Several times I've been asked about why I use the profile picture that I have and/or what my name refers to. The answer is multifaceted, and it's a bit more of an ordeal to answer than "I think x character is cool" or whatever the explanation is that most people have for their profile picture, so this is my longwinded essay about the why of it all.
The profile picture:
It's a drawing of an alien called Lam. It was drawn by the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, and it was first published in 1919. According to Crowley, Lam is a Tibetan word for way or path, and it has connections to Buddhism. I don't care about that. Crowley, who was probably high out of his mind at the time, claimed to have seen this critter when he drew it.
What interests me about this image is how similar it looks to the stereotypical grey alien before that became a pop culture sensation. The only real difference being the much smaller and more human-like eyes, as opposed to the big black orbs. In fact, aliens were born out of the occult—notably through theosophy—before any normal person claimed to see one. Theosophists placed a special value upon various planets in the solar system, and many of them would claim to commune with aliens. Quite a number of these fake totally real encounters had the subject referring to the "alien" as an "aryan" or some other very human-like description. There were some more "exotic" alien descriptions that didn't resemble humans too much in some cases.
Anyway, the "sightings," eventually would solidify into the grey aliens we so often hear about today. If you dig into commentary from alien fanatics online, you can find speculation about other alien races, and alleged sightings do vary to some degree, though. What fascinated me about Lam is that it constitutes a kind of "missing link" between the "aryan" aliens and the grey aliens. My interest in alien/UFO history is part of why I chose to use this image.
My name:
Gsarthotegga is pronounced as sar | thought | tay | ga, I guess—whatever, who cares? The name comes from the author Clark Ashton Smith, who was part of Lovecraft's circle of friends, and while he penned many poems and also would draw and paint, he was mostly know for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror short stories that he submitted to pulp magazines. Gsarthotegga is also known as Vulthoom (please, ignore the garbage artwork on this page). The story Vulthoom can be read here. Vulthoom is presented as a deity or god, but it's also very clearly a space alien.
The name and profile picture in unison:
Okay, if you've looked at many profile pictures on here, then I don't need to tell you that most of them are of high school girls from anime. Then you have a few people who have black and white pictures of Stalin or whatever...
I have controversial views on anime (and everything else, to be honest) that often clash with other MALists, and I don't ever try to tone these opposing views down or carefully choose shows where I'll have a positive reaction. Don't care, and I gladly invite these Animefan Crybaby responses I so often receive. I've embraced that "alienation" by choosing an image and name that both correspond to fictitious aliens. I wanted a long, unwieldy, even enigmatic name. One that users might not remember or will be left to wonder about the origin of, but it stands out like a sore thumb when they see it. The picture synergizes with the name well, while also being kind of creepy and funny at the same time. It's also very memorable on a website that has a predictable pattern when it comes to profile pictures.
Perhaps it's counter-productive to choose a profile picture and name that was partially intended to mystify, but then to demystify the pair by explaining away everything, yet most people won't read this in the first place, and now I'll have something to point to when asked, instead of having to type up an answer every time.
Those lumps aren't gonna make themselves, Pudding!
Not so bad I remember watching a video about a restaurant that serves humans.. they were eating the so called garbage plate.. not judging :3
PTW next hmm.. lots of driving hope I get to watch something soon :|
keep having dreams about cat tornado I'll be watching.. Fuujin Monogatari
also need to return Suzumiya. where are my manners, anything interesting on your side ?
