Saturday, March 21, 2026

march 21st, 2026

one week since the last post but ive been thinking about the blog nonstop and what to write for it. i fouund a CRT sunday! my friend was taking me to work when he spotted it on the side of the road and since the signs said free, we took it. it works amazingly! the colors are great and the picture is amazing. i was fairly surprised as i thought it would be dim and slightly faulted but it was perfect! i remember being scared to carry it up the stairs because i live on the second floor. i was terrified but me and my friend got it up with no problems. ive been using my Dreamcast on it since i've gotten it and it's an absolute dream to have, looks amazing and i want to use it more and more as a result. i plan on getting more games this upcoming week because theres so much cool stuff on the Dreamcast.

the Dreamcast is the coolest console of all time, in my opinion. a great selection of games and some of my favorite tech ever in a console, it was truly ahead of its' time. such a shame it ended up being SEGA's last effort with a game console. we could've had so much more :/. i love this console so much, its a masterpiece. i need to get a few more retro consoles (not really, just a PS3 but that's really it,) because they're really fun to play, i have a PS2 i haven't messed with in years but its one of my favorite things i own and i can't wait to play with it again when i move back in with my parents because it's going to be so much fun. my current set-up right now is a DVD player i found at Goodwill for like 10 bucks (i think i mentioned it on an old blog post, actually) from 2001 that's supposedly high-tech and great quality for its time.. and to no surprise, it holds up surprisingly well. it even came with the remote! its a fun little oddity to have. it looks amazing on my TV (for obvious reasons), so i'm pretty happy with it. the remote even has angle buttons and i love that cause the Beastie Boys DVDs i have take full advantage of stuff like that so it adds to the experience (Three MC and One DJ angle of Mix Master Mike scratching is one of the coolest things you could possibly watch). i can't wait to experience the detour mode of the Awesome... I Shot That! DVD.

i haven't been reading much manga as a result of messing with the CRT i got and the DVD player and part of me is kinda upset by that but the other is kinda happy i haven't been "forcing" myself to read it, the current series i'm reading is called I Don't Want This Love Game To End and the first volume is pretty good. i like a lot of the aspects and it seems like a fairly easy read so maybe at some point this week i actually lock in and finish the manga because i know it can take me like one night to properly finish it. i haven't been too crazy about manga recently, unfortunately. i hope i lock back in again so i can read and read like i always want to because there's so much out there i wanna read and finish (like Dragon Ball, lol). i saw Kaiju No. 8 vol. 15 came out so i'm probably going to pick it up when i get paid this week, on top of the Dreamcast stuff so it's going to be a very fun few days. i really enjoy keeping my manga series up to date, it's fun. the only series i don't have up to date is Gachiakuta but that's because i haven't found motivation for it for some reason even though i absolutely loved the first two chapters. i need to pick up some more Junji Ito, always good to give respects to the mangaka that got you into manga into the first place, my copy of Tomie was actually 5 bucks and it's super cool! it's been a want of mine for YEARS now so to have it for that cheap was absolutely perfect. i need to Rai Rai Rai, i own the volumes but i haven't read any of it yet but i really like the art and the premise so i'll eventually get to it. still waiting for Yotsuba vol. 16.

