Nickel's Cut List: The Redemption Round

Ah, nearly half way done with the year... How fast time flies, am I right?

I'm not crying. Who says I'm crying? I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING.

As per usual, I digress. But anyway!!! For this post, I’ve got something very special planned, starting with this one.

If you’re familiar with my blogs, you know that when I write. I write A LOT. Even just my last post was over 4,000 words long because I do nothing but chatter, chatter, chatter. (hehe… “you never stop talking!”)

And surprisingly, I’ve had to cut out a lot of the things I’ve been wanting to talk about because they were just getting TOO LONG. (Or the number of things in the post was aesthetically unpleasing to me. Like who wants a list of seven things? I will not accept it unless it is the Miley Cyrus smash hit, “The 7 Things I Hate About You”)

Via TherapServices.net

So we are, of course, rummaging through the forgotten souls that were originally part of a few of my most favorite blog posts but were forced to be put through the terrible torture of the cursed backspace bar. DOESN’T MEAN I DON’T LOVE THEM AS MUCH :( But sacrifices had to be made.

Either way, they’re getting redemption, here and now!! Let’s not ramble any longer, my dear readers, let’s goooo!

From… “5 Songs To Play When We Lead The Revolution Against Today’s Top Hits (Time to Overthrow King Ed Sheeran)”

“Meridians” by Greyson Chance!

Courtesy of Greyson Chance

Reason for Elimination: The post was WAY too long. I originally had it planned to be a 10-song playlist, but the post would have literally gone on forever.

I actually made up for this for including one of his songs in my post, “I’m Not Gonna Write You A Love Song… But I’ll Tell You About Some,” but I remember vividly that I wanted to include this song so badly in my first ever blog post. This was one I chose to eliminate because I had featured many male artists and wanted to round it out better.

I absolutely adore Greyson Chance, ever since he was featured on Ellen. This song is absolutely gorgeous and it marks such a pivotal point in his career. Not only his voice but his musicianship matured so much between this song and the track he released a year prior to this one, “Thrilla in Manila.” I remember when he came out with this video for the song, I was SOOOOO proud of him. HE’S A LEGEND and I swear, he needs more recognition in the pop-music industry. If you’re looking for more LGBT+ artists to listen to, definitely check out Greyson!!

From... “My Favorite Characters Except They’re TikToks”

Chris “Chowder” Chow from Check! Please

Courtesy of Ngozi

Reason for Elimination: I couldn’t find a TikTok for him :( I had written all the other characters already and because of that, I figured I would just end it at those 4 characters.

I may come from a hockey family but the only goalie I know is my boy, Chowder!! (If my dad is reading this, I KNOW MARTY BRODEUR I SWEAR THIS WAS FOR THE BIT IT WAS FOR THE JOKE I’M SORRY)

If you want a little bit of background on Check, Please! make sure to check (hehe, get it!!:)) out my post, “The Nickels Awards 2020,” which I’ve linked below.

He’s ultra-enthusiastic, the sweetest boy ever. He’s a senior in high school when he’s first introduced into the comic, taking a tour of Samwell University, then joins the school’s ice hockey team a year later.

I’m a sucker for bubbly and happy-go-lucky characters, so I basically fell in love with him in the first panel he was in. All it took was for Bitty (the protagonist of Check, Please!) to come out with a goody bag filled with merchandise and mini pies for Chowder to decide that he wanted to go to Samwell. AHHH HE’S SO CUTE

Courtesy of Ngozi

Then later, all Chowder wants is for his fellow freshmen teammates and good friends, Nursey and Dex, to stop arguing with one another so he personally reaches out to Bitty to help his two friends out. I love this wholesome boy so much like I just wanna give him a big hug!!!!

There is a reason why the seemingly stoic and emotionally constipated Jack Zimmerman gave him his “Haus Dibs” when he graduated (aka the passing down of rooms in the hockey team’s frat house). He’s just the best periiiIIIOOOOOOD

Courtesy of Ngozi

From… “I’m Not Gonna Write You A Love Song… But I’ll Tell You About Some”

“My Love” by Kuba Oms

Courtesy of Warner Records Canada

Reason for Elimination: This song would have gone into the “Well… It’s Complicated” category of this post, but that category would have been the only one with 4 songs and if I made them all have 4 songs that would be 16 songs!!! Which was way too long, so I was forced to remove this song.

I actually found this song through a Haikyuu!! video edit I saw on my Instagram explore page. If only I could find it once again, I would link it here hehe. But anyway, this was my go-to Shower Repertoire™ because I was a sad alto and this song was in my perfect range.

His voice reminds me a lot of Jason Mraz and Maroon 5, both of which I really liked back then so that definitely contributed to my month-long obsession with it.

