Greetings.
Hello and welcome to my home, and/or the portion of my brain I refuse to share with people in the real world, in favour of strangers on the internet. This is a personal site in which you'll find thoughts, creations, and miscellaneous ramblings. You could say I use this website to keep my mind in order (funny, considering I've almost deleted the site more than once before eventually being talked out of it) as well as updating periodically and experimenting with different things in order to keep myself up to date with HTML and CSS, at the risk of me forgetting how to do literally anything online. Stay a while, if you want. Or don't. Whatever. Your choice.
Navigation
I'd've thought the site navigation was pretty self-explanatory, but since I have actually been asked once or twice, I might as well clear it up. So! Here's the navigation guide to the site;
Home - Congrats. You're here. You can get back here by clicking the... huge blue banner at the top. Hope that's a good enough explanation for you.
Blog - Full of my weird little thoughts, feelings, and various ramblings about whatever topic I do so choose to talk about. Not made to cater to anyone other than me. Might be very, very, boring. You've been warned.
F.A.Q. - You know, I could have easily put this section on that page, really. But then I suppose if you're struggling to navigate the website somehow you probably wouldn't be able to find the navigation guide if it weren't on the homepage. This is going to turn into a tangent. I'm stopping now. ANYWAY, this page is just what it says on the tin - Frequently Asked Questions. Running a website gets tiring when you're asked the same five questions in about as many minutes every day.
NetScraps - A collection of things I've found on my travels around the internet. Functions like a scrapbook. Some of it is stuff I might use on this website one day, some of it's just stuff I like and think it would be nice to share.
Media Diary - An ongoing diary of every single piece of media I consume for the first time. Has been running since a few months after I started the site (that's a long time). Updated whenever I consume some content. Contains opinions that may be controversial, petty, or just downright wrong.
Photographs & Art - Literally just that. I draw sometimes. I take photos sometimes. I post them into this section of the site for people to look at, and sometimes maybe write a little comment about them too.
D̛͠òo҉̕r̶ - I won't tell you where to find this one, or what it is. You'll have to find it yourself.
Who Am I?
My name is Darker. Well, actually, no it isn't, not legally, but it's what I respond to and what you're to call me. I am
a gender and
an adult and I live in
a country and that's all you get to know about my human specifics bar the vast majority of quite personal thoughts and opinions I talk about on this site so don't even bother asking. I'm also a self-proclaimed Bit Of An Asshole which I'm not going to change any time soon, but at least I'm self aware.
I sometimes like to draw art of myself where I look like this. ---------->
I obviously don't actually look like that at all, I'm... a human, but I'm way too paranoid of someone figuring out my identity to draw it how I actually look, and anyway, the idea of this little guy representing me makes me happy, if no-one else. If you see them around the site, you know it's meant to be me. I don't claim to be an artist, but I draw occasionally, even if it's not very good, and I like to take photos too.
Speaking of likes and dislikes, I'm really into metal, rock, and punk music, exploration, adventure, and puzzle games, and anything horror/thriller as an entire genre - more about all that in the next section down, though. A few of my friends like to insist I'm emo, and I promise I'm not, but they just won't listen. If you see them commenting that anywhere, do tell them to shut up. You have my personal permission and I'll back you up if they argue. I don't even like most emo music. I don't like pop, either, most of the time. Or FPS games. Or the vast majority of comedies. Or... well, much, really. Like I said. Bit Of An Asshole. No, I'm not very fun at parties, why do you ask?
My Favourite... Things
People still list their favourite stuff on their sites, right? Right. I'm sure they do. Even if they don't, it's my website and I want to talk about the stuff I like. SO. Here we go! Some of my favourite stuff. Including by not limited to;
Bands
System of A Down - Apparently, this is a bit of a controversial one, but you know what? I don't care. I love SOAD and if you don't like that, you can... like, get off my page or something, I don't know. Yes they sing weird things. No I don't care. No I don't want to hear your opinion on them if it isn't positive. Go away.