I read about it, apparently it was planned to have an online component, they couldn't do it in time, and when porting it to PC they just made it into a completely different game called SMT Imaginary (since Nine sold poorly). I don't think those machine translations are going to be very reliable though, especialy confusing when the plot could get complicated
Where do you get those fat pics from? XD What I start to like about Steins Gate is its feel as a homemade thriller, when they go around reading the reports from SERN and stuff, but now the fat guy is becoming increasingly annoying as well, "there's yuri in the air", "oh so a big thing going through a small gap? Makise you are such a hentai" stop dude please 😂
Apparently it's not an MMO, someone did translate its story actually... But it's just a script dump .txt file of one route you can take in the game and nothing more, I'm not interested in having to open the phone everytime I have to understand what's said lol
I mean, the first X Men movie is kind of bland and the second one even if fun has a lot of plot holes, so I wonder what his suggestions were when working with Kojima but I can feel the Hideo influence in Hayter with the social focus of those two movies. Not really interested in the rest of the franchise since he doesn't write the script in them
https://youtu.be/yAgI51QvWxs?si=jRp4o1YMmyQaOEUR
Yeah the characters cards and use of jump cuts is very reminiscent from Baccano for me, I don't want to read comments since I haven't finished it and I'm sure they will spoil something
I've not seen any updates on HG. You know what is a shame that was never localized? Shin Megami Tensei Nine, there's no fan translation, nothing. That will be the most desired XBOX region locked exclusive for all time and I bet the code is hard to modify and that's why they never attempted a translation
Speaking of Metal Gear, I started watching the X Men movies, and the scriptwriter for the first two is David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake, what the heck. Also started watching Snatch from Guy Ritchie , didn't know Baccano's opening was a homage to this movie's opening credits
Yeah, I think it's a matter of how its used more than the amount of shocking content.
Fair enough lol. I mostly buy indie games or stuff from smaller companies.
The nazi part feels goofy and I think he could've been a genuinely more interesting villain if only Urasawa enforced the intrigue about him, as Tenma and the other characters slowly unravel his past to discover that, idk; he just had a normal upbringing? Or something like that, perhaps as a very slowburn mystery; also including red herrings and other stuff. I'm not sure, but the way it is right now is quite strange; also yeah, the way Johan manipulates people is honestly pretty underwhelming, you'd expect way less victims and stronger mysteries or better manipulation techniques so it is really nailed down just how terrific he can be.
As it stands now Johan is kind of a watered down Anton Chigurh with weird elements of nazi super soldier plot... as corny as that sounds; the nazi super soldier part reads like something out of a Wolfenstein game.
Yeah lol, that just shows how memorable of a character she is.
I've played both Saya no Uta and DDLC, I enjoyed DDLC's tweaking around with meta stuff; really fun. Saya no Uta went a tad too wild with the graphic content at points? DDLC was fine because I think it was mostly just Monika fucking around with the characters; but on Saya no Uta many times it's like the author really wanted to add as much needless shock content as possible yk; I'm fine with graphic content as I like the Fear and Hunger games, but the shock content on there makes sense; some decisions on Saya no Uta truly felt like shoehorned shock content. Still, some things like Saya's eldritch nature or Fuminori's perspective are very cool, the doc character was also pretty rad. The soundtrack is great, generally an aesthetically strong experience.
I've heard about SOMA but I never got around to playing it, as with most triple A games; no money and third world country, you know how it goes lol. Same thing with other games of a similar nature like Dead Space.
Higurashi Kai and Rei go too far into the explanations imo and it just kills all intrigue. Reminds me of when Urasawa drops the bomb of "Well... Johan was raised by nazis lol" early on in Monster and idk, it feels very anticlimactic and dull, like some works should instead remain on the intrigue and mystery but they kill it with explanations. That's why media which leaves itself more open to interpretation tends to be my bread and butter.
It would've been completely fine IMO for Higurashi to end on its first season with an open ending. I've heard A LOT of good things about Umineko, extremely well-regarded; I'll probably buy the games on a generous sale at some point. I've been trying to get into VNs for a while already, there are many interesting choices.
I'll for sure make myself an order or something to enjoy it though, just in-case I ever get lost.
Yeah, fair enough; that's a good simile; add in google self-improvement quotes, absurdist platitudes and being a complete idiot, you'd definitely get Kamina with all that lol. Another thing I disliked plenty about Gurren Lagann is Simon's very bipolar character and Yoko basically having a non-existing character as of now (still at episode 8 lol) so I hope that changes. Yoko actually reminds me of Shirley from Code Geass, being shoehorned into a love interest as early as EPISODE 3; and also just by being completely lackluster.
Oh sweet, that's a pretty informative and deep reply; as expected from you, thanks. I'm mainly into abstract, mind bending or avant-garde horror. I love Silent Hill, Yume Nikki, SIGNALIS, Fatal Frame, Bloodborne and other stuff.
