Brotherhood of the World Award! (or There’s a joke involving X-Men, Doom Patrol, or Fullmetal Alchemist in here somewhere.)

Brotherhood of the World award

I was nominated again so soon! This time, it’s the Brotherhood of the World Award. I would like to thank Chizurue for nominating me. She reviews anime, manga, and books on her blogs such as Of Midnight Ravings and Mnemosyne.

Here’s how the award works:

-Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
-Answer the questions sent to you.
-Nominate around ten bloggers.
-Create your set of questions for your nominees.

-List the rules and display the Brotherhood of the World logo in your post.

Without further ado, I’m going to answer the questions used during Chizurue’s post.

Briefly explain your blogging style (where your favorite blogging spot/tools – as in, on the couch using your smartphone or something).

For starters, I blog using my phone or my desktop. I’d say it’s 50/50 depending on which blog I’m using and what kind of content I’m posting.

I all my blogs I tend to write like how I talk or what I believe, but in different ways. When it comes to some kinds of content, I just let something like a video or song speak for itself before I explain things briefly.

Ospreyshire: I do my best to talk about my creative project under this moniker. This is my main blog as one could guess. I show as much content that I create on here like my year-long Katauta 52 Project or my stories behind my songs/poems on here. Things couldn’t just be a bout me, so I do my best to cross-promote people like other people on ZAP Records (the indie label I’m affiliated with), nominating others for awards, and the occasional post about some real-life friends of mine doing great things.

Autumn Peal Media: I don’t talk that much on my blog. I just let my video projects and photography speak for themselves on there. Just don’t expect me to be all that vocal on there.

C. M. B. Bell Fiction: This is different since I deal with my original stories on there. I try to have a conversational style of dialogue while also adding some more poetic narration. My fiction writing style tends to use atypical protagonists, referencing social issues, having diverse casts, and making plots for things or characters I’ve never seen before. I also enjoy satirizing tropes and cliches whenever I can. Most of the stuff on there is micro fiction or my Hollandus Landing cell phone novel. Stay tuned for more content on there though.

Iridium Eye Reviews: This blog allowed me to be more overt in my honesty as I review some obscure media and anime. I wanted to have a mix of formal things such as researching concepts for fun facts while also having a bit of humor. There are times where I drop some uncomfortable truths if I disagree with the majority consensus or mention some controversial elements depending on what I review. I felt like I’ve become more assertive as a person after making this blog March of last year.

How do you manage your blogging time including blog reading time?

Good question. I do read some articles when I have some free time or checking some things out on my breaks if I’m at work when it comes to blog reading time. Some days, I can read several articles while other days I barely have any time given my variable schedule, so I just go with the flow. However, I make an effort to catch up when I can and I’ll intentionally read bloggers’ older/archived posts besides just their newest ones.

Blogging time? Most of this has gone to this page and Iridium Eye. The Ospreyshire page is straightforward and I don’t have to post that much, but most of my time is spent writing poems and filming for the Katauta 52 Project. Iridium Eye takes longer with reviews, finding a picture with it, researching things, and scheduling 3 reviews per Saturday with some cases a whole month in advance.

Who is your most read author?

I haven’t read as much as I used to. As far as books read per author, then I would say Ted Dekker. I read a bunch of his books years ago, but I haven’t read his newer fiction books. As far as more recent authors are concerned, I would say either Winona LaDuke or Rev. William J. Barber II. Both are nonfiction authors who talk about the history and concerns from the American Indigenous and African-American communities respectively. Both were really insightful and I really like how they get real on those issues, are well researched, they know what they’re talking about, and they do not make race a partisan issue which is a huge godsend to me.

How did you come up with your blog name?

I’m sure I’ve answered a question like that when it comes to the Ospreyshire moniker, but I’ll talk about how I got the names for my other blogs.

Autumn Peal Media: I was born in October, so I was certainly an Autumn baby. Peal is an uncommon word that I thought would sound cool and it’s a wordplay with something else, too.