Rammstein - Before you ask, no, I DON'T speak a word of German! Well, other than, like, 'Hallo' or 'Bitte' but, I mean, come on, everyone knows that much. You don't really need to know a language to like the music though, right? It's insanely good music whether you understand the lyrics or not. Anyways, if you ever want to know what they're saying, there's always Google (or Yahoo, or Ask Jeeves, or whatever engine you prefer). They're super theatrical and just... epic.
Evanescence - Shut up shut up shut UP they're GOOD and they're NOT EMO there's just so much passion put into their music and it's so dramatic which I love and the music videos are kind of nuts which I love just as much. Basically I just love them, and I don't want to hear ANYONE calling me emo for it, okay?
My Chemical Romance - THIS ONE'S NOT EMO EITHER God I LOVE these guys. I don't even have a way to describe my feelings about MCR, I just love love love them. So much. Everything about all of their music just hits in the exact way it should and I genuinely can't get enough of it. I've joked before that Gerard Way actually invented music as it is, and, whilst I know that's obviously not true, MCR has CLEARLY influenced a lot of the genre. Really, really love them.
Fall Out Boy - Big and loud and FUN. There's a lot of theatrics in their music which leads to them playing with the genre in some really nice ways and it's weird because their music is definitely formulaic, but somehow manages to be fresh and new every time despite that. They've only been around a few years but they're still one of my favourite <3
Movies
SAW - I love a good bit of gore. Yes, maybe that makes me a weirdo, but I don't care. I'm owning it. I like the whole franchise, but especially the first. It's so dingy and vindictive (yes, I'm listing those as good things) and there's something just so fresh about it, ironically enough. Also, let's be real, the ending twist always gets me, even though I know it's coming.
The Blair Witch Project - Genuinely one of the most frightening movies I've ever watched Especially since I snuck into the cinema to watch it because I was too young at the time. It just feels so real in the way it's presented to the audience, and the fact that it was all marketed as being real (though obviously I know now that that isn't true) really, really got to me back in the day, and in a way I miss getting that kind of feeling from a horror movie.
Donnie Darko - Honestly, do I even need to explain this one? It's just... an amazing piece of cinema. I feel like that's all there is to say about it, really. There's not much else I can say that's not already been said by someone a million times smarter than me. It's trippy and utterly unique and the ending sits with you for ages. I love it so, so much.
Anything J-Horror - Yes, the whole genre. Every single J-Horror movie I've ever watched has ranked among the scariest movies I've ever seen. Japanese folks just... know how to do horror. They get it. Their horror is a lot less 'big macho man with a scary mask and a blunt-force-trauma-inflicting object is coming to get you' and a lot more about how to make someone or something scary when really, you wouldn't expect it to be. Y'know, like little girls in long white dresses. Not generally horrifying. That fear comes from the unexpected, and that because it's not the normal sort of scary, you don't know what's going to happen next and that tension bleeds into fear so easily. LOVE it.
Games
Project Zero - Also known as Fatal Frame, or as just Zero, if you happen to live in Japan. I loooooove these games. They're scary in the exact way I explained above. J-horror just really hits the spot. They're not entirely unforgiving, but they're not easy, either, which I really appreciate in a series. It's not fun if there's no challenge. Spooky and intriguing and fun. Love it <3
Silent Hill - There's a very lonely type of fear to this franchise, and it's something you don't see very often in horror games. Amidst countless games with big loud monsters that chase you in droves, even the things you're supposed to run away from have this feeling of sort of hollow emptiness to them here. It's intriguing and I loooove the tone it presents. It's so unique and it makes you uncomfortable in a much different way from a lot of the horror content you'll find on the market. It's also not afraid to experiment with different ideas and tones within itself and I always love to see that. <33
The Legend of Zelda - I don't think I really need to expand upon this one. Everyone and their mother loves TLOZ, right? Right. It's one of the biggest game franchises of all time. Just, like, go read an article about it or something. It's good and the plots are interesting and the gameplay is fun. Follows a little guy wearing green trying to do his best to keep peace in his kingdom and everything seems to be out to stop that. I don't have the brain capacity to explain it much further than that. Just play it.
