cases, the usage of this art infringes copyright. A lawsuit against A.I. imagery generators Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and Dreamup was filed by Kelly McKernan, Sarah Anderson, and Karla Ortiz, all of whom had their (copyrighted) art stolen and implemented into the generator’s data. Other lawsuits have occurred based on these generators, one of which being Getty Images’ photography being used in an immense amount. While it is great that these lawsuits have happened, what about the immense amount of smaller artists whose work has been stolen? They have far fewer resources to do anything about it, and once they are aware of the problem, the databases have already rendered countless images using their art with no compensation, consent, or credit. One of the biggest art-sharing platforms, DeviantArt, has created its own A.I. generator called Dreamup (one of the sites under fire from Kelly McKernan and others). They had decided that anyone who uploads their art onto the site had it automatically sent to Dreamup to use in its database. To opt out of the program, users were required to send a request, which had to be manually approved. This program was only changed once Deviantart was put under immense pressure from artists vehemently opposing it. This occurrence demonstrates how little companies care about real people’s art, and the fact that they changed it only because of the negative response is incredibly insincere and deceitful.

The big question about A.I. art is whether it counts as “real art”. Visual art is an incredibly diverse field with many different mediums and creators. But A.I. art contains none of the nuances of the art that people make. Art can be an escape from reality, a coping mechanism, a display of skills, and much more; but no matter what, it is a form of expression. Art is a culmination of a person’s talent, skills, and personal preferences- no two pieces would ever be exact copies of each other because no two people creating art are the exact same. You cannot completely describe one piece of art in words because there are hundreds of steps taken into account. Even if you described the exact coordinates of every minute brushstroke, each hex code of each colour in the piece, it would never replicate the finished product. You would lack the emotion, the subtleties, and the mistakes that were covered in the creative process. But A.I. art, on a base level, is formed using only words. The most emotional capacity you could have is describing it- there is no inherent feeling or passion behind the work. While human art does not have to be grand or have any implicit meaning, A.I. art could never have the same feelings.

If robots started taking athletes’ jobs, there would be outrage from almost everyone. Yet when the same thing happens to artists, there is debate, uncertainty, and ignorance. One specific job that is at a big risk with the rise of A.I. art is concept artists. Since concept art is mainly about coming up with many ideas with a wide range of styles, A.I. art might lend itself well to the job. You would be able to input keywords that you want for your project easily, and the results might be done in mere seconds. As A.I. art generators develop even further, there is even more risk of robots taking over real people’s jobs. While there may be benefits to this happening, including more efficiency and fewer costs, there are also many negatives such as fewer jobs for real artists (as well as artists being replaced or fired in favour of A.I.), and less creativity and variability in characters, environments, and style.

A.I. art generators, however innovative, are harmful to real artists. It doesn’t mean that they cannot coexist or improve the production of art, but they should be used responsibly and developed carefully. There needs to be more moderation of the artwork that is input into their systems (both copyrighted work and work from smaller artists), more focus on real artists’ work, and careful consideration of whether it is a good idea to let A.I. overtake people’s jobs. If people continue to use these programs they will evolve further, but the creators of these generators need to moderate the development carefully and value real artists’ work.