Black Water Vampire is a 2014 Found Footage Horror Film, directed by Evan Tramel. Exceedingly interesting, certainly can be regarded as one of the best in the genre. The plot device follows four friends – two girls, a director and a producer, and two guys, a cameramen and a sound engineer – that heads towards the community of Black Water, Washington, to shoot a documentary about four mysterious murders that occurred in the region, all in mysteriously bizarre, but similar circumstances. For the last four decades, four girls had been found murdered – one every ten years, all killed in the winter solstice – in the woods of Black Water. All the four victims have been found with bite marks on the neck, completely drained of blood and with a mysterious symbol drawn in blood on their skin. One man has been imprisoned, found guilty and convicted for these murders, and he was sentenced to death. Believing he is innocent, the girl leading the group and shooting the documentary wants to discover the truth behind the crimes, and to find the one who is really responsible for them.  

Heading towards their destination, first the group interviews one of the detectives that originally investigated one of the murders. Then they stopped at the penitentiary upon which Raymond Banks (Bill Oberst Jr.), the criminal incarcerated for the murders, is serving his sentence. A sinister figure, with prominent scars on his face, he reveals that he became a scapegoat for the crimes, upon discovering what the villagers where really doing in the woods. Telling the group that he has been slowly poisoned throughout the years, in the hopes of dying faster – and he proves his claims by grabbing a portion of his hair, showing that is easily falling off his head – the convicted individual is mysteriously explicit and ambiguous at the same time, about the bizarre events that for so long had been unfolding in the darkness of the woods in Black Water. 

When they arrive at a cabin upon which they had rented to calmly rest, and keep their baggage and equipment, the next day the group is prepared to enter the woods, and start shooting the documentary. In the first day, they seem to be doing fine, as everything seems to be happening according to the plan. But at night, when they are sleeping on the tent, they hear alarming and unidentifiable screams, becoming fearful that their lives might be in danger. When they leave their tent in the morning, they become terrified on seeing painted in what appears to be blood – in front of the tent –, exactly the same mysterious symbol found painted in blood on the victim’s bodies. 

Determined to go on in their search to find the truth, the group becomes lost in the woods. With the help of a map, they try to figure out where they really are, but rapidly the situation deteriorates, and discussions and misunderstandings broke out between them. Feeling something weird is going on, the sound engineer feels an urge to go back, but the cinematographer encourages him to accompany them further. Telling him that they have walked for almost one day and a half, it would not be easy for him to find his way out of the woods. He says that it’s better for all of them to stay together; soon, the documentary will be shot, and everything will be over in a matter of hours. If he starts to feel bad again, they will completely understand and approve his wish to go back. The sound engineer, upon insisting that he could easily find his way out of the woods, agrees to stay with the group.

But very soon, the situation goes bad again. The sound engineer walks away from the rest of the group, and becomes lost. Several hours pass by, but he doesn’t return. Soon afterwards, the other three are struck by despair, as the night falls, and they haven’t found their friend. The cinematographer and the two girls have a discussion about whether it’s better to search for him, or to set up the tent, sleep, and look out after him in the morning. They eventually chose the last option, which is safer, as they really don’t know what dangers may lurk in the dark, and literally their visibility will be severally compromised by the darkness, turning fruitless any attempt to search for their friend and collaborator in the night. 

But this turns out to be the occasion upon which everything falls apart. Deeper into the night, they hear again the same growls they have heard in the previous night, but these time appears to be louder and closer. They are eventually attacked by a bizarre, dreadful and ferocious creature, that eventually captures the girl that is the leader of the group. The other two, the movie cinematographer and the producer manages to escape, but the producer wants to go back to rescue their friend. The cinematographer strongly objects, and the two wander in the forest, in a desperate attempt to avoid the creature.      

Walking until the day breaks, they eventually find their friend, the girl responsible for the movie project, completely naked and disoriented. She has a terrible bite mark on her neck, and seems to be in shock. The cinematographer puts out of his backpack several clothes for dressing her, and they rapidly try to go out of the woods. But as their friend reveals herself to be in a week and fragile condition, they fail to advance in a fast pace. To make matters worse, they wander completely lost and without any notion of their whereabouts, realizing that leaving the woods will be almost impossible. Soon, they realize that their friend, the girl that has been attacked by the creature, is not only week, but she is experiencing a strange sickness too. She says that she feels an unexplainable thing inside her, and on grabbing up her blouse, she shows up her belly, and is clearly possible to see something moving beneath her skin. In a rage of despair fuelled by his survival instinct, the cinematographer screams with the two girls, saying that he will leave them, but after just a few moments, he is surprised and killed by the mysterious creature, at broad daylight. The two girls, shocked by the killing, do their best trying to escape.

As the night falls again, they see the mysterious symbol – the one that appeared in the bodies of the four murdered girls, and that was also drawn at the entrance of their tent – drawn apparently in blood in several trees surrounding them. They manage to encounter a strange and ruined cabin, upon which they hide. But soon the creature locates them, and they are forced to leave the cabin. Soon the girls are outdoors, and they see a lot of the townsfolk people surrounding them, but their hostile faces make pretty obvious that their intention is not to help. The producer tries to escape, but is killed in the process. The only surviving member of the group, the girl attacked by the creature, is thrown in the floor by the group of stalkers, and they strongly hold her into the ground. She soon starts to scream, and appears to be giving birth, as one woman that was part of the group of deranged stalkers, off camera, seems to be doing the work of delivering the baby. 

Soon, one year later, we see a group of people gathering in the dark, inside of a cabin, celebrating with a cake the birthday of one year of a baby. They are all the same community members seen before, that killed the producer girl, and delivered the baby of the girl impregnated by the Black Water creature. We see here the woman that rented the cabin for the group of filmmakers in the beginning of the movie, and we see, with an extremely unhappy face, the girl that wanted to shot the documentary, the only surviving member of the fatal ordeal that victimized her three friends. She was impregnated by the mysterious creature, with the blessing and the collusion of the townspeople, and apparently, is now a member of their community. The film ends showing the hybrid baby creature, half-human and half-monster.

