Star Wars: How Was The Universe Made?

May the fourth month be with us all, I recently did a blog on the popularity of the mandalorians, and now I am back to explain or rather just think out loud about how the universe of STAR WARS was created from both the series aspect to the actual in series universe. So if this sounds at all interesting continue.

THE CREATION OF A MOVIE PHENOMENON!

In 1977 a little film was made I'm not sure if you know of it, but it was called Star Wars, and it came from the mind of the brilliant visionary known as George Skywalker errr, I mean George Lucas! There that's the name! George had the idea for a space opera inspired by classic movie serials and mythology, and spent several years developing the story and the characters. Lucas had trouble finding a studio willing to finance the film, but eventually secured funding from 20th Century Fox. The movie was filmed in England, primarily at Elstree Studios, and featured groundbreaking special effects by Industrial Light and Magic, a company founded by Lucas specifically for the film. ILM used a combination of practical effects, such as models and puppetry, and newly developed computer technology to create the movie's iconic visuals.

The cast included relatively unknown actors such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, as well as veteran performers like Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing. The music was composed by John Williams, who created a memorable and instantly recognizable score. Star Wars was a massive hit, grossing over $775 million worldwide and becoming one of the most successful and influential films in history. It spawned two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as numerous films, television shows, books, comics, and video games. The franchise is now owned by Disney and continues to expand with new movies and television series. The fictional history of the Star Wars universe spans thousands of years, but he franchises itself is just over 40 years old!

Fictional History time now

So from what I know and understand the SW universe started pretty much like our own BUT with Midi-Chlorians attached to all living things essentially as this is where the Force originates and lives and thrives from the dawn of time. Mineral matter formed on a planet known as Illum and this is where the lightsaber crystals come from. Species are born and evolve on different planets as time proceeds forward as all things evolve over time. Etherial world of Mortis is the home of the Father, Son & Daughter force users. 100,000 BBY (Battle Before Yavin) city construction begins on Coruscant. Post hyperspace travel happens in 30,000 BBY. As you can tell, the fictional history of the Star Wars universe spans thousands of years, with various eras and events that have shaped its mythology. Here is a brief overview of the major eras and events in the Star Wars timeline:

The Old Republic era (25,000BBY - 1000BBY)

This era spans thousands of years before the events of the Star Wars films. It is characterized by the rule of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order, and the centuries-long conflict between the Jedi and the Sith.

The Rise of the Empire era (32 BBY - 0BBY)

This era is the setting of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. It was marked by the rise of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who manipulated events behind the scenes to engineer the downfall of the Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire.

The Rebellion era (0BBY - 4ABY)

This era is the setting of the original Star Wars trilogy. It follows the struggle of the Rebel Alliance to overthrow the Empire and restore freedom to the galaxy. ABY stands for After Battle Yavin.

The Sequel trilogy era (34ABY - 35ABY)

This era is the setting of the most recent Star Wars films, which take place decades after the events of the original trilogy. It follows the story of the Resistance and the First Order, as well as the emergence of new heroes and villains in the struggle for the fate of the galaxy.

Overall, the Star Wars universe has a rich and complex mythology that spans thousands of years of galactic history, with numerous eras, events, and characters that have shaped the story and continue to inspire new stories and adventures.

Thanks for reading, stay shiny!

Slipknot - A write up

So myself and my beautiful Girlfriend watched the BBC documentary on Slipknot all out life and she had many questions so i have decided to compile a bunch of information for her and anyone else to understand Slipknot more and i have provided info via my memory and via the wiki on them to compile a quite in-depth look at the biggest metal band going strong today. 

