A Serious Obsession: Dubstep

Everyone has one. No, let me rephrase that. Everyone has at least one. I have a number. Number one, and probably my most crippling, is my addiction to dubstep.

Yep, that's me most of the time. But without the knife.

Now when did this start you my ask? Well I am MORE than happy to tell you the story. :-)

*Cue the dimmed lights; darkened, quiet atmosphere; puffs on pipe thoughtfully and strokes long, gray beard wisely*

My first taste of dubstep was in grade five. We were doing this dance project where we would get into groups, pick a song, (Yes, any song. Of course, no swearing or inappropriate lyrics but hey, WE get to pick our songs! This was awesome.) and choreograph it. Yup, we got to dance to any song with our best friends. School was so great back then. But this isn't the good part.
My group and song isn't important here. The important part is when we presented. A group of boys did a dance (mainly consisting of strutting and hair tossing) to this REALLY WEIRD SONG. It was like, growling and screeching and guitar shredding. It sounded like a wolverine getting thrown into a blender with a bunch of nails. (There are many dubstep memes involving blenders. I highly disagree, but remember, this was my very first encounter with such.)
Anywho. So naturally, my first question was "That's what you call DANCING?"
My second question however was, of course, "What song was THAT?"

So I asked Devon, one of the group's members, what the heck that song was. Here's how it went:

Me: "That was and neat song choice. Uh, WHAT WAS IT?"
Him: *Bang toss* "Bangarang. You know, Skrillex."
Me: *Deer-in-the-headlights* Who's Skrillex?
Him: He's, you know, dubstep.
Me: *Still deer-in-the-headlights* Okay, WHAT'S DUBSTEP?
(Another group member, Lyric, joins in)
Lyric: Really fast guitar playing.
Me: Oh. Cool.
(That awkward moment where everyone's said all they wanna say so we're just all stand in here looking at each other)
Me: 'Kay, thanks, bye.

So I went home that day and promptly forgot about it.

But not for too long!

A month or week or whatever later, my school's annul Valentine's Day Dance was taking place. That means red, white and pink hearts, streamers and balloons in the gym and truly awful music playing.

Now remember, even B.D. (Before Dubstep), I was pretty out there with music selection. While my girlfriends preferred Taylor Swift (where country music goes to die), Bruno Mars ("singing" with a cough drop stuck in your throat), and of course, One Direction (a bunch of British pretty boys no different from The Beatles besides lacking in originality, class, and legend status), I preferred the works of Rush (Freewill, Armour and Sword), Metric (Youth Without Youth, Breathing Underwater) and even a little bit of Nirvana (Lithium, In Bloom).
So, between "Grenade" and "That's What Makes You Beautiful", I'm sure you can guess what song was playing.
No, not Bangarang. If you've ever actually heard that song, you would know its not exactly a school's V-Day dance material. If you haven't heard it, I'm telling you now, its not a school's V-Day dance material. However, you're in the right direction, for it WAS Skrillex.
Here's how this went:

Background Music: "...but you won't do the same!"
Me: "Ugh, thank god THAT'S over."
Background Music: (Interesting beat/rhythm, completely unfamiliar to my intrigued ear)
Me: "Hey Haleigh! What song is this?"
Her: "Cinema!"
Me: "By who?"
Her: "Skrillex!"
Me: *Group dance flashback* "Oh, I think I know Skrillex! like, Bangarang, right?"
Her: "Yeah! He has other songs, too! Me and Aleks requested this one!"
Me: "Cool! Let's listen! :-D"
Background Music: "...I never know what's comiiing, forever fascinaated..."
Me: *Thinks* "Hmm, this is pretty good for a love song! :-P"
Background Music: "You are, a cinema, I could watch you foreeever. Action, thriller, I could watch you foreeever."
Me: *Thinks* "Aw! This is nice! :-)"
Background Music: "My cinema, my cinema..."
Me: *Thinks* "Oh, okay, so this guy is calling his girlfriend a cinema, like a movie theatre, cuz he can watch her forever cuz she's so beautiful! That's so sweet!"
Background Music: *Weird, high-pitched voice* "Get up, get down, loose that sound, my DJ gonna break it down!"
Me: o_o "Haleigh?"
Background Music: *Really deep voice* "DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DROP THE BASS."
Me: "..."
Background Music: "WOW WOW, wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub HERRRP, wee WUB WUB wee WUB WUB wee wee WEE WEE!!!..."
Me: "!"
Me: "WHOA I LOVE THIS! :-D"