For a found footage film, Black Water Vampire is simply amazing. Doing the best to avoid and to escape the clichés of the genre, this is a serious work, with a truly genuine and unexpected cinematic feeling. One of the best movies of the genre that I have seen, Black Water Vampire is filled by an atrocious atmosphere of the unknown, that really captures, evaluates and explores the validity of a deep sense of undeniable anguish throughout its entire run. At first, as suggested by the title, you may think that this is just another boring and ordinary vampire movie. But we should never judge a movie by its title, the same way we should never judge a book by its cover. Black Water Vampire manages to be an intelligent mindset of unrestrained, embracing and sensible captivity of surreal – but exponentially realistic – horror. The movie slowly builds on its deleterious urge a sinister, malevolent, fearful and lucid atmosphere of agony and affliction, as you delve deeper and deeper into the mysterious secrecies of a forest that you soon perceive to be held by a hostile and malevolent force, that doesn’t want anybody to wander on its premises. 

Although the overall center of the plot is simple, and the formula upon which the movie unfolds is typical of the found footage genre, the atmosphere upon which the story reveals itself relies on a sinister background that manages to be not just genuine, but authentic and functional, slowly increasing, and showcasing its potential, as the movie progresses. The fear generated by the danger that subtlety reveals itself within the story is exceptionally grotesque, and as the danger becomes more plausible and palpable, the agony becomes more evident, lacerating and hurtful, to the point that you almost see yourself as part of the story, wandering what could you do to possibly get out of the forest alive.  

Evidently, Black Water Vampire is a lot similar to several other found footage films, in instances like structure, style and the unfolding of events. But here, you have a cohesive story, intelligent movie making devices, decent technical skills, a salutary and well-elaborated plot, and a coherent and credible acting, as well as a lot of other qualities. Nonetheless, they are inserted so subtlety, that if you’re not really paying attention to the movie, you will probably miss some of the details that, combined altogether, managed to make this movie superior from other movies of the genre. Although the story unfolds calmly, it has the ability of slowly involving you in a wider spectacle of affliction and apprehension, that becomes deeper and deeper as the movie progresses, to the point where you firmly believe that you don’t have any more the opportunity to escape.   

Don’t get me wrong. You may not be surprised at all at first, but if you really see this movie, appreciating it in the calmness it deserves, you will positively be captured by the genuine atmosphere of horror that this film wonderfully creates, and more marvelously, liberates towards its audience. 

As typical for the genre, the movie is shot by the perspective of their participants, with the four main actors taking turns in recording the images (although the actual scenes were obviously recorded by a professional cinematographer), so you mostly see only three of them at a time, and less, as they begin to disappear. Departing from the prerogative of an adventurous endeavor, they leave for their destination towards an atrocious fate, upon which there would be no return. An excellent movie, despite its simple premise and common ground rhetoric that at first seems to be equal to other movies of the genre, Black Water Vampire certainly can be regarded as one of the best found footage films ever made.                               

       
 Wagner

A Case of You is an American romantic comedy film, starring Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood. Directed by Kat Coiro, with a script written by Justin Long, his brother Chris and actor Keir O’Donnell, the movie tells the story of Sam (Justin Long), a stagnant New York City writer, who is willing to do absolutely everything he can to earn the attention and the love of Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood), a girl for whom he is deeply infatuated.  

Sam is a New York City writer with no inspiration, who mechanically writes novelizations for movies aimed at teen audiences. Nevertheless, he aspires to be a serious writer, and wants to write the great novel of his life, tough he struggles with a lack of inspiration very hard to overcome. When he meets Birdie, a girl that works in a coffee shop close to his home, he suddenly becomes captivated by her astoundingly free and quasi-hippie urban charm. Coming up with a plan to win her heart and affection, Eliot, Sam’s roommate, suggests him to visit her Facebook profile, to discover all the things she likes, and work from there.

Following his friend’s advice, he starts to visit her Facebook profile regularly, and involves himself in all the things she’s interested in, like climbing, martial arts, guitar lessons, dance classes and many more. One day, after seeing on her Facebook that she will attend an event at a performance art club, he accidentally fakes a meeting by chance with Birdie, and they start a very cozy conversation. After both discover the many things they have “in common”, a friendship develops, and very gradually, they become close. Nonetheless, he vehemently continues the ritual to constantly visit her Social Media, and gets more and more involved in her many interests.

Sam’s plan surprisingly works very well, since he learns everything about her, and  pretend to have a great degree of affinity to all the things she loves. Although his strategy is a little unorthodox, to say the least, his intentions are genuine, since he is deeply committed to do everything he can to win her affection. Meanwhile, Birdie appears to be very surprised with the fact that both have so many things in common, and develops feelings for Sam, starting to believe that they are soul mates. His plan is such a success, that, after spending a very meaningful time together, upon which they became very close, Birdie eventually declares her love for Sam. Excited and thrilled with joy and amazement, Sam’s life enters such a high point that he is able to finally overcome his writer’s block, and starts writing a very good novel, based on his relationship to Birdie. Unfortunately, at some point Sam gets tired of following her extremely active life, and becomes disturbed with the fact that she doesn’t know him well. After telling her that, being very rude to Birdie in one meeting that she prepared very gently for both, to have a special time together, he realizes how awful he was, and, after cooling down, he gets the righteous perception that it is not her fault that she doesn’t know him well. After all, he chose to pretend being someone he wasn’t, in a desperate attempt to please her, and win her heart. In a dance competition, he decides to apologize, and finally reveals to her that he has been watching each and every interest of hers that she posted about on Social Network, to which she replies – to his complete surprise – that she already knew what he was doing, as she posted interests on her profile just to see if he would say soon that he liked exactly the same thing. Forgiving Sam for his previous rudeness, both declare their mutual love for each other, dance, and live happily ever after!    