Resident Evil - Fast-paced, tense, jumpy horror is always so fun. This is one of the few games that I don't mind playing despite the FPS mechanics (which I usually hate) because it's worth it for the plots and the overall immersion into the world being portrayed. So far none of the instalments have dissapointed and I hope none of them ever do. I'm literally living my life waiting for the next one, so they'd better not.
Sonic the Hedgehog - Shut UPPPPP. I can imagine exactly what you're saying about this one. I've heard every furry joke under the sun. I know more about "Chris-Chan" than a human ever should. The thing is, though, they're good games. They're fun and I don't care how bad some of the voice acting is in the newer ones, or that some of the fandom are probably clinically insane, or blah, blah, blah I don't CARE. They're FUN. SHUT UP about it already, alright?
Other... Stuff... That I Like
A Series of Unfortunate Events - the books THE BOOKS THE BOOKS!!! The movie is frankly an insult to the books, the author, the fans, and every single person who's ever watched it. Understood?
Anyway. The first book has been out for nearly a decade by now (god, already?!) with the last one only coming out last year, and I've been into them since the start. Everything about them is so easy to get hooked on, and they take pride of place on my bookshelf. I could (and frequently do) gush about them for hours, but... that'd be spoilers. ;)
Anything Terry Pratchett - If you've never heard of him, he's an author. You've probably at least seen one of his books before. He writes dark fantasy (which has a lot more comedy in it than it sounds like it would) and I love everything he writes. His writing style is so good, his sense of humour and comedic timing is impeccable, and all of his books are filled with this massive sense of imagination. Where else are you going to find Scottish Smurfs, Death cosplaying as Santa, and telepathic rat kings? Nowhere else. That's where. I rest my case.
Anything with Jack Black in it - I'm not kidding. Literally anything. I'd say 'Even the bad stuff' but if it's got Jack Black in it then it's not bad. The man's a comedy genius and I'm always up to see or listen to or... otherwise experience anything that has him in it. I'm not even entirely sure what it is about him. He's just got this great energy that you can tell rubbed off on the rest of the cast as well as usually the script. You can convince me to watch just about anything if you tell me he's starring in it, no matter how obscure, or weird, or plain just bad it might sound, because, as I said, he can save an entire production. <3
Playing Guitar (badly) - I'm not actually any good at it, but I've have a guitar since I was, like, twelve, I think? Something like that. I've never actually had lessons but you can find tutorials online and stuff whenever you want to (thank god for the modern internet) so there's a couple songs I'm not bad at. I wouldn't want to, like, be on stage or anything though. That would be a bad time for literally everybody involved.
Art & Photography - I've already mentioned this one, I guess, but whatever. I've got a Fujifilm FinePix 2650 that I take most of my photos with (had an older one that my dad gave me before that, but those photos are not whole-internet-can-see-them worthy) and I just draw in, like, MS Paint, with a mouse. Lots of line and shape tool utilisation. You feel me.
In Conclusion
I don't actually know what to put here. The page just felt like it ended too bluntly if I left it after the Stuff-I-Like list. Uh, hope you... enjoyed reading all that? Maybe? I'm not entirely sure why you'd be that invested in reading all of it. You might have even just scrolled to the bottom of the page to see what's there. If so, hi. Welcome to the bottom of the page. Is my webpage not good enough for you?
As I said, feel free to explore if you wish, or don't, it's up to you. If you still have questions please go and check the F.A.Q. but other than that, I'm not going to give you instructions on how to snoop around. I'm sure you're already very well versed in that.
Well... Bye!
© A Darker Place 2003 -