AFTERWARDS.
I go home and immediately turn on my Wii. I go on YouTube. I search: "cinema skrillex". I click on the first one I see and hit play.
My ears EXPLODE with wonder!
Its even better without a bunch of kids screaming over top!
I replay it again and again till dinnertime!
So of course, I have to find more.
I search Bangarang and I find its awesome music video that you must watch now. I'll wait.

Isn't that SO COOL?!
Yeah, it is.

I discovered so many good songs, JUST BECAUSE of that dance.
And it doesn't stop there.

Soon after, I introduced my neighbour, Grace (who was seven at the time), to Skrillex. To my great and utter surprise, she loved it! She became as obsessed as me! In fact, SHE is how I discovered this great Skrillex song also Knife Party, who I love for this creeptastic video. She is so cool.

After receiving a Kobo Arc

from my grandparents, I opened up a whole new world of possibilities for expanding my dubstep obsession. I downloaded the Noise FM app, a radio station playing PURE AND ONLY DUBSTEP, a ton of dubstep wallpaper apps, and music apps to house and sort my ever-growing collection.
In short, I LOVE DUBSTEP. While many people (usually teachers, parents and neighbours) despise dubstep with a passion, I, as well as many of my best friends including Mikayla (check out her advice blog here), Rebecca, and of course, Devon and Haleigh, absolutely love dubstep and everything about it. Now for a quick Q&A!

Q: Who's your favourite DJ?
A: Mhm, Skrillex for sure.

Q: Favourite song?
A: -_- Seriously? My favourite song changes practically every day or even hour, but at the moment, it's The Limit by Fonik.
I'll be posting another entry listing the bet dubstep artists and song currently existing. Stay tuned.

Q: Is it true that all dubstep sounds the same/like a broken blender?
A: No, it absolutely doesnt. Depending on the artist it may, but in general, no. Dubstep is noted for being unique.

Look, if you haven't already heard any dubstep, check out the links above or stay tuned for a soon-to-come post about the best dubstep to date. You won't regret it.
And if you do, well, you're probably an irritable adult. And you shouldn't be here. Get out. This blog is for awesome people only!

What Game Are You?

I've always loved video games.

I think my very first encounter with the world of gaming was when I was like six or seven, when my parents and I caught my grandparents playing Sonic The Hedgehog on an old Sega Genesis console.
I had never even known my grandparents owned a video game console, let alone were gamers.
After filling us in on this secret habit of theirs, I found myself immensely intrigued. I wanted to learn how to play.
Without further ado, they sat me down in front of yet another classic game, the one and only, Super Mario Bros. for SNES. (Stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Gee, I feel like such a nerd. ^_^)
I was shown the basic controls, i.e. Running, jumping, sliding, avoiding creatures, collecting coins. Within an hour or so, I was crushing Goombas, tossing around Koopa Troops shells, spotting secret coin hideaways and jumping on the very top of the pole at the end like a natural pro, which, I guess, I was. ;-)
After Mario came Sonic, a speedy blue hedgehog who's job is to free animals transformed into evil creatures by their master, Dr. Robotnik (called Eggman in later games), and ultimately beat the doctor himself. I've beaten Sonic's first game a numbers of times but to this day, Sonic And Tails, his second game starring his pal Tails The Fox, is unbeatable to this day. It has an insane twist at the end... Not that I'm gonna tell you. Go find out for yourself.
Soon after, I was playing on Lan original Atari, joystick and everything! I received a Wii for my eighth or ninth birthday, followed by a pink DSi for christmas. Some time after my mom got an iPad which had many a game downloaded to it, and in sixth grade my grandparents gave me a Kobo Arc, the tablet I'm writing this blog on. It of course provided me with millions of free games to practice on.