Well, what can I say, besides the fact that this movie is marvelous? Evan Rachel Wood and Justin Long are astonishingly great together, being the sweetest couple I have ever seen in modern movies! They have an amazing chemistry, and the love and the sincerity that their respective characters are able to achieve onscreen are simply too good to be true, but it is! Both transpire some kind of light drama, sincere happiness and a very wishful desire to live life at the fullest, in such profound characters, filled with joy and expectation, with eyes shining bright towards what the future reserves, that you cannot be indifferent to the intensity that both convey into the screen. The amazing plot, the funny scenes, the romantic drama and their personal struggles are very well combined, being able to deliver a very decent, funny, incredible and creative story, filled with love and sentimental redemption, but without the weight of real life drama and darkness, having the distinction of not being just another alienated romance movie at the same time. With a great profusion of humorous scenes and light moments as well, that combines all the great elements essential for an awesome movie, A Case of You easily escapes the clichés of the genre, being very lucid, original, and laughable at the same time.     

Unlike the vast majority of modern movies, who tend to ignore it, Social Media plays a very important part in the plot devices, although always subjectively, exploring how people can easily connect to one another in the web. A great cast of actors and actresses play little parts in the movie as well, like Brendan Fraser, Sam Rockwell, Sienna Miller and Vince Vaughn.    

Although some things in this movie are really implausible in real life circumstances – a man would hardly learn how to climb, take martial art classes, read poetry or learn how to become a master in French cuisine to please a woman [well, primarily, because it will be necessary to quit his job to have the time, and also own a very decent bank account to pay for all this] – all these plot arrangements are reasonably combined and structured brightly together, working really well in a very appealing, funny and sensitive story, that will make you laugh hysterically, and cry deeply, all at the same time. And when the movie is over, you will be dying to see it again! Surprisingly, the movie was not well received by critics and the public alike, receiving generally very unfavorable reviews in movie websites. 

Regardless, this movie really deserves five stars! Even more, so to speak! As long as I can remember, I have never seen such an excellent and wonderful romantic comedy, although I could be labeled a partner in crime here, since I really love Evan Rachel Wood, and Justin Long, for both have the ability to portray real life characters with really difficult problems in such a light, serene and easy mood, without being shallow or artificial! They are so profound and cool at the same time, that, for the first time in my life, I wished a movie to have a sequence! Oh, for sure, this movie would certainly deserve one. Check it out, you will not regret! 


​Wagner

Exposed (originally titled Daughter of God) is a 2016 American crime drama thriller film, starring Keanu Reeves, Ana de Armas, Mira Sorvino and Christopher McDonald. Directed by Gee Malik Linton (under the pseudonym of Declan Dale), the plot concerns a detective, Scott Galban (Reeves) who is assigned to investigate the mysterious murder of his partner, New York City cop Joey Cullen (Danny Hoch). 

When his partner is stabbed and murdered in the New York City subway, experienced detective Scott Galban is assigned to the case. Unbeknownst to him, the case would reveal itself to be far more complicated than what appearances may suggest. When is uncovered the fact that Joey Cullen was corrupt, the rottenness inside the NYPD is threatened to be exposed, in an environment of illicit ordeals where literally everyone can be compromised. Even Scott Galban, who is having an illicit affair with Cullen’s wife, Janine (Sorvino) reveals himself to be an ambiguous person. Nonetheless, Galban is not as corrupt as the others, and is exceedingly determined to discover what really happened to his former partner, willing to go to excruciating extremes, no matter how compromising this can be for the New York City Police Department. 

Galban eventually discovers a potential witness to the case, a young Hispanic girl, Isabel de La Cruz (Ana de Armas). As the movie follows two apparently unrelated plot devices, one is showing Scott Galban on his extensive investigation to find the truth, while the other shows the Hispanic girl apparently losing her quest on sanity. She begins to have strange visions, and all of a sudden, discovers that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, what we see is the picture of a very quiet and seemingly normal girl. Isabel is a teacher, that loves all the children in her class, and her family life seems to be happy, satisfying and fulfilling. Her soon to be husband is far away, apparently serving in the army somewhere in the Middle East, but he communicates regularly with the entire family via webcam. Her family is a very religious one. Isabel herself is an ardent catholic believer. Nonetheless, her family is terrifyingly shocked when she tells them that she is pregnant. Knowing that her fiancé cannot be the father, given the fact that he has been far away for too long, all of them become extremely disappointed with her. And when she says that she had been impregnated by the Holy Spirit, like Mary, mother of Jesus, they become even more distressed and disdainful. But the surprise seems to be the fact that Isabel herself deeply believes what she is telling to her family.   

Nonetheless, as Galban deepens into the underworld, unraveling the mystery that revolves around his former partner, his path and Isabel’s eventually converges. Dwelling deeper into the mystery, he eventually finds the terrible and excruciating truth about Joey Cullen and Isabel de La Cruz.

This is a very good movie, but you have to be patient to be contemplated by the good and exponentially pervasive nature of the story. I had to see the movie two times, to be fully aware of this, as you have to submerge yourself completely into the narrative, to be delighted by the subtle prerogatives of its plot. At first, the movie seems to be very tedious, and since Exposed it’s not the typical police procedural story, you don’t have a lot of action. Focusing on human drama and police bureaucracy – although one of the plot devices really has detective Scott Galban investigating the mystery behind his partner’s death –, if you really want an action movie, this is not the case. With a slower pace, a dark and drastic storyline, and a cohesive plot centered in an urban setting that unravels towards the idiosyncrasies of human behavior and the alienation of police corruption, Exposed is far more about the exhilaration of human malevolent impulses, and how this affects a person that becomes victim of the evil present in the human nature.   

While this is not a marvelous movie, it’s a very good one. But like I wrote some lines above, you have to be very attentive to the storyline, otherwise you will be definitely bored. As the length and the calmness upon which the story is told, fulfilled by sideline details and a non-conventional style of storytelling, that implicates a more humanistic approach – opposed as being just another investigative story backed by a fully police guided crime thriller – Exposed can be considered an interesting and refreshing cinematic experience, full of intriguing nuances, perspectives and expectations. And I really mean this: I thought the movie was pretty mediocre the first time I saw it, but the second time, as I dwelled deeper into the story, I really understood better the grievances of the characters, the reflexive hardline of the story and the poetic, sometimes hazy and melancholic appeal of its plot. And I am seriously considering watching this movie a third time.

