VentralVex

I’m not new to storytelling. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve created innumerable stories. I played out some of my favorites with my toys and my younger brother, weaving narratives from my imagination. The few times I convinced myself to commit my stories to writing, I soon abandoned my work, fearing that it could never reach a satisfactory quality. A few years ago, as I was speaking with a friend about the nature of self-esteem, I envisioned a story about the worth of human life in a nihilistic setting; I later refined this concept after reading Berserk and a webtoon called The Horizon, two works whose themes I saw the need to portray in a modern setting. I outlined some concepts for a story about a hardened mercenary who grows as a person after meeting two orphaned children in his trek across a desolate wasteland, but didn’t write a word of the actual story. I was passionate about the idea, but I struggled to distinguish it from its two major inspirations. I recalled a dream I had...

Through many years of avid reading, I’ve never had a favorite author. I adore many books, but few authors have produced multiple literary books I can proudly label as some of my favorites. As a storyteller and writer, I understand that this is because creativity can be spontaneous; the flash of inspiration that shapes one’s magnum opus cannot be easily reproduced by even the most skilled of storytellers. Many of us storytellers can identify with struggling to continue writing better stories. We often cultivate excellent writing skills, like character development and worldbuilding, but can’t capture the same novelty of previous work. Notwithstanding, Carnby Kim, creator of webtoons Bastard, Sweet Home, Pigpen, Shotgun Boy, and Flawed Almighty has cemented himself as my favorite author with his Midas touch.  I place Kim’s Bastard and Sweet Home in my top 10 list of book series, but his other three webtoons are nothing to scoff at. Although I haven’t finished Pigpen , Shotgun Boy , ...

GTO, or Great Teacher Onizuka, is one of the greatest manga ever created. It follows ex-delinquent Eikichi Onizuka as he teaches a class of misfits in a series of farcical escapades. At least, that’s what GTO first appears to be on the surface. On a deeper level, it’s a compelling tale of a teacher willing to sacrifice anything for his students to save them from the horrors of society. My Experience With the Education System As anyone who knows me remotely well can observe, I loathe the American education system. My passion for the subject has even convinced me to write a book about how to reform it. I will, no joke, burst into lengthy rants about how much I hate school whenever the thought appears. Although there are countless flaws in the education system, the issues I feel most vehemently about stem from my personal experiences. After passing an admissions exam, I entered a private preschool for gifted children. During the lessons, I couldn’t pay attention to the teacher’s explanati...

I believe that existentialism is the most profound philosophical concept to ponder. Being a genius 16-year-old, I’m ashamed to admit that I still haven’t found a conclusive answer to the meaning of life. You know things are deep when even I don’t have any staunch claims regarding the topic. “But hold on a minute Ultra Genius Adit,” that doesn’t seem like a very complicated question when you really dissect it,” I hear you already commenting. As you’ll come to see later in this article, there are facets to existentialism we can barely fathom. When I first seriously dissected existentialism at the tender age of 14, I invented an existential philosophy called Utopian Altruism , which I defend to this day, albeit less confidently. There’s a Dunning Kruger effect with such newfound beliefs and I dearly hope I’m traversing the “slope of enlightenment” instead of “mount stupid.” My uncertainty of my own metacognition thus precludes me from asserting Utopian Altruism unequivocally.  But fre...

Image Source:  Gary Varvel Grades Suck At Performance Evaluation In the American education system, students are assigned grades in each of their classes to evaluate their academic performance. Assignments are usually graded on a scale of 0-100 points, with 0 points being the worst possible grade, 70 points being a passing grade, and 100 points being the best possible grade. These points can be further classified into the letter grades shown below: A: 90-100 points B: 80-89 points C: 70-79 points D: 60-69 F: 0-59 Letter grades sometimes include a plus or minus sign, indicating that a grade is arbitrarily in the bottom, middle, or top of its letter’s range; an A+ could be 100 points and A- could be 91 points. Note that the letter E is curiously absent from the letter grading system because it could be misinterpreted as denoting “excellence”.  This point system is problematic largely because it can misrepresent a student’s performance. For example, if a student receives a 100 on ...

Last year, I took a class at school called AP World History, the high school equivalent of an introductory college World History course. Although I was intrigued by much of the content covered in the curriculum, my teacher, despite her respectable attempts to spice up the classwork, kept me bored. For example, when we covered the Columbian Exchange (a fascinating historical process by the way), she redundantly assigned several pages of notes from two textbooks and a boondoggle project which she ignorantly expected my busy class of AP students to complete in a week. Even as someone who understood the "rigor" of AP classes, I knew this was more than excessive and unfair. Suffice to say, my interest in history was killed. Fortunately, however, I recently picked up Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , by Yuval Noah Harari, a book that single-handedly reinvigorated my interest in history. In a mere 400 pages, Harari brilliantly illustrates not only key events, but their salient...

Image Source: Berserk  Chapter 367 Like many fans, I reluctantly accepted that Berserk would remain an unfinished work after the tragic passing of its legendary creator, Kentaro Miura. That was until I serendipitously discovered the announcement that Berserk would be continued under the same studio and under the direction of Koji Mori, acclaimed author of Holyland, Miura’s best friend of many years, and a crucial figure in Berserk’s development.  To say these last three chapters have been exhilarating would be an understatement. Griffith has manifested on Elfhelm using the Moonlight Boy as a medium, enshrouding the island in distress. His mere presence excited the island’s fauna, invoked trepidation in Puck, Schierke, and Danan, induced Casca’s traumatized agony, and enraged Guts, who was able to quell the Berserker armor. The veritable savior of humanity has emerged. This is monumental. There are some interesting details I noticed in these last few chapters: Griffith chose ...