this one is going to take a chunk of the post because i have a lot to speak about regarding these two topics, k-pop and hololive. i don't know if i can do k-pop anymore, i've had this sentiment for years now but always stuck around for some reason but this time it's not looking too great. the only groups i like aren't very active anymore outside of ILLIT but it's very easy to just focus on them. the more i get into hololive the less i want to interact with anything k-pop related, for some reason. it's hard to properly explain but as i get older, the less k-pop just seems appealing and how its shaped itself has drawn me more and more away, that and i need to get over the fact it's not 2022 anymore. i guess a gleaming example of this is the fact when im out of the house, one of the main things on my mind is wanting to get home asap and watch hololive stuff, which i haven't felt about k-pop in a long, long time. i have like 7 videos i added to my Watch Later on YouTube last night that are all hololive. i have like 13 videos in my Watch Later that's all hololive and i actually intend to watch them instead of putting them off. stuff like that is so nice to have and its rewarding compared to what k-pop has done recently and how much i loved it. did you know Super ILLIT is airing? it was finally brought back after like a year but i can't bring myself to wanna watch an episode because they're SO long. 30-40 minute episodes, i want to be excited about it but i really miss the episodes that were like 15-20 minutes so much. i've noticed a lot of in-house k-pop content has gotten longer and longer and it's driving me away, i had to drop 123 IVE because each episode was getting closer to being an hour long and i just couldn't do it anymore, and i LOVED it! so imagine how i feel about Super ILLIT... it's just becoming more clear to me though that i should probably move on. i still like a lot of the old groups and still listen to their stuff, but the whole idol thing and variety content side i've fallen off of, a lot of it still the same but i think i just grew out of it. it's saddening for me because it used to be my life and i don't regret my fandom in any capacity, but i'm getting older. which is why i watch a bunch of anime women. the irony. i'm not really sure what about hololive appeals to me, i think it's the personalities because i like a lot of them, my oshi is Korone! i love her, she's my favorite thing ever right now, her design is so cute and her personality is amazing to watch on stream because she's really funny most of the time. also her english is suuuuuper cute and i can watch it all day. i multi oshi both Korone and Pekora and it's kinda unfortunate because there's not much content between the both of them as they both stated that they don't talk much outside of work which is kinda sad, but makes sense, they both seem really introverted. i get something out of hololive that i haven't gotten out of k-pop in years, fun. it's so much fun to watch these idols and i feel really happy engaging with their content the way that i do. also the music is amazing, i'm a complete sucker for the j-pop sound so being able to find a idol and j-pop thing i'm super into like this and has great music is just sublime, i feel so rewarded for being a fan and it's just a feeling i won't ever appreciate enough. i even started collecting the card game! i have Okayu, Korone and La+ Darkness but i hope to have a lot of my oshis soon because they're cool to own cards of. one of my favorite parts of them being virtual is that there's also a lot more they can do for content, for example, they have a short form series called Holo no Grafitti and it's so much fun to watch since they're animated, they're able to do a LOT more than live action can and it's fun to watch, i've only seen a handful of episodes but they're absolutely fun to watch and i can't wait to watch all 300+ (TT) episodes at some point. god, i love being into this stuff so much. i wish k-pop was more opening and did stuff like that for variety content, 3-4 minute short episodes of groups doing a bunch of stupid stuff just because it's entertaining and funny. they already kinda do that but i feel doing it in shorter segments would be more fun and a way to get more stuff out properly. anyways i love hololive Gamers, what a great unit. everyone in the unit is entertaining and i love their animal motif a lot. very cute and adorable. that's all i really have to say for now regarding these two topics but it's really interesting how it's turning out. i hope i feel moderately better about k-pop in the future but it's not looking too bright. oh well, more for hololive! yay!

i don't have much more to say at the moment, which is unfortunate because i loved writing this but alas, i have to get ready for work soon so i will be on my way. i love writing for the blog, feels incredibly rewarding every single time that i do it. love it. i need to fix up the theme of the blog so i'll do that shortly after publishing this post. anyways, toodles! hope everyone has a great day.



Friday, March 13, 2026

march 13th, 2026

the future is now... the future is present... no.... the future is... the future! very clearly bored right now, been a somewhat eventful day (not really but it sounds enticing when i say that), i finally finished frieren and its great! i love the story a lot and the dynamic between all the characters is super cool. stark and fern's chemistry is super cute to observe as they play off eachother so well in the chapters. frieren herself is an amazing character and i love how her emotions get softer as the series goes on, what a super fun read. i hope the creators get healthy soon, no rish though, but its a fun manga to read. i heard the anime is amazing so i really wanna check it out, i can see myself being super into it like i was the kaguya-sama anime (good lord, i can make a whole post about that if i wanted to [which i kinda do]). the only thing i have to say though is that the exam arc was really boring that i pratically skipped over it and the current arc right now is pretty meh, not intrigued by it because i dont like the characters a lot. i liked ubel at first but slowly growing to dislike her, i dont like her character or her dialogue, feels very forced for what type of person she is. other than that, i dont have anything else negative to say about the series but i will say i think the slice of life stuff is much more natural and better to read than the action stuff, which for a shonen i understand and like that it's there to break up moods and considering the entire story is a journey, but i feel theres a bit of a slog in the dialogue when it comes to the action stuff. these are very lovable characters and i want to see them succeed, which is why i love the slice of life bits a lot more. the characters are so adorable as a result, frieren is one of my favorite characters, she's very expressive and a bit stubborn which is fun to read in the slice of life stuff. fern is also very adorable too, i love her character too and how she grows up in the story. i love her bangs too, absolute sucker for characters with bangs.