The end of the movie can be surprising as well, but this seriously depends on the spectator, and the capacity one has to judge and imagine or consider what is really happening. While it’s not something too difficult to decipher, on the other hand, it is not that obvious either.

Exposed had some problems in the post-production. Apparently, executives of the studio diverged on several questions. The original plot was, accordingly, far more complex than the final product, but movie executives wanted to highlight Reeves presence in the movie, since his character, at first, was just one tool for the story frame, and not the epicenter of it. Since the studio made significant changes in the editing process, director Gee Malik Linton asked his name to be completely erased from the project, so a pseudonym, Declan Dale, features in the directing credits.  


​Wagner

Gimu (Birth name Gilmar Monte) is a musician from Espírito Santo, Brazil, widely known for his peculiar style of dark ambient/ drone/ electronic noise style of sound. Attracted  to music from a very early age, Gimu soon got involved in pop and rock’n’roll bands, being influenced by a wide range of artists, like The Smiths, William Basinski and The Young Gods, amongst many others, and suddenly a passion was born. Closing in with some friends that shared his passion, nonetheless, Gimu soon realized that making a career in music, even with his talent, capabilities, curiosity, and an outstanding desire to learn and discover, was by no means an easy task.

Playing the guitar, singing, and writing songs, Gimu started his musical career in more conventional pop and rock’n’roll bands, without thinking one day that he will be making electronic music. Learning from the ups and downs and the uncertainties of being in a band, Gimu tried his best to persevere in a very precarious scenario, that is filled with lack of support and management, shortage of cash, hostile rivalries, and constantly changing line-ups, that doomed most of his bands, and compromised a possible future in the independent music scenario. In his case, temporarily, of course. 

Nonetheless, always confident in his abilities, although not always knowing precisely what direction to follow, Gimu knew he wanted to make music. Never stopping listening to a lot of bands, genres and styles, his creative abilities never went dormant, even in the periods of his life that, by virtue of straightforward  circumstances, music had to be placed in his life on a secondary level.       
 
With a career that has known many hiatuses from the beginning, Gimu never looked down upon his desire to make music. Being an experienced member of many bands – and the primary songwriter in all of them – his focus in music gradually shifted, as he experimented with new styles and genres, and expanded his wave of influences, becoming progressively more and more fascinated in what he discovered in the exotic, but fascinating scenario of underground electronic music. 

When his last band collapsed for once and for all, despite being a little despondent, Gimu never gave up on his determination, because, in his own words, he “simply don’t know what life would be like without making music.” When, with all of his maturity, years of experience and learning, and a renewed sense of purpose and determination, he shifted his focus to electronic experimental music, and settled his foot on a personal level of musical identity, creating a large underground audience, and a cult following fan base, that rapidly prompted him to be one of the most recognizable figures – if the not the greatest of them all – of dark ambient/ drone/ experimental electronic music in the Brazilian underground scene. 

After several decades making music, performing live, writing songs, expanding his range of influences, and learning how to live on in the instabilities of the music industry, Gimu is now regarded as one of the pioneers of dark electronic music in his home country, an underground figure with a very recognizable sound, that shifted the base, the groundwork and the shape of the genres that he works with, something that even himself probably wasn’t expecting when he decided to be a musician, more than two decades ago. Now a prolific musician with a lot of albums, EP’s and singles released, Gimu is a reference and a household name in several countries, and one of the most amazing “dark and bizarre” electronic musicians in the underground contemporary history. When you listen to Gimu, you certainly lose, but at the same time discover, a hidden part of you in his music, that even yourself wasn’t able to realize that it was there. And that is what a great dark ambient artist should be able to achieve. 


Wagner

Thoughty2 is a Youtube channel, with almost two million subscribers (1.983.761 as of January 22, 2017), and a spectacular 263.153.898 visualizations precisely (also, as of January 22, 2017), specialized in videos about curious and astonishing facts, with some of its more memorable videos certainly being the 9 Most Expensive Things in the World, Why Can’t You Remember Being a Baby, 7 Deepest Places on Earth, 7 Amazing Structures Built by Animals, 22 Surprising Facts about Albert Einstein and How Long Could You Stay Awake, among many other equally interesting videos, about usual and unusual facts.

Covering a wide range of interesting topics, its presenter, sole headliner, editor, writer and virtually only member is a bright, colorful and humorous British youngster in his mid-twenties, which lives in Northwestern England – Lancashire, more precisely –, known only as Arran. The only pieces of information we can have about him are the ones the host himself gives to us, in a Thoughty2 video about Thoughty2, called Surprising Facts about Thoughty2. 

Responding to some questions fans had asked him in his Facebook page and Twitter account, Arran tells us he haven’t gone to university, and, prior to starting Thoughty2, he used to work in an advertising department of a retail company, but this wasn’t proving satisfying to him. Taking advantage of his lifelong taste for curiosity and knowledge, he started making some videos, initially having serious doubts about having more than ten people paying attention to them. One of the best moments of this particular video is when Arran responds to someone who had asked “What it is your day job”, and he answers that by saying that his job is Thoughty2.      

