The 25 Days of Blogging. It’s like ABC’s Family 25 Days of Christmas, but 25% more vulgar and offensive like your drunk ass Uncle during your family reunions.
Jack of all trades yet a master of none. An all-arounder. but he is never staying with just one thing. Skilled and involved in many trades and he has complete dominance in neither nor. He wears many hats but you can’t pinpoint his trademark head wear.
We might know this guy. He bounces form one project to another. One day, he’s working on a blog. The next, a podcast. Next week he opens a successful online drop shipping business. The following month he’s flipping old clothes online for profit. Next year he is running an anime YouTube channel. He’s all over the place. You can’t pin him down – and not in a good way.
After a while (may it be from burnout or multiple projects failing), he starts to slow down. He backs off from YouTube and podcasting for the written word: blogging. He ends his drop shipping business and focus on flipping clothes. He has realized that sticking to one thing and direct complete focus onto a single field is the best choice.
Since he stop podcasting, he saw an mass increase in his blog traffic. Ending his drop shipping business means he can focus on his clothing flipping business; netting him more income than his previous side hustle. Overtime, he winds up becoming a master of the art of blogging. Realizing he’s making more money blogging than flipping clothes, he stops selling used clothes online and become obsessed and dedicated to blogging alone.
When you stick to one thing alone, magic happens. You’re not spread out; tiring yourself and burning out. People see you as a respected authority figure because you’re not juggling five different things. You are netting yourself more attention with one project than multiple. Your audience won’t feel alienated or confused because you’re not playing the switch up game every day. Your brand won’t have an identity crisis. And, if done right, you’ll become the top 10% of your field.
Let’s use Son Goku of the Dragon Ball series as an example of mastery of one field.
What mastery of one thing looks like
Goku sticks with only one thing: martial arts. Since childhood, he spent every morning, afternoon, and night training his body, mind, and spirit through the combat arts. Nothing else. Goku wakes up, trains, learn from masters, “protect” the world from bad guys, sleep, and repeats the process. You’re not gonna see Goku playing the guitar with Kaori from Your Life in April. He isn’t going to spread himself out by running a shady business on the dark web like that Devil Arcana guy from Persona 3. He is obsessed with fighting and fighting alone. It’s why he can throw down with the best in the universe.
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On the flip side, sticking to one alone can grow stale if you’re not upgrading or reinventing yourself. Eventually you will get bored. You’ll hit a peak and struggle. Your audience will want something new and leave you if you can’t provide anything fresh. You want something new. Therefore, you should branch out. If you’re a blogger, perhaps branch out into the world of podcast after you spent years mastering the art of blogging. If you’re a cosplayer, try entering the world of fashion. If you blog about anime start watching live action shows. If you never grew up watching classic shows, then you can talk about the shows you miss out thanks to your fresher mindset.
There’s nothing wrong with branching out.
Until next time
-Yuki The Snowman
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The Swarthy Nerd Podcast
A Black nerd empowerment podcast where Black nerds (well, all nerds, but Black first and foremost) can get together and talk freely about nerd culture while also acknowledging systematic white supremacy and racism in the nerd and Eastern otaku fandoms. Every Tuesday join @superlostfan108 and @weebtrashyuki the founders of http://www.swarthynerd.com for there very informative podcast talking about all things nerdy. No desperate boot licking self hating negus who were never accepted by Black norimes for being too weird for their love of anime and comic books by the Black community allowed. Go drink bleach.
Recently, my friend the TV Guru and I went to see Toei Animation’s blockbuster hit movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly at the theaters and man, it was an experience as both an Dragon Ball and anime fan that I will never forget. The experience of watching such an critically acclaimed film based on an iconic and influential anime series with many other anime and Dragon Ball fans touched us so much that we had to give our unbiased (drunken) thoughts on the movie. Trust me, if you’re a Dragon Ball fan and did not saw this movie at the theaters, you did yourself a disservice.
Also in this podcast we chop up good game and mock CrunchyRoll’s infamously hilariously and terrible nomination for their annual trash tier entry level anime awards.
