Ryan's Realm

8mL           8mL, or 8 milliliters, is around 0.4% of the amount of blood needed to be lost for an average human being to die of blood loss. 8mm, or 8 millimeters, is the length of film that old home video cameras were recorded on. 8MM is the name of a horror movie starring Nicholas Cage that tells a story about a man who investigates the snuff film industry. Videotape is the name of a short story that we read in class about the unintentional recording of a senseless and horrific murder.           When reading Videotape, I couldn't help but be reminded of 8MM, and I don't think it's hard to see why. Both are stories focusing on people getting disturbingly enraptured in ordinary and under-dramatized recordings of brutal and violent murders. Looking even beyond the similar premises of each work, both stories also involve a husband who drags his wife into the disturbing tapes he's watching, a kid who was involved in the tape, a...

 Standardized Suffering Foreword           Sometimes when I read my classmates' blogs, I see them just complain and vent about their own lives instead of y'know, actual doing the assignment related to English work. Now, I don't really care that much because it's not my grade that will be affected, but I always thought it was kinda cheap. Like, you're seriously complaining on your obscure English blog read by like 30 people max?           But considering my current situation, I'm starting to get it. So after nearly an entire year of telling myself I wouldn't stoop to this level, I'm going to break my own rule and be the one complaining today. Sorry in advance, Ms. Valentino, but now I shall vent, and you shall listen.  How It's Going           Modern society is ruled by rules and standards. Legal code, traffic lights, chivalry, self-made millionaire, voting rules, and so many more ideals r...

Teddy Bares This quote from Theodore Roosevelt was from all the way back in 1907 during his Seventh Annual Message to the Congress. Despite being a statement that's a century old, I not only can't help but find his statement valid, but one that I personally agree with as well. Along with that, Roosevelt's quote has only become more prevalent and apparent over time, gaining more and more relevance as more and more generations have been born. It's very fitting for Roosevelt to have this quote attributed to him considering his reputation as a woodsman. Teddy set aside 200 million acres of land for federal control and preservation, many of which were later turned into famous national parks nowadays due to his advocation for them. Despite that, it's also very ironic for Roosevelt to have this quote attributed to him at the same time. Teddy was considered the first "modern president", one who bossed around Congress and lobbied for policies they wanted to lawmak...

Cancel Culture? I Barely Even Know Her! Where in the World Is Cancel Culture?           Cancel culture. It's one of the most contentious and controversial subjects in modern-day society, which probably has something to do with its inherently conflictual nature. I'm sure this widespread discourse about cancel culture in general will be reflected in the cavalcade of blogs about it this week that my peers will produce, but I think a lot of people talking about cancel culture - both in these blogs and across the wider internet - miss a huge aspect of it. That is, cancel culture only works in a heavily constrained environment.         Cancel culture only has power online, in places like these blogs. In fact, I'd go as far to say that cancel culture is a heavily situational force that only works in an online space and never works in real life. Of course, I recognize the hypocrisy in saying this because I'm also talking about c...

  What's in a Name?           On the first day of 2nd grade, our entire class was subjugated to one of those embarrassingly anti-social icebreakers. Despite having nearly no memories of 2nd grade, this one still distinctly sticks out in my head from how terribly dry this icebreaker was. The gimmick of this one was to put an adjective that started with the same letter as your first name before your name.           This was difficult for me in particular, because how many good adjectives are there that start with R? I think I eventually decided on " ๋ ࣭   ࣪ ˖ ❇ ๋ ࣭   ࣪˖ ⊹ ࣪Radical Ryan ๋ ࣭   ࣪ ˖ ❇ ๋ ࣭   ࣪ ˖ ⊹ ࣪" or something, but the adjective itself isn't what's really important.           What always bothered me about this icebreaker, even at the mental capacity of a 2nd grader, was that it indirectly implied my name didn't carry its own meaning. Does the name "Ryan...

Unlike many of my fellow students, who probably only looked at The Onion's article list for 10 picoseconds and chose the most recent articles, I've followed The Onion for years now, so I'm going to choose a very old article from them. An article so old in fact, it's even older than me. The article in question, Fun Toy Banned Because Of Three Stupid Dead Kids , is generally considered to be one of The Onion's most offensive articles and is partly what helped to make them well-known due to the controversy it caused. Just looking at the title alone makes it clear why the article was so disliked, as it calls 3 dead kids "stupid". This immediately serves to establish both the tone and satire of the article, as not only does it show how the article will talk badly about these dead kids, but also sets up the satire in the article. Since society normally puts children up on a pedestal and gives them the stereotype of being innocent and unable to be judged, this ar...