Of course, with almost two million subscribers, you generate for yourself enough income to live very well on your YouTube channel, although you are wrong if you think this people become millionaires (well, in certain specific cases, but certainly not all of them). When you achieve such a status, YouTube can promote brands, companies and advertisements through the channel and you can generate a good deal of money from publicity, although this is not the only way to generate income from YouTube. Here in Brazil, which is my country, we have two amazingly successful examples of YouTube channels, popular in the whole nation, and, if you take into consideration the size of Brazil, – the fifth largest country in the world – that’s quite an accomplishment. One of them is called 5incominutos (5iveminutes), and at the present moment, having precisely 10.133.458 subscribers and 805.978.892 visualizations, it is one of the most successful YouTube channels of the country, being the vehicle for an artist an actress of southern Brazil, in her mid-twenties, called Kéfera Buchmann, that got her impressive and large fan-base from the humorous, funny and bizarre videos she had been doing for almost seven years. Another example is a channel called Felipe Neto, which is the name of its host, and, having 8.391.359 subscribers and 772.091.156 visualizations, presents a program mostly made by himself, called Não Faz Sentido (It Doesn’t Make Sense), well known for its bizarre critical and social commentary, as well as extremely abusive language. Since then, here in Brazil, some channels have been trying to proliferate – with different degrees of success – especially among teenage aspiring singers, like Mariana Nolasco (2.338.365 subscribers and 202.763.486 visualizations) and Sofia Oliveira (1.898.106 subscribers and 118.670.110 visualizations), although we have yet to see here a channel which presents to us the same degree of knowledge and interesting subjects such as Thoughty2. 

With interesting videos, and a funny display at sharing facts, knowledge and curiosities, Thoughty2 is a YouTube channel to certainly keep an eye on. YouTube comments sometimes criticize him for a lot of inaccuracies, which I especially noticed in his 10 Greatest Warrior Cultures in History video. Let’s be reasonable, he’s not perfect, which human in this world are? And we have – first and foremost – to analyze his intentions, which are to deliver complex knowledge in an easily understandable way, which is sublime. And not everything he presents to us can be categorized as undeniable truths – a lot of things are more relative, grounded in personal interpretation, although a lot of the content he taught us are indeed well-researched, and accurately true. And, with a plus, he narrates these facts in a very funny and humorous manner. Also, as I usually say, it is way easier to criticize, than do it better.

In a certain way, I think he reminds me of myself a little, when I was young. With an uncommon desire for discovering absolutely everything he can think of, and having, in his own words, an “insatiable appetite for knowledge and learning”, he displays a very scientific mind and an endless, voracious curiosity, which I can certainly relate to, having shared these same tendencies for all my life, although his results are way more interesting than my own.

With his fan-base growing stronger every day, I wish Arran all the best, so he can make more of this amazing and incredible videos of his. Accepting suggestions from fans, friends, and anybody wishing to contribute with interesting content, for sure Thoughty2 is a groundbreaking one-man made YouTube channel, with interesting potential. Let’s all have our eyes on Thoughty2, to see what’s Arran will come up with next!        


​Wagner

Meat is an infamous YouTube Channel, which has attracted a lot of controversy and attention in recent times. It was a mysterious channel, with a lot of disturbing, dark and distressing videos, seemingly random and purposeless. Inhospitable landscapes, women caught alone in desert places and disturbing repetitive imagery were some of the things captured on the videos. To this day, nobody knows who managed the account, and a lot of speculations could be read on the section comments for every video downloaded on the channel, with the opinions going to both extremes: while some people wrote that this was only a person with a lot of time available doing some videos to please himself – while laughing a lot when reading the absurd comments people wrote on his channel –, others speculated that this was a vicious, insane and highly intelligent serial killer, that was actually recording on camera desolate places to dispose bodies, registering landscapes with highly disturbing resonant sounds in the background, shooting images of dark and sinister interiors and recording people in the open, whilst he was hidden behind trees or bushes, possibly preparing himself to attack. Scary, isn’t it? But who knows the truth, besides the owner of the controversial channel? Probably, nobody else. 

Well, there is, undoubtedly, several channels a lot scarier than Meat, but while some of the videos were a lot softer than the urban legends created behind every single one of them, what used to be even scarier than what the videos were showing, was the things not appearing on the screen: if you really paid attention to the ambience, the sound, the background images, the landscape and all the adjacent information in every single video, you would certainly guess the person recording this certainly was doing a lot of things one is supposed not to do. But this was just the beginning of a wide range of speculations, not just on my part, but on the behalf of every single person that saw the videos, drowning deeply into the dark side of the mind behind the recorded images. Okay, perhaps it was just my imagination, taking too seriously the things I saw.

While doing some research myself (yes, I like playing the detective sometimes, probably the result of reading too much Arthur Conan Doyle in the past), I’ve collected enough evidence, which says that this individual is probably Canadian. Well, I have never been into Canada, so how could I know, right?   

Well, a lot of the landscapes, buildings and sites in his videos are typically Canadian, with some residents correctly identifying at least some of those places and sites in the video comments. One viewer correctly identified one of these as the Victory Soya Mills Silos, an abandoned facility in the vicinity of Toronto. Another loose set of references points out Canada as his area of activity as well, but you have to be very attentive to find this out. In one of these videos, it was possible to see a sign written in two languages, French and English, which are the two main languages of Canada.     

Well certainly, a lot of the things we write and think about this individual and the videos uploaded on the channel were a matter of pure speculation, and a lot of these same speculations helped a lot to inflate the internet urban legend on which the Meat Channel built its reputation. Probably this is nothing more than a work of a bored individual, that doesn’t know what to do in his spare time. At least, I hope this is the case.  

As my desire to show you this grew, unexpectedly, for no apparent reason,   unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see) the owner of the channel deleted all videos some months ago, except one, a video upon which he explains – in a written message – why he decided to erase all the videos. Also, we may be talking not of a male person, but a female one. If you take a look into the Facebook and Twitter account of Meat – yes, he (or she), had both [if it was not deleted as well], the name given in the context possibly points out to a female person, not a male one. But of course, this person – whatever the sex gender may be – can be deliberately trying to fool us. It can be a prank, like a lot of the things we see on the internet these days. 