Slipknot is an American nu-metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The band was founded in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan, drummer Joey Jordison and bassist Paul Gray. After several lineup changes in its early years, the band settled on nine members for more than a decade: Crahan, Jordison, Gray, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root. Gray died on May 24, 2010, and was replaced during 2011–2014 by guitarist Donnie Steele. Jordison was dismissed from the band on December 12, 2013. Steele left during the recording sessions for .5: The Gray Chapter. The band found replacements in Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums. After the departure of Jordison, as of December 2013 the only founding member in the current lineup is percussionist Crahan. Fehn was also dismissed from the band in March of 2019 prior to the writing of We Are Not Your Kind. Joey Jordison suggested naming the band Slipknot, after a song they had made on their debut album mate, feed, kill, repeat. Slipknot's fans are called maggots why? Corey and Crahan once said in an interview they were doing a show with a large number of people, and when they looked at the crowd, they looked like writhing maggots jumping around, so they decided to call them that henceforth.

Slipknot 1999

Slipknot 2019

Slipknot is well known for its attention-grabbing image, aggressive style of music, and energetic and chaotic live shows. The band rapidly rose to fame following the release of their eponymous debut album in 1999. The 2001 follow-up album, Iowa, although darker in tone, made the band more popular. After a brief hiatus, Slipknot returned in 2004 with Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), before going on another hiatus and returning in 2008 with its fourth album, All Hope Is Gone, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. After another long hiatus, Slipknot released its fifth studio album, .5: The Gray Chapter, in 2014. Their sixth studio album, We Are Not Your Kind, was released on August 9, 2019. The band has sold 30 million records worldwide as of writing. In early 2000, Slipknot was certified platinum; a first for an album released by Roadrunner Records. 2006 saw Slipknot win their first Grammy Award, picking up the Best Metal Performance award for the single "Before I Forget".The single went on to be featured on the set list of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Slipknot's first annual music festival, called Knotfest, was held on August 17, 2012, in Iowa. The festival also debuted a Slipknot museum. "The Negative One" was nominated for the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Slipknot have been nominated for ten Grammy Awards and have won one.

The band's sound typically features a heavily down-tuned guitar setup, a large percussive section, sampling, keyboards and DJ'ing. Using a variety of vocal styles, the music typically features growled vocals, screaming, backing vocals, as well as melodic singing. The band has continually experimented with its sound. Slipknot's lyrics are generally very aggressive; they sometimes include profanity while exploring themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, misanthropy, and psychosis. They often draw upon topics including the music industry, politics, personal strife, and reflection, among others. 

The members perform wearing unique, individual facemasks and matching uniforms typically jumpsuits while each member is typically assigned and referred to by number based on their role in the band, although the latter practice has diminished following the death of Paul Gray. The band has said the idea of wearing masks stemmed from a clown mask that Crahan took to rehearsals when the band first started. The concept developed; by late 1997, the band decided every band member would wear a unique mask and matching jumpsuit. Taylor said in 2002, "it's our way of becoming more intimate with the music. It's a way for us to become unconscious of who we are and what we do outside of music. It's a way for us to kind of crawl inside it and be able to use it." The concept of wearing matching jumpsuits has been described as a response to commercialism in the music industry and led to the idea of assigning the band members numerical aliases. According to Taylor, "Originally, we were just going to wear the jumpsuits, we figured we might as well take that further and number ourselves. We were basically saying, 'Hey, we're a product!'".

During their careers, the members of Slipknot have developed their images, updating their uniforms and each member's mask upon the release of each album. Jordison, in an interview in 2004, said the masks are updated to show growth within each individual. Slipknot's members have worn special masks for specific occasions, most notably for the music video and live performances of "Vermilion" in 2004 and 2005 when they wore life masks made from casts of their own faces.  In 2008, the band wore a set of large masks titled "purgatory masks" during photograph shoots before the release of All Hope Is Gone; in the music video for "Psychosocial" they are seen burning them. The band's image has been the subject of much criticism and controversy, with critics generally accusing it of being a sales gimmick. The band's members object to these claims; according to them the masks are used to divert attention from themselves and put it on the music. Several band members have said wearing the masks helps to maintain privacy in their personal lives. During an interview in 2005, percussionist Fehn said the masks were a "blessing" because they meant the members are not recognised in public.