let's see.... what else did i do? well i watched half of the webseries for nirvana the band the show and that was amazing. i have a new fondness and love towards the show because of how raw and authentic it is, the show uses real people, real locations, real everything and its sooo good as a result. copyright doesn't matter! i love it. the viceland show is pretty much the same way and its glorious. i love the show so much. i would speak more on the viceland show but if youre reading this i want you to drop this and immediately find the show and watch it. absolutely mind-blowing shit and it broke my mind. for being so much into jackass, nathan for you, eric andre, arrested development and a lot of shows that are handheld style and very witty and dry, im genuinely surprised that i havent found / watched this earlier. it's a masterpiece of both comedy and visuals and shows how much you're allowed to get away with and it leaves you stumped (it did me at least...). seriously though, drop this and watch the show immediately. you will not regret it. it goes without saying that my interest in this show DOES spawn from the fact there's a new movie (well it came out last month but whatever) that's coming out digitally in a week and a half and to say i'm excited is an understatement. i am beyonf excited, i have heard nothing but praise for the movie and after watching both the webseries and the show... i get it! absolute masterpiece as i've stated and hopefully have implied. god, what a show. im sure ill speak more on this show in later posts but mannnnnnnnn its worth every second. i also started watching the Mega64 versions, i'm only 3 episodes in but it's really fun so far, i love the aesthetic and the idea. the only reason why i started watching is because mega64 is one of my favorite youtube channels and ive been curious for a long time, so finally being able to watch it feels nice, i even bought their patreon to watch it, yay! having money is awesome! on the real though, i'm very glad about starting it, i know it gets better as time goes on and i cant wait to get there. hm..

what else? i just realized that this is all one huge block of text lol, im going to space it out from now on to seperate each topic so it doesn't feel like a burden to read. i only blog for myself though, i don't expect anyone ever to read any of these, but it's nice to just write and write about stuff going on. i'd have a digital diary but i don't like using those and google docs runs terribly, but i love how easy and fun blogger is to use, and i can also write non blog posts (research posts possibly) if i wanted to, which i will for sure do on here. i miss the blogs, i miss being under ruby, i miss being creative, i miss being obsessively into things, i'm so glad to be under this name. i love ruby. i love my friends too. i feel more human that i've ever felt in a long time and it's amazing. what was i talking about? no clue.

i also played sonic 2 earlier! i haven't played in years so it was fun to play a bit. i got around 8 zones in and i have to say.... metropolis is awful. terrible, terrible zone. ive been watching a lot of sonic videos again cause i went on a sprawl last week and started watching a bunch of videos from cybershell from sonic and i was like "huh i should play the game again," and im glad i did cause sonic is cool as hell. he's blue, fast and has a cool additude, what's not to love?

uh, uh.... hm. hololive. nah, im playing. i should've said it like this: hololive! i love hololive, i got into it at some point last month and it was very much worth it, i feel i found it at the right time. im fairly new to it so i don't know that much history / info but im having a blast. my top 4 at the moment is: pekora, korone, vivi and fuwamoco. they're all adorable! pekora and korone are my oshis (i was surprised they used that term) because they're both very funny and unique. this video and this one are reasons why they're my oshis. i really love the both of them to bits, and i love their music too. i think korone is adorable too, her voice and her whole dog shtick resonates well with me and she's also genuinely fun to watch as a result. i also love how ruthless and out there pekora is, feels very comforting and kinda relatable as i feel me and her share a lot of the same traits. i even have a pekora hand plush! (i also have one of sora)













pekovivi is also my favorite duo, there's a lot of cute moments between the two and you can clearly tell pekora cares about vivi which is just adorable to watch. i feel a lot of there best moments are from their minecraft streams because... wow. so much good stuff there. even their cover is so cute! i listen to it a lot. korone also has a cover for earthbound's pollyanna and... its SOOOO GOOD. its very touching, i remember wanting to cry after i heard it for the first time. i love a lot of hololive's og music because they're very much j-pop and i love that sound, but it's nice to finally be into j-pop to some extent. i could never get into j-pop idols like i wanted to because they couldn't click for me for some reason but hololive scratches the exact itch i want from idols so... it's better than nothing. nah, i kid, i love these characters a bunch. my favorite unit is hololive gamers! obviously since one of my oshis is korone. i hope to have a lot more merch before the year ends, i wanna show my love and support for my favs to the fullest extent. my goal is to have a majority of the handplushes to the characters i like. i hope theres a fuwamoco one because i know theres ones for suisei, korone, fubuki and the rest of hololive gamers that i really want (to my knowledge at least).