And if you’re a weirdo who likes to burn their battery life and data plan by keeping the YouTube app open, here’s a link to our review on YouTube
AFTERWORD:
I have a podcast now so if you’re a long-time follower who have been wondering where the fuck I’ve been, now you know. Don’t worry; I’m still gonna write blogs. This is a side project I’m working on with a friend.
Disclaimer: This freewrite was written under the influence of alcohol. It may not make logical sense.
Dragon Ball isn’t deep. There are deep themes, but it isn’t that deep than other anime. Dragon Ball is a goofy, battle action manga and anime series created by some crazy Japanese dude who bread and butter is gag comedy manga (Dr. Slump). Expecting Dragon Ball to be meaningful and insightful is like trying to find one’s dignity at a drunken, drug-fueled anime con orgy:
It ain’t gonna happen.
This doesn’t mean that Dragon Ball can’t teach us lessons about life. After all, Goku’s journey is a lesson that if you want to better yourself, you must go out and travel; putting in the hard (and smart) work to and learning under those better than you to obtain whatever you want in life. Baby from Dragon Ball GT teaches us that people who were treated unfairly (through oppression) will come back to take revenge against those who oppressed them – even going as far as hunting down and killing innocent people if they have to.
Dragon Ball Super with the Tournament of Power arc is no different. There are valuable lessons to be taught about that arc, one that is obvious and yet – it’s the most important lesson. In order to achieve what you want, emotions need to be put aside.
In episode whatever it was in Super (I’m drunk: I don’t feel like looking it up), Majin Buu succumb to his deep sleeping habits; putting him out of action for two months. Thing is, it would have been okay for Majin Buu to take a two months break from combat…if he wasn’t a team member of Universe 7, and the existence of their universe was at risk of being destroyed by Zeno-Sama. With their ranks shorten, Team Universe 7 had two options:
Find a replacement for Majin Buu
Operate at a loss and/or risk destruction
Logically, Team Universe 7 should have put Majin Buu in the Time Chamber (Room of Spirit and Time for your purist elitist weeaboos) but logic doesn’ work in anime. While everyone else was in a panic, Goku came up with an ideal replacement for Majin Buu: Lord Frieza – mortal enemy of the Z Warriors.
The Z Warrirors weren’t happy with Goku’s suggestion. They had every right to. Krillin and Vegeta were murdered by him. Piccolo’s race and home planet was destroyed by the cruel tyrant. Plus, Frieza’s a snake. Who knows what kinda of shit Frieza would pull on the Z Warrriors if given the chance. If he wanted to, Frieza could had kill members of Unvierse 7 for shits and giggles. (Un)forutnetly for Team Universe 7, Freiza’s an asset to their surivivial. Yes, Frieza did horrible things to Z Warrrios and caused suffering to the unviersse. But what’s worse; Having a powerful, yet psychopathic warrior on your side who can get the job done with ease or losing your exsitance because you got emotional over somebody you don’t like?
I thought so.
In dire situtaitons, you have to put aside your emotions and focus on the ultimate goal. Emotions are great. They make us humans. They drive us to do amazing things. But emotions can fuck you up if you can’t control them. Let’s look at what happen to Lerbron James during the 2018 NBA Finals. Game 1. He got in his feelings over a teammate’s mistake. He gave into them and got swept by The Golden State Warriors.
What would had happen to Universe 7 if they gotten emotional over Frieza’s includcion to their team? You might say “But Ben, they could had went with Yamcha instead or maybe even Cell!” You’re right. They could had went with Yamcha or Cell. But Yamcha would had gotten slaughter within the first five seconds of the tournament. And Cell doesn’t give Toei Animation enough money like Frieza in terms of product sales.
Don’t get emotional when trying to hit your targets.
There’s a peculiar law that many believe in. Earl Nightingale, the late motivation speaker, considers this law to be the strangest secret known to man. It is said by believing in this law you’ll attract the things you desire. That if you think about it all day long, it will happen. What you put into the universe is what you get out — good or bad. This law is none other than the Law of Attraction.