I'd be very interested on checking Lynch and Hitchcock's films; sadly I'm not a very informed person regarding cinema, but I've heard great stuff from them, including inspiring a lot of the media I love.
Lain, End of Evangelion and Perfect Blue feel like the only "true" horror anime I've watched. Lovecraftian, survival and psychological horror definitely do it for me, especially if they delve into really mindfuckery or meta stuff; big reasons on why I've rated both these three anime I've mentioned so highly. There's also a lot of anime you've mentioned which I didn't know at all, Cossette no Shouzou I've added recently to my PTW, it looks very interesting. I really dig eerie moods or more subtle horror too! Higurashi kinda did it for me on the earlier episodes, first Higurashi is definitely the best one; I feel like when they start to add explanations and more development to stuff it kills the intrigue and horror. I like the contrast between old moe and horror though.
Damn, both the anime and the watchorder are confusing lol; and I thought that Monogatari had a weird watch order, this is even harder to follow. Perhaps that unchronological order was also an inspiration for NISIO ISIN.
Glad to see more people hating on Kamina honestly, so it is not just me being a generally depresso or pessimistic loser lol. Yeah, theres this issue with extravagant and very "over the top" stuff; that being authors don't know how to accompany it with actual substance and it quickly becomes mundane; second half of Gurren Lagann reminds me of Dragon Ball Super and how the characters were basically juggling entire planets, it is so cheesy and dull. I can enjoy over the top stuff, ULTRAKILL is one of my favorite games; but most media of this type dont do it well imo.
Oh, I do particularly remember Lain being pretty good with sound stuff; it definitely adds to the already solid atmosphere, so I'm even more excited now that you've mentioned that. I've also had Paranoia Agent on my PTW, but yeah, have too much on my plate; I'll get to it eventually though, I'm glad to find more horror-oriented shows honestly, if you have recommendations for generally abstract or avant-garde horror anime I'd be ecstatic.
"I've liked some Japanese novels, which usually have more "serious" translation, but I usually have a hard time getting into the eng translation of most LNs. They feel kind of barebones in the way they're written, imo." Perhaps the translation doesn't fully capture the japanese language's intricateness or exclusive rules or techniques? I'm not sure.
All Comments (4732) Comments
cover your tracks I see a pattern lol
seriously nice picks though
PTW next hmm.. lots of driving hope I get to watch something soon :|
keep having dreams about cat tornado I'll be watching.. Fuujin Monogatari
also need to return Suzumiya. where are my manners, anything interesting on your side ?
Where do you get those fat pics from? XD What I start to like about Steins Gate is its feel as a homemade thriller, when they go around reading the reports from SERN and stuff, but now the fat guy is becoming increasingly annoying as well, "there's yuri in the air", "oh so a big thing going through a small gap? Makise you are such a hentai" stop dude please 😂
saves time to check only two lists.. it was a mess before that.
I mean, the first X Men movie is kind of bland and the second one even if fun has a lot of plot holes, so I wonder what his suggestions were when working with Kojima but I can feel the Hideo influence in Hayter with the social focus of those two movies. Not really interested in the rest of the franchise since he doesn't write the script in them
https://youtu.be/yAgI51QvWxs?si=jRp4o1YMmyQaOEUR
Yeah the characters cards and use of jump cuts is very reminiscent from Baccano for me, I don't want to read comments since I haven't finished it and I'm sure they will spoil something
https://youtu.be/1jVTRltQ4bg?si=2yVgLQdXoAvg_Y_4
🧍♂️
Speaking of Metal Gear, I started watching the X Men movies, and the scriptwriter for the first two is David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake, what the heck. Also started watching Snatch from Guy Ritchie , didn't know Baccano's opening was a homage to this movie's opening credits
wonder if he'd share his MAL account.. am too shy to ask.. "flushing noise"
Fair enough lol. I mostly buy indie games or stuff from smaller companies.