In the end, I think Meat probably would remain being one of those dark internet mysteries to remain unsolved. I can only hope seriously that this is just a dark prank, from a bored – and very smart – aristocratic student, with a penchant for dark humor, from a very expensive college in nearby Toronto, with a lot of time in his hands, than the more dramatic rumors that the more drastic Meat fans have speculated about. Well, unfortunately, there are a lot of demented maniacs and serial killers out there, and some of them are cleverer, more than what we could possibly like to admit… and maybe one of these insane individuals was the mastermind behind Meat, recording and uploading his videos on YouTube until recently, while laughing hysterically about how he was easily getting away with murder, while showing through his YouTube channel little pieces and fragments of his illicit activities. Very dark and psychotic, right? Sincerely, I don’t even like to think about it, but let’s face it… there is always the possibility! Well, while his videos were ambiguous enough to let us point out innumerous interpretations – from the most terrible and sadistic ones to the more plausible and naïve probabilities –, one thing is certain: it doesn’t matter trying to speculate. Whatever the truth may be, we will simply never know.    


​Wagner

Well, being home alone, for most people, means liberty, freedom, happiness, the chance to finally hear out loud the music you want to, to see that really cool television show that only you like it, and do whatever pleases you the most, until the parents, the roommate, the wife or the husband gets home, which means that the fun you had, when you were totally alone, is gone for good. 

Well, being alone means fun, right? Well, not always! Let’s remember that very good horror movies make useful the pretext of being alone, to do a very cohesive and scary fearful story. Movies like When a Stanger Calls and Mischief Night are perfect examples on why being home alone is not always a very good situation, and how what appears to be a chance to finally feel on your own could turn into a very dreadful and deadliest situation, as fast as the blink of an eye.

Of course, for a situation like this to be scary, you have to add the elements that disrupts the tranquility of the ambient, like the night, strange noises, and, of course –
the main component – a pervasive and dangerous assailant, which means that you will regret the decision of a quiet solitary night, in the comfort of your house.

Experience a situation like these in real life can be really frightening. Can you imagine hearing things outside, look at the window, and see nothing? And suddenly hear the slow and cautious walk of an intruder, and have that feeling, that you know something is very, very wrong? And have to hide under your bed, or inside the closet, praying for the intruder not to find you?

Well, while this kind of situation is very unwanted and potentially dangerous in real life, they really do very nice and frightening horror stories and movies. And they appeal to us in such a high intensity because it could happen to any one of us. The tension and the fear built in the air is especially painful just because you don’t know who exactly is the person trespassing, what it is the main motive behind the intrusion, what the intruder will really do (steal? rape? kidnap? kill? all of these options?), and if you have enough physical strength to overcome him, and possibly escape alive well, or not. And in the right mood, in the correct pace and in the proper tension, this kind of story can be scary, more than we could possibly imagine.    

Well, for your fun, the video below has 10 scary stories, that will make you think twice, the next time you’re about to be home alone. But you have to listen to them completely on your own, in the dead of night, in the darkness of your bedroom. Otherwise, it will have no effect. Everybody is brave and courageous with other people at broad daylight, but completely alone, in the darkness of the dawn… well, that’s when you really see if you are brave enough… or not!      

Well, time for a new series on Merchants Of Air. I call this one "Rerooting" because I'm going to have a look at all those records that developed my insatiable appetite for new music. Over the past four decades or so, I've been digging into the world of music, looking for different things, other angles, unknown sounds. I've devoured countless of genres and I always seem to have a few favorites. Today, my wife asked me to list a few of my all time favorite death metal songs, which immediately made me go to YouTube and provide her with a decent dose of brutality.

Aah, the Swedes, always ready to kick your butt with something you have never heard before. Formed in 1987, Entombed delivered a heap of blasting songs but this one from their 'Wolverine Blues' album is by far my absolute favorite. The whole album is a gem of skull ripping death metal but you should already know that by now.

I was an Anthrax fan and someone gave me a tape from the thrash gods. On side B, he recorded something he thought I'd like. Oh boy, he was wrong. I hated every single second of that harsh, relentless and painful noise...until I accidentally listened a second time. Suddenly, I was a death metal fan and definitely a Sepultura fan. 'Arise' is still my favorite album but as far as youth sentiment is concerned, 'Mass Hypnosis' and the whole 'Beneath The Remains' album is the shit.

Oh man, the nineties must have been the most eardrum tormenting decade my mother has ever been through. I played these things loud and this (ahum) beauty was always a part of the playlist. It was also the age when my neck contained the most well-trained muscles in my body, if you know what I mean...

This particular song might be somewhat of a surprise to Napalm Death lovers but it is my absolute favorite of the grandmasters. I know, 'You Suffer' and many others have been some of the most genre definable songs but 'Evolved As One' opened a whole new world for me. Hell, I didn't know metal was allowed to be slow. Imagine discovering this song as a mentally tormented adolescent. What a fucking masterpiece...

Chuck, this one is for you, a massively talented musician and songwriter who died too soon. This 'Spiritual Healing' album was a mind opener for me. Before I discovered this album, death metal was nothing but speed and brutality but Death added a stunning technical aspect to the whole damn thing. They changed tempo more often than I changed underwear. Yes, I was a disturbed teenager...

Yes, 'We Shall Rise' is a world class death metal song but people seem to forget that there was an Arch Enemy before Angela took over vocal duties. I 'member the old Arch Enemy and their bloody awesome 'Burning Bridges' album, which was a melodic and technical masterpiece. Lately, I somewhat lost track of this band but I do admit that this song helped me in forming one or a few musical identities...

More Swedes please!!! I've always adored the thick, muddy sound of Dismember and when 'Indecent and Obscene' came out, I just had to go buy it. Back home (back in those days we had to leave the house to buy albums) I quickly non-stopped the thing and discovered this mesmerizing closer.

In 1994, death metal took an unexpected turn, at least for me. Suddenly, there was Amorphis with their 'Tales From The Thousand Lakes' album and things would never be the same again. Of course, I knew these Fins already and I enjoyed their 'The Karelian Isthmus' album but 'Tales' is nothing short of a masterpiece, dark, melodic, featuring clean vocals along with some of the best grunts in history... 

Just one of the many defining tunes of these American legends, but for me a song that really stands out. In this one, they make technical death metal seem so easy, so effortless and manage to write a bunch of decent songs as well. Hell, I even enjoyed their experimental, techno-inspired work on the loathed 'Illum' album. I mean, still better than 'St Anger', right???