Sounds awesome, right?
What if I told you that simply believing that things will happen isn’t enough? The Law of Attraction works (about 10% of the time), but you have to put in the work to obtain the things you want in life. Any ol’ fuck can just look in the mirror and say “I will be successful. Today will be a good day. I will become a millionaire.” But few put in the work to achieve their goals. Let’s be honest: people just say things so they can feel good about their about their current situation without doing anything.
They’re not willing to put in the work.
While the majority is comfortable with wishful thinking, there’s a minority that not only speak positivity into their lives, they make moves to ensure it. Saying some silly mantra over and over again do not and will never make them happy. They need to to go out and get it. Do you think Son Goku stood in front of a mirror and told himself “I’m going to meet powerful warriors, train with masters, and better myself.”? No. He went out to the world and did it. He took action in order to grow. Goku traveled to hone his skill s and learn new things. He wasn’t content and happy with staying in one place.
People who do the law of attraction thing must act in the same manner. You don’t just say silly shit and think you’re gonna magically get shit. This is why I hate most self-help books and gurus who say you only have to say you’ll get what you desire. They’re full of shit. The ones who show you how to get it and warn you it’s not going to be easy – I respect them. They want more than just money from some book.
The law of attractions works. It’s a wonderful law that I follow and have faith in. But I understand that I must put in the action to get what I want in life. Simply lounging around and operating on a hope and a wish that I will become successful is not only stupid, it’s pathetic. I do not want to be one of many who does that shit without applying me. That’s boring.
(Warning: Terrible grammar and spelling. I was drunk off three shots of Jim Beam and drank like two 32 oz. cans of cheap Miller beer. You’ve been warned. Originally written on March 2nd, 2018.)
Assuming that there won’t be a final ED for Super’s finale, ONEPIXCEL’s Lagrima as the final ED is a poor choice. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad song for what it is (and the women performing the song are pretty cute). I find myself bobbing my head in sync with the beat of the song even. Still, it’s doesn’t carry the emotional weight of 70cm Square Window. Why do I think it carries more weight than Lagrima? Well, hear me out.
Once we get past Adult Goku riding on the Flying Nimbus (or the Kinto’un for you fucking Japanese sub purist weeaboos), there’s a shot of Kid Goku alone starting far into the distance. Following that, the ending animation transition to Kid Goku’s running animation cycle featuring the OG Dragon Ball characters in the background (Bulma, Pura, Oolong, Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, Muten Roshi, and Goku’s late beloved grandpa, Gohan). Next, Goku grows into his current self, riding back on the Flying Nimbus while images of the Team Universe 7 crew scroll along. Finally, that shit ends with Goku running next to images of Beerus, the Zeno Kings, Grand Preist, Hit, and Jiren – the important characters of DB Super.
The animation of 70cm Square Window shows Goku’s growth from classic Dragon Ball, Z, and Super (sorry DBGT stans ya don’t get shit). Goku went form a curious, humble country boy traveling the world for stronger people to fight and train with, to a man who could destroy an entire universe with ease. Just imagine, you finish watching the final episode of Super, this song plays, and you watch Goku’s progression within this ED. You watch this man improve and better himself – becoming this unstoppable warrior. Imagine that shit man. How the fuck can Lagrima could ever compare?
Fuck, let’s check the best lyrics of the song:
‘I was always thinking of you
The reality that squeezes my heart
I was always longing to see you
And I’ll continue to forge ahead with that memory…”
Let’s imagine that none of the universe or any warrior that died will be brought back (they will cuz it’s Dragon Ball Super and Super is fuckin predictable as fuck) after the Tournament. Do you know how those lines could fit well with say 18 remembering her brother or Vegeta remembering Cabba and the Saiyans of Universe 7 and how they will have to continue on living without them? I want you to imagine 18’s and Vegeta’s sadness as those lyrics play.
Wouldn’t that shit be perfect?
Real shit tho, I’m drunk as hell and none of this will lever happen cuz Toei Animation don’t get deep with Dragon Ball like that. Hope you enjoyed this durenk rant I will do more in the future when I have nothing better to do on a Friday night or something.