The nazi part feels goofy and I think he could've been a genuinely more interesting villain if only Urasawa enforced the intrigue about him, as Tenma and the other characters slowly unravel his past to discover that, idk; he just had a normal upbringing? Or something like that, perhaps as a very slowburn mystery; also including red herrings and other stuff. I'm not sure, but the way it is right now is quite strange; also yeah, the way Johan manipulates people is honestly pretty underwhelming, you'd expect way less victims and stronger mysteries or better manipulation techniques so it is really nailed down just how terrific he can be.
As it stands now Johan is kind of a watered down Anton Chigurh with weird elements of nazi super soldier plot... as corny as that sounds; the nazi super soldier part reads like something out of a Wolfenstein game.
I've played both Saya no Uta and DDLC, I enjoyed DDLC's tweaking around with meta stuff; really fun. Saya no Uta went a tad too wild with the graphic content at points? DDLC was fine because I think it was mostly just Monika fucking around with the characters; but on Saya no Uta many times it's like the author really wanted to add as much needless shock content as possible yk; I'm fine with graphic content as I like the Fear and Hunger games, but the shock content on there makes sense; some decisions on Saya no Uta truly felt like shoehorned shock content. Still, some things like Saya's eldritch nature or Fuminori's perspective are very cool, the doc character was also pretty rad. The soundtrack is great, generally an aesthetically strong experience.
I've heard about SOMA but I never got around to playing it, as with most triple A games; no money and third world country, you know how it goes lol. Same thing with other games of a similar nature like Dead Space.
Higurashi Kai and Rei go too far into the explanations imo and it just kills all intrigue. Reminds me of when Urasawa drops the bomb of "Well... Johan was raised by nazis lol" early on in Monster and idk, it feels very anticlimactic and dull, like some works should instead remain on the intrigue and mystery but they kill it with explanations. That's why media which leaves itself more open to interpretation tends to be my bread and butter.
It would've been completely fine IMO for Higurashi to end on its first season with an open ending. I've heard A LOT of good things about Umineko, extremely well-regarded; I'll probably buy the games on a generous sale at some point. I've been trying to get into VNs for a while already, there are many interesting choices.
Yeah, fair enough; that's a good simile; add in google self-improvement quotes, absurdist platitudes and being a complete idiot, you'd definitely get Kamina with all that lol. Another thing I disliked plenty about Gurren Lagann is Simon's very bipolar character and Yoko basically having a non-existing character as of now (still at episode 8 lol) so I hope that changes. Yoko actually reminds me of Shirley from Code Geass, being shoehorned into a love interest as early as EPISODE 3; and also just by being completely lackluster.
Oh sweet, that's a pretty informative and deep reply; as expected from you, thanks. I'm mainly into abstract, mind bending or avant-garde horror. I love Silent Hill, Yume Nikki, SIGNALIS, Fatal Frame, Bloodborne and other stuff.
I'd be very interested on checking Lynch and Hitchcock's films; sadly I'm not a very informed person regarding cinema, but I've heard great stuff from them, including inspiring a lot of the media I love.
Lain, End of Evangelion and Perfect Blue feel like the only "true" horror anime I've watched. Lovecraftian, survival and psychological horror definitely do it for me, especially if they delve into really mindfuckery or meta stuff; big reasons on why I've rated both these three anime I've mentioned so highly. There's also a lot of anime you've mentioned which I didn't know at all, Cossette no Shouzou I've added recently to my PTW, it looks very interesting. I really dig eerie moods or more subtle horror too! Higurashi kinda did it for me on the earlier episodes, first Higurashi is definitely the best one; I feel like when they start to add explanations and more development to stuff it kills the intrigue and horror. I like the contrast between old moe and horror though.
Oh, I do particularly remember Lain being pretty good with sound stuff; it definitely adds to the already solid atmosphere, so I'm even more excited now that you've mentioned that. I've also had Paranoia Agent on my PTW, but yeah, have too much on my plate; I'll get to it eventually though, I'm glad to find more horror-oriented shows honestly, if you have recommendations for generally abstract or avant-garde horror anime I'd be ecstatic.
"I've liked some Japanese novels, which usually have more "serious" translation, but I usually have a hard time getting into the eng translation of most LNs. They feel kind of barebones in the way they're written, imo." Perhaps the translation doesn't fully capture the japanese language's intricateness or exclusive rules or techniques? I'm not sure.