An essential element for the band's image is the Slipknot logo. The nonagram was created by the band's members around the same time the band was founded. The nonagram is arguably the best-known sigil of Slipknot and it represents a 9-point star, a symbol of unity, loyalty, friendship and remembrance. Despite popular belief, the nonagram is not a Satanist symbol and instead represents Slipknot's "battle with the fake world.". 

Slipknot's music and image have been the subject of many controversies throughout its career. The lyrical content of some of Slipknot's songs has been linked to several violent and criminal incidents. In 2003, two young killers blamed the lyrics of "Disasterpiece" for their crime. In 2006, the lyrics of "Surfacing" were found at the site of a grave robbery. In 2008, Corey Taylor commented on a slashing incident at a South African school to which Slipknot was linked; he said: "obviously, I'm disturbed by the fact that people were hurt and someone died, as far as my responsibility for that goes, it stops there, because I know our message is actually very positive and there are always going to be mental disorders and people who cause violence for no other reason than the fact that they're fucked up and lost." Also the band has had a notable fued with Mushroomhead and Burger King. 

Someone last year compiled a list of words most used in Slipknots song catalogue.

Here is the 10 slipknot songs i utterly loved when i ranked them in 2016 and there's been newer songs since obviously but this is pretty good as it is. So do look this up once you have read all this :) - https://1stmetalgodsblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/top-10-slipknot-songs.html 

This has me telling you my interpretations of the songs on the list also. I have compiled what i can at best. 

Stay shiny and thanks for reading!

Stay safe during the caronavirus pandemic too people!

HALLOWEEN HOLIDAY HISTORY! - Let's Make Halloween Great Again!

Oh I do wish people would stop blabbering their lips like fish. Yapping their gums about Christmas from the summer time to now they prioritise it over another day which used to be seen as a great holiday but now it's seen as a excuse to dress up and get drunk and this holiday happens at the 31st October every year. Halloween.

My friends Halloween as a child was a special time it's where not only would the day itself be spooky but there would be a great build up of spookiness and creepy shows and decorations and costumes would fill up our tvs, shops and homes to be paranormal instead of well normal and trick r treating was beast unless you got bullied or treats got pinched that night of hallows eve.

As you get older into the Teens you see the point in dressing up fun still but to trick or treat is not on the menu because social anxiety and laziness but you appreciate the horrifying films and TV shows that would air this season.

When your an adult we should be still in love with the horror movies on this month and that dressing up is still fun but now everyone is on about Christmas this and Santa that every day, every month, every year and even on Christmas they are like "oh can't wait for the next one" yes you can lay down off the eggnog and come do your dooty and get spooky with me as I explore the origins of this once great day known as....

HALLOWEEN

So 31st October is celebrated yearly and known as a holiday called Halloween but did you know that Halloween originated with that of an ancient Celtic festival called; Samhain and in that festival people would light bonfires, and wear costumes to fight off any evil spirits that lurked near by. In the 8th century Pope Gregory 3 declared November first to be All Saints Day and this had a lot of the same traditions as Samhain and so the evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and later became Halloween. Overtime this holiday evolved into what we see today a day of sweets and other activities in costumes and pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples etc.

Back to Samhain now where the Celts on November 1st celebrate their annual new year and this was all some like 2 thousand years ago. November first marked the end of summer and the harvest and that the winter meant the beginning of the dark and cold season, a time of year that was often associated with human death to them. The Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the spirits of the dead returned to earth. Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for their Druids, or priests, to make predictions about the future. For people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter so the Druids/Priests would build big bonfires they considered sacred and gathered people round them to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to their gods and the Celts would all wear costumes of animal skins and heads and tried to reassure one another by telling each other their futures. This sounds pretty bonkers don't it? Well when the celebration was over, they re-lit their fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the winter.