Afterword:
Alcohol doesn’t make you a better writer. It only makes you an alcoholic writer and increases your alcohol dependency.
“Respect is earned, not given” is a controversial statement. Some believe that respect should be given to all – regardless of who they are or what they have accomplished. Others think that respect should only be earned through hard work, talent, skills, etc. In high levels of competition, respect is earned only if one is impressed by the superior flair of another person (most of the time). In the Tournament of Power, we see Jiren giving his respect towards both Goku and Vegeta: calling both men warriors. Jiren doesn’t use this term lightly, nor does he use it freely.
For Jiren, calling you a warrior is his sign of respect and admiration.
In Episode 122, as Jiren squares off against Goku, the two engage in conversation. Jiren asks Goku why does he seek to become stronger. Goku simply replies that he doesn’t know why; he just wants to. Following, Goku asks Jiren if he too wants to be stronger. Jiren states that what he wants is beyond mere, selfish thought of strength. This is a change from how Jiren initially viewed Goku (from their first fight). At first, it appears Jiren had no respect for Goku. But, after proving his worth against Jiren, we can assume that he’s a little curious about Goku’s strength and goals. It should be noted that Jiren calls Goku by his name: “Son Goku”, rather than a title like “Saiyan” or “Assassin” (as he did with Hit during his battle against him).
With this, it’s safe to say that Jiren respects Goku.
In Vegeta’s case, Jiren gives him the title of “Warrior”. As Belmod and Khai both stated, Jiren calling Vegeta “warrior” is his sign of respect Now, originally Jiren viewed Vegeta as arrogant. He even dismisses his brash fighting style as too prideful – taunting his Saiyan heritage in a sense. When Vegeta was able to hold his own against Jiren, that’s when Jiren was able to show his respect towards the Saiyan Prince.
Jiren’s respect doesn’t end there.
When Goku fought Jiren in Ep. 123, Goku overwhelmed Jiren. Not by brute strength, but by tactics and strategy. Using a combination of teleportation, Ki landmines, and Destructo Discs (or Kienzans for you purist weebs), Goku was able to knock Jiren out of the ring. This forced Jiren to use a hint of his true power to recover and combat against Goku. In turn, Goku tapped into his reserves; going Super Saiyan Blue with Kaikoen x20 stacked. Vegeta tapped into his hidden power, breaking his shell and limits. The fact both Goku and Vegeta drew out power beyond their limits could suggest that Jiren want to see both warrior’s true power in combat.
Jiren sees them as truly worthy warriors. Goku and Vegeta have earned Jiren’s respect.
Before I begin I want to say two things:
1. These leaks have yet to be confirmed until we have scans from the official Japanese TV Guide (usually provied by Herms98 over at Twitter). Take these leaks with a grain of salt. However, Toru Furuya (voice actor of Yamcha) posted a tweet that may confirmed the truth of these leaks.
2. You assume the risk of being spoil if these leaks are legit. If you do not want to take that risk, turn back now. You have been warned. With that said, let’s go!
Today has been a wild news day for the Dragon Ball community. Recent leaks from 2channel have surfaced containing major spoilers for Dragon Ball Super episodes 95-98. Let me say that (these spoilers are some straight up game changers for the Tournament of Power of the Universe Survival Arc (assuming if they’re real of course) . Freiza betraying Universe 7 and joining Universe 4? Universe 11 recruiting warriors from different universes to target Universe 7? If you fall off the arena, not only you will die, your existence will be erased as well?!
Man, this is crazy! Let’s break down the episode spoilers and I shall give my opinions on each!