It would have gone in the “Well… It’s Complicated” category because the singer gets the girl, but then loses her and now wants her back. And obviously my 11-year-old self vibed with that, so now it’s a nostalgic song for me.

Honestly, I still vibe to it, seriously. I’ll find myself, still in the shower, going “myyYYYY looOOOOVE”

From… “The Nickels Awards 2020”

The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo

Courtesy of Michael Lutz

Reason for Elimination: Honestly, I should I have included this one because it’s one of my most favorite discoveries EVER. But the post was getting long, so I decided to scrap it.

The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo is an awesome web-browser narrative horror game. You play as an 11-year old going to a sleepover at your friend’s house. Your friend (you can choose the name and gender of them in the beginning of the game) constantly has the newest Nintendo games, because their uncle works for Nintendo.

Courtesy of Michael Lutz

And that night, depending on your choices, you’re going to meet that uncle at 12 am.

It’s essentially a digital choose-your-own-adventure book, with 5 different endings (well—*wink*—there may be—*wink* *wink*—a secret ending—*wink*). I played it until I was able to unlock all 5, and let me tell you, some of the endings are SO CHILLING. The use of audio and visuals is absolutely spot on in developing your fear throughout the game, so there are no jump-scares. And no matter how old you are, you really can’t help but feel like a terrified little 11-year-old.

Courtesy of Michael Lutz

(I quickly played through a round to get to the possible ending screen, which is why I’ve unlocked one)

This game was developed by Michael Lutz, who has made other games too, like My Father’s Long, Long Legs, which is SO GOOD too. If you like The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, you should totally check that one out too.

The platform he made it on, Twine, is an amazing program for creating interactive and non-linear stories and if you’re interested in putting your creative writing skills to a whole 'nother level, I would totally recommend Twine.

From… “I’ve Been To The Year… 2010? (Everything Has Changed, But They Don’t Live Underwater)”

Percy Jackson & the Olympians + The Heroes of Olympus

Courtesy of Disney Press

Reason for Elimination: This obsession lasted a few years and I was unsure where to put it. Plus, I didn’t double up for any of the years, so I wanted to stay consistent. (I KNOW y’all are thinking: “Pshhh, finally, at least one thing in this blog is consistent, Nickels. Your blog is like a huge mess, smh”)
Before I talk about my past-nerding out for Percy Jackson in the past, CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THE DISNEY+ SHOW THAT THEY’RE IN THE BEGINNING STAGES OF PLANNING FOR???? THE TEN-YEAR-OLD IN ME IS FREAKING OUT (and I guess the 15-year-old is too…)

This adaptation is all I’ve ever dreamed of since I watched the Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters movie. I NEED A LIVE ACTION NICO DIANGELO IN MY LIFE. Rick Riordan is working really closely with the production, so I trust that they’ll pick the best up-and-coming young (*cough* 12 year olds !! *cough*) actors for the parts.

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

But anyway, back to my past-nerding for Percy Jackson, I loved this series so much. It was an era of my life where I could read a 500-page novel in two days and honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that ever again. Obviously, this coincided with my obsession with mythology of all sorts and I just wanted so badly to be a daughter of Apollo.

Not only were the stories thrilling and fun, but Percy Jackson gave so much representation to young kids: from normalizing dyslexia and ADHD to creating diverse, strong POC characters like Hazel, Piper, and Frank to having LGBT+ representation within the main cast that teaches kids that homosexuality isn’t inherently sexual. (Not to get too serious, but the connotation that gay=hyper-sexual/promiscuous really GRINDS MY GEARS. But that is beside the point.) By now, you know me and my love for representation.

Courtesy of Viria

Plus, we get the BEST battle couple ever. I am not taking arguments on this, Percabeth is absolutely elite.

Like the other fandoms I was in, I had an Instagram fan account for it and obviously wrote fanfiction for it which I, now regretfully, have posted onto the interwebs for everyone and anyone to read. If you’re interested in my Percy Jackson x Bianca DiAngelo (Nickels… Why did you ship them????) and Percy Jackson & the Olympians/Hunger Games crossover from 5th grade… you are welcome to read it here. I never finished it. Darn.

There we go! The rejected have been redeemed and resurrected for your reading pleasure (woah I did not mean for that alliteration). It was really fun going back to my past posts and reminiscing like an old woman as if I didn’t write those literally only 8 months ago. And, my dear readers, I hope you, too, enjoyed the trip down memory lane. That seems to be a recurring theme in my blog posts, huh? Oops!

Until the last time—

STILL NOT CRYING NOOO NOT GOODBYE YET NICKELS

Until next time,

Nickels :)