Iridium Eye: Iridium is one of the rarest and most precious metals. This rarity aspect plays on the fact that most of the content I cover is lesser-known. The eye refers to the critical I that I use whenever I review indie films, foreign films, anime, non-mainstream Western animation, short films, and documentaries.

What keeps you blogging?

It is a platform for my creative outlets across the board and it has helped me to have a voice when I’ve been bullied into silence in my past. I’m able to be more honest and assertive online and real life. There’s also a goal I have for using bigger projects to give them a place to be posted online such as books, albums, and video projects.

Thank you! I hereby nominate the following bloggers…

Shokamoka
Ra’ahe
The Things I’ve Seen
Brandon Knoll
B. (Aphorisms)
Blog Posts From the Edge
Angie Trafford
Bloom Reviews
Emily Curry
Milly Schmidt

Here are my questions for my nominees:

1. What was a post that you created that made you feel better as a blogger?

2. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

3. What improvements could you make on your blog? How can you improve as a blogger?

4. How has blogging changed/improved you as a person and in your real life interactions?

5. If you can visit any country that you’ve never been to, where would you visit, which tourist spots would you check out, and why?

 

 

I guess versatility pays off? I’m a recipient of the Versatile Blogger Award!

Versatile Blogger Award

This has been a positive few days for me. Just recently, I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award from Raistlin0903. Thank you so much, Raistlin! It’s good to know that I’m a quality blogger and versatile in different subjects whether on this blog or my other ones.

Here are the rules for this particular award:

-Display award
-Thank the person who gave this award (and include a link to their blog)
-Share seven things about yourself
-Nominate bloggers of your choice

Without further ado, let’s get this started!

1. Poetry/Lyrics: Since I’m on the main Ospreyshire blog, I might as well talk about it. I’ve been writing poems and lyrics since I was 11. I didn’t actually write “real” songs until I was older. With my current project, I thought it would be an awesome vehicle to get this artform out there but with an avant-garde edge.

2. Multi-Instrumentalist, but what instrument is missing? I’ve been training to be adept at multiple instruments when it comes to songwriting and performing. Interestingly enough, I have never used a guitar for Ospreyshire. This was on purpose. I don’t hate guitars since it’s one of my better instruments, but I wanted to see what I can create without one of the most common instruments out there.

3. Cinema in multiple languages. Yes, some of you know about my film review blog Iridium Eye. I’ve covered movies from six different continents and dozens of countries around the world. It is a fusion of my love for geography and movies as I wanted to escape the Hollywood doldrums. I’ll spare you a list of every country that’s been covered by Iridium Eye so far, but here’s a list of languages that have been spoken in the movies I’ve reviewed so far. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Persian/Farsi, German, Dutch, Amharic, Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, Serbian, Afrikaans, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hindi, Hebrew, Italian, Gaelic, Korean, and Danish. That’s not even counting stuff I haven’t reviewed.

4. Reading (whenever I can). I do enjoy a good book. Interesting fact, I’ve been able to read since I was 1 1/2 years old and I’ve enjoyed reading whenever I could. Granted with work, I haven’t been able to as much. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been reading a ton of non-fiction especially in regards to social issues, geography, lesser-known parts about history, and race relations especially with the African-American and Native American experience. It was fascinating learning about all these subjects and I certainly become more “woke” as the cool people say these days.

5. People think I’m extroverted. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The thing is I do work with a lot of people and I’ve had previous experience with public relations and customer service. I do like being around my friends whenever I can, but I’m really introverted. After dealing with a lot of people, I have to decompress whenever I go home. Even then, I just get on my grind by working on various creative projects like music or fiction or coming up with new content for any of my 4 blogs.

6. My first (real) start at fiction was microfiction. I tried writing stories when I was younger, but I am quite disappointed in the concepts I came up with. When I heard about microfiction (stories under 1000 words) a few years ago, I gave it a try. Some of them are on my writing blog such as this one about an invincible superhero having a bad day, a futuristic story involving people looking at social media accounts from the present, or a story involving a snarky dragoness dealing with a delusional knight. It’s a fun form of writing, and I encourage people to give it a try. If you have the TaleHunt app, you can find me @tocsinchronicle. Just sayin’.