Episode 95 (Airdate: 6/10/17)
Members of Universe 9 decide to take a nice and fun little universe studies field trip to Universe 7 meet their favorite people in the whole wide universe: Goku and Frieza. No, not so they can get their autographs or anything cool like that. They wanna kill them both before the tournament begins. If you remember from episode 93 of Super, Universe 4’s God of Destruction Quitela hired spies to scout Universe 7’s warriors and discovered that Goku recruited Frieza for the Tournament. Surprised that Universe 7 have went as far as inviting dead warriors within their rank, Quitela starts plotting with Sidra (God of Destruction of Universe 9) to assassinate Frieza. Frieza and Goku, for the very first time, must join forces to take out the assassins of Universe 9. They decide to waste no time, as they have little of it before the tournament.
Do not get too content with Frieza and Goku being buddy-buddy for long.
Episode 96 (Airdate: 6/17/17)
Ya really thought this man would work with a Saiyan!
Oh no. Oh my. Frieza doesn’t wanna work with Universe 7 after all. He betrays them, linking up with Universe 4 instead. Man that’s so fucked up. I can’t believe that this man Frieza would backstab Goku like that. Are you surprise as much as I am? Well, I dunno how Quitela managed to get Frieza on his side, but he got him. Maybe Frieza is playing mindgames with both Universe 4 and 7, killing members off of Universe 7 first, and then betray Universe 4 and will kill them off as well just for his own personal and selfish gain.
Welp congrats Frieza, you played yourself! Say goodbye to the deal of you coming back to life with the Earth Dragon Balls (as if he could had use them to come back to life again). Beerus might just reward him with a stupid prize (Hakai) for playing stupid games. Well, Goku boy is short a member, again. Universe 7 enters the Tournament of Power with just nine warriors. But wait! Who is the 10th member entering at this 11th hour!?. Who is “He”?
$200 says this “He”. Screenshot this post.
Well, there aren’t any information within the spoilers about who’s the new 10th member, but some rather interesting “meta” information have came out on Twitter within the last 24 hours or so of this writing. There are talks in the Dragon Ball community of Yamcha being the possible 10th member of Universe 7th. How do we know this? Well, let’s check out this tweet by Yamcha’s voice actor, the legendary seiyu Toru Furuya.
Seriously the 10th member is Yamcha just screenshot this post.
“I was tired talking a lot with Yamcha.” (Gotta love Google Translate) Hmm. And he can’t go into further details about what he was talking about. That’s rather suspect, isn’t it? Yamcha has been featured in a few episodes of the Universe Survival arc, waiting for Goku to recruit him (poor fellow) but perhaps he’ll finally have his chance to prove his worth with Frieza’s betrayal and leaving Universe 7 one member short. I for one can’t wait to see Yamcha shine! Plus, I figure Toei needs to sell some Yamcha figures and toys because there’s a fan demand and market so why not!
Enough about Yamcha, let’s move forward to the next episode, and my lord, the Grand Priest’s new information is grim, scary, and depressing.
Episode 97 (Airdate: 6/24/17)
There’s something about his smile and the camera’s angle…
Finally! After 20 episodes, the Tournament of Power kicks off with this episode (I’m gonna have some beers and trees on standby for this one). The warriors of the eight universes gather at the World of Void to combat for their survival! Before doing so, The Grand Priest drops some dire news: whoever falls off the arena will not only die, but their existence will be erased on the spot! That’s it. Game over man. You’re gone for good! Yea, I mean this is Dragon Ball, nobody (good) stay dead forever. It’s pretty obvious the victor will use the Super Dragon Balls to revive all the universes that were erased, but this is some pretty grim shit.
Now that I think about it, the “no killing allowed” rule make sense. In the world of Dragon Ball, if you die, your spirit will either go to the Other World or Hell depending on if you were evil or good in your life. You will still exist unless you either die again in the afterlife or if a God of Destruction erase your existence.
Ghosts can get it too.
So let’s imagine if a warrior in the tournament was killed by say Frieza. Their spirit would enter either the Other World or Hell, and tell the rest of the dead folks some shit like “Hey, so I was just killed in a fucked up tournament in which if our universe loses, we all being erased. Let’s go to this World of Void and revolt against the Onmi King and his priests! Also Son Goku of Universe 7 caused this to happen so let’s kill his love ones!”