Ahem. I'm getting off topic. See how easy it is to branch a ton of other topics off your original?! Ugh. One of my worst habits, along with--
See?! ITS HAPPENING AGAIN! >:-0

ANYWHO, so. What game are you??? 

The way I see it, video games are more or less divided into four main categories, with some overlap.
Number One: Violent war strategy games
Number Two: Brainteasers/Puzzle strategy games
Number Three: Virtual worlds/Fantasy games (usually for PC)
And Number Four: Platform games.


Category One is more or less games where the aim is to kill. You know, those violent boy-games (yes, I KNOW certain girls play those game too, no question there, but the thing is, I've never seen a group of girls in saggy jeans eating baloney sandwiches at the far table, huddling together, discussing battle plans and strategy. Face it, it's a game aimed for dudes.), games that I can only compliment on their extremely graphic artwork.
Well, for starters, I hate all games that involve killing, beating, and gore, which many people I closely know will find very ironic since  have another addiction to horror movies. I just can't find the pleasure in being rewarded with ammo and weapons for dismember zombies with hand grenades or running over civilians with monster trucks (cue the violent-video-game fanboy rants). However, if you're that kind of person who likes researching history's wars for oral projects or prepares themselves for the zombie apocalypse (Hi Rebecca. Yes, I'm talking about you.), then this genre is most definitely for you.

RECOMMENDED (Remember, I HATE these games and have the most basic knowledge on them. These are recommended by a friend of mine into that kinda stuff.): Call Of Duty: Black Ops; Grand Theft Auto 3; Assassin's Creed

I have very little to say about Category Three except for that puzzling strategy games are without a doubt my favourite type of game. The even surpass classic platformers like Sonic and Mario (see below). In short, I love learning and challenges, and what better way is there to exercise your brain than with time limits and brightly coloured shapes? Exactly. For all those logical thinkers like me, and stay away if you get stressed out really easily. These games make you sweat.

RECOMMENDED: Tetris; Bejeweled 2; Plants Vs Zombies

Tetris

Number Three: Virtual worlds and fantasy. I'm currently hooked on this one, ourWorld.com. (If you play, ADD ME! My name is Chrispy; you'll find out why in another post; if you can't find anyone named Chrispy its cuz I change it a lot. I change my ourWorld name so much I've started keeping a list. I'll post it one day.) Anyway, all your really do is usually pick a starter avatar, a name (no duplicates, at least in ourWorld), and enter you email and a picked password to save. In ourWorld you get a house or "condo" as they call it and you get to customize it however you like with furniture from the stores. In every virtual world however, you can buy clothes and hair and accessories to personalize your avatar. There are often rare or Limited Time/Edition items for certain months or holidays. The currency tends to come in two forms, one acquirable by playing games or making friends and the other is harder to acquire. Usually you can get the harder-to-get currency by sharing the game on Facebook, completing surveys from the game's sponsors or, if you are either really desperate or just plain idiotic (usually both!), you can buy the currency with legitimate money. Like, credit cards. (Or an Ultimate Game Card/Google Play gift card, same difference.) I cannot stress how utterly redonkulous this form of money-spending is. Although I'll have to contain my stressing because I plan to rant more about this in my next entry about my serious addiction to ourWorld is. Stay tuned.

RECOMMENDED: The Sims; Club Penguin; ourWorld (ADD ME. >:-|)

ourWorld

Numero Quatre: Platform games. Games where you're trying to get to a goal, usually running and jumping, although I think racing games can fit into here, too. Basically, you're traveling across some landscape or island of some sort to get to your goal while collecting power-ups (usually there are coins to get) while avoiding obstacles and enemies. For everyone, but WARNING: EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE.

RECOMMENDED: Temple Run 2; Sonic The Hedgehog (Duh); Super Mario Bros. (Even more duh)