Another bunch of legends and another somewhat slower piece of death metal, maybe I've just always been a doom fan, who knows. Anyway, back in the days, I used to play 'Symphonies of Sickness' really loud every time Jehova's Witnesses were knocking on the door. Yet, somehow, I lost track of Carcass until their magisterial 'Heartwork' album, including this awesome tune.

In my opinion, you cannot be a metal fan without supporting your local scene. I discovered this guys at a gig in a local café and I was immediately sold. Their brutal but melodic death metal was everything I needed at that moment, even more so than bands like At The Gates or Bolt Thrower, which everyone was listening to. Unfortunately, Death's Bride disbanded a few years later, which gave way to the equally awesome Leech 54, also fronted by The Larz Meister!!!

Peter Tägtgren is a genius, coming up with some of the most infectious riffs the world of metal has ever experienced. This song, and the whole 'The Final Chapter' album, have been a constant during my years as an angry adolescent. Sometimes I wonder what is in the water in Sweden, they just keep barking out amazing acts...

At some point in my metal career I was completely hooked on Dutch death metallers Gorefest and their 'Erase' album. Although I wasn't really a fan of the vocal sound, the groovy and in-your-face sound of the album made me play it again and again. Somehow, Gorefest didn't take things to the most extreme levels but focused on creating complex and immersive songs.

This one comes from a compilation I bought ('Death Is Just The Beginning II'). I didn't know Master but this song got me hooked immediately. That flute, the constant pounding tempo. Simply brilliant. 

Coming from that same compilation, which obvisouly was a massive blast in its entirity, comes this dark, haunting piece of death metal by Benediction. To me, this was something different from the usual eardrum-drilling provided by most death metal bands. Once again, this nudged towards the doom scene, and that is probably exactly why I loved this song so much.

Serge

Black metal aesthetics – the dark outfit, the corpse paint, the metal spikes, and all the accessories that guys in BM bands usually wear have to be used wisely, carefully, and very correctly, because…well, you know, the wrong use of these outfit components can produce a completely different reaction, and instead of appearing frightening, the musicians and enthusiasts of the genre can be quite comic and funny at times, for the sake of our joy and amusement! When they really don’t know how to dress, how to pose for a picture, and really don’t have the slightest notion about aesthetics, the final result can be quite catastrophic to them, and exceedingly laughable to us! 

The strange part on these situations is that some guys in the genre take themselves very seriously, even when they are pictured in a funny context. Well, down below, I have selected twenty five very funny black metal pictures, for you to have some good laughs! Some of these guys are “famous” (at least, in a black metal context), and some aren’t. If you by any chance are an individual that appear in one of these pictures, please, don’t take it personally. And please, for the sake of the seriousness of the genre – if you, by any chance, want to be taken seriously someday –, take a lesson first, and learn how to dress. And how to properly appear in a picture is useful too (or if a picture is really necessary, at the first place… first ask yourself if you are a musician, or a model).   

Okay, Abbath has never been taken seriously (I think that not even by himself). For a black metal comedian, he has really been on top of the fun (and who is this dude wearing a mask, by the way?). For a black metal themed picture, even the bald guy in the middle is more frightening than his supposedly metal companionships. 

Man, it’s a black metal task having to accompany your grandfather into a colonoscopy exam, right? 

There are so many bizarre things at this picture that…well, I wouldn’t even know in what point I should start. The shovel on his hand (I don’t know if that is a shovel, but certainly it looks like one)… The painting on his face? His rubber armor, capable of impressing – at the best possible evaluation – a four year old child? His belt, that looks like a boxing tournament trophy? He definitely could entertain a children’s party, though.  

Okaaaay…this can’t be a real band, right????????????? 

Okay, these people should really stop reading Harry Potter. This would be a good start (And look at how ordinary their outfit and make-up are… I think that the only ones really considering this a black metal themed something are themselves). 

Look at this couple (well…at least, it looks like one). Celebrating Valentine’s day, in black metal style! 

Yes…Abbath again (but you’ll get used to it). Because he is never tired of being funny. When you are born to be a black metal humorist, you never loose goofiness! 

Okay, compared to a lot of pictures, it is not THAT BAD. But still, if you are not a five year old, how high on drugs and alcohol do you have to be to take them seriously?? (The answer is: almost to the point of alcoholic coma).

Abbath... agaaain.,with his classmates (wow, how happy you have to be to appear on so many pictures, always smiling, and still thinking that you truly represents a genre like black metal?). But still… look at Abbath…wearing a suit. With his boots. And an open mouth. Showing his tongue. And apparently, trying to learn how to dance. Or how to properly pose for a picture (yeah, like if he really could learn how to do it). Wwow!!...very black metal. I’m impressed.  

Well…, please, can someone tell him that you don’t actually have to be on your black metal uniform, when you’re doing your exercises at the gym? 

Need two clowns for your little kid’s birthday? I’m pretty sure Abbath and Demonaz can handle it perfectly, with all the craziness and goofiness that they usually bring with them so naturally!  

Well, after seeing all of these pictures, we step directly into the conclusion that probably Abbath really has created the ridiculousness in black metal. But he is not alone in this endeavor. He certainly had a lot of excellent and devoted disciples, that really followed his steps. 


​Wagner

The Big Short is a 2015 American biographical drama film, directed by Adam McKay, with an ensemble cast that stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt in the main roles. Christian Bale plays Michael Burry, a hedge fund manager of Scion Capital LLC, whose mathematical genius predicts the real estate market collapse that led to the American financial crisis of 2008.