i've been writing for a long time and i don't want to stop but i have some stuff i have to do so i'll cut it short here. i guess this is the first "proper" blog post, lol. i'm very happy with it. hoping to write more posts like this in the future as they're very relaxing to do. i love getting my brain like this. i'll see you guys in the next post! toodles~

Monday, March 9, 2026

why a new blog?

that's a very good question, i don't know. ive been really bad at keeping up blogs and my last one (at least under ruby) kinda crashed as real life junk got in the way, but im more comfortable posting on blogspot under this name. it's very refreshing. looking back at the posts i made when i turned 18 and was 17 is so much fun, i was so excited for whatever i was into... but it's not that way anymore, at least it doesn't feel that way. i'm still using the same chromebook my brother gifted me 3 years ago and it's... still holding up really well, surprisingly. i feel strange coming back to a new blog under this name but ive recently came back online to this name so i might as well go back to my once beloved website; blogspot. im not trying to leave my old past behind but its really not a part of me or my creative output now, as much as it should be considered, at least. im still the same kid from 2022 that made the og blog, just have more responsibilities in my life now, which kinda sucks but its good to finally have an outlet to get all these feelings out. normally id write a bunch of junk here about the past 4 years but like, who cares? i dont. reminiscing is lame in retrospect. i guess my interests are the same, i want to be more open about everything i like as i was on the old blog but like, more? i recently got into manga a few months ago and i WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!! i love manga so much. the art, the stories they tell, the titles of manga, how they read right-to-left instead of the other way round, the publishing companies... every single aspect! i love it! i have a lot i wanna talk about regarding manga as its an interesting artform (i know it's just japanese comics but like, it's so different than what the states have so who cares). i really wanna get my hands on these viz media samplers they tend to give out at expos. they're essentially just little samplers of what manga viz has at the time. i really want all of them but i wanna get the fall 2025 because it includes a Junji Ito story, Tsumiki Ogami's Not-So-Ordinary Life (one of my favorites) and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (currently reading this one, super amazing!). Here are some pictures of it!:

looks great! photos sourced from here

okay its time to wrap this post up, just wanted to write more about the blog. its 8 in the morning and i havent slept yet (a terrible sleep schedule still persists!). i'll catch y'all on the flipside, toodles.

new blog.... who am i?

hi! im ruby, im 21 and a writer / graphic designer with hopes to go professional with those two paths in the future. im a big fan of japanese media (mostly manga and movies) and k-pop. i also indulge in such hobbies as photography and messing with old software/hardware (mostly windows xp era stuff and sixth gen consoles)! im also super into godzilla, sony, and collecting physical media of my favorite things.

current interests: nirvanna the band the show, hololive, tetris, k-pop and manga

you can find me with the links here: https://stolenartvalor.online/
under this picture of kaguya i will list my top 5 favorites of mostly anything i can think of!

















top 5 music genres
hip-hop
drum n bass
vaporwave
punk
shibuya-kei

top 5 manga
Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War
Chainsaw Man
Welcome To The N.H.K.
Bloom Into You
Yotsuba&!

top 5 rappers / rap groups
JPEGMAFIA
MF DOOM
Beastie Boys
Aesop Rock
Bladee

top 5 rappers / rap groups that has made the most influence on me
Sematary
Marjorie -W.C. Sinclair
Bladee
Death Grips
Lucy Bedroque

top 5 bands
Blur
The Dismemberment Plan
Boris
The President Of The United States of America
Pavement

top 5 movies
Fallen Angels
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Trainspotting
Clerks
Office Space

top 5 japanese movies
The Happiness of The Katakuris
Battle Royale
House
Audition
Kamikaze Girls

top 5 directors
Wong Kar-Wai
David Lynch
Takashi Miike
Edgar Wright
Kevin Smith

top 5 tv shows
Arrested Development
Twin Peaks
Nathan For You
Nirvanna The Band The Show
Daria

top 5 anime
Cowboy Bebop
The Tatami Galaxy
Paranoia Agent
Samurai Champloo
Ouran Host High School Club

top 5 k-pop groups
ILLIT
Red Velvet
Hearts2Hearts
NMIXX
LOONA

top 5 video games
Sonic Adventure 2
Yakuza Kiwami
Postal 2
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2
Grand Theft Auto 5

march 21st, 2026

one week since the last post but ive been thinking about the blog nonstop and what to write for it. i fouund a CRT sunday! my friend was tak...