You know how chaotic things would be if word of a tournament of this nature got out to the other universes? Pretty great insurance policy the Grand Priest installed by banning killing. Eh, I’m just hopefully speculating at this point. Let’s move on to the last episode leak.
Episode 98 (Airdate: 7/1/2017)
The warriors are divided into two groups: Those who’ve joined forces with Universe 11 to take out Universe 7 , and the rest who do not wish. Universe 11 were going around recruiting fighters from outside their own ranks to link up and take out Universe 7’s warriors. Goku, being the asshole he is, is just sitting back enjoying his own allies being targeted by Universe 11 and their new temporary teammates. This is interesting and we had clues that this might happened. First off, let’s check out a screenshot of second opening of Dragon Ball Super.
Kale if you were taken in by Universe 11 against your will please blink twice
It’s possible that the woman in the background next to Jiren is new best girl Kale of Universe 6. I can only assume and speculate that Universe 11 managed to recruit Kale to join the assault on Universe 7. Now, this is interesting to say the least. Universe 6 and 7 are counterparts. Warriors such as Cabba and Hit hold Universe 7 in high regrades. To see Kale on Universe 11 side to attack Universe 7 will create conflict within Universe 6.
Also, remember that Universe 11 pride themselves as being warriors of justice, yearning to rid the universe of any and all evil by any means necessary. Let’s take this one step further by examining some lyrics Dragon Ball Super’s 7th ending theme “An Evil Angel and A Righteous Devil”:
‘”For all that is righteous, destroy this evil!”
They say, “The whole world is waiting for you!”
“’For all that is righteous, fight this evil!”
They’ll say “You’re our hero! You’re the one!”
As stated earlier, Universe 11 prides themselves to their oath to destroy all evil and defend righteousness. I can imagine members of that universe sweet talking somebody like Kale to use her powers for justice to attack Universe 7, the evil doers. Plus, as fucked up as this sound, it’s probably easy to convince like Kale (who has self-esteem issues) to join forces with a group like Universe 11 to give them some confidence in themselves.. Just tell them “Hey, Goku and his team are evil and we’re the good guy. They’re the reason why we’re in this situation!” Some fucked up game of politics if you ask me.
I really hope these leaks are true because if so, this makes the Tournament of Power and the Universe Survival Arc in general interesting as all hell. Frieza betraying Universe 7 and joining Universe 4, Yamcha may make a comeback, Universe 11 recruiting warriors of other universes to attack Universe 7, and the rule of not only dying, but being erased if you lose?
Imagine this: Your homeboy gets you caught up in his bullshit. You had no involvement to his actions prior but this doesn’t mean anything. Your careless ass friend managed to drag you into their mess. If you do not get involved, the dire consequences will impact not only him but you as well. And it ain’t gonna be pretty.
In the recent episode 78 of Dragon Ball Super, Goku is that careless friend. Goku manged to drag his associates, friends, and family into his bullshit. Goku defiantly went against Beerus’ prior warning to not to remind Lord Zeno (Zen-Oh-Sama) of the Tournament of Power.
The Tournament of Power (a.k.a the Omni King All Universe Survival Tournament) the all universe tournament hosted by Lord Zeno, king of all. There are no rewards in this tournament sans your universe not being wiped out of existence if you’re declared victor in addition to using the Super Dragon Balls. There’s at least that. Yay!
So, because Goku wants to fight so badly he endangered not only endanger his friends, family, and planet, this man put the existence of his universe at risk of being wiped out.
Goku, for the very first time in his life, has to take responsibility for his actions. Beerus had to threaten him to do it of course. Thank god for you Beerus. Thank god for you.
Goku enlists his son Gohan and friend, Majin Buu to fight in this tournament and explains If they lose, goodbye to their universe existence. Mr. Satan tags along but he ain’t doing shit. They ain’t too please about Goku getting them all caught up.
They ain’t the only ones you know. You already know word got spread quick about this tournament. You already know you got niggas from all 12 universes who want to come after Goku. They have to fight not just for surivivial, but for their existence because Goku needed a good challenge.
Yuki The Snowman 