Michael Burry is an awkward, eccentric and sometimes incomprehensible man, which is the founder and CEO of Scion Capital LLC, a financial company. Burry has a glass eye and Asperger syndrome, which makes him an individual with very limited personal skills and poor social interaction.  Nonetheless, he is a mathematical genius, brilliant with numbers, having made a solid reputation for himself in the financial business. After a brief analysis of the passive and active revenues of some real state reports, he notices financial discrepancies, that makes obvious to him that an impeding shortage very soon will take the real estate market by storm, and consequently, the financial system will inevitably collapse. He rapidly realizes how he can profit from that, creating credit counterpart funds against the frail banking system, which is blind and obtuse, never prepared with contingency plans.

Coming up with a plan to create a creditor insurance line against default, he makes deals with banks, initially appearing to be a fool that doesn’t know how to spend money properly, as everyone thinks that the entire financial system is infallible, and that the mortgage system structure is a solid one, as in thirty years no big scale problem has ever happened. Nonetheless, despite looking like an idiot in the eyes of the bankers, Burry knows everything about real state, and how the system works, precisely predicting how and when the system is going to collapse.     

Meanwhile, Mark Baum (Steve Carell), from FrontPoint Capital (in real life, Steve Eisman, from FrontPoint Partners) meet the ambitious and ludicrous Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, based on Greg Lippmann), an astounding genius that works for the Deutsche Bank, that also come up with a plan to profit from the remarkable fails that soon will take over the entire financial system. He is also the narrator of the events told in the movie. Upon hearing the inconspicuous rumors about the inevitable collapse disseminated by Burry, and astonishingly realizing that he is probably right, Vennett form a solid, but backsliding partnership with Baum, to incisively deal, and profit as much as possible, with the impeding financial ruin that will take the United States by storm. Doing some field research, upon discovering a series of frauds, ghostly transactions, and horrendously abnormal discrepancies in the financial market that for some time prompted the system to seem stable, Mark Baum becomes severely distraught when he discovers how giant it is the blank space in the financial system that very soon will destabilize the entire American economy. Visualizing how big the crisis could be, he becomes a very desperate man, severely shaken by the weaknesses of the system on which the entire capitalist economy is built. 

Brad Pitt plays Ben Rickert (in fact, Ben Hockett) a wise economist, that mentors two brilliant, but inexperienced youngsters in the financial market, Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) and Charlie Geller (John Magaro), who are not being taken seriously by bankers or investors alike, since their fund capital of 30 million, in a market that deals with billions of dollars, is seeing as a very small change. Shipley and Geller also became aware of the flaw in the system that will cause a major crisis in the country, and rapidly come up with a plan to their advantage. Upon perceiving that they are probably right, Rickert decides to guide them, but being very cynic and contemptible on human greed, he also realizes with deep anger and sadness what the crisis will do to the country: millions of people will lose their jobs and their homes, and the United States will have to deal with an horrendous scenario of financial, political and moral crisis, being totally unprepared for it.  

Eventually the crisis happens, exactly as Burry had predicted. All of them, with their well-designed schemes and plans elaborated to profit from the fails in the structure of the financial system earn enormous amounts of money from the situation. Nonetheless, neither of these men becomes happy, and the impending doom that finally takes the United States by storm eventually brings disgrace to millions of people, that lose their homes and their jobs, scattering all over the country a sense similar to the stock market collapse of 1929, with all of these men realizing how frail and fallible the financial system really is. Some of them, like Burry and Rickert, leave the financial business for good. Being responsible for the crisis a great deal of fraudulent schemes and investments, nobody but one person is arrested for the ghostly financial wall created by those fake banking transaction arrangements, and after some years, the very same scenario begins to take place, although arranged by other people, and with other names for the same schemes, raising the possibility that very soon, another potential crisis can strike the entire economic system, as no financial platform is 100% secure.  

Surprisingly, The Big Short is a very dynamic movie, not boring at all, despite being two hours long. With its all-star cast, unfortunately only the characters of Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell interact with each other. Showing the financial market in several different angles, the movie is very honest about the malignant and egotistical opportunism that those in command of the financial business arrange for their own personal gains. Setting aside economical terms and conventions, the movie is built upon a very credible storyline, easily comprehensible, and interestingly good to follow. With total respect with the audience, you don’t have to be a mathematical genius or a theoretical economist to understand what is going on. With simple terms, and an easy way to correlate the financial situation in line, you can rapidly identify and visualize precisely the awful scenario built by a series of fraudulent investments, monetary obligations, mortgage finances and security schemes all set by a system indefinitely fed up by its own flaws and faults, which is somewhat the very own basis of the American economy: to deal with money that, in fact, does not exist.

Besides being a very systematic movie, you can understand very well the treacherous elements of the financial market that inherently generated the 2008 crisis, and the situation responsible for that. Changing from storyline to storyline, The Big Short presents an interesting and very interchangeable chain of events, built by a fragmented plot linked by a common concept, that presents the different perspectives of all the men that already knew that a nationwide financial ruin was in development, and that subsequently the banking system would inevitably collapse. Like a giant avalanche that could not be stopped or detained, all of these men, each one on their own terms, prepared themselves to respond to the financial and social consequences of the monumental event. Most of them, unfortunately, were seeking only their own personal gains in the process. 

The movie also greatly interprets moral, ethical and genius evaluation of personalities, since each one of these characters have their own personal merits and qualifications to stand in the places they are. Nonetheless, they hardly think for the benefits of others, and are almost all the time working only to sustain what they already have, and to build a more solid base beyond that, setting up their personal and professional grounds of activity only to gain upon the losses of others.

Finally, The Big Short is a terrific movie. Dynamic, easy paced, fast, interesting and enthusiastic, besides the brilliant choice of actors, the plot and storyline are driven in an excellent and very ambitious manner. Showing honestly the controversial side of the financial market, and the rotten side of the American economy – and how it impacts in our daily lives, even if you live outside the United States – The Big Short is an astonishing movie, that shows the raw, savage and horrendous side of the financial system, with all of its ups and downs, with all of its downward spirals, and chaotic hordes of frightening hangmen always ready to do everything in their power for easy money. Although you can get a little tired being in offices and conferences all the time throughout the movie, The Big Short is a fantastic film made to make history. Certainly deserves a four stars rate, undoubtedly.     


​Wagner