Now if you are wondering, "where the bloody hell did bobbing for apples come from?" well fear not for I have googled and I shall reveal it to you right here. In 43AD the Romans conquered the Celts well the majority at least, the Romans had two festivals which joined with Samhain. The first was Feralia, which was a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honour Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain, explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practised today on Halloween. So that's pretty interesting huh?

Now I referenced All Saints Day above somewhere and it's time to dive into that quickly. On May 13, 609AD, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honour of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory 3 would later expand the festival to include All Saints as well as All Martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.Now in the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with the older Celtic rites. In 1000AD, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honour the dead. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS!

In terms of Bad Luck; We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into black cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred (it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe). And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

Origin of the Jack O Lantern: A fun fall activity, carving Jack-o'-lanterns actually has its roots in a sinister, tragic fable. Celtic folklore tells the tale of a drunken farmer named Jack who tricked the devil, but his trickery resulted in him being turned away from both the gates of heaven and hell after he died. Having no choice but to wander around the darkness of purgatory, Jack made a lantern from a turnip and a burning lump of coal that the devil had tossed him from hell. Jack, the story goes, used the lantern to guide his lost soul; as such, the Celts believed that placing Jack-o'-lanterns outside would help guide lost spirits home when they wander the streets on Halloween. Originally made using a hollowed-out turnip with a small candle inside, Jack-o'-lanterns' frightening carved faces also served to scare evil spirits away. When the Irish potato famine of 1846 forced Irish families to flee to North America, the tradition came with them. Since turnips were hard to come by in the states at the time, pumpkins were used as a substitute.

Halloween Bats: Medieval folklore also described bats as witches' familiars, and seeing a bat on Halloween was considered to be quite an ominous sign. One myth was that if a bat was spotted flying around one's house three times, it meant that someone in that house would soon die. Another myth was that if a bat flew into your house on Halloween, it was a sign that your house was haunted because ghosts had let the bat in.

Halloween Spiders; A common source of fear, spiders make for creepy, crawly Halloween staples. They join the ranks of bats and black cats in folklore as being evil companions of witches during medieval times. One superstition held that if a spider falls into a candle-lit lamp and is consumed by the flame, witches are nearby. And if you spot a spider on Halloween, goes another superstition, it means that the spirit of a deceased loved one is watching over you.

Hallowed Cauldrons: The pagan Celts believed that after death, all souls went into the crone's cauldron, which symbolised the Earth mother's womb. There, the souls awaited reincarnation, as the goddess' stirring allowed for new souls to enter the cauldron and old souls to be reborn. That image of the cauldron of life has now been replaced by the steaming, bubbling, ominous brew.

The Witch's Broomstick; This is another superstition that has its roots in medieval myths. The elderly, introverted women that were accused of witchcraft were often poor and could not afford horses, so they navigated through the woods on foot with the help of walking sticks, which were sometimes substituted by brooms. English folklore tells that during night-time ceremonies, witches rubbed a "flying" potion on their bodies, closed their eyes and felt as though they were flying. The hallucinogenic ointment, which caused numbness, rapid heartbeat and confusion, gave them the illusion that they were soaring through the sky.

The traditional Halloween colours: These consist of orange and black actually stem from the pagan celebration of autumn and the harvest, with orange symbolising the colours of the crops and turning leaves, while black marks the "death" of summer and the changing season. Over time, green, purple and yellow have also been introduced into the colour scheme of Halloween decorations.

Trick Or Treat?; It surprisingly came from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors. Wish they would still believe this haha. In the 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighbourly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. However parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century. And we thought today's standards are too P.C. this clearly is the origin of the butthurt society sad times.

This has been a horrific holiday history piece on Halloween. Brought to you from Me and Google because not all the information I knew here and I googled some and sliced it up and brought it here with me.

If anyone wants me to do a post on scary stories for Halloween or based around Halloween let me know and i'll get onto it.

For now: Stay Spooky and Do Your Dooty!