7. I used to be a hardcore gamer, especially fighting games. This was actually a thing going on in my life. To be honest, I haven’t been into current games due to other interests taking precedence, but there was a time I was big into video games. Shoot, I still own a Dreamcast to this day. I was into different genres, but my favorite genre was fighting games. Back in my younger days, I could beat people in games like the first two Marvel Vs. Capcom games, Virtua Fighter, some of the Tekken games, King of Fighters, Power Stone, Project Justice (AKA Rival Schools 2), and various Street Fighter games (SFIII: Third Strike was my favorite and the most underrated game in the franchise). That was my jam back then.

Now that I got this out of the way, I hereby nominate the following bloggers…

Moyatorium
Travel Itineraries
The Drabble
Anime Q & A
Bipolar Online Blog
Medieval Otaku
Karandi
AfroSapiophile
Irina
Lunarian Thoughts

Thank you!

Blogger Recognition Award? Oh, wow!

It’s been a while, but I was recently nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by Brittney over at Brittney’s Blog. She’s an up and coming blogger who covers subjects like anime and her own life experiences. Feel free to check out her blog. Thank you so much, Brittney!

In order for me to move forward with this award, I have to follow these rules:

1.Say thanks to who nominated you and leave a link back to that persons blog.
2.Give the story or history of your blog.
3.
Give two or more pieces of advice for new bloggers.
4.Nominate 10 other bloggers and link their blogs.

Now without further ado, here we go!

1. The story of my blogs:

Ospreyshire: I used to be active in the music scene, but I took a long hiatus. Not only that, but I wanted to to something new. I’ve loved poetry and experimental art, so I wanted to incorporate those elements into a new project. Thus, Ospreyshire was born. My little spoken word/avant-garde/anti-pop project.

Autumn Peal Media: This was a way for me to show off my photography and videography in a blogging format. Even though it’s currently on hiatus, I have several articles showing my works on there like a portfolio. Granted, I’ve been making videos for years via Vimeo, but I didn’t want it to be the only site where people can watch my stuff.

C. M. B. Bell Fiction: I’ve been writing for years, but this was me finally getting off my butt and finally posting stuff on there. I felt like my friends never knew about my fictional projects, so I needed to get some of my works out there. I’m also working hard to finally get my books to the world. I’ve written 15 books over the past 4 years, but I never showed anyone, so I needed a platform where I can post them once they get published. It’s mainly short stories and chapters from my Hollandus Landing cell phone novel so far, but expect more this year.

Iridium Eye Reviews: This blog has been a labor of love since I started it last March. I wanted a platform where I can talk about movies and anime that not many people were talking about. I actually have a film background and I wanted to show my knowledge on various aspects of film and animation. For years, I wanted to post reviews online, but I was scared to post my opinions on there. Better late than never, I guess. As some of you may know, I got sick of so many mainstream movies out there getting all the attention. At the same time, my affinity for indie movies, documentaries, anime, foreign films, and short films was rekindled, so I wanted to share my unorthodox thoughts on the media that doesn’t get much attention from reviewer circles or bloggers.

2. Advice for new bloggers

I don’t know how many people will take this to heart, but here’s some words I hope people can follow.

-Be honest and researched in your opinions.

-Don’t just follow the crowd. Be original by carving your own identity.

-Get connected with other bloggers. It’s a community, not a competition.

-Not everyone will have the same opinion as you. If you do have a different opinion, don’t be a troll or try to be contrarian for controversy’s sake.

I guess that’s it for now.

3. Nominations!

I nominate the following blogs…

Ani-dotes
The Zone of Nerders
Raistlin0903
Elle Nguyen
Canadian Globe Trotter
Jenn
Fractured Faith Blog
The Otaku Judge
Jeannette Jonic
Mechanical Anime Reviews

Thanks and have a great day!

-Curtis